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Use "FIND" option on toolbar to search for a specific word or string. TOP STORIESOctober 15, 1997
ROT trial moved to AlpineFORT 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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.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 clothingBy 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 billingBy 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 lightBy 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
Whooping cranes follow ultralightsBy 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 monthPECOS, 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.
OBITUARYSunny LindseySunny Woodson Lindsey, 43, died Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1997, at Odessa
WEATHERPECOS, October 15, 1997 - High Tuesday, 72, low this morning, 37.
Pecos Enterprise
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