Carolyn Davis and the Police: I Have Questions

So, as Tim mentioned in Leading Off, Dallas City Councilwoman Carolyn Davis got involved in a constituent’s traffic stop recently, and now the Dallas police are investigating the matter.

But, as I mentioned, I have questions.

For one, last I checked, running a stop sign is a simple traffic citation. I could see if he had been accused of engaging in reckless driving, or excessive speeding, where maybe if she’d witnessed something, she’d want to keep an eye on it. But it’s a traffic stop. If the constituent/old family friend wanted to contest it, there’s already an option for that – it’s even printed on the back of the ticket. I’ve gotten pulled over, before, but never has Steve Salazar come swooping in to demand an explanation in my behalf. So why?

And then she says she took pictures. But I can’t make head nor tail of what these are supposed to be pictures of, and how they prove  this guy didn’t run a stop sign.  So again, why?

And the officer has a dashcam. It probably recorded the stop. So again, why? And furthermore, was she also following the truck in question and the officer? How does she know he didn’t run two stop signs, as the officer alleges?

Listen, I’m all for council people paying attention to what’s going on in their districts and watching out for their constituents. But is this that?

UT Southwestern Sends DMN a Bill for $1 Million, Ctd.

Not so fast, says UT Southwestern spokesman Tim Doke says regarding the Dallas Morning News’ post. He just shot an e-mail to me, Tim,  and Wick, saying the DMN scribes left out some choice bits of the discussion.

I’ll let him explain:

“As with most reports from the DMN, their account of this phone exchange carefully omitted some relevant selected detail.

As an actual participant on the call, let me clarify the cost issue so we don’t look either greedy or obstructionist. We explained that, unlike the State Comptroller’s sophisticated system that provides high-level financial reporting on a monthly basis, UT Southwestern never has had a requests for all check registers dating back five years. We have at least five different systems covering two hospitals, an medical practice group, research, education and payroll. The revised $2,800 quote basically covers just programming and CPU time to produce the requested documents and to block certain fields that contain sensitive personal information.  When the program runs and spits out 10+ million check registry results, we have an legal obligation to protect the privacy of patients and employees and others who receive checks from us, so will have to check each record to ensure that addresses, bank account numbers, Social Security numbers and other sensitive information has been redacted. Our releasing even one piece of personal identifying information related to a patient who might have received a refund, for instance, would be in violation of HIPAA regulations that protect patient privacy.

As a result of the objection of the DMN reporter and his lawyer, the costly time and resources to do the exhausting line-by-line inspection now will be absorbed by the University, which means that a public institution will be eating the upper six-figure cost to provide five years of check registers to the DMN and ensure they have been scrubbed to protect people’s privacy.”

UT Southwestern Sends DMN a Bill for $1 Million

Or rather, more accurately, an estimate. Seems that when the investigative team over at the Dallas Morning News sent a Freedom of Information Act request to UT Southwestern for a look-see at its check register, the hospital basically said, “Sure, news organization that’s been all up in our grill for more than a year, but it’s gonna cost a million Washingtons for us to produce that information.”

So the News countered with something like, “ORLY? Because similar records for the ENTIRE STATE OF TEXAS are available online. You can’t produce the records for one hospital?”

So then UT Southwestern asked for a conference call. Some ding-dong-ditch ensued. Then it all came down to another offer: $2,884.60.  So if they can do it for roughly $3,000, why the initial $1 million price tag?

Leading Off (11/3/10)

1. This morning Dallas County Republican party chairman Jonathan Neerman probably didn’t want to get out of bed. It’s raining. It’s pouring. And the Democrats won big last night. Despite himself, DA Craig Watkins got reelected (with 50.64 percent of the votes). Despite herself, Eddie Bernice Johnson did the same (by a much wider margin). And the County Commissioners Court is now controlled by the Dems for the first time since Reagan was in the White House. (The statewide races were another matter. In those, the GOP had a good night.)

2. As I mentioned last night, Dallas (and University Park) voted to go wet. Now the question on everyone’s mind: when can we get to drinking? The club card requirement will be dropped at restaurants November 10. Stores that wish to sell beer and wine can apply then for permits. They should get approval sometime in December, just in time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, a fellow who appreciated convenience when it came to the procurement of wine.

3. Dallas City Coucilwoman Carolyn Davis just got reelected, too. No one is voting yet, but that’s what will happen when the time comes. Why? Because of this story about her interference with a traffic stop in her district. Oh, she might face criminal charges for doing what she did. But I’m guessing her constituents will support her that much more strongly if she does.

Dallas Goes Wet

It ain’t over, but it’s over. A quick peek over here all but confirms that props 1 and 2 got much props from Dallas voters. A victory for Jesus and America and Tiny Wash and all that is beautiful and right.

Texas Rangers to Have Rally on Wednesday at the Temple

Info is right here, sports fans. Also, here is a live video of Jerry Reed performing “The Claw.”