Volume 63, Number 29
Azle News
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
THE
www.azlenews.net
Year in review: 2014, Part I Pages 1 & 3A
Top 10 sports stories Page 5A
2015
Businessman dies in shooting incident Former Chamber President Bettis known for supporting Azle by carla noah stutsman An Azle man was shot and killed Sunday evening, Dec. 21 during an altercation between two men. Former Azle Area Chamber of Commerce President Brad Bettis was shot several times. Azle police were dispatched to a disturbance at 620 South Stewart Street at 5:54 p.m. According to Interim Police Chief Darrell West, the initial 911 call reported a verbal altercation between Benny Aulvry Rogers and Bettis. That disturbance escalated, West
said, to a point where Rogers produced a handgun and shot Bettis multiple times. Bettis, 40 and an Azle native, was pronounced dead at the scene. Due to multiple gunshot wounds, his death has been ruled a homicide by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. Rogers, 47, the owner of the property where the incident occurred, surrendered to Azle police voluntarily, according to West, and was taken into custody without incident. He was escorted to the Azle Po-
lice Department for questioning at the time of the incident and has been fully cooperative with law enforcement officials, West said. “There have been no formal charges filed at this time,” West said. “Bettis and Rogers may have known each other and the argument that took place was domestic in nature.” The investigation is still ongoing and will be presented to the Parker County Grand Jury upon its completion, West added. In addition to Azle PD detectives and officers, Tarrant Regional Water District
Brad Bettis
Flat Rock Road Wreck
Patrols out in force this New Year’s If you’re planning to celebrate the New Year with a little bubbly – or any other alcoholic beverage – make sure you have a plan to get home safely. The Texas Department of Transportation reminds motorists that law enforcement will be out in force on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in an effort to reduce crashes and discourage drunk driving. And that means around here, too. TxDOT’s annual Holiday Impaired Driving Campaign began Dec. 1 and runs through New Year’s Day to promote the importance of planning for a sober ride. The campaign coincides with an increase in law enforcement patrols aimed at reducing the number of impaired driving crashes in Texas during the holiday season. Numerous law enforcement agencies throughout the state will also implement no-refusal initiatives. Drivers arrested for DWI can face jail time and up to $17,000 in court costs and legal fees. The legal limit for intoxication in Texas is .08 blood or breath alcohol concentration.
Lake Patrol officers, Azle Fire Marshal Kenny Wilson, and the Texas Rangers assisted in the investigation at the scene. Bettis grew up in Azle and graduated from AHS in 1993. After college, he oversaw operations at First Independent Insurance, an affiliate of First Bank and later, Pinnacle Bank, from 2000 to 2010. Bettis was active in the community as well as in the rodeo community. He is the father of two young children. See obituary elsewhere in this publication.
LaJunta volunteer firefighter Matthew Thomas tends to the driver who lost control of a pickup Monday, Dec. 29, on Flat Rock Road near Dwayne Drive. The man was transported to an area hospital with unknown injuries. An investigation is underway to determine why and how he lost control of the vehicle, which traveled across the roadway to the opposite bar ditch, struck a culvert, a telephone pole, and a metal fence before it came to a stop. Photo by Carla Noah Stutsman
The year in review, Part 1: by mark k. campbell The earthquakes that rattled the Azle area in late 2013 hung around in 2014 – and brought with it a swarm of activists. Fires, criminals, retiring leadership, and HGTV were just a few of the happenings in the first half of 2014. January The main topic around town as the New Year arrived was earthquakes. On Jan. 2, the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) sent representatives to address local quake concerns. A panel comprised of Austinites and local governmental representation heard plenty from the raucous crowd – despite being told there would be no “Q & A.” On Jan. 13, Azle High School was the site of a near media-frenzy as Metroplex news outlets descended upon the auditorium to hear activists whip some residents into a frenzy. Complete with a guy wearing a gas mask and holding a sign that said “Ban Activists poured into Azle to encourage local resiFracking Now!!!,” local concerned dents to head to Austin to protest the earthquake folks heard groups urging people to swarm in early 2014. Photo by Carla Noah Stutsman
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This Week in Azle History
2014 was earthshaking – literally – for Azle
sign up for a bus ride to Austin to get attention for the quakes. Sure enough, people – including an Elvis impersonator and some preteens – later spoke with RRC representatives in Austin about their tremor concerns. Eventually, the earthquakes stopped. On Jan. 23, a man with a gun “hearing voices” on West Columbia Drive kept Azle police at bay. With help from the Parker County Special Operations Group, Shaylor Alan Lambert was eventually forcefully removed from the house and taken into custody. The Bank of Azle foiled a forgery when teller Marlisa Godsey discovered suspicious activity – from Florida – on a customer’s account.
tors around town. On Feb. 14, wrestler Jesse Grubbs became Azle High School’s first-ever two-time state champion when she repeated her 2013 gold medal effort in Garland. After Joe Floyd Coffee was arrested for causing a disturbance at a convenience store, he began confessing to several other crimes – including an aggravated robbery on Valentine’s Day, a car theft and even an arson. Pelican Bay police solved eight burglaries in the ‘Bay and Reno, arresting five individuals. After accepting de-annexation petitions in January, the Reno City Council rejected them all in February. The Red Solo Cup Barbecue Bash raised around $50,000 for the Azle Education Foundation.
February The University Interscholastic League’s biennial realignment put Azle in the same district with two Wichita Falls schools, three from Saginaw, Brewer, and Denton, resuming the arch rivalry with Boswell, the Take the Lake football game. SMU officials came to Azle and installed a series of seismic activity moni-
March With no one filing against incumbents, both Azle and Lakeside cancelled scheduled May elections. That saved Azle $10,000 and Lakeside $4,000. The Azle Drumline competed in Houston March 8 and won the regional competition, edging Houston Cy-Fair by one-half point. PLEASE SEE 2014, PAGE 3A.
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1 Year Ago A U.S. Geological Survey report said most of the 20-plus reported earthquakes were centered near Reno and Briar.
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