February 8, 2025 • 45 mins
Join me, Louie Minor, as I uncover the heart and soul of Bell County in today's episode of the Louie Minor Show. You'll step into the lively scene of an immigration rally in Belton, where I mingled with spirited advocates and captured the essence of their vibrant voices. Hear firsthand accounts from diverse residents as they bravely speak up for those who often remain unheard. The energy was palpable, and I'll take you through the inspiring moments and personal stories that defined the day. It's a testament to the community's unwavering commitment to unity and change.
Apart from this, I shed light on crucial political updates, like the Texas governor's state of the state address and its implications for our local legislative agenda. Discover the developments surrounding Representative Hillary Hickland, and what they mean for our region's future. Tune in to ensure you're up-to-date with the issues shaping our community's landscape.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello, you're listening to the Louie Miner
Show.
I'm your host.
Bell County Commissioner, louieMiner, today is February 8th,
2025.
We have a lot to discuss, solet's go ahead and get started.
Remember there is no I repeat,there is no county commissioner
(00:28):
Bell County Commissioner's Courtmeeting tomorrow.
We enacted a new meetingschedule where we will now meet
the first and the third of eachmonth.
The first and the third of eachmonth.
The first and the third of eachmonth.
So yeah, no agenda to go over,but still a lot to talk about.
(00:56):
I was not able to get the showout last week because so much
was happening and I was justwaiting for one more thing to
get out, and just the timeslipped by.
But I want to take things inorder of the way they happened.
We had last Saturday there wasan immigration rally, so I want
to bring you some discussion andclips from that.
(01:19):
I attended that.
I attended that.
Then, on Sunday, the Texasgovernor gave his state of the
state address and issued hisemergency items that will allow
(01:44):
the state legislature to startworking on those, because in
Texas, I think you're prohibitedfrom passing any new laws
unless they are an emergencyitem declared by the governor
for 60 days.
So 60 days they can't passanything.
So we'll talk about that.
And then I want to talk aboutRepresentative Hillary Hicklin
(02:10):
and that whole story that is outright now with Hillary Hicklin.
And then we could talk aboutthe Bell County Annex, the new
annex coming to downtown Killeen.
We could talk about some of thecity council races, but more of
(02:33):
the bond election is kind ofwhat I want to go over.
So let's go ahead and startfrom.
One week ago in Belton at 11o'clock they were having a rally
, immigration rally, supportimmigration rally.
Now, I was not over therepromptly at 11 o'clock whenever
(02:57):
it started, because I had to goto a job fair and HBCU fair and
that stands for historicallyblack colleges at Chaparral high
school.
And so I went to that realquick, said hi, took some
pictures, they had a kickoffceremony and then I left there
(03:20):
and went to Belton and probablymade it to Belton around 1145
ish and I didn't know how manypeople were going to be there.
I wasn't organizing the event.
From my understanding it wastwo Latinas, one from Temple,
one from Belton, and I forgottheir name.
(03:42):
I met them cursory and exchangeinfo, but they were the ones
that were organizing it and itspread pretty quickly.
I saw some family members therethat I wasn't planning on
expecting to see, but they wereout there supporting our
(04:05):
community, our race, our raza.
So it was good to see and, justlike any rally, there were
chanting and people driving byhonking horns.
You know, there were chantingand people driving by honking
horns and I went through thecrowd after they were speaking
(04:38):
because they gave the peoplethat put on.
You know, obviously they spokeand after that, you know, I just
went through the crowd andtalked to people and asked them
what they doing, what is theirname, what are they doing, where
are they here and what city arethey from?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
so let's play that so you can hear the diversity of
people that were in attendance Ido a podcast, so I I just want
to get if you could tell me yourname and why you're here well,
my name is Cindy and today I'mhere to, you know, raise the
voice of those people that donot have one and that you know
(05:14):
you can't, they can't show up,for you know they're scared or
you know, just, I like to behere to represent everybody.
That's pretty much it thank you.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
what city are you from?
I'm from Temple.
You're from Temple, okay, well,thanks.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Tell me your name and why you're here.
Anybody come on?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
My name is Ana Gomez and.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I'm here to protest what's going on at the moment,
you know, like with the massdeportations and stuff like that
.
What city are you?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
from Temple, texas.
Well, thank you so much.
Thanks for being here, thankyou.
Thank you, I'm here to supportwhat is your name and why are
you here?
Thank you, I'm here to supportwhat is your name and why are
you here, matt West?
Speaker 6 (06:08):
I'm here to demonstrate the unity we can
have if we acknowledge ourmulti-ethnicity.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Well, thank you for being here, Matt.
What city are you from?
Speaker 6 (06:21):
Well, now or originally?
Now, I'm originally fromMuskogee, oklahoma, cherokee
Nation.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Okay, when do you live now?
Speaker 6 (06:31):
Temple.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
All right, well, thanks for being here.
Speaker 6 (06:35):
Yeah, well, this is what we need, and we need people
to join the Democratic Partyand not Republican Trump's party
.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I concur, I concur.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
It's important that we say Republican Trump from now
on, because the public is thatfar behind.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Okay, what is your name and why are you here?
Speaker 4 (06:54):
My name is Heather Herman, and I am here because
there are a lot of people that Ilove that will be affected, or
are being affected, by all ofthe policies being enacted, and
I wanted to stand up for myfriends and neighbors.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, thank you.
What city are you from?
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I am from Temple, Texas.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I'm Matt.
I am here to support everyonethat lives on this earth that is
trying to survive, and I'm fromTemple and appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Thanks for being out here, matt, thank you.
I do a podcast, so, if you mind, why are you here?
My name is Jennifer Guerra,which I don't look at, but I
experienced a lot of racism justbecause of my last name and
what goes on to real immigrantslike it's unbelievably
(07:51):
horrifying and we've got to stopit.
What city are you from?
Hello, my name is Louie Minor.
I do a political podcast.
If you could tell me your nameand why are you here today?
Speaker 8 (08:05):
I'm Jennifer Lee and I am here because no one's
illegal.
We are on stolen land.
We have no right to tellanybody that they can't be here.
We can't be here, we're illegalLove thy neighbor.
Yes, love your neighbor.
Stop the hate what?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
city are you from I?
Speaker 8 (08:23):
am from Temple.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Okay, okay, well, thank you, Miss Jennifer.
And what did you do lastelection cycle?
Speaker 8 (08:31):
I ran for state representative for House
District 55.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Well thank you for that as the Democratic nominee.
Thank you for that we need andI will be running again for 26.
Breaking news.
Breaking news.
Speaker 8 (08:43):
Everybody, everybody needs hope.
We need options on the ballotthat we can believe in well,
thank you.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You want a comment for my podcast, sure?
Why are you here?
What is your name and why areyou here?
Speaker 6 (08:57):
my name is Karishma Talbot and I am a city council
member for the city ofNolanville, and I am here
because I am an immigrant and Ido not think that anyone is
illegal on stolen land.
Speaker 9 (09:07):
A city council member for the city of Nolanville, and
I am here because I am animmigrant and I do not think
that anyone is illegal on stolenland and I think that everybody
should have the sameopportunities that my parents
did when they came here.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Well, thank you so much for being out here and we
definitely need the support.
They're trying to divide andconquer, divide and conquer.
Need the support.
They're trying to divide andconquer, divide and conquer.
Speaker 10 (09:35):
Tell me your name and why are you here, richard
Lopez?
I'm here to support my heritage, my people from the government
trying to separate us and goagainst each one of us, but us
as a group, as you can see, ifwe reunite and hang strong
together as American citizens,we will overcome this.
We will overcome and thegovernment will have to see that
(09:58):
we take this seriously, andit's wrong for us people to have
to hide and look over ourshoulders.
It seems like we're the only uhpeople that have to do that,
and it's not right what city areyou from?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I'm from belton.
Well, thank you so much, allright.
Thank you so much, all right.
This is one of the organizershello louie minor.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I'm the county commissioner here.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Oh yeah, yeah, I've heard about you.
Pleasure to meet you.
Thank you for putting this on.
Thank you for coming.
I do a podcast, so I want toget your name and why are you
here?
Speaker 3 (10:33):
So my name is Magda Powers and I'm here because I
don't like what's going on inour country right now.
I don't think that massdeportations are the solution to
the problems of our country.
And I just don't agree with it,and I know that there's a lot
of people in my community thatfeel the same way.
Speaker 8 (10:53):
And you're a veteran.
I am Thank you for your service.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I served in the US Army from 2006 to 2010.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well, thank you, I did my service too, so, all
right.
Well, thank you for doing this.
You should ever come on andtalk.
Yeah, yeah, here I'll give youmy.
Uh, what is your name and whyare you here?
Speaker 11 (11:14):
I'm Irene Andrews, long time activist, part of the
LGBT community, and I understandthat we need to build bridges
and come together, and so I'mhere in a supportive role,
because I believe all of us area part of humanity.
I'm here to celebrate ouroneness and our humanity.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
What city are you from?
What was that?
What city are you from?
I'm from Nolanville, all right,thank you, irene.
You're welcome.
What is your name and why areyou here?
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Lexi Sariñana.
I am here to show that we standtogether.
We're better united than we areapart.
This is a topic that is veryclose to my heart.
Both of my parents wereimmigrants.
They came here from Mexico andit's been a struggle.
It's a lengthy process,especially going through the
(12:05):
right channels and all of that,but I just really want people to
know that we are here and we'rebetter together.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
What city are you from?
Speaker 5 (12:14):
Here, Belton, Texas.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Belton, Texas.
Well, thank you for what you'redoing.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Thank you.
Well, there you have it.
You heard from some of theparticipants there there were
over probably 100, 150.
I mean, there was a lot ofpeople there, a lot of people
I've never seen before, amajority of people I've never
seen before.
So it was good to see thatduring these troubling times,
(12:47):
that people that probably stayedhome and didn't vote and didn't
think, probably didn't care,probably didn't realize what was
going on or believe the BS thatDonald Trump was saying that
he's going to lower food prices,grocery prices and gas prices
(13:10):
and end the war in Ukraine andtake care of everything in
Israel and the Middle East.
It just was all BS.
It was all BS.
It was all BS.
And now we're having to livewith his daily chaos that he's
(13:33):
been doing.
But I think that he'll losesteam.
He'll definitely lose steam.
You cannot keep up this optempo, this operational tempo
that he's been going with,trying to gut and fire all these
(13:53):
federal employees.
But it's bringing peopletogether and getting them off
the and getting them activatedfor activism.
And I've been seeing a lot inthe news here locally.
You know, obviously down inAustin things are going to
happen, because that's ourcapital, but I've been seeing a
(14:15):
lot of rallies up in Wacohappening on TV.
So, you know, keep it up.
This, this is what's, this iswhat it's going to take for 2026
for us to vote a lot of thesejokers out that are selling our
government, our norms andstandards, our practices out the
(14:37):
window for one man.
So, but yeah, I enjoyed it.
I hope they keep it up and youknow, you definitely have to
stay engaged and have a plan ofwhat's going to happen.
What do you need to do?
I attended a Zoom from the ACLUand that was their big thing.
(15:02):
You know.
Have a plan in place,especially for elected officials
.
If this comes to yourneighborhood, if this comes to
your county, your city.
Have a plan.
What are you going to tellpeople?
We owe it to our residents, weowe it to people that live and
work in our communities to tellthem what is the plan and what
(15:28):
are we going to do to help.
So that was Saturday.
That was Saturday the next daythe governor gave his state of
the state speech.
I did not watch it live becauseI was at a fundraising bingo
for our local child abusefacility that they do the
(15:54):
forensic interviews.
So I was there participating inthat, but I listened to it to
the next day and I was a littleshocked of what I heard.
So let me play a clip of histop priorities.
Speaker 12 (16:13):
I want at least $10 billion more in property tax
cuts for our fellow Texans.
But here's the deal that willonly work if local authorities
cannot use loopholes to jack upyour property taxes, like Harris
(16:36):
County did.
They increased your propertytaxes by more than 10 percent
last year.
Loopholes that increase yourproperty taxes must be closed.
No taxing entity should be ableto raise your property taxes
without a two-thirds approval ofvoters.
(16:57):
No approval, no new taxes.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
So that was the first emergency item that the
governor listed and the one thatreally got me going like like
he's lying.
But let me read the otherbefore I dive into that.
The first one.
So number one, obviously,property tax relief.
Number two, waterinfrastructure investment.
(17:26):
Number three teacher pay raise.
Number four, expanded careertraining.
Number five, school choice.
Number six, bail reform.
And number seven, a Texas CyberCommand.
So those are his priorities.
(17:47):
That is what the statelegislature, the Senate and the
House can start working on now,and actually I believe on
Wednesday the Senate went aheadand passed their version of the
school choice bill.
So now it has to go to theHouse.
(18:08):
From my understanding, theHouse still has not even
selected chair chairmanships, soit should be coming here pretty
soon, and so it'll beinteresting to see who the
chairs are, who the vice chairsare, and then they could start
(18:28):
addressing some of these.
Well, at least the only onethat's passed so far that I'm
aware of is the school choice.
But back to property taxes, andwe're going to get into the
weeds here about your propertytaxes, and so you heard the
governor say he wants to invest$10 billion in property taxes
(18:50):
and he wants to close theloopholes that local government
uses, like Harris County, thattheir property taxes went up
over 10%, and the loophole thatGovernor Abbott is referring to
(19:12):
is the statute and law that theycreated that if you go over
because the maximum you can goover is 3.5% from the previous
year's taxes, so that's, that'sa cap.
(19:34):
If you go over that three and ahalf percent and the three and
a half percent is supposed to beinflationary, there's some
inflation built into that to togo up for inflation and then you
know a little bit outside ofthat but what it does if you go
(19:58):
over that 3.5% as a taxingauthority, then you have to go
to the voters and that's whatHarris County did.
Harris County and, I believe,their flood improvement district
because Harris County floodswhen there's hurricanes they
both went to the voters and thevoters approved it.
(20:20):
I believe it was 9% for HarrisCounty.
The voters approved it.
Simple majority, likeeverything else that we vote on,
nothing that voters vote onrequires a two-thirds majority.
So if any tax rate needs atwo-thirds majority, Bluetooth
(20:46):
disconnected.
Needs a two-thirds majority.
It's going to strangle localgovernment and there's going to
have to be severe cuts.
Government cannot function likethat.
And if you think the roads arebad now, if you think law
(21:08):
enforcement service is bad now,if you think it takes too long
to get stuff through the courtsystem, you think all that's bad
now let something like that gothrough and you'll see how hard
it is for anything to improvepeople's lives, people's lives.
(21:34):
But so the next day, channel 10,the local CBS affiliate,
reached out To me as if I wouldbe willing to do an interview.
I said absolutely I would.
And then I believe they wantedto talk to the judge any of the
other commissioners?
To my understanding, none ofthe other commissioners wanted
(21:58):
to talk to the judge any of theother commissioners.
To my understanding, none ofthe other commissioners wanted
to talk because the story wasgoing to be about Bell County
raising its property taxes andwe went above the no new revenue
rate, which the county has donefor a long time.
This was the first time we wentabove the no new revenue rate.
I was the only one that votedagainst the property tax
(22:22):
increase, so I don't know if theother commissioners were scared
to talk about raising people'sproperty taxes.
But, like I said, I votedagainst the property tax rate
increase so I was okay talkingabout it.
So let me play that clip realquick and then we'll go a little
(22:50):
bit more about property taxes.
Speaker 14 (22:51):
One of the emergency items Governor Abbott announced
for the state legislature inhis address to the state last
night could affect the propertytaxes of every Texan.
He called out local countiesthat raised property taxes,
offsetting the cuts passed bythe previous legislative session
.
Speaker 13 (23:07):
Bell County just raised its property taxes last
year to pay for in part stafffor a new county jail.
News 10's Chris Cordova is herewith a look at how the
governor's proposed property taxreform could affect the taxing
power of local entities acrossthe state.
Speaker 7 (23:22):
Chris, Lauren Gordon.
Governor Abbott told Texanslast night he wants to see a $10
billion slash in property taxesstatewide, but he also wants to
ban any property tax increaseby local taxing entities unless
two-thirds of citizens vote toapprove it.
This could change the waycounties operate across the
state.
Bell County residents, likeScott Airey, aren't happy with
(23:45):
the way their property taxeskeep getting raised, despite
property tax cuts passing in thestate legislature.
Speaker 15 (23:51):
Bell County citizens have seen their tax bills go up
and probably will continue todo passing in the state
legislature.
Bell County citizens have seentheir tax bills go up and
probably will continue to do soin the future.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
In response to counties raising property tax
rates, Governor Abbott announcedproperty tax reform as an
emergency item for thelegislative session in his
address Sunday.
Speaker 12 (24:07):
No taxing entity should be able to raise your
property taxes without atwo-thirds approval of voters.
No approval, no new taxes.
Speaker 7 (24:19):
While Bell County Commissioner Louie Miner voted
against the latest Bell Countytax increases, he says local
entities need to keep theirpower to raise taxes in order to
keep county services funded.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
The state is telling us to do something and they're
not giving us a way to pay forit, so the only way for us to
pay for it is to raise yourtaxes.
Speaker 7 (24:38):
But state representative Hillary Hicklin
supports the governor, sayingthe power to increase taxes
should be more directly in thehands of voters.
Speaker 9 (24:45):
There's kind of a fundamental question Should our
taxes be able to be raisedwithout voter say?
And what Governor Abbott issaying is no, that people should
have a say if their taxes arebeing raised.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
Ari is the founder of the Central Texans for Property
Tax Reform Facebook group.
He frequently advocates forlower property taxes, but the
governor's proposal requiringtwo-thirds of voters to approve
tax increases isn't something hesupports.
Speaker 15 (25:14):
Having voters have to approve every single tax
increase is a level ofmicromanagement that I don't
think anyone has ever heardbefore, and I think it would be
counterproductive.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
But the McLennan County Republican Party chair,
chris DeClewitt, thinks if theproposal can make it through
Congress it would be widelysupported by voters.
Speaker 12 (25:32):
The idea that you have to get voter approval, you
have to get a mandate from thevoters to do anything other than
something just de minimis isgoing to be popular and I think
it's going to receive a lot ofsupport.
Speaker 7 (25:48):
Representative Hicklin says she plans to
support Governor Abbott'sproperty tax reform goals in the
Texas House.
Reporting in the studio ChrisCordova, kwtx News 10.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Well, that was Chris Cordova with Channel 10.
Now he really didn't go into myentire statement because we
talked three times, two timesthat day.
But I told him.
I said the governor of Texas islying to Texans about property
(26:22):
taxes.
And what do I mean by that?
If you go to any city, anyplace in the state of Texas and
ask someone, ask a homeowner,can I see your property tax bill
(26:44):
?
100% of the time the largesttaxing entity on your tax bill
is going to be your schooldistrict.
It's not counties, it's notcities, it's not special
districts, it's the schooldistrict.
(27:09):
And why is the school districtso high, you ask?
Because the state is notfunding it.
The state is not fully fundingpublic education.
So the school districts have toget that money from somewhere.
So they go to the property tax.
They go to you and me becausethe state is not doing their job
(27:30):
of fully funding our schools.
And this school choice voucherscam $1 billion going to private
schools.
That could fund and I learnedthat because I was listening to
the hearings that could fund100,000 public school kids, but
(27:59):
instead we're diverting that toschool private schools.
And nowhere I heard this listingas well.
Do you know?
Can you guess, because they'retrying to sell this.
(28:19):
As you know, it's going to helpminority children, it's going
to help disadvantage people infailing schools and they put in
(28:40):
the poverty level to be eligiblefor this.
You know what they and by theyI mean Republicans.
Nowhere else have I ever seenthis in any government.
Usually it's a certainpercentage 100-200% below the
federal poverty level.
This was above the federalpoverty level, exponentially
(29:10):
above, to be considered at thepoverty level.
For this, a family of four canmake $160,000 a year.
That doesn't sound poverty tome.
That doesn't sound poverty tome.
But they're doing that so theycan take care of their rich
(29:32):
friends that already have theirkids and public education.
So it's a sham.
It's a redistribution of wealthbased off on the backs of
hardworking Texans.
So that's the sham, that's thelie.
It's not counties, it's notspecial districts, it's not
(29:54):
cities, it's the state not doingits job.
That's why your property taxesare so high.
So stop lying to the people,governor Abbott and you heard
Hillary Hicklin there in thatclip and I'm glad that she was
in that clip.
I forgot she was in that clip.
But we can now switch to ournew state legislator, state
(30:23):
representative, hillary Hicklin,abbott's puppet, because that's
who got her in office.
So of course she's going toagree with everything, rubber
stamp, everything he wants,because she wouldn't have a job
if it wasn't for him.
(30:43):
Let's switch to the last topicwe're going to talk about is
myself and RepresentativeHicklin.
We're seeing things differently, and whenever I went to the
counties at the Capitol and metwith Representative Buckley
(31:06):
counties at the Capitol and metwith Representative Buckley I
met with staff from SenatorFlores' office because he was
busy in committees.
And then I met withRepresentative Hicklin and I was
(31:31):
there to advocate for BellCounty's legislative priorities.
I was there to advocate forTexas Association of Counties,
our legislative priorities andconcerns on one of the bills
that she had filed.
But once we got to the end ofall that, representative Hicklin
told me hey, have you beenkeeping up with with President
(31:52):
Trump's executive orders?
And I was like no, not, notreally.
Just uh, whatever I hear on thenews, but I'm not keeping up
with everything.
And she said, oh, yeah, hepassed an executive order about
flags and I was like okay.
And then she said, yeah, Ithink the governor did one on
(32:16):
flags too, and I'm like okay,and then she goes.
I'm going to be sending a letterto judge blackburn about flags.
And I told her, I said are youreferring to the flags I have in
my office?
And she said yeah, that's,those are the flags I'm
referring to.
And I said well, feel, feelfree to do whatever you feel is
(32:38):
necessary, and that's political.
You're a politician, I'm apolitician, so so go ahead.
And she goes yeah, I just wantto give you a heads up so you're
not surprised.
You'll be seeing that.
Well, I mean, I don't followRepresentative Hicklin online.
(32:59):
A friend sent me said hey, haveyou seen Representative Hicklin
put out something about you?
And I'm like no.
So I looked it up and let meread this to you real quick.
(33:25):
So keep in mind, I did not seethis till this week, but it's
dated January 29th 2025.
Today is February 2nd, but letme read the letter real quick.
Judge David Blackburn.
Judge Blackburn, as you mayhave heard, secretary of State
(33:50):
Marco Rubio reportedly issued aone-flag policy, which would
order that only the flag of theUnited States of America be
flown or displayed at USfacilities, both domestic and
abroad or abroad.
In response, I plan tointroduce legislation in the
(34:12):
coming weeks aimed at addressingthis issue at the state level.
This legislation will ensurethat only US, texas and any
official municipal flags aredisplayed at any state, county
or city building.
Last month, a concerned citizencontacted the National
(34:34):
Association of ChristianLawmakers after they noticed
altered American and Texas flagsbeing displayed in the windows
of the Bell County Courthouse.
Of the Bell County Courthouse,the NACL brought this issue to
the attention of one of mycolleagues, who shared it with
me.
I understand that in 2023, theBell County Commissioner's Court
(35:02):
adopted a policy mandating onlythe US and Texas flags be
displayed at county facilities.
While I commend your efforts,this policy continues to be
violated by an elected officialwho manipulates it to advance
his personal agenda.
Holding public officials,holding public office, means
carrying the responsibility ofserving and unifying our
(35:24):
communities.
It does not give us the rightto use our position as platforms
for political activism ordivision.
As a ninth-generation Texanwhose ancestors fought for the
independence of the Republic ofTexas, the Lone Star flag holds
(35:44):
a deep personal significance tome.
The Lone Star flag holds a deeppersonal significance to me.
It represents freedom,perseverance and serves as a
constant reminder of my heritage.
The colors of both the Americanand Texas flags carry shared
symbolism Red stands for bravery, white stands for purity and
(36:08):
blue stands for loyalty in theTexas flag, while blue in the
American flag symbolizes justice.
Altering these flags and theircolors, then displaying them at
an official building in ourstate, not only undermines their
symbolism but also disregardsand disrespects the legacy of
those who fought for them.
I love this country, and thisstate disregards and disrespects
(36:31):
the legacy of those who foughtfor them.
I love this country and thisstate and as State
Representative for HouseDistrict 55, I will ensure the
voices of my constituents arebeing heard.
I will fight to preserve ourshared values and protect our
freedoms and uphold theprinciples that make Texas and
our nation strong.
(36:52):
That was her statement.
So, yeah, a lot of BS in there,and what I did was I wanted to
issue a response to that.
So I reached out to the KilleenDaily Herald and they published
(37:17):
my response.
Let me read that to you.
Buckle up.
This was posted on ColleenDaily February 5th by Kevin
Lamenti.
Minor hits back at Hicklin overpride flags at Bell County
(37:42):
Courthouse.
State Representative HillaryHicklin sent a letter to Bell
County Judge David Blackburnabout altered American flag and
Texas flags being displayed atthe Bell County Courthouse,
referencing Bell CountyCommissioner Louie Miner's gay
pride flags.
Hicklin R Belton sent thisletter last week, but Miner told
(38:07):
the Herald he only found outabout it Wednesday.
Miner D Killeen said Hicklintold him in late January she
planned to send the letter.
He said it was an example ofoverreach as well as a free
speech issue.
Hicklin, whose districtencompasses parts of Killeen,
(38:30):
said she was introducinglegislation next week in
response to Secretary of StateMarco Rubio's one-flag policy,
which says only the US flag canbe flown at US facilities.
In her letter, hicklin saidthat the legislator would
require Only the US flag can beflown at US facilities.
In her letter, hicklin saidthat the legislator would
(38:51):
require that only US, texas andofficial municipal flags be
displayed at city and countybuildings.
In her letter, hicklin said aconcerned citizen brought it to
her attention.
Altering these flags and theircolors, then displaying them on
(39:13):
official buildings in our state,not only undermines their
symbolism, but also disregardsand disrespects the legacy of
those who fought for them, shewrote.
Miner said he's been displayingthe flags in the windows in his
office in the Bell CountyCourthouse ever since June 2023,
when the Commissioner's Courtcreated a policy that only the
(39:36):
US flag and Texas flag or countyflag be displayed.
With that in mind.
I put the US and Texas flag andpride colors in my window and
they've been there ever since.
To me it is obviousRepresentative Hicklin does not
(39:59):
understand how government works,or the Constitution, he said.
Minor also said he served as acaptain of the Army National
Guard and had tours in Iraq.
I will not be lectured to bysomeone who has never served
their country and has only beenin office for two weeks.
Miner said Hicklin was sworn into office last month.
Miner, who is gay, said hebelieves that this is a free
(40:22):
speech issue and that bothelected officials and residents
are afforded that right.
I thought the Republican Partysupported free speech.
I do, I know I do.
I guess I was mistaken.
They only support free speechthat aligns with their point of
view, he said.
He also said he disagreed withHicklin's proposed legislation,
(40:46):
saying that it was a slipperyslope.
Is she going to expand that towebsites too?
Miner asks when does it stop?
Where does the encroachmentstop?
Miner said Christian nationalismwas playing a big role in Texas
politics.
The state has been continuouslyoverreaching in the past
(41:09):
legislative sessions, trying totake away local control from
both cities and county.
I support all religion.
I fought for freedom ofreligion.
I fought for freedom of speech.
I'm never going to tell onereligion or one ideology that
they're never going to exercisefree speech.
(41:30):
Harold reached out to Hicklin'soffice in Austin but did not
hear back by deadline.
So that was my response.
No, I will not get lectured byyou and file your bill.
(41:51):
What are you waiting for?
Let the national Christian,whatever it was, let them give
you a draft bill like all yourbills are drafts from someone
else, nothing original.
You a draft bill like all yourbills are drafts from someone
else, nothing originalPlagiarism.
(42:13):
But yeah, let's see how farthat gets.
Good luck.
Good luck on trampling adisabled veteran's free speech.
I like it.
I like how she says she wantsto bring people together, but
look at all the BS that she'ssupporting.
So you're not bringing no onetogether.
(42:37):
If you want to try and believethat, you're lying to yourself.
But anyways, we have a fight.
We're dealing with it at thefederal level.
We're dealing with it at thestate level, but it's up to you
(42:59):
and I to stay involved, to holdthem accountable, to support
candidates that support ourpoint of views, and when all
those come together, greatthings happen.
When all those things cometogether.
(43:19):
Great things happen this comingweek.
I'll be at the well, tomorrow'sSuper Bowl Sunday is Super Bowl,
so I'll watch the hal.
Well, tomorrow's Super BowlSunday is Super Bowl, so I'll
watch the halftime show, I guess.
But outside of that, later onin the week I'll be going to the
Texas Conference of UrbanCounties here in the state of
(43:42):
Texas, down in Austin.
It'll be our policy meeting andI'm excited for that.
It'll be our policy meeting andI'm excited for that.
It's a three day event and nextweek is also Valentine's Day.
So, be sure, and take yourloved one, get them some flowers
(44:04):
, some chocolates.
Don't forget Valentine's.
This is your warning.
This is your warning.
All right, have a great day.
We will talk to you next week.
We'll be you next time.
Hello, you're listening to the Louie Miner
Show.
I'm your host.
Bell County Commissioner, louieMiner, today is February 8th,
2025.
We have a lot to discuss, solet's go ahead and get started.
Remember there is no I repeat,there is no county commissioner
(00:28):
Bell County Commissioner's Courtmeeting tomorrow.
We enacted a new meetingschedule where we will now meet
the first and the third of eachmonth.
The first and the third of eachmonth.
The first and the third of eachmonth.
So yeah, no agenda to go over,but still a lot to talk about.
(00:56):
I was not able to get the showout last week because so much
was happening and I was justwaiting for one more thing to
get out, and just the timeslipped by.
But I want to take things inorder of the way they happened.
We had last Saturday there wasan immigration rally, so I want
to bring you some discussion andclips from that.
(01:19):
I attended that.
I attended that.
Then, on Sunday, the Texasgovernor gave his state of the
state address and issued hisemergency items that will allow
(01:44):
the state legislature to startworking on those, because in
Texas, I think you're prohibitedfrom passing any new laws
unless they are an emergencyitem declared by the governor
for 60 days.
So 60 days they can't passanything.
So we'll talk about that.
And then I want to talk aboutRepresentative Hillary Hicklin
(02:10):
and that whole story that is outright now with Hillary Hicklin.
And then we could talk aboutthe Bell County Annex, the new
annex coming to downtown Killeen.
We could talk about some of thecity council races, but more of
(02:33):
the bond election is kind ofwhat I want to go over.
So let's go ahead and startfrom.
One week ago in Belton at 11o'clock they were having a rally
, immigration rally, supportimmigration rally.
Now, I was not over therepromptly at 11 o'clock whenever
(02:57):
it started, because I had to goto a job fair and HBCU fair and
that stands for historicallyblack colleges at Chaparral high
school.
And so I went to that realquick, said hi, took some
pictures, they had a kickoffceremony and then I left there
(03:20):
and went to Belton and probablymade it to Belton around 1145
ish and I didn't know how manypeople were going to be there.
I wasn't organizing the event.
From my understanding it wastwo Latinas, one from Temple,
one from Belton, and I forgottheir name.
(03:42):
I met them cursory and exchangeinfo, but they were the ones
that were organizing it and itspread pretty quickly.
I saw some family members therethat I wasn't planning on
expecting to see, but they wereout there supporting our
(04:05):
community, our race, our raza.
So it was good to see and, justlike any rally, there were
chanting and people driving byhonking horns.
You know, there were chantingand people driving by honking
horns and I went through thecrowd after they were speaking
(04:38):
because they gave the peoplethat put on.
You know, obviously they spokeand after that, you know, I just
went through the crowd andtalked to people and asked them
what they doing, what is theirname, what are they doing, where
are they here and what city arethey from?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
so let's play that so you can hear the diversity of
people that were in attendance Ido a podcast, so I I just want
to get if you could tell me yourname and why you're here well,
my name is Cindy and today I'mhere to, you know, raise the
voice of those people that donot have one and that you know
(05:14):
you can't, they can't show up,for you know they're scared or
you know, just, I like to behere to represent everybody.
That's pretty much it thank you.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
what city are you from?
I'm from Temple.
You're from Temple, okay, well,thanks.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Tell me your name and why you're here.
Anybody come on?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
My name is Ana Gomez and.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I'm here to protest what's going on at the moment,
you know, like with the massdeportations and stuff like that
.
What city are you?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
from Temple, texas.
Well, thank you so much.
Thanks for being here, thankyou.
Thank you, I'm here to supportwhat is your name and why are
you here?
Thank you, I'm here to supportwhat is your name and why are
you here, matt West?
Speaker 6 (06:08):
I'm here to demonstrate the unity we can
have if we acknowledge ourmulti-ethnicity.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Well, thank you for being here, Matt.
What city are you from?
Speaker 6 (06:21):
Well, now or originally?
Now, I'm originally fromMuskogee, oklahoma, cherokee
Nation.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Okay, when do you live now?
Speaker 6 (06:31):
Temple.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
All right, well, thanks for being here.
Speaker 6 (06:35):
Yeah, well, this is what we need, and we need people
to join the Democratic Partyand not Republican Trump's party
.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I concur, I concur.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
It's important that we say Republican Trump from now
on, because the public is thatfar behind.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Okay, what is your name and why are you here?
Speaker 4 (06:54):
My name is Heather Herman, and I am here because
there are a lot of people that Ilove that will be affected, or
are being affected, by all ofthe policies being enacted, and
I wanted to stand up for myfriends and neighbors.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, thank you.
What city are you from?
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I am from Temple, Texas.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I'm Matt.
I am here to support everyonethat lives on this earth that is
trying to survive, and I'm fromTemple and appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Thanks for being out here, matt, thank you.
I do a podcast, so, if you mind, why are you here?
My name is Jennifer Guerra,which I don't look at, but I
experienced a lot of racism justbecause of my last name and
what goes on to real immigrantslike it's unbelievably
(07:51):
horrifying and we've got to stopit.
What city are you from?
Hello, my name is Louie Minor.
I do a political podcast.
If you could tell me your nameand why are you here today?
Speaker 8 (08:05):
I'm Jennifer Lee and I am here because no one's
illegal.
We are on stolen land.
We have no right to tellanybody that they can't be here.
We can't be here, we're illegalLove thy neighbor.
Yes, love your neighbor.
Stop the hate what?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
city are you from I?
Speaker 8 (08:23):
am from Temple.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Okay, okay, well, thank you, Miss Jennifer.
And what did you do lastelection cycle?
Speaker 8 (08:31):
I ran for state representative for House
District 55.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Well thank you for that as the Democratic nominee.
Thank you for that we need andI will be running again for 26.
Breaking news.
Breaking news.
Speaker 8 (08:43):
Everybody, everybody needs hope.
We need options on the ballotthat we can believe in well,
thank you.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You want a comment for my podcast, sure?
Why are you here?
What is your name and why areyou here?
Speaker 6 (08:57):
my name is Karishma Talbot and I am a city council
member for the city ofNolanville, and I am here
because I am an immigrant and Ido not think that anyone is
illegal on stolen land.
Speaker 9 (09:07):
A city council member for the city of Nolanville, and
I am here because I am animmigrant and I do not think
that anyone is illegal on stolenland and I think that everybody
should have the sameopportunities that my parents
did when they came here.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Well, thank you so much for being out here and we
definitely need the support.
They're trying to divide andconquer, divide and conquer.
Need the support.
They're trying to divide andconquer, divide and conquer.
Speaker 10 (09:35):
Tell me your name and why are you here, richard
Lopez?
I'm here to support my heritage, my people from the government
trying to separate us and goagainst each one of us, but us
as a group, as you can see, ifwe reunite and hang strong
together as American citizens,we will overcome this.
We will overcome and thegovernment will have to see that
(09:58):
we take this seriously, andit's wrong for us people to have
to hide and look over ourshoulders.
It seems like we're the only uhpeople that have to do that,
and it's not right what city areyou from?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I'm from belton.
Well, thank you so much, allright.
Thank you so much, all right.
This is one of the organizershello louie minor.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I'm the county commissioner here.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Oh yeah, yeah, I've heard about you.
Pleasure to meet you.
Thank you for putting this on.
Thank you for coming.
I do a podcast, so I want toget your name and why are you
here?
Speaker 3 (10:33):
So my name is Magda Powers and I'm here because I
don't like what's going on inour country right now.
I don't think that massdeportations are the solution to
the problems of our country.
And I just don't agree with it,and I know that there's a lot
of people in my community thatfeel the same way.
Speaker 8 (10:53):
And you're a veteran.
I am Thank you for your service.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I served in the US Army from 2006 to 2010.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well, thank you, I did my service too, so, all
right.
Well, thank you for doing this.
You should ever come on andtalk.
Yeah, yeah, here I'll give youmy.
Uh, what is your name and whyare you here?
Speaker 11 (11:14):
I'm Irene Andrews, long time activist, part of the
LGBT community, and I understandthat we need to build bridges
and come together, and so I'mhere in a supportive role,
because I believe all of us area part of humanity.
I'm here to celebrate ouroneness and our humanity.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
What city are you from?
What was that?
What city are you from?
I'm from Nolanville, all right,thank you, irene.
You're welcome.
What is your name and why areyou here?
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Lexi Sariñana.
I am here to show that we standtogether.
We're better united than we areapart.
This is a topic that is veryclose to my heart.
Both of my parents wereimmigrants.
They came here from Mexico andit's been a struggle.
It's a lengthy process,especially going through the
(12:05):
right channels and all of that,but I just really want people to
know that we are here and we'rebetter together.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
What city are you from?
Speaker 5 (12:14):
Here, Belton, Texas.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Belton, Texas.
Well, thank you for what you'redoing.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Thank you.
Well, there you have it.
You heard from some of theparticipants there there were
over probably 100, 150.
I mean, there was a lot ofpeople there, a lot of people
I've never seen before, amajority of people I've never
seen before.
So it was good to see thatduring these troubling times,
(12:47):
that people that probably stayedhome and didn't vote and didn't
think, probably didn't care,probably didn't realize what was
going on or believe the BS thatDonald Trump was saying that
he's going to lower food prices,grocery prices and gas prices
(13:10):
and end the war in Ukraine andtake care of everything in
Israel and the Middle East.
It just was all BS.
It was all BS.
It was all BS.
And now we're having to livewith his daily chaos that he's
(13:33):
been doing.
But I think that he'll losesteam.
He'll definitely lose steam.
You cannot keep up this optempo, this operational tempo
that he's been going with,trying to gut and fire all these
(13:53):
federal employees.
But it's bringing peopletogether and getting them off
the and getting them activatedfor activism.
And I've been seeing a lot inthe news here locally.
You know, obviously down inAustin things are going to
happen, because that's ourcapital, but I've been seeing a
(14:15):
lot of rallies up in Wacohappening on TV.
So, you know, keep it up.
This, this is what's, this iswhat it's going to take for 2026
for us to vote a lot of thesejokers out that are selling our
government, our norms andstandards, our practices out the
(14:37):
window for one man.
So, but yeah, I enjoyed it.
I hope they keep it up and youknow, you definitely have to
stay engaged and have a plan ofwhat's going to happen.
What do you need to do?
I attended a Zoom from the ACLUand that was their big thing.
(15:02):
You know.
Have a plan in place,especially for elected officials
.
If this comes to yourneighborhood, if this comes to
your county, your city.
Have a plan.
What are you going to tellpeople?
We owe it to our residents, weowe it to people that live and
work in our communities to tellthem what is the plan and what
(15:28):
are we going to do to help.
So that was Saturday.
That was Saturday the next daythe governor gave his state of
the state speech.
I did not watch it live becauseI was at a fundraising bingo
for our local child abusefacility that they do the
(15:54):
forensic interviews.
So I was there participating inthat, but I listened to it to
the next day and I was a littleshocked of what I heard.
So let me play a clip of histop priorities.
Speaker 12 (16:13):
I want at least $10 billion more in property tax
cuts for our fellow Texans.
But here's the deal that willonly work if local authorities
cannot use loopholes to jack upyour property taxes, like Harris
(16:36):
County did.
They increased your propertytaxes by more than 10 percent
last year.
Loopholes that increase yourproperty taxes must be closed.
No taxing entity should be ableto raise your property taxes
without a two-thirds approval ofvoters.
(16:57):
No approval, no new taxes.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
So that was the first emergency item that the
governor listed and the one thatreally got me going like like
he's lying.
But let me read the otherbefore I dive into that.
The first one.
So number one, obviously,property tax relief.
Number two, waterinfrastructure investment.
(17:26):
Number three teacher pay raise.
Number four, expanded careertraining.
Number five, school choice.
Number six, bail reform.
And number seven, a Texas CyberCommand.
So those are his priorities.
(17:47):
That is what the statelegislature, the Senate and the
House can start working on now,and actually I believe on
Wednesday the Senate went aheadand passed their version of the
school choice bill.
So now it has to go to theHouse.
(18:08):
From my understanding, theHouse still has not even
selected chair chairmanships, soit should be coming here pretty
soon, and so it'll beinteresting to see who the
chairs are, who the vice chairsare, and then they could start
(18:28):
addressing some of these.
Well, at least the only onethat's passed so far that I'm
aware of is the school choice.
But back to property taxes, andwe're going to get into the
weeds here about your propertytaxes, and so you heard the
governor say he wants to invest$10 billion in property taxes
(18:50):
and he wants to close theloopholes that local government
uses, like Harris County, thattheir property taxes went up
over 10%, and the loophole thatGovernor Abbott is referring to
(19:12):
is the statute and law that theycreated that if you go over
because the maximum you can goover is 3.5% from the previous
year's taxes, so that's, that'sa cap.
(19:34):
If you go over that three and ahalf percent and the three and
a half percent is supposed to beinflationary, there's some
inflation built into that to togo up for inflation and then you
know a little bit outside ofthat but what it does if you go
(19:58):
over that 3.5% as a taxingauthority, then you have to go
to the voters and that's whatHarris County did.
Harris County and, I believe,their flood improvement district
because Harris County floodswhen there's hurricanes they
both went to the voters and thevoters approved it.
(20:20):
I believe it was 9% for HarrisCounty.
The voters approved it.
Simple majority, likeeverything else that we vote on,
nothing that voters vote onrequires a two-thirds majority.
So if any tax rate needs atwo-thirds majority, Bluetooth
(20:46):
disconnected.
Needs a two-thirds majority.
It's going to strangle localgovernment and there's going to
have to be severe cuts.
Government cannot function likethat.
And if you think the roads arebad now, if you think law
(21:08):
enforcement service is bad now,if you think it takes too long
to get stuff through the courtsystem, you think all that's bad
now let something like that gothrough and you'll see how hard
it is for anything to improvepeople's lives, people's lives.
(21:34):
But so the next day, channel 10,the local CBS affiliate,
reached out To me as if I wouldbe willing to do an interview.
I said absolutely I would.
And then I believe they wantedto talk to the judge any of the
other commissioners?
To my understanding, none ofthe other commissioners wanted
(21:58):
to talk to the judge any of theother commissioners.
To my understanding, none ofthe other commissioners wanted
to talk because the story wasgoing to be about Bell County
raising its property taxes andwe went above the no new revenue
rate, which the county has donefor a long time.
This was the first time we wentabove the no new revenue rate.
I was the only one that votedagainst the property tax
(22:22):
increase, so I don't know if theother commissioners were scared
to talk about raising people'sproperty taxes.
But, like I said, I votedagainst the property tax rate
increase so I was okay talkingabout it.
So let me play that clip realquick and then we'll go a little
(22:50):
bit more about property taxes.
Speaker 14 (22:51):
One of the emergency items Governor Abbott announced
for the state legislature inhis address to the state last
night could affect the propertytaxes of every Texan.
He called out local countiesthat raised property taxes,
offsetting the cuts passed bythe previous legislative session
.
Speaker 13 (23:07):
Bell County just raised its property taxes last
year to pay for in part stafffor a new county jail.
News 10's Chris Cordova is herewith a look at how the
governor's proposed property taxreform could affect the taxing
power of local entities acrossthe state.
Speaker 7 (23:22):
Chris, Lauren Gordon.
Governor Abbott told Texanslast night he wants to see a $10
billion slash in property taxesstatewide, but he also wants to
ban any property tax increaseby local taxing entities unless
two-thirds of citizens vote toapprove it.
This could change the waycounties operate across the
state.
Bell County residents, likeScott Airey, aren't happy with
(23:45):
the way their property taxeskeep getting raised, despite
property tax cuts passing in thestate legislature.
Speaker 15 (23:51):
Bell County citizens have seen their tax bills go up
and probably will continue todo passing in the state
legislature.
Bell County citizens have seentheir tax bills go up and
probably will continue to do soin the future.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
In response to counties raising property tax
rates, Governor Abbott announcedproperty tax reform as an
emergency item for thelegislative session in his
address Sunday.
Speaker 12 (24:07):
No taxing entity should be able to raise your
property taxes without atwo-thirds approval of voters.
No approval, no new taxes.
Speaker 7 (24:19):
While Bell County Commissioner Louie Miner voted
against the latest Bell Countytax increases, he says local
entities need to keep theirpower to raise taxes in order to
keep county services funded.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
The state is telling us to do something and they're
not giving us a way to pay forit, so the only way for us to
pay for it is to raise yourtaxes.
Speaker 7 (24:38):
But state representative Hillary Hicklin
supports the governor, sayingthe power to increase taxes
should be more directly in thehands of voters.
Speaker 9 (24:45):
There's kind of a fundamental question Should our
taxes be able to be raisedwithout voter say?
And what Governor Abbott issaying is no, that people should
have a say if their taxes arebeing raised.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
Ari is the founder of the Central Texans for Property
Tax Reform Facebook group.
He frequently advocates forlower property taxes, but the
governor's proposal requiringtwo-thirds of voters to approve
tax increases isn't something hesupports.
Speaker 15 (25:14):
Having voters have to approve every single tax
increase is a level ofmicromanagement that I don't
think anyone has ever heardbefore, and I think it would be
counterproductive.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
But the McLennan County Republican Party chair,
chris DeClewitt, thinks if theproposal can make it through
Congress it would be widelysupported by voters.
Speaker 12 (25:32):
The idea that you have to get voter approval, you
have to get a mandate from thevoters to do anything other than
something just de minimis isgoing to be popular and I think
it's going to receive a lot ofsupport.
Speaker 7 (25:48):
Representative Hicklin says she plans to
support Governor Abbott'sproperty tax reform goals in the
Texas House.
Reporting in the studio ChrisCordova, kwtx News 10.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Well, that was Chris Cordova with Channel 10.
Now he really didn't go into myentire statement because we
talked three times, two timesthat day.
But I told him.
I said the governor of Texas islying to Texans about property
(26:22):
taxes.
And what do I mean by that?
If you go to any city, anyplace in the state of Texas and
ask someone, ask a homeowner,can I see your property tax bill
(26:44):
?
100% of the time the largesttaxing entity on your tax bill
is going to be your schooldistrict.
It's not counties, it's notcities, it's not special
districts, it's the schooldistrict.
(27:09):
And why is the school districtso high, you ask?
Because the state is notfunding it.
The state is not fully fundingpublic education.
So the school districts have toget that money from somewhere.
So they go to the property tax.
They go to you and me becausethe state is not doing their job
(27:30):
of fully funding our schools.
And this school choice voucherscam $1 billion going to private
schools.
That could fund and I learnedthat because I was listening to
the hearings that could fund100,000 public school kids, but
(27:59):
instead we're diverting that toschool private schools.
And nowhere I heard this listingas well.
Do you know?
Can you guess, because they'retrying to sell this.
(28:19):
As you know, it's going to helpminority children, it's going
to help disadvantage people infailing schools and they put in
(28:40):
the poverty level to be eligiblefor this.
You know what they and by theyI mean Republicans.
Nowhere else have I ever seenthis in any government.
Usually it's a certainpercentage 100-200% below the
federal poverty level.
This was above the federalpoverty level, exponentially
(29:10):
above, to be considered at thepoverty level.
For this, a family of four canmake $160,000 a year.
That doesn't sound poverty tome.
That doesn't sound poverty tome.
But they're doing that so theycan take care of their rich
(29:32):
friends that already have theirkids and public education.
So it's a sham.
It's a redistribution of wealthbased off on the backs of
hardworking Texans.
So that's the sham, that's thelie.
It's not counties, it's notspecial districts, it's not
(29:54):
cities, it's the state not doingits job.
That's why your property taxesare so high.
So stop lying to the people,governor Abbott and you heard
Hillary Hicklin there in thatclip and I'm glad that she was
in that clip.
I forgot she was in that clip.
But we can now switch to ournew state legislator, state
(30:23):
representative, hillary Hicklin,abbott's puppet, because that's
who got her in office.
So of course she's going toagree with everything, rubber
stamp, everything he wants,because she wouldn't have a job
if it wasn't for him.
(30:43):
Let's switch to the last topicwe're going to talk about is
myself and RepresentativeHicklin.
We're seeing things differently, and whenever I went to the
counties at the Capitol and metwith Representative Buckley
(31:06):
counties at the Capitol and metwith Representative Buckley I
met with staff from SenatorFlores' office because he was
busy in committees.
And then I met withRepresentative Hicklin and I was
(31:31):
there to advocate for BellCounty's legislative priorities.
I was there to advocate forTexas Association of Counties,
our legislative priorities andconcerns on one of the bills
that she had filed.
But once we got to the end ofall that, representative Hicklin
told me hey, have you beenkeeping up with with President
(31:52):
Trump's executive orders?
And I was like no, not, notreally.
Just uh, whatever I hear on thenews, but I'm not keeping up
with everything.
And she said, oh, yeah, hepassed an executive order about
flags and I was like okay.
And then she said, yeah, Ithink the governor did one on
(32:16):
flags too, and I'm like okay,and then she goes.
I'm going to be sending a letterto judge blackburn about flags.
And I told her, I said are youreferring to the flags I have in
my office?
And she said yeah, that's,those are the flags I'm
referring to.
And I said well, feel, feelfree to do whatever you feel is
(32:38):
necessary, and that's political.
You're a politician, I'm apolitician, so so go ahead.
And she goes yeah, I just wantto give you a heads up so you're
not surprised.
You'll be seeing that.
Well, I mean, I don't followRepresentative Hicklin online.
(32:59):
A friend sent me said hey, haveyou seen Representative Hicklin
put out something about you?
And I'm like no.
So I looked it up and let meread this to you real quick.
(33:25):
So keep in mind, I did not seethis till this week, but it's
dated January 29th 2025.
Today is February 2nd, but letme read the letter real quick.
Judge David Blackburn.
Judge Blackburn, as you mayhave heard, secretary of State
(33:50):
Marco Rubio reportedly issued aone-flag policy, which would
order that only the flag of theUnited States of America be
flown or displayed at USfacilities, both domestic and
abroad or abroad.
In response, I plan tointroduce legislation in the
(34:12):
coming weeks aimed at addressingthis issue at the state level.
This legislation will ensurethat only US, texas and any
official municipal flags aredisplayed at any state, county
or city building.
Last month, a concerned citizencontacted the National
(34:34):
Association of ChristianLawmakers after they noticed
altered American and Texas flagsbeing displayed in the windows
of the Bell County Courthouse.
Of the Bell County Courthouse,the NACL brought this issue to
the attention of one of mycolleagues, who shared it with
me.
I understand that in 2023, theBell County Commissioner's Court
(35:02):
adopted a policy mandating onlythe US and Texas flags be
displayed at county facilities.
While I commend your efforts,this policy continues to be
violated by an elected officialwho manipulates it to advance
his personal agenda.
Holding public officials,holding public office, means
carrying the responsibility ofserving and unifying our
(35:24):
communities.
It does not give us the rightto use our position as platforms
for political activism ordivision.
As a ninth-generation Texanwhose ancestors fought for the
independence of the Republic ofTexas, the Lone Star flag holds
(35:44):
a deep personal significance tome.
The Lone Star flag holds a deeppersonal significance to me.
It represents freedom,perseverance and serves as a
constant reminder of my heritage.
The colors of both the Americanand Texas flags carry shared
symbolism Red stands for bravery, white stands for purity and
(36:08):
blue stands for loyalty in theTexas flag, while blue in the
American flag symbolizes justice.
Altering these flags and theircolors, then displaying them at
an official building in ourstate, not only undermines their
symbolism but also disregardsand disrespects the legacy of
those who fought for them.
I love this country, and thisstate disregards and disrespects
(36:31):
the legacy of those who foughtfor them.
I love this country and thisstate and as State
Representative for HouseDistrict 55, I will ensure the
voices of my constituents arebeing heard.
I will fight to preserve ourshared values and protect our
freedoms and uphold theprinciples that make Texas and
our nation strong.
(36:52):
That was her statement.
So, yeah, a lot of BS in there,and what I did was I wanted to
issue a response to that.
So I reached out to the KilleenDaily Herald and they published
(37:17):
my response.
Let me read that to you.
Buckle up.
This was posted on ColleenDaily February 5th by Kevin
Lamenti.
Minor hits back at Hicklin overpride flags at Bell County
(37:42):
Courthouse.
State Representative HillaryHicklin sent a letter to Bell
County Judge David Blackburnabout altered American flag and
Texas flags being displayed atthe Bell County Courthouse,
referencing Bell CountyCommissioner Louie Miner's gay
pride flags.
Hicklin R Belton sent thisletter last week, but Miner told
(38:07):
the Herald he only found outabout it Wednesday.
Miner D Killeen said Hicklintold him in late January she
planned to send the letter.
He said it was an example ofoverreach as well as a free
speech issue.
Hicklin, whose districtencompasses parts of Killeen,
(38:30):
said she was introducinglegislation next week in
response to Secretary of StateMarco Rubio's one-flag policy,
which says only the US flag canbe flown at US facilities.
In her letter, hicklin saidthat the legislator would
require Only the US flag can beflown at US facilities.
In her letter, hicklin saidthat the legislator would
(38:51):
require that only US, texas andofficial municipal flags be
displayed at city and countybuildings.
In her letter, hicklin said aconcerned citizen brought it to
her attention.
Altering these flags and theircolors, then displaying them on
(39:13):
official buildings in our state,not only undermines their
symbolism, but also disregardsand disrespects the legacy of
those who fought for them, shewrote.
Miner said he's been displayingthe flags in the windows in his
office in the Bell CountyCourthouse ever since June 2023,
when the Commissioner's Courtcreated a policy that only the
(39:36):
US flag and Texas flag or countyflag be displayed.
With that in mind.
I put the US and Texas flag andpride colors in my window and
they've been there ever since.
To me it is obviousRepresentative Hicklin does not
(39:59):
understand how government works,or the Constitution, he said.
Minor also said he served as acaptain of the Army National
Guard and had tours in Iraq.
I will not be lectured to bysomeone who has never served
their country and has only beenin office for two weeks.
Miner said Hicklin was sworn into office last month.
Miner, who is gay, said hebelieves that this is a free
(40:22):
speech issue and that bothelected officials and residents
are afforded that right.
I thought the Republican Partysupported free speech.
I do, I know I do.
I guess I was mistaken.
They only support free speechthat aligns with their point of
view, he said.
He also said he disagreed withHicklin's proposed legislation,
(40:46):
saying that it was a slipperyslope.
Is she going to expand that towebsites too?
Miner asks when does it stop?
Where does the encroachmentstop?
Miner said Christian nationalismwas playing a big role in Texas
politics.
The state has been continuouslyoverreaching in the past
(41:09):
legislative sessions, trying totake away local control from
both cities and county.
I support all religion.
I fought for freedom ofreligion.
I fought for freedom of speech.
I'm never going to tell onereligion or one ideology that
they're never going to exercisefree speech.
(41:30):
Harold reached out to Hicklin'soffice in Austin but did not
hear back by deadline.
So that was my response.
No, I will not get lectured byyou and file your bill.
(41:51):
What are you waiting for?
Let the national Christian,whatever it was, let them give
you a draft bill like all yourbills are drafts from someone
else, nothing original.
You a draft bill like all yourbills are drafts from someone
else, nothing originalPlagiarism.
(42:13):
But yeah, let's see how farthat gets.
Good luck.
Good luck on trampling adisabled veteran's free speech.
I like it.
I like how she says she wantsto bring people together, but
look at all the BS that she'ssupporting.
So you're not bringing no onetogether.
(42:37):
If you want to try and believethat, you're lying to yourself.
But anyways, we have a fight.
We're dealing with it at thefederal level.
We're dealing with it at thestate level, but it's up to you
(42:59):
and I to stay involved, to holdthem accountable, to support
candidates that support ourpoint of views, and when all
those come together, greatthings happen.
When all those things cometogether.
(43:19):
Great things happen this comingweek.
I'll be at the well, tomorrow'sSuper Bowl Sunday is Super Bowl,
so I'll watch the hal.
Well, tomorrow's Super BowlSunday is Super Bowl, so I'll
watch the halftime show, I guess.
But outside of that, later onin the week I'll be going to the
Texas Conference of UrbanCounties here in the state of
(43:42):
Texas, down in Austin.
It'll be our policy meeting andI'm excited for that.
It'll be our policy meeting andI'm excited for that.
It's a three day event and nextweek is also Valentine's Day.
So, be sure, and take yourloved one, get them some flowers
(44:04):
, some chocolates.
Don't forget Valentine's.
This is your warning.
This is your warning.
All right, have a great day.
We will talk to you next week.
We'll be you next time.
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