Leaving Italy, Not the Fight

I was finishing a speech about what I believed was an unaddressed legal matter at the Italy city council meeting. As I set the microphone down, one of the councilmembers told me to take it easy on the furniture. I was a little rough with it. Fair enough.

Walking away from the podium, I said "I'll do what I want, I paid for it." He said something back. I don't remember what it was. But whatever he said made me instinctively flip him off.

Here's the part that matters: he wasn't even offended. The councilmember the gesture was actually directed at didn't flinch. A different councilmember, one sitting behind me that I wasn't even looking at, jumped up almost over the dais shouting "get him out." When officers asked the room if anyone was offended, that same councilmember was one of the first to say yes. They used that as the basis to remove me.

That was February 9th, 2026. And that was the moment I knew I was done with Italy.

What ITXN Was

ITXN started with four people from completely different backgrounds who agreed on one thing: Italy, Texas deserved better civic engagement. We formed a nonprofit because that was the structure that fit the mission. Every dollar raised would go back into the community. Every project would be documented. Every conversation would be open.

We had a strategic plan. Not a vague idea, not a slogan. An actual plan with goals, timelines, and deliverables. We mapped out how to improve government transparency, increase citizen participation, and funnel resources directly to the people paying the taxes.

We were always upfront about our intentions. No hidden agendas, no backroom planning. If someone had a problem with what we were doing, we wanted to hear about it. Negative feedback was welcome as long as the conversation stayed respectful. That was the deal from day one.

The work was real. The people were real. And for a while, it felt like we were building something that could actually make a difference.

To the Team

Clayton, Mike, and Quentin: thank you.

Three people who had no obligation to step up, who came from different walks of life, who set aside their differences because they shared one conviction. Italy's taxpayers deserved government transparency and accountability. Period. We built a plan around that conviction, and every one of you brought something to the table that the rest of us didn't have.

This kind of work comes with real costs. Relationships get strained. People talk about you at the grocery store. You get looks at the gas station from people who used to wave. None of that is easy, and I'm grateful I didn't navigate it alone.

There are also people who helped behind the scenes, people I can't name publicly, whose contributions kept us informed and moving forward. You know who you are, and I appreciate every one of you.

Why I'm Leaving Italy

In the summer of 2025, I attended a public meeting where an incident occurred. I filed a police report regarding what happened that day. After three weeks with no updates, I had officers at my door serving a warrant for my arrest. The charge was trespassing.

I sat for thirty hours in the Ellis County Wayne McCollum Detention Center before bonding out. To this day, I have never received formal notice from the court. I've had to hire a criminal defense and civil rights attorney in response, and we are in open communication with the Ellis County DA about the entire situation. I can't get into the details right now, but I look forward to every day in court until this is fully resolved. I'm confident in my attorney, CJ Grisham, to ensure this situation is correctly resolved.

On February 9th, 2026, I got into an exchange at the podium and flipped off a councilmember on my way back to my seat. I'm not going to pretend that was my best moment... but the person I directed it at wasn't bothered. A different councilmember decided it was worth having me removed. I've donated my time, my money, and my professional resources to this town. The consistent response has been some version of "stop talking" whether I am formal or not.

There's a personal dimension to all of this that makes it harder than it needs to be. Local politics in a small town are messy because you're dealing with people your friends and family grew up with. Every public records request, every article, every question at a council meeting lands differently when you all know each others' families. People's livelihoods get tangled up in this work, including mine.

Here's the honest truth: I genuinely believe Italy is headed in a positive direction. I also genuinely believe I'm putting my livelihood at risk every time I attend an Italy city council meeting. Both of those things can be true at the same time.

I'm still open to helping Italy navigate conversations leading up to the next election. After that, Italy can figure itself out.

What Comes Next

Before ITXN, I spent my time researching public records and writing about factually backed opinions. Working in Italy taught me something I probably should have seen earlier: Italy's problems are not unique. Small towns across Texas are dealing with variations of the same issues. Budget mismanagement, lack of transparency, officials who treat public meetings like private clubs. All of it landing on local taxpayers who don't have the time or tools to push back.

I've already started looking into other communities. Goodlow was the first city I attended council meetings at beyond Italy. I am also now looking at Hubbard, Seven Points, and others that have come across my desk in recent weeks. The problems are different in the details but identical in the structure.

The model is different now. No nonprofit requiring me to donate my own money to serve a town that doesn't want me there. No strategic plan that depends on local cooperation. Just public records, research, and opinions backed by facts. Simpler. Cleaner. Harder to shut down.

This site is the platform. If your small town in Texas has a story that needs telling, and the people closest to it can't tell it because of the personal consequences, I'm interested. That's where this work goes next.

The Short Version

I'm not stopping. The scope just got bigger.

Italy taught me how this work operates at the local level. The friction, the retaliation, the personal costs. All of it was education, even the parts that hurt.

Now I take what I learned and apply it where the personal entanglements don't exist. Towns where I have nothing to lose by asking the hard questions, and communities that have everything to gain from someone on the outside helping nudge those conversations into the open.

See you around, Texas.