PRINT THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE

Friday, December 26, 1997

Separatists, tornado among 1997 Texas memories

By MADELINE BARO Associated Press Writer

When Richard McLaren ended his weeklong standoff with authorities, his neighbors had one regret - that he made it out alive.

The wild-haired leader of a faction of the Republic of Texas, a group that believes Texas was illegally made part of the United States, kept Texans in suspense in 1997 while alternately intriguing and entertaining them with increasingly outrageous antics.

McLaren had spent years annoying his neighbors in the West Texas mountains with bogus property liens. His mountain headquarters were protected by men who called themselves "embassy guards" while McLaren prepared for a military assault from the government.

Last April, the neighborhood feud boiled over when McLaren's followers invaded the home of two of his most vocal critics and took them hostage.

McLaren holed up in the Davis mountains with six followers, including his wife, during a week of negotiations that included a hostage exchange for a Republic of Texas member who later surrendered.

When the standoff concluded on the seventh day, McLaren, his wife Evelyn and three followers surrendered to police while two others fled into the woods. One of those men, Mike Matson, was later killed in a gun battle with authorities.

Neighbors were disappointed, though, that McLaren didn't follow through with his threat to make the confrontation another Waco or Ruby Ridge.

"I am completely surprised to hear he's still breathing," said neighbor Michelle Behrendt, shocked after McLaren left the Republic's embassy trailer without a fight. "I thought he would have fought to the last bullet."

And it wasn't over yet. The remaining fugitive, Richard Keyes, was arrested four months later near New Waverly, about 60 miles north of Houston. During his time on the run, he'd found time to give an interview to Mother Jones magazine where he said that New Mexico militia members had aided his escape and he was in a place that was "armed to the teeth."

At the October organized crime trial of McLaren and fellow separatist Richard Otto, the men refused to use court-appointed lawyers. They represented themselves and were ejected from the courtroom several times for their behavior before finally being convicted.

The separatist saga was quite a contrast to the other story that riveted Texans in 1997 - the devastation of the central Texas town of Jarrell by a tornado in May.

Twenty-seven people in Jarrell died as the tornado, with winds blowing at more than 260 mph, cut a swath through the community.

Jarrell residents found that closets, bathtubs and inside hallways provided no shelter as the twister tore several homes down to their concrete foundations.

Another small community - the border town of Redford - was devastated by the death of 18-year-old goat herder Esequiel Hernandez Jr., shot and killed by a Marine on drug patrol along the border.

Cpl. Clemente Banuelos, who led the four-man Marine team and pulled the trigger, said it was self-defense - that Hernandez had shot at the team and was taking aim at one of his men when he was killed.

Hernandez's family and others said the high school sophomore was protecting his goats and didn't know the camouflaged Marines were people.

A grand jury refused to indict Banuelos, but a civil rights probe and other investigations continue.

Affirmative action also grabbed many headlines in 1997, as the first group of students affected by the Hopwood ruling, which led to the end of race-based admission and financial aid policies at state schools, enrolled.

The University of Texas' law school was faced with the prospect of having no blacks when the only black student who accepted an offer of admission chose to enroll at Cornell instead. By the time classes started in the fall, only four black students were among the 468 new law students.

In Houston, as the city elected its first black mayor, a battle raged on over the city's affirmative action program. Although a proposition to abolish the program was defeated in a November election, the outcome of a lawsuit filed by a white contractor could still end the program.

Texas Death Row had a record year. Thirty-seven men were put to death by injection - more than any other state.

Although Texas has not executed a woman this century, in December a judge set a date for pickax killer Karla Faye Tucker, who, barring a reprieve, will be executed in early 1998.

Meanwhile, Rowlett housewife Darlie Routier became the seventh woman on Texas Death Row with her conviction for the murder of her 5-year-old son in an attack that also killed her 6-year-old son.

Another mother convicted of murder, Susie Mowbray, walked out of jail after nine years. Her conviction for the murder of her husband, Brownsville car salesman Bill Mowbray, was overturned by the The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after ruling that prosecutors suppressed evidence that could have shown Mowbray committed suicide. Mrs. Mowbray faces re-trial next year.

In a landmark civil case, jurors ordered the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas to pay $119.6 million to the molestation victims of priest Rudolph "Rudy" Kos - the largest verdict of its kind.

Dallas was also the site of another major religious development when Southern Baptists, fed up with what they called Disney's "gay-friendly" policies and products, voted at their annual convention to formally boycott the Mickey Mouse company.

Texas lost several prominent citizens in 1997, notably Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Michener and Rep. Frank Tejeda.

Michener, the best-selling author of epic books like "Texas," "Centennial," "Space," and "Poland," died of kidney failure at the age of 90 at his Austin home.

Tejeda, a San Antonio Democrat, was a decorated Vietnam veteran who dedicated much of his congressional career to military and veteran issues. He died at the age of 51 from complications stemming from treatment of a brain tumor.Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: