September 2007 Archives

21 September 2007

Away

We're off on that long-planned trip to Greece today.

I probably won't be on the net much from there, so no Big 12 updates (but what about that A&M debacle last night? ouch) or other posts for a couple of weeks. Also, I'll probably turn on the comment moderation feature in case any enterprising spammers decide to visit while I'm away.

See ya'll in a couple of weeks!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/21/07 06:22 | Travel | Technorati | Comments (2)

19 September 2007

I like my team's quarterback

Romo won't tap Tank for info (DMN Cowboys Blog)

Tony Romo held a conference call with Chicago reporters today and got grilled about Tank Johnson. Romo responded with a pretty good wisecrack when asked if he'd pick Tank's highly intelligent brain about the Bears' scheme.

"He's a D-lineman," Romo said. "There's going to be no secrets there. He's going to say, 'I like to play a one-technique.' OK, thanks."

That's funny!

Good job, Romo.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/19/07 20:28 | Dallas Cowboys | Technorati | Comments (0)

17 September 2007

Crocs: Ugly AND Dangerous

Croc-wearers getting toes caught in escalators (Sarah Karush, AP)

At rail stations and shopping malls around the world, reports are popping up of people, particularly young children, getting their toes caught in escalators. The one common theme seems to be the clunky soft-soled clogs known by the name of the most popular brand, Crocs.

One of the nation's largest subway systems — the Washington Metro — has even posted ads warning riders about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways. The ads feature a photo of a crocodile, though they don't mention Crocs by name.

Four-year-old Rory McDermott got a Croc-clad foot caught in an escalator last month at a mall in northern Virginia. His mother managed to yank him free, but the nail on his big toe was almost completely ripped off, causing heavy bleeding.

Potentially shredding half your foot would be another compelling reason not to wear Crocs.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/17/07 20:41 | Other | Technorati | Comments (15)

If it improves morale...

Australia navy in breast op row (BBC News)

Australia's opposition Labor Party has questioned the need for female sailors to be given breast enlargements paid for with public money.

An armed forces spokesman defended the operations, saying they were carried out for psychological reasons, not to make sailors "look sexy".

Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said the "holistic needs" of service personnel were considered under defence policy.

But he said breast augmentations were not routinely funded by the military.

"We do consider the broader needs of our people, both physical and psychological," Brig Nikolic said.

Broader needs?

That's an interesting word choice.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/17/07 10:07 | International | Technorati | Comments (2)

"Craig's Stall" becomes tourist attraction

US Senator's 'gay sting' sparks toilet tourism (Matthew Moore, Telegraph)

New York has the Statue of Liberty, San Francisco boasts the Golden Gate Bridge, and Washington is home to the White House.

But Minneapolis' new must-see tourist attraction tops them all, at least for lovers of a old-fashioned political sex scandal.

Visitors from across the United States are flocking to the men's toilets at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport to see the stall where Senator Larry Craig was arrested for making sexual advances towards an undercover male police officer.

The Republican senator for Idaho was forced to resign earlier last month after pleading guilty to "disorderly conduct" in relation to his behaviour in the known gay cruising ground.

Mr Craig allegedly tapped his foot, brushed his shoe against the officer's shoe and repeatedly waved his hand under the stall divider.
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Now the scene of the sting is proving unexpectedly popular with curious air travellers.

Karen Evans, who works at the airport's information desk, says that "Excuse me, can you please tell me where the Larry Craig bathroom is?" is now one of the most frequent questions she is asked.

"It's become a tourist attraction," Ms Evans told the Idaho Statesman newspaper. "People are taking pictures."

Nice!

Although the folks looking for anonymous gay sex in the restroom probably aren't too happy about the crowds.

Maybe airport police could learn a lesson from this episode -- instead of engaging in bizarre, foot-tapping/wide-stance sting operations, they could just publicize the problem and let the gawkers go take pictures!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/17/07 10:00 | Travel | Technorati | Comments (2)

16 September 2007

Big 12 Wrap: Week 3

The Big 12 continued to look like a so-so conference in week 3. Here's a quick look at the games.

Oklahoma 53, Utah State 3
It was 48-3 at the half, after which Stoops ran in lots of reserves. Sam Bradford continues his stellar play, and Oklahoma's depth at running back, o-line, and d-line has them looking strong.

Texas 35, Central Florida 32
Mack Brown has set the bar high at UT, which is why Longhorns fans are aghast that their beloved Burnt Orange were actually extended, late, by a lowly CUSA directional school. This does not look like a Top Ten team.

USC 49, Nebraska 31
The final score is misleading, as this one wasn't even that close. Nebraska still has a ways to go to reclaim its old place among the college football elite.

Texas A&M 54, Louisiana-Monroe 14
The expected (or at least hoped-for) blowout -- but boy, did Coach Fran need it. The contest this week against Miami could prove to be a real setback for college offense.

Texas Tech 59, Rice 24
Boy, Rice is bad. And Tech can score.

Missouri 52, Western Michican 24
Boy, Western Michigan is also bad. Maybe worse than Rice.

Kansas 45, Toledo 13
Toledo is not good, but due to the Jayhawks' sorry schedule, we really have no idea how good Kansas is.

Kansas State 61, Missouri State 10
Wow, the Wildcats can beat the hell out of a I-AA team. Well, that's more than Michigan can say.

Troy 41, Oklahoma St. 23
If Boone Pickens donates a few more million, will OSU give him the privilege of firing Mike Gundy on the sideline sometime during the season?

Iowa State 15, Iowa 13
Proof that weird things can happen in state rivalry games. Since Northern Iowa beat dreadful Iowa State last week, does that make Northern Iowa the state champ this year?

Baylor 34, Texas State 27
Baylor was extended by a I-AA program, but at least they didn't lose.

Florida State 16, Colorado 6
Hard to believe these were two elite programs in the 90s. Especially Colorado. They can't seem to run two plays in a row without making a mistake.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/16/07 22:28 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (1)

14 September 2007

And one more, for good measure

Music inspires Kenny Chesney after difficult times (Nekesa Mumbi Moody, AP)

You could say that Kenny Chesney, with a top tour, hit after hit and another multiplatinum album, enjoyed an amazing last couple of years — but you'd be wrong. Yes, he accomplished all that. But, enjoy it? That's another matter.

2006 was another pinnacle [Nashville loves a leading man of multiple pinnacles!] in the seemingly unstoppable career of the country superstar, but it also may have been his most frustrating time as an artist — and a person.

Chesney was still reeling from his very public breakup of his brief marriage to Academy Award-winner Renee Zellweger (and the tabloid frenzy that followed), and felt particularly uninspired, even when it came to what he loved most — touring.

"I wasn't mentally ready to go on the road, after all the media stuff that happened with the breakup with Renee, I just mentally wasn't ready to go, so all last year, even though I had fun and the whole tour was amazing ... mentally I just wasn't 100 percent there," he admits. [shocking!]

He was even reluctant to work on a follow-up to his multiplatinum 2005 album, The Road and the Radio, which featured such hits as Beer in Mexico.

"Last year at the CMA Awards ... he said to me, 'I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get this record done; I don't know what I want to say,'" Joe Galante, head of Sony Nashville, recalls Chesney saying. [Wow--he'd been SUCH an involved songwriter before! I mean, he wrote ONE WHOLE SONG on his 2005 album!]

Galante didn't want to push his superstar to make a record he wasn't ready to make. But he told him to take a crack at it, and see if something might give him inspiration. [like, oh, I don't know, other people's work?]

Just as Galante suspected, the inspiration did come [that's how the Nashville Musical Shite Factory operates -- labels push the pretty little faces to record other people's work, as quickly as possible, and call it "inspiration"] — though not from the usual sources. Chesney, who has written or co-written tunes for all of his previous albums [note that having at least one songwriting credit on an album is actually being touted as a big damn deal here], found the most personal and profound [when I think profound, I think Kenny Chesney!] songs for his new disc, Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates, from the pens of others [that last clause is WAY too accurate!]. The album, on sale Tuesday, doesn't contain one song written by Chesney. Even so, he considers it perhaps the one that reveals his true emotions more than any other [He's free at last from having to pretend he's anything but a pretty face performing the music the Nashville suits put in front of him -- that must be liberating indeed!], especially with songs like "Wife and Kids," where he wistfully yearns [!?] for the perfect family life that now eludes him, and Better as a Memory, in which he lists his own shortcomings as a mate.

"This record opens me up a little bit more, and I'm letting that happen more and more, and that's tough for a guy like me, who's constantly got a wall up," says the congenial Chesney, relaxing at a Manhattan studio a few hours before a concert at Madison Square Garden.

"There's a piece of me in all of these songs, there's a whole lot of me in the majority of them," [the label probably focus-grouped them to make sure they matched! heh] he continues. "'Better as a Memory,' that's probably one of the most brutally honest songs that I've ever recorded about me [Not written, mind you -- recorded], and it's a letter that I've probably written to a lot of girls before." [Probably? He doesn't know?]

As Galante puts it: "I think he let people into the issues that are facing him." [Okee!]

That profile was just painful. I think I've helped it out considerably!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/14/07 21:28 | Music | Technorati | Comments (0)

While we're on the topic of morons...

Coach says, 'they made me look like a monster' (Tony Thornton, Daily Oklahoman)

MUSKOGEE — In normal circumstances, tonight's game between two of the state's top football teams should be capturing all of Muskogee football coach Matt Hennesy's attention.

Instead, he was dealing with the fallout from a Thursday evening accident in which a 7-year-old boy's bike ran into the coach's car, which was pulling to a stop before leaving a parking lot.

The boy, Chase Thornton, suffered a broken collarbone, a knot on his head and road rash on a leg and shoulder.

The coach suffered a sullied reputation.

A story in Friday's Muskogee Phoenix quoted Hennesy as saying, "I ought to be dealing with tomorrow night's game, not this crap.”

The newspaper also quoted Hennesy as saying, "I'm not going to file a report against a little kid, even though my car was damaged. It was the kid's fault.”

Hennesy said the context of his statements was misunderstood.

"They made me look like a monster,” the coach said Friday.

Hennesy admitted he may have erred by not calling police after the accident. He said none of several witnesses, including a registered nurse, thought to call the police, either.

The accident happened about 6 p.m. as Hennesy was leaving the parking lot of Indian Bowl stadium. His Muskogee Roughers team, ranked third in the state's top class, had just finished its last practice before tonight's game against top-ranked Tulsa Union.

He said the boy, identified as Chase Thornton, ran into the front of his car while trying to dart across the street. Hennesy said he was looking the other direction and didn't realize his car had been hit until a football player who was riding with him told him.

The coach said he and several other people got out of their cars to help. Hennesy said he called the boy's father, who said he was taking care of a baby and would come as soon as he could.

By then, Hennesy said, his car was blocking the exit, and he was running 20 minutes late to a team dinner that included his superintendent and principal, so he left after the nurse told him she would tend to the injured boy. Two of his players carried the boy to the training room, Hennesy said.

He said he never heard from the child's father again.

The boy's father could not be reached for comment this morning.

About 10 p.m. Thursday, Hennessy said, he was watching game film when a Muskogee police officer called and asked him to come to the hospital and fill out a report.

The officer criticized him for not calling police after the accident but said no citation would be issued, Hennesy said.

The coach said he told the officer, "I'm not going to file a charge, because it's a kid.”

He said a Muskogee Phoenix reporter called his cell phone about 11 p.m. as he filled out the police report.

That's when Hennesy uttered the line that prompted a flood of e-mail responses Friday from angry readers.

"In no way, when I say I shouldn't be dealing with this crap was I referring to the kid or his parents,” Hennesy said Friday.

Instead, he said he was talking about filling out the police report and doing that interview.

[snip]

Under Oklahoma law, the driver of a vehicle involved in an injury accident is required to immediately call police.

The law is pretty clear in Oklahoma. The dude should have stopped and called the police. He certainly has no reason to act like he is somehow the victim, or that he somehow is entitled to flout the law because he is an all-important Oklahoma high-school football coach.

Hell, this guy may be clueless enough to become an exec at Southwest Airlines.

UPDATE (09-15-2007): The A-Hole's Muskogee team lost to Tulsa Union, 26-11. Woo!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/14/07 21:08 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

What a difference a day makes (on a crap airline)

Here's Southwest's president yesterday:

Southwest Airlines won't likely apologize to a passenger the discount airline said dressed too provocatively to fly, company President Colleen Barrett said Thursday.

The exec spoke about the incident at Texas Christian University, as featured speaker of the university's Tandy Executive Speaker Series.

"I just can't do that to the customer service supe (supervisor)," she said. "He handled the situation discreetly and with patience, and he did not deny her boarding."

The Dallas-based airline's flap with the passenger, 23-year-old Kyla Ebbert, began in early September -- two months after her flight from San Diego to Tucson, Ariz.

Ebbert has said to other media sources she felt humiliated and felt the stares of other passengers who overheard a Southwest employee asking Ebbert to change her outfit, which consisted of a frayed mini-skirt and a sweater.

Barrett said Ebbert flew with a blanket over her skirt.

"I'm sure she will probably have a movie contract by next week," Barrett quipped.

While Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) doesn't have an established dress code, Barrett said the airline does expect passengers to be "sensible and reasonable."

Some have called the airline, known for its prominent advertisement of hot pant-clad stewardesses in the 1970s, prudish. But Barrett says company officials have removed people from flights in the past for wearing T-shirts with lewd statements on them.

Meanwhile Barrett says the airline continues its culture of putting employees first and trusting them to make appropriate decisions, as with the scenario involving Ebbert.

Here's a Southwest employee on the Newsweek's Travel blog, This Just In, also yesterday:

As an airline employee, specifically of the airline involved, I am so tired of hearing about this "poor, picked on girl". First, there are two sides to every story and I don't feel she was completely honest about the way she was wearing that outfit. I heard she had the shirt pulled up and the skirt pulled down exposing her entire midriff and pelvic bones. An airplane is not a nightclub and even though we serve drinks, it is not a bar. Dress appropriately. I am tired of seeing everybody's body parts no matter their size. Second, SWA is a business and is responsible to all passengers including the one that complained about her outfit. As any business they can reserve the right to refuse anyone. I have never seen an employee address a problem with a passenger ON the aircraft. It is always done in the jetway. Perhaps the reason the entire airplane was staring at her wasn't because they overheard her "dressing down" but because she was dressed like that. DUH! Third, have you seen this girl's My Space page? Her heroes are Jenna Jameson (the porn star) and Paris Hilton (who has her own issues with decency). [Editor's note: We cannot verify that this webpage is, in fact, an accurate cached version of Kayla Ebbert's MySpace page--or even if Kayla Ebbert has a MySpace page. For example, the name Kyla on this page is spelled differently from Kayla.] Enough said about that. Please let's move on from this whole blown-out-of-proportion, juvenile, waste-of-time, fame-seeking, and ludicrous ordeal.

And here's Southwest CEO Gary Kelly today:

In classic Southwest Airlines flair, CEO Gary Kelly today made a public apology to one of its Customers whose trip several months ago has become the subject of recent television and newspaper commentary. Company President Colleen Barrett has reached out to the Customer directly, and Kelly issued Kyla Ebbert an apology and invitation to again fly on Southwest as she taped a television show.

"From a Company who really loves PR, touche to you Kyla! Some have said we've gone from wearing our famous hot pants to having hot flashes at Southwest, but nothing could be further from the truth. As we both know, this story has great legs, but the true issue here is that you are a valued Customer, and you did not get an adequate apology. Kyla, we could have handled this better, and on behalf of Southwest Airlines, I am truly sorry. We hope you continue to fly Southwest Airlines. Our Company is based on freedom even if our actions may have not appeared that way. It was never our intention to treat you unfairly and again, we apologize."

Kelly took an additional step and is sharing his direct comments about the incident by recording ads for national radio. Those comments detail a national fare sale launched today featuring "mini-skirt" fares.

What a cl*sterph*ck of an airline.

I'm actually okay with an airline enforcing some minimal dress standards (clothing is not optional on the plane, thank you). But clearly, the woman in question met minimal dress standards. I'm not down with an airline enforcing ridiculous dress standards. Especially the cattle-transport airline.

In Southwest's case, though, they have much bigger problems -- no in-flight entertainment, the dreaded cattle call, indifferent customer service, and most importantly, planes that don't get where they are supposed to when they are supposed to.

I'm glad Gary Kelly thinks it's all fun now, and hopes the bad press is behind him. Given Southwest's stock performance on his watch, not to mention competitors like Virgin America and Jet Blue flying nicer jets with much better service and amenities and competing on price, this little incident may be the least of his worries.

UPDATE: And now Southwest's President weighs in, and grovels a bit for good measure. Completely unconvincing. Whatever.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/14/07 18:46 | Travel | Technorati | Comments (0)

12 September 2007

Best Danger Train Near-Miss EVER!

Around lunchtime today, I was headed westbound in Midtown and was stopped at Main.

The lights have been out of sync for a few days, which means I've seen the train stuck and waiting in traffic for the "go" signal several times.

Today, the train was waiting well behind the crossing, headed in the direction of the Med Center (putting it to my right).

A beat up work truck was on the far right side of the train also on Main, pulled further up in the intersection, also headed towards the Med Center.

The second the traffic on Main got the green, the driver of the work truck floored it, cut in front of the train, and flipped an illegal u-turn back onto main, headed towards downtown.

The train had barely started inching forward. If it had taken off when it got its signal, that truck would have been in some kind of difficulty.

I know Houston drivers are horrible (and despite the fun I have with the "Danger Train" I do concede that driver error is mostly responsible for the crazy number of Danger Train incidents, even though aspects of the design contribute to the poor safety record), but THAT maneuver is just about tops of things I have personally witnessed.

Wow.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/12/07 14:19 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (3)

11 September 2007

Spark Energy amusement

I just switched to Spark Energy.

Their customer service emails have the address lightmeup@sparkenergy.com

This amuses me for some reason.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/11/07 19:55 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

Zumba

It's taken a while, but I've finally found something more annoying than Crocs.

Zumba (at least as it is practiced LOUDLY at my gym) is definitely more annoying than Crocs.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/11/07 08:30 | Other | Technorati | Comments (8)

09 September 2007

Big 12 Wrap: Week 2

Week 2 is done, so here's my quick take on the games.

Oklahoma 51, Miami 13
Miami looked shaky early, spotting the Sooners a nice lead. They got themselves back in the game early in the third, only to be rolled the rest of the way. The Sooners made enough mistakes that Bob Stoops will have plenty to work on, but he has to be liking the potential of this team at this point.

Texas 34, TCU 13
UT's second-half destruction of the second-best football program in Texas right now should calm down the Burnt Orange Nation a little.

Nebraska 20, Wake Forest 17
Nebraska holds on to win a nailbiter against Wake. Two steps forward, how many back?

Texas A&M 47, Fresno St 45
There's some controversy about the officiating at the end of this one, but there is no denying that if Fresno State's player hadn't gone brain-dead and fumbled at the one, Dennis Franchione's career at A&M would be concluding at the end of the season. It may still be.

Texas Tech 45, UTEP 31
This is Mike Leach's kind of game! Who needs defense?!

Missouri 38, Mississippi 25
Chase Daniel powers Mizzou to the win.

Kansas State 34, San Jose State 14
A feel-good game for Kansas State after last-week's tough loss.

Oklahoma State 42, Florida Atlantic 6
Oklahoma State makes up for last week's poor showing at Georgia by beating the hell out of Howard Schnellenberger. Is there a quarterback controversy at OSU now?

Kansas 62, SE Louisiana 0
Big 12 programs should not be playing I-AA teams. Boo.

Baylor 42, Rice 17
Baylor will be bad this year, but Rice looks to be horrible.

Arizona State 33, Colorado 14
Colorado led 14-0 early, before their general ineptitude took over the game. My goodness, this program has fallen quickly.

Northern Iowa 24, Iowa State 13
Iowa State's fans must be very proud that their AD fired one of the most successful coaches they've had so that Gene Chizik could lose not only to a I-AA school at Ames, but to an in-state I-AA school!

Note: Yes, I realize the NCAA doesn't want to use the designation I-AA any more, but I prefer it.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/09/07 22:35 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (5)

04 September 2007

New security system at HCC?

Callie walked the dog by HCC earlier, and saw a homeless person who was apparently camped out in one of the doorways at an HCC building, talking to herself.

After Callie went by, she says the homeless person started screaming.

I'm thinking maybe HCC has trained the homeless person to be sort of a low-tech motion-sensor alarm system!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/04/07 21:36 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (4)

03 September 2007

Big 12 Wrap: Week 1

It's the start of another football season, and I guess I'll continue the blog tradition of posting a pithy review of the week's Big 12 action. Here are the games:

Oklahoma 79, North Texas 10
UNT was overmatched from the start in this one, even though Oklahoma's top two running backs didn't play. New QB Sam Bradford had a nice debut, but the competition stiffens quickly with Miami arriving in Norman next week.

Texas 21, Arkansas State 13
A late ASU score made this one look a little closer than it was, but the Texas faithful can't be excited about that start to the season.

Nebraska 52, Nevada 10
Nebraska rolls after a slow start. Is Nebraska finally ready to rejoin the conference elite?

Texas A&M 38, Montana State 7
Aggies should start 3-0 before facing one of many big road tests.

Auburn 23, Kansas State 13
Ron Prince's crew outplayed Auburn for much of this game, but seemed to run out of gas at the end (and made too many mental mistakes to win this road game).

Texas Tech 49, SMU 3
Different season, same offense for Mike Leach and Texas Tech.

Missouri 40, Illinois 34
One of college football's two perennially underachieving head coaches had to win. Mizzou hangs on to win a wild one.

Georgia 35, Oklahoma State 14
A handful of people (like one of the Chron's Big 12 reporters) actually picked OSU to win the Big 12 South (really). That will be hard to do if they can't perform better than this on the road against good teams (like A&M, Nebraska, and Oklahoma).

Kansas 52, Central Michigan 7
Maybe Michigan should have scheduled Central Michigan this weekend?

Colorado 31, Colorado State 28
I watched a fair amount of this snoozer, and can't really say how Colorado managed to win it.

TCU 27, Baylor 0
Baylor will be hanging out in the Big 12 cellar once again.

Kent State 23, Iowa State 14
Iowa State fans must be delighted they chased off one of the best coaches they've ever had so Gene Chizik could lose his opener to a MAC school.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/03/07 19:35 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (4)

01 September 2007

Several odd news stories, offered with no comment

Nude woman dies after Tomball Parkway hit-and-run (Houston Chronicle)

A nude woman was struck by a motorist who fled the scene in the 14500 block of Tomball Parkway shortly after 1 a.m. today, the Harris County Sheriff's Department reported.

Other vehicles also struck the woman after she was knocked down in the center southbound lane of the road, deputies reported. Drivers of those vehicles stopped.

The woman was dead at the scene.

Police chief accused of assaulting 2 male employees (AP)

ALTON, Texas — The police chief in this South Texas town has been charged with two counts of sexual assault for allegedly violating male employees who were passed out at his home during parties.

Jose Luis Vela, 42, was being held in the Hidalgo County Jail on $200,000 bond after his Thursday arraignment on the two felony charges. The city has placed him on paid leave pending the outcome of the case.

"This is the first time I've ever heard of a chief of a police arrested for sexually assaulting his employees," said Sheriff Lupe Trevino, whose office started an investigation last week based on a tip from a friend of one of the alleged victims.

As he was led out of the courtroom Thursday, Vela denied the charges and said he did not who his accusers were.

Investigators have accused Vela of performing oral sex on a male employee after the man passed out drunk at a party about a year ago at Vela's home in Mission, according to court documents.

Vela is also accused of violating a different male employee with an object while that man was passed out at a party in July, Trevino said.

Christoval ex-coach gives up teaching with teen-sex plea (AP)

SAN ANGELO, Texas — A woman who worked as a physical education teacher and an athletic trainer in Christoval has agreed to seven years of deferred adjudication as part of a plea agreement on one count of having an improper relationship with a 17-year-old student.

As part of the plea bargain accepted by the judge, 37-year-old Sherry Turner also agreed to a $2,500 fine and to surrender her teaching certificate.

[snip]

According to a complaint filed by the Tom Green County Sheriff's office in March, Turner and a student engaged in kissing and sexual touching in the student's car at a San Angelo park in October 2006.

Crosby physician collects $1 million in insurance (Mike Glenn & Cindy Horswell, Houston Chronicle)

A Crosby physician collected about $1 million from insurance companies after a series of fires over the past 10 years destroyed three of his homes, an expensive sports car and his office, authorities said.

Dr. David Mark McClellan, 53, was charged Wednesday with felony insurance fraud in connection with one of the fires.

"For any one person to experience this amount of fire loss is unprecedented," said Dustin Deutsch, an investigator with the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office. "It's not a coincidence. It's just a simple act of greed."

McClellan, a family practitioner, lost his medical license Aug. 15 for "engaging in inappropriate behavior with female patients," according to Texas Medical Board records.

John Rivas, McClellan's Austin-based attorney, declined to comment Thursday about the fraud allegations or his client's medical suspension.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/01/07 17:20 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

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