Roy Cordes Jr., is now officially Fort Bend County County Attorney after a swearing in ceremony last week. Cordes, a former county judge, Sugar Land city council member and first assistant county attorney under now retired County Attorney Bud Childers is now able to assume his duties. He does not face an opponent in the Nov. election.

Assistant County Attorney Mary Reveles, who appears to have done quite a good job serving as the interim county attorney after Childers’ resignation, is back to doing her regular duties. She resigned from the appointed position after Cordes won the primary election. She could have served until Childers’ term expired but felt that the people’s choice should take over the reigns.

The Energizer Bunny of Richmond

Mayor Hilmer Moore is running for re-election but you will note that he is not listed on the Richmond candidates’ stories. Why? Because he, as is the norm, didn’t draw an opponent. Mayor Moore, who has served the city for so many years most have lost count of the exact number, is sort of like the Energizer Bunny—he just keeps going and going and going.

Impressions of candidates

I just couldn’t help but get a few personal impressions of the city and water district candidates who are asking voters to put them back in office or unseat an incumbent and allow them to represent the voters of that particular municipality or subdivision. Some are true politicians, instinctively knowing that free advertising is a big plus and responding to the media is a good idea. Others, through either arrogance, complacency or blatant stupidity had to be coerced into providing the information. After all, this is a public service provided by this newspaper and its’ publisher Bev Carter. It certainly isn’t bringing in the big bucks to dedicate the front page to the candidates.

So, those who were less than cooperative kind of raised my blood pressure just a tad. If I were running for office and someone offered me a chance to get the word out for free, I would fall all over myself trying to get a prime slot in the paper. At least one didn’t and a couple were somewhat ill-prepared, making me wonder if they are prepared to hold the office they are seeking.

Most of the candidates were really excited and responded wonderfully to the request for information and a photo. For an old-timer like me it was also fun to talk to politicians that I once covered so many years ago that it took way too much time to do the interview as we recalled countless “war stories” of that era.

Let’s just say that it is a really good thing I don’t live in Missouri City—because I would vote against at least one person based on my experiences this past week.

Hurricane preparedness

Every year I write at least one large article on hurricane preparedness and this year I plan to do the same. This year I have a feeling that even those who felt this preparedness copy was redundant, might have a different attitude and read a little more closely considering the fiasco last year during the Hurricane Rita threat and the resulting traffic pile up that lasted days.

The one thing that struck me as I, like everyone else, watched the horror stories unfold for those living in the probability zone and those fleeing the local area is how ill-prepared some people were when they got on the road to evacuate. In areas hit by the hurricanes another thing was very obvious: nowadays many people (myself included) consider their pet or pets vital members of the family. They aren’t just dogs are cats—they are kids. It is a reaction not anticipated by emergency workers trying to evacuate stranded residents atop roofs and inside attics who simply refused to leave because they didn’t want to leave a dog or cat behind.

Locally, many people loaded up dogs, cats, fish, birds, horses and yeah, pot bellied pigs—and headed for the high country, only to find that many, if not most, shelters could not or would not accept pets. That changed somewhat, according to local Emergency Management officials, as the progression of evacuees made their way to far away shelters—many of which made last minute arrangements to accept pets or to house them in nearby “pet shelters” that were hastily prepared as the need became evident.

The focus of one article will be exclusively what to do in preparation for protecting your pets and what to do and what to have in advance if another call to evacuate the area is called.

With at least nine hurricanes predicted again this year, we had all pay attention to the recommendations put out by officials. We have already seen, graphically, what happens when people are ill-prepared or are caught in situations that could not be predicted, but now can be anticipated.