LETTER TO EDITOR REMINDING US OF POLITICAL CLIMATE WHEN LITTLE LEFT OFFICE

Dear Editor,

I am hoping you are a true believer in freedom of speech and that you will help me exercise mine. I was surfing the internet and found an article (*please see below) in a Shreveport newspaper that I believe is worth local people reading. The article helped me to understand why one of our local politicians did not retire but in an odd move did choose not to run for re-election. This was a huge pay cut.  I hope you will post this because it answers the question, “Why Mike Little did not run for re-election in 2012?” It also leaves the very possible prospect of him running again when voters have had a chance to forget his involvement in some of tehse things.

The answer to why Little did not run for re-election is: The sky was falling! The man has never had an opponent and he must be a little too chicken to run with such a perilous political sky!

In 2012 when former District Attorney Mike Little decided he would not seek re-election, the right people knew his political world was falling apart but most had no idea how far his political world had crumbled.  Below is a reminder of some of the things known to the public that the former D.A. would have contended with had he run (Please note Little did not retire, he just did not run for office – he is still working.):

1. The election was in 2012 and Mike Little’s brother, Sheriff Brodie Little, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for selling meth and other drugs. If Little had run for election, the local media would not have been able to suppress that a jury had found his brother’s “public service” which was near the Louisiana portion of I-10 had ended in a long prison sentence. Some may call that irony or coincidence since Little in his position as D.A.was one of the top law officials overseeing the drug wars near I-10 in Texas.

(PICTURE of Littles below-)

2. Mike Little had just failed in an effort to divert the public’s attention to Judge Cain’s office where he publicly accused them of spending too much on travel while at the same time refusing to mention fellow Democrat and friend, Phil Fitzgerald to a grand jury. The public was demanding an open and exhaustive investigation of Fitzgerald and the big money FEMA contracts awarded to his relative. Little’s job is to investigate and prosecute alleged perpetrators of such alleged crimes, but he refused to do it.

3. Little had falsely charged and indicted Republican activists and multi-state private investigator Ray Akins for organized crime. This charge came with no probable cause and one that no doubt will end up in a future lawsuit against Little. Before Akins was even accused of any wrongdoing, he had very publicly questioned Little’s spending of hundreds of thousands of discretionary funds and the deals the D.A. was working with criminals after a jury had found them guilty and sentenced them. (Note: After these public accusations the Judge that cooperated with this after sentencing “wheeling and dealing” lost his bid for re-election in a very rare defeat of an incumbent District Judge in Liberty County).

4. Little’s Democrat party was believed to be in the midst of an election shut out across many counties in Texas.

Former District Attorney’s decision not to run did not leave him completely out of the race however. Little has been like the Wizard of Oz hiding behind the curtain ever since.

He tampered with a Grand Jury, shutting it down a month before its term was over, and among other things, he successfully encouraged the newest and youngest and most inexperienced lawyer on staff to run. Logan Pickett’s well known family name and his connection to his father, Mayor of Liberty Carl Pickett helped him to edge out his competition in the Republican primary, but it also helped Little set up a successful transition into a new job. His new job, by way of the Mayor’s appointment, is city judge.

Mike Little undoubtedly wants to rebuild his image and put some time between the crimes of his brother and his next pursuit of office. He wants us to forget that he failed to give Liberty County grand jurors an opportunity to review the facts on County Judge Phil Fitzgerald’s FEMA problems. He wants to voters to forget the mail theft in the courthouse. He was voters to forget allegations of him tampering with a grand jury when he tried to dissuade them from continuing any investigation of his behavior. Under Little’s direction, Ray Akin was buried under legal bills, but Little will have to continue to throw mud on Akins name and those activists that demanded answers and questioned his public service if he really wants to resurface and run for one of the judicial benches..

Below please find the news stories related to what has been written here:

• SHREVEPORT -- Albert D. "Bodie" Little, a former Winn Parish tax assessor and sheriff, was sentenced Friday to 13 years, four months in federal prison after his conviction earlier this year on methamphetamine and other charges.
  
  U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. "Beth" Foote also ordered that Little be supervised for three years once he's released from prison, U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley said in a release.
  
  Little, 62, was convicted in February of one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 or more grams of meth, one count of possession with intent to distribute meth, and two counts of use of a police communication facility to facilitate drug trafficking.
  
  Little and 10 other defendants were indicted on the drug charges in July 2011. All of Little's co-defendants pleaded guilty before they went to trial. All have been sent to prison for sentences ranging from five years to 12 years.
  
  Little still faces state charges. He was indicted by a Winn Parish grand jury in August 2011 of malfeasance in office, abuse of office and perjury.
  
  Little was the parish tax assessor before he won the sheriff's seat in 2008.
  
  "Former Sheriff Little knowingly chose to break the law and now he is paying the price for his betrayal of the trust the citizens of Winn Parish placed in him," Finley said.
  
  The case was prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Joe Jarzabek

Thanks for promoting public dialogue. If anyone has a different view of Little, olease invite them to comment on my letter.

Alleged Criminal, Michael (Mike) Little

Convict, Albert D. (Bodie) Little

AKA- The I-10 and Hwy 59 Drug crew...

WHAT KIND OF CITY DO WE LIVE IN?

Please take time to read this story so you will be aware of the decisions our local government makes. The government works “for the people” and sometimes I am not sure they realize that.

“Sonny” is from Cambodia. I don’t know the story of how he arrived in Liberty, but I do know he is a very hard worker and he prides himself in taking care of business. And I know he is a very likeable family man and, like you and me, he is trying to earn a living and provide for those depending on him.

A few years ago Sonny bought the building my family owned on the road going into the city park. He moved his donut shop into part of the building and began making arrangements to open a seafood restaurant in the part that housed Athletes Choice.

The effort to open that restaurant has been tangled up with the City of Liberty’s inspection and permitting department now for well over a year. I am not sure what the problem is since several different people have had restaurants there but Sonny’s sign that let’s people driving by know seafood and steak is available has been up for many months. Currently, he is still dealing with City of Liberty and will not be able to open until he has some kind of success.

Next time you drive by, or next time you are trying to think of where else you can eat besides the same ole places, you might wonder “why”….. why is it taking so long for this experienced Cambodian restauranteer to open his doors and serve the public? What can possibly be taking so long?

You can eliminate the possibility that the owner ran out of money or is refusing to spend the money it takes to open. That is not the case. A simple answer is “I do not know.” But I have tried to help the situation twice because I thought it might be a communication problem. Sonny speaks English, but it is not his first language. After my second unsuccessful attempt to help, I have changed my question from “what needs to be done to get the restaurant open” to “what kind of city do I live in.”

From information related to me by all sides I know the city does not like the fact Sonny’s carpenters moved walls and did other work without them pulling a permit. I knew that after my first visit with the City weeks ago. I was told then that there was no real problem, Sonny just needed to hire someone to provide the city with plans to the building and he would be back on track.

Weeks and weeks later, Sonny approached me and asked me to speak to the parties involved to see what else he needed to do to open. He told me to talk to Louis Bergman, the County Engineer.

Louis was very nice and very helpful. He told me he drafted the plans to the building and it should be all the City of Liberty needs. When I told him they were still not allowing Sonny to open, he looked disgusted and gave me a much fuller evaluation of the situation.

County Engineer Bergman told me he has done a great deal of work in Cleveland and is familiar with the new woman that deals with these types of matters for the City. He told me she was run out of Cleveland because she was so difficult to deal with and that she had many problems with Hispanics in particular. I shook his hand and thanked him for any help he had given Sonny in dealing with all of this. He wished me luck because “the City will not return my calls.”

Next, at the City of Liberty department I had visited weeks ago, I asked for someone who could help me on this matter. A woman appeared and indicated she could help me. I told her I was a friend of Sonny’s and wanted to help if there was a communication problem. She assured me there was no communication problem. I told her I figured there was because the County Engineer said no one would return his calls. After a few minutes of visiting with this city employee, I could tell I was getting nowhere. She kept referring me to the code book. I asked for a written list of what Sonny had left to do to be in compliance and be able to open. I knew he had spent a great deal of money and expected the list to be small. She was not rude, but she was obviously not going to help Sonny. She refused to give me a list and referred me to her supervisor on the matter.

A few minutes later I found myself in the Assistant City Manager’s office trying to help my Cambodian friend resolve issues that were stymied in the halls of our city government. Sonny pays about $5,000 a year in taxes on that building alone and no telling how much in sales taxes on his donut business. When the Assistant City Manager sat down and asked me very kindly what he could do to help me, I couldn’t help but think what it must have been like all these months to be from a foreign country, speaking a different language, and trying to deal with whatever it was the problem is.

So after the gentlemen told me that the City would not even consider giving Sonny a list of what else was left to do (“because they could be libel if it does not agree with the code”), I asked him to consider what it must be like to be a foreigner in this situation. I had hoped liberty was represented by people that were more willing to go the extra mile and be the kind of public servant I assumed they already were. Instead, I got this nonsense by the people that would inspect the building that they could not provide a lsit of what shortcomings they had found that would be inspected the next time they were called out.

I was left with a handful of questions. What kind of City do we have? What kind of government contorts their job into that of creating roadblocks to taxpayers instead of being helpful? Who do these people think they work for? This Assistant City Manager said he was insulted when I intimated to him that Sonny might file a lawsuit thinking he being was treated fairly. I thought Sonny was the victim and I was giving this man a heads up, but I found out he was the one being treated poorly.

And that I was the one mistreating him! I apologized to him, but I can’t help but wonder if he realizes the climate he is in. There are many people who are tired around here of feeling like the taxpayer has become the dog that is wagged by the public servant. There are plenty of people who would like to see this eating place open. There are many taxpayers who don’t like to hear these kinds of stories.

I hope Sonny will find someone at the City that will go out of their way to help him open his restaurant. No laws should be broken, but if the Mayor rents out a seafood restaurant to people in town, I expect Sonny to receive every bit as cooperation much as they get. He should be treated like someone who helps pay the bills, not like a troublemaker.

Major Accident on 146

Please stay tuned for more...

During the afternoon five o'clock rush four people found themselves in serious condition from a three vehicle collision in north Liberty on SH 146 at Ridgewood Grocery. The accident closed SH 146 in both directions for over an hour while the accident was investigated and the injured rescued from their vehicles. Life flight used the highway for a landing pad and raced victims to area hospitals.

One car was decapitated and passersbys saw what looked like a mini-salvage yard.

COUNTY JUDGE IN SAN JACINTO COUNTY SHUTS UP PASTOR

Terry Holcomb Sr., pastor of Huntsville-based Crossroads Baptist Church has now added a second arrest to his list of badges of honor in his fight for the freedoms our Founding Fathers risked life and limb for in the American Revolution. Terry is accused of disrupting the meeting even though I can’t imagine any citizen sitting in the court had his peace disturbed.  

Terry, in fact, was speaking up for anyone there who might have the audacity to want to exercise their free speech rights and address public officials.  Terry was told by an elected official – yes, you heard it right, an elected official – he nor anyone else would be allowed to make comments at the regular portion of the public meeting.

“We’re not gonna allow public comments today?” Holcomb said to the four county commissioners and County Judge Fritz Faulkner of San Jacinto County.

“It’s not on the agenda,” Faulkner replied. And rather than correct what we can only hope was an oversight and allow for comments, Faulkner doubled down. What a patriot. Not! What an arrogant public official who has forgotten exactly who he is denying opportunity to speak – the voters……

“That’s unacceptable,” Holcomb said. If therere are any history buffs out there, this is the kind of rebel rousing stuff Samuel Adams did that has made him known to be the Father of the American Revolution. Even more so, this is the kind of leadership heard and seen from the pulpit in the days of Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson.

Faulkner with the full courage he could muster knowing there was surely some lawman nearby then told Holcomb he could “go outside and discuss it,” but the meeting was moving forward with an executive session.

Saying again that the situation was “unacceptable,” Holcomb accused the court of taking the rights of the people. Dang rebel rouser….. there he went again with something that sounds like the Constitution.

Terry Holcomb then stood his ground inthe courtroom and waited for Faulkner to collect his thirty pieces of silver and protect his fellow elected officials from a time opf public questions. Oh, what a brave and patriotic commissioners’ court! Faulkner mustered up the courage to then declare to Pastor Holcomb, “You’re dangerously close to disrupting a public meeting.” It must have seemed odd to the average person who attends public meetings to hear this…… after all any question Holcomb would have asked could not have possibly disturbed the court as much as this oppressive County Judge!

Holcomb told the judge that he was denying the people their right to have their voice heard.

Faulkner responded by saying, “You can go out there and talk to the people. We’re fixing to have executive session.”

Still seated in his chair, Holcomb said, “You didn’t want to hear from the citizens and you’re gonna hear from them. You are gonna hear from me. You are not going to silence us by your abuse.”

At that point, Faulkner was not man enough to relent and give the people a time to speak as he should have without any help from Pastor Holcomb or anyone else. Instead he called for Pct. 2 Constable Roy Pippin Jr. to remove the Pastor from the meeting chamber. Poor Pippin……

“You have been requested to remove from the court,” Pippin told Holcomb.

“I am not leaving. I am not leaving,” Holcomb replied.

Directing his comments to the commissioners that had sat right there and not spoken up on behalf of the citizens and a time for publc comment, Holcomb then said, “And y’all commissioners that are allowing this, you are all cowards. All of you.”

Pippin implored Holcomb to leave the room but Holcomb remained in his chair and demanded to know what law he had broken. Poor Pippen…….

“No law is broken. You were given an order to remove from court,” said Pippin, adding moments later, “By not following my order, you are resisting arrest. Do you want to go to jail for resisting arrest?”

Faulkner in an effort to feel some sense that he was in the right told Holcomb that commissioners court meetings are not a political stomping ground. What he surely meant was “only us big shots get to stomp on this political ground”.

Outside of the courtroom, Holcomb was confronted by Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Sowell who asked to have a “private word” with him.

Holcomb asked if he was being detained and Sowell replied, “You’re about to be,” prompting Holcomb to ask if he had committed a crime.

“I didn’t say you committed a crime,” said Sowell.

Sowell placed Holcomb in handcuffs and escorted him away from the premises.

According to Pct. 1 Commissioner Ray McCoppin, Holcomb filed a written request to make public comments at the meeting. However, comments were not included in the agenda.

Faulkner, told some on the media Tuesday night that comments were left off due to an already lengthy agenda.  How convenient! Might we expect all the agendas to be “too long” when the County Judge does not want others stomping around his own personal political space? Faulkner denied all citizens from speaking because, according to him, they may say something political with an election going on.

Faulkner, the Democratic incumbent county judge, is defending his position against Republican challenger John Lovett in the November general election. Unless you are ate up with being a Democrat loyalist, please consider ridding San Jacinto County of someone who does not believe in, and does not practice, our way of governing here in the United States

Allowing comments during commissioners court meetings are not required by law, but are a good practice whenever possible, according to Liberty County Judge Craig McNair. In Liberty County Commissioners Court meetings, the only comments allowed are those that relate to agenda items; all other comments are denied.

After Holcomb’s arrest, members of the San Jacinto County Republican Party expressed their frustrations about what transpired.

“There was no reason [for it],” said San Jacinto County Party Chairman Dwayne Wright. “That’s what activates people like myself. That’s what activates people like Terry Holcomb.”

Wright explained that Holcomb specifically wanted to address a resolution regarding the housing of illegal immigrants, which was decided against last month.

“He was upset that [the] resolution he put forth was not dealt with,” said Wright. “The judge prepared and substituted his own version [that] wasn’t even close to [Holcomb’s] version.

To view the videos from the commissioners court incident, go online to https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=O5vuNb3lDiQ and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk40pSrZPyphso9CXsxnNYQ.

Terry Holcomb at a casual glance may seem like he is a bit too much for the average person. But from personal experience I can tell you he is more like the average Texan than the media and the men like County Judge Faulkner will ever admit. The media will quickly point out Holcomb lost an election and Holcomb was arrested in 2013. But the real losers and the people who would look more at home in a jail cell are those who do not see the signs of the times. The charges against Terry Holcomb’s in his ongoing battle on behalf of gun owners and the Constitution were dropped.  As for Terry Holcomb spending money and time out of his own pocket in an effort to represent this area in Austin, he should be honored. His efforts were honorable and his message was 100% American.

Look past the caricature the media paints of this man and you will see someone who has decided to give his life to God and country. You decide whether we will stand with him or play into the spin and the half truths used to make him look like something different than he is. A patriotic Texan fighting the good fight for the country we all love.

Right Judge Faulkner?

IS FOOTBALL ABOUT MORE THAN THE WIN-LOSS RECORD

If football truly teaches young men about life and that is the justification for its prominence in our schools then Charlie Strong should have every fan in America pulling for the program he is instituting at the University of Texas in Austin. And every high school athletic director across this nation should be able to count on that same kind of support.

Here is an excerpt from Coach Strong’s most recent press conference. He is sticking with what he is doing even though it has cost his team nine players. Players that could have remained on the roster and helped win games …. But at what cost? Here is some of what Coach strong said,

:

“The blue print of this program has been and always will be the change in helping direct the lives of young people. I'm sorry that another player had to be dismissed, but when you're told something over and over again...

We continue to develop young men. We will continue to ask them to follow our core values, which all of them have been brought up on. They understand what the core values are. When you are asked to do something and you are part of a team, and when you don't do it then you affect the whole team, and you affect the whole program.

Young people want discipline in their lives, and it's our job as a coaching staff to make sure that we provide him with discipline. I always look at it like this - right now, they are laying a foundation for 10 years from now. That foundation is the house they are going to live in, the wife they are going to pick to marry, their children and how they're going to provide for them and how they're going to raise them. If that foundation is provided for them now, 10 years from now they'll just be able to lean back on it and look back and say 'That's the life that I want to live.

Any time a player is dismissed from this program it hurts me because we are here to help young men. We are not here to run young men off; that's not our job. We're here to help them, and it just bothers me. When you're given an opportunity, you want to make sure you have every resource and everything available to help them be successful.

I always look at it - sometimes you see someone that has given so much and achieved so little and then someone that has given so little and achieved so much.

I'm not hard at all. Those guys have more fun around me then they will ever have around any coach, and that's just the atmosphere that I provide for them. I give them a lot of chances to get it right because I want them to still be successful.

When you say you're going to do something, it's just like your own child, they're going to challenge you. Now when they do challenge you, then what are you going to do about it? It's not so much the program, it's just that young men sometimes want to make a decision where they feel like it is their prerogative to do whatever they want to do. It just can't happen here.”

One sports commentator defended the Longhorn coach and his program this way:

“If you watched this press conference, you can tell Coach strong is deeply upset. He wants it more for these guys than they do for themselves. Some of his values, which I've read and heard described as "strict" or "old fashioned" or "intolerant" or "meat-headed" are, in fact, the basis of a functioning civil society. Basic respect for women, don't steal, don't carry guns for cheap street cred, don't lie, don't let your life be ruled by drugs or alcohol such that you can't live up to your responsibilities.”

YOUNGBLOOD AND SHAUBERGER, TWO PEAS IN A POD

It has been called to our attention by those who are willing to suffer a constant barrage of twisted liberal articles and comments so they can check the “car wreck blog” to see if anyone they know has been hurt in an accident that Allen Youngblood has joined Eddie Shauberger in the continued irrational bombardment and assassination of Sheriff Bobby Rader’s reputation.

Why Youngblood has decided to devote so much of his time and energy and blog space to slinging mud on Rader is as difficult to understand as it is to try and figure why ANY BUSINESS would advertise with someone who is attacking a very popular public official. But we have taken note that the irrational, suspicious attacks on Rader’s character that started with Eddie Shauberger have now been continued by his former classmate, Allen Youngblood.

Shauberger still awaits trial for allegedly sexually raping/assaulting his adopted daughters and for various business problems linked to the business he owned years ago. While we have repeatedly asserted we have no insight into his guilt or innocence, we continue to be in the dark on how him knowing the law was after him related to his unabashed devotion to the re-election of the failed sheriff, Henry Patterson. Shauberger spent hours and days dogging his friends and their wives to vote for Patterson. He tried blackmail and every other coercive device he could conjure up as he forfeited friendships and declared war to try and defeat Rader. We don’t know why.

But we do know Youngblood has now joined the effort.

TIPPING OUR HAT TO THE LOCAL PAPER

There is no doubt one of the most popular public responses to news stories is to blame the media. We have done it ourselves and done it with no regrets. The media, television, newspapers, and radio stations are guilty of having a point of view and allowing it to color its “news”. We prefer and are unusual in the fact that we are very open in where our ideology and our preference lies – the conservative wing of the Republican party. But most media make the unbelievable claim that they merely “report the news” and their own bias is not reflected in their reporting. Hogwash!

With that said and with nothing but kudos intended, locally we want to recognize the closest local media to fulfilling the goal of news with no spin is definitely The Dayton News and The Cleveland Advocate. Both local papers are run by Editor-n-Chief Vanessa Brashier. Vanessa does a great job putting together a newspaper that covers most of the community interests and all the other things a reader hopes to find in a good newspaper. It is a massive, never ending undertaking with publishing deadlines and story after story to cover. She is aided currently by another excellent writer, Casey Stinnett and a small staff. Both the newspapers are a credit to the community as they help us feel closer to each other and more aware of our surroundings and specifics about our neighbors lives.

So what is the catch? Why compliment local media? At times we have been no holes barred negative about media. The answer is simple. At times we have wanted the media to report things they should know about and readers would want to know. And at times, we have viewed events differently.

But we are freely giving compliments to Ms. Brashier and her papers because she puts out a really good local paper week after week. We have learned that all though we all have bias, these papers are making every attempt to serve the public and not their self interest. Unlike competitors, Ms. Brashier’s advertisers can know when they spend their hard earned money and place an ad in one of her papers, no one should feel the paper is so uneven and out of balance politically that they have to hold their nose to fork the dough over.

So here is to you Vanessa. Casey. And staff. Keep up the good work. We will surely criticize you again, but you have earned our respect and we want everyone to know it.