Kerrville: Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Drug Addicts and Murderers
Kerrville really is a strange place. I can't count how many defendants I've represented who came here from other towns and states for rehab in La Hacienda, Starlight, and a bunch of other residential rehab places I can't remember. There are over 100 halfway houses here, and some of the movers and shakers in this community make hefty profits renting to halfway house operators. I've had people tell me they came her because of the "good sobriety." Of course, a lot of them relapse, and there are plenty of dealers here ready to supply them with meth, heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs.
The Kerrville Daily Times caused a stir this week when it ran a front page above the fold article about one Edward Graf Jr., recently released from prison where he did 30 years after being convicted of murdering his two young stepsons to cash in on big insurance policies he took out not long before they burned to death in a storage shed. His first conviction was overturned, and during his retrial he pled guilty. With Texas wonderful parole system, he was released. He chose to make Kerrville his home. Rusty Hierholzer, our sheriff, gave this ringing endorsement of our fair burg: It's always strange, somehow they always seem to end up here."
The case made headlines in London. From the Daily Mail:
Texas man to be released from prison just six days after he admitted murdering his 8 and 9-year-old adopted stepsons by locking them in a shed and setting it on fire in 1986
Ed Graf Jr, 62, pleaded guilty to killing Joby, 8, and Jason Graf, 9, in Hewitt
Prosecutors said he locked the youngsters in a shed and set it alight
Took a plea deal that carries a 60-year prison sentence
Was during a retrial ordered because original evidence was deemed faulty
Having been in prison for 28 years, he is already eligible for parole
Will be released to a halfway house in Austin and put under supervision
His ex-wife Claire Bradburn says it is a 'huge flaw in our justice system'
The KDT article ran Thursday. Today, Saturday, there are three letters to the editor from Graf's supporters, upset at the harsh treatment of Graf. Mr. Graf has served his prison time, "honorably," and deserves his privacy. Everyone deserves a second chance. Jane Lehman wrote that it was unfair to Mr. Graf, "the gentleman just out of prison," and took the people of Kerrville to task for being hypocrites and only pretending to be good Christians.
Like I said, Kerrville is a strange place. Strange to the point of being grotesque.
Inside Fort Hood’s Prostitution Ring
from Daily Beast: An Army sergeant pimped cash-strapped female soldiers under his command to higher-ups. How did this happen?
Here's one for the just because you wear a military uniform doesn't make you a hero department. Even if you're a church going Christian. "Sergeant 1st Class Gregory McQueen the hulking, noncommissioned officer must have seemed trustworthy: He was his battalion’s point man preventing sexual assaults as part of the U.S. Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention unit (SHARP) at Fort Hood, Texas, and he played the sax in a gospel band. He was even the vice president of a motorcycle club, Tru Ryderz."
The U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Command "concluded that among a barrage of sexploits pinned to McQueen, he was pimping subordinate soldiers and offering them up as a la carte flesh for higher-ranking officers who attended his sex parties."
Arkansas Legislator Justin Harris Performed Exorcisms On Adopted Daughters Before Giving Them Away from Huffington Post
Arkansas state legislator Rep. Justin Harris gave his adopted daughters away because he and his wife thought they were possessed by demons, according to a report in the Arkansas Times.
The revelation is particularly shocking because one of the girls was eventually raped by the new foster parent, who was one of Harris' former staffers, the New York Daily News reports.
He and his wife are good Christians - they run the Growing God's Kingdom preschool.
Kerrville really is a strange place. I can't count how many defendants I've represented who came here from other towns and states for rehab in La Hacienda, Starlight, and a bunch of other residential rehab places I can't remember. There are over 100 halfway houses here, and some of the movers and shakers in this community make hefty profits renting to halfway house operators. I've had people tell me they came her because of the "good sobriety." Of course, a lot of them relapse, and there are plenty of dealers here ready to supply them with meth, heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs.
The Kerrville Daily Times caused a stir this week when it ran a front page above the fold article about one Edward Graf Jr., recently released from prison where he did 30 years after being convicted of murdering his two young stepsons to cash in on big insurance policies he took out not long before they burned to death in a storage shed. His first conviction was overturned, and during his retrial he pled guilty. With Texas wonderful parole system, he was released. He chose to make Kerrville his home. Rusty Hierholzer, our sheriff, gave this ringing endorsement of our fair burg: It's always strange, somehow they always seem to end up here."
The case made headlines in London. From the Daily Mail:
Texas man to be released from prison just six days after he admitted murdering his 8 and 9-year-old adopted stepsons by locking them in a shed and setting it on fire in 1986
Ed Graf Jr, 62, pleaded guilty to killing Joby, 8, and Jason Graf, 9, in Hewitt
Prosecutors said he locked the youngsters in a shed and set it alight
Took a plea deal that carries a 60-year prison sentence
Was during a retrial ordered because original evidence was deemed faulty
Having been in prison for 28 years, he is already eligible for parole
Will be released to a halfway house in Austin and put under supervision
His ex-wife Claire Bradburn says it is a 'huge flaw in our justice system'
The KDT article ran Thursday. Today, Saturday, there are three letters to the editor from Graf's supporters, upset at the harsh treatment of Graf. Mr. Graf has served his prison time, "honorably," and deserves his privacy. Everyone deserves a second chance. Jane Lehman wrote that it was unfair to Mr. Graf, "the gentleman just out of prison," and took the people of Kerrville to task for being hypocrites and only pretending to be good Christians.
Like I said, Kerrville is a strange place. Strange to the point of being grotesque.
Inside Fort Hood’s Prostitution Ring
from Daily Beast: An Army sergeant pimped cash-strapped female soldiers under his command to higher-ups. How did this happen?
Here's one for the just because you wear a military uniform doesn't make you a hero department. Even if you're a church going Christian. "Sergeant 1st Class Gregory McQueen the hulking, noncommissioned officer must have seemed trustworthy: He was his battalion’s point man preventing sexual assaults as part of the U.S. Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention unit (SHARP) at Fort Hood, Texas, and he played the sax in a gospel band. He was even the vice president of a motorcycle club, Tru Ryderz."
The U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Command "concluded that among a barrage of sexploits pinned to McQueen, he was pimping subordinate soldiers and offering them up as a la carte flesh for higher-ranking officers who attended his sex parties."
Arkansas Legislator Justin Harris Performed Exorcisms On Adopted Daughters Before Giving Them Away from Huffington Post
Arkansas state legislator Rep. Justin Harris gave his adopted daughters away because he and his wife thought they were possessed by demons, according to a report in the Arkansas Times.
The revelation is particularly shocking because one of the girls was eventually raped by the new foster parent, who was one of Harris' former staffers, the New York Daily News reports.
He and his wife are good Christians - they run the Growing God's Kingdom preschool.
Your point about Kerrville attracting criminals is well taken. The local government partially creates this problem by not doing enough to attract young professionals.
ReplyDeleteThe new jail proposal will create excess prisoner capacity. In the past there there has been talk of taking in prisoners from other counties for a profit. I can not get a straight answer on whether this is part of the new jail proposal, but I suspect it is. Can you or your readers give me an answer to this question?
If one thinks the rehab centers are a problem, just wait until criminals, family and friends are trucked into Kerrville, in the event this is part of the program. Where will they go when they walk out of jail? They will take a good look around and stay right here.
While this may be a good thing for the prison-industrial complex, it will be a total disaster for the citizens of Kerr County.
Jails have housed out of county inmates for years. When they are released they usually are taken back to the county from which they originated. The expansion will allow them to retain those who keep bonding out and reoffending. It's a good move.
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