Wednesday, May 30, 2012

McNamara sews up nomination as Sheriff of McLennan

Waco – As the big screen televisions flashed news that veteran Deputy U.S. Marshal Parnell McNamara had beaten the socks off Chief Deputy Randy Plemons, supporters partying at the Hog Creek Ice House held kids' stick horses aloft.

The stick horses served as rallying points in the crowd; they resembled the gangs of old New York going into battle with the standards of the Dead Rabbits and Plug Uglies held high as they met at 5-Points, ready to rumble.

Deputy Plemons had in past weeks gone negative in television spots mocking Marshal McNamara's horsemanship and reputation as a traditional lawman with a gift for assembling a posse and going after bad guys wanted at the bar of justice - and still at large.


Many thus pursued have gone to the penitentiary, a few to the death chamber. His exploits have gained recognition far and wide, on television programs about law and order, productions such as "America's Ten Most Wanted," and the Arts and Entertainment Network.

A particularly galling ad featured a little boy riding a stick horse, wearing a 10-gallon cowboy hat and wearing a vest much too large for him.

All that and a bag of chips, it prompted McNamara supporters to defeat Deputy Plemons by 1,772 votes – 11,652 to 9,880. Deputy Plemons is the candidate chosen by retiring incumbent Sheriff Larry Lynch to succeed him after 12 years as McLennan County Sheriff.

During the campaign, Marshal McNamara gleaned endorsements from the statewide police union, Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas (CLEAT), the Waco Police Association, and the Hewitt Police Officers Association, among others.

His program includes:

Favoring a civil service commission for officers and jailers;
Restoring public operation of the County Jail by the department;
Reinstituting a drug task force;
Starting a cold case squad staffed in part by retired law men to clear 53 open and unsolved homicides in McLennan County, some of them home invasions, others of them robberies.

Asked what would become of crooks in Six Shooter Junction, Marshal McNamara's side kick Matt Cawthon said, “There will be a new order to things around here.” He is a retired Texas Ranger who is now a Texas Department of Criminal Justice officer seconded to the Fugitive Warrant Task Force founded by Marshal McNamara during a 30-year career with the U.S. Marshal's Service, half of which was spent as the Marshal in charge of the surrounding 13-county area.

10 comments:

  1. It's good to see a rel lawman on his way back to becoming Sheriff of McLennan County. I've known Parnell McNamara all my life, and never in my years have I seen a more fitting man to be our Sheriff. In the age of dirty politics and campaigns built on attack ads, Parnell stood by the values he was raised on and ran on his record and reputation. Despite being the target of some rather distasteful and disrespectful ads, he showed the calm and cool head of the veteran peace officer his looks naturally portray. He's no stranger to being a target considering his vast experience handling some of the worst of the worst ever to come to Texas. It's no wonder the voters of McLennan County elected him as Sheriff. The Sheriff is the people's lawman, and they have had enough of an administrator standing in for a lawman.

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  2. Yeah, Parnell didn't involve himself in attack ads.... He left that to others on the web to do for him on facebook and on this site.....

    But hey, why let facts get in the way

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    1. The "others" have been attacking Lynch and Plemons for years. That's what happens when you mistreat people for years and years. Parnell never asked anyone to attack Plemons, and I know he got mad over a few of those attacks by the "others" because he knew he would get blamed for them.

      But hey, sour grapes make "whine" sweeter.

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  3. The time was there in 1996 but did not work out,now we finally have a sheriff in Mclennan county.

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  4. What attack ads,the attitude of the deputies ,I hope will change,they all need attitude adjustments.Just look at some of the pictures on Plemons website.

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  5. Look again at Plemons web site. How many employees does he manage,does anybody really know? duh,maybe Plemons or Lynch knows ,you think? I KNOW ONE THING ,HE MIGHT TELL THE PEOPLE WRITING FOR HIM.

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  6. Plemons, lynch and their little click of "wanna be" lawmen like them are all has-beens now. There is nothing more pathetic than a sore loser, who is a cry baby. the Lynch/Plemons bunch need to stay on the porch, and never get off of it again. It's rough out there guys,you might get hurt.

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  7. The deputies who want to keep their jobs, will do a great job for the next 7 months, and actually work, and go above and beyond the call of duty. The deputies who dont want their jobs come Jan. 1, will continue to slack off for the next 7 months. They will definitely be watched

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  8. I think you meant to say that Lynch and Plemons have been mistreating and bullying people for years. Now that they are losers, they want to continue to whine about it. The truth is, Lynch would never have been sheriff if he had ever had a real opponent. He just lucked out for the last 12 years. Lynch is a joke.

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  9. Lynch had a good public image. Most had no idea the type of person he really was. He did a good job controlling the media and flow of information to the general public.

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