Leaving the neighbors in the dark for the sake of pot

If you live in an apartment and you notice there have been a lot of unexplained power surges and losses, you just might have a pot-grower for a neighbor.

KENS-5 explains [emphases added]:

Police have arrested one person after power surges at a North Central San Antonio apartment complex sparked suspicion. Officers say the person was using all the electricity, possibly to grow marijuana.

Investigators said maintenance workers at the Ashley Oaks Apartments, in the 16400 block of Henderson Pass, called police after residents had been complaining of power problems.

On Wednesday, undercover narcotics officers pulled the plug on the operation.

"They used electrical cords to rig up, and possibly to grow, where they're growing marijuana plants. Unfortunately, this guy's not an electrician," said an undercover officer, whose identity KENS 5 is protecting.

That dude must have had quite a setup. Although I'm not sure why the officer would say "possibly to grow". Were there no plants in the ground? He was using "all the electricity", after all, so he must have been doing something. A search warrant has been issued, though, and I wonder what they will find.

"Registered Sex Offender Mayor Says He Can Still Run Town"

I must admit, it was the headline of this WOAI article that caught my eye.

A mayor is now a registered sex offender, but says he can still run his town.

The mayor of Poteet, Lino Donato, pleaded guilty to exposing himself and touching underage girls. He said planned to resign. Now, he's changed his mind.

He may indeed be able to run the town, but I wonder how many of his constituents want him to.

"Man Blown Off Sailboat"

A man was blown off his homemade sailboat and ended up in the drink at Woodlawn Lake, as WOAI reports:

"I wasn't worried about it. It happened real slow. When the boat went sideways, I knew it was going to flip over," said Gorge Gonzalez, the man involved in the accident.

Gonzalez was wearing a lifejacket.

He managed to swim with the boat to the lighthouse where firefighters rescued him.

That must have been a dinky sailboat.

Anyway, what's strange is that this guy seemed to need a lifejacket. And seemed to need to swim and be rescued. I remember they drained that little lake recently to dredge it. At the time, I thought that it looked very shallow, and that someone might be able to stand upright in it and actually be fine. And, looking at these pictures, I seem to remember it correctly.

And here's a couple of pictures with the lighthouse that the man took refuge on in the background.

"Residents Upset With Adult Club"

Councilwoman Diane Cibrian has inspired others.

From KSAT-12:

On Friday night, defenders said they went undercover to expose flaws in the laws. They said they went to West Avenue's Club Babylon, billed as a bikini dance club.

The club is a "Bring Your Own Beverage" and not licensed as a sexually oriented business, so certain body parts must stay covered.

But on hidden camera, KSAT said it found topless dancers, which is a violation of city code.

...

The manager said that when it happens the girls are punished.

"They have done it before. We send them home," Club Babylon manager Manuel Alvarado said. [Sounds reasonable. --ed.] "We follow Texas rules -- Texas laws."

The city has already shut the club down once for illegal nudity, city officials said.
"We did do an investigation, and we did find out that they were operating, indeed, as a sexually oriented business," said Rod Sanchez, the Director [o]f Development Services.

...

Perhaps most shocking is that with no liquor license and no sexually oriented business license, that kind of club can open almost anywhere.

"As long as those body parts are covered, they are technically not a sexually oriented business," Sanchez said. [Free speech, freedom of expression, and all that. --ed.]

The club is open 24 hours a day.

Because the city can't possibly make sure the proper body parts are covered all the time, neighbors of Club Babylon would simply like clubs like this to be classified as sexually oriented businesses, which would require a change in the definition and a vote by the city council.

Sure, just change the code to make them instant criminals. I'm sure they'd get a lot of support from Cibrian.

Chupacabra!

Revealed!

KENS-5 had DNA tests done on that chupacabra head Phylis Canion from Cuero kept in her freezer after killing the creature. And now, the true identity of the creature is known! It is---

---a mangy coyote.

And Phylis doesn't seem happy.

(Link to come later.)

UPDATE: The link is here. Watch it for a good dose of entertainment.

"Strip Club Loses Legal Battle"

An update on the Boobie Rock controversy from KSAT-12:

SAN ANTONIO -- A district judge on Wednesday issued a temporary injunction against a businessman who was hoping to open a strip club on the city's Northwest Side.

District Judge Andy Mireles took about 30 minutes before deciding that Boobie Rock will not be allowed to open -- at least for the moment -- off Interstate 10 and Huebner Road.

A jury will ultimately decide whether the club will open when it goes to trial Jan. 7, 2008.

This doesn't sound good for Boobie Rock. Or for any other business trying to open in this city when a sitting councilperson takes a disliking to the nature of the business.

"Man In Dress Ties Self To Bench"

KSAT-12 reports on an incident.

And all I can say is, huh?

SAN ANTONIO -- Sheriff's deputies said a man wearing a woman's dress tied himself to a bench on Sunday morning to see if he could withstand the humiliation.

Deputies said they found the man in a West Bexar County neighborhood, 13200 Solar Crest, and asked him how he got tied to the bench.

The man told them he was conducting a, "scientific experiment in humiliation."

When they asked him if he was humiliated, the man said he wasn't.

But, he should probably repeat the experiment, just to be sure. After all, this is science.

A burning pile of mulch, revisited

Remember the Helotes mulch fire that burned for three months? Now, it's being used to stabilize Helotes Creek.

From Anton Caputo of the Express-News:

Crews of Henry Zumwalt, who owns what remains of the now-famous pile, have been spreading some of the remaining debris on the banks of Helotes Creek. This has caused several residents to worry that the material could wash into the creek and pollute the Edwards Aquifer below.

Bexar County and state environmental officials have visited the site and will meet Monday to discus the situation, Bexar County Engineer Renee Green said.

Crews were apparently using the debris to stabilize roughly 200 feet of eroded creek bank and planned to seed the area when done, said Henry Karnei of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. He said the debris smells smoky but that it looked like mostly dirt and rock.

One sticking point: Zumwalt's crews are conducting the work without the required permit to operate in a flood plain, said Green, who didn't know how she would address the situation.

“Usually the remedy of the flood plain violation is to put it back the way it was, but that may not be in the best interest of the creek,” she said.

Just like last time, no one in authority seems to know how to adequately deal with the situation.

More cat killings

These days, it doesn't seem safe to be a feline in San Antonio.

Both from News 4 WOAI:

"Cat Killings Plague San Antonio, 9 Confirmed Mutilated"

"Police Say Lackland Airman Threw Kitten Off Of Bridge"

And a picture is worth a thousand words (from the second story).

People who should probably think a little more

If you're going to go around smoking in a car with a toddler aboard, and it might appear that you are smoking drugs of some kind or another, it might be a good idea to not make a video of your actions.

And, it would probably be a better idea to not post that video online.

From KSAT-12:

SAN ANTONIO -- Seguin police on Tuesday said they have identified three males, a female and an infant shown in a disturbing video that aired on the Web site, MySpace.com.

The video, which has since been pulled from the Web site, showed the trio of young men possibly smoking drugs while driving around in a vehicle.

...

"We got three calls with names of people in the vehicle," said Lt. Mike Watts of the Seguin Police Department.

Watts said that detectives are getting ready to locate the individuals, who names are not being released, and bring them in to police headquarters for questioning.

...

One of the videos showed the males smoking what appeared to be a blunt and a cigarette, with the infant unbuckled in the back seat.

A second video showed the toddler dancing and using profanity after being prompted by a female off-camera. [emphasis added]

Oh, and don't forget to buckle up.

"Traffic Stop Leads to Murder Investigation"

Sometimes, you just never know what you will find when you pull a car over.

From WOAI-TV:

Police officers pulled over a speeding car on Loop 410 between Babcock and Callaghan and made a gruesome discovery inside. One of the passengers was dead.

It all started at a party at an apartment complex on the Northwest side. Police say there was a fight, and that's when 21 year old George Victor Estrada, Jr. was stabbed several times in the upper chest and back.

"What we're gathering from the witnesses is after the assault took place they put him beside the car and they tried to take him to the hospital and that's when they were subsequently pulled over," said Joe Rios. "When they were pulled over, they told the officer he was dead already."

One wonders, why were they speeding, then?

Strange animal deaths

Some recent deaths of animals have been strange. (All from KSAT-TV)

SeaWorld Killer Whale Dies

Volleyball Team Finds Deer Carcass On Bus

Residents Urged To Prevent Cat Killings

Killing over soup

A man has been found guilty of manslaughter, because he killed a man.

Over soup.

The Express-News has the story.

Jurors took about 45 minutes Thursday to declare Miguel Angel Ruiz guilty of manslaughter for shooting a man in an altercation stemming from criticism of his fish soup.

Ruiz had told police he grew tired of the mocking by Jesus Guerrero, 45, who also made much of Ruiz's 4-foot-6 stature.

Neighbors and friends referred to Ruiz, 44, as "Shorte," a Spanish adaptation of shorty, but Guerrero mockingly called him "Enano," or dwarf.

The harassment had been habitual for years, Ruiz said, and when it started up that night, April 28, 2006, after he'd brought over the soup to the home of a mutual acquaintance, he told Guerrero in vain to leave him alone.

So he went to his nearby house and retrieved a gun, came back and showed it to Guerrero. Guerrero, he said, told him he couldn't shoot him.

That's when Ruiz fired the gun.

Who holds back the electric car?

Nobody in San Antonio! At least, not anymore.


KSAT-12 reports on a new dealership in the Alamo City:

SAN ANTONIO -- The first automotive dealership that features all-electric vehicles will open in San Antonio on Thursday.

ZAP Electric Cars, located at Loop 1604 and Stoneoak Parkway, will offer the Zebra, a three-wheel four-door compact car. There is also a two-seat pickup available.

...

The vehicles, which start selling at $11,000, can reach a maximum of 40 mph and are not intended for highway use. No air conditioning is available. [emphasis added]

Here's a screen capture from the story. Ain't they cute?















P.S.: The post title is a reference to "Homer the Great".

Car crashes into school

A man suspected of being drunk drove his minivan into the side of a building at South San High School, and he may have injured his own son.

From KSAT-12:

Three students were hospitalized, two of whom were in critical condition on Wednesday night, authorities said. Their exact condition is unknown.

A fourth student was treated and released at the scene.

One of the injured is believed to be the driver's son.

"Prior to hitting the wall (he) actually struck one of the pedestrians in the parking lot," Sgt. Gabe Trevino said. "That pedestrian we believe was the actual son of the driver of the truck."

Wow.

"Restraining Order Delays Strip Club"

Councilwoman Diane Cibrian has succeeded in temporarily blocking the opening of Boobie Rock.

From KSAT-12:

SAN ANTONIO -- A temporary restraining order was filed Tuesday against Boobie Rock, halting the gentleman's club from opening as scheduled on the city's Northwest Side.

Property owners of EOS Acquisitions, a neighboring business to the proposed site for Boobie Rock, filed the restrictive order in light of a covenant for the property that states it cannot be used for adult entertainment.

...

District 8 Councilwoman Diane Cibrian, who began crusading against the nearly nude bar, said the deed restriction is key to halting Boobie Rock since city zoning still allows the business to operate in the area.

...

Cibrian said more strip clubs in the area could increase crime and added San Antonio police have been called to Sugar's strip club 135 times this year. Cibrian pointed out that the owners of Sugar's are trying to open Boobie Rock.

I wonder how many times police have been called out to the apartment complex nearby that she is trying to save from the really bad influence of the strip club?

Oh, and Cibrian herself is really starting to sound, well, strange. Check out Joe Pagliarulo to find out how she sounded when he tried to interview her about this issue on his show. He recaps:

Finally admitting what I was asking her on Friday, San Antonio city councilwoman Diane Cibrian has now gotten a restraining order against the owners of what would be the "Boobie Rock" strip club. Cibrian told me on my show Friday that the reason she was against the club couldn't be put "in a box." She continued to avoid my questions as to whether she had a problem with the name or the type of business. Today, she has admitted that's exactly what the problem is for her. A press release from the city councilwoman's office says:

"A judge has ordered that the defendants, Boobie Rock Partners, shall cease all improvements, changes, and/or alterations on the exterior of the premises. In addition, an amendment to the original covenants was found that restricts the use of this property to an establishment with any prurient context, meaning sexual in nature."

So, the answer to my question -- 'are you against it because of the name or the type of business?' -- is a resounding 'YES!' Too bad it took four full days to get that answer. [emphasis in original]

Also read his previous entry dated Saturday, October 13. Cibrian annoyed Joe Pags so much in an interview with her that he has sworn to oppose her when she runs for re-election:

In the course of the discussion the councilwoman said something to the effect of "well joe, if you support these kinds of businesses and if you want to support strip clubs coming into neighborhoods, that's up to you." That really set me off. What a rude, disgusting political trick to try to discredit me and my thoughts -- on my very radio show. That's when I told her what I thought of this move.

I let her know how rude I thought she was. I asked her how she dared to say such disgusting things especially after knowing what I said earlier about how I don't support these kinds of establishments but, I do support capitalism and their right to exist. I went on to tell her that if she decides to run for re-election, I'd be a loud voice opposing her.

I've received a ton of phone calls and many emails since -- the vast majority agreeing that the councilwoman's tactics were -- well -- tacky and rude. Even those dead set against this business coming to that part of the I-10 frontage were taken aback by the councilwoman's lack of decorum in our discussion.

Just par for the course for San Antonio politics -- enough strangeness to go around.

""Boobie Rock" Controversy: Councilwoman Asks State to Deny License"

I haven't touched on this story, yet (here's the latest from News 4 WOAI), but it seems to be growing legs. On the surface, it's a pretty standard story: a councilwoman opposes a new strip club in her district (although there's another huge one just a mile or so down the road), and, even though the owners seem to be following all codes and regulations, she's trying to strong-arm them into not opening up. That's not so strange in and of itself, but I thought the proposed name for the club is a bit interesting: Boobie Rock.

The owner says the name comes from a place in the U.S. Virgin Islands that, I assume, is named after this booby, since the name of the island is actually Booby Rock, not Boobie Rock. And, looking at this list, it appears to be a pretty common name in the Caribbean. There are simlarly-named places in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as Turks and Caicos.

So, when councilwoman Diane Cibrian says "We will not be fooled by the owner-operator, when he tells us that the Boobie Rock is an island in the virgin islands," apparently she already has. Either that, or she has no appreciation for double entendre.

"Fraud Charge Ousts Peanut Princess"

Down in Floresville, a criminal bent has dashed the hopes of a Peanut Princess.

KSAT-12 has the story.

FLORESVILLE -- A teen girl nominated to be the next peanut queen of a Floresville festival has been denied her crown due to a charge of fraud.

Authorities charged Sarah Elizabeth Reed, 17, with credit card [fraud] in early September after they said she spent more than $20,000 on one of her employer's credit cards.

Her case is scheduled to go before a jury in November.

Reed has been expelled from Floresville High School, which disqualified her from being a member of the festival's royal court.

But, there are three other princesses. The coronation will still be held.

Car crashes into house, business

It's been a while since this has happened, but, this being San Antonio, it was bound to happen soon.

From KSAT-12:

SAN ANTONIO -- A suspected drunken driver who was driving a company vehicle crashed into two buildings early Tuesday on the city's South Side.

Police said that a man in his 20s was speeding through some railroad tracks when he lost control of a pickup truck at 2:30 a.m. at South Presa and Panama.

The vehicle crashed through a back yard fence and took out part of a dining room at a home, police said.

No one in the home was injured, police said.

The vehicle then crashed through two more fences across the street and slammed into a silk screen printing business, police said. [emphases added]

Wow. He must have been going pretty fast.

Coming ...

... soon.

















Just what's coming, though, I'm not sure.

Coyote attacks

Hollywood Park has gotten rid of its attack owl, and now the town has coyotes to worry about.

From the North Central News:

Though an owl in Hollywood Park has been neutralized and is no longer a menace to pedestrians and joggers, a pair of adolescent coyotes has filled the owl’s void to become the newest neighborhood nuisance.

At 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 26, Hollywood Park Police Lt. J. Quintero received a call from Candy Karlson; a resident in The Enclave who let her 5-pound Maltese outside while she prepared her dog’s breakfast, then heard her dog’s cries just seconds later.

“She [the dog] was screaming in the front yard,” Karlson said. “I could see two coyotes in the front yard, and they had dropped her. Then when they saw me, they took off running.”

Karlson’s 8-year-old dog underwent 48 hours of emergency surgery to repair two dislocated scapulas, broken ribs and a punctured lung. At press time, Karlson said it looked like her pet would live, but her veterinarian said the dog may not ever regain control of her hind legs.

At 7 a.m., shortly after Karlson saw the destructive duo leave her home, a Hollywood Park police officer saw the two trotting down Fleetwood Street. One of the coyotes had a cat in its mouth.

“They looked like young coyotes,” Quintero said, “and they were playing with the cat, not really eating it.”

Actually, coyotes aren't that strange along the outskirts of San Antonio. There have been several times when I've seen them scurrying along the roads at night. What I do find a bit odd is that someone spent 48 hours doing surgery on a five-pound dog! That's two whole days of surgery! I don't really want to sound insensitive, but are there even human procedures that take that long?

That's strange.

"Strange in 78250: Hood ornament?"

Dave at Silver Creek 78250 captures a creative -- but obviously quick -- automobile modification. It's for those times when opening the hood would take too much time.

"Computer Nerdz issues warning to customers"

Beware of people posing as computer nerds, especially if they don't spell it with a Z.

From KENS-5:

"I've been scammed," Bernadette Moeller said. "This guy has my computer, he has my check; he has all the information in my computer."

Last month, Moeller called information for a phone number to Computer Nerdz on Blanco Road.

The number she called turned out not to be for the business she wanted, but to a guy who investigators say is stealing computers.

Moeller managed to trace the phone number to a residence on the city's Northeast Side. The woman at the door claims to know nothing about Computer Nerds with an S.

"We're shocked and surprised," said Lee Robin with Computer Nerdz.

...

"We are very disappointed that it has been allowed to continue," Robin said. "We've spoken with our lawyers and filed some legal action, and he's ignored that and continued to go out and take advantage of the public."

Don't hand your computer over to any old nerd. Make him show you his Z.

"‘Unstable’ Hollywood Park owl attacks four people"

A commenter points me to the North Central News for more owl attacks in Hollywood Park. (previous post here)

Hollywood Park Police Lt. J. Quintero said his department has permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department to “neutralize” an owl that has attacked four people, sending one to the hospital.

The four victims were all attacked by an owl while walking late at night or in the early morning, either in the 500 block of Rue de Matta Street or at the Voight Center. An urban biologist says the owl is unstable and may have been raised domestically, then set free.

Beware La Lechuza! Especially when it is "unstable". And don't forget to follow the mayor's advice.

“If you walk late at night or early in the morning,” said Hollywood Park Mayor Richard McIlveen, “wear your hard hat.”

And duck a lot.

"Two Women Found Dead Believed To Be Mother and Daughter"

A strange crime has taken place.

From News 4 WOAI:

Two women, possibly a mother and daugther, were found dead early Wednesday morning.

About 5 a.m., a security guard called police to report he'd found the body of woman inside a white car in the 100 block of Stribling, just south of Downtown. When police arrived, they found a woman who had apparently been beaten to death inside the car.

Police traced the car back to a woman living in 500 block of Senisa, on the Northwest Side. When officers went to the home, they found another woman dead inside.

The police believe the other woman is the mother of the one found in the car. They are treating this as a double murder, and they are looking for two people who "may have valuable information" about the case.

"Man Accused of Posing as a Priest - Again"

In God we trust. All others pay cash.

From WOAI-TV:

Fred Perry remembers the day they walked into his store. A man and a woman looking for a deal on some of Perry's best pieces of furniture.

"He was dressed as a priest with a collar on," Perry said. "The lady kept calling him, 'The father, the father this, the father that.'"

Perry says the man dressed as a priest was George Persyn. He left with a cherrywood desk and other items and the promise he would pay for the furniture within 30 days. After two months and no sign of the money, Perry got worried and tried to track to people down.

"The Archdiocese, a man there told me to call the San Antonio Police Department, that these people were crooks," said Perry.

Perry now believes his customer is the same George Persyn who was the subject of a lengthy Trouble Shooters investigation four years ago.

"I never represented myself as a Roman Catholic Priest," said Persyn, who talked to News 4 WOAI back in 2003.

Notice he said he never posed as a Roman Catholic priest. Keep in mind that Anglicans and Episcopalians have priests, too.

"Strange in 78250: Backwards Driving..."

Have you ever had problems keeping your car going straight while driving in reverse? Well, imagine doing that while being towed by a truck!

Silver Creek 78250 has the story, with pictures.

"Homeless men steal truck last night"

Don't argue with homeless people. If you do, don't get out of your truck to fight them.

From KENS-5:

A man is recovering in the hospital after losing his truck during a scuffle with a group of homeless men late Saturday night.

There was an exchange of words between the man driving a pickup and a group of homeless men on the corner of West Avenue and Interstate 10, according to police.

Then, the driver of the truck got out of his vehicle and started fighting one of those homeless men.

While the two were fighting, the other individuals hopped into the truck and sped away.

The driver got a broken ankle out of the deal. And his truck is missing.

"Clogged manhole causes raw sewage to flood home"

This is too bad (from the North Central News).

“I came in to have coffee,” said Beth Player, whose husband’s parents’ home in the 13400 block of George Road was flooded with sewage on Sept. 7. “My father-in-law was sitting in his den, ankle-deep in it. It was coming up from the floor. The bathtub was like Niagra Falls, it covered the entire house in about 20 minutes.”

Player acted quickly to help her in-laws, 95-year-old David C. Player and his wife Wilma, 97, out of the house. She was able to remove sentimental and valuable items from the home, all the while rushing to beat the seeping mixture of dirty water and sewage. At 8 a.m., Player said she called San Antonio Water System.

And, if it weren't for the vandals and the careless jerks, this probably wouldn't have happened.

Workers found several two-by-fours in a nearby manhole that could have caused the backup. [SAWS spokeswoman Natalie] Tejeda said SAWS believes the debris was from construction activity on NW Military Highway, but said people dump items in manholes that clog lines all over San Antonio.

“We’ve pulled out tree stumps, car doors, engines; it’s amazing what we pull out of manholes,” said SAWS spokesman Greg Flores. “We do have vandalism that affects the buildup, and essentially, we don’t realize we have a problem until it rears its head.”

At least SAWS seems to be performing admirably in this situation. They're doing a lot to help clean up the Players' house, even though the backup seems to be someone else's fault.

Car crashes into house

This time, the car was pushed into the house. By a police car, going fast. And the house caught fire. And the driver ran away.

The Express-News has the story.

The crash occurred before 5 p.m. in the 300 block of Paul Street at the Piedmont Street intersection when the officer, in response to a call of a stabbing on the same street, collided with the driver's side door of a brown Cadillac, [San Antonio Police Department Lt. Scott Bell] said.

When the car hit the house, the front of it caught on fire and in turn ignited the corner of the small frame home, Bell said.

He said the driver of the Cadillac fled the scene, but officers found someone believed to be the driver about an hour later a few blocks away. He was taken into custody, but Bell was unsure if any charges would be filed.

The stabbing call was a false alarm.

"Homeowner Shocked Over Big Water Bill"

The house I live in is just under 2,000 square feet. My water bill is about $50 a month.

So, check out this guy. (from KSAT-12)

Vikas Bhatnager said he nearly collapsed when he opened his water bill of $868.

"I heard water was expensive in San Antonio, but I thought, wow, that's really expensive."

Bhatnager said the bill is the first he's received since moving into his new 3,800-square-foot home with his wife and 6-year-old daughter.

He said the bill was no mistake and BexarMet found no leaks after inspecting his water system.

"It turns out I used 123,000 gallons of water," Bhatnager said. "I don't know how I could have consumed that water."

Hmm. I also wonder how he could have used that much water.

BexarMet said Bhatnager ran his sprinkler system twice a day, seven days a week, which could have used up to 400 gallons per day. [emphases added]

Yeah, that might be how.

I understand Bhatnager has a new home, and you have to water new sod a lot to get it well established. But still, that's a lot of water. He must have a lot of sod.

"Man Slashes Teen With Sword"

Want to get your point across about using drugs? Did you ever think about the point of a sword? This man did (from KSAT-12):

SAN ANTONIO -- A man told officers that he attacked an 18-year-old with a sword in an apartment to try to prevent him from using drugs on Saturday night, police said.

Lydell Galtney, 31, told police that he tried to reason with the teen in the 1200 block of Mulberry Street, but when that didn't work, he slashed him in the throat with a 2-foot long, replica sword.

Officers arrested Galtney at an apartment while the victim was rushed to a hospital.

The 18-year-old man seems to be OK, as the cut was not actually serious, but so far has refused to press charges against his attacker. Maybe he got the point.

Owl attacks

If you're in Hollywood Park, a suburb on the north side of San Antonio, watch out. There seems to be an attack owl on the loose.

From WOAI-TV:

“I thought it was a prank, or something was after me, the invisible man or something, I don't know,” said John Patterson, the first man attacked by the owl.

Now the second man has come forward.

“Then just something...chckck, chckck, chckck,” Ryan Wayment described to News 4 WOAI’s Aubrey Mika.

Ryan Wayment didn't know what had come out of the dark trees...but he was scratched up and bleeding. Then, he got to thinking.

“We sometimes hear 'woo, woo' at night,” said Wayment.

Yeah, that "woo, woo" sound is a dead giveaway.

"NISD Officer Wounds Self"

Odd. I hope this guy gets help.

From KSAT-12:

According to a San Antonio Police Department news release, [Northside Independent School District] Police Officer Patrick Ritchey reported that he was on routine patrol at Lackland City Elementary at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday when he found some fresh graffiti on the wall of the school building.

Ritchey reported that he confronted two people, who attacked the officer and fought over his weapon, police said.

The officer told police that he was shot twice through his bullet-proof vest and the two people got away on foot, police said.

An investigation by the SAPD's Shooting Team revealed that the gunshots were self-inflicted, police said.

No charges against him, yet. But I suspect he will probably get some psychiatric scrutiny.

"Police say body found on North Side is that of hit-and-run driver"

KENS 5 has this sad but strange story.

Police say a body found on the North Side is that of a man who was behind the wheel during a hit-and-run accident over Labor Day weekend.

The body of 34-year-old Raul Cordova was found Sunday. The accident happened on Beacon Avenue, a block from where Cordova was found.

Police say it appears Cordova ran from the accident scene, and tried to jump over a wooden fence. Officers say he somehow got caught in the fence and died.

If he had stayed at the scene, he might have gone to jail, or been deported (the story says his body will be sent back to Mexico), but at least he would have been alive. And, how secluded is this fence that a body can hang on it (or nearby it) for almost a week and no one would notice? According to the video, it was the smell that drew the attention of the family that lived on the lot where Cordova was found.

"Residents at North Side apartment want slimy pools cleaned up"

Blech! (from KENS-5)

The people who live in the Amber Square apartments want to know why their pools have been left in a sad state of disrepair.

The residents say one of the pools has a few inches of stagnant water and lots of trash, and the other is dark green and disgusting — and the pools have been like this for weeks.

"It smells bad. There's mosquitoes all over the place. It's moldy and dark green," a resident said in a phone call to KENS 5.

...

The Lynd Company, which manages the apartments, said they plan to turn one of the pools into a playground for children, and they are working on cleaning up the other pool.

A playground for children? An old pool? Besides skaters, who else wants to play in an old pool? I hope they plan on filling it in, at least.

"Man stabbed during flea market brawl"

For God's sake, don't pay attention to her!

From the Express-News:

Bexar County sheriff's deputies are questioning a 15-year-old girl in the stabbing of a man who reportedly was looking at her while she was with her family at the Poteet Flea Market on Sunday.

Deputy L. Lopez, who declined to give his first name, said the man, 23, looked at the girl "wrong."

A large fight ensued, Lopez said, and it involved the girl, her family, the man, and his group of friends. At one point, a witness told deputies, the teenager was on top of the man, fighting. Seconds later he emerged, stabbed in the cheek.

Them girls are tough down there in Poteet. Make sure you don't look at 'em wrong.

Wait a minute, the deputy that mysteriously declined to give his first name is supposedly from Bexar County, yet Poteet is in neighboring Atascosa County. What gives? Don't they have deputies in Atascosa County?

UPDATE: Mystery solved. Dave from Silver Creek 78250 informs me that the real name of the place is "Flea-Mart", but that people refer to it as the "Poteet Flea Market" because it is off Highway 16 on the way to Poteet. The flea market is, however, still in Bexar County.

Protesting on the ground

So far, there are no toll roads in the San Antonio area, but the Texas Department of Transportation (or TxDOT) wants to change that. As can be expected, there is heated opposition to the idea of toll roads in general and TxDOT in particular. A local ostensibly anti-toll group call The San Antonio Toll Party (which I've discussed before), held a press conference and protest on Tuesday, September 4. There, they called for the resignation of all top personnel at TxDOT. They've got several politicians on their side, but they also have the strange ones, too.


Bahram Mark Sobhani of the Express-News captured one of the protesters in rare form at Tuesday's press conference.







See the full image, read more about the protest, and get good views on both sides of the issue by reading the relevant post at Pat Driscoll's blog, Move It!

"Mother and Teenage Son Busted For Selling Drugs From Home"

If the family that plays together stays together, what happens to the family that sells drugs together?

They get arrested together.

From WOAI-TV:

A mother and her teenage son were arrested Tuesday for selling drugs out of their home.

Police are calling it a family affair after they raided the home on Morales on the West Side. They arrested Debbie Perez and her son, 18-year-old Edward Ybarra.

Perez admitted to being a part of the operation. But investigators said their main target was her son, who is a student at Fox Tech High School.

Incredible. The mom's out on bail, and the son's still in jail.

Chupacabra nationwide!

The story of Phylis Canion's alleged chupacabra has been picked up by the Associated Press.

Canion and some of her neighbors discovered the 40-pound bodies of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 80 miles southeast of San Antonio. Canion said she saved the head of the one she found so she can get to get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then mount it for posterity.

That's cool. Imagine being able to show off your trophy collection like this: "Oh, yes, here's the twelve-point white-tail I told you about. And here's the mule deer I got in Utah. And the black bear, and the pronghorn, and the elk, and -- oh, yeah, here's the chupacabra."

Car crashes into house

But, it did so only because it was rammed by a man who was running from the police.

From KSAT-12:

SAN ANTONIO -- A man faced multiple charges Friday after he led police on a high-speed chase.

Police said that the man rammed his sport utility vehicle into another vehicle that ended up crashing into a home.

He was caught, and he got pretty beat up in the process. (Video link)

"Victim's kin split at hearing for ex-cop in 'Starlight' case"

This case (Express-News source) just keeps getting weirder.

It was strange enough when the transsexual called Gabriel Bernal, a.k.a. "Starlight", accused a San Antonio police officer of raping him late at night. The officer was convicted of the crime a year ago and is now serving time, and that seemed to be the end of the case.

But now, family members of Starlight are casting doubt on his story, and the cop wants a new trial, saying he had been set up.

Dean Gutierrez, 47, a 16-year veteran of the force, had a gallery full of supportive family even while relatives of the victim, 24-year-old Gabriel Bernal, formerly known as "Starlight," were taking turns on the stand to either buttress or cast doubt on the argument by Gutierrez's new defense team that the rape charge was a setup.

...

At issue is the contention by the new defense team members from the Federal Defender's Office that an FBI report and other documents they only recently learned about would have led them to an estranged aunt of Bernal's, Carol Lopez, who would have opened a wider vein of inquiry exposing the setup conspiracy.

...

On Wednesday, Bernal's mother, brother, sister-in-law, uncle, two sisters and an aunt testified — often visibly stressed and offering conflicting and fragmented statements — about whether they had heard Bernal "bragging" about the incident. Prosecutor Bill Baumann characterized the testimony as arising from a "milieu of bitter family discord."

Brother Rocky Bernal testified that he spoke on various occasions with Gabriel Bernal, including after Gutierrez's conviction.

"I said, "And (Gutierrez) is just sitting there (in prison) for no reason?" And he said, 'Yeah,'" Rocky Bernal said.

Weird stuff. I don't know what to think at this point.

Chupacabra!

T-shirts!

(From KENS-5)

"They seem to think it's not just a mange coyote," says Cuero resident Phylis Canion. It's been several weeks since Phylis Canion picked up the blue-colored road kill out on Highway 183, the animal she says was taking her cats and draining her chickens of blood.

Locals wonder if she'd captured a creature of folklore: The Chupacabra. "At this point, we just don't know," says Canion.

Now, Canion is capturing something else: International attention.

"These shirts, four of them, are going to Sicily. We have sent shirts to Guam, Iraq, California, Memphis," says Canion. The t-shirts started as a joke among family members.

Now, in sizes including triple-XL, are being shipped as far away as Australia.

Hey, the chupacabra is just crazy enough to be irresistable, even if it is just a mange coyote. Canion's town of Cuero is definitely going chupacabra crazy, and some are even joking about changing the school mascot to a name reminiscent of the cryptid. Who knows, this might be a boon for Cuero, just like the aliens have been for Roswell.

A gorilla on a Segway

Car crashes into horses

Wow. This probably hurt (from KSAT-12):

SAN ANTONIO -- A sport utility vehicle struck and killed two horses Tuesday night in southwest Bexar County.

The SUV was headed south on Wheeler Road when it hit the horses near Pearsall Road, sheriff's officials said.

The driver was transported to Methodist Hospital with minor injuries.

I'm surprised the driver wasn't hurt worse. Two horses. That's a lot of stopping power.

"'Tribe' sells citizenship for $400"

Are you here in this country illegally? Would you like to get a fast track to U.S. citizenship? Do you think membership in a local Indian tribe will help you?

Think again.

From Anastasia Ustinova of the Express-News:

When pastor Victor Ramirez told Antonio Rodriguez that a tribal membership could help him receive U.S. citizenship, Rodriguez thought the $400 fee was worth the deal.

“I would have much more rights as a U.S. citizen,” said Rodriguez, who hurt his back working at a fruit warehouse in Edinburg and was hoping to receive Medicaid benefits.

But the offer was too good to be true.

Texas officials say thousands of immigrants such as Rodriguez have been scammed by the Kaweah Indian Nation, whose tribal status is not recognized by the federal government.

...

On Monday, Attorney General Greg Abbot filed a lawsuit against the tribe's leader, Malcolm “Grand Chief Thunderbird IV” Webber of Wichita, Kan., pastor Ramirez of Edinburg and Ralph Tipton of San Antonio, who serves as the group's “ambassador” to Texas.

The lawsuit states the three have “grossly exaggerated the legal effect of membership in their so-called tribe.”

Welcome to America, where grifters don't care about your legal status. Besides, Chief Thunderbird? Shouldn't that have raised a few red flags? I guess "The American Classic" is unknown south of the border. Perhaps it's a good thing Malcolm Webber didn't go by Presidente.

Remember: 2

Just a little odd, in an amusing way.

Car crashes into house

Once more. Yet again.

From the Express-News:

Around 4:30 p.m., Ernest Rojas, 56, said he was walking with his teenage son about a block from their home in the 100 block of Southolme when he saw the Mustang go off I-35, over a grassy median and the access road, and into the side of his father-in-law's home.

"I've never seen something like that before," Rojas said, surveying the damage to the property.

I have, just not as it actually happened.

You can't fight city hall

Well, I guess you can, but sometimes you don't get anywhere. Except maybe into a closet. When there's no one there.

From KSAT-12:

SAN ANTONIO -- Police said a man attacked a security guard and forced his way inside city hall Friday night.

During the struggle, 57-year-old Jay Swob took Riojas' gun and aimed it at the security guard, according to police. Police said the clip had luckily fallen from the pistol during the melee, rendering the weapon useless.

...

"Officers searched the building with a K-9 unit and located the male on the second floor inside the city clerk's office inside a closet," said Lt. Matthew Podwika, of the San Antonio police.

Officers said when they got close to the closet Swob began shouting, "The hostages don't have to die" and "Don't make me kill the hostages."

No hostages were found in the empty building and Swob was taken into custody, said police.

The security guard is going to be OK.

"Car Explodes, Sets House On Fire"

This is something you probably wouldn't expect to happen at your house (from KSAT-12).

Maria Schweikert said she was in her garage getting ready to leave her home at 9:30 a.m. in the 300 block of Zephyr when she heard an explosion underneath her vehicle.

"The car exploded," Schweikert said.

Thinking her garage was on fire, Schweikert tried to back her car out, but then she realized it was her car that was on fire.

Schweikert ran inside to call for help, but the telephones weren't working, all the while flames were spreading inside her home.

She made it out OK, though her house was burned. Sounds like she was pretty lucky overall.

Advocating a revolution

He may not have won the mayor's race, but R.G. Griffing apparently plans to take power the old-fashioned way -- revolution.

From his Web site:

SAL Calls For Gentle Overthrow Of Government

NonViolent, Of Course?

RG Griffing, Editor/Publisher San Antonio Lightning Newspaper

Are you suckers, rubes and hicks fed up yet?

I am.

* * *

I love the Constitution and I adore America.

But I abhor what is happening to our governance, our ways of life, and I blame YOU for allowing this to happen.

Well, I may have some culpability as well. I admit it.

But no more.

Revolution is healthy, in some instances.

Remember, this is the guy who "sold 'ZonaPair Invisible Underwear' and parcels of land on Mars." So, should we take seriously his call for "NonViolent" revolution? Of Course?

"Man Holds Up Store With Plastic Gun"

If you got tired of your wife, what would you do? Divorce her? Take a vacation by yourself? Get counseling?

This guy decided it would be better to go back to the slammer, so he got himself arrested (from KSAT-12).

SAN ANTONIO -- A robbery suspect told police he would rather go back to jail than go back home to his wife after he held up an Academy store with a fake gun Tuesday on the city's Northwest Side, police said.

Officers arrested 31-year-old Danny Herrera on accusations that he held up the sports store on Northwest Loop 410 with a plastic gun.

According to a police report, Herrera told detectives that he was tired of his wife and he wanted to go back to jail.

Three squares a day, a place to sleep, no rent----and no wife. I guess that works out well for Danny Herrera.

Secret price at the Tower

Psst, if you want to ride to the top of the Tower of the Americas, don't forget to ask for the secret, cheaper price.

WOAI-TV reports:

A secret question could save you money at the Tower of the Americas. ...

The posted price at the ticket counter, to go up to the observation deck is $10.95, that includes a theater production.

If you know what to ask for, and just want to see the observation deck, you can get one for $5.

A Landry's spokesperson said, "People should just know to ask for the cheaper ticket."

Now, you know.

I wonder if they have secret prices on the menu, too.

"Primarily Primates Sues To Get 7 Chimps Back"

As reported on KSAT-12's Web site, Primarily Primates -- an animal sanctuary near San Antonio -- is trying to get back some chimpanzees it lost to another sanctuary in Louisiana over some complaints about living conditions. You can read the article to get the whole story, but I found the name of the spokeswoman for an animal group apt, which makes it a little strange.

"We believe we hold title to them," said Priscilla Feral of Friends of Animals, an animal advocacy group that is merging with Primarily Primates. "Their designated place of retirement was Primarily Primates." [emphasis added]

An advocate for animals named Feral. Classic.

"Short chase ends after car hits tree"

Some robbers flee police, hit another vehicle, crash into a tree, and run away on foot. Police set up a perimeter, and they catch the robbers. What business was so tempting that these guys just couldn't resist robbing it and putting themselves, law enforcement, and citizens in danger?

The snow cone business.

From the Express-News:

A north patrol officer spotted four people apparently trying to rob a sno-cone stand on Nacogdoches Road.

I know it gets hot around here, and I'm sure the snow cone business is good, but would there really be enough loot at one of those stands to split four ways?

"Four arrested after call for help"

Just remember, if you have warrants out for your arrest, it might not do you any good to call the police for a minor disturbance.

From the Express-News:

The mother called police around 7 p.m. saying one of her sons suffers from bipolar disorder and was acting erratically, Sgt. Mark Hubbard said. The man had outstanding warrants, Hubbard said, and when the two officers at the scene attempted to arrest him, the man’s two brothers tried to fight the officers, Hubbard said.

The mother also had outstanding warrants and was arrested at the scene.

And they're all cooling off now, I suppose.

Cars crashed into house

A home in San Antonio has the sad distinction of being hit by cars four different times. Wet streets may have something to do with it, but neighbors think the street design is faulty, and they want it fixed so the residents can live in peace. So, the city is going to do a traffic study to see if anything can be done about it.

The KSAT-TV Defenders look into the matter at this video link.

Thunderbird?

What is the strange creature flying around San Antonio?

From KENS-TV:

Strange sightings of a huge flying creature have been reported as recently as six months ago. Is it a monster or myth?

Guadalupe Cantu III was busy working his newspaper route, but he says the big news of that day 10 years ago flew right over his car. He says he's seen what most have not — an unidentified flying object, one that still scares him.

"We were afraid that it would come at us. So we stayed in the car till it passed this way," witness Guadalupe Cantu III said. "This thing's all feathers, all black. Much bigger than me. It looked at us. It had very stooped-up shoulders." The beast has been spotted from the Rio Grande Valley to the mountains of New Mexico.

Could it be a thunderbird? A condor? Or something else?

Chupacabra!

It's back! From KENS-TV, the mysterious creature some like to call a chupacabra! (video)

Reports of blue, hairless creatures roaming the countryside from Elmendorf to Cuero. Ranchers talking of livestock being drained of blood.

Put the two together, and it sounds like the legend of the chupacabra. One rancher says she has the evidence to back it up.

"After six kittens had been lost to something around the place, I made up my mind we needed to do something to find out what it was that was taking it," said Phylis Canion, a rancher in Cuero.

...

The name chupacabra translated from Spanish means goat-sucker, for the creature's habit of sucking the blood of livestock.

Canion said her neighbors have reported goats drained of their blood.

"Is (a chupacabra) what it is? We don't know what it is, but that's what we'll call it!" Canion said.

But others call it something else.

"(There's) no chupacabra," said John Young, a mammologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Young said the animal is a sickly gray fox with a typical case of parasites.

"When mange goes untreated, it causes this type of reaction. They start to itch, lose all their hair, there's this blue-gray coloration. And the animal usually dies from it," Young said.

What do you think? Watch the video to see the head in the freezer. Read more here. Then decide.

"Woman: Men Made Me Help Rob Store"

Some thieves decided to rob a store, but they evidently didn't have a getaway vehicle. So they carjacked one. And a chauffeur, too.

From KSAT-TV:

SAN ANTONIO -- A woman claims that two men held her at knifepoint and forced her to help them rob a store on Monday afternoon.

The woman said she was filling her vehicle up with gas in the 500 block of South Smith when two men snuck into her sport utility vehicle.

When she went back to the vehicle, the men surprised her and demanded she drive them to rob a store.

...

The victim said she was forced to wait in the car while one of the men robbed the store.

The woman said she dropped the men off at Travis Park after the robbery.

The police arrested two suspects. I'm glad the woman's fine, but that must have been just a bit stressful for her.

"Driver Killed After Hitting Head on Pole"

When you were a kid, did the driver of the school bus ever tell you to keep your arms inside the window so you wouldn't get them torn off by a pole or a sign? Seems like the same advice applies to heads, too.

From WOAI-TV:

A man is dead, after hitting a guard rail with his truck and skidding several feet. Police say he had his head out the window and hit it against a light pole, killing him instantly.

It appears he had been drinking.

Turning away volunteers in Universal City

If you ran a suburb of San Antonio, and you had trouble recruiting volunteers for your animal shelter, would you dump the ones you had?

You might, if they are young enough.

From The Herald:

A collective moan could be heard by the volunteers as [Universal City Manager Ken] Taylor once again pointed out that he felt as though there would be some disappointment on the part of the junior volunteers. Referencing child labor statutes borrowed from the legal advice of the city attorney, Taylor made it painfully clear for the junior volunteers in attendance that their days of volunteering at the city’s animal shelter without the supervision of a parent or guardian were over.

Many of the disgruntled volunteers exiting the council chambers were confused as to the late-night shift in direction of the mayor and council. Although city leaders spoke on behalf of reinstating the junior volunteers, reflected on the city’s inability to properly staff its current animal shelter without the aid of the volunteers, and even voiced an opinion regarding the possibility of turning over the reigns [sic] of the city’s animal shelter to the Homes for the Homeless organization, the volunteers left the meeting with no action taken toward reinstating the program, which accounted for more than 6,300 volunteer hours — about 122 hours per week — at the shelter from the program’s start in November 2005 through December 2006.

I am not a lawyer, so I don't know -- but, does volunteer activity really count as labor, especially child labor? And, these seem to be teens we are talking about. Does that make a difference?

Fashion in Southtown

This is strange in San Antonio.

Photo by Edward A. Ornelas of the Express-News. Slideshow here.

"Police arrest KSAT reporter, boyfriend"

Television reporter gone wild (from KENS-TV):

A local television reporter and her boyfriend are out on bond after they were arrested on assault charges.

According to police, KSAT reporter Gina Galaviz and her boyfriend, 46-year-old Ronald Aguillen, were at a bar when she grabbed him by the shirt collar, scratched him, and bit his hand when he didn't want to leave.

According to investigators, Galaviz, 43, left Aguillen at the bar and later went to pick him up at a friend's house. Witnesses told police, the pair got into a fight shortly after she arrived.

This isn't the first time Galaviz has had a little domestic trouble (from WOAI-TV):

Back in 2004, Galaviz claimed that then Councilman [and boyfriend] Ron Segovia pointed a gun at her after she threw a hamburger at him. That case was eventually dropped.

If I remember correctly, Segovia said he didn't point the gun at her, but he did admit to throwing an apple at her.

Such adults.

UPDATE: KSAT-12 has let her go (from Jeanne Jakle at the Express-News):

KSAT-TV has fired police reporter Gina Galaviz a week after she was charged with assault following a fight with her boyfriend.

"Gina is no longer employed at KSAT 12," station spokesman David Cuccio said Wednesday in an e-mail.

The wetness approaches a record

Given that this time of year is usually pretty dry for San Antonio -- and we often have drought conditions -- this, as reported by WOAI-TV, is definitely strange:

With 9.07" of rain so far, this is our 2nd wettest July. We are almost 8 inches above normal. We can't seem to get a break from the soaking rain.

More slow moving thundershower expected today with most of South Texas under a Flash Flood Watch. Another low that formed over Texas will continue triggering the downpours. This activity is much heavier that the " normal " shower we get this time of year.

...

The Edwards Aquifer is on a record pace. Water level is now almost 695.0 ft. with our all time record high at 703. We could see that record tied by some time next week.

To make matters worse, computer forecast indicate a tropical low developing along the Texas coast by Thursday bringing significant tropical rain to the upper Texas Coast!

Just what we need. More rain.

For the record, our average rainfall per year in the Alamo City is 30.3 inches. This year, to date, we have had 35.15 inches. And July ain't even over yet.

"Possible bomb called a false alarm"

It would be odd enough to find what appears to be a bomb on the roof of a car. (from Bryan Chu of the Express-News)

The owner of a white truck tried to leave his home for work and noticed a strange device strapped to the roof of his vehicle. Members of the San Antonio Police department bomb squad unit arrived at the scene to find what they initially described as two bottles with wiring and filled with an unknown liquid.

The bomb turned out to be a fake. But, what's really strange is the man's behavior after the police investigated.

Police have been unable to speak to the owner of the car after he made the initial call. Witnesses say he returned to his house and is not responding there, after having padlocked and chained the fence in front of the home.

I wonder if charges will be filed in this case.

"Local Man Finds Stick Of Dynamite"

If you found a stick of dynamite on the ground, would you pick it up? This guy did (from KSAT-TV):

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- It's not everyday that you find a stick of dynamite lying around in San Antonio and it's not everyday that you pick it up to inspect it -- but a local man did just that.

Police said that at about noon a passerby spotted a stick of dynamite on the city's northeast side.

They said he then took it to the fire station in the 2500 block of Nacogdoches Street to diffuse and dispose of it

Not surprisingly, the authorities do not recommend you pick up explosives that are laying around. They would rather you just call it in.

"Man Thrusts Hand Through Window To Stab Another"

When attempting to rattle the nerves of someone inside an abode, perhaps it would be better to stand away from the window.

From WOAI-TV:

A glass window was not enough to shield a man from being stabbed.

San Antonio Police say the whole thing started when a man began banging on the door and window of an apartment on Gardendale on the northwest side Friday morning.

Investigators believe that's when a man inside that apartment grabbed a knife and thrust it through the window, striking the other guy in the chest.

I guess he pushed his point a bit too far.

"Police Uniforms Stolen From Trailer"

Oops. (from KSAT-TV)

SAN ANTONIO -- Police said Wednesday that dozens of law enforcement uniforms and thousands of dollars in police equipment were stolen from inside a trailer.

Officers said someone broke the pad lock on the trailer and took 40 sets of police uniforms and a SWAT shield in the 15000 block of Knoll Circle.

There are some brazen crooks here in the Alamo City.

"New Name & Other Changes at the Snake Farm"

That old snake farm on IH-35 is getting a facelift, as WOAI-TV reports:

The iconic snake farm along Interstate 35 will be undergoing a huge facelift. The 40-year-old New Braunfels roadside attraction is now under new ownership.

The first change you'll see is its new name: Animal World and Snake Farm. The new owners want everyone to know it's really a zoo of sorts with some 500 species of animals besides the snakes.

They still have snakes, and that's what they will probably always be remembered for.

"Man wielding screwdriver on the loose"

This story from the Express-News has all kinds of strange written on it.

A man in his late 20s to early 30s, wielding a large screwdriver and stealing cars, is still at large, police confirmed Sunday at about 6 p.m.

At about 3 p.m. police received a call that a man had tried to carjack two people in a parking lot at the intersection of Sussex Avenue and Pleasanton Road. The man, driving a white truck missing one tire, was weaving erratically through traffic on Pleasanton Road before he crashed into the curb on the right side of Sussex Avenue.

One man who was in a neighboring parking lot thought the suspect was hurt and came to render aid, but the suspect threatened the man with the screwdriver and demanded he get out of the car. The man fought off his attacker, and another man who had seen the truck dragging the tireless front wheel, stopped to help the man.

The screwdriver man got away after stealing another car. He is described as being "in his late 20s to early 30s and bleeding." Watch out for him, and watch out if you see him.

UPDATE: They caught him.

"Mountain Lion Sighting Report Closes 3rd City Park"

As if the alligators weren't bad enough, now it seems we have to watch out for cougars, too. At least on the North Side.

From KSAT-TV:

SAN ANTONIO -- Eisenhower Park was closed Thursday after another reported sighting of a mountain lion, San Antonio Parks and Recreation officials said Thursday.

The latest sighting occurred Wednesday afternoon at the park in the 19000 block of Northwest Military Drive, officials said.

Friedrich Wilderness Park and Crownridge Canyon Natural Area remain closed after a contractor working on some private property near Crownridge reported an encounter with a mountain lion July 3.

Official[s] said they believe more than one mountain lion was spotted because the parks are on opposite sides of Interstate 10.

Watch out for the big kitties when you go to the park.

Car crashes into house

Apartments, really, but they are still where people live. And a car crashed into them.

From KSAT-TV:

SAN ANTONIO -- An officer arrested two men who crashed into an apartment on the city's West Side during a police chase on Thursday, police said.

The pursuit started after 2 p.m. near the intersection of 38th and Highway 90 when they spotted a vehicle that had been reported stolen, police said.

When the vehicle reached the intersection of Colorado and Durango streets, the driver lost control and hit an apartment and a fence, according to investigators.

The Dog Blog

If you were the main contributor to a blog dedicated to dogs, what would be the best name to have?

Of course, it would be Julie Ruff.

"Diner features Elvis look-alike"

Elvis impersonators--or the very existence of them--are not strange. But this one held off on his dreams until his father died.

From the Express-News:

In homage to the King of Rock 'N' Roll, Juan Manuel Quintanilla adopted Elvis Presley's fashion style several years ago. It's a style that his father, Antonio Quintanilla, forbade him from wearing when he was alive. He honored his father's wishes and dressed like an average guy. But after his father died, Quintanilla slipped on the garb of the man whose cool music thrilled him as a teen.

No longer does he reach for an average pair of jeans or a T-shirt. Indeed, every day he wakes up and clothes himself in Elvis-inspired costumes.

...

Though he dresses out of the ordinary, Quintanilla seems to have reached the highest stage of self-actualization, said Elizabeth Stanczak, executive director of health and counseling services at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Self-actualization is at the top of noted behavioral psychologist Abraham Maslow's list of essential needs. Others include physical, safety, social and esteem needs.

"He's basically living out something denied as a young person but giving back to the community in an uncontroversial way," Stanczak said. "How much better can life get that strangers smile because of what you're wearing."

As long as he's happy.

"Trapped In An Air Duct, Accused Thief Moans for Help"

A man tried to break into a convenience store through the ventilation system, and the police caught him. But they had to rescue him first.

WOAI-TV reports:

"The owner of the store got here and heard some noises coming from the roof," said Sgt. [Lawrence] Walters [of the San Antonio Police Department]. "There is an air conditioning vent up there and he somehow forced it over and climbed down head first in the vent and got stuck inside at the very bottom. It's a very strong vent. It's all made out of metal at the bottom and I guess he wasn't able to push through that."

Investigators aren't sure how long the wannabe crook had been hanging around, but police needed help to get him out, since they couldn't just pull him out by his feet.

"They tried that and he was stuck," said Sgt. Walters. "He just would not come out from the top, so they had to cut out the vent to get him out from the bottom."

The man must have been stuck in there for a long time, because when the police got there he was so miserable he couldn't even tell them his name.

"No, no we still don't have a name all we have is moans," said Sgt. Walters.

"All we have is moans." Classic. I hope the thief thinks twice before trying a life of crime again.

"Alligator Shot, Killed On South Side"

More gators are popping up on the South Side. This one didn't make it, though.

From KSAT-TV:

Several motorists driving near Loop 410 and Moursund saw the alligator before Nathan Garcia decided to take some video of the reptile.

"It was in the middle of the road," Garcia said. "I got out to take a video with my phone and it started hissing, so I jumped back in the truck, and that's when more cops started showing up."

Police officers managed to move the alligator off the road and then called the game warden, who killed the reptile across the street from an apartment complex in the 10000 block of Moursund Boulevard.

This may be the same alligator that gave the police a hard time back in April (it's the same area), but it may be another one. I'll have to start keeping a sharper eye out for big lizards the next time I'm down that way.

Saving the planet, one smelly batch at a time.

Biodiesel may be biodegradable, nontoxic, and better for the environment than regular diesel, but it's a food product. And, if you get involved in the industry, you might just have to get used to smelling like the back of a restaurant's kitchen.

Consider the case of Jason Rose's Alamo Biodiesel (from the Express-News):

From those first small batches made in the fall of 2005, Rose has gone commercial, launching Alamo Biodiesel Inc. in a small warehouse just west of downtown at 523 Perez St., where the company is making about 800 gallons of biodiesel a day.

...

In the company's warehouse and office, production tanks exude what Rose calls "a faint tang of vegetable oil," but after a few minutes it permeates nostrils and clothes. The carpet in the office is slightly sticky, and operations manager Raul Sanchez says he goes home smelling like French fries.

A slightly sticky carpet in the office. Nice.

"Couple Accused of Using Date Line to Rob Callers"

Be careful if you are setting up dates for yourself over the telephone.

From WOAI-TV:

Mark Guy, also known as Robert Cooper, was charged with aggravated robbery. Police said he and his accomplice, Diana Brown, used a phone line to set up a sex date with a man.

Once inside their apartment on Vance Jackson, the victim said Brown took him to a bedroom. The victim said Guy then walked in with a knife and forced him to give up his keys and his wallet. According to court documents, the couple stole nearly $400 from the victim.

Perhaps it's best to meet in public.

"Man might have been wounded by his own knife"

I suppose that if you're going to pull a knife on somebody, you'd better keep a tight grip on it.

From KENS-TV:

A man badly injured in a knife fight early Wednesday morning might have been the one who initially pulled the weapon, police say.

...

The argument turned violent when a Hispanic male in his late 20's pulled a knife and started swinging. But his intended victim grabbed the knife, investigators said.

The Hispanic male was stabbed multiple times. Officers said the wounds exposed the man's internal organs.

According to police, the man with the knife left the scene. ...

After paramedics stabilized the victim, the man was taken to University Hospital in critical condition.

Police believe the man who left the scene may have been injured as well. They are monitoring local hospitals for a cutting victim described as a white male.

The case is being investigated as an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. But police don't know which man could face that charge.

Odd.

Slamming San Antonio, getting slammed back

I don't want to get into an Austin/San Antonio flame war. I just want to point out the reactions to a newbie Austinite who decided to insult San Antonio ("This guy is an idiot", from Roy Bragg's blog at mysa.com).

A sampling:

Discounting the headline that's a cliché and an arrogance that comes from being young and uninformed, he's just not a very good writer. I wish him well in his career selling jeans at the mall.

There's much more in the comments. Watch out when you slam the Alamo City. A lot of people like this place.

"Suspect Wanted In Molotov Cocktail Attack"

To me, this doesn't look like the typical thrower of Molotov cocktails (from KSAT-TV).















Somehow, I picture one looking more like this.

The Dada Picnic

Coming this Sunday, June 24 in San Pedro Springs Park, it's the Dada Picnic.

Here's the event description from the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau (I couldn't do a direct link; just go to the site and search the Calendar of Events for things going on June 24, 2007):

Picnickers will have a brown-bag ’’absurd sandwich’’ exchange. Sandwiches include; Open-faced pickles and sauerkraut on rye, peanuts, grape nuts and Nutella on tortillas and a Cookie Fluffinutter. They will then delve into meaningful readings from the San Antonio Yellow Pages. Audience members may be asked to participate at any time. Water will be served to anyone who brings a vessel. For information call 210/882-8094.

Sounds like fun.

"Woman talks about Satan, attacks woman with samurai sword"

If you are homeless, beware women brandishing swords.

From KENS-TV:

According to investigators, [Tracy] Foreman broke into a residence in the 400 block of Hartline Drive just before midnight.

A man who lives in the home was awoken when he heard noise inside.

Foreman stole a samurai sword with a bone handle and a crystal skull with red eyes, according to a police report.

"She was talking gibberish about the devil," the man told police.

...

According to investigators, Foreman was still making Satan references when she attacked a homeless woman sitting with her boyfriend at a Valero Cornerstore in the 2500 block of Austin Highway.

In between utterances about the dark one, she also went through the man's refrigerator. She was eventually caught by police, and the woman she attacked suffered a treatable gash only.

Foreman needs help, and she's dangerous. I hope she gets the treatment she needs.

Preferably in a place where all the swords are locked up.

San Antonio is 5th in the nation!

In the sweat department, that is.

I know, it's all just a publicity piece from the "Sweat Experts at Old Spice", but what I find strange about this ranking is that Dallas is listed as number 3 on Old Spice's list (two spaces above San Antonio) and that Houston is number 12. Being really sweaty is not something to be proud of by itself, but the reality of South Texas is that it gets HOT when spring and summer roll around. And we have high humidity.

That means sweat. Dallas may get muggy for awhile during the summer, but my experience has been that San Antonio and Houston have many more days of sweltering temperatures than our North Texas cousins. So, I wouldn't have blinked an eye if San Antonio or Houston were either 3 or 5 and Dallas was 12. But, I am a bit surprised that Dallas ranks the highest out of the Texas cities.

Perhaps the "sweat experts" need to work on their methodology. Texans are depending on them.

"City forces residents out of 'unsafe' apartments on North Side"

Have you ever lived in a crappy apartment?

Have you ever lived in one so bad the city cuts off all services to you to force you out? That's what happened to some residents on the North Side.

From the Express-News:

The city of San Antonio cut off the power Thursday to dozens of residents in a North Side apartment complex.

Officials said the One Eleven Dot Apartments, in the 100 block of Dot Drive, are unsafe and unlivable, but many residents said this is the first time they've heard of it.

Residents said if it wasn't the bugs, it was the rats, and if not the rats, it's the city saying the building was a death trap.

...

The apartments received 75 code violations in June alone. Many of the violations dealt with the condition of the homes themselves, including life-threatening gas leaks, carbon monoxide leaks and exposed wires.

Sounds like the landlord has a lot to answer for.

"Man Shot in Rear End at Apartment Complex"

Ouch. This guy won't be sitting down for a while.

From WOAI-TV:

Witnesses at the apartment complex on the 7200 block of Marbach say two men were standing on a balcony. They say they heard gunshots, then saw one of the men run off.

Witnesses say the other man had been shot in the rear.

I wonder what they were arguing about.

Unstrange in San Antonio

This is not strange. In fact, it's pretty cool. I'm talking about the Texas Folklife Festival, which is going on this weekend.

If you are interested in learning about the many cultures that make up Texas, then stop by the Institute of Texan Cultures. Dress cool, and wear comfortable shoes.

"Man Carjacked After Picking Up Woman for Date"

Before going out on a date, it might be a good idea to get to know the girl a little bit.

From WOAI-TV:

A man goes out with a woman, but winds up in the hospital after getting carjacked.

Investigators say the victim was most likely set up by that woman, who he picked up on the east side off New Braunfels Ave late Wednesday night.

The couple started fighting in his SUV, and when he pulled over she yelled for another man who ran up and started beating up the victim and stole his automobile.

They caught the carjacker, and the man who was jumped will probably be fine. But, I bet he screens his dates a little better from now on.

"Former Frio official arrested on embezzlement charge"

When you pay your taxes, you would expect the tax collector to actually turn over the proceeds to the governing authorities, wouldn't you?

Wouldn't you?

From Jeorge Zarazua of the Express-News:

A former Frio County tax assessor collector is free on bond this morning after being arrested Monday on a felony theft charge, alleging he pocketed more than $250,000 in taxpayer money for personal use.

Hector Michael Cantu, 40, was arrested after a grand jury returned an indictment against him on the theft charge, said Frio County Sheriff Lionel Treviño.

...

Authorities said Cantu used his authority while in office to steal the funds and then manipulate the records so that others wouldn’t become aware of the missing money.

And, the part that should keep taxpayers on their toes:

Cantu now works with the City of Pearsall in its finance department.

Watch out, Pearsall.

"Man says homebuilder responsible for fallen tree"

Here's something from the damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't department.

From KENS-TV:

Sunday night's big windstorm smashed a few trees — and raised a few legal questions.

...

"Just a thud, really, was all it was," Lorenzo Carmona said.

Carmona and his family didn't think the noise was much last night, until they came out and saw their cars crushed.

The homes in this neighborhood were built in the last few years around tall, 80-year-old cedar elms, and Carmona is convinced that building the homes essentially killed the trees and made them vulnerable.

He said he asked the homebuilder, Pulte Homes, to tear this tree down two months ago. Pulte refused and said it was Carmona's problem, but Carmona said other neighbors did get Pulte to tear down their vulnerable trees.

Usually homebuilders are chastised when they raze trees to make room for homes. In this case, the builder is being criticized for leaving trees in place. It's important to note that high winds were reported in the area the night before, high enough to topple trees.

Dumpster diving as a diversion

Hm. This is odd (source: Express-News).

San Marcos police have ruled out foul play in a case in which a man's body was found Saturday afternoon in an apartment complex trash bin.

"He apparently had a history of crawling into the Dumpster to search for things," said Sgt. Penny Dunn.

What a strange hobby.