Friendswood part-goers charged

by Chris Paschenko / The Daily News
khou.com
Posted on June 13, 2010 at 12:47 PM
FRIENDSWOOD, Texas — Disturbances related to a house party resulted in the arrest of four people in connection with an early Saturday shooting and burglary, authorities said.

Friendswood police were called to a complaint about a loud party in the 500 block of Regency Court about 11:05 p.m. Friday. Officers disbursed the party but returned at 2:41 a.m. Saturday when the party resumed, authorities said.

The homeowner was out of town, but a female resident, 19, was charged with violating the city’s open party ordinance and possession of alcohol by a minor, Friendswood police said.

At 3:03 a.m., Friendswood and Webster police were called to a complaint of shots fired at a Valero store, 700 W. Parkwood Ave. Officers found several of the revelers from the party but were unable to find shooting suspects. There were no reports of injuries, authorities said.

While investigating the shooting, police were called to a burglary in progress at the home of the house party, authorities said.

Police found three men, who were present at the earlier party, trying to leave, police said.

Cordelrius Dixon, 21, of Humble, and Robert Harris II, 23, of Houston, were charged with burglary. Dixon remained jailed Saturday on $10,000 bond, and Harris was held without bond, police said.

Police accused Dixon and Harris of possessing two rifles and a handgun that were taken from the residence, police said.

Another man, 19, from Houston, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and released on $414 bond.

The 19-year-old resident was released on $678 bond, police said.

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Rash of car burglaries at League City's Sportsplex

Car burglaries at League City's Sportsplex and around Clear Lake over the weekend has promped a reminder from police to lock up and hide your valuables.

Both of the League City thefts occurred between 6:45 p.m. and 8:10 p.m. Saturday at the Chester L. Davis Sportsplex, 1251 Texas 96.

League City Police Sgt. David Hausam said that in one case somone broke out a window in a 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe to steal a purse and two wallets, that had a combined $1,700 in cash. The wallets were found nearby without the money.

In the other Sportsplex theft, car burglars targeted an unlocked 2009 Toyota Corolla that had a $30 purse and $300 purse stolen.

The Sportsplex is a notorious target of thieves, Hausam said. Last month, a woman napping in her truck in the complex’s parking lot awoke to find a man had opened the truck’s door and sat down inside. He claimed he was checking on her before fleeing.

“There’s lot of vehicles and it’s a big parking lot out there,” Hausam said. “There’s a lot of foot traffic so thieves just aren’t noticed.”

Separately, two Webster youths were arrested in connection with several car burglaries in Friendswood's Heritage Park, Clear Lake City and League City.

Friendswood police reported that around 11:50 p.m. on Friday, an officer noticed two teens walking in the Autumn Creek subdivision. He questioned them and sent them on their way, but a little while later he pulled over a car in the 2400 block of FM 528 and found the same teens inside.

The officer reported he noticed a purse in the back, with its contents strewn around, and several GPS devices and cell phones. Police said the pair admitted to burglarizing cars around the Clear Lake area.

Police said Christopher Hermann, 17, of Webster and a 15-year-old youth from Webster were charged with burglary of a motor vehicle. The teen was released to his parents, and Hermann was released after posting a $3,000 bond.

Hausam said residents need to be diligent about leaving nothing valuable in their cars that thieves might notice.

“These guys don’t have any problem busting a window out to get a purse or computer or something like that,” he said. “If you’ve got something valuable, you need to take it with you or in your trunk. Just putting it on the floorboard is not going to keep your car from getting burglarized. Not locking your vehicle is worse because they just check handles.”

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Texas Gulf Waits & Worries

LAPORTE -- Richard Arnhart spends much of his days monitoring wind trajectories, scientific bulletins and TV newscasts.

Parts of an oily blob three times the size of Rhode Island -- and growing -- are believed by many experts to be lumbering closer to the Texas Gulf, and Arnhart is part of the first line of defense.
As a regional director for the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Program in the Texas General Land Office, Arnhart is paid by the state to fight oil spills, and he's heavily involved in state and federal contingency planning for any possible impact on Texas from the massive oil spill lurking in the Gulf of Mexico.

Communities all along the Texas coast are making similar preparations as they join the rest of the world in tracking daily developments in one of the worst oil spill disasters in history.
No one knows for sure if remnants of the spill, which was about 160 miles east of the Lone Star State late last week, will reach Texas waters. The consensus seems to be that if there is an impact it will be in the form of tar balls or a frothy substance resembling chocolate mousse. Experts don't expect any residue to hit this far west for several weeks.

Beyond that, just what threat the spill poses for a region of the state whose economy and culture is tied to the gulf is difficult to gauge. Environmentalists warn of possibly irreversible damage to the state's fragile ecosystems and endangered wildlife. Others worry about potential losses to fishing and tourism, though local officials say they have yet to see any signs of an economic backlash.
"It's going to have an impact one way or another," said state Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, chairman of the state House Select Committee on Emergency Preparedness, which has scheduled a Monday hearing in McAllen to examine Texas preparations for the spill. "We swim in that ocean. We eat the food that comes out of that ocean. It's part of our [committee's] charge to be prepared for emergencies, and this is certainly an emergency that Texas should be prepared for."
'No news is good news'

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, whose office would be in charge of fighting residue from the spill and enforcing the cleanup, took steps late last week to calm fears about the oil slick.

"We're watching and waiting, but it's just not time to go to general quarters," said Patterson, who is scheduled to testify at Monday's hearing. "No news is good news."

Patterson sought to dispel TV reports that tar balls from the spill are already showing up on Texas beaches. Although tar balls occasionally wash ashore along the Texas Gulf, they may be decades old and could come from natural seepage or earlier spills, the land office said. An analysis on tar balls collected from Jamaica Beach on Galveston Island last week proved conclusively that the substance did not come from the oil slick in the gulf, said Cmdr. David Berliner of the Coast Guard.
Nevertheless, an out-of-control underwater gusher dumping more than thousands of barrels of oil into the gulf each day is impossible for Texans to ignore. Houston area residents watching TV last week, for example, might have seen ads aired by attorney Jim Adler offering his service to victims of the spill.

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3 teams begin softball playoff series

By Evan Mohl
The Daily News
Published May 6, 2010

Three Galveston county teams remain in the softball playoffs — two in the University Interscholastic League bracket and one in the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools tournament.

Santa Fe and Friendswood come from the same district and will look to advance to the third round, where the two rivals could face off.

The Lady Mustangs begin their series today, while the Lady Indians play a one-game playoff Friday.

O’Connell has hopes of advancing to its seventh straight state tournament with a win Tuesday.

Santa Fe (28-7) Vs. Houston Waltrip (18-8)

• One-game playoff: 7 p.m. Friday at Pasadena ISD Fields

• Outlook: Since they earned the second seed out of District 24-4A, the Lady Indians get an interesting area round matchup in Waltrip, a district champion.

The Lady Rams have lost just one game in the last six weeks and have scored double digit runs in their last five games.

The success led to an honorable mention in the Texas Girls Coaches Association state rankings. Santa Fe wasn’t even mentioned at all.

But rankings are flawed and the Lady Indians should prove why. Waltrip has not faced competition like Santa Fe for most of the year.

In fact, the Lady Rams lost to Lamar Consolidated, 10-0, a team that finished behind El Campo in District 23-4A.

The Lady Indians swept El Campo right out of the playoffs last week.

Waltrip has an explosive offense with eight hitters batting over .300. Santa Fe can claim the same achievement, plus one more.

And the Lady Rams do not have anyone close to a Jocelyn Tacquard taking the mound. Tacquard has thrown two straight shutouts, including a no-hitter for the Lady Indians.

Santa Fe’s coach, Trish Leidy, usually likes to play three-game series so that one fluke contest doesn’t determine the team’s playoff fate.

But with Santa Fe prom this weekend, Leidy opted for a do-or-die game so her players could enjoy their weekend.

• Mohl’s prediction: I expect Tacquard to continue to shine. She’ll need to shut down hitters like Tiffany Bender (.472 batting average) and Kennedy Rodriguez (.434), but she should not have much of a problem.

Tacquard also will get plenty of offensive help from teammates Ciara Sunseri (29 RBIs), Arin McLaren (.349 batting average) and Micaela Bouvier (four homers). Santa Fe 7, Waltrip 1.

Friendswood (24-12-1) Vs. Houston Austin

• Schedule: Game 1, 6:30 p.m. today at Barnett Sports Complex; Game 2, 2 p.m. Saturday at Friendswood; Game 3, if necessary, following Game 2

• Outlook: Friendswood got a heap of postseason experience in a hurry last week.

Making the playoffs for the first time since 2007 — and having no one on the roster with any significant experience — the Lady Mustangs pulled off a 2-1 series win over Bay City, the 23-4A district champs.

They clinched the series in a nerve-racking 1-0 extra-inning win in the final game.

That experience should pay dividends, though Friendswood may not need it against Austin.

The Lady Mustangs own a huge talent advantage over Austin, who finished third in the relatively weak District 21-4A.

On the mound, Kelly Smith, the Southern Mississippi-bound Friends-wood ace, should dominate as usual. The Lady Mustangs top of the order, with Lindsey Davis (.373 batting average, 23 RBIs) Amber Mills (.421) and Rylie Kohls (.368, 25), has also been playing well.

Friendswood must not beat itself, like it did in Game 2 of the Bay City series when the Lady Mustangs suffered from defensive lapses.

And that’s where experience should come in handy.

• Mohl’s prediction: I don’t see how Austin can keep up with the Lady Mustangs. Friendswood sweeps the series.

O’Connell Vs. Katy Faith West

• One-game playoff: 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Galveston Lassie League Fields.

• Outlook: O’Connell seems to have gotten the postseason jitters out of the way after a rough first inning against Bryan St. Joseph’s.

After a brief lapse, the Lady Bucs looked like a team that had won six straight state titles.

But now comes one of their rivals, Katy Faith West, a team that has played O’Connell tough in recent years.

The Lady Bucs will be at home, and anytime Kristin Martinez takes the mound, it’s an advantage. Martinez will play at Kansas next fall.

Still, O’Connell must be careful and find a way to get the bats going. Some players just recently took new positions, which is not always easy to do the as the playoffs start.

• Mohl’s prediction: It’s been a rough year for O’Connell, but the Lady Bucs still have loads of talent. They also are playing together. O’Connell 4, Katy Faith West 1.

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Oil spill threatens Gulf Coast

(CNN) -- A huge oil spill oozing toward the Gulf Coast on Thursday threatens hundreds of species of wildlife, some in their prime breeding season, environmental organizations said.
The Coast Guard said Wednesday that the amount of oil spilling from an underwater well after an oil rig explosion last week has increased to as many as 5,000 barrels of oil a day, or 210,000 gallons, five times more than what was originally believed.

Although efforts to minimize the damage are under way and options under consideration include asking the U.S. military for assistance, wildlife conservation groups say the oil could pose a "growing environmental disaster."

"The terrible loss of 11 workers (unaccounted for after the rig explosion) may be just the beginning of this tragedy as the oil slick spreads toward sensitive coastal areas vital to birds and marine life and to all the communities that depend on them," said Melanie Driscoll, director of bird conservation for the Louisiana Coastal Initiative, in a statement.
Coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida could be at risk, the organization said.

"For birds, the timing could not be worse; they are breeding, nesting and especially vulnerable in many of the places where the oil could come ashore," she said. "The efforts to stop the oil before it reaches shore are heroic, but may not be enough. We have to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, including a true catastrophe for birds."

"The best case is, the wind shifts and the oil doesn't hit," said Tom MacKenzie of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "I'm not real confident about that. ... We're doing everything we can to prevent it, but it could be a bad one."

It's not just birds that could be affected, although they are usually the first to feel the effects, said Gregory Bossart, chief veterinary officer for the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. The birds are right at the surface, get covered in the oil and swallow it, causing liver and kidney problems.

"They need to be rescued and cleaned," he said.
But the coastline of Louisiana, with its barrier islands and estuaries, "is a very unique ecosystem. It's very complex," Bossart said.
Plankton found in the estuaries nourish organisms all the way up the food chain. Crabs, mussels, oysters and shrimp feed on the plankton, he said. Oil smothers the plankton, meaning they cannot eat.

Also, "the estuaries here are a nursery ground, literally a nursery ground, for the entire fish population in this area," Bossart said.

River otters in the region eat mussels and other animals. And "we know, in this area right now, that there are sperm whales. There are dolphins right in the oil slick," he said.
If an oil spill is small enough, animals can leave the area.
"Some of them can get away," Bossart said. "It's totally dependent on the size of the slick, and this is huge."

Exposure to the oil for a prolonged period of time can result in a toxic effect on the skin, and mammals can suffer lung damage or death after breathing it in, Bossart said.
"When the oil starts to settle, it'll smother the oyster beds. It'll kill the oysters," he said.

The Audubon Society, which is affiliated with the Louisiana Coastal Initiative, is recruiting volunteers in Florida and making its Center for Birds of Prey available for bird cleansing and rehabilitation. Elsewhere, Audubon said it was gearing up to mobilize volunteers and provide assistance as the oil reaches land.

The spill also threatens the Louisiana and Mississippi fishing industry, as crab, oysters and shrimp along the coast could be affected, along with numerous species of fish. Gulf shrimp are in their spawning season.

More than 400 species are threatened by the spill, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported Thursday, citing the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
"When you stop and begin considering everything that this could impact, it really is stunning," Karen Foote, biologist administrator with the department, told the newspaper.

A handful of "Important Bird Areas" -- designated because of their value to bird species -- face immediate threat from the oil, the initiative said. They include the Chandeleur Islands and Gulf Islands National Seashore areas in Louisiana and Mississippi, along with the Active Delta area in Louisiana, which includes Delta Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Pass-a-Loutre Wildlife Management Area.

Several species of birds are cause for special concern, the Louisiana Coastal Initiative said. They include the brown pelican, the state bird of Louisiana, which nests on barrier islands and feeds near shore. The brown pelican's breeding season just began, according to the Initiative, and "many pairs are already incubating eggs."

The species was taken off the federal endangered species list last year, but "their relatively low reproductive rate means any disruption to their breeding cycle could have serious effects on the population."

More than 800 brown pelicans died when a smaller oil spill hit Louisiana's Breton Island National Wildlife Refuge a few years ago, MacKenzie said.

Species of beach-nesting terns and gulls, beach-nesting shorebirds, large wading birds, marsh birds and ocean-dwelling birds are also at risk, along with migratory shorebirds and songbirds, the Initiative said.

The migratory songbirds move across the Gulf during a two-week period from late April to early May, for instance.

"The journey across 500 miles of open water strains their endurance to its limits," the Initiative said. "They depend on clear skies and healthy habitats on both sides of the Gulf in order to survive the journey."

According to a 1998 study by Louisiana State University, more than 500 million birds fly over the Gulf and enter the United States along coastal areas in Louisiana and Texas each spring.
The barrier islands east of Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain have still not recovered from the blow dealt by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Bossart said, and a spill such as this one could seriously threaten their recovery.

"I think at this point it would be wrong to say it's catastrophic, because it really hasn't hit any area except out in the Gulf proper," he said. But "it's certainly a very serious thing" that could pose a long-term environmental challenge.

Plans have been under way to protect wildlife since the spill was discovered, MacKenzie said. "We know what we're doing to try to protect those key assets. ... A lot of people are leaning forward in the foxhole to address this."

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