The Week in Review
What a week! Glad it’s over!
Monday started it off with a bang. We had a Commissioners Court meeting, and I left the meeting frustrated. That feeling carried forward most of the week.
Tuesday was a county holiday in honor of Veteran’s Day, but the kids still had to go to school. I dropped them off at 7:30am, and drove by the courthouse on my way to the jail. As I passed the courthouse, I noticed the AVS vending truck out front and two AVS employees trying to get in the courthouse, so I pulled over and stopped to help. They were there to refill the vending machines, so I let them in thinking it couldn’t take too long… They left almost after more than an hour.
In the meantime, I walked through the tunnel to the jail to do magistrate warnings for new inmates. (As an aside, I have been going to the jail twice a day on weekdays and at least once a day on the weekends to do warnings and set bonds for inmates since the failed bond election on November 4th. I have been setting lower bonds on misdemeanor cases - especially those offenses for which citations are now permissible - and I am paying close attention to the allegations and the individual charged to determine appropriate bond amounts. It has had a positive effect on jail population. It is my goal to continue this - and look at other ways to reduce jail population despite the fact that it will probably mean releasing inmates who would ordinarily be kept in jail pending trial. The people have spoken, and the message I heard was that they don’t want to pay to house inmates.)
It had begun to rain during this time, and as I walked through the tunnel I located a couple of problematic leaks. Also, the downtime gave me an opportunity to make a list of other concerns with facilities to discuss with our Physical Plant Director, Steve Christian.
When I returned from jail the vending guys were almost done. I let them out of the courthouse, and headed to see the kids’ Veteran’s Day performance at school. They did a great job! Afterwards, I had lunch with a good friend and headed back to the office. Just as I pulled into my parking space my wife called to say that my daughter had a fever and needed to be picked up from school, so I headed to school and picked her up. We went to CVS to get medicine, and I brought her back to the office, so she could rest on my couch. So much for work. She fell asleep in my office, and I couldn’t get much work done because I had the lights turned down low.
Wednesday was another hectic day. It was filled with many meetings. At lunch I had to pick Mallory up from school again (she was committed to NOT getting an absence even though she didn’t feel well) and I took her to the doctor, got a prescription filled and bought her a cot for a side office so she could rest but also allow me to get some work done.
Thursday was another hectic day of meetings. I hardly had time to sit down.
Friday was better. I had some much needed desk time.
Saturday began with call from Tyler PD asking me to sign a search warrant for a residence that was the location of a homicide. After signing the warrant, I performed magistrate duties at the jail, then I went to the crime scene to see if Tyler PD needed me to assist with an arrest warrant. After talking to the officers there, I went to get the kids and my dad to go to breakfast. We at a great meal at Dewayne’s on 5th Street. A couple of hours later, the investigating officers came to my house to get me to review an arrest warrant affidavit I signed the warrant authorizing the arrest of the homicide suspect, and couple of hours after that the officers came to my house again to get a search warrant for the suspect’s house. It’s been a long day, and I am ready to hit the sack.
