The Mathis News (Mathis, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 34, Ed. 1 Friday, August 14, 1959 Page: 1 of 8
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THE MATHIS NEWS
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VOL. XXXIX
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE
Guthrie publishing Co.
MATHIS, TEXAS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 1959
Entered as second class matter at the post office at
Mathis, Texas, under the Act of March 2, i873.
EIGHT PAGES — NO. 34.
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Burning Bales, Trailers At Gin
—Pecot Photo
Saturday Fire At Gin Levels
Cotton Trailer Yard. Bales
EDITORIALS
Although the smoke has cleared
away the insurance adjusters had-
n’t following Saturday afternoon’s
fire at the Mathis Gin Co. There
was no official estimate of the dol-
lar loss from the fire, Glenn Dor-
ris, gin manager said Wednesday
morning. Early estimates had plac-
ed the figure in excess of $45,000.
Lost to the flames were 40 trail-
ers loaded with unginned cotton,
26 full bales, 84 small bales, and
seven bales of bagging. The un-
ginned cotton on the trailers would
have made about 160 bales.
The gin was back in the cotton-said*
baling business by Sunday after- seen
noon. New trailers arrived and
they were being assembled Mon-
day morning. A bulldozer cleared
away the rubble to accomodate the
waiting trailers.
The fire came at 5:15 p.m. on
a hot August afternoon- when a
sudden, strong wind shift occured
at the gin five miles east o fMa-
this. It caught the sparks from
burning cotton burrs in a pit and
scattered them over the trailer
yard. Almost instantly, witnesses
Charles Thiele, 41, Dies
Of Heart Attack Saturday
Charles Thiele, 41-year-old Ma-
this farmer, died suddenly of a
heart attack Saturday evening.
Death came to the healthy, ac-
tive man as a tragic shock to his
family and friends.
Funeral services were held Mon-
day morning at 10 a.m. at the
First Baptist Church, of which he
was an active member with his
family. Rev. James Franklin, his
pastor, officiated at the services.
Burial was in Cenizo Hill Ceme-
tary under the direction of Dobie
Funeral Home.
Mr. Thiele came to Mathis in
1944, coming here after marrying
Miss Juanita Leber, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Leber Sr. of
Mathis. The couple had two chil-
dren, Shirley Ann and Charles
David, Jr. Their farm home is
out on- the old San. Patricio High-
way.
Among his activities Mr. Thiele
worked with his son and daughter
in their 4-H projects. He had been
for many years an official in the
annual boys’ and girls’ agriculture
and homemaking show for the
county. He was also an adult lead-
er in the Mathis Little League with
his son.
A veteran of World War II, he
was a member of the Masonic
Lodge in addition to his church
and youth-work roles.
He leaves, in addition to his
wife and children; two brothers,
Nick Jr. of Kyle and Ernest of
Waco;, and three sisters, Mrs. Edith
Robbins and Mrs. J. W. Bryant,
both of San Antonio, and Mrs.
Bernard Keeler of Austin.
Pallbearers at the funeral were
Paul Stone, Malcolm Maedgen- and
Bob Wehmeyer, his brothers-in-
law of Mathis; and Ralph Neuse
and Grover Hay of San Antonio
and Henry Neuse of San Marcos.
City Opens Back Door
To United Gas Rate Hike
The City Commission opened the
back door, so to speak, for the
United Gas Corp. to increase gas
rates in Mathis “whenever their
costs go up.”
At present the rate is $1.50 per
month for the first 500 cubic feet,
10-cents per 100 cubic feet for the
next 2500, 7-cents per 100 cubic
feet for the next 7000, and 5 1-2-
cents per 100 cubic feet for all
additional gas.
The city allowed the following
clause to be added to United Gas’s
ordinance which allows them to
operate in Mathis:
“Whenever revisions of the city
gate rate paid by United Gas Corp.
are filed with the Railroad Com-
mission of Texas, or other ap-
propriate jurisdictional body, the
above consumer rates shall be ad-
justed, either plus or minus, to
reflect the amount of the change
in the average unit cost of gas
supplied under the rate schedule
above or below the average unit
cost of such gas at the city gate
rate in effect on the 1st day of
January, 1959, such adjusted con-
sumer rates to apply to all gas
used after the regular meter read-
ing dates falling on or after the
effect date of such city gate rate
change.”
A spokesman at city hall said
that Central Power & Light has
such a clause in- its contract with
the city, but Southwestern Bell does
not.
The license for a gas rate in-
crease was granted at the regular
August session of the council.
In other action an ordinance was
passed to levy the 1959 taxes, with
a 70-cent per each $100 of assessed
valuation figure getting formal ap-
proval. It is the same rate as
was used in 1958. The basis of
assessment in Mathis is 40 per
cent of actual value. The city’s
approximate assessed value at this
time is $3,700,000.
The commission also adopted the
new year’s budget, officially. It of harm’s way to let it burn out,
several trailer loads were
to burst into flame.
The wind itself caused property
damage when it knocked one trail-
er into the left side of a 1959
Chevrolet sedan. Another trailer
was pushed by the wind onto the
highway.
The gin and the office, west of
the trailer yard, were never en-
dangered by the fire, although
some of the records in the office
were hastily transferred into clos-
ed cars for safe-keeping.
The Mathis Volunteer Firemen
were joined by units from Anna-
ville, Sinton, Beeville and Odem.
The Orange Grove fire truck turn-
ed- over ' etrroute ~ to the- fire on
Highway 359 in front of Pullin’s
Gulf Service Station, hospitalizing
four. Most seriously injured was
Ed Steck with head lacerations,
but his condition was improving
by mid-week although he was still
confined to the hospital. Fellow-
firemen who received medical at-
tention were Franklin Koening,
Raymond Bartosch and Raymond
Nelsoney. The Orange Grove truck
spilled when it was in collison with
a car driven by John Lockman,
also of Orange Grove. He was not
treated at the hospital, but was
slightly injured.
The fire fighting at the gin last-
ed about five hours. There were
still smouldering piles of rubble
by Sunday morning. The bales were
eventually extinguished when the
Sinton department mixed a foam
concoction with water and suffocat-
ed the individual blazing bales.
Exploding rubber tires on the
trailers popped during the height
of the fire’s heat. Thick, acid smoke
blinded the firefighters, irritating
their throats and causing the weeps.
Some of the firemen had masks to
use.
Out on the highway, which pas-
ses close to the burning trailer
yard, gasoline tank trucks lined
up out of the smoke’s way, fearful
of passing through with their loads.
The traffic was heavy at the
scene as the normally-crowded
highway was filled with curiosity
seekers, attracted by the sirens
and dense smoke.
The freak wind shift kept blow-
ing from the north-east for two
or three hours, keeping the smoke
from heavily-populated areas.
Dorris and Red Gorbet of the
gin thanked the various fire de-
partments for their assistance in
the fire combat.
The same afternoon- another fire
broke out at the Hartzendorf Gin
in the middle of the county where
a storage building burned.
There was also a blaze at the
Erly Fat plant west of Mathis,
caused by the same wind shift.
That afternoon there had develop-
ed a “fire bale” of burrs at Erly
Fat. Workers had carried it out
Piggly Wiggly
House Set
v
_
Monday 7-10 P M.
I
Saturday’s double-barrel blast at the Mathis Volun-
teer Fire Department reminded the citizens just how
much dependens upon the physicial fitness of its men,
equipment and machines.
The fellows who took the truck out to Erly Fat and
averted a major disaster there deserve credit for their
quick-thinking efficiency. And, of course, the big blaze
out at the gin at the same time taxed the department’s
resources to the utmost.
The firemen are taken for granted until the siren whi-
nes its emergency shrill. The men who make up our de-
partment share a love of adventure, a sense of civic re-
sponsibility, and the enjoyment of one another’s fellow-
ship.
City taxes are the support of the department. Also
contributions usually can be counted on from the farm-
ers and business operators outside the city limits.
If you have a $1 or $1,000 you’ve been meaning to con-
tribute to-the-firemen, do it today. They may know just
the right piece of new fire-fighting equipment which
could save your barn or farmhouse.
Saturday’s fire reminded Mathis of its fire fighting
obligations, especially in the rural areas. The time is
ripe for an all-out drive for an equipment buildup. The
folks outside the city limits should have the opportunity
to share a major role in the campaign.
County To Set Budget
For 1960 On August 28
Piggly Wiggly’s open house Mon-
day night wili feature gifts, re-
freshments and prizes as the new-
est supermarket in Mathis reveals
its wares to the public.
Business will start Tuesday morn-
ing with five days of specials.
Throughout the week a basket of
groceries will be given away every
hour.
Piggly’s open house will be from
7 to 10. |
J. Ward Crow of Sinton, owner
of Piggly stores in Sinton and. Taft,
is opening the Mathis store as the
third in his chain in San Patricio
County.
Manager is Heywood Smith, for-
merly of Taft and lately the as-
sistant manager of the Sinton store.
Dave Gilmore, who moved to Ma-
this from Odem, is the meat mar-
ket manager. Lonnie Messer of
Mathis has been appointed assist-
ant manager while Mrs. Juanita
Burnip is in charge of the check-
ing department.
L. T. Porter, owner of a block
of small business buildings in down-
town Mathis, had Engler Bros, con-
vert them into the 6,500 square foot,
air-conditioned building. In addi-
tion Porter razed two more frame
buildings to make entrance to a
paved parking lot behind the new
store. The parking lot extends be-
hind the old Post Office and the
Mathis News buildings. Paved exits
have been made beside the Hub
Drug, behind the First State Bank,
and between the Wagnon and Hicks
residences.
Store fixtures in the Crow’s store
are all new, built by the Piggly
Wiggly company, and delivered
here. The store is air-conditioned
by Friedrich. A special feature of
Piggly’s will be a self-service meat
department as well as custom
butchering.
In a special meeting of the com-
missioners court held Friday morn-
ing the public hearing of the coun-
ty budget for 1960 was set for
August 28, 1959 in the commis-
sioners courtroom, with 10 a.m.
set as the hour for the hearing.
The county clerk was ordered
to publish notice of the hearing
ten days preceding the date set
for the hearing.
The county auditor submitted to
the court the preliminary budget
which was taken under considera-
tion by the court. (A story deal-
ing with some of the statistical
data of the budget will be found
elsewhere in the paper.)
The county auditor, Ray Harris,
reported that Gene Pullin Motor
calls for $57,290 in expenditures
from the general revenue fund. The
budget is basically the same as
last year’s and no funds are pro-
vided for new and major expendi-
tures.
It was announced that the new
sewage plant went into operation
last week, but is not yet working
at capacity. It is designed to handle
a city population of 15,000, about
twice what the city estimates it
has now. The sewage plant ex-
penses have been $88,482.13 todate.
See CITY Page 5
but the wind caught the sparks
and ignited a pit of loose burrs.
Bennie Curtis, assistant manayer
of Mathis Grain & Elevator, said
there was no dollar loss as the
burrs were last year’s. He com-
mended the firemen, who sent one
truck to the scene, for preventing
the fire’s spread. They took a
truck to the scene and doused the
blaze before it spread to the fa-
cilities of the yard.
There were no physical damages
to any of the firefighters, other
than weepy eyes.
35 Attend CofC's
Membership Coffee
About 35 attended the Mathis
Chamber of Commerce’s member-
ship drive coffee session Tuesday
morning at Crawford’s.
Membership stands at 84, with
a goal this year of 100.
Members were invited to stop by
for coffee and bring prospective
members with them.
Special hostesses were Mrs. C.
D. Caff all, Mrs. Clifton Jennings
and Mrs. Gordon Benningfield.
Methodist Services
At 9a.m.Sunday
Church services at the First
Methodist Church will be held at
9 a.m. Sunday. Rev. C. J. Freu-
denberg of Orange Grove will be
the guest speaker.
Sunday school will follow church
services at 10:05 a.m.
Malcolm Maedgen will be in
charge of the evening services at
7:30 p.m, A film, “Salt of the
Earth” will be shown.
Co. had sent notification that de-
livery cannot be made on a truck
for use by the County Welfare
Department. (The Gene Pullin Mo-
tor Co. was low bidder recently
on such truck.) Commissioner E.
H. Jackson of Precinct 2 moved
that the next lowest bid for this
truck be accepted. Com. Pat Kin-
dle of Prec. 4, gave the second,
and the bid of George Motor Co.
was accepted. This bid #was for
$2,135.50 on an International Truck.
Rev. Dornquest
Installed Pastor
Of St. Paul Church
" The StT Paul' Lutheran Church
of Tynan installed Rev. Norman
Dornquest as its minister last Sun-
day morning.
The installation of the new pas-
tor marked the church’s beginning
as a self-supporting institution. For-
merly the church was served from
the pulpit by Rev. Kermit Menking
of Orange Grove, who is that
church’s pastor as well.
Rev. Dornquest was ordained in-
to the American Lutheran College
Church in July in his home town.
Rev. Menking was in charge of
the installation* ceremony. The
Orange Grove congregation was
guest for the morning.
Rev. Dornquest is from Owaton-
na, Minn. He attended Carleton and
St. Olaf College in Northfield,
Minn, and graduated from semin-
ary in Dubuque, la., in 1959. He
is unmarried and he is renting an
apartment from Mrs. F. Van Wag-
ner in Mathis.
Following the morning services
a dinner was served in the Tynan
Grove and Tynan congregations,
recreation hall for the Orange
Grove and Tynan congregations,
totaling approximately 250.
NEW SUPERINTENDENT — E.
B. Masur, superintendent of the
Floresville school for the past two
years and who had recently been
elected for two more years, is now
the new superintendent of the
Mathis system, assuming that job
officially on Aug*. 1. He replaces T.
A. Harbin who has moved to U-
valde Masur has been coach at
Wharton, New Braunfels and Cuero
before coming to Floresville to
serve as high school principal. He
is a graduate of Howard Payne
College. He and Mrs; Masur and
their 11-year-old son, Mike, have
moved into the former Stapp resi-
dence in Mimosa Villeage.
One More Resigns
From Faculty; 3
Teachers Hired
The Mathis schools received an-
other faculty resignation this week,
making an even* dozen who have
quit since last May.
The latest to resign is Mrs. Eva
Mae Wehmeyer in the junior high,
school.
The school also announced three
additions to the junior high faculty.
They are Miss Pauline Johnson of
Corpus Ghristi, Jerry English of
Corpus Christi and Mrs. Dorothy
Jones. Mrs. Jones’ husband, James,
was hired as a teacher earlier this
year.
The new superintendent, E. B.
Masur moved this family and ■
household goods into Mimosa iVli- •
age Wednesday afternoon.
--il -:
Football Practice
Monday, Aug. 17
Starts
8 A.M.
Football practice starts Monday, fcthis year, including the Pirates, made up.
Aug. 17, at 8 a.m., Coach Billy
Gary announced this week.
He expects all boys from the
9th through 12th grades who
play football under the Pirate
legend this season to report at
the gym.
Interscholastic league rules have
upped the traditional football prac-
tice starting date this year from
Aug. 25 to Aug. 17.
First game for the Pirates will
be Sept. 4 in Calallen. Conference
play starts Oct. 23 with Gregory-
Portland here.
Woodsboro, last year’s champions
of this district, have again gotten
the favorite’s nod.
Gary, in his first year at the
helm of the Pirates, has eight let-
termen back from last year’s se-
cond place team. Four of those
boys, David Coffin, Hollis London,
Scott Gregorcyk, and A. W. Knolle
were starters. The four other let-
itermen* are David Trevino, Eloy
Diaz, John Standlea and Mark Sal-
inas.
Gary has two new assistants to
the Mathis system. They are Wel-
don Seeliger and Bob Mickler. Bob-
by Knox will coach the junior high
team.
Mathis will field three
a “B” team of Freshmen, and
the group from the Junior High.
The minor teams will play on
Thursday night. So far seven “B”
teams have been scheduled, but
the Junior High slate is still being
7,484 Bales For
4 Mathis Gins
By Wed. Morning
The ginning total for bales turn-
ed out since the season’s start by
the four Mathis gins was 7,484 by
Wednesday morning, a check with
their offices revealed.
Mathis Gin Co., with a heavy
fire robbing it of approximately
160 bales worth of unginned cotton,
had ginned 2,891 bales. The Vahls-
ing gins had turned out 3018 bales,
Farmer’s Gin counted 1875 and
Hubert Switch had 700.
Last Wednesday’s total was 4,552
bales for the Mathis area.
Over the entire county some
teams 28,026 bales had been ginned.
Gary’s most valuable assets are
London at fullback and Coffin at
quarterback. Gregorcyk at center
and Knolle at tackle are the strong-
est at the line. John Standlea and
Mark Salinas will also see start-
ing duties ait tackle and guard.
Backfield men are Trevino and
Diaz.
Gone from the lineup are the
familiar names of Jerry Edmond-
son and Woodrow Hicks. Gradua-
tion also took away Richard Hen-
derson, E. C. Willmann, Jimmy
Crouch, Binny Huffstutler, Wilbur
Mengers and Henry Doubrava.
They are the boys who last year
brought the Pirates to a second
place tie in the district.
The schedule:
Sept. 4 Calallen —T
Sept. 11 Taft — H
Sept. 18 Orange Grove —H
Sept. 25 — Bishop —T
Oct. 2 — Flour Bluff —T
Oct. 9 West Oso —H
Oct. 16 OPEN
Oct. 23 Gregory-Portland —H
Oct. 30 Ingleside —H
Nov. 6 Woodsboro — T
Nov. 13 Rockport —T
Comprising the district with Ma-
this are Gregory-Portland, Ingle-
side, Woodsboro and Rockport.
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Haden, John. The Mathis News (Mathis, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 34, Ed. 1 Friday, August 14, 1959, newspaper, August 14, 1959; Mathis, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1045688/m1/1/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Mathis Public Library.