News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Missing FW man found dead in lake

By MARGARITA MARTIN-HIDALGO / The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH, Texas - Fort Worth police found the body of a 57-year-old Fort Worth man Saturday at Mountain Creek Lake in Dallas, and investigators were treating the case as an unexplained death.

Allen David Schufford, a deacon at Carver Heights Baptist Church in Dallas, had been missing since the weekend of Oct. 22, when he told some friends he was going to Oklahoma, a family member said.

Dallas police impounded his car Oct. 23 after it was found across the way from Dallas Baptist University in the 3000 block of Mountain Creek Parkway, said Dallas police spokesman Senior Cpl. Max Geron.

The cause of death was pending an autopsy, but Senior Cpl. Geron said there were no signs of trauma to the body.

Dallas police were investigating the case.

[TexasStooge]

Manslaughter verdict in chili powder death

By DEBBIE DENMON / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Angela DiSabella, 21, walked into court showing little emotion, and that didn't change after the judge announced her verdict.

"We the jury find the defendant guilty of manslaughter," read Judge Don Adams Sunday in the courtroom.

Her cousin, Jessica Wojtak, was devastated by the verdict.

"It was simple ... a horrible, horrible accident," she said.

However, the verdict could have been an automatic life in prison sentence had jurors felt the mother had intended to kill the nearly six-month-old baby and delivered a capital murder verdict. Instead, DiSabella was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

The chili powder placed on Kira DiSabella's thumb to prevent her from sucking it, eventually led to the infant suffocating from the pepper mixture.

Disabella's cousin consoled the defendant's mother, who was upset at the verdict and the prosecutor who strongly questioned her about her daughter while on the stand.

"She was starving her baby," said prosecutor Patricia Hogue. "Her baby was starving to death. Do you understand that?"

Testimony showed the baby had gained less than a pound in the nearly six months that she lived.

DiSabella's cousin claimed the defendant's boyfriend refused to buy baby formula for the baby and also to give her money to get any.

"She never knew how to take care of a child even though she asked for help," Wojtak said. "I never felt like she knew what she was doing."

Defense attorney George Ashford said the jurors recognized his client's efforts to try to save the baby's life by doing more than calling 911.

"She had one of those suction bottles that you use to remove from baby's noses and mouths," Ashford said. "She was trying to get the chili powder out."

[TexasStooge]

Comrades mourn officer ending his shift

'He probably saved that woman's life. ... In my heart, he died a hero.'

By HOLLY K. HACKER and TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Brian Jackson wasn't very handy around the house. On the street, though – that's another story.

"He didn't know how to plunge a toilet, but he sure could hunt bad guys. He was an incredible police officer," said Kyle Land, a close friend and fellow Dallas officer.

Officer Jackson moved from Rhode Island to Dallas five years ago to be a big-city officer. He aspired to hunt some of the most dangerous guys around as a member of the gang unit. He helped the unit whenever he could, feeding tips gleaned from the streets.

But it wasn't gang work that led to Officer Jackson's death Sunday. He had responded to a seemingly routine call, a domestic violence dispute on North Henderson Avenue. The ex-boyfriend of the woman who made the call shot Officer Jackson under the arm, police say, and he died about an hour later.

"What a horrible waste," said Lt. Mike Black, who supervised the 28-year-old officer. "He was a bright, sharp officer and a hard worker."

That hard-working attitude had taken Officer Jackson to the streets of East Dallas in the early hours of Sunday. He was canvassing bars along Fitzhugh Avenue, helping homicide detectives pursue leads in a fatal double shooting the week before.

His shift was supposed to end at 3 a.m., but when the domestic disturbance call on Henderson came in about 2:45 a.m., Officer Jackson was nearby, so he went.

"Brian's shift was over. All he had to do was drive home," said Officer Land, who was a groomsman in Officer Jackson's wedding.

"But that's the way Brian was. If Brian could help out, he would. He knew that he didn't have to answer that call last night, but he was in the area. In my mind, he probably saved that woman's life," Officer Land said. "In my heart, he died a hero."

As the son of a Navy officer, Brian Howard Jackson grew up on naval bases around the world. His sister, Gina Jackson, an Air Force major, is stationed in Charleston, S.C.

He caught the public safety bug in college, at the University of Rhode Island. He became a certified emergency medical technician and volunteered on the school's community ambulance. Later, he volunteered as an EMT in Charlestown, R.I. There, Officer Jackson met volunteer and URI student JoAnn DeMello, who would eventually become his wife.

In 1999, he earned a sociology degree and began looking for work as a police officer. He received offers from the New York and Dallas departments and chose the latter, said Ryan G. Duffy, a close friend and police officer in Newport, R.I.

When Senior Cpl. Eric Knight met Officer Jackson for the first time – they had just been assigned as partners – he noticed two things right away. "He had that Yankee accent and a bald head," Cpl. Knight said. One day, Officer Jackson let slip that he'd been a cheerleader at URI.

"We ragged on him for that."

Ms. DeMello joined her boyfriend in Dallas and worked as a respiratory therapist. They married in August on the University of Rhode Island campus. After the wedding, Officer Jackson sported a vest, cowboy hat and boots in the style of his adopted state.

As for that New England accent? "We were working on him to get rid of that," said Sgt. Jon Jacob, who was also a groomsman.

The newlyweds had just bought a home in Rockwall. Officer Jackson had asked his buddy Officer Land to do some carpentry.

Officer Jackson wasn't much of a domestic person, Officer Land said, but he was a family man.

"What I loved most about Brian was his devotion to his fiancee. He would go up and visit during his dinner break. He cared a lot about the people who were in his life," Officer Land said.

After the wedding, JoAnn DeMello Jackson slipped and hurt her back, Sgt. Jacob said. A week later, they went on their honeymoon to Hawaii, with Officer Jackson helping his bride get around.

On the beat, he got to know homeless people on Greenville Avenue and sometimes gave them food.

Cpl. Knight recalled when Officer Jackson helped a man who had to leave New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. His car had broken down. Officer Jackson gave him a ride, helped him get his car fixed, and gave him about $60.

"He did his job quietly. He wasn't looking for accolades," Cpl. Knight said.

Earlier this year, Officer Jackson traveled to Rhode Island to represent the Dallas Police Department at the funeral of a Providence detective who was shot and killed while interviewing a suspect at the police station.

"He came because he was proud of our profession," Patrolman Duffy said. "He wanted to give his respects to the family."

Now, officers prepare to pay their respects to Officer Jackson's family. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Officer Jackson's father, retired Navy Capt. John Jackson, released a statement Sunday from his home in Middletown, R.I. It said, "He was killed in the line of duty, doing the job he loved, helping secure the safety of the citizens of Dallas.

"He will be remembered for his good humor, his sense of duty, and his love for his family. ... I ask that we all honor his memory by thanking the men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day."

In addition to his wife, father and sister, Officer Jackson is survived by his mother, Valerie Jackson.

Staff writer Cathleen Crowley of the Providence Journal contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

McKinney touts integration of a different sort

School district says poor students do better at wealthier campuses

By KAREN AYRES / The Dallas Morning News

McKINNEY, Texas – The rivalry between the McKinney High Lions and the McKinney North High Bulldogs fosters the kind of friendly competition that school leaders here love to hype.

School spirit may divide the city's two high schools, but officials decided long ago that economics would not.

As the number of expensive subdivisions exploded in parts of this Dallas suburb, the district chose to bus youngsters across its 109-square-mile territory to make sure poor students were equally spread among the high schools and middle schools.

And as the district prepares to open its third high school, officials vow to follow a practice few others have adopted across the country.

"We want it to be indistinguishable whether you are an economically disadvantaged student or not," Superintendent Tom Crowe said. "Can we do it? I don't know."

Supporters in McKinney and elsewhere say kids who are poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunches perform better if they go to school with students from higher-income families. But administrators from other Dallas-area districts say there are better ways to help low-income kids succeed than hauling them to wealthier campuses.

A Dallas Morning News analysis of the latest state test scores and demographic data from 55 suburban high schools in North Texas shows:

•On average, poor kids who attend high schools with very small percentages of disadvantaged students pass state tests at significantly higher rates than poor students at schools with more low-income students.

•Once a school exceeds 20 percent in its share of poor students, passage rates for those youths are no longer noticeably higher than for kids attending schools with larger low-income populations.

•Low-income students in either environment generally perform well below students of greater means.

Believers

With Boyd High scheduled to open next year, a group of 50 McKinney residents is redrawing school assignments – with economics in mind.

McKinney Independent School District officials acknowledge that they don't have solid comparisons to prove their plan works, since the district has never assigned secondary students to schools based on geography, as most other districts do.

But Mr. Crowe, the force behind continuing the practice, is undeterred.

Mr. Crowe points to steady improvement on state tests. In 2004, 62 percent of poor students at McKinney High School passed the reading portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. In 2005, 80 percent passed.

At McKinney North High School, the percentages of poor students who passed the TAKS reading test rose from 69 percent to 78 percent over the same period.

Even with those jumps, there are still significant gaps between poor students' performance and that of the general student population. But many of those gaps are narrowing. At McKinney High, for example, there was a 22-percentage-point gap in passing rates between poor students and all students on the social studies test in 2004. That was cut to 11 points in 2005.

The overall passing rates are virtually the same at both schools, which Mr. Crowe considers an asset for the town and an advantage in recruiting strong teachers. Both high schools are rated Academically Acceptable by the Texas Education Agency.

Mr. Crowe said the extra $42,000 busing cost is well worth it. Without it, he said, McKinney High School would have the bulk of the district's poor and minority students.

"The sole factor is economics," Mr. Crowe said. "Does it tend to work out racially, too? Yes. But the driving force is economics."

Robbie Clark, a former McKinney school board member, said the district wanted to avoid creating an economic divide between its high schools when it unveiled the integration plan in 1995.

"What we wanted to do was try to maintain the character of our community as one community and not an east-side, west-side situation," Mr. Clark said.

With few exceptions, the plan is mandatory.

Many McKinney parents endorse the policy, saying the benefit of exposing their children to people of different backgrounds is worth the hassle of students attending schools far away from home.

"We live in a pretty affluent area, and I wouldn't want my kids to hobnob solely with kids in our area, because there is a whole world out there," said Laura Davis, whose two sons attend McKinney North High School.

But others argue that the policy isn't fair to everyone. Cindy Curtis, who lives in Lucas on the southern tip of the McKinney district, said it's ridiculous that her sons must take a 45-minute bus ride to the northern end even though there are closer schools.

Her son Rocky, who attends Scott Johnson Middle School, often doesn't have time to eat breakfast at home before a bus pulls up at 6:30 a.m.

"Their strategy is wrong," Ms. Curtis said. "They're making kids suffer and making taxpayers suffer, too. It's like they're being too strategic."

Evaluating the system

Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Century Foundation, a nonprofit think tank, said standardized test scores from several states show that students do better in middle-class schools.

He said middle-class parents are more likely to get involved. Good teachers are more likely to want to work in those schools.

"If life were fair, the low-income kids would get the best teachers," said Mr. Kahlenberg, author of All Together Now, which advocates integration. "But we know, in fact, that doesn't happen."

Though more districts are adopting economic integration, Mr. Kahlenberg said, the numbers are still quite low. He noted that as few as 500,000 students in the nation attend economically integrated schools.

John Witte, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, said he doesn't believe the system should be widely used. Citing the high correlation between race and socioeconomic status, Dr. Witte said dividing school populations by income is largely the same as racial integration. He said testing data are inconclusive, noting that students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches often have widely varying family backgrounds.

"It's sort of a way to integrate through the back door," Dr. Witte said. "If you're interested in spreading out the racial minority or majority, then you're not doing it in a straightforward way."

The decision also can be politically and legally sticky. In recent years, old desegregation orders that required some school districts to avoid clustering minority students have been lifted.

In Texas

Texas does not keep records on how many districts in the state practice economic integration, said TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson. An informal survey of local districts did not find any with similar systems.

However, schools in Wake County, N.C., which includes Raleigh, use busing to diversify student bodies economically.

When Wake County enacted the policy in 2000, 84.9 percent of students in third through eighth grades met or exceeded standards on state tests. Now, that rate is 91.3 percent.

District spokesman Bill Poston contends that economic policy is partly responsible for the improvement. But Dave Duncan of the opposition group Assignment by Choice says other factors, including an influx of educated new residents, have boosted the scores, noting that only 6 percent of the district's 120,000 students are bused for diversity.

"You simply can't hang the success of the school system on a single-digit factor," Mr. Duncan said.

Ms. Culbertson agrees.

She said many successful Texas schools have high numbers of disadvantaged kids, noting that half of the districts recognized by the state this year had more than 40 percent poor students.

Still, a survey of testing data from suburban high schools of all sizes shows several scoring discrepancies when comparing the performances of poor populations in local districts. The review did not include schools in Fort Worth or Dallas, where 80 percent of the students are poor and the makeup tends to be fairly even among schools without special busing.

In Arlington, for example, poor students at Martin, the wealthiest high school in the district, generally did better than their counterparts at other schools.

Superintendent Mac Bernd said other issues, including language proficiency, influence those scores. He said that the district allows transfers but that he has no plans to adopt an integration system.

"Changing school boundaries is like moving a graveyard," Dr. Bernd said. "You're relocating people for reasons other than where they've chosen to reside, and people get resentful, particularly if they make residential decisions based on where they are going to go to school."

In Plano ISD, only 42 percent of poor students at Williams, the poorest high school in the district, passed the math section of the test, about 25 percentage points below the second-lowest-scoring school.

Deputy Superintendent Danny Modisette said Plano, like other districts, is working on plans such as tutoring to boost those scores rather than moving kids to other buildings.

"There are a lot of different ways of tackling a problem," he said.

[TexasStooge]

Crews cleaning up oil spill from damaged barge

PORT ARTHUR, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) – About 10,000 gallons of thick, heavy oil had leaked from a damaged oil barge about 30 miles off the coast of Louisiana as crews worked Sunday to contain the spill, the Coast Guard said.

The vessel contained about 5 million gallons of a thick petroleum product known as number-six fuel oil, and the damaged tank was holding about 300,000 gallons of oil, the Coast Guard said.

The barge left Houston shortly before midnight Thursday en route to Tampa, Fla. But the 441-foot vessel hit debris in the water that gouged a 30-foot by 6-foot hole in the starboard bow, and early Friday crew members called the Coast Guard when they noticed the barge was slightly listing south of Lake Charles.

The Coast Guard said Sunday that underwater surveys had shown that oil continued to leak from the barge and black patches of oil extended three miles southwest of the vessel. Cleanup operations were expected to continue throughout the night, the Coast Guard said.

Mike Hanson, a spokesman for Staten Island, N.Y.-based K-Sea Transportation, which owns the barge, said Sunday the leak appeared to be intermittent because the oil was thick and sticky. He said National Response Corp. contractors hired by K-Sea had placed 2,000 feet of containment boom around the barge to contain the spill and skimmers were on the scene to remove surface oil.

“It's more like a molasses coming out of the refrigerator,” he explained. “They'll keep going until it's cleaned up.”

He said the barge wasn't expected to sink. K-Sea had assessed stability and dive and salvage efforts were ongoing Sunday.

Coast Guard, vessel salvage and pollution response personnel responded.

The Coast Guard, which was overseeing cleanup efforts, said the barge didn't obstruct marine traffic and all area waterways remained open. A four-mile safety zone was in effect around the barge.

The cause of the incident is being investigated by Coast Guard officials.

[TexasStooge]

Fatal wreck blocks Lewisville highway

By JACK BEAVERS / WFAA ABC 8

LEWISVILLE, Texas - One driver was killed Monday morning in a traffic accident involving an 18-wheeler and at least two other cars on northbound Interstate 35E in Lewisville, police said.

The wreck occurred at about 9:50 a.m. south of State Highway 121.

Northbound lanes of the interstate were closed at Frankford Road in Carrollton for about three hours after the incident. Police directed traffic to the service lanes.

Lewisville police spokesman Richard Douglass said at least two other people were taken to area hospitals for treatment.

The name of the man who was killed was not released.

The cause of the crash was under investigation.

Live Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse

[TexasStooge]

Dallas man dies in Lewisville wreck

By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News

LEWISVILLE, Texas - An 18-year-old Dallas man was killed Monday morning in a traffic accident involving an 18-wheeler and three other vehicles on northbound Interstate 35E in Lewisville, police said.

The wreck occurred at about 9:50 a.m. south of State Highway 121.

James Huntsman died at the scene of the crash, which forced the shutdown of northbound I-35E for about three hours.

Lewisville police spokesman Richard Douglass said at least two other people were taken to area hospitals for treatment, but no additional information was available.

Traffic was blocked at the Frankford Road exit in Carrollton and motorists used the service lanes to bypass the wreckage.

The cause of the crash was under investigation.

WFAA ABC 8 contributed to this report.

Live Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse

[TexasStooge]

Fort Worth to outlaw meter-feeders

FORT WORTH, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Time is running out for motorists who try to extend their parking minutes by feeding meters in Fort Worth.

Next week, it will be illegal to put extra coins in a meter after time is up.

Traffic workers will be handing out flyers giving information on the ban. Motorists could face a ticket if they attempt to add extra coins.

The meter-feeding ban is part of an effort to boost turnover at meters, making it easier for motorists to find parking spaces downtown.

[TexasStooge]

Source of smoky smell remains elusive

From The Dallas Morning News Staff Writers

Environmental officials were trying to pinpoint the source of a strange burning odor noticeable in North Texas on Monday morning.

Officials with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the agency received calls from Dallas, Farmers Branch, Plano and other area cities about a pungent odor that some likened to a brush fire. However, no visible smoke was reported.

Dave Barry, spokesman for the regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the EPA also had received inquiries and was investigating.

Some residents recalled a similar smell that blanketed a large portion of Texas in June 1998 as a result of wildfires that burned a large area in northern Mexico. That odor, however, was accompanied by a distinct haze from smoke carried north by wind currents.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments reported Monday afternoon that the region's air quality level remained at "good" status.

[rainstorm]

Fort Worth to outlaw meter-feeders

FORT WORTH, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Time is running out for motorists who try to extend their parking minutes by feeding meters in Fort Worth.

Next week, it will be illegal to put extra coins in a meter after time is up.

Traffic workers will be handing out flyers giving information on the ban. Motorists could face a ticket if they attempt to add extra coins.

The meter-feeding ban is part of an effort to boost turnover at meters, making it easier for motorists to find parking spaces downtown.

that sounds ridiculous!!

[TexasStooge]

Areas evacuated as police search for boy

ARLINGTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Officers in Arlington have evacuated several homes in the 5500 block of Misty Crest where police are searching for a boy who ran off after an argument with his father.

Police believe the boy may have a handgun.

Two nearby schools, Moore Elementary and Bowles Junior High, were under lockdown for a short time after the father called to alert them that his son may be armed.

Students were released from the schools around 6:00 p.m. to their parents who had been waiting outside the school.

There is still no word on the whereabouts of the young man who may be armed and in the area.

[TexasStooge]

Police search for suspect in teen's shooting

WILMER, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A 15-year-old teenager was shot Monday in Wilmer in the 1100 block of Cottonwood Valley.

There has been no information yet on the teen's condition.

Wilmer police were on the scene of the crime, and Dallas sheriff's officers were assisting.

Police are seeking a 40-year-old suspect who was only described as a male wearing a red shirt and armed with a handgun.

Those in the North Texas region, watch News 8 for any more additional details on the story.

[TexasStooge]

False alarm plan increases fees, penalties

By CHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - The Dallas Police Department has made big changes in their Verified Response plan for false alarms after it received an overwhelmingly negative response from Dallas alarm companies and homeowners.

Last year, Dallas police responded to 62,000 burglar alarm calls, and 97 percent of those calls were false alarms.

Recently, the Dallas Police Department proposed a new plan in an attempt to cut their time spent on false alarm calls. However, the proposed plan to respond to calls only when a crime was confirmed was met with a strong and negative response.

So, the department has devised a new plan to pitch.

The new plan proposes that verified response would only apply to commercial alarms since officials said they outnumber residential false alarms four to one.

"We have got to find a way to have fewer false alarms," said Mayor Laura Miller.

But Alarm companies said that still isn't safe.

"There are businesses such as banks, jewelry stores, pawnshops, gun shops [and] they all rely on alarm systems," said Chris Russell, with the North Texas Alarm Association. "Alarm systems aren't toys."

And while in the new plan residential alarms would still get an automatic police response, penalties would go up.

In the current plan, residents are allowed five free false alarms in 12 months before they were penalized. The proposed plan would drop that number to allow residents only three false alarms before being penalized in a 12 month period.

Also in the current policy, when residents surpass their five false alarm allowances, they are fined $50 dollar. But the new plan would increase those fines for chronic offenders.

On a resident's fourth and fifth false alarm, their fines would remain $50. However, on the sixth and seventh incident, the fine would increase to $75.00. For the eighth and over false alarm, residents would be fined $100 and face a possible revoke of their alarm permit.

That plan is one alarm companies said they can understand and support.

Dallas resident Hank Silver said he also agreed with the proposed plan. While he said he wants officers answering the call, he said he doesn't want their time wasted.

"People who have repeated burglar alarms are either out to lunch or they don't respect the duties of the police," he said.

Mayor Miller said the city hopes to have a new policy in place by the end of the year.

Alarm companies said they will continue to fight any move towards verified response for homes or businesses.

[TexasStooge]

Suspect caught after 4 schools locked down

By KARIN KELLY / WFAA ABC 8

ARLINGTON, Texas - Officers in Arlington evacuated several homes in the 5500 block of Misty Crest while police searched for a 20-year-old who they believed was armed with a gun when he fled his house after an argument with his father.

The suspect, Brien Thomas Jakubec, was found around 8:00 p.m. in Everman and taken into custody.

While he is now locked up behind bars, many parents and students were still shaken up by their own lockdown.

Students feared a gunman might be on school property Monday after Moore Elementary, Corey Elementary, Wood Elementary and Boles Junior High School in Arlington were under a lockdown.

"And the coaches told us to go inside for a lockdown, and so everybody started screaming and stuff," said one student.

The drama began on a nearby street about 3:45 p.m. when the man pulled a gun on his father, according to police.

"The suspect was never seen on the campuses but just as a precaution ...[to] keep everyone safe," said Christy Gilfour, Arlington Police Department.

Most schools practice lockdowns and quickly put them in place.

"If the situation were extremely grim, you got all these potential victims out here," said Sgt. Kelly Velder, Arlington Police Department.

Traffic snarled as police turned away parents when parking lots filled and the suspect ran free.

"I parked three places...," said Laverne Guitterez during the lockdown traffic problem. "Now I'm all the way by the post office."

The school day turned to evening by the time police cleared the way around 6:00 p.m. and released more than a 1,000 students and teachers.

"I'm tired, but my kids are safe," said Lloyd Day, principal of Boles Junior High School.

[TexasStooge]

Fort Worth playground set on fire

FORT WORTH, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Authorities are searching for evidence to find who set fire to a brand new playground Monday morning in Fort Worth's Anderson Park.

The park is located in a new development called Parkview Hills.

Fire investigators said the arsonist set multiple fires and destroyed city-owned equipment worth $50,000.

The park had recently been donated to the city of Fort Worth and installed by the neighborhood's developer.

There had already been an issue of graffiti being painted on the equipment and after school Monday, children explored the new damage.

"I think whoever did it, that's just being mean to their kids because they have their fun here," said resident Steven Goates.

Arson investigators are questioning a juvenile suspect, but no arrests have been made yet.

There has also been no word on when, or if, the equipment will be replaced.

[TexasStooge]

Delays in flu shot distribution have some concerned

By KIMBERLY DURNAN / DallasNews.com

Manufacturing slowdowns and spotty distribution have produced yet another awkward, uncertain season for flu shot recipients.

“If you can get a vaccine shot somewhere, get to it, because it’s going to get tight in the next couple of weeks,” said Neil Herson, president of ASD Healthcare in Addison.

The company, which distributes vaccine to health-care providers nationwide, has received only about 30 percent of its order.

“There is not a panic just yet, but a concern,” Herson said. “We have commitments to customers and we don’t have the product. We can still vaccinate until January, but people think they need to have vaccine before Thanksgiving.”

Experts seem reluctant to call the problem a “shortage.” But they do acknowledge that many health-care providers, in North Texas and across the country, are experiencing a delay in receiving their orders, with no guarantee of an arrival date.

The CDC had recommended that people who were at highest risk of complications from influenza have priority access to the vaccine until Oct. 24, after which the shots were supposed to be available to everyone.

During a national news teleconference Thursday, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explained that manufacturer Chiron Corp. has produced vaccine neither as quickly nor at the volume projected.

Last year, contamination at Chiron’s plant in England meant that about half of this country’s supply had to be tossed.

“We suspect that there are two things that are driving this,” Gerberding said of the current situation. “One is last year’s shortage, so more people wanted to be vaccinated early, being fearful that maybe more vaccine wouldn’t be available. Second, we’ve been putting an awful lot of attention on pandemic influenza, so influenza is on people’s minds.”

Chiron spokeswoman Alison Marquiss said the company was in a rebuilding year with new safeguards and regulations after the Food and Drug Administration rejected its vaccine last year.

In April, Chiron said it would make 20 million to 35 million doses, and then revised its estimate to 19 million to 26 million doses. Now company officials say they don’t believe they will reach even the bottom end of that range as employees adapt to a new work environment.

“Production is taking longer as people get used to the changes,” Marquiss said. “After what happened last year, it was a huge accomplishment to get back online this year. We are looking forward to next year and we expect our capacity to be 40 million doses.”

So far, nearly 71 million doses of influenza vaccine have been distributed – 55 million from Sanofi Pasteur; 7.5 million from GlaxoSmithKline and 8 million from Chiron, Gerberding said. Also distributed were another 1 million doses of FluMist vaccine, a nasal spray that should be a viable option for healthy people ages 5 to 49, she added.

Ten million more doses are expected to be released by the end of November from flu vaccine manufacturers, according to the CDC.

And Gerberding insisted that there would be plenty of time for people to get vaccinated before the threat peaks, which is usually February or March.

At the Dallas County Health Department, only 7,000 of 20,000 shots ordered have arrived, spokeswoman Jacqueline Bell said.

“We are concerned because a number of doctors haven’t gotten their supply and they are sending their patients to us,” she said. “We do know that flu has arrived to the county.”

The flu, which is not a disease that must be reported to authorities, appears to be sporadic throughout the state and Dallas County, officials said.

Health officials in Denton and Collin counties said they’ve had no problems getting enough vaccine.

“It’s going fine,” said Jamie Nicolay, health educator for Collin County Health Care Services. “We might need to do a push to make sure we use it all and not waste it.”

In Denton County, some vaccine came in a little late, but orders were filled, said Jay Thatcher, emergency preparedness coordinator.

While most county health departments’ orders seem to have arrived, independent distributors who work with private doctors, school districts and corporate flu clinics are running low, said Gabrielle Dorais, president of Worksite Wellness.

Worksite Wellness, which does clinics for corporate employers in North Texas, hasn’t received any of the 8,000 shots that were ordered.

“I think I’m going to get some, but it’s a matter of when,” Dorais said. “It’s out of our hands. We have to fall into the mercy of our distributors.”

Dorais said she calls the distributors daily to ask about her order. She also is checking with clients to see how late they will accept the vaccine. She fears that many people will assume it’s too late to get a flu shot and will cancel orders.

“I’ll just have to wait it out and see what I can get,” she said.

Judy Griffin, administrator at Southwest Dallas Physicians, said she was so frustrated by flu vaccine distribution, the office has stopped offering shots to its patients.

“We think it is ridiculous the way it’s being passed out to places like Foley’s, Mattress Giant and grocery stores before the doctors get it. We finally bought ours from a pharmacy so we could cover our 17 employees,” she said. “You think somewhere down the line these people would realize the flu comes around every year.”

[TexasStooge]

Dallas ISD officials weigh car allowances

School board to get plan on stipendreductions for workers

By TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - DISD officials began discussions Monday on a plan to reduce the number of district employees receiving car allowances, spokesman Donald Claxton said.

"In the end, there are many employees this will have an impact on," Mr. Claxton said. He said officials would devise a plan to give to the school board for approval.

A Dallas Morning News review of records found that 2,316 Dallas Independent School District employees receive car allowances, at a cost of $3,684,798 annually.

The allowance is meant to reimburse employees who use their cars for official business within the district, but DISD requires no proof that recipients travel for the job.

Several trustees said Monday that the program needs review.

"We will definitely re-evaluate the entire procedure – who needs it and who doesn't," board President Lois Parrott said. "There will be equity and fairness in the distribution of any funding for travel."

In Houston, Texas' largest district, the school system provides car allowances to 66 employees at an annual cost of $478,000.

The majority of DISD's car allowances range from $694 to $4,051 a year and are given to employees in various positions, including administrative assistants, supervisors, accountants, help desk technicians and top managers.

Trustee Hollis Brashear said Monday that the district needs to look at requiring car allowance recipients to log mileage for payment, as board members are required to do.

"We should only pay for services that are provided," he said.

District administrators have received advice on limiting car allowances before.

A 2001 state comptroller's report recommended that DISD reduce the number of employees receiving car allowances. The district spent $1.8 million that year on car allowances for 2,076 employees.

The report recommended eliminating the stipends for positions below the executive management level unless there was proper documentation and justification.

DISD officials chose not to follow the comptroller's recommendation, saying it would be cumbersome to switch to a mileage reimbursement system.

Trustee Jerome Garza said Monday he supports reviewing the car allowances.

"What may have been good to do 10 years ago, I'm not sure it's the best thing to do today," he said. "I do know that I want to look at it again."

The News' review found that dozens of employees would each have to drive more than 950 miles a month to justify the sizes of their stipends, using DISD's reimbursement rate of 35 cents a mile. The review also found that at least 48 car allowance recipients have access to district vehicles when traveling on business.

Dr. Parrott said she had believed the comptroller's recommendations were being followed because the board told administrators to "follow everything in that report." She also disapproved of the district's reasoning that employees logging their mileage for payment would create more work.

"To not have a method when we have so much technology available is a lame excuse," she said. "No mileage should ever be given at a flat rate."

[TexasStooge]

Hearts heavy, police recall officer's devotion

Dallas: Work in patrol, other duties the subject of praise; vigil planned

By TANYA EISERER and HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Dallas' nearly 3,000 sworn police officers went to work with black tape over their badges Monday as they mourned the loss of a colleague slain over the weekend.

A candlelight vigil has been scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday in memory of Officer Brian Jackson. The vigil for Officer Jackson will be at the central patrol station at 334 S. Hall St.

"We want to give officers and citizens a chance to show their support for the family," said Lt. Kenneth Dortch, a central patrol supervisor.

Officer Jackson, 28, died at a local hospital early Sunday of a gunshot wound to his right underarm suffered in a gunfight on Madera Street near North Henderson Avenue in Old East Dallas. He was among officers who had responded to a nearby domestic disturbance.

Officers throughout the central patrol division looked emotionally spent Monday, many fighting back tears throughout the day. They expressed pride in Officer Jackson's work at the division.

"This is where he developed into the officer that he is," said Senior Cpl. Rennie Perez of the central patrol division, where Officer Jackson began his career at the Dallas Police Department.

"He worked primarily in the Greenville area. A lot of people will recognize him if they see his face in a picture."

In addition to his regular patrol duties, Officer Jackson served as liaison to the gang unit and frequently helped the unit's officers with intelligence. He also served as a student resource officer at Lake Highlands Junior High School.

"We are working to find ways that students may express their sorrow to Officer Jackson's family," principal Lorine Burrell said.

Cpl. Perez said Officer Jackson also got to know several gang members and tried to counsel them toward a better life.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Restland Funeral Home, 9220 Restland Road in Dallas. Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Highland Oaks Church of Christ, 10805 Walnut Hill Lane (formerly Kingsley Road) in Dallas. Arrangements for services in Officer Jackson's former home of Rhode Island are pending.

A police squad car has been positioned at Canton Street and Hall Street for those who want leave flowers, wreaths and other mementos. A memorial fund in memory of Officer Jackson has been established at City Credit Union. Donations can be made to the "Brian H. Jackson Memorial Fund."

Officer Jackson was the 76th Dallas police officer to die in the line of duty and the first slain since November 2001. Officer Jackson joined the department in January 2001 after moving from Rhode Island. He was married in August.

Juan Lizcano, a 28-year-old who immigrated illegally from Mexico, was being held at Lew Sterrett Justice Center on charges of capital murder and aggravated assault. Immigration authorities have placed a hold on him.

Mr. Lizcano declined an interview request.

Officer Richard Harding, a nine-year veteran and former partner of Officer Jackson, said he and others are confident Mr. Lizcano will be punished accordingly.

"We have the utmost faith in the courts, and we'll just let justice be served," Officer Harding said.

[TexasStooge]

Ranger concedes faults in testimony in slaying

Investigator denies he deliberately misled in W. Texas case from '96

By ARNOLD HAMILTON / The Dallas Morning News

LUBBOCK, Texas – An investigator for the state's elite Texas Rangers was grilled Monday by appellate lawyers who contend he altered and concealed evidence to help convict two Mexican citizens of a 1996 convenience store killing.

In nearly three hours of questioning, attorneys from Dallas-based Haynes and Boone portrayed Sal Abreo as a rogue investigator who gave false testimony, coached a key witness and embellished the dying clerk's description of her assailants.

Ranger Abreo conceded that some of his testimony had been incorrect, but he denied that he deliberately misled anyone – including the Lamb County prosecutor who said in a memo that he was duped by the investigator into filing the case.

The Ranger's long-anticipated appearance came on the final day of testimony in a joint appeal that seeks to win a new trial or freedom for Jesus Ramirez and Alberto Sifuentes, serving life sentences in the death of Evangelina "Angie" Cruz.

The Dallas lawyers, who took the case pro bono at the behest of the Mexican Consulate, and state prosecutors will return to a Lubbock courtroom Dec. 21 to make final arguments in the appeal, which focuses on allegations of inadequate trial counsel and prosecutorial misconduct.

Mr. Ramirez and Mr. Sifuentes did not attend Monday's daylong hearing. Both prosecutors and appellate attorneys learned late last week that the two were mistakenly returned to state custody and taken to Huntsville.

Several members of Mrs. Cruz's family were in the third-floor courtroom. Her brother, Rick Escobedo, said Monday he remains convinced that the two men are guilty of killing Mrs. Cruz in August 1996 at the Jolly Roger convenience store in Littlefield, an agricultural center about 40 miles northwest of Lubbock.

In Monday's hearing, the Dallas appellate lawyers questioned Ranger Abreo – the lead investigator in the case – about the way he handled evidence and witnesses and the accuracy of his testimony in Mr. Ramirez's and Mr. Sifuentes' separate 1998 trials.

An investigation by the Dallas law firm generated a list of evidence that didn't seem to add up: The two men didn't fit the exact description of the assailants given by the clerk before she died. A key prosecution witness couldn't have been at the crime scene at the time she claimed. And another witness conceded she was passing-out drunk after a daylong binge.

Attorneys for the men, poor immigrants who were legally in the U.S. and who spoke little English, had portrayed them as easy marks for authorities anxious to solve the South Plains murder.

Ranger Abreo's testimony had been delayed because of an undisclosed medical problem. He remains on medical leave from the Texas Rangers.

In his testimony Monday, he conceded that the way he described the suspects in his reports did not match identically the descriptions that a Littlefield investigator, Craig Thompson, took from Mrs. Cruz as she lay dying.

"I believe they [the descriptions] were close enough or similar enough to be the same people," the Ranger said Monday.

He also denied he coached a witness, Mary Davila Wood, into saying she was with the men at the Jolly Roger the night of the murder. And he denied threatening Ms. Wood or accusing her of lying.

"I don't remember doing that," he said.

Ranger Abreo also denied he deliberately provided misleading or inaccurate trial testimony when he failed to report that a pair of tennis shoes was recovered from Mr. Ramirez's home.

The state crime lab tested the shoes to see if they left a footprint found on the convenience store counter. The result: No match.

In his testimony at Mr. Ramirez's trial, Ranger Abreo said no tennis shoes were recovered from either Mr. Ramirez's or Mr. Sifuentes' residences. But the appellate lawyers recently discovered a state Department of Public Safety memo that showed Ranger Abreo himself turned over the shoes about a week after the murder.

"It was incorrect testimony," he said Monday.

After testifying in Mr. Ramirez' trial, Ranger Abreo said he reviewed his case file and was reminded that Mr. Ramirez's tennis shoes were indeed seized. But he said he didn't notify prosecutors or the court that his testimony had been wrong.

On Monday, he said he still has no recollection of submitting the shoes for crime lab analysis.

Both Ranger Abreo – and his current supervisor, Lt. Dusty McCord, who also testified Monday – said they still have not reviewed a videotape from another Littlefield convenience store that cast doubt on the testimony of a key prosecution witness.

The witness, Brenda Ayala, said she went directly from the Town & County convenience store to the Jolly Roger just moments before the murder, where she described seeing the two men. But a Town & Country surveillance tape showed Ms. Ayala was in the store about 90 minutes earlier than she reported.

Lt. McCord said Monday that he believes Ms. Ayala was in the Jolly Roger just before the murder. Such surveillance tapes, he said, typically have the wrong date and time on them. He even sent a Ranger on Monday to the same convenience store – more than nine years later – to see what date and time were on the current tape. It was 45 days off, he said.

After the hearing, Barry F. McNeil, a former Justice Department lawyer who heads the Haynes and Boone pro bono team, was incredulous.

"It's like going to the scene of a burglary nine years later and looking for evidence after there've been five different homeowners," he said.

[TexasStooge]

Inmate who spurred Texas prison overhaul dies

HOUSTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - Convicted robber David Ruiz, the self-described "writ writer" whose handwritten lawsuit more than three decades ago led to court-ordered improvements in the way Texas houses and treats prisoners in one of the nation's largest corrections systems, has died of natural causes. He was 63.

Ruiz was pronounced dead at 4:58 p.m. Saturday at the prison hospital in Galveston, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.

He was serving a life prison term for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and aggravated perjury and most recently had been imprisoned at the Goree Unit just south of Huntsville.

Ruiz, from Austin, in 1972 filed suit against what was then known as the Texas Department of Corrections, alleging conditions for inmates were unconstitutional. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice of Tyler, who in 1980 after a nearly yearlong trial in Houston issued a 188-page ruling that found Texas prisons were overcrowded and understaffed, that medical care was inadequate and that violence was rampant among inmates, guards and inmates who worked as guards under a generations-old system known as building tenders.

Then Justice ordered changes and set timetables to bring the prison system up to date and appointed a special master to make sure the changes were implemented. The Texas Legislature passed laws to reduce prison population, but Texas prisons by the mid 1980s were among the most dangerous in the country with gang violence and fatal stabbings routine.

Justice threatened the state with huge fines and by early 1987 found the state in contempt. Finally late that year, voters approved a half-billion dollars in bond for prison construction, the first step in an unprecedented building program that today includes more than 100 prisons housing some 154,000 inmates.

Along with the new construction that modernized Texas prisons, the entire corrections administration in the state was overhauled, with a new board structure and even a name change to the current Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

In 1992, 20 years after Ruiz filed his lawsuit, the state and lawyers for inmates signed a settlement, but it wasn't until 2001 that Justice ended federal oversight of several areas of the state's prison system.

"I believe in what I do," Ruiz, a classic jailhouse lawyer who filed numerous grievances and legal challenges while incarcerated, told The Associated Press in a 1992 interview.

He said he would take the legal steps again, even if he knew how long it would take to get the improvements accomplished for him and his fellow inmates.

"We are still human beings and should be treated in a humane manner and there are laws supporting that," he said. "If you cage an animal and kick him every day, one day that animal is going to attack.

"I never asked for a Holiday Inn. I asked to be treated as a human being."

Ruiz first went to prison in February 1960 with a 12-year sentence for assault in Travis County. He was discharged seven years later. The following year, 1968, he picked up three 25-year sentences for robbery with a firearm and two counts of robbery assault, also in Travis County. On Dec. 29, 1968, prison records show he escaped from the Ellis Unit outside Huntsville but was recaptured two days later.

In 1979, after filing his lawsuit, he was taken into custody of federal authorities and was paroled and released from a federal institution in California in 1981. But two years later he was picked up as a parole violator, then discharged in January 1984. Later that year, he received a life sentence for aggravated robbery. It was that sentence he was serving at the time of his death.

Over the years, he'd spent time in more than a half-dozen Texas prisons, plus other federal lockups. In April 1988, he was knifed in a federal prison in Indiana in what his lawyer at the time said a prison gang-ordered hit against him in retribution for the original lawsuit that ended the building tender system, where dominant convicts served as guards. At his request, he was returned to Texas custody.

"A lot of the injuries I have suffered, the embarrassment, the harassment, is because of the litigation I participated in," Ruiz said.