Amid national economic turmoil and historic presidential election, Waco had its own major events in 2008

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Whether it was former Downtown Waco Inc. executive director Margaret Mills going to prison for embezzlement, Baylor University replacing President John Lilley or focus on Waco development despite national economic turmoil, 2008 was an eventful year in Central Texas.

Here’s a review of some of the top stories, not in any particular order, that engaged or affected the local community this year:

Margaret Mills imprisoned

Margaret Mills went from what many considered the catalyst for downtown Waco’s rebirth to inmate 01537229 at the Woodman prison unit in Gatesville.

Margaret Mills, who turns 68 in January, pleaded guilty in November to felony theft and was sentenced to nine years in prison. (Rod Aydelotte photo)

TOP 10 BLOG POSTS OF 2008

1. Live blog of Margaret Mills trial (Nov. 5): 15,026

2. SpaceX rocket tests (Nov. 23): 14,390

3. La Vega player arrested (Aug. 28): 10,934

4. BU regents fire president John Lilley (July 24): 9,718

5. Lacy Leann Kutscherousky sentenced in intoxicated manslaughter (July 9): 7,849

6. Mills trial live blog (Nov. 4): 5,126

7. High school football signing day (Feb. 6): 4,650

8. Mom, 2 kids, friend killed while walking on interstate access road (Aug. 29): 4,594

9. Beer can KO's Pat Green (Aug. 19): 4,382

10. Men's mag: Waco is 5th-worst city (May 21): 4,359

Compiled by wacotrib.com staff

Mills, who turns 68 in January, pleaded guilty in November to felony theft and was sentenced to nine years in prison. She also was ordered to repay $307,968 in restitution to Downtown Waco Inc., the development agency she embezzled from after heading it for 18 years.

Mills reached a plea bargain with special prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office, halting her felony theft trial after half a day of jury selection and a day and a half of testimony in 54th State District Court.

Mills repaid $170,000 of the total restitution amount before going to prison. Judge Matt Johnson, who had said he would not accept a plea offer of less than 15 years in prison, reconsidered after prosecutors dismissed more than half the accusations in the indictment, dropping the charge from a first-degree felony to a third-degree felony.

Local economic impact

Nationally and worldwide, the economy sent shockwaves through giant enterprises and mom-and-pop shops.

While Central Texas managed to avoid most of the worst fallout, the area did feel repercussions.

Shipping giant DHL closed a regional center at Texas State Technical College airport, eliminating a couple of hundred positions; and layoffs struck the Pilgrim’s Pride plant on Lake Shore Drive.

Retailer Linens ‘N Things announced it would close its doors, as did the Dickey’s, Ryan’s, Beatnix and Rib Crib restaurants.

L-3 Communications bucked the trend — big time. Waco’s largest private-sector employer, with a payroll of 1,685, broke ground on a new $10 million hangar in 2008. Its airplane modification business is so good it needed more space to house aircraft.

Meanwhile, Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center has helped pump up the local economy by continuing work on a new $174 million hospital at Interstate 35 and State Highway 6.

SpaceX has shaken the local economy, literally, by testing rocket engines at a facility in McGregor. The testing has paid off, with SpaceX winning a $1.6 billion contract from NASA that could grow to $3.1 billion to haul cargo to the International Space Station.

And Associated Hygienic Products has begun hiring for its new 250,000-square-foot diaper-making plant in Waco that represents a $41 million investment.

Ranger statue idea toppled

A group of civic-minded Wacoans recruited a name-brand sculptor, promised a fund-raising campaign, spent hours refining their idea and developing sketches and models. But it turned out that the Waco City Council just didn’t want a 60-plus-foot concrete Texas Ranger looming over the Brazos River.

Backers of the statue thought it could draw tourists off Interstate 35 to visit the museum. The sculptor, David Adickes, was renowned for his giant Sam Houston in Huntsville, Texas, and other “landmark statues” around the state.

The council in January politely declined to grant city land for the big guy, and that was the end of it. At least it had provided Wacoans a few months of heated conversation about some important issues: What kind of public art and what kind of community image do we want?

Downtown development

For years, downtown Waco’s rebirth has been prophesied. But this year, the doubters could hear the hammers ring.

As the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce finished its new eco-friendly headquarters at Heritage Square, developers with the Town Square project began work on a complex that will include condos, stores and restaurants, with hundreds of beds of student housing nearby.

The renovation of the historic Roosevelt Hotel building, soon to be home to Waco’s biggest law firm, neared completion in December.

Up Austin Avenue, entrepreneurs bought long-abandoned buildings for restaurants, bars, loft apartments and an art gallery, all defying gloomy economic news elsewhere in the country.

But the most audacious plan comes from shopping center developer Rick Sheldon, who proposes a billion dollars of public and private spending to reinvent Waco’s urban waterfront with hotels, restaurants, art museums, trolleys and maybe a new Baylor football stadium.

Jail privatization

After weeks of protests by jailers, the McLennan County Commissioner’s Court opted not to place the 931-bed county jail on State Highway 6 under under control of Community Education Centers, a New-Jersey based detention company that runs the downtown Waco jail.

But commissioners, under pressure from the state to relieve crowding, soon got the ball rolling on a new jail that will be built next door to the current one on Highway 6 — and to be run by CEC.

Construction on the new 816-bed jail is expected to begin in 2009.

12-year-old killer

The community and law enforcement personnel were stunned when a 12-year-old boy was arrested in June in the fatal stabbing of his 14-year-old friend, Keith Dancer.

Officials have said the former Provident Heights Elementary School student, who turned 13 in July, is the county’s youngest killer on record.

Waco police have said the two boys fought in the early morning hours of June 6 in a courtyard at the Kate Ross Apartments. The boy pleaded guilty in August and is in a Texas Youth Commission facility..

Baylor fires Lilley

At their July meeting in Dallas, Baylor University’s board of regents fired president John Lilley after months of speculation about the security of his job.

The move came about halfway into Lilley’s five-year contract.

Regent chair Howard Batson, pastor of First Baptist Church of Amarillo, would not point to one specific reason for Lilley’s dismissal, but it is believed that squabbles with faculty and Lilley’s apparent inability to raise funds were among the reasons.

Truett seminary dean David Garland is serving as interim president.

Coble gets death — again

A McLennan County jury put convicted triple murderer Billie Wayne Coble back on death row in September after a two-week punishment retrial in Coble’s capital murder case.

Coble, 59, was sentenced to death a second time in the 1989 shooting deaths of his estranged wife’s parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, and her brother, Waco police Sgt. Bobby Vicha, all at their Axtell homes.

An appeals court overturned Coble’s death sentence in 2007 but left intact his capital murder conviction after he had served more than 17 years on death row.

Brazos Belle’s demise

A Lake Brazos landmark was reduced to scrap iron this fall, after efforts to save the Brazos Belle riverboat failed.

The sternwheeler that plied the river in the 1980s and hosted diners and partygoers through the ‘90s fell on hard times in the 2000s.

The docked boat sank to the bottom twice in 2007, and the city threatened to evict it unless it was repaired. A local truck repair salesman acquired it this year and proposed to paddle it upstream to Gholson. Daunted by the cost, he sold it to a group of local business leaders, including Clifton Robinson, who finally decided it couldn’t be saved. The city-owned site where it was docked is now being considered for a major redevelopment.

Hospital matchup

Waco’s Hillcrest Health System and Temple-based Scott & White health system announced in May that they are working toward a partnership agreement. Under that deal, Hillcrest and Scott & White will jointly run Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center.

Officials hope to finalize the deal early this year.

Unwelcome billboards

In October, the Waco Police Association paid for two billboards on Interstate 35 to bring attention to what it called the escalating number of murders and overall violent crime rate in the city.

The signs drew the ire of local business owners who say they were bad for tourism and did nothing to solve Waco’s crime issues. Some WPA members were irked, too.

The WPA’s president said the billboards were erected to expose the Waco City Council’s refusal to meet with the association to discuss various issues, including police staffing and resources.

After a month, the billboards were taken down and replaced with advertisements promoting the positive aspects of the city.

VA expansion

The Waco Veteran Affairs Medical Center, not so long ago on the chopping block, won funding for $50 million in new projects to enhance its mental health research program.

Jenna Bush wedding

To the dismay of those hopeful for a lavish White House wedding, Jenna Bush rebelled by opting for a small, private ceremony and outdoor reception at her family’s Crawford ranch.

In what local residents were calling “Crawford’s last hurrah,” the town of about 750 residents indeed saw its day in the sun May 10, as big-city media trucks parked up Main Street and tourists flocked to shops to buy “Jenna and Henry” coffee mugs, Christmas ornaments and mouse pads.

Jenna married her longtime boyfriend, Henry Hager.

Ranger bone fiasco

It started in 2007, when city officials acknowledged that a few unmarked graves had been found in the way of the partly completed annex at the Texas Ranger Museum. But 2008 revealed a reality that was grimmer and costlier than anyone guessed.

Archaeologists have discovered some 190 bodies along the path of utility lines that must be built for the $2.1 million Texas Ranger Co. F Headquarters and Education Center behind the museum. The bodies were left over from the historic First Street Cemetery, which was supposedly cleared in 1968 to make room for the museum and surrounding Fort Fisher Park.

This year, the city has faced a lawsuit from the former project archaeologist and a price tag that has escalated to $1.9 million for relocating the bodies and finishing the utility project.

Waco school windfall

Taxpayers gave Waco Independent School District a thumbs up on a $172.5 million bond election held May 4. The bond money will buy three new elementary schools, a new high school, additions to two high schools and renovations to schools throughout the district.

Midway schools’ boost

A $75.8 million bond issue was voted up by taxpayers in a May 4 election. The bond money will buy a new elementary school, intermediate school, high school additions, campus renovations, a new administration building, a new bus barn and renovations to the football stadium.

Wiley campus closed

About three weeks before school started in August, the Waco ISD school board voted to close historically low-performing G.L. Wiley Middle School. A judge forced the district to open the school for one week after school advocates sued. A week later, the campus closed again after the judge ruled against the temporary injunction, sending children to various other middle schools. Wiley remain closed to students and used only for administrative purposes.

Sect kids come to Waco

Removed from their parents by state authorities upon allegations of abuse, 46 children raised on a West Texas polygamist ranch spent 40 days in April at Waco’s Methodist Children’s Home.

State authorities removed more than 450 children in early April from the Eldorado, Texas, ranch. They have since been returned to their homes.

Comments

By eloisa

Sep 25, 2009 8:31 PM | Link to this

how can i get a hold of the story where there was a shooting back in August 4, 2008 involving vicente garcia

cynthia robles

By Long

Jan 1, 2009 12:46 PM | Link to this

I want a second chance for the people who know that Waco one of the best places to raise a family to express the goodness of our city to any prospective businesses and home buyers. The Trib fails to promote Waco as the best of a big city with small town feel. Instead, staff writers loiter on the courthouse steps and write the obituary of Waco week after week, as evident in Mrs. Mills and other criminals getting front page prominence. How about a regular spotlight on the dozens of organizations committed to helping the poor and homeless, like Mission Waco? The Trib could feature regular updates on the local health care boom, to include two major hospital expansions, or the pending waterfront improvements on the Bosque and Brazos, or the countless community activities at Baylor University, or the tourist treasures we have at Cameron Park and Zoo. How about more than two sentences dedicated to the $250 million bond improvements in Midway ISD and Waco ISD? Perhaps one story dedicated to Midway�s exemplary ratings instead of weeks of articles dedicated to the closing of the undisputed failure of GL Wiley school. Consider less spoiler movie reviews (Marley & Me), and stop writing as if Waco�s dog died. Cut the borrowed, irrelevant AP stories, cancel the redneck musician�s column, and give us something to cheer about in Waco. The people want a hybrid paper in 2009�both the good and bad.

By qzy

Dec 31, 2008 9:17 PM | Link to this

This story if nothing else, proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Fred is dead. He would have been ALL over this. Wherever you are Fred, rest in peace.

By joking

Dec 31, 2008 4:34 PM | Link to this

Obama, Bush leaves office, two wars and you put the Mills family on the front page again. It's disgusting. Don't you think you have done enough to a fine family and a woman who delivered $150,000,000 to this place.

By kidding me

Dec 31, 2008 4:26 PM | Link to this

This country has elected the it's first black President, there are two war's going on, and a President from Mclennan county is leaving office and you choose to once again put Margaret Mills on the front page as the story of the year! You people should be ashamed of yourself. Disgusting

By Greene

Dec 31, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this

One of the more important events was missed in the article--the Cameron Park Zoo's ground-breaking for the Asian Forest exhibit. The area will have orangutans, kumodo dragons, and a faux temple ruin to house the apes. This is a true tourist draw for the city of Waco, as anyone can see by looking at the out-of-state license plates in the zoo parking lot. The Asian Forest exhibit is due to open in early 2009.

By Re

Dec 31, 2008 2:36 AM | Link to this

It irritates me that this story is mostly about all the NEGATIVE events that took place in 2008..unbelieveable..

Comments

Commenting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F, except on Tuesday when it's open until 9 p.m.

Post a comment