Back Talk Far North Dallas

Daily news roundup: Big Tex, Barefoot, toy guns and Warren Culbertson

If you're tired of reading about the big financial-system bailout, DISD screwups and how great the Dallas Cowboys look this year, check out these diversions in today's Dallas Morning News:

     • Remember the big city council vote in May 2007 to criminalize "displaying or brandishing a replica firearm in public? I don't remember it either, and apparently it's a law that even the police have forgotten about. Dave Levinthal reports that since the ordinance was passed, not a single ticket has been written for a violation — talk about your effective ordinance or your irrelevant one; take your pick. In the story, Levinthal asks councilman Angela Hunt: Was it all a big waste of time and resources? "Probably so," she says.

Richardson ROTC fundraising scam

RISD communications employees have put out a warning to neighbors in our area. Apparently scam artists have been canvasing the neighborhood, claiming that they're collecting donations to start an ROTC program at Richardson High School. The police have been alerted to the scam. If you're approached by these scam artists, you should report it to the police as well. Make sure you let your HOAs know about the scam so neighbors can be on alert as well.

'Saggy pants' ban ruled unconstitutional in Florida

Remember the whole "saggy pants should be outlawed" discussion here in Dallas a few months ago? Well, that issue is back in the news, this time in Florida, where a circuit court judge ruled that the city of Riviera Beach's saggy pants ban is unconstitutional. "Somebody help me," the judge said before delivering his decision, presumably a reference to how idiotic he thought the city ordinance was. Residents of Riviera Beach approved the ordinance in March after supporters collected nearly 5,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot (I guess this ballot initiative thing is popping up all over).

Home burglar alarm sales: Ask for a permit from the salesperson

Have you been approached, around dusk, by someone knocking on your door trying to sell you a home alarm system? I can't say that I have, but according to a story in the DMN, that has been happening in growing numbers around Dallas. The story says that door-to-door alarm salespeople are supposed to carry a state-supplied "pocket card" photo ID issued by the Private Securities Bureau, which is probably going to be difficult for most of us to identify not having ever seen one (and not seeing one posted online on the site). As far as I can remember, no one has ever approached our house selling alarms; we get our fair share of magazine salespeople, curb painters, prospective lawn people and down-on-their-luck solicitors, though. Most aren't particularly scary, and some are downright entertaining, but there's still a moment of dread when the doorbell rings and the person standing outside isn't recognizable, and it's not clear how they arrived.

Dallas panhandlers: Where have they all gone?

The panhandling problem — is it getting better or worse in Dallas? That was the question police chief David Kunkle tried to answer in Sunday's DMN. His comments are interesting, particularly as they relate to downtown: The panhandling problem downtown is nowhere near as bad as the problem is in Chicago or San Francisco or Boston, but there are so few regular people in downtown Dallas that the problem "appears" worse. How's that for an interesting theory? He also points out what many of us already know: Panhandling of the passive nature isn't illegal in most cases and in most places, unless it's of the "persistent or threatening type". As for the rest of the city, I can only speak to what I've seen lately, which is fewer panhandlers and fairly non-aggressive approaches. In fact, I can't even remember the last time anyone has approached me saying that their spouse and baby is in the car (conveniently located around the corner and out of site), and they just need $5 or $10 for gas to get to (fill in the blank; somewhere like Longview, Arlington, etc.)

Purse thief targeting our neighborhood

It seems a purse thief is targeting our neighborhood. There's been at least five recent reports of a man snatching purses from women as they walk to their cars in store parking lots.
As if that weren't bad enough, this thief is targeting elderly women, and he's approaching them under the guise of offering them help--then once he's close, he snatches their purse.
On Thursday, Aug. 14, a woman reported that she tripped and fell in the parking lot of Sprouts grocery store. A man approached to help her get up, and then he snatched her purse away.
Every victim has reported that this man fled the scene on a motorcycle. The police reports I've checked don't have a physical description of this guy, but I've called the police asking for more details--I'll keep you posted on what I hear.

Update: North Dallas Veterans Association

The plot involving a Wednesday morning holdup at the North Dallas Veterans Association is thickening. Apparently this isn't the first time something like this has happened. A former security guard told CBS 11 News about an incident where he was held at gunpoint earlier this summer.
And in the blogosphere, people who frequented this apparent undercover poker hall are starting chime in as well. Seems like everyone knew this place was an illegal gambling facility and the cops were just the last ones to find out.

North Dallas Veterans Association under police investigation

It reads like a page out of a 007 screenplay: four armed men wearing masks storm into the North Dallas Veteran Association building at 5 a.m. and demand that men there strip down and hand over tens of thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry.
Why this building was full of people before dawn, and more importantly, why they had thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry on them, are questions police are trying to answer this morning.
Channel 5 NBC reports that employees who work in the same building have strong suspicious that the North Dallas Veteran's Association has nothing to do with the military. Instead, they claim it's just a front for an illegal gambling hall. Detectives are investigating now--I'll keep you updated on what progresses.

Crime in Dallas is down, but what about your street?

The news that crime fell 17 percent in June and July from the same period last year is welcome news (though one wonders if the criminals stayed indoors because it has been so hot). But what happened on your street?

Thanks to technology, you can find out. The Dallas police offer crime reports, sorted by date, beat and reporting area, on their web site. What do you need to do?

Amber Alert: Great way to save children or great way to panic parents?

Chances are, if one of our children is abducted by a stranger, no amount of Amber Alert broadcasts will make much of a difference in the outcome: Odds are it won't be good.

That's the conclusion of a new study on the impact of the Amber Alert program on helping recover abducted children: Does the program really save abducted children, or does it instead primarily panic everyone with a child? Boston Globe writer Drake Bennett's report, reprinted in Sunday's DMN, answers the question by using a bunch of statistics to come up with a surprising answer: The Amber Alert does more harm than good.

The Amber Alert originated, of course, with the abduction of Arlington nine-year-old Amber Hagerman in 1996; Hagerman didn't survive her abduction at the hands of a stranger. But the outcry at the time caused the police departments in Texas to began alerting the public to child abductions through radio station partners, and in 2003, the federal government signed on, Bennett says. But Bennett focuses on a recent study conducted by a University of Nevada criminologist, who determined that statistically, the "Amber Alert is a victim of its own fantastically good intentions. If someone gets a hold of a kid and has sufficiently nasty intentions, in the long run there's not much we can do."