TEMPLE ST. MARY’S CATHOLIC SCHOOL

TEXAS TEACHER IMPROPER CONDUCT

BY DEBORAH McKEONTELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

The sentences of six juve-niles who were involved in theWilson Park playground fireand/or Emerson school vandal-ism have been revealed.

For some of the boys held re-sponsible for the fire and/orvandalism, it wasn’t their firsttime to break the law, JohnGauntt Jr. with the Bell CountyAttorney’s Office said. Theywere sentenced at the sametime for those offenses.

Playground equipment, onlya year old, at a Wilson Parkchildren’s playground wasmelted by a fiery blaze thatwas intentionally set on June29, destroying the $250,000equipment that will finally bereplaced in March.

About $1 million worth of dam-age happened during multiple in-cidents of vandalism at the old

Emerson school building at 1400E. Ave. B. It was later determinedit would cost $1 million to repairit or $450,000 to raze it.

A total of six boys betweenthe ages of 9 and 14 were re-

ferred in July to juvenile au-thorities to start the process todetermine their fates after ad-mitting their guilt.

TEMPLE JUVENILE CRIME

BY PATRICIA BENOITTELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

A 20-foot-by-8-foot boxcarrumbled through Central Texasin 1949. The only word to de-scribe its journey was inFrench: “Merci.”

With this gift, the French toldthe Americans, “Thanks foryour help and your sacrifice.”

The Texas “40/8” boxcar willbe on public display at 11 a.m.Feb. 18 on the State Capitolgrounds. Customarily, it is onview at the Texas MilitaryForces Museum on thegrounds of Camp Mabry, 2200W. 35th St., Austin. However,during this weekend, the box-car will be moved to thegrounds so that hundreds maysee it at once. The event is apreamble to the kickoff of theTexas World War I CentennialObservance in April.

Immediately following theceremony will be a display ofsome of the gifts from theFrench people to their Texanfriends in an exhibit, “MerciTexas: A Story of Generosityand Gratitude,” in the CapitolVisitor Center. The cere-monies and the Capitol ex-hibit are free and open to thepublic. The artifacts will be onview throughout most of thisyear.

A large contingent of CentralTexas veterans and militarysupporters are traveling toAustin to participate and toshow gratitude for all veterans’service and sacrifice.

The two local chapters of “LaSociété des Quarante Hommes

et Huit Chevaux (The Societyof 40 Men and Eight Horses)”:“Voiture” 1031 of Killeen/Harker Heights and “Voiture”266 of Copperas Cove.

In keeping with the Frenchtradition, the 40/8 chapters arecalled “voitures.” The week-end will be filled withspeeches, touring, banquets,renewing friendships and aSunday morning memorialservice for deceased com-rades.

Both “voitures” have mem-bers who have held statewideoffices. The “40&8” membersrefer to each other as“voyageurs” (voyagers) be-cause they share experiencesof military service. AlthoughWorld War I veterans beganthe national organization as anhonor group of the AmericanLegion in 1920, 40/8 is now anindependent fraternal organi-zation of active-duty, retiredand honorably discharged vet-erans. Membership is by invi-tation.

BACK ROADS

BY MARIEL WILLIAMSTELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

BELTON — The Belton IndependentSchool District board will decide tonightin a special session whether to call a bondelection for new school construction andimprovements.

The board of trustees have mostlyagreed they would prefer to hold the bondelection this May.

The board’s most recent decision lead-ing up to the bond vote was to build a

new elementary school on Poison OakRoad in West Temple.

The Poison Oak elementary site isnext to the new development CarriageHouse Trails. Because of his financialinterest in the development, trusteeJason Carothers abstained from the de-bate and vote on choosing a new schoolsite.

Carothers said in an email he has ownedthe property since 2013. BISD purchasedthe Poison Oak site in 2012, andCarothers was elected to the board in

2011. Carothers further said he did notknow if the new school would benefithim financially.

“The question of financial gain is un-known since I only own 50 percent ofthree lots directly adjacent to the schoolproperty,” he said. “That is the reason Iabstained from the vote and did not par-ticipate in any discussion pertaining tothe location of Belton ISD elementaryNo. 11.”

TODAY’S BIBLE VERSEAmusements ...................7A

Classifieds .......................6B

Comics .............................6A

Crossword........................6B

Editorial............................4A

Farm.................................5A

Life ...................................8A

Obituaries........................4B

Sports ..............................1B

Weather ...........................8B

INSIDE TODAY

“Let us therefore come boldly untothe throne of grace, that we may ob-tain mercy, and find grace to help intime of need.”

— Hebrews 4:16

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What a game!Pats mount comeback,win Super Bowl in OT

— Page 1B

COMING TUESDAYMedical advice and tips for

healthy living on the Health page

MONDAY, February 6, 2017

Ties to extremists?Trump Cabinet member, adviser gavepaid speeches to Iranian exile group

— Page 4B

High: 76Low: 63Mostly cloudy

OUR CENTRAL TEXAS

Life in pictures— Page 8B

BELTON ISD BOARD OF TRUSTEES Interstate 35 closures in Troyscheduled to start tonight

STAFF REPORT

TROY — The Texas Depart-ment of Transportation willclose northbound Interstate35 lanes at 7 tonight.

The closures plannedtoday through Thursday willallow the contractor to setbeams on the new SouthTroy Bridge, said JodiWheatley, TxDOT spokes-woman.

Daily closures will be from

7 p.m. to 7 a.m. throughThursday.

Traffic will detour onto onelane of the frontage road atexit 306, FM 1237/Pendle-ton Road. Officers at FM935/Main Street in Troy willre-direct traffic onto I-35.

Delays are expected, andtravelers should seek alter-nate routes, she said. On anygiven night, if work is com-pleted early, the closure willbe ended.

Bond issue decision today

Please see BISD, 2A

French said ‘Merci’ with boxcars of giftsCentral Texas groupsto attend Austin event

Above: The Texas “40/8”boxcar will be on public

display 11 a.m. Feb. 18 atthe State Capitol grounds.

Customarily, it is on view atthe Texas Military Forces

Museum on the grounds ofCamp Mabry, 2200 W. 35th

St., Austin. The event is apreamble to the kickoff of

the Texas World War ICentennial Observance in

April.

Right: In 1949, the “Merci”Train, one of 49 French

railroad boxcars, arrived inthe U.S. in a large tanker.

Each boxcar held thousandsof gifts of gratitude from

thousands of French citizens.These were small tokens to

the United States for themore than 700 American

boxcars of relief goods sentto them by Americans in

1948. The Texas car arrivedin mid-February.

Courtesy photo David Knutson, La Société des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux

Library of Congress

“I became involved

because they were doing

more than any other

organization I belonged

to. ... There’s no drama;

everybody helps.”

Donald Taylor, member of

La Société des Quarante Hommes

et Huit Chevaux “Voiture” 266

of Copperas Cove

Please see BOXCAR, 2A

Sentences revealed for WilsonPark fire, Emerson vandalism

Telegram file

Temple Fire & Rescue personnel inspect fire-damaged play-ground equipment June 29, 2016, in Temple’s Wilson Park.

Please see JUVENILES, 2A

AUSTIN (AP) — A newspa-per’s review of records showsinformation about hundreds ofteachers who have voluntarilysurrendered their licenses afterpossible improper conductwith students but never werecharged isn’t readily made

available to the public by theTexas Education Agency.

An analysis by the AustinAmerican-Statesman also hasfound the state agency doesn’ttrack if a teacher has beencharged or convicted of acrime. The newspaper reported

Sunday that in many cases,school districts keep the infor-mation secret and teachers areallowed to take other teachingjobs or positions where theyare in contact with children.

Public information scarceabout possible misconduct

BY LARRY CAUSEYTELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

St. Mary’s Catholic Schoolhad a good turnout for SuperBowl Sunday Open House from10 a.m. to 1 p.m., said TheresaWyles, school principal.

Cheerleaders and basketball

players gave classroom tours tomore than 25 new families, shesaid. Parents of St. Mary’s stu-dents also made the tour. Eachclassroom had a trivia question ora game, and everyone got theirautograph book stamped orsigned to qualify them for a prize.

“Each year during Catholic

Schools Week, we have anopen house,” she said.

Since it fell on Super BowlSunday this year, she said, thetheme seemed appropriate.“We can cheer for the Falcons,because we’re Falcons.”

School scores with SuperBowl Sunday Open House

Please see TEACHERS, 2A

Please see SCHOOL, 2A