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(It doesn’t seem the first part of this has a point to it. But it does. And it doesn’t have anything [much] to do with football. The first four paragraphs are just there to lead you to the first of two points).

Arkansas 2022 offensive line commit Eli Henderson (6-4, 305 pounds) of Duncan (S.C.) Byrnes gave his pledge to the Razorbacks on Aug. 10, 2020, despite having never set foot on campus.

Henderson, who chose the Razorbacks over Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Arizona State, Louisville, and 15-other Power 5 schools, was emotional walking into Reynolds Razorback Stadium with Arkansas coach Sam Pittman. “The Zoom and online stuff doesn’t do it justice,” Henderson said. “I have to tell you that when I first walked into the stadium with Coach Pittman by my side, I almost teared up a bit, because you don’t get the full impact until you are actually there.”

Henderson has talked plenty of his desire to play for Pittman. “He is a genuine guy in a very non-genuine profession,” Henderson said. “You don’t see that much. He is a very special guy in a very special city. Everyone there loves him and it’s not just because he is the head coach and they are not just saying it, you can see that everyone actually does love the guy.”

After he and his family spent four days in Fayetteville last week, Henderson said, “My family loved it. My mother had a ball up there. They showed her a great time . . .”

(And here is the first point of this): “We went out a couple of nights while we were there … and I talked to as many people as I could to ask them about the area and I literally heard nothing bad at all. We tried to look for a piece of trash on the ground, but we couldn’t find one. It was amazing how clean it was. It was awesome.”

In Paris, Texas, its difficult to find a piece of ground without trash on it.

 

If Fayetteville, Arkansas can do it, why can’t Paris Texas?

Fayetteville, the woo, pig, sooie! capital of Arkansas, was founded in October, 1828; Paris, once the North Star of Texas, was founded in December, 1839 – only 11-years later. 

In 1920, Fayetteville’s population was 5,362; population in Paris was 15,040.

So, where do the two cities stand today?

Fayetteville: The 1990 federal census showed population to be 42,099, an increase of 15 percent from the 1980 census. And the 2020 census reported a population of 73,580. It has been chosen as the best city in all of the SEC states to live in, and the #3 best place in the nation to live, by Forbes Magazine.

Paris:  From a 1880 United States census population of 3,980, the population of the City of Paris increased to 25,898 at the 2000 census; in 2020, however, its population had declined to 24,171.[3].  It now ranks as the 9th worst place to live in Texas by the Texas Police News, which uses the crime rates for property and violent crime for its assessment. According to their statistics, you stand a one in 17 chance of becoming a violent crime victim in Paris.

 

NOW, don’t shoot the messenger.

The Paris Texas Chamber is just reporting existing information and data. We don’t like the bed we find ourselves in. Either.

It’s hard to feel pride when you’re in a city known as the 9th worst place to live in a state with 254 counties, and 1,216 incorporated cities.

So, as promised: The second point being the question, what made the difference between these two towns?

There’s always a reason . . .

                                     return to  Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce

 

 

1. At its core, every government program sold as a public purpose has a way to fleece the public.

For this fiscal year, after 30-years of population loss, the City of Paris (Texas) hit taxpayers with a 3.5% tax increase, the highest allowed by law without a vote. This “small, measly increase” amounted to about a 7-million, 300,000 thousand dollar budget increase, which roughly averages another $700.37 owed by each of the occupied households inside the city limits just to pay for the increase.

Total Housing Units & Occupancy: 11,854 units, 88% Occupied: 10,432.

The increase was on top of rate increases on water and sewer bills, with a percentage of those fees swiped off and added to the annual general budget, which, if transparency was required, would likely put the increase over the 3.5-percent.


2. The promotion of government programs are far better than the products. Listen to government and everything sounds as good as burial insurance:

The most pernicious of all Big Myths is that the economy and society – at least, any economy that is productive, and any society that is good – are of the results of the state or sponsoring entity. But society is not a manufactured process, however, that can be controlled and managed. It is a living entity, comprised of sentient individuals each with his or her own mind and preferences and fears and hopes.

Stupid people actually believe that socialism is greater than the American Constitution’s construct of individual freedom with equal economic opportunity because it is based on ideas greater than their narrow view of what they see only as greed and self-interest.

But history teaches that it is the collective totalitarian control of society by a nation state that leads to the enslavement and human misery of its citizens.

 

3. Good government can only be achieved by its citizens.

Based on the Paris Chamber’s knowledge of economic incentive programs, gained through years of community and economic development work, we believe that every citizen should be held accountable for the actions of their government. Government is their responsibility.

It’s why we have a vote.

It is in the development and implementation of policies that encourage private business investments in local families and neighborhoods, which encourage business growth and keep the economic gates open to equal economic opportunity and innovation to reward all taxpayers, are how communities and, in turn, economies are likely to achieve success.

 

4. The Paris leadership should remember that community growth will come from Paris being a resource for its citizens.

Instead of contributing to or building a prosperous economy for all Paris families and promoting the creation of good jobs over the last 25-30 years, Paris has actually acted to lose population, deepened the expenses of small businesses, created income inequalities for working families, encouraged blight and decay in many neighborhoods, increased the tax burden on every citizen, and it has done so by meaning to do good.

This is not good government.

But whose fault is it?

 
5. It is the job of a responsible citizenry to remember – and demand – that the local leadership remember how government acts under the THE BIG MYTH, which is government viewing the citizen as
  • a) its servant: “do this, and don’t do that….”
  • b) its resource: “I need more money, its for a [my] common good.” And
  • c) “The conscious creation of everything good comes from my blessings and benevolences.”  
 
6. The Texas Legislature meets in a regular session for 140 days every odd numbered year when 181 elected officials delight in making private citizens into common criminals.

Over 8,100 bill were introduced in the 88th Legislative Session; surpassing the 87th Session, which totaled 6,919 bills. Creating laws that control our lives increase every session, creating citizens as criminals and the criminals as isn’t . . .   Soon, we’ll all be in government or criminals.

For the past 40-years, an average  of over 5,000 bills were introduced in each legislative session: You can find more information on the number of bills filed in recent sessions of the Texas Legislature here.

Now, we have over a year of listening to why they need more money and more laws, why the laws we have now need changing (’cause they got it wrong the first time),  and how all the rest of us are so desperately in need of their control because we don’t know – like they do – what’s good for us.

Then during the 89th Legislative Session, in 2025, they’ll listen to the ones who feel they still need more of our money or why we need controlling.

Can you imagine the national corruption in Nutland, D.C., with the 535 elected members of Congress hotly pursued by thousands of lobbyists waving million-dollar bribes to attain some goal outside the best interest of citizens?  If not, you’re probably one of the 83-million plus dead and alive voters who keep us in an outside normal.

 
 A (bonus) basic truth: The PARIS TEXAS CHAMBER brings clarity and transparency to the conversation.

Adding your email address to the Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce mailing list encourages good citizenship. It’s voluntary. It’s free. And you can unsubscribe at any time.

 

return to  Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce


The City of Paris, the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce, and the Paris Economic Development Corporation (PEDC), and the neither fish nor fowl Visitors and Convention Council paid a Florida firm $85,000 to come up with a “brand” they could use to “market Paris”.

After a year, they and the firm came up with this: 

 

Where Texans reach higher?  How much smoking is that in grams?  Ounces?  Pounds?

 

Are  implants from China, India, Pakistan, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Japan, Mexico, Philippine, or even  Oklahoma, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, California, Arkansas, Iowa, Georgia, New Mexico, and other  nations and other states allowed to smoke a few grams, too – or just  Texans? 

The Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce put it in writing, over a year ago, that the Florida firm would “not have a workable idea when they collect the rest of their money.”

For over a decade, the Paris Chamber has known, and repeatedly put in writing, that “Paris needs a vision, a theme, and the protocols to make it a highly desired destination for a large, identified segment of the market.”

So the above four organizations that allowed 30-years-or more of in-city population loss, increased decay in too many neighborhoods, and wasted millions of development dollars, conspired to show us that they could develop a perception that they do great things for Paris.

As we warned, it was wasting money on a wasted effort.

And the results are  …  something that can be used inside and outside the community to poke fun at Paris Texas – Where (pick one): Crooks, Rapscallions, Termites, Arguments, Maniacs, Temperatures, Cheats, Fires, Thieves, Ticks, Lies, Taxes, Fees, Prices, etc. – Reach Higher.

To be effective, a brand, a logo or a marketing campaign must be a truthful depiction of the product that is being presented to an identified potential market, regardless of the scope or size of the market, in a consistent, coherent and transparent manner.

The first thing you should want is a brand that cannot be used against you !

You build the brand the market you want wants you to be . . . .

Out of the 30-million people in Texas, half or a large percentage are native Texans. Millions live in Dallas and the state’s other Metro areas, and rural communities like Bonham, Sulphur Springs, Mount Pleasant, Reno (a community that Paris built), and hundreds of other growing places … and our organizations claim that Texans in Paris reach higher?

For what?  Falsehoods?

What are the vision and theme “for this brand”? What are the necessary protocols to hold them together – if they exist – now and in the future?

Sadly, they’ve achieved a dangerous product that competitors can use (where scoundrels reach higher), etc. 

Can’t you see it now (change colors as wanted):

Where dummies reach higher! 

Or even, “What does a Burkett Pecan and a native Paris Texan have in common?”

“They’re both nuts!” 

There’s no vision here. No theme. No protocols. Little to nothing of lasting value.

 

Just another waste of money.

 

return to the Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce