Updated Dec 19 2014- Why doesn't the Somervell County Hospital District Board ASK FOR AN ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION? I feel EXACTLY the same way as when I wrote this back in June. I believe that the hospital is afraid to find out that they are doing things illegally. If there's nothing to fear, then why won't they ask the Texas AG? 

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P.S. Side note 1/31/2016- Are the people who use Pecan Family Medical Clinic happy with Glen Rose Medical Center keeping an employee as Director in charge of medical records who pled guilty to a felony for stealing around 55k from a church and is now on deferred adjudication with 10 years probation? Why has Ray Reynolds kept her on in this position with access to sensitive and private information and why do Pecan Plantation residents accept this? 

We have been saying this all along. Anyone that lives in Glen Rose cannot merely drive up to the gate of Pecan Plantation, say that they live in Glen Rose and get passed through on their sayso. You MUST have someone who tells the gate to let you in or you must be on a list, etc. This is the central beef we have with funding a clinic in another hospital district (Hood) that pays NO TAXES at all, and the public CANNOT simply walk in to the clinic or go up to the doors and look and see when it opens, etc. I had heard from John Parker that a man at the gate waved him in without even asking his name after Parker told him he wanted to go look at the clinic.  Not only did this completely contradict what I had personally been told BY personnel at Pecan Family Medical Clinic, but it also didn't make sense that any old person could be allowed in on any pretext. Otherwise, what the fool is the gate for? If we are to believe that anyone can go up to Pecan Plantation and get in without having to tell your name or be vouched for, then I'd say get rid of the gate and quit pretending that Pecan Plantation has any type of security at all. 

While you read and watch the following, consider what the definition is of *public*.

So I decided to go verify it myself. I drove down to Pecan Plantation on Saturday evening and stopped at the gate. I was told by the guard woman that I could NOT go in unless I had permission. I asked her repeatedly and also, to be sure it wasn't simply because it was the weekend , if I would be able to get in on Monday or Tuesday. Now, again, the premise here that we were told is that anyone from Glen Rose can go drive in to Pecan Plantation without having to tell your name, be vouched for, or get permission from the clinic. That is simply not 1. I can't explain why John Parker's experience is different than mine, in that he didn't tell anyone his name, there was also someone else in the car with him, and he was waved in by the guard. But I"m telling you that it wouldn't make me feel good about the security at that place if that is so. Also wonder why I was asked if I worked for Glen Rose Medical Center. Does this mean that some people get more privileges than others? If I had lied and said I worked at GRMC, would I have been waved right through without checking my credentials? I also assume that Pecan Plantation does not check the credentials of other people who are in the car with the driver. Perhaps the *security* gate is a prop sop. So, which is it, Pecan Plantation or are people treated differenty based on who happens to be at the gate or what day it is, or if the moon is full? 

Here is A/V from Patrick Locke's public comment at the Somervell County Hospital Board the other day as well as audio from the exchange I had with the guard at Pecan Plantation. 

So, let's review. Can just any old person go walk up to the clinic and use it, as a taxpayer? No. The practice manager to Pecan Family Medical Center emphasized that it is NOT a walk in clinic. In order to use that clinic, you must have a doctor's appointment. I was told by Dr Justus Peters that Dr Bruce Carpenter's patients are ONLY for Pecan Plantation and that he doesn't accept new patients from Somervell County. Maybe Dr Peters was mistaken; I do know the practice manager told me that Carpenter's patient roster is full, and he is not accepting new patients. One would assume that he would accept patients when he *does* do this from the county that is actually subsidizing him. And, as we have said before, on at least one recent occasion, a Glen Rose native was given an appointment with Dr Carpenter, was passed through the gate and when she did get in, they told her it was a mistake to see Dr Carpenter BECAUSE she lived in Glen Rose.  Update: Have heard another instance of someone wanting to go to Bruce Carpenter that had been one of his Glen Rose patients and was told that Carpenter no longer treats Glen Rose patients but only Hood County's Pecan Plantation folks. I'm betting there are a LOT of stories like this. 

We ask again. Why are we spending one nickel of our tax money for a clinic in another DISTRICT that pays NO taxes for people in a private gated community where the Somervell County taxpayers CANNOT enter into the premises without explicit permission? 

P.S. UPDATE: Jared Hankins, who was in the car with John Parker, told me that John Parker actually did give his name when they rolled up to the gate. I have been told by someone who worked at the Pecan Family Medical Center that the clinic gives lists of people who are allowed in to the gate; therefore, it's entirely feasible that the gatekeeper had been looking at the list, it was the same day that the board had been sworn in, and was alerted that the board members would probably be coming over to look over the clinic that week. Now, SHOULD the gatekeeper have actually verified that it was him and not some other Glen Rose imposter SAYING he was John Parker but not? IF it was that Parker had a confident manner as he announced his name and that he was there to tour the clinic, (but did not tell him where he was from), then I repeat that this is an issue of poor security at Pecan Plantation. (Not too unusual-remember those 2 people who gatecrashed a President Obama gathering some years ago without being on the approved list?). It's not possible to know exactly what the situation was, but my premise remains the same. Pecan Plantation has a policy NOT to allow people from Somervell County to waltz past the gate without permission. 

P.P.S. Heard from someone I know that a fairly new resident of Pecan Plantation was taken on as a patient of Dr Carpenters. And that that person didn't know where Somervell County was when told that it's US that pays for her care. AND that that person certainly does like the idea of having a gated comunity to KEEP THE PUBLIC OUT so tht they can't come in and, say, ROB houses. Well, shouldn't the residents of Pecan Plantation AT LEAST SAY THANK YOU to the gullible, riff-raffy taxpaying Somervell County citizens who are paying for their clinic? Or maybe Pecan Plantation believes they are just owed this by the lesser folks while they skate free from paying any taxes at all.