Sleepless in Midland

Woman killed by bullet from handgun in Snyder -- an accidental discharge?

In the early Sunday morning hours of June 22, 2008, in Snyder, Texas, it could have been an accident. Here's one of the first news report Abilene Reporter-News:

Stephan Christine Kirk, 22, suffered a single gunshot wound to the head at a residence in the 100 block of Elm Street. Officers from the Snyder Police Department were dispatched to the scene at about 5:02 a.m.

/snip/

According to the information obtained from witnesses, several people had been gathered at this residence to hang out after returning from Sweetwater. While at the residence, some of the individuals went into one of the rooms to look at guns that were in the residence sometime before the shooting happened. The information indicated that one of the male subjects at the residence picked up a pistol and it discharged, striking the victim in the head.

Emphasis mine. Then on July 9: Teen faces manslaughter charge:

A Snyder teen was indicted on a charge of manslaughter by a Scurry County grand jury, KTXS-TV reported Wednesday.

Jordan Matthew Ortegon, 19, is accused of shooting Stephan Christine Kirk, 22, in the early morning hours of June 22.

Readers of this blog know that there is a particular brand of handgun with no manual safety and a light trigger pull that is involved in most accidental discharges. And I'll report the make and caliber of the handgun in this particular case when the information is available -- the Scurry County District Attorney has not returned my call as of the time of this writing.

Finally, Ms. Kirk's legacy.  Abilene Reporter-News commenter "grindesign" said that this is Ms. Kirk's MySpace page.

Move over Max Headroom

There have been some amazing advances in the creation of computerized images of people. TimesOnLine highlights a newly created character named Emily in Lifelike animation heralds new era for computer games. Click the link to see her and read the article. Excerpt:

Previous methods for animating faces have involved putting dots on a face and observing the way the dots move, but Image Metrics analyses facial movements at the level of individual pixels in a video, meaning that the subtlest variations - such as the way the skin creases around the eyes, can be tracked.

Image Metrics puts the human face on a computer generated image by capturing an actor's performance on camera, and then with a powerful chip and their own proprietary technology they analyze all the details, and with the help of animators generate a realistic looking person like Emily.

Pretty amazing. Max Headroom never had it so good.

Via Linkfilter.

Rainy day diversions

Some years ago I saw a short film on PBS of a guy doing some amazing things with a glass ball. He cupped his fingers under it and began rolling it around in his hands with an unbelievable grace. It got more and more complex as he began rolling it up and down his arms with such an effortless dexterity that it looked as if there could have been an invisible hand moving the ball.

Well, that activity has a name: "contact juggling." If you know what that is then you probably already appreciate the skill and grace the practitioners of that art display.

Here are some Youtube samples. JCJC does it outdoors in a park, but there's nothing amateurish about his skill. Mr Om looks to be a bit more professional. And for some traditional juggling check out Chris Bliss juggling to Beatles music. All of these videos are worth watching.

Out in the West Texas town of El Paso another Glock handgun fired off a stray round

Two people injured, but there were no answers,
they left on stretchers with sheets on their heads.

It happened on Monday, August 4, 2008. From the El Paso Times:

Two law enforcement officials suffered gunshot wounds Monday after one of their weapons accidentally discharged at the El Paso Federal Courthouse, U.S. Marshals Service in El Paso officials said.

A U.S. Marshals' deputy discharged his weapon, fired one bullet, and injured himself and a Border Patrol agent in the federal courthouse at about 10:45 a.m. Monday, said Gerry Payan, supervisory deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service in El Paso.

Both law enforcement officials, whose names were not released, were taken to a local hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries. They were both released a short time after, Payan said. No one else was injured, he said.

/snip/

Although Payan couldn't comment on the type of gun the U.S. Marshals' deputy fired, he said deputies are typically issued Glocks 40-caliber handguns. The handguns have the safety on the trigger, according to The Arms Site, a Web site about firearms.

Payan said law enforcement officials are supposed to secure their weapons before escorting prisoners into the federal courthouse building. He said the U.S. Marshals' deputy will be held responsible for firing the handgun, just as any other law enforcement official would in a similar situation.

Just to clarify something the author says, the "safety on the trigger" to which she refers is simply two side-by-side triggers, both of which have to be pulled in order for the handgun to discharge. The Glock has no manual safety, and with a 5.5 pound trigger pull it becomes a dangerous instrument in the wrong hands, i.e., careless, overconfident hands. Here's a link to the Glock website in which they refer, presumably with a straight face, to their handgun as the Glock "Safe Action" Pistol as if saying it's so makes it so.

Accidents happen. Oh how they happen. They happen again and again with the Glocks.

So how exactly did this accident occur? There wasn't enough information in the news article to tell, and the presiding officer's reluctance to share the information is a screaming invitation for a FOIA request. We'll see what develops.

Post script: In the meantime, click to see and hear Marty Robbins sing "El Paso."

Don't go there, Cindy

Cindy McCain is sending out solicitations for birthday presents for John McCain in the form of campaign donations. Should they be doing that? Doesn't this remind voters of the age issue?

Maybe it's good to just put it out there, be proud of it, and be done with it.

What do ya say to a puppet???

PLENTY!!! The children who get to visit Rays of Hope really know how to talk to a puppet. Just ask Vicki Jay, the director.

Rays of Hope is a children's center that opened in January '03 to help kids deal with grief. Their motto:

I didn't cause it.
I can't cure it.
I CAN cope with it.

Sometimes it's difficult for a child to talk about some trauma they've experienced, but bring on a puppet and there's a new friend, someone who can listen. They've been using puppets for quite some time at Rays of Hope, and the other day a kind benefactor donated over a hundred puppets.

And what a scene it was at the Monster Mash as the little critters came alive and danced around the room.

Keep up the good work, y'all.

Preparing for Preparedness Month

"No single agency will be able to come in and save the day in a disaster." Common sense tells us that, and anyone who didn't know that before hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans certainly must know it now. "In 95% of situations the victim or a bystander is the first to respond." Those quotes are from Regina Chapline at a conference late last month at the Permian Basin Regional Citizen Corp Conference held in Odessa, Texas. Ms. Chapline is the Texas Citizen Corps Manager, and she was one of several educational and entertaining speakers addressing the theme of "Energizing Community Resources"

September is National Preparedness Month but many of the attendees had gotten a head start. So what are they preparing for? Well, in this part of the world we've got wild fires, structure fires and refinery fires to name a few. Plus there's often the threat of a tornado. And there's the possibility of a terrorist attack, although in my opinion, the most tempting terrorist target would be a place where national TV saturation coverage would be more convenient.

There were Citizen Emergency Response Team CERT volunteers in attendance from various area communities, and they demonstrated some of their skills. For example, a squad from Big Spring demonstrated triage and first aid, and a group from Pecos demonstrated cribbing. "What's cribbing" you ask? Cribbing is the use of poles, boards and leverage to lift fallen objects off of people.

See some training photos here showing various CERT training segments, e.g., fire suppression, search and rescue, cribbing and triage, or check out the CERT training videos on basic first aid.

Find a CERT program in your neighborhood here. Do-it-yourselfers can take online tutorials -- pass the test and print your very own certificate! Or download the instructor and student materials from this site.

Here are some more highlights from the July conference. Charles F. "Buck" Hamilton (CV-pdf) provided a common sense way to set priorities in an emergency:

Hierarchy of response:
take care of yourself;
take care of your family;
take care of your neighbors;
take care of your community; and
take care of your state and nation.

Greg Clark of Wal-Mart told about something few people would know about unless they've actually been in a disaster. Wal-Mart is the supplier for everyday essentials in many communities, and if the Wal-Mart store gets shut down there could be some real shortages. So the company has an emergency operations center staffed 24 hours a day to help the company and communities deal with disaster. See Wal-Mart Disaster Relief for details.

And let's not forget amateur radio operators. Their ability to communicate is a tremendous asset during disasters. And just about anyone can take the test and become an amateur technician. Heck, even I passed the darn thing. But if you do, use it. Don't be like me and get the license then do nothing with it. You don't have to learn Morse Code, but if you've read this far then give yourself a treat and watch this skit from Jay Leno's show in which a couple of guys in bow ties and green eye shades use Morse Code in a speed competition with a couple of cell phone texters: short version; long version.

As the scouts say, "be prepared."

Police Academy - training defensive moves

The Permian Basin Law Enforcement Academy, located at the Midland, Texas, Police Department shooting range, is currently conducting a police academy, and the graduates will most likely become police officers. There are 16 in the class, ten of whom hope to become officers with the Midland Police Department. The others have the goal of becoming law enforcement officers in Big Spring or Seminole.

On Thursday, 8/7/08, the PBLEA conducted a training session, and members of the media were invited to observe. So the local tv stations and the newspaper had cameras and reporters there, and your humble blogger was there also, snapping photos and trying to stay out of the way.

Jim Reynolds heads up the PBLEA and was very much in charge of the class, and to this observer it appeared that he had the students' full respect and undivided attention. The lesson for that afternoon, however, was a hands-on demonstration and practice using the legs in defensive tactics, and two specialists taught the class.

It would seem that the best use of legs in a defensive move would be to face the opposite direction and run like hell. But maybe that's just me.

A police officer should be able to control and defuse a potentially violent situation, so the lesson that afternoon was basically how to kick an attacker to throw him off guard and off balance. The instructor for the class was MPD Officer Brad Barnes, and he was assisted by MPD Officer Mollie Porter -- you will see them in the Photo Journal.

Mr. Barnes is not only an instructor for the MPD, he teaches these skills to the public as well. See West Texas Mixed Martial Arts for details. His assistant, Ms. Porter was a college soccer standout -- who better to teach kicking skills, eh? It's nice to know the MPD utilizes the talents an officer brings to the job.

The move taught that day involved kicking with the shin, not the foot, as the foot is too easily injured. Mr. Barnes calls the move the "Thai Kick," and if you search that phrase you could probably find some video demonstrations of the move. But in the meantime, check out this Photo Journal from the session.

Finally, you will see a cat in a couple of the photos. That's R.C., for Range Cat, and she's a very people-friendly cat and is probably a real delight to have around the range. They say she's so calm that a flash-bang can go off in a SWAT team exercise, and it doesn't even faze her. However, just after the Thursday class ended, one of the students ran up to the place where she was lying, and not realizing she was there, accidentally stepped on her. She screamed, scratched and ran off. She literally vanished, leaving behind nothing but a thin red line on the student's bare leg.

Here's hoping R.C. is OK.

The David Allen case - 2nd visit

Magistrate L. Stuart Platt conducted a hearing Friday morning (8/8/08) for the purpose of addressing alleged violations of the conditions of a release order in the case of USA vs. David Roger Allen. You will recall that Mr. Allen was the subject of splashy tv coverage of his arrest for having kiddie porn on his computer. See The TV Perp Walk for our first visit to this case.

Mr. Allen was released on $50,000 bail on the condition that he be examined by a psychiatrist, live at a halfway house, and get a full time job. Mr. Allen was previously employed as a college teacher, and given all the publicity the main stream media gave his arrest it's safe to presume that he is no longer on the college payroll. And as of the time of this hearing, Mr. Allen was unemployed.

So what kind of job would a college drama teacher with a PhD on his resume and a felony charge hanging over his head expect to get? Think outside the bun.

Mr. Allen testified that he had applied for work at Jumburrito, a locally owned fast food eatery, and was told to report for job orientation the Friday morning of the hearing. He explained that he couldn't be at the orientation because he had to be in court, and they told him he had too many appointments and to forget about working there. Apparently, a federal prisoner employment service intervened and arranged for him to have a second chance at Jumburrito.  We'll see how that works out as Magistrate Platt told Mr. Allen that he must be employed full time in one week or else he should report directly to the U.S. Marshal for incarceration.

Mr. Allen's attorney advised the court that Mr. Allen was having trouble getting hired because of the pending criminal charge. Magistrate Platt replied that the prisoner employment service represented to him that people who had committed some serious crimes were employed all around town. So if you are a fast food customer feel secure in knowing that any offenders preparing your food have most likely been rehabilitated. Might want to steer clear of the serrano and jalapeño peppers, however.

Finally, one of the things we should expect to learn from this trial is how many children did Mr. Allen actually harm. Usually when a teacher is charged with some sexual misconduct students seem to come out of the woodwork with similar accusations. In the present case that's a dog that didn't bark. I have no inside knowledge, but it appears that there have been no complaints of any kind other than the government's concern about what Mr. Allen had on his computer and the key strokes he made thereto.

George McGovern trying to reign in the unions

Former Senator George McGovern has penned a nice editorial for the Wall Street Journal titled My Party Should Respect Secret Union Ballots, and in it he criticizes the way the proposed pro-union legislation called the "Employee Free Choice Act" threatens to take away employees' free choice. He explains how:

The key provision of EFCA is a change in the mechanism by which unions are formed and recognized. Instead of a private election with a secret ballot overseen by an impartial federal board, union organizers would simply need to gather signatures from more than 50% of the employees in a workplace or bargaining unit, a system known as "card-check." There are many documented cases where workers have been pressured, harassed, tricked and intimidated into signing cards that have led to mandatory payment of dues.

Under EFCA, workers could lose the freedom to express their will in private, the right to make a decision without anyone peering over their shoulder, free from fear of reprisal.

The bold emphasis was added by me, because that brought back some old memories. (One of the blogger's privileges is the ability to tell personal anecdotes to an unknown audience. So let me share this one.)

I worked on a factory floor many years ago, and at the time, with nothing more formal than a high school degree, I was making more money then I had every made before by shaping little pieces of metal that would fit with bigger pieces of metal until the final product was an airplane.

So along came the United Auto Workers (UAW) with a massive unionization campaign. I didn't want to pay the dues, so I declined to join. But the floor lead man, the guy who handed out the work assignments, was gung ho pro union. And he used his position to pressure workers to join the union by assigning the good jobs to those who signed and crappy jobs to those who didn't. That was an illegal tactic, but we didn't know.  And most of my coworkers and I eventually signed the card which was basically a contract whereby we agreed to an automatic deduction from our paycheck which, at the time of signing, was the equivalent to about an hour's wage.

Well, within about a month after that little business the UAW called a strike at one of the big three auto plants. And our union dues skyrocketed 300% to help finance that strike. Bummer. There were rumors that someone sued to try to get out of the union, but that little card we signed was a contract, and we were stuck with it for for the term of the contract which was at least a year, maybe longer.

That bitter taste in my mouth would have dissipated by now but for the underhanded tactics the unions still use to get new members, and the EFCA is as underhanded as they come.

Aside - One of the fascinating footnotes of the 1972 presidential election is that a decade or so after the election in which Richard Nixon literally flattened George McGovern, pollsters were reporting numbers of people who said they voted for McGovern in numbers that exceeded the number of votes McGovern actually received. Interesting. It's funny how people can rewrite history like that to deflect blame from themselves, but we see it all the time.

Give that dog a bath!

A couple of local entrepreneurs have opened a place called Do It Yourself Dog Wash, and last weekend they were giving away free samples. The price was just right, but I would pay for the service, and I'll be back.

A dog's ancestors in the wild didn't often get a bath, and that probably proves they didn't need one. But once they moved into the house they had to meet a higher hygienic standard.

Most dog owners have some way of cleaning the old hound dog -- the shower, the bathtub, or maybe the old garden hose.  But my own dog hates the water. Or more specifically, he hates for me to put water on him. He'll run through mud puddles all day, but he won't sit still for a bath. Maybe he's acting, but he really seems to be disturbed by the process. And he makes it easy to simply ignore the dirt.

So Cody and Jeremy started Do It Yourself Dog Wash, and it looks like that could be the solution. Follow the link and see how it works.

It's sort of like a coin operated car wash, and $10 buys 10 minutes. The dog goes into a tub with a glass door. And a dial on the machine sets the hose for soapy water, rinse and flea rinse. There are a couple of other settings, but I've forgotten what they are. Once the dirty work gets done, there's a blow dryer to knock the water off, although a towel worked best for my dog.

If getting a bath is as traumatic as my dog lets on, then I think it's better for him and me to do it somewhere other than at home so he doesn't have to worry about it until I pull into the parking lot.

It was a cleansing experience for the old pooch, and we'll be doing it again.

Bring it on, Edouard, we need the rain!

Baytown is supposed to have received six inches. And the radar image shows the tropical depression Edouard getting smaller as it moves West. At the time of this writing Edouard is East of Abilene. (East of Eden?)

Anyway, it appears to be located about 170 miles away from where I sit. And this forecast tells us to expect a 40% chance of rain tonight and tomorrow. Here's hoping. Come on Edouard, hold it together, get it in gear and bring us some rainfall.

Updated:  Nope, no rain for us.  Missed us by that much: |-----------------------|