Leading Off (2/19/09)

1. For now, it looks like we’re still getting that city-owned convention center hotel. And it’s still pretty low on the list of things I wish the city would pay for, right after a maximum-level contract extension for Erick Dampier and just before a kissing booth for that lady on the train last night with no teeth.

2. Two UNT astronomers say they’ve found pieces of a meteor that caused the explosions in the sky that some folks saw over the weekend. Those people include Spider Monkey, who claims to have seen them while in her car — but also can’t remember where she was going, where she was coming from, and didn’t bother to check the internet or the news after seeing something explode in the sky. So, you know, grain of salt.

3. And finally, a high-speed police chase ended this morning when the woman driving stopped to pay a toll at D/FW Airport.

17 comments

  1. 2. Must…stay….awake…They come for you in your sleeeeep!!!!

    @ 8:45 am on February 19, 2009
  2. I could be wrong. It may be zombies and not pod people.

    Either/or it doesn’t change my plans for the day — lots of caffeine and long-distance head shots.

    @ 8:49 am on February 19, 2009
  3. Leave Spider Monkey alone or I’ll hurt you. She’s my one fan and cute as a button!

    @ 8:53 am on February 19, 2009
  4. Trey – and tin foil hat making?

    @ 8:53 am on February 19, 2009
  5. The car chase on Channel 8, is like the 9/11 for White Trash car chases.

    @ 9:06 am on February 19, 2009
  6. #3 – Just another reason to have a toll tag.

    @ 9:11 am on February 19, 2009
  7. Spider Monkey rocks! If she said she saw the explosions in the sky, then I believe her. Now, if she can just get those photos of Condi and W.

    @ 9:45 am on February 19, 2009
  8. #1

    Rod Dreher, nibbling for once on the hotel-endorsing corporate hand that feeds him now that the truffles are all gone, highlights an interesting consequence of the council hotel vote prior to the May referendum:

    “And if construction of the hotel begins before the May 9 referendum, the referendum’s outcome effectively becomes irrelevant to the convention hotel project at hand, since laws in Texas cannot be passed with retroactive effect.”

    @ 9:47 am on February 19, 2009
  9. One thing the Spider monkey does is take great pictures. The ones she took for the Watkins article were fantastic.

    @ 9:52 am on February 19, 2009
  10. That wasn’t an expolsion in the sky, that was the twinkle in Spider Monkey’s eye.

    @ 10:30 am on February 19, 2009
  11. Spider Monkey also does a pretty good Leading Off…bring her’s back this DMN deja vus is getting old.

    #3. it’s now reported she was valet parking.

    @ 10:31 am on February 19, 2009
  12. @Brent D.: She has an open invitation.

    @ 10:34 am on February 19, 2009
  13. Oh, an open invitation to write leading off! I thought something else at first…

    @ 10:40 am on February 19, 2009
  14. The headline appears to have been amended. To wit:

    Police chase ends when woman stops to valet-park at D/FW Airport hotel

    10:04 AM CST on Thursday, February 19, 2009
    BY DAN X. McGRAW / The Dallas Morning News
    dmcgraw@dallasnews.com

    A 60-year-old Dallas woman was arrested early this morning after an hourlong police pursuit that ended when she tried to valet-park her car at a hotel at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, authorities said.

    Sandra Stephens-Foster was arrested about 4:15 a.m. outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel, said Euless police Lt. John Williams. She was being held at the Euless jail on charges of driving while intoxicated and evading arrest.

    The chase began about 3:30 a.m. when an officer approached Stephens-Foster after seeing her outside a closed business. When the officer approached her car, Stephens-Foster refused to roll down her window and stared at the officer.

    She then sped off, topping out at more than 100 mph and heading toward Dallas. She then drove on the northbound lanes of Central Expressway before Euless officers ended the chase near Loop 12 because she was driving without her lights on, police said.

    Officers heading back to Euless spotted her car on State Highway 183 and followed it to the airport, where she stopped to get a toll ticket.

    Once inside the airport, Stephens-Foster stopped to valet-park her car, and police took her into custody.

    No one was injured during the chase.

    @ 10:58 am on February 19, 2009
  15. And the plot thickens…

    @ 11:25 am on February 19, 2009
  16. So am I to understand that if in Euless I too can evade a police chase if I simply turn off my headlights?

    @ 1:00 pm on February 19, 2009
  17. Only if it’s nightime!

    @ 5:22 pm on February 19, 2009