This is the fourth Musings focused on our county’s courthouses. The courthouse pieces appeared on each previous edition of the Meteor in the month of January.
The Texas Railroad Commission has suspended nearly two dozen permits that allow oil and gas companies to inject saltwater into the ground, which regulators say has contributed to increased earthquakes of greater magnitude in West Texas.
Editor’s Note: “Opinions in this column are not representative of the views of The Madisonville Meteor.” Charities. It’s something with which we can have a love/hate relationship, can’t we? While we want to be charitable and those television ads look so promising, the fake news these days not only overwhelm the ads and the news it even praises the bad stuff.
Last weeks’ Musings related information about Madison County’s first four courthouses. For Number Five, it went as far as naming our county’s leaders at that time as well as the architects and builders hired but stopped there.
The deadline to register to vote in the Texas Democratic and Republican primary elections is Feb. 5. Voters on March 5 will choose their nominees for president, U.S. Senator, all 38 U.S. House members from Texas, and a number of other state and local offices, from the Texas Supreme Court to district attorneys, sheriffs and county commissioners.
Madison County has had 6 courthouses, counting the current one. Some of you recall the last two, some only the current one. A display case in the Museum contains photos of the last 3, along with items of interest. I wrote a lengthy essay about all six for the Sept. 14, 2016, issue of the Meteor. Now I’ve divided it, trimmed some and added a bit. It doesn’t all fit here today.
After the Texas Legislature spent much of 2023 in session, a bevy of new laws go into effect on New Year’s Day, though some have been delayed by lawsuits challenging their constitutionality. The Austin American-Statesman reported on SB 17, a new law that institutes a ban on programs and policies “designed or implemented in reference to race, color, or ethnicity” at Texas public universities or colleges — commonly known as diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.
Do you recall? Forty-five years ago, in December of 1978, Madisonville High School’s senior class performed one-act plays. A photo from one, entitled Martians and Moonshine, included Jeff Watts, Kim Smith, Dennis Prescott, Clark Osborne and Jill Sharp.