For the past several months, readers have asked Waterwood
Watchdog, "Is it true the Country Club will be sold to Native
Americans who want to turn Waterwood into a Casino destination spot?"

Although rumors, some more bizarre than others, still circulate, the
facts are there was a group of investors being represented by the
Sherri Herman Group who wanted to buy the Country Club and
surrounding rural acreage. To learn more about the Sherri Herman
Group, click on http://www.thehermangroup.com/. These investors also
wanted to buy land from the Russells and build another golf course,
including infrastructure for a tourist destination spot here at
Waterwood (the rumors included "casino" and "Epcot Center" but no one
could confirm anything). According to George Russell, the investors
made an offer for all of his family's properties, none of which were
offered for sale, in an amount that they estimated to be around $3
million less than their investment. They rejected the offer. As a
show of good faith, the investors initially agreed to fight along
with Joe Nocito, present owner of the Country Club and Golf Course,
and with WIA, against SHECO (the community's electric co-op) which
wants to cut down more trees and erect a large transmission line
through Waterwood's front entrance, destroying the very thing that
makes Waterwood appealing to tourists – its East Texas pineywoods
environment. The investors subsequently made other attempts to
purchase some of the Russells' properties but because there were
restrictions to protect the environment, negotiations ceased. It's
unknown if Joe Nocito's group also rejected offers from the
investors. Although it appears nothing will happen anytime soon, an
architect who was working with the Sherry Herman Group made a
surprise telephone call to a small landowner this past week, so this
saga isn't completely over.

SHECO's ongoing battle to construct a large ugly transmission line
through Waterwood is still un-resolved. To read all the input into
SHECO's battle, click on
http://interchange.puc.state.tx.us/WebApp/Interchange/application/dbap
ps/login/pgLogin.asp and then click on "Login" and when the next
window opens, enter 29705 in the control number box and then
click "search now". All the documents relative to the hearings are
posted in chronological order; Adobe Reader is required to read the
documents. An official hearing on the merits of this case by an
administrative panel appointed by the PUC will be held in Austin,
March 7 to 9.

The Legislature passed a bill last year written by Jacinto
Investments' consultants which allows land owners (primarily, Jacinto
Investments) to petition the Municipal Utility District to be de-
annexed. The basic provisions are: 1) the petitioners must be the
majority owners of the land proposed for de-annexation, 2) the area
must have been in the District for 28 years and never received
service, 3) All District taxes for all properties in the area must
have been paid 4) Property owners will still be subject to debt
services taxes until bonds are paid off, and 5) the executive
director of Texas' TCEQ must approve of the de-annexation. The law
expires within the next couple of years, so it's a one-time
opportunity for Jacinto Investments to be excluded from MUD taxes.

A petition for de-annexation was filed by Jacinto Investments along with their
landowner comrades comrades on 8/19/04 with Waterwood's MUD Board. The
area proposed to be de-annexed is 6,200 acres (primarily the
undeveloped subdivisions). According to Phil Palmer, MUD would lose
an estimated $10,784.25 at 100% collections. Because several land
owners in these areas have chosen not to pay taxes on a lot they
purchased almost 30 years ago, the loss is somewhat less the 100%
collections figure. Palmer claims WIA will not be obligated to pay
the future availability fee which is 5% of the amount they collect in
dues from those lots each year. The Districts best estimate of total
revenue loss including taxes and WIA is $10,000.00 per year. The
trade-off is that the District will not be obligated to serve those
undeveloped subdivision areas in the future, nor would it be able to
prevent a landowner from putting in their own water and septic
systems. The MUD Board has been generally in favor to this point
although no vote has been taken as yet.

In addition to "de-annexing" those subdivisions from MUD, majority
owner Jacinto Investments will "cancel" all six of the remaining un-
cancelled undeveloped subdivisions in February 2005 and be exempt
from complying with WIA's deed restrictions. In order to fast-
forward their goal to own 75% percent of the lots and then cancel
these subdivisions, Jacinto Investments began offering lot owners
$1,000 for each lot this past summer instead of the traditional $100
and $300 offers. Last April, at the county's public tax sale, Jacinto
Investments paid up to $6,000 for one small undeveloped lot and over
$1,000 for the other eight or nine lots available for bid. Obviously
former WIA directors and Joe Moore were wrong three years ago when
they said those lots were "worthless" and they agreed to sell WIA's
greenbelts to Jacinto Investments for $100 per acre. When Jacinto
Investments owns 75 percent of the lots in each of the remaining six
undeveloped subdivisions, they'll get the county commissioners
approval to cancel these subdivisions, as well as WIA's blessings to
void the deed restrictions prohibiting logging. When that happens,
Jacinto Investments partners will probably begin getting bids from
loggers and no doubt laugh at MUD, WIA and Joe Moore all the way to
the bank. Perhaps as soon as next year, loggers chosen by Jacinto
Investments will continue forestry operations on both sides of the
Waterwood Parkway from Comanche Road to Waterwood's dump site.
Logging from Rt. 190 to Comanche Road was completed this year, but
because of the Parkway's 150-foot beauty strip of trees (creating an
illusion of a driving through a real forest), not many residents are
aware of the extent of the logging that took place this year. Anyone
wanting a closer look at Waterwood's disappearing pineywoods
environment is welcome to contact Waterwood Watchdog for a tour.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

END