Texas executes man convicted of killing police officer

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By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO | Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:54pm EDT

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Texas on Thursday executed by lethal injection a man who shot dead his wife on the day she tried to leave him, and killed a police officer who came to the home to check out a domestic disturbance call.

Texas officials said Frank Garcia, 39, gunned down Jessica Garcia in 2001 after she tried to leave her abusive husband. He killed police officer Hector Garza, 49, when he arrived at the home to check out a disturbance.

Garcia told police he aimed for Garza's head because he knew officers wear bullet-proof vests, detectives told reporters shortly after Garcia's arrest.

The Garcias' 5-year-old daughter witnessed both murders, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Frank Garcia shot Garza first, three times, and then shot his wife six times. He also shot and wounded his wife's uncle, according to the Department.

Shots he fired outside the house damaged a nearby elementary school, according to the Texas Attorney General's office. Garcia gave a formal statement in which he admitted intentionally killing his wife and Garza, the attorney general's office said.

Evidence presented in the trial showed that Jessica Garcia had once sought help from a battered women's shelter, according to the attorney general's office.

Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed, who prosecuted the case, attended the execution in Huntsville, Texas, according to a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Earlier in the week, she called the murders "a huge tragedy."

"If there was ever a poster child for the death penalty, this is the case," Reed told Reuters. "Hector Garza, a fine officer; Jessica Garcia, a woman who is trying to leave an abusive situation, and this huge tragedy happens to all of them."

Several dozen San Antonio police officers traveled to Huntsville and were present outside the prison unit during the execution, said Jason Clark, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman.

The San Antonio Police Department said in a statement on behalf of Garza's family that the officer was a devoted husband and father committed to protecting his community.

"Though the execution does not bring complete closure to Hector's family, as we all miss him dearly, it comforts us to know that Frank Garcia will never destroy another family," the statement said.

Garcia prayed aloud at length in his final moments alive, Clark said.

"Thank you, Yahweh, thank you, Jesus Christ, hallelujah, amen, and thank you, warden," were his final words, Clark said.

Garcia's execution was the 12th this year in Texas, which has executed more than four times as many people as any other state since the United States reinstated the death penalty in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

As of Wednesday there had been 38 executions this year in the United States, according to the Center.

Texas last month abolished the long-held tradition of allowing condemned inmates to order what they want for their last meal. Instead, they receive what other prisoners are served.

(Writing by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Greg McCune and Jerry Norton)

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Homecoming mum tradition goes over the top in Texas

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By Marice Richter

DALLAS, Texas | Sun Sep 25, 2011 5:12pm EDT

DALLAS, Texas (Reuters) - What started out as a simple token gift from a teenage boy to his girl has morphed into a tradition of gargantuan proportions that, again, proves everything is bigger in Texas.

It's the homecoming mum, and it has come a long way since parents of today's teens were in high school.

Back then, it was a real chrysanthemum flower given by a boy to his date, similar to a corsage given for a prom.

"There were a few ribbons on them, but it was basically a flower you pinned to your blouse," recalled suburban Houston mother Lauren DeLorimier, who went to school in the 1970s. "Somewhere between the 1970s and the 1990s, that all changed."

Today, they are mammoth, over-the-top splays of silk chrysanthemums festooned with flowing ribbons, plush animals and an array of colorful trinkets that have spawned competition among girls to see whose is the biggest, and therefore, best.

Homecoming season kicked off this weekend for high schools across the South -- and these bountiful blooms, which weigh more than a household pet and often reach the floor, show no signs of becoming shrinking violets.

Technology has made it possible for mums to be outfitted with colorful LED lights and connections for iPods or CD players, adding splash with audio and visual capabilities.

With so many features, a mum can cost up to $500. Not surprisingly, savvy entrepreneurs, mainly women, have taken advantage of the opportunities, spawning a multimillion-dollar industry of cottage mum-makers, supply retailers, and manufacturers of ribbons, trinkets and other mum necessities.

DeLorimier, who saw all this coming when her daughters were in high school about 10 years ago, started making custom mums out of her home before opening a shop of her own.

HEAVY LIFTING

The standard cardboard backing that supports the mum was inadequate for the increasingly hefty job. So with the help of her husband, an engineer, she created and manufactured a sturdier polyurethane base, now a staple online and in her 12-year-old, seasonal retail store.

"You need something strong to support a mum that weighs 20 to 30 pounds," she said. "It is definitely my best seller."

Despite the sagging economy, teens and their families are still willing to spend lavishly on homecoming, for party clothes, fancy restaurants, tickets, a limo, and the mammoth mums.

And though not every teen can afford to spend hundreds, they still find ways to observe the custom.

At some high schools, a do-it-yourself mum costing from $20 to $50 is more standard than a professional custom creation.

Custom mum-maker Charity Drabik of Fort Worth is trying to put a new spin on the do-it-yourself mum by offering mum parties similar to Tupperware parties.

"I think this is a good way to make a mum at a lower cost and have fun in the process," she said.

L&M Wholesale and Manufacturing, based in the small North Texas town of Glen Rose, produces imprinted ribbon and other supplies and sells them to Texas grocery and drug stores, craft shops, florists, custom mum makers and booster clubs.

The tradition of the mum involves an exchange between a boy and girl who go to homecoming together. The boy presents a girl with a mum that she wears attached to a cord around her neck.

The girl presents her date with a mum attached to an elastic garter that he wears on the upper part of one arm.

DISTINCTIVE

The homecoming mum is distinctive in Texas, where the over-the-top mum is widely considered to have blossomed first. But high schools in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana have adopted the tradition as well.

"I've had orders from as far away as military bases in Germany," Braswell said. "It seems like wherever someone from Texas goes, they try to take the mum tradition with them."

And non-natives, it seems, are eager to embrace it. Dallas-area resident Theresa Hagerman, who grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, made her first mum two years ago for her son's date, and then branched out into her own line.

"When I was growing up, the homecoming tradition was a parade with floats representing different school organizations," she said.

"That isn't done so much anymore, at least around here. To me, the mums replace the floats and celebrate the kids and what they are all about."

Sidney Heath, the girlfriend of Hagerman's oldest son, James, recently received the crown jewel of Hagerman's mums. A front and back mum sandwiches her body and is attached to a dog harness for strength and comfort.

"I absolutely love it," she said before a homecoming game in Southlake, Texas, on Friday. "I wanted it be big, and it is really big. It may be the biggest of any this year."

Ceclia Valudos, who has been making custom mums in North Texas for 14 years, said the mums are cherished keepsakes the girls keep for years.

Having recently been laid-off, she is considering going into the mum business and marketing beyond close friends.

"I love sparkle and bling," she said. "I want my mums to be seen as works of art."

(Editing by Karen Brooks and Jerry Norton)

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Heat, gusty winds fuel renewed fears in fire-weary Texas

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By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO | Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:09pm EDT

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Triple-digit temperatures and gusty winds in Texas on Saturday heralded the possible return of the dangerous conditions that sparked devastating brush fires earlier this month, officials said.

Wildfires have charred 3.8 million acres in the state and destroyed 2,742 homes since the current wildfire season began last November, and the months of June through August in Texas were the hottest ever recorded by any state in U.S. history.

"People need to be aware of how critical a situation this is, particularly with vegetation that is so dry," Tom Spencer, head of the Texas Forest Service's forecasting division, told Reuters on Saturday.

"It is very easy for a fire to start, spread, and get out of hand," he said.

This past week, hundreds of firefighters who have converged on Texas received a brief break from the fire lines due to scattered rains and colder temperatures that dampened blazes. But the respite will likely end this weekend, Spencer said.

A weather front moving across the state was generating the same strong winds that blew a pine tree into power lines east of Austin on September 4, sparking a 35,000-acre brush fire, said Holly Huffman, spokeswoman for the Texas Forest Service.

That blaze destroyed nearly 1,600 homes, killed two people and ranks as the most damaging fire in the state's history.

On Sunday, temperatures in Austin were expected to hit 103 degrees Fahrenheit, with winds blowing at 15 to 25 miles per hour and gusts of 30 mph, according to the Weather Channel.

Texas has experienced epic heat since May, and Huffman said the "unrelenting drought" increases the danger from the gusty winds that are now blowing in the state.

The blazes have devastated farms and ranches, stretched firefighting budgets to the limit and killed thousands of heads of livestock.

Blazes fueled by gusty winds earlier this month in east Texas destroyed 175 million cubic feet of timber as flames ripped through a tree-covered region known as Piney Woods.

Forest Service economist Chris Edgar said the lost timber would have produced $1.6 billion worth of products, from plywood to packing products to paper.

Several recording artists, including Willie Nelson, the Dixie Chicks, and Asleep at the Wheel, have agreed to perform at a concert in Austin next month to raise money for rebuilding parts of nearby Bastrop County that were damaged by wildfires.

"I called Willie up and he canceled a show in Ohio so he could make this," said Asleep at the Wheel frontman Ray Benson, who is helping organize the benefit concert.

"It was easy to get people to agree to do this," he said.

(Editing by James B. Kelleher, Alex Dobuzinskis and Cynthia Johnston)

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Team Obama Slaps 'Texas Jobs Miracle'

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Turning their attention to the top dog in the GOP presidential primaries, President Obama's team is starting to mess with Texas, dismissing Gov. Rick Perry's jobs "miracle" and instead saying his state is home to low-wage and deadly jobs.

"I've spent some time out in Texas and there's some great concerns that I have with respect to worker protection," said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

What's more, she said, "they have different scales of pay, it's a right to work state," a charge often echoed by Big Labor which has been critical of low wages in the Lone Star state. [Read: Rick Perry's 4 Economic Vulnerabilities.]

Perry has made his nation-leading employment surge over the past 10 years a key factor in his presidential bid. Federal figures show that some 4 of every 10 jobs created in recent years has occurred in Texas, home to the still growing oil industry.

But Solis focused on job safety, the state's wages and education challenges when asked about the Texas jobs record. She noted that Labor held a safety meeting in Texas about a year and a half ago and that over 1,000 people attended, about 950 more than she expected. [See photos of Republican contenders on the campaign trail.]

"It struck me that there's a lot of need in Texas and that's not even addressing the educational issues that I know they are faced with there as well," she said.

But while aware of the safety, wage and educational figures, the labor secretary wasn't up on reports Texas was the nation's jobs engine. "I haven't done a lot of research in terms of economic growth in Texas," she said.

[Read Laura Chapin: Rick Perry's Texas Benefited from 'Washington Overspending.' ]

That prompted Perry's spokesman, Mark Miner, to tell Whispers: "Interesting, considering we use her department's numbers to show that almost 40 percent of all new jobs created in the U.S. since June 2009 were created in Texas. Her numbers also show that 95 percent of all jobs in Texas are above minimum wage. The Secretary may want to look at her department's own data."

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Texas fire destroyed houses 1 554, 17 missing persons

BASTROP, Texas - the number of houses destroyed by a forest fire Texas increased of 1,554 and should increase again as firefighters enter more areas where the fire was extinguished, officials said Sunday. Seventeen people are still missing.

Bastrop County officials joined by democratic U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett seeks to provide additional information to hundreds of residents evacuated from their homes last week, when thunderstrike wind whipped up by tropical storm Lee swept Texas dried, affected by drought, helping raise more than 190 fires the State of Minnesota. The worst fire has consumed more than 34,000 acres in this area 30 km southeast of Austin.

While sharing bad news to increase the count of homes destroyed, officials also said about 100 residents gathered at a press conference Sunday that people would begin dating in scorched areas Monday. A detailed plan will allow residents to slowly enter the evacuated areas in the coming week as firefighters and emergency responders to ensure that the Earth cooled properly, hot spots are off and the blaze is contained.

The tensions and frustrations boil a meeting similar Saturday where residents were asked to be allowed to return to their quarters to see what remains of their homes and try to save a few personal effects. Many people have had only minutes to evacuate as flames surrounded by homes and neighbourhoods rage. Some had time to collect only a few significant personal effects.

Others left with only the clothes on their backs.

Still, Bastrop County Sheriff Terry Pickering said there no was no immediate concern for the life of the 17 people which still brought extirpated.

"They might have been on holiday," he said.

George Helmke, 77, a former Delta airlines gate agent, is scheduled to return home Thursday. A roadblock about 150 yards from his home is preventing access to his property, even if there was no fire damage.

"It's almost inhuman and I am very frustrated," Helmke said. "They we have eight days already."

The fire was prevented from taking heart medications and oesophagus, in his house.
"These are expensive drugs." I say to these people, but they brush you all kind of, "Helmke said."

The Federal Government Friday declared Texas disaster zone, paving the way for individuals to obtain financial assistance. Doggett said the Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay 75% of the costs of the fire-fighting and families will be eligible to a maximum of $30,000 to pay for expenses not covered by insurance, such as the hotel bills, temporary housing and even the costs of construction.

"The sum of $30,000 can only go so far towards expenditure that some of you have," Doggett said. "" "". "But I think it can be much help."

On Monday, schools will be open for the first time since the Bastrop blaze broke out. Many people live in the city Super 8, Best Western and Holiday Inn which will stop all three school buses.

Director of the emergency management County Mike Fisher said that the blaze of Bastrop is now contained 50 percent.

"We will win every time each quarter," said Fisher.

The monster blaze has done the most damage in Bastrop resulted when two fires joined a week ago. Investigators are concentrated on containing the blaze and know for several weeks, which has caused it, said Pickering. Officials are investigating reports of arson in small fires, he said.

"We had reports of autour community vehicles around conduct that we suspect that start fires," said Pickering. "I have no confirmation of this."

During this time, North of Houston, firefighters say a blaze of tri-county who has consumed more than 20,000 acres and destroyed almost 60 houses is also half contained.

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More great Air Assault still together for Texas Blaze

BASTROP, Texas - firefighters plan their attack air more still Friday for a massive wildfire that raged for days through the center of Texas, destroying some 1,400 houses and tens of thousands of acres of land in drought-shrunken.

The authorities are deploying a bestseller for all converted DC - 10 capable of dropping to 12 000 litres of flame retardant on the blaze and slow hot spots through some 45 square miles.

Crews have made steady progress against the blaze burning in and around Bastrop, closing around its large flames. Concern lingers, however, the wind pushed sparks or fanning the flames outside the region.

"I think still we have turned a corner, is made much progress," Bastrop County Sheriff Terry Pickering, said Thursday afternoon.

The DC-10, one of the largest jets of fire of the country, is just a strategy more familiar community with wildfires mass is employing to finally take control of the fire.

The fire was the most catastrophic of more than 180 forest fires that the forest service broke out this week in Texas. The outbreak has left some 1 700 houses the State of Minnesota in charred ruins, has killed four people and forced thousands of people to evacuate.

Representatives of the federal forest service contacted 10 tanker carrier LLC, of Victorville, California, who leases the DC-10 in the United States Forest Service and the States, as required. The State requested that the company "ferry it as quickly as possible" in Texas, which also used the tanker in the spring, said CEO Rick Hatton.

The massive aircraft arrived Tuesday night in Austin, about 25 miles west of the fire, but he could not serve until Friday to crews worked to define a retardant temporary plumbing system of the funnel in the aircraft, said Holly Huffman Texas Forest Service spokeswoman.

Huffman said Texas a retardant of plants in place at airports other than Austin, but the runways at these sites are neither approved to manage such a large aircraft, or as close to the Bastrop blaze. She said the DC-10 - that costs of the State and $12,000 per hour of flight, but also a $45,000 per day availability costs - will be used in addition to small aircraft have been flying since the fire broke out Sunday.

"These tankers are not tools magic, rather that they help to slow down and cool fire," she said. "Soil resources have yet to go to contain and extinguish the fire."

Tom Harbour, Director national of fire to the forest to the United States Service, said fire retardant can help make the flames shorter and smaller, allowing the firefighters on the ground to make progress.

"What is fire, which is more effective are the men and women on the ground", he added.

Among the 5,000 inhabitants of the Bastrop area forced to flee their homes in the fire said they wanted that the State might have understood more resources earlier in the week.

"Perhaps he could have accelerated the process,", said Bruce Anderson, a welder who left his home Sunday. "We need more help a few days ago."

Authorized officials Thursday some residents evacuated to return to the fire suburban neighbourhoods are no longer considered as threatened. But the authorities have refused to say exactly how much was allowed to go back.

Access is open to hundreds of houses in the Village of Tahitian. Most appeared intact, but the pockets of destruction were complete.

"When they say burn things on the ground, they mean really burn to the ground," said Mary Pierce, who, for 22 years, lived in a quiet street where pines push up in backyard. "." She was one of only two residents to lose a House on the block.

Pierce set incredulous Thursday at its Foundation, where everything that was was a faEcade of bricks and a fireplace. Appliances of metal located suggest a room kitchen or laundry. a metal bed frame, a bedroom.

The victims who were still kept from their homes expressed frustration.

A man screamed authorities "when will you leave us?". Another pointedly asked the Sheriff how his house would be protected while it was locked, but neighbours 100 yards away were allowed to return.

"We are just that far from being able to return there," said Evelyn Goodrich, pointing to the blocks of torque between his home in the new position of dam. "We have tried every day and they stop us."

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Texas crews make progress, but the victims of forest fires still can't return home

After nearly a week to ask if his house was destroyed in massive wildfires sweeping across Central Texas, George Gaydos has obtained the new Saturday: his house was burned in the blaze.

But still, Gaydos - who lives in a hotel with his wife, two children and his father since fuyant fire nearly a week ago – cannot return to his neighbourhood to see what remains of his home.

Fire crews, made progress Saturday fight against forest fires, but still slow hot spots concerns have kept thousands of residents, including Gaydos, to return home.

Tensions flared at a press conference Saturday as some residents shouted questions to the official County, demanding to know when they could return to their homes - or what is left of them - in the area of Bastrop, located about 30 miles to East of Austin.

Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald said officials hope to return other residents as soon as possible, but he did not know how long that would take.

"This is the seventh day, tensions are high," McDonald said.

Texas is in the midst of one of its worst outbreaks of wildfires in the history of the State. A dangerous mixture of warm temperatures, strong winds and a historic drought caused fire Bastrop-area, the largest fire near 190, said the forest service broke out this week, killing four people, destroying more than 1,700 houses and forcing thousands to evacuate.

A blaze of 22,000 acres straddling three rural counties, 40 km northwest of Houston has burned for several days, destroying approximately 60 houses and forcing some people to evacuate. The forest service said about half of the fire was behind the containment lines and no towns or cities were threatened. Most of the houses in the region are scattered in the forest, the ranch and in clusters of small subdivision.

In Bastrop, officials said Saturday that the fire was about 50% of content after almost a week of combustion. Although residents were eager to make their neighbourhoods, Bastrop County Sheriff Terry Pickering said the authorities must be certain that they are safe before residents would be allowed to. Residents of an area of 700 acres which includes twenty houses were allowed to return home Saturday, but other areas remained evacuated: crews worked to extinguish the potentially dangerous hot spots.

"Everybody hang in there and we're going to you at home as soon as possible", said Pickering.

Fire crews continued battling points hot Saturday, but not the major through the night wind gusts expected.

But the authorities also warned that the number of victims of the fire could worsen. McDonald said that expected the number of houses destroyed by the fire to increase the tally 1,400 current that many evaluations are completed. A spokesman for the State team, local and federal agencies also said that the number should increase.

"We have even hit our most difficult region," McDonald said Saturday afternoon, adding that the teams did not have the opportunity to go and "counting these houses or obtain a score due to the amount of heat that is in the area."

In the meantime, residents are staying around where they can - and makeshift shelters in churches, the homes of friends and parents, even cars parked nearby.

"There are some of those who are in fact pick apartments," said Sean McGahan, pastor of the Church of New Beginnings in Bastrop. "If you do not already started it, you are probably behind the curve of.".

Next week, Gaydos and his family will move in a trailer in Bastrop while they decide whether to rebuild. To find out Saturday on a Web site of fire as his house had been destroyed, Gaydos spent much of the last week so worried by his house that he could not sleep.

"You wake up in the middle of the night and you cannot go back to sleep," said Gaydos. "I was will work soon because I am already up.".

Office of the Governor Rick Perry said families whose houses have been destroyed will receive vouchers from the hotel for seven days of a non-profit organization as well as assistance of the State.

The exhibits were relief for Russell Horn, who said the hotel bill nightly $ 104 for him, his wife and two boys had become too expensive. The electrician for 32 years, said their house was destroyed by fire and he had only been able to out door an undershirt and short films.

"There are not too many places, you can go just for that,"Horn said."".

Friday, officials of the White House announced that President Barack Obama has signed a federal claim to Texas. The move allows federal funding to be made available to people in Bastrop County. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs.

Perry unexpectedly cancelled plans Saturday to visit areas affected by the Bastrop fire and a Conference of press because of "logistical issues" with him arriving in time, but it was in Austin and keep regular contact with officials on forest fires, his spokesman said.

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Owner of daycare Texas have been doped milk Kids' with sleep inducing drugs

Published September 09, 2011| FoxNews.com

Employees involved in a Texas day care centre informed the authorities that the owner was serving milk-doped with sleep-inducing drugs to calm children MyFoxDFW.com has.

Investigators arrived the day care centre Luv and learning in the city of Van Alstyne, just north of Dallas and said they could smell the antihistamines flavoured milk, the station reported.

Kimberly Lane, the owner, was charged with 16 counts of felony for the disappearance of a child. Police said that Lane would have allegedly mixing antihistamines in over-the-counter in a large container of milk just before serving the drinks for dinner, MyFoxDFW.com children reported.

Employees alerted police Tuesday because they say that they were concerned about the children, the station reported.

If convicted, she faces a maximum of two years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000 for each count.

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Frustration grows for Texas Wildfire evacuated

BASTROP, Texas - residents left homeless by a forest fire of the massif Central Texas turned their attention Friday to what they need moving forward, with some expressing frustration on delay seen in the federal response even when the first signs of recovery emerged in the neighbourhoods of reopening.

Firefighters on the extinction of the hot spots and had isolated flames remaining of the fire which burned for almost a week in and around the city of Bastrop, destroying some 1,400 houses and approximately 45 miles square landscape private rain sweeping.

"We believe that progress towards the front (of fire) have been arrested, thank God for doing," the lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst said evacuated residents gathered at the fire command Centre.

Yet, thousands of evacuees were prevented from returning to their homes for a sixth day because the trees continued to burn underground, loose lines hung scorched poles and more than 800 firefighters were working to pack the rest of the fire of 25 km from Austin.

"It's really frustrating," said Dee Redenius, 40, who came to the fire command center to find answers. "You want to know if your home is there or if it is not." ... They do, let you know. You cannot help. »

Dewhurst, said that the State is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the staff of the emergency management of the State on the specific statements of fire. The FEMA Rachel Racusen spokesman, said Friday the Agency "received the first request of the Governor of individual aid help the residents of Texas whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the fires, or other personal losses."

She said FEMA would "work with the White House in the examination of this application as quickly as possible."

Dewhurst has also made a public plea to the President Barack Obama to make a declaration of major disaster that il has said would remove red tape and give the State access to more resources. Hours later, responsible of the White House announced that Obama has signed a statement declaring that a major disaster exists in Texas.

The move allows federal funding to be made available to people in Bastrop County. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs.

"We need help yesterday...". Mr President, we must immediately a before the State of Minnesota, "Dewhurst said" claim of the Declaration of Obama.

Texas is at the heart of its worst outbreak of forest fires in the history of the State. A dangerous mixture of warm temperatures, strong winds and a historic drought has caused the fire Bastrop-area, the largest forest near 190 fire, said the forest service broke out this week, killing four people, destroying more than 1,700 houses and forcing thousands to evacuate.

The Texas Forest Service, said Friday that the Bastrop fire had accumulated a bill of at least $ 1.2 million for the moment. But the Agency warned the figure is an early estimate and should climb. The start price tag includes the costs of the fight against the fires, but not the damage caused by the blaze.

A DC - 10 jet initially for clamshell fire retardant on wildfires in Central Texas was hijacked Friday to help the firefighters with a blaze stubborn 22,000 acres straddling three rural counties in the Northwest of Houston. Fire in the counties of Montgomery, Grimes and Waller forced some people in the region to leave their homes, but was not threatening the cities or towns, said Ralph Collum Texas Forest Service spokesman.

In Bastrop, updated tables in place at the entrance of a neighbourhood that has reopened a day earlier is filled with donations of clothing and toiletries. A first aid station was assembled and streets begin to buzz with tree-trimming crews and construction contractors.

Officials also announced that schools would reopen Monday. But the Bastrop Independent School District Superintendent, said Steve Murray, "" we anticipate that the count of pupils without shelter in Bastrop ISD to triple, quad or more.""

To address that, school officials have been develop plans to pick up students in hotels, shelters and other areas.

Monica Turner, 34, was growing more frustrated every day. She had seen pictures of the family home in ash.

"We have pictures, but pictures are no good, when you have closed and you need to see face to face," said. "I need to have close so that I can go and move forward."

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Imprisoned polygamists sect Leader Jeffs seeks new trial Texas

Published September 07, 2011| Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY - imprisoned polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs filed a motion in writing to hand seeking a new trial in Texas after that he was convicted he and sentenced to imprisonment to life imprisonment on charges of sexual assault child.

Jeffs, who heads the base Utah fundamentalist church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, says that his religious freedoms have been raped by the courts - an argument, he also tried to do everything by defending himself during his trial.

"The constitutional protection for religious faith and the freedom of practice is not of full protection in the previous trial... is legal ground to decide in favour of the defendant allowed a new trial...". "the Chief religious 55, wrote in his motion.

Written on lined notebook paper in uneven calligraphy of Jeffs, a page request was dated August 23, about two weeks after a jury found guilty of sexually assaulting two girls between the ages of 12 and 15 FLDS, that he married in religious ceremonies.

Schleicher County Court Clerk Peggy Williams, said that a representative Jeffs filed the motion on Friday at the Palace of justice, Eldorado, Texas.

Lauren Bean, Deputy Director of communication for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, on Wednesday, said the Office expected the jury decision to condemn Jeffs withstand any legal challenge.

"Just as each criminal attempts sentenced to overturn their convictions by pursuing the calls they are offered under Texas law, Warren Jeffs will have the opportunity to appeal," Bean said in a statement e-mailed to the Associated Press. "But a new trial is simply not warranted in this case."

Jeffs filing also seeks a rehearing on the Suppression of the evidence of a raid of 2008 on the FLDS ranch Zion desire in the Eldorado. Churches and family documents gathered in the raid are the basis for the case against Jeffs and other men of sect.

An appeal by Michael Emack, the first of men sect would be pursued by the authorities in Texas, has been confirmed by 3rd District Court of appeals the State last month. Emack, who is serving a seven year sentence for assaulting a 16-year-old daughter, argued that the raid was unconstitutional. A panel of three judges in Austin said authorities had sufficient grounds for probable cause.

Jeffs had taken place in the prison of Huntsville, Texas, immediately after his trial, but ill after days of fasting. He was taken to a hospital and said that in the coma medically induced before moved to Galveston.

Spokesman for the Department of Criminal Justice of the Texas Jason Clark said Jeffs remains in a hospital in Galveston prison and was listed in stable condition. Details were not provided.

Jeffs are not eligible for parole until he is 100.

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Perry deploys the elite as Texas research team fires destroy 1000 homes

One of the most devastating wildfire outbreaks in the history of Texas left more than 1,000 homes in ruins Tuesday and stretched ranks of fire of the State for the limit, confronting Governor Rick Perry with a major home disaster, just as the Republican presidential election heats up.

More than 180 fires broke out in the week passed through the Lone Star State private rain, and nearly 600 homes destroyed since then have been lost in a catastrophic fire in and around Bastrop, near Austin, that raged out of control Tuesday for a third day.

Struggles a hell by storm winds, tropical Lee over the weekend, the blaze burned more than 45 miles square (116 square kilometres), forced the evacuation of thousands and killed at least two people, bringing the global outbreak of at least four budget.

Perry cut short a trip to the presidential campaign in South Carolina to deal with the crisis. Tuesday, he visited an area blackened near Bastrop, about 25 miles (40 kilometres) of Austin and later deployed elite of the State research team in the region to search for more possible victims. Texas Task Force 1 is the same outfit sent to New York after the terrorist attacks of 11 September and in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina.

"Powerful enough Visual of individuals that lose," he said after the tour. "The magnitude of these losses are quite astonishing."

Would the Governor not say if he would take part in the Republican presidential debate on Wednesday evening in California, explaining that it was "significantly more concerned to ensure that Texans are currently supported. But campaign spokesman Mark Miner said in an email later in the day that Perry planned to be there.

Perry, a favorite of the conservative tea party movement which has made a career of against the Government, said, he expects federal assistance with forest fires, and it complained that red tape was maintaining the bulldozers and other heavy equipment to Fort Hood army, 75 miles (120 km) of Bastrop, to use. Fort Hood was fighting against his own fire, an of 3,700 acres (1,500 hectares) blaze.

White House spokesman Jay Carney, said the Obama of Directors has approved seven federal grants in Texas to help with the outbreak of the latest, and "we will continue to work closely with State and local emergency management officials in their efforts to contain these fires."

About 1,200 Firefighters battled the flames, including members of the departments of State autour and crews from outside the State, many of them arriving after Texas launch a call for help. Many firefighters will join the battle, once they have been registered and sent where they are needed.

Five heavy oil aircraft, some from the Government Federal and three aircraft capable of 1,500 litres of water collection in both Lakes also took part in the fight.

"We get support incredible across the country, federal and State agencies," said Mark Stanford, Director of operations for the Texas Forest Service.

The disaster is attributed in large part on the drought in Texas year, one of the most severe dry periods the State has ever seen.

Fire in Bastrop County is easily the most devastating fires in Texas in over a decade, eclipsing a fire which destroyed 168 houses in North Texas in April. Texas April Saginor said Forest Service spokeswoman state forest fire records not to return until the 1990s.

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