News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Health officials warn about nail salon dangers

By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8

UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas — Pedicures are meant to be a relaxing treat. But some women who said they got pedicures at Beverly Hills Nails on Lovers Lane in University Park said after the pampering, they got pain.

Just days after Patricia Hall got a pedicure last month, something strange appeared along her shin bone.

"When I noticed the bumps, they started getting bigger," Hall said. "All of sudden, my legs started hurting."

Hall is among several women who confirmed to News 8 that after they got pedicures in whirlpool foot spas at Beverly Hills Nails, skin infections broke out on their legs.

Dallas County Health and Human Services confirmed there is a complaint against the salon.

Beverly Hills Nails manager Victoria Tran said state regulators came in and took water samples for tests that are not yet back. "But we're not 100 percent sure that it's from unsanitary of the whirlpool, or if it's caused by something that they have done or happened before," Tran said.

An aggressive bacteria can grow quickly in water if a whirlpool foot spa is not cleaned frequently.

The bug enters the skin through shaving cuts or abrasions. The infection leads to painful lesions that can last for months and leave scars.

Doctors call the drug resistant staph bacteria MRSA—methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus.

"It can be really bad," said Dr. John Carlo, chief epidemiologist for Dallas County. "In fact, last year we had two deaths in the community of healthy people that have died from MRSA. It's a very serious situation."

Beverly Hills Nails said the business follows state regulations requiring the foot spas be cleaned with fungicide after each customer, and then a thorough cleaning with bleach and brushes at the end of every day. News 8 was shown state-required logs of cleanings that were performed.

Hall's leg healed with strong antibiotics; now she feels strongly about the whirlpool foot spa. "I won't do that again," Hall said.

Following a News 8 investigation in 2004, Dallas County persuaded the legislature to toughen sanitary regulations for whirlpool foot spas.

But county health officials said they are still investigating new cases of infections despite the stricter rules.

[TexasStooge]

Miller: I'd lobby for casino

She opposes Reunion land swap, says site is ideal for gambling

By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Mayor Laura Miller says she supports and is willing to lobby the Legislature for expansion of gambling so that Dallas can one day build a casino where Reunion Arena stands.

"It'd be terrific. It'd be a great shot in the arm for our city," Ms. Miller said of a casino, acknowledging that many of her Dallas City Council colleagues may disagree.

Her comments come as city staff members continue negotiating a three-way land swap deal that could lead to Reunion Arena's transfer to and demolition by billionaire oilman Ray Hunt's Woodbine Development Corp., which has said it would never use the facility or land for gambling.

Ms. Miller opposes the deal.

Woodbine, in turn, would give Dallas part of a little-used parking lot – known as Lot E – that the company owns near the struggling Dallas Convention Center.

After combining Lot E with land the city already owns, city officials then plan to sell the property to Dallas City Limits, a private group that wants to create a massive entertainment complex there.


A Dallas City Limits representative says the mayor's stance may be moot.

"We know we have the majority support of the council," spokesman Bryan Eppstein said of the three-way land swap. The mayor's proposal, he added, "doesn't seem realistic."

Ms. Miller argues that Dallas could generate more revenue with a high-end casino development than the Dallas City Limits project. Dallas City Limits is seeking financial incentives to build its complex, the mayor said, adding that it doesn't need them.

"I don't want to have done a deal where we're not making money – we're spending money," Ms. Miller said. "I want a good deal for the taxpayers. It'll make us look silly if we do this and casino gambling passes."

The Texas Legislature will probably conduct a special session within three months, although there is no indication that gambling issues will be considered.

Possible terms

A City Hall official who has reviewed a draft of the land swap financial term sheet says it calls for Dallas to sell its land to Dallas City Limits for $30 million while agreeing to create a tax increment finance district that could generate $20 million in infrastructure improvements for the proposed entertainment complex.

But the document does include provisions for future gambling. The term sheet stipulates that if the Legislature ever approves casino gambling and Dallas City Limits opens a gambling operation, Dallas' revenue share would be capped at $5 million annually, the official said.

"I'm not going to comment on a term sheet that has changed, is changing and will change," Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans said.

While a document outlining possible financial terms exists and is being reviewed by the Dallas city attorney's office, the city has not yet presented Dallas City Limits with it, he added.

"We have two goals with this: improve the financial viability of the convention center, and to get a convention center hotel," Mr. Evans said. "We're open to any path to get there."

Woodbine representatives could not be reached for comment Friday.

Ms. Miller says she doesn't understand why the city staff is rushing to complete a deal with Dallas City Limits.

"For us to do a land swap, then lease or sell out land to a project that may not be a best use – it's premature," the mayor said.

But she acknowledged that if a vote on the Dallas City Limits complex were held today, "I think it would pass. That's a mistake."

Mr. Evans, the city's top economic development official, said he expects to brief the council on the negotiations within several weeks. The developer won't wait forever, he said.

Dallas has the opportunity to create hundreds of jobs and generate millions of dollars downtown, which makes the mayor's support of a Reunion Arena casino alternative, when casino gambling isn't even legal, rather curious, Mr. Eppstein said.

"Our project – it's real. It's happening. It's ready to begin right now," Mr. Eppstein said. The mayor's outlook "is a disjointed view of reality."

Ms. Miller said she expects to discuss the land swap negotiations with the council in a private "executive session" meeting a week from Wednesday.

Council positions

Council members interviewed Friday expressed support for the Dallas City Limits project, although their support for legalized casino gambling varied.

Council member Ed Oakley, chairman of the body's Trinity River Corridor committee, said he could envision Dallas City Limits building its project in addition to the city allowing a casino to be constructed inside of a proposed Dallas Convention Center hotel, but not at Reunion Arena.

"You go out to Las Vegas, and almost every casino is affiliated with a hotel," Mr. Oakley said. "At Reunion, there's no connectivity to where the convention center hotel is going to be built. Why not make your convention center hotel into a gaming entity?"

Council member Angela Hunt, whose District 14 includes much of downtown, said potential social problems provide a reason to oppose casino gambling.

"It creates a culture of addiction. It creates a downward spiral for gamblers," said Ms. Hunt, who added that she would not support any development that called for video gambling terminals. "We as a community would pay for it in terms of social welfare. Dallas should not be in the gambling business – it's a seedy, unattractive reputation for our city to have."

Council member Pauline Medrano, whose District 2 includes the proposed Dallas City Limits development, says she very much likes the group's idea but would consider Ms. Miller's proposal as well.

"It merits discussion," Ms. Medrano said. "We have to ask: Where are we going to get the most for our dollars? When you see how many buses leave the metroplex for Oklahoma or Louisiana to gamble, you think, 'That's potential revenue leaving.' "

Leaders of the Central Dallas Association, which represents the interests of downtown businesses, say they have not taken a position on a downtown casino.

Revenue sharing

According to a draft proposal presented to the council last year, the city and Dallas City Limits would enter into a revenue-sharing agreement upon the signing of a deal. Billy Bob Barnett, who created such entertainment venues as Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth, is the group's principal.

The council, by majority vote, must approve any deal that city staff members negotiate.

Meanwhile, jockeying for political influence as the negotiations proceed is also well under way, stretching back to last year.

Dallas gaming mogul Jack Pratt Sr. in March donated $5,000 to the "Stronger Mayor, Stronger Dallas" political action committee, which Ms. Miller supported as she fought to grant the city's mayoral position more power. Big City Capital, run by Mr. Barnett, donated $25,000 to Stronger Mayor, Stronger Dallas in May.

Ms. Miller says the contributions have had no influence on her opinions and that lobbyists have regularly contacted council members regarding the land swap.

Staff writer Emily Ramshaw contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Haves, have-nots split housing market

Smaller mortgages falling to foreclosures as high-end sales climb

By BRENDAN M. CASE, STEVE BROWN and IEVA M. AUGSTUMS / The Dallas Morning News

In a healthy local housing market, a sign of trouble has appeared: More people are losing their homes to foreclosure than at any time since the Texas real estate bust of the 1980s.

The causes run from bad luck to bad financial decisions: job loss, divorce, a health crisis, skyrocketing energy bills, out-of-control credit card debt, or a mortgage payment that turned out to be unaffordable.

But there also seems to be a sharpening contrast between real estate markets at either end of the economic ladder.

As residential foreclosures jumped 30 percent from a year ago in North Texas, the average mortgage on foreclosed houses fell to $129,000, compared with almost $146,000 a year ago.

Meanwhile, home sales set records last year, with a strong 20 percent increase in sales of homes priced over $400,000. But there was a 4 percent decrease in sales of homes priced below $110,000.

"What we're seeing develop in the marketplace is the haves and the have-nots," said Craig Jarrell, who heads up the Dallas operations of Pulaski Mortgage Co.

"Either you've got money and you've got a job and you're buying a new house and you're rocking along," he said. "Or you're underwater and can't buy a new house, and can't afford the one you're in and you're going into foreclosure."

Newer mortgages, too

That's not the whole picture, of course. The foreclosure hammer also recently fell on an Addison home valued at $1.5 million, a North Dallas house valued at nearly $870,000 and a Coppell property worth about $430,000.

But Connie Zetterlund, a Coldwell Banker Residential agent who specializes in foreclosed property sales, says she's noticed increasing signs of trouble at lower-priced properties.

"The price ranges are a little lower than last year," she said. "There are a ton of foreclosures out there right now."

That's not the only trend. Ms. Zetterlund has also noticed more trouble among newer mortgages, the ones acquired after the economic downturn earlier this decade.

"I'm seeing a lot of properties bought in 2004 and already going to foreclosure," she said.

In a fix

Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Dallas has seen an influx of people coming in with housing concerns.

"With the low interest rate, people are biting off more than they can chew," said Gail Cunningham, the company's vice president of business relations. "They've been extended a loan that really eats up a significant part of their income."

Even some mortgage lenders, worried about rising foreclosures, warn would-be homebuyers against borrowing too much.

"People a lot of times are getting themselves way overextended, and they're taking some nontraditional products," said Gary Akright, a mortgage broker in Dallas with Dominion Mortgage Corp.

One reason is the range of newfangled products such as interest-only mortgages and certain kinds of adjustable rate mortgages. Designed to hold down costs in the early years, payments on such loans can rise sharply later.

Proponents of such mortgages say they help homebuyers in places where home values are rising quickly, or people who plan to live in a home for just a few years.

But think hard about future costs before taking out a mortgage, says Bonnie Peterson, the director of education and marketing at Consumer Credit Counseling Service of North Central Texas, which serves Collin County.

Ms. Peterson, who is having a house built in Princeton, recently went through the mortgage application process and found that lenders were eager to provide her with more money than she wanted to borrow.

"I was qualified for more, but I didn't think I could afford it," she said. "I want to have enough money to live the life I want to live."

More than half the potential foreclosure victims Ms. Peterson sees at work are able to save their homes, especially when they seek financial advice early, she says.

"A lot of people don't want to talk to anyone, or they wait too long," she said.

Bankruptcy option

Another option is bankruptcy, even though a new law that took effect last year made bankruptcy proceedings more onerous. Filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy gives debtors up to 60 months to repay some or all of their debts. It stops the foreclosure process and gives debtors a way to make their payments.

"If they want to keep their home, bankruptcy is the way to go," said Richard Venable, a consumer bankruptcy lawyer in Bedford.

The last time home local foreclosures were so high was during the "Oil Patch" recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The good news is that today's foreclosures make up a much smaller percentage of the overall housing market because the residential base in North Texas has more than doubled.

Areawide problem

Another difference: Back then, home defaults were often clustered in specific neighborhoods. These days, they're all over.

George Roddy, whose Foreclosure Listing Service Inc. has tracked North Texas foreclosures for more than 20 years, said, "I remember there were subdivisions in the late 1980s that had huge numbers of foreclosures.

"Today we are not seeing that, and it's so spread out that it doesn't focus on a subdivision or neighborhood," he said.

And while in the '80s most people owed more than what their houses were worth, the latest stats show that foreclosed homeowners have at least some equity.

In the last foreclosure boom, lenders dumped houses and it wasn't uncommon to see property values fall by 30 or 40 percent in a neighborhood, Mr. Roddy said.

Now, some real estate investors are looking at the Dallas-Fort Worth area as a place where bargains can be had for lender sales. So far, however, lenders are seeking top dollar for such homes, even if that means keeping them on the market longer, realtors say.

"We certainly haven't seen the value loss like we had in the 1980s," Mr. Roddy said. "But if the foreclosure numbers hold up like we've seen for February, it could be pretty scary."

[TexasStooge]

Flower Mound hazing case before grand jury

By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News

FLOWER MOUND, Texas - A Denton County grand jury on Thursday will hear the hazing cases against 18 Flower Mound High School wrestlers and the former coach of the team, an assistant district attorney said Friday.

The cases, which include hazing, assault and aggravated sexual assault, will be presented together even though some of those charged are adults and some are juveniles, said First Assistant District Attorney Leann Breading.

Because of the number of defendants and the amount of duplicate evidence, Ms. Breading it was decided to present all of the cases together. Ms. Breading also said that the district attorney's office will not seek to try any of the juveniles as adults.

Flower Mound police charged the students and the coach, Michael Zascavage, in connection with a wrestling team party on Aug. 27 that police said included the punching, whipping and slapping of five freshmen. One of the five freshmen said he was sexually assaulted. Mr. Zascavage, who was charged with hazing, was removed from his coaching position after the incident, but continues to teach at the school.

[TexasStooge]

Teachers turn tables in plagiarism battle

By MIKE JACKSON and KAREN AYRES / The Dallas Morning News

Kathy Witcher knew her student's paper on Huckleberry Finn sounded too mature for an 11th-grader.

"The light was society," the student wrote. "And Huck lived on the lampshade."

The Plano English teacher put her suspicions to the test and searched for the phrase on the Internet. The idea behind the metaphor popped up.

"When they write for us, it's like a fingerprint," said Ms. Witcher, who gave the Plano East Senior High School student a zero. "They don't change from mediocre writers to great writers overnight."

Score one for the teachers in an intensifying war on plagiarism.

Cheating is as old as homework, but educators say plagiarism appears to be more rampant than ever in high schools and at colleges and universities. They blame the Internet. Students among the first generation to grow up online are writing term papers with unlimited resources at their fingertips, rather than combing the shelves at the library.

But these young people, educators say, often don't understand that surfing Web sites and lifting passages for their own assignments is stealing ideas, thoughts and words from others.

"Students use it like an 8-billion-page, cut-and-pasteable encyclopedia," said John Barrie, who created a Web site, Turnitin.com, which exposes plagiarized work.

Educators are employing various tactics to fight the problem. Some schools sign on to the Internet themselves to catch cheaters. Others are writing honor codes packed with clear rules about plagiarism and a menu of penalties.

National student surveys run by the Center for Academic Integrity reveal the trend. In 1999, 10 percent of college students admitted anonymously to plagiarizing sources from the Internet, according to the center, which surveyed 50,000 undergraduates at 60 institutions. Last year, 40 percent admitted doing so.

In a nationwide survey of 18,000 high school students from 61 campuses, 60 percent admitted to some form of plagiarism, according to the center.

"There are more means available to cheat," said Tim Dodd, executive director of the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University's Kenan Institute for Ethics. "But an ethical person, regardless of the variety of means, is not going to use them."

'A little lazier'

High school and college educators say they don't need surveys to prove the point.

"Every year the kids are a little lazier than the kids before," said Diane Hamilton, an English teacher at Martin High School in Arlington. "Is it all the Internet? No, but that's part of it. Within 15 minutes, they get all they need, and their work ethic just isn't that good anymore."

Kimberly Harris, a college music professor, said she sees plagiarized work every year.

"To find plagiarism every semester to me means it's prevalent," said Dr. Harris, a Collin County Community College instructor.

Dr. Harris, who has been teaching for 11 years, reported four cases to the dean's office last year, the most she's ever had in one term. After three students in her online course were challenged, they dropped the class.

"That's what happens a lot of times as soon as the dean's office calls them on it," she said.

The fourth denied cheating, but lost his case in a hearing with administrators, she said. He flunked the course.

"If I give someone an F, is it going to ruin his life? No," Dr. Harris said. "But I want them to know that in life there are consequences."

Some who plagiarize buy papers online, though more students copy and paste information into reports and pass it off as their own.

Some think it's OK

"Many of the students have a philosophy that as long as they're not hurting anyone else, then it's fine, but we have to explain to them that there are rules on that," said Stacey Raymer, who teaches English at Rowlett High School.

Some students believe gathering information online and using it as their own without citing sources is legitimate.

Other students think paraphrasing without a citation is OK, too. But it's not.

"They think if they don't state the same thing exactly the way an author states it, change a few words here and there, that it's not plagiarism," said Barbara Lusk, faculty association president at Collin County Community College.

High school instructors go over the rules with students, but they often go misunderstood.

Michelle Lee, a Frisco High School senior, said she's careful about checking her sources in papers, but she knows many students don't understand the importance.

"When it comes to plagiarism," she said, "it's not black and white."

Pressure to succeed

Some students know full well that they're breaking the rules, educators say.

Students give in to temptations to cheat under pressures to succeed, said Mr. Dodd, of the Center for Academic Integrity. High school students aiming for college are expected to participate in various extracurricular activities while maintaining good grades. College students headed for graduate schools face the same pressures. Scholarships are won and lost based in part on grade-point averages.

"There is extraordinary societal pressure to do well," Mr. Dodd said. "The gentleman's C is not part of the discourse anymore. Everybody has to be an A and B student.

"In many institutions, students are busier than they've ever been," Mr. Dodd said. "They're working, they've got school and extracurricular activities. Most of the time they're in a time crunch."

Some simply can't keep up in the tough courses.

"In high school, I saw people doing stuff to survive," said Bradford Johnson, a junior at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Honor codes

Educators refuse to give up the fight.

High schools and colleges have long had rules against cheating, but now some have written honor codes and convened committees of students and administrators who spread the word about consequences. Some institutions subscribe to Web sites designed to detect copied work, while others employ Internet search engines for the same purpose.

Few high schools severely punish students, teachers say, but getting caught is often enough. Students generally get no credit for the assignment and teachers often refuse to write college recommendation letters. Students can also get kicked out of the National Honor Society.

Punishment at colleges and universities ranges from an "F" on a paper or in a course to suspension or expulsion. Chronic offenders and graduate students face the stiffest penalties.

Top administrators at local colleges and universities say they're not setting out to simply catch and punish cheaters. It's more important, they say, to guide those who aren't sure of the rules and to deter others who might be tempted.

Instructors at Collin County Community College, for instance, made academic integrity their top priority last semester. Administrators enacted an honor code system this school year after pleas from instructors, said Barbara Money, the college's dean of students.The college enlisted the help of Turnitin.com, the Web site and database that scans papers to detect copied work. Several local high schools and universities also subscribe to the California-based Web site that charges 75 cents per student per year.

Southern Methodist University upholds an honor code and last summer added an academic honesty tutorial to the school's freshman and transfer student orientation, said Dee Siscoe, vice president for student affairs.

"We really try to front-load a student when they come on campus," Dr. Siscoe said.

A student caught plagiarizing at SMU could land in front of the Honor Council, a board of students that hears cases involving cheating. The council has handled roughly 12 to 15 cases each semester, said Kathleen Tarbox, an SMU senior and president of the group.

The excuses are often the same.

"A lot of students tell us that in their high school they didn't have to cite their sources," Ms. Tarbox said. "Generally they say they ran out of time and started the paper the night before. They didn't think they would get caught."

Administrators with the University of Texas at Dallas have been running seminars on plagiarism at the beginning of each semester.

"We get students here who get caught and tell us that this is how they've always done it," said Donna Rogers, UTD's dean of students. "This is what they did in high school."

But by college, the stakes are higher, the environment less forgiving, she said.

"They say, 'We will catch you,' " said UTD senior Ben Vaughan. "It's not worth it."

[TexasStooge]

Some refugees lose health benefits

By KAREN M. THOMAS / The Dallas Morning News

ARLINGTON, Texas – Rot Pham squats on the floor of his apartment and opens a small plastic bag filled with prescription bottles. They hold medication to treat his wife's high blood pressure, diabetes and the gangrene that has turned her left big toe black.

All were prescribed for Trang Nguyen in April after she suffered a stroke. Now, several weeks later and home from a 13-day hospital stay, Ms. Nguyen, 74, rests in bed in a tiny back bedroom, her limbs propped up with pillows.

Mr. Pham wants to make sure he gives his wife the right amount of medicine at the right time. But he cannot read the directions on the bottles. They are in English, which the 76-year-old Vietnamese refugee and his wife can't read, speak or write.

The couple's inability to learn English has led them to be among the nation's 45 million uninsured. They are also part of a small but growing group of refugees left without federal assistance when they need help the most.

Under the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, refugees, who arrive here under special immigration rules, have seven years to become citizens or lose eligibility for the federal assistance that most rely on for health care and survival when they arrive in this country. But some of the oldest and sickest are failing to do so.

"We are talking about some of the most vulnerable people on earth. They have come here because they sided with us during war or they were persecuted because of their faith. We promised to help them, and now our government, in this instance, isn't living up to that responsibility," says the Rev. Sophia DeWitt of Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries in California.

Some refugees face processing delays and increased security checks that prevent them from becoming citizens within seven years. Others face a backlog in getting green cards that allow them to become permanent residents and work.

Others are like Mr. Pham and Ms. Nguyen: They are too old to work. Without English, neither can pass the citizenship test. Both have failed to qualify for disability waivers, which would acknowledge that they have medical conditions that prevent them from learning English.

In July 2004, they reached their seven-year limit for benefits and lost their $864 monthly Supplemental Security Income payment and their Medicaid coverage.

"Their income is zero," says Tuan Le, a Fort Worth Catholic Charities caseworker who has taken on their case. "I have hundreds of elderly cases. They cry, they beg, they do everything when they hit the seven-year mark. But I am powerless. It makes me very sad. They need many things."

Small but growing

In 2004, the couple were among 156 people in Texas who had become ineligible for benefits. Nationwide, 4,392 had been cut off, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. And although the numbers are tiny, refugee advocates say they expect them to grow.

The Social Security Administration says that more than 45,000 refugees could lose their benefits by 2011; the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society estimates that about 20,000 of those will actually lose their eligibility.

Congress is considering legislation to extend the cutoff by two years. Refugees' advocates say that while the proposed extension will help, it is still a temporary measure.

"In the long term, we believe there should be a complete fix," says Gideon Aronoff, vice president of government relations and public policy for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, in Washington, D.C.

"Economic survival shouldn't lie on senility, and they shouldn't be sentenced to that kind of poverty," he says.

Those who have lobbied for stiffer immigration policies agree that an extension does little to solve the problem. They say there's a bigger issue.

"If our immigration policy was admitting too many people who use welfare – which it was and still is – the solution isn't to keep them off welfare," says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. "It's to let in fewer people.

"The problem stems from trying to use welfare law to fix problems caused by immigration."

While other states slash Supplemental Security Income, , some use state money to allow refugees to keep Medicaid. Texas, which has a significant number of refugees, does not.

"I recently saw a Bosnian couple," Mr. Le says. "They have taken ESL [English as a second language] classes for four years, two times a week for two hours a day. After four years, they remember very few words. They can say 'thank you,' and 'goodbye.' That's it. They are elderly, too. Their SSI and Medicaid will be cut in 2007."

Left with nothing

The story of Mr. Pham and Ms. Nguyen is familiar for many Vietnamese refugees. Mr. Pham has the equivalent of a seventh-grade education. Ms. Nguyen never attended school. Mr. Le says it is unlikely she can read or write her native Vietnamese, making it nearly impossible for her to learn to do so with English.

They married in 1963, a second marriage for Ms. Nguyen, whose first husband died. Mr. Pham, a former soldier, says he spent time in a communist jail. After less than two years, he was released and worked as a farmer.

Ms. Nguyen once owned a small stall where she sold items such as instant noodles, coffee and soda. She also cared for the baby daughter of an American soldier and a Vietnamese woman. One day, the girl's mother disappeared, and Ms. Nguyen and Mr. Pham raised the child as their own without formally adopting her.

When the Amerasian girl won approval to come to America, the couple came with her. They sold all their worldly goods to make the journey in 1997.

"We have no house, no property, no nothing," Mr. Pham says through an interpreter. "We sell everything to have the money to come here."

When they arrived, the extended family settled in Arlington, the parents living in public housing and their daughter, who is married and the mother of four children, nearby. In the years since, though, their relationship with their daughter has collapsed.

The couple cobbled together a life in their new community, where many Vietnamese live. They made friends. They hung huge frames filled with family pictures on a wall of their apartment. They created an ancestors altar to honor their Buddhist religion. And they tried hard to become Americans.

Mr. Pham studied English through Catholic Charities. On the day of class, he says, he could remember some English words. The day after, he says, he could not. He shrugs and then smiles. Not understanding that his benefits might eventually be at risk, Mr. Pham stopped trying.

Meanwhile, Ms. Nguyen began to feel sick. Two months after arriving here, her knees ached. She had trouble walking. A doctor soon diagnosed diabetes. He sent her to physical therapy and prescribed several medications.

With Medicaid, they didn't worry about affording doctors or the medicine that they needed. They paid rent on their apartment and saved enough to buy a run-down, rusted-out car. They scraped together insurance money and enough gas to go to the doctor and the grocery store.

In July 2004, though, the Supplemental Security Income check stopped coming. They received a letter saying they were no longer eligible for Medicaid. The couple didn't understand.

Without the federal benefits, Ms. Nguyen tried to take care of herself. She began to skip taking insulin and other medication because she couldn't afford it. She didn't know how to apply for programs that might have helped her get the medicine for free. She didn't know whom to ask for help. She exercised by walking in circles in the apartment.

Finding help

When Mr. Pham received Supplemental Security Income, he gave money to friends who struggled. Now the couple's friends do the same for him. The man upstairs knocks on the door. A woman who lives next door peeps in, the front door propped open to cut down on electricity use and allow the whirling fan to better circulate air. They slip Mr. Pham $10 for gas or $5 for the electric bill, $20 to keep the phone connected.

"It's very common," says Ms. DeWitt of the Fresno ministry. "In Southeast Asian communities, people like to live close together and develop their own new communities here in the United States. That practice of helping your neighbor through the hard and difficult times is just the way things operated back in the villages of Vietnam."

Mr. Pham and Ms. Nguyen will not talk about their daughter, who could not be reached for this article. Something has happened that they cannot yet put into words. When asked, Ms. Nguyen sits in a chair in the front room. Behind her is the wall filled with family photos. She shakes her head and cries. Mr. Pham watches, making soft clucking noises to soothe her.

For months, the couple limped along. Then, on the morning of April 26, Ms. Nguyen couldn't move her left arm. She had trouble speaking. Mr. Pham drove her to a public clinic in Arlington. A doctor examined her and sent her by ambulance to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, where doctors discovered she'd had a stroke.

Mr. Pham struggled to figure out when to give his wife her medicine. Mr. Le of Catholic Charities, who stopped by, translated.

"This one, you take one pill at night," he told Mr. Pham. Mr. Pham made a notation on the bottle with a pen.

"If something else happens, it won't be a surprise," Mr. Le said about Ms. Nguyen's health.

It didn't take long. On May 15, Mr. Pham just had a feeling. Early in the morning, he checked on his wife. He couldn't wake her. He dialed 911. His wife was taken to nearby Arlington Medical Center. She spent several days in the hospital and was discharged. Mr. Pham doesn't know what was wrong with her.

What he does understand is that he received a bill for more than $10,000 for her medical treatment – a bill he cannot pay. And he could not fill the costly prescriptions that doctors ordered for his wife because she was treated at a private hospital and not a public facility.

Most states offer aid for refugees. But in Texas, advocates say, you have to know where to look. For Mr. Pham and Ms. Nguyen, Mr. Le has been the bridge to that aid.

He calls the couple lucky. At the Arlington office of the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, an employee struck a deal with public housing to allow Mr. Pham and Ms. Nguyen to live there rent-free after Mr. Le contacted them. The couple maintained their eligibility for food stamps. The same employee was able to secure a home health aide several hours each day for the couple through a community assistance grant. The aide helps bathe Ms. Nguyen, clean the house and do the laundry.

Public clinic

Mr. Le took the couple to a John Peter Smith Hospital public clinic in Arlington and signed them up for medical services. They are supposed to pay $20 for each visit and up to $20 for prescriptions, far less than private health care costs. Even with that, though, they are unable to pay for their care.

"I just tell them to go there and say you don't have the money and to send the bill. Then we find some way for it to be paid," Mr. Le says.

Meanwhile, Mr. Le began helping them apply for disability waivers so that they could become citizens.

There are no national statistics on how often medical waivers are granted. Anecdotally, experts who work with refugees say that such waivers are difficult to get.

"Our Houston program told me that they have applied for something like 15 waivers each year and they only had two waivers approved in the last two years," says Laura Burdick of Catholic Charities' Legal Immigrant Network, a support agency based in Washington, D.C.

Experts say that barriers include getting time-pressed physicians to fill out complicated forms. Doctors must clearly state that a disease or sickness is what's prohibiting an immigrant or refugee from learning to read and write.

"It is quite difficult," says Wafa Abdin, a lawyer with the Cabrini Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance, which is part of Catholic Charities, in Houston. She says that her office has worked closely with physicians and immigrant officials during the past three years and that it is starting to see an increase in the waiver approval rate.

So far, Ms. Nguyen and Mr. Pham have both applied for disability waivers twice. Both have been denied. Ms. Nguyen has applied again, and her case is pending, said Mr. Le.

As Mr. Le talks, Mr. Pham heads to the bedroom. It is time to check Ms. Nguyen's glucose level. When he is done, he shows Mr. Le the monitor. It reads 39, which is low.

"That's not right," Mr. Le tells him. He checks the machine and asks Mr. Pham to try again. As he watches the slight man make his way to his wife, Mr. Le shakes his head.

He says: "Everything depends on his ability and his memory now."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Find more health and family coverage on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Lifestyles section. ON DALLASNEWS.COM/EXTRA

See the previous installment in this series, and find links to organizations mentioned in this article. FINDING HELP

For more information regarding refugee and immigration services and legal help, contact Catholic Charities of Dallas, Refugee and Empowerment Services, 9850 Walnut Hill Road, Suite 228, Dallas, or call 214-553-9909.

For information regarding federal programs, contact the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Administration for Children and Families, 370 L'Enfant Promenade S.W., Sixth Floor/East, Washington, D.C. 20447 or call 202-401-9246.

[TexasStooge]

CATastrophe averted, missing Mittens freed

Flower Mound: Feline survived 12 nights in van after service visit

By STELLA M. CHÁVEZ / The Dallas Morning News

FLOWER MOUND, Texas - Bill Holder couldn't figure out what was causing the foul odor in his company van – or the origin of the cat hair on the driver's seat.

The odor was so bad that Mr. Holder, 58, a fiber technician for Verizon Communications Inc., took the van to Verizon's fleet maintenance center in Lewisville to have it cleaned up. The van was still there last week when he went to retrieve some tools from it.

That's when he saw Mittens – a black-and-white cat who had survived 11 days and 12 nights stuck in the van with no food or water.

He quickly shut the back door, jumped in the van and told co-worker Kevin Smith to follow him in his van.

"It was unbelievable," he said. "I said, 'Hey, we've got to take this cat back right now.' "

Mr. Holder knew exactly where the cat came from. The week before, he'd checked inside the vehicle at the request of customer Cathy Folkes, whose cat went missing on Jan. 5 – the same day Mr. Holder and Mr. Smith installed FiOS service in her home in Flower Mound.

But Mr. Holder saw no sign of her. He did, however, notice that the seat was wet. But he figured Mittens got in and out of the van during his visit to Mrs. Folkes' home.

Back in Flower Mound, Mrs. Folkes, 43, and her family spent days looking for their cat, fearing the worst. They searched all over their home, the garage and outside in woods inhabited by coyotes and bobcats. Mrs. Folkes looked for signs of a struggle with another animal and asked neighbors if they'd seen the cat.

But Mittens was nowhere to be found.

"She just doesn't go missing," said Mrs. Folkes, an illustrator and animal rescuer. "She's not a wanderer."

Mrs. Folkes had, however, warned the Verizon technicians not to leave the van doors open because her cats like to get into things.

Mrs. Folkes, who has 11 cats and two dogs, said she had a nagging feeling Mittens was still alive and would eventually return home. Mittens, who is about 3 years old, had been with the family for about a year after she was found in the woods behind the house.

Mrs. Folkes' husband, Don, and her two boys, Jonathan, 12 and Joshua, 8, were devastated when the cat went missing.

She was ecstatic when Mr. Holder and Mr. Smith showed up at her door with the good news.

"He said, 'I am sorry; I am such a heel, but I couldn't figure out how the cat hair kept getting on my seat,' " she recalled him saying.

Despite not having food or water for nearly two weeks, Mittens appeared to be in good condition. The recent mild temperatures and coats left inside the van probably helped.

Mrs. Folkes checked her for dehydration and gave her food and water. She also showered her with attention.

"She was more starved for love than anything," she said.

Mr. Holder said he is relieved the story has a happy ending. An animal lover himself, he said he's never experienced anything like this in the 28 years he's worked in telecommunications.

"I knew what they were missing and what they wanted in their lives and how important an animal is," he said.

[TexasStooge]

More students taking AP exams, but many failing

Irving ISD: District looking at teacher training, student preparedness

By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING, Texas – Last May, 71 MacArthur High School students took the Advanced Placement U.S. government and politics exam. Nobody passed.

"I don't know how to explain it," teacher Malou Parent said. "It was disappointing."

Just down the road, 38 students who took AP calculus courses at The Academy of Irving ISD all received a 1, the lowest score on the exam.

Districtwide, eight of 85 students taking AP biology passed the exam – the same number as five years earlier when 31 were tested.

More students than ever are taking the college-level AP courses in Irving high schools. But like many schools across the nation that are rushing to add courses and enroll more students, there have been growing pains.

In five years, the district more than doubled the number of high school students taking the exams for college credit. Much of the increase was among black and Hispanic students. The number of tests taken in the district has nearly tripled during the same period. And last year, 79 AP Scholars were honored for passing at least three exams.

But at the same time the district's passing rate on AP exams dropped from 43 percent to 28 percent. About a quarter of the district's passing scores last year were concentrated among Latino students who took the AP Spanish exams.

The high failure rate on exams, especially in certain subjects and at certain campuses, is raising concerns about how well-prepared teachers and students are for the rigorous college coursework.

"We have worked on increasing participation – getting more kids into classes and removing barriers," said Marie Morris, Irving's assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. "But too many kids have been taking the classes and not making college credit. Now we're looking at increasing the number that pass."

Irving's district improvement committee outlined an AP action plan that went into effect this year to address the concerns.

It calls for communicating better with parents and students about the rigors of the program, preparing students in middle school for the AP courses and offering more training for teachers.

Who's at fault?

MacArthur High School principal Tracie Fraley likens the failing exam scores to the riddle about the chicken and the egg: Who's at fault, the teachers or the students? Teachers often cite lack of student motivation and preparation. But the district is also looking at teacher training and the curriculum.

She said part of the problem also lies with the one-semester courses in government and politics and in economics. Students taking these AP classes in the fall can't take the exams until spring. She changed the class schedule to address that gap.

The College Board, which runs the 50-year-old Advanced Placement program, has been under increasing pressure to monitor quality in schools.

Lesson plan audit

The board will begin auditing the lesson plans of teachers this year to make sure they are teaching the curriculum. It also began giving teachers detailed test results to show where students did poorly.

"In the past they took a totally hands-off approach and offered no policing at the high schools," said Kristin Klopfenstein, a Texas Christian University economics professor who has researched AP programs. "It's going to be interesting when we get rid of courses that are AP in name only."

AP executive director Trevor Packer said this year's audit is meant to provide more guidance to less-experienced schools and to reassure college admissions officials who are questioning whether every course labeled AP is a college-level course.

But he also said students must be ready for the classes.

"AP is not for the elite, but it is for the prepared," he said. "Schools need to really focus their efforts on preparing students."

AP officials say the passing rate is not the best measure of a district's success. They say they look at the percentage of students in a graduating class who have passed at least one course. The number puts a greater emphasis on participation.

For Irving, those numbers last year were 15.5 percent at The Academy, 21.1 percent at Irving High School, 13.8 percent at MacArthur High School and 16 percent at Nimitz High School. State and national percentages for comparison are not available.

Universities can award college credit to students who score a 3 or higher on an AP exam, but more schools are setting the bar higher because of concerns that a 3 doesn't show a student has mastered the subject.

Harvard University, for example, will give credit only for a perfect score of 5. The University of Texas at Austin requires at least a 4 for credit in several courses, including biology, chemistry and history.

In 1997, the Irving district began paying the $82 exam fee for students to remove financial barriers and to thoroughly test the program's effectiveness. The state subsidizes some of that test cost and gives schools money back based on the number of students who pass the exams. Last year, Irving spent about $79,000 on AP exam fees.

But administrators are concerned that subsidizing the cost means less-motivated students are taking the exams.

Kirby Shelton taught AP macroeconomics at MacArthur High School for the first time last year. None of his 69 students passed the exam.

Student attitude

"It's part of my job to get the students to take the test more seriously," he said. "But I think if kids were to pay for the test, they would take it more seriously."

Mr. Shelton, who spent years at the middle school level, said that teaching the AP economics course has been like "going back to college." He's highlighting and reading textbooks so he can teach the material to his students.

MacArthur senior David West, 17, took an AP English exam last year but didn't pass. He admits he didn't study much for it. This year, he is taking AP government, AP calculus and Mr. Shelton's AP economics class. He knows about last year's low test scores.

"All the smart people who thought they would pass didn't pass," he said. "It doesn't give me much hope, but I'm going to try my best."

And if he doesn't pass, that's OK, he said. "I think of AP as something above and beyond. I think of it as something of a privilege."

At the center of the debate over AP's rapid expansion is whether students who fail the exams benefit from exposure to the higher-level courses.

Longtime Nimitz High School AP U.S. history teacher Helen Bradley said former students who didn't pass the exam have told her how much her class helped them in college.

Not quite ready?

"Perhaps they weren't quite ready for the exam. But they had a grasp of the material," she said.

Many educators cite data by the National Center for Educational Accountability at the University of Texas showing that students who take classes but don't pass are better prepared for college – though the center's research found that passing an exam is the best indicator of future success.

A recent study by Ms. Klopfenstein found taking AP classes has a limited impact on college performance. She said the debate needs to be whether those students who don't take the test or score too low to earn college credit benefit.

Is pushing good?

"The push in Texas is, 'We've got to get more kids in these classes,' " she said. "It's not clear if that's good policy. If it doesn't benefit the average kid, then maybe the average kid shouldn't take AP. AP are college-level courses, not college preparatory."

Irving administrators believe that opening the classes to more students is better than limiting enrollment to the elite few, regardless of how well students score.

"Am I happy with the scores? No," said Lupita Garcia, Irving's director of parent and student support services.

But, she said, "This is about kids, not about how you look."

[TexasStooge]

Fights prompt fence at Duncanville High School

By HERB BOOTH / The Dallas Morning News

DUNCANVILLE, Texas - Concerns about unruly visitors sneaking onto Duncanville High School property have prompted district officials to erect a fence around the entire 90-plus-acre campus. Officials hope the $362,939 ornamental fence, which should be finished this month, will stop or greatly reduce the number of fights at the school. There were 78 fights recorded there during the fall of 2005.

The 4,010 linear feet that the fence traverses is equivalent to the length of more than 13 football fields. Its size is in keeping with the massive high school, which after a several-year expansion now takes up 863,137 square feet under one roof – larger than four Wal-Mart Supercenters.

That makes Duncanville High the second largest high school in the nation in terms of area.

It's such a large campus that according to one district patron, the custodian manager at night rides a bicycle from one area to another to check on his staff. And the size may be part of the security problem the fence, which was approved by the school board in September, is supposed to address.

"This has probably been at least two years in the works," school board President Terry Barnard said. "Whatever we can do to protect our children, we'll do. And our high school students still need protection."

Last spring, Duncanville High reported some fights involving students from other schools that turned into melees. "We wanted to make it where it just wasn't wide open," said Superintendent Kenneth English, who added that the fence idea was floated a number of years earlier. "If we built the fence, we could have better control of all the access points."

However, not everyone is enamored with the fence.

School board member Tom Kennedy voted against it because he didn't think a 6-foot high fence would do the job the district wanted and it might have been too expensive.

"I didn't see the need for the fence around the entire property, maybe just the west parking lot," Mr. Kennedy said, noting the location of some of last year's fights. "I guess the fence does give a presence where people don't just think they can saunter onto the campus."

Although most North Texas high school campuses don't have fences, Duncanville is not alone.

Cedar Hill High School has a chain-link fence that outlines its perimeter. Superintendent Jim Gibson said the fence's boundaries were updated to include the student parking lot in the 2003-04 school year because of fights involving non-Cedar Hill students.

Lancaster Elsie Robertson High School has a low-grade bar around its parking lot to prevent cars from driving onto the lot, but which allows pedestrians easy access. And Ms. Barnard said Bishop Lynch High School has a gorgeous ornamental fence.

Ken Trump, a national safety expert and president of Cleveland-based National School Safety and Security Services, said fencing is a "really common-sense approach" to campus crime prevention.

But Mr. Trump added that sometimes installing fences at schools raises other concerns.

"You get into situations where people question that if the district has the money to do that, why don't they use it elsewhere," he said.

That's where Fritz Ketchum stands. The Duncanville parent has three teenagers at the high school.

"I think it was a good expense, but I sure wish they could have used the money on mentoring programs to help the behavior of at-risk kids. If we'd mentor more than we test, we might not need as many fences," Ms. Ketchum said. "Security is an increasing obsession in this district. Is it to keep them out or us in?"

Eva R. Simecek, the Duncanville High School Parent-Teacher-Student Association president, said she believes that with a DART bus stop directly across the street from the high school, additional security is needed.

"We got the uniforms and the student ID badges already. This is just another tool," Ms. Simecek said.

Claudia Zakutney – whose son graduated from Duncanville High in 2001 and who recently served as the Duncanville chamber's education committee chairwoman – said nothing is more important than the safety of students.

"The high school had 64 doors or something like that when my son was up there," Ms. Zakutney said. "They've eliminated most of those. This fence just adds to the security."

[TexasStooge]

Family gets locks cut off for sick mother

By DEBBIE DENMON / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - While many 11-year-old boys would shy away from a haircut, Andrew Freeman did it without a fight for his extremely sick mother at Ekklesia Salon Sunday.

Along with his 10-year-old sister Molly, Freeman went to the salon for a fundraiser aimed at raising money for a $75,000 experimental stem cell transplant their 36-year-old mother's insurance won't pay for.

Kim Freeman was diagnosed with lupus, an auto-immune disorder that is causing her lung and heart failure.

"We miss her at home and so we just hope she gets out soon," Andrew said.

But while his mom is in the hospital, Andrew, Molly and other family members went to the salon where they paid $40 for a hair cut. The money for the cuts goes towards the transplant, which is supposed to have an 80 percent recovery rate."It's just a matter of time, and she's got two kids and a husband and she's 36," said Kathy Gillard, Kim's sister. "I can't wrap my brain around the fact that it's time for her to go. This is not how it is supposed to be, and of course if it is God's will, it's God's will and we can't do anything but move forward."

Kim has already endured eight conventional surgeries, and Monday doctors will operate on her heart again, which is damaged from the debilitating disease.

"I hate that my 10-year-old has to sit back and say, 'Mom, I love you so much. I wouldn't know what to do without you,'" she said.

However, she said she is fighting and hopes enough money can be raised for the surgery.

[TexasStooge]

Heating bills may cool off

Exclusive: Utility sees rates falling because of lower market prices

By ELIZABETH SOUDER / The Dallas Morning News

Atmos Energy says relief is on the way.

The North Texas natural gas retailer expects gas rates to drop significantly in February thanks to lower market prices.

That's good news for customers reeling from December bills, which arrived in many mailboxes last week. Still, final February bills will depend on the weather.

Bills rose in December for two reasons: Natural gas rates were higher than the year before, and the cold snap prompted people to use more gas.

"It's all attributable to those first 10 days in December," said Atmos spokesman Rand LaVonn.

Early December days were colder than usual, though the warm spell later in the month meant temperatures on average were a bit higher than normal.

Last month the average North Texas household used 8.3 thousand cubic feet of gas, up from 7.3 mcf a year ago. On a cold day, a heater must work harder, and use more energy, to heat a house. So a household that doesn't change the thermostat uses more gas during a cold month than a warm month.

Also last month, Atmos charged $13.02 per thousand cubic feet of gas, up from $8.66 the year before. That means the average bill for fuel alone shot to $108 from $63 the year before, not including service charges and taxes.

The company charges the wholesale price of natural gas, and only profits on service fees.

The jump in December bills, which followed a mild November when people used less gas, caused customers to feel frustrated.

"We have experienced a large volume of calls from people who are concerned about their bills and wondering if their meters need to be checked," Mr. LaVonn said. "In 99 percent of all those we check, the meters are accurate."

One factor that could impact the accuracy of a bill is Atmos' policy of estimating usage when the company can't read a meter.

Atmos' policy is to physically read each meter at least once every three months, if not more often. The Texas Railroad Commission allows natural gas companies to wait six months between readings.

If a customer uses, for example, more gas than Atmos estimates, Atmos will charge the customer for the extra gas on the next bill, at the new rate. If the rate goes down, the customer gets an advantage. If the rate goes up, the customer loses money.

On the other hand, if Atmos owes a customer money for over-estimating usage, the customer is repaid at new rates, which could be higher or lower than the rates the customer paid for the extra charges.

To avoid that risk, customers can read their own meters and call Atmos with the numbers.

Mr. LaVonn said the company aims to read every meter every month, but if a meter is behind a fence or near a dog, the company must contact the customer and arrange for a reading.

In January, Atmos' rates dropped to $12.60 per mcf from December's $13.02. Atmos anticipates another significant drop in February.

This week, Atmos is finalizing February rates, taking into account the wholesale cost of the gas in storage, the cost of gas Atmos has reserved under contract, and the cost of buying gas on the open market.

Around the 25th of each month, Atmos calculates the rates for the next month and gives the number to the Railroad Commission.

Natural gas futures prices have been drifting lower this month after closing at a fresh all-time high of $15.38 in mid-December.

On Friday, natural gas futures closed at $9.28 per million British thermal units, up 4.1 percent.

[rainstorm]

Family gets locks cut off for sick mother

By DEBBIE DENMON / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - While many 11-year-old boys would shy away from a haircut, Andrew Freeman did it without a fight for his extremely sick mother at Ekklesia Salon Sunday.

Along with his 10-year-old sister Molly, Freeman went to the salon for a fundraiser aimed at raising money for a $75,000 experimental stem cell transplant their 36-year-old mother's insurance won't pay for.

Kim Freeman was diagnosed with lupus, an auto-immune disorder that is causing her lung and heart failure.

"We miss her at home and so we just hope she gets out soon," Andrew said.

But while his mom is in the hospital, Andrew, Molly and other family members went to the salon where they paid $40 for a hair cut. The money for the cuts goes towards the transplant, which is supposed to have an 80 percent recovery rate."It's just a matter of time, and she's got two kids and a husband and she's 36," said Kathy Gillard, Kim's sister. "I can't wrap my brain around the fact that it's time for her to go. This is not how it is supposed to be, and of course if it is God's will, it's God's will and we can't do anything but move forward."

Kim has already endured eight conventional surgeries, and Monday doctors will operate on her heart again, which is damaged from the debilitating disease.

"I hate that my 10-year-old has to sit back and say, 'Mom, I love you so much. I wouldn't know what to do without you,'" she said.

However, she said she is fighting and hopes enough money can be raised for the surgery.

they are good kids

[TexasStooge]

Deep Ellum rollerblader appears in court

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Michelle Metsinger, the 25-year-old rollerblader arrested for assaulting a peace officer in Deep Ellum, made a court appearance on Monday.

The judge quashed a defense motion to subpoena medical and police records in the case.

Dallas police have launched an internal investigation.

Witnesses say Officer Ceaphus Gordon used excessive force while arresting Metsinger for public intoxication and assault.

Officer Gordon said Metzinger was trying to gouge his eyes while struggling with him when the incident occurred.

"It's been absolutely horrible. I still have to go to the doctor. I had to quit skating because of my medical condition. It's just the worst thing I could ever imagine," Metsinger said.

The case will go before a grand jury to determine if an indictment will be handed down.

Metsinger's attorney says he still has not determined whether to file counter claims against the city of Dallas.

The incident took place on January 14th on Elm Street.

Metzinger, is a roller derby skater for Assassination City.

It is not be the department's first look into the 15-year Dallas police veteran's actions.

Police records show since 1994 there have been at least six allegations of excessive force, physical abuse or assault.

Gordon has been disciplined twice for escalating or participating in a disturbance and once for conduct discrediting the department.

While witnesses said Officer Gordon's force was unnecessary, some who live and work in Deep Ellum said police have a tough job policing the area.

[TexasStooge]

Store damaged after attempted ATM theft

By CYNTHIA VEGA / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - The owner of a convenience store on Vickery Boulevard in Fort Worth is shocked to find his store in tatters, after someone tried to steal his ATM.

The whole thing was caught on tape and police got involved quickly.

But the suspects still got away.

The front of the store was completely demolished when the suspects rammed the front of the pick-up into the store before dawn.

Under the cover of darkness, they tried to steal the ATM but with no luck.

A witness saw what was happening and called the police.

The suspects got away leaving behind the pick-up, which was stolen.

The owner Bhaskar Pabba had bought the store a year ago to provide him and his family with a stable income.

"I am broken," he said. "My customers are very good customers, very loyal customers. They will help me."

[TexasStooge]

Dynamite stolen from Parker County business

By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News

WEATHERFORD, Texas - Local and state law enforcement agencies are investigating the theft of about 100 sticks of dynamite from a southern Parker County business. Employees at Fort Worth Crushed Stone reported the theft early Monday morning.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were taking inventory at the storage facility Monday afternoon to determine the exact amount of missing dynamite. The facility is about a half-mile from any road and is not visible from the perimeter of the property, police said.

“You would have to know it was there,” said Parker County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Jim Lasater.

Chief Lasater said the dynamite is enough to damage, but not completely destroy a building. Officials believe someone parked a vehicle and then entered the premises on foot. They then used a torch to cut through a security lock on the building where the dynamite is stored. They left more than they took, though, Chief Lasater said.

The Department of Public Safety and Texas Rangers are also assisting with the investigation. Chief Lasater said it’s still not known why the explosives were stolen.

“I’m concerned that it’s somebody that may not know exactly what they have and they may injure themselves or others,” he said. “We don’t know if these people know what they're doing or not.”

[TexasStooge]

Debate heats up after alleged roach sandwich

By GARY REAVES / WFAA ABC 8

WAXAHACHIE, Texas - It was supposed to be a quick after school snack, but instead a family said it turned out more like a scene from an episode of "Fear Factor."

A family claimed it ate fast food sandwiches filled with baby roaches.

However, the real debate began after the company quickly offered a cash settlement that Linda Watson said made her even angrier.

Watson said she drove up to a KFC drive-through window in Waxahachie and came home with the surprise.

"They were all in the sandwich [and] they were alive crawling in the napkin," she said.

Her daughter, Alicia Lewis, said she ate some of the food before she saw the roaches and what she ate made her sick.

"I had diarrhea and it went on for two days," she said.

Watson kept the moldy evidence of baby roaches in her freezer, and said when she went back to complain she saw another live roach.

Health department inspectors later found two dead roaches while inspecting the same location.

"[They were] not in the food prep area," said Sonny Wilson. "One was in storage [and] the other was up closer to the drive-through window."

A pile of letters at Watson's home document negotiations with the restaurant owner's insurance company and the Watson family after the incident.

"First of all, they offered us $1,000 and I thought that was an insult for eating roaches," Watson said.

She asked for $5 million and the insurer went up to $5,000.

While the company said they want to investigate and appease the customer, they also said they are investigating Watson as well.

"We are taking this very seriously, as we do any claims about objects in the food," said Laurie Schalow, a spokeswoman for Yum! Brands, Inc., the parent company that has more than 11,000 KFC outlets around the world. "Based on her high demands, we're not ruling anything out, including possible motive."

In a widely-publicized case last year, a woman in California claimed she found a human finger in a bowl of fast food chili. Anna Ayala and her husband, Jaime Plascencia, were later convicted of planting the finger as part of a hoax. They were sentenced to stiff prison terms last week.

Watson said her only motive is justice—at somewhere between $5,000 to $1 million.

"Because it's wrong," she said. "I didn't want to eat roaches. I just wanted to eat, and if they don't think that is wrong...They are wrong for doing that to us. It's just nasty."

In spite of the roaches, the restaurant passed its inspection, hired a pest control company and remains open.

The health department director said he would still eat at the location.

However, the only time the Watson family visits the location now is with picket signs and Watson shares her feelings about the restaurant with a car bumper sticker that reads: "KFC SERVES ROACHES, BOYCOTT KFC."

[TexasStooge]

High school senior returns to cell

By REBECCA RODRIGUEZ / WFAA ABC 8

ARLINGTON, Texas - A high school senior who pleaded guilty to attempted capital murder went from the classroom back to a cell today.

As News 8 first told you earlier this month - 18-year-old Allen Roman admitted shooting a convenience store clerk during a robbery last February.

But he returned to Sam Houston High School in the fall. He attended classes until district officials were alerted to the crime two weeks ago when he was sent home.

Within days after a News 8 investigation revealed Allen Roman had been attending classes at Sam Houston High, he was on talk radio trying to quell the controversy.

Today in court - the judge chastised Roman for talking to the media, and revoked his bond. But the controversy surrounding the law that allowed him to be in class in the first place - is far from over.

"I don't know if during the law making process it was an oversight - if no one thought of the different things that could happen," said his attorney Lessie Fitzpatrick.

"This law is only two years old. It was amended as recently as 2003 so this is a recent change, this is not some old law that carried over."

Attorneys for the Arlington School district are vowing to change a law - that prevents a district from expelling a student - for an off campus crime.

Even Title 5 crimes which include murder/capital murder, aggravated assault Injury to a child, deadly conduct and terror threat.

In fact, News 8 has discovered right now in Dallas ISD there are four students who've committed serious crimes.

In Fort Worth there are 18, and in Arlington a total of 8 students charged with a title 45 crime.

[TexasStooge]

How good for you is soy?

By JANET ST. JAMES / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - At the Cosmic Cafe in Dallas, customers come from all over for wholesome vegetarian cuisine.

"I have a lot of people who are really trying to improve their health," says Cody Ross.

Here, soy plays a sizable role - from the soy chai tea, to the cosmic stir with tofu slices.

Now, an American Heart Association review of a decade's worth of studies casts doubt on the health benefits of soy.

The study shows soy supplements and foods, including soymilk, don't significantly impact heart disease as researchers had thought.

Researchers found soy only lowered bad cholesterol by 3 percent and had no impact on good cholesterol.

But UT Southwestern nutrition expert Lona Sandon says that doesn't mean soy isn't good.

"When we eat the soy food, the whole food, the tofu let's say in place of high fat, high saturated fat foods, then there's probably some benefit there because you've cut back on fats that aren't so healthy," says Lona Sandon from the American Dietetic Association.

That's exactly why Jeremy Kelly says he eats it.

"Generally just use it in place of where you'd use chicken or meat," he says.

The simple substitution helped him lose 45 pounds in 8 weeks. So, he's not about to slash his soy intake.

[TexasStooge]

Council likely to OK towing deal

Effort to stop uninsured drivers would be checked for profiling

By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - At the peak of rush hour Friday, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia pulled into the city's auto pound to do a little reconnaissance.

Her colleagues had just reached an informal compromise on a controversial measure to impound vehicles of uninsured drivers in accidents, a deal that involved revisiting the program in two years to check for racial and geographic profiling.

But Dr. Garcia wanted to count parking spaces at the pound, interview employees and tally customer waiting times before making a final decision. And despite what she saw – a dearth of spots, long waits and less-than-secure fencing – she reluctantly jumped aboard.

"The logistics need some work," Dr. Garcia said. "That being said, I'm going to support it because it's a compromise – because it's a step in the right direction."

With Dr. Garcia's support, the council will probably cast a unanimous vote Wednesday for the towing compromise, which was negotiated by Mayor Laura Miller, the measure's author, and Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill late last week.

Police would ask drivers involved in accidents to show proof of insurance. If they don't have insurance, their cars would be towed to the city's pound at their expense.

If drivers say they have insurance but don't have their information with them, officers are expected to make every effort to validate the claim – by calling the insurance company, for example – before towing the vehicle.

Officers would also have some leeway; if they feel there are extenuating circumstances, they don't have to order the tow.

Under the compromise, police would:

• Keep statistics on whose cars are towed, based on gender, race and location in the city.

• Hand out comment cards to individuals whose cars are towed to elicit feedback on the towing company and pound employees.

• Notify the city manager and the police chief when the pound reaches 95 percent capacity and is at risk of overflowing.

The City Council would reconsider the towing policy two years after it goes into effect, which could be as early as April.

"A majority of the City Council was ready to approve [the measure] with no stipulations," Ms. Miller said. "Because some people had some issues, I thought it would be nicer for us to get closer to a consensus."

Locally, law enforcement officers, insured car owners and insurance agents have expressed strong support for towing cars of uninsured drivers.

Advocates of the measure say it will keep people who aren't authorized to drive from causing costly and sometimes fatal accidents. And they believe a corresponding reduction in accidents will lower insurance rates for law-abiding drivers.

Driving with auto insurance "is the law, and laws should be enforced," Mr. Hill said. "The compromise pieces will hopefully sensitize our police officers, give us feedback on how people are treated and give us a chance to see really what the impact is."

But there are some lingering questions.

For example, will immigrants and low-income residents – those least likely to have auto insurance – be unfairly targeted? Or will moving police officers from patrol to traffic hurt crime-fighting?

And can the pound, with its handful of full-time employees and capacity for 2,500 cars at one time, manage an estimated 11,000 additional cars a year?

"That's still the wild card," Ms. Miller said.

Some continue to question the merits of a program that, while pretty on paper, hasn't always had the desired effect elsewhere in the country.

In a review of Seattle's program, for example, blacks made up 40 percent of those whose cars were impounded (and 10 percent of the population). About 50 percent of the time, car owners couldn't afford or chose not to retrieve their vehicles from the pound.

"There are still some questions. What about Grandma and Grandpa who forget to put their insurance card in the glove compartment?" council member Pauline Medrano asked. "I'd like to look back and evaluate this and compare it to what we've learned from other cities."

[TexasStooge]

Savings and loan's ex-chairman on trial again

Dallas: He's accused of cheating on repayments after guilty plea in 1990

By TIM WYATT / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - A former savings and loan chairman could face a second prison sentence if prosecutors can convince jurors that the 53-year-old Dallas man hid millions that should have been repaid to taxpayers.

Testimony in the trial of Edwin T. McBirney III began Monday afternoon in federal court, with the former head of the Sunbelt Savings Association charged with shortchanging federal insurers, who used $1.2 billion in taxpayer money to bail out his defunct thrift in the 1980s.

Opening arguments painted Mr. McBirney as a tireless worker who eked out a middle-class income after serving time in prison for bank fraud – or a schemer who began hiding more than $2 million in profits and assets that should have been paid back to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Special prosecutor David Beck told jurors that Mr. McBirney "concealed money he promised to repay" after his guilty plea to bank fraud 15 years ago and a subsequent civil settlement with the FDIC.

In 1990, Mr. McBirney pleaded guilty to criminal charges that he stole $7.5 million from Sunbelt during his four years as chairman and chief executive officer in the 1980s. Federal authorities said the federal bailout of the now-defunct association cost taxpayers about $1.2 billion.

A federal judge in February 1993 sentenced Mr. McBirney to 15 years in prison and ordered him to pay $7.5 million in restitution to the FDIC.

That month, Mr. McBirney also agreed in civil court to repay the FDIC $8.5 million – payments that would be credited against his court-ordered restitution.

Mr. McBirney's prison sentence was reduced to five years during a 1994 hearing, and prison officials released him in July 1996, when he began serving an additional five years of probation.

According to court documents, the repayment of stolen Sunbelt money would be based on a sliding scale of how much he made: 10 percent of yearly income below $100,000, and up to 50 percent of yearly earnings that topped $500,000.

In February 2004, a grand jury indicted Mr. McBirney on 27 counts of mail fraud, making false statements to federal probation authorities and money laundering from 1999 to 2001.

He reported as little as $50,000 income in one year when authorities tracked more than $900,000 in profits funneled into a trust set up for his benefit shortly after he went to prison. The trust was controlled by Mr. McBirney and established with the help of his girlfriend.

Defense attorneys say Mr. McBirney had no control over the trust but worked on a commission basis for real estate deals. They said authorities knew about the trust and never complained to Mr. McBirney at the time. On one monthly income report, authorities charge that Mr. McBirney made $338,000 in a transaction – compared with the $15,000 he reported to probation officials.

According to federal statutes, he could face more than 100 years in prison if convicted on each of the counts, plus more than $5 million in fines. Prosecutors also have filed requests to allow court-ordered forfeiture of more than $2 million in assets tied to Mr. McBirney.

The trial could last into next week. Testimony resumes this morning in U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater's court.