Citizens Arrest, Citizens Arrest!
I bet you remember the “Andy Griffith Show.” They just don’t make those good ones anymore. One of the outstanding shows in the series was the one called, “Citizens Arrest.” Gomer Pyle makes an ‘U’ turn right in front of Barney Fife; the town of Mayberry’s deputy sheriff. Barney turns on his blinking red lights, sirens, and stops Gomer. Barney gives him a ticket and a lecture that is was his duty to up hold the law as well as plain citizens duty. Then Barney makes a ‘U’ turn right in front of Gomer. Well Gomer stops Barney yelling “Citizens Arrest, Citizens Arrest.” Andy gets into the argument and forces Barney to write himself a ticket. It gets very sticky fast after that. Rather than pay the ticket Barney locks himself in jail. The story goes downhill from there.
Just a show on television and could not happen you might say. Well it did. Right here in downtown Liberty Hill.
After Joe Spivey, Gary Spivey’s grandfather, retired, Lee Hayes was elected constable of the town of Liberty Hill. Lee had developed a feud with Eugene Shackleford, Title One councilor and advisor, and owner of the local pool hall. Some nights around the pool hall things got a little loud and out of hand, and Lee Hays tried to quieten things down. Shackleford took umbrage to the request.
The next day Shackleford saw Hays run a stop sign on his way to Allman’s Grocery. Shackleford claimed he had almost hit him. He followed Hays to the store and declared “Citizens Arrest,” and filed with the Justice of the Peace. Hays pleaded ‘no contest’ and paid the $3.00 fine. The next day Hays said he didn’t run a stop sign; he wasn’t guilty and got his $3.00 back.
Shackleford felt unrequited, so he got a bucket of red paint, a big brush and painted, in one foot letters, on the outside of his pool hall, for all the town to see, “LEE HAYS IS A LIAR”.
That really incensed the local law. Hays filed a criminal libel suit in Williamson County Court against Shackleford. Shackelford decided rather than pay a lawyer he would defend himself. He had never heard what Abraham Lincoln said; “A man who defends himself in court has a fool for a client.” Shackleford lost. He was sentenced to a year in jail and a hefty fine. The Texas Civil Liberties Union heard of the case and supplied Shackleford with a lawyer. The TCLU tied the courts of Williamson County into knots. Local folklore said the TCLU took the case all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. They proved the courts did not have jurisdiction in the case and got a reversal of the previous verdict. Further more they forced the County to pay Shackelford restitutions. The amount Williamson County had to pay Shackelford was never reviled.
So Justice prevails. I don’t remember how Barney Fife and Gomer Pyle’s case played out in court, but I suspect Andy Griffith was able to get the case resolved so that “Everyone lived happily ever after.”