Bizarre Rain Storm In Decatur Taking You Into The Weekend

I Wonder If This Is Authentic?

ABC News Wrongly Suggested That Shooter In Colorado Was A Member Of The Tea Party

That's just dumb. Everyone knows that every Tea Party member is in bed by 10:00 p.m.

First Photo Of Colorado Shooter Per TMZ

Edit: From NBC News . . .

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• While you were sleeping: twelve dead after 24 year old James Holmes opens fire at a midnight showing of the new Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado.
• Aurora is 22 miles from Columbine.
• Here is a Facebook page of a "James Holmes" who resides in Aurora, Colorado.  He's not the shooter, but his day just changed in a dramatic way.
• This is a confirmed victim who was from Texas.  Edit: Wow. She had previously written of narrowly missing a shooting in a food court.
• Fox 4 had a story last night of a guy who allegedly "sexually assaulted" one or more women who came to visit him after he placed  a Craig's List ad for a roommate. Once there, the guy "made it clear" that  what he really wanted in exchange for sharing the apartment was an agreement for sex.  But this sentence from the McKinney police spokesperson sure did stick out: "Some may not have felt the freedom to get up an leave." There's something weird about that. 
• Saw where two juveniles were "arrested" in Hood County for creating a fake Facebook page of another girl. Yep, it is a crime in some situations in Texas. 
• Debbie Denmon is gone from Channel 8. Last year she sued the station claiming she wasn't promoted because of fat discrimination. So now we see what happens when her contract expired -- there wasn't a new one. 
• On a sadder note, Tammy Dombeck is out at Channel 5. Hot pic from back in the day. 
• I bought an automatic water timer and sat down to figure it out with instructions in hand. The project failed with step one: "Insert batteries as indicated." Turned out a plastic removable part that held the batteries was missing, but it wasn't readily apparent that it was gone. I spent 30 minutes looking at the thing and taking it apart by removing the screws. Defeating.
• Chik-fil-A's anti-gay marriage stance probably has more to do with making a buck than moral positioning. There is only one store in New York. There are about 275 in Texas. Think they considered that before they threw down that hot social issue opinion?
• Caught my attention from today's Update: Decatur High School sold "personal seat licenses" for the right to buy season football tickets? That's no big deal. The fact they cost only $18 for two years did.
• Really caught my attention: They county just bought over a half million dollars in vehicles. The nicest vehicles in the county will be driven by county workers. 
• Eleven animated GIFs of the hot female hurdler from yesterday.Hey, now. 
• The name of the Mormon book I'm reading (and almost finished with) is Under The Banner Of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. Two thumbs up.

Ouch

I was familiar with the story of Decatur football coach Kyle Story's son who suffered a serious leg injury last fall. I mean, so serious he almost lost his leg. The above photo ran in the Messenger last week along with an updated story  (behind paywall) on how the kid is doing.  But moments ago photographer Joe Duty released the photo of the actual tackle that caused the kid's leg to bend in a manner it is not supposed to. Oh, my!

(Do me a favor and keep the comments civil. There's a legitimate discussion to be had about the risks of football in general, but we don't need to call people out or be personal. Decatur ISD is always a hot button.)

Reader Submitted: "Spotted In Runaway Bay"

And that nutcase Sheriff is back in the news again:

And Another - Colorado

We're taking a step backwards with this one in the looks department, but throw in the seediness of the age difference and the birth of a baby, and 2012 continues its journey to a Gold Medal.

Australian Hurdler Pick Me Up

Edit: Bagofnothing referenced this first but I didn't steal it from him. I did steal the idea, just not from him. Now back to hurdling.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• RGIII's contract is for $21 million over four years -- all guaranteed. Before the owners took the players to the cleaners in the last collective bargaining agreement, the #2 pick in the 2010 draft got a contract of five-years, $68 million contract with $40 million guaranteed.
• I heard a campaign ad on radio for Steve Winn (?) who must be in a runoff for something in Texas in a couple of weeks. The only reason I mention it was because it referred to him as "an award winning optometrist."  Award winning? That's a little broad.  Edit: That's Steve Nguyen candidate for Texas House District 115.
• Demographic watch continued: Fox and Friends will have . . . wait for it . . . KC and the Sunshine Band perform on Friday.  
• The kid who walked to DC carrying a cross had to average 36 miles a day to get there when he did. No way he walked it all. (On some parts of the trip he had to walk in the grass when there wasn't a shoulder and it was slow going based upon news clips.)
• Dueling interviews last night: George Zimmerman was on Hannity while Justice Scalia was on Piers Morgan. I chose to record Scalia.
• You "misdemeanors can legally go to the grand jury" guys are technically correct.  And a defendant can legally get cake and ice cream when he is booked in. It just doesn't happen.
• Weirdest thing this morning. I always use my phone as an alarm clock and accidentally set it for one hour later than my normal wake up time. I got up, ate breakfast, turned on TV, looked at the Internet, and didn't realize I was an hour behind until 40 minutes later.  And it was the sun that tipped me off. I'm losing it. 
• Nominated for the Emmy in Best Drama Series this morning: "Boardwalk Empire," "Mad Men," "Breaking Bad," "Downtown Abbey," "Game of Thrones," and "Homeland". Not one of them is on network TV.
• The head of the Mormon Church is always referred to as "Prophet, Seer, and Revelator."
• Two bizarre motorcycle accidents yesterday in Wise County: One involving a goat and one involving a maybe/maybe not hit and run driver. But the quote of the day in the Update has to be this one: "State Trooper Zeb Siebeneck said the goat had the right of way." Not saying he's wrong - just saying that's a funny way to put it. 

You Don't See That Very Often In Wise County (Or Anywhere)

I grab the pic from the Messenger so go here to find the back story so they won't get mad.

Oh, and I hope that goat wasn't one of these . . .

Afternoon Pick Me Up: Carrie Underwood

Since I Mention Wrong Way Drivers All The Time

This is excruciating to watch, but there were no deaths or serious injuries. Story.

Above The Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Fox 4's Dan Godwin this morning said the Dez Bryant case would be forwarded to the DA's office and then to the grand jury for possible indictment. Nope. Misdemeanors don't go to the grand jury.
• Is there anything less impactful that Tom Leppert endorsing David Dewhurst last night? (Note: Spellcheck says"impactful" is not a word. It should be.)
• Hope Solo is on the cover of Newsweek  but the other headline above her reads: "18 to 35? You Are Generation Screwed!"  Based upon online reaction of financial crisis from that age group yesterday, that should have been the cover story.
• I have been by two 18 wheelers this year when they had tire blow outs. Man, that's an explosion.
• Prediction: This is the last season of Josh Hamilton with the Rangers, and the Rangers will be fine with that.
• It is beyond comical that George W. Bush Institute has released  a book on the economy when in his final days Bush frantically addressed the nation on how the American economy was then on the verge of absolute collapse. 
• Baylor fans: RG3 signed his contract with the Washington Redskins this morning, and Adidas has released a cool commercial featuring him. I was reading Outliers again last weekend which speaks of how talent and hard work are important but how you also need the added element of being at the right place at the right time in order to be wildly successful. At the end of the Oklahoma game last year and with the score tied, Baylor tried to run out the clock to get to overtime. But OU coach Bob Stoops calls a timeout and Baylor changes gears and tries to score which it did in dramatic fashion. Had that timeout not been called, there would be no Heisman Trophy or the wild expectations that follow him now. A simple timeout changed his life.
• Longest bullet point ever. 
• Heard on the radio this morning someone say that hitting your momma (Dez Bryant) is a lot worse than dog fighting (Michael Vick). I suspect if you watched the Dez incident (momma hit in the face with a cap) and the Vick incidents (dogs in bloody pulps), you would vehemently disagree with that position. 
• Do you think the EPA cares one iota that the city councils of Wise County towns are passing resolutions that oppose the designation of a "non-attainment area"?
• The Messenger's Update lists an obituary of Michael Lee Lujan, 38, today.  There is a Michael Lee Lujan, 39, who was sentenced to prison for four years out of Wise County last year. Same guy?

Decatur Gets A Little Love

The Dallas Observer food blog chimes in.

(Thanks emailer.)

Edit: And I would point out that the food blog throws out some Random Girls from time to time.

Someone Really Doesn't Like State. Rep. Phil King

Because they are walking around Decatur placing this flyer on cars and trucks.

"Phil King MUST be voted OUT of office this November!!!" it ends.    Heck, I didn't even know who was running against him in the Fall so I had to look it up:

Uh, if gambling wasn't illegal at Bushwood at Liberally Lean, I'd give everyone a million to one odds.

Crime Of The Century!!!

Dez Bryant's momma calls 911 on him. More info, including arrest warrant affidavit.

I think we've got some socialism at work here. You are paying for that dispatcher, for the responding officers, for the jailers who booked him in, for the court clerks, the judge, and the prosecutors.  There was once a time where Dez and his mom would be told to straighten up or stay away from each other.

From Richie Whitt's long article on Dez a while back:

Calling Bryant's childhood tumultuous is akin to labeling his grasp of grammar unrefined. His mother, Angela, had Dez at 15 and two more children before age 18. His dad, in his early 40s at the time, didn't much stick around. Saddened by having to feed her kids only ramen noodles and hot dogs, Angela turned to selling drugs for extra income. She eventually also began using—marijuana, PCP, cocaine—and in 1997, when Dez was eight, was arrested after selling drugs to an undercover policeman in Lufkin.

She was sentenced to four years at the Plane State Jail in Dayton, but served only a year and a half.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Dez Bryant turned himself in on an assault charge yesterday.  First round talent. Free agent brain.
• But we might want to tap the brakes just because you see the words "Assault - Bodily Injury - Family Violence." Yeah, it might mean he blacked the eye of a girlfriend. It also might mean he squeezed the arm of a roommate leaving no marks but causing the roommate "pain". It's a ridiculously broad definition under Texas law.
• The news footage on Fox 4 News of the city truck spraying some type of mist to kill mosquitoes in light of the West Nile virus "outbreak" always makes me think: Does that really work?
• Speaking of Fox 4, you probably had to see it last night but we learned that Heather Hays has no idea who the band No Doubt is.
• "17 people hurt in Tuscaloosa, AL bar shooting."  No one killed?
• It seems only fitting that billboard-advertising-DWI-lawyer Mimi Coffey was proposed to over the weekend via a billboard. I wouldn't do it that way, but to each his own.
• I don't think I know the difference between "business class" and "first class." Now "coach" -- that I understand.
• Had a local lawyer drop by my office yesterday and give me some home grown tomatoes. "Don't take this wrong, but I'm running out of people to give all these to."
• The fear of terrorism for those in charge of  the Olympics in London has to be off the charts.
• Mormon book update: I'm nearing the end of it and I finally got to the Mountain Meadows Massacre that a commentor kept mentioning. How in the world have I never heard of that before?
• And after reading the book, which examines the fundamentalist factions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, Texas and the trial of leader Warren Jeffs finally makes sense.
• The President's remarks on Saturday sure does have the far right stirred up but to say it is a turning point in the race is silly.  Those remarks were great to think about and can be the subject of honest debate. But if his greatest critics want to parse them with the hope they'll hurt the President, they might want to remember the far more shocking "spread the wealth" comment to Joe The Plumber had no impact. Plus, it's only July.
• Just like you guys want the President to lose, I want David Dewhurst to lose in the Senate race. 

Paradise Teen Killed Last Night

Link.

Facebook.

Edit: The deceased driver, Paige Davila, had two passengers: Christian Gomez of Decatur and Paige Harkings of Paradise

I'm Not The Only One Who Looks Up Facebook Pics Of People Mentioned In The News

The Dallas Observer did the same after a report of a "45 year old grandmother" who was almost robbed last night after going to the convenience store at 3:00 a.m.    Guess what role this guy allegedly played in it?

Afternoon Pick Me Up

A girl and her puppy dog . . .

A girl and her puppy dog and TO?

Might Be Going To A Party

Kids Probably Had It Coming

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Watched the Hangover II this weekend. Meh. Some movies just can't be the subject of a sequel.
• I'm not sure why all the flap about the U.S. Olympic team wearing uniforms made in China. That is uniquely American.
• Wrong way driver death. And if you took 114 through Southlake this morning, you felt the effects of it. 
• Mavs Dancer tryouts.
• Messenger Letter to the Editor says an innocent man is in the Wise County Jail. There's probably  more than just one. 
• ESPNU is counting down the 25 best college games of 2011 and Baylor is in three of them. And won all three. I've got this weird feeling that this is as good as it gets.
• Mitt Romney is catching heat for releasing only two years of tax returns. As George Will said, he has made a calculated decision that the damage done from not releasing them is less than what would happen if he did. How rich is that guy?
• Mrs. LL proclaimed I've officially lost it this weekend when I did a Joel Osteen impression while using the Batman voice.
• Yesterday I saw a convenience store clerk yell at a customer, "I am not your servant!" I have no idea what started that. 
• The kid who was "carrying" the cross to Washington D.C. has made it.  What are the chances he cheated a little?
• I'm not sure how it made the news, but a federal disability discrimination lawsuit has been filed by a guy who used to work in Bridgeport.
• The Family Cat has calmed down. The Neighbor Boys have calmed down. 
• I agree with the President when he says successful people are successful merely because they are smarter or worked harder than anyone else. 
• Female MMA fighter knocks out opponent with first punch. I don't know if I'm jazzed or horrified.
• I enjoy weekends more than I used to. My limestone edging project is getting close to completion. I had a complete stranger stop yesterday to talk to me about it. 
• This minor league play was ESPN's #1 Play of The Day on Saturday.  Outfielder climbs wall. Glove goes over wall. Outfielder hits ground. Outfielder has ball in his throwing hand. How did that happen?

Random Family Cat Pic