The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 243, Ed. 1 Saturday, July 26, 2003 Page: 1 of 16
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Serving all of Baytown, Lynchburg, Highlands, McNair, Barrett Station, Crosby, Mont Belvieu, Anahuac and West Chambers County
Volume 81, No. 243
Telephone: 281-422-8302
July 26, 2003
www.baytownsun.com
50 cents
Investigators hunt for graveyard vandals
By KEN FOUNTAIN
The Baytown Sun
BAYTOWN — The Harris County
Sheriff’s Department is investigating the
desecration of several gravesites at the
Earthman Memory Gardens Cemetery in
the 8600 block of Garth Road.
Early Friday morning, a groundskeep-
er discovered a casket that had been
removed from a 24-crypt granite mau-
soleum and opened. The remains
appeared to have been left intact.
Sheriffs deputies discovered that two
other gravesites (which did not contain
caskets) in the same mausoleum had
been vandalized and that a two-crypt
granite mausoleum several yards away
had also been desecrated, but the vandals
were unable to access the caskets.
Earthman representatives said there
appeared to be no connection among the
graves.
Grave desecration carries a state
charge of felony criminal mischief, said
Deputy D. M. Wolfe, a sheriffs depart-
ment spokeswoman. There were no
immediate leads or suspects, but investi-
gators attempted to lift fingerprints from
the scene Friday, she said.
Employees called authorities immedi-
ately after discovering the desecration
and are fully cooperating with the inves-
tigation, said Tamara Malone, an
See GRAVES on Page 8A
Representing Robert E. Lee
Lamar University photo/Kevin Gilliam
Camila Labarca, left, and Josmery Ramirez, center, of Baytown’s Robert E. Lee High School prepare with Vidor High School's Amy
Limbocker for 2003-04 All-Region and All-State competitions at Lamar University’s annual All-State Choir Camp Friday.
IT
Sterling football camp for parents set for Aug. 2
ByDEANANALL
The Baytown Sun
BAYTOWN — Sterling High School
football players have been preparing
for the approaching football season all
summer.
Now it’s their parents’ turn.
“We’re not going to be running them
through drills or anything,” said Scott
Griffin, Sterling Booster Club president.
Instead, the sweat-free football camp
scheduled for Aug. 2 will give parents a
chance to learn more about their sons’
sport. *
From 8:30 a.m. to noon, parents,
grandparents and family members can
learn about football equipment and
proper nutrition for players. The camp
costs $20.
“I especially encourage parents of
incoming freshmen to attend,” Griffin
said.
The camp also will provide parents the
opportunity to meet members of the
coaching staff. All but two of the coach-
es are new to Ranger football thi^year,
he said.
“We have a whole new coaching staff
and a whole new program,” he said.
Griffin stressed the importance of par-
ents getting involved in their children’s
activities.
“I think it makes the kids more
responsible and better athletes,” he said.
Last year, 30 moms and 25 dads
attended the parents’ football camps,
See STERUNG on Page 8A
Remaining
defendants in
stabbing case
sentenced
By HEN FOUNTAIN
The Baytown Sun
HOUSTON — Baytown resi-
dents Sam Alvarez and Richard
M. Espinosa, the two remaining
defendants in the events that
resulted in the Jan. 19 stabbing
death of Isaac Ismael
Benavides, pleaded guilty to
misdemeanor assault charges
and were sentenced in a Harris
County court Friday.
Judge Mike Anderson of the
262nd District Court sentenced
Alvarez, 31, to a year in Harris
County Jail, and Espinosa, 31,
to 218 days in jail. Both men
will receive credit for time
already served since their
arrests in January.
The men’s Class A misde-
meanor charges were the result
dfplea bagafrts m®cchSigefbr
their cooperation and testimony
in the first-degree murder trial
of Mike Mendoza Jr.
Mendoza, 24, also of
Baytown, stabbed Benavides,
26, eight times during an alter-
cation at an early-morning party
in the 2100 block of Carolina.
A jury convicted Mendoza of
the murder Tuesday, and
Anderson sentenced the already
twice-convicted felon to llfg
imprisonment Wednesday.
Alvarez, who had originally
been charged with felony aggra-
vated assault for using a hand-
gun to hold partygoers at bay
during the fight that resulted in
Benavides’ slaying, surrepti-
tiously recorded a conversation
with Mendoza in which the
younger man admitted to
repeatedly stabbing Benavides,
During the punishment phase
of Mendoza’s trial, Alvarez !
named himself and Mendoza as
“soldiers” in the Texas :
Syndicate, a Hispanic prison-
based gang.
_ Jfefore making his^plea bar-
an aggravated assault charge for
his role in beating Benavides,
along with Mike Mendoza’s
brother Josue (then 19), while
Mendoza stabbed him.
Josue Mendoza received
deferred adjudication.
' ' '<
Chamblin arraignment reset
By KEN FOUNTAIN
The Baytown Sun
HOUSTON - A Harris
County district judge reset the
arraignment Friday of William
Michael Chamblin, the
Baytown man accused of the
June 13 shooting deaths of his
wife and daughter.
Judge Mike Anderson heard
from Assistant District Attorney
Renee Magee and Jerome
Godinich, Chamblin s court-
appointed defense attorney
about the evidentiary status of
the case before resetting the
arraignment for Aug. 26.
Anderson also appointed
Houston attorney Layton Duer
Chamblin
to serve as,
Godinich s co-
counsel.
Chamblin, 49,
has been held in
the Harris
County Jail with-
out bond since
his arrest the'
morning after the shootings.
Anderson made no change hi
the bond.
The case has not yet been sent
before a grand Jury, but Magee
said she expects that an indict-
ment will be returned before the
new court date. The state must
secure an indictment within 90
See CHAMBLIN on Page SA
State cuts nix Region IV driver’s ed classes for area school districts
By BETH GULLETT
The Baytown Sun
The Region IV Education Service
Center has put the brakes on driver
education classes starting Sept. 1.
The center will end agreements with
23 driving simulators and 60 vehicles,
along with 300 part-time instructors.
“Some departments are being elimi-
. nated, and after Sept. 1, it’ll all be a lit-
tle leaner," said Louise Henry, Region
IV director of community relations. “A
k k Kids do have other options.
They can take it with parents
and with private companies. 99
Susan Haynie, BHS principal
students each semester, and Crosby
had 32 students complete the cqurse
in the fall and 43 in' the spring.
Students who enrolled in the program
paid a $300 fee.
“Kids do have other options. They
30 school districts, including Goose number of them were teachers who just grams that parents may want td look can take it with parents and with pri- options.
r__i. D..I---- urn r___u.. used the monev as additional nav out- ___* n,________vatP mmnanles” said Rarhorc mil -n___
Program that allows parents to teach
their children to drive.
Former driver education instructor
and retired Robert E. Lee coach Bill
Thompson said he hopes to be able to
offer school districts insight on other
Creek, Barbers Hill and Crosby.
The center’s budget dropped from
$71 million to $23 million this year
because of cuts from state and federal
funds. The center’s driver education
program costs approximately $2.5 mil-
lion per year. The program maintains
used the money as additional pay out
side of the classroom.”
Goose Creek spokesperson Kathy
Clausen said the district, facing its own
budget problems for next year,
empathizes.
into for their children,” Clausen said.
Goose Creek had 97 students
enrolled last year at Ross S. Sterling
High School and 18 at Robert E. Lee
High School. Over the summer,
students from Goose Creek comp)
There are other driver training pro- ed the program. Barbers Hill had $0 Parent Taught Driver Education
vate companies, said Barbers Hill Thompson said he intends to pro-
High School Principal Susan Haynie. p0se a pian to Goose Creek and
“We haven’t made V final decision.
Obviously, it won't be available this
fall, but we’re exploring other options.”
In 1995, lawmakers passed the
Barbers Hill that wflfalllaw schools to
continue teaching driver education on
campus through another source. He
See DRIVERS on Page 8A
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 243, Ed. 1 Saturday, July 26, 2003, newspaper, July 26, 2003; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1052717/m1/1/: accessed June 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.