A reoccurring mantra in the local sheriff’s race is that Parnell McNamara is not a certified Texas police officer.
Here are a couple of things that might have slipped by the naysayers.
The City of Waco hired Alberto Melis as the Chief of Police a few years ago and he was then licensed in Florida. He was Chief of Police in the Lauderhill police department. Today, Chief Melis is the Chief in Douglas Arizona. Saying Parnell McNamara is not qualified is the same as saying the City of Waco hired a man unqualified for the position.
Even closer to home, when McLennan County Criminal District Attorney needed a Chief Investigator, he hired a retired Deputy U.S. Marshall for the post.
Decide for yourself if it is important considering it was not a concern for the City of Waco or our own Criminal District Attorney.
The latest diatribe is kind of two fold. One that McNamara is promising much he will be unable to deliver and the converse that his plans will result in increased taxes.
It used to be a logical statement that only Commissioner’s Could raise taxes. That is to say the Sheriff could not raise taxes without the approval of the Commissioners’ Court. While factually true, McLennan county taxpayers have recently found two items, courthouse security expenditures and outside care of prisoners costs, where expenditures by the Sheriff have to be covered by the Court.
Those two items are not the source of the opposition to McNamara. Cited are his stated goal of increasing drug enforcement activities and in a recent Waco Trib letter to the editor, performing DWI blood draws at the County Jail.
Both of these go back to the original premise. McNamara would have to “sell” this to Commissioners’ Court to secure funding. It goes back to “checks and balances” forged by the founding fathers.
I can see it all now. The plasmapheresis program is an innovative new way to enhance revenue without raising taxes. Our Sheriff's Department need only accept prisoners on a cost-per-day basis to be housed in the Civigenics Jack Harwell Detention Center jail. Who pays? The inmate, naturally. At the direction of a presentence investigation, the accused offender is directed to give blood. Profit-sharing with the County, the blood center and the Civigenics organization will yield win-win-win status to the foolish ways of bad check writers, wife beaters, drunk drivers and dope selling sociopaths throughout the neighborhood. It's the fast track to fiscal responsibility and an added benefit will be a timely rehabilitation for the offender - the only way out of a trip to the pen instead of deferred adjudication following a PR bond. - The Legendary
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