The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 231, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 27, 1995 Page: 14 of 16
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Bush defends decision to freeze treatment center funding
Juvenile law glitch allows 16-year-old
driver of death car to go free
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. George
W Bush is defending state conser-
vators’ decision to freeze funding
to 35 drug and alcohol treatment
providers, discounting objections
from those who say they are being
made scapegoats.
“For those who are complaining,
to me it’s indicative of the fact that
maybe they’re doing something
wrong,” Bush said Wednesday.
Bush in April named three peo-
ple to take over the Texas Commis-
sion on Alcohol and Drag Abuse.
Appointment of the conservators
was on the recommendation of leg-
islative leaders who determined
gross financial mismanagement
was rampant at the state agency.
The conservatorship board last
lems,” said Gilbert Hernandez,
with the Mexican American Unity
Council Inc. of San Antonio, which
had three residential treatment
homes.
week decided to freeze funding to
35 treatment programs throughout
the state, citing findings by Texas
Rangers and auditors.
Some treatment providers con-
tend that they’re being blamed for
state mismanagement.
“I believe that TCADA had over-
contracted and mismanaged its
funds, forcing them to take severe
actions in order to balance its bud-
get,” said Jesse Lucas, president of
Volunteers of America Houston,
which operates three programs
whose funding was shut off last
week.
Houston Chronicle.
Conservators said the cuts were
only the first steps toward better
overseeing and regulating treatment
programs statewide, while weeding
out mismanaged programs.
The funding freezes, which
might be lifted following individual
meetings with providers and state
officials, are part of a decision to
HOUSTON (AP) — A teen-age driver who ran over an 11-
year-old girl cannot be prosecuted because state laws do not
allow a juvenile to be tried for violating state traffic laws.
The prohibition is a long-standing but little known glitch in
the state’s juvenile code.
Lori Ann Braden was struck and killed April 8 as she
attempted to cross a street in northeast Houston. The 16-year-
old driver kept going, but was chased down and held by wit-
nesses until police arrived.
The young driver, whose juvenile record includes incidents
involving drugs, stolen cars and evading arrest, was released
the same day he was picked up.
Lori Ann, a sixth-grader, was comatose for four days before
she died.
“These programs have gone on
since 1992 and had no clue there
were any problems,” said David
Flores, a consultant to several
Houston providers.
Bush said, “I have all the faith in
the world in the three conservators
at TCADA. I’m proud of their
action.
“I’m told... that the misappropri-
ation of revenues is huge and stag-
gering,” Bush said. “Either we can
have the government stand by and
watch it happen or have a proactive
government.”
work on designing new award cri-
teria,” said J. Michael Weiss, chair-
man of the conservatorship board.
Some of the providers funded by
the agency had to shut their doors
last week when the freeze was
“In cutting funds to providers,
they have tried to blame the
providers for TCADA’s misman-
agement of funds,” he told the
ordered
“The irony was we received a
June 23 notice from TCADA say-
ing a field audit had found no prob-
Bombing’s little victim, brain
damaged, goes home in wheelchair
DALLAS (AP) — After 98 days in hospitals and rehabilita-
tion centers, one of the littlest victims of the Oklahoma City
bombing has gone home.
Holding a purple balloon and waving bye-bye to doctors
with his good arm, 3-year-old Brandon Denny was wheeled
out of a Dallas rehab center Wednesday.
He left with a plum-size hole in his brain that has rendered
his right side virtually useless. He can’t talk or walk on his
own or even spread his smile to the right side of his face.
But his parents say they are the iuckiest people in the world.
“If I, an have a little boy to hug and kiss, I’m going to be
happy — even if he can’t kiss back,” said his father, Jim
Denny.
Senate to
appropriate
funds for
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Death sought For 17-year-old
convicted murderer of state trooper
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Breaking with their House coun-
terparts, Senate appropriators
have agreed to fund nearly $90
million for the Sematech govern-
ment-industry semiconductor
research consortium in Texas.
Wednesday, the Senate Appro-
priations Committee approved a
$242.5 billion budget that
includes $89.6 million next year
for Sematech in Austin. A day
earlier, the House Appropriations
Committee endorsed a $244 bil-
lion defense spending bill that
eliminates Sematech funding.
Separately, Senate appropriators
funded projects with billions of
dollars in Texas ties. “I’m very
pleased we could stem the steep
defense cuts recommended by the
Clinton administration and start
putting our vital modernization
efforts on firm footing,” said Sen.
Phil Gramm, R-Texas, a member
of the Appropriations Committee
and its defense subcommittee.
Sematech’s final year of federal
funding has proved controversial.
Austin’s House representative,
Democrat Lloyd Doggett, told his
hometown newspaper last week
that the zeroing out of Sematech’s
money could be retribution by the
House Republican leadership for
his support of legislation that
would bar lawmakers from
accepting gifts from special inter-
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BIG SPRING, Texas (AP) — A teen-ager’s life hung in the
balance today following his conviction of capital murder in the
roadside shooting of a state highway patrol trooper.
State District Judge Robert Moore III directed the jury to
return at 8 a.m. today for testimony in the punishment phase of
the trial of Levy Edmondson Jr., 17, of Big Spring.
Prosecutors said they are seeking the death penalty.
A Howard County jury deliberated for three hours Wednes-
day before returning the guilty verdict in the Dec. 30 shooting
of Department of Public Safety Trooper Troy Hogue in the
head at point-blank range.
Relatives of Edmondson and his victim both wept upon
hearing the verdict. The judge ordered the courtroom closed,
but as the suspect’s family left, one of them began shouting
obscenities.
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Mesquite mogul rankles competitors
DALLAS (AP) — His rivals call him the “backstabber” in
their industry, but Jerry Lawson of Pleasanton remains unfazed
in his bid to become the leader of Texas’ $20 million-a-year
mesquite industry.
The former travel agent has been undercutting competitors
while heating up the battle for the cooking fuel that has
become the choice of chefs around the world.
“He’s referred to as ‘the backstabber’ in the business,”
Rogers Craig, owner of Brazos Valley Wood Products Inc. in
Rosebud, told The Wall Street Journal’s Texas Journal in
Wednesday’s editions.
Meanwhile, Lawson continues to dump bags of his competi-
tors’ mesquite, along with sawdust, mildewed chips and dirt,
on potential buyers’ desks.
“That’s the beauty of it,” said Lawson, president of WW
Wood Inc. “I don’t have to doctor it. It’s just garbage that
they’re putting out there.”
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ests.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-
Texas, said she will work to
ensure the Senate’s position on
Sematech prevails when House
and Senate appropriators iron out
their dilferences in conference.
“I believe there is a willingness
among many House members to
support this continued binding in
conference, and I intend to make
sure it happens,” she said.
Sematech has received as much
as $100 million in annual federal
funding since being created in
1987. The federal dollars have
been matched by contributions
from its member companies. As
of 1997, the consortium intends to
survive by private contributions
alone.
Separately, Senate appropriators
included funding for other Texas-
related projects, including:
■ $2.59 billion to buy six C-17
cargo planes and begin advance
procurement of additional C-17s
in 1997. Northrop-Grumman is a
major C-17 subcontractor, with
some 1,400 people at its Dallas
facility doing C-17 work.
■ $2.34 billion for continued
research and development of the
F-22 advanced tactical fighter, of
which Lockheed Martin’s Fort
Worth division has a stake.
■ $758 million for continued
development of the V-22 Osprey
by Bell Helicopter Textron in Fort
Worth. An additional $48 million
was included for advanced pro-
curement of the tilt-rotor.
Houston’s high-tech traffic control lauded
§
HOUSTON (AP) — Transportation Secretary Federico Pena
says he expects Houston’s state-of-the-art traffic control sys-
tem to become a model for gridlocked cities across the nation.
“Houston I think is very much in the forefront,” Pena said
Wednesday after touring the city’s metropolitan transportation
facilities. “This is the biggest, most comprehensive, most com-
plex system in the country.
“The number of cameras and the toll road system and those
planned — this will probably be the most complex and sophis-
ticated in the country.”
Houston has overhauled its scheme to manage gridlock over
the past decade by employing state-of-the-art technology. Offi-
cials say they’ve cut commuter times even while traffic
increases.
The project, spearheaded most recently by Mayor Bob
Lanier, has increased the amount of freeway lanes for exclu-
sive use of vehicles carrying more than one person, expanded
use of toll roads, introduced computer-assisted and camera-
assisted traffic control and uses the nation’s largest all-bus
transit system.
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Thousands of area families will soon be gearing up for
the school year. They'll need everything from clothes
to after school snacks. And...they’ll shop businesses
like yours; if you tell them what you have to offer.
Become part of their "Back-to-School" shopping.
Place your ad in our well read section in The Baytown
Sun on Sunday, August 6 and in The Sun Saver on
Tuesday, August 8.
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Santa Fe seniors to decide if school
prayer has place at graduation
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SANTA FE, Texas (AP) — A new policy on prayer at Santa
Fe High School is drawing criticism from the American Civil
Liberties Union.
The policy, adopted late Monday by Santa Fe school
trustees, says students will be allowed to vote on how and
when prayers should be included at school gatherings, such as
graduation.
That’s not good enough for Anthony Griffin, the Galveston
attorney who represents the ACLU.
In April, Griffin filed a lawsuit on behalf of two families
who challenged prayers planned for the Santa Fe high school
graduation.
The attorney said he will oppose the new policy when he and
school officials meet with a federal judge on Aug. 4.
But, don’t delay, the deadline is Friday, July 28th.
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Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 231, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 27, 1995, newspaper, July 27, 1995; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1158061/m1/14/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.