News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Boy, 4, drowns in Fort Worth pond

By YOLANDA WALKER / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - A four-year-old boy drowned Wednesday afternoon in a south Fort Worth pond after wandering away from family and friends.

Divers in the 1200 block of Minden Street found the body of Erick Ramirez submerged in water six feet deep.

Lorena Valverde was with Ramirez' mother visiting a sick friend when her little nephew slipped away.

"She started calling him and we couldn't find him," Valverde said. "We had heard him inside playing with the dog, and then ... that's when we went outside and started looking for him."

About 30 minutes later, they called police and reported the boy missing. When responding officers saw the pond out front, they quickly called the fire department.

"We called our dive team just to search that in case," said fire department spokesman Lt. Kent Worley. "We obviously hoped that he may be somewhere in the neighborhood."

After 12 minutes of searching six feet underwater, divers found the boy's body near the dock.

Property owner Daniel Luevanos arrived after the ordeal. He built the pond as a soothing place to relax and enjoy, but the drowning brought tears of sadness and rendered him speechless.

Worley said the situation brings to mind the same old warning that's often rendered but rarely heeded.

"This was probably inviting to him," Worley said. "We just have to be cautious and remind parents they have to keep an eye on their children at all times."

According to family friends, Ramirez had been to the home before but was never unsupervised around the pond.

He was his mother's only child, although she and her new husband are expecting a baby in six months.

"He was always real happy," Valverde said.

[TexasStooge]

Man gets 19 years for Deep Ellum fight

By REBECCA RODRIGUEZ / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - A man connected to an attack in Deep Ellum that left a Lakewood man partially paralyzed is going to prison.

The same jury that found Jesse Chaddock guilty of engaging in organized criminal activity sentenced him Wednesday to 19 years in prison and a fine of $10,000.

The assault on David Cunniff, who had come to Deep Ellum to chaperone his two teenage daughters at a concert, was a sign to many last summer that crime in the entertainment district was out of control.

In the Dallas County courtroom Wednesday, it was decided that Chaddock was out of control as well, after prosecutors convinced a jury he was a member of a neo-Nazi gang with a history of violence.

"We're glad they reached a decision," said prosecutor Toby Shook. "19 years is a good amount of time. He'll have to spend almost ten years in the penitentiary, and maybe longer."

Cunniff, who has regained the ability to walk with the aid of crutches after months of therapy, spoke directly to his attacker after the sentence was read.

"There is nothing that I can say or do that is going to change the outcome of what is going to happen to my life, or yours," he told Chaddock.

However, his tone was conciliatory.

"I want you to know that I have and I will continue to pray for you as well," Cunniff said. "I wish you the best of luck."

Because of his gang affiliations, prosecutors opted to charge Chaddock with engaging in organized criminal activity.

"It sends a message out that this type of gang violence won't be tolerated," Shook said. "If you consider running with these people, you better be on notice you're going to get popped and sent to the penitentiary."

Chaddock's defense maintained the 30-year-old quit the skinhead gang long ago.

"He looks at this as a ten-second incident that should have never happened," said defense attorney Phillip Hays. "He's sorry about what happened; he's obviously not happy about doing 19 years in prison. I think he's still a little shell-shocked, but glad it's finally over."

From the beginning, Chaddock's attorneys have called this an accidental injury in a bar fight. They believe he's gotten a steep sentence, and promise an appeal.

"I think it is a very steep sentence for what happened out there," Hays said. "The way the evidence came out, I think it was clear it was an accidental injury in a bar fight, but I guess it they jury really did believe he was still in a gang."

[TexasStooge]

Shortage sends Dallas PD chief on call

Kunkle admits: 'We need more officers'

By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8

NEWS 8 EXCLUSIVE

DALLAS, Texas - It's not every day the chief of police responds to an emergency call - but that's exactly what's happened in Dallas.

It's can often get hectic at the city's southwest patrol division, and that's how it was last Wednesday when Chief David Kunkle was driving to a briefing there. A call came in that someone was threatening a sanitation worker with a gun, and the dispatcher asked repeatedly for an officer or supervisor to respond.

"I heard the call dispatched on West Saner (Avenue) and there were no officers that were available, so I volunteered to take the call," Kunkle said.

At that time, Kunkle was the only officer available.

"I was the first to arrive, but within a minute or so the second and third officer arrived," he said.

Officers said it is indicative of a bigger problem: the lack of police manpower in southwest and southeast Dallas.

"There will be times when we have calls that it takes a while to get dispatched, because we just don't have enough officers in the field to respond," said DPD Sgt. Lonnie Allen.

As crime has increased, officers have to answer more calls, taking them longer. In the southeast division the response time is up almost 17 percent; at southwest it's up 13 percent.

Kunkle said he knows there's a problem.

"We need more officers, and the place we most need them is in patrol," he said.

For now, the department is changing officers' schedules to cover busier times, paying more overtime, and hiring to fill newly-approved positions. But Dallas police commanders said the officer shortage may take months - maybe years - to fix.

[TexasStooge]

D/FW has 2nd-highest rental car tax

By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8

DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Texas - Passengers at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport who rent cars end up paying a lot more than for just the car.

A new survey shows that D/FW has some of the highest car rental taxes in the nation.

"I don't like it," said customer Jimmy Matthew. "It may inhibit a lot of the convention business here and a lot of the business travel."

A survey by Southlake-based Travelocity of rental car taxes at airports found D/FW second-highest in the nation behind Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport. An average 61 percent of the base rate is tacked on in taxes.

Breaking that down, 15 percent goes for state and local sales taxes, 11 percent for an airport concession fee and four percent for a car facility charge, as well as almost $2 a day for an airport reimbursement fee.

Road warriors who see such taxes at many airports are surprised they're so high at D/FW.

"I mean 60 percent, come on," said customer Josh Ziv. "I wasn't even aware of that."

Passengers can pay less in taxes and for a car just outside the airport. An advantage office nearby in Irving charges about $105 for an economy-size car for three days, where at the airport the same car is $124. However, that's not an option for all passengers.

"I'm not going to take a cab to an offsite place to get a rental car, return it there and take a cab back," said customer Lori Tricase.

So for convenience they keep coming in, herdlike, and pay the taxes.

[TexasStooge]

Police probe threats at Plano school

By JENNIFER EMILY / The Dallas Morning News

PLANO, Texas - Plano police are investigating threats written in three boys’ bathrooms at a high school, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

The threats - written in red ink - were discovered Tuesday afternoon at Clark High School. Police declined to quote the exact threat but paraphrased it as “If you’re reading this, I’m going to shoot you.”

The threats did not mention any specific person and police and school officials said rumors were rampant Wednesday about the threats. Police stressed that there was no “hit list” or bomb threat. Police will continue investigating today and say they are taking the threat seriously.

“We’re taking it seriously. In this day in age, you have to take it seriously,” said Plano Police spokesman Officer Carl Duke.

He said that he hopes officers discover the threats were merely a bad joke.

Whether charges will be filed depend on the circumstances, Officer Duke said.

The school district sent letters home with students Wednesday calling it a “serious situation.”

“…this investigation has not identified any credible threat internally or outside of the district,” a letter from Area Assistant Superintendent Jeff Bailey said. “Rumors are continuing to surface regarding this unconfirmed threat, and all are taken seriously.”

The school asked that students with information about the threats share them with any school staff member.

Police also sent a second school liaison officer and detection dogs to the school Wednesday to assist school security.

“The safety and security of our students is our main priority at Clark High School,” Principal Stephanie Schmoker said in another letter. “Please know that we are working diligently to maintain our safe school environment for all of our students and staff.”

Clark High School is in the 500 block of Spring Creek Parkway. All students are in the ninth and tenth grades. It has nearly 1,300 students.

[TexasStooge]

1 man killed, 2 injured in fight over $5

By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - A dispute over a $5 debt left a 37-year-old homeless man stabbed to death and his brother, who is also homeless, in the hospital.

At one point in the brawl that broke out just before midnight Tuesday on a Central Expressway service road at Park Lane, police said Mark Wheelington began to lift himself out of the wheelchair he sometimes uses, removed the footrest and began to beat the man who police said stabbed his brother, David Wheelington.

David Wheelington died at nearby Presbyterian Hospital just after midnight.

Mark Wheelington, 42, also was stabbed and was in fair condition Wednesday evening at Baylor University Medical Center.

Officers arrested Saint Matthew Ewing, 37, minutes later at a nearby convenience store. He was in fair condition Wednesday at Parkland Memorial Hospital.

Investigators said the dispute actually began two weeks ago.

Last month, Mr. Ewing, a subcontractor for the company that cleans DART stations, did not pay David Wheelington the promised $5 for picking up trash in the parking lot of the Park Lane Station at Greenville Avenue, police said.

"There was a disagreement over whether he had done his job," said Sgt. Gary Kirkpatrick, a homicide supervisor. "He wasn't paid and had stopped working for him. Since then, we were told he had been stewing over this."

About 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, David Wheelington and his brother saw Mr. Ewing leaving the station. They flagged him down on the northbound service road of the 9000 block of Central Expressway. Mr. Ewing got out, and the men began to argue.

Police believe Mr. Ewing slapped or pushed one of the men. They said that when he began stabbing David Wheelington, his brother intervened and also was stabbed.

Mr. Ewing is a registered sex offender. DART spokesman Morgan Lyons said the transit authority generally doesn't monitor whom their contractors hire.

"A registered sex offender wouldn't be eligible for hiring [by DART]," Mr. Lyons said.

[TexasStooge]

Christian school's sex survey stalled

Prestonwood says it only sought to learn student problems with questions on sex, drugs, cheating

By KIM BREEN and TIARA ELLIS / The Dallas Morning News

PLANO, Texas – A Plano Christian school wants to learn more about the world its teenagers face – sex, drug use, cheating, the whole story.

Leaders of Prestonwood Christian Academy planned an anonymous survey of its oldest students that asked about everything from prayer to pregnancy.

But the surveys were delayed last week after some parents said they were not notified about the study and wanted to know what questions were included.

School leaders have regrouped and said they never meant to leave anyone in the dark but wanted to shed light on young people's issues.

"We just don't want to have our head in the sand," said headmaster Larry Taylor. Sometimes even the best parents figure that their children, enrolled in Christian school, aren't struggling with problems, he said. "The only motive ... is to help our kids."

Prestonwood Christian Academy, a private school affiliated with Prestonwood Baptist Church, plans to survey its 550 seventh- through 12th-graders, but a new date has not been set.

Mr. Taylor said he sent parents an apology by e-mail this week.

"They felt surprised, and I felt bad," he said. He had wanted to use results for a parent group meeting this week and said in the rush he neglected to notify parents. "I don't ever want to do anything to violate the trust or partnership" with parents, he said.

The four-page survey asks 96 questions about spirituality, family and dating relationships, drugs, sex and sexuality, and cheating.

Staffers at the school compiled the survey after they could not find one that covered the range of questions they wanted to ask, Mr. Taylor said. He said some questions have raised concern, and the survey will be revised before it reaches students. Parents can also opt their children out of the survey. He's also explained in greater detail how the school will make sure students' answers remain anonymous.

Among questions that won't make the cut: whether students take medication for attention deficit disorder and whether they trade that medicine or give it away to friends. Other questions raised concerns about the school prying into families' private business.

"Our intent is not to snoop," he said. The survey is a natural extension of the work the school does to help students work through problems, he said. Data from it will be used to decide what resources the school could offer students.

While public schools are constrained by federal law and local policies about surveys, private schools such as Prestonwood have more leeway. Some questions in the survey offer multiple-choice answers of: wrong, sin, both, or neither.

That's fine with Prestonwood Christian Academy trustee and parent Dan Panetti.

"Here you adjust your belief system to God's standards. That's how you differentiate PCA from Plano schools. That's why I'm sending my kids to PCA."

He said survey results could help school administrators adjust their curriculum and provide resources for parents.

"I'm not at PCA to run from the culture. I'm there to prepare my kids and help them deal with the culture," said Mr. Panetti, who is also the vice president of legal and public policy for the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families.

John McCartt, superintendent of Garland Christian Academy and president of the Texas Organization of Christian Schools, said it's not uncommon for private schools to survey parents about how effective they find school services or curricula to be. He said his school has not surveyed students about social and moral issues.

Incoming students pledge to maintain morality and proper behavior, he said. "If they say 'Yes, we will abide by the rules,' we believe them," he said. "Gullible we might be, but we believe them."

Peter Kanaris, director of public education for the Suffolk County Psychological Association in Smithtown, N.Y., said gathering local information can be beneficial. But it's a matter of how that information is used.

"We have to use it for enlightenment and education instead of repression and suppression," said Dr. Kanaris, who is also a specialist in sex therapy for the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists.

It's also necessary to keep parents involved, because the issues of sexuality, drugs and spirituality addressed in the survey are also family issues, he said.

[TexasStooge]

Postal Service begins anthrax testing

By BERT LOZANO / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - U.S. postal plants in North Texas will begin to screen for anthrax in mail this week.

A machine is being installed that will detect the deadly bacteria in letters as they are sorted - and postal employees are already participating in drills to test their response.

An alarm alerts employees to a detection of anthrax at the area processing and distribution center. The evacuation that follows is part of a drill, an emergency preparation to help the Postal Service install and test the new detection equipment.

"We go to every home six days a week in the United States, so keeping the mail safe, keeping our customers safe, and keeping our employees safe is our number-one priority," said Polly Gibbs of USPS customer relations.

Mail as a weapon became a concern in 2001, when authorities investigated a number of anthrax-laced letters mailed to lawmakers and federal offices. Since then, Congress passed a $550 million law to equip postal plants with what is called the biohazard detection system, or BDS.

"The process is so huge, and the mail volume is growing everyday, so the Postal Service needed some kind of protection."

The Dallas postal plant is the first to install the equipment in North Texas, where up to 40,000 pieces of mail are processed each hour. News 8's cameras could not go inside for security reasons, but the Postal Service did provide a video detailing how it works. As every piece of mail is sorted, the BDS is able to capture particles of dust, which is absorbed and purified into a liquid form and carried in cartridges for examination.

"The results of these examinations are literally sent to the plant manager each hour," said USPS spokesperson McKinney Boyd.

If there is a positive detection, an alarm sounds and employees are quickly evacuated until authorities can confirm if there is a real anthrax threat.

The Postal Service will install the equipment in all three North Texas plants by the end of spring. The equipment will be in use nationwide by the end of the year.

[TexasStooge]

Arlington woman to face hoax charges

ARLINGTON, Texas/NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (WFAA ABC 8/AP) — A North Texas woman accused in a telephone hoax that sparked a six-hour police standoff in New Jersey has waived extradition.

Fatin Ward of Arlington will be transported to Middlesex County, New Jersey, soon.

Ward, 23, told The Associated Press she had been playing a phone chat-line game called "bombing." That's where participants call in bogus emergency reports to see how many law enforcement officers respond.

The March 22 prank call suggested that a girl was being raped by an armed kidnapper. That prompted a SWAT team and other officers to surround an apartment house in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Ward and Wadu Jackson of Irvington, New Jersey, are charged with conspiracy, initiating a false public alarm and making a fictitious report to police.

Jackson is held on $100,000 bail.

[TexasStooge]

Officials: Captive feared for family

By LEE HANCOCK / The Dallas Morning News

McALESTER, Texas - The long-missing wife of an Oklahoma prison warden told rescuers that she "dreamed often" of her two daughters during nearly 11 years of captivity with a fugitive who took her away at knifepoint.

An officer who spent two nights with Bobbi Parker after her discovery at a remote Piney Woods chicken ranch said it was clear the woman "had been traumatized to the point that she felt like she was ... almost in a dream world."

"I've never seen someone traumatized to that degree," said Donna Clayton, a reserve Angelina County sheriff's deputy.

She and other law enforcement officials involved in the case said Wednesday that they are sure the 42-year-old woman was a captive who stayed with fugitive killer Randolph Dial because she believed he would make good on threats to harm her family.

"I can tell you that when I found her, she was terrified," said Texas Ranger Thomas Davis of Nacogdoches. "Her fear is not for her. It is for her family."

Mrs. Parker was reunited early Tuesday morning with her husband, Richard, who rushed to Texas after hearing that Mr. Dial had been arrested and his wife was under police protection.

Officials said both of the Parkers were too overcome to speak when they first saw one another, and Mr. Parker later told Texas authorities that he could hardly bring himself to believe that his family's unrelenting heartbreak was finally over.

Mrs. Parker's husband was a deputy warden at Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite, Okla., when she and Mr. Dial disappeared Aug. 30, 1994. At the time, Mr. Dial had served almost nine years of a life sentence for a 1981 murder.

Mr. Dial, a sculptor and painter, had persuaded the prison to let him start an inmate art program, and he got to know Mrs. Parker when she was asked to help run and house classes in her family's garage on prison property.

Mr. Dial was returned early Wednesday morning to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. A spokesman said he was put in the maximum security H Unit.

He faces escape charges in Greer County, where District Attorney John Wampler said Tuesday that he has asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to help determine whether additional charges are warranted.

"The question that a lot of people have is how could she stay with him for that long," Mr. Wampler said Tuesday. "We want to interview people and ask more questions to be sure that we've got all of the facts."

The bizarre resolution of Mr. Dial's case came after an informant's tip.

"It was one of these things that fell in our laps," said prosecutor John Kimbrough. "Our investigators say this informant is now scared to death."

And Ms. Parker told police that she couldn't help them or be portrayed as a cooperating witness even now because she's certain he has enough mob connections to hurt her husband and their two daughters.

Ranger Davis and other law enforcement officials involved in the capture say Mrs. Parker seemed badly shaken when they found her mowing grass at a chicken house about a half-mile away from the trailer where they arrested Mr. Dial.

She refused to talk about anything that had happened in the past 10 years. As officers led Mr. Dial across the red-dirt yard of their mobile home, Ms. Parker made a point of yelling to him that she had nothing to do with his arrest, the ranger said.

"She wanted to say it even in front of him, that she wasn't cooperative with us," Ranger Davis said.

Ms. Clayton, the reserve deputy, said she was asked to stay with Mrs. Parker Monday night after she was examined at a local hospital. She said Mrs. Parker seemed personable and well-educated but also was "just very edgy, very on her guard."

She said Mrs. Parker could not sleep and cried most of the night, so they talked off and on for hours.

"Most of it was about her children, how she loved them and missed them and wondered how they were," Ms. Clayton said.

Ms. Clayton said she stayed with Mrs. Parker and her husband until Wednesday morning and was there when she spoke by phone with her two daughters for the first time. "They want to see their mother," she said.

And as the Parkers left, Ms. Clayton said, Mrs. Parker "promised that she would keep in touch."

"I think it's gonna be tough, but I think they're gonna be all right. You could tell that there was a bond still there, one that all of this has not destroyed," she said. "It just fascinates and amazes me, the power of their love."

[TexasStooge]

Delapaz gets 5 years in prison

By ROBERT THARP / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - A jury on Thursday afternoon decided that former Dallas narcotics officer Mark Delapaz should go to prison for five years for lying to a judge to get a search warrant in one of the 2001 cases in which fake drugs were planted on innocent people by police informants.

Earlier in the day, special prosecutor Dan Hagood had asked jurors to hand down the stiffest possible punishment – 10 years in prison and $10,000 fine – for Mr. Delapaz, whose work with the crooked, paid informants caused dozens of people to be falsely arrested.

In closing arguments in the punishment phase of the trial, Mr. Hagood drew a dollar sign on a display and suggested that apparent forgeries in Mr. Delapaz’s reports documenting the enormous amounts of cash paid to his informants provided the motive for Mr. Delapaz to fabricate details in his reports that caused the arrests.

“We need juries to back our officers when they are ruthlessly attacked,” Mr. Hagood said. “But you have to send a message that if you attack our citizens if you misuse the badge, if use misuse the power we grant you, we will attack you equally. We will not tolerate criminal behavior by our police.”

Although a group of informants have admitted concocting an elaborate scheme to fabricate phony drugs out of crushed pool chalk, Mr. Hagood told jurors that Mr. Delapaz played an equal role by lying in reports.

“In order for those innocent people to go to jail it took to things to happen: fake drugs and fake police reports,” Mr. Hagood said. “Don’ t forget that.”

Defense attorney John Helms had reminded jurors that Mr. Delapaz has an otherwise clean criminal record and had worked as an undercover officer to arrest drug dealers. He acknowledged that his client had been “stubborn” and had not seen warning signs, but he maintained that the 10-year veteran officer had been tricked by his informants.

“Mark was fooled by them. Mark was a sucker,” Mr. Helms said. “He blinded himself. He was stubborn. He didn’t see all of those signs. That’s what happened. He didn’t see all those signs…and there were terrible consequences.

He asked that jurors consider the punishment not in terms of vengeance for those wrongly arrested.

“Mark Delapaz has taken real drugs off the street,” he said. “He has done so much good and that’s something - that’s so much to consider.

Over four weeks of testimony, witnesses testified that Mr. Delapaz received numerous warnings about the credibility of his informants. By the time he sought an October 2001 search warrant by claiming to a judge that his informant’s information was always reliable, Mr. Delapaz knew that at least six previous drug seizures made with the informant’s help had been revealed to contain little or no real drugs.

The jury convicted him last week of lying in that sworn affidavit.

[TexasStooge]

Suspect in Wal-Mart thefts caught

Thousands in merchandise stolen and re-sold on eBay

By JIM DOUGLAS / WFAA ABC 8

CLEBURNE, Texas - A slippery thief who avoided capture dozens of times may finally be locked up soon.

The case involves a mountain of merchandise stolen from Wal-Mart stores across Texas and Oklahoma and then sold on Internet auction site eBay.

For nearly a year, the face with no name in dozens of surveillance videos haunted Cleburne detective Danny Rogers.

"It became our life; we were determined we were going to catch him," Rogers said. "We were dreaming about it in the middle of the night when we were at home."

Wal-Mart theft reports poured in from stores from Stephenville to Enid, Oklahoma, and small towns inbetween. Losses mounted: $100,000, $200,000 - and always the same face.

"Every day, we were here working on this case," Rogers said.

Granbury police detective Russell Grizzard had a hunch the stuff was selling on E-bay.

"He stole almost $20,000 worth of merchandise in just two thefts in Granbury," said Grizzard. "(A) camera was listed two days after the theft in Granbury."

A search warrant served on the eBay seller in Arlington yielded all these stolen Wal-Mart items, but not the prime suspect.

But detective Rogers finally got his own break. A fingerprint from Oklahoma matched a female prison inmate in Texas. Her record showed she'd once been pulled over with a man in her car, and they matched that man to the face in the videos: Matthew Roberson of Fort Worth.

"It was unbelievable ... unbelievable," Rogers said. "We just went through the roof. When you put so many hours into it ... we had him."

The more detectives dug, the more they discovered about Roberson, including 22 aliases and five Social Security numbers. They even found out he served time for stealing the same kind of stuff out of the same Cleburne Wal-Mart back in 1992.

Now Roberson is back in jail. However, don't ask detectives how so much merchandise walked out the doors undetected.

"I'd hate to give anybody else any ideas, because I'd hate to chase somebody else for six months," said Grizzard.

[TexasStooge]

Accident disrupts DART rail service

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A car accident caused a small fire at a DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) rail station in downtown Dallas Thursday evening, leading to delays in rail service.

DART police officials said a vehicle ran through the automatic safety gate adjacent to the Dallas Convention Center station around 9 p.m. The gate snapped back and knocked a power cable into the station ceiling, causing a small fire and ripping several ceiling tiles. There were no injuries in the accident.

Repair work began within the hour, but train service was put on hold on both the Blue and Red lines between 8th and Corinth station and West End station. DART buses are now ferrying passengers between those stations.

All service should be back to normal by early Friday morning.

[TexasStooge]

Central reopened after chemical spill

RICHARDSON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A hazmat spill caused a major traffic tie-up in the North Dallas-Richardson area Thursday afternoon.

The northbound lanes of Central Expressway were closed at Midpark for several hours after two drums containing cresylic acid spilled inside the box of an 18-wheeler and onto the road around 1:30 p.m.

Hazmat crews were on scene to clean up the mess, which is not considered dangerous enough to warrant an evacuation.

While Central was closed, northbound traffic on Central was being diverted to both eastbound and westbound LBJ Freeway, and entrances to northbound Central were also closed all the way to Belt Line Road. The backup on northbound Central stretched all the way to Northwest Highway.

Officials reopened all lanes of northbound Central about 5:20 p.m., but the northbound service road remained closed.

[TexasStooge]

5 hires sought for TB testing at jail

Medical unit's request derided as battle over health care continues

By JAMES M. O'NEILL / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Dallas County has received a request from the University of Texas Medical Branch to approve five extra positions at the jail to beef up tuberculosis screening for inmates, a month after the state cited the county jail for an ineffective TB screening program.

But given the current dispute between county commissioners and UTMB over the way the university has provided jail health care, it is not likely the medical branch's request will be acted on.

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, chairman of a new committee to review health care problems at the jail, scoffed at the medical branch's request, which would cost an estimated $278,000 a year. He said UTMB was supposed to provide proper TB screening all along, under the county's contract with the university that began in late 2002.

"They've already raised some serious legal issues that we plan to look at further," Mr. Mayfield said.

He said that, if anything, the county would call on its health department to provide TB screening at the jail – and then charge UTMB for those services.

The conflict is the latest in a worsening relationship between the county and UTMB over jail health care.

The county has drawn intense criticism over the condition of jail health care in recent months, especially after a civil rights suit was filed in December. The suit was filed by the family of James Mims, a former inmate who was mentally ill and who failed to receive his medication for two months while in jail. The county also turned off water in his cell, worsening his medical condition.

Then in February, the county received a scathing report on jail health conditions from a consultant that it had hired to conduct a study of the jail. The report cited sweeping problems, including a serious shortage of medical and jail staff and major physical limitations in the facility that hamper proper care. Conditions are so bad, the report concluded, they are sometimes life-threatening to inmates. Several inmates have died after allegedly improper care.

The report also concluded that "the Dallas County Jail TB screening program is basically nonexistent." That poses a general public health risk, because inmates could catch TB inside the confined jail setting and then, once released, spread it to the public.

In March the Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspected the jail and gave the county a failing grade, also noting the TB issue.

County commissioners began talking about purchasing a chest X-ray machine to ensure that all new inmates were screened for TB and that results could be acted on immediately. But they found they could not move so quickly, as county staff began to research how many machines to buy, where they should be located and who would read the X-rays. The jail also needs structural adjustments to house such machines.

Meanwhile, the UTMB contract comes up for renewal in the fall.

In that context, UTMB on March 30 sent a letter to the county requesting the five extra positions to start immediate TB testing of inmates at in-take, using a skin test that takes three days to show results.

"It would be a good step for public health in Dallas County," said Dr. Ben Raimer, chief physician executive of correctional health care for UTMB.

He said that because so many inmates spend very few days in the jail before release on bail, UTMB would provide instructions on getting medical help outside jail for those leaving before their results are known.

UTMB tests only those inmates who remain in the jail after three days.

[TexasStooge]

Town struggles to fathom judge's suicide

With FBI inquiry veiled in secrecy, rumors fly in South Texas

By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News

WESLACO, Texas – A state judge who had been under FBI investigation was buried in this quiet South Texas town on Thursday, taking with him many of the secrets surrounding his startling death.

State District Judge Ed Aparicio was found dead Monday of an apparent suicide in his Weslaco home.

Friends and acquaintances say the judge seemed to have it all – a loving family, comfortable home and rewarding career. But below the surface, they say, something must have been terribly wrong.

"Only he and God know what happened," said Rosalie Weisfeld, a candidate for the McAllen City Commission. "My heart goes out to his children and family. I don't think he realized how many friends he had."

The son of migrant farm workers, Judge Aparicio, 46, was born in Washington state and went to college in California before settling in Texas.

Signs of trouble surfaced last year when an anti-corruption task force from the FBI raided the judge's office in Edinburg and his home in Weslaco.

The Jan. 25, 2004, search warrant for his second-floor office at the Hidalgo County Courthouse states that the government was seeking evidence linked to possible wire fraud, money laundering, bribery of a public official, conspiracy to violate federal law and interference with commerce by use of threats or violence.

The judge was never charged with a crime.

John Yembrick, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Houston, said he could not discuss the investigation.

But in Edinburg it's been top-drawer gossip. And rumors that the FBI was about to sweep in again have been flying for weeks.

"It was an ongoing investigation," said Chip Lewis, one of Judge Aparicio's lawyers. "We were working very amicably with the federal government in conjunction with that investigation. We were very confident we could reach a resolution."

Asked why the judge would kill himself, Mr. Lewis said that "there were various issues going on" in his client's life "above and beyond the federal investigation."

Judge Aparicio leaves behind five sons: Gabriel, Andy, Alex, Carlos and Ricardo. He is also survived by his wife, Celeste Esquivel; his mother, Juanita Sanchez; and his brothers, Fred Aparicio and Rudy Sanchez.

One friend, Miguel de los Santos, said he felt "disbelief and shock" after hearing that the judge was dead.

"I said, 'It's just not possible.' I had seen him recently, and I thought he looked good, despite the pressure," Mr. de los Santos said.

The federal investigation had taken its toll, Judge Aparicio's friends agree, but he seemed to be handling it.

So when the judge asked to borrow a pistol from bailiff Chris Garces, no one thought too much of it.

On April 4, the judge said in a prepared statement that he was resigning "to dedicate more time and energy to my family and to personal family matters that require immediate attention."

He also thanked his supporters and "hard-working staff" and said, "The demands of my position as your judge have unfortunately taken a toll on my personal life."

Shortly after news organizations received the faxed notice that afternoon, Judge Aparicio's body was discovered at his home. There was a bullet wound in his head and a gun at his side, police say.

Authorities suspect suicide but aren't expected to rule on the cause of death until later this month.

"We've lost a good judge," said Juan Maldonado, chairman of the Democratic Party in Hidalgo County. "We're going to miss him. I just hope and pray that his family and kids are OK."

[TexasStooge]

Internet hunting banned in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas (The Dallas Morning News/AP) - Internet hunting season is over in Texas -- perhaps permanently.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously Thursday to ban remote hunting for game animals. The new regulation requires that anyone hunting a game animal or bird be physically present and in control of the firearm.

The Legislature also is considering a law that would prohibit the killing of any animal when the shooter is not physically present.

Both moves are in response to an operation run by John Lockwood of San Antonio, who has developed a rifle equipped with a camera that can be controlled via the Internet. He has said customers are using his Web site for target shooting and that he planned to offer hunts for live animals.

The new parks and wildlife regulation does not apply to non-game animals, such as exotics. Lockwood said Thursday that he plans to conduct a hunt for an exotic black buck antelope this weekend for an out-of-state disabled hunter.

"It's still legal. I'm going to do it," Lockwood said. A disabled Ohio hunter, who bought a Texas hunting license on the Internet, will pull the trigger on the antelope.

Lockwood said he was disappointed by the Parks and Wildlife Commission vote as well as the legislative action that appears imminent.

"It's not going to hurt me financially at all," Lockwood said. "The business venture for me is the target shooting and that won't be affected. It's the disabled shooters and the soldiers overseas who want to hunt and can't do it (except by computer), who'll be hurt?"

Game wardens have been worried about enforcement problems that could result from remote hunting. State law requires that a hunter have a license in his or her possession and that game animals be tagged immediately after the kill. That would be impossible for a hunter firing a rifle from a remote computer.

Parks and Wildlife Department officials also cited ethical concerns about remote hunting.

[TexasStooge]

Teachers face more aggressive parents

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - An angry parent attacked a Dallas middle school educator after the teacher scolded the woman's daughter for loitering outside a locker. A classroom full of students watched the flurry of kicks, punches and hair pulling.

Paulette Baines, charged with misdemeanor assault, was no stranger to the education system. She teaches at a Dallas high school.

A few days later, an East Texas football coach was shot by a disgruntled parent, whose son was banned from playing athletics.

The conflicts are an extreme example of the tensions teachers say they face daily. Parents are more willing to confront educators, challenging, even threatening, them.

"I know teachers really feel they're in a pressure cooker," said Aimee Bolender, president of Alliance/AFT, a Dallas teachers' union. "The respect for authority has definitely changed. Teachers are no longer respected in general."

Lisa Jacobson, chief executive of the New York and Boston-based tutoring and test preparation firm Inspirica, said teachers have told her they're overwhelmed by pushy parents.

"They feel like the parents come in as CEOs and order them around," Jacobson said. "I've seen many cases of parents going into schools and coercing teachers to change grades."

The intense competition to get into the nation's best colleges has worsened the problem over the past 20 years, Jacobson said. Now parents of preschoolers even hound teachers to make sure their children learn to read before kindergarten, she said.

And, parents are more stressed than they used to be -- working one or more jobs outside the home, or running single-parent households -- so they may be more likely to lash out at their children's teachers over minor arguments, said Doug Fiore, a Virginia elementary school principal who co-wrote a book for teachers called "Dealing with Difficult Parents."

While no national education organization keeps statistics on the number of assaults against teachers by parents, plenty of anecdotal evidence exists.

Lee Alvoid, a retired principal in suburban Dallas, said toward the end of her 32-year career parent-teacher conferences had become more intense, so much so that she sometimes asked security guards to stand outside her classroom.

The Issaquah school district, just outside of Seattle, adopted a "civility policy" in 2001 to help teach everyone -- parents, students, teachers and administrators -- how to communicate courteously and effectively after administrators noticed that conversations between all kinds of people were becoming more confrontational in and out of school.

"You listen to the talk show hosts on the radio, you watch the confrontational programs on TV. We're all more sharp and pointed and critical and demanding of each other," district spokeswoman Mary Waggoner said.

Last September, a Philadelphia mother slapped a teacher three times in the face after he told her she needed to get a late slip for her daughter to enter class, according to the state's Safe Schools Advocate office, which assists victims of violent crimes in Philadelphia public schools.

So far this school year, Philadelphia schools have logged 25 assaults by parents or other adults on school employees -- that doesn't include 43 cases of disorderly conduct and 63 cases of threats.

Philadelphia is establishing parent leadership academies to teach parents how to effectively advocate for their children, and the district is incorporating relationship building and conflict resolution strategies in its professional development seminars for teachers, said Claudia Averette, the Philadelphia district's chief of staff.

The Texas High School Coaches Association may also offer a conflict resolution program at its annual convention in July following last week's shooting of an East Texas football coach by a parent, said D. W. Rutledge, the group's executive vice president. Jeffrey Doyle Robertson, 45, was charged with aggravated assault after Canton High coach Gary Joe Kinne was shot in the chest in the school's field house. Robertson, whose son played on Kinne's team, was known for his hot temper and run-ins with the coaching staff. He had been banned from school grounds, and his son was prohibited from playing school athletics the day before the shooting.

Rutledge said violent images and aggressive language "bombard us every day," and that can influence people's actions.

"If it's in society, it's going to be in our schools," said Rutledge, who won four state championships in 17 years as head coach at Converse Judson. "We see a lot more things that are shocking as far as how people are approaching things."

It wasn't immediately clear what provoked the attack on the Dallas teacher on April 1. Baines, 45, was placed on paid administrative leave from her job as a co-op teacher, and her first court appearance is scheduled for April 21.

Neither Baines nor the attacked teacher, Mary Oliver, returned calls seeking comment, and Baines' attorney declined to discuss the incident.

Dallas school district spokesman Donald Claxton said Oliver taught Baines' daughter last year, but he did not know of any problems that may have created a conflict between the two teachers.

Dallas is in the middle of a multiyear conflict resolution training program for teachers, but it's mostly aimed at helping them manage their classrooms and teach their students how to avoid fights, Claxton said. While those strategies could be used with parents, the program does not specifically discuss that.

Alvoid, the retired teacher, also suggested parents get the full story before they confront a teacher about a problem. "I wouldn't say (children) don't tell the truth to their parents, but they often omit significant details," she said.

[TexasStooge]

Driver gets shot at, crashes car, steals SUV

By HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Police said they are looking for two vehicles after a shooting, crash and carjacking on the northbound service road of North Stemmons Freeway between Wycliff Avenue and Motor Street.

Someone in a car chased and fired at another vehicle about 4:30 p.m. Friday, Dallas police Senior Cpl. Jamie Kimbrough said. The driver who was shot at crashed into another car at Motor Street and then carjacked a sport utility vehicle, police said. The bleeding carjacking suspect's condition was not known, but no one else was injured.

The carjacking suspect is described as a black man who is 25 to 30 years old, is 5-foot-8 and weighs 220 pounds. He was wearing a white T-shirt, a gold chain and jeans. The black Mitsubishi Outlander that was stolen has Texas license plates V84 YDM. Police did not have a detailed description of the person who fired the gun.

Anyone with information about the case may call 214-671-3584.

[TexasStooge]

Reward aims to solve old crime

By GARY REAVES / WFAA ABC 8

DeSOTO, Texas - Rewards for solving old crimes are not uncommon, but this one is decidedly different.

A DeSoto family has raised its own money, hoping it will lead to the clues that will solve a six-year-old murder.

For Anita Johnson, there is no escaping the pain of not knowing who killed her son, or why.

"Every anniversary of his death, it is like a dagger that stabs you in the back, in the heart," Johnson said.

Next week will mark six years of James Edward Jones' death. He was 25, working for AT&T and studying for his real estate broker's license.

Jones was coming home when he was approached by a man with a shotgun, who shot him at point-blank range.

The case was featured on Crimestoppers, but neither the dramatic photos of the shot-up cars nor the $1,000 reward produced a witness who could solve the crime.

So now Johnson, a schoolteacher, has scrimped and worked odd jobs along with her retired mom and other family members to create their own reward fund: $10,000.

"If I can have peace and closure, which is what I'm lacking right now, it's worth it," she said.

Worth it especially for her grandson, now 8, who struggles sometimes to even remember his dad.

"I wouldn't want his son to be raised knowing his dad was shot in the middle of the street like an animal," she said.

Johnson knows that somewhere out there, her peace is a phone call away. If her pain can't pry loose the truth, she hopes maybe her money can.