Keep on truckin’

Booming Fort Worth neighbor hauls in top spot among growing U.S. cities in 2021

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There's no place more festive at the holidays.

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A new study confirms that Dallas-Fort Worth was a powerful magnet for new residents in 2021 — and one neighbor ranks especially high on the list.

The recently released U-Haul Growth Index puts Grapevine at No. 15 among the U.S. cities last year with the most inbound moves via U-Haul trucks.

Behind it, Richardson lands at No. 22, and Carrollton ranks No. 25.

All three cities have become hot destinations, with growing scenes for food, retail, and family attractions; Grapevine is even known as the "Christmas Capital of Texas."

Elsewhere in Texas, Bryan-College Station lands at No. 7, and Austin comes in at No. 16.

Texas destinations represented one-fifth of U-Haul’s top 25. In fact, Texas leads U-Haul’s list of the top growth states in 2021, based on moving activity.

Texas topped the U-Haul rankings in 2016, 2017, and 2018, but sat at No. 2 behind Florida in 2019 and at No. 2 behind Tennessee in 2020.

“The Texas economy is growing fast,” Kristina Ramos, president of U-Haul Co. of South Austin, says in a news release. “With a strong job market and low cost of living, it’s a no-brainer. Texas doesn’t have an income tax, so families get more for their money.”

Across Texas, arrivals of one-way U-Haul trucks jumped 19 percent in 2021 compared with the previous year, while departures rose 18 percent over 2020. Arrivals made up 50.2 percent of all one-way U-Haul traffic last year in Texas.

U-Haul points out that while its migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the U-Haul Growth Index is an “effective gauge” of how well cities are doing at attracting and keeping residents.

Matt Merrill, U-Haul’s district vice president for Dallas Fort-Worth and West Texas, says many of Texas’ inbound movers are coming from the East and West coasts, particularly California and New York.

“We also see a lot of people coming in from the Chicago markets,” Merrill says. “I think that’s a lot due to the job growth — a lot of opportunity here. The cost of living here is much lower than those areas. Texas is open for business.”

Kissimmee-St. Cloud, Florida, near Orlando, grabbed the No. 1 spot this year.

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Death Penalty

Tarrant County man gets death for murder of convenience store owner

Tarrant County Sheriff's Office

Christopher Turner

A man received the death penalty for his 2020 cold-blooded execution of a convenience store owner.

According to a release from the office of Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells, a Tarrant County jury sentenced Christopher Karon Turner, 48, to death on November 20 for executing convenience store owner Anwar Ali during a robbery. Tarrant County Assistant District Attorneys Charles Boulware and Allenna Bangs represented the state.

On March 27, 2020, at around 6:15 am, Turner, a convicted felon, wore a surgical mask and a glove and entered the Super Big Country Mart in an unincorporated area of Tarrant County south of Fort Worth. There, he held a gun to the back of Anwar Ali, the 62-year-old store owner, and walked him through the store.

Ali did everything Turner demanded, including opening the cash register to give him money. And yet Turner forced Ali into the bathroom and onto his knees, and shot him in the neck. Ali was discovered, dead in the bathroom, about an hour later.

Turner fled the store in Ali's Toyota minivan with the money from the register and Ali's wallet. In the van, he found more than $50,000 cash in a black bag. Over the next few days, Turner went on a shopping spree, buying cars, jewelry, drugs, clothes, and more. He and others used cash and a credit card that belonged to Ali.

Turner fled to Colorado where U.S. Marshals arrested him. On his body they found a firearm which was determined to be the murder weapon.

"This was a premeditated, cold-blooded murder," Boulware told the jury. "From the moment he was charged with this crime, he has tried to escape responsibility."

Bangs noted that before this trial began, Turner obtained the names of jurors and their telephone numbers, and gave them to an inmate charged with murder. At the trial on November 20, as Bangs addressed the jury, Turner tried to hold up a sign to the jury but was handcuffed by Sheriff's deputies who removed him from the courtroom, while he yelled out "she lied."

Ali came to the United States from Pakistan decades ago to pursue the American dream. Ali's son, Hussein, spoke in the courtroom after the death penalty was announced. "Thank you for giving us justice," Ali said. "I hope there are no more devils like this person."