By WCN Staff
Wilson County News

PLEASANTON (Jan. 18) - The board of the Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District, whose annexational election in southern Bexar County temporarily was halted by a federal judge, is to decide Tuesday whether to cancel that election and schedule one for May.

U.S. District Judge Edward Prado in San Antonio issued a temporary restraining order Jan. 14 to last 10 days. Early voting in southern Bexar was to have begun Jan. 16. That same day, the Evergreen's staff issued an amended agenda for the board of directors' monthly meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

It listed two additional items for consideration and action: "Cancel Feb. 2, 2002, special election," and "Order of election (May 4, 2002) to add a portion of southern Bexar County to the Evergreen ... and to elect two directors." Tuesday's meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in the district's offices in Pleasanton.

Judge Prado has scheduled a Jan. 23 hearing on the temporary restraining order. During that hearing, Prado will hear any arguments for or against an extension of the injunction against the Feb. 2 election, a federal courthouse spokesman explained.

The Thelma Area Neighborhood Corporation and its president, Jim Lopez, sued the Evergreen district Dec. 28. They alleged some southern-Bexar voters would be disenfranchised because the election would have only one voting site.

In his Jan. 14 order enjoining the election, Prado noted the U.S. Department of Justice "has not yet pre-cleared the election."

Evergreen General Manager Mike Mahoney said Thursday the Justice Department had not yet contacted him. (Even after the Evergreen's pre-clearance application arrived in Washington - the first packet had been lost Nov. 29 in "overnight" U.S. mail - the paperwork reportedly was shuffled from one desk to another in the civil-rights division.)

If the Evergreen's board scheduled a new election for May, the addition of polling locations might be a consideration, Mahoney acknowledged. "It all depends on what the Department of Justice requires us to do," he said.

The area proposed for annexation, as the result of a petition drive this summer by some residents, 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.

The San Antonio Water System and Bexar Metropolitan Water District each has water-production interests in that area.
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