Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 14, 1992 Page: 1 of 42
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Polk County Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Livingston Municipal Library.
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best available copy
Pine Cone
Festival
coverage
Pag** 4-8B
Polk County
ENTERPRISE
Thursday,
May 14, 1992
Volume 110 Number 40
The Dominant News and Advertising Source in Polk County
UPSP 437-340 Price: 25 cents
Identity of skeletal remains confirmed
ENTIXFRHE PIIOTO BY (TEPHEN IfENOBT
CAMEL RIDE - Sarah Carter, 4, of Clear Lake, one of many
out-of-town visitors to the Pine Cone Festival, tries her hand
at riding a camel at Pedigo Park Saturday. See additional fes-
tival coverage on pages 4-6B.
Council seat filled
By EMILY BANKS
Enterprise staff
SHEPHERD - The skeletal
remains found in an incinerated
automobile two weekends ago were
identified late Tuesday afternoon as
those of 19-year-old Natasha Ann
Atchley. *
The burned-out shell of
Atchley’s 1989 Chevrolet Camaro
was discovered on the morning of
May 3 on a dirt trail in a wooded
area in Five Acres and Independ-
ence Subdivision in San Jacinto
County.
Some bones and a portion of the
skull were discovered on the morn-
ing of May 4 when Atchley’s
mother, Karen Woodard of Polk
County, examined her daughter's
vehicle at a wrecker yard in
Shepherd where it had been towed.
The remains were sent to the
Harris County Medical Examiner’s
Office where Dr. Cecil Wingo
worked on the case trying to deter-
mine the identity of the victim.
Although the remains were not
discovered during an initial inves-
tigation of the vehicle on May 3 by
San Jacinto County Sheriff's
Deputy Kevin Freed, nor during a
subsequent investigation by Polk
County Sheriff's Detective Joe
Rhodes, bone fragments and teeth
were still being found in the burned
vehicle Friday, San Jacinto County
Chief Deputy Tom Branch said.
a couple of boyfriends real strong."
Polk County Crime Stoppers Inc.
is offering $1,000 for information
leading to the arrest or indictment
of the person or persons respon-
sible.
Regarding the large amount of
community response received fol-
lowing her daughter’s murder,
Karen Woodard said, "Thank you
for your caring.
"All I want the focus on, is for
the truth to come out," she said.
"All I hear are rumors and 99 per-
cent of them are false."
Regarding the status of the in-
vestigation, Woodard said, "They
have kept me in the dark complete-
ly. I don't know how it’s going be-
cause I don’t know what they're
doing.
"Maybe they’re not telling me
anything because they're observing
my grieving period," she said, ad-
ding, "They’re only human."
When asked why she thought
someone would do this to her
daughter, she said, "My feeling is
the death was accidental. The drugs
and confusion led to the fire which
was caused by panic.
, "I think whoever did it is
someone who cared about Natasha
very much," she added.
, "I hope and pray that the
children will take note. Drinking
and drugs and kids don't mix,
Woodard said. "I hope our com-
munity learns from iL We've al-
lowed our children to go down dan-
gerous avenues."
Private graveside services were
held Wednesday with Atchley’s
mother, stepfather, aunt and the
staffs of Cochran Funeral Home
and Pace Funeral Home attending.
A public graveside service is pend-
ing.
"I’ve seen bodies burned before,
GOODRICH - Goodrich City
Councilmember Charlie Kennedy
resigned from his council position
and assumed the office of mayor
after taking the oath of office at
Tuesday’s regular meeting of the
council.
Council appointed Frances Mof-
fett to fill the vacant council posi-
tion left by Kennedy’s resignation
and appointed Curtis Nichols to be
mayor pro-tern.
Oaths of office were also ad-
ministered to Shirley Murphy as
Position 4 councilmember and Nila
Gokey as Position 5 councilmem-
ber.
Goodrich Fire Marshal Bill Teel
Franchise
vote delayed
"( '' if’/,” - 4
ONALASKA - The Onalaska
City Council reviewed a proposed
, franchise Agreement With represent-
atives of Kirigwgod Cable vision
d/b/a Lakewood Cable Company at
a special called workshop Tuesday.
Lakewood contacted the city in
June of 1991 regarding renewing
its franchise agreement with the
city. The city and its attorney, Jim
Wright, drafted a proposed or-
dinance and held a public hearing
for the cable company at its April
21 meeting.
Representatives of the cable
company attended the meeting and
said that although they had
reviewed the proposed contract,
there were approximately 20 points
they wanted to discuss further.
After reviewing the the various
points during Tuesday’s workshop,
council decided to come up with
another rough draft of the franchise
agreement.
The current franchise agreement
does not expire Until June of 1993.
discussed a new project in which
his office is currently involved.
Through contributions from local
businesses and citizens, 10 smoke
alarms will be purchased by the fire
marshal's office and the city coun-
cil and installed in the homes of
senior citizens on a need basis.
Tuose senior citizens in
Goodrich who do not currently
have a smoke alarm but would be
interested in having one may call
the city office at 365-2228.
The alarms will be installed by
Teel and Assistant Fire Marshal
Larry Lawrence.
Council approved payment of the
election judge’s fee, as well as
membership in the Polk County
Chamber of Commerce. The pur-
chase of street signs was also ap-
proved............— ———
A water leak at the fire hydrant
was discussed during the main-
tenance report and a valve has been
purchaL 'A for the repair. In addi-
tion, a pump for the sewer tanks
was purchased.
Other business included approval
of the minutes, financial report and
payment of bills.
but never one burned like this one,"
Branch said. "Medical examiners
speculate that it would take a
1,500-degree fire burning for at
least three hours to bum down to
bones like this one."
Although the exact cause of
death is still unknown, members of
the Harris County Medical Ex-
aminer’s Office are attempting to
reconstruct the skull to determine if
there is a gun shot or blow to the
skull, Branch said.
Representatives of the state fire
marshal’s office have taken
evidence from the car, as well as
the ground where the car was
burned, to a lab in Arlington for ad-
ditional testing.
Atchley was last seen about 3
a.m. Sunday, May 3, as she was
leaving a party in Five Acres and
Independence Subdivision, accord-
ing to authorities. Witnesses told
investigators she left alone.
Fifteen to 20 people were in at-
tendance at the party, which Branch
called "a heavy-duty drug party;
"It’s been difficult getting those
attending the party to come forward
— most are from well-to-do
families in Polk County," he said.
1»#
INVESTIGATION CONTINUES - San
Jacinto County Chief Deputy Tom Branch
sifts through debris looking for evidence in
the death of former Livingston resident
By commissioners1 court
Natasha Atchley. Atchley’s remains were
found last week in the back of her 1989
Chevrolet Camaro which was almost com-
pletely incinerated.
Flood repairs approved
By EMILY BANKS
Enterprise staff
LIVINGSTON - Monday’s
regular meeting of the Polk County
Commissioners’ Court was
dominated primarily by news from
Emergency Management Coor-
lagcr
dinator John McDowell as the
county’s Department of Emergency
Management is currently involved
in several projects.
McDowell reported that the
county has been approved to be
awarded $126,(XX) from the Federal
Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) for a disaster survey
report regarding the erosion on
Devil’s Lane in Holiday Lake Es-
tates.
McDowell showed a video to the
court which showed the fault line
and the amount of damage to the
road caused by erosion resulting
from flooding over recent years.
With the funds from FEMA, the
proposal is to put jeuics along the
river every 50 feet for approximate-
ly 2,100 feet. According to
McDowell, the jetties would divert
the backflow of water and cause silt
to be deposited there, over time
eventually forming a beach.
McDowell said Devil’s Lake is
going into the Trinity River and is
starting to endanger homes. "Water
will start backing up through it and
flow back up it," he said. "If it
erodes enough where the river
changes course, the 23 homes on
that peninsula would be gone
forever." >
"What happens if the river
changes course? That would be a
hell of a mess," a spectator in the
audience asked.
"I think you pretty well summed
it up - and I thank you for shed-
ding that light on it," County Judge
John Thompson said.
Thompson exj lained that as a
result of work done through the
emergency management division,
the funds to replace the road have
been awarded and that the court is
declaring the project an emergency
"because each time we go down
there, the situation is worse.
"It’s critical, and we’re limited
on what we can do with federal
funds, but this seems to be the only
way," Thompson said. ."It’s been
looked at no less than Five times by
According to Branch, those wit-
nesses he has interviewed said,
"Everybody was on LSD."
As far as leads are concerned.
Branch said, "We are checking out
Pine Cone Festival
closes with awards
LIVINGSTON - While there is
no way to determine exactly how
many people attended last
weekend’s Polk County Pine Cone
Festival, Chairman Diane Stephens
said the Polk County Peace Of-
ficers Association parked over
2,000 vehicles at Pedigo Park
Saturday. Watching those vehicles
arrive, she noted that most of the
cars contained at least three people.
Other than a traffic jam at the
park entrance just after Saturday
morning’s parade, relocation of the
Club destroyed by fire
LIVINGSTON - Fire destroyed
the Whirlwinds Club on FM 3277
in Blanchard early Wednesday.
The fire was discovered at ap-
proximately^ a.m. by Sheriff’s
Deputy Jeff’ McCoy, who was on
patrol in the area, according to
Scenic Loop Volunteer Fire
Department Chief Terry Hicks. He
said flames had completely en-
gulfed the building by the time the
fire was discovered.
The first SLVFD truck was on
the scene at 4:03 a.m. Four trucks
and 14 firefighters from the
SLVFD were assisted by 12
firefighters and two trucks from the
Livingston VFD. LVFD Chief
Corky Coqjiran said the Livingston
department was called primarily to
assist in supplying water to fight
the fire.
The fire was out, except for a
few hot spots, at 4:22 a.m., but
firefighters remained on the scene
until 7:30 a.m., Hicks said.
The state fire marshal’s office
has been contacted to help deter-
mine the cause of the blaze.
The state fire marshal’s office,
along with Livingston Fire Mar-
shall Wayne Keller, is also attempt-
ing to determine the cause of a fire
which damaged a residence owned
by W.T. Brown on Hwy. 146
South. The LVFD was notified of
See JAWS pg. 2A-'
festival from the downtown area to
the park appeared to work well, al-
though Stephens admitted having to
start from scratch was not easy.
Stephens received the Tom
Simons Award for her efforts. The
award is presented each year to an
individual who devotes the time
and effort necessary to make the
festival a success. "This is one
tradition we do not want to do
away with,” former chairman
David Hancock said in presenting
the award to Stephens.
A tearful and exhausted Stephens
thanked the Pine Cone Festival
Committee officers and members
who helped put the festival
together. She also thanked the
monitors who helped organize,
what she admitted was, a "Chinese
fire drill" as the festival got under-
way. Officers of the Pine Cone Fes-
tival Committee are Dr. Jerry
Major, president; Shirley Clamon,
secretary and Tony > Taylor,
treasurer. Other officials are Renell
Manning, Tori Maricelli, Scott
Simpson, David Hancock, Marge
Cathey and Doc Herndon.
Stephens' receipt of the Tom
Simons Award made the presenta-
tion a family affair. Both of her
parents, Walt and Loraine Autry,
have received the awaM in the past.
Stephen* also .uuixed the Peace
See CONTEST pg. 7A
FEMA.
"We feel like we need to move
fast," he said, as the court approved
the emergency expenditure of the
FEMA appropriations.
In other emergency management
business, McDowell reported that
he has recently rrtet with represeftt-
atives of FEMA. Six disaster sur-
vey reports regarding flooding ear-
lier this year had been suspended
due to incomplete paper work by
FEMA. The agency has since re-
evaluated and approved ap-
proximately $47,000 for Precinct 3.
In addition. Precinct 2 has been
approved for some funding for
repair work to a bridge which was
damaged by debris around the pil-
ings.
McDowell reported that POLY
92, the state’s exercise in emergen-
cy management, is scheduled to
begin May 18. He said this year’s
projects are a national defense
scenario and a hurricane exercise
and that the county will be par-
ticipating more actively than in the
Polk County will be a host coun-
ty during POLY 92 and will be
receiving approximately 20,000
make-believe evacuees from the
coast
Regarding the Southland Park
“projed, McDowell saUWe coufily
appealed the project because
FEMA had only given enough
funding to rebuild half of the park-
ing lot. He said that FEMA thinks
that it is "a feasible project and a
good appeal" and has agreed to
come back and re-evaluate.
McDowell discussed an FM
radar program he is interested in
purchasing for the department
which is expandable and works off
of an FM frequency and satellite.
He said it is a tool that would come
in handy during floods and foul
weather.
The total cost of the outfit is
$1,995 which includes the base sys-
tem and one remote work station.
See EMERGENCY pg. 2A
Dnvnsi raoro bv ntmr> irnobt
TOM SIMONS AWARD -- Pine Cone Festival Chairman
Diane Stephens receives the Tom Simons Award from former
chairman David Hancock for the time and effort she spent on
this year’s event.
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 14, 1992, newspaper, May 14, 1992; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth781471/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.