Nick Stevens and Fabian Thomas (photo by Janie Cindric)
Janie Cindric
Learning about candidates’ views and backgrounds, as well as understanding issues on the ballot, is a vital part of being an educated voter. To that end, the Robson Ranch Democratic Club continued its Know Your Candidate series in September.
Our candidate speaker was Fabian Thomas, running for the office of Denton County Judge. Fabian was born in the Canal Zone and immigrated to the United States at the age of 18. He has resided in Denton County for 26 years while serving in the military and working for the federal government. His service includes four years in the United States Air Force, 22 years in the Texas Air National Guard. Fabian worked in the federal government and served in various leadership positions with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and the Department of Interior (DOI), completing 31 years of government service. Issues that Fabian will work to improve are early childhood education, respite programs for families with special needs children, working toward a county hospital, dealing with traffic growth, keeping jobs in our county, having affordable housing, and keeping property taxes low. Learn more at www.fabian4judge.com.
Another item on our ballots this fall is Proposition B, Decriminalize Marijuana Possession. Nick Stevens was our speaker from Decriminalize Denton. Decriminalize Denton is a nonpartisan, community-funded organization that aims to responsibly decrease, and eventually eliminate, all legal penalties for adult possession of personal amounts of cannabis in the City of Denton through grassroots organizing. After three failed attempts lobbying the Denton City Council, the group was able to gather 3,200 signatures and complete the process of putting the vote in the hands of citizens and placing it on the ballot this fall. If passed into law, Proposition B would: eliminate all citations and arrests for possession of misdemeanor amounts (less than 4 oz.) of marijuana (cannabis), except in some limited circumstances; prevent Denton police from giving citations for drug paraphernalia in lieu of a possession of marijuana charge; prohibit Denton police from using the odor of marijuana or hemp as probable cause for search or seizure; save our city valuable law enforcement resources and municipal court resources, including labor and filing costs (banning the THC testing of confiscated substances would save Denton more than $1 million a year). Austin has passed a similar proposition. Five cities also have similar propositions on their ballots: Denton, Killeen, San Marcos, Elgin, and Harker Heights. Learn more at www.decrimdenton.com.