Chapter XXXIV: In Which Hodger Dodges

Panhandle Truth Squad's (very slight) paraphrase of this morning's Globe-Republican interview with Hodger the Dodger:

Q. Last on Pickens, you bought the Maxor Building from him?

A. No, no. Absolutely not. No, we didn't. I've never had one single business dealing with T. Boone Pickens. Period. Not one.

Q. Talk about that then. Is that a misconception?

A. I have never, never, never had one business dealing with T. Boone Pickens. Why are you asking questions?

Q. Okay, we're sorry, sir. Please forgive us. We won't do it again.

Okay, fine, but it's widely believed in town that Hodge did buy that building from Mesa, at least through an intermediary. It's widely believed that Mesa did continue to lease space from Hodge. It's widely believed that Hodge has conspired with Pickens in the past to sell oil that had been deeded to the people of Potter County. It's also difficult to believe that any Mayor of Amarillo during the bone pickin' days of the late seventies could have "never, never, never had one business dealing with T. Boone Pickens." These questions deserve to be asked more forcefully and specifically than the Globe-Republican reporter asked them and they deserve better answers.

Maybe the specific details of shady deals that have been believed throughout town for three decades are just rumors. Maybe Debra McCartt's people started spreading these lies in the 1980s to aid her mayoral campaign in 2005.

Regardless, these things can be researched. The Globe-Republican has the resources and the responsibility to do so. But, as the authority figure in the ancient Boy Scout skit replayed innumerable times in Camp Don Harrington shouted menancingly "If they don't, somebody else-a, will-a."


SPACEDARK