BRAZORIA COUNTY TEA PARTIES’ PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, DECEMBER 5, 2013
Since October 23, 2012, the TEA Parties of Brazoria County have suffered repeated abuses at the hands of the County Commissioners and District Attorney Jeri Yenne.
On that date, District Attorney Yenne presented her “interpretation” of the Texas Constitution to the County Commissioners. In that presentation, Yenne proposed that the Constitution forbade the use of county facilities by any group that was not granted funds by the state.
Yenne proposed, and the Commissioners adopted, a rule that stated that the county facilities could not be used for a private purpose by any private entities or individuals. The TEA Parties of Brazoria County were contacted the same day and told that they could no longer use county facilities for their public meetings. No other group was removed from the use of county facilities under that new rule. The TEA Parties were the intended victims of the Commissioners and D.A. Yenne.
Despite having been shown that Yenne’s “analysis” of the Texas Constitution was incorrect, at best, the Commissioners refused, and continue to refuse, to get outside counsel or to seek the opinion of the Attorney General’s office as to whether what they had done was allowed by the Texas Constitution.
The TEA Parties have repeatedly requested that the Commissioners reconsider what they had done and to order the D.A. Yenne to allow the TEA Parties the use of several county facilities as they had done for years before this set of events. The Commissioners have repeatedly deferred to D.A. Yenne who, without a reason, steadfastly refuses to allow the TEA Parties the use of those facilities.
In August of 2013 the TEA Parties served a demand letter on the Commissioners once again asking them to please stop the actions instigated by the inaccurate constitutional claims of Yenne. The TEA Parties were once again ignored. The Commissioners refused to even formulate a response to the demand letter.
We, the TEA Parties of Brazoria County, have done all we can do to peacefully resolve this matter. With a deep respect for the Citizens of Brazoria County, we lay this matter before them, and ask that they hear our voice, see what has been done, and that they recognize that we have done all that we could to prevent legal action short of accepting the abuses quietly and disappearing.
We, the TEA Parties of Brazoria County, act as your watchdogs to prevent the waste of tax dollars and to prevent the continued growth of government into areas that you, the People, have not authorized in our Constitution.
We regretfully announce that we feel that there is no more that can be done outside the courts and ask for your voices to be heard in Commissioners’ Court, ground floor, 111 E. Locust, Angleton, TX, 77515, at 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, December 10, 2013, so that, perhaps, the Commissioners can be reminded that they are our servants, not our rulers.
BY: Dr. Royce Mitchell, 10231 Hanselman Road, Manvel, TX 77578; 281-331-8607
