Greetings to you all,
We want to send each of you hugs and love from Bastrop and thank you all for signing and sharing the petition. We are averaging 500 signatures a day and are on our way to the next mile stone of 5,000 signatures. As it stands, We are still hitting road blocks with Judge Pape and the Commissioners are not responding to our correspondence. Judge Pape has used COVID as an excuse, told us we should be more worried about the killing of George Floyd, told us there are larger issues, he even said we should let things die down before we address it. He is doing everything he can to NOT address this issue and continues to flat out refuse to put it on the agenda. While everyone other cities across the states realize how important it is to remove statues and monuments that represent hate and racism, the Judge Pape, is unbothered by the negative impact these monuments have on the community.
So everyone understands In order to get this on the agenda it takes approval by Judge Pape or by any one of the 4 county commissioners. But we can't get any of the commissioners to respond to our phone calls or emails to have the discussion and the Judge has flat out denied our request.
So here's the ask:
Please continue to share the petition across all social media platforms that you are using. Someone may intend to sign but life gets in the way and they forget so send out a reminder with the petition link daily to keep these numbers rising. Don't forget it to share it with your phone contacts because many of them may not be on your social media platforms. I would encourage you however to not do a mass group text to avoid irritating recipients with ongoing responses. There are two petitions, this one on change.org and another on color of change.org. Please sign and share that one as well. It's the same petition but we are broadening our reach to different demographics.
Next, we must contact Judge Pape and the county commissioners. Let them know you want them to add this item to the agenda for the June 22nd meeting. Call and leave messages for them to listen to on Monday. If the item is not added to the agenda by end of day Tuesday, June 16th we will not be able to discuss it as an agenda item during the June 22nd meeting.
If its not on the agenda for June 22nd however, we can all still sign up for citizens comments. This will be our next move. Our voice will be heard one way or another. We will be sending out the form to sign up for citizens comments which can be mailed, faxed, or emailed to the court. The form can also be brought to the court before the 9a start time on June 22nd, and those have to be heard. So if you are comfortable speaking before the court and you are near or in the area, please complete the form which can be emailed, faxed or mailed to:
County Clerk Rose Pietsch
803 Pine Street, Room 112 | Bastrop, Texas 78602 | Phone: (512) 332-7234 | Fax: (512) 332-7241
Below is the contact information to ask the Judge and Commissioners to add the item to the agenda. Please call, and use the address and phone numbers above to write or fax.
Finally please continue to spread the word about the petition via social media, email, and text. Also follow our FB page to stay up to date on our mobilization efforts:
https://www.facebook.com/takethemdownbastropcounty/
Now IS the time for those monuments to be removed! What should have happened years ago should not be delayed any longer.
County Judge Paul Pape
Phone: (512) 332-7201
Pct. 1 Commissioner Mel Hamner (Bastrop area)
Phone: (512) 332-7295
Pct. 2 Commissioner Clara Beckett (Smithville area)
Phone: Phone: (512) 581-4002
Pct. 3 Commissioner Mark Meuth (Cedar Creek area)
Phone: (512) 581-4000
Pct 4 Commissioner Donna Snowden (Elgin area)
Phone: (512) 332-7267
Thank you for your support guys!
https://www.change.org/takethemdownbastrop
https://campaigns.organizefor.org/…/remove-confederate-monu
Remove the Confederate Monuments from Bastrop County Property