Subject: Stephen Williams

• BARC Sucks

  January 29, 2009

• The Fix Is In

  UTMB is under fire in Dallas for its jail health care. So why is Houston ready to install it here?

  June 9, 2005

• Wham, Bam, Thank You MAMH

  The proposed Museum of American Music History could be the solution to our "image problem"

  February 13, 2003

• UH Gets the Brush-Off from Nike

  Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

  April 30, 2009

• More (Somewhat Meandering, But Nevertheless Entertaining) Tales Of BARC Incompetence

  Photo by Daniel KramerWe're pretty sure the dude who coined that phrase about a hard task being akin to "nailing jelly to a wall" wasn't referring to getting news out of BARC, but he could've been.For one thing, Health and Human Services did not tell the media when BARC hired its new chief, Ray Sim. Of course, this information had been known by local animal activists for weeks. And of course, Sim's hiring actually doesn't matter yet, as BARC has had problems with or without a chief. For example,

  May 12, 2009

• An Interview With The New Head Of BARC: This Time, Things Really, Really Will be Fixed. Really

  Photo by Craig MalisowAs BARC's new bureau chief, Ray Sim has his work cut out for him. He now heads an organization that has historically resisted change and ostracized volunteers who have made claims of cruel conditions, with the full support of an administration and city council that believes the best way to deal with things is via bargain-basement lip service. But Sim brings some experience to the table. Most recently, he was the director of Broward County's Animal Care & Regulation. His

  May 22, 2009

• Somewhat Breaking: One Of BARC's Top Dogs (Get It?!) Resigns, Angrily

  Citing a vastly "flawed" system, BARC Senior Community Liaison Kim Grieff has tendered her resignation. In a June 18 e-mail to Health and Human Services Director Stephen Williams, Assistant Director Michael Terraso and Bureau Chief Ray Sim, Grieff wrote that, "After working over 60 hours per week every week at the facility, and many more outside with little or no support staff, I believe this position was set up for failure. Creating a management position to implement several new programs...simu

  June 22, 2009

• The Chronicle's Columnist, Buying BARC's Spin

  Photo by elvissaToday's Chron column by Lisa Falkenberg, headlined "Finally, a bit of good news out of BARC," might have been more accurately titled "When Public Relations Attacks!" What the column lacks in actual news value and insight, it makes up for by highlighting what might be one of BARC's thorniest, yet largely unacknowledged, problems: God-awful public relations. That's because the article refers to an "estimate" by Bureau Chief Ray Sim that, "as of Wednesday," the percentage of dogs va

  June 25, 2009

• A Q&A With The Man Who Oversees BARC Leaves More Q's Than A's

  Photo by mary_thompsonWhen it comes to the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, Stephen Williams is a man who does not like to dwell on the past. As the director of Houston's Department of Health and Human Services, he said in an interview Monday that while he was aware of years of criticism of BARC, the thing to really focus on are the recent and ongoing improvements. Chief among these is the new policy of vaccinating animals in the field, before they are even brought to the shelter. Williams

  June 30, 2009

• Getting the Spin from BARC: Things are just rosy at the pound, according to the Chronicle

  July 2, 2009

• Yet Another Twisted Tale From BARC

  Photo by bf_photos​When BARC volunteer Nela Brown accused a kennel attendant with a long criminal history of punching a puppy June 9, she assumed the matter would be investigated and the man would be dealt with accordingly.  After all, when another volunteer, Shelby Kibodeaux, simply said he heard what sounded like animal abuse at the facility in January, BARC promptly punted the complaint to the Houston Police Department's Office of Inspector General. And in that case

  July 31, 2009

• A Three-Hour Council Meeting On BARC Achieves...About What You'd Expect, Unfortunately

  Photo by dunkv​The biggest surprise during yesterday's City Council Committee on Human Services and Technology meeting on BARC was not that it was three hours of meaningless bureaucratic babble -- Hair Balls had $50 on that -- but that the ghost of Dante Alighieri showed up. "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!" he shouted over and over, before being escorted from chambers by security on grounds of possessing too much common sense. The meeting -- which was also attended by mo

  August 4, 2009

• The Chronicle's Columnist Does BARC Again, And Again The Result Is WTF?

  ​If you heard what sounded like a sonic boom this morning, it was the thunderclap of Hair Balls's head exploding. And why would that be? Because one of the nation's biggest newspapers -- the daily for the fourth-largest city in the country -- allowed a columnist to print the bizarre evangelical ramblings of a private consultant who was hired in secret to do the work that the director of Health and Human Services should have been doing over the last five years. Lisa Falkenberg's interview

  August 11, 2009

• An Interview With BARC's Change Agent

  Photo by allygirl520​BARC could install a 3,000-square-foot building to house cats within a month, interim chief Gerry Fusco and Health and Human Services Spokeswoman Kathy Barton told Hair Balls Wednesday. It was a bit of welcome concrete information, something that's been scarce since Fusco was brought on board two weeks ago. During that time, Fusco said, he's been helping in the search for a bureau chief and chief veterinarian, slots he hopes will be filled within the next three mont

  August 13, 2009

• Take A Look At The BARC Change Agent's Contract -- Complete With Discount!

  Photo by The Consumerist​The City of Houston's proposed contract with Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care Interim Chief Gerry Fusco has a $23,500 discount. (Read the contract here and here).The lowered cost to $135,000, which the contract states Fusco agreed to, will be used "to defray the City's cost for leadership-development training that will be provided to help improve BARC operations." (The contract states that it's a $25,000 discount. However, when the contract appeared on last week's

  August 21, 2009

• This Just In: BARC No Longer Part Of The Health & Human Services Department

  Photo by abcrumley​The Bureau of Animal Regulation and Control will be removed from the Health and Human Services Department, according to Frank Michel, the Mayor's communications director."We will be working to remove BARC from the Health Department over the next couple of weeks," Michel told Hair Balls in an e-mail. "The continuing issues have been a distraction for many of the good people of the Health Department who are doing excellent jobs on human health and other programs. It will

  September 1, 2009

• Vote Delayed, Entertainingly, On BARC Chief's Contract

  Photo by abcrumley​City Council once again delayed the vote on extending BARC Interim Chief Gerry Fusco's contract today, possibly killing any chance to revive the vote in the future. Fusco's initial agreement with the city, made possible via a $49,500 purchase order, expires Friday.Health and Human Services spokeswoman Kathy Barton, who was at the meeting, said she's not sure yet what effect the delay will have on retaining Fusco's services. After weeks of delays, Council was expected t

  September 2, 2009