News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Miller-El case to be retried

Irving: Hill wants death penalty for man whose '86 verdict was reversed

By ROBERT THARP / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned celebrated death row inmate Thomas Miller-El's murder conviction, District Attorney Bill Hill announced Friday that he plans to retry the case and will seek the death penalty.

Mr. Hill appointed veteran felony prosecutor Pat Kirlin to take over the nearly 20-year-old case. A trial date has not been set.

Although the high court found that prosecutors in Mr. Miller-El's 1986 trial had unfairly excluded minority jurors, Mr. Hill said in a prepared statement that a new trial is necessary because the facts of the case have never been disputed.

"His guilt of this heinous crime is not in question," he said.

Mr. Kirlin was unavailable for comment Friday.

Jim Marcus of the Texas Defender Service, one of the lawyers handling Mr. Miller-El's appeal, declined to comment in detail about the case now that prosecutors have decided to retry it. He was critical of Mr. Hill's comments.

"Mr. Miller-El is innocent until proven guilty in a constitutionally fair trial," he said. "To the extent that the Dallas district attorney's office is commenting on his guilt prior to his trial, they are violating the rules of ethics that govern prosecutors and are seeking an unfair advantage by attempting to taint the jury pool."

The six justices who overturned Mr. Miller-El's conviction found that Dallas County prosecutors had used a variety of techniques to make sure minorities were not selected to serve as jurors. The ruling was also critical of two earlier lower court opinions for disregarding "clear and convincing evidence" that prosecutors had discriminated during jury selection.

The justices ruled that prosecutors had treated black and white potential jurors differently when they gave the same answers to questions about criminal justice and their values. The justices also cited prosecutors' practice of shuffling the order of the jury pool to push blacks to the back of the group and make it less likely that they would be selected. Prosecutors ultimately struck 10 of 11 eligible black jurors.

At the time of the trial, a 20-year-old jury selection manual was still in circulation among prosecutors. The manual offered tips on jury selection and advised prosecutors to keep minorities off juries.

The jury in Mr. Miller-El's trial ultimately convicted him of murdering Douglas Walker, a night clerk at an Irving Holiday Inn, during a November 1985 robbery. Mr. Walker and co-worker Donald Ray Hall were bound, gagged and shot during the robbery.

During the trial, Mr. Hall, who was paralyzed in the shooting, and Mr. Miller-El's accomplice identified Mr. Miller-El as the triggerman in the shooting.

Reading from a prepared statement, Mr. Hill stressed Friday that he was not district attorney at the time of Mr. Miller-El's first trial and that the methods of selecting juries and other trial practices have changed since then.

"Miller-El's original trial took place 13 years before I assumed office as district attorney," he said. "I cannot speculate as to the motivations of the prosecutors who tried this case."

About 40 minority prosecutors stood behind Mr. Hill during the Friday afternoon news conference, during which he also stressed that his office is committed to fairness.

"Despite this sobering reality, the fact remains that we as a community and we as a district attorney's office have come far in making unlawful bias and discrimination a thing of the past," he said.
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THE MILLER-EL CASE

Nov. 16, 1985: Douglas Walker a 25-year-old clerk, dies from a gunshot wound to the back after being bound and gagged during an early morning robbery at a Holiday Inn near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. A co-worker, Donald Ray Hall, 29, survives the shooting but is left paralyzed.

Nov. 20, 1985: Thomas Joe Miller-El is arrested after a shootout in Houston.

Nov. 22, 1985: Dorothy Miller-El, his wife and a former worker at the hotel, and Kennard Sonny Flowers are arrested in the robbery-murder.

December 1985: Mr. Miller-El is indicted on a charge of capital murder after Mr. Flowers agrees to testify against him.

March 1986: During jury selection, a judge denies a defense motion to quash the jury after prosecutors used their peremptory strikes to eliminate 10 of 11 eligible black jurors. The seated jury includes nine Anglos, one black, one Hispanic and one Filipino. During the trial, Mr. Hall identifies Mr. Miller-El as the shooter. Mr. Miller-El is sentenced to die by injection.

April 1986: The U.S. Supreme Court bars race bias in jury selection nationwide in the landmark case of Batson vs. Kentucky. It cites a study by The Dallas Morning News that shows the near-total exclusion of eligible black jurors by the Dallas County district attorney's office.

September 1986: Mrs. Miller-El is convicted of murder and attempted capital murder by a jury and receives two consecutive life sentences for helping her husband in the hotel robbery. Those sentences are later reduced to 15 years each.

March 1988: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals orders hearings in Dallas to decide whether prosecutors used race bias in excluding eligible black jurors in Mr. Miller-El's trial. Two months later, the trial judge rules that he has found no racial motive on the part of prosecutors.

November 1992: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upholds Mr. Miller-El's capital murder conviction.

November 1992: Mrs. Miller-El is paroled from prison for her role in the robbery and murder.

February 2002: Mr. Miller-El's appeals attorneys persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution while the justices hear arguments on the issue of race bias in jury selection.

February 2003: In an 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court orders the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider Mr. Miller-El's appeal after citing evidence that the Dallas County district attorney's office in 1986 was "suffused with bias."

December 2004: For the second time, the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on whether Mr. Miller-El was denied a fair trial because eligible black jurors were discriminated against and barred from the jury in his death penalty trial.

June 13, 2005: The Supreme Court reverses Mr. Miller-El's conviction and orders a new trial.

July 8, 2005: Dallas County District Attorney Bill Hill announces that Mr. Miller-El will be tried. He says the office will seek the death penalty.

[TexasStooge]

Voters could get say in tax swap

Referendum proposed over business changes

By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN, Texas – Senate leaders, taking aim at criticism they are creating an unconstitutional business tax in their latest tax-swap plan, want to ask Texas voters to voice their opinion on the subject in a referendum this fall.

Senators on Sunday will take up legislation that would lower school property taxes in exchange for higher consumer and business taxes, including a half-cent jump in the states sales tax and increases in sin taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.

Another major element is a new business franchise tax that would rope in thousands of businesses that now avoid taxes through legal loopholes. However, there have been questions about whether levying the tax on some business partnerships would violate a Texas constitutional ban on a state income tax – unless it has voter approval.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and other Senate leaders said Friday they are confident their proposed business tax is legal. But to leave no doubt, they propose submitting the issue to voters in a statewide referendum. If the referendum is approved, school property taxes would be reduced further in 2006 after an initial decrease this fall.

"We don't have to have a referendum at all," Mr. Dewhurst said, noting that both Attorney General Greg Abbott and former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips have concluded the Senate's expanded business franchise tax is not an income tax on individuals, which is what the state constitution prohibits.

"We thought it might be worthwhile to ask the people if they wanted an additional property tax reduction of 20 cents and to have them articulate whether they wanted to see reform of our tax system," he said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said that by involving the public, "we run a much better chance of coming up with a long-term solution."

"I don't understand why anyone would be afraid to ask the voters."

Once the Senate gives its expected approval to the tax legislation Sunday, it will clear the way for negotiations with the House, which passed a far different tax bill Wednesday. The two chambers will have just over a week to reach agreement. The current special session must wrap up by July 20.

The two chief sticking points in negotiations are expected to be the size of the increase in the state sales tax and changes to the business franchise tax.

House members voted for a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax – raising it to the highest in the nation at 7.25 percent – while the Senate bill currently calls for a half-cent increase.

Regarding business taxes, the measure narrowly approved by the House simply closes loopholes in the business franchise tax and expands it to corporations now uncovered. The Senate plan not only closes the loopholes, but also expands the franchise tax to many partnerships and taxes a portion of employee compensation along with net taxable income. The tax rate would be 4.25 percent.

Key business groups are lobbying against the Senate business tax, and Gov. Rick Perry has voiced his concern, with his press secretary saying that Mr. Perry doesn't believe the House will support the provision.

On Friday, Mr. Dewhurst said he is not surprised that groups such as the Texas Association of Business and the Texas Oil and Gas Association would prefer the House tax plan.

"The House plan moves a billion dollars of business taxes onto the backs of individuals and consumers," he said. "I would be a little surprised if the paid lobbyists [of business groups] didn't think the House bill is a better plan."

Mr. Dewhurst and Mr. Ogden also said for now the Senate is staying with a half-cent increase in the sales tax.

"I don't see a need to move the sales tax from a half cent," Mr. Dewhurst said. "We can pay for the reduction in school property taxes without going higher. ... We don't need to have the highest sales tax in the country."

Mr. Ogden said he can't support a tax plan heavy on consumer taxes and light on business taxes.

The senator also said he is not requesting a tax equity note on the Senate bill, which would show how various groups are affected by the tax changes. Mr. Ogden was critical of a tax equity note on an earlier bill that showed most of the tax breaks went to wealthier families.

Staff writer Robert T. Garrett contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Astronauts, supporters ready for lift-off

By BRAD HAWKINS / WFAA ABC 8

HOUSTON, Texas - NASA is set to return to space Wednesday for the first space shuttle flight in over two years since the Columbia tragedy. The Discovery flight will also be the first time that a female shuttle commander will be at the helm.

However, the flight back into space is something the woman breaking NASA history called inevitable.

"It's in our human nature to explore, and to learn and to find a better way of life," said Cmdr. Ellen Collin.

It was only two years ago, though, when shockwaves pierced the clear Texas sky and the Columbia disintegrated nearly 40 miles above the Earth.

Now, after Columbia, there are plenty of supporters ready to see a shuttle launched into space once again.

"I will have every finger crossed," said Summer Smith, of the Science Place at Fair Park. "And I am really impressed by the safety measures that NASA has made and I hope that it goes really well."

NASA has said the Discovery is safer than ever. However, it was still hard for Collins to explain that to her daughter.

"I tell her, 'You are going to be a little bit afraid when I go fly this flight,'" Collins said. "That's just the way it is. That's human nature and I want you to know that's normal. But I also want you to know that I would not fly this flight if I didn't believe that I was going to be safe and come back in the same condition that I went up in."

[TexasStooge]

Texas Senate approves tax measure

AUSTIN, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - Texans would shell out more for booze and cigarettes, but slightly less in school property taxes under a school finance proposal the Texas Senate approved early Monday.

The chamber struggled behind closed doors, delaying floor debate for about six hours before finally bringing the measure to the chamber for public debate. The proposal passed 20-8.

The bill still must be negotiated with members of the House in a conference committee before the session ends July 20.

Democrats in the 31-member chamber were opposed to increasing the sales tax rate by more than half of a percent, but Republicans opposed a voter referendum that would allow a business tax that includes a calculation of a company's payroll. That provision was later stripped from the bill, under pressure from Republican Gov. Rick Perry.

Number crunchers struggled to find a tax mix that would raise enough money to give Texas homeowners a property tax cut and could still garner enough votes to adopt the measure.

One provision in the legislation would have allowed voters to approve a restructured and expanded business tax in exchange for additional property tax relief. That provision was removed, but barely. After a 14-14 vote, Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst cast a rare tie-breaking vote. It was Dewhurst's first vote since being elected to lead the Senate almost three years ago.

"I would like to have seen a reform of our business tax system. But in reality, that's not possible today in light of the governor's comments and the House's position," Dewhurst said.

Instead, senators added a measure that would end the franchise tax as it now exists in two years and create a 15-member task force to explore modernizing Texas' system of taxing businesses.

Republican Sen. Steve Ogden, who crafted much of the legislation, said the proposal would stimulate economic activity in Texas.

"The cost of owning a piece of the American dream just went down," Ogden said, when asked what he would tell voters when the measure passes.

Critics say the tax bill unfairly taxes middle- and low-income Texans, while only wealthy homeowners would receive a net tax cut.

Property taxes would be cut from the current maximum $1.50 per $100 of property value, to $1.30 in 2006 and $1.25 in 2007. Future property tax cuts would written into law, though no funding measure was included. That would leave future lawmakers to raise taxes or find other money to pay for property tax cuts.

The property tax cuts were significantly less than originally planned. Dewhurst and senators had hoped to reduce property taxes by a third -- down to $1 per $100 of property value.

The bill would pay for those immediate property tax reductions -- without spending any of the new money on schools -- by increasing the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 6.75 percent. A provision to tax computer programming services was removed.

Low-income Texans would receive a sales tax rebate.

Loopholes in the state's main business tax would be closed to incorporate about 10,000 businesses that now avoid paying the state tax.

The cigarette tax would be increased by a dollar, and alcohol taxes would be increased by 20 percent.

The measure also would require that 15 percent of future state surpluses be spent on further property tax reductions.

An attempt to legalize video slot machines at horse and dog racing tracks in Texas was narrowly defeated in a 14-14 vote.

[TexasStooge]

Prisoners escape privately run jail

BEAUMONT, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - Three prisoners escaped from a privately run correctional facility after the inmates overpowered two guards, officials said.

Beaumont Police Department officers found one of the prisoners seven minutes after the escape Sunday night at the Port of Beaumont, a police department news release said.

Investigators said the men used pepper spray and a shank to overpower the guards at Correctional Services Corporation's jail, TV station KFDM reported.

Beaumont police continued to search late Sunday for the other two prisoners, David Jackson, 45, and Todd Christian, 26.

Police said both men are violent and have been charged with killing other inmates.

[TexasStooge]

Car crashes into apartment; baby lives

North Dallas: Family sees 'a sign from God' in devastating scene

By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Friends and relatives stood in the Sam family's North Dallas apartment Sunday and surveyed a ravaged room full of debris. A disheveled bed was covered in wood and dust. A black tarp covered a gaping hole in the exterior wall. The interior structure of the wall between the living room and bedroom was exposed.

All afternoon, one word repeatedly rolled off everyone's tongues: miracle.

The way the Sams see it, God watched carefully over them Saturday night as a car crashed through a fence, flew over a small brick retaining wall, slammed into their bedroom and landed on the mattress where Janice Sam was sleeping with 13-month-old Brooklynn McNeil.

"That was an impossible situation," Joseph Sam said Sunday as he recalled running barefoot over broken glass and debris to reach his wife and the infant of a family friend they were baby-sitting. "You can't even dream of something like that."

When the car crashed through the Sams' apartment, Mrs. Sam was pushed off the bed to the floor. The mattress shifted, and Brooklynn fell in between the bed and the headboard.

Police said the driver and a passenger got out of the car and fled the scene.

"He got up, looked at my mom and ran out of the apartment through the same hole he came in," the Sams' daughter Janay Sam said of the driver.

Dallas police on Sunday said they took possession of the car and are seeking the two unknown suspects. Possible charges can't be determined until the suspects are located and police learn why the car crashed.

About a half-dozen neighbors who heard the impact ran to the scene, crawled through the hole and began trying to lift the car up so they could free Brooklynn.

"Somehow she was still asleep," Janay Sam said. "She was asleep the whole time."

Unexpected diagnosis

Once freed, Brooklynn was rushed by ambulance to Children's Medical Center Dallas. Mrs. Sam was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital. She remained in the intensive care unit at Parkland. But, Mr. Sam said, she wasn't there because of injuries from the accident. As doctors were checking her out, they found that she had an irregular heartbeat, an existing condition that had gone undetected until this weekend.

"It was kind of a miracle in a way," said neighbor Becky Anderson, who attends church with the Sams. "They wouldn't have found it any other way."

Brooklynn was in a neck brace for precaution by the time her mother, Sofia Gaut, arrived at the hospital. Doctors checked the toddler for internal damage and bleeding, but the only injuries Brooklynn suffered were minor scratches and a bruise on her chest. She was released early Sunday morning.

"It's all a miracle," Mr. Sam said. "There ain't no telling what else could have happened."

When Ms. Gaut brought her daughter back to the apartment Sunday afternoon, Mr. Sam broke down in tears.

Ms. Gaut, though, said her daughter was already acting like her normal self.

"She's still playful and everything," Ms. Gaut said.

Ms. Gaut said it wasn't until she saw the extent of the damage to the bedroom that she realized how close of a call it was.

"I've been crying all day," Ms. Gaut said.

'I thought she'd gone'

Mr. Sam told Ms. Gaut repeatedly that her daughter never once cried during the ordeal. He said that at first he thought that was a bad sign.

"That really broke me because I thought she'd gone on to be with the Lord," Mr. Sam said as he broke down and cried. "I just couldn't have handled that."

Outside the apartment, pieces of the fence and wall littered the small swath of lawn between the building and the retaining wall. Above the black tarp that covered the hole, two pieces of wood from the fence formed the shape of a cross that embedded itself in the building's exterior wall during the accident.

"I just think that's a sign from God," Janay Sam said. "I think that affirms he was there last night. He really looked over this family."


DANNY GAWLOWSKI/Dallas Morning News
Janay Sam pulls a catalog with a religious image on it from the debris in her apartment, which was hit by a car Sunday.

[TexasStooge]

Texas on attack against base-closure plan

On Monday, they'll argue Pentagon is wrong about new jobs

WASHINGTON D.C./AUSTIN, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - The Pentagon says it can save money and improve the armed forces by closing four Texas military bases and reducing others. State and community leaders say the Department of Defense is wrong.

At first the plan looks like an overall bonus for the state. Texas would gain 6,150 military and civilian jobs under the department's plan to close and realign 180 military bases nationwide, according to the Pentagon. Only two other states rank higher – Maryland with 9,293 job gains, and Georgia with 7,423, based on Pentagon estimates.

But after studying the proposal, some state officials say the plan actually would cost Texas at least 3,000 military jobs, plus scores of civilian jobs. They will get a chance to present that discrepancy, and other reasons the state's bases should be spared, during a hearing before the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission Monday in San Antonio.

The hearing, the only one in Texas, is one of several across the country in response to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's proposal to shut down bases – including Naval Station Ingleside, Brooks City-Base in San Antonio, and the Red River Army Depot and Lone Star Ammunition Plant in Texarkana.

The Defense Department began closing or realigning bases in 1988 as a way to make the military more efficient and to update the military to respond to modern-day threats. This year's BRAC proposals are the fifth round of closures.

Showing Pentagon errors in job loss calculations may be the best chance to remove bases from the closure list before the BRAC Commission makes its recommendations to President Bush this fall, said Chris Hellman, a military policy analyst for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. The Washington think tank focuses on peace and security issues, including defense spending.

In Texas, the big question is just how the Pentagon and local authorities can be so far apart on estimated job losses.

Locals say a major problem in Texas stems from the government's counting 5,000 troops assigned last year to Fort Hood, the state's largest Army post, as temporary soldiers. Locals considered them permanent.

The Pentagon proposes moving the soldiers to Fort Carson, Colo., and contends Fort Hood will nearly break even in the BRAC realignment – losing about 200 jobs but retaining a troop strength of roughly 41,000.

Temporary soldiers

"Fort Hood loses more troops under the BRAC recommendation than any other installation in Texas," said U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards of Waco, the ranking Democrat on a House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing military construction and quality-of-life funding. Without the 5,000 soldiers factored in, the Pentagon's estimates are based on 2003 troop levels, Mr. Edwards said.

The Pentagon assigned the troops to Fort Hood last year as part of its plan to reorganize brigades to function independently overseas. Their arrival was heralded by state leaders. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, called the move a "strong vote of confidence in Texas" by the Pentagon. Republican Gov. Rick Perry committed $20.5 million to road improvements around Fort Hood and in nearby Killeen to alleviate expected traffic congestion.

"We were not told they were temporary," the senator's spokesman Chris Paulitz said. "However, everyone who was involved in trying to keep and save a base understood there was a BRAC process looming and there's no such thing as something that's untouchable."

Killeen, always neighborly to Fort Hood, responded to the announced troop infusion by accelerating work on sewer improvements planned for 2007. Developers began building homes to accommodate soldiers who couldn't secure on-base housing. The city has seen about 800 troops arriving a month since October, Killeen Mayor Maureen Jouett said.

The Pentagon said Fort Hood doesn't have enough facilities and land to support the six heavy brigades and other units stationed there. But Killeen and state leaders hope to argue that the Army missed more than 37,000 acres of newly available land and didn't completely calculate the cost of training in Fort Carson.

Some of the other issues Texas officials plan to raise at Monday's hearing:

•Supporters of Naval Station Ingleside near Corpus Christi argue that closing the base, along with one in Mississippi, would create a security problem because there would be no Navy ships in the Gulf of Mexico.

•Texarkana officials say the Defense Department miscalculated the job losses by listing employment as 2,500 at the Red River Army Depot and only 150 at the ammunition plant next door. Locals contend 2,600 civilians and 600 contractors work at the depot, and 440 people work at the plant.

•Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, said the decision to move a medical training program from Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls to Fort Sam Houston was more of a medical recommendation than a proposal to make the best use of the base's facilities.

[TexasStooge]

Businessman: I refused bribery offer

Dallas: Developer calls scenario that he wore wire for FBI 'fantasy'

By GROMER JEFFERS Jr. and REESE DUNKLIN / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Prominent Dallas businessman Comer Cottrell said Sunday that he was offered $250,000 by a developer to attempt to bribe Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill for support of one of the developer's low-income housing projects in southern Dallas.

Mr. Cottrell said he was told later by the FBI that the developer, James R. "Bill" Fisher, owner of Odyssey Residential Holdings, was wearing a recording device for the agency.

Mr. Cottrell said he told Mr. Fisher during the May meeting that he wouldn't accept the money or attempt to bribe Mr. Hill.

"I'd never do that to Don Hill or anybody," he said. "I've got too much respect for him, and I've never had to do that with anybody."

Mr. Fisher described the scenario of him wearing a wire and cooperating with authorities as "fantasy," but he did not flatly deny it.

"We're not commenting on any involvement we may or may not have had with anyone at the FBI," he said. He added, "All of this will come out here publicly. Everyone's just speculating at this point."

The FBI is conducting a wide-ranging investigation of possible corruption in Dallas City Hall, and last month it executed search warrants at the offices and home of Mr. Hill, among others. It also has subpoenaed two of Mr. Hill's aides and instructed them to provide, among other documents, all records in Mr. Hill's office of his dealings with Mr. Fisher.

U.S. Attorney Richard Roper declined to comment Sunday, citing Department of Justice policy that bars him from talking about or confirming anything about the ongoing criminal investigation.Mr. Hill could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Mr. Cottrell said he has not talked to Mr. Hill about the attempted bribery or the public corruption investigation.

In addition to Mr. Hill, a number of individuals have been targeted in the FBI investigation, including council member James Fantroy, city Plan Commissioner D'Angelo Lee, consultant and Hill campaign aide Sheila Farrington and developer Brian Potashnik.

Mr. Fisher was a longtime executive at Southwest Housing Development Co., owned by Mr. Potashnik, until leaving to form his own company.

Since then, Mr. Fisher has competed against his former boss for coveted tax credits that bring in millions of dollars in financing for developers of low-income apartment housing. In parts of southern Dallas last fall, the two men's companies had rival projects virtually across the street from the other.

Mr. Cottrell said Mr. Fisher brought to the May meeting at his office two men – DeSoto contractor Ron Ferguson and Grand Prairie businessman and former NFL player Kevin Dean.

Records of Mr. Dean's dealings with Mr. Hill were among the documents the FBI ordered Hill aides to produce last month.

Mr. Cottrell, former owner of the Pro-Line cosmetics company, said that he was a friend of Mr. Dean and that the two men often went fishing together.

But he said he's angry at the former football player because Mr. Dean recently registered a company called Metro Urban Development and listed Mr. Cottrell as manager without his permission.

He said he does not have a significant relationship with Mr. Fisher or Mr. Ferguson.

"I don't know these people," he said. "I know they were trying to get approval for some project in Hill's district.

"He [Fisher] wanted access to Don Hill," he continued. "I do have access to most folks, but I told him he couldn't pay me to do that."

Larry Jarrett, who represents Mr. Dean, declined to comment on the meeting in Mr. Cottrell's office and said he did not know whether FBI operatives wearing recording devices had approached his clients.

"That may be the case," he said, "but I don't know anything about it."

Mr. Fisher has connections to another person targeted by FBI raids, Mr. Fantroy.

Mr. Fisher's company has used Mr. Fantroy's family security firm, JL Security, on several occasions. Mr. Fantroy has frequently declared that he had a conflict of interest and recused himself from city votes that stood to benefit Mr. Fisher.

Two of those votes came last fall. Mr. Fisher's company was competing against Mr. Potashnik, his former boss.

Mr. Fisher first needed the zoning changed on land for his Homes of Pecan Grove housing project to allow him to build apartment units. The property, at 3111 Simpson Stuart Road, was at the time zoned for homes, which many residents in South Dallas had coveted.

Mr. Fantroy, whose district covers that area, stepped aside from a Sept. 23 vote. Yet council member Maxine Thornton-Reese told her colleagues in that meeting that Mr. Fantroy "said he wanted to pass it. And he asked me to carry it, and I'm doing as he asked."

About a month before that crucial zoning was approved, Mr. Fisher and his development associate, Saleem Jafar, had made $5,000 in campaign contributions in their names and those of relatives to Mr. Fantroy, according to city records.

Mr. Fisher on Sunday initially declined to comment when asked about the contributions and the timing of them. Then, he said, "our political contributions are public record, and they are lawful campaign contributions, to the best of our knowledge."

After the zoning vote, Mr. Fisher's Pecan Grove project won another key approval in November. The City Council agreed to support his request for millions of dollars in federal tax credits, despite doubts about his financing and a city staff recommendation to deny further low-income housing because of a glut in the market.

Mr. Fantroy had again excused himself. Mr. Hill recommended approval of a resolution supporting Pecan Grove, and Ms. Thornton-Reese seconded it.

Among those speaking on behalf of Mr. Fisher at the council meeting were three people who have since emerged in the FBI investigation: Mr. Ferguson, who identified himself as having a contract on the project; and Darren Reagan and Allen McGill of the Black State Employees Association of Texas.

Mr. Reagan and Mr. McGill had previously been outspoken critics of tax-credit housing projects. Their office, and other related properties, were searched by FBI agents weeks ago.

Staff writer Tim Wyatt contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Paramedics, police dispute boy's injury

Dallas: Paramedics said police car involved; officers said he fell

By HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - A paramedic's report said the injury was a "foot run over by police car."

And depending on who's talking, that's either a bad joke or an accident that two police officers with spotless records aren't owning up to.

Either way, something's afoot.

Lillian Dorsey says her son Andre, 8, had been playing with children in the 4600 block of Congress Place near Love Field one evening in early April when two police officers brought him home with an injured foot.

She said Dallas police Officer Jerry Fonville, a three-year veteran, told her that Andre fell and injured his foot. "I wanted to believe him; he's a police officer," Ms. Dorsey said. "But it didn't sound right."

Andre's foot was bruised, but he was not seriously injured.

Ms. Dorsey said her son later told her the foot had been run over as he and other children were playing alongside the two officers' patrol car. Officer Fonville's rookie partner Kristin Cantu was driving.

Officer Cantu declined to comment. Her attorney, Dan Montalvo, said, "I am confident she will be exonerated of any accusations."

Officer Fonville could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Andy Chatham, said paramedics misinterpreted his client's bad joke when Officer Fonville said, "As long as my rookie partner doesn't run over any more kids."

"The comment was made in an attempt to calm the situation down," said Mr. Chatham. "It was an ill-timed statement."

A Dallas grand jury on June 27 declined to indict Officer Fonville on charges of tampering with a government record. Prosecutors said that he gave false information when he wrote in a police report.

"As [officers] were leaving the location, [Andre] was observed falling to the ground," the police report states. "... DFD Rescue 11 responded and stated that [Andre's] injuries were superficial and most like occurred from twisting his ankle and falling."

Mr. Chatham said that is the way Officer Fonville remembers what happened.

Paramedics' testimony

But the paramedics testified that they never told Officer Fonville that Andre was injured by falling and twisting his ankle. The paramedics told investigators that Officer Fonville told them "his partner had run over the juvenile's foot," according to an investigation report.

The grand jury did not find sufficient evidence to indict Officer Fonville, said Assistant District Attorney Pat Batchelor. He declined to comment further.

Sgt. Janet Barnard, a supervisor at the northwest patrol division, said one of the officers called her the evening of the incident. "I was told the kids came running next to the car, and they noticed one had tripped and fallen," she said.

But according to a case summary forwarded to the district attorney's office, Officer Fonville also sent an electronic message from his patrol car that night car saying Officer Cantu had run over a child's foot. When asked by an unidentified recipient whether he was kidding, Officer Fonville responded that "he was serious," the document says.

Ms. Dorsey said she is upset and confused that Officer Fonville was not indicted on charges of falsifying the police report.

"It does surprise me," she said. "I don't know if it's because he's a police officer. I don't know. It puzzles me a little bit."

Intimidation complaint

Ms. Dorsey also says Officer Fonville came back to her home shortly after his first visit and tried to intimidate her. According to a police document, she said "he told her that if she pursued the matter he would have her arrested on an outstanding warrant, send her children to CPS and have her put out of her apartment."

The warrant was for a ticket for failure to carry proof of insurance.

Mr. Chatham said his client never threatened Ms. Dorsey.

"That's not what happened," Mr. Chatham said. "He said, 'Ma'am, you need to take care of your warrant. If you don't, someone else is going to have to arrest you, and the kids are going to have nowhere to go, and CPS is going to have to take them.'"

The Dallas police's internal affairs division is investigating Ms. Dorsey's allegation against Officer Fonville.

On restricted duty

Officer Cantu, the driver, is not under investigation by internal affairs. She and Officer Fonville are on restricted duty pending the outcome of Officer Fonville's internal affairs investigation.

"Cantu was placed on restricted duty since she and Fonville were working together when this incident occurred and the subsequent complaint came in," said Lt. Jan Easterling, a Dallas police spokeswoman.

She said department policy requires that a supervisor and an accident investigator be notified if an officer is involved in an accident, but internal affairs does not always become involved.

The next chapter in the saga may be played out in a different arena.

Ms. Dorsey's attorney is asking that the city pay Andre's medical bills, and Ms. Dorsey says she might sue.

"I never would have thought the police would tell a story like that and think they could get away with it," she said.

But Mr. Chatham said the whole ordeal was a misunderstanding.

"Jerry's just a hard-working officer who responded to the scene," he said. "Things got blown out of proportion."

[TexasStooge]

Dallas plant helps shuttle keep cool

By BRUCE NICHOLS / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - No one will watch more closely than a small group of West Dallas aerospace workers when the space shuttle Discovery lifts off Wednesday after being grounded for more than two years.

It was a hole in a piece of the shuttle that their shop made – a breach caused by a debris strike during launch – that doomed Columbia and its crew of seven as they streaked over North Texas toward a Florida landing in 2003.

Since then, the workers at the Lockheed Martin facility on West Jefferson Boulevard have been busy helping NASA recover from the disaster, and they're looking forward to a resumption of shuttle flights.

"I think everybody's getting real excited ... ready for their efforts to come to fruition," said Mike Hale, manufacturing supervisor at the plant.

The plant makes the reinforced carbon-carbon, or RCC, panels that protect the parts of the shuttle that get hottest during re-entry into the atmosphere. That includes the left wing's leading edge, which during the launch of Columbia was struck at high speed by a piece of insulation that fell off the external fuel tank.

During past missions, the workers were most interested in re-entry at the end of a flight. That's when RCC works its magic, shielding the shuttle from the 3,000-degree gases that surround the spacecraft as it speeds from nearly empty space into the thicker air that we breathe.

But the Columbia accident shifted the group's focus, said David Johnson, who heads the Dallas operation.

When Discovery flies, "Our interest is going to be substantial up front, to look at photographs or whatever else we're asked to evaluate from the launch," said Mr. Johnson, who has been involved in manufacturing RCC since its creation in the 1970s.

Members of the team will be directly involved in launch, including at least one who will be sent to Houston to help NASA monitor the liftoff for debris strikes and decide what to do if there's a repeat of the Columbia damage.

"It's going to be supporting the observations, to check and make sure there's no damage," said David Wright, Mr. Johnson's deputy, the probable choice to be in Mission Control.

Helping to monitor Discovery is just the latest task in a workload that ramped up sharply after the Columbia accident.

For years, the little Lockheed Martin plant was doing mainly maintenance work, refurbishing a few panels at a time, and the workforce dropped from a peak of about 150 in the 1970s to three full-timers plus several part-timers.

After Columbia, the team became actively involved in helping investigators, with Mr. Johnson sometimes spending six hours a day on conference calls, answering questions and making suggestions.

Then, at the investigative board's recommendation, the shop on West Jefferson inspected and, when necessary, repaired the existing heat-shield panels on all three remaining shuttles.

Mr. Johnson increased the workforce to about 50, with the added staffers coming from other Lockheed Martin operations.

They worked on one shuttle set at a time, spending six to eight months on each, receiving the parts by plane and truck from Florida, doing X-rays, refurbishing the pieces as needed, then reassembling and shipping them back. "For 18 months, we were extremely busy," Mr. Johnson said.

With the launch of Discovery nearing, the workforce is back down to about 25, and Mr. Johnson is thinking of retiring. He's 59, has spent more than 30 years on RCC and doesn't want to start anything new. "I like to start things I can finish," he said with a chuckle.

Protecting the billion-dollar shuttles seems too big a job for such a small facility.

There are neighborhood grocery stores bigger than the 35,000-square-foot Lockheed Martin RCC plant, tucked into a corner of Vought Aircraft Industries' sprawling West Dallas plant. (Vought had the original contract.)

The number of panels produced is small.

There are 101 panels on each shuttle, including 22 on the leading edge of each wing. Through the years, the Lockheed Martin operation has made a little more than 900 form-fitted pieces.

But it takes 10 months to make each piece. The plant, of course, can make several at a time.

RCC is a specialized material that, by the way, was discovered by this same operation in Dallas.

It's highly heat-tolerant, it doesn't expand and contract as much as other materials with changes in temperature, and it has adequate strength to be formed into aerodynamic pieces. It's exactly what was needed to build a reusable space ship.

The pieces are made a little like you make the hull of a fiberglass boat – laying out rayon strips, soaking them in resin, letting them harden. A big difference is RCC undergoes several trips into a 4,000-degree furnace and gets several coatings to give it its magical properties. Some of the steps take days and weeks.

The people who make it have to have patience as well as skill – and pride in what they do.

That pride shows in the NASA and shuttle logos beside the front door and the Columbia crew's uniform patch painted on the wall inside. The astronauts "are our brothers and sisters," technician Mitch Pettit said as he worked on a piece laying on a bench.

When Discovery flies, "I'll be happy to see them safe on the ground," he said.

[TexasStooge]

Copper's caught in crosshairs

As prices soar, scrap metal falls prey to thieves

By PAUL MEYER / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - When vandals ripped wire from a Dallas light-rail station last week, it wasn't just a prank. There was money to be made.

The near-record price of copper has thieves and scavengers scouring streets for everything from wire to pipes to coils.

They've pilfered an air-conditioning unit off the roof of Mozzarella Co. and swiped pipe from Robert McMurray's metal shop. They've hit Don George's Irving contracting business and loaded rental trucks with thousands of pounds of stolen copper in Frisco.

"Copper is so high [in price] now that they're stealing anything they can get," said Dallas police Detective Eddie Padilla.

Detective Padilla, one of four Dallas detectives who investigates metal theft, works the city's 19 scrap yards in search of stolen wares. He said the number of theft cases has been rising for the last eight months, driven mostly by small-time criminals.

TXU Electric Delivery spokeswoman Carol Peters said break-ins and thefts of copper wire have more than doubled in the first six months of this year compared with 2004.

Those thefts have been blamed in two power outages. The Tuesday incident on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit line stranded commuters up to 90 minutes. And in areas booming with construction, the nuisance is not just the stolen copper, but the damage done by the thieves.

"That's the sad thing," the detective said. "It's not just that they're stealing a lot of stuff. What they're doing more than anything is damaging so much stuff."

Strong demand

From the streets, copper typically travels to a series of salvage shops before it's shipped domestically or abroad to places like China, where an insatiable hunger for raw materials has driven prices higher.

Today, copper trades for about $1.60 per pound on the market, a wild ride from 70 cents two years ago. Though area salvage yards don't pay those kinds of prices, the increases have brought more sellers – and more stolen copper.

James Roberts is one of the sellers but says he's no thief.

A lean, 48-year-old homeless man with a cigarette and shopping cart, he was one of the scavengers wandering South Dallas on Thursday. A good day, he said, can bring in $40 to $50 in copper, aluminum, tin, brass and other metals he finds. But competition is stiff.

"That's why there's less on the street. There are more people looking," he said.

Mr. Roberts peddles his wares at a scrap yard near a viaduct on Hickory Street called R-N-E Recycling, in a ramshackle building with mounds of discarded metal piled inside.

"I don't know if it's stolen or not," said Jose Jamaica, the owner's son. "I just buy it and put an ID on it like a pawnshop."

Mr. Jamaica's shop, like others in Dallas, must record the identities of the sellers.

But that does little these days to quell the number of copper capers. Even as the prices of steel and other scrap metals have leveled off, copper prices are still strong.

Robert McMurray, vice president of McMurray Metal Co., said thieves have tried everything from ramming a car into his Deep Ellum metal shop to swiping lengths of pipe in broad daylight.

"Almost everybody we've caught has been a repeat offender," he said.

Sometimes, Mr. McMurray said, he has to go to salvage yards to buy back the very metal he's lost to thieves.

In Irving, Don George said he recently had a stash of copper wire and equipment stolen from his electrical contracting business.

"I bet we've had $50,000 to $100,000 of stuff stolen in the last 12 to 18 months," he said. "Occasionally, there are people in the scrap business who go knocking door-to-door who ask to buy your scrap metal and steel. Whenever those people come by, we ask them to leave because we don't want them casing our property."

Higher security

Even some scrap dealers say high prices have them beefing up security.

American Iron & Metal in South Dallas uses guards and surveillance cameras to deter thieves.

"We're more vulnerable for theft than anybody," branch manager John Holland said.

Arrests are few and far between, said Frisco Detective Cpl. Tom Presley.

He said the increase in copper and metal theft hit the thriving suburb last summer, though it has slowed somewhat in the last month.

The criminals range from independent thieves in SUVs to gangs of looters who rent trucks, fill them overnight in Frisco and sell the cargo in Dallas.

"It seems some of these scrap yards don't ask questions," he said. "They've got to know when you see the same guys showing up with brand new copper. That would be a clue, I think."

A dirty job

Solving the metal mysteries is a dirty job, involving digs through scrap yards to find stolen property, matching it to a crime and tracing it to a seller.

Even when it all adds up, it may not add up to much.

Detective Padilla said charges filed are typically just for the value of material stolen, not the cost of destruction caused.

Still, there have been successes.

Frisco police say they've arrested a handful of copper thieves recently, and TXU officials say their work with the Dallas police of late has resulted in 15 arrest warrants.

TXU's Ms. Peters said, "We're working with scrap metal dealers and the police departments to track down people."

[TexasStooge]

Irving police build bond with Hispanics

Citizens academy seeks to educate, foster trust

By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING, Texas – Nelson Dejesus rattles off the reasons why he thinks many Hispanics aren't at ease with police officers.

Some Hispanics aren't familiar with U.S. laws, he said, and they don't know what to do when an officer stops them.

"We need to educate our Latinos," he said. "The problem with Latinos is they don't know the laws. They don't know the system."

So the 62-year-old is pleased with a new Irving Police Department program to help Hispanics learn more about the police. The department's first Hispanic Citizens Police Academy is under way this summer. The weekly classes, conducted in Spanish, are designed to reach out to the city's growing Hispanic population and perhaps to clear up misconceptions about police.

Irving joins Arlington, Garland and other North Texas cities that have launched similar programs. Other cities, including Plano, plan to follow suit.

"The whole purpose is to reach out, basically to develop a trust with people from other countries," said Irving police Officer Beau Jones, an academy coordinator. "When you give somebody an understanding of what you do and you educate them on the laws, you're developing a community relationship with them."

Some believe that the Irving department has some work to do. Some minority leaders complain about reports of racial profiling. They're also concerned about a January incident in which a leader of an Irving officers group allegedly used excessive force while taking a Hispanic motorist into custody.

Irving police hope the program grows in popularity after participants spread the word to friends and family. The potential to expose the program to the public is huge: Nearly one-third of Irving residents are Hispanic, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

On a recent evening at the Family Advocacy Center, Hispanic academy attendees learned more about the computer and radar equipment in squad cars. They peppered officers with questions, such as why squad cars sometimes speed on streets without flashing their lights. They wanted to know the differences between weapons. And attendees asked officers what they do when they receive complaints about loud music.

Later that night, they headed to a parking lot to watch a scenario involving police officers pulling over a suspect's car.

This summer, attendees are scheduled to learn about gangs, narcotics and child abuse. They'll also venture to the firing range and shoot guns.

Arlington has had success with its Spanish-speaking academy, said department spokeswoman Christy Gilfour. Academy members stay involved in department efforts after they complete the program, she said. Members have helped the department's rookie officers with basic Spanish skills. Officers collaborated with academy members last year to alert residents about home burglaries that targeted Hispanic residents.

Garland launched a program called Unidos a few years ago, said Lt. Scot Bunch, a police spokesman. Attendees meet monthly to learn about the criminal justice system and understanding cultural differences.

"Rather than shy away from us, they now have an outlet [where] they can go to gather information," Lt. Bunch said. "They now have contact information at the Police Department. They can call [people] who speak their language if they have concerns. ... They can call to alleviate fears."

Plano plans to offer a program modeled after Garland's beginning next month.

In Irving, participants give the program high marks.

Mr. Dejesus said the academy and Spanish-speaking officers are good signs.

"They're willing to help," he said. "It shows a serious approach to the community. ... What I like most is the interest on the part of the Irving Police Department in helping the Hispanic community."

Another academy attendee, Juan Antonio Garcia, said the program has given him a better perspective of the Police Department. The Irving resident likes the program and especially enjoyed a tour of the jail.

"It's very important to show what's going on" at the Police Department, he said.

In addition to the academy, police officers are trying to reach out to Hispanics by learning Spanish. Officers are exposed to Spanish lessons during basic training, Officer David Tull said.

Spanish-speaking officers and emergency responders not only make Hispanics feel more comfortable, but they also can effectively communicate with victims in emergencies, Officer Tull said.

"There's continuing education within the department," the spokesman said. "It's chipping at the language barrier. It's showing that you're trying to connect to the community."

Manny Benavides, president of the Irving chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, applauds the new academy. Many Irving Hispanics mistrust the Police Department, said Mr. Benavides. He said he hopes the department will continue to strive to communicate with Hispanics and clear up misconceptions.

"This will educate the community, especially the Latino community, that the police are not to be feared," he said. "They're here to help."


MEI-CHUN JAU/Dallas Morning News
Roberto Angel (right) asks a question of domestic-violence investigator Mona Gutierrez during the Irving Police Department's first Hispanic Citizens Police Academy. The weekly classes are conducted in Spanish.

[TexasStooge]

Residents get new homes, fresh starts

Irving: 3 houses in center part of city are agency's latest project

By DEBORAH FLECK / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING, Texas - Three single-family brick homes just went up on Rawls Circle in central Irving.

What makes them stand out in the neighborhood is that they were built with tax dollars and corporate donations and sold at their appraised value rather than for a profit.

The homes are the latest project of the nonprofit Irving Community Development Corp., which has been building and revitalizing homes for low- to moderate-income residents for about 10 years.

"We feel we are doing something important for the city and are part of the solution to the huge apartment residency issue," said Colvin Gibson, the corporation's board chairman. "Our goal is to increase the number and quality of Irving's housing stock."

Besides building and renovating homes, the agency provides home-buyer training.

"Clients work one on one with a staff member throughout the process," Mr. Gibson said. "We have an obligation to provide education about the home-buying process."

The agency receives most of its funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD block grants are distributed annually to qualifying cities for housing programs.

Vivian Ballou, director of Irving's Housing and Human Services, said the city works with two community housing development organizations to distribute the HUD funds. The other is the Bear Creek Development Corp.

In working with these two corporations, "we make an impact on Irving in many ways," Ms. Ballou said. "The housing increases the tax rolls, and it improves economic development through using local builders, suppliers and employees."

Mr. Gibson said he knows the agency is doing something important when he sees children's eyes light up upon finding out they will have their own rooms for the first time.

He added that residents should appreciate seeing their tax dollars returned to the community and used for their neighbors.

One resident happy with the program is Angela Watson-Feagins. The mother of three qualified for one of the homes on Rawls Circle.

"I love it," she said. "My goal was to find a home before my son starts kindergarten, which he will in the fall."

The Irving native graduated from MacArthur High in 1990. In addition to her 5-year-old son, she has twin girls who turn 3 next month.

"It's so nice to be in a neighborhood and have our own place," she said.

[TexasStooge]

Food bank supply destroyed by fire

FORT WORTH, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - An early morning fire at the Metroplex Food Bank in Fort Worth took its toll.

Metroplex warehouse manager Braulio Martinez said the fire destroyed a banquet room at the building in the 3200 block of Yuma Avenue around 5 a.m. Monday. The resulting heavy smoke destroyed as much as $150,000 worth of food in other parts of the building.

"There are people who come here who, without us, won't have any food - and that's what hurts," said Martinez.

[TexasStooge]

Man gets 99 years for stealing phone

WACO, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - A 31-year-old Waco man has been sentenced to 99 years in prison for stealing a cell phone.

Glenn Alvin Reed was convicted of robbery for stealing a cellular phone from a man's truck last fall and then hitting him several times when he demanded its return.

But McLennan County jurors convicted Reed as a habitual criminal because of prior felony convictions for injury to an elderly person and robbery. That bumped the minimum sentence from five to 25 years for Reed, who rejected a 15-year plea bargain offer from prosecutors.

Reed also has 15 misdemeanor convictions dating back to 1991, including 12 criminal trespassing convictions.

Reed testified during his trial against the wishes of his court-appointed attorneys. He frequently went into profanity-laced tirades and told jurors he didn't care if they gave him life in prison.

[rainstorm]

Paramedics, police dispute boy's injury

Dallas: Paramedics said police car involved; officers said he fell

By HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - A paramedic's report said the injury was a "foot run over by police car."

And depending on who's talking, that's either a bad joke or an accident that two police officers with spotless records aren't owning up to.

Either way, something's afoot.

Lillian Dorsey says her son Andre, 8, had been playing with children in the 4600 block of Congress Place near Love Field one evening in early April when two police officers brought him home with an injured foot.

She said Dallas police Officer Jerry Fonville, a three-year veteran, told her that Andre fell and injured his foot. "I wanted to believe him; he's a police officer," Ms. Dorsey said. "But it didn't sound right."

Andre's foot was bruised, but he was not seriously injured.

Ms. Dorsey said her son later told her the foot had been run over as he and other children were playing alongside the two officers' patrol car. Officer Fonville's rookie partner Kristin Cantu was driving.

Officer Cantu declined to comment. Her attorney, Dan Montalvo, said, "I am confident she will be exonerated of any accusations."

Officer Fonville could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Andy Chatham, said paramedics misinterpreted his client's bad joke when Officer Fonville said, "As long as my rookie partner doesn't run over any more kids."

"The comment was made in an attempt to calm the situation down," said Mr. Chatham. "It was an ill-timed statement."

A Dallas grand jury on June 27 declined to indict Officer Fonville on charges of tampering with a government record. Prosecutors said that he gave false information when he wrote in a police report.

"As [officers] were leaving the location, [Andre] was observed falling to the ground," the police report states. "... DFD Rescue 11 responded and stated that [Andre's] injuries were superficial and most like occurred from twisting his ankle and falling."

Mr. Chatham said that is the way Officer Fonville remembers what happened.

Paramedics' testimony

But the paramedics testified that they never told Officer Fonville that Andre was injured by falling and twisting his ankle. The paramedics told investigators that Officer Fonville told them "his partner had run over the juvenile's foot," according to an investigation report.

The grand jury did not find sufficient evidence to indict Officer Fonville, said Assistant District Attorney Pat Batchelor. He declined to comment further.

Sgt. Janet Barnard, a supervisor at the northwest patrol division, said one of the officers called her the evening of the incident. "I was told the kids came running next to the car, and they noticed one had tripped and fallen," she said.

But according to a case summary forwarded to the district attorney's office, Officer Fonville also sent an electronic message from his patrol car that night car saying Officer Cantu had run over a child's foot. When asked by an unidentified recipient whether he was kidding, Officer Fonville responded that "he was serious," the document says.

Ms. Dorsey said she is upset and confused that Officer Fonville was not indicted on charges of falsifying the police report.

"It does surprise me," she said. "I don't know if it's because he's a police officer. I don't know. It puzzles me a little bit."

Intimidation complaint

Ms. Dorsey also says Officer Fonville came back to her home shortly after his first visit and tried to intimidate her. According to a police document, she said "he told her that if she pursued the matter he would have her arrested on an outstanding warrant, send her children to CPS and have her put out of her apartment."

The warrant was for a ticket for failure to carry proof of insurance.

Mr. Chatham said his client never threatened Ms. Dorsey.

"That's not what happened," Mr. Chatham said. "He said, 'Ma'am, you need to take care of your warrant. If you don't, someone else is going to have to arrest you, and the kids are going to have nowhere to go, and CPS is going to have to take them.'"

The Dallas police's internal affairs division is investigating Ms. Dorsey's allegation against Officer Fonville.

On restricted duty

Officer Cantu, the driver, is not under investigation by internal affairs. She and Officer Fonville are on restricted duty pending the outcome of Officer Fonville's internal affairs investigation.

"Cantu was placed on restricted duty since she and Fonville were working together when this incident occurred and the subsequent complaint came in," said Lt. Jan Easterling, a Dallas police spokeswoman.

She said department policy requires that a supervisor and an accident investigator be notified if an officer is involved in an accident, but internal affairs does not always become involved.

The next chapter in the saga may be played out in a different arena.

Ms. Dorsey's attorney is asking that the city pay Andre's medical bills, and Ms. Dorsey says she might sue.

"I never would have thought the police would tell a story like that and think they could get away with it," she said.

But Mr. Chatham said the whole ordeal was a misunderstanding.

"Jerry's just a hard-working officer who responded to the scene," he said. "Things got blown out of proportion."

sounds like its blown way out of proportion

[rainstorm]

Paramedics, police dispute boy's injury

Dallas: Paramedics said police car involved; officers said he fell

By HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - A paramedic's report said the injury was a "foot run over by police car."

And depending on who's talking, that's either a bad joke or an accident that two police officers with spotless records aren't owning up to.

Either way, something's afoot.

Lillian Dorsey says her son Andre, 8, had been playing with children in the 4600 block of Congress Place near Love Field one evening in early April when two police officers brought him home with an injured foot.

She said Dallas police Officer Jerry Fonville, a three-year veteran, told her that Andre fell and injured his foot. "I wanted to believe him; he's a police officer," Ms. Dorsey said. "But it didn't sound right."

Andre's foot was bruised, but he was not seriously injured.

Ms. Dorsey said her son later told her the foot had been run over as he and other children were playing alongside the two officers' patrol car. Officer Fonville's rookie partner Kristin Cantu was driving.

Officer Cantu declined to comment. Her attorney, Dan Montalvo, said, "I am confident she will be exonerated of any accusations."

Officer Fonville could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Andy Chatham, said paramedics misinterpreted his client's bad joke when Officer Fonville said, "As long as my rookie partner doesn't run over any more kids."

"The comment was made in an attempt to calm the situation down," said Mr. Chatham. "It was an ill-timed statement."

A Dallas grand jury on June 27 declined to indict Officer Fonville on charges of tampering with a government record. Prosecutors said that he gave false information when he wrote in a police report.

"As [officers] were leaving the location, [Andre] was observed falling to the ground," the police report states. "... DFD Rescue 11 responded and stated that [Andre's] injuries were superficial and most like occurred from twisting his ankle and falling."

Mr. Chatham said that is the way Officer Fonville remembers what happened.

Paramedics' testimony

But the paramedics testified that they never told Officer Fonville that Andre was injured by falling and twisting his ankle. The paramedics told investigators that Officer Fonville told them "his partner had run over the juvenile's foot," according to an investigation report.

The grand jury did not find sufficient evidence to indict Officer Fonville, said Assistant District Attorney Pat Batchelor. He declined to comment further.

Sgt. Janet Barnard, a supervisor at the northwest patrol division, said one of the officers called her the evening of the incident. "I was told the kids came running next to the car, and they noticed one had tripped and fallen," she said.

But according to a case summary forwarded to the district attorney's office, Officer Fonville also sent an electronic message from his patrol car that night car saying Officer Cantu had run over a child's foot. When asked by an unidentified recipient whether he was kidding, Officer Fonville responded that "he was serious," the document says.

Ms. Dorsey said she is upset and confused that Officer Fonville was not indicted on charges of falsifying the police report.

"It does surprise me," she said. "I don't know if it's because he's a police officer. I don't know. It puzzles me a little bit."

Intimidation complaint

Ms. Dorsey also says Officer Fonville came back to her home shortly after his first visit and tried to intimidate her. According to a police document, she said "he told her that if she pursued the matter he would have her arrested on an outstanding warrant, send her children to CPS and have her put out of her apartment."

The warrant was for a ticket for failure to carry proof of insurance.

Mr. Chatham said his client never threatened Ms. Dorsey.

"That's not what happened," Mr. Chatham said. "He said, 'Ma'am, you need to take care of your warrant. If you don't, someone else is going to have to arrest you, and the kids are going to have nowhere to go, and CPS is going to have to take them.'"

The Dallas police's internal affairs division is investigating Ms. Dorsey's allegation against Officer Fonville.

On restricted duty

Officer Cantu, the driver, is not under investigation by internal affairs. She and Officer Fonville are on restricted duty pending the outcome of Officer Fonville's internal affairs investigation.

"Cantu was placed on restricted duty since she and Fonville were working together when this incident occurred and the subsequent complaint came in," said Lt. Jan Easterling, a Dallas police spokeswoman.

She said department policy requires that a supervisor and an accident investigator be notified if an officer is involved in an accident, but internal affairs does not always become involved.

The next chapter in the saga may be played out in a different arena.

Ms. Dorsey's attorney is asking that the city pay Andre's medical bills, and Ms. Dorsey says she might sue.

"I never would have thought the police would tell a story like that and think they could get away with it," she said.

But Mr. Chatham said the whole ordeal was a misunderstanding.

"Jerry's just a hard-working officer who responded to the scene," he said. "Things got blown out of proportion."

sounds like its blown way out of proportion

[TexasStooge]

More questions in DPD's internal investigation

By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Several Dallas vice squad officers are in the midst of an internal affairs investigation that involves questions whether the officers violated police policy to bust a suspected sex shop.

Dallas police officers have been running sting operations to shut down bathhouses where they say illegal prostitution is going on. However, to make those cases officers are allowed to strip naked.

A woman arrested for prostitution at the Acapulco Spa in May said she gave a Dallas police officer sexual favors before he arrested her. Attorney Robin Barry, who represents the woman, said in that case the officer went too far.

"He is lying naked on the table," Barry said. "She gives him a full body massage where she is rubbing her body on him and giving him a full massage with his choice of lotion of baby oil."

Then she said the officer gave her client his phone number after arresting her for prostitution.

"After the arrest is made, he hands her the piece of paper with his name and phone number on it," Barry said. "And according to her says, 'Call me when you get out. I will make this charge go away.'"

The actions of the three vice officers, who are on restricted duty, in this case are not the only ones in question. In the past there have been other cases in which some questioned whether Dallas vice officers went too far to make a case.

In another case, court records state "suspect began rubbing the officer's penis with her right hand using hand lotion." And in yet another, the officer allegedly "removed his clothing, wrapped a towel around his torso and then later got a wet massage."

"I am paying them to protect me and my family," Barry said. "I am not paying them to get a full naked body massage every day."

The Dallas Police Department would not comment on what officers can or can not do in the course of their investigation, or how far they can go.

But, a spokeswoman said that sometimes officers give suspects their numbers to get further information from them.

[TexasStooge]

Commission said to be insiders' club

Powerful city board denies improprieties

By EMILY RAMSHAW and COLLEEN McCAIN NELSON / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - A Dallas city plan commissioner is under investigation by the FBI.

Another managed a City Council campaign, despite a prohibition on commissioners raising political contributions.

And past members have been reprimanded or removed for everything from abusing their title to failing to disclose conflicts.

The City Plan Commission is one of Dallas' most powerful boards, wielding influence over multimillion-dollar developments and controversial zoning cases. But the 15 commissioners labor largely under the radar, generally escaping the scrutiny that City Council members face.

And while the board was intended to be independent and apolitical, some say it's morphed into something far different – an insider group where backroom deals, political pandering and personal interests sometimes come before the public good.

Such allegations come amid the ongoing FBI investigation into corruption at City Hall – a probe that involves Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill, council member James Fantroy and Mr. Hill's appointment to the City Plan Commission, D'Angelo Lee.

Just last week, Commissioner Ralph Isenberg added fuel to the fire, approaching the FBI with claims that Mr. Lee tried to pressure him into selling a shopping center in April.

Mr. Lee did not return phone calls.

"I would like to believe that all of my colleagues are only considering the broad question of what is in the public interest when deciding zoning cases," Commissioner Neil Emmons said. "I'm not sure I could say that."

Most members of the plan commission are dedicated and hardworking – volunteers who put in long hours, return hundreds of calls from developers and neighbors, and do an important service for Dallas, city officials say.

"It involves a lot of time commitment, training and education," said Michael Jung, a lawyer who serves on the city's Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee.

"They're a very honorable and professional group of people," commission chairman Bruce Wilke said.

The board was designed to study complex land-use and development cases, then make recommendations to the City Council.

But over time, it has also become a political training ground, surpassing the Park Board as the best jumping-off point for a shot at the Dallas City Council. Six current City Council members – James Fantroy, Bill Blaydes, Leo Chaney, Gary Griffith, Ed Oakley and Mitchell Rasansky – served on the City Plan Commission.

"It's seen as the No. 1 plum board and commission position in the city," Mayor Laura Miller said. "For the sensitivity, for the money at stake, it's much sought after."

Corruption denied

Despite its influence, the plan commission's culture doesn't breed corruption, past and present members say. Gift-giving isn't a problem, Mr. Wilke said, noting that most of his colleagues "won't even let someone buy them a cup of coffee." Conflicts of interest, while occasional, are almost always disclosed, some members say.

But others contend that improprieties – or the perception of them – still surface.

Most recently, Commissioner Carol Scott, a real estate agent who chairs the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee, was accused of holding up debates on proposed guidelines to help residents manage "McMansions" in their neighborhoods. After weeks of public outcry, Ms. Scott – who says just 2 percent of her business is in "teardowns" – announced Thursday that she would recuse herself from all future discussion on the issue.

And Mr. Isenberg, Ms. Miller's most recent appointment, made headlines late last month when he approached the FBI, alleging that Mr. Lee tried to persuade him to sell his Red Bird Lane shopping center to a developer for a multifamily development.

Mr. Isenberg said Mr. Lee told him that he and Mr. Hill thought the property was run-down and that its "highest and best use was no longer retail." Mr. Isenberg said he told Mr. Lee the property wasn't for sale. Mr. Lee's response, he said, was, "Everything's got a price," and "There could be money in it for all of us."

Mr. Lee declined to comment on these accusations.

"Lee, for whatever reason, kept persisting," said Mr. Isenberg, who is convinced that Mr. Hill – a former member of the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee – wasn't aware of what Mr. Lee was doing. "He was pretty much in my face. My impression was ... that it was an implied threat."

Mr. Isenberg joined the plan commission late last year after two of Ms. Miller's appointments ran into trouble with the city's code of conduct.

David Spence was accused of misusing his position on the plan commission to acquire confidential information about an Oak Cliff businessman's liquor license. The city's ethics commission, which has dismissed nearly every complaint filed during its four-year history, found Mr. Spence in violation. He resigned from the commission, citing a busy schedule.

Ms. Miller removed her next appointment – Rick Garza – after she learned his company was applying to build a fire station for the city.

Commissioners, developers and City Council members debate the role their relationships play in zoning decisions. But come campaign season, they're a tightknit group.

Council member Blaydes, for example, received campaign donations this spring from plan Commissioners Bill "Bulldog" Cunningham and William Avery. He also counted a few high-profile developers and local real estate groups among his contributors.

Former council candidate Candy Marcum went a step further, putting Commissioner Jeff Strater – who has been paid by council member Oakley for computer database services – on her payroll as her campaign manager.

Plan commissioners are prohibited from raising funds for any political campaign. Mr. Strater said he was responsible for running the campaign's day-to-day operations, not working with dollars.

"The strategy portions were pretty much divorced from fundraising activities ... and I made sure I never crossed the line," he said. "I didn't see it as a conflict at all."

The arrangement, though, opened the door to questions about entanglements with zoning cases and campaign donors. In December, Mr. Strater supported a zoning application submitted by R.J. Muszynski – who had contributed to Ms. Marcum's campaign, along with a second person living at his address.

Mr. Strater said he wasn't on Ms. Marcum's payroll at the time. And he emphasized that the application to refurbish a home and open an insurance business eliminated an eyesore from the neighborhood.

Question of influence

While city staff recommended that Mr. Muszynski's application be denied, Mr. Strater moved for approval and won unanimous support from his colleagues.

"It looks suspicious, but certainly it's not," Mr. Strater said. "I saw it as a person who was really making an effort to improve an abandoned property. I was approaching it from a neighborhood improvement perspective."

Most City Council members say they don't tell their commissioners how to vote. The commission studies the case, votes, then passes along the recommendation.

But others have closer relationships.

"I've gotten the sense ... that in some cases, plan commissioners were just carrying out the instructions of the council member," Mr. Jung said.

And territorialism is as much a problem on the plan commission as it is on the City Council, Ms. Miller said. When one commissioner is responsible for all the zoning cases in his or her district, she said, others generally won't disagree with that individual around the horseshoe.

"The mentality is, 'This is my district,' and 'If I don't go along with them, when I have a tough issue, they won't go along with me,' " Ms. Miller said. "That's said all the time."

Frank Bracken, a Mountain Creek resident who protested a housing development near his home last year, felt this acutely. He said he realized early in the process that he and his neighbors were fighting a losing battle, and that developers already had the support of the plan commission.

One plan commissioner "told me I was dead in the water," he said. Another "said he would have voted for us, but he explained that he needed the other commissioners' support for another case."

"More than anything, it makes me sad that we do not have a fair and equal democratic process," Mr. Bracken said. "The influence by real estate and developers and money is so disproportionate to the influence of citizens."

Begging to differ

Mr. Wilke, the plan commission chairman, couldn't disagree more. Ninety-five percent of zoning cases are not controversial and "sail right through with a majority vote." The others are often divided votes, he said, taken after careful consideration of both sides of the issue.

"If we have an opinion on something, we generally vote our opinion," he said.

Former City Council member Lois Finkelman said the situation for residents has improved dramatically in the last decade.

"Neighborhoods have a much stronger voice at City Hall," she said.

Some residents who fight zoning battles at City Hall, however, point to another disadvantage: They're not nearly as close to commissioners and council members as the "regulars" – zoning consultants and attorneys who represent developers before the city week after week.

"He or she who comes better prepared usually can control their outcome better," acknowledged Plan Commissioner Dave Neumann. "That's life. That's business."

Willie Cothrum, the best-recognized of these consultants, is a two-time City Council member and a fixture at Thursday's plan commission hearings – where he is often identified by first name. He is a close friend of Mr. Oakley. And he lives in the same Turtle Creek high rise as Mr. Cunningham, another commissioner. Both say their relationship is professional, and they don't socialize together.

"We're down [at plan commission meetings] all the time," Mr. Cothrum said of his firm, Masterplan. "We have a working relationship with them."

In the last year, Theresa O'Donnell, the city's director of development, has implemented policies governing the zoning consultants. The commission's briefing room is now off-limits to consultants during the public hearing portion of the plan commission meeting. And new guidelines are in place to manage access to zoning files and city meeting space.

"There was a general concern ... that standard protocols had become too lax," she said. "Recently, we have had some issues where the public perception has been that the balance has been skewed."

But Ms. O'Donnell is quick to note that what she has seen in Dallas is a far cry from her work in Las Vegas' development office.

"Political influence and corruption is almost inherent in the process there because the stakes are so high," she said. "In the Texas cities I've worked in, I've not seen that level of influence anywhere."

[TexasStooge]

Fort Worth boy, 3, dies in accident

By KARIN KELLY / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - Police said alcohol played a role in a terrible crash that killed a young child and caused serious damage to a Fort Worth apartment.

Neighbors at the small complex in the 2500 block of Northwest 18th Street said they heard the crash about 10:45 Sunday night.

Police determined Francisco Martinez, 3, was standing on the sidewalk when the car struck him, then plowed through the entire front of the small apartment. The mother and son had just gotten out of the car after saying good night to a friend, the driver.

"The 3-year-old walked on the sidewalk in front of the vehicle," Fort Worth Police Sgt. Don Hanlon said. "The mother was unlocking the door on the right."

Suddenly the driver's Jeep Cherokee took off, hitting the child and plowing into the family's living room.

The apartment is a gaping reminder of the crash that killed the child, which police said was likely caused by drinking and driving.

44-year-old Saturnia Ibarra is now in jail for intoxication manslaugter; police said Ibarra failed a field sobriety test.

"She accidentally put the vehicle into drive instead of reverse," Hanlon said. "A sober person might have been able to stop the vehicle before running into the apartment."

No one seems to have taken a picture of Francisco, but many neighbors said they will long remember his adorable personality. The little boy - who would have turned 4 this month - played in the pond at the edge of the complex every day.

"Everyone is going to miss him because he was full of energy," one neighbor said.

Said another, "He was a beautiful little boy."


WFAA ABC 8
The vehicle tore a hole in the apartment's front wall.