By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1B The leaders of two African-American groups – the New Black Panther Party and the Southern Christian Leadership Council – told Wilmer-Hutchins school board members Monday that they should consider resigning as a group. “It would be in the best interest of the children that you immediately step down,” […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1H LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – His immune system buckled from tuberculosis. His weight slid to 84 pounds. But Ackim Sakala, a man whose life is built around sharing knowledge, knew he had to keep a secret. “As soon as people know you have HIV, you are put on a death […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A FBI agents and Texas Rangers seized documents and served subpoenas at Wilmer-Hutchins school administration buildings Thursday, and a federal grand jury investigation is under way. Investigators from both agencies interviewed top district officials at Wilmer-Hutchins headquarters. It’s the latest expansion of a broad corruption inquiry that also includes […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 2A Looking for ways to improve its image with voters before next week’s bond election, Wilmer-Hutchins ISD hired consultants to manage its finances and construction Tuesday night. District officials pledged the outsiders would ensure there would be no financial shenanigans in the district’s future. “We want to earn the […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A An administrative assistant to Wilmer-Hutchins’ maintenance director said Tuesday that she watched her boss destroy a stack of purchase orders that he asked her to assemble. She said the maintenance director, Wallace Faggett, said he was acting on direct orders from Superintendent Charles Matthews. The district’s police chief […]
By Herb Booth and Joshua Benton Staff Writers Page 1B A booming bass reverberated through the warm breeze: “Young man, vote for the Wilmer-Hutchins school district bond election.” The voice emanated from a speaker attached to the top of a 1989 Ford Escort. Elijah McGrew, a parent in the beleaguered school district, is taking matters […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 19B A lawyer who works with Wilmer-Hutchins attorney James Belt said she is to blame for a legal filing in which Mr. Belt’s name is attached to the state lawyer identification number of a dead man. “It was a completely honest mistake,” said Thelma Clardy, a DeSoto City Council […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A The Wilmer-Hutchins school district’s chief attorney was suspended by the State Bar of Texas last year, and at least once during the suspension he used the state bar identification number of a lawyer who has been dead for 20 years. Attorney James Belt has had his law license […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1B The police chief of the Wilmer-Hutchins school district has been told to lay off his investigations into the district’s financial problems unless he informs top administrators first. “I am advising you to refrain from conducting investigations of this nature without your supervisors’ prior knowledge,” Lew Blackburn wrote in […]
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1B The Texas Education Agency is laying the groundwork for a possible state takeover of Wilmer-Hutchins schools. Ed Flathouse, the state’s associate commissioner for finance and compliance, said he expects the agency to begin talks with federal officials to clear the way. The U.S. Justice Department must approve a […]