News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Democrats' suit against PAC set for trial

At issue is whether ban on corporate money for campaigns was violated

By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN, Texas (Texas Cable News) – To the five defeated Democratic House candidates, the future of democracy in Texas is on the line. To the Republicans involved, the civil case is nothing but sour grapes.

Today, after years of accusations, criminal charges and political posturing, state District Judge Joe Hart will start deciding whether laws were broken and damages are deserved in the 2002 elections for the Texas House.

The elections left the GOP with control of the House for the first time in a century, elevated Tom Craddick to speaker and flung open the door to a conservative agenda that included congressional redistricting and massive budget cuts.

The question is, was it done legally?

Terry Scarborough, the attorney for the Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee and its treasurer, Dallas businessman Bill Ceverha, defended the Republicans' practices. He said there was nothing wrong with the way contributions were raised, spent and reported.

"We will defend what we did to the hilt," he said.

Two cases

For the first time, facts will be laid out in a civil case that unfolds in a Travis County courtroom. In many ways, the case parallels a grand jury investigation that already has led to indictments against eight corporations and three GOP operatives closely aligned with U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

At issue in both cases is whether Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee – a group founded by Mr. DeLay – found a way around a 100-year-old ban on corporate money in state campaigns, or whether it trampled that ban and broke the law.

The five Democratic plaintiffs lost races that were targeted by TRMPAC, which spent $600,000 in corporate money to help Republicans with polling, get-out-the-vote efforts and political consultants.

Craddick a witness

In dollars, the stakes are high enough: potentially millions in damages. But in careers, the stakes are higher. Mr. Craddick is a witness in the civil case, and he's already been put on notice that he also is the subject of continuing grand jury interest.

Bill Hammond, chief of one of the most powerful groups in the state – the Texas Association of Business – also is a witness and a grand jury target.

"This trial is about whether anonymous, out-of-state corporations are going to corrupt our political process," said Cris Feldman, an attorney representing the five suing Democrats. "Are our legislators going to be beholden to out-of-state boardrooms or Texas living rooms?"

Beyond campaign reports, this trial is about "taking a swipe at anyone they can along the way, most notably Craddick," Mr. Scarborough said.

Mr. Craddick was closely aligned with TRMPAC and attended its fund-raisers, distributed its contributions to lawmakers and kept in close touch with its directors. TRMPAC officials also seemed to promote Mr. Craddick's candidacy for speaker.

It is illegal in Texas to accept outside influence in the House speaker race, which is determined solely on a vote of the 150 members.

"They'll try to prove our only motivation was to elect Craddick as speaker," Mr. Scarborough said.

Mr. Feldman said he has subpoenaed the speaker because he is a central figure with TRMPAC.

"Craddick is an integral part of the entire big ball of wax," he said.

Mr. Scarborough countered that the Midland lawmaker was involved in TRMPAC only because he wanted to help fellow Republicans get elected. After all, he said of Texans for a Republican Majority, "our name kind of gives us away."

Craig McDonald, executive director of Texans for Public Justice, which filed the initial criminal complaint against TRMPAC, said he hopes the civil trial can be used to discourage illegal campaign contributions.

"We can't turn back the clock. But if TRMPAC or Tom DeLay or Tom Craddick need to be held accountable, this trial could be a step in that direction," Mr. McDonald said.

And he is hoping it will make the public better aware of how campaigns are run and financed by big-dollar special interests.

"The public is concerned that politicians aren't solving the problems that need to be solved. They're solving the problems of the big corporate donors," Mr. McDonald said.

Sherry Sylvester, spokeswoman for the state Republican Party, said Texans understand that the suit and criminal investigation are basic stagecraft.

"Many of the issues surrounding this trial correspond to the same line of thinking that we've gotten from the Democratic district attorney in Travis County," she said, referring to Ronnie Earle, who is investigating the criminal case. "It's akin to the partisan witch-hunt being conducted by the Travis County DA."
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BACKGROUND ON THE TRMPAC CASE

A guide to arguments in the case:

UNDISPUTED FACTS
It has been illegal for 100 years in Texas to use corporate or union money to fund a political campaign.
It is OK to use corporate money for the administrative costs of operating a political action committee.
Texans for a Republican Majority PAC spent $600,000 in corporate money in 2002. The Texas Association of Business spent $1.2 million in corporate money.
TAB, TRMPAC and two other Republican political committees targeted the same 23 House races.
The Republicans won 15 of the races, giving the GOP its first House majority in 130 years.
The victories allowed for the election of Tom Craddick as House speaker.

DEMOCRATS AND CAMPAIGN REFORMERS SAY:
Using corporate money in elections overwhelms the process and opens it to corruption.
Texas law was intended to follow federal law, which allows corporations to pay for only the administration of their own PACs.
TRMPAC officials conspired to break the corporate donation laws, thinking no one would notice because they disclosed the donations only in federal papers filed with the IRS.
The illegal infusion of corporate cash hurt the Democratic candidates in the targeted races.
Mr. Craddick, by helping distribute TRMPAC contributions, working with its fund-raisers and keeping contact with its officials, might have violated state law that prohibits outside parties from participating in a speaker's race.

REPUBLICANS SAY:
The lawsuit and criminal investigation are partisan sour grapes.
State corporate money law is vague and open to interpretation.
Corporate money can be used for polling, phone banks and fund raising because those are administrative costs for a political committee and because the corporate money wasn't a donation to any one candidate.
Even if there was coordination between different PACs, that's not illegal.
Yes, Mr. Craddick was interested in seeing Republicans elected to the House.

WHO'S SUING
Five Democrats defeated in House races: Paul Clayton, Mike Head, David Lengefeld, Ann Kitchen and Danny Duncan

WHO'S BEING SUED
Texans for a Republican Majority and its treasurer, Bill Ceverha

WHAT THEY ALLEGE
That TRMPAC solicited, accepted and expended illegal corporate contributions on behalf of Republican opponents.

POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES
The Democrats are suing for damages.

THE CRIMINAL CASE
The civil case closely parallels a grand jury investigation in which three Republican operatives and eight corporations have been indicted. Two of those indicted, TRMPAC director John Colyandro and Americans for a Republican Majority director Jim Ellis, were dropped from this lawsuit pending the outcome of their criminal trials. The grand jury continues to examine 2002 campaign financing.

Christy Hoppe

[TexasStooge]

Displaced sculptors scrambling to find new studio

By AMY JOHNSTON / KVUE ABC 24

AUSTIN, Texas - The Elizabet Ney Museum, a landmark Austin museum, has been awarded several grants and now plans to expand. But the expansion is leaving another group of artists without a home.

Bobby Pearl had sculpted at the Austin Sculpture Center for nearly 20 years.

"I felt very lonely until I found the school,” Pearl said. "I think it was in 1987."

Like hundreds of others, she spends hours perfecting her work. But being here doesn't sooth her soul like it used to.

"I go home and cry," she said.

That's because, come Monday, the Elizabet Ney Museum will have to take over this building.

A month ago, on a visit to the sculpture center you would have seen a beehive of activity. But the art and artists have been moving out.

"There's a tentative site, alternate site proposed, but that won't be ready at least for one-half a year," said Nancy Cardozier, executive director of the sculpture center. "And, in the meantime, we need a place."

They've known the change was coming for years, but they say it's not easy to find a couple thousand square feet of space for free.

They're hoping to keep their classes up and running.

"We teach sculpture cement and stone sculpture, wax sculpture, drawing," Cardozier said. "We need an angel."

Several sites have been discussed as possible locations, but nothing has been finalized.

It will now be up to neighborhood associations, the city and the sculptors to come to an agreement.

[TexasStooge]

Lexington school board to discuss video

AUSTIN, Texas (KVUE ABC 24) - The Lexington school board will hold a public meeting tonight to discuss a controversial video.

The video from Lexington High School's "Boot camp" showed male students being sprayed with water hoses and other things.

The video prompted has triggered controversy. Some involved said the drills were designed to build team unity.

An official complaint filed Friday claims the actions in the video could be criminal.

[TexasStooge]

Jury Sentences Day-Care Driver In Baby's Death

Driver Gets 10 Years Probation, 90-Day Work-Release Program Sentence

DALLAS, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- A day-care driver was sentenced to 10 years probation and a 90-day work-release program Monday for his role in the heat-related death of infant left inside a sport-utility vehicle.

Conrad Proctor, the driver for T&T Tots Day Care, had pleaded guilty to reckless injury to a child. A Dallas County jury deliberated three days before handing down his sentence.

Proctor could have received up to 20 years in prison.

Proctor testified that he placed 8-month-old Jordan Thomas in an unsecured car seat in the cargo area of a Chevrolet Suburban and forgot to unload him when he arrived at the center in August 2003.

No one noticed the child was not at the child care center until a relative came to pick him up later in the day.

[TexasStooge]

Keller High Wins Texas Academic Decathlon

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- Keller High School is the winner of this year's Texas Academic Decathlon.

The nine-member suburban Fort Worth team won the large-school division and edged out medium-school division winner Friendswood High to advance to the national meet.

The national meet will be in Chicago in April.

Palestine Westwood was the winner of the small-school division.

The large-school meet was in Corpus Christi, while the medium- and small-school entries competed in San Antonio.

[TexasStooge]

Motel Guest Finds Another Unconscious After Assault

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- A motel guest is in a Fort Worth hospital after another guest found him unconscious in his room.

Police said a woman walked by the room at the Fiesta Inn in the 3800 block of N Main Street and saw the door open at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

She walked inside, spotted the man and called for help.

Investigators said the man was assaulted and hit in the head.

No arrests have been made.

[TexasStooge]

Police Investigate Two Shootings, One Fatal

DALLAS, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- Dallas police Sunday investigated two shootings that occurred early Saturday morning.

Officers responded to a 911 call about shots fired in the 7400 block of Chaucer Place.

When they arrived, they found a man who had been shot to death.

Investigators said they do not have a suspect yet.

The other shooting happened at midnight at car wash on Fort Worth Avenue. The victim survived, police said.

Investigators are looking for a Latin male in his mid 20s, who was last seen wearing a red sweater when he ran away.

[TexasStooge]

Man Arrested For Radio Shack Robberies

Surveillance Footage Helps Police Nab Suspect

DALLAS, Texas (KXAS NBC 5) -- Surveillance tapes helped Dallas police nab a man they say is responsible for several robberies.

Officers arrested Paul Smith on Thursday and charged him with four robberies.

Someone recognized Smith from footage of a Radio Shack robbery that police released earlier this week.

Police said Smith is linked to robberies at fast-food restaurants, check cashing businesses and the chain of electronics stores.

[TexasStooge]

Lit Candle Sparks 2-Alarm House Fire

HOUSTON, Texas (KPRC NBC 2) - Firefighters were forced to call for help as a blaze at a northeast Houston home grew out of their control, officials told Local 2.

Houston firefighters arrived at the home in the 9400 block of Haddick at Snowden at about 3 a.m. to find heavy flames rising from the two-story home.

Firefighters said a second alarm was called because extra manpower was needed to contain the fire.

Officials said Pauline Wilson, the home's owner, escaped but suffered a minor burn injury to her arm. No other injuries were reported.

The homeowner told investigators that a candle burning in her bedroom sparked the fire.

Firefighters said the home was severely damaged.

[TexasStooge]

Higher co-pays hurt clinics, JPS told

By Mitch Mitchell, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - Higher co-pays that JPS Health Network officials wrote into policy last year have kept patients from making new clinic appointments, according to Health Network physicians and JPS research.

Ten of the 16 clinics examined during board of managers and finance committee meetings in February showed decreases in patient visits. Overall, there were 313 fewer clinic visits in the last quarter of 2004 than in the last quarter of 2003, and the clinics were more than 6,400 patient visits under budget, according to JPS figures.

In January 2004, Health Network trustees voted to double pharmacy co-pays to $10 for patients in the JPS Connection Program, a charitable care system. Co-pays for some medications increased more, and the number of prescriptions some patients could obtain were limited.

The co-pay increase for prescriptions was followed by another in October that boosted the cost of clinic doctor visits, diagnostic imaging, laboratory testing and other services.

Patients are saying to physicians that they cannot afford to pay the co-pay to see their doctor, pay another co-pay to fill their prescriptions and pay a third co-pay for lab work, said Wayne Williams, a physician and chairman of community medicine for the JPS Health Network.

"All these things hit at the same time," Williams said. "These patients can't afford their co-pays, and they end up getting sick and going to the emergency room."

But these patients might not visit the emergency room at John Peter Smith Hospital, Williams said. Patients who live in Arlington might very well go to a hospital near their home, such as Arlington Memorial Hospital.

"The patients are stretched thin," said Daniel Casey, chief medical officer. "The doctors are trying to help the patients compensate for all the extra burden that they didn't have a year ago."

Some health-network physicians cover multiple health concerns during one visit in an attempt to save money the patient would have to spend for additional visits, Casey said.

According to a report on clinic access by the Health Network's director of family medicine, Joane Baumer, the only change for patients visiting the clinic between 2003 and 2004 is the cost. In October 2004, inpatient faculty reported an increase in the number of patients who were out of medicines at the time of admission, the report said.

The report concluded that 71 percent of the patients sampled who had chronic conditions were out of medications prior to admission. The most common barrier those patients reported were the medication co-pays, the report said.

The cost of caring for seven patients with a certain diagnosis who stayed in the hospital for 4 ½ days is $24,700, the report said. The cost of caring for those same people on an outpatient basis (one clinic visit and medications for 90 days) would be about $700. Attempts to contact Baumer, the author of the report, were unsuccessful.

The change in the way physicians are treating their clinic patients may be one cause for the decline in clinic visits, Health Network administrators said, but it is not the only cause.

Other factors noted for the decline include:

* At the Diamond Hill clinic, two of the three physicians who left have not been replaced.

* As many as one-fourth of the patients who make clinic appointments fail to show up, said Wright Lassiter, Health Network vice president. Lassiter suggested that workers should start overbooking appointments at 125 percent, which would account for patients who miss their appointments.

* Some physicians were scheduling time off on the same days, making it difficult to cover patient load, said Ron Stutes, chief operating officer.

JPS Health Network

[TexasStooge]

Dad of child who shot mom left gun out

By Deanna Boyd, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - The father of a 5-year-old boy who accidentally shot his mother Sunday told police that he usually keeps the gun locked up but had inadvertently left it out on a nightstand.

Shawn J. Barker, a jailer with the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department, told detectives that he has a concealed-handgun license and carried the gun the day before the shooting, homicide Sgt. J.D. Thornton said.

Barker told police that he realized he had left the 9 mm semiautomatic handgun out inside his home in the 1600 block of Whispering Cove Trail after hearing a gunshot about 5:40 p.m. Sunday.

April Dawn Barker, 29, was sitting in a chair at her computer when police say the boy discharged the handgun once. The bullet struck April Barker in the back and exited the front of her body.

She was taken by helicopter ambulance to John Peter Smith Hospital where she was listed in serious condition Monday.

The boy, who suffered a laceration to the forehead when the gun recoiled, was treated at Cook Children's Medical Center and released.

Thornton said it is still under investigation whether the boy's parents will face charges.

The Sheriff's Department is conducting an internal investigation to see whether the shooting could have been prevented, said Terry Grisham, executive administrator. Grisham said Shawn Barker does not use a gun for his work as a jailer.

Grisham said Barker has recently been on family medical leave from the department, because of the birth of a child this month.

[TexasStooge]

'Hard decisions' ahead, Moncrief says

By Anna M. Tinsley, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - Saying he did not want Fort Worth to "fall behind," Mayor Mike Moncrief vowed Monday to focus the city's efforts on traffic, flooding, a growing homeless population and other problems.

Moncrief told more than 500 community and business leaders during his second State of the City address that the problems could bring Fort Worth to a standstill if they are not promptly addressed.

"Hard decisions are ahead and some may be unpopular, but we are not going to shy away," Moncrief said. "Every challenge will be met as if it is the opportunity of a lifetime."

Moncrief said repairing the drainage system could be costly, but that it is severely inadequate. The homeless population continues to increase, but community leaders are working to address both homelessness and hopelessness, he said.

And if the city doesn't improve streets, and reduce congestion, it risks becoming like a city to the south -- Austin.

"Friends, Fort Worth is not going to fall behind," Moncrief said. "We are going to swallow hard and make the tough decisions."

[TexasStooge]

Home builder dispute intensifies

By BYRON HARRIS / WFAA ABC 8

ARLINGTON, Texas - It seems reasonable that a bomb in your yard is worth complaining about, but a dispute in Arlington shows that doing so can get you in trouble with the law and with homebuilders.

Believe it or not, it's true - and it's spelled out in the details of a bare-knuckled fight between a consumer advocate, the home building industry and where it's leading.

At a public meeting in 2001, some residents of the Southridge Hills subdivision in south Arlington were told their neighborhood was once an abandoned Navy bombing range. What's come out of that discovery is an example of just how nasty conflicts can get between buyers and builders.

One homeowner insisted, "Is somebody gonna have to be injured, maimed, killed? What's it going to have to take to get some action?"

The Army Corps of Engineers has been looking at the problem for years.

"No one really foresaw that someone would be building subdivisions in these areas," said Dwayne Ford of the Army Corps of Engineers.

When Southridge Hills was built, bombs had been cleared from the surface, but there were many more underground. Soon, the Corps of Engineers will begin digging for them.

"It's very likely we'll recover a number of the Mark 23 (practice bombs)," Ford said.

Despite the bombs underground, builder KB Home built hundreds of houses on top. KB officials said the site was long ago "remediated", and certified by the U.S. government. The Corps of Engineers, however, said the site is a potential safety hazard, and is spending more than $1 million to clean it up.

"I was angry," said homeowner Beth Liebman. "I wanted an explanation, and I wanted to know why I was never told."

That's where Janet Ahmad comes in. As a founder of Homeowners for Better Building, or HOBB, Ahmad has become a symbol of homeowners' rights throughout the state.

Since the 1970s she's been crusading for improvements in homebuilding, first in San Antonio and then throughout the state. She has battled KB Homes over quality issues all over Texas, and she said the company should never have built homes at Southridge.

Meanwhile, homeowners have become concerned for their safety, and several have sued KB Home.

"The builder has not been honest with me," Liebman said.

Last November, Ahmad appeared in a News 8 investigation on building quality. Shortly afterward, News 8 received an e-mail from a member the Arlington law firm Bush and Motes, questioning Ahmad's reliability as a news source. The e-mail said, "Ms. Ahmad ... has twice been indicted over the last couple years by the Tarrant County District Attorney's office ... where she is accused, among other things, of planting bombs in the Southridge Development."

The e-mail was, at the very least, incomplete. It did not say Bush and Motes represents KB Home. It also did not state an indictment against Ms. Ahmad was dropped last summer; it was not intitiated by Arlington Police but by KB Home.

Ahmad does faces a misdemeanor charge in Tarrant County, which she is appealing; Bush and Motes declined an interview with News 8 because it is suing Janet Ahmad for $20 million.

The timing of the lawsuit was important in the battle between Ahmad and Texas home builders. It was filed two years ago when laws regulating homebuilding were before the Legislature. Ahmad wanted stiffer regulations, but she lost. The result was the newly formed Texas Residential Construction Commission, or TRCC.

It now costs a homeowner $350 to file a complaint before the commission - but all nine of the commission's members are from the homebuilding industry.

"I call them the nine foxes in the henhouse, and we've got to do something to get rid of those," Ahmad said.

Ahmad is not alone in her concern over Texas builders.

"It's a terrible situation for the homeowners today," said David Becka, who heads Take Back Your Rights.

One of Becka's worries is a new clause in many homebuyers' contracts. The clause severely restricts the rights of homeowners going through arbitration, and prohibits buyers from complaining to the Better Business Bureau, any newspaper, television station or Web site about their home. It even prohibits homeowners from putting signs in their yard concerning the condition of the home. The penalty for violating this clause is $2,000.

"Once you sign a contract with that clause in it, they have complete control over what happenes to that individual if there's a problem with their home... if there's poor construction," Becka said.

News 8 asked the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas about the no-complaint clause; they said they'd never heard of it. Representatives of The Certified Master Builders of Fort Worth said they had contracts like that, with a goal of reducing bad publicity.

One homeowner even told News 8 he was offered a settlement by KB Home, but only if he supplied information about Janet Ahmad.

[TexasStooge]

Highland Park doctor surrenders after standoff

By CYNTHIA VEGA / WFAA ABC 8

HIGHLAND PARK, Texas — A Highland Park physician is under arrest after a tense, six-hour standoff with police at his home.

Police said the incident began when Dr. William Scott Blessing, 59, was informed Monday night by Highland Park detectives that they intended to arrest him for aggravated assault following a complaint by his wife, Lisa.

Police said Blessing allegedly made violent threats to the detectives and then cut off communication with law enforcement officers.

A Dallas Police SWAT team, with help from Highland Park, University Park and SMU officers, surrounded Blessing's home in the 3300 block of Harvard Ave., aware that the anesthesiologist was armed with an AK-47 automatic rifle, shotguns, handguns and an array of ammunition.

The doctor surrendered to police at 3:15 a.m. after more than an hour. No shots were fired.

Records show that Blessing, who specializes in anesthesiology and pain management, is affiliated with Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

[TexasStooge]

Tow trucks to pick up pace in program

Trial effort will speed up response times on city's freeways

By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Fed up with habitually clogged freeways, a Dallas City Council committee approved a pilot program Monday designed to speed tow trucks to disabled vehicles twice as fast.

Under the program, the tow trucks, which contract with the city, will have 15 minutes instead of 30 minutes to respond to calls. The city plans to implement the program within six weeks, said John Brunk, assistant director of Public Works and Transportation.

Expedited responses will apply only to freeway incidents – other roads are excluded – such as accidents, car fires and stalled or abandoned vehicles. Such incidents account for about half of all traffic delays on freeways within the city limits, officials said.

All major freeways within Dallas, except for the Dallas North Tollway, are included in the trial.

"There's a definite need for a premium service on the freeways," Dallas police Lt. John Branton told council members.

The 30-day trial will also require that:

•Owners of disabled vehicles not blocking traffic lanes are allowed four hours to remove the vehicle without risk of towing. The standard tow fee is $95.

•The more than 40 towing companies contracting with the city rotate daily to cover freeways.

•The city and participating tow companies collaborate to share response time data.

After the trial period, the city staff will report its findings to the council in hopes of creating permanent rules on tow truck response times, Mr. Brunk said.

"But we might just keep going along with the 15-minute response in the meantime," he added.

Council members who serve on the Transportation and Telecommunication Committee hailed the program as a good first step toward keeping Dallas traffic flowing.

But obstacles to the goal remain, such as enforcing the 15-minute rule while lacking dispatch software that tracks emergency wrecker response time. Houston, for example, requires a six-minute response time.

And police and fire officials also contribute to traffic back-ups when they park their vehicles in open lanes of traffic when writing tickets or attending to accidents, committee chairwoman Sandy Greyson said.

Although police officials said this is often done to protect the emergency officials as well as the civilian motorists, "I'm not sure if angling a police car out into a lane of traffic is the best way to go. We need to look at this some more," Ms. Greyson suggested.

Council members cited several of their own experiences waiting for an hour or more in traffic because of emergency vehicles occupying otherwise clear lanes.

Lt. Branton said that he'd ensure officers avoid any unnecessary lane blockage but that the practice is sometimes necessary.

[TexasStooge]

Law would require birth control option at hospitals

By BRAD HAWKINS / WFAA ABC 8

DENTON, Texas - Texas hospitals whose mission statements don't allow for birth control may soon be forced to offer it.

More than 100 North Texans are hitting the road early Tuesday to lobby for reproductive rights in Austin.

When a victim of sexual assault walks into an emergency room looking for help, what Texas doctors can offer could soon be reshaped by lawmakers in Austin.

Two bills are moving through the Legislature. One would require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to patients who ask, while another bill would allow Texas pharmacists to refuse to fill those prescriptions.

Last February, protestors descended on an Eckerd drug store where three Denton pharmacists refused to give emergency contraception to a rape victim with a doctor's prescription. The pharmacy fired all three of them a week later.

Eckerd's policy mirrors the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, which said pharmacists can refuse to fill a prescription but only on medical grounds, rather than religious, moral or ethical reasons.

"This is not an abortion, this is merely birth control," said Planned Parenthood's Kathryn Allen.

Planned Parenthood of North Texas is bussing 150 supporters to Austin early Tuesday to lobby It's an arena where opponents say the government has no place.

"To oblige the hospital or the doctor to give this when it is against your morals and ethics ... I don't think that's the place of the government," said reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Martha Garza. "That worries me a lot."

Others fear legislation could set a dangerous precedent.

"(There could be) rogue pharmacists out there on their own, refusing to fill prescriptions that doctors have given to women - whether it be emergency contraception or birth control for married women who are seeking to limit their family size," said Allen.

[TexasStooge]

Mayor: Fort Worth remains a boom town

By KARIN KELLY / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - To many, the Fort Worth skyline may look much the same year to year.

But zoom in and you'll see that Cowtown is booming, Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief said Monday during his State of the City address.

With a marching band leading the way, Radio Shack employees seized the occasion to take a symbolic walk a couple of blocks from the old Tandy Towers to their new corporate headquarters - a move expected to be complete by the end of next month.

As the sun smiled on the crowd, hundreds enjoyed the event, including Radio Shack employees from other cities. Moncrief said it was symbolic of the success the city has enjoyed over the past twelve months.

"It's been a properous year full of accomplishments," Moncrief said. "The state of our city remains rock-solid."

600 business leaders heard the mayor's address, in which he called the economy "horseradish strong."

"If I were to give us a report card? A-plus, with a gold star," the mayor said.

Take downtown, for example. The worries over an office space glut of a million square feet due to moves by Radio Shack and Pier One disappeared when D.R. Horton took over Pier One's old office, and a developer purchased Radio Shack's former home with plans to convert at least one tower to condos.

Another half-dozen downtown living projects are in the works, and the formerly-tornado-damaged Tower project is spiffed up, sold out and ready for move-in.

Along West Seventh Street, a new bank building will go up, and a new hotel and townhome project is nearly completed. And, the renovation of Montgomery Plaza is well on its way, with major retailers including a SuperTarget already building their stores.

Moncrief believes Fort Worth attracts residents and companies with new home growth and a small-town friendliness.

[TexasStooge]

Lighters banned on planes

TSA rule takes effect April 14; matchbooks still OK, for now

By MICHAEL GRABELL / The Dallas Morning News

DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Texas - Cigarette lighters have gone the way of the box cutter and cuticle scissors.

Travelers will no longer be allowed to bring any type of lighter on airplanes, starting April 14, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday. But they can still bring up to four books of matches.

The TSA is still considering a ban on matches, but lighters are considered more dangerous because they last longer and are easier to ignite.

The ban follows a provision in the intelligence reform act that required the TSA to add butane lighters to the list of prohibited items.

"The FBI, when it did its investigation of Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, said that if he had a butane lighter, he would have succeeded in bringing down the American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami and killing all 197 people," said Barry Piatt, spokesman for Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who promoted the ban.

Currently, only torch lighters and novelty lighters that look like guns are forbidden. The TSA allows passengers to bring up to two lighters or four books of matches. Neither is allowed in checked bags because they are considered hazardous materials.

Smoking has been banned in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport terminals for more than 15 years, and the concession stands stopped selling lighters several months ago, said David Magaña, an airport spokesman.

Dallas Love Field has also banned smoking indoors and doesn't sell lighters.

Some security experts have criticized the new policy, saying focusing on objects diverts attention and resources from the real threat – people's intentions.

Shoe bombs pose "very little" threat to airliners, said Douglas Laird, a former Northwest Airlines security director.

"The chance of that kind of bomb ever being successful is rather remote," he said. And there are other explosives that only need a 9-volt battery, he said.

Some screeners say that some lighters, especially those made of plastic, may be difficult to detect.

Many nonsmokers, and even some smokers, at D/FW Monday said they had no problem with the ban on lighters.

"You can't smoke on planes anyway, so they're kind of pointless," said Eliel Lizardo, a nonsmoker from Arlington. "The only thing they can cause is a fire."

But others were critical.

"I think it's stupid," said Dan Wheeler as he smoked a cigarette during a layover from Oregon to Costa Rica on Monday.

"One guy tries to light his shoelace on fire, so now they're going to ban it for life," he said. "I could take flint and steel and rub them together and ignite it. Are they going to ban that?"

[TexasStooge]

Driver won't go to prison

Day-care worker who left baby in hot SUV gets probation, fine

By ROBERT THARP / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - A day-care center driver who left a baby to die of heat exhaustion in an SUV will not go to prison, jurors in his trial decided Monday.

Jurors deliberated more than 15 hours over three days before deciding early Monday to sentence Conrad Proctor to 10 years of probation and a $10,000 fine. Juror John Rodgers called the deliberations an extremely emotional process in which the panel finally agreed that Mr. Proctor's actions amounted to a "tragic mistake."

"Everyone in there had a very, very hard time," Mr. Rodgers said. "It was very tough to see that accidents do cause death and that there's nothing we can do about that."

Mr. Proctor pleaded guilty to the felony charge of reckless injury to a child at the start of his trial last week and went before the jury to receive punishment, ranging from probation to 10 years in prison.

After the jury assessed the punishment, prosecutors asked District Judge Mary Miller to add a 180-day jail sentence to the jury's ruling, which is allowed by law. Judge Miller instead added a 90-day work-release jail term.

In court testimony last week, Mr. Proctor admitted fault for placing 8-month-old Jordan Thomas in an unsecured car seat in the cargo area of the center's Chevrolet Suburban in August 2003. He said placing the baby in one of the vehicle's unoccupied rear seats with proper seat belts would have been "inconvenient" for the short trip he was making to the Red Bird-area day-care center.

Mr. Proctor said he forgot that the baby was in the vehicle after the other children were unloaded at T&T Tots Day Care and Learning Center. The child was found dead inside the vehicle later that afternoon.

Jurors were initially divided as to whether Mr. Proctor should spend time in prison. Mr. Rodgers said the panel was swayed by Mr. Proctor's emotional testimony and acknowledgment of responsibility for the child's death.

The child's relatives were disappointed by the punishment. Jordan's grandfather Decker Thomas said the family stands by the jury's decision although they believe that Mr. Proctor deserved prison time.

"We're not really pleased about it, but what can you say? He pleaded guilty, and the jury made their decision," Mr. Thomas said. "I expected them to be lenient, but I was stunned."

A spokeswoman for the Dallas County district attorney's office said the jury's decision would not affect two unrelated cases involving an owner and an employee of a different day-care center who said they did not realize a 2-year-old had been forgotten inside the center's van in May 2003.

Alan Devon Brown died four days after he was found inside the hot vehicle. The owner and an employee of the now-closed Little Dudes and Daisies Learning Center in Lancaster have been indicted on injury to a child charges.

Mr. Proctor was taken immediately to jail after the verdict and could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Craig Watkins, praised the jury's decision.

"It was just a mistake, even though the outcome was tragic," Mr. Watkins said. "We don't want to unjustly punish someone for making a mistake."

[TexasStooge]

Jail harbors staph that defies drugs

County says it lacks resources to battle, contain infection spread by inmates, staff to community

By JAMES M. O'NEILL / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Dallas County Jail health officials treated nearly 700 cases of a drug-resistant and potentially dangerous staph infection during a recent three-month period and warn that limited resources are thwarting efforts to prevent further spread of the bacterium in the community.

For more than a decade, jail health officials have been battling, with little success, thousands of cases of boils and sores on inmates caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. From November through January, health workers at the jail treated 682 confirmed or suspected cases of MRSA.

"It remains a big problem here," Dr. Steven P. Bowers, the jail's medical director, said Monday.

In addition to inmates, the infection afflicts the jail staff and their families. Since February 2002, Dallas County's employee health clinic has treated 123 cases among Sheriff's Department staff members.

The infection can be spread through physical contact or contact with surfaces touched by infected people. Once confined to hospitals, it is cropping up in the general public nationwide as well as jails across the country.

The Dallas County Jail, because it confines people who might come into contact with those infected and because of its generally unsanitary conditions, has become a haven for the bacterium.

Texas has become a hot spot for MRSA outbreaks, a researcher with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in December. Parkland Memorial Hospital has seen a steady rise in infections since 2000, handling 364 cases that year, compared with 1,233 in 2004.

For the most part, MRSA manifests itself as a skin boil. In some cases it can attack internal organs, and without proper draining and treatment, it can be deadly.

"It's alarming to see the numbers growing," said Rita Espinoza, a state health department epidemiologist. She said many people blame overuse and misuse of antibiotics for the increase, fueling the bacterium's swift transformation to resist front-line antibiotics.

"The concern is that as it resists more and more antibiotics, we'll eventually have no treatment at all," Dr. Bowers said.

Stemming growth

Jails across the country have been grappling with MRSA for several years. Los Angeles, with the largest county jail in the nation, first identified the problem in 2002. It saw MRSA cases increase from 921 that year to 2,480 in 2004.

When the number of cases doubled at Florida's Palm Beach County Jail in 2004, county health officials there threatened to take the jail and its private medical provider to court if the outbreak wasn't controlled.

Los Angeles officials instituted more stringent measures to counter the outbreak, requiring inmates who enter the jail with a boil or sore to be isolated and tested. Those who test positive for MRSA are further isolated and treated with aggressive antibiotics.

Dallas County Jail officials have adopted measures to stem the wave of infections. But without more stringent measures, such as those used in Los Angeles, the number of cases is not likely to decline, Dr. Bowers said. He said that because the problem is spreading through the general community, many of the 250 or so booked into the jail each day have the infection when they arrive.

Normally, the jail staff washes down cell walls, floors and other surfaces twice a week. But eight months ago, in a bid to quell the staph infections, jail officials added a third washing each week, with bleach and water, said Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Edgar L. McMillan Jr. He said employees have also been issued latex gloves, and workers and inmates have been given antibacterial soap.

Health officials also created a video for inmates outlining how to reduce their risk of getting the bacterium.

Dr. Bowers said the measures help a bit but are not likely to make a big dent in cases.

"The only way to significantly diminish the cases is to follow the example of Los Angeles County," he said.

But the Dallas jail's staffing shortages and space limitations, which make it difficult to isolate and screen suspected MRSA carriers, make the Los Angeles strategy virtually impossible to carry out, he said.

Another complication is the Dallas jail's lack of cleanliness.

"That's a very big issue," Dr. Bowers said. "And the Sheriff's Department personnel are doing everything they can with the resources they currently have. But attention has not been paid to the needs of this institution."

Monitoring outbreaks

There is no requirement to report MRSA cases, so the state has no statistics on outbreaks. But many health officials are concerned about the surprisingly swift spread of the bacterium through the general population, and the Texas Department of State Health Services convened a conference on the issue last fall.

When Dr. Bowers first started working at the jail in 1990, he noticed cases in which inmates complained of spider bites. Inmates caught spiders and gave them to the staff, and some assumed that the culprits were brown recluse or black widow spiders. Suspicious, Dr. Bowers asked for help. An entomologist from the Texas A&M University extension service conducted a detailed study of the facility in 2001. He found no evidence of brown recluse spiders, black widows or any other vector that would have caused the wounds.

After starting to culture the wounds, Dr. Bowers' staff detected a pattern of MRSA. "It became obvious that spider bites were not the culprit," Dr. Bowers said. With help from Parkland Hospital's infectious disease control unit, the county wrote recommendations for combating the infections in December 2001.

In 1995, Dr. Bowers' 13-month-old son developed an abscess in the lung, which in retrospect the physician concluded was a case of MRSA.

"I probably took it home with me from the jail, even that far back in time," he said.