Articles for July 13th, 2009

Mistreated White Lions Find New Home In Wylie

Jazz, Shazam, and Sheila, white lions seized from a Kaufman County wildlife exhibitor, are adjusting to their new home at In-Sync Exotics in Wylie. It’s probably going to take awhile, since they arrived there on Friday with pressure sores from lying in one spot, and so malnourished they have trouble eating or even keeping their heads up. “I’d call this probably the worst I’ve gotten,” Vicky Keahey, who runs In-Sync, says. But, she adds, at least they’re not scared of their new surroundings:

“With them, it’ll be an issue of getting healthy. Not being fed and [being] neglected leads to other problems.”

There is one bright spot for Keahey. At least she didn’t have to take in this White Lion.

Leading Off (07/13/09)

1. Former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill’s defense team will step up to the plate today. Their mission: cross examine an FBI agent about some taped phone calls that prosecutors say prove that Hill is guilty of extortion. Hill’s defense team says, not so fast–the prosecution isn’t telling the whole story, and those calls actually prove that Hill was doing his job. Hill’s wife’s defense lawyer Victor Vital actually puts it much more eloquently than I: “We’re going to flip the pancake and let the jury see the rest of what the government is not letting them see.”  I like pancakes.

2. For a mere $15, you can now tour the new Cowboys Stadium. And although the locker room won’t become part of the tour until this fall, you can find comfort in the 18,000-square-foot souvenir shop super store. With that  much square footage, there’s bound to be tons of fabulous merchandise. This might be the Christmas that you can finally realize Mom’s dreams of having a Troy Aikman fanny pack or a Tony Romo wine opener.

3. In television news, the Extreme Home Makeover production team is likely asking deep, existential questions such as, “Who was the genius that decided to take on a project in Texas in July?”  The builders and crew actually working on police officer Carlton Marshall’s Lancaster home in the 100-plus-degree heat probably asked the same question may times during the weekend, but with a lot more fun words thrown in. You know who apparently doesn’t mind the heat so much? Host Ty Pennington who I’m told was working on his tan at the Ritz-Carlton on Friday.