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Delaney "Laney" Ann Brown died on Christmas from complications from leukemia, five days after her 8th birthday. It was on her birthday, Dec. 20, that Brown made headlines when she received a phone call from Taylor Swift, who had heard about Brown's struggle with leukemia through Make- A-Wish America. Brown lived in West Reading, Pennsylvania, just down the road from Reading, where Swift was born. The pair had a conversation via Facetime, so they could see each other while they spoke; and judging from a post on Facebook, fulfilling the "bucket list" item put a smile on the young girl's...

Laney put off by today's Texas politics BY D. LANCE LUNSFORD AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Former Texas House Speaker Pete Laney, D-Hale Center, spent more than 30 years engaged in the daily wrangling and haggling over legislation, but his last years to serve have never been more contentious, he said Wednesday. Political campaigns waging war on the South Plains show the growing political partisanship in Austin throughout the last few years, said Laney. "It didn't used to be that way," he said. "We take pride in the fact that we handled our business in Texas differently than they did in other states." Noting...

Laney plans end of distinguished political career BY JOHN REYNOLDS AVALANCHE-JOURNAL State Rep. Pete Laney, D-Hale Center, won't run for re-election next year, closing the curtain on a 33-year legislative career that included a record-tying 10 years as House speaker. He didn't go into specifics Friday on his decision to leave. "I think it was time, there's no particular reason," he said. "There are other things I may want to do with my life." The 62-year-old cotton farmer and grandfather of four has spent more than half his life as a state representative. He was first elected in 1972, knocking...

Laney details murders in taped confession 01:26 PM CST on Thursday, April 1, 2004By BILL BROWN / WFAA-TV TYLER – More gruesome evidence was presented Thursday morning in the murder trial of Deanna Laney – the East Texas housewife accused of murdering two of her sons by smashing rocks on their heads. The jury saw another videotaped confession from the 39-year-old defendant, this time as told to psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick. The tape was made on May 16, 2003, six days after the murders and before Laney was treated with anti-psychotic drugs. Also Online Video: Bill Brown reports "I got...

LAS CRUCES— It took three tries, but embattled Catron County rancher Kit Laney on Tuesday finally won release from jail pending his trial on federal assault and obstruction of justice charges. Senior U.S. District Judge John Edwards Conway granted a defense motion to release Laney into the custody of Otero Mesa rancher Bob Jones, but it won't happen until next week when a court-ordered roundup of the rancher's cattle will be roughly 95 percent complete. Jones' ranch is more than a five-hour drive east of the Diamond Bar allotment in the Gila National Forest. Laney will be released at...

READY FOR DAY 2: Deanna Laney, left, enters Smith County's 114th District Court on Tuesday morning, followed closely by lead defense attorney F.R. "Buck" Files Jr. (Staff Photo By: Tom Worner) Homemade pictures and photographs of three smiling boys were displayed on the refrigerator door. Two of the boys lay dead in the front yard; the other lay in his crib - his life forever changed. An hourlong video of the crime scene where Deanna LaJune Laney, 39, killed two of her sons and seriously injured a third was shown to jurors Tuesday in her capital murder trial.The family's...

Grim testimony opens Laney trial Defendant, officers weep as boys' deaths detailed07:08 AM CST on Tuesday, March 30, 2004By LEE HANCOCK / The Dallas Morning News TYLER – Aaron Laney was first, a toddler in Thomas-the-Tank Engine pajamas who wailed when his mother lifted him from his crib and bashed his skull with a 4-pound wedge of sandstone. Also Online Transcript: Deanna Laney's 911 call Six-year-old Luke was next, following Deanna Laney into the family's rock garden and lying down in his Scooby Doo pajamas "to do what his mommy told him." Eight-year-old Joshua asked "where are we going, Mom?"...

LAS CRUCES— Rancher Kit Laney remained behind bars Wednesday after a federal judge refused a second request to release him pending a trial on charges that he assaulted Forest Service officers. Federal Magistrate Judge Karen Molzen said she remained concerned that Laney would return to his Diamond Bar grazing allotment in the Gila National Forest and try to disrupt a court-ordered roundup of his cattle. The original two charges against the southwestern New Mexico cattleman multiplied when a grand jury on Tuesday handed down an eight-count indictment, including two counts of obstruction of justice, five counts of assaulting and interfering...

Catron County Rips Environmentalists Over Laney Cattle By Rene Romo Journal Southern Bureau LAS CRUCES— The Catron County Commission has weighed in on the controversy over the Forest Service's impoundment of cattle belonging to rancher Kit Laney with a verbal blast at environmentalists. In a statement released Monday, Catron County's three commissioners blamed environmentalists for applying the pressure that led the Forest Service in the mid-'90s to reduce the number of cattle that ranchers Kit Laney and his ex-wife Sherry Farr were allowed to graze on the Diamond Bar allotment in the Gila National Forest. The reduction in the number...

Sunday, March 21, 2004 DIAMOND BAR CATTLE COMPANY/JOE DELK LETTERS Joe Delk, Member New Mexico Livestock Board PO Box 879 March 19, 2004 Mesilla Park, NM 88047 Daniel Manzanares, Executive Director New Mexico Livestock Board 300 San Mateo NE, Ste 1000 Albuquerque, NM 87108 Dear Daniel, Accompanying this letter is a report I made to Mr. Steve Libby with the US Forest Service, as a follow-up to a personal visit I made to the Beaverhead Ranger Station on Wednesday, March 17, 2004. Mr. Libby expressed to me, his gratitude for the help and cooperation he has received from you and...

SHERRY FARR-LANEY PRESS RELEASE Press Release 3-20-04 349 words Sherry Farr – Laney 505-772-5535 It has come to my attention that various USFS personnel are making claims of harassment against people who may be supporting us in our battle with the USFS over the legality of the impoundment of our cattle. Neither Kit nor I will ever condone any threats or intimidating tactics made in our name. Anyone who is capable of committing such atrocities is likely only trying to make us look bad and make an already bad situation much worse. These people should see the inside of a...

OK, it didn't work last time, maybe this time it will.......sorry about that! http://www.eacourier.com/articles/2004/03/17/news/news04.txt

Many western ranchers found out over the past decade that if they want their private rights protected, they must stay out of federal court. After a painful crash-course in federal courthouse procedure, ranchers learn very quickly that the only obligation a federal judge has is upholding the sanctity of bureaucracy, and the regulation that backs it. The second lesson learned is that a federal judge will seldom do research on behalf of the individual in court, and nearly always rubber-stamps whatever red tape a federal agency wishes to have the force of law. The fact that most public officials take...

Saturday, March 6, 2004 Board Hears Cattle Rancher's Grazing Plea By Leslie Linthicum and Jeff Jones, Journal Staff Writers A couple of dozen ranchers packed the New Mexico Livestock Board meeting Friday to ask the board to help Diamond Bar ranchers Kit and Sherry Laney fight eviction of their cattle from federal land by the U.S. Forest Service. The livestock board said it probably can't. But its members approved sending a letter to the U.S. Attorney that asks the feds to clarify what the board has to do to comply with the law. The livestock board's only involvement in the...

Sunday, March 14, 2004 Regrettable Roundup By Rene Romo Journal Staff Writer GILA NATIONAL FOREST— Millions of dollars in debt, his cattle in the process of being impounded by the U.S. Forest Service, rancher Kit Laney said Friday his fight to establish his grazing rights in the national forest is not yet over. "We got two options. We fight, or we walk off with nothing," said the 43-year-old Laney, a battered black hat on his head as he stood near his home in Black Canyon on a chilly Friday afternoon with his wife, Sherry, 42. "Every day they are violating...

LAS CRUCES— A federal magistrate judge ordered rancher Kit Laney held without bond after his detention hearing Tuesday on a charge of assaulting Forest Service officers. The hearing, drawing about 40 Laney supporters from Otero and Catron counties, stemmed from an incident Sunday evening in the Gila National Forest where Laney is accused of riding his horse at three Forest Service officers involved in removing his cattle from the forest. He also is accused of shoving two officers with his hands and attempting to open the corral where his impounded cattle were being kept. The officers were providing security at...

Gila rancher arrested in cattle roundup dispute Last Update: 03/15/2004 12:11:40 PM, By: Associated Press (Silver City-AP) – A rancher whose cattle is being rounded up by the U.S. Forest Service in the Gila National Forest has been arrested and jailed. Authorities say federal officers arrested Kit Laney around 7:30 p.m. Sunday. He remained held without bond in the Dona Ana County Detention Center Monday. A jail spokesman says charges include three counts of assault on a peace officer and resisting and obstructing arrest. Laney and his wife, Sherry, had been running about 400 head of cattle on the 146,000-acre...

PRIVATE IMPROPERTY Property owners fight government 'land grab' When Kit Laney answered a knock on his door Saturday, law enforcement officers from the U.S. Forest Service handed him a piece of paper announcing his Diamond Bar Ranch in southwest New Mexico would be shut down Wednesday and his 300 head of cattle grazing there would be removed – one way or the other. Other Forest Service officials were busy nailing similar notices on fence posts along the highway and informing neighbors that after Feb. 11, they should not attempt to enter the Diamond Bar property. Laney was not surprised. He...

Feds confiscate rancher's cattle Family's multigenerational livelihood threatened by government's action By Henry Lamb © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Picture this opening scene in a modern Western tragedy: Panning slowly across the southwestern New Mexico landscape, snow-capped mountains on the horizon, the Gila National Forest sprawling in the foreground, the camera begins to zoom in slowly on the ribbon of road that slices through the 147,000-acre Diamond Bar Ranch. A small cluster of horses comes into view. Two cowboys are leading-herding a few horses from one work center on the ranch to another, some 15 miles away. The sounds of hooves and...

Local Democrats honor Stenholm with Local Hero Award By JOHN FUQUAY AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Only 11 days since becoming a U.S. representative serving Lubbock, Charlie Stenholm was honored Saturday with a Local Hero Award from the Lubbock County Democratic Party. Stenholm was thrown into Lubbock's congressional district after a Republican-backed move to draw new lines and gain more House seats. The Abilene Democrat is the former representative from District 17, but Abilene was moved into District 19 where voters elected Republican Randy Neugebauer of Lubbock in a special election during the summer. "Republicans are the opposition, they're not the enemy," Stenholm said...