News from the Lone Star State

Chat about anything and everything... (well almost anything) Whether it be the front porch or the pot belly stove or news of interest or a topic of your liking, this is the place to post it.

Moderator: S2k Moderators

Message
Author
User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1481 Postby TexasStooge » Sat May 07, 2005 10:39 am

City steps up replacing police cars

Acting manager wants to get high-mileage vehicles off the road

By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - City officials decided this week to ramp up efforts to prepare new Chevrolet Impala police cars for service after it was reported that self-imposed deadlines to improve the aging squad car fleet were being missed.

"We're going to be processing three to four cars a day until the end of July to get them on the road," acting City Manager Mary Suhm said Friday. "My goal is to get the high-mileage cars out of the fleet and get them the equipment they need."

Ms. Suhm made this decision after a Dallas Morning News story that found that city officials had missed one self-imposed deadline and were on course to miss a second.

In January, Ms. Suhm pledged to remove marked squad cars with more than 125,000 miles from service by March and to further lower the age of the fleet by July so that no squad cars with more 100,000 miles were on patrol.

The industry standard is to replace cars when they reach about 100,000 miles on the odometer. Although the numbers change daily as new cars are put into service, about 140 squad cars have between 100,000 and 125,000 miles on the odometer, and about 40 squad cars have more than 125,000 miles, police said.

At the previous pace of six to 10 Impalas hitting the streets each week, it would have been this fall before all the Chevrolet Impalas would have been in service.

A series of glitches – including the lack of correctly sized car decals and spare tires – had hampered reaching Ms. Suhm's goal, officials said.

Police have complained that the condition of police cars is so poor that many are often out of service, leaving officers standing around at patrol stations waiting for good cars to drive when they need to be answering calls.

Ms. Suhm said Friday that she had ordered the city's equipment building services, communications services and the Police Department to expedite the process of getting the remaining 200 or so Chevrolet Impalas into service.

"All of them will have to coordinate, and I told them that I wanted that coordination to happen," she said. "It'll be a little bit of overtime for everybody."
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1482 Postby TexasStooge » Mon May 09, 2005 8:21 am

Student killed at after-prom party

By REBECCA RODRIGUEZ / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - One Fort Worth high school student is dead and another is hospitalized after a shooting at a prom night party early Sunday morning.

A group of teens were gathered at a private home in the 3900 block of Stanley Avenue when shots rang out and Trimble Tech High School senior Victor Barragan was killed.

At Barragan's home, family members spent Mother's Day shrouded in grief.

"He's a good student, a good brother and a good son," said sister Joanna Barragan, who spoke for the family. "He was friendly ... nice, real sweet."

The 18-year-old was supposed to graduate in two weeks and planned on going to college. He was a popular football player at Trimble Tech, and friends can't explain why he would have been a target.

"He was leaning against a Suburban talking to some friends when some mysterious guy just came from the railroad tracks and started shooting," said witness Michael Ojeda. "He just shot into the Suburban, hit the girl and hit my friend."

The friends had gathered for a party after their senior prom. No one can make any sense of the violence.

"He was always calm at school and everything with his friends," said friend Javier Sandoval.

"I don't know why anybody would do anything like that. To me, I think it was cowardice to sneak up in the middle of the night when no one even did anything to you."

The other victim, a female, remained hospitalized Sunday for her injuries. Police are still looking for the gunman; they don't have a motive, but said they don't think it was gang-related.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1483 Postby TexasStooge » Mon May 09, 2005 8:22 am

Police chase ends in crash

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A driver was in custody after a high-speed chase through Northeast Dallas early Monday.

Police said the man — who had outstanding warrants in several cities — refused to pull over around 2 a.m.

He finally came to a stop when his 1999 Ford Explorer struck a light pole and traffic signal on Oak Lawn at Avondale avenues.

Police said the man, whose name was not available, is a registered sex offender. They found photos of children and drug paraphernalia inside his vehicle.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1484 Postby TexasStooge » Mon May 09, 2005 8:24 am

Fort Worth man tried to kill mom, police say

FORT WORTH, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - On the eve of the day Americans pause to honor their mothers, a 46-year-old Fort Worth man was jailed for trying to kill his mother.

The attempted murder happened about 1:30 p.m. Saturday at a residence in the 2500 block of Salisbury.

Police said Santiago Gallegos got upset with Margarita Gallegos, 70, because she wouldn't buy him cigarettes. After an argument, Gallegos allegedly took his mother's wheelchair out of the room and left her on her bed..

Police said he then turned on a natural gas valve inside the house and also turned up the gas up on a stove. He then allegedly lit a candle and left the house.

The elderly woman crawled out of the home and managed to call her daughter for help.

Margarita Gallegos was not hurt.

WFAA-TV assignment editor Gerardo Lopez contributed to this report.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1485 Postby TexasStooge » Mon May 09, 2005 8:38 am

City takes gamble in fake-drug lawsuit

Dallas stands by settlement offer as jury begins weighing payout to wrongly accused man today

By ROBERT THARP / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Abel Santos is scheduled to go before jurors in a federal court today to ask them to put a price tag on his ordeal: The 30-year-old Mexican immigrant was wrongly jailed for four months and deported to a country he had not known since he was 10 during the infamous Dallas fake-drug scandal.

The city is not contesting its liability in dozens of fraudulent arrests of mostly innocent immigrants who had bogus narcotics planted on them in 2001, so the only question for jurors to determine is the monetary value of Mr. Santos' experience.

It's risky. By heading to trial fully accepting responsibility for the wrongful arrest, the city will be required to pay court costs and attorney fees for all parties, along with the costs of its own outside attorneys and civil attorneys representing former detective Mark Delapaz, who has already been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the cases.

Dan Boyd, a local lawyer not involved in the case, said the city could be playing a game of legal brinkmanship, waiting until a trial is imminent before putting up more money.

"The city looks so bad and the public knows so much about the scandal, they'd be taking a risk that a jury would really go nuclear on them," Mr. Boyd said.

Mr. Santos' attorney, Don Tittle, said city officials have done little to avoid a jury trial in Mr. Santos' case. The city paid out a combined $5.6 million to 16 victims in February.

City attorneys offered a new round of settlements last week – approximately $1.15 million tentatively accepted by three additional victims. Mr. Tittle would not say what Mr. Santos has been offered except that it was not in the range of payments to other victims who spent long stretches in jail – typically about $300,000 to $480,000.

City attorneys declined to discuss specifics of Mr. Santos' case or the other settlements. Interim City Attorney Tom Perkins said the city has tried to settle the most serious cases.

"We've tried to resolve as many of the cases as we thought appropriate," he said in an April 27 interview, adding that going to trial with Mr. Santos is the "only option available."

Mr. Tittle questioned whether the city has tried hard enough.

"There's always an option to resolve a case," he said. "Clearly the same option was available on this case that was available on every other case."

City Council members said they do not know the criteria that city attorneys have used to calculate their settlement offers. Council member Elba Garcia said she has been assured that the city has settled the worst of the cases.

Based on court files and police records, it's unclear how Mr. Santos' case differs from those that prompted the highest cash settlements.

Mr. Santos, whose only previous criminal offense was a car burglary when he was a teenager, was arrested in July 2001 as he returned to the Fort Worth Avenue auto-repair business where he worked. Mr. Delapaz had alleged that 24 pounds of what was believed to be cocaine found in the back of an abandoned pickup belonged to Mr. Santos. The substance was later revealed to contain no real drugs.

Mr. Santos lingered for months in jail before his case was dismissed and he was deported. He now lives in Monterrey, Mexico, selling cars. His attorney says he was offered significantly less settlement money than some victims who had serious criminal offenses on their records or who spent only a few days in jail on false charges.

Like three-quarters of the victims touched by the scandal – including those who received the highest settlement offers – Mr. Santos was living in the United States illegally at the time of his arrest.

Last month, a jury convicted Mr. Delapaz of lying to a judge in order to secure a search warrant in one of the cases. He remains free after posting a bond until his appeal has been considered.

Three other former officers face criminal indictments on charges that they lied to authorities or forged documents. Six former confidential informants also have been indicted in the theft of police money.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1486 Postby TexasStooge » Mon May 09, 2005 8:40 am

Plan: Principals would speak Spanish

By VANESA SALINAS / Al Día

DALLAS, Texas - A Dallas schools trustee is concerned that principals at schools where most of the students have difficulty speaking English may not be able to communicate with them or their parents.

Joe May said he would discuss with his Dallas school board colleagues on Tuesday the possibility of requiring that principals who work in these schools commit to learning Spanish.

"We want to make the principal more accessible to the children and the parents of children with limited English proficiency, and we want to encourage parental involvement," Mr. May said. "The inability of a principal to communicate with a majority of the students' parents in itself discourages parental involvement."

Mr. May said his proposal would apply to principals at schools where at least half the students are or were classified as "limited English proficient." Principals would have to be proficient in the primary language of those students.

The Dallas school district says it has 42 schools in which at least half the students have limited English proficiency. A total of 100 DISD schools have a student population in which the majority of students are or were classified as such. Forty of those schools have principals who don't speak Spanish, according to DISD documents.

While other trustees and the head of Dallas' Hispanic School Administrators Association said the idea has some merit, they would like more details. Trustee Ron Price said the district needs to ensure it can legally require principals to speak languages other than English.

"I've never heard this happening anywhere else in the United States, so we need to make sure this passes the legal test to say that you have such a policy," Mr. Price said.

Sylvia Fuentes, principal of Obadiah Knight Elementary and president of Dallas' Hispanic School Administrators Association, said it might be better for the district to encourage, but not require, its principals to speak the language of the majority of its students.

"I do think it would be better than 'required' to say 'preferred' and that they would make sure that the district would [support] the administrators in attaining the second language," Ms. Fuentes said.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1487 Postby TexasStooge » Mon May 09, 2005 8:41 am

Mother's Day gift hits home for widow

For sons who benefited from her sacrifices, bungalow is truly where the heart is

By KRISTINE HUGHES / The Dallas Morning News

FRISCO, Texas – Sandra Cain had her eye on a cute, little three-bedroom bungalow across the street from one of her eight children among the farmers' fields in far northwest Frisco.

So she was disappointed when she drove up on Mother's Day and saw the "Sold" sign out front.

The 66-year-old widowed teacher hopes to retire next year and had looked into buying the house to be closer to her grandchildren. She even scolded her son Mark, a real estate agent, for letting the place slip through his fingers.

Her mood brightened a few minutes later, though, when she opened a watch box containing the keys.

"I asked you if it was sold, and you told me it was," she squealed above the excitement of everyone attending the family celebration.

"It was sold," he answered. "I bought it." For her.

Mark Cain, 38, is Mrs. Cain's fourth child and oldest son. After her husband's death in 1980, she never remarried, never even dated, he said.

As a widow with eight children, she didn't think anybody would want her.

Besides, she had her hands full. After going back to school to get a teaching degree she went to work full time in the Mesquite school district, where she teaches sixth grade at Rugel Elementary School.

"My mother's whole life has been about putting her children first," he said, adding that she made many sacrifices so they could have as normal a life as possible.

They were able to join Scout troops and go to church camp, take piano, cello and viola lessons, play tennis, soccer and football, be on the drill team and cheerleading squad, get their teeth straightened and vision corrected, have cars and car insurance and even take school trips abroad.

Mrs. Cain's priorities haven't changed now that they're adults, either.

She is the legal guardian of her youngest daughter's first child, who has significant health needs, and she helped Mark get established in the real estate business after he was laid off from a market research job in 2001.

It was something Mark always wanted to do, and he's been very successful. He works with the Dave Perry-Miller team at Prudential Texas Properties and has been voted among the top 1 percent of agents in Dallas two years running.

That's one of the reasons he was able to buy the 20-year-old house for his mother, with some assistance from his brother Matthew, 31, who will be her new neighbor.

They both wanted to give back a little of what they've gotten from her through the years.

"It's not like I'm rich by any stretch," Mark said. "So it is a bit of a sacrifice, but it's a willing one."

Four of her other children and many of her 21 grandchildren were just as astonished Sunday, and they agreed the gift was well deserved.

"Mom is the quintessential mother," said Alice Cain, 41, who Mark flew in with her three children from Salt Lake City as part of the surprise.

The entire brood walked across the street to have their first Mother's Day meal in her new home.

Standing in the empty living room with her grandchildren's laughter echoing around her, Mrs. Cain struggled to find words to explain how she felt.

"I've often wondered what it would feel like to win the lottery," she said. "This exceeds it because of the emotion, the commitment, the love."
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1488 Postby TexasStooge » Tue May 10, 2005 8:22 am

3 in custody after 2-county chase

By CYNTHIA VEGA / WFAA ABC 8

TERREL, Texas - Police took three robbery suspects into custody early Tuesday after they led officers on a chase through Dallas that ended in Kaufman County.

The pursuit started shortly before midnight Monday after police spotted a vehicle believed to have been used in several armed robberies in Old East Dallas.

Police said they chased three men to an apartment complex in the 4900 block of East Side Avenue. One of the suspects surrendered, but then the driver rammed three squad cars and attempted to run down an officer.

Police opened fire on the vehicle, but the chase continued down East Side to Munger Boulevard and onto U.S. 175. The suspects were observed throwing items out the windows during the pursuit, police said.

The other men were finally arrested in Kaufman County after they struck another squad car, lost control of their vehicle and crashed in a field shortly after midnight.

"We're just glad that this came to a safe resolution," said Dallas police Senior Cpl. Donna Hernandez.

The suspects are likely to face charges of armed robbery and aggravated assault.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1489 Postby TexasStooge » Tue May 10, 2005 8:26 am

Fake-drug report spreads blame

By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - The Dallas County district attorney's office is being accused of, among other things, inexcusable neglect for its role in the fake-drug scandal.

That criticism came in the form of a report released Monday by special prosecutors brought in by District Attorney Bill Hill himself.

The report was generated by Houston attorney and deputy special prosecutor Jack Zimmermann who, instead of investigating the police, looked at just about everyone else involved in the scandal.

"Let me just say this was an assignment that I don't expect to have any friends in Dallas when I leave," Zimmermann said.

His report found no criminal wrongdoing in connection with the scandal, but did identify "sloppy police work" and "bad defense attorneys", and added the district attorney's office shares the blame.

"Because something went wrong. Even though there wasn't a crime discovered on the part of these individuals

The report faults the DA's office, saying prosecutors "should have asked more questions ... should have recognized inconsistencies and ... should have immediately suspected something was amiss."

But the report also adds that prosecutors were "overloaded and had far too many cases to handle", and that led to "inexcusable neglect in some cases."

Zimmermann's report went on to say Hill was ultimately responsible.

Three years ago, Hill was quick to defend his troops.

"I really applaud my staff for finding out about something being wrong, and doing something about it as quickly as they did," he said in 2002.

Hill declined to interview with News 8 on camera, but in a written statement said, "Even though there was no evidence of a crime, there clearly were problems that needed to be addressed."

Hill said, "I am encouraged to find that the majority of the recommendations made in this report have already been implemented."
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1490 Postby TexasStooge » Tue May 10, 2005 8:35 am

Sisters perish in Fort Worth house fire

By KARIN KELLY / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas — Two young girls were killed when a smoky fire swept through their one-story frame house on the south side of Fort Worth Monday morning.

Firefighters said they arrived at the scene in the 1200 block of East Baltimore Avenue within two minutes of the first alarm at 8:50 a.m.

"It was already very intense in the back portion of the house, so obviously, firefighters already had their hands full," said Fort Worth Fire Department spokesman Lt. Kent Worley.

Investigators believed the two girls—Alliyah McCaa, 3 and her sister Savanah, 4—perished in the smoke and fire before they could be rescued.

Their mother and father were at work at the time; an older sister had left for school.

A live-in babysitter was able to escape, rescued by neighbor Willie Jones. He broke out a window in the front of the home.

"I pulled her on out, and she said her kids was in there," Jones recalled. "I asked, her, 'what room?' And she said, 'In the back room.' And I ran around the back and... hey, the back room's on fire."

The babysitter, identified as Billie Anderson, 26, told investigators she had been asleep and woke up to heavy smoke in the house, which was built in 1924, according to tax records.

Within the hour, Maria Ortega, the distraught mother of the two children, arrived at the scene. Firefighters led her away.

Dozens of neighbors watched from the street, sickened at the tragedy before them, just one day after Mother's Day.

Investigators were unable to determine a cause, but said the children did have a history of playing with fire.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1491 Postby TexasStooge » Tue May 10, 2005 8:36 am

Kidnapped Irving woman rescued in Montana

IRVING, Texas/BILLINGS, Mont. (WFAA ABC 8/AP) — A kidnapping that began in Texas has ended near Billings, Montana with the rescue of an Irving woman.

On Saturday, Yellowstone County Deputy Cliff Mahoney saw a man and woman outside a truck from Texas, in a parking lot in Lockwood, Montana.

The woman seemed to be trying to get the deputy's attention without the man noticing.

Mahoney had dispatch run the truck's license plate through the national crime computer, and the vehicle came back as wanted in Texas in connection with a missing person's report.

The deputy called for backup and officers confronted the couple.

The 32-year-old woman from Irving said she had been held against her will for two weeks by her estranged husband, Ruben Terrazas, 34, of Hurst.

He was jailed in Yellowstone County and charged with aggravated kidnapping.

Bedford police, who are involved in the investigation along with Irving police and the FBI, asked that the woman's name be withheld due to the possibility of sexually-related offenses.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1492 Postby TexasStooge » Tue May 10, 2005 12:32 pm

Lewd men terrorize Denton neighborhood

By MARY ANN RAZZUK / WFAA ABC 8

DENTON, Texas — Denton police are searching for three men who are suspected of exposing themselves to women who live near the University of North Texas campus.

UNT student Larissa Lyon found one of the men lurking outside a window as she was making a routine trip to the laundry room at her apartment complex.

"It was at 5 o'clock in the afternoon; it was in broad daylight; I couldn't believe it," she said."

Lyon immediately called police. Hers is one of 17 reports that have been filed in the last six months, but police said they believe more cases may have gone unreported.

Police said the three suspects act alone—often during the day—at apartment complexes near the campus.

Sometimes the incidents begin with the men asking for directions; other times, there is no warning.

Police now fear these acts could escalate to violence and are warning women to be aware of the potential danger. "If this doesn't work here by exposing themselves, then are they going to progress to sexual assaults," said Denton police spokesman David Stewart.

Because the victims have only been able to give police vague descriptions, investigators are working long hours to identify them.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1493 Postby TexasStooge » Wed May 11, 2005 8:28 am

Boy, 3, may have witnessed mom's murder

By JIM DOUGLAS / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas — Residents in a Northwest Fort Worth neighborhood found a toddler wandering the streets alone on Tuesday afternoon.

The three-year-old boy spoke no English. Hours later, when police investigators finally determined where the boy lived, they found his mother and stepfather dead of gunshot wounds in a house five blocks away.

Police said it appeared that the traumatized child may have witnessed what happened at his home in the 5700 block of Sea Breeze Lane near Lake Worth.

"It's a pretty significant way for a child—three years old—to wander over there, and finally someone observed him, got a hold of him," said Fort Worth police Lt. Billy Cordell. "He was crying, very upset."

Detectives said a weapon was found near the dead man and that the case was being investigated as a possible murder-suicide. Identities of the victims were not released.

The boy was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services. Police were reviewing their records to see whether there had been any previous domestic violence incidents at the address.

WFAA-TV reporter Cynthia Vega contributed to this report.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1494 Postby TexasStooge » Wed May 11, 2005 8:31 am

Acceleration issue still dogging Ford

By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA ABC 8

All across the country, injured drivers are telling horrifying stories of crashes due to the unexplained acceleration of their vehicles.

While automakers say drivers are at fault in every case, others say the evidence continues to mount regarding a fatal flaw with older-model Ford Explorers.

Case after case of unexplained acceleration began surfacing back in the 1980s. A government report at the time dismissed those reports, and the issue faded. But did the problem really go away?


It was April 11, 2002.

18-year-old Lauren Billman of Plano was driving home from drill team practice when her world suddenly turned upside down.

"I'm going about 60 miles per hour on the toll road," Billman recalled. "I go to brake and it's like, it just starts speeding up and you just feel the force going forward, and there's nothing you can do - it's just a helpless feeling."

Her 1996 Ford Explorer would not stop despite, she said, repeatedly pushing both feet on the brake.

"I thought I was going to die," Billman said. "I was thinking in my head, I was going to die, I'm gonna die."

She steered the vehicle to the exit ramp and through the toll booth. During the event, her parents happened to call.

"I said, 'Baby, where are you?' And she goes, 'I'm on the tollway,'" her father Brad remembered. "And I said, 'What's wrong?' and she goes, 'My brakes won't work'. And then she goes, 'Daddy, what do I do?' and then the phone went dead."

Lauren lost control and slammed into a bridge support. Trapped inside the mangled wreckage was a teen fighting for her life - and possibly the answer to a troubling mystery.

"And then to find out that this is a fairly well-known thing - and as we go further we find out there are hundreds of cases against them for this same type of thing - the anger really starts to build," Brad Billman said.

That anger also builds within Tony Anderson of Tyler. Anderson was a mechanic at a Ford dealership in 1999 when an Explorer being eased up to a diagnostics machine mysteriously accelerated, pinning him between the hood and the machine.

Anderson remembers little more than the roar of the engine and the panicked look on the driver's face.

"He had me pinned over the hood of the car, looking him straight in the eye, so the motor was at a high RPM like the throttle was wide-open," Anderson said.

The driver swore his foot was off the accelerator. Another co-worker said he dove into the car, shifted it into reverse and watched it speed backward and slam into a pole, tires still spinning.

In a videotaped deposition, when that co-worker Randy Wilburn was asked if the tires were still spinning and the RPMs were still running high, he replied, "Correct, and I switched it off."

Despite witness accounts, Ford maintains it was the driver's fault. Anderson's attorney said that's absurd.

"The wheels continued to spin even after they hit the pole - still squealing, still moving backwards," Anderson's attorney Chuck Cowan said. "It tells me that the motor was still revving and that it wasn't operator error."

Cowan also points to Ford's own vehicle service reports on dozens of other 1997 Explorers around the country.

- At a Ford dealership in New Jersey "the vehicle suddenly accelerated."

- In New York, a customer complained his "car is surging out of control".

- In Kentucky, "the accelerator stuck and the customer ran into a telephone pole."

In case after case, state after state, the same reports that the vehicle suddenly accelerated.

Clarence Ditlow with the Center for Auto Safety has co-authored a book titled Sudden Acceleration. He said Ford is well aware of the problem - and not just in 1997 Explorers.

"They've made band-aid approaches in trying to reduce it, but we still have various Ford vehicles in the 1990s and now into the 2000s that continue to have sudden acceleration incidents," Ditlow said.

And then there's a 1999, internal e-mail from a Ford engineer, giving two co-workers the "heads up", adding that "I think our unexplained acceleration issue may start to heat up soon."

The note continued, "We learned today that one of Ford's vice-presidents hit a telephone pole with his Navigator due to unexplained acceleration," and "also ... (I) just looked at another Expedition that on a 'resume' command kept accelerating beyond the set speed and wouldn't respond to brakes."

So what is causing the problems?

Billman's lawyers said in their case, rust and grime buildup found in the wreckage caused the accelerator cable to stick. Attorneys for Tony Anderson blame something called electro-magnetic interference.

"You can't re-create it; there's no evidence left behind to prove it existed," Cowan said. "We know what it is, we know what causes it, but there's no evidence left."

And that is precisely Ford's response. They point to "an utter lack of empirical data to support their theory, and unequivocal engineering evidence to the contrary."

Ford also points to an investigation done five years ago by the federal government, which stated, "To date, no one known to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found any credible evidence that sudden acceleration incidents are occurring as a result of simultaneous, undetectable, electrical and mechanical failures."

What is happening all over the country, according to Ford, is the same thing it says happened to Lauren Billman.

"They told me that I must have had my foot on the gas instead of the brake when I was braking, and I had a mix-up, but that wasn't the case," she said. "I knew that wasn't the case."

By all accounts Billman is lucky to be alive to refute Ford's claim. Her father said he hopes Ford will eventually listen.

"You guys need to do something," he said. "You guys need to educate ... you guys need to figure out the situation with this."

Ford has settled lawsuits with both Anderson and Billman without admitting liability.

It's worth noting that in sudden-acceleration lawsuits that went to trial, juries have sided with Ford in almost all of the cases.

But regardless of who is at fault, the most important thing you need to know is this: if your vehicle takes off unexpectedly and the brakes don't work, shift into neutral and coast to a stop. It could save your life.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1495 Postby TexasStooge » Wed May 11, 2005 8:34 am

Study: Wright's end would have 'major' impact on D/FW

By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8

DFW INT'L AIRPORT, Texas - Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport released a new study predicting it will lose hundreds of flights and millions of passengers if the Wright Amendment is repealed.

Even though the study paints a gloomy economic picture if the law limiting flights at Dallas Love Field is lifted, the forecast regarding lower fares and D/FW's overall financial health is much different.

Bright Ogbogu and Michelle Ross arrived at D/FW Tuesday for their flight to Frankfurt and then to Nigeria, grateful that they have choices when flying internationally from the airport.

"You can find the cheapest fare," Ogbogu said. "If you don't want to take a certain airline for any particular reason, you can fly one of your particular choice."

But D/FW's new study concludes an opened-up Love Field would pull away domestic flights feeding international routes, and there would fewer foreign flights.

"It will have a major impact upon the economy," said D/FW's Kevin Cox.

Overall, the study by a Boston aviation consultant forecasts D/FW would lose up to 204 daily flights and 21 million passengers a year.

In the extreme scenario, the study assumes the master plan limiting flights and the number of gates at Love Field would also dissolve, which could triple the number of flights and impact neighborhoods around the Dallas airport.

"It would disrupt the balance that we currently enjoy," said Rudy Longoria of the Love Field Citizens Action Committee..

But an official at Southwest Airlines called the study "more of the same old scare tactics," and regarding the predicted Love Field gridlock, said, "You can only have 32 gates - end of story, end of discussion."

In discussing fares, D/FW's consultant Christina Cassotis admits they would drop.

"If low-cost carriers grow at D/FW, or low-cost carrier growth is accommodated at Love Field, fares overall will come down," Cassotis said.

Some passengers said that's what motivates them, regardless of the airport.

Said D/FW passenger Linda Nevarez, "When you have an alternative ... when you can save money, why would you spend more?"

Even if flights and passengers left for Love, D/FW officials also said airline fees would still be adequate to pay off all airport bonds.

A bill to repeal the Wright Amendment might not be filed in Congress until next year, but the public relations war - including a $100,000 study and Southwest's new website setlovefree.com - is already under way.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1496 Postby TexasStooge » Wed May 11, 2005 8:41 am

Crime in Dallas schools decreases

Assaults, weapons, drugs are down; property offenses rise

By TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Crime in the Dallas school district dropped 29 percent from August to March compared with the same time last year, according to a district quarterly report.

The number of criminal incidents dropped from 7,950 to 5,665, with decreases in four categories, including conduct, assaults, weapons and substance abuse. Property crime was the only category that had an increase, from 941 to 1,314.

H.B. Bell, the district's associate superintendent for alternative programs, attributed the improved behavior to intervention programs, such as anti-bullying and classroom management training for teachers.

"All these campaigns are beginning to pay off," Dr. Bell said.

The overall number of students removed from class dropped from 3,403 to 3,209. Fewer students received mandatory removal from classes, but there was a slight increase in discretionary removals. In-school and out-of-school suspensions both decreased.

Trustee Jack Lowe said he was still concerned about the number of out-of-school suspensions, which dropped to 13,140. Students are typically suspended for an average of two days.

"That's 13,000 kids that don't come back tomorrow," Mr. Lowe said.

The report also stated that truancy court cases for district students have dropped by 27 percent and that a program to help students develop strong character will be implemented this fall for high school students.

The district report also included a response plan for gang incidents. Components of the plan include "violence suppression," in which identified schools receive extra enforcement. Intervention efforts also are under way at certain schools.

Trustee Ron Price suggested that the district reconsider its policy of allowing students to carry cellphones. He said he was concerned about gang members calling each other during the day.

"We must admit we do have some gang members patrolling our hallways daily," Mr. Price said. "Are we at risk of a gang member having an altercation and calling the posse up?"

Manny Vasquez, the district's police chief, said he could not make such an assessment without documentation.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1497 Postby TexasStooge » Wed May 11, 2005 8:43 am

Victory project taking shape

By DON WALL / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - The view of downtown Dallas from Interstate 35E is rapidly changing.

Victory Park, just off Stemmons and Woodall Rodgers freeways near the American Airlines Center, is starting to take shape - and on Tuesday developers provided a peek into the future.

As the W Hotel located next to the arena builds skyward, the long-promised development of Victory Park finally moves forward. Developers said they have been able to finish a new floor of the hotel every four days.

"Really, the development community is about ten years behind giving its citizens what the citizens want," said developer Ross Perot Jr. "We're trying to close that gap."

Perot, Tom Hicks and other major investors believe the computer-generated models shown Tuesday depict what people in Dallas, especially in their late 20s and 30s with money to spend, want.

Asked Tom Hicks, "What's more urban than downtown Dallas? I think Victory Park will be an integral part of ... the new downtown."

The project consists of nine buildings on 75 acres, including more than 4,000 urban residences, four million square feet of office space and award-winning restaurants and elite shops found nowhere in America but New York, Los Angeles and Aspen - all anchored by the American Airlines Center. It marks a total investment of more than $3 billion.

"It will bring a real vibrancy to a part of town that was dead for quite some time," said Dallas City Council member John Loza.

Condos not yet built are already for sale for $200,000 to $600,000. Developers said many will offer spectacular views.

"The overwhelming number of units (are) facing downtown," Perot said.

The urban designers, architects and developers all say Victory Park, built on an old industrial site, will spark a comeback for all of downtown and continue the boom in the Uptown area.

"I used to see a lot of smokestacks and meat packing plants that were sort of decrepit and rundown," said marketing specialist Al Coker. "Now, you're going to see an urban resort; it's really like a phoenix rising up from the ashes."

Phases 2 and 3 of Victory Park are expected to be completed by 2008, with the W Hotel opening next year.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1498 Postby TexasStooge » Wed May 11, 2005 8:52 am

City razes homeless camp downtown

Residents vow to return; officials face task of breaking cycle

By KIM HORNER / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - The large homeless camp downtown under Interstate 45 was one of Dallas' most elaborate, with sprawling cardboard shacks, tents, porta-potties and a microwave powered by electricity tapped from a billboard.

It's gone, for now. The city razed the camp Tuesday after warning residents last week that they were violating an ordinance against sleeping in public.

But the homeless who populated the camp say they will return to the spot at I-45 and Coombs Street – as they have before. The city, which has repeatedly bulldozed that location and others for years only to see shantytowns spring back up, faces the challenge of breaking the cycle.

"It's such a hassle because it's almost like a game," said Mackie Choice, a 48-year-old homeless man who said he has been "evicted 1,000 times."

Dave Hogan, manager of the city's Crisis Intervention Unit, said the city has asked the Texas Department of Transportation to put up an 8-foot fence to prevent people from coming back this time.

"We really can't let these camps grow gigantic like that," Mr. Hogan said. "They become crack havens with prostitution, and just about everything goes on there."

Mark Ball, spokesman for the Transportation Department, said his agency – which asked the city to do something about the camp – will look into putting up the fence.

City officials estimated that 100 adults lived at the I-45 camp. For the first time, the city – accused of not giving fair warning in the past – gave residents written notices last week. Officials also offered residents drug and alcohol treatment along with mental health and housing services.

The camp was spilling into South Dallas neighborhoods, generating complaints that included people sleeping in doorways, said Karen Rayzer, director of the city's Environmental and Health Services Department.

She said the city is ready to demolish the camp again if needed. City officials say they hope the action gives residents incentives to treat their drug and alcohol addictions and mental illnesses.

"You can't make anybody not live the way they want to," Ms. Rayzer said. "They have to make that decision."

James Waghorne, president of the Dallas Homeless Neighborhood Association, said displacing the homeless from the camps won't push them into treatment.

"It doesn't work that way," said Mr. Waghorne, a social worker who used to be homeless and lived in a camp that repeatedly was razed.

He said that being ready to change one's life comes from inside and that more residents may seek help if the city offered a higher level of services instead of driving people from the only homes they know.

"They're not ready to get treatment, but they still need a place to go," he said.

The city hired four new outreach caseworkers in January, bringing the total to six. Additionally, the city's homeless task force is considering an outdoor area where people who refuse treatment could live in tents. The tent area would be part of a long-planned homeless shelter and assistance center downtown. Social workers would attempt to build residents' trust so they would accept treatment in time.

The city has tried to clear out homeless camps for years. City officials evicted about 200 people from a shantytown near the currently razed camp before the 1994 World Cup soccer tournament. Many were placed in temporary housing, but others began sleeping elsewhere downtown.

A class-action suit after the World Cup contended the city's ban on sleeping in public was unconstitutional and punished people for being homeless. Although a federal judge agreed, an appeals court decision allowed the city to enforce the ban.

A local count this year found 5,898 homeless residents in Dallas County. Many live in encampments throughout the Dallas city limits, and some say they do not want to go to shelters that charge money and restrict their activities.

Deborah Brooks said the I-45 camp had been home to her and her two dogs, Simba and Dude, for three months. The 49-year-old woman said that she works part time at a temporary agency but that a felony drug possession conviction makes it impossible to rent an apartment. She said that she does not go to shelters because she likes to drink.

Before the razing, Ms. Brooks said that she was grateful for the new green and yellow dome tents, portable toilets and Dumpsters donated recently. She was furious at the city's demolition plans.

"What's the big deal?" she said. "We're not bothering anybody."
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1499 Postby TexasStooge » Wed May 11, 2005 8:55 am

White Rock conservation honored

By KATIE MENZER / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Refusing to mow the grass for a year would usually draw sneers from neighbors and angry calls to the city's code-compliance department.

But at White Rock Lake, it's gotten city officials a prize.

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is giving Dallas a Lone Star Land Steward Award, which honors groups for outstanding efforts at wildlife conservation. White Rock is the first city park to receive the 10-year-old award that is usually bestowed on ranches and private property in rural areas.

The city has been working for years with local biologists and environmentalists to preserve and restore White Rock's acres of blackland prairie – the area's original landscape – while still serving the needs of park visitors.

About 250 of the 2,115 acres have returned to their natural state, where native grasses such as little bluestem, Indian grass and Eastern gama grass reign.

Nest boxes for wood ducks, purple martins and bluebirds have been built along the lake's shore. There's a bat house. And the city has been nabbing poachers and hunters who illegally take or kill animals.

But the city's greatest doings are where it's stopped doing anything at all. After mowing areas of the park monthly or weekly for decades, park officials are now mowing prairie land just once a year. That has allowed tall native grasses to take root and encouraged indigenous animals to return.

Native wildflowers such as Indian blanket, mealy blue sage, Turk's-cap, guara and primrose that were once stymied by mowers' blades now blanket fields on the eastern edges of the lake.

"Sometimes we get complaints from people because they say the lake looks messy," said Robin Steinshnider, an interim district manager for the Dallas Park and Recreation Department.

"But what they don't understand is we are trying to give the birds and wildlife a place to grow. It may not look like what you want to have in your lawn, but it's a habitat, and we do it for a reason."

Since the lake has gone natural, the critters are coming home.

Droves of native birds, reptiles and mammals have moved back into the sprouting prairie and other areas. Environmentalists have counted 240 species of birds, including indigo buntings, Carolina wrens and chickadees.

Mink and beaver have been sighted in the riparian areas around the Old Fish Hatchery. Some nature lovers have even spotted a pair of deer relaxing in the north area of the lake.

"We've seen their tracks and the things they leave behind," said Texas master naturalist Becky Rader, who helped spearhead the city's restoration project and nominated White Rock for the award.

"It's incredible what's in our park in our city."

White Rock Lake began as a water source for Dallas in 1911, and the city started developing the park in the 1930s. Balancing conservation efforts with the needs of the million-plus visitors who come to the lake each year to bike, jog, picnic and sail has been a challenge, officials said.

After all, naturally occurring fires and herds of hungry bison were the way Mother Nature maintained prairie lands 200 years ago.

"We can't use bison or fire in the city limits," Ms. Rader said, "so we have to rely on mowers."
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter

User avatar
TexasStooge
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 38127
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
Contact:

#1500 Postby TexasStooge » Thu May 12, 2005 10:44 am

Toddler left behind in locked van

By GARY REAVES / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - A Dallas toddler was taken to a hospital for observation after being abandoned in a child care center's van on Wednesday.

Darwin McKinney, 18 months old, showed hardly a sign of his ordeal as he left Charlton Methodist Hospital Wednesday evening, but his father said it could have ended in tragedy if it had been a hotter day.

"He would have been probably dead," said Alan McKinney.

After Darwin failed to return home at the scheduled time, McKinney went to the Community Academy Day Care Center in the 1700 block of Ann Arbor Ave. to make an inquiry.

No one was there, so McKinney went to the home of the van's driver, 76-year-old Allen Lester, Sr., about four blocks away. "I asked him where was my son, and he said, 'Oh my God! I left him in the van!'"

McKinney said he immediately raced back to the child care center near the Veteran's Administration hospital in Oak Cliff. "When I got there, I saw my son in the van, and I couldn't do nothing. He was in a cage."

The toddler was perspiring, but appeared to be healthy when police and Dallas Fire-Rescue crews arrived to get him out at about 6:25 p.m.

Lester was being questioned by police. He faces child endangerment charges.

"For now, my husband just feels that he's going to have to be the driver," said an apologetic Carolyn Henderson, who owns the Community Academy facility. "We've been in the daycare business for 27 years, never had a problem."

National Weather Service records indicated that the temperature reached 86 degrees at Love Field at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Conrad Proctor, a driver for the T&T Tots Child Care Center in Dallas, received a $10,000 fine and 10 years of probation for his role in the death of 8-month-old Jordan Thomas, who was left behind in a hot van in August, 2003.

Another case is pending in a similar death involving a 2-year-old who had been forgotten inside a van from the Little Dudes and Daisies Learning Center in Lancaster, which is no longer in business.

WFAA.com editor Walt Zwirko and The Dallas Morning News contributed to this report.
0 likes   
Weather Enthusiast since 1991.
- Facebook
- Twitter


Return to “Off Topic”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests