Texas Mason charged with murder of younger woman

An "alleged" Texas Mason has been charged with murder in the disappearance of his female friend.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Coppell (Texas) Police Department need the public's help. If anyone saw {Leroy] Tellgren, [Kathleen] Garza or Tellgren's vehicle along the Texas/Oklahoma border or in the state of Oklahoma around April 16th, please call the OSBI hotline at 800-522-8017.

Tellgren's vehicle is a dark green 1997 Chevy S-10 extended cab pickup with a Texas license plate of 46XWC5. A Masonic Lodge insignia is on the driver's side back of the truck.

Leroy Tellgren, 74, and Kathleen Garza, 49, had for the past five years been buddies from work in the local school district. Tellgren was a school bus monitor; until last May, Garza was a middle school business and computer skills teacher.

They met for coffee-to-go just before 9 a.m. on April 16th, video surveillance cameras at a grocery store coffee shop show. An indoor camera shows them together at the counter; an outside camera shows them walking toward and then getting into Tellgren's pick-up truck.

That's the last time anyone saw Kathleen Garza.

Police have charged Tellgren with her murder, though her body has not been found.

Garza's husband said that his wife looked up to Tellgren as a "father figure." An employee at the coffee shop where they were last seen says Garza and Tellgren were regulars there, and had been seen on occasion holding hands and acting "romantic," something Garza's husband Raul strongly denies.

Tellgren was taken into custody by police who were at his home talking with his wife when he returned late that night. He gave police permission to search his truck. They found that the passenger seatbelt, along with patches of material from the passenger seat, had been cut out. Blood was present on areas that had not been removed. A large bloodstain was found on the shirt Tellgren was wearing.

A few hours later, police found bloody seatcover material and a bloody seatbelt inside a trash bag in a dumpster less than a mile from Tellgren's home.

Two rings and a watch that have been identified as belonging to Garza were found in his pocket.

Tellgren has been uncooperative. He remains in custody with bail set at one million dollars.

Police and the OSBI are asking anyone who may have seen Tellgren, Garza or his truck on April 16th to call them with any information.

Google the news stories.
Read the OSBI statement.
Read the Coppell Police arrest warrant.

Image #1: Leroy Tellgren
Image #2: Kathleen Garza

Masons | Masonic Symbol | Leroy Tellgren | Freemasonry | Grand Lodge of Texas | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

Hurricane Ike to create need for Masonic 'help, aid and assistance'

The following is guest commentary by long-time reader and Freemason known as Diogenes.

Perhaps this might be a good time to mention that in the immediate future, many brethren and others in the Texas Gulf Coastal region will be in extreme distress [during and after the landfall of Hurricane Ike]. Some will probably lose their lives, while many others will probably lose their homes and jobs.

It seems to me that it would be prudent to acknowledge the pending disaster, and begin gearing up to assist with the relief efforts. Particularly if I was a Mason in Texas, or an officer of the Grand Lodge of Texas, I'd already be soliciting donations and raising funds to assist in any way possible, and I'd be organizing teams of volunteers to assist with rescue, recovery, and relief efforts, etc.

Hurricanes don't strike unexpectedly like earthquakes and many other natural disasters. There's always a warning of several days, and that should give people an opportunity to prepare.

Why not take advantage of that opportunity to "aid and assist" fellow Masons, fellow Americans, and fellow human beings in a time of crisis?

Indeed, what practical benefit is any "philanthropic" organization that fails to recognize such pending disasters, and attempt to assuage the resultant suffering?

— Diogenes

Image: Hurricane Ike, Friday afternoon, Sept. 12, 2008

Masons | Masonic Assistance | Hurricane Ike | Freemasonry | Grand Lodge of Texas | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

Freemasonry: Is it a religion?

If you've been following the Taper's comments sections lately, you know we've had a troll called Jean bombarding us with pasted commentary from the anti-Masonic sites, going on about how Freemasonry is a religion. She (or he) is convinced Masonry has a plan of salvation, based on the Apron Lecture, and that Masonry is "Luciferian," based on a couple of lines from Pike's Morals and Dogma.

But for every yin there is a yang. Or as Sir Isaac Newton stated, "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."

There's a new Masonic blog, The Square and Compass, operated by an unnamed Entered Apprentice, who, judging from his choice of published links, is from Lewisville Lodge No. 201, in Lewisville, Texas.

Welcome to Masonry, brother, and welcome to the Masonic blogosphere.

I applaud his newfound enthusiasm for Freemasonry, and for blogging, but I question his direction.

His most recent article is a long list of reasons why Freemasonry isn't a religion. His list is lifted from a work titled "'Freemasonry and Religion' by Bro. Jim Tresner, Ph.D., 33rd degree."

The blogger says that he has made it his "priority to educate [himself], Masons and Non-Masons, as well as other Christians about the honor and joy of being a part of our Ancient Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons."

In doing so, in my opinion, he seems to be under the impression that Masonry is a Christian organization, or that it operates under Christian rules, a "fact" he wants to share with his fellow Christian travelers.

His interpretation of the Five Points of Fellowship is:

1. To Serve
2. To Pray for our Brothers
3. To Keep the Business of the Lodge Confidential
4. To Support All Who Are in Need
5. To Counsel

I've never seen an explanation of the Five Points like this before. Is this something taught in Texas?

Here's the line from his page on the Five Points that made me want to write this article: "Each day, we must serve first our church, then family, brothers, friends, and even strangers we see in need."

Is this what the Five Points of Fellowship mean to you? Serve first our church?

In the article meant to explain that Masonry isn't a religion that he has copied from Bro. Tresner's work, it says, "And [Masonic principles] are not in conflict with Christianity. Masonry has nothing to do with the religion taught in the Mysteries. Rather, we are concerned with the ethics and morality taught there, ethics and morality which have been ratified by Christianity."

And in yet another one, written by Bro. Rev. Neville Barker Cryer, it states: "As in the case of King Solomon’s Temple we, as Freemasons, can withdraw into our lodges from the rush of the busy world, and in a quiet and solemn atmosphere, find inspiration to put into practice, in the world outside, the lessons we derive from the Holy Bible and our Masonic principles."

So on one extreme, there is Jean's "Freemasonry is a religion, and a Satanic, unchristian one at that." On the opposite extreme, we have this Christian brother's "Masonry is not a religion, but we get our lessons from Christianity."

From various comments, I know that no one who regularly posts on the Taper agrees with Jean that Freemasonry is a religion. Masonry offers no dogma or religious creed, and no "path to salvation." But, as wrong as Jean is, does that mean that the new blogger's explanation that Masonry is not a religion, but since he is a Christian he's going to treat it, more or less, as if it is a religion or an extension of his religion, is correct by default?

I assume Jean colors her (his?) opinion of Masonry with a fundamentalist Christian worldview inspired by conspiracy-minded anti-Masonic websites. And I color my opinions by having been chewed up and spat out by a lodge full of evangelical Christians who see lodge meetings as a Tuesday night prayer meeting. I wonder if that's the kind of lodge our new E.A. blogging brother from Texas has joined.

I have no answers, just questions. What do you think?

Update, Wed., August 29: All the links listed above to the Square and Compass blog have disappeared. It seems the blog has been taken offline.

Image: The Letter G from inside the lodge room at Lewisville Lodge No. 201 in Lewisville, Texas, from an online collection of G's from Texas. It's one of a handful in the collection that appears to be made with stained glass, and the only one that is superimposed with a cross.

Masons | Masonic Religion | Anti-Masons | Freemasonry | Grand Lodge of Texas | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com