"Creepy Spurs Fan is Back ..."

What's a quick way to get a few minutes of fame? Purchase some season tickets behind the press table in the AT&T Center, then wait until the Spurs get into the playoffs.

[Thanks to Dave at Silver Creek 78250.]

"Downtown Doctor Dies While Working With Patient"

KSAT-12 reports on the death of a beloved doctor.

SAN ANTONIO -- A well-loved doctor passed away Tuesday working as he had many times before -- treating a patient.

Guillermo Marcos was attending to one of the patients in his office near downtown when he suffered a heart attack.

Marcos was known for giving food, medicine, disposable diapers and other items his patients were unable to afford, including medical care. When patients would ask why he didn't move his business to the city's northside, he would respond with his sense of community, one patient said.

Sounds like Marcos was a great guy. It's a little odd that he died while in the act of making someone else better, but it seems he went out of this world doing what he loved most.

I'm sure he will be missed immensely.

"Group Hopes To 'Free Lucky' From San Antonio Zoo"

An animal rights group wants to liberate the only remaining elephant at the San Antonio Zoo.

WOAI reports on Lucky:

The organization 'Voice for Animals' says Lucky the elephant is living an unsafe and solitary life, and that it's just not right.

Lucky has lived at the San Antonio Zoo for 46 years. She's one of the stars of the Africa Live exhibit. Lucky has outlived her other two companions and now animal activists say since elephants are very social animals, it's the perfect time to free her. [emphasis added]

And the strange part? Lucky is an Indian elephant.

Video still from WOAI.

Not moderating comments

I had turned on comment moderation before because I was missing some comments. Then Dave at Silver Creek 78250 pointed out the field that allows for comment notification without requiring moderation. I had missed this field because it is at the bottom of the settings page for comments, but now I see what he meant. So, I activated that, and I have turned off the moderation.

Comment away!

Crowning hobos

The Hobo Festival of Kirby is fast approaching, and the royal court has been selected.












Photo by Jeff B. Flinn

From the Northeast Herald:

Jim Mendes and Betty Vaughn are totally foreign to carrying a bindle stick, riding a railcar or eating “big four” — but come May 2, they’ll be wearing sashes and bearing crowns in honor of those who did.

Mendes and Vaughn will be the first-ever Hobo Festival King and Queen in Kirby, as the city celebrates a slice of history with a parade, games, live entertainment, a carnival, a chili cook-off competition and more.

Many decades ago, the hobo made his presence known in South Texas — riding the rail and finding safe haven wherever possible. The Union Pacific railroad and trestles on Kirby’s outskirts provided just such a safe haven in the 1920s and 1930s. And as such, Kirby became known as “the Hobo Capital of Texas” — a moniker that faded decades ago, but caught the fancy of city officials, who thought it might be worth the city’s efforts to pay homage to a piece of its distant past.

...

Vaughn said she is looking forward to reigning over the weekend. “It’s going to be fun. We’ve been told we’re just supposed to mill around after the parade, meeting people. I’m going to check everything out; I’ll be at the senior center booth, where we’ll have a bake sale and sell cakes, slices of cake.”

Sounds like a grand time is in store for all.

Parking for two

Drunk driving makes her MADD ...















... but apparently hogging two parking spaces doesn't bother her.

Mayoral candidates for 2009

Remember Diane Cibrian, the rookie councilwoman whose claim to fame so far is shooting down a planned strip club?

Now, as KSAT-12 reports, she wants to be our mayor.

Diane Cibrian, councilwoman for District 8, said Wednesday she was exploring a candidacy for mayor, which will be an open seat in the 2009 city election.

"I really believe that we need to continue the economic prosperity of the city of San Antonio, and I have been humbled and proud to be a part of city government, led by our mayor Phil Hardberger, who has worked hard, and we have moved this city forward," she said.

That's just what we need, her style of "economic prosperity."

Remodeling

Seen on the road:
















Perhaps an advertisement for services.




















220... 221, whatever it takes.


UPDATE: In all fairness, I drove by the place today (April 23) and the tape was off the D. I assume they were cementing the letter in place and now the epoxy is set. Either way, it looks less strange, now.

Seymour Perkins update

Looks like Seymour Perkins will keep his house for a while longer, according to KSAT-12:

SAN ANTONIO -- Both sides in a man's fight to prevent the city from demolishing his home can claim a small victory after a judge's ruling Monday.

Judge Andy Mireles ruled Monday morning that while Seymour Perkins' case did not merit a new trial, the city will not be able to tear down Perkins' eastside home until his attorneys can appeal Monday's ruling.

Mireles denied the motion asking for a new trial, but ordered the demolition stayed until Perkins' attorneys complete their appeals.

Who wants to wager on whether or not that house will actually come down? I'm starting to think it won't until after Perkins has passed on.

Unconventional abodes

Remember all the fuss about Seymour Perkins, the man whose home is a haven for crime and whose neighbors want it torn down? Well, Dave from Silver Creek 78250 reports on a home in his area that his neighbors wanted torn down. Nothing too odd there, but, as Dave reports, the method of construction was somewhat unconventional.

Some folks attempted to build a house in the neighborhood and stopped before it was complete. Hood rats made their way into the empty dwelling and commenced to tag things up, smoke the chronic and pork one another without regard for paying taxes or meeting the minimal requirements of the deed restrictions of our HOA. Following a year of bureaucracy, it was on the owners to tear down the house. We learned that the owners had built a cement frickin' house, roof included. WTF? I get cement floors and cement walls, but cement ceilings and roofs?

Haw! That's strange.

Oh, Dave has pictures, too.

Talking wild about the wild cats

What's stranger than people confusing bobcats and mountain lions?

The San Antonio Lightning's take on the situation.

It sounds very much like a late night monster movie.

An unknown animal is spotted by security personnel as it roams an abandoned Air Force base. [Brooks AFB hasn't been abandoned; it's been redeveloped as Brooks City-Base, and it is thriving.]

Security immediately sends out a warning.

A mystery has begun! [Not really. It's evidently a cat of some kind.]

John Carpenter or Stephen King can to [sic] take over from here.

...

It is not unusual for wild animals to be spotted in South Texas, particularly with the growing urban sprawl that encroaches on natural habitats.

Alligators, bears, and sundry big cats [!] have caused a stir in San Antonio and nearby areas during the past few years.

...

Meanwhile, the Brooks City Base "Beast" remains at large, and unidentified.

It is, indeed, a mystery. [I bet it's a cat.]

Persons with knowledge of this critter are asked to contact The Lightning.

It's probably--oh, never mind.


UPDATE: OK, I will give it to the Lightning. As strange as the above blockquote is, apparently the Web site has uncovered what I speculated: it was a house cat.

Fred L May III, Chief Executive Officer at Brooks Development Authority Security Office now admits that video of an 'unknown" animal actually does exist, despite denials from his office earlier this week.

An alert was sent by way of email claiming the animal was a mountain lion.(See stories below.)

According to May vast "amounts of money" have been spent investigating the unknown animal sighted at the former San Antonio Air Force Base. He wouldn't say how much.

A second email was sent that same day, claiming the beast was 'unknown." Now May is threatening legal and governmental action against the Lightning and its sources, for the release of new, leaked information, posted directly below, which claims the animal was actually a large house cat.

Meow.

Spotting wild cats

If you are down near Brooks City-Base, watch out for bobcats. Or cougars.

WOAI reports:

Those living or working near Brooks City Base may want to keep a sharp eye out for a dangerous four-legged visitor.

Officials told News 4 they believe a bobcat or possibly a mountain lion has been seen near the base. The animal was spotted Saturday near Challenger Drive.

C'mon. Whoever saw it can't tell the difference between a bobcat (16-30 pounds) and a mountain lion (115-160 pounds)? It might have been a house cat, given that wide range of possibilities.

Avoiding liability

Over in Guadalupe County, officials are painting their fire hydrants black to avoid lawsuits, showing just one more example of unintended consequences resulting from government action.

KSAT reports:

[Texas] House Bill 1717 states than if a fire hydrant doesn't provide an adequate flow of water -- at least 250 gallons per minute -- it must be painted black or covered with a similar-colored sack.

"We're painting them black and we're painting them black to come in compliance with the law," said Pat Allen, general manager of the [Green Valley Special Utility District ].

Allen said all of the hydrants will eventually be painted black to avoid any liability problems, which is upsetting to emergency personnel.

"If you paint them all black, they they all look like they're bad," Emergency Management Coordinator Dan Kinsey said. "So you can't determine which is a good hydrant and which is a bad hydrant.

Sounds like they're in the same boat they would have been if they had just left them all red.

"Man Accused of Using Dirty Syringe To Rob 14-Year-Old Girl"

It's a shame they have to offend in the first place, but, if they must, I suppose it's a good thing when they are clumsy and not too bright so the police can catch them right away.

From WOAI-TV:

Investigators say Juan A. Mendez approached a 14-year-old girl on Hildebrand Road with a knife and dirty syringe. The girl claims Mendez threatened to stab her if she didn't give him her purse.

The girl ran to a nearby apartment complex for help after turning over her handbag, which contained $40.

Police say Mendez ran off and tried to scale a tall fence. But the accused robber's pants got stuck on the sharp posts at the top of the fence and trapped him hanging upside down.

He was easy pickings after that.

Getting your mail

Remember when that United States Postal Service truck crashed on its way to San Antonio a couple of weeks ago? I had wondered at the time whether any of that mail was meant for me and was all burnt up now.

Well, Dave at Silver Creek 78250 had some mail on that truck. And it was meant for him, and the Post Office got it through! It's a little crispy and smoky, but the mail finally came.

Check his post for a story and a picture.

Car crashes; home involved

One more meeting of the automobile class and the domicile class.

From KSAT-12:

KIRBY, Texas -- A northeast side woman was left homeless after an alleged drunken driver slammed into her house Sunday night.

...

Police said that a drunken 21-year-old took a joyride in his parents' car and slammed it into her house. The car went right through her son's bed, but luckily he was not harmed because he was watching television at the time.

Moderating comments

I have turned comment moderation on.

It isn't because of anything inappropriate, it's simply because I discovered that people were commenting on older posts. I don't check all of the old posts on a regular basis, so I was missing some of the comments people were leaving, and I wanted to get a chance to read some of those and possibly respond. With moderation, I will now get notified when someone stops by and says something.

Thanks for all the comments.

Shaking the ground

If you are a local reader, you have probably already heard, but we had ourselves a little earthquake down south of San Antonio.

From KSAT-12:

According to [United States Geological Survey]'s Web site, the quake struck 45 miles southeast of San Antonio in Falls City around 4:51 a.m.

A few hours later, the tremor was the talk of the town in the small Karnes County community.

"It shook for a little while," said James Pawelek, a Falls City resident.

"I was awake and thought that my wife was kicking the mattress," said Fred Gawlik, a resident.

Residents from as far south as Kenedy and as far north as the north side of San Antonio reported feeling the earthquake, USGS said.

The epicenter was at a depth of about 3.1 miles and an earthquake of this type can typically can be felt as far as 60 miles from where it happened, USGS said.

Earthquakes happen from time to time in Texas, but they are rare enough to be unusual. For the record, I felt nothing.

Kissing pigs

The Northwest Weekly reports on an annual event that involves pigs and lips.

An annual rite of spring at Village Parkway Christian School, pig-kissing fever sweeps over the campus like a virus, infecting teachers and students alike.

Every year, a teacher at the school, selected on the basis of her class’ successful fundraising for a chosen charity, very happily puckers up for a pig. Dubbed the “Pig Queen,” the chosen candidate performs his or her sworn smackaroo at the end of a half-hour ceremony in which most of the students – and even some parents - participate with pageantry, pomp and pig-themed poetry. The fifth/sixth-grade teacher Robin Schmidt opened the ceremonies swathed in regal robes, and the ensuing procession included royal pages bearing the queen’s crown and bouquet on pink-piggy pillows and a cadre of youthful subjects brandishing sparkling pig-topped scepters.

Post-crowning, sitting upon her regal throne before her loyal subjects (many of them in handmade pig-face paper crowns, this year’s pig queen, Pre-K teacher Gay Duncan, was in the pink – sporting a fuchsia-feather boa, a straw hat topped by a plush-velvet crown with a straw-hat brim and rubber boots to complement the farm theme of the ceremony.

I wonder if the royal banquet was held here.

Three-wheeled cars return

Remember the ZAP cars, environmentally friendly electric cars with just three wheels and such a beautiful appearance? The Northeast Herald reports that they are making an appearance at the Live Oak Civic Center this weekend, April 4 and 5.

LIVE OAK — There’s more to “green” than Al Gore, and this weekend’s “Go Green ExpoWorkshop Cinema” sets out to prove it.

Ever driven a ZAP (zero air pollution) car or truck? Wonder about the feasibility of rainwater collection? Why is the U.S. military looking into aspects of “going green?”

These answers and more will be available Friday and Saturday at the Live Oak Civic Center, as Green enthusiasts, curious onlookers and Metrocom residents tiring of $3-plus – and possibly soon-to-be $4 – gas prices take a deeper look at energy-conscious and energy-saving methods of construction, transportation and conservation. Admission is free to the public.

In case you forgot what the cars look like, here you go:

Photo from the Herald.

Church and basketball

The Final Four is in town, and, to give a little local flavor to the news reporting, WOAI talks about a local church that has been doing basketball for almost one hundred years.

St. Mark's Episcopal Church founded San Antonio's first church basketball team back in 1911.

A man by the name of Arthur Muir was the coach. In 1956, the church added stained glass windows honoring Muir's devotion to the church and his team.

St. Mark's is downtown on Pecan Street. Here's a picture from WOAI of some of that stained glass.

WOAI original photo