Is the Lord For or Against a Texas County Road Bond? Opinions Mixed

Things are really getting heated in Montgomery County, Texas, just outside Houston, over a proposal to issue $350 million in bonds to maintain and expand roads. Like fire-and-brimstone heated.

Earlier this week, at a county commissioners meeting, volunteer Mary Hammer Menzel referred to road bond opponents as “tools of satan” in her opening prayer, reports the Montgomery County Courier.

Menzel apparently has strong opinions about which side of the debate God is on. At the previous meeting, she also led the opening prayer, saying, “Father, I want to lift up this road bond to you and just ask you to help the people realize this county has got to have ways to get around,” according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter. Menzel appears in a television ad supporting the road bond, saying, “I am for the road bond and the Lord is too.”

Laura Fillault, a road bond opponent, did not take kindly to this week’s prayer. “I’m not a tool of satan,” she said. “I didn’t appreciate that part of the prayer… It’s a road bond it’s not a satanic ritual.”

Those who intervened didn’t do much to bring the conversation back down to earth. County District Attorney Brett Ligon was next to the podium, to discuss National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. Ligon indicated he’s for the road bond despite what Jesus would do. “Jesus’s main mode of transportation was walking,” he said. “I don’t think any of us want to walk anymore, we do need to move forward.”

Can we take this as a sign of how disconnected from reality the Texas road-building situation has gotten? The state continues to expand roads as though it can afford to have everyone drive everywhere.

The Texas Transportation Commission wants to devote $315 billion to roads over the next 20 years, though it only has about $160 billion to spend. Last year, voters elected to raid the state’s rainy day fund to spend it on highways.

  • BBnet3000

    “Jesus’s main mode of transportation was walking,”

    Can we put this on a shirt?

  • I thought He rode a dinosaur?

  • Emmily_Litella

    But his big claim to fame is hitching a ride.

  • Kevin Love

    That’s his disciple Philip.

  • Gives a new twist to that Bob Dylan song “With God On Our Side”; the cars charged, and the pedestrians died.

    Jesus walked…

  • Ironically, the most desirable address in Montgomery County is The Woodlands, a community that is full of pedestrian and bicycle friendly infrastructure.

  • This type of abuse of religion to one’s own ends, really should sicken those of the faith. If I saw something I believe in being abused in that way, I would have something to say about it, whether or not I agreed with what was being said.

  • He did ride use quadrupedal transportation a few times

  • Roger87

    Christ on a bike!

  • RGuinart

    This video may not express the most enlightened exercise of civil responsibility, but neither will mocking people advance the multimodal–or any–cause. Whether we like it or not, these are some of the people decision-makers listen to (and are) in one of the fastest-growing and richest states in the country. That’s just the way it is. And calling them “stupid” is simply not helpful. It feeds into the dominant political paradigm at the county and state governments and distances the level-headed participants from the conversation that is needed, that on “smart investment”.

    Besides, Prop 1, which was passed by an 80% margin last November, does not “raid” the Rainy Day fund as much as it diverts a portion of future excess proceeds from a fund that even a vast majority of fiscal conservatives deemed unnecessarily large.

    Also, that $315 billion number is out of date. The official number, I can’t tell where the Chronicle got the one linked to in this article, is more like $550 (see page 6-12 at ref: http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/tpp/2040/plan/chapter-6.pdf), with the majority going to maintenance and safety.

  • Andrew Price

    That’s why NYC is one of the holiest cities in the country.

  • Filldaddy

    Wonder who’s pulling her strings? I don’t think it is Jesus…or our holy father.

  • laurakfillault

    I can affirm that Mary Hammer Menzel misread Jesus’s thoughts on the Montgomery County road bond as it did not pass. As the woman in the video above, I don’t believe that Jesus is as concerned with debt as he is with people’s hearts.

  • Janis

    “Oh Lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?”

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