News from the Lone Star State

[rainstorm]

Juries summons tool will leave nowhere to hide

By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Dallas County will soon add another tool to try and get more people to show up for jury duty. The result of the new addition could be fewer requests in the future for potential jurors to come down to the court house.

Dallas County's current program pulls names from driver's licenses, voter registration and state identification cards. But that program hasn't proved to be very efficient.

Each week, Dallas County sends out 14,000 jury summons for criminal and civil courts.

And for some who answer the summons, they feel their role is important.

"It's your civic duty to serve as a juror and do whatever's necessary," said Cathy Murrow, part of a jury member pool.

But it seems not everyone feels the same. Many of those called in Murrow's jury member pool failed to show up.

However, it isn't always the fault of the potential juror. One reason people didn't make it to their call of civic duty is because almost one fourth of the jury summons sent go to out of date addresses. That shrinks the jury pool.

The low juror response became so serious last summer, a district judge sent deputies out to find people who didn't show up for jury duty to ask them why. Many of those found said they lived at a different address.

That new knowledge has led the county to change that. Starting in December, the county will tap into the national change of address database from the U.S. Postal Service. It lists the new addresses of people who have moved.

The county hopes it results with more people showing up for jury duty, and others not being called so much.

"Hopefully people are going to be summoned less often because we're going to go through our main file of jurors a lot slower," said Lori Ann Bodina, Dallas County Jury Service. "[With] more people showing up, less people need to be summoned."

Some of those who get a lot of jury summons are all for that.

"[It] will also probably allow, say for example, instead of me coming down here twice in one year...maybe [I] might just be [summoned] once every other year," said Stephen Smith, jury pool member.

The county will also save money in printing and postage costs with the new system.

County commissioners are scheduled to approve the deal next Tuesday.

i wish i was on a jury

[TexasStooge]

Toll increase plan has drivers asking 'Why us?'

By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Political opposition seems to be growing on a plan to increase tolls in 2007 on the Dallas North Tollway and George Bush Turnpike to help build a new toll road in Fort Worth.

The Dallas North Tollway and the George Bush Turnpike are rivers of steel, concrete and cash.

But the North Texas Tollway Authority said it may need more of that cash for two new projects. And to get those funds, they plan on higher tolls.

The two projects include the eastern extension of the George Bush Turnpike in northeast Dallas County and a new project that includes a separate toll road at Southwest Parkway in Fort Worth.

"Today we may be using some money out of Dallas or Collin," said Chuck Silcox, Fort Worth Mayor Pro Tem. "But tomorrow, Denton, Collin or Dallas could literally be utilizing the profits off of Southwest Parkway."

NTTA is looking at increasing the toll for a one way trip on the Dallas North Tollway from $2.10 to $2.30. For the commuter making a daily round trip over an average 21 work days in a month, that's more than an $8 increase.

On the Bush Turnpike, one way could go from $3.00 to $3.25. A daily round trip over 21 work days in that area would mean a $10 monthly jump.

Finding support from Tollway drivers wasn't easy.

"This is Dallas," said one driver. "Let Fort Worth pay for Fort Worth."

Another driver also expressed annoyance at the plan.

"I don't go over to Fort Worth," he said.

Those drivers seem to have a political ally in Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher.

"Since tolls are user fees, they ought not to have to be paying for a project that they are not going to use," Keliher said

Keliher claims Southwest Parkway should be self-supporting. Silcox does not agree.

"To charge a toll that would make it self-supporting would make it astronomical," he said.

But Keliher said there has already been a plan that has proven Silcox wrong.

"Robin Hood hasn't worked for education, and Robin Hood isn't going to work for transportation either," she said.

[TexasStooge]

Fears of second Plano heroin epidemic arise

By STEVE STOLER / WFAA ABC 8

PLANO, Texas - Danielle Haran remembers the Plano heroin epidemic during the late '90s all too well.

"I had four friends that passed away in almost a period of a year and a half," Haran said.

But Haran did not just lose friends; in many ways she also lost her sister to the drug. She said her sister got addicted to heroin and is still using.

After so many became addicted and died from the drug in the area, Haran said she has a difficult time believing young people are doing the powerful drug once again.

"It's like playing Russian roulette," she said. "It really is. I can't believe after all the people that have passed away because of it that it's actually coming back in."

While the problem hasn't reached the enormity of the '90s epidemic, officials said signs of growing use have beginning to appear in the area.

"We are seeing not a great deal of heroin use, but we are seeing a resurgence among teenagers and that is something we haven't seen since the late '90s," said Sabina Stern, director of the Collin County Substance Abuse Program.

Teens caught with drugs must go through counseling at Stern's program, and she said there's no question heroin is back on the streets.

"The young people who are using heroin today either did not live here or don't remember the messages that were given in the late '90s," she said.

That message Stern referred to was use heroin and you could easily wind up dead like many teens who died of overdoses in Plano during the '90s.

Tyri Williams' stepson became addicted to heroin in the late '90s and saw the destructive nature of the drug first-hand.

"It's the scariest thing I've ever faced," Williams said.

His stepson also came close to the fatal fate of many other students addicted to the substance during that time.

"He overdosed himself and almost died," Williams said. "If he wasn't at our house, he would have passed away."

However, Williams said he isn't surprised heroin is making a comeback.

"Plano, Frisco [and] this area is a very upscale community," he said. "They are going to be targets for drug dealers and drug use, so it's no surprise. It's shocking, but it's not surprising."

Drug counselors in the substance abuse program want to re-educate parents about what signs to look for to spot heroin use. Their goal is to get kids help before they are addicted or dead.

"Clearly the concerns are that people die when they use heroin," Stern said.

[TexasStooge]

To mom, death more than statistic

Soldier, one of 2,000 killed in Iraq, never questioned enlistment

By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News

CLANTON, Ala. – The death of her son came as the U.S. death toll in Iraq reached 2,000, a symbolic number that runs parallel to growing public anxiety over the war.

But numbers mean nothing to Ann Spence.

Drained of tears and slumped motionless in a dining room chair, she is immersed in grief for her firstborn.

Staff Sgt. George Alexander was distressed in the weeks leading up to his ninth trip to the Middle East. He moped around his mother's home. He complained of moodiness and depression but refused to see a doctor. And he told his minister that the continuing death and instability in Iraq were getting to him.

He dreaded going back.

The behavior was a drastic departure for the experienced and deeply patriotic infantryman who, as a young Army enlistee, had gone eagerly – almost hungrily – to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during Desert Storm.

But when August came, he packed up and shipped out again, trading peach trees and Southern cooking for combat missions and sand in his teeth.

Two months later, a Humvee carrying Sgt. Alexander and his best friend was blown apart by a roadside bomb. Sgt. Alexander died Saturday. His friend Staff Sgt. Alwin Cashe is hooked up to a breathing machine and fighting for his life in San Antonio.

At her modest house in Clanton, Ms. Spence folds and unfolds her hands, staring at her lap as she tries to articulate the pain. Every word is a struggle, but she doesn't need to say anything. The pain is written on her face.

"I'm heartbroken," she whispers, running a shaky palm over her matted, graying hair. "It's very hard to express the anger you feel. I never question God.

"But the first question you ask yourself is 'Why?' "

'Always in charge'

Thirty-four years ago, Ms. Spence gave birth to George Alexander Jr. in an Army hospital in Virginia, where her husband was stationed. The young family spent two years in Germany before the marriage fell apart, and Ms. Spence took her toddler back to her family in Clanton.

Ms. Spence tells this story in her overflowing and cluttered living room while gathering support in the eyes of solemn relatives.

As a child, she said, Sgt. Alexander was "always in charge." He organized the kids on this narrow block of tumbledown homes east of Clanton's railroad track into football and basketball games. He served as a junior officer at the Baptist church not one mile away. As tough as he tried to be, he was "as sweet as pie."

"He always wanted to be a father for everybody," she said.

But education wasn't his thing. When he graduated from Chilton County High School in 1989, Sgt. Alexander decided "12 years was enough" and turned his nose up at college, his mother said.

Ms. Spence wasn't about to let him sit at home. And in this farming town of 7,800, where peaches and Wal-Mart run the local economy, Sgt. Alexander swore he "wasn't going to flip hamburgers or wash cars," she said. "He was going to be a man."

The scrawny, dark-skinned teenager, with thick, wire-rimmed glasses and the first signs of facial hair, enlisted during the first war against Iraq. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga. In his first years in the service, he grew into a bulky 6-footer whose appearance surprised childhood friends. But he never lost his signature grin, his mother said.

Sgt. Alexander spent much of the past decade based at Fort Hood, Texas, which specializes in field exercises for heavy armor. But more often than not, he was overseas. He was a skilled tank gunner in a high-profile unit, family members said, and when soldiers were called to duty, Sgt. Alexander was the first to leave and the last to come home.

Strong family ties

In between tours of duty he met his wife, Killeen native Fina Graham, and they had a son, Jsai, now 8. Sgt. Alexander also has a daughter, 5-year-old Alexandria.

Ms. Graham and Sgt. Alexander have been separated a few years. But the children, particularly his son, brought out a new side of Sgt. Alexander, his mother said.

"He treated him like a little old king," Ms. Spence says, pointing over buckets of fried chicken and coleslaw – comfort food for this day of mourning – to the collage of baby pictures pasted to the refrigerator. "He didn't want anyone else to touch him."

When Sgt. Alexander was called to duty for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, his family in Clanton wasn't overly concerned; he'd been to the Middle East several times before and always returned without a scratch.

And he was diligent with his e-mails and Sunday night phone calls, brushing aside their worries with playful jokes and demanding good news – and lots and photos – from home.

His e-mails were short and sweet and hardly ever mentioned life in Iraq, his family said.

When he was in "home-mode," they said, he wanted to leave everything else behind. His only complaints were the extreme weather conditions (blistering hot days, freezing nights) and "eating a lot of sand," said longtime friend Thomas Coleman, who enlisted in the Army a year after Sgt. Alexander and now serves in the Army National Guard.

"The first time, he didn't have nothing bad to say about being over there," Ms. Spence said. "He told us he had a good friend, [Sgt.] Cashe, that watched his back."

But when Sgt. Alexander went back for his second rotation, his luck changed.

While running during a combat mission in Iraq last winter, he fell and broke his wrist. The injury required surgery and rehabilitation. He came back to the U.S. for treatment and was home for nearly eight months.

Mixed blessing

The time off was a mixed blessing. The slow pace of recovery frustrated him, but he couldn't get enough of his children. And he was never more at home than he was in Clanton, doting on his mother and sisters, chasing his dog around the living room and shooting the breeze with old friends under the American flag that dangles over the porch.

"His attitude was different," his sister Sasha Spence said, shoveling spoonfuls of vanilla pudding into the mouth of her squirming 2-year-old daughter. "He didn't have to say it. We could feel it."

Sgt. Alexander never second-guessed his decision to enlist. The Army had given him great opportunities, his sister said, and he intended to serve until retirement, just like his father.

Nor did he question the intent of the war in Iraq, his mother said, although, toward the end, it was clear he'd "done had enough."

As his time wound down, he became brooding and despondent, and Ms. Spence suggested he go see a doctor.

Sgt. Alexander resisted; he didn't want a diagnosis of depression on his military record. But he shared his anxiety with the Rev. Melvin Hunter, the family minister of 17 years.

In Iraq, Mr. Hunter said, Sgt. Alexander felt nervous and paranoid. He could never let his guard down and lived in fear of a surprise attack. This war was different. The enemy was so unpredictable.

"He said he was always having to watch his back," Mr. Hunter said, his wiry frame hunched over a cherry-red church pew. "Always having that sneaking feeling that he never knew what was going to happen, or from what direction." In the talks, Sgt. Alexander asked his pastor to pray for him, and he often recalled his favorite church anthem: "Watch, Fight and Pray."

"It was getting worse over there and he didn't want to go back," Mr. Hunter said. "But being in the service, it was an oath he had taken."

'A job to do'

In the first week of August, days before his 34th birthday, Sgt. Alexander left his family and returned to Iraq.

"He just kept saying he had a job to do," Ms. Spence said.

On Oct. 16, Sgt. Alexander seemed happy when he called his sister Sasha to check in. He teased her and asked for pictures of her new baby.

Within a day, the phone rang at Ms. Spence's house. Sgt. Alexander had suffered severe blast wounds and burns in a roadside bombing. His best friend and military brother, Sgt. Cashe, was in bad shape, too.

While Sgt. Alexander's family waited for an update, the Army sent him to Germany for treatment. By the time he was brought to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, there was little hope for him. He died Oct. 22. His death was announced Tuesday, the same day as two unidentified others.

The Pentagon, for political purposes, urged that no special attention be paid to the 2,000th death. Anti-war groups urged that extra attention be paid, for the same reason. The figure came about 400 days after the thousandth death, a rate of about 17 per week.

Sgt. Cashe is hanging on, in critical condition, at the same hospital where his best friend died. Ms. Spence and her daughters visited him last week.

This week, everyone was back in Clanton. They'll bury Sgt. Alexander on Saturday.

Yellow ribbons hug the trees and flags fly at half-staff in tribute to a hometown hero. This ritual has come to so many American towns since 2003, but Sgt. Alexander is the first soldier from this area to die in Iraq, Chilton County High School principal Larry Mahaffey said.

Not many of his high school graduates are interested in the military, Mr. Mahaffey said, but the military sure is interested in them.

"The recruiters are in here every day," he said.

[TexasStooge]

Highland Park students: Dress not offensive

Some say high school's theme days crossed racial line

By SCOTT FARWELL JOSHUA BENTON and KRISTEN HOLLAND / The Dallas Morning News

HIGHLAND PARK, Texas - Students at Highland Park High School dressed as gang members, rap stars, maids and yard workers this month during homecoming week – a tradition one Dallas civil-rights leader says is racially insensitive.

On senior Thug Day, students wore Afro wigs, fake gold teeth and baggy jeans. On Fiesta Day, which was to honor Hispanic heritage, one student brought a leaf blower to school.

"The scary part of something like this is you have to wonder how long these kids will continue to think this way," said Bob Lydia, president of the Dallas chapter of the NAACP. "These kids will be leaders of this country one day."

No students were punished, according to Highland Park High principal Patrick Cates. Fewer than a dozen students were asked to remove some of the clothing – bandanas and gold necklaces. The student with the leaf blower was asked to put the tool in his car.

Mr. Cates said the school's leaders will monitor the student council's selection of homecoming theme days in the future. Thug Day was not sanctioned by the school, but several students said seniors have dressed in gang-style and hip-hop attire for at least three years.

"The bottom line is that we need to maintain a healthy learning environment with no disruptions," Mr. Cates said. "When a few students take the opportunity to dress up and use it to make an inappropriate statement, we have a problem, and we will address that problem."

Helen Williams, the district's communications director, said 18 students were sent to the office on Thug Day for inappropriate attire.

No students were pulled out on Fiesta Day.

Students interviewed outside the school Thursday generally thought the reaction to the theme days Oct. 3 to 7 was overblown and that the activities were not offensive to minorities.

"Thug Day's been around as long as I can remember," said senior Ben Paschal. "This is the first time people have gotten upset about it."

Senior Katie Braden, who said she wore a LeBron James jersey that day, said she had heard that other high schools have a "Highland Park Day," when students dress up to make fun of Highland Park students. She considers it all in good fun. "It's not like we called it 'South Dallas Day' or anything," she said.

Lauren Perella said she wore a "wife-beater" tanktop and tennis shoes with only one sock. "We're just having fun," she said.

Katie said the theme days had been a subject of conversation among students recently, and that she'd heard that some teachers were offended. She said the student who showed up with a leaf blower crossed a line.

"I thought it was funny, but that's probably offensive," she said.

Elizabeth Carlock, the senior class president, said there's nothing racist about Thug Day.

"We had a 'Country Club Day' last year, and I don't see any difference between dressing up in country-club style and dressing up thug," she said. "We weren't being racist. It's Highland Park tradition."

Elizabeth said she wore baggy shorts and a Portland Trailblazers jersey on Thug Day. She said a teacher demanded that she sign a form acknowledging that she was not following the expected clothing theme of the day, Western-wear. She refused and was sent to the principal's office. "I wasn't breaking dress code," she said.

Some researchers say insensitivity is a direct result of the sort of racial isolation that exists in places like Highland Park.

"The reality is that they're ignorant of the lives of nonwhites – it's like a parallel universe," said Charles Gallagher, a sociology professor at Georgia State University who studies white perceptions of race. He has tracked the recent rise of racially themed events, such as so-called "ghetto parties," on university campuses.

"You have a community of adolescents who live in a complete white bubble," Dr. Gallagher said. Many Park Cities residents refer to their community as "The Bubble."

"If they have interactions with blacks or Hispanics, it's typically someone serving them a soft drink or the Mexican who cuts their lawn."

Highland Park High's student body is about 94 percent white. The school has six black, 65 Hispanic and 32 Asian students.

Dr. Gallagher said the increasing frequency of ghetto parties is linked to the emotional distance young people feel from the civil-rights movement.

"They think America is colorblind and that racism has disappeared," he said. "Color becomes a style – if a white kid wants to put on a FUBU shirt, he can do it. They can have something like this and say, 'I wasn't being racist – I was just playing with these symbols.'"

Elizabeth said both controversial theme days should continue, but that administrators should be more vigilant about sending home students who dress inappropriately.

"I apologize for the few students who were dressed inappropriately," she said. "But we were not being racist."

[TexasStooge]

Bodies found in Fort Worth field

FORT WORTH, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Two bodies were found Friday morning in a west Fort Worth field.

A woman driving to work noticed the bodies along Old Weatherford Road, just northwest of the Interstate 30-West Loop 820 interchange.

Police said the bodies were one black male and one white or Hispanic male, possibly in their 30s.

A large amount of blood was seen near the victims; police said it did not appear they had been involved in a motor vehicle accident.

An investigation into the deaths is under way.

Those in North Texas Region, watch News 8 Midday at noon for more on this developing story.


WFAA ABC 8
Police blocked off the area where the bodies were found.

[TexasStooge]

AA moves to D/FW's Terminal D

By SUZANNE MARTA / The Dallas Morning News

DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Texas - Tom Green hopes to spend Saturday morning in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's new Terminal D, reading the newspaper and sipping coffee.

That is, as long as everything goes as planned.

Mr. Green, American's project manager for the move to the international terminal, started working on the plans two years ago, coordinating departments and working contingency plans for every last detail.

After 6 a.m., American Airlines Inc. will welcome its first overseas passengers to the facility. Flights from Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao Paulo, Brazil and Santiago, Chile, all arrive within 17 minutes of each other.

Although D/FW's massive 2.1 million-square-foot international terminal opened in July, so far it has been dealing only with the airport's foreign airlines.

American's arrival marks the launch of full-scale operations.

For the past three months, Terminal D has handled about 20 flights per day. This weekend, American plans to start with 78 daily flights of its own, growing in the next few months to 115.

By far D/FW's largest carrier, American accounts for 84 percent of the airport's passenger traffic. At Terminal D, the carrier and its regional affiliate, American Eagle, will occupy 19 of the 28 gates.

"It's been a long time coming," said Jeff Fegan, D/FW's chief executive. "Come Saturday, international passengers will have a tremendous experience."

For the last several weeks, American staffers have been sweating the details.

A keyboard near one of the bag system controls has an "S" that doesn't work. A sign for the airline lounge says Admiral's Club, instead of Admirals Club. Gatehouse crew areas have soap, but no dispenser, a design error.

American's move into the $1.7 billion Terminal D – consolidating under one roof all international flights and customs operations – is no easy task.

Moving day

Much of the move is scheduled for Friday.

Around 2 p.m., when the first shifts end, American crews will begin loading the moving trucks with files and other office equipment.

Five hours later, 581 pieces of ground equipment used in the airline's international operations – tugs to pull luggage carts, loaders and hydraulic lifts – will begin the slow crawl across the airport, as gates at the other terminals serving international flights start to shut down.

Some planes will also move over to Terminal D after they discharge their passengers elsewhere at the airport.

Saturdays are the airline's lightest operational days, but everything will have to be in place to handle the initial crush of the three flights arriving from South America.

"We'll know pretty quick how things are going," Mr. Green said. "Our goal is that customers don't know it's our first day."

American staffers have done as much as they could in advance, stocking drawers with supplies, and loading printers with bag tags and boarding passes.

Mr. Green jokes that his job lately is to keep track of all the to-do lists.

"I even have a list that tells me what list to look at," he said.

Vendors are eager

For airport concessionaires, the arrival of the first American wide-body aircraft will be a welcome sight.

The vendors have been in a holding pattern since the summer, waiting for traffic to pick up. This week, a few were working to get everything in place, with employees stocking cabinets and studying training manuals.

Don Mitchell, who operates the Blue Mesa and Blue Bamboo restaurants in the international terminal in addition to several yogurt stands in other parts of the airport, will have crews working through the night to get everything ready.

"We'll be stocking the bars and getting nervous," he said, adding that his food isn't scheduled to arrive until today.

Like many concessionaires in the new terminal, Mr. Mitchell has been eager for American's move because he's kept several staffers on the payroll in the interim.

"We're just dying to open the doors," he said.

'Basically ready'

At the new Terminal D Admirals Club, Kevin Kendrew and Bill Stigliano zipped through the 21,000 square-feet club with a daily checklist to see that every detail is in place. After flushing each toilet to be certain they're in working order, Mr. Kendrew nearly jumped as a stall door slammed shut with a thunderous clap.

"Oh that's far too loud," he said, inspecting the felt padding that lines the door, and jotting down a note to get the door spring adjusted.

Mr. Kendrew and his crew have already hosted a handful of events at the club for key clients to get a sneak peek.

"We're basically ready," he said.

Still, near Gate 39, there's an information sign that didn't look quite right.

"Do we need to switch that arrow to go the other direction?" asked David Laubacher, who oversees sign installation at D/FW and was inspecting the area with Mr. Green a few days before the move.

Mr. Green sighed.

"Yep, there aren't any ticket counters down there," he said, after glancing down the concourse.

With a few more items checked off, and Mr. Green headed down to the bag sorting area, in the underbelly of the massive terminal.

The main reason for the three-month delay in starting operations was necessary tweaking of the terminal's baggage-handling system.

Given the complexity of the nearly six-mile labyrinth of automated belts, airline officials said they wanted everything to be just right before American's expected 30,000 bags a day were processed there.

Some changes, like taking non-American flights off the flight information monitors in the carrier's bag sorting area, may seem minor but can make a big difference.

"Our guys could get confused if there were two flights to Chicago or something," Mr. Green said.

Despite the myriad things that still need attention, everything is pretty much on track.

"We don't see any showstoppers out there right now," said Paul Pemberton, American's manager of ramp services, as he led Mr. Green through each station, pointing out adjustments that have been made and what's left to do. "We're looking pretty good."

[TexasStooge]

Exxon Mobil workers get fake flu shots

BAYTOWN, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - About 1,000 Exxon Mobil Corp. workers may have received fake flu shots at a health fair last week, and federal authorities want to know what was in the syringes.

Preliminary reports indicated the substance was not harmful, and no workers have become ill or shown any negative symptoms.

The FBI and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating what was in the syringes and whether others might have received the fake vaccine, U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said.

Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Treacy A. Roberts said the FBI told the company that what was administered "definitely not the flu vaccine and might not even be safe." But the FBI did not explain how they found out about the potential fraud, Roberts said.

"We are just holding our breath waiting for the results," Roberts said.

Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil offered blood tests and counseling to employees who received the shots.

Jeanne Miller, another Exxon Mobil spokeswoman, said a doctor provided the shots in Exxon's first use of an outside contractor to administer the shots. She declined to identify the doctor because of the federal investigation.

Miller said company medical staff had offered free flu shots at past safety fairs.

[TexasStooge]

BREAKING NEWS

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Two lanes of westbound Interstate 20 are closed at St. Augustine Drive due to a fiery multiple-vehicle accident. Details to come.

Live Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse

[TexasStooge]

TXU's 24 percent rate increase approved

By ROBERT GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Public Utility Commission approved TXU Energy’s request for a 24 percent increase in electricity prices Friday.

Commissioners said a state electric-deregulation law gives them no choice but to let TXU boost its rates to reflect higher natural gas costs.

“We’re bound to follow the law and our rules,” Commisioner Barry Smitherman said. The vote was 3-0.

State leaders have worked to cushion the blow on consumers, negotiating a deal with TXU and other incumbent electricity retailers for about half of the increase to take hold next month and the rest in January.

The increase would push the average North Texas electricity bill in January to $150 from $110 last year, based on 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity. TXU’s last price increase was in May.

Also, TXU has said it will let residential and small business customers lock in the January rates for the whole year. Other incumbents have offered discounts and joined TXU in offering breaks to low-income customers.

On Thursday, Gov. Rick Perry ordered state agencies to conserve energy and speed the licensing of new electric generating plants. He also ordered the PUC to carry out a campaign to educate the public about retail electric choice.

“It is imperative that consumers not only have choices in the marketplace, but that the state undertake conservation measures,” Mr. Perry said.

PUC Chairman Paul Hudson said he understands “the upwelling of anger directed at this commission” over the 24 percent increase.

“Let your outrage drive you to be the next one to switch,” he said.

About a quarter of North Texas residents have switched since most Texas consumers received the option to do so in January 2002.

Mr. Hudson said he’s often surprised by comments he hears from consumers, many of whom don’t understand that they can shop for a lower price for power.

The governor’s order to the PUC said the educational effort “shall emphasize that service will remain reliable if customers switch to a competitive retail electric provider.”

If power lines are knocked down in storms, said Commissioner Julie Parsley, “your electricity comes back on just as quickly,” even after a consumer leaves an incumbent provider.

“Same electrons, just sold by a different person,” she said.

Under the law, competitors may charge any rate they please. But incumbent power providers must receive approval from state regulators until January 2007 or until they’ve lost 40 percent of their customer base.

The PUC has to sign off on what is known as the price to beat. It is the amount incumbent providers may charge. It is based on a formula that tracks the price of natural gas, which has doubled in the past year.

A dozen companies offer electricity to customers in North Texas and on Friday, five charged less than the price to beat.

TXU Energy generates about half its electricity with natural gas. It uses nuclear plants and coal burning generators for the rest.

Paul Patterson, utilities analyst with Glenrock Associates LLC, said the PUC’s action should give the company a boost. TXU’s wholesale power business has done well in recent months, he said.

“There’s no question that they’ve got a competitive advantage with nuclear and coal plants. And on the retail side, this helps them because they’re allowed to pass on the higher expense of natural gas in wholesale power prices," Mr. Patterson said.

[TexasStooge]

Townhomes could replace Plano stadium

By MICHAEL REY / WFAA ABC 8

PLANO, Texas - Rice Field dates back to the early 1900s, and symbolizes long-ago days for Plano.

First used in 1917, Plano's first high school field - located between 16th and 18th streets near G Avenue - now hosts middle-school games.

Wayne Claycomb played there in the 1940s, and loves the flavor the field brings to his neighborhood.

"You can hear the hollering and all of that every time they have a game," Claycomb said. "It's exciting to have that close by."

But a proposed new look for the Plano neighborhood has many residents worried that the changes will produce more traffic.

New luxury townhomes are planned for the site where Rice Field sits today. It could soon be a modern, shiny tribute to continued change on the city's east side.

Plano has picked a Dallas developer to build new townhomes on the site, similar to ones already built closer to downtown near the historic Haggard area of Plano.

With nearly 100 units proposed, there would be more cars on the streets. Residents are concerned they could spill over into nearby neighborhoods, and say current issues with speeding vehicles would only get worse.

Dodging traffic makes Annette Storie exercise more than she would like on her daily walk.

"I've had to step back and watch them," said Storie. "I've had them even driving on the wrong side of the street."

Claycomb wonders if it will change the peace to which area residents have grown accustomed.

"It's very quiet," he said. "That's the reason we've stayed here for 50 years."

But, other neighbors look to the future rather than the past. They think the townhomes could drive prosperity.

"Change is hard to see immediately," said resident John Ledebur. "But in the long run, it might help this neighborhood."

[TexasStooge]

I-20 chain-reaction wreck sparks fire

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A gasoline tanker truck caught fire on Interstate 20 Friday afternoon after colliding with several other vehicles.

The wreck occurred about 12:20 p.m. on westbound I-20 between St. Augustine Drive and Dowdy Ferry Road. Authorities said the accident occurred amid a backup resulting from an investigation into a body found in a truck along the highway.

At least four people were transported to local hospitals, but their conditions were not believed to be life-threatening, Sr. Cpl. Steve Brien said.

It was not immediately clear whether they were from the first car or the subsequent vehicles that were struck. The truck driver was uninjured.

The accident led to closure of all westbound lanes for over an hour, causing a much larger backup. As of 2:15 p.m., two westbound lanes had been reopened to traffic.
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Live Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse

[TexasStooge]

Youth sports injuries a concern for parents

By STEVE STOLER / WFAA ABC 8

ALLEN, Texas - Kids love to play sports, and parents love to cheer them on.

But when a young football player is injured, it can be terrifying for everyone on the field and in the stands. Such was the case when a 12-year-old boy who was playing in Allen was seriously hurt.

With three minutes left in the game, Derek Fickle was getting ready to return a kickoff.

"I picked up the ball and I started running this way," Fickle said, pointing to indicate his trajectory across the field.

Then, the unthinkable happened. Fickle got hit twice by opposing players who were trying to tackle him - first on his neck and then on his back.

"I thought I just couldn't move at all," Fickle said. "It scared me really, really bad."

The 12-year-old player broke his back, fracturing two vertebrae. Fortunately, Centennial Medical Center nurses Jeff Hinkel and Cally Schoenhardt were on the sidelines.

"He would have waited three or four plays later and then got back in, and he problably would have hurt himself a whole lot worse," said Derek's mother Michelle.

"If he would've went back in for another play, it could have involved the spinal cord the next time," Schoenhardt said.

The Frisco hospital offered up the medical help to the 800-player Allen Football League, which stations nurses at every game.

"Today, you have a sixth-grader that may be a little sixth grader or a big sixth grader, so that mass versus mass is what's causing more injuries," Hinkel said. "I think you see more today than maybe you've seen in the past."

Michelle said she understands injuries are part of the very physical game of football, but she believes more can be done to make it safer.

"If there was possibly more training or coaching where the coaches knew how to prepare the boys for games, these types of injuries probably wouldn't be as intense as they have been," Michelle Fickle said.

Allen Football League officials said preventing injuries is their top concern. They require coaches to undergo extensive training.

"Every decision we make is made with the basis of safety, that's first and foremost," said AFL coach Darron George. "But like you say, you can't avoid it, it's a part of the game."

Fickle is still recovering from his broken back, but he's back at school and should eventually be fine and able to play football again.

His mother said while she's thought about not allowing him to return, she still wants him to do what he loves: playing football.

[TexasStooge]

Arts Magnet site will be safe, Dallas ISD says

By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - The Dallas Independent School District again assured parents, students and the public Friday that Nolan Estes Plaza will be a safe building when Arts Magnet High School classes pick up there in January.

In our exclusive reports the past three weeks, we showed how the district—facing a mid-December deadline—began remodeling the facility while office employees were still working. We were able to confirm that cancer-causing asbestos was present in the building, raising more air quality questions.

With most of the demolition now complete, DISD opened up Nolan Estes Plaza Friday to show some of the progress. "It's very critical that we do a good job here," said Deputy Superintendent Ron Peace.

The district started knocking down walls and ceilings in the building a month ago, with district employees still inside—exposing them to dirt and dust. DISD now concedes they needed protection.

"We were a little overzealous, possibly," Peace said.

After employees moved out, the district revealed it must remove asbestos floor tiles. They are now being torn out. "As we go through and make improvements and we find asbestos, we're abating it," Peace said.

Another concern has been mold. An air quality report in September reported a small amount of mold in ceiling tiles from a leaky roof. The District now confirms it found more mold as it stripped interior walls.

Anita Moran, the parent of an Arts Magnet student, remains skeptical. "This is the third or fourth time DISD has told us that the building will be safe," she said. "Each time they go a little bit further they discover yet something else."

The air quality report recommended repairing or replacing the roof. "We are able to identify mold that is not associated with a leaking roof," Peace said. "It may be associated with a water closet."

"Unless the roof is replaced, water will continue to infiltrate the building and mold will continue to grow," Moran said.

The district said it will remove out mold as it is found. Before the scheduled start of classes on January 4., an air quality test will be conducted and DISD promises to share the results with parents.

[TexasStooge]

Strong mayor supporters change tune

Dallas: Some on council withdraw support; critics suspect a political ploy

By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Fourteen vowed to put it on the ballot.

Nine signed on to campaign for it.

But in the days leading up to next week's referendum to increase mayoral power, some of the Dallas City Council members who designed the proposal are switching sides.

Both Ed Oakley and Bill Blaydes have lent their names to Working Together for Dallas, the political action committee leading the effort to defeat the measure.

Gary Griffith is leaning that way.

And Dr. Elba Garcia, who wouldn't reveal how she's going to vote, said her constituents have concerns about the measure and she won't campaign for it.

They join three of the council's four black members, who rescinded their support weeks after their constituents turned out in record numbers to defeat a strong-mayor ballot measure in May.

Critics suggest these council members never intended to vote for Proposition 1 – it was a political ploy, they say, to get voters to defeat May's "too-strong" mayor referendum.

But the most recent defectors blame Mayor Laura Miller's attempts to derail a council-supported tax abatement for billionaire businessman Ray Hunt for their changes of heart.

"The very thought of [Ms. Miller] having that authority is something I can't stomach," Mr. Blaydes said. "I am totally reversing my opinion."

To use that excuse, Ms. Miller said, is disingenuous. The council members intentionally crafted the measure to go into effect in 2007 after Ms. Miller's first full term ends.

"They like things just the way they are. They like the status quo. It's unfortunate," said Ms. Miller, who plans to vote for the measure she calls "two steps forward, one step back."

This spring, while Ms. Miller campaigned for May's strong mayor election, council members huddled around the horseshoe crafting an alternative. Defeat strong mayor, they promised their constituents, and we'll put a better compromise on the November ballot.

When the first strong mayor proposal went down in flames, the council kept their word. Under Proposition 1 – a governance hybrid untested anywhere in the United States – the mayor would hire and fire the city manager and craft the budget. His or her salary would double to $120,000. The city council would have the authority to fire the manager with a simple majority, and hire a budget oversight officer to balance the mayor's power.

This month, nine city council members endorsed Proposition 1 on campaign literature, including Mr. Blaydes, Dr. Garcia and Mr. Griffith. Mr. Oakley, lead architect of the measure, said he was waiting to hear from his constituents before he took a stand.

On Tuesday, the week after council deliberations over Mr. Hunt's tax abatement, the defections began.

At a town hall meeting, Mr. Oakley announced he would no longer support the measure. His constituents overwhelmingly were opposed to it, he said, and he was alarmed by what he described as Ms. Miller's combative behavior during the Hunt negotiations. After the same meeting, Dr. Garcia said she wouldn't campaign for Proposition 1.

On Thursday, Mr. Blaydes made a similar decision and sent an e-mailed his constituents, informing them of his change of heart. And on Friday, Mr. Griffith said that his support for the measure was wavering and that he was leaning toward voting against it.

"I have increasing concerns about the prospect that it would give us a more divided government," he said, "and that is not what Dallas needs at this time."

Ms. Miller isn't sure the council members ever planned to vote for the measure. They designed the proposal "in the heat of the moment," she said, when "the strong mayor campaign was under way and voters were demanding change."

But in the weeks leading up to the November election, she said, not one of them went out of their way to promote it.

"There's a sense ... that the council members were simply trying to defeat the strong mayor proposal back in May, and that they said whatever needed to be said to defeat it," Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson said. "Having done that, their natural instinct, which is to maintain their positions and not allow the mayor to have additional strength, is now returning to the fore."

Former City Council member Alan Walne, the co-chair of the stronger mayor campaign, said the Hunt ordeal may have irritated some voters – and some council members. But he doesn't expect it to change the outcome on Election Day.

"I not only think ... [Proposition 1] will pass; I think it should. It makes sense," he said.

Those representatives changing their minds at the eleventh hour are making decisions "from a political perspective," he said, "and not from a rational perspective of what's best for the city."

"I think it's unfortunate anyone would look at what's happened in a few events and make a judgment on the constitution of our city," he said.

Dallas political consultant Pat Cotton knows the opposition movement started late in the game. And it's hard to compete with the money on the other side – the Dallas Citizens Council and the Greater Dallas Chamber have contributed a combined $300,000 to ensuring Proposition 1 passes.

But she said she thinks people are rethinking their support of the measure and fear granting the mayor unilateral authority. Several former City Council members and city managers have signed on to the opposition effort, as have the city's main police and fire associations and the Northeast Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

"We've got to expose the flaws in this," Ms. Cotton said. "We've got to tell people this was not the panacea everybody wanted."

Dr. Jillson expects Proposition 1 will fail on Nov. 8 – the result of a "lack of interest and enthusiasm" from Dallas voters. And that's OK with Mr. Blaydes.

"If we want to re-look at it four years from now or two years from now, we can," he said.

But council member Ron Natinsky said the measure is a necessary step in the right direction – and ought to pass now.

"The council did vote for it," he said. "If you make a commitment that you're going to do it ..."

[TexasStooge]

Science, TV revive interest in cold cases

By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH, Texas – For years, Rosa Maria Clarke wondered if police would ever find the person who raped and killed her daughter.

Vanessa Villa, 11, was found beaten in her North Side bedroom on Aug. 3, 1986, after someone opened a bedroom window, removed a fan and entered the family's home.

"Always, I wondered what happened to my little girl," said Mrs. Clarke, 56. "She would be 31 now. She was a happy girl, always helping me. She worked hard. She had a job at 11, and she always tried to give her money to me."

Her slaying was a true cold case. But thanks to Manny Reyes, the Fort Worth Police Department's only detective exclusively assigned to investigate cold cases, an arrest was made using a DNA sample from a family acquaintance who was one of the first mourners at the girl's funeral.

Ex-convict Juan Ramon Segundo, 42, is awaiting trial on a capital murder charge in Vanessa's death. It is one of 19 cases the Police Department credits Detective Reyes with solving.

"It felt good to call the family and say, 'We got him,' " Detective Reyes said.

The growing number of arrests in cases 20, 30 or even 40 years old can be attributed to science and the willingness of police departments like Fort Worth to focus efforts on them, experts say.

Science and television shows about cold cases also have driven interest in these special units, said Tory Caeti, associate professor of criminal justice at the University of North Texas.

"There's been a lot of media attention to those kind of units," Mr. Caeti said. "Once A&E started that Cold Case Files show and solved some old murder, everyone else became interested, and that's a good thing because a lot of these crimes are getting solved."

"The other thing is science and technology has caught up with the crimes," he said. "In the '50s and '60s, they didn't have the DNA, so with these reopened cases, they're able to do some testing."

Most large cities have departments that review unsolved homicides, he said.

Dallas, Arlington and Collin County all have detectives working cold cases. There is also a unit operated by the Texas Rangers.

A haunting case

The files in Detective Reyes' office are filled with photos, newspaper clippings and witness statements.

Nineteen years ago, Detective Reyes attended Vanessa's funeral, and when he began investigating, he learned that Mr. Segundo also had attended.

"He was one of the first ones to sign the register," said Detective Reyes, leafing through files to retrieve the book.

"I was also at the funeral. I shook that guy's hand," Detective Reyes said. "The mom introduced me to all of the people who were there. He doesn't remember me, but I was there."

Detective Reyes said the case haunted him because the girl was alone for only about a half-hour. The killer, he said, apparently knew the girl's family was out running errands.

Mr. Segundo, who has convictions for burglary and DWI, was arrested in Johnson County after a national DNA database linked him to the girl.

Fort Worth began its crackdown on cold cases in 2002, asking homicide and major case officers to add those investigations to their workloads, said Police Chief Ralph Mendoza.

"It allows, for most of these families, closure where they didn't have that in the past," Chief Mendoza said. "From my perspective, it adds additional hope to other families. When you gain the trust of the public, there is a greater tendency for people to report things."

Hefty workload

The city has a backlog of 760 unsolved homicides, officials said.

Among the cases that plagued the department was a 20-year-old crime spree that left several women dead across parts of Fort Worth and Arlington.

In June, police got a big break in the serial killings when career criminal Curtis Don Brown was arrested and charged in the 1986 death of Jewel Woods and the 1985 death of Terece Gregory, 29.

Mr. Brown is a suspect in the deaths of 23 other women, but those investigations will run well into next year, Detective Reyes said.

Cold cases, he said, require a good deal of time and patience.

"This is nothing like television where they solve the case in less than an hour," Detective Reyes said.

He talks often with families about the last days of their loved ones, always pushing for a clue or a tip that may seem innocuous but could provide a big lead. Often, nicknames are one of the best clues because they show up in police reports from other cases, Detective Reyes said.

It was science that led officers to Mr. Segundo. A DNA profile obtained from Mr. Segundo during his imprisonment matched evidence left at the crime scene.

The arrest, Mrs. Clarke said, ended the mystery about her daughter's slaying.

"I cried for about 10 years," said Mrs. Clarke, who found her daughter barely alive when she returned home after running errands. "I see Vanessa, and there is no movement. I put the lights on, and, oh, it was terrible. Her heart was still beating."

Vanessa lived for a couple of more hours before dying at a local hospital, Mrs. Clarke said.

"I was so happy when Manny called me," she said. "I thought the police had forgot. For sure, God don't forget nothing, and he didn't let them forget."

[TexasStooge]

Yard sign addressed to whites inflames city's racial tensions

Irving: Owner says she wants to encourage participation in retreat

By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING, Texas – Nancy Wilson doesn't know what the fuss is about.

She wants white residents to show up at a city retreat next week, so she placed a sign in her yard that reads: "WHITES - BE THERE TO BE SURE WE ARE HEARD!"

Ms. Wilson doesn't consider the sign racist, but some residents say the sign is insensitive. Reaction to the placard follows recent events that some say have fanned racial tensions in the city.

Ms. Wilson, a familiar face at City Hall known for wanting stronger code enforcement, says she wants to encourage white people to attend meetings about the city's comprehensive plan that start Thursday.

She says she's grown tired of residents who complain about issues but don't do anything about it. She wants white residents to show up to present their perspective at the retreat, which will focus on team building, safety and neighborhoods.

Ms. Wilson says she's not racist.

"Is it a sin to say 'white?' " she asks.

Liz Pierucci, who saw the sign as she drove to a friend's house in the neighborhood just north of State Highway 183, found the placard shocking and unnerving.

"It's 2005," said Mrs. Pierucci, a Mexican-American. "It seems so backward.

"It almost seemed like a call to arms," the Irving resident added. "When you put 'whites' out there, the tone seems to be that we've got to be united because there's something that's shaming us."

Community activist Anthony Bond, past president of the NAACP's Irving chapter, is disappointed with what he calls a racist sign.

"I think she has good intentions, but she has become a fanatic," he said. "She has just gone off the deep end."

Council member James Dickens said he wouldn't have put up a sign like Ms. Wilson's.

"It may not be racist but ... I certainly wouldn't be promoting any one race over another," said Mr. Dickens, the council's lone Hispanic.

The sign is the latest episode regarding racial tension in Irving.

A mayoral candidate ran an ad in a newspaper this year asking residents if they were "tired of the neighborhood businesses that look like they belong in a Third World country."

Results of a recent city survey included dozens of negative comments about Irving's growing minority population, including: "Quit pandering to illegal immigrants." Black and Hispanic students were involved in a fight this year at Irving High School. And, in January, a Hispanic man said he was struck by an Irving police officer. The officer was later fired.

City officials are addressing race relations in Irving, where Hispanics make up about 31 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2000 data. Residents gathered this month at a diversity discussion, which Ms. Wilson says she attended. City officials hope to incorporate diversity into next week's comprehensive plan retreat.

Ms. Wilson said she supports Hispanics and other minorities who want to attend the meetings.

Many at City Hall know Ms. Wilson, a 22-year Irving resident who sounds off at City Council meetings about the need to get tougher on code enforcement.

"I don't want Irving to become a slum that everybody dreads to drive through," she says.

Ms. Wilson plans to keep up the sign until the retreat.


NATHAN HUNSINGER/Dallas Morning News
Ms. Wilson, who erected this sign in her yard, says she's trying to encourage participation in a city retreat. But some Irving residents consider the sign insensitive and racist.

[TexasStooge]

With arts festival, Main Street thrives as a main attraction

Irving: Association gives its all to keep downtown growing

By DEBORAH FLECK / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING, Texas - Main Street isn't what it used to be.

As many cities grow and change, their once-bustling downtown areas, usually centered on a street named Main, become ghost towns.

Irving's Main Event Arts and Crafts Festival is just one of several events the city offers to draw crowds back to downtown.

The festival will take place Saturday along Main Street in Heritage Square, the heart of Irving's downtown.

The heart and soul of the festival is Pat Cook, president of the Irving Downtown Association.

She and a corps of dedicated association members want to see downtown come back to life.

"I think it gets better every year, and little by little we get new business," Ms. Cook said. "We just keep hanging in there."

Ms. Cook owns Clothes Quarters, a consignment shop on Main Street that she took over nearly 12 years ago.

"The former owner moved, and I wanted to do something different," she said. She previously worked in marketing for McDonald's and ran activities for its downtown location on Irving Boulevard.

A native of Hillsboro, Ms. Cook moved to Irving from Dallas in 1955. She has worked for and organized the festival since 1981, four years after it started.

Her partner is Diane Mannon, a festival volunteer since about the mid-1990s. "Pat and I have been friends for many years," Ms. Mannon said. "When I met her volunteering for Holiday Helpers, I made the mistake of telling her I was looking for something to do."

She has been volunteering ever since. She is a member of the Irving Heritage Society and the downtown association.

"I love the downtown area and the history there. We need to do all we can to preserve it," Ms. Mannon said.

"So many don't even know we have a downtown."

In 1992, Irving adopted a plan and adopted ordinances to encourage redevelopment downtown. Eight years later, Irving became a National Main Street City.

One development that may spur downtown growth is the Trinity Railway Express.

"There are plans to improve the rail corridor and that will help," Ms. Mannon said. "The trains seem really full lately."

One lifelong Irving resident, Jeanne Brown, is a big fan of the festival.

Her company, Brown's Funeral Home, is one of three sponsors. "My husband [the late Ben F. Brown] was a great supporter of Irving, and he was glad to have the chance to herald city events," Mrs. Brown said.

She is glad to see the changes that have started in downtown, such as Millennium Fountain, Centennial Park and improvements to some buildings.

"All downtowns have a degree of decline and upheaval," Mrs. Brown said. "But it is contagious and heartwarming to see the devotion to Irving by so many."

Ms. Cook's devotion is unwavering. "The best part is the satisfaction of seeing everyone enjoy the festival," she said.

[rainstorm]

Bodies found in Fort Worth field

FORT WORTH, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Two bodies were found Friday morning in a west Fort Worth field.

A woman driving to work noticed the bodies along Old Weatherford Road, just northwest of the Interstate 30-West Loop 820 interchange.

Police said the bodies were one black male and one white or Hispanic male, possibly in their 30s.

A large amount of blood was seen near the victims; police said it did not appear they had been involved in a motor vehicle accident.

An investigation into the deaths is under way.

Those in North Texas Region, watch News 8 Midday at noon for more on this developing story.


WFAA ABC 8
Police blocked off the area where the bodies were found.

thats horrible

[TexasStooge]

Teen killed in Arlington wreck

ARLINGTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Police said speed may have been a factor in a deadly accident late Saturday night that claimed the life of a teenage boy.

The victim's car crashed into a utility pole just before 11 p.m. in the 2200 block of East Abrahm Street in Arlington.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office identified the dead teen as Bradley Rosas, 17, of Arlington.

A second person in the Honda sedan was injured and taken by air ambulance to a local hospital. The condition of the survivor was unavailable.

WFAA ABC 8 photojournalist Bryan Titsworth contributed to this report.