Operation
Countdown proceeds apace...
Six
Shooter – In the glare of a new day, a group of inmates submit to
the chains that restrain their movements, their wrists shackled at
their waists, their ankles restricted to short, mincing steps.
They
are prepared and waiting to walk the few feet that separate them from
a public jail, operated as the ministerial duty of a Constitutional
Officer of the State of Texas, the County Sheriff – and a public
facility operated by a private, for-profit corporation, the Jack
Harwell Detention Center.
Somewhere
in the bowels of the institution, a phone rings. A voice of authority
commands that the prisoners be taken back inside, that they not be
transferred to the corporate control of a New Jersey company.
The
women are returned to their cells in the McLennan County Jail – and
no one is really quite sure why.
Like
most forms of information in this city on the Brazos, this, too, is
as unobtainable as the codes of the Doomsday Machine, the exact
location of the treasures of the Pharaoh, the protocols of the
Pentagon for World War Four.
Newly
nominated candidates for public office and old hands passing out of
the wicket of the elected official to private life all agreed when
queried today. If faced with a decision whether to extend or renew
the maintenance and operations contract with Community Education
Centers, Inc., (CEC, or “Civigenics”) they would be totally at a
loss to make an informed decision.
The
type of information necessary to make such a choice is simply
unavailable, and it's a chronic problem, according to those who have
worn the yoke of resposibility in this county.
One
need only listen to the reminiscences of Precinct 3 Commissioner Joe
Mashek in a lengthy exit interview conducted months ago, when he made
his decision not to seek re-election.
Serving
in McLennan County is an exercise in making decisions in an
information poor environment.
Consider
the mystery of the finance of paying police from an outside agency,
the Hewitt Police Department, to stand guard at the magnetometers of
the entry to the Courthouse. Bookwork from the County auditor shows
that for the past two months, the fund has been negative, in the red
– and yet, somehow, somewhere, officials found the cash to meet the
payroll.
The
warning bell might have been sounded when in the first two months,
the expenditures exceeded the monthly allotment. Surely someone took
notice when in month three, the expenditures were more than twice the
monthly budget amount. The issue might have come up prior to the
primary election since the budget was fully expended in April except
county records kept by County Auditor Stan Chambers indicate a letter
was received which led to a budget adjustment in the exact amount of
the $2107.50, necessary to stave off the deficit until after the
primary election.
Mr.
Chambers has not yet indicated the origin of the letter, who wrote
it, or the source of the funds.
A
public information act request for the fortuitous letter and related
documentation have gone unanswered.
One
has to wonder if commissioners considered that if a business owner
had $111,000 in his account and wrote checks totaling more than
$128,000, said business owner would make a trip to the local hoosegow
for theft by check. The key in this matter is no approval to pay the
officers is sought.
The
only request before the court is to replace the money already
expended.
Not sure if the county can afford to have Lynch and Plemons sitting down there for the next seven months. It's a scary thought! I feel sorry for the incoming Sheriff. He will have to clean up Lynch's mess for years to come.
ReplyDeleteThe issue here is not as puzzeling as one would think. The administration as far back as Jack Harwell has had an adversarial relationship with the commisioners court. "keep em in the dark and feed em Sh**" was the phrase used many times. The difference now in the day and age of public access is that people are asking too many questions and its becoming exposed. Harwell never attempted to bring the S.O into the modern age of law enforcement with advanced equipment, fascilities, and officers. To Lynch's credit he began with the right idea of doing just that....HOWEVER,,,,he WAS TRAINED OR RATHER RAISED BY THE HARWEL ADMIN. So it wasnt long before the adversarial relationship became even more strained because the S.O began expenditures to try and create a dept to be proud of,,,,,and did not feel they had to "explain" themselves and when they tried the comissioners were predisposed to be resistant. Shady deals, lying, and misdirection ensued and the relationship became EVEN MORE tainted and is broken beyond repair. The new administratin should seize the chance to start fresh and get off on a positive note to fix what could be a good relationship.
ReplyDeleteThe news just keeps coming of how badly the Sheriff's Office has been managed by the "Administrators" for the last decade. Lately they seem to be able to do nothing more then overspend the taxpayers' money. This is the third time in the last year that the Sheriff's Office has overspent their budget. They have established a pattern of overspending thier budget, the County Auditor helping them hide it for a short time, then it finally becoming public knowledge 2 months after they went into the hole. Yet I have to laugh, because these same people who have gone in the hole on their budget 4 out of the past 5 months questioned Marshal McNamara on his ability to manage the budget.
ReplyDeleteI hope the Commissioner quickly act and stop our lame duck Sheriff and his patsy Chief Deputy from continueing to abuse the county taxpayers as they have done. They used this latest overspending to help secure an endorsement from the Hewitt Police Association, the main department benefitting from the over spending on part time security, just like the overspending on outside care for inmates bought him the help of CEC and their mysterious white vans. I'd love to see the Texas Rangers investigate our current Sheriff and Chief Deputy before the Sheriff disappears into his luxary retirement and his Chief Deputy goes to Baylor DPS to start overspending their to live high on the hog.