The engineer who signed off on plans for the Cowboys practice facility that collapsed and seriously injured two team employees three years ago is paying a $12,000 fine to settle faulty design charges from the Texas Board of Professional Engineers.

Enrique Tabak and the board agreed on the penalty last August, and the Canadian engineer has been making quarterly payments that are due to end in June, records show.

Cowboys special teams coach Joe DeCamillis suffered a broken vertebrae and scout Rich Behm was paralyzed from the waist down when the tent-like structure fell during a wind storm in May 2009.

The board’s executive director says the fine is “significant.” An attorney for DeCamillis and Behm says it’s woefully inadequate in light of what occurred.

Cowboys QB Tony Romo is getting ready for the 2012 season, and he is doing it with the help of Starter!

Romo recently did a photo shoot for Starter, wearing new Starter performance gear doing a series of athletic drills, which included weight and tire lifting, passing drills, footwork drills and more.

Don’t forget, Starter is available exclusively at Walmart.

Commenting on the brand, Romo stated: “Starter is something that I wear all the time when I’m working out. It’s high quality product that comes at an affordable price.”

Hey guys – won’t it be great to tell your lady that you could have a chance to win a year’s supply of groceries? Our friends at Ball Park are running a Facebook contest, asking fans to share a photo or video showcasing a funny/crazy example of “something only a guy would do” to win BIG.

To enter, follow this link: http://on.fb.me/GreatMomentsInGuyTime

So if you have a photo/video of a great tailgating moment, showing your team pride at the stadium, or just celebrating great times with your buddies, enter now for a chance to win a year’s supply of groceries. Nine others will win Ball Park grilling packages, complete with a grill and plenty of Ball Park products to keep your summer sizzling.

Jerry Jones said he has no plans to trade cornerback Mike Jenkins despite speculation that Jenkins’ days in Dallas were numbered after the Cowboys traded up in the first round to select Morris Claiborne, the consensus top defensive player in this year’s draft according to Rob Phillips of Dallascowboys.com.

Jones called Jenkins, a 2008 first-round pick who’s entering the final year of his contract, “a vital part of our plan . . . a very critical role in what we want to be defensively.”

“Jenkins is not only this year, but a long-term player here as far as I’m concerned,” Jones said Wednesday at the annual Cowboys Golf Classic in nearby Grapevine.

Jones says having four solid corners is a necessity against today’s influx of spread offenses.

“I think we’ve got the resources to have three top corners, and (Orlando) Scandrick, which in my mind would be a fourth corner,” Jones said. “That area of your money allocation just happens to be an area where if you plan right to get strong at corner and strong with the pass rush, you’re going to spend some money out there.”

Several people familiar with the case said in recent days they thought it was unlikely that Stephen Burbank, the sport’s system arbitrator, would make an immediate ruling.

The hearing is to take place at the University of Pennsylvania law school in Philadelphia. Burbank, who is in charge of resolving disputes arising from the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, is a law professor at the school.

Attorneys are scheduled to argue the case before Burbank without testimony from any witnesses on Thursday, according to several people familiar with the case. One of those people said Thursday’s hearing is likely to focus primarily on jurisdictional issues, specifically whether the Redskins and Cowboys have the right to bring such a case before Burbank given that the league and the NFL Players Association agreed to the salary cap reductions given to the teams.

A person familiar with the matter previously said that the league had asked Burbank to dismiss the case because of that agreement on the cap reductions between the league and the players’ union.

Would you want to see a 55-year-old grandmother be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader?

That was the case last Saturday, as Sharon Simmons, a 55-year-old grandmother of two from Carrollton, Texas, tried out for the exclusive group.

She said in February that she would put in the time to train to be a Cowboys cheerleader.

If selected, she would be the oldest cheerleader in the league, 12 years the elder of the current oldest cheerleader, 43-year-old Laura Vikmanis, who cheers for the Ben-Gals – the Bengals cheerleaders.

Levy Adcock, OT, Oklahoma State

Cole Beasley, WR, SMU

Tim Benford, WR, Tennessee Tech

George Byran, TE, North Carolina State

Taylor Dever, OT, Notre Dame

Lance Dunbar, RB, North Texas

Saalim Hakim, WR, Tarleton St

Adrian Hamilton, DE-OLB, Prarie View

Donavon Kemp, WR, UTEP

Ron Leary, G, Memphis

Tyrone Novikoff, OT, Idaho

Darrell Scott, RB, South Florida

Lionel Smith, CB, Texas A&M

Andrew Szczerba, TE, Penn State

Aston Whiteside, DE, Abilene-Christian

Eddie Whitley, S, Virginia Tech

Troy Woolfork, CB, Michigan

With the 6th overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft the Dallas Cowboys selected CB Morris Claiborne. Dallas needed to improve their secondary, and badly. Claiborne is the best defender in the draft and goes to a defense that will really utilize his skills. He will have the task of covering the best wide outs in the NFC East

Strengths
• Great Athlete
• Good Size
• Great Hands for CB
• Playmaker
• Great Defender
• Great Ball Awareness
• Smart player, and aggressive tackler

Weakness
• Does Miss Tackles
• Must Continue to Get Stronger
• Tends to Hug up on receivers when he is out of position
• Needs to focus more

One of the fan favorites to Cowboys fans over the years is coming back for a day to announce his retirement.

Offensive tackle Marc Colombo signed a ceremonial one-year contract with the Cowboys on Friday to make sure his NFL career ended with the team with which he had the most success with.

“My time here was the majority of my career,” said Colombo, who joined the team in 2005 and was the starting right tackle from 2006-10. “I feel like this place made me the football player I always wanted to be. It’s just an amazing place with an unbelievable owner. To be able to play at other places, you realie there’s nothing like being a Cowboy.”

The Cowboys already knew they were playing in the NFL’s kickoff game Wednesday, Sept. 5, at the New York Giants. The NFL released its full schedule Tuesday night.

They’ll have 10 days between the season opener and their next game, Sept. 16 at Seattle. The first home game is Sept. 23 against Tampa Bay, followed a week later by a Monday night home game against Chicago on Oct. 1.

The bye week is Oct. 7.

The NFC East rival Redskins play at Dallas on Thanksgiving, potentially with Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III from Baylor at quarterback.