News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Former Miss Teen Texas Takes On Country Music

Brittany Wells Debuts 'Loving Every Minute Of It'

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- A former Miss Teen Texas is enjoying the sweet sound of success after her pageant performances payoff -- landing her a country music recording contract.

Brittany Wells was the first runner up in the 2002 Miss Teen Texas pageant until the original winner had to relinquish her crown. Now, Wells is becoming a country music star and proving that this time, she's no second fiddle.

Wells said she knew her pageant performances would make for good experiences, but had no idea they would be a launch pad for possible stardom.

"I was performing every year, every weekend, as Miss Teen Texas and I really think it just makes you comfortable on stage when you're thrown out there all the time," Wells said.

Apparently the performances have paid off. Wells is now a bona fide country music singer with a contract on Virgin Records.

Despite the release of her debut CD, "Loving Every Minute Of It," Wells has stayed grounded.

"I've realized that it's so much work," she said. "And you have to really work hard at it."

Wells is also working hard at Southern Methodist University as an advertising major. And while her career is taking off, she said no amount of record sales and awards will keep her from finishing.

"If I end up getting to go the country music route then I'll come back and finish school because that's one of my top priorities," Wells said.

The songstress and former beauty queen is easy on the ears and the eyes, but for now, music is the only love in her life.

"I'm not looking. I figure whatever is supposed to happen happens, and if someone comes into my life then that would be good," she said.

However, even without that special someone, at the tender age of 19, Wells is hitting all the right notes.

In fact, critics are giving her album rave reviews.

[TexasStooge]

Drive-By Shooting At Councilman's Home Was Taped

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- Fort Worth investigators are investigating surveillance video from the drive-by shooting at Councilman Jim Lane's home.

Police detectives hope the video will help someone identify the people who shot at Councilman's Lanes house Sunday morning.

This is the second time in six months someone has fired bullets at Lane's home. He says gang members are to blame.

[TexasStooge]

Clothing Store Manager Charged With Videotaping Customers Changing

DALLAS, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- A former assistant manager at a Dallas Gap store is facing charges of videotaping customers in the dressing room with a hidden camera.

A Dallas grand jury indicted Luis Gonzalez Wednesday.

Police said the video showed Gonzalez setting up the camera and several customers changing.

A customer spotted the hidden camera and called police.

[TexasStooge]

Police Training Goes High-Tech

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- The Grand Prairie Police Department has turned to technology to help train its officers. A $140,000 driving simulator has replaced training runs in real vehicles.

The officers still engage in high-speed vehicle chases. The obstacles, the sirens and the dangers remain intact, but if the officer makes a mistake, no one is hurt and no vehicle is damaged.

Officer Joann Reyes participated in the simulated training exercise. She learned some valuable lessons without risks.

"For example, if someone runs a stop sign or something, it has helped me to prepare and look both ways and look where you wouldn't think," she said.

Sgt. John Shaw said officers still are judged on real-life situations.

"Instead of hitting the brakes and panicking and bracing for impact, we teach our officers there's a way to get around just about everything," he said. "She's cutting a corner there. These are things we'd ask her not to do in real life. Here we would teach her to go where the obstacle has been not where it's going."

The technology allows trainers a closer overall view of the training officer's reactions.

"Above and to the left, a violator's perspective, what it looks like with an officer behind them, (the) helicopter view," Shaw said. "Then, this is the instructional view that we use."

Shaw said the Grand Prairie Police is one of the few, if not only, departments in the United States that uses the simulator.

[TexasStooge]

American, Southwest Post Fourth Quarter Earnings

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- Both Dallas-based Southwest Airlines and Fort Worth-based American Airlines are expected to announce their earnings on Wednesday.

American's parent company, AMR, announced a $387 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2004. That loss would bring the airline's total losses for 2004 to $761 million.

Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines continues to soar.

Southwest posted fourth quarter gains of $56 million. Thats a gain of .07 cents a share.

Analysts estimate for 2004, the nation's biggest low fare carrier will report profits of more than $300 million. The earnings for Southwest gives the airline their 32nd consecutive year of profitability.

[TexasStooge]

American Esoteric Laboratories Opens 27,500-SF Facility in Las Colinas, Texas

New Lab Allows for Service Expansion and Fast Turn-Around for Customers Nationwide

IRVING, Texas & NASHVILLE, Tenn., (PRNewswire) -- American Esoteric Laboratories, Inc. (AEL), a full-service provider of clinical reference laboratory services, today announced it has opened its newest facility in the Las Colinas section of Irving, Texas. The company chose Las Colinas for its expansion into Texas for several reasons, including its close proximity to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Love Field, and the availability of highly skilled workers. The 27,500-square-foot laboratory is located at 6221 Riverside, Suite 119.

Responding to the health care industry's increasing demands for expeditious turnaround times, AEL's corporate expansion strategy calls for placing its labs near major transportation hubs. To this end the company acquired Memphis Pathology Laboratory in September 2004. Combined, the two laboratories expand AEL's national footprint and achieve its mission to provide the widest range of quality, specialized and cost-effective testing services for its customers in both urban and rural markets.

"A key element of our mission is to provide our nationwide customers with the fastest turn-around time on clinical laboratory results in the industry," said James Billington, president and chief operating officer of AEL. "The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has more than 1,000 direct flights daily, Love Field another 225, and Memphis has a combined 500 commercial flights arriving daily. With the opening of our Las Colinas lab, we now have the capability of providing an extensive array of routine and esoteric clinical tests in two of the nation's top transportation hubs, which is a significant logistical competitive advantage. Further, our access to a superior labor pool enhances our ability to offer a deeply esoteric test menu in this facility."

The opening of the Las Colinas facility marks the successful consolidation of AEL's previous Texas acquisitions into a single operation. These labs had specialized focus on serving the critical needs of hospitals, specialty physicians and other health care providers in virology, coagulation and molecular infectious disease. With its expansion into the new facility, the company is adding several new clinical assays to its test menu, thereby creating a full menu of esoteric and routine clinical tests.

About American Esoteric Laboratories, Inc.

American Esoteric Laboratories, Inc. (AEL) is a company designed to provide industry leading turn-around time, informatics, personalized service, and other qualitative services in clinical reference testing to hospitals and other specialized healthcare providers. The company's primary emphasis is on clinical esoteric tests, which provide physicians with the clinical information required to complete a diagnosis, establish a prognosis, or to choose and monitor a therapeutic regimen. AEL uses advanced information technology solutions to accelerate and automate electronic assay ordering and results reporting for its customers. AEL's Dallas laboratory is located at 6221 Riverside Drive, Suite 119, Irving, TX 75039, about ten minutes from DFW International Airport. More information is located at http://www.ael.com.

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Source: American Esoteric Laboratories, Inc

[TexasStooge]

Health insurance contract to save Texas millions

DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News/AP) - Texas will save $79 million under a contract awarded to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas Inc. to manage health care coverage for state employees and retirees.

The Richardson-based company offered to slash the administrative fees the state pays it from $216.6 million to $137.5 million to keep the business, which it has had since 1992. Aetna, the only other bidder, said it would charge $211.6 million.

Blue Cross officials said after Wednesday's announcement that they could afford to lower fees for their biggest customer because they've already cut costs elsewhere. The not-for-profit health care administrator, the state's largest, said it won't have to make further dramatic changes to achieve lower costs.

Darren Rodgers, senior vice president of health care management, said it was too early to tell if state employees will see changes in their health coverage.

[TexasStooge]

Sloan out as Baylor president

By HOLLY K. HACKER / The Dallas Morning News

WACO, Texas - Robert Sloan’s tumultuous decade as president of Baylor University is over.

University spokesman Larry Brumley said officials will announce at an 11 a.m. news conference that Dr. Sloan will be removed as president and named to the vacant post of chancellor.

Mr. Brumley said Board of Regents chairman Will Davis will also discuss plans for replacing Dr. Sloan as president and reasons for the changes.

Dr. Sloan’s tenure at the nation’s largest Baptist University was marked by division almost from the start, primarily because of his strategic plan, Baylor 2012. The plan called for “Baylor to enter the top tier of American universities over the next decade while reaffirming and deepening its distinctive Christian mission.”

Segments of the Baylor campus and alumni took strongly opposed sides on the plan and on Dr. Sloan, who survived repeated no-confidence votes by the Faculty Senate and attempts by some regents and former regents to force him out. He has been blamed for rising tuition costs and rifts among professors.

The announcement comes a month after the faculty voted to oust Dr. Sloan, although regents have the sole authority to hire and fire the president.

The December vote was the first faculty-wide vote on the president, and about 60 percent of eligible faculty members cast ballots. Eighty-five percent of votes went against retaining Dr. Sloan, who has been president of the world's largest Baptist university since 1995 and now earns $410,000 a year.

But the school's faculty senate, with about three dozen members, held similar no-confidence votes on Dr. Sloan in September 2003 and in May.

Despite urgings from some professors, the regents did not vote on the matter in meetings last fall. In May, the board voted 18-17 to retain Dr. Sloan -- a much closer margin than the 31-4 vote in the fall of 2003.

Criticism of Dr. Sloan has been growing since he was named president after leaving his two-year position as founding dean of Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary.

Some faculty leaders claim Dr. Sloan has threatened the university's academic reputation by stressing religious beliefs over qualifications when hiring new professors, and by requiring the inclusion of religious doctrine in teaching.

Dr. Sloan also has been criticized for being unaware of major NCAA violations in the men's basketball program, which were uncovered after a player was killed in June 2003. Coach Dave Bliss and athletic director Tom Stanton later resigned.

Baylor, founded in 1845, is the state's oldest institution of higher learning and is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

A 1970 Baylor graduate, Dr. Sloan became religion professor there in 1983. Dr. Sloan has been a pastor or interim pastor at more than 20 churches in Texas, Oklahoma, New Jersey and in Germany.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Wal-Mart clerk abducted in Tyler

TYLER, Texas (AP/The Dallas Morning News) - A woman whose abduction from an East Texas Wal-Mart was captured on videotape remained missing Friday, but her truck turned up at an Arizona hospital -- driven by a man needing treatment for a gunshot wound, authorities said.

"There's no sign of her at this point in time and we have no further leads to her whereabouts," Tyler police spokesman Don Martin said Friday morning.

The injured man has been identified as Johnny Lee Williams of Tyler, Texas, according to Carol Capas with the Chochise County Sheriff's Office in Arizona.

Capas said Williams tried to hold up the clerk of a trailer park in Bowie, Ariz., and the clerk pulled out a gun and shot Williams in the shoulder.

Williams drove himself to a hospital in Willcox to be treated for a non-life threatening injuries. Tyler police spokesman Don Martin said Williams was in custody there. Willcox police did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Megan Leann Holden, a 19-year-old college student from Henderson, was reported missing Thursday morning when she did not return home from her shift at the Tyler store the night before.

Martin identified the injured man as the 24-year-old suspect, Johnny Williams of Tyler. He said there was no indication that she knew him, and that a search warrant was being prepared for his Tyler home.

The videotape "shows Megan getting into her truck and the suspect running up behind her and either hitting her or pushing her," Martin said. "Then the vehicle drives off."

The videotape also showed the suspect lurking around the entrance of the store about 90 minutes before Holden was confronted, police said. He said the man was wearing a long, dark coat and cap and carrying a duffel bag.

Martin said the clerk had clocked out at 11:43 p.m. Wednesday and walked out of the store.

On Thursday, a helicopter crew helped in the search for Holden's 2002 red pickup, and the FBI joined the investigation, police said.

Christi Gallagher, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman in Bentonville, Ark., declined to provide details on Holden's employment.

"Our hearts and prayers certainly go out to the family at this time, but we refer all calls in regards to the abduction to the police department," Gallagher told the Tyler Morning Telegraph in Friday's editions.

Gallagher declined to discuss whether Wal-Mart had a policy providing for escorting female employees to their vehicles at night, but said, "We always stress safety whether inside or outside of the stores."

Family members said Holden was a responsible girl who began her first semester at Tyler Junior College last week.

Martin said Holden's mother had been in a wreck while driving to Tyler, where she was shaken and covered with cuts and bruises.

"She was on her way here and flipped her car three times," a family member said. "She should have gone to the hospital, but she is concerned about her daughter."

Police said Holden was last seen wearing a lime-green fitted T-shirt with thin, dark horizontal stripes and white or khaki pants.

3TV in Phoenix, Ariz., contributed to this report.


Police are looking for Megan Holden after a man pictured in a police sketch drove off with her on Wednesday night.

[TexasStooge]

Kidnap case's 'person of interest' a DISD teacher

By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - The man police are calling a 'person of interest' in the kidnapping of a North Texas restaurant owner has been working as a teacher with the Dallas Independent School District.

On Wednesday, police raided the Duncanville home of teacher Jose Felix in connection with the kidnapping of 30-year-old Oscar Sanchez, and investigators said they found bloody evidence at Felix's home.

Sanchez, whose family owns the popular La Calle Doce and El Ranchito restaurants, has now been missing for more than two days after being abducted on an Oak Cliff streetcorner near his home Tuesday morning.

Dallas ISD spokesperson Donald Claxton said Felix came to work for the district in August 2003. Claxton said Felix, however, is in the process of being fired over confusion surrounding an extended leave of absence.

"He applied for it," Claxton said. "We're trying to determine whether it was formally approved or not. We are going to ... go through the procedures of terminating him for job abandonment."

Dallas police are also looking for a pickup truck registered to Felix, a white 2004 Chevrolet Silverado extended cab half-ton pickup. The current new license plate number is 10J-RK1; up until September 2004, the tag on that truck was 9SW-D73. Authorities believe the truck could have either plate on it.

Police said they are hoping for any kind of communication with the kidnappers, who last contacted the family late Tuesday night seeking what was described as a large ransom.

Several businesses also announced Thursday that they are offering a large reward, including $10,000 from Schepps Dairy, for information leading to the arrest and indictment of those responsible.

Police want to talk with Felix and others who lived in the house in the 300 block of Royal Avenue for any information they might have about the suspects in this case. Police also said they are still waiting for DNA tests to come back from blood found at the home to see if it belongs to Sanchez.

Sources told WFAA-TV that some people associated with the house have already been questioned by detectives.

Police said they are also looking at former employees at Sanchez's restaurants as possible suspects.

Through their lawyers, Sanchez family members made a public appeal for information on Wednesday night. "This is a strong family, it's a loving family, and they're praying together," said attorney Mike McKinley. "They're holding each other and they're doing what any of us would do if this happened to a member of our family."

Schepps said its reward fund would remain in place for three months. Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact Dallas police.

WFAA-TV's Rebecca Rodriguez contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Trucker accused of human trafficking

By CYNTHIA VEGA / WFAA ABC 8

MANSFIELD, Texas — Fort Worth police arrested a truck driver late Thursday after they discovered narcotics and a family of five illegal immigrants hidden in the cab.

The discovery came during a routine inspection of the commercial 18-wheeler in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 20 in southwest Fort Worth around 11 p.m.

The trucker, who was not identified, was arrested on charges of drug possession and human trafficking. He refused to speak with police and was taken to the Mansfield jail for processing.

The five illegal immigrants -- four women and a man estimated to be 18 to 20, all apparently related -- were scheduled to be turned over Friday to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. They were said to be in good condition.

"They were being transported from somewhere near the Arizona-New Mexico border to Dallas, which was their final destination," Fort Worth police spokesman Robert Mills said. "It doesn't appear that the kids were in any immediate danger since they weren't in the trailer; they were actually in the sleeper area of the truck."

Investigators said the truck, which was hauling produce, was scheduled to take its cargo to Miami.

[TexasStooge]

Exclusive: Collin youths set off explosives on videotape

But DA unable to prosecute due to improper procedure

By MARY ANN RAZZUK / WFAA ABC 8

NEWS 8 EXCLUSIVE

McKINNEY, Texas - Collin County authorities are in possession of a videotape that clearly shows several young men setting off explosives - and yet the district attorney's office can't file charges.

News 8 obtained an edited version of the tape through an open-records request. The video shows a vehicle full of young people laughing and having fun while taping an evening out.

But on the tape, Collin County fire marshal Steve Deffibaugh discovered much more.

"They actually placed an explosive device in a mailbox ... and lit the fuse and drove off," said Deffibaugh.

The force of the explosion sent fire across a country road.

"They actually had two explosive devices," Deffibaugh said. "They made them with an aerosol can of insecticide, and taped a 1.4-gram mortar shell or artillery shell that you'd normally get ... for the Fourth of July."

He said the second device was taped to a sign in the city of Blue Ridge, and ignited.

"This is, I'd guess you'd say, an act of terrorism," he said. "They are terrorizing their community."

The fire marshal sent the case to the Collin County District Attorney for a grand-jury referral. But, he said it was rejected because the law enforcement agency that originally seized the videotape for a different investigation apparently did not use proper procedure.

In a statement, an official with the Collin County district attorney's office said, "after reviewing the evidence and speaking with the filing agency, we determined that we could not legally proceed in this case."

He added, "We stand ready to consider this case if the agency submits new admissible evidence."

According to Deffibaugh, the explosions around the Blue Ridge area took place in late summer, so he was unable to recover any physical evidence after so much time had passed.

Blue Ridge resident Michael Ashlock worries someone might get hurt if the explosions happen again.

"We're only a population of 500-something people out here," said Ashlock. "The mothers and fathers ought to know something about it."

Deffibaugh is concerned the acts will escalate based on conversations on the tape.

"As they drove down the road, he thought it could've been much better whenever he was asked what he thought about it," he said. "It means maybe next time, they'll use something a lot larger, more explosive devices ... something a little bit bigger (like) a bigger bomb."

[TexasStooge]

Dad worried about missing SMU student

By KRISTEN HOLLAND / The Dallas Morning News and APRIL KINSER / WFAA.com

The father of a Southern Methodist University student who has been missing for a week pleaded Thursday for his son to return home.

SMU police said Alexander Weckiewicz, 19, has not been seen since the morning of Jan. 13, although his car is still on campus. His cellular telephone hasn't been used since he disappeared.

Phone records obtained by the police indicate that the phone's battery died sometime Jan. 17. A cell tower in the Love Field area picked up its signal.

Weckiewicz, a piano and physics student from the Houston suburb of The Woodlands, is white, 5-foot-8 and thinly built. He has short, dark blond hair and hazel eyes. He was last seen wearing green or gray pants with cargo-style pockets and a dark shirt with a horizontal light-colored stripe around the chest.

"This week has been pure hell," said Wojtek Weckiewicz, Alex's father. "I believe that Alex got concerned with his academic performance. He didn't do very well on the finals. In addition, there are some other issues that I'm not aware of."

Douglas Crewse, a private investigator hired by the Weckiewicz family, said that the fact that the student hasn't used any credit or debit cards since his disappearance isn't unusual.

"He was very frugal," he said about the student.

Mr. Weckiewicz said that his son's last known whereabouts was Perkins Hall, his dormitory.

David Karp, a professor in the music division of the Meadows School of the Arts, said Weckiewicz had stopped showing up for class the last few weeks of the fall semester and he did not take his final music exam.

Karp caught up with him in a parking lot after the finals and asked about his whereabouts.

Weckiewicz said he had been in a recent accident that had damaged his car, Karp recalled, but the professor said he didn't want to elaborate about other personal problems the student outlined. Karp said Weckiewicz's adviser contacted him about the student's failing grades and attendance issues in other classes.

"That's when I realized it was not just about piano," Karp said. "There were other multiple problems going on."

Don Harris, a private piano teacher in Spring, Texas, described his former student as bright, warm and personable, but "not too outgoing."

"He was always concerned about how he stacked up grade-wise and progress-wise. He was very much a perfectionist. He was very sensitive when things didn't go as well as he wanted to," Harris said.

Although Weckiewicz started playing piano later in life than most of his students, Harris said, he progressed rapidly and went on to win several local and district competitions.

"He was very devoted to piano and loved it. He wanted to combine it with something else in college for financial reasons. You can't make much of a living playing piano," he said.

"You couldn't help but like him or think the world of him. He was very ambitious."

Police said there was no evidence of criminal activity connected to the teen's disappearance. Anyone with information should contact SMU police at 214-768-3333.

[TexasStooge]

Suspect held in woman's abduction

TYLER, Texas (AP/WFAA ABC 8) - A young woman was abducted from a parking lot while leaving work at a Wal-Mart, an attack captured on videotape, and a suspect and her truck were found Friday hundreds of miles away in Arizona.

Megan Leann Holden, a 19-year-old college student from Henderson, was reported missing Thursday morning when she did not return home from her shift the night before. Surveillance video appeared to show her being shoved into her truck, which then drove away. She was still unaccounted-for Friday.

Authorities in Willcox, Ariz., were holding Johnny Lee Williams, 24, for investigation in the missing woman's case, said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County (Ariz.) Sheriff's Department.

He was at a hospital Friday being treated for a gunshot wound, apparently inflicted in a robbery attempt, Capas said. He was to be questioned by Texas police and the FBI, who were en route to Willcox.

Capas said her department had no information on the missing woman.

Tyler police spokesman Don Martin said earlier that Holden, a clerk at the Wal-Mart store, had clocked out at 11:43 p.m. Wednesday.

A surveillance videotape "shows Megan getting into her truck and the (man) running up behind her and either hitting her or pushing her," Martin said. "Then the vehicle drives off."

He said Williams, of Tyler, was considered a suspect.

Capas said Williams is believed to have been shot during an attempted robbery at an RV park northeast of Willcox. A man at the RV park told authorities he had shot a man who had pulled a gun on him and demanded money.

Williams was being treated at Northern Cochise Community Hospital for a gunshot wound to the shoulder; the wound was not life-threatening, Capas said.

When the wounded man was found at the hospital, authorities determined that the pickup truck he had been driving was linked to the Texas kidnapping case.

The FBI has joined the investigation, Tyler police said.

Wal-Mart surveillance tape shows a man, about 20 to 25 years old, in a long, dark coat, apparently the abductor, loitering around the front entrance to the store "for a good period of time," Martin said.

He was also seen on tape about 11/2 hours before the abduction, emerging from a bathroom and walking around inside the store.

[TexasStooge]

Teens plead not guilty in Cleburne beating case

Three accused of attacking gay student

CLEBURNE, Texas (AP/WFAA ABC 8) - The three teenagers charged in the October beating of a gay Cleburne High School student pleaded not guilty Thursday during their arraignment.

Christopher Paul Lathers, 18, faces a felony charge of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. The second-degree felony was elevated to a first-degree felony when it was classified as a hate crime.

Mr. Lathers is accused of kicking the 17-year-old, a Cleburne High senior, with steel-toe boots.

Billy Lynn Calahan, 19, and Cory Dallas Gibson, 17, face misdemeanor charges that were elevated to Class A misdemeanors with the hate-crime element. Mr. Calahan is accused of punching and Mr. Gibson is accused of kicking the victim, who had to have reconstructive surgery to repair broken bones in his face.

The three, who were indicted last month, will be subject to random drug tests and are prohibited from drinking alcohol, the Cleburne Times-Review reported in Thursday afternoon's editions.

Cleburne school officials say Mr. Lathers attended TEAM School, the district's alternative school for students with academic problems.

Mr. Gibson and Mr. Calahan were not enrolled in Cleburne schools, they said.

[TexasStooge]

Police Find Missing SMU Student From Houston Unharmed

Student Found At Dallas Public Library

DALLAS, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- A missing Southern Methodist University student from the Houston area was found unharmed Friday morning at the Dallas Public Library.

Alexander Weckiewicz, an accomplished pianist and first-year music major from The Woodlands, had been missing since Jan. 13, despite his car being parked on campus.

Dallas police located his cell phone signal in northwest Dallas on Monday but said no calls had been made on the phone since he disappeared.

SMU police said they searched the entire campus and talked with other students but didn't have any leads.

[TexasStooge]

Parents Fight Fort Worth ISD's Plans To Close Schools

Fort Worth ISD: Low Attendance Reason For Closure Plans

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- Some Fort Worth parents are fighting the school district's plans to close two schools.

Fort Worth Independent School District said plans to close I.M. Terrell Middle School and Van Zandt-Guinn Elementary are due to the schools' low attendance. The schools have 310 and 230 students, respectively.

Parents said the schools are top performing schools and don't want their children bused to other schools.

Thursday night's meeting was intended as a forum for people to talk about the ideal size of a school.

More than 200 people attended the forum.

Afterward, Mary Rodriguez, whose daughter attends Van Zandt-Guinn Elementary, said she didn't think MGT staff paid attention to what was said.

"I don't think we're being heard," she said. "Everything they said, Van Zandt-Guinn is about that."

[TexasStooge]

City Hires Firm To Collect $1 Million In Unpaid Fines

PANTEGO, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- One North Texas city has $1 million worth of unpaid traffic tickets and is taking steps to collect the debts from wayward offenders.

The small town of Pantego has hired a firm to help in the collection process.

The $1 million represents one-fifth of the city's annual budget.

The town is little more than a square mile, but Pantego police write an average of one ticket an hour.

Pantego's mayor said strict enforcement apparently works since there hasn't been a deadly crash in the city limits in 10 years.

[TexasStooge]

Suspects identified in kidnap case

By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - On Friday, police identified Edgar Acevedo, also known as Ricardo Lopez, and Jose Felix as the men who may have kidnapped restaurateur Oscar Sanchez Tuesday morning.

Sanchez was on the phone when his car was hit from behind. According to reports, his mother, on the other end of the phone, heard him say "Hey, Richie" before the line went dead. Police believe Richie is Acevedo, a former employee of El Ranchito, a restaurant owned by the Sanchez family. They said Acevedo is traveling with Felix, a Dallas school teacher who hasn't shown up for work since November.

Felix is the owner of the Duncanville home that was raided by police Wednesday morning. Inside they found signs of a bloody struggle. Felix also owns a White Silverado truck police are looking for. Detectives said they hope releasing pictures of Acevedo and Felix will help them find Sanchez.

According to court documents, Sanchez called his mother shortly after his disappearance and told her that he had been kidnapped and his kidnappers were demanding $3 million or they would kill him. Throughout the Tuesday, Laura Sanchez received additional phone calls from the kidnappers.

On Friday, the Sanchez family spoke about Sanchez in an effort to appeal to the kidnappers. The family released new photos of him with his baby. They said he is a proud father, a businessman and a community leader. They want the public's help finding him.

[TexasStooge]

Man killed in carjack early Saturday

DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - A man was murdered and his car stolen early Saturday outside a convenience store on Josey Lane.

Police said Benjamin Ray Neal, 33, was inside the store when he noticed two or three men approaching his car, where his girlfriend waited. Neal was shot when he went outside to confront the men.

No further information was available from police.