Henderson Co.: Police search leaves property owner dead

[seamusTX]

In Henderson County, Texas, the adult son of former Texas governor Bill Clements, also named Bill or Gill Clements, was reported missing.

Police officers searched for him on private property of a neighbor (I don't know why). The property owner allegedly threatened the officers and shot at them with an AK-47. The property owner is now deceased.

Police later found a corpse believed to be that of the deceased Mr. Clements on the property that they were searching.

http://www.ktbs.com/news/25490312/detail.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.athensreview.com/breakingnew ... ear-Athens" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[boba]

It sounds like they were close to finding the body. Maybe Mr. Granger thought he had nothing more to lose.

[seamusTX]

Who knows?

It's a long way from the police finding a body to getting a murder conviction in court. Then the average time served by a murder convict is around 10 years and often shorter.

- Jim

[KC5AV]

That is only a few miles from where I grew up. It's strange to see things like that in the news.

[baldeagle]

According to a story I read earlier, the police were not on Granger's property at the time that he threatened them. They were on Clements' property searching for him on horseback. After being threatened by Granger, they withdrew and obtained a search warrant to enter Granger's property.

[KD5NRH]

http://www.athensreview.com/breakingnew ... ear-Athens

Hopefully, they'll also be going after Mr Riggs for the various atrocities he's committed against the English language.

Granger was a neighbor to Bill Clements, Jr. who during a law enforcement search for Clements, was fired upon by Granger’s AK-47.

What, it's a suicide now? Or are they saying the cops sent in ninjas to take his gun and shoot him with it?

The Friday standoff between SWAT officers and a neighbor to property associated with the family of former Texas Governor Bill Clements, is history, as well as the death of the neighbor Howard Granger.

Just had an extra comma laying around, apparently.

Thursday’s original call at about 11:30 p.m., involved the disappearance of the former Governor’s son.

Not sure if that's another extra, or if this is where the one from earlier was supposed to go.

Guess I better skip most of the errors, or I'll end up quoting 75% or more of the article.

Goecking said the vehicle carried about 13 SWAT team and other law enforcement officials at the time of the standoff, and was hit at least 30 times by shells from the AK-47, a weapon which he said also contained in its installation a 50-round drum magazine.

Uh, what? The gun had an installation? AKs aren't usually mounted.

[Hoi Polloi]

Not sure if that's another extra, or if this is where the one from earlier was supposed to go.

Guess I better skip most of the errors, or I'll end up quoting 75% or more of the article.

Ironic, considering the two extra commas you included in your own post.

There is a big difference between an informal blog post and a paid and professional journalist. I am disheartened by the basic writing skills most journalists today either didn't learn or choose to ignore.

[KD5NRH]

Not sure if that's another extra, or if this is where the one from earlier was supposed to go.

Guess I better skip most of the errors, or I'll end up quoting 75% or more of the article.

Ironic, considering the two extra commas you included in your own post.

It seems a couple of my style guides have suffered from toddler-based displacement, but I'm pretty sure my use (joining independent clauses in combination with a conjunction) is considered optional, whereas most of his are just plain wrong.

Poking through the backup Webster's Bookshelf, the Secretary's Handbook discourages such use, while the Grammar Handbook encourages it.

[Hoi Polloi]

I'm no grammar expert. Are those independent clauses?

"If this is where the one from earlier was supposed to go," doesn't seem to me like it can stand on its own.
"I'll end up quoting 75% or more of the article," seems more questionable to me. I could see that going either way.

[seamusTX]

Is this discussion really helping our understanding of this issue?

Here is a better-written and more recent article: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 8cfc6.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The DMN has a compilation of related stories here: http://topics.dallasnews.com/topic/Bill_Clements" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[KD5NRH]

I'm no grammar expert. Are those independent clauses?

"If this is where the one from earlier was supposed to go," doesn't seem to me like it can stand on its own.

I'm a bit too sleepy to look it up, but my understanding of the breakdown is to treat the conditional as if it isn't really a part of the clause, but rather to group it with the conjuction: "This is where the one from earlier was supposed to go."

Is this discussion really helping our understanding of this issue?

Understanding the source is critical to determining the validity of data in the absence of any practical, direct means of verification. Since I doubt the sheriff would tolerate all of us calling for clarification and verification, it is important to understand how well these processes would have been handled by the reporter.

Look at it this way; the reporter, assuming he went through a normal American education, had over 1500 hours of classroom instruction (not counting homework or any other study outside the classroom, like speaking to other people or reading anything that's properly written) in English without gaining particularly good skills. As a reporter, he also presumably uses written English as a communications medium far more than many people. If he's still writing at a 5th grade or lower level (basic comma usage is 4th grade in most curricula) after all that, I really don't trust whatever few hundred hours of journalism instruction he's had to have made him a very good fact checker or reliable communicator of facts.

[seamusTX]

Poor writing skills certainly don't contribute to a reporter's credibility. OTOH, the Athens Daily Review probably doesn't pay well, and the quality of today's college graduates is not always what one could have expected decades ago.

In any case, regardless of the placement of commas, we can be pretty certain that a guy shot at the cops and was shot in return, and a corpse was later found on the deceased man's property.

Now other papers and TV stations are on the story, so we can put together the facts from their various pieces.

- Jim

[seamusTX]

Further details and a lot of (IMHO) unverifiable speculation:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... f3d2e.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[snorri]

Further details and a lot of (IMHO) unverifiable speculation:
http:// http://www.dallasnews.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; /sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/110110dnmetclements.27f3d2e.html

- Jim