crowds and aircraft at a house dividedback in gear may be...

INSIDEBIKING, AND

LIVING, STRONG:No shame ingetting passed byLance. Rivard, 3B

WHAT ABOUTEVERYONE ELSE?:Check out a fulllist of the times.Sports, 15CSee ARMSTRONG’S/10B

corner. All of that adoration caught

Armstrong by surprise, espe-cially on the homestretch ofthe 16-mile time trial race. Ashe passed Crossing 1, cowbellsclanked, yellow Tour deFrance flags shook violentlyin the air, and seemingly ev-eryone yelped and cheered inunison.

“I wasn’t really sure what

Lance Armstrong seeming-ly disappeared into a swarmof fans that engulfed him andhis bike at the start of the25th annual Tour de Grueneon Saturday.

Hundreds of fans swooned.They waived signs that saidthings like “Go Lance! Win!”and “Go Lance #1.” Camerasand phones flashed at every

Armstrong takes off at the starting line on his way to a time of 33:14 and a victory in the 16-mile race.

PHOTOS BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eornelas@express-news.net

GETTINGBACK IN GEAR

Armstrong triumphantly returns to cycling in GrueneBY BRYAN CHUbchu@express-news.net

mySA.comKeyword:SlideshowCheck out thecrowds andaircraft atAirFest 2008.

Antonio salute to the military,said they noticed the show wasdown a plane, but were unfazedby the absence. Jet number fourwas clearly missing from theteam’s formations.

Mario and Sylvia Perez said

An afternoon performance bythe Navy’s Blue Angels was acrowd-pleaser even though thesix-jet squadron flew only fiveplanes Saturday, after two teammembers were removed from du-

ty last week.The team members, including

one pilot, were removed from du-ty Oct. 26 after allegations of aninappropriate relationship, BlueAngels spokesman Marine Capt.Tyson Dunkelberger confirmed.

Several spectators at the Air-Fest 2008, part of a weeklong San

A I R F E ST 2 0 0 8 | P L A N E M I S S I N G F R O M FA M E D B L U E A N G E L S F O R M AT I O N

2 TEAM MEMBERS BOOTED FROM SQUADThe Navy’s BlueAngels — downone plane — fly

in a five-jetformation. A pilotand another team

member wererelieved of their

duties afterallegations of an

inappropriaterelationship.

KIN MAN HUI/kmhui@express-news.net

Disciplinary action doesn’t curb crowd’s aweBY LINDSAY KASTNER lkastner@express-news.net

See TWO BLUE ANGELS/4B

METRO ANDSTATT TAA ENEWS

mySA.com | Keyword: News

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2008 Sect ion B

mySA.com | Keyword: BlogsLife on a scenic Hill Country ranch ischronicled in the Ranchwoman.

Trish DeBerry is a de-cent person.

She’s a smart marketingexecutive. And, in an arenafilled with snake oil hawk-ers, she’s the rare politicalconsultant who at leastkeeps her conscience onspeed dial.

But the timing of her po-tential bid for mayor of SanAntonio is troubling.

It has been no secret thatsectors of the business com-munity have been desperateto find someone not namedJulián Castro or Diane Ci-brian to succeed term-limit-ed Mayor Phil Hardbergerin 2009.

The trail of false starts islong.

Gordon Hartman, the for-mer homebuilder, floated

his name. But he wasdeemed to not have enoughcrossover appeal beyond theNorth Side.

John Montford, the influ-ential AT&T executive andformer state senator, waswooed but never took thebait.

Fernando Reyes, theToyota supplier whose fledg-ling candidacy gathered the

Are businesseslooking for thebest candidate?

See CASTILLO/4B

JAIME CASTILLO

AUSTIN — One of themore tantalizing possibilitiesin Tuesday’s elections is theprospect of Texas voterselecting 75 Republicans and75 Democrats to the House ofRepresentatives.

It would force both sides tomake nice with each otherand share leadership in theoften-raucous chamber. Dem-ocrats would have to gainfour seats to create such aleadership deadlock.

“The results of next Tues-

day will be the barometer ofhow much fighting there willbe or how prolonged thestruggle will be going intothe session (starting in Janu-ary),” state Rep. Rob Eissler,R-The Woodlands, said.

“It’s going to be crazy,”state Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said of a possi-ble tie.

Members choose theHouse speaker at the start ofeach legislative session.

A tie, which has neverhappened before in the TexasHouse, would inevitably leadto a power-sharing arrange-

See HOUSE/4B

If Dems gain 4 seats,representatives wouldbe split 75-75, settingoff power struggle.

BY GARY SCHARRER gscharrer@express-news.net

mySA.comKeyword: PoliticsFollow local, state

and national coverage.

A House dividedmay be formula for capital drama

Sunshine spilled into JudgeJoe Frazier Brown’s courtroomWednesday morning, a seem-ingly perfect setting for whatcaseworker Yesenia Morenocalls a happy ending to a long,hard road. As she drove fromher office at Child ProtectiveServices on the South East

Side to the courthouse down-town, Moreno couldn’t help butsmile.

Adoption days are her favor-ite — the judges are in a goodmood, everyone is happy, andchildren who have knownnothing but a lifetime of insta-bility will finally find a home.

Foster children are adoptedin Bexar County courtroomsnearly every day of the year.

The adoption process usuallytakes wading through moun-tains of documents andmonths of tedious preparation,but in the end, the children get“forever families” — the termstate workers use for adoptivefamilies, signifying the perma-nence of the relationship.

Those new families are of-

Caseworker helps foster kids get home — foreverFOREVERFAMILIES

During the month of November— National Adoption Month —the Express-News will share thestories of children waiting for“forever families” eachWednesday and Sunday in theMetro section.

BY NANCY MARTINEZ nmartinez@express-news.net

See CHILD/10B

ELECTION

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Lance Armstrong warms up before theTour de Gruene Bicycle Classic.