Wheelchair-Bound Prisoner Escapes On Foot

Yikes.  Some heads should roll on this one. 

The 6-foot, 200-pound Comeaux was serving a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

A van containing him and two correctional officers left the Estelle prison in Huntsville about 5:45 a.m. Monday, bound for the Stiles prison in Beaumont, where Comeaux was being reassigned, said Michelle Lyons, director of public information for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, in a written statement.

Comeaux was shackled and in a wheelchair, “which he had claimed was needed for mobility,” Lyons said.

About 45 minutes into the trip, as they were driving through Conroe, 40 minutes north of Houston, the prisoner pulled out a pistol and ordered the guards to drive south to Baytown, east of Houston. There, he took one of the guards’ gray uniforms, handcuffed the officers together and left them in the rear of the van, Lyon’s statement said.

He fired once during the incident but hit no one, an official said.

Comeaux fled at about 9 a.m., leaving his weapon but taking the officers’ two semiautomatic pistols and a 12-gauge shotgun, Lyons said.

Law enforcement officers found the unharmed officers an hour later.

Comeaux was being transferred to Beaumont so he would be near John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, for treatment of the supposed paralysis he had suffered during a reported stroke, Whitmire said.

What Are You Willing to Give Up?

So our long term federal budget outlook is unsustainable. What are you willing to give up to make our country last?

For fun, let’s include state and local things, too.

Locally, I’m willing to give up oversalted roads. There is no reason we need to be seeing blacktop two hours after a snowstorm on city side streets. Plow the chunks away, but lay off the salt. That would save both the $$ and the environment.

On the state level, I’m cool with offices being open four days a week rather than 5. Shut down on Wednesdays.  For example, I spent 15 minutes at the DMV renewing my drivers license last month.  Who expects such a quick turnaround?  Shut down a day and add 10 minutes to my time.

Federally, I’d like to see a lot of lifetime perks given to legislators go away. Also, I’d like to see at least a small amount of benefits limited for federal employees, perhaps asking them to pay, say, $100 per month more for their medical coverage.

Sure, everything has consequences, and they would have to be weighed, but those are just a couple little ideas. What would you cut?

I predict Jed’s answer will have something to do with the war on drugs.

Rick Perry

I’m not a huge fan of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, but I do think he has some good points in this interview with Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds.

And he gets bonus points for being an Aggie.

Move to Lift Ban on Concealed Carry on State Campuses Progresses in Texas Legislature

And it looks like it stands a pretty good chance. 

Of the 150 House members, 70 have signed on in support of Driver’s bill. In the Senate, 12 of 31 senators signed on in support of Wentworth’s bill.

Governor Perry has already said that he will sign it if it makes it to his desk.

Governor Perry Asserts Rights of State

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Obama Press Conference Open Thread

Have at it, folks. 

UPDATE: It was nice to see some actual questions from the press corps.  There were a few soft balls, but also some real questions.  Overall, I think Obama did a fairly poor job.  This is in contrast to his first prime time press conference where he did pretty well.  It seemed that some of the questions really rattled his cage.  He was visibly angry at the reporter who asked him about his delayed outrage at the AIG bonuses and soaring deficits.  Some of his answers were just incoherent and his… slow… style… of… speaking… off… the… cuff… and… choosing… words… at… a… snail’s… pace… and… saying… what… he… is… going… to… say… before… saying… it… was… annoying… 

I would also note that he had his pre-selected list of people to call on again.  He repeatedly called a name and then asked, “is ____ here?”  He is sending a message with his list.  In this case, it is worthy of note (as pointed out by Fox News) that he didn’t call on the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, or any serious financial news organizations.  Given that the press conference was primarily focused on the economy, it is distressing that Obama wasn’t willing to take questions from organizations who would likely ask hard economic questions.  I think that’s why he was put on his heels by some of the questions from the other folks.

Jail Closed

Nice to see someone is on the ball. 

FORT WORTH, Texas – A jail in northern Texas has been closed and its nearly 60 inmates transferred as authorities investigate what they call dangerous conditions for jailers and those behind bars — including cells that locked from the inside or contained recliners. Five inmates had already been moved from the Montague County jail to one in a nearby county this month after an FBI raid, said Jack McGaughey, district attorney for Montague, Clay and Archer counties.

McGaughey declined to say what prompted the investigation, also being conducted by the Texas Rangers. But he said authorities found contraband in the jail. New Sheriff Paul Cunningham moved the inmates to the Wise County jail on Thursday a few hours after he was sworn in.

McGaughey said some surveillance cameras’ cords had been disconnected; recliners were in cells; some bathrooms and cells could be locked from the inside; and inmates had made partitions out of paper towels to block jailers’ views inside their cells. One alarming discovery was a type of rack made of nails, he said.

“This action was taken because there was a concern for the safety of the prisoners and the jail personnel,” McGaughey said Friday.

Dallas Thriving

Gee, will Milwaukee emulate this kind of success or continue to follow Detroit’s path?

With low taxes and lots of professionals, Dallas has its own gravitational talent pull and tax revenue wellspring.

“It’s the capital of corporate headquarters second to New York,” says Ed Friedman, an economist at Moody’s. “Texas in general is really strong. It’s the only state that has no trace of an economic slowdown versus anywhere else in the United States.”

Friedman says Dallas’ growth is unique because it doesn’t have a natural feature, like a coast, to explain its growth over the last few decades. Big companies have been relocating there steadily, which has lead to an “agglomeration effect,” where other firms want to be move to be near large businesses.

Nevermind… I know the answer.

Perry Approves of Armed Teachers

Man, I wish Wisconsin had a governor who respected the citizens this much. 

Texas Gov. Rick Perry indicated Monday that he supports a school district’s decision to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes start this month.

Trustees of the Harrold Independent School District approved a policy change last year to allow employees to carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings.

“There’s a lot of incidents where that would have saved a number of lives,” Perry said after a news conference in Austin.

Gig ‘em!!!

School District To Allow Concealed Carry For Staff

It’s good to see some common sense.

A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes begin later this month, a newspaper reported.

Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements.

In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations and have to use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls.

Superintendent David Thweatt said the small community is a 30-minute drive from the sheriff’s office, leaving students and teachers without protection. He said the district’s lone campus sits 500 feet from heavily trafficked U.S. 287, which could make it a target.

“When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that’s when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can’t defend themselves? That’s like saying ‘sic ‘em’ to a dog,” Thweatt said in Friday’s online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Illegal Honduran Killer Executed in Texas

This is good to see.

A Honduran man, who killed his former employer during a robbery in 2001, has been executed in the US after the Supreme Court rejected a final appeal.

Heliberto Chi, 29, died by lethal injection at a prison in Texas, watched by the two sons of his victim.

His lawyers said Chi was not permitted to contact the Honduran consulate following his arrest - thus violating an international treaty.

Chi was the second foreign national to be put to death this week in Texas.

Chi was in the United States illegally at the time of the 2001 murder.

Wow.  Only seven years from crime to execution.  Would that they all happened in such a timely fashion.

Obama’s Promises Not Worth a Warm Bucket of Spit

Barack Obama likes to make promises, but won’t follow through if it becomes inconvenient to his ambitions.

Long before he clinched the presidential nomination, Barack Obama promised Texas Democrats that he would return to help them raise money for state and local races.

That, state party officials say privately, meant appearing at at least one fundraiser in Texas.

[...]

Texas Democrats have been long annoyed by national party leaders who turn the state into a giant ATM, taking money to campaign elsewhere while leaving local candidates to scrap for the remaining resources.

Mr. Obama campaigned in Texas before the March 4 primary and attended a fundraiser for the state party in February. He’s already promised to send staffers to Texas and help down-ballot candidates get elected. But he hasn’t said when he’ll return to raise money.

Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, Mr. Obama’s point-man in Texas, said he was aware of the agreement but didn’t know how it would be honored.

Mr. Kirk said the realities of running for president have trumped all other endeavors.

“Our first priority is making sure he has the resources for his campaign,” Mr. Kirk said.

Man Kills Two Crooks.  Grand Jury Refuses to Indict.

Here’s a great story from LawDog.  You have to love the folks on that grand jury. 

In November of 2007, Joe Horn spotted two men breaking into his next door neighbors home. He called 911, then went out, confronted the two men and wound up shooting them.

Today, a Harris County grand jury refused to indict Mr. Horn—in plain language, the District Attorney was not able to convince nine out of twelve “good men and true” that Mr. Horn had committed a crime.

Under the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Chapter 83, Mr. Horn is now “immune from civil liability for personal injury or death that results from the defendant’s use of force or deadly force”.

Note that is Texas State Law—I don’t think Mr. Horn has a similar immunity under Federal Law.

Hat tip Dad29.

State of Texas Opposes Ethanol Mandates

Texas is leading the charge against ethanol mandates. 

The state of Texas is now in official opposition to the federal ethanol mandate. Governor Rick Perry has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency for a one-year reprieve, and the reason is simple and increasingly familiar: Washington’s ethanol obsession is hurting the state.

We all know that corn farmers everywhere love ethanol. Don’t tell that to Texas cattle ranchers. Because of the mandate to add this biofuel to gasoline, ranchers are being forced into bidding wars with ethanol plants for the grains they feed their cattle. They don’t appreciate being hammered on price because of a subsidy to corn growers. Thus, Governor Perry’s petition.

The Governor’s goal is to win a ruling from the EPA that suspends half the federal requirement that nine billion gallons of this product be added this year to the nation’s fuel supply. Last week the EPA opened a 30-day public comment period on the Texas waiver request, the first step in what could lead to granting his request.

The most interesting thing revealed by this effort is that EPA holds the power to stand down from the ethanol fiasco. Congress gave EPA the authority to grant such waivers in the event the ethanol mandate had unforeseen consequences. Governor Perry argues that the mess in Texas qualifies.

Texan Pulls Pistol on Trespassing Dane

Texans rock.

Terkel Svensson, a writer for the Danish News Agency, could not get wireless Internet access at the schoolhouse to file a story. But Svensson could get his cell phone working so he called his editor in Copenhagen and started wandering across a quiet country road as he chatted away.

“I was just so occupied dictating my story that I didn’t really see where I went,” Svensson told me later. “I was just walking and talking.”

What Svensson didn’t realize was that he had stopped walking a couple hundred feet away, on the front lawn of an elderly woman. An elderly woman who looked through her window and didn’t like that a strange man was standing outside her house. An elderly woman who had, um, a gun.

Next thing you know the woman is outside, no more than a few dozen feet from the journalist, demanding that he leave. “Suddenly she comes out and she says, ‘Get off my property. You’re trespassing,’” recalled Svensson.

Svensson was too preoccupied to notice the pistol, and was not aware that Texas law gives homeowners leeway on using a weapon when someone is trespassing on your property. All of us journalists across the street were too far away to see the pistol at first, until a Danish photographer with a telephoto lens announced to a bunch of us that there was indeed a weapon in the elderly woman’s right hand.