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Seats were available in both stands during the opening night
performance, which is the only mid-week show at this year's rodeo. With most people getting a three-day weekend for the Fourth of July, turnout should increase leading up to Saturday night's finals.
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REDFORD, Texas (AP) July 3, 1997 - - The Marine who killed a teen-ager
near the Mexican border needs to have his side of the story "more
forcefully presented," said a civilian attorney retained by the soldier
Wednesday.
Cpl. Clemente Banuelos, who already has a military attorney, requested
private counsel to represent him as the Texas Rangers investigate the
May 20 shooting of Ezequiel Hernandez Jr., a Redford high school
student.
The U.S. Justice Department approved the request and contacted Houston
attorney Jack Zimmermann, a retired Marine Corps colonel, who agreed to
take Banuelos as a client.
Such a move "doesn't happen very often because there's not many times
when a federal official acting in his official capacity is threatened
with prosecution by state authorities," said Zimmermann. Zimmermann also
said he was not yet prepared to discuss the case because he had only
been hired Wednesday, but added: "I do think that his side of the story
needs to be more forcefully presented."
Military officials say Hernandez was shot after the teen-ager had fired
twice at a four-man Marine surveillance team that was watching a
suspected drug route at the request of the Border Patrol.
The military maintains Hernandez had raised his .22-caliber rifle for a
third shot when the Marine opened fire.
The Marine Corps has said it stands behind its personnel, but civilian
investigators have raised questions about the series of events.
Authorities say the evidence has not matched the Marines' account and
suggest Hernandez was not facing the soldiers when he was killed.
Presidio County District Attorney Albert Valadez plans to present the case to a grand jury later this month.
By TIM KORTE
Associated Press Writer
ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) July 3, 1997 - - Souvenir sales soared like the
thermometer Wednesday at the 50th anniversary celebration of an alleged
alien encounter known as the Roswell Incident.
As temperatures topped 100 degrees for the second straight day, stores
were selling out of such items as pinatas, a Hispanic Christmas
tradition that perhaps recalled cooler times - only these were alien
pinatas.
"We're primarily an Indian gallery but with the UFO festival going on,
we've added a lot to the store," said Michael Amador, the shopkeeper at
the Apache Gallery. "We also sell Mexican imports, so we had a friend
make the pinatas."
A group of promotional dummies made to resemble aliens sat in a
weathered Jeep in front of the gallery. These five aliens, each about 4
feet tall, were supposed to represent the five spacemen who purportedly
crashed northwest of here in July 1947. But with their costumes and
headgear - including cowboy hat and chaps, a feathered Indian war
bonnet, a military camouflage uniform and a sombrero - they were more
reminiscent of the Village People pop music group.
By noon, Amador said the store had sold about 50 of its 250 alien
pinatas at $7.95 each.
As he spoke, tourists paraded along the sidewalks and the mercury
climbed to 101, according to the National Weather Service. It had been
105 Tuesday.
The alien designs are everywhere. There are alien T-shirts, alien
mannequins, alien refrigerator magnets and alien guitar picks.
Michelle Watts, who co-owns the Quilt Talk fabric store, wore a
sleeveless mini-dress and wire-mesh vest made with her copyrighted
"fabric from outer space," a black-based print pattern showing silvery
space aliens and maps of New Mexico with Roswell highlighted.
"I'm weird. I look at everything in relation to 'Can you make a quilt or
sew with it or make something interesting out of it.' This is
interesting," she said, motioning to her outfit. "It's a woven (fabric)
from outer space. It definitely won't unravel."
The fabric has already sold out, but the store is accepting orders.
Down the street at the International UFO Museum and Research Center,
guests browsed through exhibits on, among other things, crop circles,
abduction stories and the Air Force's Project Mogul, a 1940s effort to
monitor Soviet nuclear testing.
Military officials say it was a top-secret experimental spy balloon from
that project - and not a UFO - that crashed near Roswell in July 1947.
Joyce Kiess, who greets each guest at the museum's door, says 2,067
visitors entered Tuesday, the first official day of the celebration, and
the number was expected to rise daily as the week continued. Most
visitors were from Texas and California, she said, with some from as far
away as Vermont.
Some visitors expressed belief in the UFO story. Most, like 7-year-old
Colby Kraft of Bradford, Pa., were just having a good time. Asked if he
believed in space aliens, Colby shrugged and smiled.
"I don't know," he said.
Added Jason York, 19, of Amarillo, Texas: "I know something happened.
I'm just not sure what."
Festival organizers said several hotel rooms became available Wednesday
when a television production company cancelled plans to cover the event.
But there was still overflow. Representatives of some news outlets were
housed at a retirement center.
"So obviously, there's a need for rooms," said publicist Tom Garrity.
PECOS, July 3, 1997 - Area school districts will have a few new
administrators when school resumes in the fall.
Balmorhea Independent School District has completed its search for a new
superintendent. The Balmorhea ISD Board of Education officially hired
Carl Lee Hoffmeyer of Bloomington Saturday, June 28. He was the
superintendent in Bloomington before taking the position in Balmorhea,
according to Balmorhea High School Assistant Principal Michael Barrandey.
In Pecos, Pecos High School Principal Alice Duerksen turned in her
resignation Monday, according to Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD Superintendent
Mario Sotelo.
"We understand that she's going to teach reading in Fort Stockton,"
Sotelo said, "but we don't know that for a fact."
Earlier this morning, Duerksen commented on her resignation from PHS.
"It is certainly with regret that I leave the people and students of
Pecos," Duerksen said, "but I've accepted a teaching position in Fort
Stockton."
"I wish everyone here the best."
It has not yet been determined exactly when Duerksen will leave PHS.
"I'll stay until there is a schedule in place for who comes into this
office, so they will take over under the best possible circumstance.
We're working on a master schedule now, so I'm not sure exactly when my
last day will be."
It was recently disclosed that P-B-T ISD Superintendent Mario Sotelo had
applied for the position of Superintendent of the Edinburg, Texas school
district. The Board of Education in Edinburg has narrowed their field of
candidates down to two, one of which Sotelo is one. The Edinburg school board will make their final choice on July 11.
By JUAN B. ELIZONDO Jr.
Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN (AP) July 3, 1997 - Many Texas homeowners could face up to
double-digit increases to the cost of their insurance policies.
Texas Insurance Commissioner Elton Bomer on Wednesday heard arguments
from insurer and consumer groups on the setting of residential property
benchmark rates. Regulated insurance companies, covering about one-third
of Texas' residential property, set their rates from 30 percent above to
30 percent below the benchmark rate set in each of the state's 23 rating
territories.
Unregulated companies cover the majority of Texas homes.
Regulated rates within the territories vary widely, based on insurance
companies' policies, the location of the insured properties and other
factors. The Insurance Department encourages Texans to shop around.
Two state administrative judges have urged Bomer to approve an overall
13.5 percent increase to the statewide average benchmark rate. That
includes a 14.8 percent increase to the average benchmark for
homeowners' policies and no change to the renters' average benchmark.
"It's unfortunate our recent loss experience - the majority of which is
weather-related - has put upward pressure on rates," said Rick Gentry,
regional vice president of the Texas Insurance Organization, a trade
group.
TIO had sought a 14.3 percent overall increase.
Insurance payments for damages caused by recent flooding and tornadoes in Central Texas were not considered in the annual rate hearing case.
WEATHER
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PECOS July 3, 1997 - High Wednesday, 102, low this morning, 75. In West Texas the showers and thunderstorms will begin in eastern areas tonight and spread westward on Friday. It will be partly cloudy and warm to hot through Friday. Lows tonight will be in the 60s and 70s. Highs Friday will be in the 80s and 90s except in the Big Bend area of Southwest Texas where the mercury could climb to near 105 on Friday afternoon.
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail: news@bitstreet.com
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP Materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing.
Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
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