Notes From the Fort:
The Borderlands
The Borderlands are the geographic, economic, cultural, and ideological spaces where individuals meet and forge something new. That is where we started and where we remain today. Those encounters are not always kind, civil, or even mutually beneficial. To enter the Borderlands, one must be willing to face new and unknown challenges that sometimes may appear daunting. It demands becoming something other than what we were and leaving behind where we have been. It changes us.
At its founding, Fort Worth–The Fort– brought with it a government and laws to what was then known as the western frontier. In a federal courtroom of the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth, a golden eagle emblem of the court and our nation rests above the bench. Above it, etched in stone, is an inscription that reads- “Reason is the life of the Law….” Our nation was conceived on the Lockean notion that through Reason, a system of government could be established, with the consent of the governed, that by its laws could secure individual rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of our happiness. And it was the promise made when the Fort and our country entered these Borderlands.
The Fort created new spaces in the existing Borderlands already occupied by others who lived here centuries before the Fort entered the landscape. Other forts were built, pushing our country’s western frontier into the furthest reaches of west Texas inhabited by others for centuries, like my ancestors.
It is in these Borderlands between the Fort–“Where the West Begins”– and far west Texas, where I was born and raised, where I live and where I have practiced law for more than thirty years. During this time, I witnessed and participated in thousands of daily encounters between individuals and the law. These encounters are daily tests of the promise made by our government that Reason and law can secure our rights and happiness. In the main, I think that promise has been kept.
In these Notes, I will write about my law practice and life in these Borderlands. I hope what I write here may be of value to you and helpful in your encounters. As I said before, these encounters are not always kind, civil, or mutually beneficial, but they are always meaningful even when they appear not.
If you do not find the answer to what you are looking for in these articles, please give me a call. If I cannot provide you with the answers, I will do my best to find you someone who can.