Mayor Shults of League City has gone too far

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The Mayor of League City has gone too far
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Ernest Randall has had a half-dozen offers to buy his property in League City. He owns the land where the Clear Creek Gun Range is, off Hwy 96 and FM 646. His property includes a 60 acre lake. He hasn’t any compelling reason to sell, likes where he is, and enjoys spending time with family members at their lake.
But Randall has a neighboring landowner who has cast a covetous gaze upon his bucolic place in the sun. The neighbor is a developer named Sam Boyd Sr. Mr. Boyd would like to get his hands on the Randall property, because it is located in a prime location, and because the lake would provide a drainage solution for the many surrounding acres Boyd owns.
So far, this is a story that happens every day. If you want something, and the other person chooses not to sell it to you, you must learn to live without it. That’s how it works in most places. But it does not seem to work that way in League City.
You see, Mr. Randall recently discovered that Mayor Jerry Shults of League City, City Attorney Dick Gregg, City Administrators and senior staff members, held planning sessions for the express purpose of closing down the gun range. The taxpayers were billed $6,000 in fees to Gregg for his services regarding Randall’s property.
There are some facts that should be mentioned here:
1. Sam Boyd Sr. contributed $4,000 to Shults campaign in 2004.
2. They are neighbors in Burnet County, where both have places on the Lake.
3. There are no records of complaints about the gun range.
4. The private developer was a participant in meetings apparently designed to help him pry Ernest Randall off of his land.
If it is not illegal for the taxpayers to fund an attorney who is working on behalf of a private developer, it certainly should be. If it is not illegal for the Mayor of League City to help his friend and contributor acquire wealth by using City resources, it damned well should be.
Mayor Shults is trying to paint his disgraceful behavior as simply his concern for the safety of the public. Heaven forbid, they’re firing guns out there! But there is no danger or nuisance to the public at the Clear Creek Gun Range. The range is designed in such a manner that it is impossible to fire over the dirt embankment. Wooden “eyebrows” make stray shots impossible. The noise is not a problem, but even so, concrete baffles are being installed this year to decrease noise.
The city’s efforts to close Randall down include trying to say his site has lead pollution (it doesn’t); claiming that bullets have been found at a church in the area (the church says that hasn’t happened); claiming that Randall gave up his grandfather clause (he didn’t); and now, the city is claiming that Randall is not in compliance with League City’s zoning ordinance. The problem with that is, Randall was there for many years before League City ever had a zoning law. He is not covered by League City zoning, according to the constitution of the State of Texas and of the United States.
Yet Shults says, “The city is examining the issue of the gun range only from a zoning perspective.” Then he immediately launches into a “public safety” tirade, concluding that “A populated area may not be the best place for a gun range to be located...What if a child in a new neighborhood next to the range was killed accidentally by a stray bullet?”
There are shooting ranges all over Texas. There’s one in Bellaire, one on Westheimer, one in Pearland, all of them very near a much larger population than League City. Yet we never hear of the carnage of children being gunned down there. The truth is, this isn’t about public safety at all. It’s about the money. It’s about helping out a contributor. The Mayor is saying it’s about public safety, but you’d have to be willfully ignorant to buy it.
For over 30 years, Ernest Randall has owned his 90 acre parcel of land. He was here before all the big developers showed up over at 96 & 646. Now he is the victim of an attack that is being perpetrated “under color of law”. We believe the Texas Attorney General needs to investigate whether it is legal for a private developer to participate in city planning sessions designed to benefit him financially. And someone should explain why Randall wasn’t told of these “concerns” or invited to participate.
In spite of the fact that $6,000 in legal bills was generated by all of this planning to oust Randall, he never knew there were any meetings occurring. Yet Mayor Shults says “The city government, in an open fashion, has been working with Randall to see if the range can continue to operate under existing laws and increasing population density in the area.”
When he hears this quote, Mr. Randall grins, and says what the kids say: “yeah, right.”