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Trent Ashby Tells Grapeland, “Keep East Texas, East Texas”

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

GRAPELAND – State Representative Trent Ashby was the guest speaker at the Grapeland Chamber of Commerce annual banquet held Thursday, Jan. 26 at the First Methodist Church in Grapeland. Ashby shared dinner and helped give out awards as he told attendees about his political beginnings and noted some of the important legislation coming up this year in the Texas Legislature. 

Ashby was the guest of honor at the annual gala which featured awards for local heroes as the theme this year was “Evening of Heroes.” (See accompanying story in today’s paper.)

Ashby told the crowd a reporter once asked him a surprising question to which he gave his own surprising answer. 

“She said, ‘If you were to run for president of the United States’ – which I’m not –  ‘Where would you launch your campaign?’ Well, I thought about that for just a second or two – this is a true story. And I said, ‘Grapeland, Texas.’ She said, ‘Where’s Grapeland?’ I said, ‘It is the queen city of the sand flats. You know, the annual peanut festival. I said other than bringing George Strait to East Texas, you’re not going to see a bigger crowd than you will have at the annual peanut festival,” Ashby said to laughs and applause. “It was at the peanut festival when I first ran and it’s gone pretty well since then. Why not run for president from Grapeland?”

Ashby praised Texas and especially East Texas for making the state what it is. 

“We’re the fastest growing state in the union. For a lot of reasons, but part of it is our identity and who we are. And so at the core really, I guess everything I do as far as voting on things is I want to keep Texas Texas and I want to keep East Texas East Texas.”

Ashby called out to many in the room by name, telling them he understands how difficult their jobs can be given his own background. 

Grapeland Mayor Mitchell Woody gives Rep. Trent Ashby an award thanking him for his support of the community

“When I talk about issues I never forget about who I work for – I have a wife that reminds me to take the trash out and I work for her,” Ashby joked. “I have kids in the public school system. I’ve been on the school board and with our school board members. I know what it’s like to have to walk the walk locally and face voters every day in the grocery store and church and I never forget that. And that really kind of drives a lot of the mentality that I bring to serving as your state representative.”

Ashby mentioned the incredible Texas economy – which would be the ninth biggest economy were it it’s own country – even bigger than the economy of Russia. 

Ashby said he understands property taxes are the most important issue facing Texans – hearing the same from all of his constituents. Ashby said the state does not collect property taxes, this is done by counties and local school boards. He noted taxes were not usually going up, but appraisal rates were the cause of higher taxes. He said there are two schools of thought in Austin on how the state can help taxpayers. One idea would be to take some of the surplus budget and give a break to taxpayers. The other idea would be to increase the exemption taxpayers can use for the homestead tax exemption. Ashby was clear on which proposal he would support and why. 

“I believe in truth and in being transparent with people,” Ashby said. “The biggest difference between those is if we give the surplus to cover your local school district, we can only do that for two years. Because we have a two year budget. You’re not going to hear a lot of my colleagues say that publicly. But the question is, can we afford to keep doing that beyond the next two years? With an homestead exemption, everybody sees it and it’s permanent.”

“We’ve got to talk about either capping or somehow limiting the growth in our appraisal increases on our property values. That will be a big discussion this session so I want you all to know – property tax relief is going to be our priority issue,” Ashby explained. 

Ashby decried the fact that Texas must step in and try and stem the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs across the southern border. Ashby also called for a pay raise for educators and law enforcement. He noted there was a sector in Texas deserving of help and he decided to introduce a bill to give them relief, too. 

“Where would we be without our volunteer firemen across this country are certainly across the state of Texas? There are benefits available to our volunteer firemen but it’s not good enough, in my opinion. What can we as a state do to recruit – because we have an aging volunteer fire population. So what can we do to entice people to raise their hand say, ‘I want to be a volunteer fireman and serve my community.’ Specifically, they have to take firefighting classes. It’s tuition they pay for. Why don’t we step in and absorb that cost? We’ve got $32 billion in surplus. What’s more important than protecting our communities and thanking those volunteers that we rely on to keep us safe?” Ashby noted. 

Ashby thanked the group for allowing him to come and eat and visit with them. He emphasized this is a special place filled with special people. 

“We’ve had a lot of new people move in over the years. My first objective is to try to keep Texas, Texas,” Ashby said. “This is such a special place. We choose to live in places like Grapeland  and the oldest county in Texas, Houston County – and for me Angelina County – because we choose to live here. I want to live here. I was born and raised here. And I want to see places like Grapeland and Houston County remain true to our values, our culture and our identity that other people outside of Texas want to emulate.”

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]

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