Twenty Peaceful Minutes

Welcome to Twenty Peaceful Minutes (20PM) - a community website for Forney, Texas. In addition to this blog, 20PM is home to the Forney discussion forums, which you may reach by clicking the Forney discussion forum link or going to http://20pm.net/forums; also, considering signing up for email or newsreader (RSS feed) notifications of new posts to the 20PM blog!

The City of Forney will be hosting a retirement reception this coming Sunday, March 30th for Odessa Moore, the retiring city secretary. The reception is a come and go event from 1-3PM at Forney City Hall, located at 101 E Main Street, and the public is welcome to come and help celebrate Odessa’s 26 years of service to our community.

• City of Forney Seeking Input on Forney’s Comprehensive Plan

  The City of Forney has announced that they will be reviewing and updating the Comprehensive Plan to...

• Brooklyn Crossing MUD Blindsides Local Officials; City of Dallas Approves Development Along FM-548

  It's a fairly unknown fact that Forney was originally called Brooklyn, which is no doubt is the...

• Forney - Tree City USA?

  While doing some research recently on the National Arbor Day Foundation, I ran across information about the...

Another favorite local blog of mine is ‘The Ruminations of OLDnFEEBLE‘; ONF focuses on Terrell and the politicians that represent it, all the way from the Terrell City Council up to our local congressmen and even the president and presidential candidates. I loved his post back in January about Mitt Romney’s plan to put ‘old folks’ to work; he writes about serious political topics with an engaging, witty style.

Each month, the Comptroller’s office releases a report of the sales tax receipts for that month, and each month, ONF compares the current numbers to the same month in the previous year, and produces a chart showing how much sales tax revenue is growing in Terrell, in Forney, in Kaufman County and throughout the State of Texas. He posted the March report yesterday, which shows a 24% increase in sales tax receipts in Forney compared to March ‘07. Terrell saw an increase of 7%, while the Kaufman County and State-wide averages were around a 9-10% increase.
(Read on …)

• March Primary Election Update

  The primaries are just around the corner, and while there's been a lot of attention on the...

• The Great Texas 2008 Energy Star Sales Tax Holiday - Memorial Day Weekend

  Planning a big appliance purchase soon? If so, you may want to wait a few more weeks...

• Voters Approve All 16 Amendments; Beer & Wine Sales in Surrounding Communities

  With a fairly low 8.5% turn-out of all registered voters, voters in Texas approved all 16 amendments...

Final results have been in from Kaufman County for a while, and now final results are in from Henderson County, 31 out of 31 precincts have reported in, so we know the outcome of the Republican Primary for Texas House - District 4. Incumbent Betty Brown defeated challenger Wade Gent by a narrow margin of 51.88% of the vote to Gent’s 48.12% of the vote.

Republican Primary

For State Rep, District 4 - Kaufman County Results
Betty Brown - 3,890 - 50.46%
Wade Gent - 3,819 - 49.54%

For State Rep, District 4 - Henderson County Results
Betty Brown - 4876 - 53.06%
Wade Gent - 3,112 - 46.94%

For State Rep, District 4 - Combined Results
Betty Brown - 8,766 - 51.88%
Wade Gent - 8,132 - 48.12%

• Wade Gent Announces His Candidacy for State Representative, District 4

  The Athens Review published a piece yesterday in which Wade Gent, Forney resident, announced his intention to...

• Entire State Watching Hotly Contested House District Four Primary Between Gent & Brown

  While the rest of the country watches the Democratic primary in Texas to learn who will capture...

• Kaufman County Primary Results - 42 of 42 Precincts Reporting

  I'll update this post as additional votes are tallied, and provide some commentary tomorrow, as well. UPDATE...

I’ll update this post as additional votes are tallied, and provide some commentary tomorrow, as well. UPDATE - with 42 of 42 precincts reporting in Kaufman County (although I’m not certain if this includes mailed, military, provisional, etc. ballots), all the races have been decided except perhaps the contest between Betty Brown and Wade Gent for Texas House District 4, as we’re still waiting on 9 more districts to come in from Henderson. I’ll create a new post once the results are in from Henderson as well.

Thus far, it looks like incumbent sheriff David Byrnes has defeated challenger Eddie Frankum for the Republican nomination for sheriff; Dick Murphy looks to have the Republican nomination for Tax Assessor-Collector, as well. For Precinct 2 Constable, incumbent Joe Don Law has prevailed over Kalon Rollins and for US Senator, incumbent John Cornyn has won the nomination.

For president, while Mike Huckabee has a strong showing here in Kaufman County, within less than 80 votes of John McCain, most media outlets have already called the state-wide nomination for McCain and say that McCain has clinched the Republican nomination for president. UPDATE - Huckabee has pulled ahead of McCain by 66 votes. Huckabee continues to load McCain, now by 75 votes, but apparently hasn’t seen success outside of Kaufman County, as he has officially conceded to McCain, who is now the Republican candidate for president. Huckabee’s lead in Kaufman County is now 216 votes. Now it’s up to 242 votes, wow. Huckabee ended the night winning Kaufman County by 284 votes.

The one race that’s still too close to call is Texas House District 4, where incumbent Betty Brown leads challenger Wade Gent by only 247 votes. UPDATE - Brown’s margin is down to 174 votes. Now it’s at 179 votes. However, these results only include Kaufman County. I’m working to find updated Henderson County results, but Dallas News and other sites seem to be far behind on updates in this race. Found the Henderson County results, apparently the updates are slow because Henderson has only tallied a small portion of their votes so far. The combined totals put Brown ahead of Gent by 626 votes. Brown’s lead has climbed to 786 votes with 22 of 31 precincts reporting in Henderson County and 41 of 42 here in Kaufman County. With all the Kaufman County precincts reporting, Brown’s lead is 766 votes. Chances are, she’s won another term in the Texas House, but I’ll post a new story once the final numbers come in from Henderson County, as well.

On the democratic side of things, Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama by over 1,000 votes and appears to be the choice of Kaufman County Democrats. UPDATE - Clinton’s lead is up to almost 1,200 votes now. Now it’s at 1,220 votes. Now at 1,383 votes. Now down to 1,297, but with only one precinct left, it looks like Clinton has locked up Kaufman County. And with all the precincts reporting, Clinton ended up beat Obama by 1,281 votes in Kaufman County.

Republican Primary

For Sheriff
David Byrnes - 5,435 - 75.42%
Eddie Frankum - 1,771 - 24.58%

For Tax Assessor-Collector
Dick Murphy - 5,186 - 72.93%
PJ Gibson - 1,925 - 27.07%

For Pct 2 Constable
Joe Don Law - 2,034 - 78.26%
Kalon Rollins - 565 - 21.74%

For State Rep, District 4 - Kaufman County Results
Betty Brown - 3,890 - 50.46%
Wade Gent - 3,819 - 49.54%

For State Rep, District 4 - Henderson County Results (22 of 31 precincts reporting in Henderson so far)
Betty Brown - 3,807 - 55.02%
Wade Gent - 3,112 - 44.98%

For State Rep, District 4 - Combined Results
Betty Brown - 7,697 - 52.62%
Wade Gent - 6,931 - 47.38%

For President
John McCain 3,601 - 44.58%
Mike Huckabee 3,885 - 48.09%

For US Senator
John Cornyn 5,906 - 82.24%
Larry Kilgore - 1,275 - 17.76%

Democratic Primary

Hillary Clinton - 5,457 - 55.64%
Barack Obama - 4,176 - 42.58%

Results are being posted to this thread in the discussion forum as well, and updates will generally appear there first.

• Final Henderson County Results Are In - Incumbent Betty Brown Defeats Challenger Wade Gent in House District 4 Primary

  Final results have been in from Kaufman County for a while, and now final results are in...

• March Primary Election Update

  The primaries are just around the corner, and while there's been a lot of attention on the...

• Entire State Watching Hotly Contested House District Four Primary Between Gent & Brown

  While the rest of the country watches the Democratic primary in Texas to learn who will capture...

While the rest of the country watches the Democratic primary in Texas to learn who will capture the Democrat’s nomination for President, the eyes of Texas are upon Kaufman and Henderson county, home to Texas House District #4. Incumbent Republican Betty Brown is being challenged by Wade Gent, who she only narrowly defeated in the Republican primary in 2006; the race is being watched by Republicans throughout Texas because Representative Brown is an ardent supporter of controversial Speaker of the House Tom Craddick, who fended off an attempt at the end of the last legislative session to remove him from an office he has said gives him “absolute authority”. Many observers feel that if more than four to six Craddick-supporters lose their positions to Democrats or Republicans who don’t support Craddick, Speaker Craddick will lose his position as Speaker of the House in the next term.

On a local level, the race is vital to the future of Forney; the North Central Texas Council of Governments estimates that Forney is one of the largest cities in District 4 - indeed, the population growth estimates indicate that Forney will be the largest city in District 4 by the end of the next two-year House term Brown and Gent are competing for, however, there isn’t even an office for the District 4 Representative in Forney yet (although plans for one were finally announced recently).

The primary is tomorrow, Tuesday, March 4th; polls will be open from 7AM to 7PM. All registered voters are encouraged to vote and it’s especially important that residents of Forney and the surrounding area let their voice be heard; politicians pay attention to which areas have more active voters, so please go vote! Where you vote depends on your precinct. Your precinct is listed on your voter registration card - find your precinct number on this list at the county website to find out where you vote. If you don’t know your precinct number or have lost your voter registration card (which is not a problem - you can vote by showing your driver’s license), visit this page on the Secretary of State’s website and enter your driver’s license number and they will let you know what your precinct number is.

I strive to keep Twenty Peaceful Minutes an open and neutral forum for all candidates and office holders, so I won’t be endorsing either candidate, but I do want to make sure voters make an informed decision, especially in such an important race as the Republican nomination here in Texas House District Four. It’s quite interesting reviewing campaign contributions and endorsements each candidate has received, so make sure to click ‘Read On’, below, for the full story - one candidate clearly has more ties to Forney, in my opinion. And of course, stay tuned Tuesday night when I’ll post the election results as they are tallied and there will no doubt be some lively discussion about the results in the Forney discussion forums.
(Read on …)

• Final Henderson County Results Are In - Incumbent Betty Brown Defeats Challenger Wade Gent in House District 4 Primary

  Final results have been in from Kaufman County for a while, and now final results are in...

• Wade Gent Announces His Candidacy for State Representative, District 4

  The Athens Review published a piece yesterday in which Wade Gent, Forney resident, announced his intention to...

• March Primary Election Update

  The primaries are just around the corner, and while there's been a lot of attention on the...