OUR STANCE
Cooper's apology is anything but

If you weren't looking for it in Sunday's Tyler Morning Telegraph, then chances are good you will never see it.

Buried on page 23G - under the public notice section - is Bullard's former city secretary's "apology" to the citizens of Bullard.

The letter was a condition of her plea agreement and sentencing, and if you happened to read it, it sounded like anything but.

Cooper was sentenced - after reaching a plea bargain with the district attorney's office - to pay back about $88,000 to the city - reduced from the initial sum of more than $100,000 - serve 10 years adjudicated probation with no jail time and perform community service for theft from the city and tampering with governmental records.

To us, deferred adjudication for a second-degree felony - is less than a slap on the wrist.

The letter of "apology" should be a slap in the face to the taxpayers.

It rang false and was simply a justification -- neither an admission of any wrongdoing nor an apology to the victims of her crimes - the citizens of Bullard.

Why Judge Kerry Russell did not do as the City of Bullard asked - which was to have Mrs. Cooper run her apology in this newspaper, the Tyler paper and the Jacksonville paper is a mystery to us?

We are - after all - Bullard's newspaper of record.

But to allow Cooper to get away with posturing and rationalizing instead of apologizing - in addition to putting it in a section of the newspaper that admittedly few read - we believe violates the spirit - if not the letter - of the rules laid out for Cooper in the plea agreement.

There are those who believe Cooper has suffered enough, but we wonder about that.

We've heard people say she's been punished and that should be the end of it.

But has she really?

She spoke of the embarrassment of what's happened to her, but unfortunately for her - when you steal money from a city - while in a position of trust - those are the consequences. And from our point of view the "punishment" she received and the agreement reached by the district attorney's office was not stiff enough.

From the beginning, the DA's office didn't seem committed to the case. And we wonder why? City leaders were told it would cost the DA's office quite a bit of money to try her in court - with no guaranteed results, and the city should just take what it could get.

Is that justice? We think not.

Cooper - in her letter - acts as if it's going to be a tremendous hardship on her to repay the money she admittedly stole from the city, but - again - whose fault is that?

They way we see it; she got a 10 -year, no interest loan from the taxpayers.

Texas Ranger Kenny Ray and the Bullard Police Department - under the direction of Gary Don Lewis - spent years putting a case together against Cooper - only to see nothing really happen to her - no jail time, minimal restitution and a weak prosecution.

After both the plea and the sentencing, Lewis said he was just so disappointed; he didn't even want to comment on the outcome.

We understand.

Bullard is in financial straits. After years of years of Cooper's mismanagement and some ineffective and secretive leadership, it's taken about four years to even begin to try and repair some of the damage - not to mention paying for the necessary infrastructure to keep up with the growth.

Cooper - in stealing the money from the citizens - did irreparable damage, and we believe she's not a bit sorry for it.