Joshua City Council meeting - July 2010

Tonight's meeting was rather short (2 hours) which is always nice.  Nearly all our action items were pretty routine and unanimous.  This post, however, will not be short.  I'll probably spend more time writing it than the meeting lasted!

• Our police department is partnering with the City of Keene in an agreement to use their police dispatch system for our patrol car laptop computer access to the state databases.  This will be a big improvement to our department and a great asset for our officers to quickly get information on automobiles and individuals especially during traffic stops.  It will also cut down on radio traffic which can get rather busy sometimes.
• Phase 2 of our bond package street improvements will get underway now with the approval of the contract to Reliable Paving.
• Additional street repairs will be getting started around town with the approval of an interlocal agreement with the county.
• We passed the final language of our mud farm ordinance to make sure drilling waste does not get dumped in the city again.
• The council approved a speed limit change with TxDoT affecting FM917.  An area that is now 40 MPH on the west side of town will be increasing to 45MPH which was of concern to Councilman Moore who voted against the measure.  I appreciate his reservations on the change due to safety concerns, but with traffic currently averaging 49 MPH per the TxDoT study if we step up enforcement of the new 45 zone perhaps we'll actually slow traffic down.

The most discussion of the evening came from item number one on our work session agenda.  Before the council was a draft of an ordinance to regulate the sale of alcoholic beverages in the city.  This was put on the agenda for the council to begin discussion on the topic to make sure we have an ordinance in place ahead of a possible vote on this issue next May. This was not an action item and probably will not be an action item for at least one more council session, maybe more.

The possibility of the sale of alcohol being on the May 2011 ballot is being spearheaded by me.  I believe we are in a unique window of opportunity to capitalize on economic growth and the passage of this measure will help ensure it's success.  This is not a city council issue.  The only way this comes to a vote is by a citizen of the city starting the process and gathering the required number of signatures.  I have chosen to be said citizen for the betterment of our city in the long term regardless of the political repercussions.  I am well aware of the opposition to such a measure and I'm familiar with most of the reasons people cite in opposition.  I disagree.

Councilman Davis passionately presented his opposition at tonight's meeting.  I fully respect his opinion though given the nature of the agenda item his issue really had nothing to do with the regulation of alcohol sales in the city, but with the legalization of the sale of alcohol which, again, is not a council issue.  With the laws in place in the State of Texas it will never be the responsibility of the city council to debate the merits of legalizing the sale of alcohol in our city.  Each member of the council will have their opportunity to voice their opinion at the ballot box.

Councilman Davis cited some scripture for us this evening warning of the necessity to discern good from evil.  Those are good words for everything we do every day of our lives, but I don't find them compelling in this instance.  I do not believe the legal sale of alcoholic beverages is a debate of good or evil actions.  The two strongest oppositions to this will be religious arguments and safety arguments and I'll address both here now.

I am a Christian in the most true definition of the word (and Word).  The Bible warns of many evils, but alcohol touching your lips is not one of them.  Jesus miraculously turned water into wine and I'm pretty confident it was consumed after that.  Especially since they had run out of wine at the party already.  When He broke bread with the twelve for the last time He drank of the fruit of the vine and told them He would not do so again until He was in the presence of the Father with them again in Heaven.  Councilman Davis likened this to Sodom and Gomorrah, but there was a whole lot more going on there than a glass of wine with a steak dinner. There will be countless scriptures quoted in the coming months on both sides of this, but if all the Christians will love one another in the end then we'll get through it.

The fact of the matter is people have weaknesses and make bad decisions.  Some people don't know when to stop drinking.  Some people drive after they've had too much and kill innocent people.  Whether Joshua's six square miles of dirt becomes a place to buy alcohol isn't going to change that.  Within 1.5 miles of our borders you can buy beer.  To our North it's only about 500 feet.  Like it or not there are people who live in Joshua who drink alcoholic beverages.  It's legal to do so in the United States of America.  They leave our city and purchase it from neighboring cities and bring it home.  Sometimes they go to neighboring cities and have a drink with a meal.  I'm not satisfied with Joshua being a fast-food-as-you-pass-through city.  We can be better.  We can be a destination.

If you want to get into what's good for the body or not then choosing between every possible fast food is not going to prolong your existence any.  In fact there are people who abuse food.  They cannot stop eating once they start.  There are people who live in Joshua with that problem.  It's a serious health concern plaguing our entire nation, but we're not wanting to keep grocery stores or fast food restaurants out of town.  It was even suggested we get a McDonald's instead and be happy with that sales tax revenue.  The next argument would be that people who over eat are not a danger to others.  Good point.  How about those who abuse drugs though?  I'm not talking about illegal drugs.  I'm talking prescription drugs and even over the counter medication.  I'll bet there are people living in Joshua who abuse both.  Where do they get such awful things?  Burleson?  Cleburne?  No, they can get that in a pharmacy right here in town or even the grocery store.  Do you think too many Tylenol PM's could cause someone to kill someone else out on the road tonight?

I get that alcohol related deaths are way too high and driving under the influence is against the law.  I'm not trying to minimize that in the least.  Everyone probably knows someone who has been affected by a drunk driver.  The people that want to drink will drink because it's legal to do so and I see no moral issue in them being able to purchase it in the City of Joshua.

This will be an interesting 10 months.  Lets keep this civil and let the voters decide.

God Bless America.

A.J.