Texas: Fireworks, Cameras, Trucks, Lawyers, Muffins, & Yates

There are several interesting legal developments around the state today. So, let's put politics aside for the moment and take a brief look at some of these stories.

The first stop is in Waco. It seems that Waco has banned all fireworks this year because of the drought conditions that exist here in Texas. This is not so unusual. Tarrant, Denton, Parker, Wise, and Hood counties have also forbidden the use of fireworks this year. Where Waco differs is in how they are enforcing the ban. It seems that the Waco Fire Department and the McLennan County Sheriff's Department are "staking out" the fireworks stands just outside the city limits. When a customer buys fireworks, they follow him until he enters the city, and then stop him and write a citation for the fireworks. The citation comes with a $207.00 fine. The fireworks people are fighting back by sending decoys into Waco. The decoys act like they are buying fireworks, and then enter the city with an empty bag. I'm really glad that crime is so low in Waco that the deputies have time to play games with fireworks dealers.

Police Chief Theron Bowman has asked the Arlington City Council to install red-light cameras at the city's 10 most dangerous intersections. He thinks this would generate about $3.8 million in fines each year. Chief Bowman wants to use that money to help pay for 29 new police officers. He said this would allow the department to start responding to low-priority calls, such as car burglaries [Arlington stopped responding to these calls in 2003]. I am definitely in favor of these red-light cameras. It is not at all unusual here in the Metroplex, to see two or three cars go through an intersection after the light has turned red. Evidently, the lives of their fellow citizen's are not as important to these lawbreakers, as getting to their destination a couple of minutes faster. Outside of drunk-driving and cell phone-driving, the most dangerous thing you can do while driving in a city is to run a red light. It would also be nice to have police responding to low-priority calls. They should have never stopped responding to these calls.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments should be releasing the results of a study this week. The study was to find if a ban on trucks driving in the left lane of certain freeways really makes it safer on those freeways or not. Area leaders would like to decide by this fall whether to make the ban permanent, and perhaps extend it to other freeways. It is currently in effect only on portions of I-30 in Tarrant County, and on I-20 in Dallas County. In surveys done by the NCTCG and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, over 80% of the public is in favor of the ban.

The Arizona Supreme Court has refused to grant a license to practice law in Arizona to a Texas attorney. Lee Keller King, a Texas personal-injury lawyer, passed the Arizona bar exam, but was denied a license because he had a criminal record. In 1977, while drinking in a bar, King got into an argument with two other men and wound up shooting both of them. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. After four months, his sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation until 1985. The Arizona justices said that living an exemplary life was not sufficient proof that a felon had been rehabilitated. Quite frankly, I didn't know you could be an attorney in Texas if you had a felony conviction. But I have to wonder, if living an exemplary life for over twenty years does not show rehabilitation, then what does?

The "marijuana muffin" criminals have now been indicted. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, a few weeks ago two young men, Ian Walker [18] and Joseph Tellini [18], made a batch of muffins spiked with marijuana, and placed them in the teacher's lounge of Lake Highlands High School. Nineteen teachers and school employees, including an 89 year old woman, ate the muffins. Several were hospitalized for a short time. These two young men were indicted by the Dallas County Grand Jury on wednesday on a charge of felony assault. Unless they reach a plea agreement with prosecutors, it looks like these pranksters may do some time. It's time for them to plead guilty and accept a probated sentence.

The prosecution has rested it's case in the Andrea Yates murder trial. The defense attorneys will start presenting their case today. I don't have a good feeling about this. It looks to me like she'll probably be found not guilty this time. Personally, I think anyone who commits a crime this vicious and horrific should never walk our streets again. I know it makes me sound like a horrible person, but I don't care if she's crazy or not. Let's think of the children.