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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1997)
The Battalion TATE Tuesday Page 5 April 29, 1997 onspirators denied bond \ree accused of plotting to bomb gas plant held without bail FORT WORTH (AP) — Three people accused plotting to bomb a natural gas processing ant to kill police and divert attention from an ored-car heist were ordered held without Monday. awn Dee Adams, 37; his 35-year-old wife, |erine Dee Adams; and 34-year- idward Taylor Jr. are charged conspiracy to commit robbery ■ting interstate commerce. They ■ not been indicted. Their attorneys argued that the trio ies to the community, had little bo criminal records and would not a danger if they were released, n St. John, Mrs. Adams’ attorney, t was unfair for them to be held lethe government does its homework... while nment figures out what the law violation is.” [owever, U.S. Magistrate Charles Bleil appar- was swayed by testimony from Dallas po- etective Charles Storey, who was assigned t|e FBI’s joint terrorism taskforce and laid out overnment’s case. The evidence brought out against them in the probable cause hearing appears to be pretty great and the court is bound to consider ... the defendants were prepared to commit acts that could cause loss of life to people and they seem to have litde if any concern about that,” Bleil said during a preliminary hearing that also involved the suspects’ detention. A detention hearing for co-defendant Carl “Jay” Waskom Jr., 34, was continued until Tuesday afternoon. Federal officials con tend the suspects intend ed to set olf several bombs at the Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. plant in Bridgeport to divert attention from their robbery of an armored car they believed would be carrying $2 million to a bank in nearby Chico. While Storey was on the witness stand to de tail the case, he also testified about the validity of a videotape of three of the defendants made se cretly from the glove box of an informant’s pick up truck. U.S. Attorney Richard Roper showed about 15 minutes of the tape, which was made about midday April 22 prior to their arrests. The Adamses and Taylor reportedly are heard on the tape discussing their plans to bomb the plant. Waskom is not on the tape. Adams suggests that it might take three or four days for law enforcers to control the mass destruc tion they unleashed. Then Taylor says, “It might take them that long to get the casualties out.” During a discussion about the best time to det onate the bombs, Adams expresses concern that doing it too early might shut down the road and prevent the armored car from getting to the bank. He suggests they overtake the drivers at the bank. “They’re not going to mess around with a gun barrel at the back of their heads,” he said. Then Catherine Adams adds: “If they can do it in the movies, we can do it.” Taylor, who has been identified by authorities as a member of a faction of the Ku Klux BQan, and the Adamses were arrested in Wise County; Waskom was arrested the same day in Fort Worth. Federal officials said the suspects had been under surveillance for about six weeks after offi cials received a tip from an informant. ngency reports drop in violent crime ■AUSTIN (AP) —Violent crime and pushed up the overall crime overall to 5,708.3, the DPS reported. The state’s uniform crime rt ■Texas decreased last year, de- rate, according the DPS Uniform The crime rate dropoed in every porting program also collects ir iTexas decreased last year, de spite a 2.6 percent increase in |erall crime, the Department of Iblic Safety reported Monday. ! |The murder rate in Texas topped to seven per 100,000 peo ple in 1996, the lowest since 1965’s 7,5 per 100,000. The total number |murders in 1996 was 1,476, a |,9 percent decrease from 1995. * |“Except for a slight increase in te number of aggravated assaults K percent) reported, all cate- _ ies of violent crime were down arly 1 percent last year,” said Col. dley M. Thomas, DPS Director. Property crimes, including bur ry, theft and motor vehicle theft, e 3 percent from 1995 to 1996 and pushed up the overall crime rate, according the DPS Uniform Crime Reporting records. The other index crimes, and percentage change in total num ber reported in 1996, are: — Rape, down 1.8 percent. —^Aggravated assault, up 0.2 percent. — Robbery, down 2.6 percent. — Burglary, up 0.8 percent. —Motor vehicle theft, down 0.01 percent. Taken together, the number of all index crimes reported for 1996 was 1,091,878. That was a 2.6 per cent increase from 1995. The index crime rate, or number of major crimes committed per 100,000 population, rose 0.4 percent overall to 5,708.3, the DPS reported. The crime rate dropped in every major category, except property crime, which rose 0.9 percent. The estimated value of proper ty taken during the commission of index crimes in 1996 was more than $1.3 billion. Law enforce ment agencies recovered $547 million in stolen property. The number of arrests of juve niles increased 1.7 percent, ac cording to DPS. “While the number of crimes was up last year, so was the number of arrests made by Texas law en forcement officers,” Thomas said. Overall arrests were up 1.4 percent while drug arrests were up 4.5 percent. The state’s uniform crime re porting program also collects in formation on hate crimes, which increased 7.7 percent in 1996 to 350, and family violence reports, which went up 3.4 percent to 178,389. Hate crimes are defined as those motivated by prejudice and hatred and can be based on race, religion, ethnicity or sexual orien tation. The largest percentage of hate crimes reports were racial in nature, while the second most commonly reported motivation was sexual ori entation, according to DPS. Of family violence crimes, as saults account for 98 percent of all offenses, according to the agency. iPARATisjs Captives fear death at hands of invaders intinued from Page 1 She group’s members contend toy are the legitimate government «xas, which they say was illegally Ixed as a state in 1845. Texas was jidependent republic from 1836 B45. jlclaren’s news release called on fins to push for a referendum to Idewhether they want to become independent nation. hope this unfortunate incident pe used to reach more people as lhat their Constitution is about, It their government officials are pgand about human rights.” He has compared his situation to Ideadly government standoffs at io, Texas and Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Members have waged what legis ts term “paper terrorism” by fil- Ibogus liens against Texans and [lie officials. for months, bodyguards have lected McLar en as he holed up in IDavis Mountains while deputies jted to serve outstanding war- is, one stemming from a burglary jrge, another from his failure to jear for a federal court hearing, jhorities have said the warrants |e not a top priority. ALPINE (AP) —The West Texas couple held hostage for 12 hours by three armed members of the Republic of Texas said Monday they believed their captors were willing to kill them. Joe and Margaret Ann Rowe, both 51, said two men and one woman, all dressed in battle-style fatigues, shot their way through their front door about noon Sunday. “It wasn’t an empty threat. If somebody will come shooting in your door, they mean it,” Mrs. Rowe said at a news conference Monday outside Big Bend Re gional Medical Center. Wounded in the right shoulder by shrapnel, Rowe was in stable condition Monday at the Alpine hospital. Mrs. Rowe was not injured. The Rowes were released to Jeff Davis County Sheriff Steve Bailey and two deputies, who were allowed into the house about midnight. In exchange, authorities freed Robert Jonathan Scheidt, a Republic member arrested early Sunday on a weapons violation, Department of Pub lic Safety spokesperson Laureen Chernow said. “I honestly hated to see the law enforcement give up somebody they had arrested that morning to secure our release,” Rowe said. Rowe and Richard McLaren, the self-styled “ambas sador” of the Republic ofTexas, have a history of bad blood. For several years, McLaren has battled his neighbors about the way the Davis Mountain Resort homeown ers’ association was spending the annual fees it col lected from resort lot owners. Rowe has headed the homeowners’ association. Rowe, an outspoken critic of McLaren and the Re public, said he feels authorities must move in on the or ganization and end the community’s problems. “For the last several months, residents have been hoping some group of law enforcement would go in there,” he said. Mrs. Rowe said she would support bloodshed if it meant eliminating the Republic. “I don’t care what hap pens to them,” she said. The Rowes’ home was invaded about noon Sunday, 45 minutes after their son and daughter-in-law left. Rowe said three invaders, armed with assault-style rifles, crouched behind cars and other cover outside while he stood by his front door with a 9mm pistol, watching them advance. The three called to him that he was under arrest and must surrender. One man then shot three times, shattering a glass storm door and splintering the front door, the shrap nel wounding Rowe. Mrs. Rowe said one of the men then stormed the door, pushed his gun barrel in her husband’s face and forced Rowe to lay down his pistol. Rowe said he had “a perfectly good shot” at one of the three, but he did not fire. “I would have, but to be quite honest I figured if I shot one, I’d never be able get all three of them,” he said. The Rowes said they were not abused during their cap tivity and were never bound or otherwise physically re strained. Mrs. Rowe, who is in training as an emergency medical technician, tended to her husband’s wounds. Rowe said the leader of the group claimed to be on a military mission. Mrs. Rowe said she and her husband spoke with their captors throughout the evening and that she served them leftover lasagna. 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