A Brother Scorned: A Letter To The Editor Of The Coastal Bend Herald From Dwight Mills, Brother To The Aransas County Sheriff William "Bill" Mills
I have been living in fear of my brother; William “Bill” Alfred Mills, for a long time. I have heard and seen too much. I'm coming forward now for several reasons, but the main reason I'm coming forward is that I think it's time as Americans we step up, tell the truth, and stop corruption in our public offices. The only way that we can send a message to these corrupt officials is by giving up our fears of retaliation and going public with what we know.
My father; Melvin R Mills, always taught my brother and I to turn the other cheek when bad things happened to us, but I have been bruised from the amount of times I have to do this with my brother. Unfortunately my father is no longer around to have these tough discussions of morality with since he died prematurely in 2012 from complications with his care while residing in an old folk’s home in Corpus Christi.
My father had always been soft spoken, and pretty agreeable, the majority of his life. Before being diagnosed with dementia our father was living in an apartment he was renting from his ex-wife in Corpus. Shortly after the diagnosis we were informed that his ex-wife could no longer take care of him. At the time I was living with my family up in San Antonio, my oldest child was attending U.I.W. and my business had still not recovered from the fall in the economy. My wife and I had a lot to discuss, we had to weigh the fact that my father was in poor health, as well as her dad, with pressing medical problems it should be an easy decision but, we still had to worry about being set up and manipulated by my brother again if we were to move back. This fear was so great that when we came down in the past we would never let anyone know we were in town for fear of my brother William (Bill) Mills finding out we were there. We would even go to the extent to not to post photos of family trips in the area online or mention it online at all.
With all of this information we turned to prayer, it took us two days to make our decision. When we called my brother Bill and told him we were moving down to take care of our dad, Bill told me it was too late he had already had got a bed in an old folks home in Corpus. My wife and I decided to go ahead and move to Rockport, so we could be there for her and my father. Today most of us really want to be able to spend more time with our parents, but nothing can happen overnight. I felt when I got down to Rockport I could find some work to do and be able to get my Dad out of the old folks home, and at home with people who loved and cared for him.
I'm not proud to admit it, but we were struggling. We had just moved, I was trying to find a job, and make the most of the situation my dad was in. I always tried to make sure I made the trip weekly to see my dad, even if it meant asking for a ride that week. I could see that he wanted to be in a home with his family, not with strangers. I told dad every time I was there that if Bill would let me take him home I would. My dad would continually tell me that he had told Bill that he wanted to move with me, and that Bill was fine with it, but all of my brothers actions said otherwise.
My Dad wasn't in the best of health as his dementia came other physical limitations besides sometimes forgetting your loved ones. My father specifically had trouble with his limbs, walking and moving his arms, all he needed was someone to love him and feed him. Every time we approached the subject with my brother I would be told no. After a while my wife begged me to stop arguing with Bill because she was afraid of retaliation. I slowed my efforts, but never stopped trying to find a legal solution to our problem.
I got a call from my brother one day in early December 2011 explaining that our dad was in the hospital. I left for Corpus as soon as I got off the phone with Bill, much to my surprise though when I arrived my brother was nowhere to be found. Bill was the executor of the estate, and had power of attorney but couldn’t show up when we needed him there? When I found the attending E.R. Dr. the first question he asked me was why wasn’t someone been checking in on your father? When I told the Dr. that my father had been in a nursing home he was shocked. The doctor told me that my Dad outside of suffering from dementia, was suffering from kidney infection, UTI, bed sores, starvation, and dehydration, he was in awful shape. The doctor explained that they were going to admit him for two weeks he needed to get his strength back, and some close medical supervision. The doctor’s prediction was that my father would not make it to the New Year, which was two weeks away if he returned to the same home. But if someone who loved him and cared for him properly he could live several more years. I didn't know what to do! So I called Ronald who is a paralegal, he sent someone with me to take pictures of my Dad’s bed sores so that it would be documented.
When we arrived the hospital would not allow us to take photos of my dad or his sores, stating that they had all the photos on file already, and no others would be allowed. After this Ronald told me to go and buy a power of attorney document from an office store, fill it out listing you as the power of attorney, and get you a notary to meet you at the hospital with your dad in the room. If my dad wanted to come home all he needed to do was sign the document, and he could be at home where his loved ones were. I got the document and went to the hospital, when I got to the hospital I asked the receptionist if they could give me a number of a local notary. He told me he could not but he could give me a phone book and I could look it up.
The first person I found listed as a notary of the public I called and explained my situation, the notary seemed to understand the urgency, It didn't take her long to arrive I would say within five minutes. The notary had just gotten to the room and was introducing herself when some lady that was in the hospital administration bust in through the door and asked the notary what was going on and why she was here. We explained that it was a power of attorney document for my father to sign. The hospital administrator stated that the power of attorney had already been signed, and that I was not it. She then made the notary excuse herself.
My Dad couldn't understand why he wasn’t allowed to sign the document and, Bill would not let me take him home. I was so upset that I walked out of the hospital, as soon as I got out of the door's my phone rang and it was Bill he was laughing he said “it didn't work did it?” . I said “what?”. Bill then told me that he had connections all over the place, and knew about the notary coming to the hospital. Bill even said the words “Don't you know by now the power that I have?” I then asked Bill if he knew that our father was being starved and deprived basic hydration. Bill stated that yes he knew that he was malnourished and dehydrated. Bill told me that he told the home “if he can’t feed himself, don’t feed him.”
This shocked me, as Bill had to know our dad had limited movement of his arms, he couldn't even lift his arms above his head, much less feed himself. This physical limitation was known by anyone who visited him on a normal basis. I asked Bill why he was doing this, why would he do this to our dad? He replied that our Dad needed to be punished for what he did to our Mom, when I asked him what exactly he was talking about, and Bill’s response was he divorced her! I attempted to explain to Bill that he did not know the whole story, that our mother had filed for divorce and threw our father out of the house. I also explained that the whole decision was based upon a rumor started by some of our peers in school. No one knew that this rumor would cost my dad his job, his marriage, and now it seems his health. It didn't matter to Bill, my brother wanted to punish my dad for something that he knew nothing about. Bill had no right to make a judgement, or moral call on the reasons of our parents’ divorce that happened in the 1970's. I told Bill this was something to remain between our parents and God, as Christians we are taught in the Bible to honor our parents and to obey them, not allow them to starve and be abused because they didn't act the way we wanted them to.
The next day my Dad was back at the old folks home, so much for the hospital keeping him until he had fully recovered. When I called Ronald to see if there was anything else we could do, he told me that there was nothing else we could do, Bill had all the power! We spent the next two weeks fighting Bill in attempts to bring my father home for Christmas, bring him home for good. My daughter even went through some steps to start the process to be certified to care for her grandfather, when she informed Bill of this he yelled at her and called her a child, and hung up. My family and I visited him as often as we could, we would take time to feed him because we knew he couldn’t feed himself, he would eat as fast as we could get it in his mouth. After sharing a tearful Christmas Eve with him and my children, we saw that he was in worse health than before. I wanted to do more, all we could do is let him know that he was loved and wanted.
Not too long after Christmas, on January 5, 2012 we got the call from Bill that our father had passed. He had passed from complications from his previous illnesses not being fully healed. So the doctor was right, 2 weeks in the same old folks home after the hospital he would be dead. When we met at Charlie Marshall funeral home Bill told us that the Last Will and Testament that my Dad had left included the following: left the stocks that he had to his ex-wife, but the insurance policy that he had was to be used for the cost of the burial, after the cost of the burial was taken out the rest was to be split up evenly among his kids. No one knew of the conversation between me and my father discussing my portion of the money, though. My father had a passion for education, he wanted to make sure that he could help with one of his grandchildren going to college, and my daughter was the only one in college every other grandchild had already graduated or was not going to attend college. My father and I discussed that a portion of my money would go to pay for her college, and it was my duty to make sure this happened.
Shortly after arriving at the funeral home, Charlie Marshall called (the head of the funeral home) and told his daughter, who we were working with at the time, not to start on finalizing anything until he was present. We chose out a casket and by the time we had done that Mr. Marshall had arrived. Charlie wanted to know immediately where I was, and how I had been doing. We talked for a few minutes personally, then we talked about the service, what songs we wanted and who would officiate. Bill insisted that the funeral took place the next day, no autopsy, no way to contact all of our distant family in time to allow them to have closure as well. When it came time to figure out what it was going to cost to bury my Dad it was pretty easy, he already had a plot so we just had to cover the expenses for the home and the actual burial. As Mr. Marshall's daughter told us the total cost, Charlie interrupted and stated that he would pick up all of the expenses for the home and burial. I had been there for Charlie several times over my growing years, he told me that he wanted to do this for us as a thank you for all the help I had given him.
After the funeral what family did attend (which wasn’t much due to short notice) met at Bill’s house for refreshments. My mother was there, our father’s ex-wife, my family, Bill’s family, and some friends of various people were present for support and that was about it.
While sitting at the table with my mother, Bill, and our father's ex-wife, the discussion about the insurance policy was started. My father’s ex-wife stated that she would cash the check and return the money to Bill as soon as she received it, he would then distribute the funds accordingly as per the Last Will and Testament our father had left. We all agreed that was suitable since he was the power of attorney and executor of estate for my father. Not too long after that discussion, a man approached me and introduced himself as Bill's Sunday School Teacher, he then asked if I was Bill's brother? When I confirmed that I was his brother, and pointed out the rest of our immediate family in the room he was shocked and he stated that he was troubled for Bill, because Bill had made him believe that he had no surviving family members, just his in-laws. So the funeral of his father was a big surprise, much less meeting all his family.
Since that day my family has not received any monies or compensation for our portion of the estate. We have actually been told that there was “no money left”, or that “there was no insurance policy”. Stranger than that, my father’s death records in various places now read that he passed in Rockport, Aransas County, TX. My father did not pass in Rockport, he passed in Corpus Christi, TX. Even with 4 years passing we still do not have the answers, and we still do not have closure. I could only hold on to all of this grief, sadness, and frustration for so long. This horrible event in my life has caused me not just emotional pain but physical distress as well. I have come to a point that I know my brother must be stopped, he will not change unless forced to do so. If my brother was willing to put his own family at risk because they did not do what he wanted, what makes you think you are any different? If Bill won’t draw the line at using his power against others with his family, then it is likely to assume he would do the same to others, or already has.
William “Bill” Mills uses his power as a public servant to scare, manipulate, endanger, and harm others. My brother has no problem using any information from the past to threaten others, have them do his bidding, and dirty work. Bill Mills has no issue taking the law into his own hands and executing justice the way he sees fit, even if it causes him or his posse to break the law that he is sworn to uphold. The public safety of Aransas County has been in the hands of a corrupt individual for too long.
The residents of Aransas county need to know that their sheriff has their back, that he is not a liar, that he upholds the law even when his buddies break it. That he has such integrity that he admits when his department has done wrong. Aransas county needs a sheriff that can stop corruption not one that contributes to it.
Dwight Mills
San Antonio, TX