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[hipshot]

Anybody here had issues with the Fort Bend county Toll Road Authority, or know someone who has?

[VTreX]

No but I hope you have been catching fish out of that little boat....

[hipshot]

I have........ when I can find the time to go.  Have a trip to Rockport laid on for next month.  Gonna slay the specks with my two weight and my half weight fly rods

[Bobcat Biker]

Just got back from the coast...weather was perfect!!

[Gumbo]

I have........ when I can find the time to go.  Have a trip to Rockport laid on for next month.  Gonna slay the specks with my two weight and my half weight fly rods

Good luck on them specs buddy

[hipshot]

Well come on down and catch some with us Larry!  We will be at Goose island SP December 19th to the 23d.  If the specks are in their usual winter pattern, we won't even be launching the kayaks; it's a 75 yard wade to the gut where they stack up.  I have had a couple of 100 fish days right there on keeper specks with my fly rods.  We have also caught reds, flounder, sheepshead, black drum, mangrove snapper, ladyfish, and an assortment of "trash" fish (sand trout, catfish, lizardfish, pinfish, eels, etc.) right there.  You're always welcome.

[Gumbo]

Thanks, and if I wasn't going to California for Christmas I'd show up!
Get em and have a blast

[xcaliber]

FISH FRY at HIPSHOTS! ALRIGHT

[hipshot]

Gary, you need to c'mon and catch your own.  You know you're always welcome too......  I'm a catch and release, barbless flies, low-impact angler.  When I do kill fish (a rare event) I keep just enough for a meal; I never freeze fish.  I have absolutely no animosity toward folks who keep their limit (their LEGAL limit) and "release to the grease", I just prefer to release unharmed most of the fish I catch.   I've never been that mad at the fish.....

As much as I love to hunt, I've always regretted that after shooting a deer with a .41 Magnum, CPR (catch, photograph, release) never seemed to produce the desired outcome.  Now, I love a mess of Bambichops, and have no problem shooting or eating a deer, but it just isn't as rewarding as catching a fish and releasing it for someone else to enjoy another day.

Since we seem to have wandered off the original track here, I am looking for folks who have had problems with FBCTRA.  I  have been amassing a collection of violations.  They refused to confirm the validity of my EZTAG, and required me to produce proof from the Harris County Toll Road Authority that my EZTAG was valid and funded, which I did months ago.  They then told me that they would accept a reduced payment after I produced their proof, but refuse to accept responsibility for their screwups, and every time I drive through their pathetic little money-grubbing county, they hit me with more violation notices.  I have been asking that someone contact me and explain how driving through their county with a valid EZTAG is a violation, and they refuse to contact me (their phone line is always busy -- "Due to an unusually high number of telephone calls and emails no one is available to take your call", which is straight out of the HCTRA playbook.  Emails result in an automatically generated email instructing you to contact them in five days.  Contacting them in five days results in starting over with another "contact us in five days" email.  No one ever handles your issue and no one ever contacts you to advise a disposition.

 After starting out on a professional plane (this started back in July) and politely requesting that someone contact me and explain how I am in violation by driving through FBC with a valid EZTAG (with, naturally, the total lack of a response, other than an offer to accept a reduced payment), I am now (as of several weeks ago) down to demanding that they find someone with a measureable IQ and have that person contact me to explain how I am in violation.  Naturally, they have no one willing or able to comply with my requests and demands.  I feel that as a governmental agency the FBCTRA should be required to comply with a much higher standard that that which they have exhibited, and I refuse to pay a single penny to a bunch of money-grubbing low-level government employees who feel that their official status allows them to abuse citizens with impunity.  Because they have the authority to block me from registering my vehicles for refusing to knuckle under and pay their fabricated fines and penalties, I am exploring the legal remedies available to me.  I have heard through the grapevine that they have pulled this sh!t with a number of people, and I need to be able to provide documentation to that effect.  So if you know of anyone who has been victimized by bogus violations from FBCTRA, pleas have them get in touch with me.

Toll roads are the new cash cow for politicians.  These county toll road authorities are going to be popping up left and right, and many of them are going to be established with the sole mission of revenue generation as their criteria.  Unless they can be held to accountability, they will be insulating themselves from easy public access and gouging citizens with bogus violations and penalties, and forcing them to pay under the threat of "legally" barring them from registering their vehicles.  Some of yo may recall that when Beltway 8 was built around Houston, they promised us that the tolls would be rescinded once the road was paid for.  Instead, years after the roadway was paid off, the tolls have increased.  And you folks from the Tomball area; ever wonder how the HCTRA could make part of an old, established state highway (SH249) a toll road? 

We need to monitor these toll road authorities and keep the petty county politicians from establishing and using them to extort money illegally from otherwise law-abiding citizens.  What's happening at FBCTRA needs to be nipped in the bud.

[xcaliber]

isn't that what all politicians and bureaucrats do? Thats why the counties around Washington DC are the wealthiest in the country.

[Niterider]

Some time ago, I think there was a measure on the ballot to block the establishment of any more toll roads. If I am right, what ever happened to it?

The rest of the nation's image of Texans is one of self-reliant, freedom-loving individuals who have no tolerance for overreaching government policies. Assuming there is any genuine basis for that, I don't understand how Texans ever allowed our politicians to get away with imposing toll roads on us, let alone maintaining such roads as such after being completely paid off.

[hipshot]

Simple, Mike: the politicians don't ask our permission.  BTW, I just got back from the post office.  FBCTRA sent me some more violation notices marked "first notice".  Apparently they fabricated some new violations for me to owe them for......

[MRVTX]

I would get in touch with one of the TV stations' investigative reporters and let them do the "digging around"...they would love to expose this to the public.  Good luck...these toll roads are ridiculous.  Next time you get on the Grand Parkway, count the cost of driving/riding on it.   

[xcaliber]

Not Ft Bend TCRA but HCTRA. I got 3 violations for my MC. Problem is I have a toll tag, they have the card on file . All they have to do is hit the card and yes the money is there. WTF. Guess I go to their office and find out what their probables is. What a friggin ripoff. We pay road tax on every gallon of gas we buy, we pay road and bridge tax when you register your vehicle. I get a toll tag to drive on a road that should be free and I get this crud.