First Impressions

According to locals, each morning from 7- 9 a.m., half the town of Sanger, Texas can be found drinking their morning coffee at the Sportsman corner store and eating breakfast at Old West Café  just across the street.

“It’s kind of bizarre, just a bunch of old men gathering to drink coffee,” a Sportsman cashier said while sporting a Blue Lives Matter sweatshirt.  “It’s one of those simple things that really make the town.”

But on a Sunday around 3 p.m., the entire town is at home.

Except for Cody Cook and his coworkers – who are getting through a slow work day by throwing a football back and forth behind their restaurant.  

Cook, who lives in Plano, and his partners just opened Bolivar St. Barbecue on the Sanger Square.  

“It’s a ghost town on Sundays,” Cook said. “As soon as church lets out, people get something to eat and then everybody goes home. It’s pretty quiet around here at this time.” 

Clyde Callen, an employee at Bolivar St. Barbecue moved to Sanger when he was in the sixth grade. He describes the town as “small, but friendly and sometimes stinky.”

The smell Callen is referring to is coming from the wastewater treatment plant.

The city council has stated on the Sanger website that they are aware of the problem, but that there is no quick fix. The memo states that the long-term solution involves “refurbishing and updating the plant.” A new plant is well outside the budget and simply refurbishing, while slower, is an option that avoids putting the extraneous costs onto residents. 

Michelle Williams, a Sanger firefighter, and resident of 13 years said the smell doesn’t reach her part of town.

Williams has witnessed the town grow over the years, albeit it has been a slow growth.

“The area I serve has gotten a lot bigger since I’ve been here,” Williams said. “There has been some new suburban developments over at Sanger Circle thanks to a new builder.”

A couple years back, Sanger started permitting the sale of alcohol in hopes the extra income would allow for more development.

“We thought it would start a big boom over here, but it hasn’t had as much of an impact as everyone thought it would,” Williams said. “We just have a few liquor stores now.”

What the town really needs, Williams said, is another grocery store.

Sanger is a one grocery store town, and the local employee-owned Super Save doesn’t always have everything people need.  Williams finds herself commuting to Denton to do her grocery shopping. 

Eggs, Potatoes and Community

Rain pours down over a small breakfast nook early Sunday morning.

Apart from two pick-up trucks, the parking lot is empty, but inside small groups of people slowly sip their coffee. By this time, the line would usually be out the door with bikers and other regulars waiting for a place to sit. Though it has slowed them down, the rain hasn’t kept people away.

As the rain trickles down, people begin to trickle in.

“You here by yourself?” a seated man asks another who has just walked in.

“Just brought myself,” he answers. “You order yet?”

The seated man shakes his head no. Without looking up from his newspaper, he gives a motion for the other to take a seat at his table.

Such is a regular morning at Old West Café in Sanger, which many of the town residents have incorporated into their morning ritual. Between 7 and 10 a.m. the small door to Old West steadily opens and closes as people squeeze in to greet their neighbors and find a place to sit.  For many who live here, Old West Café is more than a place that serves up a cheesy casserole of potatoes, meat and eggs over a gravy-smothered biscuit — it’s a microcosm of small town Sanger.

“Old West in the mornings will tell you all you ever really need to know about Sanger,” said Katherine Shelly, who has lived in Sanger her whole life.

As more people file into the western décor-covered walls of Old West, the atmosphere changes. Despite the rain, muffled laughter echoes throughout the restaurant, and the sound of dishes clanging from the kitchen could be heard over country music.

John Cook is a regular at Old West. His table was positioned perfectly between the front and back portion of the café, enabling him to chat with just about everyone being seated. He seemed to know every individual who walked past — apart from his waitress — who typically works at Old West Café’s sister location in Denton. Cook was not satisfied with their conversation until he could pin-point a mutual acquaintance.

“I can always count on running into a buddy here,” Cook said. “You never have to eat alone is Sanger, especially not here.”

A table over from Cook, a silver-haired man yells to Sandy, one of the managers.

“Hi, my love,” he said as Sandy scurried over through a maze of tables to give him a quick hug. Behind him is a wall littered with kitschy signs. “Gun Control is really when you hit your target” hovered above his head. Next to it, a sign read “Yes, I was born in a barn.”

Prior to working at Old West, Sandy worked at a Denny’s. For over 28 years she worked every Thanksgiving at a restaurant that never closed. Now that her kids are older and have kids of their own, she doesn’t need to work as much, which is why Old West, which closes at 2 p.m. is a good match for her.

She finds comfort in her job at a small restaurant where everyone knows everyone — in a small town where everyone knows everyone.

“I like getting to know people and give them food and make them happy,” she says. “That makes me happy. Even when times are hard, everyone still gathers, everyone still eats.”

Kayleigh Davis to live with Grandmother after custody battle

In a hotly contested custody case, Judge Steve Burgess ruled Tuesday that the maternal grandmother of Kayleigh A. Davis would have temporary primary custody over her 11-year-old granddaughter, until her parents, both parties to the litigation

Since Kayleigh’s father, John Davis, filed for a divorce in 2014 from Stephanie Davis, Stephanie has been the primary custodian over Kayleigh. Strange behavior on Stephanie’s behalf and an incident in November led to Child Protective Services involvement that resulted in Kayleigh being placed in her father’s care. After the CPS closed the case, both Stephanie and John Davis appeared in court asking to be granted primary custody.

In November, Beatrice Eadon, Kayleigh’s maternal grandmother, let John take Kayleigh’s belongings up to her room after dropping her off. Upon entering the room, he found it in disarray, with Stephanie’s belongings scattered around. John testified that Kayleigh said her mother likes to use her room “because it had a lock on it.”  While helping Kayleigh clean off her bed, he found a bag of what looked like meth. He brought it down to show Eadon, and attempted to call Stephanie several times before leaving.

Prior to finding the bag, both John and Eadon recalled in testimony Stephanie’s unusual behavior. Stephanie would later blame this behavior on a head injury she suffered on the way to the bathroom. After sleeping on her injury overnight, she testified, she crashed her car the following morning.

Stephanie’s mother Beatrice Eadon remembered the night of the injury. She testified she saw Stephanie fumbling around trying to remove all the smoke detectors because the lights bothered her and was convinced that people were watching her. For both Eadon and John, the strange behavior started long before that night. For more than a year Stephanie complained about bugs crawling on her skin, even when nothing was there.

Eadon testified that she wasn’t  sure what meth looked like, and that she doesn’t really think John really found the bag in Kayleigh’s bed.

After finding the bag, John contacted CPS, where investigator Shani Dehart was assigned to the case. During the trial, Stephanie’s lawyer Bethany Stevens called Dehart as the first witness.

Dehart testified that after receiving the initial CPS call, she performed drug tests on both parents and the child. John and Kayleigh’s test results returned negative, while Stephanie tested positive for meth. At the time of her home visit with Stephanie, Kayleigh had already moved in with her father.

Eadon, who Stevens called as a second witness, testified that she didn’t think either party was  “completely unfit for parenting”  despite some concerns.  In the case of Stephanie, she worried about her drug use and suggested “spontaneous” drug tests.  As for John, she wasn’t sure that he could he provide “the emotional support a little girl needs,” citing John’s short temper.

The parties addressed their own individual concerns with the other being the primary conservator.

Stephanie’s concerns mirrored her mother’s in regard to John’s temper. She testified it was the reason she divorced him in the first place, but when questioned by John’s lawyer, she later admitted that it was John who filed for divorce due to her infidelity. Her other concern involved John’s inconsistent schedule working two weeks on and one week off in the oil fields.

John testified that if necessary he would get a 9-5 job outside of the oil fields, even though he lacks other skills and had financial concerns about it. “Whatever it takes to make her safe,” John said. “I’m just trying to do what’s best for my daughter.”

In terms of his temper, he testified he’s only ever had to spank Kayleigh around five times in his life. At times, he has raised his voice to her, he said,  but it’s rare because Kayleigh is usually well behaved.

His concerns with Stephanie involveD a pattern Stephanie has exhibited involving using drugs to cope with stress. He fears she will relapse one day. He testified that he has no intention of keeping Kayleigh away from her mother, he just wants to make sure she is safe until Stephanie can “get the help she needs.” He also provided unsubstantiated claims that Stephanie was a prostitute. He testified that while married, he found her escort phone and after searching the phone number on the Internet, he saw ads of Stephanie in their home. He offered no evidence of any prostitution arrests or convictions involving Stephanie.

Stephanie denied any claims of prostitution and all witnesses said they had no knowledge or reason to believe she was ever an escort. She did, however, admit to a single two-week period where she “experimented with meth”   She stated she was stressed and often tired. She thought that using the drug would give her more energy and “make her into a Super-Mom.”  She testified that after that two-week period she didn’t like the way it made her feel, and has not used the drug since.

At the two-hour mark of the trial, the judge refused to hear any further testimony in the interest of time. He ordered both parties undergo psychological evaluations, which they would pay for on their own before any further decisions could be made. In the meantime,  Kayleigh’s grandmother would take on the role of temporary primary conservator.

Each parent will be allowed two weekends each month with Kayleigh. Fifteen minutes of electronic communication would be allowed for Stephanie on even numbered days, and John on odd numbered days. Any further visitation was at the discretion of Eadon, who was not awarded any child support.

All parties were ordered to report back to court in 90 days for a final decision.

 

 

Resolution passes to secure court records

Battle between privacy and transparency ensues

The Denton County Commissioners Court met Feb. 14, and approved a resolution 4-1 that would secure the control of court records to district and county clerks and prevent it from becoming a part of a statewide database.

The resolution is a reaction to a statewide access system for court records called reSearch TX. The database is similar to the federal PACER system and will store copies of e-filed documents. The system has support from attorneys and the State Bar of Texas. The majority of county clerks, however, have a problem with it.

When e-filing became available to attorneys to electronically deliver their documents to the courts, the Texas Office of Court Administration said these documents would only be retained by the system for 30 days before being dumped.

“We weren’t told at that time that it would become a statewide system,” Denton County District Clerk Sherri Adelstein said. “We learned in the past couple of months that the vendor has been retaining copies of those files sent to us electronically, and putting them in that database to later be released. Judges have access to these files, next they’re looking to add attorneys and finally the public, just anyone, can go on and become a registered user to look up these documents.”

 

The approval of the resolution means that Denton County will “oppose any change to current statutes regarding care, custody and control of records held by the county and district clerks and to any actions that would result in those records being centralized within any other entity, be it public or private.”

All but County Commissioner Hugh Coleman were in favor of the resolution.

“I don’t think we should provide barriers to entry to public documents,” Coleman said. “You can’t say you are for transparency, but then say I’m going to provide all these hurdles for you to get it.”

Judge Mary Horn said that while she is all for transparency, she feels an obligation to protect people’s private information.

Adelstein agreed.  “I think that I have a moral obligation to not put that on the Internet. There are items and information in these files that can be very embarrassing,” she said. “I’m probably not the only person in this room to be divorced and have papers in our system. Do I want my information out there on the Internet? No, and I don’t think our residents do either.”

Coleman, who also maintains a private law practice, argued that while the system in place does give access to attorneys, it comes at a cost of $200 for two years of access.

Other than transparency, his concern is saving costs for both himself and his litigants. ReSearch TX would make the files available online which means that litigants would no longer have to pay their lawyers to travel to the county clerk office to retrieve documents.

“The federal government…God bless them…the one thing they do well is that under PACER,  I can sit here in Denton County and look up a case over an import dispute at a magistrate court in Seattle for free, Coleman said. “ I don’t understand why we can’t locally get our records through the Internet for free. They’re open records, you can walk down to clerk’s office and pull them, why can’t we get them online?  We do pay taxes.”

While not opposed to a statewide system, County Clerk Juli Luke finds the reSearch TX database to be “problematic at best.”

“There are too many problems with this one, there are no safeguards,” Luke said.  “We know what should be done in order to safeguard some of that sensitive information and ensure there is a process to remove expunged cases.”

County clerks weren’t involved in the creation of the database and Luke said there is currently no way them to remove the expunged cases from the reSearch TX system.

In the Texas Legislature, House Bill 1258 has been filed to put a stop to reSearch TX, and as of now, 29 representatives have signed off on it.

Know your Congressman

Congressman Michael C. Burgess is a 66-year-old republican representing The 26th United States Congressional District of Texas which includes Sanger, most of Denton County and part of Tarrant County.

He has served his position for 14 years and is currently on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce where he is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, the Commission on security and cooperation in Europe and the House Committee on Rules.

Burgess had no political experience prior to becoming a congressman. He is a former OB/GYN, and the longest standing medical doctor in Congress.

Burgess’s top three contributors are American College of Emergency Physicians which donated $15,400, Blue Cross Blue Shield which donated $14,500 and the American Medical Association which donated $12,666. Combined, he received $366,631 from the health professionals industry. The pharmaceutical and health product industry contributed a total of $131,850 to Burgess’s campaign.

The support for Burgess from health and pharmaceutical companies makes sense considering 52 percent of the bills he has sponsored, have been health related.

Burgess identifies as both fiscally and socially conservative and almost consistently takes a conservative stance on controversial issues pending in Congress.

Leading up to the debate over HR 1797, which in most cases banned abortions after the 20 week period, Burgess argued that the cut-off date for abortions should be even earlier due to the possibility that fetuses feel both pleasure and pain at 15 weeks old. His statements about fetal masturbation stirred great controversy.

“Watch a sonogram of a 15-week baby, and they have movements that are purposeful,” Burgess said. “They stroke their face. If they’re a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. If they feel pleasure, why is it so hard to believe that they could feel pain?”

Burgess has a hard stance on illegal immigration. He sponsored HR 120, or the Unaccompanied Alien Children Assistance Control Act. HR 120 would direct “the President to reduce foreign assistance allocations for Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador by an amount equal to the number of unaccompanied alien children who are nationals or citizens of any of those countries placed in federal custody in the preceding fiscal year because of their immigration status multiplied by $15,000.”

The bill was introduced to Congress on January 3, 2017, and was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs the same day.

In terms of healthcare, Burgess is for the repeal or at least reformation of the Affordable Care Act. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, he is working to reform the healthcare system.