LD, please post

To: The Governor of the State of Texas, and any and all who could help me

Dear Governor;

I am writing this letter pleading for your help in several matters I have in Chambers County, involving its local officials. Please read this letter thoroughly as I believe my constitutional rights have been and or still being violated. I write to you before writing to the media in hopes you can help me first.

My name is Travis J Richard, first I want to share a little background about myself to provide you with a snapshot of my character and service to the citizens of the great State of Texas.

I was born in Anahuac, Texas in 1971. My extended family still resides in Hankamer Texas but my mother moved to California when I was four years old. As a child I always dreamed about returning to Texas to live and retire. I was only allowed to visit during the summers until I was a teen.

After a successful career as a Law Enforcement Officer I was advised that my elderly grandmother was living in poverty conditions in small town Hankamer, Chambers County Texas. I made a trip to visit her in 2006 and was in shock at the conditions she was living and the community at large. I would describe her home as falling in, infested with termites and rats. The landscape was in such disarray it could be life threatening for one to enter. One day as I stood on the road leading to her home I observed a single-wide trailer positioned about 30 feet east of her once beautiful home, when I witnessed an adult female open the rear door and toss something out of a five gallon bucket.

Upon closer examination it appeared to be urine and feces. I asked a neighbor who lives in the small trailer and was told over 12 people were living in less than 600 square feet, and that they didn’t have running water or sewer services. After further inquiry I learned there were multiple families in Hankamer living in similar conditions. My heart sank for these people as I knew it gets extremely hot in Texas. Several families and individuals were living in trailer home with no walls, siding, and some without roofs. The following days as I visited I learned that there were people even living in abandoned cars and in the woods.

There situation had greatly touched my heart and I began making plans to help the people of Hankamer. Upon returning home I began checking all the resources I had and even thought about using my retirement money to give back and help my grandmother and the citizens of Hankamer.

I immediately began research on how I could positively help improve the lives of those people. My entire career as an Officer and State Detective was dedicated to helping vulnerable citizens, from elder abuse victims, child abuse victims, to abuse and neglect of our citizens with developmental disabilities to mental illnesses. With this heavy on my heart I took all I had and took an early retirement to move to Texas and help this dying town.

My first investment was in excess $80,000 into the town of Hankamer. This was my entire savings account and some assistance from my mother, who currently lives in California. We had my grandmothers house torn down and the land cleared off. We then purchased a mobile home for her that was in excellent condition and she was moved back in. After feeling sorry for the neighbors who lived in the small trailer 30 feet away with no running water or utilities I purchased another large trailer home, hooked everything up including a brand new septic and water system and allowed the family to move in at no cost. They obtained State housing assistance for afford their monthly rent.

More work was done on the land as well. The road leading into the property was so neglected it had holes that were over 4 feet deep and 5 feet in diameter. When rain water filled these holes one could see snakes, very dangerous snakes swimming inside. Now please note the area had up to 20 children play in and around these dangerous watering holes. Due to the overgrowth and community neglect there were even sighting by me of large boar hogs running loose.

I observed excessive amounts of wild dogs and chicken in and out of people homes as well. Being so heart broken by these living conditions I invested over $8000 into the road in order to make it safer and passable by the ones needing to use it. For example there is a gentleman in a wheelchair that lives back there that could not even leave his house in his wheelchair due to the conditions of the road leaving his house. There were two more men living in a partially torn down trailer home where they were only able to sleep in a room the size of a closet because there were no roof and no siding on the homes.

I made several reports to the county about these living conditions and the danger the children were in but they did nothing about it. This began a series of neglect and not willing to get involved by Chambers County, and it gets worse.

After discovering that Hurricane Ike had destroyed the towns only grocery store and that the citizens had to travel 18 miles roundtrip to buy groceries, some that only rode bikes or walked, I decided to purchase the local store in order to help. I immediately purchased the store for and additional $70,000 and invested over $30,000 more into the storm damaged store to get it back to code and in a condition that allowed the citizens to feel welcome and safe and obtain fresh food and necessities.

After successfully applying for and receiving my beer and wine license (BQ) from the TABC I began operation. Shortly after opening I even added a food concession stand next to the store for the citizens and visitors didn’t have to travel so far for something fast and easy for lunch or dinner. The food stand was permitted and approved by the county. Everything was going fine for me as a business man and for the citizens of the town.

After a story surfaced about the county officials and a missing $60 million dollars of FEMA funds I was asked by several citizens if I would run for the office of County Judge due to my Law Enforcement background. I agreed and began making inquiries about what I needed to launch my campaign to get my name on the November 2010 ballot. That’s when the nightmare began and my civil rights began to get ignored by county officials.

One of the first series of things that happened was following the eviction of one of my renters in town. The tenant stole my entire A/C unit and the air return system from the trailer home in excess of over $4000. I reported this to the Sheriff Dept who came out to investigate, and after several months they told me they lost the report and have not acted on the case since.

The second incident was another tenant of mine defaulted on a contract to purchase a mobile home the my lawyer canceled the contract. No less than a month later I requested an eviction hearing with the local Justice Courts. After being granted the hearing I provided proof that the tenants clearly violated the terms of the contract and it was canceled. The judge in this matter, Bob Wallace, stated that his courts never handle such a case and that he couldn’t rule on it because the courts didn’t have the appropriate paperwork to file and didn’t act on the case, allowing the tenant to remain the home.

This action or shall I say inaction led the tenant to believe the home was now theirs and that they could pay rent as they pleased. A few months later with the courts still undecided on how to proceed the tenant made several statements to members of the community that they were just going to take the home even though it had not been paid for and the contract was legally canceled.

I was advised a few weeks later that the tenant was making preparations to move the home without my permission. I immediately took steps to prevent my home from being stolen by this distraught tenant I had my welder remove the tow tongue from the home. After investigating to see what steps the tenant took in trying to take the home I realized they had removed all of the hurricane ties that secured the home to the ground. I reported this to the Sheriff’s Dept. and again nothing happened., they just had me filled out a complaint. I even spoke to the county attorney about this matter and he agreed that criminal behavior was occurring and requested I go back to the Sheriff’s office and ask that they send him the report.

Approximately one month later while on vacation I learned that the tenant had stolen the entire home and there was nothing on my lot but an empty field with trash and wires left behind. I again reported this to the Sheriff’s Dept. and was told they were too busy to come out and take the report. I was again shocked and wondered why they didn’t want to help me. To this date (6/14/2010) my home remains stolen and no report will be been taken by the Sheriff.

To make matters worse after requesting signature sheets from the County Judge’s office in order to gather signatures to run for County Judge someone from the courts contacted TABC and advised that they (The County) made a gross mistake and issued me the wrong beer license and advised they were going to cancel my license. (Please note that the license I possessed was the bread and butter for my business and without it my business would fail.)

I worked with TABC’s attorney Sandra Patten for a short time and according to her the county was not going to renew my license and therefore force my business to close. Due to this decision by the staff of Chambers County the store that I proudly opened a year ago to help the citizens of Hankamer is now closed and again they have to go back the old ways of traveling miles to buy a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread.

The inaction and wrongful treatment by Chambers County has caused me significant financial harm and the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars, but most importantly my reputation as a local business man with a heart to help its vulnerable population.

Please help me in correcting the wrong that was done to me and help me help this dying town.


Travis Joel Richard, Business Owner
Po box 463
Hankamer, Texas 77560
Email: oregonbba@msn.com