agingrebel.com
The best place to hide a leaf is in a
forest. The best place to hide the truth about what happened in the
parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco is in a confusion of
noise. The noise about what happened last May 17 has been coming from
three distinct dispute that have been talking over each other for ten
months.
First, Waco, McLennan County and Texas
have brought criminal charges against 186 people so far. Officials argue
that going to the Twin Peaks for brunch wearing the wrong article of
clothing was a terrorist act. Apparently – and several police have come
right out and said it – the wrong article of clothing was one with any
colors or words that indicated that one might have chosen a side in an
alleged dispute between the Cossacks and Bandidos Motorcycle Clubs.
Second, some of those 186 criminal
defendants argue that their constitutional rights were violated when
Waco, McLennan County and Texas irremediably wrecked their lives by
accusing them of murder; by disseminating prejudicial and really
unflattering photos of them; and by making them pay more money than most
people have in their checking accounts in order to get out of a crappy
jail. Most of these defendants think they were punished for surviving a
disaster devised by someone else.
Virtually ignored in coverage of the
case have been the litigations that claim the Twin Peaks restaurant
franchise in Waco was to blame.
Management Knew
Waco Police Public Information Officer and McLennan County Sheriff manqué
W. Patrick Swanton introduced the notion that the restaurant did it. In
his first press conference Swanton said: “We have been made aware here
in the past few months of rival biker gangs…rival criminal biker gangs
being here and causing issues. We have attempted to work with the local
management of the Twin Peaks to get that cut back to no avail. They have
not been of much assistance to us. However we continued doing our part
on gathering intelligence. Apparently the management wanted them here so
we didn’t have any say so on whether they could be here or not. We do
know that they are an issue. We do know that they are criminal biker
gangs very well known in our area. There were at least three rival gang
groups here this morning for whatever reason. As they were here we had
officers on scene. We expected issues and because of the problems we had
at least twelve Waco officers along with several other DPS (Texas
Department of Public Safety) officers that were assisting us in
trying…to …maintain security for the perimeter and for the citizens of
our area.”
The next day Swanton said, “Management
knew there were biker gangs. We have talked with them; asked them to
limit the amount of some of that going on; and they have not been much
of a help on that. They knew that there were issues. They knew that we
were here and that there were going to be additional issues but they
continued to let those groups of people into their business.”
The Waco Twin Peaks franchise and its
investors have been the correspondents in five opportunistic civil
suits. The Don Carlos Restaurant that shared a parking lot with the Twin
Peaks is suing for damages to its restaurant business. The family of
Waco victim Jesus Delgado Rodriguez is suing the restaurant for wrongful
death. Astoundingly Yvonne Reeves, the wife of Owen “Big O” Reeves and
mother of Richard Matthew “Chain” Jordan, III joined the wrongful death
suit. Two Texas residents identified only as M.K.H. and C.R.H. sued the
restaurant for personal injuries. The family of Matthew Mark Smith, a
Cossacks sergeant at arms who was shot three times and died at Waco
believes the restaurant is responsible for his death. And Cossack Melvin
Pattenaude, one of the defendants in the criminal case, is suing both
the Waco Franchise and its former franchisor. Front Burner Restaurants.
Four of the suits were filed in Dallas, The fifth was filed in Waco.
One Case
In response, the restaurant and the
franchisor have replied that the damages were caused by “unknown
criminal actors and law enforcement.”
Since the cases all originated from the
same event, the restaurant wanted them consolidated so the Twin Peaks
would only have to defend itself once rather than five times. About two
weeks ago, on March 3, Texas Court of Appeals Judge Elizabeth Lang-Miers
agreed with the Twin Peaks and ruled that all five of these cases could
be litigated at the same time in a kind of court called a multidistrict
litigation court. Disasters, like plane and train wrecks, are usually
tried in MDL courts. And, it is probably accurate to categorize Waco so
far as a train wreck.
The consolidation isn’t likely to result
in the public disclosure of any of the Twin Peaks Massacre’s many
secrets. But it may discourage the lawyers in these suits from spreading
quite as much disinformation as they have up until now.
The Twin Peaks franchise in Waco and its
employees seem to have also been victims in this case – not
victimizers. None of the investors or employees shot, stabbed or clubbed
anybody. None of them acted irresponsibly. Reports created after the
shootout portrayed the restaurant’s manager as rude to police but that
didn’t seem to be an issue before nine people died. The restaurant is
only being sued because its owners are rich. Somebody should tell the
lawyers in this case that the city of Waco, McLennan County, the state
of Texas and the Department of Justice are richer.