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Texas News: November 1-15, 1996
- 11/15 - Hunters in Texas Have Net Help: Texas wildlife lovers
and hunters have a new target on the Internet.
....A new home page designed by Texas Agricultural Extension Service specialist
Jack Thigpen offers outdoorsmen a one-stop source for whatever information
they may need in planning their next trip.
...."This gives the general public a way to access information on fishing,
hunting and birding all in one place, whether they need to know about hunting
leases or when the next birding festival is," Thigpen said.
....The Natural Resources and Economic Development home page also has data
estimating hunting economic impact, acres of habitat, estimated deer populations
and number of hunter days for Texas counties.
....The page's Internet address is http://acs.tamu.edu//econdev/
- 11/15 - House Seat Runoff Elections Soon: Here we go again:
the red, white and blue yard signs, the blitz of radio and TV ads, the newspaper
endorsements.
....Campaign season ended last week in other parts of the country, but there's
still nearly a month to go in Southeast Texas.
....Three House seats remain up for grabs because of a decision by a panel
of federal judges to redraw district boundaries to correct redistricting
problems. Because no one candidate in those three races emerged from the
court-ordered Nov. 5 special election with more than half the vote, the
top two vote-getters advanced to a Dec. 10 runoff.
....No matter the outcome of those runoffs, the GOP will win at least one
of the contested seats. Two Republicans are pitted against each other in
an unusual race to succeed Republican Jack Fields, who is retiring.
....Two freshman incumbents are vying for re-election in the two other races:
Republican Rep. Steve Stockman, whose militia-friendly views drew considerable
attention in his first term; and Democratic Rep. Ken Bentsen, the nephew
of former U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, who was thought to have been hurt most
by last summer's redistricting.
....The cast also includes a big-spending hospital investor, a Republican
state representative who nearly stood alone in his party in voting against
concealed handguns and a GOP moderate who has challenged the head of the
state party.
- 11/15 - AIDS Organization Given Warning: An organization that
provides counseling and care for AIDS sufferers has been given until late
February to correct violations found by state inspectors or risk losing
funding.
....The Southwest AIDS Committee was placed on a 120-day probation after
the Texas Department of Health HIV-STD Bureau found numerous violations
by the organization, including allegations that the director verbally abused
patients and threatened staff members who cooperated with inspectors.
....Committee Executive Director Terry Call denied all allegations against
him. He blamed most of them on disgruntled former employees.
- 11/14 - Deadbeat Parents on Internet List: Names and faces
of parents who refuse to pay child support are being posted on the Internet
by the state attorney general's office.
...."The use of the Internet is far-reaching. When parents are unwilling
to pay child support it is not uncommon for them to move to another city,
state or country," Attorney General Dan Morales said Wednesday.
...."By using the Internet, no matter where they go, they can be detected.
Locating an evader can be just a matter of viewing our Internet page."
....The attorney general's home page currently features a half-dozen people
who together owe nearly $100,000. The most recent information from court
documents is included, such as last known address, occupation, date of birth,
height, weight, hair color, eye color and race.
- 11/14 - Bush Wants Billion-Dollar Break for Texans: Gov. George
W. Bush is calling on lawmakers to give Texans a "billion dollar beginning"
on promised school property tax relief.
....Bush announced Wednesday that his budget proposal for the next two fiscal
years will include a recommendation that $1 billion generated from higher-than-expected
state revenues and lower-than-expected spending go to property tax relief.
....He called that a down payment on his effort to replace with a new revenue
source the $10 billion the levy generates each year.
- 11/14 - Panel Reviewing State Agencies: A legislative review
panel is considering whether to recommend the continuation of four state
agencies, including the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
....TCADA two years ago faced financial mismanagement scandals. It since
been restructured to better watch over state funds.
....After reviewing the four agencies, officials at the Sunset Advisory
Commission recommended Wednesday the continuation of TCADA, the Criminal
Justice Policy Council, the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission and the
Texas Youth Commission.
....The Sunset Commission reviews operations of state agencies and makes
recommendations for changes to the Legislature. In December, it will make
final decisions about the agencies.
- 11/14 - Citrus Crop Good This Year: Consumers can look forward
to high quality citrus this year; however, due to the drought the fruit
may be smaller in size and fewer in number, reports the Texas Agricultural
Extension Service.
....Dr. Charles Hall, Extension horticultural marketing economist in College
Station, said the trees went through stress that they don't normally go
through.
...."Anytime a citrus tree is greatly stressed like it has been, it
can mean lower production," Hall said. "When the trees produce
slightly less fruit, the quality may even improve, so the expectations for
quality are very good for this upcoming season."
....Dr. Julian Sauls, Extension citrus horticulturist in Weslaco, said the
harvest is in full swing and there is quite a lot of fruit and the quality
is good.
- 11/13 - Lawmakers File 165 Bills Tuesday: Texas lawmakers could
decide next year whether to abolish parole for violent criminals, require
that parents be notified before abortions are performed on their daughters
or ensure that inmates can't harass their victims from prison.
....Those proposals are among more than 165 bills filed Tuesday, the first
day the measures could be presented for consideration.
....By 4 p.m., 113 bills and three resolutions had been filed with the Chief
Clerk's Office in the House. In the Senate, 53 bills had been filed with
the Calendar Clerk's office.
The bills will be considered in the 75th Legislature, which convenes Jan.
14, 1997.
- 11/13 - Affirmative Action Commissioner proposes way to retain
'best' minorities: State Higher Education Commissioner Kenneth Ashworth
on Tuesday suggested a way Texas universities could avoid losing the best
minority students to other states, despite an anti-affirmative action court
decision.
....At a Tuesday conference on the issue at Texas A&M University, Ashworth
said the state should explore whether it's legal for Texas universities
to offer preference in admissions and financial aid to any student who gets
such an offer from an out-of-state institution.
....The approach would be race-neutral while at the same time addressing
concerns that other states' universities, armed with the ability to consider
race as a factor in admissions and financial aid, "can raid us in Texas
and skim our best minority students away from us," Ashworth said.
....State lawmakers at the conference also suggested possible legislation
to promote diversity on university campuses - including automatically admitting
at least the top 10 percent of high school graduates.
....The conference was designed to find ways to deal with effects of the
federal court decision known as the Hopwood case, after lead plaintiff Cheryl
Hopwood.
- 11/13 - Bush Criticizes Draft of Curriculum Rewrite: Gov. George
W. Bush on Tuesday criticized a draft of the state's first major curriculum
rewrite in more than a decade as vague and recommended clearer goals for
Texas students.
...."The document will determine the learning landscape for all of
Texas, from our textbooks to our testing system, so it's important that
we get it right and come up with a plan that is clear, concise and doable,"
Bush told the Texas Business and Education Coalition.
....The 1,444-page document has been worked on by educators, parents, curriculum
specialists and business representatives since 1994 and will go to the State
Board of Education for consideration.
....The board will take public testimony next year as members consider adopting
the curriculum standards, which are used by publishers as guidelines for
classroom textbooks.
....Officials have said the rewrite's key difference from current subject
requirements is a subtle but important shift in focus: Rather than specifying
what educators should teach, it will detail what skills students should
learn.
- 11/12 - Big Spring Toddler Killed in Accident: A major accident
50 miles north of Comstock in Val Verde County on Saturday claimed the life
of a 3-year-old Big Spring girl a day later.
....Elisa Rodriquez died Sunday at Shannon Medical Center from injuries
she sustained in an accident about 4:15 p.m. Saturday.
....According to the Department of Public Safety, Sylvia Rodriquez, 42,
over corrected after the vehicle she was driving left the pavement on a
highway curve. As a result, the vehicle skidded sideways, overturned several
times, plunged through a fence and stopped in a pasture.
- 11/12 - Woman Arrested after I-20 Chase: A Temple woman was
arrested for DWI and possession of marijuana Monday after being pursued
for more than two miles along Interstate 20 by law enforcement officers
from three agencies and two counties.
.....Department of Public Safety Corporal Tim Ochsner said sheriff's deputies
from Nolan and Taylor Counties and the state highway patrol followed Pamela
Hatton, 44, at speeds near 80 miles per hour before she pulled over and
consented to have her car searched.
...."It wasn't really a chase," Ochsner said. "I think it
took her longer to stop because of the intoxication."
....Authorities found marijuana (under two ounces), a crack pipe, alcoholic
beverages and cash, which Ochsner described as being "under $10,000."
....Hatton, who Ochsner described as having a "very lengthy record"
of similar offenses, was arrested and transported to the Nolan County Jail.
- 11/11 - Texas Poll Shows Texans Like
Their Telephones
- 11/10 - Texas Poll: Texans Want TV Ratings System: When television
networks launch a voluntary ratings system for programs in January, they'll
have a receptive audience among Texas viewers, according to The Harte-Hanks
Texas Poll.
....And the more specific the ratings, the better the viewers will like
them.
....More than 90 percent of Texans want a ratings system for television
programming. Sixty-two percent say they prefer to see separate ratings for
the levels of violence, sexual content and objectionable language in TV
programs. Such a system is used for many cable series and movies, which
are preceded with warning letters: "L" for language, "N"
for nudity, "V" for violence, and so on.
....About 29 percent of Texans would rather see one summary rating for TV
shows, similar to the Motion Picture Association of America's "G,"
"PG," "PG-13" and "R" ratings of feature films.
....Meanwhile, programs containing too much sex, violence and inappropriate
language were a concern for 68 percent of Texans.
....The questions about TV ratings and program content were among those
asked of 1,001 Texans during the Oct. 7-19 Texas Poll.
- 11/10 - Results of Sheriff's Election Still in Doubt: It's
almost a week after election day, but residents of San Augustine County
still don't know who their sheriff will be next year.
....That's because a box of about 128 mail-in ballots was overlooked when
votes were tallied Tuesday night.
....Write-in candidate John Cartwright won the election by 63 votes.
....Senior District Judge James F. Clawson of Temple has scheduled a hearing
for 9 a.m. today in San Augustine on whether to let the county clerk open
the box and count the ballots. He will also consider incumbent Charles Bryan's
challenge of the election.
....San Augustine County, near the Louisiana border, has about 8,000 people.
....Bryan contends in his challenge, filed Friday, that many of the write-in
votes were not marked properly.
....County Clerk Geraldine Smith said overlooking the 128 ballots was an
innocent mistake.
....When she discovered the sealed and locked box Wednesday morning, she
called the Texas Secretary of State's office and followed its advice to
file an application for a court order to open the box.
....Smith said if Cartwright retains his lead, he will become the first
successful write-in candidate in the 18 years she has been in office.
- 11/9 - Gunmen Rob Casino Bus, Shoot Driver
- 11/9 - No Solution in Sight for Big
Problem of Property Taxes
- 11/9 - First Charter School Graduate
Honored
- 11/9 - Outdated Textbooks Targeted
in Texas
- 11/9 - Test Exemptions for Limited English
Student Up
- 11/8 - Report: 39 Percent of Students
at Risk of Dropping Out
- 11/8 - More Prison Inmates Claim to
Be Baptist than Any Other Denominatoin
- 11/8 - Tax Report Comes Out as Political
Stakes Rise
- 11/7 - "Black Tax" Fraud Nets Man 3-year Sentence: A
Dallas man accused of filing tax returns that claim a non-existent "black
tax" credit based on reparations for slavery was sentenced Wednesday
to three years in prison.
....U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis also fined Ben N. Badio $2,500 and ordered
three years' supervised release. He will surrender to authorities on Dec.
4.
....Badio was arrested in April and charged with knowingly making a fraudulent
government claim.
....Badio told members of Dallas-area black churches they were entitled
to credit of about $40,000. That is the supposed equivalent of the 40 acres
and a mule some activists believe the government promised blacks as reparations
for slavery, according to IRS documents.
- 11/7 - Shamrock Won't Carry Mags, Cig Paper: The state's largest
convenience store chain will not be selling sexually explicit magazines
and cigarette rolling papers by the end of the year, Diamond Shamrock officials
say.
....The merchandise will be pulled from the stores and their space will
be taken up by Family Reading Centers with magazines and books aimed at
children, teens and the family in general, company officials say.
....The actions will be taken at their recently acquired Stop N Go outlets.
The company pulled Playgirl, which features nude male models, from the stores
in May. And they removed the sexually explicit magazines from Diamond Shamrock
Corner Stores in March. The Corner Stores don't carry cigarette papers.
....The San Antonio-based company referred to the move as conforming with
its family-oriented tradition, but said the decision to remove the items
was mainly an economic move. They say the decision was made after a study
and review of magazine sales.
- 11/6 - Quick Look at the ELECTION
- 11/6 - Texans Back Dole; Elect Gramm
- 11/6 - Republicans Leading Texas Supreme
Court Races
- 11/5 - Animal Rights Activists Want
Steel Traps Banned in Texas
- 11/5 - Smoke Sends Flight Back to Houston: Smoke detected inside
a Los Angeles-bound Continental Airlines jet forced the flight to return
to Houston minutes after takeoff Monday.
....Flight 1515 was 15 minutes into its route when smoke was detected in
the passenger cabin, said Sarah Anthony, spokeswoman for the Houston-based
carrier.
....The MD-80 jet, carrying 139 passengers and five crew members, made a
10:45 a.m. landing without incident at Houston Intercontinental Airport.
No injuries were reported and passengers were rerouted to Los Angeles on
other Continental flights.
- 11/4 - Half of Texans Own Guns: More than half of Texans say
someone in their home owns a gun - and 62 percent of gun owners have more
than one, according to the Harte-Hanks Texas Poll.
....But only 7 percent of Texans say they have applied for a concealed handgun
permit and even fewer have been given the right to carry one.
....Still, one in four Texans now approach people differently because of
the concealed handgun law and law enforcement officers say it has changed
the way they do their job.
...."With Texas being an outdoor sports kind of state, and the tendency
toward hunting, it's not surprising there are a number of guns here,"
said Dennis Longmire, a professor and director of the survey research program
at Sam Houston State University's Criminal Justice Center. "The world
has a general image of Texans being gun-toting cowboys. There's a lot of
truth to that."
....Even though few Texans say they have applied for a concealed handgun
permit, that's enough to make 26 percent change the way they approach others.
...."Texans are acutely sensitive to the fact that people may be armed,"
Longmire said. "People are being cautious. Some are afraid."
....Texas lawmakers approved the state's concealed-carry law last year.
Permits began going out last fall, and permit holders could tote concealed
weapons beginning Jan. 1.
....Overall, 52 percent of Texans say someone in their home owns a gun.
Of those, 43 percent have two to five guns. Twenty-eight percent have one
gun, 19 percent have more than five guns and 10 percent don't know how many
guns they have or refuse to answer.
- 11/4 - Texans Using Computers More: The number of Texans using
a computer at home or work has increased dramatically and a majority of
residents are concerned about sexual content on the Internet, according
to The Harte-Hanks Texas Poll.
.....Overall, 55 percent of Texans use a computer. The number of computer
users who use one at home has increased over the past 10 years - from 18
percent to 71 percent.
....The number of people using them at work has doubled during the same
period, from 35 percent in 1986 to 72 percent.
...."Cost has come down, power has gone up, ease of use has improved,"
said Nora Hahn, spokeswoman for the Houston-based Compaq Computer Corp.,
the world's largest manufacturer of personal computers. "Those are
the same kinds of things you would find in any industry that would lead
to acceptance of a product."
....Texans who use a computer at home use it for work (33 percent) and school
(26 percent), followed by home finance (18 percent) and entertainment (13
percent). Eight percent mention various other uses.
- 11/3 - Tyler Fire Kills Two: Twenty-year-old Shagayla Brookins
and her 2-year-old son J-Vonn, died in their home after a fire that might
have been caused by a gas kitchen stove.
....Brookins, who was nine months pregnant and due to deliver her second
son any day, often kept the burners on the gas stove on to keep warm, said
neighbor Alice Scott.
....Tyler Fire Investigator Max Nash said the flames appeared to have originated
at the back of the house, where the stove sat.
....Firefighters were delayed because neighbors had trouble waking residents
in the area who had working telephones.
....The house had burned to the ground when firefighters arrived at 4:30
a.m. Friday, Nash said.
....Brookins was in the only bedroom while her son slept on a pallet in
the living room, Nash said.
- 11/2 - Advocates Want Emergency Calls
Available to Everyone
- 11/2 - Texas Poll Indicates Texans
Want to Limit Illegal Immigrants Benefits
- 11/2 - New Area Code Confusing Houston,
Computers
- 11/2 - Blockbuster Moving Back to Texas: Blockbuster Entertainment
Corp. will move from Florida back to Dallas, where the $3 billion chain
started 11 years ago, company officials announced Friday.
....Chief executive Bill Fields told approximately 1,000 workers at company
headquarters in Fort Lauderdale that they all will be offered jobs in Dallas,
where the company is looking at downtown buildings but has not finalized
its real estate plans.
...."It's expected that the move will start in the spring of 1997,"
said Cheri Fein, a spokeswoman for the Viacom Inc. subsidiary.
....Fields said Dallas is a better location in terms of product distribution
and travel.
- 11/2 - Clinton Speaks in El Paso: President Clinton appealed
Friday for all ethnic groups to unite and repudiate racial hatreds that
have torn other nations apart.
...."America has been different, and America has to be different,"
he told more than 40,000 cheering people during a late-afternoon campaign
stop at El Paso International Airport.
Clinton noted that the United States has escaped the level of ethnic and
racial strife that has rent such places as Bosnia, Ireland and several African
nations.
...."That's why when people started stepping up hatred of the federal
government, I stood up for the federal employees and reminded people they're
our friends and neighbors," he said. "That's why we stood up to
the church burnings and to people who would defile the mosques."
....Speaking in a city on the U.S.-Mexico border that is proud of its easy
blend of cultures, Clinton urged Americans to build on a harmonious foundation
and strive for greater unity.
- 11/1 - Presidential Candidates' Posturing
Continues in Texas
- 11/1 - Fugitive Mother Says She Didn't
Abandon Children
- 11/1 - Prisoners penalized for frivolous lawsuits: A convicted
burglar and a man locked up for involuntary manslaughter are the first inmates
to lose good-time credit under a Texas law aimed at curbing frivolous lawsuits
by prisoners.
....Each inmate filed six lawsuits that were thrown out by a federal court
within the last year, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Thursday.
The lawsuits included complaints about mail service, the quality of meals
and denial of dessert.
....The inmate convicted of burglary, Michael Anthony Moore, filed four
lawsuits complaining about mail service; one saying an administrative segregation
plan was a scheme to retaliate against inmates who file lawsuits; and one
complaining he wasn't served fresh farm produce and meat approved by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
....The punishment for the second inmate, Glen Calvin James, filed lawsuits
complaining of strip searches; a new law he said affected his religious
freedom; denial of dessert while on administrative segregation; alleged
illegal searches; alleged inadequate food while the prison unit was on lockdown,
a security measure; and alleged medical injuries caused by being forced
to carry his own property bags.
All content copyright 1996, Knight-Ridder/Tribune Media Services,
Associated Press, The Abilene Reporter-News and Reporter OnLine
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