Congressman Pete Sessions Holds Town Hall in Houston County
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
LATEXO – U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions visited Latexo Independent School District (LISD) to celebrate the district’s academic achievements and to hold a town hall, Tuesday, Aug. 13, following a promise he made to return during a brief trip in the spring to honor the school’s award winning math team.
Sessions was introduced by Deep East Texas Council of Governments (DETCOG) Executive Director Lonnie Hunt, noting the extremely large 17th congressional district and Session’s commitment to staying active in the region.
“The man must never sleep,” Hunt said of Sessions. “Every time I look at one of the counties here in East Texas he represents, he is there. We really appreciate the fact that he is here, among us, seems like all the time, and of course, his staff is always a phone call or email away to help us.”
Sessions was excited to be back in Houston County and for the good number of people who attended the town hall format. He began by introducing the several members of his staff who made the trip with him, then lost no time in keeping several promises he had made to LISD Math Teacher Audrey Cravens, bringing both her and some of outstanding students recognition for their achievements.
The congressman told the story of how Kevin Burnett, one of his aides, happened to run into Latexo students on a road trip and asked Sessions if he would visit the school, shortly before Burnett passed away. Sessions came to the school and excited by what he saw, asked Cravens what he could do to help the program.
“Cravens told me, ‘We need books. We need things to help our students talk about math equations and calculus,’” Sessions recalled. “So we went to the Library of Congress and asked if they had any books about calculus and could be used for quantum physics. They gave us these books and we would like to present them tonight.”
An exuberant Cravens accepted the books on behalf of her students, the school and the math program. Sessions, however, was not quite finished. Joking that Cravens also requested money for the program, Sessions did not disappoint.
“I have committed to donating $1,000, each year I continue to serve in Congress,” Sessions said. “We also contacted Dell Computers about working directly with the program and they like what we presented. It’s just a guess, but I think Dell Computer may come and work with you in this program!”
After the students were introduced and congratulated, Sessions honored his old friend and fellow-congressman Jim Turner, a longtime Crockett resident, noting the two rarely agreed on politics, but had become good friends and shared a mutual respect. Sessions also welcomed local students to apply for schools which require a congressional recommendation, such as West Point and the Air Force Academy.
Sessions then began to present the bleak picture which faces the country, from the unsuccessful attempt on the life of Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump, the mass immigration at the southern border and the rising cost of inflation to American families. He noted the influx of illegal drugs and fought back against the idea of “safer”, recreational drugs such as marijuana, telling of that drug’s sometimes deadly impact.
“You can see how dramatic it is,” Sessions said, showing a chart of the dramatic rise in inflation over the last several years. “Household income is dropping dramatically. Look, I feel it. I go to the grocery store and I feel it every week, looking at milk and eggs and the basics. And if you run a restaurant, your prices increase and it means there’s less take-home pay for people. It affects prices of energy, food and employees. This is our annual growth. We are losing money. America is not getting ahead.”
“Our future is being put in peril,” Sessions concluded. “This comes from bad monetary policy. It comes from doing things like giving every person who comes through illegally a cell phone, a free ticket to wherever they want to go, free health care and expecting others to take care of them. And the bottom line is, it means Americans are paying for others and the front door is open.”
In the crowd were many of the county’s leaders, including Houston County Judge Jim Lovell, County Commissioners Gary Lovell and Gene Stokes, Crockett Mayor Dr. Ianthia Fisher, Crockett City Administrator John Angerstein, Houston County Justice of the Peace for Precinct One Mike McCreight, Sheriff Randy Hargrove, and Sheriff-Elect Zak Benge.
Sessions then opened the floor for questions, taking his time and trying to explain issues brought up by the crowd, such as constitutional issues, questioning the support for Ukraine and other questions brought by attendees.
The Messenger asked about the seemingly wide divide between those of us living in Houston County and those who work and operate in Washington D.C., where the difference in outlook and understanding seemed to be widening. Sessions was passionate in his response.
“We all have opinions, and the further we get apart, the harder it gets, and this country feels it. Mr. (Jim) Turner and I never voted much alike, but we admired each other and Mr. Turner was, from day one, polite and collegial with me, and I respect that, and that’s why I honored him here tonight. Jim and I didn’t ever go drink a beer together, but we knew each other, and he was a man of faith, a man of great conviction and a man of public service,” Sessions said. “The new people think it’s all about showing up and beating each other up and gutting each other. I don’t like it. So you’ve got a guy here who works in Washington. I’ve never spent a weekend in Washington, D.C. in 26 years, unless there was a vote on the floor.”
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
