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October 15, 1997


ROT trial moved to Alpine



FORT DAVIS, Texas (AP) October 15, 1997 - Republic of Texas leader
Richard McLaren will be tried in Alpine on charges stemming from the
separatist group's mountain standoff with authorities.

Judge Kenneth DeHart said Tuesday that he has entered a change of venue
order for the trial of McLaren and fellow group member Robert Otto. The
trial originally was scheduled to take place 20 miles north in Fort
Davis.

DeHart entered the motion requesting the move but was forced to delay
his ruling because McLaren had asked to have the judge removed from the
case.

Judge Karl Prohl of Kerrville denied McLaren's motion following a
hearing Monday in Fort Davis, 175 miles southeast of El Paso.

DeHart said that either McLaren and Otto, who also goes by "White
Eagle," or two other group members, Gregg and Karen Paulson, will go on
trial Oct. 27.

"At that time, whichever one is ready to go, that's what we'll try,"
DeHart said.

The other trial will be set sometime later in the year, he said.

McLaren and the other three are charged with engaging in organized
criminal activity for allegedly scheming to kidnap two neighbors, Joe
and M.A. Rowe, in retaliation for the arrest of a Republic member on
weapons charges.

The April 27 abduction sparked the standoff with 300 Department of
Public Safety troopers and Texas Rangers. It ended May 3 after McLaren
and the others agreed to lay down their weapons.

A fifth person involved, Richard Frank Keyes III, who was recently
captured near Houston, will face trial on similar organized crime
charges later.

Copyright 1997 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Christian Home needs men's clothing



By CARA ALLIGOOD
Staff Writer

PECOS, October 15, 1997 - The Christian Home thrift shop now has two
donation boxes to increase the ease and convenience of making donations
to the organization.

"The thrift shop provides clothing for the transients who come through.
It provides a little bit of pocket money for the crew who works here
and, if we make enough, we might use a little bit of it for some small
expense, such as a repair part, instead of taking it out of the
ministerial fund," said Bruce Dury, who also said that "we don't have
any real titles here," although he sees to the day-to-day operation of
the home and the store.

There are three ways that someone can donate items to the Christian Home
thrift shop. First, items can be taken directly to the thrift store,
located right behind the Christian Home at 1201 S. Elm. The thrift shop
is open to the public from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

If someone needs their item or items picked up, they can contact Dury at
the Christian Home, 445-2049, to make arrangements. "We live here, so
we're flexible," said Dury.

Now, people who wish to make donations may also drop their items off at
one of the Christian Home's two donation boxes. One is located at
Sullivan's Tire, at 1001 S. Cedar Street. The other donation box is in
the parking lot in front of Bob's Thriftway, 1800 S. Eddy Street. Dury
said he appreciates those merchants for letting the Christian Home have
donation boxes at their places of business.

"We're also hoping to put up one or two more boxes around town, as
circumstances allow," Dury said.

What the home really needs now is men's clothing, especially warm
outerwear, clothing in larger sizes and underwear and socks, Dury said.
Most donations received at the home are women's shoes and clothing, and
children's things. But most of the clients that the Christian Home
serves are men. Some women and family groups do come through, he said,
but not nearly as often as men.

The thrift store has some smaller men's clothes, but they need the
larger sizes, especially in the 32 through 36 size range for pants, Dury
said. They need warm winter coats for the colder months ahead, not
sports coats. They can also use items such as hats and shoes or boots
and gloves.

"We can use some more blankets," Dury said. In the past, they haven't
been able to provide transients or anyone else with blankets because the
center still has a need for blankets at the home itself. Their main need
is for single bed size blankets, but they can use larger ones and other
linens, also.

Another thing the Christian Home can use is luggage/backpack type bags
for people to carry their things in when they move on, but "not big
Samsonite suitcases," Dury said.

The Christian Home doesn't get many donations of furniture or
appliances, but those items are always welcome, and in demand by
someone, even when the home itself can't use them. "We could use a
working refrigerator, because ours is going out," Dury said.

"We give items to the Learning Center and other organizations when we
can, also," said Dury. They will also do what they can to help needy
families, such as when someone's residence burns down or if they are
referred by a a social service organization. If they can't use items in
their home, Dury said, they will give them to a needy person who has
requested such an item, or sell it in the thrift shop.

Drug cases take top billing



By PEGGY McCRACKEN
Staff Writer

PECOS, October 15, 1997 - Two Massachusetts residents who lost $10,000
to the Permian Basin Drug Task Force (PBDTF) Sept. 16 were charged three
days later with importing and possessing with intent to distribute more
than 72 pounds of marijuana.

The two are among 36 persons indicted Thursday by the federal grand jury in
Pecos. Neither the PBDTF nor Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
agents handling the two separate cases knew of the other one until
contacted Monday by the Enterprise.

District Attorney Randy Reynolds has filed notice of seizure and intent
to forfeit the $10,000 in 143rd District Court.

PBDTF deputy commander Jack Brewer said the duo was traveling in a
rental car when they were stopped.


The arrests stemmed from a U.S. Border Patrol stop at a checkpoint
south of Marfa Sept. 19, said Jim Rose, resident agent in charge of the
Alpine DEA office. Another indictment with five defendants charges the
"Kansas City ring" with smuggling more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana
from Mexico over a period of "quite some time."

Rose said that four of the suspects were arrested Oct. 2 after importing
61 pounds of marijuana from Mexico. A fifth suspect was arrested in
Kansas City, and additional arrests are expected.

Charged with importing and possessing with intent to distribute
marijuana are Ricardo Torres Sandoval, 27, Amiee Jo Anderson, 26, James
R. Kriley, 31, Cari Ellyn Willis, 25, and Raechel Jean Eaglen, 18, all
of Kansas City, Kan.

"We can show they have delivered more than 1,000 pounds," Rose said.

Others charged with importing and possessing with intent to distribute
marijuana are Consuelo Maria Burciaga, 43, of Odessa, James Earl Luna,
27, of Grand Prairie, and Hope Jones Lopez, 21, of Grand Prairie, on Oct
3.

* Benancio Anchondo-Melendez, 45, of Chihuahua, Mex. Sept. 28.

* Cesar Humberto Martinez, 22, of Chihuahua, Mex., Sept. 22.

* Gregorio Melendez-Ruiz, 29, of Chihuahua, Mex., and Marie Bertha
Melendez-Ruiz, 49, of Chihuahua, Mex., Sept. 27.

Indicted for possession with intent to distribute marijuana are:

* Johnny Lee Espinoza, 27, and Alcario Hernandez, 34, both of Presidio,
Oct. 3.

* Saul Caraveo Aragon, 33, Chihuahua, Mex., Sept. 30.

* Cecilio Sotelo-Enriquez, 18, of Ojinaga, Mex, Sept. 19.

* Ruben Ramirez-Enriquez, 23, of Ojinaga, Mex., March 11, 1994.

* Jesus Galvez-Preciado, 35, of Carbo, Sonora, Mex. Sept. 15.

* Consuelo R. Montoya, 25, of Odessa, Sept. 27.

* Soztenes Calderon, 29, and Reynaldo Ruiz, 37, both of Odessa, Sept. 25.

* Yolanda Marie Rivera, 40, El Paso, Sept. 11.

* Daniel Alfredo Olivera-Montes, Chihuahua, Mex., Oct. 8.

* Arturo Becerra-Gutierrez, 35, Odessa, Sept. 30.

* Igancio Lara Melendez, Sterling City, Sept. 26.

* Noemi Gonzalez-Hernandez, 30, Odessa, Sept. 26.

* Francisco Morales Jr., 43, El Paso, Sept. 30.

* Irma Isela Rodriguez-Heredia, 32, Kermit, Sept. 21.

Immigration violations were charged against three defendants:

* Isidoro Rojas-Rodriguez, 28, of Mexico, illegal entry after
deportation subsequent to commission of an aggravated felony; Sept. 25.

* Jorge Vasquez-Perdomo, 31, Mexico, illegal entry after deportation
subsequent to commission of an aggravated felony; June 27.

* Roberto Serna-Martinez, 29, Juarez, Mex., false claim to U.S.
Citizenship, Sept. 13.

Ex Chief sees freedoms in new light



By GREG HARMAN
Staff Writer

PECOS, October 15, 1997 - Training police in foreign countries has given
a former Texas chief of police a new appreciation for the freedoms U.S.
citizens enjoy and the fairness of the nation's police system.

"I now know first hand that there is not a police department in the
world that can compare to the American policing system," said Jim Lyons,
International Police Training Coordinator, who spent 14 months in Bosnia
working with police forces from more than 30 countries.

Lyons related similar observations and personal experiences to those
present at a Rotary Club luncheon last Friday.

"We are the only policing system in the world that is truly responsive
to the citizens it is designed to serve," he said.

Lyons was part of a U.S. led initiative to help set up Bosnian and
Serbian police academies in the former Yugoslavia. He spent 14 months as
a Lt. Colonel in the international police task force, unarmed and living
in the private sector, training local police forces and helping to lead
an international contingent of police officers under the direction of
the U.N.

Lyons asserted, in a private interview, that his experiences in the
international community helped him to understand that instances of
police brutality in the United States are by far the exception, not the
rule. "It's common in other parts of the world," he said. The U.S. is
far ahead of other nations in regard to civil rights, he said.

The transition to another culture was difficult, though early
experiences living abroad while his father was in the navy helped ease
the culture shock. "When I got (to Bosnia) I wrote a letter home and
said that I had found out who the bad guys were...all of them."

Lyons explained how shocking it was to discover that the earliest and
most brutal expressions of genocidal warfare were performed by
"Christian" armies.

He said that he had been biased by images of Islamic peoples, who are
often characterized as terroristic, aggressive, and brutal. "As
Christians we've certainly been inhumane and un-Christian-like to one
and another for a long number of years..."

Lyons credits Radovan Karadzic, one of the leaders of the (primarily
Eastern Orthodox) Serbian army, with committing more atrocities than any
other figure since Adolph Hitler. "It was an incredibly blood thirsty
war," he said.

Lyons believes U.S. involvement in Bosnia-Herzegovina has slowed the war
there to a standstill. "I don't know how long an entire ethnic group can
last when you are killing them by the tens of thousands," he said.

A large part of the problem, that makes settling differences so
difficult, is the extreme tribal mentality in the region. This type of
mentality makes it possible for participants in the war to use events
hundreds of years past to excuse the brutality they commit today.

Robert Kaplan, author of Balkan Ghosts, tells of a conversation he had
with a young man (identified as Ismail), in a disco frequented by Muslim
Albanians, who raged about old atrocities.

"Do you know what it is to throw a child in the air and catch it on a
knife in front of its mother? To be tied to a burning log?" he demanded
of the author.

Kaplan writes: "Ismail was only twenty-six; he had no personal knowledge
of the events he described. Rats infest his apartment, he told me. The
Serbs were to blame."

A Bosnian once approached Lyons and proclaimed that a revolution every
40-50 years is good for the soul. That's the warrior-tribal mentality,
Lyons said, "That's the belief that the streets have to run red with the
blood of your children in order to purge whatever it is they feel needs
to be purged (from their society)."

According to Lyons, the only thing holding the various factions together
right now is the power of the U.S. dollar, as well as the presence of
"more armored power then they ever conceived it was possible to have."

Lyons, once Chief of Police in Spring Town Texas, said that the
incompetence and the poor leadership of the United Nations has
diminished his support for the organization.

Also, overseas events have prompted him to begin his personal memoirs.
In these reminiscences he dwells on poetic ideas such as what the "sound
of freedom" is. He said he now recognizes the sound in the ringing of a
telephone and the laughter of children. Because if children are laughing
and having a good time that means that "the bombs aren't going off,
they're not being killed, their parents aren't being drug out into a
field and slaughtered."

Lyons also hears the sound of freedom in the grass as it "crinkles under
your feet, because you can walk in grass and not worry about being blown
up" by land mines left behind.He has been published in The Talon, a
military periodical. In it his poem "Peacekeepers" was included with
photos commemorating the changing of command in the multinational
division in Bosnia.

Lyons is currently awaiting the approval of his application to return to
duty in Bosnia.

Whooping cranes follow ultralights



By RICHARD BENKE
Associated Press Writer

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) October 15, 1997 - Two ultralight airplanes and
12 cranes, including four rare whooping cranes, have begun an
experimental migration to a New Mexico wildlife refuge in a bid to save
whoopers from extinction.

The cranes and planes, which left Monday from Grace, Idaho, are expected
to arrive at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge on Oct. 20 or
later, said Hans Stuart, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.

Kent Clegg, an Idaho rancher and ultralight pilot, has led sandhill
cranes to the winter wetlands 80 miles south of here for the past two
years. This year, four whooping cranes were trained to make the flight
with eight sandhills. The birds follow Clegg as a surrogate parent.

Clegg expects to cover about 80 miles a day, camping at night along the
800 miles between his ranch and the Bosque. A ground crew follows in a
van and sets up a portable pen in which the birds spend their nights
protected from predators.

The ultralights, made of aluminum tubing and fabric, have a peak speed
of 35 mph, Stuart said.

"On a good day, the birds can go 80 to 100 miles. Kent can tell when the
birds are tired," Stuart said Tuesday.

The experiment resembles one depicted in the 1996 movie "Fly Away Home."
Scientists want to see if whoopers will accompany ultralights.

If so, ultralights would help introduce a new migratory flock of
whoopers either at The Marsh Island state wildlife area in Louisiana or
at Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. No decision has
been made on the site, according to Tom Stehn, national whooping crane
coordinator for Fish and Wildlife.

Just 371 whooping cranes are known to exist. The only migratory flock,
180 whoopers, flies between Canada and Aransas National Wildlife Refuge,
Texas. The majestic white birds also live in a nonmigratory flock in
Florida and in captivity at zoos and other facilities.

Stehn has said scientists hope for a population of about 100 whooping
cranes in a new migratory flock.

But the four Bosque-bound whoopers will stay in the New Mexico-Idaho
flyway, and new hatchlings would be used to form the new flock, Stuart
said.

Clegg's whoopers were hatched at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
in Laurel, Md., and at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo,
Wis.

Whoopers depend on salt marshes for survival, using freshwater wetlands
during migration and breeding, while their more plentiful gray sandhill
cousins happily feed off farmlands, biologists say.

A second migratory population could help prevent whoopers' extinction,
Stehn has said.

Right now, the Aransas flock could be vulnerable to hurricanes, red
tides, chemical spills, diseases or other problems, he said.

"If a catastrophic event occurred, it would affect almost all the
whoopers," Stehn said.

But a second population likely wouldn't be decimated by any disaster
that affected the first.

Stehn, optimistic about Clegg's flight, has said he worries more about
the whoopers' chances after they arrive at Bosque del Apache, where
nearly 150,000 birds gather at the peak wintering season. Refuge
officials have said those include nearly 20,000 sandhills, 75,000 ducks
and 50,000 geese plus a few thousand others.

If the whoopers don't mingle with the other birds, Stehn said, they're
vulnerable to predators, especially coyotes.

In past years, cranes have been attacked en route by golden eagles.
Ultralight scout pilot Errol Spaulding, who lives north of Grace, Idaho,
hopes to fend off such attacks this year with the No. 2 plane.

Copyright 1997 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

44th Harvest Day is this month



PECOS, October 15, 1997 - First United Methodist Church members and
their guests will gather Oct. 19 for the Pecos church's 44th annual
Harvest Day.

Milton R. Chester, District Superintendent of the Odessa District and
the New Mexico Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, will be
guest speaker for morning worship, which begins at 10:55 a.m. A covered
dish luncheon will follow worship services.

The Pecos First United Methodist Church established Harvest Day to
celebrate and give thanks for the fall harvest of crops. Although
farming is not as prominent as it once was in Pecos, Harvest Day has
remained a time of special thanksgiving.

"We are continually harvesting God's blessings, His grace and gifts,"
said Pecos pastor Derrel Evins. "We designate Harvest Day to give thanks
and give back a portion of our material blessings. In a way, Harvest Day
is a reflection of the Biblical tradition of giving the first, the best,
to God."

Harvest Day is also a time of fellowship, as members and guests gather
for a luncheon after morning worship. Meat, bread and tea are furnished
for the luncheon, and members are asked to bring two dishes of salads,
vegetables or desserts.

This year's Harvest Day service will feature Chester as guest speaker.
Chester has pastored churches in New Mexico and Northwest Texas annual
conference areas of the United Methodist Church and currently serves as
superintendent of Odessa area churches.

Chester earned his bachelor's degree from McMurry University in Abilene,
a Methodist University. He also attended Drew University, Eastern New
Mexico University, Western New Mexico University, Iliff School of
Theology and San Franciso Theological Seminary.

He has served on the board of publications for the United Methodist
Church, the United Methodist Communications board of directors, the
National Hispanic Committee, and the U.S./Border bilateral missions
advisory committee of the General Board of Global Ministries.

Currently, Chester serves on the board of directors for McMurry
University, a post he has held since 1987 and previously served from
1965 to 1971.

Chester and his wife, Ann, have three daughters and six grandchildren.

OBITUARY

Sunny Lindsey

Sunny Woodson Lindsey, 43, died Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1997, at Odessa
Medical Center.

Services are scheduled for 2 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 16, at First Baptist
Church in Wickett with Dr. Allie Balko officiating. Burial will be in
Monahans Cemetery.

Lindsey was born Sept. 12, 1954, in Big Spring, was a secretary for the
transportation test center and was a member of the Baptist church.

Survivors include: her husband, Thomas Lindsey of Wickett; four sons,
Scott Lindsey, Jason Mabry of Colorado Springs, Colo. and Greg and
Steven Mabry of Monahans; her parents, Billie and Louis Woodson of
Odessa; grandmothers, Velma Rotton of Odessa and Velma Woodson of
Kermit; one brother, Danny Woodson of Odessa; and four grandchildren.

Harkey Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

WEATHER

PECOS, October 15, 1997 - High Tuesday, 72, low this morning, 37.
Pleasant weather is in store across all of Texas tonight and Thursday.
West Texas will have sunny days and clear nights through Thursday. Lows
tonight will be in the 30s and 40s in West Texas, highs Thursday will be
in the 60s and 70s.



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