Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 18, 1982 Page: 1 of 32
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MICROFILM CENTER
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DALLAS tx 75245
24 PAGES IN 2 SECTIONS
THURSDAY
EDITION
Vol. 18 No. 10
November 1 8. 1 S82
25°
For Mail Delivery
295-0486
Collision
Aftermath
One person vs as killed and three
others injured Mondav night in a
headon collision on I arm Road Till
about three and a quarter miles
south of its intersection with
Highway 174. \bove, Burleson
Volunteer Firemen attend to
19 year-old Annette (.rooms, a
passenger in one of the cars. She was
later treated and released at
Huguley Hospital. At left. Fireman
R.T Kiesling comforts l)r. Ralph
Starks, driver of the other vehicle.
Starks is in fair condition at Hugulev
Hospital but his wife, who was trap
ped inside the car for almost an
hour, was killed in the accident
Star Photos by James Moods
Better never than late?
It's perhaps ironic, or maybe poetic
justice, or possibly it just stands to
reason At any rate, the longest item on
the agenda of the most recent meeting
of the Burleson City Council was a
discussion of how to shorten the length
of council meetings
Well, to be honest, that wasn't the
whole purpose of the discussion Coun
ciI members, and particularly Mayor
Scott Butler, are looking for a written
policy establishing rules and proce-
dures for council meetings But the
oftentimes marathon sessions of the
council had to be one of the primary
considerations of the council
Several council members noted
something to the effect that “you don't
function as well after hours and hours
of meeting " Addressing that problem
directly is one guideline shutting off the
meeting or at least not taking up new
items after 11 p m
IT W1I.I, TAKK A two-thirds vote of
the council members present at the
meeting to bypass the II p m. rule
Another attempt to get home earlier
involved the scrapping to the pre-coun-
cil session that normally began at 7
p m and lasted for an hour Now, the
regular meeting will begin at 7:00 and
7: :t(i is the target time to have disposed
of all items which might have ordinari
ly been on the pre-council session.
One of the items normally explained
in the pre-council meeting was the
"consent agenda “ These are items
which are fairly routine and non contrm
versial and can be handled with one
motion and one vote Under the new
guidelines, council members are urged
to resolve questions concerning the
consent agenda prior to the council
meeting Following any questions, dele-
tions, or additions, council members
will be expected to arrive at the meet
ing ready to vote on the consent agenda
Other guidelines involving council
members or council procedure include
a motion tieing made prior to council
discussion, an attempt to limit discus
sion, when possible, to 15 minutes, and
guidelines for discussion
Rl’I.KS GOVERNING citizen af>
pearances at council meetings were
also discussed and approved by council
members One of the discussed items,
however limiting discussion of non
agenda items to six persons was even-
tually discarded
While no member of the council could
ever recalla time w hen as many as six
persons requested to speak on items not
on the agenda, the concensus of the
council was that no one should be
denied access to the council in the event
more than six persons should want to
* speak
To cut down on the amount of time
spent in discussion whenever a large
group is involved, the council did OK a
guideline limiting a group to three
spokespersons with a time limit of five
minutes each or a total of 15 minutes
overall
INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATIONS
from citizeas will generally be limited
to five minutes Persons wishing to
address the council will be requested to
fill outs cards prior to the meeting and
hand them to the mayor or the city
secretary
According to Butler, the guidelines
are needed to “streamline our own
procedures not to put undue restrictions
on citizens " Councilman Rick Roper
wasn't entirely convinced that limila
tions should be put on citizens, how
ever
“I feel I was put here to stay however
long it takes to get the job done,'' he
said
But while council and citizen guide
lines took up the bulk of the time during
the open session of the meeting, other
business was on the agenda as well
AMONG THAT OTHER business
were the following actions
-Acceptance of the bid from Indies
trial International, Inc for water pipe
and appurtenances for the 1983 water
line replacement program The win
ning bid was $44,137 92 In all, there
were four bidders with prices ranging
from the low bid up to $46,240 95
—Deferred until the next meeting
rewarding the bid for a pickup for the
water and sewer department The low
bidder had withdrawn his bid over the
telephone, but the city attorney pre-
ferred to have a written withdrawal
before awarding the bid to the second
low bidder
—Approved on first reading an ordi
nance renaming the Old Waco Road to
honor Mr and Mrs A S Rigney for
their contributions to the Burleson Boys
Club The BBC has requested the name
of the road be changed to Rigney Way
See Council I’g. 2A
Headon crash
fatal to woman
A grinding headon collision on a
farm to-market road near Burleson
shortly after 6pm Monday took the
life of a 58-year-old Keene woman
Mrs Ralph R <Auda Fay) Starks
was pronounced dead on arrival at 7:44
p.m. at Huguley Memorial Hospital,
where she was taken following the
two-car collision 3.2 miles south of
Highway 174 on Farm Road 731 She
was pinned in the wreckage for almost
an hour before workers could free her
Mrs Starks was a passenger in a car
driven by her husband, I)r Ralph E
Starks He was a Iso injured w ith broken
nose, ankles and facial lacerations His
condition was reported to be fair at
Huguley late Tuesday evening
THE TWO PASSENGERS in the se
cond vehicle. Michael Robert Shelton.
16, of Route 2. Joshua and Annette J
Grooms, 19, of the same address, were
also injured and taken to Huguley Ms.
Grooms was treated and released, She!
ton is reported to have received neck
and hack injuries
In a preliminary on-the-scene report,
Department of Public Safety Officer
Ralph Forsberg of Alvarado said the
Starks vehicle was traveling north on
731 and the other vehicle, driven by
Shelton, was south-bound
According to the investigating offi
cer's report, Shelton said he was driv
ing four or five car-lengths behind a
third vehicle, when it stopped suddenly
Shelton told the officer that when he
braked his car. it went out of control
and into the northbound traffic lane,
crashing headon into the Starks' vehi-
cle
No charges have been filed and the
investigation is continuing, according
to Forsberg
THREE UNITS FROM the Burleson
Volunteer Fire Department and two
ambulances from the Regional Ambu
lance Service were on the scene also
passing motorists stopped to help direct
traffic
The roadway was completely blocked
for several hours Traffic had to be
re-routed on streets of a nearby sub-di-
vision or down the grassy slope on the
side of the highway until the wreckage
was cleared and firemen had hosed
away glass and other debris Irum me
road
Services for Mrs Starks wen-
planned for It) a m today i Thursday ' in
the Cleburne Seventh day Adventist
Church with Dexter I.eBlanc, Cecil
May, and Jerry Pugh officiating Inter
ment was to be in Rock Church feme
tary nearGlen Rose under the direction
of ('rosier Pearson Funeral Home
Mrs Starks was a consulting dieti
cian and a member of the American
Diebetic Association She was a mem
her of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church in Fverman and a Path Find
ors' leader for 2(1 years She and her
husband had resided in Keene for III
years
‘ MRS. STARKS W AS horn Dec 25.
1923, in Phoenix. Ariz . the daughter of
J Edgar and Belle Lambert Martin
She is survived by her husband.
Ralph, two daughters. Ellen Joy Walk
er of Charlotte. N ('. Eva Hill of
Keene, and two sisters, Darlene May
and Ester Wells, both of Burleson
Doris E. Wilson
Graham found guilty
in rape of 9-year-old
By DORIS E. WII.SON
CLEBURNE A 25-year-old Burleson
man. Donnie Ray Graham, was found
guilty of aggravated rape and ag-
gravated sexual abuse of a nine-year
old girl by a jury of five men and seven
women in 18th Judicial District Court
Wednesday
The punishment phase of the three-
day trail was in progress at The Star's
presstime The state, represented by
District Attorney John R MacLean and
Assistant DA Dale Hannah, were seek
ing a life sentence for Graham
Graham has been employed for about
a month as janitor at Nola Dunn
Elementary School, when the rape and
abuse allegedly occurred on
September 13 in the teacher's lounge at
the school
IN \ SIGNED confession given to
Texas Ranger Bill Gunn and Detective
Sgt Dorrita Keefer of the Burleson
Police Department on September 20,
Graham admitted to the rape but omit
ted any reference to sexual abuse
In the statement, Graham said he had
bought a soft drink for the young girl
and her brother on a Friday and told
her to come back Monday and he would
buy her another, but not to bring her
brother
The girl was at the school on both oc-
casions as a member of a pep squad for
the Boys' Club football team her
brother plays for After cheerleading
practice, which would have been after 7
p m on Monday September 13, the girl
went into the school and Graham
reportedly bought a her a soft drink
The girl, in a childishly young voice,
testified to the jury as to the ensuing
events She said she did not tell her
mother after the incident because
Graham had told not to tell anyone or
he would hurt me "
SHE DID NOT TELL her mother un
til the following Thursday, when she
Tax office
hires new
employees
Sherry Brookshire is a new employee
in the Burleson Sub Courthouse tax of
fice and will be there from 10 a m to 2
p m Monday through Friday to take
property tax payments, issue car
registrations and tags
The office will be open during the
noon hour, according to W E (Ed) Car
roll, county tax assessor-collector
A former employee of Freight
Master, where she was a data
process machine operator, Mrs
Brookshire began her duties in the tax
office Tuesday. She is a 1973 graduate
of Burleson High School and the
daughter of Mr and Mrs O L Burris of
Burleson She and her husband, Ricky,
have four children
Mrs Brookshire joins Title Clerk
Janith Bates in staffing the tax office in
Burleson,
was then taken to John Peter Smith
Hospital and examined by Dr 1 • -'jglas
E Whitley, who also testified for the
state
Detective Keefer testified the man
was arrested at the school around 5
p.m. on September 17. shortly after he
came to work The young girl testified
that after she had received the soft
drink, she tried to walk away, hut he
kept holding me "
Graham, represented by court-
appointed attorney, Mike Rogers of
Cleburne, offered no defense and
Graham declined to testify in his own
defense
The trail got underway Monday with
the selection ol a jury by noon and
testimony beginning Monday afternoon
and continuing until shortly after 2 p m
on Tuesday, w hen the jury was dismiss
ed for the Judge E Byron Crosier to
prepare charges and prosecution and
defense attorneys to prepare suinma
tions to the jury
THE CASE WENT TO the jury at
>0:4 3 a "n Wednesday and, m view of
Graham's confession, a quick verdict
was anticipated However, the jur\
deliberated until lunchtime, recessed
for lunch and came back into the emir
troom around I 20 p rn to have a por
Don of testimony read by the court
reporter They retired to the jure room
and returned with a guilty on both
charges verdict at I 40 j> m
Immediately afterwards, the punish
ment phase began with the state
presenting only a document that
Graham had been convicted of forgery
and had served time in the Texas
Department of Corrections prior to his
employment in the BIND
The defense called Dr C Ewing
Cooley of Arlington, a psychologist,
who had conducted an extensive mental
examination ol Graham m the county
jail on Nov 4
See Trial Pg 2 \
JANITH BATES, ill, and SHERRA’ BROOKSHIRE '
Burleson Suh-Courthouse employees
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Moody, James. Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 18, 1982, newspaper, November 18, 1982; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth761135/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Burleson Public Library.