Dear Editor,

This letter is in reference and support of Steve Klein’s letter to the editor last week, in which the punishment of the young men involved in the opening of local water hydrants, was discussed.

Let’s face reality here; there are young men and some older adults in this town that get away with much worse criminal acts and misconduct. Unfortunately, in this town, it’s not about what a person does wrong, or how ‘bad’ it was, it’s about their name. If you have the right “name,” you can get away with burglary, vandalism, rape, misappropriation of funds, and just about anything else.

Of course, the general public doesn’t hear about these acts when they are committed by the ‘right’ people. Those people with the right name, or family relation, who is either one of Blanco’s wealthier citizens, or one who scratches the right people’s backs, have their indiscretions seemingly disappear.

However, for those who do cross the ‘line of the law’ and don’t have the right name, or family relation, or in the circle of the Blanco Clique back scratchers, those folks receive more than full punishment, as these two kids seem to be getting. Had they been related to the right folks, or in the local Blanco Clique that rules this town, they probably would have been sent home, without even a report written up and no one would have ever known they were ever caught or who they are.

In this town, the general public only gets wind of what is allowed to get out, the rest has a tight lid on it, and only gets discussed in certain circles, when and if it spreads, it’s then dismissed as rumors. A really good job is done in weaving deception and lies around any incidents done by certain individuals, keeping the full, real truth, hidden from the eyes and ears of the public.

Compared to the occurrences of things that have come to light (and again, publicly, that’s a dim flashlight on the full perspective) in the last year in this little town, these boys have done a minor violation. Instead of getting a slap on the wrist (usually replaced by a pat on the back if you’re the right person), they are getting hung out to dry and serve as an example of what can happen to anyone in Blanco who doesn’t walk a very straight line and who’s not in the Blanco Clique.

What the two young men did was in no question wrong, but no more wrong than those who continually water their very green lawn in the heat of the day in this July Texas drought.

Henry Hesskew

Blanco, TX