Corsicana —
Charles Morgan, who’s running as the Democratic nominee for state representative, got involved in politics because he and some of his supporters were having problems with gas compressor stations and microwave towers. Morgan is sensitive to low range sounds, and a nearby gas compressor makes it difficult for him to enjoy the peace and quiet of his rural home near Fairfield.
But he has more things that he’d like to see changed, as well.
He would like to see a 10-year energy plan for Texas to avoid rolling blackouts and brownouts.
“I have vision,” Morgan said. “I’ll provide the leadership because I have the background for developing and implementing an energy plan.”
A former engineer, Morgan worked on a variety of construction projects, including power projects in Saudi Arabia.
“We need energy sources that are renewable,” he said. “We need to emphasize those kinds of things.”
He’d like to see the end of the older power plants, particularly coal-fired plants, one of the largest of which is near his home.
“We need to protect people’s health by having regulations that aren’t onerous, but protect people’s health,” Morgan said.
Morgan claims that in some regards District 8’s air is the most polluted in Texas, claiming that it’s more polluted than Houston’s or Dallas’ air.
“There’s a lot of cancer in Anderson County,” he said. “I’ll get to the root cause of these sicknesses. It’s not just air pollution; it’s a lot of things, including microwave towers.”
He would also like to see the state enact noise pollution laws that would protect people like him who suffer from vibroacoustic disease, the sensitivity to low-range sound.
“It’s a tremendous problem across the country,” he said. “We need to wake up in Texas and do something here.
“These are the types of things we need to do to protect our people,” Morgan said.
On the larger stage, Morgan would like to see a comprehensive energy plan, and a drought plan. As for water sources, he’d like the state to prioritize some new lake projects and put the money into building them.
When it comes to the state’s current problems with school funding, Morgan has a personal concern about that, too. His son is a teacher, and Morgan himself was formerly on the school board in Dew ISD.
“We need adequate funding, so we don’t have such large classes,” he said. “One teacher can only teach so many children adequately. And I don’t think we pay them enough. It needs to be commensurate with abilities.”
Morgan would like to see an incentive program for teacher pay raises. Teachers who receive positive reviews from their supervisors would be the only ones to get pay raises, he said.
“That will be the incentive to the others,” Morgan said.
He would also like to see funding more from the local level rather than the state level. School districts that don’t have sufficient property value would receive additional state aid.
Asked what he would do for Navarro County if he were elected to the state representative’s office, Morgan said that having cleaner air, plenty of water and plenty of electricity would benefit everyone in the state and the county, as well.
He would also like to look at the pipeline being laid across the state and how it might impact Richland Chambers Reservoir.
In terms of transportation, Morgan supports having a loop around Corsicana. “Big trucks need to be able to do something different,” he said.
He pointed to Fairfield and Palestine, which both have loops of sorts around their downtowns.
As for state funding, Morgan said he supports having a state “rainy day” fund.
Although he has run for state representative in the past against Cook, Morgan said this time is different because he is better known.
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Janet Jacobs may be reached via e-mail at jjacobs@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “sound off” to this article? E-mail: Soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com
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Charles Morgan is running as the Democratic nominee for state representative
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Morgan challenges Cook
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