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 > 28
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Judge to render decision on Wiley injunction Friday morning
After a third day packed with witness testimony, the parties in the temporary injunction hearing on G. L. Wiley Middle School’s rested today.
Judge Jim Meyer, of the 170th District Court will review the case tonight and deliver a ruling on the injunction in the morning.
In an attempt to speed the case at Meyer’s request, the attorneys defending the Waco Independent School District dropped five of their witnesses and shaved off a significant amount of the questions directed at the last witness.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys, who had called witnesses for the last two days, also trimmed their cross examination of the defense’s last witness. Had the parties not rested by 5 p.m., Meyer told them, he would not be able to deliver his ruling until Tuesday.
The plaintiff’s attorneys, arguing for two Wiley families and a group of the school’s supporters, spent the last three days trying to prove Waco ISD trustees violated the Texas Open Meetings Act and the Texas Education Code. The plaintiffs also alleged racial discrimination by the school board and that irreparable harm was done to children in the East Waco middle school’s closing.
If Meyer rules for the temporary injunction, Wiley will remain open through the pending lawsuit. If he does not rule for the injunction, the school may close, per the vote the board took Monday night at a special meeting
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Coble trial update: Relative disrupts proceedings
Emotions ran high this morning during the punishment retrial of Billie Wayne Coble when a witness glared at Coble and called him “evil” in an outburst before taking the stand.
Defense attorney Alex Calhoun slammed his hand down on the counsel table and strenuously objected to the outburst, calling it prejudicial to his client and asking Judge Matt Johnson for a mistrial. Johnson denied the request.
Coble, 59, is being retried in 54th State District Court 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, on Aug. 29, 1989. His death sentence was overturned by a federal appeals court and a new punishment trial was ordered.
The woman, a relative of Coble, apologized for her outburst. During testimony, she said she was 16 when Coble offered her a job at the Circle Drive-In that he was managing.
She said Coble would drive her to and from work, but about three weeks into the job, he took her to his house and raped her. Coble would have been about 30 at the time.
The woman said she never told anyone about the rape except her sister four years later. She did not testify at Coble’s previous murder trial.
Earlier today, jurors heard from a psychiatrist who evaluated Coble when he was 15.
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School board president tears up on stand at Wiley hearing
Waco school board president David Schleicher teared up as he testified today in a hearing on a temporary injunction to keep G.L. Wiley Middle School open. The judge ordered a lunch recess soon after Schleicher took the stand.
Schleicher, who voted against closure along with two other board members, was the second defense witness to take the stand in Judge Jim Meyer’s courtroom. Meyer agreed last week to a temporary restraining order that opened Wiley this week despite the board’s voting to close it Aug. 7.
The board voted again Monday to close the school, but the injunction hearing will determine whether the campus remains open while a lawsuit brought by a community group and parents proceeds. The suit alleges racial discrimination was a factor in the move to close the school, which has been rated unacceptable by the state for five years.
Though much has been made of racial discrimination so far in the hearing, which began Tuesday, the plaintiffs’ last witness, board member Larry Perez, said on the stand this morning he didn’t think racism entered into the decision.
Asked by the plaintiffs’ attorneys whether Perez thought racism entered into the decision to close Wiley, Perez said no, he wouldn’t call it racism.
The defense followed Perez’s testimony with testimony from Marsha Ridlehuber, assistant superintendent for accountability and instruction. She also, answering a question from the defense, said that she didn’t think racism had anything to do with the decision to close Wiley.
Ridlehuber also elaborated on the plan that would have closed Meadowbrook, which came up last year. The attorneys have been holding up the decision not to close Meadowbrook as an injustice to Wiley. She said the plan to reconfigure grades in the district was tabled before Meadowbrook parents ever spoke to the board at the February meeting.
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Troopers to saturate I-35 on Friday
A lot of folks might be planning to hit the highways this Labor Day weekend. Senior Cpl. Charlie Morgan with the Texas Department of Public Safety called us today to say that troopers will be out in force on Interstate 35 and other roadways in McLennan, Bell, Hill, Johnson and Ellis counties beginning Friday.
“Saturate” was the word he used for troopers on I-35.
Morgan said a special emphasis by the troopers will be on looking for drivers who are speeding or those driving aggressively, impaired or not restrained.
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Chamber to kick off Great Cities program at noon
If you’re planning to go, you might need to leave the office soon for the first Great Cities program by the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce. And don’t forget your $30 ticket.
Allen Joines, mayor of Winston-Salem, N.C., will be the guest speaker at noon in the chamber’s Cooper Room at 101 S. Third St.
The program is designed to bring key leaders from some of America’s mid-sized cities for a day of networking, presentations and in-depth conversations.
“We will focus on bringing representatives from cities that are addressing similar opportunities and challenges as Waco. The goal is to learn about the challenges of those communities, the signature projects they undertook and ask the ultimate question ‘How did you do that?,’” said Scott J. Connell, senior vice president of strategic development for the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce. “We are pleased to have Mayor Joines be our first speaker in conjunction with the Baylor-Wake Forest football game that same day.”
Wake Forest University is one of four colleges in Winston-Salem. It is the fourth largest city in the state with a population of 222,000.
Joines spent 30 years working for the city of Winston-Salem, retiring as deputy city manager. He was elected mayor of Winston-Salem in November 2001 and was re-elected in 2005.
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La Vega football standout arrested in robbery
A standout La Vega High School football player is in the McLennan County Jail today after allegedly pulling a gun on another teen to steal his hat and shoes.
Christopher Dantae Parr, 17, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of aggravated robbery, said Bellmead Police Chief Robert Harold. The incident happened about 10:40 p.m. Tuesday in the 5200 block of Concord Road, he said.
Investigators believe three or four juveniles were involved but they have not yet been identified, he said.
The victim, Lonnie Sawyer, 19, was walking in the street when the robbery happened, Harold said. Sawyer’s residence is nearby, he said.
Parr allegedly pulled up in a vehicle and got out, holding a “large black handgun,” Bellmead police say. He proceeded to rob Sawyer of the clothing items at gunpoint, Harold said.
Asked if Sawyer knew Parr, Harold said he did because Parr is on the La Vega football team.
Parr, a junior, was to be the featured running back for the Pirates, picked by Texas Football magazine as the favorite this year to win the Class 3A, Division II title. Parr rushed for 1,762 yards and 18 touchdowns last year as a sophomore behind his brother Kourtney, who graduated.
Head coach Willie Williams said he could not comment on the case or whether Parr would be playing for the team Friday night when La Vega hosts Marlin in its season opener.
Parr is being held in lieu of $75,000 bond on the charge, a jail official said.
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People see Jesus image in moth in Texas
The CNN Web site has this fun story about a moth that’s been found in Pittsburg, Texas, (not Pittsburgh, like the video text says at the beginning of the piece) which has some people finding the pattern on its back to resemble the face of Jesus.
I like that those interviewed in the piece appear to place this find in the proper perspective.
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Tropical Storm Hanna forms
Tropical Depression Eight has quickly become Tropical Storm Hanna, a few hundred miles northeast of the northern Leeward Islands. Whether this will affect the U.S. isn’t known yet; earlier computer models had the storm recurving back out to sea — a so-called “fish storm” — but the latest runs, and the official forecast, curve it westward instead.
Meanwhile, the center of Tropical Storm Gustav has reformed southward overnight, bringing the storm to Jamaica instead of north between Jamaica and Cuba. Gustav is expected to intensify back to hurricane strength soon.
The new forecast track is accordingly west of the earlier one, bringing Gustav into central Louisiana, but much is still uncertain and pretty much anywhere on the Gulf Coast remains a possible landfall point.
Here’s the latest from the Associated Press.
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Instant replay to debut for baseball today
The Texas Rangers’ series that begins in Anaheim tonight will be one of the first three Major League Baseball games to start using instant replay to review home-run calls.
The Associated Press has this story on the Network Operations Center room (shown at right) that Major League Baseball will use to make video available to umpires.
I’m still on the fence — so to speak — about the need for instant replay in Major League Baseball. I like when decisions are made quickly by umpires (and isn’t it part of the fun to argue “bad calls”), but at the same time I would like to make sure the call is right, especially on critical home runs. We’ll see how well this works.
What do you think?
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Psychiatrist testifies at Coble retrial
A psychiatrist who evaluated convicted murderer Billie Wayne Coble when he was 15 gave testimony this morning in Coble’s punishment retrial in 54th State District Court.
Dr. Ralph Hodges, a Dallas psychiatrist with 51 years’ experience, had evaluated Coble when he was 15 and living at the Corsicana State Home.
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, on Aug. 29, 1989. His death sentence was overturned by a federal appeals court and a new punishment trial was ordered.
Hodges read from his May 1964 report, which said that Coble was admitted to the home because of his“unmanageability.” His life’s ambition at the time was to become a painter, according to the report.
Coble had confessed to the doctor that he committed several robberies and stole the ball bearings from bicycles to keep them for working because he didn’t have a bike.
Hodges’ report described Coble as paranoid, distant and “deliberately non-smiling” with a low self-esteem. He also exhibited a low opinion of women in general and told the doctor that he beat up a girl in a classroom when she made fun of him.
Coble was diagnosed with a sociopathic personality disturbance and his long-term prognosis did not look good, Hodges read from the report.
Defense attorney Alex Calhoun disputed the report, saying that the diagnostic manual used for such evaluations had since been revised, including that someone can’t be diagnosed with a character disorder until the brain is fully developed, which is considered to be age 18.
For Wednesday’s trial coverage, click here.
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Natural gas plant explodes south of Austin
The Associated Press is reporting that a natural gas plant exploded this morning near Stairtown, about 40 miles south of Austin.
Flames flashed 400 feet into the air, but no injuries have been reported, the AP said. Fire officials in Lockhart, about 11 miles to the northeast, said the explosion was felt there.
The explosion happened about two miles behind the Prairie Lea School. KXAN-TV station has quoted school officials as saying everyone at the school is safe.
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Pioneer lesbian activist dies in California
One of the two women who became the first same-sex couple to legally marry in San Francisco in June has died.
Del Martin, a pioneer lesbian rights activist with her partner of more than 50 years, Phyllis Lyon, died Wednesday. She was 87.
According to a Los Angeles Times story, she died in the hospice unit of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, two weeks after a broken arm worsened existing health problems.
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U.S. economy better than expected in second quarter
The economy shifted to a higher gear in the spring, growing at its fastest pace in nearly a year as foreign buyers snapped up U.S. exports and tax rebates spurred shoppers at home.
The Commerce Department reported today that the gross domestic product, or GDP, increased at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter. The revised reading was much better than the government’s initial estimate of a 1.9 percent pace and exceeded economists’ expectations for a 2.7 percent growth rate.
The rebound comes after two dismal quarters. The economy actually shrank in the final three months of 2007 and limped into the first quarter at a feeble 0.9 percent pace. The 3.3 percent growth in the spring was the best performance since the third quarter of last year, when the economy was chugging along at a brisk 4.8 percent pace.
Still, the growth pickup is not likely to be seen as a lasting sign that the fragile economy is back on solid ground.
— Associated Press
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Officials may evacuate New Orleans as Gustav gets closer
National Guard troops stand ready, batteries and water bottles are selling briskly, and one small-town mayor has spent a sleepless night worrying. The New Orleans area is skittishly watching as a storm marches across the Caribbean on the eve of Hurricane Katrina’s third anniversary.
With forecasters warning that a strengthening Gustav could slam into the Gulf Coast as a major hurricane, a New Orleans still recovering from Hurricane Katrina’s devastating hit drew up evacuation plans.
— Associated Press
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New violence flares in Pakistan
Suspected militants bombed a bus carrying prisoners in northwest Pakistan today, killing at least nine people, as fighting between security forces and extremists flared across the country’s tribal belt.
The powerful blast left a massive crater in the middle of a bridge in Bannu and left the burnt-out vehicle completely mangled.
The fresh violence comes days after ex-president Pervez Musharraf, a longtime U.S. ally, resigned as president, triggering a scramble for power that caused the country’s ruling coalition to collapse.
— Associated Press
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