Taking You Into The Weekend

Not Me!!

Original story of crime.

Wheels. Off.

Rihanna Killin' It On Vacation

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• For some reason yesterday, I thought about the "Hands Across America" bit that occurred in the 1980s. The concept was that on a particular date and time a human hand to hand chain would be formed that stretched from the east coast to the west coast.  (I was actually shamed out of my car and took part in it in Rhome.) 
• Another Facebook beating: "Most are afraid to do this, but if you believe [insert dramatic social or religious themed stuff] then you'll repost this." Sheesh.
• If you spend one second saying or writing, "I don't care what people say" then you ridiculously just admitted that you "care what people say."
• I don't think Newt's ex-wife's "open marriage" allegation will hurt him at all. Anything an ex-wife (or ex-husband) says about the ex-spouse just doesn't carry a lot of weight with the public. Plus, after 18 years of marriage, I think he was basically asking for a divorce. 
• Newt's the smartest one of the four remaining candidates. Mitt will say anything to get elected. Santorum's an absolute nutcase who is trying to hide it. And I'd vote for Ron Paul over the other three.
• And the only time I almost crashed my TV screen during the debate last night was when Mitt bragged how "80% of the time" when he appointed judges while governor of Massachusetts "they were  prosecutors." Sir, if you only knew.
• Inauguration Day is one year from today. 
• The Update today mentions the Commissioners Court refusing to pay for a paint job of Constable Tom Bishop's truck. That may be the most interesting story in tomorrow's Messenger, but you can read the more candid behind the scenes report here. 
• A faithful reader suggested this shock-the-conservatives Random Girl pic (which was actually first shown on Conan.)
• Urban Outfitters is coming to West 7th in Fort Worth which is supposed to be a big deal. (I can't remember the last time I went clothes shopping.) 
• My left eyelid has been twitching. 
• I saw a Corvette on the square in Decatur yesterday which had customized Purple Heart license plates that read "VIETNM". 

First A Sports Genius, Now A Political Genius

My random thought from 10 days ago:

And today:

Here's The Chick Who Walked Into The Propeller Last December

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• The Office fans will love this cameo appearance of Steve Carell in last week's show that almost no one (well, almost no one) caught.
• The lady lawyer who managed to unwittingly take a gun onto a plane at DFW Airport yesterday didn't have the most flattering picture in a rotary club newsletter a while back.
• You know it is tough in TV when Channel 8's Dale Hansen takes a paycut and doesn't complain.
• A loyal reader suggested these as Random Girls. Hey, Now. 
• So when the Rangers win this summer, a regular guy who struggles to just get by in life is going to stand up and cheer because the player who helped a professional sports team win was purchased from Japan for a total cost of $111 million?  I don't get it.
• The Decatur ISD Superintendent makes $147,906?  Did superintendent salaries somewhere along the line get out of whack? 
• The former Athletic Director of Southern University and ex-NFL player was arrested in Houston last year during the Final Four for soliciting prostitution after he was approached on the street by an undercover cop. A jury found him not guilty in 34 minutes yesterday. From the cops on the street, to the supervisor who authorized the sting, to the prosecutors who couldn't evaluate a case to save their lives, what a tremendous waste of tax dollars. 
• And get this: He was fired after the arrest. The only crime committed in that case was by The State of Texas.
• The economy might be hurting, but Texas ads 58 new DPS Troopers to the payroll this morning. 
• If I'm reading this right, a former Bridgeport player is now the head coach and athletic director of Crosby High School. (And he has become the brother-in-law of former UT standout Jordan Shipley.)
• We had a toilet crisis in our office which caused the City of Decatur to dig up a portion of our parking lot. "Toilet" and "crisis" are never good when combined. 
• President Obama's decided to care about the environment yesterday and kill the "Keystone XL" pipeline. Basically, he said more time was needed to study it but if Congress was going to force him to make a decision, he'd err on the side of caution.  
• There's a story in the Star-Telegram today about a historic home "overlooking Luther Lake" in Fort Worth that may end up getting torn down. Luther Lake looks more like a pond via satellite, but I had never heard of it. (It's not far from that traffic circle at the end of Camp Bowie.)

Breaking at 8:15 A.M.

From February, 2010:

Edit from The Slap Your Forehead Department:

Does This Look Like A Man Convicted In The War On Drugs In Wise County Today?

This is an interesting one.

He's 71 years old and was stopped in Bridgeport for an alleged traffic violation. He had about 25 grams of meth on him which is a pretty good bunch -- even for Wise County.  He admitted it was his  -- guilt was not an issue -- which is one of the reasons the jury took a whole six minutes to convict him.  (I think the defense lawyer was alleging there wasn't a traffic violation and wanted that issue submitted to the jury. If there wasn't, they could find him not guilty due to an illegal traffic stop.)

I think he has about six prior drug charges and has been to the pen at least two times before. I'm not sure, but I know his history "ain't good."   Because of this, he could receive any where from 25 years to life in prison for his new conviction.  (Early parole laws apply. However, no one can accurately predict when he would get out regardless of the sentence.)

I know the plea bargain offer before trial was 60 years in prison, so it's not a case the defendant wanted to try. But what did he really have to lose by turning down that offer?

Someone said to me yesterday that the defendant, if convicted, would have more security than most Americans when is all said and done. For the rest of his life he'll have free food. free housing, and free health care. Heck, we may all be wanting to walk around with a bag of dope in front of the cops when we're 71.

There has to be a better way.

(Technically, when the hearing occurs before the judge to assess punishment, the State could "waive" the two enhancement paragraphs alleging prior prison trips and that would knock the punishment range down to 2 to 20 years. I don't need six minutes to make a guess as to whether that will happen, however.)

Edit: One of the commentors says I'm wrong about his history in that he had six prior trips to the pen. I wasn't wrong. I said he had "at least two" (that's why the minimum sentence is 25) and that his history "ain't good." That same person said I'm wrong on the plea bargain offer. Ok, I'll admit I'm wrong if both the prosecutor and the defense lawyer lied to me.

Mark Wahlberg Would Have Given Terrorists The What For! Saved 9/11 Plane!

He tells Men's Journal:

"If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry.'"

True that. Hey, I saw him in Fear and he could really put a hurtin' on a security guard. I have no doubt that he would have got up out of his First Class seat, wiped his brow with a hot towel, and start karate chopping the heck out of  Hajji. Wouldn't even have to say, "Let's roll."

All kidding aside, who does he think he is? C.J. Wilson?

(As silly as this is, if John Wayne had been in his prime right now and had uttered the same thing, I got a feeling most folks around here would say, "Dang, right.")

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I would make this a "And Another", but I think I mentioned her at the time of her arrest. (Carter-Riverside connection.)
• Double motorcycle death in Anna, Texas which the radio described yesterday as "gruesome," but I can't find a detailed story about it.
• My "school dreams" (dreaming I'm late for final exams and can't find my classes or locker) have turned into more generic "I'm late" dreams. Last night I was going to a Rangers game, looked down and realized I had accidentally dressed in a suit, and had to stop and buy clothes even though I was already late with people waiting on me. I have a different one every single night, and it is always the same theme.
• Let me look that up for you on Wikipedia. Well, not today.
• I've not posted a lot of the "dumb cracker" comments because they whip me, although I'm sure some feel the same way about "2012 Guy" and "Drugs and Alcohol Guy". (But Double Fake Anything Guy almost always makes me laugh.)
• For the first time ever watching the NFL, I've thought a couple of times this year that a team should intentionally not score too quickly or allow another team to score to get the ball back (just like Arena ball.).  When 49er Alex Smith ran around the left end to score in the playoff game last weekend, I seriously believed he should have ran out of bounds at the one. 
• I'll never know, but I might have taken the biggest gamble in not striking a potential juror yesterday. She was the exact profile of who I didn't want: Professional, graduate degree, middle aged, kids, and oozed conservatism. But she absolutely locked onto everything I said during jury selection, so I left her on. I was either a genius or an idiot. 
• Talk about someone who needs a teleprompter, it's Mitt Romney. First, it was "I like firing people" (which was OK in context but something you simply cannot say), and then there was "I get speaker fees sometime, but not very much" (which turned out to be $374,327.62 in one year.)
• I think I saw a post from the Messenger last night that announced the score after one period in the Bridgeport/Decatur girls basketball game was 7-6. Barn. Burner.
• I heard a little bit about the Paula Deen/Diabetes controversy yesterday but I didn't pay much attention. I've never watched anyone who eats sticks of butter.
• The Paradise ISD superintendant makes $111,447.54?
• Lindsay Lohan enters court yesterday as a Hey, Now.
• That was one serious arse chewing that the captain of the sinking cruise liner got from the Coast Guard when he decided to abandon ship. (Jump to about the 1:00 mark.) It was the only possible thing he could have done to make a career ending act become even worse.
• The Rangers have until 4:00 p.m. today to sign Japanese sensation Yu Darvish. Headline if the don't?: "Yu Can't Always Get Yu Want." (Stolen.)

Sign From Bridgeport/Decatur Game Last Night

Kids passionate about those three pointers?

(Thanks, Eric.)

Messenger Above The Fold

Crank Yankers!

But I've heard that a 71 year old is on trial tomorrow in district court in Decatur for drug possession. That makes the average age 43.5*.
___________
*Originally, my extremely complicated quantum physics calculation was in error. This post has been corrected.

Man, I Missed A Good News Day

Former Fire Marshal Mike Bement crashed through a restaurant in Bridgeport, the guy who was allegedly hopped up on meth and died after being tazered on 287 by Fort Worth PD turned out to be from Newark, the Chico Superintendent got a raise another year on this $107,000 contact(which has to make him the richest man in Chico), and something about a Chico teacher and, uh, "alkeyhal."

County Law interfered with my news today.

Oh, and the teen celeb bride is on the move again . . .

DQ Travesty

A faithful reader sent this in. How can this be? Every Dairy Queen should be free standing and sharing ground with no one. Decatur's "Red Top" and "Brown Top" history weeps a tear.

Jury Trial Day

The normal entertainment level will be sporadic on here.

Edit: The State had to dismiss its case when their expert could not give an opinion as to whether someone who has a .02 alcohol concentration (.08 is the legal limit) and hydrocodone at .01 milligrams per liter (under "therapeutic levels) would be intoxicated.

Legal authority: Layton v. State.

Irony of ironies: The only reason we knew about the low level of hydrocodone and alcohol was because of a blood search warrant. My client refused a voluntary sample. Had the State not taken the blood by force, I'd still be up there.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Kip Smith, a Republican state congressman from Georgia and sponsor of a bill that would have submitted all welfare recipients to random drug testing, was arrested Friday night for driving under the influence of alcohol. Nice.
• I don't regularly watch 60 Minutes and I don't know why.  They can make a segment (last Sunday) on the country of Qatar be fascinating. 
• WBAP's Mark Davis wasn't very Christian-like when posted a tweet last night during the GOP debates.
• Did I see a couple of the GOP candidates argue in the debate about who is more in favor of allowing convicted felons to vote? Up is down (again.)
• I don't know why NBC 5's Jane McGarry is so happy to pose with a cow.
• I got a football for Christmas. Mrs. LL was amused when I told her that as a kid I would walk across Bridgeport to the nearest goal post with a football and an empty food can (to be used as a tee) in order to try field goals. 
• I might try one again. 
• Baylor basketball moved up to #3 in the polls only to get killed at Kansas last night. But that will happen in college basketball.  (Didn't North Carolina lose by 30 or more over the weekend?)
• Some of the "closed circuit" camera images seen on the news from bank or convenience store crimes are incredibly clear.
• Muhammad Ali is 70 today. He maybe the only popular Muslim in America. (And it seems like a long time ago when he lit the Olympic Cauldron in Atlanta.)
• I was going to say "Olympic Flame" in stead of "Olympic Cauldron" but the flame is actually used to light the cauldron. (Comment attacks avoided.) 
• A youtube video named "Saved By The Bell - Inappropriate Woo'ing" sounds lame until you watch it. It's inappropriately funny. 
• There are a bunch of burglars hitting the Woodhaven area in Fort Worth and one lady is estimating her loss at around $260,000. Hey, let's make it only one crime, lady. (Can't find the link from yesterday.)
• Miss Texas in a swimsuit from last weekend in the Miss America pageant that no one saw.

May I Search Your Vehicle?

I saw this video over the weekend, and I'm still not sure it's real. There's no description of news story to go with it.

But, man, if it is, that is one irate cop.  I'm just stunned he didn't illegally search the car since he wanted to so badly.

Warning: Extreme language (that probably isn't taught at the Police Academy.)

Tasers, Meth Or Something Else Caused A Man To Die

We had the Dukes of Hazzard headed to Wise County over the weekend!

	Media Contact: Sergeant Pedro Criado pedro.criado@fortworthgov.org
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
1/16/2012 FORT WORTH, TX -

On January 13, 2012, at approximately 1:00 a.m., a Fort Worth Officer was in the nearby area of a hotel where narcotics transactions are common. Officer observed a cream colored Cadillac leaving the hotel and ran a check on the license plate. The registration information showed the license plate was expired (Sept -2011) and the officer attempted to stop the vehicle. When the officer engaged his overhead lights the vehicle accelerated and failed to yield to the officer. Officer initiated a pursuit and was assisted by other North Division units and Air 1. Officers were unable to determine a number of occupants in the vehicle.

The pursuit eventually went West/northwest on U.S. Hwy 287 where stop sticks were deployed in the 10000 block to terminate the pursuit. The stop stick deployment was successful and the vehicle began fishtailing across the traffic lanes. As the vehicle was moving side to side, officers observed gunshots being fired from the suspect vehicle and window glass flying back in the direction of their patrol units. One of the officers observed that the front windshield appeared to be damaged from gunfire.

The vehicle travelled across the divided highway and came to a stop on the South shoulder of the roadway. When the suspect vehicle came to a stop a White female suspect exited the passenger side and began running to the rear of the car, a White male suspect exited the driver’s door and stood with his hands up. Assist Officers approached the suspects ordering them to surrender; the male suspect failed to obey orders and quickly dove back into the driver’s area and out of officer’s sight. Officer believed the subject was retrieving the gun from the vehicle and fired one shot from his duty weapon. The male suspect backed out of the vehicle and officers physically engaged him. The male suspect struggled with officers and resisted their attempts to take him in to custody. Two arresting officers deployed their taser in drive stun mode and were able to take the male suspect into custody.

The male suspect WAS NOT struck by the officer's gunfire and was taken to a nearby patrol unit. The male suspect collapsed in the patrol unit. Officers could not find a heartbeat and immediately started CPR on the male suspect. The female suspect told officers that she and the male suspect had ingested a large amount of “METH” during the pursuit while running from officers. Medstar made the scene and transported both suspects to the hospital. The male suspect was unresponsive and in very critical condition. Two days later he was pronounced deceased by medical personnel. The female suspect was treated for an overdose and determined to be in very critical condition.

A revolver/gun was recovered from the driver's area of the suspect vehicle. A white powder substance was recovered in and around the suspect vehicle and from both suspect's clothing.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office makes final determination as to manner and cause of death. This is considered a Critical Police Incident and still under investigation; therefore, it would be inappropriate to comment further or conduct interviews at this time. 

Anyone betting that our Wise County boys were ready for them?
Below is from the the ME's site which seems to match the story (I think police always classify Hispanics as "white". Really.) The place of death is John Peter Smith.

Coach's Coaches Greet Each Other Differently in San Francisco

Jon Huntsman To Quit Presidential Race: One Thing We'll Miss

The Daughters

(Oh, and Boyd's long time coach and athletic director, J.G. Cartwright, is retiring at the end of the year. Unrelated, but newsworthy. ) 

Chisel This In Stone?

"Black Sports Online" says Dez Bryant was "possibly" arrested over the weekend.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Golden Globe observations . . . Woman crush: Kate Winslet. Man crush: Gerald Gerard Butler.
• The Golden Globes are far more entertaining than the Oscars, and I'm not sure why that's not well known. 
• I actually caught the end of the San Francisco/New Orleans game on Saturday. Thumbs up for excitement. And Vernon Davis' "catch and cry" seemed almost like a carbon copy of the catch in the playoffs by Terrell Owens in 1998. 
• I watched 127 Hours (about the hiker who cut off his arm to survive) over the weekend. Good, but not great. I was struck, however, how the decision to cut his arm off was a no-brainer. Now the actual cutting, that's a different story. 
• Also caught the final of the three part documentary about The Memphis Three. Love that stuff. 
• Rihanna is in that photo? (Hey, now)
• It's hard not to smile when you see this dog jumping in a field.
• I was looking at little seen photos about the MLK assassination (credit bagofnothing.com), and I noticed that the first comment said the "tragic event happened only 5 years after Blacks in America gained the right to vote." Uh, not so much.   
• 488 homes were sold in Wise County last year with an average price of $135,762
• If you want me to buy a Toyota, having Chris Berman and Kelly Clarkson in a commercial together is not the way to persuade me. 
• I was talking to someone about the small number of African-Americans in Wise County. Percentage wise, it has to he one of the lowest in the state. Then someone pointed out that a black guy who hails from Decatur was arrested in a car near Houston late last year with an alleged $37,500 worth of pot. Edit: Wrong, Decatur.
• A 15 year old fell 18 floors to his death at a downtown Dallas Hilton Hyatt hotel. They are still not sure why.
• I woke up the house this morning like I always do only to be informed there is no school today. Everyone was so sleepy they couldn't get mad. So I got out of there in a hurry.
• Edit: My wheels might be off this morning.

Bye