As Texas Central Partner’s bullet train takes aim at South Central Texas, Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell is concerned it’s ignoring the effect the project’ll have on public safety and emergency response resources along the way.
The sheriff says he’s done his best to be available, including attending every meeting, and he has not had a single person get with him on any of this. I addressed these issues at the Public Hearing in Navasota Junior High the first of February, and except for a letter he got February 13th, he has had nothing face-to-face.
A coalition of sheriffs from eight counties sharing those concerns formed on Valentines Day in Centerville, where they elected Sowell as their chair.
Sowell tells Navasota News that Harris and Dallas are the only two counties along the proposed route that he hasn’t heard from. But public safety and EMT issues are not his only concerns, he adds. There’s also the matter of residents who’ve told him TCP has threatened to take their land by eminent domain.
A group of coalition members most recently addressed their concerns at a public meeting on the steps of the Grimes County Courthouse in Anderson where a sizable audience, including media from as far away as Houston were in attendance.