News from the Lone Star State
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- TexasStooge
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New rules take aim at ID theft
By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA ABC 8
A new state law is about to take effect designed to make it more difficult for someone to defraud your credit card account.
By Sunday, all customer credit card receipts must have 12 of the 16 printed account numbers truncated, or blocked out.
While the vast majority of business owners we talked to have made the switch, there are those who have not, such as one merchant in Dallas' Deep Ellum district. He said he knew nothing of the law and was embarrassed. He said he would make the switch immediately.
Bar owner Rhonda Owens said even though her establishment is in compliance with the law, some customers insist on altering her merchant copy as well.
"We do have people that do mark the number out so that it's not showing, because they want to protect themselves," Owens said.
College student Sonali Fernando said those fears are not unfounded. "I've known people who find the receipts and order a whole bunch of Chinese food on someone else's credit card."
Since not every merchant is aware of law, you can help them out. Start checking all your credit card receipts and make sure that only the last four numbers appear.
By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA ABC 8
A new state law is about to take effect designed to make it more difficult for someone to defraud your credit card account.
By Sunday, all customer credit card receipts must have 12 of the 16 printed account numbers truncated, or blocked out.
While the vast majority of business owners we talked to have made the switch, there are those who have not, such as one merchant in Dallas' Deep Ellum district. He said he knew nothing of the law and was embarrassed. He said he would make the switch immediately.
Bar owner Rhonda Owens said even though her establishment is in compliance with the law, some customers insist on altering her merchant copy as well.
"We do have people that do mark the number out so that it's not showing, because they want to protect themselves," Owens said.
College student Sonali Fernando said those fears are not unfounded. "I've known people who find the receipts and order a whole bunch of Chinese food on someone else's credit card."
Since not every merchant is aware of law, you can help them out. Start checking all your credit card receipts and make sure that only the last four numbers appear.
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- TexasStooge
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- Posts: 38127
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- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Dallas Morning News' Texan of the Year: Houston
By VICTORIA LOE HICKS / The Dallas Morning News
HOUSTON, Texas - In 2005, Houston became the heart of Texas.
For resilience, resourcefulness and good old Texas neighborliness on a scale that did the whole state proud, Houston is the 2005 Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year.
To this day, an estimated 150,000 survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita call the Houston area home, and surveys show that most of them plan to stay. When Katrina hurled them, battered and destitute, onto Houston's doorstep, Houston met the challenge with the largest shelter operation in the nation's history. Singling out Houston is no slight to the scores of other communities that opened their arms to the storms' victims, including those right here in North Texas. They, too, performed nobly and deserve vigorous applause. But the demands on Houston, by dint of simple geography, were of a stunningly higher magnitude.
Talk to the people at the center of the relief effort, and, over and over, you'll hear words that echo those of Issa Dadoush, the city of Houston's director of building services: "These are Americans. They're our neighbors. If not Houston, who else?"
Or, as Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said, "We had no choice. It was just something that needed to be done."
To get it done, "we" became far more than government. The extraordinary effort depended on churches, companies, nonprofits and tens of thousands of ordinary people. Commandeered by fate, they responded with the very qualities that distinguish a Texan of the Year: trailblazing, independence, staring down adversity, and affecting or influencing lives.
In the office of Houston Mayor Bill White's chief of staff sits a large, glossy sign that admonishes: "Put Your Smile On – Company's Coming." It's a souvenir of the city's PR campaign before the 2004 Super Bowl. It's also exactly the mind-set Houston's leaders summoned after the call came from the governor's office to Judge Eckels at 3 a.m. on Aug. 31: A convoy of buses bearing traumatized survivors of New Orleans' Superdome would strike out that day, bound for the Astrodome.
Houston springs into action
How many evacuees – and when they would arrive – was anybody's guess. There was virtually no hard information coming out of New Orleans. Louisiana police were supposed to meet an escort of Texas troopers bound for the Superdome, but they never materialized.
Houston's pre-existing disaster plan did not contemplate using the Astrodome as a shelter, but in one crucial respect, officials were prepared: Leaders of the county, local cities and other key agencies and corporations had worked together for years to brace for catastrophe.
"The key down here was that we had a plan. We had a team that practiced together and worked together and knew each other," Judge Eckels said.
At 6 a.m., the judge appeared at the home of Shea Guinn, president of SMG-Reliant Park, which operates the Astrodome and the adjacent Reliant Center (an exhibit hall) and Reliant Arena (a former livestock show venue). Calls by Mr. Guinn set in motion 200-plus SMG employees, who began to ready the dome. Judge Eckels roused the county's department heads and officials of the Harris County Hospital District, who alerted their city counterparts.
At 9 a.m. the mayor, the judge and the heads of the city and county police, fire, emergency and health agencies met at the county's emergency operations center to tackle urgent logistics. By that time, the Red Cross was scrambling to truck in 30,000 cots from warehouses across several states. In a 1 p.m. conference call, Judge Eckels and Mr. White enlisted the United Way and key religious leaders. That produced dozens of other calls to school superintendents, corporation heads, nonprofit executives and pastors.
At 3 p.m., county commissioners voted in emergency session to open Reliant Park as an emergency shelter. The cots and the first evacuees began arriving simultaneously about 10 p.m. For several hours, volunteers worked feverishly to see that by the time each evacuee was registered, a cot would be waiting. Each was welcomed with a hot meal, served by Aramark, SMG's concessionaire at the Reliant complex. Hot showers awaited in the dome's old locker rooms; SMG personnel had flushed the disused pipes to make them ready.
Even before evacuees left the buses, they were triaged by doctors and nurses. Those who were ill stayed on the buses for a drive across the parking lot to Reliant Arena, where the hospital district had set up a field hospital. Over the next few days, "Katrina Clinic" would grow to 100,000 square feet and 90 exam rooms with walls made of freestanding drapes normally used for trade shows.
More than 12,000 patients eventually received medical care, some for chronic conditions untreated for years. Nine hundred of the most seriously ill were transported to hospitals. CVS provided two mobile homes that functioned as on-site pharmacies, and other firms donated medicine and equipment.
Over at the dome, things got temporarily tense four days into the operation when a fire marshal ruled that the building could only take a third of the 23,000-plus the Red Cross was planning to house. Rather than turn away exhausted evacuees, Mr. White overrode that decree.
Occupancy in the dome peaked at 17,500 souls. Another 4,500 were housed at Reliant Arena and 2,300 at Reliant Center. The George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston took the spillover, about 2,800 evacuees.
Despite the daunting numbers, those in charge never lost sight of the people behind the statistics.
"I made sure every day that I walked out on the floor of the dome or the George R. Brown," said Michael Moore, Mr. White's chief of staff. Even in the crush of registering busload after busload, he said, "you've got to look these evacuees in the eye and say, 'Hey, you're safe.' "
There were hundreds, thousands of unsung heroes.
More than 300 drivers and other employees of the Houston Independent School District drove nearly 150 buses to New Orleans over the Labor Day weekend, a week after Katrina struck, to pluck survivors from nursing homes and deserted streets and deliver them to safety. The morning after Labor Day, the same drivers were back on their appointed rounds, delivering children to their Houston schools.
Furniture magnate Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale, known to Houstonians for his blaring TV ads and his same-day delivery policy, spent $70,000 to set up inflatable playrooms and air-conditioned tents filled with arcade games adjacent to the Astrodome. Once evacuees began moving to apartments, his company delivered 5,000 apartments-worth of furniture in 30 days (and, for the first time, forced paying customers to wait until the day after purchase for delivery of their merchandise).
Marie Arcos, director of a Houston YMCA, spent more than 200 hours helping adult evacuees fill out forms and playing with the children.
More than 18,000 volunteers, trained and coordinated through Second Baptist Church, prepared and served more than 118,000 meals to evacuees at the convention center.
A vice president of Abbott Laboratories called to say that one of the company's mobile demonstration labs, chock full of cutting-edge medical equipment, was en route from Arkansas to Oklahoma. Abbott was willing to divert it to the Astrodome; would that help? It would, and it did.
And through it all, officials held doggedly to their commonly agreed goal: to shut the shelters down as quickly as they had set them up, to help evacuees move to permanent quarters where they could resume some semblance of normal lives. On Sept. 20, with Hurricane Rita barreling toward Houston, the last 1,123 evacuees were ushered out of Reliant Arena and the convention center and transported farther inland.
Thus, the end of the largest shelter operation in American history – a day on which the weary helpers might have rested and rejoiced – was swallowed by the near panic of the largest evacuation in American history. For several nail-chewing days, it looked like the lifeguard might drown. And though Rita ultimately spared Houston, the time and energy lost to the evacuation put a serious dent in the timetable for Katrina, Phase II: settling the evacuees in houses and apartments.
Phase II begins
One hundred days after Judge Eckels got the fateful call, 100 or so people were talking in animated clusters in Room 307 of "the GRB" – local lingo for the convention center. There, each Monday at 8 a.m., Mr. White convenes a weekly public briefing that brings together key players from the dozens of agencies and groups still involved in hurricane relief.
In one corner, deep in conversation with a Houston pastor, was the man who, in many ways, personifies Phase II: E.A. "Buddy" Grantham.
Mr. Grantham, who retired in August after 20 years as an Army logistics officer, is chief of operations for the ad hoc "Housing Choice Center" that has issued one-year rental vouchers, backed by the city and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to more than 45,000 evacuee families.
"He's a rock," said Ben Thompson, a vice president of Sunland Group, which was hired to provide quality control for the housing program.
A rock who started out as a volunteer.
Mr. Grantham, a cherubic 46-year-old Aggie, drove to the Astrodome from his home in College Station on Sept. 6 with the idea of pitching in for three days. At the end of three days, supervisors asked him to stay for another three. After eight weeks of successively larger assignments, he was finally added to the county's and then the city's payroll.
He says he took the job only because he was given the freedom to be "entrepreneurial – we listen to our customers and staff and make adjustments."
"Customers" and "guests" are words you hear a lot when Houston officials talk about the evacuees. Though at first they sound corny, the more you watch and learn, the more you realize that the words are genuine.
In mid-December, voucher recipients were moving into apartments at the rate of 294 units per day. The pastor in the GRB had buttonholed Mr. Grantham about one of them – an elderly woman who was experiencing trouble getting into the apartment she had chosen. Mr. Grantham recognized her name, knew her story and had the solution.
Before an inspector could OK the apartment, he told the pastor, the landlord had to have the gas turned on. Once the woman moved in, the gas company would automatically switch the billing into the city's name.
Later, in the busy hive of the Housing Choice Center, at one end of an empty big-box retail space that Mr. White commandeered for FEMA, Mr. Grantham pointed out a banner reading "Utilities." Beneath it, a newly organized help desk counseled evacuees with similar problems. A few miles away, in the City Hall annex, workers in the equally bustling Property Owner Service Center helped landlords navigate the voucher program's ins and outs.
His many fans laud Mr. Grantham for melding employees of disparate (and habitually turf-conscious) public agencies, private contractors and volunteers into a smoothly functioning team. But then, he's had lots of practice – for instance, in Bosnia, where he juggled the competing agendas of humanitarian groups, NATO forces and warring ethnic factions.
When rivalries loomed, he said with a shrewd country-boy grin, his last resort was an old, old trick: "I made them both hate me; I gave them a common enemy." If anyone questioned where his loyalties lay, "I told them, 'I work for the evacuees.' "
He understands the magnitude of what's been accomplished: Starting from zero, "we have created the largest housing authority in the country." But, like the officials who hired him and did their utmost to insulate his bureaucratic restraints, he's relentlessly modest about their collective achievement.
"This became an urgent, compelling priority," he said. "When the floodlight is on, it's easy to succeed."
The mayor's aide, Mr. Moore, echoed that theme. "People kind of got it," he said. "This was bigger than us."
Bigger than Katrina. Bigger than Texas. Houston continues to perform a national service by modeling the virtues of local initiative and challenging Washington's missteps – most recently FEMA's decision to end the housing voucher program several months early, on March 1. Mr. White has joined that battle with the same energy he has shown throughout the crisis.
One of the latest Houston initiatives is a program that reflects the city's entrepreneurial pedigree: The Greater Houston Partnership is offering help to hurricane survivors who want to rebuild their businesses in their new hometown.
With the new year comes Houston's Phase III. So few empty apartments exist in Houston that Mr. White recently was forced to declare the city full. Now, attention shifts to the lives under the roofs, to helping guests become integral members of the community. Whatever challenges arise, Mr. White, Judge Eckels and others insist that they will succeed.
Says Judge Eckels simply: "We will rebuild, one life at a time."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other 2005 Dallas Morning News Texans of the Year:
No. 2 Lance Armstrong
No. 3: Brooke Army Medical Center
No. 4: Jamie Foxx
No. 5: Ronnie Earle
No. 6: Tom Craddick
No. 7: Robert Rodriguez
No. 8: Kim Mulkey-Robertson
No. 9: Joel Osteen
No. 10: Harriet Miers
By VICTORIA LOE HICKS / The Dallas Morning News
HOUSTON, Texas - In 2005, Houston became the heart of Texas.
For resilience, resourcefulness and good old Texas neighborliness on a scale that did the whole state proud, Houston is the 2005 Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year.
To this day, an estimated 150,000 survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita call the Houston area home, and surveys show that most of them plan to stay. When Katrina hurled them, battered and destitute, onto Houston's doorstep, Houston met the challenge with the largest shelter operation in the nation's history. Singling out Houston is no slight to the scores of other communities that opened their arms to the storms' victims, including those right here in North Texas. They, too, performed nobly and deserve vigorous applause. But the demands on Houston, by dint of simple geography, were of a stunningly higher magnitude.
Talk to the people at the center of the relief effort, and, over and over, you'll hear words that echo those of Issa Dadoush, the city of Houston's director of building services: "These are Americans. They're our neighbors. If not Houston, who else?"
Or, as Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said, "We had no choice. It was just something that needed to be done."
To get it done, "we" became far more than government. The extraordinary effort depended on churches, companies, nonprofits and tens of thousands of ordinary people. Commandeered by fate, they responded with the very qualities that distinguish a Texan of the Year: trailblazing, independence, staring down adversity, and affecting or influencing lives.
In the office of Houston Mayor Bill White's chief of staff sits a large, glossy sign that admonishes: "Put Your Smile On – Company's Coming." It's a souvenir of the city's PR campaign before the 2004 Super Bowl. It's also exactly the mind-set Houston's leaders summoned after the call came from the governor's office to Judge Eckels at 3 a.m. on Aug. 31: A convoy of buses bearing traumatized survivors of New Orleans' Superdome would strike out that day, bound for the Astrodome.
Houston springs into action
How many evacuees – and when they would arrive – was anybody's guess. There was virtually no hard information coming out of New Orleans. Louisiana police were supposed to meet an escort of Texas troopers bound for the Superdome, but they never materialized.
Houston's pre-existing disaster plan did not contemplate using the Astrodome as a shelter, but in one crucial respect, officials were prepared: Leaders of the county, local cities and other key agencies and corporations had worked together for years to brace for catastrophe.
"The key down here was that we had a plan. We had a team that practiced together and worked together and knew each other," Judge Eckels said.
At 6 a.m., the judge appeared at the home of Shea Guinn, president of SMG-Reliant Park, which operates the Astrodome and the adjacent Reliant Center (an exhibit hall) and Reliant Arena (a former livestock show venue). Calls by Mr. Guinn set in motion 200-plus SMG employees, who began to ready the dome. Judge Eckels roused the county's department heads and officials of the Harris County Hospital District, who alerted their city counterparts.
At 9 a.m. the mayor, the judge and the heads of the city and county police, fire, emergency and health agencies met at the county's emergency operations center to tackle urgent logistics. By that time, the Red Cross was scrambling to truck in 30,000 cots from warehouses across several states. In a 1 p.m. conference call, Judge Eckels and Mr. White enlisted the United Way and key religious leaders. That produced dozens of other calls to school superintendents, corporation heads, nonprofit executives and pastors.
At 3 p.m., county commissioners voted in emergency session to open Reliant Park as an emergency shelter. The cots and the first evacuees began arriving simultaneously about 10 p.m. For several hours, volunteers worked feverishly to see that by the time each evacuee was registered, a cot would be waiting. Each was welcomed with a hot meal, served by Aramark, SMG's concessionaire at the Reliant complex. Hot showers awaited in the dome's old locker rooms; SMG personnel had flushed the disused pipes to make them ready.
Even before evacuees left the buses, they were triaged by doctors and nurses. Those who were ill stayed on the buses for a drive across the parking lot to Reliant Arena, where the hospital district had set up a field hospital. Over the next few days, "Katrina Clinic" would grow to 100,000 square feet and 90 exam rooms with walls made of freestanding drapes normally used for trade shows.
More than 12,000 patients eventually received medical care, some for chronic conditions untreated for years. Nine hundred of the most seriously ill were transported to hospitals. CVS provided two mobile homes that functioned as on-site pharmacies, and other firms donated medicine and equipment.
Over at the dome, things got temporarily tense four days into the operation when a fire marshal ruled that the building could only take a third of the 23,000-plus the Red Cross was planning to house. Rather than turn away exhausted evacuees, Mr. White overrode that decree.
Occupancy in the dome peaked at 17,500 souls. Another 4,500 were housed at Reliant Arena and 2,300 at Reliant Center. The George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston took the spillover, about 2,800 evacuees.
Despite the daunting numbers, those in charge never lost sight of the people behind the statistics.
"I made sure every day that I walked out on the floor of the dome or the George R. Brown," said Michael Moore, Mr. White's chief of staff. Even in the crush of registering busload after busload, he said, "you've got to look these evacuees in the eye and say, 'Hey, you're safe.' "
There were hundreds, thousands of unsung heroes.
More than 300 drivers and other employees of the Houston Independent School District drove nearly 150 buses to New Orleans over the Labor Day weekend, a week after Katrina struck, to pluck survivors from nursing homes and deserted streets and deliver them to safety. The morning after Labor Day, the same drivers were back on their appointed rounds, delivering children to their Houston schools.
Furniture magnate Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale, known to Houstonians for his blaring TV ads and his same-day delivery policy, spent $70,000 to set up inflatable playrooms and air-conditioned tents filled with arcade games adjacent to the Astrodome. Once evacuees began moving to apartments, his company delivered 5,000 apartments-worth of furniture in 30 days (and, for the first time, forced paying customers to wait until the day after purchase for delivery of their merchandise).
Marie Arcos, director of a Houston YMCA, spent more than 200 hours helping adult evacuees fill out forms and playing with the children.
More than 18,000 volunteers, trained and coordinated through Second Baptist Church, prepared and served more than 118,000 meals to evacuees at the convention center.
A vice president of Abbott Laboratories called to say that one of the company's mobile demonstration labs, chock full of cutting-edge medical equipment, was en route from Arkansas to Oklahoma. Abbott was willing to divert it to the Astrodome; would that help? It would, and it did.
And through it all, officials held doggedly to their commonly agreed goal: to shut the shelters down as quickly as they had set them up, to help evacuees move to permanent quarters where they could resume some semblance of normal lives. On Sept. 20, with Hurricane Rita barreling toward Houston, the last 1,123 evacuees were ushered out of Reliant Arena and the convention center and transported farther inland.
Thus, the end of the largest shelter operation in American history – a day on which the weary helpers might have rested and rejoiced – was swallowed by the near panic of the largest evacuation in American history. For several nail-chewing days, it looked like the lifeguard might drown. And though Rita ultimately spared Houston, the time and energy lost to the evacuation put a serious dent in the timetable for Katrina, Phase II: settling the evacuees in houses and apartments.
Phase II begins
One hundred days after Judge Eckels got the fateful call, 100 or so people were talking in animated clusters in Room 307 of "the GRB" – local lingo for the convention center. There, each Monday at 8 a.m., Mr. White convenes a weekly public briefing that brings together key players from the dozens of agencies and groups still involved in hurricane relief.
In one corner, deep in conversation with a Houston pastor, was the man who, in many ways, personifies Phase II: E.A. "Buddy" Grantham.
Mr. Grantham, who retired in August after 20 years as an Army logistics officer, is chief of operations for the ad hoc "Housing Choice Center" that has issued one-year rental vouchers, backed by the city and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to more than 45,000 evacuee families.
"He's a rock," said Ben Thompson, a vice president of Sunland Group, which was hired to provide quality control for the housing program.
A rock who started out as a volunteer.
Mr. Grantham, a cherubic 46-year-old Aggie, drove to the Astrodome from his home in College Station on Sept. 6 with the idea of pitching in for three days. At the end of three days, supervisors asked him to stay for another three. After eight weeks of successively larger assignments, he was finally added to the county's and then the city's payroll.
He says he took the job only because he was given the freedom to be "entrepreneurial – we listen to our customers and staff and make adjustments."
"Customers" and "guests" are words you hear a lot when Houston officials talk about the evacuees. Though at first they sound corny, the more you watch and learn, the more you realize that the words are genuine.
In mid-December, voucher recipients were moving into apartments at the rate of 294 units per day. The pastor in the GRB had buttonholed Mr. Grantham about one of them – an elderly woman who was experiencing trouble getting into the apartment she had chosen. Mr. Grantham recognized her name, knew her story and had the solution.
Before an inspector could OK the apartment, he told the pastor, the landlord had to have the gas turned on. Once the woman moved in, the gas company would automatically switch the billing into the city's name.
Later, in the busy hive of the Housing Choice Center, at one end of an empty big-box retail space that Mr. White commandeered for FEMA, Mr. Grantham pointed out a banner reading "Utilities." Beneath it, a newly organized help desk counseled evacuees with similar problems. A few miles away, in the City Hall annex, workers in the equally bustling Property Owner Service Center helped landlords navigate the voucher program's ins and outs.
His many fans laud Mr. Grantham for melding employees of disparate (and habitually turf-conscious) public agencies, private contractors and volunteers into a smoothly functioning team. But then, he's had lots of practice – for instance, in Bosnia, where he juggled the competing agendas of humanitarian groups, NATO forces and warring ethnic factions.
When rivalries loomed, he said with a shrewd country-boy grin, his last resort was an old, old trick: "I made them both hate me; I gave them a common enemy." If anyone questioned where his loyalties lay, "I told them, 'I work for the evacuees.' "
He understands the magnitude of what's been accomplished: Starting from zero, "we have created the largest housing authority in the country." But, like the officials who hired him and did their utmost to insulate his bureaucratic restraints, he's relentlessly modest about their collective achievement.
"This became an urgent, compelling priority," he said. "When the floodlight is on, it's easy to succeed."
The mayor's aide, Mr. Moore, echoed that theme. "People kind of got it," he said. "This was bigger than us."
Bigger than Katrina. Bigger than Texas. Houston continues to perform a national service by modeling the virtues of local initiative and challenging Washington's missteps – most recently FEMA's decision to end the housing voucher program several months early, on March 1. Mr. White has joined that battle with the same energy he has shown throughout the crisis.
One of the latest Houston initiatives is a program that reflects the city's entrepreneurial pedigree: The Greater Houston Partnership is offering help to hurricane survivors who want to rebuild their businesses in their new hometown.
With the new year comes Houston's Phase III. So few empty apartments exist in Houston that Mr. White recently was forced to declare the city full. Now, attention shifts to the lives under the roofs, to helping guests become integral members of the community. Whatever challenges arise, Mr. White, Judge Eckels and others insist that they will succeed.
Says Judge Eckels simply: "We will rebuild, one life at a time."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other 2005 Dallas Morning News Texans of the Year:
No. 2 Lance Armstrong
No. 3: Brooke Army Medical Center
No. 4: Jamie Foxx
No. 5: Ronnie Earle
No. 6: Tom Craddick
No. 7: Robert Rodriguez
No. 8: Kim Mulkey-Robertson
No. 9: Joel Osteen
No. 10: Harriet Miers
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- TexasStooge
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2006: The Not-So-New Year
Challenges won't change with the calendar
Goodbye, 2005? Don't be so sure. We hate to say it after such a tough year, but 2006 might be déjà vu.
Though the dramatic arc of America's involvement in Iraq often seems to be maddeningly circular – Iraq ended the year exactly as it began: with a successful national election, followed by more terrorist violence – 2005 marked the beginning of the end of U.S. occupation and the end of the beginning of Iraq's post-Saddam order. The coming year will be the one in which Iraq either unites as a sovereign nation or flies apart in a civil war.
Meanwhile, in next-door Iran, how do you solve a problem like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad? The world will be spending a lot of time in '06 asking that question about the hard-line Khomeinist who got himself elected president this year. He's taking his nation back into fanaticism while frog-marching it toward nuclear weaponry.
Elsewhere in the region, both Israelis and Palestinians face crucial elections in 2006, in which either the possibilities or the perils introduced in 2005 will be realized. With his withdrawal of Israeli settlers from Gaza and himself from the Likud Party, Ariel Sharon upended Israel's politics. Palestinian godfather Yasser Arafat died this year, bequeathing the first real chance in ages for the Palestinians to change their destiny ... but also leaving them in self-destructive thrall to Hamas.
The United States is also having a definitive election next year. The distance President Bush and the GOP traveled in 2005 can be measured from the commanding heights of Mr. Bush's triumphant second inauguration in January to the dismal depths of the Harriet Miers withdrawal in October.
During that time, Mr. Bush saw a majority of Americans decide the war in Iraq wasn't worth fighting; the collapse of Social Security reform, the centerpiece of his second-term domestic agenda; burgeoning scandals besetting his party and its leaders; his administration bungling the Katrina aftermath; and the pulverizing of his personal sway with the conservative movement over the Miers nomination to the Supreme Court.
All of these issues will be contended viciously in 2006, and the American people will render a verdict in November. Happily for the Republicans, Democratic ineptitude looks to be as formidable in 2006 as it did in 2005.
Here in Texas, the Republican-controlled state Legislature failed to solve the school finance crisis this year, but the courts threw out the current scheme and ordered the Legislature to devise a new one, or else. Here we go again. Texans will suffer a gubernatorial race in which the legislative sins of '05 will play out endlessly, with Tom DeLay and Ronnie Earle thrown in to boot.
Did we mention that meteorologists predict a busy hurricane season for '06? Would you rather we didn't?
There is one 2005 issue we can definitively put behind us tonight. Dallas voters drove a stake through the heart of strong-mayor. We're going to have the current form of government with us for a long time. Bottoms up, folks – we've got a long year ahead.
Challenges won't change with the calendar
Goodbye, 2005? Don't be so sure. We hate to say it after such a tough year, but 2006 might be déjà vu.
Though the dramatic arc of America's involvement in Iraq often seems to be maddeningly circular – Iraq ended the year exactly as it began: with a successful national election, followed by more terrorist violence – 2005 marked the beginning of the end of U.S. occupation and the end of the beginning of Iraq's post-Saddam order. The coming year will be the one in which Iraq either unites as a sovereign nation or flies apart in a civil war.
Meanwhile, in next-door Iran, how do you solve a problem like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad? The world will be spending a lot of time in '06 asking that question about the hard-line Khomeinist who got himself elected president this year. He's taking his nation back into fanaticism while frog-marching it toward nuclear weaponry.
Elsewhere in the region, both Israelis and Palestinians face crucial elections in 2006, in which either the possibilities or the perils introduced in 2005 will be realized. With his withdrawal of Israeli settlers from Gaza and himself from the Likud Party, Ariel Sharon upended Israel's politics. Palestinian godfather Yasser Arafat died this year, bequeathing the first real chance in ages for the Palestinians to change their destiny ... but also leaving them in self-destructive thrall to Hamas.
The United States is also having a definitive election next year. The distance President Bush and the GOP traveled in 2005 can be measured from the commanding heights of Mr. Bush's triumphant second inauguration in January to the dismal depths of the Harriet Miers withdrawal in October.
During that time, Mr. Bush saw a majority of Americans decide the war in Iraq wasn't worth fighting; the collapse of Social Security reform, the centerpiece of his second-term domestic agenda; burgeoning scandals besetting his party and its leaders; his administration bungling the Katrina aftermath; and the pulverizing of his personal sway with the conservative movement over the Miers nomination to the Supreme Court.
All of these issues will be contended viciously in 2006, and the American people will render a verdict in November. Happily for the Republicans, Democratic ineptitude looks to be as formidable in 2006 as it did in 2005.
Here in Texas, the Republican-controlled state Legislature failed to solve the school finance crisis this year, but the courts threw out the current scheme and ordered the Legislature to devise a new one, or else. Here we go again. Texans will suffer a gubernatorial race in which the legislative sins of '05 will play out endlessly, with Tom DeLay and Ronnie Earle thrown in to boot.
Did we mention that meteorologists predict a busy hurricane season for '06? Would you rather we didn't?
There is one 2005 issue we can definitively put behind us tonight. Dallas voters drove a stake through the heart of strong-mayor. We're going to have the current form of government with us for a long time. Bottoms up, folks – we've got a long year ahead.
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Not Always So Peaceful
Holiday week has a history of turmoil
It is natural to think of the period between Christmas and New Year's Day as one of family, vacation and relaxation. In truth, it has produced recently some of the globe's most transformational events.
Last year, the tsunamis that erupted upon Asian shores reshaped forever the lives of local families and those far away who lost vacationing loved ones. The silent killer also swamped global relief agencies, while forcing nations to consider the unforeseen. Little did Americans know how that lesson soon would apply to our Gulf Coast.
Six years ago this week, the world was rushing to head off a Y2K disaster. As everyone held his or her breath about computers going haywire, the anticipation revealed how much technology had come to control our lives. The tense run-up to the new millennium also awakened Americans to how terrorism could strike the country in heinous ways.
More than these events, however, the collapse of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991 radically reshaped our world. When Mikhail Gorbachev announced its dissolution, which became official by New Year's Eve, he sparked events that still influence our lives.
The bipolar world of U.S.-Soviet tensions gave way to a unipolar world, which is more than simply a political science word. It means America simultaneously has become economic titan and global cop. Our stature has not always been met with approval abroad or at home. But it has propelled the U.S. economy, while placing American soldiers in unfamiliar places like Bosnia and Iraq.
The Soviet bear's demise allowed other threats to arise as well. Most prominent is Islamic fundamentalism, which the Soviet boot heel had partially squashed.
Right behind that borderless demon is the spread of nuclear weapons in previously unthinkable forms. When the Soviet Union collapsed, its nuclear grocery store opened up to the black market. Nuclear technology has become easier for terrorists and bandits to obtain. Think dirty bombs, and you get the point.
So, while families wrap up their holidays this year, we celebrate a relatively unchaotic week. It hasn't always been so.
Holiday week has a history of turmoil
It is natural to think of the period between Christmas and New Year's Day as one of family, vacation and relaxation. In truth, it has produced recently some of the globe's most transformational events.
Last year, the tsunamis that erupted upon Asian shores reshaped forever the lives of local families and those far away who lost vacationing loved ones. The silent killer also swamped global relief agencies, while forcing nations to consider the unforeseen. Little did Americans know how that lesson soon would apply to our Gulf Coast.
Six years ago this week, the world was rushing to head off a Y2K disaster. As everyone held his or her breath about computers going haywire, the anticipation revealed how much technology had come to control our lives. The tense run-up to the new millennium also awakened Americans to how terrorism could strike the country in heinous ways.
More than these events, however, the collapse of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991 radically reshaped our world. When Mikhail Gorbachev announced its dissolution, which became official by New Year's Eve, he sparked events that still influence our lives.
The bipolar world of U.S.-Soviet tensions gave way to a unipolar world, which is more than simply a political science word. It means America simultaneously has become economic titan and global cop. Our stature has not always been met with approval abroad or at home. But it has propelled the U.S. economy, while placing American soldiers in unfamiliar places like Bosnia and Iraq.
The Soviet bear's demise allowed other threats to arise as well. Most prominent is Islamic fundamentalism, which the Soviet boot heel had partially squashed.
Right behind that borderless demon is the spread of nuclear weapons in previously unthinkable forms. When the Soviet Union collapsed, its nuclear grocery store opened up to the black market. Nuclear technology has become easier for terrorists and bandits to obtain. Think dirty bombs, and you get the point.
So, while families wrap up their holidays this year, we celebrate a relatively unchaotic week. It hasn't always been so.
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- TexasStooge
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A Priceless Gift
Organ donation saves lives
DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - On Christmas Eve, Angela Driver's prayers were answered. Her 15-year-old daughter was given the gift of life, a heart.
The freshman athlete had been in critical condition for three weeks, after a series of surgeries following a heart attack in August.
Earlier Christmas Eve, another family lost a loved one, 20-year-old Hunter Cippele. Days before, young Mr. Cippele had been blowing off leaves from the roof of his grandparents' home near Longview when he slipped from a ladder and struck his head on the concrete.
Mr. Cippele was a Sunday school teacher. He also was an organ donor. He'd expressed his donor wishes to his family. It was they who made the decision on Christmas Eve to give his heart to save a life – Quaneisha Driver's life.
Quaneisha was lucky. Last year, about 60,000 people died waiting for transplants. The supply can't keep up with the demand. Today, there are more than 90,000 loved ones on the transplant waiting list.
Have you considered becoming an organ donor, but never got around to acting on the idea?
Now's the time.
Mr. Cippele's gift to Quaneisha inspires us all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO HELP
To download and print an organ donor card to carry with you: Go to http://www.organ.org/www_redesign/Donorcard.pdf
To explore your options: Visit http://www.organ.org, or call 1-800-788-8058
Most important: Tell your family. In the end, your loved ones may have to make the final call. It will be an easier decision for them to make if you've expressed your wishes.
Organ donation saves lives
DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - On Christmas Eve, Angela Driver's prayers were answered. Her 15-year-old daughter was given the gift of life, a heart.
The freshman athlete had been in critical condition for three weeks, after a series of surgeries following a heart attack in August.
Earlier Christmas Eve, another family lost a loved one, 20-year-old Hunter Cippele. Days before, young Mr. Cippele had been blowing off leaves from the roof of his grandparents' home near Longview when he slipped from a ladder and struck his head on the concrete.
Mr. Cippele was a Sunday school teacher. He also was an organ donor. He'd expressed his donor wishes to his family. It was they who made the decision on Christmas Eve to give his heart to save a life – Quaneisha Driver's life.
Quaneisha was lucky. Last year, about 60,000 people died waiting for transplants. The supply can't keep up with the demand. Today, there are more than 90,000 loved ones on the transplant waiting list.
Have you considered becoming an organ donor, but never got around to acting on the idea?
Now's the time.
Mr. Cippele's gift to Quaneisha inspires us all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO HELP
To download and print an organ donor card to carry with you: Go to http://www.organ.org/www_redesign/Donorcard.pdf
To explore your options: Visit http://www.organ.org, or call 1-800-788-8058
Most important: Tell your family. In the end, your loved ones may have to make the final call. It will be an easier decision for them to make if you've expressed your wishes.
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- TexasStooge
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Shifting Gears: Dallas is in motion, but where's it headed?
DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - Think of Dallas city government as a car. You'd have to say it's shown some wear in recent years: shocks shot, tires balding, not hitting on all cylinders. But now it's in the hands of a good nuts-and-bolts mechanic who's giving it a thorough overhaul.
This particular car has more than a million owners, but their chosen representatives have worked hard to reach a consensus on which parts need the most attention. The motor is item No. 1, they agree. Gotta have a good transmission. Steering is a biggie.
There's no doubt: This will be a more serviceable, more reliable car when the work is done. But what's the destination? Where is this vastly improved car supposed to take us?
That's the challenge before City Hall.
Some will say: Why does it matter? A car that runs is a car that runs, right? And isn't the destination self-evident: Someplace better than where we started?
Not exactly. The best vehicle for a summertime trek into the Utah canyon lands isn't the one you'd choose for a winter sojourn in Cleveland. On Padre Island, a convertible is ideal. But if you're venturing across the border into drug-cartel territory, you'll want a Hummer.
The point is that knowing your destination – and the obstacles that lie in your way – will seriously influence the features you choose and how you spend your auto-repair dollars.
City Manager Mary Suhm and her staff have written a detailed action plan for achieving the City Council's five priorities (economic development, staff accountability, neighborhood quality, public safety and the Trinity River plan). The council adopted a performance plan for Ms. Suhm, which will hold her accountable for furthering those goals. Next month, council members will begin a new budgeting process designed to make sure their spending decisions match their priorities.
All of that is very good. Ms. Suhm, the staff and the council deserve kudos for working to make city government more effective and efficient.
Ms. Suhm will tell you that in the course of doing the nuts-and-bolts stuff, an awareness of the destination will naturally emerge. Rather than embark on blue-sky musings about possible destinations, she says, it's better to focus on concrete questions like: "Do we need four-wheel drive?"
She may be right, but that's not the way most successful cities – or most successful corporations – approach the process. They generally answer the big questions first, letting those answers shape their tactical decisions.
For example, Indianapolis decided to position itself as a venue for major amateur sports events. San Jose has cast itself as the capitol of Silicon Valley. Both cities pave streets and pick up trash, but the investment decisions they make beyond that may be very different.
The limitations of Dallas' approach were described by consultants at Booz Allen Hamilton, who have studied City Hall for the past two years: "Without a strategic framework or plan to set priorities, leaders find it difficult to choose one good course of action over another good course of action. As a result ... the organization ends up spreading resources thinly ... in a political compromise but ultimately achieves few if any of the strategic goals."
Ms. Suhm recently sent The Dallas Morning News her performance plan and the action agenda. In the cover letter, she said: "It is clearly a first step, and will in the future be enhanced and improved."
That's all anyone can ask. We who live in Dallas are certainly in the market for a better car. We're eager to peer under the hood, kick the tires and take a trial spin. We know there's no such thing as a free ride. But if City Hall wants us to reach for our checkbook, it would be well advised to tell us where we're headed.
DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - Think of Dallas city government as a car. You'd have to say it's shown some wear in recent years: shocks shot, tires balding, not hitting on all cylinders. But now it's in the hands of a good nuts-and-bolts mechanic who's giving it a thorough overhaul.
This particular car has more than a million owners, but their chosen representatives have worked hard to reach a consensus on which parts need the most attention. The motor is item No. 1, they agree. Gotta have a good transmission. Steering is a biggie.
There's no doubt: This will be a more serviceable, more reliable car when the work is done. But what's the destination? Where is this vastly improved car supposed to take us?
That's the challenge before City Hall.
Some will say: Why does it matter? A car that runs is a car that runs, right? And isn't the destination self-evident: Someplace better than where we started?
Not exactly. The best vehicle for a summertime trek into the Utah canyon lands isn't the one you'd choose for a winter sojourn in Cleveland. On Padre Island, a convertible is ideal. But if you're venturing across the border into drug-cartel territory, you'll want a Hummer.
The point is that knowing your destination – and the obstacles that lie in your way – will seriously influence the features you choose and how you spend your auto-repair dollars.
City Manager Mary Suhm and her staff have written a detailed action plan for achieving the City Council's five priorities (economic development, staff accountability, neighborhood quality, public safety and the Trinity River plan). The council adopted a performance plan for Ms. Suhm, which will hold her accountable for furthering those goals. Next month, council members will begin a new budgeting process designed to make sure their spending decisions match their priorities.
All of that is very good. Ms. Suhm, the staff and the council deserve kudos for working to make city government more effective and efficient.
Ms. Suhm will tell you that in the course of doing the nuts-and-bolts stuff, an awareness of the destination will naturally emerge. Rather than embark on blue-sky musings about possible destinations, she says, it's better to focus on concrete questions like: "Do we need four-wheel drive?"
She may be right, but that's not the way most successful cities – or most successful corporations – approach the process. They generally answer the big questions first, letting those answers shape their tactical decisions.
For example, Indianapolis decided to position itself as a venue for major amateur sports events. San Jose has cast itself as the capitol of Silicon Valley. Both cities pave streets and pick up trash, but the investment decisions they make beyond that may be very different.
The limitations of Dallas' approach were described by consultants at Booz Allen Hamilton, who have studied City Hall for the past two years: "Without a strategic framework or plan to set priorities, leaders find it difficult to choose one good course of action over another good course of action. As a result ... the organization ends up spreading resources thinly ... in a political compromise but ultimately achieves few if any of the strategic goals."
Ms. Suhm recently sent The Dallas Morning News her performance plan and the action agenda. In the cover letter, she said: "It is clearly a first step, and will in the future be enhanced and improved."
That's all anyone can ask. We who live in Dallas are certainly in the market for a better car. We're eager to peer under the hood, kick the tires and take a trial spin. We know there's no such thing as a free ride. But if City Hall wants us to reach for our checkbook, it would be well advised to tell us where we're headed.
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- TexasStooge
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A Foolish Proposal: Referendum suggests capping local taxes
The Dallas Morning News Staff
Check out the loaded language that Republican leaders are putting on the March ballot for GOP voters to embrace or reject:
"In order to address the inequity of homeowners' property taxes increasing at a rate far above the rate of inflation, the current 10 percent cap on the rate of increase of appraised value for all homesteads shall be reduced to 5 percent or less."
We appreciate what restraint it must have taken to not include language in this nonbinding referendum calling local officials "out-of-control, tax-raising weasels." But seriously, this ballot proposition – along with another one capping spending – could do serious harm if it pressures some conservative lawmakers to give up protection of local control.
In the last legislative session, most lawmakers realized what impact such caps could have on the economy, on local and county governments, and on typical taxpayers. The proposal was quickly amended to include all property, not just homesteads, and lawmakers may have been surprised to hear complaints from business leaders. But consider this: Commercial property taxes consider the income potential of property, which rises and falls much more quickly than a low, state-imposed cap allows.
For example, a typical strip center is worth a lot less when a grocery store pulls out and a lot more when a new anchor tenant moves in. A tax cap would allow the value to drop quickly, but it could take years for it to increase, shifting the burden in the meantime to other taxpayers.
That's just one of the unintended consequences that low property tax caps can have on communities. This spring, as the debate rolls on, we'll highlight others.
Just remember, though, that property taxpayers already have the right to force a tax rollback, as they recently did in Bedford. But if you want to research the negative effects of tax caps at the Bedford library, call first. The city was forced to close the library to save money and only reopened it part time thanks to a generous private donation.
Some things that seem so obvious on the ballot ...
But I've heard ...
•"People are being taxed out of their homes." Not so. It's no longer true that you cannot enjoy the increased value of your home until you sell it. Texas voters have made it increasingly easy for people to use the equity they have in their homes through loans and reverse mortgages.
•"Local governments spend too much." They might. Watch them closely to find out. Politicians are full of rhetoric, but your tax bill should tell you the truth about how well they are holding the line on taxes.
•"It just seems fair." What's fair about pitting older homeowners against their new neighbors? Resentment will grow and could spill over into policy decisions. Answers to commonly asked tax-cap questions.
The Dallas Morning News Staff
Check out the loaded language that Republican leaders are putting on the March ballot for GOP voters to embrace or reject:
"In order to address the inequity of homeowners' property taxes increasing at a rate far above the rate of inflation, the current 10 percent cap on the rate of increase of appraised value for all homesteads shall be reduced to 5 percent or less."
We appreciate what restraint it must have taken to not include language in this nonbinding referendum calling local officials "out-of-control, tax-raising weasels." But seriously, this ballot proposition – along with another one capping spending – could do serious harm if it pressures some conservative lawmakers to give up protection of local control.
In the last legislative session, most lawmakers realized what impact such caps could have on the economy, on local and county governments, and on typical taxpayers. The proposal was quickly amended to include all property, not just homesteads, and lawmakers may have been surprised to hear complaints from business leaders. But consider this: Commercial property taxes consider the income potential of property, which rises and falls much more quickly than a low, state-imposed cap allows.
For example, a typical strip center is worth a lot less when a grocery store pulls out and a lot more when a new anchor tenant moves in. A tax cap would allow the value to drop quickly, but it could take years for it to increase, shifting the burden in the meantime to other taxpayers.
That's just one of the unintended consequences that low property tax caps can have on communities. This spring, as the debate rolls on, we'll highlight others.
Just remember, though, that property taxpayers already have the right to force a tax rollback, as they recently did in Bedford. But if you want to research the negative effects of tax caps at the Bedford library, call first. The city was forced to close the library to save money and only reopened it part time thanks to a generous private donation.
Some things that seem so obvious on the ballot ...
But I've heard ...
•"People are being taxed out of their homes." Not so. It's no longer true that you cannot enjoy the increased value of your home until you sell it. Texas voters have made it increasingly easy for people to use the equity they have in their homes through loans and reverse mortgages.
•"Local governments spend too much." They might. Watch them closely to find out. Politicians are full of rhetoric, but your tax bill should tell you the truth about how well they are holding the line on taxes.
•"It just seems fair." What's fair about pitting older homeowners against their new neighbors? Resentment will grow and could spill over into policy decisions. Answers to commonly asked tax-cap questions.
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- TexasStooge
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Suspect allegedly laughed before fatal crash
Fort Worth man's actions defended
By MICHAEL GRABELL / The Dallas Morning News
FORT WORTH, Texas - The driver who reportedly clipped a Toyota Camry on Wednesday, killing a mother and daughter inside, was laughing in the moments before the crash, the Camry's driver told police.
Jason Wade Youngblood, 32, of Fort Worth was traveling on Interstate 20 with his wife and children in his Chevrolet Venture minivan when he tailgated the Camry, aggressively tried to pass and then changed lanes before it was safe, according to state troopers and Shaheen Asif, the sister of the Camry driver, Shahroz Ali.
"Shahroz told me that he was very egoistic," said Ms. Asif, 27, the sister of the driver who survived the crash. "He felt that, 'OK, if you don't give me a place, I know how to take your place.' "
Ms. Asif's aunt, Al'Shamshad Sundrani, 39, and 13-year-old cousin, Tooba, died after the car was hit by the minivan, careened into the westbound lanes and was struck by a sport-utility vehicle.
Mr. Youngblood is charged with two counts of criminally negligent homicide and three counts of failing to stop and render aid. The Fort Worth man was in Van Zandt County Jail on Friday afternoon, with bail set at $850,000.
"If he was laughing, it was not at anybody in the roadway. It was with his family," said Rebecca Davis, Mr. Youngblood's attorney. "If he was mouthing, it was because he was having a conversation with his family.
"This is a tragedy that has struck not one family, but two," the attorney said.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers say there is still no evidence the crash was intentional.
"We're still not calling it road rage," said Sgt. Jeff Wimberly, who is supervising the investigation. "Perspective and context mean a lot. He might have been laughing at something one of the kids said and may have just been looking at them."
According to the DPS manual on reporting traffic accidents, "road rage" is considered "assault with a motor vehicle or other dangerous weapons by the operator or passengers of one motor vehicle against the operator or passenger of another motor vehicle," he said.
Mr. Youngblood declined an interview request. Ms. Davis said what happened was an accident triggered when the Camry clipped her client's minivan, not the other way around.
"It could be you or it could be me sitting behind those bars," she said. "This is a God-fearing, law-abiding man, and he wasn't out to hurt anybody. He's about as far from a criminal as you can get."
Ms. Davis said Mr. Youngblood owns a bread-delivery company and drives 150 miles a day for a living. He and his four children were on their way to see family in Tyler for a later Christmas visit, she said.
But several witnesses who were driving in front and in back of the crash told investigators that the Venture minivan hit the Camry.
The minivan fishtailed a bit as Ms. Ali's Camry spun off the road and crashed. Mr. Youngblood drove another eight miles to Canton, where he turned himself in at the Canton Police Department.
Investigators reported that the car and minivan overlapped about 3 to 4 feet, about a fourth of the car's length. If it is proved the Camry was clipped intentionally, a murder charge could be filed.
Criminally negligent homicide is punishable by up to two years in jail, while fleeing an accident scene involving death or injury is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The Sundrani family returned to the Dallas area this summer after after living in Chicago for a few years, friends and relatives said. Ms. Sundrani was a homemaker, and her husband is a clerk at a convenience store.
Tooba was in the eighth grade at Creek Valley Middle School in Carrollton. Her 17-year-old brother, Raheel, who attends Hebron High School, was also injured in the crash. He was in fair condition Friday at East Texas Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.
When the crash occurred Wednesday, the family was on its way to a picnic at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Ms. Asif said. They had then planned to see the movie King Kong, which Tooba had been begging her family to see.
"She was a very loving person," Ms. Asif said.
During the last two days, Tooba's friends have turned her Internet blog into a memorial, where they posted poems and shared stories about the girl whose laugh seemed to infect everyone around her.
"It was unique. Nobody could do her dorky little laugh," said Amber Makhani, 13. "Anything we'd say and it wasn't funny, she started laughing, and we all started laughing."
Tooba was typical of girls her age. She liked to shop and go to movies. She loved Kelly Clarkson. And she spent a lot of time talking to friends on the computer.
In her last journal entry posted Dec. 21 on Xanga.com, Tooba said she was excited about winter break and about turning 14 in February. She said that over the break, she might work for a few days at her cousin's jewelry carts in the Valley View Center mall.
"I like music, hip hop, rap and rock! I loooove to go shopping ... hang out wit friends... talkin on da fone... chating... goin to da movies... amusement parks...like to play basketball, soccer and hockey," her profile says in the slang of the computer age she and her friends use.
In the hours after the accident, friends have posted letters to Tooba on her blog.
"Watch ova me and laugh about all the memories and lil chats we had cus u know thurr wus a lot we talked bout!!! I will always have ur lil goofy laugh in ma mind wen I think of u!!," one said.
"I feel really lonely inside right now and I still can't believe your gone," another friend wrote. "I still think you're at home watching t.v. ... I relly miss u tooba I really do."
Fort Worth man's actions defended
By MICHAEL GRABELL / The Dallas Morning News
FORT WORTH, Texas - The driver who reportedly clipped a Toyota Camry on Wednesday, killing a mother and daughter inside, was laughing in the moments before the crash, the Camry's driver told police.
Jason Wade Youngblood, 32, of Fort Worth was traveling on Interstate 20 with his wife and children in his Chevrolet Venture minivan when he tailgated the Camry, aggressively tried to pass and then changed lanes before it was safe, according to state troopers and Shaheen Asif, the sister of the Camry driver, Shahroz Ali.
"Shahroz told me that he was very egoistic," said Ms. Asif, 27, the sister of the driver who survived the crash. "He felt that, 'OK, if you don't give me a place, I know how to take your place.' "
Ms. Asif's aunt, Al'Shamshad Sundrani, 39, and 13-year-old cousin, Tooba, died after the car was hit by the minivan, careened into the westbound lanes and was struck by a sport-utility vehicle.
Mr. Youngblood is charged with two counts of criminally negligent homicide and three counts of failing to stop and render aid. The Fort Worth man was in Van Zandt County Jail on Friday afternoon, with bail set at $850,000.
"If he was laughing, it was not at anybody in the roadway. It was with his family," said Rebecca Davis, Mr. Youngblood's attorney. "If he was mouthing, it was because he was having a conversation with his family.
"This is a tragedy that has struck not one family, but two," the attorney said.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers say there is still no evidence the crash was intentional.
"We're still not calling it road rage," said Sgt. Jeff Wimberly, who is supervising the investigation. "Perspective and context mean a lot. He might have been laughing at something one of the kids said and may have just been looking at them."
According to the DPS manual on reporting traffic accidents, "road rage" is considered "assault with a motor vehicle or other dangerous weapons by the operator or passengers of one motor vehicle against the operator or passenger of another motor vehicle," he said.
Mr. Youngblood declined an interview request. Ms. Davis said what happened was an accident triggered when the Camry clipped her client's minivan, not the other way around.
"It could be you or it could be me sitting behind those bars," she said. "This is a God-fearing, law-abiding man, and he wasn't out to hurt anybody. He's about as far from a criminal as you can get."
Ms. Davis said Mr. Youngblood owns a bread-delivery company and drives 150 miles a day for a living. He and his four children were on their way to see family in Tyler for a later Christmas visit, she said.
But several witnesses who were driving in front and in back of the crash told investigators that the Venture minivan hit the Camry.
The minivan fishtailed a bit as Ms. Ali's Camry spun off the road and crashed. Mr. Youngblood drove another eight miles to Canton, where he turned himself in at the Canton Police Department.
Investigators reported that the car and minivan overlapped about 3 to 4 feet, about a fourth of the car's length. If it is proved the Camry was clipped intentionally, a murder charge could be filed.
Criminally negligent homicide is punishable by up to two years in jail, while fleeing an accident scene involving death or injury is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The Sundrani family returned to the Dallas area this summer after after living in Chicago for a few years, friends and relatives said. Ms. Sundrani was a homemaker, and her husband is a clerk at a convenience store.
Tooba was in the eighth grade at Creek Valley Middle School in Carrollton. Her 17-year-old brother, Raheel, who attends Hebron High School, was also injured in the crash. He was in fair condition Friday at East Texas Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.
When the crash occurred Wednesday, the family was on its way to a picnic at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Ms. Asif said. They had then planned to see the movie King Kong, which Tooba had been begging her family to see.
"She was a very loving person," Ms. Asif said.
During the last two days, Tooba's friends have turned her Internet blog into a memorial, where they posted poems and shared stories about the girl whose laugh seemed to infect everyone around her.
"It was unique. Nobody could do her dorky little laugh," said Amber Makhani, 13. "Anything we'd say and it wasn't funny, she started laughing, and we all started laughing."
Tooba was typical of girls her age. She liked to shop and go to movies. She loved Kelly Clarkson. And she spent a lot of time talking to friends on the computer.
In her last journal entry posted Dec. 21 on Xanga.com, Tooba said she was excited about winter break and about turning 14 in February. She said that over the break, she might work for a few days at her cousin's jewelry carts in the Valley View Center mall.
"I like music, hip hop, rap and rock! I loooove to go shopping ... hang out wit friends... talkin on da fone... chating... goin to da movies... amusement parks...like to play basketball, soccer and hockey," her profile says in the slang of the computer age she and her friends use.
In the hours after the accident, friends have posted letters to Tooba on her blog.
"Watch ova me and laugh about all the memories and lil chats we had cus u know thurr wus a lot we talked bout!!! I will always have ur lil goofy laugh in ma mind wen I think of u!!," one said.
"I feel really lonely inside right now and I still can't believe your gone," another friend wrote. "I still think you're at home watching t.v. ... I relly miss u tooba I really do."
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- TexasStooge
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I know, this story should be in the "Hurricane Recovery and Aftermath" forum, but this kind of news is too depressing to be on there.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shooting kills 3 Katrina evacuees
By DEBRA DENNIS and JAY PARSONS / The Dallas Morning News
GRAPEVINE, Texas – Three family members who sought refuge here following the hurricanes and were facing eviction were found shot to death early Friday in an apparent murder-suicide.
Grapevine police officers found the bodies of a 40-year-old man, his 37-year-old wife and their 14-year-old son. Police say the family was from La Place, La. The bodies were found shortly after 9 a.m. in an upstairs unit of the Village on the Creek Apartments in the 3100 block of Mustang Drive. A shotgun was found near the bodies.
Neighbors told police they heard three gunshots about noon Thursday. The apartment manager called police Friday to make a welfare check.
The names of the victims are being withheld pending notification of relatives.
Police said they are looking for the couple's 16-year-old daughter, who recently ran away with her boyfriend.
A friend said Hurricane Katrina destroyed the family's rental house in Louisiana. The family spent a week on the streets before moving into a hotel. After Hurricane Rita struck, they moved again and ended up in Grapevine. She said they had been at the complex since September.
The family had recently been served with eviction papers, county officials said.
"He pretty much lost it after the hurricane," friend Teri Curry said of the man who died. Ms. Curry said she often talked with his wife, who had been a nurse in the New Orleans area but could not find work here because of health problems.
Ms. Curry said the woman would tell her: "I failed my kids again, Teri. My kids are starving."
Justice of the Peace Sandy Prindle, who issued the eviction notice Dec. 22, gave the family information about contacts with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"They were definitely given the opportunity to seek other shelter," said Marc Flake, spokesman for Tarrant County.
B. Glen Whitley, the county commissioner whose area includes Grapevine, called the deaths a tragedy.
"I can assure you that Sandy had been trying to work with the landlords and the apartment associations about making sure that if someone got to the eviction stage that we would arrange for additional assistance and someplace where they could go."
The apartment complex owner could not be reached for comment.
"It's very tragic. It's very disappointing that this has happened," Mr. Whitley said. "It's that time of the year, and these people are not at home, and your hearts pour out to them. We've really tried to anticipate all of the problems, but you simply cannot do that."
Mr. Whitley said that county officials are trying to make sure that evacuees do not fall through the cracks. He said the county's efforts have been hampered by FEMA, which has yet to say how many families have moved to Tarrant County.
FEMA, he said, is providing funding through Feb. 28. The county has asked for an extension through Aug. 31, he said
"We have said to FEMA, 'Give us the ability to take care of these folks," Mr. Whitley said. "We have said that we can either transition these folks or make arrangements for them to return home – whatever they want."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shooting kills 3 Katrina evacuees
By DEBRA DENNIS and JAY PARSONS / The Dallas Morning News
GRAPEVINE, Texas – Three family members who sought refuge here following the hurricanes and were facing eviction were found shot to death early Friday in an apparent murder-suicide.
Grapevine police officers found the bodies of a 40-year-old man, his 37-year-old wife and their 14-year-old son. Police say the family was from La Place, La. The bodies were found shortly after 9 a.m. in an upstairs unit of the Village on the Creek Apartments in the 3100 block of Mustang Drive. A shotgun was found near the bodies.
Neighbors told police they heard three gunshots about noon Thursday. The apartment manager called police Friday to make a welfare check.
The names of the victims are being withheld pending notification of relatives.
Police said they are looking for the couple's 16-year-old daughter, who recently ran away with her boyfriend.
A friend said Hurricane Katrina destroyed the family's rental house in Louisiana. The family spent a week on the streets before moving into a hotel. After Hurricane Rita struck, they moved again and ended up in Grapevine. She said they had been at the complex since September.
The family had recently been served with eviction papers, county officials said.
"He pretty much lost it after the hurricane," friend Teri Curry said of the man who died. Ms. Curry said she often talked with his wife, who had been a nurse in the New Orleans area but could not find work here because of health problems.
Ms. Curry said the woman would tell her: "I failed my kids again, Teri. My kids are starving."
Justice of the Peace Sandy Prindle, who issued the eviction notice Dec. 22, gave the family information about contacts with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"They were definitely given the opportunity to seek other shelter," said Marc Flake, spokesman for Tarrant County.
B. Glen Whitley, the county commissioner whose area includes Grapevine, called the deaths a tragedy.
"I can assure you that Sandy had been trying to work with the landlords and the apartment associations about making sure that if someone got to the eviction stage that we would arrange for additional assistance and someplace where they could go."
The apartment complex owner could not be reached for comment.
"It's very tragic. It's very disappointing that this has happened," Mr. Whitley said. "It's that time of the year, and these people are not at home, and your hearts pour out to them. We've really tried to anticipate all of the problems, but you simply cannot do that."
Mr. Whitley said that county officials are trying to make sure that evacuees do not fall through the cracks. He said the county's efforts have been hampered by FEMA, which has yet to say how many families have moved to Tarrant County.
FEMA, he said, is providing funding through Feb. 28. The county has asked for an extension through Aug. 31, he said
"We have said to FEMA, 'Give us the ability to take care of these folks," Mr. Whitley said. "We have said that we can either transition these folks or make arrangements for them to return home – whatever they want."
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Generosity has many ZIP codes
Charity extends well beyond affluent areas, News analysis shows
By PAULA LAVIGNE / The Dallas Morning News
Throughout the stately homes of the Park Cities, fliers arrive in mailboxes, volunteers knock on doors, and nights and weekends fill up with charity banquets, balls and black-tie soirees.
Fundraisers know where to find the deep pockets, as families in Highland Park, University Park and select well-heeled sections of Dallas and Fort Worth dole out donations year after year.
However, a Dallas Morning News analysis of charitable giving in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and nationwide shows that generosity is not an exclusive club. In many places where people are not pulling down six-figure incomes, folks are digging just as deep in the household budget for churches and charities.
Places like DeSoto and west Oak Cliff stand out for how much residents donate compared with what they make.
In DeSoto, for example, the average household income after taxes was $43,648, with an average of $2,013 going to charitable causes, or about 4.6 percent of what people make. That percentage puts the South Dallas suburb just behind the Park Cities, where residents donated about 5 percent of their average after-tax $150,000 income, or about $7,500.
Another trend revealed: Some newer, high-dollar suburbs, such as Frisco and Allen, gave less of their income. Residents in Frisco, for example, make an average of $69,757 and donated an average of $1,890, or about 2.7 percent.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area's overall giving pattern is in the middle of the pack when compared with the nation's largest 20 metropolitan areas.
While wealth and worship – two foundations that make the Dallas area what it is – contribute to its generosity, the entire region contributes about 2.8 percent of after-tax income to charity.
In Atlanta, the most charitable metropolitan region, the average contribution was 3.6 percent. Baltimore and Washington, D.C., also rate high, while Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla., and Boston trail the rest.
The Morning News analysis used data compiled from self-reported individual tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service in 2002. The IRS data are the only source of charitable giving at a ZIP code level nationwide. However, they could underestimate giving by certain groups, including lower-income households.
Brent Christopher, president of the Communities Foundation of Texas, said nonprofit groups can sometimes focus too narrowly on wealthy areas for contributions and underestimate the giving potential of donors with smaller incomes.
"That's looking purely at the number of dollars and not necessarily a reflection of overall charitable intent," he said. "Philanthropy is a shared community experience that cuts across all socioeconomic lines. It's a way a community binds itself together in support of each other."
Small, yet large in spirit
Ranked among the top ZIP codes for giving in Texas is a speck on the map 30 miles south of Fort Worth known as Keene.
The average household income, based on tax returns, is about $29,000. Residents there donated an average 6.3 percent of their income to charitable organizations.
In the late 1800s, the town became a gathering place for Seventh-day Adventists – a Christian religion distinguished by its observance of the Sabbath on Saturday.
More than a century later, the town has grown to about 5,700 and is starting to attract new families of other denominations who see it as a bedroom community. But Keene is still an Adventist enclave and home to Southwestern Adventist University.
Adventists believe strongly in the biblical principle of tithing, or giving one-tenth of your earnings to God. Tithes are passed on to the national Adventist organization, Keene pastor Phil Robertson said.
Retirees Frank and Jean Peterson donate 20 percent of their earnings – about $8,000 a year – to their church and more than a dozen charities from the American Cancer Society to the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
"It's just so much more fun to help somebody else," Mrs. Peterson said. "Every day one of us says, 'Doesn't the Lord just bless us?' "
Retirement benefits and Social Security fetch a modest monthly income for the couple, and there's not much left after subtracting Medicare, insurance premiums, utility bills and routine expenses. But Mrs. Peterson said she and her husband don't miss the money they give up.
Keene's collective spirit of giving helps keep families afloat, said Yddo Ortiz, a 63-year-old native of Colombia. He runs a community service center in Keene that helps needy families.
"I can get up in front of church and say, 'There is a family here who has just arrived. They're in political asylum. They don't have anything,' " he said. "Within a few hours, they will have just about everything they need to furnish a home."
A lineage of giving
On a recent Wednesday, Lynn McBee returned to Dallas from a business trip at 2 p.m. to make a board meeting for an arts organization at 4 and attend an event supporting the ballet later that evening.
The next day, her charitable duties continued: a board meeting at noon, a finance meeting at 6:30 and a party for an advisory board that night. She spent Friday delivering gifts to donors and took a potential donor – for yet another charity – out to lunch.
At least a dozen nonprofit organizations benefit from Mrs. McBee's time, money or both.
The 37-year-old biotechnology consultant and her husband live in Highland Park.
Getting involved with nonprofit organizations is part of the social weave of the community.
"I have friends involved in different things, and they'll call and say, 'Will you support this effort?' " Mrs. McBee said, noting how one friend persuaded her to donate to Mad for Plaid, the Highland Park schools fundraiser, even though she doesn't have children.
"Your friends always get you involved," said Connie O'Neill, a former accountant who lives in a two-story brick home in University Park where a Mad for Plaid sign is rooted firmly in the front lawn.
Mrs. O'Neill's three youngest children are enrolled in Highland Park schools, and she used to be in charge of the fundraising campaign. She's currently involved in other organizations and serves on four boards of directors.
"People here are successful, and they do appreciate, and are grateful for, being as fortunate as they are," she said.
Another thread running through some wealthier neighborhoods – agreed upon by both residents and fundraisers – is that many people descend from long lines of donors.
"It's just part of how I grew up," Mrs. McBee said. "You brush your teeth, you run five miles a day, you do your volunteer work."
Strength of diversity
Faith and religion are guides to giving for many in DeSoto.
"A lot give beyond what they think they can do and do a little bit more and go the extra mile. They may be making a little bit of a sacrifice," said City Council member Bobby Waddle.
DeSoto recently stood out when evacuees streamed north after Hurricane Katrina. It accepted more evacuees per capita – about 18 per 1,000 residents – than all but two North Texas cities, Haslet and Addison.
Dozens of evacuees had a cellphone number for Debby Baugh, missions chairwoman for First United Methodist Church in DeSoto.
"I'd get calls everywhere I went with people saying, 'I understand you have beds. Can you get a chest of drawers?' " she said.
Though Katrina was a unique situation, Mrs. Baugh said, DeSoto's response was indicative of its overall belief in community and sharing. DeSoto's demographics are the cause, she said, echoing others in the community.
DeSoto has a diverse middle class. DeSoto is 45 percent black, compared with 13.5 percent for the metro area. Black households throughout the region make about $32,000 in median income. In DeSoto, they make far more, about $57,000, closer to what Asians, whites and Hispanics there make.
Diversity is the city's strength, said Curtistene McCowan, founder of Concerned DeSoto Citizens.
"How we work together, how we all come together, people of different races and cultures, we're able to talk about issues and really put them on the table," she said. "They're really committed to working together to make this community all its citizens would have it to be."
Reaching to new places
Fundraisers tend to target historically generous and well-to-do areas. But James Bias, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Texas, said he recognizes that the money from North Dallas and Park Cities donors could someday run out. To keep growing its donor base, the SPCA has to reach out to other areas, he said.
"A lot of people would say, 'I'm going to focus on that bubble,' but there are plenty of charitable givers out there who don't live in the bubble and aren't being asked," he said.
Attracting new donors takes a different approach from the pledge drives and social banquets that prompt longtime, high-income donors to write another check, nonprofit leaders and consultants say.
When Irving police Officer Steve Farish organized a golf tournament to raise money for Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas, he knew it would have to be suited for the blue-collar – not black tie – crowd.
"I can't pay $250 to play. My back pocket would be, 'I'm going to have to justify this somehow,' " Mr. Farish said. Instead, he planned a Halloween-themed event with a $75 entry fee so officers and "John Q. Citizens" could participate.
As a result, last month he gave a $31,000 check to Make-A-Wish – enough to grant wishes for at least five terminally ill children.
Areas with the capacity to give but with a thin track record of philanthropy also pose a challenge to nonprofits. Places such as Frisco, Allen, Coppell and parts of Plano have high incomes but donate a smaller percentage to charity than the region's average.
They might not be giving simply because no one is asking, or they could be unaware of the needs right in their own towns, said Anne Leary, vice president of development at the Center for Nonprofit Management in Dallas.
"I know there are needs, but I just don't think they're as visible as they are in Dallas," she said. "There are a lot of communities who won't admit they have a problem, and getting them to talk about it could be a challenge."
That's the truth, said Susan Etheridge, executive director of Collin County Children's Advocacy Center. Potential donors are shocked when they hear that there were 3,800 referrals for abuse and neglect in Collin County last fiscal year, she said.
"People who live quiet, upper-middle-class lifestyles cannot believe that kind of thing is going on, and it could be going on next door," she said.
High turnover
While the center does have many generous donors, Ms. Etheridge said, the constant corporate turnover of Collin County residents makes it a challenge to find new sources.
"It's not like you were born in Collin County, or your parents were born in Collin County," she said. "When you're born and raised in Highland Park or Dallas, you have a real history of giving to various philanthropic organizations. It takes time to develop a philanthropic outlook."
Some might not donate because they don't have time to size up which charity best fits their interests, said Krista Farber Weinstein, executive director of Dallas Social Venture Partners.
Nationwide, the social venture partner model has been attracting young, ambitious donors. Partners use their money to provide grants to nonprofit agencies working toward a common goal, such as improving education for low-income children.
Bradley Logan, 37, helps manage the DSVP participation of the marketing consultant firm where he's vice president. Mr. Logan lives in Southlake – a young, affluent suburban city.
"When you're younger ... you may not have a big track record of charitable giving and may not have a good concept of how it should be done. [DSVP] is an opportunity to learn," he said. "There's no shortage of great causes out here, but when you give your money, you want to feel like it's being put to the best use."
Charity extends well beyond affluent areas, News analysis shows
By PAULA LAVIGNE / The Dallas Morning News
Throughout the stately homes of the Park Cities, fliers arrive in mailboxes, volunteers knock on doors, and nights and weekends fill up with charity banquets, balls and black-tie soirees.
Fundraisers know where to find the deep pockets, as families in Highland Park, University Park and select well-heeled sections of Dallas and Fort Worth dole out donations year after year.
However, a Dallas Morning News analysis of charitable giving in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and nationwide shows that generosity is not an exclusive club. In many places where people are not pulling down six-figure incomes, folks are digging just as deep in the household budget for churches and charities.
Places like DeSoto and west Oak Cliff stand out for how much residents donate compared with what they make.
In DeSoto, for example, the average household income after taxes was $43,648, with an average of $2,013 going to charitable causes, or about 4.6 percent of what people make. That percentage puts the South Dallas suburb just behind the Park Cities, where residents donated about 5 percent of their average after-tax $150,000 income, or about $7,500.
Another trend revealed: Some newer, high-dollar suburbs, such as Frisco and Allen, gave less of their income. Residents in Frisco, for example, make an average of $69,757 and donated an average of $1,890, or about 2.7 percent.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area's overall giving pattern is in the middle of the pack when compared with the nation's largest 20 metropolitan areas.
While wealth and worship – two foundations that make the Dallas area what it is – contribute to its generosity, the entire region contributes about 2.8 percent of after-tax income to charity.
In Atlanta, the most charitable metropolitan region, the average contribution was 3.6 percent. Baltimore and Washington, D.C., also rate high, while Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla., and Boston trail the rest.
The Morning News analysis used data compiled from self-reported individual tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service in 2002. The IRS data are the only source of charitable giving at a ZIP code level nationwide. However, they could underestimate giving by certain groups, including lower-income households.
Brent Christopher, president of the Communities Foundation of Texas, said nonprofit groups can sometimes focus too narrowly on wealthy areas for contributions and underestimate the giving potential of donors with smaller incomes.
"That's looking purely at the number of dollars and not necessarily a reflection of overall charitable intent," he said. "Philanthropy is a shared community experience that cuts across all socioeconomic lines. It's a way a community binds itself together in support of each other."
Small, yet large in spirit
Ranked among the top ZIP codes for giving in Texas is a speck on the map 30 miles south of Fort Worth known as Keene.
The average household income, based on tax returns, is about $29,000. Residents there donated an average 6.3 percent of their income to charitable organizations.
In the late 1800s, the town became a gathering place for Seventh-day Adventists – a Christian religion distinguished by its observance of the Sabbath on Saturday.
More than a century later, the town has grown to about 5,700 and is starting to attract new families of other denominations who see it as a bedroom community. But Keene is still an Adventist enclave and home to Southwestern Adventist University.
Adventists believe strongly in the biblical principle of tithing, or giving one-tenth of your earnings to God. Tithes are passed on to the national Adventist organization, Keene pastor Phil Robertson said.
Retirees Frank and Jean Peterson donate 20 percent of their earnings – about $8,000 a year – to their church and more than a dozen charities from the American Cancer Society to the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
"It's just so much more fun to help somebody else," Mrs. Peterson said. "Every day one of us says, 'Doesn't the Lord just bless us?' "
Retirement benefits and Social Security fetch a modest monthly income for the couple, and there's not much left after subtracting Medicare, insurance premiums, utility bills and routine expenses. But Mrs. Peterson said she and her husband don't miss the money they give up.
Keene's collective spirit of giving helps keep families afloat, said Yddo Ortiz, a 63-year-old native of Colombia. He runs a community service center in Keene that helps needy families.
"I can get up in front of church and say, 'There is a family here who has just arrived. They're in political asylum. They don't have anything,' " he said. "Within a few hours, they will have just about everything they need to furnish a home."
A lineage of giving
On a recent Wednesday, Lynn McBee returned to Dallas from a business trip at 2 p.m. to make a board meeting for an arts organization at 4 and attend an event supporting the ballet later that evening.
The next day, her charitable duties continued: a board meeting at noon, a finance meeting at 6:30 and a party for an advisory board that night. She spent Friday delivering gifts to donors and took a potential donor – for yet another charity – out to lunch.
At least a dozen nonprofit organizations benefit from Mrs. McBee's time, money or both.
The 37-year-old biotechnology consultant and her husband live in Highland Park.
Getting involved with nonprofit organizations is part of the social weave of the community.
"I have friends involved in different things, and they'll call and say, 'Will you support this effort?' " Mrs. McBee said, noting how one friend persuaded her to donate to Mad for Plaid, the Highland Park schools fundraiser, even though she doesn't have children.
"Your friends always get you involved," said Connie O'Neill, a former accountant who lives in a two-story brick home in University Park where a Mad for Plaid sign is rooted firmly in the front lawn.
Mrs. O'Neill's three youngest children are enrolled in Highland Park schools, and she used to be in charge of the fundraising campaign. She's currently involved in other organizations and serves on four boards of directors.
"People here are successful, and they do appreciate, and are grateful for, being as fortunate as they are," she said.
Another thread running through some wealthier neighborhoods – agreed upon by both residents and fundraisers – is that many people descend from long lines of donors.
"It's just part of how I grew up," Mrs. McBee said. "You brush your teeth, you run five miles a day, you do your volunteer work."
Strength of diversity
Faith and religion are guides to giving for many in DeSoto.
"A lot give beyond what they think they can do and do a little bit more and go the extra mile. They may be making a little bit of a sacrifice," said City Council member Bobby Waddle.
DeSoto recently stood out when evacuees streamed north after Hurricane Katrina. It accepted more evacuees per capita – about 18 per 1,000 residents – than all but two North Texas cities, Haslet and Addison.
Dozens of evacuees had a cellphone number for Debby Baugh, missions chairwoman for First United Methodist Church in DeSoto.
"I'd get calls everywhere I went with people saying, 'I understand you have beds. Can you get a chest of drawers?' " she said.
Though Katrina was a unique situation, Mrs. Baugh said, DeSoto's response was indicative of its overall belief in community and sharing. DeSoto's demographics are the cause, she said, echoing others in the community.
DeSoto has a diverse middle class. DeSoto is 45 percent black, compared with 13.5 percent for the metro area. Black households throughout the region make about $32,000 in median income. In DeSoto, they make far more, about $57,000, closer to what Asians, whites and Hispanics there make.
Diversity is the city's strength, said Curtistene McCowan, founder of Concerned DeSoto Citizens.
"How we work together, how we all come together, people of different races and cultures, we're able to talk about issues and really put them on the table," she said. "They're really committed to working together to make this community all its citizens would have it to be."
Reaching to new places
Fundraisers tend to target historically generous and well-to-do areas. But James Bias, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Texas, said he recognizes that the money from North Dallas and Park Cities donors could someday run out. To keep growing its donor base, the SPCA has to reach out to other areas, he said.
"A lot of people would say, 'I'm going to focus on that bubble,' but there are plenty of charitable givers out there who don't live in the bubble and aren't being asked," he said.
Attracting new donors takes a different approach from the pledge drives and social banquets that prompt longtime, high-income donors to write another check, nonprofit leaders and consultants say.
When Irving police Officer Steve Farish organized a golf tournament to raise money for Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas, he knew it would have to be suited for the blue-collar – not black tie – crowd.
"I can't pay $250 to play. My back pocket would be, 'I'm going to have to justify this somehow,' " Mr. Farish said. Instead, he planned a Halloween-themed event with a $75 entry fee so officers and "John Q. Citizens" could participate.
As a result, last month he gave a $31,000 check to Make-A-Wish – enough to grant wishes for at least five terminally ill children.
Areas with the capacity to give but with a thin track record of philanthropy also pose a challenge to nonprofits. Places such as Frisco, Allen, Coppell and parts of Plano have high incomes but donate a smaller percentage to charity than the region's average.
They might not be giving simply because no one is asking, or they could be unaware of the needs right in their own towns, said Anne Leary, vice president of development at the Center for Nonprofit Management in Dallas.
"I know there are needs, but I just don't think they're as visible as they are in Dallas," she said. "There are a lot of communities who won't admit they have a problem, and getting them to talk about it could be a challenge."
That's the truth, said Susan Etheridge, executive director of Collin County Children's Advocacy Center. Potential donors are shocked when they hear that there were 3,800 referrals for abuse and neglect in Collin County last fiscal year, she said.
"People who live quiet, upper-middle-class lifestyles cannot believe that kind of thing is going on, and it could be going on next door," she said.
High turnover
While the center does have many generous donors, Ms. Etheridge said, the constant corporate turnover of Collin County residents makes it a challenge to find new sources.
"It's not like you were born in Collin County, or your parents were born in Collin County," she said. "When you're born and raised in Highland Park or Dallas, you have a real history of giving to various philanthropic organizations. It takes time to develop a philanthropic outlook."
Some might not donate because they don't have time to size up which charity best fits their interests, said Krista Farber Weinstein, executive director of Dallas Social Venture Partners.
Nationwide, the social venture partner model has been attracting young, ambitious donors. Partners use their money to provide grants to nonprofit agencies working toward a common goal, such as improving education for low-income children.
Bradley Logan, 37, helps manage the DSVP participation of the marketing consultant firm where he's vice president. Mr. Logan lives in Southlake – a young, affluent suburban city.
"When you're younger ... you may not have a big track record of charitable giving and may not have a good concept of how it should be done. [DSVP] is an opportunity to learn," he said. "There's no shortage of great causes out here, but when you give your money, you want to feel like it's being put to the best use."
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Dead squirrel display puzzles police
University Park: Rodents nailed to fence; officials unsure if crime committed
By HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News
UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas - The SPCA and police are still puzzled about why three squirrels were nailed to a wooden fence in a University Park neighborhood.
The dead squirrels were found Dec. 23, pinned by their shoulders to the fence, which lines an alley near University Boulevard and Hillcrest Road.
Police say they're limited in what they can do because they're not sure whether a crime was committed.
"Domesticated animals, such as dogs or cats, are protected by the animal-cruelty law," University Park police Officer Lita Snellgrove said. "Squirrels aren't part of that."
But James Bias, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Dallas, said the state's animal-cruelty law can cover squirrels and other wild animals, depending on how they were treated.
"Most of the time, law enforcement is going to look at the provision of domesticated animals," Mr. Bias said. "But the penal code also addresses captive wild animals. If you shoot a squirrel, you're hunting, so you're not going to be guilty of animal cruelty. But once it's captive, and someone starves it or is cruel to it, it becomes" animal cruelty.
Residents in the 3400 block of University Boulevard said they hadn't heard about the squirrels. Officer Snellgrove said she didn't know who reported the incident to police.
"They could have been dead when they were nailed, but we can't tell," she said.
What may have been a cruel prank could indicate a more serious problem, Mr. Bias said.
A survey by the Humane Society of the United States has shown a link between animal cruelty and child abuse.
"Some people might say, 'It's just three squirrels,' " Mr. Bias said. "But next year, it might be a schoolyard shooting. In two to three years, it could be an entire family. There are enough examples to say there can be a connection."
The SPCA is offering $1,000 for information leading to an arrest or an indictment if the case is determined to be an act of animal cruelty.
University Park: Rodents nailed to fence; officials unsure if crime committed
By HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News
UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas - The SPCA and police are still puzzled about why three squirrels were nailed to a wooden fence in a University Park neighborhood.
The dead squirrels were found Dec. 23, pinned by their shoulders to the fence, which lines an alley near University Boulevard and Hillcrest Road.
Police say they're limited in what they can do because they're not sure whether a crime was committed.
"Domesticated animals, such as dogs or cats, are protected by the animal-cruelty law," University Park police Officer Lita Snellgrove said. "Squirrels aren't part of that."
But James Bias, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Dallas, said the state's animal-cruelty law can cover squirrels and other wild animals, depending on how they were treated.
"Most of the time, law enforcement is going to look at the provision of domesticated animals," Mr. Bias said. "But the penal code also addresses captive wild animals. If you shoot a squirrel, you're hunting, so you're not going to be guilty of animal cruelty. But once it's captive, and someone starves it or is cruel to it, it becomes" animal cruelty.
Residents in the 3400 block of University Boulevard said they hadn't heard about the squirrels. Officer Snellgrove said she didn't know who reported the incident to police.
"They could have been dead when they were nailed, but we can't tell," she said.
What may have been a cruel prank could indicate a more serious problem, Mr. Bias said.
A survey by the Humane Society of the United States has shown a link between animal cruelty and child abuse.
"Some people might say, 'It's just three squirrels,' " Mr. Bias said. "But next year, it might be a schoolyard shooting. In two to three years, it could be an entire family. There are enough examples to say there can be a connection."
The SPCA is offering $1,000 for information leading to an arrest or an indictment if the case is determined to be an act of animal cruelty.
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Money makes FW safer than Dallas
Money helped launch community policing efforts
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
A recent list naming Dallas one of the most dangerous big cities in America and Fort Worth one of the safest left many people scratching their heads.
How did these North Texas neighbors end up on opposite ends of a national crime statistics list?
Some Dallas officials think they know the answer: money. Fort Worth sets aside a half-cent of sales tax – $43.5 million annually – for crime-fighting and crime-prevention efforts.
"I think Fort Worth was probably ahead of the curve and made an early commitment through its half-cent sales tax for crime control," said Dallas First Assistant Chief David Brown. "During the lean years, when every city was suffering, Fort Worth bit the bullet."
When the Morgan Quitno Press report was released in November, Dallas was ranked as the fifth-most-dangerous city with more than 500,000 residents, and Fort Worth was ninth-safest. The Kansas-based publisher based its rankings on 2004 FBI crime statistics reported by the cities.
Ralph Mendoza, Fort Worth's police chief, said the Crime Control and Prevention District has made his job and his officers' jobs easier.
The money generated by the tax, created in 1995, helped start many community-policing efforts that he said have made a difference.
But now the biggest factor is not the tax but the consistent focus on community policing, Chief Mendoza said.
"You have to be strategic in regards to how you fight the battles," he said.
A decade after that initial flood of money, Fort Worth is in the middle of the pack on police spending per capita, Chief Mendoza said.
Proactive approach
Jeff Ferrell, a criminal justice professor at Texas Christian University, said that while Dallas stuck with a more traditional "catch and arrest" approach, Fort Worth became a leader in the community policing movement.
"Invest your human power in and your resources in calming the conditions that lead to crime instead of just responding and being in a reactive mode," he said, describing the philosophy of community policing.
Community policing supporters believe that officers are able to defuse problems before they become crimes.
One example in southeast Fort Worth is a pilot program that assigns a prosecutor to handle "quality of life" violations such as code compliance, manifestation of prostitution, possession of drug paraphernalia and illegal dumping.
The reasoning is that ignoring minor offenses leads to an atmosphere where more serious crime can thrive.
The prosecutor assigned to southeast Fort Worth is also expected to attend at least 80 community meetings during the fiscal year to get a sense of the problems facing the neighborhoods.
"This also creates a belief from the community that you're going to do something, which means they [the public] are more prone to call in," Chief Mendoza said.
Police call loads in Fort Worth jumped when the department began focusing on community policing, and they remain high, Chief Mendoza said, and that gives officers more civilian "eyes and ears" on the streets.
The Fort Worth crime tax also funds graffiti abatement and security at city parks, pays for some community policing officers and buys new equipment for officers.
Kunkle's tenure
Since becoming Dallas' police chief in 2004, David Kunkle has also promoted a new community policing plan to make officers responsible for lowering crime in small areas instead of answering calls throughout the division.
Dr. Ferrell said it looks as if Chief Kunkle has brought badly needed stability and a new direction to the department.
In past years, Dallas police have suffered through the firing of former Chief Terrell Bolton, the fake-drug scandal and lawsuits from demoted commanders.
"Certainly, there have been some fairly serious morale problems," Dr. Ferrell said, "but I think those are being addressed."
The Dallas Police Department is also receiving a multiyear $15 million grant from the W.W. Caruth Jr. Foundation Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas to help with crime prevention and reduction. That will bring the police funding closer to Fort Worth's level.
"I think Dallas will see the same results," Chief Brown said, referring to Fort Worth's success. "In 2005 and 2006, I think we will see some significant crime reductions."
Charles Terrell, a former Dallas City Council member and public safety advocate, said that the Fort Worth Police Department has help, especially downtown.
The Bass family, who developed Sundance Square, provides private security to keep that portion of downtown Fort Worth safe. That eases some of the burden on the Police Department while shoppers, diners and club patrons feel safe.
"They have done so much in downtown to make it economically alive at night," Mr. Terrell said.
Dr. Ferrell said that although the comparisons between Dallas and Fort Worth are interesting to study, the Morgan Quitno ranking shouldn't be taken too seriously. Placing cities on safest and most-dangerous lists oversimplifies the crime problems.
"We need to be a little bit cautious," he said.
"This is not an absolute measure of dangerousness but probably more of a snapshot."
Staff writer Tanya Eiserer contributed to this report.
Money helped launch community policing efforts
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
A recent list naming Dallas one of the most dangerous big cities in America and Fort Worth one of the safest left many people scratching their heads.
How did these North Texas neighbors end up on opposite ends of a national crime statistics list?
Some Dallas officials think they know the answer: money. Fort Worth sets aside a half-cent of sales tax – $43.5 million annually – for crime-fighting and crime-prevention efforts.
"I think Fort Worth was probably ahead of the curve and made an early commitment through its half-cent sales tax for crime control," said Dallas First Assistant Chief David Brown. "During the lean years, when every city was suffering, Fort Worth bit the bullet."
When the Morgan Quitno Press report was released in November, Dallas was ranked as the fifth-most-dangerous city with more than 500,000 residents, and Fort Worth was ninth-safest. The Kansas-based publisher based its rankings on 2004 FBI crime statistics reported by the cities.
Ralph Mendoza, Fort Worth's police chief, said the Crime Control and Prevention District has made his job and his officers' jobs easier.
The money generated by the tax, created in 1995, helped start many community-policing efforts that he said have made a difference.
But now the biggest factor is not the tax but the consistent focus on community policing, Chief Mendoza said.
"You have to be strategic in regards to how you fight the battles," he said.
A decade after that initial flood of money, Fort Worth is in the middle of the pack on police spending per capita, Chief Mendoza said.
Proactive approach
Jeff Ferrell, a criminal justice professor at Texas Christian University, said that while Dallas stuck with a more traditional "catch and arrest" approach, Fort Worth became a leader in the community policing movement.
"Invest your human power in and your resources in calming the conditions that lead to crime instead of just responding and being in a reactive mode," he said, describing the philosophy of community policing.
Community policing supporters believe that officers are able to defuse problems before they become crimes.
One example in southeast Fort Worth is a pilot program that assigns a prosecutor to handle "quality of life" violations such as code compliance, manifestation of prostitution, possession of drug paraphernalia and illegal dumping.
The reasoning is that ignoring minor offenses leads to an atmosphere where more serious crime can thrive.
The prosecutor assigned to southeast Fort Worth is also expected to attend at least 80 community meetings during the fiscal year to get a sense of the problems facing the neighborhoods.
"This also creates a belief from the community that you're going to do something, which means they [the public] are more prone to call in," Chief Mendoza said.
Police call loads in Fort Worth jumped when the department began focusing on community policing, and they remain high, Chief Mendoza said, and that gives officers more civilian "eyes and ears" on the streets.
The Fort Worth crime tax also funds graffiti abatement and security at city parks, pays for some community policing officers and buys new equipment for officers.
Kunkle's tenure
Since becoming Dallas' police chief in 2004, David Kunkle has also promoted a new community policing plan to make officers responsible for lowering crime in small areas instead of answering calls throughout the division.
Dr. Ferrell said it looks as if Chief Kunkle has brought badly needed stability and a new direction to the department.
In past years, Dallas police have suffered through the firing of former Chief Terrell Bolton, the fake-drug scandal and lawsuits from demoted commanders.
"Certainly, there have been some fairly serious morale problems," Dr. Ferrell said, "but I think those are being addressed."
The Dallas Police Department is also receiving a multiyear $15 million grant from the W.W. Caruth Jr. Foundation Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas to help with crime prevention and reduction. That will bring the police funding closer to Fort Worth's level.
"I think Dallas will see the same results," Chief Brown said, referring to Fort Worth's success. "In 2005 and 2006, I think we will see some significant crime reductions."
Charles Terrell, a former Dallas City Council member and public safety advocate, said that the Fort Worth Police Department has help, especially downtown.
The Bass family, who developed Sundance Square, provides private security to keep that portion of downtown Fort Worth safe. That eases some of the burden on the Police Department while shoppers, diners and club patrons feel safe.
"They have done so much in downtown to make it economically alive at night," Mr. Terrell said.
Dr. Ferrell said that although the comparisons between Dallas and Fort Worth are interesting to study, the Morgan Quitno ranking shouldn't be taken too seriously. Placing cities on safest and most-dangerous lists oversimplifies the crime problems.
"We need to be a little bit cautious," he said.
"This is not an absolute measure of dangerousness but probably more of a snapshot."
Staff writer Tanya Eiserer contributed to this report.
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TexasStooge wrote:I know, this story should be in the "Hurricane Recovery and Aftermath" forum, but this kind of news is too depressing to be on there.
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Shooting kills 3 Katrina evacuees
By DEBRA DENNIS and JAY PARSONS / The Dallas Morning News
GRAPEVINE, Texas – Three family members who sought refuge here following the hurricanes and were facing eviction were found shot to death early Friday in an apparent murder-suicide.
Grapevine police officers found the bodies of a 40-year-old man, his 37-year-old wife and their 14-year-old son. Police say the family was from La Place, La. The bodies were found shortly after 9 a.m. in an upstairs unit of the Village on the Creek Apartments in the 3100 block of Mustang Drive. A shotgun was found near the bodies.
Neighbors told police they heard three gunshots about noon Thursday. The apartment manager called police Friday to make a welfare check.
The names of the victims are being withheld pending notification of relatives.
Police said they are looking for the couple's 16-year-old daughter, who recently ran away with her boyfriend.
A friend said Hurricane Katrina destroyed the family's rental house in Louisiana. The family spent a week on the streets before moving into a hotel. After Hurricane Rita struck, they moved again and ended up in Grapevine. She said they had been at the complex since September.
The family had recently been served with eviction papers, county officials said.
"He pretty much lost it after the hurricane," friend Teri Curry said of the man who died. Ms. Curry said she often talked with his wife, who had been a nurse in the New Orleans area but could not find work here because of health problems.
Ms. Curry said the woman would tell her: "I failed my kids again, Teri. My kids are starving."
Justice of the Peace Sandy Prindle, who issued the eviction notice Dec. 22, gave the family information about contacts with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"They were definitely given the opportunity to seek other shelter," said Marc Flake, spokesman for Tarrant County.
B. Glen Whitley, the county commissioner whose area includes Grapevine, called the deaths a tragedy.
"I can assure you that Sandy had been trying to work with the landlords and the apartment associations about making sure that if someone got to the eviction stage that we would arrange for additional assistance and someplace where they could go."
The apartment complex owner could not be reached for comment.
"It's very tragic. It's very disappointing that this has happened," Mr. Whitley said. "It's that time of the year, and these people are not at home, and your hearts pour out to them. We've really tried to anticipate all of the problems, but you simply cannot do that."
Mr. Whitley said that county officials are trying to make sure that evacuees do not fall through the cracks. He said the county's efforts have been hampered by FEMA, which has yet to say how many families have moved to Tarrant County.
FEMA, he said, is providing funding through Feb. 28. The county has asked for an extension through Aug. 31, he said
"We have said to FEMA, 'Give us the ability to take care of these folks," Mr. Whitley said. "We have said that we can either transition these folks or make arrangements for them to return home – whatever they want."
a very sad situation
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School groups keep closer eye on money for kids
By KAREN AYRES / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - The PTA at Haggar Elementary School in Dallas starts selling T-shirts and sweatshirts before students return from summer vacation.
By August, the entertainment coupon books go on sale. The Chick-fil-A dinners and gift wrap sales begin in September. By year's end, a sock hop and spring fling draw thousands of additional fundraising dollars.
Across the country, 80,000 other parent groups follow similar routines to raise an estimated $2 billion aimed at helping out local schools.
And where there is money, there are thieves.
At Haggar, for example, the Dallas Police Department is investigating allegations that a PTA official swiped more than $50,000.
Parent groups are finding that the somewhat informal, grassroots structures of their organizations make it easy for a PTA president or treasurer to pocket the cash when no one is looking.
"It's distressingly prevalent," said Tim Sullivan, president of PTO Today, a national group for parent organizations that aren't affiliated with the National PTA. "This is worse than stealing from a company. This is stealing kids' field trip money."
In Texas and around the country, organization leaders are looking for ways to tighten bookkeeping and protect the cash they work so hard to collect.
Increasingly, PTAs are doling out cash for "crime" insurance to protect the groups from their own members.
National and state leaders contend they are trying to convince parent groups that they need to watch their cash more carefully, but they said it is hard to draw much attention to the issue until after money vanishes.
Three area examples
Just before Christmas, the Haggar PTA sued its treasurer, accusing her of writing herself checks totaling $58,000.
In Rowlett, a former PTA treasurer is awaiting trial over accusations that she stole $20,000 from the PTA at Giddens-Steadham Elementary School.
Martha Patterson, a former treasurer and president of the Browning Primary School PTO in Royse City, pleaded guilty in November to stealing $15,000 from the group. Under a plea deal, she agreed to pay the money back.
"The potential for this to happen pretty much anywhere is there," said Robert Tobey, the Haggar PTA's lawyer.
There is no national record of PTA thefts, but news accounts across the country show dozens of cases over the last few years. Many thefts, leaders say, are never discovered or reported out of concern for embarrassing the culprits' children.
Given that PTA members often form friendships through their children, most people never suspect stealing, Mr. Sullivan said. In most cases, people accused do not have a criminal record.
"These are our neighbors," he said.
National PTA spokesman James Martinez said the group takes stealing seriously but hasn't yet developed organized initiatives to help combat it.
"Like any company or corporation that has small local organizations, unfortunately things like this happen," Mr. Martinez said. "They're isolated incidents."
Suzanne Coffman, a spokesman for GuideStar, a national nonprofit clearinghouse, said thefts from PTAs and other nonprofits occur no more frequently than crimes at for-profit companies.
"It is true that some nonprofits are vulnerable, but they're vulnerable the same way some businesses are," she said. "They don't have internal controls or aren't using those that are there."
Ms. Coffman said thefts can cause more damage for nonprofits if donors are afraid that their donation won't be protected.
In Texas and elsewhere, PTAs operate independently of the schools they serve, and many leave it up to treasurers and presidents to watch the finances. Practically all of the publicized cases nationwide involved those officers.
"We've seen treasurers cut and paste bank statements, forge checks and add zeros to figures," said Texas PTA President Pam Meyercord, who gets calls every month from local PTAs asking for help reviewing problems with the books.
"When people want to do this, they're going to find a way and they're going to get away with it for a certain amount of time. That's the reality," she said.
Many PTAs bring in only a few thousand dollars a year, but some generate up to $1 million annually – more than many small businesses.
With little oversight, some people manage to steal tens of thousands of dollars before getting caught. A PTA president in Tennessee, news accounts show, was accused of stealing more than $140,000 in 2005. Many PTAs never get the money back.
Of those sentenced, few have received stiff penalties, but some judges have gotten creative.
One woman in San Antonio was ordered to put a sign on her front lawn stating that she had stolen money from an elementary PTA. Another woman was required to hand-write letters of apology to each of the 700 students at a Round Rock elementary school.
Checks and balances
Many parent groups are trying to protect themselves.
John Coulter of Association Insurance Management, a Dallas company that insures PTAs nationwide, said five years ago the company covered about 1,000 PTAs for theft. Now, 6,400 organizations have signed up.
"It's probably the one type of insurance that is increasing the most out of all the lines of insurance we sell," Mr. Coulter said.
Valerie Edwards, a client specialist with the company, said many PTAs turn to insurance after they've been ripped off.
The company requires client organizations to make sure someone other than the treasurer reviews the monthly financial statements. Annual audits are also required.
The national and state PTAs offer local units similar guidelines on how to manage cash, but they have no enforcement power to require annual audits or suggested strict signing procedures.
"If the local members don't care and they're not interested enough, what can we do with 2,800 units?" Ms. Meyercord said of state PTAs.
PTAs are affiliated with the national and state PTA organizations. PTOs are entirely independent groups.
Individual PTOs make up their own bylaws. Even when written policies exist, leaders say people often feel too busy or too embarrassed to check that they're being followed. Just because the treasurer makes a financial report doesn't mean it's accurate.
"People have to accept it as a job and take it that seriously," said Becky Brown, president of the Plano ISD Council of PTAs. "But it's hard because you're doing it in addition to all the other things that you're doing."
But across the country, local PTAs and PTOs are attempting to boost accountability by telling volunteers about thefts and boosting training efforts, Mr. Sullivan said.
"The funny thing is that some of the most simple policies would be good enough to stop 90 percent of this," he said.
More than 3,000 people attended a summer training session offered by the Texas PTA. Local PTA councils also train members on the basics of accounting.
Karen Martin, president of the Irving ISD Council of PTAs, said she stresses that two people should always count the cash, and money should never be left in someone's car or house.
"It used to drive me crazy that our schools used to throw it in a drawer somewhere," Ms. Martin said.
Some PTAs change their ways after thefts. Both the Haggar PTA and the Browning Primary School PTO in Royse City have boosted checks on their finances.
"It's not like you can hire and fire people," said Browning PTO President Helen Fortier. "It's all volunteers. You can't be too rigid because then nobody will come."
In the end, parent group leaders say it's impossible to entirely protect against someone who wants to steal.
"At some point, you just have to trust people," Ms. Meyercord said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PTA Q&A:
What is a PTA?
A parent-teacher group that pays dues to the state and national PTA and follows guidelines set by those organizations
What is a PTO?
An independent parent-teacher group that makes its own bylaws
Does either group make a profit?
No, both types of parent organizations are typically classified as nonprofits and exempt from taxes under federal regulations
Are PTA and PTO members required to have financial training?
No, most parent groups don't mandate financial training for presidents or treasurers
Do these groups conduct audits?
Most parent groups perform annual audits, but many of the reports aren't reviewed by professionals
By KAREN AYRES / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - The PTA at Haggar Elementary School in Dallas starts selling T-shirts and sweatshirts before students return from summer vacation.
By August, the entertainment coupon books go on sale. The Chick-fil-A dinners and gift wrap sales begin in September. By year's end, a sock hop and spring fling draw thousands of additional fundraising dollars.
Across the country, 80,000 other parent groups follow similar routines to raise an estimated $2 billion aimed at helping out local schools.
And where there is money, there are thieves.
At Haggar, for example, the Dallas Police Department is investigating allegations that a PTA official swiped more than $50,000.
Parent groups are finding that the somewhat informal, grassroots structures of their organizations make it easy for a PTA president or treasurer to pocket the cash when no one is looking.
"It's distressingly prevalent," said Tim Sullivan, president of PTO Today, a national group for parent organizations that aren't affiliated with the National PTA. "This is worse than stealing from a company. This is stealing kids' field trip money."
In Texas and around the country, organization leaders are looking for ways to tighten bookkeeping and protect the cash they work so hard to collect.
Increasingly, PTAs are doling out cash for "crime" insurance to protect the groups from their own members.
National and state leaders contend they are trying to convince parent groups that they need to watch their cash more carefully, but they said it is hard to draw much attention to the issue until after money vanishes.
Three area examples
Just before Christmas, the Haggar PTA sued its treasurer, accusing her of writing herself checks totaling $58,000.
In Rowlett, a former PTA treasurer is awaiting trial over accusations that she stole $20,000 from the PTA at Giddens-Steadham Elementary School.
Martha Patterson, a former treasurer and president of the Browning Primary School PTO in Royse City, pleaded guilty in November to stealing $15,000 from the group. Under a plea deal, she agreed to pay the money back.
"The potential for this to happen pretty much anywhere is there," said Robert Tobey, the Haggar PTA's lawyer.
There is no national record of PTA thefts, but news accounts across the country show dozens of cases over the last few years. Many thefts, leaders say, are never discovered or reported out of concern for embarrassing the culprits' children.
Given that PTA members often form friendships through their children, most people never suspect stealing, Mr. Sullivan said. In most cases, people accused do not have a criminal record.
"These are our neighbors," he said.
National PTA spokesman James Martinez said the group takes stealing seriously but hasn't yet developed organized initiatives to help combat it.
"Like any company or corporation that has small local organizations, unfortunately things like this happen," Mr. Martinez said. "They're isolated incidents."
Suzanne Coffman, a spokesman for GuideStar, a national nonprofit clearinghouse, said thefts from PTAs and other nonprofits occur no more frequently than crimes at for-profit companies.
"It is true that some nonprofits are vulnerable, but they're vulnerable the same way some businesses are," she said. "They don't have internal controls or aren't using those that are there."
Ms. Coffman said thefts can cause more damage for nonprofits if donors are afraid that their donation won't be protected.
In Texas and elsewhere, PTAs operate independently of the schools they serve, and many leave it up to treasurers and presidents to watch the finances. Practically all of the publicized cases nationwide involved those officers.
"We've seen treasurers cut and paste bank statements, forge checks and add zeros to figures," said Texas PTA President Pam Meyercord, who gets calls every month from local PTAs asking for help reviewing problems with the books.
"When people want to do this, they're going to find a way and they're going to get away with it for a certain amount of time. That's the reality," she said.
Many PTAs bring in only a few thousand dollars a year, but some generate up to $1 million annually – more than many small businesses.
With little oversight, some people manage to steal tens of thousands of dollars before getting caught. A PTA president in Tennessee, news accounts show, was accused of stealing more than $140,000 in 2005. Many PTAs never get the money back.
Of those sentenced, few have received stiff penalties, but some judges have gotten creative.
One woman in San Antonio was ordered to put a sign on her front lawn stating that she had stolen money from an elementary PTA. Another woman was required to hand-write letters of apology to each of the 700 students at a Round Rock elementary school.
Checks and balances
Many parent groups are trying to protect themselves.
John Coulter of Association Insurance Management, a Dallas company that insures PTAs nationwide, said five years ago the company covered about 1,000 PTAs for theft. Now, 6,400 organizations have signed up.
"It's probably the one type of insurance that is increasing the most out of all the lines of insurance we sell," Mr. Coulter said.
Valerie Edwards, a client specialist with the company, said many PTAs turn to insurance after they've been ripped off.
The company requires client organizations to make sure someone other than the treasurer reviews the monthly financial statements. Annual audits are also required.
The national and state PTAs offer local units similar guidelines on how to manage cash, but they have no enforcement power to require annual audits or suggested strict signing procedures.
"If the local members don't care and they're not interested enough, what can we do with 2,800 units?" Ms. Meyercord said of state PTAs.
PTAs are affiliated with the national and state PTA organizations. PTOs are entirely independent groups.
Individual PTOs make up their own bylaws. Even when written policies exist, leaders say people often feel too busy or too embarrassed to check that they're being followed. Just because the treasurer makes a financial report doesn't mean it's accurate.
"People have to accept it as a job and take it that seriously," said Becky Brown, president of the Plano ISD Council of PTAs. "But it's hard because you're doing it in addition to all the other things that you're doing."
But across the country, local PTAs and PTOs are attempting to boost accountability by telling volunteers about thefts and boosting training efforts, Mr. Sullivan said.
"The funny thing is that some of the most simple policies would be good enough to stop 90 percent of this," he said.
More than 3,000 people attended a summer training session offered by the Texas PTA. Local PTA councils also train members on the basics of accounting.
Karen Martin, president of the Irving ISD Council of PTAs, said she stresses that two people should always count the cash, and money should never be left in someone's car or house.
"It used to drive me crazy that our schools used to throw it in a drawer somewhere," Ms. Martin said.
Some PTAs change their ways after thefts. Both the Haggar PTA and the Browning Primary School PTO in Royse City have boosted checks on their finances.
"It's not like you can hire and fire people," said Browning PTO President Helen Fortier. "It's all volunteers. You can't be too rigid because then nobody will come."
In the end, parent group leaders say it's impossible to entirely protect against someone who wants to steal.
"At some point, you just have to trust people," Ms. Meyercord said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PTA Q&A:
What is a PTA?
A parent-teacher group that pays dues to the state and national PTA and follows guidelines set by those organizations
What is a PTO?
An independent parent-teacher group that makes its own bylaws
Does either group make a profit?
No, both types of parent organizations are typically classified as nonprofits and exempt from taxes under federal regulations
Are PTA and PTO members required to have financial training?
No, most parent groups don't mandate financial training for presidents or treasurers
Do these groups conduct audits?
Most parent groups perform annual audits, but many of the reports aren't reviewed by professionals
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McKinney woman killed, 4 injured in LBJ wreck
By KEVIN KRAUSE / The Dallas Morning News
MCKINNEY, Texas - A 19-year-old McKinney woman was killed and four others were injured early Monday when a Ford Explorer plunged about 20 feet from LBJ Freeway onto the service road, Dallas police said.
The dead woman was identified as Griselda Ramon, according to the Dallas County medical examiner's office.
Four other people in the vehicle were taken to Medical City Dallas Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, police said. Their conditions were not immediately available Monday.
The Explorer was eastbound on LBJ Freeway when it crashed through the guardrail near the Coit Road exit, police said.
By KEVIN KRAUSE / The Dallas Morning News
MCKINNEY, Texas - A 19-year-old McKinney woman was killed and four others were injured early Monday when a Ford Explorer plunged about 20 feet from LBJ Freeway onto the service road, Dallas police said.
The dead woman was identified as Griselda Ramon, according to the Dallas County medical examiner's office.
Four other people in the vehicle were taken to Medical City Dallas Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, police said. Their conditions were not immediately available Monday.
The Explorer was eastbound on LBJ Freeway when it crashed through the guardrail near the Coit Road exit, police said.
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Gun blasts into home wound sleeping boy, 3
Oak Cliff: 'These people have no heart,' woman says of shooters
By SCOTT FARWELL / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - "Get down, get down! They're shooting!"
The first thing Arletha Lowe remembers is a sound the young mother says she will never forget – her 3-year-old son whimpering in pain, in the dark.
Ms. Lowe, 21, dropped to her belly in the small frame house in north Oak Cliff on Sunday morning. She crawled low across a parquet floor into the living room, down the hall and into a front bedroom where four children slept, including her 3-year-old, Delson Gurley.
She said it seemed like the bullets would never stop.
Frantic, Ms. Lowe felt around on the two mattresses on the floor. She found little heads and squirming legs. When she reached Delson, she scooped him up and was immediately soaked in warm blood.
"Oh my God! My baby, my baby," Ms. Lowe screamed. "He's shot! He's shot!"
Delson, who turns 4 next week, was shot in the right leg Sunday about 2 a.m., according to Dallas police. A .40-caliber bullet entered his right thigh, shattered his kneecap and exploded through his shin.
Doctors at Children's Hospital in Dallas put him in a cast to his hip. He'll need to learn to walk again, they say, and his leg may never grow quite right. He'll have bullet fragments in his leg the rest of his life.
"He should be starting [pre-]kindergarten in the fall," Ms. Lowe said Sunday afternoon, sitting by her son's side. "I hope he's walking by then."
Police spokeswoman Jamie Kimbrough said officers don't know who shot up the house on Marlborough Avenue, or why. Patricia Hernandez, who rents the place with her husband and five children, said she thinks it was a case of road rage.
Earlier in the evening, she said, a white sedan with three men tried to run her into the curb as she pulled into her driveway. The car stopped, then eased down the street and circled. About 10 minutes later, a hail of bullets began ripping through the sheetrock.
"These people have no heart," she said Sunday afternoon, standing in the room where her little ones slept. "They have nothing inside them."
There are six bullet holes in the room where the five children slept. Ms. Hernandez said police found seven bullets inside the house and four outside.
Ms. Lowe said she carried Delson into the living room, dropped to her knees and rocked her son. She pulled off his sneakers and tossed them on the floor.
Sunday afternoon, the size 8 shoes with Velcro straps were lying underneath the Christmas tree, the insoles still squishy with blood.
"I just thank God it was his leg and not his chest or his body or his head," the single parent said.
Ms. Lowe is a staff assistant at Westwood College. In December, she took a second job at Whataburger to help pay for Christmas.
Sunday, she held her squirming 19-month-old daughter, Anisa, and looked down at her wounded son lolling under painkillers, and she felt the guilt of a working mother.
"I know I want to spend a lot more time with my kids," she said.
Delson wanted to get down and play when he awoke from surgery.
"The fireman came and get me," he said.
"The firemen came to help you, baby," Ms. Lowe answered.
Ms. Lowe said her son doesn't understand what happened, and she can't figure out how to explain it to him.
She paused, struggling to put words to the emotion.
"There are so many crazy people out there," she said. "He's just so lucky. I'm just so thankful."
Oak Cliff: 'These people have no heart,' woman says of shooters
By SCOTT FARWELL / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - "Get down, get down! They're shooting!"
The first thing Arletha Lowe remembers is a sound the young mother says she will never forget – her 3-year-old son whimpering in pain, in the dark.
Ms. Lowe, 21, dropped to her belly in the small frame house in north Oak Cliff on Sunday morning. She crawled low across a parquet floor into the living room, down the hall and into a front bedroom where four children slept, including her 3-year-old, Delson Gurley.
She said it seemed like the bullets would never stop.
Frantic, Ms. Lowe felt around on the two mattresses on the floor. She found little heads and squirming legs. When she reached Delson, she scooped him up and was immediately soaked in warm blood.
"Oh my God! My baby, my baby," Ms. Lowe screamed. "He's shot! He's shot!"
Delson, who turns 4 next week, was shot in the right leg Sunday about 2 a.m., according to Dallas police. A .40-caliber bullet entered his right thigh, shattered his kneecap and exploded through his shin.
Doctors at Children's Hospital in Dallas put him in a cast to his hip. He'll need to learn to walk again, they say, and his leg may never grow quite right. He'll have bullet fragments in his leg the rest of his life.
"He should be starting [pre-]kindergarten in the fall," Ms. Lowe said Sunday afternoon, sitting by her son's side. "I hope he's walking by then."
Police spokeswoman Jamie Kimbrough said officers don't know who shot up the house on Marlborough Avenue, or why. Patricia Hernandez, who rents the place with her husband and five children, said she thinks it was a case of road rage.
Earlier in the evening, she said, a white sedan with three men tried to run her into the curb as she pulled into her driveway. The car stopped, then eased down the street and circled. About 10 minutes later, a hail of bullets began ripping through the sheetrock.
"These people have no heart," she said Sunday afternoon, standing in the room where her little ones slept. "They have nothing inside them."
There are six bullet holes in the room where the five children slept. Ms. Hernandez said police found seven bullets inside the house and four outside.
Ms. Lowe said she carried Delson into the living room, dropped to her knees and rocked her son. She pulled off his sneakers and tossed them on the floor.
Sunday afternoon, the size 8 shoes with Velcro straps were lying underneath the Christmas tree, the insoles still squishy with blood.
"I just thank God it was his leg and not his chest or his body or his head," the single parent said.
Ms. Lowe is a staff assistant at Westwood College. In December, she took a second job at Whataburger to help pay for Christmas.
Sunday, she held her squirming 19-month-old daughter, Anisa, and looked down at her wounded son lolling under painkillers, and she felt the guilt of a working mother.
"I know I want to spend a lot more time with my kids," she said.
Delson wanted to get down and play when he awoke from surgery.
"The fireman came and get me," he said.
"The firemen came to help you, baby," Ms. Lowe answered.
Ms. Lowe said her son doesn't understand what happened, and she can't figure out how to explain it to him.
She paused, struggling to put words to the emotion.
"There are so many crazy people out there," she said. "He's just so lucky. I'm just so thankful."
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5 from Carrollton family die in N.M. crash
TUCUMCARI, N.M. (AP) - A rental van crashed on Interstate 40 in eastern New Mexico on Monday, killing five of seven members of a Carrollton family who were in the vehicle, police said.
The eastbound van rolled over about 2 a.m. near Tucumcari, said Peter Olson, New Mexico Department of Public Safety spokesman.
New Mexico State Police were withholding the identities of the victims pending notification of next of kin, Olson said. State police did not immediately know what caused the crash.
The van reportedly carried three children, their mother and father and their grandmother and grandfather, Olson said.
The father and an 18-year-old boy were taken to a hospital in Amarillo, where the boy died later Monday, Olson said, adding that a 3-year-old girl was treated and released to the custody of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.
He said he did not immediately know the father’s condition.
TUCUMCARI, N.M. (AP) - A rental van crashed on Interstate 40 in eastern New Mexico on Monday, killing five of seven members of a Carrollton family who were in the vehicle, police said.
The eastbound van rolled over about 2 a.m. near Tucumcari, said Peter Olson, New Mexico Department of Public Safety spokesman.
New Mexico State Police were withholding the identities of the victims pending notification of next of kin, Olson said. State police did not immediately know what caused the crash.
The van reportedly carried three children, their mother and father and their grandmother and grandfather, Olson said.
The father and an 18-year-old boy were taken to a hospital in Amarillo, where the boy died later Monday, Olson said, adding that a 3-year-old girl was treated and released to the custody of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.
He said he did not immediately know the father’s condition.
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Strayhorn to run for governor as independent
By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN, Texas – Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn announced Monday that she will run for governor as an independent, leaving the Republican Party banner under which she has won four statewide elections.
Mrs. Strayhorn said she wanted to work to end partisan bitterness.
Political experts said her decision was a concession to the fact that she could not beat incumbent Rick Perry in the GOP March 7 primary, and was opting to gain better traction by the November election.
Mrs. Strayhorn became the last major candidate to declare her intentions. Mr. Perry will face token opposition in his primary, while Chris Bell, a former Houston congressman, and Bob Gammage, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, will vie to become the Democratic challenger.
The independent field becomes as crowded as the major party contests, with singer and author Kinky Friedman now joined by Mrs. Strayhorn in the battle to get on the ballot.
Both will be required to gather 45,540 signatures in a matter of weeks from registered voters who sat out both the Democratic and Republican primaries.
In announcing her decision, Mrs. Strayhorn – who has two sons who are top officials with the Bush Administration – said she remains a Republican.
"But I know that we must set partisan politics aside and do what's right for Texas. That is why I am running for governor as an independent – a Texas independent," Mrs. Strayhorn said.
She said it is time for a leader who will bring the state together.
"Governor Perry may be doing the best he can, but after five years we have learned that he is not the strong leader we need to put Texas above politics," she said. "He has made the politics of division worse in Austin, not better."
The Perry campaign said that Mrs. Strayhorn's decision is nothing but political opportunism. In a statement issued earlier, spokesman Robert Black said that an independent Strayhorn run would "represent the latest desperate act of a politician who has no core convictions or guiding principles."
By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN, Texas – Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn announced Monday that she will run for governor as an independent, leaving the Republican Party banner under which she has won four statewide elections.
Mrs. Strayhorn said she wanted to work to end partisan bitterness.
Political experts said her decision was a concession to the fact that she could not beat incumbent Rick Perry in the GOP March 7 primary, and was opting to gain better traction by the November election.
Mrs. Strayhorn became the last major candidate to declare her intentions. Mr. Perry will face token opposition in his primary, while Chris Bell, a former Houston congressman, and Bob Gammage, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, will vie to become the Democratic challenger.
The independent field becomes as crowded as the major party contests, with singer and author Kinky Friedman now joined by Mrs. Strayhorn in the battle to get on the ballot.
Both will be required to gather 45,540 signatures in a matter of weeks from registered voters who sat out both the Democratic and Republican primaries.
In announcing her decision, Mrs. Strayhorn – who has two sons who are top officials with the Bush Administration – said she remains a Republican.
"But I know that we must set partisan politics aside and do what's right for Texas. That is why I am running for governor as an independent – a Texas independent," Mrs. Strayhorn said.
She said it is time for a leader who will bring the state together.
"Governor Perry may be doing the best he can, but after five years we have learned that he is not the strong leader we need to put Texas above politics," she said. "He has made the politics of division worse in Austin, not better."
The Perry campaign said that Mrs. Strayhorn's decision is nothing but political opportunism. In a statement issued earlier, spokesman Robert Black said that an independent Strayhorn run would "represent the latest desperate act of a politician who has no core convictions or guiding principles."
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Northwest Dallas homicide victim identified
By LEE POWELL / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - A man found shot to death Saturday in northwest Dallas has been identified.
Frank Brock, 45, of McKinney was found inside the vehicle in the 10000 block of Wildwood Drive, a heavily wooded area in northwest Dallas near Irving's Las Colinas development.
His car had been involved in a collision. Upon further examination, police discovered Mr. Brock had been shot.
Police said they do not have any suspects or witnesses and that the death is being investigated as a homicide.
By LEE POWELL / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - A man found shot to death Saturday in northwest Dallas has been identified.
Frank Brock, 45, of McKinney was found inside the vehicle in the 10000 block of Wildwood Drive, a heavily wooded area in northwest Dallas near Irving's Las Colinas development.
His car had been involved in a collision. Upon further examination, police discovered Mr. Brock had been shot.
Police said they do not have any suspects or witnesses and that the death is being investigated as a homicide.
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Collin Democrat is going it alone in primary
Collin County: On the flip side, GOP has record number of contested races
By ED HOUSEWRIGHT / The Dallas Morning News
MCKINNEY, Texas - Bill Baumbach is going it alone.
He's the only person running for a Collin County office in the March 7 Democratic Party primary. It's been more than 20 years since a Democrat held a post in Collin County – one of the most Republican-dominated counties in the state.
"I have a pioneering spirit," said Mr. Baumbach, who will try to unseat Republican Commissioner Jerry Hoagland in the fall general election.
Democrats hope Mr. Baumbach's candidacy signals the eventual return of a competitive two-party system in Collin County.
Republicans, meanwhile, are seeing a record number of contested races in their primary, also March 7.
Elsewhere, Republican Bill Hill's decision not to seek another term as Dallas County district attorney has caused a flurry of filings in both parties.
A former prosecutor will give Denton County District Attorney Bruce Isaacks his first Republican challenger in 15 years. Mr. Isaacks, who is seeking a fifth term in office, will face lawyer Paul Johnson in the primary.
In Tarrant County, the biggest election story of the season is the retirement of County Judge Tom Vandergriff. He announced in December that he would not run for re-election, which leaves his high-profile seat open for the first time since 1990.
In Collin County, several longtime incumbents – such as County Judge Ron Harris and Commissioner Jack Hatchell – have their first opposition in years.
In all, 35 candidates are seeking 22 county offices in the GOP primary.
Republican incumbents are no longer guaranteed a free ride in the primary.
"I think it's healthy – as long as the candidates are running for the position, versus against their opponent," said Kathy Ward, who became Republican Party chairwoman last month.
She replaced Rick Neudorff, who resigned to take on Mr. Harris, the leader of the five-member Commissioners Court. Keith Self, a retired Army officer, also is seeking the county's top elected position.
Mr. Hatchell faces former Plano Mayor Jeran Akers in his bid for a sixth term.
The increase in contested Republican races is a reflection of the county's rapid growth, said Mr. Hoagland, who has served for 25 years.
"I would assume it's a new paradigm that we're going to see more of," he said. "From the voters' point of view, you're given more choices, so it's a good thing."
Besides Mr. Harris and Mr. Hatchell, four other Republican incumbents have opponents.
County Clerk Brenda Taylor is being challenged by Stacey Kemp, her former top assistant, and by Matt Hilton, a private investigator.
County Court at Law 2 Judge Jerry Lewis faces Bill Dobiyanski, a chief felony prosecutor in the district attorney's office.
County Court at Law 3 Judge John Barry will try to fend off Dale Rose, a McKinney lawyer.
And Justice of the Peace 4 Mike Yarbrough has three opponents: David Moore, who has been a municipal judge in several area towns; Douglas Reeves, director of a nonprofit agency; and Andy Woolard, who lists his occupation as self-employed.
In the County Court at Law 5 race, Nathan White Jr., who vacated the 366th District judge's seat, will face Dan Wilson, an Allen lawyer.
Ms. Ward, the Republican Party chairwoman, said many candidates already have appeared at voter forums or service club meetings.
"I'm very pleased to see the friendliness between the candidates," she said. "If you're wanting to unseat an incumbent ... tell me what your vision is and how you could bring that plan to fruition."
She thinks the number of Republican candidates indicates that the party will continue to dominate Collin County politics.
"Our main competition is the primary," Ms. Ward said. "My job is to ... make sure we are doing things proactively so that 10 years from now we don't lose any of our stronghold."
Her counterpart, however, sees the many contested Republican races as a sign of dissatisfaction with county leadership.
"I think if we didn't have such obvious concern with what the Commissioners Court has been doing, we wouldn't be seeing so many challengers in the Republican primary," said Deborah Angell Smith, chairwoman of the Collin County Democratic Party.
She believes local Democrats are gaining strength.
"We have been making great strides, improving our organization and our effectiveness in our grass-roots work," Ms. Smith said. "We have an opportunity to significantly increase our vote simply because a lot of Democrats have not been voting for a variety of reasons."
Staff writers Jeff Mosier and Jim O'Neill contributed to this report.
Collin County: On the flip side, GOP has record number of contested races
By ED HOUSEWRIGHT / The Dallas Morning News
MCKINNEY, Texas - Bill Baumbach is going it alone.
He's the only person running for a Collin County office in the March 7 Democratic Party primary. It's been more than 20 years since a Democrat held a post in Collin County – one of the most Republican-dominated counties in the state.
"I have a pioneering spirit," said Mr. Baumbach, who will try to unseat Republican Commissioner Jerry Hoagland in the fall general election.
Democrats hope Mr. Baumbach's candidacy signals the eventual return of a competitive two-party system in Collin County.
Republicans, meanwhile, are seeing a record number of contested races in their primary, also March 7.
Elsewhere, Republican Bill Hill's decision not to seek another term as Dallas County district attorney has caused a flurry of filings in both parties.
A former prosecutor will give Denton County District Attorney Bruce Isaacks his first Republican challenger in 15 years. Mr. Isaacks, who is seeking a fifth term in office, will face lawyer Paul Johnson in the primary.
In Tarrant County, the biggest election story of the season is the retirement of County Judge Tom Vandergriff. He announced in December that he would not run for re-election, which leaves his high-profile seat open for the first time since 1990.
In Collin County, several longtime incumbents – such as County Judge Ron Harris and Commissioner Jack Hatchell – have their first opposition in years.
In all, 35 candidates are seeking 22 county offices in the GOP primary.
Republican incumbents are no longer guaranteed a free ride in the primary.
"I think it's healthy – as long as the candidates are running for the position, versus against their opponent," said Kathy Ward, who became Republican Party chairwoman last month.
She replaced Rick Neudorff, who resigned to take on Mr. Harris, the leader of the five-member Commissioners Court. Keith Self, a retired Army officer, also is seeking the county's top elected position.
Mr. Hatchell faces former Plano Mayor Jeran Akers in his bid for a sixth term.
The increase in contested Republican races is a reflection of the county's rapid growth, said Mr. Hoagland, who has served for 25 years.
"I would assume it's a new paradigm that we're going to see more of," he said. "From the voters' point of view, you're given more choices, so it's a good thing."
Besides Mr. Harris and Mr. Hatchell, four other Republican incumbents have opponents.
County Clerk Brenda Taylor is being challenged by Stacey Kemp, her former top assistant, and by Matt Hilton, a private investigator.
County Court at Law 2 Judge Jerry Lewis faces Bill Dobiyanski, a chief felony prosecutor in the district attorney's office.
County Court at Law 3 Judge John Barry will try to fend off Dale Rose, a McKinney lawyer.
And Justice of the Peace 4 Mike Yarbrough has three opponents: David Moore, who has been a municipal judge in several area towns; Douglas Reeves, director of a nonprofit agency; and Andy Woolard, who lists his occupation as self-employed.
In the County Court at Law 5 race, Nathan White Jr., who vacated the 366th District judge's seat, will face Dan Wilson, an Allen lawyer.
Ms. Ward, the Republican Party chairwoman, said many candidates already have appeared at voter forums or service club meetings.
"I'm very pleased to see the friendliness between the candidates," she said. "If you're wanting to unseat an incumbent ... tell me what your vision is and how you could bring that plan to fruition."
She thinks the number of Republican candidates indicates that the party will continue to dominate Collin County politics.
"Our main competition is the primary," Ms. Ward said. "My job is to ... make sure we are doing things proactively so that 10 years from now we don't lose any of our stronghold."
Her counterpart, however, sees the many contested Republican races as a sign of dissatisfaction with county leadership.
"I think if we didn't have such obvious concern with what the Commissioners Court has been doing, we wouldn't be seeing so many challengers in the Republican primary," said Deborah Angell Smith, chairwoman of the Collin County Democratic Party.
She believes local Democrats are gaining strength.
"We have been making great strides, improving our organization and our effectiveness in our grass-roots work," Ms. Smith said. "We have an opportunity to significantly increase our vote simply because a lot of Democrats have not been voting for a variety of reasons."
Staff writers Jeff Mosier and Jim O'Neill contributed to this report.
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