Cattle Rustlin’?

That’s interesting… Wait.

The top elected official in Texas’ smallest county is charged with cattle theft
Lawmen came to remote Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county judge, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch hands on one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft.

OK, but…

“the judge — who is paid $133,294 annually

Not bad.

“this West Texas county, population 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate.”

What? A hundred-thirty-three K with a population — men, women, and children — of 57?

I have a sneaking suspicion that the cattle theft charges are the tip of the iceberg, and largely a foot in the door for a wider investigation.

But he presided over a period of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with massive gas plants, water plants and salt water disposal systems. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut through the caliche and bedrock to free up the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: oil and gas.

Sounds like plenty of opportunity for graft and bribes. We’ll see.

 

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Bear

2A advocate, writer, firearms policy & law analyst, general observer of pre-apocalyptic American life.

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