VOl. XXXiii • OCTOBER 3, 2019
50 cents
Funding granted to tackle the city’s high teen pregnancy rates The impeachment inquiry
speaking Up: Mental Health
Health Pg 6
From left: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton spoke at a January news conference addressing property tax reform. – Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune
Property tax relief in Texas, perhaps –
but not right away – AnAlysis –
By ROss RAMsEy The Texas Tribune
While trying to limit the annual growth of property taxes in Texas, the Legislature gave local governments an incentive to raise taxes nearly 8% this year. Maybe it was unintentional, but the state gave the locals a reason to raise property taxes faster than they would have without state action. As with car dealer’s TV spots or commercials for a year-ending sale at a furniture store understands how this works: It’s a classic closeout sale. You tell the customer there’s a big change right around the corner – a new model year, higher prices, new rules. And you add that there’s a better deal for anyone who acts quickly, to help the dealer clear the car lot, to assist that poor furniture store owner who wants to reduce inventory before the new year begins. “Act now and save!” Legislators know that stuff, too, but it’s not clear they were thinking about it. In their most recent session, they passed, with a great deal of self-congratulation, a new law that requires local governments – not including school districts – to get permission from voters for any property tax revenue increases of more than 3.5%. The city or the county can raise more, but only if voters approve. And there’s an exemption for community colleges, hospital districts and small government entities. Before that law passed, the limit was 8%. This is the last calendar year when that older limit is in effect. Those local governments argued, unsuccessfully, that the state’s newly imposed limit would hobble their efforts to keep up with growth and operating costs. They have some thirdparty support for that view; Moody’s Investor Service said in a report this year that the legislation would lead to minimal homeowner savings but would “hurt local governments substantially.” You see why the governments would jump? Act now, and revenue from property taxes can go up 7.99% without a public vote. Next year, the maximum increase without going to the polls will be 3.5%. And unlike current law, which requires citizens to petition for a rollback before a vote, the new law makes the public referendum automatic. Act now! A number of those governments are taking advantage of this, which will mean higher tax bills for some Texans and might keep legislators seeking reelection in
See Tax Relief Page 2
Read…
Perspectives Pg 5
By DiAnE XAViER The Dallas Examiner
Dallas’ teen birth rates are higher than the national average, with certain ZIP codes having even higher rates, according to the statistics from the city of Dallas. The Mayor’s Task Force on Poverty also identified teen pregnancy as one of the major drivers of poverty. In an effort to help combat the issue, the Dallas City Council approved funding during its Sept. 25 meeting for two programs that can help. Council members voted in favor of authorizing two one-year service contracts for teen pregnancy prevention/youth development programs with After-School AllStars in the amount of $125,000.00 and Just Say YES – Youth Equipped to Succeed – in the amount of $125,000.00.
Dallas City Council focuses on the high rate of teen pregnancies in certain ZIP codes. – Screenshot by Robyn H. Jimenez from City of Dallas video
After-School All-Stars program was awarded the funding to help students and their families at Thomas C. Marsh Preparatory Academy and Life School Oak Cliff Secondary Academy with youth development and teen pregnancy prevention programming. The after-school program focuses on these schools because they each have several risk factors present for academic underperformance and
teen pregnancy, according to Nadia Chandler-Hardy, assistant city manager and chief resilience officer for the city of Dallas. “The two schools targeted have 90% and 79% economically disadvantaged and 86% and 65% of their students considered “at risk” respectively,” Chandler-Hardy said. The program plans to partner with the North Texas Alliance to Reduce Unintended Pregnancy in Teens in
From right: Allison Jean (mother), Botham Shem Jean and Alissa Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger is escorted from the courtroom after she was Charles-Findley (sister) – Photos found guilty of murder by a 12-person jury in the 204th District Court at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on Oct. 1. – Photo by Tom Fox/REUTERS courtesy of his social media
Former police officer Amber Guyger found guilty of murder in shooting of Botham Jean WFAA-TV
(The Texas Tribune) – A Dallas County jury found former police officer Amber Guyger guilty of murder Tuesday morning. Guyger, who shot and killed Botham Jean, an unarmed 26year-old Black man, in his own apartment, said she mistook Jean’s fourth-floor apartment as her own and thought he was a burglar. Guyger, who is 31 and White, lived one floor directly below Jean. She was off duty, but still in her uniform when she shot him. His death – and her subsequent trial – grabbed national attention and sparked a passionate conversation throughout the city and across the nation about race, policing and gun violence. The jury reached its decision the day after closing arguments were presented. Guyger’s trial now turns to the sentencing phase, and both the Jean and Guyger families will be allowed to testify. In Texas, a murder conviction can result in a sentence ranging from five years to life in prison. Though court resumed later that afternoon for the sentencing, the trial was scheduled to continue Wednesday morning.
Jean’s final moments Guyger parked on the fourth floor the night Jean died and walked to his fourth-floor apartment, which was directly a floor above her own. Several residents of the South Side Flats, where Guyger and Jean lived, have testified that they’ve also parked on the
Support…
See City Council Page 3
Patricia Ryan teaches a classroom of female inmates inside the Mountain View prison in Gatesville as part of a reentry program. Part of the full-day programming focuses on computer and office skills, practicing interview techniques, customer service training, and dealing with stress and safety in the workplace. – Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune
Botham Shem Jean, who was killed in his apartment by an offduty police officer.
By TAsHA TsiAPERAs and BRADlEy BlACKBURn
order to connect teens and their parents to pregnancy prevention outreach services. Just Say YES was awarded the funding to help with teen pregnancy programs in the West Dallas, Oak Cliff and Victory Meadows area schools. “Just Say Yes – Youth Equipped to Succeed – was awarded this money in order to provide educational programming to teens, with a focus on building knowledge and skills needed to graduate high school without becoming teen parents, workforce training opportunities and connect them with services, programs and resources to reduce their likelihood of becoming teen parents by helping them achieve their full potential,” Chandler-Hardy said.
wrong floor of the parking garage and even walked to the wrong apartment door. Jean, who worked at the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, was sitting on his couch eating vanilla ice cream topped with crumbled chocolate chip cookies and watching TV when Guyger mistakenly walked into his apartment. His laptop was open. It appears he had AirPods in his ears. He was dressed comfy, in shorts and a T-shirt. Jurors were shown dozens of crime scene photos of Jean’s and Guyger’s apartments. They also watched videos showing the walk from the parking garage through the apartment hallways for both the third and fourth floors. There was a bright red doormat outside Jean’s apartment. His apartment was the only one with such a noticeable doormat on the third or fourth floor. Guyger’s keys were in Jean’s door when the first officers arrived. The doors at the apartments take an electronic lock, which turns like a normal key. Jean hadn’t locked his door when he returned home from running an errand. The door wasn’t fully closed and latched the night of the shooting. Prosecutors and defense attorneys had different theories about where Jean was when he was shot. Prosecutors said he was still sitting on the couch when Guyger shot him. Defense attorneys say Jean was walking or lunging toward her when she pulled the trigger.
Guyger’s response An arrest warrant for Guyger said she performed first aid on
Subscribe...
Jean, but evidence presented during the trial has not shown that to be the case. Guyger was outside Jean’s apartment when the first officers arrived, body camera footage showed. There was no blood found on her uniform, which was collected after the shooting. She texted her partner twice while she was on the phone with 911. Court testimony revealed she and her partner, Martin Rivera, had been in an intimate relationship. They had been sending steamy text messages to each other throughout the afternoon and evening. While on the phone with 911, Guyger texted Rivera, “I need you … hurry up” and “I f----d up.” Guyger’s testimony Guyger was the first witness called to the stand by the defense last week. She became emotional several times on the stand as she was questioned about her actions before and after she fatally wounded Botham Jean inside his apartment. “I feel like a piece of crap,” she testified. “I hate that I have to live with this every single day, and I ask God for forgiveness and hate myself every single day.” While Guyger said she was shocked after realizing she was in the wrong apartment and had just shot “an innocent man,” the prosecution questioned why she didn’t call for backup from the start when she heard movement inside the unit. The prosecution also alleged Guyger seemed more focused
See Botham Page 3
214-941-3100
Prison to pay check New Texas prison program could help women obtain a job before leaving the system
By JOliE MCCUllOUGH The Texas Tribune
GATESVILLE — Tears often filled the eyes of the women in this Texas prison town as they prepared for their upcoming release from the system after years or even decades of incarceration. The women sometimes wiped them away as they recalled trauma and grief they’d long ignored in a harsh prison environment. But their eyes also welled up when they expressed gratitude for a new program they hope will keep them from ever coming back to this or any other lockup. At the Mountain View Unit west of Waco last week, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice unveiled STRIVE, a new reentry program for women soon to be released from prison. Its main goals are to help imprisoned women address and heal from trauma tied to their criminal activity and leave prison with jobs already waiting for them. It’s a small program, with only 31 women in the inaugural class, and lasts a relatively short 12 weeks. But in the four weeks since it began, women said they felt changed. “We’ve done healing trauma, opening up stuff we’ve already left there for a long time,
See Prison Page 7
Inside
State/Metro . . . . 2
Research: Homelessness is a crisis
Editorial . . . . . . . 4 Perspectives . . . 5
Perspectives Pg 5
Health . . . . . . . . 6
Education . . . . . 8
Classifieds . . . . 9
8
13818 00799
0
Calendar . . . . . . 10
www.dallasexaminer.com