STINNETT — On Wednesday afternoon, four witnesses, including the defendant’s wife Ashley Stiles, were called to the stand by defense attorney William “Bill” Taylor in the trial of Myron Stiles, a former second-grade teacher at Gateway Elementary School who is accused of having an in appropriate relationship with one of his former female students.
Also Wednesday afternoon, the 12-member jury was shown excerpts of a video recording of Stiles giving testimony to Agent Steven Davis, an investigator with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Throughout the video, Davis repeatedly asked Taylor if he had touched the student, who was 8 years old at the time. While Stiles did admit that he touched her, he denied that it was sexual contact and that it had not aroused him in anyway.
Davis asked, “Without a shadow of a doubt were you aroused by it?”
Stiles again answered no and that the incident made him feel “scared.”
Davis asked Stiles if he talked about the incident with the girl afterward and Stiles answered no.
Davis also asked if anything like that had happened previously in Borger and Stiles said no.
After the video concluded, Taylor asked Davis how long the video session with Stiles lasted and Davis answered two or three hours.
Taylor asked if Stiles had been given any breaks and Davis said no.
Confronting Davis, Taylor said that Davis had interrupted Stiles several times while he was talking.
“You had already made up your mind that he was guilty,” Taylor said.
Davis denied the accusation.
Taylor asked Davis how many people he had interviewed previous to Stiles, and Davis answered thousands.
Then Taylor addressed the jury and said that at no time did Stiles intentionally touch the victim.
District Attorney Mark Snider disagreed, stating that Stiles had verbalized 50 times during the interview with Davis that the touching was not accidental.
Then Taylor moved for an instructed verdict, which means that the prosecution had failed to meet the burden of proof in the case, specifically that Stiles had touched the alleged victim for sexual arousal.
Snider said that the touching was “for a long period of time” and that the testimony from the alleged victim and two female witnesses indicted they were touched in a sexual manner.
Presiding Judge James Mosley denied Taylor’s request and the state rested its case.
Then Taylor addressed the jury, asking them to look at the case from Stiles’ point of view.
Stiles began teaching in the spring semester of 2013 after completing his bachelor’s degree and certification.
Taylor said that Stiles taught for one semester and was given a good evaluation. He applied for an assistant principal position in the district but didn’t get it, Taylor said. Then Stiles taught for a full year and was given a good evaluation, Taylor said. Once again, Stiles applied for an assistant principal job but didn’t get it, Taylor said.
Taylor said that Stiles resigned in April 2017. The actual last day in which Stiles’ worked for the district was March 23, 2017.
“The burden of proof is so high,” Taylor told the jury.
The first defense witness was Abbie Cano, who has worked as a nurse at Crockett Elementary School for seven years.
Responding to questions from Taylor, Cano said that the Crockett and Gateway buildings are connected and on occasion she has attended to students at Gateway.
She told the court that the district uses a comprehensive system that documents every visit from every student to a nurse at any school in the district.
Though Cano makes reports within that system, she said she cannot change another nurses’ report nor is she the supervisor of other nurses in the district.
According to the records, the alleged victim has visited the nurse’s office at Gateway in November 2013 for a rash to her lower abdomen. Cano said that the girl’s grandmother brought powder and Benadryl to the school to treat the rash.
In both semesters in 2013, the girl had reported to the nurses office for stomach aches 19 times, Cano told the court.
Taylor asked Cano if there was any other record of the girl receiving treatment for a rash to her lower abdomen or private area, and Cano answered no.
Snider asked Cano if the rash could have been on the girl’s genitalia and the nurse answered no, emphasizing that it was her lower abdomen.
Taylor’s next witness was Ashley Stiles, the wife of the defendant.
Responding to questions from Taylor, Ashley Stiles said the couple had been married 15 years and that they had no children together. She said her husband had five children and a couple of step children.
Ashley Stiles said that before her husband became a teacher he was a computer operator at Anderson Merchandisers. Then, while attending college to become a teacher, he quit that job and worked as a waiter because that work schedule fit better around his schooling, she said.
Ashley Stiles said the couple moved from Amarillo to Borger when her husband was hired by BISD but has since moved back to Amarillo.
Then Taylor asked Ashley Stiles if she had helped her husband move furniture around the classroom when he took over the class from the previous teacher and she answered yes.
She said the teacher’s desk was left in the same corner but moved out a short distance and that some cabinets were moved behind the desk.
Taylor also called to the stand two mothers of two girls who had been former students of Stiles.
As with the questions he asked Ashley Stiles, Taylor asked questions about the arrangement of furniture in the classroom, showing pictures of the classroom to the jury.
At no point did Taylor ask the witnesses anything about Stiles’ character.
Snider and Assistant District Attorney Erin Lands made several objections to Taylor’s questions to the witnesses, most of which were sustained by the judge.
Taylor asked one of the witnesses, Victoria Scroggins of Borger, if she had ever attended activities in Stiles’ classroom and she said she had attended a Valentine’s Day and Christmas party.
Taylor asked if Scroggins is Stiles had decorated the classroom for either of the events and Lands objected to the question, which was sustained by the judge.
Then Taylor asked Scroggins if she had ever seen Stiles have a student sit in his lap and Lands again objected with the judge sustaining her objection. Then Taylor asked a question about a space in the classroom and Lands objected for a third time in a row. Again, her objection was sustained by Mosley.
At the conclusion of Wednesday’s proceeding, Snider said he had prepared a charge which he will give to Taylor and the court.
Court reconvenes at 9 a.m. today.

Myron Stiles, the former Gateway Elementary School second-grade teacher accused of touching an 8-year-old former female student in a sexual manner, was sentenced on Thursday to two 18-year consecutive sentences in a state prison.
The victim is now 14.
The sentence was handed down after a 12-member jury convicted him on both counts of intentionally and knowingly engaging in sexual contact with a victim who was a child younger than 17 and doing so to gratify his sexual desire. The crimes are a second-degree felonies that carry prison sentences from 2 to 20 years and a maximum fine of $10,000.
Stiles did not receive any fines and he will be given 27 days credit for the time he was held at the Hutchinson County Jail. Stiles has the right to appeal the jury verdict.
Stiles was employed by Borger ISD from Jan. 11, 2014, to March 28, 2017. He was placed on administrative leave on Oct. 21, 2016, and arrested on March 23, 2017. The crimes for which he was convicted occurred in February and March of 2013.
Although it was the jury that convicted Stiles, the sentence was determined by Judge James Mosley of the 316th District Court.
In making his sentencing request to Mosley, District Attorney Mark A. Snider asked for the maximum sentence and that the prison terms run consecutively, which would have totaled 40 years.
Snider described Stiles as a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and that touching the victim and two other girls who testified — each stating that Stiles touched them on their vaginas through their clothing while other students were in the classroom — was more sinister and dangerous than if he had tried to get the girls alone to assault them.
“What he did was more deceptive,” Snider said. “He did it in a manner with the child not knowing it.”

Snider also pointed out that in recorded testimony to law enforcement, Stiles himself said that child molesters should “get no second chances.”
Originally, three indictments were handed down against Stiles on May 31, 2017, but only one indictment will be heard. However, testimony by two female students who accused Stiles of touching them in a manner similar to the victim was heard during the trial.
After the verdict, defense attorney William “Bill” Taylor brought in several witnesses to attest to Stiles’ character, including his wife, Ashley Stiles.
At no time during the actual trial did Taylor ask defense witnesses about the defendant’s character.
Ashley Stiles said that she and here husband had been married for five years, but had been together for 15 years.
Though they do not have children as a couple, Ashley Stiles said her husband has five children and 10 grandchildren.
“What kind of a grandfather is Myron?” Taylor asked.
Ashley Stiles said the grandchildren call her husband “Pop Pop” and that he has a “dotting relationship with them.”
Ashley described her husband as “amazing” and “the rock of my life.”
In response to a question from Taylor, Ashley Stiles said her husband was permitted to babysit the grandchildren even after he was indicted in May 2017, although they were usually together as a couple.
Taylor then called Jamie Matlock, a former neighbor of Stiles when he lived in Borger, to the stand. Matlock said she also is the mother of one of Stiles’ former students.
She described Stiles as a good neighbor and teacher, who offered to tutor her son in math.
Matlock said she had not heard of the allegations against Stiles until she read the newspaper on Tuesday.
Then Taylor called Cecilia Avilas to the stand, who testified as a defense witness on Wednesday during the trial. Avilas has a daughter who was a former student of Stiles.
Avilas described Stiles as a “wonderful teacher to my daughter.”
Assistant District Attorney Erin Lands asked Avilas if Stiles’ conviction earlier that day had changed her opinion of him, and she said no.
Taylor then called to the stand another defense witness from Wednesday and mother of a former student, Victoria Scroggins.
Scroggins said Stiles had helped out her daughter a lot, who was sometimes getting into trouble at school.
Asked by Taylor if Stiles had a good character and reputation, she answered yes.
Then Lands asked sharply, “Do you know what the details of the conviction are?”
Scroggins answered no.
Lands then told Scroggins that Stiles had touched three girls on their vaginas.
“Do you respect the jury’s verdict?” Lands asked.
Scroggins said yes.
“Do you think a teacher who touches students on their vaginas should be sentenced?” Lands asked.
Scroggins answered yes.
Lands then asked if it were her daughter who had been touched, along with other girls over several school years, if she would want the perpetrator to get the maximum sentence.
Scroggins answered yes.
In his closing remarks to the judge, Taylor said that Stiles had completed both a bachelor’s and master’s degree and had been continuing his education to get a doctorate. He asked Mosley “to consider the lower end if punishment.”
The proceedings concluded with victim statements from the victim’s mother and one of the girls who testified as a witness that she had been assaulted by Stiles.
“I never understood why you did this,” the girl said.
The victim’s mother said, “You took away the innocence of a little girl.”
Stiles did not look at the victim’s mother or the female witness while they read their statements.

A man wanted in Arizona was recently picked up by local authorities.
Clayton Miller Gray was arrested by the Hutchinson County Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 26 on a warrant for terroristic threat cause of fear of imminent serious bodily harm and a parole hold out of Arizona Department of Corrections.
He was being held on Monday at the Hutchinson County Jail.
An officer at the jail said Gray has a local warrant and was not certain when Gray will be sent back to Arizona. She said she could not release any further information about Gray.
In April 2017, Gray was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, after striking a victim in the head with a steel chain after hearing he had been fired from his job, according to the website of ABC15 in Phoenix.
Scottsdale police reported that on April 8 a sales associate from a Texas leather company attacked another man.
Gray, who was 31 at the time, had been with the company for about 11 years and was told of his firing that morning, according to ABC15. 
Witnesses at businesses in the area said Gray was trespassing and acting erratically earlier that day.
About 11 p.m. that night, Gray allegedly grabbed a steel chain, swung it and hit a man in the head causing a two-inch gash requiring 12 staples to close.
Scottsdale police said Gray has a history of methamphetamine use and trafficking. Gray reportedly admitted to using a “Molly pill” earlier that day.
Scottsdale police said Gray had worked motorcycle events across the country and is from Borger.
Gray was charged with aggravated assault, according to ABC15.

Former GOP opponent Elaine Hays announces formation of exploratory committee for District 13

U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, who has served citizens of Hutchinson County and the Texas Panhandle since 1994, announced Monday he is not seeking re-election in 2020.
“It has been a great honor to serve the people of the 13th District of Texas as their congressman for the last 25 years,” Thornberry said on his campaign website. “They have given me opportunities to serve the nation in ways I could have never imagined, including as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
“We are reminded, however, that ‘for everything there is a season,’ and I believe that the time has come for a change. Therefore, I will not be a candidate for reelection in the 2020 election.”
On the same day Thornberry made his announcement, one of his former opponents in the 2014 Republican primary, Elaine Hays, announced she has formed an exploratory committee to run for Congress in Texas’ 13th Congressional District.
Hays currently serves on the Amarillo City Council and is a small business owner.
“I want to thank Congressman Mac Thornberry for his years of public service to the people of the 13th District,” Hays said in a press release. “I wish him and his family well. After much prayer and reflection, and with encouragement from my family, friends and neighbors, I have decided to explore running for Congress in the 13th District.
“We need to send someone to Washington who will fight for life, liberty, term limits, a balanced budget, and secure borders. We also need someone who will stand up to the far left in Congress and will fight for the conservative values of the 13th District.”
Thornberry joins five other Texas Republicans in Congress who are not running for re-election — U.S. Reps. Kenny Marchant, Pete Olson, Mike Conaway, Will Hurd and Bill Flores.
Charlotte Martin, president of the Hutchinson County Republican Women, said Monday that Thornberry’s announcement was a surprise to her.
She said the club will likely be discussing Thornberry’s announcement at its monthly meeting on Thursday.
According to an article in the Texas Tribune, many were expecting that Thornberry would retire soon. Thornberry will turn over his post leading the Republican side of the House Armed Services Committee in January 2021, thanks to Republican term limits for committee chairmanships.
Kel Seliger, the Republican state senator who represents the Texas Panhandle and the Permian Basin, said Monday he was surprised but had been expecting Thornberry’s retirement.
“He has the best qualities of a good public servant,” Seliger said in a phone interview.
Seliger said he and Thornberry met 30 years ago, but not through politics.
“We lived in the same neighborhood and our wives were both pregnant,” Seliger said. “They would meet and walk every night.”
Both Thornberry and Seliger are part of the “Panhandle Delegation,” a group of elected officials who work together on behalf of the Panhandle.
Seliger said whoever is elected in 2020 will have “very big shoes to fill,” because Thornberry “is very capable and has a lot of integrity and has worked very hard.”
In August, Greg Sagan, a Democrat who unsuccessfully ran against Thornberry in 2018, announced he will run for District 13 in 2020.
Sagan told a group of Democrats in Borger that he is “more determined than ever.”
Thornberry continued in his online statement: “I am also grateful to those who have worked on my team over the years — both official and political — each of whom has a servant’s heart and has brought his or her considerable talents to help our work together be as effective as possible. 
“I could not have asked for a better group of employers than the people of the 13th District.  Their faith, common sense, and work ethic, along with a deep patriotism and devotion to our country, have encouraged and motivated me to do my best on their behalf.
“With over a year to go, I will continue to represent the people of the 13th District to the best of my ability.  Our nation faces many difficult challenges, and none of us can relax our efforts to meet and overcome them, whether at home or around the world.”  

Requests will now move onto City Council for approval

Borger, Inc. (Borger Economic Development Corp.) met in a special called meeting on Thursday morning. Three members of the five-member board were in attendance — Vice President Jesse Shuffield, Secretary/Treasurer Lisa Jones and Board Member Scott Mills.
The purpose of the meeting was for two local business owners, Bluboots and Jim’s Diamond Shop, to present their applications to the board for the Small Business Incentive Program.
The Small Business Incentive Program offers a reimbursement grant which is available to small business owners in Borger with the purpose of reinvestment into commercial property and to assist small business owners with their growth plans to retain businesses in Borger, according to the Borger, Inc. website.
Co-owner of Bluboots (Western clothing and work-boot store) Edward Albert spoke to the board about his plans to improve his business if he receives the incentive from the city. Albert co-owns and operates five clothing/boot stores throughout Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle.
“We came to Borger in 2011 and Bluboots has been the most successful store and the easiest to succeed in anything we have done,” Albert said. “Our store manager Ashley Carr told us about the incentive program the city is offering and we would like to apply to fix the sidewalks outside of our business.”
The new business owner of Jim’s Diamond Shop, Brisa Clark, also spoke to the board about her application for the incentive program. Clark said that she plans on keeping the business the same, but plans on remodeling and adding curve appeal (to the business).
Clark explained that she had worked with Jim Bridwell previous owner of Jim’s Diamond Shop for several years and had recently purchased the building from Clark.
She said that Bridwell would continue to help her do repairs on jewelry. Katie Lingor, executive director of Borger, Inc. then addressed the board: “One of the requirements for the SBIP (Small Business Incentive Program) is that the business stay in business for 12 months after a business receives the grant from the BEDC and both Jim and Brissa will sign on to that agreement to insure the business stays operating during that 12 month time frame.”
The board then went into executive session to discuss the applications. When the board reconvened into open session they considered and took action on the application for Bluboots and Jim’s Diamond Shop for the Small Business Incentive Program. Both actions were approved by the board.
The applications will now be presented to the Borger City Council for approval at their next regular meeting on Oct. 15 at 1:30 p.m. at Borger City Hall.

Plant managers from four of Borger’s largest private employers gave updates on their facilities on Thursday during a lunch meeting at the Borger Country Club.
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The West Texas High Comanche Band hosted a marching band festival for hundreds of area high school band members on Saturday at Comanche Stadium in Stinnett. Area marching bands had the opportunity to participate and prepare for the upcoming UIL (University Interscholastic League) Marching Band Competition later this month. For the complete story and more photos, subscribe to our E-edition. Single copies can be purchased for 75 cents.

John Garrard grew up in Borger and was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1966, spending two years in active service followed by four in inactive reserves. Garrard’s basic training was in Fort Bliss, and BUT and AIT training was in Fort Hood. For the complete story, subscribe to our E-edition. Single copies can be purchased for 75 cents.

Myron Othen Stiles, 53, the former Gateway Elementary School second-grade teacher who was sentenced to 36 years in prison for sexual contact with one of his former students, has appealed his conviction. For the complete story, subscribe to our E-edition. Single copies can be purchased for 75 cents.

Buttercup House, Inc. is a nonprofit child-development center in Borger. In 1968, around the time a two-income households were becoming more common, a group of women who were active in the organization Altrusa saw the need for a place that would be safe for the children of working families. Buttercup House, Inc. was founded that October. For the complete story and more photos, subscribe to our E-edition. Single copies can be purchased for 75 cents.

The residents of Borger and surrounding communities will soon have another option when it comes to child care and a learning environment for their children in Borger. For the complete story, subscribe to our E-edition. Single copies can be purchased for 75 cents.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the 316th District Court in Stinnett for the trial of Freddie Hutchinson, a 51-year-old Stinnett man charged on multiple counts of sex crimes on two juvenile victims. For the complete story, subscribe to our E-edition. Single copies can be purchased for 75 cents.

The regular meeting of the Borger ISD Board of Trustees was held on Monday evening at 7 p.m. at the school’s administrative auditorium.
Board members present were President Les Sharp, Vice-President Bill Myers, Secretary Diedre Hood, Robert Bradley, Cyndee Hickman and Eric Schneck. For the complete story, subscribe to our E-edition. Single copies can be purchased for 75 cents.

Fifteen-year-old Terra Moon likes to say she has 60 “big sisters.”
And if that’s true, then by extension, her mother, Deana Moon, has 60 “adopted daughters.”
For the complete story, subscribe to our E-edition. Single copies can be purchased for 75 cents.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but Borger native Janie Brewster wants to bring awareness to a cancer that many of us have never heard of — uterine leiomyosarcoma. For the complete story, subscribe to our E-edition. Single copies can be purchased for 75 cents.

FRITCH — The museum under the water tower in Fritch is hosting a fun fall event for the public on Oct. 24.
The Lake Meredith Aquatic and Wildlife Museum located behind the police station focuses on local history of the City of Fritch and Lake Meredith. Each year, the museum hosts a fall Halloween party as a way of giving back to the community and providing area residents with a safe environment to enjoy fall festivities.
According to Museum Director Stephanie Davidson, the event will host a costume contest for children and also adults, a trunk or treat, cake walk, lots of candy, pumpkin decorating and much more.
“This year we have added a costume contest for adults aged 19 and up, and we will also have our costume contest for children 0 to 18 years of age,” Davidson said.

The museum will also have pictures with Disney character, Sulley, available starting at 5:30 p.m. Admission to the event is free along with most activities.
“The only activity that will cost is the cake walk, which will cost 25 cents per play,” Davidson said. The event will begin at 4:30 and ends at 7:30 p.m. Davidson is still taking registration for volunteers for the trunk or treat. To participate, call Davidson at 806-678-7847.
Tell us about your fall festivities coming up in Hutchinson County. Call Jessica Ozbun at 806-395-9975 or email jessica.ozbun@yahoo.com. We will run a story with a list of county activities later this month.

The Sanford-Fritch Board of Trustees meet for its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday at the SFISD Administration Building.
The meeting was called to order promptly at 6 p.m. by Board President Stacey Boothe. Trustee members in attendance were Boothe, Vice President Billy Rider, Tom Chaney, Mary Lou Lozier, Michael Robinson and Brandon Williams. For the complete story, subscribe to our E-edition. Single editions can be purchased for 75 cents each.

In 1984, High Plains Helping Hand, Inc., a nonprofit in Borger, was founded as a food bank. By 2015, however, when other organizations in the area met this need, High Plains Helping Hand changed its mission to that of career and education assistance. The mission is three-fold: helping clients who are enrolled in dual-credit classes through a partnership with Borger High School and Frank Phillips College, helping clients obtain their GED, and helping clients with college-enrollment assistance. For the complete story, subscribe to our E-edition. Single editions can be purchased for 75 cents each.

State Sen. Kel Seliger of District 31 was in Borger on Thursday for a town hall at Borger City Hall.
“This is my favorite day of the year because this is the day we come home,” Seliger said in reference to the 86th Legislative Session, which concluded earlier this year.
For the complete story, subscribe to our E-edition. Single editions can be purchased for 75 cents each.

Luther “Buster” Newberry was born in Borger and attended school in Fritch. After graduating from high school, Newberry attended Frank Phillips College for one semester. For the complete story and more pictures, subscribe to our E-edition. Single editions can be purchased for 75 cents each.