Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 39, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 18, 1980 Page: 1 of 22
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Box 45436
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Polk County
GOOD
MORNING!
ENTERPRISE
The dominant news and advertising source in Polk County, since 1882
SUNDAY,
May 18, 1980
VOLUME 98 NUMBER 40
3 SECTIONS 22 PAGES
County escapes
worst of weather
LIVINGSTON- Following four days of often violent thunderstorms, many Polk
County front yards were turned into small lakes and some county roads were a lit-
tle worse for the wear, but this area faired better than some others - particularly
the area around I,ake Charles, U. which reported over 20 inches of rain Frid.fy.
The U.S. Weather Bureau at Livingston reported a total of 3.31 inches of rain in
the four-day period beginning Tuesday and ending Friday. Little damage was
reported from the thunderstorms, with the exception of a brief power outage in
portions of Livingston Tuesday. *
The Trinity River Authority reported Saturday I^ake Livingston Dam is current-
ly releasing 42,800 cubic feet per second (cfs) of water which has caused some
minor flooding downstream. No homes arc involved in the flooding, according to a
TRA spokesman. Monday, before the rains began, the dam was releasing 32,010
cfs.
Forecasters are calling for fair skies on Sunday.
For 'gifted and talented'
New program talked
LIVINGSTON- Discussion of a pro-
posed program for “gifted and
talented” students - a discussion which
resulted in the budgeting of $1,000 for
the program - consumed the majority
of the time at Thursday’s regular
meeting of the Livingston Independent
School District Board of Trustees.
There are between 1.5 and 2 million
intellectually gifted children in the
country, according to Ann Pace,
elementary school instructor who serv-
ed as spokesman for the committee in
charge of the program. That figure
amounts to about 3 percent of the
children in each classroom, she added.
Statistics show 10 to 20 percent of
those gifted children drop out of high
school because school offers no
challenge for them, the spokesman
Reaction
Is Polk County still having to foot
the bill for the murder trial of
Johnny Paul Penry even though the
case is now in the appeal stages?
Yes. Polk County will have to ab-
sorb all costs for the trial, including
attorney fees, juror costs and the
cost of preparing the transcripts, ac-
cording to District Clerk Nell Lowe.
The county paid over $21,000 to
cover the expense of the first trial, in
which Penry was found guilty of
capital murder and sentenced to
death. In such cases, the appeal is
automatic.
(The Enterpri«e will answer questions of
general interest. Any person may submit
questions. Each query must Include the
name address, and phone number ol the
writer, but neither names nor addresses will
be published. Address questions to “Reac-
JJ>jC’ROUBo^27SJLivlii^^
said. To combat the problem the com-
mittee, which includes instructors from
various grade levels, proposed an Ad-
vanced Merit Program fAMP), to be
implemented over a five-year period
beginning in the 1980-81 school year.
Teachers in a regular classroom are
forced by the variety of learning
abilities to direct their instruction to the
children on the lower and middle learn-
ing levels, neglecting those students
who need a greater challenge, accor-
ding to the committee report. Pace ex-
plained the purpose of the AMP plan is
not to allow gifted students to miss the
material being taught in the regular
classes but “to take the facts and use
them.” A student who qualifies for the
Suspect
pleads out
LIVINGSTON - William E. Polland
of Livingston was placed on probation
for six years after pleading guilty to
burglary charges Thursday in district
court.
Polland entered the guilty plea to
charges stemming from the Dec. 15,
1979 burglary of three Polk County
residences.
In addition to the probation, Polland
was fined $400 and ordered to pay $350
in restitution.
I^ast February, Randy L. Landrum of
West Columbia also entered a guilty
plea to burglary charges filed in con-
nection with the same burglaries. I-an-
drum also was given six years proba-
tion, was fined $400 and was ordered to
pay $175 in restitution.
program may not necessarily qualify in
all subject areas, she added.
In the 1979-80 school year, Algebra I
and physical science were offered to
students on the junior high school level
for the first time, a move which met
with approval from both students and
parents and which began the interest in
a gifted and talented program, Pace
said.
Selection of a student for the program
is based on teacher recommendation,
achievement test scores and IQ test
results. No new teachers w ould need to
be hired during the first two years of
the plan, according to the committee
findings.
Funds allocated by the local district
will be used to buy materials, train
teachers, identify children who qualify
for the program and to continue the
work of the committee. Local support
may also prove beneficial when apply-
ing for state funds, which are awarded
on a competition basis.
In other business during Thursday’s
meeting, action on hiring Simmons
Associates to prepare plans to repair
the elementary school parking lot, as
recommended by the superintendent,
was delayed until other firms could be
contacted. Superintendent Travis Gib-
son said he recommended the firm
because -it had previously done some
preliminary work, including slope
shots, on the parking lot. He added
drainage was the major problem in the
area..
Trustee Richard Gilbert asked
Business Manager Sam Gordon to con-
tact East Texas Testing laboratory to
see if they could perform the work. “We
don’t need a professional engineering
firm for a ditch,” he said.
In related business, the board voted
to pay Simmons Associates $375 for soil
testing and preliminary services on the
See ENGINEERS Pg. 2A
USPS 437-340
PRICE: 25 C!N?S
For Penry re-trial
Request denied
GROVETON - A request for a new
trial in the Johnny Paul Penry capital
murder case was rejected Thursday by
District Judge Joe Ned Dean.
Attorneys for the 23-year-old Liv-
ingston man had raised 19 objections to
the proceedings of the first trial held in
Gfoveton but in a hearing held in
Grovcton, Dean overruled them all.
The matter will now go to the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin for
review. A decision from the appeals
court could take over two years.
In rejecting the motion for a new
trial, Dean reappointed Huntsville at-
torney John Wright to represent Penry
in the appeal. Joe Newman, Penry’s co-
defense counsel in the trial was releas-
ed from the case.
Penry was convicted by a Trinity
County jury April 1 of the rape-murder
of Pamela Moseley Carpenter, 22, in
Livingston. The same jury, after hear-
‘ the |
ing argn°'' "ntc in
punishment
phase of the trial, handed down a death
sentence verdict in the case.
Since his conviction, Penry has been
held in the Texas Department of Cor-
rection’s “death row” section at the
Ellis Farm Unit in Walker County.
Carpenter, a Livingston housewife,
died shortly after noon Oct. 25,1979 in
Livingston Memorial Hospital after be-
ing stabbed in the chest with a pair of
scissors.
Woman granted legal
right to use marijuana
LIVINGSTON - A Polk County
woman last week became the second
East Texas resident to be granted legal
permission to use marijuana in the
treatment of cancer, according to
papers filed in district court ill Liv-
ingston.
In an order signed by 258th District
Judge Joe Ned Dean, Ida Walker of Liv-
ingston was given official permission to
use the controlled substance as a
medicine to counter the harmful side
affects caused by cancer
ch-n .otherapv.
Dean ordered Sheriff Joe Nettles to
supply Dr. Carlos Llanes of Livingston
with quantities of marijuana seized in
Polk County.
According to Travis Kitchens Jr.,
assistant district attorney for the 258th
Judicial District, the authority to legal-
ly use marijuana was granted to cancer
patients by a 1979 amendment to the
Controlled Substances Act.
“It’s a new law which is still in the ex-
perimental stages. It hasn’t been used
ton much yet,” Kitchens said.
Corrigan extends
contract deadline
V, ; ..
CORRIGAN - In a move to eloae out
the contract on recent sewer line exten-
tions, the Corrigan City Council voted
Thursday night to retroactively extend
the contractor’s completion deadline by
114 days.
Acting on recommendations from
Jimmy Griffeth of the engineering firm
of Griffeth Associates, the council ap-
proved the retroactive extortion. The
action means the project, v lich was
completed in March, overran the
deadline by 48 days instead of the 162
which had been listed earlier.
Under, the terms of the contract, for
each day the project was not completed
after the deadline, the city could collect
“liquidated damages" of $100.
After granting the extention, the
council voted to assess the contractor,
Benny Cude of Livingston, $4,800 in
damages, to be deducted from the final
contract payment of $15,703.32.
Following the meeting, City Manager
Pee Wee Drake explained the 114 day
extention was granted because the pro-
ject engineers, Griffeth Associates,
“failed on a routine basis to submit
change orders to the council."
Drake said the change orders were to
have been submitted when an unfor-
secn construction delay occurred. “For
example, there was a delay of 14 days
due to rock problems encountered. The
Texas Highway Department also
delayed work by 28 days concerning
changes that were made to a lift sta-
tion.”
• The sewer project originally had been
scheduled for completion July 5, 1979.
Ixist August, the council granted the
contractor a 90 day extention due to
poor weather conditions that developed
during the contract period.
Last February, after expressing
dissatisfaction with repeated delays in
the completion, the council voted to
begin contract termination proceedings
against Cude but later voted to allow
him to finish the project after he
presented a work plan acceptable to the
council.
In related action, the council approv-
ed a proposal submitted by Drake to
study the possibilty of using city crews
to extend the sewer mains further west
along U.S. 287 and then south along
Eden St.
The council also voted to set July 1 as
the deadline for residential hookups to
the city sewer lines.
After that date, all persons hooking
onto the city lines will be charged a $30
“tap fee”. Currently there is no fee
assessed for hooking onto the lines.
In addition, after July 1 all persons
who are close enough to hook onto the
lines will be charged a $4 per month
sewer fee whether they are using the
sewer svstem or not.
Drake told the council that since the
sewer line extentions were completed
in March, hook-ups have proceeded at a
“slow” rate.
See TV Pg. 2A
It has been proven that marijuana
can relieve the nausea and other symp-
toms in cancer patients caused by
chemotherapy treatments. It also helps
to restore their apetite. Chemotherapy
patients tend to lose weight because
they are unable to eat,” he said.
Chemotherapy, a procedure used by
doctors to treat cancer patients,
basically involves the use of certain
drugs. According to Kitchens, these
drugs cause the side affects.
Kitchens explained that marijuana
will be turned over to Walker’s local
physician, Dr. Llanes, “in what ever
quantities he feels it is needed for his
patient.”
He added that only marijuana which
is not needed as evidence in crimthal
cases will be used in this program.
In addition to using malijOana con-
fiscated in Polk County, Kitchens raid
the sheriff could apply to the Depart*
ment of Public Safety laboratory to ob-
tain marijuana which is no longer need-
ed as evidence.
“There is a federal program similar
to this, but the difference is that they
grow their own marijuana instead of us-
ing the stuff seized in drug arrests," he
said.
The case, a first for Polk County, was
listed on the court docket as “In the
matter of Tetrahydrocannabinols seiz-
ed by the Sheriff of Polk County,
Texas." Tetrahydrocannabinols (THC)
is the psycho-active ingredient of mari-
juana.
The only other such case in East
Texas occurred last year involving a
Trinity County man. In that matter,
12th District Judge Erwin Ernst of
Huntsville ordered the Walker County
sheriff to furnish the cancer patients
with the substance.
According to paper filed in the case,
Walker has been undergoing
chemotherapy treatments since May,
1979 at the University of Texas Systems
Cancer Center at M.D. Anderson
Hospital in Houston.
In a letter written to Dr. Danes by
Dr. Maria A. Scouros and Dr. Samuel
G. Murphy of M.D. Anderson, it is sug-
gested that marijuana be used to help
Walker overcome the effects of her
cancer treatment.
“Marijuana may alleviate the severe
nausea and vomiting associated with
the chemotherapy administration. If
the marijuana can be legally furnished,
it is medically indicated in this pa-
tient’s ease,” the letter stated.
.4.1,
JA
Re-count cancelled
LIVINGSTON - A recount of votes in
the Second Ninth District judge’s race
in Polk and Montgomery counties was
called off last week by Olen Underwood
after second counts in the other two
counties failed to significantly cut his
opponent’s lead.
After recounts in both Trinity and San
Jacinto counties, John Martin main-
tained his slim victory over Underwood
although the margin was cut from 128
votes to 125. Both men are Conroe at-
torneys.
Underwood had sought the recount
after the results of the May 3
Democratic primary election gave
Martin the win by less that one half of
one percent of the total vote.
In the recount. Martin, who carried
both Trinity and San Jacinto counties,
lost a little ground in each, but not
enough to influence the outcome of the
election.
In Trinity County, where Martin was
born, a second count of the ballots gave
Underwood three extra votes and Mar-
tin one. In the final total there were
2,559 votes for Martin and 666 for
Underwood.
The recount in San Jacinto County
showed an error of one vote in Under-
wood’s favor while Martin’s total was
shown to be correct. The final total was
1,441 for Martin and 1,227 for Under-
wood.
When contacted Friday, Martin
credited his narrow victory to the high
voter turn-out in Trinity County.
"They voted about 60 percent of the
registered voters in Trinity County and
that had to be the key,” he said. “Most
counties voted around 20 or 30 percent
most of the time.
Underwood was unavailable for com-
ment.
In elections in both Polk and Mon-
tgomery counties, which Underwood
won, a computerized system of coun-
ting votes is used and errors are less
likely to occur.
Totals in Polk County were 2,455 for
Underwood and 1,677 for Martin. Mon-
tgomery County returns gave 7,232
votes to Underwood and 6,02$ votes to
Martin.
The final district wide total was 11,706
votes for Martin and 11,580 for Under-
wood.
.
I
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 39, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 18, 1980, newspaper, May 18, 1980; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth781744/m1/1/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.