Politex

Backwoods Fort Worth opens canoe, kayak rental concession on Trinity

Backwoods Fort Worth, the outdoors retailer, launched a kayak and canoe concession Friday on the Trinity River downtown.

Backwoods joined Aloha Paddle Boards, which opened a rental concession in May at the Panther Island Pavilion off the parking lot behind the Tarrant County Trinity River campus.

Backwoods’ rental rates: single kayaks, $10 per hour and $20 for two hours; tandem kayaks, $15 per hour and $35 per two hours; and canoes, $20 per hour and $40 for two hours. Cash, checks, and credit cards are accepted.

Hours are 11 a.m.-7 p.m. seven days per week through September, when Backwoods  will decide fall hours,  said Ira Ralston, the kayak concession manager.

“My immediate plan is to be open seven days” a week after September, Ralston said. “On paper, we’ll be open Thursday-Sunday.”

Farther into the fall and even the winter, “it’s weather permitting,” Ralston said. “We would like this to be open as much of the year as possible.”

Rentals include life vests and paddles. From the launch, customers can paddle south down the Clear Fork and back, for about an hour-ride, or up the West Fork and back for as long as four hours, he said.

Backwoods expects to promote the rentals to groups, including scouting, military, and college organizations, Ralston said. It expects to trade off of river festivals such as the Sept. 15 Trinity River Trash Bash and the summertime Rockin’ the River fetes.

“Really, this is an opportunity for us to get our face out there,” Ralston said.

At Aloha Paddles, where rents are $15 per hour for stand-up paddle boards, manager Blane Todd welcomes the company.

“Hit and miss so far this summer,” Todd said Tuesday of Aloha’s first summer on the river. He sees the same promise in the river as Backwoods.

Aloha just switched to fall hours, and is open noon-6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

“We will be here through the end of October and then we’ll make an assessment at that time” on the schedule, Todd said.

Backwoods and Aloha leased their concessions from the Trinity RiverVision Authority.

Info: Backwoods, (817) 403-6906; Aloha, (817) 403-5330.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

State Rep. Marc Veasey on Voter ID ruling

State Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, put out a statement on the Voter ID ruling.

"Today, a panel of federal judges rejected attempts by Texas Republicans to disenfranchise minority voters," he said. "In ruling that the State of Texas's Voter ID bill cannot be precleared under the Voting Rights Act, this court confirmed that the legislation would have had a disproportionate and unfair impact on poor and minority voters.

"The Republicans should be ashamed of their attempts to use taxpayers' money to uphold a discriminatory law that would have disenfranchised thousands of minority voters. It is no surprise that once this bill was reviewed by the court, it was overturned. After fighting against this bill in the Legislature and as an official intervenor in the the state's lawsuit, I am proud and relieved to see justice prevail."

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst: Voter ID ruling "should be a rallying cry for conservatives."

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's statement about Thursday's Voter ID ruling:

"Following the decision earlier this week by the D.C. federal court to strike down Texas’ redistricting plan, today’s ruling to reject Texas’ Voter ID law should be a rallying cry for conservatives across Texas as the Obama Administration continues to trample on our states’ rights," Dewhurst said. "The law passed in Texas was designed to protect the right of one person-one vote by ensuring that only U.S. citizens − who are legally eligible − vote in elections. 

"We have a Constitutional responsibility to protect and defend one of our most sacred rights – the right to vote – and defend the rights of millions of law-abiding citizens by ensuring fair elections. Texas will immediately appeal this shameful decision and send a message to Attorney General Holder and the Obama Administration to stop meddling in the Constitutional duties of Texas.”

-- Anna M. Tinsley

State Rep. Lon Burnam: Voter ID bill "a disgraceful attempt" to suppress votes

Here's a statement by state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, on Thursday's Voter ID ruling.

"The court has recognized the Voter ID bill for what it was: a disgraceful attempt by Republicans in the Texas Legislature to hold onto power by suppressing minority voters. Our history of discrimination at the polls in Texas is the great shame of our state, and any politician seeking to revive it should resign his office in dishonor. If we as legislators are not here to protect the fundamental rights of our constituents, what the heck are we there for?

 "This decision follows Tuesday's court ruling that Texas' redistricting map was purposefully discriminatory and Wednesday's exposure of Colorado's purge of "non-citizen voters" as not yet identifying one single non-citizen. Now even the Texas delegates to the Republican National Convention are complaining that the elites of their party are retroactively changing the rules to keep any challenger to their nominee from even speaking. I call on them to join the rest of us who recognize that the heart of democracy is to convince citizens through your arguments, not by denying those who disagree with you the right to vote. "

-- Anna M. Tinsley

 

Texas Gov. Rick Perry: Federal judges "subverted" Texans' will with Voter ID ruling

Texas Gov. Rick Perry released a statement today about the Voter ID court ruling.

“Chalk up another victory for fraud," he said. "Today, federal judges subverted the will of the people of Texas and undermined our effort to ensure fair and accurate elections. The Obama Administration’s claim that it’s a burden to present a photo ID to vote simply defies common sense.

"I will continue to work with Attorney General Abbott to fight for the same right that other states already have to protect their elections.”

-- Anna M. Tinsley

 

State Sen. Wendy Davis responds to Voter ID ruling

State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, commented Thursday on the Voter ID court ruling.

“Requiring photo identification could have, perhaps, been enacted fairly, but Governor Perry and state leaders insisted on forcing through a flawed law that would have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars without protecting a single vote," she said in a statement. "Texas leaders should be focusing on creating jobs instead of throwing money away on partisan politics.”

-- Anna M. Tinsley

 

Tarrant County Democratic Party chairman rips GOP after Voter ID ruling

"Let's be clear here, folks -- two of the top Republican legislative priorities have now been revealed as exactly what they were meant to be by the repressive and backward-thinking Republican leaders of the legislature -- nothing more, or less, than the disenfranchisement of an entire class of Texas citizens," Tarrant County Democratic Party Chairman Steve Maxwell said.

"Add to that the message behind the evisceration of the Texas Public School system by the elimination of $5.4 billion from the budget, and the meaning is obvious. The Republican legislature was intent on creating an 'underclass' -- a large segment of the population made up mostly of minority citizens who, thanks to these legislative priorities and others, would no longer have the right to a good education, to quality health care, or even the ability to exercise the fundamental right to vote," he said.

"Fortunately for Texas, no matter how these laws were dressed up and distorted, the United States Court system saw through the deception and called it exactly what it was -- discrimination and disenfranchisement at its very worst. Wake up, Republican voters -- you should be ashamed at what the people you elected are doing."

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Medical and education endorsements announced in Texas Senate District 10 race

Updated 7:50 p.m.

State Rep. Mark Shelton gained a new endorsement Wednesday from TEXPAC, the Texas Medical Association's political action committee.

Shelton, R-Fort Worth, is challenging state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, in her bid to win a second term representing Texas Senate District 10.

"I am honored to have the endorsement of the Texas Medical Association,” Shelton said. “Liberal personal injury trial lawyers have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to my opponent, State Senator Wendy Davis. Together, Davis and the trial lawyers are supporting Obamacare in an attempt to undermine our state’s medical liability reforms. This is unhealthy for Texas patients and
taxpayers.”

Davis recently was endorsed by the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, the state's largest physician specialty organization.

"TAFP endorsed me because they recognized that I have voted to support doctors and patients time and time again -- meanwhile my opponent voted against them," Davis said. "While TMA made their decision based on Austin-based political considerations and the advice of their shared political consultant rather than substance, my commitment to working constructively with doctors and other care providers to assure quality healthcare for Texas families remains as strong as ever."

On Wednesday, Davis' campaign announced that she has picked up statewide endorsements from the United Educators Association, Texas State Teachers Association, and Texas AFT. Locally, she has picked up support from school board members across Tarrant County, including the presidents of Fort Worth and Arlington ISDs, the two largest school districts in Tarrant County.

Shelton is trying to win back for his party the seat that Kim Brimer of Arlington represented until Davis unseated him in 2008. In that race, she earned 49.91 percent of the vote to Brimer's 47.52 percent and Libertarian Richard A. Cross's 2.56 percent, election records show.

His campaign also has released a list of 600 local endorsements that includes 180 Tarrant County physicians.

Davis, a former Fort Worth councilwoman, became a lightning rod for the GOP last year after staging a filibuster at the end of the legislative session, protesting public education cuts and forcing a special session. Attempts to make her district lean Republican were thwarted by legal challenges and court rulings that left the district as it was in 2008.

-- Anna M. Tinsley

George P. - Party Tonight!

George P. Bush, national co-chair of the Maverick PAC, is one of the hosts of tonight's MavBash at the impossibly cool The CUBE, new home of Tampa's photography museum.

The MavPac is a booster of the next generation GOP leaders and among the co-hosts, besides the ever popular Jeb Bush son, George P., also known as the Bush-in-waiting, are Connie Mack, Florida GOP congressman who is running for U.S. Senate and Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., the youngest member of Congress, whose abs have graced the cover of Men's Health magazine.

 

-- Maria Recio

Perry in Tampa: Yes to running again. . . for PREZ

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, cornered on the GOP convention floor today by NBC and MSNBC journo Chuck Todd, said he would "absolutely" consider running for president again.
Oh absolutely," said Perry. "There's a long time until 2016 and a lot of good things can happen," he said. It is not the first time that Perry has toyed with running again - for president - despite what is widely considered a disastrous run in 2012. Meanwhile, he is also expected to run again for governor in 2014.
But Perry, who did not immediately endorse nominee Mitt Romney after dropping out of the race in January - he went for Newt instead - was all about the former Mass. governor.
Perry told Todd, in remarks picked up by Politico, as well, that his "plan is for Mitt Romney to win and for him to get this country back on track."

-- Maria Recio