alcohol
At Tuesday’s council meeting, citizens will have an opportunity to speak their minds on a variance to the alcoholic beverage ordinance to allow the sale of alcohol at Texan Kwik Stop, located at 1362 W. Washington Street.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Heather Michelle Williamsons Car Wreck
Heather Michelle Williamson was killed instantly after she lost control of her 1993 Mitsubishi Mirage and was struck by a dually pickup.
The accident occurred about 1:15 a.m. when Williamson, traveling south, attempted to pass her boyfriend, Ephrain Mendoza, 19, of Stephenville, who was driving a Camaro, according to Trooper Kenneth Bratton with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“They (Williamson and Mendoza) were having some type of argument that transferred to the road,” Bratton said. “When she tried to pass him, she lost control of her vehicle and spun out in front of a dually heading north.”
Traveling in the dually were two Tarleton State University students, Kehl Robbins, 17, and Paul Hopson, 22. The men did not sustain any injuries.
Williamson was a 2008 graduate of Iredell High School who reportedly moved to Stephenville only recently. She and Mendoza have a six-month-old child.
Bratton said the accident is still under investigation.
Popularity: 9% [?]
Billy Mann
That’s exactly what one man allegedly did early Saturday morning when authorities transported him to Texas Health Harris Methodist Stephenville after he crashed a stolen vehicle.
Billy Mann, 32, crashed around 2 a.m. on Highway 6 and was transported to the hospital with unknown injuries, according to Sgt. Chris Frost with the Texas Department of Public Safety. Frost said an accident report is not available, but confirmed that Mann fled from the hospital before authorities could place him under arrest.
Stephenville police assisted DPS in locating the suspect, who was later found at Parham’s Garage shortly before 5 a.m.
Mann has been charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and driving while intoxicated. He remains incarcerated in the Erath County Jail held on $5,000 and $1,000 bonds.
sara.vandenberge@empiretribune.com
Popularity: 7% [?]
Heather Michelle Williamson was killed instantly early Tuesday morning after she lost control of her 1993 Mirage and was struck by a dually pickup in what law enforcement officcials have called a “catastrophic” crash.
Popularity: 6% [?]
22-year-old Svajunas Beniukas was arrested on animal cruelty charges after internet users helped police identify him and the bridge from which the small brown dog was thrown.
Police in the Lithuanian town of Kaunas arrested 22-year-old Svajunas Beniukas on animal cruelty charges after internet users helped police identify him and the bridge from which the small brown dog was thrown.
The video shows a man holding the dog, called Pipiras, Lithuanian for pepper, and laughing as his friend records the event on his mobile phone.
Checking that the coast is clear, he makes a joke about dogs flying and then drops the animal off the bridge.
Crashing onto a farm track below, Pipiras yelps in pain, and lies twitching on the ground.
But despite falling over 20 feet and sustaining multiple fractures and internal injuries, vets said the dog would survive.
“He’s lived with me for four to five years,” Petras Dunskaitis, the dog’s 70-year-old owner told a Lithuanian newspaper. “He didn’t deserve such a fate.”
Originally posted on a Lithuanian website, outrage at the treatment of the dog snowballed as the 40 seconds of footage spread across the globe, even making it to Facebook through the efforts of a 3,000-strong group calling itself the “Lithuanian Dog Support Group”.
Lithuanian police said a key breakthrough was tracing the local website, www.15min.it, where the footage originally appeared. The website’s users identified the man as Beniukas.
Local media reported that Beniukas may have sought revenge on the dog after it was suspected of killing some of his mother’s chickens.
He has been charged wtih animal cruelty and faces up to a year in jail.
Here is a video of the news report:
Popularity: 11% [?]
Published:
A tragedy as stunning as Thursday’s mass killings at Fort Hood evokes extreme emotions.
Perspective is difficult — but absolutely necessary to understanding what happened and its implications.
The rush of information after 13 people were shot to death at the U.S. Army base was at once extensive, incomplete and occasionally wrong.
Military officials believe Maj. Nidal Hasan, a 39-year-old Army psychiatrist, fired a handgun in a center where about 300 soldiers were waiting to get vaccinations and eye tests as they prepared to deploy overseas.
A female police officer is credited with wounding Hasan, who was taken to an area hospital under custody.
Many details about his background emerged quickly: He was born in Arlington, Va., to Palestinians who moved to the U.S. from Israel. He grew up in Virginia’s Roanoke Valley and graduated from Virginia Tech University. He received a medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., and worked six years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A lifelong Muslim, he attended a mosque in Silver Spring, Md. He moved to Fort Hood in July.
But much is not publicly known yet, including his motive, partly because officials had not interviewed him. He was in a coma on Friday and on a ventilator, according to news reports. Investigators will have to determine whether his behavior had provided warning signs that he might engage in such mindless violence. And the public will want to know what would cause a military officer to fire on unarmed fellow soldiers.
A key point to remember is that even though authorities believe Hasan was the gunman, even if he is formally charged in the killings, he’s entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until the government proves he’s guilty.
Some news outlets seem obsessed with Hasan?s religion. Some online commentators have seized the opportunity to spew hateful denunciations based on ignorant stereotypes.
But Hasan?s personal faith might have had nothing to do with his actions. The New York Times quoted his cousin as saying that Hasan dreaded his imminent deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan and that he was shaken by the horrors conveyed to him by patients who had been traumatized by war.
It could be months before important details are sorted out and become public. It took until October for the Army to release a report about Sgt. John M. Russell, who’s accused of killing five people at the Camp Liberty combat stress clinic in Baghdad in May. The 325-page report detailed how Russell’s fellow soldiers were worried about his behavior but procedures for dealing with him weren’t clear enough.
Military personnel and their families face enormous stresses. These are exacerbated by the long wars the nation has been involved in. The Army is trying to improve its suicide-prevention efforts. But officials must determine what more can be done to improve safety on military bases.
The public can help most by avoiding baseless speculation and instead offering support and thanks for those who serve and their families.
Despite the old ad campaign slogan, there is no such thing as an “Army of One.” We’re all indebted, and the Army’s loss is a loss for all our nation.
URL: http://www.star-telegram.com
–Fort Worth Star Telegram
Popularity: 52% [?]
After months of investigation, Capt. Mark Johnson with the Stephenville Police Department said Monday that two individuals, a juvenile and an adult, have been arrested following the burglary of several homes in July.
Johnson said the son of Stephenville Fire Marshal Gary Nabors was arrested following the investigation. Gary was arrested in mid-October for online solicitation of a minor, under 14 years of age, a second-degree felony.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Nidal Malik Hasan
US President Barack Obama has ordered a review of the way intelligence agencies handled information over an army major suspected of killing 13 people.
The measure comes after US intelligence authorities revealed they knew Maj Nidal Malik Hasan had been in contact with a cleric sympathetic to al-Qaeda.
Thirteen people died in the attack at the Fort Hood military base in Texas.
Maj Hasan, 39, was shot by police and remains in hospital. He has been charged with 13 counts of murder.
He has not spoken to investigators.
Maj Hasan was said to be unhappy about a possible deployment to Afghanistan.
The shootings took place on 5 November at Fort Hood’s crowded Soldiers Readiness Processing Center, where troops get medical check-ups before deploying abroad.
At least 29 people were hurt in the attack.
Maj Hasan has been under armed guard in a hospital since being wounded in the shooting.
He is to be prosecuted in a military court.
If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
No-one has been executed under the US military justice system for almost 50 years, says the BBC’s Matthew Price.
Backlash fears
Former military colleagues of Maj Hasan had voiced concern about his performance and attitude for a number of years, according to media reports.
An FBI-led task force monitoring the e-mail of Yemen-based cleric Anwar al-Awlaki said he had communicated with Maj Hasan – a US-born Muslim and army psychiatrist – on 10 to 20 occasions.
However, it was decided that further investigation was not needed, as the content of the messages did not advocate or threaten violence.
“I directed an immediate inventory be conducted of all intelligence in US government files that existed prior to 6 November 2009, relevant to the tragic shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, especially anything having to do with the alleged shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, US Army,” Mr Obama said in a statement.
“Additionally, I directed an immediate review be initiated to determine how any such intelligence was handled, shared, and acted upon within individual departments and agencies and what intelligence was shared with others.
“This inventory and review shall be conducted in a manner that does not interfere with the ongoing criminal investigations of the Fort Hood shooting.”
Amid fears of a possible anti-Muslim backlash after the attack, President Obama has stressed the multinational diversity in the US armed forces.
“They are Americans of every race, faith, and station. They are Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and non-believers.
“They are descendants of immigrants and immigrants themselves. They reflect the diversity that makes this America,” he said in the aftermath of the shooting.
Popularity: 51% [?]
A trial date has been set for a former Tarleton State University professor accused of possessing child pornography on his office computer.
Jury selection in the case against Thomas Dougherty is scheduled to begin Dec. 14 in the 266th Judicial District Court. Assistant Attorney General Angela Goodwin will prosecute the case.
Dougherty was indicted by an Erath County grand jury in March 2008 on three counts of possessing child pornography and was later indicted on several more.
The Tarleton Police Department began investigating Dougherty in December 2007 after a student working near the professor’s office allegedly discovered a suspicious computer folder with Dougherty’s name on it. The student reported the discovery to campus police, who referred the case to the attorney general’s cyber crimes unit. Investigators with the attorney general’s office conducted a forensic analysis of Dougherty’s office computer, which allegedly uncovered several images and videos of child pornography.
Dougherty has since been terminated from the university and has hired local attorneys Robert Glasgow and Shay Isham to represent him.
Sara.vandenberge@empiretribune.com
Popularity: 16% [?]
Emily Pridham
Emily Pridham and her family told Channel Nine News her father is battling leukemia.
He underwent a bone marrow transplant a few weeks ago but has been given only a few months to live.
Ms Pridham decided to shave her head as part of a fundraiser for cancer research.
“Basically my way of coping is to try and help other people going through the same thing,” she said.
Ms Pridham said she has been banned from Mount Alvernia College until her hair grows back.
Barbara Pridham said she supports her daughter’s fundraising decision.
“I am just appalled that she could be suspended by a Catholic school that promotes joy, respect and community spirit,” she said.
Mount Alvernia College released a statement to Channel Nine News that said Ms Pridham had breached the college’s uniform guidelines and had been suspended because of “ongoing issues”.
By Tuesday morning, Ms Pridham had established a Facebook group to support her and was quickly gathering members.
She said on the page: “My inbox and Facebook wall are overflowing with messages of support. I Love my MAC girls, and thanks for standing behind me, It realy shows that in times of need the girls will always stick together ..”
Update: Today on November 10, 2009 the school aired an official response to these accusations. The details are listed below:
Dear parents and carers, staff and students and friends of Mount Alvernia College
I write with reference to the media reports of the suspension of a student from Mount Alvernia yesterday. Sadly for our college community, the media reports that have been aired do not accurately represent the situation. We value and respect the rights of every young woman in our community and we will continue to respect this student’s right to privacy by not making public details of the disciplinary issues involved.
As a Franciscan school our philosophy is to actively assist those in need and we do this on a daily basis. It is distressing that necessary caring guidance provided to this student over a range of issues has been misrepresented. Her father’s illness has been known at the college and we have continued to actively support the student and her family throughout the years they have been associated with the college. It is unfortunate that this head shaving incident has received wide publicity when all the facts are not known.
The college has guidelines on fundraising and has in the past allowed students to shave their heads to raise money for cancer. We have an active Outreach programme at the college where funds are raised for all sorts of causes, the most recent being $800 raised by Year 12 students for Breast Cancer. Over the course of this year, the students at Mount Alvernia College have raised in excess of $14,000 for causes such as leukaemia, the bush fires, our sister schools in Egypt and Papua New Guinea, Daffodil Day, Colour for a Cure, St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal, Project Compassion, Tatts and Tiaras. We are currently undertaking to supply 32 local families with Christmas hampers as part of the annual St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal. All students are actively encouraged to participate in these organised school activities which are centred on our Franciscan values.
As leader of this community I have found this situation very difficult when the full facts of the situation were not able to be revealed. I ask for your continued prayerful support for all in our community including this young woman and her family and can assure you that we will continue to work towards building our educational community in the spirit of Francis, Clare and Elizabeth Hayes.
Regards
Kerrie
Dr Kerrie Tuite
Principal
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