Dateline: February 14, 2002

Report clears treasurer of wrongdoing 

Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

An investigation of Donley County Treasurer Rebecca Jackson has been closed with no evidence of wrongdoing, according to documents released last week.

In a letter to County Judge Jack Hall dated last Friday, District Attorney Stuart Messer said, “In light of the report by [Texas Ranger Gary] Henderson, no further investigation has been authorized by my office.”

Henderson’s report said Donley County Tax Assessor/Collector Wilma Lindley had alleged last October that Jackson was paying herself too much and was not properly reporting her travel money. Lindley had noticed that Jackson’s paycheck fluctuated while hers remained the same, the report said.

The Ranger’s investigation showed that Jackson was receiving longevity pay and a vehicle allowance, provided for in the county budget, which caused her paycheck amount to go up and down.

Henderson wrote that he found no evidence of any money missing or misappropriated by the County Treasurer or her office and that the file is now closed on the matter.

“My question is, ‘Why?’” Jackson said in a prepared statement. “All I’ve done is my job. Wilma has not apologized to the Commissioners’ Court or the taxpayers for the cost she caused the county nor to me for all the unnecessary stress and mental anguish she has caused me.”

Lindley had no comment about the investigation, but Henderson wrote that Lindley told him “…she did not think that Jackson would take a penny from the county; it was just the way that it appeared on paper.”