The Llano Ledger
Newsletter Text V19
This Website Is Full. Starting With The December 25, 2000 Newsletter,
All Future Editions Will Be Posted In The Llano Ledger 2, Found By
Clicking http://maxpages.com/llanoledger2.
*******************December 6, 1999******************
As reported Nov. 22, the City of Llano and the Narcotics Enforcement
Team (NET) have agreed to an expansion of an earlier interlocal
agreement signed in 1996 that expires 5-31-2000. The new agreement is
the same as the earlier one and runs for 3 years (6-1-2000 to
5-31-2003). The document is 6 pages of "legalese". The Counties of
Blanco, Burnet, Llano, and San Saba as well as the Cities of Burnet,
Llano, Lake LBJ Municipal Utility District, Johnson City, Bertram, and
Marble Falls are participants. As mentioned earlier, Mason County
wisely pulled out of NET when authorities there finally understood the
egregious, unconstitutional abuses and corruption within this
supposedly "elite" agency.
Interestingly, the attention of readers is drawn to Article IV
Sect. 4.01 of the agreement: "The Board of Governors shall be comprised
of the agency heads of the participating named Cities and Counties. The
remaining agency heads will serve as ex-officio members of the Board
(hereinafter "Board"). The Board will elect a chairperson from its
membership." Apparently, there is NO citizen oversight of NET, -- if I
correctly understand this golden nugget of "legalese". Interesting, no?
Certainly makes it easier for officers to harass, intimidate, and abuse
innocent citizens they've sworn to "protect and serve", doesn't it?
To his credit, Llano City Manager Philip Cook quickly released all
requested documents to this publication without any delay or
obfuscation. The request was informally made by e-mail without mention
of the Texas Open Records Act. The Fiscal Year 1998-1999 Report
provided by NET did not include a description of the statistics, i.e.
whether they were arrests, warrants, cases, convictions, etc.. Although
Llano City taxpayers were looted $1200 to pay for this agreement, the
City Manager did not know the nature of the statistics in the report. I
approached Llano City Police Chief James Schilling with the same
question. Surprisingly, he had no idea, but immediately called NET
Commander Dwight Hardin while I waited. The Commander was not
available. I asked the Chief to follow-up and informed him I'd return
later in the week. The next day I received an e-mail from Mr. Schilling
stating the statistics were indeed "cases". I'm deeply grateful to the
Chief and City Manager for their cooperation.
What disturbs me greatly, however, is neither official could answer
my question, although the Council had already voted to loot the
taxpayers. While I didn't have the time, I imagine I'd have received
the same response from the Mayor and Council Members had I polled them.
After all, if the Chief and City Manager didn't know... All joking
aside, this is sadly a classical example of a "knee-jerk" reaction to a
terrible problem, -- the drug scourge. Without examining the
effectiveness of NET or even analyzing their statistics, Llano City
officials apparently signed a contract with an abusive and corrupt
organization whose efficacy is at best questionable, -- as careful
examination of the statistics will reveal.
As repeatedly asserted earlier on this website, this writer does
not use drugs, and in fact strongly opposes their usage. Sadly, current
laws and police tactics do nothing to curtail drug abuse. Although law
enforcement will not admit it, drugs are as cheap and plentiful as
ever, -- despite the erosion and decimation of the U.S. Constitution by
our corrupt police and courts. Sadly, the drug war has been lost for
quite some time. I have no simple or easy answer to this terrible
problem, but I do know drug prohibition has failed as clearly and
miserably as alcohol prohibition did earlier this century.
For the next several weeks, statistics tables will be presented on
this website. The software offered by Maxpages supports text only.
Graphs and tables are difficult to construct effectively and clearly.
The software does not allow more than several spaces between numbers
and tends to "scrunch" them together. In an earlier edition, I used "*"
characters to separate the figures in a featured table. There were
problems nonetheless with readability and clarity. ... I'll attempt to
keep the tables as simple as possible to facilitate understanding. --
Bear with me, please. I'll do the best I can.
As mentioned, quite a few statistics will be presented over the
next several weeks. Much of the NET stats will be compared to those
obtained from the examination of the jail booking records. -- There is
too much to be covered in a single edition. Besides NET and the jail
records, there are other issues that need attention before the end of
the year as well. ... If not handled properly, however, statistics can
not only be abused and meaningless, but dry and boring. ... I'll
carefully walk the tightrope. ... We'll see what happens. ... Okay?
Figure 1 is a compiled data table of five monthly activity reports for Llano County provided by NET:
*****************************************
Fig. 1. Llano County Monthly Activity Data Compilation Table.
June 1999 Arrests/Warrants: 1
July 1999 Arrests/Warrants: 2
Aug. 1999 Arrests/Warrants: 2
Sep. 1999 Arrests/Warrants: 6
Oct. 1999 Arrests/Warrants: 2
Total *** Arrests/Warrants: 13
*****************************************
According to NET, a total of 13 people were jailed in Llano County
on drug charges from June through October 1999. Remember this statistic
is for ALL of Llano County. NET has not provided a separate figure for
the City of Llano. Interesting, no? Considering the amount of money
looted from Llano County, the City of Llano, and LBJ MUD, did the
taxpayers receive any "bang for the buck"? You decide. Readers should
also remember the membership fee is not the only expense involved in
participation in the Task Force. -- Those expenses were not included in
the material provided by the City Manager.
Figure 2 is the case load table provided by NET for Llano County for fiscal year 1998-1999 (June 1, 1998 to May 31, 1999):
***********************************************
Fig. 2 Llano County Case Load Table Provided by NET for FY98-99.
Quarter********1***2***3***4***Total
Llano County***7***6***10**1****24
Llano**********9***6***2***1****18
Kingsland******6***2***9***4****21
Horseshoe Bay**2***0***0***0****2
Sunrise Beach**0***0***1***1****2
Buchanan Dam***1***0***0***16***17
Valley Spring**0***0***0***0****0
Total**********25**14**22**23***84
********************************************
For the entire fiscal year, the City of Llano had 18 cases worked by
NET. ... Any bang for the buck? Again, you decide. -- At what price?
The harassment of numerous citizens on our roads? Notice also, the
fiscal year 1998-1999 case load and the subsequent June to October 1999
monthly activity figures are NOT comparable. -- Like apples and
oranges. Arrests/Warrants statistics are not the same as case load
numbers. ... Arrest figures are ALWAYS higher than case numbers. ...
Case numbers are ALWAYS higher than the number of convictions. The fact
that NET did not use the same statistics in all material provided to
the City Manager is at best disingenuous and deliberately misleading.
Interesting, no? Yet, Llano City officials questioned none of this
before looting taxpayers. Worse yet, arrest and case load figures are
indeed poor indicators of an agency's true effectiveness. A far better
statistic would have been the number of offenders convicted. Notice,
NET chose not to provide these figures. Why?
As mentioned in an earlier edition, there were many people
incarcerated in the Llano County Jail on writs (warrants), the nature
of which is unclear in the booking records. This statistic is carefully
being compiled and will be presented in a future edition. How many of
these unidentified writs involved drug charges subsequently dropped for
whatever the reason? Good question, no? This is precisely why it is
terribly difficult to assess whether there was any deliberate
overloading of the jail by NET or Sheriff's Deputies. Whether or not
there was in fact any deliberate attempt, however, the number of
inmates incarcerated on relatively petty charges is indeed high. This
figure is also being compiled and will be published in a future
edition. While the number of NET arrests may or may not be significant,
what about the conviction rate? A lot more digging will have to be
done.
Sadly, NET has a well-earned reputation for conducting warrantless
searches. Worse yet, there have been numerous credible allegations of
unconstitutional tactics used by abusive officers to place enormous
pressure on citizens to sign consent to search forms. This publication
has received a number of complaints from NET victims too intimidated to
allow publication of their stories.
The paralyzing fear experienced by so many is precisely why fascist
organizations like NET operate with impunity, -- while our illustrious
DA and his apparently equally corrupt cohorts ignore their oaths of
office. Readers are gently reminded this is the United States, -- not
Nazi Germany. Innocent citizens DON'T live in fear of abusive police
agencies and their corrupt handlers.
It's indeed time for NET Commander Dwight Hardin to fully explain the
nature of former Co-Commander Brent Nichol's demotion to sergeant, --
supposedly for "administrative reasons". What "administrative reasons",
Commander? Why wasn't he fired? ... Does he have too much on his fellow
officers? Equally pointedly, why wasn't Nichols criminally
investigated? Credible street sources strongly assert this officer is
"dirty" as well as abusive. Two attorneys have also privately asserted
NET has lost cases in the courtroom when Nichols in effect pleaded the
Fifth on the stand during interrogation. Where's our illustrious
District Attorney Sam Oatman?
... A gentle reminder: As previously mentioned, the pop-up and
banner advertising belongs to Maxpages. _The Ledger receives no income
from either, and remains non-profit. As always, this publication needs
and appreciates donations from readers. Sadly, no other publication is
willing to challenge corrupt and abusive officials. Readers can expect
continued aggressive, relentless, officious, tireless pursuit of our
most egregious offenders. ... Figuratively speaking, a "take no
prisoners" approach, regardless of whose toes are stepped on, feathers
ruffled, or tail feathers plucked. Things CAN change in our community.
Be part of it. Help me to help you.
Tim Chorney, Publisher
Tim Chorney, Publisher
P.O. Box 997
Buchanan Dam Tx. 78609
llanoledger@mailcity.com
Page Updated Tue Oct 9, 2001 1:31pm EDT