Texas Digest: Man gets prison in bomb hoax; Texas Southern suspends band after hazing allegation

Corpus Christi

Man gets prison in bomb hoax

A South Texas man has been sentenced to 37 months in federal prison and another three years of probation for persuading a relative to make phony bomb threat calls to a Valero Energy Corp. refinery in Corpus Christi last year.

Erasmo Luna, of Robstown, also was ordered Friday by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos to pay $ 145,700 in restitution to Valero after a company official testified about the financial impact of the hoaxes.

The 27-year-old Luna pleaded guilty in June. His 20-year-old cousin, Jose Padilla, also of Robstown, has pleaded guilty to actually making the calls on two days last October. He faces sentencing next month.

Refinery security and local authorities with bomb-detection dogs had to respond to the threats, which also prompted an FBI investigation.

Houston

Texas Southern suspends band after hazing allegation

Texas Southern University has suspended its famous marching band after university officials received a report of hazing among its members.

The "Ocean of Soul" band canceled a Thursday performance at the TSU Tigers football game against Sam Houston State.

A TSU statement Thursday said it's not yet known how many students were involved, but "it is believed to involve one section of the band." The statement contained no details of the Wednesday allegation, but TSU spokeswoman Eva Pickens told KTRK-TV in Houston it involved excessive paddling among trumpet players.

Campus police and top university administrators are participating in the investigation, which comes in the wake of a hazing scandal involving the death of a Florida A&M University band member. University officials eventually eliminated Florida A&M's famed "Marching 100" band.

Legal issues

AG offers to help defend school's Bible banners

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has offered to help a Southeast Texas school district and its cheerleaders fight a challenge to putting Bible verses on high school football game banners.

Kountze Superintendent Kevin Weldon initially banned the signs after the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained. But a judge ordered that the banners continue to be allowed until a court hearing can be held next month.

In a letter to Weldon, Abbott said he was on solid legal ground by allowing the signs. He said his office was prepared to file a brief on the cheerleaders' behalf if the Freedom From Religion Foundation sued.

The conservative Liberty Institute already is defending the cheerleaders, arguing that banning religious speech on student-made signs is discriminatory.

Kountze is 85 miles northeast of Houston.

Read More @ Source

Occupy Unmasked

Occupy Unmasked takes viewers into the Occupy Wall Street camps around the country from New York to Los Angeles providing a first-hand look at violence and intimidation occurring within them, as well as to expose those at the heart of the events and to reveal the highly orchestrated nature of the movement. Exclusive footage and eyewitness accounts document criminal activity and raw brutality in the camps -- the majority of these incidents have not been reported by the mainstream media, which has in contrast portrayed the Occupy movement as self-organizing and non-violent. Occupy Unmasked features the conservative visionary Andrew Breitbart and journalists Brandon Darby, David Horowitz, Pam Keys, Anita MonCrief, Mandy Nagy, and Lee Stranahan. Written and directed by award winning director, Stephen K. Bannon (The Undefeated, Generation Zero) and produced by David N. Bossie (Border War, Perfect Valor), Occupy Unmasked is a shocking indictment of one of the most controversial movements in American history.

Video Rating: 3 / 5



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