The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 135, No. 98, Ed. 1 Monday, February 6, 1989 Page: 1 of 25
twenty five pages : ill. ; page 19 x 12 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.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:
TEXAS*
OLDEST
WEEKLY
NEWSPAPER
Vol. 135, No. 98
^ (Hmmtn Jfeftrs
25«
Since March 1, 1853
Bastrop, Texas
X
C"
Ct-
rl'
iX
O
T—
•wi
9
3
C
r*.
c
N
•r
—
u
zz
z
X
cc
r--
s—
a
~p
T
0".
c
u
Li-
X
!—
5
cc
c
G
2
r'.
—
-r-i
!—i
«3"
-J
rr
C
CN
C-i
'S-
f-i
, county vying
to attract former
Bastrop manager
Both Bastrop County and City of
Bastrop officials want to put retired
Bastrop city manager Bill Cox to
work again—on different economic
development projects.
County Judge Jimmy Copeland
has been promoting a plan to hire
Cox as a county wide business and
industrial recruiter with Elgin,
Smithville and Bastrop picking up
part of the cost.
But during a Bastrop council
retreat last week, council members
endorsed a suggestion to engage
Cox as a special resource person
to explore new avenues for reviv-
ing the defunct Bastrop Hospital.
City Manager Henry Cunnin-
gham Jr. has discussed the position
with Cox. But Cunningham said
Friday he hasn't fully persuaded
Cox to accept the job.
The suggestion to engage Cox,
however, has the enthusiastic en-
dorsement of Hospital Authority
board chairman and former county
judge Jack Griesenbeck, Cunnin-
gham said.
"We have a real problem (with
the hospital closed)," Cunningham
said. "And I can't do that much
(toward finding a solution)" in ad-
dition to discharging other respon-
sibilities as city manager, he said.
"I recommended Cox as a
resource person to focus on the
(medical services) gap in Bastrop,"
Cunningham said. "He could iden-
tify the alternatives available to us
and how to fund them."
Since the hospital fell into a
financial crisis and closed last year,
the city manager has insisted its ab-
sence presents an economic
problem for the city as well as a
health services crisis.
The hospital was a major em-
ployer in the city and a key element
in attracting new business and in-
dustry to the area, he argues.
After county commissioners re-
fused to adopt a resolution which
would have cleared the way for a
referendum on a hospital tax dis-
trict to reopen the facility, the
hospital authority board agreed last
week to explore other options-
short of a full-service hospital—
which could restore some medical
services to the community.
Many combinations of special-
ized health care services with pri-
Continued on Page 2
9 ■' '
Inmate slashes throat in jail
Child assault suspect used jailhouse razor, sheriff says
Smaller cities organize here
to fight LCRA rate request
ispiS iff • '.;u •;
By Davis McAuley
' Prftfcp^cts for Lower Colorado
River Authority officials to reach
agreement with wholesale electric
customers on a $46 million rate re-
quest faded at a Feb. 1 meeting in
Bastrop.
Also last week the state agency
charged with defending the interest
of residential and small business
utility consumers said it has reser-
vations about the prudence of some
strip mine costs LCRA wants to
recover in the pending rate case.
In Bastrop Wednesday,
representatives of 16 small cities
which buy LCRA power met at the
Opera House and agreed to reject
a settlement proposal because they
say the plan for dividing costs
among large and small wholesale
customers is unfair.
"I couldn't be more pleased"
with the meeting result, said Bas-
trop City Manager Henry Cunnin-
gham Jr. who joined Mayor David
Lock and council members Neil
Gurwitz and James Lambert to host
the session.
The city representatives also
agreed to organize an effort to ar-
gue on behalf of their retail power
customers before the Public Utili-
ty Commission.
At the meeting, Smithville
Mayor Vernon Richards said he
will urge his city council to back
the effort.
Originally scheduled for this
month, the start of public hearings
on the LCRA request was delayed
by a PUC hearing examiner until
March in hopes the parties can
agree on how much additional
revenue LCRA needs and how to
split the cost among wholesale cus-
tomers.
A meeting between LCRA and
wholesale customers to discuss a
settlement is scheduled today in
Austin.
At Wednesday's meeting in Bas-
trop, the small city representatives
named a six-member steering com-
mittee for their fledgling organiza-
tion and told the panel to reject a
settlement proposal currently on
the table.
The rate structure which is part
of the proposal will unfairly benefit
some larger electric distribution
cooperatives and penalize smaller
cities, said Yoakum City Manager
Mark Stubbs and Fredricksburg
utility director Jerry Bain.
Previously LCRA officials have
said the rate structure is the issue
which is ftirtherest from resolution.
Also last week an attorney for
the Office of Public Utility Coun-
sel said his agency and the gener-
al counsel for the PUC have been
excluded from settlement talks so
far.
OPUC Deputy Counsel Carlos
Higgins said Friday he has formal-
ly asked the PUC hearing examiner
... Continued on Page 2
Noe Rivas of Bastrop, a suspect
in the aggravated sexual assault
Of'it? child, is loaded into the
StarFlight helicopter Thursday
after he cut his throat.and wrist
in the Bastrop County Jail. Bas-
trop County Sheriff Con Reirsev
(left) and Deputy Jim Burnett
(right) supervised EMS person-
nel as they loaded Rivas for the
trip to Brackenridge Hospital in
Austin. Photo by Cecil Johnson
Injunction returns disputed areas
to City of Garfield jurisdiction
A state district court judge in
Austin Friday issued a temporary
injunction forcing the Village of
Garfield to take back the Colora-
do River Ranchettes, a subdivision
disannexed in a 3-1 vote last July
by the Garfield City Council.
The injunction prevents the city
from enforcing the July action un-
til the legality of disjoining the ter-
ritory can be decided in court, said
Austin attorney Darwin McKee,
who represents a group of residents
living in the discarded subdivision.
"For all purposes, the River
Ranchettes are back in Garfield,"
said McKee. "The people can vote
and participate in all city govern-
ment matters," he said.
Since the disannexation, Garfield
Mayor Bennie Ellis denied resi-
dents of the Ranchettes, like former
planning committee chairman
James Conquest, the right to speak
during Garfield City Council
meetings.
Conquest and several other resi-
dents of the subdivision, filed a
lawsuit against the city following
the council's July action.
"We tried to resolve it without
going through legal channels, but
it wouldn't work, so we had to take
legal action," said Conquest on
Friday,
McKee said the court action also
returns property claimed by Bas-
trop, as part of their extra-
territorial jurisdiction, to Garfield's
city limits.
City of Bastrop officials have
said when Garfield established its
boundaries, the village annexed a
thin strip that cut into Bastrop's
ETJ. The disputed territory was
part of the land disannexed by
Garfield in July.
The action to return the land to
the Bastrop ETJ left the Ranchettes
physically disconnected from the
rest of Garfield, so the subdivision
was disannexed by council mem-
bers, who said state law requires
city boundaries to be contiguous.
The three council members who
voted to disannex the land, amid
protests by then Garfield Mayor
Richard Hanshew, were elected to
the council in May.
One veteran council member ab-
stained from the vote and council
member Faye Hulsey, who is a
resident of the Ranchettes. voted
against the action.
Conquest said residents of the
Ranchettes believe the way the
council disannexed the subdivision
was against state law.
"They disannexed the Colorado
River Ranchettes by ordinance and
a vote of three for, one against and
one abstention," said Conquest.
"To disannex us, in a general
law city, they would have to have
a petition from the residents of the
area to be released. There was no
petition," he said.
Hulsey said he will recommend
that the city annex along the
Colorado River to link the Ran-
chettes with the rest of the city. The
city could then disannex the disput-
ed Bastrop territory and still keep
the Ranchettes within the city
limits, he said.
Conquest said although residents
of the Ranchettes were expected to
pay city taxes through December
Continued on Page 2
By Cecil Johnson
A 40-year-old Bastrop man,
charged w ith the aggravated sex-
ual assault of a child, was rushed
by helicopter to Brackenridge
Hospital in Austin Thursday after
he cut his throat and wrist in the
Bastrop County Jail.
Bastrop County Sheriff Con
Keirsey said inmates discovered
Noe Rivas, of 1812 Garfield Street,
lying unconscious in a pool of his
own blood shortly before 4 p.m.
Rivas was taken to a landing site
beside the Bastrop Hospital build-
ing by Bastrop EMS. His condition
was stabilized, and he was flown
to Austin on the StarFlight
helicopter.
Rivas was treated for deep cuts
on his neck near his jugular vein
and on his left wrist, according to
Brackenridge spokesperson Kellye
Norris.
Keirsey said Rivas was locked in
his cell within a four-man unit at
the jail when his condition was dis-
covered by two other inmates.
He said Rivas used the blade
from a plastic safety razor to cut
his wrist and throat. The sheriff
said the throw-away razors are
. Continued on Page 2
Restoration
/
estimate due
Renovation cost
tops $1.5 million
Bastrop County commissioners
will get their first detailed look
Tuesday at estimated costs for
renovations and additions proposed
in a restoration master plan for the
historic Courthouste complex. "
The $1.5 million plan outlined
by architect Kim Williams includes
roof repairs to the jail and annex
built in 1974, landscaping, a
second-floor addition to the 1884
Courthouse and demolition of a
1942 annex building for addition-
al parking.
Commissioners will meet with
Williams at 1:30 p.m. in commis-
sioners courtroom.
The masterplan also outlines
costs for restoring the historic
character of the Courthouse,
returning the third floor to use and
adding office space in the 1892 Jail
building.
The second and third floors of
the Old Jail are presently unoc-
cupied.
The architect is expected again
to urge commissioners to remedy
existing fire and life safety hazards
in the historic buildings.
Commissioners, who ordered the
restoration masterplan last fall, will
later decide when and how to im-
plement the plan.
County Judge Jimmy Copeland
has said he favors completing the
project in stages over several years.
V
i
,
Smithville eyes RV park plan
seeks city help with 16-acre tract
Also pictured is Dan Rinehart
proposed location of a (right), owner of the land, and
new development on 16 acres in Nancy Catherman (second from
southeast section of the city.
!V' . ■ ■ : ' I
right) of the city's planning and
zoning commission. Photo hy
Cecil Johnson
Christian group
By Cecil. Johnson
Smithville City Council agreed
to pave the way for a new recrea- y
tional vehicle facility Friday in an
attempt to attract a group of rov-
ing Christians to a 16-acre tract of
land on the south side of town.
The council voted unanimously
to authorize Mayor Vernon
Richards to negotiate with a group
known as Roving Volunteers in
Christ's Service (RIVICS) on
capitol recovery and development
fees for undeveloped land owned
by Smithville resident Dan
Rinehan.
Richards proposed the city pave
a road into the property, furnish
utilities on the land, and charge the
group only half the cost of materi-
als. He said the labor needed to de-
velop the land can be furnished free
of charge by the city without ad-
versely affecting other city oper-
ations.
Richards said RIVICS is a group
of retired people who travel across
the country in recreational vehicles
building churches and doing volun-
1
teer work in depressed areas and
communities.
He said they own land in Flori-
da and are looking for a headquart-
ers in the Central Texas area.
Richards said the group is con-
sidering two parcels of land for a
settlement, including the 16 acres
in Smithville, and another tract of
land located in the Lockhart city
limits. He said they will chbose be-
tween the two sites, depending on
which city offers them the best
deal.
The mayor said city utilities run
up to, and can easily be extended,
onto the land. He said streets can
also be installed by city road crews
at very little cost.
Richards said if the group settles
in Smithville the population of the
community would increase by
about 75 people. This would bring
more money into the city's econo-
my, he said.
Richards said individuals in the
group would join Smithville
churches and have also expressed
interest in volunteering services for
charitable causes.
Richards said it would cost the
city about $38,000 for materials to
extend utilities and build streets on
the property. The figure includes
$24,637 to extend water and
wastewater service, $8,077 to ex-
tend electrical lines and $5,000 to
build the streets, he said.
Richards said labor costs are not
included in the figure and would
be waved to make the city's offer
more attractive.
Members of the council agreed.
"I think with this many people
coming in we should make this just
as lenient as we can," said Coun-
cil Member John Mayberry.
Council member Harold Ritch-
ie suggested giving Richards
authority to wave as much as 60
percent of the cost of materials.
This means the city would pay.-
$22,000 and the group would pay
$16,000 for developing the area,"
he said.
Richards said he will ask the
group to put down a deposit and
negotiate with them for payment
for the materials.
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.
McAuley, Davis. The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 135, No. 98, Ed. 1 Monday, February 6, 1989, newspaper, February 6, 1989; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth395169/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.