Latest / Austin Signal / Austin Energy employee paid nearly $1 million to fake vendors before resigning, audit says

Transcript

Austin Energy employee paid nearly $1 million to fake vendors before resigning, audit says · Austin Signal

• 0:09
  A former Austin Energy employee
• 0:11
  has been accused of defrauding the
• 0:13
  city utility.
• 0:14
  The man is blamed for siphoning
• 0:16
  off nearly $1 million over
• 0:18
  the course of six years.
• 0:19
  We're gonna talk about how he did it
• 0:21
  and what Austin Energy is doing
• 0:23
  to prevent it from happening again.
• 0:25
  Plus, the YMCA in downtown Austin
• 0:27
  wants to expand and renovate its
• 0:28
  current digs, adding housing,
• 0:30
  restaurants, and office space.
• 0:32
  But some folks around the spot are
• 0:34
  concerned about how it could affect
• 0:36
  the neighborhood.
• 0:37
  Hear about their plans coming up on
• 0:39
  today's show.
• 0:40
  The Austin Signal is a production of
• 0:42
  K UT News, hosted by Jerry
• 0:44
  Quijano.
• 0:45
  And Christmas time is here, but at a
• 0:47
  bar in North Austin, it's Christmas
• 0:49
  Day every single day.
• 0:51
  What's the reason behind it?
• 0:53
  Stay with us and find out.
• 0:54
  That's on today's Austin
• 0:56
  Signal.
• 1:08
  Howdy out there.
• 1:09
  This is Austin Signal.
• 1:11
  It is Wednesday, December 10th.
• 1:13
  We're glad to have you here with us.
• 1:15
  I'm your host, Jerry Quijano,
• 1:17
  and we appreciate you tuning in to
• 1:19
  Listener Powered Public
• 1:20
  Radio.
• 1:21
  Let's get into today's show.
• 1:24
  A former Austin Energy employee
• 1:26
  is accused of defrauding the city of
• 1:27
  almost one million dollars over the
• 1:29
  six years that he was working for
• 1:31
  the city owned utility.
• 1:32
  For more about the story, we're
• 1:33
  joined by Andrew Weber.
• 1:35
  He is KUT's government
• 1:36
  accountability reporter.
• 1:37
  Hiya, Andrew. Hey Jerry.
• 1:39
  So tell us how how was this fraud
• 1:40
  discovered?
• 1:41
  This fraud was discovered
• 1:43
  by us through a city audit,
• 1:45
  but Austin Energy sort
• 1:47
  of tipped off the city auditor's
• 1:49
  office about this employee, Mark
• 1:51
  Ibotta.
• 1:52
  Back in twenty twenty-three.
• 1:54
  He was basically
• 1:56
  using credit card
• 1:58
  like sort of procurement as they
• 2:00
  call the pro card, I think a lot
• 2:02
  of folks would know.
• 2:04
  And basically charging
• 2:06
  for services that were
• 2:08
  you know, non existent through
• 2:10
  contractors that were
• 2:12
  connected to him and his
• 2:14
  family, and it was ultimately
• 2:16
  about nine hundred not about, it
• 2:18
  was nine hundred eighty thousand
• 2:19
  dollars that they could estimate.
• 2:21
  They said there there could be more,
• 2:22
  but that's the sort of final amount
• 2:24
  that they that they could confirm.
• 2:26
  And this happened over the course of
• 2:27
  six years. The audit I'm guessing
• 2:29
  happened this year in twenty twenty
• 2:30
  five. Was there something that
• 2:31
  spurred it?
• 2:32
  Yeah, it was I mean, his firing it
• 2:34
  was like this is something they've
• 2:35
  been looking into for a minute, but
• 2:36
  it was released this year.
• 2:38
  So and that was after,
• 2:40
  you know, they the the auditor's
• 2:42
  office looked at this over
• 2:44
  a couple of years, over more than a
• 2:45
  year and a half, and found that,
• 2:47
  you know, had to sort of, you know,
• 2:49
  do the paper trail of it, follow the
• 2:51
  money kind of thing.
• 2:52
  And then reached out to APD
• 2:54
  and then he was indicted
• 2:56
  in August, August twenty eighth,
• 2:58
  I believe, and then he was arrested
• 3:00
  and then released on bottom.
• 3:01
  Okay, so what has Austin
• 3:04
  Energy done as a result of this
• 3:06
  incident or these this fraud?
• 3:08
  What how has it changed its policy
• 3:10
  to avoid ha this from happening
• 3:12
  in the future?
• 3:13
  Well, they've cut down on those sort
• 3:14
  of pro card payments for
• 3:16
  contracting because he was Marky
• 3:18
  Barrow was in a very unique position
• 3:19
  where he could do maintenance and
• 3:21
  then he could determine, okay, we
• 3:23
  need a third party to do this, and
• 3:24
  that's how this all sort of
• 3:25
  happened, and he would just charge
• 3:26
  it to a credit card.
• 3:28
  So there was no city contracting,
• 3:30
  you know, per se
• 3:32
  on the books and since then
• 3:34
  they've cut down I believe the
• 3:36
  last three years the average was
• 3:38
  like one point five million per
• 3:39
  year. Last year it was down to I
• 3:41
  believe five hundred seventy
• 3:42
  thousand. So they've they've cut
• 3:43
  down on those payments and they've
• 3:44
  required management to approve these
• 3:46
  sort of purchases.
• 3:47
  Okay, so this was a a an audit
• 3:49
  conducted by Austin Energy.
• 3:50
  H have there been criminal charges?
• 3:52
  What what is the status of that?
• 3:53
  Yeah, yeah.
• 3:54
  After this audit sort of wrapped up,
• 3:56
  the auditor's office passed all this
• 3:58
  off to ABD.
• 3:59
  He was indicted by a grand jury
• 4:01
  in August, and then he
• 4:03
  was arrested shortly after and
• 4:05
  released on bond.
• 4:07
  Okie dokie. Well, you can read more
• 4:08
  about this story over at KUT.org.
• 4:11
  It's from KUT's government
• 4:13
  accountability reporter Andrew
• 4:14
  Weber, who we've been chatting with
• 4:16
  here on Austin Signal.
• 4:17
  Andrew, thank you. Yes, sir.
• 4:18
  Thank you, Jerry.
• 4:24
  All right, thank you for making this
• 4:25
  part of your Wednesday.
• 4:26
  The Town Lake YMCA in downtown
• 4:28
  Austin is planning an expansion and
• 4:30
  a renovation of its current property
• 4:32
  to include housing and other
• 4:33
  commercial and community spaces.
• 4:35
  KUT's Luz Moneno Lozano
• 4:37
  has that story over at KUT.org.
• 4:39
  And she's got the details for us
• 4:41
  today on Austin Signal.
• 4:42
  Howdy Luz.
• 4:43
  Hey Jerry, how's it going?
• 4:44
  It's going well.
• 4:45
  So tell us, where's the current
• 4:47
  space and and what's the approximate
• 4:48
  size of it?
• 4:49
  Yeah, so this is like a hundred
• 4:51
  and ten thousand square feet,
• 4:53
  give or take.
• 4:54
  You know, this is a kind of a
• 4:56
  popular YMCA location.
• 4:57
  I mean, w there's several locations
• 4:59
  all across the city, but if anyone
• 5:01
  is going to the YMCA, I've heard a
• 5:02
  lot about this town lake one.
• 5:04
  It does sound like the the current
• 5:06
  facility is was kind of nearing the
• 5:08
  end of its life.
• 5:10
  So they were gonna have to renovate
• 5:11
  anyway. And so this is gonna be part
• 5:13
  of this whole like how can we
• 5:15
  not only improve the
• 5:17
  on site facility, but expand
• 5:19
  it to include other amenities.
• 5:21
  So what are some of the amenities
• 5:22
  that they want to include?
• 5:23
  One of the big things is this is
• 5:24
  gonna include is housing.
• 5:25
  They said it was gonna include
• 5:27
  around ninety affordable
• 5:29
  housing units, up to seven
• 5:31
  hundred and fifty condos.
• 5:33
  Okay. But there's also gonna be
• 5:34
  space for community events and
• 5:36
  sp and things like
• 5:38
  that. There's also gonna be
• 5:40
  youth programming, there's gonna
• 5:42
  be a child care facility.
• 5:44
  And so all of this is kind of
• 5:46
  playing into like how can we
• 5:47
  bring more affordable housing
• 5:49
  and childcare downtown, especially
• 5:52
  to people who are working downtown,
• 5:54
  but don't necessarily live here.
• 5:55
  And so it kind of puts it all
• 5:57
  together.
• 5:57
  Okay, and this was presented to city
• 5:59
  council yesterday, correct?
• 6:00
  It was. Yeah. So this was just kind
• 6:02
  of it's a it's an initial step.
• 6:03
  It's a first step in in the process.
• 6:05
  So the YMCA team
• 6:07
  basically presented their
• 6:09
  plan to the city council.
• 6:11
  You know, they they went through all
• 6:12
  of their amenities
• 6:14
  and things that this was gonna
• 6:15
  include and why they thought it was
• 6:17
  important. But there's still a lot
• 6:18
  of steps that are gonna have to take
• 6:20
  place before this becomes official.
• 6:22
  But I think they're hoping to break
• 6:24
  ground assuming that they kind of
• 6:25
  get all their ducks in a row in
• 6:27
  twenty twenty eight.
• 6:28
  Okay, and how did c city council
• 6:29
  members f feel about the idea?
• 6:31
  I I think we had a
• 6:33
  lot of positive feedback.
• 6:35
  I think the city council is
• 6:37
  realizing that we do need some kind
• 6:39
  of housing child care combination
• 6:41
  in addition to some of the other
• 6:42
  things that the YMC already offers.
• 6:45
  Downtown.
• 6:46
  So it they seemed pretty on board.
• 6:48
  There was some concerns that we that
• 6:50
  were raised about
• 6:52
  traffic that if you've if
• 6:54
  anyone drives on Lorthamar and sees
• 6:56
  your Chavez, you know that that is a
• 6:58
  it gets pretty backed up.
• 6:59
  A little busy around there.
• 7:00
  Just just a little bit.
• 7:01
  And there was concerns about
• 7:02
  environmental impacts, like where
• 7:04
  would the like extra wastewater
• 7:06
  and those kinds of things, how was
• 7:07
  it gonna impact that?
• 7:08
  So it sounds like council had a lot
• 7:10
  of questions just as they're kind of
• 7:12
  initially kind of proposing this.
• 7:14
  But I do think that several of
• 7:16
  them were like, I'm really excited
• 7:18
  about this opportunity and we hoping
• 7:20
  that this is gonna make it to the
• 7:21
  finish line.
• 7:22
  And I know some of the neighbors who
• 7:23
  live in that area they also shared
• 7:25
  some of those concerns or maybe had
• 7:26
  some concerns of their own.
• 7:28
  What did they have to say?
• 7:29
  Yeah, one of the biggest things was
• 7:31
  how it's gonna change the
• 7:33
  look and feel of the neighborhood.
• 7:35
  That particular corner
• 7:37
  of of the lake is filled
• 7:39
  with trees.
• 7:40
  If you like kind of look over
• 7:42
  North Lamar from the
• 7:44
  what would that be, the south side
• 7:45
  of the river. It's just it's it's
• 7:47
  it's beautiful, you know.
• 7:48
  This is what we do in Austin.
• 7:49
  We love our trees, we love our
• 7:51
  nature, we love our green.
• 7:52
  If they put these
• 7:54
  three buildings up, it is
• 7:56
  definitely gonna change what that
• 7:58
  view looks like.
• 7:59
  And there was a lot of concern about
• 8:00
  that. And several neighbors also
• 8:02
  had traffic concerns because it's
• 8:04
  already it's already a congested
• 8:06
  intersection and people who live
• 8:08
  there are like, Okay, this is like
• 8:09
  my normal route to things.
• 8:12
  But one of the big things that this
• 8:13
  will do that they really talked
• 8:15
  about is it does give them access
• 8:16
  like to the hike and bike trail.
• 8:18
  You can walk to restaurants and
• 8:19
  grocery stores.
• 8:20
  So, you know, they're hoping that
• 8:22
  this will kind of play into that as
• 8:23
  well.
• 8:24
  Okay, well like I said, you have the
• 8:25
  story over at KUT
• 8:27
  dot org.
• 8:28
  We have been speaking with KUT City
• 8:30
  Hall reporter Luz Moreno Lozano.
• 8:33
  We appreciate your reporting.
• 8:34
  Thanks for coming on Austin Signal.
• 8:35
  Thanks, Jerry.
• 8:36
  And thank you out there for tuning
• 8:38
  into the signal.
• 8:40
  We're gonna have a story about lalas
• 8:42
  coming up next. It's Christmas time
• 8:44
  year round over there.
• 8:45
  Come partake in it.
• 8:46
  Join us. We'll be back in one
• 8:48
  moment.
• 9:00
  You're listening to the Austin
• 9:01
  Signal? Hi, I'm Matt Reilly,
• 9:03
  Program Director for KUTX.
• 9:06
  One of my favorite songs
• 9:08
  out of Austin from this
• 9:09
  year is from Die
• 9:11
  Spitz.
• 9:12
  It's called Punishers.
• 9:22
  The intro of the song grabs me
• 9:24
  right away. It's just these
• 9:26
  sort of gloomy,
• 9:29
  fuzzed-out,
• 9:31
  Black Sabbath-inspired notes.
• 9:43
  I like this song because
• 9:45
  it has those elements of post
• 9:47
  punk and grunge and those sounds
• 9:49
  are a part of my musical DNA and I'm
• 9:51
  a jaded old Gen X guy.
• 9:53
  So when I hear members of Gen
• 9:55
  Z making
• 9:57
  sounds that resonate
• 9:59
  from my youth, it
• 10:00
  just makes me happy.
• 10:17
  So Dice Bits started
• 10:19
  pretty much in high school, and
• 10:21
  we've been fans of this band
• 10:24
  since their inception.
• 10:25
  And they're a former KUTX artist
• 10:27
  of the month.
• 10:28
  And we've watched them
• 10:30
  evolve into this
• 10:32
  snarling little punk band
• 10:34
  into a more expansive sound
• 10:37
  that brings in elements of post
• 10:39
  punk and grunge and is
• 10:41
  mature beyond their years.
• 10:52
  The vibe of this song is just face
• 10:54
  punching.
• 10:56
  Brain melting.
• 10:57
  Exactly what you want from rock and
• 10:59
  roll. Thundering, lots of drums.
• 11:01
  Love this song, and you can run
• 11:03
  through a brick wall after listening
• 11:05
  to it.
• 11:07
  My name is Matt Reilly, and I'm the
• 11:09
  program director here at KUTX, and
• 11:10
  you can find out all of our favorite
• 11:12
  songs from 2025 at our website
• 11:15
  at KUTX.org.
• 11:17
  This is the Austin Signal.
• 11:30
  Thank you to Matt and thank you
• 11:32
  to you for tuning in to Austin
• 11:34
  Signal. We are listener powered
• 11:36
  public radio.
• 11:38
  You might have noticed things
• 11:39
  looking a lot more Christmasy
• 11:41
  around town lately, you know, 'tis
• 11:43
  the season and such.
• 11:45
  But at a bar in North Austin,
• 11:47
  it's Christmas time all
• 11:49
  the time.
• 11:50
  Why though?
• 11:51
  KUT's Marissa Charpentier
• 11:53
  has the story told at a past
• 11:55
  AT explained live event.
• 11:58
  There's a place in Austin
• 12:01
  where it's been Christmas every
• 12:03
  day since 1972.
• 12:08
  It's a small dive bar called
• 12:10
  La La's Little Nugget.
• 12:12
  Red and green ornaments dangle
• 12:13
  from the ceiling.
• 12:14
  There are snow globes and Christmas
• 12:17
  trees and tons and tons
• 12:19
  of Christmas lights.
• 12:20
  And it kind of still
• 12:23
  feels like the 70s.
• 12:25
  There's a velvet Elvis painting
• 12:27
  on the wall, an old pool table,
• 12:29
  and a really outdated jukebox.
• 12:32
  If you don't know what I'm talking
• 12:34
  about, just drive around the
• 12:35
  Crestview area, look
• 12:37
  for the building with Santa Slay
• 12:39
  and some reindeer on the roof.
• 12:41
  They're always there, even
• 12:42
  in the dead of summer.
• 12:45
  I went there recently to meet
• 12:47
  someone.
• 12:48
  My name is Angela Reed.
• 12:51
  Angela and I each ordered one
• 12:53
  of Lala's signature Christmas-themed
• 12:55
  cocktails, and we walked around to
• 12:57
  sit on the patio.
• 12:59
  She told me she used to go to Lala's
• 13:01
  a lot in the 90s when she lived
• 13:03
  in the neighborhood.
• 13:04
  In those days, she says the bar
• 13:06
  was truly a hole in the wall.
• 13:08
  Dark, smoky, kind of like
• 13:10
  old Christmas ornaments
• 13:12
  in there.
• 13:13
  Which today it seems like they've
• 13:15
  like freshened it up and it's almost
• 13:17
  like they decorated it to be this
• 13:19
  way. But back then it seemed like
• 13:21
  no, they had been there for a long
• 13:22
  time.
• 13:24
  She said there was a story back then
• 13:26
  about why the decorations were
• 13:28
  always there.
• 13:29
  The owner owned this bar with
• 13:31
  her husband and they
• 13:33
  had decorated for Christmas and that
• 13:35
  he'd left her on Christmas
• 13:37
  Eve.
• 13:38
  And so almost as a vengeance,
• 13:40
  she kept the bar and never
• 13:42
  changed the decor.
• 13:44
  But she wanted to know if that
• 13:46
  was true.
• 13:47
  Surely someone at the bar would
• 13:49
  know, so we grabbed our drinks and
• 13:51
  wandered around asking people
• 13:53
  why was it always Christmas at
• 13:55
  La La's?
• 13:56
  We started talking to this older man
• 13:58
  and his friends, but then a young
• 14:00
  sort of hipster guy who was
• 14:02
  like reading a book or something
• 14:04
  leaned over to us.
• 14:06
  I've heard a tragic story about how
• 14:08
  the owner's daughter died
• 14:10
  on Christmas or Christmas Eve.
• 14:12
  He's dealt with it s through making
• 14:14
  the decor of the bar
• 14:16
  Christmas all year long.
• 14:19
  Then we walked a few tables
• 14:20
  over. There was a group of women
• 14:22
  wearing ugly Christmas sweaters.
• 14:24
  One of them offered to Google
• 14:26
  the answer for us, but like,
• 14:28
  where's the fun in that?
• 14:30
  And then finally we spotted
• 14:32
  some people wearing actual La
• 14:34
  La's shirts.
• 14:35
  They were sitting down, having some
• 14:37
  drinks, so we went up to them.
• 14:39
  They told us the bar owner was a
• 14:41
  woman.
• 14:42
  She just didn't want to take she
• 14:43
  didn't want to take it down.
• 14:45
  Now, they also told us to
• 14:47
  look up a Kenny Chesney
• 14:49
  song called Jesus and Elvis.
• 14:51
  They said the lyrics to it were
• 14:53
  inspired by La La's.
• 14:55
  It turns out it was originally
• 14:57
  written by Texas musician
• 14:59
  Hayes Carl.
• 15:01
  I found this video where he said he
• 15:03
  used to spend a lot of time at La
• 15:04
  La's.
• 15:05
  I asked around what the story
• 15:06
  was 'cause I was curious and what I
• 15:08
  heard was a tragic one.
• 15:10
  It was that Lalad had a son who'd
• 15:11
  gone off to fight in Vietnam at
• 15:13
  Christmas time and she promised she
• 15:15
  wouldn't take those lights down
• 15:16
  until he made it back home.
• 15:17
  And all these years later those
• 15:19
  lights are still hanging up there.
• 15:21
  So this is a song about that place
• 15:23
  that's called Jesus and Elvis.
• 15:26
  Jesus and Elvis
• 15:29
  painted on velvet,
• 15:32
  hanging at the bar
• 15:34
  here every night.
• 15:37
  It's good to be back again.
• 15:40
  Oh me and my old
• 15:41
  friends, Beneath
• 15:43
  the neon crossing a string
• 15:45
  of Christmas legs.
• 15:49
  So let's review.
• 15:52
  An ex-lover?
• 15:54
  Just a general love of
• 15:56
  Christmas?
• 15:57
  A son killed at war?
• 15:59
  This can't all explain why La
• 16:01
  La's is always decorated for
• 16:03
  Christmas, right?
• 16:05
  To get the real story, I'd
• 16:07
  need to get someone official on the
• 16:09
  record.
• 16:10
  My name is Max Moreland.
• 16:11
  I oversee all operations for
• 16:13
  the bar division of
• 16:15
  FBR, based here
• 16:17
  in Austin, Texas.
• 16:18
  Max's company took over La La's
• 16:20
  about eight years ago when the
• 16:22
  original owner retired.
• 16:24
  I asked him for the story behind the
• 16:25
  Christmas decor, but he gave
• 16:27
  me the same three stories.
• 16:31
  The owner's husband left her on
• 16:33
  Christmas.
• 16:34
  Fell into this depression from her,
• 16:36
  you know, ongoing divorce.
• 16:38
  Си декорадва Christmas one
• 16:40
  year and when the holidays were
• 16:41
  over.
• 16:42
  She took them down and the bar felt
• 16:44
  too naked.
• 16:45
  And finally, her son went off
• 16:46
  to war in Vietnam.
• 16:48
  And she swore these decorations
• 16:50
  will stay up until my son comes
• 16:52
  home.
• 16:52
  Now I asked Max which
• 16:54
  one is the real story.
• 16:56
  Is any of that true?
• 16:58
  One of 'em is.
• 16:59
  Is that the second one?
• 17:00
  It's up for you d whatever you wanna
• 17:02
  whatever you want to believe in.
• 17:03
  So it's like Santa, you know?
• 17:05
  It's up to you.
• 17:06
  It's open for interpretation.
• 17:08
  I mean come on
• 17:10
  I asked him a few more times and
• 17:12
  he still wouldn't give in.
• 17:14
  To learn the real story, I'd
• 17:16
  need to learn more about the woman
• 17:18
  behind the bar.
• 17:19
  A woman named Frances.
• 17:21
  She was tough.
• 17:22
  She was hard to impress.
• 17:25
  That's Mike Levine.
• 17:26
  He's been going to La La's since the
• 17:28
  nineties.
• 17:29
  I mean we didn't hang out socially
• 17:30
  outside the bar, but I don't know
• 17:31
  that she was ever outside that bar.
• 17:33
  I'm fairly certain that if the
• 17:34
  bar was open she was there.
• 17:36
  He told me that Francis opened
• 17:38
  La La's in nineteen seventy
• 17:40
  two and she ran the place
• 17:42
  for the next forty years.
• 17:44
  One of the reasons that she created
• 17:45
  la La's and and and had the
• 17:47
  environment she had in there was
• 17:49
  because and she used to say this
• 17:50
  often was because she wanted a place
• 17:53
  where women could feel safe to drink
• 17:55
  alone. And she've created
• 17:57
  you know, in the modern parlance a
• 17:58
  safe space to do that.
• 18:05
  For most of the decades the bar was
• 18:07
  open, it was just Francis
• 18:09
  and her business partner Sarah
• 18:10
  behind the bar making drinks.
• 18:13
  Francis didn't take bull
• 18:15
  from anyone.
• 18:17
  Francis Who would never overpour
• 18:19
  your drink.
• 18:20
  If you ordered a Jameson on the
• 18:22
  rocks, it was gonna be two fingers
• 18:24
  of Jameson and that is it.
• 18:26
  No more, no less, and she had little
• 18:28
  fingers.
• 18:34
  Frances was also
• 18:36
  a private person.
• 18:38
  She didn't share a lot about her
• 18:40
  family or her background.
• 18:42
  There she was behind that bar for
• 18:44
  I don't know, thirty five whatever
• 18:46
  years and nobody knew
• 18:48
  anything about her.
• 18:49
  To give you an example,
• 18:51
  Frances died shortly
• 18:53
  after she sold the bar, about
• 18:55
  six years ago.
• 18:56
  It wasn't until the day she
• 18:58
  was buried that Mike learned
• 19:00
  her real name.
• 19:02
  I always thought the name
• 19:04
  La La's was
• 19:06
  Christmassy.
• 19:07
  Like I thought the law follow la la
• 19:09
  or something. I thought the La La's
• 19:10
  thing was a a nod to Christmas.
• 19:13
  And then you know, I'm a
• 19:15
  pall bearer in her funeral.
• 19:16
  He looked down at the program
• 19:18
  and saw her last name was
• 19:20
  Lala.
• 19:24
  That was to me the ultimate surprise
• 19:26
  of like, you know, her life was
• 19:28
  like, Oh my god, that was her last
• 19:29
  name all along.
• 19:30
  And it sounds s silly but like that
• 19:32
  would have also jabbed with her
• 19:33
  sense of humor.
• 19:36
  Frances was the kind of
• 19:38
  person who'd keep up Christmas
• 19:40
  lights well past the month of
• 19:42
  December.
• 19:43
  And then when Halloween would come
• 19:45
  around, put Halloween decorations
• 19:47
  over the Christmas ones,
• 19:49
  she was the kind of person to
• 19:51
  embellish the truth,
• 19:53
  just to mess with people.
• 19:56
  So I brought the rumors about La
• 19:58
  La's Christmas decorations up
• 19:59
  to Mike. The husband who left on
• 20:01
  Christmas, the son sent off to war.
• 20:04
  She would have absolutely
• 20:06
  exaggerated on the story
• 20:08
  to mess with the college kids in the
• 20:09
  eighties.
• 20:10
  No doubt in my mind.
• 20:11
  Like that's her MO all the way.
• 20:14
  She liked to mess with folks.
• 20:15
  But again, that that doesn't mean
• 20:17
  that none of it's true.
• 20:19
  Mike wouldn't say which story
• 20:21
  was true either.
• 20:22
  He didn't want to set the record
• 20:24
  straight. He brought up an old
• 20:26
  phrase I'd heard before.
• 20:29
  Well they say print the legend, you
• 20:31
  know, don't don't worry about the
• 20:32
  truth.
• 20:33
  Print the legend.
• 20:35
  This idea that sometimes in
• 20:37
  life the stories we tell ourselves
• 20:39
  become bigger than the truth.
• 20:42
  I asked Mike one more question.
• 20:44
  Did he think Frances herself
• 20:46
  would want the real story to be
• 20:48
  revealed?
• 20:49
  I mean, look, she
• 20:51
  might have been a tough lady.
• 20:53
  She might have had her her moments
• 20:55
  and and people don't remember her
• 20:57
  as maybe the most warm human being
• 20:58
  that ever walked the earth.
• 20:59
  But the fact is that she
• 21:01
  created this place that
• 21:03
  has a sense of humor about it
• 21:05
  and is a a safe place for
• 21:07
  people to come and hang out.
• 21:09
  And so clearly
• 21:11
  she was a warm person and clearly
• 21:13
  she was somebody who cared about her
• 21:15
  fellow human.
• 21:16
  And I think that is the legacy of
• 21:17
  the bar, you know.
• 21:19
  And the story is fun
• 21:21
  or sad or interesting.
• 21:23
  Or whatever you need it to be.
• 21:26
  Now, for the sake of honesty,
• 21:29
  I will say someone did
• 21:31
  tell me which story is the
• 21:33
  true story.
• 21:34
  But in preparing for tonight,
• 21:36
  I kept thinking back to that phrase:
• 21:39
  print the legend.
• 21:40
  It's actually part of a longer quote
• 21:43
  from an old Western called The
• 21:45
  Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
• 21:47
  In the movie, a newspaper editor
• 21:49
  gets a scoop.
• 21:50
  He learns that the story that's long
• 21:52
  been told about the person who
• 21:54
  killed the local outlaw
• 21:56
  is actually a myth.
• 21:58
  But the editor decides not
• 22:00
  to reveal the truth.
• 22:04
  You're not going to use the story,
• 22:06
  Mr. Scott.
• 22:08
  No, sir.
• 22:13
  This is the West, sir.
• 22:15
  When the legend becomes fact,
• 22:17
  print the legend.
• 22:20
  Sometimes the lore of
• 22:21
  an event or a place
• 22:24
  is more interesting
• 22:26
  than what really happened.
• 22:28
  And what kind of person would I be
• 22:30
  if I spoiled the fun?
• 22:32
  Okay, at this point, if you
• 22:34
  still want to know what the true
• 22:36
  story is, come find me, buy
• 22:37
  me a drink after the show.
• 22:39
  Maybe I'll tell you.
• 22:45
  But for now, I'll just
• 22:47
  say, this is the West.
• 22:53
  That was our former colleague
• 22:55
  Marissa Charpentier at an ATX
• 22:57
  Plain live show at the Paramount
• 22:59
  Theater back in February of
• 23:01
  2023.
• 23:02
  Maybe you were there that night.
• 23:04
  That's it for today's episode of
• 23:05
  Austin Signal.
• 23:06
  Thank you to KUT's Andrew Weber and
• 23:08
  Luz Moreno Lozano, as well
• 23:10
  as Matt Reilly from our sister
• 23:11
  station KUTX.
• 23:13
  And thank you to Kristen Cabrera,
• 23:14
  our managing producer, and Rayna
• 23:16
  Sevilla, our technical director.
• 23:18
  I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
• 23:20
  Austin Signal will be back at one
• 23:21
  o'clock tomorrow afternoon.
• 23:23
  We'll talk to you then.