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#3121 Postby TexasStooge » Sun Nov 06, 2005 3:51 pm

Girl shot, killed in Dallas backyard

By BERT LOZANO / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - A four-year-old Mesquite girl was killed Saturday afternoon by a single shot fired from a pellet gun. Police said her five-year-old cousin pulled the trigger as the two children were playing.

A family member said the children found the gun behind a washing machine on the back porch of a relative's house in the 1100 block of Whitley Drive in Southeast Dallas, near Lake June Road and Loop 12.

The girl, identified as Esmerelda Contreras, died in surgery at Children's Medical Center Dallas.

"This is a very quiet family," said Raquel Coronado, a neighbor. "They are very traumatized."

Contreras rushed to the home when she saw police and paramedics outside.

Investigators said a five-year-old boy shot his four-year-old cousin in the neck with what police described as an air-powered pellet rifle.

Police said the tragic incident was a "total accident."

"He's a very young child," Dallas police spokesman Sgt. Kelsey Hines said. "He probably couldn't tell the difference if it had been a real gun. He probably couldn't tell the difference."

The family told police the gun belonged to the boy's father. "Any type of gun like that—even though it's not a firearm per se—could be dangerous," Sgt. Hines said. "This is one of those accidents."

Police did not say whether the owner of the pellet gun would face any charges.
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#3122 Postby TexasStooge » Sun Nov 06, 2005 3:56 pm

The Dallas Morning News takes home ten Katies

Al Día, DallasNews.com, WFAA, KHOU also honored by press club

By ESTHER WU / The Dallas Morning News

Representatives of Belo Corp. took home two of the top awards Saturday night as the Press Club of Dallas hosted the 47th annual Katie Awards. The J.B. "Buck" Marryat Award went to Robert W. Mong Jr., editor of The Dallas Morning News, and the 2005 Legacy Award went to KHOU CBS 11 in Houston.

The News was honored with six additional Katies, and DallasNews.com received three. Al Día, the Spanish-language newspaper published by The Dallas Morning News, won three awards, including Best Spanish Newspaper.

"We do a lot to help our readers look out for themselves by doing first-rate investigative and enterprise reporting," said George Rodrigue, The News' managing editor. "So it's good to see that the judges recognized this."

DallasNews.com and CowboysPlus.com were named the Best News Web Site. DallasNews.com also received awards for Content and Graphics.

WFAA ABC 8 in Dallas was honored with six awards, including two for general and specialty reporting and four for visual communications and editing. Besides the Legacy Award, KHOU was honored with another Katie for investigative reporting.

Belo, which owns The Dallas Morning News, WFAA and KHOU, was awarded a total of 21 awards this year among its various newspaper, broadcast and online holdings.

The annual awards are given in recognition of excellence in print, online and broadcast journalism, and mass communications throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram received nine awards this year, including Best Major Market Newspaper. The Knight Ridder newspaper's awards also included: best spot news story; best business story; best series; best illustration portfolio; and two photo awards.

The Dallas Morning News staff was honored for News Page Layout. Columnist Jacquielynn Floyd received the Best Feature award for "The Face of Courage."

Education reporters Joshua Benton and Holly K. Hacker won the Investigative Reporting award for "Cheating in Texas Schools."

Pete Slover received the Best Government/Political Story award for "The CBS Memo Mistake."

Sports writer Bill Nichols was honored for "Tiger Woods Misses the Cut," and Kevin Sherrington for his column on Ray Johnston.

WFAA's Byron Harris and William Hicks were honored for "Soldier Down," while John Lane, John McCaa and P.J. Ward received a Katie for "Saluta Il Papa." The station won awards for sports and feature video photography and editing.

KTVT CBS 11 (in Ft. Worth) anchors Karen Borta and Tracy Rowlett were named Best Anchor Team and Jay Gormley was named Best Field Reporter.
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#3123 Postby TexasStooge » Sun Nov 06, 2005 4:01 pm

Schooled in laptop ideas that clicked

Irving ISD: District hosting symposium on effective strategies

By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING, Texas - You can put a laptop in the hands of every child, but how do you use it to effectively teach?

That will be the focus of the second annual one-to-one laptop symposium at The Academy of Irving ISD on Friday and Saturday.

More than 200 educators from school districts throughout the country with similar programs will gather for the invitation-only meeting. They are coming from as far as Maine, South Carolina and California.

Irving ISD made a name for itself as a technology innovator when it handed out laptops to every high school student.

"Irving had been kind of a Lone Ranger in this in the state of Texas until last year," said Alice Owen, the district's executive director of technology. "We just wanted to get together with other people and see how they are doing it. And since we've been a leader in the state, we wanted to share our knowledge."

Ms. Owen described the meeting as a networking event that gives teachers the opportunity to exchange ideas.

The keynote speaker will be David Weinberger, a commentator and one of the authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto, a Web site that later became a book about how the Internet is changing business and the marketplace.

A former governor of Maine, Angus King, will also discuss a program developed during his tenure that provides a laptop to every seventh- and eighth-grade student in the state.

Under the Texas Immersion Project, funded by the Texas Education Agency, de Zavala is the only middle school in Irving with a one-to-one program.

Gina Fletcher, instructional technology specialist at de Zavala, will present several school projects at the conference. In one, students researched life in colonial America and designed related Web sites. In another project, students used digital cameras to illustrate vocabulary words and then used the images on their laptops to help them study.

"The goal is still teaching the curriculum, and if technology isn't getting us there, we don't use it," she said. "Some lessons lend themselves to technology more than others."
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#3124 Postby TexasStooge » Sun Nov 06, 2005 4:02 pm

Marking the past for all to see

Irving: State notes five more historical sites, brings city total to 49

By DEBORAH FLECK / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING, Texas - The past is alive in Irving. The city recognized its rich history on Saturday as it dedicated State of Texas Historical Markers at five sites.

That makes 49 historical markers throughout the city – 16 state markers, eight Heritage Society markers and 25 Irving Centennial Celebration Task Force markers.

Keeping track of all these markers is the city's senior archivist, Jan Hart. She organized last week's dedication ceremonies for the Bear Creek Community, the Sowers Community, the Dr. D.W. Gilbert homestead site, the Kit Community and the Union Bower Community.

"She did a great job organizing the event," said Buddy Frazer, chairman of the Dallas County Historical Commission. Mr. Frazer, along with Deputy Mayor Pro tem Beth Van Duyne, spoke Saturday at each site.

"We had a good turnout," Ms. Hart said. "A group of people came on the bus to all the sites, and others just came to certain sites."

Each site had a guest tied to the area's history.

The sisters of the late Jackie Mae Townsell – Helen Mosely and Imogene Rogers – attended the Bear Creek community dedication. Ms. Townsell, the longest-serving Irving City Council member, grew up in the community and ran a grocery store and cafe there for 38 years.

Dr. Clay Gilbert, the grandson of Dr. D.W. Gilbert, helped dedicate the marker at the site of the Gilbert homestead, which is now home to a RadioShack and a Blockbuster.

At the Sowers Community site on Pioneer Drive, Bessie Ramsey spoke about what it was like to own a store there many years ago.

Some of the "Union Bower Brats," residents who grew up in the community in the1940s and 1950s and still keep in touch, came to watch the area be recognized.

Louise Henderson and state Rep. Linda Harper-Brown talked about their experiences growing up in the Kit community, an area east of Irving that gradually merged into the city.

After the dedications, the city held a reception at the Community Building downtown.

To learn more about the state historical marker program, visit http://www.thc.state.tx.us.
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#3125 Postby TexasStooge » Sun Nov 06, 2005 4:03 pm

Early voting ending

Amendments, other changes proposed in cities, school districts

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/The Dallas Morning News) - Early voting ends today in northwest Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties for Tuesday's election on state constitutional amendments and local elections.

Voters in Irving will decide on nine proposed city charter amendments, including proposals to enhance the powers of the boards of the arts center and the convention and visitors bureau.

Irving residents also will vote on letting only the City Council appoint the city secretary. In addition, voters will decide whether to make it easier for city employees to get retirement benefits.

Three candidates are vying for a seat on the Coppell school board. Business consultant John Hart, homemaker Kimberlee Mobley and lawyer James David Apple are running for the Place 2 seat left vacant by Allen Mushinski, who resigned in July because he moved out of Coppell.

In Denton County, voters will decide whether to legalize beer and wine sales by businesses in cities and large areas of unincorporated eastern Denton County in Justice of the Peace Precinct 2.

In Highland Village, a $2.5 million bond proposal is up for consideration. The package includes money to muffle noise at railroad crossings, add a fire station and improve Chinn Chapel Road.

In Tarrant County, the hottest issue is in White Settlement, where voters will decide whether to change the city's name to West Settlement.

Pantego and Sansom Park are asking voters to reauthorize quarter-cent sales taxes for streets, and Richland Hills voters will decide whether to convert three-eighths of a cent of a half-cent sales tax for economic development to create a crime control and prevention district.

Hurst voters will consider six bond propositions worth $11.8 million that would pay for projects including a new fire station and street and drainage improvements.
Last edited by TexasStooge on Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#3126 Postby TexasStooge » Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:21 pm

Plane crash kills pilot, grandson in Spring

SPRING, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - A small plane attempting to land at a regional airport Sunday hit power lines before smashing into at least one car on a nearby road, killing a man and his grandson on the plane and injuring a person in a car, authorities said.

Roland Herwig, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the plane was inbound to David Wayne Hooks Airport just northeast of Houston when it crashed just before 8 a.m.

There were conflicting reports on how many vehicles were hit on the ground. The FAA and the state Department of Public Safety said the plane hit one vehicle. But Lauren Peduzzi, a spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said two vehicles were hit.

DPS spokesman Tom Vinger identified the victims as pilot Robert James Little, 55, of Spring, and Little's 10-year-old grandson, Robby Austin Little, of Pearland.

Vinger said the crash occurred as the two were returning from visiting family in Fredericksburg. He said the plane hit the top of a utility pole and an oncoming car before rolling several times.

Vinger said Laura Pratt, of Spring, was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

He said the FAA and NTSB are investigating whether foggy conditions contributed to the crash and if the plane was low on fuel. The road where the car was hit runs parallel to the landing strip.

The FAA's aircraft registry said the 7-year-old Piper PA-34 Seneca was registered to Victor Zurcher, of Hampshire, Ill. When reached by phone on Sunday, Zurcher said he sold the plane last month. Zurcher said he did not remember the name of the buyer.

Peduzzi said investigators were driving to the scene from Arlington, Texas, and were expected to arrive late Sunday afternoon.

The fatal crash was the second in two days in the Houston area.

On Saturday, a small jet crashed shortly after takeoff at Hobby Airport, killing both people on board.

Peduzzi said the Cessna Citation 500 got 50-100 feet off the ground, veered right and crashed upside-down on a taxiway.

An investigator with the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office said authorities were awaiting positive identification through fingerprints on the victims.
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#3127 Postby TexasStooge » Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:23 pm

AIDS Memorial Quilt draws Dallas residents

By DEBBIE DENMON / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - More than 1,000 Texans spent Sunday afternoon honoring loved ones claimed by AIDS, but not in a cemetery.

Instead, many drove hours to see the second largest outdoor display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at Lee Park in Dallas.

"It's as horrible as cancer," said Mary Brigman, a mother of a victim. "I took care of my mom with cancer, and I took care of my son with AIDS. It's probably on the same level, [people] just waste away."

Visitors took the chance to honor victims of AIDS through the quilt that gives lost ones a face. However, many also hoped the quilt's display would help diminish any ignorance of the virus people may carry.

"It knows no boundaries," said Dr. Consuelo Murray, a medical expert. "The virus doesn't care who you are or what you are..."

Dr. Murray said she has seen the virus' destruction first-hand as she held the hands of many dying patients, including those too young to understand how they contracted the disease in their mother's womb.

Mary Gleeson, who lost her best friend to the virus, came to the event to let others know they are not alone in their grief and emphasized messages like Dr. Murray's.

"There's still so much prejudice with AIDS it is unreal," said Mary Gleeson, a best friend of a victim. "People think it's a homosexual disease. It's a human disease."

The panels on the quilt were each the size of a coffin. And the large display in Dallas was only a small portion of the 50,000 panels in the AIDS Memorial Quilt that exists throughout the United States.

"It just doesn't fade away in the background," said Guinn Powell, a partner of a victim. "I think there should be a lot more done, and let people know that this is how people are dying."

Don Whitehall has been HIV positive for 23 years and said he has seen too many friends die, including his lover.

"I miss having an angel living in my house, and that's what he was," he said.
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#3128 Postby TexasStooge » Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:33 pm

Zoos expand access to animals

Zoos increasingly allow visitors to feed the beasts

By DAVID FLICK / The Dallas Morning News

The newest endangered species at zoos these days might be the signs that read, "Please don't feed the animals."

An increasing number of zoos across the country are not just allowing but encouraging visitors to feed birds, fish or even such marquee attractions as giraffes and rhinos. Some are charging a fee to do so.

"Our surveys show that people want to have contact with animals," said Lex Salisbury, president and CEO of Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Fla., which is considered a national leader in allowing visitors to feed animals.

We decided that if it's appropriate and safe, letting them feed the animals is a good way to connect."

Dallas Zoo officials are having informal talks about allowing a few lucky visitors to the Oak Cliff facility to feed the giraffes. Such a policy would be a striking change from the days when trying to feed a giraffe, or any other animal, could lead to ejection from the zoo.

Visitors to the Dallas Zoo will be able to feed some of the birds when its new aviary opens in May, and they have been able to feed goats in the Lacerte Family Children's Zoo since it opened five years ago.

The Fort Worth Zoo's Parrot Paradise, where visitors can offer seed sticks or nectar to budgies, parrots and lorakeets, has been among its most popular exhibits since it opened in 2004.

The debate over feeding animals "has been going back and forth for a long time," said Jane Ballentine, a spokeswoman for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.

"With advances in the sciences and concern about animal nutrition, it went by the wayside. Now the feeling is that it can be carefully done in limited quantities and under controlled conditions."

Ms. Ballentine remembered that as a child in the 1960s, she bought peanuts to feed the elephants at the Baltimore Zoo. In those days, zoo employees often watched passively as people tossed snacks to monkeys, gorillas, bears or seals.

That ended in the 1970s, when biologists became increasingly concerned that the animals' health was being endangered by an indiscriminate diet.

The idea of allowing the public to participate in animal feedings was revived about a decade ago as zoo officials sought ways to offer visitors an experience they couldn't get from watching nature shows on television.

The key to the change has been that the public feedings take place under strict conditions. At Lowry Park Zoo, an employee is always present at the feedings. Visitors can feed the giraffes only a rye crisp, purchased from the zoo for $2.

On crowded days, or if an employee thinks an animal is being overfed, the feedings are stopped, Mr. Salisbury said.

Visitors walk up a ramp that takes a child to eye-level with the giraffe. There are discreet barriers that keep animal and child on opposite sides of the enclosure, but the feedings are nonetheless memorable, he said.

"They see this big 18-inch tongue take the rye crisp out of their hands, and they see these big eyes so close to them, and they can smell their grassy breath – it's quite an experience," Mr. Salisbury said.

At the Dallas Zoo, giraffe feedings would probably be conducted differently, said Chuck Siegel, deputy director of animal management. The feedings would be part of a talk given to groups of visitors, and a volunteer would offer the giraffe a carrot or a bit of bamboo.

Mr. Siegel would like the feedings to be less a marketing tool than an educational experience.

"For my taste, if we let people feed the animals, I want there to be a tradeoff," he said. "I want people to learn about the animals."

In any case, Dallas Zoo officials still have qualms.

"There are questions that if people are allowed to begin feeding some animals, they might begin feeding others in inappropriate ways," Mr. Siegel said.

Officials with the Fort Worth Zoo also say they intend to be cautious, even though the popularity of Parrot Paradise has made them think about expanding the feeding program to include other animals.

"We really believe in the importance of good nutrition, and we want to be sure that in anything we do, the animals are getting a good diet," said Lyndsay Nantz, a zoo spokeswoman.

At Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo, Mr. Salisbury said, there have been few problems.

"For years, the attitude of some keepers was, 'It's appropriate for me to have contact with animals, but not for the public,' " he said. "But I think if it's done in a way that both animals and people are safe, it can be a great way for them to interact."

Such interaction is increasingly important, said Ms. Ballentine of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.

"As society has gotten more urbanized, you don't realize how little chance children have to touch a live animal, except for the family pet," she said. "This allows them to see what a wild animal is like close up."

Image
STEVE NESIUS/Special Contributor
Visitors to Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Fla., are allowed to get up close and personal to feed the giraffes.

Image
LOUIS DeLUCA/Dallas Morning News
Three-year-old Emily Meschertson of Dallas visited a goat last week at the Dallas Zoo's Lacerte Family Children's Zoo.

Image
STEVE NESIUS/Special Contributor
Brandon Duralia got a kick out of watching mother Kim feed a giraffe at Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Fla.

Image
LOUIS DeLUCA/Dallas Morning News
Snickers, a goat at the Dallas Zoo's Lacerte Family Children's Zoo, is one of the animals that visitors are allowed to feed. More species may soon be looking for handouts.
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#3129 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 7:46 am

Christians divided on same sex marriage ban

By GARY REAVES / WFAA ABC 8

Some North Texas pastors have launched a new campaign voicing support for a same sex marriage ban.

Voters will decide on whether to change the constitution to permanently ban same sex marriage in Texas Tuesday, and a new advertisement supporting the passage of Proposition No. 2 began running on North Texas television stations Sunday.

From more than a few pulpits across North Texas, advice on how to vote was part of the sermon.

But opinions on the subject among Christians, like interpretation of the gospels, vary.

Signs in front of the Covenant Church in Carrollton made clear how many Christians feel about the amendment to ban gay marriage, and at Criswell College they said the scriptures are clear too.

"Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate or homosexuals, and then the list goes on of sinners," said Rev. Denny Burk. "He says none of these are going to inherit the kingdom of heaven."

However, on the gay marriage issue Christians may all read the same bible, but some find a different version of truth in the text.

"I believe Jesus would not want us withholding basic human rights from people who live around us," said Rev. Ed Middleton, 1st Community United Church of Christ.

Middleton's church is part of a denomination where many have voted to accept gay members and ministers. He said he fears the wording in Proposition No. 2, which reads the state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage, will keep gay partners from getting insurance and other benefits.

"I don't think those who were before us intended for us to be mean about how we determine what our laws would be," Middleton said.

But many conservative Christian scholars said civil unions threaten the very foundation of society

"Those of us who care about this issue don't think it's an argument about semantics," Burke said. "It is an argument about what marriage is. It is one man [and] one woman. If you confer legal status on other arrangements, then that undermines the institution whether you call it that or not."

While Christians may not all agree, in a democracy it is the majority that rule. Texas voters get their chance to define marriage on Tuesday.
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#3130 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 7:47 am

Escaped death row inmate captured

HOUSTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - A death row inmate who slipped out of a Texas jail last week wearing street clothes was captured Sunday as he talked on a pay phone in Shreveport, La., about 200 miles away, authorities said.

Charles Victor Thompson had a bicycle with him when Shreveport police, acting on a tip, approached him around 8 p.m. Sunday, Harris County Sheriff's Lt. John Martin said.

"He was standing in front of a liquor store and appeared to be intoxicated," Martin said.

When the officers asked his name, he said "You know who I am," then he identified himself as Charles Thompson, Martin said.

Martin wouldn't discuss the tip that lead to Thompson's arrest and said authorities were still trying to determine exactly how Thompson got from Houston to Louisiana and if he had help in his escape. A $10,000 reward had been offered for information leading to his capture.

Thompson, 35, is scheduled to be in court Monday in Shreveport, and if he waives extradition, he will be returned to Texas immediately, Martin said.

Thompson was convicted in 1999 for the shooting deaths a year earlier of his ex-girlfriend, Dennise Hayslip and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain. An appeals court threw out his sentence, but on Oct. 28, another jury sentenced him to death.

On Thursday, Thompson was in the Harris County Jail awaiting transfer to a state prison when he was taken to a room for a meeting with an attorney, though not his attorney of record, authorities said.

After the attorney left, Thompson was alone. Somehow, he removed his handcuffs, changed out of his bright orange prison jumpsuit into the clothes he wore during his sentencing, and got out of the prisoner's booth in the visiting room, authorities said.

Using a falsified ID badge, he got past at least four jail employees and walked out of the building.

Martin had said Friday that Thompson's escape resulted from "multiple errors" by jail personnel. He said the attorney who had met with Thompson was not believed to have been involved in the escape.

The escape frightened his victim's relatives, who were notified by authorities and given police protection. Prosecutors had earlier accused Thompson of trying to hire hit men to kill witnesses against him, as well as members of Hayslip's family.

Hayslip's mother, Wynona Donaghy, said Sunday night that she was extremely relieved after hearing of the arrest and finally felt safe returning to her home again.
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#3131 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 7:48 am

Police search for suspects in double homicide

By CAROL CAVAZOS / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Dallas detectives have no suspects and no motive in a double murder that happened around 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning in the 400 block of North Fitzhugh.

Maria Felicitas Guzman, 28, and Matias Velasquez, 44, were sitting inside a parked car outside Guzman's home when someone fired on them at close range.

Police found Guzman crumpled beside the red Honda Civic, and Velasquez was slumped in the passenger seat. Both victims had been shot in the head.

Police said they believe the two victims were about to get out of the car when someone confronted them.

The two friends had gone out to some local bars, which included El Sandia bar that is located down the street from the house. Later in the early morning, neighbors and friends heard the fatal shots.

"I didn't really think it was outside my house," said sister Alejandra Guzman, who lived with Maria along with her parents, sisters and nephew. "That's why I didn't get up. I thought it was somewhere nearby maybe, but not here. But then, not even five minutes later maybe, my mom comes and says someone has just killed her daughter."

The shots were fired in succession and startled the neighbors in the East Dallas neighborhood.

"We were obviously concerned [and] we called 911," said neighbor Tim Allen.

Police have questioned friends who were out with the two victims the night before.

Police ruled out robbery as a motive after they found wallets and cash on both victims.

Velasquez's uncle said his nephew was usually the type of person who stayed out of trouble.

"He was quiet, always to himself and never had problems with nobody," said Robert Velasquez.

Neighbors said police told them the shooting was not random, and the victims were probably targeted after an altercation at a bar.
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#3132 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 12:19 pm

Mother on trial for killing baby with chili powder

By CYNTHIA VEGA / WFAA ABC 8

IRVING, Texas - A young Irving mother goes on trial today in Dallas for killing her baby with chili powder.

Angela Disabella, 21, told police she put chili powder on her daughter's thumb to stop her from sucking it - an idea she said she read on the Internet.

Disabella faces capital murder charges. She is charged with suffocating her child last year.

Authorities say the five-month-old died just hours after inhaling the chili powder, despite the efforts of paramedics to save her.

Police say they found chili powder strewn all over the kitchen at Disabella's Irving apartment.

Child Protection Services had tried to investigate reports that the girl was malnourished.

But Disabella had moved several times, so they were never able to take a closer look.

Prosecutors say they are not going to pursue the death penalty.
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#3133 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 12:21 pm

'Stronger-mayor' plan faces test

Dallas: Tuesday vote set as early ballots suggest apathy on alternative

By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Dallas voters will head to the polls Tuesday to decide – for the second time this year – whether to strengthen the mayor's authority at City Hall. But no one's putting wagers on how the ballot measure fares.

While early voting numbers are high, spurred by a controversial statewide gay-marriage ban, elections officials say they're seeing great apathy toward the "stronger-mayor" referendum. And the campaigns for and against Proposition 1 both agree it's anyone's game.

"So much has happened on this issue since it first went on a ballot," said Carol Reed, who is running the campaign in favor of the stronger-mayor referendum. "I'm at a loss to predict it."

A coalition of Dallas City Council members designed Proposition 1 last spring, in an effort to persuade voters to defeat a May referendum that would have eliminated the city manager and granted much greater power to the mayor. That referendum was trounced at the polls.

The alternative, which appears on Tuesday's ballot, would allow the mayor to hire and fire the city manager and the police and fire chiefs, and to craft the budget alongside the manager. A majority of the City Council could fire the manager. And the council would also have the authority to hire a budget oversight officer to balance the mayor's fiscal power. The mayor's salary would double to $120,000.

If Proposition 1 passes, it would go into effect in 2007.

Changed their stands

Since the City Council placed the referendum on the ballot, at least six of its members have turned their backs on it, including two of its main architects – Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and council member Ed Oakley.

Mayor Laura Miller, who supported last May's strong-mayor referendum and plans to vote for this one, too, said she's confident it will pass. This, unlike May's election, is a "pretty small change," she said.

"The one conclusion from the strong-mayor election that everyone agreed on was that citizens wanted a change," said Ms. Miller, who will be up for re-election in 2007. "They wanted a stronger mayor."

Opponent Lynn Flint Shaw isn't so sure. She's optimistic that southern-sector voters, who oppose strengthening mayoral power in any form and were largely responsible for defeating last May's referendum, are heading to the polls again in strong numbers. And she said northern voters have become better informed and have had their own change of heart in the last few weeks.

"People in the north are starting to see what we see all the time" in the southern sector, said Ms. Shaw, a member of the DART board.

County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet said late last week that early-voting turnout had exceeded 40,000 – up significantly from two years ago. Generally, constitutional amendment elections draw just 7 percent of the city's registered voters, he said. Dallas might be on par to see 15 percent or 20 percent, he said, largely a result of state Proposition 2, the measure to ban gay marriage in the state Constitution.

This could be a false read, Mr. Sherbet said. In the last presidential election "more people just voted early," he said. And he said the high early-voting numbers don't appear to be the result of the stronger-mayor ballot measure. Proposition 2 is really drawing the crowd, he said.

Are voters drained?

"I'm not seeing the fervor we saw in the May [strong-mayor] election," he said. "I don't think Proposition 1 is firing up voters."

Even if voter turnout is unusually high, Proposition 1 almost certainly will fail at the polls, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

Voters are drained after more than a year of debate over whether to change Dallas' form of government, he said. In the short term, he predicted they will be more comfortable with the status quo.

"It's hard to get a series of events, if you think from May to today, in which absolutely everybody loses, and that's where we are today," he said. "But I also think [defeating Proposition 1] will eventually deepen the sense of frustration that citizens have with City Hall in Dallas."

Ms. Reed, who led the successful campaign against last May's "too-strong" referendum, is confident Proposition 1 will pass – but by a very narrow margin.

"This time around it's not about this mayor," she said. "Voters can decide, in 2007, whether the person in office is who they want to have those powers."
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#3134 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 12:23 pm

Suspects sought in E. Dallas killings

By VANESA SALINAS / Al Día

DALLAS, Texas - Police were searching for a motive and possible suspects Monday in the shooting deaths of an East Dallas couple.

"We are still at zero on that one," Sgt. Gil Cerda said.

Maria Guzman, 27, and Matias Velasquez, 44, were gunned down early Sunday outside Guzman's home on Fitzhugh Avenue between Tremont and Columbia streets in East Dallas.

Guzman's sister, Alejandra Guzman, said she last saw her sister alive when she borrowed her car Saturday night and went out.

Alejandra Guzman ran outside when she was awakened by gunshots and found her on the ground.

"She had a shot in the head. ... It seemed like she had gotten out of the car and left the door open."

When police arrived, they found Maria Guzman's body next to the car. They also found the body of Velasquez, who apparently had accompanied Maria Guzman.

"I couldn't believe she was dead," said Alejandra Guzman, 23. "She said she would be back, and then this happened."

Maria Guzman was an assistant manager at a Sonic fast-food restaurant in Garland, where she had worked eight to 10 years, her sister said.

The double slaying had neighbors along Fitzhugh Avenue concerned, but not surprised. Some said they often hear shots in the area.

"They are always shooting on weekends," Magdalena Mendez, 62, a neighbor of the Guzmans. "We didn't get up because we were afraid; my husband and I were alone."

Police asked that anyone with information on the case call 214-671-3661.

DallasNews.com staff writer Kimberly Durnan contributed to this report.
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#3135 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 12:24 pm

Dallas police can't explain toddler's death

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Dallas police were calling the death of a toddler unexplained after he died Sunday at a Mesquite hospital.

Dallas police Sr. Cpl. Max Geron said Monday that an adult found 20-month-old Raymond McKinney not breathing and called 911. Paramedics transported the child to Mesquite Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"In talking with the detectives, they discovered no obvious signs of trauma, no signs of abuse," Geron said.

Police were awaiting the medical examiner's ruling on a cause of death.
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#3136 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 12:25 pm

Sex assault accuser is now the accused

Dallas: Man who revealed YMCA predator denies molesting relative, 4

By ROBERT THARP / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - At age 7 in 1991, Austin Funderburk was the brave boy who stood up and revealed a predator loose among children at a YMCA after-school camp.

The second-grader ultimately spoke for dozens of other molested boys when he told his grandmother about David Wayne Jones, now widely known as Dallas' most prolific sex offender.

Now 22, Mr. Funderburk's life has taken an unsettling twist. Since his March arrest, home has been a Dallas jail cell. The charge: that he molested a 4-year-old relative.

Mr. Funderburk denies the allegation, and experts and relatives of abused children worry that it will perpetuate a stereotype. Research shows victims of child molestation are no more likely to become abusers than anyone else.

"You sure hate to think that victims will be smeared by allegations," said the mother of another victim of Mr. Jones. "This is one of the reasons why victims don't come forward – they think people will think they'll be perpetrators."

Suspicion turned to Mr. Funderburk when a relative started displaying disturbing behavior. During the night, adults awoke and found the 4-year-old undressed, sitting on top of a sleeping 13-year-old female cousin. Questioned about the behavior, the boy said that Mr. Funderburk had done something similar to him, according to court documents.

The charges and Mr. Funderburk's arrest caused new rifts throughout his extended family.

"This is a bad case to be charged with," said Oreena Watson, his girlfriend of about two years. "He wakes up in the middle of the night and has panic attacks."

Mr. Funderburk's father and a grandmother who helped raise him still support him. His stepmother and others do not.

"It's caused problems," said the grandmother, Mildred Funderburk, who remains close to him as well as to the child who made the accusation. She described herself as a neutral party and said the whole thing is a misunderstanding.

"I just think [a relative] put it in the child's mind, and then he repeated it," she said.

Mr. Funderburk's attorney, Rick Cohen, said he's hopeful that prosecutors will consider that his client has passed a polygraph examination related to the accusation. Polygraphs are generally not admissible in court proceedings.

Prosecutors declined to discuss the case before trial. The charges mirror the bulk of the sex abuse cases at the Dallas County courthouse: the accused is not a stranger but instead a relative or friend of the accuser. If the case goes to trial, it will hinge on the child's testimony. A trial date has not been set.

Mr. Funderburk never had to testify in court as a victim because Mr. Jones reached a plea bargain agreement in which he received a 15-year prison sentence in exchange for identifying all of his victims.

The abuse might never have been discovered without Mr. Funderburk's initial outcry. Unlike the other victims, Mr. Funderburk did not attend the Old East Dallas YMCA. Mr. Jones, then 19, was a family friend who frequently visited Mr. Funderburk's home.

Ms. Funderburk said she became suspicious of Mr. Jones because he was spending so much time with her grandson, often enticing him by bringing video games over to play with him.

"He didn't have girlfriends, and he was coming over there quite a bit – I just became suspicious," she said.

One day in 1991, Ms. Funderburk noted that grandson Austin flinched when she patted him on the bottom. "I asked him 'Does anyone else touch you like that?' and that's when he told me," she said.

The family was shaken to its core by the allegations and wrestled with guilt about how it could have trusted Mr. Jones.

Ms. Funderburk said that as the years passed, Austin did not seem bothered by what had happened to him, although he sometimes worried that Mr. Jones would get out of prison.

Mr. Funderburk had a difficult childhood and adolescence. His biological mother abandoned him when he was a toddler and moved out of state. By age 17 in 2001, he was convicted of stealing a Chevrolet Blazer and got a four-year prison sentence for breaking into a Garland home.

Family extra vigilant

The abuse by Mr. Jones caused the Funderburk family to be extra vigilant when it came to the boy who said he was molested this year.

"Because of him and what he did we trust no one with the child we have," the 4-year-old's stepmother wrote in a June 2004 e-mail. "I'm scared to even put him in daycare."

Mr. Funderburk's girlfriend said he doesn't like to talk about what happened to him when he was a child.

"I know very little about that," Ms. Watson said. "I don't talk much about it because it upsets him."

Mr. Funderburk declined to comment about the charges on the advice of his attorney.

Experts once thought that child victims of sex abuse were more likely to grow up to become perpetrators. Until the mid-1980s, authorities relied solely on interviews with sex offenders to flesh out their backgrounds and sexual histories. Those offenders frequently gave self-serving information, saying they had been victims themselves as children and minimizing the number of offenses they had committed.

Recent studies have reached different conclusions about the rates that offenders were child victims, but researchers widely agree that the majority of child victims do not become perpetrators as adults and most sex offenders were not child victims.

"The bottom line is I think someone becomes a sex offender for a lot of reasons other than being sexually abused," said Jan Hindman, who first published a study debunking the myth that victims are more likely to become perpetrators more than 20 years ago.

Dr. Hindman's research using polygraph exams has found that sex offenders were not child victims in any greater frequency than the general population.

"People want to think you never become bad unless something bad happened to you, which is a crock," she said, adding that her studies have also found from polygraph exams that sex offenders tend to have had more victims than they freely admit.

Maria Molett, a licensed sex offender treatment provider, agreed.

"We cannot say that being sexually abused causes someone to become a sexual offender," Ms. Molett said. "We have millions of victims, and they don't all become offenders."

Dr. Walter Meyer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and chairman of the state's Council on Sex Offender Treatment, said child sexual abuse victims face challenges growing up. Studies show they are more likely to develop substance abuse problems, depression and psychiatric disorders and be arrested.

Other risk factors

But Dr. Meyer said it's difficult to single out whether the abuse is the cause of the later problems because many victims have other risk factors, such as living in chaotic households, experiencing parental neglect and depression.

"You definitely see this association, but whether it's cause and effect. ... It [the abuse] probably contributes, but it's difficult to understand," Dr. Meyer said.

Mr. Jones, 34, is serving the last year of his 15-year prison sentence on parole in a Dallas halfway house. He had admitted to molesting 40 boys in the early 1990s. He is also under indefinite house arrest after state authorities argued successfully in civil court that Mr. Jones remains a violent sexual predator.

The terms of his civil commitment forbid him from unsupervised contact with the public and do not allow him to give interviews. When contacted by a reporter, Mr. Jones said he could not comment but cried and hung up when told of the allegations against his victim.

In previous interviews, Mr. Jones has been remorseful for the emotional toll his assaults have taken on victims and their families. He said he was molested by an adult when he was 15 and blamed much of his sexual-development problems at least in part on neglect from father figures during his childhood.

"For their sakes I want them to forgive and get on with their lives," he said in a 2004 interview.

Mr. Jones faces a new indictment from his days at the YMCA. The charge stems from a man who said Mr. Jones sexually assaulted him at the YMCA in 1990 when he was 6. The man in that case did not come forward with the allegations until 1999. A trial date has not been set.

The mother of one of Mr. Jones' other victims said the belief that victims can become perpetrators is another stigma that victims must endure. She recalls thinly veiled questions about Mr. Jones' sexual history and the implications that her son was permanently damaged by the abuse.

"That disturbed me so badly," she said. "It took me awhile to figure out why it bothered me so much. The insinuation was that my son could be a perpetrator in the future."
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#3137 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:57 pm

Mom on trial in chili powder death case

By CYNTHIA VEGA / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Trial begain Monday morning in the case of a young Irving mother accused of killing her baby with chili powder last year.

Angela Disabella, 21, told police she put chili powder on her daughter's thumb to stop her from sucking it—an idea she said she read on the Internet.

Disabella, who faces a capital murder charge, appeared in a Dallas courtroom Monday morning as jury selection began. Opening arguments were tentatively set for 9 a.m. Tuesday if the panel is set.

Authorities said five-month-old Kira Disabella died on May 31, 2004, just hours after inhaling the chili powder, despite the efforts of paramedics to save her.

Police said they found chili powder strewn all over the kitchen at Disabella's Irving apartment.

Child Protective Services had tried to investigate reports that the girl was malnourished, but the family had moved several times and CPS case workers lost track of the Disabellas.

Prosecutors said they do not plan to pursue the death penalty.

Disabella is being held without bail at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center.
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#3138 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:59 pm

Fetus found in sewage plant

By DON WALL / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - A fetus was found at the Southside Wastewater Treatment Plant by employees early on Monday morning, according to Dallas police.

The fetus was found on a conveyor belt at the plant, located at South Belt Line Road and Log Cabin Road.

Police said the fetus—described by police as about the size of a man's fist—may have entered the sewage system as a result of a miscarriage.

The sex of the fetus could not immediately be determined.
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#3139 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 5:06 pm

Police search for missing girl

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Dallas police were searching Monday for a 17-year-old Laredo girl who is believed to have been kidnapped from a home in the 2200 block of West Davis Street by an ex-boyfriend and his friends.

Lorena Hernandez arrived in Dallas from Laredo about a week ago, Sr. Cpl. Max Geron said.

The teen's ex-boyfriend and his friends came to visit on Saturday, and she went to dinner with them, Geron said.

Later, Hernandez and the ex-boyfriend argued, and at 4:30 a.m. Sunday he allegedly kicked in the door of the home where she was staying, grabbed her and forced her in to a brown Ford 150 pickup, Geron said.

Witnesses told police they heard someone in the group say they were going to Tyler. Dallas police have notified Tyler and Laredo authorities about the incident and issued a statewide bulletin.

Police have not released the names or descriptions of the suspects.
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#3140 Postby TexasStooge » Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:21 pm

2 find bag of human bones in Mansfield

By MARY ANN RAZZUK / WFAA ABC 8

MANSFIELD, Texas - A walk in the woods led a North Texas couple to a bag full of bones Monday.

Gregory Johnson and Wanda Holley found the bones in a wooded area of Mansfield while on a nature walk looking for interesting bottles and old artifacts.

"We came across a bag," Johnson said. "I moved the bag a little bit and saw a human skull with a bullet hole in it."

The closer the two said they looked, the more bones they found.

"I found a bag over by the pits, and I was out there with the metal detector," Holley said. "I touched it, went uh oh and went ewe. It scared me."

The pair contacted Mansfield police who immediately sealed off the area.

"Obviously the remains are decomposed," said Thad Penkala, Mansfield police. "So, determining age or sex hasn't been able to be done at this time."

Agents with the FBI Recovery Unit combed through the wooded area for evidence while Mansfield police and firefighters fanned out using a grid system.

A forensic dental investigator with the Tarrant County Medical Examiners office has been working on identification of the remains, which Holley said she expects will bring peace to a family.

"It is someone's family member that has been missing," she said. "I just hope they can put some closure to it."
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