Warning: It's dangerous to break into Texas houses

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/09/05/0905sanmarcos.html

SAN MARCOS — About 2 a.m. Friday, when a San Marcos resident heard a commotion outside his bedroom, he grabbed his .40-caliber Glock pistol and opened the door, police said. When he saw a teenager pointing a gun at him, according to police, the resident fired several shots that left two Luling 16-year-olds dead and another teen seriously wounded. A fourth teen fled to escape from the gunfire, police said.

Three of the four youths appeared to be holding weapons, police say. One had a handgun, and the other two had pellet guns that looked like handguns, police said.

Note to any potential renters, our San Marcos condo is in the safe part of town.

Hate Crimes: Bum Edition

Excerpts from Hate crime law may be expanded on The Daily Texan:

The bill, co-authored by U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, could make attacks on the homeless equivalent to those dealing with race, religion and sexual orientation. It would require law enforcement to track crimes against the homeless — something few law enforcement agencies in the nation do at this time, said Michael Stoops, National Coalition for the Homeless executive director.

“It’s clear that [hate crimes] have been happening,” he said. “We think by adding homelessness, it will send both a symbolic and practical message that attacks against the homeless will not be tolerated.”

“We have crimes that are occurring with homeless involved all the time, but when we say hate crime, we try to be very clear that somebody has said, ‘You homeless bum,’ or something that indicates it’s been an act of hate because they’re homeless,” Troxell said.

House the Homeless also works toward raising minimum wage, set at $7.25 nationally, which Troxell said is not enough to cover basic living expenses.

“A full week at [minimum wage] and you won’t afford the basics of life in Austin and, without that ability, you’re going to end up homeless,” he said. “If you’re homeless and on the streets, then you’re subject to these atrocities where people conduct these hate crimes.”

I'm having a hard time believing this is serious. The article describes an incident in which some punks used a pellet gun on some homeless dudes downtown. Guess what...they were arrested and confessed to the crime they committed. So why exactly are our lawmakers wasting time to make a new law? How about stiffer penalties for the existing law if that's what is needed?

And does it really matter what they make the minimum wage? I don't really think a high percentage of the homeless population is trying very hard to work. They've already got more expensive medical care than me. They can get free meals and shelter so the only 'work' needed is just enough to cover drug and alcohol costs. And I'm told by my downtown source that many of the homeless accomplish this by: aggressive panhandling, acting as lookouts for drug dealers, and theft. If they really wanted to work they could easily show up at one of the many day-laborer hang outs and do some honest work.

Here we go Bulldogs...

As football season is getting closer here are a couple of links:

• Looks like we've got a signee in some trouble.  Read about it on Kyle's blog at clarionledger.com.
• New TV info for SEC games at al.com.  

Thanks Mom!

From KXAN.com:

AUSTIN (KXAN) - An Austin woman is charged with injury to a child, a first-degree felony, after a hospital-surveillance video caught her putting feces into her 3-year-old child's feeding tube.

Keeping It Real

From News 8 Austin:

Police are looking for two men after eight people were shot overnight at a nightclub in Downtown Austin.

Police said warrants have been issued for 25-year-old Brandon Bruce Hutchison, also known as “Big Hutch” and 21-year-old LaBaaron Demon Hutchison, also known as “Lil Hutch,” charging them with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

If you read the story you'll see these knuckleheads are part of a rap group that was the opening act last night at this nightclub, but failed to show up.  When they showed up at closing time they were denied entrance and went back to their cars and came back armed.

Uh...doesn't seem to make sense.  Why would they open up fire on the crowd which probably included some of their own fans?