"Driver Crashes into Mother & Kids"

A car accident by itself is not very strange, but when the driver that did the crashing is allegedly drunk, hits a car with a family inside, injures those people while escaping injury himself, and then gets angry when some Good Samaritans try to help out the injured woman and children, then that's just weird.

San Antonio Police say two men were driving an SUV on San Eduardo when they ran a stop sign at Durango. That’s when they hit a family of three. The two vehicles collided and the SUV flipped over and landed on it roof.

The men inside were fine, but the driver was arrested on charges of driving under the influence. The mother and her two young children were taken to the hospital. None of them have life-threatening injuries.

Officer Reyna with the San Antonio Police Department tells News4 WOAI the men started a fight with neighbors who came out to check on the safety of everyone involved.

“They tried to get out of the car, the residents tried to help the other people who were inside Malibu. I guess the people in the Blazer didn’t appreciate it too much, and got into an altercation over it.”

(from WOAI-TV)

Amazing.

"Driver Killed In NW Side Crash"

Wow. He must have been going fast. Look at the way that car is wedged up there.

SAN ANTONIO -- A man was killed Friday morning in a one-vehicle crash on the city's northwest side.

Police said the driver may have been speeding on a Loop 1604 access road near Interstate 10 West at around 1:30 a.m. when he lost control of his sport utility vehicle.

The SUV then went up a concrete embankment and got wedged underneath an I-10 overpass, police said.

The man died at the scene.

(from KSAT-12)

Keeping it in the family

Where do criminals come from? Their mothers.

Richard Stewart stopped at the Stop Buy Food Mart last month when he dropped his keys before paying.

"I was on the cell phone, I paid the clerk... with my money, and I left the wallet on the counter," he said.

Minutes later, video surveillance shows a woman and two children walk to the counter. One of the children begins to play with the wallet before the woman places the wallet in the child's hands and they leave.

(from KSAT-12)

No word on whether they caught the woman and child.

"David Crockett Re-enlists During Alamo Ceremony"

This is pretty cool.

SAN ANTONIO -- A reenlistment ceremony at the Alamo on Wednesday included Davy Crockett.

Despite his famous name, Army Staff Sgt. David O'Neal Crockett, said he wasn't trying to draw a crowd for his re-enlistment ceremony in front of the Alamo shrine, but about 70 people including at least 10 other military members watched Crockett take his oath.

"I felt a devotion to my namesake to re-enlist here due to the fact that I may be a distant relative of the David Crockett of Tennessee," Crockett said.

The former Crockett is known to Texans as one of the defenders of the Alamo who died on March 6, 1836, in the final battle for the downtown settlement.

(from KSAT-12)

Someone who needs to start thinking more

If you don't have children now, here's what you can expect: Your life is never the same again. You don't get to go out like you used to, your money is in shorter supply, and your efforts are completely dedicated to a little human being that depends on you for everything.

In short, it's hard work, and it's a lot of responsibility, but it's strangely gratifying, too.

But, I suppose this woman never really thought about parenting in that way.

SAN ANTONIO -- A mom was arrested for leaving her children in a car while she goes into a bar. That mom, police say, was drunk when they found her.

Police say the mom left both of the children in the car parked across the street from the E&G Sports Bar.

Officers arrested 39-year-old Eva Mauricio inside the sports bar over the weekend. Police say the mom left one of her children asleep in the backseat and the other child was left awake in the front seat.

(from WOAI-TV)

I guess it's a good thing the night wasn't as cold as it's supposed to be tonight.

Car crashes into house!

OK, it's not really a house. It's a church. And it's in Germany, not San Antonio. But this bit from Willie Geist at MSNBC.com shows that the practice of vehicle-on-building violence is international in scope, no matter how prevalent the incidents are here in the Alamo City!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Egads, that car was flying!

P.S.: Watch the rest of the clip for some Blago craziness and some lucha libre!

"Man Kills Father, Son Before Committing Suicide, Police Say"

It's a sad thing, but strange in its generational sweep.

SAN ANTONIO -- Police are investigating an apparent double murder-suicide on the city's north side.

Investigators said a man in his 50s shot and killed his 90-year-old father, then shot and killed his son, believed to be in his 20s, before turning the gun on himself. The shooting happened about 6 p.m., at 2139 Babs Drive near the intersection of West Avenue and Basse Road.

(from KSAT-12)

"Jailed Drug Offender Mistakenly Let Go"

Oops.

Reginald Adams pled guilty to a 2006 possession with intent to distribute and was serving his sentence in the Bexar County Jail. During the ensuing years, the 28-year-old was charged with as many as 16 other crimes. One by one, the charges were dropped. Finally, on Jan. 16 the final three offenses were dismissed.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s office says court personnel erroneously entered information which showed Adams was free to go – and neglected to show the current 12-year-sentence he was serving. So on Jan. 17, a surprised Adams was released from county custody.

...

On Friday, deputies and U.S. Marshals were searching for Adams. In addition to his current sentence, he faces a possible escape charge. Officials explain even though he was released through a clerical mix-up, Adams should have told jailers of the mistake – and remained behind bars. [emphasis added]

(from WOAI-TV)

Just can't get good, honest prisoners these days.

Telling you what's good for you

Diane Cibrian, the District 8 city councilwoman who wishes to be San Antonio's mayor, has been emboldened by her efforts to keep a strip club out of a neighborhood (it was really the access road of a highway) in her district. Now she wants to prevent any strip club from ever opening in San Antonio, according to KSAT-12.

Welcome to prigville. (Emphases added.)

District 8 City Councilwoman Diane Cibrian is once again trying to keep the man who previously attempted to open Boobie Rock from trying again in another part of his district, and also throughout the city.

"The city of San Antonio has faced a very serious situation with strip bars that have attempted to move into neighborhoods," she said. "We know that when live entertainment is coupled with a cover charge, many times this is for the usage by strip bars."

That'll come as a surprise to all the live-music venues out there.

Cibrian said her proposal would prevent strip clubs from opening across the city. Should her proposal pass, all existing businesses would be grandfathered [for now --ed.]. The attorney representing the man who attempted to open the club the first time would neither confirm nor deny his client was trying to open a new club.

If I remember correctly, some news article somewhere once said that Cibrian was pro-business. Well, at least business she approves of, I guess.

Car crashes into house

If you get into an argument with someone in the car, you might want to hold off on the angry outbursts until you come to a stop. Otherwise, you might end up in a house.

An argument that began in a car ends in someone's kitchen. Police say the driver of a car was speeding down Henderson Pass while arguing with a passenger. That's when that driver lost control of the car and ended up going through the yard and inside a home on Laurel Hollow. No word tonight if that driver faces any charges.

(from KABB)

"Can of Beans Opens Up Lawsuit"

But it's not about the money, no sir.

A couple barbecuing for some friends finds an unexpected ingredient in their baked beans. They sent the contents of the can off to a lab and now they are suing food giant ConAgra.

This happened two years ago, no one went to the hospital no one even got sick [sic] -- so why the lawsuit?

Sauce and, of course, beans. That's what Rodolfo Zuniga and his fiancée Velma Dimas expected when they bought a can of ConAgra’s Ranch-Style [sic] Beans.

Zuniga says, “We were getting ready to eat and I opened up the can beans [sic] and put it in the pot.”

Velma even tasted the beans before noticing something besides beans in the pot.

She says, “To me it looked like a rat but then I started messing with it.”

What the couple says they found was a green-grayish blob, which a lab later determined was mold. They say they immediately called the 800 number on the can to alert ConAgra, which then offered the couple coupons worth $200.

(from WOAI-TV)

The $200 obviously wasn't enough, so they sued for more. But the story notes that "[b]ecause of how the lawsuit was filed the most the couple can get is $10,000." But, remember, it's not about the money!

On a side note, here is a close-up of the can's label that WOAI used to illustrate the story.



Does anyone else remember when Ranch Style Beans were Husband Pleasin'? I guess that phrase wasn't feministically correct and was changed somewhere along the way.

(Note to self: Buy some Ranch Style Beans the next time I'm at the store. It's been too long since I've had some.)

More shenanigans in Alamo Heights

If you want to make a point at a city council meeting, a different approach might get the attention you are seeking. But, it also might get you some unintended consequences.

During the Jan. 12 Alamo Heights City Council meeting, residents living along Mary D Avenue urged city leaders to exert parking restrictions along the street, amidst commercial property owners' requests for more areas along Mary D to be designated for two-hour parking. The street begins at the 4900 block of Broadway and ends at Encino.

Homeowners share street frontage along the artery with commercial property owners, including the popular Cappy's restaurant. With no parking restrictions, the south end of the street is the point of contention, while the north side of the street has both two-hour parking zones and “No Parking Anytime” areas fronting residences.

...

Commercial property owners George Geis and restaurateur Cappy Lawton denied their garbage collection began at dawn, as residents suggested. Instead, Geis said his trash collector makes rounds at 7 a.m. while Lawton said his service operates between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.

Resident Tom Hall of the 100 block of Mary D insisted garbage collection for Cappy's starts at 3 a.m.

Prefacing his commentary by noting his penchant for visual aids, he distributed condoms to council members to illustrate part of refuse accumulating on his yard from the increased motorist traffic. He then unfurled a plastic garbage bag, strategically placing it at the podium to further illustrate impromptu garbage collection on his lawn.

...

After Lawton's remarks, Hall asked to re-address the council. Ambling slowly to the podium, he paused for a moment while Lawton found his seat in the audience. He then loudly slammed the podium at full strength, startling both audience and council members.

His non-verbal illustrative tool did not go over well.

Councilwoman Susan Harwell was particularly stunned: “City council people have been shot at, sir!” she said, alluding to the huge, unexpected sound made by the podium pounding.

(from the Express-News)

I don't think Hall won the city council over to his side, especially the lady who has apparently been on the wrong end of a firearm. But he does seem to have a knack for presentation.

"Alamo Heights cracks down on crass ads"

Do you find your advertising efforts limited by local government? Apparently you just need to get creative!

Facing an increased trend of unique advertising methods by some merchants literally hurling their corporate literature on private property – including rolled-up flyers stuffed into cups thrown on lawns by a pizza maker – Alamo Heights is seeking to ban certain marketing methods.

...

[Alamo Heights Police Chief Rick] Pruitt also cited the example of a local landscaper that put rocks in a plastic bag with their advertising flyers, citing the danger that could result from that advertising ploy.

...

A related ordinance – written in detailed language seemingly to cover all the bases – already exists to protect property owners from local ad ploys: “…placing, attaching, painting, writing, stamping or pasting any sign, advertisement or other matter upon any house, wall, fence, gatepost, gate or tree box…”

As exquisitely detailed as the ordinance is, some merchants have found a way around it, necessitating even more restrictions. Pruitt proposed an amendment to the ordinance prohibiting projectile publicity.

(from the North San Antonio Times)

Heh heh heh. "Prohibiting projectile publicity." Journalists just live for alliteration, sometimes.

"High-rise For Seniors Still Empty"

Have you ever wondered how Robert Neville felt inside? The Guzmans know.

The Four Oaks Tower was supposed to have 24-hour security, a maintenance man, and other amenities. But instead, only two tenants ever moved in and the rest of the building is empty.

Inside the Four Oaks Tower, you'll find unfinished apartments, torn up floors, and building materials scattered everywhere. You won't find any tenants except for the Guzman family and one other couple.

"This was to be our retirement. He's 81 and I'm 82. And this was going to be it," said Velma Guzman, Four Oaks Tower tenant.

The Guzman's bought a luxury condo on the seventh floor early in 2006, when the building was originally called The Chancellor. Since then, the building has changed owners and construction was stalled.

Velma Guzman tells us they have no maintenance man and no one in the building to help them if something goes wrong.

(from WOAI-TV)

Charlton Heston or Will Smith might be able to help out. Except Heston's dead. Better get Smith on the phone.

Car crashes into house

This time with fire!

SAN ANTONIO – News4 WOAI is uncovering new information about how a driver had to jump out [sic] his car on I-37 before it crashed into a house and caught the house on fire.

Witnesses tell police that a car, which was on fire, left the expressway and hit a house. The driver was northbound on I-37 when he noticed his rear seat was on fire. He jumped out of the car, which then slammed into a home near S. Hackberry and Rigsby.

(from WOAI-TV)

The house caught fire, too, but no one inside was hurt. The driver was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center, but his condition was unknown at the time of this report.

"Eastside Community is Victim of Taggers' Onslaught"

This is news?

Neighbors in a San Antonio community are busy cleaning up the mess some vandals are leaving behind.

Residents found bright-colored graffiti covering their homes and businesses.

It's a big problem covering a small Eastside street.

This is news.

"S.A. finds $30 million windfall"

And the politicians are stumbling over themselves trying to find a way to spend it.

No really. The Express-News says so:

Thanks to past lapses of financial oversight, stretching back 25 years in some cases, the City Council finds itself with a surprise $30 million — and it’s ready to spend.

"It’s kind of like your long-lost cousin has left you a bunch of money," Mayor Phil Hardberger said.

During a Friday news conference, Hardberger and Councilwoman Delicia Herrera lavished praise on City Manager Sheryl Sculley for finding the $30 million, essentially the financial dregs of more than 1,000 bond projects. According to Sculley, the money — left over from the projects — sat in the bank and collected interest, instead of going to debt repayment or into similar projects, as it should have.

...

Word of the windfall left Councilwoman Lourdes Galvan atwitter.

"Our hearts were pumping yesterday just thinking about all the things we were going to do with the money," she said.

Your tax dollars -- and salivating elected officials -- at work for you.

"70 Dead Cats Found in Bags Outside San Antonio"

Bad day to be a cat around San Antonio.

MARION, Texas (AP) - Authorities are trying to find out who stuffed 70 dead Siamese cats into seven large trash bags and dumped them onto a road in Guadalupe County.

(from WOAI-TV)

All Siamese. That's strange.

Fattest again. So what.

San Antonio made the top 10 fattest cities list again, according to Men's Fitness magazine. Ho hum.

I just wish our local news media would stop reporting on this annual insult to San Antonio as if it were real news.

Someone who has been thinking too much

And, just to outcreep the creepiness of the guy in the previous post, here's this shining example of humanity.

SAN ANTONIO -- A 58-year-old man was charged with improper photography after sheriff's officials said they found a hidden camera in his teenage stepdaughter's bedroom.

Sheriff's officials told KSAT 12 News they also found a flat-panel television in the family's garage with a live image coming from the 16-year-old's bedroom.

"She advised that upon entering the back garage, she noticed a flat screen TV on the center near the entrance of the garage, and she noticed what she recognized to be her bedroom," Bexar County Sheriff's public information officer Ino Badillo said.

...

The man has been married to the girl's mother for 10 years, sheriff's officials said. The girl's mother declined to comment when contacted by KSAT 12 News on Monday afternoon.

(from KSAT-12)

Yep, the guy was just dumbass enough to leave the feed on so the girl could discover it and alert the police. Thank God for small favors.

Someone who should have thought a little more

Teachers, guess what -- it's probably not a good idea to have sex with your students. Especially not if you teach middle school.

And it's definitely not a good idea to take pictures and send them to the student.

A Heritage Middle School teacher is arrested after the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office says he sexually assaulted one of his students and used his cell phone to tape the assaults.

Bryan Kung has bonded out of jail. He’s facing charges of sexual assault on a child and possession of child pornography. Deputies say the alleged relationship began last March with the eighth grade student and 23-year-old Kung.

The mother of the student says she found naked pictures of the teacher on her daughter’s cell phone. Deputies tell News 4 WOAI that Kung admitted to sending them to the student.

(from WOAI-TV)

Similar story as a warning here.

Car crashes into home

Well, at least just the porch of the home, thanks to another, generous vehicle.

Police said the driver was speeding north of South Zarzamora Street at around 10 p.m. when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a parked pickup truck at West Gerald Avenue.

The car then flipped and took out the front porch of a home.

Police said the parked pickup truck acted as a buffer and prevented the car from crashing directly into the home.

(from KSAT-12)

No serious injuries were reported.

UPDATE: Zounds! It's the same crash as the previous post! The descriptions by the two television stations were so different that I initially thought I had come across two crashes in one day! But I didn't! It's the same crash reported differently by different outfits.

Just goes to show, you should never place all your faith in initial reports.

Truck crashes into house

Here's the latest crime visited upon a place of residence.

The incident happened around 9:30pm at a home on West Gerald and South Zarzamora.

It appears the truck hit a corner section of the house then stopped. There is no word on any injuries. Emergency crews are on the scene and neighbors have also gathered around to check out what happened.

(from WOAI-TV)

No word on the fates of nearby fences.

Shooting for the stars, and not expecting them to fall

San Antonio City Council is refining the wish list it sent to the federal government in hopes of a boon from Obama's stimulus package. Nothing particularly strange there, but I did like Mayor Hardberger's quote in the KSAT story.

City officials began compiling the list as soon as President-elect Barack Obama floated the idea of an economic stimulus plan for cities. The ideas outlined would create about 23,000 jobs and includes San Antonio River improvements, multiple public works projects and other priorities.

"The truth is, we will probably get something, but we don't know how much, and I think it behooves everybody not to get their wish list up too high," Hardberger said. "It's kind of like asking Santa Claus for 25 things, but you're lucky enough to get a tricycle."

That's a good quote, and it portrays Hardberger as a genuinely fine and honest fellow. I don't agree with some of the things he has a vision for, but he seems like a nice guy, and I think he would probably be re-elected handily if he could run for mayor again.

Robbing clients

Lawyers take your money, but you would expect them to actually do something, right? I mean besides taking your money.

Look at this tale, then, and think twice about paying a lawyer to fix a ticket for you.

Local attorney Diana Minella sent letters to thousands of people who got traffic tickets promising to settle their case for a fee.

She's accused of taking their money and not taking care of their tickets.

San Antonio's municipal court overflowed Tuesday with hundreds of people who thought their traffic citations were being handled by their attorney.

...

[Janie] Churbie paid attorney Diana Minella $200, plus the amount of her fines, to take care of her case. But the lawyer never did that.

Now, Janie is out of that money and still has to pay the fines and court costs to clear her driving record.

...

"I paid her $452 so she could take care of all of this and all I had to do was my defensive driving test." Zeke Ramirez paid Minella to clear his record. Minella only made a partial payment of $5. Zeke did not know that.

...

Back in court, lawyers from the San Antonio Bar Association volunteered to help the angry motorists. [sic] With even more still unaware their tickets are still hanging over their heads.

"What we had set for today was in the neighborhood of 700 to 1,000 cases," said Judge Bull. "We anticipate there is a larger volume out there of people that maybe don't know."

(from WOAI-TV)

Next time, if you get a traffic ticket, think about just mailing a check. It's probably easier, and it might not cost you as much.

Oh, and kudos to the lawyers from the S.A. Bar Association that are helping clear up this mess for free. They are doing a good thing for these people.

"Fight Breaks Out At House Fire"

They are firefighters, not fist fighters.

A man believed to have deliberately started a house fire was arrested Saturday when he got into a fight with firefighters.

When firefighters arrived at a home in the 100 block of Osage, they found two men involved in a fistfight.

While some firefighters tried to put out the flames, others tried to separate the men, said district Chief Pedro Garza.

"When they tried to separate them, the possible suspect started to turn his frustration on the fire crew," Garza said.

(from KSAT-12)

ASIDE: Do we really have to call them firefighters? I understand there's a sentiment out there that we should all adopt gender-neutral language, but, on this point, I don't think we should. I don't recall ever seeing a woman hold the position of firefighter. Do you? In such situations, I don't think there's any harm in referring to our brave fighters of blazes as firemen. After all, in the Air Force they still have airmen, whether they are female or not, and the Navy has seamen. Does gender-neutral language still matter these days? Did it ever, really, beyond the sentiments of feminists and politically-correct-minded people?

Car crashes through garage door

Domicile destruction ensues, but it looks like this is a case of a bad temper. And I'm having a bit of trouble following the sequence of events.

SAN ANTONIO -- A 38-year-old man was arrested Saturday after he drove his car though a garage door on the city's east side.

Sgt. Mario Cervantes of the Bexar County Sheriff's Office said the man got upset with a 14-year-old niece and ordered the girl to leave with him.

The girl then got scared and ran to a neighbor's home, Cervantes said.

"He still thought she was inside the residence, so he came outside the residence, grabbed their dog, threw the dog inside the vehicle," Cervantes said.

The man then yelled for the teen to go with him, Cervantes said.

The man then drove the car though the garage at a home in the 7500 block of Rustic Trail, Cervantes said.

The girl was not seriously injured, Cervantes said.

(from KSAT-12)

Let me see if I've got this straight: Man orders girl to leave with him. She runs to another house. Man doesn't notice. Man grabs dog and throws it into vehicle. Man yells to girl in house where she is not. He drives through the garage. She is injured, but not seriously.

?

Was she in the house or not? If she wasn't, how could she have been injured at all? If the man drove to the house where she ran to and crashed there, then obviously he knew where she was, so why point out that the man thought she was somewhere else?

And what's with the dog? With that element, this story reminds me of the Book of Tobit.