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Before you run off for Thanksgiving, here are some very important updates! Speaking of Turkeys, watch this run around! * Save the Date – Saturday, January 24th : For the rescheduled “Remember the Ogallala” meeting , though it’s likely to be held in Austin with the legislative session already underway by then. More soon. *  Rep. Tim Kleinschmidt is resigning! That it comes within just weeks of his reelection, makes it a dizzying runaround for all House District 17 voters — Lee, Bastrop, Caldwell, Gonzales and Karnes countians. It also makes it clear that the fix is in on Dist. 17, but not on our watch. More below. * San Antonio, Monday, Dec. 1 , Linda Curtis will be in San Antonio meeting with folks about how we’re going to flush Vista Ridge . Call Linda directly for details at 512-657-2089. * Next Statewide Conference Call , Saturday, Dec. 6, 9 am. Reply for details. * Bastrop, Monday, Dec. 8, 8-1:30 pm . Please sign up to attend the “ Environmental Summit ” being held by TCEQ and Sen. Kirk Watson. We’ll talk about this on our satewide conference call. ****************************************************** No one we know believes for a moment that Kleinschmidt had no idea he was about to move up to a cushy job as the General Counsel for the Department of Agriculture. Surely, the Republican Party establishment has a plan and a candidate. The Governor appears to has some delineated power to set the election date. It is possible we will see an election coming up very quickly. Don’t be surprised if some in the Democratic Party are in on the plan. Though Democratic State Senator Kirk Watson is now supposed to represent Bastrop County, he was at the TCEQ last February advocating the LCRA cut-off the “downstreamers” on the Colorado River. If you know someone who would like to run, or you have someone you’d like to recruit, let’s talk about it. Stay tuned… We are also hearing from others across the state who want to us to come to speak with you or help you develop plans to flush Vista Ridge. We love getting those demands put on us, so keep ’em coming. Please comment below on any of your concerns. Happy Thanksgiving to you! #2015legislativesession #Kleinschmidt #VistaRidge

We are canceling tomorrow’s event in Wimberley. There is so much bad to severe weather on the radar for tomorrow, we decided not to do this to the folks driving in from across Texas If you had planned to be in Wimberley tomorrow, please send us a note or call us at 512-213-4511 to let us know that you have received this message . We’ll be back with a followup plan. For now, please plan to join us on our next Conference Call — Saturday, December 6, at 9 am. A note of encouragement from a showdown in the city of Austin last night. Brian Rodgers led a coalition across the city that struck a big blow to an incredibly foolhearty fast-tracked special interest plan for two highend golf courses at Decker Lake on public parkland. We need to keep building a cross-partisan independent movement of citizens. I’m here for you to make plans for local meetings. Be in touch please. PS This picture of Lake Travis is from 2006. It’s worse today.

When you get to the end of this email, you’ll figure out why the laughing chicken is here. It’s great to see many new people signing up to come to Wimberley this Saturday. How ’bout you? Sign in here . Still undecided about coming? Here’s what is going to happen there: You will learn about how in-migration growth, waved on by our political “leaders” and the real estate lobby, is undermining economic development in Texas and what we can do about it. You will gain an understanding of what the political gamesmanship is going to look like “on the water front” in this legislative session. You will hear our best guesses about what good and bad water bills we might expect and how you can help “whack” or support them accordingly. You will learn how we can reform eminent domain in this legislative session. You will meet up with others across the 142-mile Vista Ridge water pipeline and formulate plans to bust the contract over the next 30 months. There are many ways to skin a cat, which is why we need all you cats in the room! You will learn about how the people of Denton landed a big punch on the Railroad Commission and the oil and gas industry. The event is just a casual (and high level) learning and strategy session, so stop your cogitating and sign up to join us. I will leave you with a profound statement I found on the internet for you to think about before Saturday. Please bring your own for a little fun in the opening session at 10: “I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives.” Unknown

We are so glad many folks are asking why we’re going to be in Wimberley on Saturday, November 22. THIS EVENT IS CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER. Read more here . You’ll be impressed with the agenda and speakers, Remember the Ogallala, Remember Vista Ridge! But really it’s YOU that we most need to be there to strategize and plan. Reserve a free seat now right here , then invite others. This is the first annual meeting of the League of Independent Voters of Texas. If you like checking your brain outside the polling booth and voting straight ticket, please don’t come. 🙂 Sure, there are still some good people in both parties but look – to put it bluntly – BOTH parties, and the big business lobbies, are turning this state into a virtual kleptocracy. Sound too harsh? What do you call it when government and business join together to steal what is clearly not theirs and leave the citizenry without the resources upon which their lives depend? Friends, this is what is happening to our water, our land and our rights to local control. We have been given a big DUE NOTICE by: Vista Ridge — the largest water grab in Texas history, pushed by both Ds and Rs. Lawsuits and backroom deals by water profiteers, while many officials look the other way. The oil and gas industry and their bedmates — the Texas Railroad Commission — boldly teaming up to overturn local control in Denton and…who knows where next. The good news is that despite all their money and power, ordinary Texans have these guys just a tad worried. Voters are not finished yet, with runoffs for City Council (District 2, San Antonio) and 8 out of 11 seats in Austin up for grabs in typically low turnout runoffs on Dec. 9 and 16, respectively. Do you agree that WE — rural and urban Texans — must come together outside the parties — to make our own plans? Then, what are you waiting for? Reserve your seat now! Is it not time to stand together and to Remember the Ogallala, Remember Vista Ridge? PS For those of you who don’t remember, fifty years ago one of the world’s largest aquifers, the Ogallala, was called “drought proof”. In some parts of West Texas today, the Ogallala has maybe 15 years left. #LostPines #Ogallala

Calvin Tillman is a leader in his own right, but also sits on the board of the League of Independent Voters of Texas. The following was written by Tillman just following the passage the voters of Denton passing a ban on fracking within their city limits. It was a landslide! On November 4, 2014, there was a historical vote in Denton, TX, which of course was when the residents voted to ban hydraulic fracturing within the corporate limits of the city.  This is a bit shocking considering the political make up of this area and the amount of funding that the industry sunk into defeating this measure.  Another interesting thing is the margin of victory for this measure, for all the money that was sunk into this election by the industry, they were not even close to victory.  What is also shocking is that candidate races in the area still went heavily to republicans.  In the Texas State Representative race for House District 64 which encompasses Denton, the republican Myra Crownover easily won with 64 percent of the vote.  So is clear that a large number of republicans supported this ban. Many years ago, during a meeting with the industry, I voiced my displeasure with the manner in which they did business and told them that if they continued down this path, that no one would want this industry doing business near them.  I hate to so I told you so, but I did.  Now the question is will they ever learn, and the initial response is “no”, they will never learn.  After getting their tails kicked pretty badly in an election where they had all of the advantages, they chose not to change their business practices, and truly try to be the good neighbors they say they are on TV, but they filed a lawsuit.  This makes it clear that they’re never going to try and be a good neighbor.  Instead of running to make amends for their wrong doings, they try force their way into the neighborhoods, continuing to be bad actors. At least in places like Denton, this probably could have all been avoided if this industry had one ounce of compassion for the communities they do business in.  However, they chose to violate the wishes of the community, resulting in the ban on a technique that was developed a few miles up the road from here.  Denton is also a town that has a large industry presence, with several of these companies having offices and other facilities there.  However, when you trample all over people private property rights, kill their property values, and destroy their quality of life, you should expect something like this. Instead of trying to work with the communities that they were pissing all over, the industry runs to Austin for help.  To which the Texas Railroad Commissioners came running with bells on.  Unfortunately, the trio better known as the three stooges here in Texas, did nothing more than what the industry did, which was like pouring “gas” on a flame, and made the situation much worse.  Did anybody ever give those who were working on the ban any respect for their complaints?  No, they all just insulted them even more, accusing them being buddies with Putin, and other false and misleading statements, which of course didn’t work, but again fanned the flames. I was taught something at young age which was; when you find yourself in a hole…stop digging.  However, the oil and gas industry and their supporters must have missed that little piece of common sense.  The results are that they gave a couple goofballs $800,000.00, which turned out to be a big waste of money.  I know this may be a shock to those in the industry, but after years of misleading and lying to people, nobody trusts you.  Therefore, when you give money to someone that lies on your behalf, that makes them paid liars, and even a fool can spot a paid liar. What is even more damning for the industry is that the paid liars are losing the battle in other areas as well.  A total of 4 bans on hydraulic fracturing were passed around the country.  And these bans were not implement with millions of dollars from Russian backed environmental groups, but rather by a small group of local citizens.  Normal people who have regular jobs, but are tired of seeing their property rights trampled all over by an industry who couldn’t care less.  One of my most trusted advisors says “there is a billion dollars beneath our feet and they don’t care who they trample on to get it”.  This is truly a case of Goliath being taken down with a slingshot and smooth stone. Of course, the Texas Railroad Commission is not the only one running to the industry’s aid, the other prostitutes will come running with their aid as well. The Texas Land Office has joined the industry filing a lawsuit.  The Texas Land Office mission states: “The Texas General Land Office serves the schoolchildren, veterans, and all people of Texas by preserving their history, protecting their environment, expanding economic opportunity, and maximizing state revenue through innovative administration and prudent stewardship of state lands and resources.”  Not sure what makes them think they have dog in this fight, other than the fact that most of the Texas elected officials at the state level fight over the opportunity to pimp themselves out to this industry. State Representative Phil King, of Texas House District 61, who serves on the Energy Resources Committee, has already committed to introducing legislation that removes a Texas municipality’s right to ban hydraulic fracturing.  Of course Representative King, is another who will fight for the opportunity to pimp himself out to the industry, and never look his citizens in the eye while doing it.  Texas House District 61 encompasses the Azle, TX area where they have had the rash of earthquakes caused by the fracking waste injection wells.  However, Representative King did not show up at the meetings held by the state, and has thus far refused to talk with his citizens about these earthquakes.  It must be noted that Representative King has multiple ethics violations and is therefore technically a “crook”.  He also refuses to look me in the eye when I testify before the Energy Resources committee; therefore, I take him as a coward.  He also refuses to take a stand to protect the property rights of hard working Texans. It is strange that Representative King would choose to remove local control when on his website he states that “Local control and limited government must be the first resort not the last”.  However, it is clear that those positions go out the window when we are talking about the Oil and Gas industry.  When it comes to this subject, it appears that the Austin cronies are good with an overbearing state government, which takes away local control from municipalities.  It is also clear that the Austin Cronies like Representative King, are more than willing to ignore a valid election, and overturn the will of the people.  I guess when you are a prostitute for the oil and gas industry, things like local control and limited government, are just buzzwords. One thing that is missed in all of this by the industry and their prostitutes is that the people who are affected by all of this have property rights also.  Our private property rights start where our property line begins, so why doesn’t the industry consider keeping their noise, odors, bright lights, and hazardous chemicals on their side of the fence?  They trespass their crap on our property and expect us to take it.  The hardworking, honest Texans who voted for this ban don’t want a noisy, smelly industrial site, 200 feet from the backdoor, and those other than the industry and their cronies understand that fact. The people of Denton passed an ordinance that would have helped protect people’s private property rights, and the industry ignored their wishes.  What exactly did the industry expect?  Don’t blame the people of Denton for this ban, blame the industry and the prostitutes who support them.  Common sense tells you that you cannot keep ramming this stuff down the throats of the people without consequences.  So if you’re in the oil and gas industry or are one of their elected prostitutes, it was you who got yourself into this, not environmental groups funded by Russia, but you.  The blame is yours, so take the whipping that you deserve. Calvin Tillman Mayor Emeritus, Town of DISH, TX (940) 453-3640 #CalvinTillman

This giant toilet sits in the lobby at SAWS. Flush Vista Ridge! Join us on Saturday’s 9 am conference call. Reply for details. CONFERENCE CALL TOPICS: *How the Austin city election has the growth machine dazed and confused. *Details on a barely reported pleasant surprise in San Antonio’s city election. *How Denton citizens banned fracking, whupping the oil & gas lobby. *How we’re gonna flush Vista Ridge down this giant toilet in SAWS’ lobby! Hear Ye! Hear Ye! LEAGUE of independent VOTERS OF TEXAS FIRST STATE MEETING The League’s First Annual Meeting, aptly entitled, “Remember the Ogallala, Remember Vista Ridge”, will be on Saturday, November 22, in Wimberley, Texas from 10 to 5 pm. Are you coming? Better let us know — reply or call us for details. This event will focus on water, growth and political reform especially in light of the 2015 legislative session. The event is free, though we will provide lunch for $10 or you can bring your own. An agenda will be out shortly and will be posted in our calendar section for this event. #dentonfrackingban #SAWS #VistaRidge

We can’t say it was unexpected, but the San Antonio City Council voted unanimously today for the Vista Ridge $3.4 billion water grab. BUT, hold your horses! The Vista Ridge contract contains a provision that San Antonio Water System can walk away at any time, for any reason, within 30 months of the signing of this contract, with minimal penalties. What that means, folks, is that we CAN pull Vista Ridge down!!! Today begins the beginning of the unraveling of the Vista Ridge deal as our grassroots efforts have captured very important media attention! Read this Texas Tribune report and consider leaving a comment there and sharing it. We promise you, Vista Ridge will not stand — if we, rural and urban Texans — stand together, just like we did today. We are proud of each and everyone of you — many not in this picture nor even in the Council chamber today — who stood up with us to say no to harming our communities and our aquifers. We will be back soon with some ideas to kick around. Just keep those letters coming in — it’s on the home page of our website. We need to keep multiplying our numbers. PS Please reserve Saturday, November 22, to spend the day with us figuring out how we’re going to get the legislature to listen to citizens come January 2015.

The good news is that rural and urban Texans are standing up to the growth lobby that wants our water, our land and our money — no questions asked. TONIGHT — Farmer’s Branch, 7 pm! Our own Calvin Tillman will debate the propagandists for the fracking industry . It’s at Brookhaven College Geotech Institute, 3939 Valley View Lane, Farmers Branch. Will you come with us this Thursday (early morning) to San Antonio? Vista Ridge is on the agenda early — the meeting starts at 9 am at the Municipal Building, 114 W. Commerce. (Contact us now if you’re coming, call 512-213-4511!) The ugly news and we stand corrected: We have the recording from SA Mayor Ivy Taylor on KTSA-550 AM radio. Listen to what she says in response to Michele Gangnes’ question from Lee County:  Click to listen to Gangnes v. Taylor . Call in any weekday to KTSA’s Trey Ware Show (5 to 9 am) — correct #:  210-599-5555, the Mayor is on the show on Wednesdays starting at 8:30 am, but it’s hard to get through. TO DOs for YOU! Followed by good news and really good news! The real good news!  Our own Michele Gangnes has her own terrific op-ed in Sunday’s San Antonio Express-News opposite City Councilman Joe Krier’s piece, Krier, for decades was CEO and President Greater San Antonio Area Chamber of Commerce. The really really good news! We went to San Antonio on Friday night to speak with a great group of folks at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. One of them is a former San Antonio Councilwoman and community activist — Maria Antonietta Berriozabal — a genuine stateswoman. She wrote to us after reading Michele’s editorial on Vista Ridge. I n my opinion, the process is fast tracked because there is a history in San Antonio that when the people are well informed, especially about their water, people come together from every corner of our beloved city. They become engaged. They organize. They speak out. They have a history of winning against incredible odds…but there is something different in Vista Ridge. As Ms. Gangnes correctly offers in her great oped of today, there is a new Texas urban-rural connection of voices. More people are beginning to see that our local issues are part of a major growth period in Texas where, as we know, water and energy will continue to drive the growth. It may just be that the Vista Ridge Pipeline will be fodder for statewide organizing. No telling what can be done by good organizing crossing all kinds of social, political and economic lines.

San Antonio interim Mayor Ivy Taylor –on Wednesday’s KTSA-550 AM radio show — said she hasn’t received any complaints about the Vista Ridge water grab! Really? STEP ONE: Call the Mayor’s COMMENT LINE NOW!  210.207.2280. Ask her to hold her horses (the real estate lobby) on Vista Ridge before she harms two aquifers and her own ratepayers! STEP TWO:  Generate thousands of letters to the Mayor and Council here: SIGN AND SEND HERE and SHARE IT STEP THREE:  Reach tens of thousands of San Antonians on Facebook Click here to LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE SAN ANTONIANS! PLEASE CALL YOUR DISTRICT CITY COUNCIL REP TOO CALL 210.207.7040 with the same message! Here’s the Council’s contact page . (If you don’t know your rep, they will tell you who they are. Remember them for the future!) SINCERE THANKS TO Barret Lyne and Terri Hall ! Soil scientist, Dr. Barret Lyne of Brazos County, drove the pipeline route down to San Antonio, alerting officials along the way — he got surprising support! Terri Hall ( Texas TURF ) sent out a powerful message comparing Vista Ridge to the Trans-Texas Corridor and is helping reach out to voters in North San Antonio. CLICK HERE to visit our new Vista Ridge Page — there’s lots more you can learn and do. We’re uniting rural and urban Texas, with your (and Taylor’s unintentional) help — thank you all and thank you Mayor! #SanAntonioWaterGrab #SimsboroAquifer #KTSA #EdwardsAquifer #TerriHall

Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape, an aquifer guardian. Did you see today’s opinion-editorial by Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape? Way to go Judge! The League of Independent Voters is calling two special and urgent meetings. One for Bastrop County and one for Lee County: This Saturday, Oct. 18, 2 pm-3:30 pm, at the Bastrop Library (1100 Church Street, Bastrop). Next Tuesday evening, Oct. 21, 6:30-8 pm, at the Giddings Library, 276 N Orange Street. Please pass this along and bring your neighbors! San Antonio Water System (SAWS) may be pulling a fast one. Tomorrow, SAWS is calling a special meeting of their own to “tweak” the $3.4 billion Vista Ridge contract they already signed! Remember, the Vista Ridge project involves a 142-mile pipeline to move 50,000 acre-feet per year of groundwater from our area aquifer (the Simsboro formation of the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer) in Burleson County to San Antonio! That portion of the Simsboro only recharges by 2,000 acre-feet-year, according a UT study in 2012. Please continue to ask folks to sign our letter to the San Antonio City Council and add their own comments: Click here If you know folks in San Antonio (or these additionally affected counties — Milam, Burleson, Comal, Hays and Bandera counties) please get them to sign the letter too and include their own comments. Use the share buttons on this page to spread the word, won’t you? And, feel free to comment below.

Bill Bunch of Save Our Springs Alliance speaks with Lee County landowners, Gary and Dorothey Gerdes at his side Join our 9 am conference call tomorrow (Saturday, October 11) to get active in the League of Independent Voters of Texas. Reply to this message for call instructions or call us! Urban and rural Texans are joining together to fight San Antonio Water System’s Vista Ridge water and money grab. Here’s Austin’s Bill Bunch of Save Our Springs standing with Lee County landowners, Gary and Dorothey Gerdes, before the San Antonio City Council on Wednesday night. Together, we hit the press jackpot — see links below. KSAT-TV : I love seeing Henry Urban (Lee/Bastrop County) standing in the background with our sign, while the Chamber of Commerce “growth lobbyist” speaks:  click here San Antonio Express-News : Charlotte Gilman (Bastrop County) and Rose & Gene Fritsche (Lee County) are right there:  click here Texas Tribune : Hilde Sides (Lee County) is in the spotlight! click here KENS : I like their opener in this piece. Judy Martens (Burleson County) got a great quote! click here FOX-TV News : SAWS talks about the rate increases, which is a critical issue to all San Antonians:  click here San Marcos Mercury News : message from San Antonians — slow this down, not for growth — that is what’s driving this deal folks: click here KTBX Talk Show : Our own Michele Gangnes v. SAWS Chief of Staffer. Michele was her usual well-spoken and informed self: click here

This picture was taken in Giddings last February at a crowded meeting of the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District. Hundreds of people were there to support the District’s conservative approach to protecting the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, and its coveted, very slow to recharge Simsboro formation. This aquifer has become the most endangered groundwater in Texas . In the Lost Pines GCD (Bastrop and Lee counties), one private water marketer, Forestar Real Estate Group, is suing for 45,000 acre-feet and another, End Op L.P., is pushing for 46,000 acre-feet from the Simsboro. The picture has been used by Forestar Real Estate Group’s attorney, Ed McCarthy, and San Antonio Water System CEO, Robert Puente, to chastise both the rural supporters of Lost Pines GCD and the District itself.   The citizens were dismissed as “water hoarders” who live over a “drought proof” aquifer and don’t want to share. Nothing could be further from the truth about those who have led the fight for protection of groundwater, and its critical contributions to surface waters (rivers, streams, bays and estuaries) for generations to come. The problem for central Texans is political. That is, some of the political leadership that should serve them is more willing to serve the real estate lobby that cannot seem to get enough people to move to Central Texas fast enough. State Representative Lyle Larson’s opinion-editorial last Friday disingenuously called for “ending the water wars”, while calling those who are fighting to stop his “models of regional cooperation”, like the $3.4 billion SAWS Vista Ridge Project, “un-Texan”.  At the other end of the pipeine, Lee and Bastrop counties’ State Representative Tim Kleinschmidt of Lexington sold the water from his family land to Forestar Real Estate Group. What they have not told their constituents is that the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation that serves Burleson and Milam Counties has over-permitted its portion of the same aquifer that serves the Lost Pines . Nor have they told them about the University of Texas Report in 2012 that determined the deep recharge of the Simsboro in Burleson County is only about 2,000 acre-feet per year. The Vista Ridge project being rushed by SAWS will take 50,000 acre-feet per year from the Carrizo-Wilcox, with most of the water coming from the Simsboro. Central Texans are also not being told of the risks the Vista Ridge project poses to the fast recharge Edwards Aquifer, another equally critical aquifer – particularly its sensitive recharge and contributing zones in Hays and Comal counties. Instead, the state representatives that serve San Antonio and some of the rural counties have become part of the problem. Respected San Antonio hydrogeologist and former Edwards Aquifer Authority Board member, George Rice, has been studying proposed Central Texas groundwater projects. He weighs in stating, “We know that all the Carrizo-Wilcox groundwater removal projects on the drawing board in Burleson, Lee and Bastrop counties will reduce the amount of groundwater that discharges to the Brazos and Colorado rivers. As a result, the amount of water flowing in these rivers will be reduced with as yet unknown effects. In my opinion, the Vista Ridge project should not go forward until SAWS has thoroughly investigated all of the effects that this project will have on water, and the people and ecosystems that depend on it, including the bays and estuaries along the coast.” Bill Bunch of Save Our Springs Alliance in Austin has long been involved in the region’s water sustainability, especially in efforts to protect the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. Bunch wrote to SOS members throughout the region last Friday, “If approved, San Antonio will be delivering yet more water to feed growth over the Edwards Aquifer in northern Bexar, western Comal, and eastern Medina counties. SAWS has already sought to mitigate the financial blow of the proposed deal by selling portions of the water to feed growth in the US 281 corridor, over the Edwards Aquifer recharge and contributing zones, in Comal and Hays counties…Rather than reduce groundwater pumping in the Hill Country, importing water to the Edwards contributing zone often leads to increased groundwater pumping (to supplement the very expensive imported water)… Increased groundwater pumping from the upstream Trinity aquifer reduces inflows to the Edwards and the Blanco and Guadalupe rivers. The new development served by the imported water adds urban runoff pollution and increases flooding and erosion downstream.” For Bunch’s full statement go here . About that picture – it is a very simple statement by the people of the Lost Pines that they are unwilling to endanger their water supply to pay for unbridled growth. They are hoping that others across the Edwards Aquifer and its recharge zone join them in ending the Texas Water Wars by protecting our precious groundwater and surface water . All of our lives depend on it. ‫Citizens from across the affected areas are just beginning to be alerted about how this project affects them and are being urged to come to San Antonio City Hall this Wednesday, October 8, at 6 pm for the first public hearing on Vista Ridge‬.