From Last NIght

Funny bit.

At The End Of One Of The Odder Weeks Of My Life

Stayed  up basically all night long for two night as I became obsessed with a school science project (and to keep my word that "Trust me, this will get done on time"), to a DWI jury trial, and then finished off with marathon weekend hospital visits (all is good and I'll leave that part vague), I can only say . . .

. . . I could stare at the Phil Collins Puppy for hours.

A Police Chase Taking Us Into The Weekend

Getting Buzz In Round Rock Texas

Ok, she's drunk. Ok, she probably needs to be arrested.

But that's a heck of take down.

A Random Look At A Random First Base

From Louisville-Cincinnati college baseball game on Tuesday.

Love the umpire. "Let me glance down to make sure he's not dead. Ok, he's not. Safe."

I'm Issuing A Flash Flood Warning For Parts Of Wise County

I also worked a long time on my graph to predict what will happen this afternoon.

In Indiana Last Night

There were "injuries" but nothing serious.

That made me think of the disaster at a wedding in Israel which was caught on video.

Letter Being Sent Out In Chico In Support Of School Bond Election

Hey, I don't have any opinion on the Chico ISD bond election. But this was sent to me which admittedly isn't earthshaking but the emailer was a little disturbed that there was an immediate reference to Sandy Hook and Columbine to help persuade the voters.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The grand jury chose not to indict the Dallas officers involved in the shooting of the mentally disturbed guy holding a screwdriver on his doorstep after his mother called the police because of his erratic behavior. Hey, I'm not sure the cops should be charged with a crime, but they sure chose to use deadly force in the blink of an eye. Isn't there something short of a bullet that can be used in that situation? Whatever happened to say . . . uh . . . tasers?
• I'm not making any accusations, but there does seem something a little odd about the death of that Bridgeport boy. 
• I've spent very little time in hospitals, but I've been inside a couple recently. They seem to be kept functioning by thirty-somethings which move pretty fast and do a pretty good job. 
• I'm proud to learn that I had never heard of the Kylie Kenner Challenge until I heard two young ladies talk about it up at the courthouse this week. 
• If I click on the Star-Telegram home page, leave it there for just a few seconds and then click the "back" browser, it appears that I have visited the site 8 consecutive times. Some of you tech geeks explain that. 
• I mentioned that I had a "nemesis" on my jury panel this week, but it's hard to explain because I want to be fair to the guy, and I might even be wrong. Here's the deal: I believe he was audibly scoffing when I spoke to the potential jurors about some basic principles of a criminal jury trial. (I've talked to one other person in the courtroom that morning who heard it. Others didn't.) I didn't want to ask him if he disagreed with something I said because he had already said something that caused me to know I didn't want him on the jury. (Yes, there are ways I could have used him to actually make my points, but I had a sense of danger.)   Later, when he and the rest of those not announced to be on the jury were excused to leave, he got everyone's attention to announce that a young man who served in the military was on the panel. I may be wrong about him, but there are people like that: Incredibly patriotic but have a hard time appreciating rights the Constitution provides those for a person on trial for an alleged crime. Sir, if you didn't scoff, I apologize. And if you did, thank you. That's something I wanted to know. 
• We've had another "And Another" out of Dallas. I'll admit it: Even I'm tired of my "And Another" bit. 
• With the new Star Wars trailer out, I'm going to say something for the millionth time: I do not understand the fascination with that series, and I'm a guy who loves Star Trek.  I actually saw the original Star Wars at Northeast Mall as a kid. But you know who really loves that stuff?: People ten years and younger than me. 
• Whomever comments about departures of assistant prosecutors under the new Tarrant County DA, they been busy over the last couple of days mentioning that there have been more departures this week. 
• At the beginning of a story from a Lubbock paper about a lady eating three 72 ounce steaks "not being recommended by a doctor", there was this disclaimer: "(Editor’s note: A phrase toward the end of this story may be too graphic for some people.)"  Can you find it? I can't after a quick scan. Is this the equivalent of "click bait" to get you to actually read a story? 
• I was just scanning through Texas front pages for this morning and came across the following. I know nothing about it other than it involves and auto wreck, but I'll check out what it is about. 

Lots of Reports of Low Flying Jets in Wise County At Night

"This is an actual picture of it."- Double Fake City of Decatur

Not that a quick look at a Facebook thread is positive proof, but it sure seems to be true. There have been reports from Alvord, Decatur and Bridgeport over the last few days.

Weirdest Book In Photo Ever

04/23/2015 12:34:38 Dwayne, 31 yrs old ♎ Bond: $771 INSPECTION EXPIRED REGISTRATION EXPIRED REGISTRATION pic.twitter.com/YDp5veyyOJ
— Arrests by @DentonPD (@DentonPolice) April 23, 2015

The @DentonPolice account is not owned by the Denton Police but by a guy who posts book in photos obtained from Denton Police. I have no idea what this photo is.  But for a second those lightning bolts looked familiar.

"Good Luck. We're All Counting On You."

Wise County Messenger Being Blocked By Montague DA

I mentioned a few days ago that all officers were cleared by a grand jury in the shooting death of Alan Alverson near the Montague/County line. You may remember Alverson as the guy who allegedly shot the police dog of the Wise County Sheriff's Office.

Now that the criminal case is over, the Messenger wants certain records from the DA's office.

This excerpt from a Messenger story: "Despite the grand jury finding no reason to move forward with criminal charges in the case, [District Attorney Paige] Williams has declined to release the full autopsy or report by the Texas Rangers investigating the case. She is seeking an attorney general’s opinion as to whether she must release that information, arguing that the information is not public because the case concluded in a final result other than a conviction or deferred adjudication, thereby making it excepted from disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act."

Records subject to the Information Act must be released with 10 days or it is a crime not to do so. But for some crazy reason, any public official has the right to ask for an Attorney General's Opinion on whether the records must be released and this automatically puts everything on hold. Oftentimes that request is made to simply stonewall.

I'm no TPIA expert, but whether those records are public in this situation has absolutely been decided by prior AG opinions. This situation happens all the time. This is not new ground.  Without researching it, I'm guessing that autopsy report has to be subject to disclosure now.  How about the Ranger's report? Honestly, I don't know. But why shouldn't it be? Everyone involved in this investigation works for you and is paid with your money. You even bought the paper it was written on and paid the person who typed it and copied it. There is no criminal case now. Name one legitimate reason why it shouldn't be turned over to the public.

And there's nothing to prevent the DA from voluntarily just turning them over. How do you think the media sometimes immediately gets ahold of 911 tapes or videos or toxicology reports. Some of that information could be legally withheld until the case was concluded, but the government just turns it over anyway.

White House Reveals American And Italian Hostage Killed In Drone Strike

Statement from the WH press secretary on the innocent hostages killed in Pakistan http://t.co/HziCtGMRGz pic.twitter.com/GOdPLNzerx
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 23, 2015

Those drone strikes are accurate and effective. You just have to know who is within the targeted building. But I don't know how you ever could.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Somebody better check on Pete Delkus. He has to be in massive depression this morning after missing the forecast and not getting to dominate TV last night. (And he is, in fact, a little sensitive this morning.)
• I may be stating the obvious, but I think everyone is beginning to see how this oil price crash is impacting the Texas job market. I bet all of us know someone who has been significantly impacted. 
• I've told you for two years that we are headed for a decade long stretch of horrible Mavericks basketball once Dirk declines.  Get ready. We have lift off. 
• With all the guns and bars/clubs in Texas, I'm stunned there are not multiple shootings every Friday and Saturday night. 
• BagOfNothing.com linked to a series of interactive maps in the Wall Street Journal which focuses on demographics for every county in the U.S. Wait a second:  Only 37.1% of people in Wise County have graduated high school? Am I missing something? (I guess that the 37% could be of the total population which would include people under 18 but even then the 37% seems small.) 
• "Kelley & Anthony Blaine face 18 counts of giving alcohol to minors, accused of stocking a limo with liquor for teens heading to prom. She's suspended from her job as Kaufman County court coordinator. 15 Kaufman High School students were suspended for misconduct & sent to alternative school." So much to think about on this one. 
• Always drives me nuts when one trial court judge in any county or any state makes a ruling that, because of the subject matter, gets news coverage and everyone says, "This will set a precedent for the future." No, it doesn't. Heck, if an appellate court hasn't made a decision on an issue in Texas, a trial judge doesn't even care what the trial judge next door just ruled on the same issue.
• I saw a horrible (one car?) rollover wreck this morning near the Wise/Tarrant county line. People were scrambling to help, a car on its side caught fire, a guy ran and got a fire extinguisher, and people were gathered around a person in his grass who I presume was thrown from the vehicle. By their reactions, this was bad. 
• Below: Clever Harding headline and a little bit of a disturbing Blue Bell photo . . . 

Missing Bridgeport Boy News

Background:

And Speaking Of Open Carry

“We unintentionally just got unlicensed open carry." http://t.co/4T9K0TfZe1
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) April 22, 2015

I wrote this morning about the legal question of whether police would have a "reasonable suspicion" to stop and detain someone if they saw an exposed handgun if the proposed Open Carry If You Have A Concealed Handgun bill passed. Cops can only detain someone if they have a reasonable suspicion that a crime might be occurring. The County Attorney and I actually talked about just last week.

But I had complete missed the above news that trickled out over the last 24 hours that there was an amendment to the bill on Friday which passed the House:

That answers my question. The courts would never have to decide if the cops could lawfully detain someone for seeing an open guy because the legislature has settled it. (If the bill becomes law.)

But here's the unintended kicker: If cops can't stop you to check your license, then doesn't it become practcially open carry for everyone? Sure it would still be a crime to open carry without a license but cops will need a different reason to detain to ever discover that. So it's not legally open carry for everyone but more of a "there's a really good chance you can open carry without a license and not get caught" situation.

I suppose it is like driving on a suspended license. Yeah, it's illegal, but you are going to have to be stopped for a different traffic violation for the cops to ever discover that.

DPS In The News Again

The Austin-American Statesman just unearthed this video from 2012.  It involves an unseen chase and the shooting of a guy in the thigh , and this ending.  The trooper was suspended for three days.

Think I'm about to go on a rant about police brutality? Nope. That flying kick right of the WWE is just too sweet of a move to give the guy grief.