A Mission man arrested Saturday night after a routine traffic stop in Goliad told deputies that the cocaine found in his vehicle was a graduation present for his son in Houston.
"I have no idea what he was thinking," said Sgt. Danny Madrigal, investigator with the Goliad Sheriff's Department. "We've never had anybody saying, 'I'm taking this to give to my son. He's graduating.'"
However, Madrigal said, "The following day I spoke to him, and he told me it was for personal use."
Goliad County deputies Sgt. Gary Cowley and K9 Officer Martha Martinez pulled over Omar Cruz Garza, 35, for speeding within city limits.
The deputies suspected something was up when they saw items including a DVD player, a safe, power tools and camera inside the vehicle, Madrigal said, and searched the 2006 Dodge pickup.
"He just had a lot of things that you wouldn't normally carry if you were going to visit somebody," he said.
When deputies asked for Garza's license, he handed over a fictitious I.D., Madrigal said - likely because Garza is on parole until Friday.
"He probably thought he'd run into some troubles there with the parole board," Madrigal said. "But he had his name tattooed on his back, which was an indicator that he wasn't the guy he reported to be at first. We found another I.D. that turned out to be him."
Paperwork inside the safe contained the same name as the fraudulent I.D., he said. When officials contacted the Mission cardholder, they found he'd reported property taken in a residential burglary.
"Some of the loot was recovered," Madrigal said. "There's still other property in the vehicle we feel was taken in another residential burglary. Those investigations are being turned over to the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department."
But wait, there's more.
Investigation showed the truck was reported stolen 12 hours earlier from a Mission used car lot.
"I've contacted the owner of the car lot, and he's expressed that he's going to file charges on it - for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Any time someone steals a motor vehicle, any county he passed can file charges. We'll be filing in Goliad County."
Thus far Garza has accumulated charges for unauthorized use of a vehicle, possession of a controlled substance and failure to identify, among traffic misdemeanors, Madrigal said. The possession charge carries a bond of $20,000 and $1,000 for failure to identify.
"I'd suspect there will be some forgery charges," he said. "He'd stolen some checks from the burglary victim's account and had passed several of those checks to the tune of several hundred dollars - some at convenience stores and some at a Sears merchandise store. He passed checks along the Rio Grande Valley area to here."
Madrigal said he's thankful the deputies were alert.
"My hats off to them for being a little suspicious and for the recovery of the cocaine," he said. "It was good that they got a little curious about this character. Otherwise he might've made it to Houston with the stolen loot and then it might not have ever been recovered. That would've really been like finding a needle in a haystack."
The investigation is still under way, according to a Goliad County Sheriff's Department news release, but the recovery of between one and four grams of cocaine itself is a good thing.
"Our investigators are currently working to find out more about this vehicle and its driver," Goliad County Sheriff Robert DeLaGarza said in the release. "This is one graduation gift that we are glad that won't be enjoyed by a student."
#3
A poster child for the 3-strikes law. Clearly this guy cannot live within societies rules, so remove him. We need a modern Devils Island, maybe force them to move to Mexico?
A British performance artist has eaten part of a corgi -- the breed of dog Queen Elizabeth II favors as pets -- to protest the alleged mistreatment of animals by the royal family.
Mark McGowan dined on corgi meatballs Tuesday at a table set up on a London street in hopes of drawing attention to media reports that Prince Philip, the queen's husband, had beaten a fox to death during a hunt. The event was broadcast over a live radio program.
Yoko Ono, featured on the same radio program, also tasted a bit of the dog, McGowan said. Ono's spokesman did not immediately return calls or e-mails seeking comment.
"We love our animals in Britain," McGowan told AP Television News. "Why is it then that we then allow people -- especially people who are supposed to be ambassadors for this country -- to treat animals with such disrespect?"
Buckingham Palace declined to comment, and Britain's top animal-protection charity said there was no evidence to support the claim that Prince Philip abused the fox.
To make the corgi more palatable, it was minced with apple, onion and seasoning, turned into meatballs and served with salad. Tastes like chicken.
McGowan said the corgi he consumed had died recently at a breeding farm and had not been killed for the purposes of the protest. He did not say what the dog had died from. I don't want to know.
"I ate three lumps of it. But I spat two of them out, so I really ate one and a half of them," McGowan said. Whew! For a minute there I thought you were weird!
The stunt was aired during the Bob and Roberta Smith radio program, broadcast at a London-based arts station. What's all the fuss? If people aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made out of meat?
The queen has a particular fondness for corgis, and they have the run of Buckingham Palace -- even during formal state events. Dinners, too?
#1
McGowan said the corgi he consumed had died recently at a breeding farm and had not been killed for the purposes of the protest. He did not say what the dog had died from.
cause of death: full blown sepsis..
makes a pooch tender... umm umm good!
#2
In this country the ACLU would have sued to pay for the associated costs of the "artists" meal. And you would be called a bigot, racisist, homophobe, gross polluter and an animimal abuser if you disagreed. Then you would be sent to a reeducation camp to serve dog meatballs in the grub hall.
#3
"I ate three lumps of it. But I spat two of them out, so I really ate one and a half of them"
Good thing he's an artist; woundn't make it as a math teacher.
" today's story problem: If little Johnny ate three lumps of Corgi but spit out 2, how many would have eaten?"
#4
Oh, good. Yoko was there. The original inductee into the Performance Artist Hall of Fame. What's next for her? Gas station openings? Or are you gonna find some more of John's "undiscovered" tapes in the storage bin at the Dakota?
And she had some dog too? Guess we'd call that... "dog eat dog"?
From the most respected name in major media :
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Traffic jams threaten lives in America's most populous cities, according to ambulance driver Roald McCorman. "People want to get out of our way, but sometimes there's just no room. Sadly, my crews have lost more than one patient as a result."
But a bold new plan from New York's emergency medical services will eliminate congestion-related deaths completely. "New regulations allow us to retrofit our ambulances with bulldozer blades to clear cars from our path," McCorman explained.
Oh-h-h-h-h-h, I want one for my morning commute!
Some emergency vehicles will also be equipped with railroad-style cowcatchers and spiked hubcaps for eliminating all obstacles, including pedestrians and dogs. But the bulldozer blade should prove most useful, especially during harsh winters in the city, or upstate. (I'm sure our EMT contingent will approve)
"The ability to shovel snow on-the-go means less dependence on scarce helicopter resources for reaching remote patients," McCorman said. "We'll also be able to gather larger numbers of patients in the scoop, or penetrate rubble, after construction accidents and natural disasters," he added.
McCorman also looks forward to smashing through intact walls to reach the injured. "We're going to see a lot more people saved, now that we can break more than the speed limit," he said. My favorite WWN story of all time was from 1985 or thereabouts. It alleged that a UFO with a Confederate flag on the bottom had buzzed a bullfight in Mexico and played Dixie as it zoomed past. I thought there were at least 10 or 12 good conspiracy books in this. Gettysberg and Area 51: a Century of Deceit General Lee and the REAL Confederate Greys Lincoln: The First Man in Black?
#2
Hey, after watching drivers refuse to clear the way for emergency response vehicles, laser cannons would meet with my approval. I've always been taught to assume that responders are on the way to rescue your mother, spouse or children from a burning building. I refer you to one of my favorite images regarding this subject:
#4
The driver of one NYC ambulance used to carry a baseball bat. He used it on the windshields of cars that blocked his way.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
05/31/2007 7:08 Comments ||
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#5
i think a cowcatcher would be more effective, in that you would need less 'ramming speed' in order to clear a path and the 'clear-ee' would be pushed off to the side and not become added drag.
the hosed beemer is one that is in my screen sver rotation and i have sent it to all the pretentious beemer owners i can think of.
Q: how can you tell the difference between aporcupine and a BMW?
A: a porcupine hass the pricks on the outside......
#7
The problem I run in to is that most drivers are going faster than I can, safely, in an ambulance. I've had drivers race me, cut me off, and one memorable time come to a screeching halt 70 to 0 directly in front of me.
I've missed more than one exit by drivers refusing to yield and last week my driver had to go well out of the way while we battled a violent patient in the back. Guy on the right wouldn't yield.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2007 21:03 Comments ||
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#9
#2 Zen - that picture can't be authentic.
Most firefighters I know would have made sure the hydrant was leaking (enough to spray into the broken window of the asshole's car).
I certainly would have when I was a firefighter, and one of our members saw exactly that in D.C. when he used to work there. (And, to add insult to injury, a cop was busy giving said asshole a ticket.) :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/31/2007 22:25 Comments ||
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"Two short siren blasts rang out over the water as the main battle fleet, steaming in four groups, turned to port to form themselves in a single line of battle--the last line ahead battle formation in the history of the British navy. Not wooden walls this time, but walls of steel, with streamlined gray hulls instead of gilded stern galleries and figureheads, and funnels belching black smoke instead of sails close-hauled. But it was a formation Blake or Rooke or Rodney would have recognized, and approved. King George V and Ajax were first, followed by Orion, Royal Oak, Iron Duke, Superb, Thunderer, Benbow, Bellerophon, Temeraire, Collingwood, Colossus, Marlborough, St. Vincent -- twenty-seven in all, names redolent with the navy's past [...], names of admirals and generals, Greek heroes and Roman virtues. And all slowly bringing their guns to bear as they steamed into harm's way--just as their predecessors had for so many centuries in exactly the same sea. [...]"
Posted by: Mike ||
05/31/2007 11:56 ||
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What irony - the sleazy lawyer gets hit with a sleazy lawsuit.
MADRID, Spain (AP) - The Spanish government said Thursday it has filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court against an American firm over a shipwreck the company has found laden with a colonial-era treasure. If the vessel was Spanish or was removed from Spanish waters, any treasure would belong to Spain, Spain says.
"Odyssey Marine Exploration has been requested in a letter to provide information concerning the identity of the ship and the material recovered, and has not responded with the details we were asking for," said Susana Tello, Culture Ministry spokeswoman. "Spain has decided to go to (the) courts to claim its right in case the discovery is Spanish," she added. The lawsuit was filed in Tampa, Fla. on Tuesday, Tello said.
A message and e-mail left for an Odyssey spokeswoman were not immediately returned early Thursday.
Odyssey announced two weeks ago that it had discovered a shipwreck containing 500,000 gold and silver coins somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. The Florida-based company said the site was outside any country's territorial waters but would not give the exact location or name of the ship.
In Britain, the find generated press reports that Odyssey had salvaged the wreck of the long-sought British vessel Merchant Royal, which sank in bad weather off England in 1641. Odyssey has not confirmed or denied these reports. Odyssey has said that the ship was not in Spanish territorial waters and was not HMS Sussex, a shipwreck that Odyssey recently got permission from the Spanish government to search for in the Strait of Gibraltar.
But Spain has called the new discovery suspicious and said the booty may have come from a wrecked Spanish galleon. No real sympathy for Edwards, but some kind of salvage or abandoned property or stature of limitations thing just has to apply here.
No statute of limitations for $500 million in gold.
#2
It'll last as long till the corporation gets the Adams-Onis Treaty entered into the record.
Article II
His Catholic Majesty cedes to the United States, in full property and sovereignty, all the territories which belong to him, situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, known by the name of East and West Florida. The adjacent islands dependent on said provinces, all public lots and squares, vacant lands, public edifices, fortifications, barracks, and other buildings, which are not private property, archives and documents, which relate directly to the property and sovereignty of said provinces, are included in this article. The said archives and documents shall be left in possession of the commissaries or officers of the United States, duly authorized to receive them.
Since it sunk before the treaty, it would be under the 'property and sovereignty' clause.
#3
Why would any U.S. Federal Court have jurisdiction over any of this? It clearly took place outside our waters. Is that communist bastard so hard up for cash?
#7
Odyssey HMS Besoeker spokesman announced two weeks ago that it had yet to discovered a shipwreck containing 500,000 gold and silver coins somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
#8
discovered a shipwreck...somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. [T]he site was outside any country's territorial waters ...
There is some statute of limitations after which it would be considered abandoned property, I think... if not exactly flotsam and jetsam. And certainly the middle of the Atlantic has never belonged to Spain, even if certain of the territory bordering it did until Napoleon Buonoparte decided to conquer Spain for the greater glory of his French empire.
#15
Not a problem, 3dc. No doubt the European Union will stand up to take rightful possession of its "cultural and historical heritage". Just as soon as Spain takes its pound kilo of flesh out of the Odyssy shareholders' backsides.
Noble, nuanced EU will easily remove the taint of all that filthy lucre.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2007 18:10 Comments ||
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#21
Late reporting district changes the outcome. And we not talking hanging chads.
"This in rem admiralty action concerns the sovereign rights of the Kingdom of Spain to two of its Royal Naval vessels, LA GALGA and JUNO, which were lost off the shores of present-day Virginia in 1750
and 1802 respectively. Pursuant to the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987 (ASA), 43 U.S.C. § 2101-06 (1994), Virginia has asserted ownership over the shipwrecks and has issued Sea Hunt permits to conduct salvage operations and recover artifacts from the wrecks. These efforts resulted in the discovery of two wrecks believed to be LA GALGA and JUNO. Sea Hunt filed an in rem admiralty complaint, and the district court ordered an arrest of the shipwrecks, appointing Sea Hunt the exclusive salvor. Spain filed a verified claim asserting ownership over the shipwrecks. The district court found that Spain retained title to JUNO, but had expressly abandoned LA GALGA in the 1763 Definitive Treaty of Peace. See Sea Hunt, Inc. v. Unidentified, Shipwrecked Vessel or Vessels, 47 F. Supp. 2d 678 (E.D. Va. 1999). The district court also denied Sea Hunt a salvage award. As sovereign vessels of Spain, LA GALGA and JUNO are covered by the 1902 Treaty of Friendship and General Relations between the United States and Spain. The reciprocal immunities established by this treaty are essential to protecting United States shipwrecks and military gravesites. Under the terms of this treaty, Spanish vessels, like those belonging to the United States, may only be abandoned by express acts. Sea Hunt cannot show by clear and convincing evidence that the Kingdom of Spain has expressly abandoned these ships in either the 1763 Treaty or the 1819 Treaty of Amity, Settlement and Limits, which ended the War of 1812. We therefore reverse the judgment of the district court with regard to LA GALGA, and affirm the judgment of the district court concerning JUNO and the denial of a salvage award."
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=4th&navby=case&no=992035P
US Court of Appeals. SCOTUS refused to take petition on appeal. So if the company is organized under and subject to US law, then this case finding would imply that the 1905 Treaty is in effect, if it is a Spanish ship.
Dick Yuengling Jr., fifth-generation owner of the brewery that bears his name, called his employees together a few weeks before their labor contract was set to expire to talk about the future of the business. "Read between the lines," he told them at one point, according to government documents on the management-union feud that followed. Depending upon whom you ask, Yuengling's speech was either a pep talk to urge employees to work harder or an ultimatum to dump the Teamsters union, which is what they did.
The union has been trying to strike back, urging a boycott of the 178-year-old brewery's product. The company says the effort has fallen flat - with "absolutely zero feedback" from the marketplace, according to chief operating officer David Casinelli.
Now, the Teamsters say they are going to try to get state lawmakers to intervene in what they say has been an unfair fight.
Continued on Page 49
LAHORE: Hundreds of people who took part in Jamia Ashrafias certificate giving ceremony at Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Wednesday were deprived of their cell phones. People wanting to enter the hall to listen to a speech by the Imaam of Kaaba were asked by a member of the Jamia Ashrafia to deposit their cell phones at the security check outside the hall. The man gave the depositors receipts, but once the ceremony ended and people went to the security check to get their cell phones, they found the man and their cell phones missing. Asad Ubaid, the main administrator at Jamia Ashrafia, refused to comment. Hassan Ali, his son, said that if such an incident actually took place, the man would be caught.
Posted by: John Frum ||
05/31/2007 06:56 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
