WFAA has the story:

LEWISVILLE — A man who has already been convicted of driving while intoxicated three times plowed into the back of a sedan on Interstate 35E in Lewisville early Sunday morning, killing the driver of the other car her 13-year-old daughter, police said.

John Patrick Barton, who was on probation, now faces two counts of murder. He be 30 years old on Monday. Read the rest...

Barton’s three previous convictions for DWI enhance this alleged DWI offense to the level of felony. Therefore, during the commission of a felony (DWI with three prior convictions), Barton committed an act that was clearly dangerous to human life that caused the death of two individuals. That is the basis for Barton being charged with two counts of murder.

In an email tonight from organization Texans Exposing Petland, co-founder Dr. John Pippin said that Lewisville's Petland store has closed for business.

Today was the last day in business for the Lewisville Petland store. As I'm typing this message, they are locking the doors for the last time. We don't know how much our campaign contributed to the closing, but I suspect hitting them when they were already in trouble helped push them over the edge. We know the merchandise was sold to other area stores, and there were few if any puppies left in the store today.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the Sounds of Lewisville Concert Series is on ice for this summer due to budget shortfalls in the City of Lewisville's Hotel-Motel Occupancy Tax fund.

The series can be saved though, if we can find creative ways to pull it off without cost to the City. Several ideas are on the table:

- Have bands with their own sound equipment play at the Vista Ridge Amphitheatre and allow them to charge a cover charge and keep the revenue.

- Have an acoustic series, and hold it for a smaller crowd in Wayne Ferguson Plaza in Old Town.

- Have a "road show" series in a Battle of the Bands format. Raise private funds to pay for lights and sound. If extra money can be raised to rent a stage, it can be held in Old Town, otherwise it would be at Vista Ridge Amphitheare. This latter option is what the City Council has tentatively approved.

We think that a "Battle of the Bands" format would be ideal because it preserves some of the main features that residents are accustomed to for the concerts:
- Free admission
- Can accomodate a large crowd, in terms of sound level and seating area.
- Full season schedule
- Variety of music styles

So here's the deal: Council has approved the idea. They're good with the concept, and we all think we could pull it off with help from city staff. BUT, there's a cost, and we would need to raise some money to pay that cost.

If we have the concerts at the Vista Ridge Amphitheatre, which the city owns, then there is no facility rental or stage rental fees. The venue has electricity and restrooms, so we don't have to pay for a generator or porta-potties. The bands would be unpaid contestants. What we would have to pay is:
- $700 - $800 for rental of sound and lighting equipment
Revenue we could make:
- 4 * $35 entry fee per band = $140 per night
- 2 * $50 concession fee for food / drink vendors. = $100 per night.

This means that each event would cost between $460 and $560.

Now, if you want to do the event in Old Town at the Wayne Ferguson Plaza, then add in $1800 for stage and generator rental.

So, both the number of bands / performance nights, and the location mix (Old Town, vs. Amphitheater) are dependent on how much money we could raise.

Here's Where You Come In
We are looking for Lewisville businesses who would be willing to sponsor the series, or contribute in any way. In exchange, we would likely print your business logo on the promotional materials, have the host mention your business name to the crowds, and your banners would be visible to the audience throughout the event, with about a zillion replays on the city's LVTV cable channel. Blogs like this will give you props here too. If might be interested in helping us out, email Mike Roberts: roberts_mk41@yahoo.com, and provide your phone number so he can call you.

Volunteers
If we are to pull this off, we would need to have people willing to help out as stage hands and we could use help in locating sponsors, and publicizing the event to bands. We would also need bands willing to compete. If you think you can help, email Mike Roberts: roberts_mk41@yahoo.com.

Disclaimers
Don't send any money yet. This is not a done deal. The first thing we have to do is see what kind of support we can get. This is still in the planning and exploration phase. We think it's worth it to save a 20 year old event that Lewisville Citizens love. While the economic situation is bad right now, and citizens are hurting, music is a sort of universal escape. We hope that we'll find some loyal Lewisville backers who can step up and save the day.

An airplane equipped with floats flipped upon landing in Lake Lewisville this afternoon, killing at least one. As you can see in the video, the landing gear appears to have been deployed from the floats - which could have caused the flip.

Well, the ongoing saga in Flower Mound with Mayor Jody Smith's contempt for a group trying to force a referendum vote on a gas drilling moratorium just gets more interesting.

TXCN is reporting that 17 year old David Smith, the son of Mayor Jody Smith was found with a BB gun, marijuana, and stolen signs belonging to the Flower Mound Cares petition group in his car.

Group members had already reported the youth was harrassing them as they tried to gather petitions, and were puzzled when Smith claimed not to know anything about the petition.

Related Stories:
- Flower Mound Council Refuses Call for Petition Initiative
- Update on Flower Mound Cares and Lewisville ISD
- Lewisville ISD Bans Petition Group
- Flower Mound Group Organizing Petition
- Flower Mound Citizens Consider Referendum Options
- Flower Mound "Hiney-gate"

There are several items of interest on the agenda for the Lewisville City Council on Monday night at 7:00 PM.

Mayor Ueckert will be proclaiming March 27th as "Lewisville Baseball Association Day".

Lewisville Police Department will be recognized by the Texas Police Chiefs Association for achieving its Best Pracitces Recognition Status Award.

The City Council will receive the 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. (CAFR) This is an independent audit of the city's finances.

The Council will consider a resolution endorsing "Best Practices" with regards to gas pipeline placement. Last year, the council passed a resolution asking the Texas Legislature to address the issue of pipelines. This one would have no legal effect, other than to state the preferences of local cities to have the pipeline industry adhere to some "be nice" type practices.

The Council will declare an opening on the Zoning Board of Adjustment, place #2.

The Council will schedule a date for the annual Budget Workshop - recommended for August 7th.

City staff will present the Council with options for the Sounds of Lewisville Concert Series, which has been on hold for this year due to budget constraints.

A discussion of John Gorena's qualifications to serve as a councilman under the city's charter is on the agenda - most likely as a result of this story we ran about Gorena's property tax problems.

Recently, we've reported on the efforts by the Flower Mound group "Flower Mound Cares" to circulate a petition calling for a 180 day permit moratorium on new gas wells in the city.

One story we posted related to the group's planned use of Lewisville ISD elementary school parking lots in the first weekend of signature gathering, and how the district had seemingly been prepared to tolerate their presence, then sent another email seemingly revoking the permission.

Since the accusation by some readers / commenters was that somehow Flower Mound Mayor Jody Smith had gotten to LISD ans asked them to stop the group, we sent an open records request to Lewisville ISD, and received 69 pages of emails this past Friday.

To get directly to the point, although we do know that Board President Carol Kyer did have a conversation with Smith, there were no emails from anyone associated with the Town of Flower Mound, related to Flower Mound Cares or the petition group.

Rather, the emails seem to suggest that LISD was content to tolerate the petitioners using the property on weekends, but that they were unable, by district policy to grant any sort of permission. As Kyer described it, the district does not have personnel to enforce this rule, which is mostly related to liability.

It appears the district did send a more direct message to Ginger Simonson of F.M. Cares only after hearing from an angry Flower Mound Resident who opposes the group.

Marsha Gavitt, former director of the political action committee "Flower Mound Voters United" emailed Superintendent Dr. Jerry Roy and all 7 board members on Tuesday, February 16th with a list of questions and accusations about the group.

Full text of the emails is here.

Gavitt refers to the group as a "politically-motivated organization" and claims that the group "planned to recall several town officials because two large HOA's disapproved of a council vote". Gavitt also alleges in the email that "this group and its affilliations have engaged in activities that have jeopardized the welfare of hundreds of other LISD families (including non-HOA's) directly impacted by gas drilling"..

In a followup email, after Dr. Roy explained that the group had no permission to use the campuses, Gavitt asked whether LISD should "notify the Flower Mound Police to prevent the unauthorized use and protect LISD from any potential liability issues".

We attempted to contact Gavitt on Friday, and she has not responded. Flower Mound Cares member Ginger Simonson was puzzled by the allegations, and reiterated that the group was only about stopping the centralized waste collection. She also reiterated that Flower Mound Cares is not a PAC, and said she didn't know Marsha Gavitt or have any idea why she would have objected.

So there you have it: The former director of a political action committee whose website seems to show concern about gas drilling accuses a non-partisan, non-political group of being "politically motivated", then seeks to have the Flower Mound police keep the group from exercising their first amendment rights to assembly, speech, and the redress of grievances.

Correction 3/8/2009: Although Gavitt's name was on the group's website, Gavitt is no longer a director of Voters United, as former Mayor DeLuca says below.

The group Texans Exposing Petland want Lewisville residents to know that they'll be protesting the Petland store in Vista Ridge plaza on F.M. 3040 on Saturday from 3:00 - 4:30 PM.

The group is asking local animal rights supporters to join them. The store is located on Round Grove Rd (FM 3040), just west of MacArthur Blvd, on the south side of the street. From Interstate 35E going north or south, take the Round Grove/FM 3040 exit, head west on Round Grove, and just after MacArthur Blvd turn left between the Bank of America and Sonic Drive In. Park in the Bank of America parking lot, since the bank will be closed. Bed Bath & Beyond and Babies R Us are in the same strip of stores.

For more information, email petlandgoingdown@sbcglobal.net

Previous Coverage of this group, including video...

The Lewisville Citizen’s Fire Academy, the closest civilians can come to being a firefighter short of joining the department, is accepting applications for its 2009 class. The free 10-week program runs from March 2 through April 27 and will include instruction and training experiences in the classroom and in the field.

The academy, which is open to Lewisville residents age 21 and older, is designed for people who have a genuine interest in fire department operations and fire and life safety awareness. Classes meet every Tuesday evening, 7-9 p.m., and once on a Saturday. All sessions are taught by fire department personnel.

Lewisville Scheduled to Participate in Fourth Annual Great Texas Warrant Round-Up

The Fourth Annual Great Texas Warrant Round-Up is scheduled to take place on Friday, March 12, 2010. Numerous counties, justices of the peace, and municipalities of all sizes will participate in the round-up this year.

The round-up is designed to target thousands of defendants with traffic, parking, city ordinance, penal code, and higher charge warrants from more than 250 participating jurisdictions. Officers will be out in full force, attempting to contact wanted persons at their homes and at their places of business.

Citizens who think they might have an outstanding warrant in Lewisville can check the Municipal Court's warrant list and follow the instructions there to pay their fines and resolve the warrant.