Times of sorrow and struggle
09:23 PM CST on Saturday, December 27, 2003
Crushing tragedy. Bare-knuckle politics. High drama at the courthouse. The eyes of the nation were often upon us in Texas through 2003. Here is a look back and updates on some of the top stories of the year in the Lone Star State.
SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA
THEN: At 8 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas as it re-enters the atmosphere to land in Florida after a 16-day mission. All seven astronauts are killed. Thousands on the ground witness a fiery shower of debris across Texas and Louisiana.
More than 25,000 people help with a ground search for shuttle parts, finding more than 84,000 pieces, ranging from tiny fragments in the Panhandle to an 800-pound turbopump at Fort Polk, La.
NASA appoints an independent Columbia Accident Investigation Board. After more than five months of work, the group blames a piece of insulation that broke away from the external fuel tank and knocked a hole in the left wing during launch. The board criticizes pressure to complete the space station and laxness about safety.
NOW: Three remaining planned shuttle flights remain grounded as NASA works to fulfill 15 key recommendations from the accident board. NASA, depending on Russian spacecraft to support the unfinished International Space Station, initially sets a return-to-flight target for the spring, then pushes it back to fall, though many expect an even later resumption.
Bruce Nichols
BAYLOR BASKETBALL TURMOIL
THEN: Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy goes missing June 12, and police fear foul play. Teammate Carlton Dotson is seen driving Mr. Dennehy's sport utility vehicle in East Texas, then shows up at home in Maryland. Mr. Dennehy's SUV is found in Virginia. Mr. Dotson confesses July 21 to shooting Mr. Dennehy, and the player's body is found July 25 in a gravel pit near Baylor.
Baylor men's basketball coach Dave Bliss quits in August amid questions about how Mr. Dennehy paid his tuition. An assistant coach gives NCAA investigators tape recordings of Mr. Bliss asking players to falsely paint Mr. Dennehy as a drug dealer. Mr. Bliss confesses that he paid Mr. Dennehy's tuition.
NOW: Mr. Dotson is in the McLennan County Jail in Waco; no trial is expected before summer.
Mr. Dennehy's father has filed a wrongful-death suit against Baylor, and the young man's mother and stepfather have retained a lawyer to file their own suit. Baylor officials hope to complete an investigation of the basketball program early next year.
Lee Hancock
CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING
THEN: State lawmakers engage in bitter political warfare through a regular session and three special sessions of the Legislature. Democrats hold up consideration of the issue in May when more than 50 House members flee to Oklahoma. They use the same tactic in July, when 11 Senate Democrats bolt to New Mexico for a weeks-long holdout.
A new congressional map is finally approved in the third special session in October. The new boundaries are expected to give the Republicans as many as seven new seats in a congressional delegation now controlled by Democrats, 17-15.
Democrats in Congress, civil rights groups, the city of Austin, Travis County and individuals file suits challenging the plan as an impermissible, mid-decade remap that weakens minorities' voting power. A three-judge federal court panel finished hearing arguments in the case last week.
The U.S. Justice Department blesses the GOP-drawn map Dec. 19, saying it didn't have the purpose – or the effect – of diminishing minority voting strength.
NOW: The three judges are formulating their opinion in the court case. A ruling is expected in early January. The losing side is expected to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
With primary elections scheduled for March 9, election officials say congressional boundaries must be determined by Jan. 10 to allow time to print ballots and establish polling places.
Robert T. Garrett
IMMIGRANT DEATHS
THEN: In the worst mass death involving immigrant smuggling into the United States, 19 people from Mexico and Central America die in the back of a locked, unventilated trailer abandoned near Victoria on May 14. The truck had been carrying dozens of illegal immigrants from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston.
Fourteen people are indicted on various charges, with five still fugitives.
NOW: Federal officials have decided to seek life in prison for six defendants, including Karla Patricia Chávez Joya, 25, the alleged ringleader, and have until Feb. 1 to determine whether to seek the death penalty against the truck driver, Tyrone Williams, 38. Trials are scheduled for June.
David Sedeño
TULIA DRUG PARDONS
THEN: Gov. Rick Perry pardons 35 people, most of them black, who were convicted in the infamous Tulia drug cases, in which an undercover police officer said he bought drugs from them over 18 months. The cases had come under heavy criticism by courts, which had found the undercover officer to not be a credible witness.
Swisher County officials reach a settlement with various defendants for $250,000 in return for no further civil litigation.
The city of Tulia sets up a Citizens Review Board made up of blacks, Hispanics and whites, which will act as a conduit between the public and police and sheriff's officials.
Attorneys for two defendants file a federal civil rights lawsuit against a Panhandle narcotics task force and several individuals in Swisher County.
NOW: Tom Coleman, the former undercover agent, faces perjury charges not directly connected to the drug cases.
The NAACP is working with former defendants to get their records cleared so they can pursue jobs and education.
David Sedeño
POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
THE BUDGET
THEN: Legislature enters its regular session in January facing a $10 billion revenue shortfall for the biennium. After much debate, lawmakers pass a two-year budget that avoids tax increases but raises numerous fees and fines, while cutting funding for higher education and several state programs. Lawmakers also grant universities the right to set their own tuition.
NOW: Under the hard-hit Children's Health Insurance Program, nearly one in 10 low-income children receiving care has been dropped based on new guidelines. Some higher education governing boards are proceeding with unprecedented tuition increases to offset state budget cuts.
Terrence Stutz
HOMEOWNERS' INSURANCE CRISIS
THEN: Lawmakers pass insurance-reform legislation that promises to beef up regulation and lower runaway premiums that led to the highest homeowner rates in the United States. The measure also puts new restrictions on the use of credit history by insurers.
NOW: Homeowners' rates have stabilized, although there is no indication they are coming down overall because of the new law. In fact, premiums are up from a year ago in many areas. Companies tried to increase their rates again this summer, but the insurance commissioner, using new authority, ordered most to cut premiums. Two companies, State Farm and Farmers, are fighting those orders in court.
Terrence Stutz
ABORTION LIMITS
THEN: Lawmakers place new restrictions on abortion, including a mandatory 24-hour waiting period and a requirement that women seeking the procedure be given pamphlets that proponents hope will dissuade women from ending their pregnancies.
• The Legislature also prohibits public money from going to any organization what provides abortion services.
NOW: Clinics must offer the new literature to patients effective Jan. 1. They include pictures of fetal development and highlight the risks of abortion.
• The state is appealing a court order, obtained by Planned Parenthood this summer, which blocks the funding prohibition from going into effect.
Christy Hoppe
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
THEN: Lawmakers limit damages in medical malpractice lawsuits and approve a proposed amendment, approved by voters in November, to cap non-economic damages that can be awarded in lawsuits.
• Voters also approve amendments giving homeowners a line of credit in borrowing against their home equity and allowing older homeowners to convert their equity loans to reverse mortgages.
NOW: Experts say it will take time for the new lawsuit limits to have an effect, while some plaintiff lawyers have warned that the restrictions will have a chilling effect on some Texans who are injured and entitled to compensation.
Terrence Stutz
GOP INFIGHTING
THEN: Republican Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn criticizes lawmakers for leaving the state with a budget deficit, then criticizes cuts made by the GOP-controlled Legislature to balance the budget.
In an unprecedented move, she withholds approval of the new budget at the 11th hour until the governor agrees to changes.
NOW: Ms. Strayhorn's office is stripped of some of her highest-profile duties, the result of a bill promoted by Gov. Rick Perry in a special legislative session.
Mrs. Strayhorn blames Mr. Perry for "the lost civility, the lost dignity, the lost honor, the lost effectiveness and the lost spirit of bipartisanship" that she says had been the hallmark of former Gov. George W. Bush. She says of future leadership breakfasts with Mr. Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst: "I think if they had me back for breakfast, I'd take a taster."
Christy Hoppe
HOUSTON MAYORAL RACE
THEN: Republicans aim to take over City Hall under the leadership of mayoral candidate Orlando Sanchez, a Cuban-American former City Council member, and several other strong candidates for seats on the 15-member council.
NOW: Republicans instead lose ground in the fall elections. Former Texas Democratic Chairman Bill White is elected mayor by a landslide in a December runoff with Mr. Sanchez, and Republicans lose key council races. A Pakistani Muslim civic leader and businessman is among those elected.
Bruce Nichols
CRIME & PUNISHMENT
THE MORALES BROTHERS
DAN MORALES
THEN: The former state attorney general and gubernatorial candidate pleaded guilty July 17 to mail fraud and filing a false income tax return. That followed a lengthy federal investigation into allegations that he tried to bilk the state out of $520 million in legal fees from Texas' multibillion-dollar judgment against major tobacco companies.
NOW: He is serving a four-year prison sentence in the federal penitentiary in Texarkana. He also is under orders to undergo mental health counseling for at least three years after his release from prison.
MICHAEL MORALES
THEN: Dan Morales' brother pleads guilty Jan. 30 to trying to blackmail Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tony Sanchez for $280,000 in fall 2002, a few months after Mr. Sanchez beat Dan Morales in the Democratic primary.
NOW: He is serving a two-year prison sentence at the federal penitentiary near Bastrop, in Central Texas.
Terrence Stutz
IMMIGRANT SMUGGLING RING
THEN: The accused ringleader of an El Paso-Ciudad Juárez immigrant-smuggling ring, Ruben Patrick Valdes, is sentenced July 18 to 27 years and three months in prision for his role in the deaths of two immigrants who died in North Texas in July 2002 aboard a locked, unventilated truck trailer. Mr. Valdez' brother, Román, is sentenced to seven years and eight months in return for his testimony against his brother.
• The two truck drivers, Troy Phillip Dock and Jason Steven Sprague, are sentenced Nov. 18 to 33 years and nine months in prison each.
• Officials say the case has set a precedent for how prosecutors could try similar smuggling cases across the country.
NOW: Four co-defendants in the case are awaiting sentencing on guilty pleas to various conspiracy, smuggling and harboring charges.
David Sedeño
DEANNA LANEY
THEN: Deanna Laney is arrested May 10 and charged with capital murder after authorities find her two oldest sons with their heads bashed with rocks in their front yard in the Smith County community of New Chapel Hill. Mrs. Laney called 911 to report that God told her to kill her children. Her 14-month-old son is found in his crib, bleeding heavily from a head injury.
NOW: The youngest son is recovering; family members say he is learning to use a walker. Prosecutors say their psychiatric experts have determined Mrs. Laney to be legally insane, concurring with the defense. A judge seeks an independent evaluation and expects to resolve the case by February.
Lee Hancock
BROWNSVILLE SLAYINGS
THEN: The bodies of three children – ages 3, 1 and 2 months – are found suffocated, stabbed and decapitated in a squalid family apartment in Brownsville on March 11. John Allen Rubio and Angela Camacho, both 23, tell investiators they killed their children because they believed the children were possessed. Authorities say the couple's life, including prostitution and drugs, led to a decision to kill the children.
NOW: John Allen Rubio is on death row after a capital murder conviction. His wife is awaiting a mental competency hearing.
David Sedeño
KILLER DENTIST
THEN: Houston dentist Clara Harris is convicted Feb. 13 of murder for using her Mercedes Benz to run down her husband, David, also a dentist, after she discovered him with his lover at a hotel.
NOW: Mrs. Harris is appealing her conviction while serving her 20-year sentence. A legal battle over her twin sons, now 5, has ended with Mrs. Harris receiving joing custody with a couple she recommended to raise them. The twins' paternal grandparents were given visitation rights.
Bruce Nichols
ROBERT DURST TRIAL
THEN: New York real-estate heir Robert Durst is acquitted Nov. 11 of murder in the 2001 dismemberment death of a neighbor in a Galveston apartment house. Mr. Durst, who attorneys say was hiding in Galvenston and posing as a mute woman because he feared renewed investigation of his wife's disappearance 20 years earlier in New York, says he accidentally shot the often-cantakerous Morris Black in a struggle over a gun, then panicked, dismembered tbe body and threw the pieces in Galveston Bay.
NOW: Mr. Durst is still in the Galveston County Jail in lieu of $2 billion bail, awaiting trial on bond-jumping charges arising from his flight to avoid prosecution in Mr. Black's death.
Bruce Nichols
GOING TO WAR
THEN: Troops stationed in Texas head overseas en masse in 2003, playing key roles in the war against Iraq.
About 20,000 troops are deployed from Fort Hood in Central Texas. Members of the 4th Infantry Division participate in the capture of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Fourteen Fort Hood soldiers are killed in action as the year draws to a close.
About 7,000 active-duty soldiers from Fort Bliss in El Paso are in the war zone. Nine are killed in action and six are taken prisoner when the 507th Maintenance Company is ambushed. All prisoners are retrieved from captivity, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch and Spc. Shoshana Johnson, both injured or wounded in action.
Several thousand more troops from Texas-based National Guard and reserve units also serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.
NOW: The Pentagon officially lists 31 Texans as having been killed in combat and noncombat incidents in Iraq since the war began March 20. The number includes Texans assigned to units based out of state.
The first wave of troops from Fort Hood is expected home in the spring. About 20,000 more are to be deployed after the first of the year. Most of the soldiers from Fort Bliss have returned.
Now a celebrity with a published book, Pfc. Lynch is retired from the service. Spc. Johnson also is retired and will lead a New Year's Eve countdown in New York City. The other four former prisoners based at Fort Bliss remain in the service.
Diane Jennings
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