Negligent entrustment

WTF?

Thank God he wasn't killed.

Where was the gun that the cousins could get their hands on it?

Police say boy, 4, accidentally shot by cousin
By Michelle Mondo - Express-News

A 4-year-old boy was accidentally shot in the arm Tuesday afternoon when his 12-year-old cousin showed him a loaded shotgun.
The injuries did not appear to be life threatening, officials said.

Bexar County sheriff's Deputy Ino Badillo said officials were called to the home in the 12000 block of Noftgzer Road in far Southwest Bexar County around 3 p.m.
Badillo said the cousins wanted to compare each other's pellet guns, and when the 12-year-old retrieved his, he also brought out the .410-gauge shotgun.

When the 12-year-old boy picked up the gun, he accidentally pulled the trigger. Badillo said he did not know the extent of damage to the 4-year-old boy's arm or the distance between the boy and the gun when it was shot. He was transported to University Hospital.

Badillo said the 12-year-old was clearly distraught over what had happened.

Officials were investigating where the gun was kept in the house, what family members besides the boys were around when the shooting occurred, and if any charges would be filed against the adults.

Multiple members of the same family live at the homes on the property, he said.
Badillo did not know if the pellet guns were gifts to the boys for Christmas.

Happy New Year!

Happy new Year from the Man o' Law family to yours.

May you have a peaceful and safe New Year.

Live long and prosper!

Sydney welcomes New Year with fireworks spectacular

A record crowd of up to 1.5 million people kicked off global New Year celebrations with a fireworks extravaganza over Sydney's iconic harbour and Opera House Thursday.
Never-before-seen lightning, thunder and rain effects topped the multimillion dollar pyrotechnics show, traditionally centred on the city's world-famous Harbour Bridge.
"It's probably 30 percent bigger on the bridge alone than what it's been in previous years," said fireworks director Fortunato Foti. "Personally, I don't think you can have too many fireworks. The more the better."

Sydney was the first major city in the world to see in the New Year, but was beaten to midnight by two hours by New Zealand, which staged a dramatic fireworks display from Auckland's Sky Tower.

Australian organisers provided the largest display ever staged in Sydney, with 5,000 kilograms (11,000 pounds) of shells, comets and individual effects dazzling spectators on a perfect summer's evening.
With almost double the bang of last year, the show cost an estimated five million dollars (3.43 million US).

Thousands of the city's four million residents queued for harbourside spots some 12 hours before the main event, as plain-clothes and uniformed police flooded the central business district.
More than two thousand officers were on duty, with police warning against alcohol abuse and loutish behaviour in a nation famed for its drinking culture.

"New Year's Eve is for everybody, and our role in policing an event like this is to ensure that it's not hijacked by the drunken yobbos (louts)," said Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione.
Revellers were treated to a preview of the main fireworks event in a 9.00pm show for families with young children.

"It's great for the kids, a lot of fun," said Margaret Atkins, who attended with her children aged two and 21 months.
"They were really good, probably the best fireworks I have ever seen and the atmosphere was really lovely," said Dani Rogers, 26, visiting from Brisbane.

Briton Jessica Williams, 29, said New Year's Eve in Sydney was world renowned.
"Coming from overseas you've kind of got to do the whole Sydney and fireworks thing," she said. "It was a great experience."

Cannonballing

I'm glad it was found and returned.

No place to fence it probably, I mean how many alamo cannonballs can there be floating around today?

Alamo cannonball comes home
By Graeme J Zielinski - Express-News

The brothers Esquivel set out Tuesday for a day of doing “whoop-de-doos” down the mountain biking trails of O.P. Schnabel Park.
The outing ended with a whoop-de-doo of another kind.

Nicos Esquivel, 20, said he came across a black trash bag with what he thought may be a bowling ball from antiquity — or even a human head — but instead turned out to be a purloined part of Gen. Santa Anna's arsenal, a hollow howitzer shell swiped Dec. 21 from the historic Fairmount Hotel.

“I haven't heard of Santa Anna since, like, seventh grade,” he said, flanked by his brother Alex Esquivel, 22, both still in their mountain biking attire Tuesday morning in the lobby of the Fairmount.

The two grinned at the story of the recovery and managed to grin wider still when they contemplated the reward money promised them by the Fairmount's owner, Robert D. Tips.
“It's a great day for San Antonio and Texas history,” said Tips, who said he considered the matter settled, though had been on the verge of escalating his search for the culprit.

Kristin Howsley, managing director of the hotel, said the Fairmount was a bit skeptical when the young men came in with their find — the hotel had already fielded oddball claims seeking the reward, including from a man who claimed he heard a cannonball being fired and a scuba diver who said he'd found it.

The shell had sat under a plastic container sealed by epoxy to a marble countertop in the lobby of the hotel at 401 S. Alamo St. It was originally discovered during a 1985 excavation that was part of moving the hotel building from five blocks away.

The shell was authenticated as kin to the “wall bangers” Santa Anna threw at the Alamo's south walls during the 1836 siege. Through an agreement with the University of Texas at San Antonio, it had sat in the Fairmount's lobby until the heist, suspected as the work of an inebriated member of a company Christmas party.

Whoever placed the missing item near the O.P. Schnabel trail must have read or heard news accounts of the theft — and Tips' offer of a cash reward for its return: On the trash bag was a handwritten note reading, “LOST ARTIFACT” and “CASH REWARD.”
Nicos Esquivel was nonplussed as he slowed his mountain bike to a halt and gave the thing a kick.

“I thought it was a bowling ball, like an old-school, prehistoric bowling ball,” he said.
He balanced the shell in one hand and rode it over to his brother, who had a flat tire on another trail, and the pair of Clark High School graduates carted it downtown.
“We had to dial 411 because we didn't know where the Fairmount was,” said Alex Esquivel, a construction worker.

He said the discovery would lead him to advance his own knowledge of local history because, after all, “I've never even been to the Alamo.”

Another apparent Murder-Suicide

There seems to have been a rash of these lately.

I wonder if the economy is a proximate cause of some of this increase.

Police find two dead in apartment

By Scott Sticker Herald-Zeitung

In the early morning hours Tuesday, police responding to multiple 911 calls of a disturbance forced entry to room 417 at Millbridge Apartments at 1045 Sanger Ave., where they found two bodies at a scene that police believe may be a murder-suicide. Police refused to release the names of the bodies Tuesday, but neighbors at the scene and family friends identified the resident as 48-year-old SuAnne Childress. The other person was identified as SuAnne’s husband, 53-year-old Chris Childress, by his co-worker and friend.

The Childresses were still married, but had been recently separated, according to neighbors and family friends. Police received at least two 911 calls reporting a disturbance from the apartments around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, police spokesman Lt. Michael Penshorn said, but there were no gunshots mentioned in any calls.

When officers arrived, Penshorn said they found the apartment locked and had to force entry. Inside, they discovered SuAnne and Chris Childress dead with gunshot wounds from a large-caliber handgun. Susie Wiley, who lives under apartment 417, said she was awakened by the commotion.“There was a really loud banging noise for a long time,” Wiley said. “I heard someone shouting near my window, but I didn’t know what was going on. She (SuAnne Childress) had only moved in about a month ago.”Although SuAnne Childress, a Realtor in New Braunfels, had only lived in the complex for about a month, one neighbor, Neil Smith, said he got to know her well.“She was a really nice lady,” Smith said, recounting a time she had baked cookies and invited him over to have some. “She was very friendly and a great woman.”

Greg Goodman, who had worked closely with Chris Childress, a home builder, for a year, said the news was hard for him to take.“I knew Chris Childress to be an outstanding man with good moral standing,” Goodman said.He said Chris Childress had spent much time talking about his separation and seemed calm with the situation.“I know it hit him pretty hard, but he seemed OK,” Goodman said. “He was seeing a psychologist.”

Penshorn said Justice of the Peace Diana Guerrero ordered autopsies through Travis County Medical Examiners Office, the results of which are still pending.

The Tax Man commeth

A FAT TAX!!

OMG, I'll be taxed to Death, if the Fat doesn't kill me first.


The Doctor Is In (Cyberspace)
NY Daily News

State Health Commissioner Richard Daines has become the point man for one of the more controversial of Gov. David Paterson's revenue-generating budget proposals: The so-called "fat tax" - an 18 percent levy on sugary drinks like non-diet soda.

Daines, a Spitzer administration holdover who generally keeps a fairly low profile, has recorded a YouTube manifesto in defense of the tax, which the administration insists is really more about health care policy than making money off soda-drinking New Yorkers.

The point, according to Daines, is to disincentivize sugary drinks, which research shows are the top culprit in the childhood obesity epidemic, and encourage people to return to 1970s-era levels of consumption of other, less fattening beverages like milk and water.

The side benefits, according to Daines, include the fact that cutting down on soda saves money for consumers and whittling the state's collective waistline could save money for taxpayers in the form of fewer obesity-related health problems that need to be treated - particularly for Medicaid recipients.

The Daines video is intended to be a response to last week's Q poll that found voters oppose the fax tax 60-37 percent.

It's unlikely Hollywood will come calling for the commissioner soon. Daines, a mild-mannered Mormon, isn't the most scintillating of spokesmen, and the topic is a tough sell. But he gets his point across with the help of some well-placed props - including a big, yellow gelatinous mass that's supposed to represent six pounds of human fat. Yuck.

Some have suggested that the state is unfairly picking on the soda industry and asked why, if this is indeed a policy initiative, the governor doesn't push things to their logical conclusion by taxing everything that's fattening - from Twinkies to french fries - or perhaps even adopt Assemblyman Felix Ortiz's proposal of cutting to the chase and taxing overweight people themselves.

Daines' response was quite Spitzeresque: Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The commissioner also insisted he is neither surprised nor daunted by the Q poll's findings nor deterred by the "nanny state" arguments about keeping government out of people's personal lives.

"Simply because you can't or don't want to do everything doesn't mean you can't do the first thing or the most important thing," Daines told me during a recent interview.
"If you take a fair-minded look at the literature, you will see that the first and most important to do is to go after these beverages. We paralyze ourselves if we say we have to do everything at once or do nothing."

"...The message here is moderation, not abstinence," the commissioner continued. "I've seen lives ruined and controlled by things like obesity and tobacco and other addictions. If you really want your life controlled by that, it's like having a dominatrix instead of a nanny. (Perhaps he should have counseled former Gov. Spitzer on that aspect)

The Pineapple Express derailed

Good Job NBPD!!

Thank you Guadalupe County for the use of the K-9 unit.

Police seize 54 pounds of pot

Ashlie McEachern The Herald-Zeitung

New Braunfels police officers recovered 54 pounds of marijuana Monday after pulling over a vehicle headed northbound on I-35.In the 1996 GMC van were two adults, a brother and sister, and four children, all under the age of 12.

Police stopped the van for not signaling a lane change and began questioning the two adults in the vehicle.Officers Joe Green and Blake Alexius of the New Braunfels Police Department’s traffic unit were on the scene and said they became suspicious of the two adults during questioning.“We determined that the details from their interviews did not match up,” Green said. “The drug dogs were brought in after we received conflicting stories from the two.”

The Guadalupe County K-9 unit was called, alerting officers and the NBPD traffic unit to the van's exterior.“We found 22 bundles of marijuana that had been concealed within the vehicle,” Sgt. Heath Purvis of the NBPD traffic unit said.The two adults in the van were taken to the Comal County Jail and charged with possession of marijuana between 50 and 2,000 pounds, Purvis said.

Police on Monday did not release the names of the two adults because they had not yet been magistrated. Child Protective Services took the four children, whose names also were not released, into custody.

(Pineapple Express Trailer, caution may be NSFW language and subject matter)

Smoke and a pancake?

Just what we need another law?

I used to smoke many years ago and I hate being around smoke now, but I understand if I go to a bar folks will smoke and I accept that.

I would find a bar with more and better ventilation. Also why not make smoking only bars and non-smoking bars then?

Bar owners breathing fire

Ashlie McEachern The Herald-Zeitung

Dennis Howell took his seat Friday at the Scores Sports Bar in New Braunfels, pulled a pack of Bugler cigarette papers from his pocket and began rolling a cigarette.Howell enjoys smoking. He especially enjoys it when he's out having a drink.

However, he and many others who smoke soon could be forced to take a walk outside when they feel like lighting up in a bar.The Dallas City Council recently voted to ban smoking in all bars and pool halls, and lawmakers say the decision might open the door to a smoking ban in all Texas bars.“I think it should be the bar owner's decision to decide whether or not their business allows smoking,” Howell said. “Back in the 1960s, I'd go into bars and there would be a fog of smoke. It's different now. Places like Scores have great ventilation.”

Scores’ owner Hampton Eudy said a statewide ban on smoking is an infringement of his rights as a business owner.“If a person doesn't like smoking, they can go somewhere else,” Eudy said. “This is America, and these are my rights. Where will lawmakers stop? The last thing I need is someone who doesn't even come to my establishment telling me how to do things.”

State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, is defending another perspective.“Public health is not a personal right,” Wentworth said. “It is the responsibility of the government.”

Gloria Garcia is a non-smoker who would like to see the ban go into effect.“The other day I walked into my closet, and the clothes I wore out to a bar the night before made my entire closet smell like smoke,” Garcia said. “I don't mind being around it sometimes, but I'm in favor of getting smoke out of bars.”

Non-smoker Alton Stanfield has spent time in Russia, where he said the majority of people smoke.“I was in Moscow for quite some time, and everybody smoked in restaurants and bars,” Stanfield said. “When I go to a bar, I accept that smoking is part of the atmosphere.”

Victor Connway, a bartender at The Black Whale Pub in New Braunfels, is weary (I think she meant to write leery) of how a smoking ban will impact business.“More people will stay home,” Connway said. “People will decide to drink at their houses and not in a controlled environment like the bars, and that will be more dangerous. It's going to be bad for business, and I'm completely against it.”

Others said they believe smokers are always singled-out in society.“The United States is the leading consumer of sugar and (has) the most people with diabetes,” Victoria Sok said. “Is there a tax or ban on all the sugary foods Americans consume? No.”Although New Braunfels has yet to encounter the smoking ban, those who smoke, like Sok, want their voice heard.“When I go out for a drink, I want to smoke,” Sok said. “That's my right and freedom as an American citizen.”

Please call if you have any information

Kind of like lightning striking twice in the same place.

Relatively rare but it does happen.

If you have any information please contact the NBPD or CrimeStoppers at the numbers below.

Bank inside H-E-B robbed again

Ashlie McEachern The Herald-Zeitung

The International Bank of Commerce inside the H-E-B grocery store in New Braunfels was robbed Monday — the second heist at the location in two months.The suspect in the latest robbery, reported around 4:13 p.m., is a white female around 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 165 pounds with brown hair and glasses, according to the New Braunfels Police Department.

The Police Department released these details about the robbery at 9:29 p.m. after repeated inquiries from the Herald-Zeitung:

No weapon was used in the robbery, and the woman left with an undetermined amount of money. There were no injuries reported.

Officers continued the investigation, watching both exit points of the store until it was decided the suspect had vacated the premises. Detectives then were called to the scene. The police said they are continuing their investigation of the robbery and that any additional information will be provided as it is confirmed.

Monday’s robbery at the IBC follows another heist on Nov. 14 at the site off South Walnut Street.Police are continuing to investigate that robbery, which involved an unidentified male, and have released surveillance tape of the suspect, which can be found at www.crimeweb.net/details.asp?id=13891.

Officers at the scene of Monday’s robbery said the two crimes do not appear to be related.Police are asking that anyone with information about the two robberies to contact the New Braunfels Police Department at (830) 608-2185 or Crime Stoppers at (830) 620-TIPS.

Doggone it!

The economy must really be getting tough out there.

Dogs are having to resort to stealing bones.

Utah store has bone to pick with shoplifting dog
Associated Press

MURRAY, Utah — A thief remains at large after pulling off a daring heist — in the pet food aisle.
Surveillance video at a supermarket in this Salt Lake City suburb caught a dog shoplifting, KSL-TV reported Wednesday.

The video showed the dog walking in the front door of Smith's Food & Drug in Murray, and heading straight to Aisle 16, the pet food aisle, where it grabbed a bone worth $2.79.

The thief wasn't even perturbed by a face-to-face confrontation with store manager Roger Adamson.

"I looked at him. I said, 'Drop it!' " Adamson said. "He looked at me, and I looked at him, and he ran for the door and away he went, right out the front door."

Oops!

What a great way to raise money.

Sell everything at a garage sale.

Unfortunately for them they didn't own the items they sold.

Garage sale leads to arrests
The Associated Press

NATCHEZ, Miss. -- A garage sale from a Natchez home gave a couple enough money to move to Louisiana.

One catch, they didn't own anything they sold.

Police say when Jerry and Teresa Dyess moved out of their fully furnished rental home in March, they sold everything at a garage sale. The owner of the house filed a complaint.

The couple's names were placed on the National Crime Information Center.

When Teresa Dyess was stopped Monday on a traffic violation in Bossier City, La., she was arrested on a grand larceny warrant from Natchez. Jerry Dyess was arrested when he came to bail Teresa Dyess out.

Both were being held in the Natchez jail on $7,500 bond each pending an initial court appearance.

Game stop and rob

I guess the deep discounts aren't enough for some.

They needed a five-fingered discount.

Be careful; this guy had a gun at both robberies and shot into the floor.

Police searching for game store robber
By Brian Chasnoff - Express-News

A man robbed two video game stores in the span of about 30 minutes over the weekend on the far West Side, according to police reports.
The assailant fired a gunshot at the floor in both robberies, but no one was injured. No arrests had been made as of Sunday.

A man posing as a customer walked into a GameStop in the 6500 block of West Loop 1604 North around 7:15 p.m. Saturday.
He ordered customers to the back of the store and fired a gunshot into the floor before collecting an unknown amount of cash and some video games and systems.

About 20 minutes later, a man entered another GameStop in the 11400 block of Bandera Road about five miles away and fired a gunshot into the floor, this time next to someone’s head.
He made off with some cash before fleeing.
“It was determined that he was the same (person) who robbed the (other) GameStop,” a police report said.

On the hunt

I hope they find these vatos soon.

No arrests in home invasion, shooting
By Brian Chasnoff - Express-News

A man suffered a gunshot wound to the back after two men forced their way into a West Side home over the weekend.
Police spokesman Joe Rios said the aggravated assault in the 2600 block of Chihuahua Street was not a random attack, although a motive was unclear.
“They were looking for someone who might’ve been there,” Rios said.

Jose Garcia, 26, was taken to University Hospital in fair condition.

Garcia told police he heard a knock at the door around 11:15 p.m. Saturday.
He unlocked the door, and a man with a pistol forced his way inside.
Another man rushed inside and struggled with another occupant of the house, a police report said.

A gunshot rang out, and both assailants fled in a blue pickup, the report said. No arrests had been made as of Sunday.

No play fighting here

Not a good scene.

Kudos to SAPD for having a tighter standard these days on family violence matters.

Officer charged with assault in bar incident
By Eva Ruth Moravec - Express-News

A San Antonio police officer assigned to the downtown bicycle patrol has been placed on administrative duty after being arrested on charges of assaulting an ex-girlfriend, according to police.

Police spokesman Gabe Trevino said at a news conference that Officer Rory Rogers went to a bar in the 1900 block of Stone Oak Parkway early Friday while he was off-duty and encountered his ex-girlfriend, a 21-year-old San Antonian, who was on the dance floor with friends.
“Suddenly, she turned around, and he was there,” Trevino said.

Rogers, a five-year veteran of the force, pushed the woman to the floor, where she cut herself on broken glass, then pushed her once more as she was getting up, Trevino said. Rogers then fled the bar, he said.

Trevino said he wasn't sure if Rogers had a history of violence, but according to a police report, the victim said she and Rogers used to “play-fight and that it would sometimes get out of hand.”
Rogers turned himself in early Saturday morning, just one day after the woman filed the complaint.

Although Rogers didn't admit to the crime, police were able to arrest him because of a tighter domestic violence policy that was adopted in January 2007 requiring officers to secure arrest warrants immediately for most family violence suspects.

Several witness accounts were identical to the ex-girlfriend's story, Trevino said, giving police probable cause for an arrest warrant.
Rogers posted bail and was released, Trevino said. He will remain on administrative duty during criminal and administrative investigations.

Shake, rattle and roll

This gives a whole new meaning to the term "Quakers".

I'm just kidding, you know.

It's a pun. BTW I did my Master's thesis research in Geology not too far from this area.

Mild earthquake shakes Lancaster County
By Steve Esack Of The Morning Call

A minor earthquake rattled Lancaster County early Saturday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.The 3.3 magnitude quake hit at 12:04 a.m., according to Dale Grant, a geophysicist at the USGS's 24-hour earthquake monitoring office in Golden, Colo."We consider this a very minor event, something local," Grant said.

Tell that to people of Lancaster County.
More than 1,000 residents called the county 911 center after feeling the tremors, according to the emergency dispatch center. No injuries were reported as of 12:30 a.m.The USGS Web site shows the quake was centered in the Salunga-Landisville area. It was felt in Philadelphia and Baltimore, too.

Grant said his office received calls from Lancaster County emergency dispatch and Three Mile Island Nuclear Facility."Three Mile Island always calls us when something is happening," Grant said. "They see what is happening on their seismographs."

George Warner, a resident of Lititz in north Lancaster County, said he felt and heard two loud booms, about a second apart."It was a loud boom and I heard our China cabinet shake," he said in a phone interview. "Then there was a second boom and I looked around the house to see if there was something that was the source. My guess was it was an earthquake. There was no damage."

The earthquake was the seventh minor one to hit the state since early October, according to USGS data. The tremors were centered around a 23-mile radius of Saturday morning's quake. They occurred: Oct. 5, 19, 20 and 23.

Taking a bite out of crime

More alleged shenanigans south of the border by the police.

Report: Mexican says cops threatened him with lion
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO, Associated Press Writer

MEXICO CITY – A gardener detained along with more than a dozen members of an alleged drug trafficking ring testified that police threatened him to feed him to lions and tigers during a raid at a Mexico City mansion, a newspaper reported Friday.

The Oct. 16 raid — in which police seized exotic animals from a private zoo at a sprawling estate — has been marred by allegations of abuse and corruption against the police who conducted the operation.

Mexico's former acting federal police chief, Gerardo Garay, is under investigation for allegedly stealing money from the mansion during the raid. Garay is among several federal officers arrested for alleged collaboration with drug cartels in a corruption investigation known as "Operation Clean House."

The Reforma newspaper says it had access to a court hearing Tuesday in which the gardener, Fernando Maya, testified that police beat him, gave him electric shocks and threatened to rape his wife if he did not reveal the whereabouts of the owner of the house, who remains at large. He claimed that police dragged him to cages with lions and tigers and threatened to throw him inside.

"They kept saying, where is he? And that they were going to throw me to the lions, they were going to throw me to the tigers, which had not eaten," the newspaper quoted Maya as saying. "I told them they should just kill me."
Maya also claimed that a police commander tried to goad a monkey into scratching him, but the animal ended up swiping the officer instead.

The federal Public Safety Department that conducted the raid said its investigation was still continuing and it declined to comment on Reforma's report, which was unusual because most court hearings in Mexico are closed to the public.

Eleven Colombians, a U.S. citizen, two Mexicans an Uruguayan were detained in the raid, . Prosecutors said the gang allegedly arranged for sea-born cocaine shipments from Colombia to Mexico's Beltran Levya cartel.

Six of the Colombians and the Uruguayan were charged Tuesday with drug trafficking. The other foreigners were turned over to immigration authorities to determine whether they should be deported.
It was unclear if Maya has been charged with any crime. Reforma reported that he was released on bail Wednesday.

It was a homicide

Well, now its confirmed it was a homicide by the ME's office.

It was physically impossible for her to have placed the gun to her forehead, right between her eyes and pull the trigger.

The various accounts of how it happened by the boyfriend were also very suspicious as I related the other day.

I'm concerned about how blase the mom seemed to be regarding the fact that they'd argued before.

Boyfriend arrested in teen's death
By Michelle Mondo - Express-News

San Antonio Police on Friday arrested the boyfriend of 18-year-old Kimberly Tello, who was shot in the head and killed Christmas Eve.
Richard Nathan Gallardo, 18, was charged with murder and remained jailed Saturday with a $100,000 bond.

Gallardo was arrested after the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office made a determination based on Tello's gunshot wound that she could not have pulled the trigger herself, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Officer Joe Rios, a department spokesman, said Gallardo has not admitted to pulling the trigger but that his accounts of that night didn't add up.
“He was giving two different stories,” Rios said. “He told us first that she accidentally shot herself. We do believe he caused the death, intentionally or knowingly.”

Just after 10 p.m. Wednesday, police found Tello on the floor near a bed in Gallardo's home in the 300 block of East Southcross, a police report said. There was a broken liquor bottle on the floor and the room was in a state of disarray, according to the report.

Gallardo, Tello's boyfriend of about six months, said the two were at his apartment to talk about a fight he had gotten into earlier in the day with Tello's ex-boyfriend. The fight broke out at Gallardo's work, and he was subsequently fired, according to a police report.

After the shooting, Gallardo told police that Tello grabbed his gun from its hiding place behind a VCR, according to a police report. Later in the report, he said that he hid the gun he was carrying under the couch, then went to the bathroom and told Tello not to touch it.
When he returned, the report said, Tello said she wanted to play Russian roulette and was holding the gun.

He then told police that she pulled the trigger twice before the gun fired.

However, in the arrest affidavit, Gallardo told police he was the one playing Russian roulette when Tello grabbed the revolver from him and that the gun went off and Tello was shot in the head.

Gallardo's arrest has given Debbie Tello, Kimberly Tello's mother, some satisfaction. However, the question of why it happened is just as important to her as what happened.
“But I just want to ask one question: What made him do that to her?” she said. “They've argued before, maybe as normal teens do, but what made him, that night, do that to her?”

US Attorney Wanted

Well, we know that someone will replace Johnny Sutton. Will it be one of these folks?

My bet is on Juanita C. Hernandez, for political reasons, although I believe either Michael Bernard or Mike McCrum would do fine jobs.

Time will tell.

Six aim to fill prosecutor's post for area
By Guillermo Contreras - Express-News

Six people want to be the top federal prosecutor in the San Antonio-headquartered Western District of Texas.

The candidates for the office of U.S. attorney are Juanita C. Hernández, a lawyer with the Securities and Exchange Commission; San Antonio defense lawyer Mike McCrum, a former federal prosecutor; San Antonio City Attorney Michael Bernard; Travis County Attorney David Escamilla; Austin lawyer Scott Hendler; and Robert Pittman, a U.S. magistrate judge in Austin.
U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, confirmed that all except Pittman had contacted his office with interest in the post after submitting resumes to U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, chairman of the Democratic congressional delegation from Texas. Doggett has encouraged all candidates to visit with the delegation.

President-elect Barack Obama will select one of the candidates to submit to the Senate for confirmation after he is sworn in.
“We have two Republican senators, and any applicant will need to make their intentions known to the senators because it is ultimately the senators that make the appointment,” Gonzalez said. “However, it is a Democratic administration. (Obama), we believe, will consult with the Democratic representatives from Texas.”

The position has been held for more than seven years by Johnny Sutton. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Sutton has overseen the office from Austin and is expected to step down after Obama is inaugurated.

The U.S. attorney oversees more than 100 criminal and civil lawyers in offices in San Antonio, Austin, Waco, Del Rio, El Paso, Midland, Alpine and Pecos. The jurisdiction covers 68 counties, encompasses an area of 93,000 square miles and has the country's longest border with Mexico, 660 miles.

Hernández, a native of South Texas who got her law degree from Harvard six years before Obama did, said by phone from Washington that she had no comment on her candidacy. She worked briefly as an assistant U.S. attorney in El Paso and in the open records section under then-Texas Attorney General Dan Morales, documents show.
She also had an appointed post as counsel to the assistant U.S. attorney general in former President Bill Clinton's administration in 1996.

Escamilla became Travis County's chief legal adviser in November, after nine years as first assistant county attorney. He acknowledged his interest in being U.S. attorney, but declined to talk about it further.

McCrum, currently a defense lawyer with Thompson & Knight LLP, acknowledged he is seeking the job and touted his experience. He was an assistant U.S. attorney for 11 years. Eight of those were in supervisory roles, including as head of the major crimes unit from 1996 to 2000.
McCrum also touted his Hispanic heritage. He graduated from South San Antonio High School, and his mother and stepfather are Mexican immigrants. He is fluent in Spanish, and he said that background would aid him in his experience with cross-border issues.

“I have the most experience to handle this job,” he said. “It's not just being a former (assistant U.S. attorney), it's my dealings with Mexican government, with (the Justice Department) in Washington and other agencies. I have experience in the different areas that are going to be required of the U.S. attorney. Most of all, I have a passion for this work. For over 20 years, I've invested my life in federal criminal law.”

McCrum has the backing of the national League of United Latin American Citizens and local activists. U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, also has endorsed McCrum, according to letters circulated among Texas' congressional delegation. Rodriguez could not be reached for comment.

Pittman, Bernard and Hendler could not be reached for comment.

Pittman, a federal magistrate judge since 2003, also served 13 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Austin and briefly as interim U.S. attorney before Sutton was appointed in 2001.
Bernard was first assistant Bexar County district attorney under Republican Susan Reed before being named San Antonio city attorney in 2005. He also was active with the American Civil Liberties Union, serving as president of the local chapter at one point.

Hendler specializes in civil and commercial litigation, and he is a big contributor to Democrats, donating $36,000 in 2008, according to CampaignMoney.com.
Gonzalez said the U.S. attorney's office is on the back burner while more timely appointments are being considered by the Obama administration.

Unbelieveable

How bizarre is this?

This lady needs some therapy.

Woman lied about missing baby, arrested

MIAMI (WSVN) -- A mother accused of making up a story about her missing baby has been arrested.

Police arrested and handcuffed 22-year-old Meagan McCormic Friday morning, after she reported her child missing at Christmas time, even though the baby never existed to begin with.
Miami police said McCormic had a miscarriage when she was three months pregnant. However, investigators said she pretended to carry the baby to full term in order to keep her boyfriend from breaking up with her.

On Thursday, the supposed parents of the 6-month-old, which McCormic said was named Riley Buchness, made a tearful plea to have their baby come home safely. She said she last left the baby in the care of a babysitter on Tuesday. "I don't even know if he's dead or alive, if they were in a car accident, I don't even know if they're in Florida, I don't know where they are," said McCormic with the man she called the boy's father, 26-year-old John Buchness, crying at her side.

Police said McCormic made up the story when Buchness asked to see the child. To make the story seem authentic, she reported the baby missing to police. Police said McCormick used pictures from the Internet and passed them off as her son.

Police explained McCormic's scheme appeared even more elaborate when she impersonated the supposed nanny that made off with the imaginary baby. "She made something up, and her story was the nanny, who supposedly had the baby all day did not bring the baby back. The fact is she was the nanny. She had a separate cell phone, using it as the nanny saying, 'Yeah, I'm on my way I'm stuck in traffic,' when the baby never existed," said Miami Detective Freddy Ponce.

McCormic will be charged with providing false information to police, which is a first degree misdemeanor. Police also plan to seek restitution. Officials worked throughout the Christmas holiday to find this non-existent child

Shhh!

Man, don't talk during a movie!

Doesn't everyone know that?

They will now perhaps.

BTW the defendant looks like a mean cuss don't he?

Phila. man shot because family talked during movie
By Barbara Boyer
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A South Philadelphia man enraged because a father and son were talking during a Christmas showing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button took care of the situation when he pulled a .380-caliber gun and shot the father, police said.

James Joseph Cialella Jr., 29, of the 1900 block of Hollywood Street is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and weapons violations.
"It's truly frightening when you see something like this evolve into such violence," said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.

Police were called to the Riverview Theatre in the 1400 block of Columbus Boulevard about 9:30 p.m. where the gunshot victim, a Philadelphia man who was not identified, told police a man sitting near him told his family to be quiet and threw popcorn at his son.

After exchanging words, Vanore said Cialella allegedly got out of his seat to confront the family when the father got up to protect them. That's when the victim was shot once in the left arm, sending others in the theatre running to safety.

Cialella then sat down to watch the movie. Police arrived a short time later and arrested Cialella and confiscated his weapon, Vanore said.

Brooklyn Bridge for sale

Why are people such assholes?

Why have a fight and kill someone? yes I said kill someone. Two different accounts of what happened? Shot between her eyes? Yeah sure she was playing Russian roulette and put the gun between her eyes and pulled the trigger.

If you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Christmas Eve death baffles grieving family
Michelle Mondo and Eva Ruth Moravec - Express-News

On Christmas Day, Kimberly Tello was supposed to be at her younger brother's side, watching him open the “WALL-E” and “Kung Fu Panda” DVDs she had chosen weeks earlier for his 10th birthday.
Instead, her family gathered around the table without her, everyone putting on a brave face for the boy who did not quite understand the news they received hours earlier.
Tello was dead, killed by a gunshot wound to the head when at her boyfriend's house on Christmas Eve.

While the case is being investigated as a homicide, authorities are trying to determine if the shooting death of the 18-year-old was a result of a macabre game or if someone else pulled the trigger. No one has been charged.

According to the police report, Tello was fighting with her boyfriend of six months before the shooting occurred just after 10 p.m. at his home in the 300 block of East Southcross Boulevard.
In the report, the boyfriend, who was questioned by police after the incident, gave a couple of accounts of the shooting.

However, he also stated that the two fought after Tello and her ex-boyfriend visited him at work earlier that day and the two men had a fight. Tello's boyfriend was fired after the fight, the report said.

Debbie Tello, Kimberly's mom, said she does not believe there is any way her daughter would have picked up that gun.

Sitting on a couch beside a Christmas tree not far from the table holding all of the birthday cake from the previous day, Debbie Tello fought back tears.
“I'm trying to be brave but when I'm alone it's so hard,” she said.

The entire Tello family is in shock, Debbie Tello said. Along with Johnathon, 10, Kimberly Tello is survived by her father, Victor, and her 16-year-old brother, Victor Jr.
Debbie Tello said her daughter was a vivacious teen always running around with friends from Harlandale High School, where she was a senior, or heading off to her job at a pizza place.
“She was happy,” her mom said. “She was getting a big graduation party and she had signed up at St. Philip's.” Tello wanted to work in the medical field.

On the day of the shooting, and after the fight at the boyfriend's work, Kimberly Tello called him several times, according to the report, but he hung up on her several times before taking her call. She said she wanted to work things out. He met her outside her apartment complex, and the two walked back to his house at 347 E. Southcross together, the boyfriend told police, according to the report.

Then he gave them different stories, the report said. At first, he told police that Tello grabbed his pistol from its hiding place behind a VCR; later in the report, he said that he hid the pistol he was carrying under the couch, then went to the bathroom and told Tello not to touch it.
When he returned, the report said, Tello said she wanted to play Russian roulette and was holding the gun.

According to the report, Tello's boyfriend told police that she pulled the trigger twice before the gun fired.

Debbie Tello said she was told the wound was between her daughter's eyes.

Attempts to reach the boyfriend were not successful. His name is being withheld because he has not been charged with a crime.

Debbie Tello said while friends of her daughter's have stopped by their home, she hasn't heard from the boyfriend or his family.
As the police continue to investigate, she wonders if she'll ever get the full truth of her daughter's last hours.

Even so, she doesn't feel animosity towards the young man.
“I don't have any anger,” she said. “It's not going to bring her back.”

Canyon Lake fire

Hmmmm....strange.

Deputies to search rubble for body

By Scott Sticker

CANYON LAKE — Investigators today will be poring over the scene of a Friday night fire that engulfed a residence after the homeowner claimed that buried in the ashes and debris would be a body.Firefighters from the Bulverde, Spring Branch and Canyon Lake fire departments responded to the 1400 block of Western Skies Drive in Canyon Lake after reports of smoke came in at about 5 p.m. Friday, fire officials said.

It is still undetermined what started the fire at the abandoned home, Deputy Fire Marshal Dave Padula said.“It’s too dangerous to work out here at night,” he said. “We will return tomorrow with a full investigation.”

Property owner Tim Swientek said Friday night that he believed there was a body burned up in the fire. Sheriff’s deputies at the scene, however, were quick to counter, saying the investigation was not complete.

Officials said the structure was 80 percent engulfed around 5:30 and that the fire was extinguished by about 7 p.m.The house had no electricity, as the property owners had Perdenales Electric remove the meters after they found someone living there without permission.They also said the windows of the house had been smashed in several months ago.For Swientek and his wife, Corinne, it was an emotional scene.

He said that though they had not lived at the Canyon Lake home for years, it was where they started their lives together.“This was my peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich house,” he said. “I ate nothing but peanut butter and jellies here, and we worked hard to make this a home.”“We started here from nothing,” Corinne Swientek added. “We had a little heater in the front room and were sleeping on a pallet. We didn’t even have a bed.”

Another tragic Christmas accident

More Christmas tragedies.

People killed, Lives ruined, families left bereft, is it worth it to have that drink or drug?

I know we are awaiting the toxicologist's report but I will go out on a limb here and say, from the reports in the papers that it would appear drinking or drugs were involved with the driver of the green Pontiac and played a part in this Christmas Day tragedy.

If you want to call me an asshole for making that assumption before the results are in please be my guest. I'll take the heat.

Christmas wreck kills Canyon High student

By Scott Sticker

Three people, including a Canyon High School student, were killed Christmas morning in a head-on collision on Loop 1604 just south of Interstate 10 near San Antonio.The accident, which authorities say was caused by an errant driver who crossed over into oncoming traffic, also left two others — including another Canyon High student — in critical condition.

Gabino Sagahon Martinez, 19, was driving a green Pontiac Grand Prix and collided with a red Buick sedan driven by 19-year-old Brian Marcus Palmer, officials with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said Friday. There were three female passengers in the Buick, two of whom died at the scene, officials said.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office identified one of the fatalities as Kimberly D. Larson, 35, from Schertz.Leslie Valdez, an 18-year-old junior at Canyon High School, was ejected from the car and also died at the scene, Bexar sheriff’s officials said.Palmer and the third passenger, 16-year-old Canyon High School freshman Mary Crisp, were transported by Airlife to University Hospital in San Antonio, where they were listed in critical condition late Friday, officials said.“This is really tragic,” Comal Independent School District spokeswoman Kari Hutchison said Friday. “All our thoughts and prayers go to the families involved.”Martinez was transported to Brooke Army Medical Center, where sheriff’s officials said he later died on the operating table.

At 10:45 a.m. and 10:47 a.m., patrol deputies received complaints from witnesses who called in to report an erratic driver in a Green Pontiac, officials said. The second caller said the car had crossed the median and was driving on the wrong side of traffic.Minutes later, at 10:51 a.m., officials said deputies called in a head-on crash and fire on Loop 1604 about two miles south of Interstate 10. Witnesses on the scene confirmed the car involved was the same Green Pontiac they had reported, sheriff’s officials said.

As of Friday evening, officials said they did not know why Martinez was driving erratically or why he had crossed the median into oncoming traffic. Bexar County investigators said they are awaiting the results of the toxicology from Martinez’s blood to see if alcohol or drugs were present.

Stop I have a snowball

Well.......

He got that ride he wanted, also three hots and a cot.

I'd call him successful. LOL

Snowball throwing hitchhiker is arrested

- Metro.co.uk

A hitchhiker has been arrested for throwing snowballs at passing cars because they wouldn't give him a lift.

Zack Laughlin Kelly, 29, was hitchhiking, but got frustrated that no one would stop for him.
According to police in Oregon in the US, he said he needed a ride home to Beaverton, his home town.

Police said that Kelly had been drinking, but appeared lucid.

Police at first gave him a ride for part of his journey.

But shortly after he was seen on a motorway jumping into traffic and throwing snowballs, so they arrested him.

Kelly was seen walking in the fast lane of a motorway, jumping toward vehicles to try to make them stop.

Police said they found him "marching" back and forth with snowballs in both hands.

He also was walking in the centre of the fast lane, throwing snowballs at vehicles passing him in the slow lane.

He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

He was booked into the Clackamas County Jail, cited and released, pending a court appearance.

Cheers

Somebody had too much Christmas cheer apparently

$100,000 tab at the 99 Cents store
-SAEN

Maybe Santa failed to bring one local man what he wanted for Christmas.

San Antonio Police Officer James Phelan said a 17-year-old borrowed his friend’s white Chevrolet truck and drove it through the window of a discount store on West Avenue about 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

A motorist passing the 99 Cents Only Store at 3025 West Ave. heard a car skidding and several crashes, Phelan said. The motorist turned around, pulling into the store’s parking lot just after hearing the last crash.

He called police and waited until they arrived, but never saw anyone leave the crashed truck, Phelan said. Police searched the area but couldn’t find the driver, who faces a charge of criminal mischief.

Officials weren’t sure if any merchandise was missing, but estimated that the reckless driver caused about $100,000 in damage.

BOLO IV

Please contact the authorities if you have any information.

Selma police seeking missing girl, 15
-SAEN

Authorities are looking for 15-year-old Erika Camacho, who was abducted by her boyfriend, Ricardo Alvarado Mora, on Christmas Eve, according to the Selma Police Department.

Camacho was last seen about 7:25 p.m. Wednesday and was wearing a white T-shirt, denim Capri pants and flip-flops. She is 5 feet 3 and weighs about 100 pounds.

Mora, 23, has a mole above his left eyebrow and was last seen wearing a blue sweatshirt, jeans and tennis shoes. He is about 5 feet 4 and 140 pounds.

Police have recovered a blue 2000 Chevy Silverado that the couple was seen in, but they remain missing.

Anyone with information is asked to call Selma police at (210) 653-0033 or call 911.

No holiday

As I said yesterday, crime doesn't stop for the holidays.

Police investigating possible sexual assault

From staff reports The Herald-Zeitung

Investigators with the New Braunfels Police Department were dispatched Wednesday to the emergency room at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital-New Braunfels to investigate a possible sexual assault.

Police were called to the hospital at around 12:30 p.m. to look into a case that New Braunfels police officers said Thursday involves a minor. At press time on Wednesday, officers still were at the scene investigating the possible assault and no information was available. When contacted on Thursday, officers declined to give further information because of the delicate situation with the complainant being a minor.

While little information has been released at this point, New Braunfels police officers said more details could be available today.

A wish for a speedy recovery to all

I hope everyone recovers fully.

What makes this all the more tragic, as if the accident itself isn't enough, is the fact that it ocurred at the Chabad House in Woodmere, NY. If you do not recall that is the Jewish organization where the Rabbi and his wife were murdered during the terrorist attackin Mumbai, India a few short weeks ago.

Vehicle crashes into Hanukkah celebration

(CNN) -- Fourteen people were hospitalized Thursday after an elderly man lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a Long Island building where a Hanukkah festival was under way, police told CNN.

Rescue workers at the scene after a car plowed into a storefront where a Hannukah celebration was taking place.

Some of the injuries were severe, Nassau County Police Officer Patricia Tanksley said. Police said the 78-year-old man's vehicle crashed into a Woodmere, New York, storefront where Chabad of Five Towns was holding its Hanukkah Wonderland event.

Police said the driver, who hit a parked car before going through the storefront, is among the injured. There were no details available for the others.

Hospitals in the vicinity reported receiving adults and children, including two children listed in serious condition.

The event included menorah- and dreidel-making activities for children, according to the Chabad of Five Towns Web site.

Heshey Jacob, president of the Hatzolah Volunteer Emergency Medical Service, said the vehicle went through a play tent in the front of the building where children were playing and into the back of the store.

Thirteen victims were initially transported to hospitals, he said, including one medevaced to Nassau County Medical Center. Another child, traumatized by the accident, was taken to a hospital later.
Other than the driver, the injured range in age from 18 months to 40 years old, police said.
No criminal charges have been filed, police said.

"Our first priority at this time is to make sure that everyone is taken care of by medical personnel and that all of the children are safe," Rabbi Zalman Wolowik of Chabad of the Five Towns director told chabad.org. "We are doing whatever we possibly can for the families of these children during this most difficult of times and urge all people of goodwill to keep them in their prayers."

A Tragic Christmas Tale

It never stops does it?

Even on, for some, as sacred a time as Christmas Eve, when we all, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, believers and non-believers as well, strive for "Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards Men". However, some don't, some kill, without mercy, without rhyme or reason to some, they kill.

May God bring peace to the victims and their families.

Suspected Santa gunman takes life; 6 others dead

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Dressed as Santa, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo walked up to his ex-in-law's home in Covina, California, on Christmas Eve and knocked on the door.

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo was sought for a Christmas party shooting before taking his own life, police said.

An 8-year-old girl, elated to see Santa, ran toward the door.
That's when, police say, Pardo lifted a gun and shot her in the face.

Pardo, 45, with a gun in one hand and a wrapped present in the other, began shooting indiscriminately, police said at a news conference Thursday.

He sprayed the living room with bullets. Nearly 25 friends and family members were at the home for an annual Christmas party. Some ran, some took cover under furniture, some broke windows to try and escape -- one woman jumped from the second-story of the home, police said.
Neighbors heard gunfire and called 911 shortly before 11:30 p.m. Police said they arrived within three minutes to find the home engulfed in flames.
It took nearly two hours for firefighters to put the fire out.
Even before it was safe to search the home, police saw three dead bodies in the home. A later search found three more bodies.

Police said they have not accounted for three others: Pardo's ex-mother-in-law, ex-father-in-law and ex-wife -- whom he recently divorced. The 8-year-old girl, whose injuries indicate the bullet went straight through her face, is recovering at a hospital in Los Angeles, police said. A 16-year-old with a gunshot wound, and the woman who jumped out the window, were also being treated at the hospital.

Police believe after Pardo stopped shooting, he took out his wrapped gift, which was actually a home-made device used to spread fire, and used it to set the house ablaze. Covina Police Department Lt. Pat Buchanan said the device was "something we have never seen before." Covina Police Chief Kim Raney described it as a pressurized tank attached to another tank filled with accelerant.

Police believe after Pardo set fire to the home, he changed out of his Santa outfit into plain clothes, went to another relative's home in the nearby Sylmar area and committed suicide.
Authorities positively identified Pardo's body, said Buchanan.

Police have not released the identities of any of the victims.

At the news conference Ed Winter, assistant chief Los Angeles County coroner, said the recovered bodies were "severely burned and charred," making it necessary to use dental and medical records and X-rays to establish identities.

The intense fire caused the top floor of the two-story house to collapse onto the first floor, according to Winter.

Raney said Pardo's ex-in-laws regularly have a party Christmas Eve and one neighbor always visits dressed as Santa. This year, that neighbor was away, police said.

Police suggested marital problems as a possible motive for the attack and said they believe

Pardo and his wife of one year finally settled a contentious divorce last week.
Authorities said Pardo's name was given to them by people who were at the party.
Police also said they recovered multiple weapons from inside the house.

Criminally stupid

Okay he was guilty of, among other things, being criminally stupid.

He doesn't appear too concerned. maybe he is full of some holiday "cheer"

'Robber' reports bank heist
By PATRICK FERRELL Staff Writer

BOLINGBROOK -- Forget calling an 800 number for customer service. One Bolingbrook man simply dialed 911.

Police say John A. Pighee Jr., 58, of 610 Preston Drive was unhappy with the service he received at a Bank of America branch.

So, shortly before noon Monday, he picked up his cell phone, called police and reported a robbery at the bank, 111 Lily Cache Lane, while he was there.

"As odd as it sounds, we took a bank robbery (call) from the bank robber," Lt. Ken Teppel said.
Teppel said the man had attempted withdrawing some money that the bank had a hold on.

When the bank wouldn't release the funds, "he stated he was going to shut the bank down."
"He picked up his cell phone, called 911 and reported that the bank was being robbed," Teppel said. "He never relayed to the employees he was going to rob the bank, and he never showed a weapon."

After about 15 to 20 minutes of talking by phone with the branch's employees from the parking lot, police determined the bank was not, in fact, being robbed. They promptly entered the building and arrested Pighee.

He was charged with felony disorderly conduct, Teppel said.

"It was one of the most unusual calls we have received," he said.

He always wanted a fire truck for Xmas?

Why steal a fire truck to get home for Christmas?

He had a burning desire to go home and see his Mom for Christmas?

He was fired from his job and had no money?

He was in a fight and was stilled hosed off?

Man tries to go home for holidays - by fire truck
Daniel Osborn

SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah (AP) - What kind of mileage does that thing get? South Salt Lake police have arrested a man they say tried to steal a fire truck so he could drive home - to Washington - for Christmas.

South Salt Lake police Detective Gary Keller says firefighters on a medical call heard the $500,000 truck's air horn blaring and ran outside, where they found a man in the driver's seat trying to drive away.

After a lengthy struggle during which the engine traveled about 50 feet, firefighters were finally able to subdue the man until police arrived. Police say the 25-year-old man told them he wanted to travel to Washington to see his mother for Christmas.

WWDCD? (What would Davy Crockett do?)

Well, I wondered, what is a "priceless" artifact from the siege of the Alamo doing on display in a hotel, rather than in a museum or the Alamo itself.

Now the "priceless" artifact has a no questions asked price. When before, no one would probably have touched it because what are you going to tell that person? Hey here is a cannon ball from the Siege of the Alamo you can purchase? and No, its not the one reported stolen?

Now a market has been created.

Reward set for return of Alamo cannonball

A cannonball stolen Sunday is a priceless object to historians, but the owner of the hotel where it was swiped has put a price on its return.

Robert D. Tips, owner of the Fairmount Hotel, is offering a $5,000 reward in exchange for the Battle of the Alamo artifact that archeologists dated to 1836 and linked to Santa Anna’s army.

“Right now I will pay this reward with no questions asked,” Tips said. “There’s gonna be someone else out there who knows where this thing is.”

Tips and his associates have been scouring online auction Web sites for a softball-size cannonball matching the description of the artifact that had been displayed in his hotel for 23 years.

Police said the object was stolen from a plastic display case in the hotel at 401 S. Alamo St. sometime Sunday night or Monday morning.

Justice receives a Xmas present

Charges upgraded to capital murder.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Fernandez.

Toddler dies, mom’s boyfriend charged

An Atascosa County man already in custody in connection with an injured child was charged with capital murder late Tuesday after the child died, according to the Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Mia Gonzalez, 2, of Poteet died Monday as a result of massive blunt force trauma to the head, Chief Sheriff’s Deputy David Soward said, noting that the Bexar County medical examiner’s office determined the manner of death to be homicide.

James Paul Fernandez, 25, had been arrested Dec. 18 and charged with first-degree injury to a child after Mia, his girlfriend’s daughter, suffered the injuries while in his care, Soward said.

University Hospital initially notified sheriff’s investigators of Mia’s life-threatening injuries last week after the girl’s older brother came home to find the girl unresponsive, Soward said.
Fernandez is being held in Atascosa County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond

Tailgate party at his house

Maybe he wants to host tailgate parties and doesn't own a truck?

Yeah, I know that was a pretty stupid thing to write.

What? I'm just sayin'

Police say tailgate thief at it again
Marvin Hurst - KENS 5 Eyewitness News

A convicted thief with a record of tailgate thefts has been arrested and charged in the theft of tailgates off trucks at a local middle school.

According to an arrest warrant, security cameras at Rayburn Middle School caught Frank Fonseca, 42, stealing tailgates.

Tailgate thefts don't require any tools and can be done in less than 20 seconds, and the parts can be resold to body shops for as much as $1,000.

In April, Fonseca reportedly went into the school and began talking with a staff member. He went back outside, stole a tailgate from a truck and drove off in a rented vehicle, the arrest warrant alleges. He was also a suspect in another tailgate theft at the school in November.
Northside Independent School District police officers worked with detectives with the San Antonio Police department, who immediately recognized Fonseca from previous tailgate thefts.

He was in Bexar County Jail charged with theft. His bond was set at $10,000.