The Galveston Daily News from Galveston, Texas • Page 7

Page 8-A Call Heber Taylor, 744-3611 or 986-7711, Ext. 245 OURCOUNTY Friday April 5,1996 line County The public is invited to discuss projects being considered for nomination to the Texas Department of Transportation's Statewide Transportation Enhancement Program. The Houston-Galveston Area Council wilt have a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the council's Conference Room 3555 Timmons Lane, Houston. The Enhancement Program involves projects that were not previously included in transportation budgets.

For information, call Susan Brennan at (713) 627-3200, Ext. 456, or write to the area council at P.O. Box 22777, Houston, 77227-2777. Dickinson Dickinson High School is having a Spring Fling Style Show Luncheon to benefit the school "Project Prom." The event is at 11:30 a.m. Monday at the Harbour Playhouse, 3803 state Highway 3.

Tickets are $12. Senior class models will wear prom fashions by Pleshettes and casual fashions by Melissa Rice Co. Call Kay Swint (713) 534-4209, Dickinson High School, (713) 5346800; Treble Orr, (713) 337-5406; or Kaaren The Laffite Society will present a Round-Table discussion with Louise Nichols of Yesterday's Books, a Galveston bookstore specializing in out-of-print works, on Gulf Coast history at 7 p.m. Monday, at Eiband's Gallery, 22nd and Postoffice Streets. Visitors are welcome.

Ball High School Band Boosters annual baked potato dinner is from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Ball High cafeteria. You can dine in or take out. The cost is $5 and includes a baked potato with all the trimmings and iced tea.

Proceeds benefit Ball High Band activities. The event includes a raffle for a 55- gallon-drum barbecue pit and a silent auction. For tickets, contact any band member or call 744-8664. The Noon Optimist Club of Galveston will have its 56th Annual Youth Oratorical Contest at 10 a.m. on April 13 at the Fort Crockett Campus of Galveston College.

The deadline for entry is Monday. All people born on or after Jan. 1, 1980 are eligible to speak at the contest. There will be a boys division and a girls division, and the top three finishers in each division will be awarded Olympic-style medallions. The first-place winners in each division will be eligible to speak at this area's zone contest, and the winners at the zone contest are eligible to compete for $1,500 scholarships at The Southeast Texas Optimist District Contest on May 4.

The official topic for this year's contest is: "Now Is The Time." For details, contact Contest Chairman Robert Bastien at 763-2454. The deadline for ordering tickets to the Galveston Chamber of Commerce's candidate's breakfast is Thursday. The breakfast is at 7:30 a.m. April 16 at the San Luis Resort and Conference Center. Tickets are $12 and are on sale at the chamber office.

To order tickets, contact Cindy Schulz at 763-5326, Ext. 158. Ball High teachers on Monday will attend a block scheduling training session, which will be implemented in the fall. All other students and teachers in the Galveston school district will have a holiday Monday. PICE "The X-fites:" The murders of two policemen are linked to an 8- year-old girl, the reincarnated spirit of a corrupt officer seeking revenge, at 8 p.m.

on Fox. City Council makes acting city secretary permanent By MARK HOLAN The Daily News The City Council on Thursday hired Barbara Lawrence as city secretary. The council also passed an ordinance restricting the use of some tax revenue and agreed to hire a consultant to fix a leaking water line underneath Galveston Bay. City secretary Lawrence, 56, was hired as assistant city secretary in August 1994 and has served as acting city secretary since Anna Lee retired at the end of last year. A final salary was not determined GALVESTON Thursday, but the range is $30.000 to $35,000 annually.

Charter ordinance The ordinance restricting the use of tax revenue was tied to passage of a proposed amendment to the city charter. If it is approved by voters May 4 the proposed amendment would repeal a mandatory reduction of city property tax with a portion of the city's sales tax. Such a move would open the way for the newly elected council to raise prop- erty tax by up to 5 percent in the first year. That move would generate an additional $400,000 for the city. Under the ordinance passed Thursday night, the additional money would have to be used for capital assets, the city's insurance pool or reserve accounts for emergencies such as a hurricane.

Interim City Manager Bern Ewert gave the council a report showing the city needs $6.1 million for short- and long-term capital needs. Those needs include traffic lights, street signs, police cars and street sweepers. Water line The council also approved spending $10,000 for a consultant to find a permanent solution to a leaking water line underneath Galveston Bay. The line one of two water lines to the city ruptured March 11 and was clamped a few days later. However, the line still has a slow leak of about 200,000 gallons a day, Public Works Director Carl Schutz said.

The leak is costing the city about $120 a day, he said. Schutz said city water reserves are not threatened. Money for the consultant will come from the water improvement fund. HE'S HOOKED l' A William Samuels of Galveston hauls in a flounder ail over with the recent warm weather. For the fish- he caught near East Beach.

Fishing has picked up ing report, see page 3B. (Photo by Marc Pesetsky) Commissioners fund court By CHAD ERIC WATT The Daily News GALVESTON The Galveston County Commissioners Court on Thursday approved the transfer of $54,000 in unappropriated court funds to cover increased costs of conducting trials. GALVESTON Ed Wells, director of justice administration, said the increasing costs were at least partly attributable to the expense of trying capital cases. The district courts tried three capital murder cases in the past year. Precinct 3 Commissioner Wayne Johnson said a capital murder trial can cost the county about $300,000.

For one of the capital murder trials, the county had to hire two interpreters one for a defendant who did not speak English and another for a deaf juror. In other business, the commissioners authorized the county to seek bids for the reconstruction of Delany Road Janek protests interpreter cost By CHAD ERIC WATT The Daily News GALVESTON County Commissioner Eddie Janek on Thursday again expressed dismay that the county is legally bound to hire interpreters for defendants who do not speak or understand English. The issue came up as a part of the district courts' request for moving $54,000 to cover court costs not originally included in its budget. Of the budget, $10,000 would cover the cost of hiring interpreters. In June, the commissioners approved the hiring of an interpreter for a Span- ish-speaking defendant at a cost of more than $250 a day.

At the time, Janek said he didn't like the county having to absorb the cost of the defendant's not knowing English. "I thinks it's terrible we have to pay all this money for foreigners," he said then. "Why don't we get some of their kinfolk to come in and talk for them?" On Thursday, Janek said he would approve the entire amount but only because it is legally required. 'Tm going to vote yes only because Judge (David) Garner is a good judge and he says to," Janek said. between state Highway 6 and Interstate 45.

While repairs to Delany Road appear to be on the horizon, Hughes Road near Dickinson has a bit longer wait. The commissioners should begin seeking bids for Hughes Road in July or August. The long-awaited repairs to Hughes recently were delayed three weeks because the county's repair plans were lost in transit to the Texas Department of Transportation. The county has since sent another copy of the plans. Man claims girlfriend stabbed him By STEVE MAYO The Daily News GALVESTON A 23-year- old Galveston man told police he was stabbed with a steak knife Wednesday.

According to a police report, the man pressed charges against his girlfriend, a 19-year-old Galveston woman. No arrests had been made Thursday afternoon. The man was stabbed in his right shoulder, the report states. The incident occurred at 1 p.m. in the 200 block of Market Street, the report states.

The man was in stable condition at a University of Texas Medical Branch hospital. Island police Mother beaten GALVESTON Police charged a 46-year-old Galveston man in connection with beating his mother Wednesday. According to the police report, the victim's son had been drinking when the incident occurred. The victim, a 76-year-old Galveston woman, suffered bruises and a swollen left wrist, the report states. The incident occurred at 6:45 p.m.

in the 3900 block of Sealy Avenue, the report states. Police charged the man with injury to the elderly. Bond was set at $10,000. Assault charge GALVESTON Police charged a 32-year-old Galveston man with assault Thursday According to a police report, a 24-year-old Galveston woman told police she was punched and pushed down the stairs. The woman suffered bruises to the face and a cut to her nose, the report states.

The incident occurred at 3:40 a.m. Thursday in the 6400 block of Central City Boulevard, the report states. According to the report, the couple had been arguing. Bond for the isle man was set at $2,000. Candidates from all over apply for Texas City's spot By CHAD ERIC WATT The Daily News TEXAS The city's search for a permanent city attorney has attracted candidates serving in legal departments from small-to-medium size cities across the state of Texas.

TEXAS CITY Candidate list, Page 9-A. Texas City released the list of candidates Thursday after The Galveston County Daily News filed an open records request a week earlier. Texas City officials are in the process of interviewing seven applicants, culled from a larger list of 31 applicants, that meet the city's job description requirements. The city still has the option to interview other applicants, and may interview at least one more candidate before deliberating on the matter. Stipulations in the city charter and the city's job description require applicants to be a practicing attorney in Texas and serve as a city attorney or assistant city attorney at the time of their interviews.

The City Commission lias one candidate left to interview City candidates Candidates currently being interviewed by Texas City Jim Finley, assistant city attorney, Wichita Falls. Mary Kay Fischer, city attorney, Texarkana. Chistopher C. Gilmore, city attorney, China. Lillian Graham, former city attorney, Rosenberg.

Joan Kennedy, assistant city attorney, Irving. Romeo Rodriguez, law office of Romeo Rodriguez. Keith Vaughan, city attorney, Angleton. in its first round of discussions. But before it selects a city attorney, the City Commission must determine whether it prefers hiring an attorney to serve on staff or contracting" out legal matters to a firm.

Carlos Garza, a former commissioner and partner in the law firm of Martin Garza, has served as the city's interim city attorney on a contract basis since S. Lee Wingate, Texas City's most recent internal city attorney, resigned in August. Garza has expressed interest in continuing on as the city's attorney, but only on a contract basis. LaValle resigns from race By CHAD ERIC WATT The Daily News TEXAS sheriff candidate Paul LaValle has withdrawn from race. Incumbent Joe Max Taylor, now unopposed in his bid for re-election, said Thursday the lack of opposition wouldn't end his campaigning.

"Well be asking for a vote of confidence for me and my staff," he said. LaValle cited commitments to his Texas City law practice as the main factor in his decision to bow out, In a statement, LaValle said he decided to withdraw from the race as the Republican Party's nominee "because of unexpected obligations to clients of TEXAS CITY my law practice." He thanked friends, supporters and his campaign staff for their help. It is too late for the Republican Party to nominate a new candidate. "Well have another opportunity in four years," said Cynthia Tauss, Galveston County Republican Party chairwoman. She added that Taylor's strong showing in the Democratic primary and his 39 years of service are signs that county voters approve of the job he has doing.

Taylor defeated Carlos Glaskox in the Democratic primary, taking about 85 percent of the vote. Alvin woman killed in wreck From staff reports A 26-year-old Alvin woman died Wednesday when the car she was driving collided with another car in the 2900 block of FM 517 near Alvin. According to police reports, Cynthia Marie Calvit of Alviiv was driving west on FM £17 at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday when she swerved and skidded off of the road. She lost control of the car and crossed into the eastbound lane, the report said.

Her car slid sideways across the road and struck a car driven by Holly Sullivan, 28, of Sullivan sustained internal injuries and was listed in stable condition at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Both women were wearing seat belts, police said..