The Story Behind "Traveling Shoes"

Our story is a familiar one. The only thing that makes it stand out is that the CPS perpetrated their crimes against someone who had the power to fight back in the media. My daughter in law, Jackie, had been with our family off and on since birth. She was born in Nashville, into a family very much in the music industry, and moved to Detroit during the advent of Rap and the Kid Rock boom. Off and on she would come to Austin to spend holidays with us. She was a joy. She played piano, wrote music, watched everyone's children, and was beautiful. As thing would have it she got pregnant at seventeen. She made the decision to make a permanent move to Austin because she liked the weather, the music scene, and the big house on the golf course.

Accepting her into the family, even in her condition, was not a difficult choice. In fact, we were overjoyed that she was having a baby, a GIRL, and set up an elaborate room for her and the new member with all the best accommodations. She had an aunt in Fort Worth who didn't like Jackie's father because he was in the music business, and although he always had been successful, she considered him "low" and "base." He was also an atheist, which rubbed his family's Lutheran roots the wrong way. When the aunt found out Jackie was pregnant she didn't think her young niece should ever have a child. On her way down to Austin Jackie stopped in Fort Worth and was detained for some time as the aunt, along with other family tried to convince her to give the child up for adoption, even forcing her to sign papers to that effect by taking her bed away and forcing her to pray for one hour each night "for her sins."Jackie finally called her father in Detroit, who drove down and brought her the rest of the way to Austin.

When she arrived, like I said, we were very happy. Jackie began to relax, but eventually told us the story of the events in Fort Worth. She had firmly decided to keep her child, and after we assured her that she was "home" now she was overjoyed that the child would be raised in Berry Creek. As a matter of fact, one day after Lydia Rose was born she was entered into the records as a member of the Berry Creek Country Club with a full golf membership! 

But we had a dilemma. Jackie had signed some kind of adoption agreement with her aunt in Fort Worth. She didn't know if it was with a lawyer, the state, or just some paper her aunt had drawn up on a computer. Jackie's dad didn't think it would hold water but our lawyers told us it might be "troublesome." the lawyers told us that Jackie being a minor may confuse the issue in court and that family courts were famous for arbitrarily removing such children even at birth. We asked about emancipation, a legal device making Jackie an independent adult. The lawyers told us such a motion would have to be put on the docket, and the child would be born long before the case ever came up for review. But there was another option. If jackie were to marry she would automatically be emancipated by virtue of her marital status.

Jackie understood the law but she did not want to marry someone and possibly lose that silver spoon she had so recently put into her mouth. It was about this time that we seized on the idea of documenting her story on YouTube. We had put up a couple of videos and had even mentioned her in one called Wilburism calling her St Jackie of Detroit during a religious spoof we had done. The plan was simple. In those days YouTube didn't pay any money, but that didn't matter,we were just having fun, as it was a creative outlet for a very talented young woman who was sipping diet Dr Peppers on the back porch, waiting to give birth. She made her film debut on a web cam in the video iJackie I. By the time she filmed iJackie IV she had the character and plot down to a fine art.  It was decided to just tell the story as it happened, and she had the camera, and plot figured out.  In addition to this just talking about what was going on helped her to work through it. Remember, this is a 17 year old girl who just ran across the country to find safe haven for her and her baby.  Jackie had been in the entertainment industry her entire life, teaching herself to play the piano by the age of five. In our little group it was well accepted that she was a prodigy. She also wrote, and could mix sound on a 32 track sound board in any studio you chose. She had learned that from her father.

We arrived on the decision of just how to marry Jackie Jo off, and still keep her safe and sound in Berry Creek. We had a son. Every family has one of these, and Timmy was ours. Our oldest son was (is) a Master Chief in the Navy. The next oldest is a police officer, and now a terrorist consultant in the Middle East. And then there's Timmy. Burglar, crackhead, high school dropout, doing seven years in prison. Timmy knew Jackie, but had never considered her a woman because the Jackie he knew rode her tricycle around the back alleys of Music Square in Nashville. During a visit he said, "Just have her marry me by proxy. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, and if and when I ever get out we'll just get a divorce and Jackie can have her cake and eat it too."

Perfect!  Jackie didn't have to submit to being with anyone she didn't want to, and Timmy was very clear that even sleeping with a little girl who's diaper he had changed would be abhorrent to him. Two days before the birth of her child Jackie and Timmy were married in this fashion with Timmy's childhood friend, Ricky, standing in for him.This can be seen on iJackie XVII. Of course this was all flying up to YouTube, and iJackie, the stage name we had given Jackie, was even giving lonelygirl5 a run for her money. Little note of trivia here, Jackie and lonely girl were actually friends on the Internet and exchanged ideas about video concepts. Rickey was a little star struck that day, but Jackie got him through it and he did ok. Two days later Lydia Rose, one day to be YouTube’s “Puck,” was born.

Then the unexpected happened. Timmy had been up for parole and denied because this was not his first rodeo. He came up for parole about a month after the wedding, and the State of Texas, in a gracious act if forgiveness, sent the "family man" on his way home! 

Now at first this didn't bother anyone. Timmy hadn't changed his opinion and Jackie was more concerned with her baby that a relationship with any man. She had made the decision to put iJackie to bed and move into music videos, a move that YouTube endorsed because they had just mad us producer-partner-directors, and the advent of AdSense was looming on the horizon. So Timmy came home, took a bedroom at the opposite side of the house and life continued. They were cordial to each other, ate at the club, and Timmy was fascinated watching his "wife" produce movies in the office of the house while she took care of her baby. They began to talk, play golf together, and take evening rides around the golf course. Then the strangest thing happened. Jackie fell in love with her husband. She came down to breakfast one morning and told me,"I finally got through to him, dad. I'm so happy!  I never thought someone who was a good looking as him would ever have anything to do with the likes of me."

Unfortunately Timmy did not leave his demons back in prison. He began to take early evening jogs around the golf course alone, and it didn't take the girl from Detroit long to figure him out. There was a big argument and Timmy told us that the "pressure" of living in Berry Creek, and Jackie's growing fame was pushing him to return to drugs, and if he could just get on his own he could make a living for his family, and everything would be ok. Jackie's input was that while she was concerned she wasn't intimidated by the task, and she was confident that she was woman enough to help her man. All she now wanted in life was to have a bunch of kids, surround her with family, and become anonymous. At Timmy's insistence iJackie disappeared from the scene. She moved behind the camera and produced videos like "New Soul," "Dejavu," and a series of adult country comedy videos using music produced by me and her father when, as a little girl, she had sat on my lap for practically the entire three day session.

I don't have to tell you that the idea didn't work. To compound matters our youngest son, Bobby, died at the age of twenty-eight. Bobby had been Jackie's director and her brother in law, and her friend. She was inconsolable! After the funeral she tried to sit down at the console to work on projects Bobby still had in the "can." She looked up at me and said, "Dad, I just can't do it. The Muse is gone!" Timmy descended deeper into drugs and Jackie left for Detroit to visit her father. While in Detroit she discovered she was pregnant with her second child.  After talking with Timmy on the phone, she returned to Texas to try to make it all work again.  Bobby’s death had a profound effect on the family, and Timmy told her it had crushed him, and he just wanted her back so he could rebuild his shattered life.

She pulled completely out of the entertainment business at this time, even stopped playing the piano and writing, and went home to Timmy, who by now, contrary to what he had told her on the phone, was completely sunk in an ocean of crack cocaine. She gave birth to a boy, and named him Bobby. Over the course of the next eleven months she would have a set of twins.  We had put them all in a nice house in Killeen, Texas.  Timmy refused to turn on the water legally, and had warrants out for him, but Jackie made a home, tried to cope, and kept us informed.  During there stay in that home the CPS was called because of the water situation, and Timmy moved the family very quickly to a hidden location with the assistance of Ricky, the man who had stood proxy for him.  We were not told where the children were, and this was of great concern to us.

We spent about a year or less trying to find them, only allowed by their friends to sent items to them through “intermediaries” because  for us to see the children, “Was not such a good idea.” During this time we were questioned by the CPS and cooperated because of our concern. They were not found at this time, and the case was closed.

My wife and I sat in the big, empty house at Berry Creek grieving. My wife eventually had a heart attack requiring her to have a triple bypass. When she recovered we decided to "pay it forward." we wanted to fill the house with laughter again so we went to the CPS and told them we would donate the use of our home to help children who had been removed from family to cope until reconciliation. We had previously had dealings with them, and thought, well, if we can’t have family back here again, we will open our doors to other kids, other families.  We set up all the bedrooms for boys and girls of all ages, and even got clearance from the Country Club to allow such children to enjoy the services during their time at our house. Our intention was that if we could get parents and their children in such a setting healing and reconciliation might be possible. The CPS let us know real fast that this was NOT CPS policy, and that most children seized would be processed for adoption. We also noticed that during our classes with them "menus" were given out and the people taking the class could pick and choose the race, age, and sex of the child they wanted.

We did notlike this, but we had a big, empty house, and Timmy had his kids hidden quite well as he ran from his parole officer.  We chose five Mexican kids, age seven and up. Our reasoning was that if we couldn't help a lot of kids we could help these five. Bobby would have liked that. Then we got a call from Timmy. He said all his plans had failed; he had jumped parole, and soon would be back in prison. Could we please come get Jackie and the kids? We had no issue with this at all. We discussed this with our CPS advisor who's only concern was that if we moved four babies into our home we couldn't have the Mexican kids because we would be at our limit, but she said it would be good because the children would be safe, and it would stay out of the department's hands. She told us that the previous case had simply been closed and that there was no issue at all with us helping family. She had been to our home and thought it was perfect!  She couldn’t have planned any better.

It also solved another issue, which while not stopping our efforts was a spot on our record. During Bobby's last year he began to have health and mental problems. Autopsy results showed that he had a certain problem in his brain, which could lead to violent, aggressive behavior. At one party on the porch he went into a rage and threw a can at me. Earlier that week he had hit his mother in the head with a can, knocked Timmy up against a wall, and tried to stomp Jackie in the stomach. This particular night I had enough and I grabbed the can he hit me with and backhanded it back at him. He quickly regained his composure and said, "Dad, I don't know what's wrong with me. It mad all the time. I even get mad at the garbage when I take it to the road."

Well, every man should have an unemployed, religious fanatic brother in law hanging around, living in a huge free house courtesy of us, and seething with contempt. We had Les, my wife's little brother. He called the Adult Protective Services and told them that I had beat up Bobby. Little girl shows up the next morning, questioned us, and we hold her the truth. Bobby lived in his own studio apartment forty miles away, got rowdy during a party, nothing bad happened and he resented her even implying that he needed protection from anything. She left, we never heard any more, and Bobby and I flew out to California to rest and film. One month after we retuned Bobby died of a heart attack. He was five foot, two inches tall and 352 pounds.

During my background check by the CPS this came up. It was an APS case but somehow "magically" crosses over and got included in my file. Of course the investigator said, "Although the victim claims he was not harmed, I have reason to believe he is covering up the event because he is afraid." I have actually read the intake because I have seen the entire CPS case file. Timmy went to the CPS office to pick up a folder and the receptionist gave him the entire file, which was waiting to be given to a caseworker instead of the single file for Lydia Rose that was there for him.

We went on for about two months, with our friend at the CPS calling occasionally, inquiring  about the kids, and very happy that she considered this issue resolved.  Then, of course, Timmy called again.  He was “clean” he told Jackie. He had an apartment now, and was in business with Ricky.  Could she please come home.  Reluctantly, Jackie agreed.  One day after she got there we got a call from our friend at the CPS.  We told her what had happened. She was alarmed.  The next day Jackie called.  “Dad, he lied!  I’m in a f**king crack house.  Please come get me NOW!”

We brought Jackie and the kids back to Berry Creek.  The CPS, and police showed up looking for Timmy, of course he wasn’t there, and proceeded to remove the babies. I made a quick call to our friend at the CPS who told them the children were safely placed there and for them to simply draw up a safety plan.  This they did, but they included a provision that Jackie, since she had not shown the strength to stay away from Timmy, should be removed from the home. Jackie complied and was taken to Ricky’s house that very night.

This day after that, during a diaper change, it was noticed that one of the twins had an enlarged testicle. We rushed him to the hospital, and after our friend at the CPS assured the doctor, and police that we had perfect right and permission of the CPS to handle the child, we got him into surgery. The new CPS worker tried to imply that somehow we had damaged the child, however the doctor at Scott and White informed them that this was an ongoing condition that could not have arisen in just 24 hours, but in fact was some sort of birth defect, which had been corrected by the operation.  Jackie said the swelling would pop up, and then go down in about a day and that she had looked it up on the internet and found that the child may just grow out of it.  Since it never stayed long, she voiced no concern.

We had been concerned at this time at Lydia’s stumbling, lack of language and sleep patterns.  My wife, being a diabetic, simply checked her blood one day and she had a blood sugar count of over 400!  We informed the CPS of this and they said we weren’t “qualified.”  During another meeting we were late and told them that one of the twins had a seizure, and that he was in the hospital for an MRI, and showed them the actual report with the doctor’s handwritten note at the top, “Diagnosis, Epilepsy.” They said they couldn’t be sure of that diagnosis, “at this time.”

After this we had daily visits from the CPS. We became so familiar with them we let them right in, considered them to be friends, and cooperated in every way.  Jackie was allowed visits in secure areas, we provided full reports, and photos to the CPS, and all records of doctor visits, etc.  What we didn’t know was that Timmy was calling the CPS Hotline daily reporting all manner of abuse.  Never mind that the CPS could walk in at any time, they had to “investigate.”  Then, suddenly, with no warning, Lorena Flornoy, CPS caseworker showed up with the police and took all the babies.

They had Timmy with them. We were told they would be taken to a “safe” place. Jackie at this time was in the Austin State Hospital.  The loss of her children, the loss of sleep, poor diet, and Timmy had led her to a breakdown. The “safe” place was my brother’s ex-sister in law in Waco.  Timmy had assured her that she would be paid a huge sum, by the state for caring for these babies.  Jackie got out of the hospital and immediately found her way to Waco and was reunited with her children. 

We found this out from family, and, to be honest, we had no issues.  Four babies, all under three were a bit much, and the woman in Waco had a huge spread, and was the religious leader in her family.  She didn’t try to hide the kids from us, and we were happy with her.  But she wasn’t!  The job of caring for them was horrendous, and she had been promised by Timmy that she would be paid for her efforts. When she was told by the CPS that this would not happen because she was “family,” she became enraged.  In addition to that, her own son, a convicted pedophile was about the area and she was concerned about breaking the law and him getting rearrested. After brief consideration  Timmy loaded all the kids up on a jet and flew to his brother’s house in California. Jackie followed about three days later.

Lorena Flornoy showed up at our house with a tribe of police, her supervisor, her supervisor’s supervisor, and a big white van to pick up the babies. Things were a bit different now.  We were not receptive as we had been before, and our son was home from the Middle East.  He was a sworn police officer, and an anti-terrorist, and irritated.  He let his brothers in arms search the house but forbade Flornoy or her cohorts to even step on the property.  They asked us where the kids were and I told them I didn’t know for sure, which I didn’t, but that they may be in California.  I figured the kids were safe now and gave them my son’s number. 

The police officer called my son and told him that although he didn’t have an order right now, he soon would have and for him to harbor Timmy, Jackie, and the children could be a violation of the law that could lead the CPS to his door.  He advised my son to back away from this and send them back to Austin. The next day Timmy, Jackie, and the four babies landed at Bergstrom Airport in Austin, and the CPS took them away.  I can’t be sure, but I saw a clip where Alex Jones is crying and saying, “They take our children away at the airport to give them to the pedophile government!”  We all saw that and thought, “My God!  He’s talking about Jackie!”

The four children were placed with a woman named Butler who had other foster children.  We were allowed visits at the CPS office, but I began to notice I was being sectioned out.  Each time I would go there they would have to make sure if it was ok for me to see the kids.  It was about this time the CPS began to tell my wife that she might get the babies if she would divorce me.

There was a holiday.  The children were fed, before being locked in their room.  Lydia Rose, YouTube’s “Puck,” was found in coma, and rushed to the hospital.  My wife was informed three days later and rushed to the hospital and remained by her side until she recovered. The diagnosis? Type one diabetes.  Lydia was born with the condition.  A gift from her father in Detroit! An investigation on the living conditions of the children ramped the stakes up a bit, and my wife was again told that if she would only divorce me, everything  would be ok.  After a court hearing she left her big, beautiful home in Berry Creek, a home she had always dreamed of, and a 25 year Catholic marriage.  It was at this time that Jackie and I began to make our YouTube series on the CPS.  The only weapon we had left. Movies!  We made, “Animals,” “Ruh Roh,” and “Miss Johnson.”  Jackie never appeared in any of these films but her expert hand, and intellect was behind every one. They were hard hitting, and dramatic.  We even showed them their own files on camera in “Ruh Roh,” demonstrating  lies and deceit of the CPS, and saying, “Ruh Roh,” each time we caught them. Jackie always loved Scoobie Doo! 

Jackie lived with Timmy on a farm for a while, but when she became pregnant with her fifth child she came back to Berry Creek for a short stay.  We went to Austin, and for the first time she spoke publicly about the CPS in the film,”Jackie  Speaks.” We edited the film toward the end because she was standing in front of the UT Tower and said, “Well, we Texans sure know how to take care of business!”  The scene changes to a shot of Charles Whitman firing from the tower.  Jackie, upon review, edited out that scene because knowing her audience was teen girls, it was bad enough to talk about the CPS without implying violence. However, this video, in its entirety, may be seen in the movie, Traveling Shoes.

Pregnant with her fifth child, Jackie sat before the camera again. In a film entitled, “iJackie, The Last Testament,” while not condemning the CPS, she says, “I’m just a mother, I love my family, and my children…” Her nervousness over talking openly is revealed when she says, “Is this something that I should even be talking about?” The CPS had made it very clear that if Jackie even revealed she knew anything about her children they would take them away again.”  At the filming of this video her son, one of the twins, Trystyn had seizures and was in the hospital. Jackie feared that if the CPS suspected she even knew this fact they would act, and she holds her cell phone in her right hand waiting for information about her son from a secret source. Her statement about how well everything is fades when she slips in that drugs had nothing to do with being pregnant, but having sex with someone that doesn’t care about you.  This statement enraged Timmy, but in the edit Jackie told me, “Let it stay!” The main reason for this film was because during the investigation the CPS had used Jackie’s notoriety on YouTube to demonstrate  that she was an unfit mother. One film in particular, “Herb Superb,” was a Cheech and Chong type film which showed an inebriated iJackie at a porch party.  We had found the song on the internet, and her brother in law, Mike, had actually secured the copyright for us in Dubai by actually meeting with the writer of the song who was very happy to have iJackie make a film about his song.  There were no drugs on the set.  It was the end of a long day.  She had made three films that day. “Once,” where she cocks an assault rifle, which would later become her logo, “They’re coming to take me away, ha ha,” where she skips around the mansion and rolls her eyes like Fanny Bryce, and “I support Trevor Rieger,” a video to help out a producer-friend  in Hollywood who was having a battle with YouTube.  She was exhausted.  Whenever Jackie was around the cameras were always on.  She ate dinner, and then opened a bottle of wine.  She got into a wine drinking contest with her director, Bobby, and, well, at 352 pounds, he won!

When we looked at the film the next day she laughed out loud and said, “Oh God Dad!  That’s Herb Superb!  Let’s do it!  So Jackie’s most famous video was born.  We never told the public that Jackie was not a regular pot user. In one of the iJackie’s she referred to her pregnancy with Lydia as being the product of “getting into drugs,” and advised her young audience to avoid this pitfall.  When asked what drugs, she replied, “Oh, I’m just a little pothead. In point of fact Jackie took one puff, of one joint during her life at Berry Creek.  Jackie loved to have two beers at night.  She preferred Miller Lite, and she was a light weight. Many a night I put her to bed because her beer had put her to sleep. 

The CPS used this film to demonstrate that Jackie was a mainline heroin addict!  None of their drug tests ever revealed any drugs, not any.  In an altercation with my brother in law, Les, the police were called and asked Jackie to take a test, which she did, and that, too, was clean.    But it wasn’t as much Herb Superb that the CPS didn’t like.  It was the series on the CPS that riled them up.  That was the reason to hate her, which was the reason to tell my wife to divorce me! 

The CPS wanted the divorce, but would not pay for it, in fact communicated  through lawyers to her their wishes.  Cassidly Dossett was the supervisor and she would sit in the courtroom, sending out a lawyer to tell my wife what needed to be done.  Finally I did the divorce myself, representing  both sides and gave them what they wanted on the understanding  that the babies would be placed with her. I had to deliver the paper to the Monument Café in Georgetown, leave it on a table and leave, so that my wife to pick the paper up without touching my hand.

After the film, “Last Testament,” where Jackie is clearly pregnant, she gave birth in Killeen Texas to a boy.  The CPS took the baby so fast Jackie barely had time to name him, so when my wife picked him up he became known simply as “New Baby.”

Jackie moved in with me, alone, and lived with me for about four months. We didn’t talk about the CPS, or the case.  She didn’t sneak around trying to see the kids, knowing full well that they could be removed at any time and considering what had happened to Lydia, such an event was unthinkable. 

She became pregnant again.  On Thursday I would always take her to Killeen where she could spend the day with Timmy.  When she realized her condition she immediately went back to Fort Worth.  It was the lesser of two evils.  She KNEW what the CPS would do, she hoped she could prevail upon family.  She came back one last time and took a ride with me on the golf course.  That ride was not filmed, but I wish it were.  Her conversation revealed a depth of soul that astounded my.  Jackie had matured during her struggle, and a very dynamic young woman emerged, or perhaps she had been there all along, we just never noticed.

“I’ve always tried to go through life without hate. If you hate, it’s the same as murder, and I never want to kill anyone. I don’t even hate the CPS.  They’re misguided.  Through all of this they can’t point to one time that I’ve spoke to them out of hate. But, dad, you and I are standing at the gates of the Alamo.  They’re gonna get us, and if they don’t they’re gonna kill my babies.  I’m signing the papers with mom to just give up my children.  The CPS is starting to crawfish with her now and I can’t risk them being scattered to the wind. Our Lord says not to fear the man who can kill the body, fear the man who can kill the soul.  If one of my babies dies, it will kill my soul.” 

That afternoon Jackie filmed her last film, “Gypsies Tramps and Thieves,” filmed and directed by Lance DeAngelo, who after four years had finally come from California  to film an iJackie.  While he was mixing that video Jackie sat down in her old office at Berry Creek, and considering the death of soul made the video, “The day Clayton Delaney Died.”  As with most of her work there is an underlying message of hope and love, as in the final scene, iJackie’s face turns in to her daughter, Puck, and the cycle of life goes on.

She didn’t cry.  She got in the car that day and I drove her to the bus station.  We didn’t speak.  When she got out she turned, looked at me, winked, gave me the thumbs up, and said, “iJackie.”

Although I’m pretty sure I know where she is I haven’t had a lot of communication.  I know she’s safe, I know my grand daughter that she had is safe.  I believe she went to L. A. to stay with her brother for a while.  I do know that she knows the deal.  If she comes around, the CPS will kill her kids. 

I’ve never told this entire story before.  There are hints in the videos and you can watch Traveling Shoes.

As you watch it, and now know the entire story you can pick out the era of each part.  The song, “Traveling Shoes” was picked because it was a song her father had worked with in Detroit, and Jackie always said you have to have your “Traveling Shoes” always ready to leave  this world.