The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 336, Ed. 1 Friday, October 31, 2003 Page: 1 of 16
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BAYTOWN/64
«obertE. Lee High School to
hiltmks W?i|l
perform ‘Beauty and the Beast’
SPORTS/10
Ganders can clinch district
titfe with victory tonight
UE1)e Paptoton i£>un
Serving01 of, Baytown, Lynchburg, Highlands, McNair, Barrett Station, Crosby, Mont Belvieu, Anahuac and West Chambers County
Volume 81, No. 336 Telephone: 281-422-8302 October 31,2003 www.baytownsun.com 50 cents
Man tries abducting 10-year-old girl before school
The Baytown Sun
BAYTOWN — A 10-year-old
Baytown girl narrowly avoided being
abducted as she rode her bicycle to
school Thursday morning, according to
Baytown police.
Police said the girl (whose identity
was not released) reported to officials at
James Bowie Elementary School that at
around 7:20 a.m., when she had stopped
her bike at the intersection of
‘I thank God that my child is still alive’
Mockingbird Lane and Clayton Street
(immediately in front of the school), a
man exited his parked car and grabbed
the tire of her bike.
The girl said the man pushed her off
the bike, knocking her to die ground.
She said that as she tried to crawl away,
he grabbed her by the ankle and tried to
drag her toward his car. She said she
escaped his grasp by kicking him, then
grabbed her bike and rode to the school,
where she notified school personnel.
“I thank God that my child is still
alive, because these things, that’s all
people are doing now — taking chil-
dren,” said the girl’s mother in an inter-
very brave and purposeful in her
actions,” Baytown Police Department
spokesman Lt. David Alford said also in
an interview with KPRC-TV
Goose Creek spokeswoman Kathy
Clausen said the girl spoke with a coun-
selor before she returning to class. The
girl was picked up by her mother after
school.
The girl described her assailant as a
view with KPRC-TV ____white man between 30 and 40 years of
“She had a plan of action. She was age with black hair, brown eyes and
clean-shaven. He was wearing a blue or
purple T-shirt, blue jeans, blue jacket
and brown shoes.
His car is described as a small, four-
door car, light green in color, with a
large dent on the driver’s side, scratches
on the truck and rusty rims.
Since the incident, Baytown police
lave put the area under heavy patrol.
This morning, the school district
plans to send warning letters home with
the students of James Bowie.
Voters
skeptical
of second
bond vote
By KRISTOPHER BANKS
The Baytown Sun
BAYTOWN — If voters in
Harris County Fresh Water
Supply District No. 27 do not
approve tax bonds, the board
will have to use more expensive
revenue bonds to replace sewer
pipes, the*' board of director’s
financial consultant, Bill Blitch,
said Thursday.
But residents expressed heavy
skepticism at a meeting at
Coady Baptist Church, ques-
tioning the board’s financial
wisdom, planning and commit-
ment to democracy.
Blitch and some board mem-
bers said that it is necessary to
replace large parts of the 33-year-
old sewer system in response to a
report from Houston engineer
Charles Collier. They are asking
for voters to approve a $1.6 mil-
lion tax bond Tuesday.
Voters turned down the mea-
sure Sept. 13 in a 35-23 vote.
The district is a 1,412-acre
unincorporated area just outside
of Baytown’s city limits.
Roughly, its boundaries run
southeast from Decker Drive at
Market Street (near Lynchburg)
to Wade Road, then north to the
6200 block of Wade. The
boundary then turns east to
Goose Creek, where it runs
north to McLean Road, where it
turns west back to the point at
Wade and Market.
The tax bonds would lead to
doubling property taxes.
Property with a taxable value of
$45,000 would go from paying
$157.50 each year to $315,
See BOND on Page 8A
Lessons in Lifeforms
£i (8) A
Baytown Sun photo/Carta Rabalals
THE BARBERS HILL ROBOTICS TEAM is preparing for a showdown Saturday with 18 other teams at Houston's
BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology) competition. The robot they have built will have to move
forward, backward, turn and be able to lift and transport balloons around a course. Pictured here with their par-
tial robot, clockwise from front Lindee Lofton, David Chandler, Chris Meszaros, Chris Obermier, James Hunter
and Laura Rabalais. Not pictured: Matt Robertson, Jesse Burke, John Hunter, Travis Miller and Richard Drake.
Barbers Hill robotics team to compete Saturday
By CARLA RABALAIS
The Baytown Sun
MONT BELVIEU — Robots may be the work-
ers, even the health-care givers, of the future. For
students from 18 Houston-area high schools includ-
ing Barbers Hill, the future is Saturday. On that day,
more than 100 students will gather at Westbriar
Middle School to compete in the 2003 BJ3.S.T.
Robotics Competition along with their creations:
robots designed to manipulate blood cells.
B.E.S.T. (Boosting Engineering, Science and
Technology) Robotics, Inc. was created in 1993 by
a group of teachers, parents and engineers who
hoped to inspire students toward careers in engi-
neering through “sports-like technology competi-
tions.” The process of competing allows students to
face challenges similar to those an engineering team
would face in developing a product.
The students’ mission this year: “Transfusion
Confusion.” Teams must design and build a remote-
ly controlled device to safely transport as many 11-
inch balloons (posing as blood cells) as possible
into a cell-saver used for blood transfusions in 3
minutes. The best blood cells they can capture
See ROBOTS on Page BA
No word on
death penalty
in local case
BPD: Chamblin killed wife, daughter
%
Chamblin
By KEN FOUNTAIN
The Baytown Sun
HOUSTON — More than four months after
Baytown resident William Chamblin allegedly
shot his wife and daughter to death, Harris
County prosecutors still have .not decided
whether to seek the death penalty against him.
Chamblin, 50, has been held
without bond since the June 13
slayings.
A grand jury returned an
indictment on two charges of |
capital murder against him Sept.
15. Chamblin has not entered a
plea as yet.
On Thursday, a court hearing
to set a trial date was again reset
in the 262nd District Court of Judge Mike
Anderson. The new date is Nov. 26, said
Assistant District Attorney Renee Magee, the
lead prosecutor in the case.
Magee said that one of the principal reasons
that her office has not yet decided whether to
seek the death penalty is that Chamblin has not
yet been psychologically evaluated.
“We’d like to have him evaluated (before
making the decision)” Magee said, adding that
Chamblin’s court-appointed attorney, Jerome
Godinich, has not yet decided whether to have
his client examined. A ruling on Chamblin’s
mental state at the time of the killings could
have critical implications on a possible defense
strategy.
Chamblin, a longtime mechanical craftsman
at the ExxonMobil Baytown Chemical Plant,
surrendered to Baytown Police tactical officers
following a tense three-hour early-morning
standoff June 14 after he placed a 911 cajl and
told a dispatcher, “I’ve shot my wife and daugh-
ter. I need a response.”
After police arrived at the family’s home in the
Lakewood subdivision, Chamblin refused to
make contact for more than three hours. Just as
tactical personnel were about to force their way
into the house, Chamblin calmly walked out the
front door and surrendered, according to police.
See CHAMBUN on Page 7A
Kiwanis Club kicks off 54th annual apple sale
By MEREDITH DARNELL
The Baytown Sun
BAYTOWN — Longtime
Baytown resident Vera Goodson isn’t
a member of the Kiwanis Club of
Baytown. But, like many
Baytonians, she’s accustomed to the
apple sale the Kiwanis Club has been
holding since 1949 and wants to
know whet the apples are.
“I always give them out to trick-or-
treaters... and I always give teem to
Just the facts
What: Kiwanis Club Apple Sale
When Today through Nov. 16
Where: Parking lot at Baytown
Motors Body Shop, 3003 N. Main
St (7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
my great-grandchildren,” said
Goodson. “They don’t need all of
that candy. They love them (tee
apples)”
Kiwanians will start selling apples
at 7:30 a.m. today in the parking lot
at Baytown Motors Body Shop,
3003 N. Main St
In addition to a new location,
there’s also a new variety — Granny
Smite — being sold in addition to
galas and red delicious, all of which
are from Washington growers.
“We’ve ordered more than 2,000
cases,” said Martha Barnett, apple
sale chairwoman and president-elect
Galas are being sold for $52 per
box and red delicious and Granny
Kawasaki
Smith for $40 per box. There are
about 88 apples in each box, which
also being sold in halves and quar-
ters. The sale continues through
Nov. 16.
This will be the 54th year Kiwanis
Clite member Jack Smalling has
been selling fruit.
“We're all supposed to do our part
in tee community,” he said. “I usual-
ly stand in tee middle of tee road and
See APPLES on Page 8A
Baytoan Sun photo/MeredWi Darnell
MAYOR PETE ALfARO PRESENTS Martha Barnett
Kiwanis Club president-elect and apple sale chair-
woman, a pfoctamaBon for Kiwanis Club’s apple sale.
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 336, Ed. 1 Friday, October 31, 2003, newspaper, October 31, 2003; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1051406/m1/1/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.