City Manager Dale Fisseler will make the decision.  All indications are he will announce it first to the city council.  The next meeting is Tuesday.

Fort Worth launched a nationwide search and flew in candidates from around the country.

The betting within the department is that acting Chief Patricia Kneblick will get the permanent gig. She was one of the finalists.  She would be the first woman police chief in Fort Worth, and one of the few big-city woman chiefs in the country.

But Fisseler is tight-lipped on his decision-making process.

The new chief will replace Ralph Mendoza, who retired.

Check it out. http://www.google.com/search2001.html

One of those people is Truman Duncan of Cleburne.

His father and grandfather were railroad engineers.  As a boy, he dreamed of working on the railroad.

So it was no surprise when Duncan got a job at Greenbrier Rail Services in Cleburne, repairing and refurbishing trains.

But three years ago, he was in a terrible accident.  He slipped while he was trying to connect two train cars.

One of the big wheels on the 20,000-pound rail car cut off his legs and part of his pelvis.

Incredibly, he was able to make his own cell phone call to 911.

“I think I’m cut in two,” he told the 911 operator.  While waiting for rescue workers, he asked co-workers to get him a cigarette and a cup of water.

Below is a photo from the Cleburne Fire Department showing his actual rescue.

Doctors say it’s a miracle Duncan survived. But he did.

He was in such bad shape when he arrived at the hospital, his family didn’t think he would make it.  His 17-year-old son Trey said goodbye to him.

Duncan spent 4 months and one day in a Fort Worth hospital.  He underwent 23 surgeries.

He’s now confined to a wheelchair, but he hardly lets it rule his life.

He still mows his own yard, plays football, swims, and recently built a patio deck in back of his home.

He has the best attitude, a philosophy of life that somehow got him over such huge medical hurdles.

He’s now back at work, doing a desk job, at the same rail yard where the accident happened.  His boss jokes that he keeps asking for more work.

It’s a pleasure to help tell Truman’s story. 

He is an inspiration.

Here they are, in alphabetical order, as in the official city release:

–Steve Chaney.  Assistant police chief in Arlington since 2007.  Formerly superintendent for the Maryland Natural Resources Police and supervisor for Maryland State Police.

–Joseph Costa. Dallas County assistant deputy sheriff since 2005. Formerly an investigator for the State of Texas Lottery Commission.  He began his law enforcement career in 1978 as a patrol officer for the Massachusetts State Police.

 –Jeffrey Halstead. Police commander, Phoenix Homeland Defense Bureau.  He started his law enforcement career in 1988 as an officer.

–Patricia Kneblick.  Named interim Fort Worth police chief on March 1, 2008 to replace the retired Ralph Mendoza.  A 26-year veteran of the Fort Worth Police Department.

 –Donnie Marshall.  President and general manager of OMNISEC International Investigations Inc.  Formerly with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

 –George Turner. - Atlanta Police deputy chief.  He was a shift commander for the 1996 Olympic Games.

Southwest warns additional cancellations may be necessary.

The airline has already canceled flights to Houston Hobby, Harlingen, and Corpus Christi.

Another smackdown for the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch and its attempts to rid the city of illegal immigrants…

A federal judge in Dallas on Friday issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the city from implementing the latest version of its illegal immigration crackdown.

The order came just hours before the law was to take effect at midnight.

Farmers Branch Mayor Tim O’Hare says the city has now spent nearly $1 million in legal fees defending the ordinance, which has never been implemented.  It would require landlords and apartment managers to verify whether residents are in the United States legally.

U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay has minced no words in his rulings, essentially saying federal immigration law is the business of the federal government — not individual cities.

Mayor O’Hare, who was elected largely on a platform of cracking down on illegal immigrants and economic revitalization, has said the city will appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

Looks like we could have a very wet weekend.

The latest track (see National Weather Service map below) has the remnants of Hurricane Ike heading straight for North Texas.

It certainly won’t be a hurricane this far inland, but it could still be a tropical storm, packing heavy winds and mega rain.

They’re starting a “pilot project” using people convicted of “minor crimes” to clean cages, sanitize trucks and do other jobs.

According to a memo to city council members, “Participants will be kept out of sensitive areas at the shelter and will not be in direct contact with the animals.”

The workers will come from the Tarrant County Sheriff’s labor detail.

One of the drawbacks, according to the memo, is that “close, direct supervision is constantly required.”

The Fort Wort Parks Department and the Humane Society of North Texas already use inmate labor.

A “meet and greet” for top city officials has been set up for September 23rd at the Will Rogers Memorial Center.

No word yet on how many candidates there will be or who they are.  A City Hall staffer tells me the recruitment company hired by the city still hasn’t revealed the names of the hopefuls, even to the city.

Interim Chief Patricia Kneblick has been acting chief since Ralph Mendoza retired.  She is a candidate for the permanent job.

Ironically, he shares the same birthday — but not the same age — as his wife Rosie.

His staff joked that they were getting him an AARP card!