News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Business owner shoots Dallas officer

By CYNTHIA VEGA / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - A Dallas police officer investigating a burglary report was shot and wounded by a business owner early Wednesday near Baylor University Medical Center.

The officer, identified as John Burka, was bandaged at the head and right arm as he was rushed into the emergency room just before 6:30 a.m.

Burka's facial injuries from a shotgun blast were described as non-life-threatening. He is a five-year veteran of the department.

Police said Burka was on the roof of a business in the 4000 block of Elm Street responding to a burglary call. According to the report, the perpetrator was attempting to steal an air conditioning unit.

Investigators said the owner of the business, armed with a shotgun, was on the ground and apparently opened fire on the officer when he peered over the edge of the roof.

"The person who was involved that shot the shotgun is talking with the officers now and is coooperating with the officers," said police spokeswoman Lt. Jan Easterling.

The gunman was taken into custody; it was not known if he would face charges.

Officers on foot, in cruisers and in the air were combing the area near Baylor University Medical Center for burglary suspects.

Burka was expected to be released from Baylor later today or on Thursday.

[TexasStooge]

Dallas man shot during carjacking

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A Dallas man was shot and seriously injured early Wednesday before his car was stolen from a Southwest Dallas gas station.

Dallas police Sgt. Curtis Gage said Cleveland Jemerson, 37, was pumping gas at a Shell Gas Station in the 3100 block of Camp Wisdom Road about 2:45 a.m. when three men approached his 1990 Lexus and asked about the tire rims.

“Apparently the victim saw that one of the suspects had a gun in the waistband of his pants and became nervous and tried to run,” Gage said. “That’s when the suspect shot him in the leg and the back.”

Gage said the shooter fled in Jemerson’s car. He was arrested following a short car chase.

A second suspect, also armed, left in another vehicle, leaving a third suspect behind, he said.

Officers found the third suspect minutes later hiding in bushes across the street from the gas station.

Officers arrested the second suspect hours later in a motel room after recognizing his car. Two other men in the motel room also were taken into custody, but likely would be released without facing charges, Gage said.

All three suspects were charged with aggravated robbery, Gage said. Police would not release their identities.

Jemerson remained in serious condition at Methodist Dallas Central Hospital.

[TexasStooge]

Two families mourn soldiers' deaths

By JIM DOUGLAS / WFAA ABC 8

This week, death in Iraq touched two places in North Texas.

Deep down Johnson County backroads outside Cleburne, where a soldier home on leave could ride his four-wheeler without fear of roadside bombs, family and friends remembered Jeremy Allmon, who died Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle.

Allmon's mother Lisa Ray wants to be as strong as her son.

"We're trying to be strong," Ray said. "He was a man's man."

Specialist Allmon was 22 years old, and only 28 days from coming home for good. He sent his girlfriend an e-mail on Saturday.

"He told me he was coming home," Ray said. "Nothing was going to stop him ... he was coming home."

Hours later, Allmon was dead. On Valentine's Day, his girlfriend will receive the flowers he had already ordered.

In his memory, his family lit a fire. They said Jeremy liked to talk around the embers, and shoot baskets with his little brother.

30 minutes north in suburban Fort Worth, candles burn for Sgt. Daniel Torres, also killed by a roadside bomb.

"He's in a better place, and he doesn't have to be in war any longer," father Sergio Torres said through an interpreter.

Torres, 23, was grateful to his parents, and worried about future generations in America and Iraq.

"He wanted young people and the children not to have to go through what he has to go through ... war," his father said.

Daniel Torres was saving his soldier's pay for an engagement ring.

"He gave me this promise ring at Christmastime, and he promised to love me and always be there for me," girlfriend Sofia Maldonado said.

He also died a few hours after learning he was going to be a father.

"Daniel got to know," Maldonado said. "I got to tell him this weekend; he was so excited."

Torres and Allmon were very different men from different backgrounds, but they fought for the same reasons.

"He told me once that the reason he was there is so his brother didn't have to be," his mother said.

Allmon's father said Jeremy hoped to use his GI benefits to become a park ranger.

As for Torres, he wanted to to get the financial aid to go to college, and then planned to be a police officer.

Torres survived one tour in Iraq; he confided to his parents he didn't expect to survive another.

Allmon was counting the days - and he almost made it.

[TexasStooge]

Dallas bishop faces heat over abuse allegations

By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - The heat is being turned up on Bishop Charles Grahmann of the Dallas Catholic Diocese in the wake of new allegations regarding wayward and abusive priests.

On the surface, it could be argued that Grahmann has responded swiftly to force the resignation and suspension of problem priests in recent days. But others said the only reason the bishop has done anything is because he got caught doing nothing, and they accuse him of breaking promises to not only resign, but to rid the diocese of problem priests.

The recent wave of disgrace began with revelations last week in Grand Prairie. Rev. Matthew Bagert of Immaculate Conception Church was arrested for possession of child pornography, and was suspended by the diocese.

Then on Sunday, at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Rockwall, there was the forced resignation of music minister John David Sarlay, who had pleaded no contest to indecency charges. His boss, Father William Richard, also resigned.

Rockwall parishioner Todd White had established a Web site calling for Richard's resignation, upset that he had not already dismissed Sarlay.

"We wanted to give the diocese an opportunity to intervene and do something," White said.

When Richard announced his resignation on Sunday morning, White and other parishioners thought they had scored a victory. But then came the next day's allegations that Richard had a shameful past of his own.

According a report in Monday's Dallas Morning News, former Catholic high school students signed "sworn statements" that Richard allegedly engaged in predatory practices in the mid-90s, which included "unwanted looks". One said he "invited me to his bedroom", and that Richard implied he had participated in "bestiality."

"Until I saw that story on Monday, I didn't know any of that," White said. "I had no idea that any of that stuff was in the record, that any of that had happened at all."

D Magazine publisher Wick Allison is especially disturbed by the new round of allegations. He was part of a group of laymen who brokered an agreement two years ago with Grahmann to purge the Dallas diocese of all its problem priests.

"I am astonished; I am flabbergasted," Allison said. "They promised they had reviewed all the files and the entire diocese was clean. Well, that turns out not to be true, but it also turns out that they knew it wasn't true."

Allison said he help put pressure on Dallas District Attorney Bill Hill to open an investigation into the Dallas Diocese. Grahmann said he welcomes an investigation, and that the diocese has responded to problems as swiftly as they arose.

[TexasStooge]

Meteorologist bill can't weather scrutiny

Truitt plans to drop proposal to regulate meteorologist title

By KATHRYN YEGGE / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN, Texas - In the end, a bill regulating the credentials of meteorologists couldn't weather the storm of criticism.

State Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, has decided to let her bill die after starting a whirlwind of controversy in the weather forecasting business, said Dan Sutherland, Ms. Truitt's legislative director.

Her bill would have prohibited weathercasters from calling themselves meteorologists unless they had the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in meteorology from an accredited program.

Mr. Sutherland said opponents of the legislation flooded Ms. Truitt's office with e-mails and phone calls, consuming about 80 percent of the staff's time.

"We expected the public to participate; we just did not expect the passion," he said. "And passion takes time."

The bill was referred Monday to the Committee on Licensing and Administrative Procedures, and Mr. Sutherland said it will end there.

"Nothing happens until we request a hearing, and we're not planning on requesting a hearing," he said.

Mr. Sutherland said industry groups such as the National Weather Association and the American Meteorological Society urged Ms. Truitt's staff to back down.

"We recommended that they not go forward with it because we didn't believe it should be a legal issue," said Kevin Lavin, executive director of the National Weather Association. "For the state of Texas, there are probably better things to do with a legislator's time."

Mr. Sutherland agreed.

He said Ms. Truitt's office will now focus on public education, property taxes and Child Protective Services.

[TexasStooge]

Future of McMurtry bookstore a mystery

Author to shutter readers' paradise as town ponders fallout

By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News

ARCHER CITY, Texas – The sign at the city limits puts the population at 1,848, but don't count Archer City's most famous son in that number.

Larry McMurtry, who stamps his books with the Texas-ness of this ranching town, the heat and dust and the wind's low moan, moseyed off to Tucson, Ariz., a couple of years ago, in part because he couldn't find a satisfying meal back home and grew tired of driving all the way to Fort Worth to get one.

And that leaves one large question hanging over this small town about 2 ½ hours northwest of Dallas. What will happen to Booked Up, the unlikely oasis for bibliophiles that stretches across four buildings around the Archer County courthouse square?

In an announcement posted last week on Booked Up's Web site, Mr. McMurtry said he would close the bookstore Dec. 31 and go on "a sabbatical" for some yet-to-be determined period.

"It will be closed for a while, but how long, I can't predict," Mr. McMurtry, 68, said last week. "I want to travel, but I don't want to be traveling in Nepal and worrying about a cyclone blowing the roof off of Building 1."

Besides, he said, "people have not exactly been busting down the door since 2001 when the economy tanked. Some days only one or two people have come in. So I don't think I'm depriving people of very much by closing the doors for a while."

Filled with 200,000 to 300,000 used and antiquarian books – "none of them bad," Mr. McMurtry said, but none of them his, either – Booked Up draws patrons from Dallas and Fort Worth, Wichita Falls and Mineral Wells, customers willing to drive 100 miles each way across two-lane country roads to see what Mr. McMurtry and his partner, Marcia Carter, have created in this unlikely locale.

Businesses worry

But local business owners fret that closing Booked Up, actually four bookstores spread across a couple of blocks, will be another sharp punch to an already battered local economy.

"His bookstores are the largest business in town," said Mayor Carl Harrelson, who owns the nearby Onion Creek Grill and estimates he serves up to 30 visitors a weekend drawn by Booked Up. "This will affect the local economy a little bit. It will probably affect us.

"I hope it's temporary."

Mary Webb, co-owner of the Lonesome Dove Inn, where Mr. McMurtry usually stays on his visits to Archer City, said people around town have always been "laissez faire about the bookstores."

"Many have never gone in," she said. "I hope this wakes people up. The bookstores are something to be proud of, and if they'd gotten more support, this would probably not be happening."

Some around town suspect that generating business might be the real reason for Mr. McMurtry's announcement.

"Why he chose a year in advance to announce the closure, I don't know," said Abby Abernathy, former executive director of the Archer Community Foundation and owner of the Spur Hotel. "The bookstores at one time were attracting 100 people a week. Back in that period, Larry advertised worldwide. He hasn't done that in two years. But without a marketing campaign, those stores would be difficult to maintain."

"Larry's thrown down a gauntlet to Archer City and North Texas," said Clayton Clark, manager of the Archer County Visitors and Information Center. "So people had better get it while the getting is good. We're going to give him a lot of reasons to change his mind."

Mr. McMurtry hopes that's the case.

"I will see if this [planned closing] galvanizes a response," he said, but he doesn't seem optimistic.

Online? No way

The rise of online sellers has affected the book business. Shoppers looking for a particular title, even a book no longer in print, can probably find it in a couple of minutes online. The search isn't that easy at Booked Up. And Mr. McMurtry isn't an online kind of guy, at least when it comes to selling books, said Ms. Webb of the Lonesome Dove Inn.

"He's a true book lover. He feels you have to touch, smell and turn the pages," she said.

First-time visitors to the store, drawn by news of the planned closing, repeat the same words to describe the place: "It's overwhelming."

But many leave enthralled.

"This is my first visit, but I'll be back in the not too distant future," said Clyde Bullion of Mineral Wells, who has thousands of volumes in his own collection. "It's delightful.

"I go to a lot of bookstores," he said, "but I don't think I've ever been in one like this."

At a time when most bookstores are virtually indistinguishable, Booked Up follows a path all its own.

The store's small staff works mostly in Building 1, the largest piece of the operation. Buildings 2 and 3 sit across the street, on the next block, and Building 4 waits around the corner, just up from the Royal Theater, Mr. McMurtry's The Last Picture Show.

Buyers follow the honor system – if they find books they want in any of the satellite buildings, they carry them back to Building 1 to pay.

The collection itself spans every significant genre, from Western pulp fiction to European literature in the original language.

L.H. Dewkett, who drove up from Mineral Wells with Mr. Bullion and two others, spent almost all of his shopping time poring through Building 1's stock of World War II history.

"I haven't left this building since we got here," he said shortly before noon one recent day, "and we've been here since 10 o'clock. I was a pilot in the Army Air Corps in World War II, so I gravitate to those sorts of books."

A short time later, he carried a stack of books to the counter, "$100 dollars' worth," he said, and he left a lot more behind.

Amazing maze

Finding specific titles in a collection this size can be a problem, but locating the appropriate subject is simple enough – even subjects rarely identified by competing sellers, such as books with "Painfully Boring Titles." That small, hand-lettered sign speaks the truth.

Here shoppers find book titles like Rubber and Plastic, The Bellybook and The Story of Hair. Then there's Of Men and Crabs.

"It's very eclectic," said shopper Dave Douglas of Poynor, Texas. "But that's what you expect from McMurtry. He's kind of an eclectic guy."

"What's [Mr. McMurtry] going to do with all of this?" wondered Roy Schoenbrum of Tyler, Mr. Douglas' brother-in-law.

That is the big question.

Though the store will remain open for 11 more months, the buildings are packed floor to ceiling with books, and dozens of book-filled boxes sat by an open garage door in Building 1 waiting to be sorted and priced.

Publicity about the temporary closing – whatever temporary turns out to be – drew a modest crowd of curious first-time visitors over the weekend. And the planned closing had another benefit – the store is now open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Until recently, hours could be more haphazard, with the store open Thursday through Saturday and by appointment.

Mr. McMurtry saw nothing wrong with that.

"Eighty to 90 percent of rare bookshops are open by appointment only," he said.

He visits only occasionally now, two or three days a month, though he maintains a home in Archer City. But fans can't count on seeing him every time they visit. So they poke around, hopeful, but usually content themselves with the small-town landmarks given life in his novels.

Tom and Beth Lawson, up from Fort Worth for a 35th anniversary trip, looked through the bookstore before venturing out to snap photos of places like the Royal Theater.

"Larry McMurtry is my favorite author," Mr. Lawson said, "and Lonesome Dove is my favorite book and my favorite movie."

And the bookstore?

"It's overwhelming," Mrs. Lawson said. "But it's a wonderful treasure."

Bernadette Pruitt, a freelance reporter based in Wichita Falls, contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Hospital, mom battle over life support

In court today, facility to argue that ventilator is prolonging suffering

By BRUCE NICHOLS / The Dallas Morning News

HOUSTON, Texas – Tiny, delicate and genetically deformed, a boy named Sun has been lying in intensive care at Texas Children's Hospital since he was born Sept. 25, sustained by a mechanical ventilator – and, for now, by a court order.

Doctors have decided, following a process provided by Texas law, that it's unethical to continue life support because the boy has a lethal skeletal abnormality that causes a shrunken upper body and undeveloped lungs.

He's suffocating, doctors say.

But Sun's mother, Wanda Hudson, 33, is fighting to keep her son alive, and the matter has ended up in court. Harris County Probate Judge William McCulloch will hold a hearing today to decide whether to continue a temporary order barring termination of life support.

Sun's case is raising a new elemental question of life-and-death decisions.

But it's different from another well-known case – that of Terry Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose family – and politicians – have fought over letting her die, said William Winslade, who teaches medical law and ethics.

The Hudson case is in court partly because the hospital lacks confidence in the mother's mental competence. She says her son was fathered not by a man but by "the sun that shines in the sky," who will decide whether he lives.

"I've never heard of a case like this getting as far as this one has in the court system," said Dr. Winslade, who teaches at the University of Texas Medical Branch and at the University of Houston.

Typically, conditions such as Sun's, which doctors call thanatophoric dysplasia, are diagnosed in-utero and pregnancies ended, he said. But Ms. Hudson, a former dental technician, did not go to the doctor before delivering her baby.

"I didn't receive prenatal care because I trusted in the sun," she said. "I also said, 'Sun if you are who you say you are, which is creator of the sun and the Earth, then let me have Sun with no pain.' So I had my son with no pain. Ever since then, it's just been a battle," she said.

In cases where babies are born with terminal defects or illness, parents usually agree with doctors and decide against artificially prolonging the pain, Dr. Winslade said. So there's no publicity and no court action.

Prolonged suffering?

When doctors suggested to Ms. Hudson that Sun should be allowed to die peacefully, she said they wanted to "murder" him because they didn't understand he's special.

"When I told them ... who he was ... they felt like they had to put me in a psychiatric hospital," said Ms. Hudson, who has a healthy 17-year-old son who lives with his father.

When she last looked at Sun, Ms. Hudson said, she saw "a handsome baby boy that's full of life, love and energy, just raring to go."

Hospital officials have said the baby is not conscious and lies almost motionless.

As provided by Texas law, Sun's medical team presented his case to the hospital bioethics committee, composed of doctors, nurses, administrators, lawyers, clergy and citizens outside the medical field. The committee supported the decision to end life support.

"Our sympathies are with Wanda Hudson and her baby, Sun," the hospital said. But "it would be unethical to continue with care that is futile and prolongs Sun's suffering."

No steps have been taken to have Ms. Hudson declared incompetent. But when she raised objections, hospital officials arranged to let the courts decide and are paying for her lawyer. The court also appointed a guardian for the baby.

"Nobody wants to appear to be railroading this mother," Dr. Winslade said.

'Not necessarily irrational'

It's a serious issue, said her lawyer, Mario Caballero, adding that Ms. Hudson picked him off a referral list and he returned her call.

"My view ... is that people with mental disabilities have rights like you and I have," he said. "They have the right to bear children, care for them, just like you and I. She may make other irrational statements, but her decision to keep Sun on life support is not necessarily irrational."

The law requires the hospital to sustain the baby for at least 10 days to allow Ms. Hudson to find a hospital that will honor her wishes. She and her lawyer have been looking since shortly after Sun's birth in September but hadn't found one as of Tuesday, Mr. Caballero said.

Whatever the court decides, doctors say it's likely that Sun will die within a few months because no amount of artificial life support can sustain him for long.

On the other hand, Mr. Caballero said he has found cases of children living for several years.

"They did die eventually, but they did have a life," he said. "Who's to say that's not the right decision?"

[TexasStooge]

Suspect: 3rd person helped kill Sanchez

He says he didn't recognize participant, denies role in killing

DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - One of the two men accused of kidnapping and killing an Oak Cliff restaurateur said Tuesday that a third person participated in the crime.

The suspect, Jose Alberto Felix, 28, also said fellow suspect Edgar Acevedo planned to spend the ransom money on a sex-change operation.

Mr. Acevedo, 24, is at large and is presumed to be in Mexico.

Mr. Felix said he did not recognize the alleged third suspect, who, he said, wore a black ski mask. Mr. Felix said he was coerced by Mr. Acevedo to participate in the crime.

The suspect said he had never met the victim, Oscar Sanchez, and declined to specify what role, if any, he played in the kidnapping.

"I would like for the Sanchez family and the public to know that I didn't kill Oscar Sanchez," he told Spanish-language station KXTX-TV (Channel 39) in a jailhouse interview.

The Sanchez family owns three restaurants – two locations of La Calle Doce and El Ranchito, a popular Oak Cliff eatery where Mr. Acevedo worked until November. About that time, Mr. Felix abandoned his job as a teacher at Fannin Elementary School in Dallas.

[TexasStooge]

It's busy at Valentine, Tex., post office

VALENTINE, Texas (AP/The Dallas orning News) - Love is in the clear mountain air here, and it arrives and leaves daily by truck.

Valentine's Day cards and letters have been coming to this tiny adobe-style West Texas post office for weeks as romantics from around the world send messages to get stamped with the distinctive postmark of Valentine, Texas.

With 7,000 cards already behind them Monday, postmaster Maria Elena Carrasco, 51, and her part-time assistant Leslie Williams, 52, were greeted with a dozen brimming baskets of cards and letters left by the daily delivery truck that traveled 150 miles from El Paso.

They stamped each piece by hand, and by nightfall, another truck making the return trip picked up the cards and letters for routing to cities coast to coast, border to border. By Carrasco's count, they've gone so far to 28 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Korea, Ireland and Switzerland.

"It reinforces my belief that there is a lot of love and a lot of people do believe in God because that's what love is," said Carrasco, who has run the post office since 1990.

She and Williams are the total operation. The rhythmic thump, thump, thump of their rubber stamp pads is broken only by the occasional customer who pops in to pick up or drop off mail, sliding it over a large red plastic heart that adorns the countertop.

In a place where 186 residents were counted in the last census, there's not much foot traffic.

Valentine is one of only two towns in Jeff Davis County, one of the state's least populous counties. Fort Davis, 40 miles to the east, is the other town.

According to the Texas State Historical Association, Valentine got its name from a Southern Pacific Railroad construction crew, which reached the site Feb. 14, 1882. Trains first arrived in 1883, and the first post office was established in 1886.

As it became a shipping point for cattlemen, population peaked at more than 600 in the early 1930s. Since then, it's dwindled. And other than its name and post office, Valentine's claim to fame is that it was near here in 1931 that a 6.0 earthquake hit, the largest ever in Texas.

The holiday postmark tradition grew from the 1980s, when the previous postmaster, Doris Kelley, did some for friends and the favor was spread by word of mouth.

"I knew what I was getting into," said Carrasco, who was the part-time person then and took over when Kelley retired. Then a Texas Highways Magazine article in 1994 inundated her with 39,000 pieces of mail.

Usually, customers send a stamped card or letter inside another envelope addressed to the post office, along with a request to give the holiday message the special Valentine postmark. But, Carrasco said, two years ago an Austin man showed up and wanted something even more special. He had Carrasco go outside to get his girlfriend to come in, where he was on his knees proposing marriage.

"Every year is different," she said.

The Valentine School, a white building trimmed with red paint, gets involved too. Students at the K-12 public school submit designs for the imprint each year. This year's winning design shows the sun, in the shape of a heart, going down behind the mountains and the community water towers.

Valentine's Day is big in other Texas post offices as well.

In Loving, postmaster Sherry Kincaid says her "little bitty community" about 80 miles northwest of Fort Worth gets several thousand pieces of extra mail in weeks leading up to Feb. 14.

Like Carrasco, Kincaid enjoys doing something special, and hand stamps all the envelopes. "I always use red ink," she said.

Hart, about 60 miles northwest of Lubbock, gets a few items from people looking for a special postmark but isn't in the same league with Valentine or Loving. "I wish we were," postmaster Tommie McCormick said.

Valentine shares its name with Valentine, Neb., a town of about 3,000 that bills itself as America's "Heart City" and also cashes in on the holiday, as does Loveland, Colo., the "Sweetheart City."

For Carrasco, the payoff comes in kind letters from customers. One woman thanked her for helping her bring a little happiness to her terminally ill husband. Three months before he died, she sent him a card with the special Valentine postmark.

"Now that's gratifying," Carrasco said, placing her hand on her heart. "Oh, yes it is."

[TexasStooge]

Atmos Energy giving buildings to city

Donation could help redevelop long-ignored section of downtown

By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Atmos Energy plans to donate at least two little-used downtown buildings to the city of Dallas, three officials confirmed Tuesday, creating the potential for new development in an increasingly blighted section of the city's center.

The buildings are part of the former TXU Gas complex – Atmos bought TXU Gas last year – at the convergence of Harwood, Jackson and Wood streets, and range in height from seven to 13 stories.

"It would enable critical mass in that area of downtown," one city official familiar with the deal said Tuesday. "We would pursue the best developer of that property. And certainly, the buildings need to be redeveloped, and we're not in the construction business."

Dallas Mayor Laura Miller declined to comment on the pending deal.

Ms. Miller's official schedule indicates she met with Atmos officials Tuesday afternoon. She also scheduled a news conference for 3 p.m. today in City Hall to make an announcement regarding downtown redevelopment.

"They're still studying options, and they hope to have a decision made soon," Atmos spokesman Ray Granado said before his company's meeting with Ms. Miller.

He confirmed that Atmos and Dallas are discussing a change in ownership of the TXU Gas buildings.

The buildings originally housed Lone Star Gas Co. and have been prized by developers for potential conversion into loft apartments.

Alice Murray, president of the Central Dallas Association, said she knows of Ms. Miller's announcement but declined to comment further, saying that she is "sworn to confidentiality."

The four buildings that comprise the complex include:

•301 S. Harwood St., built in 1930. The building contains 87,000 square feet of space, rises 13 stories and is valued on tax rolls at $1,064,290.

•1900 Jackson St., built in 1979. The building contains 123,000 square feet, rises 12 stories and is valued on tax rolls at $2,315,480.

•1915 Wood St., built in 1924. The building contains 66,000 square feet, rises 10 stories and is valued on tax rolls at $814,600.

•1815 Wood St., built in 1966. The building contains 115,000 square feet, rises seven stories and is valued on tax rolls at $1,225,240.

City officials couldn't confirm whether Atmos plans to donate all of the buildings or only two of them.

One city official who confirmed the deal recommended that the city thoroughly investigate the condition of the buildings before assuming ownership because they could contain asbestos.

"I hope everything is aboveboard as to why they are offering them to the city," the official said.

The former TXU Gas buildings are a couple of blocks from the vacant Mercantile complex, which Dallas officials have tried for years to redevelop, and the former Dallas Grand Hotel, which is also vacant.

The National Park Service is reviewing an application by Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprise, the Mercantile complex's developer of record, which would allow it to demolish portions of the building while obtaining tax credits to redevelop the main tower.

Forest City has not formally committed to turning the Mercantile complex into residential units and retail, as Dallas officials hope it will.

One city official suggested that the city might ask Forest City officials to redevelop the former TXU Gas complex once the city owns it, in exchange for a firm commitment to redevelop the Mercantile complex. Forest City officials could not be reached for comment.

"It's being considered," the city official said. "It may or may not end up being them."

Staff writer Steve Brown contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Irving officer faces charge over traffic stop incident

Accused of official oppression, he could get up to a year in jail

By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News and ERNESTO LONDOÑO / Al Día

IRVING, Texas - A Dallas County grand jury has indicted a leader of an Irving police officers' group Monday for his role in taking a motorist into custody last month.

Officer Dan Miller has been on administrative leave since the Jan. 5 incident, police said.

Officer Miller, who has served as president of Irving's Fraternal Order of Police, declined to comment Monday afternoon. If convicted of the official oppression charge, a Class A misdemeanor, Officer Miller faces up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

Also Online

En español: Acusan a policía de usar fuerza excesiva contra inmigrante
The Police Department is also conducting an internal administrative investigation, which may be completed in the next week, said Officer David Tull, Irving police spokesman.

According to court records, Officer Miller, 49, struck the motorist, Jose Palomino Ochoa, with his baton and used pepper spray near Britain Road and Cason Street.

Video footage of the incident shot from a squad car was reviewed by a supervisor, who was concerned that Officer Miller, a 28-year veteran, had acted outside department policy, Officer Tull said.

Chief Larry Boyd called the Jan. 5 incident "an extremely unfortunate situation" and "serious in nature."

"The grand jury's findings indicate that they feel the case has sufficient facts and circumstances to warrant sending it to the courts," he said in a prepared statement.

While the physical bruises are gone, Mr. Ochoa said he's still traumatized.

"I want there to be justice," he said in a recent interview. "There are good police officers out there, but there are some who lack education and training."

Mr. Ochoa said he was pulled over as he was driving home from Mass. He said he was sober and driving below the speed limit.

Mr. Ochoa said he got out of his car after Officer Miller stayed in his squad car a few minutes after the stop.

Officer Miller started yelling out orders that Mr. Ochoa, a recent Mexican immigrant who speaks little English, didn't understand.

Mr. Ochoa said he was then sprayed and beaten. He said he lost his sight temporarily because of the pepper spray.

He was handcuffed and taken to a police station, where he was interviewed by officers and released.

Mr. Ochoa said his ankles were severely bruised, causing him to limp for several weeks after the incident.

The incident concerns Manny Benavides, president of the Irving chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, who met with Mr. Ochoa after the incident.

Mr. Benavides calls the incident a serious matter and wants the Police Department to undergo more diversity training.

"There are a lot of questions to be asked," he said. "And we're going to wait and see how they're going to be answered."

Staff writer Robert Tharp contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Two Teacher Sex Cases Surface On Same Day

Woman In Tennessee Faces 28 Counts

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- On the same day reports surfaced of a Tennessee teacher facing sex charges, a Texas teacher was also charged with having sex with a male student in a similar case.

The high school teacher in Lumberton, Texas, was arrested for allegedly having an ongoing sexual relationship with a 17-year-old boy.

Kathy Denise White was indicted Tuesday on two counts of an improper relationship between an educator and a student.

She left the jail in Lumberton after posting $5,000 bond, walking past reporters yelling questions.

It's alleged by prosecutors that White had sex with a 17-year-old twice during a four-month relationship: once at home and once at Lumberton High School.

White, 39, faces up to 40 years in prison and a $20,000 fine if convicted.

KBTV in Beaumont reported that the student told administrators in January he was having a relationship with White who, at the time, was his resource teacher.

Charges In Tennessee Case

Also on Tuesday, reports surfaced in McMinnville, Tenn., that an elementary school teacher is charged with having sex with one of her students, a 13-year-old boy, at his home and at school.

Pamela Turner, 27, was charged Monday with 15 counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and 13 counts of statutory rape for acts between November and January.

Turner, who teaches physical education at Centertown Elementary, lived at the boy's house "for a brief period of time when she was moving from residence to residence,'' Warren County prosecutor Dale Potter said.

The boy's parents did not know anything about the relationship, he said.

When asked on NBC's "Today Show" how he would pursue the case, Potter said the investigation would follow standard procedures.

"We (will) pursue it as another sex abuse case. Unfortunately it's one of those things that happen," Potter said. "Either female with male or male with female, society looks at it differently, but we look at it as a sexual abuse case."

Lafave Case Status

Last year, similar allegations against a Florida teacher gained national attention.

In that case, Ocala, Fla., middle-school teacher Debra Lafave (left) faces sexual assault charges for her alleged involvement with a male student.

Lafave's lawyer filed an insanity plea in December after police claimed Lafave was sleeping with a 14-year-old boy.

[TexasStooge]

Can laser therapy bring weight loss?

By JANET ST. JAMES / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Trying to lose weight this year?

It's not even Valentine's Day, and already lots of dieters are giving up - but there's a new weight-loss technique utilizing cold lasers that some say will help eliminate food cravings.

The therapy evolved from a therapy originally designed for smokers. News 8 sent a long-time smoker to see if it works, and he said for the first time in 34 years, his desire to smoke is gone. So, the developers of that quit-smoking program decided to adapt it and help dieters overcome their urges for fatty foods.

Eileen Platt has tried diet pills, potions, low-carb plans and high exercise - and all have failed.

"I have no willpower," Platt said.

She's hoping to gain self-control and lose 50 pounds with the low-energy light treatment, which is new to North Texas.

"This is our first spot, so the laser is activated right now," said cold laser technician Georgia Trentadue. "It will not cut, it's non-invasive, it's painless."

Cold lasers are commonly used for pain management, and FDA-approved for treating carpal tunnel syndrome. Now, the Anne Penman Laser Therapy Center in Plano is trying the treatment for weight loss.

Here's how it works: laser light penetrates the skin, and stimulates the cells.

"It creates a cell metabolism, which then triggers the energy point to raise their natural level of endorphins in their system," said Trentadue.

Think of it as acupuncture, without the needles. The cold laser is pressed against 38 energy points all over the body, on the face, arms, feet and ears.

"This is one of our appetite suppressant points," Trentadue said, pointing to a spot just behind the ear.

Patients, who wear goggles to protect their eyes from danger of looking at the laser, undergo cold laser treatments once a week for four weeks.

Three weeks after her first laser treatment, Becky Thompson is 12 pounds lighter and 11 inches skinnier.

"If nothing else, this has killed my cravings," Thompson said. "It's been easy ... it's been really easy, and I've been really surprised."

Even after her treatments end, laser therapists said her increased willpower and weight loss should remain.

Costs for cold laser weight loss therapy start at $300 for a month of treatments. Although the therapy won't hurt anyone, right now there aren't any clinical studies to guarantee it can help people lose weight.

[TexasStooge]

ID sought in Haltom City case

911 callers described shadowy figure seen near body

By DEBRA DENNIS and JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News

HALTOM CITY, Texas – In a haunting 911 call made after a teenage girl's body was found Monday night in the courtyard of an apartment complex, callers describe seeing a "dark, shadowy" figure.

Lan Thuan Bui, 14, was found dead just yards from her mother's apartment in the 4800 block of Waldemar Street in Haltom City. Officials said the freshman at Trimble Tech High School in Fort Worth died of stab wounds to her neck and chest.

[TexasStooge]

Jailed man had shot another wife

Collin man charged in death of woman who named him in 911 call

By TIARA M. ELLIS / The Dallas Morning News

WESTMINSTER, Texas – A Collin County man charged in the shooting death of his wife last month served time in a Mississippi prison for shooting a previous wife more than 20 years ago.

Tammy Dawn Gardner managed to call 911 and name her estranged husband as her assailant after being shot in the head in her Westminster home, according to an arrest warrant affidavit for John Steven Gardner, 49.

Ms. Gardner, 41, died Jan. 26, three days after being shot.

Rhoda Gay Gardner died in February 1983 in much the same way. Two months after being shot by Mr. Gardner, she died from a brief illness, according to an obituary published in the local newspaper. She was 18 years old at the time.

Mr. Gardner pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to eight years in prison, according to Jones County, Miss., court documents.

Mr. Gardner has declined to comment. W.B. "Bennie" House Jr., Mr. Gardner's attorney, said he knew about the conviction but didn't feel comfortable talking about the current case against his client without more information about the evidence.

Last week before returning home to Indiana, Diane Glassel buried her daughter, Tammy, in a small Anna cemetery not far from her home in Westminster, a town of about 400 in northern Collin County.

She said she still has questions about her daughter's last moments and would like to hear what she said to the 911 dispatcher. Lt. John Norton, Collin County sheriff's spokesman, said the department is not releasing the 911 tape because it has information vital to the investigation.

"My daughter told them who killed her," Ms. Glassel said. "I would like to know who she talked to. How long did she talk? What did she say? I have so many questions. Some will never be answered, like why did he do this?"

Mr. Gardner was arrested in his hometown of Laurel, Miss., the same day Ms. Glassel made the decision to take her daughter off life support at Parkland Memorial Hospital.

John and Tammy Gardner were in the midst of a divorce, Ms. Glassel said. Mr. Gardner moved out of the couple's home a month ago and was living with family in Laurel, she said.

The couple had been married five years, and both had children from previous marriages. During that time, Ms. Glassel said, she never met Mr. Gardner, but that didn't stop her from disliking him.

Ms. Glassel said her daughter told her everything that happened in her life. But she refused to elaborate, saying that she didn't want to talk about anything that could interfere with a trial in her daughter's death.

"There was five years of ongoing abuse – both physical and mental. And that's all I'll say," Ms. Glassel said.

1982 shooting

Rhoda G. Gardner was a teenager working at Gibson's Discount Center when Mr. Gardner shot her in December 1982, according to the obituary. Mr. Gardner was 26 at the time.

Laurel police did not return phone calls to determine whether the illness that killed her was related to the shooting.

Court documents say that Mr. Gardner told the judge that he shot her with a .45-caliber Colt pistol that he took from a man he was living with.

Rhoda Gardner's family could not be reached for comment. According to the obituary, she was from McAllen, Texas, but had lived in the Laurel area for 15 years.

In between Rhoda Gardner and Tammy Gardner, Mr. Gardner was married to Sandra Gardner.

Sandy, as family members call her, did not want to comment. But her brother-in-law David Newman said family members distanced themselves from Mr. Gardner because of his brash attitude.

At the end of their seven-year marriage, Mr. Newman said, Mr. Gardner threatened Sandy Gardner when she tried to talk to him about child support.

"He told her, 'You keep on girl. I've got a bullet with your name on it,' " Mr. Newman said. As a result, he and his wife put new security at their office where his sister-in-law worked.

The scene

Yellow police tape still hangs from the tree in front of Tammy Gardner's white, wood house in Westminster.

Wood boards cover the front door that sheriff's officials had to break through to get to Ms. Gardner. A purple stuffed elephant rests on the passenger seat of her blue pickup that still sits in front of the house.

Ms. Gardner had three older brothers, two adult sons and a 14-year-old daughter, Ms. Glassel said.

"Her family was her life," Ms. Glassel said. "She was a little spitfire, who loved Texas. I thank God that He has a very feisty red-head angel on his hands."

[TexasStooge]

Survey: DISD parents want uniforms

Most parents, residents surveyed like idea of standardized dress

By TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Dallas school students won't have to fret about what to wear to class if some adults get their wish.

In a recent survey, an overwhelming majority of parents and residents in the Dallas Independent School District said they would like to see mandatory uniforms as early as next fall.

"Certainly, we don't want to see [the school board] move forward unless the people that we serve are in support," said DISD spokesman Donald Claxton. "The adults we surveyed believe student uniforms ... will have a significant impact on learning and safety."

DISD trustees may vote on the issue next month. Some trustees believe tougher dress standards will deter problems, including gangs.

In a survey mailed to randomly selected parents in early November, 76 percent of 673 respondents approved of uniforms at all grade levels.

Later that month, 79.5 percent of the 400 DISD residents contacted in a phone survey supported mandatory uniforms or standardized dress.

Ten percent of respondents in the phone survey said they were neutral on the idea, while 4.5 percent were "unfavorable," 3.5 percent were "very unfavorable" and 2.5 percent either didn't know or refused to answer the question. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.

Mandatory school uniforms were supported across ethnic lines – by 89 percent of Hispanics, 76 percent of whites and 72 percent of blacks. By gender, 80 percent of the men and 78 percent of the women contacted by phone supported mandatory uniforms.

[TexasStooge]

Officers accused of fighting each other

DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) - Two Dallas police officers were on administrative leave Wednesday after they were accused of fighting with each other in public while on duty.

Officers Jocelyn Jenkins and Tayana McElrath, who work in the Southeast Patrol Division, were at a fast-food restaurant near Interstate 30 and South Carroll Avenue about 1:30 p.m. when they started arguing, police said.

"The verbal confrontation escalated to a physical confrontation, and one may have minor injuries," Sgt. Gil Cerda said.

Dallas police Deputy Chief Patricia Paulhill, who oversees the Southeast Patrol Division, said one of the officers contacted her supervisor, and both returned to the Southeast substation before being placed on administrative leave.

Chief Paulhill said that she didn't know what started the argument but that both officers reacted poorly.

"It's an embarrassment to the department," Chief Paulhill said. "We don't condone these types of actions. It's totally inappropriate, and that's what we expressed to them."

Officers Jenkins and McElrath face criminal and internal investigations.

[TexasStooge]

Police Chase Suspect Through 5 Cities

Passenger Jumps From Moving Truck, Escapes

DALLAS, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- A violent police chase through Dallas County came to an end after Glenn Heights police pursued a suspect through five Dallas County cities Wednesday -- and every moment was caught on tape.

Glenn Heights police said the chase started immediately after Matthew Dickerson fled the scene of a domestic dispute in a stolen red pickup truck. His grandmother called 911.

Investigators said Dickerson has a history of auto theft and drug abuse. Officers believe he was under the influence during the chase.

Dickerson raced from Glenn Heights to Red Oak, and then through DeSoto, parts of South Dallas and Duncanville, where it appeared he was caught.

"He just backed into and assaulted a Duncanville officer," Lt. Steve Perry said.

As the chase continued, Dickerson's passenger jumped from the moving truck and took off.

Police finally closed in on Dickerson and arrestred him. They let the passenger go, saying he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[TexasStooge]

City's Racial Tensions Prompt Government Intervention

IRVING, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- A meeting called by the U.S. Department of Justice will take place Wednesday night in Irving to find resolutions to race-related issues involving the Irving Independent School District and the Irving Police Department.

The Community Services Division of the Justice Department contacted representatives of the Irving chapters of the NAACP and League of United Latin American Citizens after a fight at Irving High School.

Five Hispanic and five black students participated in the fight that occurred in the school's hallways last month.

The once predominantly white community now includes a mix of ethnicities. Anthony Bond, head of the local NAACP chapter, said the high-school fight and the recent indictment of an Irving police officer in the beating of a Hispanic male are symptoms of racial tensions in the Irving community.

"Irving is experiencing culture shock," Bond said. "We've not had the leadership on the city level, on the police department level (or) in the school district level in running things that reflect the diversity here. There's a disconnect."

Officials with the school district and the police department said they would reserve comments until after the meeting takes place.

[TexasStooge]

Rollover accident on 183 kills driver

By Domingo Ramirez Jr. - Star-Telegram Staff Writer

IRVING, Texas -- A Utah man was killed Tuesday night when he lost control of his Jeep on Texas 183 and it rolled over him after he was he was thrown out of it, police said Wednesday.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office identified the victim as Chad Gardner, 31, of Sand, Utah.

The accident occurred shortly after 10 p.m. in the 3400 block of Texas 183.

Gardner was driving a 2004 Jeep Rubicon in the eastbound lane of the highway when he attempted to exit the freeway, police said. Gardner lost control of his Jeep because he was driving too fast, according to police.

The Jeep left the road and rolled down an embankment, police said.

Gardner, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown out, police said.