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Wednesday, July 23, 2008
BU regents discuss Baylor and its president during five-hour meeting
Baylor University President John Lilley’s future was under scrutiny by the university’s board of regents in a closed-door session in Grapevine that lasted more than five hours today.
Lilley, whose administration since January 2006 has seen troubled relations with the Baylor Alumni Association as well as campus faculty, wasn’t present during much of the board’s executive session, held at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center.
“There were no votes,” board president Howard K. Batson told the Tribune-Herald after 6 p.m., when board members broke for dinner. “We just shared head and heart about the future of Baylor and John’s role in that future, and we expect the meeting will continue tomorrow.”
Batson declined to characterize the session any further. He did say no decision has been made on a replacement for Randall O’Brien, who is leaving his post as Baylor’s provost at month’s end to take over the presidency of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson, Tenn.
During the afternoon, Batson and vice chair Donell Teaff occasionally left the room where regents were meeting and walked to another room where Lilley spent much of the day.
At one point late in the day, some of the university’s vice presidents and legal counsel were summoned to where the regents were meeting.
Regents were scheduled to hold their executive session during their annual retreat on Friday but at the last minute moved the closed-door meeting to this afternoon.
Among other things, regents are to discuss the university’s annual report, including updates on Baylor 2012, an ambitious plan to catapult Baylor into the front lines of research-oriented universities nationwide.
Lilley has won praise from board members in the past for helping Baylor meet many of its Baylor 2012 goals and is pivotally involved in efforts to increase the university’s endowment to $2 billion.
Hired by the board in 2005, Lilley began his tenure in 2006 by calling for civil discussions about Baylor’s goals but this spring found himself squared off against faculty over tenure guidelines and the denial of tenure to several Baylor faculty.
Faculty members and the administration subsequently held a summit over the issue, with Lilley vowing to leave the tenure process in the hands of established faculty except in rare instances.
LIlley has also tried to reach an agreement over strained relations between Baylor leadership and the independently run Baylor Alumni Association, though with less success.
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Meeting on G.L. Wiley’s future canceled
The meeting planned for Thursday night to discuss options for the future of G. L. Wiley Middle School has been canceled. Instead, those options will be discussed at an Aug. 7 board meeting at the Waco Independent School District conference center.
The options to be discussed will be released Thursday by the school district for the community’s consideration.
East Waco community and church leaders met today with school board members to discuss postponement of the Wiley meeting, as well as to voice their displeasure with closure of the middle school being one of those options.
“We want closure off the table until after the May 2009 TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) results come out,” said Jimmy Hunter, pastor of Toliver Chapel Baptist Church.
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Scattered showers coming, and four 100s in a row
Turns out a little bit of Hurricane Dolly is reaching this far north. Some scattered showers, part of the circulation from Dolly, are off to our east and headed this way:
Doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll get here, but still. The National Weather Service in Fort Worth says any rainfall from these storms will likely be less than a quarter inch.
Any rain will be welcome relief: Waco airport has reported a high of 100 today, its fourth straight daily high of 100 or above.
The eye of Dolly, meanwhile, is now entirely over land in Willacy County. Brownsville, Harlingen and Corpus Christi have, no surprise, set rainfall records for this date. Winds in Brownsville continue to gust to nearly 60 mph. There was also a tornado reported to the north, in San Patricio County, that flipped an RV and tore up some trees and some sheds.
But the big worry has eased as the levees on the Rio Grande in Brownsville and in Matamoros, Mexico, spared what had been feared would be a direct hit from Dolly, continue to hold.
Here’s the latest from the Associated Press on Dolly.
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Trial defendant’s ex-mother-in-law touts probation
Attorneys this afternoon began their defense in the punishment phase of the trial of Douglas Howard Church, who pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter and three counts of intoxication assault in an August 2006 wreck that killed Debbie French of West and injured her three children, ages 5, 9 and 14.
In defense testimony, Anita Kaluza, Douglas Howard Church’s former mother-in-law, said her daughter called her after Church was involved in the fatal wreck. She lived about a mile away on East Tours Road, she said, adding that Church appeared to be in shock when she arrived, ahead of ambulances or any officers.
She asked Church how he was doing and he said, “I’m fine, but they need help,” referring to Debbie Ruth French and her three children.
Kaulza testified she tried to calm the children and help them the best she could until help arrived. He also told jurors that Church, who is no longer married to her daughter, would be a good candidate to be placed on probation.
Earlier, testifying for the prosecution, Allan French, widower of Debbie French, testified in Waco’s 54th State District Court about the aftermath of the wreck. Besides suffering the death of his wife, French said each of his children have experienced physical and emotional trauma because of the wreck.
French said his wife’s oldest daughter left their home and now lives with her father.
But perhaps the worst impact has been experienced by Megan French, who was 5 when the wreck occurred.
French said Megan was so tortured by the experience that she ripped the IVs out of her arm at the hospital, and refused to sleep, saying she was too scared.
In the wreck, Megan broke a bone in her neck, suffered chest and heart injuries and leg injuries.
French said his daughter still has difficulty controlling her neck and, almost two years after the accident, still complains that her legs hurt.
She is also still traumatized by nightmares, French said.
Church faces up to 50 years in prison if he is given the maximum sentence on each charge. He is also eligible for probation.
Defense testimony resumes at 9 a.m. Thursday.
For reports from previous witness testimonies, click here.
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Woman guns for husband after morning divorce proceedings
A Waco woman has been arrested after she allegedly shot at her newly divorced husband in the front yard of their North Waco home.
Police were called at 9:25 a.m. Tuesday to the 1500 block of Bryan Avenue after neighbors reported hearing shots fired in the area, Waco Police spokesman Steve Anderson said.
When police arrived, they could see a man crouched down behind the trunk of a car while a woman held a pistol in the front yard of a home at 1508 Bryan Ave., near Cameron Park, Anderson said.
Officers had to order Gayla Valdez-Lind, 49, to drop the pistol four to five times before she complied, he said.
No one was hurt in the incident, but the car was hit several times, Anderson said.
Valdez-Lind and her ex-husband, Mike Valdez, 49, had returned home from finalizing their divorce earlier in the morning, Anderson said. The two got into an argument, and Valdez-Lind reached for a pistol.
Valdez-Lind was taken to McLennan County Jail where she remains this afternoon in lieu of $250,000 on an attempted murder charge, a jail spokeswoman said.
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Tokio Store loses license to sell beer
The Tokio Store will no longer be able to sell its key menu item due to McLennan County Judge Jim Lewis yanking its beer license Wednesday.
A group of residents who live near the bar filed a protest against its beer license earlier this year as part of a multi-faceted plan to stop what they say is a dangerous and annoying atmosphere created by the bar. Among their complaints is that noise from live music and motorcycle patrons keeps them up at night, that customers drink and urinate outside the bar and that trash from customers litters nearby roadways and yards.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission grants licenses to businesses that want to sell alcohol and is also responsible for investigating protests against existing licenses. The final decision about whether to cancel a license, however, is left up to county judges.
During a hearing Wednesday, Lewis seemed most concerned about the fact that the store is using county property for a business purpose. The area where patrons park is county right-of-way. Plus, the store’s Dumpster and front porch are on county land.
Lewis asked the store’s owner, Charles Kirkpatrick, if he had plans to address the fact that part of his business operations are on county property. When Kirkpatrick replied that he didn’t, Lewis said he was denying the license.
The store can either re-apply for a license a year from now or file an appeal, said Susan Stith, an attorney for TABC who was present at the hearing.
Kirkpatrick and his attorney, Claude Giles of Waco, said they were not sure what their next step will be. But Kirkpatrick said he intends to keep the store open, at least in the short run. In the longer term, not being able to sell beer might put it out of business, he said.
“I am surprised,” Kirkpatrick said of the decision.
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Judge denies Tokio Store’s alcohol permit
In a contested alcohol permit hearing today, Judge Jim Lewis denied the renewal of the Tokio Store’s alcohol permit, meaning the store will be prohibited from selling beer.
Updates will follow on WacoTrib.com.
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Lilley’s job performance on agenda as BU regents meet
Baylor University regents are in executive session this afternoon discussing President John Lilley’s job, staff writer Tim Woods reports.
The regents are meeting at the Gaylord Texan hotel and conference center in Grapevine. They will meet today through Friday.
In addition to discussing Lilley’s performance as president - a post he took in January 2006 - regents will discuss an annual report on the status of the goals of Baylor 2012.
Watch wacotrib.com for more details of the meeting.
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DPS trooper testifies of stopping suspect 4 years before intoxication manslaughter accident
Jorge Ortega, a trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said he pulled Douglas Howard Church over in March 2002 after Church ran a stop sign at the intersection of Interstate 35 and Tours Road in West — near the spot where Church collided with a vehicle while driving drunk in August 2006.
Church, 26, of West, is awaiting a jury’s decision to determine his fate in 54th State District Court. He has pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter and to three counts of intoxication assault for his role in the 2006 wreck that killed Debbie French of West and injured her three children, who were 14, 9 and 5 at the time.
Church faces up to 50 years in prison if given the maximum sentence on each count. He is also eligible for probation.
Ortega said immediately prior to his 2002 stop of Church, that Church “blew through” a stop sign. When Ortega stopped Church, he discovered that Church had an outstanding arrest warrant for bond forfeiture on a driving while intoxicated charge.
Ortega said he searched Church’s car, and found a rifle spotlight, a police scanner, pager, weighing scales and small plastic bags that he associated with drug dealing.
He said Church was also in possession of a 9 mm handgun that he was not authorized to carry.
Ortega said as he put the cuffs on Church, Church was attempting to get rid of two pipes used to smoke crack cocaine or methamphetamine.
Ortega said Church was taken to jail on a weapons charge and for possession of a controlled substance, since the pipes contained drug residue on them.
In follow-up testimony, another DPS Trooper, William Carlile, said Church admitted to taking methamphetamine earlier on the evening of the March 2002 traffic stop.
The prosecution expects to rest its case later this afternoon.
Check back for updates at WacoTrib.com.
For today’s print story on the trial, click here.
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Dolly makes landfall
SLIDE SHOW
- link: Hurricane Dolly photos
The 1 pm position estimate from the National Hurricane Center has Dolly just now making landfall on South Padre Island, 35 miles northeast of Brownsville and 40 miles east-southeast of Raymondville. The current view from Brownsville radar:
The noon advisory had said Dolly — with sustained winds remaining in the vicinity of 100 mph, with higher gusts — had been “meandering for the last hour or so” but expected movement to the west-northwest to resume shortly, and it did.
A ship captain at South Padre Island sent in a report of an estimated 100 mph wind gust. The noon advisory reported sustained winds at Port Isabel airport of 58 mph, with gusts up to 70 mph. Brownsville, farther inland, is reporting gusts up to 60 mph. Harlingen, farther inland still, is reporting gusts up to 67 mph. An observer in Port Mansfield, up the coast in Willacy County, reported 60 mph gusts.
The latest reports relayed by the National Weather Service office in Brownsville say high tension power lines in Brownsville are blown over to a 45 degree angle, and Port Isabel has extensive damage to its docks. Earlier, all power was reported out to South Padre Island and condos there are damaged, and a storm surge was coming over the docks on Laguna Madre.
Here’s the latest from the Associated Press.
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Lonely tortoise may be father at last
Lonesome George, thought to be the last Galapagos tortoise of his kind, has sired eggs with a female tortoise that has accompanied him since 1993.
The three eggs are being cared for in an incubator. The female is a member of the closest species to George’s.
Lonesome George is in his 70s, middle age for a Galapagos.
For more on this story, click here.
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Man earning $100K lives in paint shed
If you thought the housing market was bad here, consider this: A maintenance worker who earned $100,000 last year at a New York psychiatric facility lived in a back room paint shed for three years. He even had his mail routed to the facility.
He had a couch, a microwave and a refrigerator set up in the shed.
Now that his free-rent arrangement has been discovered, he has been living with his wife, three miles from the facility. His employers are charging him $2,500 for the time he lived there.
For the Associated Press story on this oddity, click here.
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X-ray eases concerns about condition of Picasso masterpiece
An X-ray conducted on Pablo Picasso’s masterpiece “Guernica” by the Reina Sofia art museum revealed that the work is not in jeopardy.
The last analysis a decade ago had revealed 129 imperfections, including cracks and stains from a previous restoration attempt.
The work, commissioned by the Spanish government for the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1937, shows the horrors of mechanized war. After the exposition, the canvas traveled to cities on both sides of the Atlantic for 20 years, each time taken off its supports and rolled up for transport. Those travels took a toll.
The current X-ray revealed that the imperfections had not worsened and eased fears about deterioration of the work.
For more on the analysis, click here.
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Rhode Island driver records 0.491 on alcohol breath test
Stanley Kobierowski drove his car into a highway message board on Interstate 95 in Providence, R.I. When police responded to the scene, they saw the highest blood alcohol reading anyone in Rhode Island had ever had and survived: 0.491.
Kobierowski was taken to a hospital detoxification center, sedated, arraigned and eventually released after promising to appear at a hearing on Friday.
According to the health department, a blood alcohol level of 0.30 is classified as stupor, 0.40 as comatose and 0.50 as fatal.
For the Associated Press account of this case, click here.
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Minnesota teacher lasts 20 hours on amusement park ride, wins prize
Minnesota teacher Jim Salava rode the Avatar Airbender at Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park for 20 hours. His prize: a family cruise, $1,000 spending money and a lifetime pass to the park.
Salava was a contestant in the Ride the Tide Challenge at the Mall of America. Ten contestants began the contest, but only three remained after three hours. Aside from bathroom and meal breaks, contestants had to stay constantly on the ride, which reaches speeds of 43 miles per hour and a height of 70 feet, even for sleeping.
Salava’s final competitor stepped down at 2:35 a.m. I myself would have lost my lunch long before then.
For the AP story on this contest, click here.
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Jonas Brothers buy house in DFW
Tarrant County records obtained by The Dallas Morning News indicate that the Jonas Brothers granted power of attorney to their mother, Denise Jonas, to buy a $2.8 million, six-bedroom house in Vaquero, a gated community in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Westlake. The documents were signed June 12.
The exclusive neighborhood already includes major leaguer Mark Teixeira, former star quarterbacks Drew Bledsoe and Terry Bradshaw, not to mention several pro golfers.
For more on the story, including what their new neighbors think about the purchase, click here.
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Bush administration opposes tobacco regulation bill
The Bush administration strongly opposes a bill pending in both houses of Congress that would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Both presidential candidates, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) are listed as sponsors of the bill.
“The administration would strongly oppose this legislation,” Health and Human Services Sec. Michael Leavitt said in a July 21 letter to Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. Barton is the senior Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which approved the bill on a lopsided 38-12 vote in April. At the time, 11 Republicans on the panel voted in favor of the legislation.
Leavitt said the bill would send the wrong message to citizens, amking them think that tobacco products were medicinal like the rest of the products the FDA regulates or were somehow safer because the FDA regulates them.
For more on this story, click here.
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Los Angeles to ban plastic grocery bags by July 2010
Shoppers in Los Angeles will have to bring their own bags to the grocery store or pay 25 cents per biodegradable bag, beginning in July 2010.
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to institute the ban. The California state legislature is also considering a similar ban, which will supercede the city one as long as it includes the 25 cent price tag for paper bags provided to shoppers by grocery stores.
Only 5 percent of plastic bags and 21 percent of paper bags are currently recycled in California. The ban seeks to limit the amount of plastic bags dumped in landfills.
For more on the California bag ban, see this Associated Press story.
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Intoxication manslaughter trial to resume this afternoon
Testimony will resume today in Waco’s 54th State District Court to determine the fate of Douglas Howard Church, who has pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter and three counts of intoxication assault in the August 2006 automobile collision that killed Debbie French of West and injured her three children.
Church, 26, of West, could be sentenced to 50 years in prison if he receives the maximum sentence on each charge. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the intoxication manslaughter charge and 10 years on each charge of intoxication assault. He is also eligible for parole.
Tribune-Herald reporter Tommy Witherspoon will provide updates for WacoTrib.com. Testimony is expected to resume about 1:30 p.m. today.
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New Jersey to require organ donor decision for new driver’s licenses
Wanting to take an important decision out of the emergency room, where emotional crisis can hinder logical thought, New Jersey has passed a law requiring an organ donor decision before new driver’s licenses are issued.
The New Jersey Hero Act will require the state to maintain a registry of willing organ donors. Residents not wishing to have their organs harvested after their deaths will have to sign a form indicating they read information about the program.
New Jersey rivers who already have licenses will have to register their decisions when they apply for license renewal.
The state’s program is believed to be the first of it’s kind, according to Howard M. Nathan, president and CEO of the Gift of Life Donor Program.
For more on the program, click here.
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Leader of Texas polygamist sect indicted Tuesday
A grand jury in Eldorado, a tiny western Texas ranching community, indicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs and four of his followers Tuesday on charges of felony sexual assault of a child. Another was indicted for failing to report child abuse.
State Attorney General Greg Abbott said five members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are charged with one count of sexually assaulting girls under age 17, a felony. One of them, not the 52-year-old Jeffs, faces an additional charge of bigamy.
Abbott said a sixth member of the FLDS is charged with three counts of failure to report child abuse.
The indictments come nearly two months after the Texas Supreme Court ruled that authorities overstepped bounds by seizing all of the children from the sect’s ranch in a separate child custody case.
Abbott indicated that the state’s investigation is not yet over.
For more on the case, check out the Associated Press story.
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Rice pushes North Korea to verify nuclear dismantling
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged North Korea to accept terms that would verify it is dismantling its nuclear weapons program.
While not discussing a specific timetable, Rice told Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun that North Korea must act quickly if it wants to end its international isolation. U.S. officials have said they hope a plan is in place by mid-August that would outline how and when North Korea would prove the dismantling is taking place and will be completely.
In a private meeting, Rice also told Chun that the U.S. wants resolved North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1980s.
For more details on the talks, read this Associated Press story.
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Bush drops opposition to housing bill
President Bush cropped his opposition to a housing bill which would help struggling homeowners get cheaper mortgages and authorize the government to assist lending giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
Bush has originally objected to a $3.9 billion provision in the bill aimed at neighborhoods hardest hit by the financial crisis. The president had argued that money was really helping banks and lending institutions rather than homeowners.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill as early as this week. Bush decided that this was not the time for a prolonged veto fight, although White House sources say the president was confident he would prevail in such a fight.
For more on the story, click here.
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Jail escapee caught in hotel pool
The murder suspect who fled a Hempstead jail by escaping through a one-foot-wide air conditioning vent was caught last night in Houston. He was swimming in a Red Roof Inn swimming pool.
Darryl Layne Norris is 6-1, and normally weighed 160 pounds. He slimmed down in order to escape.
There is no word from authorities on what led them to the Red Roof Inn.
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Austin pilot among those killed in B-52 crash
Maj. Christopher Cooper, a 33-year-old Austin-born pilot, was among those killed this week in the crash of a B-52 bomber, 30 miles northwest of Guam’s Apra Harbor, his father said.
The bomber was in route to the Pacific island, a U.S. possession, for a Liberation Day parade that commemorates the freeing of the island from Japanese control during World War II.
Two of the six crew members were found shortly after the crash, but they did not survive. Their names have not been released.
An Air Force investigation of the crash is pending.
For more of Maj Cooper’s father’s comments, see this story from the Associated Press.
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Bush explains move to Dallas in video
Trib videographer Chris Oliver alerted me to a video on You Tube last night in which President Bush describes how he and Laura are searching for a house in Dallas. When a reporter asks about his ranch in Crawford, Bush responds that he likes Crawford, but Laura has sacrificed for 8 years. The video was taken by the ABC affiliate in Houston.
When I went to the video this morning, I received a message that it was no longer available.
I find this whole exchange very interesting.
Check it out for yourself.
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Hot day, chance of storms
Expect a high today of 98 with a heat index of 103. The National Weather Service gives us a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms, mostly after 1 p.m.
Tonight, we should see a low around 77.
Tomorrow carries a 40 percent chance of storms, again mostly after 1 p.m.
If we all cross our fingers, maybe we’ll get rain one of the two days.
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Texas mobilizes disaster resources ahead of Dolly
SLIDE SHOW
- link: Hurricane Dolly photos
Gov. Rick Perry declared 14 South Texas counties disaster areas Tuesday and deployed a variety of state assets in anticipation of Hurricane Dolly making landfall and dumping what forecasters expect will be more than 15 inches of rain.
Perry has already activated 1,200 National Guard troops and positioned six helicopters on standby to move in after the hurricane passed.
Click here for the latest coverage on WacoTrib.com, courtesy of Joe Weather.
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