WITNESS STATEMENT

PART ONE
						
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WITNESS STATEMENT

PART TWO


I,_________________________________,  do hereby voluntarily and of my own free will, make the following statement without having been subjected to any coercion, unlawful influence, or unlawful inducement.

Statement    8/20/1998
Michael Lynn Mincy


This is an edited version of an editorial by Haltom City Municipal Judge,
Kenneth W. Hale, published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Wednesday,
May 15, 1996:

     KILLING OF A SERVICE PROGRAM DISGRACED HALTOM CITY


     On April 22 [1996], the City Council of Haltom City voted to kill the Community
     Action  Service Program. Every council member with the sole exection of  John Patino 
     voted to destroy this much needed  program.

     The Community Action Service Program was designed to aid the elderly and  infirm 
     while allowing minor traffic offenders and other petty offenders to perform community yard 
     work service in lieu of being imprisoned for nonpayment of city fines.....

     .....A large number of young families just starting out [here in Haltom City] are finacially 
     strapped because the primary wage-earner receives little more than the minimum wage. 
     They can barely afford to feed their children and pay the rent and utilities.

     Even when fully aware of such problems, it is not uncommon for city personnel to  issue
     four or more citations to one person for one traffic stop, with total fines of more than $ 400.

     A young person with a $ 5 per-hour job earns about $ 650 per month after taxes. This person
     who is often married and raising one or more young children, simply cannot pay these fines.
     This occurs far more often than our city fathers  care to admit.....
                              
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     .....The Community Action Service Program was developed to resolve both problems. People
     who cannot pay would be able to work off their fines by performing yard maintenance for the
     elderly. These people would not be incarcerated and lose their jobs, which they so desperately
     need to provide for their families......

     .....Whenever someone wants to kill a program that would be extremely popular, they use scare
     tactics to frighten residents into not wanting the program. Opponents used just such tactics in this
     case.

     I am the judge of this city, and I can absolutely promise that this court would perform careful
     screening. I have the full legal authority to decide who will be admitted into the program and 
     who will not.  I would not allow serious criminals into it......

     .....On April 27 [1996], our city reached a tentative agreement to settle a liability lawsuit with
     the family of a person who commited suicide while incarcerated in our jail. the amount of the 
     settlement was not disclosed.

     Another person was beatened senseless by a prisoner while in our jail for a minor Class C
     misdemeanor of  public intoxication. It is not fully known what liability the city will face
     on this matter.

     It would appear that the greater likelyhood of city liability would occur when someone was
     incarcerated rather than when they are performing community labor as a potential 'employee'
     community service volunteer.....

      .....In my opinion, our city has turned it's back on the elderly, the infirm, and the poor and 
     has tried to use subterfuge and legal mumbo jumbo to hide that fact.

     It is well known that most cities try to use their municipal courts as a significant revenue tool.....

     .....A little known fact is that, despite my strenuous objections, our city has the municipal clerk
     report to the city budget director. Municipal court revenues are reported first to the police chief
     and then to the municipal judge, in that specific order. I have wondered aloud about these facts
     but have received no adaquate answers from our city fathers.

     A court is a place where people go to receive justice. It is not ever to be used as a revenue tool. 
     I wish all people believed that way.

     "Kenneth W. Hale is municipal judge for Haltom City [Star-Telegram]"


 
     
     






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