CAUBLE: TAKE MY WORD-PLEASE!

law You’ll have to excuse rex Cauble for his ignorance of the current financial realities in this state. The former millionaire rancher, Western-wear retailer, and political gadfly was away when the Texas economy landed in the toilet in the mid-Eighties.

Cauble, 76, served 40 months in federal prison from 1984 through 1987 (and forfeited his fortune) for bank fraud and racketeering in connection with the “Cowboy Mafia” drug smuggling operation.

Cauble resurfaced recently in hearings connected with his divorce from his longtime wife, Josephine cauble. Mrs. Cauble asked the judge to rid her of being a “drug smuggler’s wife,” and she sought permission to sell $16.5 million in property tied up in litigation.

Attorneys for Cauble said the properties were worth three or four times the price Mrs. Cauble was asking. If the judge would give him time, Cauble argued, he could call upon powerful friends, some of whom worked for federally funded lending institutions, and buy the blasted land himself.

Mrs. Cauble’s attorney, ike vanden Evkel, asked an appraiser, “Would these lending institutions be the same ones involved in the nationwide scandal? And would these be the same ones involved in the I-30 condo scandal?” To this, the appraiser answered, “yes” Asked what security he could give for a “90-day free look” at the purchase, Cauble replied, “Only my word.”

Judge sue lykes decided to allow the sale and granted Mrs. Cauble a summary judgment in the divorce case on several grounds, including the contentions that Rex Cauble somehow failed to divorce a previous wife before marrying Josephine. No doubt, Cauble also gave his word at the wedding. Both times.