May 8, 2010 Election Results | Palmer City Council, Palmer ISD School Board

Palmer City Council (three at-large)

x-Jeff Vick (I) – 199

x-Jeff Greenlee – 168

x-Chris Ivie – 159

Greg Penny (I) – 105

Tony Roybal (I)– 104

Laurie Huskins – 96

Palmer ISD School Board (two at-large)

x-John Gould - 279

x-Tim Birdwell (I) - 217

Doug Young - 112

The Palmer Post | May 1, 2010 Issue

The May 1, 2010 issue of The Palmer Post is now online. This was to be a full-color issue, but due to extremely high costs for color and paper, we had to scale back those plans.


[Click Here to Read The May 1 Issue of The Palmer Post]




However, this issue will be mailed to registered voters in 693 households in the city limits of Palmer before Election Day, May 8. The rest will be placed on news stands and mailed to residents in Rockett and Palmer ISD neighborhoods. The total press run of the May 1 issue is 800 copies.

Palmer on YouTube | Jeff Vick's 'Fire Hydrants,' Lance Anglin Slams Hand

The hilarious video making the rounds is available here:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O8EJuQ96w4

The Palmer Post | April 12, 2010 Issue

The April 12, 2010 issue of The Palmer Post will hit news stands just in time for the Tuesday, April 13 run-off election.

[CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE APRIL 12, 2010 ISSUE OF THE PALMER POST ONLINE]

Contact Us:

publisher@thepalmerpost.com

ads@thepalmerpost.com

elizabeth@thepalmerpost.com

dick@thepalmerpost.com

news@thepalmerpost.com

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Maps | Emergency Services District No. 9 & Palmer ISD

Emergency Services District No. 9 (in essence Palmer's fire department) boundary map: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=267


Palmer ISD Boundary Map: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=160

The Palmer Post | April 1, 2010 Issue

The April 1, 2010 issue of The Palmer Post is now online:

[Click Here to View The April 1 Issue of The Palmer Post] 

Clicking on individual images/pages will make a larger view.

PalmerRadio.com | The Palmer Post Radio 'Station'

The Palmer Post is now available on the air: http://www.palmerradio.com/

First Show: Friday, March 26, 2010
Time: 10:30 p.m. CST
Guest: The Palmer Post reporter/photographer Elizabeth Thomason
Topics: We discuss The Palmer Post, the vision for the future and more

Direct Link: http://www.palmerradio.com/
Listen Live or Download the Archives!

The Palmer Post | March 14, 2010 Issue

The March 14, 2010 issue is online - Click here to read the latest issue (March 14, 2010)


From now on, go ahead and expect the online "go-to-press" edition to be up first, followed by the actual hard copy of the paper shortly thereafter.


Paper locations will be located on the left-hand sidebar.

The Palmer Post | March 2010 Issue

This March 2010 issue should shape the Palmer City Council elections, but only one person has filed to date: incumbent Councilman Greg Penny. The filing deadline is Monday, March 8 at 5 p.m.

Send any letters, editorials, guest columns, comments or suggestions to:

Freedom of the Press Group
The Palmer Post
P.O. Box 221
Palmer, TX 75152
editor@palmerpost.com
972-891-2135

Please Note: The Palmer Post has gone back up to 50 cents. Due to increases in paper and a one-month trial run at 25 cents.


Palmer Post March 2010 Issue: http://www.elliscountyobserver.com/?p=12524

Ex-Mayor Roasted While Councilmen Late in Paying (if at all) Water Bills

This is just a preview of what's to come in March's issue of The Palmer Post.

Hypocrisy: Ex-Mayor Roasted While Councilmen Late in Paying (if at all) Water Bills


JOEY G. DAUBEN
Palmer Post
PALMER - Current and former city councilmen routinely paid their monthly water bills late and were not given disconnect notices, an analysis of public documents show.

A large portion of the water bills that were paid late by former Palmer Councilman/Mayor Mike Greenee and Councilman Kenneth Bateman, for example, show that both were late in paying their water bills, and rather than receive a disconnect notice from water utility clerk Charlotte Follis, the councilmen had their late fees waived.

Follis, who declined to comment for this story, has the arbitrary power to waive late fees and instruct Palmer's utilities department to turn off citizens' water, according to city officials and public testimony at city council meetings giving her the power.

According to public records, Follis also routinely adjusted her mother's water bill, crediting back charges for "yellow water" 10 times since March 2007. The only other person in Follis' neighborhood near Elizabeth Street to have received credits (i.e., lower water bills) for the mucky water known as "yellow water" that appears from time to time in Palmer water lines was Charles Clark, a political supporter of Greenlee, who, several years ago, hired Follis' mother to work in the Palmer Police Department.

Don Huskins, the former mayor of Palmer and a councilman at one time, was brought before the Palmer City Council two years ago with his wife, Laurie, to address the city council's allegations that Huskins had instructed Follis to waive one man's water bill late fee. Mayor Lance Anglin, who also declined to comment on this story, spoke on the public record that he had seen a computer screen showing Huskins' involvement in the water late fee waiver.

However, in a response to an open records request from Huskins' lawyer, the city of Palmer could not produce a document, e-mail or other record that city councilmen had alleged existed. Follis, meanwhile, is on a sworn affidavit (meaning she swore an oath to tell the truth) alleging Huskins of instructing her to waive late fees.

Huskins denied her allegations, but the examination of Follis' records as the city's water utility clerk reveal that:

Councilman Kenneth Bateman, a political ally of Greenlee and Mayor Anglin, simply did not pay a water bill from March 2007 to June 2007; from July to Aug. 28, there was no payment; he did, however, pay a portion of the water bill shortly thereafter. In fact, Bateman, while Huskins was before the city council with his wife to answer to the late fee allegations, was late in his water bill that night.

The Huskins were on the Palmer council agenda in September of 2007.

"He didn't say a word [the whole night]," Huskins said. "And now we know why."

Jeff Vick, another ally of Greenlee and Anglin who votes with Bateman on the city council usually, himself is listed in city records as not paying or not receiving late fees. He was, however, the only councilman to have a disconnect fee, but that was after several years of paying late and not receiving a late fee.

In Nov. 2005, Vick wasn't disconnected; he didn't pay in December of 2005; paid half his bill in January the following year, then paid late in Feb. 2006 and once again, in July 2006, he was late in paying his water bill but was not given a late fee or a disconnect fee.

In October 2006, Vick was given a late charge, but no disconnect; in November of 2006, he did not pay the water bill at all, but in December, he was charged a $30 disconnect fee from Follis, the water utility clerk.

In June 2007, Vick received no late fee for paying his bill late; in July, no late fee. September's bill was paid late, as was November 2007, but no additional disconnect fees were charged.

On the night of Huskins appearing before the city council in Sept. 2007, Vick was sitting at the city council horseshoe table himself late in a water bill with no late fee charged or disconnect notice.

Mayor Anglin, re-elected to a second two-year term last year over two opponents, was paying his water bills late on an almost routine basis up until he filed to run for the city's top elected spot.

In the analysis of city documents obtained by the Palmer Post, Anglin was never given a disconnect notice for his late water bills, but during the three-month (Feb/March/April) campaign for mayor, he paid his water bill early.

Greenlee, who lost by seven votes in 2008, had routinely paid water bills late, but had late fees waived and never received a disconnect notice.

A family friend of the Greenlee political alliance, Merle Cravens, has appeared before the city council repeatedly over the years to request more time in paying water bills, but has never received a disconnect notice, an issue highlighted by Huskins.

"They never went after her on the agenda," Huskins said, who recently sued the city of Palmer over the allegations. County Court at Law No. 1 Judge Greg Wilhelm, a Republican from Midlothian, sided with the city's outside attorney, David Miller, in that Palmer had sovereign immunity and therefore, could not be sued in Wilhelm's court.

An analysis of public documents from Palmer City Secretary Alicia Baran, who released the legal bills in response to an open records request, shows that Palmer councilmen started consulting with Miller on Huskins' suit - and were billed - several months before the official vote took place in a special called July 2007 meeting to hire him.

And here's a chart that shows how many times Palmer water utility clerk Charlotte Follis adjusted her own mother's water bill:

From May 2006, Palmer Water Utility Clerk Charlotte Follis adjusted her mother's water bill to lower the payments due to "yellow water." The chart below is an excerpt from thousands of public documents obtained by the Palmer Post showing those yellow water credits given to Jacque Bonner, Follis' mother.

May 2006
Credited $47.68

June 2, 2006
Credited $39.88

June 13, 2006
Credited $54.75

Sept. 14, 2006
Credited $27.50

Oct. 16, 2006
Credited $27.50

Nov. 2006
Credited $33

March 2007
Credited $45.50

April 2007
Credited $45.50

Sept. 2007
Credited $52.25

Forward Palmer PAC Launched for 'Legal Sale of Beer & Wine'

I'll be taking this paperwork into the Ellis County Elections Department this week, but the Forward Palmer PAC has been launched to support the "legal sale of beer and wine" in Palmer. The ballot proposition will be slated for the Nov. 2 ballot (tried getting it done for the May 8 election, but I was provided the wrong dates.)

Instant Message Conversation with Mayor Lance Anglin and John Templer

Live Instant Message Chat With Mayor Lance Anglin and John Templer

LanceAnglin75152: Sup John
KnightTempler: How’s the new agenda coming along?
LanceAnglin75152: Excellent. Greg Penny and Tony Roybal will never get anything passed.
KnightTempler: Good. I want you to direct Jeff Vick a bit more. He seems to be making a total a** out of himself and you.
LanceAnglin75152: Right, I know. If not for Christen Vick on the school board, poor Jeff wouldn’t even be on the council.
KnightTempler: When I ran Mike Greenlee, Shannon Conger and Linda Harper two years ago, how obvious was it that Vick was not in our plans?
LanceAnglin75152: I hear ya, John, I hear ya. Give it time. We just need to keep Jeff happy with some steel work. Eagle Steel is I’m sure struggling because of the economy.
KnightTempler: I’m considering another slate of candidates this year to take out Penny and Roybal. If we cannot contain Vick, we must take him out. I’m tired of telling him why he has to vote a certain way.
LanceAnglin75152: I’m working with him. Don’t worry.
KnightTempler: Well hurry. I must take control of the city. Having a 3-2 vote margin is too risky. I want total control.