Travis County Commissioners Court
September 18, 2007
Citizens Communication
Citizens Communication is next. Is mr. Pena still here? Gus pena? Allen rody? And mr. Rowdy will be followed by phillip a. Dick.
>> good morning. As some of you may remember, I'm hear about the west bank community library district and the way they chose the name for the new library. What got me really involved in this was that when I -- when they released the name, I called them up and suggested that the veterans be honored, but they said they had already decided. Once I started looking in how the process was done, well, that's why I'm here. There's something that ties us together, the citizens and elected officials, and that's called good faith. We citizens expect you all to do whatever you all do in good faith in the public interest. Well, unfortunately the people in my neighborhood didn't have any input into the name. Elected officials decided that they know everything so -- but as I looked into this, I was seeing that people that don't even live in my district had input as to the name, some political friends of mrs. Bushs', so I don't think that's good faith. I think that bond has been broken. Of course, I've been asking for oversight and, of course, no one has oversight of the taxing district. I think a million dollars of tax money going to these people, we should have some oversight. We should have public input when a public building is named. I believe that they should have a written policy and procedure just like most citizens do, no matter what they are doing, but no, they don't have a written process. They are going to go ahead and decide on the naming of this building while at the same time they are discussing coming up with a written process. That's bad faith. I'm sorry. Again, I've come to you all. Since you all got some new attorneys, maybe you can look into this. But this past summer when senator dole's report about the lack of medical care at our military hospitals came out, I decided that I would quit my job and start doing volunteer work for veterans groups. Well, that's -- again, I'm going to be holding your feet to the fire, so to speak. I was just wondering last week in the Austin paper they were talking about a memorial in winston county for veterans. Does Travis County have any memorials to the veterans that you all know of?
>> a physical memorial?
>> yeah, just something military, veterans.
>> that's county specific, there are several memorial status.
>> anyway --
>> we have a veterans services office that represents central Texas. You contact them and they will probably give you more information than you need.
>> yeah, I know we have the -- the military service coalition that has a lot of organizations. I'm going to get with them. But again, I'd like a little more oversight on some of these taxing districts. Thank you.
>> thank you. Philip. By the way, mr. Pena, if you are in the building, if you would head this way, we would appreciate it. Good morning.
>> good morning. My name is ms. Phillip a dick and I know we only have three minutes but I have so much on my plate. First of all I would like to talk about if I can get the police chief also to help me get my record cleared, that I am not guilty of all of these charges that's on this police criminal history. I don't have a criminal history. I'm not a criminal. I don't do criminal activity. I don't do criminal things. In 1970, I was picked up for -- not picked up, but they came to my house and told me we would like to talk with you about your car being, you know, license plate being at this scene and everything and wanted to know how in the world with a record as clean as your get involved with these two young ladies. And I told them exactly what happened. I lived in the projects then and I had five children. I've always been a hard worker and I've always took care of my children. And the next thing was they told me, they said we observed you for several weeks and all you do, we notice your pattern, you go to work, you see about your children at school, do this, go to church. My son was ill, the youngest one. The ladies came and gave me $20 to take him to her house to get some clothes or whatever. I found out later on it was
>> [inaudible]. The first undercover police officers told me I was free to go and they told me, you sit outside, we're going to have an officer carry you back home. Okay, this officer, these other police, undercover officers, came in, the second set, and said it's two against one. They say you are guilty and we see that your record is clean and everything, but we want you to answer some more questions, so I did, I answered all the questions and everything that they asked me. Then this officer with the red hair came to the door and he was saying, oh, looky here, he had a -- we got us one. With a vanilla folder in his hand. I said what is he talking about. And he said we got us one. A record just as clean and smooth as a new born. I've been here and said before newborn baby spanking bump bump. No criminal history. No red lights. No nothing. And the red headed officer I'm just finding out was mr. Michael sheffield. And I want to have an investigation because I know that he knows the other officers that's involved in this scam to put this -- tell me that, ms. Dick, we're not argue you, but we need one little picture and one fingerprint from you. And I asked them why. I say because the other officers told me who did the investigation on this case, they told me I was free to leave and to sit out there in that chair, they were going to get an officer to carry me back home.
>> [buzzer sounding] first time I ever been inside a police station in my life was in 1970. I don't do criminal things. I don't have to lie. I don't do things of this nature. And I have other issues too. But I will get with you because I'm trying to get my record clear. I want my record clear so I can work in 1970 and 1974. I'm not a criminal. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> final call for gus pena. Would anybody else like to address the court under citizens communication about any item not on the agenda?
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, September 19, 2007, 18:30 AM