Answers and evidence in Twin Peaks shootout delayed by case complexity, police caution

One month after the deadly May 17 shootout at Twin Peaks prompted the unprecedented mass arrests of 177 bikers, officials are releasing limited information and say disclosure of certain evidence, including videos of the incident, would compromise their investigation.

The incident was of such a rare scale and variety that McLennan County officials had never experienced anything like it.

Their response after the shooting stopped has been criticized from some corners and spawned at least one federal civil rights lawsuit and a judicial complaint.

Now, as the media, bikers and their relatives push for answers, many questions remain unanswered because of the sheer magnitude of the incident: nine dead, 20 wounded, 177 arrested, 27 vehicles seized, 488 weapons found on scene to date.

Officials are quick to point out the criminal justice system does not work like it does on TV crime shows, despite the public’s expectations.

“This is an investigation. The term ‘investigation’ carries with it a careful and impartial consideration of all the evidence and all the facts,” said 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother. “It is not done on ‘CSI’ time. It is done in real life and in the real world. It is to everyone’s best interests that all parties know everything so that we can be fair to everyone, and that cannot be done overnight.”

The incident at Twin Peaks apparently was not captured on video by any innocent bystanders or it already would have surfaced, as in the case of the McKinney, Texas, pool party where teenagers filmed former police officer David Casebolt flinging a girl to the ground and drawing his gun on other teens who did not obey his orders.

Several of us have been pondering this for weeks now. Myself, I actually have a BA in Psychology, unlike some posters who claim experiences they clearly have not had. Psychology got it’s start by saying “we don’t have to know what is in the box to begin to understand it if we can observe it’s repeatable and reproducible behavior we can begin to make inferences about what must be going on in there.”. And so Psychology was born.

Einstein and his friends used to do similar sorts of “gedanken” experiments (that’s “thought experiments for you, TG, as I understand they didn’t teach Physics where you got your degree in Engineering).

In any case, bear with me briefly while we conduct several “thought” experiments. Remember Travis’ diagram of the buzz saw the Waco PD set up (speaking of Travis, where is he lately, in jail for posting?). Remember the circle he inscribed and labeled “kill zone”? As a group we seem to be unable to reach consensus because some who may actually be legitimate FReepers feel that this incident is justified by who was inside that circle and what they were doing at the moment they received rifle fire from three different directions. So let’s us just take “Schrodinger’s cat” out of that box ( or circle, in this case) and put, for starters, say the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted in that circle. Now Elliot Ness has gotten wind of the fact that these notorious gangsters are going to be there, at that moment, and it is his BIG CHANCE.

Or let us even add a slightly different twist. Let us say Jerry Falwell, before he went to his reward, got a clear, undeniable message from God Himself that Satan would appear in the parking lot of a breastaurant on that given date and time. All he had to do was have three riflemen at the ready and he could win the war against Sin for eternity.

The question I am asking is this, “Is there anytime in our nation’s history when any level of LE would have considered lighting up a crowded restaurant and it’s adjoining parking lot FOR ANY REASON?”. Of course not. So what is so different about this incident, at this time? The media is completely incurious. While the Kenyan Klown can’t wait for the blood to quit flowing about things like Ferguson or Charleston to pipe up and weigh in he has not a word to say about Twin Peaks.

So, returning to where I started, we really don’t have to “know” what machinations are taking place in the inaccessible “box” to observe the behavior the “box” produces. While we don’t know the particulars we do know this, whatever happened it must have been pretty extreme. The box has folded up tighter than the Clinton Foundation and the media is doing back flips to get away from this story. As the days go by, turning into weeks and months, the “modified, limited hangout” just persists.

The reason some of us are interested in this incident (and TG, I know you will find this just impossible to believe) is not that we have any endearment for Mongols or Bandidos or what have you. We pay careful attention to a number of events that inform us of just “where we are”. Are we at the Claire Wolf point? Clearly, this delusional young man in Charleston thought so. He and Charlie Manson seem to have been on the same page. Will his effort have been in vain, pray God, I hope so. But I get distracted. Again, I ask, at what prior point in US history would lighting up a public place with rifle fire have been so quietly and silently accepted?

The inescapable answer seems to be from the measure we see here that damn few care. But it is not enough that so few are concerned but that we must be ferreted out and accused by anonymous individuals who don’t have the integrity to hurl their accusations from foundations they actually embrace.

I suspect those individuals are actually fairly young and have long lives ahead of them. Mores the pity. The curse of old age is that you get to live in the world you created. You may scoff when young that we “have no need of God”. You may tell yourself that “morality is situational” to justify your passions of youth. Many of us did and have seen what chaos we created. Ask yourself, ye trolls, what will your world look like when you have succeeded? Prepare yourselves, because if you are unlucky you may have to live in it.

You still aren’t addressing the question I actually posed. What information was known beforehand that suggested to LE that firing up a public, crowded place was going to be a good way to deal with whatever it was (that they sure are reluctant to share). When modified, limited hangout is how they deal with it we can rest assured it ain’t pretty. I suppose you can’t address that because there just is NOT an acceptable answer. You were a carrier pilot, you know there is right and wrong. You get the airframe on the deck or you don’t. When it’s right you watch the tape and go get breakfast. Done. Next mission. Here we are a month later and we are still talking about how there may have been crosswinds, the tape had to be decoded by Eskimos in Zimbabwe, etc.

Think back to your Wing Commander or maybe you were a Wing Commander. Was “tap dancing” tolerated in your squad room? So why is it here? The situations are different, you may respond, but I ask, are they really? The only reason we are treated like mushrooms is that we allow it.

Did you note in the article that ballistics was being done by BATF in Cali? Initial report from Waco PD was that it was to be done in Washington.

ATF doing the investigation on their own sting operation. Fox and hen house.

Washington or California. Something like just location and they still can't keep their story straight. What difference does it make?!? The more they delay, lie and hide information from the public, the more they will be distrusted and the more that jury pool they're so worried about being tainted will become more so.

So, now the total number of vehicles impounded is 221. And, just as suspected would happen, several (29) have been repossessed. I'm guessing the 177 arrested includes those wounded so we have 177 arrested and 9 dead so the number of vehicles v. drivers and passengers still doesn't compute even throwing in a handful of vehicles not involved but merely in the parking lot.

Very interesting kill shots. Gonna leave it at that.

If no formal charges are filed within six months, which few expect to happen, the cases are dismissed by law, but can be refiled.

IOW, they can be harassed from now on.

Housing all 177 of the bikers cost taxpayers about $8,000 a day.

Another BIG LIE! Many of the 177 are being housed outside the county because McLennan doesn't have the room and those jails bill the original county much more. That comes to $45/day which barely covers meals. You have to also include general running costs for the jail itself of maintenance, electricity, tv, library, phones, etc. Then guards, medical, office personnel, counselors, etc. If someone has a medical condition or is taking meds, tax payers have to provide those, doctors and extra personnel to check on them more frequently. When released, they must be given X amount of meds to take home with them. Certain medical conditions require separate cells and those who were wounded should have been transferred to the infirmary which all adds $$$. If any of them file charges against officers for sexual advances, or religious rights or civil rights violations or whatever they can think up, then they have to be housed elsewhere and then there is the expense on the taxpayers to have lawyers defend the guards or settle whatever suit. Even the family can file if it is a burden to them to have their loved on too far from home. There's transportation costs to move inmates out of that particular jail. One inmate can break a county if he has a mind to. Multiply that by 177 and Waco can, and should be, drained dry. Of course, McLennon county tax payers get to pay for all the outside LEOs and investigators who were on the scene, sending the evidence to who knows where, their lawyers, court costs, etc., etc. etc.

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