Tag Archives: Texas Rangers

Today in Texas History – April 26

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From the Annals of the Early “Bloggers” –  In 1874, the first of a series of twenty-three letters and poems authored by “Pidge” was published in the Austin Statesman.  The actual author was Thomas C. Robinson. Robinson had come to Austin in 1874 following a feud with a neighbor in his native Virginia.  He enlisted in the Texas Rangers and served under Leander H. McNelly during the Sutton-Taylor feud.  He was also involved the continuing conflicts with Juan N. Cortina’s raiders.  Robinson’s works describe Austin in the 1870s, but more importantly provide one of the few insights into what service was like in the Texas Rangers from observations in the field.  Unfortunately, Robinson returned to Virginia on leave to settle the feud with his former neighbor and was killed in a gunfight on April 4, 1876, shortly after the last “Pidge” letter was published.

Today in Texas History – April 22

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From the Annals of the Police State –  In 1873, the Texas state legislature – once again in the hands of the then reactionary and racist Democratic Party –  repealed the law that had authorized the State Police.  The TSP had been formed during the administration of Governor Edmund J. Davis to combat crime during Reconstruction and the force worked primarily against racially based crimes.  Even worse for the unreconstructed Texans was the fact that the force included black police officers.  The TSP were replaced by the reformed Texas Rangers.  The state would not have another police force until the creation of the Texas Department of Public Safety in 1935.  The DPS would not have a black trooper until Adolph Thomas graduated from the DPS Academy in 1969.

Maybe Sid Will Get Story on Mississippi Trip Straight

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Ah, who is Red kidding?  The Texas Tribune reports that Texas Agricultural Commissioner Sid “Cupcake” Miller has come up with yet a third explanation for why his trip to participate in the Dixie National Rodeo in Mississippi was billed to the taxpayers.  First, we were told that Miller decided to set up a work meeting with Mississippi agriculture officials when he wasn’t roping calves, but those meetings fell through. Then, we were told the trip was intended to be personal in nature and was it was but a mere mistake to book it as a business trip.  Red knows you can hardly wait for the next iteration of the explanation for the perambulations of the good commissioner.

Miller has told the Tribune there was “absolutely no validity” to the complaints from liberal advocacy group Progress Texas that led to the Rangers investigation, calling them “harassment.” 

“There’s nothing absolutely illegal or wrong with either of those trips,” he said.

But on Thursday, Miller’s political consultant told the Tribune a new version of the Mississippi trip. He said it was always supposed to be a business trip to meet with Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith and that those meetings did occur, contrary to what his boss has previously said.

“I think there was some discrepancy about whether or not he had a meeting with her on that trip,” Smith said. “He met with her multiple times. He went to the rodeo with her.”

Tribune attempts to confirm whether Mississippi officials met with Miller have been unsuccessful.

As for Miller’s rodeo-ing while on a state-paid trip, Smith said there was nothing wrong with it and compared it to buying souvenirs while on a business trip.

“He can’t flip a switch and say, ‘I’m no longer the agriculture commissioner here, and I’m the agricultural commissioner now,’” Smith said.

Miller, who had hip surgery this week in Fort Worth, was not available for an interview. Last week, his staff said he was on medical leave. And the week before that, the Tribune was told the commissioner’s schedule was too full to allow one.

Red guesses that “Jesus Shot” thing didn’t work out exactly as planned if Miller needs hip surgery.  And if Red ever finds that switch, he damn sure is going to flip it.

 

 

 

Texas Rangers Investigating Sid Miller

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The Texas Tribune reports that the Texas Rangers are now investigating Texas Agriculture Commissioner and Tea Party Hero Sid Miller of Stephenville.  The Rangers are investigating two trips Miller took to Oklahoma and Mississippi that were charged to the State but appear to have been for personal reasons.  Miller traveled to Oklahoma for a “Jesus Shot” from a discredited doctor and claimed he was traveling to meet Oklahoma officials.  The Oklahomans have repeatedly stated they knew nothing about Miller’s trip.  Miller also traveled to Mississippi to take part in the National Dixie Rodeo and did very well by all accounts.  Miller claimed that he intended to meet with “agricultural officials” there but when the meeting fell through he reimbursed the State.  Miller’s claim was contradicted by his communications director Lucy Nashed who claimed the trip was always personal and mistakenly booked as being for State business.  Nashed resigned this week saying there “was a tremendous lack of communiction” at the Agriculture Department.

Sid, a word of advice from Red, when your communications director is complaining about a lack of communication, you have a problem.  And Sid, you’re making it way too easy.

Photo of Sid “Cupcake” Miller from http://www.mysanantonio.com

 

Jeb!!!!$$$$? Throws Eminent Domain Stone

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Jeb!!!!$$$$? attacked Donald Trump at the latest GOP slugfest in New Hampshire for using eminent domain to take an elderly woman’s house in Atlantic City for a parking lot.  Trump, however, was a piker compared to Jeb!!!!$$$$?’s big brother W when it comes to enriching yourself through the power of ED mixed with excellent family connections.

W had pretty much been a failure at every possible enterprise until he stumbled into an ownership position of the Texas Rangers.  His $600,000 investment somehow turned into over $14 million allowing him the financial security to make his first run for Governor.  But exactly how did that happen.  First, through some slick political maneuvering, he and his partners (primarily business genius Richard Rainwater) persuaded Arlington and Texas to directly subsidize the construction of a new stadium for the Rangers.  That taxpayers should foot the bill to make a billionaire like Rainwater and his cronies even richer was offensive enough.  But it did not end there.  In order to build the magnificent temple of baseball, W and his fellow owners successfully used the power of government to take land from other private citizens so it could be used for their own private purposes.

The details are complicated, but here is what happened. W and his partners in the Rangers convinced Arlington officials to: pass a half-cent sales tax to pay for 70% of the stadium; use the government’s powers of eminent domain to seized land the Rangers either could not or would not buy in a fair market transaction; give the Rangers near complete control over the stadium and environs; and allow the Rangers to buy the $191 million stadium for just $60 million. After 12 years as the sole occupant and primary beneficiary of the stadium project, the Rangers, a privately owned business, will receive title to the stadium for the $60 million worth of rent and expenses that they will have already paid.  Has Trump ever put together a deal that lined his personal pockets at the expense of the taxpayer that compares to this one?  Red doubts it.

So poor old Jeb!!!!$$$$? picks exactly the wrong stone to throw at Trump – a stone that will likely bounce of the billionaire’s Teflon and crash right back into the Bush family’s glass house.  Someone that politically inept doesn’t deserve to be President.

Today in Texas History – December 18

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From the Annals of the Comanche – In 1860, Cynthia Ann Parker was captured by a group of Texas Rangers under the command of Sul Ross.  The so-called Battle of the Pease River was actually an attack on a Comanche hunting camp at Mule Creek in Foard County.  The Rangers completely surprised the Comanche and most were slaughtered including women and children.  During the raid the rangers found Parker who had been kidnapped from Fort Parker by Comanche warriors on May 19, 1836.  Parker had no desire to be “rescued” as she was completely socialized as a Comanche with a war chief husband in Pete Nocona and three children – including Quanah and Topasannah (Prairie Flower).  Sul Ross did his best to glorify the battle including making the disputed claim that the famed warrior Nocona had been killed in the “battle.”  Quanah Parker claimed that his father was not killed at the Pease River, but died years later from his many war wounds.  Hiram B. Rogers, a Ranger who joined the Ross command in October 1860, said, “I was in the Pease River fight, but I am not very proud of it. That was not a battle at all, but just a killing of squaws.”

Today in Texas History – November 24

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From the Annals of Law Enforcement – In 1835, the Republic of Texas authorized a special law enforcement unit known as the Texas Rangers. Stephen F. Austin had hired ten experienced frontiersmen as “rangers” as early as 1823, but the 1835 legislation formalized the organization.  The Rangers have a mixed history at best.  They were instrumental in securing the early Republic, but at the expense of various Indian tribes who had claims to the land and not all of whom were aggressive warriors like the Comanche and Kiowa.   The Rangers  were also employed to restore order during various blood feuds, border disturbances, and civic upheavals. In the early twentieth century, however, certain renegade Rangers abused their positions of authority predated on Hispanics, African-Americans and other powerless groups.  The force was decimated in 1933 when Gov. Ma Ferguson dismissed the entire squad in an overt act of political retaliation for the Rangers open support of her opponent Ross Sterling.  When the Department of Public Safety was created in 1935, the Rangers took on a new role.  Today they are recognized as an elite unit of 150 commissioned officers drawn from the ranks of DPS officers with at least 8 years of law enforcement experience.  Prospective Rangers undergo rigorous selection, testing and the position requires specialized training.  Their responsibilities include major incident crime investigations, unsolved crime/serial crime investigations, public corruption investigations, officer involved shooting investigations, and border security operations.

 

Today in Texas History – October 14

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From the Annals of  Gun Safety (or Lack Thereof) – In 1867,  Lt. James Pike died during an Indian attack on his unit.  When Indians attacked Pike’s unit at dinner, the lieutenant seized his rifle and rushed to the defense. The rifle jammed, however, and in his frustration he smashed the barrel on a nearby rock, whereupon the gun discharged and killed him bringing an ignominious end to his rather distinguished career.  Pike was the son of an outspoken newspaper editor.  He arrived in Austin in 1859 and attempted to get a job as a printer.  When that failed, he joined John Henry Brown’s company of Texas Rangers at Belton. For the next two years he took part in a series of campaigns against the Comanches. When Texas seceded from the Union,  Pike left the Rangers and went north, where joined the Fourth Ohio Cavalry. Pike saw considerable action as a scout, spy, and courier in Gen. William T. Sherman’s army.  Pike was captured in 1864 and imprisoned in Charleston, South Carolina, then escaped and returned to Hillsboro, Ohio, where he wrote his memoirs of ranger and army service.  After the war, Pike obtained a commission as a second lieutenant in the First United States Cavalry and was later promoted to first lieutenant.

Pike’s memoirs were published in 1865 as The Scout and Ranger: Being the Personal Adventures of Corporal Pike, of the Fourth Ohio Cavalry.

Today in Texas History – July 31

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From the Annals of the National Pastime –  In 1990, Nolan Ryan posted his 300th career win.  Pitching for the Texas Rangers, Ryan threw 7 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts in an 11-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. His historic 300th victory came in his 24th season in the majors, his second with the Texas Rangers.  Ryan had failed in his first bid for a 300th win the week before, pitching at his home stadium in Arlington, Texas. His second attempt came against the Brewers in front of a friendly crowd in Milwaukee. Ryan improved as the game went on, and by the fifth inning, the Rangers had taken a 5-1 lead. Ryan rung up two strikeouts in the fifth, one in the sixth and two more in the seventh inning. With two outs in the eighth, a defensive error put two runners on base, but with a crowd of 55,000 rooting him on, Ryan once again summoned the fastball that had won him 299 previous games. The talented young Gary Sheffield popped-out on a 96 mile-per-hour fastball to end the inning. After the Rangers tacked on insurance runs and the bullpen closed it out for an 11-3 win, Ryan became the fourth-oldest 300-game winner in baseball history after Phil Neikro, Gaylord Perry and Early Wynn.