Tales from the West Texas Dust

Here's more of the current news that's fit to print--both from this editor and from newspapers across the state:

PLAINVIEW--This editor has just received word of something going down the legislative pike in the TX House. A letter from Justice Fellowship has informed me of the approval from the House State Affairs Committee last week of SB 138--the Texas Religious Freedom Act. In it is contained a controversial provision that includes a prisoner exemption that if passed would subject the ability of inmates to practice their religious faith within state facilities to the whims of prison officials and would severely impact the ability of various prison ministries throughout the state to participate in their current activities. One source in the House has informed me that there might be a push on the Republican side of the aisle to eliminate the exemption and to pass SB 138 without it. We'll keep you posted as further word comes in...

[Lubbock A-J:] (1.) Today marks the 29th anniversary of one of the most tragic events in Lubbock's history. At around 9:47 PM, a massive tornado swept through the downtown area and several North Lubbock neighborhoods that killed 26 people and injured hundreds of others. The city was eventually declared a disaster area by President Richard Nixon...

(2.) On May 2nd, as a church bus containing a youth group from the Green Lawn Church of Christ was returning from a youth retreat at Pine Tree camp halfway between Artesia and Alamogordo, NM on U.S. Highway 82, a pickup carrying two people from Van Horn, TX (between Alpine and El Paso) which was pulling a recreational trailer and traveling east on U.S. 82 along with the church bus and another pickup traveling eastbound from Albuquerque, NM collided which resulted in a traffic accident that killed seven people and injured a number of others. Among the dead were six teenage girls from the Lubbock area ranging in between the ages of 14 to 17. New Mexico State Police officer Robert Smoot did not cite an official cause for the accident, but noted that investigators were looking into the possibility that a wind gust blew the trailer into the bus. Back in Lubbock, memorial funds were established in memory of the teenagers and condolences and services were conducted on behalf of the affected families...

(3.) Former Tech defensive end Montae Reagor came back home to Tech to receive an award from Bank of America and to comment on being a recent NFL draft pick by the Denver Broncos in the second round. Reagor's selection comes amid speculation in Denver that veteran defensive end Neil Smith may be possibly cut and shown the door. Reagor hopes, though, that this isn't the case. Reagor told the A-J that he hopes that he "would be able to play behind Neil at least one year, so he could teach me things..."

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