"Exotic dancers arrested during raid at strip clubs"

Really?

SAN ANTONIO – Eight exotic dancers and four managers are under arrest after a raid at a couple of local strip clubs. Investigators say workers at those businesses were breaking the law by performing without any clothing.

One woman tried hiding her face from News 4 WOAI’s camera as police led her to a patrol car. Detectives say that dancer is under arrest now for what she wasn’t hiding from her customers.

“We came in to do our inspection and found some girls dancing in an all-nude state,” said San Antonio Police VICE squad Lieutenant Andy Rodriguez.

Full- and semi-nudity is illegal at strip clubs in San Antonio.

(from WOAI-TV)

It is?

Semi-nudity is illegal in our great town? Don't we all -- all of us -- walk around in a state of semi-nudity at all times every day? I mean, unless you dress yourself in a burqa, some part of your body is not covered by clothing, so you are in a state of semi-nudity. It's just a matter as to what extent. And what about Splashtown? Swimming pools? Halloween? Do we really want our police to be arresting all women in skimpy clothing across the Alamo City?

Of course, you know what the solution to this problem would be. Have all the strip clubs change their designations to art houses, and then the ladies can dance naked all they want, call it performance art, and have the protection of the First Amendment.

Bringing grenades to the police

Apparently the police don't want you to do that. They'd rather you called the bomb squad rather than bringing a live grenade to their substation, even if you do want to just turn it in.

The bomb squad was called to a San Antonio police substation Wednesday morning, and officials say the Good Samaritan who carried them thought he was doing the right thing by handing over some explosives to the police department.

But police say that was exactly the wrong thing to do.

Police say the man came to the Prue police substation with two training grenades and one active grenade. The man allegedly found the three grenades at home and did not want his kids to mess with them. The man told police the grenades belonged to his grandfather and that they were in his home for about ten years before he found them.

He did not know what to do with them, he told officers, so he brought them to police and told them they were in his truck. But police say the man should have left the grenades where he found them and called for help instead.

(from KENS-5)

BUT! The really strange part is that the police officers at the Prue substation seem to feel like they need that connection to the farm, to the regular people, to the times when life was simpler.

Look at this still shot from the video of the story.




Do you see what's back there, behind the officer, behind the box, behind the fence erected to keep them in?

That's right.

Chickens! At the police station.



¡Puro San Antonio!

Silhouetting your interests

Some people like to put silhouettes of naked ladies on their trucks. You know, to show their interests, I guess.

And then some people like to add to those silhouettes.




Who knows? Maybe she's a cowgirl, and she rides a horse.




Or maybe she's a cow-- uh, horsegirl. And she rides a cow. I guess.



Giddy up.

Oh, Sheriff's Department, you are SO gonna get it!

(from KSAT-12)

"Rug ‘rip off’ rankles restaurant"

If you want to steal something, apparently it sometimes works when you just walk right up to it in front of everybody and calmly take it.

Really.

SAN ANTONIO – A thief walks into a restaurant and takes a rug worth $5,000 right off the wall.

It happened at the Cool Cafe downtown. The thief was caught on surveillance tape walking in and pulling the Persian rug off the wall. On his way out, the suspect could be seen stuffing the pilfered rug into a plastic bag.

The theft took place at around 8:20 Sunday night while the restaurant was open. Initially, the staff didn't notice the rug's disappearance. It wasn't until later, while viewing the video, they realized what had occurred.

Crystal Galvan, manager, says, “Our employees were actually here rolling silverware when it happened and he just came in through the back entrance and took off with it.”

(from WOAI-TV)

The back entrance? Really? You have a restaurant downtown and you leave the back entrance wide open so any old schmo can wander in, and nobody notices? Well, you know what happens when you do that. Your decor gets ripped right off the walls.

By the way, nice alliteration in the headline. Those writers live for stuff like that.

Car crashes into house

It's actually a truck, and this time the vehicle was running away from another accident that it had caused when it decided to take out a house as well.

SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio police said one man could face charges of driving under the influence of prescription drugs following a hit and run accident that ended with the man hitting a house Saturday morning.

Police said it happened about 10:30 a.m. in the 1900 block of Wrangler Street on the city's west side.

Police said the man rear-ended a woman at a stop sign, then went around her.

Officers said the woman started to follow the man.

Investigators said that's when he ran a stop sign, lost control and hit the house.

(from KSAT-12)

You know, it's funny, from the story you would think it was the man himself that hit the woman and then the house. But we all know it was really that thoughtless vehicle. KSAT even has a picture to prove it:

Merry Christmas, San Antonio

Here's hoping you and yours have a wonderful holiday.

Stealing the baby Jesus

Somebody really wants coal in their stocking this year.

Three baby Jesus figures have disappeared from nativity scenes in Floresville. Floresville police believe the same person, or group of people, are behind all the crimes.

Homeowner Roy Madero told KENS 5 he's had his nativity scene for the past 15 years and there had never been any problems until now. He also says replacing the stolen piece will be difficult.

"They're hard to find and it's very frustrating because we go through all the efforts to decorate our homes, and then somebody comes by and walks off with it," Madero said.

(from KENS-5)

Watch out. Scrooges are on the loose southeast of here.


UPDATE: The Jesus thief returned them, after stealing a bunch more.

The missing baby Jesus mystery in Floresville came to a holy end on Christmas Day.

On Wednesday, 11 baby Jesus dolls were stolen from residents' front yards. Seems as though the crook had a sudden change of heart, because Friday afternoon, the dolls were found on the front lawn of the First United Lutheran Church.

Crazy.

Daring the police

When committing a string of smash-and-grab robberies, how often do the criminals operate in a recognizable pattern?

SAN ANTONIO -- The ATM Trio hit again overnight. This time, the three men smashed a white SUV into a Walgreens on the North side; [sic] taking the money machine in minutes.

This is the third time the group of thieves has used a [sic] SUV to ram into a business and take the ATM. In fact, News 4 WOAI has discovered they steal the same type of vehicle, same color, just minutes before they commit their crimes.

...

It's believed the bad guys prefer using Jeeps as their get away vehicle because they have enough force to break through a security wall, door or window. Also, thieves can easily load things into the back and take off quickly. Police say it's the same trick they've used in at least two other burglaries.

(from WOAI-TV)

It's almost as if they're daring the police to catch on.

If you drive a white Jeep, be careful. It looks like a prime vehicle to steal these days.

Don't be sorry

Dave at Silver Creek 78250 found a rather meek restaurateur on Old Highway 90.

Seymour Perkins's house -- demolished

Remember Seymour Perkins, who died in February 2009 while still fighting to keep what was left of his house?

That house has now been destroyed.

SAN ANTONIO -- It took two years to bring down one house on South Hackberry. It was known hangout for prostitutes and drug addicts as well as a worry for parents of children who go to school just steps away.

The homeowner, a man who called himself Reverend Seymour Perkins, served time for drug possession. He was a folk artist who passed away earlier this year.

On Monday, his son and the family moved forward after a judge's decision to demolish the building.

Roland Perkins "I’m glad it's done, but I don't like the way [the city] did it."

(from WOAI-TV)

Is Perkins's story finally over? Is this the conclusion of the final chapter, and now we have nothing but the memory of a good read?

Or will it never really end?

You decide.

... and party every day!

I see one small thing wrong with this.

Celebrating the winter solstice South Texas Style, some San Antonio musicians were rocking out with a "Solar Jam."

"We just need some sunshine, some instruments and some inspiration," said Matthew Ahern with Echotown, a group made of people and businesses trying to go green.

A little bit of sunshine goes long way for Ahern and his musical instruments that use the sun's rays to harness energy using solar panels.

"It’s the shortest day of the year, so it's proof that even on the shortest days we’ve got the power we need," Ahern said.

(from KSAT-12)

Most gigs are at night.

Stealing from the least of these

White collar crime? No, this is a bit more heinous than that.

Thursday, Keith Allen Roberts was sentenced to probation after he was forced to pay back all of the money. He pleaded no contest last month, after the Trouble Shooters discovered he used almost $50,000 from the special education fund at the San Antonio Independent School District to buy himself flat-screen televisions, DVDs, and computer equipment.

Roberts was the accountant in charge of buying things for special education classrooms at S.A.I.S.D.

(from WOAI-TV)

He probably stole candy from babies, too. Even when he was a baby.

"Mission Flea Market Worker Killed"

Apparently the flea market business is pretty competitive. And dangerous. Especially if the vendors need to be going home rather than to work.

SAN ANTONIO -- A flea market worker was killed in a suspected drunken driving incident Wednesday morning at Mission Open Air Flea Market.

Police said the worker was crossing a pathway near the parking lot of the flea market in the 700 block of Moursund Road at 6 a.m. when a 44-year-old man speeding in an F-150 pickup hit the victim. The incident happened at a time when vendors rush in to pick prime locations.

The victim, believed to be in his 60s, was pinned underneath the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The driver, who is a vendor at the flea market, told officers that he had been drinking alcohol prior to the incident, police said.

(from KSAT-12)

It's a whole other world at the flea market.

Stealing from the taxman

Are you tired of paying all those taxes to the government? I suppose you could take it back with a Jeep and some careful driving. Of course, that would be illegal. And you'd probably be taking some of your fellow citizens' money, too.

SAN ANTONIO -- A smash-and-grab burglary forced the Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector's satellite office on the city's Northeast Side to close Tuesday.

According to Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector Sylvia Romo, surveillance video showed three men drive a white Jeep pickup into the office in the 3300 block of Nacogdoches Road at 12:45 a.m.

Once inside, the men drove to the other end of the office, unhooked an ATM and loaded it into the back of the truck and drove away.

Romo said the crime seemed to be well-planned, with the burglars employing the same strategy used during a burglary at the satellite office on Southwest Military Drive on Nov. 11.

(from KSAT-12)

The only problem with that strategy is that there are only so many tax offices in the county that you can hit before exhausting the supply.

OK, there's a lot more problems than that.

Gettin' western on the West Side

Want some tamales? Be careful where you go. Sometimes fights break out.

SAN ANTONIO – A Sunday morning stop for some tamales went horribly wrong when a woman was assaulted in a parking lot. It happened during the Sunday morning rush at Barbacoa and Tamales To Go, in the 1400 block of West Southcross on the city’s south side.

Police tell News 4 WOAI Theresa Pena’s car was blocked in by another driver. They say she asked the driver of the vehicle to move, at which point a female got out of the car, walked up to her window and began punching her in the face. A police report says Pena tried to get out of her car to defend herself when a man who was with that woman threw a bottle at her head.

(from WOAI-TV)

And the really weird part? The story says the aggressive couple was in their fifties. Somewhere, a kid in college is reading this story and thinking, Mom? Dad?

Taggin' your own place

If you are having trouble making ends meet, does it really make sense to tag your own home?

Really?

SAN ANTONIO -- A struggling homeowner got creative when she was faced with foreclosure.

"It says, Help! Foreclosure!," reads Mary Ann Herrera. "I painted it with three cans of spray paint."

Herrera got desperate after losing her administrative assistant job in March. When bills piled up, she fell into mortgage problems, and was a step away from losing her home.

"I didn't know if we were going to be homeless," she says.

Despite her painted plea, it took nearly eight months to get her loans modified.

(from WOAI-TV)




It's a sad situation, but people still need to remember that their actions affect others as well. Besides making her own house unattractive, this woman is also affecting her neighbors' home values, whatever they may be. And her efforts didn't seem to pay off.

I wish her the best, but I still can't abide graffiti.

Gettin' Tombstone on the Northeast side

See what happens when you steal a car at the O.K. Corral?

It happened at an apartment complex in the 6700 block of Montgomery Drive in northeast Bexar County.

Deputies said the shooting and fight started over a stolen vehicle. Deputies said there was an exchange of gunfire between two groups of people.

When paramedics got to the location, they found two people with non life-threatening gunshot wounds. Paramedics also found a woman who had been run over by her own car after someone stole it and drove away.

Investigators said three others may have also been shot and then driven to the hospital before deputies got there.

(from KSAT-12)

Christmas lasers

Pink Floyd I understand. But Christmas? Is it right to celebrate the holiday with a laser-light show?

SAN ANTONIO -- Students are getting into the holiday spirit with a Christmas laser light show.

The show is put on by the Urban-15 group.

The group is holding several more student concerts. But if you and your family would like to see a show, Urban-15 is holding several performances through Saturday, December 11th [sic].

To find out more about the show or how to get tickets, CLICK HERE.

(from WOAI-TV)

That's this weekend. Hurry!

"Dozens of dogs seized from woman's home"

Here's another case of animal hoarding.

According to police, 33 dogs were found at the home in the 100 block of Elgin Avenue on the East Side. Many of them were caged or tied down, living in a foot of animal waste and newspaper.

Neighbors say the 43-year-old homeowner was known for feeding and housing homeless dogs she found on the streets.

(from WOAI-TV)

Wow. Thirty-three dogs. Living in waste twelve inches deep. That's a problem.

Car crashes into house

This time in happened in the 800 block of Westwood Street.

The driver lost control and plowed through the kitchen area of a house after hitting another house and taking out a fence. It is believed the driver was intoxicated.

Thankfully, nobody was injured.

(from WOAI-TV)

Two houses. And a fence. That dude must have been flying.

Simians in S.A.

First it's Bigfoot, now it's something else.

Following news reports about a woman who told police she had seen the elusive Sasquatch near Loop 1604 and Texas 151 Monday night, workers at JD's Paint and Body Shop on Wednesday released a murky video that shows what appears to be a hairy animal the workers say has been foraging around their trash bin for several weeks now.

Fidel Amaton, who is a technician at the body shop, was the first to see the animal early last month as he was throwing trash into the bin behind the shop. Amaton said it was early in the morning and he still was rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he was startled by what appeared to be a monkey that jumped out of the bin.

He said that unlike the 6-foot-tall “Bigfoot” sighted near Loop 1604, this animal was about 3 feet tall. It bared its teeth and let out a high-pitched hiss before it scaled the fence to the neighboring business.

(from the Express-News) (Yes, there's video, but it's not very good.)

Looks like the Alamo City is getting a bit more ape-friendly.

And for those of you who might suspect the animal is a baboon from Southwest Research, they swear they're not missing any.

But he did wonder if the animal could have escaped from the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, which keeps baboons on hand and is located just north of the shop at Loop 410 and Texas 151.

The two immediately called the foundation. Adrian Duarte, the shop's manager, said that a few hours later, two individuals showed up to inspect the prints. He said the men told them they resembled a baboon's print.

Foundation officials said Wednesday they don't know what it is but they do know it's not theirs.

I bet it's somebody's pet monkey that escaped or was turned loose because they couldn't care for the animal any more. Or I guess it could be a baby Bigfoot.

What do you think?

Being Van Gogh

Not your usual piece of evidence.

SAN ANTONIO -- When a 32-year-old woman was sexually assaulted near Our Lady of the Lake University on March 29 2008, she managed to bite off her attacker’s right earlobe.

Through DNA technology using the earlobe, authorities were able to link 31-year-old Daniel Martinez to the rape.

During his trial Tuesday, prosecutors played Martinez’ police department interview for the jury. It was recorded on January 13 when Martinez was arrested after the DNA match was made. Throughout the interview Martinez repeatedly insisted he could not remember the attack.

(from KSAT-12)

Good presence of mind to hang on to that earlobe. I'm glad the victim was able to keep her wits about her even while being assaulted.

Bigfoot?

Or chupacabra?

You decide.

SAN ANTONIO -- Experts are now investigating reported sightings of a large, hairy, 'Bigfoot-type' creature on the West Side.

Police said the 'Bigfoot-type' creature was spotted in the area around Highway 151 and Loop 1604. A caller told police a large, tall, hairy creature dragged a deer carcass into the woods. Officers searched the area, but said they did not find anything.

"If one sighting is real, then that means something is out there," said Rick Tullos, who is a member of the Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization.

(from WOAI-TV)

Oh, sorry. It's not a "Bigfoot." It's just a "Bigfoot-type" creature. Move along, now.

How exackly will it be enforced?

Found on South St. Mary's Street.