Chapter 21

We were downstairs, having breakfast, when Howard came down. "You two even beat me out of bed this morning. I've heard a lot about you, Chuck, but didn't really know what to expect. John was always so straight and you are too, but you just feel looser, more on your toes. One footed toes, that is."

"This is an important day for you, Howard, getting introduced to your first station as the Chief, and representing the service and your station at a major meeting. Let me be the heavy today so you can get a working relationship with these people. Hopefully, we'll get everything put together the way it needs to be."

The meeting and introductions to the men went well. There were a hell of a lot of deputies, so many that we ended up having the meeting outside on the lawn in back of the building. Everyone could hear if we spoke loud enough, and everyone was saddened by the loss of Randy, but happy for one of their own for his promotion.

The men were all assigned and out by nine thirty. I called the Bureau Chief to check on our attorney and was told the man was already on his way to the convention center.

I said goodbye to Glenda, in case we were able to get out of there this evening and we headed out to the convention center. I made sure we all stopped at the Texas barbecue stand to get a couple of sandwiches. We ate standing up, before proceeding to the convention center. We were in place with our attorney and a federal judge at twelve fifteen. I asked the attorney to open the book I would need, and highlight the statutes I wanted to quote.

The federal people, with additional attorneys, began showing up and were all in place by twelve thirty. I quickly explained how I was going to handle the meeting. They agreed with me and told me to handle it.

At twelve forty-five, the Texas Ranger contingent came in, glad handing everyone, happy to get the meeting underway. At twelve fifty, the county people showed up, apologizing for being late and sat quickly.

People had a piece of white, heavy, stock paper with a black crayon to write their names and departments on. They folded it and sat it in front of them so it would show like a nameplate. Everyone would know who they were talking to.

At one, I stood and said, "It is important that we start all together, so we will wait for Dallas. To let you know, we will break for ten minutes out of every sixty. There is water and soft drinks along the wall. Feel free to get up at any time and get another drink. I'm told it's too difficult to have coffee, so we don't have that for us addicts. Don't worry about getting hungry. We have sandwiches ordered and they will be served at every break from three o'clock on. We will need the food for energy."

There was a mass exodus from the tables to get water or soft drinks. I had a water and a juice for energy. Come on, Dallas.

About thirty people came in the door at one twenty. They all had their noses in the air and sat at the central tables the others had left for them, knowing what would occur.

One guy didn't wait till his people were sitting and said, "When are you going to get your head out of your ass and release our funding?"

"If you will have a seat, Sir, the meeting can start. I've already gone over that refreshments are available all the time and that we will break ten minutes of every hour. I will provide food after three so we have the energy to continue."

I stood in front of my table waiting for the group to sit. When they were finally settled, I said, "My name is Charles Johnson or Chuck Johnson. I am with the U.S. Marshal's Service. We are here to define what each of our responsibilities are and how we will interact. I'm sure that by the time we leave, we will all be satisfied."

I went for the big book with pages marked and statutes marked. "First, I will read some statutes that I and the Marshal's Service must live by. When I've read all the statutes that pertain to our meeting, I will address each issue one at a time. We will fully and unanimously agree on each issue before going on to the next item."

"Keep in mind that the agreements we make today will be good only until our new facilities are open. After that, we will either abide by all statutes or have another meeting much like this one."

I read the statutes slowly. I read each one twice, with emphasis on the phrases that were important. I read the statutes as to how the federal departments must interact with the state, county, and city departments, and what support we must give them and what support we could expect from them.

"First, now that you've heard how we must protect our judges, I want to address the bailiff issue. If you want to have a bailiff to accompany a deputy, that is permissible. If a bailiff obstructs a deputy, he will be held in contempt, as the statute states. I suggest a trade off for right now. Until our new facility is built, our office will use the county and state court bailiffs to serve our subpoenas and the bailiffs will stop trying to impede our deputies while attending to our judges. That will actually give your bailiffs more income than standing around the court house."

I pointed to the county guy that represented the bailiffs. He said, "I don't know if the membership will go for that. We can take over your subpoena business anyway; those should be ours."

The federal judge stood up and said, "Dick, you stupid little shit. When you learn the law, then you can get in front of a group and blow smoke up our asses. Until then shut up and let your attorney talk for you."

The man, "Dick" was still standing, red in the face, and yelled, "I'll have you know that I went to law school for three years."

The judge just said, "And flunked every course you took, I know the story, Dick. Now shut up or I'll have you jailed on a federal Baker act."

The county attorney stood up with a book in his hand and said, "It says within our statutes that all subpoenas served within our jurisdiction will be served by our bailiffs."

My attorney said, "Read him his own statute under that blue page marker."

I said to the attorney, "Sir, you forgot to read the next paragraph. It says that all federal subpoenas will be served by U.S. Marshals, or as directed by the federal judge issuing the subpoena. As a note, you are also to have a Ranger accompany you on all state issued subpoenas, and I understand you are not doing that at this time."

The county attorney was reading the next paragraph again and finally said, "You're right on both counts. Okay, but how can our bailiffs do this?"

The judge said, "Charlie, read that last paragraph again out loud for me."

He read the paragraph and when he said "federal judge" his voice trailed off and he just sat down.

"Okay, your bailiffs will take a powder at the courthouse when the federal judges hold court, and we will in turn give your bailiffs some extra money until our new building is built."

The idiot, Dick, stood up again and said, "Yeah, but we've always done it the other way."