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Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
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'Lock-Up' raises money for muscular dystrophy
Published March 6, 2009
SEGUIN — It doesn’t happen very often, but every once in a while, a member of the law enforcement or court communities runs afoul of the rules and gets to experience the other end of the judicial equation.
And that’s how it was Thursday for Seguin Municipal Court Administrator Landra Hudson, who just after lunch Thursday got “cuffed and stuffed” by bailiff Melinda Escobar and hauled off to jail.
It wasn’t a case of municipal malfeasance and no, it wasn’t even a case of a little bit of misfeasance or nonfeasance. It was instead a case of trying to do good.
Precinct 4 Constable Gene Mayes — named “Judge for the Day,” read the charges to Hudson.
“Landra Hudson, you are accused of having a big heart ... “ and with a quick double-tap of his gavel that would have made Justice of the Peace Larry Morawietz proud, the proceedings were over — and Hudson was in the hoosegow.
Hudson was one of more than 50 local people who took part in Thursday’s annual “Seguin Lock-Up” to raise $25,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Everyone is familiar with the annual Jerry Lewis telethon that each year raises millions for MDA and those afflicted with it or 40 other neuromuscular disorders. But the local “lock-ups” are just as important to MDA at its grassroots level as are the telethons, said Lexi Pelayo, district director for MDA-San Antonio South, which stretches from Seguin to Laredo and all points in between.
“It’s our signature fundraiser, and we do 10 or 12 in our region each year in San Antonio and outlying communities,” Pelayo said.
The money helps send kids to MDA summer camp near Bruceville and to pay for wheelchairs or medical alert equipment.
“Each year, we send our kids to camp,” Pelayo said. “The camp is expensive because with the medical needs of these children, we have to build in handicapped access and pay for a medical team as well as ‘one-on-one’ staffing. We do this at no cost to the kids or their families.”
In the San Antonio region, 850 families have children involved with the MDA, and all are able to take advantage of weekly clinics at University Hospital, Pelayo said. Like the summer camp, all of this is done at no cost to the families, and Pelayo said it couldn’t happen without the help of people like Hudson and Mayes.
The way it works is the MDA approaches folks and asks them to take part in the program.
Those who agree are hauled off to El Ranchito, where they are tried, convicted, booked and mugged. They get a last meal if they choose and then they get to work the phones, which Hudson did.
She didn’t say who she called first, but one could tell the person on the other end of the line was stunned by the opening line of the conversation.
“Hello, this is Landra, and I need you to help me get out of jail,” she said.
This is the second time Hudson has participated in an MDA lock-up. A few years ago, she took part in one in La Mesa and enjoyed the experience.
“It’s a very good cause and it helps ‘Jerry’s Kids,’ which makes it very worthwhile,” Hudson said.
But there’s another reason.
“My niece is 16 years old, and she’s wheelchair-bound,” Hudson said. “She just needed a new wheelchair, and it cost $17,000! That’s like having to buy a car.”
Mayes said he was called and asked if he’d help round up the participants, and he agreed to, he said, for a cause that helps children.
“I went out and picked up a couple, and then they said, ‘Hey, we don’t have a judge,’” Mayes said. “A couple of the deputies said, ‘Gene works with a judge,’ and they asked me to do that, and I said, sure.”
Mayes called the office to let Morawietz and the staff know he was wearing the black robe, and he didn’t say what was said — at least not exactly.
“They’re poking a little fun about it,” Mayes said.
Of course, Hudson works with a judge too — Municipal Court Judge Kevin Kolb, who was seen at El Ranchito himself Thursday, and according to unconfirmed reports, was himself locked up.
But if Kolb was jailed, it wasn’t for the check that passed between him and Hudson just after Mayes let her out of jail, lest someone get the wrong idea and think she’d bribed her way out.
That check went the other way — from Kolb to Hudson.
“I want her to be able to get back to work,” he said.
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