Today's events are a reminder of the dangers and manipulation Corrections Officers face on a daily basis. We are constantly asked by inmates to "do me a favor". As a matter of policy, we do not do favors. If a request can be granted because it does not violate policy, the fact is, most of us would do it. On ocassion, there is a thin line between a favor and a request. The inmates know where this line is. Afterall, they have all day to think about it. When you do not recognize this line, a request can quickly turn into a favor and then you are hooked. The inmate has you exactly where he wants you. If you don't follow through on the next "favor" you feel trapped. So you think, if I do the next favor maybe I won't get in trouble for the first one and so on you go only making it worse because you hope he won't tell (he will eventually) and you do not want to face the consequences for your actions. The inmate will now have you exactly where he wants you, at his disposal. It is "Inmate Con Games 101." Warning! If he has done it once, he will search for his prey and do it again!

In addition, concern and compassion for one's well being or current circumstance can quickly turn to fraternization. No matter how we feel about one's circumstance or how we feel about them, we have to know where the line is and not cross it. The answer is provided in the policies and procedures set by the department. As an ogranization, we are not in support members who willfully violate departmental policy and commit acts that violate the laws of the State of Texas. We have to make good choices and remain alert at all times. By now, I am sure that officer Lass realizes the choice she made was not wise. If she had the chance, I am sure she would choose a different path. Those of us who worked with her would have never imagined she would become a victim of "Con Games 101".

While we do not know all the facts and circumstances surrounding her demise and we will never know what actually lead her to fall victim to inmate Gobert, we should all learn from her lesson. While this circumstance will undoubtly give us a black eye in the eye of the public; and they are already voicing their opinion on various websites, this is not the norm for our department. We have competent officers who go about their daily task and do exactly what is asked of them. However, the public will only remember the one who made a bad choice. (and it was a choice) Take a moment to review the following article from the Statesman and consider what you would do if you were in this situation. Don't make the news by making the wrong choice.

<H1 class=articleHeadline>Witnesses: Convicted killer wooed at least 2 jail officers</H1>
The jury that will soon decide whether convicted killer Milton Dwayne Gobert gets the death penalty learned Thursday that since Gobert's 2003 arrest he has wooed at least two female Travis County jail officers into forbidden romantic relationships.

One of the officers, Tasha Lass, testified that after the start of Gobert's trial last week, she gave him a cell phone so when he called her from jail, their conversations would not be recorded.

Lass' testimony about the cell phone was apparently a surprise to authorities and prompted a search of Gobert's cell, where prosecutor Gary Cobb said a phone was found Thursday inside a bag of chips.

A sheriff's office spokesman said Lass, 36, was put on administrative duty while being investigated for bringing a prohibited item inside a correctional facility, a third-degree felony. Later, online jail records revealed that Lass was arrested and booked into the jail she once guarded.

County spokesman Roger Wade said he had no further information on her case.

Gobert was convicted of capital murder Tuesday in the Oct. 6, 2003, death of Mel Kernena Cotton, a friend of Gobert's ex-girlfriend. Cotton was stabbed and cut 107 times in an attack that left her son, then 5, injured from four stab wounds, according to testimony.

During the sentencing phase of the trial, which is expected to continue into next week, lawyers present evidence meant to help the jury answer two questions: whether Gobert poses a continuing threat to society and whether there are any mitigating reasons to give him life in prison instead of the death sentence. If the answers are "yes" and "no" respectively, Gobert's sentence will be death.

Much of the other punishment testimony centered on allegations that Gobert has frequently abused women.

Prosecutor Allison Wetzel said in an interview that Gobert's separate romantic relationships with Lass and another corrections officer show that he is dangerous. Wetzel said Gobert could potentially use his ability to manipulate guards to have them do things for him that would allow him to injure or kill someone else.

"The fact that there's a pattern of him doing this makes him a security risk," Wetzel said.

Defense lawyer Leonard Martinez suggested that the testimony about the women falling for Gobert shows that he has some redeeming qualities.

"At least two women think he's a good guy," Martinez said.

The second day of the punishment phase of Gobert's trial got off to a slow start when state District Judge Bob Perkins learned from his staff that a male juror received a suspicious voice-mail message while showering at about 7:15 a.m. Thursday. The message sounded like the recording at the start of a call from the Travis County Jail, Perkins was told.

Perkins' court coordinator Lisa Eufracio learned that the person whose name was on the juror's voice message is not an inmate at the jail, she said. Perkins asked the sheriff's office to investigate. Later, authorities said the number the call came from was a cell phone but did not say whether there was any relation to the trial or to the cell phone found in Gobert's cell.

Capt. Lisa Brown, a jail supervisor who was called to testify by prosecutors, told the jury that Patricia Wieczorek resigned as a jail officer in 2007 after she was confronted with questions about a romantic relationship with Gobert.

Brown said that Wieczorek had allowed Gobert out of his cell to help clean the jail even though as a maximum-security inmate he should not have been given that privilege. She also said Wieczorek had numerous personal phone conversations, some of them romantic, with Gobert, a violation of jail policy.

After Wieczorek resigned, she continued to visit Gobert. All told, Wieczorek visited Gobert 17 times from May through November 2007, Brown testified.

Brown said relationships between inmates and officers are strictly prohibited. Wieczorek could not be reached for comment.

Prosecutors then called Lass, a Travis County corrections officer since June, to testify.

On Monday, she appeared in court during the guilt-innocence phase of the trial, when she was called by Gobert's defense to testify that inmates who share cells have access to one another's belongings and legal papers.

The testimony was meant to show that one of Gobert's former cellmates could have learned about his case through court documents and not through what the inmate claimed was Gobert's bragging about the killing.

During that testimony, Lass made no mention of a relationship with Gobert. Afterward, Lass remained in court to watch some of the trial, sitting in the front row behind Gobert's defense table.

On Thursday, Lass was again called to the witness stand — this time by prosecutors. She told the jury that she bought a disposable cell phone for Gobert so the calls he made would not be linked to her.

She did not say when the relationship began. During one conversation, recorded and played in court, Gobert repeatedly told Lass that he loved her. "I know," Lass said.

During much of the conversation, Gobert talked about his case. He also rambled about other things, including his family and shopping at warehouse stores and iPods. Gobert did much of the talking.

At one point, Gobert asked, "You feel me?"

Lass responded, "I wish I could feel you."

skreytak@statesman.com; 912

We are winding down and the primary is tomorrow. We still need members to sign up and participate at the poll tomorrow. We can not over emphasize the importance of this race. We need your help at the polls for visibility. Contact Nate 775.7758 or Raul 576.7304.

Below you will find an article from today's Austin American Statesman:

When Richard Moya was elected Travis County's first Hispanic commissioner in 1970, support from mostly Hispanic neighborhoods of Precinct 4 was crucial to his victory. Forty years later, Moya says voter turnout in the traditionally Latino areas of Southeast Austin is a fraction of what it was in that historic race.

Instead, the predominantly Anglo neighborhoods of Bouldin and Travis Heights have become the key to victory in the majority Latino precinct. As Tuesday's election approaches, the campaigns of Margaret Gomez, the more-than-15-year commissioner running for re-election, and her challenger, former Austin City Council Member Raul Alvarez, say they are campaigning throughout the precinct, but they also acknowledge the importance of those South Austin neighborhoods, where voter turnout has been higher in recent elections than in heavily Latino neighborhoods, such as Dove Springs.

"Even though this is a Hispanic, minority seat, guess who elects them? The white folks in 78704," said local political consultant Mark Littlefield, referring to the ZIP code roughly bounded by Lady Bird Lake, Interstate 35, MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) and West Ben White Boulevard.

Very few Hispanic households remain in South Austin neighborhoods like Bouldin, city demographer Ryan Robinson said. The neighborhood has gentrified rapidly and is now a mix of 1920s bungalows and contemporary condominiums. A commercial heart of the neighborhood, South First Street, is still home to Tex-Mex and Mexican restaurants, but they now sit alongside coffee shops and vintage clothing stores.

The median family income has increased steeply in both Bouldin and Travis Heights, reflecting the demographic shift, Robinson said.

By contrast, Robinson called Dove Springs, south of East Ben White Boulevard, the city's "largest, truest barrio," saying it's majority Latino with large, multigenerational, working-class families. In 2000, 75 percent of Dove Springs households were Latino, and Robinson expects this year's census to show a greater percentage. But voter turnout there is low.

Littlefield said that Tuesday's Democratic primary won't be like the one in 2008, when turnout was high and Texas was crucial in the race between then-presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

It'll be more like 2006, he said, when Gómez faced Yolanda Montemayor in the Democratic primary and won with more than 57 percent of the vote. Then, voter turnout was higher in Bouldin and Travis Heights than in Dove Springs and Govalle, another heavily Latino and working-class neighborhood in East Austin, Robinson said.

Littlefield estimates that the number of voters this year will total between 3,000 and 4,000, representing about 3 percent of registered voters in Precinct 4, which has had the lowest voter turnout countywide in recent years.

Both the Gomez and Alvarez campaigns say that regardless of voting trends, they are reaching out to every corner of Precinct 4.

A "Dove Springs vote counts just as much as a 78704" vote, said David Mauro, a consultant with G?mez's campaign. "Every single vote is going to matter. We're not going to only focus on 78704. ... Those that do don't understand the dynamics of the district."

"You have to maintain an awareness of the higher turnout areas, but we're absolutely committed to reaching out to every voter in every community in Precinct 4," said Billy Stallings, Alvarez's campaign manager.

Moya's election followed the redrawing of precinct lines to form a majority Hispanic district, according to Littlefield and Moya. The Hispanic vote previously was split between two precincts, and the redrawn lines brought more Hispanic voters to Precinct 4 and galvanized the local Latino community to elect one of its own, Littlefield and Moya said.

Since then, the seat has always been held by Hispanics — Moya served 16 years, followed by Hank Gonzalez for four years, then Marcos DeLe?n for four years and G?mez, who began serving in 1995. Moya agrees that Anglo voters decide the seat today.

In the 1970 runoff between Moya and then-longtime incumbent Lawson Boothe, however, Moya recalled that 42 percent turned out to vote in the Govalle precinct and that the voters were predominantly Hispanic. (In the 2006 Democratic primary, 4 percent of registered voters in Govalle turned out to vote.)

Littlefield said that the turnout among Hispanics was high when Moya first ran because it was their first opportunity to elect a Hispanic to the Commissioners Court. Since then, electing Hispanics to the seat has become common practice, he said.

Moya also notes that though Hispanics used to live mostly in pockets of Precinct 4, they are now spread out all over Austin. "We're losing that (ability to) say, 'This is a Hispanic box.'

"Here's the deal: If Anglos don't run, they have to vote for a Hispanic candidate or not vote at all," Moya said, adding that a few Anglos have tried to run for the seat but have been unsuccessful.

"Like this time, Margaret Gomez and Raul Alvarez are the only two candidates on the ballot," Moya said. "If you live in Travis County Precinct 4, you're going to vote for a Hispanic commissioner or not vote at all."

To assist M. Gomez on election day, the following help has been request by the M. Gomez campaign Let's do our best to have a strong presence:

For visibility we have shifts from 7am-7pm (7am - 10am, 10am - 1pm, 1pm - 4pm, 4pm - 7pm) @ the following locations:


Pct 406 - St. Alban's Episcopal Church - 11819 IH-35 South
Pct 421 - Congress Avenue Baptist Church - 1511 South Congress Avenue
Pct 422 - Fulmore Middle School - 201 East Mary Street
Pct 424 - South Austin Recreation Center - 1100 Cumberland Road
Pct 426 - Govalle Elementary School - 3601 Govalle Avenue
Pct 437 - Becker Elementary School - 906 West Milton Street
Pct 439 - Cantu/Pan Am Recreation Center - 2100 East 3rd Street
Pct 442 - Dawson Elementary School - 3001 South 1st Street
Pct 443 - Mendez Middle School - 5106 Village Square Drive
Pct 454 - Joslin Elementary School - 4500 Manchaca Road
Pct 447 - Odom Elementary School - 1010 Turtle Creek Drive
Pct 460 - ACC South Austin Campus - 1820 W. Stassney Lane
Pct 462 - Austin Travis County MHMR - 1700 S. Lamar Blvd., Suite 101


Ideally, we would like someone to stay a whole shift but if they can't that's fine. If they want to do a shift somewhere for a while and then go do something else for us that's even better.

I know that we're asking a lot but what I've been telling people is if they can just give us one day then it will make all the difference for Margaret's campaign. I know that most people wouldn't want to spend an entire day campaigning but it would be the biggest help to us and then it'll be over and no one will have to do anything for us again.

Thanks for all your support so far. Hope to see you soon!


Estella French
512.484.9507
estella.french@gmail.com

We need volunteers to assist at the polls on March 2, election day. Task is easy, hold a sign and promote M. Gomez! one hour, two hours or whatever time you can donate. We need to come out in force and show our support. We can't afford to let up! Contact Nate 775-7758 or Raul 576-7304.

Margaret Gómez is a product of the Austin Independent School District, having attended Becker Elementary, Fulmore Junior High and graduated from William B. Travis High School.

She has labored for the Austin community on issues ranging from the South Texas Nuclear Power Plant to the Save Our Springs Initiative as well as many other community infrastructure needs. For more than 25 years, she has been politically active in efforts to achieve leadership that reflects the make-up of the Travis County community. Her work on various campaigns has run the gamut from Austin City Council, local Democratic Party races, state races and Presidential races. Margaret has served on the City of Austin Campaign Reform Task Force and twice on the City of Austin Charter Revision Committee. Margaret is a graduate of the City of Austin Citizens Police Academy. She is also a lifelong Democrat and a member of the Travis County Democratic Party Finance Council.

Commissioner Gómez was elected constable in 1980 against a 14-year incumbent, becoming the first Mexican American women to serve in that capacity in Travis County. She was re-elected three times, receiving as much as 75% of the vote. She resigned from that post in the fall of 1993 to successfully seek the office of county commissioner, Precinct Four. On January 1, 1995, Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gómez was sworn into office, becoming the first Mexican American women to ever serve in this capacity in Travis County.

Margaret has received numerous awards including “Woman of the Year,” by the Texas Women’s Political Caucus, (1980); “Outstanding Hispanic Woman” by LULAC, (1993); and was twice named “Fund Raiser of the Year” by the East Austin Optimist Club. She is actively involved throughout her community in promoting the importance of education. She volunteered with “Reading is Fundamental,” (RIF), for several years and participates in career day at elementary and junior high schools as well as at St. Edward’s CAMP program. In 2001, Avance Austin named Commissioner Gómez, “Outstanding Latina Leader.”In February 2009, she received an Alumni Achievement Award from St. Edward’s University.

Margaret graduated summa *** laude from St. Edward’s University in May, 1991. In December, 2004, Commissioner Gómez received her Master’s in Liberal Arts from St. Edward’s University with a 4.0 GPA. She was inducted into the 4.0 Club on April 30, 2005. She is featured in St. Ed’s pamphlets promoting both New College and Master of Liberal Arts educational programs as well as online. As of November, 2005, Commissioner Gómez serves on the Master’s in Liberal Arts (MLA) Advisory Council at St. Ed’s. On December 16, 2006, she was the keynote speaker at the graduating ceremony at St. Edward’s.

In her capacity as county commissioner, Margaret has actively participating on the following boards, committees, and Commissioners Court subcommittees and has achieved more than the minimum 16 continuing education hours each year:

• Capital Area Rural Transit System (CARTS)
• City of Austin EMS Quality Assurance Team (QAT) for six years
• Travis County Purchasing Board Chairperson (12 years)
• Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources Oversight Subcommittee (South)
• Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro)— Chair
• Travis County Administrative Operations Subcommittee
• Planning and Budget Oversight Subcommittee
• Community Justice Council
• Conference of Urban Counties (CUC), Executive Board Member, 2001-2003. Policy Committee Member, 2000-2006
• City of Austin Parks and Recreation Board-Colorado River Park Planning Committee
• Texas Hispanic County Judges and Commissioners Association, Chairperson, 1995-2007
• Health and Human Services Subcommittee
• South Texas County Judges and County Commissioners Association, President 2002-2003
• City of Austin/Travis County Subcommittee
• Texas Colorado River Floodplain Coalition, 2001-2007
• E-Government Oversight Committee
• Sobriety Center Committee
• Jail Overcrowding Task Force
• Justice and Public Safety Subcommittee
• Travis County/Hospital District Subcommittee addressing mental health issues

Commissioner Gómez has successfully supported Travis County Bond Elections every five years since 1995 to invest in the local economy as well as in the infrastructure of the local mobility of traffic. Two bond elections were approved by the voters to invest $90 million for the purchase of right of way for SH130. Drainage projects have been approved by the voters since flooding in prevalent in Precinct 4, Southeast Travis County.

In November, 2004, she successfully supported and received voter approval for the construction of commuter rail, adding another mode of transportation to address traffic congestion in Austin/Travis County.

During her service on the Commissioners Court, Commissioner Gómez has voted to give homeowners 20% homestead exemptions. For the elderly and disabled, she has voted for 20% plus $65,000. In addition to that, she has voted to reduce the tax rate by 13 cents from 1995 to 2009.

East Austin Neighborhood Meet & Greet w/Commissioner Margaret Gómez
When: Sat, Feb 27, 2010 3:00 PM - Sat, Feb 27, 2010 5:00 PM
Where: Shuck Shack - 1808 E. Cesar Chavez Austin, TX 78702Map
Come and join Commissioner Margaret Gómez this Saturday, February 27, 2010 at the Shuck Shack on E. Cesar Chavez.

Featuring food from: Buckets Deli Fonda del Sol Joe's Bakery Nuevo Leon Shuck Shack

For more information call 472-0204