Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, August 31, 2018 Page: 1 of 19
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FRIDAY
IN DENTON
SB Area teams open
football season
tonight
Em Sports, IB
Roommates
fight over
move-out, police
say / Blotter, 2A
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3
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Denton Record-Chronicle
20 pages, 3 sections II $1.00
Friday, August 31, 2018 II Denton, Texas II Vol. 115, No. 29 II DentonRC.com
Panel rejects call to close 87 driver’s license offices
office inefficiency.
Commission members — five state
senators, five state representatives and
two members of the public — voted
11-0 against shuttering doors. One of
the members of the public on the com-
mission, Ronald Steinhart, was present
but did not vote.
Several members said some of the
offices are the only ones in rural coun-
ties and serve low-income people who
would unfairly shoulder the burden
of having to drive long distances to a
required to visit a driver’s license office offices, should be addressed by the state
in person, including those with licenses agency. DPS defended its recommen-
that have been expired for more than dations in a statement, saying it was
two years and applicants over 79 or un- responding to the Sunset report’s find-
ings that die “department has not im-
DPS had proposed to close the offices plemented plans to close or consolidate
after a Sunset Commission report from driver license offices with low demand.”
April stated that “DPS has not maxi- DPS identified a list of potential offices
mized its resources to adequately im- for closure and submitted it for consid-
prove driver license customer service.” eration by the Sunset Advisory Commis-
The commission’s report stated that sion, the statement said.
issues in DPS driver’s license offices, in- -
cludinglongwaittimes and understaffed See DPS on 11A
neighboring county’s driver’s license
office.
By Hannah Wiley
The Texas Tribune
AUSTIN — The Sunset Adviso-
ry Commission unanimously voted
Wednesday to reject a proposal to close
87 Texas Department of Public Safety
driver’s license offices, one of which was
the Denton office.
DPS had recommended that the
commission — which reviews state
agency performance and recommends
changes — vote to close the offices,
most of which are in rural areas, citing
“If we are going to require the pub-
lic to do something, the onus is on us
to make sure that we provide the most
efficient system for them, the pub-
lic, in having to comply with our re-
quirements,” said state Sen. Bob Hall,
R-Edgewood.
There are more than 200 driver’s li-
cense offices. In some cases, applicants
can renew their licenses online or on
the phone. But many Texas drivers are
der 18.
Questions about Latino relations, city growth posed to Denton police chief finalists
Ex-police
officer
sentenced
to 15 years
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Police organization
head: In murder case,
Oliver held accountable
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By Ryan Tarinelli
Associated Press
DALLAS — The head of Dallas’ old-
est and largest police employee organi-
zation said Thursday that good officers
want bad ones off the streets and that
a former suburban officer convicted in
the shooting death of an unarmed black
teenager was held ac-
countable.
Roy Oliver, who is
white, fired into a car
filled with black teens
leaving a suburban
Dallas house party
in April 2017, killing E
15-year-old Jordan
Edwards. A jury con-
victed Oliver of murder Tuesday and
sentenced him to 15 years in prison
Wednesday night.
Sgt. Michael Mata, president of the
Dallas Police Association, said due pro-
cess was followed in the murder trial.
He said a large percentage of officers
thought Oliver had committed a crime,
but that there was debate over whether
it was manslaughter or murder.
‘What was accomplished this week
was accountability,” Mata said.
Members of Edwards’ family said the
ex-officer’s punishment was too lenient
“He can actually see life again after
15 years and that’s not enough because
Jordan can’t see life again,” Edwards’
stepmother, Charmaine Edwards, said
of Oliver after his sentencing.
She praised the jury’s decision to
convict Oliver of murder, but wanted
those same jurors to send him to prison
for a longer period.
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Jeff Woo/DRC
Locals talk with candidates for Denton police chief — Patrick Gallagher, left foreground, and Christy Martinez, left background — during a
meet-and-greet at the Denton Public Safety Training Center on Thursday. See more photos and video from the event at DentonRC.com.
Engaged & involved
traumatic crimes like sexual assault and family vio-
lence. Above all, people wanted to know what these
outside candidates were looking for in Denton.
“It’s refreshing to me that this community is
very engaged and involved,” said Frank Dixon,
who is currently an assistant police chief in Austin.
“Police can’t do it all by themselves.”
One question that several people asked had to
do with immigration and what police can do to
mitigate the presumptive fear many Latino people
express about interacting with the police.
Cleveland Spruill, currently the police chief in
Huntersville, North Carolina, said he had experi-
ence working with an influx Salvadorian immi-
grants into his community.
At a time when the federal government is tak-
ing an aggressive stance toward policing immi-
grant populations, there is a high level of tension
By Dalton LaFerney
Staff Writer
dalton.laferney@dentonrc.com
Dozens of people showed up Thursday night at
the Denton Public Safety Training Center to hear
what the six finalists for police chief had to say
about Denton.
The finalists took questions about advanced
technologies in policing and leadership styles.
There were discussions about gun violence and
See POLICE CHIEF on 11A
See OFFICER on 11A
Survey finds litter increasing in Denton
the annual fitter surveys of all partici-
pating cities, but not everyone reveals
their number at the end of the year, she
said.
for the city at large.
KDB uses those scores to focus its
cleanup efforts and look for trends.
Natalie said she couldn’t rule out
the effect of the city’s busy construction
boom. Construction sites themselves
were not judged, however.
“That’s not an indicator of what resi-
dents are doing,” she said.
But that’s also why rain and wind
can contribute to the problem, she add-
By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
Staff Writer
pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com
For the second year running, Keep
Denton Beautiful volunteers have
found the city more littered than the
year before.
The nonprofit group released results
of its annual fitter survey Thursday.
Spokeswoman Autumn Natalie said
this year’s score came to 1.5 on a four-
point scale, with 4 being the worst.
That’s up from 1.4 last year and 1.3 in
2016.
To perform the survey, volunteers
were trained on how to evaluate spots
before they headed out. An area with
no fitter, or maybe a small item, would
be scored one. An area with a small
amount of fitter that an individual eas-
ily could remove and dispose at home
would score two. An area that requires
a team effort to clean up scores three.
An area that would require a call to the
city’s Solid Waste Department scores
four.
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Many parts of the city are clean and
look good, but if the volunteers drove
by an illegal dumping spot — which
can include a sofa on the curb — that
rated a four.
“We would have to call Solid Waste
to come get it,” Natalie said.
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This year’s survey followed a week
of rainstorms, so that could have been a
factor, Natalie said; however, “we do see
a trend,” she added.
It’s hard to know how Denton com-
pares to neighboring cities or the rest of
the state. Keep Texas Beautiful requires
__L„........................
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Jeff Woo/DRC
Motorists drive close to litter near the intersection of Duchess Drive and
Loop 288. Volunteers with Keep Denton Beautiful recently drove select
routes around the city and surveyed the presence of litter. For the second
year running, volunteers found more litter than the year before.
Then, the groups of volunteers fan
out at the same time, although they
judge and score select areas inde-
pendently. The scores are combined to
arrive at the final score for an area and
See LITTER on 11A
>
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McCrory, Sean. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, August 31, 2018, newspaper, August 31, 2018; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1137791/m1/1/: accessed July 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .