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The podcast “After The Flood” is marking one year since deadly flooding ravaged parts of Central Texas and the Hill Country. This area is often called Flash Flood Alley because of how frequently it’s affected by fast, accumulating waters. Today we’ll hear about another deadly flood that happened almost 50 summers ago.
Also, evidence-tampering charges against a former Williamson County sheriff and former assistant county attorney have been dropped. The move follows a years-long legal battle spurred by the death of Javier Ambler following a traffic stop.
Plus, one neighborhood in Austin has a unique way of celebrating Fourth of July. We’ll share the story of the Lawn Chair Brigade.
The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:08] The podcast, After the Flood, is marking one year since deadly flooding ravaged parts of central Texas and the Hill Country. This area is often called Flash Flood Alley because of how frequently it’s affected by fast, accumulating waters. Today we’re going to hear about another deadly flood that happened almost 50 summers ago. And evidence hampering charges against a former Williamson County Sheriff and former Assistant County Attorney have been dropped. The move follows a years-long legal battle spurred by the death of Javier Ambler following a traffic stop. The latest coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:39] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:44] Plus, one neighborhood in Austin has a unique way of celebrating Fourth of July. Come hear about the Lawn Chair Brigade, those stories, and more, coming up on today’s episode of Austin Signal. Howdy out there. This is Austin Signal. I’m your host Jerry Quijano. It is Thursday, the second day of July. We’re glad you’re tuning in. This is community-powered public radio KUT News. Evidence tampering charges against former Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody and former Assistant Williamson County Attorney Jason Nasour have been dropped. Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza made the announcement this week. That move comes after a years-long battle stemming from the death of Javier Ambler after a traffic stop. That interaction was caught on film for the reality TV show, Live PD. Kaylee Hunt is KUT’s Williamson County reporter and she is joining us with the latest. Hi, Kaylee. Hey, Jerry. So this was a pretty high-profile case at the time, but it’s been a few years now. Can you briefly remind us what happened back in 2019 during this traffic stop that’s at the center of this legal battle?
Kailey Hunt [00:02:00] Yeah, so this traffic stop is going on now, it’s been seven years since this event actually took place. So it’s a very drawn out event, but it all stems from when Javier Ambler, who was a 40-year-old black man from Pflugerville, died in Williamson County deputies custody in March 2019, after being pursued by law enforcement for allegedly failing to dim his headlights to oncoming traffic. So once deputies attempted to stop Ambler They Caught up with him, they used tasers on him four times, although he protested that he had a heart condition and couldn’t breathe, and he died shortly after.
Jerry Quijano [00:02:39] Okay, the video evidence that’s in question here was actually being filmed for a reality TV program, that’s correct?
Kailey Hunt [00:02:45] That’s right, yes. Yeah, so Ambler’s death was caught on video for the reality TV show, Live PD. A lot of folks may remember that being on the airwaves. And Live PD had a contract with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office at that time. And as far as allegations against Chodey and Nasour, they were accused of tempering with evidence and working to hide this video evidence of Ambler death from investigators and the public.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:13] You were updating this story for a while, and then we didn’t hear anything for what seemed like a good amount of time, and then all of a sudden these charges are being dismissed. Why now?
Kailey Hunt [00:03:22] Yeah, that’s right. So, Chode and Nisour, they actually went to trial for this. The trial began in August of 2024. And at that time, I remember we were there in the courtroom. First day of the trial, State District Judge Karen Sage, who was overseeing it, she made a ruling that essentially limited the type of testimony that would be allowed related to the case, and specifically with the video evidence. And so from there, the trial was put on hold while the Travis County DA’s office tried to appeal the judge’s decision to allow evidence. And that appeal went through the third court of appeals process. The court initially ruled in the favor of the Travis county DA’s Office, but then later reversed itself. So, as a result, prosecutors say that… The judge’s decision has essentially blocked them from putting on essential facts in their case. Basically they don’t have enough evidence at this point to try it. And so that’s why they were dismissed.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:28] And that’s why it’s now. Yeah, so we’re specifically talking about the charges against former Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody and former assistant Williamson county attorney, Jason Nasour. There were other law enforcement officials involved in this incident though. Did they face any legal repercussions?
Kailey Hunt [00:04:45] Yes. Yeah, there were actually two Williamson County deputies, JJ Johnson and Zach Camden, who were indicted and tried on manslaughter charges in 2024, and a Travis County jury acquitted those deputies.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:01] Okay what have you heard, how have the district attorneys involved in this case responded so far?
Kailey Hunt [00:05:06] Yeah, so we received statements from both the Travis County and Williamson County district attorney’s offices. The two offices and DAs heading them were jointly prosecuting this case since it involved Williamson county and Travis county. Both of them expressed frustration with the outcome and with the evidentiary ruling that the Travis county judge put into place. Um, they said their, their hearts were broken for the Ambler family, who had waited for seven years at what they saw as a chance for justice.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:39] So does that mean that this is the end of this case going forward?
Kailey Hunt [00:05:43] This is likely the end of all the cases concerning Javier Ambler’s death.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:48] Okay, that is Kaylee Hunt. She is KUT’s Williamson County reporter. Thank you for the update, Kaylee.
Kailey Hunt [00:05:54] Thanks, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:06] This Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the deadly flooding that tore through the Texas Hill Country on the 4th of July. More than 130 people were killed. Since then, public radio reporters across Texas have been working on the podcast after the flood. It’s a five-part series that asks why this happened, and if something like this could happen again. Episode two is out now, explaining how the Hill Country earned the nickname Flash Blood Alley. Recalls other floods in the region’s past. That includes one in 1978 that killed at least 37 people. After the flood is hosted by Houston Public Media’s Dominic Anthony Walsh and is produced by the Texas Newsroom and PBS Frontline. Here is a preview of Episode 2.
Dominic Anthony Walsh [00:06:53] The 1978 flood was described at the time as unprecedented, catastrophic, record-breaking. But less than a decade later, it happened again.
Radio Announcer [00:07:05] On Friday morning, July 17th, 1987, the small town of Comfort, Texas became the scene of a heroic rescue and tragic loss.
Radio Guest 1 [00:07:13] That day probably was one of the most traumatic of my whole life.
Radio Guest 2 [00:07:17] We thought that the only people that were alive were the ones that were around us, and we were scared to death. I know I’ll never get over this, because it’s something that’s gonna be in my mind forever.
Dominic Anthony Walsh [00:07:26] Listening to the news coverage of this one really gives me an eerie sense of deja vu to the flood from last summer.
Radio Announcer [00:07:33] Good evening. It’s well known in the Texas Hill country that flash flooding can be extremely dangerous.
Dominic Anthony Walsh [00:07:38] It was mid-July, 1987. The flood hit in the early morning hours, causing the Guadalupe River to rise in astonishing 29 feet.
Radio Guest 1 [00:07:46] And the victims were summer campers.
Dominic Anthony Walsh [00:07:50] The victims that year were from a summer camp, just about an hour’s drive from Camp Mystic.
Radio Guest 3 [00:07:55] The teenagers were being evacuated from Camp Pot of Gold, a Baptist church camp, during a driving rainstorm.
Radio Guest 1 [00:08:02] They were trying to drive over a low-water crossing when one of two vehicles stalled. The vehicle started filling with water, so they held hands and tried to wait out, but the strong current swept some of them away.
Dominic Anthony Walsh [00:08:15] 43 people were carried into the waters. Most of them were rescued.
Radio Announcer [00:08:20] But ten children died in the waters of the Guadalupe River. The river has returned to normal, but the lives it touched remain forever changed.
Radio Guest 2 [00:08:31] Sometimes we’ll cry about it and sometimes we wish we were dead sometimes and that they were still here
Radio Guest 4 [00:08:37] All four of my kids were there and so we lost two and we got two back so we know what both ways feels like, getting your kids back plus losing your kids. There’s an empty spot in my life, a big one.
Dominic Anthony Walsh [00:08:52] After the 1987 flood came a reckoning, much like the one we’re seeing today. Tough questions, promises of change, lawsuits. Back then, there was only one way to warn people along the Guadalupe that the water was coming for them. Whenever it rained a lot, folks who lived upstream would watch the water rise and call folks downstream to let them know. That was it. A good old-fashioned phone tree. But after the 1987 flood, local leaders decided that enough was enough. It was time to stop relying on a literal game of telephone and instead install an actual flood warning system—gages that would measure rainfall and river levels in real time—and transmit those readings to emergency managers. Kerr County residents grumbled about the cost, which they had to cover through higher property taxes. But Kerr County area officials insisted. The system came online in 1989. Yet, last summer, when asked how such a catastrophic flood could catch so many people off guard, their answer was…
Jeremy Hendricks [00:09:59] We do not have a warning system on the roof.
Dominic Anthony Walsh [00:10:02] So what happened?
Jerry Quijano [00:10:06] You can find the answer in episode two of After the Flood. Again, that’s a new podcast from the Texas newsroom and PBS Frontline out now. The show examines last year’s deadly floods in the Texas Hill Country, as well as here in Central Texas. We just spoke with KUT’s Williamson County reporter, Kaylee Hunt, about things happening in Williamson county. Kaylee has also been working on an episode of After The Flood, and we’ll be sure to feature that here on Austin Signal whenever it’s out, but be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you listen to your podcasts. Right now you’re tuned in to Austin Signal and we sure do appreciate you spending some time here with us. We’ve got more show for you after this break. This is Austin Signal, welcome back. We’ve got a few headlines for your day. Austin Fire Department says a lithium-ion battery ignited a fire yesterday at a South Austin e-bike warehouse. Fire officials say the blaze was extinguished around 1230. The company, ModBike, said on social media that the fire did not affect inventory. Austin’s Latino community continues to mobilize to provide aid to victims of earthquakes that devastated Venezuela last week. The Austin Venezuelan Association has been organizing donation drives for those affected. For more about that story, head on over to KUT.org or you can find it on the KUT app. And a personal watercraft ban on Lake Austin goes into effect tomorrow at sunset for the July 4th weekend. Austin police will have patrols on the lake looking out for prohibited watercraft. That ban includes jet skis, wet bikes, motorized surfboards, and similar devices. Again that ban only applies to Lake Austin. And expires at sunrise Sunday, July 5th. America’s 250th birthday is almost upon us. Another Independence Day, another chance to see some fireworks, grill some hot dogs, maybe watch a parade. But there’s one neighborhood in Austin that has a unique way of celebrating, and our ATXplain project got a question about it. KUT’s Olivia Aldridge brings us that story.
Olivia Aldridge [00:12:29] On a hot Fourth of July, around a decade ago, Jeremy Hendricks and his wife went out to celebrate in the Northwest Hills neighborhood. That’s when they first saw them. This group of women decked out in red, white, and bling.
Jeremy Hendricks [00:12:43] Saw these crazy ladies marching down the street with their lawn chairs, and my wife was enamored with it.
Olivia Aldridge [00:12:50] They weren’t just marching. They were performing a choreographed drill routine, spinning chairs around instead of batons or rifles. They call themselves the Lawn Chair Brigade, and Jeremy’s wife, Lynn, immediately knew she had to be a part of whatever the heck was going on here. Soon enough, she joined up.
Jeremy Hendricks [00:13:08] She is now the hospitality chair. Uh, she calls herself because she brings the jello shots to the practice the night before.
Olivia Aldridge [00:13:19] Now, Jeremy has been supportive, but he also doesn’t quite get it.
Jeremy Hendricks [00:13:24] I can’t get out of any of them, how it got started, why they do it exactly, other than the camaraderie I guess, but yeah.
Olivia Aldridge [00:13:31] So you’re like, what is my wipe up?
Jeremy Hendricks [00:13:33] That’s exactly right. What has she gotten herself into?
Olivia Aldridge [00:13:36] At a recent lawn chair brigade practice, Lynn told me she kind of can’t believe Jeremy is still bugging her about this after all this time.
Lynn Hendricks [00:13:44] He asked, did you ever find out about how the launch air brigade started? And I was like, no, and he’s like, so you’re just part of a cult. I’m like, No, I’m not a part of the cult. Like no cult meets once a year for the fourth of July parade.
Olivia Aldridge [00:13:58] Really can’t be too sure. I mean, they’re not drinking any Kool-Aid, but Lynn herself is providing the jello shots. So I told Jeremy I’d look into it. Maybe questions about all-female lawn chair drill teams require a woman’s touch. It didn’t take long to see that this group enjoys something of a celebrity status in Northwest Hills. Longtime troupe Ann Dinkler says she often gets recognized while out and about.
Anne [00:14:24] I’ve given autographs on cocktail napkins in the neighborhood. I don’t want you thinking I’m a serious drinker, but you know.
Olivia Aldridge [00:14:33] Anne joined in 1999. For every year a brigade member marches, they get a ribbon to pin on their chair. And no one has more ribbons than Anne. So if anyone should know how this all got started, it’s her. It’s a little bit fuzzy. That’s a bit fuzzy! Okay, so the group had already been up and running for a while when Anne joined. She really only knew rumors about how it began. But she went digging for me. She even dusted off her old AOL account looking for clues. And that fuzzy picture started to come into focus. A picture of a small gaggle of neighborhood friends clanging down the street.
Anne [00:15:11] I can just hear a bump bump bump, bump bump hitting the street with the edges of the lawn chairs.
Olivia Aldridge [00:15:19] This is Marilyn Hill Henderson, the original godmother of the Lawn Chair Brigade. The earliest home video footage we could find is from 1995, a few years after they got started. And there’s Marilyn, tall, blonde, and in charge, leading a small group of women in denim cutoff shorts.
Radio Announcer [00:15:39] We cannot! We’ve got to get some help!
Olivia Aldridge [00:15:40] It all began when Marilyn moved to Austin. She wanted to find a way to connect with people in her new neighborhood, with a background as a high school majorette.
Marilyn [00:15:50] She had her eye on the annual 4th of July parade. So all that kind of came together when I saw that clip of the guys with the briefcases. She’s talking about the Fred Hill briefcase drill team.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:16:02] Here comes my favorite group, the Fred Hill Briefcase Grill Team. They’re a lean, mean, marching machine. They’re the team from Plymouth, Michigan.
Radio Guest 5 [00:16:11] If you ever wanted to know what executives do in their off time, take a look.
Olivia Aldridge [00:16:15] But for decades, these businessmen from Chicago suited up and spun their briefcases with military precision at parades in Detroit and even the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
Crowd [00:16:25] One, two, three, four!
Olivia Aldridge [00:16:29] Marilyn thought, why not do something like that in Northwest Hills, but, you know, with lawn chairs. See, she’d spent a lot of time at this county fair in Mississippi, where there’s a tradition called the lawn chair race. Everyone rushes down to a performance stage with chairs in hand to try and get the best seat for a show.
Anne [00:16:48] So I had a real orientation to lawn chairs and I don’t know, it seemed like such a summer thing.
Marilyn [00:16:54] And so, you know, Americana. She brought the idea to two women in her neighborhood.
Speaker 19 [00:16:59] It was probably over cocktails.
Olivia Aldridge [00:17:02] That’s Patti Myers. She, Marilyn, and another woman named Juliet Vanderplug all had kids around the same age. They’d all get together and watch them play on Friday nights. And Patti says she and Juliet were immediately game for Marilyn’s big plan.
Speaker 19 [00:17:18] We all three had experience being in some form of performance in high school. I mean, I think we all three were sassy little show-offs, frankly.
Olivia Aldridge [00:17:29] In the beginning, it was just a few women working up routines in Patty’s cul-de-sac. They sometimes called themselves the tacky Texas tarts. And Juliet says people got a real kick out of their parade debut.
Fred Hill [00:17:42] I remember PJ Pierce was on the side watching and she yelled out at us.
Olivia Aldridge [00:17:49] I want to do that next year, call me. That woman, PJ Pierce, actually did join up after that. She ended up becoming a really important member of the group.
Fred Hill [00:17:59] I wanted to do it because it just sounded like silly fun.
Olivia Aldridge [00:18:05] This is where things get a little complicated because PJ remembers this whole story very differently from Marilyn and her original crew. I must have a much better memory than she does. Remember, there’s no footage we could find of those first couple of years of the parade. And PJ says, when she first yelled at the ladies from the side of the road, there were no lawn chairs. Not yet. No, she says they were doing something entirely different.
Fred Hill [00:18:32] They sat in the back of a convertible, had their prom dresses on or evening dresses on with a ribbon that said, ladies who like parades. As I said, totally different. I was there the first year that we did lawn chairs. I know that.
Olivia Aldridge [00:18:50] Interesting, because they think they did lawn chairs from the beginning. They did not. Marilyn, Patty, and Juliet all say they have no memory of ever wearing gowns. So, like Anne said, it’s a little fuzzy. But all of these women agree on what happened next. Within a few years, the original trio moved on from the brigade. Life got busy, they just got tugged in new directions. PJ stepped up to keep the brigade going. And under her leadership, women were joining left and right. Even the occasional man got involved. They became a staple of the parade, so much so that the one year they decided to skip it, PJ got a call from the president of the Neighborhood Association. He’d gotten complaints.
Fred Hill [00:19:36] He said, I’ve called to ask you specifically to do the Launch Air Brigade. So I said.
Olivia Aldridge [00:19:42] Okay, Larry. The ladies were back the next year, and they haven’t missed a parade since. What started as a way for three neighbors to bond over silly fun became a local tradition shared with generations of women. Marilyn passed the baton to PJ, who eventually passed it to Anne, and Anne continued to grow the group. It was mostly middle-aged women. At some point, the group actually nicknamed themselves the Hot Flashes, and they had an unofficial rule. If you’re menopausal, you’re in. Cream and a puzzle, you gotta audition. All jokes aside, Anne says everyone is welcome.
Anne [00:20:19] The common denominators, these are fun women, they all have great senses of humor, they know how to yuck it up, they like to strut their inner ham.
Olivia Aldridge [00:20:30] Brought some local luminaries into the fold. There are state representatives, judges, and county commissioners who are all dedicated members. In fact, so many people joined over the years that a problem emerged. It was hard finding enough lawn chairs. They have to be vintage, the lightweight aluminum kind that’s easy to twirl around. Ann says they’ve scoured estate sales and gone dumpster diving to find them. Sometimes anonymous supporters even drop them in her driveway.
Anne [00:20:57] I have 21 in my garage. My husband threatens to divorce me, but as of now, that’s all talk.
Olivia Aldridge [00:21:05] This surplus means that Anne can always be in recruitment mode, which I found out the hard way when I asked if I could record a rehearsal.
Anne [00:21:14] Only if you perform. Join us, Olivia.
Olivia Aldridge [00:21:18] Well, that didn’t sound cult-like at all, but I had no choice. I had to go gonzo. That’s how, a few weeks later, I found myself with a crowd of women in the Doss Elementary School parking lot, wearing a blue tutu and a red bedazzled tiara. Soon enough, I even had the chant down. I also got to try out the Lawn Chair Lady’s patented choreography.
Speaker 19 [00:21:46] Do the clap and then we’re going to do the zipper and then we will move with it. That’s where it looks good.
Olivia Aldridge [00:21:50] I may have also taken a jello shot. It’s all a little fuzzy. I asked as many of the brigade members as I could, why do you do this? Most of them answered a lot like Rachel Rogers. It’s fun. It’s good to have some whimsy in life. So there’s one answer to Jeremy Hendrick’s question. Why do the lawn chair ladies do what they do? Girls just wanna have fun. But actually, I think it’s a little deeper than that. When I talked to the brigade member, I heard a lot about camaraderie. About sisterhood.
Anne [00:22:21] Here’s Anne. Every year there are women I never see. I just see them this one time a year and it’s like we talked the day before. We just, that interconnection, it’s fabulous. It’s, you know, estrogen city.
Olivia Aldridge [00:22:39] Really, it’s a tradition the whole community looks forward to, rain or shine, even in tough years, like during COVID when the brigades still got out and marched in the Randall’s parking lot. Anne remembers one especially difficult year when a longtime brigade member passed away from cancer.
Anne [00:22:57] And her husband missed her so much. He just showed up in a tutu with the necklace on him. We were almost, all of us almost in tears, but he was fabulous. He knew all the routines because he’d been watching his wife for 10 years.
Olivia Aldridge [00:23:14] So yes, the lawn chair brigade is about fun. But fun isn’t always a trivial thing. Silliness can be magic and joy can be medicine. If you need a little bit of that magic in your own life, the ladies will be back to their usual mischief this year. You can’t miss them. They’re the ones marching down far west with the lawn chairs. If you squint, you might even see me among them. I’m Olivia Aldridge in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:23:45] That story was first performed as part of our A.T. Explained live show at Bass Concert Hall back in May, including a performance by the Lawn Chair Brigade. You can see that on KUT’s YouTube channel. You could also catch up on all the questions we’ve answered in the A. T. Explain podcast. We’re going to have a link to that story in today’s podcast. Show notes, and that’s it for us today. And you can always find more from us at kut.org slash signal. Rene Chavez is our technical director, Alexandra Hart is our producer, and Kristin Cabrera is our managing producer. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. We’ll be back with you tomorrow. Talk to you then.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
