Lately, living in Texas seems more like being in a third-world country than in the United States of America. Gov. Rick Perry treats the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers and rangers like his own personal army, ordering them to the border on short notice for secret missions that are never explained publicly. (The helicopters that buzzed us on 11/23/09 as previously reported in my “What’s The Buzz?” blog posting may have belonged to the DPS. We have been buzzed at all hours by what look like military aircraft many times over the last ten years.) People write in to local newspapers complaining about being buzzed by drone aircraft; my children and I have also been victims of this, and it is very startling and frightening. Local ranches look like military fortresses. I have already discussed the situation with regard to illegal surveillance and millions of dollars worth of missing federal equipment (some of it expensive and sophisticated helicopter-mounted surveillance equipment); see my “Illegal Surveillance Summary” blogpost below. There are persistent rumors of billions of dollars being hidden by locals in offshore accounts and being laundered through real estate, banks, charities, businesses, and even schools.
Texas’ Republican senators insist on being able to choose appointees for important federal positions in Texas, and so far, President Obama does not seem either able or willing to stand up to them: for example, the apparent stand-off currently going on over an appointment to the position of U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Texas (our federal district). Texas State Senator John Whitworth (D, Houston) received a death threat from a convict on death row via a cell phone that had been smuggled into the prison; an investigation of this led to the discovery of so many smuggled-in phones and other contraband that it was considered easier to pursue legislation allowing the jamming of airwaves inside prisons than to try and keep contraband out.
Much of our personal (i.e., non-junk) mail arrives wide open, crudely taped or glued shut after having been opened, damp from having been steamed open, with parts of the contents deliberately pulled out [remember, they brag about lawbreaking here], with strange/goofy markings added, etc. One piece of mail I received from Diop Kamau had what looked like a pubic hair taped to the opening that had to have been added locally (because, from the way it was sticking up, it would not have been likely to survive in the mail). I have a stack over an inch thick of receipts for mail that was lost or stolen that the USPS and various private carriers have repeatedly refused to do anything about. If you input the tracking numbers on some of these, you will see tracking information that is absolute nonsense and was obviously made up by someone. Other tracking numbers from these receipts simply bring up a “No Record” message.
People here build secret rooms in their homes, stockpiling weapons and ammunition as discussed in my “Secret Rooms” blog previously. Separatism and survivalism are preached openly on the streets by “Patriots For Freedom” and others. Local churches have rooms full of computer equipment and heavy security, and only persons with the closest ties to my ex-husband’s family are allowed to handle church finances.
Court documents and official records of all kinds are filed without being properly notarized (ex.: our case), disappear and reappear (ex.: former Gillespie County Judge Jay Weinheimer’s case), etc. Corrupt judges are allowed to resign when caught so they can retain their pensions (ex.: Karl Prohl). Other judges (both current and retired) are simply never prosecuted for wrongdoing (ex.: our own case), despite overwhelming proof of involvement. I have heard D.A. Curry being called "Let 'Em Loose Bruce".
At any given time, approximately one-fourth of vehicles seen around here have clearly illegal license plates: no front plate; no back plate; no plates at all; plates illegally obscured by plastic, mud, scratches, large plate frames, etc.; “cover plates” that flip up or down over existing plates; temporary dealer plates that are often either outdated or on vehicles that are ancient; plates that belong on other vehicles (this one is particularly common!); plates that are expired; and plates that are clearly fake, either because they look crude or because they mimic a custom plate but contain a word or meaning that would normally be censured (ex.: a plate on an unmarked law enforcement pickup reading “GLOCK U”). A substantial percentage of vehicles also have illegally dark window tints. Parked at the local high schools, you will see more luxury vehicles than “bangers” (and you will also sometimes see assault rifles and hunting rifles on racks in the windows; in the past, I've reported these, and law enforcement does nothing).
STRATFOR has been quoted nationally as reporting that corrupt law enforcement is a major problem here, yet the U.S. Department of Justice refuses to do anything about it. Law enforcement officers buy and sell illegal substances (ex.: the DPS trooper from Boerne recently arrested for selling steroids), and some have clear symptoms and histories of personal substance abuse problems. My children and I have been tailgated by current and former law enforcement officers, often so aggressively that we are nearly bumped. In one case, we may have actually been bumped gently while stopping for a stop sign. In another case, after one of my children and I were harassed and frightened at night by a state trooper in a marked patrol car, I complained to the DPS, but of course nothing was done about it. I have personally heard persons with connections to local law enforcement talking about officers being stationed on top of local hills with special scopes “that can read license plates from distances of up to 5 miles away” in order to monitor vehicles. A new police substation downtown has a concrete-lined storage room and cooking facility located beneath it that city officials said in the local newspaper was for “parties”.
Then there are the homicides. Deaths are ruled suicides or accidents under the most outrageous circumstances: clear signs of torture (ex.: Phillip Shue), multiple gunshots (ex.: John Dillday), gunshots to the stomach by long-barrelled weapons (ex.: Preston Nelson; Kimberly Weirich barely survived this; her brother Matt barely survived a suspicious fall off a cliff in his underwear in near-freezing temperatures in Austrailia that he claims was an accident). Local police watch people burn to death (ex.: Sandy Smith) or drown (ex.: Courtney Foreman) and do nothing, gun people down in officer-involved shootings, are the last ones to see people alive (ex.: Theresa Vallado), arrive too quickly on the scene of homicides (ex.: Linda Muegge), and try to pass homicides off as accidents (ex.: Linda Muegge, Mary Rose Warburton, Trudy Harris). Murder victims are lured into certain counties before being killed (exs.: Norman Roark, Cassie Ann Hough) or are dumped in certain counties after being murdered (ex.: Yuhuai Yan). Law enforcement officers are often the only ones able to locate persons missing under suspicious circumstances (ex.: Tony Shans, supposedly drowned while fishing during a heavy rain storm and flooding). Pilots seem to be especially prone to dying under suspicious circumstances around here; we once lost 3 in a single day: Ronald and Helen DeLoof (plane crash) and Robert Wilson (found dead in a vehicle). Victims of suspicious deaths also seem to turn up on pilots’ property (ex.: William Watson, found dead on property owned by a pilot with very close personal ties to my ex-husband). People suddenly die shortly before they are to testify before grand juries (ex.: Cynthia Parker). Siblings all suddenly die (ex.: Sherman Klein, Stephen Klein, and Ellen Klein Russell). The latest trend in suspicious deaths around here is the use of fire, both in homes (ex.: Linda Muegge), with vehicles (ex.: Carla Saylor and Marietta McDonald), and with aircraft (exs. in a previous post), probably to destroy foreign DNA and other forensic evidence. Crime labs and medical examiners statewide are woefully inadequate or corrupt or both. (Gov. Perry fired the head of the statewide group that oversees medical examiners just as they were starting to investigate the possible innocence of a man executed for deaths ruled arson that appear to have actually been accidental.)
According to recent news reports, the Mexican city of Juarez, located directly across the border from El Paso, now averages 7 homicides per day, making it one of the deadliest cities in the world. Is this really what we want here? [Is this what we already have here??] I believe that to sit back and do nothing is the same thing as actively making the decision to let this happen.
