Ripening Agarita berries in the sun, Mertzon
See my update to these comments here.
George Noelke
Comments to Mertzon City Council, April 3, 2023
One year ago at this meeting I passed along some wisdom to this council that my father, Monte Noelke, handed down to me when I was in high school. He said, “George, remember this: It sure is easy to start a fight, but it is damned hard to get out of one.” I’m thinking about this advice again as I put up my new website, Government In The Sun .com, to publicly blog about my dispute with Irion County ISD and the City of Mertzon over the flooding of my property and our community.
Mark Twain famously said, “Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel”. What he meant was that it isn’t wise to pick a fight with newspaper folks because they have endless supplies of ink to write their side of the story. In today’s world it sounds a bit dated. I remember, though, the days in Mertzon when it would have made perfect sense. Those were the days that Brent Evans (son of superintendent and rancher Stew Evans and best ever teacher Janet Evans) had the paper route in Mertzon. Brent delivered both the morning and evening editions of the San Angelo Standard Times on his Schwinn Sting-Ray bike. No one would have imagined back then we would have the digital news of today or that kids delivering paper copies of newsprint would be gone forever.
In today’s world of the internet, though, Twain’s comment still rings true. I think it is important to remember that we all have an unlimited supply of “ink”. Digital ink. And, it’s inexpensive, and in some places on the web it is completely free. So, it still isn’t wise to pick a fight. Any one of us can write our side of the story endlessly.
And, you know by now how much I like to write.
So, when I mix some Monte Noelke wisdom with some Mark Twain wisdom, I get Government In The Sun .com. It is going to be hard for Irion County ISD and the City of Mertzon to get out of this fight (essentially an inverse condemnation fight but with so much more) with me while I have an unlimited supply of digital ink.
Please know, Mr. Mayor (Bill Taylor), that even though you are leaving your post as mayor soon, your past actions as mayor are not going to escape my review on the site. Same goes for Vicente Flores, who I understand will soon be leaving his post as president of the school board. Both of you will remain leaders in this community. Part of my blogging will be about explaining to my readers how the flooding got so bad, and each of you are part of that history. And, I will be publicly asking you both to help us out with our flooding problems.
Be good to your neighbors.
Thank you.
Note: These comments, as all of my comments, have been copied to Irion County ISD Board President Vicente Flores, Superintendent Ray DeSpain and the school's lawyers. This has been my practice from the beginning, and I have never received a reply; their deafening silence has been a stimulus for the creation of this site. You can find the audio of this City Council meeting here. You can find my related April 4, 2022 comments here.