Victoria Advocate from Victoria, Texas • 38

2D-THE VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Saturday, May 12, 1990 Liberty Woman May Have Covered 'Husband's Death "I don't know bow anybody could have slept through gunfire at that close range," said Horner. "What happened during those extra hours? "We tried hypnosis on Mrs. McKeand, but she remembered nothing more than she had already told us," Horner said. An initial polygraph test eliminated Mrs. McKeand as a suspect in the death, but a second test made investigators curious about her knowledge of the shooting.

"She showed no deception then, but we didn't think to ask about altering the crime scene," he said. On the second test, she failed the crime scene question. Horner said Mrs. McKeand will not be charged with making a false police report or altering a crime scene because of "the emotional nature of the thing." Still, he said if new evidence should arise, "there's no statute of limitations on "He'd also lost some money in a failed restaurant venture," Horner said. But Mrs.

McKeand said the couple had been reunited for about eight months and she didn't believe her husband was troubled nor that she could have forgotten her actions. "I really don't know what to think," Mrs. McKeand said. "How do you know? I Just can't see myself blacking out and doing what they said." Horner said autopsy reports indicating McKeand had fired a gun just before his death and polygraph tests on Mrs. McKeand provided new information to dissolve the murder investigation.

The medical examiner found traces of metal and powder burns on the victim's right hand, indicating be had fired a gun. The autopsy report also said that he had died V-k hours before Betty McKeand remembers waking up. a.m." She said in her terror she leaped from her bed and ran into the living room to check on her grandson who was asleep on the couch. She said she and 7-year-old Josh McKeand hid behind the couch for several hours before telephoning police. "It's an unusual case," Horner said.

"I've seen a lot of homicides that somebody tried to make look like a suicide, but this is the first time in 20 years I've seen the reverse." ij Horner said the couple, married 26 years, had been having marital difficulties. They had been separated several months, and one of McKeand's sons had seen McKeand threaten to kill himself with a rifle, which is missing. "He was depressed. Besides marital problems, he feared he had cancer. He had recently had some prostate troubles and was supposed to go in for more testing.

i DAYTON (AP) The wife of 56-year-' old Liberty County man found snot to death last month apparently moved his body and hid the weapon he used to kill himself in what authorities believe is a case of shock amnesia and not murder. "We know somebody doctored the crime scene," Detective Larry Horner said Thursday. "He was lying there as if decked out in a coffin and the gun was gone. I've talked to psychologists who say she could honestly not remember getting rid of it. "She could block it all out.

They call it an amnesiatic lapse, when one is in shock or feels guilt, as if they maybe drove the person to it," Horner said, I Kenneth Ray "Bill" McKeand, owner of I Tooley's bar, was found shot to death in his I bed last month at his mobile home on an 1 isolated country road near Dayton. Police called to the scene said be was ly ing on his back with a single shot to his left eye, his hands crossed neatly on his chest and the blankets pulled over him. A gun has not been found. At first, investigators believed McKeand had been snot by an intruder while he and his wife, Betty, slept side-by-side in the double bed. Mrs.

McKeand, 49, said she didn't hear a gunshot but awoke only after feeling something wet on her pillow her husband's blood. Horner now believes she was so traumatized by witnessing her husband's suicide that she disposed of the gun and blocked it from her memory. "I never touched no gun or seen no gun," Mrs. McKeand said. "I never heard anything, just felt the wetness on my pillow.

The dog was barking and the back door was open. I looked at the clock and it was 4:30 Ceremony Changed Mercury Astronauts Dedicate 1990 UniMd Feature Syndic. Inc. To Stadium at UT Hall of Fame at Florida Site ecu -Mr a jt m. courage youngsters to follow in our footsteps," said Shepard, now 66 and a Houston businessman and aerospace consultant.

"By and large, the spaceman image has been a good one for youngsters, and this will help it remain a good image," agreed Carpenter, 65, an aerospace and oceanography consultant in Palmer Lake, Colo. An honor roll lists the crew members of 64 U.S. manned space flights; the last two flights have yet to be posted. The more noteworthy astronauts eventually will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame alongside the Mercury Seven, chosen in 1959 for having "The Right Stuff." The Mercury Seven "are the first, but not necessarily the best" of the bunch, Carpenter said. In fact, he and the others said, today's astronauts are better educated, better trained and above all, considerably younger.

Although open since March, the Hall of Fame was not dedicated officially until Friday. happen for the future." The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, 13 miles from where the men rocketed into history three decades ago, is a tribute to their exploits. There is an "umbilical" plug from the Freedom 7 spacecraft that carried Alan Shepard on a 15-minute suborbital flight in 1961, making him the first American in space. There is a chunk of the Atlas rocket that propelled Glenn into space in 1962, America's first manned orbital mission. There is Walter Schirra's Mercury spacecraft, the late Virgil "Gus" Grissom's spacesuit, L.

Gordon Cooper's spacecraft heat shield, Malcolm Scott Carpenter's camera with which he photographed Earth, and Slayton's food tubes from the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission. There are more personal items, too, salvaged from attics and garages: medals, patches, flight helmets, goggles, gloves, jackets. "This is the first time that astronauts of the first group have exhibited things that are personal and sentimental to them. We hope it will en graduates and their families and not the politicians." With the commencement speech originally 'scheduled indoors at the Erwin Center, the university was forced to limit graduates to three tickets each. The commencement ceremony is usually held outside of UT's Main Building, an area that seats more than 11,000 people.

It easily accommodates the 2,000 to 3,000 graduates who generally attend, plus all their guests. But this year, about 4,800 graduates have said they will attend the 107th commencement, where Bush will speak and be awarded one of UT's rare honorary degrees. They have asked for more than 32,000 tickets for themselves, family members and friends. The tickets have gone to university graduates, their guests, some 380 faculty members, approximately 300 faculty guests and the UT band. On Friday, UT-Austin President William Cunningham said, "We are extremely pleased that we will now be able to accommodate all the degree candidates who wish to participate, as well as their families and friends." At the stadium, more than 37,000 seats in the upper and lower decks of the west side will be available for commencement.

AUSTIN (AP) In response to an unexpected interest in the commencement at which President Bush will speak on May 19, University of Texas officials announced Friday the ceremony has been moved to Memorial Stadium. Bush's commencement address Che first by a sitting president at UT-Austin since 1964 had angered many students, who said all of their family and friends could not attend the ceremony unless they are willing to pay scalpers' prices of as much as $200 to $300 per ticket. "We're being treated like cattle," said Steve Brown, who is getting a doct irate in electrical and computer engineering. Brown said he needed more than the three free tickets he received so his family could attend his commencement. "I purchased 13.

I spent close to $500," Brown said. "The average I paid was $30, the low was $10 and the high was $50. Tickets have gone as high as $100, and I heard them advertised as high as $300." The brother of graduate student Pam Monday, John Monday of Houston, said he became so displeased that he fired off a telegram to Bush. "Read my lips, George. Graduation is a family affair," Monday said in the telegram.

"We need your help in making this a graduation for the CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -Five of the Mercury Seven astronauts, America's first and perhaps most beloved space explorers, returned to their history-making roots Friday to help dedicate the Astronaut Hall of Fame. They reminisced about some of the more light-hearted moments of three decades ago, praised those who have followed in their footsteps and stressed the need for science and space education. "None of us need a memorial," said John Glenn, 68, now a U.S. senator.

"We don't need an exhibit. We all have these days so firmly, indelibly imprinted on our minds and our memories, that we don't need that. "But if this can help inspire someone to better education and to inspire some of our young people to do some research then this will all be worthwhile," Glenn said at Hall of Fame news conference. None of the six surviving Mercury astronauts "sit around getting nostalgic," Donald "Deke Slayton, 66, said. "We're trying to make things Advertising Seminar Set In Jackson Advocate News Service EDNA The Small Business Council of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture and UHVC will co-host an "Effective Advertising" workshop from 7-9 p.m.

May 17 at the Chamber meeting room. The objective of the seminar will be to understand advertising as a marketing tool. B.J. Sandhop, assistant professor of marketing at UHVC. Topics will include "When and Why You Advertise," "Making the Most of Your Advertising Dollar," "Choosing Effective Media" and "Industry Trends and Analysis." Registration is $10 per person.

To register, phone (512) 782-7146, or write Jackson County Chamber of Commerce Agriculture, P.O. Box 788, Edna 77957. Super Sidewalk Sale Today Up To 75 Off From Ho to 222 We invite you to come by and enjoy the savings. Preventive Maintenance i Slated on Ganado Tank America's PmMrt 205-Q North Star Drive Victoria, Tu I Advocate News Service GANADO Preventive maintenance will begin next week on Ganado's elevated water storage tank and residents are asked to be prepared for restricted water use if conditions warrant. City public works director Dennis Bures Friday said work crews of Luppon Paint Co.

of Shawnee, are expected to start work on the tower Monday. He said the job should only take four to six weeks to complete, weather permitting. Work scheduled in the $24,500 contract include sandblasting, priming and repainting of the tank interior, reworking the vent controls on top of tank, and touch up of exterior scale and rust spots. Jim Urban of Urban Engineering of Corpus Christi is project engineer. "We're hopeful of not having to impose any water restrictions during the work," Bures said, "but we have to be realistic and prepared for worst case scenarios." He said that if the city encounters problems maintaining an adequate supply of water in the ground storage tanks to meet demand, the mayor will be asked to impose incremental steps restricting use on an "as needed" basis.

Bures said the first restriction would be to limit non-essential watering, such as washing cars and watering lawns, to even and odd days depending on house addresses. If the situation worsens, then restricting such watering altogether. (feyLa, 572-3555 JSajy $1 'II I Mvtui 1 Nnili BouttquM 1 Mnn.fet III 10:00 to 6:00 Don't Forget Her On Mother's Kid I Day inn II .1 ZZ3 Brady Track Finances Set For Review AUSTIN (AP) State authorities will meet Monday with Brady city officials to discuss their options after G. Rollie White Downs said it is insolvent and apparently unable to repay a $495,000 federal loan approved by the Texas Department of Commerce. Track officials announced Monday that they wouldn't open for racing this year.

G. Rollie White was the first Texas horse track in 52 years to conduct pari-mutuel racing, but experienced problems from the start and canceled its 1989 race meeting early. "We're sorry to see this happen because a lot of people had high hopes for this project," said Mike Murphy, spokesman for the commerce department. "This was viewed as another opportunity to create jobs for Texans," Murphy said. Brady Mayor H.L.

"Bud" Gober said city officials were "very, very disappointed." "But we have no apologies. We did the very best we could, but we were the guinea pig, and it didn't work out," he said. A year ago, the commerce department awarded the $495,000 in federal community development funds to the city of Brady, which in turn lent it to the track operators. The money was to create at lest 42 jobs, but all the track employees have been laid off. The loan won't be in default until June 30, but city officials already are trying to recover collateral mostly equipment and machinery at the track and find new investors.

BANDERA (Continued From Page ID) him because there is a population of 1.4 million in a 50-mile radius of Bandera, compared with fewer than 100,000 around Brady, which is located farther to the north of Bandera. "The people of Brady worked very hard and did a very good job. It's very unfortunate that that happened," Essary said. "There are only a handful of tracks that have ever been successful that did not have an immediate population." He added that Bandera Downs is kicking off an aggressive marketing campaign, working with tourist agencies and is bringing in racing professionals. David Frizzell, who has been racing secretary and handicapper at the Inaugural Summer race meet at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, is Bandera Downs' new director of racing and racing secretary.

Michael Zlaket, who has been assistant director of marketing at Bay Meadows Race Course in northern California, is the Bandera track's new marketing director. "Bandera Downs has every intention of teaching the public how to bet and how to win and how to enjoy the sport," Zlaket said. Though others proposing pari-mutuel tracks in Texas claim they cannot make ends meet with the state's current percent pari-mutuel tax, Essary said Bandera will prosper, although he cautioned that the real benefits Texas will see from racing will be in economic development, not taxation. I May 1 3th Make Her Happy With A Gift From Lulu's A perfect gift for Grandma on Mother's Day Frame holds a 5x3 Vi snapshot I 1 fc 7. I It ft -y Ss-- 44-2201 y- Nanas Nook 3202-AN.

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