Thread: Farmers Branch update

I’m new here. This is my first post. I know that many Texans are very proud of the Farmers Branch city council!!! Can anyone here tell me how to get my feet wet with regard to getting involved in the ALIPAC City FOCUS campaigns? And what about County Focus campaigns in Texas – how does that differ? Anyone from Wise County, Texas active here???

Welcome to Alipac!

I don't know if anyone here is from Wise County. I know we have members in Johnson, Dallas and Tarrant. Some down in El Paso, Houston and Austin areas too.

Dixie

If this has been posted elsewhere please let me know.

Email I rec'd from Farmers Branch today titled "Letter from LULAC":

Hi all-

Apparently there is a letter being circulated by LULAC that is on the
Dallas Morning News Blog. If you have a moment, please read this in
its entirety. It will give you some more insight on what we are truly
up against.

Thanks,
Belinda

For what it's worth, local LULAC officials are circulating a letter
they say is written by a white 40-year Farmers Branch resident to City
Council member Tim O'Hare.

(His name is at the end of the letter, which you can find in unedited
form after the jump; I took it out as I can't verify it.)

That said, if you accept the letter at face value, you find:

-- The Farmers Branch council did stay within federal law, although
with bad motive: " ... the only way they could hope to escape too much
Federal intervention was to follow the rigid rules of the Federal Fair
Housing Act that prohibits discrimination in any form and must be
applied uniformly."

-- Farmers Branch is "starting down the same road" that led to the
Holocaust and internment of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent during
World War II. (I found this a little insulting, but who am I to say?
End of editorial comment.)

-- The council may have violated open meetings laws by discussing the
ordinances in closed session. Even if the city attorney "was shrewd
enough" to follow the letter of the law, the council "certainly
violated" the spirit of the law.

-- The media have painted this dispute as one between majority white
residents who "vigorously and often irrationally support Tim [O'Hare]
and his proposals" and a Latino minority, but a segment of "white
Anglos" opposes him and should be heard.

-- The writer is deeply concerned for the future of his city and the
United States.

Sent by LULAC officials (unedited):

Farmers Branch city council's actions have been seen and heard felt
out the nation and the world.We will shortly be filing suit and taking
other actions that will show that American values and our religious
faith will not be defeated.We are setting up a fund to fight this
battle in a recall of the ordinance and in the courts,you can help by
sending a $25.00 donation to LULAC 102 which will only go FOR direct
action against the Farmers Branch anti-American and anti Christian
laws,send checks to LULAC 102,1107 W. Jefferson,Dallas,TX 75208 all
donations are tax deductable.To volunteer call Alberto Ruiz at
214-941-8300,for we will be go going door to door registering voters
and taking on these bigots head on con muchas ganas in the next city
council elections, just like we made a change in Dallas County on
Nov.7th,2006 when all the anti immigrant republicans were thrown out
of office.The following is letter from a citizen of Farmers Branch to
councilman Tim O'Hare which I believe captures many of our feelings.

[Citizen letter begins here:]

The Declaration of Independence includes these words "We hold these
Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they
are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." The City
Council of Farmers Branch has rudely defied and rejected those sacred
truths, the very foundation of our country, and claimed they have the
right to determine who will have those inalienable rights. In my view
that's a vicious abuse of power and as un American as one can get.

Farmers Branch now claims it can deny those rights to specific groups
by demanding that owners or managers of apartments require that ALL
individuals, before signing a lease or rental agreement, or renewing
or extending a lease or rental agreement, or occupying the premises)
must first provide proof that the person applying and all family
members are US citizens or possess approved official papers to prove
they are legal immigrants and have a legal right to be in this
country. Owners or managers of apartments can be fined up to $500 PER
DAY for every violation if the managers do not have copies of that
proof for EVERY PERSON living in their complex.

The Council recognized that the only way they could hope to escape too
much Federal intervention was to follow the rigid rules of the Federal
Fair Housing Act that prohibits discrimination in any form and must be
applied uniformly. So the Council in a mean spirited manner trying to
force Landlords to deny housing to illegal immigrants by severely
punishing the Landlords if they don't comply, also forces a ridiculous
burden and unjust punishment on EVERYONE who expects to live in an
apartment by requiring them to also provide the same proof.

That means that if the Manager does not have copies of the proof
presented by everyone, whether an illegal immigrant, a legal
immigrant, a black born and raised in the United States, a white Anglo
born and raised in the US, a native American Indian, a person from
anywhere in the world who has legally become a US citizen or proof
they are here legally, even the President of the United States,
anyone; the manager could be fined $500.00 per day for each
occurrence. If an individual stayed in the complex only ten days, the
manager could be fined $5,000.00. If a family of four lived in the
complex for 30 days that's $2,000 per day or $60,000 for the 30 days.
By facing a $500.00 per day fine per person, how can you expect an
apartment manager to allow you to rent or lease an apartment if you
don't provide proof of citizenship or proof that you are in the
country legally. A drivers license is not proof and claiming you were
born here is not proof. You have to provide government approved forms
proving you have the right to rent an apartment or sign a lease. How
can the City of Farmers Branch justify such atrocious laws in their
attempt to eliminate undocumented workers from our community?????? The
medicine is far more destructive than the so-called disease. It's
UN-AMERICAN.

We saw that happen in Nazi Germany in the 1930's and 1940's when they
attempted to get rid of Jews. it should never happen to anyone in
America YET IN FARMERS BRANCH WE ARE NOW STARTING DOWN THE SAME ROAD.

In World War II we saw what happened to the Japanese living in America
(even the loyal Japanese who became legal US citizens and Japanese who
were born and raised in America). We should never let that happen
again in America YET IN FARMERS BRANCH WE ARE NOW DOING THE SAME THING
ALL OVER AGAIN.

THE SECOND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS ACTION TAKEN was the METHODS used to
pass this legislation:

When the ideas of eliminating illegal immigrants in Farmers Branch
were first introduced by City Council member Tim O'Hare back in August
the city was thrust into local and national news as those who strongly
supported the ideas and those who strongly opposed the ideas expressed
themselves to the city council and to the media. But the actual
legislation the City Council passed Monday night Nov 13 2006 was
created behind closed doors (they call it Executive Sessions) denying
the citizens any knowledge of the contents of the legislation and
denying the citizens any opportunity to express their views either for
or against the legislation. The proposals were presented publicly for
the first time to the citizens at the Council meeting where the
proposals were voted on without discussion and approved unanimously by
the City Council. Normally the Council invites citizens to express
themselves when an issue is being presented. This time the Council
refused to let anyone to speak until after the laws were passed. Then
the Council "allowed" citizens to express their approval or
disapproval. What an outrage. The Council knew the majority supported
the resolutions so Council members could have conducted themselves in
an above board manner. But, instead, the entire City Council chose to
act like dictators showing they were going to pass this controversial
legislation whether the citizens liked it or not. Those who supported
the legislation should be as upset as those of us who opposed the
legislation because of the sneaky, underhanded, unethical,
undemocratic, politically nauseating methods the entire Council used
to force their views on the entire community. By the way, the
Ordinances were printed in their final form on Friday, Nov 10 before
the Council Members saw them and before they had their secret
(Executive Session) on Monday afternoon, Nov 13th. That's where the
Council was supposed to discuss what should be contained in
ordinances, but the ordinances had already been created in a final
form. Who created the Ordinances and why were they finalized on Friday
before the Council ever had an opportunity to discuss them in the
Executive Session on Monday?

To let the Council's "servants" express themselves AFTER they passed
the legislation is against the principles and spirit of democracy and
the height of hypocrisy. The Council has become like too many other
government leaders and agencies who allow people to express themselves
so they can blow off steam, then completely ignoring what the people
said continue to do what they had already decided to do.

In the Council's attempt to railroad this legislation through, the
Council may have violated the Texas open meeting laws. And even if the
Council's attorney was shrewd enough to follow the "Letter of the Law"
the Council certainly violated the "Spirit of the Law" and treated the
residents of Farmers Branch as if we were "Subjects in a middle ages
feudal system."

Tim O'Hare used his despicable perversion of Romans:13 "Let every
person be subject to the governing authorities ... those that exist
have been instituted by God" to justify his actions implying that he
was a governing authority instituted by God. What a dangerous
interpretation of Christianity. What I cannot understand is how the
rest of the Council Members surrendered their personal convictions,
their integrity, their decency, their freedom and their leadership to
such a tyrant.

Farmers Branch, a suburb of Dallas, is a thriving little city of about
27,000 people. In the last few decades Farmers Branch has integrated
successfully. There are Christians, Jews, Muslims, and all flavors of
religions and non-religious living in unity while maintaining a rich
diversity of cultures and lifestyles. There are mini mansions for the
millionaires, economical housing for the poverty struck and everything
in between. In our own neighborhood we have blacks and whites and all
shades in-between living together peacefully with respect and dignity.
There are residents who were born in Korea, Canada, Australia, Mexico,
Czech Republic, South Africa, India and many other countries. We truly
are a world wide community. It is tragic that these issues can easily
destroy our beautiful city.

It's not surprising that since August the local and national media
have descended upon Farmers Branch and continuously publicized the
turmoil within our formerly peaceful city. The media have eagerly
interviewed and promoted Tim O'Hare and his supporters and eagerly
interviewed Hispanics who justifiably oppose the proposals. But it is
very strange that the media seems to deliberately ignore interviewing
the white Anglos who opposed the proposals just as strongly as the
Hispanics.

The media implies that this is a conflict between White Anglos and
Hispanics but that is not the case. We recognize that the majority of
White Anglo citizens of Farmers Branch vigorously and often
irrationally support Tim and his proposals. But it is not only
Hispanics who oppose Tim's proposals. There are also White Anglos who
don't agree with Tim! Granted we, the White Anglos who disagree with
Tim, are in the minority, and we may even be a silent minority, but
there is a large white Anglo minority who strongly oppose all the
actions that have been proposed and finally enacted into law in the
City of Farmers Branch. Our voice also needs to be heard and
recognized.

The majority of Tim O'Hare's supporters seem to be normal, decent,
successful religious people. As a life-long Christian it is very
difficult for me to understand how my fellow Christians can turn their
backs on the basic tenants of our Christian faith. Instead of helping
and caring for the oppressed, the destitute and the needy, they are
determined to eliminate their "undesirables" from our community. Most
of these Christians have an entirely different concept of Heaven than
I do so I'll use their concept of Heaven to illustrate my point. When
they arrive at their pearly gates and are rejected, they will
defiantly ask, "Why were they refused entrance into Heaven?" The reply
they hear will be " Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of
these my brethren, you have done it unto me."

With such attitudes and actions by the City Council and with such
strong vocal support from so many residents, I am deeply concerned for
the future of Farmers Branch and for the future of the United States
of America.

[Name withheld]
A resident of Farmers Branch for over 40 years. I used to say I am a
Proud Resident of Farmers Branch. Now I reluctantly have to say I'm
ashamed of my city. This legislation is a disgrace.

And I give you ALEXANDER HAMILTON and his thoughts on immigration
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=46813

Isn't that something, JEAN......I just located the above as you were posting this drivel. {not you - the letter, lol}

FYI: within the past 18 hrs. I read someplace ? almost the exact verbiage about the Holocoust, Nazis etc. Isn't that interesting?
TALKING POINTS? think so

.

With such attitudes and actions by the City Council and with such
strong vocal support from so many residents, I am deeply concerned for
the future of Farmers Branch and for the future of the United States
of America.

Not me. It actually gives encouragement. I am PROUD of my fellow Americans! Like Hazelton hopefully they will be an example and beacon of light for other communities trying to fight the invasion!

A resident of Farmers Branch for over 40 years. I used to say I am a Proud Resident of Farmers Branch. Now I reluctantly have to say I'm ashamed of my city. This legislation is a disgrace.

Don't let the door hit you on your way out! God Bless the city of Farmers Branch, The city council and all citizens who supported and continue to support this legislation.

considering moving there... i already work there and many of my co-workers are about to move to the city as well.

Originally Posted by dragons5

considering moving there... i already work there and many of my co-workers are about to move to the city as well.

Well DRAGON.......this whole thing could turn out to be a boom for the city!

.