The Monitor from McAllen, Texas • 18

2C Wednesday, April 28, 1999 THE MONITOR, McAllen, Texas EDUCATION Obituaries Administrator: Citations may shut down South Texas High rection Catholic Church of Alamo. Burial will follow at St. Joseph Cemetery in Alamo. De Leon Funeral Home of Pharr is in charge of arrangements. DEATH NOTICES DONNA Funeral arrangements for Cornelia C.

Elias, 96, who died Tuesday, April 27, 1999, are pending with Hawkins Funeral Home of Welsaco. our principal told us that if you're a contract employee, then the school district will honor your contract," a special education teacher said. 'You have a job for one more but they said, 'We can't guarantee to you that it would be at this Schraer said he was surprised that the district was cited for LRE violations because it had taken steps to correct the problem when it came up in the 1996 visit. For example, he said, the district adopted a strict LRE policy under which it monitored students closely to make sure they were returned to their home district as soon as they were ready. In addition, the district made arrangements to have special education students bused to extracurricular activities in their home districts.

However, Dr. Gloria Kury, a nationally certified school psychologist and a consultant in special education, said the district should not have been surprised about the second LRE violation. "They had taken no action to incorporate regular education children with those special education children," said Kury, Who was among a roundtable of parents interviewed during the state team's visit. "In order to be in compliance with the law, you must offer a full continuum of services." pose was to provide education for disabled students who were then exclijded from public schools. Schraer gave South Texas school district board members the team's findings at a regular board meeting Tuesday night.

He said it ultimately would be up to the school board to decide whether to close the school. But changes would have to be implemented, he said. "There is a possibility we may have to dp things differently," Schraer said. When interviewed before the meeting, Schraer said the district should receive the state team's official written citations in the next 45 days and will have as many days to prepare a plan of action. Schraer suggested in the interview that instead of fighting the team's 'findings in court, the district should redirect its students to the district's magnet schools in Mer- cedes.

However, at the school board meeting, he told the board members it was "premature to even suggest" diverting students from South Texas High School-San Benito to other schools in the district. Teachers at South Texas High School, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing their jobs, said it seemed clear to them the school would close. They had been informed of the state team's findings at a staff meeting Friday. "The assistant superintendent and By MICHELLE M. MARTINEZ Valley Morning Star SAN BENITO South Texas High School-San Benito could shut its doors to special education students in the near future, an administrator with the South Texas school district confirmed Tuesday.

The possibility of the school closing comes after the district was cited for the second time Friday for violating a federal law that requires that its special education students be placed in a learning environment with non-special education students. The district was first cited by the federal Office of Special Education Programming in 1996 for violating least restrictive environment, or LRE, requirements, which mandate that special education students be integrated with students who are not in special education. "We have tried our best," South Texas Superintendent Ron Schraer said. "We have given our very best efforts to meet some very challenging standards regarding LRE, and we have been wanting." The LRE criticism was the main citation the district received last week from state's District Effectiveness and Compliance team, which visits schools about every six years to ensure that they are following federal and state guidelines for students in special programs. The South Texas Independent School District was created in 1963 as a rehabilitation district.

Its pur- CRIME and wife Marlee of San Antonio, and Jim Green and wife Kathy, also of San Antonio; his grandchildren. Chuck Green and wife to be Tracey Kaufman, Mike Green and his wife Toni, and great-granddaughter Madison Marie Green, and C'ann Shannon Green, all of Baytown, T.J. Green of San Antonio, Tennille Green of College Station, and James Green of San Antonio; one sister, Olivia Kirby of Weslaco; and nieces and nephews, Nancy Fischer of San Antonio, Eugina Harrell and Louisa Donoghue, both of Austin, and Marie Halff, Steve Wood and Ted Wood, all of San Antonio. Funeral service will be held today, April 28, 1999, at 3 p.m. at the Grace Episcopal Church in Weslaco.

Pallbearers will be his loving grandchildren. Friends who wish may make memorial contributions to the Grace Episcopal, Church of Weslaco, the American Lung Association or the charity of their choice. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of McCaleb Funeral Home in Weslaco. ISMAEL 'HOMER' SANDOVAL ALAMO Ismael "Homer" Sandoval, 25, died Sunday, April 25, 1999, at McAllen Medical Center. He is preceded in death by his brother, Lorenzo Sandoval III in 1991.

He is survived by his loving parents, Lorenzo III and Margarita Sandoval of Alamo; three sisters, Isabel Gamez (Audias), Elizabeth Sandoval and Leticia Negrete (Jose); and two brothers, Ricardo Sandoval and Jaime Sandoval, all of Alamo. A rosary will be held at 7 p.m. today, Wednesday, April 28, 1999, at De Leon Funeral Home. Funeral Mass will be held at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, April 29, 1999, at Resur THOMAS CLIFTON HOLDER WACO Gfaveside services were held Wednesday, April 21, 1999, at Oakwood Cemetery in Waco, for infant Thomas Clifton Holder.

He is survived by his parents, Dan and Lisa of Hewitt; a sister Heather Holder; a brother, Justin Holder; maternal grandparents, Rosie and Bill Hygueley of McAllen, and Wally and Anna Acevedo of McAllen; paternal grandparents, Len and Patty Holder of McAllen; and paternal great-grandmother, Greorgia Goodenough of Pharr. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Pecan Grove Funeral Home in Waco. OVA BELLE DASKAM McALLEN Ova Belle Daskam, 73, died Monday, April 26, 1999, at Rio Grande Regional Hospital. Mrs. Daskam was born in Tompkinsville, and had lived in the McAllen and Pharr areas for many years.

She was a nurse. Survivors include her husband, Buddy L. Daskam of Pharr; one son, James Michael "Mike" Kennedy of Green Bay, two daughters, Janet Free of Colorado City, Texas and June Prescott of Yukon, eight grandchildren, seven greatgrandchildren; one sister, Effie Mae Shaw of Louisville, and one brother, Earl William Moore of Cythiana, Kentucky. Funeral services wilj be held at 10 a.m. Thursday; April 29, 1999, at Kreidler Funeral Home on N.

10th Street in McAllen. Burial will foU low at Palm Valley Memorial Gardens Cemetery on Sugar Road in Pharr. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, 21 1 Daffodil, McAllen, Texas 78501.: Services were entrusted to the care of Kreidler Funeral Home, Inc. in McAllen. NOTICE: Death notices and funeral announcements are provided free of charge by The Monitor as a public service.

For families who want a complete story, inlcuding photograph; an obituary is available for a nominal charge. Information will be accepted only from an established funeral home. The deadline is 3 pm. daily. For information on obituaries and billing, call 686-4343 and contact Yoli Garza at ext.

297. 6 arrested on counterfeiting charges By MARY MORENO Valley Morning Star HARLINGEN Six Harlingen residents were arrested Tuesday for possession of more than $20,000 in counterfeit money after a woman tried to pass a fake bill at a fast food restaurant. Narcotics officers discovered approximately $20,780 in counterfeit bills, mostly in $50 and $20 denominations, and more than 300 pounds of marijuana in a Harlingen residence, police said. The counterfeit bills were discovered by police when Roxanne Maria Nino, 37, allegedly attempted to use a fake $20 bill at the Jack in the Box restaurant at 322 S. 77.

Nino also asked the F.DCOUCH Funeral arrangements for Eloisa B. Lomas, 86, who died Monday, April 26, 1999, at her residence in Aurora, are pending and will be announced by Guerra Funeral Home of Elsa. FUNERALS TODAY El.SA Funeral services for Alvaro Leija will be held today, April 28. 1999, at Theresa Catholic Church. Burial will follow at Highland Memorial Park.

Arrangements are under the direction of Guerra uneral Home of Weslaco. PHARR Funeral services for Jikina Garate Duran, 71, who died Monday, April 26, 1999, at her residence, will be held at 3 p.m. today, Wednesday, April 28, 1999, at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Pharr. Burial will follow at Palm Valley Memorial Gardens in Pharr.

Funeral services are under the direction of Memorial Funeral Home in San Juan. I DINBl'RG Funeral services for Rita Anaya, who died Sunday, April 25, 1999, at Edinburg Regional Medical Center, will be held at 10 a.m. today, April 28, 1999. at Sacred Heart Catholic, Church in Edinburg. Burial service will follow to Val Verde Memorial Gardens in Donna.

Funeral services are being directed by Gonzalez Funeral Home of Edinburg; OBITUARIES L.A. 'Bl'DDY' GREEN WESLACO L.A. "Buddy" Green, 81. died Monday, April 26 1999, at Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco. He was born in Dubach, La.

in 1917, and moved to the Valley in 1921. first living in the Mission area. He then moved to Pharr and settled in Weslaco in 1949, where he and his wife of 60 years. Charlotte Marie Mahone Green, have lived for the past 50 years. He was the owner of Donna Supply a general contracting firm, until his retirement.

Mr. Green had been a member of the Weslaco Fire Department, the Weslaco Elks Lodge, Weslaco Masonic Lodge; the Grace Episcopal Church and various other service organizations'. I le was preceded in death by one son, Johnny Green in 1976. He is survived by his wife. Charlotte: three sons, Leonard Allen Green, Jr.

of Bavtown. Tom Green INVESTIGATION Nearly three By LARRY BINGHAM I ort Worth Star- lelenram DEC ATI P) The rancher was out that morning checking on his cattle when buzzards caught his attention. Thinking one of his cows had died, the rancher followed the birds to a pile of brush, and that's where he found the body. The girl lay face down. She looked like she had tripped and fallen, except she was naked, tangled in dead branches and miles from the nearest paved road.

Her purple face told the young deputy assigned to the case that someone had strangled her. Her right arm, stretched out like a swimmer taking a stroke, told him that someone dragged her into the brush. Nothing told him her name. Deputy David Watker was 24 years old that day, the third of October, 1996. It was his first case of a victim without a name, so he gave her one.

He called her "brush girl." He fed the national missing persons data base everything he knew: She was white, between 5 feet 4 and 5 feet 6 inches tall, between 1 10 and 130 pounds. She colored her brown hair blond. She bit her nails. She had little hands, little feet and an overbite. The computer sent back 1,000 names.

There were so many missing girls who fit her description that the entire Wise County Sheriff's Department, even secretaries, made calls to help identify her; so many that Walker opened a file for every state in the country; so many that Case U96-10-003 grew thick with dead ends, until a sheriff's lieutenant called from Oklahoma two-and-a-half years later. The lieutenant wondered if the unidentified body in Texas could belong to a 14-year-old girl who years after teen girl's body found, officials nearly have her identity Star reporter Travis M. Whitehead contributed to this report. Police said the fake bills did not have a watermark and were off-color. After interviewing the woman, police conducted a search of a residence at the 1100 block of E.

Polk. There they found the marijuana and the counterfeit bills. Arrested along with Nino were Edwin Santana, 25; Patricia Vasquez, 21; Gloria Marena Martinez, 27; Manuel Lopez Gutierrez, 25; and Juan Trujillo Bibian, 33, all of Harlingen. They were charged with felony possession of marijuana and possession of a forged instrument, police said. The case has been turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S.

Secret Service for further investigation. Dale Lacy wanted a drink. They saw similarities they didn't want to see. Did your daughter bite her nails? Did she have an overbite? Yes. Could this be her? The chin is too round.

The hair is too long. The nose is too big. This isn't her. Then someone remembered the accident. April was 12 when she fell off a bicycle.

The doctor sewed three stitches above her eye, and he took X-rays. A week ago, two-and-half years after April disappeared, Walker and Akin drove across the Oklahoma border to pick up the X-rays. They turned back down 1-35 and drove through Wise County, to Fort Worth, where a forensic dental expert made identical X-rays of the unidentified girl's skull. The expert returned an hour later and hung the X-rays on a back-lit wall. He explained: The incisors matched.

The overbite matched. Many of the teeth were the same. A forensic anthropologist pointed out the sinus cavities, explaining how they are unique to every human, and how these matched. The chief medical examiner reviewed the case Wednesday morning and he came to the same conclusion. The dead girl is April Lacy.

Her parents don't believe it. They want to see DNA proof. Walker and Akin know in their gut it's her. They started the murder investigation the minute they knew. They're going back to Oklahoma City, back to the cheap motel, to the corner room, to the only life April Dawn Lacy ever knew.

This time, they'll call her by her name. Police said the fake bills did not have a watermark and were off-color. cashier for change on another fake $20 bill, according to police reports. The employee at the restaurant thought the bills looked suspicious and alerted police. Upon arriving, police searched the woman and found a third bill in her pocket.

They also found small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in her car and on her person, according to police reports. at least 7 days. It couldn't be her. Walker moved on to another report. The girl in Room 102 at the Drover's Inn Motel lived with her mother.

They moved into the motel after her mother, who did cocaine, and her father, who drank too many beers, got into a fight. The girl and her mother shared a room on the corner, across the parking lot from the office, around the hall from a Dr Pepper machine. They moved there because it cost $19 a week. They had lived in worse places. Before the welfare people took away her little brother, they lived in unclean places where relatives gave them money for food because the refrigerator was empty.

April Dawn Lacy was born to Dale and Jacqueline Lacy on July 2, 1982, in a suburb of Oklahoma City. The life they gave her was the only life she knew. Her mother taught her which city agencies handed out food and which gave away clothes. Her father taught her how to swing a bat, and the time she played T-ball for the city's Optimist League was the happiest time of her life. April didn't go to school because the school counselor threatened to put her in a group home.

April disappeared late the next morning while her mother was away. Two-and-a-half years later, an Oklahpma City lieutenant offered April's mother a cup of coffee while they waited for her husband to meet them in his office at the jail. The lieutenant told them about the body, and though it wasn't the first time lawmen thought they might have found April, this time, the lieutenant slid across the desk a black-and-white drawing of a eyed girl with bad teeth. Jacqueline Lacy nearly collapsed; is-A was reported missing from a cheap motel in Oklahoma City the same week in 1996. Walker listened, but.aftcr crossing out the names of 250 other missing girls, he didn't allow himself much hope only a little enough to ask again.

Could this be her? The body had no tattoos, no scars, no broken bones. The first few hundred matches were dismissed because they had tattoos or scars or broken bones. The hundreds that did not required more work. Walker chased leads alongside Lane Akin, a Texas Ranger who had daughters the same age as the girl whose body they found. Because the rancher found the body near the small town of Slidell in northern Wise County, not far from the Oklahoma border, the two men felt in their gut that the girl had lived in Dallas or Fort Worth or Oklahoma.

They could picture it: The killer driving on Interstate 35, picking a two-lane road, looking for somewhere to hide her. Whoever killed her must have found the dirt road, must have parked by the metal gate, rumbled over the cattle guard, snuck around to the back of the brush pile, then dumped her there. If it happened at night, the only light would have been from stars or from the flat horizon, where the closest house was still a mile away. The only witnesses would have been the night creatures who lived in the brush. The metal gate was unlocked.

It was dove-hunting season, and the rancher let his friends come and go. He leased the pasture to an oil company that had cleared the elm trees and shoved them into a pile to dig their well. The 100 cloth scraps the deputies found were tossed aside by the oil- The Associated Press Resemblance? Dale and Jacqueline Lacy pose last week in Oklahoma City with an artist's composite drawing of a girl believed to be their daughter. A photograph of their daughter," April, is right of the drawing. men who used them to clean their hands.

The empty beer can under the rusted tractor was dropped there by a hunter. The tire track in the cow patty might have been left by the killer, but Walker couldn't chase a murderer until his victim had a name. His partner, the Texas Ranger, was sent to another murder case after deputies near the Texas-Oklahoma border found the body of a cheerleader and suspected a home-, coming king was the killer. Walker, meanwhile, had hundreds of missing person reports, dead ends and a slowly developing picture of a lonely looking girl. The medical examiner studied her teeth and found a third set of molars, wisdom teeth that told Walker she was 14, maybe 14 and a half.

The forensic entomologist at the University of North Texas told Walker the girl's body had been in the brush for at least seven days, maybe as long as three weeks. An artist who draws composites for America Most Wanted sent Walker a black-and-white sketch of a girl who had almond-shaped eyes, bad teeth and the look of someone older than her years. One of the first reports to match the picture came from Oklahoma. It said a 14-year-old who fit the description vanished from Oklahoma City, but the dates didn't add up. The girl disappeared Oct.

The rancher found the body Oct. 8. The entomologist said she'd been there.