Wilting Rose

Wilting Rose: Four days before the November 7 general election, candidate Rose Renfroe--sorry, we mean Rosita--won't be able to campaign around the clock. That's because the Democratic candidate for county commissioner will be appearing in a Tarrant County Court in an ongoing lawsuit related to a judgment she has yet to pay. There she'll have to respond to discovery requests and come with a $1,000 check on an earlier contempt charge.

"The judge said 'Is there any reason why I shouldn't have you arrested now?" the plaintiff Jean Martinrecalls. "And [Renfroe said], 'I should hope you won't.'"

Months earlier, a judge ordered a "peace officer to arrest Rose Renfroe and confine her in the county jail" after she failed to appear for a hearing on a motion for contempt in the same case. The judge directed officers to Renfroe's current address, which, in a very inconvenient truth, was listed as an apartment complex in Tarrant County. Kind of an odd place to hang your hat when you're running for Dallas County commissioner.

Back to the lawsuit: In 1995, Renfroe was ordered to pay $55,000 after she allegedly refused to return the business and personal property of a former houseguest. The details of the case are convoluted and complex, but here are some highlights: In the suit, Renfroe was sued under several different names and entities including Rose Renfroe, Sandra Rose Renfroe, Julie Renfroe, Liberty Acceptance and, oddly, Dream-Land Escort and Mating Service. (Odder still, she wasn't identified as "Rosita," the name she fought to put on the ballot.) The lawsuit placed her residence in--ahem--Arlington and noted that "Ms. Renfroe will strenuously avoid service." (We called her on Tuesday to ask her about that, but in what is becoming a pattern, she hung up on Buzz. Maybe it's because we wrote a story earlier that suggested that the county Democratic Party is fielding a slate of less than ideal candidates. Lord knows how we reached that conclusion.) The lawsuit also cites the date of Renfroe's birth as December 15, 1942, which is 10 years and a day younger than the DOB that appears in The Dallas Morning News Voter Guide.

Just another Democrat with an identity crisis.

In an earlier phone call with Buzz, Renfroe responded by saying "It's an 11-year-old dispute, and it's irrelevant." She claimed not to have known a judge directed officers to arrest her. We were just about to ask her about the whole Arlington thing, but she hung up. Was it something we said?