Letters – Reader applauds Roland’s courage
To the Editor:
Did you miss it – that act of quiet bravery on behalf of Caldwell County? It happened on Monday, Aug. 25, 2014, when a lawyer paid by a very large corporation, Philips and Jordan, tried to make the public think that our county commissioner, while doing his job protecting and representing his county, was an embarrassment who acted illegally.
I hav
e never been so proud of a public servant as I was of Commissioner Joe Roland. He did exactly what he was asked by thousands of Caldwell County residents to do, he spoke up for us. He opposed this landfill to the Capital Area Council of Government. For that, Green Group Holdings’ lawyer Brent Ryan threatened Commissioner Roland and our county with a lawsuit.
For those who have looked into Green Group Holdings – which, interestingly, is hard to do – this was not a surprise. (Ernest Kaufmann is a former manager of Browning Farris Industries and David Green is a former lawyer for Waste Management Inc.) Recently Green Group Holdings has donated money to the Lockhart Chamber of Commerce, the little league teams and purchased weekly ads in the newspaper. And while we thank them for this generosity (sometimes made in undisclosed amounts) – for most of us in Caldwell County it is not reason enough to submit to undrinkable water, foul air and a daily increase of 500 waste-truck-traffic for years to come.
After all, we live here, and Ernest Kaufman, David Green and Lawyer Brent Ryan do not. And now Green Group Holdings has publically threatened our community and our elected officials with a lawsuit and accused Commissioner Roland of pathetically “begging” – that’s what Ryan repeatedly called Roland’s act of representing us.
So if you missed it — go to http://caldwellcountytx.swagit.com/play/08252014-501
Under the Aug. 25 meeting index, click on item No. 4, Citizen’s Comments. The third speaker (about four minutes into the eight-minute item) is GGH lawyer Brent Ryan – and he thinks we’re beggars.
Lou MacNaughton
Dale
