The Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 9, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 2, 1986 Page: 8 of 10
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RIO GRANDE HKRAL^MUO GRANDE CITY, TEXAS THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1986 PAGE 8
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U.S. 83 To Undergo
Improvements
A 12-mile stretch of U.S. 83
between Rio Grande City and
Roma will be improved through a
State Department of Highways and
Public Transportation projsct.
The work is one of three projects
which will provide asphaltic con-
crete pavement overlays on a total
of 22 miles of roadway in Starr anr*
Hidalgo Counties.
"Basically, we're preserving the
roadway and improving the sur-
face," said Tom Hanna, public
affairs officer for the Pharr high-
way district.
U.S. 83 will be resurfaced from
west of Farm-to-Market Road 755
in Rio Grande City to Roma. The
four-lane highway is the major
carrier of traffic between the two
communities.
In Hidalgo County, 5.5 miles of
U.S. 83 from FM 1427 to west of
Loop 374 will be resurfaced. The
northbound lane of U.S. 281 from
the community of Red Gate north
Burglaries
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(Continued
Carlos Acevedo, 20, two counts
burglary of vehicles, two counts
burglary of habitation, $20,000
bond; David Ramos, 27, burglary
of habitation, $15,000 bond.
Also arrested was Arnoldo Cor-
tes, 22, on a charge of possession of
stolen property. He is now free on
$2000 bond, having also been
charged with unlawfully carrying a
weapon. Eugenio Garcia, Jr., 22,
was charged with two counts of
burglary and one count of burglary
of habitation.
From Page 1)
The sheriff said, "I want to thank
the public for being so alert, for
letting us know of suspicious
characters in their areas."
He added, "Our advice to people
is that they identify their property.
If it is stolen, chances of recovery
are then a lot better." In a recent
search warrant, Falcon said, the
Sheriff's Department came across
property "we know was stolen.
There was no type of ID on many
of these types of equipment. It's
verv hard to trace back."
Dr. Jan McClure Peel
OPTOMETRIST
CONSULTATION DISPENSING
TUESDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY
12:30-5:30 9:-5:00 9:00-12:00
Roma, Tx.
849-2048
900 E. Bravo St.
2nd. Floor
F&F Lumber & Hardware
Complete Line of
•Building Materials
•Low Prices
•Attention of
Armando Flores Santos Flores
Open MON thru SAT 8am-6pm
2 mi E. Hwy 83
• ■■■ • ■■■■■
849-2288
Roma
to Texas 186 will also be re-
surfaced.
The Highway Commission has
awarded the $2,039,652 contract to
South Texas Construction Company
of Corpus Christi for the projects
which will begin in 1986. Traffic
flow will not be interrupted during
construction.
Funds for the project were made
possible by additional revenues
provided to the highway depart-
ment by a special session of the
Legislature in 1984 through an
increase in motor fuel taxes and
vehicle registration fees.
Sheriffs
Report
Local law enforcement officers
arrested 25 persons in the week
that ended Sunday at midnight.
The Sheriff's Department re-
corded 15 arrests, on the following
days: Monday, Dec. 23- Arnoldo
Acevedo, FTA; Wednesday, Dec.
25- Ramon Zarate, assault by
threat; Roberto Castillo, ag-
gravated assault; David Salinas,
public intoxication; Luis Carlos
Acevedo, burglary of habitation;
Trinidad Pena, Jr, burglary of
habitation.
Thursday- Oscar Cantu, forgery;
Eugenio Garcia, Jr., burglary of
habitation; Manuel Reyes, Jr.,
possession of marijuana; Luis
Lionel Luera, possession of mari-
juana; Juan Antonio Tovar,
possession of marijuana.
Friday- Cesar Moreno, Jr., ag-
gravated assault; Juan Hernandez,
assault; Saturday- Juan Manuel
Garza, assault, FTA; Sunday-
Jorge Perez, P.I., disorderly con-
duct, resisting arrest.
Local DPS troopers made 10
arrests, on the following days:
Tuesday, Dec. 24- Javier Diaz,
DWI; Artemio Ramos, DWI;
Eleazar Garcia. DWI, unlawfully
carrying a weapon, possession of
stolen property; Wednesday, Dec.
25- Leonel Lopez, Jr., possession of
marijuana.
Thursday- Oscar Nava Barrera,
DWI; Saturday- Jose Luz Garcia,
P.I.; Eleazar Gutierrez, unlawfully
carrying weapon; Sunday- Hum
berto Arredondo, DWI, driving with
license suspended
the requests of Lopez and Ar-
redondo for a new trial. On
Tuesday, Nov. 12, the county
received the money and paid the
bank.
County officials angrily insisted
the delay caused by the appeals
had cost the county $95,000, due to
a higher interest rate in the
interlude. For his part, Lopez
insisted that he was defending the
taxpayers against a mountain of
unnecessary and potentially ruin-
ous debt.
The third most important story is
the year-long effort to attract a
California firm to build a yarn
manufacturing plant near Rio
Grande City. At the beginning of
the year, the Starr County Indus-
trial Foundation cranked up a
campaign to raise money to
transfer title of 60 acres, planned
for an industrial park, from Star-
r-Camargo Bridge Company, and
Border-Pacific Railroad, owned by
Foundation president Sam Vale, to
the Industrial Foundation.
After mixed success with the
campaign, the board of directors of
the Foundation voted to scale the
project down to 30 acres, and
concentrate strictly on Western
Yarns for the time being. Vale said
that was largely due to the
uncertain status of EDA, whose
funding had been frozen by Presi-
dent Reagan.
in March, the Starr Industrial
Development Authority authorized
the issuance of $10 million in
revenue bonds for the project. But
by the summer, the plan to utilize
revenue bonds had gone by the
wayside, largely because of the
financial problems of the banking
sector.
In the late spring, the Governor's
Office announced that the Texas
Department of Community Affairs
would be providing a $500,000 grant
to develop the infrastructure of an
industrial park.
As the summer passed, officials
of the Foundation expressed op-
timism about the project, indicat-
ing that several developers were
showing strong interest.
But in late October, the project
sustained a serious setback
because two of Western Yarns'
On Sunday, Edward Borrego was
arrested by the Border Patrol on a
warrant from Cameron County
On Monday, Dec. 23, Juan Carlos
Cantu was arrested by the Roma
Police Department and charged
with theft.
Year
(Continued From Page 1 >
carpet manufacturing customers
decided to build their own yarn
factories. Vale said the situation
would be "on hold" until March,
with the prospects for the plant
locating here being grim unless the
firm could replace the lost sales
with new customers.
The TDCA grant went by the
wayside because of the delay with
Western Yarns.
The fourth leading story is the
criminal legal problems that led to
the resignation of County Clerk
Arturo Clarke in January. In
October 1984, he had worked out a
plea-bargain arrangement with the
U.S. Attorney to resign his post, in
exchange for him agreeing not to
run for public office during the four
years of his probation.
Clarke had been indicted, in July
1984, on charges of falsifying birth
records to grant two Mexican
nationals U.S. citizenship
But in December 1984, that
arrangement was rejected by the
U.S. Magistrate in January.
Clarke's letter of resignation was
read aloud in a meeting of the
Commissioners' Court late on the
afternoon of Jan. 14. On Jan. 17,
Clarke was sentenced to two years
unsupervised probation and fined
$1000 as the magistrate did not
accept the conditions demanded by
the federal prosecutors.
On Jan. 21, when Clarke's
resignation became effective, the
county commissioners voted to
appoint Juan Mills to fill the
position.
Three stories deadlock for the
fifth place position. In May, the
Texas Legislature passed a bill
establishing a County Court-At Law
for Starr County. The commission-
ers had approved a resolution, on
Nov. 16, 1984, that called on the
Legislature to establish the court in
Starr County.
In June, the county commission-
ers named County Attorney Alex
W. Gabert to serve as judge for the
new court, which began operating
on July 1.
The new court has jurisdiction
over all misdemeanor and juvenile
cases, family law cases like
divorce, adoption, and child
custody, as well as probate mat-
ters. The court has jurisdiction in
cases ranging from $500 to $50,000.
Named to succeed Gabert, who
served as County Attorney for 12'2
years, was local attorney Heriberto
Silva.
On May 14-15, the heaviest rains
in nearly 18 years fell in the area
from Rio Grande City to Roma. On
Tuesday afternoon, May 14, over
Vk inches of rain fell in Rio
Grande City in just over an hour
The heavy rains came again that ^
night and stayed for a long time.
By mid-afternoon Wednesday, 8.9
inches of rain had been officially
recorded in Rio Grande City, with
amounts of six to eight inches
common all the way to Roma.
At the time, Emergency Man-
agement Coordinator Homero
Salmon said that about 45 families
had been hurt badly enough to
require assistance. Flood damage _
was heaviest in the La Rosita area, ^
in La Grulla, and in the housing
project west of Rio Grande City.
Water rose two to three feet high in
some of the homes affected.
Late in May, floodwaters again
seeped into many La Rosita
residences after a nighttime thun
derstorm dropped four inches of
rain in less than two hours. The
flooding problems angered many
La Rosita residents, who blamed *
their plight on inadequate drainage ^
and poor maintenance.
In the early morning hours of
Saturday, Sept. 7, Rio Grande City
suffered its worst fire in the last
couple of years, according to Fire
Chief O F. Guffey.
The fire gutted the interior of the
historic Aguilar house located on
Second Street. The blaze, which
was ruled to have been caused by
arson, started in an old two-story
apartment between the historic
home and an abandoned tin ga-
rage.
By the time the flames had done
their devastation, over $500,000 in
damage had resulted to the historic
house. Numerous antiques were
gutted or seriously damaged.
A total of 15 firefighters and
three operating units from Rio
Grande City fought the blaze, in
which no one was injured. ^
At the end of 1985, no major leads
had developed concerning the
identity of the arsonists responsible
for starting the blaze.
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DONC.'
America's first extensive hard-sur-
face road was built in Pennsylvania.
Completed in 1795, it was known
as the Lancaster Turnpike and ran
62 miles.
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STARR COUNTY SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
50 YEARS OF CONSERVATION
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Conservation Award
Winners 1984-85
SCS ACTIVITY REPORT
The following assistance was provided to Starr County SWCD
cooperators during 1985
8 new resource conservation plans wre developed on 9,416 acres;
73,170 acres under agreement wre revised and updated 521
cooperators were assisted and 396 applied a conservation
practice
FEDERAL COST
SHARE PROGRAMS
18 ASCS referrals were received, all were serviced and
completed 9 pounds, 10,591 feet of Irrigation pipeline; 300 acres
of land leveling and over 9 miles of cross-fences were insta/ied
2 Long Term Agreements (LTA's) were developed this year This
brought the total to 16 LTA's in Starr County. 7 have been
completed and 9 remain active and on schedule with
conservation work
We have developed 12 Great Plains Conservation Contracts since
its inception, for a total of SI4I.243.38. We didn't get.funds the
past year Two of this contracts have been terminated or
completed and ten remain active and are current in the
application of conservation practices
Sponsored by
BORDER ENTERPRISES
& WESTER AUTO
BORDER ENTERPRISES
STARR HOME CENTER
204 W. Water St 487 2570
Gustavo Perez Sr., Owner
Gustavo Perez Jr., Manager
1V85 marned the Golden Anniversary of Soil and Water
Conservation Districts in the United States.
The districts have undergone considerable changes in
their 38 years of existence. The Starr County soil and
water conservation district has been in the forefront of
all conservation efforts of local farmers ind ranchers;
from establishing the first Conservation i esearch Farm
in the nation with other valley districts U establishing a
Plant Materials Center, in Kingsville, Texas for the
purpose of researching plants adaptable to South Texas.
At present, Ramiro Barrera, Secretary of the Starr
County Soil & Water Conservation District serves as
Chairman of the Plant Materials Committee. Your
district provides services to 704 local cooperating
farmers and ranchers.
Annual Report
For 1985
September 1, 1984 to August 31, 1985
BOARD MEETINGS: The Starr County SWCD Board of
Directors meet on the second Thursday of each month at 1:15
P.M at the Soil Conservation Service office at 4400 E. Hwy 83
All interested persons are invited to attend and participate in our
meetings
SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE (SCS) provides you with
technical assistance in planning and application of sound
conservation practices on the land Your District and the SCS
work together to accomplish our mutual goals, that of conserving
our Natural resources. The SCS office is staffed by Silvestre
Gonzalez, District Conservationist; Dario A Salinas, Range
Conservationist; Hector Gonzalez, Soil Conservation Technician.
ENTERING
I STARR COUNTY
SOIL & WATER
CONSERVATION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Starr County Soil & Water Conservation District Board of
Directors, wishes to publicly thank the following for their cooperation
and support of our overall conservation programs
USDA, Soil Conservation Service. Starr County ASCS County
Committee; Farmers Home Administration. Starr County Agricultural
Extension Service. Agriculture Research Service; Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station. Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Rio Grande
City Consolidated Independent School District; Starr County
Commissioner's Court. Central Power & Light Co., First National
Bank of Rio Grande City; Border Enterprises. All churches in the
District. Rio Grande City Lion's Club, Rio Grande City Rotary Club;
The Rio Grande Herald, South Texas Reporter. Starr County
Industrial Foundation; City of Roma Los Saenz and City of Grulla and
the South Texas Development Council
Join the Conservation Movement
Cooperate with your District
P.L.566; WATERSHED
PROGRAM
3 watersheds have been approved for operations. 2 have been
completed. They consist of 7 dams and 11.7 miles of Channel
improvement. Los Olmos Creek Watershed remains active, with
the County trying to secure the necessary landrights, in order to
proceed with the project. The SCS has completed all their
requirements. This project when installed, will cost about $4 .5
million dollars
OTHER DISTRICT
ACTIVITIES
1 We assisted with an update of Brush inventory for 1985 as part
of the National Resource Inventory process.
2 Sponsored a Conservation Awards Banquet an honored the best
conservationist in the district. The u inners were
Best Conservation Rancher Mrs Lauro M Salinas
Best Conservation Farmer David Kitner
Best Wildlife Conservationist Vanie Cook
Professional Business/man Rodolfo Cantu
First National Bank/Rio Grande City, Texas
3. Sponsored a Conservation Essay writing contest The winners
were:
Martha Klasen 1st Place
Yvonne L Garcia 2nd Place
LizaTrevino 3rd Place
Jose F Salinas - 4th Place
Veronica Sanchez 5th Place
Assisted Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept in development of eleven
deer management plans
5 Attended the State SWCD Directors meeting in San Antonio
6 Attended the South Texas Association meeting in Laredo
7 Sponsored two field days jointly with the Texas Extension
SErvice
8 Sponsored a Soil Stewardship breakfast and tour for (he local
clergymen and distributed stewardship materials for (heir
programs
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Roberts, Kenneth. The Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 9, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 2, 1986, newspaper, January 2, 1986; Edinburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth195009/m1/8/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.