The Galveston County Daily News

The Found Treasures of Beachcombing

Beachcomber art from High Island to the Brazos River makes for a fascinating display with intriguing back stories.

Rev. Bobby Gass: That Cocaine Wasn't Mine -- I Found it in the Church Parking Lot!

A Galveston County pastor charged last week with assault and cocaine possession has quit the pulpit, telling his congregation that the bag of coke officers found his car was something he had found in the church parking lot. For real. Rev. Kenneth "Bobby" Gass, 60, of Tikie Island, is accused of pus ... More >>

Christie Loraine Marshall: Tries to Run Man Off Road While Both Have Kids in Their Cars

If you're so pissed about a dude that you follow him in a car, try to run him off the road and ram him when he stops, remember one thing: Take your kid along for the ride. That's what Christie Loraine Marshall, 32, did, according to cops and the Galveston County Daily News. They say Marshall got i ... More >>

Pam Matranga: Her Former Deputy Sues For Sexual Harassment Citing Forced Motorboating; She Says it's An Election Ploy

A former deputy to Galveston County Constable Pam Matranga has sued her, claiming she sexually harassed him by, among other things, pulling his head under her shirt and into her cleavage. Forced motorboating!! Other allegations involve farts and some of the worst euphemisms for female genitalia we' ... More >>

HPD Officer Miles Dumas Flashed Bar Patrons, Beat Some Up, Cops Say

A Houston cop has been accused of flashing patrons of a Galveston bar and then getting in a tussle with some of them. Miles Stedman Dumas, 24, has been charged with indecent exposure and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and been relieved of duty pending an investigation, the Galveston County ... More >>

Eric Dowlen: Cops Say He Assaulted Two Dudes With Pit Bull

FacebookEric Dowlen: A boy and his pit.​Nassau Bay cops say a man assaulted two neighbors with a deadly weapon -- namely, his pit bull terrier. According to a criminal complaint and published reports, 33-year-old Eric James Dowlen sicced the pit on a 21-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy with ... More >>

AG Sues to Preserve Galveston's Fort Crockett

​Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed a suit on behalf of Texas's state historical officer, asking a judge to order the owners of Fort Crockett to fix the buildings and not demolish them. The state is asking for a temporary restraining order against Max Bowen Enterprises and Juan Hijo ... More >>

Lyle Monroe Bensley: Galveston Teen Vampire Joins Pantheon of Weird Seawall Criminals

GCSOLyle Bensley: He's a vampire​Man, what is it about the Seawall? There's just something about that place: nuts on the run from all over Texas wind up there because they just can't run any farther. If we can liken the state of Texas proper to a margarita, Seawall Boulevard is the bath-salt ... More >>

Never Bring Oatmeal to a Gunfight, Man Learns

He would prefer friendly persuasion.​It's Go Time. You and some other dude have been driving side by side, cursing the other, and now you've pulled over to settle things. Other dude gets out with a gun. You reach for...a bowl of oatmeal? Consider yourself outclassed, son. The epic oatmeal v ... 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 >>

Aliah Rowe: Girl with Migraine Suspended for Being Under the Influence, Until Publicity Hits

Score one for the mainstream media​The Texas City school district suspended 12-year-old Aliah Rowe and was planning to send her to an alternative school for being under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Her fighting mom produced evidence that she was absolutely not under such influence and w ... More >>

Landry's Admits Some Flagship Debris May Have Been Dumped In Gulf, And They're Not Happy

Shelby ScottThe Flagship, in its dying days​Landry's Restaurants, the company owned by Tilman Fertitta that is tearing down Galveston's Flagship Hotel, has been disputing reports that demolition crews have been tossing debris into the Gulf. No longer. A letter to the contractor, issued publi ... More >>

Famous Grouse: Liquor Truck, Meet Seawall

YouTube/Galveston Daily NewsSomething to grouse about​We're told, by the Galveston County Daily News, that the driver of this liquor truck "forgot to set the parking brake" when he stopped at a convenience store on Seawall Boulevard. The truck then rolled across five lanes of traffic and ende ... 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 >>

Galveston May Try Major Downtown Renovation

Photo courtesy Downtown Galveston​Former Galveston Mayor Barbara Crews is spearheading a proposal to spend $20 million in Ike-recovery funds to renovate the downtown area, a project which would eventually cost $70 million. The plan would turn parking lots into green spaces and use "the very g ... More >>

Pot Farm On Main Street: Because Commuting To The Woods Is A Hassle

At least they weren't flying this flag​Location is key for a growing business. Of course, when you're business involves growing weed, you tend to sacrifice convenience for privacy. Not so for four La Marque entrepreneurs. Their large-ish indoor pot farm -- 240 plants strong -- was located rig ... More >>

Jaime Esquivel: Dude, At Least Try To Make It Challenging For The Cops

Jaime Esquivel needs more practice​We're going to go out on a limb here and predict that Jaime Adan Esquivel, 36, does not have a bright criminal future ahead of him.Not because his goals seem somewhat low for a man nearing middle age -- stealing a cash-register till and a couple of Ronald McDonal ... 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 >>

Bye-Bye, Flagship Hotel: Did Anyone Ever Stay In It?

Flagship Hotel: On its last legs​For 45 years, the Flagship Hotel has been a part of Galveston's seascape, out there on a pier bravely facing whatever weather the Gulf decided to throw at it.But not for long. The hotel, which had long fallen on hard times, was heavily damaged by the 2008 storm and ... More >>

Smoking Ban Gets Semi-Vaporized In Galveston

Send a few to Galveston, Ronnie​Smokers can enjoy a rare victory in the Banning Wars thanks to Galveston.The city council there ignored the wishes of the new mayor and in a close vote revised the drastic ban on public smoking that had been in effect since the first of the year.That ban outlawed sm ... 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 >>

Pernell Dwayne McCardell: Don't Try To Carjack A Uniformed Police Dispatcher

Photo courtesy GCSOPernell McCardell worst-laid plans went awry​We don't claim to be criminal masterminds here, but we think we can offer two pieces of advice:  If you're going to try to carjack somebody, pick ANYONE other than a person in a police uniform.Just as a corollary to that, if you ... 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 >>

10 Commandments Vs. Car: God 1, Car 0

Thou shalt not collideth with a 10 Commandments monument​All you pansy atheistic liberals out there should learn a lesson from one bad Galveston driver.The driver, according to the Galveston County Daily News, mistook the throttle in her car for the brake (at, ummm, 2:48 in the morning Thurs ... More >>

Assault By Mardi Gras Beads: Coming Soon To A Law & Order Near You

Yes, it is​A Galveston jury has acquitted a man of the dastardly deed of Assault by Mardi Gras Beads, thus making the world safe for balcony-dwellers everywhere wishing to see a flash or two of drunken boob.Larry Dean Wiseman of Houston was the accused, charged with dropping what the Galveston Cou ... More >>

Galveston Woman Loses Lower Lip In Drunken Seawall Donnybrook; Claims Clubgoers Ignored Her Distress

Courtesy Galveston County SOcutline​Loretta Pearl Ramos, 32, and her beau Carlos Alberto Hernandez-Munoz, 27, were tearing it up yesterday on the Seawall in Galveston when Hernandez-Munoz decided he wanted to kick things up a notch or two.Ramos later told police that Hernandez-Munoz was "extremely ... More >>

Bureaucracy: Galveston May Resort To Video To Determine How Bad It Is

To be clear, this is not the judge's wife​You know things are bad in the bureaucratic red-tape department when you're thinking of resorting to videotaping events just to see how bad it is.That's what Galveston is thinking of doing, since getting hit with a ton of complaints that people tryin ... More >>

A Work By Brooke Bartholomew Of Friendswood May Be The Face Of Google For A Day

Courtesy Google"Repairing All the World's Breaks"​ Your Google searches may soon start with artwork from a Friendswood eighth-grader.Brooke Bartholomew is one of 40 finalists out of 33,000 contestants, and she's getting a free trip to Google's New York headquarters out of the deal.You want her to ... More >>

Jeffrey Petroff Will Pay You To Watch Him Have Sex With A Hooker, Police Say

Courtesy Florida Sex Offender RegistryWould you take $500 to watch this man have sex?​Hotel workers see a lot of strange stuff, and this week at Galveston's San Luis Resort was no different.Police say Jeffrey Petroff, the suave guy pictured to the right, was going around the hotel offering employe ... More >>

Great Moments In Political Debate, La Marque Style

​You can have your Daniel Webster rising in the Senate to give his storied Second Reply to Hayne; the La Marque City Council has set the bar for legislative contemplation far, far higher with its epochal Argument Over A Past-Due Library Book.As noted in the Galveston County Daily News, the ever-sq ... More >>

Soon-To-Be-Sorry Pilot Buzzes Bolivar Beach

If you're having a nice little get-together with fellow Jeep enthusiasts on a beach, the last thing you expect is to get your head almost taken off by some pilot who decides it'd be fun to bizz the beach.But that's what happened last weekend on Bolivar Peninsular, the Galveston County Daily News re ... More >>

Galveston's Tremont House Survives Ike, Only To Be Flooded By Allegedly Drunk Guests

​Can the Tremont House catch a break?The charming hotel down on Galveston's Strand made it though Ike, if not unscathed at least with its head held high.But its flooding problems weren't over. An allegedly drunk and disorderly customer at the bar decided to provide a little storm surge of his own, ... More >>

Worst Impersonation Of A Police Officer, Ever

​The police pull you over because you're swerving "all over the road." Fair enough.But this wasn't your typical DWI. For one thing, the arrestee was riding a bicycle. For the other, he got charged not only with public intoxication, but with impersonating a police officer -- all because the thrift- ... More >>

A $2 Million Car, A Pelican And A Lagoon

A Bugatti Veyron, sans pelican​Here is a sentence with so many strange and wonderful parts in it that it's best just to let it speak for itself:A Lufkin man drove his $2 million Bugatti sportscar into a Galveston-area lagoon after being distracted by a pelican.First, who spends $2 million on a car ... More >>

The Archbishop Outlines Which Galveston Churches Are Not Long For This World

​The list of Galveston Catholic churches that the Archdiocese wants to tear down is out, and it's somewhat grim reading.The Galveston County Daily News reports that Archbishop Daniel DiNardo wrote island parishioners of the plans, not making everyone all that happy in the process.Among those that ... More >>

Murdoch's Pier Reopens On Galveston: Take That, Ike

​Hurricane Ike has just officially become Yet Another Storm That Couldn't Beat Murdoch's Pier.The historic shop, on a pier stretching out over the Gulf, has had a soft re-opening and is expecting to be fully operational by the end of the month, the Galveston County Daily News reports.Some of the g ... More >>

Galveston Sees A Racial Split On Plan To Rebuild Public Housing

​The public housing in Galveston, like a lot of other stuff on that island, took a pounding from Hurricane Ike.The Galveston Housing Authority has a proposal out that would rebuild the 569 housing units lost to the storm, and held a public meeting on it last night.How did it go? Let's let the Galv ... More >>

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 >>

Downtown Friendswood To Repeal Prohibition, Maybe

​For the first time since John F. Kennedy was president, it just may be legal to buy yourself a drink in downtown Friendswood without going through the charade of joining a "private club."The city council last night approved an effort to place on the November ballot a referendum on whether restaur ... More >>

Ike Claims Yet One More Victim On Galveston: The Fun Of Bowling

Oh Galveston, when will your Hurricane Ike suffering ever end?News has come down that the last bowling alley on the island, the imaginatively named Island Bowl, will not reopen. Roof damage during Ike and struggles with insurance money have proven to be too much to over come.No bowling. Are there tw ... More >>

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 >>

That Pavilion No One Uses At Galveston's Seawolf Park To Be Replaced

Pretty much no one ever goes to visit the modernistic white pavilion at Galveston's Seawolf Park.Now they never will.The building, which is mostly a kind of visual landmark seen by people cruising on the ferry, was heavily damaged by Ike. Since it was a bit of a white elephant, the city's Parks Boar ... More >>

Galveston's Skate Park Gets A New Name, For A Great Kid

Photo by Eric SausedaGalveston had a ceremony recently naming their skatepark after Johnny Romano, a 10-year-old skater who died last year after fighting leukemia."He would be embarrassed we were making such a fuss over him," Rhonda Gregg, a family friend who spearheaded construction of the skate pa ... More >>

Trouble With Trees On Galveston Island

Photo by Jennifer Reynolds This Galveston County Daily News photo shows the shape the trees are inGalveston needed more bad Ike news like it needed more Ike. But more bad news is being reported: The leafy trees that provided a distinctive canopy over many of the island's most charming street ... More >>

Brandon Backe's Hard-Ass Cops Disciplined, Kind Of

We've raised some questions about the fact that Astros semi-pitcher Brendon Backe is opening a bar in the wake of his participation in a drunken wedding brawl in Galveston last year. Now the report on that brawl -- called a "riot" initially -- has come out, and thirteen Galevston police officer ... More >>

They Stayed In The Flagship Hotel -- And Survived

The Concept Of "Three Buttons" Confuses La Marque ISD

The Backlash Begins

Star Blazers

Stuffed animals ignite more than the crowd at this event