409-296-BANK
Volume 33, Issue 12
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Chambers County ESD No1 Board Discusses 4 Wheelers
After Four and a Half Years.....Not Guilty
By Wade Thibodeaux The Chambers County Emergency Services District No1 Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Wednesday, March 09, 2022 in the Fire Station located at 825 State Highway 124 in Winnie, Texas. One of the items that generated quite a bit of discussion was the abandonment of the John Deere side by side that has been used to fight grass fires and the replacement purchase of two 4 wheelers with tanks mounted on the rear of the 4 wheelers. This would allow Firefighters to maneuver through the very soft ground that Firefighters often find themselves trying to navigate with a very heavy brush truck. This would also make two Firefighters mobile and able to go in different directions as opposed to two Firefighters on the same side by side.
Commissioners had many questions and wanted more answers before they would authorize the purchase of the two 4 wheelers and spray tanks and the item was tabled until the next meeting. In other action, the board approved the financial report which showed $1,170,367.43 in total cash and CD's and they heard the Administrators report which discussed repairs to Engine -21 and concerns over rising fuel cost. The Fire Chiefs report showed 94 calls for assistance in February and a total of 158 calls for the calendar year of 2022. The next regular meeting of the Chambers County Emergency Services District No1 Board of Commissioners will be Wednesday, April, 13, 2022 at 6:00 pm. in the Fire Station located at 825 State Highway 124 in Winnie, Texas.
The John Deere Gator that is part of the discussion of whether to abandon and purchase two 4 wheelers for grass fire fighting.
Lions Invite All to Trash Pickup The Winnie-Stowell Lions Club is sponsoring a Community Cleanup Day on Saturday, March 26th that will include a free pizza lunch at its conclusion. The event will start at 9:00 am at the parking lot of Market Basket and break into teams that will go to different areas. It will conclude at 11:00 with free pizza, drinks and dessert in the Winnie-Stowell Park. “At our last event where we had retired game warden, Mike Boone speak, someone mentioned the need to cleanup some areas around town and they volunteered, so we decided
to join them and invite everyone to come out and help. Why not pizza too!”, said Bill Keating, Lions Club President. The Lions club will provide trash bags and will have a limited number of pickup tools and are requesting participants to bring “grabber” tools if you have them. There is a bathroom facility available to wash hands after the work. “Of course, picking up trash will be a little bit of work, but we plan to have fun also, so please come join us at 9:00 am at Market Basket on Saturday, March 26th”, Keating added.
By Wade Thibodeaux An incident that occurred about four and a half years ago on the night of October 10, 2017 has finally gone to trial and after a day and a half trial, the jury returned in less than 10 minutes with a not guilty verdict. The incident occurred after a meeting of the Winnie Stowell EMS between Nick Morrison and Hazel Meaux. The meeting had been cancelled due to the lack of a quorum and people began to filter out into the parking lot. The testimony at the trial was not consistent between witnesses and the details still remain a mystery, but basically Ms. Meaux began video recording Mr. Morrison and at some point came close enough to him that he grabbed the camera and she ended up on her back in the parking lot, hitting her head on the pavement. The next four and a half years have been one delay after another due to scheduling issues, Covid that caused the court system to be shut down, a change in Chambers County Attorney's Office with the original prosecutor not being the prosecutor who actually tried the case, and then Covid again when the case was scheduled earlier in the year and one or more of the witnesses being quarantined due to Covid. Regardless of the delays, the case went to trial on Tuesday, March 15, 2022. The first day of the trial was spent with jury selection in the morning and the first witness did not take the stand until after lunch. Six women and three men were chosen as jurors with the six women being the jury and the three men as alternates. Almost immediately, one of the jurors had to be excused and the first alternate was put on the panel in her place and later was selected as the foreman of the jury. After the jury
was seated, the prosecutor read the indictment to the jury and the defendant, Nick Morrison pleaded not guilty. Both sides made opening statements and then the 911 recording of the incident was played. The State(Prosecutor) then called their first witness which was the victim, Hazel Meaux. Ms. Meaux testified that the defendant charged at her and grabbed her hand and camera, tossed her to the ground and stood over her trying to get the camera. A lot of time was spent on cross examination of Ms. Meaux about the use of her camera and the whereabouts of the SD card that goes into the camera and records the footage. As testified by Ms. Meaux and several statements of witnesses who had yet to be called to the stand, the SD card was blank for two of the interviews that Ms. Meaux conducted that evening. Ms. Meaux admitted that she was human and may have neglected to turn the camera on while conducting the interviews, one of which was the alleged incident with Mr. Morrison. The defense attorney questioned Ms. Meaux about several inconsistencies between her testimony and several statements from other witnesses and Ms. Meaux had difficulty answering the questions to the point that the presiding Judge told Ms. Meaux eight different times to simply answer the questions as they were yes or no answers and did not need an explanation. Ms. Meaux was on the stand for approximately three hours. The State then called Ms. Meaux's friend and business partner, Gloria Roemer to the stand. After a few questions from the State, the defense began their cross examination of Ms. Roemer. The defense attorney presented two different statements from Ms. Roemer who testified that they were both hers. Ms. Roemer went through her recollection of the night's events including her being able to see through a small window beside the exit door from the Annex building to the parking lot. The defense asked Ms. Roemer if she would be surprised to know that a Chambers County Detective recreated the incident at the same time of evening a few days later and he made a sworn
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statement that he could not see through the window that had a plant in front of it, had stickers on the panes, and was covered in a reflective film. Ms. Roemer stood by her statement that she saw the incident. At one point in her testimony, Ms. Roemer left the witness stand and demonstrated to the jury how Mr. Morrison had grabbed Ms. Meaux, and flipped her back and forth before tossing her to the ground and then standing over her trying to get the camera. The defense once again asked her if she saw all of that through the reflective coated window and Ms. Roemer said yes. Ms. Roemer then directly contradicted Ms. Meaux's testimony by saying that Ms. Meaux had never had any difficulties with her camera and had always produced the SD card of interviews that she had conducted. The testimony ended for day one and resumed the next morning with the continued cross examination of Ms. Roemer. During her testimony on the second day of trial, Ms. Roemer testified that she had not seen Mr. Steve Fitzgerald at the incident. Mr. Fitzgerald was also a State's witness and would take the stand later that day. Ms. Roemer was asked if she remembered a conversation with Officer Gonzalez who was the first officer on the scene and she admitted that she did not remember talking to him. At this point in the cross examination, the defense pointed out several inconsistencies in Ms. Roemers testimony and she became very flustered and admitted to several of the inconsistencies and at one point blurted out that " My opinion is not my opinion". The defense asked Ms. Roemer if she knew that the case had been taken to the Grand Jury a total of five times before they finally returned an indictment of a class "C" misdemeanor(comparable to a speeding ticket). She testified that she did not know the exact number but that she had testified to the Grand Jury. The defense passed the witness and the State asked a few more questions before Ms. Roemer was released from the witness box. Officer Nick Gonzalez was called by the State and took the stand and when asked why
he did not make an arrest that night, he explained that three witnesses made statements that night that stated that Mr. Morrison grabbed Ms. Meaux's camera and she slipped and fell on the gravel in the parking lot. The footage from Officer Gonzalez's body camera was played for the jury and Officer Gonzalez was released from the witness box. After a short break, Officer Gonzalez was recalled to the witness stand and he testified that he never saw or made contact with Mr. Steve Fitzgerald. A lunch break was taken before more witnesses would be called. After lunch, the State called Mr. Steve Fitzgerald and he testified that Mr. Morrison charged Ms. Meaux and wrestled with her until she fell to the ground, but then contradicted Ms. Roemer's statement by saying that Mr. Morrison never stood over Ms. Meaux. During Mr. Fitzgerald's testimony he would take an extremely long time to answer some of the questions and when he was advised about three contradictory statements in previous testimony, he had very little to say and just stammered around and never provided an answer or a comment. Mr. Fitzgerald testified that he was not personally close to Ms. Meaux and he also admitted that if the camera was on, then the "Film" would show the evidence. He also testified that a deputy had told him that 21 seconds of the footage was missing. Mr. Fitzgerald was excused and the State called Officer Luke Clements. Officer Clements testified that he went to Ms. Meaux's house to retrieve the SD card and was not successful. The State then called Mr. Larry Barron who provided testimony that contradicted all of the previous testimony that Mr. Morrison had charged Ms. Meaux. Mr Barron testified that he was standing next to Mr. Morrison and even after Mr. Morrison had advised Ms. Meaux to get the camera out of his face, Ms. Meaux came even closer and Mr. Morrison placed his hand in front of his face in a defensive mode and that's when he grabbed the camera. Mr. Barron's answers were very (contd on page 3)