Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 300, Ed. 1 Monday, May 29, 2017 Page: 3 of 14
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STATE/NATIONAL
3A
Denton Record-Chronicle
Monday, May 29, 2017
Sequels: Roofer arrested, congressman gets sign
Denton County elections
The book on Denton County’s
November election fiasco can now be
closed after a three-page letter ar-
rived from the Texas secretary of
state. The Watchdog and County
Judge Mary Horn’s constituents had
begged her to let an outside party
look into the problem. She eventu-
ally came around.
The SoS confirmed the many prob-
lems with ballots, machines, counting,
voter assistance, incorrect signage and,
well, what’s left?
The cause was “insufficient staffing”
in the elections office. Case closed.
n this Memorial Day weekend,
The Watchdog catches you up
on recent stories. Sometimes
we don’t get to share the endings.
Here are the sequels.
Sad to report that my once-favorite,
all-time contractor was arrested this
month by Arlington police and
charged with theft of services. I was
Walter “Ty” Head’s biggest fan after he
solved my air conditioning problems
more than two decades ago when no
one else could. He was my AC hero.
Then recently he became a roofer.
Widow Rebecca Counts told The
Watchdog how she gave him $11,000
to make repairs and replace her roof.
He never did anything, she said.
I tried to contact Head, but
couldn’t find him. Arlington police
did. Say it ain’t so, Ty.
After my story on U.S. Rep. Kenny
Marchant, the Incognito Congress-
man, things improved at his Irving
district office. The Watchdog told you
how knocks at his office door went
unanswered. There was no sign on the
door identifying it as a congressman’s
office. No signs outside either.
Constituents left gifts and cards by
the door and posted images on social
media. Where’s Kenny?
After my story, “They allowed us in
Raul Nuques, promised to clean up a
culture of corruption. He hired South-
erland and his team to conduct a
fraud audit.
The audit recommended the dis-
missal of several employees who were
friends and family of the board. For
that, Nuques was fired.
The Texas Education Agency an-
nounced in April a plan to take over
the district and appoint a new super-
intendent. A state-ordered conserva-
tor was placed in the district, too.
Last week, the TEA gave the dis-
trict a second chance — by not com-
pletely taking over the struggling
district. The superintendent and
board members, after undergoing
training, get to keep their jobs.
Frymire Services of Dallas, a long-
time heating and air company, filed
bankruptcy and shut down. I shared
the story of my dealings with the
company from two decades ago as a
homeowner, calling them “a parade of
nincompoops masquerading as air
conditioning repair techs.”
I wasn’t surprised when they closed.
Now they’re open again, with the
same name but under new ownership.
Old warranties under the original
company are being honored, general
manager Ken Elowe says.
O
ABOUT THIS COLUMN
The Watchdog Desk works for you to
shine light on questionable practices in
business and government. We welcome
your story ideas and tips.
VzxS’'
Contact The Watchdog
Email: watchdog@dallasnews.com
Call: 214-977-2952
Write: Dave Lieber, P.0. Box 655237,
Dallas, TX 75265
i
Dave Lieber
THE WATCHDOG
COMMENTARY
took “Public” out of the name when it
became clear the UC isn’t serving us.)
Nelson deserves credit for working
to improve the all-important Power-
ToChoose.org electricity shopping site.
But she didn’t push the matter far
enough. Electricity companies contin-
ue to game the system.
Gov. Greg Abbott will appoint a new
chairman soon. That’s a big job. Let’s
hope he appoints someone who cares
more about the public so The Watch-
dog can put the “P” back in the name.
Retired FBI agent turned public
school investigator Don Southerland
Jr. of Plano introduced us to problems
in several school districts, including
Heame ISD.
The little ISD near Bryan with only
900 students has had six superin-
tendents in six years. The fifth one,
three or four at a time,” Marsha Fish-
man reports. “There was an Irving
police officer in the office. And yes, his
name and congressional seal were
back up on the door.”
Sorry, Charlie
Still no check or free tuna from the
Great Tuna Lawsuit. We’re all waiting.
We’re supposed to get some free
tuna because StarKist underfilled its
tuna cans.
Latest report on tunalawsuit.com
— “There were appeals filed, meaning
the settlement is not yet final. Appeals
can take months or years.”
Donna Nelson, who ran the Utility
Commission in Austin since 2011, has
retired. (Remember, The Watchdog
Watchdog Nation training
You’re invited to a free and fun
Watchdog Nation training session led
by my colleague Marina Trahan Mar-
tinez and I at The Wild Detectives
bookstore at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 24,
314 W. Eighth St. in Dallas.
I mention it now so you can save
the date. We’ll show you the latest tips
and strategies to stay one step ahead
of the bad guys, whoever they may be.
Remember, the deadline to file a
property tax protest is Wednesday!
Dallas Morning News staff writer
Marina Trahan Martinez contributed
to this report.
Trump eyes
White House
staff overhaul
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in-law and influential adviser.
A rally planned Thursday in
Iowa was postponed due to “an
unforeseen change” in Trump’s
schedule.
After maintaining a limited
social media presence through-
out his trip, Trump on Sunday
unleashed a furious flurry of
tweets, lashing out at what he
called the “fake news” media. He
focused heavily on leaks — both
those coming out of the White
House and an intelligence leak
blamed on Americans about this
week’s deadly bombing at a con-
cert in England.
On the bombing investiga-
tion Trump said: “British Prime
Minister May was very angry
that the info the U.K. gave to
U.S. about Manchester was
leaked. Gave me full details!”
Trump also said that “many of
the leaks coming out of the White
House are fabricated lies.” He
added that it is “very possible that
those sources don’t exist but are
made up by fake news writers.”
Even when authorized, how-
ever, top officials in the Trump
White House frequently request
anonymity to brief reporters “on
By Jill Colvin and Ken Thomas
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
-A
- 11
Presi-
dent Donald Trump is consider-
ing overhauling his White
House staff and bringing back
top campaign strategists, frus-
trated by what he views as his
team’s inability to contain the
burgeoning crisis involving al-
leged Russian meddling in the
2016 election.
Expanding teams of lawyers
and experienced public relations
hands are being recruited to deal
with the drumbeat of new reve-
lations about Moscow’s interfer-
ence and possible improper
dealings with the Trump cam-
paign and associates. The disclo-
sures dogged the president dur-
ing his first trip abroad since
taking office and threaten to
overwhelm and stall the agenda
for his young administration.
As he mulls outside reinforce-
ments to his operation, Trump re-
turned late Saturday from his
nine-day journey to a White
House seemingly in crisis mode,
with a barrage of reports hitting
dose to the Oval Office and in-
volving Jared Kushner, his son-
JL—
L’Osservatore Romano, pool/AP
Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser,
shakes hands with Pope Francis on Wednesday at the Vatican.
Kushner’s ties to
Russia questioned
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Carolyn Kaster/AP
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk
from Marine One across the South Lawn to the White House in
Washington as they return Saturday from Sigonella, Italy.
military leaders, a person fa-
miliar with the discussions told
the AR The person wasn’t au-
thorized to publicly discuss pri-
vate policy deliberations and
insisted on anonymity.
Russia, a pivotal player in
Syria, has backed Syrian Presi-
dent Bashar Assad, often at the
expense of civilians and at odds
with U.S. policy during Syria’s
long civil war.
The White House did not ac-
knowledge the meeting or
Kushner’s attendance until
March. At the time, a White
House official dismissed it as a
brief courtesy meeting.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., a
member of the Foreign Rela-
tions Committee, described the
latest allegations involving
Kushner as “serious” and called
for a thorough investigation.
“He needs to answer for what
was happening at the time,”
Booker said. ‘What’s worrying
me are the patterns we’re seeing.
So one is this administration not
talking about our values, cozying
up to authoritarian leaders. And
the other pattern we have is just
a continuous drumbeat of inap-
propriate contacts with the Rus-
sians.”
By Hope Yen and Vivian Salama
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
this stuff and put the investiga-
tions in a separate communica-
tions operation,” said Jack
Quinn, who served as White
House counsel for President Bill
Clinton.
As he mulls changes, Trump
has entertained bringing his for-
mer campaign manager, Corey
Lewandowski, and former dep-
uty campaign manager, David
Bossie, formally back into the
fold. Both Lewandowski and
Bossie discussed the prospect
with the president before his
trip, according to one person
told of the conversations.
background,” meaning their
names will not be disclosed.
While overseas, Trump’s
longtime lawyer, Marc Kaso-
witz, joined a still-forming legal
team to help the president
shoulder the intensifying inves-
tigations into Russian interfer-
ence in the election and his asso-
ciates’ potential involvement.
More attorneys with deep expe-
rience in Washington investiga-
tions are expected to be added,
along with crisis communica-
tion experts, to help the White
House in the weeks ahead.
“They need to quarantine
Con-
gressional Democrats on Sun-
day demanded to hear directly
from top White House adviser
Jared Kushner over allegations
of proposed secret back-channel
communications with Russia,
saying the security clearance of
President Donald Trump’s son-
in-law may need to be revoked.
Trump, having returned from
a nine-day overseas trip, immedi-
ately railed against administra-
tion leaks, calling them “fabricat-
ed lies,” in a flurry of tweets.
And his Homeland Security
head defended the idea of estab-
lishing that kind of communica-
tion as a “smart thing” and said
he didn’t see “any big issue here”
for Kushner.
But to the top Democrat on
the House intelligence commit-
tee, it’s “obviously very concern-
ing” that a key Trump campaign
figure was possibly seeking secret
communications with a country
that intelligence experts say inter-
vened in the 2016 election.
Rep. Adam Schiff of Califor-
nia said the government needed
to “get to the bottom” of the mat-
ter and urged a review of Kushn-
er’s security clearance “to find
out whether he was truthful.”
“If not, then there’s no way he
can maintain that kind of a
clearance,” Schiff said.
The Associated Press and
other news organizations re-
ported that Kushner in De-
cember proposed a back chan-
nel between the Kremlin and
the Trump transition team.
Kushner spoke with Russian
Ambassador Sergey Kislyak
about facilitating sensitive dis-
cussions to explore the incom-
ing administration’s options
with Russia as it developed its
Syria policy. The intent was to
connect Trump’s chief national
security adviser at the time,
Michael Flynn, with Russian
Police: Mississippi gunman kills 8 in rampage
bolt himself shed some light on
what happened, with Godbolt
giving an interview to the news-
paper as he sat with his hands
cuffed behind his back on the
side of a road.
Godbolt said he was talking
with his wife and in-laws when
somebody called authorities.
“I was having a conversation
with her stepdaddy and her ma-
ma and her, my wife, about me
taking my children home,” he
said. “Somebody called the offi-
cer, people that didn’t even live
domestic disturbance call, and
spread to two houses in nearby
Brookhaven, about 70 miles
south of Jackson.
The dead included two
boys, investigators said. God-
bolt was hospitalized in good
condition with a gunshot
wound, though it wasn’t clear
who shot him.
Mississippi Bureau of Inves-
tigation spokesman Warren
Strain said prosecutors planned
to charge Godbolt with murder
but that it was too soon to say
what the motive was. Authori-
ties gave no details on his rela-
tionship to the victims.
However, a witness and God-
at the house. That’s what they
do. They intervene.”
“They cost him his life,” he
said, apparently referring to the
deputy. “I’m sorry.”
The stepfather-in-law, Vin-
cent Mitchell, said Godbolt’s
wife and their two children had
been staying at his Bogue Chitto
home for about three weeks af-
ter she left her husband because
of domestic violence.
“I’m devastated. It don’t seem
like it’s real,” Mitchell said out-
side his yellow frame house.
By Kevin McGill
Associated Press
BROOKHAVEN, Miss. - A
man who got into an argument
with his estranged wife and her
family over his children was ar-
rested Sunday in a house-to-
house shooting rampage in rural
Mississippi that left eight people
dead, including his mother-in-
law and a sheriff’s deputy.
“I ain’t fit to live, not after
what I done,” a handcuffed Wil-
lie Corey Godbolt, 35, told The
Clarion-Ledger.
The gunfire erupted Satur-
day night at Godbolt’s in-laws’
home in Bogue Chitto after the
deputy arrived in response to a
Lawyers for Kushner said he
was willing to talk with federal
and congressional investigators
about his foreign contacts and his
work on the Trump campaign.
The disclosure of the back
channel put the White House
on the defensive. Just back
from visiting the Middle East
and Europe, Trump on Sunday
dismissed recent reports as
“fake news.”
“It is my opinion that many of
the leaks coming out of the
White House are fabricated lies,”
Trump tweeted. He added:
“Whenever you see the words
‘sources say’ in the fake news
media, and they don’t mention
names ... it is very possible that
those sources don’t exist.”
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 300, Ed. 1 Monday, May 29, 2017, newspaper, May 29, 2017; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1131835/m1/3/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .