Alleged Car Race Ends in Crash

Updated: Wednesday, 28 Oct 2009, 7:36 AM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 28 Oct 2009, 7:36 AM CDT

HOUSTON - A driver is removed from a car that is almost broken into two sections after crashing into a tree in northwest Houston.

Investigators say that at approximately 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, two drivers were racing their cars southbound on West T.C. Jester Boulevard at very high rates of speed when the Cadillac bumped a curb and crashed into a utility pole causing the driver to lose control of the car. The Cadillac slid into a grassy area and moved in circles until crashing into a tree while in reverse.

The driver was stuck in the Cadillac and had to be rescued, but was taken by ambulance to a hospital in stable condition.

Investigators say the driver of the other car involved in the race refused to stop.

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Local experimental aircraft group: Balloon boy details didn't add up

07:59 AM CDT on Monday, October 19, 2009
By Hayley Kappes / The Daily News
GALVESTON, Texas—As news spread Thursday of the 6-year-old Colorado boy who authorities believed was carried away by an uncontrollable Mylar helium balloon, George Gould thought details about the incident didn’t add up.

Gould, president of Galveston County’s Experimental Aircraft Association chapter, has operated helium balloons similar to the one involved in last week’s incident and said they can only carry 20 pounds at most.

Sheriff’s officials in Larimer County, Colo., said Sunday that last week’s incident was a hoax carried out by the boy’s parents in order to gain exposure for a television show, according to The Associated Press.

“I was pretty skeptical that anyone could be in that balloon,” Gould said. “That balloon wouldn’t have been able to pick him up off the ground.”

Gould worked in a weather observation office at Scholes International Airport in Galveston, where he would launch weather balloons 3 feet in diameter to determine wind speed and direction.

Altimeters, barometers and GPS devices can be placed in the balloons to transmit atmospheric information, Gould said. Mylar, a strong polyester film as thick as a trash bag, is reflective enough that radars can detect it, Gould said.

Mylar helium balloons also are commonly used by “amateur scientists as more or less a play balloon,” Gould said.