The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 155, No. 40, Ed. 1 Saturday, July 12, 2008 Page: 1 of 12
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SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2008
500
Wk Bastrop Sducrtiscr
Texas' Oldest Weekly Newspaper Since March 1, 1853 Semi-Weekly Since Sept. 5, 1977
Volume 155, Number 40
Bastrop, Texas
14 pages in two sections
Where's my flag?
By Terry Hagerty
Assistant Editor
It was a Fourth of July Leola Carman would prefer to for-
get.
When she and her husband Charles returned to their
Cedar Street home after playing music at an area nursing
home on Independence Day, they found someone had stolen
their American flag from its front yard pole.
'They just cut the string and took the flag," Leola Carman
said, as she
stood on her H" M M
lawn on
Thursday. "We
were only
gone two
hours. I was
just flabber-
gasted that
somebody
would do
something like
that — and on
the Fourth of
July.
"I've lived
in this home
for 60 years
and never had
anything
stolen,"
Carman said.
Carman
said the loss of
the flag is par-
ticularly upset-
ting because
she originally
bought the flag on July 4, 1990 to honor her first husband,
Jess Caldwell, who had died the preceding March.
"We were married for 46 years," Carman said. 'The flag
is marked and dated, July 4, 1990 to honor him.
"I hate to think someone took the flag to be mean,"
Carman added. "It kind of dulled the whole Fourth of July
celebration for us. It was just more of a shock than any-
thing."
Carman said even though her home is across from
Bastrop High School, she has never had any problems with
passing students.
She said she initially thought maybe someone grabbed the
flag for Fourth of July celebrations around Main Street on
July 5, and intended to return it. But that likelihood dimin-
ishes by the day.
Six days after the theft, Charles Carman was still chafed
about the missing flag.
"It was a special flag for her," Carman said.
"I was so angry I might have hurt the person if I had seen
them taking it," he said, adding he shared his feelings with a
Bastrop police officer who came to take a report.
"Who would be stealing flags in broad daylight?" he
asked.
The Carmans said they also heard that flags had recently
been taken from the Bastrop Senior Center.
For the person or persons who took the flag, Charles
Carman had one request: "Just bring it back and leave it
hanging on the mailbox."
Leola Carman added, "If anyone knows the whereabouts
of my flag, please return it to 1107 Cedar Street — there will
be no questions asked."
If a goodwill gesture does not entail the return of the flag,
Carman said she will likely buy another one. But she said she
would still miss the original flag.
The Bastrop Advertiser photo/Terry Hagerty
Leola Carman holds the pole that flew
an American flag in her yard. The flag
was taken on the Fourth of July.
INSIDE
■ "Lets' talk about dropouts" 4A
■ BISD reschedules school board
meeting to July 24 at 6:30 p.m 5A
■ Bears spark ticket sales 6A
WEATHER
INDEX
■ Saturday's
Classified ads
1B
area forecast:
Church
7 A
Partly cloudy
Looking Ahead
2A
High: 100
Obits
5A
Low: 70
Sports
...6A
Rain: 10%
■ Next few days:
High Low Prec.
Sunday 99 72 10%
Monday 100 72 10%
Tuesday 99 72 10%
Wed. 98 71 0%
Thursday 98 72 20%
65668 78602
An eye on future parks
By Terry Hagerty
Assistant Editor
It is an ambitious city
parks plan that entails some
costly recommendations —
such as an approximate $6
million sports complex —
but it's within the financial
reach of Bastrop if officials
aggressively explore all
funding sources, including
those outside the city.
So said Mark Sweeney, a
planner from advisors
Bucher, Willis & Ratliff
Corporation who briefed
Parks Board members
Thursday night on the com-
prehensive Master Parks
Plan Update.
The very first impression
of visitors (to a city) is its
visual makeup . . . and that
includes parks," Sweeney
said. Melissa McCollum,
Sweeney's colleague at
Bucher, assisted in the pres-
entation.
The plan, an update from
the city's 2000 parks plan,
is far reaching and includes
recommendations for new
parks and upgrades, possi-
ble locations for
a skate park and
a dog park, an
indoor commu-
nity recreation
center and a
separate $6 mil-
lion sports com-
plex.
.A fulltime
parks and recre-
ation depart-
ment is also rec-
ommended.
Thursday's
session
occurred as a
prelude to a full
presentation
during a regular
Bastrop City
Council meeting
on July 22.
Sweeney said four
events marked the public's
participation in the park
plan update: a citizen sur-
vey conducted in November
and December 2007; "key
person" interviews in
December that included the
Bastrop school district,
Chamber of Commerce and
Boys & Girls Clubs; a
"focus session" in January
that detailed the results of
I
L
I
«T::
The Bastrop Advertiser photo/Terry Hagerty
One of the recommendations from the city's Master Parks Plan
Update is to provide connecting hike and bike trails.
the citizen survey and a
public forum workshop on
Feb. 21. Sweeney said par-
ticipants in the various ses-
sions listed four key needs:
improvements to existing
facilities and better mainte-
nance; provide connecting
hike and bike trails through-
out the city; address the
recreational needs of all age
groups; and create more
effective partnerships with
other organizations increase
recreational programs.
"Basically, you have a
pretty young community
here," Sweeney said, refer-
ring to one-half of the city
population of 8,200 that is
34 or younger. Only 23 per-
cent of the population is 55
years or older, according to
U.S. Census figures.
thagerty@bastropadver-
tiser.com
Seeking city funds in hard times
Local charitable, civic groups ask for $141,000
By Jacqueline Davis
Staff writer
The Bastrop City Council cham-
bers were overflowing Tuesday night
with representatives from 15 local
charitable and civic organizations —
many seeking increased funding due
to rising needs in the community.
Some, like the Bastrop Head Start
Program, requested the same amount
of funding — $2,650 — as they
received this year.
Others, like the local branch of the
Boys and Girls Club, are requesting
thousands more, $30,535 for next year
in comparison to the $22,000 they
received this year.
Overall, the gathered organizations
requested a total of nearly $141,000
from the city, compared to the
$115,000 allocated last year.
These requests came after the
council conducted the first of a series
of budget workshops leading up to the
adoption of the city budget in
September.
City Manager Mike Talbot said the
council should consider that each
organization offered a service to the
public that the city does not otherwise
have to provide.
While the council made no deci-
sions Tuesday, the requests will likely
be discussed again July 22 during the
next budget workshop, Talbot said.
The city will need to swallow a
12.9 percent increase in spending for
their employees' retirement, Talbot
advised the council.
'This is the biggest increase we've
ever experienced in retirement costs,"
Talbot said.
Market returns were less than
expected in the Texas Municipal
Retirement System (TMRS) due to the
downtown in the national economy,
Talbot said (TMRS provides retire-
ment security for city employees.)
Also the first wave of baby boomers
entering retirement is taking its toll on
TMRS, he added.
Texas cities including Bastrop have
to shell out significantly more money
to pay their employees' retirement
costs to make up for the lost income,
Talbot said.Those factors include con-
tinued water well exploration and
water/waste water line replacement
throughout the city and issuing bonds
See FUNDS, Page 3A
'That car gets how many mpg?'
By Mark Goodson
Sports Editor
Have you seen that lit-
tle yellow car darting
around Bastrop?
It's a ScootCoupe — a
street legal car that gets up
to 130 miles per gallon.
Joe Rabensburg, who
owns Bastrop River RV
Park, is renting the car as
a service to his customers.
"We want people to be
able to drive around town,
take a tour of the houses
and see the state park,"
said Rabensburg, who was
born in Bastrop and
worked as a banker for
most of his career.
Rabensburg got the car
last week and has been
testing it around town.
"We've gone to the
state park," he said.
"You have to get it
going pretty good to make
it up the hill," said
Rabensburg's son Jered.
"It's a lot of fun."
The car has a 50 cc
engine fueled by a one-
gallon gas tank. It tops out
ADVERTISE
TEXAS' OLDEST WEEKLY
321-2557
1
The Bastrop Advertiser photo/Mark Goodson
Joe Rabensburg and his son Jered stand next to the small vehicle that gets
130 miles per gallon.
at 35 to 40 mph, has a
horn, turn signals, hand
brakes and handles like a
motorcycle, Rabenburg
said.
The bright yellow car
has turned many a head in
the past week.
Joe has let his children
kids — Jered and Nicole
— drive the car at the RV
park. He said he'll see
what kind of demand he
has for the car before he
considers getting another
one.
The car will be rented
by the hour with the rate
dropping for longer runs.
Rabensburg first saw
the cars last summer when
he was visiting Florida.
"It took a while to get
one, but we'll be able to
add more when we need
them now," he said.
By Wednesday the
Rabensburgs had logged
125 miles on the car.
"We filled it up once
and then put a half a gal-
lon in it the second time,"
he said.
Not bad mileage for a
spin around Bastrop!
And a good hedge
against gas which report-
edly could rise to $5 a gal-
lon by late summer.
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Hagerty, Terry. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 155, No. 40, Ed. 1 Saturday, July 12, 2008, newspaper, July 12, 2008; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth252494/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.