City of Lumberton, TX Bans Republican Women of Hardin County from Meeting in Community Center

The City of Lumberton, TX and City Manager Steve Clark have kicked out the Hardin County Republican Women's group from using the Lumberton "Pete Trest" Community Center.

The Community Center is a city public building that was built for the community to use. There is of course a rental fee that must be paid to use the building to cover building expenses and to pay for a city employee to be at the events at the community center.

For nearly every month in 2012, the Hardin County Republican Women's group paid to rent the building for their once a month meetings. Even though it is a women's group, it is the only Republican group that meets on a monthly basis in Hardin County and men are welcomed. I went to some of the meetings at the Lumberton Community Center last year.

Everything was just fine. The rent was always paid, the city never had any problems, and the meetings were getting better and better. Just a couple of years ago, most elected officials in the county (Hardin County) were Democrat. Now most elected officials in Hardin County are Republican. This Republican group has played a big role in helping grow the Republican Party in Hardin County. The Republican Women of Hardin County group is a part of the Texas Federation of Republican Women.

The County and City still have some old Democrats who do not particularly like to see their good ol boys lose elections or be forced to switch to the Republican in order to stay in office in the now Republican County. Apparently, the Lumberton City Manager, Steve Clark, does not like the progress that the Republican Women's group has made either, or at least he does not want the Republican Women's group to meet at the Community Center anymore. The question is why? I don't know whether or not the city manager is one of these old Democrats, but I do know for a fact that most of the local city officials and city manager tried to stop Governor Rick Perry from coming to Lumberton last year to endorse State Representative James White. James White won instead of Mike Hamilton (who most of the Lumberton city officials openly endorsed). Maybe they are still mad about that?

Here is what we know for sure. For nearly every month in 2012, Lumberton City Manager Steve Clark allowed the Republican Women's group to rent the Community Building. He accepted their money. He signed off to every monthly request to use the building. He never once objected to the Republican group using the facility.

Well, out of nowhere, right before the January 2013 meeting, the City Manager told the Republican Club they are no longer welcome to use the community center ever again for a once a month meeting.

I contacted the Hardin County Republican Women President, Janis Holt, and asked the reason they were banned from using the facility. Janis Holt said that the City said that there was a policy that does not allow anyone to use the community center for monthly meetings. They said that the Community Center could only be used for random parties or events and therefore the Republican Women could not use the center for scheduled once a month meetings. As a disclaimer, I want to say that Janis Holt did not ask me to write this article. She would probably actually rather me not write this article because it might stir some things up and she does not want the Republican Women's group to get hurt. I understand that and so I want to make sure to include this disclaimer that Janis Holt did not ask me to write this. I am writing this article on my own because, well, I have a habit of sticking my neck out there because I believe that shining light on the government doing wrong is a good thing to do even if I have to take some heat for it. What happened here is wrong and I personally felt that it needed to be exposed.

First of all, what kind of community center does not allow organizations to meet at the community center and pay the fee just like any other event?

Second, it seems as though this policy is bogus and was made up to kick out the Republican Club. If this was a real policy that had been in effect for years then why did the city manager allow the Republican Club to use the community center for nearly a year? Is he that incompetent? Why didn't the City Manager speak up after the second monthly meeting last year instead of waiting until several meetings and a year later? I do not think he is so incompetent that he did not know the Republican Group was meeting on a monthly basis. He knew they were and he had no problem with it. The city manager did not speak up sooner because it was not against policy for the Republican club to use the community center for monthly meetings. It only became a policy after, I can only assume, the the City Manager did not like the last election results or got tired of the Republican Women's group becoming more successful. He can't stop the group from meeting, but he can ban them form meeting in the community center.

I have been asked why I believe that this "new" policy and the city manager's actions are targeting the Republican club only and not any other clubs. Well, the answer is simple. The Hardin County Republican Women were the ONLY group using or requesting to use the community center for monthly meetings. So, if the Republican group was the only group meeting at the community center, then logically this new policy banning monthly meetings was directed at, and only affected, the Republican group monthly meetings at the community center.

The City of Lumberton, TX has some major problems. This is just one of more recent problems but it is very revealing. The City Manager kicked out the Republican club from the COMMUNITY RENT CENTER for crying out loud. A once a month meeting is just too much for the center to handle I guess. Maybe the City Manager should rename it as the non-community center.

Texas Republican Party Under Attack – Indictments on Criminal Charges, Court ordered Injunction, Attorney General Investigation

The Republican Party of Texas is under attack. This attack does not come from the outside, but rather it comes from the inside. Does the term RINO come to mind? Well it should. RINO is a term used to describe a REPUBLICAN IN NAME ONLY. These are people who run as Republicans but do not share the values of the Republican Party of Texas Platform. What is happening now is MUCH WORSE than someone just running as a Republican who does not believe in Republican values. As we speak, Democrats have infiltrated the Republican Party with the intent of taking over and destroying it. It is the modern day Trojan horse.
Why is this happening? Well, Texas has always had a very strong Democrat stronghold on local elections even though the majority of Texans vote Republican in State and National elections. Then Obama got elected and Conservatives woke up. The local Democrat networks saw that the people of Texas would soon be voting Republican in local county elections (and not just State and National elections) and the local Democrat control would be broken apart.

The solution was that if all the Democrats switched over to the Republican Party all at once then they could effectively take over the county Republican Party and retain control of local politics and keep the good old boy Democrat network in place.

Upshur County, TX
5 Democrat officials switched over to the Republican Party In 2010 and then systematically and illegally attempted to rid the Republican Party of Republicans so that the old Democrats could keep their power. Read this statement from and email that I received from Steve Findley, the State Republican Executive Committeeman for Upshur County:

“5 D’s rolled over into the Republican primary 2010. They picked a RINO Chairman to wipe out the conservatives and replace them with RINOs to protect the D’s who rolled over in ensuing elections. Three of those rolled over D’s, the County Judge, the Sheriff and a County Commissioner were indicted last week for official oppression” – Steve Findley

WHAT?

First things first, According to Steve Findley, the new RINO Upshur County Republican Chairman held his first County Republican Meeting on June 5th, 2010. This new Chairman, Ken Ambrose, disregarded all rules in an attempt to become a dictator of the County Republican Party. When he could not get the Precinct Chairs (the voting body of the County Republican Party) to go along, he illegally relieved the precinct chairs of their positions and appointed his own RINO Precinct Chairman. Just so everyone knows, Precinct Chairmen are voted on by the people of their precinct and the County Chairman cannot just kick them out and appoint his own. After SREC member Steve Findley, and other Republican Officials, attempted to resolve the issue privately to no avail, there was no choice but to file a lawsuit against the RINO Chairman. On January 3rd, 2011, Judge Banner granted an injunction against the RINO Upshur County Chairman Ken Ambrose by ruling in the plaintiffs favor and against the Upshur Chairman on every complaint. 

That is just the beginning.

In September 2010, the Upshur County Commissioners Court voted to end public comment at county meetings. Then on November 30th, 2010, Jimmy Caughron protested the Commissioners Court decision by showing up at the Commissioners Court meeting and sitting silently with tape over his mouth. Mr Caughron got a Sheriff’s escort out of the meeting. As a result, three county officials, all three are Democrats turned Republican, were indicted on charges of official oppression. 

The county defended their actions by stating that Mr. Caughron illegally disrupted the meeting because having tape over his mouth at the meeting was public comment at a meeting where public comment had been prohibited.

This is contrary to the Supreme Court ruling in Tinker vs. Des Moines. In that case, three students were sent home from school for wearing wristbands to protest the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court ruled that this silent, not-disruptive speech was protected under the First Amendment. Remember this Supreme Court ruling because you might see it again soon.

Hardin County, TX
Hardin County has always had Democrat local officeholders. Just in 2006 there were NO republicans on the ballot in Hardin County. With the new national wave against Democrats happening, these Hardin County Democrats knew they had to do something to keep their control so most of the Democrats in Hardin County switched to the Republican Party in 2010. Some of these office holders are really conservative and made the decision for right reasons. Others only did it to keep control and do not care about the Republican Party.
The Democrat Justice of Peace in Lumberton, TX was running as a Democrat in the 2010 election, that is until he, and other county Democrats, got a Republican Challenger. This Justice of the Peace, Butch Cummings, knew he would lose as a Democrat so he switched to the Republican Party. Instead of having a fair election for the people to decide, Butch Cummings secretly went to his opponent’s job and used his official position to get his opponent fired unless he dropped out of the race. REALLY? It is against Texas Law to coerce a candidate to drop out of an election. This kind of thing you hear about in reference to Chicago-style, mob-controlled politics. Whatever problems that Mr. Cummings had with his opponent, he should have used in his campaign against his opponent and the people would decide. You CANNOT rig your election and deprive a community of an election by illegally forcing your opponent out of an election by trying to get him fired unless he dropped out. This illegal activity was discovered during the primary election when the opponent of Mr. Cummings approached the Republican Party of Hardin County and explained that he was being coerced to drop out of the race by Mr. Cummings.

Everyone knew what happened but no one was brave enough to stand up for fear of retaliation. Some knew about it and just ignored it. Liberal reporter Gerry Dickert, from The Silsbee Bee, even admitted on a media blog that he had a voice recording of Butch Cummings in which Mr. Cummings admitted that he was trying to get his opponent fired from his job simply because he decided to run against him in the JP race. That is how bad it is here in east Texas when the local newspaper has a recording like that and just sits on it. It also says something that these good old boy Democrats believe their political positions are entitlements that they get to keep forever without anyone running against them.

It gets worse. When I questioned Butch Cummings about illegally coercing his opponent to drop out of the race, Mr. Cummings used obscenities and threatened me with bodily harm (in front of small children). It was caught on voice recording. The rest of his political, good old boys came to his aid. Mayor Don Surratt, who was fined for unethical financial reports, was part of this argument too because I asked him why he lied on his finance reports. City Manager Steve Clark told me to leave a public parking lot or he would have me arrested for “inciting a riot”, simply because I asked the Justice of the Peace and the Mayor about their illegal actions. (Sounds similar to the Upshur County Official Oppression doesn’t it?) Councilman Don Burnett even attempted to call the Police Chief and have my mother’s car towed because he said she was “illegally parked in a handicap spot even though my mother was dying of cancer (she passed away a few months later). While we argued she was the one with the strength to tell everyone to pray about their actions and stop arguing with each other. She always showed the Love of Christ.

When no one else would stand up and defend Democracy I knew I had to do something, so I stood up and filed a criminal complaint against Butch Cummings for rigging the election by coercing his opponent to drop out.

The complaint with the Attorney General seems to be stalled because no one wants to talk. The complaint sent to the county was rejected by the county, including District Attorney David Sheffield. David Sheffield is also a Democrat turned Republican and part of this old county political system. David Sheffield is a very nice guy, but that is the problem because he is nice to the bad guys too and lets them off on many occasions! (Remember David Sheffield because you might hear his name again soon.) I have not heard anything back from the City Court in regard to my complaint against Mr. Cummings threatening and cursing in public. Lastly, there is a current investigation against Butch Cummings being conducted by the Texas Committee on Judicial Ethics.

Conclusion
Now, with all that being said, many of the Democrats currently switching to the Republican Party are doing it for the right reasons and I am happy they are coming over to be part of our Party! On the other hand, we in the Republican Party must always be diligent to protect the Republican Party rules and values. That even means standing up against a fellow "Republican" if need be if that fellow Republican is breaking the law or doing something contrary to the Republican Party rules and values. You see, people do not make the Republican Party. A set of values and beliefs make the Republican Party and people who prescribe to those values make up the people of the party. It is all about the values. We must especially be wary when it comes to Democrats switching over. We WANT Democrats to switch over whose beliefs are really Republican beliefs even though they have always been a Democrat. We WANT those people and there are a bunch of them and many of them have been switching over lately. I am especially excited to see minority groups coming to the Republican Party because they are realizing that the Democrat Party is not for them. So we are excited to see so many Democrats turning Republican. But what we DO NOT want are Democrats switching over who DO NOT believe in the Republican Party values and instead they are only switching over because they know they cannot win as a Democrat anymore. These Democrats will, and already are, trying to sabotage the Republican Party from the inside.

Sincerely,
David Bellow