Travis County Commssioners Court
January 6, 2004
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next, gus pena has signed in.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, my name is gus pena, president of east Austin concerned hispanics, that advocates not only for health care, public safety, education, you name it, for civil rights and rights of prisoners and inmates. Last year, you know judge the respect that I have for you. I feel that you were very disrespectful when I time ran out. I would have cut it off as I usually normally do, to use the term ta-ta-ta like admonishing a child, I'm letting you know my feelings, it was very disrespectful I don't appreciate that very much. Last week I collected 350 signatures and families that have currently either family members or friends incarcerated at t.c.j. Or tccc and state jail, but I will talk about tccc and also tcj since it's appropriate for the county. We came over here, I'm supposed to have a representative from the aclu and two other group, one from the state of Texas, one nationally, regarding inmate rights, also. I have never said and for the record never have stated that 100% of the individuals that are arrested are not guilty of a crime. You, Commissioner Daugherty, you spoke about probable cause. Well, let me tell you something, there have been innocent people been arrested under probable cause, that is not legal probable cause. Just take for instance the things -- the incident that happened in tulia, others here, harris county, bexar county and other counties in the state of Texas. 20%, I would say are not righteous. People have been incars rated with illegally obtained probable cause and probably not even righteous probable cause. We are here to maintain the fact that civil rights violations have been incurred, civil rights violations have been -- it's a common fact, it's a common fact, you see it every day. One of the things that actually -- some things that I would like to address with you Commissioner Daugherty is that you kept on saying I pay for your housing, I pay for your drug treatment, I pay for your alcohol treatment, why should I pay your attorneys' fees. Let the record reflect. A lot of people have been calling say was Commissioner Daugherty attacking you because you used drugs or alcohol. You and I have known each other for many years. You are a good friend of mine. Let the record reflect that I have never abused illegal drugs, other than prescription drugs given to me by my doctor, I have never smoked marijuana. I have never smoked cigarettes appeared I never will. I quit drinking alcohol at a healing services of sacred heart catholic church, I praise god for that. As far as attorneys' fees are concerned Commissioner, it is a condition of probationer that they pay back attorneys' fees and court costs. We are taxpayers, too. It seemed like it was a personal attack, vendetta on me, I don't appreciate that. None of these things are true. Let me clear the air, whomever is listening, whomever is viewing, I have never taken drug, I will never, I have never smoked marijuana or cigarettes or -- I don't drink alcohol of any kind. The only vice I have is a 7-up, potato chips, I am told to stay off of them. I will cut it off. I do want to let you know that we will be working with you, judge, thank you very much for placing this issue on the agenda, Commissioner, I thank you for your support, Margaret Gomez, also, because there are a lot of violations, thank you all very much.
>> thank you,.
>> happy new year to you, mr. Pena. We will have citizens communication on the court's agenda for legal advice. We probably are more lenient. Mr. Pena spoke five minutes last time, the first time instead of 3, but we didn't have a clock so it wasn't his faltd. The court entertained in discussion probably went beyond what the law allows, rather than let that continue since attorney john henley was saying in the meeting that we were going too far. I tried to cut it off, unfortunately mr. Pena was caught in the middle of that. We need to clarify that, basically and get a new clock. The county judge will donate a clock to the county so we can get one expeditiously. Hopefully have it in place by next Tuesday.
>> judge, I would like to say something. Gus, you know that I was not directly indicating to you personally. If something takes something out of context where I say I am paying for this, I am paying for this, that means that we are all paying for those things. For anybody to have watched, you know, our conversation and to have thought that I was accusing you of any of those things is the most ridiculous thing in the world. Somebody is really grasping for something there. But just for clarification, I mean, I wouldn'to that with you, you know, privately. Much less publicly. I mean, because I certainly never had any indication that you have done anything illegal. I apologize if that's something that any of your friends took, my apologies to you to your snreendz appreciate that.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you. Happy new year to you, gus.
>> anybody else for citizens communication, whether you signed in or not. If so, please come forward now.
Last Modified: TUesday, January 6, 2004 6:25 PM