SULPHUR RIVER BASIN AUTHORITY SHUTS OUT THE PUBLIC - AGAIN
A coalition of the concerned citizens and landowners charged today that the Sulphur River Basin Authority and it associates have shut out the public in a public relations blitz to promote their sagging Marvin Nichols proposal to the media and the community leaders.
They referred to the SRBA's unveiling its "new economic study" to support the building of the controversial Marvin Nichols reservoir. SRBA insisted on only the media representatives attending- by invitation only. "To shut out the public is outrageous," said Max Shumake, president of the Sulphur River Oversight Society (SOS). This reeks of backroom politics and is a flagrant abuse by a public agency using public funds.
This is nothing new. The present SRBA leadership has consistently been hostile to the public. We knew from notes taken at the June 19, 2001, SRBA meeting that a media blitz, as they termed it, was part of the their internal plan. This was interrupted when citizens all over Northeast Texas rose up in anger and threw them off their game.
They have now come back with that same game plan, hoping it will sway the media and the civic and business community into believing their long-discredited promises of economic pie in the sky. We know that "pie in the sky" always stays in the sky. It doesn't ever reach the earth where we live. We predicted a year ago that the Nichols pushers would cook their data, if necessary - whatever it takes to line up support for this Billion-Dollar Boondoggle that would feather the nests of a few.
Empty promises never justify the taking of our homes and livelihoods that our families have held for generations back to days of the Republic of Texas. This is the issue, not feeble claims of pie in the sky.
If the SRBA and its buddies have any interest in the public, they should answer these questions: Who paid for the study? How much did it cost? Is there any conceivable conflict of interest among the parties involved? Who would profit from building the reservoir?