3/12/8  Lynn and Rufus ran out of options.

There is nothing good to say about what has happened in our city the past couple of months.  What happened Sunday evening is almost beyond description.  What we should do right now is pray for the friends and family of Lynn and Rufus Shaw.  Our shock and sadness can't possibly compare to what they are feeling.

This morning before we went to the gym, I saw the DMN's short website headline, two people murdered at the FORMER home of Lynn and Rufus Shaw.  I mentioned to my husband how weird it was for something like that to happen with all the other catastrophes currently in their lives.  When the story first broke about Lynn forging the DA's signature to a letter, I heard the Shaw's were about to lose their home and cars due to their dire financial situation.  When I saw the story this morning, I assumed they had already vacated the house and were living elsewhere. 

People we know don't get murdered.  When you hear about a murder or suicide.  You automatically assume people you know are safe, and some unfortunate other was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

When I got back to my desk, I had an e-mail from Stan Aten asking "Any idea why Rufus Shaw & Lynn Shaw were murdered yesterday?"  The one time I believe the DMN, I responded that the DMN said it was their "former" house.  Stan Aten is one of my very wise friends - cerebral, actually.  Unfortunately my own cerebral organ was in extreme denial.  Wanting to be reassured, I called another very wise friend who always knows everything.  I asked her who died in the Shaw home.  She said "Rufus and Lynn."  Ch. 5 had reported he killed Lynn and then himself. 

Like we frequently do when stunned and horrified, I said "Oh, my God!".  

Several people called today just to talk, to share the shock.  I called several people -- just to touch base and to share the shock.  One of them was Betty Culbreath.  On her blog,  Ms. BettyPolitic in an entry titled, DA's Career on the Line!, Betty posted "I support Lynn Flint Shaw and will help her in any way."  It touched me because Betty had nothing to gain by standing for Lynn at that point.  Betty wasn't declaring Lynn to be innocent, just wanted to help her get through it and back on her feet.  Betty made a choice to be a friend.

Lynn made some very bad choices in the last few years, most of which started with her trusting her ODB contacts and believing them to be her friends.  As I told Betty, Lynn drank the ODB Kool-Aid and got poisoned by it.  She liked being in that heady circle of the rich and famous, and it takes money and time to move in that crowd.  They were never her friends.  They used her until she was no longer useful.

Michael Davis has a sweet eulogy on his DallasProgress:

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 -  Devastated          posted by Michael Davis-Dallas Progress @ 3:29 AM     When you get a call in the middle of the night, it's never good news. I am truly devastated.     Rufus Shaw and Lynn Flint Shaw were two people that I truly looked up to. Neither of them never pulled any punches, and contrary to most of the people that talk about our part of town (elected or not), they really cared about southern Dallas and did what they could to improve it and inspire others.    Beyond being known as a world record holder in high school track and field, Rufus was a writing and thought-provoking machine. He was a pundit before the term was prominent. His mind and spirit will be missed.    I still remember the conversation that Lynn and I had when my D Magazine story came out. Very few people in my part of town called me when it got published. But she did, and we talked for some time about the state of this city and her passion for improving the part of town in which we lived. Rufus is what I would call, one of 'the realest.' Rufus was a person that encouraged me to say what I felt, expose the truth, and to never back down from the haters.    They both made sacrifices in this town to speak their minds and tell things how they need to be told. All I can do is be grateful to them for welcoming me to Oak Cliff, encouraging me to write, and be active in my community. And now they're both gone.   You never know what type of pressure people are under. This is a praying time.   Don't look for any posts for the next day or so.

I first met Rufus when we were both involved with the Steve Bartlett campaign for Mayor (before Ron Kirk, before Laura Miller, before Tom Leppert).  When we were introduced, he recognized my name from a couple of op-eds I had done in both the DMN and The Dallas Times Herald.  It was flattering to have another writer comment on my stuff, but it also impressed me that he wasn't wrapped up in himself and actually read other's contributions.  I read his columns whenever I could find an Elite News.  It was clear he had a long running feud with John Wiley Price.   I liked the way Rufus wrote in a free-flowing "here's what I think" style.  He was way ahead of his time because he was a blogger before we had the term.

Although I had been introduced to her on various occasions, I didn't get to know Lynn until the first go round of the Strong Mayor campaign.  We served on the opposition committee. 

I can't say Rufus or Lynn were friends of mine, but we were friendly acquaintances.  When Joyce Foreman was being yanked off the DART Board to be replaced by Lynn Flint Shaw, I was in Joyce's camp.  Joyce is the kind of kick butt and take names woman who I identify with, not impressed with big shots and not afraid to speak her mind. 

When Lynn's troubles surfaced, I never heard Joyce gloat or say "told you so".  My own feelings were that there was nothing to be gained by a trial or conviction because Lynn's life as she had known it was over.  No jail time could equal the pain and punishment of her realization that she would never again be part of the circle of people she thought were her friends.  I wrote:

I hate what Lynn has done.  Yet, I know the spider's web she has been caught up in.  She loved so much being important and being in the circle of the movers and shakers.  All those boards and charity events took time and energy that she did not spend on her business, whatever she actually did.  The power and recognition is as addictive as any drug.  She was a user, and she was used.  She thought her artsy fartsy buddies were her friends and loved her, and they pimped her out. Allen Gwinn is probably right about the deliberate move to protect Lynn by DA Watkins.  Lynn has been a good soldier for the ODB these past few dreadful weeks.  She has been stoic and almost silent since the forged signature tsunami hit her world.  You know the ODB are scared to death.  She's one of their own, even if only as a useful hanger-on.  Has she called in her markers for the price of her silence? DallasArena.com (2/18/08) Will Lynn Flint Shaw unravel the ODB's web of control over Dallas?

Did I think she might kill herself?  Actually, it did occur to me.  Did I think Rufus might kill himself or kill her?  Never crossed my mind.  He always seemed to get the joke, to know where he really stood with the ODB.  Where Lynn seemed to be delicate, Rufus seemed to be tough as nails.

Apparently, Lynn was tougher than I thought, and clearly Rufus was much more delicate than anyone knew.  Right up to the end, Lynn was wheeling and dealing and cracking her control whip to keep her people in line.  Someone apparently didn't like her style, because they furnished Jim Schutze at DallasObserver.com with copies of some e-mails from her, which she confirmed by fax to be authentic.  Schutze writes about it in Lynn Flint Shaw's "Inner Circle" (DallasObserver.com, UnFairPark, 3/11/8).  Was this last betrayal by people she thought were her friends the catalyst for the Shaw's suicide pact? 

It doesn't matter.  It was her choice, her and Rufus' choice, to just stop their lives.  It was her choice to cross the line between right and wrong.  That whole forged letter thing was criminally stupid, but it certainly did not justify a death penalty.

This event is not going to be yesterday's news in a few weeks.  This murder/suicide pact has shaken this city.  It certainly has the ODB movers and shakers quaking in their boots and high heels.  They don't know what else is going to come out.  Maybe nothing, but maybe much more.

There is so much double-dealing and wheeling and dealing and gamesmanship in our little municipal world.  People are making choices - to push the envelope, to break the rules or to step back.  People are flexing their little bureaucratic muscle to show their personal power over others - like the way Jerkoff Neil Emmons operates on the Plan Commission.

Ironically, someone I usually consider an ally in my personal Don Quixote war against City Hall corruption doesn't have a problem with what Neil Emmons has been doing.  That makes me sick.  When you give your buddies a pass for bad behavior, you aren't in a very strong position to criticize other bad guys.

Here are some of suppositions I heard today as to what triggered the shootings:

1.    Rufus learned he would also be prosecuted for involvement with the forged letter.  Doesn't seem likely to me.  I had heard from the beginning of Lynn's problems that Rufus was prepared to say it was done by him and Lynn was not involved.  With his cancer, they did not expect that he would receive jail time, even if he was convicted.

2.    There were going to be additional charges against Lynn from other similar incidents.  Seems more plausible if they saw no hope of an acquittal or plea bargain or probation.  Still, it doesn't fit their extreme choice.

3.    Exposure of the e-mails showing her Southern Sector power group was the final straw.  Seems the most likely.  Those e-mails name names and really put Mayor Leppert in an awkward situation.  They confirm rumors floating around of sweetheart deals and favoritism in letting city contracts and deals.  They make a lie of much of Rufus' commentaries "from South of the Trinity". 

In the end, it doesn't matter why Rufus and Lynn decided to check out.  Apparently, the pain and public humiliation was more than they could bear.  Over the years, they both made some bad choices that caught up to them in a perfect storm. 

Maybe they had no defense for the charges coming at them.  Maybe they should have held out and took their chances.  Unfortunately, there are no more maybe's for Rufus and Lynn.

Lynn was Catholic.  Betty says she attended mass daily.  God knows the pain the two of them were enduring.  It's too late to pray for Lynn or Rufus.

It isn't too late to pray for their children and their families.  Lynn and Rufus are free of their anguish.  The pain, of this tragedy is going to be with those they left behind for a long time.

sb