Car crashes into house

Apartment, really, but there was someone living there nonetheless. And he got a rude awakening.

A father says he woke up to the sound of a vehicle smashing into his Northwest Side apartment early Thursday.

The accident happened around 4:00 a.m. Thursday at the Stone Brook Apartments on Border Brook, near Wurzbach Road. The Jeep crashed into the father's bedroom. The father said he at first thought he was dreaming. His daughter was asleep in another room. Both escaped injury.

(from WOAI-TV)

No fences were involved, though.

Not revealing the identity

This is a sad story, and it is weird all on its own.

SAN ANTONIO -- A 6-year-old girl was found dead inside a large microwave in her family's backyard Saturday night, police said.

Police said the girl was reported missing shortly before 7 p.m., and discovered at about 10 p.m. in what officers described as a large, old-fashioned microwave. Her death is currently being treated as an accidental sudden death.

(from KSAT-12)

But what is really strange is that simultaneous with saying that officials have chosen to withhold the girl's name ...



... KSAT decides to lead to this story from its home page with a full-on image of the child. [The blurring below is mine. KSAT did nothing to disguise the image.]



Is it sweeps month, yet?

Parents who should have thought a lot more

That's about all I can say.

SAN ANTONIO -- Christopher Murrell, 24, and Monica De Leon, 22, were arrested June 23 after witnesses said they were using heroin in their car in the parking lot of Southpark Mall as their three children sat in the back seat,[sic] .

According to the police report, there were several syringes found in the car, one lying near the children in the back seat.

Police said they also found a bag of heroin and a baby bottle filled with water they were reportedly using to clean the syringes for their heroin use.

(from KSAT-12)

BONUS STRANGENESS: The video at that link is about a horse track.

Someone who should have thought a little more

About his heist, that is. And if it would be worth the possibility of being caught and locked up for a long time.

Police are looking for a man who allegedly walked into a Walmart store, pulled a gun on employees and then took off with an inflatable kiddie pool.

Officers said the man also tried to steal an inflatable boat before taking off in a yellow taxi.

(from KENS-5)

C'mon, KENS, we need to know more. Did the taxicab belong to him, or was it waiting for him while he made his hurried purchases?

I am genuinely curious.

Car crashes into house

Well, it was a storage shed, really. But it happened at an apartment complex!

Police arrested [Christopher] Marin at the Villas at Costa Brava apartments in the 7300 block of Potranco Road, some time after 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Neighbors told police they saw Marin get behind the wheel and ram his SUV into a small building in the front of the complex that acts as a storage shed for the maintenance staff. A worker at the complex Wednesday morning said everything inside the shed, including golf carts and several 5-gallon cans of paint, had been destroyed.

Priscilla Medina, 6, was outside with her family when the chaos unfolded, starting with a loud fight at the apartment next door. Medina said she saw a man who was visiting the residents break a window, then jump behind the wheel of an SUV and slam into the building wall.

"He was driving crazy then went straight and hit it," Medina said. "Then he started walking toward the bus stop."

(from KSAT-12)

Of course he was headed for the bus stop. He obviously didn't have a working vehicle after the incident.

BONUS STRANGENESS: The fact that a news outlet would interview a six-year-old kid for a story about a serious and potentially dangerous course of action and then use the kid's quote to illustrate the story.

Missing the obvious

Cockfighting takes place in Texas, and it obviously happens in San Antonio, too.

SAN ANTONIO -- The Bexar County Sheriff's Office and San Antonio Animal Care Services have busted what they're calling a cockfighting operation.

Deputies discovered the illegal gambling Sunday morning on a property located in the 15900 block of Henze Road on the city's Southeast side.

A total of 60 roosters were seized by Animal Care Services and the Sheriff's Office, said Lisa Norwood, a spokeswoman for ACS. Norwood said the property where the birds were found had a covered arena where the birds were forced to fight in a ring for money.

(from KSAT-12)

But the presence of the cockfighting ring is not what really caught my eye as unusual. No, that was what the ACS spokeswoman had to say about the fates of these yardbirds gone bad.

Norwood said none of the surviving birds are likely to live much longer because they are too dangerous and will have to be euthanized.

"These animals are bred to fight; they're bred to kill," Norwood said. "Unless you can find an organization that's willing to take these animals in, house them individually for the rest of their lives, there's not really much you can do in terms of rehoming fighting roosters." [emphasis added]

Ummm, can we eat them? I mean, they may be ornery, but they are still chickens, right? They're not dogs or cats that you can adopt out, and people around here already find chickens do quite well in fryers, on grills, and in the oven instead of just in coops. So, why bother "rehoming" them? Maybe they don't need a home at all, and maybe they can do just as well in another place. Some place that could be a haven, so to speak.

"San Antonio B-cycle program fails miserably"

Oh, no. Trouble in cycling paradise.

The whole B-cycle system is flawed. The 30-minute time limit is way too short, and if they can’t even keep the kiosks working, I'd hate to actually test the condition of the bikes. My advice is to skip the whole system and rent from a bike shop like the Blue Star.

(from WOAI's CyberBob)

A few months ago I drew attention to the new bicycle sharing program called B-cycle and noted that it was the first of its kind in Texas. I would have thought that Austin would have beaten everyone to the whole bike-sharing thing. But I also said this in the comments: "It should be interesting to see what state the program is in a year from now." If CyberBob's experience is any indication, that state won't be anything to crow about.

Independence Day

Happy birthday, America.

"Seguin reclaims title as home of the world's largest pecan"

Thank heavens. I was worried.

The small town of Seguin has reclaimed its title as home of the world's largest pecan. Since the 1960's the world's largest pecan has been sitting on the city's courthouse lawn. "It's been a focal point in the community right here in the heart of Seguin, ", said City Manger Doug Faseler.

Seguin lost it's title to a town in Missouri several years ago, and the city leaders knew they had to do something. It took several months, but the The Texas Agricultural and Heritage Center built a new pecan.

"It weights 23 hundred pounds, it's 16 feet long, 8 feet in diameter," said Mel Grones with the Texas Agricultural and Heritage Center.

(from WOAI-TV)

Feh. Who thinks of Missouri anyway when someone mentions pecans?