BobAchgill_1

A Citizen Guide to Holding Texas Government Accountable
on Primary Election Day — March 3, 2026

“If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, we will be a nation gone under.” — Ronald Reagan

PURPOSE OF THIS GUIDE

Texas is not suffering from a lack of resources.
Texas is suffering from a lack of truth, accountability, and moral clarity.

MONOPOLIES, SPACE, FREE SPEECH & NATIONAL SECURITY

Texas helped give birth to a $1.7 trillion-per-year monopoly over world internet and free speech by allowing a single corporation to dominate Low Earth Orbit.

SpaceX plans up to 42,000 Starlink satellites, concentrating global communications, speech control, and strategic infrastructure into one private entity. United Launch Alliance has warned that a launchpad explosion could block emergency U.S. spy-satellite launches just six miles away. If this threatens military access, it also endangers civilian communities.

One individual has been granted permission to launch rockets from the middle of a protected wildlife reserve six miles from South Padre Island with no publicly disclosed, independent failure-mode and effects analysis.

The FAA allows SpaceX to perform its own safety analysis. I know this because I wrote the FAA before the first Starship launch asking for the launchpad explosion analysis. They had none.

A large propellant leak during fueling could drift for miles hugging the ground until it encounters an ignition source — such as a preschool water heater — producing a vapor explosion not permitted even in warfare.

This is not capitalism. It is Monopolism. This is not Texan.

When Texas was settled, some received homesteads while slaves and service workers did not. Some land had oil beneath it; most did not. We honored private oil rights for generations.

Economic justice is distorted when government enables monopolies to capture public resources. Slaves and many others never received homesteads, yet Texas honored private oil rights. Now access to space via low-Earth-orbit internet projected at $1.7 T per yr. is being given away. Like oil, space profits should belong to Texans via a citizens’ fund, modeled on Norway going to Texas resident US citizens.

Access to space is the new oil.

The Legislature gave that oil to one individual. Texans can take it back.

Texas should immediately repeal the 2012 space tourism law and replace it with legislation that recognizes access to space as a shared natural resource, similar to oil. Texas should establish a Texan citizens’ fund, modeled on the Norway Sovereign Wealth Fund and the Alaska Permanent Fund, so that profits derived from space access benefit Texans equally — and cannot be given away by politicians or forced away by industry behemoths. Management and control of any resulting Texan spaceport should be vested in a voting shareholder structure, with ownership equally shared by all U.S. citizen Texas residents, ensuring transparency, safety, and long-term economic justice.

WATER SECURITY & HB 25-49

It begins with a promise.

HB 25-49 allows so-called “treated” fracking wastewater to be released onto Texas farmland and into rivers—paired with legal immunity in case something goes wrong.

What’s in that water doesn’t disappear.

The wastewater carries PFAS—“forever chemicals.” They do not break down. They do not dilute away. They do not leave.

When PFAS reaches the soil, plants absorb it without resistance. Those plants become feed. Livestock graze. PFAS moves silently into meat, milk, and eggs.

From there, it moves into people.

Once inside the human body, PFAS stays. It accumulates over time, linked again and again to cancer, endocrine disruption, immune system damage, and chronic disease.

There is no recall.

Once farmland is contaminated, it cannot be cleaned.
Once rivers are polluted, they cannot be un-polluted.
Once water security is compromised, it cannot be restored with talking points.

No amount of political reassurance changes chemistry.

When drilling operations begin to threaten water security, power pricing, or the safety of farms and rivers, they should be shut down—until a credible, fully funded plan exists to stabilize the damage. Texans should not be forced to subsidize private profit with depleted aquifers, higher power bills, or poisoned land.

Johnson County ranchers learned this the hard way.

Livestock were contaminated with PFAS “forever chemicals” after state oversight failed. The losses were devastating. Texas should have made those families whole.

Instead, the state doubled down—passing HB 25-49 and granting indemnity to oil producers dumping “treated” frack water onto farmland.

The damage was permanent.
The decision was not.

Watch: Water Security & HB 25-49 (YouTube)

ENERGY, DATA CENTERS & GRID FAILURE

It starts quietly.

A proposal appears on a city agenda—technical language, vague benefits, few details. Behind closed doors, NDAs are signed. Promises are made. And another water-hungry, power-hungry data center is approved, with no real accountability to the people who live there.

City governments are increasingly green-lighting these facilities in secrecy, allowing private operators to draw down aquifers and strain the power grid without transparency to citizens. By the time residents learn what has happened, the resources are already spoken for.

The grid begins to feel the pressure. Power demand spikes. Rates rise. Ordinary Texans pay more each month, while economic injustice deepens. We are told new technologies will solve it—Small Modular Reactors, rushed into discussion despite the fact that they are not yet commercially proven.

The push to deploy unproven SMRs on a short timeline is framed as innovation. In reality, it is risk transferred from corporations to communities.

When data centers begin to undermine water security, distort power pricing, or threaten farms and rivers, the damage is no longer theoretical. Aquifers drop. Fields suffer. Rivers carry the cost downstream. Yet the burden does not fall on those who profit—it falls on Texans, who are asked to subsidize private gain through depleted water, higher electric bills, and contaminated land.

At that point, communities discover a hard truth: once a data center is built, it is almost impossible to remove. Courts will not side with residents who are harmed. The size of the investment becomes its own legal protection.

The moment construction begins, self-governance ends.

Cities lose the ability to reverse course. Courts rule with the data center, not with the people. Even if Texans are harmed, the facility stays. What was approved in secrecy becomes permanent in law.

And the community is left paying the price—for water, for power, and for the loss of its right to decide its own future.

Watch: https://youtu.be/FYw1Xod41g8

PROPERTY TAXES & HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

Families used to compete with families for homes. Now they’re competing with institutional investors—and they’re losing. Housing prices aren’t skyrocketing by accident; they’re being driven up by Wall Street money flooding local neighborhoods. It’s time to kick Wall Street off Home Street. Doubling homestead exemptions protects the people who actually live in these homes, not the speculators who trade them like stocks. Real housing affordability means drawing a clear line against institutional speculation. When families come first again, homes become affordable again. I led with this fight last year at the city level.

Website: http://www.hishandsreader.org/bob.html

Watch the video https://youtu.be/vq8sLkQEtc8

HEALTHCARE & FDA MARKET FAILURE

In the 1960s, Western medicine made a quiet but consequential change. Doctors stopped prescribing desiccated thyroid—a natural, long-used treatment—and replaced it with synthetic T4. The new drug was tested, approved, and standardized. What wasn’t tested was what patients were losing when the old medicine disappeared.

Decades later, the rules somehow flipped. Today, desiccated thyroid is treated as suspect. The FDA demands costly, modern testing for it—even though no such standard was ever applied when synthetic replacements took over. A medicine removed without proof now must clear hurdles that were never required of what replaced it. That isn’t science. It’s market failure.

In modern healthcare, treatments that are cheap, effective, and non-patentable often die quietly—not because they don’t work, but because no one can profit enough to fund FDA approval. Patients never hear about them. Doctors never learn to use them. The system filters them out.

Reverse T3 tells that story clearly. It sits at the center of thyroid regulation, biologically real and repeatedly linked to chronic illness, yet largely ignored. Not because it’s dangerous. Not because it’s ineffective. But because understanding and controlling T3 / rT3 balance would unlock therapies that cannot be patented—and that many powerful interests would prefer remain unavailable.

Medicaid and Medicare should remain. But states like Texas don’t have to accept every market failure as inevitable. Texas already invests public money where private incentives fall short—roads, water systems, power grids—because society depends on them. Healthcare is no different.

Texas can fund FDA-grade research for proven, non-patentable treatments that the market refuses to touch. Reverse T3 is a strong place to start: a real biological mechanism, tied to widespread chronic disease, and potentially a missing piece in decades of rising illness that the system never had a reason to investigate.

Watch:

EDUCATION, TRUTH & CIVIC FORMATION

The Bible shaped Western law, liberty, and conscience. It teaches self-government at the heart level, which is required for the Constitution to function. When the court wrongly removed the Bible from public schools, it removed the moral anchor from education — and it should not surprise us when children drift.

Access to the Bible belongs in schools — not as coercion, but as a parental opt-in foundation of moral and historical truth. Texas must prioritize literacy, critical thinking, and human formation — not AI-driven instruction. Literacy is failing.

Texas should restore reading fundamentals, support work-sponsored time off for parents in schools once a month, and allow parental opt-in reading resources — use something like the Bible reading primer text in the free His Hands Reader multilingual, hand sign assist, literacy system in grades K–4.

It’s time that all children should learn hand signs from a young age to include the deaf siblings and neighbors. The HHR system will serve special-needs learners with kinesthetic support. This tool (or something equivalent) will help teachers and students — hearing, deaf, and bilingual — assimilate together while reducing burdens on teachers and removing barriers that divide children from learning side-by-side.

Parents choose. Courts do not prohibit.

Watch (click thumbnail):

PROTECTING CHILDREN, FAMILIES & HUMAN DIGNITY

Government has a first-order responsibility to protect children from sexual exploitation, especially during online activity where predators operate at scale and across borders.

Texas should fund aggressive enforcement, including a $50,000 reward for the capture and conviction of offenders, with all costs recovered through fines and asset forfeiture from traffickers and those who profit from exploitation.

Kidnapping a child for trafficking is worse than murder, because it condemns the child to ongoing abuse, repeated violation, and lifelong trauma. A society that fails to stop this has lost its moral compass.

A state’s health is measured not by its GDP, but by how it protects its most vulnerable.

Texas policy must stop dividing children from their biological parents except in the most extreme circumstances, and instead strengthen families as the primary line of defense against exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Strong families protect children better than any bureaucracy.

FAITH, ISRAEL & GOD’S PROMISES

Israel is a vital democratic ally, a key U.S. security and intelligence partner, and a stabilizing force in a volatile region.

The Jewish people are central to biblical history. Nations are blessed when they bless the Jewish people, and history repeatedly confirms this promise.

If God kept His specific, costly promises to Israel—through exile, persecution, and the rebirth of a nation—His faithfulness is proven in history. That visible, promise-keeping God is my foundation and assurance.

Salvation is by grace alone, not works (Eph. 2:8–9). Everyone who believes that Jesus Christ died for their sins and rose again will live forever with God.

This faith also demands truth-seeking and honesty in science and history. Every child in the world should have access to this information.

Watch the videos

Tip: these open YouTube in a new tab (works on iPhone, Android, and desktop).

MEET BOB

When was the last time Texas was led by an engineer instead of a lawyer? Lawyers are trained to argue after damage is done. Engineers are trained to prevent failure before it happens. Texas’ biggest problems—water security, grid instability, infrastructure risk, monopolies, and technological overreach—are engineering problems, not courtroom debates.

I have worked solving real-world problems in petrochemical engineering, Space Shuttle flight safety, industrial and community fire response, AI-assisted education, and municipal governance. My wife and I have public-schooled, home-schooled, and led a school. We lived overseas in five countries over eighteen years, learning firsthand what works—and what fails—in migration policy while balancing compassion with unintended consequences.

At the end of the day, the heart of man is desperately evil. We the people must turn back to God for grounding. If we can see God keeping His 3,000-year-old promises to Israel, then we can know He is faithful to keep His promise of a home in Heaven for all who believe. I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins, and salvation is by grace alone, not works. I believe the Word of God is the practical resource needed whether you are in Russia, the Middle East, or the Texas Panhandle.

If God kept His specific, costly promises to Israel https://youtu.be/HSbzjPVVBhk —through exile, persecution, and the rebirth of a nation—His faithfulness is proven in history. That visible, promise-keeping God is my foundation and assurance. Salvation is by grace alone, not works (Eph. 2:8–9). Everyone who believes that Jesus Christ died for their sins and rose again will live forever with God. This faith also demands truth-seeking and honesty in science and history. Every child in the world should have access to this information. https://youtu.be/WL222gtpHgY?si=ws0B9NpZZDI2D8sT. And https://youtu.be/Bdf3ovzGvqU?si=llmeZ7NteyRxVxbs Jesus enables His followers to live lives in favor with God and Man through His provisions of Word and H.S. https://youtu.be/ehYmvFheEyQ

Final Word to Texans — A Call to Action

March 3, 2026 is the point of no return.

Once SpaceX starts launching Starship with v3 Starlink satellites, global monopoly of LEO will be accomplished in a couple years. When Texas was formed, slaves and service jobs did not receive a homestead. Some homesteads had oil. We have honored private oil rights ever since.

Now is the time to repeal the 2012 Space Tourism Act and claw back Texans’ rightful access to space rights with the Texas spaceport like Norway.

This election (Mar 3) is the last chance — no possibility of reverting back to Texans in control of their resource rights on space, water, power, and medicine.

The FDA says they will remove desiccated thyroid from the shelves unless it goes through the very expensive FDA approval process that non-patentable drugs cannot afford because there is no money.

In the 1960’s when they switched the world over from desiccated thyroid to synthetic, they did not test what they were leaving behind. Hubris — now they are forcing desiccated thyroid to be tested when they did not do the same when they added synthetic.

The nation needs T3 that is in desiccated thyroid to combat the onset of many chronic diseases.

And once trillion $ of datacenters that eat water and power are in, the courts will protect them from being removed. The anaconda is in the yard and by next year will be wrapped around Texas, squishing the life out.

Once water and farmland are contaminated, it cannot be recalled.

Pass this on to the one you are thinking of voting for:

If they don’t show active interest before Mar 3, investigate other candidates.
It will take a majority Texas legislative body to turn this Texas Titanic from collision course.

Your Comments (This is not fb! :))

You can see below how I began testing these policies when I ran for city council last year

Vote (Mar 3, 2026)
R. F. "Bob" Achgill
Texas candidate for TBD
Please repost!

Getting to know Bob
Bob Achgill, a candidate for Bryan City Council district 3, has a diverse background in engineering, volunteerism, and international literacy projects.

Engineering and Volunteer Background: Bob Achgill graduated from Texas A&M University in 1981 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and has worked for Amoco Chemicals in a chemical plant (7 years) and IBM FSD on the Space Shuttle program (5 years). He has volunteered with fire departments and held a patent in chemical aerosol abatement.
International Volunteer Work: In 1993, Achgill and his family moved to Russia to teach Bible morals and ethics at the invitation of the Russian Minister of Education. They were joined by 5,000 other American volunteers as they taught Russian public-school teachers all across the 11 time zones of Russia. His extended time in Russia (12 years), observing the needs in the developing world, sparked his personal quest to develop a free mother tongue literacy curriculum capable of providing literacy programs for all 7,000 languages worldwide.
His Hands Reader Project: Achgill's mother tongue literacy project, His Hands Reader, aims to provide free literacy education in all languages, including local hand signs support for deaf children. The project is a result of 28 years of volunteer crowd source effort.
Personal and Family Life: Achgill returned to the US in 2012 after living 18 years in Russia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Israel and Jordan, settling in Bryan to care for his mother. His family now spans four generations in Bryan, with his children (all graduates of A&M) and grandchildren attending local schools. He understands, by personal experience, the issues in Bryan across all walks of life from cradle to grave.

Bob in person

All about Bryan

Local Issues and Possible Solutions: Achgill identifies several challenges in Bryan, including housing affordability, traffic issues, city spending, human trafficking, and lack of city government transparency.
- 46% of Bryan family housing is investor-owned. He recommends popping the investor-induced housing bubble by doubling house taxes while doubling the homestead exemption to discourage hedge fund and bank roll investors from owning Bryan homes. He says, “Let’s kick Wall Street off of Home Street! Housing prices will normalize as investors realize increased house taxes have tipped the scales, making them wish to return to the greener pastures of investing in Wall Street.
- Budget Question. Was there runaway spending of windfall tax profits from the investor-induced housing bubble and where did it go? Let’s look at the city budget. Why do you need 20 more professional hires that are posted on the city website? That’s $4,000,000 in savings right there.
- Do city council candidates get to talk to the city manager and ask questions as part of orientation… why not? I have many questions for the city manager.
- Spending Authority. Does the city manager need to ask the approval of the citizens before embarking on major expenditures like the plan to long term lease 150 acres of Bryan city public park to commercial interests and Texas A&M? A development of the pay-for-play Dis-ney-land, Midtown, that puts out of reach price point for half of Bryan families to enjoy these public park lands for family entertainment. Is spending $130 million for this development that ceded away public park citizen free access considered as normal spending authority with no citizen input required by the city manager?
- Bob speaking before city council
  - Bob standing up for social equity of city parklands before city council [link] Bob says, “Half of the city of Bryan residents can’t afford to spend $5 per day so that one of their children can play basketball at Midtown, much less $1 per day.”
  - Bob standing up for the baseball, Bombers. Bob said, ‘30 years ago downtown Bryan was unsafe… thanks to family-oriented things like the Bombers ball games and many others who have personally invested their own selves in Bryan we can sit here in this council room in peace and safety. We should be thanking the leadership of the Bombers and asking them how the city council can help them… rather than threatening to replace them with your management team.’ [link]
- ” Bulldoze the medians to bring relief to businesses, emergency services and keep traffic from being diverted into neighborhoods. He says, “Why has there been no out cry from city council… and citizens must go, themselves, to TxDot in Austin to petition for removal of the medians. Why did the council allow TxDot in the first place from installing the medians during the pandemic without public approval? This city council has been no watchman on the wall. The sitting city council could have used $30 million of the $130 million they wasted on Midtown to tear down the wall that divides our city.”
- 400 people in the Brazos Valley are missing in 2023. That’s one loved one that goes missing from our supper table every day. The health of our city is directly related to how we care for the weak among us. Bob says, “Our city budget is $450 million each year… let’s dedicate 5% of the budget to funding bounty of $50,000 to find each missing one. Then impose a fine of $50,000 on the perpetrator if they are found and convicted. Human trafficking is worse than murder, because the one missing from our dinner table is dying every day.”

Bryan and beyond

Spaceport Royalties: Achgill argues that Texas residents should receive 90% of the royalties from the Texas Spaceport into a personal trust fund, like Norway's distribution of North Sea oil royalties. Governor Abbott should call a special session of the Texas legislature before the November elections to amend the 2012 Space Tourism law to secure these rightful royalties for all Texans. He believes this would make Social Security solvent and benefit all Texans. Bob says, “It’s a deception to say it’s about going to Mars… follow the money, it’s about securing a monopoly on global internet valued at $1.4 trillion per year. The Texas governor and legislature are at fault for letting billionaires ravage our Texas parklands in Boca Chica and steal Texans' rightful spaceport royalties. If you drill down in Texas, you get oil; if you drill up, you could get gold. The 2012 Space Tourism law is the biggest bank robbery in history. Shifting the control of the Texas Spaceport will stop the robbery and Texans will ensure that Texans safety comes first. Thank you, Governor Abbott, for leaving the Fort Knox safe door to Texas potential gold wide open for the taking by profiteers of space. Space is no longer about the science; it’s about the profits.”
Bob going to bat for Texans at the State and National level
- Here is Bob pleading before the governor-appointed Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioners to stop the destruction of Texas parklands and the endangerment of Texans in South Padre Island from possible launchpad explosion of SpaceX launches in Boca Chica [video].
- Here is Bob pleading and warning the public of possible effects from a launch pad explosion of the SpaceX Starship in Boca Chica on KBTX TV. Bob interview with KBTX, from 1:15 second mark on the video posted here” [link]
- Here are Bob’s oral comments for the SpaceX permitting process for launching from KSC. [Part 1] [Part 2]
- These are Bob’s comments posted to the Federal Register regarding the permitting of the SpaceX/Starship launch from KSC. These comments highlight significant safety concerns for individuals within a 25-mile radius of the Boca Chica launch site. This issue is relevant to Bryan residents, as the city should issue travel safety warnings for those traveling to South Padre Island. The FAA has neglected its duty to public safety by failing to publish a launch pad explosion failure analysis for the SpaceX Starship at the Boca Chica launch site 6 miles from South Padre Island. We also wish to support our fellow Texans who are being mistreated by our State and Federal government.
  [Part 1]
  https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FAA-2024-1395-0041
  [Part 2]
  https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FAA-2024-1395-0058
  
  Compare to the comments posted by United Space Alliance.
  https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FAA-2024-1395-0047
  
  It's sad that Texas politics has given birth to this mayhem of uncontrolled disregard for public safety and trashing of protected wildlife reserves. Now, that mayhem is spreading from Boca Chica, Texas to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
  
  I hope I have not lost your attention by providing too much information. Use the information in those two Federal register postings as a resource.
  
  SpaceX/Starlink is the new J.D. Rockefeller. Think, unbridled monopoly in Space. Press Governor Abbott to call a special session to amend the Texas Space Tourism law to give Texans control of their rightful spaceport rights before Nov 5. Tell Trump that you will walk with your vote to somewhere else, if Abbott does not amend the law in time.... and remind Trump that by doing so he could fix the short fall in the Social Security system and make all 30 million Texans rightful recipient of 90% of Texas Spaceport profits to the tune of $2,000 per month directly to their citizen-controlled trust fund.

Water Security: Achgill suggests taxing water transported to San Antonio or other long distances from the originating aquifer to fund desalination projects. This could ensure water security for Bryan and other Texas cities. Bob says, “Use Israeli desalination technology to bring Gulf of Mexico water up north under I-45 or the Trinity River all the way to Dallas. A 21-foot diameter pipeline would supply a backup source of water for seven San Antonios and keep this half of Texas water-safe for years to come. All for $0.33 per person per day.” Thirty cents for desalination and 3 cents for pipeline over a thirty-year project life.

Living abroad has given me a deep appreciation for what we have in America. Bryan has been a wonderful place to return to after our international experiences. I have spent half my life focused on helping people from every corner of the world, looking out for the least, the last, and the lost. If you will have me, I'll give this a try. You are going to need to keep talking to me, telling me what's working and what's not. Together, we will get there.
Are you all in?!

Please repost as I have not put up signs. :-)

Bob Achgill

Here is the longer version of the above...

Campaign phone:
281-687-8131

Campaign Website:
www.hishandsreader.org/bob.html

Campaign Email:
[email protected]

Campaign Twitter Handle:
https://twitter.com/ Bob_Achgill [blocked by X see Youtube]

Campaign Youtube URL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2KQCLh7Ov0&list=PL9pW1W9P6GvNEC8EykTOYz3BpFKWbnYSd

My research: World mother tongue literacy for Hearing and Deaf www.hishandsreader.org

Bio
I was born in Houston and graduated from Texas A&M University in 1981 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I spent seven years working for Amoco Chemicals, followed by five years with IBM FSD on the Space Shuttle program.
I have volunteered with two fire departments: Jersey Village and the chemical plant crew, where all engineers were trained to respond to chemical unit disasters. I received fire training at the A&M fire school and held a patent in chemical aerosol abatement. Throughout my career, I developed corporate-level capital budgets, designed and managed small capital petrochemical engineering projects, and solved two significant problems that had stumped many other engineers. One solution saved $5 million and cost only $1,750 to implement, while the other saved over $5 million and cost just $50. I enjoyed the challenge of playing detective to find the root causes of repeated equipment failures when mechanics and operations managers sought engineering assistance.
In the aftermath of the Challenger disaster, my role involved designing and coordinating the compilation of engineering risk and failure analysis data for the Space Shuttle from 18 companies into a single reporting system with the goal being that flight managers could make more informed decisions regarding flight safety. I managed programmers to build an online reporting system that improved flight control management’s visibility, ensuring safer decisions for the crew, vehicle, and mission.
Not long after the fall of the Berlin Wall, our lives would take a radical turn. In 1993, with our three children aged 2, 4, and 6, we moved to Russia to volunteer. We taught Bible morals and ethics alongside 5,000 other American volunteers to Russian public-school teachers across 11 time zones, at the special request of the Russian Minister of Education. This experience ignited my personal quest to research and develop a crowdsourced, free mother tongue literacy curriculum for all 7,000 languages worldwide.
The result was a free world literacy curriculum development process that can serve all 7,000 languages at no cost. It provides a means for every child to learn to read in their mother tongue, their local business language, and English. Additionally, it includes learning local sign language vocabulary to communicate with younger siblings who may be deaf. Through my research, I estimated that there are possibly 50 million deaf individuals worldwide without access to any language education, locked in silence due to the lack of nearby schools for the deaf. At the time that was a novel conclusion. Only years later would academia begin to catch up with the enormity of deaf individuals having no access to any language. They could not do a simple thing like have language even within their own head to think, ‘this is a beautiful purple flower being jostled by the breeze on this sunny day.’ Much less be able to share that thought with another human being. This realization kept me marching to the goal of developing a literacy system that would teach hearing children and at the same time equip the family to have access to basic, but standard, local sign vocabulary to begin bridging the gap of language deprivation suffered by their young deaf sibling.
I have witnessed firsthand the social and economic challenges as Russia recovered from a $1 a day economy in 1993, to the efforts required for a country like Estonia to join the EU, and the remarkable way Israel integrates people from over 100 different countries into a cohesive and thriving society.
After 18 years and living in six different countries (Russia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Israel, and Jordan), we returned to the US in 2012 to care for my mother and settled in Bryan. Living abroad has given me a deep appreciation for what we have in America. Bryan has been a wonderful place to return to after our international experiences. I attribute this wealth of opportunity and experience to God, who has guided our path creatively. Our language literacy project, His Hands Reader, is a testament to this. What we achieved through 28 years of volunteer effort would have cost billions of dollars and faced many setbacks if done commercially. Yet, through God’s guidance, it has scaled up and remains free. The project, named “His Hands Reader,” helps people worldwide learn to read, providing access to the Bible if they choose. All credit goes to the Lord Jesus Christ for saving me from my sins, the Father’s unique plan for our lives, and the Holy Spirit’s daily guidance through the Bible. I continue to research and develop the project, seeking volunteers to add their languages while based in Bryan.
Our family now spans four generations in Bryan. All three of our children, who grew up in Russia, have graduated from Texas A&M, and we have four grandchildren attending school in the BCS area. This gives us a firsthand understanding of the needs of Bryan residents, from grade school to the challenges of young couples buying their first home in an investor-driven housing bubble, dealing with traffic issues, emergency services, and rising home taxes due to runaway city spending. We are also aware of the needs for elderly support services, the overbuilding of apartments stressing existing roads, poor road design choices, lack of transparency in city government, the giveaway of city park lands (Midtown), and the city overreach by hotel taxes levied on homesteaders renting out rooms on game days just to stay above water on their mortgage. Additionally, we are concerned about the poor who now have to pay $5 a day for their child to play basketball at the 150-acre city parkland (Midtown).
I would be glad to offer guidance as a councilman. However, achieving these goals requires a significant change in mindset. It won’t be for the timid. The public must hold their leaders accountable to keep them well-informed and in charge.
By implementing the five-point plan below, we hope that within a year, house prices will become affordable again, taxes will fall, missing loved ones will be found by God’s grace, and families will choose Bryan to raise their children due to our focus on safeguarding the innocent. Bryan will become an oasis for clean water in this part of Texas. Unnecessary walls blocking our roads will come down. We will lead the way in challenging ‘oligarchs’ who seek to monopolize our space rights, votes through misguided campaign financing, and homes.
Are you all in?

“Here are five significant challenges I observe in Bryan, along with proposed solutions for each.”

Texas Spaceport
Space exploration has transitioned from a purely scientific endeavor to a race for dominating the global internet market, valued at approximately $1.4 trillion annually. Claiming that it’s all about reaching Mars is misleading; in reality, it’s about chasing profits. The Republican party is aiding this monopoly by effectively providing free launch pad land within a protected park in Boca Chica. A safe launch area requires a 50-mile radius, yet SpaceX is launching just 6 miles from the populated South Padre Island. Beyond safety concerns, each Bryan resident is missing out on spaceport royalties worth thousands of dollars annually, while billionaires profit from the commercialization of space.
When Texas was homesteaded, some individuals were fortunate to receive mineral rights, while slaves had no opportunity to homestead land. Today, we have a new opportunity to grant space rights for all to share equally. Every Texas resident should receive an equal share of Texas Spaceport rights. The Railroad Commission ensures that those with mineral rights get paid for every barrel of oil extracted. However, under the 2012 space tourism law, SpaceX/Starlink pays nothing for the internet signals they extract from space. Imagine the uproar if the Railroad Commission announced that all oil royalties would now go to one company. This is essentially what’s happening as all space rights royalties are being given away to one man/company. I witnessed a similar situation during the disbanding of the Soviet Union. I read in the New York Times that if all the mineral rights had been divided equally among the Russian people instead of going to oligarchs, each person would have received $1,000. Yet, they were eking out a $1-a-day living.
The deception began with the crafting and naming of the law for space tourism, when in reality, Starlink was already designing the low Earth orbit satellites they would feverishly launch less than a decade later. Today, SpaceX/Starlink has a clear monopoly on satellite internet worldwide, while Texas parkland with endangered species has been disrupted, destroying 50 years of preservation. Teddy Roosevelt, where are you when we need you to preserve parks and bust up monopolies? If you were here today, you would probably point out, ‘I gave you laws to follow… it’s your own fault for not heeding them.’
Wake up Texas law makers! France has declared Starlink a monopoly and has prohibited them from activating their satellite service in the country. Good for you, France! It does not take rocket science or well paid lawyers to observe that with 6,000+ satellites already in low earth orbit to the only a hand full by any other company, SpaceX/Starlink has the monopoly, which is illegal.
Texas law should follow Norway’s lead. Norway has successfully used a trust fund system to distribute North Sea royalties to its citizens since the early 1970s, proving it can be done. Just like Norway did with North Sea mineral rights for North Sea oil, 90% of Texas Spaceport royalties should be distributed to Texans using a trust fund system and not to the government so that the funds are not wasted by spend thrift politicians to their cronies.
Mr. Trump, if you want to secure Texas in the upcoming vote on November 5th, urge Governor Abbott to amend the 2012 Space Tourism law to grant Texans their rightful 90% Spaceport royalties.
With expected royalties of $1.4 trillion annually from the Texas Spaceport, each of the 30 million Texans could receive $2,000 per month. After collecting social security tax on the windfall of $1.4 trillion per year from Texans, this will help make Social Security solvent again.
Winning the support of senior citizens concerned about Social Security could hinge on this action. If Governor Abbott calls a special session to change the law before November 5th, Texans might rally behind you instead of switching their vote to Libertarian. President Trump, your leadership in saving Social Security could be a game-changer. When Abbott convenes the Texas Legislature, instruct your campaign finance secretary to return the $100 million donation from Elon Musk. You might not need it when Americans see your decisive action.
Mr. Musk, recognizing a good deal, you should support Texans owning 90% of the Texas Spaceport profits. This would enable them to purchase a 50-mile-wide coastal property, ensuring that noise and launch pad explosions do not endanger people or protected parkland, leading to fewer launch delays.

Kick Wall Street off of Home Street
“Nearly 46% of homes in Bryan are not homesteaded. Hedge funds and large investors are unfairly competing with average family-owned homes, contributing to a housing bubble. This artificially inflates taxes, pushes families toward eviction, and makes homeownership unattainable for first-time buyers. Increasing taxes on non-homestead properties could help restore the advantage to families.”

Bulldoze the Medians
Why didn’t you properly consult Bryan residents before installing medians on Texas Avenue during the COVID-19 pandemic? It seems like either the governor is receiving $5 million donations from road contractors who hold 13% of TX-DOT contracts and need work to stay afloat, or our City Council wants to see businesses along Texas Avenue fail so they can redevelop the area. Who knows… many conspiracies arise because there are too many secrets. Meanwhile, businesses are closing, and police, fire, and ambulance response times are suffering. Residents are forced to drive through parking lots and neighborhoods to navigate the barrier in our small city. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
* In Texas fundraising, Greg Abbott is in a league of his own | The Texas Tribune
One of Abbott’s top donors is J. Doug Pitcock, chief executive of Williams Brothers Construction, who has given a total of $4.3 million. His firm is one of the top recipients of Texas Department of Transportation contracts and has been awarded $1.9 billion in work since 2020. Hunter Industries owner John R. Weisman has donated $1 million to Abbott; the firm received $464 million in TxDOT highway contracts over the past three years. Together, the two firms received 13% of all TxDOT highway work in that period. Although these types of projects are competitively bid, Abbott appoints the members of the state transportation commission, which approves TxDOT contracts.

“What, Brazos Valley, you lost 400 people in 2023?”
There is no acceptable reason for one of our own to go missing from our supper table every day. With Bryan’s city budget at $450 million, can we allocate 10% of it to offer a $50,000 reward for the capture and conviction of those responsible? Additionally, we should impose a fine on the kidnappers to cover these costs. Kidnapping a child for trafficking is arguably worse than murder, as it subjects them to ongoing torture and abuse. The true measure of our city’s health is reflected in how we care for the vulnerable.

Water Wars Will Return
Approximately 20% of San Antonio’s water needs are met by the same aquifer that supplies Bryan. Why is this significant? San Antonio’s aquifer is down to 30% of its capacity. Meanwhile, Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) is searching for new water sources due to carcinogens that current technology cannot easily remove. Bryan should take the lead and urge the Texas Legislature to impose a tax on water transported out of the aquifer region. This tax would fund the construction of pipelines to bring desalinated water from the Gulf of Mexico.
Israel has been using a cost-effective desalination process for years, which they have licensed to other countries. Why aren’t we adopting this technology? Implementing a tax of just $0.30 per person per day in San Antonio could help us begin building the necessary pipeline to the sea. A 21-foot pipeline, potentially developed by Elon Musk, could transport desalinated water from Galveston Bay up the Trinity River or along I-45 through Dallas. This pipeline could supply enough water for seven San Antonios at a cost of $0.33 per person per day—a small price to pay for water security.

Pd. Pol. Ad. by Robert (Bob) Achgill for Bryan City Council

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