Photos show Arlington holdup suspects
ARLINGTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) — Arlington police hope the public can help them track down four suspects wanted for robbing a Wells Fargo bank branch on Brown Boulevard over the weekend.
Surveillance photos taken last Saturday show one of the suspects was a white man wearing glasses, a black mask, black jacket, and weilding a gun.
Another picture shows a second suspect, also wearing black.
Police said three men actually robbed the bank; a fourth served as the getaway driver.
Anyone with information about the crime was urged to call Arlington police.
News from the Lone Star State
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TexasStooge
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Woman found dead in Garland creek
By MARGARITA MARTIN-HIDALGO / The Dallas Morning News
GARLAND, Texas - Garland police are investigating the shooting death of a young woman whose body was found this morning in Rowlett Creek near Miller Road.
Officer Joe Harn, a police spokesman, said a city parks employee working at the Woodland Basin Nature Area saw the body floating about 8:30 a.m.
The black woman, who hadn't been identified, was fully clothed in black pants and a black blouse and had short- to medium-length black hair, Harn said. Police found no identification in her clothing.
Harn said the woman had been shot at least twice, possibly overnight, on the west bank of the creek.
"It appears she was shot several times and either pushed over or fell in after that," he said.
Investigators found shell casings and shoe prints and were looking for other evidence.
The location, next to a bridge in the 18000 block of Miller Road, is a popular fishing spot.
By MARGARITA MARTIN-HIDALGO / The Dallas Morning News
GARLAND, Texas - Garland police are investigating the shooting death of a young woman whose body was found this morning in Rowlett Creek near Miller Road.
Officer Joe Harn, a police spokesman, said a city parks employee working at the Woodland Basin Nature Area saw the body floating about 8:30 a.m.
The black woman, who hadn't been identified, was fully clothed in black pants and a black blouse and had short- to medium-length black hair, Harn said. Police found no identification in her clothing.
Harn said the woman had been shot at least twice, possibly overnight, on the west bank of the creek.
"It appears she was shot several times and either pushed over or fell in after that," he said.
Investigators found shell casings and shoe prints and were looking for other evidence.
The location, next to a bridge in the 18000 block of Miller Road, is a popular fishing spot.
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2 children die in Jasper-area house fire
JASPER, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - A 3-year-old boy and his 2-year-old sister died in a house fire Monday morning.
Five other family members, two adults and three children, managed to escape from the blaze at the home about 10 miles north of Jasper. The children's parents weren't at the house.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, but officials said a towel that was placed over a lamp in a bedroom may have contributed to the blaze.
JASPER, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - A 3-year-old boy and his 2-year-old sister died in a house fire Monday morning.
Five other family members, two adults and three children, managed to escape from the blaze at the home about 10 miles north of Jasper. The children's parents weren't at the house.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, but officials said a towel that was placed over a lamp in a bedroom may have contributed to the blaze.
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Emergency rule may bring cool relief to elderly
By Rebecca Rodriguez / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - While recent price hikes in electricity can be particularly damaging for the elderly and the disabled, an emergency rule may soon bring help to them and as well as others.
The Public Utility Council, a consumer watchdog group, says customers are paying on, an average, up to 45 percent more for electricity today than they did just 12 months ago.
San Juanita Rodriguez said she dreads the Texas summer because of the drain it places on her budget.
"I cannot pay," she said. "I just can't afford to pay. Since my husband died and we lost the business, I just can't afford to pay my own bills."
Rodriguez's electric bill runs from $300 to $400 during the summer. With the price hikes, she expects those prices to go up.
"If it wasn't for my children helping me out, I wouldn't be able to do it," she said. "I wouldn't be able to make it."
But help may soon be on the way for thousands of Texans like Rodriguez.
The Public Utility Commission is considering an "Emergency Rule" that keeps electric companies from cutting off the power on elderly and disabled customers during peak summer months.
The PUC has actually done this twice before because of the heat in 1998 and in 2000. Consumer groups say this summer will be even worse because of record high bills.
The AARP is behind the push, claiming Texans are being forced between to choose between medicine and electricity.
Most power companies have their own summer programs to help customers and are not allowed to disconnect during a heat advisory.
TXU Energy said they oppose the move because it may hurt customers.
"It could actually backfire on them because at the end of the summer they could be hit with very, very high bills," said Carlos Santos, TXU.
Despite what the PUC decides, Rodriguez said she will cut costs one way or another.
"If I sell the house and everything in it, I think I can come up with enough money to buy me a small house," she said.
Two state lawmakers have written letters of support, and actually many more are expected to show their support.
By Rebecca Rodriguez / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - While recent price hikes in electricity can be particularly damaging for the elderly and the disabled, an emergency rule may soon bring help to them and as well as others.
The Public Utility Council, a consumer watchdog group, says customers are paying on, an average, up to 45 percent more for electricity today than they did just 12 months ago.
San Juanita Rodriguez said she dreads the Texas summer because of the drain it places on her budget.
"I cannot pay," she said. "I just can't afford to pay. Since my husband died and we lost the business, I just can't afford to pay my own bills."
Rodriguez's electric bill runs from $300 to $400 during the summer. With the price hikes, she expects those prices to go up.
"If it wasn't for my children helping me out, I wouldn't be able to do it," she said. "I wouldn't be able to make it."
But help may soon be on the way for thousands of Texans like Rodriguez.
The Public Utility Commission is considering an "Emergency Rule" that keeps electric companies from cutting off the power on elderly and disabled customers during peak summer months.
The PUC has actually done this twice before because of the heat in 1998 and in 2000. Consumer groups say this summer will be even worse because of record high bills.
The AARP is behind the push, claiming Texans are being forced between to choose between medicine and electricity.
Most power companies have their own summer programs to help customers and are not allowed to disconnect during a heat advisory.
TXU Energy said they oppose the move because it may hurt customers.
"It could actually backfire on them because at the end of the summer they could be hit with very, very high bills," said Carlos Santos, TXU.
Despite what the PUC decides, Rodriguez said she will cut costs one way or another.
"If I sell the house and everything in it, I think I can come up with enough money to buy me a small house," she said.
Two state lawmakers have written letters of support, and actually many more are expected to show their support.
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Funeral set for slain sales agent
McKINNEY, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) — Police planned to interview the couple who found the body of Sarah Walker in a McKinney model home last weekend.
The sales agent had been stabbed and beaten. Investigators worked through the night Wednesday preparing to send forensic evidence to a crime lab.
Friends and family members attended a rosary for Walker on Wednesday night.
Her funeral was scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Monica's Catholic Church in Dallas.
McKINNEY, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) — Police planned to interview the couple who found the body of Sarah Walker in a McKinney model home last weekend.
The sales agent had been stabbed and beaten. Investigators worked through the night Wednesday preparing to send forensic evidence to a crime lab.
Friends and family members attended a rosary for Walker on Wednesday night.
Her funeral was scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Monica's Catholic Church in Dallas.
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Threat triggers Wal-Mart evacuation
By BERT LOZANO / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - A bomb threat forced the evacuation of a Wal-Mart store in southern Dallas early Thursday.
An employee at the store in the 3100 block of West Wheatland Road called police around 3 a.m. after receiving a telephoned threat.
Police evacuated about 30 employees from the building and called in the bomb squad.
Investigators found a suspicious package, but it was determined to be nothing more than merchandise.
The store was open for business again by 6 a.m.
By BERT LOZANO / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - A bomb threat forced the evacuation of a Wal-Mart store in southern Dallas early Thursday.
An employee at the store in the 3100 block of West Wheatland Road called police around 3 a.m. after receiving a telephoned threat.
Police evacuated about 30 employees from the building and called in the bomb squad.
Investigators found a suspicious package, but it was determined to be nothing more than merchandise.
The store was open for business again by 6 a.m.
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Site reveals Dallas ISD credit card spending details
By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - While the purchase of iPods and leather massage cushions by Dallas Independent School District employees may not be enough to outrage some, government watchdog Allen Gwinn's website, Dallas.org, may add some fuel to the fire.
By simply entering a school name, a list of DISD credit card holders and their expenses pop up for viewers to see.
Among those Gwinn found most interesting was a $400 tab at the AMC Movie Theater in Mesquite.
"Now was that $400 in movie tickets or was that a gift card for 400 dollars?" he asked. "We don't know."
He also said he would love to know why the same individual ran up a $100 bill at Chili's Bar & Grill and a $400 tab at Red Lobster.
"What can you buy at Cici's pizza for a $1,000, maybe the whole store?" he asked of another high receipt.
Gwinn's site highlights expenses charged at restaurants, as well as charges billed by school employees on the weekends.
"What do you buy on a Saturday for $525 dollars at a Kwikmart?" he asked.
He even posted suspicious transactions and rounded them off to the nearest hundreds or thousands.
Gwinn said even though he tried to warn the public of potential problems one year ago, it took a Dallas Morning News expose to bring it to light and begin to put it to a halt.
And while the district begins to discipline those who abused district credit cards, Gwinn continues his probe. Most recently he found a $1,400 tab for lunch at Pappadeaux's.
"And the district paid for it on their credit card," he said. "Now is that appropriate?"
By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - While the purchase of iPods and leather massage cushions by Dallas Independent School District employees may not be enough to outrage some, government watchdog Allen Gwinn's website, Dallas.org, may add some fuel to the fire.
By simply entering a school name, a list of DISD credit card holders and their expenses pop up for viewers to see.
Among those Gwinn found most interesting was a $400 tab at the AMC Movie Theater in Mesquite.
"Now was that $400 in movie tickets or was that a gift card for 400 dollars?" he asked. "We don't know."
He also said he would love to know why the same individual ran up a $100 bill at Chili's Bar & Grill and a $400 tab at Red Lobster.
"What can you buy at Cici's pizza for a $1,000, maybe the whole store?" he asked of another high receipt.
Gwinn's site highlights expenses charged at restaurants, as well as charges billed by school employees on the weekends.
"What do you buy on a Saturday for $525 dollars at a Kwikmart?" he asked.
He even posted suspicious transactions and rounded them off to the nearest hundreds or thousands.
Gwinn said even though he tried to warn the public of potential problems one year ago, it took a Dallas Morning News expose to bring it to light and begin to put it to a halt.
And while the district begins to discipline those who abused district credit cards, Gwinn continues his probe. Most recently he found a $1,400 tab for lunch at Pappadeaux's.
"And the district paid for it on their credit card," he said. "Now is that appropriate?"
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Killing shows risks for agents
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
The slaying of a McKinney real estate saleswoman last weekend brought back painful memories for Joan Malone.
In 1997, the Coppell Realtor was attacked and left for dead while showing a home.
"We're all talking about this" latest assault on a home sales agent, Ms. Malone said. "There are people out there with bad intentions."
"The only thing you can do is go with your gut feeling, and if it doesn't feel right, get out of there," she said.
Between 1982 and 2000, more than 200 U.S. real estate agents were killed on the job, according to a safety report published by the Kentucky Real Estate Commission. Untold other agents were raped or mugged.
On Saturday, prospective buyers who stopped to tour a McKinney model home found Sarah Anne Walker's body. She had been stabbed more than two dozen times. Police are sifting through clues to find her assailant.
In 2002, at least four sales agents were robbed at gunpoint while showing homes in North Dallas.
And not all attacks get publicity.
In an industry that depends on one-on-one contact, sales agents know that they must be wary of the wrong kind of person.
"If only we knew what an attacker looks like – that's the problem," said Sherryl Wesson, an office manager for Dallas-based Ebby Halliday Realtors. "You have to be on guard all the time."
To keep sales agents safe, Ms. Wesson said her firm asks prospects who want to see a home to meet at the agent's office and provide identification. And agents are discouraged from working alone at an open house.
"We always like for them to have someone accompany them at an open house," she said. "You can't be a sitting duck."
Open houses have always been problematic for agents. Along with the prospect of an assault, there is the potential for theft.
"We've had some situations where medications were stolen, and we always caution homeowners to put things away," Ms. Wesson said. "A lot of sellers don't want their homes held open for this very reason."
Real estate agent Harriet Shaw often sits in her car at a house tour, which gives her the chance to scope out a customer before unlocking the front door.
Ms. Shaw said open houses can be a "setup to get hurt," but many agents are willing to take the risk to sell a property.
"You have to have your radar on," she warned. "I've refused to show properties if the person doesn't seem right."
Ms. Malone, who was attacked almost 10 years ago, didn't have an inkling of the danger she faced when she met a client at her office to shop for houses. Earlier she had shown several homes to the man from Euless.
But while touring a house in Coppell, he suddenly attacked Ms. Malone, stabbing and beating her. He left her bleeding on the floor, stole jewelry and fled in her Mercedes-Benz.
Police later captured Carl Joseph Raspante in Missouri. He pleaded guilty to attempted capital murder and got 40 years in prison.
Ms. Malone said that even with widespread publicity about such attacks, agents remain vulnerable.
"I read a lot of things people put out about safety, but obviously they have never worked out in the field," she said. "We are all self-employed people, and we can't have someone baby-sit us all the time.
"All you can do is take every precaution you can take."
Still, the industry tries to play it safe. Real estate commissions and local associates regularly offer security training to agents and publish brochures with safety tips.
Some builders have installed electronic safeguards.
"We have a security system in every one of our models, and our agents also have panic buttons," said Robin Rigby, corporate director for Darling Homes. "The people who install our equipment say their phones are ringing off the hook."
Still, Ms. Rigby said it is often necessary for salespeople to work by themselves.
"Everyone is on high alert right now, and we are looking at what additional steps we can take," she said.
Adella Woods, who was holding a tour Wednesday for agents at a northeast Dallas home, said security concerns are a growing issue with the industry.
"It's getting more and more dangerous," Ms. Woods, an agent with Ebby Halliday, said. "If someone walks in off the street, you don't know anything about them."
That's why she discourages clients from holding open houses.
"If a home is priced properly, it doesn't need an open house," she said.
Convincing clients can be tough, though. Sellers' surveys consistently cite open houses as among the most important marketing tools.
It's been that way for decades.
"Our industry is focused on doing the same old thing the same old way," Ms. Shaw said. "But no one wants to get hurt.
"When something happens like this, it's an opportunity for all of us to be reminded of the dangers."
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
The slaying of a McKinney real estate saleswoman last weekend brought back painful memories for Joan Malone.
In 1997, the Coppell Realtor was attacked and left for dead while showing a home.
"We're all talking about this" latest assault on a home sales agent, Ms. Malone said. "There are people out there with bad intentions."
"The only thing you can do is go with your gut feeling, and if it doesn't feel right, get out of there," she said.
Between 1982 and 2000, more than 200 U.S. real estate agents were killed on the job, according to a safety report published by the Kentucky Real Estate Commission. Untold other agents were raped or mugged.
On Saturday, prospective buyers who stopped to tour a McKinney model home found Sarah Anne Walker's body. She had been stabbed more than two dozen times. Police are sifting through clues to find her assailant.
In 2002, at least four sales agents were robbed at gunpoint while showing homes in North Dallas.
And not all attacks get publicity.
In an industry that depends on one-on-one contact, sales agents know that they must be wary of the wrong kind of person.
"If only we knew what an attacker looks like – that's the problem," said Sherryl Wesson, an office manager for Dallas-based Ebby Halliday Realtors. "You have to be on guard all the time."
To keep sales agents safe, Ms. Wesson said her firm asks prospects who want to see a home to meet at the agent's office and provide identification. And agents are discouraged from working alone at an open house.
"We always like for them to have someone accompany them at an open house," she said. "You can't be a sitting duck."
Open houses have always been problematic for agents. Along with the prospect of an assault, there is the potential for theft.
"We've had some situations where medications were stolen, and we always caution homeowners to put things away," Ms. Wesson said. "A lot of sellers don't want their homes held open for this very reason."
Real estate agent Harriet Shaw often sits in her car at a house tour, which gives her the chance to scope out a customer before unlocking the front door.
Ms. Shaw said open houses can be a "setup to get hurt," but many agents are willing to take the risk to sell a property.
"You have to have your radar on," she warned. "I've refused to show properties if the person doesn't seem right."
Ms. Malone, who was attacked almost 10 years ago, didn't have an inkling of the danger she faced when she met a client at her office to shop for houses. Earlier she had shown several homes to the man from Euless.
But while touring a house in Coppell, he suddenly attacked Ms. Malone, stabbing and beating her. He left her bleeding on the floor, stole jewelry and fled in her Mercedes-Benz.
Police later captured Carl Joseph Raspante in Missouri. He pleaded guilty to attempted capital murder and got 40 years in prison.
Ms. Malone said that even with widespread publicity about such attacks, agents remain vulnerable.
"I read a lot of things people put out about safety, but obviously they have never worked out in the field," she said. "We are all self-employed people, and we can't have someone baby-sit us all the time.
"All you can do is take every precaution you can take."
Still, the industry tries to play it safe. Real estate commissions and local associates regularly offer security training to agents and publish brochures with safety tips.
Some builders have installed electronic safeguards.
"We have a security system in every one of our models, and our agents also have panic buttons," said Robin Rigby, corporate director for Darling Homes. "The people who install our equipment say their phones are ringing off the hook."
Still, Ms. Rigby said it is often necessary for salespeople to work by themselves.
"Everyone is on high alert right now, and we are looking at what additional steps we can take," she said.
Adella Woods, who was holding a tour Wednesday for agents at a northeast Dallas home, said security concerns are a growing issue with the industry.
"It's getting more and more dangerous," Ms. Woods, an agent with Ebby Halliday, said. "If someone walks in off the street, you don't know anything about them."
That's why she discourages clients from holding open houses.
"If a home is priced properly, it doesn't need an open house," she said.
Convincing clients can be tough, though. Sellers' surveys consistently cite open houses as among the most important marketing tools.
It's been that way for decades.
"Our industry is focused on doing the same old thing the same old way," Ms. Shaw said. "But no one wants to get hurt.
"When something happens like this, it's an opportunity for all of us to be reminded of the dangers."
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3 questioned in Garland shooting case
GARLAND, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) -- Three men were taken into custody overnight after Garland police identified a young shooting victim whose body was found in Rowlett Creek.
Terea Lewis, 25, was originally from Texas but recently had been living in Ohio with her mother, Garland police Officer Joe Harn said Thursday morning.
A city parks employee working at the Woodland Basin Nature Area saw the floating body of a fully clothed woman about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Police found no identification in her clothing and had no missing-person reports that fit her description.
Officer Harn said the woman had been shot, possibly Wednesday morning, on the west bank of the creek.
“It appears she was shot several times and either pushed over or fell in after that,” he said.
Investigators found shell casings and shoe prints, and a dive team from the Wylie Fire Department spent hours in the water looking for other evidence on Wednesday.
Using a fingerprinting program, investigators eventually managed to locate a family member in Ohio, who gave police an address for a home in Dallas where investigators found “that there was evidence there that was part of our crime,” Officer Harn said.
Police arrested three suspects and were interviewing them Thursday morning. It was not immediately clear whether they had a relationship with Ms. Lewis, who left Ohio on July 4.
Officer Harn said it was the third killing this year in Garland, a city of more than 220,000.
The location, at a popular fishing spot, is a stone’s throw from Rowlett, a city of 53,000 that has seen two other fatal shooting incidents in recent weeks.
In the more recent of those cases, recent Rowlett High School graduate David Irlanda, 18, was shot, allegedly during a robbery attempt, on June 29. Rowlett police have charged former schoolmate Remy Ingram with the murder.
In the earlier case, police say, 59-year-old John Edwin Meyers Jr. fatally shot his wife, Lorraine Eileen Meyers, 42; his son, recent Garland High School graduate Ian Michael Meyers, 18; and himself on June 18.
GARLAND, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) -- Three men were taken into custody overnight after Garland police identified a young shooting victim whose body was found in Rowlett Creek.
Terea Lewis, 25, was originally from Texas but recently had been living in Ohio with her mother, Garland police Officer Joe Harn said Thursday morning.
A city parks employee working at the Woodland Basin Nature Area saw the floating body of a fully clothed woman about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Police found no identification in her clothing and had no missing-person reports that fit her description.
Officer Harn said the woman had been shot, possibly Wednesday morning, on the west bank of the creek.
“It appears she was shot several times and either pushed over or fell in after that,” he said.
Investigators found shell casings and shoe prints, and a dive team from the Wylie Fire Department spent hours in the water looking for other evidence on Wednesday.
Using a fingerprinting program, investigators eventually managed to locate a family member in Ohio, who gave police an address for a home in Dallas where investigators found “that there was evidence there that was part of our crime,” Officer Harn said.
Police arrested three suspects and were interviewing them Thursday morning. It was not immediately clear whether they had a relationship with Ms. Lewis, who left Ohio on July 4.
Officer Harn said it was the third killing this year in Garland, a city of more than 220,000.
The location, at a popular fishing spot, is a stone’s throw from Rowlett, a city of 53,000 that has seen two other fatal shooting incidents in recent weeks.
In the more recent of those cases, recent Rowlett High School graduate David Irlanda, 18, was shot, allegedly during a robbery attempt, on June 29. Rowlett police have charged former schoolmate Remy Ingram with the murder.
In the earlier case, police say, 59-year-old John Edwin Meyers Jr. fatally shot his wife, Lorraine Eileen Meyers, 42; his son, recent Garland High School graduate Ian Michael Meyers, 18; and himself on June 18.
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Suspects in Texas girl's death nabbed at U.S.-Canada border
RICHMOND, Texas (DallasNews.com/AP) - Two Texas high school seniors accused of killing a 16-year-old classmate and burying her body in a shallow grave were arrested as they tried to enter Canada from Michigan, authorities say.
Canadian border agents stopped 18-year-olds Sean H. Brown and Matthew R. McCombs on Wednesday evening at the Blue Water Bridge. It crosses the St. Clair River between Port Huron, Mich., and Sarnia, Ontario, about 55 miles northeast of Detroit.
The agents became suspicious after questioning the pair and ran a criminal check, which showed that they were wanted in the Texas slaying, a Canadian government spokesman says.
Canadian agents turned the pair over to U.S. authorities about 10:45 p.m., said Danny Yen, spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency.
Earlier Wednesday, the men had been charged in the weekend death of 16-year-old Ashton Glover, Fort Bend County Sheriff Milton Wright said.
Upon being charged, the suspects' names were entered into a national crime database with a description of the truck they were thought to be driving. Wright said the county would immediately begin extradition proceedings.
"I am thankful they caught those boys and are bringing them back to Texas," said Sue Smith, Glover's mother. "I'm happy they are going to be brought back to justice."
Workers installing utilities for a new subdivision discovered Glover's body on Monday afternoon at a construction site west of Missouri City. Brown and McCombs, who are next-door neighbors in Sugar Land, disappeared from their homes about two hours after the body was unearthed, authorities said.
Glover's family reported her missing Saturday. She was last seen by her friends getting into a pickup in Sugar Land early Saturday morning. Police said Glover and her friends had been out "mudding," or driving pickups and off-road vehicles through muddy fields.
An autopsy showed Glover to have died from blunt force trauma. Wright said there were no signs of robbery or sexual assault. He said the motive for the slaying is unknown.
RICHMOND, Texas (DallasNews.com/AP) - Two Texas high school seniors accused of killing a 16-year-old classmate and burying her body in a shallow grave were arrested as they tried to enter Canada from Michigan, authorities say.
Canadian border agents stopped 18-year-olds Sean H. Brown and Matthew R. McCombs on Wednesday evening at the Blue Water Bridge. It crosses the St. Clair River between Port Huron, Mich., and Sarnia, Ontario, about 55 miles northeast of Detroit.
The agents became suspicious after questioning the pair and ran a criminal check, which showed that they were wanted in the Texas slaying, a Canadian government spokesman says.
Canadian agents turned the pair over to U.S. authorities about 10:45 p.m., said Danny Yen, spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency.
Earlier Wednesday, the men had been charged in the weekend death of 16-year-old Ashton Glover, Fort Bend County Sheriff Milton Wright said.
Upon being charged, the suspects' names were entered into a national crime database with a description of the truck they were thought to be driving. Wright said the county would immediately begin extradition proceedings.
"I am thankful they caught those boys and are bringing them back to Texas," said Sue Smith, Glover's mother. "I'm happy they are going to be brought back to justice."
Workers installing utilities for a new subdivision discovered Glover's body on Monday afternoon at a construction site west of Missouri City. Brown and McCombs, who are next-door neighbors in Sugar Land, disappeared from their homes about two hours after the body was unearthed, authorities said.
Glover's family reported her missing Saturday. She was last seen by her friends getting into a pickup in Sugar Land early Saturday morning. Police said Glover and her friends had been out "mudding," or driving pickups and off-road vehicles through muddy fields.
An autopsy showed Glover to have died from blunt force trauma. Wright said there were no signs of robbery or sexual assault. He said the motive for the slaying is unknown.
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Bomb threat called into Wal-Mart
DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - Wal-Mart employees evacuated the store at 3155 Wheatland Road early Thursday after someone called a bomb threat into the building.
Dallas police were called about 2:30 a.m. and deployed a robot to inspect a suspicious package, Senior Cpl. Jamie Matthews said.
No bomb was found, and police eventually determined that the bag contained only merchandise, Cpl. Matthews said.
The workers were allowed to return later in the morning.
DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - Wal-Mart employees evacuated the store at 3155 Wheatland Road early Thursday after someone called a bomb threat into the building.
Dallas police were called about 2:30 a.m. and deployed a robot to inspect a suspicious package, Senior Cpl. Jamie Matthews said.
No bomb was found, and police eventually determined that the bag contained only merchandise, Cpl. Matthews said.
The workers were allowed to return later in the morning.
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Kids tap into circus dreams at weeklong camp
By ELIZABETH LANGTON / The Dallas Morning News
Twenty-four kids sporting red noses practice juggling, pratfalls and slapstick.
Dick Monday calls it silliness tempered with discipline.
It's running away to the Galleria to join the circus.
At Slappy's Circus Camp, Mr. Monday and his wife, Tiffany Riley, are training their campers as circus performers.
"It's turning into a kids' paradise," Mr. Monday said about the business they opened two years ago.
There's no big top inside Slappy's Puppet Playhouse, but it was like a three-ring circus Wednesday.
In one room, kids juggled scarves and beanbags under guidance of Mr. Monday, who uses Monday as his clown name. Nearby, Ms. Riley painted clown makeup on the young faces and fitted them with red, bulbous noses.
On stage, Lorraine Gachelin coached students in contortionist techniques as they clung to bands of silk hanging from the ceiling. Her 9-year-old daughter, Gaelle, has practiced the skill for four years.
"Wow," exclaimed 6-year-old Evan Hassan as he caught sight of Gaelle suspended upside down by her ankles.
Back in juggling class, Mr. Monday has started a balancing lesson. He can stand a 12-foot ladder on his chin.
"Obviously we don't start there," Mr. Monday said. "We find a way they can accomplish the concept with some success. They want to get it right away."
Camryn Mier, 7, kept a dowel rod upright on her palm for a few seconds before the rod toppled forward onto her classmates.
"Sorry," she said, cringing.
Mr. Monday sought to praise her step in the right direction.
"Don't stop," he said. "You've got to take your big bow. That's important."
Terry Holloway started working with Mr. Monday about a year ago. The 11-year-old can deftly juggle four balls.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we see Terry in a circus in a few years," Ms. Riley said as she applied his makeup.
Terry, who adopted the clown name Monday the Second, relishes circus camp.
"It's fun and it's entertaining and it makes people laugh," he said.
Mr. Monday and Ms. Riley taught at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. Mr. Monday was its director for three years before it closed in 1997.
The couple moved from New York to Ms. Riley's hometown of Irving to raise their children – 5-year-old Chet and 2-year-old Lily. They still work with the clown troupe they founded – the New York Goofs – and travel with circuses such as The Big Apple Circus and Circo Atayde in Mexico.
Slappy's, named for Ms. Riley's clown name, features European-style marionette shows, magic classes, clowning workshops, birthday parties and other family activities.
This is the first year for clown camp, which was offered to ages 6 and older from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at a cost of $175. Ms. Riley saw the camp as a natural extension of the playhouse's mission.
"We teach a lot of adults," she said. "But we're in this kid-friendly market doing these family centered things."
Keeping his young students focused is hard, Mr. Monday said. But they accept the premise of clowning much easier than adult students.
"Children are uninhibited. It's their natural state," he said. "That's what's tough with adults: They forget how to play."
By ELIZABETH LANGTON / The Dallas Morning News
Twenty-four kids sporting red noses practice juggling, pratfalls and slapstick.
Dick Monday calls it silliness tempered with discipline.
It's running away to the Galleria to join the circus.
At Slappy's Circus Camp, Mr. Monday and his wife, Tiffany Riley, are training their campers as circus performers.
"It's turning into a kids' paradise," Mr. Monday said about the business they opened two years ago.
There's no big top inside Slappy's Puppet Playhouse, but it was like a three-ring circus Wednesday.
In one room, kids juggled scarves and beanbags under guidance of Mr. Monday, who uses Monday as his clown name. Nearby, Ms. Riley painted clown makeup on the young faces and fitted them with red, bulbous noses.
On stage, Lorraine Gachelin coached students in contortionist techniques as they clung to bands of silk hanging from the ceiling. Her 9-year-old daughter, Gaelle, has practiced the skill for four years.
"Wow," exclaimed 6-year-old Evan Hassan as he caught sight of Gaelle suspended upside down by her ankles.
Back in juggling class, Mr. Monday has started a balancing lesson. He can stand a 12-foot ladder on his chin.
"Obviously we don't start there," Mr. Monday said. "We find a way they can accomplish the concept with some success. They want to get it right away."
Camryn Mier, 7, kept a dowel rod upright on her palm for a few seconds before the rod toppled forward onto her classmates.
"Sorry," she said, cringing.
Mr. Monday sought to praise her step in the right direction.
"Don't stop," he said. "You've got to take your big bow. That's important."
Terry Holloway started working with Mr. Monday about a year ago. The 11-year-old can deftly juggle four balls.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we see Terry in a circus in a few years," Ms. Riley said as she applied his makeup.
Terry, who adopted the clown name Monday the Second, relishes circus camp.
"It's fun and it's entertaining and it makes people laugh," he said.
Mr. Monday and Ms. Riley taught at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. Mr. Monday was its director for three years before it closed in 1997.
The couple moved from New York to Ms. Riley's hometown of Irving to raise their children – 5-year-old Chet and 2-year-old Lily. They still work with the clown troupe they founded – the New York Goofs – and travel with circuses such as The Big Apple Circus and Circo Atayde in Mexico.
Slappy's, named for Ms. Riley's clown name, features European-style marionette shows, magic classes, clowning workshops, birthday parties and other family activities.
This is the first year for clown camp, which was offered to ages 6 and older from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at a cost of $175. Ms. Riley saw the camp as a natural extension of the playhouse's mission.
"We teach a lot of adults," she said. "But we're in this kid-friendly market doing these family centered things."
Keeping his young students focused is hard, Mr. Monday said. But they accept the premise of clowning much easier than adult students.
"Children are uninhibited. It's their natural state," he said. "That's what's tough with adults: They forget how to play."
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Woman sentenced for killing Little Elm officer
By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News
DENTON, Texas — A jury sentenced a 40-year-old Little Elm woman Thursday morning to 62 years in prison for the 2004 fatal shooting of her boyfriend, Little Elm police Officer Jonathon Wayne Irby.
The same jury took less than an hour Wednesday to decide Denise Miller was guilty
Miller shot Officer Irby in the back of the head on Dec. 9, 2004, in a rental home he was about to move into in the 400 block of Willow Lake Drive.
The six-year veteran of the Little Elm police force was found laying face down in a pool of blood the next day by fellow officers, who began searching for him after he failed to show up for his 6 a.m. shift Dec. 10.
Miller was found the next day in a Gainesville hotel room. She had attempted suicide, but survived a gunshot wound to the head. The gunshot wound left Miller paralyzed on the left side and in a wheelchair.
The murder, believed to be the first death of a police officer in the Denton County suburb, shocked the fast-growing city of about 19,000 people. A memorial service the day after his body was found drew hundreds of residents.
During opening and closing statements, Miller’s defense attorneys claimed the shooting was accidental. They cited a note found under a gun in the Gainesville hotel room that an expert handwriting analyst concluded Miller wrote.
“I accidentally shot him and then freaked out and ran,” the note said.
The defense called no witnesses and rested immediately after prosecutors finished their case.
During closing arguments, defense attorney Denver McCarty focused on unused bullets left on the kitchen counter of Irby’s rental home. He suggested that Irby could have taken the bullets out of the gun and Miller didn’t know any more were in the weapon.
“I suggest it’s reasonable she thought the gun was unloaded,” he said. “Why would you unload a gun after you killed someone?”
The handwriting analyst linked all three notes police found to Miller. Defense attorneys never denied she wrote them.
“Please forgive me and continue to pray for my soul,” said a note found at Miller’s home before Irby’s body was discovered.
The note found in the kitchen of Irby’s home was lying on the kitchen counter next to his cell phone and fanny pack.
“I’m sorry,” it read. “He was the best police officer that you had!”
By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News
DENTON, Texas — A jury sentenced a 40-year-old Little Elm woman Thursday morning to 62 years in prison for the 2004 fatal shooting of her boyfriend, Little Elm police Officer Jonathon Wayne Irby.
The same jury took less than an hour Wednesday to decide Denise Miller was guilty
Miller shot Officer Irby in the back of the head on Dec. 9, 2004, in a rental home he was about to move into in the 400 block of Willow Lake Drive.
The six-year veteran of the Little Elm police force was found laying face down in a pool of blood the next day by fellow officers, who began searching for him after he failed to show up for his 6 a.m. shift Dec. 10.
Miller was found the next day in a Gainesville hotel room. She had attempted suicide, but survived a gunshot wound to the head. The gunshot wound left Miller paralyzed on the left side and in a wheelchair.
The murder, believed to be the first death of a police officer in the Denton County suburb, shocked the fast-growing city of about 19,000 people. A memorial service the day after his body was found drew hundreds of residents.
During opening and closing statements, Miller’s defense attorneys claimed the shooting was accidental. They cited a note found under a gun in the Gainesville hotel room that an expert handwriting analyst concluded Miller wrote.
“I accidentally shot him and then freaked out and ran,” the note said.
The defense called no witnesses and rested immediately after prosecutors finished their case.
During closing arguments, defense attorney Denver McCarty focused on unused bullets left on the kitchen counter of Irby’s rental home. He suggested that Irby could have taken the bullets out of the gun and Miller didn’t know any more were in the weapon.
“I suggest it’s reasonable she thought the gun was unloaded,” he said. “Why would you unload a gun after you killed someone?”
The handwriting analyst linked all three notes police found to Miller. Defense attorneys never denied she wrote them.
“Please forgive me and continue to pray for my soul,” said a note found at Miller’s home before Irby’s body was discovered.
The note found in the kitchen of Irby’s home was lying on the kitchen counter next to his cell phone and fanny pack.
“I’m sorry,” it read. “He was the best police officer that you had!”
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TexasStooge
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Employee stabbed at Irving store
IRVING, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Two employees at a Sam's Club store in north Irving got into a fight Thursday morning that left one stabbed in the chest, according to Irving police.
Police were called to the store in the 1200 block of Market Place Boulevard near MacArthur Boulevard about 8:40 a.m.
A 35-year-old Irving man was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas in serious condition.
The other employee, an 59-year-old from Irving, fled in a vehicle. Irving police found him in Dallas, where he was arrested on charges of aggravated assault.
Police did not release the names of those involved.
IRVING, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Two employees at a Sam's Club store in north Irving got into a fight Thursday morning that left one stabbed in the chest, according to Irving police.
Police were called to the store in the 1200 block of Market Place Boulevard near MacArthur Boulevard about 8:40 a.m.
A 35-year-old Irving man was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas in serious condition.
The other employee, an 59-year-old from Irving, fled in a vehicle. Irving police found him in Dallas, where he was arrested on charges of aggravated assault.
Police did not release the names of those involved.
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TexasStooge
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Fatal wreck blocks Highway 380
MCKINNEY, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A fatal traffic accident blocked Highway 380 west of McKinney Thursday morning.
Aerial views of the scene appeared to show that a car collided with a dump truck on the four-lane highway near the Custer Road intersection.
The car was heavily damaged. The Collin County Sheriff's office confirmed that one person was killed in the wreck.
Motorists were advised to find alternate routes because the accident investigation was restricting traffic in the area.
Highway 380 is the primary east-west link between McKinney and Denton.
_____________________________________________________________
ALSO ONLINE:
Dallas/Ft. Worth Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
MCKINNEY, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A fatal traffic accident blocked Highway 380 west of McKinney Thursday morning.
Aerial views of the scene appeared to show that a car collided with a dump truck on the four-lane highway near the Custer Road intersection.
The car was heavily damaged. The Collin County Sheriff's office confirmed that one person was killed in the wreck.
Motorists were advised to find alternate routes because the accident investigation was restricting traffic in the area.
Highway 380 is the primary east-west link between McKinney and Denton.
_____________________________________________________________
ALSO ONLINE:
Dallas/Ft. Worth Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
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TexasStooge
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Toll workers recall close calls in booths
By MARY ANN RAZZUK / WFAA ABC 8
Sedelia Ware said speeders keep her on her toes while working as a toll collector in North Texas tollbooths. They have also trashed, mangled and caused damage to booths and cars.
"See this taxi cab driving through at a high rate of speed?" she said while watching a car fly through a toll. "The booth shakes. They go through so fast you jump out the way."
She has experienced the fear of a close-call many a time she said. One driver's dangerous search for change was one she remembers vividly.
"[He] looked down to get money and he flipped," she said. "He hit the barrier and his vehicle flipped right in front of our booth...I mean I have come to tears because of how close the experience has been."
In another incident, a truck took out three tollbooths after it crashed at the Wycliff exit in Dallas. All the booths were unoccupied.
Drivers in a hurry have also found themselves in trouble on the tollway. Two drivers found their cars literally sandwiched between booths after they made a race to the toll plaza.
"The picture shows them crammed in there, and they can't even get out of their cars because the doors are smashed between two toll plazas," said Donna Huerta, North Texas Tollway Authority.
Because of the rising numbers of accidents, tollway planners have fortified toll booths to protect workers. They put up barriers between express and cash lanes to prevent drivers from making last minutes decisions to cross over. They also added collapsible barriers to slow cars down and lessen the impact when they crash.
Meanwhile, Ware said she hopes drivers become more aware of the lives inside the booths.
"You have to slow down and think about us in the booth," she said. "...We're someone's mother. We're someone's daughter. We have families that care about us and we care about ourselves, and we want to get back home safe."
By MARY ANN RAZZUK / WFAA ABC 8
Sedelia Ware said speeders keep her on her toes while working as a toll collector in North Texas tollbooths. They have also trashed, mangled and caused damage to booths and cars.
"See this taxi cab driving through at a high rate of speed?" she said while watching a car fly through a toll. "The booth shakes. They go through so fast you jump out the way."
She has experienced the fear of a close-call many a time she said. One driver's dangerous search for change was one she remembers vividly.
"[He] looked down to get money and he flipped," she said. "He hit the barrier and his vehicle flipped right in front of our booth...I mean I have come to tears because of how close the experience has been."
In another incident, a truck took out three tollbooths after it crashed at the Wycliff exit in Dallas. All the booths were unoccupied.
Drivers in a hurry have also found themselves in trouble on the tollway. Two drivers found their cars literally sandwiched between booths after they made a race to the toll plaza.
"The picture shows them crammed in there, and they can't even get out of their cars because the doors are smashed between two toll plazas," said Donna Huerta, North Texas Tollway Authority.
Because of the rising numbers of accidents, tollway planners have fortified toll booths to protect workers. They put up barriers between express and cash lanes to prevent drivers from making last minutes decisions to cross over. They also added collapsible barriers to slow cars down and lessen the impact when they crash.
Meanwhile, Ware said she hopes drivers become more aware of the lives inside the booths.
"You have to slow down and think about us in the booth," she said. "...We're someone's mother. We're someone's daughter. We have families that care about us and we care about ourselves, and we want to get back home safe."
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Concrete block thrown onto I-45 injures woman
By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - A trucker was traveling on Interstate 45 when someone threw a piece of concrete off the Martin Luther King bridge and hit the passenger side area where his wife was sitting, Dallas police said.
According to the police report, the windshield shattered and sent glass flying into the victim's face after the concrete block hit the car, glass severely cut the cornea of the victim's right eye and she was taken to a hospital.
However, this isn't the first incident of someone throwing something onto a North Texas freeway.
A few days ago, a Dallas police officer nearly wrecked while driving home from work in her personal car. Someone had thrown a sledge hammer off an overpass and hit the passenger side of her car.
Police said people have been killed in similar incidents and warn suspects that if they are caught they face felony charges.
_____________________________________________________________
ALSO ONLINE:
- Dallas/Ft. Worth Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - A trucker was traveling on Interstate 45 when someone threw a piece of concrete off the Martin Luther King bridge and hit the passenger side area where his wife was sitting, Dallas police said.
According to the police report, the windshield shattered and sent glass flying into the victim's face after the concrete block hit the car, glass severely cut the cornea of the victim's right eye and she was taken to a hospital.
However, this isn't the first incident of someone throwing something onto a North Texas freeway.
A few days ago, a Dallas police officer nearly wrecked while driving home from work in her personal car. Someone had thrown a sledge hammer off an overpass and hit the passenger side of her car.
Police said people have been killed in similar incidents and warn suspects that if they are caught they face felony charges.
_____________________________________________________________
ALSO ONLINE:
- Dallas/Ft. Worth Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
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Deep Ellum seeks to fight crime through club permits
By CHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - Many residents and business owners in the Deep Ellum neighborhood said they are ready to get tough on club related crime, and are also ready to use city council regulations help do the job.
After 19 years of managing clubs and restaurants, John Brewer, who everyone calls Beard, has become a fixture in Deep Ellum.
"I remember the skinheads," Brewer said. "I remember all the yuppies. I remember when a lot of businesses started folding up, closing."
He also said he remembers when many dance clubs came in to replace the businesses and he watched the crowds, crime and cruising rise.
Under a new rule, Deep Ellum clubs will need to get a special use permit to stay in business, which proves to the city council they have security, crowd control and parking in place.
To make sure clubs remain good neighbors, the special use permit will have to be renewed once every one to two years.
For new clubs, the rule takes effect immediately and for existing clubs, they have 17 months to get their clubs and customers under control then they will need the permit if they want to stay in business.
Crime has become a big problem at Deep Ellum bars.
Police have been called to Club Hush 17 times, Club Nairobi 26 times and Club Uropa 79 times since the start of 2005
Barry Annini, with the Deep Ellum Association, said he believes taking action could help clean up the area.
"Instead of a right to be here, it's going to be a privilege to be here, and that's the direction the neighborhood wants to take," he said.
Beard said he believes the plan puts the burden where it belongs.
"They're going to need to keep their own house clean [and] keep things in order," he said.
By CHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - Many residents and business owners in the Deep Ellum neighborhood said they are ready to get tough on club related crime, and are also ready to use city council regulations help do the job.
After 19 years of managing clubs and restaurants, John Brewer, who everyone calls Beard, has become a fixture in Deep Ellum.
"I remember the skinheads," Brewer said. "I remember all the yuppies. I remember when a lot of businesses started folding up, closing."
He also said he remembers when many dance clubs came in to replace the businesses and he watched the crowds, crime and cruising rise.
Under a new rule, Deep Ellum clubs will need to get a special use permit to stay in business, which proves to the city council they have security, crowd control and parking in place.
To make sure clubs remain good neighbors, the special use permit will have to be renewed once every one to two years.
For new clubs, the rule takes effect immediately and for existing clubs, they have 17 months to get their clubs and customers under control then they will need the permit if they want to stay in business.
Crime has become a big problem at Deep Ellum bars.
Police have been called to Club Hush 17 times, Club Nairobi 26 times and Club Uropa 79 times since the start of 2005
Barry Annini, with the Deep Ellum Association, said he believes taking action could help clean up the area.
"Instead of a right to be here, it's going to be a privilege to be here, and that's the direction the neighborhood wants to take," he said.
Beard said he believes the plan puts the burden where it belongs.
"They're going to need to keep their own house clean [and] keep things in order," he said.
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Dallas bishop to offer resignation
Growth: He hopes for Hispanic successor to lead booming population
By JEFFREY WEISS and BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - Bishop Charles Grahmann, head of the Dallas Catholic diocese, will offer his resignation Saturday – an offer he said he hopes the pope quickly accepts. He turns 75 that day, the age when all Catholic bishops are required to send resignation letters to the Vatican.
How much longer Bishop Grahmann will serve is up to Pope Benedict XVI. But the bishop said he is ready to end his often-contentious 16 years in Dallas.
"I hope that he writes on my letter; 'You can go fishing,' " Bishop Grahmann said in an interview last week.
The bishop said he hopes his successor – who has not been named – is a Hispanic bishop with enough administrative experience to guide a sprawling, nine-county diocese divided by class and culture.
"He will have to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor," he said.
Bishop Grahmann will leave a legacy of massive growth – and appalling scandal.
When he took over in 1990, about 230,000 Catholics called the Dallas Diocese home. Today, the diocese counts almost 1 million – a growth rate more than three times that of the diocese's general population. Most of the new arrivals are Hispanic.
The scandal: Even before disclosures of child abuse by Catholic priests rocked the U.S. church elsewhere, the Dallas Diocese became infamous in 1997, with the civil trial of Rudolph Kos, who molested altar boys in three Dallas parishes.
Although much of the abuse happened before Bishop Grahmann came to Dallas, he was called to testify at the trial. A Dallas County jury decided that he and other church officials had been "grossly negligent" and had conspired to cover up the abuse and its aftermath. The jury awarded a total of almost $120 million to 11 victims. (Later, the diocese settled with the victims for about one-fourth of that amount. Mr. Kos, defrocked, is serving a life sentence.)
The Dallas Diocese will be dealing with the sex scandal's aftermath – legally and morally – for years to come.
Depending on whom one asks, Bishop Grahmann is either confident or stubborn, supportive of his priests or needlessly defensive, compassionate or unfeeling toward the abused.
"He is everything good," said Edmund Achu, who moved from Nigeria to Dallas 13 years ago. Like immigrants from many lands, he believes that Bishop Grahmann opened up a church that had been much more welcoming to Anglos.
"A train wreck," was the assessment of Wick Allison, publisher of D magazine and a prominent Catholic critic of the bishop. "He left the church with a very low morale, dispirited and with personnel problems rife throughout the organization."
Even some whose opinions of the bishop are not so extreme agree that the next man will be dealing with divisions in the diocese.
"The new bishop is going to really need to be a healer," said the Rev. Mark Seitz, pastor of St. Rita Catholic Community in North Dallas. "I think that work has, in many ways, begun. But there is much that remains to be done."
In 1990, North Texas was about to be hit with a tsunami of immigrant Catholics. Bishop Grahmann, who was born in South Texas, recalled last week how he asked his staff to plan for the kind of growth he had already seen happen in Houston. It was clear, he said, that the Dallas Diocese needed to better respond to the needs of Hispanics.
The most visible result of a yearlong study was the creation of Santa Clara of Assisi Parish, a mostly Hispanic church in west Oak Cliff, and the construction of a community center there.
"I was condemned for 'building a country club for illegal aliens,' " Bishop Grahmann said last week.
Many other parishes also had large numbers of Hispanics. As the number of American priests declined, Bishop Grahmann turned to Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and the Philippines to find Spanish-speaking clergymen.
"I wanted all of our parishes to be welcoming communities. I said all along that this is an immigrant church, like it was 200 years ago," he said.
Even some who disagree with the bishop in other ways agree that he succeeded in reaching out to the newcomers.
"The Dallas Diocese had really lacked any attention to the Mexicans and Latinos for years and years," said Albert Gonzalez, a funeral home owner who tangled with the bishop in 2003 over the sale and destruction of a historic Catholic school building. "He opened the door for us."
In 1990, the Rev. Rudolph Kos was, at least on the surface, a popular priest who had served in the diocese since 1981. He was also a child molester whose personnel file brimmed with warning signs.
But Bishop Grahmann never read that file, according to his testimony in the lawsuit. He let Father Kos remain in the ministry until 1992, despite additional warnings.The bishop said last week that he moved as quickly as he could against the priest.
"As soon as I had some proof that this happened, he was gone within 24 hours and never returned to ministry," he said.
The Kos lawsuit uncovered evidence that other abusers had been allowed to remain in ministry as well.
In 1999, the Vatican named Joseph Galante, a Philadelphia native then serving as bishop of Beaumont, Texas, as coadjutor bishop in Dallas. He was to govern alongside Bishop Grahmann and, presumably, succeed him.
Such transitions usually take less than a year, and some local Catholics hoped that would be the case here. But Bishop Grahmann refused to step aside early, and he and Bishop Galante wound up barely speaking to one another.
In 2002, Bishop Galante publicly criticized Bishop Grahmann for refusing to remove a prominent priest during another sex scandal. In 2004, the Vatican sent Bishop Galante to lead the diocese of Camden, N.J.
Bishop Grahmann said last week that he had made it clear to the Vatican and to Bishop Galante that he planned to stay until this year's big birthday.
The stalemate between the two bishops, along with continuing controversy about Bishop Grahmann's handling of sexual abuse allegations, led The Dallas Morning News to publish an editorial in November of that year calling for Bishop Grahmann's resignation.
James M. Moroney III, publisher of The News, went to the bishop's office the day before the editorial ran to tell him about it.
"He was very surprised, disappointed, upset to some degree," recalled the publisher, who is Catholic. "He asked me if we would reconsider."
Mr. Moroney said he replied that the newspaper would not reconsider. Bishop Grahmann, he said, "told me if he were me, he wouldn't want to have this issue to deal with when it came my time to face my judgment day. ... I felt like I was listening to one of my third-grade nuns at Holy Trinity."
The conversation hasn't stopped the Moroney family from giving to Catholic causes. Mr. Moroney's father, former News publisher James M. Moroney Jr., for example, donated $500,000 for a new bell tower at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe – one of Bishop Grahmann's pet projects.
Last week, Bishop Grahmann said that priest abuse was a symptom of problems in the wider culture and that he did the best he could with the information he had.
"You have to follow the advice that's given to you. You have to trust in the expertise that is assisting you," he said.
"I've gone over many, many times and rehashed the procedures that we went through. And with different groups of people, other professional people," he said. "And no one recommended that there was another way out of it."
Bishop Galante declined to comment.
Over his 16 years, the bishop beefed up the diocese's official opposition to abortion by revving up the Catholic Pro-Life Committee of North Texas. He appointed a woman, Mary Edlund, as his chancellor – a first for the diocese. He was a fixture on interfaith boards, panels and presentations. He made public political points about the need for government to assist the poor.
As recently as April, he was a speaker at the gigantic pro-immigration rally in downtown Dallas. The demonstration started at the newly renovated cathedral. The bishop spoke to the crowd in Spanish and English.
Others working for the same causes as the bishop consider him a valuable ally.
"I count it as one of the privileges of my ministry to get to know him and get a chance to work with him some," said the Rev. Gerald Britt, co-director of Dallas Area Interfaith and executive director of Central Dallas Ministries.
Depending on one's opinion of Bishop Grahmann, the next Dallas bishop either has large shoes to fill or a mess to clean up. He will take over an office that is only getting more important – almost one-third of the total population of the nine-county diocese is Catholic, with the number continuing to grow. At the same time, he'll need to reach across divisions that linger in the wake of the abuse scandal. And the diocese still faces several pending or expected lawsuits.
Count Juanita Miramontes among those looking for large feet. A charter member of the Santa Clara parish, she started as a volunteer at the Calumet Community Center built, along with the new church, and is now the center's executive director.
"I hope he has the same passion as this bishop, the passion for this community," she said. "I hope he is as supportive of the things we are doing."
Count William McCormack among the critics. A partner in the law firm Fulbright & Jaworski, he was one of the leaders of an unsuccessful 2004 petition drive to get the bishop to step down over his handling of the abuse scandal. But he's more interested in the future than in chewing over the past, he said this week.
He'd like to see the next bishop open the chancery to a broader spectrum of lay Catholics, "taking advantage of the human assets of this community to run a more successful diocese."
The Rev. Michael Duca was temporarily shifted this year from his full-time job as rector of Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Grand Prairie because the priest there was suspended after being caught with child pornography on his computer.
The next bishop needs to cast a unifying vision for the diocese, Father Duca said. "He has the advantage of riding above the past a little bit and moving forward," Father Duca said. "But you cannot ignore the past. It's not a past just attached to Bishop Grahmann. It's attached to our diocese."
The Rev. Robert Williams, pastor of Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Garland, is part of that past. He testified in support of the Kos victims who sued the diocese.
He suggests three goals for the next bishop: Working with immigrants (the once largely Anglo parish is now 80 percent Hispanic); digging out of the financial hole left by payments to abuse victims; and bridging the gap between the rich and poor.
The U.S. Catholic tradition has been to keep parishes independent financially, but that has left many in dire straits.
"We need to get away from that and recognize that the local church is the whole diocese," Father Williams said. Bishop Grahmann, he said, has encouraged but not mandated more sharing of resources.
That goal is on the outgoing bishop's own wish list. He sees a diocese split by money, one in which he says wealthy parishes offer far too little to churches struggling to get by.
"We have parishes with 40 or 50 employees, and other parishes that can't afford a secretary," he said.
Like some of his critics, the bishop suggests that his successor must be open to the laity. He says he has already set the example.
How does he balance his contention that he worked with lay Catholics with the highly public demands that he resign? Did he take those lay leaders and their demands seriously?
"Did I take them seriously?" he said last week. "I pray for them."
Growth: He hopes for Hispanic successor to lead booming population
By JEFFREY WEISS and BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - Bishop Charles Grahmann, head of the Dallas Catholic diocese, will offer his resignation Saturday – an offer he said he hopes the pope quickly accepts. He turns 75 that day, the age when all Catholic bishops are required to send resignation letters to the Vatican.
How much longer Bishop Grahmann will serve is up to Pope Benedict XVI. But the bishop said he is ready to end his often-contentious 16 years in Dallas.
"I hope that he writes on my letter; 'You can go fishing,' " Bishop Grahmann said in an interview last week.
The bishop said he hopes his successor – who has not been named – is a Hispanic bishop with enough administrative experience to guide a sprawling, nine-county diocese divided by class and culture.
"He will have to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor," he said.
Bishop Grahmann will leave a legacy of massive growth – and appalling scandal.
When he took over in 1990, about 230,000 Catholics called the Dallas Diocese home. Today, the diocese counts almost 1 million – a growth rate more than three times that of the diocese's general population. Most of the new arrivals are Hispanic.
The scandal: Even before disclosures of child abuse by Catholic priests rocked the U.S. church elsewhere, the Dallas Diocese became infamous in 1997, with the civil trial of Rudolph Kos, who molested altar boys in three Dallas parishes.
Although much of the abuse happened before Bishop Grahmann came to Dallas, he was called to testify at the trial. A Dallas County jury decided that he and other church officials had been "grossly negligent" and had conspired to cover up the abuse and its aftermath. The jury awarded a total of almost $120 million to 11 victims. (Later, the diocese settled with the victims for about one-fourth of that amount. Mr. Kos, defrocked, is serving a life sentence.)
The Dallas Diocese will be dealing with the sex scandal's aftermath – legally and morally – for years to come.
Depending on whom one asks, Bishop Grahmann is either confident or stubborn, supportive of his priests or needlessly defensive, compassionate or unfeeling toward the abused.
"He is everything good," said Edmund Achu, who moved from Nigeria to Dallas 13 years ago. Like immigrants from many lands, he believes that Bishop Grahmann opened up a church that had been much more welcoming to Anglos.
"A train wreck," was the assessment of Wick Allison, publisher of D magazine and a prominent Catholic critic of the bishop. "He left the church with a very low morale, dispirited and with personnel problems rife throughout the organization."
Even some whose opinions of the bishop are not so extreme agree that the next man will be dealing with divisions in the diocese.
"The new bishop is going to really need to be a healer," said the Rev. Mark Seitz, pastor of St. Rita Catholic Community in North Dallas. "I think that work has, in many ways, begun. But there is much that remains to be done."
In 1990, North Texas was about to be hit with a tsunami of immigrant Catholics. Bishop Grahmann, who was born in South Texas, recalled last week how he asked his staff to plan for the kind of growth he had already seen happen in Houston. It was clear, he said, that the Dallas Diocese needed to better respond to the needs of Hispanics.
The most visible result of a yearlong study was the creation of Santa Clara of Assisi Parish, a mostly Hispanic church in west Oak Cliff, and the construction of a community center there.
"I was condemned for 'building a country club for illegal aliens,' " Bishop Grahmann said last week.
Many other parishes also had large numbers of Hispanics. As the number of American priests declined, Bishop Grahmann turned to Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and the Philippines to find Spanish-speaking clergymen.
"I wanted all of our parishes to be welcoming communities. I said all along that this is an immigrant church, like it was 200 years ago," he said.
Even some who disagree with the bishop in other ways agree that he succeeded in reaching out to the newcomers.
"The Dallas Diocese had really lacked any attention to the Mexicans and Latinos for years and years," said Albert Gonzalez, a funeral home owner who tangled with the bishop in 2003 over the sale and destruction of a historic Catholic school building. "He opened the door for us."
In 1990, the Rev. Rudolph Kos was, at least on the surface, a popular priest who had served in the diocese since 1981. He was also a child molester whose personnel file brimmed with warning signs.
But Bishop Grahmann never read that file, according to his testimony in the lawsuit. He let Father Kos remain in the ministry until 1992, despite additional warnings.The bishop said last week that he moved as quickly as he could against the priest.
"As soon as I had some proof that this happened, he was gone within 24 hours and never returned to ministry," he said.
The Kos lawsuit uncovered evidence that other abusers had been allowed to remain in ministry as well.
In 1999, the Vatican named Joseph Galante, a Philadelphia native then serving as bishop of Beaumont, Texas, as coadjutor bishop in Dallas. He was to govern alongside Bishop Grahmann and, presumably, succeed him.
Such transitions usually take less than a year, and some local Catholics hoped that would be the case here. But Bishop Grahmann refused to step aside early, and he and Bishop Galante wound up barely speaking to one another.
In 2002, Bishop Galante publicly criticized Bishop Grahmann for refusing to remove a prominent priest during another sex scandal. In 2004, the Vatican sent Bishop Galante to lead the diocese of Camden, N.J.
Bishop Grahmann said last week that he had made it clear to the Vatican and to Bishop Galante that he planned to stay until this year's big birthday.
The stalemate between the two bishops, along with continuing controversy about Bishop Grahmann's handling of sexual abuse allegations, led The Dallas Morning News to publish an editorial in November of that year calling for Bishop Grahmann's resignation.
James M. Moroney III, publisher of The News, went to the bishop's office the day before the editorial ran to tell him about it.
"He was very surprised, disappointed, upset to some degree," recalled the publisher, who is Catholic. "He asked me if we would reconsider."
Mr. Moroney said he replied that the newspaper would not reconsider. Bishop Grahmann, he said, "told me if he were me, he wouldn't want to have this issue to deal with when it came my time to face my judgment day. ... I felt like I was listening to one of my third-grade nuns at Holy Trinity."
The conversation hasn't stopped the Moroney family from giving to Catholic causes. Mr. Moroney's father, former News publisher James M. Moroney Jr., for example, donated $500,000 for a new bell tower at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe – one of Bishop Grahmann's pet projects.
Last week, Bishop Grahmann said that priest abuse was a symptom of problems in the wider culture and that he did the best he could with the information he had.
"You have to follow the advice that's given to you. You have to trust in the expertise that is assisting you," he said.
"I've gone over many, many times and rehashed the procedures that we went through. And with different groups of people, other professional people," he said. "And no one recommended that there was another way out of it."
Bishop Galante declined to comment.
Over his 16 years, the bishop beefed up the diocese's official opposition to abortion by revving up the Catholic Pro-Life Committee of North Texas. He appointed a woman, Mary Edlund, as his chancellor – a first for the diocese. He was a fixture on interfaith boards, panels and presentations. He made public political points about the need for government to assist the poor.
As recently as April, he was a speaker at the gigantic pro-immigration rally in downtown Dallas. The demonstration started at the newly renovated cathedral. The bishop spoke to the crowd in Spanish and English.
Others working for the same causes as the bishop consider him a valuable ally.
"I count it as one of the privileges of my ministry to get to know him and get a chance to work with him some," said the Rev. Gerald Britt, co-director of Dallas Area Interfaith and executive director of Central Dallas Ministries.
Depending on one's opinion of Bishop Grahmann, the next Dallas bishop either has large shoes to fill or a mess to clean up. He will take over an office that is only getting more important – almost one-third of the total population of the nine-county diocese is Catholic, with the number continuing to grow. At the same time, he'll need to reach across divisions that linger in the wake of the abuse scandal. And the diocese still faces several pending or expected lawsuits.
Count Juanita Miramontes among those looking for large feet. A charter member of the Santa Clara parish, she started as a volunteer at the Calumet Community Center built, along with the new church, and is now the center's executive director.
"I hope he has the same passion as this bishop, the passion for this community," she said. "I hope he is as supportive of the things we are doing."
Count William McCormack among the critics. A partner in the law firm Fulbright & Jaworski, he was one of the leaders of an unsuccessful 2004 petition drive to get the bishop to step down over his handling of the abuse scandal. But he's more interested in the future than in chewing over the past, he said this week.
He'd like to see the next bishop open the chancery to a broader spectrum of lay Catholics, "taking advantage of the human assets of this community to run a more successful diocese."
The Rev. Michael Duca was temporarily shifted this year from his full-time job as rector of Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Grand Prairie because the priest there was suspended after being caught with child pornography on his computer.
The next bishop needs to cast a unifying vision for the diocese, Father Duca said. "He has the advantage of riding above the past a little bit and moving forward," Father Duca said. "But you cannot ignore the past. It's not a past just attached to Bishop Grahmann. It's attached to our diocese."
The Rev. Robert Williams, pastor of Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Garland, is part of that past. He testified in support of the Kos victims who sued the diocese.
He suggests three goals for the next bishop: Working with immigrants (the once largely Anglo parish is now 80 percent Hispanic); digging out of the financial hole left by payments to abuse victims; and bridging the gap between the rich and poor.
The U.S. Catholic tradition has been to keep parishes independent financially, but that has left many in dire straits.
"We need to get away from that and recognize that the local church is the whole diocese," Father Williams said. Bishop Grahmann, he said, has encouraged but not mandated more sharing of resources.
That goal is on the outgoing bishop's own wish list. He sees a diocese split by money, one in which he says wealthy parishes offer far too little to churches struggling to get by.
"We have parishes with 40 or 50 employees, and other parishes that can't afford a secretary," he said.
Like some of his critics, the bishop suggests that his successor must be open to the laity. He says he has already set the example.
How does he balance his contention that he worked with lay Catholics with the highly public demands that he resign? Did he take those lay leaders and their demands seriously?
"Did I take them seriously?" he said last week. "I pray for them."
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TexasStooge
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Worker killed at Saginaw oil rig
SAGINAW, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) — Tarrant County authorities are investigating after an oil rig worker in Saginaw was killed early Friday.
Police said the unidentified man fell 90 feet to his death at an XTO Energy installation on Bailey Boswell Road.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office said the worker had been wearing a safety harness, but the harness was apparently not connected to a safety line.
This is the second death at a North Texas XTO facility this year. A worker was killed in a natural gas explosion in Forest Hill in April.
No comment was available from XTO Energy.
WFAA-TV photojournalist Mike Zukerman contributed to this report.
SAGINAW, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) — Tarrant County authorities are investigating after an oil rig worker in Saginaw was killed early Friday.
Police said the unidentified man fell 90 feet to his death at an XTO Energy installation on Bailey Boswell Road.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office said the worker had been wearing a safety harness, but the harness was apparently not connected to a safety line.
This is the second death at a North Texas XTO facility this year. A worker was killed in a natural gas explosion in Forest Hill in April.
No comment was available from XTO Energy.
WFAA-TV photojournalist Mike Zukerman contributed to this report.
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