HoustonChronicle.com - Neglect threatens historic Goliad as plans gather dust

"GOLIAD -- This shrine of the Texas revolution, with one of the oldest standing forts west of the Mississippi River, is threatened by neglect and the ravages of time, state officials say.
A plan by state agencies, local governments and private groups called for building two sites for visitors at Goliad -- a Tejano history center to focus on the Hispanic history of Texas and a ranching heritage center to explain the evolution of that centerpiece of Texas identity. But five years after the concepts, neither has been built or even seriously discussed. "

I visit Goliad at least once a year with my family. It's one of my favorite visits because of the beauty of the sites, their witness to history, the magnificent sunsets. There's a nature trail featuring a vast variety of local flora. On a recent trip my son and I fount two turtles crawling on the horizontal trunk of a tree lying in the San Antonio river.

So it's perhaps easy to discard my interest in this marvelous site as strictly personal, but really I think it's a lot more than that. Goliad is a beautiful town and is one of the remnants of authenticity in this strip-shopping-center state. And yet it is the subject of budget cuts, when really there should be an increase in investment.

I blame Bubba Bush for this. There are countless Goliads across our nation and Bush is doing his damnedest to destroy them.