The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 36, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 4, 1997 Page: 7 of 24
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“7He ^mix&wRECORD
THURSDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 1997
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Newspapers win first round
on access to accident reports
Felony charges filed in
death of Kami Minick
AUSTIN —Texas newspapers on
August 25 won a temporary
injunction prohibiting enforce-
ment Sept. 1 of a state law that
would have restricted public
access to motor vehicle accident
reports.
Lawyers representing more
than 500 Texas newspapers and
the state attorney general’s office
agreed to the order temporarily
banning enforcement of section 13
of Senate Bill 1069. That provision
of the law required police jurisdic-
tions in Texas to restrict access to
accident reports unless the re-
questor of such information al-
ready possessed detailed informa-
tion about the accident.
“At least for now, Texas news-
papers and other media may con-
tinue to report the news of these
accidents as they should,” said
Dolph Tillotson, editor and pub-
lisher of The Galveston County
Daily News, Tillotson and Roy
McQueen, publisher of the Snyder
Daily News, were co-chairmen of
the Legislative Advisory Commit-
tee that represents the Texas
Daily Newspaper Association and
the Texas Press Association.
State District Judge Paul
Davis of the state’s ?00th District
Court approved the agreement in
open cou’t. A full hearing will be
scheduled sometime in the next 60
days before the judge rules on
( on/off
the
record/
In Hemphill County Hospital
on Wednesday: Betty Marin,
Mary Urschel, Bill Sirmans, Wal-
ter Forrest, Jewell Laughlin, J.C.
Hill, Shannon Miller, Roy Dickin-
son, Amelia Ramp. Dismissed
during the week: One Do Not Pub-
lish (Aug. 26), Tina Jacks (Aug.
27), Mozelle McBeth returned to
the Abraham Home (28), Frankie
Goodwin (Aug. .9), Nellie Hayes
(Aug. 30), Mary Elizabeth Wil-
liams, Desiree Manning (Sept. 2).
In the past week there have
been 94 Physical Therapy visits
and 220 procedures, 107 Home
Health visits, 15 Hospice visits,
102 Out-patient procedures, 23
Emergency room patients and
four Ambulance runs.
Canadian received .31" of
rain on August 31.
The low overnight tempera-
ture for the week was 65 degrees
on August 1 and 2 and the high
overnight was 68 degrees on Au-
gust 30 and 31. The high daytime
temperature was 99 degrees on
August 30 and the low was 82 de-
grees on August 31. Overcast
skies were helping to keep the
temperature down on Wednes-
day, but there had been no rain up
until noon.
making the order permanent.
David Donaldson of the law
firm of George, Donaldson and
Ford represented the newspa-
pers. Assistant Attorney General
Nancy Trease represented the at-
torney general’s office.
First Asst. Attorney General
Jorge Vega, acting as spokesman
for Attorney General Dan Mo-
rales, said he believes the press
should have “appropriate access”
to the accident reports and that
the injunction gives Morales’ of-
fice more time to consider any un-
intended consequences of the law
and reconcile them with the
state’s barratry laws.
“We were very pleased with
the outcome,” Tillotson said. “If
the newspapers of Texas had not
chosen to fight this, the measure
would have become law, and all
the state’s citizens would have lost
their rights to access to these im-
portant public records. We believe
our case ultimately will prevail,
and we’re prepared to see the mat-
ter through to its conclusion.”
State Rep. Toby Goodman, R-
Arlington, first introduced the
measure dealing with accident re-
ports as House Bill 399. Support-
ers of the bill said it w7as intended
to stop unwanted commercial con-
tact with accident victims from
lawyers, chiropractors and oth-
ers. Members of the newspapers’
legislative committee fought the
bill and ultimately succeeded in
getting Gov. George W. Bush to
veto it.
Newspaper spokesmen said
the law was overly broad and
there were better wTays to pro-
hibit such contact by commercial
interests. For example, they cite
barratry laws which w’ere
strengthened during the 75th
session of the Legislature.
“We believe if this kind of con-
tact is objectionable, there are
ways to control it without discard-
ing the Texas Constitution and
the First Amendment, Tillotson
said.
Newspapers maintain that
the same objectionable language
was “log-rolled” into an unrelated
bill, Senate Bill 1069, and the gov-
ernor signed it into law7. Gov.
Bush said that he did not know
the accident records provision
was attached to SB 1069.
“My intention was to veto— to
allow7 full disclosure. When I
learned that some wording had
been attached to another bill that
would circumvent the veto, I
didn’t like it,” the governor said.
Ronald Dean Sanders was ar-
rested in Pampa Friday and
charged with second and third de-
gree felonies in connection with
the death of CHS student Kami
Minick, and the injury of her
mother, Karen, earlier this month.
Kami and her mother were on
their w7ay home from a shopping
trip to Amarillo on August 13th
when the accident occurred. Sand-
ers was driving a Ford pickup
southbound on Farm-to-Market
2391 and failed to stop wrhen he
approached the intersection with
Highway 60.
The Toyota w'hich Karen
Minick was driving was unable to
stop in time, and broadsided Sand-
ers’ pickup. The collision mortally
w7ounded Kami, w7ho was rushed
by ambulance to nearby Columbia
Medical Center where she died.
Emergency workers had to cut
through the wTeckage to free
Karen. She w7as airlifted by Medi-
vac to Northwest Texas Hospital
in Amarillo, where she twice un-
derwent surgery for critical inju-
ries to her lower body, and for
lacerations to her arms.
The results of blood tests
which were returned from a Lub-
bock lab last week indicated that
Sanders had a blood alcohol level
of 0.12 at the time of the accident,
according to investigating officer
DPS Trooper DeLuna. The legal
level of intoxication is 0.10.
A second-degree felony charge
of intoxication manslaughter, and
a third-degree felony charge of in-
toxication assault were filed by
District Attorney John Mann’s of-
fice against the 45-year-old
Pampa resident. Bond wras set at
$100,000 on each of the two
charges. At last report, Sanders
w7as being held in Gray County
Jail and had asked for a court-ap-
pointed attorney.
According to the District At-
torney, the charge of “intoxication
manslaughter” is a new7 statute, in
effect since 1994, providing two to
tw7enty years in prison if convicted
of killing someone w7hile intoxi-
cated. The “intoxication assault”
charge carries two to ten years
plus a $10,000 fine for serious in-
juries caused by someone w7hile
intoxicated.
The speedometer on Sanders
pickup was locked at its maximum
speed of 85 mph following the col-
lision, Mann also reports, adding
that it is possible that it jumped to
that position upon impact. His of-
fice sent the portion of the dash-
board containing the speedometer
to an Austin lab, Mann says. Tests
are expected to reveal what the
vehicle’s speed was when the acci-
dent occurred.
DPS records indicate that
Sanders had a prior DWI arrest in
1985. That charge w7as probated
by Gray County officials.
Sanders is the owmer of a small
electric motor shop in Pampa. The
passenger in his pickup on the
night of the wreck was his em-
ployee, 21-year-old James Devoll.
Neither Sanders nor Devoll suf-
fered serious injuries.
Mann says the Sanders case
will go before a Grand Jury in
Pampa on Monday, September
29th.
After two weeks at Northwest,
Karen Minick w7as transferred
last Wednesday to IHS Rehabili-
tation Hospital and Care Center
of Amarillo, where she is still re-
covering from injuries sust>'
in the crash. Her family re
that she is progressing physii
Cards and letters can be sent
to Karen at IHS, 5601 Plum Creek
Drive, #316-B, Amarillo, TX
79124. She can be reached by call-
ing (806)351-1000.
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Ezzell, Nancy & Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 36, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 4, 1997, newspaper, September 4, 1997; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth520487/m1/7/?rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.