Tootsie Tonasket's Triumphs & Tribulations

It has been a tough couple months for Tootsie Tonasket. On February 19 Tootsie's husband, Goofbert, a 50 year old man smitten with a girl half his age, filed for divorce from Tootsie.

I first came to know Tootsie Tonasket years ago. She'd emailed me, thinking I had something to do with the Branch-Davidians and that fiasco outside Waco.

At first I thought Tootsie was pretty much a kooky-bananas nutcase. It took me awhile to figure her out. Finally I understood that this was a very nice, good, smart person, who has had a lot of bad things happen to her that have wreaked havoc with her self-esteem and confidence. And yet she continues on.

In the picture above you are looking at Tootsie's 5th birthday party. It took place in a small house in Pensacola, Florida. Tootsie is in the middle, on the left is big sister, Payne. Sitting on Tootsie's lap is Tootsie's baby sister, Denise.

Now here's the part where you may need your hankies. Soon after the above picture was taken, Tootsie's life was torn apart.

Tootsie's dad had abandoned his family. Tootsie's mom had taken up with a guy Tootsie called The Hillbilly. I'm not real clear as to the sequence of events, but soon after Tootsie's 5th birthday her mom took Tootsie and sister, Payne, and left The Hillbilly. Leaving Tootsie's baby sister, Denise, behind.

Tootsie's mom told Tootsie and her sister that she could only take care of two kids. Somehow Tootsie grew up thinking Denise was The Hillybilly's daughter. A short time ago Tootsie was to learn differently. Denise is not her half-sister. They share the same father.

Tootsie and her mom and sister ended up in the Chicago area. Tootsie's mom re-married. To a nice guy, this time, who Tootsie remembers fondly.

Tootsie never forgot about the little sister she lost. A few months ago Tootsie contacted a website that deals with missing or lost persons. That website put Tootsie in touch with a group called, I think, The Angels.

The Angels asked Tootsie for all the info she had about her missing sister. Within a short time they located her! Living just a short distance from one of The Angels and just a short distance north of Pensacola, the place where Tootsie last saw her baby sister.

The Angels gave Tootsie a phone number. Tootsie bravely called her baby sister. Denise answered. And instantly understood who was calling. Denise told Tootsie she had been trying to find her lost family for years.

Since then Tootsie and Denise have talked hours on the phone. Denise is hoping to come north to visit Tootsie. Yesterday was Tootsie's 56th birthday. Her long lost sister sent Tootsie $50.

I don't know when they are scheduled for Oprah. Or Dr. Phil. Maybe that's where they should have their reunion. That seems to be the modern way to do these type things.

Watch This: The Carter Avenue Story

Fresh incoming from Don Young.

One of the Tough Texas Women who have had enough of the roughshod way some things are done here in Texas has made a video showing the plight of those who's lives and homes and peace of mind have been sacrificed so Chesapeake Energy can run a pipeline through their yards.

A 24 inch natural gas pipeline carrying non-odorized pressurized gas.

The Tough Texas Woman's name is Brook. The video she made is a great example of citizen activism in our modern era. Everyone has the tools of mass communication nowadays.

Brook's video is long. She first shows you the Carter Avenue neighborhood. And then she moves on to interviewing several people who live on Carter Avenue, including the well-known Jerry Horton. After the interviews Brook shows some examples of natural gas explosions in recent times, here in Texas.

The video opens in Windows Media Player by clicking the first link in the message from Don Young below....

Neighborhood activist and my and compatriot in the gas drilling wars, Brooke, has put together an excellent short film you need to watch. The subject of, Carter Avenue Story, is the proposed installation of a natural gas pipeline (gathering line, actually) in a Fort Worth, Texas neighborhood.

Known as the Carter Avenue pipeline, it would be the first such large diameter line allowed to run through a densely populated neighborhood. If approved by the Fort Worth City Council, the 16" - 24" diameter pipe will carry un-odorized natural gas and cut through the yards of a four-block long street of low income residents.

This is also an important test case for the many other expected pipelines that Barnett Shale drilling companies have planned. This story will be repeated wherever gas drilling occurs in the USA.

Brooke's short film consists of interviews with several Carter Avenue residents who were intimidated into signing agreements with, Texas Midstream (a Chesapeake company), under threat of Eminent Domain.

Brooke, who is not a professional, conceived of the idea, filmed and edited the video in just a few days with the goal of screening it for Texas state legislators and others. She is another of those unheralded, Texas Women who are doing it.

Please take a few minutes to educate yourself on this important issue by watching this important and heartfelt film.

You can contact Brooke at her website, Meadowbrook Today.

Dog Terror at River Legacy Park

My health adviser, Dr. L.C., told me I am WAY too active. She may be right.

This morning I tried to go swimming, it'd gotten down to freezing overnight, so the water was a bit colder than optimal. I lasted about 5 minutes before retreating to the hot tub.

Around 1 I headed to River Legacy Park to pedal the mountain bike trail. It's dried out from our recent deluge. And gotten a lot greener thanks to that deluge, as you can see in the picture.

There were a lot of people in the park, including a lot of people on the mountain bike trail. I saw no wildlife and no wildflowers.

But, I did have an incident with a savage beast. I was in the zone of the trail called The Prairie Loop. I pedaled past a group of walkers. They had a dog. As I pedaled on I heard the people yelling. And then I realized their dog was chasing me. I went in to hyper-fast mode. The dog was gaining. It was a brutal looking black pit-bullish monster. I knew I couldn't keep control of the bike going at the speed I was pedaling. So, I hit the brakes and hollered "GET" real loud. The vicious dog turned tail and ran. I was relieved.

The Dallas Bad Cop Robert Powell Ryan Moats Scandal

I had not seen the video of the Dallas Bad Cop Incident til this morning. Watching and listening to it is a lot more shocking and disgusting than reading about it.

I doubt there is anyone out there who has not heard this story since it's turned into a nationwide embarrassment, but I'll re-cap.

NFL footballer, Ryan Moats, in the wee hours, when traffic was light, was rushing his wife and other relatives to a Plano hospital. They had gotten a call telling them that Moat's mother-in-law was in her final moments of a long cancer battle.

A short distance from the hospital Moats stopped at a red light. Then seeing there was no traffic he proceeded on. The common sense thing to do.

But a Dallas cop, Robert Powell, was lurking in the shadows and gave chase, turning on his lights and siren. Powell chased Moats to the Emergency Room parking lot. Moat's wife, Tamishia, got out of the car to run into the hospital, but was stopped by Powell. And that's when the police abuse began.

I've not read it anywhere else, but to my ears the Dallas Cop sounded drunk. His rambling threats sounded like a drunk. The cop's insolent attitude sounded drunk. If the cop was drunk that would seem to explain his irrational, rather stupid behavior.

Robert Powell issued an apology on Friday. He is on paid leave. After watching the video I think he should be fired.

And now another NFL player, Zach Thomas, has come forward to accuse Robert Powell of a similar abuse on July 27, 2008. His wife, Maritza Thomas was pulled over by Powell for doing an illegal U-turn. Powell issued 5 tickets, handcuffed Maritza, put her in the back of his police cruiser and stuck her in a Dallas jail cell for 3 hours. Maritza's mother, Teresa Lozano, visiting Dallas for the first time, from Mexico, and speaking very little English, was left stranded, riding the tow truck to where Maritza's car was impounded.

4 of Powell's 5 tickets were thrown out. Maritza accepted deferred adjudication for the U-turn charge.

At the time of the incident the Thomases decided not to file a complaint against Powell. Now they realize they should have and plan to do so now.

Like I already said, that bad Dallas cop needs to be fired now.

Landslide Clyde for Fort Worth Mayor

Windy Texas Hellaciousness with Snow

This has been one hellacious Saturday with way too much self-imposed hellaciousness.

First off it is very cold. This morning when I went swimming it was 36. Small pieces of white-colored frozen water drifted to earth. There weren't many of these 'flakes' but I'm fairly certain it was snow.

It is almost April in Texas and I was hit by a snowflake this morning. Don't talk to me about Global Warming.

Saturday is one of my go take a hike days. More often or not at the Tandy Hills. But we've had rain, not enough time to dry out the hills. So, I decided walking the paved trail at River Legacy Park might be interesting. Starting from the park entrance off Collins Street on the north side of the Trinity River.

I wanted to see how the Huffines Project to Forever Alter River Legacy Park was going. I'd not seen it in a couple months. Nothing much seems to have been done. And the trail is still closed past the 6 mile mark due to pipeline construction. How can a private business disrupt a public park for such a long period? One would think they could quickly pipe the part where the trail is, re-pave it and be done with it.

I am not used to walking on pavement. Today I walked almost 6 miles on hard pavement. By mile 3 my feet were killing me. Same thing happens if I go to something like the State Fair of Texas. Feet exhaustion. I can hike to the top of a mountain without a problem. But put me on hard pavement and nothing good comes of it.

And then there was the wind. At times today it was blowing so hard that I had to lean into it in order to move. That was kind of fun. But made the walking way more work. It was so windy that there were whitecaps on the waves on Lake Huffines. I saw no surfers.

I also so no wildlife except for a few fellow humans. I did see some wildflowers, but taking a picture was not possible due to the wind moving the flowers way too fast.

The prediction for tonight is that by morning we will be freezing here. I don't see swimming in my immediate future. But I do the next day when the temperatures are supposed to return to the 70s.

I Pledge Allegiance to the State Flag of Texas and to the Republic for which it Stands

That's the World's Biggest State Flag of Texas. It gets hauled out by the Alpha Rho chapter of Alpha Phi Omega at the University of Texas at Austin for football games and pep rallies and other events requiring the World's Biggest State Flag of Texas.

In Texas public schools each day begins with reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States and the Texas Pledge of Allegiance. Followed by a minute of silence.

Every day.

The Pledge of Allegiance to the State Flag of Texas is a short pledge...

"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

I know some of you Yankees reading this are thinking I'm making this up. I'm not.

A guy named David Croft has kids going to Texas public schools, right here in the D/FW Metroplex, in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district.

God was added to the Texas pledge in 2007. Some here in the Buckle of the Bible Belt objected to this, one of the objectors being David Croft.

David Croft got himself a lawyer, Dean Cook, and brought the State of Texas to court. On Thursday Judge Ed Kinkeade of U.S. District Court upheld God in the Texas pledge, saying, "A voluntary recitation of the Texas Pledge of Allegiance simply does not coerce students in the same way a school sponsored prayer might."

The Judge also said the U.S. Pledge has God in it and that 4 other states have similar pledges. What other states have a state pledge, I can't help but wonder?

Croft and his attorney, Cook, are considering appealing the decision, with the Attorney Cook saying, "The insertion of the language 'under God' shows that the Legislature did not have a secular purpose. It would be just as inappropriate if they inserted the language 'this is a state under no God' or a 'state under Vishna.' It doesn't maintain the proper neutrality between the state and religion."

In a separate hearing Croft has also tried to get the moment of silence stopped, to no avail.

Cook is considering taking the moment of silence case to the Supreme Court after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his arguments a few weeks ago.

Tandoor Indian Restaurant & Arlington's Chinatown

I had to be in Arlington by the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium at 10 this morning. This seems to be becoming a habit. We have not yet returned to dry, blue skies. So, instead of the usual Arlington related mountain bike ride at River Legacy Park, this Friday I went to the Hong Kong Market in Arlington's Chinatown.

I got me a real nice wok at the Hong Kong Market. And lots of stuff to cook in it. But by the time I was done with what drew me to Arlington I was hungry. When I leave the stadium area I head west on Randoll Mill Road. I had intended to drive Randoll Mill to Fielder Road and then get on the freeway.

But at the intersection of Randoll Mill and Fielder there is this place called Fielder North Plaza. And at that plaza there is Tandoor Indian Restaurant. I've read rave reviews of this place, but had never eaten there. Til today.

At lunch Tandoor has a buffet. I've been to a lot of Indian buffets. Tandoor's is the best as far as my memory goes. Tandoor has a good website in addition to good food.

Bobcat Attacks in Arizona & Texas

I had my first bobcat encounter soon after there were reports of cougar/panther sightings here in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone. My first bobcat encounter was on the mountain bike trail at River Legacy Park. I braked to a halt. The bobcat was in tall grass at the side of the trail. It kept popping its head up as if it was waiting to pounce on me.

I reversed course and high-tailed it out of there, going the wrong way on the one-way trail. I found a park ranger person and told her of my dangerous encounter. She laughed and told me the bobcats were harmless.

So, after that, with my follow-up bobcat encounters, I had no concern that I was in danger. On one of my bobcat encounters I was rollerblading and the bobcat was an old lady one. She just slowly walked ahead of me while I snapped pictures. That's the old lady bobcat in the picture.

My most recent bobcat encounter was also the weirdest. I pedaled on to the north end of the River Legacy trail's bridge over the Trinity River. At the south end I saw a bobcat walking on to the bridge. I kept pedaling. He kept walking. We met in the middle with me saying, "howdy kitty."

So, I was quite surprised to learn this morning that bobcats do attack humans. As in a bobcat attacked 3 people in Cottonwood, Arizona. The first attack occurred after a woman thought she'd hit the bobcat with her car. She stopped, got out and was attacked and scratched.

After that the bobcat headed towards a Pizza Hut where it menaced a woman as she left with her pizza.

After the pizza encounter the bobcat went inside the Chapparal Bar and commenced to attack, causing people to stand on bar stools and tables to get away from the marauding bobcat. The bobcat bit two men in the bar.

By the time the police arrived the bobcat was in the bar's parking lot. The police shot and killed it. Rabies test results are not yet available. I'm thinking this might be a Hitchcockian The Birds type phenomenon, with bobcats going crazy randomly.

I won't be so relaxed during my next bobcat encounter.

Rural Texas Women Are Getting It Done

This week's FW Weekly's feature article features Sharon Wilson. Sharon Wilson is also known as 'Texas Sharon." You may have run into "Texas Sharon" on this very blog.

"Texas Sharon" has been working hard battling natural gas drillers who have wreaked havoc where she once believed was paradise.

In addition to "Texas Sharon" other rural Texas women fighting similar fights are mentioned. Like Kathy Chruscielski in Parker County. She became an activist when she came to realize no one was looking out the protection of water supply aquifers.

In Bexar County, Terri Hall has led successful battles against a tollway and eminent domain land grabs being planned near her home north of San Antonio.

Too bad Arlington had no Terri Hall in town when Jerry Jones in cahoots with the City of Arlington did themselves some land grabbing.

You can read the entire FW Weekly article about these Activist Texas Women, but read it fast. I don't think FW Weekly archives their Feature articles.