Houstonians step in to help Georgia family whose car tires were stolen by thieves

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Laura Smith says she was so overwhelmed that she just started crying when she walked outside and saw that thieves had stolen all the tires off her family's car.

It happened Monday night morning at a motel near Buffalo Speedway and the South Loop. So far this year, there have been 87 thefts in that area, but this one was different, which is why so many strangers are offering to help the Smith family.

From Facebook messages to emails and a lot of phone calls, the family quickly learned they aren't alone here in Houston.

When the Smiths started out on their journey from Georgia to M.D. Anderson here in Houston, it was tough. They had to leave three of their children to get 19-year-old Grace to the world-class Texas Medical Center.

"She's in great spirits," Laura said.

Grace is battling sarcoma, an aggressive cancer. Doctors removed a 10-pound tumor but more have formed since then.

When Laura left the hotel Wednesday morning it was one more devastating blow.

"Why would somebody put bricks up under our car and then it dawned on me. I was like, 'Oh my gosh," Laura said.

Thieves had left them with no wheels to get back to the hospital.

But as word spread on the news and Facebook, the family couldn't believe the response.

"I've got a place you can stay, I'll bring you back and forth to your appointments, I've got a car you can borrow," Eric said of the offers he's received.

Across the country to here in the Houston area, a Pearland mom who has a son battling cancer, to a League City tire shop.

"We have small town values," Discount Tire League City manager Charlie Luker said.

Luker says a longtime customer contacted them and asked if they could help.

"It's a personal thing. If I was in that situation, I would hope someone would step up and help me out," Luker said.

Now the Smiths are back to having a car they can actually drive to see Grace through her chemotherapy.

"She's in faith, she's believing in her miracle and we are right there with her," Smith said.

And somehow what happened in that hotel parking lot has helped them feel good in their daughter's hospital room.

"The small amount of devastation that we had in this bad thing has totally been turned around to a very uplifting, hopeful situation that has been 10 times better," Laura said.

The family learned they'll be staying in Houston much longer than they initially expected to see through their daughter's treatment.

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

local, christine dobbyn

View the original article here

Mom whose kids were found alone on a school bus seeks to regain custody

SPLENDORA, TX (KTRK) -- The woman who left her two children to live alone on a modified school bus while she served time in prison is now out, and defending her actions.

The bus was supposed to be temporary housing until a permanent home could be built. But prison for the parents changed all that. The mother is free now, her children are gone.

Sherrie Shorten is now back in Splendora after more than a year in a Louisiana prison, convicted of embezzlement. But it's not been the homecoming she wanted.

"What you're seeing now is the condition we left it in when we went to jail and I realize we've been gone 16 months, but I spent eight days cleaning," Sherrie said.

Two months ago, what had been a quiet existence for an 11-year-old girl and her five-year-old brother living on a converted bus, cared for at night by a 60-year-old aunt who worked to support them, was suddenly put on the public radar. It was all because of what a postal carrier reported to authorities.

"I thought they were probably abandoned," the worker said at the time.

They were not, but the living conditions were described as deplorable. Now, after scrubbing and cleaning the bus that serves as a home, Shorten said the conditions in which her children and their aunt lived were not exaggerated and she could do nothing about it from prison, giving her an empty feeling.

Now the interior is tidy. The trash in the yard will be picked up. Shorten says she isn't employed, but her job is getting her children back from CPS foster care.

"I want them back home before they go back to school in September so there's an easy transition," she said.

Shorten wants to go to work, generate an income, find an apartment -- anything she says she needs to do to win custody. Next week, for the first time in more than a year she'll see her children, rather than talking to them by phone. The first thing she expects to do...

"Probably cry... Probably cry," she said.

Shorten's legal problems have not ended. Recently a relative accused her of stealing a tax refund check -- something she denies.

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

local, deborah wrigley

View the original article here