election results: arlington, fort worth, grapevine, haltom city, keller, mansfield

Arlington
Robert Cluck was re-elected to the position of Mayor of Arlington. In District 3, incumbent Robert Rivera defeated challenger Marvin Sutton. Kathryn Wilemon, Lana Wolff and Gene Patrick also return to the council.

Fort Worth
Mayor Mike Moncrief was re-elected in a landslide with over 80% of the vote. Also, all of the incumbents on the council were re-elected: Sal Espino, Chuck Silcox, Danny Scarth, Carter Burdette, Kathleen Hicks and Wendy Davis.

Grapevine
In Grapevine, Place 1 voters will have to decide between Traci Wilkinson and Mike Lease in a runoff election. In Place 4, incumbent Darlene Freed handily won re-election.

Haltom City
Incumbent Bill Lanford returns as Mayor, and on his coattails, so do incumbent council members Jim Sutton, Christopher Holcomb and Diane Bransom.

Keller
Challenger Pat McGrail defeated incumbent Mayor Julie Tandy, and in Place 1, incumbent Steve Trine lost to newcomer Ray Brown.

Mansfield
In Mansfield, it was another sad night for incumbents: the new mayor is Barton Scott, who defeated Mel Neuman for the job; Mary Ann Johnston lost her Place 1 seat to her opponent, Mike Leyman.

Election results via Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Tarrant County Elections.

Public Hearing on Drilling Permit in Flower Mound

A public hearing on a gas driller's request for waivers has been scheduled for tonight's meeting of the Oil and Gas Appeals Board:

When: Wednesday, October 11 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Flower Mound Town Hall, 2121 Cross Timbers Road

From Marsha Gavitt of Voters United to Preserve Flower Mound:

A gas driller has submitted a request for a "blanket drilling permit" on property north of FM 1171, east of Shiloh Road , and west of Lusk Lane. They are also asking for waivers of the town’s required setbacks from adjacent property owners and environmentally sensitive areas. Blanket permits appear to be a new way to circumvent our protective drilling ordinance and to reduce the ability of residents to be informed and to have their concerns addressed.....

If you cannot attend the public hearing, please email your comments by 4:00 p.m. on October 11 to the town secretary's office at paula.paschal@flower-mound.com or fax your comments to 972.874.6453. Correspondence should include your name and address.

For a review of some of the issues surrounding oil and gas drilling in Denton County, please see our previous post: Grapevine Company Cited for Drilling Violations in Denton County.

Grapevine Company Cited for Drilling Violations in Denton County

Lowell Brown of the Denton Record Chronicle has an article on the impact of gas drilling in Denton County.

As development of the Barnett Shale fields travels east, more and more sites in Denton County are being drilled in proximity to home owners. Brown's article highlights the problems facing residents of Briarcreek Estates subdivision in Argyle.

Jennifer Cole didn’t know much about the gas-drilling industry until it arrived at her backdoor.

But when her backyard view changed from 12-acre prairie to potential drilling site last year, the stay-at-home mother started doing her homework.

She’d heard about recent gas-drilling accidents, including one in Palo Pinto County last December where a blowout left a 750-foot-wide crater and burned more than 50 acres. Could something like that, she wondered, happen in her neighborhood?

The residents petitioned government officials to investigate.

Last month, the city of Denton sued Grapevine-based Reichmann Petroleum Corp., claiming the company was operating at area sites — including the one behind Cole’s home and a nearby well — without city approval.....

The company failed to comply with city regulations on attaining plats, posting signs,
erosion control, drainage, security and well site maintenance, according to the lawsuit. City officials say gas lines that aren’t platted could be ruptured during routine utility construction, risking the safety of nearby residents.

Regulation of gas drilling comes under the jurisdiction of the Texas Railroad Commission, but laws generally favor mineral rights over surface rights. The commission has limited authority on placement of equipment, although it is chartered to ensure the purity of the watershed.

The site’s reserve pit of drilling “mud” — a blend of clay, salts, other chemicals and water — abuts the creek line, and neighbors worried a heavy rain could cause it to overflow into the creek. The pit has since been drained.

However, residents are still dealing with the impact of flooding caused by changes in the sites drainge patterns.

[Denton's gas well inspector] said the city would have considered drainage issues during the platting process, had Reichmann complied with it.....

Denton receives royalties from gas wells on city property, including several at Denton Municipal Airport. The Denton school district also has leased land for gas wells, including two at Guyer High School.

To appreciate just how important the impact of gas drilling is in Denton County, view the map.

stories from a dnc canvass

All four of the current contributors to the NTL blog participated in today's DNC Neighbor-to-Neighbor Organizing Day, one of the many events planned to implement Howard Dean's Fifty State Strategy. We joined members of the Flower Mound Democrats at a local restaurant and exchanged literature and ideas before heading off in pairs to different precincts around the area. We had block-walkers from Flower Mound, Lewisville, Double Oak, Highland Village, and Grapevine; all of us were incredibly enthusiastic and ready to show other members of the community that the Democrats have an agenda and that it is a clear alternative to the Republicans. Some of us used voter rolls to target Democratic households in an effort to get the base fired up, while others went from door to door spreading information on the Democratic plan for America and handing out literature about our great local candidates, such as Tim Barnwell, the Democratic challenger for Rep. Burgess. We talked to many registered voters that were ready for a change and were excited to see action from the Democrats in what is largely considered a conservative bastion.

I'm sure the other NTL contributors will share their canvassing experiences on the blog in the coming days, so keep an eye out for our stories from a DNC Canvass. It was the first time that most of us had participated in this sort of event, but we learned a lot and are fired up and ready to do it again. We're ready to bring the Democrats out of the woodwork. We're already planning on follow-up mailing materials, etc.

Also, if you participated in another similar event sponsored by a different area group such as the Dallas County Democrats or the Denton County Democrats or one of the local offshoots in the suburbs, please share your experiences through the comment feature here at the blog! Together we can really make a difference in North Texas through a progressive grassroots movement.