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Thursday, November 13, 2003
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Gunman, two dead in police standoff
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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
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U.S. Senate
readying for
all-night
talkathon
By Jesse J. Holland
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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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
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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
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$40 - Couples (2 Dinners, 1 National Membership)
pm 501
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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.
CALL TODAY TO DETERMINE YOUR ELIGIBILITY
FOR AN ORDER OF PUBLIC NONDISCLOSURE
THE LAW OFFICES OF LANE D. THIBODEAUX
(979) 775- 5700
308 N. Washington, Bryan, Texas 77806
Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization
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