LETTER TO THE EDITOR
“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history.”
–Marcus Tullius Cicero Dr. Jim Garber spent his professional life uncovering the secrets of past civilizations as an archeologist. I think this gave him a perspective on justice, stewardship and legacy that few of us have.
I was not lucky enough to have been a student of Dr. Jim Garber. I am unfamiliar with any of his archeological projects except the one in which he proved that San Marcos is the oldest continuously inhabited civilization in North America.
I know he was proud of this work because he told me about it the day before we lost him. I spoke to him after he had spent many hours as a planning and zoning commissioner defending this beautiful place we call home. First, he voted against an industrial complex that promised to drain us of much of our limited water resources. Then, with the ink of the city’s Comprehensive Plan barely dry, he voted against a zoning change downtown to honor the process that citizens came up with to create the plans for the downtown and the city’s Design Guidelines.
For more than a dozen years, Jim Garber served on and chaired the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission. He led us through rapid growth times with an even hand that valued fairness above all and showed no partiality to the rich and powerful nor favoritism to the lowly. He never worked against any particular class of people, but strove for a fair and just decision.
At that fateful Tuesday night P& Z meeting, he recalled how a former city manager said that so many people with so little money had so much influence in this town. To Dr. Garber, that statement showed that democracy was working in San Marcos.
He said he would like to see those words, in Latin, on the city emblem: Multi, pecuniola, multa potentia (Many people with little money can have great power).
It would be one of the last things he would say from the dias.
Life is fragile. Jim would be gone less than 24 hours after our last conversation.
Jim Garber, in my mind, stood for two principles. The first was enhancement and protection of the San Marcos River from short-sighted development. After all, the river is the reason civilization has been here for more than ten thousand years.
The second was the importance of neighborhoods. He understood that neighborhoods have value. Neighborhoods are essential for strong communities. As Jim would say, a town without strong and healthy neighborhoods is a town without a soul.
We honor the passing of a wise and honorable soul.
Bravo Jim! You taught us all how to live, and what is worth fighting for.
Diana Baker San Marcos
