Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 29

wwwstar-telegramcom A Friday August 27 2004 7B REGION I FROM IB I OBITUARIES TARRANT COUNTY COLLEGE budget has raises for faculty staff I 91 Fort Worth Reyna Sr Moises 70 Fort Worth Songy Roy Edward 74 Burleson Stewart Sr Vernell 73 Fort Worth Taylor Larry Doyle 60 Grand Prairie Vincent Gloria 43 Fort Worth Wiggins Gail 56 Euless Wiley Sr Lorenzo William 82 Fort Worth Ziluca Malinda Marie Ferguson Greenwich Conn Bounds Johnny Christina Hatchett 86 Santo Brown Jackie 65 Irving Cannon Stewart Wayne 52 Cuthand Chaddlck Herman 63 Houston Collins Grace Pearl 90 Hurst Copeland George 89 Brownwood Crumpton Hunter Lynn 5 Justin Daniels Norma 71 Arlington Dunn Hallie Mae 101 Alvarado Duong Lan 38 Fort Worth Fuller Owen 56 Grand Prairie Green Frances 93 Arlington Martin Sam 70 Graham McDonald Dora Mai 77 Saginaw Mclntlre Vernelle 91 Shreveport La Miller Wanda Nell 67 Cleburne Mitchell JaJuana 73 Arlington Nelson Lawana Jean 42 Fort Worth Nunn Mary Ann 87 Arlington Pack Cecil 85 Stephenville Perry Mattie Ma 92 Mertens Pilkington Dollie Mae 86 Arlington Powell Donald Ray 61 Fort Worth Rawlinson Nell Butler Harrell Ernest Harvey 60 Fort Worth Havener Richard Dick David 70 Hurst Henshaw Mary Louise 80 Fort Worth Hogancamp Jeffery David 45 Fort Worth Hogg Robert 60 Arlington Hogue Richard Lynn Rick 46 Arlington Knott Carole 62 Arlington Liles JC Jake 91 Mineral Wells Llnehan William Robert Bob 51 McKinney Execution: Killer apologizes to family By PATRICK McGIJE STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER Tarrant County College trustees approved a $199 million budget Thursday night that reflects the growing enrollment tax revenues slightly higher tuition and unique approach to funding construction The new budget includes a 3 percent pay raise for faculty and staff at the four-campus college Last year average faculty salary of $52641 was the third-highest in the state according to the Texas Community College Teachers Association behind the districts in Dallas and Austin The new budget also sets aside nearly $338 million for a building fund that no other community college district in Texas has TCC pays for new construction in cash only and officials pointed out that although this means the district takes more from its taxpayers than any other in the state more than $110 million last year it saves money by not having to pay interest on construction bonds cannot compare our budget one on one with any other college because the only ones doing said Chancellor Leonardo de la Garza A five-year plan for $100 million in new construction is due in November The budget also allots $11 million to hire 24 new faculty members Enrollment is growing and officials said TCC has about 33000 students making it the seventh-largest higher education institution in the state About 60 percent of the budget is funded by taxpayers so students pay one of the lowest tuition rates in the state 33rd out of 50 community college districts In April trustees voted to raise tuition $2 per semester hour every year for the next three years Pay raises for the chancellor vice chancellor and the campus presidents were not approved but could come later officials said IN THE KNOW appalling It makes me In addition to Doris and Shane Clendennen other witnesses on the behalf were his sister Donna Ryals and her husband Lenn Ryals and family friend Ray Stewart witnesses declined to speak with reporters after the execution But they released a written statement that the execution did not solve anything friends of James Allridge our hearts go out to the Clendennen family and the Allridge the statement said priceless lives are lost We wish and hope for healing and peace for both Prison system spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said Allridge spent his last hours in a holding cell in Walls Unit a few feet from the death chamber He spent about half an hour talking with Prejean and then was allowed to make some phone calls Earlier in the day he spent several hours visiting with relatives in Polun-sky Unit home to Texas Death Row about 45 miles east of Huntsville was calm the best way to put said Lyons who spoke briefly with Allridge about 2 pm Allridge requested a last meal of a double-meat bacon cheeseburger with lettuce tomatoes and salad dressing He also requested shoestring french fries with ketchup banana pudding watermelon and seedless grapes Donna Ryals said the clinical atmosphere of the execution was a stark contrast to the scene at the convenience store 19 years ago died with his hands tied behind him back in a stockroom of a convenience Ryals said am so mad right As for Allridge she added: forgive him for nothing He got what he deserved At least he gets to meet his brother John Moritz (512) 476-4294 jmoritzstar-teIegramcom CONTINUED FROM IB resumed in 1982 just wanted to ask him if he was truly bom Doris Clendennen told reporters afterward Prejean watched from another room with two of brothers and three friends She prayed into your hands we commend his The film Dead Man Walking was based on memoir of Death Row Actress Susan Sarandon who won an Oscar in 1996 for her portrayal of Prejean in the film visited Allridge on July 14 Sarandon had purchased some of art and exchanged letters for several years Sarandon also appeared on a video prepared by lawyers to show to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles which ultimately rejected the petition that his sentence be commuted Like several former prison officials who also appeared on the video Sarandon had hoped to convince the parole board that Allridge had been rehabilitated on Death Row All of appeals including a petition to the US Supreme Court for a stay of execution were denied in the final 48 hours of his life journey to Death Row began when he and his brother Ronald Allridge set out to rob several convenience stores and fast-food restaurants in early 1985 Ronald Allridge killed a woman during the March 25 1985 robbery of a Fort Worth fast-food restaurant He was executed in 1995 Unlike James Allridge who had no criminal record before the spree Ronald Allridge had served time for killing a classmate at age 15 James Allridge was convicted and condemned for killing Brian Clendennen 21 on Feb 4 1985 during the robbery of the Circle convenience store where Clendennen worked Allridge recognized Clendennen from a training program they attended Arlington Classics Academy Enrollment: 276 Maximum capacity: 289 Openings: First fourth and fifth grade Waiting list for all others Teachers: 19 STAR-TELEGRAMRON JENKINS School: Academy has plans to grow build IN THE KNOW Doris Clendennen holds a photo of her son Brian who was killed in a convenience store robbery in 1985 together prosecutors said Allridge tied hands behind his back and forced him to kneel before shooting him While on Death Row Allridge taught himself to paint landscapes and flowers which he sold on the Internet The positive attention that Allridge received for his art and his good behavior in prison outraged relatives Clendennen too had artistic talent his family said and one of his oil paintings hangs in City Hall person in his right mind should be ashamed of himself for standing up for a Shane Clendennen said Kendall Simon Simon was hired last year to replace interim Director Donna Winkly Age: 56 Arlington Classics Academy director Experience: Vice president CheckFree Corporation: vice president Fidelity Investments training manager International Aviation and Travel Academy: French teacher and coach Belton (Mo) Senior High School Education: St Louis University and University of Missouri at Columbia a 1 Meal Sanders: Video addresses faults in facilities CONTINUED FROM IB reading exam on the first try the board is eagerly eyeing the future Board members are negotiating with Realtors and lenders as they seek to build their own building They hope to expand the grade levels from kindergarten through sixth grade to eighth grade Simon said ready to stand at the helm He said the school plans to have a new building next school year and to add seventh grade the year following and eighth grade by the 2007-08 school year Already Simon has used his business connections to prepare for the future For the first time the school has a computer lab thanks to Fidelity Investments where he served as vice president and JP Morgan Chase Fidelity donated the 50 computers and Chase gave the school money to make minor renovations to accommodate the equipment As a result Simon hired the first librarian Before parents volunteered to work in the small library which is not much bigger than the average walk-in closet never had a computer lab he said tremendously Simon began his education career in 1972 as a high school French teacher and coach in Belton Mo When he and his wife started a family shortly thereafter he left teaching needed money so I left teaching to load bags for the he said But education was still in his heart He eventually worked his way up and left Missouri for Houston where he became a customer service trainer for another airline He worked for two other companies as a trainer before moving to Fidelity in Irving as director and then vice president the electric chair in which 361 prisoners were electrocuted between 1924 and 1964 sits in an eerily lighted place with an accompanying text that describes the amount of voltage used to kill the condemned The prison contraband exhibit displaying a number of lethal weapons made by ingenious convicts is another highlight as is the pearl-handled silver pistol taken from the after notorious bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were killed There is also a large wooden propeller made by an inmate who attempted to construct a small aircraft to escape And there are several accounts of prison breakouts including the escape of seven inmates from a maximum-security facility on Dec 13 2000 The inmates killed Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins on Christmas Eve and made it all the way to Colorado before being captured On your next trip from North Texas to Houston it would be worth your time to drop by this little museum which stands next to the Sesquicentennial Monument and Plaza honoring the men and women who have worked in the Texas corrections system since it was started The museum is at 491 Highway 75N and is open from 10 am to 5 pan (6 pan during daylight-saving time) Monday through Saturday and from noon until 5 pm Sunday Admission is $4 for adults $3 for senior citizens $2 for those 6 to 17 and free for children under 6 tioned From the museum panel narratives which are divided into special eras of the state penal system visitors learn that there was a program in which convicts were hired out to private companies but those contracts seldom produced profits for the system There is a picture of leased prisoners quarrying the stone used to build the state Capitol in Austin Between 1942 and 1948 history shows: numerous financial losses this era was characterized by administrative mismanagement corruption fraud and poor treatment of A photograph accompanying the exhibit shows explicitly how lived in overcrowded and unsanitary The exhibit goes into detail about the 1972 lawsuit filed by inmate David Ruiz in which he claimed that his Eighth Amendment rights (guaranteeing protection from cruel and unusual punishment) were being violated It was the longest-running prison lawsuit in American history and left the federal courts controlling Texas prisons for more than 30 years District Judge William Wayne Justice presided over this landmark one of the panels reads the hotly contested 159-day trial 1546 exhibits were received into evidence and 349 witnesses took the stand When the gavel struck he sided with Ruiz and the seven Although the history is interesting the average visitor is attracted to exhibits that have become symbols of some of the lore CONTINUED FROM IB list of plaintiffs in major lawsuits Although I often write about the shortcomings of the criminal justice system and especially the prison industry Texas prisons have come a long way since the Legislature created the penitentiary system in 1848 The Texas Prison Museum which last year moved to a new facility off Interstate 45 in Huntsville gives a glimpse of the more than 150-year history of state penitentiaries Last weekend I revisited the small museum and was glad to see that it does not sugarcoat history and that it quickly debunks some of the age-old myths The introductory video explains that contrary to long-told tales the food and products that Texas prisons produced with inmate labor did not make the system self-sustaining And the narrator proudly proclaims state of Texas does not operate a countryclub When it was first established the fertile farmland around inmates worked that land When the state later acquired old plantations many of those prisoners were working land on which some of their ancestors had also labored without compensatioa Able-bodied prisoners are still expected to work The story panels in the museum for example were made by prisoners in the Texas Correctional Industries Sticker Plant at the Wynne Unit in Huntsville No they are not all lying around in air-conditioned facilities watching cable TV Except for a few units basically the medical facilities inmate housing in the more than 100 state pens is not air-condi He left Texas for Ohio and a position as vice president of CheckFree Corporation and happened across the ACA position on the Internet been in education one way or another for most of my he said just felt that this was something that I could Karne Kupecki whose daughter is a fifth-grader at the school said that at first she was concerned about the turnover and having yet another new director year had some kind of problem with the headmaster or director but every change made has been for the she said Mr Simon here just so incredible The atmosphere around the whole school is wonderful When I ask my daughter was school she says wonderful for a Bob Ray column appears Sundays Wednesdays and Fridays (817) 30-7775 bobraysfar-teIegramcom Lamor Williams (8 17) 548-5494 llwilliamsstar-telegramcom Twelve area doctors among 40 disciplined at state board meeting Physicians: CONTINUED FROM IB partial function of her remaining kidney told me I had cancer in my left kidney and he removed my right Miles said know how that Testing done at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that she did not have cancer Miles said "I felt good not one day since I had that she said Other local physicians were E3 also disciplined by tire boardthis when there were indications that its use might be harmful and failed to timely perform a C-sec-tion all of which resulted in an emergency hysterectomy for the mother and brain damage to the child Franklin used excessive amounts of Cytotec to induce labor after failing to inform the patient that the drug had not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in labor and delivery Franklin also ailed to inform keeping medical records instructing his patient to follow- The action was based on alle- up with him if bleeding persisted gations that Almand failed to take The patient was examined by a a proper history take a proper different physician two years later physical order appropriate tests after complaining of bright rectal and follow-up with a patient bleeding and was diagnosed with The board found that Almand colorectal cancer which was failed to record the type of col- removed according to the board orectal cancer the father Almand referred questions to suffered from failed to note his attorney Susan Nelson who w'hether the patient had any pre- said that the board did not find vious colonoscopies made no that her client had delivered subrecord of any appropriate func- standard care tional injuries such as weight loss Mitch Mitcheiusi7)m-7420 or fatigue and made no record 0(f mitchmitchellstar-telegramcom C3 the patient that Cytotec the brand name for Misoprostol could increase the chance of uterine rupture if the patient has had previous pregnancies The patient had three prior pregnancies according to board documents Attempts to contact Franklin by telephone were unsucessful James Almand 74 a Grand Prairie physician was given two probation practice will be monitored and he will be required to attend classes on month Stanley Franklin was given five probation and is required to attend 25 hours of classes for high-risk obstetrics training and 25 hours of continuing education classes Franklin 53 a Lewisville obstetrician and gynecologist was also ordered to pay $50000 penalty The action was based on allegations that Franklin failed to properly monitor a baby during the last stages of delivery improperly used Cytqtec to induce labor 4 pr.