Sheriff Says No To Tasers

All over the nation, and especially here in Texas, police departments love their new toy -- the taser gun. The taser delivers a 50,000 volt shock that is supposed to disable a person without harming them.

But it hasn't worked out that way. This supposedly non-lethal weapon has turned out to be pretty lethal. Since 2001, at least 336 people have died in the United States after being tasered, and hundreds more have been killed world-wide.

But police departments nationwide still parrot the view that the taser is "non-lethal". That's because they have issued the tasers to their officers and don't want to admit legal liability for any deaths that occur. And deaths will occur where ever tasers are used -- it's just a matter of time.

When issued, tasers were only supposed to be used in life-threatening situations to avoid using a firearm. But many times today, the taser is misused. It is used sometimes just to avoid a scuffle, or because a suspect is bad-mouthing officers. A few rogue officers have even used it to torture people they don't like.

Fortunately, there is a sheriff that sees the truth about the danger and misuse of the taser. Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson is bucking the trend. He has refused to issue tasers to his deputies or authorize their use. This is a courageous decision by the sheriff, since the other departments in the area have tasers, and sheriffs in other heavily populated Texas counties use the taser.

Sheriffs in Bexar, Harris, Dallas and Travis counties has issued tasers to their deputies. The Border Patrol also uses tasers, and the Texas Department of Public Safety will soon have them at their disposal.

Sheriff Anderson has decided the risks are too great for the possible rewards of taser use. He said, "My concern has always been that someday there would be an officer that might cause the death of someone with one of the Tasers. If you have a less-than-lethal option in your hand and you end up causing the death of someone, I felt it would put the deputy in a tough spot."

Sheriff Anderson talked with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner before making his final decision. Anderson said, "He voiced those very same concerns. He thought if the Taser was used on a perfectly healthy individual, that it was probably safe. He said he feared someone under the influence of alcohol or drugs or had some physical impairment in some way...that there could be further damage done, up to causing the death of a person. It gave me great pause."

Sheriff Anderson is a Republican, and as most readers of this blog know, I don't think too highly of Republicans. In spite of that, I have always thought Sheriff Anderson has done an excellent job running the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department. His recent decision to not use tasers just reinforces that belief.

The role of policing agencies is to "protect and serve" the public -- not to cause unnecessary deaths.

Confederate Flag Problems

It hard to believe anyone would want to fly the confederate flag in this day and age, but a couple of Northeast Tarrant County guys were doing it. You would think they are old enough to know better -- one is 57 years-old and the other is 62 years-old. At least they were too embarrassed to let the newspaper use their names.

The 62 year-old lives in Bedford, and flies both the American and Confederate flags in his back yard on 16 to 18 foot poles. During the night, someone entered his back yard, took the confederate flag, burned it and left it on the front porch with a threatening note. The note said something about finishing what General Sherman started. He put a new flag up the next day.

The 57 year-old lives in the neighboring city of Hurst and also flies the confederate flag. He woke up about 2:00am to find a four foot cross burning in his front yard. There was a note on his front door that said he had a week to take down "the treasonous colors". He has taken down the flag to avoid further trouble.

I don't know why these guys flew the confederate battle flag, but I wouldn't bet against them having some racist tendencies. I'm sure they'll have some story about honoring their Southern heritage, but the fact is that the flag stands for racism to a majority of Americans. I know when I see a confederate flag, drawing or decal, the first word that comes to mind is "racist".

I don't approve of what the night vandals did. No one should trespass on someone else's property and destroy their belongings or threaten them. But these guys have to be stupid if they think they can fly a confederate flag in an urban area and not have someone retaliate. To a large segment of the population, the flag is both an insult and a threat.

This is just another reminder that we are a long way from solving the racial problems in this country. They will never be solved as long as confederate flags are flying.

FWISD Compromises On County Voting

Last week I posted about the Fort Worth Independent School District refusing to allow Tarrant County election officials to use 34 schools as voting sites. They said they had refused because the schools were taking the TAKS test and they didn't want to disturb the students.

At the time, I rebuked the school district. These schools are public buildings and should be available for important public functions. There is no more important public function than voting. To relocate 34 voting sites at the last minute, even if it could be done, would have caused great confusion for voters and may have even prevented some late voters from finding their new site in time to vote.

It looks like someone in the school district administration has had an attack of common sense. After elections officials asked again to use 33 of the schools, school officials have countered with an offer to allow voting at 30 of the schools.

School district administrators say they still don't want to allow voting at three low-performing schools. They want to do everything they can to see these students are given a chance to improve their test scores. At the other 30 schools, the district will assign an extra person to help keep the testing and voting separate. They are asking that the county also provide extra workers at these sites.

This puts the ball back in the county's court. I believe the school district has made an acceptable compromise offer. The county should find a new site for the three precincts in queston and honor the school district's request for extra workers at the other 30 sites.

There may be some who see this as an effort to dimish the minority turnout, since all three of the schools not being used are in minority neighborhoods. If this was a general election, I might agree.

But this is a primary election, and I believe this was caused by our state leaders blundering and scheduling two important events on the same date. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt this time.

However, there will be no excuse for anything like this happening again this November. It is incumbant on state officials to get together and make sure there are no conflicts for the general election. All the traditional voting sites must be available.

For this primary, the county and the parties must cooperate to make sure the voters in the changed precincts know where to go to vote.

No Voting In Schools In Tarrant County

Traditionally in Tarrant County, as in many counties across Texas, a lot of the voting precincts are in schools. But because of a scheduling quirk, it doesn't look like that will happen for this year's primary.

The Tarrant County Elections Department had counted on using 34 schools in the Fort Worth Independent School District, but they have just been notified by FWISD that none of the schools can be used this year. The reason they have been given is that TAKS tests are being given on the same day. The school district administrators feel that the voters would bother the students who are trying to take the test.

This puts the Elections Department in a quandry. They have a very short time to find 34 new election sites -- not an easy task, even in a city the size of Fort Worth. They can't just put them anywhere. They should be in the precinct that is voting.

In off-election years, some precincts have been combined. But this is not an off-year. This is a presidential-election year. Other states are showing record turnouts for the primary elections. If Texas has anywhere near a record turnout, it would be a serious mistake to combine precincts.

It does seem odd that it is only FWISD that is banning the elections from school sites. Other districts in Tarrant County are also holding the TAKS tests on that day, and even though some have voiced reservations, none has kicked the elections out of their schools.

In fact, school districts across the state, including here in the Panhandle, will be allowing elections to be held in many of their schools even though they are also holding the tests on the same day.

I believe the FWISD is overreacting. I voted in Tarrant County schools for over 20 years and I never found the voting sites to be loud or disruptive. If there is some doubt about a site or two, then the school resource officers should be assigned there, or the FWPD should be asked for help.

Schools are public property and paid for with public funds. They have a duty to make themselves available for important public functions. In a republic such as ours, nothing is more important than voting. It is how we choose our government, which affects every part of our lives.

I urge the FWISD to reconsider. Surely something can be worked out.

City, County & State Want New Toll Lanes On I-35W

Anyone who lives in or near Tarrant county knows that Interstate 35W north of downtown has been inadequate for the traffic it carries for several years now. It only has two lanes, and it needs to have at least two more [making a total of four lanes going each way].

When Tarrant county got a huge multi-million dollar bond proposal passed earlier this year, they said part of the money would be to "fix I-35W". I thought at the time this meant they would widen the freeway, and I'm sure a lot of others thought the same. After all, that is the "fix" that is needed. But we were wrong. Evidently the money was just for repairs and not for widening the freeway. I still think they were misleading when trying to get the bond proposal passed.

Now they are doing something even worse. Fort Worth and Tarrant county officials have joined with state officials to push a proposal that would widen I-35W and Loop 820 with new TOLL LANES! It's not bad enough that these officials support that boondoggle called the Trans-Texas Corridor, now they want to build new toll lanes inside the county.

It seems like these officials never pass up an opportunity to squeeze another dollar out of their constituents. What do they have against poor and working folks? Do they just not like us, or just can't be bothered with thinking about us?

I'm sure these officials have plenty of money to throw around and spend on taking a toll road. After all, you pretty much have to be well-off to even run for political office these days. But there are lots of working people who really can't afford the extra expense of taking a toll road to work and back. They're still going to be crammed into the two existing lanes, while the rich speed by in the new toll lanes.

The working people pay most of the taxes, and they deserve to have a decent way to get to and from work. But it seems that everything the city, county and state does nowdays is geared toward helping the rich. Widening I-35W and Loop 820 is badly needed, but it is ridiculous and unfair to do it by adding toll lanes.

If we need to raise the gas tax a little to pay for new and improved roads, then we should do it. That would be a lot cheaper for most people than toll roads. This is just a bad idea, and it should be stopped before it gets any further.