News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Robbers invade North Dallas apartment; 1 dead

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Police said robbers forced their way into a North Dallas apartment and killed a woman late Tuesday night.

A man was also stabbed in the incident at the Santa Clara Apartments in the 13000 block of Maham Road, just north of the High Five intersection of LBJ Freeway and North Central Expressway.

The names of the victims were not released. The man was in surgery at last report.

Homicide Lt. Mike Scoggins said robbery appeared to be the motive because money was missing from the scene.

Scoggins said police were looking for two men in connection with the incident, which was reported about 11 p.m. Tuesday.

[TexasStooge]

Tenants displaced in 5 alarm fire

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Dallas Fire-Rescue investigators were searching for the cause of a five-alarm apartment fire that displaced more than a dozen tenants.

The fire broke out at the Normandy Woods Apartments in the 2700 block of North Buckner Boulevard shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday.

Capt. Jesse Garcia, a Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman, said firefighters were initially frustrated at the unpredictable pattern of the flames, which traveled behind walls and into the roof. The fire was tapped out at 1:15 a.m.

Investigators said it appeared the fire started in a ground floor unit. All six units of the building were either damaged or destroyed.

The American Red Cross was providing assistance to the displaced residents.

[TexasStooge]

Separated twin's skull is rebuilt

By LAURA BEIL / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Mohamed Ibrahim, born joined to the crown of his brother's head, underwent surgery Tuesday to reconstruct the top of his skull.

Surgeons said they were pleased with the operation, which covered the boy's exposed brain with a complex latticework dome and other substances designed to stimulate bone growth.

Mohamed remains at Medical City Children's hospital. After he recovers, he will return to the Dallas apartment he shares with his parents and twin brother.

Doctors hope the operation will be the boy's last major surgery for some time. His brother Ahmed had reconstructive surgery Feb. 7.

The twins were separated in 2003 but have remained in Dallas awaiting reconstructive surgery.

[TexasStooge]

Fort Worth to pay drowning victims' families

By KARIN KELLY / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - The Fort Worth City Council agreed Tuesday to pay $750,000 to the families of victims in last summer's drownings at the Water Gardens.

Officials said they hoped the unanimous vote will bring some closure to relatives of the four victims.

Myron Dukes, his children Christopher and Lauren, and family friend Juanitrice Deadmon all lost their lives on June 16, 2004 when they were pulled under water while visiting the Water Gardens to try and cool off. Authorities said one of the girls fell in, and the other three drowned while trying to save her.

The group had come from Chicago to Fort Worth for a convention of the National Baptist Congress.

At Tuesday morning's meeting, the council and those in the audience observed a moment of silence for the victims.

"The great loss and the sadness will stay with us a long time," said council member John Stevenson.

"You can never put a price on a life," council member Becky Haskin said. "As far as what we feel is a fair and just settlement, I think this is it."

Though this action removes the city from a lawsuit filed by the families, the suit against 20 other entities - architects, engineers and contractors among them - continues.

The city has also decided to spend $3 million to erect a memorial and put safety features in place to make the Water Gardens safer.

"We want to put this behind us," said Fort Worth mayor Mike Moncrief. "At the same time, it's our intention to memorialize those lives lost."

[TexasStooge]

More funds approved for jail computer

Bond portion of system to be improved; blame for woes to come later

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

DALLAS, Texas - Dallas County commissioners awarded three-quarters of a million dollars Tuesday to the firm that built the jail's troubled new computer system, but not before commissioners and County Clerk Cynthia Calhoun raised a ruckus over just what the county would get for the extra money.

About $108,000 will pay for InfoIntegration to improve the portion of the computer system that handles jail bonds. Bond companies have complained bitterly to county officials that their ability to post bonds for arrestees could be in jeopardy if fixes aren't made.

In the past, when bonds were dismissed, the value of those bonds would be wiped from a bond company's account, freeing space for new bonds. But under the new AIS computer system, that isn't happening.

As a result, bond companies worry that it will appear they are exceeding their bonding capacity, leading the county to bar them from writing further bonds. That would jeopardize arrestees' ability to post bonds and get out of jail.

The new money will address that problem. But County Judge Margaret Keliher and Commissioner John Wiley Price questioned whether InfoIntegration should have included that function in AIS in the first place.

County budget director Ryan Brown said the county already paid InfoIntegration $116,000 to develop the bond portion of the system, but the original plans did not include calculating bonding capacity for each company.

"Should this have been included in the original scope? Yes," Mr. Brown said. "Should the county's program manager have noticed it wasn't in? Yes. Should InfoIntegration have noticed it wasn't in and put it in? Probably."

That said, Mr. Brown continued, the new work "clearly needs to be accomplished."

But Ms. Calhoun said she had no sense of what the fixes would be and whether they will actually address the problems.

As a result, Commissioner Mike Cantrell, who spearheaded the AIS project, said the company should not start work until the county clerk signs off on the proposed changes.

Mr. Cantrell said the county later will figure out who was to blame for all AIS problems and whether the county should absorb the cost of fixing them.

The AIS deficiencies related to bonding reflect larger problems cited in a new report about why the system has fomented havoc for the jail and courts since Feb. 1.

The report cites the county's failure to properly oversee the project; InfoIntegration's failure to properly test the system before going live; and a decision by ATOS, the company that handles the county's mainframe computer, to shut down key reports the courts need to function.

The bulk of the $778,000 awarded to InfoIntegration on Tuesday will cover maintenance and operations, as well as a help desk, through September. To date, the county has approved $3.2 million to InfoIntegration for AIS.

[TexasStooge]

1 killed, 1 injured in Euless shooting

By CYNTHIA VEGA / WFAA ABC 8

EULESS, Texas - Euless police are still searching for a gunman who shot and killed a woman, then injured another woman early Tuesday morning.

The shooting occurred at the Showplace Lanes bowling alley in the 1900 block of Airport Freeway following a fight.

Police said the deceased woman, whose name was not released pending notification of her family, was standing outside the bowling alley when the gunman came up to her and shot her in the head.

The second woman was hit in the shoulder as the gunman fled. She was listed in stable condition at a local hospital.

Authorities said they have assigned over a dozen investigators to the shootings, and have already issued an arrest warrant for one of the suspects.

“There were several people there at the scene of the shooting and we are still trying to figure out what happened,” Euless police Lt. Steve Eskew said.

The Dallas Morning News contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Feral hogs running wild in Texas

LUBBOCK, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/The Dallas Morning News/AP) - Wild hogs are mangling fields and pastures with their razor-sharp tusks. They're wrecking ecosystems by wallowing in streambeds. They're even killing and eating smaller animals.

In short, the nation's largest feral hog population is making a mess of Texas.

Farmers and ranchers -- who sustain an estimated $52 million annually in damage at the snouts of the rapidly growing wild hog population -- are asking the Legislature and hunters for help controlling the estimated 2 million animals.

"Bring an AK-47, because that's what you'll need," Canton cattle rancher Don Metch said.

The nocturnal, omnivorous hogs can grow to 400 pounds and have four fierce-looking tusks that can extend five inches from their top and bottom jaws. They're more bristly and muscular than domestic pigs, and they can be ill-tempered when cornered.

Feral hogs are found in 230 of the state's 254 counties, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department estimates. Nationwide, hogs number 4 million in 42 states, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.

They're spreading into states where they haven't been seen before, such as Illinois and Kansas, said Eric Hellgren, a professor of wildlife ecology at Oklahoma State University.

"They're going to get everywhere," he said.

The Texas Department of Agriculture has asked legislators for $500,000 to start a two-year pilot program to study the hogs in hopes of controlling them. In the meantime, Texas relies on its year-round hunting season.

Still, the hogs are causing all sorts of damage in the nation's No. 2 agriculture state.

They uproot sweet potatoes, peanuts, corn, rice and other crops. So keen are their snouts that hogs can pull up plants one by one. But they're typically not so tidy and just tear up pastures. Sweet potato farmers have reported dozens of acres destroyed in one night.

Beef producers say the hogs knock down fences and tear holes in pasture to get to grass roots and grub worms. They also kill goats, sheep and other small livestock.

"When I mowed that pasture, it was like riding a rodeo horse," said Metch, the Canton cattle rancher. "They're nasty, and they got big appetites, and they're multiplying."

The hogs are descendants of domestic pigs brought to America in the 1600s by French and Spanish explorers, and of Eurasian boars brought for hunting in the early 1900s.

They reproduce so rapidly that there's a joke among wildlife officials: When a sow has six piglets, you can expect eight to survive.

Sows can have two litters a year, and their female offspring can get pregnant as early as six months.

"It all paints a picture of very rapid expansion," said Billy Higginbotham, a Texas Cooperative Extension wildlife and fishery specialist.

Two years ago in East Texas, the damage was so bad that Van Zandt County officials offered a $7 bounty for a matched set of hogs ears. The program ended in 2004 after residents cashed in on more than 2,000 hogs.

But wildlife officials hope hunters keep on hunting -- and even expand their efforts.

"What we need is more processing plants," said Brian Cummins, an extension agent in Van Zandt County. "And a good sausage recipe."

[TexasStooge]

Fatal wreck clogs Dallas Mixmaster

By CYNTHIA VEGA / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Rush hour motorists faced a nightmare scenario Thursday morning after a fatal truck crash in the Dallas Mixmaster.

Police say the driver of an 18-wheeler was going too fast where Interstate 35E splits with I-30. He slammed into a traffic sign pillar and the truck overturned, forcing the shutdown of all southbound lanes of I-35E.

The driver died in the wreckage shortly after the 3:30 a.m. accident, but it took rescue crews more than two-and-a-half hours to remove his body. The victim's identity was not released.

The impact brought down an overhead sign across the highway, blocking all southbound lanes.

Northbound I-35E traffic was slowed by onlookers and the usual crush of early morning traffic.

Texas Department of Transportation engineers warned motorists that it could take most of the morning to clear the wreckage, and strongly suggested avoiding the busy intersection.

The truck, bearing Louisiana identification, was carrying large rolls of paper.

On Wednesday, a tractor-trailer overturned on Interstate 35W in North Fort Worth, snarling rush hour traffic in Tarrant County. The driver was not seriously hurt.

[TexasStooge]

Police chase ends in crash, injuries

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A police chase ended in a violent crash Wednesday night after Dallas officers tried to pull over a stolen vehicle.

The chase started around 8:30 near the area of Polk Street and Camp Wisdom Road after the driver refused to pull over. Police chased the vehicle around the area, ending when the suspect crashed into an innocent driver's vehicle at Camp Wisdom and Cliffwood Drive directly south of Dallas Executive Airport.

The driver and passenger of the stolen vehicle got out of the car and tried to run off into the neighborhood, but were taken into custody by police after officers used a Taser on one of the suspects. Both could face several charges, including evading arrest.

Officials said the vehicle that was hit was driven by a woman on her way home from church. She was taken to a Dallas hospital with serious injuries; her condition was not released.

WFAA-TV's Gerardo Lopez contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Bachman-area patrols net arrests

By BERT LOZANO / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Dallas police are enlisting the help of deputy county constables as part of a crime sweep in the Bachman Lake area.

It's a joint effort targeting the troublesome neighborhood, and so far it appears to be paying off.

Deputy James Decoux is among the law enforcement out on patrol in the area. On this day, it didn't take him long to spot a potential offender and pull him over.

"We ride around out here enforcing traffic laws, such as this one that just came my way," Decoux said.

But the stop yielded more than just expired tags. A quick computer check showed the driver had a warrant for his arrest for outstanding traffic tickets.

"We've also come across people on parole for murder, for stolen vehicles," Decoux said.

Drugs are also a major player on these patrols. Crack cocaine and marijuana, all ready for sale and found with a loaded handgun, led officers to arrest a teen during a routine traffic stop.

"By apprehending these people here on the streets, we're getting the crooks off the streets," said Precinct 5 constable Mike Dupree. "They're not committing crimes, so the stats are going down."

Dupree has numerous pistols, rifles, swords and daggers that were taken off the streets during their efforts with police to target high-crime zones with more officers and resources.

A similar concentrated effort in Oak Cliff has also been successful so far.

"Through this joint effort, we've reduced crime in this target area by 20 percent," Dupree said.

That's the goal near Bachman Lake, where officers deal with gang-related shootings and carjackings. The aim is to take potential crime off the streets before it escalates.

[TexasStooge]

Laser injures Delta co-pilot on flight

His eyes were hurt by beam during approach to D/FW Tuesday night

By KATIE FAIRBANK / The Dallas Morning News

DFW INT'L AIRPORT, Texas - A Delta Air Lines co-pilot suffered eye injuries in the latest reported incident of a laser interfering with a commercial flight, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday.

Delta Flight 476 from Salt Lake City was nearing Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Tuesday night when the incident occurred. The Boeing 737 landed safely.

"We did receive a report of an incident that happened about 10 p.m. last night, six miles southwest of the airport at about 9,000 feet," FBI Special Agent Lori Bailey, a spokeswoman for the bureau's Dallas office, said Wednesday. "The flight was not affected at all, and the safety of the flight was not affected. We are investigating."

The co-pilot, who was not named, was taken for medical treatment. A Delta spokesman did not return phone calls requesting further information about the co-pilot's condition.

Between 1997 and 2003, the FAA documented more than 200 incidents involving lasers and aircraft. Several dozen more have been reported in the last year.

But the issue began to get a lot of attention after a Delta pilot was injured last September during a landing in Salt Lake City on a flight that originated at Dallas/Fort Worth.

Delta First Officer Parry Winder told Congress in March that he suffered intense pain in his eye after a laser was beamed into the cockpit. He also said that his eye remains sensitive to bright lights.

In other North Texas incidents, a Continental Airlines captain was struck by a green laser as his jet turned to align with the runway for landing at D/FW.

The pilot suffered blurred vision in one eye, and the first officer was required to take over the aircraft and land on March 10.

In February, an American Airlines captain reported a laser beam hitting his jet near Grapevine Lake. And in November, an American pilot reported a green laser shining into his cockpit near Fort Worth Meacham Airport.

No injuries were reported from either of those incidents.

Federal officials have promised to aggressively prosecute cases involving lasers and aircraft. Also, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta has changed the reporting system to help law enforcement react.

No accidents have been blamed on lasers disabling crew vision.

[TexasStooge]

What fire didn't destroy, thieves stole

By GARY REAVES / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - An overnight fire that left six Dallas families homeless was no accident.

Investigators said someone deliberately set the five-alarm blaze that destroyed six units at the Normandy Woods Apartments on Buckner Boulevard - and apparently arson was not the only crime that happened there.

For one family at the complex, some person or persons did reach out in their time of need - and took everything valuable they could carry.

Shykeeda Simmons' baby toys are thick with smoke, and family pictures are gone forever.

"Most of everything I have is gone, but my son is my main concern," Simmons said.

But what has upset this family most is that things the fire left, thieves stole.

"Our PlayStation 2 ... my TV is gone," said Rydell Simmons.

Their aunt Dameikia Ketter had just spent thousands on new items for her home with cash from a small inheritance. Only the best was stolen - even their new clothes.

"I got two of my jerseys here," Ketter said. "I can't really find no other new stuff."

"Its very stressful to know you lost everything after you worked so hard for things.

At its height, Dallas Fire-Rescue had more than 100 people trying to control the fire. They tried to contact the management to come secure the building, but couldn't reach anyone. Somehow, the thieves slipped by the firefighters who watched overnight for flareups.

"How they managed to steal the residents' belongings in front of our crews is just mind-boggling," said Dallas Fire-Rescue Capt. Jesse Garcia.

Ketter said she has no insurance, and neither do any of the other residents who talked to News 8. While the Red Cross is helping them start over, it can only replace a tiny fraction of what was burned or stolen.

Investigators don't know if the thief is the same person who set the fire, or someone different. Right now they have no suspects.

Still, one thing they couldn't steal is the family's faith.

"I lost my mother in 2002," Ketter said. "God brought me closer to him then, and I know he's not gonna let me go now."

[TexasStooge]

Man indicted in deaths of ex-girlfriend, her son

Tarrant prosecutor to seek death penalty in capital murder case

By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH, Texas - A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Stephen Barbee on Wednesday on a charge of capital murder in the deaths of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Lisa Underwood, and her 7-year-old son, Jayden, in February.

Kevin Rousseau, the Tarrant County assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, said he would seek the death penalty against Mr. Barbee. State law allows the death penalty in murder cases in which there are multiple victims.

"It's the first of many [steps]," Mr. Rousseau said about the indictment. "We'll be on this road for the next five, six, seven months."

He declined to comment on the specifics of why the district attorney's office is pursuing the death penalty. However, he said the defendant's history, the character of the victims and community expectations play a role in the decisions.

Mr. Barbee remains in the Tarrant County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail.

Bill Ray, one of Mr. Barbee's attorneys, said, "We are ready to go to work."

Mr. Barbee's wife, Patricia, could not be reached for comment. She previously said her husband was innocent despite his confession to police and a friend.

In a prepared statement, Ms. Underwood's mother, Sheila Underwood, said, "I am absolutely confident that assistant district attorney Kevin Rousseau will ensure that justice is served, and my babies, Lisa, Jayden and Marleigh Underwood's deaths will be avenged."

Marleigh was the name Lisa Underwood had selected for her unborn child.

Last week, a Denton County grand jury indicted Ron Dodd, a friend and business partner of Mr. Barbee's, on two counts of tampering with physical evidence in connection with the deaths of Ms. Underwood and her son. Police said Mr. Dodd helped Mr. Barbee the night he was hiding their bodies and Ms. Underwood's car in southern Denton County.

Mr. Dodd told police that he saw the bodies and that Mr. Barbee confessed to killing Ms. Underwood and her son after a fight.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Mr. Barbee told police he argued with Ms. Underwood, who was seven months pregnant at the time, about leaving his wife. She told him the baby was his, though the district attorney's office said a paternity test has not been completed.

In his confession, Mr. Barbee said that during the scuffle, he held her on the floor and suffocated her. He told police he also fought with Jayden and suffocated him after the boy saw his mother's body.

Family and friends called police the following day when Ms. Underwood missed her baby shower at Boopa's Bagel Deli, the North Fort Worth restaurant she co-owned.

[TexasStooge]

Officials: Women possibly sex slaves

By ERNESTO LODOÑO / The Dallas Morning News

COPPELL, Texas - Immigration officials arrested a Coppell man Tuesday after agents found six undocumented Korean women in his home. Officials are investigating whether the women were coerced into prostitution.

Sung Bum Chang is expected to appear before a federal magistrate judge Wednesday afternoon in Dallas for a preliminary hearing in the case.

State and federal law enforcement officials began investigating Mr. Chang's business, the WA Club in the 2900 block of Walnut Hill Lane, earlier this year after a Korean woman escaped from the residence and told police that she had been brought to the United States under false pretenses, according to a criminal complaint.

Investigators are trying to establish whether the women, who were all adults, were trafficked into the country to work as prostitutes.

The women are being detained because they are in the country illegally while immigration officials determine whether they will file criminal charges against any of them.

[TexasStooge]

1 dead after N. Dallas home invasion

By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - One suspect is behind bars and another still on the loose in connection with a deadly home invasion in north central Dallas.

The suspects allegedly forced their way into a unit at the Santa Clara Apartments in the 13000 block of Maham late Tuesday night, beat up a man and then killed his wife.

The names of the victims were not released; the man was in surgery at last report. Dallas Police Lt. Mike Scoggins said robbery appeared to be the motive, because money was missing from the scene.

A similar robbery had taken place earlier Tuesday at the same complex. Resient Eduardo Orozco said two gunmen forced their way into his apartment and beat him up.

"They hit me with the gun on my ribs," Orozco said through an interpreter. "I couldn't breathe at all."

The men stole $600 from Orozco, his brother and cousin, and then made them pile on top of each other.

"They got all three of us here and put mattresses on top of us, and that is when we thought they were going to kill us," Orozco said.

The robbers left without firing a shot, but 12 hours later the same suspects may have come back to the apartment complex and committed the murder.

"They are looking at prior offenses to see whether or not they are related, connected to the same suspects or different suspects," said Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Max Geron.

Police said just before the murder, several residents reported hearing a knock on their door. Police said it appears the suspects were looking for victims.

Residents said they aren't surprised, adding that crime in the North Dallas complex is out of control.

"They don't have no kind of security over here," said resident Edward Wright. "My car got broken into. They don't have no kind of protection over here; that's why we are moving."

Orozco said the money the robbers took was for next month's rent. But now, he said he and his roommates are looking for a safer place to live.

Dallas police said crime in the neighborhood has increased, so they have increased patrols using both uniformed and undercover officers.

[TexasStooge]

A&M reports birth of cloned horse

Complex procedure took 400 attempts before succeeding

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (The Dallas Morning News/AP) – A horse has been added to the list of animals successfully cloned by researchers at Texas A&M University.

School officials announced Wednesday their partnership with a French company resulted in the cloning. A&M believes this is the first successfully cloned horse in North America. Horses had previously been cloned in Italy.

The French-American partnership was a major factor in the horse's name: Paris Texas.

"Look at him; he's gorgeous," Katrin Hinrichs, the lead scientist on the project, said just before the 6-week-old foal made his public debut. He whinnied and walked right up to several photographers who snapped his picture.

"He's very bold," said Dr. Hinrichs, a professor at Texas A&M's College of Veterinary Medicine. She also heads the school's Equine Embryo Laboratory.

A&M researchers used adult horse skin cells biopsied from a valuable horse in Europe to clone the foal, which was born March 13.

The process, which took 400 attempts over a four-month period, began with dividing the skin cells in an incubator. Horse eggs were also matured in an incubator. Just before the eggs were fertilized, they were taken out and researchers removed the DNA.

The biopsied skin cells were then injected into the eggs, which were then allowed to divide and make an embryo. The embryo was then placed into the uterus of a horse. Six embryos were created but only one, Paris Texas, was successfully gestated in a host horse named Greta during a pregnancy that lasted 12 ½ months. Horses usually have an 11-month gestation period.

"It's very inefficient at this point. People worry that we're going to produce all these cloned champions and they're going to go to horse shows and change the face of showing horses," Dr. Hinrichs said.

Cryozootech, A&M's Paris-based partner, is dedicated to preserving the genes of exceptional horses for their use in producing cloned offspring.

With Paris Texas, A&M has become the first academic institution in the world to clone six different species.

The first cloned cat was born at the school on Dec. 22, 2001. Since then the university has cloned several litters of pigs, a Boer goat, a disease-resistant Angus bull, the first Brahma bull and a deer.

[TexasStooge]

Mom to baby: Can I put you on hold?

Despite best efforts, daughter's birth arrives just before soldier can

By KATIE MENZER / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Spicy foods, bumpy car rides and foot rubs are home remedies for inducing labor – which is why Roseanna Martinez avoided them.

"I can't remember the last time I had Mexican food," said Ms. Martinez, 20, of The Colony.

Ms. Martinez discovered she was pregnant the day before her husband left for Fort Hood to prepare for his January deployment to Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard.

She has had to experience all the joys and terrors of pregnancy without him, though she knew she wouldn't be alone when the time came.

Spc. Ramone Martinez's two-week leave fell on his wife's due date, thanks to his commanders' creative scheduling and date-swapping.

"My platoon worked really hard to get me switched out," said the 21-year-old, who arrived in Dallas on April 21.

"It's too bad it didn't work out."

Despite her mother's salsa boycott, Alyssa Martinez was born in the wee hours of April 18 – one week early and one day before her father left Iraq to head for home.

But Dad didn't miss the big day entirely: He listened to the birth through an Internet phone.

[TexasStooge]

Video shows officers' close call

By BERT LOZANO / WFAA ABC 8

NEWS 8 EXCLUSIVE

DALLAS, Texas - Two Dallas County Sheriff's deputies were involved in an accident early Sunday morning while on duty with the department's DWI Task Force - and their ordeal was captured on tape.

The night began as routine for Deputy Ken Dean and his partner. The two had pulled over a speeder when they noticed the headlights of a car come to a stop on the center lane of I-35.

As traffic dodges the stalled car, the deputies rushed to help. But just seconds after the stop, another vehicle comes careening towards them. Dean tried to warn his partner still inside the unit, but it was too late.

The camera inside their patrol cruiser captured the impact as the driver rear-ended their car at high speed.

"Ooh, we've been hit, I-35 and Motor Street," the officer can be heard yelling into the radio.

That driver, a 16-year-old teenage girl, was taken into custody for suspicion of DWI.

"I tried to get her attention to slow down," Dean said. "It became obvious she was not going to slow down."

"I saw several vehicles coming at me, I had to do a real quick dodge, I had to dodge several vehicles I almost got hit myself."

Incredibly, the two officers are okay - but were amazed when they reach the driver of the stalled car.

"We found the driver," Dean said. "He was asleep behind the wheel with the engine running, the car parked with a beer between his legs."

Deputies arrested Jose Cantu for DWI.

Two officers, nearly sandwiched between two alleged drunk drivers . It's just a part of what the DWI Task Force faces each weekend.

[TexasStooge]

Traffic delays lead to wasted time

By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Thursday's wreck in the Dallas Mixmaster took a life, destroyed a truck and obliterated a timely rush hour for thousands of drivers.

With police closing off southbound Interstate 35, that shut out the chance on yet another morning for drivers to roll at freeway speeds.

"It just creates a big mess that takes a long time to deal with," said Dallas Police Lt. John Branton.

As TxDOT crews made sign and road repairs, the hours stretched on and time got tight for people going to work, like Jeff Baird.

"I'm 45 minutes late as we speak," Baird said.

Dallas recently started a program to speed tow trucks to accidents that cause more than half of tie-ups, but this particular wreck was too big for just tow trucks.

As he waited, driver Willie Hickman wished something would end the delays.

"Traffic is killing us, especially for those of us who are supposed to be at work at a certain time," Hickman said.

Rush hour drivers spend an average 61 hours a year now in traffic delays. Compressing those hours means a driver could spend the entire first weekend of May - plus half of Monday - waiting behind the wheel.

When considering productivity, the wasted hours add up to one and a half work weeks.

Police claim they're working anew to clear accidents..

"That's now a priority to get vehicles out of traffic lanes, either onto a shoulder or off the roadway when possible, in order to expedite traffic," Branton said.

[TexasStooge]

North Texas population tops 6 million

By PAULA LAVIGNE / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - The hammering of nails and pouring of concrete paved the way for North Texas to top 6 million residents last year.

Population estimates released Thursday by the North Central Texas Council of Governments show that the 16-county region grew by 2.5 percent to 6,013,650 people from the first day of 2004 until the last.

"It's just status quo right now," Paul Winkelblech, an economic planner with the council, said of the growth. "We're used to it."

More people – about 21,500 – moved into Fort Worth than into any other city in the region. Cowtown has earned high-growth accolades for three years.

Last year, U.S. Census Bureau data showed that Fort Worth was the fastest-growing large city in the nation in terms of percentage growth. And it was named one of the top 10 most-livable large cities by the nonprofit Partners for Livable Communities.

What the city has to offer is space, and lots of it, said Planning Director Fernando Costa. About a third of the land within the city limits, close to 100 square miles, is still vacant and prime for development, he said.

"We happen to enjoy a strong economy, and we like to think that we have a high quality of life," Mr. Costa said. Fort Worth "is increasingly being recognized as a highly desirable place to live and a good place to locate a business."

Subdivisions are quickly populating the far north and northwest parts of the city between Loop 820 and Alliance Airport and around Eagle Mountain Lake, Mr. Costa said. He said people were particularly drawn to the starter homes in the suburban Keller school district. They're less expensive than similar homes in Keller because Fort Worth's building regulations allow developers to build lower-priced homes, he said.

The council of governments estimates are based on answers cities give to a survey about the number and type of building permits they issue each year. Among other findings in the estimates:

•In 2004, the region added 146,250 people.

•The region added about 40,000 single-family homes, the most ever in one year.

•University Park and Highland Park were the only urban cities that showed a decline in population.

•The city of Fate in Rockwall County – population 2,050 – had the fastest yearly growth rate, at 52 percent.

•Second behind Fate was Anna in Collin County. Its population grew by about 45 percent to 5,000 people.