News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Towing initiative fuels profiling concerns

Irving: Policy targeting uninsured drivers about compliance, officials say

By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING, Texas – Nearly 150 automobiles of uninsured motorists have been towed in Irving since the Police Department launched its towing policy June 1.

But the new rules are generating mixed reviews from the community, including concerns that the policy targets minorities.

Irving police are towing some vehicles of uninsured drivers in accidents or who have been pulled over for traffic stops. Police don't release impounded vehicles until motorists show proof of insurance.

In June, 147 vehicles were towed for lack of insurance, said Officer David Tull, Irving police spokesman. Of those, 40 were towed from accident scenes. On average, automobiles have been impounded for three days, he said.

Officer Tull said it's possible that some of the drivers were insured but couldn't track down proof of insurance before their cars were towed. But he says that officers are working with drivers to find their insurance policies.

He says the policy is a work in progress, and police officials will monitor its effectiveness.

"It's working out well," Officer Tull said. "We're not looking to fill up our pound with no-insurance vehicles. If you wanted to go out there and just start looking for them, it would be a lot higher."

City officials hope the new policy will help reduce the number of uninsured motorists on the roads and encourage drivers to buy insurance. DeSoto may be the only other area city to practice automatic towing.

Manny Benavides, president of the Irving chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, believes the policy is being enforced selectively.

He says he's heard concerns from residents who say they've seen Dallas County constable deputies targeting Hispanic motorists in parts of Irving that are predominantly Hispanic.

He's not against the new rules. People who drive should have insurance, he says. But he describes the way the policy is being enforced as racial profiling.

"I see a lot of problems with this," he said. "We've got an issue here of ... violation of our civil rights."

Anthony Bond, a community activist, says he also has heard from some who say that deputy constables have been targeting Hispanics.

"All the minorities are talking about it because it seems like when you have a constable, it's a Hispanic who's stopped," he said.

Both Constable R.L. Skinner and Officer Tull say they're not aware of city officials requesting that the constable's office go after uninsured motorists in Irving.

Constable Skinner says his deputies aren't targeting Hispanics.

"When the law's being enforced, people are going to say things," he said.

The constable's office does tow cars of motorists who lack both a driver's license and insurance, Constable Skinner said. The policy, in place for seven years, is applied evenly in the area, he said.

Under the new city policy, Irving police officers aren't required to tow all automobiles. Uninsured motorists' vehicles are more likely to be towed when officers aren't overwhelmed with emergency calls.

Irving police on Friday didn't have geographic or demographic breakdowns of June towing data. But Officer Tull said Irving officers aren't using the new policy to target minorities.

"It's not a minority issue," he said. "It's not an old car-new car issue. It's a compliance issue."

[TexasStooge]

Letters to the Metro editor

Fireworks preview a hit

Haltom City's "tryout" fireworks early in June at the BISD Coliseum Complex off of Belknap Street were a joy to watch. We appreciate and are fortunate to have Mayor Calvin White, his council staff and others who orchestrated and participated in this wonderful gesture and effort to give us locals and surrounding cities a preview of the official Fourth of July display. The tryouts were a success, and we are all pleased that our city will be hosting the July Fourth celebration event at the BISD Coliseum.

Edna Maskell, Haltom City


Time to build new library

Haltom City Mayor Calvin White and council members frequently talk about the need for a new library. This expedition for land acquisition has been pushed to the side for four years, even though the voters approved a $4 million bond to have it built.

The challenge to groundbreaking is a "difference" of price negotiation for land owned by an individual in California.

Surely, with an alternative plan, Haltom City will locate another parcel of land for a new library. Of course, since the bond issue passed in 2001, labor and construction costs have accelerated. With this in mind, the council should consider utilizing some of its own city-owned land for the library.

Wouldn't Old Barrbrook Park, next to the historical Birdville cemetery, be considered a viable option? That's currently a virtual wildlife refuge, replete with skunks, 'coons, possums and an occasional bobcat! The land is free, since the city is the registered owner.

This location for a library would be scenic, and it would serve several nearby apartment complexes and a trailer park and would be right across the street on Belknap Street from the Shannon Learning Center.

Delores Taylor, Haltom City


Tax increase unnecessary

Here is a letter I wrote to Irving's mayor and City Council members:

I find the proposed tax increase unnecessary and grossly unfair as we are desperately in need of a tax rollback, not a tax increase. This sales tax targets the little man and adds an additional burden to homeowners, many of whom are struggling to pay their utilities, and some of whom, particularly the elderly, are having to choose between air conditioning, heating or needed prescription drugs.

This is particularly onerous to the disabled and elderly on a fixed income and is a slippery slope opening the door for future increases. Our community has chosen to alleviate their burden by freezing their property taxes; however, if our elected officials start looking for ways to circumvent that relief, these people will soon not be able to pay their taxes and be put at risk of losing their homes. It can also affect their ability to maintain their homes and keep them in code.

I believe the dignity and protection of the weak is more important than adding additional funds for salary increases or new programs. These are not times of plenty while we are recovering from 9-11, but we have not really recovered. I know that I am among many whose retirement "nest egg" certainly has not been restored, and people are still struggling with jobs and income. It simply does not make sense to keep raising taxes on people having trouble raising their kids and trying to keep what they have with less income.

One last thought, with the increase in crude to $61 a barrel, it stands to reason that utilities will soon be going up, and it would be unconscionable for the city to pile on an additional 1 percent.

I respectfully request that this proposition be voted down and a 10 percent tax rollback proposal put before Irving for their vote.

Sue Richardson, Irving

[TexasStooge]

Breaking News

SHERMAN, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Emergency crews are investigating a report of an explosion just north of downtown Sherman. So far one business has been evacuated, and there have been street closures. Details to follow.

[TexasStooge]

Six Dallas murders in 36 hours

By GARY REAVES / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - After a pretty quiet June, the first weekend of July turned deadly in Dallas. Six murders occurred over a 36-hour period beginning last Friday and running through the weekend.

Dallas police are not only unhappy about this weekend's murders. Police investigated 79 murders during the same time period last year. However, this year number has gone up to 96. A 21 percent increase.

Most of the incidents happened in the southern sector of Dallas.

Sunday, multiple shots were fired from more than one suspect in the 7100 Forney block. Michael Dewayne Clark was shot while driving his car. He then got out of the vehicle and was shot numerously from several shooters. While the victim on Forney Road was not a gang member, police said they believe his killers were.

They said there are no connections between any of the six homicides so far this month except that they all happened in Dallas and the victims all had some connection to their attackers.

"It appears that they were somehow related to each other," said Sgt. Gary Kirkpatrick. "Tied to each other by knowing each other, having problems in the past.

That was apparently the case on Woodmeadow Parkway on July 4 when police said they believe Nakietha Gipson, 23, was fatally shot in the head by her boyfriend Brandon Deshun, 21.

The day before, Cuahthemoc Sanchez, 26, was shot and killed in a white minivan by his own passenger, who then fled.

In acquaintance killings, officers said it is virtually impossible to stop them before they turn deadly.

"It's hard to prevent them all," Sgt. Kirkpatrick said. "We can't prevent them all. We want to do the best job we can. It's what we are striving for."

The murder rate continues to soar above last year's high level. The only good news in the statistics is that 67 percent of the suspects have been caught.

Police in New York and Chicago have made progress in reducing major crimes by showing less tolerance for minor crimes. Officers use this method to send a message to the potentially violent people that they are watching.

That is the kind of plan Dallas Chief David Kunkle has been trying to implement for the city. Last month he announced he had located some 60 officers he will reassign to the task. The new program is called "Operation Disruption" and it starts Wednesday.

[TexasStooge]

Gas flare-up evacuates Sherman businesses (Updated)

SHERMAN, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A small explosion at a dry cleaners in Sherman injured one person and led to a temporary evacuation of several businesses Wednesday morning.

Sherman Fire Department officials said a "flashback" from a water heater pilot light was to blame for the incident at the One Hour Martinizing Cleaners in the 1000 block of North Travis Street.

The person who received minor injuries was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle. There was no damage to the business or nearby buildings.

Rescue crews kept the area clear until a gas company crew came and checked the lines to make sure there were no other problems. Everyone was allowed back into the businesses a short time later.

[TexasStooge]

IRS questions Benny Hinn's tax-exempt status

Exclusive: Ministry says questions about finance, structure are routine

By MARK WROLSTAD / The Dallas Morning News

The IRS is questioning televangelist Benny Hinn's organization about its operations and finances – issues that underlie its tax-exempt status as a church.

The inquiry into the flamboyant faith healer's ministry began a year ago, and the IRS has asked for dozens of detailed answers, according to documents provided to The Dallas Morning News by a watchdog group. The Trinity Foundation has investigated Mr. Hinn for more than a decade and condemns his leadership as autocratic and his lifestyle as lavish.

The IRS wouldn't discuss the case, and it's unclear whether the agency's concerns about the ministry, which is estimated to raise more than $100 million annually, are close to being resolved or will open an audit.

A representative for Benny Hinn Ministries confirmed that the inquiry is under way and characterized it as routine, but an IRS spokesman said the agency is "extremely careful" in questioning churches and starts an inquiry only when it believes an organization "may have stepped over the line" of tax regulations.

Separately, The News found that another watchdog group's complaint to the IRS – that the ministry lacks financial oversight and independent governance – may have led the agency to question the operation through what's called a church tax-inquiry letter.

While detractors argue that Mr. Hinn improperly profits from a ministry that hasn't met the IRS definition of a church for years, his public-relations contractor dismissed the possibility that the tax exemptions – worth millions a year – could be at risk. He repeatedly warned The News should "be very careful about what it reports."

Hinn spokesman Ronn Torossian said the ministry has "fully cooperated with the IRS" and is not being audited. He said the agency each year sends "thousands of letters of inquiry to a sampling of nonprofits."

Mr. Hinn's ministry, formally renamed the World Healing Center Church in 2000, has had its administrative and mail-processing headquarters in Grapevine since a year earlier, when the persuasive, self-trained Pentecostal sold his church complex in Orlando, Fla.

He and his family soon moved to Orange County, Calif., and although he promised to build a $30 million shrine to faith healing in Las Colinas and raised money for it, the World Healing Center never materialized.

Respect and ridicule

Mr. Hinn, 52, has few peers and many imitators in televangelism's realm, and he's both revered and lampooned for his money-and-miracle-based brand of preaching.

Known for his eccentric swirl of hair and a touch that topples the faithful like dominoes on stadium stages, the Israeli-born son of Greek Orthodox parents has built a worldwide ministry, one of the most popular and most profitable, as well as one of the most panned.

His ubiquitous This Is Your Day TV show and nonstop globetrotting to lead lucrative crusades have attracted millions of followers, as well as long-standing accusations of unverified healings, unrestrained spending and unaccountability.

Mr. Hinn and his attorneys, who declined to be interviewed, have regularly denied criticisms of concealed finances and such ostentation as his mansion parsonage, maintaining the ministry uses proper accounting.

"I love my precious Lord too much to ever trifle with the money entrusted to me by His dear people," Mr. Hinn said in a March statement after the latest network news report detailing the ministry's alleged exorbitance.

Some of the organization's secrecy appears to have been penetrated by the dedicated digging – literally – of the Trinity Foundation, self-styled televangelism monitors based in Dallas.

Hinn ministry responses to IRS questions and a purported salary list for ministry officials are among many documents that Trinity members said they salvaged recently from trash bins outside Hinn-related offices.

The salary document lists Mr. Hinn as CEO and his annual earnings as $1.325 million. Attorneys for the ministry, in a letter to The News , said the document was either a fake or had been stolen.

Mr. Hinn acknowledged two years ago that his ministry took in donations of $89 million in 2002, including TV, crusades and direct-mail, and said the annual figure was growing at double-digit rates.

Last month on his program, produced at the ministry's studios in Aliso Viejo, Calif., Mr. Hinn said his TV ministry "costs me $1.8 million every five days," not counting his crusades. "Nobody wants that burden," he said.

He indicated he spent $7 million for recent crusades to India and the Philippines and another $4 million in Nigeria, where attendance reportedly was far below the 6 million to 8 million people a day that Mr. Hinn had predicted.

Churches don't have to pay taxes or make their finances public and don't even have to apply for tax-exempt status – they can simply claim it.

A church pastor's income and benefits also are tax-exempt as long as they're deemed reasonable. Like all nonprofits, however, churches must follow federal rules in financial and other matters.

Starting an inquiry requires triple approval – from an IRS lawyer, a three-person committee and the director of the exempt organizations division, now located in Dallas. Besides ordering that violations be corrected, the IRS can revoke tax exemptions, seek back taxes and impose penalties.

"There has to be solid evidence of wrongdoing before the IRS looks at removing tax-exempt status," said Kenn Vargas, an IRS spokesman in Austin. "It's not done often, especially with churches."

The "probe and response" of an inquiry can go back and forth for many months, resulting in the IRS either satisfying its concerns and closing the case or undertaking the next step and auditing the group.

A revocation means donations are no longer tax-deductible. "That's the most devastating problem," said Connie Smith, a lawyer for a Denver law firm that represents scores of religious organizations.

For churches, a primary tax-exempt no-no is known as inurement – one or more persons getting substantial financial benefit from the operation. Other common complaints include conducting prohibited political or for-profit business activity.

'Extremely sensitive'

The IRS wouldn't provide an official to talk about tax-inquiry dealings with churches. "It's just extremely sensitive," said Phil Beasley, a spokesman in Dallas.

During an inquiry, the IRS can also use 14 recognized factors to determine whether a group constitutes a church and, by definition, should be tax exempt. Those flexible criteria include having regular congregations, services and places of worship, members not associated with other churches and religious instruction for its ministers and youngsters.

Mr. Hinn's critics contend that his ministry falls short on all those counts, that he keeps tight control of his small board by nominating and dismissing the other two or three directors and that he has relatives in highly paid jobs.

The ministry has been the subject of critical news reports for years. Detractors of Mr. Hinn's controversial prosperity theology, vast TV fundraising and a lifestyle of private jets and hotel suites view the IRS action as an overdue accounting.

Wall Watchers, an advocacy group for religious donors, recently issued an alert about the Hinn ministry through its Ministry Watch Web site.

"The IRS should examine the organization and revoke its church status," said Rod Pitzer, Wall Watchers' research director. "The organization is set up for Benny Hinn, for his private inurement."

Wall Watchers, based in North Carolina, sent a letter to the IRS early last year calling for an investigation of the Hinn Ministry, Mr. Pitzer said.

"It's set up fraudulently as a church," he said. "It's akin to a dictatorship, and when there's no accountability and one person is in charge, it leads to a lot of abuses."

In August, the IRS announced an initiative to stop what it called the increasing abuses by tax-exempt groups that pay excessive compensation and benefits to insiders. The agency planned to contact nearly 2,000 organizations as part of the enforcement project, which started at the end of July.

The Hinn ministry received a tax-inquiry letter dated June 30, 2004, according to a 17-page draft of its February response to the inquiry – a document the Trinity Foundation said it found in the trash bin of the ministry's attorneys in Irving. The ministry also has accountants in the Dallas area. Trinity has a track record of digging through trash bins as a strategy against televangelists.

Ole Anthony, Trinity's director, said the group has sent copies of the recovered documents, as well as briefs of its own, to the IRS, answering the questions posed to the Hinn ministry and arguing, point by point, why the ministry should lose its tax exemptions.

"Every red flag in the universe will go off when the IRS sees what he really gets," Mr. Anthony said.

But church tax issues aren't black and white, said Milt Cerny, a former IRS officer in the exempt organizations division. Churches aren't necessarily "contained within four walls," he said.

"If the pastor lives in an expensive house and gets a million-dollar salary ... the service would have to establish that it was unreasonable," said Mr. Cerny, who was not told of the Hinn inquiry.

The draft response from Hinn attorneys shows that the IRS asked about operations that would support its church designation.

The inquiry asked, "Who controls the organization?" It questioned financial oversight and whether officers sell books, videos and CDs. The IRS also asked about a ministry subsidiary holding title to the oceanside parsonage, which Dateline NBC reported in March to be worth $10 million. As for regular services and a place of worship, the draft refers to employee gatherings at the Grapevine headquarters and at the California property where This Is Your Day is taped.

"Are there live audiences for some of these shows?" asks a note in the ministry's response, one of many internal questions that hadn't yet been answered.

"What is the basic evolution ... from a bricks and mortar church in Orlando to the facilities in Texas and California to the television/broadcast ministry ... ?" asks another of the internal notes.

The document has handwritten initials throughout, matching the names of ministry attorneys and officials who ostensibly were to provide the necessary answers.

Each page is labeled "2/1/05 DRAFT." David Middlebrook, an attorney for Mr. Hinn, called the document "a working draft" in "a routine tax inquiry" in a court affidavit during an earlier fight to keep it from being publicized.

Expenses documented

The ministry's temporary restraining order against a Houston TV station – while Mr. Hinn held a crusade there – was quickly overturned, but the station didn't report the IRS inquiry. Trinity later showed what it said were the original documents to The News and gave copies to the paper.

One document shows that the ministry has paid more than $112,000 a month on the 10-year lease of a Gulfstream III jet.

Other documents indicate that Mr. Hinn was paid $360,000 last year as a consultant for Clarion Call Marketing, which was incorporated in 2003 with Mr. Middlebrook as its registered agent.

The salary document, which Trinity said it found in February, had been shredded into long strips but was reassembled by Trinity. The sheet shows 12 ministry employees making between $135,000 and $180,000 a year.

Mr. Hinn's wife, Suzanne, is referred to as the pastor's assistant at $166,000 a year. Their daughter, Jessica Koulianos, is listed as "assistant" at $65,000; her husband, Michael, a "partner relations specialist" at $90,000.

Other documents show Mr. Middlebrook's firm billing the ministry for 373 hours of work in a one-month period last fall.

Though the attorney didn't want to be interviewed, he has written about tax-inquiry issues repeatedly in a column for Church Executive magazine.

"The IRS has contacted one or more of our church clients recently" at least partly due to its initiative examining tax-exempt compensation, Mr. Middlebrook wrote in October. "Having the IRS penalize your church or remove its church designation could have profound financial consequences. You do not want your member-donor base to come to believe that you or your pastor makes too much money or that the church is not being operated in proper nonprofit fashion."

In November, he wrote about how the IRS defines a church and a case in which a designation was revoked, partially because its structure "tended to personally benefit the founder's family."

"The lack of regular church services with a body of believers that assemble regularly," he wrote, "dictated the IRS response."

And in last month's issue, he warned church lawyers and accountants to take care to destroy documents because often those "thrown in the trash dumpster are considered abandoned."

"Beware of 'dumpster divers' – people who look through trash dumpsters for confidential documents," Mr. Middlebrook wrote.

Paul Nelson, head of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, said the Hinn ministry seems to have invited IRS scrutiny.

"If I was their counsel, I would say that," he said. "I don't think anybody envisioned a $10 million parsonage.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIMELINE

1970 – As a high school senior, Benny Hinn leaves his family's Greek Orthodox faith for Pentecostalism.

1983 – He establishes Orlando Christian Center in Florida.

1990 – Mr. Hinn begins monthly faith-healing crusades in the U.S. and abroad.

1999 – He makes a surprise announcement that he is moving his ministry to Dallas-Fort Worth.

1999 – Mr. Hinn announces that his Orlando center has been sold to a neighboring church. He promises a $30 million faith-healing memorial in the Dallas area that is never built.

2000 – He opens new administrative offices for World Healing Center Church in Grapevine.

2001 – He begins construction on a multimillion-dollar oceanside parsonage in Orange County, Calif.

2003 – Mr. Hinn acknowledges that his ministry took in a record $89 million in donations in 2002.

2004 – His ministry receives a tax-inquiry letter from the IRS.

2005 – A spokesman confirms that the inquiry continues but hasn't become an audit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENEDICTUS 'BENNY' HINN

Occupation: Senior pastor, president and chairman for life of Benny Hinn Ministries in Grapevine; operates World Media Center in Orange County, Calif.

Born: Dec. 3, 1952, in Jaffa, Israel

Education: Attended Catholic schools in Israel and public high school in Toronto; did not graduate and has no formal religious training

Family: Wife, Suzanne, and four children

Residence: Dana Point, Calif.

[TexasStooge]

Dallas County jail faces fourth lawsuit

By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Another lawsuit was filed against Dallas County regarding health care in its jail Tuesday. The lawsuit was filed in federal court by the family of a prisoner who killed himself while on a suicide watch.

The complaint joined lawsuits filed by three other inmates who claimed they didn't receive adequate medical or mental health care.

Fred Brown, said he wants answers in the death of his stepson, Kendrick Baines.

"And to this very day, right now, I haven't had an explanation of why my son is not here," Brown said.

His stepson, 19-year-old Baines, committed suicide in the Dallas County jail two years ago.

Mesquite police jailed Baines for marijuana possession while on a felony probation for aggravated assault.

The family's lawsuit claims Baines died of strangulation, even after jailers or medical personnel put him on suicide watch.

"I love my son, my wife," Brown said. "And I love our son too much to allow that [to] go without an answer being able to come forth and provide that something be done about it."

Their lawsuit now joins others alleging that medical and mental health care at the jail are so bad they are unconstitutional.

"They have been deliberately indifferent to the medical needs of prisoners and that's just something that shouldn't happen in a big city, in a professional jail setting," said Edward Moore, the plaintiff's attorney.

The sheriff's department that runs the jail wouldn't comment about the lawsuit

A consultant for the county in February found suicide prevention at the jail weak. But one county commissioner said reforms are being made.

"We're going to add more mental health people," said Ken Mayfield, a Dallas county commissioner. "Of the people that we add, we are going to do a better job of screening. We are going to do a better job of watching."


WFAA ABC 8
Kendrick Baines (1984-2003) died while on suicide watch at Dallas County jail.

[TexasStooge]

Dallas police launch anti-crime effort

By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Dallas police hope a new initiative will bring down the city's high murder rate, as well as other violent crimes.

In the effort, known as "Operation Disruption," a special unit made up of 60 officers will start saturating high-crime areas.

In the Southeast Division, one of the most violent areas in Dallas, there were four murders since Friday. But commanders hope Operation Disruption will help clean up the area and other hot spots in the city.

Resident Rebecca Guerra said she has slowly seen her neighborhood decline, with increased violence and crime. She welcomes anything that will help stem the tide of crime.

"Finally, Dallas is doing something about it," Guerra said. "They are always saying they are going to do this, they are going to do that, and nothing really gets done ... with this one, who knows, maybe something will get done."

All of the 60 police officers placed on special assignment to saturate areas where crime is out of control, including officer Germaine Walls, were handpicked.

"We are moving forward to try something new and suppress some of the crime that is going on here in Dallas," Walls said.

Using a computer program called COMSTAT, Dallas police are able to track crime trends. They can see where crimes have occurred, and they will deploy officers based on that data.

The goal is to make life difficult for the criminals.

"We are going to make it very uncomfortable for the criminal to be out there doing this business," said Lt. Todd Thomason, who heads up the COMSTAT team. "Where they would normally be very comfortable carrying a gun or some drugs, we are going to have some things to make that comfort level go way down - and that's our goal."

Police said they will be in troubled neighborhoods day and night, seven days a week, and they will keep coming back as long as it takes to bring down the crime rate.

[TexasStooge]

Recall effort against mayor ends

By CHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Ministers pushing to recall Dallas Mayor Laura Miller are standing down.

They made the announcement Tuesday afternoon, just hours before the deadline to turn in their recall petitions.

Those in attendance at the meeting, held at Mount Tabor Baptist Church in South Dallas, said they wanted to make it clear that despite the decision, their attitude towards Miller has not changed.

The Rev. S.C. Nash said the leaders of Clergy for Recall decided after hearing from City Council members and the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce that it is better to heal the city than go through a process of further division. Council members Gary Griffith, Steve Salazar and Maxine Thornton-Reese had petitioned Clergy for Recall to stand down.

Griffith and Salazar said Tuesday morning that a recall election would become divisive and distract the council from its policy goals, especially given a current FBI investigation of Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and council member James Fantroy.

Over the past two months, organizers said they gathered 89,000 signatures - more than the 73,000 needed to force the recall. There were heated arguments, but ultimately a majority decided after a weekend of prayer and discussion that the effort would not be in the best interests of the city.

"I'm looking for Dallas to make for healing, and that's all of us coming together, so that there will be no need for recall," Nash said.

Some, including Rev. Carl Morgan, still feel the recall effort was the best option.

"I felt they should have gone ahead, because that's the only way ... we as black people can get merit," Morgan said. "We've been called idiots and everything else, and this is one way in Dallas that we can show we are recognized people."

This was the third effort at a recall election against Miller. Some of the mayor's supporters were skeptical that enough of the 89,000 signatures would actually qualify to launch a recall. Others think the organizers backed down because they felt their best shot for a challenger against Miller, Mayor Pro Tem Hill, is now under investigation.

[TexasStooge]

Dogs dumped alive in city landfill?

By DAN RONAN / WFAA ABC 8

GARLAND, Texas - Garland Animal Services' officials are changing their policy concerning the disposal of euthanized animals after allegations that witnesses saw animals being dumped alive in the city landfill.

City of Garland officials said they follow, to the letter of the law, animal care training procedures when they put an animal down. But they said the changes that they are enacting deal with what takes place at the Charles M. Hinton Regional Landfill.

Workers at Garland's Animal Services said taking unwanted or sick animals to be euthanized in the carbon monoxide machine, or with a chemical called Fatal-Plus, is the hardest part of their job.

"We think whenever we have to put these animals to sleep, we are failing somebody," said Dr. Mac Warren, a city of Garland veterinarian. "Because we would like to see more spaying and neutering and not have to have those animals come in here."

Ten days ago a landfill employee and a local neighbor said they believe they saw animals that were still alive being dumped in the landfill. The city has denied these charges and Dr. Warren said he had an explanation.

"There are some gases that are changing and forming in the animal's body and it can actually make a leg move," he said. "Or a groan, or some kind of noise, can emanate from the carcass."

Because of the public's sensitivities, Garland said all animals will now be brought to the landfill in heavy-duty garbage bags before ever leaving the shelter.

"It is a disturbing sight," said Joe Crocker, a worker at the City of Garland's Animal Services. "It is dead and that is never pretty."

Garland estimates it will euthanize 5,000 animals this year, most with carbon monoxide.

[TexasStooge]

Prostate benchmark questioned

Researchers find no definitive level for PSA test to signal potential malignant cancer

By LAURA BEIL / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN, Texas - A new study from Texas researchers has found no clear "normal" level for a PSA test, a finding that is likely to add to growing uncertainty over one of the foundations of prostate cancer screening.

Doctors had once hoped that blood tests for prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, a substance made normally in a man's prostate gland, could signal when the prostate had turned malignant.

Since the introduction of the PSA test two decades ago, most doctors have settled on a benchmark of 4 nanograms of PSA per milliliter of blood as the flashpoint for a PSA test. With results above that level, many doctors advise a biopsy of the prostate.

But the number appears to have little meaning, according to the study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association .

"Patients have been taught that PSA less than 4 is normal, above 4 is abnormal. That's not true," said Dr. Ian Thompson of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who led the new research.

The study is the latest in a series that questions the current use of the test, which has become almost routine in most older men's physical exams.

About three-fourths of men over age 50 are believed to have had their PSA levels checked, although studies have not yet demonstrated that PSA screening has lowered prostate cancer mortality.

The prostate, a walnut-sized gland involved in the production of semen, makes PSA as part of its normal function. In addition to a PSA test, doctors also check for prostate cancer with a digital rectal exam.

In an important paper last year, Dr. Thompson and his colleagues reported that 15 percent of men with a PSA hovering below 4 have prostate cancer. The new paper expands on that idea in more detail, looking at how any given PSA value would fare in signaling possible prostate cancers.

The researchers found that, when laid on a graph, prostate cancer occurs along a steady arc – the higher the PSA, the higher percentage of prostate cancers the test will catch. But the new research found no clear cutoff point at which a PSA test result should trigger the need for further medical tests. Set the bar too low, and too many men undergo unnecessary biopsies. Too high, and the test will miss most cancers.

Although PSA screening has long had skeptics, the debate among urologists reached a new pitch last fall, when Dr. Thomas Stamey of Stanford University Medical School – an early champion of the PSA – announced, "the PSA era is over in the United States."

In a study published in the Oct. 2004 the Journal of Urology, Dr. Stamey and his colleagues analyzed data from prostates taken over more than 20 years and tracked the severity of the cancers to each man's PSA level. The conclusion: As it has become increasingly used, the PSA test measures little more than the size of a man's prostate.

A PSA test, Dr. Stamey said last week, "gets you into more trouble than it helps you." A man's prostate gland commonly becomes enlarged, and produces more PSA, for reasons that have nothing to do with cancer. And even when the prostate is cancerous, experts disagree on whether those tumors need to be caught and treated so early. Prostate cancer is a relatively common malignancy, but it is not always aggressive. Men with prostate cancer are more likely to die with their disease, not because of it.

"Almost every man gets prostate cancer with aging," Dr. Stamey said. "I know damn well at [age] 76 I've got at least a 70 to 80 percent chance of having prostate cancer."

He says that knowledge doesn't bother him because he understands something else probably will catch up with him long before a prostate problem will. And, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, treatment for prostate cancer runs a risk of rectal injury, impotence and incontinence. One man in 100 undergoing a radical prostatectomy may die.

PSA screening "can diagnose a lot of guys who don't need to be treated and don't need to be cured," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the Emory University School of Medicine, who as former assistant director at the National Cancer Institute, helped design a large prostate cancer prevention study.

"This PSA screening frenzy," Dr. Brawley said, "has taken us away from a real scientific question and real scientific problem – that is, how to distinguish the cancers that do need to be treated from the ones that don't need to be treated."

The dilemma for patients, he said, is not knowing on which side of that line their tumor falls.

Many urologists acknowledge that the PSA test has not become the precise tool doctors had once hoped. Specialists such as Dr. Stamey have even called for cancer screening with the PSA test to be abandoned. Others, however, say that it can remain an important tool for cancer detection as long as test results are interpreted thoughtfully.

"It's not just a lab report," said Dr. Claus Roehrborn of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Dr. Thompson, from San Antonio, believes that the test must be considered within an individual patient's circumstances and interpreted in the context of age, family history and other risk factors for prostate cancer. "Rather than using a single value, you will integrate a man's risk with the PSA," he said.

Even the most fervent advocates of the test want to wean doctors from a single-number fixation.

"Before, they were looking for a magic number. Kind of like a pregnancy test. But it's not that simple," said Dr. William Catalona of Northwestern University School of Medicine, and a pioneer in the development of the PSA test. Instead, he and many others now believe that doctors should pay attention to the dynamics of the PSA test results, watching how rapidly it rises rather than just whether it is above or below a predetermined point.

Anthony McClure would agree. In January, the Highland Park businessman got a call from his urologist, Dr. Roehrborn. Mr. McClure's PSA level had jumped from 1.9 to 2.7 in just a year, and the physician took notice. A biopsy confirmed Dr. Roehrborn's suspicions about cancer. Mr. McClure had his prostate removed in March.

"It would never have been detected without the PSA," Mr. McClure said. He was aware of the potential side effects of treatment and that he likely could have lived many more years without problems. But he is a relatively young man – only 62 – who lost his wife to breast cancer three years ago. He wanted to be through with cancer.

Jerry Nabors of Wichita Falls is having surgery Thursday, after a routine PSA test led to a biopsy and discovery of his prostate cancer. "If I were 65, 75, I'd say, 'Let's watchful wait,' " he said. But he is 56. His father is 92, and he hopes to share his family's longevity without worrying about cancer for the next three decades.

Mr. Nabors said he knows that a PSA test isn't perfect but credits it with finding his cancer. He hopes that scientists will soon turn up with a new blood test that holds all the promise that once surrounded the PSA.

"Until it's replaced with something better," Mr. Nabors said, "it's what we have."

[TexasStooge]

In Marfa, signs of a cultural makeover

Rustic W. Texas setting for film classic 'Giant' emerging as hub for art, real estate

By DAVID McLEMORE / The Dallas Morning News

MARFA, Texas – At some point between the morning's first latte and the evening's choice of which gallery opening or poetry reading to attend, you realize things have changed in this tiny West Texas town.

Gone are the days when Marfa, population 2,200, served only as a sleepy jumping-off point to Big Bend country. Or a side-trip to see the Marfa Lights glowing eerily in nearby mountains.

Over the weekend, as people gathered to commemorate Giant, the epic film that gave Marfa its image for tough guys and splendid isolation, evidence of a new Marfa was all around.

The town has emerged as a contemporary arts center, attracting scores of urban seekers looking for that perfect little adobe fixer-upper to transform into a vacation home. The transition has largely been smooth. Longtime residents find they like the new sophistication – and the money – the new people bring. And the new arrivals, mostly from New York, California and Texas' urban centers, are learning the value of a slower, gentler pace of life.

"The newcomers are learning that if someone waves and says, 'Hi,' it's OK to wave back," said Presidio County Judge Jerry Agan. "Right now, we're having more effect on the newcomers than they are on us."

"Newcomers are definitely changing Marfa. But the newcomers are also being changed by the spirit of the people of Marfa," said Louis Dobay, manager of the Marfa Book Co.

"There is a gentility and openness in the way people live here, something that springs from the residents who have been here for generations."

The town now has a world-class bookstore, excellent restaurants, a new post-modern motel and at least a dozen art galleries. Mr. Dobay said the burgeoning art world here has helped draw outsiders.

Most mornings, pickups vie for parking space with Lexuses and Land Rovers outside Mr. Dobay's business, a coolly contemporary bookstore and coffee shop. It's rapidly becoming a social center where a mix of locals and newcomers sip fresh-ground coffee, chat or engage in a ruthless game of Scrabble. At the counter, the Sunday New York Times sits next to the Big Bend Sentinel.

Not all is rosy, though. Marfa still has no medical doctor, and the nearest hospital is 25 miles away. And the changes have caused property values to double in a few years, causing some to worry that working-class families who have been here for generations will be squeezed out.

"We've got Border Patrol agents working in Marfa who have to live in Alpine because they can't find housing here they can buy," Mr. Agan said.


JIM MAHONEY/Dallas Morning News
The Marfa Book Co. is a converging point for old-timers and newcomers in the once-sleepy town.

All adobes, all the time

Valda Livingston has sold real estate in Marfa for 35 years. She said the new land rush started in 1997 and shows no sign of flagging. This despite Marfa's location way off the beaten path: a six-hour drive from San Antonio. Or, after a flight into Midland or El Paso, it's another three-hour drive.

"Mostly, it's what we call the Three As: artists, architects and attorneys," Ms. Livingston said. "Everyone is looking for an adobe they can rehab for a vacation home. The adobes are getting a little hard to find. All my life, I had to explain where Marfa is. Now, even outside Texas, I don't have to."

While the desirability of selected properties, particularly older adobe homes, in Marfa has resulted in a doubling of some property values, ranchland and other residential properties in Presidio County remained static. Still, the rush to buy property in Marfa led to a 36-percent increase in market value countywide over the last five years.

Marjorie Graue, an interior designer from San Francisco, made a three-day excursion to Marfa to check out real estate recently. Within a day, she put bids in on two properties. Over supper at Maiya's, a decidedly upscale northern Italian restaurant on Marfa's main drag, she articulates why.

"I grew up near Dallas, and I've heard about this place all my life. But it's really like there's something in the air that draws you here. It's a lovely place, and the mix of rural charm and urban sophistication is really appealing," Ms. Graue said.

She also likes the prices.

"In California, I couldn't even think about buying property like this. Here, we can put our investment money to good use," she said. "There is something very real going on here, and you want to make sure you are part of it before the prices get too high."

Lucy Garcia, 65, has lived in Marfa all her life. A family from New York owns the house next door, and a Houstonian owns the home behind her. They are good neighbors, she said.

"We all get along," she said. "There are some newcomers we call the 'Chinatistas' who stay in little artist cliques. But many of the new people include us in their lives, and we include them into ours. They invite us to their parties and their homes. It's like they've been here forever."

Another lifelong resident, rancher Bill Shurley, 78, said the newcomers have been a pleasant surprise.

"The new Marfa is something I never expected to see. I think we old-timers are learning something new about how to see art," he said.


JIM MAHONEY / Dallas Morning News
Lee Means (left) and sister Clare Means of Clearwater, Fla., take 8-month-old Wiley Rogers on a hunt for a place to eat along Marfa's main drag. Like Rusty Martin and Susan Kerr of Austin (inside), they chose Maiya's, an upscale northern Italian restaurant.

Enter 'Chinatistas'

Artist Donald Judd is credited with starting the changes in Marfa. He moved here more than three decades ago, creating art in the form of large concrete boxes planted on the countryside. Eventually, he helped create the Chinati Foundation, which brings young artists to Marfa for study and contemplation.

"The people of Marfa are very open-minded about art, but it didn't happen overnight," said Chinati spokesman Nick Terry. "People saw Judd as that strange hippie from New York and wondered what he was doing here."

"Today, there is a real sense of open arms from the longtime community. After a time, Marfa has emerged as a perfect idea – except there's still no sushi."

Mr. Terry acknowledged that rising home prices and taxes are legitimate concerns. And he said some people worry that Marfa could become another Santa Fe, all art and pretension.

What will save Marfa, he said, is a balanced approach toward change. A preservation group, made up of representatives from Chinati, a former mayor, ranchers, artists and townspeople meet monthly to examine the basic questions of growth.

"We're looking at what do we want Marfa to become and how to expand and develop without losing what we have and what we love," Mr. Terry said. "Marfa will develop, but no one wants it to become another Santa Fe."

[TexasStooge]

Vandals put light-rail schedule off track

Dallas: Damage to wiring caused delays for morning commuters

By GRETEL C. KOVACH / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Honest, boss, it wasn't a Fourth of July hangover. The train was late.

Thousands of commuters were sent straggling into downtown Dallas on Tuesday morning because DART light rail was running as much as 90 minutes behind.

Vandals uprooted wiring at the 8th & Corinth Station in east Oak Cliff about 6 a.m., forcing DART to run downtown trains off a single track on the system's main line, agency spokeswoman Claudia Garibay said.

The damage clogged service throughout the transit network, which carries about 55,000 light-rail passengers each weekday, Ms. Garibay said.

"People were upset. They were late for work and stuck in the tunnel with no cellphone service," said Marcus Barnes, an El Centro College culinary-arts student who caught a Dallas Area Rapid Transit train at Park Lane.

Some riders hopped off early to walk the rest of the way to work. Others trapped underground angrily punched in their bosses' phone numbers but couldn't get through.

Ofelia Camacho, an analyst for Bank of America, had set out early for work but found a crowd of passengers waiting at the Hampton Station platform. A co-worker who had waited 40 minutes flagged her down and helped her find the right bus to downtown.

"That's about the third time in my life in Dallas that I've taken the bus. I don't like it," Ms. Camacho said. "It takes longer. And I tend to get lost.

"I rely on the rail because I'm scared to drive downtown."

Kelly Matheny, another Bank of America employee who is known for her punctuality, said she arrived late because Trinity Railway Express trains from Irving were backed up at Union Station.

When 9 a.m. came and went and about 10 employees hadn't arrived, "Our manager was going, 'OK, where is everyone?' " said co-worker Laurie Houston, who drives to work because DART trains don't serve The Colony.

DART apologizes for the delays, Ms. Garibay said.

"It became an inconvenience for the morning rush-hour commuter," she said. "We worked to get it fixed as quickly as possible."

DART bused riders from 8th & Corinth to other stations, and normal train service was restored by 11:30 a.m., she said. About 97 percent of DART trains ran on time in 2004, according to the latest DART statistics.

The vandals, who had not been apprehended Tuesday, risked electrocution and could have been struck by a train, Ms. Garibay said.

Conductors announced to passengers that DART trains would be running slowly, but some commuters groused that the agency did not supply information or rerouting help to those waiting at the platforms.

"Unfortunately, they never tell you what's going on. There is no DART representative out there giving out information," said Ms. Matheny, who has been riding DART trains to work for about five years.

Mr. Barnes leaves his car at home and rides the DART train to El Centro to save gas money.

"It's usually reliable," he said. "But when there's a wreck or a problem, it backs everything up. ... There was a lot of complaining."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOSE IN DFW AREA, KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

DART officials suggest that riders check http://www.dart.org for possible delays before leaving home. Commuters can also call customer service at 214-979-1111 for trip planning, up-to-date travel alerts and alternate routes.

[TexasStooge]

IRS goes after Hill, Fantroy

ByCHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - The two Dallas City Council members who are the subjects of an FBI investigation are in trouble with another federal agency. The Internal Revenue Service is moving against both Don Hill and James Fantroy for owing thousands in unpaid taxes.

Both Hill and Fantroy had liens filed from the IRS on properties they own.

J.L.'s Security and Investigations is named after its founder James L. Fantroy Sr. The company helped build the city council member's wealth. But now, the Internal Revenue Service is pounding on the company's door.

IRS documents showed the firm did not pay employee payroll taxes for nine filing periods over four years.

And in March, the IRS filed a lien for $138,000 in back taxes.

From his farm near Houston, Fantroy said while he was ill his son ran the business and didn't know to file the forms.

"I was in and out of the hospital at that time," Fantroy said. "I'm not criticizing Junior. He is my son. He didn't understand."

Fantroy said he paid $40,000 last month and is negotiating to pay the rest.

"I don't think it reflects on me that I have outstanding taxes, especially when you are paying them off," he said.

But political experts said voters expect better from.

"People expect that since they have to pay their taxes, politicians should have to pay their taxes as a matter of course,"

said Cal Jillson, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University.

But Council Member Don Hill's history of not paying his employee payroll taxes stretches back to the mid-1980s. Documents show he finally cleared that up a few years ago. However, his income taxes are another story.

Last month, the IRS also filed a lien against the Oak Cliff home owned by Hill and his wife.

Court documents show the council member has unpaid federal income taxes for six years. As of May, he owed the IRS $140,000.

"I think as a citizen and a voter, you look at a candidate for office and say be sure you have your private affairs in order before you offer yourself for public service," Jillson said.

[TexasStooge]

Deputies expand patrolling areas

By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - For the four years sheriff's deputies have patrolled freeways in southern Dallas County, drivers obeying the speed limit went up - and the number of accidents went down.

Deputy Jerry Cox said the approach they use is simple: fear.

"In order for them to actually slow down there's got to be a fear of getting caught," he said.

Deputies are now spreading this method after receiving a $4.5 million federal grant to expand their patrol areas. Dallas police deputies will take over Interstate 30 and freeways south to Interstate 20.

The Sheriff's Department hopes to hire almost 60 more deputies to saturate southern sector highways and free Dallas police officers to do more neighborhood patrolling.

Deputies hope the expansion of their patrolling area will also make more drivers aware of their speed. Deputy Cox and his laser gun, that nails speeders at 2,000 feet, caught one driver speeding because he was not.

"I didn't realize I was speeding," said Darrel Murray. "Actually, I wasn't paying attention. I was looking for somewhere to go eat."

The goal isn't to rack up fines, but to keep drivers at the speed limit and traffic moving. Deputies average 16 minutes to clear wrecks.

"You have more officers, they are a lot quicker to clear the highway so we don't have the back up," Cox said.

[TexasStooge]

Another close call at D/FW Airport

By DAN RONAN / WFAA ABC 8

DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Texas - Just five days after government investigators sent a highly critical report of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's air traffic control operations to President Bush, there was another close call.

On the morning of June 28, a mistake sent two regional jets approaching D/FW too close by Federal Aviation Administration regulations.

The two jets were about 20 miles northeast of Dallas and flying nearly parallel to each other. Two different controllers handled each plane.

The jets were assigned different runways, but sources said one was mistakenly sent to the wrong intersection for that runway. One plane cut in front of the other at 2.3 miles horizontally and 700 feet vertically.

FAA rules state that planes can fly within 40 miles of big airports, like DFW, at a minimum separation of 1,000 feet vertical and three miles horizontally.

"By the time they get down by the runways here the separation should have been resolved," said Robert Besco, a retired pilot and aviation expert. "It's very unusual, in my experience, to see these separation errors occurring this close to the airport."

Last month the government issued a highly critical report about air traffic control operations at D/FW.

Wednesday the National Controllers Union said the latest incident at D/FW "...was regrettable and some sort of recertification will take place."

The recertification is for the controller who made the mistake. However, Besco said he believes this incident, while serious, was not as bad as the near miss late last year.

The mistake happened when a business jet flying at 4,000 feet and 259 mph and a passenger plane flying in the opposite direction at 311 mph drew dangerously close to one another. They were forced to take evasive action just seven seconds before a possible collision.

Besco said he was also concerned about the government's report and recent high number of incidents at the airport.

"Most controllers know that people out there put their lives in their hands," he said. "The pilots know it. The controllers know it."

[TexasStooge]

Man, dog reunited after truck theft

By BERT LOZANO / WFAA ABC 8

ROCKWALL, Texas - There's a happy ending to a story News 8 reported Tuesday night.

A desperate search began after a Rockwall man's pickup truck was stolen with his dog in the back.

The ordeal began in a Wal-Mart parking lot last Friday. Surveillance video captured someone stealing Steve Karr's Ford truck, with back labrador retriever Maggie in the bed in a special kennel.

For five days, Karr put up flyers in a desperate search for his dog.

"They can keep the truck," he said. "I just want Maggie."

But when a Mesquite officer pulled over a pickup on a routine stop, it cracked the case.

"It came back stolen," Mesquite Police Sgt. Shannon Greenhaw said. "At that time we realized we had Mr. Karr's vehicle."

Police arrested Jason Chaney and Sandra Laymon, then tracked them back to a house where officers found Maggie in the backyard, plus several stolen trucks stripped to the frame.

Now, Maggie is back to her old tricks. Karr and his daughter Riley couldn't wait to take Maggie to the park.

"She's a member of our family," Karr said. "To get her back, it was a special moment."

If dogs could talk, what a tale the black labrador could tell.

"Not only do we have Maggie back safely, we have thousands and thousands of dollars of stolen car parts," Greenhaw said.

The Karrs are grateful that Maggie is home - a little hungry and dehydrated, but ready to play.

"She's excited," Karr said. "She's happy to be home."


WFAA ABC 8
Steve Karr is happy to have black lab Maggie back home.

[TexasStooge]

Dallas police kick off 'Operation Disruption'

By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Teams of officers hit the streets Wednesday in Oak Cliff for the start of Dallas' new program "Operation Disruption." The team targeted drug houses, guns and gangs near Kiest and Polk on their first day on the streets.

Sixty handpicked officers were chosen for the program that targets crime in the city's most dangerous areas.

Dallas has the highest crime rate in the nation for big cities. Police said they hope this new approach will change that.

"The intent is to keep the bad guys off guard and unable to react."

The team that makes up "Operation Disruption" will patrol the high-crime neighborhoods day and night, seven days a week. They are looking for people breaking the law or on the run from police.

"It's no secret where they are," said. "We know where they are. We want to get out of the squad car and become engaged with them and take necessary enforcement action."

Charles Johnson said he also hopes the program works. He likes the idea of taking the bad guys out of his Oak Cliff neighborhood.

"They are going to be getting people they normally wouldn't get and put them in jail," Johnson said. "So, I think it's a good idea."

Garage owner Ben Ghaffar said he isn't so optimistic. He believes arresting more people will not bring down the crime rate and that there is a bigger problem.

"If the crime rate is high, it is because we have unemployment," he said. "It's not just going to go away because you go and arrest people."

But police said in other cities a similar crime-fighting approach has resulted in a dramatic drop. In Chicago murders fell more than 50 percent.

The operation is set to last about six months. However, Chief David Kunkle said he hopes to extend that date and maybe make this a permanent approach to fighting crime.

[TexasStooge]

Babysitter faces felony charge in child's death

By GARY REAVES / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - A North Texas family's heart and trust were broken after their child died while under the care of her babysitter.

Last Tuesday the babysitter told police the child she was looking after fell off a tricycle and hurt herself. The child died soon after arriving at the hospital.

However, police said Audrey William's story had too many holes. She was arrested, but Wednesday was out on a $5,000 bond. Williams has no criminal record, but she could get a 99-year sentence if convicted.

Brinisha Dreyden's parents said their daughter was a special 2-year-old.

"Anybody she was around, she put a smile on their face and brightened up their day," said father Brandon Dreyden,

Her mother was cautious and would usually only leave the baby with family.

"She's only been to day care one time," said Samantha Embry. "And when she went to day care I worked at the day care so I was right there."

Embry even delayed finding a job until she found a babysitter that she called almost like family. Williams was her mother's childhood friend.

"We went to school together," said Stacey Embry, the grandmother. "She even dated my brother for a while."

Samantha Embry said that Williams treated the child as her own. But now, Williams faces a felony charge of injury to a child.

"I actually put my baby in the car with this lady," the father said. "...The next thing I hear is my baby is not breathing."

Police said the injuries didn't fit the claim of a fall.

"The indicated autopsy results indicated severe injuries as a result of blunt force trauma," said Sgt. Chess Williams of the Dallas Police Department.

The family doesn't buy the accident story either, but they also doubt the woman they knew suddenly turned into a killer.

"I trusted her with all my heart," Stacey Embry said. "I didn't think she would do that to her."

[TexasStooge]

Vandals strike in Bedford for 2nd time

By YOLANDA WALKER / WFAA ABC 8

BEDFORD, Texas - Vandals struck in a Bedford neighborhood late Tuesday, leaving a trail of damage in their wake.

A dozen mailboxes in a neighborhood along Harwood Terrace were hit in what is the city's second widespread act of vandalism this summer. Residents in the area woke up Wednesday morning to find their mailboxes either sitting on the ground or smashed in.

It was a surprise discovery, although some said they heard commotion during the night.

"My son heard something at 2:30 this morning," said victim Millie Pair. "It was like a bang."

"(It's) just not comfortable to know that you've got hoodlums running around the middle of the night like that," victim Dean Smith said.

A dozen mailboxes were hit in all; some were bashed in and others knocked clear off their posts. No one saw the vandals, and police have no leads.

"Usually a break will come our way," said Bedford Police Deputy Chief Roger Gibson. "We're waiting for that break."

This is the second time in three weeks this has happened in Bedford. In a neighborhood just south of Airport Freeway, there have been some 40 incidents of vandalism including broken windshields.

"The activity has picked up significantly since the summer has started," Gibson said.

Homeowners suspect local teens are to blame.

"I think they're bored - just hunting for something to do, some action," Pair said.

The victims said the mailboxes won't cost that much to replace, but they said it's not a money issue but the inconvenience.

Police said they will be paying extra attention to cars on the road late at night. If caught, the vandals could face charges of criminal mischief.