City of Waxahachie advertises private businesses on official city letterhead for profit

The City of Waxahachie has created partnerships with private companies where the City advertises the services on official City of Waxahachie letterhead and in turn the City receives revenue as residents sign up for these services.

The City of Waxahachie issued press releases and has sent direct mailers to residents on official Waxahachie letterhead. The notices are not always clear that the information is an advertisement for private companies.

TCEQ alleges four more violations against Magnablend

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued a Notice of Enforcement to Magnablend on April 19, 2012 for four alleged violations relating to the October 3, 2011 fire at the Magnablend Central Facility located in Waxahachie, Texas.

Brett Shipp broke the story Wednesday on WFAA.

"Failure to comply with 30 TAC 101.5, by causing a traffic hazard to Highway 287, in Waxahachie, Texas on October 3, 2011, during the facility fire at Magnablend which caused Incident no. 160425."

"Failure to comply with the requirements of 30 TAC 101.201(g), by failing to submit an emissions event into STEERS within 48 hours of discovery of the event." The event was not submitted into the system until nine days after the incident.

"Failure to comply with the requirements of 30 TAC 106.261(a)(3), by exceeding the stated emissions limitations during Incident no. 160425."

"Failure to comply with 30 TAC 101.4, by creating nuisance conditions to nearby receptors during, and immediately following the fire which occurred on October 3, 2011, at the Magnablend Central Facility."

Joe Chow campaign threatens local paper

Congressional District 6 candidate Joe Chow responded to The Ellis County Press March 29, 2012 article titled "Congressional hopeful attends pro-Muslim events."

In a press conference on April 5, Chow stated "A local newspaper has drawn a skewed version of a past event I attended, which has created a false impression." Click here for the raw audio of Chow's press conference.

The Ellis County Press provided the Chow campaign the opportunity to comment on the subject matter, which they did and which was published with the original article. The Ellis County Press included factual information that can be easily verified on the Internet and also comments from the Chow campaign and the Itamar Gelbman campaign. Gelbman is another candidate running for Congressional District 6 against Joe Barton.

In what was really a non-issue, Gelbman made an issue with his comments. The Ellis County Press merely reported both sides of the issue and included facts to support or deny each candidate’s comments.

While defending his attendance and clarifying that he does not support one religion over another, Chow quoted the First Amendment and stated "The First Amendment offers solid guidance for situations such as this action called into question."

Considering that the First Amendment also prohibits the "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press," Ellis RTK finds it troublesome that the Chow campaign would threaten to sue The Ellis County Press.

Wyoming DEQ cites Magnablend for asbestos violations

Magnablend was cited by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality on February 15, 2012 for failure to remove Regulated Asbestos Containing Material (RACM) from the facility, failure to adequately wet RACM during stripping operations, failure to use trained individuals to strip, remove, handle or disturb the regulated asbestos containing waste material and failure to properly dispose of asbestos containing waste material. These violations occured in December 2011.

The notice sent to Magnablend also stated "Normally, the Department and this Division would refer these types of violations to the State Attorney General's Office for recovery of appropirate penalties. However, in this case, I'm issuing this Notice of Violation as a warning and to put you on notice that future violations of the asbestos regulatory requirements will result in enforcement action seeking penalties as settlement."

Magnablend cited by OSHA for seven serious violations; lives put at risk

OSHA issued a press release on Friday, March 30, 2012 with its findings from the October 3, 2011 fire at the Magnablend central facility on Hwy 287 in Waxahachie, Texas. KRLD 1080 broke the news at 2:00 p.m.

OSHA cited Magnablend with seven serious violations. OSHA considers serious violations to include a "substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known."