Part Three....C/O Straight Up, With Sugar Coating or No C/O

In Parts One and Two, the subject of controversial Certificate of Occupancy issues in several of the downtown businesses was introduced.  I shared some of the mystery and subterfuge regarding some of the businesses operating in the Q Office Suites and Art Center Building…A’Vouloir Apothecary, Wylie Art Gallery, and Keller Williams.  What is still not understood, is WHY the Mayor, City Manager, Assistant City Manager, some other City Officials, Lynn Grimes of the Wylie Art Gallery & Keller Williams and others in the Q building collectively created such webs of deceit for the purpose of causing Dwight’s job loss and to close down The Crafter’s Co-op.  As I shared in Part Two, Dwight first became aware of the February 12^th Special Called Meeting when the ACM came into his office placing him on Administrative Leave 4:00 p.m. February 14^th.   He informed Dwight he had already started investigations into the serious accusations Lynn Grimes claimed to be true.   

During the duration that The Crafter’s Co-op was open, the Mayor made two visits into the shop.  His first brief visit was not long after the shop opened for business.  The next visit was made February 13^th, the day AFTER the Special Called Meeting.  His stated  reason was he “wanted to stop and say ‘hello’ on his way to see Lynn at the gallery”.  I was really surprised to see him as I had seen him countless times going into the gallery during the 17 months the shop was in business and he never felt the need to “favor” me with his presence those times.  He was very gregarious, acting like my new BFF and said that he wanted to make sure that Dwight and I came to the “State of the City” Chamber of Commerce Luncheon to hear his speech as he was going to talk about all Dwight had done again to help retain Wylie’s ISO-1 rating and he even planned to mention the shop when he talked about Wylie’s downtown.  We had an article coming out in The Connection that very day about Robyn B., one of the crafters and her ministry “Faith Like a Mustard Seed”.  I told him if he did talk of the shop, to please tell them about the 98 awesome artists and crafters and 28 ministries represented in the shop.  He left and went next door smiling that “I LOVE WYLIE” smile.  I had no idea what he had just done… painting me a huge rainbow BEFORE the biggest storm in our life was to begin.  Why was our Mayor so incredibly deceitful?  Did he want me to think he knew nothing of what he and Lynn had done and the plans of their meeting the very night before?  Did he want to make me think that he was on our side for the fateful meeting he was planning to set us up for the following Monday, February 18^th?  These are questions that still make no sense to us.  But of course, the duplicity of people never does make sense.

As I shared in Part Two, it was not until 4 p.m. on the 14^th that I was first aware of anything amiss when my landlord’s son came into the shop very upset demanding Dwight’s private numbers.  And I later found out that at that exact time, the ACM was in  Dwight’s office placing him on Administrative Leave.  It was that evening during our Valentine dinner that Dwight told me he had been placed on leave and the few details  that he knew of the accusations and the investigation.  We stayed up all night trying to make sense of what had happened and believed there was no other choice other than to close the shop.  Since The Crafter’s Co-op was a ministry that Dwight helped me fund, there was no way that I could fund the shop without some financial help that Dwight’s job had afforded me.  In the meeting with the ACM, he had NOT given Dwight encouragement for a positive outcome and the options he gave Dwight that afternoon painted a bleak future.  To stay in the shop, meant that we would be spending money we would need for our living expenses as our income was going to be reduced by 80 per cent.  I also had more than seven months left on my lease and it was clear that Lynn Grimes would never give up until the doors of The Crafter’s Co-op were closed for good.

Friday, the 15^th after a long night of crying, talking, and planning, we decided to go to breakfast before going to bed.  We put a sign up at the shop to let everyone know that the shop was closed until further notice.  We then went to Taste of Home for a late breakfast.  We parked in the front, curbside on Ballard Street.  When we left, Dwight opened my door and walked around opening the driver side door.  I immediately heard an engine roar and the screeching of tires as a car came to a fast stop and the driver had used a police type “tactical block” nosed in where we could not move our car without backing up.  Dwight turned and leaned over into the passenger side window of the “blocking” car.  Minutes later, Dwight got into the car and said “Well that was no accident”.  He then told me that it had been the Mayor and he set a meeting up for both of us to come to his “office outside of town, so we would not be seen”.  Dwight said the Mayor acted as if we would be able to “put this to rest” on Monday, February 18^th.   

 

Saturday evening, February 16^th, I sent an email out to all the artists and crafters telling them we were closing the shop and needed to vacate by the 28^th of February.  I hoped to be out in order to avoid the March rent IF my landlord would let me out of my lease.  That evening, Alicia White (Councilman Rick White’s wife and an artist displaying her photography in the shop), called me after getting my email.  She was very upset and did not want me to say anything other than YES or NO to her questions.  I had thought all the council members were in the Special Called Meeting, but she informed me Rick was not and knew nothing about the meeting.  To this day, I believe that Rick and probably all the council members (except maybe Mayor Pro-Tem Kathy Spillyards) were OUTSIDE THE LOOP of this group, and probably only know the same stories that the Mayor told Dwight and I that fateful Monday “that everyone would be told”, which were their own lies of deception. 

 

On Monday, February 18^th we went to the meeting to “put this to rest” so Dwight could get back to work.  We arrived early for our 10:00 a.m. meeting at Cottonwood Church of Christ where the Mayor is Pastor.  The Mayor was definitely “in character”.  The first 20-25 minutes he “primed” us, making us feel at ease in the company of an “ally”, a “friend”.  We settled in for the kill as he told us about how he had been painfully shy as a child, all but paralyzed to speak until his parents bought him a clown costume.  Behind that face of a clown he became the person he is today.  That very costume shaped the direction of his life as he became a clown performing at parties, an early career choice as Ronald McDonald with his own “driver” taking him to events.  He talked about the various clown figurines in his office, the clown book he authored, and probably all the honors he has received lifelong.  He shared his demise at the hands of Hewlett Packard and said he “understood” just how Dwight felt to have had something like this happen to him as his own job loss was still a fresh wound, but people had helped him as he was now a pastor…….the warm and fuzzy Eric Hogue did a very fine job of completely disarming us.  We did not see the attack coming and were truly annihilated before we even woke up from the warm and fuzzy scene he created for us in his office. 

It was like we had been slipped Rohypnol into the water, as we came out of the dream into the reality of the set-up.  As the Mayor shifted the gears from his own story to ours, it was unbelievable how masterful he was at accusing and twisting things to his favor.  He was no friend, but a man bent on our destruction.  His anger was so alarming yet very real as his indignation towards us was disclosed with the unveiling of his mask.  He was crafting the story before our eyes of “what everyone would come to know”.  He said I had caused a Wylie View implosion by sending the email of the “closing” to my artists and crafters.  He threatened us that if we did anything else, talked to anyone, he could promise that everyone in town including all my crafters would hate us.  If Dwight was to ever work again, we had to go along with all he was saying OR else life as we had known it would never be the same for us.  When we tried to correct his diatribe, he would always interrupt, not allowing us to voice the truth into the scenarios that had been fabricated.    The very few explanations we were actually able to express were met with his contempt, insults and ridicule and again were told “what everyone would come to know”.  The Mayor even looked me in the eyes saying “Who will everyone believe…you or a Pastor?  Everyone knows Pastors don’t lie.”  At the end of the meeting, Dwight was chastised for coming to talk to him AND accused him of violating the chain of command in addition to everything else he accused us of.  The Mayor had literally cornered us for the sole purpose of setting up this meeting.  He arranged the date, time, and place of the meeting for BOTH of us to appear.   It was done in such a way that Dwight did NOT feel like he had any choice but to go and Dwight did want the issue put behind him “so that he could get back to work” as The Mayor indicated.  If Dwight had refused the Mayor, it would have been an act of insubordination.  But by Dwight’s acceptance and going to the scheduled meeting, the Mayor deceitfully enabled the City to charge Dwight with insubordination for breaking the chain of command. 

Months after the Mayor’s meeting, one thing has come out that brought some sense to the Mayor’s accusations of Dwight “turning the Certificate of Occupancy debacle into a POLITICAL ISSUE”.  In the June 5, 2013 Wylie News paid advertisement……”ERIC HOGUE:  REAL ESTATE AGENT…REAL-LY?” and the June issue of  In and Around  “LOOK WHO’S JOINED THE TEAM!”  shows the Mayor on the Kathy Spillyards Team.  He started his “new career path” back in January 2013 BEFORE they maneuvered Dwight’s job loss.  In our meeting with the Mayor, he kept saying what Dwight “did” was an offense because he made it a “political issue” because of Mayor Pro-Tem Kathy Spillyards and I guess that made sense to him, but certainly not to us.  What he did not say was that before ALL this Certificate of Occupancy mess started, he too was involved, thanks to his “long-time friend and real estate agent, Kathy Spillyards”.  If they were not having Open or Closed meetings at the gallery during those late nights, then he must have been studying and/or preparing for his exams.  Ssssoooo the Certificate of Occupancy ordinance requirement was EXCUSED because his friend Lynn Grimes did not want one….Kathy Spillyards being the Wylie Mayor Pro-Tem did not want one and was absolved as a politician from this ordinance requirement….and the Mayor, he too is absolved from ordinance requirements because he is The Big Kahuna or why?  Of course, he too denied that any real estate business was being conducted at the gallery, even though Lynn’s Keller Williams ad had run for four consecutive years 2010-2013 in the “Wylie Chamber of Commerce Community & Business Guide”.   To simplify things, it sounds like the ordinances are going to have to be re-written for “Wylie’s Exceptions To All Rules” so that good and innocent employees are not hung out to dry because of the whim of the day of the Mayor and all his BFF’s.  I definitely understand that these three individuals DID NOT WANT TO HAVE TO COMPLY WITH THE ORDINANCE, but I still do not understand WHY??  What is being hidden in plain sight? 

The Mayor was especially angered that we were closing the shop and told me to “take a week off and quit this emotional knee jerk reaction, but keep the shop open”.  We kept trying to explain that The Crafter’s Co-op was never intended for OUR profit, but a community ministry to help others during the economical downturn and without Dwight’s job to help fund it, we had no option but to close.  I also tried to explain that Lynn’s concentrated efforts to close the shop since the very beginning would not end IF we were even able to keep the shop open at that location.  The Mayor would not accept ANY of our explanations which made NO sense to us at all, as it was so obvious that they ALL had gone to painstaking efforts to close the shop down AND get rid of Dwight.  So why were they demanding that we keep the shop open when Dwight was NOT going to have an income to keep the doors open?   It was not until several months after the shop was closed that the Mayor’s and ACM’s “presumptuous orders” to keep the shop open began making sense.  Little by little, things Dwight and I had said to each other began filtering back to us and we realized that they had the shop “bugged” with audio devices and had been listening to conversations in the shop for some time.  Why were they doing this?  Obviously to find out what we knew, when we knew it, for the purpose of damage control before any exposure could happen.  After all, in the games they play, their best defense is a good offense.  And the best offense is to completely discredit anyone that could be a threat.  Our Mayor, former HR Director and CIO for EDS and Hewlett Packard knows how to exact character assassination so at our first cry of “WOLF”, nothing we could say would be believed.  And that further explains why this ‘gang of character assassins’ continue in their trumped up efforts with our friends, community pastors, business associates, the council and chamber members, etc., working to completely disarm us of all credibility and even our Christian witness.  Yes, they have hurt us tremendously, but the Lord is still in control and they can NOT change that.  Each day we see His Hand in it all, as things are being uncovered and so many people over past years are coming forward with their own stories.  Pieces in this huge puzzle are coming together and we all are seeing His light shining through each of our dark, dark tunnels now.  We know that the Lord is in this battle and those waging this war against His children will not continue to prosper.  His Promises are there for us and we shall remain eternally grateful that we are on this side of this battle—for even with all our huge losses, there is so much more to gain.

To be continued………..

     

Part Two....C/O Straight Up, With Sugar Coating or No C/O

In Part One, I began talking about some very controversial Certificate of Occupancy issues in a couple of downtown businesses.  For reasons that are still not completely understood, my husband lost his job because of the preference of these businesses for “noncompliance” and their deceitful lies and those of City Officials.  They also were the cause of the close of my shop located in the same building as these businesses.  City Officials served as the “Judge, the Henchman, and the Hangman” that I wrote about previously.  I am breaking this up into “parts” as it is very long and detailed reading.  As I write of these events, I want to reiterate again and again, I want redemption for those that have gone through this battle before us because they too have been wrongly accused of things not done.  And I very much want to keep this from happening to those in the future.  These people are bold, powerful, and threatening yet our God is definitely in control and the truth will set us free as others begin to understand the truth of this corruption.

In the spring of 2012, some of my artists and crafters first began helping me by working at the shop.  I had gotten sick with a serious bacterial infection that had me sidelined for six weeks.  After I resumed working, some of the crafters continued working an afternoon a week so I could have some extra hours off weekly.  During those times, Dwight would often go and close out the register, get the day’s receipts and lock up the shop.   Most of the time, it was after we had dinner and after most businesses had closed for the night.  With the time change in the fall and lights on inside the Wylie Art Gallery, he began noticing night gatherings other than art classes.     

In November of 2012, the building where Ballard Street School of Music resided was placed on the market.  There was a huge Keller Williams FOR SALE sign with “Lynn Grimes, Realtor of the Kathy Spillyards Real Estate Team” blazoned across the sign.  It could be seen from outside the front door of The Crafter’s Co-op and the sign size made it impossible to miss.  Early in December during one of the late night trips to close out the register, it dawned on Dwight that he was frequently seeing Kathy Spillyards at the gallery and he surmised that the Keller Williams business was sharing office space with the Wylie Art Gallery.  Dwight sent a text to his Code Administrative Secretary to have her check the records for that business address.  He indicated to call the gallery IF there was no new or updated Certificate for the Keller Williams business and to inquire IF the Keller Williams business was operating and sharing the office at that address.  He indicated to add it to the list of businesses to contact and that it would not be classified as an urgent call since there were no safety concerns such as hazardous materials compromising Police or Fire responders should there be an emergency call in the meantime.     

Sometime around the end of January or early February, the CAS made the call to the gallery. Lynn wanted to know WHO had reported her. ** Standard response to such inquiries for Code Enforcement calls is “anonymous”.  And most calls of this nature are in fact specified as “anonymous” by the callers.  This is standard protocol for all municipalities to protect callers, neighbors or whoever calls about enforcement issues.  It is to prevent retaliatory issues.  Lynn then called the City Manager to find out WHO reported her and Mindy called Dwight to ask him for the who, what, why details of the call to Lynn.  He told her he would check and call her back.  Since Dwight’s text to the Code Administrative Secretary had been weeks before, he wanted to check the details of the call with the CAS.  After verifying the details of the call to Lynn, he called and told Mindy that the call had been prompted by his text for inquiry regarding the Keller William business weeks before.  Mindy wanted to know HOW Dwight knew the Keller Williams business was being conducted in the gallery and he told her about the late night gatherings and Kathy’s frequent presence.  Mindy informed Dwight that she would handle the call to Lynn and she promptly sent the Assistant City Manager to Dwight’s office to question if he had directed the CAS to tell Lynn “anonymous” and Dwight told him “NO” and explained the standard protocol response and the reason being possible “retaliatory actions” against a neighbor, etc.  I would like to note that this is probably the exact same protocol used by the Wylie Police for complaint calls and Jeff would be very familiar with this protocol as Wylie’s former Chief of Police.  Dwight explained to Jeff that the protocol had been standard response long before he came to the City of Wylie, and that it had been the same for the City where he had worked for almost 30 years.  Regardless, Jeff strongly advised him to rescind the Keller Williams Certificate of Occupancy requirement and with an apology.  As instructed, Dwight promptly “exempted” the Certificate of Occupancy requirement for the Keller Williams business, sent an email of apology and notification of the Certificate of Occupancy cancellation to Kathy Spillards (Team Leader and Wylie Mayor Pro-Tem at that time) and Lynn Grimes.   In response, Lynn sent a long and apparently abusive email addressed to the City Manager and Dwight.  Mindy called Dwight and instructed him NOT to read or respond to Lynn’s email as she intended to handle it herself.

Just days after this, Lynn vaulted her agenda to the next level.  We were told that Tuesday after the February 12^th City Council meeting adjourned, a Special Called Meeting was held for the purpose of information gathering for Dwight’s “at will” dismissal.  It was not until 4pm Thursday, February 14^th that I had a clue of something amiss.  My landlord’s son came into The Crafter’s Co-op angrily demanding Dwight’s direct phone number at the City.  Dwight did not answer his desk nor cell phone, so I gave him the CAS’s number.  I then heard him ask “does the new salon on Ballard Street have a Certificate of Occupancy”?   At this point, I still knew nothing of what had happened regarding Lynn’s Certificate of Occupancy tirade.   That night during our Valentine dinner, I found out that while Bobby was in my shop demanding to talk to Dwight, the Assistant City Manager was in Dwight’s office placing him on “Administrative Leave” pending HIS investigation into code of conduct violation charges made by Lynn.  Unfortunately, Dwight was never included in “the City’s investigation”—he was just told “the story that everyone would be told”, the one that they collectively made up.  And why wouldn’t they?  We have been told by others that this is just a repeat of what has been done to many employees before Dwight.  They too have been ushered out the door without the chance to counter charges and their leaves are often with POLICE ESCORTS as in Dwight’s departure.  

I honestly believe that the upper management handling of the “situation” created an escalating, uncontrollable scenario.  They added “fuel to Lynn’s fire” setting precedence for all future dealings with her and her boss.  As they threw the fuel on her fire, they dealt Dwight a bitter “slap in the face” for doing his job and managed to treat him like an insubordinate employee claiming “breach of conduct” and “violation of the code of conduct”.  And this has sent a message to all employees that upper management’s loyalty is certainly NOT to their employees even when they are excelling in their job.  Do they not care that their actions have managed to handicap every single employee in their job?  Do they not care that they are compromising the quality of the City employees job performances and adversely affecting their morale?   

Since Dwight was never given an opportunity to tell HIS side in defense of the charges against him, I will tell it here as we know it.

The Mayor said Lynn accused Dwight of retaliatory bullying after I “sicced him on her” when discovering her conducting a real estate closing at the gallery.   

• I rarely went into the gallery unless asked to come over at her request.  I knew the exact date she was referring to as Dr. J Davis had come into the shop to ‘say hello’ on the way to his closing.  He and his little family had previously come into the shop on several other occasions when going to the gallery during their search for a new home.  This particular day (Thursday, January 17, 2013) when he came in, I was actually gathering up donations that had been solicited (by Guild Member, Pat B) and were to be delivered THAT day to the gallery for the Charitable Silent Auction Fundraiser for Richardson’s St. Joseph Catholic Church.  The date on closing documents and my dated donation sheet would both be January 17^th.

The Mayor said Lynn claimed that I stormed into the gallery that day disrupting her closing.

• I truly believe everyone that knows me, knows that I do not “storm”, “rant” or in anyway would be disrespectful as to disrupt any business.  The camera feed in the gallery would show that I walked in and  held up the bag stating that I was dropping off the donations and cheerfully wished them both a ‘good evening’ and promptly left. 

The Mayor said that Dwight’s email inclusion of Kathy Spillyards “turned it all into a political issue”. 

• I still do not understand the Mayor’s “political issue” statement.  Kathy’s presence at the gallery gatherings (no evidence of paint classes) at night PLUS her name as TEAM LEADER on Lynn’s Keller Williams signs, made it appear that the gatherings were Keller Williams meetings, so how is this POLITICAL?  If it was political, does that mean that there were in fact gatherings being held at the gallery that by definition would be subject to the OPEN MEETINGS ACT and therefore POLITICAL meetings?  Is this why the Mayor made a point of explaining what he referred to as "his frequent visits to the Gallery" for the purpose of "special projects he was working on with Bob Heath"?  Were they really off site meetings that WERE subject to the OPEN MEETINGS ACT?  How was the Keller Williams Team Leader’s inclusion “political” if it was merely Keller Williams’s gatherings?  Did they blow this so out of perspective and if so WHY?  Was it merely to avoid a Certificate of Occupancy and again, WHY?  Was it because not only Lynn and possibly Kathy had their reasons, but the Mayor himself had his own reasons since he himself was joining the Kathy Spillyard’s Team once his own real estate classes were completed?  What reason would he/they have for objecting to a Certificate of Occupancy? 

The Mayor said Lynn did not conduct real estate business in the gallery.  She had only conducted business that one day because the client had requested the location for his convenience.

• For many reasons, this is still such a mystery as to why everyone went to such lengths to disclaim the Keller Williams business at the Wylie Art Gallery address.    If Lynn was NOT conducting Keller Williams’s business at the gallery as they all claim, then why did she advertise the Keller Williams business at the SAME address as the gallery in the “Wylie Chamber of Commerce Community & Business Guide” for the years 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013?  I bet at some point since 2010 she has run ads in the Wylie News with the Wylie Art Gallery address as well.  So why did she, the Mayor and the City Officials accuse Dwight and me both of being on a “witch-hunt” and deny there was such business?   Am I the only person Lynn has called to the gallery to show computer searches of the landlord’s downtown properties available for lease when she knew I was looking to move into a larger location?  Am I the only tenant graced with her presence at the signing of their lease as she did mine?  I thought nothing of it as I knew from the very beginning that she helped the landlord as his realtor, in helping manage his properties, etc.  Lynn made sure that I knew she was NOT just a tenant and that she had favor with everyone, including the City’s elected AND appointed Officials.  But NOW I do wonder WHY all the denials and all the lies and cover-ups by all the same people in City Hall she claimed were “watching out” for her?  What’s to be gained and what’s to be lost?  And who all is involved in the tangled web of deceit?  From the very beginning, I repeatedly have said “We do not know WHAT is going on, but after all they have done to us, IT HAS TO BE VERY WIDE AND VERY DEEP”.  That has proven to be a prophetic statement and nearly nine months later, it gets ‘wider and deeper’ with each passing day.  

**Note:  We were told by the Mayor that the protocol of anonymity was not acceptable according to the City Manager.  Recently we have been told that the protocol of record that has been enforced for a number of years, is in fact still the standard protocol.  Complaints or calls of this nature come from a number of sources such as internal inquiries (which was the case with Dwight’s inquiry) outside agencies and the general public to include citizens and businesses.  Information obtained is considered confidential and can only be revealed through a court subpoena in most cities.      

Part Three of    C/O Straight Up, With Sugar Coating or No C/O   to be continued…..

  

C/O Straight Up, With Sugar Coating or No C/O?

Part I

Would you like that new business with a Certificate of Occupancy or Without?  Options are usually NOT given as businesses are required to have a Certificate of Occupancy to open their doors.  It really is for everyone’s protection, but yes, it does mean government is in your business.  But if it is for my protection and the protection of all who should enter my place of business, why should I object?  Why should I lie about what I am going to do in that place of business?  Why object to reporting more than one of your businesses in your one location? In a perfect world void of corruption and the bad and ugly, Certificates of Occupancy would not even be a reason to get a City Building Official fired, but in some cities, it is considered justifiable cause, IF you happen to be BFF of the Mayor, the City Manager, and the Assistant City Manager.

I am talking here about businesses within a city ONLY, for businesses located outside city limits, the county jurisdictions have their own requirements that may differ from the municipalities.  Most cities nationwide require Certificates of Occupancy for the following:

            All commercial buildings within city limits

            All new businesses within city limits

            Businesses changing ownership of an existing business within city limits

            Businesses moving to a new location within city limits

            Each separate business sharing office space within city limits

Permits are to be obtained prior to change of use, construction, demolition and remodel work, occupancy classification, ownership change, and tenant name change.  This is required in buildings, tenant spaces, and commercial sites.  The specific intended use of the space is required so the occupancy classification can be determined.  This is very important for Police and Fire calls for the safety of all involved.  A final inspection is done by the Fire Inspector and Building Inspection Department once all requirements for the occupancy are satisfied AND prior to conducting business or occupying the space.  If everything passes inspection, a Certificate of Occupancy is issued for each business establishment in a commercial building.       

In USA.com Wylie’s 2010 statistics showed that there had been a population increase of 173.77 percent since the year 2000.  Along with the continued growth in Wylie, one could see new businesses sprouting up everywhere.   With the increase in business start-ups, Wylie’s Fire Inspector was discovering non-permitted businesses and called on Dwight for assistance.  In summation, after repeated visits from the Fire Marshall’s inspector, Dwight met with the Fire Marshall.  A plan for an informal task force comprised of the Fire Inspector, Code Enforcement Officers and Multi-Trade Building Inspectors was presented to upper management for approval.  The plan was approved, the only objection being referred to as “a task force”.   Dwight and other employees living in Wylie would report any weekend move-ins, remodels, etc. to the Code Administrative Secretary for follow-up.  This type of team effort was helpful, as the city growth continues, yet the employee count decreases in many areas by attrition—the gradual reduction in personnel through resignation, retirement or the elimination of specific jobs for cost reduction purposes.

With the opening of the shop in the fall of 2011, I went through Wylie’s application process to obtain The Crafter’s Co-op Certificate of Occupancy.  The required application is short, easy to understand with straight forward questions and prompts.  It should be easy for anyone to apply and be up and open with little trouble.  Yet there are businesses failing to apply, some are dishonest with the information they supply and others expect favors from their friends in high places to get rid of the Enforcer.  In the Q Office Suites and Art Center building where The Crafter’s Co-op business was located, there were two different businesses that caused the closing of the shop and the end of  Dwight’s career by lying to cover-up their questionable and non-conforming business practices.  The Mayor and the City Officials continued the charade and helped facilitate the ending with their own lies and cover-ups as well.

A’Vouloir Apothecary’s Certificate of Occupancy was issued, yet the owners failed to meet compliance requirements according to the Texas Pharmaceutical Board which is the governing agency for all apothecaries and pharmacies in Texas.  According to the owner of A’Vouloir, his Chemical Engineer degree is all that was needed to open his apothecary in California and claimed that he met Texas requirements too.  There are definite differences in the California and Texas laws governing apothecaries.  One major difference is that in California, apothecaries can dispense marijuana, but it is considered illegal to do so in Texas.  Another difference is that the Texas Pharmaceutical Board requires a pharmacy license from the Texas State Board of Pharmacy and does not consider a Chemical Engineer degree an acceptable alternative to a pharmacy license.  In addition, the Texas Pharmacy Act prohibits any business from using the word “apothecary” in any manner that would lead the public to believe that the business is a pharmacy, unless the business is a licensed pharmacy.  In the Texas Pharmacy Laws and Rules, the intent of the law is to view the words “apothecary” and “pharmacy” as having the same meaning.  A health-related business that uses the word “apothecary” in its signage or advertisements or verbal presentation to the public, may certainly be in violation of the Texas Pharmacy Act, if it does not hold a pharmacy license from the Texas State Board of Pharmacy.  All requirements for personnel, operation, records, etc. that apply to a pharmacy would apply to a health-related business that uses the word “apothecary”.  

The many infractions in everyone’s blame game were not Dwight’s or mine, but A’Vouloir’s owners and accomplices in the building as well as city officials aiding in the charade to cover the truth behind this business.  Not knowing if A’Vouloir was still in operation, I did a Google search tonight.  Imagine my surprise, when I found 14 pages with 132 entries of advertisements for A’Vouloir Apothecary.  And of course many of these listings were for “pharmacy”, “drug store” and of course “apothecary”.  Obviously, they are continuing to hide behind their web of deceit.  At the bottom of page 14 of the Google search, this is what reads to continue on to page 15 through who knows how many more pages??

"In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 132 already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included."

For more information, you can refer to the Texas Pharmacy Laws and Rules regarding statutes for Apothecaries in the Occupations Code as follows.

OCCUPATIONS CODE

                   TITLE 3. HEALTH PROFESSIONS

              SUBTITLE J. PHARMACY AND PHARMACISTS

              CHAPTER 560. LICENSING OF PHARMACIES

                  SUBCHAPTER A. LICENSE REQUIRED

PART II of   C/O Straight Up, With Sugar Coating or No C/O   to be continued….