By Tina Dupuy

A colleague of mine quipped the other day that the only religion he believes in is his own. "Sure," I countered. "You piously believe in your own opinion."

Which pretty much sums up every debate I've ever had on religion. Liberals will tell you Jesus was a Middle Eastern Jewish hippie who hated money and communed with the outcasts of Roman society. He threatened the status quo and was executed for it. From this narrative "real Christianity" means challenging authority and helping the poor and the disenfranchised. It's an all-inclusive religion based on tolerance and peace. Also they're vehemently opposed to capital punishment.

Conservatives will tell you Jesus battled Satan. They see Satan everywhere: Muslims, Jews, Communists, single women, sex, homosexuals, hippies, Satanists, Atheists, rock music, rap music, facial hair, the Pope, Obama, government spending, China, drug use and (the one I'm totally on board with) yoga. In their Bible there's war and punishment. There are rules, and if you follow them you don't incur god's wrath. It's simple, it's rigid and it's biblical. "Tolerance" is code for Christians being persecuted for their beliefs. Also, Jesus loved guns.

By Peter Funt

The calendar says Monday is April first, but lately it seems that foolishness occurs year-round.

As one who devoted much of his life to the family business of pranking people, I'm often asked if folks are more difficult to trick today than six decades ago when my dad, Allen Funt, invented "Candid Camera." After all, we're now so dialed in and media savvy, certainly we're less susceptible to jokes—practical or otherwise.

Fact is, people are more easily tricked than ever.

Multi-tasking has a lot to do with it; hardly any moments remain when we focus our complete attention on just one thing. We're easily distracted, and any magician will tell you that distraction is the key to fooling people. Also, technology has made such incredible leaps that almost anything seems possible, and thus believable.

But the perfect storm for chicanery is in media. Ease of access via the Internet, coupled with speedy distribution that leaves fact-checkers in the dust, is creating a robust market for fake news—if you like that sort of thing. How difficult can it be to fool Americans at a time when an alarming percentage of them tell pollsters they use Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" as a primary source for news?

by R Neil Ferguson

Very pleased to announce the results of the City of Lewisville’s 2013 Warrant Round Up conducted February 18th through March 10th. The short story is that it was a success, and actually a bigger success than last year.

The stats for this year are: Total arrests = 695; Total Gross $ Collected = $161,115.83, and Total Face Value Cleared (which means jail credit/bonds posted) = $295,453.61. By comparison, 2012 results were: Total arrests made = 672; Total Gross $ Collected = $153,079.51; Total Face Value Cleared = $277,713.10.

Outstanding job by all who made this happen, with the obvious lion’s share of credit going to our excellent Lewisville Police Department. Great job by the Lewisville Municipal Court as well.

The Lewisville Texan Journal invited all candidates for the Lewisville City Council to complete a questionnaire so that we and our readers could understand their experience, qualifications, and points of view. We will present each candidate's answers in full in their own articles here.

General Info

Candidate:	John Gorena
Office Sought:	Lewisville City Council - Place 4
Campaign Website:	http://gorena.org/
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/gorena
Occupation:	Computer repair, PC Services
Education:	High School: John Jay Science and Engineering Academy College: University of North Texas Other: No answer provided

Representatives of law enforcement agencies and courts from approximately 300 jurisdictions across Texas recently announced combined efforts to host the seventh annual “Great Texas Warrant Roundup” beginning Saturday, March 2.

The roundup is designed to target thousands of defendants with traffic, parking, city ordinance, penal code and higher charge warrants from participating jurisdictions. It is believed to be the largest joint operation of its kind with arrests expected to continue for several days. Hundreds of thousands of notices were recently mailed statewide by participating entities.

Numerous counties, justices of the peace, constables and municipalities of all sizes will participate in the roundup.

Specific information as to the number of outstanding warrants, how to take care of warrants prior to arrest, and any other special roundup activities or events may be obtained by contacting the representative for each agency. Affected persons are urged to contact the appropriate jurisdiction or jurisdictions during the next two weeks to dispose of their cases voluntarily to avoid the inconvenience of arrest at home, work, or school. The City of Lewisville Municipal Court can be contacted at (972) 219-3799.

A list of active warrants from the Lewisville Municipal Court is here.

From a submitted report

The City of Lewisville has turned to mail in order to raise public awareness of its opposition to the expansion of the Camelot Landfill. This postcard arrived at our household on Friday:

Front	Back

Guest Column by TJ. Gilmore,
Lewisville City Councilman

"The Government is us; we are the government, you and I" - Theodore Roosevelt, Republican.

This morning, First United Methodist, my church, let everyone cut out of service fifteen minutes early to purchase items for the Christian Community Action (CCA) pantry. The church community filled a CCA van, floor to ceiling, with food and cleaning supplies. As a community we cooperated to help CCA achieve their mission.

During service, the example of a grandmother having to unexpectedly raise four grandchildren and how CCA was helping her make sure they are raised to be productive members of society was shared. Quite often, situations arise that people can't plan for. That's when the community steps up.

For many years, the City of Lewisville's council has approved somewhere around $150,000 a year. Some years less; some, like this past year's $170,000, more. I'm proud that the community has repeatedly said yes to funding social service agencies to help our most needy residents.

Having served on the Community Development Block Grant committee for several years, I know these organizations go through rigorous checks to ensure that funds are spent appropriately and not wasted. Many times the city funds capital expenses like new conference and education space. We also fund services like psychological and physical evaluations of abused children, wellness checks at PediPlace, and day care for disabled adults so residents can get a couple hours for running errands. These agencies do a tremendous amount with these dollars.

by R Neil Ferguson

Preface

It is my nature to want more information on an issue than I find in a few news releases and briefings. Knowledge enables better decision-making. As with many issues that come before our City Council, I often dig in much deeper for information that can be invaluable in wisely directing our city’s future. At the same time, I often have to plow through a mountain of information just to find a few paragraphs or sentences of useful material.

If the first part of what you read below seems more like a school classroom report, it is because basic facts are often the ideal starting point for better understanding of an issue. I know not every reader desires this much information. By comparison, you should see all the material I read through and distilled down to create this summary. Some of the better sources are noted at the end if you want to dig more for yourself. Hopefully this provides the level of understanding that informed citizens can use to grasp the big picture, yet understand what lies underneath to separate fact from fiction.

One legal notice I am compelled to add: The information and opinions included in this document reflect my personal opinions and beliefs and are not necessarily those of the Lewisville City Council or the City of Lewisville.

Basic Facts about The Trinity River

In all of Texas, no other single river basin serves more people than the Trinity. It is a massive basin covering almost 18,000 square miles and parts of 34 counties. Its headwaters begin in four counties: Cooke (East Fork), Montague (Elm Fork), Archer (West Fork) and Parker (Clear Fork) Counties. That flow continues all the way to the Gulf of Mexico -- another 423 miles from where its three principal tributaries (East, Elm, and West Fork) have all joined to form the Trinity River just south of us on the west side of Dallas County. In total length, it is some 512 miles long, but when you count in tributaries, add nearly 2000 more miles.

While it is not Texas’ longest river, the Trinity nevertheless comes in third place for annual flow: some 5.7 million acre-feet measured near the mouth on Trinity Bay. As such, it outranks the much longer Rio Grande, Red, Pecos, Canadian, and Colorado Rivers in annual flow. Only the Brazos and Sabine Rivers flow more in a year. It is a massive water supply.

By Peter Funt

Should auld acquaintance be forgot? How 'bout the presidential campaign, the 112th Congress and Newsweek magazine? Journalists usually favor year-end recaps of news but as a public service I'm going to focus instead on the glorious months ahead, in this handy precap of 2013:

JAN. 1: At a New Year's breakfast with Congressional leaders, President Obama outlines goals for his second term: creating jobs, reducing the deficit and ending war. House Speaker John Boehner tells reporters, "It sounds like the president is still campaigning."

JAN. 31: Congressional Republicans introduce legislation to make Jackie Robinson's birthday a federal holiday.

FEB. 3: Super Bowl XLVII is held in New Orleans and immediately establishes an NFL record for a Roman numeral that fewest fans are able to decipher.

FEB. 8: Hurricane Baby Girl threatens the Florida coast. Meteorologists explain that due to climate change, storms are arriving too prematurely to have proper names.

FEB. 15: Political guru Dick Morris tells Fox News that his analysis of the presidential election is "virtually complete," and shows that low turnout among Mitt Romney's family members hurt him in swing states.

By Matt Mackowiak

There are two types of politicians in Texas: statewide elected officials and everyone else.

The reason is that being elected statewide in a state of 25 million people with 20 media markets that each have at least one television station and daily newspaper is a tall task.

Democrats, basking in the glow of the 51.5 to 47.5 percent national election victory, including an eight point improvement with Hispanics, now boast that Texas (which Mitt Romney won 57-40) will be in play in 2016.

There is one major problem with that: the Texas Democratic Party.