By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra.com
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. today for the new Paris City Council district office, open to residents of any of the city’s seven council districts.
Louise Hagood, longtime citizen and retired teacher, will cut the ribbon officially opening the office on the back (east) side of the Pavilion III office building on the northwest corner of Paris Regional Medical Center’s north campus (2890 Lewis Lane).
Ordinarily, to avoid conflict with the Texas Open Meetings Act, no more than two council members are scheduled to be in the office at a time, but Saturday everyone is invited. The ribbon-cutting has been posted as a council meeting because of the likelihood a quorum of the council’s seven members will be present.
Guests will have the opportunity to tour the facility and sign a guest registry along with providing email addresses so the mayor and other council members can contact individuals directly.
No city money was used for the office. Dr. AJ Hashmi, the city’s newly elected mayor, recently bought Pavilion III on the north campus of Paris Regional Medical Center for his medical offices.
Hashmi, director of cardiology for PRMC, portioned off about 1,000 square feet on the back side of the building for use as a district office where residents could come with their questions or concerns, regardless of what district they live in.
Office manager is Staci Braudaway. No public funds are being used to pay her salary either, Hashmi said. Additional staffing will be provided by volunteers from different council districts.
“It will be a council district office, for the use by any council member,” Hashmi said.
Hashmi said he personally will have office hours at the district council office from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays for constituents from District 7.
—
send questions or comments about this article to
Four investors from Dallas and the Sherman-Denison area met with a small group of Paris officials on Thursday in an early probe toward the establishment of an international institute of animal husbandry at Paris Junior College.
“What they discussed was a Center of Excellence in animal husbandry, a small center – similar to the jewelry design institute at PJC — which would become a teaching institute for countries all over the world to send their people here to get their start in animal husbandry here,” said the city’s new mayor, Dr. AJ Hashmi.
“These were investors and people who have the technical knowledge and know-how of this business. They have wide-ranging countries all the way from Tanzania to Turkey, and people would be coming to Paris from all over the world to learn,” Hashmi said.
“This is something that would encompass everything from artificial insemination of cows to gene transfer, trying to develop specific cows for specific countries — based on the kind of meat desired, and even the colors of cows depending on the climate.”
A 90-minute meeting at the board room at Hashmi’s new city council district office on the north campus of Paris Regional Medical Center was followed by lunch and then a tour of Paris for the visitors.
Representing Paris at the meeting were Hashmi; Steve Gilbert, executive director of the Paris Economic Development Corporation; Pam Anglin, president of PJC; Mike Rhodes, president of Lamar National Bank; John Wright, the District 3 representative on
the Paris City Council; and Ken Kohls, a former city councilman and retired businessman.
Hashmi asked that the names of the out-of-town investment firms not be disclosed, “because then somebody else will jump in and try to do it instead of us. But I’m pretty confident that if this center of excellence in animal husbandry is to be, it will be in Paris.”
The visitors seemed “very pleased, very happy,” Hashmi said. “They obviously had studied Paris before they came, but I think our presentations impressed them even more than what they learned before they arrived. We had excellent presentations by both
Steve and Dr. Anglin.”
Gilbert gave a description of the city, the various businesses available, the manpower available, the facilities that could be offered to those people, and the fact that Paris has an airport capable of flying people in from around the world, should Paris end up with the center of excellence in animal husbandry.
Anglin described the history of the college and what it can offer, including an ongoing agricultural relationship being established with Texas A&M.
The next step is for Gilbert to arrange additional meetings for the out-of-town investors to meet with additional Paris business leaders.
The visitors expressed special interest in the Daisy Dairy under construction south of town and the Rose Acre Farm for egg production in adjacent Red River County.
—
send questions or comments about this article to
New mayor AJ Hashmi and his wife, Rizma, rode with District 1 councilman Joe McCarthy in the back of a pickup truck Saturday in the city’s Fourth of July Parade. (Photo by Charles Richards, eParisExtra.com)
By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra.com
AJ Hashmi’s first week as mayor of Paris hasn’t been without its aches.
He has a plate full of ideas he thinks will create new jobs and make Paris a better place to live. Elected mayor on Monday, he will be in a position to advance those proposals.
But first, he has to mend fences.
Hashmi became embroiled in a simmering racial situation when he was a surprise winner over black District 1 councilman Joe McCarthy for mayor.
Two months ago, it was a foregone conclusion that District 6 councilman Edwin Pickle would be the next mayor.
But Pickle lost favor in a verbal confrontation with District 2 councilman Jason Rogers – the council’s other black councilman – in discussions that brought protests from the president of the local NAACP.
So McCarthy declared himself in the race. He could count on Rogers for one of the four votes needed to win, and Hashmi had told McCarthy he would support him if it would put McCarthy over the top.
McCarthy thought District 4 councilman Richard Grossnickle or District 5 councilman Matt Frierson, or both, might vote for him in addition to Hashmi.
Instead, after Rogers nominated McCarthy for mayor, there was a pause of two or three seconds and then Grossnickle startled the council chambers by nominating Hashmi.
“I had to vote for myself,” Hashmi insisted, and also raising their hands were Grossnickle, Pickle and District 3 councilman John Wright. Voting for McCarthy were himself, Rogers and Frierson. Hashmi was the new mayor by a 4-3 vote.
“The reality is,” McCarthy said privately later, “the only reason I am not mayor is because I’m black.”
McCarthy added: “As far as racial issues, this didn’t help it none, you know. Not at all. I doubt if Dr. Hashmi totally understands there is a racial issue here. I don’t think he has the slightest idea.”
Two councilmen said off the record that they didn’t like that McCarthy and Rogers attended an African American legislative council at city expense.
“If one of us had gone to a KKK meeting at city expense, what would their reaction have been?” one of them asked.
Hashmi took McCarthy out to dinner Tuesday night and said he assured him he had no idea he himself would be nominated for mayor.
“I made it very clear to him I did not ask Grossnickle to nominate me. I did not have anything to do with it,” Hashmi said.
Hashmi spent Tuesday and Wednesday walking through black neighborhoods, introducing himself as the new mayor and promising to help in any way that he could.
Hashmi’s wife, Rizma, and their 10-year-old son, Yousef, accompanied Hashmi through the neighborhood on Tuesday.
“They went places I wouldn’t go,” McCarthy said.
One of the mayor’s first visits on Wednesday was to the residence of Brenda Cherry, president of Concerned Citizens for Racial Equality.
Once she invited him inside, Hashmi said: “I’m the new mayor in town. So I wanted to come and introduce myself. If there’s ever anything I can do, you pick up the phone and call me.”
Cherry smiled.
“I’m beyond thrilled,” she said.
“I’m thrilled, too,” Hashmi said. “Let me tell you, I am for making friends. And that is what I want to do. That is my purpose.”
“OK,” Cherry responded. “How did you hear about me?”
Hashmi continued: “You think I’ve just been elected mayor and I wouldn’t know who you are? Actually, you know what they told me? ‘Don’t go see her,’ and I said ‘That is the first person I am going to go see!’ I love my city, I would like to be friends with everyone, and I want to help the community as best I can.”
Cherry shook her head in amazement.
“That’s good. You know, out of all these years, you’re the very first person from the city that has approached me. I’m thrilled. I’m thrilled,” she said.
Within a couple of minutes, Cherry was headed across the street with Hashmi to introduce him to residents of a housing project.
“With me, everyone is the same,” the mayor told Cherry. “I want to help the community, and I want you to help me get the community together. We are one community.”
Cherry said: “I will help you. I sure will. I am absolutely thrilled.”
At one stop, a black woman told Hashmi, “To tell you the truth, I’ve never seen my mayor before. Not in my whole life.”
Cherry interposed: “He’s saying if there’s anything you need that he can help with, he will do it.”
A woman complained that she was given a ticket when she stopped a few feet past the stop sign on west-bound Martin Luther King, at Fitzhugh.
She said a tree on the corner blocks the view of oncoming traffic, and a driver can’t see north-bound traffic on Fitzhugh from where the stop sign is.
“I’ll look into it,” Hashmi replied:
A couple of minutes later, Hashmi gave some advice to a crowd that was gathered around him.
“You know what the problem with the black community is? Nobody goes out to vote. I want to make certain that every person in this housing is a registered voter. Tomorrow, I’m going to bring you a bunch of registered voter applications.”
Turning to Cherry, Hashmi said: “You be sure you get those cards out, and you hand them out, to everyone in these homes.”
“I’ll do that, I’ll do that,” Cherry said.
“I’ll help you. I’ll help you, Ms. Cherry,” a younger woman said excitedly.
“I’m going to bug you to make sure you get these voter registration applications passed out, every house. If you don’t think I will, you don’t know me,” Hashmi said, laughing.
Minutes later, Cherry introduced Hashmi to the pastor of a black Paris church who had just driven up to a residence. Hashmi asked if he would consider saying the invocation at some upcoming council meeting, and the minister said he would be pleased to do that.
“Where is your church? I want to come visit. What time does your church start on Sunday? What time does it end?” Hashmi asked.
Hashmi was already scheduled to visit two black churches this Sunday, but said he could make it the following week if the minister would call and remind him.
At another housing project across town, Hashmi came across a 51-year-old man in a wheelchair.
“If you need food, or anything, call me. If you need any help, but I don’t bring alcohol. I don’t drink and I don’t curse,” the mayor said.
“Oh, I don’t drink, either. I just want cigarettes.”
“No, no, no. No bad habits. I’ll bring you groceries. Call me. I like to make friends,” Hashmi added.
“That’s good because I need another friend. You’re from God. You’re God’s gift,” the resident said.
Four days later, Hashmi had not forgotten the man. “I’m going to take him some groceries tomorrow,” Hashmi said Saturday.
“Oh, and the stop sign problem has been taken care of. It was a genuine complaint, and the city is going to move it up several feet,” Hashmi said.
The line of sight from the stop sign at Martin Luther King & Fitzhugh now (photo by Charles Richards, eParisExtra.com)
The line of sight three feet beyond the stop sign at Martin Luther King & Fitzhugh (photo by Charles Richards, eParisExtra.com)
“And you know what, this is what I am going to do throughout my term as mayor. I am going to walk the streets and meet the people,” Hashmi said.
“First of all, it was an eye-opener for me, to see some of the conditions that exist, and what we as a community need to do to work promotion of jobs in town. I saw men sitting on the street, jobless, concerned. You know, you see people willing to work, but there are a scarcity of jobs, and everyone needs to help with that.”
He added:
“Seeing the smile and light on the people’s faces, it gives me tremendous encouragement and makes me want to do it more than ever before.”
At the end of Hashmi’s second day of walking through black neighborhoods, Cherry told him: “My son said when he saw you first walking up, he thought you were over here trying to buy drugs. We have a terrible drug problem here.”
Hashmi laughed and made a mental note: another problem to try to solve.
—
send questions or comments about this article to
Staci Braudaway, manager of the new Paris City Council district office, is shown by a wall covered with pictures of early-day Paris — most of them around the time of the fire that destroyed the downtown area in 1916. (Photo by Charles Richards, eParisExtra.com)
By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra.com
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, July 9, for the new Paris City Council district office, open to residents of any of the city’s seven council districts.
No city money was used for the office. Dr. AJ Hashmi, the city’s newly elected mayor, recently bought Pavilion III on the north campus of Paris Regional Medical Center for his medical offices.
Hashmi, director of cardiology for PRMC, portioned off about 1,000 square feet on the back side of the building for use as a district office where residents could come with their questions or concerns, regardless of what district they live in.
Two women will be asked to share the honor of cutting the ribbon on the new office — Sarah Crowder, 94, who Hashmi said was the oldest person to vote in the May 14 city council primary and June 18 runoff, and Louise Hagood.
Pavilion III is on the northwest corner of the north campus.
Office manager will be Staci Braudaway. No public funds are being used to pay her salary either, Hashmi said. Additional staffing will be provided by volunteers from different council districts.
“It will be a council district office, for the use by any council member,” Hashmi said.
Hashmi said he personally will have office hours at the district council office from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays for constituents from District 7.
He said he also plans to open the office on Sunday evening before Monday council meetings to discuss and explain the upcoming agenda for any citizens interested in such a service.
To avoid a violation of the Texas Open Meeting Law, no more than one city council member will be scheduled to be in the council district office at any one time, Hashmi said.
—
send questions or comments about this article to
It is now possible to make a tax deductible donation to the Trail de Paris via your monthly City of Paris water bill.
You can check the Trail de Paris box on the back side of the paper copy of your bill.
Or, if your payment is drafted each month, you can contact the City water billing office at 903-784-9270 to make the designation.
The ongoing monthly pledge will be automatically added to your water bill and not require a separate check. If your monthly payment is accomplished by draft, you can contact the city water billing office at 903-784-9270 to make the designation.
Trail de Paris donations are placed in a City of Paris controlled account dedicated to trail maintenance and improvements.
In the same manner, you can add a pledge to Keep Paris Beautiful. On the back of the water bill is a place to check whether you want $2, $3, $5 a month added to your water bill to go to Trail de Paris or Keep Paris Beautiful, or both. If you wish to give less or more, there’s a blank space to write in how much you wish to pledge. You can give different amounts — such as $2 a month to KPB and $5 a month to Trail de Paris, or vice versa.
—
please send questions or comments about this article to
follow: RSS
