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October 9, 2003.
As time gets closer to Jack Patton’s felony trials, look to see if he does not approach the school board again for a settlement. Why? This is about money. Patton still has nearly four years to go on his contract, so graciously granted to him by former school board members Kristy Hopf, Teri Hutto, and present board members Mark Stephenson, Mark Chapman, Bill Kirkman, and Billy Ratliff. Patton’s holding the cards on these members if…. they did anything wrong. Did business with the school…did business with the school without going through the bid process…did business with the school for profit…. did business with the school for gain and other favors. Favors that were not granted to you and I. The quietest moment I remember was when the Auditors office was reading one of the criticisms to the Board, in open session, when Kristie Hopf made a statement in a tone that was not happy. The Lady Auditor said, “you should have known”.
No one alive could have guessed how all of this was going to turn out. Or…even that you or I had not made the same mistakes had we been board members. But remember….many of these actions were not mistakes. It was greed. It was about money. It was about favors…and not the least for some members…it was about power and prestige. That is why LISD has $4,000,000 less net worth today, than it had January 1, 1999.
You can bet that if this Board were to settle with Patton, the reason given will be is that it will save money over the long run. And friends…that is true. Patton, with the right attorney, and the right events, could still be paid by this District for four more years. Another $500,000!!! Plus attorney fes for LISD. The unsaid side agreement would be ”if you pay me”, “ I will not talk”. Sitting school board members do not want Patton “talking”. When he does…when he gets mad enough, Patton will tell all. And if that happens, the house of cards will fall. At this point, only money will keep Jack quiet.
Maybe by December 1, we will have two more board members to help lone new member Alan Geistman. There are those out there that have tried to paint Alan with the same brush as sitting school board members. Very moronic to me. Alan wants to get on with making our school the best it can be, with the resources available. Critics only want the entire system to come down. And will not be happy until that happens.
The money leaks at LISD have stopped. There are no more $10,000 goal post, or $2300 computers being purchased that would cost you and I $799. Money you see being borrowed today is a common practice in business known as a line of credit. Lines of credit are for the purpose of paying bills until the tax revenue comes in. Heaviest amounts will be received over the next 100 days. This school board is not borrowing money to pay for change orders, or anything that is not a necessity. But if you read one local paper, you would get the idea that everything is the same as two years ago. In fact, a repeat of information by this same paper on information that was reported up 18 months ago is still being written about with no time line. No dates, no explanation of when things happened. It is about integrity. To continue to write like nothing has changed is a complete grasping for headlines, by people that are no longer part of the solution. Good reporting stopped a long time ago in this publication. It is too bad. Llano could still use two newspapers.
Some other news. Head football coach Scott Langley went to the Llano Hall of Fame banquet…without any encouragement from anyone. This week he took his football team the visit the Hall of Fame located in the O.Henry Building. Scott knows and recognizes the wonderful past that Jacket football teams have enjoyed, and the value of tradition. I appreciate his taking the time to remember.
The good news of the Llano Memorial Hospital getting and securing the $50,000 grant last week was very special, and I am sure many in Llano worked hard for it. But, the message still is that over time, maybe a short amount of time, Llano Memorial will become a “trauma center”, or as one person explained, a glorified emergency room. I honestly do not know if this is good or bad. I have been told it will be the only way for the Hospital to survive, long-term. Others feel it is an abandonment of years of hard work, all for the sake of a few. The few?
People that
would benefit for a Hospital to be located near Horseshoe Bay. Developers, real
estate people, some doctors, and construction people. These are the ones
pushing for Llano
Memorial to become “less than it is today”.