Tiny Texas town cancels weekend biker rally
MINGUS, Texas — One of the biker gangs involved in the Waco shootout will not hold a scheduled weekend rally west of Fort Worth.
In the wake of the violence at the Twin Peaks restaurant between the Cossacks and Bandidos bike gangs that left nine dead, 18 wounded and 170 under arrest in Waco, authorities in Palo Pinto County say the Cossacks have agreed to suspend their annual "blowout" in the tiny town of Mingus.
Palo Pinto County Sheriff Ira Mercer said Cossacks have held a two-day party there without any problems for 13 years.
"They've gone relatively smoothly," he said. "We've never had any big problems."
Still, on Wednesday morning, county commissioners held an emergency vote to shut down the road leading to the property all weekend, just in case people show up anyway.
Even after the Waco shootings, some in Mingus still hold the Cossacks in high regard. They like the way the gang buys school supplies and Christmas gifts for children.
Several members live in Mingus, said Carl Young, whose son is in the gang.
"We have no trouble with Cossacks," Young said.
But the sheriff isn't willing to see if that goodwill holds, especially since sources tell WFAA-TV that affiliates of the rival Bandidos gang from five states are riding to Texas to join.
"If Waco's not enough to convince you we've got a problem, then I don't know what it's going to take," Mercer said. "I don't want it to happen here."
The sheriff asked for the gang's assistance and got it. But he said local hotels were already prepared to cancel reservations, leaving bikers with no place to stay.
Mercer is also calling in law enforcement reserves, and plans to meet with his federal counterparts Thursday to refine plans.
"I'm still not convinced" that the town won't have some kind of turnout, he said.
Carl Young thinks canceling is the right move by the Cossacks. He hopes they get proper credit for acting in the name of public safety.
"Maybe it will give them another outlook on bikers," Young said. "They're not all bad, either bunch."
The tension between the Cossacks and Bandidos is about control of Texas territory.
Young's son — a Cossack — was beaten in the head with a hammer by a group of Bandidos who caught up with him at gas station in Palo Pinto County in March.
Authorities say Young's beating was one of the violent incidents that led up to the shootings Sunday in Waco.