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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2003)
GGI ^t NATION lATT Allf THE BATTALION 5 A Thursday, November 13, 2003 HAVE YOU RECEIVED DEFERRED ADJUDICATION? SEAL YOUR CRIMINAL RECORD FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE Gunman, two dead in police standoff - cookie-® shesii ie ban >t mesmeu s made, o-friendh " Jordan" ipleonilsp! conveys i 5he Paints ugh Part" from On pproadioti phasis on: ino.Thelffl waling, at ned vocals, ienatedha tong verseii: he range r. Somet on its elect me of die !e ce” seems Is im, becau! By Bobby Ross Jr. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DALLAS — For the second time in less than three months, Francisco Fuentes held police at bay in a standoff that lasted hours. Unlike his peaceful surrender before, Wednesday’s standoff ended with Fuentes and two other men dead and four officers wounded. Fuentes held a woman and three children — at least two of them his — hostage for nine hours before freeing them unharmed during the nine-hour standoff, police said. Officers rescued four other children when they responded to reports of gunfire at the apartment early Wednesday. Three officers were shot then. SWAT team officers entered the apart ment after Fuentes, 32, released the final hostage, a little girl, shortly before noon. Barricaded in a bathroom, the gunman again opened fire, injuring a fourth officer, police spokesman Sgt. Gil Cerda said. “They returned fire on him,” Cerda said. Fuentes broke into the apartment about 2:45 a.m.. He fatally shot Mario Rios, 30, once in the chest with a shotgun, according to a police report. Fuentes went into the bedroom where the woman and John Watson, 31, had been sleep ing and shot Watson in the head, the report said. Fuentes then barricaded himself in the bedroom with the hostages. The report identified the woman, who was not named, as Fuentes’ wife. Acquaintances described her as his ex-wife. In early September, Fuentes was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a five-hour standoff in the near by suburb of Lancaster. Lancaster police Commander Pat Stallings said Fuentes barri caded himself alone in a house after shooting at Watson’s car. Fuentes and Watson had argued earlier that day about Fuentes’ chil dren at the apartment com plex where Wednesday’s standoff occurred. Geoff Wool, spokesman for the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, said the agency was called out to the family’s home two times this year, once over a custody dispute. In neither instance, was Fuentes the alleged perpetra tor, Wool said. Fuentes was facing at least four charges in Dallas County, including two for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, interfering with child custody and violation of a protective order. He was free on $25,000 bond in each of the assault cases and was scheduled to appear in court next week, records show. Sandy Besanceney, a friend of the Rios family, said his mother was distraught over the slaying. Of Fuentes, she said, “I heard he had threatened he was going to do this, but nobody believed he’d do it.” We were real fortunate and lucky that none of these officers... are in real serious condition. Upon their arrival early Wednesday, police saw a body on the living room floor and children gathered around it, police spokesman Senior Cpl. Chris Gilliam said. The said. They heard “a gurgling or choking sound” in an adjoining bedroom. Fuentes fired a shotgun as officers tried to enter the bedroom — one blast apparently hitting all three as they attempted to squeeze through the door, Gilliam said. Police did not return fire and fled the apartment with the children. “They ran out and told us to run,” said neighbor Darrell Davis, 42, wrapped in a yellow poncho near a gate at the Meadow Parc Apartments. “We ran all the way down here.” “It wasn’t scary,” he added, “until they walked into the apartment and the guy started shooting.” All the wounded officers — Edward Coffey, Michael Flusche, Michael Patino and Douglas Brady — were hospital ized in good condition and their injuries are not life-threatening, authorities said. “We were real fortunate and lucky that none of these officers right now are in real serious condition,” Cerda said. “Obviously this brings to light what kind of danger police officers place themselves in. It may not happen for several months or even a year, but then all of a sudden today we get four officers who were hit,” he said. — Sgt. Gil Cerda police spokesman tew sounds d “Dow! om theta: 1 school i is still K Elmi U.S. Senate readying for all-night talkathon By Jesse J. Holland THE ASSOCIATED PRESS unis afterds r home* nt of 3^: id a b ig nwi igasi to re| past ttei« : secret Iasi minaryte ;o meet i assess U1.S. er WASHINGTON — The Senate readied cots and coffee for a talkathon set to last all Wednesday night on who’s to blame for some of President Bush’s nominees not making it to the federal appeals bench. For 30 straight hours — from Wednesday evening through midnight Thursday Republicans and Democrats will condemn each other in 30-min utes face-offs over four filibus tered U.S. Appeals Court nomi nees: Alabama Attorney General HWliam Pryor, Texas judge Priscilla Owen, Mississippi judge Charles Pickering and Hispanic lawyer Miguel Estrada. Democrats have refused to allow confirmation votes, and Republicans have not been able to get the 60 votes to force them in a Senate split with 51 GOP senators, 48 Democrats and one independent. Frustrated at the delays, Estrada withdrew his nomination in September. Republicans hope the all-night Senate session — the first to go past 4 a.m. since 1992 — will publicize the blocked nominees. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told reporters Wednesday that 12 to 15 senators All-night Senate sessions The top ten all-night sessions since 1915 where the Senate stayed in HFL session past 4 a.m.: RANK YEAR ISSUE DURATION 1 1960 Civil rights 125 hours, 16 minutes 2 1988 Senate Election Campaign Act 57 hours, 24 minutes 3 1915 Ship Purchase Act 54 hours, 10 minutes 4 1948 Closing session 44 hours, 14 minutes 5 1957 Civil rights debate 38 hours, 59 minutes 6 1982 Appropriations for fiscal year 1983 37 hours, 51 minutes 7 1927 Resolution to continue investigation of Frank L. Smith-William S. Vare election cases 37 hours, 2 minutes 8 1978 Closing session 34 hours, 16 minutes 9 1992 Tax bill 33 hours, 35 minutes 10 1980 Selective Service 32 hours, 43 minutes SOURCE: Associated Press AP had requested cots so they could nap near the Senate floor. And in a preview of the arguments they will use, he and other Republican senators said the Democratic blockade of votes on the judges would come back to haunt them. “This is a step off a cliff, because it will be answered in kind,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “And the real winner of this process is special interest groups,” who will be able to prevail by mustering a minority — 41 senators — to block Senate action. Democrats say they’re look ing forward to 15 free hours to criticize the president and the GOP on the economy, problems in Iraq and Bush’s choices for key judgeships. The two sides plan to split the 30 hours and trade shifts so that there will be a senator from each party on the floor at all times. Because Senate rules require agreement from both sides to quickly confirm a nominee, the GOP can’t force a confirmation vote as long as a Democrat is present on the floor to object. But if they fall asleep or stop paying attention, Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said, the GOP will imme diately confirm the nominees. “They’re forewarned: If the floor is not protected, the vote will be” called, Santorum said. “We are going to do everything we can to do what they’re doing, ratchet ing up the intensity on this issue.” In turn, Daschle said, if Republicans stop paying atten tion, they will immediately pass Democratic legislation like a bill to raise the minimum wage or one to create a tax credit to stimulate creation of manufacturing jobs. UNT fraternity suspended for hazing incident DENTON, Texas (AP) — Members of a University of North Texas fraternity, suspend ed for hazing, are sought by police in connection with alco hol violations. UNT police have issued arrest warrants for six Sigma Alpha Epsilon members for furnishing alcohol to minors, Deputy Chief Ed Reynolds said Wednesday. Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s national headquarters has imposed a four-year suspension on the UNT chapter after police found a freshman pledge uncon scious near a trash bin on Oct. 12. University officials determined the student, who required hospi talization, had been drinking at a fraternity event and that the fra ternity was in violation of its own policy and the school’s. The national fraternity head quarters imposed an additional four-year suspension of the affil iations of the chapter’s UNT members. The UNT fraternity, under the suspension, cannot hold meetings, participate in service projects or accept new members. Reynolds said the warrants were issued as a part of the crim inal investigation of the October event that also resulted in the fraternity’s suspension from the university. “These are six of the fraterni ty members who played a signif icant role in making the alcohol available,” Reynolds told the Denton Record-Chronicle in Wednesday’s online edition. 12 o pin Aggieland Ducks Unlimited 5 th Annual Banquet 5 November 13 th Doors open @ 6:00 pm, Dinner @ 7:00 pm Brazos Center n/4 mile east of Hwv 6. on Briarcrest) Tickets at Cavender’s, Baskin’s, Burdett and Son’s, and Champion Firearms, Or Just get them at the Door gnnW $25 - National Membership & Dinner hy $40 - Couples (2 Dinners, 1 National Membership) pm 501 $15 - Dinner Only jking gduc Live Auction, Silent Auction Raffles, Door Prizes BBQ Dinner “The Oklahoma City National Memorial: How the public process of a memorial affects collective and personal loss” Monday, November 17, 2003 Room 226, MSC, 7:00 p.m. A s Texas A&M continues designing and building the Bonfire memorial, weturn to the Oklahoma City National Memorial, and its co-designer, Prof. Hans Butzer, for insight into this process . Using the Oklahoma City National Memorial as a model, Prof. Butzer will address how the public process of designing and building a memo rial can help individu- As of September 1, 2003, individuals who have completed deferred adjudica tion probation can petition for an order prohibiting the public disclosure of the details of the deferred adjudication probation. Neither prospective employers, landlords nor anyone performing a criminal background search will have access to the details of your deferred adjudication probation. You may legally deny the arrest and prosecution, unless it is being used in a subsequent proceeding. The new law applies to misdemeanor and felony charges. Depending on the nature of the charge, you may be eligible to file immediately upon completion of the deferred adjudication. Some misdemeanors will qualify after 5 years while some felonies will qualify 10 years after completion of deferred adjudi cation probation. Some offenses will not qualify. 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