Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 25

A NEWS FROM THE METROPLEX AND TEXAS Arlington Region DallasState 5B Obituaries 7-9B Opinions 10-11B Thursday March 27 2003 WWWSTAR-TELEGRAMCOM ELECTIONS 2003 Forum focuses on budget issues! Voting facts Early voting for the May 3 city and school board elections begins April 16 Voter regis- tration forms are available at Arlington libraries and in the city secretary's office in City Hall 101 Abram St Residents must register to vote no later than April 3 For information about voter registration or polling places access wwwciarlingtontxus and click on "May 3 2003 general election" or call the city secretary at (817) 459-6186 ton has been host of the forum for more than 30 years Candidates focused on impending budget deficits the city is facing a $10 million shortfall in the coming fiscal year and the school district faces a similar crisis Several candidates also said one of most pressing problems is a lack of trust and confidence in More on FORUM on 6B By SALLY CLAUNCH and TAYLOR RUSHING STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITERS ARLINGTON Ailing city and school budgets dominated inaugural candidate forum Wednesday as 19 candidates squared off in a gentle discussion marked more by agreement than disagreement Fifteen candidates for the City Fifteen candidates for the City Council and four for the school board offered few fireworks in the first major candidate forum of the election season Council and four for the school board sparred lightly before an audience of about 80 at the Wynd-ham Hotel Young Men for Arling Young fans take a liking to the new mascot who works closely with a student from Trinity High School Today CareFlite dodges strike with pilot deal STAR-TELEGRAM i Air ambulance company CareFlite reached a tentative contract with its pilots Wednesday night averting a strike for at least another week A cooling-off period was to expire Wednesday at midnight which would have allowed about 20 pilots to walk off their jobs Instead their negotiating team agreed to continue business as usual and present final offer to pilots by April 4 Paul Bohelski of the Office and Professional Employees International Union said the union would not recommend approval of deal CareFlite President Ed Majors said he expected pilots to ratify the contract Neither negotiators would provide details The CareFlite pilots have been seeking a contract since September 2001 when they unanimously voted to join the union Maria Perotin DALLAS Council passes ban on panhandling The City Council amends a new panhandling ordinance to allow firefighters one last fund-raising effort on city streets Story on 5B Cowboys stadium plan wins 1st round Legislation to allow cr public financing of a new Cowboys stadium is approved by a state Senate committee By JOHN MORITZ STAR-TELEGRAM AUSTIN BUREAU AUSTIN With the aid of a razj zle-dazzle computer-generatecj video the Cowboys on Wednesday cleared the first legislative hurdle bu their effort to build a $1 billion sportsj and entertainment complex in Dallas County The Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee voted 4-0 to send to the full Senate legislation that would allow Dallas County voters to decide whether they want to finance the project by raising taxes on hotel rooms and rented automobiles State Sen Royce West D-Dallas who is carrying the legislation said the project would not only provide the Cowboys with a world-class football facility it would allow the region to host the Super Bowl and other events that attract international attention and commerce More on STADIUM on 5B STAR-TELEGRAMR JEENA JACOB The new Rangers mascot Rangers Captain basks in the attention Wednesday at The Ballpark in Arlington and throws hats to Berry Elementary students At left Sarah Cook a third-grader tries on her hat THE MANE MAN loway 11 a Berry Elementary School fifth-grader who saw the mascot during its recent school visit is way better This is like the Arlington Mayor Elzie Odom made it official swearing in Rangers Captain in a ceremony at home plate at The Ballpark in Arlington The new mascot is the vision of More on MASCOT on 7B a cross between Trigger Silver and Quick Draw Chuck Morgan Rangers official mascot discounting a brief amateur reign of Yosemite Sam look-alike in the early 1980s think this is the funniest thing I ever said Matthew Hol By SHIRLEY JINK3NS STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER ARLINGTON Approving cheers erupted from an audience of grade-school students Wednesday morning when the Rangers ballclub trotted out its new mascot a handsome 6-foot 6-inch palomino horse character named Rangers Captain It was the sweet sound of acceptance for the first official UT-Dallas hires engineering dean The nivers ityofTexasat Dallas appoints a new engineering dean who will be the highest-paid full-time employee university officials say His $285000 salary will be more than that of the UT-Dallas president Story on 5B BUI) KENNEDY favor is reward A knock on the door is always scary for the family of a Marine in Iraq But sometimes just a thank you from NBC Story on 3B OPINIONS War news be sanitized Everyone has a different tolerance level for grim realities But the media do no favors if they hide the ugly side of battle i Gary I Iardee column on 11B i the sports zone new catcher is catching up Arlington High School softball player Kelly Hall who has played eight positions is making the adjustment to catcher this season Story on 18D caters for fast crowd Super thrills at Six Flags ride debut Alex Perez 13 of Fort Worth und his sister Samantha 17 with their father Robert right scream on takeoff of the new Superman Tower of Power ride at Six Flags Over Texas The 325-foot-tall ride which was previewed Wednesday opens to the public Saturday STORY ON 2B STAR TLLEGRAMPAUL MOSELEY With Winston Cup Series race approaching Texas Motor Speedway has swelled its own city stocked to the gills with essential race goods By JOSH SHAFFER START ELEGRAM STAFF WRITE To understand the bliss of Texas Motor Speedway to realize the mighty labor that goes into entertain-l ing its happy sunburned crowd look! only to James Smith reposing in his lawn chair with a cold Busch Light) between his knees 1 Iis tent occupies just one of 8000 camp sites full of battered pickups! and motor homes large enough to have their own ZIP codes their wind- shields spray-painted with slogans such as "Number 8 you go boy!" Should Smith get hungry the! speedway sells enough hot dogs inj one year to form a 9-milc chains Should he get sweaty he can pop! inside one of 102 shower stalls And should nature call he has his pick ou restrooms 1633 for women and 817 Mote on NASCAR on OB Old mall aims to carve out new niche Tomorrow Muriachi bands in high schools restaurants weddings and scores of other venues in the United States are promoting the music far beyond its original Mexican audience In Arlington Region Owners of an aging mall take a gamble and focus on the fast-growing Hispanic population as high schools converted to offices and even subdivided into condominiums and apartments difficult for them to do is maintain a retail presence and identity Festival International Bazaar never particulaily successful even early in its life lias gone through a woeful variety of changes including losing most of its anchor stores Clearly not done yet and in fact might he on the cusp of re-emergence as a retail force Mori1 on CAR I I on 6H Reinvcntion tends to come hard for aging shopping malls and certainly been cruelly true for Festival International Bazaar in Arlington originally created 32 years ago as the futuristic 850000-square-feet Forum 303 Mall Across the country such down-on-their-luck malls are sometimes flattened recycled To help you quickly navigate the Star- Telegram look tor summaries with our longer stories Each summary begins with a topic label In white type on a black bar OK Carter COMMI'N I HY Serving Arlington Dalworthinglon Gardens Grand Prairie Kennedale Mansfield Pantego r- a 'Win nifiT.