INTELLIGENCE UPDATE UPDATE The FART guys may have captured the operative known as "PATZ". Can anyone positively identify the attached mug shot??? If so, contact the Flatbroke Kounty Kommand Post.

The Flatbroke Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) has identified "PATZ" as a female living in the Austin, Texas area. The FART team has been dispatched to Travis County to team-up with the Austin Secret Service in an effort to locate this person of interest. Our Flatbroke Intelligence Network (FIN) has intercepted electronic messages between "PATZ" and "She's-why-our-kids-are-ugly", clearly indicating a close connection between the two. Recent reports also tend to forecast an imminent shipment of explosives to the East Texas compound where the heads of this strange organization stays.

Intelligence Bulletin The Flatbroke Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified an intelligence leak. Information contained in memos distributed through this network has been compromised by distribution to persons within Angelina and Cherokee Counties in East Texas. The source of the leak has been identified as a white (not confirmed) female using the name "Brenda" and also known as "She's-why-our-kids-are-ugly". This alias must be of foreign origin and may have ties to other persons of interest in East Texas. She has been known to associate with an older, bearded subject who looks somewhat like Ben Lauden. The Flatbroke Armed Response Team (FART) was dispatched to the area recently and found that the subject and the older male have made frequent trips to an East Texas lake where that have apparently met covertly with several suspicious persons who are using the undercover names of "Crappie", "Catfish", "Perch", and "Big Mouth". Our intelligence sources have also determined that "Brenda" and her companion have been known to sell explosives, perticularily in July and December. Consider these subjects dangerous. Their known history, habits, and associates clearly indicate that one or both of them may be throwed off.

Housing update: We sign a contract tomorrow (Saturday) to place our Silsbee house on the market at an asking price of $134,900. The realtor gave us a "net sheet" today after visiting our house and estimated that we would have a clear profit of about $80,000. By the way, our realtor is Stephen Black!! Yep, a distant relative no doubt. Monday, we are touring a second house in Lufkin on the same block as the first. The second house can be seen online at Century 21 in zip code 75901. Asking price is $99,900. This house, built in 1912, is a white wood frame TWO STORY with 3,000 square feet, FOUR bedrooms, two baths, formal living & dining, an office, a game room, a fireplace, a back porch, and a FRONT PORCH from which Linda and I can sit and wave at the passing traffic. (I already have plans for the train in the play room!!) This house has already been renovated inside. We have been told by a neighbor that the staircase is fantastic! Things are moving FAST, faster than we had ever imagined. And so far, our retirement has turned out to be better financially than we had estimated. I am amazed at how these past few weeks have produced exactly what we have wanted for years. God wanted me to retire and I suspect He wants us to move to Lufkin.

This may take a little time so bear with me. For the past two years or so, I have felt compelled to leave state employment, either by finding a police chief position or plain ol' retirement. I applied for several police chief positions around the state. The cities ranged in population size from 1,500 to 8,000. None of them hired me. The conditions of my job continued to get more stressful - from 6 investigators down to two, more units and inmates to cover, more travel, more on-call, etc. Linda and I began to explore retiring and finding another job outside law enforcement. We had decided to set the date of July 1 as a decision date. Early in May I discovered that my organization had opened an investigation concerning an allegation that I had not completely complied with an Open Records request last MARCH. Then the very next day I was told that none of the 40 applicants for a vacant position (that has been vacant since May 30, 2006) were not considered adequately qualified for the position. That means several months before another pool of applicants could be identified. That all happened on May 2, 2007. Linda and I discussed the situation and decided that I should retire as soon as possible. On Thursday, May 3rd, I talked to an old friend and was offered a security job in Silsbee, When I arrived at my office I telephoned my Lt. and told her that that day (Thursday the 3rd) was my last day to work and that I would be on vacation until the end of May. Everything than fell into place like a miracle. We met with Social Security and was told that I would receive my first Social Security check on July 11th. I received my state retirement system packet in only 11 days (estimated 2 to 3 weeks). We will receive more Social Security and state retirement than we expected. My security job will start June 1st. BUT, it gets better! When Linda was just a little girl (long ago) her Grandparents lived on Lufkin Avenue. She visited them often and remembered sitting on their front porch, looking at a beautiful old brick home across the street, and wishing that she could live there some day. She has always remembered that house and her dream of living in it. We were in Lufkin today and Linda asked me to drive by that old home. We did. It is for sell. We got the key and explored the house for a few hours. We both are in love with that place. It was built in 1949, has three bedrooms, two baths, two fireplaces, hardwood floors, large concrete front porch, tall ceilings with beautiful wood trim at the ceiling, a side porch that is screened, a yard that once was home to numerous flower beds, many large trees, aluminum siding, etc, etc. Oh, and an antique office desk and matching credenza, and the old timey built-into-the-wall telephone nook or whatever it's called. The interior walls are made of thick wooden boards with wall paper or other covers on them. The house is very well built and solid as a rock. We are going to talk to the seller tomorrow and really are interested in buying the place. It does need some renovating and new roof shingles, but we look forward to that. We will let you know how things go. Hah! Moving back to Lufkin???

We just returned (burp!) from the Red Lobster. Took Jon, Angie, Dyl, and Ian out to (burp!) eat. We had fun. Ian slept through the entire meal. Dyllan ate 1.5 POUNDS of crab legs! I just had my usual fried catfish. It rained while we were gone - just enough to water the grass. We are going to Lufkin Tuesday to clean around our parents' graves and leave some flowers. Then we will visit with Gertie and Doris a short while before driving back to Silsbee. Let me know if this is too much excitement for ya and I'll tone it down a tad.

Actually, my retirement is official at midnight on May 31st.

I'm back again. Finally have the access process problem resolved. I'll be posting more often.

HOLY MACKERAL!!! I just made it back to my blog for the first time since ??????????? I plan to update often since I now have more free time.