$150,000 stolen in Rusk City Hall; Texas Rangers to audit city government

Title should be: "TAX PAYERS AND BUSINESS OWNERS IN CHEROKEE COUNTY, TEXAS, BEWARE!" News sources are hard to find on this episode of embezzlement of city government funds. We post it here before it drops off the internet. Alleged city hall employee in Rusk, TX is under "investigation" for taking over 150 thousand dollars of missing 'good time' money.



"[City] employee is fired," so there is a suspect, but no grand jury indictment pending.
Rusk City Attorney/Judge Forrest Phifer predicts Elmer Beckworth will do the right thang, but Beckworth is "overloaded with violent crime investigation and Austin legislation." That will be the new mantra when avoiding the press when a blind eye needs to be turned. However the legislative body in Austin has no record of Elmer Beckworth, et al "testifying" on anything, even in rebuttal for something the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence (C220). No official mention of Beckworth on the capitol record during the month of March 2007 (when the Cherokeean article ran).

.... And of course the Cherokeean reporter wouldn't do any fact checking; that's OK it's almost time to bombard the locals with mediocre drug busts. Quickly now, you have to turn the taxpayers attention away from the rifling of the coffers of Cherokee County.

As a footnote, Elmer Beckworth was in Austin testifying against HB 1148 on April 11, 2007 as reported by the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. House Bill 1148 was introduced in February 2007, regarding the term "deadly weapon" when certain cases are prosecuted. Testimony and rebuttal probably did not include a drug addict in Cherokee County custody murdering his wife, a la Faye Bell Harris or vehicular manslaughter as in the Jennifer Hester case, both of Jacksonville, Texas.

Furthermore, Mr. or Ms. East Texas Reporter:
there is not one incident of violent crime on the Cherokee County docket, and there hasn't been one for a year. You can find that out on the University of North Texas' online law library citing the Texas Register. You might found out there, however, that there have been some drug dealing among your veteran Cherokee County Texas law enforcement. But I guess you would call that victimless and "an isolated incident."

Isolated only to a 60-year-old police chief dealing drugs over a 12 year period in Troup, TX. And a District Court bailiff and Cherokee County Constable making meth "from pseudoephedrine for the purpose of distribution" for the past 10 years.

So back to the rifling of tax payer dollars in the Rusk, TX city hall. Why have the Texas Rangers been called in to investigate, according to the other news articles on the incident? Texas law gives District Attorneys discretion in convening a grand jury.