Front Page
The moratorium takes effect in November and expires in February, by which point the thing will still not have started, and can resume not starting.
PICTURED: Public interest in the parcel, at its recorded peak.
Lavon, TX — A ninety-day moratorium on data center development takes effect in November and lifts in February, pausing a project that has no buyer, no application, and no start date.
The pause is intended to give the town time to study the question. The question has been studied without interruption since December of 2024 by several hundred people, none of whom have moved an inch.
Supporters call the delay unnecessary. Opponents call it necessary. Both call it a delay, which remains the only agreement reached in two years.
Anything filed before mid-November proceeds normally. Anything filed after mid-November waits until February and then proceeds normally. Nothing has been filed.
At press time the parcel remained a field. Two years of debate have not changed that, and ninety more days are not expected to either.
THE PARCEL BEFORE AND AFTER TWO YEARS OF PUBLIC DEBATE.
Preservation
The charm is enforced by a homeowners association that formed in March and has already ruled twice on mailbox colors. Residents describe the subdivision as the way things used to be, and can name the year exactly: 2023.
Around Town
Three neighbors were asked and three answers were given, each delivered with total confidence and each described as final.
Civic Life
All but one of them refuses to discuss its position with any of the others. The remaining group has offered to mediate and cannot get anyone to take the call.
Artist's Rendering
Drawn entirely from public comment. The artist has not seen a data center, and neither has anyone else.
By Order of This Newspaper
For Posting Without Permission
Affixing Notices to Every Available Surface in the City Limits
Alias · The Stapler
Approach with tape. She will assume you are helping.
Lightly weathered, one (1) previous crusade. Recovered from a median on 78, where it had been quietly blocking the view of oncoming traffic. Still legible, still certain, still not in anybody's yard.
Sixteen feet of schedule 40, leaning against a mailbox since Tuesday. No questions asked and none answered. If it is still there tomorrow it is yours, and if it is gone, that is also correct.
Four paragraphs of your own deeply held convictions, written by somebody else and ready to paste. Includes the bracketed [YOUR NAME HERE], which a great many senders have chosen to leave in.
Ordered at a counter between the motor oil and the fountain drinks, from a man who will not explain the sauce. Nobody can account for it, everybody eats there, and the line is out the door by eleven.
Smoked on the shoulder of the highway, out of a vehicle that has not moved under its own power in four years. Sells out by one. Has never once been towed, out of respect.
Valid at every Braum's except the one Lavon does not have. Includes a full tank of gas, turn-by-turn directions, and twenty quiet minutes to think about the third McDonald's.
Flat, rectangular, and cleared for a building eighty-five feet tall. Two years on the market with no offers. Owner will consider any price, any use, and increasingly, any person.
One and a half million dollars off, redeemable exclusively by the largest retailer on earth. Never expires. Cannot be combined with a sidewalk, a left-turn lane, or an ice cream shop.
A stirring call to action, rendered in nine seconds by the exact technology it is protesting. Depicts eleven-fingered neighbors assembled in front of a building that is not a building.
Attended a single meeting in March and now holds total command of zoning, water law, and the electrical grid. Will explain all three to you in a parking lot for as long as you remain standing in it.
Everything above this line is a joke. This one takes a card. Shirts, stickers, a hat and a mug, printed and shipped by people who have never sat at the 205 light.
The Banana Stand ships nowhere and stocks nothing, Lot No. 11 excepted. Please do not mail us money, and under no circumstances mail us bananas.
The Banana Crossword
No. 1 · Difficulty: Unanimous
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One word on this list does not appear in the grid. It has not filed yet.
Last Week's Solution
There was no last week.
Crossword Clues
Across
Down
Five Acres
Five letters. Six tries. No survey required.
right spot wrong spot not in the word
The answer is not COMING SOON. That is two words.
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The Tip Line
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Corrections & Clarifications
In our first edition we described the data center as "the boogeyman." It has since been noted that the boogeyman has, on balance, filed more permits.
We reported that the city is fighting a data center. The city is fighting a data center it is also selling. We regret the simplification.
We referred to the proposed facility as "coming soon." Nothing in Lavon is coming soon. We regret the optimism.
A story last week described Highway 78 as a "highway."