Texas News: April 1-15, 1996

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• 4/15 - Texas Democrats Divided on Morales' Chances
• 4/14 - Selena Judge Has Second Thoughts about TV Cameras in Courtroom
• 4/14 - Temperature Swings Blamed on Spring, Dryness Caused by La Nina, Sunspots: OK, Mr. Weatherman, skip all the meteorological gobbledygook and give it to us straight.
  
  ....What's the deal with the weather?
  ....First it's hot. Then it's cold. Then it's warm. Then it's colder.
  ....And on top of that, Texas is as dry as a mouth full of cotton, while last year at this time the state was plagued with thunder- and hailstorms, tornadoes and floods.
  ....Simple, says meteorologist Joe Harris of the National Weather Service.
  ....It's just spring, La Nina and sunspots.
  ....Don't ask.
• 4/14 - Wilmer-Hutchins Schools Await Impending State Takeover: Parents of students in Wilmer-Hutchins schools know they have to take matters into their own hands when it comes to their children's education.
  
  ....When David Parras' daughter was hit in the face with a rock at school, he put his house up for rent, moved his three children to a trailer in Ellis County and took them out of their Wilmer-Hutchins schools.
  ...."I am kind of crowded in the casa here," the 48-year-old restaurant owner said while pointing to his trailer. "But I'm doing this for my kids. They deserve a better education."
  ....Other parents with children attending the beleaguered schools also have taken unusual measures. Some used post office boxes or friends' addresses to escape from the 3,800-student school district, due to be taken over by the Texas Education Agency.
  ....A state monitoring team is expected to begin work early this week and - once the agency gets approval from the U.S. Justice Department for the takeover - will have broad powers over administrators and board members.
• 4/13 (early) - Bad Year in Texas for Bluebonnets, But Not the Net
• 4/13 (early) - Livestock Show Restrictions Remain: Despite outrage from minority leaders who promised to "play hardball," the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo said Friday it will not change a policy restricting its scholarship program to U.S. citizens.
  
  ....A long-simmering debate over the citizens-only scholarship policy erupted this week when the rodeo's executive committee voted to rescind a Vietnamese-born student's $10,000 award.
  ....The 18-year-old student, a Houston Independent School District senior who asked the rodeo not to release her name, was told of the official decision Wednesday.
  ....Rodeo spokesman Leroy Shafer said the student's non-citizenship apparently slipped by a screening committee but was noticed a day after the February award. The student was immediately told about her likely disqualification, he said.
  ....Shafer defended the executive committee's vote, saying the panel was simply enforcing a policy enacted when the group awarded its first scholarship in 1957. This year, the rodeo will give out $2,741,000 in direct college awards.
• 4/13 (early) - INS Sexual Investigation Begun: The U.S. Justice Department is investigating reports that a male Immigration and Naturalization Service employee had sex with about a dozen male immigrants inside a detention facility.
  
  ....Wayne Beaman, special agent in charge of the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General in McAllen, said the agency has launched an inquiry into "alleged wrongdoing" on the part of an employee at the Bayview detention center.
  ....Jonathan Jones, coordinator of the Refugee-Immigrant Rights Coalition of the Rio Grande Valley, said Thursday he told agent Judson Spring of the Office of the Inspector General that the male employee was having sex with 11 detainees.
  ....The identity of the employee was not divulged. But the man told the Valley Morning Star he had no idea why he was under investigation. He denied having sex with male detainees, but declined to comment otherwise.
  ....Jones said he was told that an employee "was having sexual exchanges with younger male detainees on the property of the INS."
  ....The Bayview detention center holds undocumented immigrants while they await immigration court proceedings.
• 4/12 (early) - Death-Sentence Appeal Irony: A new law intended to speed up death-sentence appeals has slowed them, according to one of the state's lead attorneys in death-row cases.
  
  
  ....Texas' new law requires state-paid attorneys to assist inmates in part of every death-row appeal. It also reduces the number of appeals that can be filed in one case.
  ....But at least 75 death-row appeal cases are stalled at the Court of Criminal Appeals because attorneys aren't available to handle them, according to a story published Thursday by the Austin American Statesman.
  ....Death-penalty reform "is pretty much at a standstill," Peggy Griffey, head of the capital litigation division in Democratic Attorney General Dan Morales' office, told the newspaper.
• 4/12 (early) - Inmate Labor Controversy: Expansion of a program providing inmate labor for a private business could take jobs away from law-abiding Texans, opponents say.
  
  ....A proposal to expand the program was debated Wednesday during a House interim subcommittee hearing.
  ....The plan's proponents say that salaries seized from prisoners could save millions of dollars for taxpayers. Opponents fear the inmate would take jobs from law-abiding Texans.
  ....Critics say the low wages and lack of benefits, including no vacation pay, health insurance or workers' compensation, can give prison industries in Texas a competitive advantage that will cause many law-abiding citizens to lose their jobs.
• 4/12 (early) - Clearcutting Trial in Beaumont: A federal judge finished hearing testimony Thursday in a trial pitting environmentalists against the U.S. Forest Service over the logging practice known as clearcutting.
  
  ....U.S. District Judge Richard A. Schell heard 7-1/2 days of testimony before ordering the attorneys for both sides to submit written arguments to him next month. Schell is expected to announce his decision within about two months.
  ....The 10-year-old lawsuit was filed by the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society and the Texas Committee on Natural Resources. The groups accuse the Forest Service of violating the National Forest Management Act of 1976, which was written to protect natural resources during logging.
  ....The case says clearcutting, a process in which all trees of like age are removed from a given area, is destroying habitats of some animals and plantlife and causing soil erosion in East Texas forests.
• 4/11 - Group says Child Molester Agrees to Castration
• 4/11 - Smoking Banned in Outdoor Parks: Indoor smoking bans are not new.
  
  ....How about a smoking ban for the outdoors?
  ....A ban on smoking in city parks was passed by the Bellaire City Council this month.
  ....The no-smoking ordinance has divided park visitors.
  ....While some parents are happy for their children's sake, others who live in this 15,000-resident community surrounded on all sides by Houston disagree with it.
  ....Rachel Wong, who brings her 2-year-old daughter to Evergreen Park believes it makes little sense for the government to regulate smoking outside.
  ...."If you can't smoke outside, where can you smoke?" she asked. "It's not a deterrent."
  ....The measure bans smoking or burning tobacco in city facilities and parks. A violation would be a misdemeanor that could carry a maximum fine of $500.
• 4/11 (early) - HL&P's Franchise Fee Payments: Houston Lighting & Power Co. dodged $220 million in franchise fee payments to three Texas cities over the past 21 years, a certified public accountant says.
  
  ....The revelation came Tuesday during a pre-trial court hearing in Houston.
  ....CPA John Barnidge testified for Wharton, Pasadena and Galveston, saying his review of records indicated HL&P improperly excluded some $41 billion in revenues from being calculated in with municipal franchise fees.
  ....Those fees are based on a percentage of gross revenues from the utility.
  ....Barnidge says the omission of those revenues translates into about $220 million in fee payments still owed to the cities.
• 4/10 - Houston Babies to Get Alarms: Hospital officials are hoping to prevent baby snatchings with a system of electronic alarm bands placed around the ankles of newborns.
  
  ....With the new system at Memorial Hospital Southwest, an alarm will go off if a baby comes within a certain distance of stairs or an elevator or if someone unauthorized tries to remove the band. A central monitoring system alerts the hospital staff of the baby's whereabouts.
  ...."The technology is the same as what is used at department stores to prevent shoplifting," said James Eastham, chief executive officer at the hospital. "The elevators will deactivate; doors at exits will lock."
  ....The $70,000 monitoring system was installed Monday, and officials plan to begin issuing babies the white, cloth-wrapped bracelets later this week, Eastham said. About 4,000 babies are delivered annually at the facility.
• 4/10 (early) - Woman Killed by Dropped Rock: A Waxahachie woman riding back from an Easter trip to Mexico was killed when a large rock dropped from an overpass crashed through the windshield and struck her in the head, police said.
  
  ....Mary Sauceda Torres, 43, was airlifted to Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, where she died of massive head injuries, officials said.
  ....Ms. Torres and her husband, Ramiro Martinez, 36, both of Waxahachie, were driving home from Mexico when the 2 a.m. Monday incident happened on Interstate 35, about 20 miles southwest of San Antonio, Sheriff's Capt. Kenneth Bilhartz said.
  ....Martinez, who was at the wheel of their pickup truck, told deputies he heard a thud on the roof of the cab followed by the windshield shattering.
  ....The 10-inch rock fell on the head of a sleeping Ms. Torres, whose head was resting on her husband's lap, officials said.
  ....No arrests were made immediately, but nearby residents told deputies that a group of teens organized into a loose gang have prowled the area just north of Lytle for several months, throwing objects from the bridge.
• 4/10 (early) - New Auto Premium Proposals: Two administrative law judges have sent proposals for a new benchmark auto premium to the Texas insurance commissioner.
  
  ....Insurance Commissioner Elton Bowmer planned a hearing on the proposed recommendations and should make a decision by midsummer, said Bowmer spokesman Lee Jones in Austin.
  ...."It won't be the lengthy hearing that the law judges had," he said. "The commissioner must base his action on evidence before the law judges. He will then issue his order on benchmark rates. His decision could come in higher or lower than the administrative law judges."
  ....The benchmark serves as a target rate. Insurers can adjust the amount they charge by 30 percent higher or lower with Department of Insurance approval.
• 4/9 - Law Firms Contributed to Morales' Campaign: Three law firms hired by Attorney General Dan Morales to help handle the state's lawsuit against the tobacco industry contributed more than $61,000 to his reelection campaign, Texas Lawyer reported.
  
  
  ....Morales also accepted $21,000 in contributions from tobacco industry law firms and a tobacco lobbyist.
  ....According to the trade publication, Provost-Umphrey of Beaumont, lead counsel for the state's suit, contributed $40,000 to Morales last December, around the time Morales was in the final stages of assembling his tobacco-suit team.
  ....Two other Beaumont firms helping in the suit, Williams & Bailey and Reaud, Morgan & Quinn, contributed $11,045 and $10,000 respectively.
  ....Morales collected more than $341,000 in the second half of last year.
  ....Morales filed suit against the tobacco industry last month to recoup $4 billion he says the state has spent on smoking-related illnesses and to halt advertising he says targets children.
• 4/9 - State Asks to Block Ruling: Texas asked a federal appealscourt Monday to block an anti-affirmative action ruling and allow universities to consider students' ethnicity in admissions while the state appeals the decision.
  ....In documents filed with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the state argued that the importance of the decision - and its far-reaching effects - warrant a stay while Texas takes the legal battle over affirmative action to the U.S. Supreme Court.
  ....A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit last month struck down the University of Texas Law School's admissions policy. The court said UT had failed to justify favoring some racial groups.
  ....The decision came in a lawsuit filed by four white law school applicants.
• 4/9 (early) - Freshman Exam Scores Falling: Scores on the basic skills freshman exam have been falling over the past two years, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
  ...Results released by the state agency reveal that nearly half of the Texas college students who took the test last year failed it.
  ....Officials said the test scores show across-the-board reductions in passing rates at Texas' 29 state universities and 70 community colleges over the past two years.
  ....About 132,000 students took the test in the 1994-95 school year.
  ....Overall, 51.6 percent of all higher education students passed the Texas Academic Skills Program Test. The passing rate was 62.3 percent at state universities and 46.2 percent at community colleges.
  ....In the 1992-93 school year, the overall passing rate was 65.1 percent.
• 4/8 - Austin City Council pondering linking all homes to Internet
• 4/8 - Molester Scheduled for Release Today: Although child molester Larry Don McQuay is expected to be released from prison today, he'll still be under close watch in his hometown of San Antonio, officials said.
  ....McQuay, 32, is scheduled to be placed in a privately contracted Wackenhut Corrections facility that qualifies as a halfway house.
  ....McQuay's placement will be "much more secure than a conventional halfway house, not in a neighborhood," said Allan Polunsky, chairman of the State Board of Criminal Justice.
  ....McQuay's release is causing concern primarily because of his admission that he has abused an estimated 240 children and feels sure that he will molest children again once he is out of prison.
  ....With his mandatory release from Skyview psychiatric prison at Rusk, McQuay will join about 300 sex offenders under parole officers' active supervision in San Antonio.
  ....For some, the McQuay case has brought back memories of child murderer Raul Meza who was often stymied in attempts to find a home after prison because of a blizzard of publicity.
  ....Initial plans to release McQuay to Houston were canceled following protests from a victims rights' group in the city.
• 4/7 - McClinton Band in Wreck: A bus carrying blues artist Delbert McClinton's band struck a streetsweeper and overturned on Interstate 30 Saturday near Grand Prairie, injuring three people.
  
  
  An accident in the opposing lane two hours later that injured four other people was blamed on drivers distracted by the overturned bus, police said.
  ....About 8 a.m. in the westbound lane, a metal ladder fell into the roadway from the back of a pickup truck. Moments later, as two men retrieved the ladder from the roadway, a commercial streetsweeper came to a near stop and was rammed from behind by the ....McClinton bus, knocking in down an embankment.
  ....McClinton's driver, Eugene Kallaus, 44, of Riverside, Iowa, was pinned in the wreckage and had to be extricated by firefighters. He was airlifted to Dallas Methodist Medical Center, where he was in serious condition with a fractured pelvis and a broken leg, officials said.
  ....The band's drummer, Wes Starr, 40, of Nashville, was released after treatment for minor injuries at Dallas-Fort Worth Medical Center in Grand Prairie.
  ....Band members said they would perform as scheduled Saturday night at Billy Bob's country western club in Fort Worth.
• 4/7 - Texas politics discovers cyberspace
• 4/6 (early) - Aliens Using Children: Some illegal immigrants have borrowed or rented children as passports into the country to take advantage of a federal policy against incarcerating families caught crossing the border, officials said.
  
  
  ...."It was a scam, that's what it amounted to," said Gus Garcia, assistant chief of the U.S. Border Patrol's McAllen sector.
  ....One local immigration official contends the policy should be changed to deter what could become a growing trend.
  ....However, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington - while acknowledging the policy has been used to exploit children - said its purpose is humanitarian.
  ...."We are very sensitive to the issues of incarceration of families, especially mothers and their children," said Russ Bergeron. "It is an issue of humane consideration."
  ....The policy, in effect for more than a decade, allows illegal immigrants traveling with a minor son or daughter to be released rather than held over at an INS detention facility, Bergeron said.
• 4/6 (early) - Three Get Life Sentences: Three men who went on a deadly rampage in an attempt to start a West Texas race war were sentenced to life in prison today.
  ....Federal prosecutors said the men were bent on causing widespread racial problems on Oct. 16, 1994, by shooting three black men on the streets and sidewalks of Lubbock.
  ....One of the shootings killed Melvin Johnson, 37. He died on a curb from chest and neck wounds from a close-range gun blast.
  ...A nine-count indictment accused the two Hispanics and one white man of setting out in a 1982 Toyota Corolla "hunting black men, luring them to their car, and shooting them at close range with a short-barreled shotgun."
  ....Sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings were: Eli Trevino Mungia, 21; his cousin, Ricky Rivera Mungia, 25 and Roy Ray Martin, 20. They were convicted in November of violating civil rights and gun laws.
• 4/5...Revenge Burglars: A woman with the help of two teen-age boys burglarized 35 churches over the past six months because the congregations didn't give her enough when she turned to them for help, authorities say.
  
  
  ....Montgomery County sheriff's Lt. Dan Norris said speaker equipment, musical instruments and other property valued at a total of about $50,000 was stolen from churches in three counties.
  ....Teresa Jean Mattix, 42, Anthony Paul Walters, 17, and a 16-year-old boy were arrested late Wednesday, officials said. The 16-year-old was not identified because he is a juvenile.
  ....Norris declined to comment specifically on statements the three gave investigators, but he said the church thefts were clearly a case of seeking revenge.
• 4/5...Inmate Loses by a Hair: An inmate in the Tarrant County Jail has lost a federal lawsuit claiming job discrimination because he was told he must get a haircut if he wants a job as a trusty.
  
  ....Christopher Robert Coluci, 28, alleges the haircut demand is unfair because female inmates don't have to trim their hair to get trusty jobs.
  ....Trusty jobs are unpaid positions that help misdemeanor inmates earn good time and help felons break up jailhouse monotony.
  ....Coluci is in jail on a parole violation and two pending theft charges.
  ....U.S. District Judge John McBryde ruled in favor of the jail this week.
• 4/5 (early) - Horse Racing Suffering: A sport that started as swift and strong as the thoroughbreds it features, horse racing in Texas has slowed its gait, say some industry officials.
  ....Plagued with poor attendance and lackluster wagering, some racetracks in the state have buckled under financial difficulties and filed for bankruptcy, officials said.
  ...."They've had to rethink their whole business," said Jean Cook, assistant to David Freeman, executive secretary of the Texas Racing Commission. "It's a struggling industry at this point."
  ....There are five operational horse tracks in Texas: Manor Downs in Manor, Retama Park near San Antonio, Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Trinity Meadows near Fort Worth and Gillespie County Fair and Festival in Fredericksburg.
  ....Two of those five have especially felt financial strain, Cook said. Sam Houston Race Park filed for Chapter 11 last year and Retama Park recently filed for Chapter 9, although both remain open, Cook said.
• 4/5 (early) - Texas Beef Safe, Says Perry: Putting the brisket where his mouth is, Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry says Texans shouldn't worry about eating beef.
  ...."There is no reason to be frightened" by reports of mad cow disease in Great Britain, Perry told a news conference held Thursday at a barbecue restaurant.
  ....Then savoring a slice of steaming meat, he added, "We have a safe food supply. ... As a matter of fact, we will have beef tonight at my home."
  ....Perry branded some broadcasts about the British cattle problem as distorted and said he wanted to reassure Texans about the safety of the state's cattle and beef industry.
• 4/5 (early) - State to Encourage Castration: The state will encourage convicted child molester Larry Don McQuay to undergo castration but can't make the surgical procedure a term of his release from prison, the state parole chairman said Thursday.
  ....Victor Rodriguez, chairman of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, said despite Attorney General Dan Morales' opinion that the state may allow McQuay to be castrated, the most the state can do is urge him to do so.
  ...."We hope he does," Rodriguez said. "And if he requests it and if we can assist in that matter ... that will be fine.
  ...."But our lawyers are telling us on this that to tie that as a condition of parole release is simply not possible."
  ....Morales' office researched the castration question at the request of the board, which is formulating the terms of the 32-year-old molester's imminent mandatory release. The board may allow the procedure if McQuay requests it, the attorney general said.
  ....McQuay, awaiting his release from the Skyview psychiatric prison unit near Rusk, said the opinion was good news. He repeatedly has sought castration, saying it would help him avoid a repeat of his past crimes.
• 4/5 (early) - Wrong Ticket to Heaven: A store clerk who bought a lottery ticket rejected by an angry customer ended up cashing in on a $154,858 jackpot.
  ....Samantha D'Onofrio, a convenience store clerk at Carey's Corner, bought the ticket Tuesday after another clerk mistakenly punched up a Cash 5 ticket instead of the Pick 3 ticket ordered by a customer.
  ....Store owner Carey Mabry said the man became surly when the clerk gave him the wrong ticket.
  ...."He said, 'No ma'am, I don't want this. Don't you know how to work this machine? Are you stupid?' " said quoted the man as saying.
  ....Ms. D'Onofrio stepped in and offered to buy the unwanted Cash 5 ticket.
• 4/4 ...Voting in Anson: Citizens of Anson will have the opportunity to vote May 4 on an amendment to the city charter to allow for the election of the police chief.
  
  ....A petition requesting the amendment was presented by Ralph Whitehead, a City Council candidate, to City Manager Tex Middlebrook.
  ....This is Whitehead's second attempt at submitting the petition. His first was declared illegal by the City Council during its March 18 meeting because it lacked proper information, such as valid voter's registration numbers.
  ....Only 75 legal signatures are required, and Middlebrook confirmed Wednesday afternoon that he was able to validate 78 signatures.
• 4/4 ...Alvarado Shooting: A 14-year-old girl found shot at Alvarado High School on Wednesday may have shot herself, police said.
  ....A helicopter airlifted the girl to Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital Wednesday afternoon with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. A handgun was found near her body
  ....Police withheld the girl's identity Wednesday. Hospital officials refused to release information about the girl's condition.
  Other details were not immediately available..
• .4/4 ...Big Spring Prisons For Sale: The city of Big Spring will open bids today at 2 p.m. for the sale of its three prisons.
  ....The city has been in the prison business since 1989, and the three buildings house more than 1,200 inmates. One facility is a converted Ramada Inn north of the city on Interstate 20, and the others are at the former Webb Air Force Base.
  ....The city has a lease-purchase agreement on the buildings, and Midtex Detentions Inc. is building manager.
  ....Recently, the Federal Bureau of Prisons changed the rules of building ownership, which gave the city the option of selling the facilities.
  ....The City Council will review the bids Tuesday.
• 4/4 (early) ...Beach Cleanup Continues: Cleanup crews are working to scoop away tar balls that have washed up along 13 miles of Mustang Island beaches following a barge rupture in Galveston late last month.
  
  ....A 1- to 2-foot band of small, thin pieces of tar stretched along the high-tide line on the beach Tuesday, said Tony Amos, a research associate with the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas.
  ....Some of the tar was weathered and dry, but some was gooey and bloated to the size of dinner plates, Amos said. "It's a black, sticky, almost-liquid, nasty oil," he said.
  ....More tar was expected to wash onto the island Wednesday, and cleanup workers planned to begin work at dawn, said Capt. Thomas Rodino, commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in Corpus Christi.
• 4/4 (early)... No Dogs for Deer: A prohibition against using dogs to hunt deer has been upheld by a state appellate court in a lawsuit filed by an East Texas hunter.
  ....Lewis H. McCarty, who according to the court opinion prefers to hunt using dogs, sued the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department over the ban.
  ....A trial court declared the rule valid, and a three-judge panel of the 3rd Court of Appeals affirmed that judgment Wednesday.
  ....McCarty had complained that the agency apparently conducted inadequate hearings, leading to an arbitrary and capricious rule, according to the court opinion.
• 4/3....Hero Ready for Respite: Stephene Ybarra Jr. had no idea what he was getting into when he sprang from his truck last month to foil attacks on two girls on a busy Dallas street while others turned a blind eye.
  
  ....Since March 4, when the 38-year-old Dallas electrician captured the alleged molester of two girls, ages 12 and 17, Ybarra has been hailed by one group after another as a hero.
  ....A simple thank you might have been enough.
  ....Ybarra has been interviewed on national television and honored by Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk.
  ....The Texas Rangers Baseball Club dubbed him a "Texas Hero" and gave him a box seat at Monday's season opener against Boston.
• 4/3...Funeral Home Responds to Selena Suit: The funeral home being sued by the family of slain Tejano star Selena says photographs of her body were turned over to the singer's father last year.
  
  ....At a news conference Tuesday, officials with Seaside Memorial Park and Funeral Home said they gave Abraham Quintanilla the photos and negatives as soon as they learned about the pictures.
  ...."We believe this lawsuit is without merit as to Seaside. We are disappointed that ... we are being forced to defend this lawsuit," said Seaside Vice President Debbie Newman.
  ....The lawsuit, filed Monday, accuses the funeral home of exploiting Selena's death. The family alleges that an employee photographed Selena's body and sold copies, which family spokeswoman Alice Guerra said haven't been published.
  ....Newman acknowledged that photos were taken but said neither Seaside nor the employee who took them profited.
• 4/3....Molester Release Stopped: The imminent release of a convicted child molester who claims to have assaulted more than 200 children - and has vowed to attack again - was stopped at least temporarily Tuesday by state officials.
  ....Larry Don McQuay, 32, was poised for release from prison and transfer to a Houston halfway house when Victor Rodriguez, chairman of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, halted the discharge.
  ...."The nature of this case and statements made previously by this individual clearly warrant a complete examination of his mandatory release plan in the interest of public safety," Rodriguez said.
  ....The review likely would take a couple of days, said Rodriguez, who planned to interview McQuay personally.
• 4/3...Protestor Thought Bombing "Humorous": A tax protester accused in a failed plot to bomb an Internal Revenue Service center in Austin thought the deadly Oklahoma City bombing was "humorous," an informant testified Tuesday.
  ....Douglas Edwin Davidson, a small-time gun dealer, said in the second day of the trial of Charles Ray Polk, 45, that he was concerned about Polk's comments and contacted agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
  ....When Davidson first heard about the April 19 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, he feared Polk might have had something to do with it, he testified.
  ....Although Polk told Davidson he wasn't involved, Davidson described him as being angry because it "set his plans back." And Davidson said Polk thought the blast, in which 169 people were killed, was "humorous."
  ....An indictment alleges Polk devised a plan to blow up the IRS building as early as April 4, 1995, prior to the Oklahoma City bombing. Officials said they do not believe the two are connected.
• 4/2... Inclusion Questioned: Including special education students in general education classrooms is not always best for those students, a group of Texas teachers said Monday.
  
  ....The Association of Texas Professional Educators, the state's second largest educators' group, released findings of a member survey in which 71 percent of teachers said they have had special education students in their classrooms.
  ....Of those, 62 percent said they have no training in teaching special education students, and 68 percent said inclusion is not the best policy for all special education students.
  ....The survey covered 1,500 of the group's 75,000 members. It has a margin of error plus or minus 4 percent.
• 4/2...Activists Sue Mayor: Two environmental activists say Austin Mayor Bruce Todd has violated their civil rights by banning them from speaking a city council meetings.
  ....Karen Hadden and Neal Tuttrup filed a lawsuit Monday in state district court in Travis County alleging violations of their constitutional right to free speech and their right to petition government officials for redress.
  ....The suit seeks $6,000 in damages for Ms. Hadden and $10,000 for Tuttrup. The activists also ask the court to ban Todd from imposing such speaking bans.
• 4/1...Selena Remembered on Anniversary: They came from across the state and country, even from Mexico. Some carried flowers, others camcorders. Many cried, while others smiled at memories of the fallen star they had come to remember.
  
  ....Sunday, on the first anniversary of her death, Selena Quintanilla Perez was still very much alive in the hearts of fans who poured into her adopted hometown to grieve anew.
  ...."We came to show our respects and show that she has not been forgotten - she never will," Melba Rivera of Harlingen said as she stood with her three children outside of Selena's home.
  ....The house, in the neighborhood where Selena grew up, has become a tourist attraction for fans of the slain Tejano singer, who was gunned down March 31, 1995, by her former fan club president.
• 4/1...Uptown Garbage: Bureaucrats call it "municipal solid waste."
  
  ....Most people call it garbage.
  ....But some city officials in Alvin in northern Brazoria County see dollar signs as they quietly have been putting together a deal to be the home for 400,000 tons of Houston trash each year.
  ....If the proposal wins, it could mean up to $1 million annually for the town most known as home of retired baseball superstar Nolan Ryan.
  ....Not everyone is pleased, however, particularly at the secrecy surrounding the bid.
  Word of the city's proposal was kept so quiet that few knew of it until city officials had signed a contract with a company to go after the Houston garbage contract.
  ....And city officials will reveal no financial details of their proposal to Houston, saying it would give an unfair advantage to their two private-sector competitors, Browning-Ferris Industries and Waste Management Inc. - giants in the world of garbage disposal when compared with Sanifill Inc., a smaller, publicly traded waste firm with which Alvin has contracted.

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