Mineola Monitor (Mineola, Tex.), Vol. 141, No. 4, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 27, 2016 Page: 1 of 16
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NETPA offers
scholarship
Page 2A
Diane Holmes
to retire this week
Page 3A
Alba-Golden
Honor Rolls
Page 4A
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Vol. 141 • No. 4* Two Sections * 50 cents
“We’re where you are!”
Walters makes first court
appearance on murder charge
By DORIS NEWMAN
The Monitor Staff
A pretrial hearing in the Jason
Russell Walters murder case was
held on Tuesday in the 402nd Ju-
dicial District Court with Judge
Tim Boswell presiding.
The trial is set to take place on
Monday, March 14. It was origi-
nally set for last August, and then
postponed to this year.
The hearing marked the first
court appearance by Walters,
charged in the June 14, 2014
shooting death of 19-year-old
Christopher Griffin of Mineola.
Griffin died on his way to the
hospital from a gunshot wound
for which Mineola Police charged
Walters with murder. The shoot-
ing occurred after Walters got in
an argument inside E-Z Mart late
that night with another man (not
Griffin) and the two agreed to
take their disagreement out back
to the alley to settle it.
Walters allegedly went to his
vehicle and got his gun before go-
ing to the back of the store. Grif-
fin, who was inside the store at
the time, was reportedly the last
person to go outside to the scene
and then the shooting occurred.
Police reported finding Walters at
See WALTERS, Page 24
Jason Walters begins to stand up and simultaneously reach out to return James Griffin's
handshake (at right in sweatshirt) during a recess in his pretrial hearing last Tuesday
morning. (Monitor photos by Doris Newman)
Mayor delivers
weighty report
to city council
By DORIS NEWMAN
The Monitor Staff
In Thursday's workshop
the Mineola City Council
plunged right into business
and news beginning with a
significant mayor's report.
Mayor Rodney Watkins re-
ported on activities in which
he and Assistant City Ad-
ministrator Mercy Rushing,
not present due to a previ-
ous commitment, have been
working. Earlier this month
the council authorized him
to work in conjunction with
Rushing as an interim city
administrator.
He announced an admin-
istration staff meeting set on
Feb. 2 in which Rushing will
meet with all the staff. He
said they are trying to meet
with the different depart-
ments.
"Some of you may not
know about this but there
have been four or five ad-
min days the city has had
which are basically days
David had appointed to get
things caught up. However,
we have an extra person,"
Watkins noted with the hir-
ing of Cindy Karch. He not-
ed on those administration
days the telephone calls are
"rolled over" to the police
department. "It's my and
Mercy's recommendation
that we do away with the
admin days."
He said they have also
asked for all of the admin-
istrative staff to give them
their job descriptions, "Not
what the city has had them
doing, but what they're actu-
ally doing. Because we have
figured out a lot of people
are doing a lot of things they
weren't really hired to do
when they started that they
have evolved into because
somebody would just say
'go do this/"
He said they are trying to
get an organizational chart
so it is known what every-
one is doing. He said they
have gotten the administra-
tors' job descriptions from
them and they have the ones
the city already had, and
"we're trying to mesh all this
together."
He said they have also im-
posed a standard work time
since some of the different
utility departments were
working different hours. He
explained it was difficult
to keep up with who was
working when. Now the ar-
See COUNCIL, Page 10A
Among the plans for a railroad heritage park on Front Street is the reconstruction of this M&KT
interlocking tower. Intentions are to obtain grant money to pay for the reconstruction.
Council hears idea for
railroad park with train
By DORIS NEWMAN
The Monitor Staff
In the regular January workshop Thursday evening
Mineola City Council members heard about a proposed
park that would honor the city's railroad heritage to be
located west of the depot.
The park would span from just west of the pavilion,
although not disturbing the basketball court or Bever-
ly's garden, to Stone Street.
The plan was compiled in a PowerPoint display cre-
ated by Joyce Williams and presented by Community
Development Director Lynda Rauscher on behalf of the
Landmark Commission. Rauscher explained the com-
mission was asking the council to approve the future
development of the park because Union Pacific Railroad
is rebuilding a culvert where some historic artifacts are
See PARK, Page 8A
Out & About
• The Mineola Area Chamber of Commerce will hold
their first membership meeting of the year on Wednes-
day at the Addie McFarland Center from 11:30 to 1
p.m. Doors open at 11 a.m. for the Quarterly Member-
ship Luncheon to network with fellow members and
meet new businesses to the chamber.
• This month's Mineola League of the Arts Photogra-
phy Guild Q&A will be held Thursday at 6 p.m. with
the meeting to follow 6:30 p.m.
• The Republican Women of Wood County will host
a State Candidate Debate Thursday at the Quitman
High School Auditorium from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
See ABOUT, Page 74
Suspected K-9 killer arrested;
memorial recalls Ogar’s service
By TERRY CANNON
Lindale News & Times
On the run for nearly four
days, Michael Paul Koch,
suspected of shooting
Smith County Pet. 5 Con-
stable Deputy K-9 Ogar last
week, was apprehended
in Garland early Saturday,
Smith County Sheriff's Of-
fice officials said.
Smith County Sheriff
Larry Smith issued the fol-
lowing statement following
Koch's arrest, which took
Michael Koch, 32 at the time, is
being taken into custody in Octo-
ber 2012 after a high-speed traffic
chase. (Monitor File Photo)
place just after 7 a.m.
"Michael Paul Koch was
taken into custody this
morning in Garland, Texas.
Koch was taken into cus-
tody by members of the
Smith County Sheriff's Of-
fice Criminal Investigation
Division, Texas Depart-
ment of Public Safety Crim-
inal Investigation Division
Task Force and Officers of
the Garland, Texas Police
Department.
"I would like to com-
See OGAR, Page 9A
Students from Lindale erected a memorial cross at the
intersection of Interstate 20 and FM 849, the site of the
slaying of Ogar. (Photo courtesy Lindale News & Times)
Lambert foundation helping raise funds to remember Ogar
Miranda Lambert's love for dogs has
been well documented and the recent
tragic events surrounding the death of
Smith County Pet. 5 Constable Dep-
uty K-9 Ogar has allowed her and her
MuttNation Foundation a chance to
give back to her hometown community.
The foundation has set up a fund for
Ogar, who was killed during a routine
traffic stop on Interstate 20 and FM 849
on Jan. 19, and is working to raise funds
to acquire another K-9 officer for the
constable's office.
Officials with MuttNation said that all
funds received through Feb. 22, 2016,
will be earmarked for this cause.
Donations can be made at any South-
side Bank location by contributing to
MuttNation in Ogar's name. You can
mail a check to MuttNation Founda-
tion, P.O. Box 1270, Lindale 75771 with
Ogar's name in the memo line and by
visiting www.muttnationfoundation.
com and clicking the "donate now" tab.
The suspect in the shooting, Michael
Paul Koch, was arrested this past Satur-
day in Garland.
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Newman, Doris. Mineola Monitor (Mineola, Tex.), Vol. 141, No. 4, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 27, 2016, newspaper, January 27, 2016; Mineola, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth900031/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Mineola Memorial Library.