VOL 8 No. 43
email: editor@ independent.com
www.fbindependent.com ww .fbindependent.com
Phone: 281-980-6745
FORT BEND FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015
P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
Official newspaper of Fort Bend County, Missouri City & Sugar Land
Mary Joyce seeks Sugar Land council seat Mary Joyce, long time Sugar Land resident, has announced her intent to run as a candidate for the Sugar Land City Council, At Large, Position 2. Incumbent Councilman Joe Zimmerman has announced his intention to run for mayor. “Sugar Land’s rich history, planned development, great economy, low taxes, parks and open spaces as well as a growing arts and cultural focus makes the city a perfect place to live, raise a family, work and own a business. I want to ensure the great quality of life we have enjoyed in the past is available for our citizens in the future,” Joyce said. “Serving on leadership committees in Sugar Land for years has given me a unique and fresh perspective on the challenges facing the city and the citizens of Sugar Land in the coming decade,” she said. “My education in finance and years of experience in business have prepared me to address important issues such as economic growth, mobility, taxation, public safety, aging infrastructure, historical preservation, and arts and cultural
Joyce development. I have proven to be a prepared, educated, trusted, articulate leader to the citizens of Sugar Land and look forward to serving them in the future as a member of the Sugar Land City Council, At Large, Position 2, ” Joyce said. Joyce is currently serving on the Imperial Redevelopment District, Co-Chair of the Land Use Advisory Committee, Board Member of Fort Bend Cares, and a member of the Fort Bend
Chamber of Commerce Non Profit Leadership Class of 2016. Joyce brings over 25 years of experience in finance, contract negotiations, and project management with major corporations, as well as multiple years of service in community and civic organizations in Sugar Land. Joyce has a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of St. Thomas and a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from Texas Tech University. Joyce has also served on the City of Sugar Land Vision 2025 Committee, The University North Citizens Taskforce on Mobility, and as a member of the Old Sugar Land Alliance Group. She and her husband, Justin, ( who is the Pct. 4 Justice of the Peace in Fort Bend County)have been married for 31 years and raised their two grown children in Sugar Land. Daughter, Kathleen, and her husband live in Spring, Texas and son, Conor, will graduate from Texas A&M University in December 2015. Visit www.maryjoyceforsugarland.com.
Early voting brisk in first phase By SESHADRI KUMAR Early voting turnout in the county stood at 9,089 during the first eight days, with 4 days to go before closing at 7 p.m.. on Friday, Oct. 30. On Monday, 1,524 people cast their votes. Fort Bend County had 7 Early Voting sites open 5 hours on Sunday, Oct 25, and 161 voters cast ballots. Voters turned out for the first day of Early Voting at a very good pace, said Fort Bend County Election Administrator John Oldham.. Countywide 1,192 voters cast ballots at the county’s 17 Early Voting sites. This compares to 588 on the first day of Early Voting for the November 2013 election and 244 in November 2011. Turnout was up significantly in all portions of the county except in the city of Sugar Land. However, in November 2013 Sugar Land was conducting a Bond Election. Early Voting in Fort Bend County continued at a good pace for the second day in a row. Countywide, 1,266 voters cast ballots at the county’s 17 Early Voting sites. This
brought the 2-day total to 2,458. This compares to 1,278 thru the first two days of Early Voting in November 2013. Total turnout on the 3rd day of Early Voting slowed slightly but still ran ahead of previous elections in November odd years. 1,165 registered voters cast ballots bringing the 3-day total to 3,623. This compares to 1,968 after 3 days of Early Voting in November 2013 and 813 in 2011. On the fourth day, 1,157 registered voters cast ballots on Thursday, October 22, 2015. Voter turnout rose on the 5th day in Fort Bend County. Twelve of the counties 17 Early Voting sites had their best day with the Fort Bend Library at Cinco Ranch voting 237. Countywide turnout was 1,564 bringing the total for the first five days to 6,344.
Heavy rains depressed voter turnout on Saturday, October 24, 2015 but 1,060 registered voters did brave the weather to cast an Early ballot in the upcoming November 3 election. This brought the total number of Early Voters to 7604. In addition 752 ballots have been returned by mail. During the first week of early voting Cinco Ranch library recorded the highest number of votes, 1,105, followed by Rosenberg at 780. First Colony recorded 642 votes during the early voting, followed by Chasewood 572 Randalls at New Territory 552 and Bowie Middle School 529. Fort Bend County residents in the City of Houston jurisdiction cast 785 votes during the first seven days of early voting.
tives represent the ladder and liberals symbolize a rope. Conservatives believe in providing a ladder of opportunity. The government has a role to hold the ladder, but it is for the individual to make efforts to climb the ladder and go up to the level one wishes to go. Democrats, on the other hand, drop a rope and ask the person to cling onto it and will pull up the rope for the person to climb. The individual is at the mercy of the government holding the rope. How high can one go is not up to the individual, but it is up to the government which wants to pull up or drop the rope, as the case may be. Even those who reach the top do so not because of their own efforts, according to D’Souza. Any newcomer can be sold the idea of ladder, he believes. A class of about 100 Hispanics, who learn English from D’Souza, as a part of his community service, have now learned the concept of ladder and they have become conservatives, without ever realizing it. It is no brainwashing, but simple education.
Why are conservatives not dominating the society today despite its appeal and why politically Republicans are in a mess? D’Souza attributes it to the media, entertainment, Broadway and the universities coming under the control of liberals. “They have seized the megaphone of culture,” he says. How to take back the universities? “We have to think creatively. Develop something better than the universities to kill them, like an ‘academic iPhone’ which may render universities obsolete. Build new things. Use your influences in a new way. Each political activist can do that,” D’Souza says. Like the lion in a circus obeying the circus master, the conservatives do not realize they are powerful and they have the power. “The ladder is in peril. The American Dream is in peril. Our leaders are weak because we are weak. Let us think in new ways and mobilize our power,” D’Souza concludes.
Ladder or rope, the choice is yours Dinesh D’Souza learned to look at American politics in a new way and acquired a fresh perspective on what motivates ‘the other side’, namely liberals, during his eight- month stay in a ‘confinement center.’ His confinement was part of a sentence he received for a campaign finance law violation, where he contributed to a college friend’s campaign much more than what was allowed by law. D’Souza was a featured speaker at the Spirit of Freedom Republican Women’s Club fundraiser in Fort Bend County recently. The India-born conservative intellectual, author, speaker and filmmaker, brought home the message of hope to conservatives in America on how to keep conservative principles alive in a world consumed by liberalism. Bringing coal to New Castle may be an ill-timed or a politically incorrect metaphor here, but an Indian is teaching Americans on their home-grown principles of the Constitution and the concept of individual liberty and freedom. And he does it with elo-
quence and in simple easy to follow terms. Liberals broadly see conservatives as bad guys motivated by materialism, racism, bigotry, anti-immigration, hatred for women, and war mongering, D’Souza says. “We think Democrats are wonderful, good people, but their policies don’t work. They have good intentions, but get bad results,” he says. D’Souza believes conservatives and liberals differ entirely on goals, not merely on means. American politics has been a deep struggle between the men of letters and entrepreneurs. America was founded on the basis of entrepreneurship, but the power base is being challenged by intellectuals, community organizers and environmentalists, according to D’Souza. Who is better than D’Souza to talk about justice? Around the same time D’Souza was charged for making straw contributions of $20,000 to a campaign, Sant Singh Chatwal, noted Indian American hotel and restaurant owner in New York , a friend
Inside Track By Seshadri Kumar of the Clintons, pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Brooklyn to skirting federal campaign contribution laws and witness tampering, admitting that he had funneled more than $180,000 in illegal contributions between 2007 and 2011 to three federal candidates including Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Chatwal was given three years of probation and fined $50,000. D’Souza was sentenced to eight months in a work-release center, one-day a week community service during five years of probation and $30,000 in fines. Justice is a matter of perspective, says D’Souza. Democrats have a selective view of justice and their trump
card is ‘ justice’ and they have powerful idea of justice, social justice. The Republicans’ trump card is freedom and liberty. If someone’s justice is violated, one’s blood will boil, but when someone’s liberty is violated, the same may not be the case. “Republicans have conceded the issue of justice to Democrats,” according to D’Souza. D’Souza cites immigration, globalization and technology as the three major factors contributing to unemployment in the U.S. People left behind in this race are resentful and confused. “Here comes Obama. He does not do a thing to tackle any of the three factors. Instead, he says the rich have stolen from you. Vote for me. I will confiscate some and give it to you,” D’Souza quips. Progression or progressivism does not improve the lot of anybody, but attempts to wrench power away from the entrepreneur class, he adds. D’Souza gives a graphic imagery to describe conservatives and liberals. Conserva-
Johnson Development breaks ground on Jordan Ranch The Johnson Development Corp. has broken ground on its latest Houston-area community, Jordan Ranch. The 1,350-acre Fort Bend community is located one mile south of Interstate 10 near the Grand Parkway, giving residents easy access to the Energy Corridor, shopping and dining in Katy and other employment and entertainment centers. Approximately 2,800 homes are planned for Jordan Ranch, and nearly 500 homesites will be available in the development’s first phase. Home prices are expected to begin in the $290,000s with sales estimated to start in the first quarter of 2016. Builders will be announced in the coming weeks. Lakes, waterways and greenbelts will give Jordan Ranch a tranquil ambiance. The master plan also calls for retail, an on-site elementary school, parks and other amenities, including a centrallylocated recreation center. Students will attend schools in the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District. The Johnson Development Corp. is celebrating 40 years of residential development and has many of the area’s best-selling communities. Houston projects include Riverstone, the top-selling community in Texas, Cross Creek Ranch, Edgewater, Fall Creek, Grand Central Park, Harmony, Harvest Green, Imperial, Riverstone, Sienna Plantation, Tuscan Lakes, Willow Creek Farms and Woodforest. The firm also is developing Viridian in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. For more information, visit www.jordanranchtexas.com.
The Johnson Development Corp. recently broke ground on Jordan Ranch, a 1,350-acre development in Fort Bend County. Shown here are, left to right, Eric Johnson, John Herzog, Andrew Loessin, Rusty Campbell, Steve Sams, Dan Silvestri, Doug Goff, Ramona Ridge, C.J. Snipes, Michael Cox, Tori Torres and Jennifer Johnson.