Claims about future culture center raising eyebrows

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A new center stressing Texas heritage and culture is now in the works downtown. Organizers claim it's going to bring a couple thousand jobs and provide a significant economic impact. But some aren't so sure.

The new center is set to be built on Capitol near Minute Maid Park.

The principles of the project have already toured other visitor centers around the country and plan to build one in Houston that could set the bar.

Along with promoting tourism, it will also feature educational components. The economic impact is also ambitious.

Its renderings depict a state-of-the-art visitors center nestled on a downtown street between Minute Maid Park and the George R. Brown Convention Center. The Center for Texas Cultural Heritage will feature 45,000 square feet of exhibits. Two historic homes will be renovated and serve as food and exhibit locations.

It's all designed to pull in what are called heritage and cultural tourists. Some say they'll will spend an extra day in the Houston area when already in town for a convention.

"They are spending will either be $90 a day more, up to close to $300 a day more," said John Nau III with the Center for Texas Cultural Heritage.

In its first 12 months opening, companies overseeing the project say there is potential to create up to $31.4 million in additional tourism revenue and support an additional 2,400 service jobs.

"Hotels, restaurants, gift shops -- those are the jobs, that these heritage tourists will begin to develop," Nau said.

"The reason people do economic impact analysis is that they are trying to justify their project," University of Houston Professor of Economics Steven Craig said.

Craig says it's ambitious to claim a visitors center can generate substantial dollars and jobs.

"Clearly, the $31 million and 2,400 jobs, those are pretty aggressive numbers for the kind of project that this is," Craig said.

One thing it will serve up is stories of the Houston region to kids and adults.

"So that they can experience the events and the people and the places that created Houston and Texas in the region," Nau said.

Of the $40 million project, Nau has already donated $8 million and they hope to raise at least 50 percent of the funds before breaking ground in 2013.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Woman who claims ex-HPD officer raped her cross-examined in court

  Pooja LodhiaHOUSTON (KTRK) -- It's been another day of emotional testimony from the woman who says she was raped by a Houston police officer. The alleged victim says she was terrified and even tried to take her own life after the incident. Now she's facing intense questioning from the former officer's attorneys.

Former Houston police officer Abraham Joseph watched as his alleged victim testified. Tears ran down her cheeks as she spoke through a translator.

"It was horrible," she said. "I could never forget it."

She described in graphic detail how she says Joseph first handcuffed her then sexually assaulted her several times. On Thursday she was cross-examined.

Defense attorney Nicole Deborde told Eyewitness News, "Each of the little pieces of the story that she has spent time telling to this jury need to be dissected."

Deborde didn't start off by talking about the alleged rape. Instead, she asked the woman several questions about her immigration status. The alleged victim is a citizen of El Salvador and admits to having lied on her immigration papers.

The defense hopes those lies will lessen the alleged victim's credibility.

"So that the jury can decide for themselves what parts of those stories are true and what parts are not, and that she's in fact capable of saying something that is not true," Deborde said.

KTRK legal analyst Joel Androphy says the defense appears to be following a common pattern.

"You work your way up toward attacking her credibility," he said. "You start with fundamental issues that you can prove that are more objective, then you get to the issue of the situation."

Cross-examination of the victim is expected to continue Friday.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Family claims to see image of Jesus in moldy shower

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A family in Splendora claims they have a holy vision inside their home, an image of Jesus created by mold in a bathroom. They say the image is giving them strength.

We've all seen the stories: a Virgin Mary sighting in a grilled cheese sandwich, in the side of a tree, or Jesus' face on a tortilla. We guess you've never seen one like this -- inside a shower.

"People say your house is blessed," said Chyanna Richards. "I see the head, the hair, a cloak."

Richards doesn't know if it's mold or mildew or what, but she knows in her heart what she sees: a likeness of Jesus, it's presence not without meaning.

"Maybe it means something. Maybe look into yourself and see if you need to change something in your life," she said.

Neighbors have heard about it, but hadn't seen it until we showed them a picture.

"Jesus. But it kinda looks like me!" said neighbor Michael Bearden.

Still Bearden believes, even if you don't.

"One of God's mysteries," he said.

The mold started a couple of months ago while Thomas George, who also lives in the house, was in prison.

"He's just watching over us to make sure nothing wrong happens or I get in trouble and go back," George said.

No matter what you see in this, folks here choose to see it as a sign that better days lie ahead.

"It gives me inspiration just to do better," George said.

If they just believe.

One woman who lives in the home here has HIV. Her family says she has been doing better since they discovered that moldy likeness of Jesus in their shower just a few months ago.

We want to know what you think of the image. Join the conversation on our Facebook page by leaving your comments and sharing the post with your friends.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Family claims Rent-A-Center sent them a couch infested with bedbugs and mites

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A family has filed suit against a well-known rent-to-own store saying they got a lot more than they paid for. The family claims that along with their furniture they also got a nasty bug problem.

That family says its problem with Rent-A-Center is that the store sent them sofas infested with bedbugs and mites.

Leah Angle and her boyfriend say their bodies are covered with marks left from pesky little bugs.

"My skin looks like it's all tore up now. These sores will never go away," said Hardy Moore.

Those sores, the couple claims, are from bedbugs and mites hidden in a sofa they had delivered from the Rent-A-Center on Scott Street.

"He pulled up the couch pillows, and instantly seen mites -- like bugs and little white mites," said Leah Angle.

The couple say they and their four-year-old son moved into an apartment last summer that had been renovated and cleaned. A lawsuit they just filed claims the sofa Rent-A-Center sent them two weeks later was infested with bugs that left them with blisters and scabies.

Angle says she called the furniture store.

"They said that they were going to come over and spray the couch down, if it was the couch that the bugs should eventually come off of the couch," she said.

But the family says exterminating didn't help.

We reached out to a spokesman from Rent-a-Center. He told us the company does not comment on pending legal matters. But he did say the stores are inspected by a licensed exterminator each month.

A statement Rent-A-Center released to Eyewitness News goes on to say, "We use sanitization agents in accordance with applicable state laws... We visually inspect all merchandise that comes in and out of our stores."

Now Angle and her boyfriend say they've hired an attorney to help them get some action.

"We want to send Rent-A-Center a message that these claims should be taken seriously. Here this family went for months without adequate response from Rent-A-Center," said attorney Rodney Glover.

Angle and her boyfriend claim they don't want an issue like this to happen to another consumer.

The couple claims Rent-A-Center never picked up the sofa, and they had to throw out a lot of their personal belongings.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Mom claims classmate sexually assaulted son, 6

PASADENA, TX (KTRK) -- There's outrage this evening from one mother over what she calls an unacceptable response to sexual assault accusations at a local elementary school.

This 6-year-old's mom says the alleged sexual assault happened a week ago while her kindergarten son was in the boys bathroom with another kindergartner. Some of the details were too graphic to report, but she says her son remembers it all and is traumatized over it. Still, she feels the school is not doing enough to protect her child.

"His demeanor, his personality, his behavior -- he was slouching, he wasn't the same," the boy's mother said.

This mom, who asked not to be identified, says shortly after her kindergartner came home acting differently, he decided to open up about what the boy says a 6-year-old classmate did to him inside the boys bathroom at his Pasadena elementary school.

"He says, 'I'll show you my body, me naked, and I'll let you be my friend,'" the mom said.

She says it happened while her son was in the restroom alone with the other kindergarten boy.

"The teacher asked him to go monitor another student. The student says, 'Touch my private area,'" the mother said.

She says when her son refused, the kindergarten classmate made a shocking move.

"The other student then walks over to my son, grabs his hand while his pants are still down and makes him touch his private area," the mother said.

She says that's when things went from bad to worse and that her son was so scared he didn't know what to do.

She says when she found out about the alleged assault she was outraged and went straight to administrators. The Pasadena ISD superintendent confirmed with Eyewitness News, the mom did file a report and says district police are conducting a thorough investigation that may take a few days to complete because both students involved are telling completely different stories.

Meanwhile, this mother believes she knows the truth.

"He very passive, he's not a fighter," she said. "I believe my son without a shadow of a doubt. As detailed as he was when he was explaining what he told to me, a child can't get that detailed and make it up."

While her son has been removed from class, that mother has filed a complaint with Child Protective Services.

The Pasadena ISD superintendent tells Eyewitness News that Texas law prohibits district police from filing charges on students this young. He says this will be an administrative issue and it is possible both kindergartners could face disciplinary action.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Local activist claims mistreatment by Houston police

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A local community activist dedicated to fighting crime says he was mistreated by Houston police.

Travis McGee says he has tried to lower crime in his Sunnyside neighborhood for years, but what happened over the New Year's weekend was a whole other matter.

On December 30, there was a shooting at a loan business not far from McGee's own business in Sunnyside. McGee says he went to the scene to try to gather information about the shooting for some of his customers. But instead of helping, he says Houston police made him feel like he was a suspect.

McGee says he was questioned and detained for about 30 to 40 minutes. The entire time he said he was trying to explain to officers that he was simply a nearby business owner.

McGee says he was unhappy with what took place and he brought his complaint to city hall.

"I was illegally searched. I was illegally detained," McGee told city council. "I did not want to go back up to the scene of the crime so someone could accidentally point me out. I could not get all the badges because I did not want to make a sudden movement."

McGee's concern struck a nerve with a number of city council members, especially in light of several officer involved shootings that have taken place in the Houston area over the last few weeks.

Several council members say they have already taken steps to try to get to the bottom of what took place. HPD Chief Charles McClelland is aware of the situation from December 30. The issue is far from over.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Galveston police chief facing claims of ethics violations

  GALVESTON, TX (KTRK) -- The embattled Galveston police chief is facing claims of ethics violations.

The president of the Galveston Municipal Police Association filed a complaint with the city ethics commission against Galveston Chief Charles Wiley. The complaint said Wiley violated ethics rules by ordering seven on duty-officers to guard a councilman's property along the seawall during November's lone star bike rally. The complaint claims that officers could not answer any calls or perform other police functions. "It's up to the property owner or property manager to have off duty officers sit there and guard their one piece of property. That's the way it is for everyone else and we believe this was special treatment," Galveston Municipal Police Association Michael Gray said. A city of Galveston spokeswoman said the city received the complaint and will turn it over to the ethics commission for consideration. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Family claims off-duty officer chased teen into home

  By Demond FernandezKINGWOOD, TX (KTRK) -- An off-duty Houston police officer is the subject of an internal investigation after a family claims he broke into their home while chasing down a teenager. The family says it happened Friday in a neighborhood in Kingwood.

Witnesses on Quiet Glade Court tell us they watched that barefoot off-duty officer chase the boy down the street. Now the teen's parents are demanding some answers, and action.

The glass on the front door is broken, and the people living here say you can still see an off-duty officer's trail of blood around their home.

"He put his face to the window and then he punched a hole in the window so he can see through it and then he just opened the door," said Matthew Pifer.

Pifer, 16, says it was last Friday when an off-duty Houston police officer who lives nearby chased him and his friend for allegedly no reason.

"He was intoxicated," said Pifer. "I smelled a ton of alcohol off of him. He was drunk."

The teen says that officer was barefoot and only wearing a bathing suit as the man barged through and broke his family's front door. Pifer says the officer assaulted him and threatened his sister until a neighbor stepped in to help.

"He was a bit out of control," recalled neighbor Beth Redmond. "He just kept saying that he was a police officer and he had the right."

Redmond says he asked the officer what triggered the chase as she bandaged his bleeding hand.

"He said he smelled cigarette smoke," she explained.

Pifer claims neither he nor his friends were smoking, just hanging out near a stop sign between his and the accused officer's home.

"He thought that we were going to, like, vandalism his house, but we weren't," Pifer insisted. "We were going to someone else's house and he thought we were going to his and he started chasing us."

We've chosen not to identify the officer. But a spokesman from the Houston Police Department confirms internal affairs has launched an investigation.

Pifer's parents say they not only want their door fixed, they say they want to press charges against the accused officer.

So far that accused officer has not returned our calls.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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