Grapeland Hosts Candidate Forum for City Council, School Board
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
GRAPELAND – The Messenger, along with the Grapeland Chamber of Commerce held a candidate forum event Monday, April 25 at “The Station” event center to a full crowd. Candidates for the upcoming city council and school board races attended and answered questions about themselves and their plans to improve the work done in the city.
The forum began with a prayer from Pastor Wade Harman, before Peanut Queen Emily Hanna led the group in the pledge of allegiance. The lack of an American flag did not deter the group’s patriotism, as a big bag with an American flag donated by one of the audience members served as a worthy substitute for a bigger version of old glory.
Grapeland Chamber of Commerce President Amber Loew thanked those in attendance including Julie Martin from Grapeland ISD and Grapeland Mayor Mitchell Woody who attended in case anyone had any questions about ballots, voting and other such matters. New GISD Superintendent Dr. David Maass was also present along with Messenger alum Will Johnson who came by to support the event.
The Messenger began with the candidates for Grapeland city council, asking each one in turn to answer questions about how to help Grapeland grow, how they would communicate with voters and the biggest challenge the city faces. The last question gave the candidates the opportunity to sum up their campaigns – “Why you? Why now?”
Incumbent George R. Pierson: “I have roots in this town. I’ve been dealing with this town all my life. I played football here, ran track here and played basketball here. I have children, grandchildren and some great-grandchildren. I want the best for them. I want Grapeland to be the best it can be. I was the first mayor that ever brought DETCOG to the city. I feel like if you’re going to be part of something, be part of something. And that’s me…I wouldn’t be part of Grapeland city council if someone told me I was too old. You never get too old to perform and try to bring the best that you can bring into your city.
Candidate Greg Vaden: “I have deep roots here – 42 years. I bought a home here, I built a home here, we have land here that we’re going to build a retirement home, hopefully. Both my parents are here, my wife’s parents are here and I want to see Grapeland do well. If you want to be a part of change, you have to be willing to step in and be part of it. And there’s a lot of good things going on. We’re doing well. But we can do better. I want Grapeland to be better if my son leaves and comes back, like I did. I want it to be better for him than it was when I came. Working with the council, the chamber, the MDD and the school board, community activities, Lions’ club – getting all hands on deck to make it better. This is my hometown. It’s been my hometown for 40 years.”
Candidate Pip McGee: “I have a lot of knowledge from different companies I have owned. I want to help the little town of Grapeland. I have owned property here for over 20 years. I would like to see Grapeland growing better, cleaned up and help all the folks here. This is my home and that’s what I am here to do.”
Incumbent Velda Green: “I believe I have proven myself. I’ve been on the city council for 10 years. I’ve been Mayor Pro Tem for four years. And we have brought many businesses into the city. You have to do it the right way. I go in and make sure everybody’s working to get that and that the city council all works together. I work with all agencies, our churches, our community – yes, sometimes we have arguments but it’s in an orderly fashion. And we get everything taken care of. You have seen the improvement in the city council. You have seen we went from a negative to a positive. Grapeland has improved tremendously. People want to come. They say, ‘Oh, it’s a nice city.’ It is a nice city and I want it to stay that way. And I want it to be even better.”
Candidate Tom DeLong: “Why not me? I’m comfortable in my own skin. I am of the best at what I do. In a very large company, I am very well respected. The wife and I are empty-nesters and have established a relationship with our mayor. I have a lot of vision, a lot of good ideas. I would like to bring some of my expertise to the table and do what I can for the place that I now call home – and plan on calling home. I want to make a difference.”
Candidate Paul Adamson: “I have been here seven years. I love the town. I mean, it is pretty cool. I want to make a difference in this town and I haven’t looked back since. I would like to see this city grow more. We need to bring in other companies and businesses and fix the flood zone down the main road. They put in a 200-something million dollar drainage system, why is everything still in a flood zone? So Grapeland will be a happy community.”
The forum then invited the candidates for GISD school board who shared their views on how they could best help the new superintendent, their opinion of the four-day school week and how Grapeland schools could best prepare our students for the future. It was commented by several of the candidates that not every student would benefit from attending a four-year college and the city should work to created more real-world experience training. Several candidates noted, in both races, housing is a critical need in Grapeland, not only to create more jobs, but so educators and others could live in Grapeland and expand the city’s tax base.
Asked to sum up their candidacies, the school board candidates gave their reasons for running for the positions:
Candidate Twila Ibarra: “I honestly never saw myself running for anything. But I’ve always put a lot of emphasis on education, which is why I homeschooled my son for so long. I was lucky enough to be able to make that sacrifice – a lot of families are not able to do that. I spent a lot of time in prayer about running. Each child deserves the best opportunities no matter what their circumstances are. And if I can be a part of helping making that better, I am not only up for the opportunity, but willing to step up to the challenge. My wish is to see each and every child grow into the person God created.”
Candidate T.C. Howard: “The school board is something I’ve wanted to do since my dad served when I was in junior high. Whenever I make a decision to do something, it’s important that I spend time in prayer. It’s important that my wife be on board. It’s important my family understand what I’m doing. Because no matter what you do and how you serve, this is going to affect your family. This time, there was a clear understanding and a clear opening. I want to serve – I felt like that was the purpose God put me here for. I’m a strong believer in leadership and in serving others. And that’s how we’re able to make progress. Being on the school board is an opportunity to serve and it’s something I feel I’ve been called to do and something I believe I need to do.
Incumbent Josh Goolsby: “I have a heart to serve. I enjoy serving. I love the community, I love the kids. I love walking through the halls, meeting the kids, seeing the kids out on the fields and wherever they are. I think writing is something near and dear to my heart. We have a lot of people that come to us in our jobs and to me, writing is the key. They need to be able to write, because if they can write, they can read and if they can read, they can use that to communicate. So to me writing is first and then math. We need to be able to do math. We need to be able to do math at a pretty high level. We can have a higher degree of competency in other subjects because students are going to gravitate to the sciences and those things that interest them. But if they can read, they can communicate and if they can do math, they can figure the rest out pretty simply. I want to see what we can do to partner with someone interested in helping with our housing problem. So we can keep teachers here and get people that work in this community to live near the school. I think that’s important.”
Incumbent Brad Spisak: “I am currently on the board. I would like to stay on the board. I really do care about the kids. We own Elite Fitness. We have little kids. We’ve coached a lot of the girls that run through the school system. We love Grapeland. We are heavily invested in it with the gym and with our company and I think that would be my, ‘why me why now,’ – we are invested in this community.”
Early voting began Monday, April 24 and voting for city council can be done at Grapeland City Hall, while voting for the school board is being held and the Grapeland ISD Administration building. The election itself is set for Saturday, May 6 and votes can be cast for both races at the Grapeland school library.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
