Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 255, Ed. 1 Friday, April 14, 2017 Page: 3 of 26
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LOCAL/STATE
3A
Denton Record-Chronicle
Friday, April 14, 2017
UNT Mayborn lecturer
Tracy dies at age 69
Officer certification brings
perks to TABC employees
to appear before the House
Committee on General Inves-
tigating and Ethics.
The Tribune reported that
agency brass has spent tens of
thousands of dollars sending-
top officials to liquor industry
conferences at fancy resorts.
The Texas House of Repre-
sentatives reacted quickly to
the reports of the far-flung-
junkets, voting unanimously
last week to yank the agency’s
out-of-state travel privileges as
soon as this summer unless it’s
for bonafide law enforcement
or investigative functions.
TABC regulates tens of
thousands of alcohol permit
holders in Texas and is tasked
with enforcing laws on under-
age drinking- and other alco-
hol-related crimes. TABC
agents enforcing the law are
required to be certified peace
officers as part of their jobs. So
are some of their higher- ups,
job descriptions show.
But officials whose jobs are
administrative or regulatory in
nature do not have to be certi-
fied as peace officers — as
Cook acknowledged in sworn
testimony. The top adminis-
trators do have to get trained
as cops, however, to drive
state-owned cars.
This story has been edited
for length.
The Texas Tribune is a
nonpaitisan, nonprofit me-
dia organization that in-
forms Texans — and engages
with them — about public
policy, politics, government
and statewide issues.
similar to an M16 — plus a
Glock pistol, a bulletproof vest
and handcuffs, all as part of
the standard-issue package
peace officers at the agency
By Jay Root
The Texas Tribune
AUSTIN — The state’s top
liquor regulator got ‘hazard-
ous duty pay” — typically pro-
vided to state employees doing
risky work — while attending
alcohol industry conferences
at fancy resorts in Hawaii,
Florida and California, state
records show.
The reason: Sheriy Cook
was trained as a “peace officer”
— a cop — a designation that
allowed the director of the Tex-
as Alcoholic Beverage Com-
mission to increase her take-
home pay, get a state-owned
vehicle and fill her tank with
free state gas.
TABC also paid to help
Deputy Director Ed Swedberg
get trained last year as a certi-
fied police officer and gave him
a car even though he — like
Cook — is a civilian employee
whose job description does not
require peace officer certifica-
tion, records show.
The agency’s annual re-
ports show that the number of
employees provided state-
owned cars at TABC’s Austin
headquarters has more than
doubled in less than a decade.
In 2008, six people at agency
headquarters had state-pro-
vided cars, that year’s report
said. By the 2016 fiscal year,
the number had shot up to 15,
the reports show.
High-powTered weapons
apparently come with the job,
too. A top former TABC offi-
cial said he ordered Cook an
M4 carbine — an assault rifle
By Lucinda Breeding
Staff Writer
cbreeding@ dentonrc.com
Dave Tracy, a career journal-
ist, producer and videographer
w7ho served as a lecturer in the
Frank W. and Sue Mayborn
School of Journalism since 2013,
died Wednesday. He was 69.
‘We were blessed to have
w7orked with Dave,” said Do-
rothy Bland, the dean of the
Mayborn School at the Universi-
ty of North Texas. “The fact that
his students have done award-
winning- w7ork speaks volumes.
One of his students from the
multimedia workshop is going
to wrork for CBS in New7 York.
What does that say?”
Tracy worked primarily with
UNT students in multimedia
production and news writing,
but he also led the Mayborn
Multimedia High School Work-
shop for three years during the
summers of 2014, 2015 and
2016.
get.
r
“They are just carrying
their peace officer commis-
sions to reap benefits,” said
Darryl Darnell, the agency’s
former inspector. “They just
wanted to be peace officers so
they could drive a car and car-
ry a gun.”
Darnell, now a deputy con-
stable in Williamson County
after leaving the agency in
2015, has gone on to become
an unofficial whistleblower
taking on the top TABC brass.
TABC said it broke no rules
t
*1
*■
1
J V
Courtesy photo/Junebug Clark
Dave Tracy, a career journalist and videographer, died on
Wednesday at age 69.
but declined to answer ques-
tions about the peace officer
certifications and the perks
that come with them. Nor
would TABC say how many
peace officers are in civilian
jobs.
“He was this incredible guy who could get
the trust of his subjects. They felt
comfortable around him. They trusted him
with their story, whether it was a small
gripe with the city or something much
bigger. Whatever their story was, he dealt
with it with such dignity."
— Robert Tracy, son of Dave Tracy
“TABC is in compliance
with state law regarding the
training, compensation and
equipping of employees. All
records are public and are
available on the agency web-
site or via the Public Informa-
tion Act,” said agency spokes-
man Chris Porter.
TABC cited law enforce-
ment privilege in withholding
certain information the Texas
Tribune requested from the
state comptroller’s office.
Answers about perks and
compliance with state rules
could come Thursday, when
agency honchos are expected
As a lecturer in the journal-
ism school, Tracy taught media
performance, introduction to vi-
sual communications, introduc-
tion to media wniting, and visual
new7s storytelling.
His colleagues remembered
him as a man who loved great
storytelling and chocolate milk.
Bland said Tracy w7as a versatile
teacher wrho used a broad range
of skills himself.
“He founded NT Daily Ra-
dio,” Bland said. “He was a great
teacher/
After serving in the U.S. Navy
during the Vietnam w7ar, Tracy
got his start in radio, and then
became a writer and producer at
a CBS affiliate in San Diego. He
moved on to a general assign-
ment television reporting at the
CBS affiliate in Peoria, Illinois,
and later in Dallas.
Tracy later worked for Amer-
ican Airlines, Westscott Com-
munications and VHA0 Inc.,
jobs that kept him in Dallas.
He founded his own video
production company which also
operated out of Dallas. He
earned accolades for his work:
five Dallas Press Club “Katies”
for Excellence in Journalism,
and a Cable Ace Award for a
half-hour documentary on a
California Coastline Initiative.
Tracy got a bachelor’s degree
in journalism from San Diego
State University and a master’s
degree in communication from
the University of Texas at Tyler.
Robert Tracy, Dave’s son, said
Inis father died in a hospital in
Dallas from complications of
cancer and polymyositis, a
chronic inflammation of the
muscular system. Robert Tracy
said his father had scores of re-
tired journalists, photographers
and videographers in his room
over the last few weeks.
“Through tins process, as he
wras sick, current and former
journalists stopped by and they
w7ould tell tales of dad,” Robert
Tracy said. “He was this incred-
ible guy who could get the trust
of his subjects. They felt com-
fortable around him. They trust-
ed him with their story, whether
it was a small gripe with the city
or something much bigger.
Whatever their stoiy was, he
dealt with it with such dignity.”
Robert Tracy followed in his
father’s footsteps, working at
small newspapers across the
countiy with his journalism de-
gree from the University of Tex-
as. Eventually, Robert Tracy was
the assistant managing editor of
a project at The Dallas Morn-
ing News called Neighborsgo, a
cluster of weekly community
newspapers serving the suburbs
in the daily’s coverage area. To-
day, he’s working in the commu-
nications department at UT
Dallas in Richardson.
Tracy said his father inter-
viewed five U.S. presidents, and
one of his favorite memories is of
Dave Tracy among a press pha-
lanx in Dallas waiting for an in-
terview7 with President Richard
Nixon.
“Nixon comes out, and he’s
surrounded by this army, this
phalanx of press. They’ve got
their microphones out and
they’re yelling ‘Mr. President!
Mr. President! Tell us about
Watergate!’ He pushed by and
he comes to my dad’s set up, and
my dad sticks his mic out there
and said ‘Mr. President, tell me
about your granddaughter.’ And
he stopped. He gushed about his
granddaughter, he had a year-
old granddaughter at the time,
and then dad asked him some
substantive questions. And Nix-
on answered him. That was my
dad. He knew how to get your
trust.”
memorial-scholarship.
Dave Tracy is survived by his
son Robert and daughter-in-
law, Amy Tracy; his daughter,
Anne Tracy; an ex-wife, Chris
Tracy; his brother A1 Tracy; and
his sister, Jeanie Samis.
Arrangements are pending.
LUCINDA BREEDING can
be reached at 940-566-6877
and via Twitter at @ Ibreeding
DRC.
The Mayborn School is es-
tablishing a memorial scholar-
ship fund named for Tracy. Con-
tributions can be made at
https: / /one.unt.edu/dave-tracy-
Celebrate
the
Miracle of
Easter.
2025 W. University Dr. • (940) 383-4200
www.deberryfuneraldirectors.com
DE-1604728-01
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 255, Ed. 1 Friday, April 14, 2017, newspaper, April 14, 2017; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1131892/m1/3/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .