Visalia Times-Delta from Visalia, California • 1

M4r Visalia Times Delta wwwVisaliaTimesDeltacom THURSDAY AUGUST 22 2002 SERVING TULARE COUNTY SINCE inside 'W Jr The first day of school It was a day of firsts for Highland Elementary school and El Diamante High School Local 1C Tiny termites do big damage Termites may be tiny but the destructive insects leave behind plenty of evidence if homeowners know what to look for Lifestyle ID WHOSE wsoou? Sept 112001 In connection with the first anniversary of the attacks of Sept 11 2001 the Times Delta is asking read ers to answer the fol lowing questions: Where were you and what were you doing when you first heard about the attacks on Sept 11 2001? How did it make you feel? What was your first response? Mail your response to: 911 Visalia Times Delta RO Box 31 Visalia CA 93279 mail to: newsvisaliatimes deltacom ax to: 735 3399 Senate OKs mandatory alert system The Associated Press SACRAMENTO The state Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would require all local law enforce ment agencies to issue the Emergency Alert System when a child is taken The Senate voted 32 0 to send the measure to the Assembly where if approved it will go to Gov Gray Davis who has said he will sign it Under AB415 by Assem blyman George Runner Lancaster a local enforce ment agency will send out a report through Emergency Digital Information Services ollowing that a series of broadcast tones and infor mation about the kidnapping would be sent to broadcast stations Then an Amber Alert will be issued sending information to more than 500 electronic highway signs Victim of hate crime recalls a night Man faces two years in prison for firing shots By Mike Hazelwood Times Delta Tracy Tyrone Bryson 38 recalls the night of July 10 vividly when he expe rienced the worst example of racism in his life he said He recalls his bicycle a dimly lighted Visalia street and an orange of car following him Bryson who is black recalls racial slurs and two bullets being fired at him was more shocking than he said kind of thing is still going On riday Michael John McKibben of Woodland Yolo County a member of a national white supremacist group will be sentenced for crimes he committed that night no doubt in our mind that this was motivat Tracy Bryson I s' JtL i Michael McKibben Attorney Tim Ward said McKibben 25 pleaded no contest in July to charges of violating another civil rights in essence a hate ed as a hate Tulare crime by using a firearm and County Deputy District having a concealed firearm next Michael John McKibben is scheduled to be sentenced riday at the Tulare County Courthouse in Visalia in a vehicle He faces two years in prison Shots fired The events of July 10 occurred like this Bryson said: Around 10 pm he was riding his bicycle north on Santa Street from Main Street He was riding to the store for a soda he said He noticed an orange two door model Ply mouth Duster like the one on of he said circling the block around him a few of times inally the car also head ed north on Santa Street pulled up beside Bryson north of Murray Avenue Two men were inside but Bryson said he got a look only at the man in the front passenger seat The passenger was a white man in his early 20s with a shaved head mus tache goatee and a tattoo on his right forearm Bryson said The passenger told Bryson are you doing out here racial slur with Bryson said did you The man said heard me What are you doing out here using same racial See Hate6A 'I a Son: Mother died trying to save dog Teresa HurteauTimes Delta ili8fc nV or Ik i pT Above: alma Bown 2 of Phoenix sits next to mementos and flowers in honor of her grandmother Barbara Williams who died Sun day in a mobile home fire Top: A neighbor of places flowers in front of the mobile home Wednesday She said she was on the scene of the fire Sunday for about five hours trying to help out could we have she asked feel very helpless" Woman thought someone had entered her home By Dan Martin Times Delta Don Highfill got a call Sat urday night from his mother She was frightened Someone the night before she said had reached through the door of her house Williams unlocked the door and stolen her cigarettes When she found the door ajar she locked it along with the pet door and returned to the living room But before long she found the door ajar again as if someone had been hiding in her mobile home and had fled when she look ing She called her relatives including Highfill who lives in Riverside She told him the story He told her to call police Mga a Barbara 91 4 JR'i Hh I SH HM ijj 11 I I jm I ttSiSOSS Brothers Allen Bown of Phoenix left and Don Highfill of Riverside col lect photographs Wednesday from their deceased moth er's home ire destroyed the structure Sun day Teresa Hurteau Times Delta She The next day she was dead i Barbara Williams a moth er who lost some of her sight after a minor stroke in 2000 died Sunday while her mobile home was on fire She was found in a bathroom with her dog Angel as if she had tried to retrieve it before escaping the blaze While fire investigators are awaiting autopsy results to conclude or not con clude that she died from the fire Highfill thinks the blaze was no accident Yes he says possible she dropped a cigarette onto the floor though he says never been known for such carelessness But he says blame for her death lies with whatever bur glar or burglars she thought they were young people who Uved nearby frightened her the day before the fire Because if Williams 59 begun locking her pet door to secure the home the dog would have escaped on its own leaving Williams enough time to escape her self mom out of the kind ness of her heart was trying to save her dog because the stupid doggy door was Highfill said furious because if these kids light the fire themselves they at least had something to do with it by scaring her enough to lock herself inside her Thus ending the life of Bar bara Williams a reserved Seeire6A Neighbor guilty in van Dam murder Death penalty to be considered next Wednesday The Associated Press SAN DIEGO A neigh bor was convicted Wednes day of kidnapping 7 year old Danielle van Dam from her home and killing her in the first of a string ofbrazen child abductions that have drawn national attention this year mother burst into tears and a crowd out side the courthouse cheered as the jury convicted self employed engineer David Westerfield of murder kid napping and possessing child pornography Westerfield looked at the jury but showed no obvious reaction the 50 year old faces either life in prison or execution when the penalty phase begins Wednesday The parents jurors and tri al attorneys remain under a gag order and com ment on the verdict The jury deliberated for about 40 hours over 10 days after a lurid trial in which the defense suggested that the lifestyle of parents including spouse swapping and marijuana use put her at risk Prosecutors had argued that drops of the blood on jacket amounted to a DNA backed that jurors ignore Danielle disappeared from her home sometime after her father put her to bed on eb 1 Her nude body was found along a rural road nearly a month later too decomposed to determine even how she died or whether she was sex ually assaulted Westerfield who lived two houses away from the van Dams left on a meandering trip in his motor home the morning her family reported she was gone and police and volunteers began searching the neighborhood The Associated Press I 1 i' Damon van Dam left and Brenda van Dam react Wed nesday as the verdict is read in the murder trial of David West erfield Danielle van Dam David Westerfield He was placed under surveillance and eventually arrested after investigators learned he had been at the same bar as moth er and two of her friends the night the girl vanished who are close to the family have chosen to defer comments until the van Dams can speak for them said Sara raunces the spokeswoman sister wept and shook her head as she sat two rows behind him am in shock I am just in said David Neal a for mer brother in law of West erfield thought he was going to get slaying led a year of high profile abductions of children including Elizabeth Smart 14 in Utah Samantha Runnion 5 in Orange Coun ty Cassandra Williamson 6 in Missouri and Jennifer Short 9 in Virginia Elizabeth and Jennifer remain missing Samantha and Cassandra were found dead visit with Simon has political observers on edge of their seats President is due to campaign in California riday The Associated Press LOS ANGELES When President Bush arrives in Cal ifornia on riday political observers will be watching closely to see how enthusias tically he promotes the can didacy of GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bill Simon Bush will be headlining three private fund raisers for Simon but the popular pres ident is not expected to appear in public with the beleaguered nominee And look for Bush whose administration has been cracking down on cor porate wrongdoing to say anything supportive about the $78 million civil fraud ver dict handed down against investment firm I think hear from the president is a very nice partisan said George Bush i Blit Simon GOP consultant Allan Hof fenblum thing he prob ably could do very easily is talk about the evils of the Simon faces Democratic Gov Gray Davis in Novem ber The surprise fraud verdict astonished the White House and struck at a central theme of first time candi dacy his business prowess Simon was already struggling from missteps and under funding Republican insiders said the administration never seriously considered backing out of the commitment to return to California But they expect this visit to be the last on behalf of Simon would be stunned if he came out said one political consultant worked for the Republican National Committee think that this is totally it and I think that if they got ten out of it they They the consultant said in part to avoid the impression of contributing to struggles Simon said confident' of support from Bush who backed a different candidate in the primary speak louder than words in my Simon said Wednesday on "Inside Bush is behind us 100 Bush will headline a fund raising lunch for Simon on riday in Stockton a recep tion for the state Republican Party and for Simon that night in Dana Point and a breakfast for Simon the next morning in Los Angeles Index Bridge 4C Lifestyle ID Business 6B Local 1C Comics 4D Movies 3D Classified 3C Opinion 5A Crossword4C Sports IB Deaths 2C Stocks 5B COPYRIGHT 200Z VISALIA NEWSPAPERS A GANNETT NEWSPAPER VOLUME 144 ISSUE 50 JIBBII THURSDAY AUGUST 22 2002 50CENTS bs I.