7/18 Local briefs

July 18, 2008 06:37 pm

— Cornyn to visit Cleburne Saturday

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn will be the guest speaker of this year’s Johnson County Republican Party Jubilee, which will be held Saturday in Cleburne. This year’s Jubilee, sponsored by Chesapeake Energy, will be held at Johnson County Republican headquarters at 201 S. Main St., and at the Plaza Theatre Company at 208 S. Main St. The event includes a VIP reception and dinner, a live theater production and an auction.
The reception and dinner begin at 5 p.m. at the headquarters. Cornyn’s speech, the show and auction begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Plaza Theatre. Tickets for the reception, dinner and show cost $100. Tickets for the show only cost $20.
For tickets, call Roy Giddens at 817-517-5274 or Wynne Loveless at 817-994-0722.
Cornyn served as a district judge, a Texas Supreme Court justice, and was elected Texas Attorney General in 1998. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002. Cornyn faces Democratic challenger Rick Noriega in the November election.
— Matt Smith

Alvarado man among MySpace.com arrestees

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Cyber Crimes and Fugitive units arrested five registered sex offenders July 1 including an Alvarado resident.
Officers arrested Scott Charles Spencer, 39, in Alvarado. Spencer was previously convicted in Johnson County for indecency with a child by sexual contact in 1990. Spencer’s victim in that crime was a 12-year-old girl.
Officers arrested Spencer and others throughout Texas for illegally using Myspace.com. Since subpoenaing sex offenders’ user profiles from MySpace, attorney general’s investigators have arrested 28 previously convicted sex offenders who illegally accessed the site.
“Each of the registered sex offenders arrested during this operation were originally convicted of crimes involving young children,” Abbott said. “Despite clear legal prohibitions, all five of these sex predators accessed MySpace.com. Parents and children alike must remain vigilant about the dangers posed by online sex predators.
“These arrests reflect MySpace.com’s ongoing willingness to work cooperatively with law enforcement. However, until MySpace.com and other social-networking sites implement true age verification software, dangerous sex offenders will continue using these Web sites to prey upon young children.”
— Special to the Times-Review