Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 109, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 19, 2015 Page: 1 of 34
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INSIDE TODAY
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Denton Record-Chronicle
An edition of JJaUa^Portmtg
DentonRC.com
Vol. 112, No. 109 / 34 pages, 4 sections
Thursday, November 19, 2015
One dollar
Denton, Texas
member calls for investigation
Council
yet” Baker said.
A separate committee that consists
signed a petition ask- ing about the group that is promoting make announcements and ask that new of the mayor, the mayor pro tern and the
ing for Hawkins’re- anarchy in our city” Johnson said Tues- business or items be put on future agen- city manager sets the council agenda,
call. While council day night. “I have a lot of concern about das.
member Greg John- that, and I’d like for this council to have
son isn’t on the hot a briefing,
seat himself, he called
on city staff to look in- cide who that should come from.'
Johnson made the request at a time briefing, or whether that briefing would Tide had asked to use the Martin
“I don’t know who this goes to, but I during the regular meeting when it is be made public,
would like the council to receive a brief- customary for council members to
Johnson seeks answers about group tied to political turmoil
By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
Staff Writer
pheinkel-wolfe @ dentonrc. com
Fallout has begun after one City
Council recall petition was filed last
week and news of another possible recall
petition continued to circulate this week.
Denton council member Joey Haw-
kins, who could face a recall election in
May struggled to keep his composure at
the end of the regular council Tuesday
night. A total of 125 voters in District 4
ti
-
Johnson said in an interview
City spokeswoman Lindsey Baker Wednesday evening that his request for
said she didn’t have any information on the briefing wasn’t related to recall ef-
I’m going to let the city manager de- which department would handle such forts. He said he was concerned that a
an investigation and provide such a group called Blackland Prairie Rising
Johnson
to the political turmoil.
‘That is not one we’ve addressed
See JOHNSON on 3A
State says
no to letting
academics
vet textbooks
TODAY
IN DENTON
Wr
t
4*
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I
Sunny and mild
High: 66
Low: 42
Three-day forecast, 2A
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By Will Weissert
Associated Press
AUSTIN — Top Texas education offi-
cials rejected Wednesday letting universi-
ty experts fact-check textbooks approved
for use in public-school classrooms state-
wide, instead reaffirming a vetting system
that has helped spark years of ideological
battles over how potentially thorny lessons
in history and science are taught.
The Board of Education approves text-
books in the nation’s second-largest state
and stood by its vetting process — despite
a Houston-area mother recently com-
plaining that a world geography book used
by her son’s ninth grade class referred to
David Minton/DRC African slaves as “workers.” The publisher,
Danny Kerr of Aubrey poses in his golf cart in front of his home on Wednesday. Kerr, who has epilepsy and cannot drive a McGraw-Hill Education, apologized and
car, has been using the golf cart for the past few years to get around near his home. moved to make immediate edits.
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INSIDE TODAY
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Aaron Green is taking
Dr. Frank N. Furter to
new heights in Denton
Community Theatre’s
The Rocky Horror
Show.
Republican board member Thomas
Ratliff had proposed bringing in academ-
ics to check textbooks only for factual er-
rors, but his measure failed 8-7 after
lengthy discussion.
“I know people are concerned about
pointy-headed liberals in the ivory tower
making our process different or worse,”
stalled a small strobe light on the back of Ratliff, of Mount Pleasant, said before the
the cart. He sometimes turns it on when vote. “But I hold our institutions of higher
education in fairly high regard.”
Texas has 5.2 million public-school stu-
it,” he says. ‘When I go to the pharmacy, I dents, a large enough textbook market
go around the school and go back around, that publishers making modifications to
and sometimes I go through the parking meet its standards can affect material in
other states.
As it mulls books proposed for approv-
al, the board relies on citizen review panels
— often teachers, parents, business
Traveling man
Denton Time
STATE
and to the doughnut shop where he often
gets doughnut holes and a Dr Pepper.
A slick green body with a race car
steering wheel, the golf cart looks out of
place parked in Kerr’s neighborhood in
Aubrey. Gas-powered and about the size
of a Smart Fortwo, it once belonged to
Monster Energy. The beverage company’s
three-clawed monster logo still decorates
A Texas inmate was
Aubrey resident with
epilepsy uses golf
cart as transportation
executed Wednesday for
setting a fire that killed
his daughter and her two
young half-sisters.
he’s driving at night.
“I don’t get on the main highway with
Page 3A
By Christian McPhate
Staff Writer
dmcphate @ dentonrc.com
AUBREY — Danny Kerr loves his golf the cart’s body,
cart. It’s his only form of transportation.
He drives it to the grocery store where he lights, a windshield, a seat cover and a bi-
shops, to the sandpit where he volunteers cycle license plate — “2COOL-4U.” He in-
lot of places. But I try to stay off [U.S.]
Highway 377”
Kerr says it sometimes takes him 30
minutes to an hour to cross the highway
NATIONAL
The fatal shooting of an
unarmed black man by a
Minneapolis officer has
pushed racial tensions in
the city’s small but con-
centrated minority com-
munity to the fore, with
a police precinct be-
sieged by a makeshift
encampment and hun-
dreds of protesters.
Kerr, 49, rebuilt the motor, then added
See CART on 3A
See TEXTBOOKS on 5A
DART to dig deeper
in contractors’ pasts
Season of donations
—
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Page 3A
¥
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r
and regional development, said his agency
hasn’t had any problems with the compa-
ny. Still, DART plans to ask more “specific
and probing” questions about companies’
previous job performances.
‘We’ll be a bit more inquisitive,” McKay
told board members Tuesday.
A DART questionnaire asks compa-
nies seeking contracts to provide details
about any pending litigation. DART offi-
cials said it is the responsibility of the com-
panies submitting proposals to disclose re-
quested information.
While bidding on one DART contract,
URS didn’t provide details about being
sued in Minnesota over the deadly col-
lapse of a highway bridge into the Missis-
By Brandon Formby
The Dallas Morning News
bformby @ dallasnews. com
DALLAS — Dallas Area Rapid Transit
is changing the questions it asks potential
contractors about their previous work —
and will dig deeper into the answers they
give.
.»
FIND IT INSIDE
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COMICS
3C,8C
CROSSWORDS
5C
DEAR ABBY
5A
DEATHS
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4A
OPINION
That declaration Tuesday came weeks
after The Dallas Morning News reported
the agency paid millions of dollars to a
company that didn’t provide details about
litigation it faced, including a lawsuit
stemming from a deadly bridge collapse in
another state.
IB
SPORTS
7C
TELEVISION
2A
WEATHER
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David Minton/DRC
Denton mayor Chris Watts puts the first donation of the season into
the Salvation Army kettle at Golden Triangle Mall on Wednesday.
Two other North Texas transportation
agencies are involved in financial wran-
glings with URS Corp., but Tim McKay,
DART executive vice president of growth
See DART on 5A
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COMING THANKSGIVING DAY
NOVEMBER 26, 2015 on DentonRC.com
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 109, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 19, 2015, newspaper, November 19, 2015; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1124611/m1/1/: accessed June 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .