It Was Broken When We Found It

01/10/2024

Hmmm... That's quite a bit. When people have their rights violated and then are fired wrongfully - it can get very expensive. Small towns need to do better.

20/08/2024

???? forget about the certification levels and "Dollar" differences - does anyone actually work for $100 / day? It's possible that VISD is simply trying to be prudent with your tax dollars... who are they hiring / extorting for these wages? This isn't 1983, which is when, economically speaking, these wages would have acceptable.

Wow -

🌟 WE'RE HIRING SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS! 🌟

Join Van ISD and make a difference in our students' lives! Apply now: https://www.vanisd.org/page/humanresources

16/08/2024

The City of Van has been very lucky to have Jeff... We're not even sure if there was an option as budget deadlines are on the City - but a sincere Thank you to Jeff Hudgens for accepting this.

10/08/2024

Thursday Thunder podcast is published and will be available within 24 hours at all the cool places that you would generally get your podcasts from OR - you can listen to it directly from our website https://iwbwwfi.com/ .

Yes, we do the recording via a FB live session, with video - but the published podcast is much better to listen to as the audio is mastered taking out the sharp noises, static etc. Between the low resolution jerky FB resolution, the bad audio and questionable content - it's a wonder anyone watches / listens to the FB version.

The podcast is MUCH better quality.

IWBWWFI is a podcast that discusses many different topics.  We're not afraid of hard topics or a little humor.  Our hearts are about 'small town' local and with that,  it's election time in Van Texas! We're excited to get into the topics and candidates.  Be watching for more posts on Facebook an...

09/08/2024

Tune In

08/08/2024

Most people don't post lawful interactions, so this is rare to actually get a clip that shows the officer actually exonerated and beyond that - no right's violation. Everyone has the same rights until they don't. Good job Officer James and hopefully you get an apology - you deserve it.

06/08/2024

Yeah... part of the slacking was not showing you the letter to the editor to Van Zant County Van Zandt News from December of last year. It was in response to an "Auditor" that graced the county... They're missing the point. There would be no auditors if the folks in power understood our rights. - No, they did not publish this...

Dear Van Zandt News Editor,

Thank you very much for the coverage and reporting on the "First Amendment Audits discussed during program at VZC Library" in this week's newspaper. Had this not been reported on, people who have and enjoy 1st Amendment rights, such as myself, would have not known that our officials are trying to further repress "we the people" right to free speech, or even freedom of the press.

I'm not surprised that there was not a "1st Amendment Auditor '' onsite to speak, but I was thoroughly disappointed that no one, who has and supports 1st Amendment rights, spoke up during the meeting? "We the People" are SUPPOSED TO ALL BE AUDITORS and it is our responsibility to be sure the government we form understands that we are a 'government by the people and for the people' and the rights that are being audited do indeed belong to every citizen "as they claim" and as reported.

While a lot of assumptions and generalizations were made about "them", the people 'auditing' this particular right, Obviously no one was there to answer the largest question that no one asked: Why are there people publicly testing the limits of their rights? I can assure you it's not for notoriety or clicks. We are testing the boundaries because the amount of ignorance that is put on full display, by a huge majority of the people in charge of protecting our constitutional rights, is absolutely frightening. Although some audits turn up officials well versed in OUR rights, most do not. The common denominator of almost every audit video, regardless of perceived motive or demeanor of the auditor, is that there is always at least one official enforcing a rule that doesn't exist and in doing so is encroaching into your 1st Amendment right. At its core, it's called Tyranny and if left unchecked, can turn into something much worse. The Auditors get away with their actions, because it's not illegal for 'them' to exercise their 1st Amendment right - YET. Although, there are a lot of higher powers that instead of understanding the lines involved with our unalienable rights, would like to further limit them as suggested by various officials at this meeting.

Instead of preparing "...to prevent some of this stuff and talk about the best ways to handle it", Officials, government employees, and anyone else in a position to violate another person's rights, should first thoroughly educate themselves on what our rights are and how the best way is to uphold and protect them. There would be no reason for anyone to conduct an audit if everyone that was in a position to violate the 1st Amendment, fully understood the violations and causes for them.

Until then and until people in higher positions fully understand our rights, to the same extent as the citizens auditing them, they should absolutely not be proposing more restrictive, and possibly illegal, restrictions on them.

Regards,

Ryan Hanson

06/08/2024

Yes, we've been slacking a little... no podcasts and pretty much dark. It wasn't on purpose and we always come back. We found a new place to broadcast from - Clandestine location 70. If we told you, we'd have to ....

Hopefully we can get the studio set up, because there's a lot to talk about - A LOT. It's good to be back - This Thursday at 7pm.

Buckle up.

10/07/2024

Part of June 17th documentation.

There is no provision in the ordinance for fines... funny how that got misconstrued to the press.

08/07/2024

Pretty interesting agenda and we would question the legitimacy of having a meeting, with every dept head, in closed session...

The Texas Open Meetings Act is in place to provide transparency and if your leaders circumvent those processes, or find loopholes - ultimately it's to not be transparent.

Personnel issues or a just an excuse to talk behind closed doors about what should really be public record?

05/03/2024

Go vote - and thank you Bill for not leading people to the vote, but to only vote. Many get carried away with how they would like you to vote. It's up to you - not them.

VOTE.

21/02/2024

Federal Court it is.... The city should have settled when they had the chance.

21/02/2024

Yes, we've been very busy and not posting much.... Also waiting as per attorney. How much can one incident and it's spiral effect cost the city? Well, we're about to find out, and so are you. I know how much it cost me ...

01/02/2024

We had no doubts.

Ya'll get ready for the next round. Every vote counts.

https://texasscorecard.com/state/jill-dutton-wins-special-election-for-vacant-house-seat/?fbclid=IwAR3sR5Y70P3amENZ9ncf14zZMQTWD4zZduhcPiEJFZSkXjRAy8A8BDe_etU

Both candidates will be on the Republican primary ballot in March.

26/01/2024

The County should not be allowed to strong arm Van and at least one Council member is making that very apparent. Thankfully Councilman Ryan isn't going to roll over as easily on this.

Although the process might not have arrived at contract, or written agreement, it's only because of the progression. Right is right and wrong is wrong and the County was / is fully aware of what the original agreement was. Not sure why Chad Laprade did the talking at a previous Council meeting and not Brandon Barton? - No amount of explanation puts money in our budget for an expense that wasn't ours. If the County can't find the money, why do they seem so sure that the City magically can?

Thursday Feb 8 at Edom would be a good place to voice your concerns about being strong armed into buying radios... The City of Van shouldn't be paying for bad math by the County.

"Chief Davis shared her monthly report".... 🤣🤣🤣🤣 - Not because she wanted to. Demand that all Department reports be given at every meeting. They didn't used to be optional.

22/01/2024

Cudos to VBSA for coming back to do Baseball registrations, but shame on the the City of Van for not being transparent in their operations.

City leadership has fallen into a bad, and even somewhat illegal habit of holding closed executive sessions and then not taking action afterwards, at least not openly and transparently as required by law under Texas Govt Code 553. Actions are definitely being taken though... and have been after almost every executive session.

In the last meeting there was indeed an executive session item pertaining to the Parks, Rec and Special Events coordinator - but no action taken.

How did this all revert back to VBSA and who made that corporate decision? Has the Parks and Rec position been scrapped? For the amount of time and resources vested in this, there should have been some substantial OPEN AND TRANSPARENT conversations about what's happening.

17/01/2024

Good Morning Van!

Information flow will be key to the next few months as the City Manager gets on board. POSITIVE information and comments are GOOD....thats what leads to GOOD QUESTIONS! Negative comments and emotions will be ignored most of the time! This is human nature! We encourage everyone to be involved in this process and help make good educated decisions and have professional respectful disscusions. I (Jimmy Newton) am posting this as an example of communicating with my local government. I encourage you to do the same if you truly want to be involed.

SIDE NOTE: Ranting on FB will not achieve results! My research shows that very few phones calls were made to the school or the City when we went through the WELL REPAIR and school closures. Just so you know!! BE PROACTIVE not REACTIVE!!!

17/01/2024

We know many of you travel on I-20 daily. Be sure to keep a look out for these. They are no joke and will put a rather large hole in a tire.

Fullers Towing and Recovery is offering a reward for any information that leads to arrest and conviction of the person/people responsible.

16/01/2024

The last City of Van Council meeting was held January 11th and although it didn't contain much in the agenda, the meeting was extremely informative and telling at the same time.

Kevin Johnson gave a thorough update on the well situation. Chief Davis didn't come prepared to update anyone and no other reports were asked for or given. As stated previously - hopefully the new Manager implements some new written, and verbal report guidelines for department heads. Reports are for the people and shouldn't be optional.

Councilman Ryan was on point with his comments and questions. In reference to the new radio issue, the County essentially strongarmed the City into a 100K expenditure that wasn't part of any original agreement, writing or otherwise. Somehow other cities knew the County would not be purchasing radios as originally agreed to and budgeted accordingly. Councilman Ryan asked the 100K question of "How did they know but not Van"? That one question needs an answer.

Watch this meeting -

CivicClerk events and agendas for citizens

16/01/2024

https://vantx.gov/2361/Proposed-Zoning-Ordinance-Information

This is 2 days away folks. You might want to look through it and share it with your friends and family. Get involved and be proavtive or "You get what you get.. and DON'T throw a FIT!"

More to follow.😎

Temporary page with information on the changes to the City Zoning Ordinance

15/01/2024

Once upon a time City dept head live reports at meeting never used to be optional, but have apparently become that way? The spoken reports aren't just for Council - they are for the citizens and those paying taxes. The written reports, specifically the PD report, have degraded since not having a manager. Not long ago, Council was very specific on what they wanted in the written reports. Not so much anymore? Hopefully the new Manager can correct this. We're pretty sure he recognizes the format below.

From Jimmy Newton -

We understand that city’s handle their meetings differently. A City Manager's Report will normally contain all the information and updates from all the departments and agencies under their charge. Here is a SAMPLE City Manager Report. Take a minute and see if this is the type of information YOU would like to see published and released during our monthly City Meetings?

I agree with a statement Charles Ryan made months ago about “Why do we have to ask for the departments to give us a report… it’s on the agenda and they should be ready to do it” (paraphrased of course).

This SAMPLE report would simply clear a lot of things up and make the agencies and departments accountable for their monthly reporting. We have already learned what happens when information is not documented and recorded, furthermore the TRANSPARENCY of the process would make sure people are not hiding information.

The past is gone along with the previous City Manager, we need to move forward, and this is the perfect opportunity for making BOLD CHANGES to our methods, communications and procedures so we DO NOT duplicate the past.

1. What else would you like to see in this report? The POLICE section is already HIGHLIGHTED.

2. Take the time to review and at least leave a YES / NO and or comment.