The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 135, No. 103, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 23, 1989 Page: 1 of 38
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' Recording
a buried
past
ii, P. i
•Rate plan nixed
I, p. 2
• Golfers defend title
I, p. 10
•Suspect's son sought
I, p. 3
Looking
for
careers
I, p. 5
texas'
oldest
weekly
newspaper
Vol. 135, No. 103
tUDtft ^astrop JVMierttser
Qlmmtu
it
bastrop
county
25*
Since March 1, 1853
Bastrop, Texas
Thursday February 23, 1989
Smithville
candidates
signing up
With the filing period barely un-
derway for the March 6 city and
school board elections, three can-
didates had already filed Tuesday
for places on the ballot for election
to the Smithville Independent
School District Board of Trustees.
Other cities and school districts
in Bastrop County reported that no
one had filed for places on their
ballots. The filing period in all the
city and school district elections be-
gan Monday and will continue until
5 p.m. on March 22.
Incumbent Place 7 Smithville
ISD board member Norman Thet-
ford filed for re-election Tuesday.
Thetford, who has served on the
board for the past three years, will
defend his position against Kevin
Brooks, a lieutenant in the Austin
Fire Department.
Thetford, 50, is in the oil busi-
ness and Brooks, 33, has been em-
ployed by the Austin Fire
Department for the past nine years.
Smithville insurance agent Mike
Saunders has filed for election to
Place 5 On the Smithville ISD
school board. Place 5 is currently
occupied by J.R. Scallorn. As of
2 p.m. Tuesday Scallorn, an em-
ployee of the Union Pacific Rail-
road, had not filed for re-election.
Saunders, 34, is the owner of
Saunders Insurance Agency.
The position on the Smithville
ISD school board, occupied by-
Trustee Joe Cooper, remained un-
contested as of 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Neither Cooper or anyone else had
filed for election to the Place 6 po-
sition.
Smithville City Secretary Gil
Barnes said as of 2 p.m. there were
no filings for places on the ballot
for Smithville City Council.
Up for election this year are the
positions occupied by aldermen
John Mayberry, Clinton Wright,
Harold Ritchie and Joe Robinette.
While past city council elections
have been held under the at-large
method where the top vote getters
automatically win the election, this
year's election, as well as all fu-
ture elections, will be conducted
under the place system method.
Under the place system method
there will be one winner for each
place on the ballot.
Mayberry currently occupies
Place 1; Wright, Place 2; Ritchie,
Continued on Page 2, Section I
U niform official blasts city reception
Mayor denies anti-growth
accusation by laundry man
RELAX, THE WORST MAY NOT BE OVER
' - A Tf T.'+ITIr < ,
Golfers at Tahitian Village en- clouds loomed over owners of the las bank posted the property for
joyed the sunshine this week, but riverfront golf course as a Dal- foreclosure March 7.
Lenders threaten foreclosure
By Davis McAuley
Parts of the Texas economy may
be recovering from troubles
brought on by low oil prices, a real
estate bust and a banking crisis; but
Bastrop County may not have hit
the economic bottom yet, recent lo-
cal developments suggest.
.Bastrop's largest shopping
center and a major recreational at-
traction have both been posted for
foreclosure by lending institutions
on March 7.
.The state comptroller's office
reported Christmas sales tax col-
lections down 6.6 percent coun-
tywide and down 8.45 percent in
Bastrop.
Allan Pape, owner of Bastrop
Stationers and president of the Bas-
trop Chamber of Commerce, said
the general assessment of business
owners recently is that Bastrop's
economy has bottomed out and is
poised for recovery. But the sales
tax report points to a different con-
clusion, he said.
"In our own business the last
two months have been encourag-
ing." Pape said. "By the same
token the sales tax report shows
that many or our commuting wor-
kers shop elsewhere. We still have
to earn consumer loyalty" for Bas-
trop retailers, he said.
Empty store fronts and lagging
Continued on Page 2, Section I
Classified II, p. 3
Deaths ....I, p. 9
Letters I, p. 4
People I, p.8
Sports I, p. 10
Robber gets 70 years
for heist in Smithville
A 24-year -old San Antonio man
waived a trial by jury Tuesday and
recieved a 70-year sentence for the
September 24, 1988 robbery of a
Smithville 7-11 store.
Reynaldo Hernandez, who spent
several weeks in the hospital after
his legs were crushed in an acci-
dent involving an off-duty Bastrop
County deputy sheriff, received his
sentence with little show of emo-
tion after he pled guilty to the crime
before 21st District Court Judge
John Placke.
District Attorney Charles Penick
said he was happy that Hernandez,
who has two previous felony con-
victions, and defense attorney
Steve Orr, agreed to the 70-year
sentence. —
Penick said had the case gone to
trial, jurors may have been sym-
pathetic to his injuries and sen-
tenced him to less time in the
(lenitentiary. He said the range pf
punishment for the crime was from
25 to 99 yean.
Hernandez was accused of hold-
ring a 7-11 clerk at knifepoint at
1 about 4:25 a.m. on September 24,
robbing the cash register and leav-
ing the store in the clerk's 1988
Mercury Cougar.
Prosecuting attorney John
Hawkins said die fact that the clerk
was never physically injured or
sexually assaulted during the rob-
bery also weighed in their decision
to offer the 70-year sentence.
Hernandez was stopped on
Texas Highway 71 approximately
30 minutes after the robbery by two
Bastrop patrolmen.
While the patrolmen were ques-
tioning Hernandez between their
patrol car and the Cougar, a car
driven by off-duty deputy Carl
White slammed into the back of the
patrol car.
The force of the impact pushed
the patrol car into the Cougar and
crushed Hernandez's legs between
the two vehicles.
White, who is now the Precinct
1&3 Bastrop County constable,
was charged with DWI. He later
said he was enroute to assist the
officers when the collision
curred. White pled
to the DWI charge.
Sue Denman, daughter of earty
First National Bank director W.
B. Ransom, was honored at the
financial institution's 100th an-
Bastrop banking Centennial
celebrated by First National
First National Bank held its
100th annual stockholders meeting
Feb. 14 as officials took time to
recall pioneer Bastrop bankers and
look back over recent hard times
as well as past achievements.
Bank president and director
Cecil Long reported deposits at the
end of 1988 passed $73 million, up
from $67 million in 1987.
Profits slipped $60,000 to
$802,000 for the year, he said.
"Few banks in Texas have done
better than this," Long said.
"Very few."
Long, a director since 1946, at-
tributed the decline in pan to ad-
oc-£ded deposits in interest bearing
no contest" accounts as well as increasing the
bank's loan loss reserves by
By Cecil Johnson
An official with a new business
prospect for Bastrop charged Tues-
day that the Bastrop City Council
is anti-growth and the business will
locate elsewhere.
City officials rejected the charge.
Mayor David Lock said there
were many hurdles to be overcome
before Team Uniforms Inc. could
move into the Settlement on the
Colorado and receive city sewer
service.
"I don't think we were anti-
growth. I think we had some legiti-
mate concerns,"-said Lock.
Rex L. Klowetter of Team Uni-
forms Inc. said he felt like an "out-
cast" during the Feb. 14 city
council meeting.
He said although time constraints
were also a factor in his decision,
his reception by the council was the
main reason he ruled out the site
in Bastrop.
Klowetter and Settlement on the
Colorado owner Jack Peavy asked
the council to annex the Setdement,
an industrial development off the
Old Austin Highway near the
Griescnbeck Furniture and Appli-
ance Co.
They also asked council mem-
bers to provide sewer service to the
property and work with the county
toward the formation of an indus-
trial development zone which
would encompass the property and
provide opportunities for the bus-
iness to receive grant money to
move into the area.
Klowetter said Tuesday because
of the council's reception, his firm
will now choose from two locations
on Interstate 35 in Kyle and one lo-
cation on Interstate 35 in Buda to
build the plant.
Klowetter said he was offended
by council member Curtis Sander's
questions about financing for the
business. He said Sander's ques-
tions about his company's profit
margins and whether or not the
company was pursuing local
financing options were inap-
propriate.
"That kind of stuff is not talked
about in front of city council mem-
bers," he said.
At press time Tuesday Sanders
could not be reached for comment.
Klowetter said he noticed a dis-
crepancy between the efforts of the
Chamber , and those of the city
council that should be corrected.
He said while the Chamber and
Steve Rivers, chairman of the
Chamber's Economic Develop-
ment Committee, was willing to do
everything possible to cooperate in
the venture, the council seemed to
be "anti-growth."
"I really couldn't buy that. I
Continued on Page 2, Section I
County to consider
new sewer district
nual stockholders meeting last
week. Ransom's portrait is
among the bank's furnishings.
Staff Photo by Erlene Goertz.
$795,000 to $1.04 million during
the year.
Long said the bank's capital to
deposit ratio at year's end stood at
11.04 percent, more than double
the 5.5 percent required by regu-
lators.
Old bank records shared at the
session included recollections of all
day singing and "dinner on the
grounds" when First National went
into business in 1889.
Also\ecalled was 1914, the year
the bank joined the newly formed
Federal Reserve System and direc-
tors ordered W. A. McCord and
„ W. B. Ransom to install an inside
toilet. '
Bastrop County commissioners
are expected to take an initial step
Monday to create a special utility
district for an area north of Bastrop
plagued with septic tank problems,
illegal wastewater discharges and
an abandoned World War II-era
sewer system.
And in March the Lower Colora-
do River Authority staff will seek
board permission to proceed with
a feasibility study of rehabilitating
the U.S. Army sewer system left
behind when Camp 'Swift was
closed following World War II.
"At the March board meeting
we'll recommend participating in
the feasibility study," LCRA As-
sistant General Manager Mark
Rose said this week.
Earlier this month Bastrop
County commissioners offered to
pay up to $20,000 toward the cost
of the feasibility study after hear-
ing results of a survey showing that
more than two-thirds of residents
and property owners in Lake Bas-
trop and nearby subdivisions be-
lieve a central sewer system would
benefit the area.
The county's share of costs is
roughly half the estimated expense
of an engineering examination of
remaining parts of the abandoned
system in an attempt to determine
if rehabilitation would be cost ef-
fective.
When county commissioners
meet Monday they will consider a
resolution asking legislative
representatives to sponsor a local-
interest bill creating a 14-square-
mile utility district in the former
Camp tfwift area, according to
County Judge Jimmy Copeland.
The utility district bill would re-
quire residents of the area to ap-
prove creation of the district at the
ballot box, Copeland said.
The issue should not be put to a
vote until results of the rehabilita-
tion feasibility study are known,
the judge suggested.
With the feasibility study in
Continued on Page 2, Section i hand, residents should have a
reasonable idea of the potential
costs and benefits to the area.
Copeland said.
In the meantime efforts will con-
tinue to convince federal officials,
including U.S. Rep. Jake Pickle
and Sen. Llpyd Bentsen, that fix-
ing wastewater problems of the
Camp Swift area deserves some as-
sistance from Washington, the
judge said.
' 'The county has a problem," he
said, "but it's not our fault. "
County officials believe an un-
determined number of homes and
businesses in the area may be ille-
gally discharging wastewater into
parts of the abandoned sewer sys-
tem and polluting area streams and
ponds.
The federal government, which
left the old system in place when
the Army training camp was
closed, bears some responsibility
for correcting subsequent
problems, Copeland said.
Rose said LCRA's interest in
possibly operating a wastewater,
treatment plant to serve the area is
more than a question of offering a
new utility service in Bastrop
County.
"We need to work with the
county on it as an environmental
problem," Rose said. Whether a
central wastewater sysem for the
former Camp Swift area is needed
"is not just the question of a
monthly bill" for sewer service, he
said.
Copeland said likely boundaries
for the proposed utility district will
be Texas 95, FM 1441, FM 2336
and another north-south line to the
east of Texas 95.
The judge also said the county
health and sanitation department
has not sought out illegal connec-
tions to the abandoned sewers* in
hopes a better alternative than
building on-site disposal systems
can be developed.
"They have put enforcement on
hold at our request until we find a
solution," Copeland said.
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McAuley, Davis. The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 135, No. 103, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 23, 1989, newspaper, February 23, 1989; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth395185/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.