Author: Adam Schrader

Lewisville church displays relics of St. Charbel, patron saint of Lebanon

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By ADAM SCHRADER
Published in The Dallas Morning News on Nov. 29, 2015

Relics of St. Charbel, the patron saint of Lebanon, will be on display at a Lewisville church Monday and Tuesday.

The relics, which include part of the saint’s skeleton, are visiting Maronite Catholic churches throughout the United States. All are invited to see the relics of the 19th-century monk at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church, 719 University Place in Lewisville.

St. Charbel has been credited with miracles worldwide.

Parishioner Nada ElGhreichy said her brother was injured during the Lebanese civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 1990.

“He got a bullet in his head and was in a coma for two months. Doctors said if he survived, it would be as a vegetable,” ElGhreichy said. “He said Saint Charbel appeared to him seven times. Now my brother is alive, married and lives in Frisco.”

ElGhreichy said she expects people to come from across North Texas to see the relics, particularly to pray after recent terrorist attacks in Beirut.

“I have many friends that are not Maronite or Lebanese, but they pray for Lebanon,” she said. “We have some members of the church drive from Mesquite, Fort Worth and farther to attend Mass.”

ElGhreichy said she returns to Lebanon every year. It has become tradition to go visit the monastery where St. Charbel lived.

“Many people are healed through their visits and they leave there crutches there,” she said.

Youssef Antoun Makhlouf was born in Beka-Kafra, Lebanon, in 1828. He joined the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon, when he was 23 and took the name Charbel. Charbel became a monk in 1853 and was ordained a priest in 1859, spending most of his religious life at the Annaya monastery. He died of a stroke during Christmas Eve Mass in 1898.

Pope Pious XI proposed Charbel’s beatification and canonization in 1925. Miracles attributed to him multiplied after his grave was opened for inspection in the canonization process in 1950. Followers from different religions started making the pilgrimage to the Annaya monastery.

Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1977. St. Charbel was the first Maronite saint formally canonized in Rome.

The Rev. Assaad ElBasha, a priest at Our Lady of Lebanon, said St. Charbel is revered worldwide among all Catholics.

Maronites, unlike churches in the Roman Catholic rite, are governed by a Roman Catholic diocese and a Maronite Catholic eparchy. The Roman Catholic diocese overseeing Our Lady of Lebanon is in Fort Worth. The eparchy, led by A. Elias Zaidan, is in St. Louis.

Our Lady of Lebanon parishioners were excited Sunday as they prepared to welcome Bishop Michael Olson of the Fort Worth diocese to their Monday night Mass.

Mattye Thompson, parish secretary of Our Lady of Lebanon, said visitors may touch rosaries to the handcarved reliquary, which would transform it into a third-degree relic of St. Charbel, meaning it touched a second-degree relic and would be considered blessed.

“It’s incredible we get the relics at the church,” she said. “I didn’t feel worthy to touch it.”

On Monday, a veneration of the relics will begin at 3 p.m., a liturgy of the hour will start at 6 p.m. and Mass will be at 7. Rosary will follow at 8 p.m. On Tuesday, there will be a rosary at 8:30 a.m., a Mass at 9 and veneration from 10 to noon.

These are the second relics to draw worshippers to a Catholic church this month. The body of St. Maria Goretti, of the Roman Catholic rite, was displayed in a glass coffin at Dallas’ St. Monica Catholic Church in early November.

 

 

“It’s incredible we get the relics at the church,” says Mattye Thompson, parish secretary of Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church.

Flower Mound resident runs support group for sexually abused and assaulted women

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By ADAM SCHRADER
Published in The Dallas Morning News on Dec. 3, 2015

Flower Mound resident Michelle Robinson runs Shelter from the Storm, a support group for sexually abused and assaulted women. Robinson, 36, said she was abused and gang-raped as a child.

“We don’t claim this is a counseling group or to have all the answers,” Robinson said. “But giving real-life examples of how we dealt with our abuse is beneficial to women.”

The support group is affiliated with Irving Bible Church and takes its name from a Christian-based, 12-unit workbook written by Cynthia Kubetin Littlefield and James Mallory.

Kubetin Littlefield said the Shelter from the Storm support group is what she intended when she wrote the book, and that it’s designed to be worked through multiple times. She also released a DVD series to accompany it in group settings.

“I’ve seen it tremendously help women, particularly in the group settings,” she said. “I think it should be mandatory for people to be in a support group because healing won’t really come if you’re not. In support groups, you get so many different views and accounts that may help with your own.”

Robinson said that despite the workbook’s religious base she’s helped women of all faiths, as well as many women who are atheist or agnostic.

“Those women think that if God is real, he could have stopped it and didn’t,” she said. “So we don’t shove scripture down their throat.”

Robinson leads with what she wishes she had heard when she was healing from her abuse, she said.

“The facilitator’s guide is good for those ‘church answers,’ ” she said. “But when you’re dealing with hearts and people, you kind of just need to be real about it.”

Shelter from the Storm offers two-hour classes each week for 12 weeks, one for each chapter of the workbook. Shelter from the Storm usually has three groups a semester with nine women in each. Robinson meets with every woman before placement to make sure similar survivors can support each other.

The organization started in 2006 after Irving Bible Church began a recovery ministry called Celebrate Recovery.

“Survivors found that it didn’t hone in enough on sexual abuse,” Robinson said.

So Robinson met with a woman who found the curriculum, planning to lead classes based on Shelter from the Storm after they finished testing the workbook together. She’s now run the support group for eight years.

“I only do one class at a time because I’m essentially working through my own sexual abuse each time I lead the class,” she said.

Robinson selects and leads other group leaders, meeting with them to get updates on their groups. The group leaders are all women who have been through the program.

“Some support groups use counselors and spiritual leaders to run these groups,” she said. “But until you’ve been put into this situation, you really just don’t get it.”

Shelter from the Storm is also unique because classes close, Robinson said.

“We promised the ladies that nobody new will come in so we can build trust from the very beginning,” Robinson said. “If a woman is late or misses a class, we call them and check in. We love them so much we’re going to push them to be here and on time every single week.”

Robinson said it took her three years of teaching classes to feel healed. When she flips back through her workbook answers, she’s proud to see how she became more honest in her healing over time.

“So I always encourage ladies to be 100 percent honest from the get-go,” she said. “They’re only going to reach that peak of recovery faster if they’re more honest and open.”

Robinson finds that the women are always more honest and vigilant in their recovery in repeat classes.

Chapter 6, when they first share their stories, is when recovery starts to become noticeable, Robinson said.

“Many times, it’s the absolute first time they’ve ever shared their story,” Robinson said. “They break down crying immediately after they finish sharing because they feel relief and freedom.”

Chapter 7, which covers coping with anger, is almost as impactful, Robinson said.

“Survivors don’t understand that it’s healthy to still feel anger after [they] tell their story,” she said. “But they’re angry at everybody because they don’t place the blame where it belongs.”

There is an average of 293,000 sexual assault victims ages 12 and older each year, according to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network. Someone known to the victim commits an estimated 80 percent of assaults. While it’s difficult to know how many sexual assaults actually occur, RAINN estimates that 98 percent of rapists will never spend a day in jail.

Robinson said that many try writing letters to their abusers for closure but don’t get a response. When they do, the accused only admits to part of the allegation, if at all. Most survivors resort to simulated confrontations. Robinson meets with them alone and takes on the role of their abuser.

“They get really into it and start yelling at me, I’m the [jerk] that did it and that they remember everything,” she said. “It’s a little weird, but it’s all about them just having a voice, and they always feel so much better about life afterward.”

Robinson said she frequently meets women who have been date-raped in Flower Mound. But the women rarely file police reports, she said.

Flower Mound Police Captain Wess Griffin said that sexual assault is one of the most under-reported crimes nationally. Only 36 percent of rapes are reported to police, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

To date, there have been 23 sexual assaults reported this year in Flower Mound, according to the Flower Mound Police Department. Since 2005, there have been 209 reported sexual assaults in the town. The most assaults, 28, occurred in 2010. The fewest occurred in 2012 — nine assaults.

“The FMPD partners with the Children’s Advocacy Center of Denton County, Friends of the Family, SANE nurses and the Denton County District Attorney’s office to offer victims a network of social services designed to help make the victim whole again after an offense has occurred,” Griffin said. “We encourage victims to come forward and report abuse or assaults so that we can assist them as quickly as possible.”

Griffin said reporting sexual assaults quickly is crucial, but the health and well-being of the victim is most important.

“Oftentimes, victims may take days or weeks before making an outcry to a friend or family member, and this delays the delivery of critical services to the victim and may hinder the investigation of the offense,” Griffin said.

In Texas, there are no statutes of limitations for most sexual assaults and abuse, according to the Texas Code of Criminal Procedures. There is also no statute of limitations if a rape kit has been collected and subjected to DNA testing.

“But they get scared because it’s their word against the abusers and it’s hard to prove if they didn’t immediately go get a rape kit,” Robinson said. “Sometimes they ask me to go with them. They make it into the police station and walk back out before talking to the police.”

So, Robinson hopes the biggest lesson survivors learn is to tell someone about the abuse immediately.

“Keep telling people, even if it’s embarrassing, until someone believes you and takes action on your behalf,” Robinson said. “The abuser can’t continue without getting justice like they did with me.”

For more information, email shelterfromthestormibc@gmail.com.

Code violations at Irving Bazaar prompt lucha libre matches to move on

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By ADAM SCHRADER
Published in The Dallas Morning News on Dec. 4, 2015

For fans of the Mexican style of wrestling known as lucha libre, there’s one less venue available.

Irving Bazaar removed its wrestling ring in mid-October after a small electrical fire broke out on Sept. 30, prompting a fire code inspection.

Ricardo Cardenas, who formerly promoted the shows at the bazaar, said removing the ring was a blow to the Latino community. But he’s promoting monthly matches at Malone’s Bazaar in Dallas and looking for a new Irving venue.

For the past 18 years, Irving Bazaar has had its difficulties. The venue had been on an upswing, thanks to lucha libre matches — from local talent or renowned luchadores from Mexico like El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.

“It feels bad because we’ve been there for quite a long time,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of calls from people who don’t know what to do on their Saturdays anymore. We were all so used to just going to the matches every week.”

Irving fire marshal Derek Austin said nobody was injured during the fire. But during the subsequent inspection, the department identified roughly 300 code violations, he said.

The ring had to be removed because it was an illegal use of the building, Austin said. The bazaar is classified as merchant facility to sell product. To have the wrestling matches legally, the building would require an assembly code designation.

“The building does not meet the code requirements for assembly purposes,” Austin said. “[To hold the wrestling matches], they would have to make changes and reapply and pass the assembly occupancy code inspection.”

Austin said that the department didn’t issue any fines after the inspection and the bazaar addressed immediate dangers.

“We work with the businesses in a reasonable time limit,” Austin said. “It’s not our goal to run businesses out of town and we’re still working out the minor violations.”

Brenda Soto, a spokesperson for the Bazaar, said the company working with the fire department to address the violations and make changes.

“We’re still recovering from the after effects of this fire and are trying to bring in other entertainment alternatives for our customers,” she said. “We are working on bringing back music and hosting other entertainment like mariachi’s and face painting in one of our event rooms that we plan to open to the public soon.”

Local painter creates intrigue, beauty in portrait

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By ADAM SCHRADER
Published in The Denton Record-Chronicle on Feb. 14, 2016

Behind the bar at 940’s Kitchen and Cocktails is an oil painting.

The painting depicts a woman with bright red lips set against a smoky background. It’s flanked by colorful bottles of expensive liquors.

The bar’s centerpiece, which shows three perspectives of the unknown woman’s face, is like a memory of another time — a throwback to the great tradition of paintings of beautiful women behind bar counters.

The portrait feels like a modern Mona Lisa. Like Leonardo da Vinci’s famous portrait, the subject of Daniel McCullagh’s Sight Unseen is shrouded in mystery. Nobody knows the identity of the model or what’s behind the curiosity of her expression — though she looks a little like Michelle Dockery, Lady Mary of Downton Abbey.

Bartender Tyler Jenkins, 26, said much of his clientele asks about the painting. The bar recently held a gallery event featuring McCullagh to give the artist a chance to answer their questions.

“It’s very striking, and the first thing that caught my eye when I came in here to apply,” Jenkins said. “She follows you around the room in a dizzying way.”

Sight Unseen was meant to capture the details that are often lost in motion.

“It’s like when you see a girl out of the corner of your eye and turn to look at her,” he said. “You pick up little pieces of information. Your brain, influenced by your emotions, creates the rest of the image.”

McCullagh said the idea to have the subject turn came to him just after Christmas 2014 while sitting at Paschall Bar talking about art with friends. In the past, he had painted images showing the subject as if it were dripping down and stretching across the canvas.

“Spiraling would give more dimension and depth to her face, emotionally and visually,” he said. “My friends encouraged me to do it.”

McCullagh did not use a model for the painting, he said.

“People tell me that it looks like their friend or family member,” he said. “It could be a real person, but even I’m not sure if it is.”

Working at Jupiter House, McCullagh sees many people every day. Occasionally, he said, someone will come in and look familiar — like a subject of a painting long since finished.

“It will be funny if this woman walks in to get coffee someday and it turns out she’s real,” he said. “Or maybe the face is derived from different people I’ve seen.”

Art critic Bill Marvel, 76, attended the event as a friend of McCullagh’s mother. Marvel said the woman looks curious as she faces forward. Her eyebrows are raised. Marvel argued that the subject is turning away from the viewer; other viewers think she’s turning toward the viewer.

“The painting really left it open to which direction she’s turning,” Marvel said. “If she is turning away, her eyebrows lower, indicating that she’s shy or uninterested. If she’s turning towards us, it indicates that we sparked her interest.”

McCullagh won’t say which way the woman is turning. But, he gave this clue: He did not paint the faces individually; he painted them as if they were one.

The artist would start the brush on the in-focus face and immediately paint the same feature on the next faces, without pulling the brush from the canvas.

“Blurring from one face immediately into the other, instead of painting three distinct faces and blurring them together, makes the movement look a little more organic,” he said.

“It’s the kind of painting that demands you to look at it,” Marvel said. “It does everything a painting like this is supposed to do on a sophisticated level. This is sophisticated bar with sophisticated drinks, and it deserves a sophisticated painting.”

Small but fervent crowd backs Irving mayor’s stance on Islam

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By ADAM SCHRADER
Published in The Dallas Morning News on Dec. 5, 2015

Attendance at a rally Saturday to support Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne was a little on the low side. The mayor herself didn’t show up.

But the enthusiasm outside City Hall was abundant.

“Most young people don’t know what the good America is,” rally organizer Valerie Villarreal said. “The mayor has given us a taste of that America again, and we don’t want to let that go.”

Van Duyne has been a figure in the public debate over Islam and the treatment of Muslims since rumors of an illegal Shariah court at the Irving Islamic Center began spreading in January.

The rumors, though false, gained popularity after she made the issue of Shariah courts part of a speaking tour.

And since a 14-year-old Muslim was taken into custody in September in Irving ISD for bringing a homemade clock to school, the city that Van Duyne leads has become an international symbol of Islamophobia for many.

Saturday’s rally started as a counterprotest to one planned by Accion America “to speak out against hate and intolerance” in Irving.

That event was rescheduled for next Saturday at the Islamic Center, but the conservative group Overpasses for America followed through with its pro-Van Duyne event.

“We’re just patriotic Americans standing up for America and Irving,” Villarreal said.

Organizers said they’d expected more than 100 people to attend and were disappointed at the turnout, which never reached more than 40.

They blamed police-imposed parking restrictions at City Hall. But officers watching over the rally seemed supportive — encouraging people to stand along Irving Boulevard for better visibility.

Passing cars frequently honked in support, though some drivers did gesture obscenely toward the demonstrators.

McKinney resident Mel Robins, vice president and co-founder of Sons of Liberty Riders, said he believed that support for Van Duyne had been growing.

He was among 14 members of the motorcycle club who attended.

“I’ve been hoping something would happen so that we could come and show support for everything she’s done and what she’s all about,” he said. “We’ve watched the mayor of Irving stand tall and say there isn’t going to be any Shariah law practiced in the city of Irving. That took guts, and we admire that.”

Lewisville ISD special-needs students launch their own comic convention, and it’s drawing notice from heavy hitters

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By ADAM SCHRADER
Published in The Dallas Morning News on Dec. 17, 2015

When Walter Jimenez visits comic conventions, some of his students always ask him to get autographs for them. Now, he’s giving them a chance to get some signatures in person.

Lewisville ISD students in the Focus on the Future program, which prepares special-needs adults between the ages of 18 and 21 to transition into the world around them, are hosting a comic convention open to the public from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at Lewisville High School.

Jimenez, a Focus on the Future teacher, said he has two main goals for the Starfish Comic Expo: to teach his students life skills and bridge the gap between the special-needs community and the community at large.

“This isn’t created by special-needs folk for special-needs folk,” Jiminez said. “This is for everyone. We’re just the ones hosting the party.”

The convention got its Starfish name from a brand the students like to use as part of some of their projects. Focus on the Future students also operate the district’s Starfish Cafè restaurant and coffee shop and a T-shirt printing company.

The idea hit Jimenez, who frequents comic conventions, at the end of the last school year. He said his students either didn’t know comic conventions existed or their parents didn’t take them.

“Parents worry how they’ll take care of their special-needs adults at a convention,” he said.

So, Jimenez decided that having his students plan and simulate a real show would be good for them. At the end of the summer, he pitched it to administrators.

Corey Bell, principal of the Purnell Support Center, which houses Focus on the Future, gave the OK.

“What Mr. Jimenez is doing hasn’t been tried,” he said. “It seemed like the right thing to do to support a teacher who stepped out of bounds to find an innovative way to support these students in their adult lives.”

Students have excited the center’s staff by embracing the comic book community in which many other adults engage, Bell said.

Jimenez said he worried the community at large wouldn’t accept the convention — until he landed Brenda Hickey, the creator of My Little Pony comic books. Hickey will attend the event as the guest of honor.

“That gave credence to what we were doing and showed that people in the community actually back what we’re doing,” Jimenez said.

Hickey, who lives in Canada, said she wouldn’t charge the district apart from the cost of her plane ticket. She said she agreed to take part in the Starfish Comic Expo because she understands the importance of people with special needs feeling welcome and at home in their community and fandoms.

“My younger brother, Joe, has Asperger’s syndrome, and had a lot of trouble fitting in at school,” Hickey said. “So now that I’m an adult and am more able to help than when I was a child, I’d like to make others who may feel on the periphery feel comfortable and accepted.”

Hickey said she’s excited to meet the students and to see them enjoy the product of their hard work.

“I’ve been told about all effort they’ve put in to this con[vention],” she said. “So I can’t wait to see them finally see it all come together and to feel that sense of pride in a job well done.”

Hickey will lead a panel on My Lttle Pony characters and creating comic books. She also drew a special print for the show, featuring a starfish as the prominent character.

“She did it for free,” Jimenez said. “It was hard to hold back emotions when she sent this, starfish front and center, since that’s our brand.”

The students went out asked local business managers and owners for donations to help raise money for Hickey’s ticket and other expenses. They also worked at charity events, folded clothes and counted money for local retailers. Now, the costumed students are presenting in local schools, trying to sell tickets.

More celebrities in the comic world responded to Jimenez’s emails once word of the show spread. Most couldn’t make it but were still supportive.

Rob Paulson, the voice of Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, sent a donation and a nice note. Phil LaMarr, the voice of the animated Green Lantern and Samurai Jack, sent a note and signed posters that he personalized to each student.

Michael Carbonaro, host of The Carbonaro Effect, made a video for Jimenez to play during the convention. It encourages the special-needs community to come out in the regular community.

Eddie Medina, who hosts a Star Wars web show from Deep Ellum, will lead a panel discussion on Star Wars. Jimenez purposefully planned the event to occur on the day the new film comes out, he said.

Taffeta Darling will serve as master of ceremonies and host panel discussions on cosplaying. Darling, who is well-known in the world of comics, writes for numerous websites and discusses geek-dom in her YouTube channel FANGIRL. She has also served as a cosplay judge and hosted pop-culture events across the country.

Darling loved the pitch for the Starfish Comic Expo because she has an autistic sister, she said. She hopes the convention will grow in scope and prominence, adding additional days in the future.

“I’m looking forward to seeing all the work the students did pay off,” she said. “There is nothing more gratifying than seeing your hard work go into play. The four hours will go by quickly.”

Every Monday, the students update Darling on the show’s progress by video chat.

“Their costumes all look really great,” she said. “I’ve kind of prowled from afar and answered questions they’ve had about putting costumes together.”

Because of Darling, two cosplay groups have confirmed appearances. Heroic Inner Kids will dress as Avengers and Justice League characters. The DFW Ghostbusters are bringing their crew, with Ghostbusters- and Jurassic Park-themed cars. Guests can take pictures with them and ask them questions.

The expo will also feature two local artists and Hickey selling prints “like at a real ComicCon,” Jimenez said. There will also be three vendor booths: a comic book store, a vintage toy store and a store that sells cosplay gear.

Mike Debalfo, a Phoenix-based comic book artist, donated his Ninja Turtles artwork as prizes for a costume contest.

Print shop students have created a T-shirt for the convention. With three colors, it’s the most intricate they have ever made. Jimenez said he hopes they will sell out.

“We had a slow year with our T-shirt sales last year,” he said. “The more T-shirts we can make, the more practice we give our students. They have to learn how to fill out invoices and tax-exempt forms.”

Jimenez said that selling the shirts particularly benefits nonverbal students who want to communicate more effectively.

Alandria Rivera, 20, said she’s going to dress as Catwoman.

“I talked to schools about it and learned how to sell tickets,” she said. “I like that I got experience doing sales so I can do it on my own after I’m out of the program.”

Shatequa Driver, 20, said she’s dressing as Batwoman for the expo.

“This has been really fun,” she said. “I’ve learned about teamwork and being awesome.”

Parents are getting more involved and asking Jimenez to tell them more about the comic culture because their children love it and being a part of a community.

“One student found a live-action roleplaying group to join,” Jimenez said. “Now they get to do things they always loved with people their own ages who don’t have disabilities.”

Southern Denton County/Northwest Dallas County editor Adam Schrader can be reached at 214-773-8188.

IF YOU GO

1098 W. Main St. in Lewisville. Tickets are $7 if you buy through the program and $11 if purchased online. For more information, visit patera22.wix.com/starfishcomicexpo.

LifeLine Shelter for Families helps homeless families when financial struggles hit

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By ADAM SCHRADER
Published in The Dallas Morning News on Jan. 7, 2016

Jaycilva Watson said her financial troubles began in 2014 after a doctor told her she needed a hysterectomy.

Watson, a single mother, had just started teaching at Umphrey Lee Elementary School in the Red Bird area. She wasn’t eligible for family leave, she said, and had cut short-term disability from her health insurance plan.

Dallas ISD placed her on unpaid medical leave. Without an income, rent and medical expenses quickly burned through her savings. She turned to her mother for help, but she had her own household to support.

Having earned a bachelor’s degree and a teaching certificate, Watson never dreamed one bad situation would cause her such financial distress.

“I never expected I’d have to apply for handouts,” Watson said. “I checked off all the right boxes. I got the degree. It was embarrassing and humbling.”

Watson was introduced to LifeLine Shelter for Families, one of 23 agencies funded by The Dallas Morning News Charities, when she approached her apartment complex about her inability to pay rent. While not a physical shelter, the agency provides assistance with housing for homeless families with children attending schools in Grand Prairie ISD, as well as classes in stress management and personal finance.

“The first time I sat down with LifeLine was embarrassing, but they were nice and comforting,” Watson said.

LifeLine paid three months of her rent and taught her personal finance.

After a summer-long job search, Watson found a teaching position at the La Academia de Estrellas Charter School in West Oak Cliff. The job came with higher pay.

“It’s weird to say, but now looking back, all of this was a positive, life-changing experience for me,” said Watson, 36. “I learned patience and humility and now have a great job.”

Kevin Boley Jr., 36, is a single father of two and a former client of LifeLine. Three years ago, he lost his home and moved in with a relative.

He told a guidance counselor at his daughter’s school that he had problems caring for his children.

“I almost gave up my kids,” Boley said. “I didn’t have a high school diploma or a driver’s license, and had warrants for unpaid tickets I got for not having valid insurance. The lady advised me to speak to LifeLine.”

Boley started building custom homes when he was 15 to help his mother feed their large family. When he turned 19, his mother helped him get a job at Kroger because it had better career prospects, he said.

He quickly worked his way up to a manager position. But he returned to home building for more money, working up to lead foreman.

His financial hardships started when his children’s mother left.

“Then the housing market fell and finding work became harder,” he said. “I had problems paying the bills and it snowballed.”

His debt stacked up until he had the security of his own apartment through LifeLine.

“I no longer had to wonder where we would stay,” he said. “If it weren’t for LifeLine and strength from God, I probably wouldn’t have my driver’s license or my kids. It makes you feel like you can make it instead of feeling depressed.”

Through another program, Boley worked to pay off his tickets and got his license back. He started working as a driver for Grand Prairie United Charities three years ago.

“I never received any tickets and I pay my insurance regularly now,” he said. “The first year I had my driver’s license, I kind of hoped I’d get pulled over so I could prove that I had insurance.”

Now Boley works as Grand Prairie United Charities’ donation coordinator.

His biggest worry now is making sure his children do well in school, and that he has enough money for them to participate in school or extracurricular activities, he said.

Boley said he earned his GED because of LifeLine.

“I was so proud in my graduation ceremony, with my cap and gown,” he said. “I watched everyone else go through prom and graduation and never thought I would have any of that. I teach my kids that there’s nothing more important than education. I’m even working on going back to school.”

Gail Wills, the president of LifeLine, said it only takes a hiccup in everyday life to cause financial distress.

“What for most people would become just a nuisance ends up becoming a crisis for them,” she said. “There’s just no safety net and they don’t have the support of family or friends.”

Part of the agency’s success is because of its narrow mission, she said.

“Chronic homelessness, while it’s a huge problem, is not one that LifeLine is designed to solve,” she said. “A homeless child, we can try to help that because it’s probably not chronic homelessness.”

Wills said that even in a good economy, the working poor struggle with poverty.

“A prescription costs $150 you don’t have, even with health insurance. That comes out of your rent money. Then you have late fees on rent,” she said. “Before you know it, you have a problem.”

Angela Giessner, the nonprofit’s founder, said she started the organization in 2003 after noticing that there was a problem with homeless schoolchildren and their families in Grand Prairie ISD.

“Whenever mom and dad are under stress, kids are under stress and don’t perform well,” she said. “Some parents were so stressed they were about to divorce, and this kept them together.”

Giessner said that many like Watson and Boley don’t seek help because of embarrassment.

“They want to keep their dignity,” she said. “With us, nobody needs to know they’re on our program. The kids don’t need to be embarrassed at school. That does a lot for their self-worth and motivation to improve their situations.”

Southern Denton County/Northwest Dallas County editor Adam Schrader can be reached at 214-773-8188. Twitter: @schrader_adam.

MORE INFO

For more information on LifeLine Shelter For Families, visit lifelineshelter.org.

At Dallas gun show, there’s little to like about Obama order

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By ADAM SCHRADER
Published in The Dallas Morning News on Jan. 9, 2016

Few issues stir people up as much these days as the argument over guns and gun rights.

But inside Dallas Market Center on Saturday, there was wide agreement on one thing: President Barack Obama’s new executive order calling for tighter restrictions on buying and selling guns is a non-starter.

That should come as little surprise since the center was home to this weekend’s Dallas Gun and Knife Show, a massive event centered on the very thing the president wants to further regulate.

But even at a gun show, people have strongly different views on just how much freedom Americans should have with guns.

Fort Worth resident Greg Hoffmann, 44, said he doesn’t like the vagueness of the executive order, particularly on increasing the reporting of mental health issues.

“We can all agree that anyone who has been deemed incompetent to own a firearm shouldn’t be allowed to, but that law is already in place,” he said. “My concern is how far he can go with it. Does that mean no one who is on an [antidepressant] can own a firearm?”

The proposed executive action could also come in conflict with Texas’ new open carry law.

On Friday, USA Today reported that visitors to one of Texas’ 10 state mental health hospitals will be allowed to openly carry weapons into the facilities but employees and patients will still be barred from bringing weapons. Texas law bans state agencies from posting signs telling people they cannot carry guns on property.

McKinney resident Philip Weber, 35, attended the gun show in Revolutionary War attire and was quick to take verbal shots at Obama.

“The president does not have the authority to give an executive order when it infringes on the Bill of Rights,” he said. “Our great governor is trying to implement measures to reduce the federal government’s powers.”

Weatherford resident Gerry Walton, 65, thinks more should be done to prevent gun violence, but he said the problem isn’t with background checks.

“Most weapons used in mass shootings are assault weapons purchased legally with background checks,” he said. “Assault weapons are not needed at all and should be banned.”

Walton also said the executive order isn’t a smart move for the Democratic Party.

It “will hurt Hillary Clinton’s chance for the presidency because pro-Second Amendment Democrats will just not vote, vote Republican or vote for Bernie Sanders,” he said.

Walton said the executive order will hurt rural citizens’ “pursuit of entertainment.”

“In the country, all there is to do is hunt and fish, but people get tired of owning the same guns,” he said.

Whitesboro resident Robert William Crowsey brought a weapon to sell at the gun show.

“Some people are just selling a gun occasionally, like me, to improve on their collection,” he said. “Now I have to go through the federal government and pay an extra charge to get an ATF license to sell a gun.”

Jimmy Brooks, 54, disagreed with Walton’s point that assault weapons should be banned.

“It wouldn’t take long before you wouldn’t be allowed to sell any weapons,” he said. “A knife or a BB gun can be called an assault weapon if they’re used to assault someone.”

Brad Yates, 30, said it was his first time attending a gun show. He hoped to sell his grandfather’s World War II rifle and expand his views on gun control laws. But the event left him feeling more ambivalent.

“Now I can better understand both sides of the aisle as to why some parties would want to make new gun restriction laws and why not imposing gun restrictions is vital for the livelihood of some of these gun dealers,” he said.

Bronx man gunned down in playground, relative of rapper Rob Base, was one week away from dental assistant school graduation

Uncategorized
By ADAM SCHRADER, THOMAS TRACY and LARRY MCSHANE
Published in The New York Daily News on July 2, 2016

Ryan Ginyard and his dreams died barely a week before his graduation.

The 24-year-old relative of hip-hop legend Rob Base was delivering tickets for the big event to a lifelong friend when he was mortally wounded in a Bronx playground, police sources said.

Ginyard, an aspiring dental assistant, was set to graduate this coming Friday from The New York School for Medical and Dental Assistants in Queens.

His parents were instead planning a funeral Saturday for the one-time high school basketball star with a big heart and boundless energy.

“He was funny,” his teary mom Lori Ginyard told the Daily News. “Everyone loved him. He wasn’t the type of person to be out there fooling around … He was just a fun-loving person.”

The killer in the Mount Hope Playground shooting remained on the loose, and sources said the gunman’s target and motive in the Wednesday night shooting remained unclear.

Lori Ginyard said she saw her wounded son loaded into an ambulance just 10 minutes after Ryan left their Bronx apartment around to meet with his friend Anthony Castillo.

Earlier in the day, the young man came home carrying his outfit for graduation.

Ryan was about to hand Castillo the graduation tickets when the gunfire erupted near the basketball court, police sources said.

Ginyard was struck once in the stomach in the 9:15 p.m. shooting, and died about five hours later on the operating table at St. Barnabas Hospital, police said.

The victim was able to give his version of the shooting to cops before his death, the sources said.

Rapper Rob Base, best known for the 1998 hit “It Takes Two,” was among the family members keeping a grim vigil at the Bronx hospital.

According to police, Castillo was affiliated with the Dub City Gang and survived a 2011 shooting.

While there were several people in the park when the shooting started, no one actually saw the suspect in the chaos, police sources said. Cops found two .9-mm casings at the scene.

“The streets are crazy,” said Castillo’s mother. “How do they even get these guns? I can’t believe someone did this to him. He told me just last week how he wanted me to go to his graduation.”

EXCLUSIVE: Daily News reader sends bottle of perfume to 80-year-old Brooklyn woman whose favorite scent was swiped at gunpoint during home invasion

Uncategorized
By MARY MCDONNELL, ADAM SCHRADER and LARRY MCSHANE
Published in The New York Daily News on July 3, 2016

Mugging victim Maria Lugo’s apartment smells a little less like fear.

The 80-year-old woman, who lost her television, $300 cash and her favorite perfume during a June 23 armed robbery, cried Saturday after a Daily News reader sent her a brand new bottle of Chanel Chance.

“Thank you to the people that gave me this gift,” said the appreciative Brooklyn grandmom. “Thank you so much. This means that there are good people on the streets that have hearts big enough to feel bad about an old lady like me.”

Lugo said she was still horribly shaken by the Sumner House robbery where three men pushed their way into her apartment at gunpoint.

The senior citizen was shoved face-down to the floor of her sixth-floor kitchen as the terrifying trio ransacked the Bedford-Stuyvesant home that she shares with her daughter and grandson.

Donor Kim Waters, 35, of the Upper West Side, said the sight of the diminutive Lugo’s picture in The News brought back memories of her late 103-year-old aunt.

“She passed away in December,” Waters said. “She was my heart. I had this woman in my life for so long, so when I read this story I was totally heartbroken. … I hope this bottle brings her some happiness.”

Waters sent along a handwritten note explaining her motivation and signed, “With scented love.”