Category: News & Pop Culture

Bully on the Bench

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The Dallas Observer has an interesting article on Ellis County 40th District Judge Gene Knize.
It’s partially focused on a request for recusal of the judge by Dallas Attorney David Finn, the rest focuses on accusations of the judge being biased towards attorneys and accuses the WDL of being biased towards the judge as well.
I covered the recusal hearing while I was with the WDL.
Interesting case.
Read the story online.

This just in…

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This just in from Laurie…

I knew that you would want to be informed as soon as it aired but Anna nicole smith’s baby’s daddy is Larry Burkhead!

Now who is he?
Wait. Another update from Laurie…

haha, he’s the good guy..well as good as he can be. They were together before the guy she was with when she died.

So there you have it. You can all rest better tonight having that knowledge in hand.
Lonnie said he can sleep a lot better now, knowing that it wasn’t him.
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The air is cleaner here

According to a press release from NCTCOG, the air is now cleaner in the North Texas region.
Cleaner than what you may ask. Go ahead – you know you want to ask it.
We’ll the region now has cleaner air than we used to – yet we still have a ways to go. But here’s to all of you who’ve gone the extra step and closed the lids on your paint cans when you’re not using them or paid for that added emissions testing when getting your car inspected.

Region’s Efforts toward Cleaner Air Pays Off
One-Hour Ozone Standard Achieved

November 1, 2006 (Arlington) – Fifteen years after being identified as having unhealthy levels of ozone, North Texas has reached a significant milestone in the effort to improve regional air quality.
With the end of the ozone season on Oct. 31, the North Texas region has reached attainment of the Environmental Protection Agency one-hour standard for ozone.
In June 1991, the EPA designated Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant counties as nonattainment for ozone under a one-hour air quality standard. The EPA establishes the maximum levels of certain air pollutants, including ozone, to protect public health. When pollution levels in an area exceed that maximum level, the area is designated as “nonattainment.”
The one-hour standard was replaced by the more stringent eight-hour standard in April 2004. This new standard was put in place after the EPA determined exposure to ozone over an extended period of time is more dangerous than short durations.
Although the measurement has changed, meeting the one-hour standard shows Dallas-Fort Worth is making important progress. During the past ozone season, May 1- Oct. 31, North Texas exceeded the one-hour standard just one day. In addition, no air quality monitors exceeded the standard more than three times within a three-year period, the test used to determine if the designated area is in attainment.
North Texas’ air quality continues to improve with the help of strategies at the local, state and federal levels. The success that this area has experienced to date has been a result of a close working relationship forged among the EPA, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee, a collaboration of local elected officials, private business executives and environmental groups. The committee, which is staffed by the North Central Texas Council of Governments, is focusing on controlling harmful emissions from all sources, including on-road, non-road, area sources and large industries. It then makes recommendations to the state on what regional air quality strategies should be implemented to reach attainment of the EPA’s air quality standards.
Also important in the achievement of the one-hour standard are the projects sponsored and funded by the Regional Transportation Council. The RTC, which serves as the metropolitan planning organization for the North Texas region, has funded and
implemented dozens of emissions-reduction strategies being employed in the region, including mass transit, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, vehicle-inspection and maintenance financial assistance, clean-vehicle technologies, speed-limit reductions, intersection improvements and traffic-signal progression improvements. Further, it has provided funding to the North Texas Clean Air Coalition to encourage businesses and residents to reduce harmful emissions through car and vanpooling and alternative work schedules.
The region celebrates the attainment of the one-hour standard in recognition of the fact that the pollution reduction strategies put in place over the past several years have been effective and because it gives everyone confidence that the region can also meet the new, tougher eight-hour standard.
Unlike previous standards, the new eight-hour rule measures the amount by which the region exceeds the maximum levels of ozone allowed, not the number of exceedances. This provides a better indication of the severity of the region’s air quality. Under the eight-hour standard, the EPA designated nine counties – Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, and Tarrant – as nonattainment for ozone.
To meet this tougher ozone standard, the region is continuing to develop and implement new ways to reduce harmful emissions. Look for detailed information about some of these strategies in coming weeks.

Re: Quit breaking the law

As you may remember, people got all upset in Red Oak because they had a traffic division in their police department that was doing what I would assume a traffic division should do – write tickets.
Well the police chief and one of his deputy chiefs have been fired. An outside investigator has found that nothing was done illegally. But now the city of Red Oak must find a new police chief.
The WDL has a letter to the editor from the now former police chief today:

To the Editor,
I would like to thank all of the good people who have stood behind me in this troubling time. I want to thank the city manager and mayor for standing up for me when it would have been so easy easy for them just to go along with the crowd. It hurts me deeply that my time has come and gone as an officer with the Red Oak Police Department. Serving this great city has been an honor and I have really enjoyed my time here. I serve a great God and he will open another door for me. I have always given a hundred percent in everything that I have done. I have always been honest and up front with everybody, they might not have always liked my answers but pleasing everybody all of the time is simply impossible. I tried to lead the officers as Tom Landry led the Cowboys, Coach Landry stated “My job was always making men do what they didn’t want to do to become the men they always wanted to be.” To be good officers.
During the budget hearings last summer I presented a plan to the city council that in my opinion would be a win-win for the citizens which I took an oath to protect. I presented a plan that would establish a traffic division. This traffic divisions primary duty was to monitor high volume traffic areas, school zones, and any areas where citizens complain of speeders on their streets along with working accidents. This would allow patrolman to be highly visible in residential areas and business districts . This would also free up patrol from traffic duties. Once I presented the projection on the number of citations issued by the traffic division and the projected revenues Councilman Ben Goodwin stated “ If you can make that kind of money, why don’t we hire more traffic officers.” Councilman Hargrove even wanted them on motorcycles. I personally gave each councilman a copy of the power point presentation to take notes on and to take with them to study. So the dramatic increase of citations after the traffic division was formed should have been no surprise to them. If they didn’t like the proposal they had every right to ask me to reconsider, revise or simply state that they didn’t care for that plan. The city manager had nothing to do with my decision to form a traffic division, this idea came to me solely based on the high number of major accidents and the number of citizens complaining of near accidents and speeders in their neighborhood and wondering when something was going to be done.
On the day of my termination I was also advised in writing that the investigation showed that I “have committed no illegal wrong doing.” During the investigation I abided by the rule of mum is the word. So even at the request of Fox 4, I made no comments. I can’t say the same for the couple of councilman who after being advised still went to the press and drug my name and the name of my deputy chief through the dirt. I have always believed that if a person is in the right they should stick to their guns and if they are in the wrong, own up to it and move on. I am in now way perfect or in no way the perfect chief as we all make mistakes, but I did nothing illegal and that is why I chose to be terminated in lieu of resigning. Due to the officers signing a letter of no confidence in me I was terminated for “administrative style indifference” which simply means even though I have done nothing illegal, immoral, or unethical it is in the opinion of the city manager that it is time for me to move on.
As a long time citizen of this great city, I wish the city of Red Oak and its entities the best of luck in its future. As I said before, I serve a great God and he will provide for me and my family. I have nothing to be ashamed of as I have seen this city and the police department grow in every area over the last 15 years.
Donald D. Fullerton,
Red Oak

Also in today’s paper, Judge Bob Carroll, County Court at Law #1, resigned last night, effective at midnight April 30. There’s a story and an open letter from the judge in the paper.
I personally wish the judge the best of luck as he moves into the private sector. I know he had a hand in a case or two with some dear friends of mine and they along with I have nothing negative to say about the judge.