Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 289, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 18, 2017 Page: 1 of 22
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INSIDE TODAY
ALSO INSIDE
High schools, TWU resume postseason play tonight / Sports, IB
The toy fad making the
rounds in the schoolyard
Denton Time
Braswell, Guyer set for football spring games / Sports, IB
Denton Record-Chronicle
An edition of Slje Pallas JHonrintj
DentonRC.com
Thursday, May 18, 2017
One dollar
Vol. 113, No. 289 / 22 pages, 4 sections
Denton, Texas
City charter changes may be coming
council service, qualifications and
terms, including recommending that
council members be paid a stipend for
the first time.
Committee chairman Joe Mulroy
said he was happy that, for the most
part, the 21-member committee agreed
unanimously on its recommendations.
Because the committee is standing
in for the community, “it’s really impor-
tant for the council to take our recom-
mendations as a whole,” Mulroy said.
A city charter is set up like a consti-
tution for local government. The coun-
cil gets its authority to write local rules,
or ordinances, from the charter. The
charter and its provisions begin and
end with Denton voters.
This latest charter review began
soon after outgoing council member
Kathleen Wazny pressed for ethics re-
forms. Wazny proposed a new ordi-
nance, but former City Attorney Anita
Burgess recommended the city charter
be changed before tackling any ethics
reforms with new ordinances.
In approving the original charter in
1959, Denton voters agreed to a provi-
sion that kept local ethics rules in line
with current state law. Some critics say
Texas state ethics laws are too lax, pro-
viding for criminal penalties in the most
egregious circumstances but little else.
Burgess said if the committee tried
to write new rules that prohibit an ac-
tion that is permitted under state law, or
demand more transparency and disclo-
sure than is required by state law, the
committee agreed those two items
didn’t need to be in the charter itself. In-
Other legal experts disagreed with stead, they agreed to make a separate
that assessment, including an attorney report of recommended items in a new
who advised the charter review com- ethics ordinance. Both those items —
mittee earlier this year.
All of the committee’s recommenda-
city’s ethics ordinance could be chal-
lenged in court.
Review committee to
send recommendations
to Denton City Council
an independent review body and appli-
cability to employees — were recom-
By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
Staff Writer
pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com
The city’s charter review committee
finished its work Wednesday night and
will send its recommendations on to the
Denton City Council.
The committee met monthly for the
past six months and considered seven
questions from the council about the
city’s charter. The committee spent
most of its time on ethics reforms. It al-
so addressed other questions over
tions received unanimous support from mended,
the group, except for ethics reforms.
Committee member David Zoltner said No Changes for SOITie
he wanted the charter amendment for
On two of the questions over council
ethics reform to include two items: Re- composition and term limits, commit-
quire the City Council to appoint an in- tee members recommended no chang-
dependent body to review ethics com- es. They considered, but ultimately re-
plaints and require employees to com- jected, a proposal that the city be re-
drawn into six separate districts, with
In the end, he couldn’t get enough council members from each district and
votes from other committee members -
ply with the same rules.
to make the change. The maj ority of the See CH ARTER on 5 A
Mueller
to lead
election
probe
TODAY
IN DENTON
Honoring officers
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High: 90
Low: 71
Three-day forecast, 2A
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STATE
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New special counsel to
eye any connections
between Trump, Russia
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By Eric Tucker and Sadie Gurman
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Justice De-
partment on Wednesday appointed for-
mer FBI Director Robert Mueller as a spe-
cial counsel to oversee a federal investiga-
tion into potential coordination between
Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign
during the 2016 presidential election.
“I accept tins responsibility and will
discharge it to the best of my ability,”
Mueller said in a brief statement.
In a statement released by the White
House, Trump said: “As I have stated
many times, a thorough investigation will
confirm what we already know — there
was no collusion between my campaign
and any foreign entity. I look forward to
this matter concluding quickly”
The appointment gives Mueller, who
led the FBI through the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks and served under presidential ad-
ministrations of both parties, sweeping
powers to investigate whether Trump
campaign associates colluded with the
Kremlin to influence the outcome in his
behalf, as well as the authority to prose-
cute any crimes uncovered during the
probe.
The broad mandate, beyond any spe-
cific Trump-Russia connection, also cov-
ers “any matters that arose or may arise di-
rectly from the investigation” —
V
k
A new federal lawsuit
against Baylor University
alleges football players
routinely recorded gang-
rapes and staged dog-
fights during hazing par-
ties in a program that
fostered sexual violence.
Page 3A
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TOP: Guests pay their respects to
fallen officers who died in the line
of duty, at the 21st annual Denton
County Fallen Officers Memorial
ceremony at the county “memori-
al island” on Wednesday in Den-
ton. The event honors officers
killed in the line of duty since
1897. The most recent officer
honored was Little Elm police
Detective Jerry Walker, who was
shot and killed by a gunman dur-
ing a standoff in January.
LEFT: Little Elm Police Chief Rod-
ney Harrison composes himself as
he speaks in front of the audience
during the Denton County Fallen
Officers Memorial ceremony.
INTERNATIONAL
4
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When Donald Trump
was elected president,
Israeli nationalists re-
joiced that a reputed
strong ally would be
moving into the White
House. But as Trump
prepares to visit the
region this weekend,
apprehension reigns
instead.
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Photos by Jeff Woo/DRC
Page 6A
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LOCAL
See MUELLER on 5A
Amazon.com has picked
Denton-based Sally
Beauty to be its local
partner in its Prime Now
one-hour and two-hour
delivery service in North
Texas.
Ponder pair put own twist on farmers market
market to them.”
Since 2014, the Copps have gained
more than 1,000 clients. Their delivery
routes span a 25- to 30-mile radius across
Denton County.
The farm operation stays mostly in the
family. Two of the Copps’ three children
help run the farm — from picking and
washing the produce to making deliveries.
“I love that my kids can be with us in
this business,” Kassandra Copp said. “We
wanted to build something we could all do
together.”
Keith Copp comes from a farming
background. “We were wheat farmers
growing up and had nothing to do with
vegetables, but the knack of getting your
hands dirty in the dirt came natural to us,”
he said.
By Madison Wilson
Staff Writer
PONDER — Keith and Kassandra
Copp saw the rise of the locally grown food
movement in Denton County and had an
idea to become part of it.
In 2014, when the couple’s produce re-
tail store Garden Ridge Farmers Market
closed in Lewisville because of the Inter-
state 35E expansion project, the Copps
had another idea ready to go. They
launched a business, Harvest to House,
that delivers fruits and vegetables grown
on their 400-acre farm in Ponder they call
D-bar Farms to the homes of their clients.
“People have busy lives, so that’s where
the delivery part came from,” Kassandra
Copp said. “People are busy on the week-
ends. They have to go to their kids’ games
on Saturdays, but they still wrant fresh
food. We wanted to bring the farmers
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Jake King/DRC
Kassandra and Keith Copp pose for a photo outside their greenhouses at D-bar
Farms in Ponder on Wednesday.
5
See FARMERS on 5A
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 289, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 18, 2017, newspaper, May 18, 2017; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1131786/m1/1/: accessed June 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .