H.C.R. No. 178
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1-1 WHEREAS, The Legislature of the State of Texas takes
1-2 justifiable pride in the varied accomplishments of its diverse
1-3 citizenry; and
1-4 WHEREAS, Among the most accomplished of these is Gregory
1-5 D. Watson of Austin, a tenacious and vigilant individual whose
1-6 watchful eye and attention to microscopic--and often
1-7 overlooked--detail are legendary to all who have come to know, or
1-8 know of, him; and
1-9 WHEREAS, Although born on April 15, 1962, in Albany, Georgia,
1-10 Mr. Watson was raised in inner-city Detroit and was educated in the
1-11 public schools of that city from 1967 to 1978; even during his
1-12 teenage years, Mr. Watson was renowned for his understanding the
1-13 importance of citizen action for problem-solving and civic
1-14 responsibility for improvement of the greater community; after a
1-15 concerted and methodical letter-writing campaign, Mr. Watson
1-16 finally convinced transportation officials in Detroit to enlarge
1-17 the printed bus schedules for the city's public transit system so
1-18 that passengers would have additional travel information
1-19 conveniently at their fingertips and when he discovered printing
1-20 errors in the bus schedules, Mr. Watson brought those errors to the
1-21 attention of the proper parties so that corrections could then be
1-22 made; in his desire to ensure that the Motor City's thoroughfares
1-23 were properly identified, he regularly compiled lists of
2-1 intersections throughout Detroit at which street signs were
2-2 missing, he would then share the list with the city's Department of
2-3 Transportation which would, in turn, install new street signs at
2-4 those intersections; and
2-5 WHEREAS, Gregory Watson's mother, desirous of living in a
2-6 climate of hotter weather, decided in 1978 to move the small family
2-7 from Michigan to Texas in which they settled in the Dallas County
2-8 community of Mesquite, where Mr. Watson graduated with honors from
2-9 Mesquite High School in May of 1980; during the two years that he
2-10 resided in Mesquite, Mr. Watson became well-known in the community;
2-11 always an industrious person, he worked in late 1979 and early 1980
2-12 in an office at the Mesquite Independent School District as part of
2-13 the co-op program established to help students gain marketable
2-14 employment experience and, at the same time, Mr. Watson worked
2-15 weekday evenings and weekends at a Wendy's fast-food restaurant
2-16 while still maintaining his high academic standing and position on
2-17 the honor roll at school; and
2-18 WHEREAS, After high school graduation, Mr. Watson immediately
2-19 went to work at the Mesquite field office of the U.S. Department of
2-20 Commerce, Bureau of the Census, to inspect incoming 1980 Census
2-21 questionnaires from the public; it was his job to be certain that
2-22 all necessary information had been supplied by respondents and that
2-23 the questionnaires themselves were in suitable physical condition
2-24 for entry into the Census Bureau's computer system; as further
2-25 testimony to his boundless energy and enviable physical stamina,
3-1 Mr. Watson also worked at Braum's ice cream shop in Mesquite
3-2 weekday evenings and on weekends during that same summer; and
3-3 WHEREAS, In August of 1980, Gregory Watson arrived in Austin
3-4 to attend the University of Texas; by January of 1982--at the
3-5 youthful age of 19--Mr. Watson was hired to work in the Texas House
3-6 of Representatives; he served as Administrative Assistant to State
3-7 Representative Samuel W. Hudson, III, during the 67th (part) and
3-8 68th (part) Legislatures and as Administrative Assistant to State
3-9 Representative Richard F. "Ric" Williamson throughout the entirety
3-10 of the 69th, 70th, 71st and 72nd Legislatures; from January 12,
3-11 1993, to present, Mr. Watson is serving as Administrative Assistant
3-12 to our esteemed colleague, State Representative Huey McCoulskey;
3-13 and
3-14 WHEREAS, During his tenure working in the Texas Legislature,
3-15 Gregory Watson has championed numerous and varied causes in the
3-16 quest for better government at both the state and federal levels;
3-17 he regularly testifies before committees of both the Texas House of
3-18 Representatives and the Texas Senate on pending bills and
3-19 resolutions; and, because of his attention to small details,
3-20 whenever Mr. Watson detects errors or omissions in the journals of
3-21 either body, in the session laws, on the legislative computer
3-22 system--or even in the bills and resolutions themselves--he brings
3-23 such errors or omissions to the attention of the proper authorities
3-24 so that corrections can be timely made; and
3-25 WHEREAS, The accomplishment of which Mr. Watson is most
4-1 proud, and best known, is the May 1992 ratification of the 27th
4-2 Amendment to the United States Constitution--the culmination of a
4-3 decade of hard work on his part and on the part of those state
4-4 lawmakers across the nation who joined with him in the endeavor; in
4-5 March of 1982, a government class at the University of Texas in
4-6 which Mr. Watson was enrolled was assigned by the instructor the
4-7 task of writing a report about "a governmental process"; he
4-8 selected for his topic the proposed--but never ratified--Equal
4-9 Rights Amendment (ERA) to the United States Constitution which was
4-10 still a ripe controversy at that time due to unusual circumstances
4-11 surrounding its ratification process; while investigating that
4-12 particular proposed constitutional amendment, Mr. Watson happened
4-13 upon a book at the Austin Public Library about the U.S.
4-14 Constitution which contained a chapter devoted exclusively to those
4-15 constitutional amendments which the U.S. Congress had adopted and
4-16 transmitted to the state legislatures for ratification, but which a
4-17 sufficient number of the state legislatures had never ratified; in
4-18 the chapter, Mr. Watson noticed the proposal: "No law, varying the
4-19 compensation for the services of the (U.S.) Senators and (U.S.)
4-20 Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of (U.S.)
4-21 Representatives shall have intervened" and having researched, in
4-22 connection with the ERA, the issue of time constraints on the
4-23 ratification of proposed amendments to the U.S. Constitution,
4-24 Mr. Watson knew intuitively that the quoted amendment, which had
4-25 been submitted by Congress to the state legislatures with no
5-1 expiration date, was not only still pending business before the
5-2 state legislatures but, indeed, was a vehicle to correct what many
5-3 Americans during recent years had come to view as something of a
5-4 conflict of interest within the Congress; Mr. Watson decided to
5-5 switch the topic of his paper from the ERA to the Congressional
5-6 Compensation Amendment instead; to his astonishment, he received a
5-7 grade of "C" on the report because the professor disagreed with his
5-8 conclusion that what was then a 192-year-old constitutional
5-9 amendment could still be subject to full ratification by modern-day
5-10 legislative bodies; not only to prove her wrong but, also, to
5-11 achieve something positive for the nation as a whole, Mr. Watson,
5-12 in April of 1982, vigorously embarked on a nationwide crusade to
5-13 secure ratification of the constitutional amendment; his first
5-14 success story was with the Maine Legislature which became the ninth
5-15 to ratify the proposal on April 27, 1983; the Texas Legislature
5-16 became the 32nd to ratify it on May 25, 1989; and on May 7, 1992,
5-17 when the Michigan Legislature provided the 38th and, therefore,
5-18 determinative ratification, his constant letter-writing and endless
5-19 telephone-calling paid the ultimate dividend as the measure
5-20 resultantly became the 27th Amendment; and
5-21 WHEREAS, Mr. Watson's efforts with respect to the 27th
5-22 Amendment have been chronicled in many different places; he was
5-23 featured in the June 1, 1992, issue of People magazine and in the
5-24 February 22, 1993, issue of U.S. News and World Report magazine; he
5-25 is prominently featured in such legal periodicals as 10 Glendale
6-1 Law Review (92-109) during 1991 and 61 Fordham Law Review (497-557)
6-2 in late 1992; he has been cited in the Congressional Record by U.S.
6-3 Representative J. J. Pickle on March 24, 1987; on September 25,
6-4 1989; on November 26, 1991; on May 8, 1992; and on May 19, 1992; by
6-5 U.S. Representative Charles W. Stenholm on November 21, 1989; and
6-6 on December 18, 1991; by U.S. Representative Martin Frost on May 8,
6-7 1992; and by U.S. Representative Pete Geren on June 19, 1992;
6-8 Mr. Watson is an integral part of the recently-released Amending
6-9 America, a novel of 393 pages by author Richard B. Bernstein, with
6-10 Jerome Agel, which explores various amendments proposed to--some of
6-11 which later successfully became part of--the U.S. Constitution;
6-12 Mr. Watson has been noted in countless newspaper articles,
6-13 including--but not limited to--such trusted dailies as the Los
6-14 Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today and The Washington
6-15 Post; and
6-16 WHEREAS, Gregory D. Watson comes from a long and
6-17 distinguished line of Americans--on his mother's side of the
6-18 family, Mr. Watson's ancestor, Thomas Rogers and his son, John,
6-19 arrived in this country by sea aboard the vessel Mayflower; and the
6-20 book The DeLand Family in America, authored by Frederick DeLand
6-21 Leete in 1943, painstakingly catalogues the many prolific members
6-22 of this public-spirited clan for whom communities in both Florida
6-23 and Illinois are named; another of Mr. Watson's ancestors, Jedediah
6-24 DeLand, assisted in the establishment of American Independence
6-25 during the War of the Revolution as a private in Captain John
7-1 Butler's company and in Colonel Wade's regiment and was with
7-2 General Sullivan in the taking of Newport, Rhode Island; in the
7-3 aforesaid 414-page book, Leete states quite succinctly: "The
7-4 (DeLand) family has furnished a number of leaders to cities,
7-5 counties, states and the nation. There have been some judges,
7-6 members of legislatures and constitutional conventions, heads of
7-7 departments and other persons in places of general responsibility
7-8 and trust."; and
7-9 WHEREAS, It is fitting and appropriate to pause and take note
7-10 of the many attributes that Mr. Watson brings to state government
7-11 in general and to the legislative branch in particular; now,
7-12 therefore, be it
7-13 RESOLVED, That the 73rd Legislature of the State of Texas,
7-14 Regular Session, 1993, commend Gregory D. Watson on his numerous
7-15 civic contributions to the State of Texas and to the nation as a
7-16 whole; and be it further
7-17 RESOLVED, That an official copy of this concurrent
7-18 resolution, enrolled on parchment, be prepared for Gregory
7-19 D. Watson as a token of highest esteem from the Legislature of the
7-20 State of Texas.
7-21 whole; and be it further
7-22 RESOLVED, That an official copy of this concurrent
7-23 resolution, enrolled on parchment, be prepared for Gregory
7-24 D. Watson as a token of highest esteem from the Legislature of the
7-25 State of Texas.
8-1 McCoulskey
8-2 H.C.R. No. 178
8-3 Laney Giddings Munoz
8-4 Alexander Glaze Naishtat
8-5 Allen Goodman Nieto
8-6 Alonzo Goolsby Oakley
8-7 Alvarado Granoff Ogden
8-8 Averitt Gray Oliveira
8-9 Bailey Greenberg Park
8-10 Berlanga Grusendorf Parra
8-11 Black Gutierrez Patterson
8-12 Blackwood Haggerty Pitts
8-13 Bomer Hamric Place
8-14 Bosse Harris Price
8-15 Brady Hartnett Puente
8-16 Brimer Heflin Rabuck
8-17 Cain Hernandez Ramsay
8-18 Campbell Hightower Rangel
8-19 Carona Hilbert Raymond
8-20 Carter Hilderbran Rodriguez
8-21 Chisum Hill Romo
8-22 Clemons Hirschi Rudd
8-23 Coleman Hochberg Sadler
8-24 Combs Holzheauser Saunders
8-25 Conley Horn Schechter
9-1 Cook Hudson Seidlits
9-2 Corte Hunter of Taylor Shields
9-3 Counts Hunter of Nueces Siebert
9-4 Crabb Jackson A. Smith of Harris
9-5 Craddick James D. Smith of Harris
9-6 Cuellar of Webb Johnson Smithee
9-7 Cuellar of Hidalgo Jones of Lubbock Solis
9-8 Culberson Jones of Dallas Stiles
9-9 Danburg Junell Swinford
9-10 Davila Kamel Tallas
9-11 Davis Krusee Talton
9-12 De La Garza Kubiak Telford
9-13 Dear Kuempel Thompson of Tarrant
9-14 Delco Lewis Thompson of Harris
9-15 Delisi Linebarger Turner of Coleman
9-16 Denton Longoria Turner of Harris
9-17 Driver Luna Uher
9-18 Duncan McCall Van de Putte
9-19 Dutton McCoulskey Vowell
9-20 Earley McDonald West
9-21 Eckels Madden Williamson
9-22 Edwards Marchant Willis
9-23 Erickson Martin Wilson
9-24 Finnell Maxey Wolens
9-25 Flores Moffat Yarbrough
10-1 Gallego Moreno Yost
10-2 Gallegos Mowery Zbranek
10-3 H.C.R. No. 178
10-4 _______________________________ _______________________________
10-5 President of the Senate Speaker of the House
10-6 I certify that H.C.R. No. 178 was adopted by the House on May
10-7 29, 1993, by a non-record vote.
10-8 _______________________________
10-9 Chief Clerk of the House
10-10 I certify that H.C.R. No. 178 was adopted by the Senate on
10-11 May 30, 1993.
10-12 _______________________________
10-13 Secretary of the Senate
10-14 APPROVED: _____________________
10-15 Date
10-16 _____________________
10-17 Governor