The city of Waco is asking an appeals court to reconsider an order requiring the city participate in mediation about the future of the Sanger Avenue School building, in part because of alleged death threats made by the lawyer representing the school’s owner.

Waco attorney LaNelle McNamara has threatened to kill city manager Larry Groth, city attorney Leah Hayes and assistant city attorney Judith Benton, the city said in a document filed Tuesday with Waco’s 10th Court of Appeals.

Because those officials would have to take part in any mediation, the court should abandon the idea and instead issue a ruling in the case as soon as possible, the city argues.

Waco attorney LaNelle McNamara has threatened to kill three city officials, the city says in a document filed Tuesday with a Waco court.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

The filing also says that since making the threats, McNamara has violated a criminal trespass warning designed to keep her out of certain city buildings.

“Those threats were made against persons simply performing their jobs in the best way they knew how,” the city’s filing states. “To impose on city officials the task of participating in a dispute resolution mechanism that is largely dependent on the good faith of McNamara seems doomed to fail.”

On Wednesday, McNamara admitted in a Tribune-Herald interview to making threatening remarks about city officials as part of a phone message left for a friend. But she said she was just venting and did not mean what she said.

City officials have nothing to fear from her, McNamara said, adding that she hopes the court will let mediation proceed. She still wants to see the building restored but is willing to make some compromises, she said.

“I don’t have any vendetta for these people,” said McNamara, a former Waco mayor. “I think (mediation) could be fruitful.”

Fight over school

The city’s latest filing with the court and the revelation about McNamara’s threats come amid a prolonged legal battle over the 105-year-old school building.

It was gutted by arson in October 2008, leaving only a shell of brick walls.

The city said the structure is a public safety hazard. In December, it secured a demolition order from 74th State District Judge Gary Coley Jr.

But McNamara’s legal appeal has prevented the building from being razed. Last week, the appeals court ordered mediation between the city and the Sanger School Foundation, which owns the building.

McNamara is a trustee on the foundation’s board.

The threats McNamara made occurred in late February, according to the filing and accompanying Waco police reports. She was upset about developments in the case and was attempting to call a friend. When he didn’t answer, she left a lengthy message, the reports said.

Threats in message

In that message, McNamara said that if the situation didn’t improve, she would kill herself, the police reports said.

Before doing that, however, McNamara said she would kill Groth, Hayes and Benton. She also said she was going to have Groth followed so she could kill him, according to the reports.

The friend contacted police the day after the call, the reports said. When officers went to see McNamara that day, she was “very coy in her demeanor and would not provide really any information other than to say that she was OK,” the reports said.

A detective was assigned to investigate the incident as a possible terroristic threat case. He and a supervisor soon determined the elements of terroristic threat were not present because the phone call was made to a third party and there was no imminent threat, the reports said.

However, the detective did speak to McNamara. She was accompanied to that interview by her attorneys, Bill and Susan Johnston.

McNamara admitted to making the call but said she could not remember everything she had said, according the reports.

After the detective played the recording, she apologized and told him she did not mean what she had said. She had been angry, she said, and had intended for only her friend to hear the message.

During that interview, the detective issued a criminal trespass warning to McNamara. It barred her from city hall and another city building for one year. The detective warned her that if she went onto either property during that time, she would be arrested.

McNamara has “repeatedly violated that warning,” the city’s filing said. It also said that in the wake of the threats, city officials requested increased police presence at city hall.

Waco police spokesman Steve Anderson referred comment on the situation, including McNamara’s alleged criminal trespass, to Hayes.

Hayes said McNamara has been in city hall several times since she was warned. She hasn’t been arrested because she has always been gone from the building by the time employees familiar with the situation realized what was going on, she said.

“In terms of calling police to deal with it, it wasn’t practical at that point,” Hayes said.

1 trespass violation

McNamara claims she has only violated the trespass warning once, by accident. That was last week, after the city hand-delivered a document to her and she wanted to deliver a response, she said.

“I didn’t even think about it,” McNamara said. “I just walked up the steps.”

Her intention now, McNamara said, is to rebuild only the basement and first floor of the building. It originally had three stories, but scaling back the project would make restoration more feasible, she said.

cculp@wacotrib.com

757-5744

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