Volume 63, Number 16
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Azle News THE
www.azlenews.net
Azle falls in Take the Lake game Page 7A
High performance art Page 1B
Four injured in fiery La Junta accident by carla noah stutsman Four people were injured – one seriously – in a two vehicle accident Monday, Sept. 29 at the intersection of SH 199 and South Reno Road. Initial reports at about 12:45 p.m. indicating that one of the vehicles was on fire drew an almost instant response from nearby La Junta Volunteer Fire Department, whose personnel quickly put the flames out. According to Senior Trooper Dub Gillum with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), Jeanne Valone, 66, Gabriel Scott, 18, and Justin Starr, age unknown but believed to be a teenager, were transported to area hospitals, where they were treated and released later the same day. Morgan Makin, 14, was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth,
where she was being treated for serious injuries late Monday, Gillum said. Based on information gathered by investigating DPS Trooper C. Markin, Gillum said the accident occurred when a blue Buick Century driven by Scott failed to stop at a stop sign while southbound on South Reno Road. Starr and Makin were passengers in the Buick. Valone was alone in a white Ford SUV traveling west on SH 199 when the Buick entered the highway and she was unable to avoid hitting the car. The Buick caught fire, but the three teenagers inside were able to crawl out. None of their injuries were caused by fire, Gillum said. Gillum could not confirm whether charges will be filed regarding the accident.
AISD enrollment up by carla noah stutsman Enrollment is up in the Azle Independent School District (AISD), and that means a lot more than just more students. According to AISD Finance Director Monica Miller, it also means more funds coming into the district. Miller said that at the end of the 2013-2014 school year, 5,902 students were enrolled in the district. As of this week, a total of 6,131 students are enrolled in the ten campuses that comprise the AISD. That’s an increase of 229 students. However, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) looks at a “snapshot” date – the last Friday in October each year – as a barometer for attendance. “Last year’s enrollment on the snap-
shot date was 5,952, which is 50 more students than at the end of the school year,” Miller said. “That’s typical – we don’t necessarily understand why, but it’s not unusual for the numbers to change after October.” The TEA then allocates each district in the state a dollar amount per student, per school year. In the AISD, that dollar amount is $7,002. Some of those funds come from local property taxes, while some come from the state. It gets even more complicated. Miller explained the district receives the funds based upon its Weighted Daily Average Attendance (WADA), which is typically about 95 percent of Firefighters, paramedics and EMTs attend to three teenagers injured Monday afternoon in a twovehicle crash at the intersection of SH 199 and South Reno Road between Azle and Springtown. PLEASE SEE ENROLLMENT, PAGE 2A
Photo by Carla Noah Stutsman
Marching Green Pride
Showtime in Saginaw! The Marching Green Pride earned Azle and Boswell fans’ applause and cheers when the AHS band performed its new show – The Greatest Show on Turf – in full costume at the Take the Lake game in Saginaw. The whirling program contained not only an array of dancers and circus performers like a bearded lady, a strongman, and a drum horse, but the traditional skilled Marching Green Pride maneuvers the group is renown for. And, oh, yeah, a dance-off between a clown and a lion. The band will again perform the show this Friday night when Azle hosts Saginaw in only the second game of the year at Hornet Field this season. See more photos on Page 5A! Photos by Mark K. Campbell
Laundry incident foiled by bystanders, Azle Police by carla noah stutsman A young boy and his mother were shaken up Sept. 26 after a man attempted to kidnap the boy from a local business. According to Azle Police Detective Sgt. Kevin Rogers, officers were dispatched to a physical disturbance at the Quick Wash self-service laundry on Industrial Avenue about 6:30 p.m. While en route to the disturbance, officers learned that a man was assaulting a woman and trying to take
her young child. When officers arrived, a white man in the parking lot began yelling to them that Al Qaeda operatives were trying to kidnap a young boy inside the business. The man told officers the woman was not the boy’s mother, but she was trying to kidnap the boy and had locked him inside a bathroom inside the business. Then he urged officers to go inside and get the child.
Eventually, Rogers said, the man admitted he had tried to take the child from the woman, believing her to be a member of Al Qaeda working with aliens who were trying to kidnap the boy. Two people inside the business who witnessed the incident told officers they had seen the man pacing back and forth while talking to himself and noticed that the woman brought her young son closer to her because of the man’s odd behavior.
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One woman took the boy into a restroom, closed the door and stood guard outside to prevent the man from getting to him. The other witness, a man, placed himself between the man and the bathroom in an attempt to protect the boy. Officers called a translator to the scene to assist in gathering information because of a language barrier. The translator helped them determine that the boy’s mother actually
fought with the man to prevent him from taking her son. At one point, the man knocked her to the ground and kicked her. She suffered several scratches on her arms while fighting with the man, as well. The man was placed in handcuffs and transported to a Fort Worth hospital for evaluation. His identity is not being released pending charges being filed in the incident.
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20 Years Ago In early October 1994, services were held for iconic civic leader Iona Reed who died at 66.
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