Grand jury indicts New Diana school officials

AUSTIN – A grand jury in Upshur County on May 24 returned an indictment against John Moore, former school board president in the New Diana Independent School District, for conspiring to circumvent the Texas Open Meetings Act.

“Public officials cannot flout the Open Meetings Act and expect to get away with it,” said Attorney General Greg Abbott, who handled the case. “Texans want their government to operate in the light of day and these indictments show we will pursue officials who betray that responsibility.”

The same grand jury also returned one indictment against Dan Noll, former superintendent of New Diana ISD, for abuse of official capacity.

The indictment against Moore stems from private conversations he allegedly had with several school board members to gauge their support for a possible severance package for Noll, in exchange for Noll’s resignation as superintendent. The package was approved at a subsequent school board meeting on May 17, 2004.

After Noll’s resignation, evidence surfaced indicating he had misused public funds while in office — evidence that eventually led to the indictment against him. However, these revelations also allegedly prompted Moore to confess an open meetings violation to Upshur County District Attorney Michael B. Fetter in the hope that the meeting where Noll’s severance package was approved would be voided.

Fetter sought assistance from the attorney general. The Texas Rangers also helped investigated the case.

Political flier lifts story from Valley newspaper

MERCEDES — A local woman featured in a Valley Morning Star article was surprised to learn the story was used without permission in a flier attacking Mayor Joe Quintanilla.

The newspaper reported that the story was reprinted with an altered headline “Voters is this the irresponsible man you want for mayor!! Joel Quintanilla’s ex wife!” The original headline read “Life experiences prove valuable at Family Crisis Center job.”

“This is clearly an infringement of our copyright,” Star editor George Cox said. “The Star will not condone, we will not give permission, for our content to be used for a political hit piece like this.”

The story told of Elia Alvarado’s struggle to raise four children while living on food stamps after divorce.

Joe Francisco “Pancho” Rodriguez is running against the mayor. He told the newspaper he had no idea who distributed the fliers, which were apparently placed in residents’ mail boxes

City denies access to financial records

EL PASO — The city attorney’s office has denied the El Paso Times’ request for copies of legal opinions

The newspaper submitted the request after reporting that Mayor Joe Wardy had used campaign funds to pay for a personal phone line and fax in his city office

Police scanners go silent for 19 hours

WICHITA FALLS — After 19 hours of silence on local police scanners the Times Record News filed an open records request for recordings of the traffic.

The radio transmissions were unavailable from 3 p.m. May 2 to 10 a.m. May 3. Part of the time covered the police department’s switch to digital radio.

The newspaper also requested all e-mails between officials over the new radio encryption system.