House crashes onto person

The domiciles are starting to fight back, but I think they are taking it out on the wrong entities.

A man was taken to University Hospital after police said a house fell on him Sunday afternoon.

At around 3 p.m. on the West side, police said the 32-year-old man was trying to do some leveling work on his house when it fell on him.

"What had happened is the main pier that he was jacking up actually tilted," said San Antonio Fire Department Battalion Chief Richard Giusti. "The whole house shifted and when it shifted it trapped the bottom part of his torso."

...

The victim was taken to University Hospital and as of Sunday evening was in stable condition, but paramedics were also checking for internal bleeding.

(from KSAT-12)

Maybe he was a car buff.

Doing Fiesta

Did you remember it was Fiesta? Have you been having a good time? There are a couple of days left to the party, so you've still got time to put your party face on and share it with friends, if you haven't done so already.

Just remember, everyone else is watching you have a fun time, too. So make it a good party face.














(from KENS-5)

Car crashes into house

Apartment building, really. But you get the point.

The accident happened at the Hunter's Ridge Apartments located in the 2300 Block of Northwest Military.

Crystal Marcs said she was trying to make a left hand turn onto Northwest Military when a Ford Focus came speeding through the traffic light at Braesview.

"He was doing probably about 50 miles an hour and slammed right into the building," Marcs said.

The car ended up in the front door of one of the buildings at the apartment complex.

(from KSAT-12)

I guess those bollards don't do much good, in real life. Or maybe they do. Maybe that car would have ended up doing a lot more damage without them.

But it seems there was definitely some damage going on inside the car as well.

Officers arrested the driver and found a large zip-lock bag of pot inside the car. Marcs said it appeared to her the teen was under the influence.

"When I asked him if was OK he was like, 'Oh my God, what did I do? Where am I?', I had to get his driver's license just to get his name," Marcs said.

Yes. Where are you, indeed.

Someone who should have started thinking a long time ago

Kinda hard to feel sorry for this guy.

Police say the man suspected of fatally stabbing two women and injuring an 11-year-old boy on Thursday morning was hospitalized after getting hit by a truck while running from police.

San Antonio police Chief William McManus said 36-year-old Corey Hiller is expected to survive.

Hiller is accused of stabbing his 39-year-old ex-girlfriend Rhonda Watson-Hammonds, her 11-year-old son and a 48-year-old family friend on Thursday morning at a house in the 4500 block of Emil Street.

...

Hiller, who fled the scene and was missing Thursday morning, was later spotted and led police on a chase that ended when the suspect bailed out of his car near I-35 and Walters.

"Just when he got to the top of the highway, he turned around and made an obscene gesture to the police officers who were following him - trying to apprehend him - and then threw a knife at the officers," said McManus. "We don't know if it's the same knife that was used this morning. But then he ran out into the highway and was struck by a truck."

(from KENS-5)

I don't believe in karma, but if I did this incident would have bolstered my faith.

Someone who should think a little more when dressing

If you decide to embark upon a life of crime, you might want to seriously consider what you're wearing when you commit your illegal deeds. You know, in case you get caught after trying to carjack someone. And you get put on television wearing your Stewie-as-thug T-shirt.



(from KSAT-12)

Of course, if you're the cop who gets to escort this guy out in front of the cameras, you might want to put something on over your Coors Light shirt. That takes some consideration, too.

"Man, 82, dies in freak lawn accident"

Gruesome.

Edward Turgeon, 82, died Monday morning after suffering severe leg injuries while clearing heavy brush from his property in the 5600 block of South Flores.

Turgeon was using an old-style bush whacker with a circular saw when he somehow fell and the blade cut both of his legs.

"The blade is not even sealed. It's wide open," said Moses Garza, a longtime friend and tenant, who rented out space on Turgeon's property. "It's a dangerous piece of equipment there."

(from KSAT-12)

The old man probably had that horrific piece of equipment since the days when he was a young man, so many years ago. Those were more dangerous times, in many ways.

Ozzy?

Apparently someone thinks he's a rock-and-roll rebel.

Daniel Athens, 21, was allegedly intoxicated when he was detained in front of the Alamo around 9:25 p.m., according to a member of the Alamo Rangers. He was arrested on two Class C misdemeanors, for public intoxication and urinating in public.

According to Melinda Navarro, the Alamo Committee chairwoman with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Athens walked around the olive tree in front of the shrine, then ducked under a chain and did his deed on the nearly 300-year-old limestone façade. One of three rangers guarding the historic site Saturday night saw Athens, Navarro said. There were numerous visitors also on the grounds.

“The ranger started running towards him, but the guy had already done his thing,” she said. “So he took him inside the gates and waited for the San Antonio Police Department.”

(from the Express-News)

But, also just as apparently, this isn't such a rebellious thing to do.

The last person arrested for urinating at the Alamo was in January 2009, according to published reports.

Do it first, you're a rebel. Do it fifth, you're just a copycat.

No, Cujo! No!

(from the KENS-5 slideshow covering the El Rey Fido coronation)

When taking photographs, even casually, you should pay close attention to forced perspective. Whether you want it to be there or not.

The gift of life

This is a heart-warming story that started off scary, included some heroic behavior, and ended happily with a bit of sentence to go with your solace.

Gina Walker said she was only a few weeks pregnant with her fifth child when things first started going wrong..

She thought she had a miscarriage but it turned out she had a blood clot.

She said things got worse from there.

"The whole pregnancy was horrific. Every week was a new symptom, a new hemorrhage, a new blood clot, a new this, a new that. The baby was going to have issues," she said.

Eventually, doctors said she had a condition called Placenta Percreta, which occurs in about 1 percent of all pregnancies.

...

Parker said the medical team was prepared for a lot of bleeding [during the birth] but they had never had a case this complicated.

They expected Gina to need about 10 liters of blood. She required 117. That's roughly about 35 gallons of blood.

...

Friends, family and hospital staff rushed to donate blood to keep up with the demand.

(from KSAT-12)

The mother survived. And so did the baby. And we all have those friends, family, and hospital staff workers to be grateful to.

Thank you.

You will believe a car can fly

And then land with a mighty crunch.

A driver lost control of her SUV Monday night, leaving the highway and crashing into several cars in a church parking lot, police said.

The accident happened shortly after 6 p.m. outside Loop 410 West after the Northwest Military Highway exit, according to a police at the scene.

Police said the driver swerved off the westbound lanes of Loop 410. The SUV then crossed the access road, jumped a concrete barrier and rolled over half a dozen cars in the parking lot of a church.

(from KSAT-12)

Waking up on Easter

For those who don't know, camping out in the city parks on Easter weekend is a tradition for some people. They've been doing it for a long time, and they're going to keep doing it, no matter what, so the City of San Antonio accommodates them by lifting the ban on overnight camping for the weekend. It's sort of like an annual Occupy event that's been going on for decades, but one that's less angry and that's over by Monday morning.

If you've never camped out in the parks yourself, KSAT-12 has a brief look at the scene. For your entertainment, of course. The station sent one of its brave -- and perhaps a bit foolish -- reporters out on Sunday morning to see what it's like when these campers first wake up for their Easter festivities. Or, really, when they get woken up by a bright light and a camera.

Check it out. The fun part really starts at 1:10.

Fireball over San Antonio

Did you see it? Something hot and flamy fell through the sky over San Antonio today.

People who reported seeing a fiery ball of light in the cloudless noon sky today really did see an unidentified flying object.

The flying object has not been identified. But no one has conjectured that it held little green men with giant eyes.

It's likely falling space debris or a meteor, according to the National Weather Service.

...

Jane Marke, an amateur astronomer, said she was at a traffic light near the airport when she saw a bright light streaking across the eastern sky at 11:49 a.m.

“I saw a brightness of light fall from the sky, going very fast,” said Marke. “I would say it was about 1 magnitude. That's about as bright as you can get.”

(from the Express-News)

I didn't see today's event, but I did see something similar and very cool back in the late 1980s (possibly early 1990s). That something was a Russian satellite.

On that night so many years ago, I was driving home from work sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m., and I saw a big ball of flame burn its way across the black sky. It definitely surprised me, and I slowed down almost to a stop (don't worry; rural roads -- little to no traffic) just so I could watch the thing lumber across the sky until it burned out. I say "lumbered" because it didn't look like the streak of a typical meteorite. It looked big, and it looked like it was moving slow, and it was definitely burning. I could see real flames, and it took several seconds for the fires to burn themselves out into the blackness of the night.

I went home, thinking I had seen a meteor. And, since I lived alone at the time, I had no one to share the experience with right away. And then the next morning on my way to class I listened to the morning news on the radio and heard them announce that a defunct Russian satellite had re-entered the atmosphere and burned up somewhere over Central Texas.

I was ecstatic! I had seen it! I had actually been in a position to witness such a hardcore event firsthand, with my own eyes, and with the opportunity to slow down and appreciate the moment as it unfolded. I never found out if they located that Russian wreckage, and I have no idea what satellite that was, but it was very cool to see.

So I was a little jealous when I heard this news today. I would have liked to have seen it.

If you saw the event today, tell me: Was it cool?

"Man shot in head while hunting vermin on San Antonio River"

Duck!

A man was rushed to the hospital early Monday morning after Bexar County deputies say he was shot in the head while hunting vermin along the San Antonio River near Braunig Lake.

Deputies said they received a call from a man around 4:40 a.m. saying his hunting partner has [sic] been shot while hunting on private property.

...

The men were first believed to be hunting for feral hogs, but deputies said the [sic] Davis's hunting partner then clarified that they were actually hunting vermin.

(from KENS-5)

I have to admit, I've never done any hunting at night (at least not with guns). Are the possums easier to hit in the dark?

I am genuinely curious.

How not to act toward a cop

Where did this guy think he was? Mexico?

According to a police report, the restaurant manager approached two officers in the parking lot as they were about to enter the business to buy food.

The manager told officers about a man who was acting aggressively toward customers, cussing at them, and banging his head against a glass partition, the report said.

While the officers were talking to the manager, [Alejandro] Alviar walked out of the Subway with his fists balled up and approached the officers, the report said.

At one point, he threatened to head-butt an officer, but the officers tackled him and took him to the ground, police said.

After he was in handcuffs, they said, Alviar admitted to drinking and using drugs earlier in the evening.

Two other officers who had arrived later to transport him to jail said he offered them up to $200 cash to let him go.

(from KSAT-12)

He offered a bribe to the police officers of "up to $200"? What, was he negotiating?

"Man arrested in beating of woman who refused threesome"

Well, this seems like an odd way to convince someone.

Police have charged a San Antonio man in the beating of a woman who refused to partake in a sexual threesome.

Jack Lee Buck, 50, was charged late Saturday with enhanced family violence assault, a third-degree felony. Bail was set at $15,000.

Police responded to a domestic disturbance at a house in the 4000 block of Lord Road in December.

A woman there said Buck had struck her in the knees and back using a wooden baton outside the home after she declined the threesome.

(from the Express-News)

A wooden baton? Do they mean a police baton? If not, why not just say "stick"?

Car crashes into house

OK, it's a truck, not a car. But apparently that pick-up had it in for other trucks as well.

According to officers, the man was headed west on Ruiz when he lost control of the truck.

Police said he hit another pick-up truck before he slammed the house.

A family was inside in the kitchen and debris from the accident injured a woman.

Police said she was taken to the hospital but her injuries were not believed to be serious.

(from KSAT-12)

"Police: East S.A. is Gang Related"

You don't say.



(from KABB-29)

Oh, the difference a "shooting" makes.

You will believe a man can fly

Do you like lucha libre? Brian Mylar from KSAT-12 does, and he shared pictures of a West Side match he recently attended.

¡Puro!

Someone who says he wished he could have thought a little more

Because of a tumor.

Many in the Judson Independent School District will recall the arrest last August of Edward Hernandez, a volunteer coach and Judson Athletic Booster Club president accused of stealing $7,758 of its funds.

When he pleaded no contest last week to the felony theft charge, Hernandez said his attorney submitted a letter to the court from Dr. David Garrett Jr., his neurologist, in hopes his medical condition could lead to deferred adjudication.

While he awaits the outcome, Hernandez said he wanted to share the letters contents so the public can judge “the whole story,” not just the mug shot that many saw aired last summer.

In his letter, Garrett described how he removed a large benign brain tumor last January that affected Hernandez’s personality, behavior and memory for at least the past two years.

“He (Hernandez) should not be held responsible for any behavior that violates social norms because he had little to no control over his impulses due to the tumor,” Garrett wrote.

(from KSAT-12)

I do understand that physical injury to a brain can cause personality changes, memory loss, and behavioral problems (because I do remember Phineas Gage), but is Hernandez fine now? He seems to be going to great effort to repay the money, so there's no reason to disbelieve his excuse, and he does have the testimony of his neurologist. All signs point to recovery, and I hope that's the case. I hope Hernandez turns out OK.

But it's definitely a different situation.

Car crashes into house

This time for real!

The accident happened around 1:45 p.m. Thursday in the 4300 block of Knollshire, near Classen Road and Stall Road. A neighbor said she was working in her yard when she saw a Range Rover traveling at a high rate of speed crash into the front of the home. The homeowner said he was asleep in his bedroom in the back of the house when he heard was [sic] sounded like a "sonic boom" and then climbed out a window. He was not injured.

(from WOAI-TV)



Great. Not only are the automobiles out to wreak their horrible vengeance upon our domiciles (and doing pretty good jobs, too!), but now they travel faster than the speed of sound!

What terrifying powers will they manifest next?

Car crashes into house

Well, almost.

An injured driver may have criminal charges waiting for him when he's released from a hospital, police said.

Police said the man was likely drunk when he crashed his sport utility vehicle into a tree in the 800 block of West Bitters Road early Wednesday.

The driver of the Nissan Xterra lost control of the vehicle and went into an apartment complex parking lot, crashed through a wooden fence and landed on its side in a low-profile tree, according to police.

(from KSAT-12)

OK, that car didn't trash an abode, but at least it got a fence and a ---- a what?

a low-profile tree, according to police

Jeez. Is that what we're calling bushes these days?

Someone who should have dressed a little more

Before he hit the road, at least.

Police stopped a wrong way driver on Loop 1604 and Judson Road early Friday morning.

Investigators say a man going the wrong way also had a flat tire as he drove on Loop 1604. He eventually stopped at a gas station off Judson Road where investigators found he had only a t-shirt on and no pants.

(from WOAI-TV)

So how was he going to pay to get his flat fixed?

Car crashes into guardrail

And apparently it really was just the car! By itself!

Police responded to a crash Tuesday morning where a car became impaled by a guardrail, but the driver was nowhere to be found.

The accident happened around 2:30 a.m. at Loop 410 and Exchange Parkway.

Officers responded to the scene and said at least two feet of guardrail was on the driver's side but nobody was inside the vehicle.

A short time later, police said they found a man wandering around behind a strip mall. Police said the man was intoxicated, but not injured.

(from KSAT-12)

Not injured, but probably a lot more sober.

Sewage!

Vandals are never up to any good. And, many times, they downright stink.

Vandals are being blamed for an 84,500-gallon sewer spill.

San Antonio Water System authorities say crews responded to a sewer spill near Cloud Top and Blanco Road on the city's north side.

SAWS says vandals wedged a board into a manhole cover in the Deerfield neighborhood. The board caused a blockage that forced sewage to spill into a greenbelt. About .84,500 gallons of sewage mixed into some rainwater.

(from KENS-5)

That damned Germanic tribe. Can't trust 'em around infrastructure for nothin'.

Getting your illustration wrong

This is the photo art that accompanied Ruben Navarette's column in today's Express-News:



Notice anything not quite right?

Car crashes into house

And Alan saw it happen! Live!

This morning right about 8:00, as I was working, I actually witnessed a car crash into a house. Of course I couldn't take any photos of it, so you'll just have to take my word for it. If it turns up in a news report, it was the one at the corner of Cliffwood and Buckeye.

I'm so jealous of that guy. I never get to see cars crashing into houses. Oh, well. I guess that's what I get for working inside.

Talking about the weather, for the umpteenth time

Finally!



I knew it was only a matter of time.

Taking the graffiti to the streets

Alan at Blogonomicon shows us how that's done.

Someone who should think a little more

About who he tries to steal money from!

A taco truck was the target, literally, of a robber Sunday morning.

Police say a man in his 20's tried to rob the truck in the 1400 block of Culebra.

But when he wasn't able to score any cash, the would-be robber fired a shot inside the truck, police say.

The bullet struck a wall, ricocheted and fell onto the taco truck grill.

(from KSAT-12)

It's funny (and fortunate!) that the bullet landed on the grill and gave the police a nice piece of evidence. But do you know what's weirder? The robber couldn't get any money.

Why no money? The news story doesn't say, but I truly wonder why the bad guy went away empty handed. Did the owner refuse to hand over the money, or was there no cash at all in the vehicle? If so, I'd be a little leery of that taco truck. You know, the one that can't sell a taco.

Talking about the weather, for the thousandth time

Oh, it's going to happen tomorrow, I can just feel it.



It was just last November that I realized WOAI's weather updates web page was going to surpass the 1,000th comment mark. And now that momentous occasion is upon us.

I congratulate you, WOAI. Well done. I don't think I have ever seen a blog posting or a web page with that many comments.

Standing against ...

This was the scene at the 22nd annual International Women's Day march, as reported on by the San Antonio Express-News:



'Cause, you know, nothin' says "woman" quite like the color of your skin.

Complying with the law

To drive your vehicle legally in Texas, you need a license plate.

But you don't necessarily need a bumper to put it on.





And you don't need no bracket, neither.





If he used good sheet metal screws, that plate ain't goin' nowhere.

Shooting the hand that helps you

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be the good guy.

San Antonio police Sgt. Daniel Gonzales said the suspect, 19, apparently had an accident along southbound Interstate 37 near the Commerce exit. His vehicle landed upside down in a grassy area past a guardrail just off the highway's main lanes.

The driver of an armored truck pulled over to help the man, who pulled out a handgun and shot at the good Samaritan but did not hurt him.

The suspect then reportedly ran away from the scene of the crash, leaving behind a passenger in his vehicle who received non life-threatening injuries in the rollover.

(from the Express-News)

Surprisingly, the suspect may have been under the influence at the time. Even so, his actions in response to receiving a little assistance seem a bit extreme.

Of course, the Express-News was concerned that this happened downtown, and that San Antonio's vital tourism trade might have been affected by the weird shooting. The newspaper was so worried their reporter went to the trouble to seek out -- and then actually publish -- this anecdote:

Tourists Nancy and Leonard Marak, 61 and 66, respectively, were at the Days Inn hotel when the suspect's vehicle landed in the grassy area just next to the building. They said they heard sirens but did not know what the commotion was about.

“It didn't affect us one bit,” Nancy Marak said.

Stay frosty and alert.

Making do with what you've got

CLKe OSEP EDout

This means you!

Waiting for a train

Three guesses as to what this guy was doing "already up" at 3:00 a.m. (skip to 1:05)



(from KENS-5)

Cauliflower!

So many heads. Lost!

A 18 wheeler with a load of vegetables on board flipped on a busy highway exchange Sunday morning.

...

The rig driver wasn't hurt in the accident.

He'd been hauling a load of cauliflower when the truck flipped.

(from KSAT-12)

The only thing that would have made that better is if a truck full of ranch dressing had crashed right on top of it.

Mardi Gras is coming

Get dressed for it!



(from the KENS-5 slideshow)

Taking risks with life

If you are thinking about taking up a life of petty crime, ask yourself this: Is a potted plant worth your very life?

A suspected burglar was shot by a homeowner Wednesday morning while attempting to steal a potted plant, police said.

The man had just dropped his children off at school when he went to a home in the 700 block of Shadwell and tried to swipe the plan[t], police said.

Moments later, the homeowner shot the man with a handgun, police said. The bullet grazed the man on the head.

(from KSAT-12)

Remember, this is Texas, and criminals are likely to get shot if they are caught stealing, breaking and entering, or engaging in any other crimes against their neighbors.

It's a good thing to consider before you swipe something.

Not getting how dates work

What's wrong with this news story, which was published today, Tuesday, February 14, 2012?

A 13-year-old boy who had been reported missing Tuesday afternoon has been found safe and sound.

Bradley Meinz was found late Wednesday afternoon at the central library downtown.

San Antonio had been searching for him after his family reported him missing.

He had not come home from school Monday, as expected.

(from KSAT-12)

Today is Tuesday, February 14, 2012.

Making it easy for the police

Sometimes I just wonder how they decided that a life of crime was good for them.

Officers are searching Monday morning for an armed robbery suspect who they say left behind a big piece of evidence: his wallet.

Investigators said the man walked into the Planet K Texas in the 5600 block of Evers Street just before midnight on Sunday and threatened the clerk with a gun. The clerk handed over some cash, although the suspect didn't stuff it in his wallet.

Instead, police said the suspect hastily took off on foot, accidentally dropped his wallet in the adult novelty store.

(from KENS-5)

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for criminals making it easier for the authorities to apprehend them. But I wonder if guys like this get any pointers at all before going down this life path.

P.S.: "Adult novelty store"? Is a news story above calling a head shop a "head shop"?

Modern day snake oil

Look here, someone has solved our drinking water problem! But guess what -- it's not cheap. And its probably not necessary, at least the way this guy envisions it.

Hill Country inventor Terry LeBleu has invented a machine that turns thin air into clean, pure drinking water.

Terry says all the parts to his invention are readily available stock items and he is willing to show you exactly how you can build one yourself.

The heart of his invention is Sears Kenmore 70-pint dehumidifier.

Condensed water is further purified and sterilized with filters and ultraviolet light.

It takes about three days to make 40 gallons of ultra-pure water that are stored in a food-grade plastic barrel.

The parts to the machine cost around $700 but he can sell you his pre-made Big Dipper for $800.

(from KSAT-12)

I will admit, right out of the gate, that I am no scientist. And I'm certainly not a hydrologist. But -- now, correct me if I'm wrong -- I seem to remember that distilled water is pure water, and distillation relies on condensation. So, wouldn't anything that is condensed out of the air already be pure water? Why the need for the filters and the ultraviolet light to further purify and sterilize, unless merely to add cost? (Remember! The fully assembled Big Dipper only costs $800!) Seems to me like a plain ole Sears Kenmore 70-pint dehumidifier is all you really need, right?

Well, that and some humid air.

And what the hell does "ultra-pure" mean anyway?

Smuggling razors

How bad must it be -- or appear to be -- in your new jail cell to make you do this to stay in your current one?

According to an arrest warrant, 21-year-old Francisco Rodriguez was being transferred to another [Bexar County jail] annex but told jailers he refused to go because he had too many many [sic] enemy's [sic] in that part of the jail.

He then allegedly asked a jailer if he would be transferred back to the main jail if he were caught with weapons, prompting jailers to handcuff and question the inmate.

According to records, Rodriguez admitted to having weapons on him. Jailers searched Rodriguez and found in the waistband of his boxer shorts two razor blades wrapped in paper.

(from KENS-5)

Killing a cultural tradition

The St. Patrick's Day parade is now dead, apparently due to unevenly applied city regulations.

The Harp and Shamrock Society of Texas has hosted the annual parade for more than four decades in downtown San Antonio. This year, however, they said the parade has been canceled due to high costs.

“We are the oldest and largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the state,” said society president Terence Peak.

The costs are just too high, Peak said. Especially those imposed by the city.

“The cost that the city fees involve in barricades and police officers plus other fees is over $12,000,” Peak said. “We can’t afford this type of expense and we don’t seem to have any support from the city.”

Peak said the lack of city support stems from an ordinance he claims waives certain fees for parades with cultural significance. Peak said the society has been denied certain waivers in the past, so this year they’ve canceled the parade.

(from KENS-5)

So, people who like to style themselves "occupiers" can camp illegally in a city park without permits and without reimbursing the City of San Antonio for the cost of a police presence, but people with Irish heritage cannot have a parade for one day because the City charges too much and the organizers cannot secure waivers because the event is not culturally significant enough.

Do I have that about right?

Thanks, city leaders.

Not strange in San Antonio: Remembering Edward White

He died 45 years ago today.

Who was he? He was this guy.



He was an astronaut. He was the first American to ever walk in space. He was from San Antonio. And he died on this day in 1967.

In the Apollo 1 capsule.

His death -- along with those of fellow astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Roger Chaffee -- were very tragic, but their passing woke NASA up to some very important changes that needed to be made in order to make space travel much, much safer for everyone else who came after them.

Thank you, Col. White. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten. Your family can be very proud of you. San Antonio can be proud of you. And we are.

We are.

Ponying up phony bills

Attention, all workers of fast food shops, gas stations, retail stores, and like establishments: Always -- always -- be suspicious of people who use very large bills to pay for small items.

Like drinks. (Emphases below are added, of course.)

According to a police report, the robber ordered a root beer float about 10:30 p.m. at the [Sonic] restaurant in the 1600 block of General McMullen Drive, paid with a $100 bill and told the victim to keep $3 as tip.

When the car hop went through his money to make change for a $20 bill at the customer's request, he noticed the $100 bill felt fake and confronted the customer, the report states.

They argued, with the customer pocketing the possibly phony $100, pulling out another $100 bill but refusing to hand it over, and finally threatening the car hop with a knife.

(from the Express-News)

You shouldn't wait until the money feels fake to get suspicious. Anytime anyone orders one drink and tries to pay with a Benjamin, you might want to start considering him with a wary eye. Right away.

You just might.

Someone who should have thought a little more

Have you ever been stopped by the police?

It's OK, most of us have. When you got stopped, though, were you given a ticket? If so, did you try to fight the ticket, take defensive driving, plead "nolo contendre", or any of the other customary options to resolve the violation?

If you did any of these, then congratulations! You did what was expected and customary, and most likely that ticket is no longer a part of your life.

Oh, but did you also lose several thousand dollars along the way? Do you think maybe that bad cop who gave you a ticket stole your money? Well, if so, you should give your next actions a lot of thought before you carry them out, because law enforcement takes a dim view of responses that are atypical.

Bexar County constables say [Alberto] DeLaTorre accused one of their deputies of stealing $5,000 in cash from him during that stop. An investigation yielded a different story.

According to the warrant, the 36-year-old was clocked doing 79 miles per hour in a 45 miles-per-hour speed area. Deputies say he was pulled over. The deputy reportedly smelled burnt marijuana coming from the vehicle. He says the argumentative suspect was asked out of his vehicle. He was then ticketed and released.

On Jan 11, the perjury suspect filed a complaint against the deputy alleging cash was stolen from his car during the traffic stop. The warrant says constables reminded him that the traffic stop was recorded on a patrol car camera. DeLaTorre allegedly stuck to his story and emphasized that law enforcement was corrupt.

Investigators say they reviewed the patrol car video and found nothing to support the man's claim.

(from KENS-5)

Note the term "perjury suspect" that the news story uses. That means the authorities did not like his lying to them, especially after they had given him a chance to take his story back after being reminded about the presence of video cameras.

That guy is lucky he was released at all during the initial stop in December. Going nearly 80 mph in a 45 zone, with a smell of marijuana wafting around your car? That's almost begging to be taken in for a free tour of the booking facilities before the night is out. But the constable who pulled him over was nice enough to let the guy go with a ticket, and for his gracious leniency he gets repaid with an accusation of theft.

I hope that officer continues to be lenient to people he pulls over, despite the treatment he got from this suspect. Most traffic violators aren't out to make life difficult for police officers, and almost none of them would go to this much trouble to get back at them.

I hope he remembers that. Especially if he happens to pull me over someday.

Climbing the courthouse

Really? Again?

Two people were arrested early Tuesday morning after police caught them on the roof of the Bexar County Courthouse.

Police said someone noticed the couple on the roof around 4:15 a.m. and called authorities.

Police arrived and found a 23-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman on a landing of the roof.

Investigators believe they were planning to break into the building and said they used a fire escape to get on the roof.

Police said they would not be charged with trespassing but face charges of public intoxication.

(from KSAT-12)

What is so fascinating about the top of the Bexar County Courthouse that makes people want to climb up there? Why that pile and not the surrounding structures? Does it have something to do with defiance of authority specifically, or is it just a building that looks so interesting it must be climbed?

And why charge the two in this story with public intoxication but not trespassing? Do they actually need to break into the building (as the other dorks did back in October) before they can get charged with trespassing? They are on the roof, and they are obviously up to no good, so hit them with the trespass charge along with PI, or let them go free. The PI charge makes less sense as they are not so much in public and very much so on property where they are not supposed to be.

In any case, they should be more careful. And they should give more thought to where they seek to share moments alone, at least when they are a bit sloshed in the downtown area.

Talking about the weather, 910 edition

We are almost there!



Just 90 short comments to go! We can do it!

(From WOAI-TV. Background here and here.)

"S.A. police chief admits errors on night of woman's murder"

This is bad all around.

San Antonio police Chief William McManus admitted on Tuesday to "unfortunate errors" made while handling calls hours before officers found a woman raped and murdered early Friday morning.

McManus explained that a caller reported a disturbance overnight at 835 Menchaca St., but that the call taker recorded the address as 1135 Menchaca St. The incorrect address was passed on to the dispatcher, who in turn sent officers to the wrong home.

"The initial error was dispatching to 1135 as opposed to 835," McManus said. "The officers were sidetracked from that."

Police received another report shortly after about a possible assault at nearby Elmendorf and Micklejohn. McManus said officers heard screaming from a home, were let inside by a woman and found a man flushing drugs down the toilet.

(from KENS-5)

That toilet-flushing scene was not what the original call was about. The original call was about something else, something that ended badly, and something that wasn't discovered until it was way, way too late.

I don't mean to beat up on the police here, but an important lesson can be taken away from this: Emergency responders can make mistakes, and those mistakes could turn out very bad for you if you are the one calling for help. Be prepared to fend for yourself, and be prepared for the possibility that help may not be coming your way. It may be the most necessary mental shift you ever make.

Dinosaur afternoon

Now here's something you don't see everyday.



(Tyrannosaurus rex metallicus spotted somewhere along Bandera Road.)

Fighting fires at the water works

Let's hope they weren't hampered by water restrictions.

A fire at a San Antonio Water System Station on Sunday has caused an estimated $100,000 worth of damage and fire officials said it may take a few weeks to fix.

It was around noon on Sunday, when a fire crew driving back from a meeting downtown actually spotted the smoke coming from the SAWS pumping station at the Olmos Basin and responded right away.

Fire officials said the chlorine at the station was not effected [sic] and that they put the fire out fairly quickly, but still, crews had to deal with a lot of smoke.

(from KSAT-12)

R.I.P. Mud Festival

The City of San Antonio decided not to drain the River Walk this year for its annual cleaning. Matter of fact, they claim to be doing such a good job at keeping the tourist attraction clean that they will need to drain it less often in the future.

That's good, having a cleaner River Walk and all. But there is a sad casualty to this development: the Mud Festival.

The Mud Festival is history — at least the version we have come to know since 1987.

“They’re not draining the river and we just thought it was time to regroup,” Marcie Hernandez, the Paseo del Rio Association’s marketing director, said.

The Paseo del Rio is discontinuing the festival which has traditionally coincided with the draining of the river at the start of the year. The city has done such a thorough job cleaning the river in recent years that no draining was necessary in 2012 (although the newer Museum Reach is in the middle of its cleaning). The Paseo del Rio decided this was as good a time as any to shake things up.

(Plus, the city hasn’t allowed the festival to be in the actual mud in years.)

...

Next year, the Paseo del Rio will start a new tradition called the River Festival — taking the place of the Mud Fest — in which aspects of the various River Walk events throughout the year will be incorporated into one event, Hernandez said.

(from The Downtown Blog)

I hope the new "River Festival" is fun. And I hope it's successful. But the name just won't have that same bit of strangeness that made the Mud Festival so endearing, even if it never was as popular as other city parties throughout the year.

Making it easy for the police

You gotta love it when the criminals catch themselves. It makes thing so convenient for the authorities.

A routine traffic stop turned into a police chase after police ran the car's plates and realized it was stolen.

...

Officers tried to pull the suspects over when the registration came back as a stolen vehicle out of Corpus Christi. They didn't get too far. The passenger was arrested as soon as he jumped out of the car and tried to run. As for the driver, he ran right into a mailbox and knocked himself out.

(from WOAI-TV)

Cuffing him probably wasn't very hard. Thanks, clumsy crook!

Someone who should think a lot before doing drugs

This is a whole lot of WTF from just one man.

A wild string of events on the Southeast Side led to a man's arrest Wednesday evening.

Police said the incidents started just before sunset when a couple of kids riding their bikes were approached by the 20-year-old suspect.

"He told us if we wanted to go smoke with him in his clubhouse and we took off," Julian Salazar said.

Police said the suspect chased the kids and also asked them to "have sex," but then headed back to the road and started to throw punches at moving cars.

"Apparently our suspect was acting aggressively and irrationally towards vehicles driving by, swinging at them, trying to hit cars," Sgt. Trey Roussel with the San Antonio Police Department.

Police said the man even jumped into someone's vehicle. "As I was getting out he jumped in and asked me to take him somewhere and I was not going to. In self-defense, I punched him and he jumped out," said Raymond Gleason.

(from KSAT-12)

The police eventually caught him. And guess what? He had been doing drugs.

Surprised?

Someone who should be a little more suspicious

If your friend asks you to drive him to an apartment complex to pick up some things, and then he asks you to wait by a dumpster (you know, kind of hidden away in the parking lot), and then he returns with a couple of major electronic pieces, you might want to ask him -- perhaps -- what the hell he is doing.

Police say a burglary suspect conned his driver into giving him a ride to his next crime.

According to an arrest warrant, 21-year-old Michael Gonzalez asked a woman take him to the 10300 block of Sahara on Nov. 29 to pick up some belongings. The driver told police he had her wait near a dumpster at the apartment complex.

A short time later, Gonzalez came from the apartment carrying two large televisions. The driver told police she didn't think anything was suspicious, since it was in the middle of the day.

Unbeknownst to her, she was his get away ride from an apartment break-in.

(from KENS 5)

Next time, tell him to take a cab.

Turning off the lights

Maybe the tree rats hate the new, ugly, Seuss-like River Walk lights, too.

Pesky rodents are chewing through the city's Riverwalk lights display, leaving some visitors disappointed with the views.

According to Paula Stallcup, the city's director of downtown operations, a city contractor is replacing faulty or damaged lights twice a week, in an effort to maintain the popular display.

The city recently finished a $580,000 [*choke* --ed.] switch to LED lights on the Riverwalk, and has already had problems with light banks shorting out because of moisture.

"The people that come down here, the tourists, they come for the lights, and since they switched to the LEDs, a lot of them have been disappointed," said Carlos Delgado, a manager at Rio Rio Cantina on the Riverwalk.

Stallcup said the squirrels weren't a problem before the switch to LED lights because the traditional lights dangled from the ends of branches. The LED lights are wrapped around tree trunks, which makes them more accessible to wildlife, Stallcup said.

(from KSAT-12)

Or maybe the tree rats like the new lights better. Perhaps they are more tasty than the pretty ones that came before.

Calling B.S. on a fundraiser

I hate to be a wet blanket, especially when the charity seems so worthy, but I doubt that these beasts are truly artistes.

A rescue organization inundated with animals suffering because of the drought is getting creative for its upcoming fundraiser. The animals Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation has nursed back to health are creating works of art to raise money for the organization.

The first ever "Artistic Animals" fundraiser earlier this month was so popular, organization employees decided to have an encore show. The first show sold out in 20 minutes.

Domestic and wild animals have been playing with non-toxic paint to create 41 pieces of art. The animals are attracted to the smell and texture of the paint, explained supervisor Kimberly Stephens. She said it's an "enrichment" activity that the animals enjoy while they are in captivity.

(from WOAI-TV)

I notice "enrichment" is in sarcasm quotes. Or are they scare quotes?

You decide.

Not paying very much attention

Didn't something like this happen not too long ago?

Traffic in the downtown area came to a halt Monday morning after an 18-wheeler got stuck under a bridge at Roosevelt and South St. Mary's Street.

The rig's driver told police she was looking for her CPS unit [sic] and failed to see the warning signs, causing her to crash the top of the truck aginst [sic] the railway bridge around 4:30 a.m.

(from KSAT-12)

Why, yes. Something like this did happen not too long ago.



Lesson #1 for driving a truck on the South Side: Be careful on Roosevelt Street, and pay attention to the signs.

And trade in your CPS unit for a much more functional GPS unit.

Protesting ... what, again?

Somebody please remind me what the Occupy folks are supposed to be protesting. Or standing up for. Or whatever.

Because it sure seems to me like they just can't stand success. Anybody's. And they don't seem to want the Alamo City thrive.

The local [Occupy] group said Saturday that it will march to the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce for a peaceful demonstration at 3 p.m. Monday. Its purpose is to show solidarity with movements including Occupy Oakland, which shut down its local port in early November and called the latest blockade to support longshoremen in Longview, Wash., in their dispute against Export Grain Terminal.

In a general assembly meeting, Occupy San Antonio voted to take a local union's suggestion to protest where it can.

“Even though the Chamber of Commerce supports local businesses, they spend a lot of time supporting the bigger corporations,” said Meghan Owen, 30, an Occupy San Antonio facilitator. “Large corporations are gaining footholds in our community, and that's not necessarily a good thing.”

(from the Express-News)

It's not necessarily a bad thing, either.

In fact, I'll say it is a good thing. It means that other companies find the San Antonio area a good place to invest their businesses in. Which brings jobs. And growth. And general prosperity for the city and the governmental entities that rely on growth for more revenues.

Don't get me wrong, the success of local businesses is a good thing, too. But we also need big businesses. Do you really think the city is going to keep growing if we just ask for more taco trucks and bike rental places and tell any potential Toyotas that we don't want their kind around? Really?

Tell me I'm wrong about this. Because it sure seems that the Occupiers just don't give a damn about anyone else, which makes it hard to argue that they represent the 99 percent of whatever.

“Even though the Chamber of Commerce supports local businesses, they spend a lot of time supporting the bigger corporations.”

So, damn them. I guess.

Feuding with the neighbors

With dog poop.

And pepper spray.

Candice Singh says the feud started three years ago when she caught her neighbor tossing dog poop into her yard.

Ever since, Singh said there have been rocks thrown, more poop tossed, vandalism, spit and numerous calls to police. ...

On Tuesday, Singh said she was sweeping the poop out of her yard and into the street [Into the what? Where? --ed.] outside her Joseph Phelps home [Her what home? --ed.]. Video from a surveillance camera shows neighbor Leticia Rodriguez walk up to Singh with a broom in hand. But Rodriguez wasn't only carrying a broom. She was also holding onto a can of pepper spray.

Surveillance video shows Rodriguez spray her neighbor right in the face.

"It burned," Singh said. "I could not breath [sic]. I was immediately throwing up."

Then Rodriguez put her broom to work.

"I couldn't see, and she's still sweeping poop on me while I'm in pain from the mace," Singh said. "And she got it in my mouth, also."

(from KENS-5)

I hope she means pepper spray got in her mouth. That would be uncomfortable, for sure, but the alternative would be quite gross.

But possibly not surprising.

Getting fired

Isn't this a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't kind of situation?

Natalie Johnson is a 27-year-old student and, until last week, worked at the River Center Macy's.

On Nov. 30, a teenager shopping caught her attention.

"I made sure to keep an eye on him because he was shopping for women's clothing," remembered Johnson.

She said she was convinced the shopper was a man. So when she saw him in the women's dressing room, she told him he couldn't change there.

...

But the group of people he was with supported the shopper, arguing Macy's policy allows transgender people to change in the fitting room of the gender they associate with.

...

Johnson said she was let go.

...

A response from the retail giant said, "Macy's does not comment on personnel matters. At Macy's, we recognize and appreciate the diversity of our customers and associates."

(from KSAT-12)

All my life I grew up with the notion that if a man tried to enter a restroom, locker room, or any other space set aside exclusively for women, that man would be soundly mocked, ridiculed, and possibly arrested. But now, apparently, all a man needs do is identify himself as transgender and he can go anywhere. At least in Macy's.

I feel a bit sorry for the employee. If she had adhered to company policy (which she was well aware of) and allowed a man into a women-only area and something bad had happened, then she would have been vilified for that. And the company as well. Instead, she ignored the policy and acted according to her beliefs and convictions.

And she got fired for it.

But at the same time I'm not sure how sorry I feel for Ms. Johnson. Her actions were carried out with full knowledge of the possible consequences, and that's a choice she made. But one thing this incident does show is that Macy's doesn't seem to want her kind of diversity.

Car crashes into house

This just goes to show, you cannot -- I repeat, cannot -- rely on the vehicle to take over for you while you take a nap. They hate houses too much to care.

Police said the 30-year-old woman who was behind the wheel told them she fell asleep around 4:30 a.m., causing her vehicle to go out of control in the 600 block of North Colorado Street.

The SUV took out a chain link fence and cut a path through the front yard of one home, then came to rest against the front wall of the house next door.

A woman who lives there said her bed is located on the other side of the wall that was hit.

While the crash startled her, she said she was not hurt. Her front steps stopped the SUV from entering her home.

(from KSAT-12)

And they hate fences, too. Though apparently the front stoop proved too much for this particular SUV.

Milk!

Did someone order a shake on the South Side?

Rainfall wasn't the only thing making roads slick Monday morning. One major street was covered in milk, as well.

About 15 plastic crates full of milk cartons apparently fell from a delivery truck.

It happened on eastbound Southcross underneath I-35 at about 5 a.m. Monday.

Apparently no one was crying over the spilt milk. Police couldn't find the truck that lost the milk delivery.

(from KENS-5)

I think the driver of that truck just plum forgot about the mishap.

He was drinking Milk of Amnesia.

Someone who needs to know when to bail out of a plan

If you were a lone crook, and you were trying to steal someone's truck, how far would you go to get it once things started going wrong?

This guy probably should have quit sooner than he did.

SAN ANTONIO -- A man was shot in the leg while trying to steal a truck early Tuesday morning, police said. The homeowner told police he heard someone breaking into his truck outside his home near Rada and Renova on the city’s south side.

Police said it was around 2:30 a.m. when the would-be thief had trouble starting the engine, so, officers say, he tried to push the truck down the street.

(from WOAI-TV)

And he didn't get very far pushing that big ol' non-started truck before its rightful owner decided to slow him down a little more with a good dose of lead weight.

Jumping overboard -- or bridge

You know, I can think of better ways to try to escape from the police. Or, at least, less painful ones. Especially if I were handcuffed.

A man is in the hospital Monday afternoon after escaping from police, then jumping off an Interstate 35 overpass and falling 20 feet to the ground below.

According to San Antonio police Sgt. Jay Vinson, Johnathan Gomez, 20, was handcuffed and had escaped police custody after being arrested on a felony warrant charge of possession of a controlled substance.

Witness Robert Garcia said the man leaped over the bridge over Salado Creek.

...

The man was taken to SAMMC with a broken back and head injuries.

(from KSAT-12)

Ouch.

"Two people trapped inside their cars by down power lines"

Happy Thanksgiving!

And here's something to be grateful for: Not being trapped in your car by high voltage power lines.

The accident happened on Patricia near Vista Knoll early Thursday morning. According to police, the driver of a Nissan lost control and hit the pole. Then another driver coming in the opposite direction crashed into him and the pole. Both drivers were trapped inside their vehicles due to the fallen power lines outside.

Crews had to cut the power to several blocks in order to rescue them.

(from WOAI-TV)

Tigers?

Did you hear that some tigers got loose today? Somewhere near San Antonio?

Turns out it was nothing more than someone who was a bit confused. Apparently.

Bexar County Sheriff's deputies were sent to a home in the 27000 block of Okent Drive, near Blanco Road and Old Blanco Road around 9:00 a.m. Tuesday after receiving reports about large cats being loose on the property. Timberwood Park Elementary School was placed on lockdown after officials there were contacted by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. and told officers believed three white tigers could be loose in the area.

A Bexar County Sheriff's Office spokesperson told News 4 WOAI when their officers arrived, they found three tigers inside their cages. However, the owner kept insisting he could see at least one running loose. The San Antonio Zoo was called and a three-person team was dispatched to assist with the capture of the cats. The officers continued searching the property but found no other exotic animals. They were then told two panthers were contained inside the man's bedroom, so they went inside to check. When they opened the bedroom door, they found two stuffed panthers.

The Bexar County Sheriff's Office says the owner apparently became confused and may have been hallucinating. They asked him to get a medical exam, but said he refused.

(from WOAI-TV)

Sounds like that guy needs some kind of examination, and I hope he gets the help he needs. But perhaps now would be the time to find new homes for the tigers. Or at least the stuffed panthers.

Talking about the weather, again

Back in October, I pointed out -- with mirth -- how a simple weather forecast on WOAI-TV regarding the approach of cold weather had prompted an astounding number of comments from readers and viewers. At that time, I said this:

I know it has been quite some time since we've had real cool weather here in San Antonio, but really? 822 freakin' comments about how cold it is?!

I don't think I have ever seen that many comments on any news story or blog post I've ever read. 400, 450 maybe. But never over 800, and never when the topic is as commonplace as the weather!

All I can say is: puro san antonio.

But now, almost a month later, WOAI is forecasting the weather for Thanksgiving, and here's what I see:



Yep, there it is, the same slate for "Storm Tracker 4" on the forecast, and there I see a whopping 860 comments!

Why, that's only 38 comments more than the last time I noticed. And, you know what? I think I was a bit wrong before. Those of us who live in San Antonio are not great big weirdos with nothing better to do than crash WOAI's servers with floods of weather-related comments. No, it seems the weather people at WOAI are the strange ones, because they seem to be updating the same entry over and over again with new weather and letting the comments from previous forecasts pile up on it with nary a care for how heavy that one entry gets.

But now, I'm hooked. Now, WOAI has me.

Because I can't wait to see it hit 1,ooo!

Tagging into the golden years

I guess you can never be too old to be a ne'er-do-well.

A police report shows officers arrested Richard Reta, 58, at N. Flores and Krempkau streets around 11 p.m. Saturday after seeing him spray painting an anti-corporate greed message on the ground.

He was charged with one count of graffiti, $1500-$20,000.

The report said Reta had a can of spray paint in his possession and paint on his clothing when he was arrested.

It also said he admitted to scrawling graffiti in several other locations, mostly along the route of the Rock 'N' Roll Marathon, which was slated to begin hours after his arrest. All together, the damage was said to be in excess of $2,000.

Police said Reta told officers he's part of Occupy San Antonio, a group of protestors who have been staging a sit-in in Hemisfair Park for weeks to show their displeasure with they call [sic] corporate greed.

(from KSAT-12)

To their credit, the Occupiers seem to be distancing themselves from this guy's actions. But KSAT also offers this:

[Occupier Joe] Ballard said Occupy does not condone any behavior that involves defacing city property.

If KSAT is accurately representing what this guy said, I find it noteworthy that the Occupiers do not condone defacing city property, but they make no mention of private property.

Noteworthy. But not surprising.

Dealing with animals

If you had an accident on the highway involving a big wild animal, you would think that your friends might help you out. Or you might think that they would not make the situation worse, at the very least.

But, if you were this guy, you would have another think coming.

SAN ANTONIO -- Police say a motorcyclist crashed into a deer and then had his bike stolen by his friends.

Investigators said the motorcyclist was riding with a group of people on motorcycles and a pickup truck when the man hit the deer and lost control of the motorcycle and fell onto the access road at Loop 410 and Ingram Road at around 2:30 a.m. Monday.

But instead of helping him, police said two women and a man picked up his motorcycle, put it in the back of the truck and left.

(from KSAT-12)

I think there's more to this story than is being reported by KSAT. A lot more.

Salad!

OK, maybe it's more properly called "coleslaw".

San Antonio--The scene is finally clear after an 18-wheeler overturned on I-10 downtown near the I-35 off ramp. The trailer was carrying produce including heads of cabbage and lettuce. The accident happened at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, but crews didn't finish getting all the debris until 7 p.m.

(from WOAI-TV)

Car crashes into house

The auto gets the house and the fence, too. And a couch.

A woman driving a Ford Mustang was traveling south on SW 34th Street when she attempted to turn on Motes Drive at a high rate of speed and lost control of her vehicle, traffic investigators said. The car went barreling through a fence and into a home at the 600 block of SW 34th Street.

A man who was sitting on a couch inside the home was apparently struck, and he was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.

(from MySA.com)

That's one ambitious auto.

Inheriting the mantle of solar leadership

Bill Sinkin has long been a proponent of solar power in the Alamo City. But he is nearly 100 years old now (literally), and his son has taken over the reins of Solar San Antonio, a local non-profit that tries to get people to convert to solar-powered systems.

Lanny Sinkin, however dedicated he may be to furthering his father's legacy, may still find time to devote to his other interests and pursuits. And you will have to be the judge of whether or not that ends up being a good thing for the local environmental movement.

A few years before Lanny Sinkin became the leader of a local nonprofit that advocates for solar power, he flew to Washington and knocked on the door of the White House with a document that would prove an even harder sell than investments in solar panels.

It was a declaration that the Kingdom of Hawaii had seceded from the United States.

...

The Kingdom of Hawaii, illegally overthrown by the United States more than a century ago, has been restored, he says, and a king, to whom Sinkin serves as chief advocate and spiritual adviser whenever he's not running Solar San Antonio, is in place.

The “king,” Edmund Keli'i Silva Jr., a fisherman and kung fu instructor on the island of Oahu, is also a convicted felon who served 13 years in prison for stealing more than half a million dollars.

...

A former environmental attorney, Sinkin once sued Bush on behalf of “the Cetacean Community” — whales — over the use of underwater sonar. An appeals court ruled that animals could not file lawsuits.

His father, the bow-tied, 98-year-old Bill Sinkin, is a civic hero who founded Solar San Antonio in 1999.

...

Sinkin's quest to regain a lost civilization began with plutonium in deep space.

As an attorney at the Christic Institute, a now-defunct public interest law firm in Washington, Sinkin fought a 1980s bid by NASA to launch a plutonium-powered probe to Jupiter.

...

“He sat down with me,” [jail-bound self-styled "king"] Silva said. “He looked like a person who lived out of a suitcase, his clothes all wrinkled. But he was full of light and full of energy.”

Sinkin helped Silva win parole in 2005, and the “king” returned to his “kingdom.”

“His Chinese animal's a horse,” Sinkin said. “He just galloped into it.”

...

The kingdom embraces natural laws and ecological principles. It shuns war, promotes love and seeks an age of transformation in which all human beings gain consciousness — “the 5th age,” Sinkin says.

...

Told of Lanny's aim to “create the 5th age, one solar panel at a time,” [Bill] Flannery [from the board of directors of Solar San Antonio] was nonplussed.

“That's kind of fascinating,” he said. “That never came up.”

(from the Express-News)

Is this the future of the "green" movement in San Antonio? Or has it always been the unvarnished present?

You decide.

Failing at Occupying

The "Occupy" movement seems to be flagging in San Antonio. After all, when a very like-minded, liberal organization like MoveOn.org starts looking at you askance, you've probably lost a bit of focus.

Occupy San Antonio's familiar rally cry, “Banks got bailed out; we got sold out!” sounded with particular relevance Saturday afternoon as protesters marched in solidarity with national Bank Transfer Day.

...

While they took a stand together against what they perceive as corporate greed, some MoveOn.org members such as Celeste Douglas, 55, were “a little disenchanted” by the occupiers' masks and costumes.

“They say it's a zombie movement because most Americans are acting like zombies moving along, but the thing about it is, who wants to be part of a movement of zombies?” asked Douglas, who said she opened a credit union account earlier that day while closing the one she has with Bank of America.

(from the Express-News)

Who, indeed, Ms. Douglas. Who, indeed.

Calling B.S. on "sonic drugs"

Geez, is it sweeps month again?

SAN ANTONIO -- Teenagers are using websites to get high, and it's completely legal.

It's called "i-dosing." It sounds like music, but it's not.

Sounds like a load of bullshit to me.

The sites play different frequencies that promises [sic] to deliver an effect much like opium, cocaine, or marijuana. Doctors say the danger is teens may want to end up trying the real thing after trying the websites.

How do they know this? Have any studies been done yet?

Since i-dosing is so new, there haven't been any real studies on its effects. But brain imaging experts say sonic drugs do change the brain. They're just not sure how much.

Nope. No real studies. And so many unknowns that haven't been explored yet. Why, it's as if we know almost nothing at all about this new trend. Nothing!

So, quick, WOAI! Run a story on it! And scare the pants off of parents!

"Vets Fix Tiny Tooth During Monkey Root Canal"

Monkey, mango, coke, and a broken tooth. Not so much a human interest story as a primate interest story.

SAN ANTONIO -- Mango the monkey has been suffering from a broken, infected tooth, just like humans sometimes get.

"People do it all the time (by) biting down on hard candy (such as) jaw breakers," Dr. Rob Coke, staff vet at the San Antonio Zoo, said.

But fixing Mango's mouth isn't as simple as fixing a human's, due to his tiny stature.

"It's a 2-pound monkey, so we obviously had magnification loops [sic] as well as ... tiny instruments to go in there to try to repair that," Coke said.

(from KSAT-12)

I'm picturing that ellipsis in Coke's second quote as hiding a well-placed curse word. It is monkey dentistry, after all.