Kerrville Times (Newspaper) - March 24, 1998, Kerrville, Texas FORMER TIVY PLAYER MAKES Bio SPLASH IN PAGE 8 Kerrville Daily Tuesday March Inside I Classified I Comics I Editorials I Lifestyle I Lotto I Obituaries I Sports I TV I Weather big page 14 THE NEWSPAPER OF THE HILL COUNTRY 50 CENTS Vol 89 No 308 n Courthouse renovations s rendering of what the facade will look like at the Kerr County Cour thouse after renovations By Allison Pollan Times Staff Writer Kerr County commissioners moved a step closer to beginning the last two construction phases to renovate the Kerr County court house at a special meeting of the commis court Monday At the meeting the court approved fund ing estimates for the second and third es of courthouse renovations and authorized the architect to go out for bids on the pro ject The renovations include the building turning the underground covered parking into office space and renovating the district clerks office Phase one of courthouse construction began in 1996 with renovation of the east and west wings of the first floor Pet 3 Commissioner Jonathan Letz said the court hopes to award bids for construc tion contracts for the last two phases at the April 27 meeting of the court which would allow demolition to begin in late May or early June Renovations are expected to take two to four years to complete I feel like it is an excellent plan and prob ably worth waiting said District Clerk See COURTHOUSE 5 Sweetsmelling dreams For gardening with a sense of humor its hard to top the flower bed constructed by Frank Kincaid left at his Lake Road residence flowers rest in a real bed in the front yard daughter Kristin Dyer a second grader at Notre Dame lends a hand in watering the flowers in the garden Times photo by Ken Schmidt Bandera couple charged with capital murder Parents accused of starving infant to death From staff reports BANDERA A couple accused of starving their two andahalf month old son to death were indicted on capital murder by a grand jury here Monday Noel Perez 31 and Ernestina Rodriguez 24 were arrested Feb 17 on injury to a child charges after their son was found dead The boys death was initially reported to law enforce ment officials as a case of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome according to Bandera County Sheriff James MacMillan The child Ramiro Perez weighed 5 pounds 13 ounces at birth on Nov 29 1997 but weighed only 5 pounds 8 ounces at the time of his death Feb 11 1998 The infant was found after landlady Victoria Murillo called 911 to report the infant had stopped breath ing The baby was taken to Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital and officially announced dead The couple has been ated in the Bandera County jail on bond A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Bandera before judicial district Judge Stephen Abies During that hearing the couple is expected to be arraigned and a new bond set for the capital murder charges Sheriffs deputies reported finding no baby formula or baby food on the premises according to MacMillan He described the home as a shack Three other children living in the home were suffering from various ailments attributed to improper MacMillan said Those children were removed from the home by Child Protective Services officials and placed in foster homes The investigation into their welfare continues and additional charges could result MacMillan said Bruce Curry judicial district attorney presented the states case USD pushes for city annexation By Mark Loyd Times Staff Writer INGRAM School trustees here want to begin talks with city officials to have at least one or all of the Ingram Independent School District campuses annexed into the city The issue of annexation was raised Monday by Ingram Independent School District trustees The move comes as work on a new high school gym and elementary school contin ues The new elementary campus located off Texas 27 between Skyview Road and Woodland Road is divided by the City of Ingram limits The division cre ates a problem as to which law enforcement agency Kerr County sheriffs department or Ingram City Marshal would respond to calls We want a clear delineation of who responds for law enforce said Mary Ward USD superintendent We want the elementary campus either entirely in the city or in the The high school and middle school campuses are located entirely outside the City of Ingram limits USD trustee president Chick Rives appointed John Allen Henderson Gilbert Honea and Travis Hall to an annexation See USD 5 Crude oil production cuts likely to raise prices at the pump DALLAS AP Motorists are likely to see gas prices creep upward just as the summer travel season approaches after major oil producing countries decided to cut their crude oil output Weve been expecting an increase in demand because of summer travel That plus the decrease in petroleum produc tion will be the end of the cur rent cheap gasoline said Mike Morrissey spokesman for the American Automobile Association Thats what oil ministers from some of the largest crude oil producers were hoping when they announced they will reduce world oil output by up to 2 million barrels a day to staunch six months worth of downward prices Falling steadily last September gasoline prices reached historic lows this month because of limited demand caused by a warm winter and the financial crisis in Asia On Monday futures traders added almost a nickel to the wholesale price of gasoline which rose more than 9 per cent to cents a gallon for contracts for April delivery Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 13 percent or by to a barrel for contracts for May delivery We knew prices couldnt stay down Morrissey said But he doesnt expect prices to reach the averages seen last summer Including all grades and taxes the average price of gasoline in the United States was about on Sunday according to the Lundberg Survey of stations nationwide That was down almost 2 cents in the past two weeks according to analyst Trilby Lundberg Higher crude oil prices plus an increase in demand during the approaching vacation sea son will likely mean a boost in costs at the pump Taxes refining costs and local compe tition also affect retail gaso line prices Gasoline prices would have come up anyway because they are at levels that are tic for their Lower demand and quarreling between members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries about who should cut their oil production have pushed down prices as well as improved drilling techniques that cut expenses To Russia with love Local resident sees need for missionary work By Allison Pollan Times Staff Writer In the wake of the turmoil and change currently facing Russia the most recent being President Boris firing of his entire cabinet Monday one Kerrville native cant wait to return to the country Tivy High School graduate James Worden 24 lived in Russia as a missionary last year but returned in December to marry his wife Shara 23 The two currently are raising funds to return to Russia as mission aries They hope to leave on April 23 and do not plan to return until the summer of 1999 James experience with the Russian culture began in the summer of 1995 when he spent two months in the city of Tyumen in Siberia working at a summer youth camp I went on the missionary trip to Russia and enjoyed it and I saw their James said There were only two churches where I was and I thought in Kerrville we have so many James said he knew no Russian and there were no translators available during his first visit I just followed where people were he said During that first visit he said he picked up some basic phrases in Russian and a rudimentary understanding of the language It wasnt until his second year long stay that he attended school fulltime at Moscow State James and Shara Worden stand among friends and family in front of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow last summer before the opening night of opera Ivan Susanin Pictured from left are Linda Worden James Worden Shara Worden and Russian friends Vera Polina and Oleg Courtesy photo University and Pushkin Language Institute After graduating from the University of North Texas he returned to Moscow with the Evangelical Free Church Mission to establish churches in the area He said most differences in the country and culture are not that pronounced and he adjust ed well to the Russian lifestyle Tor me it was really normal I never really felt I had culture shock and it was never an adjustment for me to be he said He said there are many of the same fast food chains in Moscow including Pizza Hut Kentucky Fried Chicken Dunkin Donuts and countless McDonalds you can get value meals though they do run a few dollars more in Skippy peanut butter See RUSSIA 5
