June 2022

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety says three minutes after a gunman entered a school where he slaughtered 19 elementary students and two teachers there was sufficient armed law enforcement on scene to stop the gunman. Yet police officers armed with rifles stood and waited in a school hallway for nearly an hour while the gunman carried out the massacre. Col. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, called the police response “an abject failure.” He says police radios did not work within the school and that school diagrams officers used were wrong.

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Multiple police officers armed with rifles and at least one ballistic shield stood and waited in a school hallway for nearly an hour while a gunman carried out a massacre of 19 elementary students and two teachers, according to a Monday news report that marks the latest embarrassing revelation about the failure of law enforcement to thwart the attack.

BANGKOK (AP) — As the United States marks only the second federally recognized Juneteenth, Black Americans living overseas have embraced the holiday as a day of reflection and an opportunity to educate people in their host countries on Black history.

My phone pulsated with excitement that could be attributed to my Uncle Mort’s recent spate of news, both good and bad. I asked for the good news first.

COLEMAN — Robert R. “Bob” Turner of Voss — who capped a distinguished 35-year career in the U.S. Army with decades of public service in state and local government that included six terms in the Texas House — died Sunday, June 19, 2022, at Coleman County Medical Center. He was 87.

Charlotte Garrett Cooper likes old, broken things. Watches, clocks, cameras, jewelry, teapots and teacups — she’s got a purpose for them.