Volume 62, Number 51
Azle News
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
THE
www.azlenews.net
Softball girls flood 5-4A elite list
HGTV comes to town
Page 10A
Page 1B
Azle Graduation 2014
The long-awaited moment when 341 members of the Azle High School Class of 2014 were pronounced graduates came at 8:27 p.m. Friday, May 30, at the Tarrant County Convention Center. Above, the graduates perform the traditional celebratory hat toss. Photo by Carla Noah Stutsman
Azle woman set on fire, boyfriend charged
PC woman arrested for shooting caged dog
Victim is in critical condition BY CARLA NOAH STUTSMAN An Azle woman is being treated in a Dallas hospital for life-threatening burns covering 30 percent of her body after her boyfriend allegedly set her on fire Sunday, June 1. The woman, identified as Leticia Gomez, 37, of Azle, is believed to be in critical condition with first and second degree burns on her legs, back, abdomen, forearms, buttocks and genital area, according to a press release issued by the Parker County Sheriff’s Office. The boyfriend, Mark Morgan Upchurch, was arrested the same evening and remained in the Parker County Jail June 2 in lieu of $100,000 bond. Sheriff Larry Fowler said the incident occurred just before 7 p.m., when medical staff reported a 37-year-old female was brought into
Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Azle with severe burns. Hospital staff also reported that a man, believed to be a neighbor of the victim, brought her into the emergency room, stating she told him Mark Morgan Upchurch had set her on fire and that the incident was not an accident. The neighbor told deputies he first saw the victim running down the driveway, screaming, “Mark set me on fire!” The neighbor said he observed her skin peeling off and immediately drove her to the hospital for medical treatment. Deputies spoke with the neighbor, who told them of the incident, while hospital staff tended to the victim who suffered possible life-threatening burn injuries. She was transferred PLEASE SEE AZLE, PAGE 2A.
Tammy Green Douglas Photo Courtesy of the Parker County Jail
BY NATALIE GENTRY Parker County Sheriff’s investigators arrested a local woman June 1 in connection to an animal cruelty case. Tammy Green Douglas, 44, of Parker County was arrested early Sunday morning, June 1, after a tip led investigators to her residence. A gruesome discovery The search for a suspect began early
Wednesday, May 28, when a Springtown ISD bus driver called the Sheriff’s Communications Center after discovering a caged dog and puppies while on the morning route. The driver reported a dog inside a kennel with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. The cage had been left partially in the roadway in the 100 block of Raley Road just off of Veal Station Road in Springtown. There were 11 elementary school children on the bus at the time, but it is believed they did not witness the scene. Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said the worst part of the call came when animal control officers arrived and discovered the deceased dog had 10 puppies inside the kennel with their mother. “These puppies were left defenseless and still nursing on their deceased mother,” Fowler said.
Sheriff’s Animal Control Supervisor Karen Kessler said the mother dog was a 4-year-old shepherd mix, weighing about 35 pounds. Kessler added the dogs were deliberately placed inside the wire dog kennel, with an egg crate glued to cardboard which was placed in the bottom of the kennel. “There are seven female and three male puppies, approximately 7-9 days old,” Kessler said. “One of the puppies barely has its eyes open. “They were covered in their mother’s blood from where she had been shot in the top of the head, with the exit wound located on the left side of her neck leaving a large puddle of blood,” She continued. “The mother was obviously malnourished and should have weighed at least 50 pounds. We also found an empty metal pan inside the crate.” Fowler said after the story was aired PLEASE SEE TEXT, PAGE 3A.
Future Hornet
Earthquake meeting at AHS June 18 Rep. King, Reno Mayor Stokes on panel KERA and StateImpact Texas, “a reporting project of NPR” radio stations, will host a free public event to explore the issues surrounding a series of 30-plus earthquakes that occurred in and around Azle and Reno from November 2013 through January 2014. This public forum is slated for 7-8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18, in the Azle High School auditorium, 1200 Boyd Road. “What’s Behind the North Texas Quakes? A KERA/StateImpact Texas Discussion” will be moderated by KERA Senior Reporter Doualy
Xaykaothao, who has covered major earthquakes in Japan, Indonesia and Thailand. The panel discussion will include State Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, Reno Mayor Lynda Stokes, SMU Associate Professor of Geophysics Heather DeShon, and StateImpact Texas reporter Mose Buchele, who’s covered the oil and gas industry for many years. Audience questions will be moderated by StateImpact Texas reporter Terrence Henry. According to a news release from KERA,
‘One bite at a time’
City pays off another chunk of golf course debt
BY CARLA NOAH STUTSMAN During the regular meeting of the Azle city council held Tuesday, May 20, Mayor Alan Brundrett asked a pointed question and then answered it himself. “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” He was referring to the city’s debt (the elephant) for Cross Timbers Golf Course and its successful efforts to reduce both the debt and the time it takes to pay off that debt. Moments later, the council voted unanimously to call $170,000 of the outstanding bonds from the Series 2010 General Obligation Refunding Bonds. That move not only reduces the principal debt but saves taxpayers in Azle about $18,600 in interest.
The city’s budget for fiscal year 2013-2014 includes $100,000 in tax dollars to go toward paying down golf course debt; the remaining $70,000 comes from gas well royalties. When the golf course was financed in 1996 at interest rates ranging from 4.3 to 6.0 percent, the $6,405,000 price tag was scheduled to be paid off in 2025. But in 2007, the council resolved that royalties from gas wells drilled on Cross Timbers Golf Course would only be used to pay down that debt. Since April 2009, the city council has called $2,965,000 of that debt and brought the payoff date from 2025 to 2017. Additionally, one more opportunity is expected to materialize during 2015 to pay off a portion of the remaining debt, bringing the payoff date to 2016, according to City Manager Craig Lemin. “These early payments have saved the taxpayers of Azle almost $1.8 million in interest payments and have shortened the life of the debt by eight years,” Lemin said.
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This Week in Azle History
North Texas has the largest onshore natural gas field in the state, and some experts believe it may be the largest in the country. Some reports say scientists have linked the disposal of drilling wastewater used in fracking to earthquakes. Seismologists are studying the quakes in Parker and Tarrant Counties to monitor where the earthquakes occur, when and why. The event is open to the general public and admission is free.
5 Years Ago
The youngest future Hornet, Cael Allen, 3, hit the baseball diamond on the first day of camp, June 3. Boys’ hoops camp arrives Monday, June 9. For more on summer camps, see Page 11A. Photo by Mark K. Campbell
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In June 2009 on the UT-Austin campus, the Lady Hornet softball team lost in the state semifinals. Angleton beat Azle 1-0 in nine innings.
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