The sales tax allocation figures for July have been published by the State Comptroller’s Office.

In July, 2011, Mineola received $125,667 in sales tax proceeds from the state, compared to $105,571 in July of 2010, a monetary increase of $20,096 for the city of Mineola.

This is, no doubt, largely attributable to the delivery of beer and wine to local stores in late June and early July.

This is more money that can be spent on roads, emergency services and other necessary maintenance and upkeep of our town.

In a phone conversation with David Stevenson, Mineola City Administrator, it was confirmed that during this period the city saw no increase in alcohol-related crimes or arrests.

The state of Texas collects sales tax and distributes it back to municipalities. This process takes place over a 30-40 day period, making the September sales tax posting reflect actual taxes collected in July.

2011 vs. 2010 Sales Tax Collection for Mineola, Texas

June 28, 2011 is the day that beer arrived in Mineola and, of course, Mineola Buzz brings you the story first.

Pat Hamlett bought the first beer, a six-pack of Miller Lite, at Brookshire’s this morning.

I had a chat with Shiloh Alexander of Haute Stuff Boutique. In the time that this shop has been open, it seems to have taken Mineola by storm. Shiloh has many useful nuggets of information for the upstart business owner. In our chat, I asked her about some of her ingredients for success.

If you don’t know Shiloh, stop by Haute Stuff Boutique and say hello.

Haute Stuff Boutique

206 W Broad
Mineola, TX 75773

(903) 569-5646

Wed – Fri: 10 AM – 6 PM
Sat: 10 AM – 4 PM

Books mentioned in this interview:

This issue has drawn nearly as many emotional responses as the alcohol issue did. Because we are not a merchant within the historic overlay district of Mineola, we have remained silent about this.

As I listened to people discuss this issue tonight, I was overcome with the level of fear on the behalf of citizens and council members alike, fear that if we allow this man to open a pawn shop in Mineola, that a sea of pawn shops would soon follow. It’s a good thing our founding fathers had a greater vision than to worry about the hypothetical.

Rob Carter of The Ponderosa make his case in city hall.

Simple laws of economics will dictate saturation levels that a local economy can support of a given type of business. Ask any antique shop owner in any of these East Texas towns and they will certainly agree with the principles of over-saturation that lead to diminishing returns.

I understand that laws and ordinances are set forth for the long term, but isn’t the principle of modern conservative economics to let the markets dictate what will and what will not last? Or is it that nobody wants to be next to the pawn shop? We have multiple small loan companies in the historic overlay district. Are they really any different than pawn shops?

After this town voted to repeal prohibition I was excited at the surge of progress. What I saw tonight was the quashing of progress in the name of “What if…” scenarios that may or may never come true and are driven by fear.

Kudos to Rob Carter of Ponderosa for doing what he thinks is right and for taking his fight to the council. Hopefully his pioneering spirit will be rewarded by having a successful business despite some members of his community and government rallying against him.

On May 14, 2011 the voters of Mineola came out to vote and voted for Propositions 1 & 2. The rhetoric was hot and heavy and both sides seemed very emotionally charged. At the end of the day, the prospect of extra sales tax dollars won out over the fear of our town becoming a haven for sin, crime and other evil things.

The video below is the announcement from David Stevenson, City Administrator. The video just below that is just for fun. I cannot take credit for the very appropriate music video. It was suggested to me by a friend. If that person wishes for people to know their identity, they can make that known.

The numbers are:
Prop 1
For: 440
Against: 419

Prop 2
For: 441
Against: 406

Congratulations to the people of Mineola!

We need people to work the polling places tomorrow, Saturday, May 14th. This simply consists of being present, standing the legal distance from the polling station and holding a sign for Propositions 1 & 2.

This may sound like a fruitless activity, but the bottom line is that we can guarantee that the other side will be represented at the polls, so we need people there to represent the correct side as well.

If you can do this for any time at all, please contact Pat Hamlet at 903-920-4103. You can call or text this number.

Again, there are no shifts and you are not required to stay for any period of time. Any time that you can donate, whether you are a resident of Mineola or not, will make a difference.

Thank you for doing your part to convince the people of Mineola to VOTE YES FOR PROPOSITIONS 1 & 2.

We just received a report on sales tax revenues in Mineola.

These figures are based on March and 1^st qtr 2011 sales by our local merchants and businesses.

• Sales tax collections were down 4.81% compared to May 2010.
• Local sales tax collections were down 7.69% from calendar year 2008 to 2010.
• These figures indicate a significant reduction in retail sales for Mineola during the 2 ½ year period.

How can we make up this revenue without raising taxes?

Passing Propositions 1 & 2 will more than make up for these revenues.

Our town already operates on a shoestring budget.

• Our Mayor is not paid.
• Our city council members are not paid.

City services are already at a minimum level. So if this missing revenue is not made up, the next steps are to further reduce service and/or raise taxes.

Is this enough to convince you to VOTE on May 14th?

Source: Texas State Comptroller’s Office

Vote YES for Propositions 1 & 2 on May 14th.

After reading the past few editions of the Mineola Monitor, I feel compelled to get out my hypocrisy umbrella and put on my BS boots. The churches are out in full force and are trying to scare the people of Mineola to death. Some are comparing Saturday’s vote on Propositions 1 & 2 to Nazi Germany while others are warning us that our children and grandchildren will be consumed in a sea of alcohol and their blood will be spilled in the name of collecting tax dollars.

Vote YES for Propositions 1 & 2 on May 14th.

I guess the churches are really feeling like their grip on the city of Mineola is slipping. That is very apparent. The real irony of this situation is that many of these are the same people who said that the judge should show leniency on the teacher who had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a high school student. Are our priorities really that skewed? Are some people really looking the other direction while a teacher abuses our children but those same people think that stores selling beer and wine will lead to the destruction of our society? Really?

Are our Christian values directly tied to the fact that we force our citizens to drive 30 miles to buy a bottle of wine to have with their dinner? I know they are not. I know that we also don’t worry less about pedophiles teaching our school children than we worry about people being able to buy a legal product in the store of their choice.

This is obviously a very emotionally-charged issue and some people are willing to say whatever they feel is necessary to oppose it, even if the things they say are little more than a terrible embarrassment or a direct insult to our town and its citizens.

Most articles the churches have published have not been against drinking alcohol, but against buying it in Mineola. This clearly makes no moral or fiscal sense.

I hear that there are still communities in some states where the residents ride horse-drawn carriages and use oil lamps because they refuse to adopt modern culture. If these people believe that alcohol is the root of all evil and do not want it in their community, I urge them to bring forth legislation outlawing alcohol all together in Mineola.

I urge you to stand up to the hypocrisy of this faction of people in Mineola. Vote YES on Propositions 1 & 2 on Saturday, May 14th.

Regardless of what some people would have you believe, allowing the sale of beer and wine in Mineola will not be the end of the small town atmosphere in our town.

Last week I had a phone conversation with Bruce Feagin, Chief of Police in Emory, Texas. As you likely already know, two years ago the town of Emory voted to allow the sale of beer and wine in their town. Their city council was very proactive in getting the associated ordinances in place for their town. Such ordinances keep merchants from putting up huge beer signs, prohibit the building of unsightly beer barns and some of the other things that we have seen other towns in east Texas not do. Some of the other towns in East Texas now have really unattractive beer barns and other things that detract from the overall look and feel of their town.

The Mineola City Council did the same thing. They have put in place ordinances that will keep our town from looking like a giant beer store. This legislation is done, passed and already in place in case these propositions pass in Mineola.

In my conversation with Chief Feagin, I specifically asked him if Emory has seen an increase in crime since enacting the sale of beer and wine. His answer was a solid “no.” I then asked him if they have seen a spike in public intoxication problems. Again, “no.”  I asked if there has been a spike in DUI arrests. Again, “no.” I really tried to find a downside to the propositions, but I was unable to.

Vote YES for Propositions 1 & 2 on May 14th.

Bottom Line
According to public sales tax records, the sale of beer and wine in Emory has resulted in about $88,000 per year in income to their city. My estimation, and this is pure speculation on my part, is that Propositions 1 & 2 will add about $150,000 to the budget of the city of Mineola. We have a large national retailer that Emory does not. We have more population in the surrounding areas that Emory does not. So my estimate may very well be low, but the important thing is that a very similar community just 30 miles away has done this and has not had all of the problems with the sale of beer and wine that you have likely heard about or read about in the Mineola Monitor.

Whether you are someone who consumes alcohol or not , or whether or not you agree that alcohol is good or bad is not the question. The fact is that people will drink. Some will drink a little, some will drink a lot. But people will drink and living in a dry town only makes people drive to the next town to buy their alcohol. It is a money issue.

Early voting starts today, May 4th, 2011. Please vote YES to Propositions 1 & 2. The money they generate will help make Mineola better for us all and will certainly make Mineola more competitive in the East Texas marketplace.

Scott Hazard – Publisher
MineolaBuzz.com

Last week, the city of Mineola adopted the codes that will apply to beer and wine sales if the local option election in May passes.
The city is taking the necessary steps to keep Mineola from becoming a “strip” of beer stores. Other towns, like Emory, that now enjoy the added tax revenues from passing a local option, have taken similar measures with their codes. Such measures have led to towns like Mineola being able to add the tax revenue associated with beer and wine sales without sacrificing the quality of life in the town.
Just because your town allows beer and wine sales does not mean it has to become a haven for unsightly beer barns and the city of Mineola has taken the steps to keep that from happening to our town.

In today’s economy, keeping the tax dollars associated with beer and wine sales in Mineola really makes sense. The city government has done their homework on this matter. Kudos to them.

Looking for a fresh gift idea? Look no further than Dragonfly Art Studio in Mineola.

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From time to time I run across something that I think is really, really cool. We have all tried to find the perfect gift for the person who has everything, but one can only have so many scarves, belts, books and bottles of perfume or aftershave lotion.

PortraitPuzzles.com has the answer. Take a photo of the kids, the pets, the family home or whatever subject you wish to photograph and PortraitPuzzles.com will turn it into a beautiful jigsaw puzzle. They offer puzzles that range from being suited for kids, with 30 pieces, to puzzles that it might take a year to assemble with 1500 pieces. No matter what you choose as your photograph, PortraitPuzzles.com will make a quality puzzle out of it.

This also makes a great gift for a business to give clients. Have a family spend time assembling your brand on their kitchen table. Think about it!

A 252 piece puzzle priced at $27.99. So it’s affordable.

We’re looking for a few people who can write articles about and take photos of local events for our web site. We’re taking writing and photo samples over the next two weeks. What we are looking for are a few people who can cover sporting events, church activities, business activities, festivals and such. These will be very part-time positions and pay will be on a ‘per item’ basis.

A few immediate qualifications are:

• Excellent grammatical and verbal skills.
• Basic photography skills.
• The ability to take, crop, re-size and upload digital photos.
• The ability to take, edit and upload 2-3 minute video files is a huge plus.

Ideal candidates are detail-oriented and take pride in their town and in the work submitted to Mineola Buzz. You will need your own equipment such as camera(s) and a computer to use to write and submit your work. Submitted articles should be 100-300 words, depending on the scope of what you covered, and contain at least one clear, relevant photo. Again, you will need to be able to crop and re-size your photos so they look good and the size fits our site format.

Pay is $10 per submitted and accepted article. Here’s how it works. You will submit your work to use through our web site. It will consist of an article and an uploaded photo or a link to a YouTube video. If we use your submission, we will pay you $10. If we do not use an article you will not be paid for it. Basically, write about things in the community that are timely, relevant and interesting and your work will likely be used. We will pay an additional $5 for short videos to go along with the articles. We’re basically looking for people who would be at many of the events they cover. You will be told what to cover. Submissions must be current information.

Payments will be made via Paypal on the 1st and 15th of each month. You will need a Paypal account. All payments will be subject to a form 1099 for tax purposes. All content must be original and, upon payment, becomes the sole property of BrightSide Media LLC. Content submitted and accepted cannot be digitally posted or printed on Facebook, Myspace or anywhere else.

If you are interested in finding out more, please fill out the form below, following all instructions carefully.

We’ll be in touch with candidates the week of November 10th. More details will be shared upon being selected.

Thank you,

Scott Hazard
BrightSide Media LLC

We are pleased to introduce to our readers the Happy Go Lucky hot air balloon. This balloon is roughly 10 stories tall and gets the attention of young and old alike. It can be set up as a static display at events or it can fly above your target audience getting more eyes and more attraction than the most clever billboard ever dreamed of getting.

This is truly a unique opportunity to show off your business in a very clever way. Below is a statement from Tim Mitchiner, owner and Captain of Team Happy Go Lucky. At the bottom of this page is a contact form that goes directly to him if you are interested in discussing this further.

Hot air balloons are an extremely effective means of advertising. Many large corporations such as Remax, GM and Ford to name a few, have used balloons as part of their overall marketing strategy. As someone once said when asked why they use balloons to convey their corporate message, “No one ever pulled over and took a picture of a billboard”.
Our balloon is 78’ tall and has (2) banner areas, each of which is approximately 30’ wide and 15’ tall. We can offer flights over a city, static displays (where the balloon is inflated but kept on the ground), demonstrations at schools or corporate events, champagne flights for special clients and much more. Also, there are a number of balloon events in the area, such as the Great Texas Balloon Race in Longview and the Plano Balloon Festival that regularly have 40,000-70,000 in attendance PER NIGHT for evening displays. They are ideal for getting your company’s name in front of large audiences.
Rates begin with a minimum of (10) appearances with (1) banner attached to the balloon, per year for a total of $5000. We supply the aircraft, commercial balloon pilot, crew, transportation, insurance and other associated costs. The client is responsible for the design and cost of the banner(s), which we will assist in procuring. Fees for additional appearances, appearances more than (60) miles from Mineola, Tx and other services can be supplied on request.
Let us help you get the word out!

Thank you,
Tim Mitchiner

To contact Tim personally about displaying your business logo on this magnificent ballon, use the form below.