Texans for Fiscal Responsibility

QUOTING...  "If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth." -- Ronald Reagan

It's a sad truth that conservatives around the state and nation are being bullied. Will we cower in silence, or stand up and fight? At TFR, we're going to fight.

Almost daily we come across evidence of the three-letter agencies – from the I.R.S. to the E.P.A. to the T.E.C. – being used by powerful office-holders as weapons to silence conservatives and attack entrepreneurs. It's time to put a stop to it. Rather than cower at the sucker-punches thrown by political bullies, we're going to be punching back. Hard.

Liberty County Sheriff's Office Public Announcement

This year’s annual “Public Servant Awareness Day” will take place on Saturday, September 21^st. in the City of Liberty Park from 1:pm until 8:pm that evening and the entire community is invited to come out and participate in this FREE event. The event coordinators, Brett Audilet and Sherry Walton wish to stress that this event is a day set aside each year where county wide public servants come together to give a little back to the public and many of the emergency agencies will be on hand to do so. Friday, September 20^th. will be reserved for a “cook off” between these agencies and is not open to the public but the following day IS open to the public and all the “goodies” cooked the day before will be served to the attending public for as long as the food last.

A community dance with live music provided by the “Southern Breeze” band will run from 4:pm to 8:pm. The band which consist of Jay Knight, Carl Landrum, Rob Austin Jr. J.R. Ungels, Luke Landrum and Ronald Lee will be putting on this free concert for the evening’s entertainment.

Some of the agencies and equipment that will be on display for the public to view and in some cases, actually get “hands on” experience with will be Law Enforcement, Fire Departments, EMT’s ambulances, Sheriff Department’s Search and Rescue Mounted Posse, Texas EquuSearch as well as the Office Of Emergency Management to name only a few.  

Activities will include……

* Fire hose handling for the kids to actually “squirt” the water.

*“Smokey the Bear” for the kids to meet and take pictures with.

* Emergency vehicles and equipment for the public to look over and examine “up close and personal”.

* FREE give aways to include smoke alarms, gun locks, coloring books, pamphlets and much more.

* FREE BBQ from the prior days cook-off to the public ( … as long as it will last. ).

* There will be live demonstration by local fire departments that will be cutting up cars with the “Jaws of Life” to show the public how it works and how it can save lives.

* Medical Helicopters will be on hand for the public to view up close.

All this and MUCH more is all FREE to the Public on Saturday, September 21^st.

MEDIA: ANY ASSISTANCE YOU CAN GIVE BRETT AUDILET AND SHERRY WALTON IN THEIR EFFORTS TO GET THE WORD OUT TO THE PUBLIC WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Thanks to all for your assistance,

Ken DeFoor

SUMMER ENDS WITH NO COURT DATE FOR OLD CHILD RAPE CASE

What message does it send to women who are victims of rape when they witness how the Liberty County District Attorney’s office has handled the Shauberger case?

The summer of 2013 officially ended this weekend, but there is still no court date for the criminal case the Liberty Police Department presented to Liberty District Attorney Mike Little many years ago. It appears to some that the current Liberty County grand jury may have asked to hear this case independent of Mike Little’s handpicked successor, current District Attorney Logan Pickett. That grand jury agreed with the Liberty Police Department, as have readers of Liberty Dispatch who have seen some of the evidence, and they indicted Edward Shauberger.  A case investigated in the early 2000's by law enforcement, then referred for prosecution by investigators and given to the Liberty County DA's office in 2008 and then buried by DA Mike Little till April of 2013.

But what does it say when two girls (who now are both grown women), the local police department, and the people of a community all say minors should have their day in court for what they say Edward Shauberger, their adoptive father, did to them when they were children? How can years and years have gone by with no action by longtime District Attorney Mike Little and his young protégé?  Why, according to sources, have neither of the daughters been contacted by the District Attorney’s office before or after the grand jury handed down an indictment?

If someone is a regular reader of Liberty Dispatch they will know our answer to this question. One word: p-o-l-i-t-i-c-s.  It has been said that Mike Little can indict a ham sandwich. He may indeed. And every citizen of this county ought to be concerned that a political and vindictive District Attorney like Mike Little could make life miserable for anyone by digging his claws into them by using his office and a long protracted prosecution to pile up legal bills ruin innocent people’s lives even when the verdict will be innocent. Some have undoubtedly pled guilty for lesser penalties to avoid the consequences of this kind of abuse of office.

On the other hand, while indicting a few ham sandwiches, the District Attorney can use people accused of a crime that have real evidence with which to be prosecuted for his own purposes. It is not unusual for a devious, manipulative prosecutor to get a pass by the public. A nice suit and tie and a smile and a kind “how is going” versus people who are already under the cloud of accusation is an easy public relations win for district attorneys. But longtime District Attorney Mike Little is not from the kind of stock that deserves a pass. After years of no one questioning whom this man is, a very superficial look into his family background and how he conducted the business of his office indicated things have gone on in the darkness of secrecy that would never be tolerated if seen in the light of public scrutiny.

The Shauberger daughters should have their day in court. It should be a priority. If not, then Little’s protégé’ should do something Little never felt obligated to do – call a press conference and explain what is going on! It never happened with the Beausoliel mail tampering case and so many other cases. No explanation of why what appeared to be a case the public would hear about after a trial never went to court.

Explain please sir… Voters who entrusted you with this elective office deserve an explanation. What is the court date? Are you ignoring the victims? Why? Have your investigators questioned the children’s mother since the indictment? If so, in light of the fact she is now living separately from Edward, is she more cooperative?

What assurances do you have for rape victims and people that are victims of other serious crimes that you will seek justice and give them their day of court in a timely manner regardless of your politics and your ability to use their case to force criminals to help pursuit your enemies?

Please Mr. Pickett, with all due respect, this community deserves to know what is happening, and if possible, what has happened with cases that have been vented in the local media but left unaddressed by their district attorney.

Texas Pig Bombs

kshn:

Feral Hogs: The massive property damage caused by feral hogs is a growing problem in town and in the country. Liberty County Extension Agent Cory Long said a single hog can wreck as much as an acre of land in one night. He said there are no chemicals that repel feral hogs, so the only approved methods for dealing with them are hunting and trapping. It’s against the law to release them. For more, call the ext. office at 334-3230.

Russia sends at least 12 warships to Syria

In a move considered aggressive by US and European officials, Russia has sent at least 12 warships to patrol waters near its naval base in Tartous, Syria.

The deployment appears to be a warning to Israeli and Western officials against military intervention in Syria’s bloody civil war, which has now claimed the lives of over 80,000 people.

Russia’s increased presence in the region — which began raising eyebrows in the US three months ago — represents one of its largest sustained naval deployments since the Cold War, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

“It’s a show of force. It’s muscle flexing,” a top US official told the Journal.

Russian news sources reported earlier Thursday that five warships had entered the Mediterranean Sea to bolster the country’s new regional task force. The vessels were scheduled to dock in Limassol, Cyprus.

In March, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that the naval task force was needed in order to protect Russian interests in the region.

Also Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov shrugged off Israeli pleas not to sell sophisticated S-300 air defense systems to Bashar Assad’s regime, saying Moscow would fulfill its contract with Damascus. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin, in emergency talks on Tuesday, that the sale could push the region toward war.

Liberty County Tax Rates Remain the same for 2013

All the recent reports about a countywide tax increase need to be revised, just as the falsehood that the current officeholders have spent the majority of the fund balance needs to be corrected.

Liberty County Commissioners court contrary to previous administrations adjusted the effective rate in order to make the changes in the appraisals moot. Taxpayers should see no increases in the amount of money they pay because of local decisions by elected officials.

Also political perversions of what has eaten up the $18 million fund balance need to be corrected. The Fitzgerald regime ate up most of the fund balance. The last year Phil Fitzgerald was in office was a terrible year for taxpayers as elected officials embarrassed drunken sailors by the way they spent our money. Those who support that regime can use statistics to make the current officials look bad claiming that the current officials cutting back and leveling off the amount of money that is spent in one year that is above the amount of money that is taken in is not good enough. But according to what we have seen when they were in power, the big spenders of our recent past would never have even tried to turn this around. Again, their last year in office was their worst.

Liberty Dispatch is optimistic that IF the current decision makers will make decisions based on the principles they ran on, we will see a quicker recovery than any other approach.

Local liberal, democrat activist and political challengers have distorted the truth about Liberty County taxes as usual in a failed attempt to profit from lies.

State Rep. John Otto(R) seeks re-election bid

Texas State Representative John Otto(R) of Dayton has announced he is seeking re-election to the Texas House of Representatives. The Dayton native was first elected to the Texas House in 2004. He serves District 18, which includes all of Liberty, San Jacinto and Walker counties.

THE REAL COUNTY JUDGE

Liberty Dispatch readers have various thoughts on what they want our county judge to be doing. With the county judge election coming up in 2014 and rather than repeat one more time why we think Liberty County should re-elect Craig McNair, we thought it would be helpful to sort out just what County Judge McNair has and has not done in his two and a half years in office. One of the main reasons we feel this is necessary is that Judge McNair has spent less time campaigning and promoting and defending himself than any Liberty county judge in recent history. His insistence on focusing on action, rather than speeches and photos for the newspapers, has left his opposition an open field to interpret or even invent things in ways that might affect voters to take their side. Readers should decide whether they want four more years of the type of leadership Judge McNair has actually provided rather than what his enemies say he has done.

His enemies are saying things like this, “What we need is a county judge who can stop blowing money on his pet projects and quit giving huge raises to his relatives. Everybody is going to have to tighten their belts and quit spending like crazy.”

We ask these people to explain their accusations. "What raise did McNair give to his relatives? What 'pet projects' are they talking about?" If these folks would like to approach some sort of rational and honest campaign rumor mongering, then they need to answer these questions.

The reality of the next county judge race is that if a voter wants someone to loosen the purse strings and go back to the good ole boy ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours' way of doing business then they should not vote for McNair. If they do not like that he has practically anchored himself in front of the county treasury and been the undisputed champion of holding spending down, then they should vote for someone else.

In anticipation of more disinformation about the newest building in Liberty, let’s clear up some things. First, anyone that runs against McNair should let their voters know where they stand on McNair’s decision. The federal government chose Liberty County as the best location to build a building for catastrophic emergencies.  All of the funding for the actual building of the emergency center came from the federal government. The only decision Judge McNair was told to make was does Liberty county want the building or not. The federal government would build the center in another county if Liberty County did not want a multi-million dollar headquarters during hurricanes etc. McNair said, “Yes, build it here.”

Opponents cannot legitimately argue that the expenditure was taxpayer money whether it was local, state, or federal money and therefore this is an example of a big spending “pet project’ by McNair. McNair did NOT get to decide whether the money was going to be spent or not. This was a “pet project” of the federal government and it was going to be built, period.

Opponents need to be honest and indicate what they would have done. They can point to the fact the federal government is not going to provide funding to man the building they have built and act like that is scandalous. That argument might appeal to non conservatives who prefer the federal government to direct local affairs or to someone who is only looking at the short term economics. But in the specifics of Judge McNair’s decision to allow the building to be located here was the fact that after ten years Liberty County is in total control and ownership of the building. In other words, while the building was not free with any strings, the strings will soon be cut.

Any voter who believed we needed a no nonsense leader who could navigate all of the attacks and disinformation that comes with telling other politicians “NO!” they got him when Craig McNair was sworn in two and a half years ago. Anyone that wanted a county judge that spent his time working on economic development rather than holding the hands of potential political enemies and making them feel important got him when they elected Craig McNair.

Liberty Dispatch does not fraternize or socialize with the current county judge or any potential opponent that we know of and we welcome SPECIFIC FACTUAL criticism of this and any other elected official so our readers will have the facts. If someone disagrees and is reluctant to send their objection to us and reveal who they are, they will almost surely have an open invitation from all other media. Otherwise, they are asking voters to depend on their political attacks in hopes that they will not be rebutted or they are hoping the voters want a more liberal county judge. We welcome a race that argues whether we can solve Liberty County’s problems with a more liberal approach or with someone claiming to be conservative who is unwilling to face reality.

Dear Liberty Dispatch Readers and Contributors

I have heard slick clever politicians with carefully crafted words all of my life, but the announcement that Jay Knight wants to go from Dayton city councilman to County Judge exposes him as neither slick nor clever.

Read just one quote of many from his announcement: “County employees know their jobs and what it takes to expedite their jobs in both a timely and fiduciary conscious manner. Although, everyone involved in our County government and services must become more efficient at using what we currently have to work with, I think that if these folks involved are better informed of our economic situation, and believe that they are a part of the solution to an economic problem, then they will work together and diligently for options to alleviate this problem.”

I called one of my friends that works for the county and told him that he needed to read his wannabe boss’ pandering. If we ever have a Judge Knight he thinks the employees being “better informed of our economic situation” is an important part of any solution to the county’s woes! You just can’t fix stupid. This man better get a better stump speech or someone may try!

I am told the current County Judge, Craig McNair, sat and listened while one Commissioner insisted he had to have money for uniforms for his workers because every other commissioner bought some for theirs. Really! Starting providing uniforms is that important while we need more deputies on duty.

Judge McNair continued to listen while one commissioner opined about not having enough money to fix all of the roads in his precinct. Really! He wants enough money in this years budget to fix all his roads. Roads in every county in the state are prioritized and fixed as the money and the manpower allows, but this rookie commissioner wants us to bankroll him to fix them all this year?

Some may say this County Judge is not listening, I say he is not stupid. I could never have stayed quiet while one department head said she could not afford paper for the copiers. Even though paper cost less than 3 cents a sheet, she said the county would get $1 a copy but she just can’t fit more paper in her budget. Really! It is ashamed we cannot send this employee to a junior high school economics class. Or maybe she would do better in homemaking eco where she would learn to list your priorities first when making a budget. For years county employees have been arguing they need more money by choosing something they figure everyone will want them to have and saying if their budget is not increased this can not be bought. You just can’t fix stupid. Buy the paper as a top priority and the money spent will increase the amount of money in your budget ….. duh! But some of the other things in your budget, like uniforms, you may have to wait until better times to purchase.

The County judge has listened. The County Judge has spent a good bit of time with Sheriff Rader. He has correctly tried to guide commissioners and department heads toward using their own knowledge of what they can get by without to try and hold the budget down so the Sheriff can start accumulating the assets previous administrations should have when they were frittering their budget away on things like a secret inactive special task force.

I could go on and on, but let me just say this. Jay Knight needs to lose the not very well hidden insincere compliments to employees which he obviously intends to replace raises. He needs to stop trying to make it sound like the problem is his opponent is inappropriately giving raises to a chosen few. He needs to stop acting like the McNairs being gone on weekends occasionally is the problem. The problem is Liberty County is in the same economic struggle most counties are in. He needs to be open and honest with questions like:

Which county employees would he give a raise to?

Would he have refused the federal money that built the new center in Liberty even though the only decision that was made was the location? Liberty County or elsewhere?

Would he go further than McNair has in “listening” to county employees? The facts being that McNair has had an open door policy all along plus he has had numerous workshops with opportunities for communication for all employees from department heads to the lowest paid county employee. What would he do if some employees persisted in saying nobody is listening to them simply because he did not agree to increase their budget?

Knight and Day

Yesterday Liberty Dispatch was disappointed to read Jay Knight started his bid for 2014’s county judge race by cozying up to one of the two most infamous critics of Republicans in this county. We, however, are NOT disappointed in Mr. Knight exercising his right to run again on the Republican ticket. This article seeks to determine whether Mr. Knight has no beef with the way Craig McNair is doing the job as Knight has said, or whether he is open about an entirely different agenda than the incumbent.

Rather than focus on Jay Knight choosing “a conversation” with the most liberal, anti-Republican blogger in Liberty County history to try and ascertain what his candidacy adds to the voters’ choices in the 2014 county judge race, Liberty Dispatch has chosen one paragraph from what appears to be a press release rather than a conversation in reality.

Here is the sentence/evidence we will focus on today from Knight’s press release: “This lingering revenue problem didn’t occur overnight and it’s not going away overnight. You will never hear me say that I inherited this problem. What you will hear me say is: Let’s work together to fix it.”

The first thing someone reading this sentence who is trying to decide whether they should stick with incumbent County Judge Craig McNair or not, is that Knight correctly points out that the problems with the budget were there before Judge McNair was elected. That is a nice thing to admit and should make the reader want to continue reading to see why Knight is running. But the next sentence reminds us all of what we do not like about politicians. After admitting his opponent was not responsible for the problem, Knight writes that he would “never” say he “inherited the problem”. Of course what he said he would NEVER do is exactly what he did in the sentence just before his declaration. This is not clever and we may all be country folks around here but we are far from illiterate. Knight is now on record saying the problem was there before … or that the problem was inherited.

Nevertheless, after getting past a lapse in common sense and a weak effort at political spin, we are still hunting for what a Knight candidacy offers that should make conservatives vote for someone other than the first Republican county judge in a century that they just elected.  The next sentence seems to be the key to what Knight’s press release identifies as the problem with Judge McNair and what Knight would do different. Knight is saying he will “work together” or in a different place in the press release he uses the word “teamwork”.

These are the kinds of words that polled well when President Obama ran for President. The President’s experience was “community organizing” and he indicated he was an expert in bringing people together to solve problems. He said he was a uniter not a divider. He said he would do a better job of “working together” or “teamwork”.

There are some politicians who wish they were the county judge and that Craig McNair would spend a great deal of time consulting with them and what they mean by whispering he does not work with anyone is: “I want a bigger budget and he refuses to spend more money in my department.” To these people, I would sincerely hope that though they may be Knight’s key supporters, he would deny their request if he was elected.

As for working as a team, the commissioners and the county judge have talked about everything from sharing equipment to sharing ideas. Like these commissioners and this county judge or not, they are working more like a team than any group we have seen in twenty-five tears of observing.

Note: With no money to spend and already good relations between leaders, Liberty Dispatch will continue to search Knight’s press release in search of why he is running.

NBC: Yes, employers are cutting hours to avoid ObamaCare

No surprise here for Hot Air readers, but perhaps NBC News viewers experienced some shock to hear the results of the perverse incentives of the Affordable Care Act.  Long after the trends toward part-time work developed, NBC confirms that employers are indeed looking to avoid the costly mandates of ObamaCare by transforming their staffs into part-time workers:

Employers around the country, from fast-food franchises to colleges, have told NBC News that they will be cutting workers’ hours below 30 a week because they can’t afford to offer the health insurance mandated by the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

“To tell somebody that you’ve got to decrease their hours because of a law passed in Washington is very frustrating to me,” said Loren Goodridge, who owns 21 Subway franchises, including a restaurant in Kennebunk. “I know the impact I’m having on some of my employees.”

Goodridge said he’s cutting the hours of 50 workers to no more than 29 a week so he won’t trigger the provision in the new health care law that requires employers to offer coverage to employees who work 30 hours or more per week. The provision takes effect in 16 months.

Actually, the law puts it into effect in just four-plus months.  The only reason it’s 16 months is that the Obama administration insists it can just ignore statutes, even those it pushed through Congress.  The courts may have something to say about that, but either way, businesses aren’t waiting around for the enforcement effort to start.

The White House pushed back, calling NBC’s report “anecdotal”:

The White House dismisses such examples as “anecdotal.” Jason Furman, chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisors, said, “We are seeing no systematic evidence that the Affordable Care Act is having an adverse impact on job growth or the number of hours employees are working. … [S]ince the ACA became law, nearly 90 percent of the gain in employment has been in full-time positions.”

Since the beginning of the year, though, that number has flipped entirely.  In the first six months of the year, 97% of net job growth has come from part-time positions, according to the former head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  That comes from businesses reacting to the approach of the mandate, whether that’s in four months or 16.  Businesses plan for jobs and costs on a year-to-year basis, so it should be no surprise that hiring in 2010 and 2011 would have disregarded the implications of the ACA.  Starting in 2012, though, businesses had to start taking the costs associated with ObamaCare more seriously, and this reaction is the rational result of those incentives.

Speaking of incentives, guess which full-time workers don’t want ObamaCare?  The same ones whose unions pushed it in 2009 and 2010:

A new survey of 2,500 federal employees and retirees found that 92.3 percent believe federal workers should keep their current health insurance and not be forced into ObamaCare.  Only 2.9 percent say they should become part of the new health insurance exchanges.

I suspect a similar percentage of private sector employees would also like to keep their coverage, but most won’t get that option.  What I’d like to know is how many of those federal employees so eager to avoid ObamaCare themselves supported forcing everyone else in it.

There’s more.  The survey, conducted byFedSmith.com, “an information portal for sources of information impacting the federal community and those interested in the Federal Government’s activities,” found that 96.1 percent think federal retirees should be able to stay with their retirement health insurance.  Only 3.9 percent think they should get “Medicare in lieu of their current option.”

To put it simply: Federal employees and retires almost unanimously prefer to stay in their generous taxpayer-funded health insurance program, known as the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan (FEHBP), rather than being dumped into liberalism’s two greatest monuments to government-run health insurance, ObamaCare and Medicare.

Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

It does prompt questions about who works for whom in this republic.

Man sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex assault of child

On July 31, 2013 in the 75th Judicial District Court, a Liberty County jury returned a verdict of guilty against Jimmy Don Casey, 46, to the charge of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Young Child. After a day of extensive jury selection, the jury heard evidence presented by the state of extensive sexual abuse that Jimmy Don Casey engaged in involving a child who lived in his home. 

This abuse lasted over a decade, and the victim testified that it had been going on as long as she could remember. Another member of the home testified that she never even had suspicions that the abuse was occurring.

Trial in the guilt-innocence phase lasted a day. After receiving instructions from the Honorable Mark Morefield, and hearing the argument of counsel for the defendant, Chip Lewis, a prominent Harris County attorney, and the argument of counsel for the state, Matthew Poston, the jury retired and deliberated over four hours before returning the verdict of guilty.

During the punishment phase of the trial, numerous friends and family of the defendant testified that he is a generous and kind person. Further evidence was presented by the state that the defendant had also committed the same unspeakable acts against another child in the home.

The state argued that Casey was a great person in public but a monster in private. Casey elected the jury to decide his punishment and the jury returned a verdict of 30 years incarceration in prison after only 30 minutes of deliberation. A defendant convicted of this crime is not eligible for parole. 

In this case, there was no physical evidence presented or available, as is common in cases of this type. Furthermore, this crime was committed outside the presence of any eyewitnesses. The verdict of the jury depended solely on the credibility of the child — now adult — victim.

“We at the district attorney’s office are thankful that the jury had the courage to believe a victim who had only her own memories of these awful events to bring to the jury. It can be said that victims of these cases are dying to tell someone but scared for anyone to know,” said DA Logan Pickett. “This victim overcame her fear and told her secret to 12 strangers sitting as a jury. This verdict is a strong message that Liberty County citizens will protect their children.” 

Courtesy Cleveland Advocate

HOBBIES OF THE TWO ANNOUNCED CANDIDATES FOR COUNTY JUDGE

Despite the fact that County Judge Craig McNair has run a tight ship and used conservative principles to successfully guide Liberty County through perilous economic times that have caused other county and city governments to go bankrupt, Liberty Dispatch expects Judge McNair to have an opponent or opponents in the 2014 election. Candidates choosing to challenge the first Republican County Judge in Liberty County in over 100 years will either have to espouse a more liberal approach to government spending or have try to sell themselves to the voters as someone who can better apply conservative management skills to the job than Judge McNair. Thus far, only two candidates have announced their intention to run for county judge in 2014.

The incumbent, Craig McNair of Dayton has said he would like to serve for four more years. A challenger and fellow Dayton resident, Jay Knight has also announced his intentions to run also. Jay Knight has not been publicly critical of Judge McNair in the last three years, and has indicated he is running because he believes can do a better job. Both men claim teamwork and conservative values are the only path Liberty County can follow and grow with in the current economic environment. Both men are excited about economic development potential and the opportunities afforded by our proximity to Harris County.

Periodically Liberty Dispatch will choose a topic of interest about the candidates for county judge and try to help voters get to know the candidates better. Today’s topic concerns the way the two candidates spend their spare time.

Just like Jay Knight’s announcement that he intends to run for office, Liberty Dispatch’s information about Jay’s favorite hobby was found headlined at the local left-wing liberal blog. According to his facebook page, Jay spends a great deal of time at places like the Elks Lodge playing country western music.

Saturday night August 17th from 9pm till 1am Jay Knight, the newly announced candidate for Liberty County Judge will be at the Liberty Elks Lodge with his band Southern Breeze. Just like so many times when Jay Knight has been at the Elks Lodge over the years, he wants those who like this kind of event to “bring your dance'n shoes $15 per couple or $10 per single and BYOB. Beer, wine coolers, set ups etc. will be sold by the lodge.”

Judge Craig McNair’s spends some of his spare time flying his airplane. A hobby he has participated in for years. A hobby that has come in handy since his daughter moved to Tennessee to work toward her music career. Instead of all of the hassle and scheduling involved in flying commercially, Craig and his wife, Lisa have hopped aboard their little plane usually two or three times a year to check in on family.

Stay tuned for information on anyone else who announces for county judge’s hobbies and other related topics.

Shauberger case still being stalled...

Edward Shauberger was indicted in June of 2009 and has not been brought to trial for allegations of Grand Perjury, Filing False Government Documents and Organized Crime.

Sources close to Liberty Dispatch state that the Liberty County DA's office is stalling that case with the hopes of using Shauberger in an attempt to exact revenge upon a co-defendant.  In that regard, Liberty Dispatch is watching to see if the corrupt official acts of persons connected to and controlled by the Liberty County District Attorney's office prevail in this case.

Since June of 2009 Houston Attorney Mike Fuerst has represented Eddie Shauberger.  As evidence of the corrupt attempt by the Liberty County DA's office to exact revenge upon Shauberger's co-defendant, Shauberger's attorney is not ever present when Shauberger has docket calls in court.  When Shauberger is called before the judge, only representatives with the Liberty County DA's office stand with Shauberger. 

Liberty Dispatch believes the only real true attorney representing Shauberger is the Liberty County DA's office.  Further evidence of Shauberger being represented by the Liberty County DA's office is that Shauberger said in a recent docket call before Judge Mark Morefield, "I haven't paid my attorney anything (sic Mike Fuerst) in two years".

Shauberger has another criminal case with even more disturbing allegations.  Shauberger has been indicted this year on two counts of child sexual assault.  According to the Liberty County Grand Jury indictments, those child sexual assaults start in the 1990's through 2000's.

Liberty Dispatch and its readers have to wonder if the Liberty County DA's office is really interested in any real justice or just continuing a historical series of politically motivated attacks?

Time will tell and the future of the Liberty County DA's office is apparently in the hands of Edward Shauberger and Logan Pickett.

DEMOCRATS IN LIBERTY COUNTY BORROWED AND SPENT TO THE MAX

-->

The people who are the most critical of the first term Republicans, who are working to repair years of economic mistakes, are the ones who either personally dug the fiscal hole we are in or are the ones who pushed to keep them in office. Anyone who attends the county’s budget workshop can see the depth of the whole Democrats' strike we have left for taxpayers and current officials to dig out of.

While in office, Democrats regularly entered budget talks with their hand out ready to increase spending. Because they borrowed so much money in the past, current officials will have to pay off old debts before they can issue bonds...even in the event of an emergency. On top of that, Democrats, in their past practices, have committed so much money to regular expenses that present day workshop talk of raises and improvements only comes up when accompanied by talk of a cut in personnel.  The bottom line is this...Democrats created a situation that, in tandem with the circumstances created by President Obama’s policies, could trick voters into blaming the new officeholders who are working to fix things.

A great example of the political environment has to do with the new county employees' healthcare plan. Democrats (and those who do not want voters to re-elect public officials who are repairing the county’s economy) point to the current commissioners' court and brag that when Democrats were in control of county government the employees had a “Cadillac healthcare plan”. The truth of the matter is that they kind of spending done by the Democrats in the past has created a situation whereby employees had to be laid off just to pay for a "Toyota-like healthcare plan". 

Another example of results from Democrats spending which they now want to blame on the new officials is the state of equipment they left the current county employees to work with. One area in the county has two dump trucks – one with over 1 million miles on it and one with 800,000 miles on it!  All of that spending in good times and, yet, they have left taxpayers with this type of equipment to keep up the roads now that times are tough!

Todd Fontenot, Melvin Hunt, Norman Brown, Phil Fitzgerald, Tookie Kirkham and others may really believe they had magical powers when they were in office. They may really believe they knew how to run this county better than today’s officials. They may really be able to get people to remove from office the very people who have to make tough decisions in order to keep improving the county’s situation, rather than running us into bankruptcy. But, they are wrong and if we do not vote to stay the course, Liberty County could become like Detroit or California.

Liberty County voters beware! We cannot afford to listen to these people and/or their minions,nor can we afford to simply elect Republicans blindly, either. Henry Patterson’s one term disaster as Sheriff should prove that. Current Sheriff, Bobby Rader, has a budget nightmare because of some of Patterson’s decisions. The Democrats, who found other ways to spend taxpayer’s money rather than fund the necessary equipment and manpower to protect this community, damaged Patterson and the safety of Liberty County. Again, current office holders were left with no money and plenty of needs.

Current office holders are also left knowing their biggest critics and the most and active malicious whisperers are the ones who left us broke and struggling to keep our heads above water.

If confronted by those who complain about conservative leadership, please feel free to ask the question:

“Gee, I wonder how we got into this situation?”

If exposed to media that was complicit with the tax and spending, please remember to consider the source!

Contributor, Richard Pegues

OLD GUARD DISTORTING LIBERTY COUNTY'S PAST

As predicted, the old guard that did whatever they had to do to keep the good ole boys in power before 2008 has begun to bombard the public with innuendo, distortion and out and out lies.

One of their main targets is County Judge Craig McNair. Judge McNair has put the proverbial target on his back by consistently using a good common sense conservative business approach to decisions. The good ole boys and their pals in the media preferred a more arbitrary approach when they controlled all of Liberty County’s local elected offices. Those who were one of the favored few enjoyed that “system” and the rest of us are still paying the price for all of their “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” deal making.

When the good ole boys and their media puppets start their distortions in attempts to try and rewrite recent history they are hoping the public will forget what we have all witnessed first hand. No matter how they spin it, these people taxed, spent, and borrowed money like typical liberal Democrats. They did this for decades. They did it when economic times were better. We all know they disguised their raising taxes (usually by leaving the tax rate alone while property appraisals soared). We all know the fund balance they brag about leaving the current administration was built on the backs of taxpayers as our tax bills went sky high along with the bond indebtedness they obligated us to.

Easily predicted, when voters had enough and booted the old guard out, they knew Judge McNair and the newly elected Republicans would have to pay for those bonds. They knew they had maxed the county’s credit out. They knew rather than what seemed like an ever increasing pile of money coming in from taxpayers, that the bills were coming due when the county coffers were not flooded with more money. If a taxpayer is uninformed or disagrees with this assessment all they need to do is set an appointment with the County Auditor and ask him to review the practices and policies that have put Liberty County in the mess it is in and he will very matter-of-fact go through the history of how we arrived at our current situation.

The old Wal-Mart building is perhaps the best example of how the old guard did taxpayers a huge disservice and how they hope to blame it all on Craig McNair. But we all know the old guard under former County Judge Phil Fitzgerald paid more than they had to for the old Wal-Mart building. Most of us are also aware that after the county purchased the building and took it off of the tax rolls, experts were called in to analyze and evaluate any of the possible remodeling proposals. It was determined that all of the plans being considered were not economically feasible or wise. The idea of converting the building to a hospital or a storm/evacuation shelter or a consolidation of local government offices was impractical. The outgoing county officials not only signed us taxpayers up for failure, they made the politics of their replacements extremely difficult’.

Or did they? If voters remember who caused the problems and how the same common sense measures they use in their own finances is the best solution, then voters will support the people they elected to put this county on better financial ground.

Judge McNair and company had two choices. They could vote to spend good money after bad by pouring more money into the old building or they could cut their losses and hope and pray people were paying attention as their political enemies tried to intoxicate voters with an over abundance of distortion and lies. They chose the latter.

The people of Liberty County lost one million dollars in this the final big dollar deal by Fitzgerald and infamous Commissioners Groce, Fontenot, and Hunt. They can blame that on current officeholders but that is simply ridiculous. But they can legitimately blame the current officeholders for the new convention center/storm refuge being completed next to the jail. But most of us think the Republicans should gladly take credit for accepting the gift from the federal government. Sure it is still taxpayer money but it will not effect local taxpayer rates indebtedness and the multi-million dollar addition helps to balance out the million dollar loss of prior Democrat losers. The cost of maintaining the building is small compared to millions of dollars Liberty County benefits in an asset we will have full control of in only ten years.

Again, if you want to hear a no nonsense no politics argument “for” all of these decisions go talk to the man that actually has to balance the books for liberty county. County auditor Harold Seay has repeatedly pointed officials to the moves that would be best for all of the people in the county and he cuts through all of the game playing when he weighs in on how to make this a better place to live.

If you want to hear political spin and crazy assed economic suicide type of analysis, tune into the local liberal blog or any of the other media bomb throwers who hope to get you to vote for anyone but Judge McNair in the next election.

BETTER JUDGES, LESS CORRUPTION

Four years ago, Liberty County judges were not working together as a team to reduce spending and eliminate the appearance of corruption in regards to court appointments. Before 2010, there was no consensus among the judges to take action in this area.

My how things have changed since the last election!  In addition to the money that has been reported saved by Liberty County’s judges efforts to have less court appointed lawyers and reimbursement or payment plans and in addition to the money being saved by allowing non violent suspects wait for their court date at home rather than in jail, our judges no longer have the appearance of wrongdoing in who they appoint to cases.

Before Judge Morefield and Judge Chambers joined Judge Cain on the benches in Liberty County, some citizens wanted an investigation into the possibility of a quid pro quo. Suspicions concerning the appointment of some local attorneys more than others were thought to be linked to one of the former judges rental properties. It was determined, as fact, that one or more of these attorneys received a substantial number of court appointed cases and, therefore, thousands and thousands of dollars paid by the county.

Liberty Dispatch is now satisfied that, with the 2010 election, there no longer is the appearance of impropriety. We might also add that there are no more Democrats serving as judges. One retired; one was beaten in a landslide; and one, who was a real conservative at heart, switched parties in order to team up with people who wanted to clean up the county.

Records indicate that one attorney, Lameka Trahan, was paid $120,000 by Liberty County for handling court appointed cases in 2012 alone, and attorney Farah Harper was paid $115,000.  These two attorneys handled the peoples' business with great distinction.

Then, there is one local Houston attorney who appears to have a sweetheart deal with the DA’s office and wrings out every single red cent of Liberty County taxpayer money he can get his hands on.  That attorney is none other than Daniel Bradley.  Mr. Bradley would not be of any concern, except that he is playing the Court and the Liberty County legal system from both ends. Bradley acts as a defense attorney, milking the county, and then he turns around and acts and gets paid as a specially appointed prosecutor.  That stinks!!  In 2012, Bradley made almost $90,000 from the broken financial back of Liberty County and his sweetheart money is quickly racking up big dollar amounts again in 2013.  Dan Bradley is reputed to have gone to law school with an ADA in the Liberty County DA’s office and the money flows to Bradley day after day, month after month, and year after year.

It is unknown at this time whether Liberty County DA Logan Pickett knows about the multiple conflicts of interest Dan Bradley has with the Liberty County courts and the Liberty County DA's office.  Some people were looking to Logan Pickett to divest the Liberty County DA's office of leftover corruption from prior DA Mike Little.  To date, Logan Pickett has made no moves to separate himself from Mike Little's corrupt legacy.  Dan Bradley is an example.

Some say, “Some things will never change” but some things do change.

Congratulations judges for progress. Good job...except for a leech here and there. 

Contributor, Richard Pegues

COURT APPOINTEES COSTING TAXPAYERS BIG BUCKS

To his great credit, County Court-at-Law Judge Tommy Chambers once pointed out a common problem found on the backs of Liberty County taxpayers and this same problem came up for discussion in the county’s budget workshop Tuesday.   That problem is people who can arrange to pay for their legal representation and can afford it, but claim indigence and the county pays their legal bills.

“Too many people who can afford it want the county to pay for their legal expenses”,  Judge Chambers intimated in a discussion relating to the Judges trying to do their part in the conservative use of taxpayer money.

Unlike some in government, the conservative Judges in Liberty County have not just simply stated the problem, they have found solution after solution and, then, taken action. Not paying to house non-violent offenders in the jail until their court date has saved the county hundreds of thousands of dollars. An analysis of who should manage the jail, the county or a private management company, is another example of the new businesslike approach County Judge Craig McNair, Sheriff Bobby Rader, District Judges Chap Cain and Mark Morefield, and Judge Tommy Chambers have used to work together as they look for solutions to keep Liberty County from becoming another of the economic horror stories we hear about across the nation.

During today’s meeting, when the very expensive cost court appointees issue was brought up as a cost that could possibly be cut, we learned that 3 or 4 lawyers in the Liberty court system make over $100,000 a year on appointments from cases the county foots the bill on. Changing the method of calculating payment was discussed briefly.  Judge Chambers, ferreting out whether the county should pay all or part or none of the bill, shows the kind of respect for taxpayers all public officials should have.

Unfortunately, no mention was made of court appointed prosecutors. Liberty County seems to be very selective, but still very wasteful, when the D.A. or the County Attorney passes their responsibilities to outside counsel. These appointments are not nickel and dime decisions. They involve thousands and thousands of dollars.

REPUBLICANS LOOKING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS 'DEMOCRATS LEFT' LIBERTY COUNTY

The issue in the next county election will not be about whether voters chose to return local Democrats to office in hopes of solving the county's problems.  The issue will be about which Republic office holders will be chosen as part of a team that recognizes that, due to the enormous amounts of funds that were wasted during the time that the Democrats were office holders, they have little "wiggle room" to do anything about the financial condition of Liberty County except to find areas to cut spending and prioritize the essentials of each department head.  Most voters who are paying attention will not want to vote for anyone who chooses to plunge the county into further debt

Liberty Dispatch’s observations about who is who in the Republican Party will be found here for discussion as the next election approaches.

In a recent workshop, Commissioner Norman Brown, a longtime Democrat until changing to the Republican Party last election, was very open and plain spoken as he stated, “We need to look at raising taxes. I have said it every year and you can quote me on that.”

Though we can all respect Commissioner Brown’s straight forward talk, we can also discern that his decision to switch political parties was not accompanied by a change in the way he wants to conduct the taxpayers’ business. He also suggested borrowing more money through certificates of obligation. Brown has announced he will run for re-election and it will be interesting to see if he will continue to say raising taxes is what needs to be done.

Brown’s suggestion of raising taxes and borrowing more money was not received favorably by County Judge Craig McNair, who made it clear that raising taxes and borrowing more money would not be well received by the people who elected the office holders in the workshop and that it was not an acceptable solution for him to endorse. (Sic. raising taxes)

In addition, after some back and forth conversation in the room, County Auditor Harold Seay confirmed that though Mr. Brown and the Democrat officials he served with through the years had not officially “raised taxes”, the effective rate had been raised and, therefore, taxpayers have forked over more and more money over the years. (Or in common folk language, without government’s distorted definition, they have been raising taxes all along).

In about an hour and half workshop Tuesday morning, County Auditor Harold Seay also weighed in on the idea of more certificates of obligation by pointing out that spending too much was the problem and that in the past (when all of the officials were Democrats) as soon as one certificate of obligation was paid off the county would just borrow more money.

“It is one thing to do that on a public building or a fixed asset, but the practice of borrowing money on short term regular expenditures is not good,” said Mr. Seay, in what could be described as a plea for this group of officials to change to better (conservative) business practices than in the years of former County Judge Kirkham and Phil Fitzgerald and former Commissioners like Melvin Hunt, Todd Fontenot, and Lee Groce.

At some point in the workshop, there was a poignant change in focus. Initially, the focus from the County Auditor and the County Judge was to prepare every official in the room for another tight budget where everyone should be looking to prioritize their department’s spending and looking for places to cut their budget. Then a short interim in the workshop’s discussion focused on trying to increase the county’s revenue, but raising taxes and borrowing money seemed to lack consensus.

The final shift in the conversation was a bit more bizarre. The conversation in the last thirty minutes or so turned to the process used to decide the particulars of the budget.  More than once, County Clerk Paulette Williams emphasized she needed more money. She indicated dissatisfaction with the results of several attempts to plead her case for her department receiving more money. Despite efforts by the County Auditor and the County Judge to validate that she felt like every department in the county government, she continued to insist that she was not being heard in the process that simply allotted her time to discuss her needs in a private meeting with the County Auditor and the County Judge.

The meeting closed with what appeared to be unanimous consent to give each department head time fifteen minutes to speak about their budget needs in future workshops. In what was obviously one more attempt to make sure Ms. Williams was listening to the economic situation of the county, the County Auditor echoed, once again, the idea that he hoped each department head would speak about how they could help reduce the deficit in the budget and stop the irresponsible financial insanity that has been going on for many years, rather than each person insisting they need more money.

To re-cap the meeting, the most obvious things that were observed in this workshop were County Judge Craig McNair and County Auditor Harold Seay’s leadership in trying to save the county.

At one point, Judge McNair said, “I know it is not popular, but we cannot keep spending more money than we take in. Some people may think we don’t care, but everyone of us would love to give our people a raise.” He continued as he pointed out that Liberty County can’t keep borrowing money and think that is good for the employees or the rest of the citizens in the county. It is bad for everyone. It is the wrong thing to do.

We applaud Judge McNair and Mr. Seay as neither of these people have an easy job. 

In the near future, Liberty Dispatch will identify officeholders and candidates who are willing to make poor business decisions on behalf of the people of Liberty County all in order for their own short term gain. We will try to identify those who are joining together in an attempt to defeat the people who are making good, tough decisions that will be the best thing for this county and which will allow us the chance to make an informed decision at election time.

Dedicated to Jay Knight

HCN- Dayton town hall meeting put hard questions to the hospital district

A story was written by the Dayton News which tells the truth about a recent public meeting where the controversial "Liberty Hospital District" was asked questions by some very upset and concerned citizens.

Unlike other local news outlets spinning lies about the support garnered by the "Liberty Hospital District" who came to Dayton with a carpet bag full of tricks.  At a recent public meeting, here as follows are excepts of the truth from this publicly perceived financial shake down-

"Representatives of the Liberty County Hospital District were put on the defensive at the town hall meeting in Dayton Thursday night, July 11, as officials and others speaking for the City of Dayton made statements and asked questions strongly insinuating mismanagement."

*Noticeably absent from the public meeting was Liberty attorney C. Bruce Stratton who is said to be the proverbial wizard behind the "Liberty Hospital District curtain". Why was he hiding out and not answering questions concerning his machination?

"Paul Henry attended, representing the hospital district, along with other board members and David Mendez, an attorney with Bickerstaff, a firm that advises the district and specializes in providing legal counsel to public entities."


"The meeting room had a table up front for the Dayton City Council with a table on the council’s left for district board members and a table for the “media,” nearly all of whom chose to sit elsewhere."

On the council’s right were tables set up for Dayton’s special council, an attorney named Sandy Hellums-Gomez from the firm of Thompson and Horton, LLP, and Mark Burton, a certified public accountant hired by the City of Dayton to review the financial information provided by the district."

"Attorney Hellums-Gomez spoke to address the question of whether the hospital district and the Liberty-Dayton Regional Medical Center (LDRMC) having the same board members was unlawful or constituted an ethical violation. Her answer was no, it is not illegal, nor does it violate any established ethical standards, but Hellums-Gomez added that in her opinion it looked bad."

"Next, Burton, the CPA, spoke. He said he had reviewed the financial records provided by the district, that had been prepared by the accounting firm BKD, and that, in his opinion, those records were not a complete audit but only a “financial statement.” He explained that BKD did not make a complete audit probably because they lack sufficient records from the district, in his opinion."


"There are three entities involved: first is the Liberty County Hospital District No. 1, a political subdivision created by a vote of the residents in the district; second is a non-profit corporation called the LCHD No. 1 Corporation; and third there is the actual hospital itself, the Liberty-Dayton Regional Medical Center."

"The district, as a political body, has no bylaws."

"The non-profit corporation, that owns the hospital facilities, has bylaws adopted in 2009, but the word “audit” does not appear anywhere in them."

Neither do the bylaws of the LDRMC, as they were adopted in 2009, appear to require yearly audits. Possibly the bylaws of the corporation or the LDRMC have since been amended to include such a requirement, but neither the special council nor the CPA specified this in their remarks and repeatedly referred to “the district’s bylaws.”

Summary:
 
"Also attending Dayton’s town hall meeting were Liberty Mayor Carl Pickett and City Manager Gary Broz."

"Pickett spoke briefly encouraging everyone to work together and noting the trust he has in Henry."

Hmmm...

This was an excellent story by HCN reporter Casey Stinnett for the whole story link here.

Request-

Request-

Fitzgerald charged with assault at court

"Just minutes after court was concluded, a 911 call was made by Hardin city workers after an attack on Terry and Bergman was allegedly made by Josh Fitzgerald inside of Terry’s office.

City workers said that Josh Fitzgerald had left the building and returned, asking to speak to Terry and Bergman.

Once inside Terry’s office, Josh Fitzgerald reportedly shouted profanities at the women and threatened to “[expletive] them up and [expletive] up their lives,” one city worker said.

The court bailiff, who was still on hand, detained Josh Fitzgerald until sheriff’s deputies arrived. Former Texas DPS Trooper Donnie Smith also showed up at city hall and appeared to be acting as a counsel to the Fitzgeralds during the subsequent inquiry."

See the full story at the Cleveland Advocate website

Early Liberty County Republican Candidates

Controversial prior Liberty County judge candidate Jay Knight has announced he will seek the office of Liberty County Judge. Jay Knight is not without his many detractors. Many are saying that Knight is part of the good ole boy network in Dayton who plans to arrogantly stranglehold Liberty and the rest of Liberty County. In other related news, Pct 4 JP, Barry Graves, has publicly expressed that he will run against current Pct 4 commissioner, Norman "pothole" Brown.

Request - Summer 2013

Request-

Request-

Request-

Liberty County Law Enforcement and Fire Department Support

-->

In a joint effort to support the “100 Club”, which has come to the financial aid of the families of deceased Law Enforcement Officers and Fire Fighters so many times over the past many years, as well as providing many agencies with life-saving equipment which allows them to do their jobs more safely, the Liberty County Fire Fighters and Sheriff’s Department have joined together for a fund raiser.  The “Fill the Bucket” event will be held on Saturday, July 13, 2013.

President Bill Hergermueller of the Liberty County Fire Fighters Association, all Liberty County Fire Chief’s, and Liberty County Sheriff Bobby Rader and his personnel of the Sheriff’s Department, have united in this effort to give back, to some degree, the generosity of the 100 Club and the services that this organization provides to the community through the agencies they support.

The public is invited to drop by any of the locations listed below between the hours of 9:00 am and noon to help “Fill the Bucket” and help support those who support and protect our community.

Locations:

Hwy. 146 & Hwy.105

Hwy. 105 & FM 2518

Hwy. 59 & Hwy. 105

Hwy. 146 & By-Pass

Hwy. 90 & Hwy. 146

Hwy. 146 & FM 787