Hang Around For The Verdict

Wise County was home to the guy who skipped out near the end of his drug trial right before the jury delivered its sentence -- which turned out to be probation. But, sheesh, the guy pictured above went home before the jury delivered its verdict in a sexual assault case and killed himself. He never got to hear the jury read "Not guilty." Oh, my. As a sidenote, I know of at least two Wise County residents that killed themselves when faced with sexual assault of a child allegations.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I used to get into "bull nettle" as a child when I wandered through the woods. Does it still exist?
• Women love "True Blood" on HBO. I'm not sure I understand why.
• Personal note to someone who submitted a comment about a county commissioner that I didn't post. Technically, you are wrong about what is is the "public record".
• Craziest news story over the weekend: Three guys rescued after spending a week (a week!) clinging to an overturned boat in the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard had even called off the search.
• Richard Gere is 60 today.
• When did they stop asking the bride to "love, honor, and obey" the groom? (And if you're a woman fed up with weddings, this will be the funniest thing you'll read in quite some time.)
• I'm taking more and more naps on weekends, but I feel like I'm wasting so much time when I do it.
• Hey, I'm all for flying the flags at half-staff for Sen. Kennedy but the round-the-clock TV coverage of his funeral/burial over the weekend seemed a little much.
• As for the registered federal sex offender, visited twice a month by a parole officer, who kidnapped the 11 year ago and held her for almost two decades: Good lord, what else is going on out there that we don't know about.
• I kind of wished I had majored in History.
• The new law preventing talking on a cell phone in a school zone requires a posted sign before it can be enforced but Decatur had them up on the first day. And I know at least one person that was stopped by the cops for a violation on the first day of school -- sheesh.
• Doesn't it seem like California is always on fire?
• Fox 4 News' "Lonestar Adventures" profiled Bridgeport's (city owned) newly opened off-road vehicle park last night. I don't understand it that either.
• The president's weekly radio address, regardless who is in office, has to have almost zero listeners.
• College football starts up next week. Yahooty.
• On the news last night there was a story of bleachers being burned by arson at Arlington Martin stadium. Prediction: They will be caught because there is no way they can keep their mouths shut.

Random Cowboy Stadium Thoughts

I finally made it out to the Cowboys Stadium on Saturday.

• I did not take the pic of the fake Marion Barber, above. But you will get frisked before going in the stadium.
• It (the stadium) is gorgeous from a distance and as you walk up to it.
• Parking is not a problem. Price is the problem. I paid $40 and I parked in a the Rangers parking lot west of Nolan Ryan Road. Good grief.
• There are girls with bicycle rickshaws willing to transport you. I heard one of them say that she doesn't charge a price but only works for tips -- I bet that's some kind of Arlington ordinance if you don't have a taxi permit.
• And I saw her fire up a cigarette on the way back to pick up more passengers.
• Inside, lots of open space. You'll never feel crowded walking around.
• I've never seen so many employees: Concessions, security, seating attendents, etc.
• The teams enter from the sides instead of the end zone. I don't like that.
• But it's funny to watch the visiting teams' players look up at the big screen as they enter the field.
• The huge video screen is everything they said it was and more. It's a weird experience in that I sat in the upper deck and ended up watching the screen more than the field.
• But the stadium experience is so different seeing a play and then seeing the expression on a player's face. It is exactly like a TV in your living room -- only better.
• There appear to be suites at field level. I don't understand that.
• Wade Phillips on the big screen will make you giggle.
• There are gift shops everywhere.
• I can't believe people get excited over a preseason game, but they do.
• The "Party Pass" for $29 is probably a good deal, but if you aren't up next to the rail, you can't see the field.
• There seems to be lots of our Hispanic friends that like Cowboys football.
• Funniest sight of the night: Walking back to the car in the third quarter revealed one guy "tailgating" by himself by watching a flat screen TV hooked up to a portable satellite dish. Funny.
• There is a Cowboys dance team for halftime that were pretty much clothed strippers. I can't remember their name, but it looks like they'll be there all year. Edit: Someone sent me a pic.
• Prizes were awarded throughout the night and one section (yep, an entire section) each received a $50 gas card.
• Before the players are introduced, a montage of current and former player greats are flashed on the screen. Even I was moved by it.
• Edit: The goofy mascot, Rowdy, was no where to be seen. Is he gone for good?
• Edit: The UTA Marching Band performed at halftime. Uh, since UTA doesn't have a football team, when does that band ever perform?

Hey, Commentors, You Got Mentioned In A Big City Paper

Link.

Friday Night Lights

• Bridgeport 21, Breckenridge 0
• Boyd 23, Bowie 8
• Alvord 12, Electra 6
• Van Alstyne 48, Paradise 12
• Perrin 15, Chico 6 (Lights went out during game)

Saturday

• Dallas Madison 40, Decatur 28

Grandpa Goes Crazy After Court

Embedding failed. Link here. While most people will want to focus on what caused gramps to go ape crazy on the photographers (background here), as you know, I see the world in a different light. So . . . what is with that sissy photographer at the end of the clip? One second, the old man has an arm around you and you're looking all nonchalant, and the next second you're grabbing your chest like you're Fred Sandford about to go see Elizabeth*. Sheesh. Man Up, buddy. ___________ *Note to my younger readers: In the 1970s comedy series, Sanford and Son, Red Foxx played junkman Fred Sanford who would often fake a heart attack for a variety of reasons. When doing so, he'd always grab his chest, look up into the sky, and yell, "I'm coming to see ya, Elizabeth!" - a reference to his deceased wife.

Please Let There At Least Be Dope Involved

Yep, even Texas DPS has a Twitter feed and this gem (above) just got posted. I can't find a single news story about it, so that's all I know. But if the government is going to try and take a quarter of a million dollars from someone, I'd kind of like to see a reason as to why.

Constable Protest?

Figures are for "Annual Salary", "Annual Allowance" and "Longevity"

As you probably read in the Messenger, Wise County's constables wanted a pay raise. Specifically, "Precinct 1 constable Tom Bishop and Precinct 2 constable Leonard Denney requested their salaries be increased from $32,000 to between $45,000 and $48,000." Precinct 4 constable Kevin Huffman and Precinct 3 constable Doug Parr also wanted a raise but the article is silent as to how much. According to the Update, those requests have been denied. But I'm hearing a very uncomfirmed report that, in light of the decision denying the raise, one or more of the constables have removed the "official striping" from their cars. Once again, this is triple uncomfirmed, but if anyone can provide any information, do so. (And try to avoid personal attacks on the elected officials. I'm feeling nice today.)

As I Try To Heal The Angry Comment Divide

Listen up ladies, this is the way you ride a mechanical bull. (It's a 45 second wait until the glory.)

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Denny Crane reported last night that the Decatur school board voted 4 to 3 to not install artificial turf at the football stadium.
• Man, you guys were acting crazy yesterday in the comments. Wore me out.
• Remind me to focus on more "Afternoon Pick Me Ups." That tends to bring us together as one. I'm a uniter, not a divider.
• The craziest story yesterday (and all over the news this morning) of a 29 year old lady discovered after having gone missing since she was kidnapped at age 11. If you haven't read the story in the link, you'll be stunned. And the nut job abductor had a blog.
• I've always been moved from by a scene in Midnight Express where one incarcerated character talks about how some people are simply defective. "You see we all come from a factory. Sometimes the factory makes bad machines that don't work. They put them here. The bad machines don't know they're bad machines . . . ."
• I was Jonesin' for football last night so much that I tried to find the only game being broadcast: Abilene Christian. Did you know ACU has a freshman player enrolled from Boyd who is listed at 5'9" and 260 pounds?
• Isn't it wild how Google has become one of the biggest companies in the world without, the best I can tell, spending a dime on advertising?
• Yesterday, USC announced that an 18 year old freshman will start at quarterback (pic). At 18, I couldn't have quarterbacked at Chico if I had been a "held back" senior. And if I could have, I would have been scared to death. But this kid is in charge of one of the most storied programs in the country.
• There was a wrong way driving in Fort Worth last night on 121/Airport Freeway. The driver, and no one else, is dead of death.
• My "This Guy Is A Spare Dallas Cowboy" proclamation: WR Roy Williams.
• George Bush is a forgotten man.
• No matter who you are, after your funeral you'll only be remembered by a handful of people.
• My "front room/back room" post about Mattie's and the O.J. Simpson verdict gave rise to some interesting comments. But I still want to be in the back room. Nothing makes my heart race as much as real "breaking news" that will become part of history.
• The courthouse flag remained at full staff yesterday. About five years ago, the Sheriff's office lowered its flags to half staff when its drug-sniffing dog died.

Free Your Mind, And The Rest WIll Follow

Thanks, Kevin.

Dominick Dunne Dead (A Day Late)

I really don't know anything about this guy other than he wrote a bunch of books I've never read. But I do know he was obsessed with the first O.J. Simpson trial, and he's always been famous to me as the guy who was in the audience after the verdict was announced -- mouth wide open the entire time. (He's the one above with, uh, his mouth open.) Uh, oh, ADHD has kicked in: The day the Simpson verdict was to be announced, I went to lunch at the now defunct Mattie's in Decatur. The place was basically two sections in one big room. In the back section was a big screen TV and all of us in that section anxiously awaited the verdict to be read. You could have heard a pin drop. But I remember being astonished that the front section of the restaurant was packed with folks who could not have cared less about verdict. They just sat up there with their chicken fried steaks and sweet teas. I decided that day there are two different kind of people in this in this world, and I was glad I was part of the back room crowd.

My Last Ted Kennedy Post

President Obama has ordered the flags lowered on all federal buildings but there is conflicting evidence as to whether Gov. Perry has done the same. As of 11:30 a.m. this morning, the courthouse in Decatur looks like this.

Huh?

NBC Philadelphia- Shame can be a powerful punishment. Just ask the guy who had to stand on the corner in Tysons Corner, Va., Wednesday morning.You know, the guy wearing the sign that said, “I CHEATED. THIS IS MY PUNISHMENT.”He told a passerby that he cheated on his wife and she found evidence on his cell phone. So the wife doled out a rather creative punishment: He had to stand at the intersection during morning rush, wearing the handmade sign. People reported seeing him as early as 9 a.m., and his presence was discussed on several of Washington D.C.’s morning radio shows. A little before 11 a.m., his wife texted him to let him know he’d been out there long enough. He removed the sign and skedaddled. What is this world coming to? If I ever get caught cheating on Mrs. Green #9, I'm certainly not putting on a sign and standing out in front of Walmart in Decatur because my child bride demands it as punishment. No sir. I've got way too much scene control for that. Now she might burn my house down, throw my iPhone into Lake Bridgeport, and be awarded sole custody of my 2005 GM Family Truckster, but I'm keeping my manhood.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• The far right embarrassed itself with attacks on Ted Kennedy yesterday. Twenty-four hours of respect doesn't seem like too much to ask for, right? You guys are beginning to scare us.
• At the height of conservatism, Kennedy was smart enough not to say a word during the "high tech lynching" of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas even though he sat on the Judiciary Committee.
• I heard from a very reliable source that the Bridgeport girls caught in the awning collapse were not jogging by the building but instead had been dropped off in front of it. Not that that's a big deal.
• Fox 4 News, which treats Wise County better than any other station, dropped the ball on Tuesday when they failed to cover the teenager's death on its 5 or 6 o'clock news. It made up for it last night with a retrospect.
• And Channel 8 interviewed the buildings owner Norris and Joyce Cheeves. The station also covered a preliminary memorial service and I'm pretty sure I heard a song from Rent in the background.
• A longtime Bridgeport resident was convicted of misdemeanor assault in the courthouse yesterday. I don't think he helped his cause when he testified that he was the one who was actually assaulted but didn't call the cops because, "I don't like cops. Cops are stupid."
• I got a tip that Messenger sports reporter Robert Morgan is no longer with the paper. That would be shocking and even more shocking on the eve of football season.
• A buddy emailed me the AP Texas Top 10 Football Preseason Poll the other day. I didn't see the name of a single Wise County school. (I'm sure the link is out there somewhere - just trust me on this one.)
• Uh, oh. I found this TexasHSFootball.com poll that lists Decatur at #38 but fails to list Bridgeport.
• And the same web site believes Boyd as the 8th best team in the State.
• The Swine Flu number at TCU is up to 80? (I swore I heard that on WBAP this morning.) Edit: It's actually 88.
• I thought I had a pretty funny line a couple of weeks ago when I said I wanted to be on one of those "death panels" because "I'm a pretty good decision maker." But I got nothing.
• I'm guessing that Texas will be of a Democrat majority in, oh, nine years. I've preached it for years: It's not about politics, it's about demographics.
• You can't believe some of the comments I don't post, and I can't believe the number of cowards that send me anonymous attack emails via the comments. Come on, send me an email with your name on it.

This Guy Is Unflappable

He can handle moose ears, the tongue next to he ear, the glasses, the half hug, anything! Once I go big time, he may be the first reporter I hire for Liberally Lean (and that language he's speaking will come in handy with my Wise County Hispanic friends -- if that's Spanish he's speaking*.) But can you imagine Fox 4's Lari Barager putting up with that? No way. She'd have one of those guys in a headlock in a New York Minute. ___________________ * Edit: What I meant to say is that he would come in handy with my Wise County Czechoslovakian friends. I regret this slight typographical error.

Worst Person In The World: A 12 Year Old Kid

Man, I've got to start watching the Little League World Series. First, this kid wants to hit the batter (hmmm, I wonder if his coach has allowed that in the pat?). Then, when told he can't, he doesn't want to pitch anymore. Then, he wants to come out of the game. Ladies and gentleman, I submit to you the future of America: We're doomed. (Unless this is not an American team in which case we'll be OK.)

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Two Cowboys coaches are suing the firms behind the design and construction of the Cowboys practice facility that collapsed last May. Their lawyer, famous PI lawyer Frank Branson, said "the jury might want to send a message to corporate America that you can't put profit over safety." Good grief, that's a tired old line.
• Most of my friends don't understand why I'm so anti-lawsuit. I think it's just that I have a problem with anyone, whether it be the State in a criminal case, a Plaintiff in a civil case, or the man on the street pointing a finger and telling someone else they are a "bad person." I always want to see the sins of the guy pointing the finger first.
• If you saw the Ranger's win over the Yankees last night (10-9), you were certain they were going to blow it. (In the 9th inning they gave up 4 runs and were looking at runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs.)
• Ted Kennedy died last night. Will the haters show a little respect and not mention "Chappaquiddick" today? Not a chance.
• We grew tired of the Swine Flu in a hurry. If we had heard news last Spring that ten TCU students had contracted the disease, we would have shut down all of North Texas.
• Why are former Evil Empire players so weird?: Roy Williams, Vince Young, Cedric Benson, Ricky Williams? Edit: Add Colt McCoy to the list. He has a porn star mustache!
• The tragedy in Bridgeport happened at the worst time for the Messenger which certainly had their Wednesday paper finalized and ready to be printed. But they scrambled and managed to get the news on today's front page.
• Speaking of the tragedy, it helps confirm my belief that things simply "happen" on Earth and that everything is not pre-determined by God. Certainly God didn't decide to take that child home like that, did He?
• And that event is certainly going to rock Bridgeport High School. And considering the death of Officer White earlier this year, hasn't Bridgeport had a horrific 2009?
• KXAS allows you to "rate your emotions" in connection with news stories. (Sheesh.) The leaders for the Bridgeport story? 86% for "sad" and 14% for "angry."