Opinion

THERE’S NOTHING LIKE Friday Night Lights in Texas. Where else can you see communities fill up stadiums to the tens of thousands to cheer on and encourage our youth? Anyone who has played on those fields knows how thundering stadiums of cheering fans can give you the extra motivation to succeed. Colleges from around the country recognize this system as a premier producer of athletes, and they descend on our towns to recruit year after year.

PROSPECTIVE VOTERS HERE can be described as bored and indifferent about the approaching midterm election. Local voters are not motivated. Our congressman is running unopposed. So are our county judge, state representative, and state senator. The turnout on Election Day will not be high in my village for another reason. The usual polling place, the community center on Main Street, is undergoing an extensive renovation. A chain-link fence has been erected to encircle the construction site. A sign directs voters to a temporary polling place, Ranch 277, a party venue on the highway. Unless voters are willing to drive a few more miles to the Ranch 277 building, they may not make the effort.

ONCE A CENTURY, a Texas politician comes along that boggles the imagination, not for their skill but for their inexplicable success. Ken Paxton, our top law enforcement officer who was indicted for fraud and investigated for bribery, survived a Republican primary challenge earlier this year and is eking out a lead in the polls against his Democratic challenger, Rochelle Garza.

I WAS BORN AND RAISED in Canadian, Texas, and am still very proud to call it my home. I love the people here and the community spirit.

WITH EARLY VOTING BEGINNING Oct. 24, I would like to encourage every registered voter in the Canadian city limits to vote early and vote YES for the sale of alcohol in Canadian. We are living in times where we cannot rely on the oilfield to save us financially, and with sales tax down, the sale of alcohol will add a boost to our sales tax, which, in turn, will help to decrease our property taxes in the city limits. This vote has nothing to do with helping a big business come into our town, but it is to help us survive now and to increase our sales tax in the easiest way available right now. Naturally, we hope to attract more businesses of every kind that would benefit our community and add more sales tax, but the financial help we need is now.

AN AGING WATER MAIN snapped in Odessa. Drought conditions decimated groundwater supplies to the town of Concan. Millions of Texans lived without water for days when complications from Winter Storm Uri left household taps dry. While Thursday, Oct. 20, marks the 8th Annual Imagine a Day Without Water, too many Texans have already been forced to endure this reality.

I WRITE THIS BECAUSE of my concern for the children and families of Canadian. I have two main concerns about the alcohol option on the ballot and the proposed truck stop at the northern end of town.