His answer: I can't tell you why...
Waco - Chief Deputy Randy Plemons, a candidate for McLennan County Sheriff, has been questioned by McLennan County Commissioners repeatedly about such items as a huge unforeseen overtime budget for Courthouse security officers when newly-elected DA Abel Reyna instituted a twice a month Grand Jury session which subsequent increased criminal District Court docket calls, maintenance schedules on the old downtown jail, and other burning money questions that confront taxpayers.
In every case, his answers have unwaveringly been the same. He doesn't know; he couldn't speculate; he can't tell them. Unfortunately, we at The Legendary can't, either, because information is difficult to come by. You have to pay for it.
Offense and arrest reports cost so much per page - about the same as official certified copies of court transcripts, deeds, and the like.
In fact, at one point The Legendary was required to pay $85 to obtain information about how many prisoners - many of them charged with violent crimes - have been turned loose on $0 personal recognizance bonds.
The $85 expense resulted in this report published by The Legendary.
Stings.
It does.
In another case, it cost a couple of dollars to get a report that contained only the name of a man who committed a public suicide with a pistol near the Courthouse steps after learning that he would be sentenced to the penitentiary for a felony case of DUI.
Ouch! No offense report. No nothing.
Stings. It is especially painful when one stops to consider that the preamble and recital in the Texas Public Information Act plainly states that the public records of the State of Texas belong to the people of the State of Texas. They are not the property of its Constitutional Officers, even though they have the responsibility to carry out ministerial duties as outlined in the Constitution of the State of Texas.
- The Legendary
Friday, December 9, 2011
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And didn't someone just recently claim that Plemons deserves the job because of his experience dealing with budget matters. Now it's been a while since I was in school, but I think even common sense would tell a person that if the hours needed doubles, then the hours needing to be paid doubles as well. I would have thought Plemons 12 years as Chief Deputy would have taught him that. I guess the Lynch wasted more tax payer money sending him to the FBI, and should have gotten him a math tutor instead.
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