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."

$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.

Hero complex for local parasites.

Posting should be called "Smooth Sailing at the Bottom of the Bilge."
Local media puts the focus on the 'good ol' boys' to turn attention from Cherokee County law enforcement's recent drug dealing habits. These guys can be found planted in the back of the local Pentecostal or Baptist church of your choice, singing out of key and planning their next visit to the local Lion's Club. Put aside all the drug peddling the night before to boost Cherokee County's drug arrest quota. Of course no seized drugs are reported to the DPS; that would be plum silly.

Unfortunately, fellow drug trafficker Chester Kennedy (Troup, TX chief of police) AND Cherokee County Constable Randall Thompson are both arrested by US attorneys and Smith County Sheriff's Department.
The internet is swamped with out-of-region news reports on their illegal activity. Certainly an embarrassment to the engrained Cherokee County establishment, not of shame but of fear of the media spotlight being on their own corrupt methods. The activity has been going on for decades in and around East Texas, be it Wise County or Orange County or Houston County.
In 1990, the Dallas Morning News began an extensive expose’ on Wise County corruption involving Sheriff Leroy Eugene Burch. Sheriff Burch, his Chief Deputy and two local bail bondsmen were indicted by a Federal grand jury in Fort Worth for an extensive extortion scheme involving false arrests. The 11-count indictment accused the men of conspiring to use their elected positions to extort money from defendants; officials would reduce their charges if they paid “exorbitant fees” to a local Wise County bail bondsman.

Dallas Morning News p.1A April 15, 1992  


Dallas Morning News p. 16 A April 15, 1992 
Also in the early 1990’s Orange County’s Sheriff James Wade was arrested, indicted and sentenced on his own Federal methamphetamine charges by US Justice William Wayne Justice. Sheriff Wade was convicted on September 21, 1988 on nine counts of federal narcotics conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Lufkin Daily News Dec.4, 1988 and Jacksonville Daily Progress p.3 Feb. 14, 1990
And to the south of Cherokee County, neighboring Houston County Sheriff Claudie Kendrick had his day in Justice William Wayne Justice's court, and was sentenced in 1993 to one year federal prison and two years supervision for perjury. He had let a drug dealer out of Houston County jail according to prosecutors and lied during an inquest. The FBI had been investigating Houston County on alleged official corruption charges.

 

Jacksonville Daily Progress May 18, 1993
More recently, to keep the local Cherokee County taxpayers' attention (and contributions) turned away from the recent federal drug bust of Cherokee County officials, Rusk, Texas now has its very own "narcotics officer" for the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department. Sponging off mediocre drug busts from unsuspecting and out-of-town occupants of the Trade Winds Motel in Jacksonville Texas.

Two bags of marijuana; stop the presses!!
Does 2 ounces of pot undo the decades of officials such as Chief of Police, Troup TX, Chester Kennedy and Constable Randy Thompson dealing drugs under your noses?
Does a measly bag of weed put a dint in the fact Cherokee County Constable Randall Thompson (Pct.3) was mixing crack in the piney woods during the same time he was handing out subpoenas and working as your court bailiff?? These guys are facing decades in TDC, but I bet their arrests and drug seizures won't be overturned any time soon.... you can sleep well in your bed at night knowing the Spring Break recreational drug and marijuana trade is being stopped in its tracks.
Button down the hatch, the local media will be hoisting its parasitic cargo onto the Cherokee County populace. If you can stomach it, read it for yourself each week in the Jacksonville Daily Progress and/or Rusk's Cherokeean online. As Homer said in Ulysses "don't succumb to the blandiloquence of the other parasites." These worms mean business and their collective egos can't stand the sunlight.
Cherokee County, TX has the best and the brightest looking out for you, that's why the hire people like Larry Pugh to patrol your streets and Michael Meissner to do whatever.
Get prepared to be impressed, if you aren't basking in their glow yet. The local sorority fan club is waiting with bated breath.

Deputized Phonemen Wanted

Posted by Cherokee County, Texas District Attorney uses illegal “party lines” on November 17, 2002 at 09:52:58:

In a fight on the war on drugs (and to remain elected), Rusk, Texas jails are monitored by local Cherokee County Sheriff’s office with FBI consent. Several local LCTX linemen are deputized giving District Attorney’s office telephone tapping discretion. Cherokee County Sheriff Department provides annual mediocre drug busts for Tyler/Longview FBI and DEA agents via phone taps, and has access to and “owns” all rural telephone lines. Phone lines of suspects and political enemies are spliced into the spare lines of “informants.” VOX tape recorders are hooked up to spare lines, i.e. “extension” and run into homes of District Attorney’s political allies.

Informants are usually reserve Deputies who live in rural areas of Cherokee County often in the same area as the home being surveyed. Junction boxes in front of “informant’s” house are used as switching stations and the spare lines on their phone drop are used as “slave” or piggy-back extensions.

Many informants have 24 conductor cables as phone drop that is run into their home and serviced by Lufkin Conroe Telephone Exchange. These “extensions” from unsuspecting homeowners are undetectable, unless granted access by court order to examine telephone junction box. Hence, anyone complaining about the neighbors intercepting their phone calls to Sheriff’s Department and FBI Tyler office are charged with Felony Criminal Mischief, for ostensibly opening telephone pedestals/junction boxes and tracing their lines into their neighbor’s house.
Cherokee County Sheriff’s Deputies who pick up the tapes pay informants a monthly monitoring “donation.” The money comes from mainly from the District Attorney's fund. Current and former District Attorney Investigators are custodian of cassette tapes used in voir dire and selection of grand jury pools. Tyler and Dallas FBI offices, the US Attorney's office in Lufkin, as well as the Department of Justice office in Beaumont have been notified of over 15 years of illegal phone tapping activities of current and former District Attorney’s office.
Federal grant monies are distributed to local precincts for drug enforcement. Instead, substantial Federal dollars are used by Cherokee County Commissioners and Constables to pay Southwestern Bell and GTE linemen and their families to monitor “party lines” established by District Attorney’s Investigator.
County Commissioners routinely vote down installation of fiber optic phone line for Cherokee County because “party lines” cannot be created on fiber.

  

Old news articles highlight the ongoing harassment of minorities, a tactic of falsely generating 911 calls, in order to have a Cherokee County deputy knocking on the doorstep in the middle of the night.
This overt intimidation tactic, after being discovered, was quickly reported as the telecommunications miracle of "lightning strikes generating the 911 calls." This during the time period of record drought and 0.0 inch rainfall records. A typical Cherokee County intimidation tactic highlighted by the Cherokeean Herald. Precipitation loggers and historical data indicate no lightning strikes nor rainfall for this time period.
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Department would have those (who had been harassed by a deputy arriving unwelcome, unannounced and unsolicited) actually believe lightning could strike and send pulse phones to dial out "9," "1" and then "1" again. Even on phonelines that were not in service. For tone dialing, the actual frequency would have to be achieved in order to do what?
The hand of God dialed the 911 preset? Another lie because Cherokee County did not offer tone dialing until 1998; all telephone exchanges operated on pulse. It takes 9 electrical pulses to 'click' the relay at the telephone exchange, then 1 more, then 1 more. The Cherokee County Texas Sheriff's Department should have had the headline "Lightning Strikes Same Place 11 times in 3 Seconds... but doesn't burn up the phoneline..." Transient voltage in the air? Lies.
There is nothing more jarring than having an unannounced visit from the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department during your late night house party...or as they call it "exigent circumstances" allowing for a warrantless search.
This type of civil rights violations has been operating in Cherokee County, Texas for decades.

Drug Deals and Insurance Pay Offs for all

Why so much corruption in such a small place?

I have been doing internet research on East Texas corruption and came across the interview of Joe Gray from Henderson, TX posted in 2001.  Mr. Gray gives detailed accounts of his experiences in nearby Anderson County and his theories about District Judge Bascom Bentley.

Judge Bentley also operates in neighboring Cherokee County and Leon County.

Joe Gray's article states East Texas officials have generationally benefited from the ongoing narcotics trade by being involved in it at ever level. Not only are federal monies under the Byrne grants siphoned off by these corrupt small town law enforcement agencies, but local officials use the Tulia Laws to grab up foreclosed property of supposed drug dealers. One of Mr. Gray's talking points is that Bascom Bentley III owned over 600 acres in Anderson County; land he apparently did not inherit but accumulated over the years to sell off. Tulia law injustices are common and even more common are Byrne grant monies being swindled to family members and political allies.


Mr. Gray's para-military/militia preoccupation would make his wild claims of "black helicopters" and DNA theft at the county jail seem laughable to the outside media and the US Attorney's office, thus making him, in the eyes of local officials, the ideal candidate for property foreclosure. Those who publicly complain about the corruption have been met with law suits, police raids, and death.

In Bentley v. Bunton- Texas, in 1996 Judge Bascom Bentley successfully filed a defamation suit against a Palestine radio talk show host who called the judge "corrupt" among other things on air. If that were the case then the South East Texas Political Review whose radio talk show host calls by name, the entire judiciary in Beaumont "corrupt and incompetent" would be liable (libel?) Who knows? Bentley may have just benefited by being in the system when the thousands of acres in Palestine were seized and put up for sale. Being a district judge may have given him first shot at low bid at the Sheriff's Auction.


Whatever the basis of Joe Buntly's "personal vendetta" against the Anderson/Cherokee County judge, the fact remains the legal and law enforcement system operating with the corrupt Dogwood Narcotics Task Force out of Palestine, has branched into drug dealing. And under Tulia laws, a simple accusation results in forfeiture of property. The rest of Texas is shying away from this practice and there is now legislation to reign in these rouge anti-drug task forces. It took Governor Rick Perry to pardon 35 innocent defendants convicted under Tulia laws, while the good ol' boys who prosecuted them 'retire' to Lake Palestine and Lake Jacksonville (with a little extra cash and land).(Source: CBS News


The drug trade in neighboring Cherokee County involves local constable precincts, not the district courts per se. The district courts are involved in more personal enrichment schemes, like sexual blackmail of enemies and phone tapping. Typically Anderson County probably does not operate the same as its twin sister Cherokee County. I would call Cherokee County the genetically defunct second cousin to Anderson County. Judge Bentley behaves one way on the record in Anderson County court and completely different in Cherokee County because he knows he is unaccountable in the Rusk, TX courthouse. Cherokee County is simply not astute enough in its own self-worship to produce an official who would clean up the mess, without being extorted or blackmailed by the District Attorney's office. God knows they hate people talking about them, i.e. they have convinced themselves that it is moral, albeit illegal, to tape record phone calls of citizens throughout the county. They will collectively smear and repeat any propaganda that the District Attorney tells them, not matter how ludicrous or unrealistic, for job security. Mind you 90% of them are related. What a way to make an East Texas living.


Cherokee County law enforcement turns a blind eye to its own internal drug activity while at the same time paying off drug mules and jail house snitches. It is the usual suspects, one being a former DEA agent out of the Dogwood Narco-Force and a recently "retired" Cherokee County District Attorney Investigator. Readers should applaud that the corrupt Dogwood Narcotics Task Force, based out of Palestine is no more. The only thing the unchecked Tulia Laws created with this pseudo-agency was the ongoing drug trade by Cherokee County law enforcement. There is a vacuum of drug dealing to fill, now that these good ol' Christian men have "retired." It takes neighboring Smith County and the US Attorney to file charges on the current culprits while at the same time relying on the same people for drug bust quotas.


In regards to the drug dealing of law enforcement in Cherokee County; let me give you some info on Cherokee County's unscrupulous activity to be found on the internet. These news articles list the illegal activity in Cherokee County just this year alone, in 2006!!! The firing of Constable Precinct 3 Randall Thompson who was also the Cherokee County District court's bailiff for Judge Bascom Bentley III. Fired for not showing up for his bailiff post. Local media portrays Thompson as missing for 6 months, then gathered a constable's hearing together the day before Thompson was indicted in federal court. Ostensibly, the district court did not know that Constable Randy Thompson had been making and selling speed, if you believe such nonsense. Details found at the US Department of Justice news release. Constable Randall Thompson had participated in all his assigned duties until his arrest.

• The firing of the New Summerfield Chief of Police after being fired from the Cherokee County Sheriff's Dept.

• Chief of Police Chester Kennedy of Troup and Sgt. Mark Turner arrested by Smith County Sheriff Department for selling drugs. NO arrests by Cherokee County officials.

• Jacksonville, TX police officer Larry Pugh molesting women during traffic stops; it again takes the FBI to arrest him and charge him on 9 counts of rape and assault. AND when the guy is out on bond he tries to kill one of victims to keep from testifying.

• More on Troup, Texas Police Chief Chester Kennedy caught tampering with drug evidence in future posts.

• In New Summerfield, north of Rusk on Hwy 84. Chief of Police and city treasurer fired; mayor resigns after cleaning house.
• A Jacksonville, TX woman is run down and killed in her own apartment complex. No investigation required according to current Cherokee County District Attorney Elmer C. Beckworth, Jr. The victim was a drunk 'passed out in the parking lot.' Beckworth offered no explanation for not bringing the case to trial; why bother to convene a formal grand jury when you know the outcome. Why even bother to NO-Bill the culprit, it's easier to smear a hit-and-run fatality to the media.

To combat the systemic corruption, HB 1239 was written in 2004 and debated after the Tulia debacle, when 46 people were rounded up in Swisher County Texas during a drug sting and put on trial. Their properties were seized and several quick convictions handed down. The Dogwood Trails Narcotic Task Force was quietly dissolved after bad publicity leaked out about the 72 indigent defendants with court appointed Anderson County lawyers being set free after their properties were seized. 60 Minutes did an expose' in 2004 of the sham arrests in Tulia, TX.

The televised interview tells it all. Complete with gypsy cops with criminal records.



There were never any official arrests on record in Cherokee County by the Dogwood Task Force, though they conducted numerous raids. One botched raid simultaneously occurred in Jacksonville and Alto, TX, when the Force raided the wrong homes in an obvious attempt at "asset seizure." The Department of Justice documented that the Dogwood Trails Narcotic Task Force operating under the radar in Cherokee and Anderson County reported no seized assets during the year 2002, despite having conducted numerous raids. And no arrests to back up the raids. Where did the seized drugs and money go???

In neighboring Cherokee County, the get rich scheme of choice is insurance fraud. This trend started decades ago. Fire insurance policies are underwritten as quickly as property is destroyed. Unlicensed insurance agents have frequently set up shop in small towns like Alto, TX and Rusk, TX. Any 'claims adjustment' is done by local law enforcement. The county has been operated for over 30 years by family members and in-laws of the Cherokee County District Attorney's office. Namely, former District Attorney Charles Holcomb, who is now a sitting Justice on the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin.

Judge Charles Holcomb has deliberately omitted some factual tidbits from his State Bar profile about his "last big case in Alto, TX" back in 1990, in which Holcomb convicted an innocent man. Holcomb fails to mention in his profile that the 12th Court of Criminal Appeals in Tyler, which Holcomb was sitting on, reversed this conviction in 1993.


Charles Holcomb's state bar profile on "his last colorful case in Alto, TX" should accurately read: In 1990, Cherokee County District Attorney Charles Holcomb succeeded in convincing a biased jury to convict an innocent man of murder. The victim's CPA, Terry Watkins of Nacogdoches, was sentenced to life in prison by relatives of the deceased who were planted on the trial jury. And lied during voir dire to be seated on the case-a typical Cherokee County maneuver. Holcomb also refused to recuse himself. After intense public outcry and scrutiny, Watkins' attorney John Heath, Sr. (also of Nacogdoches, TX) was able to successfully petition the Tyler Court of Appeals and had Terry Watkins released 5 years into his life sentence. It was shown that "the sheriff deputy first on the scene," as Holcomb's publicist recalls, and the widow shared the "$800K" life insurance policy with the Cherokee County District Attorney's Office "to hire outside state witnesses" and according to Holcomb's statements to KTRE an investigator paid "not to solve the case."

District Attorney Charles Holcomb not only accepted money from the deceased’s father to hire an expert witness, Holcomb also accepted money from the murder victim’s widow to hire a private investigator. In an obvious attempt at shifting the onus of suspicion away from anyone other than Mr. Terry Watkins. Or in defense attorney John Heath, Sr.’s comments to hire an investigator but “not to solve the case.” However the investigator was not allowed by Holcomb to interview the widow nor the Cherokee County Constable first on the scene. Eventually this private investigator came to Terry Watkins' defense during resentencing. As stated earlier, the sheriff deputy as Holcomb 'vaguely' recalls was actually a Cherokee County Constable Precinct 2 who formally married the victim's wife months after the murder.

The widow and Cherokee County Constable live happily ever after, splitting a murdered man's estate, the recipients of an accurately reported $650,000 life insurance payout to everyone involved. As if Charles Holcomb, the prosecutor and now a sitting Justice did not remember. Well preserved news article of the murder trial speak volumes.

 

Back to Justice Charles Holcomb's state bar profile, especially the part where he discusses "his last big case in Alto" from 1990. Charles Holcomb, as District Attorney, accepted monies from the widow of murdered business owner Jackie Hicks of Alto, TX as reported by KTRE and the Lufkin News, ostensibly to send a private investigator on a wild goose chase to south Texas. Even though Holcomb had the coffers of the state of Texas at his disposal. Even though the number one suspect would have normally been the promiscuous widow receiving the $600- $800K insurance policy taken out on her estranged husband, Jackie Hicks. Of course the widow and her lover (a Cherokee County Constable "first on the scene") were never formally questioned nor deposed by the then District Attorney Charles Holcomb nor by his 'investigator.'

Holcomb gives his version of events to the State Bar in an attempt to rewrite history. The fact is an innocent man was released after 5 years on the above mentioned technicalities because of Charles Holcomb's handling of the case. The question on the jurors' and the community's mind was why was the District Attorney Charles Holcomb accepting money to "hire state witnesses" when he had the coffers of the State of Texas and Cherokee County at his disposal? A double indemnity policy pays out for accidental deaths and would not have paid out in case of a homicide, another misdirection of the Cherokee County District Attorney's office even then. Holcomb's quick recap of the case in his State Bar profile quotes the widow "was rumored to have multiple affairs" throughout the community. Because of the number of multiple lovers of the widow that the defense called, State v. Terry Watkins (1990) was the longest running criminal trial in Cherokee County history.

Cherokeean Herald August 2, 1990

District Attorney Charles Holcomb was elected to the 12th Court of Appeals in Tyler, TX and his assistant Cherokee County District Attorney, Elmer C. Beckworth, Jr. continued the façade that the murder of Jackie Hicks was thoroughly "investigated." The case against Terry Watkins received so much public outcry and so many people cried foul, that the next-in-line Alto, TX police chief Thomas Griffith was called to a grand jury.
Tyler Morning Telegraph article about former Alto, Texas police chief Thomas Griffith predicting the conviction of Terry Watkins for the murder of Alto, TX business owner Jackie Hicks would be reversed and the case reopened because:

“there are people in this area who possess information that would be very useful in this case.” Chief Griffith would eventually be drummed out of his position by Charles Holcomb's relatives on the Alto, TX city council. Thomas Griffith had publicly maintained his belief that Terry Watkins was in fact innocent and had evidence to back up his statements. Holcomb's former investigator would eventually become the police chief of Alto, TX, a revolving door position. Any evidence maintaining Watkins' innocence would be ignored by Beckworth, et al, until Watkins' conviction was overturned. Elmer Beckworth argued for the State and against Watkins' early release which was eventually granted. The 12th Court of Appeals reversed that conviction and acquitted Watkins in 1992 of capital murder. At a 1995 resentencing, Watkins was denied an early release and sentenced to five years for murder (he had already served over 4 years) as reported in 1996 by Charles Holcomb's hometown paper The Cherokeean Herald.

Cherokeean Herald Feb. 22, 1996 Terry Watkins was freed by the Texas 12th Court of Appeals, with a commuted murder sentence, thereby closing the door on a local 'investigation' into the murder of Jackie Hicks of Alto. However, the statute of limitations is always open for the State's Attorney to seek murder charges. If any reader has information on this conspiracy, they should contact the Attorney General’s office. Those guilty of this crime should not go unpunished, no matter whose wing they may be under and no matter how long it takes.

It may be commonplace in East Texas for innocent people to be charged with crimes committed by law enforcement, however a sitting Justice on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals lying to the State Bar about a murder case he prosecuted and lost on appeal is another thing all together. Good luck on your website and your expose' of East Texan politics both good and bad. The narco-trade is alive and well in Cherokee County. Each time I read about one, I'll post it for the world to see. Who knows, maybe a 6th grader in Rusk, TX might want to do a book report on local corruption or the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Or a kid in China might want to find out what's going on in East Texas. Or a Houston or Dallas/FW based entrepreneur might have second thoughts about doing business in a county that has an entrenched history of drug dealers, rapists and murderers on the payroll.