It is good to be back from our month long sabbatical otherwise known as a holiday in my country and we have been eager to check the tip line for some new Shade.  While visiting my country last month, I got to take part in the Gentleman’s Club (it is not what you think).  It is a monthly tradition where the village gentleman holds a club night, enjoys some bottles of vino on the terrace, and tell wild tales.  Meanwhile, the women go inside to also enjoy the vino and a couple hands of cards.  We began to share jolly chatter when Paulo looked at me and said, “since you live in Texas, tell me about LAJITAS?”  I politely asked if that was the name of a cocktail and he said “no, it is the name of a small famous town in far west Texas that feels like it sits on the edge of the world.”  Shocked, I said tell me more as laughter abound from the men on the terrace.  Paulo said, “Clay Henry is a delinquent politician full of tricks who ran for mayor of Lajitas.  He was known for consuming up to 40 beers a day and he had a penchant for headbutting constituents without any warning.  He was Lajitas most “FAMOUS CITIZEN” and he was the only mayor in the US with hooves.”  All of looked at Paulo not sure if we should laugh or think he lost his mind, when he blurted out yep, Clay Henry was a goat!  We all began to google and of course there are many stories and/or legends around Lajitas and Clay Henry.  So many that it is hard to know what is true or false.   One story goes that Clay Henry was killed by his son Clay Henry Jr. for being a ladies’ man and his love rival.   Another story said in in 1992 when the Goat Mayor died he was stuffed chugging a beer and mounted in the general store for all the visitors to see.  The craziest story of all is the one where Clay Henry was castrated by a local name Bob Hargrove after he became jealous of Henry drinking the last beer in town on a Sunday.  According to the ABC News report the goat was found lying in the streets with his testicles cut off.  With that all the men stood up and it was time to call it a night.  The fun stops when it comes a goat losing his testis’s.  I said goodbye to all my local friends and their wives then stumbled just down the steps to my room where my wife was already in bed reading a book.  I said, “DAMN HUN, be glad we live in Frisco, Texas and not Lajitas with a testicleless goat!”  My wife looked at me with the usual disappointment and like I was an idiot and said turn off the lights.   

You are probably wondering why the hell did I tell you this story.  Well, because I was thinking we probably didn’t miss anything while we were gone and yet we missed everything!   We quickly learned that the City of Frisco hired a new, but old, yet still unwanted Fire Chief named Lee Glover, who has a 90+ percent no confidence vote from the Frisco Fire Fighters.   Then we learned the Frisco Fire Fighters have started a petition to become a civil service organization and to have collective bargaining.  The cherry on top was a Frisco PD Resource Officer, Kendal Augustus was fired then arrested and charged with sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child and sexual performance of a child and yet his bond was only set at $55,000?  Jackie from the TV Series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel said it best, “Life is a basically an all-you-can-eat shit show!”   

Jackie is right that life is basically a shit show and sometimes it can also be the gift that keeps on giving.   After unpacking I went to water my roses and my neighbor was outside, so he walked over and said I have something to show you.  He pulled out his phone and said, yesterday we were on the lake, and you won’t believe the photos we captured.  I quickly realized it was photos of Mayor Cheney and his wife Dana on their boat.  He pointed out Zach Cheney, the mayor’s oldest son (still under 21), who was doing shots off the back of the boat with some friends while the Cheney’s watched from the head of the boat like the kings of the world! 

Obviously, the Cheney’s didn’t learn anything after hosting the viral keg party at their house for Zach’s graduation in May 2021 in which their son later posted to his snap chat account.  Now they will quickly deny this happened, but boat registrations do not lie!  In Texas, every watercraft must be registered just like a car and that is the number you see on the side of the boat.  In this case the pictures show a black Bennington 25 ft Pontoon with the registration of TX 5306 KL.  To look up the current ownership of a boat is simple, and a matter of public record at the State of Texas Open Data Portal.  When we ran the registration it shows the original registration date of 09/07/2022 and is due for renewal on 09/30/2024.  The owner is listed as Thomas J Cheney Jr. and it is registered to his home in Frisco.  We won’t give out his address, but you can look it up just clicking on the Open Data Portal link yourself. 

Just because it is okay for a Mayoral Goat to get drunk does not mean the same rules apply to humans.  What are the laws in Texas when it comes to minors drinking? Drinking when you’re under 21 or providing alcohol to a minor comes with consequences.  If a minor attempts to buy, possesses or drink alcoholic beverages, or if a minor is intoxicated in public or misrepresents their age to buy alcohol they could be in trouble.  They could face a $500 fine, attend a boring alcohol awareness class, do up to 40 hours of community service and could potentially lose their driver’s license up to 180 days. 

On the other hand, adults who give minors alcohol could also face stiff penalties.  Making alcoholic beverages available to a minor is a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $4,000, confinement in jail for up to a year or both. Your driver´s license would also be automatically suspended for 180 days when they are convicted.  Texas also has a “Zero Tolerance Law” which states, it is illegal for a person under 21 to operate a motor vehicle or watercraft in a public place while having any detectable amount of alcohol in their system. 

Most interesting is that in Texas, a person may purchase an alcoholic beverage for or give an alcoholic beverage to a minor if he is the minor’s adult parent, guardian, or spouse and they must be visibly present when the minor possesses or consumes the alcoholic beverage.  However, Texas Social Host Laws state it is illegal for a parent to provide alcohol to other minors who are not their children, and they could be responsible should that minor cause injury to themselves or cause property damage.

Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian once said, “patterns repeat themselves in history.”  If that is true then one could say intentions are often hidden inside patterns of behavior and a good indicator of patterns is TIME!  In this case history is repeating itself and just as publicly as it did last time.  After watching the video which includes photos from the lake and Zach Cheney’s own open Instagram page it leaves us with a few questions.

1. How old are the young adults in the boat chugging shots like Clay Henry the Goat?
2. If they are under 21, then who purchased the alcohol for their consumption?
3. If the Mayor purchased the alcohol and provided it to his son that is fine, but if he provided it to his son’s friends (who are underage) that is ILLEGAL!
4. When the pontoon docked back at the marina – who drove the car or cars home?

Lastly, Mr. Cheney is not a secretary for the city he is the Mayor!  The BUCK STOPS WITH HIM!  He should be leading by example.  How do you say this is okay, then say how important the Shattered Dreams program is at the high schools to stop underage drinking.  As for Zach Cheney you would think his parents would have sat him down in 2021 and said “Son, you are an extension of us meaning what you do reflects on us and so you can not publish photos of you on social media platforms partying and drinking when you are clearly underage.  Surely they told him to lock down his accounts so only his friends can see his debauchery.  No, his Instagram clearly shows him drinking on bid day in 2022 when he was 19, as well as other times.  It also shows him at AT&T Stadium tailgating – how did they get home after?  It appears the Mayor and his wife were also attending the game and the Mayor clearly had on his City of Frisco Polo.  Truthfully, old grouches like us are lucky – we did not have social media to get us in trouble.  It is called common sense, if you are going to drink underage (most young adults do) and you are from a notable family then don’t post about it on an open social feed, and don’t take your kid out in the open to a cove on the Lake known for a good time!