|Politics
Road repairs and ditches, government transparency and budgeting were key topics among commissioner candidates at the 2024 GOP Presidents Day forum, while constable candidates expressed a passion for service, and a need to be fair yet compassionate while performing the duties of the job at the Republican Party Forum. Sheriff ’s candidates each pledged commitment to keeping and lowering crime in Hopkins County, a benefits for officer retention.
While all candidates were courteous to their opponents in county races, things got heated between the two Republican candidates for House District 2, with discussion devolving to accusations and verbal finger-pointing.
Each candidate was required to answer four questions, with the order alternating one place in round robin style.
The commissioners were asked about government transparency and records, process for determining which county road in his precinct is to be repaired ahead of others, what would be done to address shortfalls and excesses of funds in the various divisions of county government, knowledge of the fire departments in the county.
Precinct 1 Commissioner
Incumbent Mickey Barker is finishing his second term in office and is seeking a third. He is challenged by Wesley Miller and Steve “Big” Smith for the Precinct 1 seat on Hopkins County Commissioners Court.
“I am honored and proud to be a member of the first all-Republican Commissioners Court here in Hopkins County,” Barker, who retired after 38 years with Verizon before seeking the county office, said in his opening statement at the Feb. 19 forum. “I would just like to put the challenge out there for every other one of the 253 counties in Texas to do the same.”
Barker said he brings extensive management and budgetary skills serving as area construction manager for Verizon for a number of years to the job.
“I have worked relentlessly to improve Precinct 1, which consists of 216 miles.
I have seven employees and have a budget of $1.6 million. I look forward to being your commissioner the next four years.”
Recently, the county has implemented a new computer system and added an employee to help keep records, which can more readily pull up records upon request to search for related information. Currently, the commissioners each have their own system, some with records in their vehicle and some at the precinct barn, some in binders and notebooks and others not as well contained.
Barker said it’s up to each commissioner to watch over, drive, and manage his roads in his daily activities. They keep work records every day, but it’s been up to each commissioner as to how they do that, which roads gain priority over others for repairs. He said while work may be scheduled, situations arise, such as an irate phone call, however, they require the commissioner to react swiftly, changing his plans.
Remaining within budget while making repairs to county roads, means having dirt roads that are bladed “every now and then.” Barker said. While there are several different methods of road building and repair, the primary methods used in Hopkins County, especially in Precinct 1, is primarily rock and oil sand roads. Barker said he has started a program of hiring a contractor to pave a halfmile of road each summer. So far, that’s about four miles of paved roadway, he noted.
Barker too noted that there is no set design specification for county road building in Hopkins County due to the various types of materials onto which it must be built and adhere, including sand, red dirt and blackland clay. The materials and how they are used is left up to each commissioner to use what he thinks best for his particular soil conditions.
“We always need more money, Right now we are looking at a $26 million budget for this year. The commissioners will sit down with the judge and we will distribute those funds to 30 different departments throughout the county. That's not counting the road and bridge fund,' Barker said. What’s left over pretty much goes to the road and bridge. My budget is $1.6 million. That’s a lot of money, a lot of money. But I guarantee you with the cost or oil, and materials, equipment and repairs, I will go through that $1.6 million this year. Everything is rising faster than we can count it.”
Barker said the county has reduced the tax rate the past three years, due to growth in the county.
“A lot of that $26 million we are seeing there is because of growth,” Barker said.
“Growth is one of the main concerns at Commissioners Court these days,” Barker said. “We made great strides in preparing for the future,” and the growth that “is coming inch by inch from the west.”
Among the ways the Commissioners Court has begun addressing that are the establishment of subdivision rules, upgrading them and RV regulations and regulations for tiny homes. Over the past three years, Barker said he has partnered with Texas Department of Transportation for assistance from their road and bridge program.
When asked about his knowledge of the fire department structure in Hopkins County as well as resources dedicated to each, Barker noted Hopkins County is one of only five counties in the state that has a paid county fire department. Hopkins County Fire Department relies on aid from the 11 volunteer fire departments in Hopkins County. Barker said the Commissioners Court is 100% in support of the volunteer fire departments and do what they can dedicate resources to aid the firefighters.
Hopkins County Commissioners Court pays for fuel, how many runs they make and insurance for their vehicles. He noted Hopkins County is fortunate to have the VFDs, whose services are called upon daily.
Challenger Wesley Miller is a lifelong Hopkins County resident who has been employed as a Precinct 1 employee for nine years, eight of which he has served as foreman, and said he is looking for a promotion to move up to county commissioner.
Miller said as a foreman, he and crews travel the roads daily. Since working with Bartley, staff keeps a daily list, logging all of their activity, roads and situations that need to be addressed.
Miller said determining which budgets might need more funding and which have surplus that can be moved annually when composing the budget would vary each year, depending on a number of factors, including the weather and availability of materials.
“I know the budget but I’m not sure where you move money to change something because some of that depends on what you are doing and the weather, traffic,” Miller said.
He believes having experienced personnel who know the job, are out working and on the county roads daily, to be a key factor in successful road construction within the precinct budget. Miller said he tries to work with the guys on the road crews.
Drainage, Miller acknowledged, is a big issue; if the water doesn’t drain, you’ll never have a good road, he noted. In his experience, a mix of hot oil in the summer has proven effective in road construction along the county roads. Repairs typically cost about $100,000 per mile, so, he said.
Miller said there is a need to be able to hire and retain high quality firefighters, and the county contributes quite a bit to assist the volunteer departments as well. He noted that the scrap metal county precinct workers collect from culverts and other work projects is sold, with proceeds going to the county fire volunteers.
Steve “Big” Smith and wife Donna have been in Sulphur Springs since 1988, and followed their dream of owning a business, opening Big Smith’s barbecue business in 1989. He served on Arbala Volunteer Fire Department for about 10 years. When his sons became active in Boy Scouts, Smith began donating time to serve as an assistant scout master for Troop 66 for 13 years.
He said he’d apply the same accountability and budgeting processes he currently applies to his business, documenting where every dollar goes and how it is spent, being accountable to the tax payers for any funds spent.
“I don’t believe enough money is being spent on the roads. Where we get the money, God only knows that right now. I’m sure I can dig around and find it. I think the roads need more of our attention than anything else,” Smith said.
He said road construction should start with clearing ditches, giving water somewhere to go besides over the county roads, then work should begin on the main roads in the county.
As for fire departments, he cited a meeting slated in Arbala over the weekend to discuss the possibility of going to a fire district.
“That’d mean taxpayers would pay a little more taxes for that district. As far as finding money, that’s right now what I can look at,” Smith said.
Precinct 3 Commissioner
Three candidates are seeking the Precinct 3 Commissioner seat, being vacated by Wade Bartley, who has opted not to seek reelection.
Lance Knotts said he loves Hopkins County, where the land and people are his roots, heritage and home. He said meeting new residents to the Hopkins County community at the 2024 Chamber of Commerce banquet is one reason he is seeking the office of Hopkins County Precinct 3 Commissioner.
“What struck me was their immediate expression of the uniqueness of our community. They spoke of the warmth, the genuine care and love that permeates throughout community. They praised our show of patriotism and faith that runs deep. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride as I listened to them. Watching friends and family receive recognition, witnesses the tears of gratitude in their speeches by those who call Hopkins County home reinforced this conviction,” Knotts said.
Knotts said showing accountability in finances as a commissioner would be pretty much the same as being a county road foreman or other business professional: keep receipts for purchases, create reports after every job is done so that everything is tracked back and traced back to the penny of what was spent and what it was spent on.
“As far as prioritization of what roads get fixed, I think there’s any number of reasons why one might move one road ahead of another,” Knotts said. “Different roads have different populations. So we always want to do what we can do to help the most people. Also, there are other roads that are vital for traffic, that have way more traffic. So, even if not as many people live on that road, they may use it to get to work. Those people using it to get to work may be nurses or doctors or other critical employees that need to get to town.”
He said he believes the best approach to road work, determining which roads get fixed and what level or repair is to just “get out there,” make a comprehensive list, where we need to start, what needs the most attention” and go from there, finding ways to do so while remaining within the county budget.
Knotts said it would be bad policy, not knowing who everyone works for, to stand at a forum and say money should be taken from them.
“I don’t think there’s anybody we need to take money away from in the county. I feel like there are places we could spend more and there are certain departments that end up with surpluses at the end of the year. The first one that comes to mind is our emergency services, Knotts said.
He said Hopkins County Fire Department frequently trains, then loses firefighters to Metroplex departments that pay more and offer better benefits.
“Our county fire department does a great job. We should work to try to find a way that we can pay them a living where they want to stay. I think that’s of the utmost importance. I know the sheriff ’s office is the same way. We’ve got to find way to compensate our officers to where they are tempted to stay here. A lot of them want to stay here anyway; this is their home. But, we all know how money goes. You can make more there, you have to follow a better future for your family,” Knotts said.
When asked about his knowledge of the county’s fire department and volunteer departments, and resources they do or should receive, Knotts acknowledged Hopkins County Fire as the county’s paid department and described volunteer firefighters in all communities as volunteers who give up their free time to undergo training, respond to calls and host fundraisers.
“Any resources the county can dedicate to our volunteer fire departments is a trickle down effect on each and every homeowner. If we increase the resources and better the resources for our county volnteer fire departments, our homeowners’ insurance ISO numbers go down, and that means cheaper homeowners’ insurance. That’s why it is so important if your volunteer fire departments are having a fundraiser to go out and support them, using those funds to save people’s property and lives. To sweeten the deal, they get rated for cheaper insurance.,” Knotts noted.
Travis Thompson has more than seven years of road and bridge maintenance experience between his work in Franklin and Hopkins counties, and eight years in the coal mine before that. He noted he grew up and has lived in Precinct 3 his entire life.
“We plan to stay and keep striving to help our community in any way we can,” Thompson said. “So I’ve decided to move on in and I guess the next promotion if you can’t go no more higher than the road crew, so just run for commissioner. I have the experience to get things done, fix roads starting with a good foundation. ….. Let’s start from the ground up, lay a good foundation and help Hopkins County.”
“I would say you would track everything. It’s your job or demanding. Commissioner using people’s tax money, you need to show where it’s going, If you can’t prove where the money’s going in the work that you do, then why be in there and do it? You’ve got to be able to justify a road whether the equipment or person lives on it, traffic or how it’s holding up Every road is different, has got different vehicles on it, different size vehicles on it. I think as far as going to let people know, if you go to two-way communications and maybe even run an app or facebook to show people one. weekly scale to show where you’re working at — where you’ve been and where you’re out,” Thompson said.
He said the best methods of road construction, working within the budget, is to hire experienced personnel. Thompson said not only is he experienced at building roads, but intends to help build roads if elected as a county commissioner.
“If you can hire personnel who hires the equipment and knows how to efficiently us the equipment and even knows how to work on the equipment, then, you are not having to outsource and you’re not having to expect one person on your crew or two people on your crew to cover more jobs in building a road,” Thompson said. “It takes multiple hands and multiple people working in unison together to build a good road and with staying under budget.”
Thompson, when asked about addressing areas of need or surplus in the county budget, cited state regulations which make the county judge and auditor the top officials who make the budget, which is done by seeking input from the commissioners if they need to move money from one side of the budget to another or to delegate money from one area to another.
“As far as moving throughout the year, that’s where you’ve got to be a good steward of your budget, to know that if you’re going to be overshot in one area you’ve got to go pull from another; that you’ve got to got to know good enough that if you’re going to be short on your roads, you’ve got to make your cuts. You can’t go pull from another department,” Thompson said.
Thompson said when paying firefighters, you are paying them for their education and skills. In order to hire and retain firefighters who are proficient in their skills instead of training them then losing them to other cities, the firefighters have to be paid competitive prices.
“I believe in helping the fire department any way we can. That is a lifeline that is getting smaller, because they are catching just as much grief as police. There just aren’t as many going into that field anymore,” Thompson aid. “I think if you can get out and support your volunteer fire department it’s going to help make your community a whole lot better.”
William “Bill” Holden, has lived in Hopkins County for at least three decades and 16 years ago started a medical supply business with a partner. The business has become “self sufficient,” not requiring him to be there all the time.
That frees him up to seek the office of Hopkins County Commissioner, an opportunity he sees as yet another way to serve others in this community.
“This gives me an opportunity to serve Hopkins County as commissioner for Precinct 3,” Holden said, noting it would allow him to dedicate himself to serving as County Commissioner if elected. “My entire life has been in servitude of people as that’s what makes me happy. I’ve worked for large and small businesses as a butcher, maintenance supervisor and now a business owner. Everything I’ve ever done has been with me being hands-on involved.”
Holden said in the medical field, everything has to be written down or it’s not counted — accountability, if you didn’t write it down, if you don’t keep up with it, then it never happened. There’ve been people out here in our community who’ve said you didn’t fix our road, didn’t fix the potholes. There’s more to it than that. As I’ve learned as I’ve been going to Commissioners Court and the work sessions for about the last year — I think I’ve missed two. I’ve learned a lot about the accountability for the county. I’ve learned a lot of things I had no clue that they had to do and take care of in our county. It’s not just fixing the potholes, but obviously, that’s the most important thing. There needs to be accountability and documentation. That’s set in place now, as Mickey Barker just stated. Someone was hired to take care of that. We need to do ourselves our own due diligence and keep up with that on our level,” Holden said.
Holden said road and bridge money is where people see the biggest amount of money spent. He said he believes those changes will occur next year if Donald Trump is reelected as president. The biggest problem, Holden noted, is that oil is currently too high, $90plus per barrel making it difficult to do much road work due to lack of oil to create the needed repair mix. That is significantly higher per barrel.
“You can look at the cost of lease equipment, equipment costs, repairs — all of those things are the next thing in line in budget that tells us where the money’s going. It’s not going to employees. It’s not going to benefits. All of your taxes are all set,” Holden said.
He said cheaper goods are needed to do the jobs. He believes electing a Republican as president will solve a lot of problems.
Holden agreed with the importance of clearing debris from ditches in times when water is puddling and running across county roads. The main thing in road building is having a good base, and “the rest of it's gonna handle itself.”
“I talked to a very longterm older commissioner and he said, stockpile, stockpile, stockpile,” Holden concluded.
When asked about the county and volunteer fire departments, Holden offered thanks to the sheriff for his inmate programs which have raised money, which allowed Hopkins County to raise the wage for Hopkins County workers.
“I feel it’s not said enough or talked about enough for the wages being raised for this county, not trying to toot his horn or someone else’s,” Holden said, adding that even with the increase this year, it’s still not enough to be considered competitive with DFW Metroplex fire departments. “Obviously, there’s something that needs to be done. I have two firemen in my family. They work in another town. We’re losing them, just like they were losing [personnel at one time] at the sheriff ’s department; couldn’t keep them.”
Holden said he’s not sure at this point where the money will come from, but in order to attain and retain the best firefighters, it’s got to come from somewhere.
Precinct 1 Constable
Chris Hill and Dennis Findley are both vying to become Constable of Precinct 1. Incumbent Norman Colyer opted not to seek an additional term in office.
Hill, son of Charlie and Melba Sickles and the late Harold Hill, a master peace officer, started his 27th year in law enforcement.
He said while the primary duties of the constable’s office in Hopkins County include serving as a bailiff in the justice of the peace court and serving civil process paper work/warrants. “In Hopkins County, they pretty much help out where needed, whether that’s assisting the sheriff ’s office or voir dire for the court system,” Hill said.
Hill said he hopes to expand that to do more service than is required of an officer in the state of Texas, to take it one step further to serve the people who elected him.
When asked how he plans to make the transition from criminal to civil law, Hill cited overlap of civil with criminal.
“It’s amazing at the amount of calls you get sent to, car theft or something being stolen, and we start talking to the victim, there was an agreement so it was a civil matter. You can take an incident report, but no criminal offense occurred,” Hill noted.
His last 10 years in law enforcement were primarily administrative, budgeting, grants and disciplinary internal affairs investigation, which he noted are many times civil in nature. He also supervised animal control officers, who are authorized to write city ordinance violations, but most on there are Class C. Until about a year ago, he was a member of Police Futurists International, which looks at the future of all law enforcement and what issues may come about both criminal and civil, and have that for access.
Hill said he is seeking the office of sheriff out of a desire to serve others.
“In my opinion, through the last 30-40 years, law enforcement has gotten way far away from the service oriented approach and more into the protect and service. They went from the “ask, tell, make model” to things we’ve been seeing on the news lately,” Hill said.
Hill said being a law enforcement officer for as long as he has, one gets accustomed to being part of other people’s lives when it’s not the best part. Most of the time when officers are dealing with people in the course of work, they are dealing with them at a bad time in these indivdiuals’ lives. He said serving civil process, going with CPS to remove a child from a home, or serving an eviction notice, requires serving with humility, dignity and respect.
He said being a mental health officer for 26 years and teacheing a 40-hour crisis intervention class teaches officers how to interact with individuals in crisis at that moment, and to recognize there are many factors that can contribute to an individual’s mental and emotional health, and methods that can be enacted to help deescalate the situation, Hill said.
Regardless of who wins, when Norman goes out, they have huge shoes to fill.
“I want to serve y’all. That has been the focus of my campaign. I have been in Hopkins County, my family has been in HC. I was born on a dairy, taught how to work hard and pinch a penny,” Hill said, noting his intent to pursue grants for equipment.
Findley has served in law enforcement for the last 28 years, including 25 in Sulphur Springs. He is currently employed as a sergeant investigator to continue the legacy and stand upon the shoulders of those constables who have served the county in the past. He has extensive training, including over 3,000 hours of inservice training, and holds many TCOLE certifications. Findley is a TCOLE instructor, hostage negotiator, skilled in fingerprinting and court security certified. He promised to bring a fresh perspective, transparency and efficiency to the office is reelected.
“I’ve spent the last 28 years in law enforcement — in criminal law enforcement. I believe it’s laid the foundation for me to transition simply into civil law,” Findley said. “As far as challenges, I will meet the challenges head on and do the very best job as have the constables have done before me, standing on the shoulders of them as well.”
Findley said public service is what he is enjoys most about his job. He spent 25 of his 28 years in the business doing that.
“I want to continue that public service and assist other law enforcement agencies in their endeavors as well. But, I have the responsibility as a constable to take care of the responsibilities as a constable, delivering civil process— that’s our goal We need to take care of that,” Findley said. “My promise to you is that I will never tarnish that badge. That’s the most important thing to me, never tarnishing that badge. I will always uphold that badge above everything.”
He said his 28 years in law enforcement and last ight as an investigator, he’s had opportunity to interview people, seeing some at their worst times. He said he’s able to have compassion while still doing his job.
“The job comes first and then the compassion, taking care of the situation, trying to explain to them, during that very difficult time in their life.” Findley said.
Hopkins County Sheriff
The forum featured both Republican candidates for sheriff, incumbent Lewis Tatum and challenger JP Moseley. The winner of the election will face a Democratic candidate in November.
JP Moseley is a 1986 graduate of Cumby High School, served on Cumby VFD, graduated from Texas A&M University-Commerce and joined the United States Navy. He left Hopkins County, traveling the world in his duties. When he returned to the area, he became a paramedic with Hopkins County EMS. He served as an officer with Sulphur Springs Police Department and was a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security for 22 years.
“I retired last year, thought I could get out of law enforcement. Decided that I can’t. I love it and I want to serve,” Moseley noted in his introductory statement at the Feb. 19 President’s Day forum.
Tatum said he has been in Hopkins County, working full time in law enforcement since 1999, working his way up from deputy, patrol officer, investigator, chief investigator and sheriff.
“I love this county. You hear about the crime rate going up all around. Hopkins County’s crime rate is going down, been going down and we want to keep fighting to keep it going down,” Tatum said.
When asked for statistics related to his job and crime in those areas, Moseley said those in his previous job with Homeland Security had to do with human smuggling and human trafficking, the movements of people, money and narcotics across the border.
“Every office that I went to and every office that I supervised, our statistics trickled as far as the number of arrests, indictments, convictions, arrest warrants and search warrants,” Moseley said. “We did that with a proactive stance that we took. We wouldn’t just wait. As a federal agent, a lot of times they wait for the big money or a big arrest to come along. I took a different turn. I had my agents go out and we had small arrests. We worked with state and local sheriff ’s office and police departments. We got involved, we were on the street.”
Arrests and indictments went up, and the unit seized more narcotics, trying to make a difference in the community where they were based,” Moseley said.
In 2003, Hopkins County had 382 reportable crimes against people, property crimes,” Tatum said. “In 2023, we had 142. It t went down in 2022 because we had 30 self-initiated arrests by officers going out, stopping cars and finding drugs. So as small as our force is, you arrest 350 people in a year and charge them with crimes like methamphetamines. That is a lot of reports for officers to do. It is hard on the judicial system.”
Tatum said the keys to clearing burglaries and recovering property is getting on the cases as soon as they come in, using confidential informants to “roll” on and track down other suspects in cases. More recently, crime has included deaths of individuals from fentanyl overdoses and arrests of those responsible on murder charges. Four people connected to two deaths were arrested in a month’s time for selling fentanyl which killed people in this county, Tatum noted.
When asked what he felt his most important qualification for being sheriff, Tatum said the he’s been in Hopkins County his entire law enforcement career. He said having a Commissioners Court that works with him.
One of the biggest challenges of the job has been retaining quality patrol and corrections officers, not losing them to other departments that pay better.
“We found a way to give them raises and keep them here. If there’s anything I want to be remembered by its that I fought hard to get these raises. We’ve raised over $4 million. We’ve given 30% raise in the last three years. We haven’t lost an officer in — I can’t remember the last time we lost one. It’s been three or four years since we’ve had an officer leave here and go somewhere else,” Tatum said.
The incumbent noted that deputies weren’t the only ones getting raises. The extra funds raised by housing federal inmates were enough to give all full time employees in the county a raise.
Tatum said he wants to continue the current programs, including a program which generated over $4 million while housing federal inmates and the self-funded commissary, which raised over $2 million. and showing those in custody a better way of life; to keep the crime rate low; and crack down on the fentanyl that’s killing young people in this community.
Moseley said his travels around the world in the course of service to his country and work gave him experiences and opportunities to instruct classes around the world, and worked with international, state and local law enforcement.
“I feel my most important quality is I have experience I have professionalism. I’ve been to places, I have seen what fentanyl will do. I was on a fentanyl working group. So, I have experiences to bring that right back to Hopkins County,” Moseley said. 'That’s what I want to do, I want to bring in all of my associates from around the world, around the country, with other federal agencies, with other state and local agencies, to right here in Hopkins County.”
As sheriff, Moseley said his top priority would be retention of employees, including getting them more raises if possible and finding other reasons to stay in Hopkins County, whether it’s training or equipment.
“I want to work for Hopkins County for as long as I’m doing a good job. I don’t ever want to be sitting down in that office and not producing,” Tatum said.
Moseley said his goals are to start by establishing mission and vision statements, so the department can come together. He is looking at core values, and isn’t inferring the department doesn’t have them now. He said he is also looking for integrity, making sure actions match words, and courage, transparency and accountability.
“I want the people to manage our expectations; I want them to know what to expect from us. Human dignity, we touched on that a little bit earlier — treating eery person with human dignity and respect, empathy, and sympathy. Professionalism, I want to set the bar so high for Hopkins County Sheriff ’s Office. I want Hopkins County Sheriff ’s Office to be a pinnacle law enforcement ageny. A pinnacle law enforcement agency is one others look to and strive to be like. That’s what I want.”
“Leadership — I will lead from the front. I will never ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t do myself I will be there first thing in the morning til the end of the night. I will have one job and one job only, and that is to lead Hopkins County Sheriff ’s Office.
Tatum said 16 jail trustees work around the county and six are provided to the City of Sulphur Springs, saving the city over $1.3 million in labor.
He said the sheriff ’s office is proactive when it comes to school security. Although the state is requiring it, HCSO has already sent four officers to ALERT training, and plan to begin teaching it at schools soon. When the Commissioners Court found out that additional equipment was needed for that, Tatum said, the court purchased it for them at a cost of $20,000$25,000. The classes will be taught at the sheriff ’s office, where they host an academy regularly.
Tatum bragged on the officers in his department, calling them the some of the most well trained offers there are. He noted they are often called upon by other agencies for assistance.
“The Texas Rangers grab our guys when they go to another county to work a murder scene, so our CID can help them and teach the other agencies how to work these crime scenes. I am humbled when I walk in a room with our officers. They are the best of the best. We can’t replace them,” Tatum said
House District 2 Representative
Jill Dutton was elected by a thin margin to the Texas House District 2 seat vacated early last year by Bryan Slaton, where she will serve out the rest of this year. She and Brent Money are going head to head for the seat for a full term in office. The winner of the March 5 election will face Democrat Kristen Washington.
Dutton introduced herself as a conservative, former school board member, small business owner and proud Christian wife, mother and grandmother. She’s lived in VanZandt County for 25 years, has served as a district chair and twice been appointed as congressional district caucus chair, served as a delegate to three state conventions, campaigns and fundraisers for dozens of candidates and as a deputy voter registrar.
“For over 20 years I have worked hard to grow the republican party, unify conservatives and keep Texas red,” Dutton said.
Brent Money said he was asked what his priorities will be. The Republican party meets and sets the agenda; the party has eight priorities: protect elections, secure our border, ban gender modification in children, to stop the sexualization of Texas kids, ban Democrat chairs, abolish abortion, defend gun rights, and protect parents rights-both educational and medical. 'I want to add two to that, work toward elimination of property taxes and stop selling Texas land to foreign interests. Those are things that are priorities for me because those are the things of the grassroots people in Texas. Those are priorities that should be universal,' Money said.
He noted while the Republican Party can’t agree on these priorities, he plans to make them his priorities.
When asked about the mental health crisis, she noted there is a lack of professionals to meet the need. There’s also a problem for high school and college students, who may find a counselor where they’re at, then have to go home to get help possibly to another state. Inter-state agreements are needed, as is promotion and encouragement for students to study in this field to help meet the gaps.
“We are already spending money on these things, but we are just not spending it the right way,” Money said.
Hospital and jails are not necessarily the right place for this. More facilities designed to treat this are needed, he noted. Money said as far as he can see, when talking about mental health, there are two different categories, drugs and parenting problem. These are not new problems, but do represent the failure of our society to present emotional and directional help. Empowering parents, he said, is an important part of that.
Dutton said more facilities are needed so that these individuals can be taken care there instead of in jails.