News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Blackberries annoy City Hall officials

By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Bzzzzzz ...bzz ... bzzzzz!

It sounds like garbled Morse code or a downed power line sizzling in a pool of water. A honeybee with attention deficit disorder, perhaps.

One thing's for sure.

This staticky staccato is driving Dallas' government brass berserk.

"Everyone pull their Blackberries off the podium," Mayor Laura Miller ordered her colleagues last week as the City Council's meeting room audio system began reverberating with the noise.

"I wish you'd turn off the Blackberries because it's about to send me up the wall," council member James Fantroy pleaded in the midst of a council committee meeting as city officials discussed municipal emergency procedures.

For the uninitiated, Blackberries are portable e-mail devices that use radio signals to send and receive text.

The little gadgets apparently transmit their signals at precisely the correct frequency for the wires within some City Hall microphones, which act like radio antennae, to transform Blackberry data signals into sound. A really awful sound.

Short of replacing the city's microphones by the dozen – not exactly a top priority when property tax rates are again going up – an easy fix might prove difficult, said James Jones, an engineering supervisor in Dallas' Communication and Information Services Department.

"It's probably easier to file an open record request," he quipped.

The devices were rare in city government just a couple of years ago, and Ms. Miller and City Manager Mary Suhm were among the first officials to click away on their miniature keypads.

A City Hall meeting room's audio system caught a particularly gnarly case of Blackberryitis last week while Assistant City Manager Ramon Miguez and Federal Emergency Management Agency official Justo Martinez were conducting a meeting about local Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Television cameramen in the room fiddled with their cellular phones and punched at their pagers. No luck. The buzzing continued for 30 seconds, halting the meeting.

"Not mine, guys!" Mr. Miguez shouted as he waved his little purplish pad in the air.

Refusing to admit defeat, Mr. Jones says he's going to arm himself with a Blackberry and begin tinkering with the microphones in hopes of stemming the problem.

No promises, he said.

"But we'll try to do something," he vowed. "It's terribly annoying."

In the meantime, he recommended city officials try to keep their Blackberries far away from the microphones, or simply – gasp! – not bring them to meetings at all.

[TexasStooge]

Woman found dead on I-45

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - An off-duty Dallas County sheriff's deputy on his way to work Wednesday morning spotted the body of a woman on Interstate 45, who later was identified as a 46-year-old Wilmer resident.

The deputy advised that Marcella Perez Arriaga was lying in a lane of traffic on the highway at Fulghum Road in Hutchins and apparently had been struck a number of times by passing vehicles that did not stop. She was pronounced dead at the scene, identified by the identification in her purse found nearby, Sheriff's Department Sgt. Don Peritz said.

It was unknown why Arriaga was in the roadway and whether she was killed by the passing vehicles or already was deceased when struck.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact sheriff's officials at 214-749-8641.

[TexasStooge]

Flower Mound wrestling coach relieved of duties

By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News

LEWISVILLE, Texas - A group of about 40 upset parents met with the Lewisville school district superintendent Wednesday morning after officials took disciplinary action against a high school coach and 16 students.

Charles Zascavage was relieved of his duties as head coach of the Flower Mound High School wrestling team Wednesday and 16 team members received punishments that ranged from in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension and being placed in the district's disciplinary alternative program.

Those actions stem from a district investigation into a team party last month where police say some wrestlers were injured during hazing activities. Mr. Zascavage could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Flower Mound police are also investigating the allegations and expect to file criminal charges against about nine unnamed people later this month, Lt. Wendell Mitchell said. He said those charges could include hazing, assault, injury to a child and sexual assault.

Police began investigating after a parent of one of the team's new members reported the alleged hazing. After the investigation began, one person came forward and alleged they had been sexually assaulted at the party. The party was held Aug. 27 in the 3000 block of River Bend Trail at what is believed to be a 16-year-old team member's home.

Team supporters upset with the disciplinary action met behind closed doors for about an hour Wednesday with Superintendent Jerry Roy. Dr. Roy left the room after the meeting, declined to comment and asked the media to leave the administration building.

Parents congregated outside and expressed support for Mr. Zascavage and the wrestlers. John Everett, the father of one team member, likened what happened at the party to rough play rather than hazing.

"They're wrestlers, they're big boys," he said. "That's what they're going to do."

Tony Badura, another wrestler's father, said the group planned to stand behind the team members. He said the meeting did not satisfy his concerns with how the district responded.

Michael Bales, last year's team captain, described Mr. Zascavage as a friend, teacher and mentor. "He teaches at Flower Mound High School to coach," said Mr. Bales, 18. "That's his life."

Mr. Bales, who was not at the party, said there were several times during his tenure on the team when wrestlers roughhoused, but he never saw, participated in or experienced any hazing. He also said he never saw any behavior by a wrestler that would be considered sexual assault.

Most of the parents met with an attorney after their meeting with the superintendent. Attorney Roy Morris said the father of a teammate invited him to attend.

He said some parents were upset with how Flower Mound police handled the criminal investigation and believed that when police interviewed teenagers who attended the party, they asked closed-ended questions and did not try to get a broad sense of what happened.

Police Lt. Mitchell said asking specifics about an incident is common police procedure.

"Those are normal interview questions," he said. "We need to find out what exactly occurred. We need to ask those kinds of questions."

[TexasStooge]

Woman's body found in suitcase

LUBBOCK, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - A sanitation worker sorting through debris at a city-owned landfill found the body of a woman inside a suitcase Tuesday, authorities said.

Assistant Police Chief Thomas Esparza said the death was being treated as a homicide. An autopsy was ordered.

"We don't know how she died, where she died or when she died," Esparza said. Police identified the woman late Tuesday as Summer Lee Baldwin, 29.

John Cobb, manager of the West Texas Region Disposal Facility, said the body probably was brought to the site in one of the trucks that dumped there Tuesday morning. It was found sitting in a suitcase atop a 10-foot-high trash pile, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported in its Wednesday editions.

Cobb said the refuse at the bottom of the landfill Tuesday was delivered by 40 trucks.

"We're guessing it came off a city truck," he said. "We've had private up there and commercial up there. That's why it is a guess."

The worker found the body while sorting through trash in search of car batteries, tires and large pieces of metal that shouldn't be dumped at the landfill.

"Something made him look in there," Cobb said. "Otherwise it would have gone unsolved."

[TexasStooge]

Commuting at 1,000 miles per gallon

By DON WALL / WFAA ABC 8

RICHARDSON, Texas — Record high fuel prices have led some North Texans to find transportation alternatives.

Since February, David Pennington has commuted four miles each way to and from his job at a high tech company using an electric bicycle.

"It's a hybrid, really," Pennington explained. "It doesn't have a powerful electric motor; it's one horsepower. It'll cruise along at about 18 to 20 mph."

The bike looks more like a motor scooter with pedals.

"When you take off, it needs a little bit of extra oomph, so that's what the pedals are for," Pennington said.

The bike's batteries are charged with electricity generated by wind power. So how does the operating cost compare with $3 a gallon gasoline?

"It gets the dollar equivalent of about 1,000 miles per gallon," Pennington said. "It costs me two cents to charge it up to go eight miles."

The corner of Campbell Road and Central Expressway presents a bottleneck during Pennington's commute, but because state and local laws permit the use of electric bike on sidewalks, he can steer clear of cars and trucks.

"I know most people bought their cars for a reason, so I don't look down on them or anything," Pennington said. "They look down on me , obviously, because they're a lot bigger than I am. I definitely give them a wide berth."

Pennington said he paid $500 to buy his electric bike online. He also has a car and a truck for use in foul weather.

[TexasStooge]

Church fire 'suspicious'

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - For the second time in two weeks, Dallas firefighters battled a blaze at an Oak Cliff church facility.

The alarm went out at Mission: Oak Cliff early Wednesday morning at 10th Street and Zang Blvd.

"The first unit reported that we've got a large two story building with fire coming out the back of it," said Dallas Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Elmer Sipes. "When we got here, we did have fire above the cooler unit."

Sipes said the building, part of the Cliff Temple Baptist Church complex, was the scene of another fire earlier this month.

"It's certainly suspicious, but we have not determined what caused it at this time," Sipes said.

No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was available.

Mission: Oak Cliff was created in 1992 to provide emergency food, clothing and other support to the homeless and other with critical needs, according to the Cliff Temple Web site.

[TexasStooge]

Hill breaks campaign finance laws?

By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - New questions are being raised about one of the central figures in the Dallas City Hall corruption investigation.

While it has been widely reported that Councilmember Don Hill has been the subject of an FBI investigation into corruption at City Hall, he has not been accused of violating any specific laws. However, campaign finance reports from Councilmember Don Hill reflect he had been paying himself, as well as family members, which possibly conflicted with state law.

Texas campaign finance laws have been criticized by many as being lax. But one of the clearly defined restrictions in the law concerned candidates paying themselves, or family, from their campaign accounts.

"A candidate may not knowingly make or authorize a payment....for personal services rendered by the candidate," read Section 253-041 of the State Election Code.

But according to Hill's own finance reports, Hill has paid himself repeatedly dating back to August of 2002 in amounts up to $1,500 for what resembled personal services.

Reports said payments he received were for services to campaign, database development, legal research, and for finalizing formulation of 527 political organizations.

In all, Hill appeared to have paid himself more than $12,000 over three years.

Government watchdog Fred Lewis of Austin reviewed Hill's records and said the reports at the minimum raise a red flag.

"You can use your campaign contribution for your committee's compliance with the law, but you can't pay yourself as a candidate with your campaign contributions," Lewis said.

The law also said the candidate may not make a payment for "services rendered by...the spouse or dependent child of the candidate."

Once again, Hill's records reflected payments to his wife Vivian in excess of $3,000 for "consultant and other fees." Also, $1,000 was paid to his daughter Kristin for "database development."

"State law says you can't pay yourself for services rendered or your family," Hill said. "...I've looked it as well, and I don't interpret it that way. I would say the ethics opinion would be a better guide for you."

However, News 8 couldn't find any such ethics opinions. An Ethics Commission spokesperson said his office can't comment, but only said the law speaks for itself.

However, for anything else to happen someone would have to file an ethics complaint with the state or the matter would have to be explored by the district attorney. Violation of the contribution laws is a Class A misdemeanor.

[TexasStooge]

Woman executed for killing husband, children

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - Frances Newton was executed Wednesday for the fatal shootings of her husband and two children 18 years ago, becoming the third woman, and first black woman, to be put to death in the state since executions resumed in 1982.

Strapped to the death chamber gurney and with her parents among the people watching, she declined to make a final statement, quietly saying "no" and shaking her head when the warden asked if she would like to speak.

Newton, 40, briefly turned her head to look at her family as the drugs began flowing. She appeared to try to mouth something to her relatives, but the drugs took effect. She coughed once and gasped as her eyes closed. She was pronounced dead eight minutes later.

One of her sisters stood against a wall at the rear of the death house, her head buried in her arms. Her parents held hands and her mother brushed away a tear before they walked to the back of the chamber to console their other daughter.

About 50 demonstrators chanted outside but the crowd paled in comparison to the hundreds who gathered in 1998 to protest the execution of Karla Faye Tucker, the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War.

"She's back with her family, in her mind," said John LaGrappe, one of her attorneys, who met with Newton less than two hours before she was executed and described her as "strong and optimistic...It's her faith in God."

He characterized her as the victim of laws that denied her access to the Supreme Court and blamed state-appointed lawyers early in her appeals process for missing deadlines that barred Newton from raising legal claims.

"It's a sad statement about the judicial process," he said.

Two cousins of Newton's slain husband who also watched the execution complained that too much attention had been focused on the convicted killer, and not enough on her three victims.

"I wanted her to apologize, just to confess," Tamika Craft-Demming said. "Justice is not to me served. If we saw some kind of apology, that would have been justice."

Craft-Demming sobbed loudly in the death chamber. "I'd like to say not one tear was for Frances," she said. "They were for the kids."

Without dissent, the Supreme Court declined a pair of appeals about an hour before Newton was scheduled to be taken to the Texas death chamber.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which last year paved the way for Gov. Rick Perry to issue a reprieve about two hours before Newton was set to die, on Monday unanimously rejected a request that her death sentence be commuted to life in prison. Perry rejected another delay in the execution Wednesday afternoon.

She also lost appeals in state and lower federal courts. Her execution was the 13th this year in Texas. She was the 11th woman executed in the United States since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed the death penalty to resume.

Newton didn't deny putting a gun in her 7-year-old son's knapsack and stashing the bag at an abandoned house. But she and her lawyers argued the .25-caliber blue steel revolver she hid was not the one used to fatally shoot her son, Alton; her 21-month-old daughter, Farrah; and her husband, Adrian, 23, at their Houston apartment.

Newton all along insisted she was innocent, and the claim about the gun was among several in her appeal to the Supreme Court. She also contended her trial attorneys were incompetent and evidence at her trial improperly was destroyed.

"I know I did not murder my kids and my family," she told The Associated Press in a death row interview. "It's frustrating...nobody's had to answer for that."

Prosecutors called Newton's appeals meritless, noting that a second gun never was recovered, that repeated ballistics tests confirmed the gun she hid was the murder weapon, and that any destruction of evidence was not improper.

"The unbroken chain of custody directly links Newton to the murder weapon," the Texas Attorney General's Office said in its filing to the Supreme Court.

Newton, accompanied by a cousin, found the bodies April 7, 1987. Her husband had been shot in the head, the two children in the chest, all with a .25-caliber pistol.

Three weeks before the slayings, Newton took out $50,000 life insurance policies on herself, her husband and her daughter. She named herself as beneficiary and said she signed her husband's name to prevent him from discovering she had set aside money to pay for the premiums.

Prosecutors said the insurance payoff was the motive for the slayings.

[TexasStooge]

Fire destroys FW shopping center

By YOLANDA WALKER / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - Smoke and flames swept through a Fort Worth strip mall Tuesday night, destroying old memories and new beginnings.

The three-alarm blaze engulfed the center at Belknap and Beach streets around 10 p.m. Fort Worth Fire Department officials said it caused $1.45 million in structural damage and $700,000 in losses to equipment and merchandise.

In the aftermath, there's a mixture of emotions. Alysia Macchia just opened her store last month where everything's a dollar, but it'll cost much more than that to replace it all.

"Many, many months ... a lot of hard work," Macchia said. "I'm in shock right now. I don't know what I'm doing."

Investigators said the fire started in the dollar store and spread quickly. When it reached the other businesses, workers saw smoke.

"It came out like a fog," said David Hills, manager of Rent Way, a home furnishings store. "It came out real slow, but it was coming out thick."

Hills said he and his employees will salvage what they can and transfer employees to other locations.

Next door, Larry Brown and his wife Arlene opened their print shop in 1978.

"We've had some of the best people around walk through those doors," Brown said.

"They are the best print shop in this area, in my opinion," said customer Alma Perez. "It makes me angry ... I feel so bad for them."

Arlene said among the rubble, she found her wedding ring, which she had taken off before the fire to do some work. .

"Like you hear so many people in the world say, we'll rebuild," Larry Brown said. "There's a lot of damage, but I'm already seeing a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel."

[TexasStooge]

19 charged in alleged hazing incident

By DON WALL / WFAA ABC 8

FLOWER MOUND, Texas - Six adults and 13 juveniles were charged after an alleged hazing incident Aug. 27 at a Flower Mound High School wrestling team party. The charges ranged from hazing to two charges of aggravated sexual assault.

The day after the party, some students filed complaints with police. And last Thursday, police told News 8 that they were investigating the complaints that included hazing, assault and injury to a child. The next day they added sexual assault to the list.

Parents and supporters of the accused wrestlers organized together and hired an attorney for their children.

"I think the boys are being railroaded," said parent Joel Murphy. "I think it's a tragedy."

Another parent agreed.

"I think the boys were fooling around," said George Grogan. "[I believe] they were being boys - slapping, pushing, shoving, jumping in the swimming pool and twisting each other. Unfortunately and regrettably, several of the boys got hurt.

The incident is a tragedy that both the police and the school have had to deal with because of the alleged injuries to the students.

The school district said they have taken "appropriate personnel action" against the 16 students. Charles Zascavage was removed as head wrestling coach, but will still teach.

"We believe that coach Z is a strong, moral character and that he has helped our children tremendously," said parent Eddie Ouille.

The action against the students included suspension, in and out of school, and-or time at an alternative school.

Police said the suspects are urged to turn themselves in.

[TexasStooge]

Bush library plans kept hush-hush

Of 7 suitors, only UT and A&M detail bids to attract president

BY HOLLY K. HACKER / The Dallas Morning News

In a state where everything has to be the biggest and the best, it's no surprise that the seven competitors for the George W. Bush Presidential Library all think their proposal is the one to beat.

But getting details of their proposals is about as hard as getting details of White House evacuation plans.

Thursday is the deadline for submitting proposals, but only two bidders – the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems – have been willing to share details.

"No ma'am, I won't do that," said David Miller, chairman of a group headed by Texas Tech University that is submitting a proposal that includes Lubbock, Midland and other West Texas communities and colleges.

"We've got six very strong competitors, and to lay out the details of our plan either now or later I don't think would be in West Texas' best interest."

He did note, though, that the Lubbock City Council voted recently to rename two streets in town George Bush Parkway and Laura Bush Lane, should the library end up there.

The other applicants are the city of Arlington, Baylor University in Waco, Southern Methodist University in Dallas and the University of Dallas in Irving.

The UT System touts its "incomparable educational resources, the unparalleled experience and the clear vision." The head of a West Texas coalition says it has an "absolutely world-class proposal."

And the University of Dallas calls its home in Irving "the most internationally oriented and diverse destination" of the bunch.

The president and Mrs. Bush will have the final say on the library, but they'll consult a committee led by Donald Evans, the former commerce secretary and Mr. Bush's longtime friend, and Mr. Bush's youngest brother, businessman Marvin Bush. The library is expected to cost $200 million to $300 million, financed with private donations.

The UT System has been one of the most forthcoming of the group. On Wednesday, it released its 74-page proposal, which takes advantage of its reach across Texas and offers three possible sites: the UT-Dallas campus in Richardson; an area near the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas; and a site on the banks of Town Lake in Austin.

Any of the UT sites would include an interactive children's museum and digital archives. Plus, a high-security conference center would be built at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The full-color proposal also features a picture of first daughter Jenna Bush, who graduated from UT-Austin, flashing a "Hook 'em Horns" sign.

Mr. Miller said the West Texas proposal would be hand-delivered to Washington, but he wouldn't say by whom. He also refused to say how many pages the proposal contains.

"We're going to keep that under wraps, if you don't mind. We're not saying if it's short or long or in between," he said.

Like other library hopefuls, Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck is tight-lipped about what he's sending to Washington. He said he understands Texas Tech's decision to withhold even the size of the presentation.

"Any time you get into competitive situations, you're going to try to keep everything secret," he said. "I don't blame them for that. I probably wouldn't tell you if I knew the size."

Dr. Cluck said the Arlington library committee has chosen several possible locations across the city. He wouldn't specify where, but speculation has focused on the UT-Arlington campus and the entertainment district where the Texas Rangers play and the Dallas Cowboys are building a stadium.

At the University of Dallas, senior vice president Bob Galecke noted that its location near Texas Stadium is close to main roads.

Baylor University wants to put the library on a 100-acre site along the Brazos River, across from the main campus. Officials there declined to release their proposal before the Bushes have read it.

Texas A&M is offering three possible sites on its College Station campus, all near the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library. University leaders say they'd love to have the unprecedented arrangement of having father-and-son libraries.

"I know that the committee is going to have some hard decisions ahead of it because I imagine all proposals will be impressive," said John White, chairman of the Texas A&M System board of regents.

"But I trust ours will be the most impressive."

Staff writers Jeff Mosier and Katherine Leal Unmuth contributed to this report.
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WHERE THE SUITORS STAND

Here's a look at the pluses and minuses of each applicant vying to host the George W. Bush Presidential Library:

SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY

Plus: Laura Bush is an alum and trustee. So is Ray Hunt, the Dallas oilman and a big Bush fundraiser. Also , the Bushes are Methodist.

Minus: The campus is fairly landlocked, and traffic is already bad enough on Mockingbird Lane.

TEXAS A&M

Plus: It already has the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library.

Minus: It already has the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library.

BAYLOR

Plus: Conveniently located near the Bush family ranch in Crawford and between Dallas and Austin.

Minus: The Bushes aren't Baptist. It's still an hour and a half up or down Interstate 35, with not much in between.

ARLINGTON

Plus: The city is the biggest tourist destination in Texas after the Alamo in San Antonio. Bush once owned the Rangers.

Minus: With Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor, the Rangers and soon the Cowboys, doesn't Arlington have enough already?

UT SYSTEM

Plus: Don Evans, the former U.S. secretary of commerce, is a former chairman of the UT Board of Regents and a UT-Austin graduate. Oh yeah, and he's on the library selection committee.

Minus: The system is based in Austin, that bastion of Texas liberalism. (Travis County voted against Bush in the past election.) And would Bush want his library in the same town as that of Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson?

UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS

Plus: The Catholic campus is in Irving near Texas Stadium, and supporters say the location would bring economic development to the area.

Minus: The Cowboys haven't exactly fostered economic development around the stadium – and now they're packing up and leaving. Also, the Bushes aren't Catholic.

WEST TEXAS

(Texas Tech, Midland College)

Plus: The Bushes grew up in Midland. Mr. Bush moved back after college to start his energy business. Longtime Bush friends Mike and Nancy Weiss live in Lubbock.

Minus: Lubbock. Buddy Holly's from there, but he's dead. It's home to Texas Tech, tumbleweeds and not much else.

[TexasStooge]

Verdict for city in drug scandal

Jury says Dallas didn't violate rights of man arrested in 2001

By TIM WYATT / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - A federal jury decided Wednesday that the city of Dallas did not violate the civil rights of a 28-year-old Mexican immigrant falsely accused four years ago of selling cocaine in the fake-drug scandal.

After more than five hours of deliberations, the seven-member panel concluded that Victor Alvarado DeLeon may have been arrested on trumped-up drug charges, but that the city should not be held accountable for the actions of a rogue cop and his band of corrupt informants.

Mr. DeLeon, who sued the city for his April 2001 arrest by former Detective Mark Delapaz, is the first victim of the scandal who, after filing a lawsuit, has not won a jury verdict or cash settlement.

Assistant City Attorney Jason Schuette said the jury's verdict reflected the evidence presented during two days of testimony. "Obviously, we're very pleased with the verdict," Mr. Schuette said.

Mr. DeLeon left the courthouse at least an hour before the verdict early Wednesday afternoon and was unavailable for comment. His attorney, Nadine King-Mays, said that rulings in the case by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade had made it virtually impossible to tell the jury all about her client's ordeal.

In a pretrial hearing this spring, Judge Kinkeade ruled that Mr. DeLeon could only testify or provide evidence about his April 19, 2001, arrest by Mr. Delapaz, who was then a senior corporal, and the ensuing two days he spent in jail before he was handed over to immigration officials.

Judge Kinkeade also ruled that Mr. DeLeon had to prove that the City Council knew that he had been falsely accused and arrested eight months before the scandal became public.

"Those rulings made our claim seem ridiculous, frivolous and piecemeal," Ms. King-Mays said. "The jury couldn't rule properly if they didn't have the whole truth."

What jurors didn't hear included:

•Mr. DeLeon spent weeks in the custody of local police or immigration authorities before being expelled to Mexico. He returned to Dallas in June 2001 to be with his pregnant wife and two children.

•In late June, he was arrested again on the same drug charge and spent the rest of the summer in jail, awaiting trial.

•After his second arrest, he said he injured his back while working in the jail kitchen, an ear infection went untreated, and he endured repeated sexual advances and abuse by inmates and jailers.

Earlier this year, city attorneys settled the bulk of federal lawsuits filed by victims of the scandal, all of whom were arrested after Mr. DeLeon. Only one other case has gone before a jury. In May, a federal jury awarded $406,500 and attorneys fees to Abel Santos, who was falsely arrested and jailed for nearly four months.

Including Mr. Santos' jury award, the city has paid out more than $8 million to at least 23 people arrested in the 2001 scheme by crooked police informants to set up innocent people.

Mr. DeLeon still has a pending lawsuit against Mr. Delapaz, asking for damages.

[TexasStooge]

Man leaves contest, commits suicide

LONGVIEW, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - A participant in an East Texas contest popularized in a 1998 documentary film left the event early Thursday, broke into a nearby store, retrieved a shotgun and killed himself, police said.

Richard Vega, 24, of Tyler left the "Hands on a Hardbody" contest at Patterson Nissan around 6 a.m., about the time that a break was called, said police Sgt. Carlos Samples. The rules of the contest require participants to lay one hand flat on a truck at all times. The contestant who holds out longest drives the truck home.

Vega crossed the street to a Kmart, broke the glass in the front door, climbed through, then went to the sporting goods department and took a 12-gauge shotgun, police said. Officers called to the scene were coming in the front of the store as Vega approached from the back.

"He took a few steps back and actually fired the gun at himself and killed himself," Samples said.

The officer said police don't know why Vega committed suicide. Samples said he was unaware of any prior dispute or altercation at the contest, which did not immediately continue Thursday.

Filmmaker S. R. Bindler shot a documentary of the competition in 1995. "Hands on a Hardbody," the movie, traces the humor and heartbreak of the days-long event.


Image provided by Google Earth.

[TexasStooge]

1 dead in Texas train collision

SHEPHERD, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - Two Union Pacific trains collided and derailed early Thursday, killing one employee and leaking fuel, a company spokesman said.

Hundreds of area residents who live within a 1 1/2 mile radius of the accident were evacuated to two local schools before dawn as a precaution, according to San Jacinto County officials. They were allowed to return home at around 7 a.m.

One Union Pacific train with two locomotives and 10 rail cars struck another train with two locomotives and three rail cars at 12:15 a.m. Thursday, about 60 miles northeast of Houston, said Mark Davis, spokesman for Union Pacific.

The first train was traveling on a straight track from Pine Bluff, Ark., to Houston when its locomotive struck the second train.

The second train was stopped on the north end of a side track, but its locomotive was on the straight track. The first train had the right of way, Davis said.

Diesel fuel was leaking from the locomotives, he said. A Haz Mat team was on the scene as a precaution.

The employee who died was on the second train. The worker's name was not immediately released.

The second train services businesses in the Houston area. Union Pacific owns the tracks.

Loop 424 and Highway 150 was closed, but U.S. through Shepherd remained open.

National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Railroad Administration and Union Pacific investigators were en route to the scene.


Image provided by Google Earth.

[TexasStooge]

Men accused of robbery, babysitter's rape

By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Police are searching for men who they said robbed and ransacked an apartment, and then raped a teenage babysitter in Southeast Dallas.

The incident happened early Thursday morning at the Canterbury Crossing Apartments on the 10500 block of Lake June Road. Police said the suspects busted into an apartment on a 15-year-old girl who was babysitting a 7-year-old boy. The men then had the boy watch a video while they raped the young girl and robbed the apartment, police said.

Another woman, who didn't want to use her name, said when she arrived at her apartment in the early morning, a robber was waiting for her inside.

"I turned around real slow and I saw a guy on the other side in the corner," she said.

She said the man was crouching down and then bolted up and pointed a gun at her and a friend.

"I shot off and he shot at me...," she said.

The women escaped, but not without some scrapes and bruises. Police said at least four men may have been inside the apartment for several hours.
However, it was the rape of the teenage girl they said worried them the most.

"They ducked taped her face, the whole face, her arms and her legs," the woman said. The suspects also knocked over furniture and pulled out drawers. However, they took very little and even left behind high priced items including the television.

"I don't know what motivated them," the woman said. "I just don't know."

But, police said they hope they can get some answers from a suspect who was caught running from the scene. Archie Roberts, 22, had a gun and some of the items on him that were possibly taken from the apartment.

The teenage girl is at the hospital being treated for her injuries.

[TexasStooge]

Dozens lost homes after Carrollton fire

BY BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8

CARROLTON, Texas - Nearly three dozen people lost their homes today when a fire ripped through the Azalea Park Apartments on the 2500 block of Guerrero.

The flames and smoke ripped through 16 units and burned eight of them extensively. The fire started in a ground unit next to Loretta Villareal's apartment.

Villareal said she smelled smoke and called 911 even though she wasn't sure where the smoke came from until she walked outside.

"I turned around and looked in the neighbor's window, and there were flames in the window," she said.

The fire quickly turned to three alarms. Firefighters dealt not only with smoke and flames, but heat and humidity as well.

Two of the firefighters overheated as they tried to knock down the fast moving fire.

"It already extended up into the second floor, and shortly thereafter it actually broke out the end of the building," said Gary Nesbitt, Carrollton Fire Department assistant chief. "So, obviously it had a headway into the attic."

Tenants in the heavily burned units lost nearly everything. An American Red Cross disaster team arrived with clothes, bedding and groceries to help the 17 children and 14 adults displaced.

"The cell phone, that's all I have," said one resident.

But, when 14-year-old Denzel Brown got home from school and saw what happened to his family's apartment, his first thought wasn't about material possessions.

"[I wondered] was my dog ok?" he said was his initial fear.

A friend found Stacy, his pit bull, and led her to safety. Brown said she was okay, except for a burnt tail.

While the fire damaged made many of the apartments unlivable, no one was hurt in this fire and there are vacant units at the apartment complex for tenants who need them.

Investigators said they may not know what started the fire until tomorrow.

[TexasStooge]

A new buzz at high schools

A spoonful of sugar might help the literature go down, but caffeine stirs criticism

By KIM BREEN / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING, Texas - Sometimes it takes more than paper and pencil to get through sixth-period U.S. History.

"If I don't have coffee, I'm asleep," said Fredia Willis, a junior at Nimitz High School in Irving.

Luckily she doesn't have far to go. She gets her daily morning fix at the Java Jungle, a modest hideaway sprinkled with philodendron in the school library.

Some campuses in the Irving, Allen, Plano and Richardson school districts are stealing pages from the likes of Barnes & Noble and Starbucks, creating cozy settings that supply hot cups of joe and a nice place to relax.

Many adults can't get through the day without a cup of coffee, and their kids are no different. Now schools, eager to latch on to the teenage enthusiasm, have added coffee bars to their libraries and elsewhere to draw them in.

At Nimitz, students serve coffee, tea, hot chocolate and cappuccino to their classmates each morning.

"We're never going to be Starbucks, but this is as close as we're going to get at this level," said sophomore Jonathan Lewis after a recent morning rush.

High school coffee bars are gaining popularity throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area, despite some concerns about kids' growing affinity for caffeine.

State and national librarian conferences have helped spread the concept, said J. Linda Williams, president of the American Association of School Librarians.

"The new generation puts leisure above the work ethic," she said. Soft lighting, comfortable chairs and coffee might get students to spend more time doing research in libraries rather than alone on the Internet, she said.

"You have to be flexible to accommodate them."

Jack Gilliland, librarian at Lake Highlands High School in the Richardson school district, started up the weekly Wildcat Coffee Bar this year.

"It's a great way to get kids to come in," he said, and to ditch misconceptions about libraries with "the mean librarian who tells people to shut up."

While some schools are leery about mixing computers and sticky caffeinated beverages, Mr. Gilliland said it's already been a success.

"It's amazing how adult they act when they're drinking an adult beverage."

He said he figures he's not introducing anything new to kids. They already consuming caffeine in soda.

But not everyone's crazy about coffee in schools.

"Kids don't need to be hyped up on coffee and caffeine," said Lona Sandon, a registered dietitian and an assistant professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Coffee provides no nutritional value, and adding cream and sugar makes it even worse, she said.

"I think we're sending the wrong message here," she said. Kids should get enough rest and eat well enough so they don't feel like they need to rely on a drug like caffeine, she said.

"Whether it's Coke or coffee, if you ask me, they shouldn't be drinking any of it."

In some states, coffee has fallen out of favor due to campus restrictions on soda, drinks and other foods with no nutritional value. Such is the case in Maryland, where Ms. Williams serves as director of library media services for a county school system.

Food rules in Texas are less restrictive in high schools than other grades, and they don't ban coffee bars.

Mary Patrick, a co-owner of Directors Coffee Service in Garland, which sells coffee and supplies to Irving and Mesquite high schools, said the coffee that students are drinking on campus is a far cry from the double shot of espresso they can buy in coffee shops.

The "cappuccino" isn't true caffeine-laden cappuccino, she said. "It's kind of like an enhanced hot chocolate."

Mixing coffee and books started in bookstores and quickly spilled over into public and university libraries. Camila Alire, president of the Association of College and Research Libraries and dean of university libraries at the University of New Mexico, said serving coffee not only keeps patrons comfortable but also raises money. However, most area high schools' coffee bars are nonprofit ventures that just pay for themselves.

Allen High School serves up baked goods, sandwiches, coffee and other beverages all day long in a pastry shop next to the school cafeteria. Like the library cafes, the intent is to give kids a comfortable place with an atmosphere they're accustomed to away from school.

"We actually purchased those real tall tables and chairs like you see at Starbucks," said Dorothy Thompson, director of student nutrition for the Allen district.

For food service directors, giving students what they see in the real world is nothing new. Everything is designed to reflect what students relate to, Ms. Thompson said. "I try to make my chicken look like Chick-fil-A."

A group of Plano West Senior High students sip coffee during their monthly book club meetings. However, bringing drinks and food into the library is against Plano West's policy, so a coffee bar is out. The book club meets in a designated room where members are free to eat and drink.

"For a lot of people, when you sit down with a book, you're sitting there with a glass of wine, hot chocolate – it's just a part of the process," said librarian Candace Neal.Students buying coffee at Nimitz High said that if the school didn't serve coffee, they'd find their morning pick-me-up elsewhere.

Fredia said that before she could buy coffee at school, she made her own at home.

"I would drink coffee [even] if it stunts my growth," she said with a laugh.

[TexasStooge]

UTD vows to improve dorm life

Richardson: Report details complaints, says focus was on revenue

By KRISTINE HUGHES / The Dallas Morning News

RICHARDSON, Texas - A focus on maximizing revenue and not customer service is behind chronic maintenance and safety problems in student housing at the University of Texas at Dallas, according to an advisory commission report.

The commission concluded that UTD and the Waterview Park apartment management team must put residents' welfare first and improve standards for the 3,000 students living in the complex.University and management company officials say they accept the recommendations in the recently released 16-page report and will ensure they are completed.

"I want every aspect of UTD to be first class, and this report says to us all that we have additional steps to take to make residential housing truly first class," President David Daniel said. "I'm bound and determined to take those steps."

The advisory commission was formed last summer after a story criticizing the student housing was written by a Southern Methodist University journalism class and published in the Dallas Observer.

Titled "The Dorm from Hell," the story outlined such varied student complaints as broken plumbing and undisclosed sexual assaults. The story highlighted the case of Rajamani Prathap, 23, who was later convicted of aggravated sexual assault in August for using chloroform to rape a female study partner. The Waterview resident was sentenced to 120 days in prison and was required to register as a sex offender.

Campus police investigated two sexual assaults at the complex in 2002, four in 2003 and four in 2004. Other crimes reported ­ including robbery, assault, burglary and auto theft ­ totaled four in 2002, five in 2003 and 12 in 2004.

While the commission report indicates safety at UTD also suffered from limited resources, the panel declared that the housing is generally "safer than the larger community." Overall, the report was much more critical of the apartments' poor customer service and lack of maintenance standards.

The report cited pest control treatments that were few and far between and numerous cases of students having to repeatedly report maintenance problems and then choose which of several problems to address.

"This position has resulted in delayed maintenance, poor customer relations and a sense of mistrust among students, the university and the property managers," the report states.

The No. 1 recommendation of the commission, comprised of faculty, staff, students and community members, is the creation of a residential housing office to advise the president on all housing matters.

Dr. Daniel, who assumed the UTD presidency June 1, said the director of the new office would report to the vice president of student affairs instead of the vice president of business services.

"We want to make sure the emphasis is on services and not on finances," he said.

He added that the office will immediately contract for an independent maintenance audit of all 1,238 units and then ensure that repairs and a preventative maintenance plan are completed.

Other commission recommendations, many of which were listed in an interim report released in July, include the creation of a sexual assault prevention and response program, improved lighting and landscaping, and the installation of call boxes.

The final report states that while the resident population has increased more than 30 percent since 1999, the police department has added only one officer in that time. In addition, it indicates that officers are preoccupied with things like locking and unlocking some 200 doors every night and escorting students home on foot after hours.

The report recommends hiring seven more officers and making an investment in automatic door locks and an alternative escort program, such as student patrols who could use electric carts.

Dr. Daniel said he also wants to create a "police presence" at the complex by staffing a security office there.

The university and the Utley Family Foundation own Waterview Park, which is on school property. UTD and the foundation contract with University Partners, a division of FirstWorthing Corp., for the property management.

FirstWorthing spokeswoman Kim Hardcastle said the report was critical but fair.Ms. Hardcastle said the company, based in Dallas, plans to go beyond the report's recommendations. For instance, she said it has already implemented a 48-hour response time for maintenance complaints.

Stephen Larson, a 21-year-old student from Garland, has already noticed a difference.

"Last year it was just horrible," he said, listing complaints from water damage and mold to a broken clothes dryer. "The dishwasher was broken here and they came out in a couple of days."UTD officials don't have an estimate for the cost of meeting the report's recommendations. Dr. Daniel said it will take a few months to hire a housing director and improvements should be completed by the start of the next school year.

[TexasStooge]

Dozens lose homes (Updated)

BY BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8

CARROLTON, Texas - Nearly three dozen people lost their homes Thursday afternoon after a fire ripped through the Azalea Park Apartments on the 2500 block of Guerrero.

The flames and smoke ripped through 16 units and burned eight of them extensively. The fire started in a ground unit next to Loretta Villareal's apartment.

Villareal said she smelled smoke and called 911, even though she wasn't sure where the smoke came from until she walked outside.

"I turned around and looked in the neighbor's window, and there were flames in the window," she said.

The fire quickly turned to three-alarms. Firefighters dealt not only with smoke and flames, but heat and humidity as well.

Two of the firefighters overheated as they tried to knock down the fast moving fire.

"It already extended up into the second floor, and shortly thereafter it actually broke out the end of the building," said Gary Nesbitt, Carrollton Fire Department assistant chief. "So, obviously it had a headway into the attic."

Tenants in the heavily burned units lost nearly everything. An American Red Cross disaster team arrived with clothes, bedding and groceries to help the 17 children and 14 adults displaced.

"The cell phone, that's all I have," Villareal said.

But, when 14-year-old Denzel Brown got home from school and saw what happened to his family's apartment, his first thought wasn't about material possessions.

"[I wondered] was my dog ok?" he said.

A friend found Stacy, his pit bull, and led her to safety. Brown said she was okay, except for a burnt tail.

While the fire damage made many of the apartments unlivable, no one was hurt in the fire. And for those who lost their homes, vacant units at the apartment complex were available for tenants who needed them.

Investigators said they may not know what started the fire until tomorrow.

[TexasStooge]

White Rock high-rise plan unpopular

By CHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA ABC 8

GARLAND, Texas - White Rock Lake is one of the most popular parks in the North Texas.

However, some of its neighbors are now sounding the alarm over a plan to build a residential high-rise nearby.

The tower, called the Emerald, would go on Emerald Isle Drive just east of Garland Road, close to Winfrey Point on the south end of the lake.

For those who consider the lake and its surrounding park an oasis in the middle of a big city - a place to bike, boat and enjoy nature - the a plan for a 25-story condominium tower on the park's eastern edge has many residents nervous.

"It's going to be the only thing that you can see," neighbor Brad Rogers said.

The Emerald would replace an existing two-acre medical complex between Garland Road and the park.

Mark Miller with Emerald Isle Partners would not comment to News 8 on the plan, but he has told neighborhood groups the building would hold about 200 condominiums, priced from the upper $300,000 range to $1.5 million. The project's total cost is estimated at $80 million.

The tower would be about as high as the Warrington in Turtle Creek; it would hover over the Emerald Isle neighborhood a block away, but would also be easily seen from most of the park.

"This 25-story building is so out of place and so out of character, it's going to dominate the entire area," Rogers said.

But supporters say it could resemble Central Park or Turtle Creek, and it could boost business along the struggling Garland Road.

The area's plan commissioner Bill Cunningham hasn't taken a stand, but said high-rises in more of Dallas are inevitable as traffic and fuel costs drive people back into the city.

"Where you going to put people? You have to go up," Cunningham said.

But neighbors say "not here."

"White Rock Lake is a refuge from city life," Rogers said. "If we lose that, we lose our natural beauty ... and I don't want to lose that."