The Five Hills of Copperas Cove are dark tonight.

R.I.P., Mr. Seffrood.

Twelve Days of Christmas, Curmudgeon Style

A great time for a singalong. Here's a little ditty I compiled for the occasion!

Please sing it aloud and enjoy.

On the first day of Christmas, the council gave to me

A meeting agenda so long everyone fell asleep.

On the second day of Christmas, the council gave to me 

5

2 silly ordinances

On the third day of Christmas, the council gave to me

3 perks for the chamber

On the fourth day of Christmas, the council gave to me

4 TUMS for Manning

On the fifth day of Christmas, the council gave to me

 5 CHICKEN RESTAURANTS!

On the sixth day of Christmas, the council gave to me

Nonprofits aren't holding events in the city because of this!

6 Cranky water customers

On the seventh day of Christmas, the council gave to me

7 Ties for Yancey

On the eighth day of Christmas, the council gave to me

8 traffic cones for Charlie

On the ninth day of Christmas, the council gave to me

9 post turtles!

On the tenth day of Christmas, the council gave to me

10 multiplying rabbits

For the love of Mike, get the man a tie!!

Traffic cone for Charlie!

On the eleventh day of Christmas, the council gave to me

11 feral hogs

On the twelfth day of Christmas, the council gave to me

12 deer in the city 

Okay, dear readers. It has been quite the year with all the ongoing shenanigans of the Copperas Cove city council. 

If you click on any of the links above you'll be redirected to other posts, which are some of my faves. 

Still puzzled over the recall, and Curmudgeon has it on good word that Councilman Charlie Youngs is showing some continued ax-grinding behavior. 

Not that it's enough for a recall, because trolling people on Facebook isn't quite illegal.... 

Enough for now.

Merry Christmas, dear readers, and may you be happy and healthy in the coming year.

More than 27,000 page views of this blog in 2018. Thanks to you all. 

Curmudgeon’s Christmas wishes

Curmudgeon fell off the face of the earth for a while. No, just busy, is all.

By now you, dear readers, have seen the results of the election and one more race yet to be decided on Dec. 11 – wow, that is today/tomorrow, depending on when you read this . If you have not voted, I hope you do before the polls close.

Curmudgeon knows the race between Frank Seffrood and Azeita Taylor was pretty close on election day, about 300 votes. Acfalle, as Curmudgeon predicted, did not make a significant dent in the voting numbers. HOWEVER, how many of the votes he received might have gone to either Seffrood or Taylor? We shall see.

What's more important? One candidate's health or another candidate's ethics?

A little more than one-third of the votes that have come in so far were mail-in ballots. Curmudgeon would venture to guess the majority of those went to Seffrood. I think the odds favor him over Taylor, but slightly. In the end, it will be who shows up to vote in a runoff. Which, in Copperas Cove, historically runoffs have low numbers.

Curmudgeon is going to guess that perhaps 100 voters, tops, will venture out on Tuesday. (Note: it is 10 p.m. on Monday evening as I type this.)

Now, before you hear MY Christmas wishes, I’ll play Santa and bestow a few gifts on the Copperas Cove city council members.

For newbie Joann Courtland, I give a set of hand grips on her place on the dais. Hang on, it’s going to be quite a ride!

For Fred Chavez, a squeegee mop, to wipe all the bullshit away that some of his council cronies will try to spread. Dig for the truth, Fred, and not protect special interest, members-only groups.

For Dapper Dan Yancey – a tie, what else??!! Red tie, of course. For wearing so it shows up on TV better and also for leading the way in the Christmas parade.

Jay Manning? He gets TUMs, Zantac, his pick. To prevent heartburn.

Kirby Lack gets a nice leather jacket. He’s a good guy and likes his bikes. Leather protects you from road rash on the road, and leather jacket will protect him from getting chafed by the other council members on either side of him

Marc Payne gets, ah, three free explanation cards. Only three, for one year. When asking for explanations during a meeting, choose wisely. Otherwise we end up with five-hour council meetings.

Charlie Youngs. Now, Sorry-Charlie gets cones – giant, orange traffic cones, to put out on Business

190 wherever he wishes. I found one, at Krist Kindl Markt! See photo. And maybe a few concrete barricades, just for ha-has. NO! I’m kidding. He gets coal. Out of all of the council, he ASSumes everyone knows where “the old EDC building” is for voting. Did you hear him at the beginning of the December 4 meeting? If you are truly in touch with the citizens whom you claim to represent, you will not ASSume EVERYONE KNOWS where the “old EDC building” is. Clearly, he is slanted to be speaking only to people who know the inner workings of Copperas Cove, and not ALL voters. #notmycouncilman

Not sure why Sorry-Charlie was wearing a suit for that meeting instead of his traditional track suit while sucking down his gelato. You can dress it up, but what’s inside is still inside. A man who speaks only to the cronies and good old boys, and leaves the “regular” public out of the loop.

Again, a man with an axe to grind is not good in office. Curmudgeon is seriously baffled as to why NO ONE has attempted a recall on the man due to his incompetence and gross lack of regard for ethics and the rules.

Let’s move on to the Dec. 4 meeting and the FATHOM discussion.

So, the city is looking at moving back into the old utility admin building, but Ryan Haverlah said the cost to get the building back up to speed is about $40,000.

Sorry-Charlie said that divided among the city’s water meters, $40,000 would be $2.66 per meter.

Ummmm….what are you saying, sir?

The CUSTOMERS should each chip in $2.66 to fix this mess?

Um, no. I hope the voters and citizens and customers stream in and raise holy hell about that one.

Why should  CUSTOMERS pay to fix POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE?

We have NO option as water customers in Copperas Cove.

Why should WE be saddled with paying that $40,000? That’s a load of bull.

Then add that 40-grand to the at least 70-grand it will cost to hire new utility employees?

Ah, the Water & Sewer fund needs to fix that, and not the people.

What about that loan made to Endeavor? Let’s use some of that repayment with interest for taking care of the utility building and hiring those people. Isn’t Endeavor supposed to be paying the city back for that $3 million it borrowed from the Water & Sewer fund? Does anyone remember that? And nope, Curmudgeon isn’t making that up.

Now, Christmas gifts are in order for our two departed councilmen, David Morris and James Pierce Jr. Mr. Morris gets that drink I promised him along with a piece of pavement from Business 190 once construction starts, to remind him of the hard work he put in and that he has made an impact on the city. Also, Mr. Pierce…hmm…he gets a megaphone. Because he is off council, it does not mean that he does not have a voice. Perhaps he will take a cue from Mr. Russell and speak up and make sure this council toes the line.  

What does Curmudgeon want for Christmas? True progress in our city. For Firefly Aerospace to come on in and set up shop. We have a nice piece of property here, ready and waiting. Location, location, location! We need you. Despite the silliness that goes on, on council, there’s a plethora of individuals who have good sense and are ready to work hard and not protect special interest groups (as Charlie Youngs does, currying favor with the chamber of commerce – again, why should a members-only club get special benefits from the city and resources that the rest of us must pay for???). 

We have a good lineup of city employees, a smashing library, small businesses which are booming, two great colleges on our doorstep with a ready workforce nearby, and a low cost of living compared to other areas. Copperas Cove is THE spot to set up shop.

Merry Christmas! Curmudgeon will try to post at least once more before the end of the year – 26,630 page views since January, dear readers. Thank you. Love me, hate me, don’t ignore me.

P.S. Did anyone notice a high school football playoff game in Bulldawg Stadium on December 1? 

Nope, neither did I. A cryin’ shame the HOT Bowl moved to Waco, with all of those out-of-town dollars getting absorbed by another city and school district willing to play nice for the benefit of ALL. A pity, really.