News from the Lone Star State

[TexasStooge]

Old filtration plant could create sculling mecca

By ALLEN HOUSTON / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Sun-capped waves lap against the White Rock Boathouse as Bishop Lynch rowers pry the shell of their largest boat from the tiny bay where it's wedged.

The quad, or four-person racing boat, is tilted at an angle so it can fit in the hangar, but its tail hangs exposed to the elements.

For John Wilson, rowing coach at the Catholic college prep high school, the weekly ritual of his team struggling to free the boat from its tight quarters is all too familiar.

"There's not enough space on White Rock Lake for rowing teams," he said. "There's no place to store our quad boats and equipment."

The solution to Mr. Wilson's dilemma may lie in an 83-year-old abandoned red brick building across the cove from the Boathouse.

A proposal is expected to go before Dallas City Council in June that could breathe life into the historic filtration building on the south side of the lake and make Dallas a pre-eminent spot for rowing in North Texas.

If approved, the graffiti-spattered building would be converted into a 22,000-square-foot rowing house with wings for the Southern Methodist University rowing team, high schools such as Bishop Lynch, and community rowers. The building has been used as storage space for the Dallas Park and Recreation Department since the late 1950s.

The project has been an arduous labor of love for John Mullen and Sam Leake, local rowing enthusiasts.

They worked with the park and Dallas Water Utilities departments for two years on the effort and have quietly raised $900,000 of the $2 million needed to pay for the filter building's transformation. The proposal received unanimous approval from the Dallas Park Board in April and from the Dallas Landmark Commission on May 1.

"There's no doubt this will crank the level of opportunities for rowing in North Texas way up," Mr. Mullen said.

Mr. Mullen, a retired co-founder of the Container Store, helped found the Dallas Rowing Club in 1980 and coached the first rowing teams at SMU and St. Mark's School of Texas.

He envisions White Rock Lake, with its 10 miles of shoreline, becoming the rowing epicenter in North Texas and hosting prestigious high school and college tournaments. He and Mr. Leake, who's president of the White Rock Boathouse, will also try to introduce rowing to high school students in the Dallas school district.

Current young rowers say the proposed facility is much needed.

"It'll definitely make it easier for us and all of the other schools that need more room for rowing," said Bishop Lynch junior Beau Bebeau, 17, as he stood on the dock outside the White Rock Boathouse.

On the filtration building's first floor would be a teaching room, meeting space and a training area with practice equipment. The small upstairs would be used for office space and storage.

Two sedimentation basins sit outside where materials were filtered out of the water before moving to the nearby Pump House for processing.

One sedimentation basin would be excavated, and after extensive renovations would house the boathouse. Three boat bay doors opening onto floating docks on the water would provide easy access for rowers.

The other sedimentation basin would be paved for parking space.

"With a facility like this, we can change the face of rowing in Dallas and potentially make White Rock as appealing as Town Lake in Austin," said SMU rowing coach Doug Wright.

The SMU team has struggled with lack of storage and workout space since the late 1980s.

Currently, the university stores its boats in space rented from the Bath House Cultural Center, on the eastern shore at White Rock Lake.

Mr. Mullen, an architect, said the rowing house will have negligible visual impact on the environment.

"Most of the sedimentation basin that will store the rowing equipment is underground," he said. "All updates on the building will be historically appropriate. We want to keep the industrial aesthetic of the time period when it was built."

The water filtration building was built in 1923 to help filter heavier elements out of the water before sending it out into the city.

In 1930, the building was closed. The steam engine inside the building was sold to the war effort in the early 1940s. The filtration building was brought back online from 1950 through 1956 as Dallas endured a drought. Since then, it has been used as storage for the park department.

"The old White Rock plant has served the city well. I'm thrilled to find a beneficial use for the building that will keep it from deteriorating," said Jennifer Cottingham, program manager for the water facilities department.

The city would lease the rowing house to the organizers.

Kevin Felton is president of For the Love of the Lake, a White Rock Lake advocacy group. Mr. Felton said the filtration building has been a neglected spot on the lakeshore, and the rowing facility would provide another lake amenity.
"They are retaining the historical nature of the filter building and also providing for some public use," Mr. Felton said.

If the City Council approves the project, organizers hope to have construction under way in the fall, with the opening next spring. City Council member Gary Griffith, whose district includes White Rock Lake, is optimistic about its chances of passing.

"This is one more thing that will make White Rock Lake special," he said. "I hope it will encourage more people to get out on the lake. It's a great public and private partnership where we're bringing back to life one of our historic treasures."

[TexasStooge]

Car parking furore on site of old train depot

By CHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA ABC 8

There are new developments on the historic train depot in Dallas that was demolished last month.

The City Attorney may file suit against the property owner as early as next week.

But as this unfolds, many commuters say their parking is being held hostage in the fight.

Although the building came down almost two weeks ago, the anger hasn't diminished.

"I've been in the district 12 years and to see a building that has always been there, and not be there anymore... it's still kind of shock," said Greg Schooley from the West End Association.

It was an old Katy train depot, the West End grew up around it.

Despite its historic status and notices not to demolish, the owner tore it down.

Recently, the City Attorney laid out the council's legal options. They could do nothing, or they could sue, forcing the owner to pay a fine, or rebuild the property as it was. An outraged city council said: go after the owner and the demolition firm, with everything you've got.

But commuters say they're now caught in the middle.

"I came in and there were barricades up on both sides, and I couldn't park here," said Sonya Tolliver, a monthly parking patron.

Normally, this lot next to the depot is filled with monthly parking. This week, the way was blocked.

"They said the city of Dallas had put the barriers up, and that we were parking at our own risk," said another parking patron, Jemila Lea.

City officials say they only ordered the debris fenced off and a large hole filled.

Drivers feel like pawns in the fight. They're ignoring barriers - praying they don't get towed.

But preservationists say the city must stick to its guns.

"We have to take a very hard stand, because if we don't, all of this will go. It won't stop here," said Schooley.

He says, there's no telling what would be next.

We spoke with an attorney for the property owner, Transcontinental Realty Investors of Farmer's Branch. He said they would not comment on the situation with the city, but would offer monthly parking customers a refund.

[TexasStooge]

Car parking furor on site of old train depot

By CHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - There are new developments on the fate of a historic train depot in Dallas that was demolished last month.

The City Attorney may file suit against the property owner as early as next week.

But as this unfolds, many commuters say their parking is being held hostage in the fight.

Although the building came down almost two weeks ago, the anger hasn't diminished.

"I've been in the district 12 years and to see a building that has always been there, and not be there anymore... it's still kind of shock," said Greg Schooley from the West End Association.

It was an old Katy train depot; the West End grew up around it.

Despite its historic status and notices not to demolish, the owner tore it down.

Recently, the City Attorney laid out the council's legal options. They could do nothing, or they could sue, forcing the owner to pay a fine, or rebuild the property as it was. An outraged city council said: Go after the owner and the demolition firm, with everything you've got.

But commuters say they're now caught in the middle.

"I came in and there were barricades up on both sides, and I couldn't park here," said Sonya Tolliver, a monthly parking patron.

Normally, the lot next to the former depot is filled with monthly parking. This week, the way was blocked.

"They said the city of Dallas had put the barriers up, and that we were parking at our own risk," said another parking patron, Jemila Lea.

City officials say they only ordered the debris fenced off and a large hole filled.

Drivers feel like pawns in the fight. They're ignoring barriers - praying they don't get towed.

But preservationists say the city must stick to its guns.

"We have to take a very hard stand, because if we don't, all of this will go. It won't stop here," said Schooley.

He says, there's no telling what would be next.

We spoke with an attorney for the property owner, Transcontinental Realty Investors of Farmer's Branch. He said they would not comment on the situation with the city, but would offer monthly parking customers a refund.

[TexasStooge]

Head of Dallas ISD board ousted by newcomer

Incumbent Parrott loses to Ellis; Price and Flores retain seats

By KENT FISCHER and TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Voters sent DISD board President Lois Parrott packing Saturday, picking political newcomer Leigh Ann Ellis to replace the three-time incumbent in District 3.

The candidates split the early vote, but Ms. Ellis pulled ahead quickly Saturday evening.

"This is not just a win for me; it's a win for our district – the PTAs, the principals, the parents," said Ms. Ellis. "People recognize that we need a new way of doing things at DISD."

District 9 voters returned Ron Price to the seat he has held for nine years. Mr. Price, the board's first vice president, defeated Bernadette Nutall in a close race.

In District 1, incumbent Edwin Flores easily defeated challenger Linus Spiller.

None of the seven candidates in District 6 won a majority of the votes, forcing a runoff election next month between Carla Ranger, who received the most votes, and Jordan Blair.

Mr. Blair beat out candidate Carol King Arnold by three votes. Dallas County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet said it's possible that Ms. Arnold will ask for a recount.

"That's about as close as I remember for a runoff," Mr. Sherbet said of the vote margin separating Mr. Blair and Ms. Arnold.

Kathy Coffman, past president of the Dallas Council of PTAs, said Ms. Ellis' win signifies a new day in DISD.

"This is a historical day in DISD when an incumbent gets beat," Ms. Coffman said. "The sun is coming up in DISD. The fact that voters are taking enough interest to say, 'Enough is enough.' "

For Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, the election results mean he can probably move forward with his ambitious plan to transform DISD into one of the nation's top urban school systems.

The plan requires a serious overhaul of how the district funds schools, as well as cost-cutting measures across DISD – politically sticky measures that will require the support of a united board.

"There are a lot of difficult issues we have to tackle in the next few months, but it looks like we'll have good support" on the board for the reforms, Dr. Hinojosa said.

Ms. Ellis, who heads Dr. Hinojosa's community steering committee, said she's behind the superintendent's efforts.

"Dr. Hinojosa has a vision that I support," she said.

Dr. Parrott, who just a few years ago seemed unbeatable in her district, probably was hurt by months of negative district publicity, including an ongoing FBI corruption investigation of DISD administrators.

Dr. Parrott, a board member since 1996, did not respond to attempts to contact her after a call from a reporter was disconnected.

But Dorothy Ellsworth, a fierce supporter of Dr. Parrott, said the board won't be the same without her.

"We are making a grave mistake in dismissing an individual who has experience as a teacher and as an administrator and a capable person," Ms. Ellsworth said.

Ms. Ellis has worked with Just for the Kids, an Austin-based nonprofit school reform group. In the mid-1990s, she spent a year as executive director of Refugee Services of North Texas. Ms. Ellis has been a member of Bryan Adams High School's PTA and an advisory group to the school's principal.

A small-business owner – she owns a landscape company – Ms. Ellis said she wants to help restore credibility to a board that has lost the confidence of district residents.

Ms. Ellis has said the ongoing FBI investigation, as well as recent headlines detailing questionable district spending practices and outsourcing contracts, has many residents feeling as if the board is adrift, aloof – or both.

"We have to move forward," Ms. Ellis said. "People are tired of the same old politics, the same old decision-making."

Dr. Parrott's defeat marks the end of a long run on the board that saw her enter as a maverick trustee who butted heads with superintendents and administrators.

Mr. Price, the District 9 trustee, contends that news coverage that he calls "unfair" caused him to lose votes in his narrow win. "I expected it to be lower than it used to be," he said as the first results rolled in, showing him with a slim lead over Ms. Nutall.

[TexasStooge]

Community embraces mom, 13 kids after fire

By BILL MARVEL / The Dallas Morning News

COOPER, Texas – News travels fast in a small town.

As the trucks of the Cooper Volunteer Fire Department rolled toward the plume of smoke northeast of town, a few folks were already on the phone. Marilyn Nichols' house was on fire – again.

Within an hour almost everyone had heard: Steven, the 16-year-old, had led the three toddlers out of the flames. But Timmy, 4, had been critically burned and was on his way to Parkland Memorial Hospital by helicopter with his mother at his side. Two-month-old Joshua had died in the fire. The house and everything in it were lost; the nine remaining Nichols children were homeless.

Then a remarkable thing happened: People started coming forward with help, one or two at first, then dozens, and, before the weekend was out, hundreds.

"It's typical of this town to do that," says Sharon Chambers, a Cooper native who teaches education at nearby Texas A&M-Commerce. "It doesn't necessarily have to be this church that does it for their people," she says. "People do it for people."

Of course, there's Marilyn Nichols herself, and her 13 kids, a family as remarkable in its way as the community that came to its assistance.

She moved here from Tulsa about 10 years ago, looking for a place in the country not too far from hospitals where she could earn her living as a registered nurse. But first, she gave the town a once-over. She went to the local school. "I'm a single parent of children of mixed races," she told the assistant principal. "Is there a problem if my black daughter ends up dating one of your white boys?"

The assistant said there was no problem at the school and assigned a 12-year-old black student to show Marilyn around. Marilyn asked the girl what the town was really like. Did she encounter problems because of her race?

"The town's OK," the girl said. "There's fools anywhere you go."

Impressed by the maturity of the answer, Marilyn bought a two-story house with seven bedrooms on 8 acres a few miles out of town and moved in.

Frank, then 17, was the oldest. He's her biological child from a previous marriage, her second. Now a youth pastor in Norman, Okla., he told the crowd at the baby's funeral three days after the fire that "God put my mother on earth to take care of children."

When she married John Nichols 22 years ago – he was her third husband – Marilyn asked what he thought was the ideal family. He told her 14 children. They adopted Jeffrey a year later. Within a year, John died of diabetes.

Since then, she has cared for more than a dozen children, adopting most of them. (One died of heart trouble, and several were reclaimed by their birth families.)

"I always did babies," she says. "They say, 'Do you want a boy or a girl?' I say, 'Yes, that would be fine.' When they ask 'Race?' I say, 'Yes, I want to have one of those, too.'

"I don't do foster care. I'm up front about that. I want the kids to come in and know that they have a home, a mommy, a family."

It's helped that she's a registered nurse, trained in heart surgery, adolescent psychiatry, drug and alcohol rehabilitation and neonatal care. And that she'll take on children with special needs.

"She has faith, parenting skills and a good support system," says Linda Young, who runs the child-care program at the Baptist church. Linda watches over the kids when Marilyn's working.

"Her attitude is, 'If God sends them to me, I'm going to take them,' " says Barbara Colvin, an administrative assistant at the school who lives down the road from the Nichols place. "Working here I've seen them all. Her oldest and mine are the same age. They're all super kids."

"They have gone through our schools and have excelled to the highest degree," says Marion Miller, who owns Miller's Drug Store in Cooper. "They've been homecoming queens, star athletes, bandleaders. It's amazing the job she's done with them."

Besides Frank, the youth pastor, there's Stella, 21, an inner-city missionary in Dallas. Jeffrey, 21, works at the Wal-Mart in Sulphur Springs. Daniel, 19, is on an athletic scholarship at Southeastern Oklahoma State at Durant. Still at home are Christin, a state contender in track, and Steven, 16. Then Bobby, 15, Jazz, 12, Ricki, 9, Creasie, 5, Sherry and Timmy, 4, and Naja, 3.

To stay ahead of this crowd, Marilyn says, she rises at 5 a.m., before the children are up, and collects her thoughts or reads Scripture for a half-hour or so. She also relies on her training as a nurse.

And, once or twice a week, she hollers a lot.

At almost any school event, friends say, you can hear Marilyn's voice in the crowd, always urging the kids on, always positive.

"Marilyn will come to the ballgame in her surgical scrubs, and she'll stay to the end," says Barbara Colvin. "She talks to everybody. Maybe somebody doesn't know Marilyn, but they know her children. Or maybe somebody doesn't know her children, but they know Marilyn."

The fire

Saturday morning, March 25, Marilyn had driven four of the children – Bobby, Jazz, Creasie and Ricki – to Paris for a soccer game. Steven was at home with the smaller kids. The game was almost over when her cellphone buzzed. It was Linda Young. Linda's husband, D.D., is a volunteer firefighter.

"Your house is on fire!" Linda said. "They don't have the baby out yet!"

Horn honking and emergency lights flashing, she drove the 22 miles back to Cooper at speeds way beyond the legal limit, managing to phone Mike Bartley, the attorney for Delta County and pastor of the Church of Christ, and asking him to pray for the baby.

"We had a game plan in case of fire," she says. The family had been through it before.

Nine months after they moved to Cooper, their house burned down, a fire that insurance investigators blamed on hot grease thrown into a wastebasket by one of the children. Marilyn was taking one of the children to a birthday party at the time. Fortunately, no one was injured.

If it happened again, she said, "We were all to go to the top of the driveway well away from the house."

That's where Barbara Colvin found Steven, Naja, Sherry and Timmy when she got to the scene of the most recent fire. She had been standing in her dining room window talking on the phone when the firetrucks flashed by.

She found Steven in a state of shock. He had been watching cartoons in the living room with the three children when he heard a loud POP! in the hallway. (Investigators later blamed the fire on a propane heater in the hallway.)

The baby, Joshua, had been fed and was sleeping in Marilyn's bedroom. Steven tried to get down the hall, but the heat and smoke drove him back. He grabbed Naja and Sherry by the hand, yelled at Timmy to follow, and ran out the front door, leaving the children at the top of the driveway. Then he went to the side of the house and was trying to open the bedroom window to rescue the baby when he noticed Timmy was not with the other two children.

Timmy is 4, but he's never learned to talk, his mother says. And he's small for his age.

Arriving firefighters found flames already licking around the eaves of the house, says D.D. Young. Steven had heard Timmy's cries and, re-entering the house, had somehow coaxed the boy out of the flames and smoke. He emerged with a burning shirt draped over his shoulder.

By the time Marilyn Nichols pulled up, Timmy was in the ambulance, and a Lifestar helicopter had been summoned from Greenville. Linda Young was holding Timmy while EMTs cleared his lungs. Barbara Colvin had taken the other children to her home, where she fed them Popsicles and kept them distracted. (Representatives of Child Protective Services interviewed Marilyn at Parkland hospital afterward. No action was taken.)

Volunteer firefighters, meanwhile, had donned oxygen masks and carried out Joshua's body.

Marilyn says she sat on the ground and "just howled." A woman from the crowd hugged her. "Then a voice inside said: 'What are you doing? You've got to get up! You've got other children!' "

Steven was in tears. "Mom, I'm so sorry," he sobbed.

"No, Steven. You're the hero," Marilyn said. "Without you I would have lost more."

The reaction

"This is an amazing town," Marilyn says. "God is good."

It's her favorite phrase, and she uses it not out of habit, but because she has seen it, firsthand.

It's been more than a month since the fire. A cheerful, lively woman with short-cropped hair, she is standing in the kitchen of the house that her family will occupy until their own is rebuilt.

Timmy is watching Veggie Tales on television. The skin grafts on his arms and back have taken, and he has slowly begun to heal. Fortunately, the burns were not as extensive as first believed.

As soon as Marilyn and Timmy left in the helicopter, Scotty Stegall, Cooper's mayor, arrived, and Linda Young asked whether he could help find a house large enough for the family. He immediately thought of Marion Miller, the druggist.

Miller Drug Store has been a landmark in the town square since 1923, famous for its hand-dipped malts and shakes. Marion's father, Manton, had founded the store and built a large home for his growing family a few blocks east. The elder Miller died three years ago, and the house had stood vacant.

Marion Miller also thought of that house when he heard about the fire. He phoned his sister, Sharon Chambers.

"Have you been reading my mind?" she said. "Our daddy's house would be perfect for them."

A few minutes later Barbara Colvin stopped by the pharmacy with the same idea. They walked down to look at the house. "Perfect!" she declared.

It's a big, sunlit house, with five bedrooms. The Millers had been getting it ready to put on the market, but it still needed electrical and plumbing work. And it hadn't been cleaned out yet, Marion Miller says.

Then people started showing up. "People were climbing all over that house, on top of that house," Marion says. A plumber arrived with a backhoe. A group of teenagers went to work on the lawn. Others started sweeping inside.

"By 11 o'clock the Baptist church and the Church of Christ were all over that house, cleaning and bringing in furniture," says Mike Bartley. "It was the darnedest thing I ever saw. There were drapes in the windows, food in the pantry."

"I closed at noon and went over there with my daughter," says Martha Holmes, who runs a local flower shop. Her husband is a volunteer firefighter. "There were trailers of furniture. Pallets of soup arrived from the Campbell's Soup factory in Paris."

An impromptu town meeting was held at the house. The family would need food, clothes, furniture, and, over the coming weeks, hot meals. Three churches undertook providing the meals. Mayor Stegall and his wife came up with bunk beds. A man who sells used furniture arrived with a dining room table.

"We started putting stuff in the house at 2 o'clock," says Mr. Stegall, "and by 5 o'clock, it was fully furnished."

People were also knocking on Linda Young's front door, Barbara Colvin says. "They handed her $100 bills, $50 bills, there were two with $500." Barbara and Kris Shaw, who works at the drugstore, started keeping a list of donors and helpers.

"On Sunday the subject was discussed in every congregation in this community, black or white," Marion Miller says. Churches took up collections. Worshippers from five black churches in the area were meeting at Apostolic Way New Testament House of Prayer, just down the block. After the service the congregation walked to the house with a donation.

In the weeks after, the giving slowed but never entirely stopped.

Derald Bulls, marketing director of Paris Regional Medical Center, where Marilyn works, drove by the site of the fire with a couple of hospital employees. They noticed a half-dozen or so ruined bicycles scattered around the pile of charred lumber and bricks that had once been the Nichols' home.

"We can fix that," he said. A few weeks later, the hospital presented seven new bicycles to the family.

Fellow workers at the hospital donated vacation flextime so Marilyn could stay with Timmy. And they've also started an application on her behalf for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, the ABC program in which platoons of workers rebuild homes for deserving families. Several people in the town have also started the application process.

The idea had crossed Marilyn's mind several months before the fire. She went so far as to print out the 18-page application and begin filling it out. Then she set it aside, too busy to finish the project.

Her application form was destroyed in the fire.

[TexasStooge]

Woman found in Lake Lewisvile after missing an hour

LEWISVILLE, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Rescuers found a woman around 6:00 p.m. after she was reported missing in the Lake Lewisville waters.

Two children were reported to be among four who fell off a jet ski in the lake. While the children were rescued by a bystander, the 35-year-old woman remained missing in the lake waters for almost an hour.

The woman's condition is unknown, but she was taken by CareFlite to Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

Bert Lozano contributed to this report

[TexasStooge]

Mom drowns in Lewisville Lake after jet ski fall

By BERT LOZANO / WFAA ABC 8

LEWISVILLE, Texas - A mother drowned in Lewisville Lake after a fall from a jet ski while spending Mother's Day with her family.

Two children and the woman's husband were reported to be among the four who fell off the jet ski. While the children were rescued by a bystander, the 35-year-old woman remained missing until dive teams pulled her body from the water an hour after she went under near Stewart Creek Park.

Paramedics attempted to revive the woman before sending her off to Methodist Dallas Medical.

Witnesses and Lewisville firefighters said the woman had been on a jet ski with a man and her two daughters.

"They weren't even going fast," said witness Luis Ramirez. "They were turning on the jet ski and it flipped over"

Witness Christopher Wells said screams alerted him of the emergency.

"The next thing I knew, I turned around [and] saw everybody off the jet ski and the little girl screaming and hollering," said witness Christopher Wells.

Wells said he rushed in on his jet ski to reach the victims.

"I just jumped on it, and I grabbed the kids first like he wanted me to," he said. "Then I grabbed him out of the water and he said 'No, my girlfriend, my girlfriend.'"

Others also rushed to try and help.

"He brought the children back and I went out with him to dive for her, but there was no way to get to her," said another witness.

Lewisville fire officials said the woman was not wearing a life vest when divers recovered her body.

"The best thing is to wear a life vest [and] make sure everybody on the lake has a life vest on," said Asst. Chief Van Weese, The Colony Fire Department. "Don't overload boats."

[TexasStooge]

Good Samaritan shot dead at Dallas gas station

By CAROL CAVAZOS / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Dallas police said a Good Samaritan was shot and killed while trying to break up an argument at a gas station early Monday morning.

Police said the shooting took place about 2:45 a.m. at the RaceTrac station in the 1500 block of West Northwest Highway.

According to detectives, the incident started with an altercation between a man and a woman at the DMX nightclub across the street.

It escalated into a fist fight at the gas station after the nightclub shut down. Another man stepped in to try and break up the fight. Police said the man who had been arguing with the woman pulled out a gun and shot the Good Samaritan.

The witness said the gunman then chased another person with his weapon before fleeing with the woman in a maroon Ford Taurus sedan.

The wounded man died later at Parkland Memorial Hospital. His name was not released.

Detectives said they had some good leads on the suspect's vehicle. Management at the gas station said they would provide police with surveillance tapes that could include images of what happened.

[TexasStooge]

Grand Prairie standoff ends peacefully

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A man barricaded in a Grand Prairie home kept police at bay for several hours Monday morning before he was taken into custody without incident.

Grand Prairie police Det. John Brimmer said police responded to a call around 2:40 a.m.in the 2100 block of Fort Worth Street, just south of Interstate 30. Upon arrival they found an injured woman, who was taken to a Dallas hospital in serious condition.

The suspect in the woman’s assault, who Det. Brimmer said may be the woman’s boyfriend, refused to come out of the home. The department’s tactical squad was then called to the scene, he said.

The suspect was brought out of the house in handcuffs about 8:30 a.m., after tactical officers were seen throwing what appeared to be tear gas canisters inside the home.

WFAA-TV contributed to this report.

[TexasStooge]

Parent hits pavement to get PTA rolling

Irving ISD: Recruiting, newsletter pay off in awards at Johnston

By DEBORAH FLECK / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING, Texas - Principal Sandy Sanders needed help.

The PTA at Johnston Elementary School was foundering. Only one board member had returned from the previous year. Parent participation was minimal.

So she reached out to parent Carrie Moro. It was the right choice.

As PTA president, Mrs. Moro has turned around the once-moribund PTA at the central Irving school near Rochelle Road and Rutgers Drive. Her efforts began last summer when she rounded up a few parents to knock on doors with her.

"We walked from house to house and passed out a newsletter," Mrs. Moro said. "We knew we had to get out in the community to build support."

Pounding the pavement paid off. Membership has increased more than 60 percent from last year, and the awards have been pouring in. The PTA snagged several membership awards from the state and seven Texas PTA Life Memberships this year.

Those now on the board are like family.

"What's most rewarding is the friendships we develop," said Ms. Sanders, a PTA member and Texas PTA Life Membership recipient. "The group is now such an asset to our school."

She is also pleased that those involved may be around for a while because many – like Mrs. Moro, mother of Kaylea, 7 – are parents of first-graders.

Other first-grade parents on the board include Betty Ragan, second vice president and mother of Steven, and Lynn Walters, council delegate and mother of Hannah.

Even a Johnston alumna is helping.

"We moved here in 1963, and I started at Johnston in the third grade," said Vicki Noel, coordinator for room parents and volunteers and a grandmother to first-grader Tristin.

Mrs. Moro recruited her older daughter, Kristie, a senior at Irving High, to be historian.

Johnston teachers Jennifer Anderson, Melissa Andrae and Barbara Ledbetter also agreed to help by taking positions on the board.

"We just keep asking and asking," Mrs. Moro said about her recruitment efforts. She's still not satisfied.

"It's frustrating to see with about 600 parents, only a few are active," she said. About 38 percent of families are involved. She hopes for nothing less than 100 percent participation.

The district overall had a 5.82 percent increase in PTA membership this year, according to Jackie Canis of the Irving ISD Council of PTAs.

"It was a really good year for us," she said, noting that two other schools stood out. "Britain Elementary had a 100 percent increase in membership, and Townley Elementary drew in 1,149 members this year."

To reach out to more families at Johnston Elementary, Mrs. Moro started offering the newsletter in Spanish. The school's Web site also has membership information in Spanish, urging "padres, amigos y familiars" to join the PTA.

The tireless PTA advocate will continue as president for one more year and then probably serve in another capacity.

But the foundation is set for success.

"We look forward to growing," Ms. Sanders said. "We are so very proud of the work Carrie's done."

[TexasStooge]

Texas to consider 80 mph speed limit

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) — Speed limits would increase to 80 mph on two West Texas interstate highways under a proposal by the Texas Department of Transportation.

The Texas Transportation Commission could take up the proposed change, which would apply to Interstate 10 and Interstate 20 in West Texas, when it meets in Austin next week.

Some advocates for fuel conservation and safety have questioned the wisdom of boosting speed limits, but transportation officials said most drivers are already cruising at nearly 80 mph.

Carlos Lopez, director of traffic operations for the department, said a survey of both interstates found that 85 percent of motorists were driving up to 79 mph.

"If people begin to think that the number on the sign is unreasonable, then they won't respect it," Lopez said. "Just putting up a lower number on the highway isn't going to slow down traffic."

The change was made possible by state legislation passed last year making 10 counties in West Texas eligible for higher speeds, starting with Kerr County and stretching to the El Paso County line. Most of those counties now have 75 mph speed limits, transportation officials said.

With gas prices at a premium, some groups said drivers should be encouraged to slow down rather than speed up.

Increasing the speed limit "will have a perverse reaction," said Peter Iwanowicz, director of environmental health at the American Lung Association. "Increasing the speed limit will increase fuel use."

U.S. Department of Energy studies show gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph. The agency's Web site says that motorists generally pay an additional 20 cents per gallon of gas for each 5 mph they drive over 60.

Lopez said fuel conservation is already lost for most drivers, who are traveling at 77 to 79 mph.

Safety advocates also fear that raising the limit will lead to more traffic fatalities.

"Our concern is that the two biggest contributors to traffic accidents is speed and alcohol," said Jerry Johns, president of the Southwestern Insurance Information Service, an industry group. "That has been consistent for years and years and years."

Statistics kept by the Texas Department of Public Safety show each time the state has changed its speed limits, there has been a correlating effect on the number of traffic fatalities.

Department spokesman Randall Dillard said the 80 mph speed limit is intended to make driving on the interstate safer.

"It's generally considered a safer condition when motorists are traveling at a uniform speed," Dillard said.

[TexasStooge]

BREAKING NEWS

ARLINGTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A 19-year-old man has been shot and killed during an argument at a house in the 700 block of Greenridge Drive.

[TexasStooge]

Parker County murder suspect holds police at bay

WEATHERFORD, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - A man who told deputies he killed his wife held law enforcement agencies at bay in Parker County on Monday afternoon.

The sheriff's office said the man—whose identity was not released—claimed to be injured and was barricaded in a barn near Interstate 20 and FM 113 in western Parker County, about 20 miles west of Weatherford.

Negotiators were said to be communicating with the man via telephone.

[TexasStooge]

6th suspect arrested in fight video probe

By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News

ARLINGTON, Texas — Police have arrested a sixth suspect in the beating of a teen that was videotaped for a street fighting DVD series.

The 16-year-old was arrested Sunday and taken to the Tarrant County Juvenile Detention Center. The boy’s name was not released.

Four adults and two juveniles have been arrested since last week and charged with organized criminal activity/aggravated assault for the attack. The adults could face up to 99 years in prison if convicted.

Kevin Walker, 16, was hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage and other injuries in March after a beating in the front yard of his south Arlington home. After the attack, one of the men turned to the camera and shouted “AggTown Fights Part 3,” according to police documents.

Police said last week that a loosely organized criminal gang has staged and filmed fights throughout the area for the Agg Townz Fights video series - named for the slang term for Arlington.

The teen arrested this weekend was the last one sought by police in Walker's beating, but police said they will continue a zero-tolerance approach toward fights.

Arlington police broke up a fight near Juan Seguin High School Friday afternoon and arrested the 15- and 16-year-old participants.

The officers also arrested nine other teens for being spectators to the fight. Arlington students were told during school announcements that they could be arrested just for watching, but most didn’t believe it, police said.

The Arlington school district has scheduled a town hall meeting about fighting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at James Bowie High School.

[TexasStooge]

Rockwall County treasurer resigns amid criminal investigation

By LAKISHA LADSON / The Dallas Morning News

ROCKWALL, Texas - Rockwall County Treasurer Shereé Jones has resigned after at least two weeks of discussion of a criminal matter involving money, Rockwall County Sheriff Harold Eavenson said.

County officials would not say whether money was missing or give details of the situation.

In a resignation letter to County Judge Bill Bell dated Friday, Ms. Jones said only that she was leaving for personal reasons.

No charges have been filed.

The Commissioners Court has scheduled an emergency meeting for 10 a.m. Tuesday to appoint someone to serve as treasurer until the November election and to call for an audit of the office.

Ms. Jones couldn't be reached for comment.

[tk]

This is a lot of news, TexasStooge!

[TexasStooge]

One woman dead, another injured in carjacking

By REBECCA RODRIGUEZ / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - Police are on a search for answers and suspects after two women were fatally carjacked Monday on a busy road.

One woman was found in a field shot and killed around 8:00 p.m. along Military Parkway in Dallas. The other woman was found standing in the middle of the road with multiple gun shot wounds.

"The victim was covered with blood and asked for help," said Lt. Rick Watson. "The victim was able to tell the officers that herself and another victim had been carjacked earlier."

The surviving victim was taken to Baylor Medical Center and was undergoing surgery Monday night.

Police said they are looking for a white 1996 Ford Mustang that two suspects stole from the women and do not know why the women were targeted.

Two license plate numbers were released by the police that belonged to the stolen car. The first license was an older plate with the number Z30-SXT. However, they were not sure if the car had the newer plates on, which was 883-JTR.

[TexasStooge]

Teen shot to death in Arlington

By JIM DOUGLAS / WFAA ABC 8

ARLINGTON, Texas - A teenager has been shot to death in Arlington following an argument with another teen.

DaQuinn Hollins was killed on Greenridge Drive just after 1 p.m. on Monday.

"I heard four gun shots go off - it sounded very close to me... so I knew something was going on," said Jaylen Rohlfing.

Police said that the suspect, 19, told them he had shot another armed young man.

Police would like to speak to a third person who was on the scene at the time of the shooting.

[TexasStooge]

Reward offered in fatal carjacking

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/DallasNews.com) - Dallas police were investigating Tuesday a suspected carjacking that left one woman dead and another critically wounded by gunfire.

Police said Maricela Rodriguez, 18, flagged down help around 7:25 p.m. in the 8900 block of Military Parkway in Pleasant Grove. The woman had been shot several times and was covered in blood, police said.

Rodriguez underwent surgery and is in critical condition at Baylor University Medical Center, Lt. Rick Watson said. Her mother, Bertha Hernandez, 36, was found shot to death in a wooded area near the road.

Rodriguez told officers that she and her mother had been shot by two men who took their white 1996 Ford Mustang.

“Because of her condition she couldn’t provide the officers much information,” Watson said. “Today our detectives are going back to Baylor to interview her.”

Police said the Mustang had Texas licence plates with either Z30-SXT or 883-JTR.

Schepps Dairy will pay $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and grand jury indictment of the suspect or suspects.

Anyone with information should call 214-671-3661 or 214-671-3682.

[TexasStooge]

BREAKING NEWS

KRUM, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) A "large" gas leak is reported near the intersection of Jackson and Ripy roads; a neighborhood is being evacuated as a precaution.