Waco area under wind advisory
The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory until 6 pm for all of North Texas, including Waco and surrounding counties. Winds from the north to northwest of 25 to 30 mph are expected, with stronger gusts during daylight hours.
Home > Waco Breaking News > Archives > 2008 > August > 27
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Text of Chet Edwards’ speech at the Democratic National Convention
The following is the speech delivered Wednesday night by Congressman Chet Edwards at the Democratic National Convention:
As the proud son of a World War II naval aviator, it is a privilege for me to express tonight, on behalf of America’s Democrats, our profound respect for the sacrifices made by our service men and women and our veterans.
We also salute the unsung heroes in our nation’s defense: the spouses, children, and loved ones of our troops and veterans. Maybe they haven’t worn our nation’s uniform, but they have surely served us all through their daily sacrifice.
Barack Obama has honored our sacred trust with veterans through his service on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. In the last two years, Senator Obama helped pass the new GI education bill and voted for the budget that provided the largest increase in veterans’ health care funding in the 77-year history of the Veterans Administration.
As President, Barack Obama will responsibly bring our troops home from Iraq, and he’ll make better health care and benefits for veterans a higher priority than tax cuts for Exxon-Mobil and the wealthiest Americans.
That’s the change we need and the change our veterans deserve.
I have the greatest respect for the military service and sacrifice of John McCain in the Vietnam War. Yet, millions of veterans and Americans would be surprised and disappointed to find out that Senator McCain has received failing grades from some of our nation’s most respected veterans’ organizations. He has repeatedly voted against health care funding and benefits for his fellow veterans. And if elected, his plan could lead to the rationing of veterans’ health care. The fact is, our veterans can’t afford more of the same from John McCain.
Under Barack Obama, we’ll have a president who will honor the service of every veteran, fully fund the VA, and respect their sacrifice by giving them the benefits they’ve earned. The record is clear: our veterans can’t afford more of the same from John McCain.
Barack Obama is the change we need.
Last month my wife and I took our 11- and 12-year-old sons to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to visit wounded soldiers. We met a young soldier in a wheelchair. He had lost both of his legs in combat in Iraq, and this courageous father was holding his infant child lovingly in his lap. As we talked, I held tightly to my sons’ hands, overwhelmed by a father who will sacrifice every day for the rest of his life because he served his country. We can never give that soldier his legs back, but he should never have to give up on the dreams he has for his child.
As we watch this Steven Spielberg film, let us remember that in the 21st century, we are the land of the free, because we are still the home of the brave.
SOURCE: chetedwards.com.
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Second day of Wiley hearing wraps up
McLennan County Commissioner Lester Gibson, among others testified today at the temporary injunction hearing regarding the closure of G.L. Wiley Middle School.
The hearing went into its second day in the 170th District Court room, Judge Jim Meyer presiding. The plaintiffs, two Wiley families and a group of Wiley supporters called Fighting to Save Our Children, are asking the judge to grant a temporary injunction which would keep Wiley open through the duration of the lawsuit that has also been filed.
Meyer signed a temporary retraining order Thursday that required the Waco Independent School District to reopen the school by Monday, despite the school board’s Aug. 7 vote to close the East Waco school. The lawsuit, as well as both temporary orders, are alleging violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act and Texas Education Code, and racial discrimination on the part of the school board regarding the vote to close Wiley.
Gary Bledsoe and Donald McCarthy, the attorneys for the plaintiffs, called six more witnesses to the stand Wednesday, in addition to the six questioned on Monday. They said they have one more witness to call in the morning before the defense begins putting its eight witnesses on the stand.
Meyer seemed exasperated by the number of witnesses and lengthy, sometimes repetitive, questioning.
“You’re doing a terrible disgrace to these children by dragging this case out,” he said to Bledsoe and McCarthy at the end of the day.
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Worker crushed at granite company
A 27-year-old Waco granite worker is in fair condition at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center today after officials say he was seriously injured when a computerized machine crushed him to the point of unconsciousness.
Just after noon, Edgar King was working on a machine that cuts granite slabs at MTTS Granite & Marble, 305 Granite Drive, when Waco Fire Marshal Jerry Hawk said it malfunctioned, and King climbed on top of the machine to fix it. A large arm from the machine clamped down on King and crushed him into a fetal position for several minutes, Hawk said.
His coworkers pried the machine off of him before emergency crews arrived. Hawk said he was lying on the floor of the shop when rescue workers arrived.
King told Hawk that when the machine crushed him he felt like “his eyeballs were going to pop out of his head,” Hawk said.
Hawk said the reason for the apparent machine malfunction is under investigation.
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Fire in Bellmead
There is a structure fire with flames visible in the 1500 block of Bowie in Bellmead, near the southern part of the TSTC campus and Connally Golf Course.
We’re headed out there now. Stay tuned to WacoTrib.com for more details.
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Wiley case judge: Things need to move along
Judge Jim Meyer, of the 170th District Court, said the pace has got to pick up in the temporary injunction hearing regarding the closure of G.L. Wiley Middle School.
Six witnesses for the plaintiffs took the stand Tuesday and the attorneys for the plaintiffs said there would be six more to go. They have only gotten through three of those witnesses this morning, pursuing similar lines of questions with each.
“I don’t need 14 witnesses saying the same thing over and over and over,” Meyer told the attorneys before breaking for lunch.
The defense said Tuesday they would be calling eight witnesses.
The lawsuit, brought by two Wiley families and a group of Wiley supporters, calling themselves Fighting to Save our Children, specifically alleges racial discrimination and violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act and Texas Education Code. The plaintiffs are seeking the reopening of Wiley, but no monetary damages.
Meyer’s ruling on the injunction will determine whether the school, reopened by Meyer’s order Monday, will stay open while the lawsuit proceeds. WISD board members voted for a second time Monday to close the school.
Cleoda Babels, former Wiley principal, and former educator James Elliott took the stand, along with Nika Davis, pastor of Second Missionary Baptist Church.
The line of questioning by the plaintiffs has been similar for all the witnesses. One topic that keeps coming up is how the closure of the school will affect special education students. Apparently, 27 percent of Wiley’s students were classified as special education.
The witnesses are also being asked about whether they believe discrimination is behind the school’s closing and when they heard about the possibility of Waco’s school board shuttering the campus. The board voted Aug. 7 to close the middle school.
In the meantime, fewer than 100 kids are attending Wiley in limbo, as the school remains open under a temporary restraining order signed by Meyer Thursday.
Court resumes at 1:30.
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Coble’s third wife testifies in retrial
Karen Vicha, whose parents and brother were murdered by Billie Wayne Coble nearly 20 years ago, has been on the stand throughout this morning in Coble’s trial in 54th State State District Court.
After the lunch break, crime-scene investigators are scheduled to testify.
The trial earlier took a recess after Vicha, who was recounting the events of the murders and her kidnapping that day, looked at Coble and said, “I hate you for making me go through this again with my kids!” She then broke down in tears, prompting the break in testimony.
Coble, 59, is being retried to determine whether he should return to death row for the murders of Robert and Zelda Vicha and their son, Waco police Sgt. Bobby Vicha, Aug. 29, 1989. His death sentence was overturned by a federal appeals court and a new punishment trial was ordered.
Karen Vicha testified about how she agreed to go with Coble to a field in Bosque County in order to protect her daughters, whom he had restrained with toy handcuffs at their home. She said she was afraid he would kill them.
She said she had asked him as they left what he would do for money, and Coble said that he grabbed money from her mother after he killed her.
Vicha said Coble pistol-whipped her on the way to a field in Bosque County and told her that she was tough for taking the beating and then started to describe how he shot her brother.
He also told her, “You know I’m gonna have to molest you,” she said, but then corrected himself and said “make love” to her.
She also told jurors that after he kidnapped her previously on July 18, her brother Bobby and his son J.R. got a German shepherd. The dog was found dead in the front yard a week later, she said.
Vicha has yet to be cross-examined by Coble’s defense attorney, Alex Calhoun.
For Tuesday’s story on this case, click here.
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Ex-Wiley school principal testifies at hearing
The second day of testimony in the temporary injunction hearing on the closing of Waco ISD’s G.L. Wiley Middle School got under way this morning with former Wiley principal Cleoda Bables taking the stand.
Bables spoke from his experience in education. The plaintiff’s attorney asked questions regarding the planning of the school year, when teachers receive assignments, and whether teachers who moved to other campuses late in the summer would be likely to get the assignments they wanted.
Bables also talked about the Wiley support group Fighting to Save Our Children, of which he is a member.
He flip-flopped on testimony regarding whether he felt racial discrimination was the reason the board voted to close Wiley, telling the plaintiff’s attorney that he felt race was a factor, but when asked a similar question by the defense he answered otherwise.
“I don’t know if it was racially based. I think it was against G.L. Wiley,” he said.
The Rev. Nika Davis of Second Missionary Baptist Church, who advocated against the closing of Wiley, was next on the witness stand.
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Chet Edwards speaks tonight at Democratic convention
Remember that U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Waco) is scheduled to speak during prime-time coverage of the Democratic National Convention tonight in Denver.
According to Edwards’ office, in his remarks he will honor the service and sacrifice of America’s troops, veterans and their families. Edwards also will highlight presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s record on issues important to veterans’ and military families.
Convention coverage will be broadcast uninterrupted on C-SPAN, as well as network and cable news television broadcasts during the prime-time hour.
Edwards is slated to talk during the 8 to 9 p.m. hour (Central Daylight Time). Former President Bill Clinton will speak, as well as U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
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Missing Marlin girl to return home
A Marlin girl who was reported missing Monday and then found in Arkansas with an older man is expected to return home today.
Marlin Police Chief Tom Hamilton said the girl was reported missing by her family at 7:30 a.m. Monday and then found later that night in a hotel in Berryville, Ark. She was with Jesus Diaz Lopez, 24, who had lived on the same street as her family. Hamilton said he is unsure whether Lopez is currently living in a house on Gift Street.
Lopez has been charged with aggravated sexual assault of child in connection with the incident. No bond has been set for the charge, said an official with the Carroll County Detention Center in Arkansas. Lopez also has an immigration hold on him, the official said.
The detention center records list his age as 18, the detention official said. However, Hamilton said he believes Lopez is in his 20s.
Details of exactly what happened are sketchy because Marlin police have not talked to the girl, Hamilton said. But at this point, officials have no reason to believe she was forced to go with Lopez, he said.
Officers were able to track the pair to Arkansas, Hamilton said, after the girl’s father told police that Lopez has been following his daughters around. Officers then went and talked to others who lived in the house where he had been staying and were informed that Lopez was in Arkansas on the way to a job in North Carolina. Hamilton said Lopez apparently travels from place to place building chicken houses.
According to a report from the Berryville Police Department, both Lopez and the girl tried to resist being taken into custody when officers found them at the motel. Several other members of the work crew were staying at the same motel, the report says.
The report also says the pair were packed up and appeared ready to leave the motel. Hamilton said they were apart to leave for North Carolina.
“They got them just in time,” he said.
Hamilton said he does not expect the girl to be charged as a runaway.
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Dead Sea scrolls to go digital
Israeli and American scientists are bringing the oldest known version of the Hebrew Bible into the 21st century. They’re digitally reproducing the Dead Sea Scrolls online.
The ancient manuscripts containing almost the entire Hebrew Bible date back more than 2,000 years. They are widely considered to be one of the most important archaeological finds ever. They were discovered accidentally by a Bedouin shepherd looking for a stray sheep in 1947.
The Israeli Antiquities Authority said today that reproducing the thousands of scroll fragments will take about five years.
Special imaging cameras are being used to record the priceless manuscripts without damaging them.
— Associated Press
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U.S., Russia military ships dock at Georgian ports
A U.S. military ship docked at a southern Georgian port today, prompting Russia to send three naval ships to another Georgian port. The moves by both sides underscored an escalating standoff between Moscow and the West over this small Caucasus nation devastated by war with Russia.
The dockings came a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recognized two Georgian rebel territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, prompting harsh criticism from Western nations.
The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Dallas, carrying 34 tons of humanitarian aid, docked in the Black Sea port of Batumi, south of the zone of this month’s fighting between Russia and Georgia. The arrival avoided Georgia’s main cargo port of Poti, still controlled by Russian soldiers.
— Associated Press
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Louisiana, Mississippi keep eye on Gustav
As Friday’s third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, officials in Louisiana and Mississippi are keeping an eye on storm Gustav.
The storm was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm after moving over Haiti but forecasters expect it to regain strength and move into the Gulf of Mexico in a few days.
Long-range forecasts say the storm could be a major hurricane threatening the central Gulf Coast by Monday, but they caution it’s too early to identify a specific path.
New Orleans officials are making plans in case the city has to be evacuated. People who might need help evacuating are being advised to call the city’s 311 information number.
Mississippi Emergency Management Director Mike Womack is advising south Mississippi residents to have a plan in place.
— Associated Press
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Crawford, Texas returning to normal
The Washington Post today has this story looking at Crawford, Texas, as it prepares for upcoming summers without a sitting president taking his vacation there.
President Bush returns to Washington, D.C., today as he ends his last August vacation at the ranch while commander-in-chief.
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FAA: Communication breakdown delayed flights
Numerous flight delays caused by an electronic communication failure at a Federal Aviation Administration facility drew new criticism for an agency that has been scrutinized over air traffic controller staffing levels and inspection standards for its ground-based equipment.
The Northeast was hardest hit by the delays prompted Tuesday by a glitch at a Hampton, Ga., facility that processes flight plans for the eastern half of the U.S.
As of this morning, the FAA said that the situation around the country had returned to normal, with most delays from the malfunction being cleared up Tuesday night. But spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said the investigation into what caused the problem is still ongoing, and she did not know when it would be completed.
“It usually takes a while to be quite honest,” she said.
At one point, an FAA Web site that tracks airport status showed delays at some three dozen major airports across the country. The site advised passengers to “check your departure airport to see if your flight may be affected.”
The FAA said the glitch appeared to have involved a software problem.
— Associated Press
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Attorney: Woman too heavy to kill child
This is a strange case out of South Texas. A woman who weighs nearly a half-ton has been charged with killing her 2-year-old nephew. Her attorney is saying that she couldn’t have beaten the boy to death because she weighs so much.
Read on here.
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2 hijackers of Darfur plane surrender in Libya
Two hijackers who commandeered a jetliner from Sudan’s Darfur region and diverted it to a remote desert airstrip in southern Libya surrendered today after a 22-hour standoff, an airline official said.
Sun Air Executive Director Murtada Hassan said officials at the airport in Kufra, Libya, informed him of the surrender. He said there were only two hijackers but that others may have slipped out with the 87 passengers who were released earlier.
The number and identities of the hijackers, who demanded maps and fuel to fly to Paris, has been unclear.
Officials at the airport in Libya had said they were Darfur rebels, but Hassan said their motives were personal and that they had no connection with any political or rebel groups. Due to security reasons, he said he could not reveal what the personal matters were.
— Associated Press
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