The Shiner Gazette (Shiner, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 37, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 14, 1961 Page: 1 of 8
eight pages : ill. ; page 25 x 19 in. Scanned from physical pages.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
djc Shiner (CiDcfte
SINGLE COPY 10c
NUMBER 37
VOLUME 69
Carla Roars In At 100m.p.h.-"Eye” Over Shiner
Mayor Calls Special Meeting
NOTES AND
To Prepare Citizens For Storm
COMMENTS
® MOP-UP—CLEAN-UP
©
• RURAL AREA HARD HIT
•(
will meet Monday,
18 at 8:00 p.m. at
of Mrs. Anita Pus-
lines.
crew
Word was received Wednes-
day noon from Hallettsville to
notify farmers and stockmen
that the Livestock Commission
Co. in Hallettsville would be in
full operation Tuesday, Sept-
ember 19.
Last Tuesday’s sale was not
held due to some $15,000 to
$20,000 damage to the stock
yards and buildings by hur-
ricane Carla.
Kou-
rural
—Photo courtesy Havel Studio, Moulton
IT WAS A BARN—The above is a scene of many on the farms.
This was a barn on the Frank Seidenberger farm in the Sulphur
Park Community.
—Staff Photo
ONE OF MANY—Over 100 TV
antennas were torn loose, twist-
ed and bent in the hurricane
winds Monday. One TV repair
man reported 91 fatalities, an-
other over 30. It will be a long
time until normal TV viewing
will be enjoyed by all Shiner-
ites.
AWAITING CARLA—Monday looking from the railroad tracks
towards C. B. Welhausen and Co. and the First National Bank
all glass windows were boarded up in anticipation of the high
winds. It was a lot of work but it paid off, as there were no
large plate glass windows broken in downtown Shiner. All busi-
ness men prepared in advance to board up and tape large plate
glass windows. —Staff Photo
—STAFF PHOTO
HEAVY DAMAGE—The 9-foot stainless steel cross erected a
year ago, leans precariously atop SS. Cyril and Methodius’ Cath-
olic Church. Several of the white corner ornaments were torn
loose landing on the roof causing much damage as well as wind
damage to the roof. Windows were broken. Hundreds of gallons
of water coming into the building damaged the plastered walls,
furnishings and flooring. The Parish Gym roof was also heavily
damaged. Father John Hanacek conservatively estimates $8,000.00
damage to both buildings.
clean and shiny.
Crop damage was extremely
heavy. Open cotton was picked
clean by the heavy winds and
is nowhere to be found. The
peanut crop was destroyed and.
corn ready for harvest was laid
to the ground and in many in-
stances is water soaked.
grandchildren.
Preceding him in death was
a son, Felix, who lost his life
in World War II. Two other sons
died in infancy. A brother who
had come to America with him
also preceded him in death.
Having been engaged in
farming all his adult life, the
now deceased had retired sev-
eral years ago. For the past
three years he had been ailing
with a heart condition. Death
occurred about 5:15 p.m., Sat-
urday, September 9, 1961, at his
home near Moulton. He attain-
ed the age of 76 years, 11
months and 27 days.
Serving as casket attendants
were Edward Kubos, Daniel and
George
mann,
Charles
dismissed at the local schools
and were resumed Thursday
morning as Commissioner
ba’s crew worked to clear
roads for bus traffic.
Hardest hit were power
John Degenhardt and his
worked diligently throughout
the night during the storm cut-
ting wires where necessary to
prevent fires and possible death
due to live wires on the ground,
and restoring power wherever
it was possible. Early morning
found crews back at work after
a brief hour’s rest in an effort
to restore electrical service. Ad-
ditional help was solicited to
assist the regular city crew in
order to restore electricity to
all users. The Gazette was with-
out power until 3:00 p.m. Tues-
day and accounts for the delay
in this week’s publication.
Southwestern Bell Telephone
Co. crews have been working
steadily to restore service to
the hundreds of patrons whose
All residents are asked to gather and place
trash, limbs, etc., on a pile at the curb and
the trucks, manned by city employees, will
pickup and haul it away for you.
phones were knocked out by the
storm. Shiner was completely
cut off from long distance ser-
vice until 10:30 Tuesday night.
During this time the telephone
company set up an emergency
station (car with telephone) to
relay emergency messages. It
was through this that Mayor
Kaspar was able to send word
to San Antonio radio stations
and local surrounding stations
that all of Shiner’s citizens had
weathered Carla’s fury and that
there were no injuries or
casualties.
The City of Shiner will have special trucks
running full time all of next week—-begin-
ning Monday—to assist Shiner residents in
ridding their premises of debris left in “Car-
la’s” wake.
"SPECIAL PICKUP SERVICE'
STAFF PHOTO
CLEAN-UP—City crews were hard at work Tuesday removing
trees obstructing street traffic. The above photo shows two large
cedar trees in the yard of Mrs. Sophie Wolters felled by Carla s
vicious winds.
DO NOT try to burn debris in your yards
as this will create too much of a fire hazard
to life and property . . . and frankly, your
firemen are tired having kept a continuous
vigil at the fire station and patroling streets
for live wires, etc., during the entire time
“Carla” unleashed her fury on Shiner.
$2.50 PER YEAR 10c PER COPY SHINER, LAVACA COUNTY, TEXAS, THURSDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 14, 1961
noon were notified via public
address system to evacuate
their homes and take shelter ai
the school and gyms.
® VFW HOUSES AND
FEEDS REFUGEES
The most complete job of
feeding and shelter was con-
ducted by VFW Post 6209 ana
Auxiliary, as some 50 refugees
were housed and fed hot meals
from Saturday night through
Tuesday. Many of the refugees
from private homes were sent
to the VFW Home for their
meals, and many more stopped
in after hearing the message
about hot meals on radio sta-
tions WOAI, San Antonio,
KCTI, Gonzales and KULP, Ei
Campo. Most of the 50 sheltereu
here were from the Lake Jack-
son and Freeport area. They de-
parted Wednesday morning, not
knowing what they might find
when they reach their homes.
The Red Cross and Salvation
Army have offered their help
in taking care of expenses in-
curred during this period.
DAMAGE RUNS IN
THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS
The actual damage done by
the storm was lighter than an-
ticipated, however, a number
of buildings in the business dis-
trict suffered roof damage, and
many trees were uprooted. Most
trees, especially pecans, were
almost stripped of their leaves.
TV antennas and roofs on homes
were badly damaged in most
parts of town. All communica-
tion and electrical service was
badly interrupted.
The two buildings in the busi-
ness district that probably suf-
fered most damage were the
City Hall, and the Shiner Dine
Inn. The roof of the City Hall
was almost completely swept
off, and the metal canopy at
the Shiner Dine Inn was com-
pletely destroyed. This canopy
was blown over the roof of the
building causing extreme dam-
age to the portions where it hit
as it blew over.
Many of the refugees depart-
ed with words of appreciation
for the excellent hospitality giv-
en them by the people of Shi-
ner. •
Considerable damage to roofs
were reported at the public and
parochial schools. Classes were
City crews and trucks started
work early Tuesday to remove
trees and debris from streets
and will continue this operation
all of next week to assist resi-
dents in cleaning their premises.
—Staff Photo
NO AWNING—The Gazette staff was greeted Tuesday morning
with the front door blocked by its awning tom down. Entrance
was made by a rear exit and the bent and twisted awning re-
moved. Until a new one arrives the front of the Gazette will
look sort of “bare.” The Gazette was without electrical power tor
21 hours and this caused the publication to be delayed a day.
Rites To Be Held
Thursday For
Mrs. Agnes Havel
Mrs. Agnes Havel, age 84
years, 10 months and 8 days, of
Sweet Home, passed away at
the Otto Kosler home in Shiner
Tuesday, September 12, 1961 at
2:15 a.m.
Funeral services will be held
from the Buffington Funeral
Home, Shiner, Thursday, Sept-
ember 14, 1961 at 9:30 a.m.,
thence to the Queen of Peace
Catholic Church at Sweet Home
for Requiem High Mass at 10:00
a.m. Rosary was recited at the
funeral home Wednesday, Sept.
13 at 8:00 p.m. Interment will
be in the Sweet Home Catholic
Cemetery, Sweet Home.
Briefly, as the Gazette goes
to press one day late due to the
lack of electrical power inter-
rupted by vicious and fickle
Carla, the citizens are most
grateful and thankful that there
were no injuries or casualties to
human life. Although there was
much property damage and
possible loss of food in deep
freezes that were without pow-
-er, the people here were spared
of any accidents, fires and per-
sonal injuries.
This was in part due to the
very fine cooperation of citi-
zens, school and church offic-
ials, with city officials in pre-
paring property to take the full
blast of hurricane Carla. Ex-
cellent cooperation was received
from the Shiner Volunteer Fire
Department, placing a full crew
on duty at the station, and
members patroling the streets
in search of any outbreak of
fire and live wires so' that it
could be reported as there were
only a few phones in operation
during the storm.
The city’s utility crew stayed
on duty all night cutting wires
where necessary and making
repairs wherever possible. Fire
phones were manned full time
to relay messages as the fire
siren went out when the roof
of the City Hall and Fire Sta-
tion was blown off.
Refugees from the coastal
towns were housed at both
gyms, V.F.W. Home and pri-
vate homes beginning Satur-
day. Monday night local citi-
zens, whites and negroes joined
out of town refugees at the Par-
ish Gym and Public School
buildings, totaling about 800.
Sandwiches were prepared
Monday night and 63 were fed
a stew dinner at the High
School Monday noon. All eva-
cuees were very cooperative and
no problems were encountered.
People from coastal towns
housed here were from such
places as Lake Jackson, Bloom-
ington, Texas City, Alvin, Port
Lavaca, Point Comfort, etc. The
children were entertained with
games organized by local peo-
ple who assisted in caring for
the evacuees and the adults
passed the time listening to ra-
dio reports, playing games of
forty-two and caring for the
many babies and children.
Grateful thanks are extend-
ed to the citizens for loaning
bedding and cots for use in the
refugee centers and to those
who prepared and contributed
food and assisted in serving.
Many ice boxes were loaned
to shelter areas to preserve
food and milk.
Supt. Little reported that the
southeast comer of the elemen-
tary building was blown off and
is most grateful to Mr. Son-
ntag and his crew who came
in and made temporary repairs
in hard rain. All of the roofs
on the school buildings were
damaged to some extent. He
also wishes to extend his thanks
to Erwin Biehunko for coming
to the school and pumping
water out of the basement and
replacing a pump during the
storm. The school’s custodians,
Allen Seifert and Edmund
Kremling stayed, on duty all of
Monday night.
Everyone is most thankful to
the Mayor, business men, lay-
men, the clergy of all churches
and to everyone who contribut-
ed their services in organizing
the town to meet this emergen-
cy.
This was indeed a praise wor-
thy example of cooperation and
organization on the part of the
citizenship and officials display-
ing their ability to meet any
emergency.
Livestock Sale
Hext Tuesday
In Hallettsville
Reports continue to come in
from rural farm families of se-
rious damages to roofs and wat-
er damage to household goods.
Garages and outbuildings were
flatened, ripped apart and scat-
tered over the countryside,
windmills were damaged, some
snapped off and others laid to
the ground, TV antennas were
damaged, telephone and elec-
trical service disrupted. Yard
fences in both the city and
country suffered heavy damage.
The terrific force of the wind
even stripped the cedar bark
from fence posts and left them
Meetings 1 Hotices
® SHINER Home Demonstra-
tion Club
September
the home
tejovsky.
© KNIGHTS of Columbus will
hold their regular meeting at
8:00 p.m. in the Catholic Parish
Gym Thursday, September 21.
Members are requested to at-
tend.
® THE ST. LUDMILA’S Aca-
demy P-TA will hold a meeting
Thursday, September 14 at 8:00
p.m. in the Parish Gym. The
speaker for the evening will be
Rev. Father John Hanacek. A
large attendance for the first
meeting of a new school term is
expected. Be sure to attend.
9 CATHOLIC Altar Society
will meet Tuesday, September
19 at 3:00 p.m. in the Parish
Gym. October hostesses are:
Mesdames Raymond Kocian,
Felix Konecny, Gus Kovalcik,
Ernest Kral, Louis Krenek, Em-
ma Kubecka, Agnes Kutach,
John Kutach, Emil Laqua and
Miss Rose Malota.
• ST. JOSEPH and St. Eliza-
beth Societies will meet Sunday,
September 17 after the 8 o’clock
Mass in the Parish Gym. All
members try to be present.
® SHINER Lodge No. 20 will
meet Monday, September 18 at
7:30 p.m. in the Hermann Sons
Hall.
® VFW and Auxiliary will
meet Thursday, September 14
at 8:00 p.m. at the VFW Home.
Bring bowl and spoon.
9 RVOS Lodge No. 84, Shiner,
will hold its meeting Sunday,
September 17 at 1:00 p.m. at
the Farmers Coop Office.
® REGULAR Stated Communi-
cation of Shiner Lodge No. 1065,
A.F. and A.M. will be held Mon-
day, September 18. Brethren in-
vited to attend.
© ST. ISIDORE Society will
meet Sunday, September 17 at
1:30 p.m. in the Parish Gym.
All members are urged to attend
this quarterly meeting.
Vaclav F. Fuchik
Buried Tuesday
Funeral services for Vaclav
F. (Jim) Fuchik were held
Tuesday, September 12 at 3:00
p.m. at the Buffington Funeral
Home in Shiner. The last rites
were conducted by Rev. Edwin
J. Oehlke, pastor of United Dr.
Martin Luther Church. Burial
took place in the Shiner City
Cemetery.
Mr. Fuchik was born Sept-
ember 12, 1884, in Czechoslo-
vakia. He came to America in
1906, at the age of twenty-one.
Having found employment and
a home in the Moulton com-
munity, upon his arrival from
Europe, he continued to live in
this same general area of La-
vaca County for the remainder
of his life. In his native coun-
try, as a child, he had received
the sacrament of Christian Bap-
tism.
In February of 1912 he was
married to Miss Louise Kubos
who had been reared in the Mo-
ravia community. Six children
were born to Mr. and Mrs. Fu-
chik, three of whom survive the
father’s passing, namely, Wil-
liam of Alice, Edwin at home,
and Alfons of Yoakum. He is al-
so survived by his wife and two
CARLA’S AFTERMATH—This is a typical scene of many in Shiner left in Carla’s path. This was
taken at Legion Park where almost all of the beautiful shade trees on the grounds were de-
stroyed. The above was west of the dining hall where trees were broken and uprooted taking
with them utility poles and snapping wires. —Staff Photo
© MANY REFUGEES J
SHELTERED HERE ;
Hurricane Carla, considered
the most vicious storm of its
kind in modern history, roared
into Shiner with full force Mon-
day night, leaving a path of pro-
perty destruction and debris,
but miraculously sparing the
entire area of casualties.
Winds of approximately 70
miles per hour roared in early
Monday evening, and continued
to pick up velocity until the eye
of the storm passed over Shiner
shortly before midnight, in-
creasing the strength to 100
miles per hour. It is estimated
that gusts of wind reached as
high as 140 miles per hour dur-
ing the height of the storm.
The barometer readings in
Shiner reached a low of 28.07
at 11:00 p.m. Monday and held
this position for about 30 min-
utes. Just after 11:30 it began
to rise to 28.12 and at midnight
was up to 28.40.
The storm formed outside the
Gulf of Mexico early last week,
and by Saturday afternoon had
headed into the Gulf of Mexico
and toward the Texas-Louisiana
Coast. A stream of refugees,
largest in history, headed away
from the Gulf Coast area in
seek of shelter. Many radio and
TV reports described the mass
exodus as something unheai d
of in modern history. At one
time a number of highways
were lined with cars and trucks,
bumper to bumper for miles
and miles. An estimated 500,000
persons left their homes, head-
ing away from the danger areas,
not knowing where they would
find shelter.
® MAYOR CALLS
SPECIAL MEETING
At 12:30 p.m. on Monday,
Mayor Arthur Kaspar called a
meeting at the City Hall to set
up preparations for a possible
major disaster. The meeting was
well attended by the citizens
and local businessmen. The Shi-
ner Volunteer Fire Department
offered their services for an
“Around the Clock” watch, with
headquarters set up at the fire
station. Numerous citizens who
own station wagons were asked
to stand by for call, in the event
they were needed for ambul-
ance service. Drs. Robert and
Dennis Wagner announced that
in the event treatment was
needed, headquarters would be
set up in the Hermann Sons
Hall.
• SHELTERS SET UP
A number of shelters were set
up for refugees beginning Sat-
urday and continuing through
Tuesday night. Among these
were the Shiner Public School
and Gym, Parish Gym, City
Hall, Lutheran Social Hall,
VFW Home, plus numerous pri-
vate homes. During the mam
impact of the storm, many local
citizens along with refugees
were housed in the two gyms
and public school. It is estim-
ated that as many as 900 were
housed there for the night.
City officials were also con-
cerned about Shiner’s Negro pc -
pulation and during the after-
Fojtik, Henry Gross-
Anton M. Stary and
Kacir.
Witting Parish To
Hold Picnic Sept 24
The St. Anthony Catholic
Parish of Witting will hold its
annual Fall Picnic on Sunday,
September 24.
The usual entertainment, re-
freshments, and family style
meals will be available on the
grounds. Make plans now to at-
tend the Witting Picnic Sunday,
September 24. (37-2t)
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Sedlmeyer, Lee J. & Sedlmeyer, Mrs. Lee J. The Shiner Gazette (Shiner, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 37, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 14, 1961, newspaper, September 14, 1961; Shiner, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1171349/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Shiner Public Library.