San Angelo Standard-Times from San Angelo, Texas • 1

WV 9M lf -w v--' -V rt TTT MW wry vf- -r lr- -V Si' 1 14 iv i '( i f- vY 'f "'4 i -V Mostly sunny breezy 50 cents Friday July 9 2004 San Angelo Texas Serving West Texas Since 1884 KLST TV drops five jobs public service departments at KLST Stovall said these eliminations will help the stations operate more efficiently plan of business Stovall said includes combining the duties of former promotions and productions departments into one creative services department which will serve both San Angelo stations iate with its rival NBC affiliate KSAN-TV and started a rip-ple of changes in San broadcast media LaimyKiest who worked as a sales manager at KLST-TV for 13 years said he was little surprised I sort of felt that my Job was safe" Stovall said consolidation of jobs Is Imperative for the merging of the two stations This personnel moves eliminated the traffic and General Manager Tom Stovall said is necessary consolidation The changes come after station operations were hdten over by media conglomerate Nexstar Broadcasting on June Nexstar plans to purchase KLST-TV and Is awaiting Federal Communications Commission approval fbr the $12 million sala The sale has partnered the station San CBS affil the Please see KLST back page pfi nMqt S-T PHOTO BY ARTHUR SPRAGG A shrimper off the Bahamian- coast found the nine defectors Including three other baseball players and a coach In a 12-fbot wooden boat that Mease see DIAZ back page Following merger station operations begin streamlining By ALESHIA CLAUNCH adaunchOsastandanltimestCom or 659-8237 The positions of five longtime KLST-TV employees were eliminated Tuesday as a step toward what the at Colts player trades royalty for freedom By JOE MANUEL RODRIGUEZ jrodriguezOsastandaidtiineicom or 659-8263 Jorge decision to flee the island was a snap one and it cost him dearly With nothing but the clothes he was wrarlng Diaz climbed into a small wooden boat with eight other Cubans and set out across the Gulf waters to the United States and Its freedoms Before that moment he admits he had never considered deflecting from hie communist home-1 land Why would he? He was practically royalty In Cuba a member of Its famed national baseball team in a land where die sport is not so much a passion as it is an obsession Coverage of the Colts' Thursday night against the sviivrcpun Pagein Sports Please see As such he was granted luxuries a hilly ftirnlshed apartment all the amenities for a comfortable life a fame that kept him from ever paying for a meal or a drink that most of his Impoverished countrymen could only fhntasize about Today the 29-yearold Diaz toils in the lowest levels of minor-league baseball playing second base for the San Angelo Colts despite what his manager deems to be major-league talent He has not seen his 9-yearold son or the rest of his family In six years He has no reason to believe his future contact with them will be anything other than an nflauinwii phone mu Even so Dias seems to think trading 91 high Uffa fa Cuba for a potentially better one In America was a good move Asked what he enjoys most about his new home he replied in Spanish liber He notes he can apeak freely and do what he wants NEXT week Rick Smith is on vacation His column will return next week Los Lonely Boys In anticipation of Sunday's homecoming concert by the San Angelo rodtbiues band Los Lonely Boys the Standard-Times has piahned a week's worth of coverage ieadkiguptotheshowiHere'sabrlef gbnpse of what leaders can epect Showtime El dineta Qt A Page IB Los Lonely Boys 101 Page 2B Saturday Friends and netgiiDorc Sunday Monday Homecoming By AUBREY HOVEY ahoveyOsastandardtimesom or 659-8254 Holding each other and mascara-stained tissues Caria Gentry and her 18-year-old daughter Tareh Kratz waited for a Judge to decide If their household friend of Beven years would see another day After about 15 minutes of consideration and the solid strike of a gavel Thursday San Angelo Municipal Court Judge Jay Daniel sentenced the pit bulldog to death The dog mauled a 4-year-old girl at a Lake Nasworthy park June 26 la the finding of the court that the dog be remand- -ed to the tana Gentry services for destruc- testified tion nmWrad to a court- the lake room con-tabling fom- as ily of the Brandy's -child and of Brandy first and Thever- the dog diet came less than an WdSnot tteheartSl accustomed and despite to children the efforts of Kratz Gentry and her husband David Gentry to convince the court Brandy would not attack again Caria Gentry of Midland testified the trip to the lake was first and the dog was not accustomed to children "This is not a vicious she testified is Just very protective of us and she know any Gentry described Brandy as a loving dog who helped her through a bout with breast cancer and was with her during the death of her dad Please see DOG back page The Navy is Investigating -whether Cpi Wkssaf All Hassouift disappearance was a hoax 'j 'VfAii1 4TW'v'lh catapulting: ft TO SUCCESS A pole vaulter from Odessa credits the familydogs pi- his 'mental edge as $jj If: he competes 'in Pfei Olympic trialaMl SPORTS ID jjf-'-' JhZsFW)lM i' llB3j vv President says plan would help 'economy! inaddiessto UJLACa convention by satellite jJ MONAt: s- fjj I fcwses- file Cor baaknqptcy 4 Credit Industry says people today iuu rail shamed to simply snea their debts1 tnetraeots INTERNAHONAL Kit women London will receive 37 pierceht -of her ex-husbuidh COMING iodr fealCOSPELiM JflGAMESM games are gsdningy ipdpulmityih the ft write of recehitrll bnriigk'rio' movie4lt' 4S 'iev'fj 4 iAk 3trHW ljlNDEX ilecd Vb SA Slocta "'5D) li-SC Moria1V 2B 4B Sports l-5Di iWMce Me k-- iilMii San Angelo Colts second baseman Jorge Diaz walked to the dugout before the start of a recent home game at Foster Field Diaz left his home of Cum on a I i leaky boat freedoms even top baUptayers don't epjoy under dictator Fidel Castro's regime Dias was suspended from the national team fbr a year in 1997 for communicating with a player who had defect ed Dias tried to send money to the player Still Diaz said the suspension affected neither his lifestyle nor his decision to defect When Dias left Cuba In March 1996 he get fee i 1 Questions remain after return By SAM GHATTAS The Associated Pick born Hassoun since a dramatic videotape broadcast on Arab television June 27 showed him with his eyes covered by a white blindfold and a sword hanging over his head His reported capture claimed by a group calling Itself came during the tense run-up to the US transfer of sovereignty to an Interim Iraqi government on June 28 a period of Increased abductions and killings of foreigners and attacks on US forces ago arranged with American officials to pick him up Thursday after noon In Beirut and bring him to the U8 Embassy State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said In Washington At neatly the same time a gun-fight broke out between memben of clan In his home city of Tripoli and business rivals who called them American collaborators hecanse Hassoun Joined the Marines Two people were killed Confusion had surrounded the fete of the 24-year-old Lebanese- BEIRUT Lebanon A Marine whose apparent kidnapping in Iraq waa followed by conflicting claims first that ha was beheaded then that he was alive contacted US authorities Thursday and was safe in his native Lebanon The Navy was investigating whether his abduction could have been a hoax CpL Wassef All Hassoun reported missing from his base near the troubled city of FelluJah 18 days Please see MARINE back page -frf -W jt-t --s Wvr'N At- rt- k-- -v i I W' a-.