Public Speakers Continue To Press Brazos County Commissioners To Create A Specialty Criminal Court For Veterans

Creating a specialty criminal court for veterans in Brazos County continues to be a topic for public speakers at county commission meetings.

Five speakers appeared during the December 28, 2022 meeting included justice of the peace and Army veteran Terrence Nunn. He said “We have to do something. 22 veterans a day kill themselves. I’ve had buddies kill themselves. They’re not going to seek help. This is not a get out of jail free card. This is the process to give them the help that they (veterans) need.”

Lonny Masterson, who works for the Brazos Valley office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) as a veteran peer support specialist, said “I just want Brazos County (commissioners) to know that we’re not giving up.” “This is something that myself as a veteran, I feel like I owe to my fellow veterans. Sometimes we don’t know just how much in a dark place we are, and sometimes that results in things that causes getting justice involved.”

Former commissioner Russ Ford, who was a public speaker during the January 3 meeting, repeated that there is enough grant money that a veterans court would not cost Brazos County a penny.

County commissioners previously decided to hold a workshop, but that has not been scheduled yet according to the county’s website.

Click below to hear comments from December 28, 2022 and January 3, 2023 Brazos County commission meetings.

Listen to “Public speakers continue to press Brazos County commissioners for a specialty criminal court for veterans” on Spreaker.