Free Republic

(snip) His undercover work for the FBI over the last five years helped bust a string of public officials across Waller County who previously had evaded other probes, authorities said. To date, a mayor, justice of the peace, public works director and two aldermen have pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud taxpayers by soliciting kickbacks. Many believe more heads will roll as investigators try to end an apparent systemic culture of corruption that had infected this rural county west of Houston. "Now I just want my life back," said Johnson, 47, who said he's lost nearly everything since taking his...

By EDWARD HEGSTROM Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle "The FBI is investigating allegations that a Prairie View A&M student arrested last week on charges of trying to pass off counterfeit bills may have also had bomb-making materials in his dorm room." ..."Okwudili Franklin Aluka, 30, faces forgery charges and is being held in the Waller County Jail as officials also try to determine whether he is in the country legally." ..."Court papers filed last week by Prairie View campus police allege officers found chemicals in Aluka's apartment "that can be used in the making of explosives" and they called in the...

The Prairie View A&M University chapter of the NAACP alleged in a federal lawsuit Tuesday that Waller County officials violated federal law by shortening the early voting period at the university for the March 9 primary election. The lawsuit, the second filed by the Prairie View NAACP against county officials in two weeks, alleges the county cannot make changes affecting voting without obtaining approval from the U.S. Justice Department. Jon Greenbaum, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said the lawsuit does not accuse county officials of trying to limit the vote at the predominantly black university, but many students believe that...