Lawyer: Family of "Influence" Involved in Teen's Death

2005-07-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

The family of Tom Mallory, a 16-year old Lubbock boy who allegedly died from an overdose of the street drug "Ecstasy" is preparing legal action against those responsible for the distribution of the drug, a case that may involve a "influential" Lubbock family, their lawyer told a Lubbock TV station:

Louise Stinespring believes her only son, Tom, should still be alive. That`s why she`s hired personal injury lawyer Jonathan Stark. He says it`s clear in this case that some individuals need to be held accountable.

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Stark says what could be out of line is the influence of the accused family.

"We`re afraid that that family has an inside track and we don`t want that track to lead to a cover-up," says Stark

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"One of the saddest parts of this case is an adult was contacted, not just an adult, a medical doctor," says Stark. "This doctor provided unbelievably irresponsible advice to these kids. Instead to tell them to take him to the hospital or to his own parent`s house, he suggested they take him to his own house, a doctor`s house, to sober him up. Clearly, this doctor bears responsibility, whether it is malpractice or other appropriate action."

So right now we have an influential Lubbock family and a Lubbock doctor who may be involved in the tragic death of a teen. It should be interesting to see which "family of influence" is involved in the scandal. There aren't many families in Lubbock that would be described in such a way.

The Demise of a City?

2005-07-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

Lubbock Mayor and property mogul Marc McDougal and his family seem to be winding down a rather lengthy campaign that mostly involved raping and pillaging the entire city of Lubbock. McDougal properties has a longstanding reputation for conducting nearly fraudulent, if not criminal, abuse of their residents by “hiding” fees and withholding security deposits.

Recently, the McDougals conducted what they have dubbed the “largest privately funded urban revitalization project in the US”… this is hardly private considering key members of the family had to take office in order to push the initiative through. In spite of the neighborhoods growth, Lubbock is facing a grossly low apartment occupancy rate.

A visit to the “revitalized” neighborhood reveals cookie cutter apartments disguised as upscale housing. It’s nothing more than student housing. In addition, a new Wal-Mart is scheduled to be built just blocks away from the neighborhood, which traditionally leads to the demise of most neighborhoods. After all, when was the last time you saw a nice neighborhood that had a Wal-Mart?

The McDougals have a history of overbuilding overpriced property, then abandoning the properties to turn into Section 8 housing (such as the properties at 42^nd and Boston).

The displacement of the people in the neighborhood that was “Revitalized” were merely displaced, which did little more than drive down property values across the city. The Lubbock crime rate is rising across the city, as opposed to just the central area.

In the past weeks, the McDougals have abandoned their posts on committees and on various initiatives, even asking their employees to not volunteer in the community. The McDougals have pulled $300,000 of donations, while Marc’s father Delbert is citing hostility in the community for his abandonment of posts. If you do your homework, you will see that the McDougals have never served on anything that did not involve them making money. None of the key family members pay property taxes – they merely live in McDougal Properties homes, which allows the company to write off property taxes.

On top of all this, Lubbock media has failed to aggressively pursue the McDougals, likely due to their influence and advertising power (read this Lubbock A-J article, which is pretty much a souped up press release blowing sunshine up McDougal's ass). Note the last sentence in the article:

Marc McDougal said the family also will be less inclined to encourage their employees to volunteer.

Thats just brilliant, Marc.

Lubbock Source

Lawyer: Family of "Influence" Involved in Teen's Death

The Demise of a City?