tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post117344914600511817..comments2024-03-25T20:06:39.794-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Should Rangers "take a hit" on TYC?Gritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-1173541063064237442007-03-10T09:37:00.000-06:002007-03-10T09:37:00.000-06:00Back to the question in the title, I vote yes. If ...Back to the question in the title, I vote yes. If he had the authority to arrest the guy, and the evidence, and didn't do it, he didn't do his job, so yes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-1173531906068927942007-03-10T07:05:00.000-06:002007-03-10T07:05:00.000-06:00Whatever the merits of Lewis' situation - and I ag...Whatever the merits of Lewis' situation - and I agree we label too many people sex offendersand forbid them too many jobs - the fact remains it was against the rules to hire him! They aren't following their own rules, which themselves are inadequate and according to testimony invite abuse, particularly retaliation against staff and youth who complain.<BR/><BR/>That said, it's INCREDIBLY ironic that the only person who's actually been fired over this (others are suspended with pay) is somebody who NOBODY thinks committed any misconduct on the job. They need to get after the folks who were involved, not dilly dally around with symbolic stuff.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-1173458160433994622007-03-09T10:36:00.000-06:002007-03-09T10:36:00.000-06:00Maybe it's just possible that Lewis needed a job i...Maybe it's just possible that Lewis needed a job in order to survive - and maybe this was the only job he could find. It wasn't too long ago that one of the Houston TV channels made a big deal out of finding a registered sex offender on the job - cleaning cages at the animal shelter. Some facts and reasoning might be in order here, though I am not holding my breath.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-1173456799229336592007-03-09T10:13:00.000-06:002007-03-09T10:13:00.000-06:00Anonymous: You are not the only person who sees a ...Anonymous: You are not the only person who sees a problem with using the David Andrew Lewis case as a vehicle to argue about the systematic dereliction of duty/cover up/corruption at TYC. Mike Ward's story in the Austin American Statesman yesterday, seemed to me to conflate two different issues: that of Brookins and Lewis. But the Lewis case does highlight the other problematic issues at TYC. http://www.statesman.com/search/content/region/legislature/stories/03/08/8tyc.html<BR/><BR/>As you rightly note, Lewis was a registered sex offender working in a privately owned and operated TYC facility. It's important to mention, too, that given that Lewis is now 23 years old, he committed the offence for which he registered at the age of 15, when he was a juvenile. You'll note from Ward's story that the Governor is going to use this case to seek to relax rules about the sealing of juveniles' records. Yet can we really be so sure that that sort of action in the Lege would actually prevent the scandal that Nate Blakeslee uncovered at TYC? Not necessarily.<BR/><BR/>For Lewis, the problem is that he is now caught up in something that is much bigger than his individual case. And this allowed Ward to take the Lewis story and amplify it through the systematic corruption at TYC. It's not my role to comment on whether or not a registered juvenile sex offender should be working with youth -- change in people is possible, after all. Maybe Lewis had reformed?<BR/><BR/>But maybe he hadn't. And furthermore, the cultural climate that we are in doesn't permit such close contact between SOs and youth. And it doesn't look good, to put it mildly, for TYC that it seems not to care about either of these issues. So, though Lewis's case may be swept up in the hysteria, it confirms more of what Nate Blakeslee uncovered in the original story from Pyote. That nobody, but nobody, seems to have taken any action to prevent victimization of incarcerated youth through meaningful review. The Lewis case proves that there is no meaningful review, neither in TYC nor in its private contractors.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-1173455864392498962007-03-09T09:57:00.000-06:002007-03-09T09:57:00.000-06:00Yes, the Rangers should take a hit. The Ranger sh...Yes, the Rangers should take a hit. The Ranger should have screamed bloody murder to get some action. We have seen the results of this inaction.tttthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12920590524803977044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-1173455320752252572007-03-09T09:48:00.000-06:002007-03-09T09:48:00.000-06:00There are many troubling aspects of the whole TYC ...There are many troubling aspects of the whole TYC scandal but one thing stands out to me. A registered sex offender was FIRED because he was a registered sex offender, NOT because he committed any crime against any of the children in custody YET, those that have committed sexual crimes against these children have NOT been arrested. Am I the only one who sees a problem with this picture?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com