Stealing makeup

Is it really that profitable? Copper wire, I could see. But foundation and lipstick?

SAN ANTONIO -- Police were looking for four males who may be involved in a cosmetics crime ring.

The four young men, believed to be between the ages of 18 and 20, were caught stuffing makeup into some baggy clothing by a manager at a CVS Pharmacy at Callaghan and DeZavala roads on Tuesday night, police said.

When the manager confronted the men, one of them punched the manager in the face, police said. The men then threw some makeup in the manager's face and left the store without taking anything.

Moments later, the men went to a CVS Pharmacy at Bitters and Huebner roads and made off with some makeup and body spray, police said.

(from KSAT-12)

The police think the thieves are stealing the makeup to sell. And I would hope so. It would be weird if they were doing it so they could actually use it.

Car crashes into house

And the driver gets away!

SAN ANTONIO -- A car crashed into a home early Monday on the city's northwest side.

A couple living at the home in the 5100 block of Newcome were jarred out of bed at around 2 a.m. but were not injured.

"There was just dust floating throughout the house," said Barry Harris, the homeowner. "Nothing like this has ever happened before."

Police were looking for the driver of the older model Lincoln who rammed into the front the home. A neighbor told Harris that he saw a tall man with a mustache running from the wreckage.

(from KSAT-TV)

Since the cops have this guy's car (and his license plate, I assume), I wonder how long it will be until they find him. It looks like he's got a lot of damage to pay for.

"Teen's Shooting Death Being Investigated As Homicide"

Strange, and very sad.

SAN ANTONIO -- Police are now investigating the death of an 18-year-old girl Christmas night as a homicide, investigators said.

Kimberly Tallo was found lying on the floor of a home on the 300 block of East Southcross Avenue with a gunshot wound above her right eye, according to a police report. Investigators said her boyfriend told officers she shot herself while playing Russian Roulette, but police became suspicious when his story kept changing.

(from KSAT)

I suspect there was more than just a game going on here. But, if the two really were playing Russian Roulette, then let this be a cautionary tale to everyone who reads this.

There is nothing cool about Russian Roulette, in any form. It is a horrible game, and if anyone seriously tries to get you to play, don't. Far better to be considered uncool than to be declared room temperature.


UPDATE: The police have arrested the boyfriend. The medical examiner determined that there was no Russian Roulette involved.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and all your loved ones. But, for a truly beautiful Christmas in San Antonio picture, check out Keith's blog at Views of Texas.

Why do birds suddenly appear ...

Here's a story about a local snake oil salesman getting sentenced to three years in prison for lying to the feds.

Harry Siskind, founder of Body Solutions, was sentenced to 37 months in prison instead of the five years’ probation he asked for following his conviction of lying about money he was trying to hide from the feds.

Indignant over his sentence, Siskind unsuccessfully tried to get court security to let him out the back door to avoid reporters. Then he gave the one-finger salute to the media as he ran out of the courthouse and jumped into a waiting, shiny new Cadillac. He put one of those fingers right up against the camera of one local television station.

And here's the picture (taken by Gloria Ferniz) the Express-News used to illustrate the story.



Nice shot.

Christmoustache in San Antonio

All you people with lip hair, looks like you missed out on a moustache-themed holiday party. Or maybe you didn't.

Eva Ruth Moravec from the Express-News reports on the event:

Artists, musicians and gardeners alike manicured their lip foliage or slapped on a fake 'stache for this year's Christmoustache, an annual event that brings together locals who love their facial hair.

The event, now in its third year, is usually held solely to bring friends together in front of the Alamo, an ideal setting for quirky snapshots of men and women celebrating everyone's favorite soup strainer.

But this year, 28-year-old Justin Parr offered to host the event on Saturday night at his Flight Gallery on South Flores Street. It featured musical guests Demitasse, half of the band Buttercup, and DJ JJ Lopez from KRTU Radio.

“It's always a wide swath of people, and everyone is wearing mustaches,” he said.

It was hairy fun for all, I'm sure. Maybe next year.

Thunderstick disappointment

Interesting choice of photo to highlight a story about the Clark Cougars failing to make it to the Class 5A Division 1 finals.



(story at the Hill Country View)

Car crashes into house

Well, actually a doghouse.


Video at MySA.com.

Lucky dog. He was not in his house at the time of the accident. Oh, and it looks like a fence was taken out as well.

Sculley wants horses

President-elect Obama wants a stimulus package, and local governments are sending the federal government wish lists of projects they would love to see get funded by the package. San Antonio is no different. In fact, City Manager Sheryl Sculley submitted a wish list amounting to over $1 billion in projects.

With President-elect Barack Obama and Congress looking to quickly pump billions of dollars into job-generating projects across the country, San Antonio officials have drawn up a preliminary wish list packed with projects worth $1.1 billion.
...
“I don't think it's any surprise,” City Manager Sheryl Sculley said. “We have huge needs in the community, and there are many things we could move forward with.”

(from the Express-News)

Worthy projects, I'm sure, but did you know that the City wants a horse patrol? Really, it's on the wish list. We don't have a mounted police force now, so we would have to build one from scratch. And I didn't know that we even needed a horse patrol.

What do you think? Does San Antonio need police officers on horses?

"Was TxDot's De-Icing to Blame for Accidents?"

I guess sometimes you can overprepare for a situation.

SAN ANTONIO - It didn't snow, and it didn't rain. So, why were cars slipping and sliding all over the place Tuesday morning? Many are blaming the liquid that's supposed to keep ice from forming.

...

TxDOT deployed it's de-icer trucks Monday night. The rain and ice never came, but the liquid sprayed on highways stayed and may have done more than give the roads a shiny ice-like look.

"We've been in a very dry period. We've had accumulation of oils and other debris on the roadways," explained Maggie Rios of TxDOT.

The de-icer may have spread those oils on the road. So TxDOT is reviewing it's de-icing operation to see if something else went wrong with the chemical.

(from WOAI-TV)

The article goes on to say that TxDOT chose not to use gravel in conjunction with the de-icer, but this morning I did notice that there was gravel on the bridge where Bandera Road crosses over Huebner Creek (near Seneca). Did any of you see gravel elsewhere? Did you slip on the de-icer?

Just curious.

No more hooker rooms in S.A.

At least, not by the hour.

That's right. If you want to continue to practice quick sex in a motel room, you can. But from now on you will have the room for the rest of the night to watch television.

Getting a room by the hour will soon be a thing of the past in San Antonio. The City Council unanimously approved an ordinance banning hourly rates at local hotels and motels.

...

All of the motels will now have to charge couples by the day and not by the hour. The new ordinance will go into effect in ten days. The city is still working on details on what kind of punishment motels would face if they continue to charge hourly rates.

(from WOAI-TV)

I wonder if any motels will start charging by the night, but at a really cheap rate. And you can check out anytime you want. And the room will be available immediately for the next customer.

City politics

Here is a strange bit skewering the San Antonio City Council's recent impending decision to extend the contract of City Manager Sheryl Sculley for more money. Sculley is the doll, Mayor Phil Hardberger is the stuffed dog, and the rest of the menagerie is City Council.



The maker of this video is RG Griffing at the San Antonio Lightning. He previously ran for mayor himself.

UPDATE: I made a small mistake. When I originally posted this, the decision to extend Sculley's contract hadn't been made yet. At the Thursday, December 11 meeting of the City Council, her contract was approved.

Car crashes into house

KABB is reporting on another incident of vehicular mayhem visited upon a home. Unfortunately their website makes it impossible to link to any particular item, but here is the text of the story with a screencap.

A driver is injured after crashing her car into a neighbors home. It happened around noon Sunday on Abbey Park in northwest San Antonio. Police said the elderly woman thought she had her Cadillac in park, but instead it was in reverse. She was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Someone who should have thought things out a bit more

Even if your lover is over the age of consent (which is 17 in Texas), you might not want to have sex with her in a high school classroom. Especially if she is a student. And you're a teacher.

Jefferson High School teacher Paul D. Roberts, 42, is in jail today. Police arrested him on a charge of engaging in an improper relationship with a student. On Friday Roberts was spotted have sex with an 18-year-old female student in a Jefferson High School classroom.

(from WOAI-TV)

That just doesn't look good.

Spider-head

If you've lived in San Antonio for any amount of time, I'm sure you've noticed that some citizens like to decorate the back windows of their pick-up trucks with custom decals. Sometimes these decals are names, sometimes they're representations of families (even if truncated a bit), and sometimes they are pictures. Often the pictures are of the faces of whoever is hot with the Spurs at the time, but every once in a while the face is just a tad unusual.

Like this one:

Spider-head. Nobody knows who you are.

Driving backward?

Dietrich at San Antonio Daily Photo got a picture of a tractor trailer painted to make you look twice. It looks pretty cool.

"Man gets 297 years for sexual assault"

I wonder if he gets time off for good behavior.

An Ingram man has been sentenced to 297 years in prison on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child for abusing a teenage girl who also complained of being sexually assaulted by the defendant’s former wife.

Defense attorney Ronald “Rusty” Guyer said Friday he’s looking into the legality of state District Judge Karl Prohl’s decision to “stack” the three 99-year sentences handed down late Thursday by a Kerr County jury that convicted Scott Vogel, 38, at trial this week.

(from the Express-News)

Preventing sexy car washes

San Antonio City Council has sprung into action to save the neighborhoods from the invasion of scantily-clad car washers.

Well, sort of.

SAN ANTONIO -- Zoning changes that could cover up businesses like the controversial former Bikini Car Wash has been pushed back another week at the request of some business owners.

The City Council was expected to take action on District 3 Councilwoman Jennifer Ramos' effort to change the city ordinance allowing zoning of certain car wash businesses, particularly, but not explicitly against sexy car wash facilities.

"The decision was put off today to have it postponed because the car wash industry did come to us late yesterday," she said. "I explained this has been going on since May 22, it's been a hot topic, everyone has been aware, there have been many public meetings. They still felt uncomfortable and they wanted some time."

Ramos said her efforts weren't solely geared toward businesses like the Bikini Car Wash, which caused traffic backups and additional controversy when it opened on South Flores Street in her district, but were because the ordinance hasn't been changed since 1992 and needs updating.

(from KSAT-12)

Do you believe that?

(Previous stuff here.)

"Local Employers Have Varying Holiday Bonus Plans"

After reading the headline, I have to say, so what?

SAN ANTONIO -- One of San Antonio's largest employers is having trouble filling its employees' stocking with holiday bonuses.

"When you take a $6 million hit to your bottom line, obviously some things have to give," said Northside Independent School District spokesman Pascual Gonzalez.

...

Some of the city's other large employers have varying availability of holiday bonuses. A spokesman with Valero said the company doesn't give holiday bonuses, USAA employees receive two additional weeks of pay as a bonus and H-E-B wouldn't reveal if its provides bonuses. Rackspace, an Internet hosting company, doesn't provide holiday bonuses, but does award performance-based bonuses every quarter, according to a company spokeswoman.

(from KSAT-12)

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure plenty of employees might be sad if their Christmas bonuses didn't materialize like they expected, but is this really newsworthy? How many people really care how much a whole city full of strangers make -- or don't make -- as a Christmas bonus?

For the record, I get no Christmas bonuses, but I couldn't care less if someone else does.