It has been very busy and I am sorry for not having anything in the paper. Everyone has been working overtime to keep up with the new changes at the Sheriff's Office, but with the changes on the streets as well. These numbers are rough but these cover individuals booked into the county jail from 4-1-09 to 5-17-09.

There were a total of 64 individuals booked into the county jail during that period of time. Six of these were for D.W.I. or D.U.I. related offenses (driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence), twenty eight were warrant or motion to revoke probation arrests and another eleven were assault charges. There were also other charges covering the spectrum from sexual assault to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon all the way down to public intoxication. The five law enforcement agencies in San Saba county have all been very busy.

We have a few alerts for you. The first being the abuse of our elderly both by neglect and by scamming them out of money. We have seen a rise in the abuse of our elderly concerning phone scams. Please pay close attention to your family's records if you are taking care of a parent and/or grandparent, or assisting them with their finances. These scam artists target elderly individuals who are alone and using the phone, scam them out of thousands of dollars, and then leave them more hurt, confused and alone than they were before. It has already happened here on several occasions and this type of crook is hard to catch and the cases even harder to prove. These individuals are some of the worst trash in the criminal world and the hardest to stop once they start working an area. The best way to protect our seniors is through attention to details in their financial records and education. We have been lucky and have been alerted to several scams from family members who are paying attention and to several local businesses watching out for unusual activity. We will try to get you more information on this matter as soon as possible, as well as putting it out on the radio.

Speeding, seatbelts, stop signs, passing in a no passing zone, parking in the roadway, and my favorite, reckless driving, these are the most frequent violations we deal with in our day to day operations and in complaints we receive through dispatch. Law enforcement deals with this each and every day through traffic contacts and working accidents where these factors were the cause. We are asking your help with this matter. If each of us would take a moment and look at the way we drive, (boy, am I stepping on my own toes), then we could better understand the problem we are facing in a world which is constantly going faster and faster. Lets all try to plan a little ahead and give ourselves more time to arrive at our destination without an accident or without a meeting with local law enforcement. We would all be a lot happier in the end. Oh yeah, there is no excuse good enough to explain why you did not buckle in your child properly or why your child is standing up. I am encouraging each and every officer to write every time for this violation. Please protect our children, even if you choose not to protect yourself.

I also had a question concerning the sheriff's office policy on writing seatbelt tickets. I was asked if the sheriff's department was going to write these tickets? The Sheriff's Office will enforce all traffic laws in the state of Texas, but I give each of my deputies the use of their own discretion and do not order them to write or not write a citation. Now I do encourage them to be more aggressive on certain violations than on others, like speeding and children unrestrained, but in the end it is their decision. The saying that no two traffic stops are alike is very true and I believe in giving the officers in the field the ability to make their own decision based on what they discover on each and every traffic stop.

I would like to take a moment to congratulate Officer Dwayne Shaw on his promotion to Sergeant with the police department. Shaw and I have worked together for going on thirteen years now and it has not always been roses. We have had a relationship not unlike the odd couple on T.V. but over the years and through many good as well as bad times we have become not only partners but I am proud to say friends. Yet with his promotion came some bad news for the Sheriff's Office. Sergeant Shaw can no longer be the Sheriff's Office Court Bailiff due to his added responsibilities. Shaw brought to the Sheriff's Department not only his years of experience with law enforcement, but his hard work ethic and quest for perfection. Shaw worked hard at establishing the new security procedures in the courthouse as well as establishing new and better changes in the paper work involved in these areas. I was lucky to have him for the first quarter of my new term in office and would like to personally thank him for his excellent work. The City of San Saba is lucky to have him on the streets and we will always have a spot for him with the San Saba Sheriff's Office. Good luck, Sarge, from all of us.

We would like to thank everyone for all the information coming in and to let you know that we are doing our best at getting to every call. Please be sure to call in and report anything that seems out of sorts. We thank you for your continued support and ask for your prayers.