Jeff Davis County officials have thrown everything they could at me. They launched 15 investigations. They filed 5 criminal prosecutions. They issued false warrants, locked courthouse doors, and even called law enforcement on me three different times for simply existing in the same building as them.
They lost every single one.
All charges have been dismissed:
Disorderly conduct from June 27, 2025, when a deputy forcibly removed me during a public meeting. Terroristic threat, dropped earlier in the process. Harassment. A traffic citation for allegedly “failing to drive on the right side of the roadway,” dismissed with prejudice.
The facts were never on their side, and the record now reflects that.
The Day Before the Call
The phone call that county officials now cling to didn’t come out of nowhere. It happened the day after I was denied access to the courthouse — a public building, during public hours — and shooed away “like a dog” by one of their deputies.
I was threatened with arrest if I returned. That denial of access, the threats, and the intimidation were not just wrong. They were unlawful. They rise to the level of torts and under Texas law, official oppression crimes.
That was my reality the day before the phone call.
Why I Called
The next day, I wasn’t looking for confrontation. I was following up because their office had called me.
Later, Judge Luedecke admitted it was a mistaken dial. But I didn’t know that then — because no one told me. If they had, the whole matter would have ended right there.
Had their office simply been open during hours, I could have walked in and asked, “Hey, y’all called me?” They could have said, “That was a mistake.” I would have said, “Okay, no problem.”
I would have then gone on with my day — taken some photos, grabbed some lunch, and come back for the 1 p.m. Historic Commission meeting.
Why did I want to attend that meeting? Because their museum is only open two days a week, and I wanted to volunteer to help open it one extra day — something that would benefit tourism and help the town. I also wanted to help document and share the museum’s historic materials online, a contribution to local history I have written and studied more extensively than anyone else.
My purpose was contribution, not confrontation.
The Gaslighting Setup
Instead of clarifying the call, they put me on speakerphone in a room full of people, with law enforcement body cams recording.
For the first two minutes — about 316 words — I spoke calmly. I explained who I am: a hospice volunteer, a former Crime Stoppers board member, a professional, and a journalist. I explained that I am not violent, and that there was no justification for calling police on me for simply being present.
My tone in those first two minutes wasn’t angry. It was afraid. When I listened back later, I could hear it clearly. My voice was higher-pitched than normal, the sound of someone scared of what might be done to him by officials who had already abused their power again and again.
Then, when I was interrupted, I tried to de-escalate:
“Ma’am, stop talking over me. I can’t hear a word you say because you’re talking while I’m talking. That’s not how conversation works.”
Only after that — after being gaslit yet again, on the heels of being illegally denied access and threatened the day before — I snapped. For one minute, I cursed.
Protected Speech
Here’s the truth: using profanity at a public official is protected speech.
The U.S. Supreme Court in Houston v. Hill (1987) ruled that citizens have the right to verbally oppose officials, even using harsh or profane language, as long as there is no threat. And there was no threat. My words were blunt, uncharacteristic, and angry — but they were lawful.
Meanwhile, county officials used that staged phone call as the basis for new charges. And just like all the others, those charges were dismissed — because there was no illegal conduct on my end.
Let’s not forget: they had even filed a terroristic threat charge against me for knocking on their office door — simply because they said they felt afraid inside. That collapsed too.
What They Ignore
While officials have poured energy into harassing me, the county itself has been neglected:
The county is running a budget deficit. The sheriff’s department has no policy manual. The last murder case collapsed because investigators botched it. The county’s systems were hacked. Officials have already spent $600,000 of a $3 million project they promised would be federally funded before any federal money ever arrived — cleaning out the county treasury to pay half the bill.
That’s what they should be focused on. Instead, they targeted one journalist.
What Matters
Here’s the real headline: Jeff Davis County officials threw everything at me — and lost.
They didn’t win in court.
They didn’t win with their investigations.
And they won’t win through rumors or staged phone calls.
Because before the angry, there was afraid.
My voice wasn’t aggressive. It was scared.
My friends respect me. My employers respect me. My clients respect me. I am doing good work, expanding my horizons, and growing stronger.
They still haven’t stopped.
But they still haven’t succeeded.
Because this was never about profanity. It’s about power — and the abuse of it.
