Organizers of a large, one-day free health clinic that will be held in Dallas on Sep. 29 are urging Texas residents without insurance to register as soon as possible for appointments.

The clinic will be held at the Dallas Convention Center, Hall A, 650 South Griffin St., and patient appointments will be available between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Patients are encouraged to call 1-800-340-1301 to make appointments. The National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC) is sponsoring the C.A.R.E. (Communities Are Responding Everyday) Clinic in conjunction with the Lone Star Association of Charitable Clinics (LSACC) and the North Texas Association of Charitable Clinics (NTACC). 

“There is a great need for access to medical care in this country,” G. Bobby Kapur, M.D., M.P.H., Baylor College of Medicine, said. ”This free clinic will provide Texans who are uninsured the opportunity to receive preventive, primary medical care and to be connected to the area’s safety-net providers, such as charitable clinics, as well as other available community resources.”

More than 1,000 uninsured people are expected to receive free medical care at the C.A.R.E. Clinic with the help of close to 1,000 volunteers. Both medical and non-medical volunteers are still needed and are encouraged to register now to work at the clinic. Information and volunteer registration are available at: www.nafcclinics.org.

Each patient who attends the C.A.R.E. Clinic will see a medical practitioner for an initial examination. Based on that examination, the patient may receive additional point-of-care testing including: electrocardiogram (EKG), cholesterol blood test, glucose test for diabetes, muscular-skeletal exam, urinalysis, hemoglobin test, pregnancy test and strep test. Patients also may receive additional services including kidney disease testing, mental health counseling and more. There also will be children’s services available including eye exams and glasses, as well as vaccinations.

Free 90-day, mail-order prescriptions will be available through the generosity of RxOutreach. All patients also will receive information on local safety-net providers, such as charitable clinics, and other resources in the area that are available to them.

Further information on the event and how to register to volunteer is available online at: www.nafcclinics.org.

Source: North Texas Association of Charitable Clinics

Amanda Casanova 

An Irving man is facing capital murder charges after a missing Carrollton teenager’s body turned up in Irving.

Franklin B. Davis was charged Sep. 9 with capital murder. Police suspect the 30-year-old killed 16-year-old Shania Gray, according to a media release from the Carrollton Police Department.

Gray was last seen Sep. 6 near Hebron High School in Carrollton. Two days later, her body was found by a cyclist in a wooded area near the Trinity River in Irving.

Police suspect that Davis, who knew Gray through social media networks, had arranged to meet with the teenager on Sep. 6. He then drove her to the Campion Trails Park in Irving and walked with her to a secluded area of the park, police said. He then shot Gray.

Davis was being held in the Carrollton Jail for unrelated traffic warrants when police were investigating the missing teenager from Carrollton, according to a police report.

Physical evidence and interviews with Davis led to the charge, police said.

By Alice Canham

 Irving ISD Athletic Director Joe Barnett admits the timing wasn’t great when he and Marilyn got married.

“It was the beginning of football season,” he said. “I was coaching in Plano; I’d just started. I was at a game on Friday night in Plano, and we drove eight hours to Corpus Christi after that. We had the rehearsal Saturday morning, the wedding Saturday night and the honeymoon Sunday morning. That was Labor Day weekend, so we turned around and then drove back to Plano. My new bride dropped me off at the school, so I could have football practice and then drove to our apartment. She likes to tell people she carried herself across the threshold.”

Yet here they are, 40 years later, still smiling like newlyweds.

It’s a relationship, says Barnett, that seemed to be ordained from their first meeting.

“I was a student at North Texas and she went to TWU,” he said. “She was a nursing student.

“We met at a party. She came with a friend of hers and I was there, and we just started talking. My mother was a nurse, so that got the conversation started. That was all it took. We were married about a year later.”

Marilyn didn’t know that much about sports, but she learned.

“Now she’s probably seen more sporting events than any other woman her age,” said Barnett. And she learned what it meant to be a coach’s wife.

“Our daughter was born in October,” Barnett continued. “And I was coaching. Both of our mothers were in town helping out during the pregnancy. I actually got to the hospital when she was in labor.

“By the time my daughter was a week old, she’d already been to three football games. I feel kind of bad - I never went to any of her birthday parties when she was growing up, because it was always during football season.”

There were other ways Marilyn had to pick up the slack while raising the couple’s two children. (Their son had the good sense to be born near Christmas two years later.)

“I taught her how to use the lawn mower; she mowed the lawn during football season. She kind of took over a lot of stuff.

“I think we have personalities that fit. Both of us just think about the other person first. We were very lucky that we ran into each other - that doesn’t happen all the time. But we worked at it, and we’ve never had any real issues.

“Bless her heart, all the things she did to make it work. The yard, the kids - without her being willing to do that, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Marilyn is now retired after decades in both hospital and public school nursing. Barnett says his wife has taken well to retirement, possibly because they have three granddaughters and a grandson living nearby. She’s also helping care for her elderly mother who recently moved to the area.

What about retirement for Barnett? A ten year veteran of the Irving ISD sports scene, he thought he’d slow down some when he moved from coaching into administration, but he doesn’t really know what the future holds.

“We’re real involved with First United Methodist Church in Coppell where we’ve belonged for 22 years. We have friends here, and this is probably where we’ll stay.

“Marilyn’s been tolerant enough to put up with me so far. I think about it when I see the wives come out and join their husbands on the field after a game. There they are, working to take care of their homes while their husbands are away.

“I think that coaches’ wives are very special.”

The Brent Woodall Foundation for Exceptional Children (BWF) will host its 8th Annual Walkabout for Autism and Fitness Challenge on Sep. 22 at the Andrew Brown Community Park East in Coppell. Registration for the fundraising event begins at 8 a.m. and activities get underway at 9. The Fitness Challenge is new, and personal trainers from Velocity Sports Performance will guide participants throughphysical challenges at stations along the Walkabout Trail for the chance to win prizes.

Kid Zone will include a bounce house, bike rodeo, face painting, and more. Assistant therapists from the BWF will be on hand to help assist children.

Registration for adults is $25 and $10 for children Groups of seven or more can receive a discount. All monies raised go directly to support the programs provided by BWF. To sponsor a walker or a child in need, visit www.woodallkids.org to access the sponsorship form.

The BWF is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization, founded in 2003 by Tracy Pierce Bender in memory of her late husband, Brent Woodall, who was lost in the events of Sep. 11, 2001. The foundation’s mission is to empower parents to encourage their involvement in their children’s therapy by providing educational training, customized academic and behavioral plans, psychological assessments, and modest financial support. The BWF provides Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy and other programs to teach and improve the level of functioning in children with autism. For more information about the BWF, go to www.woodalkids.org.