The Mathis News (Mathis, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 3, 1986 Page: 1 of 12
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The Mathis |\|EWS 3*
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Volume LXIII
Thursday, July 3,1986 — 12 Pages — No. 27
Mathis, Texas 78368
FBI, Texas Rangers
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SUMMER LEARNING-Summertime is not vacation time yet for some students in the Mathis ISD.
Between 20 to 30 high school students, about 30 junior high students, over 50 intermediate students and
about 15 elementary school students are attending a six-week summer session to sharpen their skills in
mathematics and language arts. Students attend classes to pass courses that were not passed during the
school year or to get help with courses in which they have been experiencing difficulties. Eight ISD
teachers are working with the students to achieve their goals. Shown above, Juan Padron explains
reading material to his students. Classes started June 5 and will continue through July 17. A bilingual
summer school started June 23. Drivers' education classes started June 16 at the high school under the
direction of Salvador Muniz. According to MISD superintendent Olan McCraw, this is the sixth year that
summer classes have been offered. (News Photo by Dora B. Mathis)
Use Of Voting Demo Units
Causes Fireworks In Court
By Kelly Isaacks
San Patricio County Judge
and the County Clerk locked horns in
Commissioners Court Monday on
the subject of retrieving voter
machine demonstration units and if
they should ever be used as a learn-
ing tool again.
The controversy stems from ap-
proval by the Court March 10 to
allow County Clerk Dottie Maley,
who also serves as County Election
Officer, to lend county voter
machine demonstration units to peo-
ple within the county to teach them
to use the voter machines.
In the March 10 Commissioners
Court meeting, the vote carried 3-2
to lend the machines with Commis-
sioner Carl Duncan and Judge Ed-
mondson voting no.
According to Ms. Maley, these
machines were misused and election
candidates’ names were placed in
the voting machine demonstrators.
County Judge J.M Edmondson
asked Ms. Maley Monday if she had
retrieved the voting machines yet.
“No, I haven’t. I called Mr. Perez in
See VOTING, Page 12
DPS Predicts 45 Texans
May Die Over Holiday
As many as 45 persons may die in
traffic accidents in Texas during the
July 4 holiday period, according
estimate by the Texas Depart-
ment of Public Safety.
“The mixture of lower gasoline
prices and increased travel this
summer could prove to be deadly
over the July 4 holiday,” Colonel
Jim Adams, Director of the DPS
said. “In addition to these factors,
travel during the holiday will be
made hazardous by the continuing
problem of drunken driving and ex-
cessive speed.”
Last year, 25 persons died as a
result of traffic mishaps during the
July 4 holiday, but because of the
day of the week which July 4 fell, the
holiday period was only 30 hours.
This year, the period will be 78
hours, from 6 p.m. Thursday, July 3
to midnight on Sunday, July 6.
^kthe traffic fatalities during the
J^Vl, 1985 period, 72 percent occur-
recTin accidents involving excessive
speed or drinking.
As in years past, in an effort to
hold down the number of holiday
traffic deaths, the DPS will conduct
“Operation Holiday,” in which addi-
tional troopers from the Depart-
ment’s uniformed services will be
placed on Texas highways for
heightened traffic law enforcement
and to assist motorists.
Additionally, the Department will
conduct its “Operation Motorcide”
effort in which periodic releases will
be made throughout the holiday to
keep the public informed about the
number of traffic deaths occurring
across the state.
“The philosophy behind this pro-
gram is to make the public aware of
the dangers of holiday travel and
what motorists can do to make their
time spent on the highways safer,”
Adams said.
This will be the first July 4 period
since the new Texas safety belt law
went on the books. Last year, 82 per-
cent of those killed in traffic ac-
cidents during the holiday period
had not been restrained, either by a
safety belt or child safety seat.
“The message in that safety belt
statistic is clear,” Adams said. “The
chances of being seriously injured or
killed in a traffic accident are great-
ly reduced by wearing a safety belt
and using a child safety seat for
children under four years of age.”
Adams said the two restraint laws,
coupled with increased awareness of
the dangers of drinking while driv-
ing, are contributing to an overall
decrease in Texas traffic fatalities.
“Preliminary figures indicated
the number of traffic deaths
statewide was down 1.6 percent in
the first quarter of this year com-
pared with the first quarter of 1985,”
Adams said. “We hope that trend
will not be reversed this July 4
period with a number of senseless
tragedies.”
Grain Harvesting Picking Up;
Elevators Receive 1,475 Cars
Harvesting of the 1986 grain crop
in San Patricio County began shif-
ting into high gear during the past
week as elevators received 1,402
cars for a total of 1,475 cars through
Tuesday morning. Elevator
operators said they expected the
pace to increase even more next
week as fields dried up and equip-
ment could get to the grain.
Homeport
$70,000 Planning Grant
^warded To Impact Council
By Kerry Williams
Carl Duncan, Chairman of the
South Texas Homeport Impact
Steering Council, was notified Tues-
day morning that a $70,000 planning
assistant grant had been awarded to
the organization with San Patricio
County named as the fiscal agent.
“U.S. Representative Kika de la
Garza’s office called Tuesday morn-
ing to notify us of the approval of our
federally funded grant,” Duncan
said. “We were told that the funds
would be received here next week.”
Duncan and several other
members of the impact council
traveled to Washington, D.C. in May
to hand-deliver the grant application
which was prepared by County
Auditor George Hernandez. Duncan
commented the application received
prompt attention and was “hand-
carried” through its channels for ap-
proval.
• think the approval of this grant
{plication verifies optimism for the
success of the Homeport program,”
Duncan added, “and the optimism of
officials in Washington.”
The 75-25 matching grant’s total is
$93,100 with the county being respon-
sible for $23,100. Twenty-thousand
dollars of this matching part of the
grant has already been expended
through the Brown and Root plann-
ing contract and for expenses incur-
red by the impact council. Therefore
the county has only $3,000 left to fully
match the funding.
“In anticipation of the approval of
the grant, advertisement for
employment of a coordinator for the
program has taken place,” Duncan
said. “The coordinator will oversee
the planning process for implemen-
tation of Homeport in the three-
county area.”
Duncan commented the grant
monies would be used towards fun-
ding the coordinator and a
secretary’s salaries, office space in
the Ingleside area and office sup-
plies.
Reports from producers and
elevator operators were that this
year’s crop is a good one, with a high
yield. However, all were in agree-
ment that the price is low. Moisture
content last week ranged from 14 to
17 percent.
Rains which have hampered the
harvest operations let up during the
week, and with continued dry
weather the crop should be coming
into elevators at a fast pace. It is
estimated the harvest will continue
for another three to four weeks,
before tapering off.
Louisiana Elevator and Storage,
Taft, has received 250 cars to date,
227 during the past week. Moisture is
averaging about 15 percent.
See GRAIN, Page 12
Weather
Report
WEATHER REPORT
Date
High
Low
Rain
June 26
92
70
.02
June 27
95
70
.00=
June 28
96
73
.00
June 29
97
72
.00
June 30
96
70
.00
July 01
96
70
.00
July 02
95
74
.00
Investigators To Review
County TERP Program
By Kerry Williams
Representatives from the FBI
(Federal Bureau of Investigation)
and the Texas Rangers will be arriv-
ing in Sinton Monday afternoon to
review the records of the San
Patricio County’s TERP, Tem-
porary Emergency Relief Program
at the courthouse.
During last week’s June 23rd Com-
missioners’ Court meeting, County
Auditor George Hernandez
presented the court with a report in-
dicating the program had been
overspent by approximately $2000. A
portion of the program, which is
funded by a federal grant, is used for
grocery vouchers for indigents. The
monies are disbursed by the County
Welfare Department.
Hernandez commented that the
TERP grant is used for groceries
and utility payments for indigents,
and only the grocery part of the
grant was overspent. A discrepancy
was found when Hernandez was
reviewing the program’s records for
the month, and a large number of
vouchers appeared.
After Hernandez reported the in-
formation to the court, the court
unanimously approved the call for
an investigation of the records.
“There was a concern over the
amount of grocery vouchers spent
right before the election...I don’t
know if there is any real trouble
there yet,” Hernandez commented
in an interview Friday afternoon.
Hernandez also commented to the
fact that the usual amount spent on
grocery vouchers each month is
between $300-$700. During the month
of May $2,975.14 was disbursed from
the Food Assistance portion of the
grant. However, the commissioners
authorized an increase in grocery
vouchers from $20 to $45 a family in
April.
Indigents apply for food
assistance through the County
Welfare Department under the
direction of Nina Trevino. After an
application is completed by the per-
son, and they are found to be
qualified, a voucher to a contracted
vendor-grocer is created. The ap-
plications are then sent to the
auditor’s office for recertification.
DPS Offices Close
Texas Department of Public Safe-
ty Drivers Licenses offices will be
closed on Friday, July 4, in
observance of the Independence Day
holiday.
No drivers license tests or
renewals will be conducted due to of-
fices being closed.
Last month, instead of the applica-
tions coming in at the regular pace
for recertification, a large stack was
brought in at one time by the
Welfare Department. Hernandez
commented this was unusual, but of
the applications he has reviewed, all
of the persons qualified for
assistance.
“When the stack came in, the
grocery vouchers had already been
disbursed...the damage had already
been done and the line item had been
overspent,” Hernandez commented.
“We’re going to have to change
the procedures for disbursment
either way,” Hernandez said. “It
will be more work for us.”
The TERP grant is divided into
two categories: $6400.26 for food
assistance, $3922.74 for utilities and
$837 for administration for a total of
$11,160. The state matches the grant
with $5,580 and the county’s share is
also $5,580.
In April, monies were transfered
to utilities from food assistance line
items, and that is evidently where
the problem began according to Her-
nandez.
Upon the Welfare Department’s
recommendation, $2940.66 of the
food assistance monies were amend-
ed to the utilities portion because
people needed assistance with
utilities, not food.
After the amendment was approv-
ed, the balance in the food
assistance line item was $3459.60.
When Hernandez reviewed the mon-
thly report on June 11, $2975.14 had
been spent on food vouchers. Totaled
with the rest of the year’s expen-
ditures, the balance on the food ex-
penditures account stood at
$4,067.80, with $1,420 estimated in
pending bills (total $5487.80), thus
showing the line item overdrawn by
$2,028.20.
Hernandez commented that, if the
problem turns out to be just an
overexpenditure, there is enough
money to ‘straighten-out’ the grant,
otherwise the investigation will un-
fold the discrepancy.
TERP has been temporarily shut
down completely pending a finding
from the investigation. On the
average, 28 grocery vouchers are
issued each month... from May 1 to
June 11, 44 grocery vouchers were
received by indigents.
Mathis Library Bustling
With Summer Activities
The library has been bustling with
activities as the Summer Reading
Program is in full swing.
Local children have been getting
to know Texas while playing games
and activities such as Texas Bingo,
making Bluebonnets and competing
to win the Six Flags of Texas.
Those participating have enjoyed
designing quilt squares of what
Texas means to them and there were
prizes awarded for the best efforts.
Old pioneer games were played such
as Hull Gull, where each child had 10
pinto beans and tried to outwit
others by guessing the number of
beans the other had in their hand.
Being able to guide your horse
through treacherous passes was a
must for any pioneer and the
children had an opportunity to test
their skills by playing Blind Horse
Giddy Up.
One week was spent talking about
cowboys and outlaws which is a very
important part of our Texas
heritage. A western mini-
melodrama was performed by the
children. You could hear screaming
women, stage coaches moving, and
rifles shooting as three courageous
cowboys, Alkali Ike, Dippy Dave
and Pony Pete, drove the
stagecoach through Glory Gulch
under an Indian attack.
Being able to identify snakes is a
must for anyone who lives in Texas
and the children had an opportunity
to test their skills. Do you think you
could identify snakes such as the
water moccasin, a python or a rattle
snake?
During our “Cowboy Week” it
seemed most fitting to find out who
was the fastest draw in town.
Sheriffs wearing their own badges,
which they designed, officiated the
shoot-out. The outlaws were re-
quired to make their own guns. Ten
paces were marked off and, one by
one, they matched their skills.
Coming up is more action as we
begin to celebrate Texas festivals.
If you’re not a part of our Texas
Celebration, don’t miss another
week. Come and sign up this week at
your local library. It’s free fun for
everyone.
There are two sessions remaining
in the summer reading program
which are scheduled for 2 p.m. June
9 and June 16.
Commissioners Court
County Ants To Receive
Sting From Amdro Request
Water level is 93.68.
Wesley Seale Dam at
Lake Corpus Christi
By Kelly Isaacks
The San Patricio County Commis-
sioners decided unanimously Mon-
day to request enough Amdro fire
ant bait to cover 310 county acres
from the Texas Department of
Agriculture in an effort to combat
the growing problem.
San Patricio County Judge J.M.
Edmondson said he had received a
letter from Mark Troussel, of TDA,
stating that a program was in place
to allow public entities to request
Amdro from the TDA to battle the
fire ants.
“We need to compile the total
number of acres and send it to Jim
Hightower and he would give us the
bait, and show our people how to use
it by giving a demonstration,” Ed-
mondson said.
“We definitely need supervision
(when applying the bait),” Commis-
sioner Joe Zapata said.
Will Hansen, chief sanitarian for
the county Health Department, said
the time of day that the bait is put
out is important. If the bait is put out
in the heat of the day then it may dry
out and the ants may not take the
bait.
“I think it’s a worthwhile pro-
ject,” Commissioner Duncan said.
“We need to assist in the problem.”
Edmondson said the initial treat-
ment is free but further treatments
would have to be paid for.
Edmondson suggested the airport,
county right-of-ways, cemeteries,
courthouse grounds, annexes, jails
and showgrounds all needed Amdro
treatment.
Duncan made the motion to treat
310 county acres with Amdro and
ask Mark Troussel to demonstrate
the use of the bait to those who re-
quest it. Commissioner Hazel Ed-
wards seconded the motion. The mo-
tion passed unanimously with a vote
of 5-0.
In other business, the Court ad-
dressed a proposed benefits plan for
county officials and employees.
United Agency Corporation is of-
fering a benefits plan to employees
in San Patricio County that would
cover any medical expenses that are
not covered by Medicaid or
Medicare, Pete Cortez, general
manager, said.
This plan would cost the county
$9,350 to implement as well as $2.50
per employee on a monthly basis.
Cortez said approximately $913 will
be saved by the county per year.
There are three different plans
that the county may choose: the first
is the payroll deduction claims plan
or dependent health care claims
plan, the second involves all of the
first plan plus childcare, the third is
the medical reimbursements plan.
The medical reimbursements plan
involves the employee estimating at
the beginning of the fiscal year what
their medical, childcare, dental ex-
penses will be.
If the employee overestimates the
actual amount that was spent then
the person will lose the difference.
For example, if an employee
receives a paycheck for $1,000 and
has estimated that medical ex-
penses will run $200 and they only
run $150 then the employee will lose
the $50 difference.
See ANTS, Page 12
Abbey Holds Dedication,
Open House July 11-13
SANDIA-The Benedictine Monks
of Corpus Christi Abbey will
dedicate their new monastery
buildings on Friday, July 11, at 5
p.m.
The Dedication Liturgy will be
celebrated by Bishop Rene Gracida,
of Corpus Christi.
The Abbot Primate of the Benedic-
tine Order, Viktor Dammertz,
O.S.B. of Rome and Abbot Alfred
Hoenig, O.S.B. of Corpus Christi Ab-
bey will assist Bishop Gracida in the
dedication rites. Other Bishops and
Abbots have accepted the invitation
of Corpus Christi Abbey to be in at-
tendance for the dedication liturgy.
The new monastery complex was
designed to” house 50 people in ap-
proximately 38,000 square feet of liv-
ing and administrative space.
Architects for the building are
O’Connell, Robertson and Grobe, of
Austin.
Corpus Christi Abbey is a Roman
Catholic monastery of Benedictine
monks. The Monks formerly ran
Corpus Christi Academy until 1972.
In 1975, the monastery moved
from Corpus Christi and located
near Sandia, on Lake Corpus Christi,
into a temporary fiberglass
monastery.
The old monastery complex is now
used for the Benedictine Retreat
Center, a retreat and hospitality
center.
There are currently 27 members
of Corpus Christi Abbey including
ten priests and 17 brothers.
The public is invited to the Dedica-
tion Liturgy as well as an Open
House on Saturday and Sunday, July
12 and 13, from 1-5 p.m. to view the
entire facility.
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Mathis, Jim. The Mathis News (Mathis, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 3, 1986, newspaper, July 3, 1986; Mathis, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1045503/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Mathis Public Library.