The Mercedes Enterprise (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 22, 1967 Page: 1 of 12
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The Merce
Mercedes, Texas, 78570, Thursday, June 22, 1967
MERCEDES PUBLIC LIBRARY
536 3RD ST.
CITY XXX
nterprise
Vol. 52 No. 25
Price 1 Oc
ENTERPRISE STAFF PHOTO BY DICK HARMAN
BISHOP MAHER , at right...and his sister, Mrs.
Vandersnick. (Story below.)
ABOUT CHECKS
All local merchants
and their representa-
tives are invited to at-
tend a briefing session
Thursday, June 22, to
hear discussion of new
check laws that will go
into effect on September
1. The meetings will be-
gin at 3:30 p.m. at City
Hall.
The two Mercedes
banks will host the pro-
gram.
Beginning September
1, Federal Reserve
Banks will no longer
process checks that do
not carry magnetic ink
symbols of the writer’s
bank.
“They are drop-outs from
society because their pug-
nacity is really a lack of
courage; they are timid and
have no fight; they do not
know that love is courage,
which they lack...that love
is strength, which they
lack.”
Those were comments
about ’hippies* and ‘love-
inners* from the Bishop of
the Santa Rosa Diocese of
California, a Diocese which
extends from the Oregon
border to the ‘hip* center
fringes at San Francisco
Bay.
And those comments were
made in Mercedes last week
by the Most Rev. Leo Maher,
here visiting a sister, Mrs.
Jerry Vandersnick.
Mrs. Vandersnick, by the
way, is part of an unusually
church-oriented family. An-
other brother, the Rev. Ray-
mond Maher, is pastor of
Blessed Sacrament Church
at San Rafael, Cal. Her sis-
ter, Sister Mary Clare, O.P.,
teaches at Our Lady of the
Snows school at Reno, Nev.
Mrs. Vandersnick is ac-
tive in Catholic church wo-
men’s organizations at the
diocese, state and national
levels. Last week she was
elected president of the
Catholic Women of the
Brownsville Diocese.
Bishop Maher is a Grand
Prior of the Holy Sepulchre
of the Nights and Ladies of
Holy Sepulchre, one of four
such honorees in the United
States. He represents the
West, Bishop Gorman the
South, Cardinal Spellman the
East and Cardinal Cody the
North.
And he has strong views
about ‘hippies*. They are
victims, he says, of tech-
nological educational sys-
tems, in which they miss
“all expansive thought de-
velopment*’, and of mater-
ialistic family lives.
Those who head for
‘hippieland*, says Bishop
Maher, are society drop-
outs who lack the courage
the ‘fight’ and the ideals
to face reality. “They are
so naive that they do not
realize that they are being
used by professional gang-
sters, by dope fiends, by
every low element in our
society,*’ the Bishop said.
What to do with them?
“Make them live up to
every law of the land. Teach
tnem that they are no excep-
tions to the laws that the
rest of us live by**.
Other offerings, in answer
to questions:
New California Gov. Ro-
nald Reagan — “He’s pro-
gressive and understands the
people’s problems. The man
is determined by the people
he calls in to help him. We
are waiting to see who will
control him. With the right
help, he can be a great US
leader.**
Starr county labor dis-
putes—“Growers and lab-
orers will solve nothing by
themselves. A third party,
the Government, must be
brought into the picture. On-
ly those three factors, work-
ing together, can make any
progress toward solving the
problem.**
WHEN THE GUARD CAME HOME — Representatives of the City Commission
welcomed Mercedes National Guard Co. B, 4th Battalion, 144th Infantry,
unit home from two weeks of active duty training at Fort Hood Sunday after-
noon. ABOVE the men unloaded in a hurry, BELOW, left to right, Commis-
sioners Grady Herold and Rey Zuniga, Platoon Sgt. Juan Balderas, 1st Lt.
Gilbert Pena (Commanding Officer), Mayor John W. Bowe.
ENTERPRISE STAFF PHOTOS
'Miss Mercedes'
Contest July 2
Visiting Bishop Defines 'Hippies'
Plans for a ‘Miss Merce-
des* contest, altered Christ-
mas decoration arrange-
ments and business holidays
for 1968 were announced by
the Chamber of Commerce
this week.
Entry deadline is June 30
for a contest to be conducted
July 2 to select a‘Miss Mer-
cedes*. Merchants are asked
to select contestants and to
sponsor them at $10 each.
Beauty and personality are
among the factors to be con-
sidered by the judges.
The girls must be resi-
dents of Mercedes, for at
least the last six months,
single and be no younger
than 16 nor older than 21.
Entries are to be made,
not later than June 30, to the
Chamber office, or through
Post Office Box 747.
Dick Harman is contest
chairman.
Downtowners will deco-
rate their own store fronts
for the Christmas season
this year, the Chamber has
decided. T o dodge the
expense of replenishing the
Chamber’s aging street de-
coration light strings, it has
been ruled that the C. of C.
will decorate only at the Hi-
dalgo, First and Second
street corners. Merchants
will be encouraged to deco-
rate their store fronts for
the holiday season.
In a poll conducted among
merchants by the Chamber,
the following days have been
set as no-business holidays
for 1968:
New Year’s Day, January
Memorial Day, May 30
Independence Day, July 4
Labor Day, September 2
Thanksgiving Day, Nov-
ember 21
Christmas Day December
25
Church School Next Week
Vacation Church School
at First Methodist Church
will get underway Monday
with registration at 8:30 a.m.
The church school will run
Monday through Friday from
8:30-11 a.m. daily.
It will be open to kinder-
garten-aged children be-
tween 4 and 6 through the
sixth grade.
Jaycees Host
New Prospects
First of a series of par-
ties and meetings between
Mercedes Jaycees and Jay-
cee prospects in Nuevo Pro-
greso and Rio Bravo, Mexi-
co, is set for 7:30 p.m.
Thursday. It will be a cook-
out at Sunrise Hill.
Local Jaycees are encour-
aging formation of Jay-
cee chapters in those two
Mexican cities as part of an
International Relations Pro-
gram of Texas Jaycees.
Tax Equalizers
Begin Meetings
Board of Equalization for
city and school district tax-
ing units begin hearings for
adjusting mineral and utility
assessments June 29 at the
downtown joint tax office.
Sessions will extend from
2 to 5 p.m.
Equalization Board mem-
bers are Paul Shrank, Clar-
ence Archer and Julio San-
chez.
Mrs. James Lauderdale
and Mrs. Howard Roman are
in charge of the week-long
program. Mrs. Buddy Ross
will head the refreshment
committee.
Teaching in the various
divisions will be Mrs. Dan
Morrison, Mrs. Milton Hild,
Mrs. Charles Greenwood,
Mrs. E. C. Jones, Mrs. Ro-
man, Mrs. Lauderdale, and
Mrs. Rex Franklin.
Assisting the teachers will
be Bobbie Kay Jones, Bar-
bara Harris, Marilyn Roa-
ch, Sharon Jones, Marianne
Sparrow, Linda Roman,
Martha Ann Warner and Ro-
salee Broughton.
Ginning
Begins, 3
Area Bales
Cotton ginning in the Mer-
cedes area began June 16
when the Nickels Gin in Ed-
couch ginned the first bale of
cotton this year in this area.
The first bale came from
irrigated cotton belonging to
Saul Bernales and weighed
484 pounds.
Elsa Co-op Gin ginned its
first two bales of cotton
Tuesday. The first bale
weighed 530 pounds and the
second, 505 pounds.
Other area gins have not
begun operation yet.
Last year because of hea-
vy rains the first bale for
this area wasn't ginned until
July 19.
Recreation Center
Due for Elderly
Hidalgo County Committee
on Aging and the Governor’s
Committee on Aging for Tex-
as signed a three-year con-
tract here Monday autho-
rizing a $70,470 Queen City
Retreat Community Center
in Mercedes.
The community center for
older Americans, both in
Mercedes and the surroun-
ding area, will operate out
of the present facilities,
Queen City Retreat, until
the new 80-unit Public Hous-
ing for the Elderly is com-
pleted later this year. Spe-
cial quarters will be pro-
vided for the center in the
new complex.
The new center will be fi-
nanced with 60 percent local
funds and 40 percent by the
federal grant. Mercedes is
the smallest community to
be funded by the Governor’s
Committee on Aging in Tex-
as and is the tenth project
financed under the Texas
plan of the Older American
Act.
A full-time director,
Mrs. J. N. Howell of Ed-
couch will be on duty at the
recreation center. Mrs.
Dewey Acker, head of the
Public Housing Authority in
Mercedes, will serve as
coordinator.
Activities planned for ol-
der Americans at the center
include card games, art
work, community parties,
ceramics, painting, glass
work, television, carving,
woodworking, and other fun-
ctions as they are suggest-
ed. Persons to teach these
crafts are now being sought.
“The whole community got
behind this project,** Mrs,
Acker, who coordinated all
local efforts to obtain the
funding for the center, said
Wednesday.
A grant total of $6,751
and a total expenditure of
$14,946 are set for the first
year. Those totals are $10,
693 and $27,970 for the sec-
ond year and $10,693 and
$27,554 the third year.
ENTERPRISE STAFF PHOTO
NEW M.H.S. FOOTBALL COACH MEETS TIGER STADIUM — Dale Hatley,
above, posed for this picture in front of Tiger Stadium (taking time off from
a current house-hunting mission). He toured the total facility, said he liked
what he saw. The new Mercedes high football coach and his family will be
moving to town in a few days.
Offices to 2 Girls Staters
This city’s two repre-
sentatives to Bluebonnet
Girls State in Austin this
week have been elected to
city offices in full-scale
election procedures. Bebe
Crooks, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Bob Crooks, is Police
Chief of City G. Her Girls
State attendance was spon-
sored by the Los E banos
Study Club through the Mer-
cedes American Legion Aux-
iliary. Sherri Schwarz,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Marvin Schwarz, whose at-
tendance was sponsored by
the Auxiliary, is City Trea-
surer of City B.
Girls State was organiz-
ed as a national American-
ism activity in 1937 by the
American Legion Auxiliary.
Non-partisan and non-poli-
tical, the purpose of the
Girls State Program is to
provide citizenship train-
ing for girls of high school
age, to afford them an op-
portunity to live together
as a self-governing group
and to inform them of the
duties, privileges, rights,
and responsibilities which
they will assume when they
become adults. They learn
the problems of government
by performing the same du-
ties as real office holders
Citizens are selected at
local levels principally on
a basis of character and
leadership from students
who have just completed
their junior year in high
school each year.
The 1967 session of the
American Legion Auxiliary
Bluebonnet Girls State has
grown from an experimental
conference of 94 girls, held
at Baylor University in 1941
to become the largest single
extracurricular educational
program for high school
girls in Texas. This year,
400 girls are in attendance,
plus two from Mexico City
making a total of more than
7,600 girls in Texas who have
participated in this top-level
citizenship program.
Former citizens of Girls
State and members of the
Texas American Legion
Auxiliary comprise the 60
members of the staff and
counselors who volunteer
their services to direct and
lead this program.
Associate Justice Meade
Griffin of the Texas Sur-
preme Court administered
the oath of office to the var-
ious elected state officials
of Bluebonnet Girls State
Monday, June 19, in the
Rotunda of the State Capitol.
Climaxing the session,
which began June 14 and ends
June 23, will be the selection
of two outstanding citizens
of 1967 who will be sent to
Gir Is N ational in W ashington,
D.C., by the American Le-
gion Auxiliary where the two
young representatives will
continue their study in res-
ponsibilities of the Republic.
ENTERPRISE STAFF PHOTO
SIGNED AND SEALED, $70,470 CONTRAC^.. .above, left to right, Mrs.
Dewey Acker, Housing Authority Director; O. E. Brashear, vice chairman of
Governor’s Committee on Aging; Mrs. J. N. Powell, community center di-
rector; Gordon Wood, Aging Committee Chairman. (Story at left.)
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The Mercedes Enterprise (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 22, 1967, newspaper, June 22, 1967; Mercedes, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1308636/m1/1/?q=war: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library.