Abilene News: October 16-31, 1996

10/31 - Legendary Ghost Story Lingers in Stephenville
10/31 - Despite Distances, Dyess Airman Keep Up With United Way
10/30 - AISD Boundary Proposals Vary Somewhat
10/30 - Convicted Rapist Put Away for Life
10/30 - Dyess Airman Receives Purple Heart
10/30 - Space Situation at Courthouse Still Galling for Some
10/30 - Citizens Speak Out on Library at Town Hall Meeting
10/29 - Elementary Students Visit Future Alma Mater to Set Goals
10/29 - Six Alternate Proposals Presented for AISD Rezoning
10/29 - Flash Flooding Danger Over...for now: Many Big Country residents spent a second anxious night listening and looking out for flooding from heavy fall rains.
....For much of the area, the daylight hours provided a drizzly, foggy lull between storms before daylight Monday and expected storms late Monday and early Tuesday.
....Late Monday night, visibility was about a half mile at the Abilene Regional Airport.
Saturated ground from several weeks of generous rains raised the danger of flash flooding near streams and in other low areas.
....A cold front kept temperatures in the high 40s to low 50s in the Abilene vicinity during daytime and early evening, with slight warming expected toward daybreak.
....During the early morning hours, Abilene's railroad underpasses at Pine, Cedar and Mockingbird were closed, as were several low-water crossings, for several hours after water collected in the low points. Street flooding gradually abated after the rain slacked off in the early daylight hours.
....Abilene's official 1.74 inches of rain pushed the city's official annual total to 26.47, almost five inches above normal for this time of the year.
....Forecasts call for a yo-yo weather pattern for the rest of the week: clearing and warming before clouding up and cooling with more rainfall likely late in the week.
10/29 - Boys Ranch Announces Funds: Despite rains that threatened to mire this year's Chili Super Bowl in mud, the longtime Ben Richey Boys Ranch fundraiser garnered $60,096.15, Chili Super Bowl officials announced Monday.
....Chili Super Bowl president Terry St. Pierre attributed the event's success to quick action by board members and volunteers who moved the cook-off from muddy Perini Ranch grounds to Buffalo Gap's Old Settlers Reunion grounds.
....In the end, cooks enjoyed the openness of the Old Settlers Reunion grounds so much organizers have decided to hold the cook-off there in 1997 - rain or shine.
10/29 - Bull Goes Berserk in Colorado City: A 1,500-pound horned, Hereford bull went on a rampage Saturday, attacking and injuring Colorado City Livestock Auction owner Jim Calvert.
....Witnesses said the animal rammed Calvert several times, then attempted to maul and hook him as he lay on the ground.
....Calvert suffered a broken left leg and several bruises to his body. He was taken to Mitchell County Hospital and later transferred to Methodist Hospital in Lubbock.
....On Monday, he was listed in stable condition and scheduled to have surgery on his leg.
10/28 - Citizens Meet to Discuss School Rezoning
10/28 - Town Hall Meeting Tuesday: The Citizens Library Review Panel will read a lot into a town hall meeting Tuesday night.
....Comments made at the public forum, at 7:30 p.m. in the upstairs conference room at the Abilene Civic Center, will help shape what services the Abilene Public Library will offer and how they will be delivered.
....Panel members, along with their professional consultant, will listen for citizens' feelings on a new library, needed services and, most especially, branches.
....City staff, panel members and library patrons all seem interested in adding branches, including one in a storefront or mall setting, to a new main facility. Abilene is reportedly the largest Texas city without true branch service, which increases usage throughout a library system.
10/27 - Question of Socio-Economic Balance in AISD Brought Up
10/27 - Downtown Stamford Getting Facelift: Downtown Stamford is in the process of getting a long-awaited facelift.
....A $1.3 million project, a joint effort between the Texas Department of Transportation and the city of Stamford, began in July.
....Mayor Pro-Tem Gary Decker says "the project should be finished by mid-June of 1997. The city paid for the installation of new water pipes in the downtown area at a cost of $44,000."
....Decker said the project includes five phases.
....New water lines have been installed and that job should be finished by Monday as part of phase one. By the end of the project, new pavement will surround the square with new sidewalks in front of all the businesses with six-inch uniform curbs. Currently, some curbs are more than a foot high.
10/26 - Restaurant in Old T&P Warehouse is a "Go"
10/26 - "Riot" Breaks Out at Sweetwater Pep Rally
10/26 - Breckenridge Designated a Main Street City
10/26 - Natural Gas Bills May Rise: A request to the Texas Railroad Commission could mean an average 90 cents per month rise in natural gas bills in the Texas Midwest.

....Lone Star Pipeline Co., which transports gas for Lone Star Gas Co., Friday filed papers with the RRC to increase the rate it charges to transport gas to 550 Texas cities. The increase would be about 18 cents per thousand cubic feet, or about 3 percent more for the average residential customer.
...."We cannot predict what will happen to natural gas costs, but we will continue aggressive action to reduce those costs to the lowest prudent level," said Mike Hunter, president of Lone Star Pipeline.
....The company requested the new rate be effective Nov. 29.
10/26 - Cattlemen Gather in Abilene: Optimistic cattlemen looking for better prices going into 1997 gathered in Abilene Friday for the first day of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association fall meeting.

....Steve Munday, TSCRA executive vice president, said more than 250 ranchers are at the Embassy Suites for the two-day meeting which concludes after today's activities.
....They represent some 14,000 dues-paying members who control about 2 million cattle on millions of acres of range and pasture land in Texas, Oklahoma, and surrounding states.
10/26 - Eagle Flight Makes Emergency Landing: A Midland-bound American Eagle passenger flight made an emergency landing Thursday in Big Spring after smoke appeared in the cockpit.

....According to American Eagle Spokesman Tim Kincaid, 26 passengers were onboard the flight from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
....The pilot noticed the smell of smoke while the turbo-prop ATR-72 was about70 miles east of Midland, and an emergency landing was made without incident.
...."As they landed, the smoke cleared, and they de-planed normally," Kincaidsaid. "There was not an evacuation. There were no injuries."
10/25 - Stenholm Has More Contributions Than Izzard: Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Stamford, has rung up more than than three times as many contributions this year as his challenger - much of it from political action committees, according to federal campaign reports.

....Reports of campaign contributions through the end of the third quarter showed Stenholm had raised $474,216 compared to $142,639 for Republican challenger Rudy Izzard.
....But more than half of Stenholm's contributions came from political action committees or PACs, many representing agricultural interests. Total PAC contributions to Stenholm were $278,805 compared to a total of $12,985 in PAC funds for Izzard.
....Many of the agriculture PACs gave Stenholm the maximum amount of $5,000 per election. Individual contributions are limited to $1,000 per election.
10/25 - Team Abilene Looks to Celebrations: Team Abilene members learned at breakfast Thursday why it's important to remember the lives of the dead.

....The approaching celebrations on Nov. 1 of All Saints Day and Nov. 2 of Day of the Dead, or El dia de los muertos, prompted Team Abilene members to line up speakers who could impart the history of both days, as well as the tie-in with Halloween. As is their custom, Team Abilene juxtaposed the American and Mexican celebrations to promote awareness of cultural diversity.
...."We're always working to continue our network of community," said Mayor Gary D. McCaleb.
....The origins of El dia de los muertos blend Aztec rituals and Christian beliefs, said Nancy Lewis, coordinator of the foreign language department at Cooper High School. Priests in Mexico who wanted to convert the Aztecs created a celebration for the dead using mementoes of the Aztecs' own customs.
...."The day is not macabre or gory. Death is a stage in a constant cycle. The purpose of the day is to show reverence for the dead, and there's revelry to entice their spirits back to us. Then there's mockery of death to fend off fear of it," said Lewis.
10/24 - Texas Monthly Recognizes Abilene Elementary Students
10/24 - Local Woman is Driving Force Behind "Make a Difference Day"
10/24 - United Way Still in Sight of Goal: Abilene's 1997 United Way campaign is still within sight of its $2 million goal, said campaign chairman Wayne Roy.
....But every effort by volunteers and contributors is necessary to make that dream a reality.
"We're still on target, but we must make certain we successfully execute all elements of the campaign," he said. "That means getting in all of our outstanding pledge cards and all of the dollars from special projects."
....The campaign had collected about 62 percent of its goal as of Tuesday, or about $1.25 million.
....Although that may seem to bode poorly for the group's Oct. 31 deadline, the last planned day of the present effort, a lot of money has yet to make its way into United Way's coffers.
....Pledge cards from traditional donors who haven't yet responded make up a large chunk of the missing money.
10/23 - Life in the Fast Lane: ACU, Dyess on the Fiber Path of Info Superhighway
10/23 - Rylander Confident in Speech Here: Carole Rylander expressed confidence here Tuesday about her bid for re-election to the Texas Railroad Commission.

...."The race looks good," said Rylander, who heads the three-member commission that regulates Texas' oil and gas industry.
....However, Rylander also said, "I take nothing for granted. I want to win and win decisively."
....Democrat Hector Uribe, a former state senator, is challenging Rylander, a Republican, in the Nov. 5 election.
....Rylander spoke during a press conference at the Pride Refinery north of Abilene, an outdoor campaign stop freshened by 50-degree temperatures and a north wind. About two dozen people attended the event.
10/23 - Jail to Have Amble Separation Cells: Troublesome male inmates at the expanded Taylor County Jail will have four more separation cells than the 16 cells required by the Texas Jail Standards Commission, county commissioners approved Tuesday.

....."This will give the sheriff a greater ability to separate them from the rest of the population at the jail," said County Judge Lee Hamilton. ....Construction on Taylor County's long-awaited jail addition should be underway April 1, 1997. Meanwhile, county commissioners are whittling down the number of unknowns about the project at weekly meetings.
10/22 - Abilene Fiber Optics Fight May Be Felt Across State
10/22 - AISD Superintendent Releases Boundary Proposal
10/22 - Council Meeting Cause for Alarm? Thursday's Abilene City Council meeting may be a cause for alarms.

....City Manager Lanny Lambert will raise the question of whether the city should resuscitate its civil defense system, whose unreliability led to its deactivation in 1993.
....Lambert said Monday he will brief the council on the system's history and whether new technology could make it an effective warning for severe weather and other emergencies.
....Abilene installed nine civil defense sirens in the 1950s to warn its citizens of nuclear attack. Fifteen additional sirens were erected in 1980 after they were adapted to alert people of threatening storms.
....But more often than not, their sounding signaled a false alarm, usually triggered by lightning and power surges. Power outages, on the other hand, rendered the sirens silent.
....Opponents to the sirens' return claim they would be an unnecessary expense, arguing the proliferation of Doppler radar reports on television and radio are an adequate alert.
10/22 - Quintuplets Going on "CBS This Morning:" For a month the Taylor quintuplets have been under wraps, but now they're going national.

....Members of the instant family are scheduled to appear on CBS This Morning on Wednesday.
....Officials at KTAB said Monday that Brent and Deshonna Taylor, their quintuplets and 4-year-old son Joshua are scheduled to be on the morning show at 7:10 a.m. The show airs from 7-9 a.m.
....The quintuplets, three boys and two girls, were born on Sept. 21 in Lubbock's St. Mary of the Plain's Hospital. They remain in the hospital, but their mother has been released.
....Doctors first told the couple to expect triplets, then quadruplets and finally quintuplets. The couple said they were trying to have one more child when they received word of the quints.
....The new additions to the family, who made their appearances within three minutes of one another, were Kenedy Michele, Jacob Dee, Jonah Patrick, Zachary Dameron and Aleksi Ann.
10/22 - Voters Get Shuttle Service: The Abilene Voter Alliance will be shuttling people to and from the polls on election day, Nov. 5.

....The alliance, a new organization dedicated to encouraging voter participation, is teaming with other volunteer groups to provide the rides. Those needing rides should contact one of the following by Monday: Trent Edwards, 673-6943; Jim DeFoor, 676-6523; Jesse Vasquez, 677-6856.
10/21 - Hundley to Present Boundary Map: Abilene parents will have a good picture of what the district could look like beginning next year after Superintendent Charles Hundley presents his proposed boundary map at tonight's Abilene school board meeting.

....The meeting is at 5:30 p.m. in the Abilene High School west cafeteria, 2800 N. 6th.
....Originally set for last Monday, the meeting was postponed to give the administration more time to refine its proposal. Hundley explained his request at the time, saying, "It is vitally important that the administration be able to defend any and all parts of the proposal."
....After the additional week of work, the superintendent said he's ready to get the proposal out on the table.
....The AISD boundary fine-tuning map created by Hundley, his staff and an Austin demographer should match the board's goals set at an earlier meeting.
10/21 - Assault Victim Improving: The condition of a Snyder woman brutally attacked outside an Odessa motel last week has improved in the days following the assault, a relative said Sunday.

....The 39-year-old woman was severely beaten and sexually assaulted by a man who ambushed her as she approached her parked car early Thursday, an Odessa police detective said.
....A man, 30, was spotted fleeing the scene, and was arrested by a policeman after a short foot chase, police said. James Paul Pace of Odessa was charged with the assault plus an earlier attempted assault of an Odessa woman. That attack about 40 minutes earlier than the motel parking lot assault happened in similar circumstances.
....Bonds totaling $152,926 were set on the suspect.
....The assault victim underwent seven hours of surgery Thursday for severe facial injuries.
10/20 - A Year Later, Little Resolved in Oscar Strain Case
10/20 - Many Facets to the HMO Story
10/19 - Detectives Feel Woman Made Up Rape Story: Abilene detectives now believe a knife-wielding rapist, who allegedly kidnapped a woman and her children from the Mall of Abilene last week, is nothing more than a figment of a fertile imagination.

....'The report was found to be false and this was corroborated by individuals who were with the woman during the times the abduction and sexual assault were reported to have taken place," according to a press release from the police.
...."There was no kidnapping or sexual assault."
....The woman reported to police Oct. 10 that a man jumped up from the floorboard of the backseat when she got into her car sometime between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m., displayed a knife and forced her to drive to a remote area in northwest Abilene with her two young daughters. ....She claimed once he got her to a remote area he sexually assaulted her.
....After the supposed assault, the woman said the suspect made her drive back to town until the car started running out of gas.
....She told police she jumped out of the car with her two children and ran to some nearby residences. She also claimed a stereo was stolen.
....Detectives were suspicious of the woman's story because she didn't bother to report it until about 10:15 that night - hours after the alleged sexual assault was supposed to have happened.
....After talking to several people who were with the woman that day, Van Holdbrook said he found the story completely without merit. The detective said he has a signed affidavit from a woman who was with her that day.
10/19 - Anna Moore Pleads No-Contest: Former Taylor County treasurer Anna Moore pleaded no-contest to a misdemeanor Friday and promptly paid restitution for filching money from a county employee Christmas fund.

....In a plea bargain worked out with a special prosecutor, Moore was placed on deferred adjudication probation for one year and assessed a $500 fine. If she follows rules of probation, the matter should be erased from her record. If she does not meet the requirements, she could go to jail for a year.
....The ex-treasurer, pleading no-contest to misapplication of fiduciary property, immediately presented a check to the probation department for $1,070, the amount the state said it could prove she still owed the employee fund.
10/19 - COGs to Face State Audits: Up to one-third of the state's 24 Councils of Government could face state audits this year, Harte-Hanks Newspapers learned Friday.

....State auditors confirmed they are developing an audit strategy based on hearings by the House Appropriations Committee and a Harte-Hanks investigation of alleged wrongdoings in regional councils.
....State lawmakers recommended a wide-ranging overhaul of the councils on Wednesday that would add more state oversight and stop many problems revealed during the legislative hearings.
....A report issued by state lawmakers noted no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by regional council officials but listed several questionable incidents. Those included thousands of taxpayer dollars spent on alcohol and topless nightclubs, meetings at luxury resorts and high employee salaries.
...."They (auditors) may not find anything," said state Rep. Rob Junell, head of the committee that probed COG operations. "COGs may be doing everything correct. Anytime the state performs an audit it's not to catch anybody doing something wrong; it's to find out how good the process is and what needs to be improved to do the best job."
....Audit manager Tom Valentine, who will head the COG inquiries, said he did not know how many audits would be conducted or when they would be completed. But he said it would be more than five and could run as high as 10 audits, which would be conducted before the end of the year.
10/18 - McMurry and Anson Elementary Team Up to Teach: With the help of computers, McMurry education majors and students from Anson Elementary are both learning skills that will last them a lifetime.

...The two institutions have teamed up to create a high-tech writing project that gives future educators practical teaching experience and offers younger students an opportunity to hone their writing skills.
...Three Anson fourth grade classes are using small, computer-like terminals to help record memories they find special, while their student mentors are learning the ins and outs of teaching them how to brainstorm, put their thoughts on paper, and revise their work.
..."I'm really enjoying it because it gives us a chance to work closely with the kids," said Wendy Mathis, one of the student mentors for the project. "This is some experience we can really use when we have classroom of our own, and it's a lot of fun."
...And it's readily apparent that the young scholars - whether sprawled out on the floor, gathered 'round tables or lounging outside on the McMurry campus - are having fun, too.
..."I've learned a lot," said Michael Warren, one of the Anson students who has completed the first few phases of his memories project. "I learned that I can type a lot faster than I thought I could, and that it's easier to use the" computers to write.
...The tiny "AlphaSmart" terminals are the centerpiece of the project, and it's their ease of use that both students and teachers appreciate.
...Each is essentially a miniature word processor, with a small screen students can use to see their work as they type it in.
10/16 and 10/17 - Stories lost due to technical difficulties

Abilene News: October 16-31, 1996

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