XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.republicans, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: invalid@yahoo.com   
      
   Welcome to wild and wacky Godley, Texas, which derives its name not from   
   the Almighty, but from a lumber merchant who donated eight acres for its   
   future site in 1886.   
      
   Since then, Godley has grown into a municipality of about 2,000 that was   
   outwardly much like many others—until late last year, when the resignation   
   of the police chief was followed by the departure en masse of the city   
   administrator, the city attorney and the city secretary. City Hall itself   
   shut down and remains closed due to a staffing shortage.   
      
   “It’s like Parks and Rec, but for real, and less funny,” resident Warren   
   Norred wrote on Facebook.   
      
   The former police chief, Jason Jordan, triggered the other departures with   
   what has become known in Godley as “the blue folder.” The folder—a copy of   
   which Jordan left for each of the five city council members—contained   
   complaints filed against him by two officers. One, who is Black, charged   
   Jordan with demonstrating “racial animus.” The other officer alleged that   
   Jordan had body shamed him during a City Council meeting by suggesting he   
   is overweight.   
      
   As has been reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and confirmed to The   
   Daily Beast by a resident who has a copy, the folder also includes   
   Jordan’s written denials of the allegations. He says that the mayor and   
   the city attorney gave him a choice: resign or face a full investigation.   
   He says that he quit to avoid a protracted legal fight.   
      
   But Jordan was not done. He also filled the folder with diary entries and   
   texts and other papers that, in the view of City Council member Jennifer   
   Thompson, document a municipality in administrative and financial   
   disarray.   
      
   Thompson runs a pizzeria and she studied the papers with the eye of a   
   small business owner. She was shocked to see the town had no formal   
   inventory of its assets. Expenses were rounded off. And the budgets seemed   
   haphazard at best.   
      
   “Lots of red flags,” Thompson told The Daily Beast.   
      
   Thompson began asking lots of questions, and they were followed by lots of   
   resignations. The police chief had been immediately replaced by a sergeant   
   with the department, but the other vacancies could only be filled with the   
   approval of a majority of the City Council. Thompson and two others on the   
   five-member body were ready to reject the choices of the longtime mayor,   
   Acy McGehee. And since the mayor can only vote to break a tie, that meant   
   Thompson’s crew would be a 3-2 majority when it came to voting on the   
   replacements.   
      
   At the same time, Thompson submitted a list of more than a dozen major   
   items to be brought before the council: an asset inventory, budget lines,   
   employee qualifications, staff salaries, expenses, gifts received by city   
   officials. And she had the votes to pass them.   
      
   But two council members aligned with McGehee proved their loyalty by   
   joining him in simply not showing up to meetings on Dec. 27 and Jan. 13,   
   depriving the panel of a quorum under state law.   
      
   The next meeting was scheduled for Jan. 17 and it seemed the mayor might   
   have to finally face Thompson and the opposing majority. But when the day   
   approached, it turned out McGehee had failed to post the agenda 72 hours   
   in advance, as required by state law.   
      
   Another meeting was set for Feb. 7, and this time the agenda was posted   
   ahead of the deadline. Among the items: the appointment of a law firm that   
   the mayor favored to serve as the new city attorney.   
      
   When Thompson turned into her regular parking spot on Feb. 7 to attend the   
   meeting, a police car was standing with the motor running.   
      
   “I got there 30 minutes early,” she later told The Daily Beast. “So I can   
   get all my ducks in a row.”   
      
   The police car pulled up behind her. Two officers, a male and a female,   
   stepped out. The male officer strode up her driver’s side window.   
      
   “We have a warrant for your arrest, we need you to vacate your vehicle,”   
   the male officer said by Thompson’s account.   
      
   “What am I being arrested for?” Thompson asked.   
      
   The male officer repeated the command. Thompson repeated the question. The   
   female officer joined the exchange, saying, “After I handcuff you and get   
   you in the car, I’ll show you the warrant.”   
      
   Thompson recalls that the handcuffs were very tight as she sat in the back   
   of the police car. The male officer gave her the Miranda rights.   
      
   “What is the warrant for?” Thompson asked again.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)