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Terrell man convicted on charge of indecency
with a child
Monitor Staff Reports
KAUFMAN–A Kaufman County jury sentenced a 38-year-old Terrell man to 50 years in
prison for indecency with a child Nov. 19.
James Curtis Rockwell was found guilty Nov. 18 in Judge B. Michael Chitty’s 422nd
District Court.
The charge stems from an incident occurring in October, 2005, involving a 12-year-old girl
at her Terrell home.
Rockwell was a friend of the family, who was staying at the home temporarily.
The defense argued the incident did not occur, because there was no rape exam done to
verify the charge, no videotaped interview of the victim and an overall lack of physical
evidence.
Assistant District Attorney Brandi Fernandez argued that the recovery of the
defendant’s semen in the area of the room where the girl said the incident occurred
was enough to corroborate her account.
“The defense says this is not a DNA case, but they can’t explain how the girl
knew where his DNA would be found,” Fernandez said.
After Rockwell was found guilty Wednesday, the jury heard he had prior prison convictions
out of California for burglary, theft, felon in possession of a firearm and a drug charge.
“When the jury got to the punishment phase of the trial, they saw the real James
Rockwell,” District Attorney Rick Harrison said. “This trial showed some of the
problems that used to happen with child-abuse cases in Kaufman County. Now that we have
established a children’s advocacy center for interviews and examinations and put
standard procedures in place, we have stronger evidence to insure child molesters like
Rockwell get hammered.”
Malakoff High School keeps 28 credits for graduation
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
MALAKOFF–After a month of attendance hovering around the 90 percent mark, attendance
was back up to 98 percent Nov. 12, reported Malakoff schools superintendent Dr. John
Spies.
Of course, that may have had something to do with the fact that it was a football game
night, he speculated at the Monday school board meeting held in Tool.
“Our goal is to keep everyone healthy, so we’re still stressing frequent
hand-washing, the use of sanitizers and sanitizing the classrooms regularly,” he
added.
The average attendance over the past two weeks has been around 95 percent, he said, which
is close to normal.
“The football program has had a very positive influence on the entire student
body,” Spies observed, with coaches taking a more active role in players’
academics and school behavior.
School principals reported a Veterans Day program with a growing number of veterans in
attendance. Board president Rick Veregge commented that students also put out about 400
flags as part of the observance.
“It was heartwarming,” he said.
Board members unanimously agreed to retain a 28-credit requirement for high school
graduation, keeping the technology credit requirement and allowing students to earn up to
four credits of athletics and/or band as counting towards graduation.
The action was in response to last Legislative session. “We opted to keep the
technology and continue to encourage kids in our athletic and band programs,” Spies
said.
In other business, board members:
• approved getting a land survey of property at the high school. Trustee Homer
Trimble opposed the move, feeling until the board knew what they wanted to build, a survey
was a waste of money.
Trimble also cited that elevations could be determined by using a global positioning
system.
However, since the district’s architect requested the survey and no current survey
shows the positions of all the improvements and drainage areas, it would be good to have
for future planning.
The $5,000 to $6,000 cost was approved by a majority of the members.
• approved a policy concerning the use of state and local leave time and catastrophic
leave time. The first 10 days given by the state and the district have to be used first,
before an employee can apply for catastrophic leave and then from the donated sick leave
pool.
• noted the Christmas Program is set for two performances, at 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.,
Friday, Dec. 18.
Monitor Photo/Pearl Cantrell
Huckabee Architects, specializing in renovating old school buildings, will report back to
the Malakoff school board as to the feasibility of putting the old Rock Building back into
service. The Malakoff Elementary School is approaching capacity with 430 students enrolled
just two years after its construction.
Payne Springs looks for healthier bottom line
Council adopts 2010 budget
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
PAYNE SPRINGS The Payne Springs City Council adopted a tight 2010 budget, leaving
just $747 of wiggle room between projected expenses and income. But, the city is hoping to
see some increased sales tax revenues from the recent voter-approved off-premise liquor
sales.
There are three businesses set up to sell alcohol, one of which had already applied for
the privilege, councilman Michael McDonald said Nov. 17.
Related to alcohol sales, the council approved a permit fee of $150, with councilwoman
Ethel Hagin opposed. She wanted to find out what other cities charge for the sales permit
first.
The other members said the fee could always be changed, but the time to make the decision
was now, so the city could immediately start benefiting from holiday sales of alcohol.
The council further cleared the path to added sales tax revenue by repealing a 1972
ordinance that stated if Payne Springs should ever go wet, that only those who had 30
acres on which to sell the alcohol would be allowed to do so.
Hagin strongly opposed the repeal, stating that it is the only protection the city had
from taverns or liquor stores popping up every 50 feet along the five-mile stretch of
highway through the city.
McDonald disagreed, saying to keep the ordinance would send a message to voters that it
didn’t matter what they voted for, the council would still prevent alcohol sales.
Councilwoman Linda Carr agreed, adding the land restriction would defeat the whole
economic benefit the city hoped to derive from the sale of alcohol, which was a major
point of the liquor option election.
The city also hopes to benefit from fees collected from a vehicle impound lot.
Over the past six weeks, the council has been pursuing the development of an impound lot.
It received three different offers and chose one that offered the highest rate of return
over five years.
Karen and Michael Juica have agreed to lease the city about an acre of land for the cost
of the annual county and school taxes on the property. The cost to put up a suitable
strong-wire fence is estimated at $9,100.
The city projects collecting $1,000 in fees a month, or $60,000 over the first five years.
At that rate, the cost of the impound lot would be recouped by the city within its first
year, McDonald pointed out.
In other business, council members:
• discussed the need to amend an ordinance pertaining to the conducting of business
within the city. McDonald proposed eliminating the requirement for would-be business
owners to appear before the council before being issued a business permit.
“I feel this adds just another level of bureaucracy that is unnecessary,”
McDonald said.
Carr disagreed, saying it shouldn’t be left up the city secretary to decide who gets
a permit and who doesn’t. Mayor pro tem Rodney Renberg said the city already had an
ordinance of approved businesses for the city, agreeing with McDonald.
• agreed to order a new police vehicle, using a $29,000 reimbursement from the
city’s insurance company.
• accepted the resignation of city secretary Shirley Leonard and set Nov. 24 and Dec.
1 as special meetings to cull through 43 applications and interview the most likely
candidates.
The contents of Leonard’s resignation letter were not made public, because it was
discussed during an executive session. Council members also agreed to update the signature
card on the city’s account at Citizens State Bank.
• took no action on purchasing city property, but discussed several options.
• decided that those interested in presenting major medical plans for the
council’s consideration should leave written proposals at city hall for council
members to review.
“We shouldn’t be wasting their time and ours with lengthy oral presentations
during our business meetings,” McDonald said.
• approved getting a credit card from Lowe’s Home Improvement to be paid per
purchase order number. The cards would be in the possession of the mayor pro-tem and
police chief. |