HomeMy WebLinkAbout"A Tale of Two Citizens"A tale of two citizens and two cities
By Cathy Thomas
of the Eagle staff
One was gentle and soft-spoken; the other
downright cantankerous. And both Pat
Boughton and John Mobley left their mark on
their cities before retiring last month from the
Bryan and College Station city councils with
a decade of service.
Boughton, a former College Station coun-
cilwoman, is finally cleaning her house. And
she's already been to Alaska and back.
"I felt I had to get off the council,"
Boughton said. "My house is a disaster."
Mobley, a former Bryan city councilman,
is selling and building more swimming pools
at Mobley Pool Co. He said business is great.
In 1978, Bryan and College Station resi-
dents first elected the two representatives. In
1988, the two bowed out of city government.
Mobley, it turns out, is willing to return.
"I've done more than should be expected
of a person," he said. He added that he'll run
again next year if he sees the need.
Changes in both cities over the last decade
can be attributed in part to the veteran council
members, who attended at least 1,000 coun-
cil meetings. Mobley remembers attending
every regular council meeting and missing
only one workshop meeting during his te-
nure.
Boughton ran for the council 10 years ago
after serving on a citizens' group organized to
supervise apartment development in the area
of Welsh Avenue and Southwest Parkway.
While on the council, Boughton served on
a committee that negotiated with the College
Station school district for the Jersey Street
property and building that would become the
College Station Community Center.
She said she turned to her father, C.A.
Bonnen, a council member who served from
1971-74, for advice.
"He told me that it was the best-built
building in the school district," she said.
Boughton also supported the 1981 purch-
ase of 1,265 acres off the intersection of
Greens Prairie and Rock Prairie roads for an
industrial park.
Eagle photos
Pat Boughton and John Mobley have different styles, but a common goal.
"I still feel that that was a very good deal
for the city," she said. "It has sat and we've
done nothing with it for so many years."
The city traded part of its property, which
was along a floodway, for developer Bill
Fitch's property that borders Texas 6. Fitch is
building a golf course on his parcel.
Boughton has an undemonstrative de-
meanor; College Station Mayor Larry Ringer
described her as a quiet, yet concerned arm of
the city council, and praised Boughton's
skills in working with others and her devotion
to the city.
"I was bom and raised here," she said. "I
felt it was time to give something back."
Mobley is Boughton's opposite. Where
Boughton is reserved, Mobley has for the last
10 years been the council's class clown. In
the council chamber, Mobley exuded con-
trariness in a harmless way.
"He has very strong beliefs in certain areas
and doesn't hesitate to let you know how he
feels about certain issues," said Bryan
Mayor Marvin Tate.
Some say Mobley once snapped at Coun-
cilman Ben Hardeman for smiling at him.
Mobley isn't sure he did it, but admits he
could have.
"I thought about it a time or two," he said.
"He's got more of a smirk."
In 1981, Mobley added the slogan "a great
place to live" to the bottom of the Welcome
to Bryan signs. He paid for the addition with
his own money. Just this year the council
agreed to add the phrase to seven replacement
signs that will soon be installed around the
city.
"They weren't going to put that one there
until I pitched a fit," Mobley said. "I told
them I thought it was a disgrace."
One area of difference between Mobley
and other council members was the new
municipal building, expected to open in Au-
gust.
Mobley calls it "the pink building;" it was
approved as part of a January 1984 bond
election package which also provided for
road construction projects and a new police
station.
"Everybody was blowing and going,"
Mobley said. "It was one of those things the
voters approved."
Although Mobley voted for the bond prop-
osal, he said the city should have been more
conservative and postponed the new building
once the economy hit a period of duress.
"As times began to get a little lighter I
didn't feel like it was a mandate from the
people," he said. "Well, times changed and
we didn't have to do all those things."
For all that, Mobley said he likes the
building.
"It is without doubt the prettiest building
in Central Texas," he said. "I wish we could
afford it."
Mobley was in top form in the fall of 1986
when the city passed an anti-smoking ordi-
nance.
The ordinance, which went into effect in
October 1986, requires businesses and res-
taurants to establish non-smoking areas, and
limits smoking in the workplace.
"I think it is a bad ordinance," Mobley
said. "If I didn't smoke at all I (would still
be) against it."
He said it should be up to the individual
business owner to decide whether his patrons
can smoke in the establishment.
"If you don't want to let them smoke, then
don't let them smoke," he said. "That
should be up to the private individual."
"He is a very devout smoker," Tate ex-
plained.
But the mayor added: "John Mobley is a
unique person. I think John has a heart as big
as a washtub.
"I think he represented a segment that
needed to be represented."