SOMERSET PONDERS HOW TO SPEND $267,000 WINDFALL

Ten months after a routine traffic stop turned into a $267,000 bonanza, the
city of Somerset started last week to make modest plans to spend some of
the windfall.

"This is the greatest thing that's ever happened here," said Alderman
Richard Padilla, who was the city's police chief nearly 20 years ago.

"I would have loved to have had even a quarter of this much money to spend
when I was the chief," he said.

The small southern Bexar County town staked its claim on the money after
what began as a routine police traffic stop Sept. 10. Patrolman Robert
O'Callaghan pulled over a 1986 Ford pickup at about 11:30 that morning
because the vehicle did not have inspection and registration stickers.

O'Callaghan wrote the 19-year-old driver a ticket for not having liability
insurance. The man walked away, saying he was getting an uncle to help him
move the pickup, the officer reported.

But the driver did not return, and O'Callaghan looked inside the truck,
where he found a blue garment bag.

"The garment bag had a green, plastic bag in the outside zippered pocket,
which was so large that the zipper could not be closed.

"I opened the plastic bag to inventory its contents and saw a large amount
of U.S. currency in $20 and $100 denominations," the officer said in an
affidavit.

O'Callaghan called on Bexar County sheriff's deputies for help because he
was "in a fairly remote area of Bexar County without any security other
than myself."

Officers dispatched to the scene included Deputy Bill Williamson and a dog
trained to locate illegal narcotics.

"The dog alerted on the currency in the vehicle, indicating drug residue on
or about the currency," O'Callaghan stated in the affidavit.

The tally came to $325,750 -- more cash than the annual city budget for the
town of about 1,400 residents.

The officer said he also found a .25-caliber pistol, ammunition and a
cellular phone in the pickup.

"Based upon my training and experience, drug dealers and couriers often are
in the possession of firearms to protect their cash and narcotics," the
officer stated.

A Bexar County state district judge signed a default judgment Dec. 11,
1997, effectively awarding the cash to Somerset.

Six days after the judge's order, a lawyer claimed ownership of the cash on
behalf of the pickup driver, denying the money was tied to illegal activity.

The legal effort came too late, court records show.

After paying the Bexar County district attorney's office a fee for
processing the case, Somerset received $267,707 -- about $11,000 less than
its annual budget, Police Chief Sandy Sherman said.

By state law, the city only can spend the seized cash on law enforcement.

"We're trying to be very conservative and take our time," Somerset
Alderwoman Janice Favor said Thursday night after the council approved an
$84,000 law enforcement spending plan.

Items on the shopping list included a police car, computer equipment, a
copier, a radar gun, bullet proof vests, badges, a mechanical shooting
target and training manuals.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan