Columns

July 18: Journey of Hope – The Ability Experience will be stopping in Terrell as part of their 59-day, 3,600 mile cross-country journey from Santa Barbara, CA to Washington, D.C. July 18: Trail of Hope – Kaufman County will hold its Trail of Hope: Drive Thru Luminaria Ceremony from 9-10 p.m.

Thinkers disagree on almost everything. But one thing most deep thinkers agree on is the fact, people become what they think about. With football season about to begin, I guarantee you many players are thinking of a district and state championship season.

On this day in 1865, Greenville S. Dowell, a Virginia native born in 1822, and a group of local physicians formed the Galveston Medical Society. A few months later, in November, the trustees of Soule University organized Galveston Medical College, the first medical school in Texas, and Dowell was appointed professor of anatomy; he later served as professor of surgery and as dean of the college. The same year Dowell began making plans to publish the first medical periodical in Texas, the Galveston Medical Journal, which began publication in January 1866. When Soule University closed Galveston Medical College in 1873, Dowell and J. M. Callaway founded Texas Medical College and Hospital, where Dowell continued to teach surgery until his death in 1881.

My dad was born in 1921, in Panola County, Texas. He was the youngest of nine children, born into a sharecropper family. He grew up chopping, hoeing, and picking cotton. His dad died when he was 15 and as one of the few left at home, he took care of and helped provide for his mother. In 1942 he was invited by his Uncle Sam to see the world, and after his basic training spent until 1946 in the Pacific Theater where he learned to climb poles and string wire as a member of Company C, 99th Signal Battalion.

A year ago, the economy had begun to stabilize after two months of cataclysmic decline due to COVID-19 and the massive response. Almost overnight, millions of jobs disappeared, and an economy in the midst of a record-shattering expansion suddenly went into free fall.

There were times in the last year or so that I thought we were really having to sacrifice due to what was going on around us with the pandemic. Businesses closed down, no travel, difficult to find what you needed for your home. Of course, you follow that up with the snowstorm to end all snowstorms. The times were certainly stressful and, yes, there were sacrifices that had to be made. Who can forget the search we all made for toilet paper? Looking back, I have to ask was it really sacrifice or an inconvenience?

Calm down! Recent inflation reports have caused alarm and, frankly, overreaction. The overall Consumer Price Index increased again in May, bringing the rate over the last 12 months to 5.0%. It was the largest 12-month increase since a 5.4% rise observed in August 2008, during the midst of the Great Recession. The index for all items less food and energy rose 3.8%, the largest annualized increase since June 1992.

Over 20 years ago, the Texas Legislature passed the Texas Economic Development Act, which allows school districts to offer tax incentives for businesses that invest in their communities. The Act, commonly called "Chapter 313" because of its position in the Texas Tax Code, fundamentally improved the economic development landscape. Chapter 313 has been extended several times but is now set to expire Dec. 31, 2022.

Two years! That’s the Chamber work anniversary I’m celebrating today. It certainly has been full of unexpected twists and turns thanks to COVID. I joke with my coworkers and our board members that I’m a redshirt freshman. Twenty-four months in and there are still annual Chamber and EDC events that I’ve not experienced.

The recent legislative session will not soon be forgotten. The focus was perpetually on anything but initiatives required to move Texas forward. Some high profile measures stalled but will no doubt resurface; others passed.