Gar the Texan is always on the lookout for interesting, quirky info about Fort Worth and its neighbors.Today Gar the Texan pointed me to a story which has gone national, with Fort Worth proudly attached to the story.
Seems a 71 year old Fort Worth man, likes to do yard work at his house near Lake Worth. The man has a privacy fence around his property, for the most part.
The 71 year old Fort Worth man, apparently, is a bit of a naturist. Nothing wrong with that, when you're minding your own business on your own property.
Unfortunately, while the 71 year old Fort Worth man was busy working on his backyard, wearing nothing but shoes, a female member of the Fort Worth Gestapo, Deputy L.M. Rowland, was doing some peeping tom work, looking through the privacy slats that were supposed to guard the 71 year old naked Fort Worth man's privacy.
The Fort Worth Gestapo agent was patrolling on a bicycle. She proceeded to pedal on to the 71 year old naked Fort Worth man's property. He saw her rolling in and ran into his house, despite the Gestapo agent's insistent demand that he stop.
Deputy Rowland stood at the 71 year old naked Fort Worth man's door, yelling for him to come outside. Eventually he did so, putting on a pair of shorts first, which he forgot to zip up. All noted in Deputy Rowland's police report, also noted was the fact that the unzipped shorts revealed that the 71 year old formerly naked Fort Worth man was wearing no underwear.
I'm shocked that this Fort Worth female Gestapo agent was ogling the 71 year old's private parts to check for underwear? Is this some form of sexual harassment or something?
Deputy Rowland proceeded to grill the 71 year old formerly naked Fort Worth man about his yard work habits. He admitted that he sometimes worked in his private backyard, naked.
I don't know how Deputy Rowland managed it without a patrol car, but somehow she determined that the 71 year old formerly naked Fort Worth man was not a sex offender. She then issued him a Class C misdemeanor citation for disorderly conduct, under the Texas penal code 4201 A-10, for exposing his anus or genitals in a public place and is reckless about whether another may be present who will be offended or alarmed by his act.
The 71 year old Fort Worth man's backyard is a public place? Deputy Rowlands did not see exposed genitalia. All she saw was a bare butt running into the bare butt's house.
It's all very disturbing to me. In other parts of America there are naked bike rides, naked hikes, all sorts of naked things. Usually in public places. But in Fort Worth if you feel like beating the heat by pulling weeds without benefit of outerwear, a member of the Fort Worth Gestapo may be spying on you, chase you and ticket you. I could see, maybe, there being some legitimacy to these Gestapo tactics, if there had been complaints, made to the Gestapo, about a 71 year old Fort Worth man working in his backyard wearing nothing but shoes.
It seems a simple polite informational warning is all that was called for. Deputy Rowlands could have respectfully let the 71 year old Fort Worth man know that his nakedness was viewable from the road and that he should be a bit more modest. She really did not need to issue a ticket to a 71 year old man. I really think Deputy Rowlands should be investigated and possibly punished in some way for so outrageously violating the 71 year old Fort Worth man's privacy.
