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Separate but not Equal

The news: Today, at a luncheon that was previously postponed from earlier this year, local attorney Stan Joynton will give a lecture on Heman Marion Sweatt and the integration of UT Law at April’s Texas Exes Luncheon at the River Terrace.

Joynton will lecture on Heman Marion Sweatt, a black civil rights activist out of Houston, who, along with Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP, sued the state of Texas for admission into the University of Texas Law School in 1946.

The Speaker: Stan Joynton is a retired estate attorney who lives in San Angelo with his wife, Lynne. He has an undergraduate degree from Rice University and a law degree from the University of Texas. Recently, during public comment at a city council meeting, Joynton spoke up in favor of nonprofits having the ability to apply for TIRZ funding but reminded the city council of the separation of church and state.

The details: The Texas Exes luncheon meets at the River Terrace at 11:30, with the program starting at noon. However, one must have RSVP’ed by Monday. Still, sanangelo.news will cover the lecture.

Further watching: Joynton gave a presentation on this subject last summer for Alpena Community College in Alpena, MI.

Further reading: Here is the actual case of Sweatt v. Painter from Justia

City Council Recap

The news: The San Angelo City Council met at McNease Convention Center for a city council meeting on Tuesday morning.

In the consent agenda, the council approved the following:

• allow George Janca to operate a kayak rental stand at Mary E. Lee Park at Lake Nasworthy
• Approved an agreement with the Southern Drag Boat Association for the annual Drag Boat races
• Approved a resolution allowing the City to apply for TxDOT grants that would help with pedestrian walkways.

In the regular agenda, the council approved the following:

• Two private TIRZ projects in the North TIRZ Zone
• Three first hearings of planned ordinances (more on that below)

Ryan’s thought bubble: On a relatively light day for the city council, two items on the agenda stuck out to me. First, the best part of the meeting came from elementary students at Fort Concho who spoke up on why Earth Day was important to them. I was amazed at how eloquent each speaker was when talking about the subject of conservation.

The second item that stood out to me was the first hearing of an ordinance that would have rezoned a portion of Houston Harte Expressway from Neighborhood Commercial to Planned Development to allow base zoning of General Commercial and a welding and storage shop on the property. At its core, the decision that members of the city council had to make was whether to allow a welding shop and all that comes with it, so close to a freeway where it could hurt the visual appeal of the city.

While it may not have been as sexy or controversial as a trash contract from 2014 or whether nonprofits could apply for TIRZ funding, I loved how engaged the council was.

Specifically, Councilwoman Hesse Smith, with her background in Urban Design, was very impressive in her thought process and public comments. The council followed the planning commission’s lead in zoning the property “general commercial” after a first vote to change the area to a planned development failed to reach a super-majority of votes.

Catch me up

• The Fox News - Dominion Trial. Fox News settled a major defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million on Tuesday, according to the voting machine company that sued the top cable news network. The settlement avoids a trial that could have shed additional light on former President Donald Trump’s election lies, revealed more about how the right-leaning network operates and even redefined libel law in the U.S. (AP)
• The Supreme Court is ex­pected to is­sue an or­der as soon as Wednes­day that could de­ter­mine the avail­abil­ity of the widely used abor­tion pill mifepri­s­tone for at least the next sev­eral months. (WSJ)
• With emotional testimony about their own experiences, parents of children who were killed in the Uvalde school shooting urged a Texas House committee late Tuesday to pass onto the full chamber a bill that would raise the minimum age to purchase certain semi-automatic rifles. Families waited more than 12 hours after the House Select Committee on Community Safety first convened at about 9 a.m. to testify about their final memories with some of the 19 children and two teachers who were killed in the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary and how their lives have changed since. (Texas Tribune)

Not the Onion

A tiny toddler infiltrated White House grounds on Tuesday. A spokesman for the Secret Service said that a toddler climbed through the fence on the north side of the White House setting off multiple security alerts.

Female Principals at Central

Thanks to subscriber Max Parker who let me know that Joanne Rice and Sue Vanhoozer both served as female principals at Central. Jill Ross will follow in their footsteps when she begins in July.