Abilene News: June 1-15, 1996

6/15 - Conan the Barbarian Creator Remembered in Cross Plains
6/15 - Abilene's Most Wanted BUSTED: Abilene's Most Wanted of the week was arrested shortly after 10 p.m. when his description was aired on the Thursday night news.
...Marcelino Gonzalez, 17, was apprehended in the 2100 block of Merchant on a house burglary warrant from Taylor County, Abilene police Sgt. Garland Wade said.
..."Someone did call, and we did go out and arrest him," said Wade, supervisor of Crime Stoppers. "That just shows you Crime Stoppers is working."
...Gonzalez was in custody at the Taylor County Jail on a $10,000 bond Friday afternoon.
6/14 - Hendrick Home Announces New Family Care Program
6/14 - Seniors Vote for Representatives in Silver-Haired Legislature
6/14 - Convicted Murderer Reindicted: Convicted murderer Marcus Aguero, recently freed on a technicality after spending 10 years in prison, was reindicted for his crime Thursday.
....Hours later, Mason Staggs, whose 1989 shooting of his high school history teacher was overturned on the same legal point, returned to a Taylor County courtroom in an unsuccessful bid to win his own freedom.
....Neither result was a surprise in a pair of cases that are an oddity in the annals of Texas law.
....In each case, the defendants, both 16 at the time of their crimes, were certified to stand trial as adults and convicted - Aguero for the murder of Wylie High senior David Harvey and Staggs for the attempted murder of Rick Maloney.
6/14 - Council OKs Jet Skis: The Abilene City Council on Thursday approved an agreement to allow a jet ski rental business to set up shop on the shores of Lake Fort Phantom Hill.
....Calvin and Keely Abor, owners of C&K Jet-ski Rentals, expect to begin renting the watercrafts at Johnson Park June 22 for $45 per hour.
....The agreement lets the Abors rent and launch between four and 10 jet skis from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day through Sept. 30. The three-person skis will be limited to 55 horsepowers and may be rented only by adults.
....All drivers and passengers must wear life vests. C&K will keep an extra ski in the water for patrol and rescues.
....The fledgling company will pay the city 10 percent of its gross or $100 per month, whichever is greater, to launch its skis from Johnson Park.
6/13 - KNTS Goes Off the Air After 60 Years
6/13 - No Downtown Hotel in City's Near Future
6/12 - Stenholm: Government Just Not Fun Anymore
6/12 - Toddlers Take Pickup for a Short Ride
6/12 (early) - County OK'd for Detention Center: The state has approved Taylor County's request for $1.35 million to build a juvenile detention center.

....The detention center will be long-term and include 36 beds. A possible site for the center is adjacent to the present 22-bed center at 889 S. 25th.
....The money requested is 75 percent of what the state projects the building cost to be, and the other 25 percent and any extra cost will have to be paid by the county, Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Bob Wakefield told county commissioners Tuesday.
....Twenty-five applications were considered by the state, and Taylor County was ranked fifth, he said.
...."The finance authority will put the final approval on the request within 60 days, and we'll be ready to go from there," Wakefield said. "It's really just a formality."
....Texas is funding 12 programs, and Taylor County was one of two to receive the full amount requested, he said.
6/11 - Commissioners to Study Controversial Expo Center Road Expansion
6/11 - Abilenian Leads Fight in Exxon Victory
6/11 - Jet Ski Rental Coming to Lake Fort Phantom
6/11 (early) - Reading Program Starting: More than 100 Abilene elementary students are beginning a new chapter in their educations this summer, thanks to a reading program designed to put them a few pages ahead next school year.

....The Abilene ISD Summer Reading Academy opened its doors for the first time ever Monday morning to 116 pre-kindergarten through fourth-grade students. The program is the result of a $60,685 federal Education 2000 grant awarded to AISD.
....Students gather for 30 minutes each day in groups of four with their grade-level teacher. Participants work through curriculum that includes not only books to read, but music and arts and crafts geared to address either reading enrichment or remediation, depending on the student's need.
6/10 - Chicken Big Hit as PDogs Lay Goose Egg
6/10 - TAAS Results to Wylie Tonight: Wylie school board members will receive the results of the latest round of Texas Assessment of Academic Skills tests tonight.

....Preliminary results indicate increases in the total number of students passing the test, which is required to graduate from Texas high schools.
....Gains of as much as 18 percent in the total number of students passing the test were reported at at least two grade levels, with improvements in individual sections - math in particular - also evident.
.....The test is given to various grade levels to help gauge students' progress toward attaining mastery of necessary English and math skills.
....Students must pass the test at the 10th-grade level to graduate from high school.
Board members also will receive preliminary budget information for the 1996-97 school year and will set the dates of summer meetings for the purpose of budgetary discussions.
....The board will also consider personnel matters in executive session, and examine the status of some of the Wylie Independent School District's construction projects.
6/9 - Voters to Decide $8 million Expo Center Bond Issue
6/9 - Pirates of the Interstate: Scam Mechanics Take a Toll
6/9 - Eugene Helm Tells Local Youth about Being a Role Model
6/9 - Dyess Personnel Help Spruce up Safety City
6/9 - It's Official: Troy Fraser Does Live in District 24
6/8 - Abilene's North Side Cleans up from Severe Hail Storm
6/8 - Visiting Britons Say Mad Cow Disease Gave Them Bad Rap
6/8 - Lytle Residents Upset about Expo Street Plans
6/8 - New WTRC President Introduced: Abilene's West Texas Rehabilitation Center will maintain its time-honored attention to patients' needs while keeping up with advances in health care, the center's new president said Friday.

....James D. Pethis, an Indiana health care executive, was officially introduced as the facility's new president and chief executive officer during a morning press conference.
Pethis will assume his duties as president of the Rehab Center on or before July 1.
6/8 - 40th Airlift Command Changes Monday: Lt. Col. Dale DeKinder will assume command of the 40th Airlift Squadron from Lt. Col. Ed Gallagher Monday at 9:30 a.m.

....DeKinder is currently the 40th Airlift Squadron operations officer. The 40th Airlift Squadron is one of Dyess' two C-130 squadrons. Gallagher will go to Headquarters, European Command, Stuttgart-Vaihingin, Germany.
6/8 (early) - Rylander: Fewer Rules Needed: Fewer Railroad Commission rules would save Texas oil and gas operators an estimated $40 million a year, RRC Chairman Carole Rylander said Friday in Abilene.

....If adopted, partial deregulation also would save the commission $300,000 annually, Rylander said.
....Some of the changes could be in place a year from now, she said.
...."We're putting it on the front burner for action," Rylander said.
She does not foresee a need for legislative approval, since no new laws or regulations are being added.
....The chairman unveiled the partial deregulation proposal for oilmen during a press conference at Abilene Aero.
6/8 (early) - Parolee Pagers Tried in Abilene: When their pager goes off at an inconvenient time, most people can return the call later. But paroled Abilene inmates have 10 minutes.

....Texas parole officers are testing a new pager system to track 100 high-risk parolees statewide, including 10 in Abilene.
....About four times a day, at any hour, a computer pages the parolees. When they call back, the computer checks their voice and records the phone number.
....The computer is designed to distinguish a parolee's voice - even from that of a brother or sister.
....The parolees must recite eight numbers in English or Spanish. The parole officer decides the frequency and schedule of each parolee's calls.
....If a page is unreturned, returned by the wrong person or from the wrong phone, the parole officer goes looking for the parolee.
6/7 - Cheap Gas Hits Abilene ... if Only for a Little While
6/7 - WTRC to Name New Director Today
6/7 - Rain, Hail Pound Abilene: Well, if the drought isn't over yet, it's just about there in Abilene.

...Thunderstorms passed through Abilene early Friday morning, pouring more than 3 inches of rain in several areas of the city. The northern and northeastern parts of the city also experienced hail, ranging from pea-sized to baseball-sized hail near Hardin-Simmons University which knocked out car and house windows.
....Abilene has now received almost five inches of rain in a week's time, equalling the previous total for the whole year.
6/7 (early) - Coating to Close City Streets this Summer: Preventive work on some roads caused a traffic jam on South 7th Thursday.

....Many streets of Abilene will get improvements this summer, as the older streets in town will be seal-coated.
....To seal-coat a street, it has to be closed to traffic. If the street is dry, a layer of liquid asphalt is laid down, then a layer of pre-coated rock is rolled in with a 30-ton roller.
....Streets scheduled to be closed next week for seal-coating are South Pioneer, North Pioneer and Old Anson Road.
The department of street services plans to seal-coat 50 miles of city streets this year, said Rick Myers, superintendent of streets and drainage maintainance services.
6/6 - Former County Treasurer to Stand Trial
6/6 - Enrollment Discrepancies Outline New Boundary Questions
6/6 - Almost 2 inches of Rain May be Interruption to Drought, Not End
6/6 (early) - CFA Awards Scholarships: Recent high school graduates Amy Couch and Andy Miller have deep roots in West Texas, and the Community Foundation of Abilene is helping to keep those roots planted firmly in the ground.

....In an effort to entice the cream of the crop in the Abilene area to keep their education home-grown, the CFA awarded two $12,000 scholarships to Couchand Miller as part of a new scholarship program.
....Nancy Jones, executive director of the Community Foundation, explained the students were selected based on academics, community service, talents and abilities and a basic desire to live in and continue to contribute to the Abilene community.
6/5 - Willie Nelson Coming for Make a Difference Day
6/5 - Wayne East's Stay of Execution Lifted
6/5 - New Director of Museums of Abilene Excited about Job
6/5 (early) - Corpus Officials Look at Local Expo Center: Architects and engineers in charge of buliding a coliseum in Corpus Christi made a trip to Abilene Tuesday to look at the Taylor County Expo Center.

....John Michael, project engineer for the Nueces County Coliseum and fairgrounds, was accompanied by architects from Denver and Washington, D.C., as they surveyed the Expo Center grounds.
...."We came to Abilene because everyone in the state of Texas said, 'Go to Abilene and see what they've done,' " Michael said.
....In Corpus Christi, work already has begun on building a multi-purpose fairground, and Michael said they are involved in putting together a feasibility study to be submitted by the end of the summer.
....Another aspect of the Expo Center Michael and his crew looked at was the management structure.
...."We're also trying to identify a management structure that will keep the fairgrounds full and sucessful like this one," Michael said.
6/4 - Abilene High Football Coach Leaving for San Angelo (see related column)
6/4 - City OKs fireworks for Prairie Dog's Fourth
6/4 (early) - Restricted Access Neighborhood Coming: Abilene's Planning & Zoning Commission on Monday approved a 120-home development that will feature RV parking, yardless villas and the city's first restricted access neighborhood.

....Approximately half of the 41-acre southside development, sitting in a grassy pasture between the Champions subdivision and Mesa Springs Retirement Village, will accommodate 88 patio homes. Mesa Ridge Villas - the proposed neighborhood - will be surrounded by a wall with all traffic funneled through a security gate on Phoenix.
....A second tract on the development's western half has been carved into 32 plots for homes that will be at least 2,200 square feet each. That neighborhood - to be dubbed Vista Ridge - won't be protected by a security gate.
....The two developments will be separated by a walled-in strip for villa residents, expected to be mostly retirees, to park their recreational vehicles and boats.
6/3 - Rain Threatens, Teases, Little More: Much of the Big Country was threatened and teased by the weather late Sunday, but Haskell County got the real thing.

....Rainfall between 2 and 4 inches drenched western points in the county, and strong winds raked the Rochester area, but at the end of the day little damage was done.
....Elsewhere, locally heavy rain covered a bridge in southwest Nolan County under three feet of water, and golfball-size hail was reported near the Jones-Fisher-Nolan-Taylor juncture. But nearby towns such as Sweetwater and Merkel got only sprinkles or light showers.
....Severe thunderstorm warnings and watches around Abilene and to the north and west, and in the Coleman-Brownwood area, amounted to little when the storm systems had passed.
....Rainfall remains in the forecast as a low-percentage possibility through the early half of the week.
6/3 - Telethon Breaks Own Record: The Children's Miracle Network raised a record $257,411 for Meek Children's Hospital of Hendrick Medical Center over the weekend, event sponsors announced.

....The total eclipsed last year's final tally by more than $10,000.
....Funds raised in the telethon, which featured children who have recovered from serious medical conditions with the help of modern treatment, remain in the community to buy equipment for the Meek hospital.
6/2 - Troy Fraser's Residency Debated; Opponent Brings up Trust Factor
6/2 - AISD Board's Plate is a Full One for the Summer
6/2 - TAAS Math Scores Up in Abilene
6/1 - Rain Doesn't Mean the Drought is Over in Area
6/1 - Abilene Wins Governor's Award Again
6/1 - Festivals Galore in the Area this Weekend
6/1 - New Dyess Funding Passes House: Legislation that includes funding for dormitory construction and the consolidation of Dyess Air Force Base dining facilities has passed the House.

....The bill makes appropriations for military construction for the 1997 fiscal year. It includes a request from Rep. Charles Stenholm for $5.9 million to complete dormitory construction and $6.4 million to make needed improvements to Dyess' dining facilities.
....The Senate has not yet scheduled hearings on military construction funding for the 1997 fiscal year.
6/1 - Dyess Airman Guilty in General Court-Martial: A guilty verdict was returned Thusrday night in the general court-martial of a Dyess airman accused of indecent acts with a child.

...Capt. Vance Spath, a prosecutor in the case, said Senior Airman Troy Hughes was found guilty of both the charge of indecent acts with two children and two specifications in connection with an incident that occurred Jan. 28 at Dyess. The five-member jury began deliberation at 7:30 Thursday night.
....Lt. Col. Linda Strite Murnane presides over the court at Dyess Air Force Base that stared hearing testimony Tuesday in the case of Hughes.
....The maximum punishment Hughes faces is 14 years confinement, reduction to the lowest enlistment rank (E-1), total forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge.
....Sentencing will begin after 9 a.m. today at Dyess AFB.
6/1 (early) - Storms Rattle Area: End of the week storms knocked out power and caused minor flooding in townsthroughout the Texas Midwest.

....Heavy rains dumped as much as five inches of rain in portions of Colemanand Shackelford County late Thursday and early Friday morning.
....High winds and lightning caused the Comanche County Sheriff's Departmentto operate for an hour on auxiliary power Thursday evening until power wasrestored.
....Officials with the Comanche County Electric Cooperative said thatlightning caused power outages in communities from Cross Plains to Lamkin.

Abilene News: June 1-15, 1996

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