42 pounds of cocaine seized at Dallas motel
By STEVE STOLER / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - Some have called the confiscation of 42 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $1.8 million one of the biggest drug busts in Denton County history.
Sheriff's office narcotics investigators said the cocaine was supposed to be delivered in Denton County, but instead officers along with federal agents seized the drugs at a Dallas motel off Northwest Highway. 42 pounds of cocaine with a street value of one-point eight million dollars.
"It's going to make a dent in Denton," said Keisha Tucker, a drug counselor.
Tucker counsels with the Tarrant Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and said one of five people who go through the state's drug program report cocaine as their drug of choice.
Tucker said people who are considered heavy users use one eighth of an ounce a day.
"I would think that they would resort to methamphetamine, which has been called the poor man's cocaine," she said.
Officers arrested one man who they described as a resident of Mexico. He's was placed in the Denton County Jail and held on a $500,000 bond.
The arrest and seizure of drugs made some University of North Texas students feel a little safer.
"It's great any time that police can find that stuff and get if off the streets because it makes everybody safer," said Greg Janda, UNT student. "But it concerns me that that much is in the area anyway."
UNT students weren't the only residents pleased with the bust.
"...I'm really proud of our law enforcement for busting them and making our streets safer," said Lisa Tynes, a Corinth resident.
Sheriff's officials would not reveal many details of the big bust, but they told News 8 the investigation is ongoing and they want to make as many arrests as possible. They said they also believe they are dealing with a major drug operation.
News from the Lone Star State
Moderator: S2k Moderators
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Firefighters fight blaze at Arlington Municipal Airport
ARLINGTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Firefighters continued battling hot spots into Monday night after a fire at a North Texas Airport Monday.
The fire swept through more than a dozen hangars at the Arlington Municipal Airport.
Authorities said as many as 20 single engine planes were either damaged or destroyed.
Officials said they believe that possible chemicals stored in the hangars contributed to the intensity of the fire.
Airport officials are now in the process of notifying the owners of the aircraft.
No one was injured.
ARLINGTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Firefighters continued battling hot spots into Monday night after a fire at a North Texas Airport Monday.
The fire swept through more than a dozen hangars at the Arlington Municipal Airport.
Authorities said as many as 20 single engine planes were either damaged or destroyed.
Officials said they believe that possible chemicals stored in the hangars contributed to the intensity of the fire.
Airport officials are now in the process of notifying the owners of the aircraft.
No one was injured.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Cedar Hill teen starting to rebuild, remember
Brain injury took much of soccer standout's memory, but not her determination
By KATE HAIROPOULOS / The Dallas Morning News
CEDAR HILL, Texas - There's a spark in Ciera Trevino's brown eyes, much more than there was just a few weeks ago.
That's because the 15-year-old Cedar Hill High School athlete knows so much more than she did then.
She knows what day it is. She knows what she had for breakfast. She knows how to read time. She knows that she recently saw the new Harry Potter movie.
And she knows why she spends most days at the Centre for Neuro Skills in Irving, four months after she went into cardiac arrest after volleyball practice.
She doesn't remember. But she knows.
"My heart stopped," she says. "I have a brain injury."
For so long, she didn't know. She would forget as soon as they told her.
"Think 50 First Dates," says her dad, Eddie, referring to the 2004 movie in which Drew Barrymore's character loses her memory before the start of each day.
While Ciera's heart was stopped, because of an undiagnosed genetic condition called long Q-T syndrome, her brain was injured because she didn't get enough oxygen.
She's getting better, and she looks forward to returning to school. But Ciera is just starting to realize she's not the same.
Doctors have advised against playing competitive sports again. Ciera's soccer skills earned her a spot in the U.S. Olympic Development Program. But now, she has a catch in her step, and her hands tremble.
She was the No. 1 student in her freshman class and planned to take classes this year for college credit. But now she is studying at the sixth-grade level.
"She'll say, 'I'm not ready to go back to school,' " says her mother, Alice Trevino. "She knows there is a difference."
But for Ciera, it's not about what she used to be. It's about what she will be.
Eddie Trevino, who works for Dallas Fire-Rescue, was peering through the gymnasium door on the evening of Aug. 15 when his daughter collapsed.
Eddie had swung by Cedar Hill High to pick up Ciera after junior varsity volleyball practice. If they could leave by 6 p.m., they would miss the worst of the traffic on the way to North Dallas, where Ciera's Dallas Texans Red soccer team practices.
Volleyball practice wrapped up, and the players gathered around the coach.
And then Ciera crumpled to the ground.
Eddie, the father, rushed to his daughter. And then Eddie, the paramedic, gave his daughter CPR.
"I went into autopilot," he says.
Ciera's frightened teammates were taken into a hallway where they couldn't see what was happening.
Eddie saw his daughter's eyes dilate, a sign that she wasn't getting oxygen to her brain.
When the paramedics arrived, they administered more CPR. Ciera's heart stopped. They had to shock it three or four times.
"I thought I'd lost her," Eddie says.
But a paramedic shouted, "We've got a pulse!"
Eddie tears up when he tells the story. Ciera listens with interest. She doesn't remember any of it.
So many questions
It was the start of a few horrible weeks. The swelling in Ciera's brain worsened, and she slipped into a coma for a week. Then she suffered a condition called sympathetic storming, her body convulsing for half-hour periods throughout the night with only five- to 10-minute breaks.
Her parents had to watch her suffer.
Finally, her condition stabilized. But as medication wore off, brain damage became evident.
Ciera remembered her name and her family and friends.
But she couldn't recall that she had been driving on a learner's permit for months. That she had almost finished the sixth Harry Potter novel she had so eagerly awaited last summer.
She didn't even remember what she had for breakfast, or that she had made the cookies sitting on the table next to her. She didn't remember that she had lost a game of Connect Four just a minute or so before.
And she couldn't recall the volleyball practice where she had collapsed.
She didn't understand why she was here or why she couldn't go home.
Every day Ciera, with a vacant look filling her eyes, would finger the bump of the defibrillator that had been installed in her chest.
"What's this?" she'd ask.
The road back
"Ciera, name as many words as you can think of that start with 'S.' "
Ciera's speech therapist at the Centre for Neuro Skills sits with his client at a table in his tiny office in November, almost three months after her heart stopped. He clicks a stopwatch into action.
"Sang, sung, state, summer ... some," says Ciera, wearing her black No. 10 Dallas Texans warm-ups. A few moments pass. "Did I say sang?"
Try ones that start with "sh," the therapist suggests.
"Shoe, shark ...." Ciera starts up again. It's hard for her to stay focused, and she keeps putting her head down on the table or leaning against the wall.
She also does exercises putting numbers in order and another drill in which she describes an object and then has to come up with another one to compare it to.
Ciera, who wears her hair in a braid that reaches all the way down her back, also attends sessions in education, counseling and physical and occupational therapy. She stays down the road in a two-bedroom condo with another patient. Alice and Eddie take turns staying with her.
Insurance has covered most of Ciera's expenses so far. Friends and teammates have set up a recovery fund through Merrill Lynch and have raised more then $20,000 through a fun run and a soccer tournament.
The family, which also includes 14-year-old Chelsea and 22-year-old Candace, who has cerebral palsy, is blind and uses a wheelchair, gathers at home or at the condo on weekends. They go to movies, one of Ciera's favorite pastimes, and to Chelsea's sporting events.
Ciera knows what day and month it is, knows that she just came out of counseling and that dinner is the next meal. She can answer questions, most of the time, after gleaning the answers from four-sentence stories just read to her.
Ciera knows the names of her therapists and even challenges them.
"What's my name?" she'll answer back with a smile.
In physical therapy, she's regaining her ability to swim. The first time she got back in the pool, she sank and came up laughing.
"She's still pretty normal," says Emily Bechdol, Ciera's best friend and Cedar Hill volleyball and soccer teammate. "She just asks me the same questions over and over a lot now."
Not giving up
Ciera grew up blazing pitches by batters in a boys baseball league. She ate right and drank water and Gatorade. She did the fitness routines of U.S. Olympic soccer players.
Alice Trevino had even taken Ciera and Chelsea to have their hearts checked several years ago after reading an article about young athletes with enlarged hearts. The results came back normal.
Three months after Ciera's collapse, genetic tests revealed she had long Q-T syndrome, a condition an electrocardiogram can't always diagnose.
Now, there's no telling how long Ciera's recovery time will be or how much better she'll get.
"I know I need to get better," says Ciera, sitting in the crowded lunchroom at the Centre. "It's just going to be a long, long time."
Ciera says she knows things have changed for her when she struggles to recall the steps to a simple algebra problem.
"I used to know everything about math," she says. She still wants to study premed in college.
It's hard for her to accept a future without competitive sports. Ciera's world revolved around soccer. She set a school record and ranked among the area's best in goals last season as a freshman, scoring 39. Cedar Hill coach Heather Parks says Ciera almost certainly would have earned a major college scholarship.
When Alice goes home at night, she researches Ciera's condition on the Internet. She found a message board with a post about a young woman who has the same condition playing collegiate soccer.
What if?
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Alice says.
Ciera's counselor recently asked Ciera to draw a picture of herself before her heart stopped and one of after.
Ciera drew a picture of herself with a soccer ball for the first. For the second, she drew herself alone.
But she's still working on what comes next.
"I'll never give up on soccer," Ciera says.
You can see that spark coming back.
Brain injury took much of soccer standout's memory, but not her determination
By KATE HAIROPOULOS / The Dallas Morning News
CEDAR HILL, Texas - There's a spark in Ciera Trevino's brown eyes, much more than there was just a few weeks ago.
That's because the 15-year-old Cedar Hill High School athlete knows so much more than she did then.
She knows what day it is. She knows what she had for breakfast. She knows how to read time. She knows that she recently saw the new Harry Potter movie.
And she knows why she spends most days at the Centre for Neuro Skills in Irving, four months after she went into cardiac arrest after volleyball practice.
She doesn't remember. But she knows.
"My heart stopped," she says. "I have a brain injury."
For so long, she didn't know. She would forget as soon as they told her.
"Think 50 First Dates," says her dad, Eddie, referring to the 2004 movie in which Drew Barrymore's character loses her memory before the start of each day.
While Ciera's heart was stopped, because of an undiagnosed genetic condition called long Q-T syndrome, her brain was injured because she didn't get enough oxygen.
She's getting better, and she looks forward to returning to school. But Ciera is just starting to realize she's not the same.
Doctors have advised against playing competitive sports again. Ciera's soccer skills earned her a spot in the U.S. Olympic Development Program. But now, she has a catch in her step, and her hands tremble.
She was the No. 1 student in her freshman class and planned to take classes this year for college credit. But now she is studying at the sixth-grade level.
"She'll say, 'I'm not ready to go back to school,' " says her mother, Alice Trevino. "She knows there is a difference."
But for Ciera, it's not about what she used to be. It's about what she will be.
Eddie Trevino, who works for Dallas Fire-Rescue, was peering through the gymnasium door on the evening of Aug. 15 when his daughter collapsed.
Eddie had swung by Cedar Hill High to pick up Ciera after junior varsity volleyball practice. If they could leave by 6 p.m., they would miss the worst of the traffic on the way to North Dallas, where Ciera's Dallas Texans Red soccer team practices.
Volleyball practice wrapped up, and the players gathered around the coach.
And then Ciera crumpled to the ground.
Eddie, the father, rushed to his daughter. And then Eddie, the paramedic, gave his daughter CPR.
"I went into autopilot," he says.
Ciera's frightened teammates were taken into a hallway where they couldn't see what was happening.
Eddie saw his daughter's eyes dilate, a sign that she wasn't getting oxygen to her brain.
When the paramedics arrived, they administered more CPR. Ciera's heart stopped. They had to shock it three or four times.
"I thought I'd lost her," Eddie says.
But a paramedic shouted, "We've got a pulse!"
Eddie tears up when he tells the story. Ciera listens with interest. She doesn't remember any of it.
So many questions
It was the start of a few horrible weeks. The swelling in Ciera's brain worsened, and she slipped into a coma for a week. Then she suffered a condition called sympathetic storming, her body convulsing for half-hour periods throughout the night with only five- to 10-minute breaks.
Her parents had to watch her suffer.
Finally, her condition stabilized. But as medication wore off, brain damage became evident.
Ciera remembered her name and her family and friends.
But she couldn't recall that she had been driving on a learner's permit for months. That she had almost finished the sixth Harry Potter novel she had so eagerly awaited last summer.
She didn't even remember what she had for breakfast, or that she had made the cookies sitting on the table next to her. She didn't remember that she had lost a game of Connect Four just a minute or so before.
And she couldn't recall the volleyball practice where she had collapsed.
She didn't understand why she was here or why she couldn't go home.
Every day Ciera, with a vacant look filling her eyes, would finger the bump of the defibrillator that had been installed in her chest.
"What's this?" she'd ask.
The road back
"Ciera, name as many words as you can think of that start with 'S.' "
Ciera's speech therapist at the Centre for Neuro Skills sits with his client at a table in his tiny office in November, almost three months after her heart stopped. He clicks a stopwatch into action.
"Sang, sung, state, summer ... some," says Ciera, wearing her black No. 10 Dallas Texans warm-ups. A few moments pass. "Did I say sang?"
Try ones that start with "sh," the therapist suggests.
"Shoe, shark ...." Ciera starts up again. It's hard for her to stay focused, and she keeps putting her head down on the table or leaning against the wall.
She also does exercises putting numbers in order and another drill in which she describes an object and then has to come up with another one to compare it to.
Ciera, who wears her hair in a braid that reaches all the way down her back, also attends sessions in education, counseling and physical and occupational therapy. She stays down the road in a two-bedroom condo with another patient. Alice and Eddie take turns staying with her.
Insurance has covered most of Ciera's expenses so far. Friends and teammates have set up a recovery fund through Merrill Lynch and have raised more then $20,000 through a fun run and a soccer tournament.
The family, which also includes 14-year-old Chelsea and 22-year-old Candace, who has cerebral palsy, is blind and uses a wheelchair, gathers at home or at the condo on weekends. They go to movies, one of Ciera's favorite pastimes, and to Chelsea's sporting events.
Ciera knows what day and month it is, knows that she just came out of counseling and that dinner is the next meal. She can answer questions, most of the time, after gleaning the answers from four-sentence stories just read to her.
Ciera knows the names of her therapists and even challenges them.
"What's my name?" she'll answer back with a smile.
In physical therapy, she's regaining her ability to swim. The first time she got back in the pool, she sank and came up laughing.
"She's still pretty normal," says Emily Bechdol, Ciera's best friend and Cedar Hill volleyball and soccer teammate. "She just asks me the same questions over and over a lot now."
Not giving up
Ciera grew up blazing pitches by batters in a boys baseball league. She ate right and drank water and Gatorade. She did the fitness routines of U.S. Olympic soccer players.
Alice Trevino had even taken Ciera and Chelsea to have their hearts checked several years ago after reading an article about young athletes with enlarged hearts. The results came back normal.
Three months after Ciera's collapse, genetic tests revealed she had long Q-T syndrome, a condition an electrocardiogram can't always diagnose.
Now, there's no telling how long Ciera's recovery time will be or how much better she'll get.
"I know I need to get better," says Ciera, sitting in the crowded lunchroom at the Centre. "It's just going to be a long, long time."
Ciera says she knows things have changed for her when she struggles to recall the steps to a simple algebra problem.
"I used to know everything about math," she says. She still wants to study premed in college.
It's hard for her to accept a future without competitive sports. Ciera's world revolved around soccer. She set a school record and ranked among the area's best in goals last season as a freshman, scoring 39. Cedar Hill coach Heather Parks says Ciera almost certainly would have earned a major college scholarship.
When Alice goes home at night, she researches Ciera's condition on the Internet. She found a message board with a post about a young woman who has the same condition playing collegiate soccer.
What if?
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Alice says.
Ciera's counselor recently asked Ciera to draw a picture of herself before her heart stopped and one of after.
Ciera drew a picture of herself with a soccer ball for the first. For the second, she drew herself alone.
But she's still working on what comes next.
"I'll never give up on soccer," Ciera says.
You can see that spark coming back.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Justices take up Texas remap
Stakes sky high as court weighs how partisan process can get
By ALLEN PUSEY and TODD J. GILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON D.C. – In a move that could redefine the limits of partisan politics, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear four Texas cases challenging the redrawing of congressional districts two years ago by the Republican-dominated Legislature.
The court also agreed to expedite the four cases, filed by minorities, Democratic officeholders and others who say they have been disenfranchised by the GOP-drawn districts.
The court gave no reason for accepting the appeals, which involve a wide range of highly charged allegations: from "excessive partisan gerrymandering" and mid-decade redistricting to the dilution of minority votes. Just last year, the court ruled in a split vote that a Pennsylvania redistricting plan – though highly partisan – could not be resolved by the courts on a complaint that the process was simply too political.
Since then, the court has entered a transition, with a new chief justice on the bench and an associate justice about to be replaced.
At the very least, the announcement Monday promises to re-energize a bitter three-year struggle between Texas Democrats and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is widely credited with engineering the redistricting strategy.
"We felt all along that there was a serious voting rights violation in the way these districts were drawn, particularly involving the black voters in Fort Worth," said former U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, whose district was largely redrawn. "I hope they'll throw the districts out."
A special two-hour hearing is scheduled for March 1. Redistricting arguments will be heard in addition to three other unrelated cases slated that day. Texas' primary is scheduled for March 7.
Republicans' gain
The current map's boundaries resulted in a gain of six House seats for Republicans and a string of lawsuits by Democrats, who charged that the map was designed solely for that purpose. The Republicans countered that the plan added a black member to the 32-person delegation.
Mr. DeLay, the Sugar Land Republican, has blamed recent political and legal problems – including his indictment in Austin on a money-laundering charge – on Democrats angry about the redistricting. His office was philosophical Monday, saying the plan has so far passed every legal hurdle.
"The Supreme Court's consideration represents the last step in the redistricting process," said his spokesman, Kevin Madden. He said the map, which aimed to clear past gerrymandering by Democrats, gained preliminary Justice Department approval and the backing of a three-judge federal panel.
Democrats were ecstatic. The court had several of the cases on its list for consideration at least five times in the past year but had declined to act. The decision to hear the cases followed by barely a week reports that the Justice Department had approved the Texas plan two years ago over the objections of staff lawyers who were concerned that the plan diluted minority voting rights.
"I don't know why the court accepted the cases, but I'm glad they did," said M. Renea Hicks, an Austin lawyer who represents the city of Austin and Travis County, both of which contend that the DeLay plan diluted votes in their highly Democratic region.
"We have never gotten any justice out of this process," said J. Gerald Hebert, an attorney representing a group of Democratic officeholders. "The Texas Legislature let us down. The Justice Department let us down. And we've certainly gotten no relief from the courts."
But while Democrats expressed surprise that the court agreed to hear the cases, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said he wasn't.
Because the cases were on appeal, he said the court would be required to rule. That they chose to hear arguments first, he said, wasn't unexpected.
"We expect the court will agree with the unanimous judgment of the three-judge federal court that the Texas redistricting plan is wholly constitutional," Mr. Abbott said.
Though the court did not articulate the specific questions it plans to consider, the four cases together include three general constitutional problems:
•Whether the politics of redistricting can be so partisan that the results are unconstitutional.
•Whether the Republican redistricting plan dilutes the power of minority voters by packing them into minority-only districts or by fragmenting them among many districts.
•Whether legislatures can redistrict more often than once every 10 years, as the Constitution suggests.
Charlie Stenholm, an Abilene Democrat who lost his House seat after 26 years because of the redistricting, said he was delighted that the court would consider whether mid-decade redistricting plans – those that do not directly follow the regular decennial census – are constitutional.
The disputed Republican plan, approved in 2003, replaced a 2001 court-drawn redistricting plan that had been based on the just-completed 2000 census. Mr. Stenholm believes that the precedent, unchecked, invites political chaos.
"I have felt for quite some time that unless the Supreme Court steps in and says states may not do what Texas did, we're going to have redistricting every two years in states all over the country as the political power structure changes," Mr. Stenholm said. "That to me has always been unconstitutional."
Ultimate impact
Politicians in two other states, Colorado and Georgia, have already indicated they will consider mid-decade redistricting if the Texas plan survives the Supreme Court challenge.
But Nathaniel Persily, a redistricting expert at the University of Pennsylvania law school, said the main goal of Democrats is to have the court issue clear guidelines for what constitutes "impermissible partisan gerrymandering."
"They want the Supreme Court to explain when partisanship becomes too much partisanship. That's the mother lode," he said.
Columbia University political scientist David Epstein said the court's decision to accept the cases might signal that the court is ready to deal with partisan redistricting in a way that it wasn't just last year.
The court's makeup
Last year, in the Pennsylvania case, the court was split in its ruling that a similar Republican redistricting plan was constitutional, even though it was the result of a highly partisan political process.
Four justices (the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas) ruled that redistricting was a process too political to be judged by a court. Four other justices (John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer) said "excessive partisanship" could and should be controlled by the courts.
Standing in the middle, Justice Anthony Kennedy said he could envision a case that might be so partisan that the court would have to intervene. And Mr. Epstein thinks the court – especially Justice Kennedy – may have decided this is that case.
If so, said Mr. Epstein, "that would be a cataclysmic revolution in the way redistricting would be done. ... It would be as if you woke up on an alien landscape."
"In the South, they already have to worry about racial issues. Now, they would have to worry about shutting out the opposition – and that's always been the idea in redistricting," Mr. Epstein said. Crafting a rule that screens out the most egregious political cases would be extremely difficult, he said.
"When you have a political operation, you expect politics to intrude," Mr. Epstein said.
Mr. Persily and others say the Texas case involves a near "perfect storm" of political factors that may be driving the court's late-blooming eagerness to hear the Texas cases. Mr. DeLay's upcoming trial on money-laundering charges and the leak of the Justice Department disagreement have underscored the Democrats' case. Even the fact that Mr. DeLay felt the need to redistrict just two years after a court-ordered plan emphasizes the uniqueness of the Texas redistricting fray.
"It gives a sense of how extraordinary the facts are in the Texas case," he said.
Stakes sky high as court weighs how partisan process can get
By ALLEN PUSEY and TODD J. GILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON D.C. – In a move that could redefine the limits of partisan politics, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear four Texas cases challenging the redrawing of congressional districts two years ago by the Republican-dominated Legislature.
The court also agreed to expedite the four cases, filed by minorities, Democratic officeholders and others who say they have been disenfranchised by the GOP-drawn districts.
The court gave no reason for accepting the appeals, which involve a wide range of highly charged allegations: from "excessive partisan gerrymandering" and mid-decade redistricting to the dilution of minority votes. Just last year, the court ruled in a split vote that a Pennsylvania redistricting plan – though highly partisan – could not be resolved by the courts on a complaint that the process was simply too political.
Since then, the court has entered a transition, with a new chief justice on the bench and an associate justice about to be replaced.
At the very least, the announcement Monday promises to re-energize a bitter three-year struggle between Texas Democrats and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is widely credited with engineering the redistricting strategy.
"We felt all along that there was a serious voting rights violation in the way these districts were drawn, particularly involving the black voters in Fort Worth," said former U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, whose district was largely redrawn. "I hope they'll throw the districts out."
A special two-hour hearing is scheduled for March 1. Redistricting arguments will be heard in addition to three other unrelated cases slated that day. Texas' primary is scheduled for March 7.
Republicans' gain
The current map's boundaries resulted in a gain of six House seats for Republicans and a string of lawsuits by Democrats, who charged that the map was designed solely for that purpose. The Republicans countered that the plan added a black member to the 32-person delegation.
Mr. DeLay, the Sugar Land Republican, has blamed recent political and legal problems – including his indictment in Austin on a money-laundering charge – on Democrats angry about the redistricting. His office was philosophical Monday, saying the plan has so far passed every legal hurdle.
"The Supreme Court's consideration represents the last step in the redistricting process," said his spokesman, Kevin Madden. He said the map, which aimed to clear past gerrymandering by Democrats, gained preliminary Justice Department approval and the backing of a three-judge federal panel.
Democrats were ecstatic. The court had several of the cases on its list for consideration at least five times in the past year but had declined to act. The decision to hear the cases followed by barely a week reports that the Justice Department had approved the Texas plan two years ago over the objections of staff lawyers who were concerned that the plan diluted minority voting rights.
"I don't know why the court accepted the cases, but I'm glad they did," said M. Renea Hicks, an Austin lawyer who represents the city of Austin and Travis County, both of which contend that the DeLay plan diluted votes in their highly Democratic region.
"We have never gotten any justice out of this process," said J. Gerald Hebert, an attorney representing a group of Democratic officeholders. "The Texas Legislature let us down. The Justice Department let us down. And we've certainly gotten no relief from the courts."
But while Democrats expressed surprise that the court agreed to hear the cases, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said he wasn't.
Because the cases were on appeal, he said the court would be required to rule. That they chose to hear arguments first, he said, wasn't unexpected.
"We expect the court will agree with the unanimous judgment of the three-judge federal court that the Texas redistricting plan is wholly constitutional," Mr. Abbott said.
Though the court did not articulate the specific questions it plans to consider, the four cases together include three general constitutional problems:
•Whether the politics of redistricting can be so partisan that the results are unconstitutional.
•Whether the Republican redistricting plan dilutes the power of minority voters by packing them into minority-only districts or by fragmenting them among many districts.
•Whether legislatures can redistrict more often than once every 10 years, as the Constitution suggests.
Charlie Stenholm, an Abilene Democrat who lost his House seat after 26 years because of the redistricting, said he was delighted that the court would consider whether mid-decade redistricting plans – those that do not directly follow the regular decennial census – are constitutional.
The disputed Republican plan, approved in 2003, replaced a 2001 court-drawn redistricting plan that had been based on the just-completed 2000 census. Mr. Stenholm believes that the precedent, unchecked, invites political chaos.
"I have felt for quite some time that unless the Supreme Court steps in and says states may not do what Texas did, we're going to have redistricting every two years in states all over the country as the political power structure changes," Mr. Stenholm said. "That to me has always been unconstitutional."
Ultimate impact
Politicians in two other states, Colorado and Georgia, have already indicated they will consider mid-decade redistricting if the Texas plan survives the Supreme Court challenge.
But Nathaniel Persily, a redistricting expert at the University of Pennsylvania law school, said the main goal of Democrats is to have the court issue clear guidelines for what constitutes "impermissible partisan gerrymandering."
"They want the Supreme Court to explain when partisanship becomes too much partisanship. That's the mother lode," he said.
Columbia University political scientist David Epstein said the court's decision to accept the cases might signal that the court is ready to deal with partisan redistricting in a way that it wasn't just last year.
The court's makeup
Last year, in the Pennsylvania case, the court was split in its ruling that a similar Republican redistricting plan was constitutional, even though it was the result of a highly partisan political process.
Four justices (the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas) ruled that redistricting was a process too political to be judged by a court. Four other justices (John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer) said "excessive partisanship" could and should be controlled by the courts.
Standing in the middle, Justice Anthony Kennedy said he could envision a case that might be so partisan that the court would have to intervene. And Mr. Epstein thinks the court – especially Justice Kennedy – may have decided this is that case.
If so, said Mr. Epstein, "that would be a cataclysmic revolution in the way redistricting would be done. ... It would be as if you woke up on an alien landscape."
"In the South, they already have to worry about racial issues. Now, they would have to worry about shutting out the opposition – and that's always been the idea in redistricting," Mr. Epstein said. Crafting a rule that screens out the most egregious political cases would be extremely difficult, he said.
"When you have a political operation, you expect politics to intrude," Mr. Epstein said.
Mr. Persily and others say the Texas case involves a near "perfect storm" of political factors that may be driving the court's late-blooming eagerness to hear the Texas cases. Mr. DeLay's upcoming trial on money-laundering charges and the leak of the Justice Department disagreement have underscored the Democrats' case. Even the fact that Mr. DeLay felt the need to redistrict just two years after a court-ordered plan emphasizes the uniqueness of the Texas redistricting fray.
"It gives a sense of how extraordinary the facts are in the Texas case," he said.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Mercantile tower glows with promise
Dallas: Complex emerges from dark as signal of revitalization to come
By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - They counted down in unison. At zero, they roared. Confetti fluttered above and the beautiful people below in beautiful clothes hugged one another and refilled their glasses.
It wasn't New Year's, but a new era. No glowing ball dropped from a skyscraper, but a skyscraper once threatened with the wrecking ball lit up.
Dallas' Mercantile Bank complex has spent a generation empty and crumbling away on downtown's Main Street, a 33-story monument to urban decay. So a party to celebrate its rebirth Monday as a retail and 400-unit residential center seemed fitting.
"This is the most important, last bowling pin to fall," said Mayor Laura Miller, perched on Main Street's Davis Building several blocks away for an unobstructed view of the Mercantile's clock tower.
Floodlights cast the building's body in bright white while its spire glowed in red and green – the first time in 17 years, city officials said. With dignitaries' flip of a cartoonish switch, Dallas' goal of revitalizing downtown became markedly more attainable, they'd say later.
"It's remarkable to me for us to be on this roof, looking at that building, and being able to save it," Ms. Miller said. "We're about to get a lot of people back on the streets."
For that, thank in particular a "crazy, insane man from Cleveland," the mayor said.
He's David Levey, executive vice president of Forest City Enterprises, which Dallas is giving about $70 million in public incentives to redevelop the Mercantile complex and convert the Continental Building across Commerce Street, and the former Atmos Energy office complex nearby, into apartments and condominiums. The complete project is estimated to be worth a quarter-billion dollars.
Mr. Levey acknowledged his initial skepticism – and questioned his own sanity for undertaking a project in a downtown that appeared all but devoid of life.
"Dallas had everything we didn't want," Mr. Levey said.
But the Dallas City Council, he noted, proved a worthy negotiating partner.
Several members, including the mayor, helped salvage the redevelopment deal this year when both sides stood at an impasse over financing, he said. The council voted unanimously this summer to approve the redevelopment pact.
"The government was, for the first time, looking toward its core. They wanted this to happen. The business community wanted this to happen," Mr. Levey said.
Without the Mercantile's redevelopment, Ms. Miller said, "fully half of downtown would not be able to develop the way we wanted it to. It will bring an entirely new feel to downtown Dallas. This had to be done."
Built in 1942, the main Mercantile clock tower will live on as an apartment complex. Forest City plans to tear down three smaller buildings that are part of the Mercantile complex to make way for an apartment tower. Those buildings were constructed between 1949 and 1972. Mr. Levey estimated construction on the apartment tower will last 18 to 24 months.
Today, the complex is cold and dark. Shattered light bulbs and Dr Pepper cans litter its marble floors, and most everything is covered in dust.
The only signs of life in the World War II-era complex – inside which thousands of people once worked – are the gnaw marks of animals and the frozen faces of people depicted in ornate murals set into the complex's walls.
How to remove the artwork before Forest City begins demolishing three of the four buildings is of particular concern to some city officials. Although details haven't been solidified, Ms. Miller said downtown developers are welcome to take the art as long as they pay for its extraction and removal, then use it within their own projects.
State Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, was among the last Mercantile complex business tenants, working on the 28th floor until 1992, when the building shut for good.
"I had my doubts that I'd ever see this. I'm kind of amazed," he said, gazing toward the glowing building on downtown's eastern end.
Dallas: Complex emerges from dark as signal of revitalization to come
By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - They counted down in unison. At zero, they roared. Confetti fluttered above and the beautiful people below in beautiful clothes hugged one another and refilled their glasses.
It wasn't New Year's, but a new era. No glowing ball dropped from a skyscraper, but a skyscraper once threatened with the wrecking ball lit up.
Dallas' Mercantile Bank complex has spent a generation empty and crumbling away on downtown's Main Street, a 33-story monument to urban decay. So a party to celebrate its rebirth Monday as a retail and 400-unit residential center seemed fitting.
"This is the most important, last bowling pin to fall," said Mayor Laura Miller, perched on Main Street's Davis Building several blocks away for an unobstructed view of the Mercantile's clock tower.
Floodlights cast the building's body in bright white while its spire glowed in red and green – the first time in 17 years, city officials said. With dignitaries' flip of a cartoonish switch, Dallas' goal of revitalizing downtown became markedly more attainable, they'd say later.
"It's remarkable to me for us to be on this roof, looking at that building, and being able to save it," Ms. Miller said. "We're about to get a lot of people back on the streets."
For that, thank in particular a "crazy, insane man from Cleveland," the mayor said.
He's David Levey, executive vice president of Forest City Enterprises, which Dallas is giving about $70 million in public incentives to redevelop the Mercantile complex and convert the Continental Building across Commerce Street, and the former Atmos Energy office complex nearby, into apartments and condominiums. The complete project is estimated to be worth a quarter-billion dollars.
Mr. Levey acknowledged his initial skepticism – and questioned his own sanity for undertaking a project in a downtown that appeared all but devoid of life.
"Dallas had everything we didn't want," Mr. Levey said.
But the Dallas City Council, he noted, proved a worthy negotiating partner.
Several members, including the mayor, helped salvage the redevelopment deal this year when both sides stood at an impasse over financing, he said. The council voted unanimously this summer to approve the redevelopment pact.
"The government was, for the first time, looking toward its core. They wanted this to happen. The business community wanted this to happen," Mr. Levey said.
Without the Mercantile's redevelopment, Ms. Miller said, "fully half of downtown would not be able to develop the way we wanted it to. It will bring an entirely new feel to downtown Dallas. This had to be done."
Built in 1942, the main Mercantile clock tower will live on as an apartment complex. Forest City plans to tear down three smaller buildings that are part of the Mercantile complex to make way for an apartment tower. Those buildings were constructed between 1949 and 1972. Mr. Levey estimated construction on the apartment tower will last 18 to 24 months.
Today, the complex is cold and dark. Shattered light bulbs and Dr Pepper cans litter its marble floors, and most everything is covered in dust.
The only signs of life in the World War II-era complex – inside which thousands of people once worked – are the gnaw marks of animals and the frozen faces of people depicted in ornate murals set into the complex's walls.
How to remove the artwork before Forest City begins demolishing three of the four buildings is of particular concern to some city officials. Although details haven't been solidified, Ms. Miller said downtown developers are welcome to take the art as long as they pay for its extraction and removal, then use it within their own projects.
State Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, was among the last Mercantile complex business tenants, working on the 28th floor until 1992, when the building shut for good.
"I had my doubts that I'd ever see this. I'm kind of amazed," he said, gazing toward the glowing building on downtown's eastern end.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Forney mayoral election voided
Judge sets new vote but doesn't assign blame for irregularities
By IAN McCANN / The Dallas Morning News
FORNEY, Texas - A state judge, citing what he called mistakes or illegal activity in the Forney mayoral election in May, took the rare step Monday of tossing out the results and ordering a new election.
Early voting in the potential Jan. 21 rematch between incumbent Darrell Grooms and challenger Rick Wilson, who filed the suit contesting the election results, will begin Jan. 9.
Visiting state District Judge Andrew Kupper said he couldn't determine the rightful outcome of the spring election, but his ruling supported several allegations made by Mr. Wilson's attorneys, including that the early-voting ballot box wasn't properly secured.
The judge concluded that:
•A wire seal was not properly affixed to the early-voting ballot box.
•The early-voting box was capable of being opened without being unlocked.
•Two sets of ballots used in the election had different fonts and word arrangements, although Odessa Moore, the city secretary, testified that all the ballots were made from a single master form.
•Although Ms. Moore testified that she stamped "OK City Secretary" – without a box around the words – on each early-voting ballot, a box did appear around the words on some ballots.
Ms. Moore, who oversaw early voting and in whose office the ballot box was stored during early voting, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Judge Kupper said in his ruling that nothing implicated Mr. Grooms in any wrongdoing.
"There is no evidence that contestee, Darrell Grooms, tampered with any ballots or ballot boxes, nor is there any evidence that he was in any way involved in any action to change the outcome of the election," the judge wrote.
State officials don't keep a tally of successful challenges to local elections. But Scott Haywood, a spokesman for the Texas secretary of state's office, said officials there could recall fewer than 10 instances in the last 15 years in which a judge declared an election void and ordered a new one.
On Monday, Mr. Grooms referred questions to attorney Kent Hofmeister, who said they were considering whether to appeal. An appeal could push the election date back, though under state law, election appeals take priority and can be expedited.
"While we believe under the applicable law the election should not be voided, and while we disagree that the contestant did not meet the standard of clear and convincing evidence, we nonetheless respect the judge's decision," Mr. Hofmeister said.
Mr. Wilson said he was pleased with the judge's decision and was ready to begin his new mayoral campaign.
"I just simply could not turn my back on the fraud we perceived that had occurred," he said. "As we dug into the ballot box, that perception became reality."
Mr. Wilson's attorneys argued – and Judge Kupper agreed – that votes cast by several people, including City Council member Andy Parker, could not be found in the ballot box. Mr. Parker testified during the seven-day trial that he had used ballot No. 331, but the No. 331 in the box did not match the way he voted.
In all, 165 people testified that they had voted early for Mr. Wilson, while just 152 early votes were counted for him – something Judge Kupper called an "irreconcilable discrepancy."
On Saturday, after reading a preliminary version of Judge Kupper's ruling, Mr. Grooms stressed the finding that he had done nothing wrong.
"If anything happened, I was not involved, and the judge said that in his decision," Mr. Grooms said. "He's not saying anything illegal happened."
Mr. Hofmeister said his client will run in the January election.
"He is in his second term as mayor," the lawyer said. "He is going about his business as being the head of city government. He certainly believes that he takes care of city business while this is ongoing. ... It's certainly important to Forney and certainly to Mayor Grooms that the voting process go forward without any questions attendant to it."
Mr. Wilson's attorneys, Bob Jenevein and John Clement, said they thought it was clear that illegal activity had occurred. All that's left to be determined, they said, is who replaced votes cast for Mr. Wilson with votes for Mr. Grooms.
They concluded during the trial that ballots had to have been exchanged, because the total number of early votes counted equaled the number of people who voted early, but more people testified that they had voted early for Mr. Wilson than the number of Wilson votes in the early vote tally.
The Kaufman County Sheriff's Department began investigating potential criminal wrongdoing on Nov. 7 after Mr. Parker filed a criminal complaint alleging that his ballot had been tampered with.
Chief Deputy Fred Cochran said Monday that now that the civil proceeding over the election results has concluded, "we'll want to see in the sworn testimony what they came up with."
"If you have a provable fraud, somebody violated the law," Chief Cochran said. "But who did it is a whole other ballgame."
District Attorney Ed Walton could not be reached for comment Monday.
Staff writer Jim Getz contributed to this report.
Judge sets new vote but doesn't assign blame for irregularities
By IAN McCANN / The Dallas Morning News
FORNEY, Texas - A state judge, citing what he called mistakes or illegal activity in the Forney mayoral election in May, took the rare step Monday of tossing out the results and ordering a new election.
Early voting in the potential Jan. 21 rematch between incumbent Darrell Grooms and challenger Rick Wilson, who filed the suit contesting the election results, will begin Jan. 9.
Visiting state District Judge Andrew Kupper said he couldn't determine the rightful outcome of the spring election, but his ruling supported several allegations made by Mr. Wilson's attorneys, including that the early-voting ballot box wasn't properly secured.
The judge concluded that:
•A wire seal was not properly affixed to the early-voting ballot box.
•The early-voting box was capable of being opened without being unlocked.
•Two sets of ballots used in the election had different fonts and word arrangements, although Odessa Moore, the city secretary, testified that all the ballots were made from a single master form.
•Although Ms. Moore testified that she stamped "OK City Secretary" – without a box around the words – on each early-voting ballot, a box did appear around the words on some ballots.
Ms. Moore, who oversaw early voting and in whose office the ballot box was stored during early voting, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Judge Kupper said in his ruling that nothing implicated Mr. Grooms in any wrongdoing.
"There is no evidence that contestee, Darrell Grooms, tampered with any ballots or ballot boxes, nor is there any evidence that he was in any way involved in any action to change the outcome of the election," the judge wrote.
State officials don't keep a tally of successful challenges to local elections. But Scott Haywood, a spokesman for the Texas secretary of state's office, said officials there could recall fewer than 10 instances in the last 15 years in which a judge declared an election void and ordered a new one.
On Monday, Mr. Grooms referred questions to attorney Kent Hofmeister, who said they were considering whether to appeal. An appeal could push the election date back, though under state law, election appeals take priority and can be expedited.
"While we believe under the applicable law the election should not be voided, and while we disagree that the contestant did not meet the standard of clear and convincing evidence, we nonetheless respect the judge's decision," Mr. Hofmeister said.
Mr. Wilson said he was pleased with the judge's decision and was ready to begin his new mayoral campaign.
"I just simply could not turn my back on the fraud we perceived that had occurred," he said. "As we dug into the ballot box, that perception became reality."
Mr. Wilson's attorneys argued – and Judge Kupper agreed – that votes cast by several people, including City Council member Andy Parker, could not be found in the ballot box. Mr. Parker testified during the seven-day trial that he had used ballot No. 331, but the No. 331 in the box did not match the way he voted.
In all, 165 people testified that they had voted early for Mr. Wilson, while just 152 early votes were counted for him – something Judge Kupper called an "irreconcilable discrepancy."
On Saturday, after reading a preliminary version of Judge Kupper's ruling, Mr. Grooms stressed the finding that he had done nothing wrong.
"If anything happened, I was not involved, and the judge said that in his decision," Mr. Grooms said. "He's not saying anything illegal happened."
Mr. Hofmeister said his client will run in the January election.
"He is in his second term as mayor," the lawyer said. "He is going about his business as being the head of city government. He certainly believes that he takes care of city business while this is ongoing. ... It's certainly important to Forney and certainly to Mayor Grooms that the voting process go forward without any questions attendant to it."
Mr. Wilson's attorneys, Bob Jenevein and John Clement, said they thought it was clear that illegal activity had occurred. All that's left to be determined, they said, is who replaced votes cast for Mr. Wilson with votes for Mr. Grooms.
They concluded during the trial that ballots had to have been exchanged, because the total number of early votes counted equaled the number of people who voted early, but more people testified that they had voted early for Mr. Wilson than the number of Wilson votes in the early vote tally.
The Kaufman County Sheriff's Department began investigating potential criminal wrongdoing on Nov. 7 after Mr. Parker filed a criminal complaint alleging that his ballot had been tampered with.
Chief Deputy Fred Cochran said Monday that now that the civil proceeding over the election results has concluded, "we'll want to see in the sworn testimony what they came up with."
"If you have a provable fraud, somebody violated the law," Chief Cochran said. "But who did it is a whole other ballgame."
District Attorney Ed Walton could not be reached for comment Monday.
Staff writer Jim Getz contributed to this report.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Fire rages at North Dallas apartments
DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A three-alarm fire heavily damaged one building at a North Dallas apartment complex Tuesday morning.
Thick, black smoke rose from the two-story building at the Sutterswood Apartments in the 7100 block of Skillman Street as firefighters worked to knock down the flames that were shooting through the roof.
The fire was reported just before 8 a.m, and was brought under control about a half-hour later.
There were no reports of injuries.
Some streets in the area near Skillman Street and Kingsley Road were closed to traffic.
Tax records show there are 320 units at the Sutterswood Apartments, which were built in 1979.
WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A three-alarm fire heavily damaged one building at a North Dallas apartment complex Tuesday morning.
Thick, black smoke rose from the two-story building at the Sutterswood Apartments in the 7100 block of Skillman Street as firefighters worked to knock down the flames that were shooting through the roof.
The fire was reported just before 8 a.m, and was brought under control about a half-hour later.
There were no reports of injuries.
Some streets in the area near Skillman Street and Kingsley Road were closed to traffic.
Tax records show there are 320 units at the Sutterswood Apartments, which were built in 1979.
WFAA ABC 8
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Fire rages at North Dallas apartments (Updated)
DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A three-alarm fire damaged or destroyed eight units in one building at a North Dallas apartment complex Tuesday morning.
Thick, black smoke rose from the two-story building at the Sutterswood Apartments in the 7100 block of Skillman Street as firefighters worked to knock down the flames that were shooting through the roof.
The fire was reported just before 8 a.m, when residents were abruptly awakened by the smoke and heat. A number of children were among the evacuees.
No one was hurt. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
The blaze was under control within 45 minutes, but firefighters were still dousing hot spots at 9:30.
Some streets in the area near Skillman Street and Kingsley Road were closed to traffic.
Tax records show there are 320 units at the Sutterswood Apartments, which were built in 1979.
WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A three-alarm fire damaged or destroyed eight units in one building at a North Dallas apartment complex Tuesday morning.
Thick, black smoke rose from the two-story building at the Sutterswood Apartments in the 7100 block of Skillman Street as firefighters worked to knock down the flames that were shooting through the roof.
The fire was reported just before 8 a.m, when residents were abruptly awakened by the smoke and heat. A number of children were among the evacuees.
No one was hurt. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
The blaze was under control within 45 minutes, but firefighters were still dousing hot spots at 9:30.
Some streets in the area near Skillman Street and Kingsley Road were closed to traffic.
Tax records show there are 320 units at the Sutterswood Apartments, which were built in 1979.
WFAA ABC 8
0 likes
-
rainstorm
TexasStooge wrote:Forney mayoral election voided
Judge sets new vote but doesn't assign blame for irregularities
By IAN McCANN / The Dallas Morning News
FORNEY, Texas - A state judge, citing what he called mistakes or illegal activity in the Forney mayoral election in May, took the rare step Monday of tossing out the results and ordering a new election.
Early voting in the potential Jan. 21 rematch between incumbent Darrell Grooms and challenger Rick Wilson, who filed the suit contesting the election results, will begin Jan. 9.
Visiting state District Judge Andrew Kupper said he couldn't determine the rightful outcome of the spring election, but his ruling supported several allegations made by Mr. Wilson's attorneys, including that the early-voting ballot box wasn't properly secured.
The judge concluded that:
•A wire seal was not properly affixed to the early-voting ballot box.
•The early-voting box was capable of being opened without being unlocked.
•Two sets of ballots used in the election had different fonts and word arrangements, although Odessa Moore, the city secretary, testified that all the ballots were made from a single master form.
•Although Ms. Moore testified that she stamped "OK City Secretary" – without a box around the words – on each early-voting ballot, a box did appear around the words on some ballots.
Ms. Moore, who oversaw early voting and in whose office the ballot box was stored during early voting, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Judge Kupper said in his ruling that nothing implicated Mr. Grooms in any wrongdoing.
"There is no evidence that contestee, Darrell Grooms, tampered with any ballots or ballot boxes, nor is there any evidence that he was in any way involved in any action to change the outcome of the election," the judge wrote.
State officials don't keep a tally of successful challenges to local elections. But Scott Haywood, a spokesman for the Texas secretary of state's office, said officials there could recall fewer than 10 instances in the last 15 years in which a judge declared an election void and ordered a new one.
On Monday, Mr. Grooms referred questions to attorney Kent Hofmeister, who said they were considering whether to appeal. An appeal could push the election date back, though under state law, election appeals take priority and can be expedited.
"While we believe under the applicable law the election should not be voided, and while we disagree that the contestant did not meet the standard of clear and convincing evidence, we nonetheless respect the judge's decision," Mr. Hofmeister said.
Mr. Wilson said he was pleased with the judge's decision and was ready to begin his new mayoral campaign.
"I just simply could not turn my back on the fraud we perceived that had occurred," he said. "As we dug into the ballot box, that perception became reality."
Mr. Wilson's attorneys argued – and Judge Kupper agreed – that votes cast by several people, including City Council member Andy Parker, could not be found in the ballot box. Mr. Parker testified during the seven-day trial that he had used ballot No. 331, but the No. 331 in the box did not match the way he voted.
In all, 165 people testified that they had voted early for Mr. Wilson, while just 152 early votes were counted for him – something Judge Kupper called an "irreconcilable discrepancy."
On Saturday, after reading a preliminary version of Judge Kupper's ruling, Mr. Grooms stressed the finding that he had done nothing wrong.
"If anything happened, I was not involved, and the judge said that in his decision," Mr. Grooms said. "He's not saying anything illegal happened."
Mr. Hofmeister said his client will run in the January election.
"He is in his second term as mayor," the lawyer said. "He is going about his business as being the head of city government. He certainly believes that he takes care of city business while this is ongoing. ... It's certainly important to Forney and certainly to Mayor Grooms that the voting process go forward without any questions attendant to it."
Mr. Wilson's attorneys, Bob Jenevein and John Clement, said they thought it was clear that illegal activity had occurred. All that's left to be determined, they said, is who replaced votes cast for Mr. Wilson with votes for Mr. Grooms.
They concluded during the trial that ballots had to have been exchanged, because the total number of early votes counted equaled the number of people who voted early, but more people testified that they had voted early for Mr. Wilson than the number of Wilson votes in the early vote tally.
The Kaufman County Sheriff's Department began investigating potential criminal wrongdoing on Nov. 7 after Mr. Parker filed a criminal complaint alleging that his ballot had been tampered with.
Chief Deputy Fred Cochran said Monday that now that the civil proceeding over the election results has concluded, "we'll want to see in the sworn testimony what they came up with."
"If you have a provable fraud, somebody violated the law," Chief Cochran said. "But who did it is a whole other ballgame."
District Attorney Ed Walton could not be reached for comment Monday.
Staff writer Jim Getz contributed to this report.
no blame?
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Spill forces Central shutdown
RICHARDSON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A truck spilled a cargo of diesel fuel across all southbound lanes of North Central Expressway near Belt Line Road Tuesday afternoon.
A hazardous material response team quickly closed off southbound traffic around 12:35 p.m. while they tried to contain the reddish-purple fluid.
A Richardson Fire Department spokesperson identified the liquid as diesel fuel, which—while flammable—is less so than gasoline.
Diesel, however, is slippery, and the entire road surface was coated with it as the runoff spilled into a grassy median.
Police diverted vehicles across to the service road.
The truck was painted with the name "Weir Brothers Inc.," which is a Dallas-based excavation firm. A person who answered a phone call to the company declined to comment.
Live Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
RICHARDSON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A truck spilled a cargo of diesel fuel across all southbound lanes of North Central Expressway near Belt Line Road Tuesday afternoon.
A hazardous material response team quickly closed off southbound traffic around 12:35 p.m. while they tried to contain the reddish-purple fluid.
A Richardson Fire Department spokesperson identified the liquid as diesel fuel, which—while flammable—is less so than gasoline.
Diesel, however, is slippery, and the entire road surface was coated with it as the runoff spilled into a grassy median.
Police diverted vehicles across to the service road.
The truck was painted with the name "Weir Brothers Inc.," which is a Dallas-based excavation firm. A person who answered a phone call to the company declined to comment.
Live Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Former sheriff sentenced in drug case
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) -- Former Cameron County Sheriff Conrado Cantu has been sentenced to more than 24 years in federal prison in a drug-related case.
The 50-year-old ex-lawman pleaded guilty in July to one count of heading a criminal enterprise linked to extortion, drug trafficking, witness tampering and bribery.
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) -- Former Cameron County Sheriff Conrado Cantu has been sentenced to more than 24 years in federal prison in a drug-related case.
The 50-year-old ex-lawman pleaded guilty in July to one count of heading a criminal enterprise linked to extortion, drug trafficking, witness tampering and bribery.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Boy questioned over Dallas apartment fire
By MARY ANN RAZZUK / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - Police are questioning a 15-year-old boy over a three-alarm fire at a North Dallas apartment complex which investigators believe was started intentionally.
Thick, black smoke rose from the two-story building at the Sutterswood Apartments in the 7100 block of Skillman Street on Tuesday morning, as firefighters worked to knock down the flames that were shooting through the roof.
The fire was reported just before 8 a.m, when residents were abruptly awakened by the smoke and heat.
Neighbors alerted each other to the fire and everybody managed to get out alive. "We were asleep, we didn't know what was going on," one resident Keisha Nims said.
"Me and my kids, we came out, there was fire everywhere, on the grass, everywhere."
Some 75 firefighters helped with the evacuation.
Tony Jackson rushed to help people in the block, including one mother.
"She had quite a few [babies] but didn't know where to put them, so I took one of them," he said.
The fire is thought to have started in an empty unit. A passer-by saw the blaze and called 911.
Damage to the building and complex is estimated at $200,000.
The Red Cross has found apartments at the facility for the six families who have been displaced.
Some streets in the area near Skillman Street and Kingsley Road were closed to traffic.
Tax records show there are 320 units at the Sutterswood Apartments, which were built in 1979.
By MARY ANN RAZZUK / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - Police are questioning a 15-year-old boy over a three-alarm fire at a North Dallas apartment complex which investigators believe was started intentionally.
Thick, black smoke rose from the two-story building at the Sutterswood Apartments in the 7100 block of Skillman Street on Tuesday morning, as firefighters worked to knock down the flames that were shooting through the roof.
The fire was reported just before 8 a.m, when residents were abruptly awakened by the smoke and heat.
Neighbors alerted each other to the fire and everybody managed to get out alive. "We were asleep, we didn't know what was going on," one resident Keisha Nims said.
"Me and my kids, we came out, there was fire everywhere, on the grass, everywhere."
Some 75 firefighters helped with the evacuation.
Tony Jackson rushed to help people in the block, including one mother.
"She had quite a few [babies] but didn't know where to put them, so I took one of them," he said.
The fire is thought to have started in an empty unit. A passer-by saw the blaze and called 911.
Damage to the building and complex is estimated at $200,000.
The Red Cross has found apartments at the facility for the six families who have been displaced.
Some streets in the area near Skillman Street and Kingsley Road were closed to traffic.
Tax records show there are 320 units at the Sutterswood Apartments, which were built in 1979.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Vandergriff says he won't seek re-election
FORT WORTH, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - Tarrant County Judge Tom Vandergriff told a group of county employees Tuesday afternoon that he won't run for re-election.
Mr. Vandergriff, who had been hospitalized for more than two weeks before returning to Commissioners' Court Tuesday, has been a fixture in Tarrant County politics for decades.
Mr. Vandergriff, 79, arrived on the Tarrant County political scene 54 years ago and has remained in office for all but 11 of those years.
He was elected Arlington mayor in 1951 - nicknamed the "boy mayor" - and served until 1977. In the early 1970s, he led the effort to bring the Texas Rangers to Arlington, and he has statues at City Hall and Ameriquest Field.
Mr. Vandergriff was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat in the 1980s but lost to Republican Dick Armey, who later became House majority leader. In 1990, Mr. Vandergriff switched parties and has been county judge since.
Mr. Vandergriff's decision is likely to spark a crowded field for the Republican primary for county judge.
County Commissioner Glen Whitley has said he plans to run if Mr. Vandergriff doesn't, and Tarrant County GOP Party officials say that others are discussing a run.
Filing for the primary ends Jan. 2.
FORT WORTH, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - Tarrant County Judge Tom Vandergriff told a group of county employees Tuesday afternoon that he won't run for re-election.
Mr. Vandergriff, who had been hospitalized for more than two weeks before returning to Commissioners' Court Tuesday, has been a fixture in Tarrant County politics for decades.
Mr. Vandergriff, 79, arrived on the Tarrant County political scene 54 years ago and has remained in office for all but 11 of those years.
He was elected Arlington mayor in 1951 - nicknamed the "boy mayor" - and served until 1977. In the early 1970s, he led the effort to bring the Texas Rangers to Arlington, and he has statues at City Hall and Ameriquest Field.
Mr. Vandergriff was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat in the 1980s but lost to Republican Dick Armey, who later became House majority leader. In 1990, Mr. Vandergriff switched parties and has been county judge since.
Mr. Vandergriff's decision is likely to spark a crowded field for the Republican primary for county judge.
County Commissioner Glen Whitley has said he plans to run if Mr. Vandergriff doesn't, and Tarrant County GOP Party officials say that others are discussing a run.
Filing for the primary ends Jan. 2.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
3 injured in Mansfield wall collapse
MANSFIELD, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - A wall collapsed at a Mansfield school construction site, injuring three workers, police said.
The construction workers were alert and stabilized at the scene, then transported by helicopter to local hospitals, said Thad Penkala, spokesman for the Mansfield Police Department.
Officials said they were investigating what caused the wall at Mansfield Legacy High School to give way shortly after 2 p.m.
The school in the 1200 block of North Main Street is set to open in fall 2007, school spokeswoman Elizabeth Scott said.
MANSFIELD, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - A wall collapsed at a Mansfield school construction site, injuring three workers, police said.
The construction workers were alert and stabilized at the scene, then transported by helicopter to local hospitals, said Thad Penkala, spokesman for the Mansfield Police Department.
Officials said they were investigating what caused the wall at Mansfield Legacy High School to give way shortly after 2 p.m.
The school in the 1200 block of North Main Street is set to open in fall 2007, school spokeswoman Elizabeth Scott said.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Police think Frisco woman died of exposure
By TIARA M. ELLIS / The Dallas Morning News
FRISCO, Texas - A 47-year-old Frisco woman found outside of her home Friday wearing pajamas is believed to have died from exposure, Frisco police said Monday.
Tona Trollinger had blood on her hands and feet, and a window in the back door of her home had been broken, said Sgt. Gina McFarlin, Frisco police spokeswoman. Freezing rain, sleet and snow left a layer of ice on much of the area Thursday morning.
"There were no obvious signs of foul play. And we believe it was exposure, but we are waiting for the toxicology results," Sgt. McFarlin said.
It appears that Ms. Trollinger locked herself out of the house in the 5400 block of Imperial Meadow Drive and was unable to get back in early Thursday, police said.
Neighbors told police that they heard banging at the rear of the house about 3 a.m. Thursday, when the temperature at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport hit a record low of 17 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
A neighbor found Ms. Trollinger's body Friday afternoon on the rear patio of the house and called police.
If the police theory is correct, Sgt. McFarlin said, it's not clear why Ms. Trollinger did not seek help from a neighbor.
"We just don't have the answers yet," she said.
By TIARA M. ELLIS / The Dallas Morning News
FRISCO, Texas - A 47-year-old Frisco woman found outside of her home Friday wearing pajamas is believed to have died from exposure, Frisco police said Monday.
Tona Trollinger had blood on her hands and feet, and a window in the back door of her home had been broken, said Sgt. Gina McFarlin, Frisco police spokeswoman. Freezing rain, sleet and snow left a layer of ice on much of the area Thursday morning.
"There were no obvious signs of foul play. And we believe it was exposure, but we are waiting for the toxicology results," Sgt. McFarlin said.
It appears that Ms. Trollinger locked herself out of the house in the 5400 block of Imperial Meadow Drive and was unable to get back in early Thursday, police said.
Neighbors told police that they heard banging at the rear of the house about 3 a.m. Thursday, when the temperature at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport hit a record low of 17 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
A neighbor found Ms. Trollinger's body Friday afternoon on the rear patio of the house and called police.
If the police theory is correct, Sgt. McFarlin said, it's not clear why Ms. Trollinger did not seek help from a neighbor.
"We just don't have the answers yet," she said.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Mansfield child support evader in custody
MANSFIELD, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - One of the most-wanted child support evaders in Texas turned himself in to police last week after he was featured in news coverage across the state.
Charles Silva owes more than $39,000 towards the care of his two children, who live in Carrollton. He was taken into custody Dec. 6, one day after his name and photograph were featured on a list of the top ten child support evaders released by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
"Mr. Silva can no longer hide from his obligation to pay child support," said Attorney General Abbott. "I hope that time behind bars will convince him to honor his parental responsibilities and begin paying his child support."
At a Monday hearing, no bond was set for Mr. Silva because the judge considered him a flight risk. Silva is being kept in the Dallas County Jail until another hearing Wednesday, which could result in a six-month jail sentence.
A total of 63 evaders have been arrested or located since December 2002. State officials are still looking for the remaining nine individuals on the most recent child support evader list.
MANSFIELD, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - One of the most-wanted child support evaders in Texas turned himself in to police last week after he was featured in news coverage across the state.
Charles Silva owes more than $39,000 towards the care of his two children, who live in Carrollton. He was taken into custody Dec. 6, one day after his name and photograph were featured on a list of the top ten child support evaders released by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
"Mr. Silva can no longer hide from his obligation to pay child support," said Attorney General Abbott. "I hope that time behind bars will convince him to honor his parental responsibilities and begin paying his child support."
At a Monday hearing, no bond was set for Mr. Silva because the judge considered him a flight risk. Silva is being kept in the Dallas County Jail until another hearing Wednesday, which could result in a six-month jail sentence.
A total of 63 evaders have been arrested or located since December 2002. State officials are still looking for the remaining nine individuals on the most recent child support evader list.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Arlington airport fire under investigation
ARLINGTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Investigators were searching for clues Tuesday to determine what started a fire in a building that housed 20 single-engine airplanes at Arlington Municipal Airport.
The fire started around 7:30 p.m. Monday in a hangar the city leases to individuals to house their airplanes. Arlington firefighters battled the blaze, which took an hour to extinguish, airport manager Bob Porter said.
Loss estimates have not been set but at least eight planes housed on the eastern side of the building sustained severe damage, Porter said.
The fire was first discovered by a firefighter who works at Station 12, which is on airport property. No one was believed to have been in the building when the blaze started and no one was injured, he said.
ARLINGTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Investigators were searching for clues Tuesday to determine what started a fire in a building that housed 20 single-engine airplanes at Arlington Municipal Airport.
The fire started around 7:30 p.m. Monday in a hangar the city leases to individuals to house their airplanes. Arlington firefighters battled the blaze, which took an hour to extinguish, airport manager Bob Porter said.
Loss estimates have not been set but at least eight planes housed on the eastern side of the building sustained severe damage, Porter said.
The fire was first discovered by a firefighter who works at Station 12, which is on airport property. No one was believed to have been in the building when the blaze started and no one was injured, he said.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Central remains closed due to spill
RICHARDSON, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - Southbound North Central Expressway in Richardson is likely to remain closed through this afternoon's rush hour after a truck spilled its liquid cargo across the freeway.
Richardson Police Sgt. Kevin Perlich said just after noon, a tanker truck began spilling diesel after its tank was punctured by a loose drive shaft.
After it leaked fuel across several lanes of traffic, the truck stopped in the center shoulder between Arapaho and Belt Line roads, where it continued to spill nearly 700 gallons of diesel, Sgt. Perlich said.
Officers shut down all southbound lanes, forcing all traffic to exit at Belt Line, while a hazardous materials response team worked to contain the reddish fluid.
As of 4 p.m., Sgt. Perlich said the highway may remain closed for another couple of hours until the spill can be fully contained. Officers were attempting to get enough cleared off the roadway allow one or two lanes of southbound traffic through, but it was unknown if that would be accomplished before afternoon drive time.
Sgt. Perlich said northbound traffic was also backed up near the scene because drivers were slowing down to look at the cleanup.
Live Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
RICHARDSON, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - Southbound North Central Expressway in Richardson is likely to remain closed through this afternoon's rush hour after a truck spilled its liquid cargo across the freeway.
Richardson Police Sgt. Kevin Perlich said just after noon, a tanker truck began spilling diesel after its tank was punctured by a loose drive shaft.
After it leaked fuel across several lanes of traffic, the truck stopped in the center shoulder between Arapaho and Belt Line roads, where it continued to spill nearly 700 gallons of diesel, Sgt. Perlich said.
Officers shut down all southbound lanes, forcing all traffic to exit at Belt Line, while a hazardous materials response team worked to contain the reddish fluid.
As of 4 p.m., Sgt. Perlich said the highway may remain closed for another couple of hours until the spill can be fully contained. Officers were attempting to get enough cleared off the roadway allow one or two lanes of southbound traffic through, but it was unknown if that would be accomplished before afternoon drive time.
Sgt. Perlich said northbound traffic was also backed up near the scene because drivers were slowing down to look at the cleanup.
Live Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Let lacking students walk on stage, survey says
Irving: Seniors, parents, teachers favor change in district TAKS policy
By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas - Most Irving high school seniors and parents who responded to a recent district survey support allowing students who do not pass the TAKS exit-level exams to participate in graduation ceremonies.
More than half of teachers and counselors also favored letting students walk the stage as long as they've completed all other course requirements.
Those results contrast with about half of district administrators and most of those who serve on campus improvement committees, who favored keeping the current policy – which does not allow those students to participate in graduation.
The district's board of trustees and administrators are taking a second look at the policy after a request last year from a teacher. Last year, about 88 students did not pass the test in time for graduation, said Whit Johnstone, director of planning, research and evaluation.
"I thought more people would say keep the standards high and don't let them walk," board member Michael Hill said after a work session Monday to discuss the results. "I'm totally surprised."
Board member Ken Murray also said the results were a shock.
"This is a very emotional issue," he said. "We have a very tough decision to make."
The board plans to study the issue further before making a decision.
The current policy states that participation in commencement "is a privilege, not a right."
Even if the policy were changed, students would still not receive a diploma until they pass the test.
District policies across the state are mixed. Dallas does not allow such students to participate in graduation, but neighboring Grand Prairie does – if students have completed all necessary coursework.
Irving students and staffers were polled through an online survey, and parents received a version in the mail. A total of 1,537 senior high school students, senior parents, teachers, counselors and administrators responded.
Students have five opportunities to pass the four sections of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills – English, social studies, math and science – before graduation in June of their senior year.
Administrators pointed out that the students who don't pass by graduation represent a minority but that grading standards are getting tougher every year. They also said many students who struggle most are recent immigrants.
"For many of those students, we don't have a lot of time to get them where they need to be," MacArthur High School principal Tracie Fraley told the board. "We see a lot of kids really crater when that test anxiety takes over.
Irving: Seniors, parents, teachers favor change in district TAKS policy
By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas - Most Irving high school seniors and parents who responded to a recent district survey support allowing students who do not pass the TAKS exit-level exams to participate in graduation ceremonies.
More than half of teachers and counselors also favored letting students walk the stage as long as they've completed all other course requirements.
Those results contrast with about half of district administrators and most of those who serve on campus improvement committees, who favored keeping the current policy – which does not allow those students to participate in graduation.
The district's board of trustees and administrators are taking a second look at the policy after a request last year from a teacher. Last year, about 88 students did not pass the test in time for graduation, said Whit Johnstone, director of planning, research and evaluation.
"I thought more people would say keep the standards high and don't let them walk," board member Michael Hill said after a work session Monday to discuss the results. "I'm totally surprised."
Board member Ken Murray also said the results were a shock.
"This is a very emotional issue," he said. "We have a very tough decision to make."
The board plans to study the issue further before making a decision.
The current policy states that participation in commencement "is a privilege, not a right."
Even if the policy were changed, students would still not receive a diploma until they pass the test.
District policies across the state are mixed. Dallas does not allow such students to participate in graduation, but neighboring Grand Prairie does – if students have completed all necessary coursework.
Irving students and staffers were polled through an online survey, and parents received a version in the mail. A total of 1,537 senior high school students, senior parents, teachers, counselors and administrators responded.
Students have five opportunities to pass the four sections of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills – English, social studies, math and science – before graduation in June of their senior year.
Administrators pointed out that the students who don't pass by graduation represent a minority but that grading standards are getting tougher every year. They also said many students who struggle most are recent immigrants.
"For many of those students, we don't have a lot of time to get them where they need to be," MacArthur High School principal Tracie Fraley told the board. "We see a lot of kids really crater when that test anxiety takes over.
0 likes
-
TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Teen suffers brain injury from pickup overturn
By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8
FARMERS BRANCH, Texas - A Farmers Branch family has begun a bedside vigil for their teenage son who suffered a severe brain injury in a pickup truck accident Monday outside R.L. Turner High School.
Eight R.L. Turner High School students were on their way down Cox Street in Carrollton for wrestling and off-season football workouts at the field house when the truck flipped with six students in its bed.
Art Elizondo and Marie Simpson endured a long sleepless night while their son Derek went through surgery. Their wait for his recovery continued into Tuesday.
"He's going to pull out," Elizondo said. "He's going to pull out. God's going to take good care of him."
The parents said he is in critical condition with swelling of the brain and his recuperation could take up to a year.
"He's a strong kid," Simpson said. "He's a fighter. He's healthy, so he's going to come out of it one day at a time."
Derek was among six who rode in the truck's bed, despite state law that says no one under 18 can ride in the bed on a public street, and flew out as it overturned.
The students were heading from the high school to the field house, which was a few blocks away.
The school district said students without vehicles are told to walk, but one student said students pick up rides frequently.
"Yeah, they usually do it...but they're like going slow," said Nixon Portillo, a freshman at R.L. Turner High School.
R.L. Turner High School athletes who do drive to practice are being told by the school to obey traffic laws or face discipline.
"We just always remind them just how careful you have to be," said Bobby Burns, Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.
Carrollton police said they are still investigating, and charges against the student driver who they said was speeding are still possible.
By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8
FARMERS BRANCH, Texas - A Farmers Branch family has begun a bedside vigil for their teenage son who suffered a severe brain injury in a pickup truck accident Monday outside R.L. Turner High School.
Eight R.L. Turner High School students were on their way down Cox Street in Carrollton for wrestling and off-season football workouts at the field house when the truck flipped with six students in its bed.
Art Elizondo and Marie Simpson endured a long sleepless night while their son Derek went through surgery. Their wait for his recovery continued into Tuesday.
"He's going to pull out," Elizondo said. "He's going to pull out. God's going to take good care of him."
The parents said he is in critical condition with swelling of the brain and his recuperation could take up to a year.
"He's a strong kid," Simpson said. "He's a fighter. He's healthy, so he's going to come out of it one day at a time."
Derek was among six who rode in the truck's bed, despite state law that says no one under 18 can ride in the bed on a public street, and flew out as it overturned.
The students were heading from the high school to the field house, which was a few blocks away.
The school district said students without vehicles are told to walk, but one student said students pick up rides frequently.
"Yeah, they usually do it...but they're like going slow," said Nixon Portillo, a freshman at R.L. Turner High School.
R.L. Turner High School athletes who do drive to practice are being told by the school to obey traffic laws or face discipline.
"We just always remind them just how careful you have to be," said Bobby Burns, Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.
Carrollton police said they are still investigating, and charges against the student driver who they said was speeding are still possible.
0 likes
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests