Archive for March, 2017

Memo from the police beat.

Thursday, March 16th, 2017

The past few days have been busy ones for law enforcement in and around Austin, and not just because of South By So What. Here’s a quick survey of some things that I’ve found interesting.

There’s a new plan for the APD DNA lab: get Texas DPS to run it.

Under a proposed contract, the city of Austin will pay the Texas Department of Public Safety $800,000 a year to manage all aspects of the lab, including procedures for analyzing forensic evidence and the oversight of employees hired by the DPS to work there.
The newly named Department of Public Safety Capital Area Regional Lab will focus exclusively on Austin police cases, Assistant Police Chief Troy Gay said.

I suppose this is better than nothing, or the current state of affairs. And $800,000 sounds like a reasonable amount of money if the new management from DPS is going to fix all the problems and claw through the backlog. But I still think we’d be better off with an independent lab like Houston’s, or making the existing lab am arm of the courts.

Speaking of the DNA lab, here’s a story I haven’t seen reported anywhere else:

In the first legislation of its kind, the lawmaker, State Representative Victoria Neave, a Democrat from Dallas, introduced the bill in February to solicit donations of $1 or more from people when they renew or apply for driver’s licenses. The money would underwrite a grant for the Department of Public Safety to test what are commonly called “rape kits,” which consist of evidence samples including hair, semen, fabric fibers and skin cells.

(Note that the paper of record characterizes this as “crowdfunding”, which I find a bit misleading.)

If adopted, it could generate an estimated $1 million a year, based on similar donations collected for veterans from driver’s license applications, according to a legislative budget document. When administrative costs are deducted, that would leave more than $800,000 every fiscal year that local governments could tap to push through testing of evidence collected from the victims of sexual assault during a physical examination that can take four to six hours.

Where have I heard $800,000 recently? Oh, yeah.

The donations are intended to supplement rather than replace a budget for the testing, which can cost $1,000 to $1,500 for each kit. The Legislature, which is now in budget talks, is also considering allocating $4 million to fund the process, said Rebecca Acuna, Ms. Neave’s chief of staff.

You know what I’d really like to see? A breakdown of where that “$1,000 to $1,500 for each kit” goes. I’m not against rape kit testing – quite the opposite – but I’m curious why it costs that much. I’m also curious if this cost has increased or decreased over time, with improved technology. And are there possibly better, faster, and cheaper ways of testing rape kits without sacrificing accuracy?

Two people shot and killed last night, and a third airlifted with “critical, life-threatening” injuries.

If you look at the Stateman‘s handy Google map, you’ll see this took place not terribly far from the Lake Travis High School/Education Center complex. My mother and I were down there last night with a bunch of other people….attending the Lakeway Police Department’s Citzens Police Academy class. As a matter of fact, right around the time of the shooting, we were out in the parking lot looking at the Lakeway PD patrol cars (Chevy Tahoes. This led someone to ask, “Why the switch to SUVs?” I suspect most of my readers know the answer already, but in case you don’t: “Because Ford stopped making the Crown Vic, the greatest patrol car ever given to us by God.”) and the Lakeway PD police motorcycles (Harley Davidsons). I don’t recall hearing any shots or even the Starflight helicopter.

Even better, we had just finished listening to a presentation from one of the people who does the Lakeway PD statistical analysis about how safe Lakeway was, how many calls for service/stops/arrests there were year to year, and what the major categories were. “Homicide” didn’t even register. (Technically, it’s probably still true that Lakeway is relatively safe, even though the shooter is at large: I believe the shooting happened near, but outside of, the Lakeway city limits, so it would be chalked up as “unincorporated Travis County”.)

The first we knew about it was when we were breaking up for the night: the second in command of the department (who also runs the classes, and who usually jokes around a lot) came in and said “I want everyone to listen to me very closely. Two people have been shot near here and the shooter is still at large. We are going to walk everyone to the parking lot and make sure you all get into your cars safely. I need for you to leave the area as quickly as you possibly can.” That will put some spring in your step.

Reports are that this was “an isolated incident”, possibly a “disgruntled contractor” who shot these people because he didn’t get paid. Which is just stupid: if you shoot people, they can’t pay you.

And speaking of the Lakeway CPA, for reasons: a interesting and contrarian point of view from Grits For Breakfast in opposition to a statewide ban on “texting and driving”.

Flaming hyenas watch.

Thursday, March 16th, 2017

The LAT has gotten really obnoxious about viewing articles on their site with ad-blockers enabled (or disabled) so I haven’t been keeping up as well as I should with goings-on in the banana republic of California.

For example, I totally missed that Lee Baca was being re-tried. (You may remember his first trial ended in a mistrial.)

And even better:

Lee Baca, the once powerful and popular sheriff of Los Angeles County, was found guilty Wednesday of obstructing a federal investigation into abuses in county jails and lying to cover up the interference.

Let me just remind folks:

To get to Baca, prosecutors methodically worked their way up the ranks of a group of sheriff’s officials who were accused of conceiving and carrying out a scheme to impede the FBI jail inquiry. In all, 10 people — from low-level deputies to Baca and his former second in command — have been convicted or pleaded guilty. Several other deputies have been found guilty of civil rights violations for beating inmates and a visitor in the jails.

Dumber than a bag of hair. But I digress. The NYT claims he “could face up to 20 years in federal prison”. As we all know, claims like this should be taken on good quality rice with some soy sauce and wasabi. My totally outsider speculation, as someone who isn’t a lawyer and hasn’t practiced in federal court: I’ll be surprised if Baca gets any prison time, given his age and alleged Alzheimer’s. I expect a long probated sentence.

gonzaga

Wednesday, March 15th, 2017

Once again, I’ve bet Lawrence $5 that Gonzaga will win the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

This year, though, I did it grudgingly.

It isn’t that I don’t think Gonzaga has a chance: they probably have their best chance in years. It isn’t that I didn’t want to take Lawrence’s money again, after already taking $5 from him when the Cubs won. After all, I should give Lawrence a fair chance to win his money back. And I would feel stupid if Gonzaga did win this year, and I didn’t bet.

So what’s my grudge?

Last fall, Gonzaga hired Melissa Click. Yes, that Melissa Click.

I’d be willing to agree that everyone deserves a shot at redemption. But not on my dime, and not necessarily with my active support. Also, I think part of deserving a shot at redemption involves atonement for your actions, and I haven’t seen any evidence of that from Ms. Click.

On the other hand, it wasn’t the basketball team that hired her, and should I punish them (and Lawrence) for the actions of Gonzaga’s administration? That seems unfair.

So, grudgingly, I am preparing myself to lose $5 betting on a team I can’t quite bring myself to cheer for. Life is suffering.

Welles. Welles Welles Welles. Welles.

Wednesday, March 15th, 2017

Netflix has signed on to help complete and release “The Other Side of the Wind”, Orson Welles’ legendary last and unfinished film.

I do want to see this, even though I don’t have Netflix (and won’t pay for it just for this). I have a pretty strong suspicion that this is…not going to be good. But hey, Welles! (What I’m really hoping for is a Criterion package like they did for “F Is For Fake”.)

(And can someone explain to me why I keep confusing “The Other Side of the Wind” with The Wind Done Gone?)

Other unrelated stuff:

By way of Lawrence, follow-up on Captain Bill Dowling and his funeral. (Previously.)

“He was a mean son-of-a-buck, but very tender-hearted … and very competitive,” John Dowling said Tuesday of his older brother. “He made the best out of it. He didn’t get sour, he didn’t get upset. The life lesson he could teach the world – no matter what your situation, you can choose to be happy.”

From the WP: a summary of the players in the “Fat Leonard” scandal, including the eight recent indictments.

Edited to add: One other minor follow-up that I forgot to add: the NYT obit for Mother Divine. I don’t think it adds much over the WP obit, but I did want to note it for the historical record.

Obit watch: March 13, 2017.

Monday, March 13th, 2017

Robert James “Bridges of Madison County” Waller.

I sort of lost track of Waller. I remember hearing that Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend was not good, and I didn’t hear much about him after that. But The Long Night of Winchell Dear (which I hadn’t heard of) sounds like it could be interesting.

Obits and firings: March 10, 2017.

Friday, March 10th, 2017

Sweet Angel Divine, aka “Mother Divine”, passed away a week ago Saturday.

She was about 91. (One of the tenets of her religious movement was a disregard for chronological age.)

Mrs. Divine was the widow of Father Divine:

A charismatic preacher since the early 1900s, Father Divine — or the Rev. Major Jealous Divine, to give him his full title — declared in 1932 that he was God and attracted legions of devotees drawn by his message of racial equality, clean living, communal living and cash-only financial transactions.

One of the best things in the St. Clair McKelway collection Reporting at Wit’s End is his profile (with A. J. Liebling) of Father Divine at, more or less, the height of his empire. “Who Is This King of Glory?” might be available online, too, but when I went to the New Yorker website, it looked like you needed a subscription to read it there. In any case, I commend the McKelway/Liebling profile to your attention.

Scot McCloughan out as general manager of the Redskins.

And the Brockster out as quarterback in Houston. Speculation (both in the sports media and from people I know in Cleveland) is that the Browns aren’t going to keep him, either.

The Texans cut their losses with Osweiler after one season. He signed a four-year $72 million contract, including $37 million guaranteed, last year. Even though the Texans won the AFC South and advanced to the divisional round, he played poorly.

Edited to add: Well. The Browns have cut Bobby ThreeSticks now. And nobody thinks His Brockness is going to be asked to hang around. So who’s quarterbacking come fall? The season is closer than you think…,

Obit watch part 2.

Thursday, March 9th, 2017

Captain William Dowling of the Houston Fire Department passed away on Tuesday.

Captain Dowling was fighting a fire at a restaurant/motel in Houston when the roof collapsed. Four other firefighters were killed: Captain Dowling survived the collapse, but was left badly injured.

…doctors had to amputate both his legs during his six-month hospital stay. When he was released, he had lost his ability to talk and sustained brain damage.

According to the department, Captain Dowling’s death is considered to have been in the line of duty, and he will be honored appropriately.

Obit watch: March 9, 2017.,

Thursday, March 9th, 2017

Joseph Rogers, co-founder of Waffle House.

Obit watch: March 8, 2017.

Wednesday, March 8th, 2017

Lynne Stewart.

Quoting the NYT obit:

…a radical-leftist lawyer who gained wide notice for representing violent, self-described revolutionaries and who spent four years in prison herself, convicted of aiding terrorism..

,,,

Ms. Stewart was convicted in 2005 of helping to smuggle messages from the imprisoned sheikh [Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman – DB] to his violent followers in Egypt. Her prison sentence, initially set at 28 months, was later increased to 10 years after an appeals court ordered the trial judge to consider a longer term.

,,,

Ms. Stewart, who had been treated for breast cancer before entering prison, was granted a “compassionate release” in January 2014 after the cancer had spread and was deemed terminal. Doctors at the time gave her 18 months to live.

Ms. Stewart’s critics and supporters did agree on one point about her 30-year career, which ended in disbarment with her conviction: Like William M. Kunstler and other lawyers who were proud to be called radical leftists, Ms. Stewart sympathized with the causes of violent clients who deemed themselves revolutionaries in America.

Some of her other clients included Weather Underground member David J. Gilbert, “convicted of murder and robbery in the 1981 Brink’s armored car robbery in Rockland County, N.Y., in which two police officers and a Brink’s guard were killed”, Richard C. Williams, “convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper and setting off bombs at military centers and corporate offices in the early 1980s”, and the infamous drug dealer Larry Davis.

You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#36 in a series)

Wednesday, March 8th, 2017

Jose Torres, the mayor of Patterson, New Jersey, has been indicted on corruption charges.

Three public works supervisors have also been indicted with Mayor Torres. Allegedly, the mayor “asked public employees to work on personal projects while they were being paid by the city”.

Worthy of note 1: various online sources show that Mayor Torres is a member of Criminal Mayors Against Lawful Gun Ownership.

Worthy of note 2: Mayor Torres is the second criminal mayor to face charges this week. SayUncle linked to a report that Mayor Anthony Silva of the (formerly) bankrupt city of Stockton has been arrested again: this time, he’s charged with “money laundering, embezzlement by a public officer, grand theft and embezzlement worth more than $400”.

Obit watch: March 7, 2017.

Tuesday, March 7th, 2017

Robert Osborne, the Turner Classic Movies guy. I wish I had more to say about him, but I rarely have cable and thus rarely watch TCM.

Dr. Thomas Starzl, noted surgeon. Among other accomplishments, he did the first liver transplants and pioneered the use of anti-rejection drugs.

Dr. Starzl later described those early liver transplants as both a “test of endurance” and “a curious exercise in brutality.” It involved, he explained, “brutality as you’re taking the liver out, then sophistication as you put it back in and hook up all of these little bile ducts and other structures.”

Bagatelle.

Friday, March 3rd, 2017

Kim Jong-nam Died of Heart Failure, North Korea Suggests

“Heart failure,” MacAdoo said in an almost sorrowful tone.
“Heart seizure,” Haere said automatically.
“What’s the difference?”
‘Everyone dies of heart failure.”

–Ross Thomas, Missionary Stew