The Llano Ledger
Newsletter Text V49
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**************Continuation of July 31, 2000 Newsletter*************
Sadly, these white-collar turkeys, however, will be exposed for the
corrupt criminals they truly are. While readers are rightfully
concerned with violent offenders, white-collar crime is indeed
insidious and deeply entrenched throughout the entire system. It is
also devastatingly damaging to governmental credibility, destructive to
the best interests of the citizenry, and affects far more people both
directly and indirectly, -- all of us. Make no mistake dear readers,
Open Records Division officials are clearly protecting corrupt and
abusive Llano County officials. -- Apparently, in deference to the
District Attorney.
Continuing critique of July 18 released LMHS documents, consider the
following excerpt from the May 25, 2000 Llano Bay Health Care Board
minutes:
"Approve the Finalized Contract between Llano Bay and Michael
Joseph for a 30-acre tract of land for the purpose of the Marble Falls
Community Hospital-Terms of Contract reviewed: $16,000/acre for 30
acres, with the option to change out 10 acres. There will be direct
access to Hwy 281."
Needless to say, access to the contract will be requested. Consider the following excerpt from the same minutes:
"Mr. Burnight, O'Connell Robertson & Associates, Inc., and
James H. Henry, AIA, Health Care Facilities, LLC. gave a presentation
to the Board. The Presentation included background information and what
their parameters will cover. (See attached presentation) Dr. Willoughby
asked how long it would be to get the plans and building image
together. Mr. Burnight estimated that it would be six (6) weeks. Ernie
Parisi noted that we need to have something to show the Community so
there is something concrete for them to see. We need this so we can get
Bonding. Mr. Burnright stated that the 7% Fee would be all inclusive.
It would combine the fee for both the Architect and the Program
Manager. This is the first time that they have worked together. The
contract will be with O'Connell, Robertson & Assoc. The Board will
do the selection of the contract for the building. They will manage our
selection."
Since the "presentation" document was not present in the released
documents, a formal request will be made for access. Consider the
following excerpt from the same minutes:
"General Discussion. Christine Reed passed out packet showing the
members and functions of the Advisory Committee. She included Fund
Raising Ideas."
Since the "packet" and "Fund Raising Ideas" were not included in
the released documents, formal access will be requested. Consider the
following excerpt from the March 21, 2000 Llano Bay Health Care Inc.
Board minutes:
"Discuss Lease of Hospital. There have been meetings with Kevin
Reed. The 501C3 [Llano Bay Health Care Inc.] has to do the bonds. There
are some issues that need to be discussed. There will be a combined
financial. The accounts payable and receivable will go to Llano Bay.
The employees will remain with the Authority [LMHS] and will lease them
to Llano Bay. One half (1/2) of the net profit will be transferred to
the Authority for improvements to the Llano Hospital. The 501C3 would
be responsible for the Indigent Care. The 501C3 will issue the bonds
through the Marble Falls Health Facilities Development Corp. The
Authority will always be in control over all entities."
Interestingly, the finagling and wheeling and dealing go on and on.
For now, LMHS apparently has no intention of dumping Llano Memorial
Hospital. For how long? We'll see.
For well over a year, this publication has received numerous complaints
regarding JP2 Lanny "The Cop" Stephenson and her corrupt and abusive
court. Fortunately, the other three Justices of the Peace appear to be
properly conducting themselves and their courts. Not so, with Ms.
Stephenson. Consequently and conveniently, she receives most of the
cases from the Sheriff's Department. Lanny has indeed become the cash
cow for the County. Apparently, a routine no-seat belt violation costs
most offenders in excess of $400 in Her Majesty's court. ... Got to
make money for the County, right, "Judge"?
Recently, an interesting story was brought to my attention involving
this abusive outrageous Queen of the Second Precinct. Apparently, a
vehicle suffered a broken tie rod causing it to careen off Hwy 29 into
a State sign. The driver went to call for help, but returned finding a
ticket already slapped on the windshield by one of Llano County's
"finest" for destruction of State property. Subsequently, the guy
explained what happened to the Sheriff and wound up in the Queen's
court anyway. Having further explained the accident to Her Majesty, he
was apparently nonetheless fined in excess of $600 for the "offense".
All readers with similar stories are strongly urged to step
forward. The only way this crap will end is by exposing it to the light
of day. Save a copy of the ticket and all paperwork. I would be more
than happy to publish it and expose these corrupt turkeys for the
criminals they truly are. ... Remember, it takes guts to stand up to
abusive authority. I can't do it alone, friends.
Clicking the About button above the Table of Contents, the visitor
count proudly stands in excess of 22,900. Another record-breaking week.
Non-profit and outrageously unfunded by the readership it serves due to
greed, gut-wrenching fear, and the continuing relentless intimidation
of corrupt and abusive Llano County officials, this publication remains
as always beholden to NO ONE.
Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger (Scroll down for July 17, 2000 Newsletter. July 24, 2000 Newsletter can be found on Newsletter Text V50.)
Special Notice: Friends of the Lakeshore Library will hold a
building-fund benefit July 19, 11am to 2pm. The Food Tasting Event
offers delicious samples of recipes prepared by contributors to the
Cooking With Friends cookbook recently delivered by the publisher.
Tickets are $15 and include a copy of the cookbook. If you already have
one, price of sampling the culinary delights is only $5. All proceeds
go to the building of a new facility financed by privately-raised
funds. Why not enjoy fine food, interesting company, and best of all
support a great cause?
Publisher's Note: Accessing _The Llano Ledger website without
generously providing financial assistance to this non-profit
publication not only denies desperately needed funds for investigative
expenses, but amounts to theft of this writer's labor. T.C.
*************July 17, 2000*************
The following letter in response to a June 23 open records request
(posted in the June 26, 2000 Newsletter) was received July 10 from LMHS
Administrator Ernie Parisi:
LMHS
Llano Memorial Healthcare System
200 West Ollie
Llano, Tx. 78643
July 7, 2000
Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger
Rt. 2 Box 464A
Buchanan Dam, Tx. 78609
Re: Your letter, June 23, 2000 -- Open Records Request
Dear Mr. Chorney:
Per your request in your letter of June 23, 2000, for information
under the Public Information Act, the documents requested will [be]
available for your review.
You may review these records beginning at 11:00AM and ending at 12:00PM on Tuesday, July 18, 2000.
If you need additional time for the review of the records, you may schedule additional time through written request.
Sincerely,
Ernie Parisi
Administrator/CEO
Readers will recall this request was for access to the withdrawn
LMHS request for open records exception, the minutes of the Llano Bay
Healthcare Board for calendar year 2000, and all O'Connell, Robertson
& Associates-Hospital correspondence, faxes, memos, and e-mails
regarding construction of the Marble Falls Community Hospital. -- A
substantial amount of material should the Administrator fully honor the
request.
The Administrator's irritation, however, is apparently beginning to
show, -- allowing merely an hour and requiring written request for
additional time. ... No problem, Ernie. Be glad to comply with LMHS
demanded time-wasting paperwork and repeated visits for further
scrutiny of records. -- Probably won't have to, however. ... If earlier
responses to records requests are any indication, there won't be much
there. Thanks for the additional fodder though. I'm deeply grateful,
sir.
Regarding the continuing stonewalling of donor records since May 25, the following e-mail was sent to the Administrator July 11:
Ernie Parisi, Administrator/CEO
Llano Memorial Healthcare System
Re: Donor Records, Attorney General ID#138046
Ernie:
Llano Memorial Hospital Foundation Treasurer Lance Center has
conveniently ignored your letter of June 20 regarding access to "All
donor records of the Llano Memorial Hospital Foundation". Couldn't be
he's sanitizing the documents, could it?
After all, Mr. Center is one of several Llano City officials who
apparently placed unethical pressure on the Llano Chamber to merge with
the Hill Country Wildlife Museum last year. -- Small world, isn't it,
sir?
As public information officer, however, you sir are personally
responsible for honoring open records requests. Your repeated flagrant
violation of the Public Information Act is quickly reaching the point
where the Open Records Division will be finally forced to act, --
despite the apparently corrupt and abusive influence of the District
Attorney.
In the meantime, my heartfelt thanks for the seemingly endless fodder.
Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger
http://maxpages.com/llanoledger
Rt 2 Box 464A
Buchanan Dam, Tx. 78609
cc: Llano Ledger website
cc by e-mail: June B. Harden, Assistant Attorney General, Open
Records Division; David Mendoza, Legal Assistant, Open Records
Division; David Short, Investigator, Open Records Division.
Incidents of police brutality, as videotaped in Philadelphia and
Georgia recently, are endemic throughout the United States. Sadly, our
area is not immune. -- It's just conveniently swept under the rug. ...
Carefully covered-up by the Sheriff and "Good Old Boys".
Readers will recall an incident reported in an earlier Newsletter
involving one of Kingsland's "finest" and a 42-year-old woman who had
been beaten with a nightstick while her hands were cuffed behind her
back. Nothing happened to the officer. He's still a predator on our
roads.
Readers should understand Mr. Garrett is extremely tolerant of
abusive police behavior and tactics. Once in a while, however, things
go a little too far, -- even for the Sheriff. Another officer, no
longer with the Sheriff's Department as of late last fall, was
apparently involved in a beating incident carefully hidden from public
view. Not surprisingly, the former officer e-mailed several months ago
with promises of interesting information germane to improper activity
within the Sheriff's Department and Jail.
Initially, this writer believed the "officer" to be an extremely
immature unstable juvenile with an overactive imagination. Not so. The
former officer, however, had an agenda and was trying to manipulate and
control the flow of information. Most pointedly, I don't easily suffer
fools, and more importantly, certainly don't tolerate anyone trying to
run this show for me. Probing his credibility, --or lack thereof,
several extremely pointed messages were exchanged. Having received
nothing of substance, -- only spam, his address was blocked.
The Sheriff and Department are well-rid of this abusive officer.
Apparently quite familiar with the law as a former peace officer, his
rhetoric against Mr. Garrett was carefully designed to be just below
the threshhold of terroristic threat. When incidents of excessive use
of force occur, it is ALWAYS a mistake to conveniently sweep them under
the rug. -- As has apparently happened with this former officer.
Sadly, the guy will wind up elsewhere abusing the crap out of
others. ... Until he finally kills somebody. Law enforcement needs to
be extremely careful about personnel hired. This turkey wasn't fit to
be dog catcher, never mind a peace officer with a badge and gun
strapped to his hip. ... Nathan, with no opposition this fall, we're
quite frankly stuck with you as Sheriff for another four years. When
the hell are you finally going to clean up the Department? -- You've
already had nearly 8 years to do so.
As highly critical as this writer has been of the Sheriff and
several of the "Good Old Boys", all of us desperately want, need, and
expect the services of good, caring officers. Fortunately, the majority
of cops are in fact excellent and highly professional. It is the
relatively small minority who are extremely abusive and egregiously
ignorant of constitutional rights that are being pointedly and
aggressively targeted on this website. Sadly, the growing frequency of
incidents involving police brutality captured on videotape makes it
increasingly difficult to tell the good guys from the bad.
Continuing critique of the Garrett Deposition, carefully consider
again the following exchange between the Sheriff and Ms. Jones. It
certainly provides a most interesting glimpse into the Sheriff and his
approach to the job:
pp.109-112
Q. At the time that this rape occurred -- or alleged rape, as you put it, occurred, were there any female jailers on duty, sir?
A. No, ma'am.
Q. What happened after the statements were taken from Pesina and
from Ms. Wisdom? What was the next step in this process during
September 23rd to September 24th time frame?
A. Between that time and -- between September 23rd and the 24th?
Page 110
Q. Yes.
A. They continued their investigation.
Q. And do you know how many people were investigated -- excuse me -- were interviewed during this investigation?
A. No.
Q. Do you know if inmates were interviewed?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know who those inmates are?
A. Some of them. I don't know all of them. I don't --
Q. Who are some of the ones that you can recall?
A. I don't recall their names.
Q. Were you -- did you participate in the investigation?
A. No, ma'am, not --
Q. So once you went home for dinner that evening, you did not participate in the investigation past that point?
A. I came back, but I didn't do any investigating.
Q. All right, sir. During the time that the investigation -- excuse
me. Subsequent to the time the investigation went beyond interviewing
Mr. Pesina and Ms. Wisdom, did you learn that Holland Ligon had sexual
contact with female inmates?
Page 111
A. At -- now --
Q. During the time that others were interviewed, beyond the
interview of Pesina, beyond the interview of Ms. Wisdom, did you learn
from those interviews, did you receive feedback from those interviews
that Holland Ligon had sexual contact with female inmates?
A. I had read the statement on Jeannie Lee Rowley Sam Oatman give
me and then when the Grand Jury turned the investigation over to Joey
Gordon and then when he -- he did his investigation because he
interviewed.
Q. Yes. Several inmates that were incarcerated at the time of that
incident -- September 23rd, 1997 incident informed your investigators
that Holland Ligon had contact with female inmates. Did -- were you
told about those interviews?
A. I have no knowledge of that.
Q. Were you aware that during the time that this information was being disclosed the tape recorder was shut off?
A. I have no information on that.
Q. Did you ever tell other jailers, your employees, "Keep an eye on that boy," referring to Holland Ligon?
A. Not that I recall.
Q. You don't recall?
Page 112
A. No, ma'am.
Q. Were you aware that Ligon had females, not incarcerated inmates but females, come into the jail and visit him at night?
A. No.
Q. No one ever told you about that?
A. No.
Q. Were you aware that Mr. Ligon worked a second job while working as a jailer?
A. I understood that he had done some day work, and what I'm
referring to is a day here and a day there but no second -- I mean,
just second job.
Q. Which shift did Mr. Ligon work?
A. He worked 7:00a. to 7:00p., and he worked a short time 7:00p. to 7:00a. I don't have the time frame.
Q. That's all right. Were you aware that Mr. Ligon was sleeping on
the job and he had Johnny Pesina keep watch for him while he slept?
A. No, ma'am.
Is this a Sheriff who cares and knows what he's doing? -- In the
Jail or elsewhere? With the "leadership" displayed in his testimony,
can the public be assured justice is indeed being carried out in Llano
County? Just as importantly, District Attorney Sam Oatman is well aware
of what is going on, but has chosen to conveniently look the other way
to protect his cronies and benefactors. As he did by dismissing the
jail-rape indictment to protect the Sheriff's ass and "Good Old Boys"
who "run" the Jail.
Clicking the About button above the Table of Contents, the visitor
count proudly stands in excess of 21,300. Non-profit and unfunded by
the readership it serves due to greed, gut-wrenching fear, and the
continuing intimidation of corrupt and abusive Llano County officials,
this publication remains as always beholden to NO ONE.
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 1:10pm EDT