Texas News: May 1-15, 1996

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• 5/15 - Roscoe Voting System Upheld Against LULAC Suit
• 5/15 - Sharp Unveils Private, Public Effort to End Welfare
• 5/15 - West Texas Cities Lobby for Highways
• 5/15 (early) - Bush Wants Cap of Charter Schools: Gov. George W. Bush wants the next Legislature to take the cap off the number of independent charter schools in Texas, while the State Board of Education faces the prospect of turning down a dozen school applications.
  
  ...."I want more charter schools. Absolutely," Bush said in an interview with The Associated Press.
  ...."The way the system should work is we want you to design the programs that meet the local needs, so long as you meet (requirements for) state results," he said.
  ...."And so long as we have a strong accountability system, I'm very comfortable by encouraging as many charter schools as possible."
  ....The Legislature's 1995 education overhaul allows up to 20 open-enrollment charter schools.
• 5/15 (early) - Home HIV Tests in Texas Soon: Drug stores in Texas will soon be the first in the country offering an over-the-counter HIV test that can be used in the privacy of home, then mailed to a laboratory to learn whether test-takers have the virus that causes AIDS.
  
  ....The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved the home-testing kits and Texas was picked for its debut. The product is expected in stores next month.
  ....Kit developer Direct Access Diagnostics said the tests are easy to use, but the key aspect is confidentiality. The company is so proud of that fact that it has named the product Confide HIV Testing Service.
  ....Tests will carry a retail price of $40. A portion of the money will be donated to AIDS research, according to the test maker, a Bridgewater, New Jersey-based subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson.
• 5/15 (early) - Deadbeat Parents Responding with Cash: Facing the threat of losing state-issued licenses, some 26,000 deadbeat parents have coughed up more than $20 million in overdue child support, the attorney general's office said Tuesday.
  
  ....So far, only 17 licenses have been suspended under the new program. Suspension proceedings have started for another 1,100.
  ....But the simple threat of losing a license usually is enough to pry loose the money, Attorney General Dan Morales said.
  ...."We are in the business of collecting child support, not licenses. But if parents do not pay up, we are going to enforce the law and come after their licenses," Morales said. "We are accomplishing what we set out to do."
  ....Revoking licenses is the latest weapon in the state's battle to collect back child support payments. The program was created by the 1995 Legislature and took effect Sept. 1.
• 5/14 - Ranger Council Fire Chief: After a one-hour executive session Monday night, Ranger's new city commissioners made some heads roll.
  
  
  ....They terminated Police Chief Clark Crane and Police Sgt. Wesley Smock, effective immediately.
  ....Officer Don Enix will be temporary chief, with Wendell Davidson the only other officer working. Police Commissioner Jesse Brown said new officers will soon be hired.
  ....They also eliminated the position for clerk of the municipal judge, held by Debbie Crane, wife of the police chief.
• 5/14 - Big Springers Cleaning Up: Many Big Spring residents spent their weekend replacing broken glass, contacting their insurance companies and repairing roofs after a Friday evening hailstorm dropped tennis ball-sized hail on much of the city.
  ....Mayor Tim Blackshear estimated total property damage as much as $25 million. He and City Manager Gary Fuqua spent Monday seeking whatever aid is available.
  ....The storm came from the south about 6:30 p.m. and lasted about 30 minutes. Many of the damaged roofs had been replaced during the last year after an April 1995 hailstorm.
  ....More than 40 people were treated for minor injuries at Scenic Mountain Medical Center. .....Most of the injuries were caused by glass as the hail broke out automobile windshields throughout an area that included most of the city limits.
  ....Howard County Courthouse lost most of the south-facing windows, as did City Hall, ....Runnels Junior High School and Canterbury retirement center. Skylights at Big Spring Mall and Wal-Mart Supercenter were destroyed.
• 5/14 (early) - Residents Sue INS, Ector County: Four Ector County residents, including three U.S. citizens, sued the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Ector County Monday, alleging a December sting operation violated their civil rights.
  ....An immigrants' rights organization, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, filed what it said it hopes turns into a class-action federal suit to stop the use of probation agencies to round up suspected illegal immigrants.
  ...."They can get (citizenship) information and warrants - they didn't have to do this," said attorney Cynthia Cano of the San Antonio-based organization. She announced the suit Monday morning on a Spanish language radio talk program in Midland.
• 5/14 (early) - Railroad Entrepreneur Has Big Plans: A railroad entrepreneur who already has failed once to keep a Houston-to-Galveston train running wants to try it again.
  ....Franklin Denson, president of the Texas Limited excursion train, is pushing to resurrect the service that ran on weekends for five years until 1994.
  ....Denson also wants to spend $2.5 million to renovate Houston's old Union Station, which last served passengers in 1974, for his train.
• 5/14 (early) - State Sales Tax Rebates Up: The state delivered a total of $196.8 million in May sales tax rebates to cities and counties, a 1.4 percent increase over the same month last year.
  ....State Comptroller John Sharp said Monday that the tax collections show sales in the state "continue to clock along at a good pace."
  ....Local sales tax payments to Texas cities totaled $181.3 million, while counties received $15.4 million.
  ....The May rebates included taxes collected on March sales by businesses that file monthly.
• 5/13 - Comanche Man Dies in Wreck: A Comanche man died Saturday in a one-vehicle rollover on County Road 340.
  
  ....Jose Avarez, 40, was killed when his 1985 Dodge pickup ran off the road and overturned while he was northbound about two miles from Comanche.
  ....His body was taken to Comanche Funeral Home. Funeral arrangements were pending.
  ....The death was investigated by Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper William Cloud.
• 5/13 - Fire Destroys Cisco House: A wood, two-story house belonging to the Howard Werley family burned Sunday.
  ....The fire, which started inside the home at 500 W. 8th, was reported at 11:15 a.m.
  ....The Werleys received the sad news while they were attending church services, said Fire Chief Joe Jarvis.
  ...."It was a bad Mother's Day for them," he said.
  But it was also a busy day for the 25 firemen who were at the scene until mid-afternoon.
• 5/12 - New TSTC Program: Just more than two months after U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm and community leaders joined with Texas State Technical College officials in formally establishing a new distance learning system, the first interactive live video and audio freshman courses will start.
  
  ....The TSTC new distance-learning classroom and lab will offer general psychology starting June 4, transmitted from Amarillo College.
  ....The Panhandle college will also transmit college algebra in a course scheduled to start July 15. During the next three years, TSTC Sweetwater will link with 11 other two-year colleges and nine universities to form a regional center for advanced technological education.
  ....During the formal opening ceremony March 30, Gramm said the sophisticated system will not only link the major institutions but eventually high schools throughout West Texas, the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and New Mexico.
• 5/11 - Bad Weather Hits Area: Most of the Big Country was spared violent weather by a cold front from the north, but Big Spring and Howard County got enough for the whole area.
  ....By one account, as many as 600 vehicles parked at Howard College sustained glass breakage. And all five vehicles in a Boy Scout convoy headed from Midland to a camp near Colorado City lost at least one windshield to hail, including from one chunk whose size was estimated between softball and cantaloupe size, said Michael Young of the National Weather Service in Abilene.
  ....An employee of the Howard County Sheriff's Office said several people were reported injured at businesses and in automobiles where the hailstorm caught them, but none seriously that she knew of.
  ....Windows at the courthouse, where the sheriff's office occupies the first floor, were also knocked out, and several patrol cars sustained major damage, from the storm about 7 p.m., she said.
• 5/11 - Big Spring ISD Settles with LULAC: The Big Spring school district agreed to an out-of-court settlement in a voting rights lawsuit brought by a Hispanic organization.
  ....The school district agreed to the cumulative voting method rather than face a costly court battle against the League of United Latin American Citizens.
  ....The suit, filed in Abilene federal court by LULAC members Pat DeAnda and Gloria Mendez, claims the current method of electing school board members dilutes minority voting strength, thus violating the minority voters' rights.
  ....Presently, four school trustees are elected by district, while three are elected at-large.
  Under the agreement, four trustees will continue to be elected by district. The three at-large trustees will be elected by cumulative voting.
• 5/11 - Snakes Alive! Actually, It's Dead: A Rio Bravo man bitten by a poisonous coral snake killed the reptile and shaped its skin into a tourniquet, probably saving his life, officials said.
  
  ....Valentin Grimaldo, 40, was walking with his brother along U.S. Highway 281 near Encino Friday when he reached into a stand of grass and was bitten on the hand.
  ...."He grabbed the snake and bit the head off. He skinned it and used the skin as a tourniquet to keep the venom from spreading," said Lisa Killion, a spokeswoman for Edinburg Hospital.
  ....A passerby drove Grimaldo, his snake tourniquet in place, to the hospital's emergency room. Grimaldo was in severe pain, sometimes writhing in his hospital bed, throughout the afternoon.
  ....Hospital officials said Grimaldo should make a full recovery.
  ....Grimaldo's brother, Fidel, kept the snake's head as a keepsake.
• 5/11 (early) - Net Threat ID Traced: An Internet message declaring an "open season" on California state Sen. Tim Leslie because of the lawmaker's stance on mountain lions has been traced to a 19-year-old college student in El Paso, Texas, according to authorities.
  ....Jose Eduardo Saavedra was arrested on a no-bail warrant based on felony charges filed in Sacramento alleging that he made terrorist threats and threatened a public official, El Paso County Sheriff's Sgt. Don Marshall said.
  ....The computer message posted March 6 read: "Let's hunt Sen. Tim Leslie for sport ... I think it would be great" if he "were hunted down and skinned and mounted for our viewing pleasure."
  ....Leslie, who pushed for a ballot measure that would have removed special protections for mountain lions in California, expressed relief that an arrest had been made but said the incident raises "big new issues" about the use - and misuse - of the Internet.
• 5/11 (early) - Bike Riders Need Helmets: Bicycle riders in Austin will have to start wearing protective helmets in a few months after the City Council voted to require them.
  ....The new law, which takes effect in 90 days, is intended to promote bicycle safety and reduce serious head injuries in bike accidents, said Council Member Jackie Goodman, a co-sponsor.
  ...."The danger is extreme. If you're going to go out on the street, you should be protected," she said.
  ....Bicycle riders caught breaking the law are subject to a $50 fine for the first offense and a $100 fine for subsequent offenses.
• 5/11 (early) - Bishop Countersues AG Morales: A bishop accused of funneling money from a charitable organization to Catholic entities has filed a countersuit against Texas Attorney General Dan Morales.
  
  ....The lawsuit, filed Thursday by Bishop Rene H. Gracida, accuses Morales of violating legal agreements that ensure Gracida a position with the Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation.
  ....It responds to a lawsuit filed by Morales last week, which accused Gracida of using his position as the foundation president to steer a majority of its donations to the Diocese of Corpus Christi and other Catholic entities.
  ....Morales' lawsuit seeks to remove Gracida as foundation president and replace all of the foundation's board members. Six other board members are named in the case. Through their attorneys, Gracida and the others have denied the allegations.
• 5/11 (early) - Student Can Sue Coach: A state appeals court has cleared the way for a former New Waverly High School student to sue the school's former athletic director and football coach, alleging that they threatened to hang him and held a starter's pistol to his head.
  ....The 14th Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld portions of the lawsuit filed by Joshua Urian Maxey, a trombone player in the band at the time of the incident, and his mother, Thea Clark Charles.
  ....Both are suing former athletic director Larry Spacek, 39, and former coach Steve Ramsey, 41, for violating Maxey's constitutional rights.
  ...."It is outrageous what they did," said Maxey's attorney, Gerald Bourque of Houston. "If you want to talk about a heartbreak story, this is it."
  ....However, the former officials' lawyer contends his clients were trying only to get the student to improve his grades so he could play football.
• 5/10 - Texas' Beef Promoter is a Vegetarian: The woman in charge of getting folks to eat more Texas beef won't touch the stuff herself.
  
  
  ....Diane Smith, assistant commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, is a vegetarian. She hasn't eaten meat in 14 years.
  ...."It has nothing to do with my work. It's a personal preference," said Ms. Smith, who oversees marketing programs involving livestock and other products.
  ....Steve Munday, executive vice president of the Texas and Southwestrn Cattle Raisers Association, said of Ms. Smith's eating habits: "If her boss is satisfied with her performance, we could care less."
  ....And her boss IS satisfied.
  ...."Diane's personal eating habits have never been an issue," Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry. He said she has done an outstanding job promoting Texas beef.
• 5/10 - Bell Has Plan for Splitting Area Codes: Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. has proposed several plans to split the 817 and 210 area codes in the north-central Texas area and South Texas.
  ....The Public Utility Commission of Texas is starting the process of determining how to divide the two, expansive codes.
  ....The 817 area code covers much of north-central Texas from the north of Williamson County to South of Hall County in the Panhandle. It also includes Fort Worth.
  The 210 area code covers from north of San Antonio to the Texas-Mexican border.
  ....Southwestern Bell attorney Joseph Cosgrove said the plans do not represent any preference on the company's part, but are starting points for debate.
  Officials estimate both area codes could run out of available phone numbers in the next several years.
• 5/10 (early) - Bush Appoints Coleman Residents: Three Coleman County residents have been appointed to a stateboard by Gov. George W. Bush.
  ....Ann Miller Hargett, a Coleman rancher; Ronald W. Owens, a Coleman financialplanner; and Nan Knox Markland, a Burkett rancher, were named to the CentralColorado River Authority Board.
• 5/10 (early) - Penny Gas Causes Run: An offer of one-cent gasoline as part of a radio station contest Thursday triggered a run on a corner gas station and clogged traffic for blocks around.
  ....While discussing the recent jump in pump prices Thursday morning, disk jockeys at radio station KHMX-FM asked gas station owners to call with their best fuel price.
  ....Dino Iconos, who owns a Texaco station west of downtown, won a bidding war with another station owner when he offered gas at a penny a gallon from noon to 2 p.m.
  ....Soon after noon, the usually busy streets around Iconos' station were jammed with motorists who rushed to take advantage. Iconos said he expected to pump up to 3,000 gallons of fuel in the two-hour period.
• 5/10 (early) - Sentencing Due Tax Defendants: A federal judge is scheduled to sentence eight people on conspiracy charges Friday, notwithstanding veiled threats against him by seven of them.
  ....Lesliedawn Clark and seven associates, all of whom refuse to recognize the U.S. government, were convicted in January on conspiracy charges for assisting others in the filing of false tax documents.
  ....Seven of the eight defendants have dismissed their court-appointed attorneys and refuse to recognize the federal government as a sovereign power. Thinly disguised threats against federal officials have been attached to their court files.
  ....The defendants argue that the United States is unlawfully and tyrannically controlled by the International Monetary Fund and deny that U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders has authority to sentence them.
• 5/9 - New Software Keeps Track of Felons: New software has arrived that will allow police to have more extensive information than ever before on a felon within minutes of his implication in a crime, say officials with Crime Stoppers of Houston Inc.
  
  ....It's the first agency to buy Fuginet, a software tracking system that will give law enforcement officers immediate access to information on anyone who has been in prison.
  ....Once Crime Stoppers receives a tip, the agency will be able to retrieve information such as the names of family members, last address, previous convictions and, more importantly, a recent photograph.
• 5/9 (early) - Prison to Teach Parenting Skills: The Texas prison system is starting a program to teach parenting to female inmates, saying it hopes the instruction will help break the cycle of family violence.
  ....The Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced Wednesday that it is teaming with Buckner Children and Family Services to conduct the program in the Gatesville area, where many of the state's female inmates are incarcerated.
  ....Buckner Family Services is part of the statewide ministries of Buckner Benevolencies, the largest social service ministry of its kind in the nation.
  ....The program is designed for female inmates nearing release who have children 17 or younger. The family skills instruction help the mothers prepare to re-enter family life and reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect. It also will provide after-prison referral and support.
• 5/9 (early) - Morales Says to Dump Tobacco Stock: Four major state pension and education funds with money invested in tobacco should consider unloading the stock, says Attorney General Dan Morales.
  ....Morales said the tobacco industry "currently faces multibillion-dollar legal exposure stemming from a host of private and government lawsuits," including one he filed on Texas' behalf.
  ....Endowment and pension fund managers therefore "could reasonably conclude that continued investment in tobacco stock is financially ill-advised and imprudent," he said.
  ....In a Tuesday letter to the Teacher Retirement System, Employees Retirement System, Permanent University Fund and Permanent School Fund, Morales also continued his criticism of the tobacco industry.
  ...."We should not lend the credibility and prestige of the state of Texas to an industry that so callously seeks to benefit from the innocence and addictions of unknowing citizens and children," he wrote.
• 5/9 (early) - Austin Vote on Network Thursday: The first of three Austin City Council votes is scheduled Thursday on a proposed deal that would allow a private company to build a communications network to every home and business in the city.
  ....The network could carry two-way video, high-speed computer transmissions, Internet connections, regular voice telephone calls and cable television signals.
  ....The company, CSW Communications, plans to use fiber optic and coaxial cable lines to build the system at a cost of at least $150 million.
• 5/8 - Grand Jury to Consider Yahweh-related Charges: Charges against a man accused of taking his son and a stepson out of the House of Yahweh compound will be heard by a Callahan County grand jury convening Tuesday.
  
  ....David Richardson is charged with family violence and assault, a misdemeanor, and interfering with child custody, a felony.
  ....Richardson, of Maryland, is a former member of the religious sect. The charges against him stem from an encounter with sect members when Richardson removed his 6-year-old son and his wife's 12-year-old son from the compound earlier this year.
• 5/8 - Wrongful Death Suit Filed in Big Spring: Though the Texas Rangers and a Lubbock coroner concluded that Douglas Keith Frank hanged himself in a Big Spring jail cell two years ago, his mother insists his captors beat him to death.
  ....On Tuesday, Mary Charlene Melcer, of Houston, filed suit against the city of Big Spring, its police department, and every officer and jailer on duty the night of May 10, 1994, claiming they killed her 34-year-old son and conspired to cover it up.
  ...."There's no evidence of that whatsoever," City Attorney Mike Thomas responded. "From all the evidence I saw, the young man had problems and unfortunately committed suicide in our jail."
  ....Melcer's Houston attorney, Dennis McElwee, admitted he has not yet found witnesses to back his claims and has no evidence other than some funeral home Polaroids to prove his case. But he plans to use the suit to discover what happened.
• 5/8 - Eastland Suspects Still at Large: Two men who went on a mini-crime spree in Eastland and in Cisco Monday remain at-large.
  ....The two suspects led several Texas Department of Public Safety troopers on a high-speed chase Monday before stealing six vehicles in a brief amount of time.
  ....The car they drove into the Eastland area Monday - a black Buick - was ditched between Eastland and Cisco on Texas Highway 6.
  ....One suspect is believed to have gotten away in a maroon 1989 Chevrolet that was taken from Fleet Cementers east of Cisco.
• 5/8 (early) - Eastland Fire Dispatcher Realizes: 'That's My House!'
• 5/8 (early) - Fewer Gun Dealers in Texas: Fewer Texans have the required permits to sell firearms, according to a published report.
  ....The Austin American-Statesman today reported the number of Texas gun dealers fell to 11,500 last year. That was down 40 percent from two years ago, when the federal government raised the fee and tightened the application process for getting a license to deal guns.
  ....In 1993, there were 19,145 Texans who could legally sell firearms.
• 5/8 (early) - Spending by Universities Up: Texas higher education institutions raked in 22 percent more in royalties, licenses and other commercialization efforts related to research in fiscal year 1995, for a total of $10.7 million.
  ....Total spending on research by the state's public universities and health-related higher education institutions went up 2.9 percent, to $1.2 billion, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board reported Tuesday.
• 5/8 (early) - Bogus Checkpoint Gets Attention: A flashing sign warning motorists on U.S. Highway 377 near Keller of an upcoming narcotics checkpoint seemed to good to be true. It was.
  ....Police promoted the bogus checkpoint to see how people would respond. When drivers tried getting rid of items or made illegal turns to avoid the alleged checkpoint, police moved in on them.
  ....The trick checkpoint was prompted by information from local drug agents that drug dealers are switching to secondary highways, instead of major interstates, to transport their goods.
  ....U.S. Highway 377 runs parallel to Interstate 35 in Tarrant County.
• 5/8 (early) - Perot's Development Plans Revealed: Officials in a community 10 miles northwest of DFW Airport have confirmed that Ross Perot Jr. is seeking their OK for a development that could possibly contain a sports arena.
  ....Perot is the new majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball franchise and has expressed interest in ownership of the Dallas Stars hockey team as well.
  ....Discussions have been going on with the City of Dallas for a new arena in the downtown area, but both the Mavericks and the Stars have admitted they would consider an arena in a DFW suburb.
  ....The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Tuesday that it obtained documents revealing Perot's plans for a massive rezoning of the 2,000-acre Circle T Ranch along Texas 114 in Westlake.
• 5/8 (early) - Cutback Could Hamper Rabies Program: A vaccination program to fight rabies in Central and West Texas might be stalled due to budget cutbacks, raising fears that the disease could spread, state health officials say.
  ...."If we don't develop funding sources, there's the very real potential that we won't be able to go back to the field ... and continue the work we started," said Gayne Fearneyhough, director of the Oral Rabies Vaccination project for the Texas Department of Health.
  ....The state is spending $4 million this year to attack two strains of the disease - against coyotes in South Texas and gray foxes in Central and West Texas.
  ....Workers already have dropped more than 2.5 million vaccine-laced pellets in an effort to cordon off areas with confirmed rabies cases. But if the program is halted, the disease could spread, threatening livestock and people, Fearneyhough said.
• 5/7 - Little Rule Brings Home Big-Time Wins from UIL
• 5/7 (early) - Puerto Rican Folk Monster Stirring Interest, Anxiety in South Texas
• 5/7 (early) - Venezuelan Wins $12.2 Million: A Caracas, Venezuela, man has claimed half of the April 23 Lotto Texas jackpot that totaled $24.3 million.
  ....Victor Litwinenko received a $609,000 check on Monday, the first of 20 annual installments totaling almost $12.2 million.
  ....Litwinenko, who requested minimal publicity, purchased his ticket at a convenience store in Sugar Land.
  ....A second winning ticket, which had the numbers 3, 5, 16, 47, 49 and 50, was sold in Grand Prairie. That hasn't been claimed yet, lottery officials said.
  ....Nothing prohibits foreign citizens from winning the lottery, said spokesman Steve Levine. He said two Mexican nationals have won earlier jackpots.
• 5/7 (early) - Desalinating Lake Meredith Unfeasible: Officials responsible for maintaining water quality in much of West Texas returned to the drawing board Monday after a report confirmed efforts to desalinate Lake Meredith won't work as planned.
  ....Re-Spec Inc., a Rapid City, S.D., contractor, reported to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that the granite basement it hit after drilling about 3,200 feet ruined plans to divert naturally occurring saltwater into a deeper well.
  ....The brine, located in a massive aquifer, has flowed into the lake via the Canadian River for generations, possibly centuries. Lake Meredith, about 35 miles north of Amarillo, is the primary source of drinking water for 450,000 residents of 11 West Texas cities, including Lubbock and Amarillo.
  ....The projected cost for the injection project, based near Logan, N.M., was about $11.5 million, said John Williams, general manager of the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority. But the rock barrier makes the planned, mile-deep injection wells impossible.
• 5/6 - Texas Republic Leader Remains Jailed: A leader of the Republic of Texas movement, an anti-government group, remained jailed Sunday for a second day on a federal contempt citation, law officers and the right-wing organization say.
  
  
  ....Richard L. McLaren is being held in the Ward County Jail in Monahans, Sheriff Ben Keele and a spokeswoman for the San Antonio-based Republic movement said.
  ...."We are holding him for the U.S. Marshal," Keele said.
• 5/5 - Early Report Shows Traffic Fatalities Up
• 5/5 - State Holds Millions in Tobacco Stocks: While Texas Attorney General Dan Morales is suing tobacco companies on racketeering charges, the state holds more than $500 million in tobacco stocks in its pension and endowment funds, according to The Dallas Morning News.
  ....The newspaper reported Saturday that each of the state's four major funds has invested in tobacco company stocks.
  ....A review of the state funds found ownership in Philip Morris, American Brands, U.S. Tobacco Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., B.A.T. Industries and the cigarette-paper company Schweitzer-Mauduit International Inc.
  ....Managers of the state funds defend the ownership as prudent investing.
• 5/5 - Barr Wins Fort Worth Mayor Race: Like father, like son.
  ....That's the story from Saturday's mayoral election, which saw Councilman Kenneth Barr handily defeat four challengers to assume the post held decades earlier by his father.
  ....Barr, 53, who has served on the City Council since 1993, captured 72 percent of the vote in the race to succeed Kay Granger, who resigned to run for Congress.
  ....He will serve in the $75-a-week post until May 1997, when he faces re-election to a full two-year term.
  ....Barr's father, Willard Barr, who was at his side at the victory party, served as mayor from 1965-67.
• 5/4 - Judges Panel Blocks Roscoe's School Board Election
• 5/4 - "Mum Lady," Fort Worth Mayor's Race Highlight State's Election Day
• 5/4 (early) - Houston Motorists Driving Faster: Surprise! Motorists in states that raised their speed limits are driving faster.
  ....That's the word from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which studied speeds in Houston, Texas and Riverside, Calif.
  ....Texas and California were among the states that raised their speed limits after the national limit was dropped in January. Texas went from 55 mph to 70 mph while California raised its limit from 55 mph to 65 mph.
  ....Using photo and radar technology, researchers monitored speeds in urban interstates in the two communities just before and after the limits were increased, the Arlington, Va.-based institute reported.
  ....In addition to the expected increase in the average travel speed on the roads, the researchers found what the institute called a substantial increase in the percentage of cars exceeding 70 mph.
  ....In Houston, for example, before the limit was raised, 19 percent of drivers on I-10 were topping 70, and the share was 12 percent on Route 59 and 14 percent each on Route 288 and Route 90. After the limit was raised, the share topping 70 jumped to 29 percent on I-10, 27 percent on Route 59, 40 percent on Route 90 and 48 percent on Route 288.
• 5/4 (early) - Whitmire Gets Letters from Felons: State Sen. John Whitmire has a Houston judge to thank for dozens of letters he's received from felons, thanking him for sponsoring legislation that allowed them freedom.
  ....State District Judge Michael McSpadden of Houston didn't intend the letters as a compliment, however.
  ....The Republican judge says the "state jail felony" law is "the biggest joke in the world" because it turned dozens of career criminals back out on Houston streets. Under the 1993 law - which has been rewritten - non-violent criminals could serve only up to a year in jail even if they had criminal records of two or more crimes.
  ....Whitmire said the law was passed during a time when limited prison space was being reserved for violent offenders. Non-violent, habitual criminals now can be sentenced to up to 20 years in jail. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has reversed a number of heavy sentences the court said were improperly imposed while the one-year sentence limit was in place.
• 5/3 - Police Chief Decisions Top Area Elections
• 5/3 - State Can't Sue Over "Mad Cow" Remarks: Despite urging from Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry, Attorney General Dan Morales says he can't use a new state law to sue a vegetarian over remarks about "mad cow disease."
  ....Morales told Perry on Thursday that it would be best if everyone just quit beefing about the issue.
  ...."The more public attention focused upon his (vegetarian Howard Lyman's) outrageous claims, the greater the prospects for real harm being done to our beef industry. I suggest we simply ignore this foolishness," Morales said in a letter to Perry.
  ....Perry wanted Morales to take action against Lyman, who was a guest last month on Oprah Winfrey's television show, under Texas' 1995 False Disparagement of Perishable Food Products Law.
  ....That law allows agricultural producers to sue people who falsely disparage food products.
  ....But Morales said it contains no section that would allow the state to act on behalf of the individual producers.
• 5/3 - Bush Creates Charity Task Force: Gov. George W. Bush announced Thursday that he has created a task force to study how faith-based community service programs, such as those run by religious denominations, can help the state help Texans in need.
  ....Bush made the announcement during a luncheon appearance before one such program, the Salvation Army.
  ...."This task force is designed to unleash the best of Texas," Bush said.
  ....The 17-member task force will examine the work of faith-based programs and how they can thrive in Texas, the governor said.
  ...."Our goal is to identify ways that Texas can create an environment where faith-based organizations will flourish and meet the needs of people in crisis with focused and effective aid," Bush said.
  ....The task force, created by executive order, will be advisory in nature and will make recommendations to Bush and the Legislature. However, it will have no independent authority.
• 5/3 (early) - Dallas Cited for Lax Water Testing: Dallas and five other cities aretaking little action to prevent waterborne Cryptosporidium from sickening residents, concludes an AIDS group that surveyed how the nation's biggest water departments fight the parasite.
  
  ....The government doesn't know how many people are infected every year, but 400,000 people got sick from Milwaukee's water in 1993 and about 100 died.
  ....That outbreak, and the lack of national information, prompted the National Association of People with AIDS to survey 31 large cities to see how often they test drinking water and how quickly they alert the public, especially the AIDS patients most likely to be sickened, to Cryptosporidium contamination.
• 5/3 (early) - Austin-area Preserve Gets OK: The federal government Thursday approved a permit for the country's first major urban habitat, a 30,000-acre, oak- and cedar-covered area that is home to eight endangered species.
  
  ....U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt joined local officials at a ceremony issuing a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit for the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve.
  ...."The preserve is about the future. I think that 50 years from now, our grandchildren will look back and say that it's extraordinary that this generation had the vision to create this kind of open space," Babbitt said.
  ....Officials said the $160 million preserve plan, which took eight years to forge, will protect endangered species while allowing development to occur in the fast-growing western part of Travis County.
• 5/3 (early) - Judge Dismisses Lost Body Suit: A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against a Dallas-area cemetery by the family of Melinda Ann Lee, whose body was stolen from her grave in 1994.
  
  ....The family will appeal the ruling by state District Judge Joe B. Brown of Dallas, said David Taylor, attorney for the Lee family.
• 5/2 - Governor Bush Lands Key Convention Job
• 5/2 - Civil Rights Groups Blast Attorney General Morales
• 5/2 - No Rural Counties Fighting for 817 Area Code
• 5/2 - Teens Lead Officers on Chase: Mitchell and Howard County law enforcement officers spent most of Wednesday afternoon pursuing five young men in a stolen vehicle.
  ....Department of Public Safety trooper Mark Negri tried to stop a pickup truck on Interstate 20 in Mitchell County for a traffic offense about 1:47 p.m. The driver of the truck did not stop, but instead led the officer on a westbound chase reaching speeds in excess of 100 mph.
  ....In Howard County, the driver of the truck turned south on Moss Lake Road and crashed into a fence about 2:10 p.m. The driver fled on foot.
  ....Passengers Nicklas Montano, 20; Lacoy Oshay Hawkins, 17; Iry James Williams, 17; and a 16-year-old boy, all of Odessa, were taken into custody.
  .....A two-hour search for the driver included DPS, Big Spring police, sheriff's deputies, a game warden, dogs and a DPS helicopter.
• 5/2 (early) - Sweetwater Library to Expand: A $200,000 county/city library expansion project in Sweetwaterhas been given the go-ahead.
  ....The Texas State Library and Archives Commission awarded $100,000 to theproject to be matched locally.
  ....Liz Sands, library board chairwoman, said local funds will come from anestate left by library board member Alta Byrd. No local tax dollars will beinvolved.
  ....Nolan County will have control of all money, auditing and bidspecifications.
• 5/2 (early) - Mrs Baird's in Austin Eliminating Jobs: Nearly half of the 166 people working at Mrs. Baird's Bakeries Austin plant will lose their jobs when the plant closes this summer.
  ....The Fort Worth bread company told workers earlier this week the plant will close in July. Some of its production moved to a Houston facility.
  ....The company is eliminating 76 jobs in the move.
• 5/2 (early) - Cat Beaters Get Probation: Four former members of the state champion East Bernard High School baseball team have been sentenced to six months probation and 40 hours of community service for pummeling a cat with bats.
  ....The students could be free of criminal records in six months after the sentence, issued Monday during an unannounced court session The maximum penalty they could have received for the Class A misdemeanor animal cruelty charge was a $4,000 fine and a year in jail.
  ...."We wanted to make sure the boys knew what they'd done was wrong," said Wharton County Assistant County Attorney Lorna Henson. "I believe they realize what they did was terribly wrong. We're also not there to ruin their lives."
  ....Britt Sensat, Danny L. Crane and Ryan Walters, all 17, agreed to the sentence before Wharton County Judge Lawrence Naiser. A 16-year-old, whose name was not released, agreed to a similar form of probation within the juvenile criminal justice system.
  ....The probation requirements include community service and $347 in fines and court costs. Each teen also has to pay $40 a month to the probation department.
• 5/2 (early) - Austin Mayor Wants Speeds Reduced: Austin Mayor Bruce Todd, upset with the Texas Department of Transportation for raising freeway speed limits in his city, is hoping for help from the Legislature.
  
  ....Todd wants legislation introduced in the 1997 session to reverse the DOT's decision to raise the speed limits on stretches of two highways, Interstate 35 and the MoPac Expressway.
  ...."I am determined to press ahead to restore some level of sanity to an otherwise fairly insane process," Todd said.
  ....Todd said he would seek support from other big city mayors for full-scale lobbying to restore "our local control."
  ....Susan Horton, Texas Municipal League general counsel, said Todd's concerns have been echoed by a few other big city officials. But she said it's too soon to say whether legislation favored by Todd would be a league priority in 1997.
  ....In addition to Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas and San Antonio had opposed the speed limits set by the Transportation Department within those cities.
• 5/1 - Arrest by Brownwood Police Chief Candidate May be Investigated
• 5/1 - More GEDs Earned at Brownwood Prison Than Any Other in State
• 5/1 - Former Dallas ISD Board Member Indicted: A federal grand jury indicted a former Dallas school board member Tuesday on charges he received more than $450,000 in bribes in exchange for steering board contracts to a business associate.
  
  
  ....The 42-count indictment returned in Dallas charges Dan Peavy with conspiracy, bribery of local officials, extortion by public officials, money laundering and filing a false income tax return.
  ....Peavy's associate, Dallas insurance executive Eugene M. Oliver, also is named in the indictment. Oliver is charged with conspiracy, bribery of local officials and money laundering.
• 5/1 (early) - Round Rock High Bans 'Short' Uniforms from Class
• 5/1 (early) - Farrakhan Speaks in Houston: Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is encouraging blacks and Hispanics to work together toward voter registration and educational goals.
  
  ....Farrakhan met Monday with about 20 leaders from Houston's Hispanic community, including city councilman John Castillo and school trustee Esther Campos.
  ...."I felt as comfortable as I could be with someone of his stature making the overtures to meet with us," Castillo said.
  Frumencio Reyes, an attorney and spokesman for Tejano Democrats, said many in the Hispanic community disagree with the Nation of Islam leader on a number of issues, but he came away from the meeting impressed.
  ...."He has a lot of passion about the injustices of the world. His ministry is his avenue, while mine are the courts ... everyone has their own," Reyes said.
• 5/1 (early) - Embezzlement Charges Against Selena Killer May Be Dropped: Nueces County District Attorney Carlos Valdez says he may not pursue embezzlement allegations against the woman convicted of murdering Tejano singer Selena.
  
  ....Yolanda Saldivar, who is serving a life sentence for killing Selena Quintanilla Perez, also has been accused of embezzling $30,000 from the singer's business operations, which she helped manage.
  ....Last September, Valdez said he would vigorously pursue the theft case and that he expected a grand jury to return an indictment. Then he said more police investigation was needed and postponed taking the case to a grand jury until after Ms. Saldivar's murder trial last October.
  ....Now Valdez says he may not pursue the case unless the charges are serious enough to warrant jail time.

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