The Facts from Clute, Texas • Page 1

Altaian Injured as Cowboys lose Masterpiece Theatre kicks off new season MONDAY Vol. 82, No. 206 Copyright 1995 TK BRAZOSPORT Facts OCTOBER 2, 1995 Clute, Texas 77531 50 cents FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD Washington 27 Pittsburgh 31 Dallas 23 San Diego Jacksonville 17 Kansas City 24 Houston 16 Arizona 3 Miami 26 Cincinnati 23 Seattle 27 Denver 10 San Francisco 20 Atlanta 30 N.Y. Giants 6 New England 17 Trial on hold for fired Angleton officers By Greg Rabel The Brazosport Facts ANGLETON Two former Angleton police sergeants, fired nearly a year ago for bringing alleged prostitutes to a bachelor party, will not go on trial today as expected. The case has been delayed for several months.

The city of Angleton's attorney late last week requested the delay because of a family emergency. Jury selection and testimony in the trial was expected to begin in the 149th District Court in Angleton. City officials, including Police Chief Harry Park and City Administrator Ruth Hertel, along with several police department employees, are expected to be called as witnesses once the trial starts. Former police Sgts. William Price and Melvin Wickey III were suspended Oct.

21, 1994, and fired four days later. Park said the men were fired because of their conduct at a Sept. 15 bachelor'party for another officer. The men later filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming the firings were a violation of the Whistleblower's Act. Both men alleged they were released after bringing allegations of wrongdoing by several city officials to the police chief's attention.

The city received an anonymous letter about the party, claiming that the officers had hired two known local prostitutes to entertain at the party. Once the party began, in a party room of an Angleton apartment complex, one of the women stripped. The officers have testified in a previous court hearing that they never intended the woman to disrobe. In a letter to both officers, Park said the men were fired specifically for violating at least two departmental policies. One rule concerned police officers associating with known felons, and the other violation involved conduct unbecoming an officer.

Sweeny teen killed, 2 hurt iin accident after auto leaves road By Susan Avera Roth The Brazosport Facts SWEENY A 17-year-old Sweeny resident was killed and two area men injured Saturday in a one-car accident near Pledger in Matagorda County. Rene Mendez, a passenger in the vehicle, was pronounced dead at 3:40 a.m. Saturday at Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas Department of Public Safety records show. Mendez' body was taken to the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office. Police records show Mendez was not wearing a seatbelt.

The driver of the car, 23-year- old Ronald Rodriguez of Lake Jackson, is listed in critical condition at Hermann with massive internal injuries. The other passenger, Robert Munoz, 27, of Freeport, is in stable condition with unknown injuries at Matagorda General Hospital in Bay City. DPS Trooper Matt Southaol reported the men were in a 1994 Mazda. The car was traveling northbound on FM 1728, two miles south of Pledger, when the driver ran.off the road. Rodriguez overcorrected and slid into a ditch where the car hit a telephone junction box trapping all three passengers, police records show.

Light to heavy fog was reported at the time of the accident. Funeral services for Mendez will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Sweeny. Burial will be in Sweeny Cemetery. Friends may call today from 10 a.m.

to 8 p.m. at Baker Funeral Home in West Columbia. A Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. today. IN TODAY'S FACTS percent chance of northeast 15-20 rri0h sorf gusty, highs In the 2A jobs and than any other Playoff road too rocky for Astros AP photo Colorado Rockies first baseman Andres Galarraga celebrates after the Rockies beat the Giants to clinch the National League wildcard playoff spot in Denver on Sunday.

The Rockies will face the Atlanta Braves in a best-of-flve game series that begins in Denver on Tuesday. The Astros beat the Chicago Cubs 8-7 Sunday, but needed a loss by the Rockies to force a one-game playoff. See details in Sports, Page IB. Sheik, disciples found guilty in terror plots Tropical Storm Opal keeps Gulf states on edge GRAND ISLE, La. (AP) As Tropical Storm Opal churns in the Gulf, residents in coastal areas keep their eyes toward the skies.

At 7 p.m. CDT Sunday, the storm was located near 20.7 north latitude, 91.9 west longitude, or about 145 miles west of Merida, Mexico. After remaining nearly stationery for most of the weekend, it had resumed a drift to the west late Sunday. Forecasters expect the storm to turn gradually toward the northwest today, but are urging caution for interests along the entire Gulf coast. "Basically, we're suggesting everyone just monitor the situation closely," said Brian Maher, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

"We still think it will take a northwest track toward the Texas-Louisiana area, but it's still a little to early to tell." Meanwhile, the residents of Louisiana's only populated barrier island know what to do when a tropical storm churns in the Gulf of Mexico. If they don't really have to evacuate, they go fishing. On Sunday the island's families and swelling numbers of savvy visitors lined up and dow'n its coastline, reeling in scores of red- fish. As expected, schools of fish had swum close to shore and its inlets seeking protection from Tropical Storm Opal still way out in the Gulf. "It was a delight to see people haul in these big redfish at a time we thought Opal was going to kiss our shorelines," said Grand Isle Mayor Andy Valence.

Valence held off on a planned mandatory evacuation of the island Sunday after an early morning meeting with other city officials and emergency personnel. About 350 residents left on their, own Saturday, when rising tides were threatening the only road linking Grand Isle with the Louisiana mainland. Another 20 people left Sunday. But officially the 1,452 year- round residents here are on "cautious alert" until the storm's direction is more firmly determined. "Some people come to Grand Isle especially for that purpose they know when there is a disruption in the Gulf, the fish seek the protection of the bayous and interior bays," Valence said.

The fish knows it, but so does the Louisiana fishermen." By Larry Neumeister Associated Press NEW YORK Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine other militant Muslims were convicted Sunday of conspiring to wage a holy war against the United States with a string of terrorist bombings and assassinations. The federal jury also convicted one defendant, El Sayyid Nosair, of killing extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1990 as part of the larger conspiracy. The assassination was once described as an isolated attack by a crazed gunman but prosecutors later called it the opening blow in a "war of urban terrorism." The jurors, who had deliberated for a week, looked tired as their verdict was read. Most of the defendants looked on sternly, but one smirked and another repeatedly yelled in Arabic, "Allahu Akbar!" or "God is after jurors left the room. Abdel-Rahman kept his head bowed, as he had throughout the trial while listening to an interpreter through headphones.

He tried to comfort his lawyer, Lynne Stewart, as she cried. Afterward, she told reporters that the blind cleric said he's not the first person to go to prison for his beliefs and he won't be the last. Lawyers for the defendants said all will appeal. The verdict concluded a nine- month trial that brought more than 200 witnesses and hundreds of exhibits to a heavily guarded Manhattan courthouse patrolled daily by a bomb-sniffing dog. Facing a rarely used Civil War- era seditious conspiracy charge, the defendants were accused of plotting to force the United States Airports placed on alert status WASHINGTON (AP) Airports; act en ati were ordered into the highest state of security since the Persian Gulf War on Sunday as a defense against possible terrorist attacks.

Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena didn't cite any specific threats in issuing the order, saying only, "Based on several current and future events, more security measures are now warranted." But a department official said the increased security was related to several sensitive events a group of militant Muslims being found guilty Sunday in a New York terrorism trial, the signing of a Mideast peace treaty last week, the. visit this week by Pope John Paul II and the United Nations' 50th anniversary celebration this month. to stop supporting Israel and Egypt, two enemies of militant Muslims. "Terrorism is real. It is here.

It is in this courtroom," Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told the jury. He also said Abdel- Rahman called the United States "the No. 1 enemy of Islam." The plot's centerpiece was a plan to set off five bombs in 10 minutes, blowing up the United Nations, the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, the George Washington Bridge and a federal building housing the FBI, the government charged. The sheik and Nosair face life in prison at their January sentenc- ings; the rest face 20 to 30 years.

Hospital program focuses on personal attention By Susan Avera Roth The Brazosport Facts LAKE JACKSON Brazos- port Memorial Hospital is breaking new ground in the changing world of health care by setting up a revamped patient care program that focuses on more personal attention. About 70 people attended a kick-off party Sunday afternoon to introduce the new guest services associate and health-care technician job classifications. A guest services associate is a multi-skilled employee who can perform personal care service including food service, housekeeping and personal assistance and support. The associate is also trained in motivational skills. The associate is trained for a variety of non-clinical tasks performed traditionally by nurses.

Twelve guest services associates have been appointed under the first phase of the program, with no immediate plans to hire more. The health care technician will provide low-level, clinical testing and care including personal hygiene, electrocardiograms, drawing blood, simple wound care and checking vital signs. Technician training should be complete in about six weeks. The goal of the program is reduce the number of employees a patient comes in contact with while staying at the hospital. The associate and the technician jobs are designed to incorporate a vari- ety of skills into two positions.

"It used to be that much of the nurse's time was taken up by performing many non-clinical activities like making beds, stocking rooms and providing personal services," said Lisa Schaubroeck, third-floor nurse manager. The program allows nurses to return to the duties for which they were trained. All associates will wear a ognizable uniform consisting of black slacks, black shoes, a gray and white pin-stripe shirt and apron. During meal times, the associate will use a burgundy apron over the regular uniform to indicate to the patient a change from personal service to food service. Facts photo: Dwight C.

Andrews CARE-GIVERS: Evelyn Hale of Lake Jackson, a BMH patient, receives special care from program graduates Michelle Lemolne, left, and Penni Haire. "I.