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