Five stories that have North Texas talking: A memorable summer evening for Texas teen sprayed by skunk; income inequality persists in Texas; Selena Gomez had a kidney transplant; and more.
When you and your buddies get stopped by a local game warden, you want to be wearing something more than a “trucker hat, boots and some brightly colored underwear.”
But life doesn’t always work out the way you had anticipated.
That’s the highlight from the first story in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s latest Field Notes newsletter.
Last month, three teenagers in Rockwall County were driving through neighborhoods in Fate, a small town between Rockwall and Royce City, and shooting rabbits in people’s yards.
Texas Game Warden Joshua Bonney responded to a call from a local patrol officer about the ruckus, and when he arrived on the scene, he found the troublemaking trio standing around a truck with a bed full of dead rabbits. One of the young men, as mentioned, was down to his underwear.
Black boxer briefs with “purple, blue, red — all multicolored dots,” Bonney tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The 16-year-old explained that they had shot a skunk earlier in the evening and when he approached it, the little guy sprayed him. And his friends wouldn’t let him back in the truck with his clothes on.
The game warden cited the 17-year-old for hunting from a public road, a Class C misdemeanor, the Star-Telegram reports, and let the other two, both 16, off with a warning. [Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Fort Worth Star-Telegram]
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- In 2016, household incomes for white ($70,131) and Asian Texans ($82,081) surpassed the state’s average of 56,565, according to U.S. Census estimates. For black and Hispanic households, median household incomes didn’t cross the $45,000 line. [The Texas Tribune]
- A 30-year-old state law requires high schools to hand out voter registration applications to eligible students twice every school year. But only 6 percent of schools in Texas are asking the state for registration forms. [KUT]
- Grand Prairie native Selena Gomez on Thursday revealed to her fans that she has been recovering from a kidney transplant. Actress Francia Raisa donated her kidney to Gomez, who has Lupus. See her post on Instagram. [KERA News]
- Ever since a downright freaky sea creature washed up on Texas City’s shores, everyone’s been trying to identify it. The best guesses are a fangtooth snake-eel (Aplatophis chauliodus), Bathyuroconger vicinus or Xenomystax congroides. [The Washington Post]
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