The Collin County Observer™

Absolutely unbelievable!

I hope that all the voters in Collin County are aware of this arrogant behavior.

Who are the bosses/supervisors of these women? Is it the Collin County Commissioners? Who is responsible for allowing these women back to work?

If those person(s) are elected officials, then I hope they are voted out of office in November.

And speaking of shady deals and corruption, you can take 20 year incumbent Sam Johnson with them along with the no-bid multimillion dollar contract that the Collin County commissioners handed to Sam Johnson's son in 2006.

Clean out the entire nest in November.

Since they have only been accused of crimes and are, therefore, presumed innocent, I think it is the right thing for them to continue to work. Afterall, what a travesty it would be for them to be fired and then later acquitted of the charges. Patience is a virtue Bill especially when it comes to taking actions based only on accusations.

We have a trial system in this country because we don't want the DA to be accuser, judge & jury - right???

Well, let's see. Judge (Mr.) Wheless, Judge (Mrs.) Wheless, DA Roach, Judge Roach, Judge (Mrs.) Willis, DA (soon to be) (Mr.) Willis....have you all been living under a rock? Guess it smells worse if you are a clerk or support staff. The Republican Party has condoned and supported this type of "government". If these clerks had the money and apparent power and connections as the above judges and spouses, they would be able to continue with this family affair and the public could continue to pretend this courthouse is not corrupt. I'm just saying.

Another awakening for you folks climbing out from under the rock, all this is under the watch of none other than Keith Self, your County Judge. Yep, all this on his watch and you still won't be able to help yourself; yes, you will leave the powers to be where they are. Pitiful, sad, and irresponsible community. I say get off these folks back so much, you reap what you sow. That is unless you are using them for a diversion. Hummmmm.

Seems to me that if Ms Kunkle was running as tight a ship as she has claimed she would not allow the indicted employees access to the building. Put 'em on administrative leave.....NOW!

(BTW --- anybody else notice how Crigger couldn't look directly into the camera when she was getting her mug shot taken? Hummm..???)

I hope they do know that this is not the only department where supervisors get by with anything and everything.

It is a disgrace that these women are allowed in the DC dept until they have cleared their name.
The Rangers should walk them to the door & dont come back till you pay back the money you cheated the taxpayes out of.
This entire county smell's, some city council's that have their own agendas & dont really care about most citizens. THAT IS CORRUPTION!

For me, I wouldn't have such a bad taste in my mouth about this if it wasn't for some of the supervisors who ADVERTISE, EXPLOIT AND ABUSE the fact that they are "DISTRICT CLERKS". I don't believe a police officer should get favors just because he's a police officer and I don't believe it's fair that NAMELY ONE of the DC supervisors throws it around that she is a DC. You shouldn't be able to break the law and get away with it just because you flash a badge that says you work at the DC's office. Rules are rules and whether you work at Wal-Mart or at @ the DC's office you should have to abide by them. I bet if records were pulled 10+ years back you'd find the same thing. I'm kind of envious that they get a separate set of "vacation time" I wish my supervisor would allow it. I'd love some additional time off. 2 weeks of vacation goes by fast when you use it all for your kid's sporting events and doctor visits. So if @ least 1 of the supervisors was putting out Crigger signs on a Saturday does she get paid time off for that too? Can we start knocking on their doors at home and ask them for a refund on some of our property taxes??!! I am anxious to send the end result.

Its amazing to me that Hannah Kunkle won't put them on administrative leave. Its up to her, but why would she? After all she knew all about the trip to Oklahoma and was invited to go along with the 6. Hannah is not innocent in all of this, she knows exactly what goes on. So yes, they are still coming to work, collecting their paycheck and have their same supervisor positions. If any of the peons in the office had gotten indicted I bet they would be off on administrative leave !!!

Clearly, work is not finished cleaning up that office, its employees,
they are a disgrace to the entire
Collin County.

Come on, Bill. We are all innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. I think the use of the word "criminal" is taking this a little too far.
It is interesting to me, all of you who have already tried and convicted these six. This is America. We all, each of you too, has the right to a fair trial.
And, as for the Willis's and Wheeless's, regardless of the fact that they happen to be married, these four people happen to be some of the most decent, honest, caring, fair individuals that we have at that courthouse. We, the citizens of Collin County are blessed to have each one of them.

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The Observer responds:

Kim, i didn't say "criminals," I said "Accused criminals." There is a difference, you know.

I really have a hard time imagining that I'm out of line in demanding that these indicted supervisors be placed on leave.

Would you wait for a fair trial if a judge you were before was accused of taking bribes from your opponent? Would you be content to allow him to render a verdict while his own trial was pending?

Would you wait for a fair trial if these were teachers accused of misconduct with kids, or would you want them out of the classroom while awaiting trial?

How about your bank teller? Should an indicted teller accused of fraud continue to dispense cash, or would a leave of absence be more appropriate until their day in court?

Come on, putting these ladies on leave not only protects our court system, it protects them. They are in a position where an obstruction of justice or suborning a witness accusation is but one ill-placed comment away.

I believe, as I'm sure you do too, that our courts must be as free from the taint of misconduct as we can possibly make them. These ladies are not being accused of traffic violations, but of on-the-job felony theft.

Put them on leave.

Bill

Come on Hannah, put them on leave and quit putting your head in the sand. They aren't the ones that run the office anyway, all of the other clerks DO the work, not just plan parties, walk around the office checking on everyone else, or babysit one of the other clerks grandbabies while her daughter is getting her divorce. Grow some and put them on leave or is that showing your guilt to?

Kim / Bill,
I agree with each of you on different points -

First, I do believe that it would be prudent to put the 6 on administrative leave. This practice does not always imply guilt (such as when police are put on administrative leave for an internal affairs investigation - or after a shooting). Or even better, have them temporarily re-assigned to do alternate work for the county, since we would be paying their salaries / benefits until after the trial. If they are cleared of these charges, let them go back - if not, terminate them.

Second, I agree with Kim when she stated, "And, as for the Willis's and Wheeless's, regardless of the fact that they happen to be married, these four people happen to be some of the most decent, honest, caring, fair individuals that we have at that courthouse. We, the citizens of Collin County are blessed to have each one of them."

Finally, I would like to know (organizationally) under whose authority it truly is to place these 6 indicted DC Supervisors on administrative leave?? I realize how tempting it is to some of you to take a stab at those that you want to vote out of office, but I would prefer that issues such as this be handled correctly, instead of the person(s) at the top making an immediate edict without giving their subordinate managers in the chain of command the opportunity to deal with it first. Hopefully, out of this situation, our Commissioners will pass some kind of policy regarding how to deal with this situation in the future. I would hope that this would be a wake-up call and that present or potential offenders would change their practices, but unfortunately, corruption happens - and we need to have an action plan in place to deal with it in the future.

p.s. Emma, give it up already. I am growing weary of your droning on about the same old tired issue. Please stop trying to promote yourself and stay on topic.

Seems to be a very fine line between your use of "criminal" and "accused criminal" Bill. They are actually citizens accused of a crime and not accused criminals. Semantics are very important Bill - as you know - especially in your business. I agree with you most of the time - but not on this one.

All of us clerks that work in the DC office are NOT a disgrace to the office. We didn't make the rules and invent the blue book or free days. We are good workers and know our jobs. Do not judge us until you have walked in our shoes. Have you not ever worked anywhere that you had to play the game in order to keep your job? There have been plenty of clerks that have left the office and went to personnel to tell what was going on and NOTHING was ever done about it so that led the rest of us to keep our mouths shut so we could keep our jobs, pay our bills and feed our families. I am a Collin County tax payer too. I don't think you would have blew the whistle if you knew nothing was gonna be done about it. I'm glad it is out in the open but I DON'T think I should lose my job over it. I didn't key in the time, didn't make the rules and ALLOW it to go on for 20 something years. Get your facts before you go accusing all of the clerks because we are not ALL guilty. The Rangers have done a great job so far, they got the ones that were organizing the rules and telling all of us what to do and when to do it. I'm embarrassed for all of us.


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The Observer responds:

I asked the county's personnel department about your comment. They were adamant that they would not have ignored allegations of cheating or faking time sheets.

If you have first hand information about cheating or how reporting violations were ignored, I suggest you take your facts to the County Auditor, or the District Attorney.

Good luck to you, I have to say your comment caused me to really reflect on how this scandal affects the individual employee in the District clerk's office.

Thank you for sharing your perspective.

Bill

My error, I did not mean to accuse all working in this DC office. The 6
that have charges against them was what I ment.
But surely this has gone on for a long time, and have to wonder if this is the only dept and who all really knew what was going on.
This Court House now has such a reputation that no matter what any of us think, in the pages of history it will always be noted at this date as "dirty".
So, who can clean that up?

update regarding authority to put on administrative leave, etc...
On another thread, Bill posted this:

"Hannah Kunkle was elected District Clerk. She reports to the voters. Only she can hire, fire, or discipline one of her employees.

The Commissioners Court has no authority.

As long as she is in office, it's her call."

Prior to seeing this post, I checked with the Commissioners and got the same answer. So there you have it. Kunkle has sole discretion in this matter.

I agree with Kim, "Conservative Frisco Voter", and Bob. I think we'd all be better off if the criminal process was allowed to do it's thing.

It's not completely clear that extra days off, which is what so many folks are up in arms about, is outside of the elected official's discretion. I'm not saying I like it, but my dislike doesn't make it illegal. Ed Housewright's article this morning seems to focus a little better on actionable behavior (1) Using county email for poltical purposes; (2) Making campaign work a condition of employment; and (3) Falsifying time records.

Bill, I just don't know why you're so heated up over this. There's a criminal prosecution in progress and we're going to see all this resolved on it's merits--probably very soon, by legal standards. If you focused this same relentless zeal on the Fusion Center corruption and it's ties to Keith Self and Sam Johnson, maybe you'd drum up support to fix a problem that is really costing tax payers a lot of money and making them less secure than they otherwise would be.

Are the gals in the Clerk's office just easier targets?


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The Observer responds:

Cheap shot, Tom.

As you well know, it was The Observer that brought the financial irregularities and civil liberty concerns of the Fusion System to the attention of the local and national press.

I continue to watch and monitor the operation. When the voters want the Fusion Center to close, they can do so by making it an election issue priority. In the meantime, consulting costs to Dr. Bob Johnson have gone down radically, competitive bidding is now required, their mission has been scaled back, and both the USDHS and the ACLU are looking over their shoulder. I'd say we made some serious progress.

The issue with the District Clerk's office is one of theft of tax money. The Observer has called for the indicted leaders to take a leave of absence, and we have written extensively on what happened and who is alleged to have done it.

I have called for the firing of anyone who signed a false time sheet. I stand by that. Firing is a civil matter, no law anywhere requires (nor should it) a criminal conviction first.

I have called for the resignation of Hannah Kunkle. I stand by that. It is obvious that she is responsible for the actions of her Chief Deputy and other supervisors. I mean, if she's not responsible, then who the heck is?

I know the dilemma faced by our local attorneys. I agree that Collin County's lawyers are in general well served by the District Clerk's office.

But that doesn't give the District Clerk the license to steal. A hard line must be drawn. Be you Republican, Democrat, man, woman, good at your job or inept -- if you cheat the taxpayers two things will happen:

1. You will lose your job.
2. You will be prosecuted.


Thank you for your response.

Bill

Where there's smoke, there's fire and this tells me that improprieties go on in other areas too. For instance, how can an experienced Probate Judge and seasoned Attorney skip obvious steps in a simple probate case. I wonder how often this happens???

I HAVE SPENT OVER $230,000'S PLUS 13 YEARS OF MY LIFE "FULL TIME"; JUST TRYING TO REPORT CRIMINAL ACTS BY BANKS, ATTORNEY'S, DRUG MONEY LAUNDERS; AND ... ONCE JUDGE NATHAN WHITE CREATED A BOGUS $268,000 JUDGEMENT/ BRIBE MONEY? THEN, NO ATTORNEY, AND NO LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY; NOT EVEN THE FBI WOULD EVEN LET ME FILE REPORTS WITH EVIDENCE; AND WHEN I MAILED MY REPORT AND EVIDENCE TO DA JOHN ROACH; HE DECIDED TO FILE HARRASSMENT CHARGES ON ME INSTEAD OF FILING MY REPORT. IN BRIEF, I LEARNED THAT MY IDENTITY WAS TAKEN BY ASSOCIATES OF DRUG KING PEN LORD, SANDY PROFAHL BEFORE HE WENT TO PRISON AND WHEN HE GOT OUT OF PRISON; A SCHEME KNOWN TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTS; AS A METHOD USED TO LAUNDER LARGE AMOUNTS OF ILLEGALLY OBTAINED MONEY AND ILLEGALLY OBTAIN MORE MONEY BY MAKING ME THINK THAT I WAS INVESTING IN LEGAL BUSINESS'S AND THEN BY WAY OF CORRUPT ATTORNEY'S POWER; CORRUPT INSIDERS OF BANKS POWER; THEFT OF DRIVERS LICENSE.
THERE WAS AN ATTEMPT ON MY LIFE BUT NO COLLIN COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY; NOT EVEN THE FBI HAS EVER ALLOWED MY FACTUAL REPORTS TO BE FILED OF RECORD;... WAKE UP CITIZENS OF TEXAS;...I WENT AS FAR AS ANY HUMAN BEING CAN GO IN AN ATTEMPT TO DO NOTHING OTHER THAN REPORT CRIMINAL ACTS AND GET THIS.... WHENEVER I MENTION THAT ATTORNEY'S ARE INVOLVED IN ANY CRIMES; THEN, ALL GOVERNMENT AGENCY DOORS CLOSED ON ME... NO GOVERNMENT AGENCY IN TEXAS OR WASHINGTON DC OR DALLAS OR COLLIN COUNTY WILL EVER MEET WITH ME OR LET ME REPORT OF RECORD.... ANY ONE OF OVER 10 CRIMINAL ACTS. INSTEAD, I LEARNED IN MARCH 2010 THAT WHILE 8 ATTORNEY'S;JUDGES, FBI, DA JOHN ROACH, POLICE. .. PEVENTED MY REPORTS FROM BEING TAKEN; FRAUDULENTLY CREATED DOCUMENTS WERE FILED OF FBI, POLICE, COURT AND PUBLIC RECORDS. IT'S WORSE THAN ANYONE COULD POSSIBLY IMAGINE. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS JUSTICE.
IT'S ALL ABOUT ... MONEY TO THE GOOD OLD BOY NETWORK

My role as a service member in Afghanistan was to retrain the Afghan National Police since they had become corrupt. I think we need to clean up our own backyard prior to cleaning someone else's.

The Dallas News today is reporting that 36 Dallas constables are being investigated for misrepresenting the truth in police reports (government documents). We have a very serious problem in this area--in not just Collin County.

It's safe to say that when you contact your local state representative to report a problem -- it will be an effort in futility.

People of Collin County: When you protest your property taxes, ask for the evidence they will use to support their figures. They will take 5 sales comps. Then they will make all sorts of "adjustments" to the sales comps numbers. In my own case, the "adjustments" caused the price per square foot of the comps to go up in 4 of 5 comps by almost $10/sq. foot. When I went to my hearing, no one could give me the numbers to support how the "adjustments" are calculated. They just gave me a lot of spin and told me "the computer automatically calculates them." When I asked their lead appraisors for the numbers to back up the "adjustments" they did not want to give me them. They did, however, admit that those "adjustments" are based on "subjective" criteria and that other appraisors could get those same "adjustments" to be lower or higher. I told them I want to challenge the "adjustments" so I need to know how they came up with them. They are still refusing. How are we, the taxpayers, supposed to interpret that? They are required by the tax code to give us the full evidence within 14 days of the hearing if timely requested.

I just wanted taxpayers to know that we need to demand the support for these "adjustments" because if you walk in with your own "comps," they will make "adjustments" to those comps. Therefore, you can't know how to properly challenge their evidence prior to the hearing and even at the hearing. This violates the tax codes. We, the people, have a right to know how they come up with their values.

Please contact me if you want to discuss how a group of us can do something about this lack of transparency.

I've learned that there are no governent agency's or attorney's who will ever expose "the game of the corrupt good old boy network" in Texas, Washington DC, California, or Florida because anyone who attempts to expose them; know that they too could end up seriously hurt, killed or sit up by way of fraudulently created charges and proven by fraudulently created documents and purgered testimony.