By Chance . . .

I just rented and watched the recent documentary called "Cocaine Cowboys" that, well, documents the rise of the cocaine trade in Florida in the 70s and 80s. Good stuff. One thing I'm a sucker for is a documentary that goes back and digs up old local news footage, and this flick had tons of it. In a nutshell: Our borders were open and bags and bags of marijuana came flowing in. So much that they couldn't sell it all. Somebody figures out that cocaine is worth more $$$$ and starts importing it from Columbia. The cops begin to crack down and the importing gets tougher. Then we have the Cuban refugee crisis which leads to a Cuban v. Columbian drug war. Murders. Cops on the take. Fast cars. Big houses. Disco. A Time cover story of "Paradise Lost". Good times.

By sheer luck, I rented "Scarface" next - A famous movie I've never seen. Heck, it all made sense to me. (And I finally learned where the line "Say hello to my little friend" comes from. )

Oh, My

Support firefighters.

Wheels Off - Literally

Wheels off moments in Jacksboro this morning. On the docket for a first appearance was a court appointed client of mine who was coming up from Huntsville (no jokes, please.) I got an odd courtesy call from Jacksboro PD while I was in the district clerk's office prior to court: My client had been arrested on a "bond withdrawal" warrant. Translation: She had bonded out of jail after her initial arrest but the bondsman got ticked off (normally for falling behind on payments) and then "went off the bond" which requires a warrant to be issued. So she drives hours to go to her court appearance in Jacksboro only to get stopped near the courthouse square and gets arrested. Did the cops know to be on the look out for her? I'm not sure. Normally you just wait for them to walk into court and then let the bailiff handled it with no fuss. What is very odd is that at least three different people (one from law enforcement) told me that her car had been repo'd. Not towed to a lot and impounded for the cops, but repo'd by a private finance company. I'm trying to figure out exactly how a repo man can find out about a traffic stop and tow a car all before 9:00 a.m. in the morning. To makes matters worse, her boyfriend - whom I have never met - finds me in the courthouse to tell me about his huge problem. He just rode to court with the newly arrested gal and now he was stuck in Jacksboro with no transportation. He asked me where the bus station was. After checking around, I had the joy of telling him, "there is no bus station." I think I saw the life force get sucked out of him at that moment. So later I'm sitting around in court on other matters when the deputies bring in this nicely dressed woman in handcuffs and sit her on a bench. I exchange glances of "who is that?" with the court administrator and we finally figure out it's my gal who just got arrested! (That's a new one for me: A person gets arrested on the morning of their court date only to make it to court in time.) I went and talked to her and we entered a plea of not guilty. (It was a dope case, by the way.) She was worried about her job and was admittedly confused about her situation - She bonded out, had paid most of the bond fee, and now gets arrested after driving hours to be in court. The bond, after all, was to secure her appearance in court. She's proven she'll show up in court - if we'll let her. After some discussions with the DA and the judge, we got her out of jail on a new bond and a new court date. That was a heck of a morning for her. I just hope she can find a way back home now that she doesn't have a car.

I'm So Mad I Can't Find It

Channel 21's news' team (they have one?) was covering the weather the other night and for some unexplained reason decided to take calls from the masses -- apparently to get a view of the weather from the man on the street. The first caller out of the box, a nice man with a bit of a country accent, said that it was really raining "in the flats where the black people live."

Pure gold.

I've heard it replayed a couple times on The Ticket and once this morning on KLIF. But for the life of me, I can't find it on the Internet.

Sometimes Prosecutors . . .

. . . pound their chest and talk about wearing the "white hats." Other times, not so much.

At least "Sky" was a cool name. That's about all he's got left.

Wedding Bells

Well, it looks like Megan Henderson finally heard about my unhealthy infatuation with her and sent me an autographed photo. (Actually, it went through Sheriff David Walker who delivered it to me today. Man, that guy is connected.) But if you'll look closely at this scanned-in reproduction you'll see what looks like a little heart by her name. Yep, I think she's sweet on me.

Megan, I'll stalk you wait for you until you love me - because true love waits - at least for a couple of weeks. And if that funny-guy-anchor Tim Ryan tries to come between us, he's got another thing coming. Same goes for that soft spoken Jeff Crilley. (My voice is much deeper than his, and I won't get choked up like he does during sensitive situations. Does he really talk that softly in person?) It would be sooooo much fun to go out in Decatur. Do you like the Salad Wagon at K-Bob's? It's the best in town. Do you like chicken fried steak with lots of gravy? Afterwards, we could go to the new Lowe's and look at power tools and stuff. Hearts & Kisses, Barry.

Suddenly I'm A Chargers Fan

As the NFL team holds cheerleader tryouts and decides to put a slideshow of the event on its web site.

The Cheerleader From "Heroes" on NBC

My Rant . . .

. . . over the antics of Texas Supreme Court judge Nathan Hecht got me mentioned in the Messenger a couple of weeks ago. (That made me a little uncomfortable, by the way.) Anyway, it looks like I have even more to rant about.

Why Have I Never Heard . . .

. . . of Billy Joe Shaver but have sneaking suspicion many Wise Countians are familiar with his work?

Note to Self: Don't hang out Papa Joe's. (Story.)

I Think Cheerleaders Are Hot . . .

. . . oh . . . wait.

Well That Makes Perfect Sense To The Reader

If we were all insane.

Edit: Obviously, I've got to be careful with the Comments on this one. There's obviously a story behind the story, but until I know what it is, we'll play it tight to the vest.

Somebody Just Showed Me This At The Courthouse

I distance.

I'm Off To Jacksboro This Morning

Waste time to a very odd cover of Fergie's "My Humps" by Alanis Morissette.

Evaluating News

You see this headline, and you think some prosecutors put the beating to some guy.

But if you read the story, it was a huge loss. The State charged the guy with Capital Murder but waived the death penalty. That meant if the jury found him guilty, they would not even have had to deliberate on punishment because the Defendant would receive an "automatic" life sentence. That means he would have to wait 40 real years before he is eligible for parole.

Instead, after just 45 minutes, the jury found him guilty of the lesser offense of just "regular" murder instead of "capital murder". By doing so, there was no automatic sentence but instead the jury had to pick a number between 5 to 99 years or life in prison. They chose 20. He'll be eligible for parole after 10.

The defendant may not feel lucky, but that's a huge victory. (And kudos to courthouse reporter Melody McDonald who always seems to get the story right.)

Remind Me To Ask Phil King To Introduce A Bill Requiring The Koran To Be Taught

(Story from the Star Telegram.)

We Are What We Elect.

Comedy

Two quick funny YouTube clips: - The coach of Florida pulls a practical joke at the beginning of Midnight Madness last fall as his Gators began their bid to two-peat - Today, the mayor of Cincinnati throws out the worst ceremonial first pitch in the history of ever.

What A Crock

I've heard WFAA'a Pete Delkus and whomever the weather guy is on Fox 4 News report tonight there had been "baseball size hail" in the metroplex. No freakin' way. If that were to occur, you'd know it. Cars would be completely destroyed.

The last time I remember baseball size hail was during Mayfest in Fort Worth about seven or eight years ago. I remember seeing a Mercedes in Decatur which had been caught in the storm - it was beaten to death.