Sunnyvale, Texas

After taking in the concert at Aubrey, Texas and watching my friend Doug work his sound magic, while at work, Doug asked me if I had an interest in getting a firsthand look at the world of sound production by helping him on his next gig, the Berean Baptist Church Blast in a town called Sunnyvale, just east of Mesquite, Texas. I agreed (turning 59 next week..my judgment hasn't been the greastest) and on May 26th found myself as a roadie for Doug humping equipment and laying cable for what proved to be a somewhat grueling day at the park.

Now I say grueling because...well, I'm getting old. With all due deference to Doug, who is my senior, this is a young man's game. The work involves a lot of physicality that, in hindsight, was a little more than I anticipated. I had seen all the rocker movies where it was all sex, drugs and rock and roll and had this now-silly concept of moving in a few speakers, hooking up some wire to power the thing like a big stereo system with a Karaoke mike and awaiting the adulation and kudos of the crowd we served. My only real concern was how I was going to ward off all the groupies that were sure to be gathering to hear me name-drop the band members and tell a war story or two about dangling from high above the stage to rewire a bad monitor in the middle of the act without the crowd being the wiser. Turns out I was wrong (Dianna...write this date down).

I didn't know where or if Sunnyvale existed but it has an interesting history none-the-less. In 1821, the town became a possession of Mexico when Mexico received its independence from Spain. After the Texas Revolution, the area once again changed hands, under the Republic of Texas. During this time, settlers migrated to present-day Sunnyvale, naming the hamlet they founded Long Creek appropriately named for the creek that runs through it and the Town Center Park we found ourselves in for the Berean Blast 2013.

In 1845 Texas entered the Union and more settlers migrated to the area. In the 1860s, the town was briefly part of the Confederate States of America (TWONA). As more people arrived, eventually three new towns sprang up in the area: New Hope, Tripp, and Hatterville. New Hope was the most prosperous of these. It had many shops and stores, a fair called Gala Days, and a newspaper, the New Hope News. It was neighboring Mesquite's biggest rival.

This all ended in 1921, when a storm blew the town away. The town and surrounding community was a total loss and the prosperous days were over. All the way into the 1950s, the four towns had no new developments, remaining stagnant. In 1953, the hamlets of Hatterville, New Hope, Long Creek, and Tripp merged under the name Sunnyvale.

In the late 1990's, Sunnyvale, like most small communities just outside the Dallas area, became a bedroom community and attracted new development. The Sunnyvale area is now considered "upscale" with new planned development communities cropping up within its city limits. They are too small to afford their own Police Department and services are provided by the Dallas County Sheriff's Department until they do.

The Berean Baptist Church in Sunnyvale is one of the many flavors of Baptist ministries. They are a diverse flock but they practice a "Historically accurate Baptist doctrine" according to their Statement of Faith. They apparently are a major mover and resource within the City of Sunnyvale and had enough influence to get the Mayor to appear and praise the Berean's support for the community at the Blast.

Doug, another friend Brandon and I arrived at the park around 10 and immediately got to work spreading equipment throughout the central pavilion and green belt in front of the pavilion where all the activities were to be.

We were going to wire up a series of speakers and a bunch of microphones to handle the Dallas Praise Orchestra, a fifty-some piece group conducted by John Vanhook. The Praise is a musical Christian ministry that performs free instrumental concerts/worship services in churches, concert halls, parks and other venues. We also had a trio group called the FourTwelves an up-and-coming band in the Contemporary Christian music industry. Their name comes from the message from key Scriptures (Ecclesiastes 4:12, Acts 4:12, and Hebrews 4:12) and defines their musical artistry.

Ok..a word about Christian Music. CM lyrically is not very challenging or provocative as it tends to mirror scripture or a story based on scripture. It is uplifting and I confess I found myself toe-tapping to the beat and humming along on the reprises. It is more about ideology than sinning if you know what I mean.

After the music, there would be a presentation of the American flag leading up to a fireworks show by Extreme Pyrotechnics combined with a light show presented by Christie Lites of Dallas. Christie brought their own generator to run some really high-performance stage lighting to enhance the fireworks going off above the lake. There were eight of these lights which looked like cannons costing about $50,000 a piece.

We all watched the weather carefully as it had been raining on and off for the past three days. When we got there, as we initially got all the expensive hardware situated, it began to rain. I jumped into weatherman mode and got my weather apps churning on my iPhone and assured Doug and Brandon it was a passing shower and the forecast would turn to sunny and warm by noon. I was right and as we unsheathed the very expensive tower speakers and sub-woofers I was dubbed the units official weather advisor.

Back to my being old. I was tasked to help Brandon erect 100 lb JBL tower speakers on top of 140 lb sub-woofers on top of three foot platforms. This is not light work and if I failed, I could topple a major investment, incurring the wrath of Doug and, more importantly, Dianna's as I lay in the local ER explaining why we were now the proud owners of some really big speakers.

When  you immerse yourself into the world of sound production you will ultimately encounter new terms for stuff you thought you knew. This isn't your Dad's high-fi system. There is nomenclature for cabling, connectors and processes that need explaining to the unsuspecting novice. There were "Speakon" connectors, 1/4 inch plugs,
banana plugs, pig-tails, XLR cables, adapters of all sorts, applying "socks" (wind covers for mic heads) and the mighty "snakehead" which is a central bridge to connect all the various microphone inputs to the back of our PreSonus 24 digital sound controller. Watching Doug insert each input into its rightful place was like watching Perseus subdue Medusa .This is the puppy Doug works with his iPad wirelessly to control the sound while he walks around. There is, as it turns out, a lot of important pointing and gesturing of all kinds to get the job done as well.

I should point out this all requires copious amounts of electricity and we were fortunate enough to have a 55 KW diesel generator donated to the church to help run it all. This required Doug to tie his 200 amp service panel to the generator with a very thick three wire (120 volt per side) cable. This wasn't a household extension cord, each wire had to be threaded and clamped down to terminals with a really big Allen wrench. It was hot, humid and threatened rain but we got distributed and made it happen.

The show was slated to begin at 6 pm and end at 10 pm so once we got set up there was a little down time to relax and people watch as folks drifted in after church. There were even some food vendors in the parking lot and although I tried my best to hold back the demons....the Funnel Cake's siren call (and smell) won out and I had to partake. It was worth the wait.

Doug surprised me with a question. He asked me if I ever worked a follow-spotlight. Little did he know I was an accomplished spotlight guy. I proudly informed him I had done a little stagecraft work in high school (Kearney High School class of 1972 "Go Komets" ) and often was tasked with lighting our stage for the Drama Department. Doug said he needed me to work one of the two spot lights we had set up at the corners of the greenbelt in front of the stage to light up the orchestra, the trio and the presentation of colors just before the fireworks. It was the first time all day I felt I was qualified to do something I was familiar with (thanks Drama and Stagecraft instructor Jack Winans).

After all the musical acts finished, the Flag ceremony was conducted by the Sunnyvale Fire Department. A member of the Fire Department's Honor Guard walked in the flag as another member played taps. I don't know about you, but Taps has always given me pause and I can always depend on a tear forming whenever I hear that somber piece of music. It makes me recall its origins as a memorial to a fallen soldier during the Civil War.

There are several legends concerning the origin of "Taps" (from the Dutch term "taptoe", meaning "close the (beer) taps (and send the troops back to camp"). The most widely circulated one states that a Union Army infantry officer, whose name is often given as Captain Robert Ellicombe, first ordered "Taps" performed at the funeral of his son, a Confederate soldier killed during the Peninsula Campaign. The story goes that Ellicombe found the tune in the pocket of his son's clothing and performed it to honor his memory. But there is no record of any man named Robert Ellicombe holding a commission as captain in the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula Campaign.

The tune is actually a variation of an earlier bugle call known as the "Scott Tattoo" which was used in the U.S. from 1835 until 1860, and was arranged in its present form by the Union Army Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield, an American Civil War general and Medal of Honor recipient, in July 1862 to replace a previous French bugle call used to signal "lights out". Butterfield's bugler, Oliver Wilcox Norton, of Angelica, New York, was the first to sound the new call. Daniel Butterfield, then a Union Captain, composed "Taps" and during a break in fighting, ordered the tune sounded for a deceased soldier in lieu of the more traditional—and much less discreet—three volley tribute. While scholars continue to debate whether or not the tune was original or based on an earlier melody hearing it is always a very moving experience for me.

As the Firefighter walked across the open space, as if on cue, a gust of wind unfurled the flag draped against the staff and it stretched out along its entire length as though a hidden hand had pulled it up and away as we all sang the National Anthem. As the last mournful notes of Taps drew out, the flag holder did an about face as the wind released it to fall to back to the upright staff as he returned the flag to east end of the park.

All the park lights went out as Doug kicked in the prearranged sound tracks to begin the show. The mix of lights and fireworks was impressive. I had a pretty good seat on my platform and don't recall being so close to a fireworks display. I literally had to crane my neck straight up to see some of the higher explosions as they seemed to occur right overhead. Here is the finale:

Once the fireworks ended, everybody made a quick exit leaving us to begin undoing our work, rolling cable, packing up lights and disassembling speakers and platforms to return to Doug’s trailer. It was now close to midnight and I was really feeling spent but the tear down went quickly and Doug and Brandon, with practiced efficiency, got what seemed like an impossible task of stuffing all that equipment back into the confines of that trailer. I, on the other hand, marveled how I was able to work almost continuously for about 14 hours on a protein bar, a really bad Burger King double Whopper with cheese, a Funnel Cake (yes..the whole Funnel Cake), several bottles of water and one Dr. Pepper without dropping anything of value or falling off something. It definitely was an eye-opening experience and I think I rate  "roadie"  status for it.

Aubrey, Texas

As some of you may know, I have changed jobs and left the Frisco Police Department to go "private sector" with a security firm that provides site security for the U.S. District Court in Plano, Texas (among others) in conjuction with the U.S. Marshal's Service. I have joined a band of "merry men" (no...not in tights) who do entrance security ala TSA, courtroom security while in session, and video surveillance of the interior and exterior of the courthouse. A true bunch of pistol-packing old guys doing our bit to protect America.

One of of my brand-spanking-new friends is Doug. Doug, I have learned, has a most varied résumés as anyone I've met. Doug has been a Constable and Deputy Sheriff with the Denton County Sheriff's Office as well as a bunch of other things I cannot possibly list in this writing. But one thing that he's really passionate about is the music business. He's not only an accomplished musician in his own right, he also has a business as a sound engineer. As American Sound Productions, he's the guy you hire to wire, light and amplify for live music venues. Dianna and I love open air music events and Doug invited us to one he was working on in the town square park in  Aubrey, Texas.

Aubrey was officially founded in 1867, when Civil War veteran Lemuel Noah Edwards (1838–1910) built one of the first homes. Aubrey is about twelve miles northeast of the city of Denton (county seat of Denton County) and forty miles north of Dallas in northeastern Denton County. The site was originally named Onega (Ornega, Ornego) when the Texas and Pacific Railway built a section house there in 1881.The name was not very popular so in typical old west style, the name Aubrey was drawn from a hat to replace the name Onega.

Although the Key Schoolhouse settlement, established in 1858 by Dr. George Key, was only about a mile from what became the downtown part of Aubrey, Edwards, a Civil War veteran from Alabama, is given credit for founding the town. He built the town's second house, a large, imposing, two-story structure, of lumber hauled from Jefferson in 1867. He then eventually gave each of his 10 children (holy cow, I wonder how Mrs. Edwards felt about that) a lot on which to build a home.

After the first businesses, east of the railroad tracks, burned in 1887, the town was rebuilt west of the tracks, where it stands today (as well as the railroad...more on that later). By 1920 Aubrey had more than thirty businesses and a population of 700. The automobile, the boll weevil, and the Great Depression contributed to the decline of the population over the next several years.

By the 1980s peanuts had replaced cotton as the number-one crop; an annual average of 3,000 tons is processed in the local drying plant. The sandy, fertile land and the moderate climate have attracted many horse ranchers to the area, which, according to some, is becoming the "horse capital" of Texas. Other farm products include cattle, hay, fruits, and vegetables. In 1986, Ray Roberts Dam was completed nearby on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River which has boosted the economy and has added to the towns growth of new home development.

Back to the concert.  It was a remarkable late spring day in North Texas. The temperature had soared to 90 but a strong southern wind was able to keep the humidity in check and quickly cooled temperatures as the sun set. We booted up Patty for the 30 minute ride from the homestead north to bucolic Aubrey. The park was just a green patch, just less than an acre, with a neat covered stage at one end. The Summer Concert "Music in the Park" series is sponsored by the Aubrey Economic Development Corporation and several town businesses.

Dianna and I had packed our usual wine refreshments with two clear plastic cups and our trusty PVC folding lawn chairs. I went to the little snack table and bought a Snickers Bar for Dianna and a small bag of M&Ms for myself (chocolate really goes well with wine). We initially sat to the left of the stage, well back in the growing crowd but when Doug came up he insisted we sit just behind his chairs in "sound central" to get the best effect.

We sat as the opening act, a local singer-songwriter named John Rutherford, sang for the late stragglers and allowed Doug to fine-tune the sound for the main act, Mark David Manders , another singer-songwriter based in Plano, Texas.

As John Rutherford strummed and entertained, we all got a reality check and discovered how it is to live in rural Texas. Remember that railroad track that runs through town? Well it actually runs right behind the park stage and every hour on the hour, a large Union Pacific Railway freight train would announce its arrival and roll for several minutes as it made its way north or south of town. John would stop each time it passed and then continue.

As the sun settled in for the night, Doug moved his operation to the light board a few feet away. You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but Doug has got "techie" written all over him. Doug is a "60 something" but has almost completely automated his sound system using his iPad (yes...there's an app for that). Wirelessly, he stalks the venue listening and tweaking his sound to get the most out of the players and the equipment. He finally settled in at his light board to paint the stage for mood and accent.

When Mark David Manders and his band took the stage bringing Bob Wills and Merle Haggard standards with them, they too had to suffer the train and horns but would immediately break into a "train Country song" (think Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison Blues") until it passed. Mark's band was great but his fiddle player was really phenomenal. Manders and the boys went on for about an hour and a half and at one point brought a gaggle of little girls up on stage to help him on a rendition of   "I'm Alright"   and then did his seminal work "Beer". To close, Mark even did his best Mick Jagger imitation for a rendition of "Honky Tonk Women" the 1969 hit song by the Rolling Stones. Not bad, if I say so myself.

As we listened and watched, it came to me we were witnessing a scene that has been playing out throughout America for decades. Just folks sitting, eating and drinking mindful of their little ones running about in their own world ignoring the music but more about time away from their regular Monday through Friday lives. Laughing, joking and toe tapping. The American and Texas flags waving in the wind. It was good and clean and it was America. It really doesn't get any better than this.

Palestine, Texas

Palestine, Texas (pronounced Pal-uh-steen) "The Hillbilly Capital of East Texas", Palestine was named for Palestine, Illinois, by early settler Daniel Parker. Interestingly, French explorer Jean Lamotte gave the Illinois Palestine
(common pronunciation Pal-es-tine) the name as it reminded him of the promised land of milk and honey, as written in the scriptures. Thus, the insufferable need for Texans to redefine the language and changing the pronunciation remains a mystery to all.

In 1846, the Texas Legislature created Palestine to serve as seat for the newly established Anderson County. James R. Fulton, Johnston Shelton and William Bigelow were hired by the first Anderson County commissioners to survey the surrounding land and lay out a town site, consisting of a central courthouse square and the surrounding 24 blocks. It grew significantly following the arrival of the railroad in the 1870s.

Arrival of the International-Great Northern Railroad in 1872 led to the demise of local river shipping along the seasonally high Trinity River, as the railroad opened year-round travel. The railroad also changed the face of the town, since the line bypassed the courthouse hill and built its shops, switching yards, and offices on level ground nearly a mile to the west. Palestine is also the site of the Texas State Railroad Museum, now a state park, which operates steam excursion trains between Palestine and Rusk. 

By 1896, a new depot had been constructed. Large quantities of cotton, lumber, cottonseed oil, and fruit were shipped from Palestine. During the 1880s and 1890s stores, saloons, and lodging houses rapidly formed a new business district by the tracks. This resulted in two business districts, Old Town and New Town, a designation still used today.

Like many Texas towns, the discovery of oil in the late 20’s diversified the town's economy and carried Palestine through the Great Depression. Several producing fields were later found in Anderson County, and Palestine became a center for oil well servicing and supplies.

Palestine made the news in February 2003, as one of the East Texas towns that received much of the debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. In honor of the seven astronauts killed, they renamed the NASA Scientific Balloon Facility to the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, which routinely flies weather, and other atmospheric research balloons from the site.

The largest employer is the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which employs more than 3,900. Another 1,600 work at two Wal-Mart distribution centers. The Powledge Men’s Prison is a remarkable assemblage of three separate campuses who’s industrial capacity provide steel products for everything from replacement and construction items for the Texas Prison system to repair facilities for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Named after Louis C. Powledge, a former Assistant Director of Contract Construction, it consists of Beto, Coffield, Gurney and Michael units. Coffield is the TDCJ's largest prison with about 4,200 prisoners. The complex also has an extensive prison farm to supplement its food supply.

Being the county seat of Anderson County, Palestine has a very nice Courthouse on a hilltop at the center of “Old Town”. Of course, being a Saturday, it was not open and I can only show you the interior of the 1914 Renaissance Revivalist style building with its judicious use of brick and stone through the eyes of  Terry Jeanson who was able to capture the interior dome skylight, courtroom and the unusual painted floor mural at the base of the spiral staircase. You might note this courthouse was designed by Charles Page and is almost a twin of the Williamson County Courthouse he designed back in 1911 we saw in Georgetown, Texas with Silvia and Scott.

We kind of lucked out in that the day we decided to find Palestine, was the second weekend of The Dogwood Trails Festival, which occurs each Spring, the last 2 weekends of March and the 1st weekend in April.

The best moment of the trip, was when we had left the courthouse because Dianna had to find a bathroom….yeah, ever had this happen? I’m playing junior historian taking my typically visually stunning photos (ala Ansell Adams..if he shot color I mean) of the courthouse exterior.

As I return to the front to cull the best shot of the rising portico before me, I caught a flash of gesturing from Dianna like she was trying to get the attention of a passing Bruce Willis. I put up a finger to pause her gesturing to give her the, “I need a minute to place the shot that may get me that photography ribbon at the County Fair” look. But Dianna calls out that this was a “we need to go now” demand not a request as she dove into the front passenger seat of the Rogue like Special Agent Parr rushing Reagan into the Presidential Limo.

I have seen similar behavior before and realize this is a Code 3 bathroom call, which cannot be delayed further. We wisk off as I’m dialing in Patty to search for nearby restaurants like a Shuttle pilot working in a course correction. The first selection was closed and the second was a neat place called The Ranch House in the heart of the Old Town park area. I stopped long enough for Dianna to hop out and, after locating parking, joined her in the restaurant. They had a really strong basic southern menu heavy on steak (chicken fried and otherwise) and seafood with an ample selection of comfort foods like cornbread, green beans and fried okra. This is the “new” Ranch House, the first burned down in 2010 and they’ve been reopened a little over two years. I had the grilled Tilapia and Dianna had the chicken fingers. Nice portions.

Oh yeah, best moment was when the country-pretty young woman server came up for our order. Not knowing about the festival, Dianna asked her what it was all about.  Without missing a beat, she put her hands on her hips and with the best “Well, bless your hearts” smile southerners do with friendly condescension to all non-southerners, “Ya’all aren’t from around here, are you?” At times like this, in my weak attempt to bridge the regional gap, I usually remind people that we were originally from Southern California and not the dreaded “Yankees” we appear to be. But, in this case, I demurred as she went on to explain we had stumbled onto their world-renowned Dogwood Trails Festival. In its 75^th year celebrating a new Texas Spring and the blossoming of the Dogwoods native to this part of east Texas. Finished at the Ranch House, we waddled down the hill and back up to “New Town” to visit the street fair going on.

Leap of Faith today

Palestine has tried very hard to keep its downtown vibrant and has invested heavily in art as well as restoring old buildings. Most of the sculptures are mounted on 3-foot-tall custom stands of three vertical train wheels positioned on a concrete base or pad. The stands will remain a part of the downtown landscape as a reminder of the town's railroad heritage and to display annual shows of sculpture artists. One of these is something called Leap of Faith by Diane Von Buren a renowned public space artist and designer.

Leap of Faith in better days

The city refers to the public art as Art Tracks, an outdoor sculpture exhibit at several prominent locations in the historic Main Street District of downtown Palestine. Union Pacific Railroad Company has a huge rail yard, train siding and depot at the south edge of downtown and its suppliers donated the railroad wheel stands.

This one, in front of the Redland’s Hotel is called “Sitatunga” by Dan Pogue. Pogue’s new series of animals are mostly African inspired with a contemporary flair. Pogue uses shapes and spaces to make the form of the animal. Some, like Sitatunga, are polished bronze. Pogue takes solid pieces and carving out “negative spaces” creates the overall image.

The street was full of happy street fair goers but one vendor caught Dianna’s eyes. She is and always has been a closet cotton candy purveyor. That bright fuzzy pink and blue stuff attracts her like a bug light to a moth. And, like most addicts, she made some kind of excuse that buying this intoxicating mana benefited the local high school prom fund. Yeah…. right, how many times have you heard that one.

After buying up some vendor trinkets, perusing the finest in fancy jewelry and velvet paintings, having made our way to the west end of the Festival, we were halted in place with the smell of a fried food vendor with a row of fryers reminiscent of the locks of Panama putting out the same texture of smoke enveloping you whenever the mosquito spray truck came through your neighborhood, dunking every conceivable vegetable, meat and condiment you can conjure up in your mind.

What caught our collective eyes was the most beautiful funnel cake I have ever seen. Let me explain, Funnel Cake is our emotional comfort food from our earliest days together. Those of you who recall the food lane at the San Diego County Fair at the Del Mar Fair Grounds (with the now politically correct name of Commercial and Food Space..Ha!) know what I’m talking about. From our early dating days which melted into our married years, the Fair was the place you could find great greasy fried food you couldn’t get anywhere else.

One of those standards was the fried Funnel Cake. Year after year, the sickly sweet smell of cake batter tossed into “seasoned” fryers (which probably contain the same oil from years past), the temperature of the sun, coated with a snowbank of powdered sugar, always brings us back to our past and dredges up memories, both good and bad.

Involuntarily initiating a running video with momentary flashes of  days with loved ones gone by, friends, the children that grew up too fast, like some cinematic measure of one’s life. But always coming back to waiting in line while holding the hand of the girl you ended up marrying and fading back to now with the same image of powdered sugar coating you and her impossibly maneuvering to keep the sugar from hitting you, among a bunch of strangers waiting for their turn to experience the same wonderful feeling….even if only for a moment. A wonderful end of the day in an iconic east Texas town on the verge of the Piney Woods, Palestine, Texas.

Cruise take 4

Like prisoners given a reprieve, we made our way back to the awaiting Rogue and after punching in our next destination, Georgetown, Texas, we were off to visit our longtime friends, Scott and Silvia.

Georgetown was named for George Washington Glasscock (he must have had a terrible childhood) who donated the land for the new town. Georgetown is the county seat of Williamson County, which was formed on March 13, 1848 after early settlers peptitioned the State to create it outr of Milam County. The county was originally to have been named San Gabriel County, but was instead named after Robert McAlpin Williamson (aka Three-Legged Willie), a Texas statesman and judge at the time.

Ok…if you must know, Williamson got his name because, at the age of 15, he contracted tubercular arthritis that caused his right leg to permanently stiffen at a 90 degree angle. In order to walk, a wooden leg had to be fastened to his knee. Because of this, he later acquired the nickname "Three-Legged-Willie" (I was really hoping for something more interesting).

Scott and Silvia live in one of Del Webb’s Sun City senior developments in Georgetown on the outskirts of the Texas Hill Country. Residency is restricted to persons over age 55, or in the case of couples, one of which must be 55 years of age. Sun City is made up predominately of single-family dwellings, but also has a small number of duplexes. Total buildout will be 7,500 homes for about 14,000 residents.

Interesting thing is the power of these Seniors.Because of its size relative to the city (pop. about 47,000) and the high growth rate within Sun City, the project has a significant impact on the local demographics. In elections, voter turnout in Sun City precincts typically exceeds 90 percent. As a result of redistricting of council districts in 2011, two of the six single-member city council districts are composed predominantly of Sun City residents, and the current mayor, George Garver is a Sun City resident and was a former city councilmember.

Georgetown is a bedroom community just north of Austin in the I-45 corridor. It is the County Seat of Williamson County and has been around since the 1840s. Thus it has a wonderful town square with a cool Courthouse. Of course, like many other county courthouses, Williamson County has seen several courthouses over the years. Humble beginnings as a small log cabin courthouse and replaced with larger and more formidable brick and stone buildings. The current courthouse was built in 1910 and has since been replaced by a new brick and glass Justice Center just outside of downtown.

Remodeled back in 2007 as part of a statewide historical preservation effort post-9/11, the present Greek Revival Courthouse was envisioned in the summer of 1909 when the County Court concluded that the 30-year-old Victorian Courthouse built in 1877 was no longer safe. The 1910 courthouse, designed by premier architect Charles Page, no longer hears cases but retains a restored original courtroom and still holds some County offices as well as the Commissioner's Court chambers.

Before restoration 2005

The triple arched stone entryways lead to galleries on four sides and above these passageways are sets of four Ionic columns reaching to the upper floors. The large copper dome is topped by a figure of Justice and large clock faces are inset on each side of the dome. Cornices around the dome are finished in dentil stonework.

After in 2007

Originally, this structure had massive, carved marble pediments above each of the porticoes. The roofline around all four sides was encircled by a balustrade. Once spoken of as the "centerpiece" of downtown Georgetown, the facade was ordered changed in 1965 when a few of the baluster railings became loosened. The entire balustrade and the elaborate marble pediments were removed and eventually destroyed and were replaced by plain beige brickwork. In the 2007 restoration, the balustrades and pediments were beautifully restored to the original 1910 design.

Silvia and I checked out the restored courtroom with its south-facing Judge's bench (a tradition of post-Civil War, sorry TWONA, era courthouses as an allegory of eternal Southern loyalty), jury box, gallery and gem of a classic turn-of-the-century courtroom with a second floor mezzanine.

There were terrazzo floors throughout, made of bits of marble and granite, cemented and polished, the curved stairways with iron grille railings, the stately rotundas capped with a copper dome. We spoke with one of the employees who told us the well appointed yellow pine paneled interior, with fine oak trim, was restored to it's early 20th century glory by a California based company, one of the few that specializes in courtroom restorations.

Down the street, was an imposing fortress-like structure which was the former County Jail. The land for the jail site was David Love's wagon yard which was purchased through the donation of funds by prominent Williamson County residents. The first jail was one of Mr. Love’s wagons turned upside down over the prisoner with a guard perched on top.

The first 1848 structure was of poor design and many inmates were able to escape. Originally built as a wooden building in 1848 and replaced with the current limestone structure in 1888. It’s unique appearance is characterized by it’s designer as a French “Bastille” style construction.  It is now used as an office annex of the Williamson County and Cities Health District.

The historic Williamson County Courthouse was the scene of one of Texas’ most notable dismissals of a long running murder case from 1987. Michael Morton Wrongfully convicted in 1987 in Williamson County of the 1986 murder of his wife Christine Morton. He spent 25 years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA evidence identified under the direction of OJ attorney Barry Scheck’s Innocence Project which supported his claim of innocence and pointed to the crime being committed by another individual. Morton was released from prison on October 4, 2011.

Morton was arrested and charged with beating his wife to death in 1986. He was convicted in 1987 and sentenced to life in prison, but was exonerated after DNA evidence proved that he was innocent. Current Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley (who worked under Anderson when he was the DA) "tenaciously fought" DNA testing for six years before a judge finally ordered the tests. Morton was freed after DNA tests linked another man, Mark Norwood, to Christine Morton's murder. Norwood, a Bastrop, Texas dishwasher who lived in Austin in the mid-1980s, has been charged in the 1986 murder of Christine Morton. He’s also a suspect in the 1988 murder of Debra Baker in her Austin home. Both women were beaten to death in their beds. Little comfort to Baker's daughter Caitlin and son Jesse who, like others, feel their mother might still be alive if the police had followed the clues they had at the time, which may have led to the new suspect, Norwood, sooner.

The prosecuting attorney on the case was Ken Anderson the then Williamson County District Attorney. Because of his 100% conviction rate and strong anti-crime stance, Anderson has since then been elected as a State District Judge in Williamson County. During a review of the files, it was learned that there was a mountain of evidence from neighbors and others implicate someone else in the murder of Morton’s wife. Anderson knew, for instance, that Morton’s then 3 year old son Eric had said he saw a “monster”, not his father commit the murder, and had discussed a trial strategy to explain that what the little boy had seen was really his father dressed in a skin diving suit (wow…that’s a reach).

He also purposely failed to call the lead investigator to testify so the defense would not have access to investigative reports with the many other facts which would have eliminated Morton as a suspect in the case (a clear “Brady” violation). Since the disclosure of the DNA findings and the subsequent exoneration, Judge Anderson has been under investigation by the current Williamson County District Attorney and by the State of Texas for criminal contempt and misconduct in the case.

Unfortunately another case of over-zealous Texas prosecutors who determined the guilt of a defendant before they ever went to trial. One of the reasons Texas had the highest number of exonerations both death sentence and life term convictions. Nationwide there have been 1,085. About 37% are DNA cases and over 63% are cases involving review of evidence and recanting of witnesses identifications.

All this history gathering made us (well...me) hungry so Scott and Silvia took us to a couple of their favorite places to eat. For breakfast we went to a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives restaurant  "Monument Cafe" by the Courthouse. The Monument menu was full of great breakfast items and I had the pancakes and Dianna had the Eggs Benedict on Special. Awesome service and taste, it belonged on Triple D. For dinner, we went to  Hardtails Bar and Grille. A big time hangout for the motorcycle crowd, I had the Slammer burger with green chile, avocado and pepperjack cheese. Dianna had the fish and chips. Make sure you check the list of  lingo you use to describe how you want to dress your meal. Very cool.

On our last outing, they took us to their favorite Mexican place, La Playa Mexican Cafe. I had the Fish Tacos and Dianna had the sour cream Enchiladas. Ok...this place had the best salsas and the most powerful Margaritas we have ever had. One Margie and you were having a hard time holding onto your fork.

Well....vacation over, we repacked our bags and returned home to home, dogs and work looking forward to our next adventure.