By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-980306.mp3
Dallas, TX – Collin County confirms Monday night's death of Assistant Football Coach Wade McLain was heat related - the County's first this summer. McLain also had a heart ailment. In Dallas County, at least a dozen deaths are tied to the extreme heat. Dallas Officials urge those in distress to seek a more comfortable environment, like cooling shelters. KERA's Bill Zeeble has more.
Some people with fans or an air conditioner worry they can't afford them. Will Pelt found another daytime option. For the past few days in the searing 100-plus degree weather, he's cooled off at the Martin Luther King Center near Fair Park.
Will Pelt: This heat is severe and we shouldn't be in it. If you're running air at your house, the bill just skyrockets. I wouldn't be able to afford it, so this is the better choice.
Dallas runs two cooling rooms, this one at the MLK Center, and another in the Multipurpose Center on Fish Trap Road in West Dallas. Besides Will Pelt, about a dozen others share MLK's "beat the heat" room.
Donny Jackson: I came here today about 9:30, 10:00 this morning.
Donny Jackson is here with several other buddies, all of whom are homeless.
Jackson: I know most of them. If you notice, most of them are just laid back, just chillin.' Got a nice movie on. No problem. I've enjoyed it. Some people come by to feed us lunch. Right now I'm about ready to go to sleep.
The center offers free bottled water, crackers, and the film Rush Hour II.
Jackson says if not for this place - what he calls his safe house - he'd be out on the street. Even in the shade, he says it's above 100.