Brandon's Blog

Kudos to Humane Society of North Texas officer Tina Munoz!

It was a hot Sunday recently, and I was in the driveway of our Arlington home getting ready to take my 2-year-old son on some "daddy/son" errands.  I heard some jingling behind us, and when I turned around... I froze.  Coming toward my son (who was about 5-feet from me) was what looked like a pit bull mix and smaller dog.  They were not in our yard yet, but were close and closing in.  I swooped down, scooped him up, and made a b-line for the front door.  As I put my hand on the door knob, they were right behind me, breathing heavy and staring me down.  I waited them out, fearing that if I opened the door they'd dart in right after me.  They paused, looked the other way... it was all the break we needed to quickly get inside.

For the next 4 hours we dealt with these dogs in our culdesac.  They wouldn't leave, and most importantly, they didn't belong to anyone on our street!  They dug a hole, crawled under a fence and into the backyard of one of our neighbors... who had just returned from church and was quite uneasy that these two unknown dogs were roaming her backyard.

So I made a call to 911 (per Arlington's Animal Control instructions when you call them on a Sunday) and was promptly told that Animal Control didn't work on Sundays, and couldn't do anything unless it was an emergency.  My neighbor called 911 and told them she felt threatened by these dogs, and wanted some help removing them from her property.  She was told the same thing.

So I called the Humane Society of NorthTexas.  They sent someone right over.  Her name is Tina Munoz, and she saved the day!!

Two times the larger dog became agressive toward us.  Once was when I tried to set a bowl of water on the sidewalk in front of the house where the dogs were sitting, and once when my other neighbor walked out onto her front porch.  Tina wasted no time, and manged to summon the Arlington Police Department to our house.  The officer saw how agressive the large dog was becoming and called Animal Control.  Interesting... we were originally told Animal Control didn't respond on Sundays... and yet the Animal Control officer was there in 10-minutes, dressed in a uniform, and driving his city issued Animal Control truck.

Tina had taken care of the situation though before the officers ever arrived.  She lured the dog with some food, and then through the front window of her vehicle, stretched her pole with a noose on the end, and looped it over the dog's neck.  The dog simply stopped and sat down.  Tina carefully walked it back to some shade, and then let it eat.  She also got the dog some water.

SO IN CONCLUSION... she showed how you can take care of a situation like that without ever injuring, cornering, or agravating an animal.  While those of us who were untrained took a defensive stance... Tina took the offensive, and did it in the most humane way I've ever seen.

Thank you for doing what others could or would not do!

Brandon Todd

You just can't get any better than that... kids learning... then doing.  Talking to these kids today was a blast.  They're intelligent, eager, and came up with some pretty smart ideas to reach their goal. 

They'll be the first to tell you that collecting 6-million pencils is going to take a long time, and won't be easy... but these will be the same kids who, when they grow up will set goals like curing cancer and solving global problems... and they'll reach those goals!!

What a pleasure to do a story on these kids making good choices, rather than reporting on kids who make bad ones.

So now it's your turn Fox-4 bloggers... send those kids your pencils!!

 

Thanks again for the story idea.

As I write this, I only seek to give you more information that could be helpfull, and maybe point you in the right direction to get some of the answers you're seeking.

I AM BY NO MEANS AN EXPERT IN THIS, NOR DO I TAKE A SIDE IN THIS STORY... I'M SIMPLY HERE TO INFORM.

I mentioned in my story a conservation report that is on the district's website, that is not the "complete" picture of their plan. The link for what they are calling their "complete" plan is:

http://www.ntmwd.com/11.06NTMWD%20Conservation%20P lan%20-%20April%202006%20Update.pdf

As you click on this link you'll see that it lacks one particular word in the title... "model". The NTMWD says the model report is incomplete, and does not have one particular sentence that seems to shed more light on the reasoning behind why they are not lifting the restrictions. (During our interview, the spokeswoman for the water district had no idea that the sentence was not in their extended report, and provided me with that extended report). That sentence is on page 10-7 of the extended report:

Stage 3 may terminate when Lake Lavon rises above elevation 482.0 msl, and/or when Lake Chapman rises above elevation 430.0, and/or when the circumstances that caused the initiation of Stage 3 no longer prevail, or at the discretion of the Executive Director.

You may be saying wait, Lavon is already above that elevation, and so is Chapman. You're right. But... notice they keep saying and/or... this means that the lake levels are only part of the factor... and the last few words... the discretion of the Executive Director. THIS MEANS YOU ALL NEED TO TALK TO MR. JAMES PARKS.

The mayor of McKinney was surprised to learn of this added sentence, and found it helpfull in answering some of the questions from his citizens. He also will be directing many people to the district's executive director.

During this upcoming town hall meeting, I can only assume there will be a lot of people who are going to want some answers from the Water District. We'll be there to report on those answers and find out whether they satisfy homeowners.

Brandon

Scary stuff... two men rammed a woman and her two daughters in their minivan... with the intent of robbing them, then stealing their minivan.

So the question is... what do you do... It's after midnight... you get rearended... you're in a safe neighborhood, just blocks away from your house... what do you do??

Personally I probably would have done the same thing... gotten out to see if the "other guy" is OK.  So if this basic act of courtesy is being taken advantage of... what do we have left??  Would you have to drive off the next time it happened?

I tell my wife... if it happens to you... just call 911, tell them what happened, tell them you feel uncomfortable... and ask them if they'll stay on the line with you until the situation is resolved.

Any thoughts??

Brandon

 

So I headed back out to the location of our story last week on the grackles.  The trees that were filled with birds, were empty, and the keepers of the hawks that we showed in our story were there doing their thing.  So do these dang birds annoy y'all as much as they do me?  I went to Little Rd. and I-20, what other locations do the grackles gather?  What do you think about the hawks swooping in on these birds?  There were quite a few people who came there to watch it the night we did our story.

So what do y'all think about this study?  "Women spending more time with their kids.." is certainly a good thing right?  I mean when I was a kid I remember my Mom spending a lot of time with us, reading, playing, that sort of thing. I also remember Dad taking me to baseball games, football games, and fishing.  So are parents now days really obsessed with spending as much time as they can with their kids? Or are there just more activities these days to keep all of them extra busy? And what about that... my son is only a year and a half, so we're not at the T-Ball or Soccer point yet. Is there such a thing as too many activities? Can parents and kids get caught up in trying to do all of these things and forget about having simple "quality time"??

Ok Ok... so that may not go over so well here in Cowboy country. BUT I'M LOYAL TO MY TEAM!

If you've read my Bio, you'd see I'm from Indianapolis... went to High School there, went to college at Ball State University... still have most of my relatives there.

So when the big game is on, know that I'll be dressed in my Peyton Manning jersey, my Colts ball cap, and drinking a cool Dr. Pepper in my Colts coolie.

So to all you Colts fans out there... LET'S HEAR IT! And to you Cowboy fans who may want to root for the Blue and White (since you're season ended with the botched hold heard round the world) your cheers will be welcome.

Oh yeah... and for those of you who would be so bold as to talk smack... be gentle, we Colts fans are a little new to this Super Bowl stuff. But we'll sure enjoy getting used to it!!!

BTodd

On with the show! American Idol has now cleared San Antonio, and is headed for Hollywood! Covering the final auditions Saturday, I was struck by several things.

1) We really have a lot of singing talent from the DFW area. I ran into contestants from Waxahatchie, South Dallas, Oak Cliff, Krum, Plano, and Weatherford.. and they were all good.
2) Ryan Seacrest and Simon aren't nearly as tall as I thought they'd be. Paula was short, but you can tell that on the show. And as for their personalities, they're just as nice in person as you would think they would be... even Simon!
3) Taping this show is no easy process. The camera crews are constantly taping someone, and Ryan Seacrest actually does a commentary with "every" single contestant. Taping started around 10:00am Saturday morning, and went on into the evening hours.
4) It won't be difficult for me to keep the secret of who made it to Hollywood, and whether any of them are from North Texas. I love surprises... don't you!!

Talking to the American Idol producer today, we got some insight into how to make it through the first round.
Watch what you do in line, as the producers walk around, they watch you.. and they're looking for personality, energy, and whether you have the "look" they're wanting. Oh, and talent is a huge plus!
Don't try to mimic what you saw last season, no bald rockers, no salt-n-pepper haired southern boys.
Don't complain about the wait, or the line, or anything. These auditions are a long drawn out process, and they're looking for people who have the endurance and patience to get through it.
The "Idol" producer we talked to also wasn't very sympathetic to those who think the show "didn't recognize their talent". In his words... "maybe that's because you have no talent".
So bloggers... do you know anyone who's auditioning? What would you do to get recognized in line? Is all of this hassle to get on the show really worth it??

As I said in my live shot - ther's a whole-lotta-singin goin on here in San Antonio. Contestants are singing as they go in to sign up, as they leave, and just hanging out in the parking lot. We've actually heard a lot of talented young singers. So what's your favorite part? Watching the good ones advance, or those first few shows with the.. well.. not so good ones? Mine? Well I'll have to admit, those shows with the wild and wacky contestants are pure comedy!

I must say, after covering news for more than a decade, it's become increasingly difficult to stomach these stories where children are found dead, and especially those found under questionable circumstances. In the last year my wife and I have been blessed with our first child. I have grown attached to the little guy, and am facinated every day at his growth and discovery. Every time I have to report on these cases my heart breaks for the family, and naturally my thoughts turn to my own family. I hope and pray the parents of this 4-year old boy find peace. I can't imagine the pain they must feel.

Wow.. this is it! My first blog. I hope I did it right.