Due to budget restrictions, he has had to cut back his staff from 225 when he took office, to 175 employees now. About half of these are attorneys, he said. Because the workload has not diminished, he has had to find efficiencies for his office, including more computerization of records, and the use of private attorneys on contract for some cases. He is also studying the possibility of his office collecting back taxes, which would save the county the 20% they now pay to an outside collection firm.

His office is charged with advising county employees on the limits of government, in Texas and Harris County. Harris County is only one of four counties in the state with both a District Attorney and a County Attorney, due to its size.

Cases he is currently working on include the MERS suit, which charges banks with illegally processing mortgages without filing them with the county. This keeps the county from collecting millions in filing fees.

Another ongoing case is the Toxic Waste site in the San Jacinto River. Working with the EPA, his office is attempting to have all toxic materials permanently removed from the river at the expense of the two companies that originally dumped them there. They are also investigating a second dump site discovered south of I-10.

La Frontera, 5850 Ranchester Dr. in southwest Houston, will shut down in April, according to a judgment and injunction negotiated by County Attorney Vince Ryan’s office.

Until the club officially closes next month, the landowner and club owner have agreed to post a security guard on the property and remove all alcohol from customers after 2 a.m. They also agreed to file trespass affidavits to allow police to arrest loiterers on the property.

The lawsuit claimed the club had become a place for illegal drugs, robbery, aggravated assaults and other criminal activity, according to the county attorney’s office.

By law, shelters must hold animals for three days before adopting or euthanizing them.

But many area shelters routinely waive that law for animal rescue groups willing to pay a sick animal’s vet bill.

“It’s the humane decision for us,” BARC director David Atencio said.

By waiving the three-day hold for rescue groups, other shelters were saving lives and tax dollars. But last spring, Blackmar told us she hadn’t even considered waiving the state law.

After Harris County Commissioners Court got wind of our report, they made Blackmar waive the three-day hold for rescue groups willing to save sick animals.

Then we got these pictures. Photographic proof of how dogs and cats in the county pound were being inhumanely and illegally euthanized. The horrific and heartbreaking practice was confirmed by both former and current employees.

After our initial reports, the Harris County Attorney’s office confirmed the state’s euthanasia law, prohibiting animals from being put to death in front of each other, was being broken at Harris County Veterinary Public Health.

Last summer, the county attorney’s office ordered Blackmar and her staff to at least put up a tarp and sheet so dogs wouldn’t spend their final moments witnessing what was about to happen to them.

“I still have nightmares, I still have nightmares,” a former VPH employee said, wishing to be anonymous.

According to this former employee, the temporary fix to adhere to state law didn’t last long.

“They did that for a month or two,” the former employee said.

Then it was, “business as usual.”

We wanted to know why Blackmar, who told us she wouldn’t waive state law for animal rescues, would allow the state’s euthanasia laws to be routinely broken. She made it clear she would not be answering our questions.

Her spokesperson would only say employees are being retrained.

“We’re in the final stages I believe of this review,” Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan said.

While Ryan wouldn’t release the final report to us, he did share what his office found after an eight-month review.

According to the County Attorney’s probe:

– Cats were pulled out of kennel cages, injected in the chest cavity and then dropped on the floor to die.
– Needles were being re-used
– A live Chow was placed in a freezer filled with dead animals
– The shelter has a euthanasia rate of 82 percent.

“You live in Harris County, your tax dollars are paying to kill 80 percent of the animals entering their doors,” Bett Sundermeyer, with NoKillHouston, said.

According to the county attorney’s review, the shelter needs to do more when it comes to adoptions and working with rescue groups.

As for this poor dog whose injuries were so bad we can’t show them, the county attorney said they’re still trying to determine if the dog received medical attention. Blackmar claims she did.

“Quite frankly, your series of stories has helped to get us to a point where the system’s a lot better and we think that most issues brought up initially are solved or going to be solved,” Ryan said.

Blackmar and veterinary public health declined our request for a response, stating it’s not appropriate since Harris County Commissioners haven’t received the county attorney’s final report.

After they get the report, it’s the commissioners who will decide if Blackmar keeps her 6-figure salary.

The DA’s office will decide if criminal charges are warranted.

Vince Ryan announced the lawsuit Thursday filed against the Texaco Tigermart on Fannin Street. More than 200 complaint calls have been placed to the Houston Police Department about the store since 2011 and within a 12-month period, the store has been the site of two prostitution arrests, two reported robberies, one aggravated assault, one arrest for delivery of cocaine, and four arrests for possession of cocaine.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the State of Texas in state district court against Jae Kim, the owner of the land, and Fannin Food Mart, Inc. the operator of the fuel station and convenience store.

County Attorney Ryan is asking the court to close the station and convenience store for a period of at least one year “if the owners do not stop the criminal activity immediately.”

The Texaco Tigermart is located across the street from the downtown Greyhound bus station.

The Defendants in this suit are International Paper Company, Waste Management, Inc., Waste Management of Texas, Inc. and McGinnis Industrial Maintenance Corporation.

The County’s lawsuit contends that in 1965 a Waste Management company disposed of highly toxic waste from International Paper’s nearby paper mill into waste pits located on the shores of the San Jacinto River. The toxic contents of these pits leaked into the River for decades. The companies eventually abandoned the waste pits, and over the years portions of them became submerged below the San Jacinto River.

Because of the health risks caused by the dioxin, the State of Texas has issued a consumption advisory for crab and all species of fish from the San Jacinto River, warning women who are nursing, pregnant or who might be pregnant and children under the age of 12 not to consume any fish or blue crab from the area. It has also advised adults and children to avoid the risk of exposure to dioxin through skin by not camping, fishing, or picnicking near the San Jacinto River where the toxic waste ponds were located. According to the County human and ecological health continue to be threatened by releases of dioxin.

“When I took office, I asked community residents and leaders to name one thing I could do to improve the environment in Harris County. Cleaning up the San Jacinto River Waste Pits was, without a doubt, the thing almost everyone agreed upon,” said Ryan.

In 2008, at the urging of the Harris County Attorney, Commissioners Court and others, the San Jacinto River Site was added by the EPA to the Superfund National Priorities List for clean up and the EPA is currently working to determine how to remediate the dioxin contamination. Texas law permits the County to file suit seeking penalties of up to $25,000 per day for each and every day the pollution occurred. It also provides for injunctive relief and can be used to require the companies to fund environmental projects that will assist the citizens of Harris County to learn about and respond to the dioxin in the river as well as address environmental damage not covered by the EPA action.

Harris County is represented by Ryan as well as Terry O’Rourke and Rock Owens of the Office of the Harris County Attorney, and the Houston law firm of Connelly, Baker and Wotring, LLP.

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc., or MERS, was formed by the mortgage-banking industry to “streamline the mortgage process,” its website says. When banks sell mortgage loans to other entities, that transaction generally is recorded with the county clerk and requires a fee.

According to County Attorney Vince Ryan’s office, MERS helped banks skirt that process, particularly as Wall Street began pooling thousands of mortgages and selling them to investors.

Ryan plans to hire Malouf & Nockels, the law firm Dallas County has hired to pursue a similar suit. Similar lawsuits have been filed in other states.

Dallas County had requested the suit be certified as a class action on behalf of all 254 Texas counties; Harris County hopes to be the lead plaintiff, Ryan said.

MERS has said its “business model and practices are legal and comply with the recording statutes and regulations of Texas.”

Our motto “Of Service to All, According to Law” and our mission statement that appears in every issue of this newsletter reminds us of three values that form our core principles:

Core principle 1

We adhere to high ethical standards. This includes both knowing the right thing to do and then striving to do it. We may disagree with one another about policies, strategies, or objectives but we can take comfort in knowing that we are working together to do what is right.

Core principle 2

We are public servants. The work we do is more than an 8 to 5 job. We work for the Office of the County Attorney and for the people of Harris County because we have an intrinsic desire to help others and not purely for personal gain.

Core Principle 3

We strive to be the best. Our office is consistently recognized as being one of the best in the state of Texas. We will continue to build on this reputation for excellence, striving to be better today than we were yesterday, and better tomorrow than we were today. We do not expect perfection, but we do expect improvement.

The beginning of a new year is a good time for each of us to examine our core values. Please help your managers answer these important questions: Do our personal values match those of the Office? What core values does our Office exhibit? What behaviors should our Office exhibit as we strive to match principles with our behavior in 2012 and beyond?

–Vince

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Named as defendants in the action, which seeks penalties of up to $25,000 a day dating to 1965, are McGinnis Industrial Maintenance Co., Waste Management Inc., Waste Management of Texas and International Paper Co.

The lawsuit, announced Tuesday by County Attorney Vince Ryan, centers on riverside waste disposal pits near the Interstate 10-San Jacinto River crossing opened in 1965 to contain dioxin, a toxic byproduct of paper production.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designated the leaking, now-submerged pits, as a Superfund cleanup site three years ago.

State health officials have issued warnings for children younger than 12 and pregnant women regarding eating fish or crabs caught near the site. They also have warned against camping or picnicking near the sites.

“When I took office, I asked community residents and leaders to name one thing I could do to improve the environment in Harris County,” Ryan said in a statement issued Tuesday. “Cleaning up the San Jacinto River Waste Pits was, without a doubt, the thing almost everyone agreed upon.”

The lawsuit was filed Thursday under authorization of the Texas Water and Texas Health and Safety codes, and any damages resulting from it would be shared with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

McInnis Industrial Maintenance Co., the lawsuit asserts, now is wholly owned by Waste Management. International Paper is the successor to the Champion paper company. In 2010, the lawsuit claims, International Paper reported more than $644 million in net profits and $25 billion in assets. Waste Management reported $950 million in net profits and $21 billion in assets.

“Because defendants have left a legacy of pollution in Harris County by causing and allowing dioxin to be released into the San Jacinto River instead of spending the money to properly dispose of their dangerous chemicals, it is appropriate that they now compensate Harris County for the consequences of their choices, actions and inaction that have put the public health and environment at risk,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit cites the World Health Organization’s designation of dioxin (2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) as a human carcinogen. The chemical, the lawsuit says, can also cause serious skin disease and changes to blood and urine that may indicate liver damage, alter glucose metabolism and affect hormone levels.

The county’s lawsuit contends that AT&T made a decision to purchase thousands of gallons of gasoline and elected to store it in underground tanks located in communities, near homes, schools, churches and public and private drinking water wells. Nearly a dozen such tanks are positioned throughout Harris County; none in the northeastern parts of the county such as Atascocita or unincorporated Humble, but as close as Spring.

County Attorney Ryan stated “The underground storage tanks AT&T buried throughout Harris County have leaked hazardous substances into the environment and have done so for years, affecting the neighborhoods across the county.”

In addition to the fact that AT&T’s actions are alleged to have violated state laws regulating underground storage tanks and the protection of the environment, Harris County’s already limited resources have been further strained by the need for the County to expend taxpayer resources and dollars to address contamination left behind by AT&T. Accordingly, Harris County is taking action on behalf of its citizens by filing this lawsuit seeking civil penalties and to deter future misconduct. The Texas Legislature has authorized Harris County to recover these types of penalties by statute, through the Texas Water Code, which is separate from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ’s) role in deciding how to remediate the contamination. Penalties awarded by the Court will be split equally with the TCEQ.

Among other things, Harris County’s lawsuit contends that public records demonstrate AT&T’s neglect of its UST systems in Harris County because it did not have a system or program in place designed to prevent its underground storage tanks from leaking and contaminating the valuable freshwater resources of Harris County or to actively clean-up the pollution once it learned of it. In a suit similar to Harris County’s suit filed today, AT&T entities paid $25 million in civil penalties and other amounts to the people of California in 2006 to settle claims associated with a “[UST] system that was neglected,” according to California’s Attorney General. Harris County contends that AT&T has similarly neglected to put into place a system to address its USTs in Harris County and is subject by law to civil penalties to the people of Harris County and the State of Texas. “We have a great team; a team that is capable of accomplishing success for the residents of Harris County.” emphasized County Attorney Ryan. Harris County is represented by Vince Ryan, Harris County Attorney, Terry O’Rourke, and Rock Owens of the Office of the Harris County Attorney, and the Houston law firm of Connelly • Baker • Wotring LLP.

USC Marshall School of Business Professor Christine Porath, an expert on workplace civility, describes the most common employee complaints about co- workers:

• Passing mistakes; blame for our own mistakes;
• Checking e-mail or texting during a meeting;
• Sending bad news through e-mail to avoid facing the recipient;
• Talking down to others;
• Not listening;
• Not saying “please” or “thank you”;
• Showing up late or leaving a meeting early with no explanation;
• Leaving snippy voice mail or e- mail messages;
• Failing to return phone calls or respond to e-mail;

These can serve as reminders for each of us to mind our manners and help do our part to create a positive work environment. As we work together to build the best public law firm in the United States we need to remember that the difference between a good place and a great place to work may come down to how we treat one another.
- Vince

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