Forest Hill News

Euless dispatcher Mary Sanchez expects an emergency on every telephone call. On the night of April 22, Sanchez, 43, of Fort Worth, got a particularly alarming one.

Fort Worth developer Leonard Briscoe Sr. has ended more than a year of delays and is now paying gas-lease signing bonuses he owes -- and offering a higher rate if property owners agree to longer lease terms.

“We arranged the sale of narcotics at a local hotel”

Danie M. Huffman wdreporter2@yahoo.com A band of would-be thieves were more than likely stunned to find that their plan to rob an undercover officer during a foiled drug buy. via Weatherford Democrat

“They're like time capsules. Understanding them helps us understand the formation of the planets.”

Anybody can have a lucky star, but finding your own asteroid is out of this world.

Tarrant County College students Robbyn Kindle of North Richland Hills and Ryan Gallagher of Forest Hill spotted a pencil-tip-size image of the previously unidentified space rock on March 9 while checking computer images of the outer asteroid belt.

'It's just shocking,' said Kindle, 40. 'There are all those telescopes all over the world.'

The International Astronomical Union has given the asteroid a provisional designation of 2008 EB61, according to Raymond Benge, a TCC Northeast Campus astronomy and physics professor who taught the pair last semester. Read more

“We don't think he was overpaid. We think he [Gardner] did it correctly”

The fight between Forest Hill and its former city manager just won't go away.

Two days after David Vestal sued the city for violating its $350,000 settlement agreement with him, the city filed its own lawsuit accusing Vestal of improperly receiving about $101,000 too much for unpaid vacation, sick leave and longevity pay when he left the city four years ago.

The lawsuit also accuses former Forest Hill Finance Director Charles Gardner of fraud, saying he improperly paid Vestal without seeking appropriate approvals from the city management. The lawsuit actually accuses Gardner of concealing the payment amount. Read more

Drivers are encouraged to avoid westbound Interstate 20 tonight between Forest Hill and Loop 820.

All westbound lanes will be closed from 8 p.m. to midnight at U.S. 287, where the Texas Department of Transportation plans to hang new overhead signs, agency spokesman Val Lopez said.

Traffic will exit at East Loop 820, and a detour will be posted. Drivers who want to return to I-20 can take 820 north to Sun Valley Drive, make a U-turn and head south on 820 to the I-20 interchange. Read more

“I have no comment and I have not been given any papers on that”

Former Forest Hill City Manager David Vestal is suing the city, Mayor James Gosey and a former councilwoman, accusing them of making derogatory remarks about him in violation of the $350,000 settlement he reached with the city four years ago.

Vestal is seeking at least $500,000 in damages from the city, Gosey and former Councilwoman Gladys Hardeman for making the comments, according to court documents.

Vestal's attorney, David Fielding, said Hardeman criticized Vestal at a council meeting soon after the city settled with Vestal. He said Gosey made comments about a year ago that allegedly accused Vestal of embezzling from the city. Read more

“We will not get control of the costs of our education system, our hospitalization system or social services, or our criminal justice system until we first get control of our borders and the problem of illegal immigration”

ARLINGTON -- State Rep. Bill Zedler and Republican primary challenger Lee Jackson agree that the state is facing critical immigration, education and transportation issues, but they differ on the solutions.

Zedler, who is seeking his fourth term as state representative for District 96, said he will continue working with other conservative legislators on bills to secure the border and to require people to show identification and prove immigration status before receiving government benefits or jobs. Read more

“The officer pulled my suitcases and personal belongings out of my trunk and had the dog go through it and my trunk”

FORT WORTH -- He talked about serving overseas and on the Mexican border, and how his unit was preparing to leave for Iraq this week.

But inside his Forest Hill home Tuesday afternoon, with a television news crew and a defense attorney as his audience, it was his recent encounter with Fort Worth police that Joseph Earl Jones, a 31-year-old Texas National Guardsman, really wanted to address.

Dressed in his military uniform, the staff sergeant told how he was pulled over by police Friday evening. He said an officer and a dog searched and damaged his car. He even pulled his undershorts down to prove that he wasn't hiding drugs there, he said. Read more

“Stay in the closet because I don't want you to see me kill your aunt.”

The 44-year-old woman said she didn't see it coming. She was in the kitchen cooking chili beans when, out of nowhere, her boyfriend, Joe Dickson, punched her in the stomach. via Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“Their involvement in those types of activities is escalated, meaning they start out at a lower level of anger or fighting or misdirected rage. Whatever it is, they just did not all of the sudden, out-of-the-blue make these decisions.”

ARLINGTON -- Three men were shot late Sunday in the third violent incident in south Arlington in as many days.

The shooting happened about 11:30 p.m. at a home in the 5700 block of Red Cactus Court, Arlington police said.

Police said Kevin Andre Burleson, 25, of Fort Worth arrived at the home during a Super Bowl party to pick up his girlfriend's daughter, who had been with the woman's ex-husband.

'Once [Burleson] got there, an altercation ensued,' said Lt. Blake Miller, a police spokesman. 'He went back to his vehicle, retrieved a weapon and began firing.' Read more

“I thought I was at the end of the tunnel”

FORT WORTH -- Sammie Moore felt blessed.

Doctors had warned that the 68-year-old Fort Worth man, who had been suffering from kidney problems, that he might have to undergo dialysis. But his health had begun to improve, and dialysis no longer appeared needed. On Nov. 11, Moore stood before his church in Stop Six and gave thanks to God.

'I was testifying when I got the news,' Sammie Moore said. 'This usher hollered out and said, 'Brother Moore, your house is on fire!''

By the time Sammie and his wife, Annie, arrived home, firefighters had put out the flames, but the one-story house that they'd raised their four children in and called home for more than 32 years was heavily damaged. Read more

“We've got over 700 cars on the layout”

Anyone who has driven over East Allen Avenue or South Hulen Street knows what a rail yard looks like.

But there's another rail operation, hidden in a work building off Anglin Drive in Forest Hill, that few people have ever seen.

It belongs to a group of adults who haven't given up their toys -- not when they learned the truth about the tooth fairy, not when they finished school and got married, not even when their hair turned gray.

'We built this railroad in order to play trains,' confessed Darrell Cowles, who sells commercial kitchen equipment by day and lives in Watauga. Read more

“We are aware of the grand jury's decision to no-bill Roland Bazan”

A former Forest Hill police lieutenant has been cleared of allegations that he stole a gun from the department's property room in December 2004.

A Tarrant County grand jury declined last week to indict Rolando Puente Bazan on a charge of theft of a firearm filed in June after an investigation by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department.

Bazan declined to comment Wednesday on the grand jury's action.

His attorney, Eric Carcerano, said the grand jury validated Bazan's assertion that he did not take the gun. In fact, Carcerano said, authorities couldn't even prove that the gun was missing. Read more

“He apparently met these guys when he was asking around for the relative”

FORT WORTH -- In a Fort Worth field in March 2003, Warren Davis took a final drag from his cigarette, pulled out a gun, and shot a 15-year-old boy in the head.

The boy, who reportedly intended to take away Davis' girlfriend, survived, and Davis was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He is incarcerated at the Wallace Unit in Colorado City.

Now, Fort Worth police believe Davis shot another man in May 2004 while awaiting trial for the 15-year-old boy's shooting. Read more

“The last two days are our greatest turnout”

Early voting ends today for a variety of elections in Tarrant County, including collective bargaining for Fort Worth firefighters and school bond packages. via Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“I'm glad they filed the suit. I want to join that.”

The mineral-rights leasing boom in the Barnett Shale produced its first potential class-action lawsuit Tuesday when a Fort Worth lawyer sued Leonard Briscoe Sr. and his company, Glencrest Resources, over hundreds of promised lease bonuses that allegedly have never been paid.

Attorney John Hart said he will seek class-action status on the grounds that as many as 2,500 landowners may be involved in the dispute, which extends over nearly a year. According to the suit, Briscoe and Glencrest told plaintiff Pamela Ellis, a Fort Worth resident, and other homeowners at a Dec. 5 meeting that they would be paid a signing bonus within 30 to 45 days of agreeing to the lease. Read more

“We are thrilled with Quanah's impressive development pace and their commitment to helping us achieve the goal of building Value Place into a prominent national brand”

DALLAS, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Quanah Hospitality Partners, LP , a leading franchise developer of Value Place extended-stay hotels , has announced the opening of three new properties. via Hotels

A man suspected of stealing a car and leading police on a chase is in custody Monday morning. via NBC5i.com

“He was a good kid. Both him and Chris were good kids.”

Five weeks ago, Stacey Murphy was widowed when her husband, John Murphy, was electrocuted while working as a lineman for Oncor Electric Delivery. On Saturday, she lost her older son.

Tanner Mayo, 19, and his friend Christopher Loftin, 18, were killed when they were thrown from a pickup that veered off Farm Road 1187 near Benbrook, rolled over and flipped into a tree. A 17-year-old girl who was riding in the truck was injured.

After her husband's death in the accident in Forest Hill, Murphy said, Mayo had become a second father to his 5-year-old brother, Cade, picking him up from school and riding four-wheelers around their Fort Worth home. Read more