January 06, 2008 04:38 pm
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No. 1 — House explodes, killing two
A house exploded May 29 in Cleburne, leading to two family members’ deaths and injuring three others. Hazel Pawlik, 64, of Cleburne died at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas four days after the explosion, and her daughter, Hazel Sanderson, 44, died at the same hospital in July.
Family members David Pawlik, 66, David Sanderson, 49, and Stephanie Sanderson, 9, were hospitalized with injuries of varying degrees. Another daughter, Misty Sanderson, 17, escaped the blast without injury.
The explosion destroyed the home on Woodard Avenue and led to the evacuation of 31 nearby homes.
Cleburne Fire Marshal Bill Wright concluded that several events caused two explosions in the house. Although the home did not use gas, a gas leak in the street in front of the Pawliks’ home migrated into the sewer line and into the Pawliks’ home, according to Wright’s report. A match used to light Hazel Pawlik’s cigarette caused gas accumulated at the ceiling to explode. The first explosion caused gas accumulated in the attic to also ignite, according to the report.
The family sued Atmos Energy Corp. for unspecified damages. No trial date has been set, said M.C. Davis, an attorney representing the family.
— Matt Smith
No. 2 — Free clinic opens
Dr. Tony Torres, pastor at the Cleburne First Seventh-day Adventist Church, found a new way to reach out to the community when he opened a free clinic Jan. 26.
The clinic offers free health, vision and dental care for those who are uninsured, underinsured or cannot afford typical health care.
Torres got the idea for the clinic after organizing similar clinics in other countries and discovering that 48 percent of his U.S. neighbors are uninsured, underinsured or uninsurable.
“I’ve spent a long time organizing this and planning for it,” Torres said. “We completely gutted the fellowship hall and put up partitions for a waiting room, a dental room and three examining rooms. And if we need to, we have room in which to grow.”
Harris Methodist Walls Regional Hospital donated several pieces of equipment, and 10 doctors and four dentists signed on to volunteer at the clinic. Nursing duties are handled by Southwestern Adventist University’s nursing school students, who receive college credit for their work at the clinic.
“We want to take care of the people in need in the community,” Torres said.
— Philip Navarrette
No. 3 — New elementary schools open
Cleburne ISD administrators, board members, teachers, staff, students and many others gathered Aug. 21 to dedicate three new elementary schools.
The new Irving, Adams and Santa Fe schools were officially welcomed into the district during the ceremonies seven days before the campuses opened their doors for students on the first day of school.
The Adams and Irving schools replace older elementary schools of the same names. The district had an elementary named Santa Fe several years ago, but the new Santa Fe is considered an addition to the district’s elementary lineup.
The schools took two years to build and were part of a $36 million bond package voters narrowly passed in 2005. An initial bond proposal failed at the polls, but voters approved the schools’ funding plan when it was presented to them a few weeks later.
The new schools share the same layout and construction scheme, having been designed and built by the same architects and construction company. All three schools house pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
— Philip Navarrette
No. 4 — Woman accused of killing baby in chase
A Keene woman led police on a 40 minute chase April 7 from Glen Rose to Alvarado before crashing her sport-utility vehicle in a wreck that killed her 9-month-old daughter.
The trial for Aimee Andrea Fisher-Riza, 36, is scheduled to begin Jan. 28 in the 413th District Court in Cleburne on charges of felony murder and evading arrest with her vehicle.
Somervell County officers began pursuing Fisher-Riza after they received calls about a reckless driver. Johnson County officers joined the chase as Fisher-Riza traveled east on U.S. 67. Spikes laid out by Cleburne police and Johnson County sheriff’s deputies flattened tires on Fisher-Riza’s SUV, causing it to roll several times and eject baby Alexxus Andrea Riza, who died at the scene.
Forensic psychologist J. Randall Price declared Fisher-Riza incompetent July 6 to stand trial. But after treatment, doctors declared her competent Sept. 14.
Fisher-Riza is also being investigated for money missing from a Goody’s department store in Brownwood, where she was a manager. Cash and check deposits from Goody’s and other items were retrieved from Fisher-Riza’s SUV after it crashed.
In a jail house phone call, Fisher-Riza told her husband, “I know she’s dead. Get the money and get me out,” according to affidavits and search warrant documents filed with the Johnson County district clerk’s office in April.
— Matt Smith
No. 5 — Courthouse opens
The Johnson County Courthouse reopened (sort of) Dec. 1 after the completion (almost) of a two-year, $8 million renovation partially funded by a grant from the Texas Historical Commission.
County workers have not moved back in, however. Work remains on parts of the project, and officials and workers should be able to move in in February.
Leaders anticipated completion in July, but some materials were delayed in arriving, pushing back the opening.
Throughout the course of the renovation, contractors ran into several minor problems but nothing major, they said.
Several hundred people attended the Dec. 1 ribbon-cutting and rededication ceremony to walk through the restored building, with its extensive use of marble and light pouring through stained glass in the tower. County Judge Roger Harmon presided over the ceremony in the commissioners courtroom, introducing speakers including U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, State Rep. Rob Orr and Stan Graves, the Texas Historical Commission’s architecture chief.
The county restored the courthouse, originally built in 1912 and 1913, using a $4 million state grant under the supervision of THC. The county contributed $4 million towards the renovation.
— Leia Jobe
No. 6 — Three arrested on cruelty charges
July saw two separate incidents two days apart in which police arrested two men on charges of cruelty to animals. A woman was arrested for it Oct. 16.
Cleburne police arrested Gary Wayne Hicks, 44, of Cleburne on July 22 after witnesses saw him beat his dog, Chopper, to death, according to reports. Two witnesses eating at a restaurant on West Henderson Street told police Hicks used his fists to repeatedly beat Chopper on his head and body. Hicks initially told police a car hit Chopper although officers found no evidence he was hit. A police car video camera recorded Hicks all but confessing, according to reports.
“I didn’t mean to. I have just been frustrated because I’ve been out on the street,” Hicks is quoted as saying in the police report.
Hicks’ case is pending.
Police arrested Michael Greenslade, 49, of Cleburne on July 24 after Cleburne Animal Control personnel found two horses dead and three malnourished on his property on Texas 171 on the south side of the city. The horses appeared emaciated and diseased and had no visible feed, according to reports. Greenslade pleaded guilty Nov. 1 and was sentenced to a $500 fine, 12 months on probation and court-cost fees.
Michelle Miller White, 39, of Alvarado was accused of cruelty after a neighbor reported animals that looked undernourished on her property. Sheriff’s deputies seized three horses and two donkeys. She also had outstanding arrest warrants.
— Matt Smith
No. 7 — Coach arrested for relationship
Cleburne High School teacher and baseball coach Ronny Yates was arrested on charges of having an improper relationship between educator and student Jan. 23.
Yates, 35, was charged with having a consensual sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female CHS sophomore.
Yates was released from jail on a $10,000 bond Jan. 24, the same day the Cleburne ISD school district placed him on administrative leave with pay. The district accepted Yates’ resignation March 19.
Yates pleaded not guilty at his March 28 arraignment but took a plea agreement April 10 to avoid serving jail time.
Under the plea agreement, Yates must serve 10 years on probation and permanently surrender his teaching certificate. He is also prohibited from having contact with children 17 and under and is specifically prohibited from having any contact with the victim in the case. His conviction is a second-degree felony.
After his initial arrest, allegations surfaced that Yates was involved in a similar situation in a Louisiana school, where he coached before coming to CHS.
Yates had been at CHS for four years as a PE teacher and assistant coach for the school’s football and baseball programs.
— Philip Navarrette
No. 8 — Boy forced out for behavior
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested the father of a 12-year-old boy Sept. 2 after he forced the child to live outside for four days and nights at their home east of Rio Vista.
Paul Scott Schmidtke, 38, of Cleburne was arrested on the fourth day the child had to live outside. He was taken to the Johnson County Corrections Center on a charge of endangering a child.
When sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene in the 2900 block of East Farm-to-Market Road 916, they found Schmidtke’s 12-year-old son under a trailer in the yard, covered with fleas and insect bites.
The boy told authorities he slept under a trailer, ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that made him sick, drank water from an outdoor faucet, and used the bathroom outside.
Neighbor Erica Wingate talked to the boy before calling the sheriff’s department. He told her he was forced to sleep on the porch with the family dogs and cats, Wingate said.
According to reports, Schmidtke told sheriff’s deputies that the boy had to live outside because he could not live by the rules.
The boy was placed in the custody of his biological mother, said Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzalez.
Schmidtke was released on a $100,000 bond. His case was presented to a grand jury last month, but he was not indicted.
— Leia Jobe
No. 9 — State investigates CISD spending
The Texas Education Agency began combing Cleburne ISD financial records Feb. 12 in response to a watchdog group’s allegations the district misused money.
The audit began after Access Cleburne sent letters to the state questioning the district’s spending of state and federal money, particularly for a steak dinner for the school board while in San Antonio and a team-building excursion to Glen Rose.
TEA representatives estimated the investigation would wrap up within a couple months, but the district did not receive any word of completion until TEA auditor Robert Sanchez sent a letter in early October thanking the district for its cooperation and saying the file is closed pertaining to the complaints.
The agency had the district amend one purchasing policy.
The investigation is still pending about the district’s federal spending. TEA auditors are editing their report, which will be sent to the district and Access Cleburne before a final report is released to the public, according to Access Cleburne member Harold Gentry.
— Philip Navarrette
No. 10 — Prayer takes brief hiatus
Acting on the advice of the city’s attorney, Burleson Mayor Ken Shetter replaced the formal prayer usually brought by a local clergyperson with a moment of silence before city council meetings during the winter.
Attorney Allen Taylor prepared a memo for city officials Jan. 12 advising them that a court decision the previous month from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals prohibited sectarian prayers at school board meetings as a violation of the First Amendment and that the decision could be applicable to city councils as well.
“This case, for the first time from a court having jurisdiction over Texas cities, clearly prohibits sectarian prayers at meetings of public bodies,” Taylor wrote in the memo. “What constitutes a sectarian prayer is not completely clear from the court’s opinion, although references to Jesus Christ, by name or other references, would probably be deemed to be sectarian.”
Councilman Stuart Gillaspie objected to the change in a February meeting and later said in an interview that he believed the prayers should have continued until the city was specifically told to stop the practice.
The practice was reinstituted in March after the judges on the 5th Circuit agreed to rehear the case. The decision was eventually overturned.
— Michael O’Connor
Honorable Mention
Game warden drowns during rescue
Johnson County Game Warden Teyran “Ty” Patterson drowned in the Paluxy River near Glen Rose on May 30 while searching for a missing 16-year-old Stephenville girl. Patterson drowned after the boat carrying him and his partner, Game Warden Danny Tuggle, overturned.
Residents of Johnson County and Seguin, Patterson’s hometown, remembered him as a friend and inspiration. Rescue workers found Courtney Butler’s body in the river two days later.
— Matt Smith
Ham Creek Park reopens
After decades of dormancy, Ham Creek Park officially reopened in April. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel performed the work, which is not finished. The Johnson County Commissioners Court voted to pay for maintenance and operation once the project is completed in 2009. Congressional appropriations funded the project, which many county, state and national officials supported.
— Matt Smith
County employee pleads guilty to embezzlement
A former county employee pleaded guilty Sept. 4 to embezzling more than $75,000 while working as a clerk for the Precinct 1 justice of the peace.
Karen Lynn Redding, 41, of Cleburne was indicted for theft of property between $20,000 and $100,000 by a public servant after Justice of the Peace Ronny McBroom discovered the money was missing when he took office in January.
Redding submitted a cashier’s check to Johnson County for $75,031.45, the full amount embezzled, and received 10 years probation.
— Matt Smith
Woman, granddaughter killed in Rio Vista wreck
A woman and her 6-year-old granddaughter died in a wreck April 8 near Rio Vista when they hit a tractor-trailer that ran a stop sign at the intersection of Texas 171 and Farm-to-Market Road 916, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety report. The pickup, driven by Penny Sue Thompson, 50, of Itasca, slid under the trailer and was dragged into a drainage ditch. Thompson and her granddaughter, Aubry Nicole Moore of Cleburne, died at the scene. Aubry’s brother, Dylan Glenn Moore, 10, was hospitalized in a coma. The truck driver, Larry Dean Roberts, 53, of Commerce, remains jailed in Cleburne with criminal charges pending. The family sued Roberts and his company, seeking unspecified damages.
— Matt Smith
Gun-toting custodian arrested
Cleburne police arrested Adams Elementary School custodian Barry Bernard Hardemon, 34, of Cleburne, for possession of a weapon after he brought a pistol to the school Oct. 1 with the alleged intent of shooting his supervisor. Police said they were tipped off by co-workers, who overheard Hardemon talking about hurting his supervisor the week before. When Hardemon arrived on campus Monday morning, Police searched him and found the pistol.
— Philip Navarrette
Districts work on graduation policies
Districts around the state, including Cleburne ISD, changed their graduation participation requirements to let students who did not pass all portions of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills participate in the graduation ceremony in May.
The state is working to phase out the test and implemented a law allowing special-education students to walk the stage regardless of performance as long as they attended classes at least four years. After changing its policy, the CISD school board made more changes in the fall after several students who walked did not retake TAKS to earn their diploma as promised.
— Philip Navarrette
Unusually rainy year brings delays
Rain fell abundantly in Cleburne in 2007, causing delays in almost every area of the city’s life. Road construction in the county was affected, as were Christmas in Action projects, the municipal golf course renovation and Fourth of July celebrations. The rain even affected one Johnson County city’s budget. Through November, the city had recorded more than 54 inches of rain, with some 26 inches falling during May, June and July, according to National Weather Service records. The records only show three other years in which Cleburne received more than 50 inches of rain.
— Michael O’Connor
Keene raises taxes to make up for shortfall
The Keene City Council raised the city’s tax rate by more than 20 percent in September, forced into the move by a $500,000 budget deficit for fiscal 2006-07. Earlier in the month, council members thought the increase would need to be more than twice as much. Mayor Roy Robinson said city services had increased without corresponding tax increases, and the situation was aggravated by a $188,000 deficit in water revenues. The high rainfall amount in 2007 had reduced demand by customers, he said.
— Michael O’Connor
Man sentenced in baby’s death
Jurors gave David Giddens, 43, of Cleburne two life sentences in February after finding him guilty of capital murder and injury to a child by omission. Giddens stood trial in the death of his 3-month-old adopted son, Nicholas Rhea Hoffert.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Giddens intentionally injured Hoffert while defense attorneys argued that he accidentally stumbled into a wall or door frame while carrying Hoffert, lost his grip and dropped the child.
— Matt Smith
JISD bond proposal passes
Joshua ISD’s $44.87 million bond package passed 622-620 in the May 11 election. The bond package focuses on several upgrades and renovations around the district, including building a new middle school and relocating and adding onto the high school football stadium. A similar, $35.75 million proposal failed in November 2006 by a vote of 1,218 to 1,191.
— Philip Navarrette
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