Tells chilling story of murder, misery
Waco – A dog catcher making his morning rounds of the animal control facility in a nearby suburb arrived to feed the strays in the pound.
As he approached, he surprised two men who had come to retrieve a container of anhydrous ammonia used in the manufacture – cooking – of illicit methamphetamine – crank, crystal, speed.
They couldn't be sure if he had seen them – or not – so, they stalked him, shot him in the back, and just to make sure he was dead, flipped him over and shot him the heart. (click here for the back story)
All this was done just because he may have seen something.
The killers have met justice in court. The matter is closed.
Or is it?
A grandmother who is native to the area heard the whole story long before the matter became public knowledge, before a Grand Jury returned indictments, before a jury trial had been scheduled, publicized.
She heard it from a woman she now knows was involved in the matter, though at the time, she was on her own, trying to learn where she could find her daughter, granddaughter and son in a desperate search for a family troubled by the kind of psychological warfare and terrorism that accompanies the use and manufacture of illegal drugs.
Her problem: There was no drug task force, no narcotics unit available in a metropolitan area of 250,000 souls, no central clearing house for the investigation of drug crime to which she could turn to try to keep her family unit intact in the face of what amounts to wartime conditions, a war carried out with both conventional weapons of steel and lead, shot and powder, as well as mysterious compounds that people inject into their bloodstream, compounds that make them do things they would not ordinarily even dream of doing.(click here for a story about the problem)
The only way to tell her story is to let her have her say in her own words – to let her tell it like it is from the perspective of a grandmother desperate to keep her family alive and well and free.
The alternative: incarceration, loss of custody of the children, homelessness, sickness – and ultimately, death.(click here for the minority report-blam-de-lam)
It's a shame that the current administration for the McLennan County Sheriff's Office, which includes candidate Randy Plemons, disbanded our drug task force. Plemons has told people it was because of funding, yet county budget records and commissioner court minutes both clearly show that the county was prepared and did continue to fund deputies for a drug task force. So look go down to the County Clerk's office as ask to see for yourself. The court continued to fund the officers of the Drug Task Force, but Plemons and company disbanded it anyway.
ReplyDeleteIf memory serves, the Animal Control Officer that was murdered was a beloved member of the community. There was a huge outpouring of emotion from the citizens of McLennan County when he was found murdered. It was a sad tradegy, that if there had still existed a Drug Task Force in exsitence in McLennan County, could have been avoided and we would still have a beloved public servant.
Currently there is only one candidate who not only wants to bring back the Drug Task Force, but is adament about doing so. Parnell McNamara, as a US Deputy Marshal, has decades of experience of working with all sorts of law enforcement agencies at every level from local police to state officers to other federal units like the DEA. He has helped investigate and bring to justice drug dealers and drug suppliers, some of which have been some of the worst of the worst. While current Sheriff Administration has kept their distance from other organizations that has greatly reduced their affectiveness, McNamara as a US Deputy Marshal in Charge, knows the value of inter-departmental operations. McNamara knows from his distingished experience in the field that all law enforcement agencies are on the same team against the criminals, not separate teams against the criminals and each other. That type of mentality is another one of those leadership intangibles his opponent lacks, with him only having been an administrator with no real law enforcement experience.
On May 29th, cast your vote for the only real lawman, because the next time an administrator decides to sacrifice your protection, you may become the next victim.
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ReplyDeleteHAM radio operators throughout Central Texas mourn the loss of Bobby Evans because he often volunteered to climb broadcasting towers to install and tune antennas - a very dangerous job. They loved him because his head was in the right place, and they miss him, as do I. - The Legendary
ReplyDeleteIt has been long suspected that the reason no emphasis has been placed on the drug element in Mclennan county is that for so many years the drugs of choice were dealt and distributed in the Waco city Limits. As times move forward the on set of Meth or as some of you remember it was termed "nazi" meth hit the scene. An explosion of cases popped up in rural areas for manufacturing due to the chemical components allowed it to be "brewed" at home. One of the compounds is anhydrous amonia....yes the chemical our farmers are using to fertilize the fields. The county went to battle,responding to calls of suspicious odors, theft of anhydrous reported by farmers, etc....and WERE making a pretty good stand against it. However when the budget funding from the state and feds was cut due to 911 and the fight on terror....the money soon ran out and the county went back to turning a blind eye and referring the cases to other agencies to handle the problem. What it takes to fight this war is money and training and equipment. When you choose cosmetic, "feel good" things to spend your budget money on,,,,something else must suffer. They also are not nieve enough to not know that handling these situations requires trained professionals with the right mindset,,otherwise you get people killed and you get fined from OSHA for basically half a** work concerning the cleanup of the labs. The sheriffs office has qualified people with the right mindset to handle these things,,,,they dont have the administration to back them or fight for the funds and training to do so....easier to call someone else and fake it.
ReplyDeleteActually the funds not being there is a myth or outright lie fed to the people of McLennan County by the current Sheriff and Chief Deputy. The county continued to make funds available to fund the task force officers, even after state and federal funding "disappeared". Lynch and Plemons just chose to use that money elsewhere, such as training an administration who almost completely lacked actual experience. The Sheriff's Office does have the deputies with the mindset and motivation to handle these types of drug related operations. The Sheriff Administration just would rather trade off the safety of McLennan Count residents they are sworn to protect for pet projects. That's why McLennan County should be tired of having an "administrator" running their Sheriff's Office instead of a lawman. On May 29th, vote McNamara for Sheriff for all of our safety!!
DeleteCould you share any figures on where those funds allocated to drug tasking and interdiction were actually spent? We would all be very curious to learn the truth of this matter. - The Legendary Jim Parks
ReplyDeleteUp until Oct 2006, those Task Force positions were funded by the county for the Agriplex Drug Task Force, since the grant did not allow for salaries. On October 1, 2006, the 1 sergeant, 1 corporal, 3 deputies and a clerk were all transferred. The sergeant, corporal and 3 deputies were transferred to Sheriff's Office along with the creation of a new investigator and a new deputy. The clerk was transferred to Records. But in the year that Plemons claims the budget "dried up" for those Task Force positions, all the positions were transferred to the Sheriff's Office, and they added an additional deputy and investigator on top of those.
DeleteThey also all got the 3% Cost of Living raise that every employee in the county got that October as well. So the positions not only were still funded, but also got a raise as well.
As for the operating budget outside of salaries, that could be funded by seized property. No one seems to be sure about what happened to that money. Most believe it to be folded back into the operations of the Sheriff's Office in some form. Unfortunately, the men that know won't say, and I'm not sure if I'd trust the truth coming from those men anyway since one of them is the same one that said those positions "dried up" during the debate.
The seized property money was used to fund a SWAT team that is a "pet project" of the SO. Nobody uses the SWAT team, and they dont get the right amount of training. It's basically just for show.
DeleteLegendary, this is a little off subject but does Johnson Roofing have an open checkbook on Court House repairs. Seems there is always another newly discovered problem costing many thousands of dollars for this and that. Is the commissioner's court not required to to put these hidden problems out for bid or does Johnson just say, oh, $25,000 sounds pretty close. We'll do it for that. Done deal.
ReplyDelete