Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Pulitzer prize columnist all wet on bathroom ordinances

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bathroom transgender
Americans are, once again, witnessing the “Tyranny of the Minority”.

If you want to see a classic example of how a left leaning major market columnist shifts blame to the hated Republicans on an issue, please read Pulitzer Prize winning Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg’s latest screed. Titled Bathroom policy fast becoming hot-button issue for politicians, Ms. Falkenberg stretches, bends, and breaks the truth in her quest to demonize Republicans.

“The handwriting is on the bathroom wall: Stay out of the ladies’ room if you’re a man,” Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said a few weeks ago, wading into the national debate. “If it costs me an election, if it costs me a lot of grief, then so be it. If we can’t fight for something this basic, then we’ve lost our country.”

Ain’t he brave?

Well, yeah, in a way he is. He knew before he said those words that people like Ms. Falkenberg would attack, smear, and mock him. But he did it anyway because it was the right thing to do.

I know, I know. It’s a slippery-slope thing. If we allow people the freedom to use the bathroom they deem appropriate, one can only guess what would happen next!

Actually, we don’t have to guess. They’ve been doing it for decades. Without much fanfare. Until it became a handy dog-whistle issue for Republican primary voters. Now it’s the end of civilization.

She’s right. People have been doing it for decades or centuries, who knows? But isn’t that the point? No one knew – therefore, no problem. You dress like a woman, no one pays attention. But that isn’t the issue today, is it? No, the issue today is that people want the right to go into the opposite gender’s restrooms and they want to do it in your face, without regard to the privacy rights of 99.9{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the population as a whole.

Do you see that sentence in bold above? This one:

Until it became a handy dog-whistle issue for Republican primary voters.

That is where Ms. Falkenberg broke the truth. That is a flat out lie. The dog-whistle belongs to the LGBTABCDEFG crowd that insists that we have to “accept” whatever it is they want today. There never would be an issue if the LGBTABCDEFG crowd had not started passing laws saying that men could enter women’s restrooms, locker rooms, showers, spas, etc. No issue at all. Republican voters rightly responded to this nonsense and hopefully will keep on responding to this nonsense.

There’s no evidence that this is a public safety issue.

Another untruth, although this one could be considered an opinion, not a lie. Because there has been plenty of evidence presented that this is in fact a public safety issue. Ms. Falkenberg simply chooses to ignore it to form her opinion.

Now check this out: Ms. Falkenberg is suddenly for local control.

Back to conservative values: I thought local control was one of them.

This week, our lieutenant governor, whose office is based in Austin, called for the ouster of Fort Worth Independent School District Superintendent Kent Scribner because he approved new guidelines to accommodate transgender students in a broad array of areas from dress code to sports.

…

Patrick said if parents are unhappy with the district’s decision, then it’s up to the school board and superintendent to address it. If they don’t, he said, “that’s why we have elections.” It’s up to parents and school boards to “reflect the values of that school district,” he said.

Well, the Fort Worth district has spoken on its values. And they don’t need some politician in Austin butting in.

Ha, you can’t make this stuff up. Can you imagine the outrage Ms. Falkenberg would have if a local community passed an ordinance saying that no abortions would be performed in their city? Or that illegal aliens couldn’t rent a house? Or that Muslims couldn’t bang out their obnoxious calls to prayer all day long? She’d go nuclear. And you’d better believe that she’d want “some politician” from Austin or Washington “butting in”.

She then claims any bill addressing this stupidity will have no chance in the Texas House.

At times like these, we should all bow our heads and say a prayer for Joe Straus, the Republican speaker of the Texas House, who will have to play the grownup once again next session in staving off legislation that would hurt Texans as well as the Texas economy.

The bill doesn’t have much of a chance in the House, which prompts the question: Why try?

Answer: So that a few far-right politicians can say they fought the good fight. And winning isn’t the point anyway.

“Defeat would perhaps be the desired outcome of some of these bill advocates,” says Rice University political scientist Mark Jones. “It would allow them to have their cake and eat it too.”

As a strong supporter of Speaker Straus, I can say this with confidence – he will not block a bill that addresses this. He will allow the will of the House to prevail. If enough House members want to pass this, it will pass. That is being an adult in the room. And as much as I like Mark, he is taking this issue much too lightly with a remark like that.

Incredibly, she somehow wraps this up and blames the rise of Trump on people opposing this nonsense. Talk about not understanding why Trump is where he is. It is precisely because politicians ignored idiotic policies like that that Trump is where he is.

Republicans should stand FIRM and reject this crap. And readers need to understand that columnists like Ms. Falkenberg are not trying to give them an unbiased view of the facts, they are paid to produce biased opinions that support the newspaper’s underlying philosophy. Which is to support the left’s version of “progress”. Don’t believe me? See this editorial from the Houston Chronicle, published one day after Ms. Falkenberg’s screed: Potty politics
The transgender restroom controversy is a hoax crafted by ideologues for scapegoating.

Editors reinforcing their columnist’s opinion, and reinforcing the Houston Chronicle’s left leaning philosophy.

Will Devon Anderson vote for Patricia "Trisha" Pollard?

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Judge Devon Anderson swears in Patricia Pollard to the Texas State University System Board of Regents
Judge Devon Anderson swears in Patricia Pollard to the Texas State University System Board of Regents

Notorious grand jury foreman Patricia “Trisha” Pollard is seeking office in the City of Bellaire. She recently sent an intermediary to ask that I not tell the truth about her; but, I owe it to the people of Bellaire to tell this story.

Some people ask, “How do you know that Trisha Pollard is bad?” Well, the answer is simple. Do you remember what happened to the BAT van controversy? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Trisha Pollard and her merry band of misfits used this fake scandal to get the now deceased Mike Anderson elected meanwhile using lies to besmirch the character of good people.

May 2003 Grand Jury Foreman 262nd District Court – Mike Anderson
August 2005 Grand Jury Foreman 262nd District Court – Mike Anderson
February 2007 Grand Jury Foreman 177th District Court – Devon Anderson
November 2009 Grand Jury Foreman 262nd District Court – Mike Anderson
August 2011 Grand Jury Foreman 185th District Court – Susan Brown
2013 Grand Jury Assistant Foreman 179th District Court – Kristin Guiney

For many years, Pollard was the gold star grand jury foreman for the Andersons. She contributed to their campaign efforts and loyally served on at least six grand juries. Pollard openly bragged about her grand jury service and claimed that she led a grand jury that handled “the greatest number of cases in history.” A rather interesting sense of justice.

The whole BAT van falsehood was fabricated by a group of entitled courthouse folks who did not like Pat Lykos. Specifically, this group reveled in the idea of control and was upset by the fact that Harris County justice was no longer “just us.” To bring it back to the “just us” days, this group created a fake scandal to throw shade on Lykos and many other very good people. While it may have cost Lykos the election, this group has now been forced to ponder an interesting question – Is Devon Anderson “worse” than their mortal enemy, Pat Lykos? That is another story for another time.

We now know that Pollard was the foreman of the grand jury that indicted Alfred Dewayne Brown who was recently released from custody after ten years on death row. Brown was convicted of capital murder in 2005 for the death of Houston Police Department Officer Charles Clark and check cashing clerk Alfredia Jones during an attempted robbery.

Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg won a Pulitzer Prize for her series on Alfred Brown. Falkenberg primarily wrote about the grand jury that brow beat and jailed Brown’s girlfriend in an attempt to change her story about Brown’s alibi, which overshadowed the fact that a rubber stamp grand jury was used to indict Brown. Public sentiment over the Brown case and “professional” grand jurors like Pollard led to this year’s statewide grand jury reform.trisha-pollard-hpd-helicopter-facebook-june-4-2013

A review of Pollard’s grand jury service is disturbing. In 2011 and 2012, she misused her position as grand jury foreman to create a scandal and make inaccurate public statements to get Mike Anderson elected. Following her service on the 185th grand jury, Pollard, along with Jim Mount and Chip Lewis, made a public statement (filled with erroneous statements) about the grand jury in violation of grand jury secrecy laws and common sense. If Pollard was just a regular citizen, these facts would be bad. Come to find out, she is a lawyer. Did Pollard violate the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct by engaging in “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation?”

Pollard has a history of making things up and all anyone has to do is look at her testimony in the Texas Senate when she alleged there was some elaborate healthcare fraud in Texas. Following Pollard’s 2005 service, she wrote a letter to Governor Rick Perry and all members of the Texas Legislature claiming that she had discovered massive Medicaid fraud during her tenure on the grand jury. In her letter, Pollard alleged a “widespread, massive, and repeated” fraud.

After legislators received her letter, Pollard was asked to testify before the Senate Finance Committee on January 18, 2006. During the hearing, several senators pushed her on the “widespread, massive, and repeated” fraud allegation. Ultimately, Pollard conceded that she had no evidence to substantiate her allegation. Watch it, and judge for yourself if this is what you want on the Bellaire City Council.

Importantly, as stated during the hearing, Mike Anderson was aware of Pollard’s letter; so, he knew that she was loose cannon as early as 2005 – 2006. He knew that Pollard fabricated wild, unsubstantiated allegations.

Now, Pollard is walking the streets of Bellaire to campaign for city council. Trisha Pollard, a woman who was a strong reason behind the need for grand jury reform in the state of Texas, is seeking to bring that destructive force to the City of Bellaire.

Bellaire residents have an excellent opportunity to openly reject Pollard’s bad behavior. Pollard’s duplicity and corruption will no doubt follow her to the Bellaire City council. No one will be safe in Bellaire with Pollard on council and voters there should think long and hard about this election and the potential legal liability of electing such an individual.

Pulitzer prize winning columnist admits conservatives are cleaner

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Just when you think attempts by liberals to force unisex restrooms and showers on Houstonians couldn’t get stranger, aka the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, along comes Pulitzer prize winning Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg. In her latest screed against conservatives, Anti-ordinance campaign’s scare tactics need to be flushed, she proudly proclaims that conservatives are cleaner.

A personal question today: How do you feel about public restrooms?

Do you see them as useful facilities whose benefits far outweigh the occasional untidiness?

Or, are you so disgusted by public restrooms that you avoid them at all costs, entering only in the case of an emergency, and then, only with pinched nose and value-sized pump of anti-bacterial lotion?

Your answer may reveal something about your politics, according to Jonathan Haidt, a moral psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. The more grossed out you are by public restrooms, the more conservative you are likely to be – and vice versa.

(Read Anti-ordinance campaign’s scare tactics need to be flushed on HoustonChronicle.com)

Now, most of us already knew that but it was nice of her to point it out. I mean, just drive through a “red” area and then a “blue” area and it is quite obvious.

But she left out the most important part of that study.

Disgust – it’s an emotion we experience when we encounter things that are dirty, impure, or otherwise contaminated. From an evolutionary standpoint, experiencing the intense, visceral sense of revulsion that comes with disgust presumably helps us to avoid contaminants that can make us sick or even kill us. But new research suggests that disgust not only helps us to avoid impurities, it may also make us better able to see them.

(Read Feeling Disgust May Enhance Our Ability to Detect Impurities on PsychologicalScience.org)

That’s right. Those of us that are disgusted at uncleanliness have a better ability to discern uncleanliness in the first place.

So let’s think this through. If it is true that conservatives have a better ability to discern disgusting things, and Mrs. Falkenberg thinks it is true, then it follows that we should be the ones pointing out the problems with unisex restrooms and showers. Right?

Perhaps the reason that Mrs. Falkenberg and her friends can’t see the problems with the Houston UNequal Rights Ordinance is that wallowing in filth is simply not a problem in their world.

 

 

Kelly Siegler and the Jiggery Pokery Gang

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Kelly Siegler Jiggery Pokery Gang

On Thursday, Judge Larry Gist issued 36 findings of prosecutorial misconduct against Kelly Siegler in the David Temple murder case. I wanted to give you a little background on Ms. Siegler so the Big Jolly readers can remain the most knowledgeable folks on Harris County criminal justice issues.

Kelly and the Jiggery-Pokery Gang united for Kelly’s unsuccessful DA bid in 2008. The gang existed in many forms long before 2008; but, Kelly’s 2008 campaign announcement provided the first opportunity for a public group photo. The gang photo clarifies their unification to the outside viewer.

Like all gangs, there is a hierarchy. Ms. Siegler is the central figure and, generally, close proximity to the leader in the photo denotes a higher rank; although, a few things have changed since 2008. The judiciary members are not as obvious; but, they are certainly a very important part of this gang. Some judges, like Susan Brown, act as capos within the organization. The group also acts to protect other gang members or affiliates, not unlike most street gangs.

The gang’s name has changed over the years. More recently, I renamed the group the Jiggery-Pokey Gang after reading Justice Scalia’s Obamacare dissent. I think the term fittingly describes this group and their operations.

Jiggery-pokery: Dishonest or suspicious activity.

David Temple is a difficult case because so many have prejudged his guilt David Temple Murder Trialbased on Kelly’s facts. Heck, he was already convicted and sentenced. He was cheating on his pregnant wife and later married his mistress. It is easy to hate his behavior. But, the current issue is not about David Temple’s innocence. It is about fundamental fairness and justice. A rigged game is not justice.

When the wrong man is convicted, we are all to blame. It is the responsibility of every citizen, voter, and human being to learn about our criminal justice system and make sure that justice for all actually means something.

We, as Harris County citizens, need to take very seriously who we elect as DA and misdemeanor and felony judges. It cannot be a popularity contest foisted on the precinct chairs by the political consultants. The Jiggery-Pokery Gang has a history. Their affiliates have a history. And certain political consultants, like Allen Blakemore and Mary Jane Smith, are the promoters of these gang members.

Why is the gang designation important? It is crucial for citizens, particularly those outside of the criminal justice system, to understand that Kelly Siegler’s actions are not an isolated incident. Kelly intentionally and purposefully withheld exculpatory evidence in a criminal prosecution. Craig Goodhart, Kelly’s assistant on the Temple trial, has been accused of similar impropriety in the Linda Carty case.  Retired DEA Special Agent Charles Mathis alleges that Connie Spence threatened to question him about a fictional affair with Linda Carty.  Lance Long and Murray Newman, Kelly disciples, were accused of pressuring witnesses to lie in the Antonio Williams case.

“Mr. Long and the investigators pressured me to testify that Antonio was at the scene and was the shooter. They stated to me that if I helped them out, they would help out.”

Excerpt from an affidavit by Sharonda Cooper, a neighbor who testified against Antonio Williams.

This is just a sampling of the prosecutorial misconduct developed and perpetrated by the gang.

The Jiggery-Pokery Gang furthers their agenda in a number of ways. Remember, for the most part, these are lawyers and highly educated people operating in and around the DA’s office. Like all gangs, they use tools common to their surroundings. Here, the gang uses the grand jury system, media, courts, and certain judges to further their agenda.

The DA’s office is very similar to junior high or high school; so, it is very simple for the inner circle to use their popularity and cunning ways to get their way. The group treats Kelly like a deity or party-animal homecoming queen.

Nothing that has come out concerning Siegler’s prosecution of David Temple is new. Siegler employed the exact same methods used by Ken Anderson on Michael Morton, an innocent man wrongly convicted of murdering his wife in Williamson County. In the Morton case, the prosecutor lost his law license and went to jail.

The media is culpable in the gang’s rise to power. So often, the media relies on information used in their stories provided by gang members. This is an important fact because it allows the gang members to assert their narrative. Siegler carefully uses her minions to plant stories in the media, which are used to build her image and television career. Think about how often Chip Lewis, a Kelly crony, is quoted by reporters. It is a game and justice is not the goal.

The win-at-all-costs mentality flourished during the Rosenthal administration. Chuck Rosenthal allowed Kelly and others to run amok.

Devon Anderson promised to return the DA’s office back to the old days, which is code to the gang members for win-at-all-costs. Many members of Kelly’s crew also roll with Devon. The Lykos administration threatened to out this group and their misdeeds; so, they only had one choice: to destroy reputations. That is why, when Kelly ran for DA in 2008, Murray Newman, Kelly’s Minister of Propaganda, created a blog to perpetuate the Kelly myth.

It is high time for people to know the truth about injustice in Harris County. David Temple’s lawyers have asked that an attorney pro tem or special prosecutor be appointed. This would be a start; but, as in the Michael Morton case involving Ken Anderson and the Anthony Graves case, a Court of Inquiry was formed to investigate the misdeeds on a much broader level. If you have been a reader of this blog for any length of time, you are aware of lots of misdeeds reported here involving the District Attorney’s office. It is time for the Republican Party to join with others and lead the charge to clean up the courthouse and the District Attorney’s office.

Part One

Lisa Falkenberg and the Indictment of Alfred Dewayne Brown

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A grand jury led by Patricia Pollard indicted Alfred Dewayne Brown. In June, Brown was released from Texas death row after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed his conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct and, specifically, the failure of Harris County prosecutors to disclose exculpatory material to the defense. The case was then dismissed by Devon Anderson, current Harris County District Attorney.

Pollard’s record and antics are well-documented and notorious at this point; but, I wanted to provide a recap for new readers. In 2003, Devon’s late husband, Mike, as judge of the 262nd District Court, selected Patricia Pollard as foreman of his grand jury. At last count, Pollard has been placed on at least six grand juries in Harris County where she has served as foreman on a minimum of five occasions.

262nd District Court Mike Anderson, Judge May 2003 Foreman
262nd District Court Mike Anderson, Judge August 2005 Foreman
177th District Court Devon Anderson, Judge February 2007 Foreman
262nd District Court Mike Anderson, Judge November 2009 Foreman
185th District Court Susan Brown, Judge August 2011 Foreman
179th District Court Kristin Guiney, Judge 2013 Assistant Foreman

After her 2005 service, Pollard wrote a letter to Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Legislature to report a “widespread, massive and repeated” Medicaid fraud in Texas. On January 18, 2006, Pollard was asked to testify before the Texas Senate Finance Committee. Under questioning, Pollard admitted that she possessed no evidence to substantiate her allegation.

Pollard then donated $5,000 to Texans for Rick Perry and was appointed to a six-year term on the Texas State University System Board of Regents. Devon conducted this swearing in ceremony and Pollard donated to Devon’s unsuccessful judicial reelection effort. So, in 2011, when it came time to take back the courthouse, the Andersons went to their go to gal, Pollard. Following the 185th tragedy, Susan Brown led the effort to seal all Harris County grand jury lists.

Needless to say, Pollard is the poster child for the grand jury reform signed by Governor Abbott, which eliminates the pick-a-pal grand jury selection system.

Earlier this year, Houston Chronicle metro columnist Lisa Falkenberg won a Pulitzer Prize for her stories on Alfred Dewayne Brown. Falkenberg wrote extensively about Brown and the circumstances surrounding his prosecution. While Falkenberg touched on the faulty criminal justice system, especially in Harris County, she completely ignored the fact that Pollard, a habitual grand juror in the pick a pal system, was behind Brown’s capital murder indictment. I wrote about the Pollard plague on August 15, 2014; yet, Pollard went unnoticed in Falkenberg’s reporting.

My primary criticism of Falkenberg’s stories: they largely ignore the criminal connections and jiggery-pokery that set these injustices in motion. Most of Falkenberg’s stories focused on the grand jury that was used to interrogate Ericka Dockery, Brown’s girlfriend at the time of the murders. The foreman of that grand jury was a Houston Police Department officer, which is very inappropriate and a conflict of interest considering that the offense involved the murder of a police officer from the same department. This would be kind of like someone from the Houston Chronicle leading the Pulitzer Prize committee that presented Falkenberg with this year’s award. Not to say that Falkenberg was undeserving of the award – it just appears improper.

I believe that Falkenberg’s focus is misplaced. Yes, the pick-a-pal grand jury system is wrong. And, the prosecutors in Brown’s case were wrong to not provide the defense with exculpatory evidence. Is Brown innocent of this crime? We may never know. The problem is larger than this singular event. The Brown case is an example of the systemic corruption within the system. The elimination of the pick-a-pal system will not stop these injustices.

Devon and Mike Anderson campaigned on bringing the Harris County District Attorney’s office back to the old days. The days when rape kits went untested and innocent men like Ricardo Rachell were convicted and sent to prison for crimes they did not commit. The most common reasoning around that office is, “This is the way we have always done it.” Well, I do not believe that logic is sufficient, especially when we are talking about liberty and justice.

Judge Gist found that Kelly Siegler, the Temple trial prosecutor, failed to disclose exculpatory material to the defense – same as the Brown case. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is likely to uphold Judge Gist’s findings, which would send the case back to Devon Anderson.

Devon promised the people of Harris County that she would personally prosecute all defendants accused of killing police officers. What about us regular folks? Are we second class victims? So far, the only case personally prosecuted by Devon was a capital murder on videotape.

The Temple case could be an Anderson v. Siegler showdown. What will the people who worked so hard to get Mike and Devon into the DA position do if Anderson dismisses the David Temple case?

So, why hasn’t Falkenberg broadened the scope of her reporting to include the reported injustices such as Antonio Williams and Linda Carty? One answer came today in a Falkenberg tweet.

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Questions remain. Why did Susan Brown give $2,925 to Devon Anderson [now District Attorney] and Brock Thomas [now judge of the 338th District Court]? Will the Siegler gang move away from Devon and support a new candidate for 2016? What will prosecutors do without the rubber stamp pick-a-pal grand juries? Will Pollard still find her way to the grand jury room?

The real enemy here is the tradition of injustice that has plagued Harris County for many years. A tradition of injustice cannot justify injustice.

Perry grand jury not the problem

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It isn’t often that I agree with Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg but her column on the Perry grand jury that indicted the Texas governor is spot-on.

In Harris County and other Texas jurisdictions where judges use the “pick-a-pal” system to empanel grand jurors, bias and corruption are natural byproducts. The judge picks a pal, called a “commissioner,” to go out and find some more pals to serve on a grand jury and supposedly mete out justice. The process, as I’ve written, has been outlawed in the federal system, and is still only used in Texas and California.

But it wasn’t used in this case.

Richardson didn’t ask a buddy to empanel the grand jurors. The members were randomly selected from Travis County jurors who answered a summons – a similar process to the one used to select regular trial juries.

Attorneys on both sides didn’t respond to my questions on whether potential grand jurors were screened for any conflicts or biases that would keep them from fairly considering the case. Tyus hasn’t returned phone calls or email, either. But a few other grand jurors have told the Chronicle that the indictment had nothing to do with politics.

And who is Perry to say it did? A presidential contender and a man facing two felonies, that’s who.

Even veteran criminal defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin, who has defended Perry saying he appropriately used his veto power, hasn’t blamed the indictment on politics.

“This is not one where Rick Perry’s lawyers can say ‘this is Ronnie Earl at it again’,” DeGuerin told me, referring to the former Travis County district attorney often criticized for going after political enemies.

(click here to read the entire column on HoustonChronicle.com)

Judge Bert Richardson picked the grand jury from among regular folks responding to a jury summons. A cross section of the community is what grand juries should be made of. If people are upset that more Republicans weren’t on the grand jury, perhaps they should tell Republicans to respond to those summonses.

As we’ve documented many times, the “pick-a-pal” grand jury system used in Harris County is ripe for abuse and has been abused. Mrs. Falkenberg’s recent spotlight on the system is very much welcome and we hope the judges in Harris County stop using the system until state law is changed to do away with it.

I am curious to know if she now wishes that she hadn’t praised the 185th Grand Jury that was used to oust former DA Pat Lykos. Here is what Falkenberg wrote back in October, 2011:

Grand jurors of the 185th criminal court, you are my heroes.

I had lost all faith that any elected official would get to the bottom of the BAT van controversy, that any of them would care enough to figure out whether the Houston Police Department or Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos‘ office were trying to cover up faulty evidence. Or whether the DA’s office tried to retaliate against the whistle-blower who brought problems with HPD’s blood alcohol testing vans to light.

(click here to read the entire column on Chron.com)

Heroes? Hardly. Useful tools for a DA candidate named Mike Anderson and his trusty consultant? Absolutely. Led by a Wyatt-Earp wanna be foreperson? Without a doubt. Facilitated by a judge that didn’t like Pat Lykos? Yep.

Remember, not a single indictment was handed down after this prolonged witch hunt, the two fired lab clerks also lost in Federal court and are being forced to cover court costs, and those BAT vans are still in use today.

Perhaps her earlier column explains why Falkenberg has refused to write about the 185th in her series on abusive grand juries in Harris County. Hopefully she can get past that and shine some light on the abuse that took place in the 185th courtroom.