McLennan County Justice

Is anybody in there?

2012-01-03T23:15:00.001-08:00

The county’s newly appointed criminal associate judge said he may not take the position after the commissioners court set his salary at a lower rate than he anticipated.

I have a smiley face sticker for anyone who can explain why we have 10 candidates for county commissioner and three more not running for office and not one could come up with what seems a really simple solution.

There are 8 justice of the peace courts. Two district courts and two county court at law courts. Any of the presiding judges could do the arraignments of prisoners at the jail.

So we have 12 “magistrates” on the taxpayer tit already. It seems simple. If you think it necessary to fund this position, $200,000.00 seems reasonable for an associate judge budget. All you have to do is add up all the budgets of the 12 existing courts, determine what percentage the extra $120K would be and give the existing courts the option. The 12 courts can fill the duties and have the currently funded $80K distributed equitably among them or have their budgets cut to offset the needed funds.

This is what RESPONSIBLE taxpayers do when the have an unexpected expense or want to buy something not in the budget. The economy is screwed because people borrowed the money to finance things they had no ability to pay for. This is the course the court has pursued in the past. The court suffers no such disability since there is plenty of money.

The county budget is on line. Pretty simple to find the information. The commissioners should probably reduce the budget of the “budget director” by 10 percent just because he did not offer this solution. The key to public office is not to be a rocket scientist (can I get a hell yea) but to hire the best possible people to work for you.

The whole associate judge deal has back room deal all over it. The opinion by the District Attorney that the former magistrate was in violation of the Texas Constitution was drafted in August 2011. Prior to the budget approval by the court and the District Judges / County Court at Law Judges didn’t appear to have any problem with ignoring the Texas Constitution.

They did WHAT?

2012-01-02T06:34:00.001-08:00

On 12-27-2011, the Commissioners’ Court voted to hire a new associate judge. The court did not know what he was going to be paid or much about what his job responsibilities would be. How does that sound for a plan?

McLennan County officials made the case to State Rep. Doc Anderson that due to overcrowding, they needed a way to expedite the processing of people charged with crimes. The justification is murky at best. Some say the justices of the peace who were responsible would not do their job. No particular evidence to support this was ever offered but the JP’s did not raise a fuss because they were going to be paid the same with a significant reduction in their responsibilities.
The part you will not see mentioned is most arraignments take place via video conferencing. Think Skype. When the jail magistrate was first appointed, video arraignment was not reliable or very evolved. Not the case today. Taxpayers currently pay for 8 magistrate courts in McLennan County.

One advantage of having an appointed judge is that the person does not answer to the voters. An additional level of disconnect is of benefit because the associate judge is appointed by the four criminal judges but the position is funded by the Commissioners’ Court. The judges can say he is a county employee and the commissioner’s can said they have no control because they don’t appoint him. Why is that important? We offer that no magistrate could do what the appointed one did and have any hope of being re-elected. Another interesting thing about this is that while a brief reference to the matter was posted in the agenda, no documentation was available before court. In fact, Senior Court Judge Strother emphasized that failure to take the action would have dire consequences. This story by the Legendary http://downdirtyword.blogspot.com/2011/08/criminal-judges-ponder-mclennan-jail.html shows this was a well known issue more than three months ago.

Quick Study of PR Bonds - Multiple Sex Offenders Freed - There is little chance a magistrate could be re-elected with a record like this one.

Climate of Terror, Frustration Evident In Robinson - Much the same for this report.

Waco City Attorney Stonewalls Public Information Requests – In this story details are found about a man who is compelled to beat on his wife after being released on a PR bond.

Alleged Child Rapist Has New Lawyer - Jurors To Pass Sentence – Release of child predators on PR bond might pose a disability to election.

Lady Justice absent from McLennan County – A review of the performance of the last magistrate appointed by Judge Strother.

The Sheriff's Office has no such reports.

2011-12-26T19:59:00.001-08:00

It is interesting that McLennan County Commissioners’ Court, this year, approved a $12,000.00 a year increase for the Sheriff. There is a contract requiring the Sheriff to make twice monthly inspections of the Jack Harwell facility. The curious thing is there is no record of any inspections. If the Court required the Sheriff to file reports, this would not have been a surprise.

Immigration agency pulls inmates from Jack Harwell jail www.wacotrib.com

The federal immigration agency has stopped sending inmates to the Jack Harwell Detention Center and moved all existing detainees out of the facility, citing concerns about housing conditions and inmate medical care.

From the above article:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Nina Pruneda:

“We’re no longer using it, and from what I understand we have no intentions of using it in the future,”

In addition, some county officials said they were not informed there were complaints about care at the jail.

County Judge Jim Lewis said he talked with officials from CEC about ICE’s decision and said he has a meeting scheduled with CEC in the coming weeks to discuss the matter further.
Lewis said he had “only heard rumors” that ICE raised complaints about inmates’ medical treatment.

Commissioner Lester Gibson, the court’s liaison for jails, said while he noticed the ICE population slowly dropped to zero at the Harwell facility, he was not given a reason for the change.

Commissioner Kelly Snell learned about the lack of ICE inmates at Harwell from Gibson. He too said he would have wanted CEC to inform the entire court about the issue, but said in general he finds it difficult to get information directly from CEC officials.

Commissioner Ben Perry said he asked the sheriff’s office about the decline in ICE inmates, and officials there speculated that ICE simply was moving the detainees to a cheaper facility.

Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 11:47 PM
To: 'Lynne Lockwood'
Cc: randy.plemons@co.mclennan.tx.us
Subject: Request

I am requesting access to and making application for the following information:

This is a public information act request for any reports filed by the Sheriff in relation to this clause of the agreement.

Randy,

Please consider this a request of the Sheriff for documents not in the possession of the County Judge but maintained which are responsive to this request. This request is intended to include requests for additional information which resulted from the on-site inspections, and requested remediation or related correspondence. Please consider this as redundant for reports filed with the Commissioners’ Court.

Thank you,
R.S. Gates

_________________

From: Lynne Lockwood
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 11:34 AM
To: R.S. Gates
Subject: RE: Request

Scott – Your below open records request has been received and reviewed. Based on our best attempt to interpret your request with relation to a clause of an agreement relating to monitoring of the detention facility by the Sheriff, the County Judge’s Office has no responsive information. No such reports were identified. L2

___________________
From: Randy Plemons
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 3:56 PM
To: R.S. Gates
Cc: 'Lynne Lockwood'
Subject: RE: Request

The Sheriff's Office has no such reports.

The director of maintenance of building recently told the court a local vendor refused to work for CEC because they could not get paid. Dr. Wells, the jail Dr., told the court he was unable to resolve an expensive medication issue for taxpayers because the new warden had problems to deal with.
More coverage from The Legendary: http://downdirtyword.blogspot.com/2011/11/mclennan-court-continues-housekeeping.html

But this is supposed to be a surprise to the court…..

Magistrate makes application for golden parachute

2011-12-19T22:54:00.001-08:00

It’s a good job if you can get it.

Britton was hired sometime in 2007. The compensation sought appears to date back some 4 years. That is quite a nest egg.

We ran across this document as a result of a public information act request. Commissioners will vote today on whether or not to grant the golden parachute to the magistrate.

It is interesting that no documentation was included to indicate how much tax dollars are involved. The item is buried in the consent agenda which is normally approved with one vote approving several items.

The departure of the magistrate is another issue. There was documentation from the District Attorney’s office indicating the employment of said magistrate was in violation of the Texas Constitution.

Will the Commissioner’s approve yet another sweet deal? Court begins at 9:00 a.m.

An example the double standard in local political reporting of elections?

2011-12-12T15:58:00.001-08:00

On December 2nd 2011 the Waco Tribune-Herald published an article titled Tax Assessor candidate pulls endorsement from website. In the article by political writer Michael Shapiro, the paper pulled out the stops and blasted the former city manager of the city of Lacy-Lakeview. Shapiro points out the candidate was not aware of the allegations against the manager until the Trib pointed it out.

Here is the part I think most people missed. The city manager was never charged with a crime. In the article, like the original coverage of the purchasing irregularities, there was innuendo tying the questionable purchases to the city manager. The city council voted by majority vote not to pursue a criminal investigation related to the purchases. They kind of acted in the capacity of a grand jury.

Now contrast that with the recent endorsement announcement by the local Sheriff’s Officers Association. The association endorsed Randy Plemons. Mr. Shapiro's article pointed out that Sheriff Larry Lynch endorsed Plemons.

The Texas Ethics Commission fined Sheriff Lynch a few years ago. So the Trib will crucify someone who was not only never convicted of a crime but, like the former city manager, was not even charged with a crime, and at the same time promote an endorsement by someone who was found to have violated the law.

Remember that the Trib did not cover the news of Lynch’s violation of the law. Only KWTX-TV covered it. The common story was that the only way laws were broken was by committing clerical errors. If you review the document linked from KWTX you will see the violations took place in three different years and happened after Lynch had been in office for 6 years. It was neither a one time omission or a rookie mistake.

Haven’t got a clue where the money went.

2011-08-12T22:39:00.001-07:00

In response to a public information act request, Budget Director Adam Harry furnished what County Judge Jim Lewis called the “Cheat Notes” for the county budget. One interesting item was buried in a line item called 001-2850 Solid Waste Management.

The interesting part is the note which says “Uncertain status of organization”

So the question is, if you do not know the status of the organization, why in the hell is it in the budget? Wait, lets check the budget and make sure it is in the proposed budget.

Yep, there it is big as life. The budget director decided tax payers could do without a measly $35,000 and stick the money in an account he can’t even account for. Gives me all kind of warm fuzzy feelings.

Next lets check the web. Name change found. Wonder when that happened? Guess they forgot to let the source of funds know.

Keep McLennan County Beautiful, KMCB (formerly Clean McLennan County, Inc.)

What is interesting is the minutes have not been updated on the website since 2009. Looks like the County was still sending them checks as recently as this year. The budget indicates funds were spent from the line item. Since the budget Director does not know where the money went, perhaps you should ask your Commissioner.

To bid or not to bid…

2011-08-03T19:18:00.001-07:00

So in a developing story by The Legendary we now have a three part series. The first - Baubles and bangles bought without purchase order, details how Commissioner Joe Mashek questioned the County Judge about a purchase with no purchase order. Commissioner Mashek wanted to know if the Judges’ office went out for bids. The Judge said he was 99% sure bids were sought.

In the second in the series - Purchase of baubles, bangles contrary to policy, further information is revealed when we are told the Commissioners had approved revision or the County Purchasing Policy about a month before and the purchase did not appear to be handled within those guidelines. In fact the very same matter, going around the purchasing agent, had been the subject of inquiry the previous year and Commissioner Gibson read from the opinion of then District Attorney John Segrest.

In the third article – Service pins purchase could have been $5K less, we find out back in May, Commissioners were presented with an option that would have saved taxpayers $5,000. Commissioner's rejected the savings for doing it like we always have. Even more shocking was the revelation an employee of the Judges office worked with the purchasing agent who was ultimately left out for the record to do an end-around on the purchasing policy.

Excerpts from the public information response:

and this one

No record of a response from the Purchasing Director.

This caused me to remember one time when the Sheriff’s Office had a Golf Cart loaned to them. It broke and they decided the right thing to do was fix it. Not a big problem but a little checking was enlightening. You see Paul Wash is a licensed CPA. He formerly worked for the McLennan County auditor. The use of forfeiture funds is highly restricted but he managed to hammer this one to fit within the confines.

Then I ran across this little snippet.

The Auditor did not agree and this little matter was discovered when it went to court for ratification.

I’m sure Capt. Wash just didn’t want to impose on the Commissioners valuable time.

Here you have two examples. Make your own decision.

Excerpts from the original request:

Scott, in response to the below revised / clarified open records request seeking …..”information related to the purchase from a vendor, documentation to support the statement by the Judge that someone checked prices from other vendors / fax or an e-mail; documentation related to the choice of vendors including any direction that person received / vendor list….” I have attached the documentation which seems to be responsive to your request.

Also, Scott, just for clarification, I would like to point out that, in relation to your statement about the Waco Tribune-Herald on 7/24/2011 quoting Judge Lewis…“There’s no way I would do that in my office, because it does not pass the smell test,” Lewis said”….that statement was not made regarding the county service pin issue or regarding the subject of ratification of purchase orders by the CC. It was made on an entirely different and unrelated matter (I believe it was re: nepotism issues). Take care. L2

The administrative assistant to the Judge is worth her weight in gold. Hope the Judge realizes that.

Duty of every citizen

2011-06-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

What a week. On Tuesday, Commissioners’ Court voted to buy the County Judge a new desk and chair for the tidy sum of $3,900.00. It was rushed through in summary motion with little comment. When you are talking about a $116M budget, $3900 might not seem like much. Consider, however, this is tax payer money. The court represented this money was needed to pay for court appointed attorneys to represent those who could not defend themselves. Consider further, the same court raided the County rainy day fund (contingency fund) to put money in another account for what..? Court appointed attorneys. So while voting to allocate funds for a REALLY nice desk and chair, well, you get the picture.

This took place in a public meeting. How was it handled? Was there a gasp in the gallery when it was announced the Judge needed a new desk and chair he neglected to include in his budget request? Nope! because the only reference in court was..well listen to the judges own words.

By voting in support of this, Commissioners’ determined this was in the best interest of the County. I would have liked to see my Commissioner stand up and tell the Judge the appropriate place for this request was in the budget not shuffling funds from another line item.

Government incompetence

2011-04-12T06:04:00.001-07:00

I sure would like to know how they found out about this: Texas comptroller mistakenly posts public records. The argument will no doubt come up that our government is to incompetent to provide any public access to data.

One citizen watchdog found a local government was listing the names of sexual assault victims in their check run. The citizen did not run to the press or make a big deal of it, the government entity was notified and now the payments only reference a case number. One vocal watchdog group believes as long as the government entity says the Pledge of Allegiance, everything is good and no further scrutiny is required. The same group organized an attack on the citizen watchdog in an effort to undermine the credibility of the citizen watchdog.

Screw the poor and sickly.

2011-03-31T04:41:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago there were two things on the agenda for McLennan County Commissioners’ Court that concerned me. There is a trend in McLennan County of reducing services to the public.

The first item concerned an amendment to existing policy governing pauper burial. Seems more than a few grieving families had placed headstones for their deceased loved ones on pauper graves. The solution is to remove the headstones because they impede maintenance of the gravesites. I thought surely there would be some discussion by members of the court of other solutions. Say offering to leave the stone if the family paid for the maintenance. The item was on the consent agenda and did not warrant any discussion.

The second item was modification of the indigent health care services agreement. It seems some patrons of the system have become belligerent and abusive of staff members responsible for processing the applications for service. I expected to hear about how extensive this abuse was and how unreasonable the demands were. Like before, no discussion. The court just rubber stamped the proposal provided by the director Eva Cruz.

Ms. Cruz proposed a process where the person denied services could appeal to the County Judge or his designee. At least that is better than the grieving people get. Last year the company that takes care of elderly shut-ins proposed to the court to take a lump sum in exchange for taking care of all of their charges. Judge Jim Lewis recommended no change. The result was a 100% increase in the budget for last budget year and the current budget year. Cost to taxpayers was about $50,000.00 annually.

Inspires all kinds of confident doesn’t it?

Jail Debt

2011-01-16T20:45:00.001-08:00

The contractor was paid ~$37M to build the new Jack Harwell detention center. The estimated debt service, read interest, is $58M.

In the end the $37M jail will cost $107M.

Original Debt

$49,015,000.00

Interest

$58,190,687.50

Total

$107,205,687.50

Good job County Judge Jim Lewis. NOT

Remember that visitation center they got in such a hurry to build because it got overlooked? The property next to the land purchased for the visitation center is valued at less than $6,000 and acre. The commercial property on the other side of that is valued at $3,000 an acre. What did McLennan County pay for slightly less than 10 acres to build the visitation center on? $140,000.00 or more than $14,000 an acre. Curious ain’t it?

How stupid does Jim Lewis think we are?

2010-10-26T19:12:00.001-07:00

It sounded like a good deal. I have a spare pick-up truck because it is paid for and it is nice to have a spare.

A guy made me an offer to rent the truck for $100.00 a day. Friends who don’t own a truck frequently borrow and it does frequently come in handy.

Think about it. Who could not use another $3K a month?

Then I checked the fine print. He didn’t really want to rent the truck he just wanted to be able to say he had a truck. I could not use the truck because it had to be available if he needed it. The contract means I am giving up much of the use of my truck for nothing.

That is exactly the scenario Jim Lewis got us in with the contract with Dallas County. We lose 200 revenue beds and it costs Dallas County nothing. Dallas County officials do not expect to need the beds but wanted to tell the Texas Jail Commission they had access to them if needed. If the available beds in our jail drops below 200, The Commission comes down on Dallas County and they come down on McLennan County.

The Commissioners’ Court has already waived $30,000-$70,000 a month in revenue by closing down the downtown jail and waiving the fee for prisoners housed at the new jail.

How stupid do they think the voters are?

Dictator or public servant?

2010-10-03T19:11:00.001-07:00

In 2006, there was a constable in McLennan County who was serving out the term of office for which he was elected. It was discovered in true public servant fashion, he had additionally been successfully elected to the local city council. This constable had an early Attorney General opinion indicating no conflict existed between the two positions because no compensation was provided for the position of alderman.

The issue was raised of both positions were “positions of trust.”

The question was brought to the McLennan County District Attorney who opined both offices were positions of trust and as such the resigned to run provision applied. The District Attorney wrote that the court was under no obligation to remove the constable and could simply allow him to complete the term of office to which the voters had elected him.

Jim Lewis voted with Wendell Crunk and Ray Meadows to ignore the will of the voters and remove the constable.

The constable campaigned for the opponent of the County Judge.

In 2007, even though the voters went to the polls and elected a new Justice of the Peace, even though the Commissioners’ Court canvassed the election results and declared a winner in the race, Jim Lewis refused to issue a certificate of election. Disenfranchising the voters a second time.

In 2009, the Justice of the Peace in the new combined precinct retired. Even though the previously elected Justice resided in the the precinct, Jim Lewis voted to appoint a person who had not been vetted and for the third time ignored the will of the voters.

Jim Lewis refuses Pledge of Allegiance

2010-10-03T18:32:00.001-07:00

In the Summer, Tea Party activists were petitioning the McLennan County Commissioners’ Court to begin their sessions with the Pledge of Allegiance.

After meeting with resistance to the proposal, Veteran and former McLennan County Veterans Coordinator Bill Mahon addressed the court in the public comments section. Mr. Mahon laid out the case in support of saying the pledge before court meetings. After his presentation he rose and led all present in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Not exactly all. County Judge Jim Lewis and Commissioner Precinct 2 Commissioner Lester Gibson refused to participate.

In the Tribune Herald the next day, Commissioner Gibson explained he believed an opening prayer was in order and to eliminate the prayer was putting country before God. Noting that Commissioner Gibson is a veteran, and he explained his actions, I can give him a pass.

Jim Lewis took the Mr. Magoo defense. Jim Lewis said it happened so fast he did not realize the pledge was being said. Even though Bill Mahon formerly worked for Jim Lewis as Veteran Coordinator, and Mr. Mahon had spent several minutes laying out the case for the pledge, all this slipped by the County Judge. If you buy that, I have a bridge to sell you. Looks more like Mel Brooks than Mr. Magoo.

Why the change?

2010-09-06T21:07:00.001-07:00

I was making an effort to cast an informed vote in November when I ran across a story on the campaign website for the incumbent District Attorney.

“This was a very strong jury, and they wanted to send a strong message. I think they wanted him to know that they wanted him off the streets where he can’t have access to others and potentially do this again. I think they wanted to send a message to the community that child abuse will not be tolerated in McLennan County.” – Beth Toben, Veteran Prosecutor

Pretty straightforward. The story had a dateline of 10-18-2007

Code of Criminal Procedure 17.151 provides for petition of a Judge to hold a show cause hearing if a person is held in custody and the state is not ready for trial. The Judge has the opportunity to reduce the bond or release the person on a P.R. bond. The Judge can order conditions of bail which could include electronic monitoring or that the person refrain from having contact with children if the accused was charged with offenses against children.

In a recent case, the same prosecutors who had clarity in the message sent by the public in 2007, refused charges against a man charged with sexual assault of a child. The person was released form custody and a Judge never had the opportunity to place on him the condition he refrain from contact with children.

So…Why the change?

This is what the Docket looks like when the District Attorney does not”Refuse” charges. An Elected Judge hears the case. Click on the image to enlarge.

Lady Justice absent from McLennan County

2010-08-22T11:01:00.001-07:00

Excessive bail shall not be required.

One man allegedly breaks into a house and picks up a knife, caught by the homeowner he surrenders and gets a bond of $999,000. Another man allegedly brings his own weapon to a home invasion and is reported to have cocked the handgun and demanded money. His bond is $62,000. Oh, and he was also found in possession of drugs.

A man is accused of murdering his grandfather in a particularly nasty bit of business and waits for the police to arrive. He gets a $5,000,000 bond while four suspects accused of the robbery of a business, same charge, have their bonds set at $500,000. These four fled the scene and had to be hunted down by police. One even has an immigration hold. One is a juvenile.

In the parlance of higher education – Compare and Contrast

Michael Guiterrez is alleged to have broken into a house around 5 a.m. and after gaining entry, retrieved a knife from the counter and was then confronted by the home owner.

JaMarcus Caufield allegedly broke into an apartment, made his way directly to a safe inside the apartment, pulled out a handgun, cocked it and demanded cash.

Guiterrez bond – $999,000.00

Guiterrez charges – Aggravated Robbery

Caufield’s bond - $62,000

Caufield’s Charges - possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana under two ounces and burglary of a habitation with intent to commit theft.

In two other cases, the disparity is even greater:

Aaron Firquin stands accused of murdering his 88 year old grandfather.

From the Waco Trib - Justice of the Peace Raymond Britton set bond at $5 million.

Four men stand accused of the robbery gone bad/murder of a store owner. Like the previous story, the victim was stabbed.

From the Waco Trib -

Saul Medina, 28, and Federico Davila, 26, both of Bellmead, are charged with capital murder in the slaying.
Both men are being held in the McLennan County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bond

Interestingly the same magistrate who set bond for an accused thief at almost a million dollars released a man charged with Attempted Capitol Murder on a Personal Recognizance bond.

Its the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – From Wikipedia

The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights which prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that this amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause applies to the states. The phrases employed originated in the English Bill of Rights of 1689.

KWTX News10 – 8/17/2010 Waco Man Charged In Home-Invasion Robbery Attempt

Waco Trib – 7-21-2010 Waco man accused of brandishing knife after breaking into home

Waco Trib – 7/22/2010 Nearly $1 million bond set for Waco man in break-in

Waco Trib – 7/26/2010 Man charged with capital murder in Bruceville-Eddy slaying

Waco Trib – 7/27/2010 Man suspected of killing his grandfather, former Bruceville-Eddy mayor

CentralTexasnow.com – 7/24/2010 Central Texas man arrested for killing his grandfather

KXXV – 7/24/2010 Autopsy shows former Central Texas mayor suffered stab injuries

We don’t have no stinkin’ problem

2010-08-22T10:42:00.001-07:00

for your consideration:

Waco Tribune Herald published an article on the FRONT PAGE of Sunday’s paper:

Immigrants deported from McLennan County Jail rarely had criminal history

The story basically says very few people deported have serious criminal histories.

Now the story from the front page on Sat.

Police name fourth suspect in Bellmead store owner stabbing

This story is about four guys who murdered the owner of a convenience store. At least one is illegal because he has an immigration detainer. Notice that little piece of information was left out of the story at the above link, but you can find it here:

Police jail 3 suspects in Bellmead stabbing

From the article: Medina also has an immigration hold that will prevent him from being released even if he raises the bail money.

They walk among us

2010-08-21T05:02:00.001-07:00

KWTX – 8/20/2010 Man Charged After Incident Involving Child At Local Garage Sale
Waco Tribune-Herald – 8/21/2010 Indecency with a child arrest

Jose Pantaleon Rivas, 50, was in the McLennan County Jail Friday charged with indecency with a child.

KWTX – 8/18/2010 - Grand Jury Indicts Two on Sexual Assault Of A Child Charges

Court records office indicate Grey was indicted in connection with reports made in April from two female victims who reported to police they had been sexually assaulted by Grey.

Badger was indicted on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in connection with a May incident in which there was only one female victim who is younger than 14.

Both men were arrested earlier this year and both are free on bond, according to Coryell County Jail records.

KWTX – 8/18/2010 Central Texas Prosecutor Arrested On Child Porn Charges

Assistant Limestone County prosecutor Donald V. Phillips, 53, was free on $5,000 bond Wednesday after his arrest Tuesday night at his home in Navarro County on a possession of child pornography charge.

Waco Tribune-Herald 8/20/2010 Man charged with indecency with child

Keith Allen Jones is out of jail on $150,000 bond for allegedly inappropriately touching a girl younger than age 17.

In the news II

2010-05-22T13:34:00.001-07:00

Initial reports said a high school student was being escorted to the office by a security guard when he took a bush bond and ran to his truck and did some damage to a couple of other vehicles while leaving. Crazy kids making stupid decisions….

Here, thanks to some pretty good reporting by Erin Quinn, we learn a little more about this troubled high school student.

This little scumbag was 19 years old. What was he still doing in high school?

He had a blood alcohol level of more than three times the legal limit. Please use the comments section below to share your take on that part.

This part kind of tops it off:

Galeno is expected to plead guilty June 21 in Judge Ralph Strother’s 19th State District Court to a felony burglary of a habitation charge, stemming from a January incident.

The little scumbag had a pending felony charge and was in school with our children? If that does not deserve a WTF, I don’t know what does. Which Judge set his bond on the Burglary charge? What other criminal history is there for this man? How does someone get into the school with a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit?

His family will now probably sue Waco ISD for excessive force and get a huge settlement. Insanity run amok.

Now think about the preceding when you read this story.

Waco Tribune Herald 5/22/2010 Tommy Witherspoon

Waco teen sentenced to 40 years for slaying a father of 7 a week after he kidnapped and robbed woman and her toddler

Quan Devel Prince more than a year ago had kidnapped a woman and her son, stolen their car, then fatally shot a man during a robbery a week later.

He was charged with Capitol Murder and is now eligible for parole in 20 years when he is 36 years old.

Was he out on bond for the earlier kidnapping when he murdered the father of 7? If so, why?

So it wasn’t my father who was murdered or my wife and child terrorized by Prince. I do not have compassion and think the kid should be locked away with no possibility of parole. Notice the article says after shooting and robbing the victim, Prince returned to his buddies and bragged about the murder.

In the news

2010-05-22T12:42:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update because I found some news reports I found interesting.

On 5/22 Cindy Culp of the Waco Trib reports “immigrants” have a hard time finding legal representation. Seems the new Arizona law has increased interest in complying with immigration law. Story link here.

So the same day, Tommy Witherspoon reports on “illegal immigrants” Seems the guy was deported after he broke the law and is now facing a 10 month prison term for sneaking back in the country. Story link here.

Then there is this story: More Americans killed by illegal aliens than Iraq war, study says So the story is more than three years old and while I don’t know how the numbers compare as far as deaths but the point of the borders still being open is pretty accurate more than three years later.

By the way, calling an illegal alien and undocumented worker is like calling a drug dealer an undocumented pharmacist. Just so you are clear where I stand.

Laws don’t apply in McLennan County

2010-04-05T04:44:00.001-07:00

Texas Local Government Code Sec. 111.062 makes it illegal for the County Judge to serve as the Chief Budget Officer in a county with a population of more than 225.000.

Some time in 2006, McLennan County exceeded that threshold. County Judge Jim Lewis ignored the law saying the law was not relevant until the census had been performed.

McLennan County Judge Lewis told News Channel 25 they will prepare to appoint a separate budget officer after the next official 2010 census.

Several statutes specifically use the term census when establishing a population baseline. Sec. 111.062 does not. Without a specific reference to the census, the law is applicable when the population exceeded 225,000.

Statutes containing census language.
Sec. 251.74. AIRPORT AND STADIUM AS WET AREAS. (a) This section applies to any county: (1) that has a population of more than 240,000, according to the most recent federal census;

Population shall be according to the last preceding federal census.

Art. 102.014. COURT COSTS FOR CHILD SAFETY FUND IN MUNICIPALITIES. (a) The governing body of a municipality with a population greater than 850,000 according to the most recent federal decennial census

From the Waco Trib 3/31/10 - “I always laugh and say that if I knew what I was getting into, I would have never run for the office,” Lewis said.

For taxpayers, ignoring the law is not a laughing matter. County Judge Jim Lewis did not have to face any questions when either Natasha Chen of News 25 or Regina Dennis of the Trib interviewed him on the subject. Lewis is counting on no one looking into the law.

The only reason Ray Meadows and Jim Lewis are suddenly worried about appointing a Chief Budget Officer is because both have opponents and it is an election year.

If this daunting task, preparation of the annual budget, is being taken off the plate of the County Judge, why not reduce his salary and staff to fund the new position of Chief Budget Officer? If you already read the statute, the other option available to the Court is to appoint the County Auditor as CBO. You may not remember last year just before one newly elected member took office, the court voted to eliminate post retirement health insurance benefits for new hires. The argument at the time was new regulations made the calculations overwhelming for the Auditor. Since the Court relieved the Auditor of significant responsibilities, his salary should be reduced if he doesn’t want to do the job of CBO. Only in Government can a persons job responsibilities be reduced and they suffer no reduction in pay but also continue to get annual cost of living increases. The newest member of the Court would do well to honor his campaign platform to run things more like a business.

Ineffective or corrupt…

2010-03-16T18:25:00.001-07:00

According to Texas Prison Bid’ness Ray Meadows is quoted “Electronic Monitoring can save the county $800,000.00 a year.” This with a dateline of Sep. 2007.

Meadows further says the county spends 1.2 million (that’s taxpayer dollars) housing prisoners with CEC due to overcrowding.

After Ray’s little plan was sidetracked by an Attorney General Opinion, taxpayers got to foot the bill for the law firm of Haley and Olson to petition State Senator Kip Averitt to pass S.B. 2340 to change the law and allow counties to implement electronic monitoring.

So today's question for Ray: Is your inability to implement electronic monitoring in more than two years due to your ineffectiveness as a commissioner or is it because you do not want to reduce the revenue of CEC whose affiliates are major campaign contributors?

In short, are taxpayers getting the shaft because he is ineffective or because he is corrupt?

Footnotes:
Jail Alternatives Can Save County Money Texas Prison Bid’ness 9/20/07
County officials are working on creating an electronic monitoring program after receiving the green light from a new state law. Waco Tribune Herald 7/15/09

Look in my eyes….

2010-03-05T21:05:00.001-08:00

From: Baylor Lariat
3/3/10
Commissioner prospects to compete again in runoff

For Meadows, the biggest difference between this and previous elections was the change in technology and the ability of anyone to post anything on the Internet.

"I don't like these blogs," Meadows said. "You get people printing stuff that is falsehood."

Meadows said he does not like people hiding behind a shield of a password.

"I still believe in meeting people and letting them look in my eyes," Meadows said.

I am sure the Lariat got it wrong and Mr. Meadows said pseudonyms instead of password.

Just in case, we will provide a little history lesson. Silence Dogood was the pseudonym of Benjamin Franklin. ‘Nuff said, I think if you can actually navigate to this blog, you can figure out the reference.

Sounds to me like Mr. Meadows is being a cry baby. I am pretty sure the British had the same take on Poor Richard's Almanack 1732 to 1758.

It is not in the interest of McLennan County to have an elected representative who appears to be a luddite. Let’s see if we can offer a few words of wisdom to Mr. Meadows.

Call a town hall meeting so voters can “look into your eyes”. The Blogs are evidence the voters are dissatisfied with your representation. Here are a few questions you might anticipate answering.

The County lost $130K on your watch. Where is that money now?

1. July, as a result of the loss, you made the motion to cover the portion which would have been due CEC with taxpayer funds to the tune of $102K. Since taxpayers were covered by the existing contract and had no obligation to cover CECs loss, why did taxpayers get the bill?

2. Since the kickback to the Sheriff is contingent on receipt of the money, and Jim Lewis said it does not come from CEC, did taxpayers also pay the kickback to the sheriff when the County did not receive the $130K?

3. Please explain how it is not a conflict of interest that you made the motion for an exception to the existing contract, to the benefit of CEC to the tune of $102K and then received campaign contributions from their employees and affiliates?

4. Perhaps Mr. Meadows can explain the appointment of a constable who did not even live in the precinct.

Texas Election Code § 141.001. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLIC OFFICE.

(a) To be eligible to be a candidate for, or elected or appointed to, a public elective office in this state, a person must:(5) have resided continuously in the state for 12 months and in the territory from which the office is elected for six months immediately preceding the following date: (E) for an appointee to an office, the date the appointment is made.

5. Can Mr. Meadows explain why smaller counties publish the minutes of Commissioners’ Court on the Internet and McLennan County does not? Below is a Google Search link to find counties minutes and links to a few counties minutes.

Google Search for Commissioners Court Minutes

Coryell County	Cameron County
Tom Green County	Kaufman County

Tit for tat for the twit.

2010-02-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

Waco Tribune Herald 2/9/10

Meadows says contributions not a conflict of interest

McLennan County Commissioner Ray Meadows received nearly $3,000 from executives of the company building the new Jack Harwell Detention Center on State Highway 6 for his re-election campaign.

“I believe in becoming friends with anybody that does business with (the county) because we can get more out of a friend than we can from an enemy,” Ray Meadows 2010

Back in July, the Bureau of prisons owed the county ~$130,000.00 for housing federal prisoners. There was some mixup and Medicare seized the money to offset a payment made on behalf of a county employees spouse. It's pretty complicated how the county "lost" $130K.

The contract the county has with CEC is interesting in two parts.

1st the contract stipulates payment to CEC is only due if the money is actually received. Way I read it, if the money is not received, it is CEC's problem.

2nd The contract prohibits use of taxpayer money to pay for the prisoners. This fact has repeatedly been touted by the county judge who lauds the clause as a protection for taxpayers.

Seems pretty simple. It is not a county problem. Remember these are not county prisoners.

Now politicians really try to keep campaign contributors happy. Ray Meadows did exactly that by making a motion for an exception to the contract and allow using taxpayer money to cover the loss experienced by his "Friends". If that is not interesting enough, besides the $102, 435.15 bill taxpayers got, did taxpayers also pay to cover the Sheriff's $1,000.00 a month kickback?

Sheriff's kickback and money laundering

2010-02-23T04:11:00.000-08:00

I looked on the County website and found the fiscal year 2009 allowance and salary schedule for elected officials. From that document:

(3) The Sheriff’s salary may be supplemented from non-tax revenues up to $12,000 for detention monitoring compensation subject to, and contingent upon actual receipt of monitoring reimbursement funds under the Facility Lease, Operation and Management Agreement regarding the housing of Federal Prisoners at the Downtown Jail.

Why is the same not available for FY 2010? I don't know. Call your commissioner. 254-757-5000.

Key words here are non-tax revenues and monitoring reimbursement funds.

A private company can not contract with the federal government for the housing of federal prisoners. Only another government entity. McLennan County has such an agreement. Jim Lewis implies the county keeps a portion of the money paid by the feds for housing prisoners and passes the money on to the private company sans the "fee". Lewis tries to imply the Sheriff's kickback is paid from a portion of the "fee" and as such the kickback does not come from CEC.
The Feds do not pay a monitoring reimbursement fee. Note the wording above indicating the Sheriff receives his kickback contingent on the County receiving "monitoring reimbursement funds". If the feds only pay a per prisoner fee, where does the monitoring reimbursement funds come from? Can't be the feds.

I told you so.

2010-02-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

Don't you just hate it when someone says that? In this case, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot issued opinion GA-0760. This opinion should create two problems for McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch and County Judge Jim Lewis. For Larry, it makes clear that the Sheriff can not receive money from a private company that does business with the county. For Jim Lewis, it makes clear the existing contracts with the private company paying off the Sheriff are void.

Here are the links for more info. I will be following up on this soon.
http://thepatriotwriter.com/

News 25 Coverage

PDF version of the Opinion Request

Texas Prision Bidness story.

Waco Tribune Herald coverage

Payola

2009-05-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

Larry Lynch is paid $1,000 a month by the private company running the downtown jail. He has to sign off on the contract under which they operated the jail. Is there anyone that does not think it is inappropriate for an elected official who exercises control over a contract to receive money from a private party with an intrest in the contract? Larry has said his predicessor did the same thing.

There is a difference. Larry now houses county prisioners at the facility run by the private organization. This is as almost as complex as it is corrupt. Larry receives money from the private company while funneling tax dollars to the private company. CiviGenics pays Larry and Larry houses prisioners with them, at tax payer expense, to contribute to the bottom line of CiviGenics.

The above is why I don't stutter when I say that Larry is a crook. You decide.