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Tuesday, June 27, 2006 statesman.com Section B
Louis Perez
Convicted of a
1998 triple slaying
Educator
in the Barton Hills
neighborhood in
South Austin.
may leave
New DNA
tests still Pflugerville
Board to decide whether to release
condemn superintendent from her contract
By Raven L. Hill
Austinite Scott Wade created this homage to Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ and Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ in dust. AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
School Superintendent Patricia Pickles could be
leaving Pflugerville after less than two years on the
Family of death row job.
inmate had hoped for a On Wednesday, the seven-member Board of Trus-
tees is scheduled to consider re-
link to ‘Railroad Killer’ leasing Pickles from her contract
and appointing an acting superin-
By Steven Kreytak tendent. The board and Pickles have
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF met five times this month, including
early Monday morning, to discuss
A new round of fingerprint and her contract and complete her job
DNA testing is mostly complete and performance evaluation.
shows no sign that serial killer District spokesman Randy Reese
Angel Maturino Resendiz was at a confirmed Monday that Pickles is
South Austin triple murder scene in taking a week’s leave of absence for Patricia
1998, Travis County prosecutors unspecified reasons. Pickles could Pickles
announced Monday on the eve of not be reached Monday for com-
Resendiz’s scheduled execution. ment. Board President Carol Fletcher said she could
C.M. Coolidge’s ‘A Friend in Need,’ aka dogs playing poker, is rendered on a car’s back window.
Prosecutors in March agreed to not comment on personnel matters.
order new testing in the case after
the family of Louis Perez, the man See RELEASE, B5
condemned to die for the Barton
Hills neighborhood murders, told
them Resendiz might have con-
fessed to the killings from death row
in 2002.
One final DNA test remains, on
hairs found at the murder scene. It
More kids
in poverty,
will be about six weeks until that
test is completed, but Assistant
District Attorney Buddy Meyer
said prosecutors decided to release
the preliminary results after re-
ceiving a flurry of media calls
Monday related to Resendiz’s exe-
cution.
“We have always been confident
study says
in the verdict in the Louis Perez PHOTOS COURTESY OF SCOTT WADE AND ROBIN WOOD
case, and we remain confident,” Living on an unpaved road near San Marcos gives Wade plenty of opportunity to create his own art.
Texas slips in child welfare ranking,
Meyer said. but education is better than average
Perez, 44, of Austin, was convict-
Dirty pictures
ed in 1999 of killing friend Michelle By Corrie MacLaggan
Fulwiler; her roommate, Cinda
Other
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Barz; and Barz’s 9-year-old study facts
See DNA, B3 Texas has a higher percentage
s One in 10
of children living in poverty
Texas chil-
than 41 other states, according to
dren lives in
are his forte
a new study on the well-being of
Pesticide the nation’s children.
Twenty-three percent of the
state’s children live in poverty,
extreme pov-
erty (below
$9,579 a year
causes compared with the national av-
erage of 18 percent, says this
year’s edition of the annual Kids
for a family of
four in 2004).
s Texas had the
San Marcos windshield artist happy when dust flies
City Hall Count study, to be released today
by the Annie E. Casey Founda-
tion, a private funding and re-
second-
lowest per-
centage of im-
evacuation cott Wade, who lives out in the country near San
S
search organization dedicated munized chil-
Marcos, may be the only artist in the universe who dren in 2004,
to vulnerable children. That
should have nightmares about a car wash. 75 percent.
statewide figure is from 2004, the
Scott draws amazingly
By Katie Humphrey most recent year for which data Only Nevada
intricate illustrations in had a lower
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF are available. It’s up from 22
the dirt that builds up on percentage,
John percent in 2000.
the rear windows of his Mini Cooper 71 percent.
ROUND ROCK — A pungent Overall, the Lone Star State
pesticide sprayed by a city em-
and his wife’s Mazda. That’s right, Kelso
the man does artwork on the win- See KIDS, B3
ployee on an office plant led officials
dows of filthy cars. Among his
to close Round Rock City Hall on
Monday morning and sent 11 em- ‘Like most works are the dogs playing poker,
“Mona Lisa,” Kinky Friedman in a
ployees, including two firefighters, CLARIFICATION
to the hospital.
people, I can’t big hat next to the Capitol, a car-
toony man being tongue-lashed by
resist drawing
All 11, who had complained of
dizziness, irritated throats and
burning eyes, were released by something in
his old lady, even one of me in a
gimme cap.
So a smart-aleck punk who wants to write messages on
School violated
Monday afternoon, city spokesman
Will Hampton said. Officials expect
to reopen City Hall, on East Main
the dust.’ Scott’s car about how it needs to be hosed down causes a real
problem.
“You’d be surprised how many potential canvases are ruined
safety standards
Street in downtown Round Rock, Scott Wade
today. Artist State says most problems at center
See KELSO, B5
People began evacuating about
8:30 a.m. after James Sorrell
featured in Statesman now fixed
sprayed a plant in his third-floor By Claire Osborn
office with six or seven squirts of
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
the pesticide malathion, Hampton
said. Sorrell brought the pesticide An organic gardening Montessori school featured
Scott Wade’s cre-
from home, Hampton said. on the front page of Monday’s Austin American-
Officials, who called the Fire De- ations have a tenu-
ous existence: A Statesman has had several violations of state child
partment after originally fearing a care standards, according to inspections by the Texas
natural gas leak, moved the plant cloudburst or a car
wash could erase Department of Family and Protective Services.
outside after realizing it was the Violations include children being left outside
source of the fumes, he said. City the sketches he
briefly unsupervised by an employee, the presence of
Hall does not use natural gas, draws on the back
a ladder with protruding nails, and children not
Hampton said. window of his Mini
washing their hands after using the restroom.
Hampton said he did not know Cooper and his
When writing features or other profiles about
whether Sorrell would be disci- wife’s Mazda. people and places, the American-Statesman as a
plined for using the pesticide in the practice does background checks. In this case, the
office. Deborah Cannon newspaper was told last week by a Family and Pro-
“We’ll determine all that stuff AMERICAN-STATESMAN tective Services official that the facility did not have
later,” Hampton said. “Our primary any violations. The agency confirmed Monday that
concern was just getting folks out of the school did have violations. These violations were
the building.” not reported to the paper because of a research error,
Sorrell, who works in the finance agency spokesman Chris Van Deusen said.
department, could not be reached On statesman.com: Do you have a talent your friends and neighbors think is weird? “It’s rare that we don’t find some deficiency in the
for comment. Post your comments with this story online. Also, view a photo gallery of Wade’s work. standards when we go to a child care home or center,”
Both the Round Rock Fire De- Van Deusen said.
partment and Williamson County Van Deusen said Ronda Dizney’s child care home
See PESTICIDE, B3 See VIOLATIONS, B3
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