Speaker 1: On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele do follow Speaker 2: San Antonio is a fast growing fast moving community with something new happening every day.

And that's why each week we go on the record with the Newsmakers who are driving this change.

Then we gather at the reporters round table to talk about the latest news stories with the journalists behind those stories.

Join us now as we go on.

Speaker 1: Hi everybody.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Randy Beamer.

You may know that October is breast cancer awareness month, but you may not know that it's also domestic violence awareness month and very big issue here in bear county.

And joining us to talk about it is a judge Monique Diaz or the 150th civil district court.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Also very involved in the collaborative commission on domestic violence here in San Antonio, whole working group of people that are involved.

And first wanted to start out with the numbers.

Sadly, this has been an issue that has plagued bear county for a long time, and the pandemic definitely has not helped.

Speaker 2: Right, Randy, thank you for having me and for highlighting this important issue because the first step to reducing domestic violence in our community is talking about it and breaking the stigma around that conversation.

Unfortunately, we have seen the numbers rise both in our community, but also statewide and around the world.

Uh, the, the pandemic of COVID 19 has been commonly referred to as this pandemic of domestic violence as the shadow pandemic behind.

COVID-19.

What we saw is as individuals were stuck at home with their abusers access to their support systems, safety nets were cut off.

Uh, it was more challenging for them to seek assistance.

Uh, so those are some, some reasons why we believe domestic violence has increased, but domestic violence also has always increased in times of natural disasters and tragedies.

We've seen that with hurricanes, uh, uh, but especially with COVID-19, um, here locally in San Antonio last year, we had 36 domestic violence, uh, homicides, 20 of those being women who were killed by their male intimate partners, more than the year before.

That's five more than the year before.

And we've seen a steady increase locally and in Texas, a 23% increase from 2019 to 2020 as well.

Speaker 1: We're dealing with that in the courts because in the courts they've had problems themselves with the pandemic and getting people together.

Has that caused any delays and backups and dealing with these kinds of cases?

Speaker 2: Well, I, I do pride our community and our civil district courts where we handle, we process a lot of the protective orders are through our civil, um, in our ability to have pivoted, to, to zoom very quickly.

Um, and with our local presiding court system, um, we have, uh, one of the best rates of disposing of cases in the nation, but for folks that were seeking assistance that were seeking protective orders, they were facing barriers of how to physically get to the courthouse and file their paperwork.

So we had folks like the family justice center, uh, who implemented a new program where you could apply for protective orders online to help, um, decrease the amount of time that survivors had between their, um, need for help and their ability to get help in the criminal courts.

We've seen it be a tremendous hindrance, however, because the criminal courts have a constitutional requirements to have in-person proceedings in a lot of cases.

So we have seen justice delayed, unfortunately, due to those constitutional requirements in a lot of those criminal, domestic violence case.

Speaker 1: What are some of the ways that you're trying to deal with this in a new and different ways?

There's this positive parenting, uh, program, the triple P uh, partnership that can help any parents out there.

Uh, there's that stigma of domestic violence.

So it doesn't have anything to do with me, but you're trying to prevent even the possibility that someone would get to that level of stress, that situation, Speaker 2: Right.

Uh, there's, there's so much that our community has been doing over the past several years and especially right now to address this issue, in addition to the triple P parenting program that parents can avail themselves of to become better parents to lead by example, uh, for their children, the collaborative commission on domestic violence, which I co-chair, we, uh, are made up of six committees that have all taken on one or two strategies to reduce domestic violence in our community.

Um, I don't have enough time to speak to all of them, but I, I do want to address some of the things we're doing in the courts, uh, in the, the civil district courts, we have a new team funded by the county, a family violence prevention program team that helps staff every domestic violence case.

We have to connect not only survivors, but the children and the abusers with the resources they need to break out of those cycles of abuse.

Uh, we also have a new process that we're implementing to ensure that individuals who are not permitted to possess firearms because they are abusers that they are proving to the courts that they are not in possession of firearms, or if they are that they are turning them over to law enforcement or authorized third parties.

Um, that there's been a tremendous influx of funding from the city, from the county, uh, towards those efforts and many more that I'm happy to, to speak to.

Speaker 1: And now the other things that people can do out there right now, if they're concerned, say that someone they know may be suffering from this, what should they tell that person?

What should they do themselves?

Speaker 2: That's a great question, Randy.

Uh, so often we hear frustration from people that know someone, which by the way, is everyone, all of us know someone, whether we know it or not, we work with someone or live next door to a victim of domestic violence.

One in three women have experienced domestic violence in Texas.

Um, so the number one thing to do is to be there for them.

Uh, there, there is a reaction that's common too.

When a victim does not leave an abusive relationship to feel frustration and to say, well, you know, I've done my part, your part.

And the way you can help is to continue to be there for them.

So when they are ready to leave that you're there to assist them the, how do you assist them when they're ready to leave?

The, the most important thing that you can help a, uh, victim do is to develop a safety plan, to connect them with resources in our community, SAP D uh, Metro health, family violence prevention services, all can help an individual put together a safety plan to safely exit a relationship, which is different in every single case.

Speaker 1: And they, you have all that information@ccdv.org.

Great resource.

Speaker 2: Yes, we have all of those@cctv.org.

And I also want to note that it's important to share with folks, especially now that you can text nine 11 with your location, if you need help.

So that for folks that are stuck at home with their abusers, that's a small piece of information.

That's really critical to share with someone new.

Speaker 1: Well, I wish we had more time, but thank you very much for highlighting this purple is domestic violence awareness month.

You have the purple porch and they should have right now.

Okay.

Thank you very much, judge, Monique Diaz for coming in.

Appreciate it.

Thanks.

Thank Speaker 2: You, Randy.

Speaker 1: One of the big stories of last week, or so has been about the jail and two different consulting firms that are going to be looking at the practices and what can be improved.

And the fact that there are two consulting firms.

So looking at it is the real controversy joining us now is sheriff Javier Salazar, who himself has hired a consulting firms, are looking through the use of the asset seizure money that you have bear county commissioners have done their own.

They've hired their own consultant and people wonder why, why couldn't you just accept that they're going to do their own and why do you need to do yours?

Quite frankly, I thought that the one that was being heard through the county, maybe wasn't in our best interest.

Uh, quite, quite frankly, if I'm being honest, I don't think it was done with the purest of intentions.

So I brought in my own consultant, uh, at no cost to taxpayers, I'm using seize drug money, basically to, to hire this consultant.

Uh, I want to come in and help us improve our operations.

Uh, commissioners asked me if I would accept theirs because after all the jail is my pur, we didn't in my purview.

It's up to me whether to allow an outside consultant to come in, I agreed to it.

Uh, maybe that consultant will, will bring something to the table and help me, uh, do something to improve operations.

I'm certainly open-minded to it, But either way, it's, it's your money assets use your money, but it's also taxpayers' money that could have gone to something else that you would have bought.

Or the commissioners would have said why half to have two.

It seems like that, uh, you and commissioner Dewberry, uh, have been at odds over the management of the jail and whether you should be managing the jail period, whether a sheriff should be managing the jail.

What do you tell people out there who see that this is you trying to maybe, um, have your own consultant come up with your own recommendations and then run the jail your way, Because I'm the sheriff and, and by law that's who runs a jail, uh, 454,000 bear county voters put me into this position for the second term.

So obviously they agree that I'm doing something right, and the jail is within my purview, whether commissioners like it or not, whether any other elected official in the county or the state likes it or not, it's within my purview and I'm going to do what I need to do to run it.

So I hired a consultant because I'm, I'm open to, to maybe there's a better way of doing things like recruitment, like, like morale within the jail.

Let's compare our pay to other major counties to try to find out, am I doing everything within my power to, to, to re recruit and retain the best people.

Staffing is a big problem.

You're short on deputies by at least 178.

Your number by 353, I think is, is Trish to Barry's number in terms of open positions, 30 million now record over time.

This has been a problem for years.

I think that was one of the Numbers overtime.

Okay.

What's your, what's your number on?

So our, our number and overtime by the, by what it's looking, uh, you were looking at it probably about 15 million to 17 million overtime over the course of the year, but we're also putting together some numbers to show that about at least 10 million of that is probably going to be related to COVID expenses.

Uh, COVID took a toll on us, uh, on our, on our, our, our administration of the jail.

It's a very real issue.

It's still a real, very, very real issue.

This pandemic is not over by any stretch of the imagination, and it did contribute in large part to our overtime.

Now there's one thing after these two reports come back, there are probably going to be some overlap.

Uh, the express news, the editorial board came in and said that you, what we really need is somebody to, to kind of put their arms around how this whole thing, not just bear county commissioners, but SAP D there needs to be a working group that oversees what everybody believes are needed, changes in the jail to deal with.

At least the overtime and the staffing issues.

Are you open to that to get more groups involved, even then the commissioners?

Because yes, while it's your baby, it's still the entire community's problem.

I've always been open to stakeholders coming in, but if you're going to come in to help come in to help, don't come in to take issues that every major law enforcement agency in the country is experiencing.

Everybody's got staffing issues.

Don't take that national problem and then try to make it look as if my incompetence is what's is what's making it happen.

Let's be real about it.

If you want to come in and contribute to the, to the, to solving the issues, find, come in and be part of the solution.

Don't be part of the problem, cause I'm not going to have it.

And now one other question is this, has it been, I've heard this from some people, has it become too personal between you and the commissioner to Barre?

I didn't make it personal.

Uh, I think you can go back and look at the very first commissioner's court and everyone, since then, I've tried to be polite.

I've tried to be respectful as I was brought up to be I'm a 30, almost a 30 year, first responder.

Um, let's go back and look, roll the tape and let's, let's see, who's made it personal.

It was 'cause I'm sure some people out there would just say, can't we get along?

Can't you get together in a room?

I love it.

I'd love it.

If we could all just get along.

Well, that all went up to me.

It's about recruiting and we'll move on here from that is one of the ways that you're recruiting and that you're recruiting, uh, people that we might not ever associate with with things that you do.

Boomers, you're looking for older.

I don't want to say older, but older.

Well, some tread left on the tires, right.

Is what we're saying.

Um, look, I think that what's being construed as older for, for law enforcement purposes.

I think just somebody that's that's well into their fifties, well into their sixties that still has the heart and soul, and obviously their body still able to do it, uh, can, can bring something to the table.

And, and when you're trying to, to, uh, fill vacancies, which is what we're trying to do, like every other law enforcement agency in the country, you've got to utilize what's available to you.

Well, I dropped the, the minimum age to 18.

It was 19 when I took over, I lowered it to 18, but on the, on the other hand, we don't have a maximum age.

So why would I exclude that demographic?

If I got people that have still have the willingness to come in and do something with law enforcement, come on.

It's kind of a fun way that you're doing this also with some of the videos and what kind of response are you getting?

We're getting, we're getting a really good response.

I mean, some people obviously laughing at, at the, the, the, but laughing with us, I should say, uh, you know, some big agencies have a cutoff at 44, and I still think men at 44, 45, 55, 65 there's people that are still willing and able and may have said, you know what?

I lost my calling.

I didn't get a chance to become a law enforcement officer, but we, we did a take on, on terms like I'm, for example, by definition, not a baby boomer.

I was born in 1970, but to millennials, they call us all boomers regard.

If you're older than them, you're a boomer.

And so we did a takeoff on that and we're changing what it means to be a boomer at the bear county Sheriff's office.

So we're featuring some of our deputies that started quote unquote later in life, not to me and you, but later in life and are doing great, starting a second or maybe even third year.

So people who have retired at one at one job could maybe get, Say a, say a retired anchor.

Well, we're About out of time.

I stop right there.

How's that would that, uh, I was trying.

All right, thanks very much.

Magnum back in the day, Not bringing it back to mustache.

Thank you very much.

You bring back your hair, sheriff, Javier Salazar.

Thank you very much for coming.

I'm going to be arrested now, just this week, governor Abbott finally signed a bill that was very similar to a bill that he had vetoed earlier about the care and maintenance of animals.

They so-called dog leash or dog chain bill to explain what it means is the director of animal care services here in San Antonio, officer Shannon Sims.

Thank you very much Speaker 2: For coming in.

Now, this is the bill that he signed that is actually very similar to what we've had in San Antonio for you say three, four years, right?

Yes.

Very same things that we could enforce here.

What are the things that are going to be different across the state now that we've had here in San Antonio?

What, what is the law?

So the, the law now actually clearly defines what adequate shelter is for an animal.

Uh, it also provides, uh, a requirement for shade to be provided, obviously in San Antonio, if you get inside of a little hot dog house, it's still hot.

So that, that inclusion of sh of shade is going to be critical.

Uh, it also bans the use of, of chain as any type of a tether.

Uh, we frequently used to see, uh, you know, animals on very, very heavy tow chains and things like that.

Uh, and it requires a water be provided for any animal that's tethered at all times.

Speaker 1: It was one of the differences you said in the, in the prior law, there was no requirement to have your animal have access to water, Speaker 2: Right?

The water, uh, and even the shelter was so, uh, so MIS kind of represented that you couldn't clearly define what it was, uh, a lean two piece of plywood registered as, you know, qualified as an actual shelter.

Then Speaker 1: Now this bill had been brought up once in the legislature, filibustered and killed.

And then the governor ran into a lot of blow back when he vetoed, which pretty much the same version that he wound up signing.

Right?

Cause they changed some things, but not much, Speaker 2: There were some, there were some amendments that were proposed, but those ended up pretty much being stripped out.

And it ended up passing and being signed by the governor pretty much in the exact form that it was, uh, in the previous legislative session.

Speaker 1: And now in San Antonio, it will be pretty much the same cause we've had this, but it also allow you to do what, in terms of enforcement, you can charge them with something else.

Speaker 2: All right.

So now it pretty much mirrors the San Antonio, uh, ordinance that we've been enforcing.

But previously we could only charge an individual with a class C misdemeanor at the, at the top end, uh, basically a traffic violation type of a ticket.

Uh, now it will allow us if that person has been previously convicted of this, it will actually allow us to charge them with a class B misdemeanor, which has stronger penalties.

Speaker 1: And across the state say, if I haven't heard of this before, I'm used to doing, you know, taking my dog out and put them in on a leash here or there.

What, what can I do in terms of the length of that leash?

I know that was one of the issues, things like that under a tree.

Speaker 2: So one of the major things is it has the length of the leash itself, or the tether has to be at least five times the animal's body length or a minimum of 10 feet in length.

Uh, it, you know, we're talking about trolley type systems, things like that.

Uh, it has to be something that's not going to bind up.

Like you would find with chain, uh, it can still be rope and it has to be a fixed to either a, uh, uh, an actual vest for a dog or a, Speaker 1: Or a collar.

How often do you see violations of this kind of thing here at the time, Speaker 2: All the time, we still, uh, find this very frequently, the biggest Speaker 1: Complaint and violation that you Speaker 2: See.

A lot of times, what we'll see is an individual has the animal tethered and because animals do not their water over and things like that, the animal will be without water and frequently because of the location of the tether.

They won't have any access to shade other than inside of a dog doghouse, if they have it.

So it's, you know, we still have a lot of tethering in San Antonio, but I would say that, uh, there's a proper way to tether and this bill really captures it.

Uh, as well as the San Antonio ordinance, Speaker 1: You have a tether and the dog knocks the water over and somebody comes up and sees that and they call you, what do you do in terms of enforcement?

Speaker 2: We will absolutely if an officer's there and there's no one else there, we're going to provide water for the animal.

If the dog knocking the water over just the biggest violation, we're not going to not too wrapped around that.

Now, if I get there and the water is polluted and muddy and green and something that's consistent with negligence at that point, we will address it through a citation.

All right, Speaker 1: Well, we appreciate you coming in officer Shannon Sims, director of animal care services, this new law, by the way, he signed it this week, but it doesn't go into effect until Speaker 2: January 18th, 2022.

And that will Speaker 1: Also help in Speaker 2: Absolutely, uh, this previous snow event that we had really kind of brought the need for this lotta, uh, into focus.

How would that change, uh, because of the fact that the animal, first of all, a lot of these animals didn't have appropriate shelter.

So they were literally out in the snow event, uh, they were on heavy chains, things like that.

So this will allow us to make sure that that animal has, you know, bedding, things like that in that, uh, in that shelter, if they are exposed to that type of con, all of it Speaker 1: Should make your job easier or just, Speaker 2: Uh, well, there's always, there's, there's always a lot of front end work on it.

You know, you end up having to go out and, and early on, you end up addressing a ton of complaints.

Uh, but as the education gets out and everything, it's definitely helpful for making sure that our animals are more humanely treated and, and it'll be better for the owners as well.

All Speaker 1: Right, well, thank you very much, officer Shannon Sims of animal care services.

Speaker 2: Appreciate it.

Thank you so much, sir.

Speaker 1: Joining us now for our reporters.

Roundtable segment is Chris Tomlinson, the name you recognize as a columnist for the San Antonio express news, as well as the Houston Chronicle time associated press reporter, and just wrote an article, a fascinating column about climate change in advance of the UN climate change conference.

And it said fighting climate change requires changing Texas beef and oil culture.

And that is like throwing a bomb at some people here in Texas telling us to change our Texas ways.

Chris, tell me about this column and what kind of reaction you've had.

Well, you know, I think, uh, scientists have proven, uh, for a long time that raising beef and consuming beef has an enormous impact on the environment, particularly on the climate.

Uh, it is 30 times worse, uh, for the atmosphere than if you were a vegetarian.

Um, you know, in England, they're talking about regulating, uh, beef as they do coal because it is so harmful.

Um, and of course you combine this with the move to cut back on fossil fuels and pet sins.

Can't get a break and, uh, Texans were not really happy with what I had to say.

I must admit.

And now let's kind of back up and explain where you talk about 30 times worse than a vegetarian.

Why is raising cattle and then, uh, pigs, and to a lesser extent, chicken, why is this, uh, tough on the environment?

People might think, well, how is that possible?

Well, uh, there are two main reasons.

First is the amount of food, um, that account eats to get to the right way where we can solder it and eat it.

Um, they do not process that food, those calories very well.

So they eat an enormous amount of either grain or grass and they're ruminants, and which means that they burp a lot.

And that those Berks are full of methane, which is a, an extremely damaging DAS to the atmosphere.

So, you know, when you compare it to say a pig or to a chicken, it's, it's five times more damaging than eating pork, uh, just because the way it takes to raise them.

And now as a columnist for Texas newspapers, uh, again, when you talk about the reaction to this, um, what, what has that been like?

How intense has that been and did your, uh, publishers wonder about this?

Well, you know, my publishers put up with a lot for me.

And so some of my readers, uh, you know, as a columnist, it's my job to kind of share some unpleasant truths.

Um, and as we struggled to figure out how to mitigate climate change, we have to talk about diet.

We have to talk about how we raise the food that we eat.

And while, you know, the old joke is that, you know, Sunday state dinner is always bought by granddaddy's carried interest in oil.

Well, well, you know, that's, those days are going to come to an end, right?

Because we're not going to have that oil well, and that steak is going to be a lot more expensive.

And now Also people might wonder about yourself, okay, are you vegetarian?

And are you driving some kind of a electric car?

So I do drive an electric car, a Chevy bolt.

Uh, I've had it since 2017 and I'm very happy with it.

Um, on the other hand, my other car is a 1997 Porsche.

So, you know, I'm, I'm not pure.

Uh, I have my old car that I like to drive.

Um, but every day, my everyday car it's electric.

Um, I love barbecue, but if I have one piece of barbecue or one hamburger a month, that's it, my wife is strictly vegetarian.

And so I would say 80% of the meals I eat are strictly vegetarian.

It's about reaching a balance.

And to be honest, um, I'm healthier for it, which is an added benefit.

Now, there are a lot of People who were climate change skeptics in general, and then they would hear this and say, all this has gone way too far from your friends who may or may not agree with you on all this kind of stuff.

How do you approach them and say, well, this is what we should be doing, working toward this end.

How do you approach that conversation?

One-on-one with people let alone in the public sphere.

You know, I, I try to be gentle and I try to be kind, and I try to set an example.

Um, preachy, uh, monologues are not the way you change people's minds, uh, about anything really, whether it's about race or gender or climate change.

Um, you have to let the evidence speak for itself.

I think you look at the February freeze.

You take a look at the record setting, temperatures, the fires in the west.

Um, we all know the climate is changing and it would be foolish to believe that 150 years of pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is not contributing to that problem.

It's not so much convincing people.

Climate change is real anymore.

It's about getting them to accept the necessary changes so that their grandchildren can have a higher standard of living.

All right.

Well, thank you very much, Chris Tomlinson, again, writes for the San Antonio express news and for the Houston Chronicle.

It's a column there right now.

I want to thank you for joining us as well for this edition of on record.

You can see the show again, our previous shows as well as our podcast, the krn.org.

I see On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Duplo.