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Page 12
The Battalion
Tuesday, April 20,1993
Passenger states he warned driver of stop sign
the associated press Witness recounts school bus collision
EDINBURG — The passenger
in a soft-drink truck told a jury
Monday that he warned truck dri
ver Ruben Perez of a stop sign
about 300 feet before the truck
slammed into a school bus, killing
21 school children.
Ruben Pena, in the first day of
testimony at Perez's manslaughter
trial, fought back tears when he
recalled his horror to learn that
the crowded bus had plunged
over a 40-foot ledge into a water-
filled pit.
"I noticed that the bus was in
fhe caliche pit," said Pena, the
first prosecution witness. "At that
moment I got stunned by what I
saw. It crossed my mind several
times that I should jump in the
water to help some kids."
But Pena, who had been in the
Dr Pepper tractor-trailer cab with
Perez, said he didn't jump in be
cause he felt a gash on his head
might cause him to pass out.
Nineteen junior and senior high
school students drowned and two
details during manslaughter testimony
others died later. Sixty students
were injured.
Perez, 28, is charged with 21
counts of involuntary manslaugh
ter in the September 1989 acci
dent, the state's worst involving a
school bus.
Defense attorney Joseph Con
nors opted not to make his open
ing statement or cross-examine
state witnesses until after the
prosecution rests.
Connors has said the defense
will contend the truck's brakes
failed. But after the day's session,
Connors hinted to reporters that
the defense might rely on other
strategies.
Pena testified that he noticed
nothing wrong with the truck's
brakes during several stops before
the accident. He said Perez was
driving about 45 mph some 300
feet from the rural intersection in
Alton when he told Perez a stop
sign was coming up.
Perez applied the foot brake,
downshifted from fifth to fourth
gear and manually hit the trailer
brake, Pena testified.
"The only thing that I could
feel was that he was going to
make the stop sign," said Pena.
Pena said that about 50 to 60
feet from the intersection with
Mile Five Line Road, he first no
ticed a yellow flash of the oncom
ing Mission Independent School
District bus.
Hidalgo County District Attor
ney Rene Guerra asked Pena
whether Perez yielded to the bus,
which had the right of way.
"From my point of view, he
was trying to," Pena said.
"But did he do it?" Guerra
said.
"No," Pena responded.
Miguel Lopez, who lived
across the road from the caliche
pit, testified that Perez used his
phone after the accident to call
work while students were still
yelling for help.
Thomas Rosales, a Department
of Public Safety trooper who in
spected the truck, told the jury
that gauges indicated that the
truck's air brakes still had pres
sure after the wreck.
Before testimony began. Judge
Fidencio M. Guerra Jr. of the 370th
District Court told media repre
sentatives to use his name in their
daily reports.
"If you don't mention my
name, that will be the last time
you come into this courtroom,"
the judge said from the bench.
Later, the judge said he simply
was ensuring accountability with
the public.
"By knowing the judge, they'll
know what judge to blame if they
think the judge is working or isn't
working," said Judge Guerra, no
relation to the prosecutor.
Perez faces two to 10 years in
prison for each count of involun
tary manslaughter. If convicted,
he has opted to have Judge Guer
ra decide his punishment, instead
of the jury.
Residents charge company
with hiding toxic seepage
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
_
AMARILLO — Railroad workers and residents of a tiny farming
community are accusing a giant chemical plant of criminal fraud
and conspiracy to hide toxic seepage into the Ogallala Amxifer.
Amarillo attorney Tom Upchurch filed court papers Friday that
accuse Hoechst Celanese Corp. of deceiving state and federal regu
lators about emissions from the plant near Pampa.
The court papers, filed in 32nd District Court in Sweetwater, are
an amended pleading to a lawsuit seeking nearly $100 million from
Celanese. Seventy-nine residents of Kingsmiil — a community
across from the plant, about six miles southwest of Pampa - filed
the lawsuit last August.
Defendants include Frankfurt, Germany-based Hoechst Corp.
and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co.
The plaintiffs contend Celanese disposed of more than one mil
lion gallons a day of toxic wastewater into a 42-acre solar evapora
tion pond built in 1958. But the pond could evaporate no more than
65,000 gallons per day, according to the lawsuit.
"Quite obviously the defendants not only intended that there
would be seepage, but indeed they were dependent upon seeping
more than one million gallons a day into the subsurface areas of the
plant which overlay the regional Ogallala Aquifer," the amended
pleading says.
"Ridiculous," said Celanese spokesman Herb Reed in Dallas.
"We think this whole thing of criminal fraud is outrageous."
Reed said the truth will emerge during the trial, set for June 21.
"We strongly refute the claims/' he said Monday.
Every Tuesday in the Battalion
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1504 Holleman
College Station
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Lube, Oil & Filter Change
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Reg. $22.95
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For fast service call to schedule an appointment
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764-0601
614 Villa Maria
next to Villa Maria Cleaners
779-0402
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Coupon good Tuesday 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
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