Punishment that fits the crime

I admit it, I am a dog and an animal lover. I get darn near sick when I hear and see some of the animal abuse stories that come into the newsroom. In fact, some stories, like Mercy the pit bull, make me down right angry.

A Dallas County jury today found Deshawn Brown guilty of torturing his dog, stabbing her, soaking her with gasoline and then lighting her on fire because she would not breed. Hurray! My compliments to the jury, that in record time, an hour or less, saw through the smoke screen set up by Brown’s lawyers, and his own mom, claiming he was a dog lover who could not do this horrific thing to his pet. My admiration goes to one of Brown’s neighbors, who had the guts to seal the deal for prosecutors, by telling how he saw the dog running around a corner in a fire ball and then saw Brown riding his bike carrying a gasoline can. Circumstantial, I think not.

While I am pleased the trial ended quickly and decisively, I hope the judge shows the intestinal fortitude to dole out an appropriate punishment for Brown. Many people have written to me saying Brown should be shown the same kind of treatment he foist upon his pet dog. But, stabbing, soaking with gasoline and being set on fire would be cruel and inhumane. We can only hope the judge sends a message to animal abusers, by sending this young man to the state penitentiary for the maximum 10 years. He deserves a much stiffer penalty, and will only serve a portion of that 10 years (if he gets it). If the judge does not throw the book at Brown, there is no deterrent effect to the law, and abusers will not think twice about the mistreatment they visit upon defenseless animals.

No! Don’t step on that!

This has been one of those days. There never seems to be enough hours in a day to get it all done, I am always rushing to finish appointments before getting to the studio for the afternoon dash to the 5 and 6 o’clock news. There is never a good time to have a blow out, but today was especially not good. I was just blocks from NBC-5 when I blew my left back tire at 65mph. I limped into the parking lot at NBC-5 on the rim, not a good choice, but better than trying to change the thing on the side of I-30 in heavy afternoon traffic.

I called roadside service, yea I know I am capable of changing the tire myself, but I really didn’t have any fresh shirts to wear on the news, so I opted for some help. When the tech got here, he jacked up the car, started pulling the lug bolts out of the hub and suddenly jumped back, yelling “Hey! What is that?” “That” was a tarantula by my car, a rather generous sized spider the size of my hand. I had to get a picture of that critter. Here, take look. Follow this link and you can see a series of pictures I took.

---

SLIDESHOW: A Tarantula Stop By My Car

---

NBC-5 is such a neat place, an old place on a hill east of downtown Fort Worth. We are surrounded by 450 acres of preserved prairie grass, which is home to that tarantula and a bunch of other critters that used to roam freely in these parts. In addition to that hairy spider, I have seen a bobcat gazing at himself in the rims of my car in the waning sunlight of the early evening. We have some big black birds around here, big ones about the size of a small child I think, and they will often attack the wheels, grills and rear view mirrors of cars when they see their reflection thinking some other bird is encroaching on their territory.

The guy changing my tire wanted to stomp on the tarantula, and I stopped him, I said, “No! Don’t step on that!” I am not a sappy kind of guy, but I figure any bug type animal that grows that big, moves so slow and doesn’t seem to be bothering anybody needs a chance to get on with its life, unthreatened by us human types. So, I used the toe of my shoe to nudge the critter into the grass next to the parking lot, where it casually walked into the tall prairie grass just north of the studios and disappeared.

I don’t know if I will ever get a chance to see that tarantula again. But, I hope if it comes around again and comes face to face with someone in our parking lot, I hope they too will take a good curious look at the big spider and then let it continue on its way.

Have a good flight, old friend.

I picked up my Startelegram from the steps this morning, and for some reason I was compelled to go to Section B. There, almost jumping off the page at me, was a face I usually see every Sunday at First United Methodist Church in downtown Fort Worth. The gentle fatherly smile of Edwin “Pat” Preston. My good friend passed away yesterday, after living a full 98 years.

Mr. Preston was an anchor for me, although I don’t think I ever told him those words. He moved to north Texas from New York at the start of World War II. He was an early flying pioneer, he already had his pilot and instructors license way back then, and he chose to train other pilots for war at Hicks Field in Fort Worth. Once he landed here, he stayed. After the war, he went to work for American Airlines, and over 30 years flew everything AA had, from DC-3’s to Boeing 747’s. After he retired from American, he kept flying, going to work for Ford Motor Company, training their pilots to handle a 727 jetliner and then flying around the world with Lee Iacocca. He loved to fly. His beautiful wife Betty Lou, who passed away 11 years ago, loved to fly too, she was a flight attendant (although back then they were called stewardesses) on many of his American trips.

I tell his story because I love to fly too, and “flying” people some how tend to flock together. Mr. Preston (I could never bring myself to call him Pat, he was too distinguished) always greeted me on Sunday mornings as I came into the sanctuary with my wife and children. He always would have a tidbit to discuss with me about the news from the week before. He convinced me a number of times to change some of the words I use, but always in a fatherly, most gentle way, “wouldn’t it be better to say….” I will miss him so. His presence in our church will be missed. He always sat in the same pew, 3 back from the front, right behind Speaker Jim Wright. His smiling mustached face always brought me comfort and friendship. I will miss my visits with him, I will miss talking about flying with him, I will miss his lessons about life and proper use of the language. I will miss him so.

I know Mr. Preston is now flying high in heaven with Betty Lou. Have a good flight, old friend.

There are Angels Among Us

I am in the recuperating mode after co-anchoring the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon for the 7th year. Kristi Nelson joined Steve MacLaughlin and me for the first time this year, and she did a great job, felt like she had been there forever, what a pro.

While I praise the work done by our NBC-5 and MDA volunteers, the real angels I want to talk to you about are those children, and adults, who are fighting neuromuscular diseases and those generous people who heard our message of hope and responded by donating $3,078,000! I wish every viewer could visit with one child fighting one of the 43 diseases we call Muscular Dystrophy, you would be so inspired by how they overcome their limitations. God truly compensates one disability with another unique ability. Bright children all, willing to do just about anything, endure almost any pain, all for the hope of some day walking out of their wheel chairs. After witnessing what they must endure, my troubles seem so small and I am inspired to believe I can do almost anything.

The other angels are those like Sam Pack, owner of Sam Pack’s 5 Star Ford in North Richland Hills Carrollton and Ford County in Lewisville. For the second year in a row, his dealerships donated $100 per car, new and used that rolled off his lots Friday, Saturday and Labor Day. We are waiting for the total, but he already ponied up $27,500 during the telethon. Then, there are our great friends from Sonic Drive ins, Pat Lear and his Sonic Franchise friends brought the Telethon almost $100,000 this year! All of our corporate friends stepped up in a big way. But, some of the other angels who called our phones made $5, $10 and $25 dollar contributions, knowing their money makes a difference in the lives of our friends fighting muscular dystrophy.

There is so much hope in for those living with muscular dystrophy, so much of the ground breaking research is being done by our world class medical facilities, like UT Southwestern Medical Center, Children’s Medical Center Dallas, Cook Children’s, Texas Neurology and so many others. The 7 MDA clinics across north Texas, where the best doctors, equipment providers and treatments are make possible by generous angels who made our phones ring yesterday.

Thank you seems to be so inadequate to acknowledge the impact and the difference you angels made on the lives of our friends with muscular dystrophy. I extend my hand of friendship and gratitude to you and let you know we cannot win this battle against muscular dystrophy without you, but with you we will most certainly will win.