News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Former Sheriff gets 24-plus years

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - A former sheriff was sentenced Tuesday to more than 24 years in federal prison for extorting money from drug dealers and tipping off criminals about investigations.

Conrado Cantu, the former sheriff of Cameron County along the Texas-Mexico border, apologized before sentencing, saying he had broken under the pressure of the job and hated drugs.

But U.S. District Judge Hilda Tagle was curt in her response.

"You used your charisma to betray your community," she told Cantu, 50. "For somebody who hates drugs, you certainly did a lot to help the drug trafficking trade."

She said people in the community would long wonder if the police officer in the patrol car next to them was escorting a drug dealer, one of the offenses described in the indictment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Lara said prosecutors were pleased with the sentence.

"It sends a good message to the community," he said. "You're going to sell your badge in Cameron County or anywhere, we're going to prosecute you to the full extent of the law."

Cantu pleaded guilty in July to heading a criminal enterprise engaged in extortion, drug trafficking, obstruction of state and local law enforcement efforts, witness tampering and bribery. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop other charges against him.

Also sentenced Tuesday was Hector Solis, who had pleaded guilty to helping Cantu tip off owners of gambling dens to law enforcement raids. He received six months in prison.

Rumaldo Rodriguez, Cantu's former captain, was sentenced to 14 months. Reynaldo Uribe, who admitted taking $2,000 to transport two loads of drug cash, was sentenced to one year and four months.

Geronimo Garcia, who ran the county jail commissary and was the "idea man" of the enterprise, was sentenced to nine years and six months.

[TexasStooge]

Should hotels disclose sex offender's presence?

By STEVE STOLER / WFAA ABC 8

A new question has arisen whether hotels and motels should alert their guests about registered sex offenders.

Some hotel managers said alerting customer would be a sure way to lose business, but many others whose job is protecting children said it's a moral responsibility.

Extended stay hotels and motels are designed for business travelers, corporate housing, or people who relocate.

Convicted child molesters who leave prison often also wind up at extended stay hotels and motels. Many of them have no choice because they either can't afford houses or apartment complexes don't want them.

The Mitchell family moved into a Plano hotel after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their Louisiana home and were surprised to learn a registered sex offender was residing there as well.

"That's why I'm leaving today," said Sierra Mitchell. "I'm leaving right now. I'm about to go pack my clothes."

While Mitchell was shocked to be located so close to an offender, one father said he wasn't so surprised.

Eleven years ago, the father of two who asked not to use his name, discovered a trend in Plano extended stay hotels.

"Every one of them has had or has sex offenders staying in them," he said.

The Plano Police Department confirmed since 1999, registered sex offenders have listed Plano hotels and motels - mostly extended stay establishments - as their address 36 times.

"...Maybe they have jobs and they go to work, but they come home at night and there's kids wandering around," the father said.

It is not against the law for sex offenders to stay in hotels and motels. In fact, Plano police said the men staying there now haven't caused any problems.

"It's the ones that are not registered, the people you don't know about, that are the ones that concern us the most because we simply don't know where they're at," said Jerry Mitten, Plano Police Department.

However, there still is a risk.

One registered sex offender staying at a local extended stay hotel was convicted of aggravated sexual assault back in 1998, and his victim was a 5-year-old girl.

Hotel guests like the Mitchells did not know, and said the management should have told them.

"They should inform us and let us make the decision if we want to stay around them or we don't want to stay around them," Mitchell said.

Many children advocates agreed.

"I think the community has a responsibility to protect children," said Dan Powers, Collin County Children Advocacy Center. "And it's our opinion that these hotels need to make people aware that those people are staying at their hotels."

Plano police said only three registered sex offenders are currently living at extended stay hotels and motels. Two of those offenders did not return News 8 phone calls and the third said he wasn't interested in talking.

[TexasStooge]

Woman cons charity for breast augmentation

By GARY REAVES / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - A charity that collects money for babies in need became a victim of a con artist who received money she said was for cancer surgery, but was instead used to augment her breasts.

Kim Dobbs started Little Angels, which helps babies born at Parkland Memorial Hospital, in high school.

"Eighty-five percent are born into poverty and 50 percent have nothing to wear home," she said. "We provide them with things that they need."

Now an adult with her own marketing company, Dobbs said her heart was touched again when a client, Alica Fizer, said she had cancer that was eating her ovaries.

"Just like anybody, if someone walked up to you and said I'm dying of cancer and I don't have any money, we were like what can we do?" Dobbs said.

Dobbs said she and Fizer became close friends and when Fizer wrote letters begging for cash, Dobbs sent them out through the Little Angels.

Fizer's boss, real estate escrow agent Barbara Kilgore, also gave Fizer money for her cancer treatments.

"I was sick for her," Kilgore said. "She had three children and I wanted to do whatever I could to help her."

Richard Kilgore, Barbara's husband, donated as well.

"When somebody tells you they are dying of cancer you don't ask questions [and] you do whatever you can," he said.

Dobbs let her solicit their real estate clients and checks came in from Georgia, Florida and all over the country.

While the donation checks flowed in, Dobbs said they weren't enough according to Fizer.

"We also gave her several thousand dollars from Little Angels...that would have gone to the babies," she said.

In all, Dobbs and the Little Angels gave Fizer nearly $15,000. The Kilgores said they even paid for her plane ticket to have surgery.

When Fizer returned, they all said she was a changed woman.

"When she came back from her surgery she was no longer terminal [and] she didn't have any cancer," said Richard Kilgore. "But she did have a larger breast size."

"She said the doctor made a mistake and made them two sizes too large," Barbara Kilgore said.

Soon they said they became suspicious of her new body and revealing wardrobe. They said their suspicions were confirmed by a call to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

"Do you have this person on record?" Dobbs said she asked. "They were like no, we don't have that person. We don't have any program like that."

Dobbs said she demanded proof of how the money was spent and Fizer sent her checks that had appeared to have been altered.

"It was very obvious she had used two different pens [and] that it was whited out," she said. "The fronts and the backs did not match."

The group who gave to Fizer soon found out their checks went to plastic surgeons.

"I felt violated, like someone had raped me," said Richard Kilgore.

"How could you steal from babies to have breast augmentation?" Dobbs asked. "What type of person would do that?"

Police started their investigation with Dobbs' book of evidence and ended up with a troubling case.

"Disgusting, pathetic [and] very sad," described Tarrant County prosecutor Tonya Harlan of Fizer's ploy soliciting money for cancer and diverting it to breast enlargement.

Fizer was indicted for felony theft and to avoid prison she plead guilty to a misdemeanor. Her sentence was one year on probation.

"She was willing to admit to her guilt, that she did do it," Harlan said. "She went and got the full amount of the restitution together."

The babies at Parkland Memorial Hospital will get their money because Fizer had to pay the Little Angels back nearly $15,000. While Dobbs agreed to the deal, she said she was not happy about it.

"We feel like she did get away with it," Dobbs said. "She has not apologized."

Kilgore never received any of her money back and she believes she lost business from clients who thought she had Fizer fired because she had cancer. She said the words of one real estate agent still ring in her ears.

"She called me back and said my partner and I both feel the same...and that she would never bring me any business because I fired someone who had cancer and didn't support her," Kilgore said.

Fizer now lives in Pflugerville, an Austin suburb. While she refused to talk to News 8, her attorney said she is truly sorry.

After a year on probation, Fizer can apply to have the crime removed from her record.

[TexasStooge]

Fire wipes out family's home

IRVING, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Fire raced through a home in Irving early Wednesday, destroying a family's possessions.

The blaze broke out in the 1800 block of South Story Road about 1:30 a.m. It quickly wiped out the brick and wooden structure.

A family of four escaped without injury, but fire officials said they lost everything that was inside.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

WFAA-TV photojournalist Robert Flagg contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Plano ISD calls for O'Reilly retraction

By KIM BREEN / The Dallas Morning News

PLANO, Texas - The Plano school district is fighting back against national television and radio talk show host Bill O'Reilly, saying he falsely accused a school of outlawing the colors of Christmas.

Mr. O'Reilly told his television audience Friday that a Plano school told students they could not wear red and green because they are Christmas colors.

"That's flat-out fascism," he said during a segment on The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel.

School district officials say Plano schools have never prohibited green and red clothing and are demanding a retraction.

The issue of how to handle the holidays at school has been a hot topic in Plano. For the last year, the school district has been involved in a federal lawsuit that alleges a pattern of free speech and religious rights violations.

Whether the district has banned red and green party supplies has been called into question in court documents, but clothes have not.

Mr. O'Reilly did not acknowledge any error in a prepared statement issued Tuesday: "There is ongoing litigation involving the Plano school district that deals with censoring Christmas and religious expression. As part of this ongoing litigation, issues have been raised about the banning of Christmas items with specific colors and there's a range of items in question."

Richard Abernathy, an attorney for the school district, wrote in an e-mail to Mr. O'Reilly that his fascism "slur smacks of McCarthyism and represents yellow journalism at its best ..."

Mr. Abernathy signed the note, "Merry Christmas."

The district sent e-mails to parents about the issue and posted a statement on its Web site about the "false rumor."

The federal lawsuit, filed a year ago, stems from a December 2003 elementary school party at which a student was not allowed to hand out candy cane pens with a religious message to classmates. Other restrictions have been alleged in the case, which has not yet been decided.

Banned clothing hasn't come up in the case, but napkins have.

Attorneys for the parents have argued in court that the district banned red and green napkins and other supplies from past holiday parties, pointing to a letter that asked parents to bring only white napkins and plates. At a hearing, U.S. District Judge Paul Brown said children would be allowed to bring red or green napkins if they wanted.

Mr. Abernathy said that the district did not ban red and green napkins and that the letter, sent by a parent teacher association, asked for white because it was a winter party and white signifies snow.

"They're not anti-Christmas," he said of the district.

Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel for Liberty Legal Institute, which is representing the parents, said the district's response to Mr. O'Reilly's show is akin to a murder defendant arguing, "I didn't kill THAT person. ... I just find it amazing they're even discussing this. If I were them, I would hide somewhere.

"There are people that obviously miss a fact here and there," Mr. Shackelford said. He said the overall point is correct – that the district has tried to avoid Christmas.

District officials and Mr. Abernathy said no one from Mr. O'Reilly's show has contacted them. But Mr. Shackelford said he was called by someone from the show.

He said he told the show about other issues his side has cited in its case – such as an allegation that students were prohibited from writing "Merry Christmas" in letters to soldiers.

Mr. Abernathy said that the case has often been misrepresented and that he has pointed out mistakes.

"We shouldn't have to defend things that we didn't do," he said.

Mr. Abernathy also said it is hard to compete with a message that goes over national airwaves. "What vehicle do I have to say Bill O'Reilly is flat wrong?"

Plano parent Jim Sperry said parents working on winter parties at his children's elementary school are told to avoid Christmas-specific themes.

"I think it's absurd," he said.

The district needs to set a clear policy about what is allowed so parents can argue if they disagree, he said.

"Clearly people are confused when it comes to Christmas," he said. He said he recently heard Mr. O'Reilly talking about the issue on his radio program. While the district has so many positive things going for it, Mr. Sperry said, it's a shame when a negative story like this reaches a national audience.
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Bill O'Reilly's comments on the Plano school district

[TexasStooge]

Foreign classes leave their marks

Districts face hard issue of how to translate immigrants' transcripts

By KAREN AYRES / The Dallas Morning News

It took more than three years for 18-year-old Jessica Song to earn her way to the top of her high school class.

But she says one trans-continental move wiped much of her hard work away.

When Jessica's family moved from South Korea to Frisco last April, the teenager came with a transcript full of A's. But once the counselor translated her record into the American system, the former top student fell in rank. She is now 31st among 403 seniors – not good enough for Jessica.

Schools throughout the Dallas area, particularly in the suburbs, are seeing students from a wider swath of international systems that school officials know virtually nothing about.

The decisions about how to place these students shape class rankings for all students. The rankings have particular importance in Texas, where the top 10 percent of every graduating high school class is guaranteed entrance to state public universities.

While counselors have long determined how to measure grades from Mexico or other common homelands, transcripts from places such as Angola, Guinea or Ghana are proving more difficult.

Guidance counselors concede it is nearly impossible to judge the rigor or content of some foreign classes.

"Sometimes it's your best guess on something," said John Combs, a guidance counselor at North Garland High School.

Local school districts vary widely in how they measure transcripts from foreign students. A few, most recently Frisco ISD, have decided not to figure foreign grades into grade point averages or class rankings.

The issue is sure to surface more often as the flow of immigrant students continues to swell.

U.S. census figures show that three times as many foreign-born people live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as did 15 years ago. Though many come from Mexico, the suburbs are just as likely to receive new residents from Korea or Pakistan. In Collin County, for example, Mexicans make up just one-third of new immigrants.

Left up to the districts

The Texas Education Agency requires districts to offer language services to new students who don't speak English. But the agency leaves it up to local districts to decide how to evaluate and place those students.

An informal survey of local districts shows that schools tackle the task in widely different ways and sometimes come up with creative solutions on the fly.

Many schools use placement tests to determine what students know. But most schools rely on the individual judgment of counselors, which means a student who gets credit for a course in one district may not get it in another.

"There is no way you can know the quality of anything they got," Mr. Combs said. "We get students from all over the world who can barely speak to you and they say they had English somewhere else."

Before strict privacy rules were issued, Mr. Combs used to find other students in his Garland school who were proficient in other languages to translate new students' reports. Now, he and other counselors primarily rely on family members or language teachers to help out.

To give students credit for foreign courses, counselors must match the content of those classes with those required for graduation in Texas. They must often rely on the student to honestly answer questions about what they have learned. Many times the questioning comes through an interpreter.

"We literally go class by class and talk to the student about what was covered," said Paul Weaver, director of guidance in the Plano school district. "We really try to do a mockup of the classes they were in."

History classes tricky

History courses often pose the greatest problems. Few countries offer U.S. history, a required course in Texas, and world history classes often covers different topics than those covered in Texas.

"If a student had a world history course on the history of Pakistan, then I can't give credit for world history," said Anita Leclaire, registrar at Creekview High School in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district.

Ms. Leclaire keeps a grading chart comparing grading systems of more than 130 countries. A 20-point scale in Algeria yields different results than a 13-point scale in Denmark.

She said students who were at the top of the class in their home countries occasionally object to lower grade rulings.

"They'll say that it's possible for a student to achieve 100 percent but no one ever does," Ms. Leclaire said. "It has to do with just the difference in philosophy."

Andrew Lin, a senior at Centennial High School in Frisco who moved from Taiwan four years ago, said good grades were much harder to get in his native country.

"It's really really hard to get an 'A' in Taiwan, or even a 'B,'" he said.

Many countries also use curves. Diane Clair, a guidance counselor at Centennial, said she once gave a student from Malaysia passing credit because she couldn't figure out the curved scale. Though the student had a 64 out of 100 in a course, it was the top grade in the class.

In Jessica's case, she did not get credit for Korean history but was able to claim science and math classes. Other foreign students don't get math and science credit because many countries don't divide those disciplines in a way that translates well into the American system.

"You get these transcripts from Ethiopia and they're taking all the sciences at one time," Mr. Combs said. "We can't really give you credit for biology, chemistry and physics as a ninth-grader."

Extra time in some cases

Counselors say most students end up with enough credits to stay in the same grade they were slated for in their home country, but Jessica and classmate Monica Macias, 16, had to stay in high school an extra year.

"I used to be a good student in Mexico," Ms. Macias said. "I don't know why they can't see it."

Next year, foreign students in Frisco will simply get passing credit for foreign grades.

The new policy mirrors those in other districts like Garland and Richardson, where a student's grade point average and class rank are based solely on grades earned in the U.S.

"We never could figure out a fair and adequate way in which to take those transcripts and convert them to ours," said Debra Nelson, Frisco assistant superintendent. "We felt we were doing a disservice to students because we didn't have a way to do it."

But officials in other districts such as Dallas, Plano, McKinney and Carrollton-Farmers Branch generally do count the foreign grades.

Though officials acknowledge it's difficult to gauge the value of the courses, they argue it is important for students to be judged on their entire academic backgrounds.

"We basically have to make a good-faith decision," said Geoff Sanderson, executive director of school improvement and accountability in McKinney. "We don't challenge the rigor or the merits of the coursework. There is not a mechanism to evaluate it from that standpoint."
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MELTING POT OF LANGUAGES

As more immigrants enroll in area schools, the number of languages spoken continues to grow. These figures show the number of languages spoken by families in schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Garland: 120
Richardson: 92
Plano: 90
Dallas: 70
Allen: 53
Irving: 50
Carrollton-Farmers Branch: 49
Frisco: 48
McKinney: 31
Arlington: 30

[TexasStooge]

3 clinics for women set to close

11,000 could lose care, resulting in more births at Parkland, doctors say

By SHERRY JACOBSON / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - A family planning program for low-income women in Dallas County is planning to close three neighborhood clinics and lay off more than 30 employees despite efforts by Parkland Memorial Hospital to keep the program intact.

As many as 11,000 women could lose access to postpartum care and birth control next year, doctors from UT Southwestern Medical Center warned Parkland's Board of Managers on Tuesday.

The doctors, who are running the program for Parkland, blamed an almost 25 percent cut in federal funding distributed by the state next year – a loss totaling $1.7 million.

The family planning program cared for 33,738 women at seven clinics over the last year. The three clinics slated for closure are in Garland, Grand Prairie and north Oak Cliff. The four busiest clinics – in Oak Lawn, south Oak Cliff, East Dallas and southeast Dallas – would remain open.

"Our worst-case scenario was that the state would cut 20 percent of our funding," said Dr. Steve Bloom, UT Southwestern's interim director of obstetrics and gynecology. "It's a sad day for family planning in Dallas."

Private donations

On Tuesday, the Parkland board urged UT Southwestern not to cut the program but instead look elsewhere for money. Hospital officials said they would consider trying to solicit $1 million in private donations to keep it going.

"We don't want to shut down the service, and we don't want to shut down that number of patients," board member Richard Kneipper said.

Parkland agreed in October to begin overseeing the women's health care program after a state law outlawed giving family planning funds to organizations that provide abortions on demand.

Leaders at UT Southwestern, which had run the program for decades, were worried about possibly violating the law because some of its doctors practice medicine at hospitals where elective abortions are performed.

Dr. Ron Anderson, Parkland's president and chief executive officer, said the state Legislature was attempting to take money away from Planned Parenthood.

"I don't think the state Legislature understood the consequence of this," he told the hospital board. "It's a big snafu."

Planned Parenthood officials said at the time that the 2003 law was an effort to penalize the agency for providing legal abortions by cutting money for other services. Money instead went to public clinics that did not provide family planning. The organization sued successfully to hang on to all but 5 percent of its funding.

Emily Snooks, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of North Texas, said it was a shame that any family planning program would cut its services. Thirteen of the agency's 28 clinics in North Texas depend on such federal funds.

"It's the thousands of underserved North Texas women who are going to suffer the most," she said. "Planned Parenthood is the only family planning provider for uninsured women in Tarrant and other rural counties."

More deliveries

Parkland officials took over the UT Southwestern program after realizing that the charity hospital would end up delivering more babies without such a program. Its annual 16,000 births usually are the highest in the nation.

"If we don't care for these patients, they would come back to us generally as a more expensive patient and child," said Dr. Lauren McDonald, chairwoman of the Parkland board.

The financially strapped county hospital did not budget additional money for the program. But board member Alan Walne suggested that Parkland and UT Southwestern consider splitting the estimated $600,000 cost to keep the clinics operating for three months.

"If we each absorbed half the shortfall, we don't leave a bunch of women without family planning," he said. "In the spirit of the season, let's step up."

Dr. Bloom said UT Southwestern had notified 32 employees that their clinic jobs would be eliminated Jan. 31. Some of those workers were seeking positions elsewhere in the medical center.

"At the end of the day, the amount of funds we receive from the state will not allow us to continue the family planning program as we did before," he told the Parkland board. "We're hoping some of these women can be referred to the four other clinics, although we won't be able to handle them all."

[TexasStooge]

Woman's death highlights health insurance crisis

By JANET ST. JAMES / WFAA ABC 8

PLANO, Texas - A family has gathered to mourn a woman gone too soon.

Tirhas Habtegiris was an East African immigrant and only 27 when she died Monday afternoon.

She'd been on a respirator at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano for 25 days.

"They handed me this letter on December 1st. and they said, we're going to give you 10 days so on the 11th day, we're going to pull it out," said her brother Daniel Salvi.

Salvi was stunned to get this hand-delivered notice invoking a complicated and rarely used Texas law where a doctor is "not obligated to continue" medical treatment "medically inappropriate" when care is not beneficial.

Even though her body was being ravaged by cancer, this family says Tirhas still responded and was conscious. She was waiting one person.

"She wanted to get her mom over here or to get to her mom so she could die in her mom's arms," says her cousin Meri Tesfay.

Ten days was not enough time, they say, to get a mother from Africa to America.

The family and hospital desperately tried to get Tirhas moved to a nursing home but they say no one would take her.

"A fund issue is what I understand. Because she is not insured and that was the major reason the way I understood it," Salvi said.

A statement from Baylor Plano disputes that and says the hospital did its best to comply with the family's wishes in every way.

Still, on the 11th day, Tirhas Habtegiris was taken off the respirator and died.

Her family feels caught in America's health insurance crisis.

"And it's kind of a shock to me too to experience this in this country. It's the richest country in the world. Very sad," Salvi said.

Experts say there are very few charity beds for ventilator dependent patients in this state. President George W. Bush has said he wants to expand healthcare for legal immigrants in this country.

[TexasStooge]

Teacher to first-graders: There's no Santa

RICHARDSON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - Guess what, kids? There's no such thing as Santa Claus!

That was a Richardson music teacher's holiday message to first-graders Monday - a remark that angered parents and prompted the school district to issue a pro-Santa statement.

Several parents made angry phone calls to Richland Elementary School after the teacher's declaration.

"When you take a 6-year-old and tell him, you've got to spend how much time to get him to believe again? The damage is done," parent Michael Millett said.

Later, Richardson school district spokesman Tim Clark said he had good news.

"The teacher did hear from Santa Claus himself, who heard about the situation and let the teacher know that the spirit of the holidays is alive and well and to pass that message along to the students," Clark said.

The teacher will face no disciplinary action, Clark said.

[TexasStooge]

Warrant issued in hit-and-run

Fort Worth: Burning car found after good Samaritan was struck on I-30

By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH, Texas – Police have issued an arrest warrant for a suspect in the hit-and-run death of a 20-year-old man who was trying to help the victims of a traffic accident early Saturday.

Police on Tuesday said they were searching for Rodney Ray Jackson, 42, in the death of Donald "Joey" Bell. Mr. Jackson was linked to the accident after a car matching the description of the one that struck Mr. Bell was found burning about two miles southeast of the accident a few hours afterward, said Lt. Dean Sullivan, Fort Worth police spokesman.

Police would not specify why they believe Mr. Jackson is linked to the car.

Mr. Bell was buried Tuesday, but his relatives still have questions about why the driver of the car left him for dead.

"My brother was just trying to help," said Chasity Lopez, 23. "That was his way. That is one of the ironies. He was trying to help someone, and no one helped him."

Mr. Bell stopped early Saturday to assist two people in a rollover accident along Interstate 30 in East Fort Worth.

A Dodge Neon struck the center median, rolled and came to a stop near the Bridgewood Drive exit, Lt. Sullivan said.

The two people in the car crawled out and fled on foot, police said.

Mr. Bell was about to place plastic cones around the accident scene to alert other drivers when another car, a silver Mitsubishi, struck him.

On Tuesday, Ms. Lopez said her family was starting to recover from the shock.

"Everyone is in much better spirits today than the last three days," she said. "He was the middle child, the only boy. He loved playing video games, and he loved cartoons. He had a great sense of humor."

Mr. Bell worked for an industrial carpet cleaning company – a job he got two weeks ago with the help of a cousin.

Anyone with information about Mr. Jackson or the occupants of the Neon is asked to contact the Fort Worth Traffic Division at 817-871-7110 or CrimeStoppers at 817-469-8477.

[TexasStooge]

Council approves alarm plan

By CYNTHIA VEGA / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - The Dallas City Council has approved a verified response system for Dallas businesses, requiring private security officials to verify the validity of a burglar alarm before police will respond.

The decision does not apply to residential alarms.

Local businesses and alarm companies are very much against the idea of police only responding to an alarm call from a business after getting a verified response.

"Verified response is no response by police," said Chris Russell, president of the North Texas Alarm Association.

"I do believe the police should respond and that it is a public safety issue."

Russell is one of many who want the alarm code to read the same for businesses as it does for residences.

This is as follows: police respond immediately, as soon as the alarm sounds, up to three times in a year with no penalty incurred if the alarm is false. The fourth, fifth and sixth time the police are called out unnecessarily a fine of $50 is imposed, which rises to $75 on the seventh and eighth occasion. The eighth time, alarm licenses can be revoked.

However, council members voted against the plan.

The idea is to reduce wasted Dallas Police response time, after last year, 97 percent of the 62,000 incoming calls reporting burglar alarms sounding were false alarms.

[TexasStooge]

Fatal hit-and-run suspect turns himself in

FORT WORTH, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - The suspect in a fatal hit-and-run accident in Fort Worth over the weekend turned himself in to police Wednesday, one day after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Fort Worth Police Lt. Dean Sullivan said Rodney Ray Jackson, 42, walked into police headquarters downtown shortly before noon and was taken into custody.

Mr. Jackson was wanted in connection with the death of Donald "Joey" Bell, 20, who was hit and killed early Saturday after he stopped to assist two people in a rollover accident along Interstate 30 on the city’s east side.

Though the two people in the car crawled out and fled on foot, Mr. Bell was placing plastic cones around the accident scene to alert other drivers when he was struck by a silver Mitsubishi, a police report said.

Mr. Jackson was linked to the accident after a car matching the description of the Mitsubishi that struck Mr. Bell was found burning about two miles southeast of the accident several hours later, Lt. Sullivan said. It was unclear how Mr. Jackson was linked to the vehicle.

Debra Dennis of The Dallas Morning News and WFAA ABC 8 contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Food stamp cuts could hit Texas the hardest

AUSTIN, Texas (The Dallas Morning News/AP) - Texas would be the state most affected by a federal proposal to slash funding for food stamps, an Austin think tank said Tuesday, estimating that at least 76,000 state residents would be cut from the program.

Most of the families that would lose benefits are low-wage workers with children, according to the Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates more state spending on education and social programs.

“The House-passed budget would be devastating for hardworking Texans struggling to feed their families,” said Celia Hagert, the organization’s senior policy analyst.

About 2.8 million Texans receive food stamps, while an estimated 2 million more Texans are eligible for the assistance but don’t get the help they need, Hagert said.

The proposal is part of the U.S. House’s sweeping budget cut plan, which would slice almost $50 billion from the deficit by the end of the decade by curbing rapidly growing benefit programs such as Medicaid and student loan subsidies. A parallel budget plan passed by the U.S. Senate does not include any food stamp cuts.

A conference committee including members of both chambers is working on a compromise. The second-ranking Republican in the House said Tuesday the matter may carry over into next year.

House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said he’d rather wait until next year to wrap up the budget bill if completing it this year would mean making too many concessions to the Senate.

Lobbyists and staff aides said the food stamps cuts are likely to be dropped along with a House plan to overhaul welfare to require more stringent work requirements for recipients.

[TexasStooge]

Court overturns mother's conviction in infant's death

AUSTIN, Texas (The Dallas Morning News/AP) - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday overturned the conviction of a woman in the death of her infant son, ruling her defense attorney did a poor job and citing medical evidence that cast doubt over whether the child died from abuse.

Brandy Briggs, of Baytown, is serving 17 years in prison after pleading guilty in the death of 2-month-old Daniel Lemons in 2000.

The court ruled 8-1 that her attorney, Richard Anderson, did a bad job representing his client by not calling medical experts to testify when she could not pay for them. Had he done a better job, she probably would not have pleaded guilty, the court said.

Anderson did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

The ruling also said it is "highly likely" that a jury would have acquitted her based on the reasonable doubt raised by evidence of the child's extensive medical problems -- including birth defects, multiple hospitalizations and bungled treatment just before he died.

Briggs was 17 when her baby died and she was charged with murder. According to court documents, her family retained Anderson and paid him $10,400 of his $15,000 fee.

When they didn't pay the rest, he wrote a letter saying he would withdraw from the case and could not hire experts without an additional $2,500-$7,500. But Anderson did not withdraw and she pleaded guilty to endangering a child.

The court said Anderson could have subpoenaed the doctors who treated Daniel, or he also could have withdrawn to allow her to claim indigence and ask the court to pay for expert testimony. Anderson also could have reduced his fee and asked the court to pay for the witness, the court said.

An attorney representing an indigent defendant would be expected to investigate and request expert assistance. A privately retained attorney should be held to the same standard, the court said.

Although originally considered a homicide, the Harris County medical examiner's office later changed the autopsy report to list the cause of Daniel's death as "undetermined" because there was no blunt trauma or indication of child abuse.

Briggs also said in her appeal that she was innocent, claiming she pleaded guilty on the advice of her attorney to receive probation.

Despite its ruling of inadequate defense counsel, the court said it was unconvinced of her actual innocence, noting her testimony of "consciousness of guilt."

But it did note that the evidence of faulty representation, coupled with the medical evidence, undermines her conviction and sentence.

Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said his office has not decided whether to retry Briggs, but was pleased the court said it was not convinced she was innocent.

"At least some people have looked at it and think we've got a chance at it," Rosenthal said.

Briggs' new attorney, Charles Portz, said he welcomed a new trial if prosecutors want one.

"If they want to try it," Portz said, "I'll teach them a lesson they'll never forget."

[TexasStooge]

Hundreds mourn stabbing death of mom

By KARIN KELLY / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - Hundreds who knew Charlotte Lollar gathered in Fort Worth Monday to say goodbye after police said her 21-year-old son stabbed her to death Saturday.

Those who gathered to remember Lollar said she acted as a mother, teacher and friend to all ages. She worked at six different community centers over 20 years including R.D. Evans Community Center in Fort Worth where loved ones and friends came together to mourn.

"It's a big house actually for the community," said Diane Trettle.

While she worked at the center, Lollar welcomed people at the front door of the center from her desk, which she had decorated colorfully with stuffed animals and drawings from children.

She planned and played games for all people of all ages from the young ones to the seniors.

"We decided to put this wreath together and the kids made some candy canes," Trettle said.

Police said Lamar Clay Junior attacked three people the day Lollar was stabbed to death. The attack ended in the death of his mother and baby nephew and injured a family friend, police said.

Clay Junior was arrested and has been charged with two murders.

Lamar Clay Senior said his son was bipolar and had refused to take his medicine recently.

The Mental Health Association of Tarrant County runs a hotline five days a week helping people understand and cope with mental illnesses.

Experts said bipolar is a disorder that causes dramatic mood swings.

"Going often from depression to almost a mania or hyperactive period," said Linda Ragsdale, Mental Health Association of Tarrant County. "There's a tendency to lose contact with reality."

The funeral service for Lollar will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shiloh Institute of God & Christ at 1270 Woodhaven Blvd. in Fort Worth.

For those who would like more information on mental health, the Mental Health Association of Tarrant County can be reached at (817)335-5405.

[TexasStooge]

Council members clash after Jewish remarks

By CHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Controversy was amuck Wednesday after a Dallas City Council member said one of his colleagues made insensitive remarks about Jewish people during a closed door discussion.

"It's wrong what she said, and I'm sorry she said it," said Mitchell Rasansky, a council member.

The words came during the Dallas City Council debate on verified response.

Council member Maxine Reese pulled Rasansky into a meeting room behind council chambers where she reportedly told Rasansky that the Jewish council members controlled City Hall.

"I told her that, I said it's inappropriate [and] we don't discuss religion down here at City Hall," he said. "And she just kept going on and on."

Rasansky abruptly walked out and Reese later acknowledged raising an issue about Jews.

"...When I mentioned the word Jew, he said he was not going to discuss any religion and walked out," she said.

However, she denied that she said Jewish people were controlling City Hall.

Did you say the Jews were always trying to control things?

"It doesn't belong anywhere at City Hall, anywhere this 21st Century, [and] I think it's very unfortunate and inappropriate what she did," Rasansky said.

"I have no reason to discuss anything that I was talking to someone personally about," Reese said. "I don't have anything against Jews. I don't have anything against blacks. I don't have anything against white, Mexicans, anything because this is a very diverse city."

Reese said the press was merely trying to paint her in a negative light.

[TexasStooge]

Police probe if D-FW gay men's murders linked

By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8

Five unsolved murders of gay men over the last few years have had the Dallas Police Department investigating the possibility of their connected.

On June 5, 2004, Dallas Planning and Zoning Commissioner Lawrence Wheat, 42, was found by his friends unconscious in his home on South Harvard Street. He later died at the Baylor University Medical Center.

Wheat had been beaten to death.

"A person shouldn't be able to get by with this type of crime and go free," said Frances Wheat, Lawrence's mother.

A witness saw a man leave his home and police were able to create a composite drawing of the suspect.

"He apparently had a guest in his apartment who actually beat him to death," Wheat said.

Dallas police are taking a closer look at Wheat's murder and the cases of four other gay men murdered since December of 2000.

"We are looking at those cases [and] comparing those cases to see if there are any similarities," Sgt. Lecesne said.

Detectives have also contacted the Arlington police about a possible sixth connection in Arlington. The body of 28-year-old Samuel Lea, a University of Texas in Arlington student who was strangled to death, was found on Halloween.

"Based on the investigation we had so far, the similarities have been the lifestyles of the...the victims," Sgt. Lecesne said.

The City Manager's Office and at least one city council member have asked police to provide them with details of the investigation and to look into the possibility there is a serial killer targeting gay men who frequent gay bars.

"They were killed differently," Sgt. Lecesne said. "There is nothing that we can find to link those cases to any one particular individual."

Still, police haven't ruled out the theory.

In Wheat's case, police have released the composite of the suspect, and his mother hopes the new emphasis on the cases might lead to clues in his murder.

"If we can put an end to the killing, if we can give an impetus to the police having more clues and perhaps someone else coming forward, we are all for it," she said.

[TexasStooge]

Teen arrested in boy's shooting death

By YOLANDA WALKER / WFAA ABC 8

ARLINGTON, Texas - A 13-year-old boy was shot in the head Wednesday in the 1500 block of Running Brook and later died at Arlington Memorial Hospital.

A 15-year-old was arrested later in connection with the young boy's death.

Officers confiscated a couple of guns including a revolver and a rifle at the apartment the victim was staying with over the last few days with friends.

The friends said they believe the shooting was not accidental and may be gang related.

However, police said they have begun their investigation under the pretense it was an accidental shooting. Officers said the shooting occurred while the victim and others were possibly handling the weapons confiscated.

Many who knew and remembered the victim called him a trusted friend.

"Yeah, he was a cool dude," said Chazmon Gipson. "He was cool to everybody. He was cool towards everybody here. He would be the coolest dude I know. I just don't see why somebody would shoot him."

Ronnell Tate, another friend of the victim, said the young boy's death will be on his mind.

"I'm sending my condolences out to his family..." said Ronnell Tate. "Pray for him, stay strong and just always keep him in your prayers."

Police have not released the name of the victim.

[TexasStooge]

Bet losing principal puts on dress, tiara

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - One principal kept his word to his students even when it meant he had to put on formal wear.

Charles Lester picked a sassy red number after last week students at Truman Middle School in Grand Prairie bet Lester that they would be in class last Thursday despite icy weather.

The principal lost and the students got a lunchtime fashion show that had the kids cracking up.

Not only did he wear a red dress, he also changed into a black dress and tiara.

[TexasStooge]

Teen arrested in boy's shooting death

ARLINGTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A 15-year-old was charged with criminally negligent homicide in the shooting death of 13-year old Adrian Johnson after he turned himself into the police station Wednesday evening.

Johnson was shot in the head earlier in the day around 2:00 p.m. in the 1500 block of Running Brook and later died at Arlington Memorial Hospital.

Officers confiscated a couple of guns that included a revolver and a rifle where the shooting occurred, which was inside an apartment Johnson stayed at over the last few days with friends and two toddlers.

"This gun appears to have been mishandled, it went off and they killed a 13-year-old boy," said Lt. Blake Miller, Arlington Police Department.

Friends described Johnson as a happy kid with a troubled life. He had dropped out of school and was not living with his parents.

"Adrian was a skateboarder boy," said friend Marci Martinez. "He loved skateboards."

Many who knew and remembered the victim also called him a trusted friend.

"Yeah, he was a cool dude," said Chazmon Gipson. "He was cool to everybody. He was cool towards everybody here. He would be the coolest dude I know. I just don't see why somebody would shoot him."

Ronnell Tate, another friend of the victim, said the young boy's death will be on his mind.

"I'm sending my condolences out to his family..." said Ronnell Tate. "Pray for him, stay strong and just always keep him in your prayers."

Police said they are now focusing on the source of the guns confiscated.

"How did these guns get into the hands of these juveniles, these kids?" Lt. Miller said. "Also, where did they come from?"

Teens around the neighborhood said there had recently been someone attempting to sell guns in the area.

Johnson's friends said the boy was afraid of guns.

"He wanted to be a rock star with all of us," said one friend.

Police have not revealed specific details about the incident, but said they are looking into reports the weapons were stolen.

Yolanda Walker and Jim Douglas contributed to this report