Unfair Park from p8 This is when the allegedly forged notice enters the mix. On June 14, the day before the original hearing date, Williams typed up the notice in question, she said. It was mailed the following day, according to the court. Even though the hearing date had been changed, Williams said she called Hard- away’s name when she read the docket on June 15. Williams said if Hardaway had been in court that day she could have told her in person about the new hearing date. Williams said sending the notice was strategic, given Hardaway’s history and the facts of her current case. “I did something strategic in this on the notification, given the past history of the de- fendant not showing up to court, not really paying very much attention to the citation or any notification,” she explained. “I actu- ally sent this defendant the original, which had a giant copy stamp in red with my signa- ture in blue to show her ‘Hello, hello hello.’ And then I put a copy in the case jacket. That is how that was done.” She said her only mistake was not making a copy of the enve- lope. Melton has admitted that this isn’t uncommon for Justice of the Peace courts, which he says doesn’t have the best record keeping. Williams said the court never “It’s always case by case,” Williams said. “And in my opinion this was a serious situa- tion and I’ve already given the factors.” O’Brien also said the Forvus notifications are limited in the number of characters one can include. “So, you wouldn’t be able to alert a person with a Forvus-generated [no- tification,]” the judge said. Comparing two kinds of notices – a For- vus-generated one and another similar to the one in question – they said the one they sent Hardaway was more likely to get a re- sponse. “That was the whole method to try to get the defendant’s attention to come in,” Wil- liams said. “That is what occurred.” Williams and O’Brien said they couldn’t comment on the other employees at the court. But when it came to why someone might heard from Hardaway and the notice they sent was never re- turned in the mail. When Hard- away didn’t show up on July 27, a default judgment was entered in favor of the landlord. From there, Melton took the case, even- WHEN HARDAWAY DIDN’T SHOW UP ON JULY 27, A DEFAULT JUDGEMENT WAS ENTERED IN FAVOR OF THE LANDLORD. tually hearing from the tipster about the al- legedly forged notice. Williams and O’Brien, however, maintain that there’s nothing out of the ordinary with the notice they claim was sent to Hardaway. The clerks who spoke to Melton, Williams and O’Brien suggested, didn’t recognize the notice because they don’t work eviction cases, and they likely don’t recall seeing it in Hardaway’s file because there were so many other documents. Williams and O’Brien said the kind of no- tice sent to Hardaway is often used in “ur- gent” situations. The chief clerk showed one from another judge. “As you can see, this judge basically told this person, ‘You were just released from jail. We need to see you,’” Williams said. O’Brien added: “It’s not Forvus-gener- ated. That’s the point. So, these look dif- ferent.” O’Brien said many standard notices get generated through Forvus. “But if it’s something different, and if you’re not doing those types of cases, you would be looking for something that looks like that,” O’Brien said, pointing to a For- vus-generated notification. “If you’re do- ing other cases and you’re a different clerk, you might think that this is the only notification that gets sent out, the Forvus one.” But O’Brien and Williams say that’s not the case. Williams said they can’t treat every case 10 the same, and sometimes they call for these kinds of notices. not remember seeing a specific document in an eviction case, Williams pointed out how many pages can be in a person’s file. Going through all the documents in Hardaway’s file, Williams said, “As you can see, all of them, they kind of, sort of look the same, you know? Same font…” Then, O’Brien chimed in, saying: “We’re on a paper system as well. So, there’s always that, you know, stick together paper, hu- man error.” O’Brien said, “There is no in- tent on either part to not send somebody something.” She said Melton could have filed a grievance with the court. On Melton’s claim of a forgery, O’Brien said: “It’s ‘allegedly.’ There has been no investigation of fraud.” The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office wouldn’t say whether or not it was in- vestigating the allegations. Williams also said there’s a protocol for these kinds of situations. She said, “If you feel that something is fraudulent, you should first bring it up to [she points to O’Brien.]” “Or HR,” O’Brien said. “There’s a proto- col.” Williams said the clerks could have spo- ken to the judge if they had concerns. “We’ve had clerks send things to her, not about fraudulent stuff, but just other things,” Williams said. “So, it’s not like she doesn’t respond. They have her email. They know where she’s at.” O’Brien said she does everything she can for people facing eviction who come through her court. For example, she pro- vides handouts about rent relief and legal aid. “We would not intentionally deprive someone of their right,” O’Brien said. “No- body wants anyone to be evicted, OK? If they want to actually do something, they should change the legislation. I can’t rewrite the rules. I just have to enforce them.” Melton isn’t buying O’Brien and Wil- liams’ account. Instead, he believes the clerks who testified to him under oath about the circumstances surrounding the allegedly forged document. “It’s kind of a dog ate my homework excuse,” Melton said of the court’s denial. “It’s just a ridiculous statement.” Unsplash ▼ PANDEMIC ‘IT’S NOT OVER’ T DALLAS COUNTY HAS RECEIVED THE UPDATED OMICRON VACCINE. BY KATE PEZZULLI he newly updated bivalent COVID-19 boosters have arrived in Dallas County, meaning residents can now get protection from the latest strains of the coronavirus. On Friday, Dr. Philip Huang of the Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that the updated booster doses had arrived. Some pharmacies had also already received the doses, he added. The vaccines arrived just days after the Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation re- ported that children make up around one in three new COVID-19 cases in the county. Al- though overall positive cases were not spik- ing, school-aged children had experienced a sharp surge in coronavirus infections in re- cent weeks. The especially contagious omicron sub- variants BA.4 and BA.5 have driven the up- tick in cases among school children, the center added. “It’s not over,” said Huang. “Some people think it’s all over, but it’s not … and it’s still important for people to catch up on their vaccines.” Huang said that getting the updated bi- variant version of the vaccine is important because it provides protection against sub- variants such as the highly contagious omi- cron, and can help slow down its spread, particularly with students going back to An updated COVID-19 vaccine should help defend against omicron variants. school. According to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, the state is set to receive around 900,000 doses of the vac- cine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Douglas Loveday, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, said by email that the subvariants “are the cause of nearly all new COVID-19 cases in Texas and around the country.” “People who are fully vaccinated are eli- gible for these new boosters,” said Loveday, adding: “At least two months must have passed from completion of a primary vacci- nation series or a booster dose for people to be eligible for these new bivalent boosters.” Loveday added that vaccines are “the most important tool we can employ in the fight against severe illness and death from COVID-19.” Still, Texas’ vaccination rate remains lower the national average. While some 68% of people across the country are fully vacci- nated against COVID-19, only 62% of Texans have received the two doses required to be considered fully protected. In Dallas County, around six in ten residents are fully vaccinated, according to state health au- thorities. On Friday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jen- kins said on Twitter that health authorities had recorded 464 new COVID-19 cases and one new coronavirus-related death in the last two weeks. >> p12 SEPTEMBER 15–21, 2022 DALLAS OBSERVER CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS dallasobserver.com
