“Damon Killian” Hodge entertains his friends

I had forgotten about the incident, and I imagine mayoral candidate Jerry Hodge hopes that most sane Amarilloans have as well. Unfortunately for Hodge, Beth Hudson remembered and wrote a letter about it to the Amarillo Globe-News.

Here are the grisly background details, according to media accounts from the time:

In 1989 prison inmates were commonly used to train bloodhounds to hunt down, well, escaped prison inmates. In the training, inmates were released on the prison grounds with a one-hour head start before the hounds were set on their trail. The inmates who participated were referred to as "dog boys"-- a term that was not only demeaning, but had dreadful racial overtones for inmates of color held at a southern prison. As many as ten dogs tracked one man, and several of the inmates, who were not provided with protective clothing, were bitten.

At the time, our smoke-filled-room-approved mayoral candidate Jerry Hodge was Vice Chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice. He apparently decided to have some fun with the practice.

Hodge had some jackets made up with "The Ultimate Hunt" embroidered on them. He also invited some friends along on the exercises.

And he had fun fun fun till the media took the dog boys away.

SPACEDARK