Commissioners approve private road maintenance all over the county, circa 1979

Local newspapers and prosecutor lie about road maintenance.

Not only does Cherokee County equipment maintain private property of friends and relatives of local politicians, commissioners build completely new roads for well-connected landowners. In the documented past, the Cherokee County Commissioners Court was more than eager to annex private property in order to provide services for members of their clique. City and county road crews have been ordered to work on golf courses and hunting clubs used by their bosses. A stark editorial difference exists between the recent ousting attempts against Precinct 3 Commissioner Katherine Pinotti for paving a bona fide public road VERSUS local reporting that all roads in “Cherokee County need to be maintained because they are in the county.” (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress, "Commissioner defends club road maintenance," August 21, 1980)

Old newspaper articles show former County Commissioner William Kennedy authorizing culverts to be installed on roads all through the privately owned Cherokee County Hunting Club south of Rusk, TX. This type of isolated road improvement on private property was acknowledged and accepted in local newspapers. The current district and county attorneys' mentors never considered prosecuting those Commissioners for improving their buddies' private properties at taxpayer expense. The former Sheriff never dispatched his deputies to seize precinct maintenance logs to prove any impropriety. In their minds, it was good for everybody. They were open about their corrupt solidarity.



Jacksonville Daily Progress, August 21, 1980

In 1979, County Commissioners openly defended using taxpayer dollars to pave the private “road to nowhere” on the personal property of Lewie Byers, a wealthy Rusk banker and former Rusk city councilman. The Byers landlocked property off FM 2962 had culverts, grading and other roadwork installed on it “almost entirely for Byers’ benefit, and practically no one else’s.” (Source: Rusk Cherokeean p. 1, 14, "Road to Nowhere But Banker’s Land," September 13, 1979)

On Nov. 13, 1978, the Commissioners Court agreed to commit county funds and equipment, and accept the road as a county road, although it leads to nowhere except to Byers’ property. Now that the road has been taken over by the county, it will be maintained at the taxpayers’ expense. (Source: Rusk Cherokeean p. 1 "Road to Nowhere But Banker’s Land," September 13, 1979)

County Helped Build This Road To Lewie Byers' Land (Source: Rusk Cherokeean Sept. 13, 1979 p.1)

 

Rusk Cherokeean p. 1, 14 September 13, 1979

An apologetic Alto Herald editorial was written in response to the Jacksonville radio station KEBE revelations to the public that the Lewie Byers property was being developed on the county’s dime.

After checking out the project, The Herald does not believe any criminal act has been committed. We firmly believe that County Commissioner William Kennedy is an honest and honorable man… The taxpayers of Cherokee County simply don’t feel they should help Councilman Byers, or any other land speculator and developer, make possible windfall profits at their expense…(Source: Alto Herald p.2, editorial "Road to Nowhere" September 13, 1979)

Alto Herald p.2, editorial "Road to Nowhere" September 13, 1979

Now fast forward to 2010 after Precinct 3 Commissioner Katherine Pinotti rattles their cages, Cherokee County newspapers forget their own articles on Lewie Byers and on their front pages claim a bonafide public road to be “private.” (Source: “Commissioner paves Patterson Lane” Cherokeean Herald August 25, 2010) The corrupt Good Ol’ Boys and Biddies are not just trying to have it both ways; they claim a nonexistent oversight has been committed by the Pct. 3 Commissioner for maintaining a school bus route. At the same time they pretend not to have had county subsidized improvements performed on their own and their buddies' properties for the last three decades.

Cherokee County brand of gotcha politicking.  It's way of life.

Embedded reporters writing propaganda for Cherokee County, Texas newspapers take their cues directly from the district attorney’s office. No physical meeting is needed on courthouse property after decades of printing lies fed to them; editors know to publish fabrications that either promote their collective corrupt agendas, or completely bury facts. Case in point: Precinct 3 County Commissioner Katherine Pinotti is under “investigation” by the corrupt county Good Ol' Boy system, because she ostensibly authorized gravel to be spread on Patterson Lane, located in the northern part of the county.

With the help of sheriff deputies, the County Attorney spearheaded the fabricated “investigation” (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress August 26, 2010) into whether certain laws had been violated by Katherine Pinotti, because (according to them) there were conflicting reports about Patterson Lane being private or under the aegis of county maintenance. A mock commissioners court meeting was later held to declare the road as “private,” despite the outdated mapping system delineating Patterson Lane as a County Road under past maintenance. The sham investigation is now in the hands of the District Attorney. Local reporters have done their duty to pile on the lies by claiming Commissioner Katherine Pinotti paved an unmarked road.

Is it plausible that Cherokee County’s longtime newspaper reporters have become amnesiacs? Probably not. Perhaps the goal is for their younger readers to remain oblivious to what the local press has archived about the insidious public corruption in their home communities. Meanwhile, they assume their more mature readers won’t remember the commissioners court, et al law-breakers of yesterday. Editorials and articles written in the same newspapers as far back as 1978 show that commissioners and city councilmen alike were more than eager to build roads on private property, hunting clubs and golf courses frequented by the Cherokee County ruling class.

The Rusk Cherokeean (prior to combining with the Alto Herald) became a punching bag for local politicians in the Fall of 1978 for having the audacity to report that the City of Rusk and commissioners were using public equipment and labor to improve the local golf course located on the New Southern Motor Hotel grounds. Local attorneys, prosecutors, judges and the whole lot of corrupt Good Ol' Boys past, present and future played golf on the "obviously illegal" and  "public-funded subsidy of a private interest group." (Source: Rusk Cherokeean editorial p. 2, Nov. 2, 1978) They were all active members of the New Southern Motor Hotel Country Club located on Hwy 69. Many of them are life members.

 Rusk Cherokeean editorial p. 2, Nov. 2, 1978

District Attorney makes reporting crimes a crime

On May 23, 2009 Austin-based AM radio talk show host Randall Kelton (of The Rule of Law) presented the Cherokee County, Texas grand jury a list of criminal complaints against Cherokee County officials, including the county judge and county attorney. The grand jury was informed by the district attorney’s office to ignore the 55 sealed complaints. Randall Kelton acting as a journalist was subsequently charged with “operating a private investigations company without a license,” a charge levied by outgoing district attorney investigator Joe Evans. Kelton's exposition of corrupt Cherokee County politics was not just written off as a publicity stunt, it has been completely buried. Misdemeanor charges against Randall Kelton are still pending as Cherokee County contemplates how to violate the US Constitution one more time before the Primaries.

According to published court documents, Randall Kelton began his research into Cherokee County when the incarceration of Robert Fox and bogus charges of “tampering with government records” came to light on his show. Fox had been in and out of Cherokee County jail after an initial raid on his nondenominational ministry, the House of Israel located in downtown Jacksonville, Texas. Fox and others rounded up in the Nazi-esque purging filed civil and federal complaints against their accusers, all of which fell on deaf ears in the neighboring Tyler Court of Appeals and US Eastern District Court.

After years of settling federal lawsuits against Jacksonville, TX police officers, the newly appointed Chief of Police and overzealous investigators decided to finally clean up the City’s image by painting a dichotomy: Cherokee County citizens were to forget about the rapist cop they had once decorated, Larry Pugh who was now sitting in federal prison (for trying to drag one of his victims off by the hair of her head for going to the FBI after being raped in a cemetery at gunpoint by him in uniform- Source: US District Court Cause No. 6:06-CV-357). Citizens were to instead focus on the House of Israel and its members’ “sovereign citizen” rhetoric instead.

Robert Fox was found not guilty of possessing illegal drugs on Wednesday July 29, 2009, the impetus for the invalid raid conducted on the House of Israel over a year and half earlier. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress July 31, 2009)

Cherokee County officials and newspapers continued the propaganda piece of the validity of the illegal search and seizure, in reference to the possession of expired dental and pharmacological substances, i.e. antibiotics and painkillers. They also claim House of Israel members were Timothy McVeigh and Taliban sympathizers based upon the unlawful seizure of items not specifically spelled out in the open-ended Search Warrant.

It matters not to the local editors of Cherokee County owned and operated propaganda pieces that Robert Fox and associates have either had all initial criminal charges against them dropped, dismissed or have been acquitted. The local media is in business to continue the Cherokee County District Attorney office’s lie that filing a complaint against Cherokee County officials is a crime. Robert Fox's latest charge of "tampering with a government record" is still on the backburner.

Filing a complaint against Cherokee County officials after an illegal raid is also a Felony in the eyes of Cherokee County's district attorney. Brain dead followers in the Daily Progress and Cherokeean Herald repeat this lie in print even though their own taxpayer dollars are being squandered to justify an ill-conceived, albeit typical illegal and open-ended Search Warrant composed no doubt by the district attorney himself.

Robert Fox is out of jail and stands acquitted of possessing narcotics so Cherokee County officials challenge his religion and patriotism to distract from the illegal seizure of items not specifically spelled out in the Search Warrant. Fox's personal effects including his anti-establishment writings were seized and openly displayed for the willing press, even though it had nothing constitutionally to do with the seizure of the alleged illegal drugs. Cherokee County, Texas law enforcement is taught that as long as a willing city judge will sign off on a Warrant, then they are given carte blanche to illegally seize anything beyond the scope of the Arrest Affidavit. As in the Randy Kelton case, probable cause does not even need to be established. The Jacksonville Police Department was aware that Robert Fox's former associate and founder of the House of Israel Barry Brooks (convicted of practicing dentistry without a license) had left behind expired dental drugs and supply within the building. They were after Fox's legal writings to parade around to bolster another charge of barratry that was also eventually dropped.

The Jacksonville Chief of Police and his investigators made public these items though they are protected free speech under the US Constitution. The public is supposed to believe that the Robert Fox group is dangerous, while simultaneously believe the District Attorney's office had nothing to do with the blatant persecution. Press conferences were held to laud the work of the Jacksonville Police Department for the "narcotics" raid and subsequent "Taliban Link" discovered within the House of Israel. Now there is barely a murmur in the East Texas newspapers that Robert Fox and associates have been acquitted.



Cherokee County, Texas is operated by liars and sycophants in the newspapers whose livelihoods depend on placating their advertisers. The Jacksonville Daily Progress has finally succumbed to internal pressure and shut down its own Hey Martha forum after its editor faced his third DWI in Cherokee County. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress July 9, 2009 and Jacksonville Daily Progress Sept. 1, 2009) Free speech and actually debating official misconduct simply will not be tolerated.

If the local high school coach is accused of having sex with a student, then they bury the story. (Source: KLTV August 11, 2009) Justice authorities do their darndest to completely cover up the sordid details involving their own relatives. If any citizen disagrees with such unconstitutional acts perpetrated by these so-called 'justice authorities,' or exposes the crimes of these rogue officials, then those same officers of the court fabricate legal statutes out of thin air. And use their taxpayer subsidized salaries to go after their political enemies. Hence out of town radio personality Randall Kelton was given fair warning not to meddle with the District Attorney's handpicked jurors.

Talk show host Randall Kelton has filed several motions in Cherokee County district and county court, including Statements of Witness Tampering, Probable Cause and Habeas Corpus that argue the bogus criminal affidavits filed against him and Robert Fox. As he states in his defense briefs, the State of Texas does not require a license to "investigate," anymore than it requires a license to sit on a Grand Jury or sit behind a microphone.

And in Texas it is a felony NOT to report a felony. So who is violating the law? Kicking down people's doors just because they aren't welcome in town? Filing bogus and baseless charges against people because they don't like what they say about them on the phone and on the air? Working as a Cherokee County Constable by day and selling crystal meth by night? Kidnapping women off the streets of Jacksonville in a patrol car and raping them while on duty?

Not one single Cherokee County newspaper reported that Randall Kelton had gone to the Cherokee County grand jury and presented criminal complaints against Cherokee County officials. Not one single Cherokee County newspaper reported that their District Attorney's office filed criminal charges against Mr. Kelton for doing so. This is yet another recent example of how the ongoing generational Cult of Confession continues to infect Cherokee County, Texas politics. If the newspaper will not report it, and those who do get charged with a crime, then who will notify the public of the ongoing criminal activity? They collectively hope and make sure no one will.

Robert Fox in jail but not the news. County Attorney blames victims for domestic violence.

Jacksonville, Texas:

They’ve called him a “terrorist sympathizer.” They say he has ties to "American Taliban" Johnny Walker Lindh and federal building bomber/mass murderer Timothy McVeigh. They said he set up shop at the House of Israel in downtown Jacksonville, Texas for the sole purpose of irritating the district attorney while bringing down the government. They said he was the focus of a “nationwide manhunt” by Homeland Security. They said he was a ticking time bomb and his brainwashed Republic of Texas followers were a threat to our God fearin' democratic way of life. But when Robert Fox appeared on the Cherokee County courthouse steps with his supporters, his arrest never made the Daily Progress or Rusk Cherokeean. Fox responded last week to a 9:00 am court summons and was quietly escorted away by Jacksonville detectives. All this after being labeled by the Jacksonville, Texas Chief of Police as a “Wanted Fugitive” and still at large.

Only the Tyler Morning News had the professional common sense to share with its readers 100 miles away that this 'threat to national security' had been captured- simply because he answered his summons.

No headlines in the Jacksonville paper proudly announcing the news:
“House of Israel leader Robert Fox arrested on December 5, 2008 at Cherokee County courthouse in Rusk, Texas.”

There are no local accounts of the arrest being published because Fox apparently obeyed his court summons to appear for his barratry and evading arrest charges. Feral pigs warrant local headlines but not the arrest of the Jacksonville Police Department's so-called "lightning rod" of terrorist activity.

Robert Fox (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress)

An always disheveled Robert Fox, age 59, is in Cherokee County jail on a $30,000 bond. According to KETK Channel 56 and other news sources, Fox surrendered peacefully. However, Jacksonville PD detective Jason Price told the Tyler Morning News that Fox “did not cooperate whatsoever” during his December 5, 2008 arrest. The fact is the local newspapers have been told to pretend they now know nothing about the case, so the presiding judge can also pretend the media has not already poisoned Fox’s hand-picked jury members to be. Remember the Jacksonville Daily Progress front page headlines and attention grabbers during the 'hog dog fightin' days of summer'?:

• JPD arrests federal fugitive-Tuesday, April 08, 2008


• JPD nabs fed fugitive claiming affiliation with Republic of Texas- Wednesday, April 09, 2008


• State fugitive nabbed, large cache of illegal drugs found inside House of Israel building- Sunday, May 18, 2008


• House of Israel leader says he didn’t know drugs were there-Tuesday, May 20, 2008


• House of Israel's Robert Fox arrested-Thursday, May 22, 2008


• Police say financial documents may show more evidence of illegality by House of Israel’s Fox- Saturday, May 24, 2008


• BREAKING NEWS: Third search warrant in a month puts Fox back in jail -Thursday, June 12, 2008


• JPD files felony warrant against House of Israel’s Fox- Saturday, July 26, 2008

But no reports of the arrest and end to the manhunt of Robert Fox for potential jurors to read about. If it's news 100 miles away, then why isn't it news for the only two newspapers in the county? Fox faces a specially selected jury pool of relatives of investigating officers, etc. because untainted juries are nonexistent in Cherokee County.

Any change of venue of the Robert Fox case will be argued as inconsequential. If the population can't read, how can the court expect the trial jury to have any prejudicial pre-opinions of the Fox case despite the massive newspaper propaganda campaign against him? Besides, a cousin or two wouldn’t lie during voir dire to keep themselves planted in the jury box. Not in God's Country.

In July 2008, Jacksonville Police Detective Jason Price held a press conference to detail how his “investigation had uncovered connections between Fox and known terrorists.” Actually the Jacksonville Police Department's raid on the House of Israel halfway house on a Class C Misdemeanor charge led to the discovery of Fox's political writings. Expired Oxycontin was found horded away in the Fox compound. In any other venue the man's political dribble would be inadmissible and the mention of his personal effects would be unconstitutional.

Cherokee County chose to hype the escalating raids of the House of Israel and win the local public opinion after violating the Civil Rights of its citizenry. Want to bet the House of Israel phone lines were diverted off Main Street and Fox's conversations were being illegally tape recorded somewhere? Hence the heightened yet fictitious need for the Jacksonville Police Department to go to DEFCOM 5.

Jacksonville PD press conference (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress)

Police avoided calling Fox violent but Chief Reece Daniel called the man a dangerous individual.

“Timothy McVeigh was the lightning,” Daniel said. “People like Robert Fox are the lightning rods that convince others to bomb buildings.”

Other East Texas media followed suit with news articles claiming Fox’s terroristic leanings.

(Source: House Of Israel Leader Has Taliban Links; Draws McVeigh Comparisons- July 25, 2008)

“JACKSONVILLE, TX (EAST TEXAS NEWS)- He's the ringleader of an anti-government group, caught here in East Texas. Now he's been linked to a major terrorist organization - the Taliban."

Tyler, TX based Channel 19 repeats the Jacksonville Police Department's claim that the indigent Robert Fox is a "dangerous individual" who was also wanted in Canada and Missouri.

(Source: House of Israel Ties to the Taliban?- July 25, 2008)

"[Jacksonville Police Detective Jason] Price said his department has solicited for assistance from the federal government. "But to this point we've gotten a lukewarm response," he said.

They hope that will change. Before this possible link to terrorism, turns to acts of terrorism.

If that is the case, then why didn't the hometown Jacksonville, Texas newspaper report that the "dangerous" Robert Fox is now sitting in the Cherokee County jail of his own volition? Why haven’t they continued their propaganda campaign ad absurdum? Because they have collectively violated the rights of a harmless blowhard and given him exactly what he wanted- another federal lawsuit to clog up the court system.

Footnote: Robert James Fox posted $30,000 bond and was released from Cherokee County jail on December 20, 2008. Still no reports from the local media.

Distraction results in successful propagandizing, no matter how absurd, e.g. naming Robert Fox as a link to terrorists based upon immaterial and inadmissible 'evidence.' This is what attorneys from out of the region should be prepared for when they argue cases in front of stacked Cherokee County juries. Cherokee County’s district judges allow the argument of “beliefs” instead of facts. Ten years ago they would have called Robert Fox a satanist. Twenty years ago they would called him a communist. Thirty years ago they would have called him a Vietnam deserter. The Cherokee County district attorney relies on the local newspaper to propagate this type of illegal smear campaign. Because Fox is indigent he will not be allowed to question or challenge these absurd accusations. The court simply will obstruct his defense. They certainly won’t allow the naming of opposing members of counsel and court officers as witnesses, even if everybody is first cousins and carpool to the courthouse. And the Defense can expect their confidential attorney/client phone conversations to be intercepted and played for the District Attorney's office.

Rusk, Texas: Warning, all roads lead to stupidity.

Everyone knows the small town media can help shape negative beliefs as much as positive ones. When Rusk Chamber of Commerce members are arrested for domestic violence, the formula remains the same: divert attention away by focusing it on someone not part of the Good Ol' Boy system. Analytical thinking is prohibited.

The strangest news story probably ever published in the Jacksonville Daily Progress appeared last month. An article titled "local man found guilty of assault despite victim dropping charges" attempts to explain the first legal precedent of its kind in Cherokee County history, the prosecution of domestic violence after the victim recants her story. Or perhaps to validate why Protective Orders in Cherokee County only apply to men like the one mentioned in the article, and not to those who advertise in the Daily Progress.

The naïve reporter of this tripe begins:
(Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress, November 8, 2008)

In what amounts to a fairly uncommon legal occurrence, the Cherokee County Attorney’s office prosecuted a Rusk man for misdemeanor assault/family violence last week despite the victim’s desire to drop the charges.

Taking their lessons from the Cherokee County District Attorney and Law School 101, local reporters follow the Chapter in Negative Logic. Remember it's always someone else's fault, so blame the victim. An innocent defendant can't prove a negative, i.e. something that never happened nor be proven to have happened. Therefore any lie is permissible and admissible and should never be questioned.

Lesson One- a defendant can’t prove a negative when the judge allows a criminal case to be tried based on the preponderance of the 'evidence.' Especially falsified evidence and when law enforcement is allowed to perjure. Or the judge ignores the cousins of the Plaintiff being planted on the jury. As a matter of fact, the more absurd the District Attorney's concoction and the more State witnesses lie on the stand, the better. It reaffirms what jury members have been fed prior to the vetting process and makes for fine entertainment for everyone involved. And remember the pool of potential jury members in Cherokee County, Texas is less than fifty.

The prosecutorial example always has to be made on the lone destitute defendant arrested for slapping his girlfriend. Not on the local businessmen arrested repeatedly for family violence- and whose cases are dismissed before the Bondsman posts bail. The County Attorney’s office has also found the need to justify the lack of effort prosecuting their constituent wife beaters backlogging the docket. Drunken habitual wife beaters who actually make the cut are reported as Misdemeanor Only offenders, because all the other arrestees simply will not be prosecuted if they are related to officers of the court. The more recent and more provocative beatings are swept under the carpet while those cases postponed for years are brought to the forefront, to shunt scrutiny from recent offenses.

In the above mentioned article, the Cherokee County Attorney’s office continues the lie that Police Reports from the arresting officer are nonexistent and a criminal prosecution of assault depends solely on the continual cooperation of the victim. They promise there will be serious consequences for every S.O.B., not related to the District Attorney Investigator like Gary Helm, caught beating up their significant other.

Assistant County Attorney Kelley Peacock said misdemeanor assault cases virtually never go to trial without the willing participation of the victim, but she said the circumstances of this case convinced the state to pick up charges. Helm was arrested Aug. 25, 2007, after reportedly punching the female victim multiple times in the face.

So begins the lie. In Cherokee County the written report and sworn affividavit of a sheriff deputy dispatched to the scene of the disturbance is not good enough to prosecute family violence? Even when the offender refuses to identify himself to the arresting officer? The Assistant County Attorney continues by describing the mindset of the Cherokee County juror faced with convicting a member of the District Court's inner circle for Bodily Injury.

“There were members of the jury panel who said they wouldn’t convict a person, even if I proved beyond a reasonable doubt that they committed assault, if the victim didn’t want the defendant to be prosecuted. I feel like this is a problem in our community,” she said.

It is distressing to her how frequently victims of abuse will file charges, decide to return to their batterer and then drop the charges.

There is no mention of any silly little Protective Orders being violated by these repeat offenders because Cherokee County won't issue any embarrassing paper trail for their buddies. It is not because the female "victims choose to protect their attackers by refusing to pursue charges" as the County Attorney's office propaganda piece contends. It is because the County Attorney will not pursue criminal charges whatsoever on the family members of those with close ties to the Cherokee County District Attorney. Comments on this blog and links to pictures of local battered women prove that even with broken bones, bruises and knocked out teeth, the district attorney's office, et al refuses to prosecute their buddies for domestic violence.

It is the prosecutor, not the victim, who makes the decision to move forward with formal charges. If there is sufficient evidence of domestic abuse then the prosecutor is mandated by law to file charges, even when the victim is pressured to change her story. The State is also required to issue orders of protection upon the petition of the victim; protection orders are enforceable across state lines according to federal law. The County Attorney's office can issue a temporary ex parte order of non-contact FIRST, prior to a formal hearing or even notifying the accused. Apparently that doesn't happen very often in Cherokee County. The Daily Progress is trying to Fool 'Em All Again.

The County Attorney's office continues the lament:

"cases in which the victim makes a claim of abuse and then recants it are a waste of taxpayers’ money because such claims result in law enforcement and state prosecutors wasting time, money and effort investigating a crime that is eventually dropped and never makes it to trial."

The only waste of taxpayer money is the dispatch of Cherokee County Sheriff's Deputy to a known wife beater's home to investigate a domestic disturbance call, booking and arraigning the guy, setting bond and then having the charges dismissed before the abuser's name hits the newspapers. It is the cover up that is a waste of taxpayers' money. The crime never goes to trial because the County Attorney's office drops the charges. Typically, Cherokee County would rather blame the victim.

The article concludes it contradictory misinformation:

"the message needs to be sent that the decision on whether a case will be tried is not just based on the wishes of the victim. As far as the state is concerned, if the evidence is there, we are going to prosecute the case.”

And if there aren't any victims as in the Robert Fox/House of Israel case, then what? How can you say you are prosecuting domestic violence when you drop the charges on 99% of the offenders? And cover up the fact that you embolden them to keep kicking their wives around because you simultaneously call the same closet wife beaters for jury duty?

The fact is jurisdictions outside the Good Ol' Boy network routinely prosecute domestic violence without the help of the forgiving victim. Family violence charges can be either a felony or a misdemeanor. Repeat offenders in Cherokee County never have to face the more serious felony charges when the abuse cases are wrongfully delayed or ignored all together by the court system. Domestic Violence is a serious crime and other counties outside Cherokee County aggressively prosecute spousal abuse to fullest extent of the law. And they are proud of it. The newspapers in these areas, such as Tyler, Houston and Dallas, educate the public in the seriousness of domestic violence instead of whitewashing the problem.

The local Cherokee County media wants everyone to ‘feel’ the truth, as opposed to actually reporting it. The District Attorney programs their state witnesses to testify under oath as to what they “know in their hearts” instead of what actually is reality. Family-owned news agencies planted at the root of the problem follow suit. The more absurd the argument, the more it must be true because they publish this nonsense in the local papers. Especially when they attempt to justify dropping domestic violence charges on their own nephews and cousins.

That’s why news agencies such as the Jacksonville Daily Progress cannot report on the arrest of the District Attorney’s favorite grand jury foreman, most devoted trial jury advocate, etc., etc. Instead they write about the punishment phase of non-relatives like 62 year-old Rusk resident Gary D. Helm, convicted back in October in County Court for Misdemeanor domestic violence. After throwing himself at the mercy of the Judge and refusing counsel, this defendant gets to face probation for using his girlfriend as a punching bag.

American satirist Stephen Colbert and anchorman of the fake news show “The Colbert Report” brought the word “Truthiness” into the mainstream, and “truthiness” is what passes as fact in Cherokee County newspapers. On one episode Stephen Colbert explains the meaning of “truthiness:”

"We're not talking about truth; we're talking about something that seems like truth – the truth we want to exist…”

“It’s not just that I feel it to be true, I need it to be true…”

You can’t prove a negative. The more absurd it is, the harder it is to prove it is false. This is a distraction technique practiced in the Cherokee County establishment to focus attention away from its blatant nepotism and corruption. And the local newspapers are the means by which they do just that.

It is also a good avenue for the DA's Investigator to get a buddy's kid off a felony gun charge, as in the Richard Cobb murder trial. The local newspapers reported the ongoing appeal process of the Richard Cobb/Buenka Adams homicide convictions, but left the part out how District Attorney Elmer Beckworth and Investigator Randy Hatch wrote a letter to the Parole Board to seek leniency for a parole violator with a gun / turned jailhouse snitch who spent time in lockdown with both defendants.

"Whatever you feel in your gut is more important than information itself. " Especially to the misogynist judicial system and media operating in Cherokee County Texas. It is only a matter of time that one of these violent S.O.B's they let off the hook kills his own wife like another jailhouse snitch named Michael Harris did in 2003. All because the District Attorney deems his courthouse informants/kinfolk too valuable an asset to be prosecuted. Especially if prosecuting their stool pigeons will result in exposing the same prosecutor. As long as the prosecutors' allies are allowed to get away with crimes against women, Cherokee County news reporters will continue to describe the prosecution of domestic violence as "a fairly uncommon legal occurrence."

Lon Morris coach arrested for child porn at Cherokee County Jr. College

Warning: Cherokee County Texas institutions are bastions of child exploitation and employ purveyors of child pornography.

The mass exodus of Rusk Independent School District faculty members earlier this year is based upon the revelation that protected locals and administration officials with a penchant for photography have been under FBI scrutiny for years- stemming from the 2001-2002 Department of Justice crackdown of Palestine, Texas resident Mark Bates - the Webmaster of a worldwide e-mail child pornography ring originating from Internet servers in Anderson and Cherokee Counties. Why did the Rusk High School principal and all those Rusk ISD teachers and coaches turn in their resignations?

The FBI sting called "Operation Candyman" netted individuals throughout the country, including an A&M cadet in Brownsville and two men from the Houston,TX area. 89 subscribers total were indicted. Mark Bates, age 33 of Palestine, TX was sentenced in December 2002 to 30 years prison for being the mastermind and moderator of the website used to download images federal prosecutors called "absolutely appalling in the depth of their depravity." Many arrested subscribers to Mark Bates' email group (such as Toby Barnett from Lufkin, Texas) were people 'holding positions of trust with frequent contact with children.' Mark Bates had two prior child molestation convictions and a history of mental disorders.

The ongoing cover up of this type of depraved and illegal activity should show the rest of the state just how duplicitous Cherokee County Texas really is. Especially when local officials pretend to have no knowledge of kiddie porn being distributed from computers owned by the school district.
A place where under the guise of fake evangelicalism, the images of broken and bloody bodies of children have been traded like Green Stamps on the Internet for decades. While at the same time Cherokee County district attorney Elmer Beckworth offers probation to a Rusk Texas man who mutilated his own 12-month old daughter, and the district court voraciously accepts any and all plea bargains to over 3 dozen registered sex offenders within the county.

Mark Bates' child porn ring of 6 years ago apparently never ceased to exist outside the area, with ongoing federal sentences (such as Jeffrey Scott Ray of Nacogdoches and Toby Barnett of Lufkin, TX) never making it to the pressroom. The list continues.

Jacksonville, Texas:

Lon Morris College's head golf coach Barry Dean Griffin, age 38, has been arraigned in federal court for possession and distribution of child pornography. Coach Barry Griffin was arrested Monday, June 9, 2008 after surrendering to federal authorities in Tyler, Texas. According to the June 10, 2008 issue of the Tyler Paper, Lon Morris faculty member Barry Griffin : "has been charged by complaint for allegedly possessing and distributing child pornography on May 30 in Cherokee County [Texas]. If convicted, he could face 5 to 20 years in prison for the distribution charge and up to 10 years in prison for the possession charge."

Monday's appearance by Griffin in front of Tyler, TX based US Magistrate Judge John Love was reported here first. He has not been formally indicted.



Lon Morris College coach Barry Dean Griffin

Barry Griffin is a junior college Kinesiology instructor and coach for Jacksonville, Texas based Lon Morris and has been since 2005. The Lon Morris men's golf team took fourth place in a recently held NJCAA tournament in Huntsville, Alabama, with hotel accommodations arranged by the college. Griffin has also traveled out of state to Daytona, Florida where he accompanied the Lon Morris College girl's golf team, who took a 4th place prize at the women's NJCAA national championship games.

Similarly, the Jacksonville home of Rusk ISD drama coach Harold “Bo” Scallon was raided last year by federal authorities on a tip from the Longview, TX police department. The tip being that the High School teacher was distributing child pornography over the Internet. His personal laptop, school computer and hard drives were confiscated by the FBI. Scallon pleaded guilty on April 4, 2008 in federal court to possessing over 150 sadomasochistic images of minors. He taught for the Rusk Independent School District for nearly 30 years and with parents' blessings, participated in numerous overnight 'theater camps.' Due to a plea agreement, his child porn distribution charge was dropped by federal prosecutors, though he still faces decades in federal prison. Certainly the community and school administrators will rally around to petition for Mr. Scallon's early release and leniency prior to his sentencing date being reported. As they did with Alto, Texas postmaster Herbert Dominguez, prior to his federal sentencing for stealing $27,000 of United States Post Office material- but never reporting it.

Local Cherokee County, Texas media portray Rusk High School Theater class' Bo Scallon official retirement and contractual obligations to the school district as ending in April 2007, prior to the FBI raid. However, Harold "Bo" Scallon's continual employment with the Rusk ISD was apparent to the FBI because investigators seized his company computer from the Rusk High School and examined its hard drives. Forensics on his computers uncovered massive files storing violent and graphic depictions involving children.



mugshot of Rusk,TX teacher Harold "Bo" Scallon

The ongoing out-of-county reports of federal investigations compared to the nonexistent media coverage, nor local outcry, begs the question: Has Cherokee County, Texas always been a child molestation and child pornography refuge? Local offenders certainly do not have to worry about prison time if they cut deals with the Cherokee County District Attorney's office after falling in the hands of Elmer Beckworth .

View the locations of registered child molesters living steps from the Rusk Texas courthouse and Rusk Texas Jr.-Sr. High Schools mapped on a website called FamilyWatchdog .

Found at: http://www.familywatchdog.us/

Infant molesters (whose victims are as young as 1 to 6 years-old) all handed probation and local Adult Supervision by the Cherokee County district attorney's office -and not spending one day in prison.



[known registered Rusk, TX sex offenders - courtesy of Family Watchdog]

As a footnote, Harold "Bo" Scallon was sentenced on Tuesday June 17, 2008 in the US District Courts to 6 1/2 years federal prison time for possessing Internet child pornography. He will remain under parole supervision for 5 years after completing his federal prison term. Had the Rusk ISD faculty member actually acted on his sick fantasies and molested a Jr. High student, then the Cherokee County district attorney would have offered Scallon a few months probation (just like Elmer Beckworth's office did for Chris Hennessy, a Rusk Texas patrol officer offered a paltry probation sentence of months instead of years for raping a Rusk ISD Jr. High girl in 2004). Or Cherokee County prosecutors would simply ignore the problem like the community and Rusk school board has for the last 30 years of Harold "Bo" Scallon's teaching career. The world may never know how many deals were struck to keep this guy's perverted pastimes out of the Rusk ISD school bulletin and news.

Also buried in the archives and the local School Board meeting minutes is a report of another Rusk ISD school teacher and former Jacksonville High School faculty member, Brian Basse sentenced to 3 years TDCJ time in 2007 for sexual contact with a student. Explicit Instant Messages and photos were recovered from his laptop computer by the FBI. Basse had been a Rusk Texas school teacher for 7 years, before relocating from the Jacksonville ISD. Brian Basse's 36 month sentence (which he may serve 80% of) was handed to him from the 2nd Judicial District Court in Rusk, TX.







And don't forget about Josh Allen music teacher at the Jacksonville Christian Academy and youth minister for the Tyler Street Baptist Church being sentenced in 2007 to 4 years for possession of child pornography- over 600 graphic and violent images. Tyler Street Baptist Church is a long time polling place for voters in Cherokee County's Precinct No. 15. The US District Court "noted that Allen has no past criminal history and that he had the support of his church - factors in issuing the relatively lenient sentence." Great. Gregg County Texas charged Josh Allen for his porn distribution into their county, since Cherokee County Texas failed to do so. A local investigation was not required from the source because, as Allen told Federal Judge Leonard Davis during his January 4, 2007 sentencing, local authorities believed the choir director still "had an opportunity to be part of the solution to the problem" of child porn being distributed via the Internet from Cherokee County, Texas. Allen received the same lack of media attention coupled with an outpouring of local support as did Jeffrey Scott Ray and Toby Lynn Barnett. Ray's residence in Nacogdoches, TX was raided by federal authorities in 2006 and his sentencing not reported; Jeffrey Ray Scott got 70 months in federal prison. Toby Barnett was charged with possession of child porn and given 3 years probation in 2002 for "not having a prior criminal record," even though he had been convicted in Nacogdoches, TX for assault in 1996.

Just do a comparison on how the legal system operates 40 miles away in Smith County, Texas. For instance, the recent Wednesday June 18, 2008 sentencing of Daniel Wayne Tidwell, age 29 of Tyler, in the 241st District Court doling out 50 years state prison time. This is after Tidwell pleading guilty to the sexual assault of a 15 year-old girl. Daniel Tidwell did have prior felony convictions, but regardless was facing 5 years to life for the rape.

Don't forget the crack down on the Mineola Swinger's Club that has made national news, either. The third defendant out of a string of arrests, Patrick "Booger Red" Kelly, a foster parent, is on trial for drugging children 9 years-old and younger and forcing them to perform strip club-esque dances for patrons of Mineola, Texas' honky tonk. A version of what Cherokee County, Texas' counterfeit Christians have been doing for decades: exploiting children and getting away with it. Smith County CPS removed the children from the homes of participants beginning in 2004 when it became apparent drug use and sexual abuse was occurring in the "deeply religious community." Also awaiting trial are Dennis Boyd and Rebecca Pittman; and Jimmy Dale and Shelia Darlene Sones. Local swingers in the East Texas sex ring Jamie Pittman and Shauntel Loraine Mayo were convicted and sentenced to life in prison earlier in May, for their involvement in making children perform sex acts on stage.

An even better recent comparison would be the 2006 trial in Smith County of a preacher named Jefferson Marion Moore, age 58 at the time, also the Dogwood City Daycare and Preschool operator convicted of molesting a 6 year-old girl left in his care. He was a full time pastor for the Dogwood City Chapel, or "Brother Jeff" as they called him. Jefferson Moore was convicted and sentenced to LIFE in prison for the rape he committed. Moore had been indicted on three counts of sexual assault of a minor involving a 6, 7 and 4 year-old. "Brother Jeff" Moore was also charged with retaliation after an altercation with Smith County prosecutors during courtroom deliberations and given 10 extra years. On the brighter side, the Tyler Paper reports in its June 25, 2008 edition that Jefferson Moore died of "natural causes" in his cellblock earlier this month after serving 2 years in prison. Dogwood City, Texas is a small unincorporated community on Lake Palestine and ideal retirement spot for district judges, located on the Cherokee County / Smith County border and 20 miles from downtown Jacksonville, Texas. No probation offers or lenient sentences for this child molester; the Smith County community certainly did not rally in support of the only preacher and licensed babysitter in their tiny town. Incidentally, the United States Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday June 25, 2008 that it is unconstitutional for states to execute child rapists. That will certainly keep Cherokee County's sexual predator population on a steady incline.



Pastor Jefferson Moore (deceased), daycare owner and child molester

In April 2005, the Kilgore, Texas newspaper The Kilgore News Herald began an expose, aptly named "Child Pornography Big Problem in East Texas," on how pervasive the crime was becoming.

Next month, more East Texas child molesters off the streets and in federal prison, such as Franklin Albert Pearce of Wood County, Texas gets life for the sexual assault of a 6 year-old girl. William Allen Pipes of Gilmer, TX pleads guilty to distributing child porn and faces 10 years.

In local school news, the superintendent of Overton ISD Dr. Mark Stretcher, after "unexpectedly" resigning his post in January due to a "personal illness and pressure" and subsequently throwing the Overton, TX school district in disarray- why Dr. Stretcher has been charged with felony theft of public funds. Stretcher pleaded guilty to 'theft in office' on Friday June 27, 2008. Beware Rusk County, Texas you are in a close second for most corrupt.

Jacksonville, TX: Convicted rapist cop linked to missing witness' remains, while JPD gets awards for crime reporting; Floods bring FEMA.

Despite the fact that former Jacksonville, TX police officer Larry Pugh has been sentenced to 12 years maximum confinement in federal prison for rape and retaliation, local Cherokee County media outlets appear to be in damage control. Officer Pugh is also linked to the skeletal remains of one of his sexual assault complainants, found in the Angelina National Forest last year. Newspapers out of the county report that two women slated to testify against Pugh in federal court went missing after Pugh made bond before his Civil Rights trial. Only callous reports of the dead witnesses by Cherokee County media, referring to the missing women as drug addicts and homeless bag ladies. Repeating Larry Pugh's perjury in print.


Former JPD Larry Pugh

But just for argument’s sake, let’s ask ourselves: So what if these women were homeless addicts. Our nation’s creed is justice for all. Not justice only for those with heavy wallets and fancy houses. Yet the deaths of those women were disregarded by local law enforcement as though they were nothing more than roadside litter. You can bet your bottom dollar that if those two now dead witnesses against Officer Pugh had instead been connected to Cherokee County’s version of high-class families, the mystery of their deaths (before they could testify about Pugh) would have been top priority for all the county’s ‘justice’ officials. No homicide investigation required in these missing women's cases.

Blood stained lies.

Lies are created by corrupt justice officials because public corruption at its basest, most indispensably fundamental level requires deception as its cornerstone. And perpetuation of that deceit into infinity, often with the help of small town newspapers and the old wives club. The inherent nature of the lies propagandized by corrupt law enforcement authorities requires habitual creation of new lies while simultaneously embellishing their old ones. In order to daily successfully gull the lay population, these very dangerous men AND women must never ever cease toiling to maintain their virtuous façades. And their first choice methodology is always smear mongering, reputation-pulverizing those who are able to expose their covert illegal activities.

The survival of their cult of confession is dependent upon their criminal activities remaining unknown and hidden from public scrutiny/accountability. So they destroy the credibility of anyone who places them at risk to be discovered. They are literally sociopaths who cannot allow those outside their cult to gain enough momentum to topple their slimy underground criminal world. Therefore they tell one lie, then another and another ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Thousands, and thousands and thousands of times. They have chosen to damn themselves into a netherworld of constant lying in order to feed their addiction to their creed, which is: "How many can we fool today?" "What can we get the local media to print this week?" Lies times ten thousand.

And, like true sociopaths, they find lying about those outside their cult of confession invigorating, exhilarating FUN. These men and women are comparable to serial killers in that they ENJOY destroying others. Example: the person(s) responsible for the deaths of those two missing material witnesses against ex-Jacksonville police officer Larry Pugh. The local media shows no remorse they can no longer testify. The killer is happily sated until, like Jack the Ripper, the urge to silence the next victim becomes uncontrollable again. In the interim, the killer and others in Cherokee County’s cult of confession will do what they do best: Lie as often and as effortlessly as they blink. While they occupy pews in the local churches and attend sorority luncheons and Lions Club functions. All the while maintaining constant vigil that somebody else will step forward and take the place of the murdered witnesses whose testimony would doubtless have further ruined that rapist/federal felon/Cherokee county 'law' officer AND his cohorts. This is standard operating procedure and has been for decades.
Ironically, ex-Officer Larry Pugh's former employers, the Jacksonville, TX police department got a recent rave review by the Texas Crime Information Center. In a strange stroke of luck, the TX Crime Info Center did a quick audit this month of Pugh's former employers and gave the Jacksonville police department gold stars for their 911 dispatch and crime reporting.

As a follow up from the May 12, 2007 posting regarding the Rape Crisis Centers operated by Anderson and Cherokee County after Larry Pugh's attacks have been reported in the following:
First a "change in funding" to the Jacksonville based crisis center, the one Pugh's last rape victims checked into. And another article on the loss of federal funds for the Jacksonville, TX Rape Crisis Center. That explains the city's apparent inaction in helping Pugh's victims and gives the story a nice little bow on top to explain away Larry Pugh's retaliation sentence ---he was convicted of raping a woman, then tracking her down in a van.

The Cherokee County safe house has an apparent poor rating with the East Texas Council of Governments, so its someone else's fault the Jacksonville based center can't collect a local police officer's DNA.

To win back the hearts and minds of the locals, The Jacksonville Daily Progress does report in its July 6, 2007 issue that the Jacksonville PD, along with the DEA, seized 127 grams of methamphetamines from a local crack head. Quite impressive given the fact that just last year Cherokee County's district court bailiff Randy Thompson (369th Judicial District) was sentenced to 10 years for having his own meth lab, while milking the county for gas money as Constable Precinct 3.


Another tactic by local East Texas media outlets is to put drug busts out of the area on their front pages, like The Tyler Morning Telegraph's July 22, 2007 issue that states "Agents Find Field with 10000 Marijuana Plants." You have to read it to find out the marijuana field was in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, not anywhere near Tyler, TX 150 miles away. Drugs seized in East Texas rarely make it out of the local precincts or are reported to the DPS.

Rusk county, TX: Nearby, the Tyler Morning Telegraph does report that neighboring Rusk County's Chief Deputy Daniel Flanagan admitted to beating a handcuffed prisoner back in November 2006 as part a plea agreement. Ex-Chief Deputy "Dusty" Flanagan faced US District Judge Michael Schneider after being investigated and charged with assault by the DPS office and Tyler, TX FBI.
Two other Rusk County deputies involved in the police brutality were not charged. Flanagan and Rusk Co. Sheriff Glen Deason are also involved in a sexual harassment suit. After decades of corruption charges and multiple federal investigations, the good people of Rusk County are starting to clean house in the Rusk County Sheriff's Department.
There has been a litany of charges against the Rusk County Sheriff's Department from civil rights violations, stealing drug seizure monies, child pornography and insurance fraud.

Local: Both The Jacksonville Daily Progress and Rusk's Cherokeean Herald plaster their front pages in the month of June and July with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decision to uphold the murder conviction and death sentence of local dirtbag Beunka Adams, the easiest to prove capital murder case in Texas history.


TX death row inmate Beunka Adams

Each week a new update on the 2004 murderer's death row appeal----The only reported murder in the county in 3 years. The murders not championed or reported on are the ones of 2 missing women waiting to testify against Larry Pugh, Cherokee County and the City of Jacksonville, Texas. Where's the victims' advocacy for Officer Pugh's rape victims?

The Beunka Adams capital murder case has been reported so many times by the Cherokee County media (trying to keep it fresh in the minds of the readers) that one would think it happened in 2007.

The Jacksonville Daily Progress does lament on the fact that the population of Cherokee County only increased by 300 people in 2006 in its July 6, 2007 issue. Still, no mention of Jacksonville PD's Larry Pugh or his victim's body being found mutilated and decomposing. Maybe that explains Cherokee County's zero population growth...
No mention that this missing woman was to testify against Pugh, after her rape complaint was passed on by the Cherokee County District Attorney's office. It takes the Tyler Morning Telegraph to mention it.

Perhaps this why intelligent business people are fleeing the corrupt county at record rates.
The article cites that the city of Rusk gained 22 people and Alto, TX gained 1 citizen. That gives local law enforcement only 23 new illegal phone drops to install. Just like the good ol' days.

And another mediocre drug bust to champion, via an illegal phone drop on the local Jacksonville, TX crack dealer or as Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell calls it: "intelligence gathering." Everybody looks good after busting their drug informants and users.

According to the same article in a few years Cherokee County may actually have 50,000 residents; meaning about 250,000 illegally registered voters. As they say in Cherokee County during the primaries, "Vote Early and Vote Often!"


The months of June and July 2007 have seen record breaking rain events, with substantial flooding in the East Texas region. Smith County Judge Joel Baker (Tyler, TX) will be seeking federal relief funds for road and infrastructure repairs after the deluge. The city of Jacksonville, TX has been granted close to $100,000 for issues unrelated to flooding; mainly for fire safety and hydrilla problems in Lake Jacksonville. Creeks may have swollen to floodstage but you'll never read much about it in the Cherokee County media, because it might require county funds to address the issue (and matching county funds). Neighboring Smith County has a more observant media that will track the federal monies and hold their elected officials responsible for repairs.


In good 'ol Cherokee County to the south of Tyler, TX , county road and bridge repair will take the backseat for more effacacious uses for the grant money. Frequent rainfall in the months of June and July have produced broken sewer systems, contaminated well water and highway closures, however nothing is reported in the Cherokee County media, other than the opposite : "the rainfall has been good for hay bailing."

Despite the obvious county road closures and utility damage caused by the flooding, Cherokee County will barely disclose (in the fine print of a strategically placed front page picture) the fact that it too, is seeking federal disaster relief. People in northern Cherokee County, around Lake Jacksonville and the Texas State Railroad, expect their officials to use FEMA money to fix their neighborhoods after the deluge. The Jacksonville Daily Progress reports that Cherokee County is declared a disaster area because County Judge Chris Davis
has filed the paperwork with Gov. Rick Perry's office. It is reported that FEMA will set up shop in Jacksonville, TX and panhandlers and insurance defrauders alike are encouraged to register for the government handouts.
Neighboring counties have had actual loss-of-life, but for Cherokee County, Texas FEMA is sounding the dinner bell. Unfortunately, FEMA is basing the assistance on population, instead of ACTUAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS as reported in the following counties: Archer, Bell, Brown, Burnet, Cherokee, Comanche, Cooke, Coryell, Denton, Eastland, Grayson, Hamilton, Hood, Lampasas, Llano, Parker, Runnels, Smith, Starr, Tarrant, Travis, Victoria, Webb, Wichita and Williamson.

According to the local experts, Lake Jacksonville is a whopping 6 inches higher than normal. And besides, other counties to the north such as the ones actually hit the hardest are seeking federal aid packages. More financial assistance for Cherokee County is the request.

The focus on assistance by the local media is on the residents surrounding the flooded Lake Jacksonville, not the county bridges and roads in the outskirts of the county.

Editor's note: The Rusk, Texas Cherokeean Herald has not reported on the Larry Pugh case, despite the fact that Cherokee County District Attorney Investigator Joe Evans 'testified' at the Pugh civil rights violation trial. No mention of Pugh's actions against Jacksonville business owner Larry Hinton and no mention of Pugh's sentencing.

Why didn't the Rusk, TX Cherokeean Herald print the fact that the 369th District Court bailiff had been sentenced to 12 years for intent to distribute meth?
As far as any federal disaster relief, that money is obviously going to be made available to the rain soaked county.


Post script, the August 23, 2007 Cherokeean Herald online reports that Cherokee County will receive $445,000 in federal flood aid issued by FEMA to 223 people living in the county. Their names will be linked to for the readers' perusal. Neighboring Smith County and the hardest hit only collects $340,000. Cherokee County has a population of less than 50,000 based on the 2005 census and Smith County dwarfs them with 180,000 residents. Do the math.

Jacksonville, Texas police officer sentenced to 12 years for RAPE and RETALIATION; Victim put on trial by County Attorney, Other Awarded $300,000

Jacksonville, Texas, the economic center and largest city in Cherokee County, faces several lawsuits from the actions of convicted rapist and former police officer Larry Pugh. Not only did the rogue officer sexually assault several of his traffic stops during the course of working for the city of Jacksonville, he beat and tasered a black gentleman and his pregnant wife during the 2004 "Tomato Bowl Brawl." Pugh was recently sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for sexual assault while in uniform and retaliating against a witness after the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department alerted him to the federal complaints. Despite nine (9) of his alleged rapes being ignored by the city of Jacksonville, Texas and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department, the city will not be held liable by Pugh's last victim who barely survived being attacked a second time by the predator cop.


Jacksonville, TX exemplary policeman; months later convicted rapist and linked to missing Athens, TX woman's corpse.

The retaliation charge comes from Officer Pugh being notified about his last victim's plea to the Cherokee County District Attorney's office. DA Investigator Joe Evans comments at Pugh's civil trial that the rogue officer was "one of the coldest interviewees in Evans' 40 years of law enforcement." Articles suggest Pugh had over 30 women throughout East Texas file RAPE charges against him; the first investigation began with the Department of Justice. No investigation required by Cherokee County; the Cherokee County District Attorney's office waited for Larry Pugh until his federal indictment a la' Bailiff Randall Thompson (sentenced to 10 + years for making meth for distribution).

According to the May 24, 2007 issue of the Jacksonville Daily Progress, U.S. District Judge Michael Schneider saved the city by blocking a civil suit brought by Pugh's last victim (a total of 8 women claimed rape in the lawsuit). The case against the City of Jacksonville and the chief of police was stopped by Summary Judgment. Investigator Joe Evans began to "interview" the other 8 victims. Evans later testified he interviewed over 30 of Pugh's victims. Victim statements were created after Larry Pugh's racially motivated beating of Mr. Larry Hinton of Jacksonville and Hinton was exonerated after being put on trial by Joe Evan's bosses in the Cherokee County court. Despite Pugh's federal indictments, Cherokee County brought charges and tried one of Pugh's victims. The Tyler Morning Telegraph reports on June 20, 2007 that Officer Larry Pugh had  been linked to the skeletal remains of a missing Athens, TX woman who moved to Cherokee County and disappeared in May 2006. The article cites that another missing woman that encountered Pugh has yet to be found.

Nacogdoches, TX: The Daily Sentinel confirms that remains found in the Angelina National Forest are in fact those of one of Jacksonville Texas patrolman Larry Pugh's victims who was slated to testify against the rapist Cherokee County officer, while Pugh was out on federal bond (pending his federal rape and retaliation trial). No reports on the woman's remains by local Rusk or Jacksonville, TX newspaper or media outlets. Last year, the new Jacksonville, TX police chief Daniel Reese defended Larry Pugh to the Jacksonville Daily Progress, saying the victims that "disappeared under suspicious circumstances" was "speculation" on the part of out of region media. The fact is Larry Pugh probably did not act alone in his disposal of federal witnesses.  Additional civil suits are still pending against the city, however due to former Jacksonville police officer Larry Pugh's illegal activities. You have to do intricate internet research to find out a federal trial actually took place in the federal courts and that the jury voted in favor of the victim in U.S. District Judge Schneider's trial. The jury would have also voted to hold the city of Jacksonville, Texas and Cherokee County liable had the judge allowed it.

The Wednesday June 13, 2007 issue of the Tyler News reports that former JPD officer Larry Pugh's last rape victim was awarded $300,000 in punitive damages. Hard to collect from a convicted ex-officer.  Cherokee County District Attorney Investigator Joe Evans testified at the federal trial about "investigating" Officer Pugh's other rape victims. Obviously the Rusk, TX Cherokeean Herald will not mention the victim's victory in court in the June 13, 2007 issue keeping the simple norm of NOT reporting anything negative about the Cherokee County District Attorney office's failure to render aid to victims of violent crime. Despite Pugh's past, he was employed by the city of Jacksonville, TX as a peace officer. Despite over 35 complaints of sexual assault throughout Pugh's law enforcement career, Cherokee County law enforcement produced DA Investigator Joe Evans at Pugh's sentencing. Officer Pugh was said to had used the Freedom of Information Act to locate the majority of his complainants, several he had arrested on drug charges in the past after he raped them.

Evans testified that he had "interviewed" the majority of Pugh's victims, however it took the federal government to actually stop Pugh's appetite for destruction. Remember, Cherokee County does not arrest its own officers for anything; Pugh was therefore assisted by local law enforcement in locating those who had filed police reports or visited the Rape Crisis Center in Jacksonville, Texas. Larry Pugh would not have been also been charged with RETALIATION had he not been personally informed about the multiple victims' complaints to the Jacksonville Texas police department and the FBI. Pugh's police brutality sanctioned by Cherokee County, Texas does not just include raping homeless drug addicts living on the streets; those are easy prey. Pugh focused his attention on less prominent black residents in the community, where he could start a violent incident at random when finding his victims in a public place, knowing the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department would back his every move.

The "Tomato Bowl Brawl" was a race riot that occurred at the Jacksonville, TX high school football stadium and homecoming in October 2004. What began as juvenile rough housing, turned into a full blown race riot, complete with tasers, pepper spray and billy clubs. Fellow officer Larry Pugh beat several black attendees in the parking lot. A gentleman named Larry Hinton escorted his pregnant wife to their car, when the fighting broke out. He was by attacked and tasered by JPD Officer Pugh, his front teeth knocked out and his pregnant wife maced. Mr. Hinton was later charged with "interfering" with a police round-up. Mr. Hinton was actually put on trial by the Cherokee County attorney Craig Caldwell. Mr. Hinton and others filed a federal lawsuit and excessive force suits against the city of Jacksonville. Jacksonville recently "settled" the lawsuits pending from Larry Pugh's actions during the Tomato Bowl Brawl, after the exoneration of Mr. Hinton and other black citizens filed class action police brutality suits.

The Cherokee County media reported on Larry Hinton's "public misconduct" trial after concerned citizens took to the Rusk, TX courthouse steps in protest. During the same time Cherokee County District Attorney's office was "interviewing the 25-30 witnesses, including women who claimed they had been raped by Pugh and people they had told, including ministers and police officers, which substantiated their claims." The bogus Larry Hinton criminal trial took place AFTER Officer Larry Pugh was arrested and incarcerated for sexual assaulting women while in uniform. Mr. Hinton was later acquitted, as was a 13 year old girl, the center of the altercation. Cherokee County officers had "arrested" and kicked the junior high girl, when fellow citizens jumped into the fray created by Cherokee County officers. Mr. Hinton had simply refused Officer Pugh's request that he lay down while his front teeth got kicked out. Hinton's wife was punched and knocked down during the melee. Supporters for Mr. Larry Hinton took to the steps of the Cherokee County courthouse to demonstrate the community's zero tolerance for police brutality.


Cherokee County Attorney Craig Caldwell, who tried Larry Hinton, stated to the media that the Jacksonville Police Department "got control of the situation" and "they did a good job for the city that night." Caldwell's statements come after Hinton's acquittal and officer Pugh's federal indictments for rape.

Craig Caldwell's statements come after Mr. Hinton's testimony on how his jaw was broken that night in October 2004.
 

These statements on what a "good job" the Cherokee County peace officers did that night inciting a race riot. A riot the taxpayers of the city Jacksonville, Texas will be paying for years to come. Very little mention of the fact that Officer Larry Pugh pleaded guilty to one count of retaliation and two counts of civil rights violations in the local media. Those following the case will have to go to the Department of Justice's website and press releases to find out that Larry Pugh was sentenced to 12 years confinement in federal prison. The case was prosecuted by the US Attorney's office. One complaint by a white woman whom Pugh threatened to kill after having forced sex with her, apparently got the attention of the US Attorney's office; several excessive force complaints were ignored, including his actions during the October 2004 homecoming beatings.
 
Missing rape victims Shunte Coleman (l) and Terri Reyes (r),  of Larry Pugh's "good job" according to County Attorney Craig Caldwell.

The good news is that city of Jacksonville, TX and the family of Larry Hinton "settled" the civil rights class action suit for an undisclosed amount and Larry Pugh is settling in good at the federal prison where he can continue to "do a good job" for Cherokee County. And Pugh's last rape victim, though unable to collect a settlement from a convicted rapist, was awarded $300,000 for pain and suffering. After being raped and then almost murdered after Pugh was notified and totally cognizant about her complaints to the Cherokee County District Attorney's office. Pugh actually testified that the rape victim "had a bad reputation."As a footnote, the Palestine Herald-Press almost gets to reporting about Larry Pugh's federal civil rights violations in neighboring Cherokee County and indictment in 2006.

The Tyler News also reports that entire incident from both the victim's perspective and Larry Pugh's arrogant denial of the charges. He states he took the federal plea to spend 12 years in prison "to protect" his family, while denying the fact that other federal witnesses (including Cherokee County DA investigator Joe Evans) testified about being raped.
 

Read at URL: http://www.tylerpaper.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706130312

The Jacksonville Daily Progress was recently awarded three (3) AMPE prizes for its coverage of rogue elements within the Jacksonville  Texas Police Department. Good going Daily Progress, the light is beginning to shine. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) has established a hotline and a secure website for victims of teen dating violence, for situations like those ongoing in Cherokee County. The Helpline is available 24 hrs at 1-866-331-9474 (TTY 866-331-8453) and at http://www.loveisrespect.org/
 

It took the US Attorney's office and the FBI to stop Jacksonville, Texas police officer Larry Pugh for continuing his sexual assaults on women driving through Cherokee County. According to the National Census of Domestic Violence Services (NCDVS) Survey show the counties of Anderson and Cherokee have miserable ratings based on the number of victims' service requests.
 

As a footnote, The Jacksonville Daily Progress reports in its May 24, 2007 issue that Larry Pugh's rape victim cannot proceed with her federal civil suit against the city of Jacksonville, TX.