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September 3, 2003.
The school board moved to “propose” that Patton be relieved of his duties and his pay.
Patton has 15 days to appeal. The TEA moderator, in an open meeting will
meet in about three weeks and the hearing will determine if there is
sufficient evidence to justify Patton’s dismissal. If …if
there is, his time of the LISD payroll will be over.
Yes, he will likely be paid for all of September. No, his attorney will
not be
paid anymore. Yes, Patton can appeal, but without pay.
Prediction…he may not even show up for the hearing. If he does, LISD attorney, and maybe even Attorney General attorneys may show up to help with questioning. Patton has been as arrogant as you can imagine. Anything he says in the hearing can be used against him. It will. Patton’s upcoming 5-felony indictments trial is just around the corner. I can only imagine that Patton, in order to avoid jail time, would prefer to put his eggs in that basket. Maybe not. Everything he has done, even lying on the witness stand in Johnson City last week, were his own doings. He might not have been convicted last week had he done one little thing. Kept his mouth shut. The man’s ego just will not let that happen.
I hope Patton testifies. Liars just never keep their stories straight. If you question that, read the transcript from the trial. We now have four school board members, current and past that had real troubles remembering on the stand. Lies are now of record. Even saying you did not know, when there is proof that they did know, will be remembered by prosecutors.
Rumors…rumors…but word is out that a group of citizens are meeting with attorneys in regard to filling a civil suite against all former 7 school board members from 2000 to May of 2003. Civil trials are different. Cases are decided on an accumulation of the total evidence. A preponderance of the evidence I think is what it is called. Again, this group of people has brought this on themselves, with no remorse. Lying from the beginning on something as silly as the credit card/ Dallas trip. Lying about the evidence, and its existence. And the lies have mounted. But not one, has said, “I’m sorry for my mistakes.”
Arrogance. What a killer it is. Can you imagine what some of these board members will convey to a jury just with their body language; their snooty-ness, and best of all, their lack of knowledge on subject matter? When you cannot remember, or you just did not know, are not excuses in a civil trial. Someone will have to start talking. And when that happens, the house of cards that these people built, will fall down.
My sources tell me to expect more indictments. Also, correct by one source
was this entire investigation could take two full years! One year now,
and counting.
I find it so silly for some people to express amazement when they look at borrowed
money, and then add the interest to it, and then extend it out 10, 15, or 20
years, and preoclaim this “waste of tax-payer money”. I’m sure
school, cities, and counties would like to borrow money with 0% interest rate,
but at last look, GMAC had not come forward to offer LISD a loan.
For all of you that were critical of Sam Oatman’s office, where are you now? Sam has been fighting this back with a very short stick, as well as being understaffed. Since the school problems first came to light, the District Attorney’s office has had to deal with four murders, scores of child abuse cases, and untold numbers of sexual perversion cases. The school problems were not any less important. But Sam has handled this case well.
Sam admitted to me last week that worry was up to the last minute that
the State
Attorney General’s Office might drop off the case. They seemed to have
bigger problems also. And, the real worry was….what if they lost this small,
little “right to information”case? This law, on the books, had never
been prosecuted successfully in 30 years. If this case against Patton were lost,
it would have been very bad ‘politically”. But, for the same reason,
it needed to be won. We need to thank the people of Blanco County, and we thank
everyone in Sam’s office.