So much mental stress out there that the cow on the right is now eating the new growth leaves off of the trees!

I'd invite anyone to watch the video just above this post and please tell me how the pilot knew ALL of these details, unless his story is true.

BlueMiles said:

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I'd invite anyone to watch the video just above this post and please tell me how the pilot knew ALL of these details, unless his story is true.

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Add to the fact that the plane was still there this morning, as well as the mayor's cattle. If Rafter D had them out there temporarily, for AI purposes, and that contract was cancelled, at considerable cost to Rafter D and the mayor, why are the cattle still there almost three months later? Riddle me that...

From the looks of it, I would say not much. Also, if they are constantly getting out, they are searching for grass to graze on due to lack of forage.

techno-ag said:

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OnlyForNow said:

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If the lease was not publicly bid for it may be a legit legal issue.

Would depend on the funding, if any public funding went to it, then yes it would have to be a "public bid" process. That process can be crooked and the potentially leasee can already be decided, but normally that has to be open to multiple parties, if not truly "public".

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Does it still have to go to bid if the annual value is so low though? If they could get 10,000/year then I could see the need for a public bidding process. But it looks like the most they could reasonably expect was $2000/year or $167/month. It might be that at that low of an amount a public bid process is not necessary. Most bids involve the public entity handing over money for goods and services over a certain threshold, not the other way around.

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The $2000 number seems low to me. I haven't ever leased land in Brazos county, but I have leased my own ranch in Burnet county. Last least in 2018 was $30/acre for just grazing rights for cattle. Most land I've seen in Brazos county is significantly more productive than my land, and I would expect prices would be higher.

Now, the cattle market has shifted since 2018 and prices may be lower. But "larger" productive tracts open for grazing just don't fall off trees.

The mayor is talking about some people here.

https://www.kbtx.com/2023/03/17/bryan-mayor-says-aircraft-ransom-claims-by-uninformed-internet-bloggers-are-false/

Dude is a straight up politician with that statement. Funny how this statement talks about the financial loss and stress of the cows but the owner of rafter d stated earlier in this thread that wasn't true and it was just click bait. Hmm, another lie exposed.

maroon barchetta said:

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The mayor is talking about some people here.

https://www.kbtx.com/2023/03/17/bryan-mayor-says-aircraft-ransom-claims-by-uninformed-internet-bloggers-are-false/

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I can see where the Mayor called and said the pilot owes him for the lost cash on the AI program of $250k and that was interpreted as being held hostage.

Still find the whole $1/year lease to be very ethically dubious.

BBC is talking about tac savings when they pay zero taxes??? Is this for real?

Snoodish said:

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With Gutierrez lawyering up now, I wouldn't think it would be much trouble for a subpoena to be issued to TexAgs to find out the identities of some of you running your mouths about Gutierrez.

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Unreal

Ok…are you suggesting some sort of retaliation from an elected official?

Snoodish said:

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With Gutierrez lawyering up now, I wouldn't think it would be much trouble for a subpoena to be issued to TexAgs to find out the identities of some of you running your mouths about Gutierrez.

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Holy moly this can't be real

Find out their identities so he can….do what?

" so what if there is some corruption going on it's not a big deal! These people have known each other since they were in short pants so it's fine"

Are you forreal man?

I read it. They said "the annual tax savings are significant"….except the annual taxes are zero…they mention nothing about taxes for a future owner. I would hope that an organization looking to sell land for business development wouldn't be selling it to someone that has an ag exemption, it doesnt do much so far as the tax base goes.

If an ag exempt property is purchased by an entity to develop said property, once it's taken out of ag the new tax status is in effect.

[You should have read the edits about trolling or derailing this thread. -Staff

KidDoc said:

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maroon barchetta said:

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The mayor is talking about some people here.

https://www.kbtx.com/2023/03/17/bryan-mayor-says-aircraft-ransom-claims-by-uninformed-internet-bloggers-are-false/

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I can see where the Mayor called and said the pilot owes him for the lost cash on the AI program of $250k and that was interpreted as being held hostage.

Still find the whole $1/year lease to be very ethically dubious.

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It sounds like discussion was had with the plane owner's insurance company.

The mayor said hey I suffered a financial loss here. But insurance companies don't pay out easily, usually.

Meanwhile every attempt to remove the plane fell through. The pilot maybe called his insurance company and said what's up.

Insurance company says this guy wants a quarter million yada yada.

Dude gripes on YouTube.

TexAgs explodes.

I don't have an axe to grind, what I do have is a problem with is folks potentially abusing the powers afforded to them as elected officials.

And if you can't see the ethical issues at play here I don't know how to help you.

Chrundle the Great said:

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Snoodish said:

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With Gutierrez lawyering up now, I wouldn't think it would be much trouble for a subpoena to be issued to TexAgs to find out the identities of some of you running your mouths about Gutierrez.

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Unreal

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I've seen a lot of questions on this thread and a lot of comments of "Hey, the optics of this are really not good".

I've not seen much in the way of "this person or that person definitely did something illegal". But I'm not going all the way back thru the thread to look.

Jsimonds58 said:

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I don't have an axe to grind, what I do have is a problem with is folks potentially abusing the powers afforded to them as elected officials.

And if you can't see the ethical issues at play here I don't know how to help you.

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What was unethical? That a field was leased for $1? I think it was for the sake of convenience. Again, standard rate was $167/mo. They dealt with someone they knew and trusted and set up a token payment. They weren't trying to make money off the deal.

This thread has become quite comical. Lots of folks really digging in.

techno-ag said:

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Jsimonds58 said:

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I don't have an axe to grind, what I do have is a problem with is folks potentially abusing the powers afforded to them as elected officials.

And if you can't see the ethical issues at play here I don't know how to help you.

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What was unethical? That a field was leased for $1? I think it was for the sake of convenience. Again, standard rate was $167/mo. They dealt with someone they knew and trusted and set up a token payment. They weren't trying to make money off the deal.

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My understanding is that the whole purpose of the BBC is to make money. Am I incorrect?

Jsimonds58 said:

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I don't have an axe to grind, what I do have is a problem with is folks potentially abusing the powers afforded to them as elected officials.

And if you can't see the ethical issues at play here I don't know how to help you.

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I don't like the idea of sweetheart grazing leases like this appears. But I'm not making the leap that this is a conspiracy. You and others had pitchforks out immediately, echoing claims of a hostage plane. You alleged the mayor was "shaking down the pilot." Pretty strong position based on pretty much nothing of substance.

I think a dude made some piloting errors that resulted in a (thankfully) relatively safe crash landing. The landing and associated hullabaloo allegedly caused a financial loss and insurance companies got involved. Somehow this was construed by the pilot and other online sleuths looking for a story that a city mayor was requiring a ransom payment. That seems a bit far-fetched to me, considering the alternative possibilities.

ETA: All this to say, this is my 2 cents based on the evidence before me. I'll buy you an e-beer if it turns out folks get locked away for 10-20.

Pitchforks out immediately is laughable, if coming in on the third iteration of this thread after reading the recap and then getting mad at what appears to be some pretty gross behavior in two separate areas is immediately, well I need to relearn how time works. I saw the first thread damn near a week ago when it was posted and passed it over as probably a non story it was only the subsequent multi deletions of threads and info coming out about land ownership and lease payments that got my heckles up enough to post about this.

I don't think anyone has done anything criminal, but I do think we should hold out politicians to a much higher standard than just " not a criminal" I think it's very much a bad look that a grazing lease has been granted to a close friend of the mayor, who then has the mayor running his cattle there. On land the taxpayers paid for and up to this point at least we are unaware that it even went out to the public for a bid to graze.

You are correct