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http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/07/14.html

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/07/13/police_scaffolds_at_21_rio_apa.html?cxntfid=blogs_the_blotter

Austin police have issued a search warrant for a West Campus apartment building where three construction workers fell to their deaths in June, saying scaffolding equipment used there was negligently assembled and may have caused the workers’ deaths.

Wilson Joel Irias Cerritos, Raudel Ramirez Camacho and Jesus Angel Lopez Perez were killed June 10 after falling from the upper stories of the 21 Rio apartment development at 2101 Rio Grande Street. The accident has been under investigation by Austin police and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

A search warrant dated July 10 resulted in the seizure of parts from a mast climber, a platform scaffold device the workers used to scale the outer wall of the building. An examination of the parts used in the mast climber alleges that employees “negligently erected the unit and used parts and materials which are substandard and/or graded below the weight limit needed to support this type of work and loading,” the warrant said.

Such actions may constitute criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony, the warrant said.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/07/13/man_accused_of_burglary_of_ut.html?cxntfid=blogs_the_blotter

An Austin man has been charged with a state felony after police say he unlawfully entered Ernest Cockrell Jr. Hall, a building on the University of Texas campus, according to an arrest affidavit.

Charles Andrew Rollice, 41, was arrested after UT police officers after found him inside the building after 9:30 p.m. Saturday, the affidavit said. Rollice was carrying 65 keys, many of which were for University of Texas buildings, the affidavit said. When police arrested Rollice, he was also carrying a 6-inch pair of wire cutters, a 3-inch multi-tool and multiple credit cards and identification cards, the affidavit said.

The credit cards belonged to a UT employee who had reported them missing Wednesday. UT police detective Michael Riojas said.

UT Police are still investigating the incident. Rollice has been charged with burglary of a building, records show. He is in the Travis County Jail on $20,000 bail.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/07/13/homes_threatened_by_brush_fire.html?cxntfid=blogs_the_blotter

Homes in the Burnett Ranches subdivision in Hays County are being threatened by a brush fire, Hays County sheriff’s officials said.

The 10- to 12-acre fire is threatening the neighborhood off FM 2325 west of Wimberley, sheriff’s spokesman Leroy Opiela said. Firefighters and the Texas Forest Service are on their way to try and contain the blaze, Opiela said.

Check back later for more details.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/07/13/woman_accused_of_pointing_gun.html?cxntfid=blogs_the_blotter

An Austin woman has been charged with aggravated assault after police say she threatened her husband with a gun after she accused him of calling an escort service, according to an arrest affidavit.

Stephanie Rounds, 34, told police that she discovered her husband, Chad Rounds, had been calling an escort service after accessing his cell phone records July 8, the affidavit says. The next day, Rounds began to hide several guns in her home, according to the affidavit said.

When Chad Rounds returned home with the couple’s children, Stephanie Rounds retrieved a loaded pistol from the kitchen and accused her husband of cheating on her, the document said. Stephanie Rounds told police that her husband, who had been sitting on the couch with their children, got off of the couch in an aggressive manner and told her she was a liar, the document said.

Stephanie Rounds told police that she kept the loaded gun pointed at her husband for some time and that she was afraid for her safety. Both she and her husband called 911, the document said.

Stephanie Rounds was arrested Thursday night and released Friday night on $10,000 bail.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/07/13/austin_police_released_this_ph.html?cxntfid=blogs_the_blotter

More than three months after Nikolas Evans died from injuries he suffered during an altercation on Sixth Street, police have charged 28-year-old Eric Skeeter, right, with manslaughter in connection with the death.

“I’m bittersweetly happy,” said Evan’s mother, Marissa Evans, at a press conference this morning. Evans said that she is still asking for help in finding more witnesses to build a case against Skeeter.

“People still need to come forward,” she said.

Skeeter’s arrest was based on an an anonymous tip in April and video from the front of the Coyote Ugly bar, said police Detective David Fugitt, but the investigation is ongoing and could last for several more months, if not years. Police are searching for two women who may have been witnesses to the incident.

Police have said Evans, 21, was leaving a bar with a friend about 2 a.m. March 27 when they got into an argument with several men.

After that argument, police have said, another group approached Evans and his friend, and one of the men in that group hit both of them. Evans hit his head on the ground after he was punched, according to investigators.

Evans was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge, where he died of his injuries on April 5.

Marissa Evans received national attention when she asked for her son’s sperm to be collected post-mortem, giving her the chance to have a grandchild through a surrogate mother.

“I want him to live on,” Marissa Evans said at the time. “I want to keep a piece of him.”

She said Monday that they would not begin looking for a surrogate until after the trial. “I’ve grieved so much that I wouldn’t bring a child into the world right now,” she said.

She also said that she was surprised that many people thought her request for her son’s sperm was strange.

“I dare someone to lay with their son and know that you can’t see him again and then not think of that,” she said.

Skeeter was arrested Friday and is being held in the Travis County Jail on $150,000 bail, police said. He was on parole at the time of the arrest, according to court documents, but police could not comment on his prior convictions.

Police released the photo below of the two potential witnesses. A department spokesman said the third person in the photo is not part of the investigation. He could not say when and where the photo was taken.

Police are asking these two women, or anyone who knows them, to call 477-3588 or 974-5210.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/07/13/camp_swift_fire_85_percent_con.html?cxntfid=blogs_the_blotter

A wildfire at Camp Swift, about seven miles north of Bastrop, spread to include at least 315 acres, according to Lexi Maxwell, information officer with the Texas Forest Service. The fire initially broke out around 4 p.m. Saturday.

Currently, the fire is 85 percent contained, and Camp Swift fire crews are working to contain and extinguish the remainder of the fire, Maxwell said.

Residents should refrain from any outdoor burning and be especially careful when disposing of smoking materials, Maxwell said. The area’s dry enough right now that even a discarded cigarette could spark a fire, she said.

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