Recent editorials from Texas newspapers

Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Texas newspapers:

Beaumont Enterprise. April 27, 2017.

The Nederland Heritage Festival Foundation is doing a major disservice to its patrons - and the concept of justice - by refusing to prosecute the person who has admitted embezzling at least $300,000. That individual should be appropriately punished for this crime, as all law-breakers should be. A judge or jury should decide the penalty and terms of repayment based on sound legal principles. That’s the way a civilized society operates, and it helps discourage similar crimes from happening again.

In this case, the Foundation’s abdication of responsibility is even worse because the thief may not be required to return all of the money that was taken, just some of it. That’s absurd. Nederland police Chief Darrell Bush is even on the Foundation’s board of directors.

The Foundation is not even sure exactly how much was taken and won’t pursue a forensic audit “due to the limited complexity of the accountings in question … and concerns that such an invasive forensic audit could generate potential negative feedback to future Festival operations.”

The desire to avoid “negative feedback” is a familiar one.

It’s why years ago clergymen who molested children or teachers who had sex with students were told to quietly resign and move away to avoid “embarrassment” - often for supervisors who didn’t detect the crime.

Yet the victims were ignored the offenders often resumed their predatory behavior in their new jobs. Eventually, the uselessness of that approach became apparent and each crime was prosecuted when it was detected.

Embezzlement at nonprofits is all too common in Southeast Texas.

A partial list of victims includes the Triangle Area Network, Lumberton Band Boosters, Court Appointed Special Advocates and even the Magnolia Festival in Kirbyville. Many of these organizations have informal accounting practices that can be exploited by a longtime manager who is otherwise thought to be trustworthy.

We hope that no more organizations are looted, but cases like this don’t provide much discouragement. They send a clear signal that you might get a slap on the wrist, so you might as well go ahead and try it.

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Texarkana Gazette. April 27, 2017.

There were a lot of reactions on social media to recent news about the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department raiding an alleged brothel on Summerhill Road operating as a massage parlor.

Most, as could be expected, made light of the matter. There were a lot of jokes. The fact that the establishment had the rather obvious name of “OMG Massage” only added to the humor many found.

A few individuals expressed surprise such a thing could be going on in our city. Well, just between us, it’s been going on here since the Twin Cities were founded. There’s a reason it’s called the world’s oldest profession. Neither demand nor supply have diminished over time.

And at least one post we saw chastised others for joking about prostitution at all, pointing out - correctly - that these operations are sometimes associated with human trafficking and the girls aren’t always willing participants.

That person has a point. The realities of prostitution are often grim, not just forced sexual exploitation but violence and drug abuse. We can’t be too stern with those who found humor in the raid, though. That’s just human nature. We are sure the jokes weren’t meant as anything more.

But there were a few posts that may have gone largely unnoticed. Posts that made a very important point everyone should remember.

For a long time, prostitution rings have used massage facilities as a front. And that has tarnished a legitimate profession.

Licensed massage therapists provide a valuable and needed service. They send many long hours in school and must pass strenuous exams to be licensed to operate. They aren’t engaged in illegal activities and don’t like being associated in the public mind with shady practices.

And the truth is, thanks to the proliferation of illicit operations, a lot of folks automatically associate massage with prostitution. That’s unfortunate.

So understand that while illegal operators have and will use massage as a cover for their activities, it’s just a front. It has nothing to do with legitimate massage therapy. And licensed massage therapists should not be subjected to false assumptions and innuendo.

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Houston Chronicle. April 28, 2017.

Somebody once asked Richard “Racehorse” Haynes to single out his biggest victory in a lifetime of victories in Texas courtrooms.

Was it the T. Cullen Davis case, when he got the richest American ever tried for murder off the hook - not once, but twice? Or was it the trial of Vickie Daniel, the former Dairy Queen waitress from Liberty accused of executing what Haynes called a “Smith and Wesson divorce” from her husband, who happened to be the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives?

Nope, Haynes said. The best case he ever won was when he represented a poor black man unjustly taking the rap for a white guy who stole some tools from a construction site. After a jury found the defendant not guilty, his client’s impoverished family threw a party for Haynes at their Third Ward house, and his children hung up a sign saying, “God bless lawyer Haynes.” He was one of the most famous lawyers ever to set foot in a Houston courtroom, but he never forgot that sign.

Stories like that endeared Haynes to a generation of criminal defense lawyers in Houston, who are now mourning the April 28 death of a legendary figure in their profession. Lawyers who knew him well say the 90-year-old Houston native had been in poor health for a long time, that he had lost the orator’s voice other attorneys likened to a fine classical instrument. Still, they remember that voice well.

“It was like listening to great music,” said David Berg, one of many prominent attorneys who considered Haynes a mentor. “It had a kind of symphonic quality to it.”

Haynes mastery of speaking to juries was matched only by his command of courtroom theatrics. In his first trial, he discovered jurors apparently felt sorry for him after he stumbled over a spittoon, so he repeated the same stunt in trial after trial. He once famously used a cattle prod to shock himself in a courtroom; only later did he reveal that he’d pulled a sneaky trick to reduce the voltage. He came close to driving a nail through his hand in front of a jury, but he changed his mind when he concluded it could backfire against his client if he cried in court.

It didn’t take long for him to become a cultural phenomenon. One of his highest-profile cases, the byzantine story behind the murder of River Oaks plastic surgeon John Hill, became the subject of the best-selling true crime classic “Blood and Money.” Over the decades, he’s been caricatured on film as the stereotypical flamboyant Texas lawyer, and composers have memorialized him in songs with titles like “Whips, Chains and Racehorse Haynes.”

But attorneys who worked with him mourn more than just the passing of a colorful character. They’ll tell you Haynes was a throwback to a golden age of trial law, a time when it seemed most attorneys considered the law a calling, a passionate commitment to justice. It bothered him, they say, that so many of the best young minds of our time now devote their careers not to law, but to finance or other professions simply because they pay better.

Funny thing about Haynes: One of his University of Houston classmates told us he took the bar exam, got his license and started practicing his profession without even graduating from law school. He was a natural.

Haynes was one of those classic figures who helped earn Houston a reputation for producing some of the most brilliant criminal lawyers in the nation. No wonder so many of his acolytes echo the sentiment that came from the children of his favorite client: “God bless lawyer Haynes.”

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San Antonio Express-News. May 1, 2017.

State lawmakers should restore some of the oversight taken from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board four years ago.

In 2013, after the agency’s review by the Sunset Advisory Commission, legislators reined in the higher education agency’s power. That included taking away its authority over approval of capital projects, and the closing and consolidation of degree programs that were not productive.

The move left these matters in the hands of university boards of regents, which operate independently and answer only to the governor who appoints them.

In the absence of statewide coordination on expansion projects, some of the boards have pursued turf battles. They began eyeing competitors’ territory and considered establishing additional professional schools in markets some felt were already saturated.

The lawmakers who represent those communities became upset.

Lawmakers thought that by refocusing the agency on coordination and shifting it away from the regulation of higher education, the systems would operate better. Things are not going as planned; and unless the law changes, the situation won’t improve.

In limiting the coordinating board’s authority, the 83rd Legislature passed a bill stating that any powers not expressly delegated to the board are reserved to higher education institutions and their governing boards.

Under current law, the higher education agency can’t even establish a uniform statewide policy on the transfers of credits from community colleges to four-year universities.

These are just some of the issues that university systems spread out across the state can’t work out among themselves. The authority should be given back to the Higher Education Coordinating Board.

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The Dallas Morning News. May 1, 2017.

Dallasites who looked into the eastern sky late Saturday afternoon, April 29, saw the foreboding clouds that too often here spell death and destruction during the spring.

In a few horrifying moments that must have felt like an eternity, a series of tornadoes touched down - one staying on the ground for an astonishing 51 miles. They cut a huge swath of destruction across the East Texas town of Canton and neighboring Van Zandt County communities. At least four people died. Dozens more were sent to hospitals.

We read with weariness the stories of those caught in the path of nature’s onslaught, literally holding on for dear life. Some braced against wind-battered doors as a roof and cinder block walls ripped away. Others rejoiced that the storm didn’t strike an hour later, when students would have gathered for prom. And brave good Samaritans, caught on cellphone video, risked their lives to wade into a fast-rushing stream to rescue an infant who had been trapped in an overturned vehicle.

And we look with horror at the footage posted to news sites and social media - of the tornado, crushed cars, obliterated buildings and leveled trees. Gov. Greg Abbott, who toured the devastation, expressed his dismay: “It looked like in areas that were filled with trees … that they’d been ripped down as Tinkertoys, just completely knocked down.”

Now, the skies are clear and community members, especially those who knew and loved the victims, are left with the task of piecing together their scattered lives. North Texans know too well how difficult it can be to return to normal life after unspeakable loss.

Anxiety, fear and anger are all understandable emotions when a tragedy strikes. At moments like these, we all need to pull together and offer our neighbors the support they need. We Texans are a hardy breed, and as we have done so many times in the past, we must rally with support for those left in crisis.

The outpouring of financial aid and emotional comfort has already begun. But it will take much more time for victims’ psychological scars to heal after seeing their homes and community destroyed.