SHERIFF HANAK DEFENDS DPS HELICOPTER DECISION

  

Washington County Sheriff Otto Hanak says his decision to call in a DPS helicopter to get an aerial view of traffic during the Chappell Hill Bluebonnet Festival, far from costing the taxpayers money, will probably end up as a savings in the near future.

 

Otto Hanak small
Sheriff Otto Hanaksays the decision to call for a DPS Helicopter was his.

 

Hanak said he been criticized for his decision from people saying the DPS helicopter surveillance was a waste of taxpayer funds.  The Sheriff said it was a ‘great decision’ to help in planning for future major events, such as the Scarecrow Festival in October.  Hanak said he needed to see what the traffic looked like from the sky to be able to pinpoint certain areas particular attention.  The Sheriff said he did not have the necessar peronsnell to to call out for the festival.Hanak said the aerial photos of the traffic backup are being shared with TxDot to see how the traffic signals can be better adjusted  for future events.

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13 Comments

  1. I have never seen so many mis informed people in my life. You people are so ignorant, its embarrassing. In the future, please pull your heads out before you speak. What the Sheriff did was use a valuable resource that was available to him to make this situation more safe to the people of Washington County….but all y’all can do is sit there and criticize and complain. Funny thing is, if he would have done nothing about it, y’all would be complaining about that too. Just goes to show that you just can’t fix stupid, and for all of those that are raising cain about a man trying to do his job to the best of his ability, you have a lot of it. For the betterment of man take my advice, the next time you have a thought… just let it go!!

  2. We should be very happy that our Sheriff and Sheriff Department are looking after the best interest of our children and community….EVERYONE should be more than happy of have this kind of protection for all members of our county…..Thank you, Sheriff Hanak and the Sheriffs department for all you do for us in Washington County.
    OD

  3. After reading the article and the comments, I find myself in disagreement with many of the comments. Many traffic studies are conducted using airborne assets and considering we had the Blue Bonnet Festival, the Blue Bell Fun Run, and the MS150 all happening in roughly the same space, it seems like a good idea to understand where the choke points and what can be done to manage them better. I like the fact the sheriff is willing to take a new proactive approach and actually care about traffic flow versus a reactive approach. If the data the sheriff gathered allows for better traffic flow, you are able to handle more visitors to our area which is good for the economy, you frustrate drivers less which makes our roads safer, and maybe you can reduce the need for as many officers later on which will save money and allow them to focus on more important things than traffic control. We actually have an elected official making sensible use of an air asset and taking heat for it.

    Where is the outrage every time Obama boards Air Force One to fly to Hawaii, or his wife or kids go on an exotic overseas trip at our expense with no real benefit to the country. There is something we should be mad about.

  4. To anyone that has never been to the festival, it is big and is only getting bigger. The only problem that is occurring is that more and more families are coming to the festival and there is obviously not enough parking to hold all the peopel. The world is getting large and more and more people, that is the whole problem. Things grow too fast to keep up. I live in the community and everyone knows it is going on and if you don’t like it just stay away for those few days and then things get back to normal. Highway 290 is busy from the time the spring starts all throught the summer, more and more people are traveling and that highway is one of the major ones coming out of Houston and Austin, so thus Brenham and Chappell Hill get all of the traffic. There is no one to blame but good weather and people wanting to get out and enjoy the country. Can it be stopped? More than likely not it is only going to get better and people have to learn to be patient or just not come. Everyboby that worked the festival did the best job to there ability and they ALL deserve a pat on the back and BIG thank you. Unless you were there and have worked it – KEEP YOUR mouths shut and stay at home. UNTIL October for Scarecrow, second weekend in October – mark your calenders to either return or stay away.

  5. County Resident u want to talk about mismanagement that is fine and a
    Totally separate thing than
    Wasting tax payer dollars on a helicopter do u know what one of those things cost to run for a day, if u google it u can figure it out the
    Maintenance cost and fuel costs on those things are not cheap. I would like to know if it isn’t covered up if the state is going to charge him for this as a taxpayer I don’t want that bill, whatever happened to being frugal with taxpayer money, obviously he doesn’t know what that is.!!

    1. The Government is never frugal with tax payers money. Believe me, I know, I work for the state and pay for some of the the most outlandish things. When I question it, I am told that if I have approval to pay it, I should do it and be done with it. If people truly knew how much was being spent for BS, there would be a total out rage. I do agree with Bill Smith-Obama does it all the time, and nothing is said, but let our Sheriff try to be proactive in what he does, and he is faulted for it.

    2. Otto Hanak has been a blessing to our community, and its great that someone in charge is being proactive. It is very obvious that many members of our community just want to complain. If he had not had the helicopter view the area, you would probably be complaining about the poor traffic and that the elected officials don’t do anything to solve the problem. Quit being negative and be happy that we have someone that cares about the citizens of this town.

  6. Coincidentally, in my mail yesterday I received a FUNDRAISING letter from Sheriff Hanak. Huh.

  7. sorry not much of a computer buff, but couldn’t Hanak google a website on the internet and get a detail sky view of the traffic in progress?

  8. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the situation, you had a highway and one road leading to the event. You don’t need a helicopter to figure this out sheriff.

  9. Maybe the Sherriff needs to have another public forum and tell everyone exactly what all was going on in the Sheriff’s Dept before he took over. Granted JW was a good man, but his failing health allowed a lot of mismanagement to happen. Otto Hanak has done a lot for the SO and for the County. If you talk to him on a one on one basis, you would find out about all he has done. He doesn’t like to toot his own horn, but will tell you when asked. Perhaps if the helicopter had been used years before, we would not have the traffic problem each year. I see this as being pro active instead of reactive as it has been in the past years. Way to go Sherriff-keep up the good work

  10. Well of course he is going to justify it he is an elected official and wants to get re-elected. But if it barks like a dog, looks like a dog then it is a dog. Try to justify it all you want but Ex-Sheriff Jankowski never spent this kind of taxpayer money and he was still able to work the traffic problem these festivals brought. It was a big expense to taxpayers of this state and if the county has to reimburse the state I’m sure county commissioners won’t be happy with that bill.

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