Preserve Northeast Texas, Author at Stop Marvin Nichols

Northeast Texans revamp decades-old fight over proposed reservoir that would benefit D-FW

By Lana Ferguson
The Dallas Mornng News, October 12, 2022

‘My roots are here and I do not wish to give up my property, heritage, and homestead and look for that elsewhere,’ one stakeholder said.

Gary Cheatwood, almost 84, has spent nearly half his life worried about a yet-to-be-built human-made lake that would destroy everything important to him.

His family’s century-old home bulldozed.

Virgin timber they’ve watched grow demolished.

His elders’ graves washed up.

The threat of the 66,000-acre Marvin Nichols Reservoir has loomed for decades.

He and other Northeast Texans have been fighting the project that would push them out of their homes, some of which were built before Texas was annexed into the U.S., since it was first proposed in 1984.

The planned site along the Sulphur River in Red River, Bowie, Titus, and Franklin counties would pump water 150 miles away to the Dallas-Fort Worth region, part of the Texas Water Development Board’s plan to supply water to the quickly growing population.

“This is something you never forget about because you don’t know what the future will be,” Cheatwood said.

The reservoir has been at a standstill for decades, sometimes garnering momentum before being returned to the back burner as in the early 2000s. A recent renewed push to get shovels in dirt has reignited a call to action among stakeholders.

Read the full article at The Dallas Morning News

Northeast Texans fight against proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir Project

The project aims to create the reservoir right in-between Titus and Red River Counties. Using the Sulphur River to help create it.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas — Experts say the Dallas/Fort Worth area needs five new reservoirs to sustain the metroplex’s growth.

In order to make a reservoir, a designated river is damned and floods cleared farmland.

Residents living in the current proposal are asking the DFW metroplex to find a different option in finding a new water source.

The proposal is being called the Marvin Nichols Reservoir Project.

That’s why Northeast Texans gathered Monday night to talk about continuing the prevention of the reservoir from being built on their land.

“It was over 20 years ago that we found out that they were going to try to build a lake on our family land,” said Gary Cheatwood, a landowner on the proposed reservoir.

When looking at a map of the proposed reservoir Cheatwood’s land that his family has owned for generations in right in the heart of the flood zone.

The project aims to create the reservoir right in-between Titus and Red River Counties. Using the Sulphur River to help create it.

Many residents who attended the meeting are in Cheatwood’s shoes. Even businesses like the lumber industry.

“Taking 200,000 or 300,000 acres of timber producing properties out of production would dramatically impact us,” said Jim Thompson, the chief financial officer or Ward Timber.

Thompson said if this proposal is enacted it will impact the 125 direct employees they have along with drivers, contractors, and even a nearby paper mill company.

According to Janice Bezanson, the senior policy director for Texas Conservative Alliance, the demand for more water in the DFW area comes from residents watering their lawns. Not for business uses like restaurants or everyday home essentials.

“So we’re asking the people of Northeast Texas to give up their land, their livelihoods, and in many cases their homes so that people in the Dallas/Fort Worth area can water their lawns,” Bezanson said.

“I hear politicians and elected officials all the time say we’re going to stand up for private property rights,” Thompson said. “If you’re standing up for private property rights you will not be in support of this project.”

A project continuing to haunt families who’ve been fighting for their land for years.

“My dad showed me what we can do to help prevent this, and we’re showing the next generation what they can do to help prevent this,” Cheatwood said. “So we’re gonna keep battling as long as we can, and then our kids are too.”

Many residents and business owners in the path of the project say they have yet to hear how much the state would compensate them if they decided to move ahead.

The Texarkana Gazette: More than 2,000 petitioners oppose Marvin Nichols Reservoir

By Andy Bell

The Texarkana Gazette, October 4, 2022

NORTHEAST TEXAS — More Texans are expressing their opposition to a proposed water project that is estimated to cost at least $4.4 billion.

As of late September, more than 2,000 Texans have signed a petition to condemn the Marvin Nichols Reservoir project.

The petition was created by the grassroots organization Preserve Northeast Texas, a group of landowners, business owners, community leaders, conservationists and elected officials who have banded together to oppose Marvin Nichols.

“The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir would rob Northeast Texas of land, valuable jobs, and precious water, devastating the region’s economic vitality, heritage farmlands, and natural resources. I stand in opposition to this project and call on policymakers to put a stop to this costly, unnecessary and damaging project,” the petition states.

“It’s a clear statement from the people of Northeast Texas that this is not in our interests,” said Janice Bezanson, senior policy director for Texas Conservation Alliance. “We are opposed to this, and the entities of DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) need to be looking at alternatives, of which there are numerous.”

An estimated 130,000 additional acres would also be removed from private land ownership for environmental mitigation. This means an estimated 200,000 acres of Texas land would be taken out of production.

“Texas is growing, and water is a vital resource necessary for life and commerce,” said Bill Ward, president of Ward Timber Co. “That’s why the DFW Metroplex must do more to conserve and reuse this precious resource, rather than use eminent domain to take away the homes and heritage lands of fellow Texans. Reservoirs like the proposed Marvin Nichols project are an outdated solution to meet our water needs.”

The target date for construction completion on this project was moved forward in the State Water Plan last summer from 2070 to 2050.

Bezanson said the entities who agreed to build the reservoir also said it would probably take 30 years to get it permitted and built.

“Well if you do the math, 2050 is less than 30 years from now. So, we took that as the first signal that they’re going to be moving forward,” she said. “And the second signal was that they flatly refused to make any kind of agreement about when they would or wouldn’t start the permitting process.”

Bezanson said Preserve Northeast Texas is trying to educate people in the region about what’s going on with the project because it has been quite some years since it was talked about much.

“Some people thought it was dead, and it wasn’t on their radar screen. We’re getting it back on their radar screen,” she said.

She said the DFW metroplex can provide water for any shortages they may have through conservation and recycling tactics. Bezanson also noted that there are available reservoirs that have ample water in them that are not being used, referencing Lake Texoma and the Toledo Bend Reservoir as examples.

If you do a total cost benefit on this thing, rather than just how much we pay for building it, the impacts are so huge,” she said. “And the economic impacts have the potential to be so devastating to the Northeast Texas counties. This is not a good project for the state as a whole.”

To view the petition or learn more about the proposed reservoir, visit PreserveNortheastTexas.org. The group can also be found on Facebook and Instagram at @PreserveNortheastTexas and Twitter at @NoMarvinNichols.

Print Headline: More than 2,000 petitioners oppose Marvin Nichols Reservoir

Originally posted on The Texarkana Gazette.

Decades-old debate over proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir has become part of Northeast Texas political landscape

KETR | By John Kanelis

Published October 3, 2022 at 12:38 PM CDT

The proposed reservoir remains in the state's long-term water plan, despite opposition from the Northeast Texas planning group. — The proposed reservoir remains in the state’s long-term water plan, despite opposition from the Northeast Texas planning group.

Many remain opposed to the project that would flood the Sulphur River valley north of Mount Pleasant.

The Marvin Nichols Reservoir remains a theoretical project that its proponents believe will solve the Dallas-Fort Worth’s water problems for what they hope would be forever.

However, the reservoir is no closer to becoming a reality now than it has over the past 30 years it has been the subject of heated debate throughout North and Northeast Texas.

The lake being pitched would put about 66,000 acres of prime hardwood forest underwater. Therein lies the crux of the opposition to the reservoir project. The loss of the hardwood would disrupt the region’s habitat, it would deprive property owners of their livelihood and would deprive the timber industry that is vital to the economic well-being of many communities throughout the region.

That appears to lie at the heart of the opposition to the reservoir.

Water planners, though, argue that the reservoir is necessary to quench the thirst of potentially millions of North Texans who will settle eventually in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Without the water they will need, the region cannot possibly grow toward anything approaching its potential.

Author and conservationist David Marquis sees alternatives to reservoir construction as avenues toward future economic growth and development. “Were reservoirs once the solution?” he writes. “Yes, they were. They were close to major population centers and much more economical to build. The proposed Marvin Nichols reservoir would cost us billions of dollars and be 150 miles away” from the Metroplex.

Marquis also is concerned about potential loss of productive agricultural real estate. “There also is a more question to be reckoned with,” he writes. “Building the Nichols reservoir will flood 66,000 thousand acres of productive agricultural land, including thousands of acres of hardwood forest. It would inundate rural school districts, displace families that have been on that land since the 1830s, destroy their homes, wash away the graves of their ancestors. In addition, it would require at least another 130,000 acres of land to be set aside to meet federal mitigation policies so that, in total, building the reservoir would take more than 200,000 acres out of production. This would have a devastating effect on Northeast Texas’ economy.”

Some of the alternatives to reservoir construction involve greater use of groundwater, according to Marquis. “We have constructed wetlands, underground storage in aquifers and filtration systems that can clean polluted water, including wastewater, to potable standards,” Marquis notes. He notes that utility companies use “educational initiatives to teach about water usage” and said that “in Texas, we can also filter the vast amounts of brackish water that exist under much of our state. Indeed, for much of Texas, the future of water is filtration. For those of us in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we can also bring water from under-utilized existing reservoirs, such as Lake Toledo Bend.”

The Marvin Nichols project is so huge it has two water district sponsors, the Tarrant Regional Water District and the North Texas Municipal Water District. Indeed, the NTMWD is in the midst now of building the Bois d’Arc Lake Reservoir in Fannin County, which will provide roughly 16,000 surface acres of water to the region. NTMWD recently completed its mitigation work on land at Riverby Ranch, restoring much of the land to its original habitat. NTMWD claims success in welcoming back wildlife to the region as well.

Of particular concern to critics of the reservoir is the loss of what they call “bottomland hardwood forest” land that many deem essential to the timber industry that harvests the wood for use in home construction.

The fight over the Marvin Nichols project has raged seemingly forever. It would run along the main stem of the Sulphur River. The project was proposed in 1984 and ever since the proposal that came forward, the site has been embroiled in disputes and challenges. As the Dallas Morning News stated in an editorial: “Serious and considerate evaluations were needed, but the time has run out. The future generations of this region will suffer. The reservoir would be built on the main stem of the Sulphur River in East Texas.”

The NTMWD foresees a population explosion occurring in North Texas, citing the Texas Comptroller’s Office estimate that the state population will exceed 47 million residents by 2050; the 2020 Census puts Texas’s population at about 29 million.

The Marvin Nichols Reservoir remains a critical asset to help the region deal with that expected growth, according to NTMWD. “The reservoir was conceived to provide water supply for multiple water providers and jurisdictions and is one of a combination of water supply strategies intended to meet the water needs of North Texans,” the district declares in a statement.

The Texas Water Development Board updates its State Water Plan every five years, compiling information from 16 regional water plans to develop its SWP, NTMWD states. The North Texas Region lies within the Region C water planning area. The water district acknowledges the concern for conserving water and for “reducing water demands and making use of existing supplies,” but adds that “it is clear that development of new water supplies is required to meet the future needs of Texas.” NTMWD states that the Nichols project “has been included in the SWP for several decades as a recommended water supply strategy for Region C.”

The NTMWD offers assurances that it intends to deal with mitigation activities required when the reservoir is completed. “The 2021 Region C plan,” states the district, “contains an analysis of the environmental, agricultural, timberland and socio-economic impacts of the Marvin Nichols Reservoir, including the effect of mitigation activities.”

NTWMD notes as well that Bois d’Arc Lake is nearing completion, citing it as the first major reservoir “constructed in Texas in 30 years. The vast majority of lake property for the Bois d’Arc Lake project was acquired from willing sellers and even though the lake is still filling, Fannin County is already experiencing economic benefits from the lake.” NTMWD anticipates future benefit will come to the region surrounding the Marvin Nichols Reservoir.

The water district seeks to offer assurance that it will “continue to act responsibly and prudently in all efforts to evaluate and develop needed water supply projects for our region and Texas. Our future depends on it.”

The Marvin Nichols project took form 38 years ago. There have been endless fights among numerous interest groups on both sides of the debate. There appears to be no end in sight … to the bickering.

Opposition to proposed lake continues to grow

The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir has long been deemed by the people of Northeast Texas as something that would have a devastating impact to local tax bases and the local economy, but an even greater impact to the long list of landowners in the Basin that would lose generational homesteads, and a way of life passed down to them by their grandfathers. Inside the boundaries of the proposed lake are farms and ranches that have belonged to the same families for generations, and historical sites like Native American burial grounds that would be lost forever with the lake’s construction. Aside from a long list of endangered species that would be wiped out by the lake’s construction, there would also be communities put underwater for good.

Now, thanks largely to the efforts of Preserve Northeast Texas, more than 2,000 Texans have expressed their opposition to the proposed reservoir by signing a petition which condemns the water project and states, “The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir would rob Northeast Texas of land, valuable jobs, and precious water, devastating the region’s economic vitality, heritage farmlands, and natural resources. I stand in opposition to this project and call on policymakers to put a stop to this costly, unnecessary and damaging project.”

The petition was created by the grassroots organization, Preserve Northeast Texas, a growing group of landowners, business owners, community leaders, conservationists, and elected officials who have banded together to voice their opposition to one of the biggest transfers of private land to public in modern history. The full list of petitioners pushing back against Marvin Nichols Reservoir can be found at www.PreserveNortheastTexas. org.

“Texas is growing, and water is a vital resource necessary for life and commerce,” said Bill Ward, President of Ward Timber Company. “That’s why the DFW Metroplex must do more to conserve and reuse this precious resource, rather than use eminent domain to take away the homes and heritage lands of fellow Texans. Reservoirs like the proposed Marvin Nichols project are an outdated solution to meet our water needs.” The Marvin Nichols Reservoir is the costliest project in the Texas State Water Plan, estimated at $4.4 billion and growing. The reservoir would flood 66,000 of acres of hardwood forest, farms and ranches, and irreplaceable wetlands. An estimated 130,000 additional acres would also be removed from private land ownership for environmental mitigation. This means an estimated 200,000 acres of Texas land would be taken out of production. The Marvin Nichols Reservoir has been controversial for decades, yet the target date for construction completion on this project was moved forward in the State Water Plan last summer from 2070 to 2050.

Despite its inclusion in the state water plan, the reservoir is seen here in Northeast Texas as little more than a means for the Dallas area suburbs to water the lawns and fill their pools, and not a needed water source for the people here that would be impacted by its construction. The majority of the water provided by the reservoir, if built, would be piped directly to Dallas area cities like McKinney, Allen, Plano and others in the quickly burgeoning metroplex.

Although the reservoir is now a part of the state water plan, the time to continue the opposition against it is still now, and the voices of opposition can still be heard. That opposition includes many of the same who have fought the lake’s construction since day one at that little church. Names like Max and Shirley Shumake, Gary Cheatwood, Richard LeTourneau, Janice Bezanson and Ward Timber’s Bill Ward are now members of the Preserve Northeast Texas Steering Committee. Others include Cass County Judge Travis Ransom, Jim Thompson, Linda Price and Cynthia Gwinn.

To sign the petition or learn more about the proposed reservoir and how to stop it, visit: www.PreserveNortheastTexas. org. The group can also be found on Facebook and Instagram at @PreserveNortheast-Texas and Twitter @NoMarvinNichols.

OPPOSITION TO PROPOSED LAKE CONTINUES TO GROW

From the first opposition meeting more than 20 years ago in a tiny church in Boxelder, to now a statewide, organized effort, the opposition to the massive, proposed lake in the Sulphur River Basin continues to grow.The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir has long been deemed by the people of Northeast … click here to read story.

THOUSANDS OF TEXANS CONDEMN MARVIN NICHOLS RESERVOIR, SO WHY IS IT STILL IN THE STATE WATER PLAN?

THOUSANDS OF TEXANS CONDEMN MARVIN NICHOLS RESERVOIR, SO WHY IS IT STILL IN THE STATE WATER PLAN?

Building Reservoirs Is An Outdated Solution To Solving State Water Problems

NORTHEAST TEXAS (September 26, 2022) — More than 2,000 Texans have expressed their opposition to the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir by signing a petition which condemns the water project and states, “The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir would rob Northeast Texas of land, valuable jobs, and precious water, devastating the region’s economic vitality, heritage farmlands, and natural resources. I stand in opposition to this project and call on policymakers to put a stop to this costly, unnecessary and damaging project.”

The Marvin Nichols Reservoir is the costliest project in the Texas State Water Plan, estimated at $4.4 billion and growing. The reservoir would flood 66,000 of acres of hardwood forest, farms and ranches, and irreplaceable wetlands. An estimated 130,000 additional acres would also be removed from private land ownership for environmental mitigation. This means an estimated 200,000 acres of Texas land would be taken out of production. The Marvin Nichols Reservoir has been controversial for decades, yet the target date for construction completion on this project was moved forward in the State Water Plan last summer from 2070 to 2050.

To sign the petition or learn more about the proposed reservoir and how to stop it, visit: www.PreserveNortheastTexas.org. The group can also be found on Facebook and Instagram at @PreserveNortheastTexas and Twitter @NoMarvinNichols.

The Preserve Northeast Texas Steering Committee includes:

Cass County Judge Travis Ransom, Bill Ward, Jim Thompson, Max Shumake, Shirley Shumake, Linda Price, Richard LeTourneau, Cynthia Gwinn, Gary Cheatwood, and Janice Bezanson.

###

Letters to the Editor – Readers express their concerns about our environment

By Letters to the Editor
The Dallas Morning News, August 14, 2022

Signs from nature

We are depleting the Texas aquifers faster than they can be refilled. This can easily be checked with the Texas Water Board. There is a push to have another reservoir northeast of Dallas, the Marvin Nichols. What is the long-term cost to us?

Yes, this will mean “enough” water for sprinklers on lawns, but what do we gain when we lose an entire ecosystem?

Has anyone noticed how extreme the climate is worldwide? Why? Maybe because we can’t stop expanding and consuming. Our lifestyles affect the climate.

Are we heading to no water? With every species extinct?

Think of it — a tree just grows so tall. If it grows higher than the trunk can support, the tree falls over and dies. So why do we think we can keep growing and expanding?

-Ellen Taylor Seldin, Dallas

Building the Marvin Nichols Reservoir will have devastating effects on Texas

By David Marquis
The Dallas Morning News, August 11, 2022

Solutions to major challenges are rarely simple, especially in a world rife with the difficult issues that we face today. The solution to the long-term water supply needs of North Texas might seem to be a choice of either conservation or building reservoirs, such as the proposed Marvin Nichols, which would dam the Sulphur River in the northern reaches of East Texas.

Fortunately, we have additional means of addressing these needs. We have constructed wetlands, underground storage in aquifers and filtration systems that can clean polluted water, including wastewater, to potable standards. We have advances in building technologies, landscaping with native plants and educational initiatives to teach about water usage. In Texas, we can also filter the vast amounts of brackish water that exist under much of our state. Indeed, for much of Texas, the future of water is filtration. For those of us in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we can also bring water from under-utilized existing reservoirs, such as Lake Toledo Bend.

To be clear, I am not proposing that North Texas should stop growing because of our water challenges. A dynamic economy is a good thing, but we must be realistic about what we are doing to our watershed and the land we live on.

We must embrace a challenging future that cannot be met with solutions from the past.

Reservoirs have serious drawbacks, such as loss due to evaporation. Building a reservoir today is like opening a store knowing that half of your inventory is going to be shoplifted on the day you open. During hot weather, lakes lose as much water to evaporation as they do to usage. With summer in Texas now lasting from May until October, that means we are investing billions of dollars in a way of thinking that no longer — pun intended — holds water.

Were reservoirs once the solution? Yes, they were. They were close to major population centers and much more economical to build. The proposed Marvin Nichols would cost us billions of dollars and be 150 miles away.

There is also a moral question to be reckoned with. Building the Marvin Nichols Reservoir will flood 66,000 acres of productive agricultural land, including thousands of acres of hardwood forest. It would inundate rural school districts, displace families that have been on that land since the 1830s, destroy their homes, and wash away the graves of their ancestors. In addition, it would require at least another 130,00 acres of land to be set aside to meet federal mitigation policies so that, in total, building that reservoir would take more than 200,000 acres out of production. This would have a devastating effect on northeast Texas’ economy.

Roughly half the water we use in our region goes to watering our lawns and irrigating landscapes. That alone should call into question how we use our water, how we plan to use it in the years ahead, and how we plan to procure it.

As an act of conscience, I am not willing to force people off their land and out of their homes to solve a problem that we can address in other ways. Moral questions cannot be set aside. In fact, considering the state of our nation and our culture, they might well be the most important questions of our time.

A challenging future is coming at us hard. If we put ourselves above others, if we value our community more than others, then we forfeit our very humanity. Family, culture, religion, history and land all tie people together. But there is one thing every human must have each day: water.

Surely in this new world of technology and possibility, of challenges and change, we can find ways to secure for ourselves this precious, life-giving resource without devastating the lives of others, their economy and heritage, and the beauty and worth of their land.

I want my grandchildren to enjoy the blessings and resources that those who have come before them enjoyed. And I want them to be able to do that without denying those same resources and blessings to the grandchildren of others.

David Marquis is an author and conservationist. His latest book, The River Always Wins, was published by Dallas-based Deep Vellum. He wrote this for The Dallas Morning News.

Originally posted on The Dallas Morning News

Y’all-itics Podcast: Watering Lawns in Dallas Might Require Flooding Farms in East Texas

WFAA, Jul. 31, 2022

LISTEN HERE on iTunes, Spotify, Stitch Server, or Amazon Music

SYNOPSIS:

This past year has taught us not to take electricity for granted. Better be careful with water, too. Texas needs more of it to keep up with all the residents and businesses moving here. One small town along the Red River is already running low on the resource. The plan for Dallas / Fort Worth alone calls for five new reservoirs. One, proposed in northeast Texas, would flood 66,000 acres of land, move out families, and take property off the tax rolls. But not acting soon enough could also cost Texas billions of dollars in lost business and population. It’s a dicey dilemma and time is of the essence. Joining the Jasons this week is Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar. His office is studying what’s at stake. And Janice Bezanson, from the Texas Conservation Alliance, argues for other options besides taking away family farms.

GUESTS:

Glenn Hegar, R-Texas Comptroller

Janice Bezanson, Texas Conservation Alliance

About: Y’all-itics is the unofficial political podcast of Texas. Each week we’ll crack open an ice-cold Texas brew and explore a single hot topic affecting Texans. But this isn’t politics as usual. Y’all-itics doesn’t come from a fancy studio. We’re taking our podcast on the road to get past the soundbites and dive deeper into the issues that matter to y’all. Leave your labels at the door, this is a political podcast for all Texans… even the recent transplants!

Dallas Observer: Extreme Heat Is Pushing North Texas Water Supplies to Their Limit

By Jacob Vaught
Dallas Observer, Aug. 1, 2022

Residents of the North Texas city of Gunter received a startling alert last Wednesday night. There was a good chance, city officials told them, that Gunter would run out of water.

Excessive water consumption left the city’s water storage tanks unable to refill. “Consequently, the city will be without water by early morning,” the notice to residents said.

On top of record-high temperatures and drought conditions covering nearly the whole state, Gunter is working with a fraction of its typical water supply. The city usually gets its water from three wells, but mechanical problems have put two of them out of commission until needed repairs can be completed.

The three wells supply enough water to accommodate about 2,000 homes. There are about 800 homes in the city. So, in theory there’s plenty, but problems start when wells go offline. The extreme heat and increased demand pushed two of the wells to their limit.

Originally posted on the Dallas Observer.

ABC News 8: Water reservoir proposals in the DFW area

By WFAA Staff WFFA ABC News 8, Jul. 31, 2022

DALLAS — This past year has taught us not to take electricity for granted. Water is now another one of those resources and Texas needs more of it.

The cities of Dallas and Fort Worth say they’ll have to have five new reservoirs to keep up with all the new residents and businesses moving there. But building reservoirs means flooding thousands of acres in rural Texas. And folks in northeast Texas – where one of these is proposed – say they have too much at stake. That’s why folks in northeast Texas are fighting back against one proposed there called Marvin Nichols — that would send water to the metroplex.

Janice Bezanson – from the Texas Conservation Alliance – lays it out in a brand new episode of Y’all-itics we just released this morning.

Bezanson says “It was proposed back in 2001 and there was a tremendous fight against it, then, and it got postponed. But in the last revision of the state water plan, it was again moved forward to a time frame that’s comparable to when they would actually start building it in the near future. It’s to be completed by the year 2050 and in operation. But the proponents have always said, it will take them 30 years to get it permitted and built. 2050 is only 28 years from now.”