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Waco Tribune-HeraldFriday, July 29, 2011Friday, July 29, 2011the Heart of Texas

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More allegations against SkeenMan says county official approached him with house deal

Dallas CowboysquarterbacksJon Kitna andTony Romo wereback on a field inthe teams firstpractice camp onThursday.

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SPORTS, 1C

AWOL soldier admits to Fort Hood attack plan

KILLEEN An AWOLsoldier who had weapons

stashed in a motel room nearFort Hood has admitted plan-ning an attack on the Texas

post, where 13 people died in2009 in the worst mass shoot-ing ever on a U.S. militaryinstallation, the Army said inan alert issued Thursday.

Pfc. Naser Abdo, a 21-year-old soldier granted consci-entious objector status thisyear after he said his Mus-lim beliefs prevented him

from fighting, was arrestedWednesday. Agents foundfirearms and items that

could be iden-tified asb o m b - m a k -ing compo-nents, includ-ing gunpow-der, in hismotel room,according toFBI spokes-

man Erik Vasys.The Army alert sent via

email and obtained by the

Associated Press said Killeenpolice arrested Abdo after atip from the owners of a gunshop and that he was in pos-session of a large quantity ofammunition, weapons and abomb inside a backpack.

Upon questioning, the alertsaid, he admitted planning anattack on Fort Hood.

Officials have not offereddetails about Abdos possibleintentions. The infantry sol-

dier from Fort Campbell, Ky.,whose hometown is Garland,applied for conscientiousobjector status last year. Amilitary review board recom-mended this spring that he beseparated from the Army.

The discharge was delayedafter Abdo was charged withpossessing child pornogra-

phy. Fort Campbell civilianspokesman Bob Jenkins saidAbdo was fully aware that

he was being investigated forpossessing child pornographysince November 2010. AnArticle 32 military hearinglast month recommended hebe court-martialed; he wentabsent without leave duringthe Fourth of July holidayweekend.

Abdo told an AP report-

er a week later that he was

By Jamie StengleAssociated Press

Suspect arrested inKilleen had firearms,

bomb-making materials

WACO ISD

Board tablesdecision onpolice force

The Waco school board explored the ideaof disbanding its police department andcontracting out police services at its boardmeeting Thursday night.

But much support was voiced for main-taining the districts in-house police de-partment.

Waco Independent School District Su-perintendent Bonny Cain said she initiallylooked into disbanding the department asa way to save money. Butboard members suggest-ed the difference in costmight not be as significantas initially thought.

When the spotlight wascast on the WISD police de-partment for possible dis-banding, cuts to the budgetwere offered from withinthe department, Cain said, including the

reduction of force from 13 to 9 officers.The skinny model of the WISD police

department, as Cain called it, carries a costabout the same as contracting with the cityfor school resource officers.

Trustee Alex Williams asked why theboard would consider the move if therewas no major savings.

Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman spoketo the board about the city of Wacos ar-rangement with Midway IndependentSchool District to provide school resourceofficers. On a daily basis, the officers atMidway High School are under the direc-tion of school administration, but they arenot there to police administrative issues,such as dress code, Stroman said.

Some trustees wondered if having offi-cers at schools would bite into the cityspolice force.

We would hire additional officers forthis. It would not cut into our authorizedstrength, Stroman said.

By Wendy GraggTribune-Herald staff writer

Members push back vote onissue after showing of support

for in-house department

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An 80-year-old Waco residentsaid embattled McLennan Coun-ty Tax Assessor-Collector BuddySkeen tried to take advantageof him after he inherited familyproperty.

In 2006, James Dickens wasat the McLennan County re-cords building to pay taxes ona house hed recently inheritedfrom his sister.

Dickens, a former Lochridge-Priest employee, said that dur-ing his trip to the tax office anemployee there approached himwith an unusual question.

Did he have any other livingsiblings?

He told the woman no, notthinking much of it. But mo-ments later, Tax Assessor-Col-lector Buddy Skeen approachedhim, suggesting the two mentake a ride to look at the modestred brick home in South Waco.

On the way over here he said,James, Im gonna make you anoffer you might not want to re-fuse, Dickens said.

The deal, he recalled, waswould I be willing to will myproperty to his granddaughterand in exchange he would keepall the taxes up on it.

I said, I dont want to do that, Dickens said. Thatd be like giv-ing my house away for free.

Dickens has a few prize posses-sions at his home. They include

old coins, Republic of Texas dol-lars and a hand-crank Victrolarecord player that he estimatedis about as old as I am.

After reportedly rejectingSkeens deal, Dickens said heand Skeen came in (the house),and when hed seen that Victro-la he asks, Does it still play? Isaid, Yes, sir.

Skeen then said, Lets take itdown to my office for a display

By Michael W. ShapiroTribune-Herald staff writer

Staff photo Jerry Larson

James Dickens stands outside his South Waco home. Dickens claims McLennan County Tax Assessor-Collector Buddy Skeenapproached him with a deal to put Skeens granddaughter in his will.

Vote on bill delayed as GOP seeks support

WASHINGTON Anintense endgame athand, House Repub-

lican leaders put off a voteThursday night on legislationto avert a threatened govern-

ment default and slice federalspending by nearly$1 trillion.

GOP leaders announcedtheir decision after abruptlyhalting debate on the legisla-tion and plunging into an in-tensive round of meetings withrebellious conservatives.

The decision created fresh

turmoil as a divided govern-

ment struggled to head off a de-

fault threatened after Tuesday

that would leave the Treasury

without the funds needed to

pay all its bills.

As time for a vote slid by, the

White House poked fun at Re-

publicans led by Speaker John

Boehner, who has become

President Barack Obamas

principal antagonist in a con-

tentious era of divided govern-ment. And Senate Democrats

pledged to scuttle Boehners

bill if it ever got to them

to force a final compromise.

Boehner summoned a string

of Republican critics of the bill

to his office.Asked what he and the

speaker had talked about, Rep.Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said, Ithink thats rather obvious. . . .Theres negotiations going on.

Based on public statementsby lawmakers themselves, itappeared that five of abouttwo dozen holdouts were fromSouth Carolina. The state alsois represented by Sen. JimDeMint, who has solid tiesto tea party groups and is astrong critic of compromisingon the debt issue.

A few first-term conserva-tives slipped into a small cha-pel a few paces down the hallfrom the Capitol Rotunda asthey contemplated one of themost consequential votes oftheir careers.

By David EspoAssociated Press

White House mocksRepublicans divided

on legislation

Abdo

See PLAN, Page 3A

DEBT SHOWDOWN

See DEBT, Page 3A

See SKEEN, Page 3A See WISD, Page 3A

Cain

UNDER WAY

SPORTS, 1C

A HOMICIDE

LOCAL & TEXAS, 1B

Associated Press Susan Walsh

House Speaker John Boehner pre-pares to discuss the delay of Thurs-day nights expected vote on theRepublican debt ceiling legislation.

7/29/2019 Skeen Will

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concerned about his safetyand had considered purchas-ing a gun for protection, buthad not yet done so.

The militarys criminal in-vestigation division, alongwith the federal Joint Ter-rorism Task Force, also in-vestigated Abdo after hewas flagged for making un-specified anti-Americancomments while taking alanguage class, according to

a U.S. official briefed on theinvestigation.The official, who spoke on

condition of anonymity be-cause the investigation is on-going, said neither the mili-tary nor the task force discov-ered anything at the time toindicate Abdo was planningan attack.

Gun store tip

Abdos arrest came after theowners of a local gun store

the same store where the2009 Fort Hood shootings sus-pect Maj. Nidal Hasan boughta pistol used in the attack

called police, the Armysalert said.

Store clerk Greg Ebert saidthe man arrived at GunsGalore LLC by taxi Tues-day and bought 6 pounds of

smokeless gunpowder, threeboxes of shotgun ammuni-tion and a magazine for asemi-automatic pistol, pay-ing about $250.

Ebert said he became con-cerned when the man askedquestions indicating hedidnt know much about theitems.

(We) felt uncomfortable

with his overall demeanorand the fact he didnt knowwhat the hell he was buying,Ebert said. I thought it pru-dent to contact the local au-thorities, which I did.

Killeen police learned fromthe taxi company that Abdohad been picked up from alocal motel and that he alsohad visited an Army surplusstore where he paid cash fora uniform bearing Fort Hoodunit patches, according to theArmy alert.

Vasys said the FBI wouldcharge Abdo with possessingbomb-making componentsand he would be transferred

from Killeen police into fed-eral custody. Vasys saidthere was nothing to indicateAbdo was working with oth-ers.

An Oklahoma attorney whohas represented Abdo saidThursday he hadnt heardfrom Abdo in weeks.

Ive been quite anxious toget in touch with him, attor-ney James Branum said.

The AP was among the me-dia outlets to interview Abdoin the past year when report-ing on his request for objectorstatus.

On July 12, Abdo contactedan AP reporter with whom hehad spoken previously, saidhe had gone AWOL and con-sidered purchasing a gun forpersonal protection.

Abdo said he had not yet

done so because he knew hewould have to give his nameand other information to thegun dealer.

Abdo said he had receivedcritical emails about his con-scientious objector case andwas worried about his safetyas an increasing number ofsoldiers were returning to FortCampbell from Afghanistan.

The AP described the con-

tents of this conversation that

Thursday to a civilian Army

spokesman.

The next day, when con-

tacted by Army investigators,

the AP said it did not know

Abdos location and provided

the telephone number from

which he made his original

call.

Abdo sought conscientious

objector status in June 2010

while at Fort Campbell, cit-

ing his beliefs as a Muslim.

He said in a written applica-

tion that before he entered

the Army in 2009 he believed

he could maintain his faith

and carry out the orders giv-en to him.

PLANFrom Page 1A

so people can see it, accord-ing to Dickens, who addedthat his answer was again afirm No.

When told about Dickensaccount in a phone interviewthis week, Skeen said its not

correct.Asked if he knew Dickensor remembered any interac-tion with him, Skeen said, itdoesnt ring a bell, and em-phasized that the story sup-posedly happens years ago.

But Dickens is adamant.It sure happened. I

wouldnt lie about it, he said,adding that he thinks Skeentried to pull one over on himbecause of his age.

Real estate activity

Skeen did confirm in theinterview that hes been in-volved in a number of realestate transactions during thepast decade.

According to public recordsobtained through the countyappraisal district, Skeen haspurchased and sold at least

eight properties in the coun-ty in the past decade. Hesbought three Woodway prop-erties two homes and a lot

since the start of 2010.Skeen lined up a $110,000

loan for the June purchaseof one of the homes. He soldthe home nine months laterto a tax office employee, Dor-othy Ramos, who took out a$160,000 loan on the home.

Ramos is one of two currenttax office employees who in thepast five years received salarybumps authorized by Skeenthrough a fund he controls.

In the most recently com-pleted fiscal year, she re-ceived a $20,000 supplementto her salary more than a45 percent bump.

An ongoing Texas Rangersinvestigation touches on ve-

hicle purchases Skeen madeusing money from the samefund he used to boost his em-

ployees salaries.Ramos didnt return a mes-

sage left through the tax of-fice. Skeen said he doesntthink he profited on the sale ofthe home to Ramos or on hisother real estate activities.

I dont make a profit onanything, he said.

Its unclear if Skeen mademoney on the various prop-erty sales because real estatepurchase prices are kept pri-

vate under Texas law.He did indicate that he hasntpublicly reported his variousproperty interests despite astate requirement that appliesto tax officials like Skeen.

Skeen said, You always re-port your losses or gains, re-ferring to his tax filings, butwhen asked if he disclosed thedeals to anyone in McLennanCounty government, he endedthe interview.

A state rule that took ef-fect Jan. 18, 2010, requiresproperty tax professionals

a category that includes taxassessor-collectors and ap-praisal district officials todisclose in writing to the ap-praisal district or taxing en-tity that employs them any fi-nancial interest in any privatebusiness or real property.

Tax officials also are re-quired to report any employ-ment aside from their govern-ment job.

Susan Stanford, a spokes-woman for the state regula-tory agency, said no one hasfiled a complaint againstSkeen with TDLR, which as-sumed the responsibilities ofthe Board of Tax ProfessionalExaminers in 2009.

McLennan County Chief Ap-praiser Drew Hahn said he andhis employees annually listtheir property and businessinterests. They have recordedthe information, he said, sincebefore the reporting require-ment was created in 2010 as atransparency measure.

Its been done here for agood while because you wantto make sure nothing funnys

going on, Hahn said.mshapiro@wacotrib.com

757-5707

SKEENFrom Page 1B

Former WISD Police ChiefGil Miller spoke to the boardin support of maintaining theschool district police depart-ment. He recalled a boardmeeting in 1992 when theboard was looking at the oppo-site decision, to end the schoolresource officer program andbuild an in-house police force.

I can assure you, the ex-pectations set forth in 1992were met or surpassed, Mill-er said.

Waco High School teacher

and local Texas State TeacherAssociation president TonyUzzell also spoke in supportof the districts police.

They are an indispensablepart of this district, an indis-pensable part of this family,and it would be an absolutecrime to disband this policeforce, Uzzell said.

Trustee Larry Perez suggest-ed the district look elsewherefor further budget cuts.

I know theres other placesthat need to be looked at, hesaid.

The board decided to revisitthe topic at the August work-shop meeting.

wgragg@wacotrib.com757-6901

WISDFrom Page 1A

Asked if he was seeking divine inspi-ration, Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said thathad already happened.

I was leaning no and now I am a no,he said.

Many more congregated in the officeof the chief GOP vote counter, Cali-fornia Rep. Kevin McCarthy, perhapsdrawn to the 19 boxes of pizza that wererolled in. Boehner joined them but didnot speak to reporters.

Clock ticks towards August 2, Houseis naming post offices, while leaderstwist arms for a pointless vote. No won-der people hate Washington, WhiteHouse Communications Director DanPfeiffer tweeted.

Earlier, Boehner had exuded opti-mism.

Lets pass this bill and end the cri-sis, Boehner said. It raises the debtlimit and cuts government spending bya larger amount.

Hold our economy hostage

Obama has threatened to veto themeasure and in debate on the Housefloor, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultzof Florida savaged it as a Republicanplan for default. She said the GOPhoped to hold our economy hostagewhile forcing an ideological agenda on

the country.Despite the sharp rhetoric, therewere signs that gridlock might be giv-

ing way.Around here youve got to have

deadlock before you have break-through, said Sen. Kent Conrad,D-N.D. Were at that stage now.

White House press secretary Jay Car-ney outlined White House compromise

terms: significant deficit reduction, amechanism by which Congress wouldtake on the tough issues of tax reform

and entitlement reform and a lifting ofthe debt ceiling beyond . . . into 2013.

The last point loomed as the biggestobstacle.

The House bill cuts spending by$917 billion in a decade, principallyby holding down costs for hundreds of

government programs ranging from thePark Service to the Agriculture Depart-ment and foreign aid.

DEBTFrom Page 1A

Associated Press Susan Walsh

Civic and religious leaders pray inside the Capitol Rotunda on Thurs-

day. The group, which was protesting proposed budget cuts in proposeddebt ceiling legislation, was arrested by Capitol Hill police.

Tribal strife feared after rebel leader killed

BENGHAZI, Libya Thetop rebel military command-er in Libya was killed Thurs-day and members of histribe greeted the announce-ment with gunfire and angrythreats. The violent outburststirred fears that a tribal feudcould divide the forces strug-gling to topple the Libyan dic-tator, Moammar Gadhafi.

The leader of the rebelsprovisional government,Mustapha Abdul Jalil, saidassassins had killed the com-mander, Gen. Abdul FattahYounes, and two other of-ficers. But he provided fewdetails.

Younes, a former officerand cabinet member in theGadhafi government, had

long been a contentious fig-ure among the rebels, someof whom doubted his loyalty.

He had been summoned toBenghazi for questioning bya panel of judges, and mem-

bers of his tribe the Obei-di, one of the largest tribes inthe east evidently blamed

the rebel leadership for hav-ing some role in the generalsdeath.

The specter of a violent

tribal conflict within the reb-el ranks touches on a centralfear of the Western nationsbacking the Libyan insurrec-tion: that the rebels demo-cratic goals could give way toa tribal civil war for Libyasoil resources.

Gadhafi has often warnedof such a possibility as hehas fought to keep power,while the rebel leaders haveargued that their causetranscends Libyas age-old

tribal divisions.Before Younes defected to

the rebel side soon after theuprising began in February,he had been a longtime friendof Gadhafi and his interiorminister.

Those ties fostered persis-tent rumors that his loyaltieswere divided. State televisionsometimes tried to exploitthose rumors by reportingthat he had returned to hisold job.

Tensions started risinghere in the rebels de factocapital Thursday eveningwith reports that a group offour judges working for therebel council had summonedYounes for questioning.

The war effort he led hasstalled for months along im-mobile battle lines on theeastern front.

When the rebel leadershipannounced a news confer-ence later at a Benghazi ho-tel, a few dozen members ofhis tribe gathered outsideand began chanting. Some in-side, at the news conference,warned of possible violenceif Younes were removed fromhis position.

Instead, two hours after thenews conference had been

scheduled to begin, AbdulJalil made a short speech,saying that Younes had beenkilled and offering few cluesto the circumstances of the

death.Abdul Jalil confirmed

Younes had been summoned

for questioning by the judg-es, although he declined to

say why. He said only thatYounes had been released

on his own recognizance,rather than either accused orexonerated of anything.

By David D. KirkpatrickThe New York Times

WAR IN LIBYA

The New York Times Moises Saman

A man walks on the roof of what is reportedly a par-

tially collapsed school that was targeted by NATO airstrikes. He was viewed during a tour led by Libyangovernment officials in Zlitan.

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