DAILY ROUNDUP Ceremonies to honor Lady Bird Johnson begin in Austin

DAILY ROUNDUP
PAGE 2A
CASH FIVE | 2,3,16,20,24
LOTTERY MEGA | 7,39,41,48,53 21
PICK 3 | DAY: 7,4,8 NIGHT: 8,8,1
AROUND TEXAS | IN BRIEF
DAILY CALENDAR
„ Register online for Fall 2007 at Texas
A&M International University. Registration
continues today at uonline.tamiu.edu.Don’t
delay; prepare now and make an appointment to see your adviser. For more information,call the Office of the University Registrar at 326-2250 or e-mail
registrar@tamiu.edu.
„ Late applications are still being accepted for the Texas A&M International University College Readiness Program. This
program is free and open to LISD and UISD
high school senior only who passed the
English language arts and math portions of
the TAKS, but whose scores do not reach a
scaled score indicating college readiness.
Late applications will be accepted through
July 9 or until all 75 slots have been filled.
The Program runs from July 9 to Aug. 10.
For more information,call Julio F. Madrigal
at 326-2700.
„ Make a splash this weekend at the
Laredo Community College swimming pool.
The pool is now open on Saturday and Sunday from 3 to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free
with a valid LCC ID card. Up to two guests
are allowed per college student or employee. For more information, call 721-5326.
„ Visit the Texas A&M International
University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium and watch “Kaluoka’hina, The Enchanted Reef”at 5 p.m.,“Black Holes”at 6
p.m. and Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the
Moon” at 7 p.m. General admission for
“Black Holes”is $4 and $3 for children and
TAMIU students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Tickets for the other two premium shows
are $1 more. Buy a ticket for any second
show on the same day and save $2. Don’t
forget to register for the “Secret of the
Cardboard Rocket” Spanish voiceover raffle. For more information,contact the LBV
Planetarium at planetarium@tamiu.edu or
call 326-2444.
„ The 2008 Summer Enrichment in
Piano Studies begins Session II today at the
Vidal M.Treviño School of Communications
and Fine Arts 1701 Victoria St. Schedule:
July 16-20, 1-2:30 p.m.–beginners; 2:304:30 p.m.–intermediate/advanced. For
more information call Mary Grace Carroll at
the school at 795-3325,or check the link at
http://vmt.elisd.org.
SUNDAY,JULY 15
„ Make a splash this weekend at the
Laredo Community College swimming pool.
The pool is open on Saturday and Sunday
from 3 to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free with
a valid LCC ID card. Up to two guests are allowed per college student or employee. For
more information, call 721-5326.
THURSDAY, JULY 19
„ The Laredo Music Theater International, Inc. will be holding its production of
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast from July 19
through July 22, 2007 at the Martinez Fine
Arts Center at the Laredo Community College. Showtimes are 8 p.m. and 3 p.m. on
Sunday, July 22. Tickets are on pre-sale.
Call 285-5705 for ticket information.
SETTING IT
STRAIGHT
The caption under a photograph of the Webb County Veterans Service Office, which was
published on page 1A of Thursday’s edition, contained incorrect
information. In fact, it is Ernesto
Sanchez, president of the local
Korean War Veterans Association, who is straightening a photo of a Vietnam veteran on a wall
in the office.
DO YOU KNOW
JANIE ROMANO?
A housewife, she
enjoys spending
time with her
children, listening
to music and
talking to people.
Photo by Larry Kolvoord/pool | AP
A military honor guard carries Lady Bird Johnson’s casket to the LBJ Library in Austin, on Friday, where she will lie in repose.
The former fist lady died Wednesday at the age of 94. See related photo, page 6A.
Ceremonies to honor Lady Bird
Johnson begin in Austin
By KELLEY SHANNON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
USTIN — Family prayer services
and a huge public outpouring Friday ushered in three days of memorial ceremonies honoring the late
Lady Bird Johnson, an environmentalist
first lady who clung to her Texas roots.
Johnson made a final trip to her beloved
wildflower center, where friends and family gathered for a private religious service
Friday morning accented by some of her favorite flowers and other aspects of nature.
Afterward, the family greeted her casket once it was moved across town to
the LBJ Library and Museum at the University of Texas at Austin.
Surrounded by historical documents
and mementos of Lyndon B. Johnson’s
administration, the former first lady’s oak
casket, draped in an Episcopalian pall,
was placed in the exact spot where her
husband lay in state when he died in 1973.
Lady Bird Johnson died Wednesday of
natural causes.
A
“My mother had 94 delicious years.
She lived them to the fullest,” daughter
Luci Baines Johnson said Friday before
greeting visitors at the library. She said
despite her mother’s medical problems,
she recently toured a university art museum and delighted over a pasture of
wildflowers in the nearby Hill Country.
The former first lady will lay in repose
for 22 hours, until 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
Then there will be an invitation-only televised funeral. She will be buried Sunday
next to her husband at the LBJ Ranch.
Anyone may visit the library to pay respects. As admirers — some of whom had
been waiting in line hours — were let inside, Luci Baines Johnson moved to the
front door to greet them after urging that
they be allowed in a few minutes early.
“My mother wouldn’t want people
standing in the heat out there. She would
want them to come in. This is their library,” she said referring to the crowd of
about 600 who waited and helped themselves to bottled water placed in ice
chests outside.
Teen girl rejects plea
agreement in death
Amarillo teacher says
he released TAKS info
Prosecutor criticizes
DeLay court ruling
HOUSTON — A 17-year-old girl
accused of fatally stabbing a member of the notorious MS-13 gang
during a brawl in a city park last
year rejected a plea agreement Friday and now faces another trial after the first ended in a hung jury.
“Reject it,” Ashley Benton
told state District Judge Devon
Anderson during a court hearing Friday after the teen was
asked if she was going to accept
or refuse a plea agreement offered by prosecutors.
See story, page 6A
AMARILLO — By volunteering on a committee that helps
select questions for the state’s
standardized test, an Amarillo
teacher said he was able to leak
writing topics to colleagues so
their students could fare better,
according to a state report.
Elementary bilingual teacher
David Tamez told investigators
he merely followed the lead of
other committee volunteers who
routinely smuggled test secrets
back to their districts.
See story, page 6A
AUSTIN — A Texas prosecutor said in court filings Friday
that the state’s highest criminal
appeals court created a “separate — but not necessarily equal
— system of justice” by refusing
to reinstate a conspiracy charge
against former House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay.
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle wants the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider its decision.
See story, page 6A
— Compiled from AP reports
TODAY IN HISTORY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Today is Saturday, July 14, the
195th day of 2007. There are 170
days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 14, 1789, during the
French Revolution, citizens of
Paris stormed the Bastille prison
and released the seven prisoners
inside.
On this date:
In 1798, Congress passed the
Sedition Act, making it a federal
crime to publish false, scandalous
or malicious writing about the
United States government.
In
1853,
Commodore
Matthew Perry relayed to
Japanese officials a letter from
President Millard Fillmore, requesting trade relations. (Fillmore’s term of office had already expired by the time the
letter was delivered.)
In 1881, outlaw William H.
Bonney Jr., alias “Billy the Kid,”
was shot and killed by Sheriff
Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, N.M.
In 1913, Gerald Rudolph Ford
Jr., the 38th president of the
United States, was born Leslie
Lynch King Jr. in Omaha, Neb.
In 1933, all German political
parties, except the Nazi Party,
were outlawed.
In 1958, the army of Iraq
overthrew the monarchy.
In 1965, the American space
probe Mariner 4 flew by Mars,
sending back photographs of the
Red Planet.
In 1966, eight student nurses
were murdered by Richard
Speck in a Chicago dormitory.
In 1978, Soviet dissident Natan
Sharansky was convicted of treasonous espionage and anti-Soviet
agitation, and sentenced to 13
years at hard labor. (Sharansky
was released in 1986.)
Ten years ago: The international war crimes tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia sentenced
Dusan Tadic, a Bosnian Serb, to
20 years in prison for turning on
his Muslim and Croat neighbors
in a deadly campaign of terror
and torture. O.J. Simpson’s California mansion was auctioned
off for $2.6 million.
Five years ago: A gunman
tried but failed to assassinate
French President Jacques
Chirac during a Bastille Day parade. Joaquin Balaguer, ruler of
the Dominican Republic for 22
years, died at age 95.
One year ago: Israel destroyed
the home and office of Hezbol-
“I WILL START A CHAIN OF TERRORISM
IN THE WORLD.” 15 YEAR OLD | 10A
SAY WHAT?
AROUND THE NATION | IN BRIEF
Doctors use robots
to visit patients
Few children who live
near school walk,bike
BALTIMORE — Has it come to
this? Robots standing in for doctors at the hospital patients’ bedside?
Not exactly, but some doctors
have found a way to use a videoconferencing robot to check on
patients while they’re miles from
the hospital.
One is at Baltimore’s Sinai
Hospital. Outfitted with cameras,
a screen and microphone, the
joystick-controlled robot is guided into the rooms of Dr. Alex
Gandsas’ patients where he
speaks to them as if he were right
there.
See story, page 9A
ATLANTA — Fewer than half
of American children who live
close to school regularly walk or
ride a bike to classes, according
to a new study that highlights a
dramatic shift toward car commuting by kids.
Children in the South did the
least hoofing and pedaling, partly because of safety concerns, experts believe.
The issue is important because it’s linked to escalating
rates of childhood obesity. Many
schools have been cutting back
on recess and physical education,
the study’s lead author.
See story, page 10A
Solons say key papers
held in Tillman’s death
Some say Padilla
court case weak
SAN FRANCISCO — Two influential lawmakers investigating how and when the Bush administration learned the
circumstances of Pat Tillman’s
friendly-fire death and how those
details were disclosed accused
the White House and Pentagon
on Friday of withholding key
documents and renewed their demand for the material.
The White House and Defense Department have turned
over nearly 10,000 pages of papers, but the White House cited
“executive branch confidentiality
interests.”
See story, page 9A
MIAMI — For a star defendant
whose name is known around
the world, Jose Padilla has become almost a bit player in his
terrorism support trial — and
some observers say the federal
government may not have proved
its case against him.
Prosecutors rested their case
Friday after nine weeks, 22 witnesses and dozens of FBI wiretap
intercepts played at trial, most of
them in Arabic with written
translations for jurors. Defense
lawyers for Padilla begin presenting their case next week.
See story, page 10A
— Compiled from AP reports
SATURDAY,JULY 14
„ Registration is currently under way
at Texas A&M International University for
Men’s Soccer Camp for children ages 5 to
13. Camp fee is $100 for camper; family
rate is $80 for child.TAMIU employees will
also receive a $20 discount for dependents. Session II is scheduled for July 30
through Aug. 3 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Proof
of medical coverage is required. For more
information,call coach Claudio E. Arias at
326-2893 or e-mail carias@tamiu.edu or
contact Jerrod Idle at 326-2891 or
jidle@tamiu.edu.
SATURDAY,JULY 14,2007
lah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, and tightened its seal on
Lebanon, blasting its air and road
links to the outside world.
Spurred by Mideast fighting, oil
prices rose to an intraday record
$78.40 a barrel. Actress Carrie
Nye died in New York at age 69.
T o d a y ’ s B i r t h d a y s : Actor
Dale Robertson is 84. Actor
Harry Dean Stanton is 81. Actress Nancy Olson is 79. Actress Polly Bergen is 77. Former football player Rosey
Grier is 75. Music company executive Tommy Mottola is 58.
Actor Jerry Houser is 55. Actordirector Eric Laneuville is 55.
Actor Stan Shaw is 55. Movie
producer Scott Rudin is 49.
Country musician Ray Herndon (McBride and the Ride) is
47. Actor Jackie Earle Haley is
46. Actor Matthew Fox is 41.
Rock musician Ellen Reid
(Crash Test Dummies) is 41.
Rock singer-musician Tonya
Donelly is 41. Actress Missy
Gold is 37. Rhythm-and-blues
singer Tameka Cottle (Xscape)
is 32. Hip-hop musician taboo
(Black Eyed Peas) is 32.
T h o u g h t f o r T o d a y : “The
willing contemplation of vice is
vice.” — Arabic proverb.
AROUND THE WORLD | IN BRIEF
Photo by Mikhail Metzel | AP
Russian ballet dancers Svetlana Zakharova and Ivan Vasilyev, center, perform in the
ballet “Class-Concert” during a dress rehearsal on the eve of its first night at the
Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, on Friday.
British cops putting
video cameras on caps
U.S.troops kill six cops
thought to be militiamen
LONDON — Britain is taking
its surveillance to a new level,
strapping video cameras to the
helmets of its famed bobbies — a
move the government says will
cut down on paperwork and help
prosecute criminals.
By providing dramatic
footage of victims, suspects and
witnesses, judges and jurors will
be able to “see and hear the incident through the eyes and ears of
the officer at the scene,” Minister
of State for Security Tony McNulty said.
BAGHDAD — U.S. troops battled Iraqi police suspected of
links to Iranian-backed Shiite
militiamen, killing six in a rare
firefight between American soldiers and their Iraqi partners.
Friday’s clash underscored the
deep infiltration of militants in
the country’s security forces.
The battle came a day after the
Bush administration acknowledged that the Iraqi government
was making “unsatisfactory”
progress in its efforts to purge the
police force.
— Compiled from AP reports
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MASTHEAD TOPPED WITH THE SEVEN FLAGS LOGO IS SYMBOLIC OF LAREDO’S HISTORIC LINK TO SEVEN COUNTRIES - THAT OF FRANCE, 1685-1690; SPAIN, 1519-1685, 1690-1821;
REPUBLIC OF THE RIO GRANDE, JANUARY 1840-LATE FALL 1840; TEXAS, 1836-1845; CONFEDERACY, 1861-1865; AND UNITED STATES, 1845-1861, 1865-PRESENT.
ABOUT OUR MASTHEAD THEMEXICO,TIMES1821-1836;
Published daily Monday through Sunday mornings in Laredo, Texas, by the
Laredo Morning Times,a division of The
Hearst Corporation,PO Box 2129,Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 7282500.Periodicals class postage paid at
the Post Office in Laredo, Texas, under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1873.
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