Two lots will be up for auction at the foreclosure sale, set for January 2, 2024, 10:00 a.m., at the Fisher County Courthouse (usually at the north side entrance).
Parcel 6299, at 601 East Mead in Rotan, has an estimated bid minimum of $15,200.00.
Parcel 6483, at 808 North Garfield in Rotan, has an estimated bid minimum of $2,000.00.
More information can be found on the Perdue Brandon website.
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| - Rotan Family Dollar - |
The photo taken today shows the store is empty and there is no sign of life.
A search on the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission website yields no result for a license filed by this store.
The Texas Secretary of State now reports five candidates running in the 2024 March Primary Election for Fisher County.
Sheriff Simon Wade, Commissioner Precinct 1 Gordon Pippin and County Tax Assessor Collector Jonnye Speck are all running unopposed.
Commissioner Precinct 3 Preston Martin will be in a race with newcomer Stuart Posey.
No one filed for county attorney.
All are running on the Republican ticket.
The Texas Secretary of State is not reporting any new candidates for Fisher County other than Gordon Pippin for commissioner precinct one and Jonnye Speck for tax collector-assessor at this time, but the appointment of campaign treasurer is a fair measure of who will run, and it looks like there is going to be a race for precinct three commissioner.
As of December 8, Stuart Posey has submitted an Appointment of Campaign Treasurer. A campaign treasurer must be named before a candidate files for office. Candidates are allowed to name themselves as campaign treasurer and it is common practice to do so. Appointment this close to the deadline for candidate filing would indicate intention to run for office.
The filing for Appointment of Campaign Treasurer in August by Damon Clawson, seeking the sheriff's seat, is not known to be a serious bid since it was filed so far back and there has been no mention of his intentions.
When the SOS clears all candidate filings, the Fisher County March 2024 Primary Election might make for an interesting race.
Candidates who wish to run for local offices have until December 11 to file for the March 2024 primary.
Positions being voted on are sheriff, commissioners for precincts one and three, county tax assessor collector and county attorney.
As of now only two positions have been filed for: precinct one commissioner by incumbent Gordon Pippin and county tax assessor collector by incumbent Jonnye Lu Speck.
Appointments for campaign treasurers have been made by five people: Sheriff Simon Wade, Commissioner Pippin, Tax Assessor Collector Speck, sheriff challenger Damon B Clawson, and Commissioner Preston Martin. If all five file for candidacy, the only position with a contest will be county sheriff.
There has been no candidate or treasurer filing for the position of county attorney, currently held by Michael Hall.
To file as a candidate, contact Fisher County Clerk Pat Thomson for forms and fees needed.
Resources for this article: Texas Secretary of State & Fisher County Election page
It is looking optimistically likely that the Family Dollar Store will reopen in Rotan, in the same place it was before, 110 West Sammy Baugh.
In the last issue of the Double Mountain Chronicle, there was a notice for application to sell alcohol at the Family Dollar. That's almost a sure sign.
The store has been sorely missed. It is as close to a department store as the town has. No more having to drive 20-30 miles to buy a package of socks, a waterhose and a lighter.
Welcome back, Family Dollar
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program is now available for Fisher County children. Once signed up, a child will receive a free book every month until the age of five.
Registration is available on-line, in person (Abilene Public Library branches), or by mail.
Other local counties eligible to participate in this program are Jones, Taylor, Callahan, Shackelford, Coleman and Runnels.
The Imagination Library is brought to these communities by The United Way of Abilene.
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| - Montour et al - |
If you'd like to see a completely over the top reaction to an oil boom, look at the September 30, 1937 issue of the Sweetwater Reporter on The Portal to Texas History site.
Along with sensational headlines (NEW GUSHER BOOMS ROTAN) and claims of how oil will make everything shiny and new, this forty page document is a rich collection of historical information, much of it regarding Rotan and Fisher County.
In this special Oil and Progress Edition of the publication, a frenzy of articles was unleashed after the discovery of the Montour, Abrahamson & Largent well in Fisher County. It was a 13,000 barrel "gusher" in the Robinson Pool.
Something interesting to note on page 18 is an article titled "Gas pressure determines life of many oil fields" that states "Wells in the Rotan field produce oil from gas pressure, and are not equipped with pumps."
There's a lot of information covered in the articles, along with photos and ads. Technical as well as entertaining writing makes this a well-rounded historical source.
On page 28, Elliott Howard, claiming to be a former director of the Rotan State Bank and Rotan citizen since 1890, said that the Rotan townsite was where three ranches, the O-Bar-O, Pitchfork, and Hitson, once converged.
The advent of electric and telephone service and many well-known businesses and buildings are documented in this newspaper.
Photo credit: The Sweetwater Reporter via The Portal to Texas History
Do you wonder how your county is doing in the management of your water? The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has many areas of public interest that can be searched online.
Facility information can be found by starting at the Home Page>scrolling down to Facility Site>County>Search. You can also search by name or permit.
To look at the status of an individual license, go to Home Page>Licenses>Individual Search>Enter Name.
There are multiple ways to search for information and see the status of water delivery systems in your community and around the state.
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| - Callan House, Rotan - |
The first result that comes up when using the search term "Rotan, Texas" on The Portal to Texas History website,which I look at nearly daily, is a photo and link showing the blueprint for the Dr. W. W. Callan residence, drafted by noted architect David S. Castle in 1923. I began to be curious if this house still existed.
After searching land records on Texas File, I got it into my head that the Murdoch house was the old Callan house. There was a transaction in 1990 from the Callan's to the Murdoch's, so I thought it must be. The problem was that a lot of renovation would have had to have taken place to make the house the shape it is now from the original plan.
According to Fisher County Appraisal records, the Murdoch house sits on block 217, lots 10, 11, 12, Inside Addition. A description of a brick veneer residence built in 1925 fit the timeline between the 1923 plan and Dr. Walter William Callan's death in 1928. Still, something was off to my mind's eye.
I searched Fisher County Records, Fisher CAD, The Portal to Texas and a lot of other websites trying to make the pieces fit. I looked for old phone books and perused Fisher County history books trying to find the specifics on the house. If I could have found an old phone directory or Polk Directory, I could have simply looked up the address, but I wasn't successful in that endeavor.
I looked more closely in Texas File, the holder of the oldest records, which go back to 1910 for the Callan's. I came upon a deed from the Duffer's to W. W. Callan, dated 1923. This property description is block 215, lots 10, 11, 12, Inside Additon.
There is a house that stands on that property, but appraisal records show it as being built in 1920, outside of the timeline. Also, again, the shape wasn't quite right. It was similar, but the porte cochere was on a different side.
I drove by these houses over and over again, trying to match up things by sight. Finally, I used satellite imagery, comparing it to the blueprint overview to find the shape of the building. There it was, a block over from where I had originally been looking, and a few houses down from the 1920 house. Property description block 215, lots 7, 8, 9, Inside Addition.
There was a real sense of satisfaction in figuring it out, this puzzle that could have easily been put together by asking any number of people in Rotan or Fisher County. It was fun to dive back in time, though, and read the articles and look at the maps from a hundred years ago of the town and community I inhabit.
Photo source: The Portal of Texas History, Google Earth
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| -Buildings to be demolished - |
At the commissioners meeting today, Sheriff Simon Wade addressed the court about the ongoing dog problem in the county. He posited the idea of having a county-wide agency and said he thought it would be helpful to have a working group to look into the issue. Commissioner Micah Evans made a motion to get a group together to come up with a plan to establish a county animal program and the motion was passed.
There have been rumors about demolition of the Family Dollar Store, White's Auto, Rotan Motor and the old teen center buildings. Commissioners court agenda item number seven verified the demo of Rotan Motor and the teen center as there was discussion of where to dispose of the rubble after the buildings are torn down.
Still no word on the other two buildings or the fate of Family Dollar.
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| - Stray dogs in Rotan - |
Item number 20 on the agenda is discuss and approve the formation of a working group to establish a county animal control program. This will be presented by Sheriff Simon Wade.
The entire agenda can be found on the Fisher County home page.
There was a lot of activity this morning in the heart of Rotan. Two main stores that were damaged by a June storm have remained closed since that time, but it looks like there is progress on the horizon.
White's Hardware had bulk items on the sidewalk out front in a very organized manner. The store had an entire section so damaged that it had to be demolished; the east side of the store that was used for storage.
The Family Dollar store looks empty, perhaps from work done by the salvage company that was mentioned at the last city meeting. There has been no word from the city or newspaper about the future of the store. An email sent to the corporate office (by me) asking if the store will be re-opened, rebuilt or closed has not received a reply. There are two large roll-off dumpsters in front of the store.
Further down, close to Ray's on the west end, men were pulling material (plywood and such) off of a trailer and it looked like they were ready to fix something.
Take a cruise around the drag and check it out.
Fisher County produced 2,464,924 barrels of oil in the first half of 2023.
The top two producing operators for that time period are Clear Fork, Inc., at 866,423 barrels, and Moriah Operating, LLC, with 546,254.
The top producing lease is the Jenna Unit, coming in with 313,179 barrels at the half year mark. Moriah operates this lease.
Both Clear Fork and Moriah operate wells in the Garden City, S. (Wolfcamp) field.
Data extracted from the Railroad Commission of Texas website.
Browning Oil Company, Inc. (BOCI), an oil operating company, has partnered with Peak 10 Energy, an oil and gas acquisition and development company that manages investing.
The portfolio building company is listed under many different iterations of Peak 10, LSCP, and Registered Agents Inc. on the Texas Comptroller's website. This endeavor, Peak 10 Energy, is the newest configuration, licensed in 2023.
Browning is well known in Fisher County and currently has 53 oil drilling permits listed with the Railroad Commission in the county, and also has local mineral holdings, according to the Fisher County Appraisal District records.
A press release issued in August stated assets had been acquired by Peak 10 Energy in Fisher and Scurry counties.
Here are a few things that I would like people who write to remember:
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| - Fire behind the mountains - |
According to information from KTXS News in Abilene, the billowing smoke that could be seen yesterday on the northern horizon near Rotan, behind the Double Mountains, was from the Peacock Fire in Stonewall County, and 2,000 acres burned as of midnight last night.
In the Fire and Smoke section of the Austin American-Statesman, the fire was listed as 75% contained at 2:17 p.m. today. It also says the fire management complexity is a type 5 incident and the fire cause is undetermined.
Wildfires can be tracked on the smoke map provided by the Statesman.
The National Interagency Coordination Center also has a fire map.
The Peacock Fire has left a thin haze around the mountains.
Total dollars returned to a local sales taxing city by the Texas Comptroller's office for their local sales tax collections are used as an economic indicator.
Roby receives 1% back of the 8.25% it remits to the state for local sales tax, while Rotan receives 2%.
Rotan received $25,586.60 from the comptroller's office this August, down from the August 2022 amount of $27,007.75. The city's year-to-date amount is also down from last year, $174,768.89, compared to $182,822.13 for 2022.
Roby's monthly amount is also down at $4,932.58, compared to last year's $6,689.01. That city's year-to-date is higher, at $46,803.70, compared to $39,197.15 at this time in 2022.
Rotan's decrease could be due to the loss of two major businesses, White's Hardware and Family Dollar Store. Both were shut down after suffering excessive roof and building damages from a June storm.
Rumors have White's not reopening and the Dollar Store being rebuilt at a different site within Rotan.
More figures and facts about sales tax allocations can be found on the Texas Comptroller's website.
The old Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation site on State Highway 70, south of Rotan, recently changed hands.
The Rotan Economic Development Corporation sold the 4 acre property to the Rincon Property Group on June 28. Half the mineral rights were conveyed in the transaction.
The current market appraisal on this lot, including land and improvements, is $111,180.00.
Information gleaned from Texas File and the Fisher County Appraisal District.
Well, the rumors are true, then.
After an executive session during the April commissioners meeting, people around Rotan were asking each other if Fisher County still had a sheriff. I kept asking them, "What are y'all talking about?", and they would just shrug their shoulders and say "I don't know, I just heard we don't have a sheriff."
Although there was no public record of the subject or decision of that session, that is when people started saying that Sheriff Randy Ford had resigned.
People say gossip is a sin, but it's really the best, and sometimes only, way to hear news.
"Appoint New Sheriff" is number 14 on the agenda for the July 10 commissioners meeting.
7/10/2023 update:
Commissioners unanimously voted for Simon Wade, resident of the McCaulley area, to assume duty as Fisher County Sheriff.
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| - FM 611 South - |
It sure is nice to have a high of 81 early in June. My records say that it got to 103 this time last year. High humidity, daily rains and intense, intermittent sunshine are working to make the gardens grow and the grass green. I saw some cotton was already up on Camp Springs road, close to Snyder. I've measured over 6 1/2 inches of rain since May 9.
I've got quite an investment in Off! bug spray. I think the orange cans are the best. I'm working on my small motor skills with the flyswatter. I can't stand the smell of fly spray, but I've got some for desperate times.
Rain chances are ongoing for next week. What a stellar summer we've got started.
There is a message at the top of the the Fisher County Appraisal District website that states: "Attention land owners, we are currently correcting land values due to a system mistake. Please bear with us as we correct these errors. We apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused."
I think it would have been better to send letters to the landowners, or to have placed an article in the newspaper, instead of issuing a random notice on the internet. They sure didn't spare a stamp to give me notice that they were doubling land valuation on scrap lots I own, where the only improvement I've made is mowing.
The Fisher CAD still operates under a cloak of darkness, despite the scandalous embezzlement committed by a clerk and the questionable actions of the appraiser that formerly ran that office.
The meetings are not publicized. Notices of the agenda aren't placed in the paper, minutes are not printed afterwards. I have seen no news of the rearrangement of the board since the chairman died, no mention of candidates that the entities have put forward to fill that vacancy, other than the commissioner's choice of Micah Evans, announced during a video of a commissioners meeting.
It is puzzling that there is not more scrutiny of the appraisal district's activities. Their actions affect every citizen in the county.
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| - Mesa Verde - |
A permit for this lease was originally submitted by Browning Oil Company on April 14. It was then applied by and approved for Clear Fork on May 4.
The lease is 12 miles southwest of Rotan, near Hobbs.
The rig is located on Section 67, Block 2 of the HT&C RR survey. It will run from the north side of 67 to the south side of Section 8, Block 3 of the HT&C RR survey, crossing under Farm to Market 1614.
The total planned horizontal length from penetration point to the bottom hole is 10,070 .73 yards (about 5 1/2 miles).
The well is permitted for a depth of 7500 feet.
More information about this well can be found on the Rail Road Commission website.
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| - Controlled burn - |
Commissioners voted unanimously to nominate Micah Evans as their candidate to fill a vacancy on the Fisher County Appraisal District Board.
The vacancy is due to the recent death of Chairman Pete Garcia.
At the February 6 CAD meeting, board members elected Hunter Stuart as chairman, Mike Noell as vice chairman, and David Mullins as secretary.
Evans is precinct four commissioner and a member of the CAD Ag Advisory Committee.
The burn ban was rescinded March 9 by Fisher County Judge Ken Holt after recent rains. Commissioners allowed the decision to stand by taking no action.
The State vs. Shawn Casey Adkins jury trial is listed on the 32nd Judicial District Court calendar for April 11, but KWES TV out of Odessa is reporting that the trial has been moved to August 7 or September 11 of this year.
The news station cited Mitchell County District Clerk as their source for this information.
Adkins is accused of murdering Hailey Dunn, age 13, on December 26, 2010.
Update July 2023: Shawn Adkins was released from jail at the end of June and no trial is set for the murder charge.
The Railroad Commission of Texas reports that Fisher County produced 4,150,125 barrels (BBL) of oil in 2022. Here are the top ten producing leases:
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| - Earthquake damage - |
This was the first one that caused breakage. Glasses fell out of the kitchen cabinets and broke, a bunch of marbles in glass jars hit the bricks around the wood stove, and everything fell out of the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. It was an alarming way to wake up. It was followed up by a few tremors that had me yelling "dammit!".
Although this one was deemed a 4.3 magnitude by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), it did more damage here and was scarier than the 5.4 quake we had last November, because we're practically on the epicenter, the Scurry/Fisher County line.
It's time to strap the televisions to the wall and put the knick-knacks away, or just get used to cleaning up messes.There have been at least 15 quakes and tremors in the last few weeks.
Stats on recent earthquakes can be found on the USGS site, and you can report if you felt it.
Update, 6:26 p.m.: The earthquake was upgraded to a 4.7. There have been several small quakes/tremors throughout the day. It's got me feeling gun shy.
Fisher County Commissioners will hold a special meeting Thursday, February 16, 10:30 a.m. to approve road crossing permits for Caliper Energy.
The permits are for county roads 403 and 414, and will be presented to the court by Lance Barrett, Vice President of Caliper.
Four permits for Caliper were approved at the last meeting on Monday for county roads 317 and 324. The 403 and 414 permits were not on the agenda, prompting the need for another meeting as approval is needed by the company before the next regular commissioners meeting.
The special meeting will take place in the Commissioners Courtroom, located in the Fisher County Judge's office.
Fisher County Commissioners will meet tomorrow at 9 a.m. in the county courtroom.
New items of business will include: several purchases for the sheriff's office; a new digital sign for the courthouse; $17,500 from Baywa as per abatement agreement; and approval of road crossing permits.
The burn ban is also on the agenda, which can be found on the Fisher County home page.
I happily picked up my free yearly Farmer's Almanac yesterday at a local store, thinking with pleasure about perusing it while daydreaming about seeds I want to plant too early.
I opened the little book up this morning and on page six I found a very bizarre article.
What caught my eye was a catch line that reads "Checking Your Banking And Investments." I'm pretty good about staying on top of all that, but wondered what people are not doing, other than not reconciling or looking at balances.
In this two paragraph snippet, it calls for investors to move everything away from coal, oil, gas and transportation.
That's just about everything that makes life possible on the farm, or anywhere.
What an odd thing to be in the Farmer's Almanac. It seems counterintuitive, like it's written for another culture.
It is such a broad, sweeping condemnation, almost like Jean Grigsby, author of the article "What Can You Do to Help Slow the Effects of Climate Change," had no idea who the target audience was going to be. Is Grigsby a farmer? How does this person run their tractors? How do they get crops to market?
Shoot, I'm disappointed, just like when I figured out Mother Earth News and The Rolling Stone were political. I almost wish I was ignorant and could just enjoy reading magazines without seeing the bent.
P.S. Farmer's Almanac and Old Farmer's Almanac are two different publications. I'll have to pick up (and pay for) a copy of the latter, and hope not to be disheartened.
A look at the 32nd District Court calendar does not make it clear where Shawn Adkins will be tried for the 2010 murder of Hailey Dunn.
Here are the dates and explanations set for Adkins on the docket:
February 10, final plea hearing in Nolan County;
April 11, jury trial, Nolan County (venue moved);
April 12, jury trial, Fisher County (venue moved);
April 14, jury trial, Nolan County (venue moved).
If it is moved to Fisher County, that would make the third change of venue for this trial which was originally set in Mitchell County, where the crime occurred.
It seems like lately John Cougar's (pre-Mellencamp) song Jack and Diane keeps popping up in my thoughts and conversations. That song always takes me down a well-worn path of a single memory. I try to hold it at bay, because, by this point, it is tiring. I've been thinking about it for forty years.
It's no big thing, kind of like every time I put on mascara I'll remember a girl named Janie telling me I need to put some on the top of my lashes, and every time I shave my legs I remember a boy named Gary telling me he dreamed that the back of my legs were super hairy, behind the knees. Every single time, for forty years.
One evening, 1982-83, in downtown Sweetwater, my friend Dawn and I were at the pool hall, where the grocery store management company is now, by Dairyland. I wasn't particularly comfortable being there, it wasn't my kind of crowd, but Dawn wanted to talk to somebody who was there. I was talking to Gerilyn Stone out in the parking lot, and I reluctantly lent her my American Fool cassette, which had that seminal song on it. I never got it back.
Around that same time, Gerilyn's mom rented the house next to ours out at Lake Sweetwater, in the Fireman's Point vicinity. There was a big blow-out of a party at Gerilyn's one night. I took a couple of friends to it, parking up from my house, so my folks wouldn't see my car.
I can't believe it, but I drank beer out of a cowboy boot that night. That's how good that party was.
When the shout went up that we were about to be raided, my buddies and I took off running. We piled into the car and I drove through some bushes trying to get out of there before the cops came. I took my friends back to town, then came back home and had to act like I was as peeved as my folks that there was a party next door and that there were cars parked all in our driveway and yard. It's pretty funny that my parents were the ones who called the sheriff.
Gerilyn died a few years ago. I can't say that we were part of each other's lives. The last time I saw her was at Willie's Farm Aid in 1986, out by Austin. She was riding in the back of a pick-up with a bunch of other people. She was waving and laughing, much like she always was in my recollection of her. That's a pretty good way to remember somebody. That gal was always up to something.
My favorite part of the song is this:
Let it rock, let it roll,
Let the bible bounce,
Come and save my soul,
Hold on to sixteen,
As long as you can,
Changes come around real soon,
Make us women and men.
And how.
P. S. I like bible bounce instead of bible belt. My interpretation.
Pete Garcia, Sr. of Rotan died Friday, January 13. His services were held at the Rotan Church of Christ Thursday, January 19. He was buried at Belvieu Cemetery outside of Rotan.
Mr. Garcia was the current chairman of the Fisher County Appraisal Board and formerly served as the Rotan City Mayor.
His funeral was directed by Weathersbee Ray Funeral Home.
I was looking for something, who knows what, in the Texas Tech online digital world, when I came across a publication called The Lone Coyote, published in 1908. I couldn't make out what it was about, even though it purported to be "The Official Howler for Fisher and 247 other counties". The office location was reported as being in the first dugout, south side of Double Mountain Canyon.
After reading several articles and realizing it was all tongue in cheek, I saw the name Don H. Biggers listed as "by". A little searching revealed that Biggers was the publisher of the Rotan Advance 1907-1909, as well as many other undertakings, which is putting it mildly. He was a prolific writer of west Texas life and politics. He owned, wrote and published several newspapers, and was the author of many articles and books. He was also a farmer and a Texas House Representative.
What caught my eye in this second issue of The Lone Coyote was his definition of a newspaper, thus follows:
"If I were writing a dictionary for academic and family use, and came to define the modern daily newspaper, I should endeavor to briefly cover the subject about as follows:
"A medium the chief mission of which is to declare dividends, disseminate accounts of degrading crime, demoralizing scandal, and shocking casualties; a panderer to the stupid mental cravings of mankind; the champion of partisan politics and a producer of prejudice; a plaything for plutocrats and a stranger to principle; a debaucher of morals; an advertising directory of frauds; the apex of folly and the parade ground of vanity; the product of brains; the output of peons and the servant of scoundrels; a revealer of infamy and a concealer of sin; the megaphone of demagogues; a saint in pretensions and a hypocrite in performance; a reeking, putrid mess of mankind's filthy conduct, paraded without shame as the triumph of enterprise; the moulder of men's nations, yet a meddler rather than an agency; a fusion of facts, fiction, falsehoods, folly and indigestible bombast; the cheapest excursion route for busy people to migrate to uttermost realms of ignorance."
I wonder what he would have thought about presidents, governors and law makers "tweeting" and the loss of gravitas in those high stations? He may not have been surprised.
Biggers was a clever satirical writer and many of his works, serious articles as well, can be found in the Texas Tech University Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library.
Well known Fisher County citizen Richard Wright died last Thursday, January 12. He was 76.
A graveside service will be held Tuesday, January 17, 11 a.m., at the Hobbs Cemetery. Visitation will be Monday evening, 5:30 p.m., at Weathersbee Ray Funeral Home.
Flowers can be sent through Southern Touch Flower Shop.
The Fisher County Appraisal District site has a new look, with easier searching capability and a list of local taxing entities on the home page. All boards and members are listed distinctly on a separate page.
The Comptroller of Texas names Holly Bufkin as Fisher County Chief Appraiser (spelled Holli on that page). She is licensed as a property tax appraiser through the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation.
Current appraisal board members, according to the site, are Pete Garcia, Hunter Stuart, David Mullins, Chris Keiser and Michael Noell; appraisal review board members are Tommy Bibb, Brad Stuart, Cindy Greene and David Hudnall; agricultural advisory committee members are Terry Coker, Todd Coker, Micah Evans, Dennis Cumbie and Reid Cave.
The reappraisal plan for 2023/2024 can be found on the Resources page of the Fisher CAD site.
Fisher County Commissioners will meet next Wednesday to discuss policies on water line crossings. Reinstatement of the burn ban is also on the agenda.
The meeting will be held at 9 a.m. in the commissioners courtroom in the county judge's office.
My eighth grade government teacher must have said a million times, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse". I wonder if that includes ignorance of what kind of bail an arrested person will be given to get out of jail. The amount can seem arbitrary.
Say a person travels across Texas not wearing a seatbelt and holding marijuana, then gets pulled over and routed out; I understand the fault is on the individual for breaking the law, because in Texas seatbelts are mandatory and marijuana is illegal.
Then that person is given $505,000 bail. Unless that person is a murderer, terrorist or pedophile, it seems excessive.
Anyway, whatever my opinion is, this situation has happened to a young Massachusetts man, a kind of troubadour magician, who was passing through and visiting family in east Texas. He seems like an affable fellow and could use a little bit of help.
He's known as IE the Magician and has a gofundme page.
Back to my opinion. Some laws prey on those with the least resources or ability to maneuver the legal system, and the disparity between bail and crimes is egregious.
Another law in Texas is that bail amounts are required to be posted as public record and can be viewed at Texas Online Public Information. Comparisons can be made there.
Fisher County Commissioners court will meet this morning at 9 a.m. Pipeline permitting is on the agenda, along with county reports and sheriff's department requests. New commissioner Micah Evans will be attending for the first time, replacing Kevin Stuart, for precinct 4. The public is allowed to attend or you can watch online.
