Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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% Colorado town uneasy after capture of convicts by Nick Wadhams Associated Press WOODLAND PARK, Colo. - With one of the nation’s biggest man hunts ended and the last Texas escaped convicts behind bars, residents of the small town where the fugitives hid for weeks doubt the bedroom community will ever be the same. Questions lingered about the fugi tives’ stay in this town of 7,500, about 20 miles outside Colorado Springs, af % ter the peaceful surrender of the final pair of convicts Wednesday and the ear lier capture of four others. The seventh convict killed himself. “I try not to think about what could have been,” said Randy Judd, who lives in the Coachlight RV park where the fugitives rented a space for their motor home. The convicts—armed robbers, mur derers and rapists — played Christian music and attended Bible study. Despite their status as some of the nation’s most wanted, they shopped at Safeway and patronized a local coffee shop. The brush with the fugitives con vinced construction worker John Schnell to begin locking his doors and take oth er precautions. “I don’t usually lock my doors,” he said. But after word of the fugitives’ pres ence circulated, “I had my dog in with 9> me and my gun right by the door. ” Two of the four convicts jailed in Teller County were due in court Thurs day, facing transfer to Texas. The other two were to appear in court Friday. Captured Monday at a convenience store near the RV park were suspected ringleader Geoige Rivas, 30, convicted of aggravated robbery and kidnapping; and murderers Michael Rodriguez, 38, and Joseph Garcia, 29. Randy Halprin, 23, who was serv ing time for beating an infant, surren dered as police surrounded the motor home. Larry Harper, 37, convicted of aggravated sexual assault, killed himself. Authorities said a motorist stopped at a roadblock Monday used a cellular phone to alert Halprin and Harper of the impending raid on their recreation ve hicle. Woodland Park police Cmdr. James Rocco told The Dallas Morning News that federal authorities intercepted the call shortly after the other three inmates were captured. “Somebody called them and said, ‘They’re searching cars, and they might be on to you,”’ Rocco told the news paper. Rocco said Halprin confirmed he re ceived the call. He didn’t say whether Halprin had identified the caller. Rapist Patrick Murphy Jr., 39, and armed robber Donald Newbury, 38, were arrested Wednesday at a hotel in Col orado Springs. Inside the room, author ities found 10 handguns, two shotguns and ammunition. They made initial court appearances later in the day. Both surrendered after their request for brief interviews with a local TV station was granted. The seven convicts bluffed their way out of the maximum-security ConnaUy Unit in Kenedy, Texas, on Dec. 13. On Christmas Eve, they allegedly killed a Dallas-area policeman during the rob bery of a sporting goods store. Officer Aubrey Hawkins was shot 11 times. Rivas told the Fort Worth Star Telegram that he can’t get the slain policeman’s image out of his mind. He said he fired what he believes were the three fatal shots and that he ex pects to receive the death penalty. “I’m prepared for it,” he said. Widow Lori Hawkins talked to re porters Wfednesday, still wearing her hus band’s wedding band, which she had promised to wear until the convicts were caught. “I want them to know what they did, who they killed and what they did to my life by taking his life,” she said. “I want them to know how much pain they caused.” Tips from residents after the televi sion show America ’sMost Wanted aired a segment on the convicts over the week end led authorities to Woodland Park. Wade Holder, who owns and man ages the" Coachlight park with his wife, said the fugitives told him they were Christian missionaries from Texas. “These people were not Christians looking for a Bible study. They were vi cious, violent people,” said El Paso Coun ty Sheriff John Anderson. • ‘I try not to think about what could have been.’ Randy Judd Woodland Park resident New Georgia flag passing politically* failing aesthetically ■ Critics accuse design of being 'ridiculous' by Erin McClam Associated Press ATLANTA — Politically, Georgia’s proposed new flag is being praised as a great compromise. Aesthetically, though, experts say it is a visual train wreck— a jumble of stars, banners, circles, words, numbers and other flags. “My first impression is, this is just about the worst state flag,” said Whitney Smith, director of the Flag Re search Center in Winchester, Mass. “This is an example for the How Not to Design a Flag class. This is what you put on the board to get everyone to un derstand.” The flag was designed by Cecil Alexander, an 82-year-old Atlanta ar chitect whose grandfather fought for the Confederacy. To be fair, his assignment was daunt ing: Draw up a flag that satisfies Geoigians who have fought bitterly for decades over the Confederate emblem’s dominant place on the state banner. The solution he came up with was to reduce the emblem to a tiny symbol along the bottom. The design won approval in the House on Wednesday and goes next to the Senate. • Critics said Alexander should have stuck to designing buildings. “It’s ridiculous,” said University of Geoigia graphic design professor Susan Roberts. Struggling for something pos itive to say, she offered: “It’s not that it looks, you know, bad. It just doesn’t work well as a flag.” Alexander explained his thinking to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The whole thought behind it was to show the flags of the past in a histori cal context. It would be a different approach. We would acknowledge his tory and look to the future.” Complicated state flags are noth ing new. Wisconsin’s is a dizzying hodge podge of symbols — a cornucopia, a pyramid, an arm-and-hammer and an anchor. And that’s just in the middle. Maryland’s looks like a cross between a chess board and the signal for the end of a stock car race. “There isn’t the direct need for a -state flag to be as strong as a national flag,” said Amos Klausner, San Fran cisco president of the American Insti tute of the Graphic Arts. “It’s that greater sum of the parts that’s really the important piece.” The Geoigia proposal has no short age of parts. The dominant feature is the state seal, which bears, among other things, an arch, a soldier, a band of small cir cles, the date 1776, the state’s nanie and a motto: “Wisdom, justice, modera tion.” Below it is a stripe of five other flags, including the one featuring the Confederate emblem that started the debate, along with the words “Geor gia’s history.” And, in a last-minute amendment, “In God we trust.” “This is something that no schoolkid will ever be able to draw,” Smith said. World Briefs ■ Hillary Clinton ' hires White House scandal spokesman , WASHINGTON (AP) - Jim Kennedy, the White House press aide who handled questions about the Mon ica Lewinsky affair, is joining Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s staff as com munications director and senior policy adviser, her office said Wednesday. In the White House, Kennedy fielded questions on the Lewinsky and impeachment matters. Kennedy also worked for Sen. Joseph Liebemian, D Conn., and most recently was commu nications director for Vice President A1 Gore before joining the New York sen ator. “My time at the White House is helpful in this new job,” Kennedy said Wednesday. “I’m looking forward to working for her and the people of New York.” ■ Tanker captain, crew arrested for Galapagos spill PUERTO BAQUERIZO, Gala pagos Islands (AP)—Authori ties detained the captain of a crippled tanker who took the blame for the ac cident that spilled at least 185,000 gal lons of fuel in the Galapagos Islands. Capt. Tarquino Arevalo, who ap parently mistook a signal buoy for a lighthouse, and 13 crewmen from the tanker Jessica were confined to a mili tary base on San Cristobal island pend ing formal charges, Merchant Marines Vice Adm. Gonzalo Vega said Wednes day. Arevalo and the tanker’s owners could face two to four years in prison if convicted of negligence or crimes against the environment. 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