There are so many illogical things in Brady that it is hard to know where to begin. How about the fact that Brady owns a big expensive horse racetrack but never has horse races?

How about the fact that the City of Brady spent millions of dollars on a water treatment facility at Brady Lake just a few years ago but can't meet minimum state water quality standards? Now they tell us they are going to close it down. It isn't even paid for!

Drive by the old Armory at the corner of Boy Street and the Brownwood Highway. There is obviously some construction work going on there and it isn't all being done by the city. City officials say it is part of the $2 million Warehouse project but never let the citizens in on exactly what that is. Now there is talk of an Animal Shelter that may or may not be part of the Warehouse location. Rumors rule because the Council does not willingly share information with the citizens.

The recent notice of intent to issue Certificates Of Obligation for an unspecified Waste Water project does not include even a brief description of the project. Why not? Certificates of Obligation are for emergency situations. Do we have an emergency with Sewer System? If so, why don't they tell us exactly what it is?

Maybe the City has plans for all these projects, but they certainly don't make them public, even in general terms. Millions are spent without any public accountability at all.

On a smaller scale, witness the City of Brady planting hundreds of little willow trees at Brady Lake which required regular watering with a city water truck. Then go to Richards Park and see the century-old native pecan trees dying in the drought from lack of water. Somehow that doesn't add up - water the willows and let the pecans die? The people of Brady have better sense than that, even if the City Council doesn't.

The list is endless but it just amounts to griping. What can be done?

Napoleon III had this suggestion:

"In my youth, I, too, entertained some illusions; but I soon recovered from them. The great orators who rule the assemblies by the brilliancy of their eloquence are in general men of the most mediocre political talents: they should not be opposed in their own way; for they have always more noisy words at command than you. Their eloquence should be opposed by a serious and logical argument; their strength lies in vagueness; they should be brought back to the reality of facts; practical arguments destroy them. In the council, there were men possessed of much more eloquence than I was: I always defeated them by this simple argument: two and two make four".

Keep it simple. If it doesn't add up, don't believe it. Don't accept vague answers. Bring the discussion "back to the reality of facts".

• Bill Neslage has spent his personal time and money for the past year to publicize the outrageous behavior at the City of Brady. He has put his reputation on the line for the people of Brady and he doesn't even live within the city limits.
• A group of Simpson Lake Club residents have sued the City to stop the travesty of the MUDualistic ATV park on their doorsteps. They have spent their money, taken endless verbal abuse, been threatened and vilified for their efforts to simply protect their property values from a predatory City government.
• When the local newspaper refused to carry anything opposing the City Council position, even as paid advertising, John Harper spent hundreds of hours building and maintaining the Better Brady Now website so there would be a written record of the debates about City actions.
• Another dozen or so volunteers attended and tried to speak at City Council Meetings only to suffer public humiliation from the City Council and vicious vilification from certain members of the community. They have persisted week after week for a year now.

Now it is time to see where the people of Brady stand. Anyone who wants to clean up the money-shredding sinkhole the City of Brady has become should plan on attending the You, The People of Brady! meeting at the Heart of Texas Event Center (located at 804 San Angelo Highway) on Thursday, September 20, 2012. at 6:00PM.