Saturday, May 4, 1996

Judges panel blocks Roscoe's school board election

By ANTHONY WILSON
Staff Writer

A three-judge panel has blocked today's Roscoe school board election, demanding the district seek federal approval for its at-large election scheme.

The trio of federal judges, convening in Abilene Friday, agreed after an hourlong hearing that the district violated the Voting Rights Act last year in failing to obtain preclearance from the U.S. Justice Department prior to the adoption of the at-large system.

The current school board will continue to serve until the matter is resolved, which could take months.

Roscoe's attorney expects to seek approval of the at-large system, under which the top vote-getters win seats. But an attorney for the League of United Latin American Citizens, the plaintiff in the case, vowed to lobby for single-member districts, calling the at-large system discriminatory against Hispanics.

Complications could arise from next week's ruling by U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings, who heard those complaints during a trial in March. Cummings will decide whether the district's at-large system is aimed at defeating minorities' preferred candidates.

LULAC lawyer Rolando Rios of San Antonio denied the issues are intertwined. But Roscoe attorney Chuck Jones isn't so sure.

"It's a Catch-22," Jones said. "If Judge Cummings denies their case, but the Justice Department rules the at-large elections are not fair, where do we go from there?"

Neither side believed Friday's decision is an indicator of how Cummings might rule. Cummings served on the panel.

Friday's hearing stemmed from the district's failure in 1978 to seek preclearance from the Justice Department when it adopted an at-large numbered place system. Under such a scheme, candidates file and run for a particular seat.

When Rios alerted the district to the oversight, Roscoe trustees reverted to the at-large system, believing the law allowed the move. Voters filled three seats under the new - and former - system last May.

But the judges agreed with LULAC that the district should have sought and must now obtain preclearance.

"Submitting it is not a big deal," said Justice Carolyn King, U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. "You just mail it off and it costs no money."

Jose Villafranca, the only Hispanic ever elected to the Roscoe school board, was surprised by the announcement.

"I thought this was working to our advantage as late as it is," said Villafranca, who was seeking a third term today. "But from disappointments we grow."

During arguments, Jones called LULAC's latest complaint "economic terrorism," charging the suit was meant to pressure the district into settling the first lawsuit. LULAC co-counsel Jose Garza denied the accusation, promising to forego his fees if Jones will do the same.

Judge King lectured both sides on the litigation's costs.

"I'm deeply concerned with the amount of money being spent by the district to pay lawyers," she said. "The money, which I suspect is hard to come by, needs to be spent on the education of children. It's time to come together, put all this behind you and get to the business of educating children. Think about that."