John Floyd
Houston
Houston Criminal Defense Lawyer; Serious Crimes; Federal and State Courts- Board Certified. Civil Rights Lawyer focusing on 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th Amendment
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by John Floyd
You can now buy a silencer over the counter in Maine. Here’s what you need to know.
Outdoors The BDN outdoors section brings readers into the woods, waters and wild places of Maine. It features stories on hunting, fishing, wildlife, conservation and recreation, told by people who live these experiences. This section emphasizes hands-on knowledge, field reports, issues, trends and the traditions that define life outside in Maine. Read more Outdoors stories here. On Oct.
John T. Floyd Law Firm Consolidates Criminal Defense Practice, Adding Christopher Choate and Mia Floyd in Houston
, /PRNewswire/ -- Houston-based criminal defense attorney John T. Floyd is implementing a strategic restructuring to his widely-recognized law firm by incorporating Christopher Choate and Mia Floyd to the legal team representing clients under investigation or charged with criminal offenses across Texas and Federal Courts. Christopher M. Choate is a trial Lawyer with twenty years of legal experience over a wide variety of complex criminal and civil cases. Prior to joining John T.
North Carolina Land Use Client Alert
MV Moore & Van Allen More Moore & Van Allen is an Am Law 200 firm with 400+ attorneys and professionals serving public companies, middle market private companies, and high net worth individuals in key practices including financial services transactions and regulatory compliance, corporate, private equity and investments, litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy, and commercial real estate.
2 bear hunting myths you should ignore before your hunt this fall
As a professional bear hunting guide, I answer a lot of questions about bear behavior from prospective clients as well as non-hunters who are simply curious. Quite often, I find myself answering the same questions. Most of these are based on old wives’ tales and hunting fallacies passed down from generation to generation. Here are the top two “rural” legends I am most often asked about during bear season.
How to set up a successful bear bait site in Maine
Outdoors The BDN outdoors section brings readers into the woods, waters and wild places of Maine. It features stories on hunting, fishing, wildlife, conservation and recreation, told by people who live these experiences. This section emphasizes hands-on knowledge, field reports, issues, trends and the traditions that define life outside in Maine. Read more Outdoors stories here. From rocky tidepools to quiet woods, our outdoor reporting comes from Mainers who know this place firsthand.
How to set up a successful bear bait site in Maine
Outdoors The BDN outdoors section brings readers into the woods, waters and wild places of Maine. It features stories on hunting, fishing, wildlife, conservation and recreation, told by people who live these experiences. This section emphasizes hands-on knowledge, field reports, issues, trends and the traditions that define life outside in Maine. Read more Outdoors stories here. The end of this month marks the kickoff of one of the biggest hunting seasons Maine has to offer.
3 tips to judge black bear size before your hunt this fall
By John Floyd One of the biggest challenges new bear hunters face is estimating the size of a black bear as it slips into view during the waning hours of daylight. For most, it is the first time they have seen a wild bear, let alone from 40 yards away. The angle and sightline from a tree stand or the view from inside a ground blind during the golden hour can also play tricks on a hunter’s eyes.
3 tips to judge black bear size before your hunt this fall
One of the biggest challenges new bear hunters face is estimating the size of a black bear as it slips into view during the waning hours of daylight. For most, it is the first time they have seen a wild bear, let alone from 40 yards away. The angle and sightline from a tree stand or the view from inside a ground blind during the golden hour can also play tricks on a hunter’s eyes.
A kid’s 1st fish nearly snapped his rod
When the family from Connecticut showed up at the dock, young Beckett was carrying his first fishing rod: a little Zebco youth model with a closed-face reel and a Bluey cartoon motif. They had picked it up at a big-box store on their drive to Maine. Beckett was as proud as a peacock of it. I was not nearly as confident. We would be targeting hard-fighting smallmouth bass and I was uneasy about whether the little setup was up to the task. In the end, I did not have the heart to stop him from using it.
A Maine hunting and fishing guide gets this question all the time. The answer isn’t simple.
As a professional guide, I get asked a lot of questions. Some are from family and friends who never really understood what I do for a living. Others are from local outdoorsmen and women who can’t believe I actually get paid to hunt and fish. Plenty of folks who aren’t sporting by nature want to know what my real job is.
He knew it might be his last hunt. But he still had one shot left.
Frank Reinert pulled into the driveway as I was readying fishing gear in the clubhouse. I had a full week of trips behind me and another ahead, and I was hard-pressed to sort tackle and shore lunch gear in between. Early June is always busy for a fishing guide. My first thought was that he wanted to talk about another canoe expedition.
Suppressors and short-barreled rifles just got cheaper after tax change
Knocking clay birds out of the sky on a sunny afternoon is great fun. Plinking a dueling tree with a .22 LR pistol is, too. But nothing beats sending freedom pellets downrange through a suppressed, semi-automatic short-barreled rifle, commonly known as an SBR. And if you needed one more reason to finally pull the trigger on a suppressor or SBR, here it is: the $200 tax stamp for many NFA Class III items has been eliminated.
Every Maine guide has a truck like this
Charley, the daughter of a fellow Maine guide, scrambled up into the passenger seat of my pickup truck and fastened her seatbelt. We had just finished breakfast and were leaving the hotel parking lot for the 2023 State of Maine Sportsman’s Show at the Augusta Civic Center. Her father Thomas had skipped breakfast and was already at the complex getting their booth ready for the opening of the show. Saturday morning is usually the busiest day of the three-day event.
The surprising winter hunt that doesn’t require a license
By John Floyd Just because the whitetail and moose seasons have long passed, doesn’t mean we don’t still hear the call of the wild or feel a yearning for the Maine woods. What’s an outdoors enthusiast to do when the need to breathe crisp fresh air calls like a sailor’s siren at sea? How can we find the special solitude only the Maine woods provide after the big-game hunting seasons have ended? I recommend hunting for horns. Literally.
The surprising winter hunt that doesn't require a license
Just because the whitetail and moose seasons have long passed, doesn’t mean we don’t still hear the call of the wild or feel a yearning for the Maine woods. What’s an outdoors enthusiast to do when the need to breathe crisp fresh air calls like a sailor’s siren at sea? How can we find the special solitude only the Maine woods provide after the big-game hunting seasons have ended? I recommend hunting for horns. Literally.
This was the most important lesson of my guiding career
By John Floyd It was a foggy, damp October morning deep in the North Maine Woods, the second day of the annual Maine cow moose hunt. I stood in the bed of my truck, binoculars around my neck, blowing cow calls across the timber cut to my north. A slight breeze brushed my face and a trace of drizzle fell from the sky. In other words, it was a perfect morning for moose hunting. My clients, a father and his 13-year-old son, were in front of me.
This was the most important lesson of my guiding career
It was a foggy, damp October morning deep in the North Maine Woods, the second day of the annual Maine cow moose hunt. I stood in the bed of my truck, binoculars around my neck, blowing cow calls across the timber cut to my north. A slight breeze brushed my face and a trace of drizzle fell from the sky. In other words, it was a perfect morning for moose hunting. My clients, a father and his 13-year-old son, were in front of me.
Big buck puts hunter’s ethics to the ultimate test
It’s a question every ethical big game hunter has asked themselves at least once: to squeeze the trigger or pull back. In essence, to shoot or not to shoot — that is the question. Tom Burrell from Walnut Bottom, Pennsylvania, found himself asking this very question during deer camp this past season here on Tucker Ridge. While Tom certainly isn’t Prince Hamlet, his story, like many a hunter’s, has some interesting parallels with Shakespeare’s famous soliloquy.
He kept a promise to a widow and took his 1st Maine buck with her husband’s rifle
I had just slid my coffee thermos back into my hunting pack when I heard a branch crack to my front and left. It sounded like a cannon shot in the stillness of the crisp, cool morning. The sound came from the old skidder trail just south of me and I recalled the pile of slash and wood scraps mounded at the end of it. Another crunch told me that something heavy was heading my direction, now just 100 yards away — or closer.
The legendary Maine buck ‘Sneaky Pete’ that outsmarted hunters for years
It was a cold and crisp November morning, late in the firearms season, when I mounted my stand. The ladder steps were frosted over and the metal slick as I ascended the fifteen feet to my perch. A hard frost had come in overnight, and as I looked up through the tree canopy, the stars were afire against the black backdrop of sky. The wind was nonexistent and the woods around me eerily quiet, dawn still a half hour away.
This fatal deer disease is moving toward Maine like a wildfire
If you’re a deer hunter, you’ve probably heard the term CWD. You may also know that it’s primarily a problem in other states, not yet found or reported in New England — and that it’s unsafe to eat deer infected with it. Here’s a quick rundown. Chronic wasting disease, or CWD, has been on wildlife biologists’ radar for about 60 years. It was first discovered in a captive deer herd in Colorado in the 1960s, and within two decades it was identified in free-ranging wild deer.
Fox v. Cheddar's Franchise Acquisition, LLC et al
Plaintiff: Robin Fox Defendant: Cheddar's Franchise Acquisition, LLC and Cheddar's Casual Cafe, Inc. Case Number: 2:2023cv00055 Filed: September 12, 2023 Court: US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee Presiding Judge: Waverly D Crenshaw Referring Judge: Alistair Newbern Nature of Suit: P.I.: Other Cause of Action: 28 U.S.C. ยง 1441 Notice of Removal- Personal Injury Jury Demanded By: Both RSS Track this Docket This docket was last retrieved on September 12, 2023.
Mallinger v. Hard Rock Cafe International (STP), Inc.
March 7, 2023 Filing 4 NOTICE of Initial Case Management Conference by Telephone is set for 5/4/2023 at 09:30 AM before Magistrate Judge Jeffery S. Frensley. (kc) March 7, 2023 Filing 3 NOTICE/INFORMATION regarding Consent of the Parties to the Magistrate Judge. (kc) March 7, 2023 Filing 2 NOTICE of Business Entity Disclosure Statement filing requirement. (kc) March 7, 2023 Filing 1 NOTICE OF REMOVAL by Hard Rock Cafe International (STP), Inc. from Davidson County Circuit Court, case number 23C245.
John F. Floyd Commentary: Abrams tanks to Ukraine is dangerous move for US
Davis: Time to correct the record again — Hillary Clinton did not have a single email marked ‘classified’ There has been substantial media coverage of President Biden and former Vice President Pence both removing marked classified documents outside the White House after they left the vice presidency (and, in the case of Biden, also including after he was a U.S. senator). Both insist they did so inadvertently. Of course, the word “inadvertent” does not apply to former President Trump’s behavior.
John F. Floyd Commentary: Democrats, Republicans both bear blame for border crisis
During my corporate life, I was required to deal with many problems. Sometimes the problems weren’t readily identifiable, so the first step in solving a manufacturing anomaly was to, well, identify the source of the problem. Most of the time, especially when dealing with sophisticated equipment, the problem was difficult to find, and other times the problem jumped out at you.
John F. Floyd Commentary: Ford has the skills to move Gadsden forward, should clean house
John F. Floyd Contributor The voters have spoken, and the new mayor of Gadsden is Craig Ford. Ford garnered more than 61% of the vote, a resounding proclamation by the electorate of Gadsden. The mayor-elect will need all his political, educational, selection and communication skills to guide this city for the next four years. It will be imperative for Gadsden’s success that Ford receives complete cooperation from every resident, regardless of party affiliation.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: City, GAA are to blame for high legal fees in rendering fiasco
John F. Floyd Wow ... $400,000 for Gadsden Airport Authority attorneys’ fees, and counting, in relation to the Pilgrim’s Pride rendering plant fiasco. I say “fiasco” because the issue of the rendering plant should never have reached the litigation level. If the Gadsden City Council had listened to its constituency’s objections, it could’ve ended the controversy more than a year ago. The litigation phase would never have occurred, consequently saving Gadsden’s taxpayers the $400,000-plus.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Sports park, amphitheater in Albertville is incredible
John F. Floyd I have kept an appropriate distance from the many controversies surrounding the soccer fields under construction in Etowah County. But now that position has changed based on an e-mail I received this week concerning the financing of these projects. First, I thought it would be helpful to familiarize myself with three of the sports complexes in the immediate vicinity.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Experiencing Augusta National's beauty and mystique
John F. Floyd The 86th Masters golf tournament opened on Thursday. I always look forward to the television coverage of this event, and I watch it from the beginning to the very end. The beauty of the Augusta National Golf Club is beyond description. Having seen the course three ways — as a spectator on the grounds, a television viewer and a player — I can attest to the fact there is no more beautiful venue than Augusta National.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Beautiful music from EYO, continued dysfunction from GAA
John F. Floyd I attended two memorable events last week, both indicative of the talent we are blessed with — or conversely, not blessed with — in Gadsden and Etowah County. On reading Rainbow Presbyterian Church’s Sunday bulletin, I discovered the Etowah Youth Orchestras was presenting its 2022 Spring Formal concert at my church at 2 p.m. that day.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Putin seems willing to cause nuclear catastrophe
John F. Floyd Last week I wrote that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, was psychotic, paranoid and evil. To put it in plainer terms, I believe he is Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, all rolled into one. Putin has proven to be a bloodthirsty thug not worthy to be the leader of a country with vast military capabilities.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Will sanctions stop evil, paranoid Putin's assault on Ukraine? Original
John F. Floyd Webster’s New World Dictionary defines paranoia as “a mental disorder characterized by systematized delusions, as of grandeur or esp., persecution, often, except in a schizophrenic state, with an otherwise relatively intact personality,” Paranoid is defined as “characterized by extreme suspiciousness, grandiose delusions of persecution.” Both definitions are highly descriptive of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state of mind.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: It's time for closure on rendering plant controversy
John F. Floyd I was unable to attend the latest Gadsden Airport Authority meeting and had to rely on the recording of the meeting by Advance Etowah. The meeting reminded me of an old movie fire drill. There was shouting, accusations and hostility exhibited by the attending board members. Being a member of several boards of directors, I can say with assurance, I have never seen any board meeting that compares.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Dancing and a woman's tears at the Russian Embassy
John F. Floyd According to Wikipedia, Russia is a transcontinental country stretching over two continents, Europe and Asia. It spans the northernmost edge of Eurasia, has the world’s fourth-longest coastline at 23,396 miles and is the largest country in the world. The smallest bordering nation is Norway with 121 miles of border; Kazakhstan is the longest at 4,668 miles. Those are impressive numbers.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: A Cold War visit to Russia (and its implications today)
John F. Floyd Since the closing days of World War II, Russia has become a continuing dilemma for the United States. Russia is a formidable opponent on the world stage. The country covers the largest land mass in the world, encompasses more than one-eighth of Earth’s inhabited land area and extends across 11 time zones. It borders 16 sovereign nations, and the capital city is Moscow.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Next mayor of Gadsden needs to be a visionary
John F. Floyd Over dinner, my wife Connie asked me what I would do if I were the newly elected mayor of Gadsden. First and foremost, let me make this clear: I have no interest in being mayor of Gadsden. I do have great interest in what the new mayor-elect has in store for the city. He or she must be a fountain of new ideas while dealing with a myriad of problems that presently exist. The new mayor must be a visionary, a person who sees things as they should be and not as they are.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Serious charge reinforces that changes are needed at airport
John F. Floyd The headline in the Jan. 26 Gadsden Times on a story by reporter Donna Thornton read, “Attorneys ask that GAA be held in contempt.” This is a serious charge, and if a court finds that the Gadsden Airport Authority's board of directors is guilty of withholding documents germane to the ongoing Pilgrim’s Pride animal parts rendering plant saga, I think there should be some resignations.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Two local governments, two different results
John F. Floyd This is kind of like a tale of two cities, but in this case two local governments. First, we have Etowah County government. Most of its recent news is positive, data driven and focused on results. The county's major economic focus is on its Little Canoe Creek Mega-Site project, and the state is helping. Gov. Kay Ivey on Jan. 4 announced a rail corridor system for central and southern Alabama called A-USA, consisting of 280 miles of rail tracks that will stretch from Mobile to Gadsden.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Two local governments, two different results
This is kind of like a tale of two cities, but in this case two local governments. First, we have Etowah County government. Most of its recent news is positive, data driven and focused on results. The county's major economic focus is on its Little Canoe Creek Mega-Site project, and the state is helping. Gov. Kay Ivey on Jan. 4 announced a rail corridor system for central and southern Alabama called A-USA, consisting of 280 miles of rail tracks that will stretch from Mobile to Gadsden.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Electric vehicles are coming; public knows little about them Original
John F. Floyd The electric car, as a primary means of world transportation, is only a few short years away. Car manufacturers, adhering to United States mandates, are forcing the electric car on a general public that knows little or nothing about their new mode of transportation. Suffice it to say, the new electric cars and trucks are nothing more than big golf carts with all the accessories enjoyed by the general public. The only difference is the power train, which is, arguably, dramatic.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: The only 'con job' is from rendering plant backers
You have heard the term, “It is all over but the shouting.” Well, the shouting is not coming from the many thousands of Gadsden and Etowah County opposed to the Pilgrim’s Pride animal parts rendering plant. The shouting is coming from Gadsden Mayor Sherman Guyton.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: The only 'con job' is from rendering plant backers
John F. Floyd You have heard the term, “It is all over but the shouting.” Well, the shouting is not coming from the many thousands of Gadsden and Etowah County opposed to the Pilgrim’s Pride animal parts rendering plant. The shouting is coming from Gadsden Mayor Sherman Guyton.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Destructive forces are building that threaten our democracy
John F. Floyd Does anyone but me think the United States of America is in a state of chaos? Is anyone concerned about leadership, or lack of, at this time in the history of the U.S.? I don’t care if you are Democrat, Republican, progressive, conservative, Black, yellow, tan, blue or red, if you can’t recognize the danger the republic is presently in, God help us. One of the greatest democracies in history is in the first throes of catastrophic collapse.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: No cause for jubliation yet for rendering plant opponents
The Gadsden Airport Authority board on Dec. 17 announced it would not support the proposal to buy airport property for an animal parts rendering plant submitted by Pilgrim’s Pride. The board also rejected the competing proposal by Etowah Community for a light industrial park. This revelation provoked no jubilation in opponents of the rendering plant. Maybe it is because, after careful examination of the wording in the announcement, there is no cause for jubilation.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: What are the IDA board's duties, responsibilities
John F. Floyd First, I was reminded this week that Alan Cosby, Etowah County school superintendent, has been a consistent voice against construction of a Pilgrim’s Pride rendering plant at the Gadsden airport. He was opposed despite serving on the Gadsden-Etowah Industrial Development Authority's board of directors. Superintendent Cosby spoke in opposition to the plant at the first community meeting in Southside.
JOHN F. FLOYD: Non-elected, standalone operations don't answer to taxpayers
John F. Floyd The mayors of Rainbow City and Southside and the chairman of the Etowah County Commission on Thursday announced legal action against the City of Gadsden and the Gadsden Airport Authority. They announced they play to seek an injunction in relation to the proposed siting of a Pilgrim’s Pride animal parts rendering plant at the Northeast Alabama Regional Airport.
JOHN F. FLOYD: Non-elected, standalone operations don't answer to taxpayers
The mayors of Rainbow City and Southside and the chairman of the Etowah County Commission on Thursday announced legal action against the City of Gadsden and the Gadsden Airport Authority. They announced they play to seek an injunction in relation to the proposed siting of a Pilgrim’s Pride animal parts rendering plant at the Northeast Alabama Regional Airport.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Answers needed on rendering plant pros & cons, airport finances
John F. Floyd When I first addressed the siting of the proposed Pilgrim’s Pride animal parts rendering plant, I said it was a can of worms. But as the Gadsden Airport Authority and its alter ego operation, Northeast Alabama Regional Aviation, are placed under the microscope, it is hard to tell which can of worms is more diverse. But first, it seems Pilgrim’s Pride is in a war to the death over the siting of the rendering plant in Etowah County and Gadsden.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Out of control inflation can be deadly to a country
John F. Floyd Inflation is a dirty word. It even has an ominous sound. Inflation is defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary as “an increase in the amount of money and credit in relation to the supply of goods and services; an increase in the general price level, resulting from this; specifically, an excessive or persistent increase, causing a decline in purchasing power.” I prefer the definition my economics professor at Auburn University used.
JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Unelected officials are making decisions that impact lives
John F. Floyd Let me see if I understand this right. The Chamber of Gadsden & Etowah County and the City of Gadsden have not had a cohesive working relationship for five years. Did anybody in the general public know about this fractured relationship? Is the expenditure of $1.75 million to modify The Venue at Coosa Landing over petty differences between individual politicians? And by the way, based on past practice, that $1.75 million will surely top $2 million before closure.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with John
Contact John, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack