The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 156, No. 24, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 23, 2009 Page: 1 of 12
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ELGIN SOFTBALL TEAM PUTS IT ALL ON THE LINE IN PLAYOFFS • SPORTS B1
[Che jBastrop SUtoertiser
Texas' Oldest Weekly Newspaper Since March 1, 1853 Semi-Weekly Since Sept. 5, 1977
Volume 156, Number 24
SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009
500
INSIDE
1
PIE AWARDS
The Bastrop school district recently
honored its Partners ;n Education
youth and adult education mentors
and volunteers at a breakfast.
—Page A8
ELGIN ARSON
A young man is in jail after police
have accused him of setting fire to
his mother's home.
—Page A3
HONORED
Annie Lee Haywood recently was
honored for many years of service
to Heroines of Jericho Courts.
—Page A6
POLICE BLOTTER
■ On May 18, Officer Andres
Rosales was dispatched to the
Radio Shack at 494 Texas 71 West
for a burglary alarm. After Rosales
arrived, he discovered the front
glass door of the business was
shattered, according to the police
report. The store was cleared with
the assistance of Officers San-
dra Hernandez and Preston
Kyle, and the owner was contact-
ed. Several Terns were stolen from
the store, the report said.
■ On May 18, at about 8:04 a.m.,
Officer Daniel McManus was
notified by an assistant principal
of Bastrop High School that one
of the portable buildings had been
broken nto. One projector was
stolen from inside the building,
according to the police report. The
case is still active with no known
suspects, the police report said.
■ On May 18, Officer Wesley
Hamrickwas dispatched to Wal-
Mart about a theft. Hamrick met
with a store employee who told
Hamrick he had seen a suspect
pick out some items and conceal
them in her purse and in her pants,
according to the police report. The
See BLOTTER, Page A5
WEATHER
SATURDAY FORECAST
HI: 85
LO: 64
ISOLATED T-STORMS
INDEX
Classifieds
Obits
Page B4
Pane B4
News
UpMirL
Pane A3
Sports
Pane A4
Pane B1
14 pages, two sections
Newsroom
(512) 321-2557
© The Bastrop Advertiser
We Recycle
AUSTIN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS
7 65668 78602 3
BISD
School buses unsafe?
School board hears complaints from drivers
BY TERRY HAGERTY
Assistant Editor
For now, the situation seems to be "he
said, she said," concerning the condition and
safety of Bastrop school buses.
At a Bastrop school board meeting Tues-
day night, some bus drivers for Durham
School Services, who operate the district's
school buses, claimed their buses have re-
curring mechanical problems that have not
been adequately addressed and that endan-
ger passengers.
In a meeting with the Advertiser on
Thursday, Henry Gideon, the district's op-
erations chief, and Brad Hambleton, a Dur-
ham School Services vice-president based in
Austin, challenged those claims.
In fact, Gideon called some of the claims
outright "lies" and said the buses are "safe."
Nevertheless, the renewal of the district's
five-year contract with Durham (for approx-
imately $3.45 million annually), initially ap-
proved by the school board on April 21, has
been put on hold while district officials work
with Durham to review their bus operations,
Gideon said. He said it was his decision to
recommend putting a hold on the contract.
Also, some of the drivers who spoke at the
Tuesday board meeting, including a bus safe-
ty trainer, were put on administrative leave
the day after speaking before the board.
At the board meeting, bus driver Renee
DeLoach claimed special needs students
have had seizures on her bus - without air
conditioning at one point - because the tem-
perature exceeded 106 degrees.
Robert Howe, a safety trainer for bus
See UNSAFE, page A5
LIBRARY
i
Libraries: Deep in the Heart of Texas
I
jjiPT~
Photo illustration by Cyndi Wright
The Beck brothers are gearing up for a summer of reading and taking advantage of the library's resources. Pictured, L-R: Jerry,
10, Alan, 12, and Michael, 9, were visiting the library on Thursday with their grandmother. They are the sons of Marty and Mary
Beck of Bastrop.
heck out summer reading
BY CYNDI WRIGHT
Editor
There's a new twist in the
Bastrop Pubic Library's 2009
summer reading program - for
every teen and child who com-
pletes the reading goal there
is a new book as a prize.
The library has purchased
500 books with multiple titles
appropriate to every age group
to choose from.
"Everyone will get a book
that reaches the goal," said
Sheilah Kosco, teen librarian.
Adults who complete the
goal can put their name in a
drawing for several nice gifts,
such as a day of golf.
According to Kosco and
Children's Librarian Bonnie
Ueckert, the library should see
MUSIC
about 800 children, 100 teens
and 350 adults sign up for the
summer program. Goals are
1,000 pages for children and
teens, and 2,000 pages for
adults.
The program kicks off this
year on Saturday, June 6 with
a party n Fisherman's Park
from 10 a.m. to noon. Called
"Deep in the Heart of Texas,"
the program is expected to en-
courage reading, but also to
get people involved with the
library.
"We want the children to
read during the summer,"
Ueckert said. "Studies show
if children read during the
summer, they do much better
when school starts back up in
the fall."
For teens, the library can
provide a safe place to hang
out, Kosco said.
"We have the same reading
See READING, page A5
Ready to Read
What parent doesn't
want to give their child
the edge when he or she
starts school? A program
offered at the local library
can do just that, according
to educators and librar-
ians.
The Ready to Read
program will be incorpo-
rated into the library's
summer reading program
See READY, page A5
Lokumbe to per form in Austin
Composer to
make debut
BY JACQUELINE DAVIS
Staff Writer
Acclaimed Bastrop
trumpeter and compos-
er Hannibal Lokumbe
has performed in many
places, from Detroit to
New York City to New
Orleans, but somehow
he's never had a serious
performance in his own
backyard, Austin.
Not that he hasn't
been offered the op-
portunity. It's just that
these days he chooses to
use his musical talents
See MUSIC, page A5
File photo by Terry Hagerty
Hannibal Lokumbe conducts the Lost Pines Community Choir at the Hyatt Lost Pines last
year.
MEMORIAL DAY
From
Omaha
Beach to
Bastrop
A meeting with history
BY JO ANN WILDER
Special to the Advertiser
Today I met a true American
hero. No, not a football quarterback,
a musician, a basketball player or an
actor/actress, but a real, by defini-
tion, hero. Often we forget who real
heroes are, the sacrifices they make
and what they represent, but the
other day I shook a hero's hand.
As I sat in a Bastrop restaurant
having breakfast, I looked up to see
a slightly stooped white-haired man
entering the establishment. He was
leaning heavily on his cane as he
rested after walking down the street
and he remained standing there a
bit, catching his breath and adjust-
ing his eyesight to the dim interior of
the cafe after which he ambled over
to my table and asked if he might sit
there across from me. I told him that
I always liked to have a handsome
man at my table, so jokingly he hesi-
tated and surmised that he should
find another table, which, of course,
he did not.
The first thing that caught my
attention was his World War II
veteran's cap, and as he carefully
removed it from his head and laid
it on the table, I wanted to know
about h is service in that war of wars,
and in which theater of operations
he fought. What was his job? Was
he scared? He related that he had
Memorial Day Ceremony
Monday, May 25
10-11 a.m.
Fairwiew Cemetery
been a soldier in the Army and was
one of the thousands of soldiers who
stormed the beaches at Normandy
on D-Day, June 6, 1944—his beach
was Omaha Beach, which suffered
the greatest number of casualties on
that historic day. He pulled out his
billfold and began searching through
its contents and after several min-
utes of conversation he pulled out a
business card size picture of some
troops advancing up Omaha Beach,
then pointed to one man who was
looking directly at the cameraman
and said, "That's me!"
With deep felt emotion, I extend-
ed my hand to shake his and said,
"Thank you!" Thank you for putting
your life on the line for our country,
thank you for caring, thank you for
being patriotic, thank you for your
See MEMORIAL DAY. page A5
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Wright, Cyndi. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 156, No. 24, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 23, 2009, newspaper, May 23, 2009; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth252584/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.