Bosqueville
– Carl is a master glazier with a shop, a payroll and a title –
President of Waco Glass & Mirror.
Fridays
find him often at Bill Doss' woodworking shop off Flat Rock Road,
picking with the rest of the crew directly under the glide path from
the friendly skies of the Waco Airport.
I
wanted to take his picture, but he said, calmly, “I'd rather not.”
Doesn't
have to be any reason for something like that, so I took pictures of
the unusual fretted instruments he builds from plans he finds on the
internet – some with 3, others with 4, 6 and 8 strings, the bodies
made of pop-riveted sheet metal, necks and tuning boards often made
of scrap wood from pallets and other shipping dunnage, if not
salvaged from other instruments of dissimilar design.
“These
days, I don't often do anything unless I want to,” Mr. Genarlsky
said with a smile.
He
also builds violins, fiddles, violas, cellos, dulcimers and some very
racy ancient and archaic numbers from Spain, Central and South
America.
In
the background, the rowdy talk of working men and women gathered to
talk over the hassles of the work week, eat peanuts, pick guitars,
and laugh it up. Happens on Fridays, on cue, with precision.
Bill
Doss swung into a number and his friends picked along with him, then
the talk turned to outlaws and the evening turned cool in the
gloaming as the commuter planes toiled to their landings at
diminished throttle levels, the guitars twanged and the working men
crooned.
There
were a couple of outlaw ballads from Jeff Ward.
Then,
Mr. Harwell played some Texas blues, and it was time for the trip
home and a sack out sack in the rack, just waiting on a leisurely
Saturday morning.
Waco
– As a tax free business, it's not bad. A decent location can gross
a cool 1 to 1.2 million per year with ease.
Masquerading
as a smoke shop, a convenience store, a place to buy a beer or a jug,
these places have bars on the windows, placards obsuring the view
from outside, but allowing an attendant ample opportunity to see who
is coming, the store fronts are spotted in strip malls throughout the
city.
Let's
take a look at 2516 W. Waco Drive, “Hookah City 1.”
The
room where players operate the gambling machines has its windows
masked by venetian blinds, the other, a merchandising room offering
tobacco products, beverages and snacks, is a storefront with windows
partially obscured by placards and signs.
You
have to be buzzed inside the front door. Once inside, you may play to
your heart's content. Credit may be arranged through jewelry pawn,
car title loan, pay check loan, or other creative means of digging up
some cash.
Free
sodas, candy, snacks are part of the ambient appeal as patrons sit on
swivel stools and dial up such games as keno, poker, black jack, and
the like.
The
machines blink, buzz, beep, and ring-a-ding-ding their robotic
signals to the world – win, lose, or draw. Plenty of action, as low
as 25 cents a pop.
It's
a two-bit world that adds up to big cash – as much as $20,000 a
machine each week. One may easily see there are in excess of 20
machines inside the room.
In
the count room, observers watch carefully from behind one-way
mirrors, surveil the scene on video screens, and load up couriers
with bags of cash for deposit.
These
places are routinely robbed – an event which is rarely reported to
police.
Why
bother? Is it a matter of record? Is the eight-liner business legal, or illegal?
As they say in the big city, the information is classified. Unaccredited media need not apply.
Then
there is “Smoke City,” located near the corner of Sanger at Lake
Air in a strip mall shared with a tattoo parlor and lots of vacant,
dusty storefronts.
Washington
– The U.S. House of Representatives voiced overwhelming rejection
to ending the war in Afghanistan, though a poll shows only one fourth
of those surveyed are in favor of continuing after more than 10 years
of conflict.
The
amendment thus rejected would have put a swift end to the fighting by
limiting funding to “safe and orderly withdrawal of U.S. Troops and
military contractors from Afghanistan.” Lawmakers voted 303-113 to
reject the measure, though an Associated Press-GfK poll indicted only
27 percent of Americans quizzed favor continuing the conflict, while
66 percent oppose it.
Government analysts estimate the war in Afghanistan costs taxpayers about $300 million each day.
Austin
– McLennan County officials have been under the false impression
that extensive renovations to the Courthouse Annex Jail were ordered
by a state agency.
Texas
Commission on Jail Standards Director Adan Munoz told The Legendary
that though McLennan County Commissioners seem to believe they were
ordered to spend $1.1 million on jail renovations, the closure of the
324-bed lockup was done “voluntarily and not ordered by TCJS.”
In
a meeting earlier this week, the Court voted 4 to 1 to spend $41,000
to buy new kitchen equipment to be used when CEC, Inc., the private
contractor that operates the facility, finishes certain renovations.
Commissioner
Kelly Snell opposed the measure, saying he wants to defer until he
finds out when the Sheriff's Office will be ready to move prisoners
back in to the newly refurbished facility, which has been renovated
with new smoke alarms and locks.
In
response to an open records act information request, Mr. Munoz wrote,
“In discussing the McLennan County downtown jail with the current
inspector, Fred St. Amant, he remembers that this facility failed in
2008 and 2009. The facility was depopulated for renovation in 2010
and is still going through renovation. This was done voluntarily by
McLennan County and not ordered by TCJS.
“Once
the facilty is deemed ready, then it will require that TCJS conduct a
walk through for compliance. this is mandatory prior to bringing any
inmates back to facility. reminder that both facilities are operated
by CEC.”
His
assessment jibed with one given by Assistant Director Shannon
Herklotz earlier this week. According to both officials, all three
lockups in McLennan County are now in compliance, but state law
requires a renovated facility to be inspected in a “walk-through”
following remodeling.
Mr.
Snell and Commissioners Joe Mashek and Lester Gibson suggested that
they want assurance that CEC will complete a punch list of repairs
prior to the end of the company's contract to operate the downtown
jail in June.
CEC agreed to depopulate the downtown facility of prisoners in 2010 when the county opened its new Jack Harwell Detention Center and transfer the prisoners to the new lockup on Highway 6.
“We
need to have a Sheriff who knows the difference between enforcing
stupid laws and upholding and defending the Constitution.” -
Richard Mack, former Sheriff of Graham County, Arizona
Waco
– Parnell keeps an old, framed snapshot on his desk. It is a
picture of himself, photographed as a young kid astride a pony,
wearing a cowboy hat and a leather vest, a badge pinned to his chest
and two holstered snap cap pistols swinging from his belt.
For
a fifth-generation Texan and a fourth-generation lawman, it's a fond
memory, his youthful dreams of riding out to oppose bad men and
dealing them justice. Those dreams were realized in a career that
spanned 32 years as a Deputy U.S. Marshal who brought dozens of
criminals to justice in the U.S. Court system and saw a number of
serial murderers and rapists locked away for life – some like Ken
McDuff, executed.
All
that fond view down his back trail exploded in horror when an attack
ad aired recently, a vignette that mocks him for his oldest and most
cherished goals.
Former
Waco Mayor B.H. Davis, Sr., a member of the Plemons election
committee, complained to the Texas Ethics Commission May 3 that
billboards and videos produced by the Parnell McNamara for Sheriff
committee don't comply with election laws.
As
of today, Marshal McNamara has prepared videos to counter the charges
and corrected the discrepancies by adding information to videos that
states the presentations were produced by his election committee,
under his approval.
Yeah,
it's really that big a deal. Welcome to the NFL, as they say in the
haze of August.
The
videos, which were produced by RedC Television, are aimed at setting
the record straight in response to a negative attack ad run on area
television outlets by the Randy Plemons for Sheriff Campaign
Committee.
In
the video, a child wearing a cowboy hat much too large for him wears
an oversized leather vest with a phony badge pinned to it, twirling a
set of handcuffs around his finger.
He
then rides a stick horse off screen and the segment fades to Chief
Deputy Plemons standing in front of a patrol car with its lights
flashing. A voice over accuses his opponent, Marshal McNamara, of
being dragged into court to pay delinquent taxes, and of not being a
certified Texas lawman.
“Any
time someone says something false about you, it bothers you,” said
Marshal McNamara.
The
truth is, he explained, that the constabulary never served him with court papers
seeking payment of delinquent taxes. He has a letter in hand from
Constable Larry Eschenberg asserting that, by the time he received
the summons for service, the tax records indicated that the brothers
Parnell and Mike McNamra had paid the back taxes on their mother's
residence. The constable marked his return of service that way, and
dropped the matter.
As
to certification as a Texas Peace Officer, the law allows him a
couple of years to comply with the requirement. He hopes to take a
written test and pass it before he is sworn in as Sheriff.
“Did
I overlook the taxes? You bet I did. I take full responsibility,”
said Marshal McNamara. “Did I pay them? The answer is yes.”
As
to the complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission, a staffer in
Austin named Mary Young said the commission is “absolutely not”
investigating a complaint against the McNamara campaign committee.
They are in the midst of processing Mr. Davis' ethics complaint. The
alleged violation carries the penalty of a Class C Misdemeanor
offense, upon conviction.
As
of now, no one has been charged.
Any
regrets?
“It's
a sad day when you exploit a young child for your own benefit,” he
said of the star of the video spot attacking his status as a lawman.
“I think it really is a low down situation.” The kid is
reportedly the grandson of a lawman from the opposing camp.
How
did the tax delinquency occur?
His
wife took sick with cancer and died, he was forced to retire as the
Deputy U.S. Marshal in Charge of the Waco office at the age of 57,
and his mother, Mrs. T.P. McNamara, suffered a stroke – all in the
same year.
“It
took me three years to even function properly.”
