Galveston County

Heavy Lifting

I Do, I Do!

Weekend Music: No Money, No Problem

"Disgruntled" BP Workers Sue

The Worrisome List Of The Missing

ACLU Wants Galveston Jail Evacuated Next Time

Dimitri's Last Stand

Will naturalists rid the wetlands of a wily immigrant's sex clubs?

Comcast Didn't Mean To Sic A Collection Agency On Ike Victims

Will naturalists rid the wetlands of a wily immigrant's sex clubs?

Evacuate From Ike? Let's See, Go To A Hotel Or A Nursing Home Shut Down For Code Violations?

Hurricane Ike was a time of coming together, where folks dug deep to lend a helping hand and neighbors acted, well ... neighborly.But not everyone, according to one Galveston County woman.Estelle Reeves is suing her former employer for allegedly firing her following the storm after she says she disc ... More >>

Galveston's Grand Opera House Is Back, Baby

The 1894 Grand Opera House, socked with eight feet of water by that bastard Ike, is back.The facility officially reopens tomorrow with a free party featuring tours, sing-alongs and people reading from the best Ike survival stories. Then Jerry Jeff Walker will bring the place back for paying customer ... More >>

Diner's Notebook

Top of the Morning

People Rich Enough To Own Boats Find It Easy To Evade Taxes

Galveston County is getting screwed out of about $33,000 in property taxes from a League City marina. The county knows about it, but doesn't seem to care. On the Wharf Marina web site, it says plain as day (if you don't take into account spelling and grammatical errors) that wet slip owners "must pa ... More >>

A Second Mistrial For Dymond Milburn, The 12-year-Old "Hooker" Arrested By Galveston Cops

A deadlocked jury resulted in a mistrial for Dymond Milburn, the black girl who -- when she was 12 years old -- was charged with assaulting police officers who tried to arrest her in her front yard.The cops had been looking for three white hookers. Milburn was hospitalized and later arrested at her ... More >>

The Search For Ike Victims In Galveston County Ends

The job of looking for Ike victims in the debris piles and swamps of Galveston County -- a nasty, brutal job that drained the searchers both physically and emotionally -- is over.The county's second and final search for missing Ike victims ended recently with eight people from the Bolivar area still ... More >>

Don't Get A Toothache If You've Got Jury Duty In Galveston County

A League City woman has been found in contempt of court and fined $100 because she got a toothache during a trial on which she was a juror, the Galveston County Daily News  reports.It wasn't so much she got the toothache and needed surgery; it was more that she told some people (including a rep ... More >>

They're Still Arresting People Who Curse In Galveston County, Gosh Darn It

Photo by Joe ShlabotnikLast year Kristi Fridge garnered nationwide publicity after being arrested in a La Marque Wal-Mart for cursing. Reasonable people thought that if a vengeful God had somehow decided to mess with you enough to place you in a Wal-Mart in LaMarque, then cursing would be a viable r ... More >>

Brandon Backe's Case Goes To A Grand Jury, If The DA's Office Comes In To Work

Photo by JasoonThe whole Brandon Backe fracas, where a wedding brawl has led to nothing but confusion, is headed to a grand jury.Galveston County DA Kurt Sistrunk says he is not recommending any charges be filed against the cops in the case, but he will present it to a grand jury for their considera ... More >>

News Hostage

Photo by JasoonThe whole Brandon Backe fracas, where a wedding brawl has led to nothing but confusion, is headed to a grand jury.Galveston County DA Kurt Sistrunk says he is not recommending any charges be filed against the cops in the case, but he will present it to a grand jury for their considera ... More >>

Slip-Up on Taxes

Boat owners get to evade

Gangsters in Bacliff

The unincorporated town is up to its elbows in youth gangs, poverty and crime

Another Galveston County Cursing Arrest Ends In A F***ing Whimper

Photo by GuerrettoThat bizarre streak of cursing arrests in Galveston County is having trouble standing up in court.One guy -- the guy from Queens who used the f-word -- pleaded guilty to his charge, but we're guessing he did it just to avoid having to come back down to "fuckin' Galveston" to fight ... More >>

“A City on Stilts”

Photographic exhibit shows Galveston’s spirit

Candidate of the Year

Practical solutions, involving liquor and guns

Letters

Practical solutions, involving liquor and guns

Kitty Litter

Toyya Braskey lives with 100 cats. They are her life. Now the city says they have to go.

You've Heard It Effin' Before: Cops Wash Out With Soap Another Galveston County Potty-Mouth

​We really thought we wouldn't be writing again about people getting into trouble with the law in Galveston County because they cursed. But goshdarnit, it just keeps popping up.Whether it's a frustrated woman in a Wal-Mart, a guy arguing over his neighbor's dog poop, or even a guy from fuckin' Que ... More >>

Life, Post-Ike: The Comeback Kid

Without as much to lose as Galveston, Bolivar surges ahead in its recovery.

Sometimes You Just Pick The Wrong 63-Year-Old Guy To Rob

Photo courtesy GCSO​You're looking at Quintin Wade Brown, 25, of Texas City. You may notice his left eye seems to be a bit distressed.That's because Brown tried to rob a 63-year-old guy of two bucks and some potato chips outside a convenience store.Note to future robbers: Before attempting such a ... More >>

Anti-Hurricane Consortium To Hold First Meeting...Just in Time for Hurricane Season

​A mere 19 months after Hurricane Ike treated the upper Texas coast like its musical namesake used to treat Tina, the Gulf Coast Community Protection and Recovery District is holding their first planning session: Galveston County is joined by Harris, Brazoria, Chambers, Jefferson and Orange c ... More >>

Congratulations, Kemah Smokers: You're 20 Feet Closer To The Front Door

Hey you two!! Take it outside!! At least you won't have to walk far​The Kemah city council couldn't agree on a smoking ban in bars and restaurant bars at their meeting last night, but they did agree on one thing: Those desperate, addicted puffers forced outside in rain, cold and heat can be a litt ... More >>

Fake Nigerians Scamming Hispanics In Texas City

Photos courtesy GCSODaniel Johnson, not a Nigerian with cash-flow problems​Almost exactly five years ago, we were minding our own business at the Downtown Transit Center light rail stop one evening. A suave and well-dressed middle-aged black man came up to us and introduced himself and spun an out ... More >>

Matthew Ray Creel Finds A Very Ironic, And Unsuccessful, Place To Hide His Weed

Photo from KTRKLike rain on your wedding day, dude​Matthew Ray Creel, 21, was pulled over by a cop in Santa Fe last night for having a defective headlight.He was then arrested because, it turns out, he was driving with a suspended license.So the cops searched his car. And, according to KTRK, they ... More >>

Galveston County Doesn't Want Prison Legal News In Its Jail

Thou shalt not read Prison Legal News​The folks at Prison Legal News are suing the Galveston County Jail, Sheriff Freddie Poor, and former Sheriff Gean Leonard, claiming the county is violating the monthly newsletter's First Amendment rights by refusing to deliver issues to incarcerated subscriber ... More >>

Litter In La Marque? You're Going To Jail

"Even I think this is harsh."​La Marque is fed up with litter. The Galveston County suburb sees only way to address it -- send people to jail.Starting August 1, city officials told the Galveston County Daily News, "anyone caught littering will go to jail and will have to pay a hefty fine."We ... More >>

Brian Joseph Bentley: Giant Sex Offender Tries, Fails To Fly Under Radar

Galveston County SOBrian Joseph Bentley: Single and "flirty"​Brian Joseph "Bubbers" Bentley is a big guy, and perhaps it's because he carries close to 400 pounds on his 6-foot frame that police tracked him down Sunday at Galveston County's Mainland Hospital, where he had gone to seek treatment for ... More >>

Brandon Backe's Wedding-Brawl Saga Finally Ends

Brandon Backe, wedding party guest extraordinaire​Brandon Backe, the Galveston County pitcher who briefly stirred Astro hearts in their mid-decade glory days, has finally put an end to the wedding-braawl coda to his career.In October 2008, Backe and some pals were involved in a fight with cops at ... More >>

Crystal Sierra: Galveston Woman Jumps Gun On Birthday, Ends Up In Jail

Photo courtesy GCSOCrystal Sierra​Another week, and another Crystal gets in trouble in a kind of awesome way.This time it's now-23-year-old Crystal Angelita Sierra's turn.Seems last Sunday was her 23rd birthday, and apparently Sierra found the very prospect of that occasion so exciting she started ... More >>

Our Mother of Mercy

How far did cardinal go in tearing down Ike-ravaged church?

Texans-Cowboys Isn't Until Sunday, Spend Your Saturday Morning Cleaning The Beaches

Do it for the crabs.​Tomorrow morning, rain or shine, thousands of Texans across the 367 miles of state coastline will take to the sand, gloves on and plastic bags in hand. Call it a goodbye and thank you to summer, and hello fall.Groups will be gathering at 28 sites at 9 a.m. for the annual Adopt ... More >>

Galveston Paper Issues Correction On Who Called It Racist

Galveston County Daily News: Someone said we were racist​The Galveston County Daily News had a story this morning somewhat innocuously headlined "NAACP leader: 'I did not make that comment'."It got more interesting when you read what the comment in question was, and when you know that Dolph Tillot ... More >>

Galveston Of The `60s, As Seen By A Glen Campbell Music Video

When was the last time former Galveston County Commissioner Jimmie Vacek got a shout-out in a music video? The answer, we're guessing, is whenever this video came out. A friend of Hair Balls discovered it and passed it on to us. It's Glen Campbell singing "Galveston" to scenes of a forlorn young w ... More >>

Man Steals Car, Finds Baby Inside And Goes Back To Chastise Driver: A Morality Tale

Some lines you don't cross​A man's got to have a code, as Omar Little says. Stealing a car? Permissible, if circumstances warrant. Leaving a baby in one? No way. The Galveston County Daily News reports on this stirring morality tale, which took place early Tuesday morning. A Houston woman a ... More >>

DWI Crackdown Begins -- With Arrests Of Two Galveston County Law-Enforcement Officers

Prosecutor and sheriff's deputy arrested​Police departments, sheriff's offices and district attorneys have been loudly getting the word out about DWI crackdowns at the end of the year. Maybe some of their employees should have paid attention. Fox 26 reports that two law-enforcement officials ... More >>

Last Ike Victim: Who Is the Web-Footed Woman?

Photo by Bill OliveA tip about a son in California jail didn't work out​After more than two years, Galveston County officials are saying they have no further leads on identifying the last victim of Hurricane Ike. They know she's a five-foot-tall middle-aged woman who wore a 34C bra, had a sur ... More >>

Prison Legal News No Longer Banned in Galveston Jail

The FUN part of jail time​We told you last year about a suit filed by the owners of Prison Legal News, who said officials at the Galveston County Jail were banning their publication (and pretty much all others). A settlement has been reached, and not only is PLN being delivered to prisoners, ... More >>

Shadaysha Little, Aricka Issac: Pregnant Robbers Get Busted

GCSOLittle and Isaacs: What not to expect when you're expecting​If you're 36 weeks pregnant -- that's nine months, if you're not a math whiz -- as far as we can tell, you don't want to do much except have the damn baby. If you're Shadaysha Little, 18, you're not going to let a little pregnan ... More >>

Drunk Driver (With 18 License Suspensions) Sends Cops Scrambling, Smashes Patrol Car

Thank God that's over​The Galveston County Fair & Rodeo is over, but it went out with a bang. This year's event saw one carnie arrested for being a sex offender and a ride operator nabbed for possessing three bags of pills, a bag of weed and brass knuckles. Enough for one year? No. There ha ... More >>

China Nicole Kitchens: The Facebook Updates Of A Texas Teen who Might Have Squandered Break of a Lifetime

China Kitchens:Back in trouble​After Dick DeGuerin helped her beat a potential capital murder rap at the tender age of 16, you'd think China Nicole Kitchens would try to straighten up and fly right. Today, it's looking like she has pissed that second chance away. Back in 2008, Kitchens confes ... More >>

Crystal Crime Report, 2011: It Really Is The Female Version of Wayne

As is well-known, when it come to crimes committed by men, Wayne is the name. Less well known but no less true is the fact that Crystal (including variant spellings) is the female equivalent. Oh yeah, she's a Crystal​We first put forth this hypothesis last March and furnished numerous example ... More >>