| Wilson County News Headlines |
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By Marty Kufus
Wilson County News SAN ANTONIO (Jan. 14) — A federal judge late Monday afternoon issued an injunction halting the Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District’s annexational election in southern Bexar County. Early voting was to have begun Wednesday morning (Jan. 16). A predominantly Mexican-American community organization, whose president also is on the Bexar Metropolitan Water District’s board, had filed a federal lawsuit seeking an injunction. Attorney Rolando Rios, of San Antonio, alleged the Evergreen’s election would violate federal voting-rights law. U.S. District Judge Edward Prado “has enjoined the water district from proceeding with the election scheduled for Feb. 2 for the purpose of annexing the southern part of Bexar County,” a federal-courthouse spokesman said, “and enjoins the water district from opening its polling place Jan. 16 for the purpose of conducting early voting.” The temporary restraining order will expire before Feb. 2 (election day), the spokesman said, and the judge will issue another order setting a court hearing. Prado had awaited a decision from the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington on an election “pre-clearance” issue. Rios filed the lawsuit Dec. 28 against the Evergreen’s board of directors. The district is headquartered in Pleasanton and comprises Wilson, Karnes, Atascosa, and Frio counties. Representing the Thelma Area Neighborhood Corporation and its president, Jim Lopez, Rios alleged the Evergreen’s board violated federal voting-rights law by scheduling an election with only one voting site. The clubhouse at the Waterwood Park subdivision in southern Bexar was the intended voting site, according to the Evergreen’s Dec. 18 election order. The area proposed for annexation is formed by the Atascosa and Wilson county lines, S.H. 16 on the west, Loop 1604 on the north, and U.S. 181 on the east. “All or parts of three large voting precincts have been consolidated for election purposes at this single polling place,” Rios wrote in his federal lawsuit. It “is located in a subdivision with poor access to the balance of the county so that much of the population will be forced to drive upwards of 20 to 30 miles to vote.” He added the “three voting precincts have never been consolidated for voting purposes at this polling place.” Rios also challenged the Evergreen’s pre-clearance procedures. On Friday, Evergreen General Manager Mike Mahoney had no comment on the lawsuit. A grass-roots petition drive last summer compelled the Evergreen’s board to schedule the election. Some southern-Bexar residents said they feared a pumping project planned by the San Antonio Water System for a small portion of the Carrizo Aquifer would result in “draw down” in their own water wells. The Evergreen’s rules, if applied in southern Bexar, would significantly limit any purveyor’s large-scale plans for aquifer pumping. Attorney Rios estimated the area considered for annexation by the Evergreen has some 13,000 residents. He said “there has been an almost complete lack of publicity about the election in the media of general circulation in the area covered by the annexations. “Much of the area sought to be annexed is already covered by BexarMet water district,” Rios added. Lopez, his client, serves on several boards: the Thelma Area Neighborhood Association’s, BexarMet’s (as treasurer), and the Southside Independent School District’s. In a phone interview Friday, Lopez emphasized his actions were on behalf of Thelma-area voters — not BexarMet. He and the Thelma board would prefer two more polling sites, Lopez said. A BexarMet spokesman said Friday that Lopez’s actions were his own. “Our board hasn’t taken any action having to do with that lawsuit,” Chuck Ahrens, water-resources manager, said. |
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