Monday, March 12, 2007

Is the Party Already Over for TYC's Ed Owens?


"The party's over" for new Texas Youth Commission director Ed Owens, declares the facade over at the TexasJustice.Net message board, pictured above.

Damn, that was quick!

Yesterday in the Dallas Morning News, Diane Jennings wrote that Owens' appointment "was greeted warmly around the state." She quoted Democratic House Corrections Committee member Rep. Jim Dunnam declaring, "I have not heard anything other than positive about Mr. Owens."

I guess neither Dunnam nor Ms. Jennings are Grits readers, because Grits commenters and prison guard bloggers at The Back Gate immediately identified this as a problematic appointment when Governor Perry announced it.

On Saturday, Grits posted court documents online provided by TexasJustice.org alleging that Owens himself covered up sex abuse allegations among his subordinates when he was the #2 man at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The state settled a civil suit stemming from those allegations last year.

Despite the unwelcome news about Owens, however, it's too early to say whether the party is really over yet. Over at Capitol Annex, Vince is busy combing through TYC's board minutes over the last two years looking for abuse references.

I get the feeling the party's only just begun.

Related Grits coverage on TYC and the Owens family:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well that settles one thing. I've been wondering as I read your posts about this little known Texas power family if Ed and Rissie were related to Buck. Seeing his picture, I'm guessing no.