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Van Horn Advocate

Sports

Thursday, August 14, 1997

Eagles set to host weekend scrimmages


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PECOS, Aug. 14 -- The Pecos Eagles will get in back-to-back days of
scrimmage matches on Friday and Saturday, as a warm-up to their regular
season volleyball openers next Tuesday.

The Eagles will face the Grandfalls-Royalty Cowgirls, Wink Wildcats and
Dell City Cougars Friday afternoon, beginning at 4 p.m. in the Pecos
High School gym. Then on Saturday, the Eagles will scrimmage the Odessa
Permian Panthers and Marathon Mustangs at the PHS gym, beginning at 11
a.m.

Eagles' coach Becky Granado said the varsity would scrimmage 20 minutes
apiece against the Cowgirls, Wildcats and Cougars, before the junior
varsity came on for its 20 minute scrimmages. The varsity will then play
three more 20 minute scrimmages to wrap up the afternoon.

The same order will be used Saturday against Permian and Marathon,
Granado said, though she wasn't sure how many matches the freshmen will
get in at the old PHS gym this weekend.

"I'm going to have to call to see if they all have enough kids to have a
freshman team (Friday)," she said. "Saturday will be the same, except I
know Marathon doesn't have a freshman team, so it will just be our
freshman against Permian."

Granado said her team is looking better after three days of workouts.
"We started working on team drills, and we look good until fatigue sets
in. That's when we start to go downhill.

"We're barely getting rid of our soreness," she said. "We're still
rusty. I told them they need to go run on their own to get back into
shape."

Regular season for Pecos opens next Tuesday, when they host Alpine and Odessa High.

Bears to begin season in Sierra Blanca


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PECOS, Aug. 14 -- The Balmorhea Bears volleyball team will open their
1997 season on the road Tuesday, in Sierra Blanca against the Vaqueros.

Balmorhea has 14 matches and two tournaments on this year's schedule, as
they look to improve on last season's finish in the District 8-A
standings.

Balmorhea's home opener will be on Aug. 26, against the Marfa
Shorthorns. They'll go to Marfa twice in September, for tournament play
on Sept. 4-6 and their final pre-district match on Sept. 27. The Bears'
other tournament is set for Aug. 30 at Valentine.

District play for the Bears will begin at home on Oct. 7 against
Grandfalls. Balmorhea's junior high volleyball team will play with the
varsity and JV during district play, as well as in their September matches with Valentine and Marfa.

Newton's lawyer links blackmail to sex charge

By TERRY WALLACE
Associated Press Writer
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DALLAS, Aug. 14 -- An unidentified woman who had a longtime relationship
with Nate Newton has accused the Dallas Cowboys' All-Pro offensive guard
of raping her.

Newton, 35, has not been charged with any crime and his attorney said
Wednesday that the woman leveling the allegation has asked for money to
keep quiet about the alleged incident Newton says never happened.

``Nate Newton denies that he sexually assaulted this lady,'' said
attorney Howard Shapiro of Plano.

The alleged victim, who is in her 30s, alleged that Newton came to her
home in suburban Grand Prairie about 1 a.m. on June 15 and sexually
assaulted her, said Grand Prairie Deputy Chief Brad Geary.

The woman filed a police report on the alleged incident on July 8 after
trying to file a complaint with Dallas County prosecutors, Geary said.

David Cole, the woman's attorney, told various media Wednesday night
that the potential publicity and belief that she would not be taken
seriously deterred from contacting police.

``He knocked on the door, she let him in. After that, essentially what's
been told to us was that there was a rape,'' Cole said.

Police said the case was sent to prosecutors, who reviewed and accepted
the complaint. The district attorney plans to present the case to a
grand jury within the next three weeks, Geary said.

District Attorney John Vance, reached at home Wednesday evening,
declined to comment on the case.

Asked if he knew the woman who accused him, Newton, the married father
of two children, said: ``I am not obligated to say whether I know her or
not.''

Shapiro said his client had a relationship with the woman and it ended
around the time of the alleged incident.

He said nothing happened the night of the alleged attack that hadn't
happened 100 times over the previous 12 months.

``About three days after, this woman appeared in my office in Plano and
asked for money to go away. She wanted money to go back to Louisiana and
go to school,'' he said.

Shapiro said the woman wanted ``what we consider to be an outrageous sum
of money. We refused to pay it. Then I received a letter from an
attorney representing her, and that demand had increased tenfold.''

Shapiro said she asked initially for between $75,000 and $100,000. When
she retained her current attorneys, Shapiro said, her demand rose to
$750,000 to $1 million.

Shapiro quoted Cole as saying the woman would file a criminal complaint
and a lawsuit if no settlement were reached.

``I told them that if she had been sexually assaulted, to go ahead and
file a case,'' Shapiro said.

Cole then contacted the Cowboys organization and offered it a chance to
negotiate a settlement, Shapiro said. He said he has turned over to
prosecutors all correspondence from the woman and her attorney to
himself, Newton and the Cowboys.

``My client never went to him for money,'' Cole said. ``What Mr. Shapiro
has left out is that his client has offered some money. And there's also
some very incriminating evidence which is already at the district
attorney's office.''

Cole said the woman recorded a conversation with Newton, ``and to
summarize, what Mr. Newton essentially said is, `I know where I went
wrong -- when you said no, I should have just stopped.'''

Shapiro said he has heard the recording and believes it proves nothing.

Cole said he hasn't decided whether to pursue a civil suit against
Newton for damages.

The allegation against Newton comes less than two weeks after coach
Barry Switzer was charged with a misdemeanor weapons count. On Aug. 4,
security officers at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport found a
.38-caliber handgun in a bag he intended to carry aboard a flight to
Austin.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones declined comment on the accusation against
Newton and Switzer said he didn't know anything about it.

Last December, wide receiver Michael Irvin and offensive tackle Erik
Williams of the Cowboys were accused of sexual assault by a woman who
later recanted the allegations. Nina Shahravan, who is still awaiting
trial on a perjury charge, said Williams and another man raped her while
Irvin held her at gunpoint. Prosecutors said Shahravan later recanted
the allegations.


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@pecos.net
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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