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\nnuai Moewaik Sale nhich has been set for Friday, Julv 20.w *•Oldest newspaper inay iy,Vol. 101, No. 8Pfea** R*cyci# Thu And AMGeorgetown, TexasThursday, July 14, 1977Call 141 45SSTo PlAvtf ‘A Ant AdiPrice 15c plus k taxMuniz trial,it s been nearly eight months sincethe brutal rapt' and murder of a youngcoed in Georgetown; some of theanger and useless disbelief felt hereLeft is the prevailing desire touncover the facts and see justice done as Pedro Cruz Muniz stands trial forthe crimeThe twelve Williamson County residents selected to hear the factstnd decide the gudt or innocence ofMuniz, 20, sat together for the first time in district court Monday DistrictAttn ney Ed Walsh, lacking both a murder weapon and an eye witness, Monday began the presentation of circumstantial evidence gathered by the stateTHE STATE is seeking the deaththe passingglanceBy Don ScarbroughOne hundred years from now I'llpush Donald Barron around the*square in a wheel barrow if this prediction hasn’t come true: Georgetown will have a population of about 50,000 and most of its residentswill be living undergroundGOING UNDERGROUND is logicalfor a people confronted with our grow ing energy problems, increasing crime, scarcity of conventional building materials and the possibility lt;i radiation poison from the skies.Within a decade many of our people will have voluntarily taken up lodgingbeneath the soil. We’ll haveprefabricated houses, modules or•elements” made of a fiber glassreinforced polyester, sealed andbolted together on the job site. Gunite,steel reenforcements, polyurethanefoam and many other such moderndandies could go into making thehomes subject to mass productionwhich usually — but not always — brings about cheaper prices. Underground homes would be easily cooled and heated with solar contraptions, cleaning and many other housekeeping chores would be minimized. The average town lotcould be half the size it is now, therewould be less mowing and hoeingCertainly, there would be less streetnoise:nhpenalty against Muniz, and it is Walsh's burden to prove Muniz’s guiltcourtroom for a brief kxk at the trial“beyond a reasonable doubt.”The state called 14 witnesses to theproceedings and the defendant and many have sat through the entire trial so far A few arestand during the first two days ofes of Janis Rickham. several are students atstern University where shewas a studentThe state has introduced over 60items of evidence during the first twodays of testimony, most of themphotographs of the victim There isone photograph of Janis Bickham as she appeared in high school Others are of her ixxiv as it was found hotmween the two forks of the San GabrielmRiver or of her Ixxiv before theautopsy was performed1 here are also numerousfmV i.**, I-tphotographs of the area where her\belongings were found, and of the\area authorities testified they believe the crime was committed.urawmg* ey Jana StetnmetxHitDEFENSE Attorneys RubenSandoval and Jesse Botello of SanAntonio have repeatedly objected toIhis is artist Jana Skeinmetz’s conception ofWilliamson County jury hearing the Muniz trial this week They come from all over the county Front row. left to rightPlease (urn to page 1-1J * win 114 fvi 1 Hi i Igni 4they are Ruben Trevino, Charley Pickett. Mrs Jas BonnetI at Sehroeder, Mrs Leonard Wynn, W C Roberta Second row , left to right are Curtis Stauffer, Gene Finn, Dale Werner. Ann Bennett, Shirley Miller, James Turner*PEDRO CRUZ MUNIZBuitestimony. July 11 and 12. WitnessesApartmentsranged from the minister’s wife who testified to washing the victim’s clothes and dropping her off at her dorm on the morning of December 20, 1976, to the Chief Medical Examiner of.:.inHarris County in Houston, both M Dand attorney, who testified to the condition of Janis Carol Bickham’sCity council conducted before a packed house Tuesday as the controversial matter of issuing a building permit for Phase I con-counciissuingrbody as it lay in the Brackenridge Hospital morgue in Austin on December 23.struct ion of. 32 apartment units adjacent to San Gabriel Heights wasagain on the agendaCouncilman Doermg objected tothe permit because ofxjuate play areas for children Sams said the City’s zoning dealt exclusively with density of dwellings ta area and contains no requirementtor play areas All 1 can tell you is thesimply say the open areas must In*accessible to the people in the unit In this matter the developers were operating within their legalionshe saidHunsucker noted that his rationalelor putting play areas in the back wasD I E E E R E N IY\ I I N E S S E S( ouncil, after an hour of heated developers have complied with the/I i* rvi i'kt I f it A t IN i 1 4 A I — - ... — fcDoermg countered by saying that Georgetown's zoning laws wereto keep children from playing so close to the road• IWe expect many ofunits toLind somewhat emotional at times)testified to seeing Bickham alive for the last time on December 20, anddiscussion, decided to confer furtheropen space requirementswrong If that’s the case,” he saidlx* rented to retirees,” he said “WeHunsucker countered Doering’sMuniz’s activities on the same davwith City Attorney Joe McMaster contention that play areas were notthen we need to change our zoning laws ”don't expect a lot of children becauseH4H square feet of living area doesn’tSeveral law enforcement officialsbefore rendering a final decisionA special session of council isadequate He stated that over oneMayor John Doerfler, noting thatlend itself to large families testified using reports they made as the case unfolded last year, first as ascheduled for Tuesday, July 19 at 4:00missing person on December 21, then as the discovery of a nude andto deal with the logistics problem ofacre of play area would tx* developed Doermg saideven though Georgetown had somewhether to give the go ahead to H HConstruction or to slam the brakes onbrutally beaten body on December 22 between the North and South forks ofaccelerated building in Georgetownwasn’t enoughbecause Hunsucker’s Belton do velopment had three acres Doermg then tlt;xk issue with the factthat Phase II construction allowed forareas where large concentrations of children lived and didn’t haveDrawing on statistics compiled on his 152 units in Belton, Hunsucker saida! most he estimated 25 childrenlived there and he expected about theadequate open areas for playing, said same number in these apartmentsIT 4% if t /«»! *1 -1a,.- II aft a __ 1ho didn't see why the city allow thatsituation to continueHunsucker said he already had overone hundred applications for the 32Tom Sams, Building Inspector, said more playground area than Phase l Hunsucker countered by saying that planned units. “The rent will notthe San Gabriel River just west of Harry Hunsucker had resubmitted apartments will have He further feltAustin Avenue in Georgetown The defendant sat stonefaced andplans that were fully in compliance that the playgrounds provided weremotionless through the first two days of the trialwith Georgetown zoning, building, too far away from the one bedrooman acre i in his opinion) was more than adequate for play areas He noted thatthtexcissue was nol play areas butelectrical, mechanical, and plumbing apartmentswhether his company was in comTHE LARGE NUMBER of obrequirementsHunsucker noted that he needed aSams drew attention to the fact thatservers in the courtroom is visual letter of compliance from GeorgetownGeorgetown’s zoning requirementspliance with the present zoning requirements We have more than met them» of a family's income Ix-cause tenants pay the electricitylt; tlder people tend to need our projectsand because ofour energy-type construction and the rooms are not soin fact, exceeded them♦ *large that you want a lot of children.testimony to the public interest in theobserverssometimes as high as 75 and neverless than 55.to process his FHA loan through Farmers State Bank of Round RockPhase 1 construction calls for 16 oneSeveral persons have come into the mentsbedroom and 16 two bedroom apart-Commissioners set datePleat* turn to page 16M 4*.ii i:■JL
Newspaper Details
The Williamson County Sun
Georgetown, Texas, US
Thu, Jul 14, 1977
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Robert P.
NA, 13 May 2021
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