Scream At The Sky In Texas

I think I've mentioned, previously, that I like to read True Crime books. And that my favorite author of such books is Ann Rule. Ann Rule lives in the Seattle area. Many of Ann Rule's True Crime Tales have been about Washington cases, with the most notorious being her book about her "friend," Ted Bundy, with the book being Stranger Beside Me.

When one of Ann Rule's tales is about a crime I either remember or have been to the places described, it adds an element that makes it more interesting. I remember reading the Cinnamon Brown story, I think the title was If You Really Love Me. This bizarre story took place in the Los Angeles area. I had recently driven by many of the places described in that book.

Anyway, all that is preamble to this...

When I'm in the library I check out the True Crime section to see if there are any new books. On my last visit I saw one titled Scream at the Sky, by Carlton Stowers. I read the blurb reviews, sounded good, checked it out.

By about page one I realized this story took place in Texas. And once more I found myself reading a True Crime story and being familiar with many of the places being described.

Then, when I was reading last night, til it put me to sleep, the story took a turn right into my neighborhood. The murderer, Faryion Wardrip, had confessed to 3 long time unsolved murders in the Wichita Falls area.

Then Wardrip surprised the detectives by telling them about another murder.

Wardrip was in east Fort Worth where he found another victim, Debra Taylor, killed her and left her body near the intersection of Randol Mill Road and Interstate 820. That's right where I live. There are 3 or 4 liquor stores at that intersection, due to it being on the border of a dry zone. There is also a lot of open land.

I've not finished this book yet. I know Faryion Wardrip got the death penalty. The murders took place in 1984-5. Almost 15 years later a detective cracked the case, using the new DNA tools. His trial took place in Denton. At the start of the trial he plead guilty, which was a surprise to the prosecution. The trial took place after I'd arrived in Texas, but I have no memory of reading about it.

I don't know if Faryion Wardrip has gotten the lethal needle in Huntsville yet.

The Ongoing Battle Against Conflicts Of Interest & Fort Worth Fascism

Ever since I read the FW Weekly cover story "He Won't Pipe Down" about Steve Doeung's heroic battle against the City of Fort Worth and Chesapeake Energy, to save his home from being stolen via yet one more case of eminent domain abuse in Texas, one part of Steve's story bothered me, almost more, than the eminent domain abuse.

When Steve Doeung did not give in to Chesapeake Energy's strongarm pressure tactics and made clear he was going to fight them, the City of Fort Worth sent in a gang of thugs made up of Code Violation Inspectors, accompanied by Fort Worth Police Gestapo Stormtrooper Agents.

Now, there might be those who think it outrageous that I refer to the Fort Worth Police as Gestapo Stormtroopers. Well, it is not outrageous. It is accurate.

The state, in the form of the City of Fort Worth, sent agents to intimidate a person who was rebelling against the state's fascism. Entering Steve's home, writing citations, scaring his daughter with their angry demeanor. Gestapo Stormtroopers is a perfect metaphor.

What I want to know is who ordered the Gestapo raid on Steve Doeung's home? This is a guy who survived the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, made it to America, with the rest of his family, and in an extremely short time has managed to become a classic All-American Hero of the Epic Sort. The idea that this guy would be the victim of Nazi-like terror, while living in the Land of the Free, well, it just aggravates me.

And while he is battling the fascist Fort Worth regime, he is also battling Lyme Disease.

The fact that the City of Fort Worth would use such a tactic is yet one more example of what happens when you have a city government corrupted by Conflicts of Interest. When you have a mayor who is a lackey for the natural gas drilling industry, that is running roughshod over the Barnett Shale region.

Did someone from Chesapeake Energy call up Mayor Mike Moncrief and tell him they wanted him to send in some of the city's Stormtroopers to scare Steve Doeung into submission? How did this raid come about? Did FW Weekly try and find out and ran into yet one more stonewall?

And now, another instance of Gestapo tactics taking place in increasingly fascist Fort Worth. That being my experiences with Express Energy Services. At the end of this blogging I'll list all the links to my bloggings about Express Energy Services.

Saturday's was the worst, where the Express Energy thugs crossed a serious line and committed what amounted to an assault. Saturday morning I'd blogged that I was going to check in on the Express Energy operation and see if I could find the non-existent meters that are supposed to be part of the operation.

I was taking pictures when two Express Energy goons got out of their White Darth Vader Truck. Okay, no harm in that. It is what happened next where a line was crossed. The guys in the truck must have called another guy in another White Darth Vader Truck and told him I have no idea what.

That guy in the second truck came towards me, at a high rate of speed, driving on the no motorized vehicles allowed, public, paved, pedestrian Trinity Trail. I jumped off the trail after the game of chicken had gone too far. At that point I was both mad and a little scared.

I continued walking, taking pictures. That truck quickly turned around and headed back towards me. I was off the paved trail, aiming my camera at him. He stopped about 100 feet from me.

It was obvious to both myself and Big Ed, who was appalled to experience in person, the bizarre incidents I'd been blogging about, that the guy in the truck was trying to intimidate us.

Why? Who gave the order to do so?

The guy in the second truck was not hurrying down the trail to conduct any business with the other 2 guys, that was made clear when he quickly turned around and headed back towards us.

I did not realize, til Big Ed told me later, that the Terror Truck had crossed to the other side of Beach Street and was watching us from the road that runs to the gas drilling operation.

Again why? I have also learned, from a couple of my own agents, that the White Darth Vader Truck is breaking another law by not having a license plate on its front bumper. Are those Fort Worth Code Compliance people and Fort Worth Gestapo Agents going to stage a raid on the Express Energy operation?

No. That won't happen. Thanks to that Conflicts of Interest situation that prevents the law from operating the way it is supposed to operate.

In chronological order below are the bloggings that has Express Energy Services going all Karen Silkwood on me....

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Too Much Asthma In The Barnett Shale Zone of Texas & One Case In Tacoma

When I got gas yesterday and called my mom in Phoenix, like I always do when I get gas, I was telling mom about some of the nefarious goings on here in the Barnett Shale zone of North Texas, where we have all gone from being Citizens of the Shale to being Victims of the Shale.

I did not tell my mom about my bizarre encounters with Express Energy Services and the goons in their employ.

But I did mention the cancer cluster that is being investigated in Flower Mound, where an inordinate number of kids have leukemia.

I also mentioned the recent revelation that something like 25% of kids in the Barnett Shale zone have asthma, while the average for the rest of Texas is in the 7% range. Clearly something has gone badly amok in the Barnett Shale zone.

But the adults responsible for looking out for the welfare of the area's citizens are not doing their job. Some of the responsible agencies have been co-opted and corrupted by gas industry lackeys, as well as local governments, like Fort Worth's, where a gas industry lackey was installed as mayor and now is on the take, from the gas drilling companies, to the tune of over $600,000 a year,

It seems the rest of America has given up on this area. Not even the EPA seems to have any clout here. So, the bad stuff just keeps happening, like an asthma epidemic and way too many kids getting leukemia. And as far as I know, there is no FBI investigation in to the corruption here, or any other federal investigation. I don't get it. It's very perplexing.

Anyway, at the point I mentioned asthma, my mom changed the subject to Tacoma, where the kid you see in the picture, above, recently had to be hospitalized due to asthma. The little guy is on oxygen. Now, who is this little guy, you can't help but wonder?

Well, his name is David and my mom also told me that David is about to become my new nephew. My little sister is adopting David.

I had not looked at the blog that my little sister's two poodles, Blue & Max, use to convey their adventures and woes to the world, in awhile. But, after my mom told me about David's asthma woes, I checked in on Blue & Max and saw the picture of David in the hospital.

I also saw a picture of my little brother, Jake, holding David. I do not know if this was pre, or post, David being in the hospital. My mom told me my brother and his current wife were up in Washington. He also lives in Arizona. I have not seen my brother since, I think, April of 2006, at the wedding of his oldest son, my nephew, Jason. I was sort of surprised to see that my little brother now looks sort of like a bloated up version of me. With glasses. And very short hair. And an extra chin.

I'd give you the link to the Blue & Max blog, but they've become very security conscious and only let invited guests view their blog. Which is a shame, because it's such a darn cute blog.

Hot Martin Luther King Day Tandy Hills Hike Today In Fort Worth

It's almost 70 degrees, at half past 3 in the afternoon, this Happy Martin Luther King Day in Texas. All this HEAT had me staying in the pool, this morning, for once again, the longest duration of the new year.

I've got my windows open, so that refreshing asthma causing Fort Worth air can waft in and make me sneeze.

I figured the Tandy Hills would be dried out due to all this dryness we've been having. I was a bit wrong. I grew several inches taller as the hiking progressed, adding an ever thicker layer of mud to my shoes. I don't mind being taller, short little guy that I am, but 4 inches taller turns a bit precarious.

I saw a lot of brush that's been whacked in preparation for Saturday's Brush Bash. It looks like a clearcut former forest. Some of the brush went timber right on the trail, like you see in the picture.

Seeing all that Brush waiting to be Bashed had me wondering why a big Brush Bonfire couldn't be the disposal method. Burning that Brush wouldn't add anything worse to Fort Worth air than some of the stuff that is already being added to the air.

Riding Horses In Texas With The Scrabble Queen Of Washington

That is Miss KPF being a cowgirl. I had myself a great time riding horses with Miss KPF, when she visited Texas.

Wait, that may have happened only in a dream. I confuse dreams with reality with alarming frequency.

Miss KPF would make an excellent Texan, as you can tell from the picture, what with her properly wearing a cowboy hat while straddling a horse with authority.

Miss KPF is like a Texan in other ways. Like she's married to this high powered business tycoon who is called J.R.

Okay, I've run out of what Miss KPF has in common with Texans. The reason I'm talking about Miss KPF is I realized something yesterday, that being the she has caused me to be able to spew verbiage at a faster rate. And she has caused an increase in typos.

How can this be, you ask? Well, about a year ago I was curious to see what the fuss about Facebook was all about. To do so I had to create an account. As part of the account set up I was shown names. I thought I was supposed to click on names I recognized. One of them was Miss KPF. I did not realize that clicking on a name sent out a "Friend Request."

Miss KPF sent a message back to me saying "I don't think I know you, we weren't at B-E at the same time." See, I'd not entered accurate info, for the most part. I entered my high school correctly, but not the years I went there. What remains a mystery to me, to this day, is how did Facebook come up with all these names I recognized when I had myself going to that school 10 years later? It's perplexing.

After Miss KPF went through pretty much every name in our class she finally figured out who Durango Jones was. Soon after that Miss KPF started me in on playing Scrabble. At that time I did not realize she was the Scrabble Queen of Washington. Taking pity on me, she has let me win a couple times.

Now, at first I didn't like Scrabble all that much. I had trouble coming up with words. Then one day it sort of clicked. You have to see patterns where you can spell multiple words, that's where the big points come from.

And I'm constantly trying out weird letter combos in the hope that it's a word.

And that is where the increase in typos comes from, I think. I'll type oar when I mean oaf. I'll type boob when I mean boon. I'll type done when I mean down.

Sometimes the typo will still have the sentence sort of making sense. But usually not. I catch most of them before I hit the 'publish' button. But quite a few don't get found til later.

The other thing that I think has happened due to Scrabbling, is I think it exercises the part of my brain that fires the synapses that puts word strings together. I've always been able to pretty easily spew stream of consciousness verbiage. In the past year I've noticed this has changed, as in sometimes I have no clue where a sentence or paragraph is going to go when I start in typing. I just let my fingers fly on the keyboard and check if it makes sense after the fingers quit flying.

That also may be contributing to the typos, as in typing too fast.

Usually I Scrabble while I eat breakfast. This gets my synapses all fired up, with an additional firing up due to coffee. A morning like this morning makes evident to me that I've developed some sort of dependence addiction to Scrabble and it firing up my brain, because this morning there was no Scrabble, because Miss KPF and J.R. are down in Portland.

I won't return to full function til I get Scrabbled. Miss KPF may Scrabble from Portland. She's managed to Scrabble from all sorts of locations, Hawaii, Canada, Seattle, Ocean Shores, Tri-Cities, Leavenworth, Pullman, American Falls, Idaho, I forget where else. Miss KPF is constantly on the move.

So, there's a good chance I'll get a note telling me it's my turn to Scrabble. Maybe I should look for a backup stimulator for when I have Scrabble withdrawal.

Your Climate Killing Idiots Hall Of Shame While The World Burns In Climate Rage

I was sitting here pondering on how unsettling I'm increasingly finding various issues in this zone of Texas I'm living in, where in way too many ways it's still like living in the Wild, Wild Old West, where the "law" was weak and criminals ran amok.

While I was pondering I opened an email from Don Young about some articles in Rolling Stone....

You Idiots!

No, not you, dear reader. Rolling Stone magazine pulls no punches in nailing "the 17 polluters and deniers who are derailing efforts to curb climate change." Among this Hall of Shame is Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon-Mobil who recently bought XTO Energy of Fort Worth, one of the worst polluters in the Barnett Shale. They missed Chesapeake CEO bad boy, Aubrey McClendon, and a few others. But we know who the bad guys are.

See also two other related articles in RS issue #1096.

"As the World Burns"

"Climate Rage"

DY

Dredging & Constructing In Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historic Area

I had not been to Village Creek Natural Historic Area in quite some time.

So, I went there today. With the temperature in the 60s it's very pleasant outside this 3rd Sunday of the New Year. Right now my computer room window is open.

I was quite surprised today when I came to the dam bridge that crosses Village Creek.

Extensive work is being done. A big rock wall has been built to stop the erosion that had been eating away at the river banks and would have soon reached the paved trail.

A sort of diversion channel has been built on the east side of the creek with water being channeled through it. But water still flows through the other tubes that run under the bridge/dam. I couldn't figure out what the purpose of this project was, except for the erosion control.

Maybe this will all help the water flow better and stop the problem that happens when the creek starts running a lot of water and floods over the bridge/dam, leaving a big mess.

It was nice to see a constructive mess today, unlike the destructive mess I saw yesterday on the Trinity River levee, courtesy of Express Energy Services and their thuggish way of operating.

If you look closely at the picture you will see an outhouse up by the heavy equipment. But, this did not qualify for my Outhouses of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex series, due to it being temporary and construction related.

Tasha The Texas Devil Cat Hissed At Me Again Today

I dropped in on Miss Puerto Rico's cat on my way back from my daily constitutional, this time at Village Creek Natural Historic Area.

I think I've had cat sitting duty maybe 6 or 7 times. During the most recent previous cat sitting, back in October, the Devil Cat, Tasha, stopped hissing at me and threatening me with claws if I got too close.

This breakthrough came about due to Tasha, the Devil Cat, liking the treats I was giving her. She actually allowed me to pet her. Slightly. And if I didn't go find her upon entering her house, she'd come find me.

But, today, when I gave her her treats and slightly petted the top of her head, on the 3rd pet I got a huge hiss. I backed off.

The picture clearly shows Tasha the Devil Cat's evil eyes, along with her Hitleresque mustache.

I sat outside on the balcony for awhile, watching humanity pass by. When I came back in, the Devil Cat was where you see her in the first picture, glaring at me from behind her scratching post. I think she was wanting more of her special treats. She got no more. She shouldn't have hissed at me.

I called Miss Puerto Rico while I was sitting on her balcony. I had not heard from her and thought it might be a Haiti related phone service problem. But, the phones had had no problem. Apparently she'd called and left messages, which I did not see til I looked for them.

Speaking of phone calls. I got gas today so I called my mom in Phoenix and told her I got gas and how much it cost. After that we continued talking for way too long, til I got tired of holding the phone to my ear. My mom and dad are planning on coming to Texas again. Seems like they were just here, but it was slightly over a year ago.

Leo the Lion In Texas

Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, currently singing at various venues in the Port Aransas area, regularly emails me good stuff.

Among the good stuff today was a picture of the latest airport security method. It was a photo of dozens of people totally sans clothes, going quickly through security. I won't be sharing that photo with you, because this is a G-Rated blog.

Sometimes Alma sends me things with one of those "you must send this to 5 people" type warnings, lest something bad happens. Like one today, called ACCURATE 2010 HOROSCOPE. This one warned that this is the real deal, not to be ignored, that if I did ignore it I would start having horrible days, starting tomorrow.

And then there was a list of how much good luck I would earn by forwarding the email to a certain number of people. Like 1-3 gets me 1 minute of luck, 33-37 gets me 1 year of good luck, while 38 or more gets me a very lucky life.

So, I looked at what was said about my sign, that being LEO. It was uncanny. I used to know an Idiot Savant who spent way too much time thinking and talking about astrology. Maybe I should not be so dismissive.

Leo the Lion

Great talker. Attractive and passionate. Laid back. Usually happy, but when unhappy tend to be grouchy and childish. A Leo's problem becomes everyone's problem. Most Leos are very predictable and tend to be monotonous. Knows how to have fun. Is really good at almost anything. Great kisser. Very predictable. Outgoing. Down to earth. Addictive. Attractive. Loud. Loves being in long relationships. Talkative. Not one to mess with. Rare to find. Good when found. 7 years of bad luck if you do not forward.

Well, I did not forward this, but I did put it in a blog, does that save me from the 7 years of bad luck? I hope so.

Fort Worth's Tandy Hills Brush Bash Next Saturday With Grand Opening Of Don's Dawgs

The last time I hiked the Tandy Hills, before rain muddied up the place, I saw that a lot of brush had been cut and was laying on the ground, waiting, I assumed, for the upcoming Tandy Hills Brush Bash.

Yesterday I got email from Don Young that confirmed that the cut brush was for the upcoming BRUSH-BASH, which takes place next Saturday.

The most surprising news about the BRUSH-BASH was that a Snack Bar called Don's Dawgs will be making lunch available to those who get hungry and did not bring a sack lunch. And credit cards will be accepted at Don's Dawgs.

Message & Don's Dawg's Menu below...

The City of Fort Worth Parks and Community Services Department has been cutting invasive brush and trees at Tandy Hills Natural Area this week.

Your help is needed carrying the cut material and debris out of the park.

Join your fellow Friends of Tandy Hills to help restore and protect this beautiful 160-acre prairie remnant.

Date: Saturday, January 23, 2010

Time: 10 am – 3 pm

Place: Tandy Hills Natural Area
3400 View Street
Fort Worth

What to Bring: Work gloves, water and a can-do spirit.

Lunch: > > > Bring your own or purchase, on-site, from Don’s Dawgs. (see menu below)

More Information: Contact Don Young at
donyoungglass@earthlink.net or 817-731-2787

See you on the prairie this Saturday.

DY

Don's Dawgs Menu for Brush Bash 2010

Hot Dogs - $3.00
Veggie Dogs - $3.00
Hot Links - $4.00
Nacho's - $3.00
Chili - $3.50

Above items include your choice of toppings. Chili, Cheese, Sauerkraut, Jalapeños, or Chopped Onions.

Assorted Chips - $1.00

Assorted Soft Drinks and Water - $1.00

Hot Chocolate - $1.50
Hot Spiced Cider - $1.50

We will accept Cash/Visa/MC/Discover