The Ennis Daily News (Ennis, Tex.), Ed. 1 Thursday, April 18, 2013 Page: 1 of 8
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Thursday, April 18,2013 www.ennisdailynews.com
750
29 days
Until the Relay For life of Ennis
Weather
Tonight:
Clear
Low 38
Friday:
Mostly sunny
High 62
Deaths
BLACKERBY, Lloyd F.
GUTIERREZ, Maricela
See page 3
Around Town
Library event
open to public
In honor of National
Library Week, the
Ennis Public Library
will be hosting another
free Family Fun Night.
Mr. B from Wildlife On
The Move will be at the
library at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 18.
Visitors of all ages
are invited to attend
this program, where
they will get the chance
to meet and learn about
the creatures Mr. B calls
“The Unhuggables.”
This free program is
sponsored by the
Friends of the Ennis
Public Library (a
United Way agency).
For more information,
call 972-875-5360.
Reunion slated
Current employees
of Union Pacific and re-
tirees from Southern
Pacific are invited to a
reunion this weekend
beginning at 5 p.m. Fri-
day, April 19 at the Bay-
lor Baptist Church. A
hobo supper will be
served.
Coffee and donuts
will be served starting
at 9 a.m. Saturday, with
a barbecue lunch served
at noon. Barbecue
plates will be $12 per
person.
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The Ennis Daily News.
Devastation in West
Blast kills up to 15, injures more than 160
AP PhotoAA/aco Tribune Herald, RodAydelotte
A person looks on as emergency workers fight a house fire after a nearby fertilizer
plant exploded Wednesday in West. A massive explosion at the fertilizer plant near
Waco injured dozens of people and sent flames shooting into the night sky, leaving
the factory a smoldering ruin following a blast that damaged buildings for blocks in
every direction.
WEST (AP) — Rescue work-
ers searched the smoldering
ruins of a fertilizer plant
today for survivors of a mon-
strous explosion that leveled
homes and businesses in every
direction across the Texas
prairie.
As many as 15 people were
feared dead and more than 160
others injured.
Daybreak revealed a breath-
taking band of destruction ex-
tending outward from the West
Fertilizer Co. in this small
farming community about 20
miles north of Waco. The thun-
derous blast was so powerful
that it shook the ground with
the strength of a small earth-
quake and could be heard
dozens of miles away
Searchers "have not gotten
to the point of no return where
they don't think that there's
anybody still alive," Waco po-
lice Sgt. William Patrick Swan-
ton said. He did not know how
many people had been rescued.
There was no indication the
blast was anything other than
an industrial accident, he said.
The explosion rained burn-
ing embers and debris down on
terrified residents. It leveled a
four-block area around the
plant, badly damaging or de-
stroying up to 75 houses, a 50-
unit apartment complex, a
middle school and a nursing
home.
All that remained of one
home was the fireplace and
chimney. Several buildings
with smashed roofs and leveled
walls still were smoking Thurs-
day morning.
Firm information was hard
to come by in the hours after
the blast, and entry into the
town was slow-going as the
roads were jammed with emer-
gency vehicles. Authorities
themselves had trouble enter-
ing the heart of the blast zone.
"It's still too hot to get in
there," said Franceska Perot, a
spokeswoman for the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms.
Among those believed to be
dead were three to five volun-
teer firefighters and a law en-
forcement officer. The many
injuries included broken
bones, bruises, lacerations, res-
piratory distress, and some
head injuries and minor burns.
Five people were reported in in-
tensive care.
In the hours after the blast,
residents wandered the dark,
windy streets searching for
shelter. Among them was Julie
Zahirniako, who said she and
her son, Anthony, had been at a
school playground near the
plant when the explosion hit.
The explosion threw her son
four feet in the air, breaking his
ribs. She said she saw people
running from the nursing
home, and the roof of the
Inside
More coverage of the
blast in West, how to help
victims and other informa-
tion, page 3.
school lifted into the sky
"Hit the ground, hit the
ground," Zahirniako heard a
neighbor yell.
"The fire was so high," she
said. "It was just as loud as it
could be. The ground and
everything was shaking."
William Burch and his wife,
a retired Air Force nurse, en-
tered the damaged nursing
home before first-responders
arrived. They split up, searched
separate wings and found resi-
dents in wheelchairs trapped in
their rooms. The halls were
dark, and the ceilings had col-
lapsed. Water filled the hall-
ways. Electrical wires hung
eerily from the ceilings.
"They had Sheetrock that
was on top of them. You had to
See DEVASTATION, page 3
Ex-JP s wife charged in DA slayings
Phil Banker
phil@ennisdailynews.com
Kaufman County law enforce-
ment officials on Wednesday con-
firmed the arrest of a woman in
connection to the killings of Assis-
tant District Attorney Mark Hasse,
District Attorney Mike McLelland
and his wife Cynthia McLelland.
Lt. Justin Lewis of the Kaufman
County Sheriffs Office said in a
statement that 46-year-old Kim
Lene Williams was arrested
Wednesday and charged with the
Jan. 31 murder of Hasse and the
March 30 murders of the McLel-
lands. Williams remains in the
Kaufman County Jail pending the
posting of a $10 million bond.
An affidavit for arrest provided
by Lewis to The Ennis Daily News
shows Williams is the wife of Eric
Williams, a former Kaufman
County justice of the peace who was con-
victed in March 2012 of burglary of a build-
Kim Williams
Eric Williams
ing and theft by a public servant.
He was arrested Saturday on al-
legations he sent an email to au-
thorities — one day after the
McLellands' bodies were discovered
— implying there would be another
attack if authorities didn't respond
to various demands.
The affidavit states Kim
Williams was interviewed by Kauf-
man County law enforcement offi-
cials on Tuesday, during which she
confessed her and her husband
Eric's involvement with the killings.
Sgt. Matt Woddall of the Kauf-
man County Sheriffs Office said
in the document Williams gave de-
tails of the Hasse and McLelland
killings that had not yet been
made public.
Eric Williams was convicted of
taking computer equipment from
county office.
Williams was removed from
elected office at the time of his indictment,
according to the affidavit, and remains sus-
Briefing set today
The Kaufman County Sheriff’s Of-
fice has slated a conference at 1:30
p.m. to brief the media on the investi-
gation into the slayings of District At-
torney Mike McLelland, Cynthia
McLelland and Assistant District Attor-
ney Mark Hasse. Look in Friday’s edi-
tion of The Ennis Daily News for
complete coverage.
Inside
A look at the circumstances around
the arrest of Kim Williams, page 8.
pended without pay pending an appeal.
The affidavit also states Hasse and McLel-
land both regularly carried firearms after
Williams’ conviction, as they believed him
to be a threat to their safety
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Todaro, Nick. The Ennis Daily News (Ennis, Tex.), Ed. 1 Thursday, April 18, 2013, newspaper, April 18, 2013; Ennis, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth774518/m1/1/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ennis Public Library.