The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 96, No. 42, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 16, 1991 Page: 1 of 20
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Homecoming
Activities Spotlighted
See Photos Inside This Issue
Of The Clifton Record
‘Bus
Stop’
Read Review On
Page 2A
©1991, Th* CMIon Record
Al Right* Reserved
BEIT AVAILABLE COPY
The Clifton Record
—Bosque County's Leading Newspaper—
50* - TWO SECTIONS * Plus Supplements CUfTcJ'TSuS^TKM VOL. 96, NO. 42 w WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1991
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- EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW -
Joe Bryan Tells What
Life Is Like In Prison
—First In A Series Of Three Interviews—
© 1991, The Clifton Record
•y W. LEON SMITH
CLIFTON RECORD EDITOR
CLIFTON — A total of 23 jurors,
representing two trials, have over
the years found Joe D. Bryan, form-
er Clifton High School principal,
guilty of murdering his wife, Mick-
ey, in October 1985. This murder oc-
curred just a few months after
another in Clifton, when a local
teenager, Judy Whitley, was assault-
ed and killed in June.
To this day, the Whitley murder is
unsolved, and there are many in the
community who yet question
whether or not Bryan indeed did kill
his wife, as he had been convicted on
circumstantial evidence only. His
case is currently being appealed.
Bryan has served about five years
of a 99-year sentence at the Texas
Department of Corrections in Hunts-
villa, and, upon our request, consent-
ed to an exclusive interview, which
was conducted on Sept. 17. It will be
published in three parts, the first of
which appears in this issue and deals
primarily with prison life.
Others will deal with the Whitley
murder, rumors, and the Mickey
Bryan murder and trial.
The accompanying “Smithereens"
column describes the interview ses-
sion and its purpose to some degree,
and here is the first installment in
the series:
RECORD: Is this the only prison fa-
cility where you’ve resided since
your conviction?
BRYAN: Yes, it is.
RECORD: Do you like it here, com-
pared to what you hear about the
other facilities?
BRYAN: Based on what I hear, and
from information I’ve received in the
office where I work, I would prefer
to Jie at this unit, than £ny of the
others. -
■m
JOE BRYAN (pictured), who has spent about five years in prison at the Texas
Department of Corrections, is interviewed by The Clifton Record editor W. Leon
Smith.
RECORD: How much freedom,
within this facility, do you have?
BRYAN: None.
RECORD: Absolutely none?
BRYAN: None. You’re supervised
every minute, somewhere.
RECORD: Do you live a structured
daily routine, or does your schedule
vary a lot from day to day?
BRYAN: For the most part, it’s
very regular. I work in the building
department in the compliance office.
Our offices do all the housing on the
Trip To Huntsville Unforgettable
It’s been about a month since this
writer visited the WALLS prison
unit in Huntsville, where Clifton’s
former high school principal, Joe
Dale Bryan, resides.
We had written to “Unsolved Mys-
teries,” the television show, on be-
half of Judy Whitley’s father, Don,
asking that they consider looking
into the two murders that shook
Clifton in 1985.
Joe Bryan has been serving time
after being convicted of wife Mick-
ey’s murder; but the Judy Whitley
murder remains unsolved. What
with a multitude of unanswered
questions involving both cases, the
personnel with the show expressed
some interest in pursuing the mat-
ter sometime in the future.
We thought we would start an in-
vestigation of our own, to help speed
the process along and, perhaps, offer
added inticement to the possibility of
a more extensive report. ,
We decided to write to Joe Bryan
to see if he would acquiesce to a
three-part interview, knowing that
usually inmates whose cases are
floating in the appeals process deny
such interviews.
We were surprised when Joe wrote
us back in the affirmative. In his let-
ter, he said that members of his fa-
mily and his attorneys have been
against him talking with anyone
about the case, but that “I never
have had anything to hide and still
don’t. If this could help the Whitley
family and me, then surely God has
answered some prayers.”
So...we went through the process of
setting up the interview sessions.
Although I had envisioned a 12-hour
session, perhaps divided, prison
authorities told me that I would be
limited to two two-hour sessions with
Mr. Bryan. They informed me I
From The
Editor's Desk
ereens
By W LEON SMITH
could utilise a tape recorder for the
interviews, but that I could not bring
a camera into the unit.
We had originally set up the inter-
views for Sept. 17 and 18, but a
planned execution at the liiiit on the
18th caused that date to be canceled,
as our interview area would be inter-
rupted with traffic through the unit.
So we re-scheduled for Sept. 17 and
19. In the meantime, personnel at
the WALLS Unit, upon my request,
had agreed to photograph Joe if I
would bring some Polaroid film for
their camera, which I, of course, did.
I signed in at the very-high secu-
rity unit at just about 12 noon on the
17th, had my briefcase searched,
gained access into the main facility
teeming with guards through one of
several mechanically-controlled bar
gates, showed proof of identity, and
was ushered through a maxe of hall-
way to a large rectangular-shaped
room with a cage-like segment situ-
ated in most of the middle of it. A
wooden waist-high ledge surrounded
the “cage” and chairs were evenly
distributed around it. The walls of
the enclosure were made up of brick
on the bottom, followed upward by
metal mesh, with about a two-foot-
high glass window inserted in it
See SMITHEREENS, Page 11A
unit for the inmates and jobs, and
then the compliance office makes
sure that the state and federal guide-
lines for prisons are within the stan
dards, as set. At the current time I
am going to work at four in the
morning and getting off at anywhere
from 12 o’clock to three o’clock in the
afternoon.
RECORD: What kind of work do
you do?
BRYAN: Clerk-typist and book
keeper, answer the telephone, the
gopher, and step and fetch it. [laughs]
RECORD: I realize that many
rights were taken away as part of in-
carceration. Are you allowed
avenues for expression of religious
freedom?
BRYAN: Yes.
RECORD: Do you attend church?
BRYAN: Yes. I'll go ahead and tell
you what I do in that area, [pause]
Let me kind of give you a history of
this, too, so you’ll understand some
questions later on we'll fit into this.
RECORD: Okay.
BRYAN: When I first came in here
the first time, I was very angry and
very hurt, and I was mad at the
world and I was mad at God. [pause]
When I got to this unit after about
six weeks through the diagnostics
unit, I’d been here about two weeks
and our office was right across from
the chapel, right over behind where
you’re sitting.
RECORD: Uh-huh.
BRYAN: One morning the chaplain
called—and I didn't tell anybody
when I came in that I played the pi-
ano or that I'd ever gone to church.
I just listed Baptist as church
denomination...and that was it. I
thought to myself “lam never going
to church again...ever.”
RECORD: Okay.
BRYAN: When Chaplain (Carroll)
Pickett called over at the office and
I happened to answer the phone, he
asked if I had a few minutes to come
by to see him, and I said, “Yes, I do
after work.” I went over and he
asked me if I knew how to play the
piano. And I said; “Yes I do, but how
do you know? I haven't told anybody
anything.” And he said, “Come in
and let me hear you play.” So we
went into the chapel area and I asked
him what he wanted me to play, and
he first said, “Well, can you play
How Great Thou Art?" I said yes,
and just sat down and played it from
See BRYAN, Page 10A
County’s ISDs Weighing
Joint Cooperative Steps
Six Districts Are Represented At Meeting
By WILLIAM T. IORDAN
CUFTON RECORD ASSOCIATE EDITOR
MERIDIAN — Superintendents
and board presidents and members
from six of Bosque County's eight
independent school districts
gathered Oct. 7 to initially consider
how future cooperative efforts
might benefit each district.
The group agreed that each su-
perintendent of schools will deter-
mine from his district’s board of
trustees whether board members
want to pursue possibilities further.
If there is sufficient interest, the
group will meet again at a time,
date, and place to be selected.
In opening the Oct. 7 session at
j the county courthouse, Clarence
Fields, Jr., president of the Clifton
ISD Board of Trustees, told the
gathering that CISD student enroll-
ment was continuing to grow. He
pointed out that although a middle
School had been constructed and
tiigh school classrooms added, there
would be a future need for more
elementary school classrooms.
President Fields said additional
space is also necessary because of
state-mandated programs. The
CISD has long-range goals to im-
prove facilities, including an all-
weather track, he explained.
Before the CISD or other county
independent school districts carry
out further expansion projects in-
dividually, Fields said, it seems
desirable to ask, “Is there anything
we can do to cooperate coun-
tywide?"
Acknowledging that “each of us
has a lot of pride in our communi-
ty,” another question that Fields growing Those with whom Fields
proposed that the group consider, had discussed possible consolidation
was, “Is consolidation an option?” favored a merger involving high
Fields wondered if, like the CISD. schools, rather than lower grades,
other county school districts were See ISD’S, Page 5A
Arts & Crafts
w This
Center
:y Arts and
at the Clifton
charge
Clifton, the
84 years of
* ‘ ■«
'Bus Stop’ Opens To Sold Out
Dinner Theatre On Saturday
CLIFTON — Two months of re
hearsals by a county-wide cast will
be put before local audiences begin
ning this Saturday when the
BCCFA Theatre presents the Wil
liam Inge classic Bus Stop. The Oct.
19 dinner theatre, which is sold out,
will be followed by four regular per
formances of the three act come
dy/romance.
The eight-member cast of Bus
Stop has been in full dress and
Lions Club Pancake Supper
Will Be Held On Oct. 22nd
CLIFTON — Clifton Lions Club
will have its fall pancake supper on
Tuesday, Oct. 22, serving between
5 and 7 p.m.
Pancakes, bacon, sausage, and
drink will be served at the Clifton
Civic Center for $3.50, with chil-
dren under six years of age being
served free.
Tickets may be purchased from
any Clifton Lions Club member or
may be bought at the door. Profit
from the pancake supper will be
used for local and national Lion
programs.
The public is encouraged to par-
Band Wins
TSU Festival
Competes at UTA Saturday,
U.I.L. At Midway Tuesday
STEPHENVILLE - The Clifton
High School Band took top honors
at the first annual Tarleton March-
ing Festival held on Texan Field in
Stephenville Saturday.
In winning the festival, the
Clifton marching band had to beat
out one 1A band, two 3A bands, and
a 4A band.
Competing, along with Clifton,
were Bosqueville, Glen Rose, Hills-
boro, and Stephenville.
CHS Band’s flag corp had the dis-
tinction of having the best flag line.
In the contest, judges offered criti-
cisms of the competing bands. They
said the Clifton band was excellent
at fundamentals, “you exhibit a
great deal of class and discipline,"
and “This is a really fine band and
with another week of polish will be
a great band.”
The CHS Band will compete at
the UTA Arlington Festival this
Saturday (with marching time ex
pected to be between 11 and 11:30
See BAND, Page 5A
ticipate at the
affair.
‘eat-all-you-want”
makeup rehearsals for the past two
weeks. Advance word on the play is
good, and director Jim Vanderhoof
says he believes the play is “among
the best ever done by the BCCFA,”
now in its 10th year.
“Bus Stop combines all the ele-
ments of theater that we've found
our audiences eiyoy most from our
past efforts,” said Vanderhoof. “On
the surface it is considered one of
the theater's most timeless come-
dies. But it also includes some very
moving, heartrending moments of
truth, and it’s an old-fashioned
romance, too.”
The plot of the play centers
around eight people who stranded
See BUS STOP. Page 5A
KELLY ROBERTSON was named Clifton High School’s 1991
Homecoming Queen during halftime of the Clifton-Rio Vista foot-
ball game Friday night. Other homecoming photos appear in this
issue of The Record.
- Sts'* '"-'Mo By W Leon Smith
<i
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Smith, W. Leon. The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 96, No. 42, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 16, 1991, newspaper, October 16, 1991; Clifton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth788756/m1/1/: accessed June 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Nellie Pederson Civic Library.