Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 83, Ed. 1 Friday, October 24, 2014 Page: 1 of 27
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INSIDE TODAY
UNT freshman makes most of chance to start / Sports, IB
Broncos get chance to thin group atop district / Sports, IB
ALSO INSIDE
Newest Ebola patient
a New York doctor
National, Page 3A
Denton Record-Chronicle
An edition of dlje J3alla£ Jlortmttj DentonRC.com
Vol. Ill, No. 83 / 28 pages, 3 sections Friday, October 24, 2014 Denton, Texas 50 cents
Flu shots on the rise in
By Bj Lewis
and Megan Gray-Hatfield
Staff Writers
blewis @ dentonrc.com
mgray @ dentonrc.com
It’s time again for those familiar nee-
dle pricks that come from vaccinations
to ward off any potential flu virus attack.
As the flu season begins and clinics
provide Denton County residents a
chance to get themselves and their
loved ones protection against this year’s
viruses, health officials are hoping sup-
ply can keep up with what may be an
increased demand.
Because of the recent high-profile
nature of the Ebola virus and many of
the symptoms the same as those for the
flu, Matt Richardson, Denton County
Health Department director, said it
could prompt more people to want to
get vaccinated, which has the potential
to lead to a shortage.
“Every year the flu season begins as a
mystery,” Richardson said. “The other
thing that is a mystery is the amount of
vaccine with Ebola [concerns] and if
that will induce demand and we just
don’t know yet.
“We’re keeping our eye on it and
[still] encouraging people to get a flu
shot.”
Marta Stephens, spokeswoman for
Health Services of North Texas, said the
organization has seen more of a de-
mand for shots especially because some
are thinkingthe shot can prevent Ebola.
‘We have told them not to panic, but
it’s not going to help with Ebola,” she
said. ‘We do have plenty of [flu] shots
here right now for anyone in need.”
Brenda Eckel, medical clinic coordi-
nator for First Refuge Ministries, said
the organization has also seen more of a
demand and it could be because of the
recent “heightened alertness” of prepar-
ing for an outbreak of a virus, but she
said it could also be due to the fact that
the ministry worked really hard raising
awareness on how beneficial it is to get a
shot last year.
Denton County
“Sure, we have had people ask if the
flu shot keeps someone from getting
Ebola, but we tell them ‘no’ and they still
want the shot anyway,” she said. “I do
think there is heightened wellness
awareness currently in many people
nowbecause of that [the Ebola scares].”
Last year the health department ad-
ministered 10,000 vaccines to Denton
County residents in the Denton and
Lewisville clinics.
Flu activity most commonly peaks in
the U.S. between December and Febru-
ary. However, seasonal flu activity can
begin as early as October and continue
to occur as late as May, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention.
Eckel said she thinks people are see-
ing the value of the shot and are learn-
ing that the sooner you come in, the bet-
ter.
“It takes two weeks for the shot to
build up in the immune system to be-
come fully effective,” she said. “So if you
are around someone with the virus
within two weeks of getting a shot, you
still are at risk, but you might get a ligh-
ter case of the flu.”
She said that First Refugee Minis-
tries is looking to give out as many shots
as possible this year and encourages
See FLU on 13A
TODAY
IN DENTON
Mostly sunny and
warm
High: 86
Low: 59
Three-day forecast, 2A
NATIONAL
From violence to verbal
taunts, abusive dating
behavior is pervasive
among America’s adoles-
cents, according to a
new, federally funded
survey. It says a majority
of boys and girls who
date describe themselves
as both victims and
perpetrators.
Page 3A
INTERNATIONAL
A day after Michael
Zehaf-Bibeau launched a
deadly attack on Cana-
da’s seat of government,
a portrait of the 32-year-
old Canadian began to
emerge, along with a
possible explanation for
what triggered the
shooting rampage.
Page 6A
David Minton/DRC
Andre “Frenchy” Rheault, owner of Frenchy’s Lawn and Tree Service, was cited by city of Denton code enforcement
for flying too many flags from his signature orange work vans and along the fence line where he stores his vehicles
on Thursday in Denton.
Let freedom ring
Local business owner
cited for too many
flags flying on property
By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
Staff Writer
pheinkel-wolfe @ dentonrc. com
Andre “Frenchy” Rheault must either
take down all but one of his American
flags from outside his business on Dallas
Drive or get a permit for “wind devices”
to occasionally keep them flying.
Rheault received a citation Thursday
from the city’s Community Improve-
ment Services Division about the flags —
among the first things a northbound
traveler sees entering central Denton
from Interstate 35E.
Rheault parks his Frenchy’s Lawn
and Tree Service vans in a storage yard
he rents in the 1000 block of Dallas
Drive next to On The Cuff Embroidery.
He has a dozen poles with U.S. flags
mounted to the security fence at the
front of the yard. Old Glory also flies on a
pole high above the embroidery shop, its
roof painted with the stars and stripes,
too.
“We fly flags,” said Rheault, a Viet-
nam War veteran. “It’s what we do.”
City spokeswoman Alison Ream said
an inspector visited Frenchy’s yard on
Dallas Drive after receiving a complaint.
The city issued two notices of violation
after the inspector’s investigation.
Rheault doesn’t have a certificate of
occupancy for the storage yard he has
rented for decades, according to city
documents. He said he is working with
the city and the property owner, who
fives in California, to set up a meeting to
See FLAGS on 8A
El Nino
still a
no-show
in Texas
By Betsy Blaney
Associated Press
LUBBOCK — El Nino is proving to be
finicky.
The rain-producing weather pattern
was expected to arrive in Texas by now, but
the outlook for moisture across much of
the state through the end of October and
into November doesn’t look promising.
A lot of the state will be “bone dry,” Vic-
tor Murphy, a meteorologist with the Na-
tional Weather Service in Fort Worth,
said.
Forecasters have been waiting for El
Nino to develop for about six months, but
it hasn’t arrived yet, John Nielsen-Gam-
mon, the state’s climatologist and Texas
A&M professor of atmospheric sciences,
said in a recent release.
“Temperatures in the tropical Pacific
have been running above normal for most
of the period, and there’s still a great deal
of warm water beneath the surface,” he
said. “So the odds still favor at least a weak
El Nino developing over the next couple of
months and lasting through most of the
winter.”
El Nino, a flow of unusually warm sur-
face waters from the Pacific Ocean toward
and along the western coast of South
America, changes rain and temperature
patterns around the world and usually
raises global temperatures.
El Nino will likely be weaker than pre-
dicted months ago. Forecasts are calling
for winter weather in Texas to be mostly
cloudy, rainy and cool.
The drought in Texas that started in
late 2010 and worsened in 2011, the state’s
driest year ever, seems to be easing. The
U.S. Drought Monitor map released
See DROUGHT on 13A
LOCAL
Blotter: Four men were
arrested this week in
connection with a string
of vehicle break-ins in
Denton County.
Page 2A
FIND IT INSIDE
CLASSIFIED
1C
COMICS
8C
CROSSWORDS
3C,8C
DEAR ABBY
4C
DEATHS
13A
GOOD LIVING
4A
OPINION
12A
RELIGION
11A
SPORTS
IB
TELEVISION
7C
WEATHER
2A
7
5
Issues with new grading system come to light
By Britney Tabor
Staff Writer
btabor@ dentonrc.com
Despite her never making a grade be-
low 96 on a report card, the new second-
ary schools grading policy has Denton
High sophomore Gabriella Webster feel-
ing her efforts aren’t good enough.
Prior to the school district’s new policy
being implemented this fall, she said, the
use of homework and quizzes were a way
for her to gauge where she was in her
learning experience leading up to a test.
With assignments like homework no lon-
ger being graded, she said that with the ex-
ception of tests she’s not receiving the
feedback to understand if she’s truly
learned something. She said she’s had to
retake every test and has turned to Khan
Academy videos for understanding.
A busy extracurricular schedule leaves
minimal time for tutorials, she said.
‘At this point, with the assessments
[tests] being the only thing we see, it’s
kind of a shot in the dark in what we’re
understanding as we go, and then we’re
taking a test at the end hoping that we’ve
taught ourselves enough,” Webster said.
“There’s not any way to gauge what I’m
learning anymore.”
Abad grade on a test, she said, is telling
her “I’m not good enough.”
“My confidence is completely shot,”
Webster said.
Webster shared her frustrations about
the new grading policy before a room of
several hundred people, with concerns re-
garding the impact the new system is hav-
ing on education in Denton. On Wednes-
day, the Denton ISD conducted a discus-
sion on secondary school grading practic-
es in the Guyer High School auditorium.
DISD implemented the new grading
system for secondary schools more than
nine weeks ago.
Students receive grades for final drafts, Denton ISD parents and teachers listen to a presentation by education author
- and consultant Tom Schimmer about the new assessment practices and grad-
See GRADING on 8A ing changes for the district on Wednesday at Guyer High School.
David Minton/DRC
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 83, Ed. 1 Friday, October 24, 2014, newspaper, October 24, 2014; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1124985/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .