2 children found living in abandoned bus in Texas

[happyslug]

19. Remember we are talking of Texas, they is NO local Government outside of Cities

In the North and most of the Rest of the Country (outside the South) even in rural areas we have local rural governments. In my home State of Pennsylvania, when founded by William Penn, was founded into the Provence (now state) of Pennsylvania, which was divided into counties and further divided into townships. If the Local Township form of Government was inadequate local people could form Cities and Boroughs out of those Townships (and those Cities and Boroughs could annex Townships into themselves, through that was a lot easier in the 1800s then today). Thus no matter where you go, they is some sort of local government that you can go to an complain and they can help you to go to the proper authorities.

Unlike Pennsylvania and most of the rest of the US, Texas follows the Southern Tradition of have NO government below the County Level UNLESS it is formed by the Locals (Cities or Boroughs, maybe "Towns" but in rural areas no local government, everything is done at the County Level or not at all). Now, both North and South have SCHOOL DISTRICTS, but in most cases these are independent of whatever other local government that exists. You can have unincorporated "Towns" in either system, but these have NO legal significance, but often a place where businesses tend to set themselves up to handle business from other locals as oppose to a Governmental body.

One of the disadvantage of the Northern/Pennsylvanian system is that you always have a local elected official to deal with. He or she may have no real power, but is an elected official that often coordinates with neighboring local governments, Schools, the County and the State. Thus often you have to see what he says you can or can not do.

On the other hand, in the South, unless you are in an Incorporated City or similar local government, you have the advantage of NOT having to deal with anyone, including having to deal with local Fire and police men which do not exist for they is no local government for them to work for. Thus they is no one to turn to EXCEPT at the County or State level.

Yes, I am being a bit sarcastic about the "interference" of local officials. In many ways such local government do force people to do things they would not otherwise do, like install sewage, or follow some electrical code. On the other hand some of these requirements makes for a overall nicer place to live (i.e. no open sewers and you do not have a house burning down every day). The real disadvantage is things like this School Bus as a home can remain for decades for there is no local government to complaint about it. Thus most of these neighbors may NOT know who to turn these children into, there have NO local Government or police to call and the County Government can be 10-20 miles away.

I use to do Children and Youth Work in Pennsylvania, and many of the Complaints of Neglect were first made to the local police who forwarded them to Children and Youth. Thus if there was no local police, there would be no one LOCALLY one can complain to and if no complaint is made, the situation stays as it is for no one will look into the situation until a complaint is made. In areas without local police, the local Volunteer Fire Department hears some of these complaints as do the Township supervisors who then forward them to Children And Youth.

Sorry, this is one of the problem with living in an Area without local government, something William Penn disliked. Rural Southern tend to like such lack of local Government do to the ability to avoid any local controls, for they will be none. The downside is the lack of any local controls, including someone in local government you can complain to and that person kick the problem to the agency that can do something about it.