Round Top or Little Chicago?
To the editor:
Living in Fayette County truly is a blessing. It’s remarkably evident when you slow down, step outside and enjoy the scenic woodlands, creek bottoms and rural architecture surrounding us. In my case, it’s often viewed during drives in my vintage Willys. Fresh air, cows, wildlife, and a friendly wave from locals can change your perspective. A favorite excursion involves time on Round Top Road approaching town. In a ’64 Jeep, it’s necessary to downshift into 2nd gear overdrive coming up the hill and that slows you enough to notice the beauty of Bethlehem Lutheran’s unspoiled pasture often teaming with wildflowers in springtime. I can only imagine what’s going through the minds of generational citizens and church members who face the prospect of losing part of that unspoiled picturesque meadow due to tyrannical overreach.
Unfortunately, sentimental memories of generational citizens are obviously not a concern for big city change agents who arrived at Round Top like an unwarned EF5 in the middle of the night. Likewise, to that unimaginable event, landscapes and lives are changed forever. What’s left of the town soon becomes unrecognizable to generational citizens who for decades have called it home. What you end up with is a remade version, a facsimile, one that lacks the prior character and charm. Left unaddressed, the culture, heritage, history and traditions began to vanish that once preserved a window into the past and gave visitors a reason to visit because of its uniqueness. I often wonder if that is the goal of current Mayor Judith Vincent. Is it to make Round Top a suburban extension of Houston with all the conveniences that come with it? After all, as Alderman Karen Duddlesten recently stated in this paper she’s among those “trying to make Round Top a better, more functional place right now, in 2025.” Out with the old, in with the new? If so, how is that better for the community? I agree with Ms. Babette Hale, as I also wonder who some on the Round Top Town Council represent? During 2025, nearly every historic Round Top institution was besieged by Mayor Vincent and her allies on the council. Starting with the Round Top Courthouse, The DYD Square Fair, The Round Top Historical Society, and now the Bethlehem Lutheran Church. The lone unmolested survivor, albeit out of the town limits, is the Round Top Rifle Association. In the past year, Mayor Vincent’s administration was the only one in the history of Round Top to prioritize town council agendas resulting in negative results for each of these historic institutions.
The Round Top Town Council meeting in November confirmed a few things. One is that every Round Top Council Meeting should be recorded and a huge thank you to Mr. William Bernsen for doing so at the November meeting. Another is validation of something we knew all along but were told otherwise. In the Fayette County Record’s February 07, 2025, issue Mayor Judith Vincent stated (concerning the Round Top Courthouse),” It’s a very special little structure, but unfortunately it hasn’t been taken care of in 100 years”. She went on to say “But, now we are faced with a building in very bad shape”. That old Courthouse in “very bad shape” was an absolute fortress as I stood there for nearly the entire meeting with the fewest chairs, I have ever witnessed in a Round Top Council Meeting. If estimates of 80 people are correct at say an average of 150 pounds each, there were at least 12,000 pounds on the floor during the meeting, something century old buildings in “very bad shape” could not handle. Smoke and mirrors are part of the game with machines and politicians when personal agendas are the priority.
When Agenda Item 3.7 arrived, Mayor Vincent spoke for about 22.5 minutes. The tragedy began when members of Bethlehem Lutheran gave heartfelt speeches that were both inspiring and well spoken. Then something else happened, call it serendipity or perhaps providence. It was an eye opener to those paying attention. At minute 4:45 left of Mr. Bernsen’s audio recording, it begins ( kingwm.com/listen/). Mr. Jerry Schatte brings up the conversation he had with Mayor Vincent at the January 25, 2025 “Town Hall” that took place at the Round Top Rifle Hall. After Mr. Schatte states their interaction that evening, Mayor Vincent recalls their visit differently “stating that’s not the conversation I distinctly remember you standing at the back of the line of people to talk to me after that January meeting and you walked up to me, you put your hand on my shoulder and you said “just want to let you know that we are getting ready to put a fence across that piece of land”. What Mayor Vincent says next shot her entire nearly 23-minute polished discourse out the window. Mayor Vincent declares “And I said, I highly advise you not to do that and you (Mr.Schatte) said, oh no, we’re getting ready to, and I said, I highly advise you not to do it”. Mayor Vincent’s personal warning to Mr. Schatte should the fence be constructed, suggests consequences for Bethlehem Lutheran if the fence is built. Mayor Vincent didn’t say the Round Top Town Council advises you not to, she stated “I highly advise you not to do that.” An 1870s map with a plated street that never existed through the church’s property was never a problem until Mayor Judith Vincent’s administration arrived.
Reportedly, Al Capone once said, “You can get much further with a kind word and a gun, than you can with a kind word alone.” Holding a strip of land from a 150-year-old map over the historic Bethlehem Lutheran Church, to coerce a swap for another piece of their land, is repugnant. I doubtAl Capone would have tried that in this situation as it would have turned citizens against him. Round Top town elections are coming up in May. It will be the most important town election ever held at Round Top.
Mark Neeley Round Top