Saturday, May 12, 2012

Union endorsement signals key differences


Stark choices in Sheriff's race

Waco – The battle lines are drawn; the heat is on.

GOP candidates seeking the nominaton as a candidate for Sheriff of McLennan County are asking voters to choose between two styles.


The choice is very clear.

You can see the story unfold in microcosm as it is told in two videoclips. One is of a key police union official pronouncing endorsement of one candidate for Sheriff over the other. That candidate's style is one of a modern day lawman who uses traditional cowboy style detective and posse participation to bring desperados to justice.

His video is placed at the top of this story; it depicts a group of serious lawmen aligned on the steps of the courthouse while a union representative tells the public what his program will do for men and women who work behind a badge, and what the program will buy taxpaying voters.


That video depicts a little boy dressed up in a cowboy suit, riding a stick horse and wearing a big white cowboy hat and a vest with a toy badge pinned on it.

It mocks the record of one of the most prolific and famed modern day lawmen to ride the counties of Central Texas as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, Parnell McNamara. A fourth generation “law” from Waco's Bosqueville Community, Marshal McNamara has brought hundreds of violent fugitive felony offenders to justice; he and his brother Mike put the death needle in the arm of Kenneth McDuff, and others who have run rampant raping and robbing, murdering the honest people of the Brazos Basin in the Federal District Court system's Western District of the State of Texas.

You don't want to watch that video. It's not funny. That's why it's not in this story.

Why isn't it funny?

Tracking stories about these issues involved in the Sheriff's race, The Legendary has learned that our readers' number one priority is the safety and security of family and property when it comes to law and order.

Getting their money's worth for hard-earned tax dollars is their number two priority when it comes to reading news items attached to the subject.


It' a $50 million project that looked necessary back in 2009 when there was a crisis of jail space caused not by a lack of room in the twin lockups located downtown behind the courthouse and on Highway 6, but by an improperly low staff to inmate ratio, one that is prohibited by the Texas Commission of Jail Standards.

The remedy? Hire more certfied jailers.

The County Commissioners Court had a different idea; they issued revenue bonds without voter approval, got into a contract to have a subsidiary company of CEC, Inc., build an 800-plus bunk jail next door to the County Jail, and staffed it with employees of the corporation, rather than new hires who work for the McLennan County Sheriff's Office, an agency headed by the people's choice for their law enforcement representative.

That approach has caused the system to hemorrhage money at an exponential rate ever since. (click here) The reason: There are an estimated 72,000 county prisoners statewide who share a total capacity of 92,000 certified beds in county lockups, according to Assistant Director Shannon Herklotz. That leaves a 20,000 bunk surplus of space that County Sheriffs find difficult to fill with inmates from other jurisdictions willing to pay a per diem rate to house their overflow.

There is no overflow.


The corporation does not seem to be in any hurry to get the jail up and running. It has stood empty for a year in favor of locking up offenders in the Jack Harwell Detention Center at the per diem cost of $45.50 per day.

In a hastily called Friday afternoon press conference, one of the top officials for the 18,500-strong collective bargaining police union CLEAT endorsed Parnell McNamara for Sheriff.

Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas organizes police and corrections officers to bargain for employment contracts at uniform rates of pay negotiated in bargaining, benefits packages of their choosing, and automatic legal representation before a civil service commission in case of a disciplinary disputes with management.



They are:


To read stories from The Legendary that contain news about these areas, one may click on each of the links highlighted above.

10 comments:

  1. Plemons and Lynch literally belong in jail. I cannot imagine that any educated, intelligient person with any ethics, or intelligence would ever vote for Plemons. Especially after the distasteful, trashy, lying commercial he just ran!! I've know a lot of lying cheats in my life. I can honestly say that Randy Plemons tops them all.

    Desperate people do desperate things. It's very obvious that Randy and Larry are very desperate! I will be so glad when this election is over. I have never seen such dirty politics in a Sheriffs election in my life!!!

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  2. This is one of the most important elections for Mclennan county voters ,Ever since 1996 we have had no law enforcement officer in the county,the sheriffs dept only report crime . Plemons would do the same thing report crime not solve it,and Lynch supplements his salary for over seeing a vacate jail that is downtown,then the budget officer wants to take money from others and pay for their error,PLEASE FOR YOUR CHILDREN AND THE SENIORS THAT ARE AFRAID OF HOMES BROKEN INTO ,VOTE FOR A LAWMAN PARNELL MCNAMARA.

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    1. I totally agree. Except that we had law enforcement in McLennan County in 1996. We stopped having real law enforcement in January of 2001. That is when the Sheriffs office began it's downward spiral to complete incompetence

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    2. That's the truth. That's when the paper pushers took over and we got a Sheriff and a Chief Deputy who combined didn't have a year of experience on the front lines. Since then, we've seen our Drug Task Force dismantled as drug offenses rise to unholy levels. We've seen a private jail built at the public's expense on public land that cost the public to hold our own prisoners, and the current administration having no solution to keeping it from costing the taxpayers extra millions this year, because neither the Sheriff or Chief Deputy ever worked in the jail either. We have discovered that there are thousands of unsolved cases sitting around the Sheriff's Office, since the only experience the Sheriff and Chief Deputy have is reporting and filing.

      I do disagree that the Sheriff's Office has been in a downward spiral since the "Administrators" began playing lawmen almost 12 years ago. The Sheriff's Office has been in a nosedive straight to planet Earth, and each year, their incompetence is costing the taxpayers millions and costing the citizens the safety. Unless you want to count going from a 15 minutes response times for calls to an hour an improvement.

      I will be voting today, and I will be voting for a real lawman, not for the immature child who's been playing at being a real deputy for the last 24 years. As a real deputy, I find the suggestion that guy currently calling himself my Chief Deputy a huge insult, considering this campaign is the more time he's been on the streets then the rest of his career combined. It's no wonder he can't manage the department effectively, he's never been out there.

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  3. Why is Lynch drawing $12000 more a year and the downtown jail empty,but the commissioners take money from other sources to pay for their mistakes on funding, two commissioners are also up for election,see how they vote on paying for the sheriffs error or even if you see the sheriff in court.

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  4. David Jumper ,wrote in the west news about Facts: this guy is brain dead,where did he get his facts,from Lynch.He does not even get the facts right.

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    1. Fact: Randy Plemons declared at the debate he is THE person who administrates the budget.
      Fact: Larry Lynch is quoted in his letter to the editor that he is in fact the one who administrates the budget.
      So who is lying?

      Fact: in an endorsement video paid for by Randy Plemons, the endorser claims that Randy Plemons was hired as and worked as a Field Deputy.
      Fact: Larry Lynch stated plainly that he hired Randy Plemons as a DARE Officer. County records also show that Randy Plemons worked for 12 years as a DARE officer.
      Again, who's lying?

      Fact: Randy Plemons claims to have graduated from the FBI Academy.
      Fact: To qualify to go to the FBI Academy a person must have at minimum a 4 year degree and upon graduating becomes a FBI agent. Randy Plemons' record shows no 4 year degree and that he has never been a FBI agent.
      Again, who's lying?

      Fact: Randy Plemons and Larry Lynch havea both stated that Parnell McNamara was never a real Deputy US Marshal.
      Fact: Parnell McNamara still has his Deputy US Marshal ID and has the award certificate given only to Deputy US Marshal's by the Director of the US Marshal Service. Plus he has the certificate given him by Larry Lynch himself for Parnall McNamara's service in the US Marshal Service.
      Once again, who's lying?

      Fact: Randy Plemons claims that Parnell McNamara was taken to court for not paying his taxes.
      Fact: The court clerk's office has no record of Parnell McNamara ever having been taken to court for not paying his taxes.
      Do I need to ask again who's lying?

      Fact: Randy Plemons claims he took to court a credit card company who tried to over charge him on interest.
      Fact: according to court documents, the credit card company filed on Randy Plemons and to avoid going to court, Rsndy Plemons agreed to pay the original debt plus the interest rate claimed by the credit card company along with continued interest on that debt and pay the attorney fees for the credit card company plus interest on that.
      Hmmm..someone's still lying.

      Fact: Randy Plemons says that he paid the debt off after that.
      Fact: Court records show that 2 years later Randy Plemons stopped paying his agreed upon owed debt, and that the credit card company had filed a lien on Plemons' house. The lien was served by a now Captain in the Sheriff's Office who illegally listed no recoverable assets, despite their being a home occupied by the deputy's boss. To this day, there is no record of Plemons having repaid his debt or the judgement against him closed.

      Randy Plemons has a long well documented history of lying. His "truth", and I use the term loosely, can be disproven by hard facts. Even know as he campaigns under the lie of being an experienced administrator, his administrative blunders have cost taxpayers an extra $2 million but paid to secure his endorsements of some of those who's jobs he controls. Still even with the Gestapo like tactics he has used to bully and intimidate his employees and local businesses, there are still those in his own department that have spoken out against him or refused to support him knowing that it will ultimately cost them their jobs. These people did so, because they feel they can not allow Randy Plemons to continue to lie to you his employers and compromise your safety any longer.

      Please join me and them in ensuring we have an experienced, competent, honest and hard working Sheriff by voting starting May 14th for Parnell McNamara as our Sheriff and sending a message to all criminals who would trespass in McLennan County, that there is a real Sheriff who stands ready to protect the citizens, and their 12 years of grace under lying paper pushers is over.

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    2. Here's one. Fact Randy Plemons claims to have the full support of the Sheriff's Association. Fact despite stacking the deck in every way possible the night of the vote and having every unfair advantage including the intimidation of the Sheriff, he still did not receive all the votes. Many in the Sheriff's Association who's officers are Plemons's stormtroopers, have threatened, lied, intimidated employees and business on Plemon's and the Sheriff's orders. I will be happy seeing these snakes get booted out of officer. McLennan County deserves a real lawman as Sheriff not the pretenders who have kept me from doing my job because they have no idea how my job works.

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    3. Fact: Randy Plemons claims to be taking the high road in an Trib interview.
      Fact: Randy Plemons has spread false information such as McNamara is being investigated for Ethics Violations and he was drug into court for not paying his taxes.
      Proof: The Ethics Committee sent back the complaint issued by Plemons Campaign without finding any violations by McNamara. Court records also show that McNamara has never been in court for taxes, and the Constable has stated with a sworn statement that McNamara was never even served because the taxes were paid.
      Fact: Sheriff Larry Lynch was fined 3 different times by the Ethics Committee for failure to properly report his campaign finances.
      Fact: Plemons illegally used a county owned vehicle in his commercial which is a violation of County Policy and also a felony criminal offense.

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  5. Plemons and Lynch have to be some of the lowest ilk ever to walk the Earth. After cheating the voters of McLennan County for the services they failed to provide for 12 years. Now that a real honest to goodness, bonafide lawman, has stepped to the plate with much encouragement from the public. For those that know the history of Lynch and his pet dog Plemons, their reaction is typical. They are doing what they have done to ever honest person that has stood up to them. They slander, lie, harass and bully.

    Plemons' tv ad is a clear picture of the depths he will sink to defame a local law enforcement legend. Parnell McNamara doesn't dress up to play Sheriff, he's been enforcing the law as a Deputy US Marshal for over 3 decades with all the powers of a Sheriff of the state as per the powers and duties of a Deputy US Marshal. For the past 2 and a half decades, Plemons has lectured school children and bullied real law enforcement officers in his own department.

    In his ad, Plemons paints a very clear picture of a child wanting to play sheriff. Having know Plemons for most of his career, I can see how he got such a clear and detailed picture of an immoral, wanna be law enforcement officer, because he stares at one every morning in the mirror. Come Monday, I encourage all the voters of McLennan County to elect the only honest and real law enforcement officer on the ballot, Parnell McNamara.

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