The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 296, Ed. 1 Monday, October 13, 1997 Page: 1 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Baytown Sun and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sterling Municipal Library.
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What’s Inside
Calendar...
...2-A
Opinion.....
...4-A
Classifieds.....
.....5B
Police Beat...
..,.3-A
Comics.....
...4-B
Sports .......
....1-B
Obituaries...
...,3A
Television...
...3-B
Joseph Perkins:
Americans need a
lower income tax
Gearing up
Nation’s top teams
on way to Raceway
Or tfUi’totun £>un
Volume 75, No. 296 Telephone Number: 422-8302 Monday, October 13,1997 Baytown, Texas 77520 50 Cents Per Copy
Bentsen
to tour
Love Story
Baytown
man wins
i] Drive-through customer dozes off
afternoon.
-See Page 3-A
The forecast looks much brighter for the rest
of the week, however, as weather forecasters
predicted clearing skies by this afternoon with
fall-like temperatures arriving behind the band
of storm clouds.
Tuesday’s weather calls for sunny skies and
highs near 70 degrees.
Officials with the Harris County Office of
Emergency Management reported 1.1 inches
had fallen at Cedar Bayou Road and Highway
146. Over the last four days, 2.6 inches have
fallen at that intersection.
ribs. “He said, ‘My heart hurts,’” Pope
said. She couldn’t think of a better way to
describe it. Pope called for an ambulance.
They hoped this time he would get better.
He hasn't.
From staff and wire reports
A flash flood watch was in effect this morn-
ing for Baytown and the rest of Harris County
as steady rains that arrived overnight pelted the
area with up to 3 inches in some areas.
Chambers, Liberty, Galveston, Brazoria, Polk
and San Jacinto counties remained under flash
flood warnings until about 10:30 a.m.
Officials with the Harris County Office of
Emergency Management reported 1.1 inches
had fallen at Cedar Bayou Road and Highway
146. .
Monday: Clearing and
breezy tonight. Lows in
the lower 60s.
Tuesday: Sunny and
windy. Highs in the lower
70s.
Art by Holly Lewis
. , ... . .'i - -
Pope saici she had all the men in Cold
Spring chasing afterTier, but she had her
sights set on Parker. a
“We fell madly in'love,” Pope said.
“He’s my John Wayne of the oil field”
And then, Pope, who couldn’t wait any
longer, popped the question. “I raised
cane, I said, ‘Look at our ages,”’ Parker
said. But Pope wouldn’t take no for an an-
swer: ■
She bought the tickets, got the couple’s
bags packed and the two were off to Las
Vegas. They were married the next day,
on Pope’s birthday.
After their marriage, the two moved to
Pope’s family home in Baytown.
They planted roots and then were off
once again, doing what they love to do
best together — buying antiques and
traveling. .
Inside their home, visitors find a shrine
memorializing all of the couple’s travels
together. In their dining room are two
thrones.
In the living room, beautiful European
jewelry hangs from the draped walls. An
aquarium serves as a glass coffee table.
They’ve been to the Orient and to South
America.
“We’ve been all over the world—
there’s no grass growing under us. And
then, (Parker’s cancer) happened,” Pope
They have lived like this for four years
— ever since Parker, a retired oil field
worker, was diagnosed with throat cancer.
“We feel like it’s me and him against
the whole world,” said Pope, who is 35.
For them, it’s been a battle against in-
surmountable odds, but they fight on, fu-
eled by their love for each other.
Last year, the couple spent Christmas
in the emergency room. At least they
were together, Pope said.
Parker had just gone to buy Pope her
Christmas surprise. She remembers hear-
ing him pull into the driveway of their
Glen Haven Drive home. Anxiously, she
awaited his entrance into their home, get- said. “It’s like,now what?”
ting ready to act surprised. He never ...»
made it beyond the garage.
She ran outside, only to find Parker’s I
legs had given out and he had broken his ch to talk. Sometimes, gurgling sounds
By EMILY ELSEN
The Baytown Sun
A tuckered out 28-year-old man,
who was arrested Friday for sleeping
in a fast food drive-through lane, on
Saturday tried to reclaim his car with-
out paying, according to Baytown po-
lice.
The man’s escapades with police?,
began early Saturday morning when
he was spotted passed out in his car in
the drive-through lane of a fast food
restaurant in the 1900 block of Garth
Road, said Baytown Police Sgt. D.
Hughes.
“Apparently he was tired and went
to sleep while waiting in the drive-
through line,” he said.
Police also discovered the man was
intoxicated and he was taken into cus-
tody, After he paid his bail, he went to
reclaim his car, but tried to leave with-
out paying the towing fee first, Hugh-
es said. He was stopped by police and
went back to pay the towing fee. with-
out further incident, he said.
John
Denver
killed
■ Singer-actor
dies in plane
and it’s difficult, because he had always
been a than you could count on.
Years ago, when he worked in the oil
business, he was a problemsolver. When
an operation needed help, the bosses
would send Roe Parker.
He’s not used to needing someone else
to get things done.
But despite the illness and the toll it’s
taken on the couple, romance lives on be-
tween Parker and Pope. She thinks it’s be-
cause the two have always been such
good friends.
“This is Roeville and Laurieland,” Pope
said. “We dress like bums and we look
like slobs and we don’t care.”
‘ T ' . , /. - Photo by John Rowland
- Roe Parker, left, is fighting throat cancer with his wife, Laurie Pope's help... ■ • •
are all he can make, and it’s hard to un-
derstand him.
When his trachea clogs with mucous,
he is forced to go into the bathroom and
clean it out with a straw.
“His greatest fear is choking to death,”
Pope said.
Through trial and error, they’ve formu-
lated a recipe to help clear his trachea
without the straw — peppermint candies
and lots and lots of ice cream.
“If he can’t get (the mucous) up, I just
get him another bowl of ice cream,” Pope
. . ■ said.. < ■ - "
Parker has to put his finger over his tra- He’s self-conscious about his affliction.
* ’ He can’t do everything like he used to,
It all started about five and
years ago whenthe couple met in Cold
Spring, a small town hear Livingstoh. It
was partly fate, partly fable.
They were best friends first, just testing
her husband would really pull the trigger the waters. Then, it blossomed into ro-
thistime, ■ . mancip. -
“He was going to blow his brains out,”
Pope said. “I.was like, ‘Good God, now.”
She called 911.
As Parker stepped into the backyard, he
felt the wind shift. A chilly breeze blew
over him, and Suddenly his clogged throat
cleared.
His ragged breathing evened.
In that moment, he remembered his
life. The time before the cancer. He re-
membered his wife, standing in the door-
way behind him. He remembered their
love for each other.
Parker lowered the pistol and fired one
round into the ground.
Forecasters say the sun’ll come out tomorrow
Meanwhile, flash flood warning on in Liberty, Chambers counties
The west side of Harris County received the
brunt of the band of thunderstorms arriving
from the northwest, as 2.5 inches fell over Katy.
Although Chambers County was under a
flash flood warning, Emergency Management
Coordinator Mark Hainley said Monday morn-
ing the county had not been deluged as badly as
western Harris County. —
“There have been no reports of that type of
rainfall yet,” he said. Actual rainfall amounts
were not immediately available for Chambers
County.
Roe and Laurie make the most
of the time they have together
By EMILY ELSEN
The Baytown Sun
n a Saturday night two weeks
H B ago, 58-year-old Roe Parker
■ ■ decided he couldn’t take any
■ ■ more. His trachea was
■ I clogged, he couldn’t breathe
WF and he was tired of living He
»WSit outside with a gun in his hands, ■
planning to take his own life.
His wife, Laurie Pope followed, afraid
waterway
Tuesday
U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen will tour
the San Jacinto River around 2 p.m.
Tuesday te.jyrvey the ongoing re-
moval- of aban-
doned barges near
Banana Bend in
Highlands.
The project is
the result of a two-
year effort by the
congressman and
community lead-
e»rs to obtain $1.5
million in federal Ken Bentsen
funding to remove
the barges, which; in the past, have
threatened public safety by drifting
into commercial shipping lanes.
There are also ongoing concerns
some could leak hazardous materials
into the river.
The barge removal was part of a
transportation appropriations'bill
sisned into law last October.
contest
'• Coming up with a flag design
for Baytown wasn’t hard for
Charles Fall. After all, Fall said
Baytown doesn’t.suffer from a
lack of recognizable landmarks.
He said when he read about a
contest to design a flag for the
city’s 50th anniversary next year,
he jumped at it.
From the start, Fall knew he
wanted to incorporate two land-
marks that he thought Baytown
could relate more to: an oak tree
rooted in the city’s history and a
bridge linking it to the future.
Judges agreed.
Last week, they named his de-
sign the winner in the contest.
His design will be stitched into
a white and dark green flag in cel-
ebration of the city’s birthday.
Fall, who Was an art major in
college, said combining the two
landmarks was the hardest part of
drawing the design.
Fall took photos of the two
landmarks and then went home to
study the pictures and create the
design.
—JeorgeZamzua
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Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 296, Ed. 1 Monday, October 13, 1997, newspaper, October 13, 1997; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1176644/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.