Free Republic

He and his wife were watering the yard on Monday. When they came back outside to move the sprinkler, it was gone. A hole had formed in the middle of their lawn about three feet across and their sprinkler was at the bottom of a tunnel that had collapsed. They agree the structure was built after 1909 because railroad ties were used in the construction. That year is when the railroad first came to Lubbock from Plainview. Right now, the function of the structure is anyone's guess. "What it was used for, it would be nice to know, it really...

The horror of a Southern Baptist missionary’s death in Jordan is gradually resonating to her childhood home on the rural South Plains this week. Sudan native Cheryll Harvey, 55, a longtime member of College Heights Baptist Church in Plainview, was found stabbed to death late Tuesday night in her apartment in the city of Barha, about 50 miles north of Amman. Harvey’s teaching was in connection with the Jordan Baptist Society, according to a report published by the Baptist Press. Don Robertson, pastor at College Heights Baptist Church, said Harvey had taught English and other subjects in Jordan for 24...

Story last updated at 4:20 a.m. Sunday, August 27, 2006 Candidates log West Texas miles in race for House seat BY D. LANCE LUNSFORD AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Across 15,104 square miles, House District 85 covers 16 counties and a population of more than 145,000 West Texans. It's 275 miles from the district's northern point to its southern. Reaching the edges of Abilene with its borders a few miles from Lubbock's and San Angelo's outskirts, the district's most metropolitan centers are Plainview and Big Spring. The two candidates looking to replace retiring state Rep. Pete Laney, D-Hale Center, have burned a path between...

Laney put off by today's Texas politics BY D. LANCE LUNSFORD AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Former Texas House Speaker Pete Laney, D-Hale Center, spent more than 30 years engaged in the daily wrangling and haggling over legislation, but his last years to serve have never been more contentious, he said Wednesday. Political campaigns waging war on the South Plains show the growing political partisanship in Austin throughout the last few years, said Laney. "It didn't used to be that way," he said. "We take pride in the fact that we handled our business in Texas differently than they did in other states." Noting...

When you board a plane, both you and your carry-on bags are searched. A civilian employee of the Transportation Security Administration may open and search your checked luggage as well. Although primarily looking for security threats, workers report any illegal or suspicious objects to a supervisor or law enforcement agent, even if the object represents no danger to the flight. Two legal concepts allow both you and your bags to be searched despite the Constitution's protection against unreasonable search and seizure. By being in an airport and trying to board a plane, the Supreme Court says, you have given "implied...

Children interrupt sex assault Attacker leaves evidence while fleeing neighbor BY P. CHRISTINE SMITH AVALANCHE-JOURNAL PLAINVIEW — The fast action of 5- and 7-year-old siblings may have saved their mother from more serious harm after a man entered their home and sexually assaulted the woman Thursday, police said. The 26-year-old single mother stepped outside her northwest Plainview home about midnight to empty the trash, while her children slept in their beds. When the woman re-entered the house, she found a strange man inside, said detective Capt. Michael T. Carroll. The noise from the attack woke the children. "When she started...

'Tiny' girl stands tall in family tragedy Child leads others to safety, summons help in crash that claimed brother's life BY P. CHRISTINE SMITH AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Elizabeth Hinojosa, a petite 6-year-old from Plainview, demonstrated physical and emotional strength when tragedy struck Sunday and her family needed help. The pickup in which her family was riding left the roadway and overturned near Ralls in the early afternoon, shortly after the family left church services. Elizabeth realized that her father, Gilbert Hinojosa, was pinned beneath the wreckage and her mother, Christina Hinojosa, was lying unconscious on the ground after being ejected. She got...

GOP gaining ground in rural West Texas BY JOHN REYNOLDS AVALANCHE-JOURNAL As a lifelong member of the Republican Party, Pat Cowan remembers well the times when GOP was practically a dirty word in West Texas. Cowan, currently the chairwoman of the Hockley County Republican Party, was raised on a farm just west of what then was Reese Air Force Base. Her father had been a Democrat until Eisenhower's run for the White House in 1952. As Cowan recalls it, her father came home one day and said, "You know, those farmers up north have been voting Republican for years. Maybe...

Tourists may blow in along windy trail BY P. CHRISTINE SMITH AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Coy Harris hopes travelers taking in the sights along the newly planned 600-mile Power of the Wind Trail will end up in Lubbock. Harris is executive director of the American Wind Power Center, 1701 Canyon Lakes Drive, one destination on the trail that stretches from Lubbock into Oklahoma. John Armour of the Lubbock Convention and Visitors Bureau took the suggestion of a colleague and ran with it. He has spearheaded the development of the trail along with representatives of at least seven cities across the region. "This is...

<p>Fort Myers police recently manned a new battle station in their fight against crime: the drive-through window at McDonald’s.</p> <p>Dressed as a McDonald’s employee, an undercover officer worked the drive-through window March 21 and April 25 and spotted enough wrongdoing inside customers’ cars to warrant six arrests and 29 citations.</p>