Wichita Falls Pundit
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Wichita Falls, Texas: the good, the bad, and the ugly. We're home to the World's Littlest Skyscraper, a six-lane Farm to Market Road that doesn't lead to a farmers market, highway loops that don't loop, and a record for the city of five homicides in one day in 1982. Posts are in reverse chronological order.
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06-15-2025 - From my law enforcement consultant: An attorney - now deceased - drove his client to the city impound facility to pick up the client's vehicles. At the time, the impound facility was on Sunset, just off Seymour Highway. The client was about to exit the lot onto Sunset. The lawyer was close behind. The client stopped suddenly due to traffic on Sunset. The lawyer did not stop. Parts flew everywhere. This particular lawyer was known for a few other antics. He once climbed a tree across the street from the courthouse to avoid an arrest. It didn't work out in his favor.
06-15-2025 - 8:00 AM - The Wichita Falls area Amateur (ham) Radio Skywarn® weather spotters are being activated due to the storms descending from the northwest. High winds are the primary concern. Tune in at 146.940 MHz on your scanner radio. Clay County: 146.800 MHz.
06-15-2025 - From my corrections consultant: A former James V. Allred Unit official decided that all 3,700+ offender mattresses would run through the Unit's X-ray parcel scanners. The idea was to locate contraband. It's a good idea, except for the fact that the mattresses are longer than the X-ray chamber. This little fact means both protective curtains - entry and exit - are open at some point during each X-ray cycle. Guess who's pushing mattresses in and pulling them out during the X-ray cycle? Offenders! They probably didn't have a clue. I won't mention the Allred employee (non-security) who rode through the X-ray scanner one day. That might trigger a retroactive $10,000 OSHA fine! Tune in to Allred Unit operations at 153.815 MHz on your scanner.
FEMA Daily Operations Briefing - National Current Ops / Monitoring – June 14-15, 2025
New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops:
• No new significant incidents / operations
Hazard Monitoring:
• Severe Thunderstorms – Northern to Central Plains
• Heavy Rain/Flash Flooding – Upper to Lower Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley to Mid-Atlantic
• Tropical Activity
Eastern Pacific:
• Tropical Storm Dalila
• Disturbance 1: Medium (60%)
Disaster Declaration Activity:
• No new declaration activity
Event Monitoring:
• No new significant events
COMING: - 06-18-2025 - International Space Station over Wichita Falls - Time: Wed, June 18, 5:17 AM, Visible: 5 min, Max Height: 31°, Appears: 14° above S, Disappears: 10° above ENE. Listen on 145.800 & 437.800 MHz for possible Amateur (ham) Radio communications.
COMING: - International Space Station School Contact with Youth On The Air 2025, Denver, Colorado, direct via WØY (Nichole Ayers KJ5GWI) Contact is go for Option #1: Thu 2025-06-19 17:32:06 UTC 54 deg. Listen for the ISS side of the contact on your scanner radio at 145.800 MHz......................................................................................................
07-23-2023 - From my law enforcement consultant - An attorney - now deceased - drove his client to the city impound facility to pick up the client's vehicles. This was when the facility was on Sunset, just off Seymour Hwy. The client was about to exit the lot onto Sunset. The lawyer was close behind. The client stopped suddenly due to traffic on Sunset. The lawyer did not stop. Parts flew everywhere. This particular lawyer was known for a few other antics. He once climbed a tree, across the street from the courthouse, in an attempt to avoid an arrest. It didn't work out in his favor.
06-15-2025 - 6:30 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 99.8% Kemp: 100% Kickapoo: 100%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 99.9% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (99.9%) to determine drought stage.
06-15-2025 - 6:30 AM - ERCOT (Texas) snapshot of grid conditions - ERCOT reports that conditions are normal and there is enough power for current demand with an operating reserve of 11,681 Megawatts.
06-15-205 - 6:30 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 4pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 91. Heat index values as high as 98. Southeast wind 7 to 9 mph becoming north northwest in the afternoon. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Tonight: A 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 7pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. Southeast wind 7 to 9 mph.
06-15-2025 - 6:15 AM - Good Morning! It's Sunday. For you Ham Radio people, it's Simplex Sunday, a day to give those repeaters a rest and use simplex instead. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
06-14-2025 - From my law enforcement consultant comes the story of a WFPD patrol car with a defective public address (PA) system. When you turned it on, it emitted a high-pitched squeal. The higher you raised the volume, the more annoying it became. It wasn't very usable as a PA but was accidentally found to drive dogs crazy. Some dogs would seemingly writhe in pain, while some would chase the car with a vengeance. One hound was so focused on the car that it ran into a tree. It was rumored that officers left a note in the car asking other shifts not to have it repaired. At least not for a few more days.
06-14-2025 - In 1969 or so, while still in high school, I attended a lecture by rocket scientist Wernher von Braun at what was then Midwestern University here in Wichita Falls. It didn't become Midwestern State University until 1975. I don't remember much about his talk, but I do remember him saying that he didn't know if Texas was a state or a state of mind. At a young age, I didn't know what to think about that. Now, in my old age, I still don't.