The Limits of Tyrants are Prescribed by the Endurance of Those Whom They Oppress
Fredrick Douglas, Canandaigua, New York, Aug. 3,1857
I live in a small subdivision named Thousand Oaks that is split by the border of Williamson and Burnet County's. I have a beautiful house, wonderful wife, intelligent children and find that we live in one of the most corrupt places in Texas. I'm one of those people that believe, whether you're a businessman or a politician, you should be held accountable to the people that put their trust in you.
I have worked with the residents of my subdivision, for more than three years, to hold the developer of our subdivision, Daniel Shine, accountable for the lies, payoffs and deceptive practices, perpetrated by him, his mortgage company and his subcontractors. And yet, after all the time, expense and research, I find I have reached an impasse.in part to being manipulated with misinformation and diversion by some of the County Officials of Burnet and Williamson County's and in part because of my naivety in trusting the people that I believed were bound by their duty to give me truthful information. I found I was discovering corruption that I thought our legal system had corrected some 50 years ago, from elected officials entrusted to protect us from these sorts of misdeeds.
So I'm writing this letter, as a final statement, to whoever will read it, first as a means of getting the story told, and mostly as a way of clearing my conscience. I believe I have done all I can for my friends, neighbors and family. And I also believe I have persevered longer than most, in an apparently futile battle, against The Good Ol' Boy's of these two counties and the developer that claims to have them in his pocket.
To make this letter shorter than a novel, I will leave out most the short stories that many of the residents of our subdivision prefer to tell (stories about being lied to, short changed and stolen from), stick to the larger issues, undeniable facts, and let the readers of this letter reach their own conclusions.
Fact 1. The Thousand Oaks Subdivision was started in 1999 by Mr. Daniel R. Shine, his wife, Emily F. Shine and two undisclosed partners, under the company name of Oak Ridge Ranch Development, LLC, PO Box 848, Liberty Hill, TX, 78642 (Williamson County). Dale Bergman, of Bergman Engineering, 916 Broadway, Marble Falls, TX, 78654 (Burnet County) contracted the surveying and road construction under the Burnet County Subdivision Regulations of 1997.
Fact 2. Mr. Shine arranged an Interlocal Agreement between Burnet and Williamson County's with the help of County Commissioners Court members Keith Boatright from Williamson County, and George DeSpain from Burnet County. This agreement in effect mandated jurisdiction of the subdivision to Burnet County, with certain conditions, set by Williamson County, to be met prior to authorization of the plat. These Interlocal Agreement conditions were NOT met, and yet the Williamson County Commissioners Court authorized the platting of Section 1 of the Thousand Oaks Subdivision on March 16,1999, the same day that Interlocal Agreement was signed. It was stated in the Court minutes that this was a Private subdivision, with the road system, never to be maintained by Williamson County, and this is stated on the blueprints presented to the Court.
Fact 3. Under protest from the land owners surrounding the proposed subdivision, and after bringing up the fact that the Interlocal Agreement had not been adhered to, Burnet County Commissioners Court authorized the platting of Section 1 of the Thousand Oaks Subdivision on May 24,1999, with the stipulation that Mr. Shine provide a bond or letter of credit in the amount of $70,000.00, record the deed restrictions, provide a time frame for the development of the road system and provide the county with a tax certificate. These issues were to be approved by the county attorney, Robert Klaeger.
Fact 4. The Treasurer of Burnet County, Donna Klaeger, has stated that she has no record that Burnet County has ever received a bond/letter of credit for the road system from Oak Ridge Ranch, LLC, or Mr. Shine for the Thousand Oaks Subdivision.
Fact 5. The Williamson County Engineer, Mr. Joe England, has stated that Williamson County did not receive the engineering tests and soil compaction reports for road construction, nor did Williamson County ever receive notification prior to the commencement of road construction.
Fact 6. No one that we have contacted in Burnet County can find records of the time frame for the construction of the road system.
Fact 7. No one we have contacted could find record of the tax certificate provided to Burnet County by Oak Ridge Ranch Development.
Fact 8. The Deed Restrictions filed with Burnet and Williamson County's do not meet the requirements of the 1997 Burnet County Subdivision Regulations for Private Subdivisions, i.E. Article III, Division 1, Section 1, d., states that A bona fide and viable Property Owner's Association is created that provides a practical, enforceable and perpetual plan for the maintenance of the streets, roads and alleys of the subdivision, which shall be incorporated in the deed restrictions and filed for record with the county clerk. - Our deed restrictions say nothing about this subdivision being a Private Subdivision, nor do they state that our annual maintenance dues are for maintaining the road system. Rather, it states that the dues are to maintain the parks and install swimming pools and tennis courts.
Fact 9. The Deed Restrictions filed with Burnet and Williamson County's do not meet the requirements of the 1997 Burnet County Subdivision Regulations for Private Subdivisions, i.E. Article III, Division 1, Section 1, e., states that All deed restrictions shall contain the following notice; the County of Burnet will not accept the streets and roads in a Private Subdivision for Maintenance. This statement is missing in the deed restrictions and when questioned about the road system maintenance, the developer maintained the road system would be taken over by the county. Refer to Fact 13
Fact 10. Mr. Shine requested Williamson County Sheriff's Department conduct a speed trap on Thousand Oaks Blvd.in the fall of to curtail flagrant speeding of cars and trucks coming into the Thousand Oaks Subdivision. Forty speeding tickets were administered in one day on a road that Mr. Shine concealed was Private.
Fact 11. Williamson County Commissioners Court approved the final plat for Section 2 of the Thousand Oaks Subdivision, on Feb. 27, with the stipulation that the approval is under the 1999 regulations, and reaffirmed this action on April 3. Again, no records exist that the Interlocal agreement was adhered to. Facts 4 through 7.
Fact 12. No records of Burnet County Commissioners Court approval of Section 2 of the Thousand Oaks Subdivision could be found and when the county attorney for Burnet County, Robert Klaeger, was asked about this indiscretion, he stated that the entirety of Section 2 was in Williamson County and did not need to be approved by Burnet County, nor did the regulations, bonds, time frames or tax certificates to Burnet County pertain. Refer to Fact 11.
Fact 13. Mr. Shine lied in a Burnet Commissioners Court meeting on Sept. 10. While being accompanied by newly elected members of the Thousand Oaks Homeowners Association, whom he had deceived into thinking that Thousand Oaks was a public subdivision, when he asked the County Commissioners to take over maintenance of the road system and requested more police protection within the subdivision. The Court went along with this deception and the County Attorney, Robert Klaeger, stated that he would review the request and bring this back to the court in two weeks.
Fact 14. Mr. Shine has hired several homeowners from the subdivision to work for him and has been instrumental in having them elected as officers in the Thousand Oaks Homeowners Association. He has also condoned intimidation, lies and threats to keep others from running for office. These actions have effectively stifled any efforts by the homeowners to pursue these issues with either the HOA or Burnet County for several years.
Fact 15. Mr. Shine, with the help of one of his employee's, Delene Davis, President of the Thousand Oaks Homeowners Association, filed false documents, a gift deed for property Lot 86 from Section 1, with the Williamson County Appraisal District, and lied to one of the districts appraisers, to dismiss, lower the stated value of the properties and shift a three year tax burden for three properties, Lots 175,176, 177, owned by Oak Ridge Ranch Development, LLC onto the Thousand Oaks Homeowners Association, being cleared at a Final Hearing for the Protest of Taxes, on Nov. 18. After informing the appraisal district of their deception in March or the ownership of the properties in question were again shifted back to Oak Ridge Ranch, on March 20. The association had already paid the taxes. Then on April 9, Mr. Shine gift deeded the properties to the Thousand Oaks Homeowners Association, with Delene Davis and Leah Hammons, Secretary of the Thousand Oaks Homeowners Association and personal friend of Mr. Shine, accepting the deed.
This is but a partial list of the indiscretions Mr. Shine has perpetrated in this subdivision. Others would include paying commissions to persons to sell his real estate, (without a real estate license), financing properties for residents using chattel notes, financing homes to unqualified buyers at up to 18 % interest, hiring subcontractors to do shoddy and substandard work on septic systems and home installations, (thus leaving him with no liability), refusing to honor warranties, refusing to finish building the subdivision to the standards and with the amenities, both promised and in writing in the deed restrictions, not to mention his company is the largest single offender of the deed restrictions; to such an extent that properties have been reselling at 1/3 their original market value thus leaving residents unable to refinance their homes. Many residents have already lost their homes (over 50% in Burnet County) to bankruptcy and repossession and more are contending with the eviction, repossession, and bankruptcy processes as I write.
All that aside, these matters have been taken up by myself and my neighbors with the Williamson County Sheriff's Department, Counsel for the Williamson County Attorney's Office, Dale A. Rye, Williamson County Engineer, Joe England, and several attempts have been made to contact Commissioner Boatright of the Williamson County Commissioners Court, to no avail. All of these contacts have ended with them pointing the finger squarely on Burnet County for resolution.
In Burnet County, I have been dealing with Precinct 3, County Commissioner, Ron Hibler, for more than two years. He always seems friendly and very often helpful in handing out advice as to whom I should contact next. Mr. Hibler even stated that Burnet County would be more than willing to do the maintenance on the road system of Thousand Oaks, IF, we could get a petition approved by the homeowners, requesting the road maintenance be taken over by the County.
This wasted a lot of time, due to the developer controlling the HOA, and having the largest voting block of properties he owns as President (and now sole owner) of Oak Ridge Ranch Development.
When I insisted on bringing my case before the County Commissioners at one of their bi-monthly meetings, Mr. Hibler suggested I take the matter to the County Attorney, Mr. Robert Klaeger. After several weeks of Mr. Hibler telling me that he hadn't had the opportunity to discuss setting up a meeting with Mr. Klaeger, I again insisted on meeting with the County Commissioners. Shortly after this conversation, I got a phone call from Mr. Klaeger.
Mr. Klaeger stated that he didn't have much time to discuss the issues, he was due in court in ten minutes, and insisted he didn't know about any issues that pertain to him. I refreshed his memory on his responsibility to assure that Mr. Shine adhere to the court orders of the Commissioners meeting of May 24,1999, and the fact that he was responsible for not having followed through and he was also responsible for allowing Mr. Shine to lie to Commissioners Court on Sept 10. His response was to hurriedly get off the phone with the final statement that he would check on it and get back with me in a couple of weeks. Neither I nor any of my neighbors have heard from Mr. Klaeger since.
In the mean time our small group had contacted the Texas Attorney Generals Office, and the response from Katherine S. Wood, Public Information and Assistance for the Office of the Attorney General of Texas, was that maybe we should talk to the FBI. We contacted the Texas Rangers, North West office and was told by Mr. Matt Lynamen, (I'm not sure about the last name) that although they would be responsible for investigating public corruption, at the time the Rangers didn't have the budget to do so, and he suggested we contact the news media, or perhaps the District Attorney in Llano County, who would have jurisdiction over Burnet County. We then contacted the Office of the District Attorney, Mr. Sam Oatman, and got a return call from one of his assistants that introduced himself as Steve. He listened to the story and referred us back to Burnet County Commissioners Court. After sending the same e-mail letter to KEYE TV News that we had sent to the Texas Rangers, with no results, I again started a dialog with Commissioner Ron Hibler.
This time Mr. Hibler suggested we apparently wouldn't get anywhere with the Judge and attorney that may have been in on whatever had happened and that we should wait until Jan. Of at which point there would be a new Judge and County Attorney. These would be new officers of the court with no connection to the court that may have perpetrated theses atrocities.
On Friday, Jan. 21, I and a neighbor, met with Mr. Eddie Aredondo, the new County Attorney for Burnet County, and presented our case to him. He was very responsive and sympathetic to our cause; however, in his opinion, and after sighting more than enough evidence to pursue an investigation into wrong doings by public and private individuals, his office could not initiate a case, but could only respond to a case presented to him by a law enforcement agency or the County Commissioners Court itself. He then suggested we contact a law enforcement agency.
My neighbor, contacted the Burnet County Sheriff's Department the afternoon of Jan. 21, and they immediately sent out a CDI to investigate the case. After his review, he noted that, although these items were initially misdemeanors, due to their being over three counts, these had now reverted to felonies. (He actually counted well over 90 counts, one for each household he gave a deed restriction to, of at least 4 misdemeanors = 360 counts) But, after reading the fine print of the Subdivision Regulations, he noted that these crimes fell under the Vernon Texas Civil Statues, in which the jurisdiction of such cases falls to the County Commissioners Court of the County of the Subdivision Regulations. This statute states that it is up to the Burnet County Commissioners Court to designate an employee of the court or any other person or persons it so designates to investigate the case. Further it states that, In accordance with 6702-1, Subchapter E, Section 2.401 VACS, any party violating any provision of 6702-1, Subchapter E, Section 2.401 VACS, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined a sum of not less than TEN DOLLARS ($10.00) nor more than ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,000.00), or confined in the County Jail not exceeding six (6) months, or both such fine and imprisonment, and each act of violation shall constitute a separate offence and in addition to the above penalties and violation of the evidence of any attempt to defraud. He apologized and suggested we contact the Burnet County Commissioners Court.
The following Monday, Jan. 24, I placed a call to the county attorney, left a message, and called Commissioner Hibler again. He listened to the report about our meeting with the County Attorney and with the Sheriff's Department and I again asked to be put on the agenda for the County Commissioners Court. He got very irritated and stated that he would get a hold of the County Attorney and get back to me, later. Almost as soon as I hung up the phone from Mr. Hibler, Mr. Aredondo returned my call. He stated that he hadn't heard from Mr. Hibler yet, as he just got into his office, then he listen to our report about the meeting with the Sheriff's Deputy, and he stated that he would talk to the Commissioners and get right back we me.
Early that afternoon, I received a call from Mr. Aredondo, at which time he told me that, much to his embarrassment, he had just remembered that these forms of misdemeanor offences carried a two year statute of limitations, that the two years were over, even for second section of the subdivision, and that these weren't really felonies. Sorry, but there was nothing the Commissioners Court or he could do for us. END OF STORY
Supporting documents:
Williamson County Appraisal District 2003 Protest Information Cases R-15-544-0200-0175,176 and 177
Williamson County Clerk Property Records Document 2000043231 3 pgs
Williamson County Clerk Property Records Document 2004027462 2 pgs
Williamson County Commissioners Court Minutes Vol. 0103, page 134 0088
Interlocal Agreement, Williamson / Burnet County Vol. 0103, page 135 0089
Burnet County Commissioners Court Minutes May 24,1999, 9:00 A.M.
Williamson County Commissioners Court Minutes 0 2/27 page 80
Williamson County Commissioners Court Minutes 02/03 page 104
Burnet County Commissioners Court Minutes Sept. 10, Vol. 28, pg 222,2 23
Williamson County Appraisal District Statement of Acct. 03/05 i.D. R415217
Williamson County Appraisal District Statement of Acct. 03/05 i.D. R415218
Williamson County Appraisal District Statement of Acct. 03/05 i.D. R415219
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