Affidavit of Ronald F. Avery
BEFORE ME, The
undersigned authority, on this date personally appeared the undersigned
affiant, who being by me duly sworn, on oath stated,
“I am over the age of
21 and of sound mind and I am competent to testify to the following as I have
personal experience in the following matters.
When I went to the Silver Eagle Taphouse in McQueeney on Friday 1/24/03, where I operate a beer and wine retail establishment, I noticed some people on my island below the Taphouse. I went down and spoke with these people on the island below the Taphouse. These people had a rubber tired front end loader and a big white haul truck on the island and they told me they were hauling debris from my island and burning it elsewhere because they were told not to burn on my place. I asked them who gave them permission to be there and they said GBRA (Guadalupe Blanco River Authority). I was surprised because after the flood of 1998, GBRA went to great lengths to get permission from me to have their clean up contractors enter my property. I signed a “Permission to Enter Property” agreement with GBRA after the 1998 flood so they could conduct clean up and burn operations for much of the River from my place. But I never heard from anyone at GBRA concerning the clean up after the July 2002 flood. Rather than call the sheriff and have these men evicted from my land, I told them they could burn my debris on my place rather than haul my debris to some other burn site. I had no idea neither did they inform me that they would bring any other equipment to the island than what I saw there that day.
Then on Saturday, 1/25/03 this clean up crew had driven a tracked bull dozer on my place from across highway 725 and down the asphalt road with no protection just like the other GBRA contractor did after the 1998 flood. This new contractor also drove the tracked bull dozer over my curbs again, as in 1998, with little protection, if any, and broke up more of my curbs. The curb damage this time is much worse than the last time and runs a longer distance. They drove their haul truck, dozer, and front-end loader over a length of curb about 100 feet long. There are now many chipped and broken areas of concrete curb.
I also observed that they had begun moving debris from other private and county property to my property across the easement and under the abandoned highway 3 Bridge. It was now obvious that this crew was now using my property as a debris collection and burning point for adjacent properties. I did not give my permission to do that. I gave them permission to burn on my property only what they cleaned from my property. I certainly did not give them permission to drive a tracked bull dozer over my asphalt road and across my concrete curbs.
I find all of this a bit amazing because no one bothered to call me or obtain my permission to enter my property and do anything. At least after the 1998 flood, GBRA obtained a Right To Enter Agreement with me prior to clean up operations on my land. I received a check for $6500.00 for damage done to this same property by GBRA’s 98-flood-cleanup- contractors.
I did not give blanket permission for this new 2002-flood-cleanup-contractor to do anything it wanted on my property or to expand the scope of their operations on my land. There was no sign of a bull dozer on my land when I first talked to them on 1/24/03 and no one told me they were bringing one on my place and driving it over my asphalt roads and concrete curbs. The contractor did not tell me they were going to now use my place for a staging area to bring other people’s debris and burn it on my place. Nor did I give a release to this new 2002-flood-clean-up-contractor for damage they had done or might do in the future.
I called David Welsch on Monday morning 1/27/03 to have him stop the 2002-flood-cleanup crew from further damaging my curbs and asphalt road. I allowed the cleanup to proceed during the time of my contacting David Welsch by phone until the date that I sent a letter to David Welsch. My aim was not to prevent cleanup of mine or other people’s property but to make sure that further damage was prevented and to assure damage already done is somehow mitigated.
I sent a letter to David Welsch, Director of Project Development at GBRA, on Friday 2/21/03 ( Exhibit C ), 30 days from the time of seeing the contractors for the first time. I reminded Mr. Welsch in the letter of our earlier conversation on the phone (1/27/03). I further reminded him that I was still looking for money to compensate me for damage done by Rimrock Enterprises, Inc., the GBRA 2002-flood-clearnup contractor. This letter described to him the sequence of events with GBRA contractors. I reminded him that after the flood of 1998, GBRA obtained from me a Permission to Access the Property Agreement to which I added provisions for paying me for damage, if done, by their agent on my property in an amendment or addendum to this agreement.
I also reminded him in the letter of 2/21/03 that GBRA had reimbursed me $6,500 for damage done by US Demolition, the GBRA 98-flood-cleanup contractor. US Demolition had done damage to my curbs and street down the hill to my island. I also signed a release in order to receive the reimbursement ( Exhibit D ) money. I received the money and the release after sending Mr. Larry Moltz, of GBRA, a letter, dated 5/15/99, complaining of damage, similar to that of 2002, after the flood of 1998 ( Exhibit E ).
I came home after bartending and cleaning up at the Taphouse at 2:30 AM Wednesday 2/26/03. When I got home I opened a letter ( Exhibit F ) from GBRA on the table that came that day. It was a letter from David Welsch in response to my letter, dated 2/21/03, to him regarding all the damage to my property and GBRA’s lack of permission to send any of their contractors to enter my property. I understood Mr. Welsch’s letter to say that since I had talked to the contractor and allowed clean up to continue that I had somehow obtained an agreement with the contractor and the contractor was no longer GBRA’s contractor or agent. Thus, according to the logic of Welsch’s letter, any damage done by the contractor was no longer the responsibility of GBRA. He said he would forward my letter to C.J. Hardeman, of Rimrock, Inc., GBRA’s Contractor. Anyone can compare my letter to Mr. Moltz ( Exhibit E - 5/15/99) and my letter to Mr. Welsch ( Exhibit C - 2/21/03), and see very little difference. My letter in 1999 received a reply of $6,500.00, no questions asked by GBRA. But this time my letter to Mr. Welsch at GBRA received a ‘get-lost’ or ‘sue-us’ response to my real claim for damages.
After reading Mr. Welsch’s short ‘go-to-hell’ letter, I became so outraged that I got an old heavy oil drill bit from my garage and put it in my car and drove to the GBRA’s office and walked up to the front door and heaved it through the second window to the right of the front door, where it made a hole about 30 inches in diameter. I then immediately called 911 and told the Sheriff’s dispatcher what I had done and said I would wait until deputies arrived. She kept me on the phone until the deputies and police got there. When they arrived, I told them the story and gave them the letter from Welsch to read.
I was hopping mad. I told those poor cops and deputies more than
they ever wanted to know about a broken window. I barely slowed down for them long
enough for them to read me the “Miranda rights.” I told the
I told the cops and deputies that David Welsch and others at GBRA
are most likely friends with Judge BB Schrabb, Judge Peschel, Judge Moore, Judge
Strauss and all those other judges and lawyers down there where I have been
cheated over and over again in other court proceedings. I told them that GBRA
wants me to spend thousands of dollars collecting a few thousand from them. I
also told them if GBRA had destroyed the curbs at Economy Furniture or Mickey
Ferrell Realtors or SMI or the Oak or a number of other respectable
establishments, these folks would have immediately gotten their, more than
adequate, restitution. I told the cops that GBRA or David Welsch knows that I
have been in court in
The cops then called someone at GBRA and they came out and after the police talked to them for about 30-45 minutes they released me and gave me a warning ticket ( Exhibit Ea ) and told me I was to stay off the GBRA property for a while and that GBRA would still be able to file a criminal trespass complaint later if they wanted to. I, therefore, thanked all the police for being gentleman and putting up with me and I told them I wanted to go get a hamburger and they all smiled and said that sounds good. So I drove to Whataburger and did just that.
Larry Moltz, of GBRA, called me at 1:20 PM on Monday 3/10/03 and said the contractor, Rimrock, Inc., wanted to go enter my island again and pick up some old tires he had left there. He asked me if he could do that. I told Mr. Moltz that I have some barrels blocking the road down to the island and that I was trying to keep people out of there. I said that I don’t want any body getting in there without my help moving those barrels. He asked if there was a way the contractor could meet me at the property and get in, and I said yes he can meet me there any day except Wednesday and Saturday after 4:00 PM. He asked if they should call first and I said yes if it is before 4:00 PM but they could just come out and meet me after 4:00 at the Taphouse and I would help them get in. I said it would be better for them to make sure I’m there by calling and I gave Mr. Moltz my Taphouse number and my mobile phone number. Mr. Moltz said that he would give this information to Hardeman at Rimrock and tell him that it would be best to meet me Monday or Tuesday after 4:00 PM. I said that would be good.
I then asked Larry in this same phone call how the window was doing. He said they had gotten it fixed. I said do you know how much it cost and he said no. I asked if they were going to send me a bill. He said I don’t know anything about that; somebody else is handling that. I replied that’s somebody else’s department right? Larry said yes. I said that’s probably David Welsch’s Project Development department right?
Mr. Moltz, then said that he thought the peace rally was good at
the courthouse and I agreed. He said he liked what the veterans had said near
the end and how good that was. He mentioned John Long’s speech and I agreed
that John’s flying 100 jet missions over
When I got to McQueeney that afternoon about 4:00 PM, I went down on the island and took about 21 pictures with the tires and other debris still on the island.
When I arrived at the property in McQueeney at 4:05 PM on Tuesday (3/11/03), I noticed the tires were off the island and the barrels had been moved without my being present. It seems these parties just don’t understand respecting other people’s property.
About a week or so after I broke the window Mr. Hilmar Blumberg
gave me a visit at the Taphouse. This man is not a regular of the Taphouse but
frequents another bar in
Then Mr. Blumberg asked me what I intended to do about all this
with GBRA. I did not want to reveal my activities in drafting a suit but
replied, I’m going to forget it.” He quickly replied, “That’s a real good
idea.” I immediately perceived that he knew something that I didn’t and that
something had been planned for me in case I filed a law suit against GBRA. And
this is just the kind of thing that I had feared from the start and this
confirmation of internal set ups and inside court deals that drove me to knock
out their window in the first place. I would not have broken a window at GBRA
if I had believed that justice would be administered in the District Court of
Guadalupe County sitting in
Now normally I would not be concerned about an off handed comment like that from just some customer that had just heard the story. Mr. Blumberg came to me with a special purpose of advising me not to file a suit. This man was a party to conversations with those involved at GBRA and was either sent to warn me or either just concerned for my welfare as he said in his own statement of purpose for coming to see me.
After having broken the window, about a week later, I had begun drafting a suit against GBRA and it was making me feel terrible and sick as I was now about to enter the not-so-legal court system in Guadalupe County where I have spent some eight years of my life and had many of my rights trampled with no recourse whatsoever. It was very unpleasant writing on this suit but I did it anyway and continued writing and collecting pictures until I received this ominous message delivered to me by Mr. Hilmar Blumberg, a high profile community member close to those involved at GBRA. I know this man did not think I was stupid because we had debated several ideas in the newspaper and on a one to one basis in private. He does respect my views and holds my mental state in high regard.
I further had to deduce from this visit that GBRA did not want to have a lawsuit filed by me against them. And since they did not have me arrested on the night I broke the window that they were going to forget the whole thing. It made me sick that I was going to have to suffer damage to my property without legal recourse. But I did forget it, but now it looks like GBRA did not forget it ( Exhibit Fa ) and wants this out in public and in the newspapers and that I have no recourse but to defend myself with all I have as I have had to do for seven or eight years before. All this court stuff has left me a very financially crippled individual but I will do what I have to do.
FURTHER, affiant
sayeth not.”
__________________________________
Ronald F. Avery
SWORN TO AND SUBSCRIBED before me on this the ____ day of March, 2004.
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____________________________________ NOTARY PUBLIC, My Commission Expires: ___________ Printed Name of Notary Public: ____________________________________ |