For boy, 2, 'all the safeguards failed'
Mom's boyfriend indicted, but blame may lie with many
By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Chase Lee Chamberlain died in December. But had the system worked, he might not have.
Grand Prairie police arrested Shane Barnett, saying he killed the 2-year-old.
Seventeen months earlier, police in Denton County and child advocates appointed by the state strongly suspected Mr. Barnett had violently twisted the boy's leg until it snapped.
While Chase lay in a body cast, Lewisville and Denton County sheriff's investigators squabbled over jurisdiction. In the end, no case was ever filed.
Chase was returned to his mother, Jennifer Yarbrough, who within months moved back in with her boyfriend – Mr. Barnett. Child Protective Services said it found no reason to take custody of Chase.
On the afternoon of Dec. 29, Mr. Barnett showed up at a Grand Prairie fire station, carrying Chase's lifeless body.
"This little boy went through hell, and all the safeguards failed," said Gary Yarbrough, Chase's grandfather.
Last week, Dallas County grand jurors indicted Mr. Barnett, a 29-year-old heavy-equipment operator, on a charge of capital murder. He declined to comment. His attorney, Paul Johnson, said his client denies having anything to do with killing the boy.
"I'm not going to point fingers, but it would seem that the system let this boy down," said Grand Prairie police Sgt. Alan Patton, who is leading the homicide investigation.
"It's very emotional. You feel like it could have been prevented if the system had worked."
Broken leg
Chase's leg injury in July 2004 was an early sign of trouble. On the 26th, Ms. Yarbrough took the child to Lewisville Medical Center with what turned out to be a broken femur.
Ms. Yarbrough told authorities she had noticed Chase was cranky and fussy for several days, and that his leg was swollen. But Mr. Barnett, who baby-sat while she was working at her father's Southlake mortgage company, told her Chase was OK.
"He said he would watch him and let me know how he did," she told police. "I was crying when I left for work."
On the 23rd, Ms. Yarbrough said, Mr. Barnett had claimed to have taken him to a medical clinic. Interviews by CPS caseworkers indicate they were told there was no money for an X-ray, and that the doctor recommended ice. But no hospital visit could be confirmed.
Ms. Yarbrough, 24, said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News that when she came home from work that evening, Chase had a bandage on his leg. Satisfied, she said she didn't seek further treatment.
The next day, she said, the couple fought after Mr. Barnett learned she was slipping money to Chase's father. Police and the father say Mr. Barnett had beaten him up two months earlier and threatened to kill him if he didn't stay away.
Mr. Barnett hit Ms. Yarbrough during their fight, giving her a bloody nose, she said. Then he left.
She did not call police.
On Monday the 26th, at the prompting of relatives, Ms. Yarbrough took Chase to the emergency room in Lewisville.
Doctors believe Chase suffered for about a week before getting medical treatment, according to a CPS report. They concluded that he had a spiral fracture, most likely caused by violent twisting of the toddler's leg. Four of his ribs showed signs of having been broken.
Chase was fit with a body cast and the state took custody while CPS investigated.
Police were summoned.
Jurisdictional spat
But authorities didn't know whether the injury occurred in rural Denton County or Lewisville, or exactly what day it happened.
In mid- to late July, Ms. Yarbrough and Mr. Barnett were living in two places: They were moving out of a rural Denton County trailer and using a Budget Suites hotel room in Lewisville as temporary housing while preparing to move into a permanent place.
If Chase was hurt at the trailer park, the case belonged to the Denton County Sheriff's Department; if it occurred at the motel, Lewisville police had jurisdiction.
Almost two years after the incident, both agencies claim the other should have led the investigation.
"Our understanding is that our investigator referred the case" to Denton County sheriff's detectives, said Lewisville Police Chief Steve McFadden. "We do not have any way of forcing an agency to take a case. ... I don't want to be in a position of pointing fingers, but everything pointed to it not occurring here."
Lewisville police declined to release the case file, citing a state statute that protects reports of child abuse from being made public.
Tom Reedy, a Denton County sheriff's department spokesman, said they determined that the boy was injured in Lewisville.
"It was the policy of the sheriff's office at that time to take a case from another agency in their jurisdiction only if that agency formally requested that we do so," Mr. Reedy said. "A search of our records cannot find such a request."
Mom turned around
Two attorneys working for the state in the boy's interests and a CPS caseworker interviewed by police said in court documents that they strongly suspected Mr. Barnett hurt the boy. They warned Ms. Yarbrough to stay away from him while the courts considered whether Chase would be returned to her.
She says she did. She also passed drug tests after having admitted some drug use in the past, and attended parenting classes and counseling sessions.
"She did everything," said Vicki Foster, a Denton County prosecutor who represented CPS in the custody case. "At some point, you have to accept on blind faith that a parent will do what they say and be a parent."
In March 2005, Denton County District Judge Lee Gabriel returned custody of Chase to his mother. Through an assistant, the judge declined to discuss the case.
Tricia Perry, who was appointed by the court to represent Chase's interests, said Ms. Yarbrough appeared serious about turning her life around – and avoiding Mr. Barnett.
"She had done everything she was supposed to – not just going through the motions, but had made life changes and seemed to have an understanding how Chase got hurt in the first place," she said.
"Or so we thought."
Taking him back
In the absence of criminal charges, Ms. Yarbrough said she eventually felt comfortable taking Mr. Barnett back at the beginning of July.
"I thought that Shane really didn't do it, that they were giving me a hard time," she said.
"If they would have filed a charge on him, no matter how much I love him," she said, there was "not a chance in hell" she would have trusted him with her child.
Mr. Barnett – the father of at least five children by other women – had a troubled past. Friends and police point to a short temper, a history of violence, and previous convictions on drug and hot check charges.
Ms. Yarbrough said they frequently argued and he sometimes hit her. But she said Mr. Barnett had been like a father to Chase since he was a month old. She said she thought he'd never hurt Chase.
"No one saw them the way I did and the way they were together," she said. "Chase would go check the mail with him and would go anywhere with him. I don't know why he would if Shane was abusing him."
Jean Roach, a former baby sitter from the Denton County trailer park, said in an interview with The News that she'd seen things during her four months watching Chase that should have prompted her to contact the authorities.
The boy's chronic diaper rash and bruises on his abdomen were disturbing enough that she began keeping notes. But she only talked to CPS caseworkers after Chase's leg was broken.
"I should have my ass kicked for not calling them," she said. "I have cried many a tear over this. I didn't want to believe that they would hurt him. I just didn't call."
Three months after Ms. Yarbrough regained custody and about the time that she re-established contact with Mr. Barnett, phones began ringing at CPS. Tarrant County investigators handled the case because Ms. Yarbrough was then living in North Richland Hills.
"The minute that I found out that Jennifer was moving back with Shane, I made a complaint," said Ramona Chamberlain, Chase's paternal grandmother. "I never heard anything. So I called back, but I still heard nothing."
The agency did contact Ms. Yarbrough's father, Gary Yarbrough. Mr. Yarbrough provided foster care for Chase for several months when he was in CPS custody in 2004.
He told CPS that he had lost contact with his daughter and that if Mr. Barnett was back in her life, he feared for his grandson.
In September, CPS closed the case, finding no abuse or neglect.
"It was ruled out," said Marissa Gonzales, a CPS spokeswoman. "I can't get into the specific allegations, but that's what it was."
Boyfriend's story
At 3:50 p.m. on Dec. 29, Mr. Barnett showed up at the fire station in downtown Grand Prairie with Chase in his arms. The city doesn't have a hospital, and the station is about 2 ½ miles from the family's rent house.
Chase was pronounced dead at Methodist Dallas Medical Center at 4:12 p.m.
Mr. Barnett told investigators that he went into Chase's room to wake him from a nap, but the boy was already up and climbing on a desk. He said he startled the boy, who fell onto a toy Humvee.
Within minutes, the boy's "lips were white ... he was moaning/crying," according to a police report.
An autopsy showed Chase died from blunt force injuries. Nearly two-dozen bruises covered his body. Police said he was struck in the abdomen and suffered a massive head injury.
The boy was cold when he arrived at the ER, and blood had already begun pooling on one side of his body – indications he had been dead for hours. Investigators feared he was injured days before.
"We felt like the child had been beat to death," Sgt. Patton said. "Not just over the course of just a moment or two; this looks like a history of abuse."
Police say Mr. Barnett's version of events changed often. "There's nothing in the house that matches up to the story that he told," said Sgt. Patton.
Mr. Barnett's attorney said the case is in its early stages and declined to go into detail. "He's awfully upset about this," Mr. Johnson said. "It's a tragedy. He feels like he's been falsely accused."
'Maybe I'm blind'
Investigators this week forwarded a case accusing Ms. Yarbrough of endangerment of a child to the Dallas County district attorney's office.
"If Shane killed him, then I probably deserve to be charged because I would never in a million years have thought it," she said. "Maybe I'm blind."
She said the tears are never far away, nor the nightmares.
"I have dreams about Chase gasping for air and me wrapping my arms around him and him all of a sudden breathing OK again," she said. "That's my way of blaming myself for not being there to save him."
Ms. Yarbrough returned to work at her father's Southlake office several weeks ago. Their relationship is strained.
"She's my daughter and I care about her," he said. "I cared deeply about my grandson. ... Jennifer appeared blind to it."
_____________________________________________________________
RECENT DEATHS:
In the past four months, at least seven toddlers other than Chase Chamberlain have been killed while staying with relatives, baby sitters or boyfriends in North Texas. In several cases, CPS was previously involved with the family.
March 7 –Two-year-old Marylou Leija of Lewisville died after relatives called 911 and said she was choking. Her father, Jorge Leija, was arrested in connection with his daughter's death. Child Protective Services took custody of Marylou at birth after she tested positive for drugs. A judge awarded custody to the girl's father in November 2004.
March 6 – Eight-month-old Brooke Martinez of Fort Worth died two days after she was hospitalized with a head injury. Police arrested Germaine Martinez, who is married to Brooke's half sister. A judge allowed CPS to place Brooke with the couple in December. Mr. Martinez told police the child fell.
Feb. 24 – Twenty-one- month-old Rowyn Clark died a day after she was injured while in the care of her Mesquite baby sitter. She had blunt force head injuries. Tiffany Harper was arrested on suspicion of capital murder. She told police that a piece of furniture fell on the toddler.
Feb. 24 – Seven-month-old Jaidyn Silva died while in the care of Isaiah Nunez of Irving. Jaidyn's mother had left him with a baby sitter – Mr. Nunez's girlfriend – who, in turn, turned him over to Mr. Nunez. The girlfriend told police she needed her boyfriend to watch Jaidyn while she looked for a job. Jaidyn died from blunt force head injuries. Mr. Nunez told investigators the baby fell.
Feb. 23 –Nineteen-month- old Brian Alberto Tovar- Hernandez died from blunt force head injuries in Dallas. The boy's uncle Roberto Murillo Avila was being held on a capital murder charge, and Mr. Avila's wife, Norma Hernandez, was charged with injury to a child. The boy's parents left him with the couple a month before. Apartment complex employees said they witnessed neglect but did not call CPS.
Feb. 9 – Three-month-old Nicholas Rhea Hoffert in Cleburne died shortly after he was struck, authorities say, by the man who was adopting him and his twin brother. David Michael Giddens was arrested, accused of injuring the child. The Johnson County medical examiner's office has not yet ruled on the case. In the meantime, CPS took custody of Nicholas' brother. CPS had investigated and cleared the family in 2002.
Dec. 28 – Eighteen-month- old Gabrielle Newsome died in Oak Cliff. Police said she had bruises, and the medical examiner ruled she died from homicidal violence. Her father, Andre Dion Harris, was being held at the Dallas County Jail on suspicion of capital murder.
News from the Lone Star State
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Immigrants rally at Dallas City Hall
Latino protesters criticize current policies, ask for better treatment
By KARIN SHAW ANDERSON and DIANNE SOLIS / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - Sitting next to bronze statues of cattle in Dallas’ Pioneer Plaza, 12-year-old Cesar Hernandez talked about the struggles his family has endured while making a life in the U.S.
His mother returned to Mexico last year to get treatment for her diabetes, something she could not find here because of her immigrant status.
Cesar attended a rally Saturday near City Hall with two of his aunts and two cousins to push for immigrant rights and to protest recent proposals to keep more people from entering the country illegally.
“We need papers and passports,” he said, translating for the aunt that now cares for him in Dallas. “We came here to earn respect. We need a better life.”
Hundreds of protesters lingered around Pioneer Plaza after the rally, one of several in cities across the country.
Baltazar Ortega pressed his face to a Mexican flag someone handed him before the rally started.
“I love my flag,” he said. “It’s a source of pride for me. It’s my first time holding a flag in my hands.”
He came to the gathering with his friends Hugo Ortega and Juan Carlos Martinez to show their contributions to the American workforce.
“I’m a truck driver,” Mr. Martinez said, hugging his daughter. “But a lot of people think that if you are an illegal, you’re a criminal.”
Dozens of flags from many Latin American countries fluttered in the wind as speakers took the stage.
After performing, rapper Jorge Ruiz, who goes by the name Microphone Killa, said that Latino immigrants like his parents helped build Dallas.
“We construct your schools. We cook your food,” he said. “We are the motor of this nation, but people don’t see us.
“Blacks and whites, they had their revolution. They had their Martin Luther King. Now it is time for us.”
Diana Flores, a Mexican-American and a trustee with the Dallas County Community College District, roused the crowd.
“People don’t sleep anymore. People don’t sleep anymore,” she said in Spanish. “When we don’t get involved, when we don’t participate… they treat us as though as we are the worst element of this city.
“You are not alone,” she said. “We are here to demand [legal] residency. We cannot stop. We will achieve justice.”
Francisco Rojas, a member of Grupo Jalisco, said he could see changes stirring.
“We are right now doing our first step,” he said in Spanish. “It’s like an animal that’s waking from many years of sleep. We are very strong, and right now is our opportunity to be important through our words and our ideas.”
Staff writer Isabel Morales contributed to this report.
Latino protesters criticize current policies, ask for better treatment
By KARIN SHAW ANDERSON and DIANNE SOLIS / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - Sitting next to bronze statues of cattle in Dallas’ Pioneer Plaza, 12-year-old Cesar Hernandez talked about the struggles his family has endured while making a life in the U.S.
His mother returned to Mexico last year to get treatment for her diabetes, something she could not find here because of her immigrant status.
Cesar attended a rally Saturday near City Hall with two of his aunts and two cousins to push for immigrant rights and to protest recent proposals to keep more people from entering the country illegally.
“We need papers and passports,” he said, translating for the aunt that now cares for him in Dallas. “We came here to earn respect. We need a better life.”
Hundreds of protesters lingered around Pioneer Plaza after the rally, one of several in cities across the country.
Baltazar Ortega pressed his face to a Mexican flag someone handed him before the rally started.
“I love my flag,” he said. “It’s a source of pride for me. It’s my first time holding a flag in my hands.”
He came to the gathering with his friends Hugo Ortega and Juan Carlos Martinez to show their contributions to the American workforce.
“I’m a truck driver,” Mr. Martinez said, hugging his daughter. “But a lot of people think that if you are an illegal, you’re a criminal.”
Dozens of flags from many Latin American countries fluttered in the wind as speakers took the stage.
After performing, rapper Jorge Ruiz, who goes by the name Microphone Killa, said that Latino immigrants like his parents helped build Dallas.
“We construct your schools. We cook your food,” he said. “We are the motor of this nation, but people don’t see us.
“Blacks and whites, they had their revolution. They had their Martin Luther King. Now it is time for us.”
Diana Flores, a Mexican-American and a trustee with the Dallas County Community College District, roused the crowd.
“People don’t sleep anymore. People don’t sleep anymore,” she said in Spanish. “When we don’t get involved, when we don’t participate… they treat us as though as we are the worst element of this city.
“You are not alone,” she said. “We are here to demand [legal] residency. We cannot stop. We will achieve justice.”
Francisco Rojas, a member of Grupo Jalisco, said he could see changes stirring.
“We are right now doing our first step,” he said in Spanish. “It’s like an animal that’s waking from many years of sleep. We are very strong, and right now is our opportunity to be important through our words and our ideas.”
Staff writer Isabel Morales contributed to this report.
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Parker County principal killed in wreck
By CAROL CAVAZOS / WFAA ABC 8
ARLINGTON, Texas — A Parker County high school principal was killed and two police officers were hurt when a suspected drunk driver plowed into a squad car early Saturday.
Police said the crash happened just after 2 a.m. in the westbound lanes of Interstate 30 near Ballpark Way in Arlington.
According to investigators, Darrell Mark Burress, the principal at Peaster High School, was driving with his wife and two children when their Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicle was struck in a hit-and-run accident.
Arlington police officers Leticia Brooks and Michael Leonesio arrived to help.
Police said Burress, 48, of Aledo, was standing near the officers when a speeding Jeep Cherokee plowed into one of their squad cars.
All three were hurt; Burress' wounds were fatal.
"I went to get them because his vehicle was inoperable anyway," said David Shaw, Burress' brother-in-law. "On the way over there, my sister called and said my brother-in-law was dead."
Officer Brooks was hospitalized in serious condition at Harris Methodist Fort Worth. Officer Leonesio was treated and released at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.
Hundreds will mourn Burress in the rural community 30 miles west of Fort Worth where he led the high school's 300 students and 25 faculty members.
"He was a good brother-in-law and he was a good father, friend," Shaw said. "They've got six kids. We've got a lot of support from family, friends and church, a lot of prayers going up."
Police charged Phillip Gracia, 44, of Fort Worth, with intoxication mansalughter and two counts of intoxication assualt with serious bodily injury. No bond was set.
Officers said the incident points to the dangers of secondary accidents, an especially serious threat for law enforcement officers.
Less than an hour before the Arlington crash, a 29-year-old man lost control on Interstate 35E in Dallas.
The driver, identified as Joseph Duval, was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he later died.
Also in Dallas, A man was killed after his truck stalled along Woodall Rogers Freeway downtown. The victim was walking to get some gas when he was hit by a driver in a van.
The van left the scene. Police tracked it down about an hour later.
The driver, identified as Jesus Araujo, was taken into custody for questioning.
Police shut down the freeway for more than an hour during the investigation, causing a large traffic jam.
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Live Dallas/Ft. Worth Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
By CAROL CAVAZOS / WFAA ABC 8
ARLINGTON, Texas — A Parker County high school principal was killed and two police officers were hurt when a suspected drunk driver plowed into a squad car early Saturday.
Police said the crash happened just after 2 a.m. in the westbound lanes of Interstate 30 near Ballpark Way in Arlington.
According to investigators, Darrell Mark Burress, the principal at Peaster High School, was driving with his wife and two children when their Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicle was struck in a hit-and-run accident.
Arlington police officers Leticia Brooks and Michael Leonesio arrived to help.
Police said Burress, 48, of Aledo, was standing near the officers when a speeding Jeep Cherokee plowed into one of their squad cars.
All three were hurt; Burress' wounds were fatal.
"I went to get them because his vehicle was inoperable anyway," said David Shaw, Burress' brother-in-law. "On the way over there, my sister called and said my brother-in-law was dead."
Officer Brooks was hospitalized in serious condition at Harris Methodist Fort Worth. Officer Leonesio was treated and released at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.
Hundreds will mourn Burress in the rural community 30 miles west of Fort Worth where he led the high school's 300 students and 25 faculty members.
"He was a good brother-in-law and he was a good father, friend," Shaw said. "They've got six kids. We've got a lot of support from family, friends and church, a lot of prayers going up."
Police charged Phillip Gracia, 44, of Fort Worth, with intoxication mansalughter and two counts of intoxication assualt with serious bodily injury. No bond was set.
Officers said the incident points to the dangers of secondary accidents, an especially serious threat for law enforcement officers.
Less than an hour before the Arlington crash, a 29-year-old man lost control on Interstate 35E in Dallas.
The driver, identified as Joseph Duval, was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he later died.
Also in Dallas, A man was killed after his truck stalled along Woodall Rogers Freeway downtown. The victim was walking to get some gas when he was hit by a driver in a van.
The van left the scene. Police tracked it down about an hour later.
The driver, identified as Jesus Araujo, was taken into custody for questioning.
Police shut down the freeway for more than an hour during the investigation, causing a large traffic jam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live Dallas/Ft. Worth Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
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Woman found dead in Garland home
By DAN RONAN / WFAA ABC 8
GARLAND, Texas — Police were holding a 46-year-old Garland man in connection with his wife's murder Saturday night.
Police said they received a call from the man at 4:45 p.m. Saturday. He allegedly told them he had killed his wife.
When police arrived at the couple's home in the 5400 block of Barcelona Drive, they found a 36-year-old woman dead with a head injury. Investigators said the victim's skull may have been fractured.
The woman's husband was found at a motel in Mesquite along with the couple's four children, ranging in age from two to nine.
The man was taken into custody and detectives were trying to determine whether there are any relatives who could care for the children.
The names of the victim and her husband were not released.
By DAN RONAN / WFAA ABC 8
GARLAND, Texas — Police were holding a 46-year-old Garland man in connection with his wife's murder Saturday night.
Police said they received a call from the man at 4:45 p.m. Saturday. He allegedly told them he had killed his wife.
When police arrived at the couple's home in the 5400 block of Barcelona Drive, they found a 36-year-old woman dead with a head injury. Investigators said the victim's skull may have been fractured.
The woman's husband was found at a motel in Mesquite along with the couple's four children, ranging in age from two to nine.
The man was taken into custody and detectives were trying to determine whether there are any relatives who could care for the children.
The names of the victim and her husband were not released.
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Parker County principal killed in wreck
By CAROL CAVAZOS / WFAA ABC 8
ARLINGTON, Texas — A Parker County high school principal was killed and two police officers were hurt when a suspected drunk driver plowed into a squad car early Saturday.
Police said the crash happened just after 2 a.m. in the westbound lanes of Interstate 30 near Ballpark Way in Arlington.
According to investigators, Darrell Mark Burress, the principal at Peaster High School, was driving with his wife and two children when their Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicle was struck in a hit-and-run accident.
Arlington police officers Leticia Brooks and Michael Leonesio arrived to help.
Police said Burress, 48, of Aledo, was standing near the officers when a speeding Jeep Cherokee plowed into one of their squad cars.
All three were hurt; Burress' wounds were fatal.
"I went to get them because his vehicle was inoperable anyway," said David Shaw, Burress' brother-in-law. "On the way over there, my sister called and said my brother-in-law was dead."
Officer Brooks was hospitalized in serious condition at Harris Methodist Fort Worth. Officer Leonesio was treated and released at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.
Hundreds will mourn Burress in the rural community 30 miles west of Fort Worth where he led the high school's 300 students and 25 faculty members.
"I think it's going to hurt knowing he's not here anymore," said Seth Hendrick, a student at Peaster High.
Peaster ISD Superintendent Phillip Bledsoe said Burress was a principal with a good sense of humor who connected with his students. "He did communicate real with some of the boys at the high school, especially when he'd wear a little 'do-rag' on his head," Bledsoe said. "He'd get a chuckle or two from that standpoint."
Seth said you couldn't not like Principal Burress. "He's got a Harley that he'd ride to school on Fridays," he said. "It was cool."
Shaw said Burress was a good brother-in-law and a good father and friend. "They've got six kids. We've got a lot of support from family, friends and church, a lot of prayers going up."
Police charged Phillip Gracia, 44, of Fort Worth, with intoxication mansalughter and two counts of intoxication assualt with serious bodily injury. No bond was set.
Officers said the incident points to the dangers of secondary accidents, an especially serious threat for law enforcement officers.
Less than an hour before the Arlington crash, a 29-year-old man lost control on Interstate 35E in Dallas.
The driver, identified as Joseph Duval, was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he later died.
Also in Dallas, A man was killed after his truck stalled along Woodall Rogers Freeway downtown. The victim was walking to get some gas when he was hit by a driver in a van.
The van left the scene. Police tracked it down about an hour later.
The driver, identified as Jesus Araujo, was taken into custody for questioning.
Police shut down the freeway for more than an hour during the investigation, causing a large traffic jam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live Dallas/Ft. Worth Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
By CAROL CAVAZOS / WFAA ABC 8
ARLINGTON, Texas — A Parker County high school principal was killed and two police officers were hurt when a suspected drunk driver plowed into a squad car early Saturday.
Police said the crash happened just after 2 a.m. in the westbound lanes of Interstate 30 near Ballpark Way in Arlington.
According to investigators, Darrell Mark Burress, the principal at Peaster High School, was driving with his wife and two children when their Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicle was struck in a hit-and-run accident.
Arlington police officers Leticia Brooks and Michael Leonesio arrived to help.
Police said Burress, 48, of Aledo, was standing near the officers when a speeding Jeep Cherokee plowed into one of their squad cars.
All three were hurt; Burress' wounds were fatal.
"I went to get them because his vehicle was inoperable anyway," said David Shaw, Burress' brother-in-law. "On the way over there, my sister called and said my brother-in-law was dead."
Officer Brooks was hospitalized in serious condition at Harris Methodist Fort Worth. Officer Leonesio was treated and released at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.
Hundreds will mourn Burress in the rural community 30 miles west of Fort Worth where he led the high school's 300 students and 25 faculty members.
"I think it's going to hurt knowing he's not here anymore," said Seth Hendrick, a student at Peaster High.
Peaster ISD Superintendent Phillip Bledsoe said Burress was a principal with a good sense of humor who connected with his students. "He did communicate real with some of the boys at the high school, especially when he'd wear a little 'do-rag' on his head," Bledsoe said. "He'd get a chuckle or two from that standpoint."
Seth said you couldn't not like Principal Burress. "He's got a Harley that he'd ride to school on Fridays," he said. "It was cool."
Shaw said Burress was a good brother-in-law and a good father and friend. "They've got six kids. We've got a lot of support from family, friends and church, a lot of prayers going up."
Police charged Phillip Gracia, 44, of Fort Worth, with intoxication mansalughter and two counts of intoxication assualt with serious bodily injury. No bond was set.
Officers said the incident points to the dangers of secondary accidents, an especially serious threat for law enforcement officers.
Less than an hour before the Arlington crash, a 29-year-old man lost control on Interstate 35E in Dallas.
The driver, identified as Joseph Duval, was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he later died.
Also in Dallas, A man was killed after his truck stalled along Woodall Rogers Freeway downtown. The victim was walking to get some gas when he was hit by a driver in a van.
The van left the scene. Police tracked it down about an hour later.
The driver, identified as Jesus Araujo, was taken into custody for questioning.
Police shut down the freeway for more than an hour during the investigation, causing a large traffic jam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live Dallas/Ft. Worth Traffic Reports from Traffic Pulse
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After transplant tragedy, parents want safeguards
By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News
Josh Hightower needed a kidney. But he was hardly on his deathbed.
In the months before his transplant, the 17-year-old roared across his family's East Texas ranch in his four-wheeler and tossed fluid-filled dialysis bags from his truck like water balloons.
On the night his mother got the unexpected call – there was a kidney for him headed to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas – Josh was out with his longtime girlfriend, having a high-school-sized argument.
But the organ meant to liberate Josh from a life of catheters and blood-cleaning machines instead caused his death: It infected him with rabies. In all, four transplant recipients and the donor himself died of this rare but highly preventable disease – a medical tragedy that made national news and turned a treasured gift of life into a deadly weapon.
Professionals considered it an anomaly. It was the first reported case of rabies transmission through solid-organ transplant – a statistical aberration that raised awareness and eyebrows at national conferences but didn't fundamentally change how organs are screened in this country.
For Dale and Jennifer Hightower, who still listen for their son's truck to thunder up their driveway in Big Sandy, Texas, and can't bring themselves to delete his voice from the family's answering machine, this explanation is far from acceptable.
They're furious that the same disease they vaccinate their dogs for isn't included in routine organ screenings. And they're heartbroken that transplant surgeons missed the symptoms – the heavy salivation, the confusion, the vomiting and headaches that led to the death of 20-year-old William Beed Jr. in a Texarkana, Ark., hospital, and drove the recipients of Mr. Beed's organs back to Baylor weeks later.
But what keeps them awake at night is something else entirely: the fact that doctors didn't tell them Mr. Beed had spent time in jail and had drugs in his system when he died.
"Josh wasn't fixin' to die; you couldn't even tell he was sick most of the time," Mrs. Hightower said, black tears leaking from her mascara-rimmed eyes. "He had years and years he could've kept going. If we'd known, we never would've taken that organ."
Transplant surgeons are quick to point out that drug use and jail time don't preclude organ donation; they're not even rare. And they're certainly not linked to rabies, which caused the deaths. The Beeds did what not enough grieving parents do, they say. They offered their son's body to save another life.
But it's an ethical question doctors grapple with every day: how to balance an organ donor's right to privacy with the organ recipient's right to know. And it's become even more complicated in the last decade, as the waiting list for organ transplants has tripled to more than 90,000. The number of donors – living and deceased – hasn't grown nearly that fast; last year there were fewer than 15,000.
As a result, patients in need of transplants are waiting much longer for them. In the U.S., 17 people die every day for want of a transplant. And doctors are accepting so-called marginal organs they might have passed on a decade ago, when the waiting list was just 30,000 long.
"The donor's organ function may not be perfect, but a patient in need of a transplant may be in a dire clinical situation," said Dr. Francis Delmonico, a Boston transplant surgeon and president of the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the country's organ transplants. "It's a gray area. In some instances, it's an emergency."
Transplant doctors still test for function and infection, conduct detailed medical and social histories, and screen donors for a bevy of diseases before procuring the organs. But rabies tests take too long to yield conclusive results, they say.
Though organ banks used to have the flexibility to refuse a donor for such reasons as old age and chronic health conditions, today they automatically exclude only donors who have certain types of cancer, said Pam Silvestri, public affairs director for Southwest Transplant Alliance, the organ bank that procured Mr. Beed's organs.
It was once rare to use an organ from someone older than 50. Now donors sometimes reach into the 80s. And it's not uncommon for patients to choose to take an organ from a donor with a curable infection or sexually transmitted disease and start treatment immediately, said Dr. David Paterson, chief of transplant infectious diseases at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Even hepatitis doesn't rule out an organ; some people on the waiting list already have it, Ms. Silvestri said.
"Depending on how urgently a patient needs a transplant," Dr. Paterson said, "that will make our threshold for accepting a 'marginal' organ ... a very different one."
A lifetime of fighting
Josh Hightower was diagnosed with acute nephritic syndrome at age 2 after his tiny body swelled to twice its normal size – a symptom of the kidney disorder. For the next decade he navigated the waters of his chronic illness, swallowing up to 50 pills a day and lining his closet with a dozen different-sized jeans.
But the goofy, affectionate "hell-raiser" they called Bubba fought through his sick days. He was a devout FFA member who showed his Black Angus steer at stock shows across Texas, a four-wheeler fanatic with his own work shed on his family's 27-acre farm. At 16, when he became too sick to attend school, doctors put him on dialysis and added him to the transplant waiting list.
The nightly dialysis was hardly the death knell for Josh; he felt better than he had in years. By spring 2004, he was giddy about graduation and talking about opening a four-wheeler shop amid fruit fields and horse farms in nearby Gilmer.
But his future was in the hands of a young man 100 miles away.
At 20, William Beed Jr. was in many ways still a kid. He'd had a tough childhood, said his girlfriend, Joy Graham. He didn't always make the best choices: There was some occasional drug use, some "being in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said.
But everything had changed that winter when Ms. Graham learned she was pregnant. After the initial fear, Ms. Graham said – they were both 20 and still lived with their mothers – Mr. Beed glowed with pride. He had a sense that his first child would be a girl, she said, and was turning his life around for her.
"He was starting to save money; he was looking for a job. We were planning on everything," Ms. Graham said with a gulp, her tiny frame nearly disappearing into an armchair. "He was already saying he wouldn't let her have boyfriends, that she'd go to private school. She was going to be Daddy's little girl."
In the four years they'd been together, Ms. Graham said, Mr. Beed never even got a cold. But when he was admitted to Texarkana's Christus St. Michael hospital on April 29, 2004, he was having seizures, vomiting blood and drifting in and out of consciousness.
As his family looked on, Mr. Beed's condition worsened. His brain was hemorrhaging. His pupils were fixed. He fell into a coma. On May 3, doctors announced that Mr. Beed was brain-dead. The next night, relatives made the gut-wrenching decision to take him off life support and agreed to proceed with organ donation.
When doctors procured Mr. Beed's organs, they determined that he had died of a brain hemorrhage, and they believed it was the result of a drug overdose. Rabies wasn't considered; his family didn't know at the time that his apartment complex was infested with bats. And urine samples tested positive for cocaine and marijuana.
According to medical and social history records, Mr. Beed had "ingested an unknown quantity of rock cocaine" two days before going to the hospital and had been released from the county jail two weeks before on drug charges.
The organs passed the eligibility and infection screening, and transplant officials starting seeking recipient hospitals. Organ procurement records obtained by The Dallas Morning News indicate that several transplant surgeons across Texas declined Mr. Beed's organs because of "donor quality," a broad explanation that can include hypertension and an unknown cause of death. The records specifically list the words "cocaine" and "jailed" in the comments fields, though they make no reference to "social history," the organ refusal category that includes "high-risk sexual behavior, alcohol or IV drug use."
There were no takers for Mr. Beed's heart and pancreas. Baylor transplant surgeons accepted both kidneys as well as Mr. Beed's liver and some arteries. A hospital in Alabama took Mr. Beed's lungs, but that patient died during the transplant operation.
Doctors who accepted and rejected the organs said they were unable to comment on the specifics of this case, citing patient privacy and pending litigation. But transplant experts not associated with the case said that it's often a combination of factors that lead to an organ being turned down – and that the procurement records probably don't tell the whole story.
It was 2 a.m. May 4, 2004, when the Hightowers got the call. It seemed too soon; they'd just started their son's pre-transplant work and were hoping to find a living donor. But they raced to Dallas anyway. State troopers stopped them for speeding five times along the way.
The transplant was unsuccessful; the kidney never worked. A disappointed Josh watched as the liver recipient and other kidney recipient checked out with working organs. He left a few days after his 18th birthday, vowing to cheer up before graduation.
Rabies takes hold
But his health quickly declined. On graduation morning, Josh was shaking so hard that his mother had to help him out of the shower and hold him steady in her arms while she trimmed his hair.
Josh walked across the stage, received his diploma and promptly threw up in the bleachers. Within 24 hours, he was delirious, his bony body sprawled naked across the bed, his mouth stained blue from the Popsicles his mother tried to feed him.
By the time the local emergency room transferred him back to Baylor, he was screaming obscenities and crying hysterically. Nurses scolded Mrs. Hightower, she recalls with heaving sobs, for not teaching her son "how to act."
In the days that followed, Josh's condition worsened. He was in a coma, then fully brain-dead.
It didn't take long for his parents to recognize the families of the other recipients of Mr. Beed's organs, who were back in the hospital with similar symptoms.
They spent a three-week vigil at their son's bedside, watching helplessly as the other organ recipients died. On June 21, nearly seven weeks after his transplant, they took Josh off life support.
"They say the pain fades," Mr. Hightower said quietly, a bullet of dip lodged in his quivering lower lip. "It don't. I sure miss him."
It was an unfortunate tragedy, one Baylor handled as well as any hospital could have, said Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, who investigated the case for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Without the indication of an animal bite, he said, a rabies diagnosis is rarely considered. In the last decade, fewer than six human rabies cases per year have been reported in the U.S. Many doctors go their entire careers without seeing a single case.
"It's easy to go back, in retrospect, and say all the classic findings of rabies were there," Dr. Srinivasan said. "As physicians, we look for the most likely explanation. In this case, they had one – a drug overdose – vs. a viral infection that is very, very rare."
What this case did provide, Dr. Srinivasan said, was a wake-up call that the transplant system needs a better way to track donated organs and tissue. If the recipients of Mr. Beed's organs hadn't all returned to Baylor, he said, he's not sure anyone would have made the rabies connection.
The Hightowers have accepted this fact, though it hasn't curbed their outrage. They're weary of doctors' surprise, they say. This wasn't the first time a transplant patient contracted rabies: Five countries, including the U.S., had already reported rabies infections through cornea transplants.
They're also perplexed that no one determined the true cause of Mr. Beed's death. If doctors in Texarkana had detected rabies in the days after Josh's transplant, they say, there still would have been time to administer life-saving treatments. Rabies is curable if it's treated before the onset of symptoms.
But what the Hightowers say they can't fathom is why they weren't told two simple things: that Mr. Beed used drugs and that he'd been in jail. They're suing Baylor and several of its doctors, alleging negligence for not giving them the chance to turn down Mr. Beed's kidney based on these facts.
Guidelines
Baylor representatives would not comment directly on the lawsuit but said in a prepared statement that they would vigorously defend themselves. Surgeons there have transplanted more than 1,700 kidneys and 2,600 livers since Baylor began offering the procedures in 1985, making the hospital's transplant program one of the "largest and most successful in the world," the statement said. Representatives said Baylor's doctors follow all disclosure and privacy protocols laid out by the United Network for Organ Sharing.
Yet some say these guidelines leave much to interpretation. Under "informed consent" standards, organ recipients are entitled to all pertinent information, including the health risks associated with transplants, medical alternatives, physical discomfort and survival rates. They must also be warned about unforeseen risks: diseases or conditions that haven't been identified at the time of transplant.
But it's a balancing act. A donor's identifying information – everything other than age and sex – is supposed to be kept strictly confidential under federal privacy guidelines. And what information is "pertinent" is left to the doctor's discretion, said Margaret Allee, chairwoman of the network's ethics committee.
While drug use and a history of incarceration don't make an organ "marginal," some transplant surgeons consider them risk factors.
An intravenous drug user who becomes an organ donor may have been exposed to HIV or hepatitis days before death. In that case, infection might not show up in routine screenings, said Dr. Robert Metzger, medical director of TransLife, the organ recovery and transplant program at Florida Hospital in Orlando, and a past president of the network.
"Most of us are knowledgeable that we need to look hard at those donors and utilize them in very careful situations," he said. "Usually, when there's a high-risk case, most transplant centers try to inform the recipients."
For other doctors, these factors are less telling. There's no evidence that recreational cocaine or marijuana use cause organ damage, they say. And a large portion of the population has engaged in some kind of high-risk activity, said the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Dr. Paterson. There's no link between drug use or jail time and rabies infection, he said.
"I just don't think it's relevant, really," Dr. Paterson said. "Everyone's blood, no matter who they are, is potentially harboring an infectious agent. It's the universal risk of transplantation."
Already a shortage
At a time when the transplant system is strapped for organs, it's not easy to find a donor whose social history is a clean slate, particularly in urban hospitals. Eliminating every donor who smoked marijuana or used cocaine would "cut down by a large percent our number of transplants," Dr. Metzger acknowledged.
And parents grappling with whether to donate a deceased child's organs would be far less likely to do so if they feared that an embarrassing drug problem or criminal conviction would become glaringly public, said Ms. Silvestri of the Southwest Transplant Alliance.
On her worst days, Ms. Graham relates to this sentiment. She gave birth alone, to a wide-eyed, curious daughter who is a constant reminder of her father. For the last two years, the young mother said, she has had to watch a private family decision to donate Mr. Beed's organs – and every piece of his dirty laundry – get trampled by the news media.
"We were all mourning over Will dying," she said, tears slinking down her narrow cheeks. "We just wanted to let other people have a chance to live."
By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News
Josh Hightower needed a kidney. But he was hardly on his deathbed.
In the months before his transplant, the 17-year-old roared across his family's East Texas ranch in his four-wheeler and tossed fluid-filled dialysis bags from his truck like water balloons.
On the night his mother got the unexpected call – there was a kidney for him headed to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas – Josh was out with his longtime girlfriend, having a high-school-sized argument.
But the organ meant to liberate Josh from a life of catheters and blood-cleaning machines instead caused his death: It infected him with rabies. In all, four transplant recipients and the donor himself died of this rare but highly preventable disease – a medical tragedy that made national news and turned a treasured gift of life into a deadly weapon.
Professionals considered it an anomaly. It was the first reported case of rabies transmission through solid-organ transplant – a statistical aberration that raised awareness and eyebrows at national conferences but didn't fundamentally change how organs are screened in this country.
For Dale and Jennifer Hightower, who still listen for their son's truck to thunder up their driveway in Big Sandy, Texas, and can't bring themselves to delete his voice from the family's answering machine, this explanation is far from acceptable.
They're furious that the same disease they vaccinate their dogs for isn't included in routine organ screenings. And they're heartbroken that transplant surgeons missed the symptoms – the heavy salivation, the confusion, the vomiting and headaches that led to the death of 20-year-old William Beed Jr. in a Texarkana, Ark., hospital, and drove the recipients of Mr. Beed's organs back to Baylor weeks later.
But what keeps them awake at night is something else entirely: the fact that doctors didn't tell them Mr. Beed had spent time in jail and had drugs in his system when he died.
"Josh wasn't fixin' to die; you couldn't even tell he was sick most of the time," Mrs. Hightower said, black tears leaking from her mascara-rimmed eyes. "He had years and years he could've kept going. If we'd known, we never would've taken that organ."
Transplant surgeons are quick to point out that drug use and jail time don't preclude organ donation; they're not even rare. And they're certainly not linked to rabies, which caused the deaths. The Beeds did what not enough grieving parents do, they say. They offered their son's body to save another life.
But it's an ethical question doctors grapple with every day: how to balance an organ donor's right to privacy with the organ recipient's right to know. And it's become even more complicated in the last decade, as the waiting list for organ transplants has tripled to more than 90,000. The number of donors – living and deceased – hasn't grown nearly that fast; last year there were fewer than 15,000.
As a result, patients in need of transplants are waiting much longer for them. In the U.S., 17 people die every day for want of a transplant. And doctors are accepting so-called marginal organs they might have passed on a decade ago, when the waiting list was just 30,000 long.
"The donor's organ function may not be perfect, but a patient in need of a transplant may be in a dire clinical situation," said Dr. Francis Delmonico, a Boston transplant surgeon and president of the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the country's organ transplants. "It's a gray area. In some instances, it's an emergency."
Transplant doctors still test for function and infection, conduct detailed medical and social histories, and screen donors for a bevy of diseases before procuring the organs. But rabies tests take too long to yield conclusive results, they say.
Though organ banks used to have the flexibility to refuse a donor for such reasons as old age and chronic health conditions, today they automatically exclude only donors who have certain types of cancer, said Pam Silvestri, public affairs director for Southwest Transplant Alliance, the organ bank that procured Mr. Beed's organs.
It was once rare to use an organ from someone older than 50. Now donors sometimes reach into the 80s. And it's not uncommon for patients to choose to take an organ from a donor with a curable infection or sexually transmitted disease and start treatment immediately, said Dr. David Paterson, chief of transplant infectious diseases at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Even hepatitis doesn't rule out an organ; some people on the waiting list already have it, Ms. Silvestri said.
"Depending on how urgently a patient needs a transplant," Dr. Paterson said, "that will make our threshold for accepting a 'marginal' organ ... a very different one."
A lifetime of fighting
Josh Hightower was diagnosed with acute nephritic syndrome at age 2 after his tiny body swelled to twice its normal size – a symptom of the kidney disorder. For the next decade he navigated the waters of his chronic illness, swallowing up to 50 pills a day and lining his closet with a dozen different-sized jeans.
But the goofy, affectionate "hell-raiser" they called Bubba fought through his sick days. He was a devout FFA member who showed his Black Angus steer at stock shows across Texas, a four-wheeler fanatic with his own work shed on his family's 27-acre farm. At 16, when he became too sick to attend school, doctors put him on dialysis and added him to the transplant waiting list.
The nightly dialysis was hardly the death knell for Josh; he felt better than he had in years. By spring 2004, he was giddy about graduation and talking about opening a four-wheeler shop amid fruit fields and horse farms in nearby Gilmer.
But his future was in the hands of a young man 100 miles away.
At 20, William Beed Jr. was in many ways still a kid. He'd had a tough childhood, said his girlfriend, Joy Graham. He didn't always make the best choices: There was some occasional drug use, some "being in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said.
But everything had changed that winter when Ms. Graham learned she was pregnant. After the initial fear, Ms. Graham said – they were both 20 and still lived with their mothers – Mr. Beed glowed with pride. He had a sense that his first child would be a girl, she said, and was turning his life around for her.
"He was starting to save money; he was looking for a job. We were planning on everything," Ms. Graham said with a gulp, her tiny frame nearly disappearing into an armchair. "He was already saying he wouldn't let her have boyfriends, that she'd go to private school. She was going to be Daddy's little girl."
In the four years they'd been together, Ms. Graham said, Mr. Beed never even got a cold. But when he was admitted to Texarkana's Christus St. Michael hospital on April 29, 2004, he was having seizures, vomiting blood and drifting in and out of consciousness.
As his family looked on, Mr. Beed's condition worsened. His brain was hemorrhaging. His pupils were fixed. He fell into a coma. On May 3, doctors announced that Mr. Beed was brain-dead. The next night, relatives made the gut-wrenching decision to take him off life support and agreed to proceed with organ donation.
When doctors procured Mr. Beed's organs, they determined that he had died of a brain hemorrhage, and they believed it was the result of a drug overdose. Rabies wasn't considered; his family didn't know at the time that his apartment complex was infested with bats. And urine samples tested positive for cocaine and marijuana.
According to medical and social history records, Mr. Beed had "ingested an unknown quantity of rock cocaine" two days before going to the hospital and had been released from the county jail two weeks before on drug charges.
The organs passed the eligibility and infection screening, and transplant officials starting seeking recipient hospitals. Organ procurement records obtained by The Dallas Morning News indicate that several transplant surgeons across Texas declined Mr. Beed's organs because of "donor quality," a broad explanation that can include hypertension and an unknown cause of death. The records specifically list the words "cocaine" and "jailed" in the comments fields, though they make no reference to "social history," the organ refusal category that includes "high-risk sexual behavior, alcohol or IV drug use."
There were no takers for Mr. Beed's heart and pancreas. Baylor transplant surgeons accepted both kidneys as well as Mr. Beed's liver and some arteries. A hospital in Alabama took Mr. Beed's lungs, but that patient died during the transplant operation.
Doctors who accepted and rejected the organs said they were unable to comment on the specifics of this case, citing patient privacy and pending litigation. But transplant experts not associated with the case said that it's often a combination of factors that lead to an organ being turned down – and that the procurement records probably don't tell the whole story.
It was 2 a.m. May 4, 2004, when the Hightowers got the call. It seemed too soon; they'd just started their son's pre-transplant work and were hoping to find a living donor. But they raced to Dallas anyway. State troopers stopped them for speeding five times along the way.
The transplant was unsuccessful; the kidney never worked. A disappointed Josh watched as the liver recipient and other kidney recipient checked out with working organs. He left a few days after his 18th birthday, vowing to cheer up before graduation.
Rabies takes hold
But his health quickly declined. On graduation morning, Josh was shaking so hard that his mother had to help him out of the shower and hold him steady in her arms while she trimmed his hair.
Josh walked across the stage, received his diploma and promptly threw up in the bleachers. Within 24 hours, he was delirious, his bony body sprawled naked across the bed, his mouth stained blue from the Popsicles his mother tried to feed him.
By the time the local emergency room transferred him back to Baylor, he was screaming obscenities and crying hysterically. Nurses scolded Mrs. Hightower, she recalls with heaving sobs, for not teaching her son "how to act."
In the days that followed, Josh's condition worsened. He was in a coma, then fully brain-dead.
It didn't take long for his parents to recognize the families of the other recipients of Mr. Beed's organs, who were back in the hospital with similar symptoms.
They spent a three-week vigil at their son's bedside, watching helplessly as the other organ recipients died. On June 21, nearly seven weeks after his transplant, they took Josh off life support.
"They say the pain fades," Mr. Hightower said quietly, a bullet of dip lodged in his quivering lower lip. "It don't. I sure miss him."
It was an unfortunate tragedy, one Baylor handled as well as any hospital could have, said Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, who investigated the case for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Without the indication of an animal bite, he said, a rabies diagnosis is rarely considered. In the last decade, fewer than six human rabies cases per year have been reported in the U.S. Many doctors go their entire careers without seeing a single case.
"It's easy to go back, in retrospect, and say all the classic findings of rabies were there," Dr. Srinivasan said. "As physicians, we look for the most likely explanation. In this case, they had one – a drug overdose – vs. a viral infection that is very, very rare."
What this case did provide, Dr. Srinivasan said, was a wake-up call that the transplant system needs a better way to track donated organs and tissue. If the recipients of Mr. Beed's organs hadn't all returned to Baylor, he said, he's not sure anyone would have made the rabies connection.
The Hightowers have accepted this fact, though it hasn't curbed their outrage. They're weary of doctors' surprise, they say. This wasn't the first time a transplant patient contracted rabies: Five countries, including the U.S., had already reported rabies infections through cornea transplants.
They're also perplexed that no one determined the true cause of Mr. Beed's death. If doctors in Texarkana had detected rabies in the days after Josh's transplant, they say, there still would have been time to administer life-saving treatments. Rabies is curable if it's treated before the onset of symptoms.
But what the Hightowers say they can't fathom is why they weren't told two simple things: that Mr. Beed used drugs and that he'd been in jail. They're suing Baylor and several of its doctors, alleging negligence for not giving them the chance to turn down Mr. Beed's kidney based on these facts.
Guidelines
Baylor representatives would not comment directly on the lawsuit but said in a prepared statement that they would vigorously defend themselves. Surgeons there have transplanted more than 1,700 kidneys and 2,600 livers since Baylor began offering the procedures in 1985, making the hospital's transplant program one of the "largest and most successful in the world," the statement said. Representatives said Baylor's doctors follow all disclosure and privacy protocols laid out by the United Network for Organ Sharing.
Yet some say these guidelines leave much to interpretation. Under "informed consent" standards, organ recipients are entitled to all pertinent information, including the health risks associated with transplants, medical alternatives, physical discomfort and survival rates. They must also be warned about unforeseen risks: diseases or conditions that haven't been identified at the time of transplant.
But it's a balancing act. A donor's identifying information – everything other than age and sex – is supposed to be kept strictly confidential under federal privacy guidelines. And what information is "pertinent" is left to the doctor's discretion, said Margaret Allee, chairwoman of the network's ethics committee.
While drug use and a history of incarceration don't make an organ "marginal," some transplant surgeons consider them risk factors.
An intravenous drug user who becomes an organ donor may have been exposed to HIV or hepatitis days before death. In that case, infection might not show up in routine screenings, said Dr. Robert Metzger, medical director of TransLife, the organ recovery and transplant program at Florida Hospital in Orlando, and a past president of the network.
"Most of us are knowledgeable that we need to look hard at those donors and utilize them in very careful situations," he said. "Usually, when there's a high-risk case, most transplant centers try to inform the recipients."
For other doctors, these factors are less telling. There's no evidence that recreational cocaine or marijuana use cause organ damage, they say. And a large portion of the population has engaged in some kind of high-risk activity, said the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Dr. Paterson. There's no link between drug use or jail time and rabies infection, he said.
"I just don't think it's relevant, really," Dr. Paterson said. "Everyone's blood, no matter who they are, is potentially harboring an infectious agent. It's the universal risk of transplantation."
Already a shortage
At a time when the transplant system is strapped for organs, it's not easy to find a donor whose social history is a clean slate, particularly in urban hospitals. Eliminating every donor who smoked marijuana or used cocaine would "cut down by a large percent our number of transplants," Dr. Metzger acknowledged.
And parents grappling with whether to donate a deceased child's organs would be far less likely to do so if they feared that an embarrassing drug problem or criminal conviction would become glaringly public, said Ms. Silvestri of the Southwest Transplant Alliance.
On her worst days, Ms. Graham relates to this sentiment. She gave birth alone, to a wide-eyed, curious daughter who is a constant reminder of her father. For the last two years, the young mother said, she has had to watch a private family decision to donate Mr. Beed's organs – and every piece of his dirty laundry – get trampled by the news media.
"We were all mourning over Will dying," she said, tears slinking down her narrow cheeks. "We just wanted to let other people have a chance to live."
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Garland man admits to killing wife, police say
46-year-old calls officials after fleeing with children
By MARGARITA MARTÍN-HIDALGO / The Dallas Morning News
GARLAND, Texas - A 46-year-old Garland man faces a murder charge after telling police that he killed his wife Saturday and fled to Mesquite with their four children, a Garland police spokesman said.
The man’s name and the name of his 36-year-old wife were not released while relatives are being notified. Officer Joe Harn said the suspect called police about 4:45 p.m. from a hotel in Mesquite and told them he had killed his wife at their home in the 5400 block of Barcelona Drive.
“No idea on his state of mind,” the officer said.
Police arrested the man, and Child Protective Services took custody of the children, ages 2 to 9. Officer Harn said he didn’t know whether the children were in the house at the time of the killing.
According to a playmate of one of the children, the father drove away with them in the afternoon, Officer Harn said. The little girl’s grandmother said one of the children told her granddaughter that they were going to a hotel with their father.
Garland homicide investigators spent more than three hours collecting evidence at the single-story brick home on a cul-de-sac in a quiet residential neighborhood near Mesquite.
Saturday evening, a man who arrived at the house broke down sobbing and yelled into a cellphone, “She’s dead! She’s dead!”
Neighbors who lived near the couple, natives of Nigeria who moved to the neighborhood about eight years ago, said they mostly kept to themselves, but their children frequently played outside with other kids. Next-door neighbor Bill Loge said he was a close friend of the husband and was shocked to hear that he had been accused of killing his wife.
“She was a very nice, sociable person,” Mr. Loge said. The husband was a “very likable person,” he said.
“When we talked, he laughed and smiled,” the 79-year-old said.
A World War II veteran, Mr. Loge, 79, said he would frequently talk to the man about the importance of raising his kids with American values and “the American way and everything else.” Mr. Loge said he didn’t know whether the couple had marital problems.
But Garland police records show officers responded to a domestic violence incident at the house last October.
Another neighbor, Kim Howe, said the husband might have been working as a truck driver. She remembered that the oldest child, a boy, would get excited when his father returned home.
46-year-old calls officials after fleeing with children
By MARGARITA MARTÍN-HIDALGO / The Dallas Morning News
GARLAND, Texas - A 46-year-old Garland man faces a murder charge after telling police that he killed his wife Saturday and fled to Mesquite with their four children, a Garland police spokesman said.
The man’s name and the name of his 36-year-old wife were not released while relatives are being notified. Officer Joe Harn said the suspect called police about 4:45 p.m. from a hotel in Mesquite and told them he had killed his wife at their home in the 5400 block of Barcelona Drive.
“No idea on his state of mind,” the officer said.
Police arrested the man, and Child Protective Services took custody of the children, ages 2 to 9. Officer Harn said he didn’t know whether the children were in the house at the time of the killing.
According to a playmate of one of the children, the father drove away with them in the afternoon, Officer Harn said. The little girl’s grandmother said one of the children told her granddaughter that they were going to a hotel with their father.
Garland homicide investigators spent more than three hours collecting evidence at the single-story brick home on a cul-de-sac in a quiet residential neighborhood near Mesquite.
Saturday evening, a man who arrived at the house broke down sobbing and yelled into a cellphone, “She’s dead! She’s dead!”
Neighbors who lived near the couple, natives of Nigeria who moved to the neighborhood about eight years ago, said they mostly kept to themselves, but their children frequently played outside with other kids. Next-door neighbor Bill Loge said he was a close friend of the husband and was shocked to hear that he had been accused of killing his wife.
“She was a very nice, sociable person,” Mr. Loge said. The husband was a “very likable person,” he said.
“When we talked, he laughed and smiled,” the 79-year-old said.
A World War II veteran, Mr. Loge, 79, said he would frequently talk to the man about the importance of raising his kids with American values and “the American way and everything else.” Mr. Loge said he didn’t know whether the couple had marital problems.
But Garland police records show officers responded to a domestic violence incident at the house last October.
Another neighbor, Kim Howe, said the husband might have been working as a truck driver. She remembered that the oldest child, a boy, would get excited when his father returned home.
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TexasStooge
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Boater's body found in Lake Ray Hubbard
By TY A. ALLISON / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - Game wardens with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department found the body of a Garland man in Lake Ray Hubbard about 7 p.m. Saturday, a Dallas police spokesman said.
The man was identified as Adrian Timischi, 62, who had been missing since March 17, when he reportedly fell out of his boat while fishing at the lake, authorities said.
Crews from Dallas Fire-Rescue and the Garland Fire Department had searched the lake last weekend but had to call off their efforts because of heavy storms.
By TY A. ALLISON / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - Game wardens with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department found the body of a Garland man in Lake Ray Hubbard about 7 p.m. Saturday, a Dallas police spokesman said.
The man was identified as Adrian Timischi, 62, who had been missing since March 17, when he reportedly fell out of his boat while fishing at the lake, authorities said.
Crews from Dallas Fire-Rescue and the Garland Fire Department had searched the lake last weekend but had to call off their efforts because of heavy storms.
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Neighborhood rallies around comatose boy
By CAROL CAVAZOS / WFAA ABC 8
BEDFORD, Texas - A 14-year-old Bedford boy, who has been in a comatose since a dirt bike accident March 8, has brought a community together in an effort to raise money for his recovery.
Residents in the area fastened hundreds of orange ribbons around neighborhood trees, which represent the color of Justin Marshall's favorite sports team.
They also put together a neighborhood fair complete with homemade cakes to raise money for mounting bills. Mike Marshall, Justin's father, said he hasn't been able to work since the accident.
"It's like the neighborhoods we grew up in," Marshall said about the group of people who came together to help his family.
Justin was trying out a friend's dirt bike when he lost control of it, hit a mail box and then ran into a utility pole. He suffered a severe head injury and was sent to John Peter Smith Hospital where he has remained ever since.
"He has his eyes open a lot during the day," Mike Marshall said.
But his father said he hasn't woken up from his coma.
Justin's friend, Trey Hobbs, said it was his bike that Justin used day of the accident.
"He's lost a thumb, he broke all his upper body, they put a trachea in there and [he got a] broken arm," Hobbs said. "...I thought he was dead."
Residents said the ribbons the residents put up around the neighborhood serve as prayer reminders.
Friends such a Hobbs said they believe he will make it through.
"He'll be okay though at the end of it," he said.
By CAROL CAVAZOS / WFAA ABC 8
BEDFORD, Texas - A 14-year-old Bedford boy, who has been in a comatose since a dirt bike accident March 8, has brought a community together in an effort to raise money for his recovery.
Residents in the area fastened hundreds of orange ribbons around neighborhood trees, which represent the color of Justin Marshall's favorite sports team.
They also put together a neighborhood fair complete with homemade cakes to raise money for mounting bills. Mike Marshall, Justin's father, said he hasn't been able to work since the accident.
"It's like the neighborhoods we grew up in," Marshall said about the group of people who came together to help his family.
Justin was trying out a friend's dirt bike when he lost control of it, hit a mail box and then ran into a utility pole. He suffered a severe head injury and was sent to John Peter Smith Hospital where he has remained ever since.
"He has his eyes open a lot during the day," Mike Marshall said.
But his father said he hasn't woken up from his coma.
Justin's friend, Trey Hobbs, said it was his bike that Justin used day of the accident.
"He's lost a thumb, he broke all his upper body, they put a trachea in there and [he got a] broken arm," Hobbs said. "...I thought he was dead."
Residents said the ribbons the residents put up around the neighborhood serve as prayer reminders.
Friends such a Hobbs said they believe he will make it through.
"He'll be okay though at the end of it," he said.
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TexasStooge
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One killed, six injured in E. Texas park
MARSHALL, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) – One person was killed and six people were wounded Sunday in a shooting at a city park in Marshall.
There had been an ongoing feud between several of those involved in the shooting, police spokesman Sgt. Leland J. Benoit said in a news release.
Lee Arthur McCowan, 29, of Marshall was shot to death, Benoit said.
Five people were treated for gunshot wounds and released from Marshall Regional Medical Center, said Russ Collier, the hospital's chief executive officer.
A sixth was transferred to a Longview hospital, Collier said. Daniel Johnson was in stable condition after surgery at Good Sheperd Medical Center, nursing supervisor Chad Murphy said.
The shooting occurred about 2 p.m. at Spring Street Park.
Some of those injured were taken to the hospital by ambulance while others were taken by private vehicle.
MARSHALL, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) – One person was killed and six people were wounded Sunday in a shooting at a city park in Marshall.
There had been an ongoing feud between several of those involved in the shooting, police spokesman Sgt. Leland J. Benoit said in a news release.
Lee Arthur McCowan, 29, of Marshall was shot to death, Benoit said.
Five people were treated for gunshot wounds and released from Marshall Regional Medical Center, said Russ Collier, the hospital's chief executive officer.
A sixth was transferred to a Longview hospital, Collier said. Daniel Johnson was in stable condition after surgery at Good Sheperd Medical Center, nursing supervisor Chad Murphy said.
The shooting occurred about 2 p.m. at Spring Street Park.
Some of those injured were taken to the hospital by ambulance while others were taken by private vehicle.
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TexasStooge
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When convention uprooted church, it had to improvise
By MIKE JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - Pastor Richard Ellis had his flock at downtown Dallas' Reunion Church belly up to the bar on Sunday.
Well, not quite. Bumped out of its normal Sunday morning home at the Dallas Convention Center, the 8-year-old nondenominational church gathered instead at Gilley's Dallas, the popular nightclub widely known for country music and mechanical bull riding.
There were no hard feelings, however, as Reunion's congregation spun a western theme around the day's event. Many wore jeans, cowboy boots and cowboy hats.
"The guys I talked to yesterday said try to dress as western as possible," said Mark Anderson, an usher dressed in denim shirt and pants.
Reunion Church was forced to shift services when Microsoft Corp. swallowed up the Convention Center for a weekend conference on business software. But the congregation met the dislocation with good humor.
"I came here to drink before, but not to worship," said Steve Slaymaker of Dallas.
Several hundred people filled the chairs covering Gilley's main hardwood dance floor.
The bars were dark except for the neon Coca-Cola, Shiner Bock and Tony Lama signs. Six flat-screen televisions broadcast Mr. Ellis, the band and the chorus.
Reunion probably drew a larger crowd than normal, attracting some who were curious about the venue, just south of downtown and a few blocks from the convention center, Mr. Ellis said.
"I joked with somebody that I was going to do a sermon on alcoholism and teach everybody how to 12-step," Mr. Ellis said.
He passed on the alcohol sermon but took advantage of the symbolism offered by El Toro, the celebrated mechanical bull made famous by the movie Urban Cowboy.
"From the pulpit to the bull pit," Mr. Ellis quipped.
With a Gilley's Dallas sign and red velvet curtain as his backdrop, Mr. Ellis stood before El Toro and the congregation and announced: "Today's message is 'No Bull.' "
He climbed aboard El Toro, assuring his congregation that he wouldn't turn it on. A simple switch could control El Toro. But life, he said, can spin out of control like a ride on a real bull. Only faith, prayer and a relationship with God can calm life's tumult.
Church members said they had no problem with their church holding services in a bar.
"Scripture says where there are two or more, he is in their presence," said Jolly Hormillosa, whose children, Sophia, 3, and Robbie, 6, donned cowboy boots and hats.
"Part of it is how you conduct yourself where you are," said Ms. Hormillosa of Dallas. "We're here to praise God and not to get plastered."
Location, others said, doesn't matter at all. That's why the church doesn't own a building, but instead rents space at the convention center. Mr. Ellis is fond of saying, "I'm in the sheep business, not the barn business."
"You can plant us down anywhere," said Kent LaTurno of Waxahachie. "It's the people of the church that matter."
Mr. LaTurno's two sons, Asher, 5, and Titus, 3, enjoyed Sunday's theme because they are used to wearing jeans and boots at home, he said. They were especially happy when their dad told them they could wear their holsters and plastic pistols.
"We don't bring guns to church normally," he said, "but we're at Gilley's so I thought it would be fun."
By MIKE JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - Pastor Richard Ellis had his flock at downtown Dallas' Reunion Church belly up to the bar on Sunday.
Well, not quite. Bumped out of its normal Sunday morning home at the Dallas Convention Center, the 8-year-old nondenominational church gathered instead at Gilley's Dallas, the popular nightclub widely known for country music and mechanical bull riding.
There were no hard feelings, however, as Reunion's congregation spun a western theme around the day's event. Many wore jeans, cowboy boots and cowboy hats.
"The guys I talked to yesterday said try to dress as western as possible," said Mark Anderson, an usher dressed in denim shirt and pants.
Reunion Church was forced to shift services when Microsoft Corp. swallowed up the Convention Center for a weekend conference on business software. But the congregation met the dislocation with good humor.
"I came here to drink before, but not to worship," said Steve Slaymaker of Dallas.
Several hundred people filled the chairs covering Gilley's main hardwood dance floor.
The bars were dark except for the neon Coca-Cola, Shiner Bock and Tony Lama signs. Six flat-screen televisions broadcast Mr. Ellis, the band and the chorus.
Reunion probably drew a larger crowd than normal, attracting some who were curious about the venue, just south of downtown and a few blocks from the convention center, Mr. Ellis said.
"I joked with somebody that I was going to do a sermon on alcoholism and teach everybody how to 12-step," Mr. Ellis said.
He passed on the alcohol sermon but took advantage of the symbolism offered by El Toro, the celebrated mechanical bull made famous by the movie Urban Cowboy.
"From the pulpit to the bull pit," Mr. Ellis quipped.
With a Gilley's Dallas sign and red velvet curtain as his backdrop, Mr. Ellis stood before El Toro and the congregation and announced: "Today's message is 'No Bull.' "
He climbed aboard El Toro, assuring his congregation that he wouldn't turn it on. A simple switch could control El Toro. But life, he said, can spin out of control like a ride on a real bull. Only faith, prayer and a relationship with God can calm life's tumult.
Church members said they had no problem with their church holding services in a bar.
"Scripture says where there are two or more, he is in their presence," said Jolly Hormillosa, whose children, Sophia, 3, and Robbie, 6, donned cowboy boots and hats.
"Part of it is how you conduct yourself where you are," said Ms. Hormillosa of Dallas. "We're here to praise God and not to get plastered."
Location, others said, doesn't matter at all. That's why the church doesn't own a building, but instead rents space at the convention center. Mr. Ellis is fond of saying, "I'm in the sheep business, not the barn business."
"You can plant us down anywhere," said Kent LaTurno of Waxahachie. "It's the people of the church that matter."
Mr. LaTurno's two sons, Asher, 5, and Titus, 3, enjoyed Sunday's theme because they are used to wearing jeans and boots at home, he said. They were especially happy when their dad told them they could wear their holsters and plastic pistols.
"We don't bring guns to church normally," he said, "but we're at Gilley's so I thought it would be fun."
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TexasStooge
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Special ed jobs likely to be cut
Irving ISD: District officials blame the school finance crisis
By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas - Irving schools are likely to eliminate 30 special education teacher and paraprofessional positions next year to save roughly $1.1 million.
A report on the program's staffing will be presented to the board of trustees Monday at its noon work session, and the board will hear input on next year's budget at its evening meeting.
Neil Dugger, the district's director of personnel, said many of the teachers have been notified that their contracts are unlikely to be renewed.
"We certainly hope with our turnover, we will be able to re-employ all of these people if they choose to come back at some point," he said.
Officials expect to eliminate 20 full-time teaching positions and 10 paraprofessional jobs, or about one position from every campus, he said.
The district uses state, federal and local funding for special education. The amount spent on special education this year was about $16.7 million in state and local funds – the same as five years ago. State funding increased by about $577,000 over five years.
The number of students in the program has remained relatively flat, and over the last couple of years declined to 3,013 students, or 9.3 percent of the district's enrollment.
School board president Ruben Franco said the district doesn't receive enough state funding to support its programs and blamed the school finance situation.
"If we don't have the money, we can't fund it," he said. "It hurts to do this because I have grandchildren affected. I'm going to be very much upset about it. These children are in great need."
The cuts would increase the number of students per teacher to 11, up from nine per teacher five years ago. The district has 252 teachers – 30 fewer than five years ago – and 216 paraprofessionals, an increase of 31 from five years ago.
According to the report, the district used state funds to pay for nearly $2 million in repairs to special education facilities at Britain and Keyes elementary schools and Travis Middle School.
Teacher salaries were shifted from state funds to federal funds to accommodate the costs, exhausting nearly all of the roughly $5.6 million in federal funds this year. Usually the district rolls over some funding.
Wanda Pope, whose son has muscular dystrophy and who has worked as a paraprofessional, said that the district has a strong program but that cuts can be stressful.
"I would say our teachers are overworked simply because they have to make up for those teachers who have been cut," she said. "But I know from the parents' side, my son has always received everything he needs."
Also on Monday, Irving trustees will consider approving the school calendar for next year. One of the most notable changes would be a winter break that would be three days shorter, running from Dec. 21 through Jan. 1.
The first day of school would be the same, Aug. 23. Students would get President's Day off, unlike this year. Spring break would be March 12-16. Bad weather days would be April 6, Good Friday; and May 28, Memorial Day.
Irving ISD: District officials blame the school finance crisis
By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas - Irving schools are likely to eliminate 30 special education teacher and paraprofessional positions next year to save roughly $1.1 million.
A report on the program's staffing will be presented to the board of trustees Monday at its noon work session, and the board will hear input on next year's budget at its evening meeting.
Neil Dugger, the district's director of personnel, said many of the teachers have been notified that their contracts are unlikely to be renewed.
"We certainly hope with our turnover, we will be able to re-employ all of these people if they choose to come back at some point," he said.
Officials expect to eliminate 20 full-time teaching positions and 10 paraprofessional jobs, or about one position from every campus, he said.
The district uses state, federal and local funding for special education. The amount spent on special education this year was about $16.7 million in state and local funds – the same as five years ago. State funding increased by about $577,000 over five years.
The number of students in the program has remained relatively flat, and over the last couple of years declined to 3,013 students, or 9.3 percent of the district's enrollment.
School board president Ruben Franco said the district doesn't receive enough state funding to support its programs and blamed the school finance situation.
"If we don't have the money, we can't fund it," he said. "It hurts to do this because I have grandchildren affected. I'm going to be very much upset about it. These children are in great need."
The cuts would increase the number of students per teacher to 11, up from nine per teacher five years ago. The district has 252 teachers – 30 fewer than five years ago – and 216 paraprofessionals, an increase of 31 from five years ago.
According to the report, the district used state funds to pay for nearly $2 million in repairs to special education facilities at Britain and Keyes elementary schools and Travis Middle School.
Teacher salaries were shifted from state funds to federal funds to accommodate the costs, exhausting nearly all of the roughly $5.6 million in federal funds this year. Usually the district rolls over some funding.
Wanda Pope, whose son has muscular dystrophy and who has worked as a paraprofessional, said that the district has a strong program but that cuts can be stressful.
"I would say our teachers are overworked simply because they have to make up for those teachers who have been cut," she said. "But I know from the parents' side, my son has always received everything he needs."
Also on Monday, Irving trustees will consider approving the school calendar for next year. One of the most notable changes would be a winter break that would be three days shorter, running from Dec. 21 through Jan. 1.
The first day of school would be the same, Aug. 23. Students would get President's Day off, unlike this year. Spring break would be March 12-16. Bad weather days would be April 6, Good Friday; and May 28, Memorial Day.
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TexasStooge
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Irving makes pick for city manager
Dallas official is in negotiations for job that dozens sought
By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas - The Irving City Council on Friday named the man it wants to serve as city manager.
Irving officials are negotiating with Tommy Gonzalez, an assistant Dallas city manager, to be the city's chief executive.
Mr. Gonzalez is well educated, experienced and a skilled negotiator, Mayor Herbert Gears said.
"Tommy met the vision we have for the leadership we need," he said. "He's very positive about the opportunities in Irving, and he's ready to take us to the next level."
Mr. Gonzalez couldn't be reached for comment Friday. The Irving council will likely vote on an employment contract in April.
Irving council members conducted a handful of candidate interviews on Thursday and Friday. Mr. Gonzalez, however, wasn't included on a city-released list of at least 26 manager applicants. Mr. Gears said Irving leaders approached Mr. Gonzalez for the job.
In Dallas, Mr. Gonzalez is responsible for staff accountability, including risk management and human resources, according to city documents.
He's also been Harlingen's city manager and Lubbock's interim city manager.
His résumé states that he's been a major in the U.S. Army since 2003 and has served in the military since 1988. He's been deployed on military operations.
In Irving, the city manager oversees a general fund budget of about $145 million and a staff of about 2,000 employees. Marketing materials for the position say the city has established a starting salary in "the high $100s" and a car allowance.
Mr. Gears said that those invited for interviews this week included Irving Assistant City Manager Gilbert Perales, Irving chief financial officer David Leininger, Longview City Manager Rickey Childers and Richardson Assistant City Manager Michael Wanchick.
Candidates from outside Texas who were interviewed include Gary Milliman, city manager in South Gate, Calif., and Donald Cooper, city manager in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Former City Manager Steve McCullough retired in September after a 30-year City Hall career.
Staff writer Dave Levinthal contributed to this report.
Dallas official is in negotiations for job that dozens sought
By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas - The Irving City Council on Friday named the man it wants to serve as city manager.
Irving officials are negotiating with Tommy Gonzalez, an assistant Dallas city manager, to be the city's chief executive.
Mr. Gonzalez is well educated, experienced and a skilled negotiator, Mayor Herbert Gears said.
"Tommy met the vision we have for the leadership we need," he said. "He's very positive about the opportunities in Irving, and he's ready to take us to the next level."
Mr. Gonzalez couldn't be reached for comment Friday. The Irving council will likely vote on an employment contract in April.
Irving council members conducted a handful of candidate interviews on Thursday and Friday. Mr. Gonzalez, however, wasn't included on a city-released list of at least 26 manager applicants. Mr. Gears said Irving leaders approached Mr. Gonzalez for the job.
In Dallas, Mr. Gonzalez is responsible for staff accountability, including risk management and human resources, according to city documents.
He's also been Harlingen's city manager and Lubbock's interim city manager.
His résumé states that he's been a major in the U.S. Army since 2003 and has served in the military since 1988. He's been deployed on military operations.
In Irving, the city manager oversees a general fund budget of about $145 million and a staff of about 2,000 employees. Marketing materials for the position say the city has established a starting salary in "the high $100s" and a car allowance.
Mr. Gears said that those invited for interviews this week included Irving Assistant City Manager Gilbert Perales, Irving chief financial officer David Leininger, Longview City Manager Rickey Childers and Richardson Assistant City Manager Michael Wanchick.
Candidates from outside Texas who were interviewed include Gary Milliman, city manager in South Gate, Calif., and Donald Cooper, city manager in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Former City Manager Steve McCullough retired in September after a 30-year City Hall career.
Staff writer Dave Levinthal contributed to this report.
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TexasStooge
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Trustees consider firm's gas drilling bid
Irving ISD: School land lease, revenue possible; hearing set Monday
By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas - Irving school officials are considering a bid offering nearly $600,000 up front to lease mineral rights on district property for future gas drilling under school campuses.
A public hearing is scheduled at 7 p.m. Monday to consider the bid from Llano Royalty. If the school board accepts the bid, the district will negotiate a lease.
The leases would range from two to three years with the district receiving 23 percent to 25 percent of royalties, according to the bid.
Bill Althoff, assistant superintendent for support services, said the district had never considered drilling until Llano inquired. He said property west of MacArthur High School attracted the most interest.
"We've never done this before, so we didn't know what to expect," he said.
School districts in Tarrant and Denton counties have turned to drilling to generate extra money as demand for gas has increased and drilling technology has improved in accessing the Barnett Shale underground gas reserve. But Dallas County has long been considered barren.
Horizontal drilling enables companies to place drilling rigs on adjacent private properties to reach reserves under schools. The technology is also thought to produce greater yields than vertical drilling.
The only surface drilling the district said would be allowed would be on land north of Houston Middle School and the service center.
District officials said they want to address concerns about noise, safety and odor, especially because Irving is an urban area with little open space.
"We don't want anything that disrupts school or causes problems," Mr. Althoff said. "Obviously we want to be assured there's not going to be any noise factor and it's going to be safe, and we'll be far enough away."
In January, the Irving City Council approved an ordinance regulating drilling, after a number of other cities approved such regulations. Many were prompted by inquiries from drilling companies. Grand Prairie and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport also have been exploring options.
Irving's ordinance requires companies to obtain a special permit if a well would be within 600 feet of a school.
In its bid, Llano offered the most money, about $193,100, for an area north of State Highway 183 that includes MacArthur High School, Houston and Travis middle schools, and Brandenburg, Johnston, Lee and Townsell elementaries.
The company offered the least money, about $58,000, for an area that includes Irving High School, Austin, De Zavala and Bowie middle schools, and several elementary campuses.
If the board accepts the bid Monday, Llano has said it will ensure that the district owns all the mineral rights to the properties. If a lease is approved, the company would also have to apply for a permit from the city.
For the district, drilling is an uncharted area. But they're looking for revenue sources.
"It's either going to boom or bust like the old days of the Gold Rush," said Debbie Cabrera, the district's executive director of finance. "One can only hope. ... Obviously speculation is still speculation."
Irving ISD: School land lease, revenue possible; hearing set Monday
By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas - Irving school officials are considering a bid offering nearly $600,000 up front to lease mineral rights on district property for future gas drilling under school campuses.
A public hearing is scheduled at 7 p.m. Monday to consider the bid from Llano Royalty. If the school board accepts the bid, the district will negotiate a lease.
The leases would range from two to three years with the district receiving 23 percent to 25 percent of royalties, according to the bid.
Bill Althoff, assistant superintendent for support services, said the district had never considered drilling until Llano inquired. He said property west of MacArthur High School attracted the most interest.
"We've never done this before, so we didn't know what to expect," he said.
School districts in Tarrant and Denton counties have turned to drilling to generate extra money as demand for gas has increased and drilling technology has improved in accessing the Barnett Shale underground gas reserve. But Dallas County has long been considered barren.
Horizontal drilling enables companies to place drilling rigs on adjacent private properties to reach reserves under schools. The technology is also thought to produce greater yields than vertical drilling.
The only surface drilling the district said would be allowed would be on land north of Houston Middle School and the service center.
District officials said they want to address concerns about noise, safety and odor, especially because Irving is an urban area with little open space.
"We don't want anything that disrupts school or causes problems," Mr. Althoff said. "Obviously we want to be assured there's not going to be any noise factor and it's going to be safe, and we'll be far enough away."
In January, the Irving City Council approved an ordinance regulating drilling, after a number of other cities approved such regulations. Many were prompted by inquiries from drilling companies. Grand Prairie and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport also have been exploring options.
Irving's ordinance requires companies to obtain a special permit if a well would be within 600 feet of a school.
In its bid, Llano offered the most money, about $193,100, for an area north of State Highway 183 that includes MacArthur High School, Houston and Travis middle schools, and Brandenburg, Johnston, Lee and Townsell elementaries.
The company offered the least money, about $58,000, for an area that includes Irving High School, Austin, De Zavala and Bowie middle schools, and several elementary campuses.
If the board accepts the bid Monday, Llano has said it will ensure that the district owns all the mineral rights to the properties. If a lease is approved, the company would also have to apply for a permit from the city.
For the district, drilling is an uncharted area. But they're looking for revenue sources.
"It's either going to boom or bust like the old days of the Gold Rush," said Debbie Cabrera, the district's executive director of finance. "One can only hope. ... Obviously speculation is still speculation."
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TexasStooge
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Standing on a foundation of music
Irving: Whether it's the Silvertones or church, he gives good direction
By DEBORAH FLECK / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas - Woody Schober turned his back on the Irving Silvertones Chorus in midsong at Sunday's concert. The conductor motioned for the audience to join in. When people didn't sing loud enough, he cupped his ear, signaling for more.
As the volume grew, his satisfaction spread into a smile. His job was done.
Mr. Schober shares his love of music with everyone he meets.
In addition to directing the Silvertones choral group for senior citizens, he spent 30 years as the Irving school district's director of fine arts. He retired in 2000.
"I wasn't sure I wanted to do that, but I agreed, and it was great," he said.
Mr. Schober's musical talents took root early. The native Texan was in band and choir in high school but thought he might like to study business in college.
"I switched after my first year to music education because I realized that was what I really loved," he said.
After earning his degree from what is now the University of North Texas, he landed a job as a band director at Wilmer-Hutchins High School.
He then taught at a school in McKinney for a few years before coming to Nimitz High School in Irving in 1968. He and his wife of 49 years, Carol Schober, have lived in Irving ever since. They have two grown children.
Mr. Schober also was a founder and director of the Texas Boys Choir.
"I've always thought there was a need to bring music to boys," he said. The choir is now coed.
These days, much of his time is devoted to directing four choirs at Oak View Baptist Church in Irving. He also performs with a men's choral group.
"Woody is an institution in Irving," Oak View Baptist pastor Jim Gerlach said. "He does a tremendous job leading our choirs, and he's made a huge difference in so many lives."
Last fall, Mr. Schober received an Award of Distinction last year in the National Religious Music Week Alliance's Ministry of Music Awards program. The award recognizes ministers of music "for developing outstanding religious music programs within their places of worship."
Mr. Schober is also an active member of the Irving Lions Club, a vice president of the Irving Schools Foundation, a board member of the Entertainment Series of Irving and a teacher liaison for the school district.
"We are so fortunate to have him around as our fine arts teacher liaison," said Alfred Green, the district's director of fine arts. "He has made my work in the district both more pleasant and more successful."
Despite all of Mr. Schober's commitments, creating music is what brings the most joy, he said.
"It unifies our hearts, minds and souls," he said.
Irving: Whether it's the Silvertones or church, he gives good direction
By DEBORAH FLECK / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas - Woody Schober turned his back on the Irving Silvertones Chorus in midsong at Sunday's concert. The conductor motioned for the audience to join in. When people didn't sing loud enough, he cupped his ear, signaling for more.
As the volume grew, his satisfaction spread into a smile. His job was done.
Mr. Schober shares his love of music with everyone he meets.
In addition to directing the Silvertones choral group for senior citizens, he spent 30 years as the Irving school district's director of fine arts. He retired in 2000.
"I wasn't sure I wanted to do that, but I agreed, and it was great," he said.
Mr. Schober's musical talents took root early. The native Texan was in band and choir in high school but thought he might like to study business in college.
"I switched after my first year to music education because I realized that was what I really loved," he said.
After earning his degree from what is now the University of North Texas, he landed a job as a band director at Wilmer-Hutchins High School.
He then taught at a school in McKinney for a few years before coming to Nimitz High School in Irving in 1968. He and his wife of 49 years, Carol Schober, have lived in Irving ever since. They have two grown children.
Mr. Schober also was a founder and director of the Texas Boys Choir.
"I've always thought there was a need to bring music to boys," he said. The choir is now coed.
These days, much of his time is devoted to directing four choirs at Oak View Baptist Church in Irving. He also performs with a men's choral group.
"Woody is an institution in Irving," Oak View Baptist pastor Jim Gerlach said. "He does a tremendous job leading our choirs, and he's made a huge difference in so many lives."
Last fall, Mr. Schober received an Award of Distinction last year in the National Religious Music Week Alliance's Ministry of Music Awards program. The award recognizes ministers of music "for developing outstanding religious music programs within their places of worship."
Mr. Schober is also an active member of the Irving Lions Club, a vice president of the Irving Schools Foundation, a board member of the Entertainment Series of Irving and a teacher liaison for the school district.
"We are so fortunate to have him around as our fine arts teacher liaison," said Alfred Green, the district's director of fine arts. "He has made my work in the district both more pleasant and more successful."
Despite all of Mr. Schober's commitments, creating music is what brings the most joy, he said.
"It unifies our hearts, minds and souls," he said.
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TexasStooge
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- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Victim speaks out against Dallas adult club
By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - Dallas officials might have their eyes on another nearby business after authorities raided and closed down the Swedish Institute of Massage located at Stemmons Expressway.
The Swedish Institute of Massage had a history of prostitution and violence. However, the city didn't have to look too far down the road before looking at Silver City Cabaret, which some believe has a worse reputation.
A man who almost died in the club last September said he agrees and believes the club should have been closed long ago.
Corey Robinson, who was a former employee for the adult club, said he was confronted by another employee that carved open his chest with a knife.
"It was horrible," Robinson said. "It changed my life.
Robinson said doctors gave him only a 20 percent chance of surviving the injuries, but he managed to pull through.
But Robinson said his altercation wasn't an isolated incident.
Two weekends ago, a 63-year-old customer was stabbed to death in the parking lot and Robinson said police should have seen it coming.
Over the past five years, police have responded 143 times to calls at Silver City Cabaret. Emergency calls were placed for alleged incidents ranging from burglaries to sexual assaults.
Silver City was also the last bar Dallas Cowboy Dwayne Goodrich was at before he ran over and killed two people on I-35.
Robinson and his attorney, David Godsey, said they don't understand why the city hasn't stepped in.
"You look at all of the other criminal activity that's associate with this club [and] it is clear why one should wonder why governmental entities that have the power to stop this operation are continuing to let this thing go on," Godsey said.
But Dallas City Attorney Tom Perkins said they have been attacking crimes at clubs and businesses.
"We are very aggressive about going after these businesses," he said. "...We are aware of this most recent death. We have met about it and are looking at all of our options."
City codes already prohibit Silver City Cabaret from earning more than 35 percent of its total income from alcohol sales, but documents obtained by News 8 indicate Silver City earns about 75 percent of its income from alcohol sales.
News 8 also learned Silver City is operating with a temporary liquor license that could be stripped by the state if it wished at any time.
Robinson said while the city may have not acted yet,
Dallas officials might have their eyes on another nearby business after authorities raided and closed down the Swedish Institute of Massage located at Stemmons Expressway.
The Swedish Institute of Massage had a history of prostitution and violence. However, the city didn't have to look too far down the road before looking at Silver City Cabaret, which some believe has a worse reputation.
A man who almost died in the club last September said he agrees and believes the club should have been closed long ago.
Corey Robinson, who was a former employee for the adult club, said he was confronted by another employee that carved open his chest with a knife.
"It was horrible," Robinson said. "It changed my life.
Robinson said doctors gave him only a 20 percent chance of surviving the injuries, but he managed to pull through.
But Robinson said his altercation wasn't an isolated incident.
Two weekends ago, a 63-year-old customer was stabbed to death in the parking lot and Robinson said police should have seen it coming.
Over the past five years, police have responded 143 times to calls at Silver City Cabaret. Emergency calls were placed for alleged incidents ranging from burglaries to sexual assaults.
Silver City was also the last bar Dallas Cowboy Dwayne Goodrich was at before he ran over and killed two people on I-35.
Robinson and his attorney, David Godsey, said they don't understand why the city hasn't stepped in.
"You look at all of the other criminal activity that's associate with this club [and] it is clear why one should wonder why governmental entities that have the power to stop this operation are continuing to let this thing go on," Godsey said.
But Dallas City Attorney Tom Perkins said they have been attacking crimes at clubs and businesses.
"We are very aggressive about going after these businesses," he said. "...We are aware of this most recent death. We have met about it and are looking at all of our options."
City codes already prohibit Silver City Cabaret from earning more than 35 percent of its total income from alcohol sales, but documents obtained by News 8 indicate Silver City earns about 75 percent of its income from alcohol sales.
News 8 also learned Silver City is operating with a temporary liquor license that could be stripped by the state if it wished at any time.
Robinson said while the city may have not acted yet, he is in the process of suing the club.
"I hope that nobody has to go through what I went through," Robinson said. "But as long as they are open, it could happen again most definitely."
By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - Dallas officials might have their eyes on another nearby business after authorities raided and closed down the Swedish Institute of Massage located at Stemmons Expressway.
The Swedish Institute of Massage had a history of prostitution and violence. However, the city didn't have to look too far down the road before looking at Silver City Cabaret, which some believe has a worse reputation.
A man who almost died in the club last September said he agrees and believes the club should have been closed long ago.
Corey Robinson, who was a former employee for the adult club, said he was confronted by another employee that carved open his chest with a knife.
"It was horrible," Robinson said. "It changed my life.
Robinson said doctors gave him only a 20 percent chance of surviving the injuries, but he managed to pull through.
But Robinson said his altercation wasn't an isolated incident.
Two weekends ago, a 63-year-old customer was stabbed to death in the parking lot and Robinson said police should have seen it coming.
Over the past five years, police have responded 143 times to calls at Silver City Cabaret. Emergency calls were placed for alleged incidents ranging from burglaries to sexual assaults.
Silver City was also the last bar Dallas Cowboy Dwayne Goodrich was at before he ran over and killed two people on I-35.
Robinson and his attorney, David Godsey, said they don't understand why the city hasn't stepped in.
"You look at all of the other criminal activity that's associate with this club [and] it is clear why one should wonder why governmental entities that have the power to stop this operation are continuing to let this thing go on," Godsey said.
But Dallas City Attorney Tom Perkins said they have been attacking crimes at clubs and businesses.
"We are very aggressive about going after these businesses," he said. "...We are aware of this most recent death. We have met about it and are looking at all of our options."
City codes already prohibit Silver City Cabaret from earning more than 35 percent of its total income from alcohol sales, but documents obtained by News 8 indicate Silver City earns about 75 percent of its income from alcohol sales.
News 8 also learned Silver City is operating with a temporary liquor license that could be stripped by the state if it wished at any time.
Robinson said while the city may have not acted yet,
Dallas officials might have their eyes on another nearby business after authorities raided and closed down the Swedish Institute of Massage located at Stemmons Expressway.
The Swedish Institute of Massage had a history of prostitution and violence. However, the city didn't have to look too far down the road before looking at Silver City Cabaret, which some believe has a worse reputation.
A man who almost died in the club last September said he agrees and believes the club should have been closed long ago.
Corey Robinson, who was a former employee for the adult club, said he was confronted by another employee that carved open his chest with a knife.
"It was horrible," Robinson said. "It changed my life.
Robinson said doctors gave him only a 20 percent chance of surviving the injuries, but he managed to pull through.
But Robinson said his altercation wasn't an isolated incident.
Two weekends ago, a 63-year-old customer was stabbed to death in the parking lot and Robinson said police should have seen it coming.
Over the past five years, police have responded 143 times to calls at Silver City Cabaret. Emergency calls were placed for alleged incidents ranging from burglaries to sexual assaults.
Silver City was also the last bar Dallas Cowboy Dwayne Goodrich was at before he ran over and killed two people on I-35.
Robinson and his attorney, David Godsey, said they don't understand why the city hasn't stepped in.
"You look at all of the other criminal activity that's associate with this club [and] it is clear why one should wonder why governmental entities that have the power to stop this operation are continuing to let this thing go on," Godsey said.
But Dallas City Attorney Tom Perkins said they have been attacking crimes at clubs and businesses.
"We are very aggressive about going after these businesses," he said. "...We are aware of this most recent death. We have met about it and are looking at all of our options."
City codes already prohibit Silver City Cabaret from earning more than 35 percent of its total income from alcohol sales, but documents obtained by News 8 indicate Silver City earns about 75 percent of its income from alcohol sales.
News 8 also learned Silver City is operating with a temporary liquor license that could be stripped by the state if it wished at any time.
Robinson said while the city may have not acted yet, he is in the process of suing the club.
"I hope that nobody has to go through what I went through," Robinson said. "But as long as they are open, it could happen again most definitely."
0 likes
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TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
BREAKING NEWS: Peaceful end to police standoff
By CAROL CAVAZOS / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - Dallas police took a robbery and assault suspect into custody early Monday following a two-hour standoff in the city's M Streets neighborhood.
Police said the unidentified man had been involved in an altercation with a bartender at a restaurant on Henderson Ave. earlier Monday morning. They said he also assaulted a woman and left without paying his bill.
The 31-year-old man then held police at bay at a house several blocks away in the 2000 block of McMillan Ave. Police said there were two other people in the house with the suspect.
"They tried to negotiate with him," said Dallas police Sgt. Gil Cerda. "You always need to consider him dangerous if they get involved in an altercation; you don't know if they have weapons in their home or even in their vehicle."
It all ended peacefully shortly after 6 a.m. when the man was taken into custody.
"Everyone's safe, and he has been arrested," Cerda said. "You just never take chances."
The suspect could face charges including aggravated assault.
By CAROL CAVAZOS / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - Dallas police took a robbery and assault suspect into custody early Monday following a two-hour standoff in the city's M Streets neighborhood.
Police said the unidentified man had been involved in an altercation with a bartender at a restaurant on Henderson Ave. earlier Monday morning. They said he also assaulted a woman and left without paying his bill.
The 31-year-old man then held police at bay at a house several blocks away in the 2000 block of McMillan Ave. Police said there were two other people in the house with the suspect.
"They tried to negotiate with him," said Dallas police Sgt. Gil Cerda. "You always need to consider him dangerous if they get involved in an altercation; you don't know if they have weapons in their home or even in their vehicle."
It all ended peacefully shortly after 6 a.m. when the man was taken into custody.
"Everyone's safe, and he has been arrested," Cerda said. "You just never take chances."
The suspect could face charges including aggravated assault.
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TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Notices leave residents wondering: What are we drinking?
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News
WEST TAWAKONI, Texas – With a twist of a key in a rusty lock, Cloy Richards swung open a metal door and let the morning sunlight into a small, dark, concrete-block building filled with aging tanks, valves, meters and the occasional spider.
"You're about to see why we're building a new water treatment plant," said Mr. Richards, the city administrator of this town of 1,600 people about 50 miles east of Dallas.
The drinking water that reaches customers' faucets in West Tawakoni and in about 200 other Texas communities violates the federal limit for the harmful byproducts of using chlorine to disinfect water.
Most violations occur in small to medium-sized systems, which make up about 90 percent of state's drinking water systems but serve fewer than 10 percent of the 22 million Texans who get public water.
Texas has about 4,500 community water systems, far more than any other state. They range from the giants that serve cities such as Dallas and Houston to tiny ones with only a few dozen hookups in trailer parks or rural subdivisions.
Only 6 percent of them violated any of the dozens of federal health standards in 2004. The 280 violators served 872,721 people, just 4 percent of all Texans.
In 2005, however, the percentage of Texans who drank water from violator systems jumped to 13 percent. State regulators say they expect the percentage to go up again this year – not because the water is worse, but because the rules are getting tighter, and it takes some systems awhile to get into compliance.
For anybody whose system is among the violators, overall statewide success gives no comfort.
"If this is in the water, what else is?" asked Ann Noxon, a resident of West Tawakoni for the past 22 years.
She and everyone else who drinks the city's water got a notice in the mail last November telling about the high levels of chlorine byproducts found in the drinking water. The city notice said the most recent quarterly samples averaged 118 milligrams of total trihalomethanes, one of the chlorine byproducts, in every liter of water.
West Tawakoni's number was 1,500 times the federal maximum contaminant level, or MCL, for total trihalomethanes. The federal level is 0.08 milligrams per liter (a measurement that roughly equals one quart).
Then came the health explanation, in ominous language required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"Some people who drink water containing trihalomethanes in excess of the MCL over many years may experience problems with their liver, kidney, or central nervous system, and may have an increased risk of getting cancer," the notice said.
"You do not need to use an alternative water supply. However, if you have health concerns, you may want to talk to your doctor to get more information about how this may affect you."
Coincidentally, the notice came as the city's water was turning muddy, smelly and cloudy because of drought. As the level of Lake Tawakoni dropped during a parched autumn, the city's water intake sucked in muddier water until, on Oct. 2, the lake level slipped below the intake and the system sucked air.
Workers ran a new pipe out to reach cleaner water, but in the meantime, customers could smell, see and taste their water. It made the phone ring at City Hall.
"It smelled like a sewer," said Ms. Noxon. "What's it doing to us?"
Chlorine's toxins
Like thousands of small drinking water systems across Texas, West Tawakoni doesn't have a full-time water treatment plant operator. Instead, a pump automatically pulls 500 gallons per minute out of Lake Tawakoni, 150 yards away, and dumps it into treatment tanks. There, machinery automatically adds liquid chlorine, a century-old method for disinfecting drinking water.
Except for chlorination byproducts, the plant meets all federal standards.
"The old plant does a pretty good job," said Mr. Richards, standing near a space heater that was working to keep the plant's interior warm. "It's not like everything's wrong."
The city plans to build a new treatment plant costing $3.3 million, paid for with a grant and loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Chlorine has saved millions of lives over the decades by preventing deadly waterborne diseases such as typhoid and cholera. However, scientists have learned over the past 30 years that chlorine's toxic byproducts, the result of a reaction between chlorine and organic substances in the water, also pose their own slower health risks, including cancer.
The number of Texas systems violating chlorine byproducts limits has dropped from about 300 in early 2004 to 200 now, and that figure should come down as more systems switch away from chlorine, said Alicia Diehl, drinking-water quality team leader with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
It's taken about a year for the larger systems that had the earliest deadlines to comply with recently tightened standards. "We've been worried that it would take the little guys longer," Dr. Diehl said.
Many systems will eliminate chlorine byproducts simply by changing how they disinfect their water. Most are switching from straight chlorine to chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia that doesn't create trihalomethanes or other chlorine byproducts.
Chloramine is the cheapest and most familiar alternative to chlorine. Several big-city systems switched to chloramine years ago – Austin in the 1940s, Dallas in the 1970s and Houston in the 1980s.
Recent research has raised health concerns about chloramine's byproducts, too, but the case against chlorine is much stronger, regulators say. They add that a high level of chlorine byproducts is a concern, but not an emergency – as the federal notice said, there's no need to switch to bottled water, which might be no safer.
"It's like seeing an orange sign on the freeway that says, 'Traffic fines double when workers are present,' " said Dr. Diehl. "You don't stop your car. But you do slow down to make sure it's safe."
Overall compliance OK
A Dallas Morning News review of other common violations by Texas systems found bacteria, nitrates and, in a few places in Central and West Texas, naturally occurring radiation and arsenic.
Excessive amounts of microbes or chemicals were responsible for 45 percent of the violations, but in about half of those cases, utilities were able to prove later that they were actually in compliance, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says.
For most people who get their drinking water from Texas systems, the water that comes from the tap meets health standards for the 119 drinking-water contaminants that the EPA regulates.
Texas regulators say the overall compliance record is good news.
"Our standards for drinking water are exceedingly high," Dr. Diehl said. "Our standards are made in the microscope of public opinion."
However, a study released in December by the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., used government data to focus attention on 141 contaminants found in drinking water that aren't governed by any rules.
"There's really been no research in the health effects of the combinations of contaminants found in drinking water," said Jane Houlihan, the group's vice president for science.
More Texas systems have been tagged as violators in recent years, partly because a rewrite of the Safe Drinking Water Act 10 years ago led to new or tougher rules that have taken effect over the years. The law also boosted federal money for upgrading systems, although state planners say there's still not enough capital to handle all the needs.
Another problem is getting water systems to do the right testing and tell the public what the tests found. In many Texas locales during the past five years, water systems didn't properly monitor their water or their treatment methods, or failed to give their customers required annual reports of what's in the water – a significant violation, according to the EPA.
Problems in monitoring water or informing the public about water quality accounted for just over half of the 2,179 violations that Texas regulators cited against drinking water systems in 2004, the most recent year with complete figures. The violations involved 1,368 systems.
About 300 Texas systems a year, 7 percent, fail to produce the required annual report for their customers; in 2005, the number was 314.
Under EPA guidelines, a single failure to produce the report is a significant violation, but it's wiped out if the system complies the next year. The biggest systems, such as Dallas, prepare and distribute the report each year and make them available on their Web sites.
Texas gives a break to the approximately 2,100 very small systems that serve 500 or fewer people, which have a hard time affording the copying and mailing costs. The state lets them post the report at city hall and put a notice in the water bill instead of mailing a copy to each customer, an effort to boost compliance rates.
Many of the smallest systems haven't complied even with that lesser requirement. "We were disappointed," Dr. Diehl said.
Preventing pollution
Ms. Houlihan of the Environmental Working Group cited another area that needs more attention: preventing pollution of the water sources themselves, such as lakes, rivers and aquifers. Current federal and state efforts to safeguard drinking water through better treatment and monitoring, while they're important for public health, don't go to the root causes of many water problems, she said.
Chlorine problems, for example, could be eliminated by keeping water free of the organic pollutants – such as industrial waste, farm runoff, pesticides, fertilizer, sewage treatment plants and other sources – that react with chlorine in the water treatment plant to make harmful byproducts.
Prevention is cheaper, better for the natural environment and ultimately safer for people, Ms. Houlihan said.
"Our water resources are more precious than they've ever been in the past," she said. "It's more important than ever to protect them."
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News
WEST TAWAKONI, Texas – With a twist of a key in a rusty lock, Cloy Richards swung open a metal door and let the morning sunlight into a small, dark, concrete-block building filled with aging tanks, valves, meters and the occasional spider.
"You're about to see why we're building a new water treatment plant," said Mr. Richards, the city administrator of this town of 1,600 people about 50 miles east of Dallas.
The drinking water that reaches customers' faucets in West Tawakoni and in about 200 other Texas communities violates the federal limit for the harmful byproducts of using chlorine to disinfect water.
Most violations occur in small to medium-sized systems, which make up about 90 percent of state's drinking water systems but serve fewer than 10 percent of the 22 million Texans who get public water.
Texas has about 4,500 community water systems, far more than any other state. They range from the giants that serve cities such as Dallas and Houston to tiny ones with only a few dozen hookups in trailer parks or rural subdivisions.
Only 6 percent of them violated any of the dozens of federal health standards in 2004. The 280 violators served 872,721 people, just 4 percent of all Texans.
In 2005, however, the percentage of Texans who drank water from violator systems jumped to 13 percent. State regulators say they expect the percentage to go up again this year – not because the water is worse, but because the rules are getting tighter, and it takes some systems awhile to get into compliance.
For anybody whose system is among the violators, overall statewide success gives no comfort.
"If this is in the water, what else is?" asked Ann Noxon, a resident of West Tawakoni for the past 22 years.
She and everyone else who drinks the city's water got a notice in the mail last November telling about the high levels of chlorine byproducts found in the drinking water. The city notice said the most recent quarterly samples averaged 118 milligrams of total trihalomethanes, one of the chlorine byproducts, in every liter of water.
West Tawakoni's number was 1,500 times the federal maximum contaminant level, or MCL, for total trihalomethanes. The federal level is 0.08 milligrams per liter (a measurement that roughly equals one quart).
Then came the health explanation, in ominous language required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"Some people who drink water containing trihalomethanes in excess of the MCL over many years may experience problems with their liver, kidney, or central nervous system, and may have an increased risk of getting cancer," the notice said.
"You do not need to use an alternative water supply. However, if you have health concerns, you may want to talk to your doctor to get more information about how this may affect you."
Coincidentally, the notice came as the city's water was turning muddy, smelly and cloudy because of drought. As the level of Lake Tawakoni dropped during a parched autumn, the city's water intake sucked in muddier water until, on Oct. 2, the lake level slipped below the intake and the system sucked air.
Workers ran a new pipe out to reach cleaner water, but in the meantime, customers could smell, see and taste their water. It made the phone ring at City Hall.
"It smelled like a sewer," said Ms. Noxon. "What's it doing to us?"
Chlorine's toxins
Like thousands of small drinking water systems across Texas, West Tawakoni doesn't have a full-time water treatment plant operator. Instead, a pump automatically pulls 500 gallons per minute out of Lake Tawakoni, 150 yards away, and dumps it into treatment tanks. There, machinery automatically adds liquid chlorine, a century-old method for disinfecting drinking water.
Except for chlorination byproducts, the plant meets all federal standards.
"The old plant does a pretty good job," said Mr. Richards, standing near a space heater that was working to keep the plant's interior warm. "It's not like everything's wrong."
The city plans to build a new treatment plant costing $3.3 million, paid for with a grant and loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Chlorine has saved millions of lives over the decades by preventing deadly waterborne diseases such as typhoid and cholera. However, scientists have learned over the past 30 years that chlorine's toxic byproducts, the result of a reaction between chlorine and organic substances in the water, also pose their own slower health risks, including cancer.
The number of Texas systems violating chlorine byproducts limits has dropped from about 300 in early 2004 to 200 now, and that figure should come down as more systems switch away from chlorine, said Alicia Diehl, drinking-water quality team leader with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
It's taken about a year for the larger systems that had the earliest deadlines to comply with recently tightened standards. "We've been worried that it would take the little guys longer," Dr. Diehl said.
Many systems will eliminate chlorine byproducts simply by changing how they disinfect their water. Most are switching from straight chlorine to chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia that doesn't create trihalomethanes or other chlorine byproducts.
Chloramine is the cheapest and most familiar alternative to chlorine. Several big-city systems switched to chloramine years ago – Austin in the 1940s, Dallas in the 1970s and Houston in the 1980s.
Recent research has raised health concerns about chloramine's byproducts, too, but the case against chlorine is much stronger, regulators say. They add that a high level of chlorine byproducts is a concern, but not an emergency – as the federal notice said, there's no need to switch to bottled water, which might be no safer.
"It's like seeing an orange sign on the freeway that says, 'Traffic fines double when workers are present,' " said Dr. Diehl. "You don't stop your car. But you do slow down to make sure it's safe."
Overall compliance OK
A Dallas Morning News review of other common violations by Texas systems found bacteria, nitrates and, in a few places in Central and West Texas, naturally occurring radiation and arsenic.
Excessive amounts of microbes or chemicals were responsible for 45 percent of the violations, but in about half of those cases, utilities were able to prove later that they were actually in compliance, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says.
For most people who get their drinking water from Texas systems, the water that comes from the tap meets health standards for the 119 drinking-water contaminants that the EPA regulates.
Texas regulators say the overall compliance record is good news.
"Our standards for drinking water are exceedingly high," Dr. Diehl said. "Our standards are made in the microscope of public opinion."
However, a study released in December by the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., used government data to focus attention on 141 contaminants found in drinking water that aren't governed by any rules.
"There's really been no research in the health effects of the combinations of contaminants found in drinking water," said Jane Houlihan, the group's vice president for science.
More Texas systems have been tagged as violators in recent years, partly because a rewrite of the Safe Drinking Water Act 10 years ago led to new or tougher rules that have taken effect over the years. The law also boosted federal money for upgrading systems, although state planners say there's still not enough capital to handle all the needs.
Another problem is getting water systems to do the right testing and tell the public what the tests found. In many Texas locales during the past five years, water systems didn't properly monitor their water or their treatment methods, or failed to give their customers required annual reports of what's in the water – a significant violation, according to the EPA.
Problems in monitoring water or informing the public about water quality accounted for just over half of the 2,179 violations that Texas regulators cited against drinking water systems in 2004, the most recent year with complete figures. The violations involved 1,368 systems.
About 300 Texas systems a year, 7 percent, fail to produce the required annual report for their customers; in 2005, the number was 314.
Under EPA guidelines, a single failure to produce the report is a significant violation, but it's wiped out if the system complies the next year. The biggest systems, such as Dallas, prepare and distribute the report each year and make them available on their Web sites.
Texas gives a break to the approximately 2,100 very small systems that serve 500 or fewer people, which have a hard time affording the copying and mailing costs. The state lets them post the report at city hall and put a notice in the water bill instead of mailing a copy to each customer, an effort to boost compliance rates.
Many of the smallest systems haven't complied even with that lesser requirement. "We were disappointed," Dr. Diehl said.
Preventing pollution
Ms. Houlihan of the Environmental Working Group cited another area that needs more attention: preventing pollution of the water sources themselves, such as lakes, rivers and aquifers. Current federal and state efforts to safeguard drinking water through better treatment and monitoring, while they're important for public health, don't go to the root causes of many water problems, she said.
Chlorine problems, for example, could be eliminated by keeping water free of the organic pollutants – such as industrial waste, farm runoff, pesticides, fertilizer, sewage treatment plants and other sources – that react with chlorine in the water treatment plant to make harmful byproducts.
Prevention is cheaper, better for the natural environment and ultimately safer for people, Ms. Houlihan said.
"Our water resources are more precious than they've ever been in the past," she said. "It's more important than ever to protect them."
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TexasStooge
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Former refugee finds opportunity at Hillcrest
Refugee couldn't read, write before coming to Dallas 18 months ago
By DAVID HINOJOSA / The Dallas Morning News
The bright, charismatic smile he flashes and the ease with which he bounces a soccer ball from foot to foot suggest that 17-year-old Hillcrest High School freshman Robert Maplay is living the good life.
Robert lives in a one-bedroom apartment with two of his brothers, but that's not a hardship considering that less than two years ago he was living in a refugee camp in Ivory Coast. He hasn't seen his mother, Sarah, brothers William, Augustine and Sieh or sister Patricia since the family was separated during a gunbattle in their native Liberia 13 years ago. His father, Johnson Maplay, a police lieutenant, was shot and killed when he was caught in cross fire when Robert was 4, and his oldest brother, John, was killed by rebel forces a month later.
Despite it all, Robert smiles. He knows he's one of the lucky ones because he managed to escape the horror of the civil unrest that has plagued his homeland since the 1980s.
For about 12 years, Robert and brothers Francis, 24, and Yagba, 19, lived in a refugee camp, where home was a tent or a hut. In September 2004, the United Nations refugee agency resettled the three Maplays in Dallas.
Before that, Robert was kicking balls on dirt and rocks in the refugee camp. By comparison, the artificial turf on which Hillcrest practices is a luxury.
So is learning to read and write.
Robert arrived in Dallas with the ability to speak three African languages in addition to basic English. However, he couldn't read or write any of them because there was no formal education in his refugee camp. He had never set foot in a classroom until he arrived at Hillcrest 18 months ago.
"I thought my life would be like it was before," Robert said of his arrival in Dallas. "But it was time for a change. I've come here to learn the best that I can."
Not an uncommon tale
Stories like Robert's aren't all that unusual at Hillcrest. Lynn Bolton, coordinator of Hillcrest's English-as-a-second-language program, said the school has students from 35 to 40 countries. Most are Latin American immigrants. But some, like Robert, are refugees from Africa. Several apartment complexes in which these immigrants and refugees live are in Hillcrest's attendance zone.
Hillcrest's boys soccer roster reflects the school's diverse makeup. All but two of Hillcrest's 22 players are refugees or immigrants. About one-third of the roster consists of refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Gambia and Nigeria. Most of the immigrants came from Latin America.
Ms. Bolton said coach Browning Stupp has embraced the challenge of helping these kids succeed on the soccer field and in the classroom.
"Some of these kids have been through a war," Mr. Stupp said. "The game [soccer] is nothing to them."
Robert is handling the soccer part well. He has scored 23 goals to lead Hillcrest into the area round of the UIL playoffs against Aledo at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Duncanville. Mr. Stupp, describing Robert's extraordinary touch, said the soccer ball "sticks to his foot."
Robert had never played organized soccer until he came to Hillcrest. At first, he preferred to take on four or five defenders on his own. It was the only kind of soccer he knew.
But Robert has gradually adjusted to Hillcrest's indirect style – marked by short combination passes that work the ball down field.
Mr. Stupp tutors Robert each morning, then coaches him each afternoon. He said Robert's writing ability has improved significantly.
Robert is getting year-round schooling to prepare him for next fall, when he will be put into mainstream classes. Robert is enrolled in the school's English Language Institute. He's taking noncredit courses including math and English.
Robert's case is special because he arrived at Hillcrest illiterate. The ELI program was not set up with cases like Robert's in mind. Mr. Stupp and Ms. Bolton hope Robert can learn enough to handle the rigors of a regular classroom next fall. In essence, Robert is trying to cram 10 years of education into two years.
"He's done remarkably well," Ms. Bolton said. "He makes people want to work for him. He has some advocates, and they are very eager to work with him."
Robert would like to graduate from high school and play college soccer. His dream is to play professionally and someday represent his country. He knows each day he works in the classroom is a step closer to making that happen.
Francis Maplay has emphasized to Mr. Stupp that Robert's education is the primary goal. Soccer is secondary. Francis understands the value of Robert's educational opportunity.
"When we were in Africa, it was very difficult to get an education when our parents were looking for food," Francis said. "When you don't have a good education, it's hard to find a job."
Randy Hester recalls that when he first met the brothers at their apartment, they had a new refrigerator but no food in it.
Mr. Hester and his wife, Betsy, met the brothers in December 2004 through Northwest Bible Church, which each Christmas offers support for families like the Maplays.
"They are so incredibly polite and so eager to learn," Mr. Hester said. "They've been a blessing to us. They are so thankful to be here. They'd be the first to help if we needed it."
The brothers don't receive any financial assistance. Francis and Yagba work full time to pay the bills. Francis, who had graduated from high school before fleeing Liberia, has worked several temporary jobs obtained with the help of the International Rescue Committee. He is trying to get a license to become a security guard and hopes to attend college. Yagba, who had no schooling before coming to the United States, works in a department store warehouse and is taking night courses to learn to read and write English.
Keeping in touch
Robert hopes to see his mother again. He speaks to her by telephone each weekend. She lives with relatives in Ivory Coast. Robert said his brothers are working on getting her moved to Dallas.
"I feel so happy when I speak to her," Robert said.
And also when he wears the Hillcrest jersey. He considers it a privilege.
"This is something that I'm happy to do," Robert said. "I want to help my school the best that I can."
Refugee couldn't read, write before coming to Dallas 18 months ago
By DAVID HINOJOSA / The Dallas Morning News
The bright, charismatic smile he flashes and the ease with which he bounces a soccer ball from foot to foot suggest that 17-year-old Hillcrest High School freshman Robert Maplay is living the good life.
Robert lives in a one-bedroom apartment with two of his brothers, but that's not a hardship considering that less than two years ago he was living in a refugee camp in Ivory Coast. He hasn't seen his mother, Sarah, brothers William, Augustine and Sieh or sister Patricia since the family was separated during a gunbattle in their native Liberia 13 years ago. His father, Johnson Maplay, a police lieutenant, was shot and killed when he was caught in cross fire when Robert was 4, and his oldest brother, John, was killed by rebel forces a month later.
Despite it all, Robert smiles. He knows he's one of the lucky ones because he managed to escape the horror of the civil unrest that has plagued his homeland since the 1980s.
For about 12 years, Robert and brothers Francis, 24, and Yagba, 19, lived in a refugee camp, where home was a tent or a hut. In September 2004, the United Nations refugee agency resettled the three Maplays in Dallas.
Before that, Robert was kicking balls on dirt and rocks in the refugee camp. By comparison, the artificial turf on which Hillcrest practices is a luxury.
So is learning to read and write.
Robert arrived in Dallas with the ability to speak three African languages in addition to basic English. However, he couldn't read or write any of them because there was no formal education in his refugee camp. He had never set foot in a classroom until he arrived at Hillcrest 18 months ago.
"I thought my life would be like it was before," Robert said of his arrival in Dallas. "But it was time for a change. I've come here to learn the best that I can."
Not an uncommon tale
Stories like Robert's aren't all that unusual at Hillcrest. Lynn Bolton, coordinator of Hillcrest's English-as-a-second-language program, said the school has students from 35 to 40 countries. Most are Latin American immigrants. But some, like Robert, are refugees from Africa. Several apartment complexes in which these immigrants and refugees live are in Hillcrest's attendance zone.
Hillcrest's boys soccer roster reflects the school's diverse makeup. All but two of Hillcrest's 22 players are refugees or immigrants. About one-third of the roster consists of refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Gambia and Nigeria. Most of the immigrants came from Latin America.
Ms. Bolton said coach Browning Stupp has embraced the challenge of helping these kids succeed on the soccer field and in the classroom.
"Some of these kids have been through a war," Mr. Stupp said. "The game [soccer] is nothing to them."
Robert is handling the soccer part well. He has scored 23 goals to lead Hillcrest into the area round of the UIL playoffs against Aledo at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Duncanville. Mr. Stupp, describing Robert's extraordinary touch, said the soccer ball "sticks to his foot."
Robert had never played organized soccer until he came to Hillcrest. At first, he preferred to take on four or five defenders on his own. It was the only kind of soccer he knew.
But Robert has gradually adjusted to Hillcrest's indirect style – marked by short combination passes that work the ball down field.
Mr. Stupp tutors Robert each morning, then coaches him each afternoon. He said Robert's writing ability has improved significantly.
Robert is getting year-round schooling to prepare him for next fall, when he will be put into mainstream classes. Robert is enrolled in the school's English Language Institute. He's taking noncredit courses including math and English.
Robert's case is special because he arrived at Hillcrest illiterate. The ELI program was not set up with cases like Robert's in mind. Mr. Stupp and Ms. Bolton hope Robert can learn enough to handle the rigors of a regular classroom next fall. In essence, Robert is trying to cram 10 years of education into two years.
"He's done remarkably well," Ms. Bolton said. "He makes people want to work for him. He has some advocates, and they are very eager to work with him."
Robert would like to graduate from high school and play college soccer. His dream is to play professionally and someday represent his country. He knows each day he works in the classroom is a step closer to making that happen.
Francis Maplay has emphasized to Mr. Stupp that Robert's education is the primary goal. Soccer is secondary. Francis understands the value of Robert's educational opportunity.
"When we were in Africa, it was very difficult to get an education when our parents were looking for food," Francis said. "When you don't have a good education, it's hard to find a job."
Randy Hester recalls that when he first met the brothers at their apartment, they had a new refrigerator but no food in it.
Mr. Hester and his wife, Betsy, met the brothers in December 2004 through Northwest Bible Church, which each Christmas offers support for families like the Maplays.
"They are so incredibly polite and so eager to learn," Mr. Hester said. "They've been a blessing to us. They are so thankful to be here. They'd be the first to help if we needed it."
The brothers don't receive any financial assistance. Francis and Yagba work full time to pay the bills. Francis, who had graduated from high school before fleeing Liberia, has worked several temporary jobs obtained with the help of the International Rescue Committee. He is trying to get a license to become a security guard and hopes to attend college. Yagba, who had no schooling before coming to the United States, works in a department store warehouse and is taking night courses to learn to read and write English.
Keeping in touch
Robert hopes to see his mother again. He speaks to her by telephone each weekend. She lives with relatives in Ivory Coast. Robert said his brothers are working on getting her moved to Dallas.
"I feel so happy when I speak to her," Robert said.
And also when he wears the Hillcrest jersey. He considers it a privilege.
"This is something that I'm happy to do," Robert said. "I want to help my school the best that I can."
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Blaze damages Garland business
By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
GARLAND, Texas - Fire officials were investigating a two-alarm blaze that erupted in a Garland pawn shop early Monday.
The fire at the Silver Dollar Gun & Pawn shop heavily damaged that business. A small grocery store and a nail salon on either side of the pawn shop also sustained heavy smoke damage, said Merrill Balanciere, a Garland fire spokesman.
Police officers were dispatched to the pawn shop about 5 a.m. because a burglar alarm had been triggered. When police arrived, they saw smoke and fire in the strip-center business. Firefighters then put out the blaze.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Damage was expected to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
No injuries were reported.
By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
GARLAND, Texas - Fire officials were investigating a two-alarm blaze that erupted in a Garland pawn shop early Monday.
The fire at the Silver Dollar Gun & Pawn shop heavily damaged that business. A small grocery store and a nail salon on either side of the pawn shop also sustained heavy smoke damage, said Merrill Balanciere, a Garland fire spokesman.
Police officers were dispatched to the pawn shop about 5 a.m. because a burglar alarm had been triggered. When police arrived, they saw smoke and fire in the strip-center business. Firefighters then put out the blaze.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Damage was expected to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
No injuries were reported.
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