Twin-pronged threat headed by Al Qaeda

Prison breaks integral to alert

Officials are close-mouthed about the specifics of an intercepted message between top Al Qaeda commanders that led to a worldwide travel ban and closure of 23 U.S. embassies.

International journalists who know the score insist they are sworn to secrecy, but all agree it's a twin-pronged threat connecting both Al Qaeda and the Taliban through a familiar source of trouble, Yemen.

At the base of the concerns is a prison break spearheaded by the Taliban at Dera Ismail Khan in northwest Pakistan in which 250 prisoners scrambled to freedom following a sophisticated attack consisting of three parts.

First, attackers cut the electricity to the prison. Second, they detonated bombs planted around the facility's perimeter wall to create breaches. When security forces responded, they had attack teams ready to ambush them.

It's a repeat performance of another prison break that took place one year ago at the central jail in Bannu, when 400 prisoners made their escape.

The formation of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula came in a jailbreak in 2006 when plotters dug a 400-yard tunnel from the prison at Yemen's capital city Saana to an adjacent mosque.

The present emergency is caused by what the U.S. Department of State described as “an abundance of caution” by officials for their employees and for Americans throughout the world.

The intercepted threat involved something beyond the ordinary invective about “the great Satan” and the “people of the book.”

This one is specific, and it involves targeting an embassy on a Sunday – which Sunday, is not known. 

Fox News interview not a matter for the Court - Judge

Hasan joined in motion for TV appearance

Memorial for Pfc. Francheska Velez, 21 and pregnant when Hasan shot her
She pleaded for the life of her baby, crying "My baby. My baby!"

Ft. Hood – With 22 U.S. embassies throughout the mideast closed due to Al Qaeda threats and a worldwide travel alert in force, the Army is at pains to make sure no procedural or legal error prevents a successful prosecution of the murder case against Major Abu Nidal Malik Hasan, M.D.

The military judge ruled the question of allowing him to appear in an interview with Fox News is not a matter within the purview of the Court.

She lifted the previous gag order requiring the principles in the case to remain silent and make no statements to the public and the media. She further refused to grant an updated gag order offered by the prosecution that would extend the previous gag order that silenced prosecution and defense lawyers, witnesses, and the accused three and half years ago.

The former Army psychiatrist had joined with the Fox News to compel the government to allow the on-camera interview. Earlier last week, Hasan made a simultaneous release of the FBI transcript of an unpublished, untelevised telephone interview he granted Al Jazeera in 2011 to The Killeen Daily Herald and Fox News.

In that interview, he renounced his U.S. citizenship, his officer's commission in the U.S. Army, and his allegiance to any authority but that of Allah and the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed.

The issue is a key to the government's case against Hasan, though the Army has long held that the attack was not an act of terror, but a case of work place violence.

When the presentation of evidence and testimony begins in the case in chief of United States v. Nidal Malik Hasan at 9 a.m. Tuesday, August 6, the judge will allow the prosecution to introduce evidence pertaining to Internet searches on the subjects of the Taliban and jihad that Hasan made in the days before his handgun attack on 45 unarmed soldiers being readied for overseas deployment that left 32 wounded. He is facing a possibility of execution if convicted of 13 specifications of premeditated murder.

Col. Tara Osborn deferred ruling on a government motion to allow evidence of academic presentations Hasan made to fellow residents in a psychiatric specialty training program at Walter Reed Army Hospital that addressed the propriety of Islamic conscientious objection to making war on fellow Islamic soldiers allied with enemies of the U.S.

One Power Point panel made the statement that soldiers of the Islamic faith “love death more than you (Christians and Jews) love life.”

In the presentation, Hasan sought to justify suicide bombing, conflicts between religious training and Army doctrine, and a discussion about Sgt. Hasan Akbar, whose fragmentation grenade attack left two officers dead at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, in 2003.

The motive of Islamic jihad also played a key role in the case against Sgt. Akbar.

Akbar is awaiting execution at the Army Disciplinary Barracks, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, pending a Supreme Court review and the President's signature on his death order. The latest military execution took place in 1961.

The judge ruled that prosecutors must first put these matters into context before she will rule on their admissibility.

She similarly deferred ruling on whether the previous pre-trial testimony of Military Police Officer Mark Todd will be admitted as evidence. He ended Hasan's brutal attack on soldiers dressed in combat fatigues at the Soldier Readiness Center on Guy Fawkes Day, Nov. 5, 2009, with three 9 millimeter pistol shots to his sternum that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He has since then developed a speech impediment, according to his doctors. The parties may offer more medical evidence as to Officer Todd's inability to testify.

Hasan intends to call only two witnesses in his behalf, according to his answers to questions the judge put to him in a pre-trial hearing held on Friday, August 2.

Judge Osborn renewed her instruction to Hasan that he will not be allowed to testify during his opening statements. She gave the example that he may tell the jury panel that “The evidence will show that I am the shooter,” but will not be allowed to turn his statement into direct testimony by making a statement such as, “I am the shooter.”  

Open carry activist claims more disinformation by police

'The demographics have changed'

Temple – Police in this city have instituted a new policy. When Open Carry – Temple and Dontcomply.com activists visit a place of business on their armed walks, they counsel the owner to bar them from carrying weapons.

Activists say some business operators are following the suggestion, while others continue to open their doors to those who choose to go armed.

Murdoch Pizgatti of dontcomply.com

It's all part of a bitter dispute in which the authorities claim that carrying a long gun such as a rifle or shotgun in public – though there is no law against it – is an alarming thing, something that should not be done.

Following the March arrest of Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham under a disorderly conduct statute in which he was charged with carrying a gun in a manner “calculated to alarm,” the matter has escalated.

Activists have staged armed marches in dozens of Texas cities, including Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Ft. Worth, Houston, Waxahachie, Belton, as well as Temple.

Recently, a former police officer who is now a law student published information accusing a co-founder of the movement, who goes by Murdoch Pizgatti, of being disallowed to possess firearms due to a 2009 conviction for assault causes bodily injury in a domesticviolence case. (click here to read the blog post)

The author of the blog, who remains anonymous, says the Little Elm resident received a 20-month sentence of probation and a 5-year ban on possession of firearms.

He says his real name is Phoenix Walter Horton, born 4/26/1984, and that he is in violation not of rude display of a weapon, but a violation of the probation laws and federal regulations.

Not true, said Mr. Pizgatti, after reading this statement.

Mug shot of Phoenix Walter Horton

“Now having said all of this, Horton would be committing an offense if he carried his rifle, but not Disorderly Conduct.  According to publicly available records on the Denton County website, Horton was convicted of Assault with Bodily Injury – Family Violence in Denton County, Texas on cause number CR-2006-03330-A on July 3, 2007 by a jury and sentenced to 20 months probation.  He was released from probation on March 10, 2009.  Unlawful Possession of a Firearm prohibits Horton from possess a firearm until five years after his release from probation, or March 10, 2014.  Tex. Pen. Code Ann. § 46.04(b)(2); Worley v. State, No. 01-03-00329-CR, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 3271 (Tex. App.–Houston [1st Dist.] 2004, pet. ref’d) (not designated for publication).  It is also a violation of federal law.  18 U.S.C.S. § 922(g).  So while Horton would not be committing Disorderly Conduct, he would be subject to arrest.”

CR-2006-03330A

Horton, Phoenix Walter 04/26/1984

04/26/2006 County Criminal Court #1 Crouch, Jim E

Adult Misdemeanor Inactive: Disposed

ASSLT CAUSES BODILY INJURY FAMILY VIOLENCE

“Everyone on the internet thinks they're a detective...To be clear, Phoenix is part of dontcomply.com Hint: Phoenix has two brothers. What a piece of crap cop to slander people with bad information."

It's a bone of contention in the ongoing dispute with police, who insist on seeing photo identification immediately when they begin to talk to a gun-toting activist. Their reason? They want to see if there is any reason the individual may not have a firearm due to previous felony conviction, mental difficulties, or a record of domestic violence.

An activist visiting Convenience Bank at Wal-Mart

The activists disagree. They say they don't have to produce identification unless they have been charged with a crime. Then, and only then, if it can be proven they did not give their true identity, they can be charged with the misdemeanor crime of failure to identify.

In this YouTube video Mr. Pizgatti made of a visit police officers made to his home, one may hear their typical arguments against the practice of parading through the streets carrying a weapon.

'What are we attempting to achieve here?'

In another encounter, M/Sgt. C.J. Grisham confronts a Temple police officer, Sgt. T. Simeroth, at a board meeting of Open Carry Temple.

In their long, rambling conversation, the policeman attempts to explain that though he is a hearty supporter of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, “The demographics have changed.” He argues that many people have moved into Texas from other areas, that they are easily alarmed by the appearance of citizens strolling the streets and roads with assault rifles slung over their shoulders, or going into places of business armed.

At one point, he counters the Army sergeant's argument that the U.S. Constitution allows people to keep and bear arms by saying, “The constitution can be changed.”

“It's not,” Grisham replies, with blunt and forceful tone.

The video is lengthy, but it provides a fascinating snapshot of the true attitudes and beliefs displayed by two diametrically opposed camps.

'The demographics have changed.'

County's Commission: Retirees to pay med care fees

“How can Mahaffey not have the money?”

Budget balancing act kaput – kapow, as of now...

Waco – Sad but true. After years of conservative yammering about profligate spending, unsustainable debt – the whole 9 – you've got yourself a solid rock-ribbed Republican lineup, and guess what.

They got no budget. Not even a clue. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

According to the Auditor, Stan Chambers, it sometimes takes the kind of when the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 12 logic, enunciated slowly and precisely, to get through that it's high noon. Showdown time. Pay the piper. Bite the bullet. No tickee, no washee.

Even if they raise taxes to the maximum roll-back rate, the highest they can go without having to schedule an election for voter approval, they will still be millions of dollars short the following year, after the sack for 2013-2014 is empty.

At the current tax rate of 48.4258 cents per $100 assessed valuation, said Mr. Chambers, the County will collect about $44.25 million, which, combined with the $12 that will be in the coffers at the beginning of the 2013-2014 fiscal year, will provide $81 million to spend, but here's the catch.

There will only be $3 million left over at the end of the year, when it's time to plan for 2015.

The rollback rate? That's about 53.53 cents, about a nickel more.

“You can go to the rollback rate and still not fund this budget. That’s what I’m trying to show you,” Mr. Chambers said in a recent workshop session.

That's what they mean by unsustainable.

In the prelude to firing Budget Director Adam Harry, he commented in exasperation one day during the tax and spend vengeance year of 2010 that his task was kind of like a game of blind man's bluff.

“It’s like if someone asked me to plan an event for them, but they didn’t tell me about how many folks they wanted to come or how big a venue they want,” Mr. Harry said. He was still saying it on the day of his exit interview following his public, and rather caustic dismissal right after budget time last year.


So far, they have cut about a half-million from the budget, and the fresh ideas just keep rolling in. Commissioner Will Jones, a Waco Tea Party stalwart, suggested they all take a 5 percent pay cut. Mr. Jones led loud “honk-ins” at the offices of former Congressman Chet Edwards in downtown Waco while other Tea Partiers shouted and raised hell over liberals and their willy nilly tax and spend ways.


Eliminate some Justice Court and Constable precincts.


There's news from that quarter. The U.S. Congress doesn't have a budget, either.


Commissioner Snell and others think County's pensioners, all 70 of them, long since retired, should start paying their own medical expenses of about $330 a month.

Yeah. We'll get back to you on that one.


Here's the kicker. With the first annual fiscal hearing coming up next week, something mandated by state law, guess what? Legendary Reporter R.S. Gates went by there yesterday to inquire.


There is no budget on file in the County Clerk's office for review by the public. It's simply unavailable. That's what the number two man in that Constitutional Office had to say. Sorry about that.


That's what all that hysteria and hype, hyperbole and loud shouting about voting the bums out got We the People. Such a deal. 

ADA's tip led to Ostentatious lawyer's meth bust

Two surgeries and a ruptured appendix

Waco – Lester Hood, III, walked into a buzz saw when he arrived in court on Friday, February 10, 2012.

Lester Hood, III

An attorney, he traveled from Austin that day to represent three defendants on methamphetamine charges, but a not so confidential informant narced on him the day before he left on his journey.

According to an offense and arrest report obtained through a Public Information Act request by R.S. Gates, Assistant District Attorney Gabrielle Massey contacted Drug Enforcement Officer John Allovio of the Waco Police Department to say Mr. Hood would be coming to town to do some lawyering.

She said the word from multiple sources is that he has a substance abuse problem caused by using methamphetamine, and that “Hood would be transporting methamphetamine in the Waco area.”

When he showed up in the McLennan County Courthouse parking lot, he was driving a 1995 Honda Civic registered to Chance Birdsall. A drug dog alerted on the car, and officers who searched found an empty vial that had contained methamphetamine, but had only trace elements of the drug inside when it was found.

They arrested him for possession of less than a gram of methamphetamine, he bailed out of jail, and was set to show up in 54^th State District Court in March.

Should have called in sick

But Mr. Hood was feeling poorly, so he blew off his court date, and Judge Matt Johnson issued a warrant for his arrest. Folks who were there that day say the judge wasn't all that happy about the situation. He set his bail at $250,000.

Hood has been in jail since May, and spent two weeks of that time in a local hospital where he experienced two surgical procedures to clean up after an appendix that ruptured. It's not clear if he was incarcerated in the McLennan County lockup, or the privately operated Jack Harwell Detention Center at the time of the acute attack of appendicitis.

But it's not over until it's over. His guilty plea in return for a reported 3 years deferred probation and a $250 fine is pending a pre-sentence investigation. The judge reduced his bail to $10,000.

Apparently, he is in no hurry because authorities in Bandera County are holding an arrest warrant for him. They're just waiting to come get him when his business is straight in Six Shooter Junction.

Sheriff sues to depose mother of suicide

Seeks no damages or injunctive relief

Meridian – In anticipation of a civil lawsuit for wrongful death – or worse – Bosque County Sheriff Anthony L. Mallott filed a petition in 220^th State District Court seeking to depose the mother of a woman who died while in custody on May 4.

Tina Pierce and other family members of her daughter, April Troyn, the Sheriff alleges, “have made claims on social media networks that a lawsuit would be filed by the family and made various unsubstantiated allegations of wrong doing on the part of sheriff's Office employees.”

Tina Pierce

The petition seeks only to take the testimony of Ms. Pierce, “solely to investigate a potential claim.”

Jailers found Ms. Troyn “unresponsive,” a blanket wrapped around her neck, hanging from the bars of her cell on May 4, according to an Emergency Medical Technician's report filed on that day. Justice of the Peace Ray Ballman pronounced her dead a short time later, and ordered an autopsy by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner.

Booking documents show that she was booked into the jail on May 2 at 11:27 hours for the felony offense of Reckless Endangerment and/or Abandonment. Curiously, the petition filed on Wednesday, July 31, alleges she was jailed on May 3. Female prisoners are routinely boarded at the Hill County Jail if held more than 24 hours because the Texas Commission on Jail Standards has ruled the Bosque County Jail substandard due to the inability to segregate female prisoners by sight and sound. There are concerns with space requirements, as well.

The autopsy report has been filed, but is held confidential because it is material to a Texas Rangers investigation, according to Judge Ballman. Nevertheless, District Attorney B.J. Shepherd released details of the autopsy report to various media outlets in Waco, which held that the death is a result of strangulation due to hanging.

April Troyn

“No damages or injunctive relief is being sought...” the Sheriff's prayer for relief states. A Tyler attorney named Robert S. Davis of Flowers and Davis filed the instrument, requesting a hearing under a rule of civil procedure that allows deposition in anticipation of litigation to determine the facts.

According to the caption of the lawsuit, the Sheriff is acting “in his individual capacity” under Rule 202 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure to obtain a verified petition.

“Although the Petitioner asserts that the Respondent has no valid claims...family members of April Lee Troyn have made claims on social media networks that a lawsuit would be filed by the family...,” the Petition states.

In seeking the testimony, the Sheriff alleges that Ms. Pierce can tell court officials and law men a lot about her mental health, drug use, and family difficulties.

“Tina Pierce's testimony will be essential to the investigation of this potential claim. The likely benefit of allowing Petitioner to take this deposition to investigate this potential claim outweighs any burden or expense of the procedure...” (click here for an earlier report)

The Sheriff asked the judge to schedule a hearing into the matter as soon as possible to look into the matter of ordering the deposition to be taken from Ms. Pierce.

Rifle-toting set seeks shade at the Courthouse

Belton – The summer sun baked supporters of Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham Wednesday while prosecutors played a Dashcam video of his arrest by Temple Police for “rude display” of an assault weapon.

The Bell County Sheriff allowed the assault weapon-bearing advocates who favor openly carrying long guns to seek shade under a canopy at the entrance to the jail and courthouse complex Wednesday.

Carrying a rifle or shotgun in public is not illegal in Texas. Brandishing the weapon or carrying it in a manner calculated to cause alarm is a violation of the Disorderly Conduct statute.

According to R.S. Gates, prosecutors “had it set up so the video was not visible, but those in the gallery could hear the audio.”

The public has viewed video recordings gone viral of the arrest depicted in video recordings since the date of the arrest in March. Because the offense is pending in County Court at Law, the Bell County Attorney has so far refused to release the official police Dashcam video. In those recordings, viewers are able to see that Sgt. Grisham became voluble and argumentative about the confiscation of his loaded AR-15 and .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol. He is currently stationed at Ft. Hood.

Mr. Gates promptly made a Public Information Act request for a copy of the video on “a piece of paper torn off some recycled paper,” eschewing the use of the designated form supplied by the attorney's office.

“I am not real sure why it pisses government entities off so much to receive one of these. Many think you should submit the request on a form they provide and wait 10 days until they decide to consider the request. I think some don't like that the law does not provide for their desires, but what really hacks them of is when a lowly citizen points out they are obligated to make the information available 'promptly' and the information is available during office hours.”