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| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| You're looking at Nelda Wells-Speers, Travis County tax assessor and collector. | ||
| You will see classic examples of doublespeak, that is, lying, using semantics to shield the behavior that she is engaged in. | ||
| It is very sad that she passes the buck, number one, and number two, tries to deny the fact... | ||
| That they take property and homes and engage in feudalistic behavior. | ||
| And then she acts like she doesn't know what I'm talking about when I use many different terms. | ||
| Like feudalism. | ||
| And I'm sure she must know what feudalism means. | ||
| I'm sure she's a smart lady. | ||
| It means slavery. | ||
| It means you pay a yearly rent to the government for the right to use and live in the home that you paid for. | ||
| So remember, if you pay for your house and you own it... | ||
| Or you think you own it. | ||
| You do not truly own it because you pay a yearly rent to the feudal masters. | ||
| Then we'll get to a property auction approximately three and a half weeks after we did this interview with Neldawell Spears, where she passes the buck. | ||
| They have auctions for lots, property, businesses, homes, you name it. | ||
| On Channel 17 on Travis County Television, they show the homes that they foreclose on every year. | ||
| They're in the back of the newspaper. | ||
| Then how can she sit here and say she doesn't know what we're talking about? | ||
| The government should not be able to take your home or your automobile, the things you need to live. | ||
| This is feudalism. | ||
| This is terrorism engaged in by every city, county, and state in the United States and the world today. | ||
| Now here's Nelda Wells Spears. | ||
| Travis County. | ||
| Tax collector and enforcer. | ||
| Mrs. Spears. | ||
| Hi, I'm Alex Jones. | ||
| I have a question for you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| There are a lot of people that are not even considered middle class. | ||
|
unidentified
|
They're losing their homes due to property taxes. | |
| And we have seen the rates of property taxes go up and up and up even while people can't sell their homes because of the watershed laws. | ||
| What's your opinion on that? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I really don't have an opinion on that. | |
| I wasn't aware that a lot of people are losing their homes. | ||
| Oh, nobody's losing their homes? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I didn't say nobody, but not a lot of people. | |
| A lot of people aren't? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No, a lot of people aren't. | |
| How do you feel about making people support public schools where the test scores have dropped from number one 50 years ago to number 49th now with their property taxes? | ||
| Isn't that a form of feudalism? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I haven't the foggiest notion of what you're talking about. | |
| Well, you do tax talk. | ||
| I mean, I heard everybody congratulating themselves on here about... | ||
|
unidentified
|
We select the property taxes for jurisdictions in Travis County as the Constitution of the State of Texas requires. | |
| So I'm probably not the person you need to be talking to. | ||
| How many bureaucrats were here today? | ||
| About 100? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I have no idea. | |
| And they were all being congratulated for the departments going from... | ||
| I heard one parole officer and a truancy officer bragging they went from 7 to 107. I don't know what you're talking about. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The ceremony in there was for years of service to Travis County. | |
| I understand. | ||
| How many homes will be lost due to the 13 million overage on the county budget? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm not sure that any homes will be lost. | |
| Well, aren't you all going to have to turn up the heat and squeeze some more people? | ||
|
unidentified
|
We're not squeezing people. | |
| We're simply collecting the taxes. | ||
| Simply enforcing the law? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Enforcing the law. | |
| Ma'am, I'm not being sarcastic when I say this. | ||
| Was Martin Luther King bad whenever he went and sat in at the lunch counters and was taken to jail and beaten because it was the law that black people couldn't use water fountains or go in and sit at lunch counters? | ||
| Or what about when that one lady refused the law because she thought it was wrong and sat at the front of the bus? | ||
|
unidentified
|
What about it? | |
| What about Rosa Parks? | ||
|
unidentified
|
What about her? | |
| You act like all laws are holy and sacred and that nothing's wrong with them. | ||
| My grandparents... | ||
| Have had their house attempted to be stolen. | ||
| They're over 75 years old. | ||
| They live in a modest South Austin home. | ||
| Something's wrong here. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We don't steal any one home. | |
| You don't steal homes? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No, we don't. | |
| Y'all don't put liens on homes? | ||
|
unidentified
|
There's a tax lien that is attached at January 1st of every year for every property in the county. | |
| Well, you just heard that. | ||
| We're not... | ||
| Stealing homes, but we do put a lien on everyone's house at the start of each year. | ||
| Even before it's time to pay, they just have that threat there. | ||
| They have that sheriff, that constable standing there at the ready, just like of old, just like in feudal Europe or feudal Japan or feudal China, feudal Russia. | ||
| Oh, it's always the same. | ||
| I guess we're not modern at all, are we? | ||
| We're still slaves of old. | ||
| It's just high tech now with a pretty face. | ||
| They live in a modest South Austin home. | ||
| Something's wrong here. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We don't steal any one home. | |
| You don't steal homes? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No, we don't. | |
| Y'all don't put liens on homes? | ||
|
unidentified
|
There's a tax lien that is attached at January 1st of every year for every property in the county. | |
| So you're not stealing homes, I see. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's correct. | |
| We're not stealing homes. | ||
| Oh, they're your homes. | ||
| I see. | ||
| They haven't paid, so they're your homes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
No. | |
| They're your slaves, aren't they? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No. | |
| Because you're the local vicewoman. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm none of that. | |
| I'm a local tax collector. | ||
| Period. | ||
| You're the local tax collector. | ||
| How do you sleep at night? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Very well, thank you. | |
| You sleep very well knowing the families you've wrecked. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We've not wrecked any families. | |
| We've not taken any homes. | ||
| You've not taken any homes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's... | |
| You're saying the county's never taken any homes? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I didn't say never. | |
| Well, you said we haven't taken any homes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm not aware of it. | |
| I've seen y'all listing the homes that have been taken. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I've been mailed things in the mail about auctions and homes that are being sold by the hundreds. | |
| Those are not necessarily people's homes where people are living. | ||
| What do you mean? | ||
|
unidentified
|
They're houses? | |
| They're homes. | ||
| No. | ||
| They're vacant lots. | ||
| I've seen you. | ||
| This lady right here, she's having her own house stolen. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, she needs to take it up with someone else. | |
| She has. | ||
| She's here every week. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Every week. | |
| Okay, last question. | ||
| You say that you're not selling people's homes. | ||
| You show the foreclosed homes on TV that you're taking. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You've shown them on TV. You're trying to sell my home now, man. | |
| On Channel 17. What about my cameraman? | ||
| You're trying to steal his house. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, he can come to the office and we'll talk about his house. | |
| He can come to the office? | ||
| Ma'am, hey, we're not some type of evil people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Ma'am, and you said that we're a bunch of conspiracy theorists, Sheriff. | |
| You know these helicopters are being used, Sheriff. | ||
| These helicopters are being used for surveillance. | ||
| You know they're putting a flare on them. | ||
| You admitted it. | ||
| What about the feds? | ||
| We stopped the Delta Force. | ||
| What about the Delta Force, Sheriff? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't know anything about the Delta Force, Ms. Jones, and I'd ask that you get the microphone out of my face. | |
| You want the microphone out of your face? | ||
| I'm sorry, man. | ||
| I'm sorry for trying to report the news. | ||
| Pay close attention to this fellow from Parks and Recreation. | ||
| We'll get to this just a little bit later. | ||
|
unidentified
|
By virtue of a certain order of sale issued pursuant to a judgment by the District Court in Travis County, Texas and cause number 9208940 titled Travis County et al. | |
| vs. | ||
| Dena Sue Nelson Brewster et al. | ||
| and under the authority of Bruce Elfant Constable in Travis County Precinct 5 that did on June 28, 1998 at 10 a.m. | ||
| levy upon the fine described property located in Travis County as the property of the judgment debtor Dena Sue Nelson Brewster et al. | ||
| On said property is no no warranties expressed or implied. | ||
| You buy a debtor's interest in the property as is. | ||
| Bidders are further advised that the purchase of the debtor's interest in such property at this sale may not extinguish any liens or security interest on the property. | ||
| You're only buying whatever interest, if any, the debtor has in the property. | ||
| I know that that legalese doesn't sound very exciting, but what you have here is lots, and homes and businesses being auctioned off. | ||
| In fact, the county will even send these out to you monthly if you want the listings. | ||
| They're in the newspaper. | ||
| And again, they're on Channel 17. Let's get back to this because the story hasn't even begun yet. | ||
| But you heard him. | ||
| The debtors. | ||
| The judge that took the property. | ||
| The love. | ||
| That's what we're dealing with here. | ||
| Total corruption. | ||
| Sanctioned by the government. | ||
| Done by the government. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Tell me what you want to get for the property. | |
| 35-08-91. | ||
| $3,508.91. | ||
| That's it. | ||
| Tell me, slave. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm a slave. | |
| Oh, yes, slave. | ||
| I demand you tell me now. | ||
| How dare you? | ||
| How much money for this slave's property? | ||
| Tell me now. | ||
|
unidentified
|
$3,600. | |
| I'll take $37. | ||
| $37. | ||
| I got a bid of $3,700. | ||
| Now, pay close attention to that fella. | ||
| Our cameraman, Mike, was busy getting interviews and talking to people during the bidding and filming the main person that was giving the bids from the Sheriff's Department. | ||
| But that fellow right there from the Park Service, John Foreman, an eyewitness and one of our associates, saw him getting the bids up from the back of the crowd. | ||
| A lot of interesting behavior. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Also bidding here against the property and he was armed and I don't know if that's permissible here in Travis County. | |
| I thought if you're on duty and you have a firearm, what are you doing down here bidding against citizens for the theft of these properties? | ||
| You know, it just doesn't make any sense to me if a citizen is going to come down here and bid and try to get the lowest bid possible. | ||
| They shouldn't have an officer of the county Bidding against him, especially if he's on duty. | ||
| And we need to check into that and probably check over with the county commissioners to find out who's in charge of this and try to figure out whether or not that gentleman had any authority to bid up these properties. | ||
| Like I said, maybe he was doing it as a private citizen. | ||
| But if you're carrying a gun, to me, you're on duty. | ||
| That was the park ranger, Mr. Nielsen. |
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