Collin County Commissioner’s Court: Richard Hill from Farmersville asked for help in dealing with gunshots in his area. Last week, he described people getting shot and property damaged by bullet holes. In unincorporated parts of Collin County, this is illegal due to a law that prohibits individuals who own 10 acres or less from discharging firearms. He wants it stopped. Sheriff Jim Skinner began his reply by referring to Mr. Hill’s “demands” and “threats” and was visibly irritated. Unfortunately, the sound cut out so we couldn’t hear his entire reply but, given Skinner’s dismissive way of speaking about Mr. Hill, I doubt the situation will be resolved to Mr. Hill’s satisfaction. Why was Skinner so annoyed? Perhaps he doesn’t like to be questioned. Sheriff departments are largely unregulated across the country and that’s definitely true for THIS Sheriff given the lack of oversight by Collin Commissioners.
The rest of the meeting involved the Commissioners babbling about how the disastrous Collin County vaccine roll-out isn’t their fault. It’s the state’s fault for changing directions (adding group 1B) and moving away from having the private sector do most of the vaccinations. While both the state and federal response has been terrible, Collin County can’t blame them for our errors. Collin is doing far worse than surrounding counties and other counties our size. We have 9,000 fewer doses than other counties and the mega-hub vaccination area they just approved (which will be run by third party vendor Curative) isn’t even up and running yet.
The small government approach isn’t working. Having a 60-person Public Health Department for a county with over one million people isn’t feasible. Having a pandemic response plan that’s several years old and didn’t even make it out of draft form isn’t acceptable. Neither is not having a county hospital. We used to have one, but the commissioners decided we’d simply farm out our serious cases to Parkland Hospital in Dallas Co. instead. Then we stiffed them for the bill. Collin County Commissioners need to do better and it’s our job to hold their feet to the fire. Keep those angry emails, calls, and postcards coming and, if you’re able, show up to their meetings to speak.
Frisco City Council: At the January 5th meeting, the ethics complaint against Mayor Jeff Cheney, Council Members John Keating and Brian Livingston & candidate Dan Stricklin was discussed. The complaint pointed out that, on two separate occasions, none of them followed the mask and social distancing mandate. Since they weren’t following the law, they’re in violation of Frisco’s Code of Ethics. City Attorney Richard Abernathy explained that the city’s ethics policy was not violated. I’m not really sure how that works since pictures clearly show this to be the case but Abernathy said it was because they didn’t violate any specific code. This seems nitpicky at best. The remaining 3 council member voted 3-0 to dismiss the complaint. How cozy that the council gets to police themselves.
Several people (without masks) spoke against the complaint. All seemed extreme. One speaker was told to stop name-calling. Another mentioned that Frisco Democrats were “waging war” on Frisco leadership. A third was in heavy MAGA gear. It was scary. This is where people who attend Capitol insurrections learn sedition is OK. Several people wanted to speak for the complaint but, seeing the maskless Trumpian atmosphere, left without speaking. After returning to the dais, Cheney explained his behavior, stating that we have to “take care of the entire citizen” (keeping businesses open and attending to people’s mental health) instead of just looking at this pandemic “in a silo.”
The short-term thinking involved in not prioritizing public health is mind-boggling. The “entire citizen” cannot patronize the businesses if sick or dead. Additionally, as a mental healthcare professional, I’m irritated by all this “concern” about people’s mental health from the same people who do nothing to promote it in normal times. This happens after mass shootings too. It’s almost as if it’s a convenient excuse to avoid responsibility.
