Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 102, Ed. 1 Sunday, December 23, 2001 Page: 1 of 52
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n
Wi&huy you a Joyous holiday season
Take a tour
of the lights
See page 6-7A
Polk Coun
LUMP
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Sunday
Dec. 23,2001
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Volume 119 Number 102
The Dominant News and Advertising Source in Polk County
UPS 437-340 Price: 50 cents
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Cold weather's coming
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LIVINGSTON - Santa Claus
may feel right at home in East
Texas this Christmas, as the Na-
tional Weather Service is predicting
the coldest temperatures of the year
this week
The low in the Livingston area
Christmas morning is predicted to
be in the mid 20s, with highs
reaching only into the mid 40s.
That temperature range is expected
to last through Friday
Will there be snow? Probably
not, according to meteorologists at
the Houston/Galveston National
Weather Service office.
The closest thing to a white
Christmas this area has seen was in
1989, when there was a dusting of
snow on Dec. 22. The biggest
Christmas week snowfall came on
Dec. 21-22, 1929. There is no offi-
cial record of how much snow fell
in Polk County that year, but
Crockett received 10 inches and
Groveton recorded 9.5 inches.
While predicted temperatures in
the mid-20s won’t set any Christ-
mas records. Many remember the
record-setting Christmas of 1983,
when the temperature dropped to 11
degrees.
Inmates on Death Row
still have to face 'chair'
CHALLENGER ACADEMY GRADUATES FIRST CLASS - Livingston ISD’s Challenger
Academy graduated its first class on Dec. 18 at the LISD Administration Building. Those
receiving their diplomas included Mathew Dupre, Shanna Hickman, Sabrina Hickman, Lydia
Newman and Cassie Freeman. Created by the USD Board of Trustees, the Challenger Academy
addresses the needs of students unable to succeed in the normal classroom environment.
By MIKE COX
Texas Press Association
LIVINGSTON - Even when
death follows a mandated schedule,
there is beauty.
Well-tended rose bushes line the
sidewalk leading from the entrance
of the Texas Department of Crimi-
nal Justice’s Polunsky Unit to the
first internal picket, as prison sys-
tem employees and inmates call
security control points. Two flow-
erbeds, one bordered by a five-point
star and the other in the shape of
Texas, decorate the grassy yard be-
tween the prison’s two outer fences
and its interior buildings.
Trusties - low-risk prisoners
with good records -- cultivate the
Students succeed via Challenger program
LIVINGSTON - Five people
graduated Dec. 18 at the administra-
tion building in \ the Livingston
ISD’s first ever Challenger Acad-
emy.
LISD school hoard trustees, ad-
ministration and several teachers
from the Livingston campuses were
on hand to celebrate as Mathew
Dupre. Shanna Hickman, Sabrina
Hickman, Lydia Newman and Cas-
sie Freeman received their high
school diplomas.
“We are so proud of these stu-
dents,” LISD Superintendent Janet
Morris said. “I congratulate each of
them and their families. They repre-
sent a dream that began for us sev-
eral years ago.
“I commend our school board and
community for making this type of
program available to meet the need
of our students," Morris added.
Commencement speaker for the
ceremony was Dr. Alma Allen,
state board of education representa-
tive for District 4. An alumna of
Dunbar High School and previous
recipient of the LISD Outstanding
Graduate designation, Allen chal-
lenged the five graduates to strive
for success after high school. She
also addressed the importance of
getting a college degree and further-
ing their education.
The Challenger Academy was
created by LISD to address the needs
of students that did not, or would
not, have had success in the normal
classroom environment.
“Challenger gives us a chance to
help students cross the finish line
and obtain their diploma,” Chal-
lenger Academy Administrator Jerry
Maze said. “There is always a need
to identify students that are at risk
of dropping out and given them a
second chance to finish success-
fully.”
The academy, which is a product
of the LISD Board of Trustees, is
currently able to hold 24 students
and has a lengthy waiting list’.
Maze said he sees definite growth in
the academy's future as facilities
and new teachers become available.
During the academy's first year of
existence, drop-out rates for Living-
ston High School dropped to less
than 1 percent.
The concept for the Challenger
Academy is to allow students to
work in a self-paced and less restric-
tive learning environment. Students
in the program complete courses
using NovaNet computer-based
learning software.
Under the direction of Sue
Froehner and Theda Zellars, stu-
dents complete the remaining
courses for their diploma at a differ-
ent pace and are able to finish on a
far less demanding schedule.
The Challenger setup is geared to
address students with outside cir-
cumstances that do not allow them
to meet the rigorous demands of a
normal high school day. The pro-
gram is effective for students with
only a few credits left to complete,
students already facing the chal-
lenges of parenthood and students
that are already actively involved in
the workforce.
The Challenger Academy also
prepares each of its graduates for a
life beyond the high school years.
Teachers and administrators assist
students in the program with find-
ing access to further education
and/or job training.
“One of the goals of this program
is for students to leave with a future
that they may not have known ex-
See ANOTHER pg. 3A
Reneau seeks return Smith files for post
MflCTflM Mnl n Danann I _ _ a_ .1 _ . Z*T* V f X / TV OT'ZAX T r* a r .1 a a a ■ .
LIVINGSTON -- Nola Reneau
has filed for re-election to the office
of county treasurer. Her name will
be on the ballot for the March 12
Democratic Primary.
Reneau was appointed county
treasurer in October 1997 and was
elected to the office in 1998. Em-
ployed by Polk County since 1989,
she has served as assistant county
auditor and has worked in the
county treasurer’s office since 1995.
Reneau is a director for Region
10 of the County Treasurers’ Asso-
ciation of Texas. A member of
Central Baptist Church in Living-
ston, Reneau serves as chairman of
the church's Budget and Finance
Committee and is also outreach
leader for the Loyalty Sunday
School Class.
She noted that the county treas-
urer’s office has become much more
automated than it was in the past.
“We’ve implemented direct deposit
of payroll checks and have been
keeping up with changes in tech-
nology to make the office as effi-
cient as possible,” she said.
Reneau said she has also kept
current with all continuing educa-
tion requirements, which have kept
her abreast of changes in the law
relating to the office.
Reneau and her husband, J.W.,
have four grown children and II
grandchildren.
H? w m
NOLA RENEAU
treasurer seeks re*
election
LIVINGSTON -- Precinct 2
Commissioner Bobby Smith has
announced his candidacy for re-
election.
“I am a life-long resident of Polk
County, graduating from Living-
ston High School and afterwards,
completing my college studies at
Stephen F. Austin State Univer-
sity,” Smith said. “I have two sons,
Brandon Smith and wife Lisa of
Onalaska and their newest addition
to our family. Lane, and son Brett
Smith of Houston.
“I feel I have worked very hard at
representing you and your concerns
while serving as your commis-
sioner for the past 15 years. I con-
stantly strive to stay abreast of is-
sues regarding county government."
Smith said.
“At present, I have over 200
hours of continuing education in
county government and have re-
cently received the Curriculum
2000 degree which acknowledges
advanced certification for the
County Judges and Commissioners
Association of Texas from the V.G.
Young Institute of County Gov-
ernments from Texas A&M Uni-
versity,” Smith said.
“Having recently retired as chief
of the Onalaska Volunteer Fire De-
partment after 30 years, 1 continue
to remain active in the department,
currently serving as finance officer,”
Smith said. “In years past, I have
served on the Onalaska School
Board, as well as the water board of
Onalaska. I have also worked in
See EQUIPMENT pg. 3A
PCT. 2 COMMISSIONER
BOBBY SMITH
...seeking re-election
flowers. Though still convicted
criminals, the trusties who handle
the gardening and other jobs are
model citizens compared to the 449
men occupying 60-square-foot sin-
gle-person cells in Building 12,
better known as Death Row.
Beyond the landscaping, a visitor
finds unintended irony: “Do the
Right Thing” reads a large sign at
the entrance to the administrative
area of the prison. At the entrance
to Death Row, the last stop before
lethal injection for those convicted
of not always doing the right thing,
is another sign full of nuance:
"Think Safety"
Safety always has been a consid-
eration at TDCJ, but three years
ago an inmate named Martin Gurule
made prison officials even more
safety conscious.
On Thanksgiving night in 1998,
Gurule and six other Death Row
inmates made it out of their cells in
an escape attempt. Gurule succeeded
in getting over two fences and off
the unit, the first condemned man
to do that in Texas in 64 years.
While his freedom was short-
lived - he drowned shortly after
escaping - a week went by before
searchers found his body. The man-
hunt got national media attention.
The Gurule incident was the cata-
lyst for a sweeping series of secu-
rity changes at TDCJ only recently
completed. The first change was the
agency’s decision to move Death
Row from the Ellis Unit, where it
had been since 1965, to a newer
facility on a 472-acre site five miles
west of Livingston in Polk
County.
Opened in the fall of 1993, the
Polunsky Unit can accommodate
2,900 prisoners. As of late Novem-
ber, it held 2,779 inmates, includ-
ing the men on Death Row.
When the decision was made to
move Death Row, an area of the
unit containing six pods -- A
through F - was retrofitted to ac-
commodate the higher level of secu-
rity necessary for condemned pris-
oners. Each pod has 84 cells. Pris-
oners facing execution were trans-
ferred to the new unit in June 1999.
This year, $1,380,028 has been
spent on Death Row security up-
grades ranging from enclosure of
visitation booths to installation of
security covers over light fixtures.
Roughly one-fifth of that
amount, $369,750, went toward
installation of the prison system’s
first electrified fence. The high
fence surrounds Building 12. Con-
tact with the fence, in addition to
delivering a powerful but non-lethal
jolt to anyone who touches it, trig-
gers an alarm.
Another component of Death
Row security improvements is a
piece of futuristic-looking equip-
ment called BOSS for Body Orifice
Scanning System.
BOSS looks like a space age ver-
sion of Old Sparky, the electric
chair Texas used from 1923 to 1964
to execute 361 people. Though the
heavy oak chair has long since been
retired to a museum on the court-
house square in Huntsville, con-
demned inmates about to take their
last walk must first sit down in the
new electronic chair.
Installed last summer, the chair is
used to check for hidden objects on
inmates entering or leaving Death
Row. Another chair has been in-
stalled at the system’s Mountain
View unit at Gatesville, where
Texas’ seven condemned female
prisoners are housed.
Housing death row inmates costs
the state $53.15 per day, per in-
mate, according to TDCJ spokes-
man Larry Todd.
A typical day on death row starts
early. The kitchen captain oversees
breakfast preparation started at 3
a.m. By 4 a m, corrections officers
begin delivering meals in hot
boxes. From 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.,
inmates may spend time in the rec-
reation area and shower.
After 8 a.m., inmates may have
visitors or see the medical staff if
necessary. All inmates have access
to reading, writing and legal materi-
als. Work starts on lunch by 9:30
a.m., followed by dinner prepara-
tion at 3:30 p.m. It’s lights out by
10 p.m. except for Saturdays, when
prisoners are allowed to stay up
until 11 p.m.
Death row inmates are divided
into three risk levels, D1 to D3.
The 17 prisoners in the D3 category
are the hard cases.
"Those are the assaulters,” Capt.
Selester Bacon explained. “When
you go to their cell, they are likely
to throw body fluids, urine or feces
at you or try to hurt you. The sec-
ond level are the chronic rule break-
ers. The third level don’t usually
cause any problems."
But two officers in black protec-
tive vests, both equipped with can-
isters of pepper spray and one with
a riot baton, always accompany all
death row inmates when they are
out of their cells.
Prisoners are handcuffed and their
legs shackled. And everything they
do, they do individually.
Other than yelling between cells,
no contact is allowed between in-
mates.
“Inmates with execution dates are
kept under higher security,” prison
spokesman Larry Fitzgerald ex-
plained. “The corrections officers
keep a log of their activities. Start-
ing 96 hours out (from their execu-
tion) they are checked every 15
minutes.”
See LAST pg. 8A
Holiday closure
schedules set
LIVINGSTON - While all
government offices, banks and
post offices will be closed on
Tuesday, Christmas Day, some
employees will have an extended
holiday.
Polk County offices, including
those in the courthouse and sub-
courthouse, will be closed on
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
City of Livingston offices will
be closed on Monday and Tues-
day However, there will be curb-
side garbage collection for city
residents on Monday.
Most area banks will close at 2
p.m. on Christinas Eve and will
remain closed on Tuesday.
The Polk County Enterprise
office will be closed on Christ'
mas Day.
• • v % v —-
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 102, Ed. 1 Sunday, December 23, 2001, newspaper, December 23, 2001; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth790649/m1/1/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.