Texas Remembers Trooper Edward Bryan Wheeler

Trooper Edward Bryan Wheeler

The end result of Bonnie and Clyde's life of crime!

I found this article in the Houston Chronicle this morning. Ella Wheeler-McLeod was given an award memorializing her brother, slain Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Edward Bryan Wheeler. On April 1, 1934, Trooper Wheeler along with Trooper H. D. Murphy found Bonnie and Clyde on the road in a rural location in central Texas. Unfortunately the troopers didn't realize who they had until it was too late. Bonnie and Clyde opened fire killing the two troopers. About a month later on May 23, 1934, the law caught up with the outlaw couple and exacted justice, ending their murderous rampage.

Trooper Wheeler

Trooper Murphy

Death of Joshuah Cavins

While skimming through headlines I came across this story.

According to the news he and another motorcyclist were spotting running a red light by Kemah police. When officers attempted to stop them Cavins took off while the other person wisely stopped. Officers pursued Cavins but lost sight of them. Those bikes easily outrun police cruisers. They found Cavins' bike crashed out and his body about 75ft away. One note at the bottom caught my attention;

"The profile photo on Cavins' facebook page....."

Out of curiosity I did a search and found his page. Two things caught my eyes. First, he was married. Second, his last wall post dated August 11 that reads "I think I have died and gone to hell!" For his sake I hope he was wrong. I also found a picture of him with a young child. This whole thing bugs the hell out of me. Most likely he would have gotten a traffic ticket which is easily handled. I would like to ask him was that brash decision in the heat of the moment worth leaving behind a widow? Life is better lived with something to live for. Anyone who knows me I have zero sympathy for those who run from the police and die as a result of it. However just my brief glimpse into this man's life shows me two things he had going for them and he threw them away. I feel for those two. I hope God eases their suffering.

Foxie

She was a part of my life for 9 years. I'm going to miss her greatly. Rest in peace little girl! Your suffering is over.

Bill White swtiching from pandering to distancing?

Shortly after the election of Barrack Obama to the Presidency former Houston mayor Bill White took this ad out and received criticism from "black leaders." Now as he runs for Governor of Texas as the democratic nominee he appears to be distancing himself from the President. Perhaps White realizes that Houston is heavily democratic (as well as Austin) the rest of Texas is not.

But He Didn't Fire the FATAL Shot

For some reason, the Pardon Board, and of course the Houston Chronicle wanted Governor Rick Perry to spare the life of Robert Lee Thompson. Thompson and another man were on a robbing spree back in 1996 in Houston. They robbed a store in which two clerks were shot, one fatally. The other man fired the fatal shot, but for some reason the jury couldn't be convinced that the robber intended to kill the clerk when he fired at him. The article states that the prosecution failed to prove the element of intent. I guess nobody heard of the element of knowing. Anyhow, the article harps on the fact that Thompson didn't fire the fatal shot. I guess as long as he didn't actually kill the clerk that Thompson doesn't deserve the death penalty. Even though he shot the other clerk four times and tried to shoot him again in the neck but he was out of ammunition. I guess that kind of person doesn't deserve the death penalty in the eyes of the Chronicle. The article also says that Thompson and his buddy targeted stores that Thompson felt "were exploitative of blacks." That means Thompson targeted stores ran by immigrants so shouldn't that be a hate crime? Yet, he didn't fire the actual fatal shot so the Chronicle and the board of pardons (for some odd reason) felt this worthless piece of trash should be spared.

Houston Wants it Both Ways

Apparently the City of Houston wants it both ways.


First of all, the city goes to the state legislature to make running a red light a civil infraction rather than a criminal one. The purpose of this is to reduce the level of proof in order to issue citations to generate revenue. The plan gets enacted and the citations are practically flying through the mail. Also ticketed are emergency workers (i.e. police, firefighters, and EMTs). I'm not talking about the emergency vehicle operators who ran red lights with no cause. I'm referring to the instances where emergency vehicles were cited for running the red lights while running priority calls. The citation would arrive at the agency owning the vehicle and more often than not the operator would have to pay the citation or challenge it on their own time. This was annoying to emergency workers who said in frustration they would quit running emergency traffic to life threatening calls out of fear of getting a red light citation from the city of Houston. This year the state legislature slapped Houston by passing legislation that forbade red light citations to the owners of emergency vehicles (however they can still send notice to the agency and let them deal with the matter internally).

For the past couple of years, the city of Houston has been trying to work a deal with Harris County to block the registration of vehicles with outstanding red light violations. What many people probably didn't know until this article came out was that there are outstanding toll road violations due to city owned vehicles. The city tried to say that the individual operators alone were responsible for the violations. The exact same procedure other agencies used when they got the red light citations. Just like the red light citations, toll violations come into the mail to the registered owner (the city). Sounds like they just passed it off and let the matter lie. How many registered car owners had to appear in municipal court saying they no longer had the vehicle, or let someone else drive it and the judge said no? With this embarrassing little piece the city is now stating they will handle the outstanding fines and better monitor their people. Does this mean they will be more sympathetic to registered vehicle owners who appear in municipal court? Doubt it!

In Remembrance

It was two years ago today I got a phone call about Deputy Jason Norling being struck by a careless driver while on a traffic stop. That was a terrible day for many people. I will never forget his fascination with the Vampire Chroincles and the long discussion we had about it. Rest in Peace Jason!

ODMP tribute here