Our Viewpoint
Politicians deserve a pat on the..back?

On Friday, April 13, Deep East Texas received word that the Housing and Urban Development announced the release of $428.6 million to the state of Texas to deal with hurricane relief costs.

While politicians all over the state and country slapped each other's backs congratulating themselves for a job well done, for counties such as Jasper, the battle is still being fought.

As was the case with the last round of Community Block Development Grants (CBDG), the money was slow arriving in counties that were in desperate need.

Jasper County was facing an almost bankrupt status when federal money finally started being funneled to the area that we should have received long before the county was placed in dire straits.

Yes, our politicians may have played a part in securing the money for Texas counties but it was a long time coming and should have been done without any fanfare to begin with.

These public servants are elected to office to serve the counties and cities and instead of issuing press releases patting themselves on the back; they should have worked harder to get the money here in a timely manner in the first place.

We are all thankful for the federal money that will finally go towards alleviating the flooding issues in Jasper County.

It just shouldn't have taken almost two years to get it here.

Roses go to….

t The McDonald's Big Bass Splash that will be held this weekend on Sam Rayburn. The tournament will flood Jasper with thousands of participants and should provide a strong boost to the local economy.

t Jasper's baseball squad, who face a crucial contest this Friday at home against Silsbee. Get there early for this one - it should be good.

t Jasper High School's UIL Academics team which won several awards at the district competition.

Thorns go to….

t Chrystal Reeves, who resigned as pageant director for the Miss Jasper Scholarship Pageant this week. We understand the reasons may be valid, but to resign in the middle will only truly hurt the participants.