Editorial Opinion

Jimmie Lee Townsend

Here's what I think possibly happened!

Ya know,  I am not one for conspiracy theories, but what I have seen going on in the time frame from the Primary to the Run-0ff election has made me wonder if the conspiracy that I thought went on during the Jimmie Lee Townsend era could possibly have happened.  Now that we know who most of the "Good Ole Boys" in law enforcement are, think about this.  Some of this I know for a fact and will state it as so, and some is just a conspiracy theory.

In the beginning there was a Chief of Police named Jimmie Townsend.  He was a honest man, a spotless officer, and a ex-marine, but after being around the "Good Ole Boy" justice in this county he made some (dumb) "Good Ole Boy" (mistakes).           (Black is just opinion or theory, and Red is known fact or what I was told.)

I know for a fact that he signed the Computer out of the Evidence room because the former City Manager of Clarksville, who hired me to work on the City's Computers told me that she had seen the record where he signed it out, (after she had left the city) but would not testify in the trial to help Jimmie because she had been threatened, and was afraid.  She said that the evidence log had been tampered with, and I believed her, although it is hearsay for me to state it in court, she also told a mutual friend the same thing she told me, (one of those he said she said sort of statements, hearsay in legal terms), and I will swear before God that this is what I was told. Someone in the Clarksville Police Department tampered with the Evidence Log Book.  Who in the "Good Ole Boy" law enforcement community in the Clarksville Police Department would have done such a terrible thing.

The weapon that Jimmie supposedly stole, and his wife hocked, was (as is allowed by law) signed out of the evidence room for a young officer who had been hired onto the force to use until he could purchase a weapon of his own.  The weapon ended up at Jimmie's house because the young officer quit the force, and took it by to turn it in to Jimmie (Chief of Police) when he left.  Jimmie just laid the gun up, like any of us would do until he could take it back to the evidence lockup, (big, dumb mistake) and either because of the "good ole boy" justice he had seen, and it had rubbed off on him, or just because he forgot about it for some reason, did not take it back right away. (big stupid dumb mistake)  In the interim, his wife took it and hocked it, before he knew it.

                         (Black is just opinion or theory, Red is known fact or what I was told).

Jimmie did tell me one day that he thought they were coming after him, because of something he was looking into, but he did not know when or how.  He did not say who "they" were.  I did not ask him what he was looking into, and he did not tell me.

Then there was a County Judge who had a Son named Steve who had a meth lab.  Click Here and See John Lorance's statement and look at the bottom of the page. I know that the Judge loves his son as any father should, and would protect him any way he could, because I might be tempted to do the same in his shoes. 

Jimmie knew about this drug lab because his niece told him about it when she got mad at Steve, and moved from his house. Not having a place to go, Jimmie and his wife let her move in with them (dumb mistake) because he loved his niece as any uncle would.  Jimmie being a law enforcement officer decided to look into this lab, and contacted a Texas Ranger because the lab was located outside of Jimmie's jurisdiction, and he had no authority to do anything about it, but Texas Ranger Roger Lough did.  He called the Texas Ranger Roger Lough, and had him come over to his house to talk to his niece, and Texas Ranger Roger Lough took a statement from her in the early part of January of 2004 about this drug lab. Click Here  and go to Page 92 line 13 through page 109 to read Texas Ranger Roger Lough's Testimony at the Jimmie Townsend Pre-Trial Hearing May 10, 2005 The ranger eventually took the statement to the Drug Task Force. The County Attorney VV, fought hard at every turn to keep this statement from coming into evidence in Jimmie's Trial.

Jimmie and the Ranger also took the statement to the County Attorney "VV Express" so that he would know about the investigation of the lab.  When Jimmie and the Ranger Lough left his office, the County Attorney called the County Judge Powell Peek and told him about the statement, and that the Ranger had turned the statement over to the Drug Task force.  When the County Judge found this out, he called the County Sheriff Jerry Neil Conway, who at the time got some of his officers to go out to the Judges son's house along with a convicted inmate and they destroyed the lab. Click Here and See John Lorance's statement at the bottom of the page. They hid it in a cistern and covered it with dirt.

Then, the County Judge got the County Sheriff to go to the Commissioners Court, and recommend that the Commissioners throw the drug task force out of Red River County to stop the investigation of his son. The drug task force was thrown out of Red River County by the Commissioners Court. This happened in Commissioners Court Meeting #1, January 12, 2004.  If you have your old copies of "The Star" see the January 28, 2004 edition page 4.  Click Here to See Commissioners Court Meeting 1 from "The Star" Kicking Out the Drug Task Force In the mean time, the County Judge also called the DPS Special investigations unit, and told them that there was a Chief of Police who had stolen property from the evidence room of the Clarksville Police Department, to quite him.

There was an investigation started by DPS, and all of us know the real outcome.  Jimmie Lee Townsend was convicted of theft and sentenced to 4 years in prison.

And no one lived happily ever after.

(Remember,  everything in black is pure speculation on my part, and everything in Red is fact that is backed up by documentation linked to this page or my statement albeit hearsay.)

Writing about this is what I was threatened about the second time by Tim Shimpock.  This is why I reported everything I knew along with the documentation to the FBI, along with naming all the names involved.  They know what is speculation, and what is documented.  They were none the less interested.