Open Letter from John Eggen

John Eggen, President of the Wilmer Chamber of Commerce posts the following letter setting the record straight on the Beer & Wine Sales Petition - among other things. Readers please note that the letter from John Eggen is published as a pubilc service to the citizens of Wilmer and has not been proofed or edited by Wilmer Public Citizen.

Dear Wilmer Citizen,

It has come to my attention that Councilman Billy Wickliffe is campaigning around Wilmer using my name as the instigator for beer and wine sales being put on the ballot this year and I DON’T LIKE IT!. He seems to forget that I went to City Hall to advise them that petitions were being circulated for signatures and that I didn’t think that whoever was circulating these petitions was doing it legally, and that they should verify that the law was being followed. (Did they follow up? NO!) Now I am supposed to be the one responsible, even though you won’t find my signature on the petition. Get your facts straight Billy (not that true facts ever matter to you). During a conversation with City Administrator Thom Lauer, I mentioned the fact that the warehouse at the Cottonwood Creek Mobile Home Park (not in the City Limits) was at one time a bar. Funny, in one day the story changed from a little history lesson to my opening of a new bar in the warehouse. (This man will twist facts every which way to get a vote!)

Billy Wickliffe and other members of the City Council are going to be campaigning against beer and wine. DON’T LET THEM FOOL YOU! Behind the scenes they approve. If they didn’t, they would have shut down the bootleggers that operate all over town as it is. You can purchase bread, milk and beer out of several homes in Wilmer. City Administrator Thom Lauer knows they exist, Billy Wickliffe knows, Eugene Lowe knows, our Code Enforcement Officer knows, Stephen King, our building inspector knows and the police department knows. If Thom Lauer would keep his nose out of Police Department business and the City Council would allow the Police Department to do their jobs enforcing Texas State Law, (remember according to Billy, there’s state law and there’s Wilmer law) I have no doubt that the police department would shut them down. Is the Police Department under orders to turn a blind eye? You decide. You have to remember the police department can only do what Thom Lauer and the City Council will let them do and we know code enforcement isn’t one of them. There must be a lot of votes coming from these homes, (or a good under the table revenue stream) for the city council to ignore this illegal activity. Vote your conscious on this issue. Contrary to popular belief, Billy Wickliffe is not the town’s savior and life will go on with or without beer sales. Don’t be swayed one way or the other by the senile ranting of the hypocrites on the City Council.

JOHN EGGEN