Month: July 2020

Way back when, when I published the newspaper in Taylor, we dreaded Friday night.

That’s when we could count on a visit from Williamson County Sheriff deputies — about the only time we could count on that. 

That was the night that Live PD aired and, it seemed, not an airing of that show ended that it didn’t include footage of some heinous crime committed by one of our residents. Not the crime, of course — WilCo deputies never showed up in a proactive role. But live video of the pursuit and subsequent capture of those responsible for all manner of nefarious crimes like faulty blinkers, he said — she said confrontations and, often, black or brown people smelling vaguely of burning marijuana were regularly featured on the show.

Come to think of it, most of the Taylor people WilCo deputies arrested on the show were black or brown.

It’s not that we didn’t want the WilCo SO’s help patrolling our streets or roving the country roads in the east part of the county — quite the contrary! Precautionary police presence has proven to have a salubrious impact on crime. It’s that … well, invariably, when a deputy was in Taylor on a Friday night, the end result was a very public black eye for the city.

Taylor is not a crime-ridden hell-hole. But, evidentially, it was a target-rich environment for the Live PD crews who accompanied WilCo deputies. 

This is why I was unsurprised at last week’s American-Statesman/KVUE exclusive report about how a WilCo SWAT team engaged in a completely unnecessary raid on a Cedar Park family’s home.

You see, the raid occurred only hours after WilCo deputies had a chance to arrest a man in court. The man, Asher Watsky, faced assault charges for fighting with his roommate. 

According to court records (and the story), police arrested Gary Watsky in September 2018 after his roommate said he was severely injured in an altercation. Police charged Watsky with assault family violence, and he was released on bond.

For seven months, Watsky showed up on time for court and met other conditions of his bond.

On May 2, 2019, Watsky showed up in court — as required. The Statesman article reported that he sat in that courtroom just a few feet from WilCo deputies and bailiffs where, if there had been a problem, he could have been easily and safely arrested.

Instead, a SWAT team, dressed in menacing tactical gear and bristling with all manner of high-powered weapons, showed up at Watsky’s peaceful Cedar Park home a few hours later, battered down the door and arrested him in front of his child.

And, a Live PD crew was on hand to film the excitement.

According to the story, WilCo sheriff officials routinely vetted cases that might produce the greatest amount of excitement then saved them for those days Live PD was in the county, even going so far and making sure arrest warrants were in hand and up to date.

To my mind, this just reinforces the impression I got every time WilCo deputies turned up in Taylor on a Friday night with Live PD camera crews in tow.

Truth is, I understand the entertainment value of live law enforcement action on television. I also understand that, when done properly, it can play a role in deterrence and in positive community relations.

But, too many of the stories we’ve heard about the relationship between Live PD and the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office are chilling. Deputies, who appear to have been chosen based on their loyalty to WilCo Sheriff Robert Chody rather than the precepts of community policing, played to the camera. And played UP to the camera.

It’s little wonder that, in its last iteration in WilCo, deputies kept Live PD film crews to a very small portion of the county — either the unincorporated parts of the county or that part of Austin that is actually inside our county. Not one city government welcomed Live PD crews inside their city limits.

Chody’s relationship with the TV show remains under intense scrutiny. This is only the most recent of a horrible spate of stories to come out of that office while Live PD crews were present — including at least five improper use-of-force cases.

And, now, issues surrounding Live PD’s involvement with the sheriff’s office have split county government into warring factions with Chody’s SO and County Attorney Dee Hobbs on one side and county commissioners and District Attorney Shawn Dick on the other. County Judge Bill Gravell is MIA.

Not to get too political or anything (gasp — a newspaper editor gets political?), but both the county attorney and the sheriff are up for re-election in November. Maybe THAT has something to do with these performances …

Nah. That would be playing to the local TV cameras.

Note: This column has been edited to correctly identify Asher Watsky was the person who WilCo deputies arrested, not Gary Watsky as previously stated.

It’s supposed to be boring, remember?

The process of making city government sausage is supposed to be boring. It’s not supposed to be a fast-moving, thrill-a-minute, train wreck that throws accountability and good sense under a partisan bus. (There are more clichès lying around here somewhere and I’ll use them soon. I promise.)

Boring. Boring. Boring.

One shouldn’t have to worry that a group of armed lunatics from out of town will crowd the entrance to the Cedar Park city council chambers to try and intimidate anyone who dares to enter, then dominate the public comments portion of the meeting with … Lord, I’ve watched the video and read Josh Moniz’s report but I cannot, for the life of me, fathom what they were trying to accomplish.

Dorian, Tim … we get it. You boys have a serious man-crush on Alex Jones and his ilk. Alex thrives on confrontation and flings disinformation with reckless abandon (does anyone remember Jade Helm?). Why is it necessary to copy those tactics — and toss in an unhealthy dose of fear and intimidation — into what should be a boring, boring, boring city council meeting?

Oh, I get it. All those middle-aged soccer moms in WilCo Indivisible can be so threatening, what with the bake sales and voter registration drives and all. So, sure … an armed response is absolutely called for.

Then, there’s Leander, with a council so warm and cuddly that any perceived criticism is met with harsh maneuvers intended to silence every iota of disapproval.

Here’s a truth about good government: we should feel confident that our city representatives care enough about our concerns that we will be welcomed to every meeting and assured those concerns are heard, regardless of what those concerns are and who is upset that they are aired … in public.

This threatens you, Troy? Why? You don’t like your elbow jogged by your inferiors? Or is it that you can’t take the heat?

But, no. Mayor Troy Hill and his council minions have quashed public comments and will even flee town to hold strategic planning sessions because, well, the press or the Great Unwashed (which may be the same — have you seen newspaper reporters these days?) want to sit in, take notes and maybe even stream it live, since the city can’t be bothered.

That’s right, if our sources are correct (and they are), the Leander City Council will head to Salado Saturday and Sunday for that body’s annual retreat.

They HAD planned an over night trip to San Antonio for this but, the folks in San Antonio have forbidden indoor gatherings of 10 or more people because … well, there’s this raging pandemic spreading through the South with tragic relentlessness. Surely you’ve heard.

In case you’re one of the Great Unwashed and you’d like to crash the meeting (taking proper pandemic safety measures, of course), we hear it will be held at Salado’s Stagecoach Inn 9-5 on Saturday, then 9-noon on Sunday. It’s a public meeting in a swanky place and you’re paying for it. They’re gonna talk about spending your tax money. If you show up, they have to let you in. (And, if they don’t let you in, please let us know.)

(An aside: to some degree, both the silencing of non-agenda public comment and the out-of-town retreat appear to be at least technically legal but there is a vast difference between what is legal and what it right and proper.)

A few months back (was it only October?), I wrote in this space that city council meetings should be boring. And, they should be.

Perhaps Cedar Park Mayor Corbin van Arsdale can hammer a modicum of civility into his more intransigent colleagues (and we support him in that effort). Maybe the Leander retreat will be so boring, boring, boring that Mayor Hill will snooze through the whole thing.

Good Lord, I hope so.

Because city council meetings should be boring.

Related: Council meetings are supposed to be boring

This was originally published in the Hill Country News on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 and refers to the city councils in Leander and Cedar Park, where I help with the newsroom. I post it here for *reasons* and to show that, no matter how weird you think the Taylor City Council is, those guys are the very model of modern governmental civility compared to what’s out there.

Y’all know this isn’t normal, right?

Y’all know that the kind of toxic, partisan rancor on display at the Cedar Park and Leander city council meetings the last few months is not normal. Right?

It’s not normal. In fact, it’s not even done. 

Look, l’m a 30-year newspaper veteran. I have wasted/invested more hours of my life than I care to mention sitting on the back row of city council meetings watching the mundane ebb and flow of local politics play out through debates over street repairs, water system issues and zoning approvals. If council members do their jobs right, those meetings are boring boring boring. 

More times than not, I had to pinch myself to stay awake. And, I’m a policy wonk who thrives on public policy debates.

That’s how city council meetings are supposed to be. Not this three-ring circus we’ve endured recently.  

This. Is. Not. Normal. 

I remember when the aldermen in a small town to the west of here literally threw chairs at each other. It as if a particularly bad WWE bout had gone tragically awry. Literally. They threw folding chairs. At each other. The general public had to flee the council chambers for safety. 

It was a circus. (Sadly, at the time, the town was so small it couldn’t afford an actual three-ring circus so everyone had to settle for the one-ring variety.)

I kid you not, it spawned a directive for every newsroom I subsequently lead that every reporter must carry a camera to government meetings on the off chance that, “they throw chairs at each other or something.”

But, I will be go-to-hell if what we’ve witnessed recently isn’t on that same level of crazy. 

I have never seen so many elected representatives who think it’s okay to talk over or even yell at colleagues. With only a very few exceptions, I’ve never seen so many elected city officials exhibit such disrespect toward private citizens.

And I have never seen city governments so eaten up with political partisanship they can’t even get through a discussion about decorum.

I have some advice for elected officials everywhere.

First, you signed up for this job. You spent time and money campaigning for it. If you didn’t know that you would suffer some criticism for making unpopular decisions or taking controversial stands, you were naive. So, yes, you have to sit there and take it, even if the criticism is blistering or — in your mind — unfair.

As your friendly, local communications professional, my advice, whenever this happens, is to smile and nod and let people have their say.

Second, your job as an elected official is to serve the community. That means everyone in your community — not just your campaign workers or those who voted for you. Everyone.

Third, (or maybe second-B) your personal cultural agenda means nothing against serving your community. Everyone in this country deserves to live in a secular, representative democracy. Let your faith inform your actions, certainly, but you should not forget that you serve people of all faiths and many who observe no faith whatsoever. 

Finally, weaponizing social media against your detractors is an act of cowardice. Either have the civil good grace to reach out to those who hold differing views or remain silent. Calling out private citizens on your social media channel is … distasteful and, frankly, an embarrassment to your community and your colleagues.

Remember that everything you do as an elected representative reflects on our community. Developers watch it. Future city employees watch it. Entrepreneurs who are considering investments in our community watch it. They watch YOU.

Be the kind of leaders that your community deserves which, at its most basic, is considerate and respectful to the citizens and communities you serve.

I know when this year got wrapped around the axle. It was that culture war over a danged chicken sandwich. 

That’s when this year went off the rails.

According to this itinerary, the one on this Excel spreadsheet on my computer monitor, had it not been for that chicken sandwich and all that followed, we would be leaving Edinburgh for Inverness today. 

Inverness is about a three-hour drive up the A9 via the M90. With no goal other than to arrive in Inverness by bed time, we would have had ample time for stops at Aviemore (starred recommendation from my daughter), Dalwhinnie (a favored Scotch distillery) and a side-trip into the Tay Forest for a visit to Aberfeldy (another of my favorite distilleries).

According to this itinerary, which I carefully researched late last year, at this point in our vacation, we would have already spent three days in Edinburgh with two solid weeks remaining to explore pre-Cambrian ruins, castles, castle ruins, fairy rings, museums, more castle ruins, music and food festivals, monster hide-outs, wizard-ish steam trains and Highland games. 

Plus the occasional Scotch distillery. I hear they have a couple-six of those in Scotland and figured we might run across one or two of them on our travels. Particularly if we followed the River Spey out of the Caringorms and down to the North Sea. A target-rich environment, I understand.

The other daughter and her husband are living in Edinburgh this year, and a chunk of the next, working on a big project — a project which, oddly enough, is related to Scotch. They work for a company that, among other creative endeavors, designs and builds big, immersive, experiential museums. One of the big brands over there decided they need a big, immersive, experiential museum to celebrate their 100th year distilling and blending fine Scotch.

But, that’s beside the point. The point is/was that, had the world continued to spin as it had before the chicken sandwich wars (and all that followed), we would — today — be exploring the Scottish Highlands with our kids.

But, late 2019 seems a couple of decades ago. It’s hard to even imagine …

Even after everything hit the fan, and the sandwich wars moved to an effort to burn Australia to the bedrock then devolved into a hellish pandemic, we still entertained hopes that we would be able to travel by July. Maybe, we thought, the pandemic would recede enough to allow a window for international travel. 

We’ve kept up with travel restrictions and the fortunes of the airline industry, because we booked and paid for our tickets soon after we nearly went to war with Iran in January (remember that?).

Please, let this mess calm down so we can take our vacation, we thought. But, no. We got complacent. We socialized. We couldn’t be bothered to wear a mask. We ignored all the advice the experts preached about how to slow the spread, flatten the curve and keep a lid on this thing so we could, eventually (by July? Please??) get a semblance of our lives back.

(“This is why I hate group projects!” my wife shouted as she read proof on this. “Stoopid people!”)

I even went so far as to contact the Scottish Visitors Bureau to see what guidance they had. The response was painfully polite but equally blunt. Please don’t plan to visit Scotland at this time, you filthy American. Okay, I’m paraphrasing but I can read between the lines.

Last week, about 36 hours before we were to board our flight out of Austin, we cancelled. Got a voucher we hope to use in March.

The hope here is that things will be better by then. Please, let it all be better by March!

Save lives. Save vacations. Wear your mask!

(With a tip of the hat to Ken Cooke.)