Travis County Commissioners Court
October 26, 2004
Citizens Communication
Citizen's communication is next. The county judge is a citizen of this county,
and his comment is that this Friday, October 29th, in front of the criminal
justice building, that's the new one, from 11 to two a.m., Is our annual combined
charities festival and we're calling this one the halloween carnival. And
yesterday I received a preview of the many, many delicacies, booths, refreshments,
fun, etcetera, karaoke, a lot of other stuff. We're trying to raise money
for the combined charities and this is a variety of nonprofit agencies that
help us, serve the needy in our community, and so we're asking all Travis
County employees to participate, come hungry, and bring cash. [ laughter ]
and enjoy yourself. And the county managers have told me that you have up
to a full hour to participate in the festival. I will be there personally.
>> is there a dunking booth this year?
>> we were not able to get that, but we have something even
better.
>> water balloons? [ laughter ]
>> even better. You have to come to see it. [ laughter ]
now, two citizens have signed in.
>> I like the water balloons. [ laughter ]
>> does anybody have form number 1? That person would have
been called. Number 2 is jennifer gale. Now, this gives citizens an opportunity
to address the court on any matter not on the agenda for up to a full three
minutes. Morning.
>> morning. Good morning, sam, judge Biscoe. Good mortgage,
Commissioners -- good morning, Commissioners, Gomez, Daugherty, Sonleitner.
Where is my Commissioner? Hi, Austin. I hope everybody is going to vote. The
voter's guide just came out a few days, so everyone can learn all about our
wonderful candidates here in Travis County. I want to wish a (speaking spanish)
on November second and happy halloween to everyone. Why don't I want you to
vote for light rail? For a great many reasons. Why did a member of this Commissioners
court authorize I understand it's a million dollars. I imagine it's at least
$100,000 to educate -- quote, educate the people of Travis County? Why does
this county Commissioners court doing with so much money to educate the voters
of Travis County unless this court is trying to sell or advocate light rail?
This is begging for district court judges' restraining order. On the October
21st agenda, there's two restraining orders on an urban commuter rail. That
should sell itself, but it doesn't. It's clearly being sold by this city,
this county as a way of packing us in like rats so that the poor can no longer
afford to live here, especially under the current cost of living. And it general
traphize the people of east Austin directly. What we need are buses that run
by batteries that will drop us off near our home, not a light car train that
may take as many as five transfers. That translates to hours of travel time.
People don't have hours to travel. To and from work. Dallas I used to go hitch
hike up on the weekends and take the bus in. The moment they told me I could
no longer ride the bus and forced me to take the train, threatening me with
-- a dallas to get me off that bus and put me on the train, they declared
it successful. Up until that point in time, it wasn't successful at all in
dallas. Why doesn't this Commissioners court not tell the county voters that
this light rail will only travel to Leander and no other city? This is not
a commuter rail, this is a light rail using dangerous light rail cars on a
freight car track, using hybrid diesel that will pollute all day long that
are car sin generals. Why won't this Commissioners court not tell the Austin
voters that this light rail won't go to the central downtown? It doesn't go
to the university of Texas or hyde park. It totally circumvents that, stops
briefly at highland park, a few more stops that they're sticking in there
to sell it and then on to Leander. Or anywhere near southern Austin. I'll
wrap up. We need to say no to light rail. With jail overcrowding, we need
to focus on educating our children, spending another four or five thousand
per pupil, and I want everyone to get out and vote today and tomorrow to look
closely at dwayne nooel as a wonderful sheriff and the new approaches that
(indiscernible) has to offer. Thank you Commissioners.
>> . Two pieces of information. This court has not voted
for a single penny on this project. And two, we have not taken a formal position.
This is capital metro's deal and for residents of Travis County.
>> I’m sorry, I was referring to the Commissioner from precinct
4.
>> and obviously we need to spend more money on educating
the public because it is not light rail, it is commuter rail and it's on tracks
that capital metro already owns.
>> thank you, Commissioner.
>> phillip avic is next. Now, while they're coming if anyone
else would like to address the court, under citizens communication, whether
you have complete add form or not, please come forward at this time. Good
morning.
>> good morning, everyone. My name is ms. Phillipa vich.
And I am the president and founder of parents of concerned inmates being abused
in Texas prisons, jails and youth facilities. And I have been here before
on several occasions talking about my innocent son that is -- I found out
now that was really railroaded into state prison. Now, here's what I found
out. I went to the -- it was the sheriff's department -- not the sheriff's
department, but over at the research -- and got these records on my son. It
shows here where judge perkins gave my son six months in del valle correctional
center. Okay. They stated -- someone stated that he committed another crime,
which was a drug crime in order to remain in prison for 15 years, but that's
not true. Roosevelt wasn't released on 4-2-93. He signed the release papers,
but he was detained. And how could he get out of del valle correctional center
and commit a crime on 5-14-93 when he was detained and transferred -- see,
bob perkins didn't tell him to be delivered to wackenhut's, which is a state
prison. And he was only supposed to do county jail time and not state prison
jail time. So how could my son that's being transferred, that means that he
was still inside of del valle correctional center. You have to be inside in
order to get transferred. See what I’m saying? So he wasn't out on may 14th,
1993 to commit another -- a drug crime. That's just not true. My son has been
railroaded. He was transferred from del valle correctional center into wackenhut
state prison. They told him he had six months to do. Some correctional officer
told him. He had six months to serve in del valle correctional, and when he
signed the release papers, instead of them releasing him, they detained him
and told him he had to do 180 days in tdcj. And that's not what this says.
This says tcj. They have transferred my son into a state prison from out of
Travis County del valle correctional center, and that wasn't what they were
supposed to do. My son has been sitting in prison ever since 1993 for some
charge that he has not committed. And my -- this is 2004. My baby has been
away from me 11 something years, and this is disrespectful for them to just
transfer him, and he was inside of the prison already. He couldn't have got
out to commit a crime on 5-14-1993 because he was transferred from del valle
to wackenhut state prison. And I want something done about it immediately.
My son is being mistreated, he's being abused. There are other inmates that
are innocent sitting in prison where they have been railroaded into prisons.
And we have -- the man that just got off of death row, he stated that there
is plenty of innocent people on death row and other places too outside of
death row. It is a lot of innocent people in prison. And my son is one that
shouldn't be there because he was transferred. He didn't do no crime in order
to get into state prison. He was transferred into state prison from out of
del valle correctional center. And I would appreciate it if I could get something
done about this to release my son immediately because he is going through
hard times and he is suffering. He's been -- he is sick. They won't do medications.
Okay. And you know, all of you know, I have been coming up here for years
and months trying to figure out how did my son get into state prison, why
did he get into state prison? He was only sentenced to six months in really
county jail, but it was overcrowded and they transferred him to del valle.
And when my daughter went out there to see about it, they told us, well, he
was released but he was transferred. What do you mean transferred? Transferred
where? And they told us wackenhut. We said what is he doing in there?
>> your time is up.
>> yes, sir, and I just wanted to bring this everyone toss
attention because he did not commit that crime to get 15 years in state prison.
He was railroaded into state prison. Thank you.
>> thank you.
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.
Last Modified: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 3:26 PM