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Appraisals draw ire of residents BY JAMES GALLAGHER AVALANCHE-JOURNAL The value of Ken Cowling's home jumped more than 34 percent this year, and he is starting to wonder if it will ever stop going up. The home is now valued at more than $241,000, compared to about $180,000 last year. It's value has increased each year since 2003. Cowling said he'd sell his house, "if I could find someone who would pay for it." Several of Cowling's other properties also saw similar appraisal increases, including some duplexes. Cowling said he can't understand the increase since the duplex market in Lubbock...

Teen charged with trying to poison dad BY BETH AARON AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Lubbock police arrested and charged a 13-year-old girl with aggravated assault after she admitted trying to poison her father. Officers responded to a domestic disturbance in the 4800 block of 55th Street on Friday. The girl's father, 42, told police he had instructed his daughter to complete chores the night before. He said she refused and went to bed, Sgt. Scott Farmer said. The next morning, the father reported he woke his daughter up before he left for work and told her to complete the chores she had avoided...

BY BETH AARON AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Lubbock police have raised the number of sexual assaults possibly committed by the same suspect to three within the past two weeks. The details and the description of the suspect and the assaults are similar. Each victim was threatened with a weapon and their heads were covered with a hood, police said. Police on Wednesday released information about a third sexual assault that occurred on May 24. A 45-year-old woman told police she was sexually assaulted at 1:30 a.m. after she accepted a ride from a man in a white pickup truck near a convenience store...

Associated PressLUBBOCK, Texas - The trail to finding soldiers still missing from the Vietnam War is beginning more and more at Texas Tech University. An Internet archive of decades-old documents from the school's Vietnam Center has provided Defense Department researchers dozens of leads in the cases of 1,805 American soldiers who never returned from Southeast Asia. The growing online collection, launched in 2004, led Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Robert Newberry to send a recent letter informing the center that POW-MIA analysts have uncovered 41 leads from the archive. And many more new clues are likely on the way: of the...

Picture perfect cowboy BY JOE GULICK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL A photograph taken of a Lubbock cowboy and his horse in front of a spectacular West Texas sunset has gained fame both inside and outside the Lubbock city limits and was honored in Austin last week by both houses of the Texas Legislature. Employees of Visit Lubbock, the city's convention and visitors bureau, titled the photograph "The Legend Lives On" and used it as the cover of its current Lubbock Visitor Guide. The picture also has been used in several advertisements for Lubbock, including ones in People Magazine, Texas Monthly and Continental Airlines....

Austin City Manager Toby Futrell opened her Tuesday newspaper and saw that economic development glad-handers from Lubbock were in her town, flooding one of the world's most prestigious tech conferences with tote bags stamped with their logo. Futrell declared a marketing emergency. The city has no strategic reserve for a tote bag crisis, so Futrell whipped her staff into a frenzy Wednesday to quickly order 2,000 high-quality tote bags that say "Austin: Live Music Capital of the World." The order, which will cost the city about $2,000, was set to be filled by noon today, when city officials will begin...

PBS ranch series receives some local advice Cowboy life BY RAY WESTBROOK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Cowboys riding hard after cattle in the heat of a Big Bend summer in 1867 could find relief from their work only by falling exhausted at night onto their crudely fashioned camp site. It was life hanging by a thread, with neighbors perhaps 25 miles away and no way to reduce the distance by speed. Today, the scene has been repeated south of Alpine, except a TV camera followed the cowboys wherever they rode. Producers of a reality show about 19th century ranching, which will air nationally...

A 26-year-old man with connections to a prison gang was arrested early Tuesday morning after Lubbock police found a live bomb in his vehicle. Patrol officers observed Jeremy Lynn Womack of Lubbock acting suspiciously and pulled him over near the 7300 block of University Avenue about 12:30 a.m., Sgt. John Gomez said. Felix Garcia, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives resident agent in charge, said intelligence information and tattoos visible on Womack's body indicate he is a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist prison gang. A narcotics-sniffing dog indicated to police there were drugs in the silver...

WESTWOOD ONE LAUNCHES THE MONICA CROWLEY SHOW --New Program to Air Saturdays, Noon - 3 p.m. ET-- Beginning Saturday, April 1, 2006 New York, NY Monday, Mar 20, 2006 - Westwood One (NYSE: WON) is proud to announce the national launch of The Monica Crowley Show, the three-hour talk program hosted by author and news personality Monica Crowley. The show begins Saturday, April 1, 2006, and will air from noon to 3 p.m. ET. The Monica Crowley Show will debut on major market stations across the country including: WABC-AM New York, WTKK-FM Boston and WTNT-AM Washington DC. The show will...

A Lubbock grandfather is credited with holding a suspected online predator at gunpoint until police could arrive. Twenty-two year-old Brandon Ray Lewis is charged with aggravated sexual assault. The victim's grandfather says he found Lewis having sex with his 13-year-old granddaughter in front of their Northwest Lubbock home around 2:30 Monday morning. Police executed a search warrant Monday afternoon, police can't say specifically what they collected as evidence from Lewis' house, but they can confirm that they've found electronic evidence which will help with their ongoing investigation. Here's what happened, a Lubbock man noticed a suspicious car parked in...

Is Lubbock ready to hear the Dixie Chicks? Two Lubbock country stations disagree over the controversy. Tonight, NewsChannel 11 wants to hear from you. Vote on our online poll, and tonight we'll show the lyrics to their new single.

Story last updated at 4:36 a.m. Saturday, March 4, 2006 Early voting wraps up, draws 'strong turnout' BY ELLIOTT BLACKBURN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Turnout for Lubbock County early voting was higher than normal but not record-setting, according to numbers released Friday night. Just under 12,000 voters had cast ballots at early election polling stations before voting ended at 7 p.m. Friday. That accounts for less than 8 percent of the 155,000 registered voters in Lubbock County. Those were good numbers, Lubbock County Republican Party Chairman Robert Pratt said. "It's a good, strong turnout," Pratt said. "But it's not a record for the...

There has been some sort of explosion near 82nd and I-27 at a propane station. NewsChannel 11 is continuing to unravel the details right now. We know that traffic is being diverted on the interstate right now and it is urged that you avoid that area. Authorities tell us that people need to stay inside their cars and not to approach the fire. NewsChannel 11 currently has multiple crews on the scene looking for answers as to what caused the explosions and if there has been any injuries. We will have the latest on this developing news story tonight on...

Brother of Fallen Soldier Called To Iraq "Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.," says Roy Velez. More than a year after burying his oldest son, Roy is dealing with a new heartache. He says, "Andrew called and said 'Dad, I've got some news you're not gonna like.' He said 'I'm going back Daddy.'"The U.S. Military once again called on the service of his son army specialist Andrew Velez. Roy says, "My reaction was, it sucks during his first tour of duty in Iraq Andrew had to bring home a...

School finance issue at root of Jones challenge BY ELLIOTT BLACKBURN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Challengers are assailing one local incumbent for his support of several bills last legislative session, but it is one issue in particular that has the veteran legislator on the chopping block, according to political observers throughout the state. State Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, broke ranks last year to vote against a tax bill changing the school finance structure. The bill was supported by the rest of the Lubbock legislative delegation and most Republicans. He voted in support of a Democratic alternative to the bill. That sealed it for...

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...

A Lubbock state representative has been called up to deploy to the Middle East. Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, will serve as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and "assume a leadership role" in the creation of a new U.S. Navy logistics battalion, according to a statement from his office. Isett is a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He will serve as executive officer of a new 445 Navy Reserve Logistics battalion that will operate in several locations in Kuwait and Iraq, according to the statement. The representative will deploy within the "next several weeks" and is expected to spend...

1959: Buddy Holly killed in air crash Three young rock 'n' roll stars have been killed in a plane crash in the United States. Buddy Holly, 22, Jiles P Richardson - known as the Big Bopper - 28, and Ritchie Valens, 17, died in a crash shortly after take-off from Clear Lake, Iowa at 0100 local time. The pilot of the single-engined Beechcraft Bonanza plane was also killed. Early reports from the scene suggest the aircraft spun out of control during a light snowstorm. Only the pilot's body was found inside the wreckage as the performers were thrown clear on...

The Dixie Chicks are raising a rukus again. This time they are using Lubbock's name.The Chicks new album contains a song called 'Lubbock or Lave It.' It criticizes local radio stations who boycotted their music after the trio made anti-Bush remarks at a concert three years ago.Another song called 'Not Ready to Make Nice' is about the backlash they recieved from the Bush comments.The album is due out in April.