In Memory: Trent Seibert

I've waited a minute to write this post because this one stings.  Last week my friend Trent Seibert passed away in his home, he was 47.

I met Trent roughly a decade ago through our mutual friend Kevin Whited, author and publisher of BlogHouston.  Trent was a dedicated reporter, vodka tonic drinker, and one of the most driven individuals I've ever met in my life. 

There wasn't a piece of government malfeasance that Trent wasn't interested in, and it didn't matter if the offending official was Republican, OR Democrat he went after them with equal zeal.

Because of this, Mr. Seibert was not a favorite of the local party-blogging set. He had a habit of offending local Democratic sacred-cows which would not stand with the local Democratic Blogosphere.  He also angered Republicans by going after their local champions. As I said, he was an equal opportunity journalist.

I read the e-mail informing me of Trent's death when I got off the plane from a recent trip to Las Vegas. Standing there, in the terminal of Hobby, I had to sit down for a minute, stunned.  Trent was just about my age (he was 47, I'm 45) and he was taken from us way too soon.

When I first met Trent he had just began working on Texas Watchdog, which was a non-profit journalism website whose mission was to root out and shine a light on government corruption. He had an insatiable interest in local politics, something lost on so many reporters today who want to focus too readily on the National scene, and he was always interested in hearing thoughts from pretty much everyone on where a story might lie.

Trent and I shared another love, poker. And we took a couple of poker trips to Lake Charles together with varying degrees of success.  This might surprise some, but Trent was a very tight poker player, even tighter than I at the table.

He was a sharp, funny man who treated everyone fairly, had a quick wit and a temper that was triggered when he felt public officials were not being honest.

I'm going to miss Trent dearly.

I'll close by saying this:  My life is better because Trent was in it, even for a relatively brief time.

That is the highest praise that I can give anyone.

God speed Mr. Seibert.

-30-

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: When the last real leader passes on, the middling regional news daily struggles to encapsulate his legacy.

On Sunday, Decmber 21, 2014 Houston's former Mayor Bob Lanier reportedly passed quietly while napping after a lunch with family. It was a quiet exit for a good man and the last real leader that Houston's had in elected city government since he was term limited out of the job.

What Mayor Lanier did for the City of Houston, revitalizing her at the tail end of the oil bust by focusing on public works and public safety at the expense of trinkets, has not been duplicated by the string of empty shells that have followed. While he was immensely popular with many he did have his detractors, many of which will never forgive him for a perceived litany of sins. An example of this can be found in ChronBlog's rather weak attempts to document his time in power. Now fully immersed in the 'light rail for some' movement they can't help but quote figures like noxious member of the unproductive class David Crossley while editorially taking shots at Lanier (and allowing Bill White some odd historical revisionism) about his opposition to rail.

It's too bad that the New Mrs. White and the rest of the Chron are reduced to this because the lessons Mayor Lanier taught the city as its mayor need to be relearned.  Current Mayor Parker went so far as to praise Lanier for his commitment to public works despite the fact that she possesses no similar commitment herself. 

And while do-nothings like Crossley take shots at Lanier for his anti-Monorail and Light Rail in Houston stances, the current fiscal mess that Metro is experiencing suggests that he was correct. Certainly he deserves better than petty shots taken by a man who's done nothing to improve the quality of life in Houston outside pontificating and holding workshops about the inner-beauty of bees (or something)?

In fact, I think Lanier deserves a lot better.

Was he perfect?  No, no one is. There are real policy areas where disagreements could be had with almost everyone.  The important thing to note is this: Whether or not you agreed with Mr. Lanier on the issues, he was undoubtedly a leader.

Houston could use more like him, and less like the current crop of civic loudmouths that are currently trying to steer the ship.

God Bless the Lanier family and comfort them during this time.

UFC fighter Justin Levens found dead.

Apparent murder/suicide...

[From the Los Angeles Times via Newsday.com]

Authorities today are investigating the deaths of mixed martial arts fighter Justin Levens and his wife -- discovered shot in bed in their Laguna Niguel condominium -- as a possible murder-suicide, with Levens as the potential the shooter.

Justin Levens, 28, and Sara McLean-Levens, 25, were discovered about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday by McLean-Levens' mother, who had not heard from her daughter in five days, said Orange County Sheriff's Department Spokesman Jim Amormino. The bodies had apparently been in the home for at least a few days.

Autopsies are being performed this morning, in addition to ballistics and residue testing, Amormino said. No suicide note was found, but investigators recovered a handgun at the scene.

"Nothing has been ruled out," Amormino said of the case.

The article goes on to say that Levens was convicted of spousal injury in 2003. Eerily, his last UFC fight was to Evan Tanner, who recently died of exposure in the Nevada desert.

Condolances to his friends and family.