The Colony Courier-Leader (The Colony, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 17, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 2, 2004 Page: 12 of 20
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Page 2B — The Colony Courier-Leader — Wednesday, June 2,2004 — www.colonyleader.com
Regional Roundup
Child reports
abduction attempt
LITTLE ELM — The Little Elm
Police Department has issued a
countywide alert after a fourth-
grade student reported a stranger
attempted to persuade him to get
inside a van May 19.
The student was walking home
from a bus stop on Lakeside Drive
near King Elementary and was
allegedly approached by a man in
a red or maroon van after the bus
had driven away.
No other incidents of this
nature have been reported recent-
ly, according to LEPD Detective
Rex Lollar, but the department is
investigating this report.
“I don’t know if this was an iso-
lated incident or if there was
something else. We don’t have a
lot of hard information to work
with,” Lollar said Friday.
Little Elm ISD sent a letter
home with students the next day
informing parents of the situation.
According to the district’s
release, the Zellars Elementary
fourth-grader was walking home
at about 3 to 3:15 p.m. when a
stranger tried to lure him into “an
older model Toyota van, faded red
or burgundy in color, (with) tinted
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DAVID JOHNSON/STAFF PHOTO
Life management skills
Seventh-graders Danielle Kelldorf and Sarah Hawthorne, and
their life management skills teacher, Linda Burdette, look on as
chef Robert Robinson, owner of Fresh Tossed Express, cooks a
vegetable dish at Ford Middle School in Allen on May 17. He trav-
els to schools to inspire children through cooking.
windows, rear-end damage, white ran home and called his parent,
writing of some sort on the pas- The student described the sus-
senger-side door, and a CB or pect as a “male, wearing a leather
some other device on the dash- jacket, dark sunglasses, and an
board.” ______army type camouflage hat,” the
After the man reportedly told release stated.
the student that the boy’s parent The district did not wish to
was in the hospital, the student panic parents by sending the
release.
Alleged shooter
found in Florida
CARROLLTON — Police offi-
cials are awaiting the extradition
of Jose Rodolfo Torres from
Florida.
Torres, 32, was arrested May
11 by FBI agents and officers
from the Fort Myers Police
Department in connection to
charges filed against him in
Carrollton for two counts of
aggravated assault with a deadly
weapon.
Torres was living under the
alias Jose Robles. FBI agents
were able to track him down by
using a national fingerprint data-
base. After matching the finger-
prints, FBI agents and officers
from the FMPD arrested Torres
at a restaurant located on U.S.
Highway 41 in Fort Myers.
Torres is now being held in a
Lee County jail awaiting extradi-
tion.
“This is probably one of our
oldest cases that we had an out-
standing warrant on,” Carrollton
police spokesman David
Sponhour said.
On May 27, 1995; the CPD
received a call after shots were
fired at a graduation party at the
Carrollton Inn, now known as
the Red Roof Inn.
he
Sponhour said after an argu-
ment took place, a Hispanic
male started shooting, and one
man was shot in the upper left
shoulder and a woman was hit in
the face. Through a photo line
up, witnesses were able to iden-
tify Torres, who was 23 at the
time, as the shooter.
A Texas warrant was issued
for Torres’s arrest in June 1995
for aggravated assault with a
deadly weapon. A U.S. magis-
trate judge in the Northern
District of Texas issued a federal
warrant Nov. 1, 1995, for unlaw-
ful flight to avoid prosecution.
Aggravated assault with a
deadly weapon is a second
degree felony. Torres faces
up to 20 years in prison for
each count and a fine not to
exceed $10,000.
Homebuilders seek
state certification
Selecting a homebuilder has
become less risky thanks to
state legislation governing the
industry.
More than 12,000 home-
builders have registered for
state certification after the new
legislation took effect in
January.
“That’s way more than we
expected,” said Stephen
Thomas, executive director of
the Texas Residential
Constsuction Commission.
Created by state legislators
last year, the nine-member body
oversees homebuilding and
serves as a consumer watchdog.
“Certification is important
for both homebuilders and con-
sumers,” said Thomas.
That’s because legitimate
businesses enjoy more com-
merce while homebuyers
choose better builders.
“Builder registration boosts
and protects the reputation of
the residential construction
industry, as well as enables con-
sumers to learn more about a
builder’s integrity and work-
manship prior to doing business
with them,” said Thomas.
Since revised construction
liability law took effect, com-
mission officials expected up to
3,750 builders to seek certifica-
tion by this year’s deadline. But
the number — 12,300 and rising
— far exceeded those projec-
tions. In fact, up to 3,000 more
businesses are expected to reg-
ister within a year, according to
revised estimates.
“In Collin County, we’ve seen
356 builders and re-modelers
register, 151 of those in Plano,”
UTBACK
STEAKHOUSE—;
said Kris Parker, a spokes-
woman with the commission.
Re-modelers — businesses
whose residential reconstruc-
tion projects usually exceed
$20,000 — also must register
under the law.
A builder is defined as any
business entity or individual
who — for a fixed price, com-
mission, fee, wage or other
compensation — constructs,
supervises or manages the con-
struction of a new home or
makes material improvements
to a home other than an
improvement solely to replace
or repair a roof of an existing
home.
Also required for state regis-
tration are new homes.
“We expect many more, con-
sidering the strength of the
industry,” said Thomas.
In addition to registering
homes and builders, the state
commission oversees the state-
sponsored inspection and dis-
pute-resolution process, pre-
pares and adopts building and
performance-standard and limit-
ed-statutory warranties and pro-
vides voluntary certification of
arbitrators.
“The bottom line is that
we’re setting minimum warran-
ty standards to ensure quality
work from homebuilders and
quality product for customers.”
When formed last year, the
commission focused on estab-
lishing two warranties covering
residential construction and
repairs.
The first warranty created
minimum requirements for all
new home construction and
improvements. The second war-
ranty applied to factors having
detrimental effects on living
areas of homes. It aimed to
ensure safe and healthy
dwellings fit for human habita-
tion.
Early election
returns err
According to the official elec-
tion results section of the Collin
County Web site, at least for a
time May 15, Brenda Polk had
emerged victorious against
Renee Ehmke in the race for
Frisco Independent School
District Place 2.
An error in reporting the
results was not corrected until
about 11 p.m. Saturday night —
after calls of congratulation and
consolation has been made and
the candidates had accepted the
outcome.
“I was on the school board
for about an hour and a half,
PRINTMAIL, INC?
which has to be the shortest
tenure that anybody ever had,”
said Polk, jokingly, Thursday.
“(FISD superintendent) Dr.
Reedy called me on my cell
phone to congratulate me, and
two or three other people, and
as the PTA council president, I
sent out an e-mail with the three
winners on it, which included
my name. And then I get an e-
mail back from one of the PTA
presidents saying, ‘So sorry you
lost.’ I thought, what does that
mean?”
Polk said she called Ehmke,
but she was unavailable.
“I was out taking a walk, hav-
ing a good cry,” Ehmke said.
“After calling Renee, I
checked the numbers again on
the Web site, and it had flipped.
We knew it would be close,”
Polk said.
The emotional rollercoaster
the women rode election night
would have caused anger and
bitterness in lesser candidates,
but the opponents had forged a
friendship before the campaign
that was further strengthened by
the mix-up, they said.
“Like we told people during
the campaign, just go vote,”
Polk said. “We don’t really care
which one of us you vote for. To
me the end result didn’t matter,
and still doesn’t matter. The
biggest problem in winning and
then losing is that people still
think you won. They still con-
gratulate me, even today. Anna
Koenig, the principal at Boals : »
(Elementary), called me at
about six o’clock (Sunday
evening) to congratulate me arid
asked how Renee was doing. I :
told her Renee was doing pretty
good because ... she won.”
Polk said she called FISD
Director of Communications
Shana McKay-Wortham May 17,
for two reasons.
“First of all, I wanted to get it
right (on the district’s Web site),
and to give Renee the credit she
was due. Second of all, because
I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Polk and Ehmke are not par-
tisan politicians. They remind
you of the 1960s television show
starring Patty Duke, who played
“cousins, identical cousins” that
“walk alike, they talk alike ...
what a lovely pair.” The women
have a genuine respect and
fondness for each other, which
was evident in their campaign.
They had campaign buttons
made up that featured pho-
tographs of both.
Regional Roundup is
based on reports by staff
writers of Star Community
Newspapers of Texas.
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Sorter, Dave. The Colony Courier-Leader (The Colony, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 17, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 2, 2004, newspaper, June 2, 2004; The Colony, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1621822/m1/12/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Colony Public Library.