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 The State's Newspapers Online
Police Officer Arrests
 Austin Police Officer Jason Lockaby was arrested
AUSTIN Chronicle –Austin Police Officer Jason Lockaby was arrested Nov. 18 and charged with official oppression (a class A misdemeanor) and "violation of the civil rights of a person in custody" in connection with allegations of "improper conduct" (a state jail felony) made by two female victims, according to an APD press release.
In March, while arresting a woman for outstanding warrants, the second-year officer allegedly touched her breasts and pressed her nipples while patting her down; in October, Lockaby allegedly told a second woman that he wouldn't take her to jail if she showed him her breasts.
The department's Integrity Crimes Unit is still investigating "the possibility of other incidents involving improper conduct" by Lockaby; anyone with information concerning "inappropriate conduct" by Lockaby should call the ICU detectives at 974-6840. – Jordan Smith
Former Georgetown Officer Gets 12 Years in Prison
Former Georgetown Police Sergeant Jimmy Fennell was given a prison sentence totaling 12 years by a Williamson County judge Friday.
Fennell was convicted of kidnapping and improper sexual activity while in custody felonies last Friday, September 19. He was given two years in state jail for the sex charge and 10 years in prison forkidnapping.
He originally pleaded guilty to the crimes in May, but a Williamson County judge rejected the plea agreement and set the case for trial in September.
In a written statement, Williamson County D.A. John Bradley said “Today, a rogue police officer was punished for serious crimes. He will never again hold a peace officer’s license.”
In a search warrant affidavit filed after the October, 2007 incident, the victim claimed she was drunk at the time, and Fennell drove her to a park, asked her to dance for him, and then assaulted her on his police cruiser.
On Thursday, the victim sued the City of Georgetown and Fennell in connection with the crime.
Fennell resigned from the Georgetown Police Department in January after he was indicted.
In 1996, Jimmy Fennell's fiancée, Stacey Stites, was strangled to death in Bastrop County. Rodney Reed was convicted of her death and sent to death row. Reed is appealing. Fennell's attorney says the one case has nothing to do with the other.
City of Georgetown Statement Concerning Jimmy Fennell Plea
"The City of Georgetown is shocked and saddened by the events that occurred on October 26, 2007, involving former Sergeant Jimmy Fennell. While no profession is immune from unlawful or unethical conduct from its members, we recognize the badge of the police department as a symbol of public faith and trust and believe our officers should be exemplary in obeying the law as well as the regulations of the police department.
Upon learning of the allegation against Sgt. Fennell, the Georgetown Police Administration requested that the complaint against the Sergeant be investigated by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Rangers. Sgt. Fennell resigned from the Georgetown Police Department on January 10, 2008.
The City is facing civil litigation arising from the October 26, 2007 incident and is represented on that matter by Richard South of the law firm of Wright & Greenhill. Because of the pending litigation, the City of Georgetown and the Police Department will not be making any additional comments and will not be doing on-camera interviews."
Former West Lake Hills Police Officer Indicted For Online Solicitation Of a Minor
Paul Kirksey allegedly distributed sexually explicit images to undercover officer
AUSTIN – A Llano County grand jury returned a five-count felony indictment Thursday against former City of West Lake Hills police officer Paul Kirksey, 35, for online solicitation of a minor.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Cyber Crimes Unit arrested Kirksey in West Lake Hills in January after the defendant allegedly distributed sexually explicit images over the Internet to someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl. The “girl” was actually an undercover Cyber Crimes Unit investigator.
Kirksey was taken into custody Friday afternoon by deputies with the Llano County Sheriff’s Office in lieu of $250,000 bond. The Cyber Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case in conjunction with Llano County District Attorney Sam Oatman’s office.
Online solicitation of a minor is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Attorney General Abbott has earned a national reputation for aggressively arresting and prosecuting child predators. Since 2003, the Cyber Crimes Unit and Fugitive Unit have arrested more than 700 sex predators. Prosecutors also have obtained convictions against more than 80 men on child pornography charges.
For more information on Attorney General Abbott’s efforts to crack down on sex predators, contact the Office of the Attorney General at (800) 252-8011 or visit the agency’s Web site at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov.
Child Abuse
Attorney General Abbott Releases Report Showing State Laws Need Strengthening To Deal With Human Trafficking
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte today released the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) 2008 Human Trafficking Report. The legislatively-mandated study details the impact of human trafficking on the State of Texas. It examines how legislative changes could reduce human trafficking and provide better services for victims. Human trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transporting or obtaining of a person for labor or services for the purpose of subjecting victims to involuntary servitude, slavery or forced commercial sex acts.
“Human trafficking is a horrific crime that deprives its victims of basic human rights,” Attorney General Abbott said. “Sadly, human trafficking victims are coerced into modern day slave labor and forced prostitution rings. The State of Texas must continue to focus on preventing human trafficking and protecting its victims.”
The U.S. Department of State estimates that between 14,500 and 17,500 are trafficked into the U.S. from Asia, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe, and many more are trafficked domestically within the United States each year. Additionally, about one in five people trafficked have been in Texas. Houston and El Paso are included among the U.S. Department of Justice’s “most intense trafficking jurisdictions in the country.”
State Sen. Van de Putte said: “I truly believe that we are not defenseless in the struggle to end the exploitation of children and vulnerable adults, and this is why I took a stand for those caught in the ugly web of modern day slavery. In the upcoming legislative session, I intend to further advance our efforts to eliminate human trafficking in Texas.”
The OAG’s 57-page report, “The Texas Response to Human Trafficking,” offers 21 recommendations that are intended to reduce human trafficking and improve services to victims. These recommendations include possible statutory changes and improved outreach efforts that would better educate law enforcement personnel about identifying human trafficking.
Later today, Senator Van de Putte is convening a roundtable discussion on human trafficking. The discussion will focus on prevention, identification, investigation and prosecution of human trafficking. Panelists included: Eric Nichols, Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice, and Denise Donnely; Dr. Noel Busch, The University of Texas at Austin; Mandi Kimball, Children at Risk; Sgt. Chris Burchell, Bexar County Sheriff's Department; Steph Weber, Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition; and Melissa Moreno, Catholic Charities.
The report Attorney General Abbott released today satisfies the requirements of Senate Bill 11 passed in the 80th Legislature. The report is available online at: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/AG_Publications/pdfs/human_trafficking.pdf
Ex-coach indicted in alleged sexual assaults
Posted on: Thursday, October 09, 2008, 5:19 AM
By Justin Cox Killeen Daily Herald
A former youth baseball coach and volunteer firefighter is facing 25 years to life in prison after he was indicted Wednesday on the most serious charge in the Texas legal system outside of capital murder.
A Bell County grand jury indicted William Thomas Jacobsen, 31, of Rogers, on a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a young child or children Wednesday and is in custody on $500,000 bond. He is accused of having sex with two 13-year-old boys who were on the Little League team he coached.
His common-law wife, Marilyn McQueen Wesson, aka Marilyn Jacobsen, was indicted on a charge of hindering apprehension. Court records state that it was her idea to escape prosecution by fleeing to Mexico.
Jacobsen was arrested in Mexico on Aug. 9, perpetrated by public allegations of sexual assault by several of his male players under 14 years old.
The Bell County District Attorney's Office, which is investigating the case, is withholding details pending trial.
The sexual assault allegations came from teenage boys in Little River-Academy, where Jacobsen coached a youth baseball team and served as a volunteer firefighter. He was removed from both positions after the incident was first reported.
Jacobsen was arrested on the morning of Aug. 9, along with his common-law wife in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, while the couple were walking their dog.
Court records state that Wesson was identified by her daughter on surveillance tape while assisting authorities, despite the fact that she had changed her appearance.
Kevin Scott with the U.S. Marshals in Waco, said in August that Jacobsen, 31, and Wesson, 57, were arrested by Mexican authorities and were transferred across the border to the custody of U.S. Marshals in Laredo.
The investigation of Jacobsen began when a Bell County sheriff's deputy responded to a child sexual assault complaint on June 10 at Scott & White Hospital in Temple. A 13-year-old boy said his baseball coach sexually assaulted him, beginning in mid-2007 until the latest incident in June, the release stated.
During the investigation, three more children came forward and accused Jacobsen of assaulting them.
Authorities believed that Jacobsen fled, along with Wesson, to the Houston-Galveston area on June 21, just days before the district attorney's office issued the warrant on June 25.
Scott said the Bell County Sheriff's Office contacted U.S. Marshals in Waco to assist in the investigation.
The Marshals then developed leads that tracked Jacobsen and Wesson to the Laredo area after camera surveillance reportedly showed Wesson bringing items to a Laredo pawnshop on July 1.
Lt. James Lewing, of the Bell County Sheriff's Office, said Wesson pawned items at the shop to get cash.
On July 17, an arrest warrant was issued for Wesson on a charge of hindering the apprehension of Jacobsen after she was recorded on pawnshop surveillance.
The Marshals in Laredo worked with Mexican authorities to set up a stakeout, which ended with the couple's arrest Aug. 9.
Mother hits child with bat, faces felony charges
Posted: Oct 7, 2008 03:58 PM CDT
ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) -- What all started as a fight Sunday afternoon between two boys at the Henna Town homes in Round Rock, ended with one of the boy's parents facing serious charges. Minique Stokes is charged with injury to a child, a felony.
"I see my son just leaking, pouring with blood, I'm freaking out," said Minique Stokes. Stokes just bonded out of Williamson County Jail on Tuesday morning. She was doing laundry Sunday when her 12-year-old son, Carl, told her he was jumped. "I figured it was a lot of boys so I just took the bat," said Stokes.
Witnesses told police Stokes was yelling to talk to the boy's parents and then she hit the 14-year-old on the forearm with the bat. "He put his hand up, because she would have hit him in his head," said Darla Barlow, the 14-year-old boy's mother. "He put his hand up and it just broke the skin."
Stokes told a different story about what happened when she showed up at the boy's house with a bat. "He approaches my nephew, and so, I said 'you're going to have to back up' so I took the bat and went like this to move him away from my nephew," said Stokes. Stokes then called police to press charges on the 9th grader for beating up her son. "He's in high school, my son is in elementary," said Stokes. Meanwhile, the teenager called his mother. "He said 'this lady just hit me with a bat,'" said Barlow.
When police arrived, they arrested Stokes. "Kids are going to fight," said Eric Poteet with the Round Rock Police Department. "That's something if you want to take up with the parents, that's fine. If you want to let the police get involved, that's fine. But, you want to call us first before you take it into your own hands."
Stokes maintains she never intentionally hit the boy. "For them to charge me with a felony that is ridiculous; [I've] never been in trouble with the law in my life," said Stokes.
Still, Barlow said Stokes is lucky the charges are not worse. "That's assault...on a minor with a deadly weapon," said Barlow.
If Stokes is convicted on this felony charge, she could face anywhere from a two to a 10-year sentence.
Alleged Serial Child Sex Suspect, Ex-wife Sued by Victim's Parents
An accused child sexual predator and his ex-wife are being sued by one of the alleged victims' parents.
In the Sept. 25 lawsuit, the parents identified only as "John and Jane Doe" make several claims against Billy Dan Carroll and Katherine Lee Carroll. These include damages for the crime he's charged with, negligent supervision against Katherine Carroll for failing to prevent the alleged crime, failing to warn the victim and her parents about possible dangers, and fraudulent transfer of assets by Carroll to his wife during divorce proceedings to shield his wealth from creditors.
The plaintiffs say their daughter and the Carroll's daughter were friends at the time of the reported incident.
The claimants are asking for the damage awards to be set by a jury and if successful, pledge to give the money to "…Austin aid organizations whose goal is to assist sexual assault and rape victims." The "Does" are also asking for funds to help in counseling and therapy for Carroll's alleged victims.
Billy Carroll is in the Travis County jail on six charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Austin police say Carroll is is suspected of drugging his victims and sexually assaulting them at his home. He is also alleged to have photographed the unconscious girls and storing the evidence on his computer.
Billy Dan Carroll's next court appearance for the felonies is scheduled for Oct. 31.
100th Online Sex Predator Arrested by Attorney General's Cyber Crimes Unit Receives Jail Time
Christopher Ferrell ordered to register as a sex offender for 18 years for online solicitation
HOUSTON – The 100th online sex predator arrested by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Cyber Crimes Unit was ordered to serve 30 days in Harris County Jail each year for the next six years for using the Internet to prey upon children.
Christopher Leon Ferrell, 25, of Houston, received eight years deferred adjudication Thursday for sexually propositioning an undercover Cyber Crimes Unit investigator who had assumed the online identity of a 13-year-old girl. In addition to serving periodic jail time, Ferrell must register as a sex offender for 18 years. He also must attend sex offender counseling and is barred from using the Internet and having contact with children. The case was prosecuted by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Cyber Crimes Unit investigators, along with law enforcement officers from the Sugar Land Police Department and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, arrested Ferrell during an undercover operation in Sugar Land in March 2008. Two additional suspects also were arrested during that operation. Since Attorney General Abbott launched the Cyber Crimes Unit in 2003, a total of 101 suspected online sexual predators have been arrested.
“Since 2003, the dedicated men and women of the Cyber Crimes Unit have arrested more than 100 sexual predators who used the Internet to prey upon children,” Attorney General Abbott said. “Thanks to five years of cooperative efforts with local law enforcement, our peace officers have reached an important milestone.”
Attorney General Abbott added: “We are grateful to the Sugar Land Police Department, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, for their shared commitment to protect Texas children.”
Ferrell, the 100th subject, was arrested at his Houston residence on March 17 after he participated in sexually graphic online chats with someone he thought was a teenage girl. Although Ferrell did not actually travel to meet with the online minor, Texas law makes it a felony to “knowingly solicit” a minor for sex. State law also explicitly prohibits offenders from defending charges against them by arguing that no meeting actually occurred.
Cyber Crimes Unit investigators and Sugar Land police officers also arrested Daryl McClain, 36, of Richmond. McClain was charged with one count of online solicitation of a minor for sexually soliciting an undercover Cyber Crimes Unit investigator posing as a 13-year-old girl. The Office of the Attorney General will prosecute the case in Fort Bend County.
Brian Lee Niemi, 51, of Houston, was arrested by Cyber Crimes Unit investigators and Harris County Sheriff’s deputies and charged with one count of online solicitation of a minor. He also was charged with two counts of child pornography possession after forensic analysis of his computer uncovered sexually explicit data. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office will prosecute the case.
Since taking office, Attorney General Abbott has earned a national reputation for aggressively arresting and prosecuting online child predators. In 2003, he created the Cyber Crimes Unit, which protects children from online sexual exploitation. The Cyber Crimes Unit and the Fugitive Unit, which locates sex offenders who have violated the terms of their parole and could be stalking children, have combined to arrest more than 700 sex offenders.
The Cyber Crimes Unit also has reached out to Texas families, conducting cyber safety town hall meetings to educate parents and teens on Internet safety – particularly when using social networking sites like MySpace.com.
For more information on Attorney General Abbott’s efforts to crack down on sex predators, visit the Attorney General’s Web site at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov or call (800) 252-8011.
Miscellaneous
Exclusive: Four arrests in Dallas crime spree
01:43 PM CST on Monday, December 1, 2008
By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA-TV
DALLAS — Dallas police have arrested four men in a string of robberies, burglaries and a kidnapping.
News 8 has learned that police may have linked the suspects to up to 20 crimes in South and Central Dallas.
The four in custody include two adult men and two juveniles. The adult suspects were identified as Alfredo Sanchez and Roberto Sanchez.
Police said the suspects were ruthless when they robbed their victims — in one case beating a victim with a bat; in another case they kidnapped and beat the victim.
Over the weekend, police said the four suspects committed another robbery, but this time police caught up to them.
The alleged robbers have been terrorizing people for weeks. News 8 has learned that the crimes go back to at least November 7. Police say the suspects robbed people in the Knox-Henderson area, in South Dallas and in Oak Cliff.
Police released surveilance footage of the suspects when one of the attacks was caught on tape. The victim, Artenio Zarate, was beaten as the suspects tried to rob him of his truck and wallet.
"They hit me on the head with a bat and they hit me three times," Zarate said via a translator. "Then I was finally able to escape and I ran."
The suspects were nabbed Friday evening after patrol officers saw them attempting to commit a carjacking.
Sources said they don't believe these suspects are gang members — just a group that was out to rob and hurt people.
News 8 has also learned that the four men under arrest are linked to a crime against College World Series champion Justin Crowder. The suspects stole his car and a ring commemorating his championshp season as a Rice University baseball star.
Time up on inmate phones
Posted on: Friday, October 24, 2008, 5:45 AM - By Michael Graczyk, The Press Associated
HOUSTON – An intense shakedown of Texas's 155,000 prison inmates yielded 13 cell phones and 12 phone chargers in a growing scandal over prohibited telephones being smuggled in to inmates.
Authorities charged a second person Wednesday, accusing her of being involved in a death-row inmate's possession of a phone.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials also said officers have seized at least one subscriber identity module, or SIM card, a postage-stamp-size tool that plugs into cell phones and transfers information from one phone to another.
A phone and a charger were found in the ceiling of a shower area in the death row building at the Polunsky Unit outside Livingston, agency spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.
The 111 prisons in the nation's second-largest corrections system have been locked down since Monday evening after Gov. Rick Perry ordered agency officials to ferret out any contraband.
The order followed the disclosure that death row inmate Richard Tabler had made threatening calls to a state senator and had shared his illegal cell phone with at least nine of his fellow inmates.
Late Wednesday, officers found Tabler had ripped a 3-foot piece of bedsheet and attached it to a fixture in his death row cell. The inmate then was transferred to a prison medical psychiatric facility outside Houston because officials feared he was considering killing himself.
The 10 condemned prisoners made 2,800 calls in nearly a month and the inmate's mother, Lorraine, was arrested Monday and jailed on suspicion of paying for phone minutes. It is illegal to give inmates prohibited items like cell phones or the minutes needed to use them.
Tabler's sister, Kristina Martinez, turned herself in to police in Killeen Wednesday after she was named in a warrant, Lyons said. Martinez and Lorraine Tabler were charged with providing a prohibited item to a corrections facility, a felony. Martinez posted $10,000 bond and was released.
The systemwide lockdown means inmates are confined to their cells and normal visits with relatives have been suspended. Employees and visitors also are subjected to searches with hand-held metal detectors.
Lyons said it could take three weeks to complete the search of large prisons, some of which – including Polunsky where death-row inmates are house – have more than 2,000 inmates.
Even before the lockdown, Polunsky Unit officers conducting searches after Tabler was busted with his phone found two other cell phones in the prison, officials said.
And investigators had closed or were working on 19 cases of prohibited phones or phone components on death row and some 700 cases systemwide this year alone before the Tabler case broke.
Some prisons, like the Polunsky Unit, have airport-style metal detectors. Others, like the Huntsville Unit, do not. On Tuesday, a new station with an officer equipped with a hand-held device was at the inside front door to the Huntsville Unit.
At a hastily called meeting Tuesday in Austin of the criminal justice committee he chairs, Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, who Tabler called, grilled state prison administrators for what he called rampant security failures and a lax attitude.
John Moriarty, the department's inspector general, blamed a handful of corrupt officers for smuggling phones.
A phone can command a bribe of $2,000 – nearly a month's salary for a rookie corrections officer – and be used to coordinate with gangs on the outside. The same system is used to smuggle in drugs and cigarettes, he said.
All it takes is one bad officer and you've got a big problem, Moriarty said.
Tabler, from Killeen, was convicted last year of fatally shooting Mohamed-Amine Rahmouni, 25, and Haitham Zayed, 28. He also confessed to killing Tiffany Dotson, 18, and Amber Benefield, 16. All four had ties to a Killeen strip club. He recently told his trial judge he wanted appeals waived so he could be put to death.
Individual lockdowns at prisons are fairly routine but the overall lockdown is believed to be the first since March 2000, after an inmate used dental floss or a similar coated string to cut his way out of his cell, then attack and kill a rival gang member who was being escorted by officers to a shower.
Texas pulls the plug on fish pedicures
Story Created: Oct 9, 2008 at 11:37 AM CDT
(AP) If you were hoping to jump on the nibbling fish pedicure bandwagon, it might have just passed you by.
In fish pedicures, tiny fish "kiss" dead skin off your feet.
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation announced today that fish pedicures -- in which customers pay to have small fish nibble the dead skin off their feet -- are no longer permitted in the state.
Spokeswoman Susan Stanford said the licensing agency has health and safety concerns related to the practice of using the same fish to clean the skin of multiple customers. The worry is that the practice could transmit infections. She also said the foot baths and holding tanks, because they're home to live fish, cannot always be properly cleaned and disinfected.
Ms. Stanford added, however, that she knew of no cases of anyone getting sick from a fish pedicure.
“It is in the realm of possibilities,” she said. “We are erring on the side of safety.”
We tried it: What a fish pedicure feels like
Fish pedicures became a summer’s craze when a salon in Virginia began offering the beauty treatment. Heavy media coverage followed. In September, Zen Luxury Nail & Beauty Bar in Frisco became the first shop in North Texas to offer the nibbly procedure.
Kate Caldwell, co-owner of Zen Luxury Nail, said state inspectors came to the store last week but didn't tell her to stop the offering the pedicures.
“I am a little confused right now,” she said when first contacted by a reporter this morning. “We haven’t gotten any notification. As a salon, you would think we would.”
But by early afternoon, the state had informed her of the ban, and her shop shut down its fish tanks.
“I am pretty disappointed,” she said.
Ms. Stanford, the state spokeswoman, said she didn't know how many salons were doing fish pedicures in Texas, since no one should have been doing them without approval from her agency. The Department of Licensing and Regulation oversees more than 20 types of businesses and occupations in Texas, including cosmetologists.
Ms. Caldwell said her salon had a rigorous safety protocol to avoid putting customers at risk. After each pedicure, she said, the foot basins were emptied and cleaned with a disinfectant. During that cleaning, she said, the fish were transferred to a "hospital tank,” where they were treated with an anti-microbial agent and isolated for at least a day.
Now, she has no idea what she'll do with the 500 guppy-like fish that she bought, for $2,500, in the Washington, D.C. area.
“I guess we will either keep them as pets, or send them back,” she said.
Liftoff Date Approaching for Austin Millionaire
October 9, 2008
An Austin millionaire is getting ready to fulfill a lifelong dream to venture into space. Computer game designer Richard Garriott will be the sixth private citizen to pay for a seat on a Russian flight to the International Space Station.
We spoke with Richard this week—he is due to lift off Saturday and begin his 10-day adventure in space. "I've got my own fancy new spacesuit," he says. And for nine grueling months he's been learning what to do while he's in it. "I'm using it in zero gravity and vacuum chambers and I'm in the simulators with the crewmates that I'll actually be flying into space with doing simulations of the entire launch docking and separation and reentry profiles and of course that's always a lot of fun."
The 47-year-old bought a seat on a Russian spaceflight to the International Space Station. He says he's ready physically and mentally. "The most challenging part has easily been learning the Russian language."
Richard Garriott paid $30 million dollars to follow in his father's footsteps. Dr. Owen Garriott is a former NASA astronaut who flew missions on Skylab and the Space Shuttle Columbia. "I will become the first second generation American to fly in space."
Richard is ready to prove this is not just a ridiculously expensive lark. While he's on the ISS he'll be growing protein crystals in zero-gravity that could help with research for some chronic diseases. He's also working with the Nature Conservancy to photograph sites in Texas and around the planet. Those photos will be used to study long term environmental changes on Earth.
"My father during his Skylab flights had one of the very first opportunities to take a photographic survey of the surface of the earth as seen by astronauts in space. So 35 years later with my flight I will have the opportunity as the first second generation flyer to look back at the Earth again, retake some of those identical shots that my father took on Skylab and showcase how the earth has changed in that 35 years and one generation of space flight."
Richard's tight schedule also includes three NASA experiments and classroom projects. But work aside, this seasoned adventure traveler knows he's about to take-off on the ultimate thrill ride.
Former Cowboys Reminisce Over Texas Stadium
By CHRIS HAWES / WFAA-TV
August 20, 2008
IRVING - Wednesday was the beginning of the end for a 38 year love affair in North Texas.
Thousands of fans stood in the rain to attend the first public farewell event for Texas Stadium. Fans
got the chance to say hello to Dallas Cowboys legends. They also learned more about what will happen to
the historic landmark when the final season ends.
As the legendary Cowboys players signed autographs and posed for pictures, they remembered their own
magic moments at the stadium.
"It's not so much of a run," said Tony Dorsett, a Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor inductee. "It's not so
much of an individual play, but it's the big rivalries that we had here and the big fan support we had
here."
Lee Roy Jordan, another Ring of Honor inductee, had his own wish for the stadium
"I wish we could have a museum somewhere for the Dallas Cowboys that this could fit into," he said.
Some items will make the move to the new stadium, including the Tom Landry statue. And in some form, the
Ring of Honor will also move to the new stadium. But many pieces will go to private homes.
"We've got an agreement with the city of Irving to auction off or to sell a lot of the fixtures in the
building, things like the seats [and] lockers," said Brett Daniels, director of client services for the
Dallas Cowboys.
Once emptied, the stadium will be removed, which is a difficult reality for players who spent so much of
their lives here.
"It's like, no, no, no, don't do it," Dorsett said. "But I understand. They're moving to a bigger and
better place."
The city of Irving is considering all options for stadium removal, including the possibility of allowing
a Hollywood studio to blow part of it up for a movie production. They anticipate a decision within the
next year and a half.
Woman Wasn't Robbed, She was Playing Poker, Police Say
Thursday, August 21, 2008
GEORGETOWN
Was it robbery — or bad poker?
Georgetown police say a woman who claimed to have been robbed at gunpoint actually lost the money gambling.
Hanna Pool, 22, was arrested Tuesday and faces a charge of filing a false report, a Class A misdemeanor that carries a punishment of up to a year in jail.
Pool told police that on Aug. 4, a man followed her home from a gas station at 3 a.m. and then robbed her.
As police looked into the case, they found inconsistencies with Pool's story. When police confronted her, she admitted being at a friend's house playing poker, city spokesman Keith Hutchinson said in a news release.
Police Detective Jason Jones said Pool admitted to losing money at the poker game, but she would not say how much.
Austin Named Hardest Drinking City
03:26 PM CDT on Friday, August 8, 2008 KVUE News
Austin tops the list of America's hardest-drinking cities. That's according to Forbes magazine.
Forbes cites a study by the Centers for Disease Control that shows nearly two-thirds of Austinites have a least one drink per month. About nine percent of men had more than two drinks per day -- for women, more than one drink. And 20 percent of Austinites had five or more drinks on occasion.
Milwaukee came in second.
San Francisco, Providence, Rhode Island and Chicago round out the top five.
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