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Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Second juror chosen for Coble murder retrial
A second juror has been chosen this afternoon in the capital murder retrial of Billie Wayne Coble.
The juror is a female 54-year-old Waco Independent School District teacher. Earlier this morning, a 47-year-old woman who works as a health-care executive was selected. The first potential juror questioned this morning was rejected because he said he couldn’t sentence anyone to death.
In capital murder trials in which the state seeks the death penalty, prospective jurors are questioned individually. That process began today, with three potential jurors set to be questioned in the morning and three in the afternoon.
Coble, 59, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1990 in the August 1989 shooting deaths of his estranged wife’s parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, and her brother, Waco police Sgt. Bobby Vicha, at their Axtell homes.
About 120 prospective jurors appeared in Waco’s 54th State District Court on Friday morning to fill out a 12-page questionnaire. After several were excused for various reasons, 85 potential jurors remained to begin jury selection.
Read more in this recent story.
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Child recovering after nearly drowning in Waco pool
A 7-year-old boy is recovering after Waco fire officials say he nearly drowned today at the Doris Miller YMCA pool.
At 10:30 a.m., a lifeguard at the pool noticed the boy under water, and realized he was not moving, said Assistant Waco Fire Chief Benjamin Samarripa.
The lifeguard, he said, determined the boy was not breathing, but had a pulse and did three rounds of rescue breathing.
Samarripa said the boy was breathing before first responders from the fire department arrived.
“The quick response from the lifeguard was the difference here,” Samarripa said. “I can’t say enough about the team’s actions.”
The boy was taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center as a precaution, Samarripa said. He did not have the boy’s name.
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Waco police arrest man after chase through Cameron Park, Herring Avenue
A 38-year-old man wanted in connection with several recent burglaries and vehicle thefts was arrested just after 1 p.m. today after leading Waco police on a 20-minute foot chase through the Procter Springs area of Cameron Park.
Waco Police Detective Chris Jones said David Jason Smith, 38, of Waco will be charged with evading arrest and felony theft, for which officers had an arrest warrant. Jones said other charges are pending, including burglary of a motor vehicle, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, forgery and credit card abuse.
Jones said officers began their search for Smith at 5 p.m. Monday. He said he was proud of the police-work of Waco officers for locating the wanted felon in less than a day.
Just after 12:30 p.m., an officer patrolling the Procter Springs area located Smith’s 1991 blue GMC pickup, and attempted to pull over the vehicle on a traffic stop, Jones said.
Smith ran from his vehicle and further into the park.
Twenty minutes later, officers chased him to the 500 block of Herring Avenue where he was hiding behind a house, Jones said.
Smith, wearing no shirt and shorts, was taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center because he told officers he was suffering from a staph infection.
Jones said the man would be booked into the McLennan County Jail after he is treated at the hospital.
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Surprising find of endangered gorillas reported
CNN has this story about the discovery of an estimated 125,000 Western lowland gorillas living in a swamp in equatorial Africa.
It’s interesting because that’s double the number of the endangered primates thought to survive worldwide. Western lowland gorillas are listed as critically endangered, the highest threat category for a species.
“It’s pretty astonishing,” Hugo Rainey, one of the researchers who conducted the survey for the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society, told CNN.
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Gene Stallings’ son to be laid to rest
Funeral services are scheduled this afternoon for John Mark Stallings, the son of former Alabama and Texas A&M football coach Gene Stallings.
John Mark Stallings died early Saturday at age 46, the Associated Press reported. According to the family, the younger Stallings was born with Down syndrome and suffered from health problems related to a congenital heart defect.
But he defied the odds by living as long as he did, this Dallas Morning News story explains.
John Mark’s story was detailed by his father in the book, Another Season. Gene Stallings was in Waco in April as one of the speakers for the luncheon and groundbreaking of the Southwest Conference wing to be added to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
One of John Mark’s sisters, Martha Kate Gunn, lives in Waco.
The funeral service is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Lamar Avenue Church of Christ in Paris, Texas.
Here’s a youtube video of an NBC Dateline story about the special relationship of this father and son. It’s about nine and a half minutes long.
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County to keep operating Highway 6 jail
Based upon a recommendation by Sheriff Larry Lynch, McLennan County commissioners today voted to maintain operation of the Highway 6 Jail by the county.
The vote was met with thunderous applause by the 50 or so Highway 6 Jail employees in attendance at the meeting.
In a memo to Sheriff’s Office employees dated Monday, Lynch also recommended that the county keep the operational management of the downtown jail with Community Education Centers, which has had the contract since 1999.
County commissioners decided to defer any decision on the downtown jail contract. It’s expected to be addressed next week.
Commissioners went into executive session with county attorney Herb Bristow after receiving more detailed proposals from Peter Argeropulos, CEC senior vice president. He proposed building an 862-bed jail adjacent to the Highway 6 Jail on 8.9 acres in two phases.
The first phase would include 710 beds at a cost of $38 million. The second phase would be 152 beds at a cost of $8 million to $9 million.
If approved, it would take 14 months to build the facility, with 167 staffers hired for the first phase, and a total of 190 staffers for both phases.
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China ramps up security after attack
Soldiers patrolled the streets today where bomb-tossing attackers killed 16 police in China’s western Xinjiang region, prompting a full security alert in the restive Muslim territory just days before the Olympic Games.
Police boarded vehicles and searched passengers’ bags on the roads leading into Kashgar, the city near the Afghan-Pakistan border where Monday’s attack happened. Government offices, schools and hospitals were also to be under greater watch, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Sixteen officers were killed and another 16 injured Monday in the audacious attack in which two assailants rammed a group of police with a dump truck during their morning jog and hurled explosives at them.
Kashgar’s Communist Party secretary, Shi Dagang, called the attack an act of premeditated terrorism and told reporters that the two attackers prepared written statements beforehand saying “they had to wage ‘holy war,’” Xinhua reported.
— Associated Press
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Oil prices drop to $118 a barrel
Bloomberg News is reporting that crude oil fell to $118 a barrel because it appears that Tropical Storm Edouard will leave U.S. oil rigs and refineries undamaged, and commodities prices are tumbling because of the slowing global economy.
Oil dropped to its lowest level since May 5 as Edouard’s wind speeds remained below hurricane strength as it struck the Texas coast. Gold, platinum and wheat dropped on speculation slower growth will curb demand and as a stronger dollar dulled the appeal of commodities as an inflation hedge.
Here’s the whole story.
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Arlington mom wins ‘Nashville Star’ contest
An Arlington mother of five is the new “Nashville Star.”
Melissa Lawson beat fellow finalist Gabe Garcia on Monday night for the title on the country music reality series. Shawn Mayer came in third.
The 32-year-old Lawson was overjoyed at winning, shouting “Oh my God!” She then performed her new single “What If It All Goes Right.” The song is scheduled to be played on country radio Tuesday morning.
Lawson wins a record contract after performing in Nashville for 11 weeks.
— Associated Press
Here’s more about the final night of competition from People magazine.
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Police fire water cannons on Bush protesters in S. Korea
Police fired water cannons at thousands of protesters today as President Bush got a volatile reception in South Korea at the start of his three-nation Asian trip.
Dueling demonstrations reflected mixed sentiments in this U.S. ally, where public opinion surveys remain generally positive about America, though many people decry Washington for a variety of issues. Bush will meet Wednesday with President Lee Myung-bak for the third time since the conservative, pro-American leader took office in February.
Some 18,300 police were on high alert with riot gear and bomb-sniffing dogs to maintain order during Bush’s brief visit, the National Police Agency said.
About 30,000 people gathered in front of Seoul City Hall for an afternoon Christian prayer service supporting Bush’s trip. Large South Korean and U.S. flags were held aloft by balloons overhead along with a banner reading, “Welcome President Bush.”
— Associated Press
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‘Junior’ Gotti arrested on murder conspiracy charges
John A. “Junior” Gotti has been arrested on charges linking him to three New York murders, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.
Gotti, 44, was arrested by the FBI at his Long Island home. Federal authorities in Tampa, Fla., are expected to announce a racketeering indictment, charging Gotti with murder conspiracy in connection with killings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement had not yet been made.
A separate indictment charges five other men with racketeering. It alleges some of them were involved with Gotti in one of the three New York murders, according to the official. It also alleges a fourth killing in New York, not linked to Gotti.
— Associated Press
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Strong quake rattles western China
A strong aftershock struck a western Chinese region where a May earthquake killed almost 70,000 people, shaking buildings a few hours after the Olympic torch relay passed through the area today. No injuries or damage were reported.
The quake struck Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in Sichuan, shaking buildings in the cities of Hanzhong, Xi’an and Chongqing, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Panicked residents fled swaying buildings and ran into the streets.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 6.0. It struck shortly before 6 p.m. local time.
The temblor was the latest of scores of aftershocks from the magnitude 7.9 quake that struck Sichuan on May 12, killing almost 70,000 people and leaving 5 million homeless.
— Associated Press
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Pakistani terror suspect due in court
A Pakistani scientist accused of shooting at U.S. officers while in Afghan custody last month was due to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge this morning in New York.
Aafia Siddiqui, whom the FBI had sought for several years for terrorism, faces federal charges of attempted murder and assault of a U.S. officer and U.S. employees, federal authorities said.
The 36-year-old American-educated neuroscientist is a suspected member of al Qaeda. If convicted, she faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each charge.
On July 18 Siddiqui shot at two FBI special agents, a U.S. Army warrant officer, an Army captain and military interpreters who unknowingly entered a room where she was being held unsecured at an Afghan facility, officials said.
— CNN
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Waiting on Edouard here
As Tropical Storm Edouard lands near Beaumont this morning, the old saying “Be careful what you wish for …” comes to mind for us in Central Texas. While we expect to get some much-needed rain from the storm, we also could experience damaging winds and some flooding from the 1 to 3 inches forecasters are thinking we’ll see. And there’s always that tornado chance.
But it looks to be a fairly benign storm so far. Here’s the Houston Chronicle’s coverage online and the Beaumont Enterprise.
For us, today’s southeast wind will shift to the east and we’re expecting to hit a high of 98 degrees before the skies go mostly cloudy and rain chances from Edouard are supposed to take command.
Keep up with the storm on our storm center link. Check out storm preparation photos here.
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