The Llano Ledger


Newsletter Text V41

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.

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*************May 22, 2000***********

Readers are reminded Kingsland Post #434 will hold a Memorial Day service May 29 at the Post home at 10:30am. A detailed News release containing directions and particulars can be found on Information and Services. Show your patriotism and gratitude to those who made the supreme sacrifice. Be sure to attend.

A most interesting recent exchange with County Judge J.P. Dodgen will be presented in this edition. The following e-mail was sent Friday, May 12:

J.P. Dodgen, County Judge
Llano County Courthouse
Llano, Tx. 78643

Dear J.P.:

Thank you for apparently authorizing uninterrupted access to two folders of Llano Law Enforcement Center-related documents Thursday, May 4. Since this will be an ongoing inquiry until completion of the facility, there are several unresolved questions:

1. (a)With regard to your office, will there be need for continuing formal open records requests as the new jail is built? (b)If not, would making an appointment with your secretary, Barbara, be sufficient?

2. (a)Will formal open records requests have to be made to the Auditor and Treasurer? (b)If so, will there be need for continuing formal requests to these officials as the facility is built?

3. While documents already reviewed included correspondence to you from the architect and others, few letters, faxes, and e-mails from you to others were present in the material examined. (a)Are they in possession of the Auditor and Treasurer? (b)Other than the Auditor and Treasurer, are any other County officials in possession of documents sought in my open records request of April 22, 2000?

4. Your secretary, Barbara, has asserted the copying charge would be $1/copy as also imposed by the County Clerk. (a)Sir, do you stand by the amount of this charge? (b)If so, is this the standard charge imposed by ALL Llano County offices?

While informal handling of information requests germane to long-term inquiry results in less paperwork and is easier for all, I would be more than willing and happy to continue filing formal open records requests if necessary. Thank you for consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,
Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger
http://maxpages.com/llanoledger
Rt 2 Box 464A
Buchanan Dam, Tx. 78609

The following snail-mail was received Tuesday, May 16 in response:

The County of Llano
Llano, Texas

15 May 2000

Tim Chorney
Rt. 2, Box 464A
Buchanan Dam, TX 78609

Dear Tim,

I have received your e-mail regarding the law enforcement center. I will answer your questions as best I can.

As far as I am concerned, you did not need to make a formal request for open records to see anything pertaining to the law enforcement center. You are more than welcome to see any and all correspondence I have here with or without a request. For the benefit of this office, and yours also, please call Barbara and set a date and time.

I cannot speak for the other offices as to whether they will require an open records request. I suggest that you call them or visit to determine their requirements. I have spoken with Commissioner Bill Kinney, and he has had as much contact with Lamarr McDonald and Huckabee and Associates as I have. He said you are welcome to see all correspondence between them. He can be reached at (830) 598-2296 in Horseshoe Bay. It is my understanding that an open records request is not necessary.

E-mails, faxes, etc. between this office and Huckabee have been limited to construction documents, etc., and there is a copy of all this in the files you saw. In many cases, copies have been made for Commissioners and other departments, and there may be extra copies in the files. You are certainly welcome to those copies without charge. It is my understanding that the standard charge for requested copies is $1.00 per page. Any reduction in this fee, for any purpose, would set a precedent and require action of Commissioners' Court.

I hope this answers your questions and should you like to visit personally about the law enforcement center, or anything else, feel free to call me or come by the office.

As a side note, it is a widely known fact that you use the County Library as a site to publish at least some of your commentary. The question has been raised by several citizens whether it is legal to use county owned and maintained computers to solicit personal funds. The question is just that, a legal question, and one to which I honestly do not know the answer. I would prefer not to have to research this. Perhaps you may wish to do so in order to satisfy concerned citizens of the county.

Sincerely yours,
J.P. Dodgen
County Judge

The following e-mail was quickly sent in response the same day, May 15:

County Judge J.P. Dodgen
Llano County Courthouse
Llano, Tx. 78643

Dear J.P.:

Thank you for your quick and detailed response to my e-mail of May 12. Be assured, I will indeed publish the text of my message to you as well as your written response of May 15 in its entirety, -- including a full answer to the thinly disguised "legal question" posed in your last paragraph. ... What surprises me, however, is why it took so long to ask the question.

Up to this point, I've carefully avoided publicly stating on the website where my non-profit unfunded publication is published to avoid undue unnecessary pressure on County officials. ... After all, I have more than enough fodder without doing so. I also had no desire to throw it in the face of the Commissioners' Court. Still don't. There's no point.

Since, however, you have not so subtly brought pressure to bear regarding alleged use of "county owned and maintained computers to solicit personal funds", it is time to fully answer your "legal question" as well as inform readers as to where the non-profit, unfunded, public service _Llano Ledger is published, how this writer was betrayed by one of the Kingsland librarians, -- in possible violation of privacy laws to two County Commissioners, and how those Commissioners brought unethical pressure to bear on the former Library Director. To her credit, however, she stood tall.

Further commentary regarding the fact a complaint was filed with the American Civil Liberties Union in response is also in order. If I'm apparently forced to address alleged solicitation of "personal funds", it's also important the public be made aware of the entire set of circumstances behind County efforts to have me removed from the Library System. -- Including an Internet use agreement forced on patrons that raises constitutional questions regarding First Amendment rights and their abrogation by officials in an effort to squelch dissent.

Should I ultimately receive the boot, J.P., _The Llano Ledger will continue to be published regardless. Count on it. Might provide interesting fodder for the website, though, as well as a lawsuit from the ACLU regarding First Amendment issues. On a happier note, however, as the investigation regarding the law enforcement center continues, at some point I will indeed take up your gracious offer to sit down and discuss it in detail. Again, I'm only at the very beginning. There is far more to be done. Indeed, thanks for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger
http://maxpages.com/llanoledger
Rt 2 Box 464A
Buchanan Dam, Tx. 78609

Well, well, well. The Judge finally took the bait. What took so long, J.P.? Haven't bothered to carefully read this website though, have you sir? This publication remains non-profit and is indeed a public service designed to expose corrupt and abusive officials. With rare exception, _The Ledger is unfunded by the community it serves.

The Judge knows damn well the purpose of this publication is not the solicitation of "personal funds". So do the District Attorney and County Attorney, -- both of whom have been targeted repeatedly on this website. Financial support for this PUBLICATION, however, has been sought for months, -- with NO response from the readership. In the interest of honesty and disclosure and as previously reported, three contributions have been received this year, --NONE of them, however, a result of solicitation of financial support on this website. None. Zero. Zilch.

The first financial contribution came from a donor, kind enough to offer a ride. He wasn't even aware of this publication prior to this writer handing him a business card while explaining the purpose and goals of _The Ledger. In response, he generously made a contribution without ever having even read this publication.

A second financial contribution was received from a newly acquired supporter who had only recently learned of the existence of _The Ledger through another reader. I'm proud to say he's now a reader himself, -- and well-known in the community.

The third contribution was a bicycle donated by a friend, who although aware of this publication and a supporter, owns no computer and was barred from the Library System on a phony complaint made to the Sheriff's Department several years ago by guess who, -- one of the Kingsland librarians. Readers should understand this former patron is politically incorrect in appearance and views.

No charges were ever brought, nor was this innocent citizen arrested. He was, however, harassed by one of Kingsland's "finest", Deputy Duane Nobles. Readers will recall Mr. Nobles has been repeatedly targeted on this website for similar problems of harassment, -- and worse.

Having received no financial support from the readership, readers may indeed wonder why financial support has been so vigorously sought nonetheless. There are three reasons. First, support is absolutely necessary if this publication is ever to go to hardcopy. Second, the readers have been pounded for months regarding this issue to clearly demonstrate the extremely high level of fear and greed in this community. Mission accomplished. Sincere thanks, J.P., to you and your cronies for unwittingly aiding and abetting the process, sir.

Despite the relentless pounding, readership has not dropped off, but has in fact increased. After all, where the hell else can citizens find the kind and depth of information carefully presented on this website week after week? More pointedly, why support a publication when you can get it for "free" and even get to watch the writer swing in the wind, no? The irony is indeed side-splitting, isn't it?

The third reason the pounding has continued was to force County officials to tip their hand. Readers will notice the Judge has been extremely careful to present an image of disingenuous detachment, good temper, openness, non-abusiveness, magnanimous tolerance, etc.. ... The final paragraph of his May 15 letter, however, betrays the facade and offers readers valuable insight.

His thinly veiled "legal question" is magnificently crafted. The Judge and his legal beagles know damn well the purpose of _The Ledger is not the solicitation of "personal funds". Since you and your cronies can't impeach what has been carefully presented in this publication, J.P., are you now grasping for straws through a distortion of reality, sir?

Your shills should more properly concern themselves with the disingenuous disenfranchisement of the electoral process outrageously and deliberately perpetrated by you and the Commissioners' Court, -- issuing certificates of obligation rather than calling for a bond election for the unneeded new law enforcement center. ... Afraid the taxpayers wouldn't have gone along with the ruse, Judge? A shaft that will indeed ultimately cost in excess of $6 million (financing included). -- Provided there are no overruns?

Conveniently forget about the shafting of Precinct 2 Constable Bob Cowart, J.P.? I haven't, and am more than willing to remind readers. In an effort to dump an ELECTED official, the Commissioners' Court reduced Mr. Cowart's $12,500 salary to $350. That's right, $350. Nothing quite as irritating as having to face a pesky electorate, right, Judge? ... Other than a public irritant such as this writer of course. Rather than deal with the electorate honestly, why not just disenfranchise the vote, right, Mr. Dodgen?

Equally pointedly, J.P., your shills should more appropriately concern themselves with the approximately $37 million (interest included) squandered on unnecessary new school facilities. Concerning improper activities, what about a District Attorney who pre-emptively dismissed a jail-rape indictment to protect the Sheriff and the "Good Old Boys" who "run" the jail. What about former Narcotics Enforcement Team (NET) Co-Commander Brent Nichols who was demoted to sergeant for supposedly "administrative" reasons, but was NEVER criminally investigated by our illustrious District Attorney? Readers should understand NET lost drug cases when Nichols essentially pleaded the Fifth on the stand. Interesting, isn't it?

What about the former victims' assistance coordinator who was allowed to quietly resign under highly questionable circumstances from the District Attorney's office? Both the DA and County Attorney, however, declined to prosecute. Why? Why are our "prosecutors" nailing only the "unwashed masses"? On a pettier note, what about a Superintendent of Schools and District Attorney who have not fully complied with open records requests, and more outrageously have dishonestly attempted to charge for copies NEVER requested? Looking for improper activity, J.P.? Look first in your own backyard, sir.

Although afforded NO special treatment, this writer has been treated extremely well at both the Main and Lakeshore Libraries, -- like ALL other patrons. It is no secret I publicly and privately strongly support the Friends of the Lakeshore Library. Readers are advised there is NO quid pro quo.

This superb group selflessly volunteers numerous hours saving taxpayers an enormous amount of money. Their fundraising efforts for a new facility will also save taxpayers the expense of expansion. Just as importantly, management of expansion by this group will ensure citizens aren't bilked by the incompetence and greed of elected officials.

Despite use of Library facilities, this writer has and will continue to address extraordinarily poor and short-sighted earlier decisions by elected officials regarding the Library System. Sadly, our gallant County "leadership" was well aware of severe structural problems with both Main and Lakeshore facilities prior to acquisition. Taxpayers are certainly paying for it now with desperately needed currently ongoing roofing repairs at the Main Library. Yet, despite all obstacles, our fine librarians and their selfless volunteers have done an extraordinary job.

With more pressing issues demanding coverage, continued critique of the Garrett Deposition had to be postponed yet another week. Sorry. Since the point has been finally driven home to readers and the Judge, the pounding regarding a lack of financial support for this publication is no longer necessary. The truth, however, is still the truth, -- and it isn't very pretty nor will it be muzzled by our self-serving officials.

With that in mind, the visitor count stands in excess of 16,400. Another excellent week. With rare exception, however, this publication receives no financial support from the readership it serves due to greed, gut-wrenching fear, and the continuing intimidation of our abusive officials. Regardless, _The Llano Ledger remains beholden to NO ONE, and will continue to firmly and aggressively hold the feet of our worst offenders to the fire, -- with or without the financial support of the community.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
_The Llano Ledger



Tim Chorney, Publisher
P.O. Box 997
Buchanan Dam Tx. 78609

llanoledger@mailcity.com

Page Updated Tue Oct 9, 2001 1:17pm EDT