Happs Page 8A STATE Thursday, February 8« r i THE BATTALION Teenage girl wanted for capital murdei TEXAS CITY(AP) — An 18-year-old Hitch cock girl wanted on capital murder charges re mained in the Galveston County Jail Wednesday after eluding authorities for more than a year. Teresa Moreno Dennis of Hitchcock was ap prehended on Friday in El Salvador, where au thorities say she had been staying with a relative of her newborn baby’s father for four months. Dennis was certified to stand trial as an adult at the age of 17, in connection with the August 1999 murder of 40-year-old Johnny Owens Jr. His body was found in a room at a Texas City motel, where he had been stabbed more than 30 times and robbed. Details of Dennis’ activities in El Salvador were not available. “The capture was the result of an investigation being conducted locally,” said FBI agent Bob Doguim said in Wednesday’s editions of the Texas City Sun. “The investigation determined that she was in El Salvador. At that point, our guys sent the lead to Interpol and they worked to find her.” Dennis was indicted on one charge of aggra vated robbery and capital murder after she was ar rested within the week of the murder. Abo\J was considered an accomplice in connection I the murder pleaded guilty. He is now servings! year prison term. She was labeled a fugitive in May whenshtf not appear for a hearing. Through a series of leads, police and FBIasi| tracked her to El Salvador. Along the way, she became pregnantar child. She has other children who are stayi a guardian in Houston, said Sgt. Brian Goetsj who spearheaded the murder investigation. Federal asbestos case News in Brief results in conviction HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston man is facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after a jury convicted him of failing to com ply with regulations governing as bestos removal and using undocu mented immigrants to do improper clandestine removal work. Federal authorities said the con viction Tuesday of Eric Kung-Shou Ho, 48, concluded a six-day trial and came in the first federal asbestos criminal case prosecuted in Texas. Ho was convicted of failing to file with the Texas Department of Health the required notice of intent to reno vate and disturb asbestos-laced ma terial and failing to adhere with En vironmental Protection Agency rules covering work practices. The case involved renovation of an abandoned Houston hospital from December 1997 to March 1998. Ho was accused of hiring undoc umented workers from Mexico to scrape fireproofing that contained as bestos from metal beams in the build ing. Prosecutors said he also ih- structed the workers to work at night to avoid detection, failed to warn them of the dangers of asbestos ex posure and failed to provide them with adequate protection from expo sure to asbestos. A March 1998 explosion at the worksite led to an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and uncovered the il legal asbestos abatement work. In April 1999, Ho and two of his corporations were fined $1.1 million for violating federal workplace rules regarding asbestos. Last August, the Texas Depart ment of Health served him with a no tice of violations of state laws cover ing asbestos removal. Ho settled that case by paying a $44,500 fine. Lawmakers push for university in southern Dallas school officials said. West said the bill has a stn chance of passing, with 27of| senators as co-authors. Joness he also expects many co-sp DALLAS (AP) — If two state law makers have their way, southern Dallas County eventually will have a full-fledged four-year university. Sen. Royce West and Rep. Jesse Jones, both Dallas Democrats, plan to introduce a bill that would create the University of North Texas at Dal las out of the UNT System Center. The center, located in an office park near Interstate 20, currently is a satellite campus of the University of North Texas in Denton. “Now, it’s in the embryonic stage,” West said. “With the pass ing of the bills, the university ac tually will be born." The school began offering classes a year ago, and now serves 574 students taking ju nior,- senior and graduate-level courses- in a variety of degree programs. By 2007, the branch should have 5,000 students, Houston man fails in robbery attemp HOUSTON (AP) —Alone! man’s attempted robbery southwest Houston superma failed early Wednesday whenj lice arrived, authorities said. Houston police spokesm Martin DeLeon said the man entered an HEB Pantry s:;j shortly before it was to oper ; a.m. apparently fled the scs when officers showed up ments later. The nine employees in! store were unharmed gunfire was reported,-.Del said. Officers were told the' was armed with a handg. pointed it at one of the woiif and demanded she open' store safe. Chris cia-A ( Aviation student, instructor killed in eras! I|By M DENISON (AP) — An aviation student and his instructor were killed Tuesday evening when their plane crashed during a training Bight over Lake Texoma, authorities said. Lynn C. Mathew, 19, of Mesquite and John Ja cob Marcum, 20, of Baker City, Ore., were killed when the two-seat Cessna 152 collided with a sec ond plane, said SE Oklahoma spokeswoman Pam Mauldin. Marcum was a certified aviation instructor for Southeast Oklahoma University, which runs the largest aerospace program in Oklahoma. The two were on a routine training Bight when the crash oc curred, Mauldin said. The second plane, a Cessna 172, landed safe ly in Sherman after the collision. The aircraft was based out of Dallas' Addison Airport. The occupants of that plane, Jeoffrey Reese and Nicholas Woodyard, were not injured. Reese re potted a large gash in his fuselage, said John Clabes, The L I Al Iveran ^ptituti a spokesman for the FA A in Oklahoma Cit). •Cpand Reese said he felt something strike his plafpartic “It was just a little before 6 p.m. and we dg Mi about to head back to Addison when we fellBm'ht; Reese said. f^yshare Reese said he was fairly sure s