The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), No. 96, Ed. 1 Monday, February 5, 1979 Page: 1 of 10
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r 1 orw i i.*« Cea < or, J.: •. c.
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High speed auto chase captures three youths
Houston trio jailed
- j
** <9
Tall hats of the law, Rusty Edwards at left and Richard Hernandez at right escort
captured juveniles into County Jail. Staff Photo by Jim Tisdale
By DAVIS McAULEY
Possibly the longest police
chase of a fleeing vehicle
through Bastrop County
ended about seven miles east
of Giddings Wednesday
night when two tires on the
speeding 1975 Chevrolet
went flat and the car itself
caught fire and burned.
Eric Gicker, 18, of
Houston, was arrested along
with two Houston juveniles
and placed in Bastrop
County Jail.
Bastrop Patrolman Rusty
Edwards was notified about
10:30 p.in. to watch for the
car after the youths al
legvdly drove away without
paying for $8 worth of
gasoline in Smithville.
Edwards spotted the car
"on top of the hill on
Highway 71" and the trio
fled toward Elgin on
Highway 95, said Bastrop
Police Chief Adell Powell.
Sheriffs officers hurriedly
put up "about half a
roadblock" but were unable
to stop the speedsters before
they reached Elgin. There
the chase turned down I'.S.
290 toward Giddings at
speeds near 100 miles per
hour, and was joined by
Elgin police. Deputy Sheriff
Richard Hernandez and DPS
Patrolman Tommy Moseley.
Shotgun blasts from
Hernandez and others failed
to slow the ear. Also
"bottles and boxes" were
hurled from the fleeing
vehicle in an apparent effort
to impede pursuit, said
Powell.
The chase ran through yet
another road block set up by
Giddings police who then
joined the chase, which
enik'd only when the Chevy's
tires were flat and the car
ciuighi fire, about 10:50 p.m.
When examined by police,
the car had "10 to 12 shotgun
hok's." said Powell.
Powell said the chase
covered between 55 and 60
niik's. He called it "the
longest chase ever in
Bastrop County."
The car belongs to the
father of one of the arrested
youths, and "the daddy will
file charges" of theft, said
Powell.
t5< (Ejjt lastrog .pbertiscr.
Bastrop County's Leading Newspaper - Since March /, /853
Monday, February 5,1979
Bastrop, Texas
Number %
Say seven burglaries solved
Smithville police arrest six
The arrest of six persons
and the recovery of approx-
imately $2000 worth of
merchandise has "solved" at
least seven seperate bur-
glaries, two of them pre-
viously unreported, accord-
ing to Smithville police.
Police chief Tommy K.
Simon said a neighbor
alerted police by reporting a
suspected burglary in prog-
ress at 10:16 p.m. Wed-
nesday.
Simon answered the call,
he said, and arrested two
suspects who fled in a car
from a house at 605 Ramon
Street in Smithville. "They
weren't real serious" about
eluding capture, he said.
The two were taken to
Bastrop County Jail and
interrogated, one of them
giving investigators a state-
ment that night, he said.
Another statement was
taken on Thursday morning.
Then about noon Thurs-
day Smithville police, plus
Step toward lignite
Boiler test at LCRA
By DAVIS McAULEY
Representatives of
Kintyre Enterprises, Ltd., of
Hong Kong were in Bastrop
Thursday taking measure-
ments, preliminary to test-
ing at LCRA's Sim Gideon
steam generating plant for
possible conversion of the
unit 1 boiler there to use
specially-processed coal in-
stead of natural gas as fuel.
Sim Gideon plant manager
Dan Boone said the next step
is for Kintyre to »'build a test
burner" which they "hope to
have" in about four months.
Testing the Australian-
developed process was to
have begun last month, but
Boone said he had been told
Money coming in
for Opera House
Over $2000 has been
collected on the eve of the
Opera House Association's
February membership cam-
paign, organizers said Sun-
day.
The money will be used
toward renovation of the
historic 1889 structure which
the association plans to open
for public and private
community and social
events.
The public is invited to a
meeting Wednesday at 7:00
p.m. at the Episcopal Church
parish hall where up-to-date
progress reports will be
given on the building and the
membership effort.
"With a varietv of
memberships, starting as
low as $5, we hope we'll be
able to enlist everyone in
town," said Mrs. Theo
Townsend, Opera House
Association president.
Co-ordinators for the drive
are Pinky Smith and
Minifred Trigg. Team
captains who are dividing up
the city and countryside for
door-to-door calls are Sandy
Barrett, Betty Chalmers,
Georgia Compton, Katherine
Kesselus, Cheryl Long, Aya
Rabensburg, Becky Rivers,
Louise Schaefer and Sheryl
Riddle.
Contributors of sustaining
funds so far include:
Councilman Adren Red Long
and Ruth Long, $500; Mr.
Cont. on Page 5
that Kintyre was behind
schedule due to a four to five
month delay in construction
of an Australian plant.
Developers of the
patented process claim that
it will clean most of the
sulphur and ash out of local
lignite and that it will double
the natural heating value of
the coal.
Initial tests, however,
would use a 50-ton sample of
"clean" processed coal from
Australia, according to
LCRA.
If LCRA like the results
of the test, it could order
further tests with nine 15
megawatt "composite
burners" designed to burn
coal, fuel oil, natural gas "or
any combination of fuels,"
according to an LCRA
announcement of the tests
last summer.
If both sets of tests pan
out, then LCRA would likely
contraet to buy processed
Australian coal to burn at
Sim Gideon for possibly
eight to ten years, said an
LCRA spokesman.
During that same time
LCRA will be trying to get
Federal permission to strip^
mine coal deposits at Camp
Swift for special processing
and use at the Sim Gideon
plant, said the spokesman.
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|««l been added lb# National Beginler ul lluimii I'limt Mri Hull) NmMh la
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officers from the County
Attorney and Bastrop Coun
ty Sheriffs office, armed
with "three warrants," raid
ed a house on 2nd Street in
Smithville, said Simon.
There three more suspects
were arrested. Officers also
found a quantity of goods,
including television sets,
electric heaters, rifles,
scopes, dishes, silverwariv
radios and tape recorders, he
said.
After further questioning
of the suspects, a sixth
arrest was made, Simon
reported.
Arrested
Upton, 20,
Sargent, 18,
were Edward
and Kenneth
both of Smith-
ville. Simon reported that
the other four in custody
were juveniles.
Police believe the arrests
clear up a series of
burglaries dating back as far
as January 25. These
include break ins at the
Marberger residence, the
Sam Houston Elementary
School and at 605 Ramon, all
in Smithville, plus two
previously unreported burg-
laries at a Smithville
restaurant.
In addition, the group of
youths is believed involved
in another burglary in
Bastrop County and one in
Fayette County, said Simon.
A Toyota driven by Michael Patrick Turola of Seabrook collided with a pickup driven by
Albert McDonald of Cedar Creek Koad about 5 PM Friday. Turola was eastbound on
Highway 71. McDonald was driving north on Highway 20. Turola suffered facial injuries
and was treated at Bastrop Hospital. Staff Photo by Jim Tisdale
Engineering starts for shop center
Engineers are taking core
drillings on the seven acre
shopping center site at
Chestnut and Main streets
and construction is expected
to start within 90 days, the
developer, Vestcor Inc., said
Friday.
The property is still
owned by Thomas Dyke but
Vestcor holds an option to
buy it and expects to take it
over by the end of this
month, the Vestcor project
director, Curtis Kinimonth,
said. "We're looking now at
an opening of the center this
fall," he said.
Several store chains "have
verbally agreed" to lease
space in the 65,000 sq. ft.
center "and we're develop-
ing our construction cost
figures, with the engineers
and architects" to calculate
the final square foot price on
the leases, Kininmonth said.
A super market, variety
store and drug store are
expected to be among the
initial occupants at the site,
he said.
Vestcor has built similar
centers at San Angelo and
College Station, he said, and
has one under construction
at Portland, near Corpus
Christi.
New title company plans to open here
Convinced that construc-
tion activity will be high in
Bastrop County in the next
few years, Surety Land &
Title Co. of San Marcos is
opening an office here.
"We expect to be licensed
in late spring and have
leased the corner office in
the Tower Theater Build
ing," said Arthur
Arredondo, Surety's execu
tive vice president.
Arredondo said the firm
will incorporate a new
company called Surety Land
& Title Co. of Bastrop.
He said he will spend most
of his time here at the start,
organizing an office force.
He's now looking for
temporary and permanent
personnel. "We're searching
for fulltime, professional,
career people who have
experience closing transac-
tions or being an abstractor
or title examiner" in addition
to the temporary office
workers, Arredondo said-
The Bastrop company will
have IBM computer termi-
nals which can receive and
transmit instant data to a
central computer file. "The
quickness that we can close
transactions will be our
selling point to banks,
savings and loans, realtors
and the public," said
Arredondo.
Surety Title was started
in 1977 by Don R. Hancock
and Pascual Piedfort, Austin
lawyers; J. David Holmes,
an Austin commercial
mortgage broker and Ar
redondo, a title manager.
"When we opened in San
Marcos, a number of persons
in Central Texas and in
Houston asked us why we
didn't start in Bastrop. They
said, 'There's plenty ofbusi
ness there.' We looked into
it and found they were
right," said Arredondo. "A
lot of people are anticipating
a lot of growth," he added.
Asked what services his
firm will provide, Arredondo
said: "We examine the title
to property being sold and
we certify that the mortgage
covers an equitable and
marketable title. We then
provide the title insurance."
He said Surety expects to
have three to five different
title insurance underwriters.
It was one of the
underwriting firms in
Houston that helped con-
vince Surety to locate here,
he said.
"They said why did you
overlook Bastrop- that will
be action place,"Arredondo
retailed.
Interior Department accepts
131 historic Bastrop sites
One hundred and thirty
one homes, buildings and
sites in Bastrop have been
added to the National
Register of Historic Places,
the first time a large number
of sites from one place in
Texas have been accepted at
the same time.
'This is the first multi
resources nomination that
has been accepted in Texas
and maybe in the nation -
it s a ne thing," Mra, Q,P,
Herndon, Chairman of the
County Historical Commia
moii, said Friday.
Nhe said the County
Historical Society and other*
have l»<» ii work inn for inure
i (mil ihre* year* I n gat Hi*
sites put on the national
listing.
Asked what significance
the listing has, she said:
"It's an indication the
building and sites have
historic value and should be
preserved. And it's evidence
that outside authorities
confirm our own local
judgment that these places
are significant."
According to Mrs, Hart,
don, the Mating may help the
sin* qualify for restoration
grant! And the large listing
will help give weight to work
underway on the real oration
ul the INMW Opera House,
said Dr. Curl la <i M< Donald,
one of I be campaigner* for
the Opera House restora
tion. The fact that the Opera
House is in a town with so
many officially recognized
historic buildings won't hurt"
when spoliations are made
for federal and private
restoration funds, he ex
plained.
Members
of the County
Cont, on tagv o
Wreck kills Maynard McMurrey
Allen Maynard Mi'Murrey,
20, aon of local attorney
Allen McMurrey Jr., vyaa
killed Saturday night when
hia pickup truck left a fuller
road to Highway 21 and
atruck a tree. The wreck
occurred northeast of Han
Marena.
Investigator* said M> Mm
rey waa alone in the truck
wha n Dm accident incurred
ll< tea* a atudeni al ib«
University of Texas.
Funeral services were
scheduled for II AM today
at the Firsf United Metho
dist Church. Keverends
J.Troy Hickman and Preaton
Adkiaon t^-re to officiate.
Burial wa* to follow at
Fatrview Cemetery,
tfwjrvlvor* include hw
tt»irnt§, Mr and Mr* Allen
I. Murrey Ji . brother
HlMyi ataier M*»y Allen,
both of Baatrop; grandpar
ents Mr.and Mrs. C.B.
Maynard of Bastrop and
Mrs Allen ft Murrey of
Houston.
Pallbearers al (he luneral
were to I** Tree Ktvers,
Hteve Rivers, Kivera Vut«
y.iid Bob Vineyard Hobby
Donaldson, Jeff Kniiih, Lit*
W'»m! Women and Hilly
M* Murrey
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The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), No. 96, Ed. 1 Monday, February 5, 1979, newspaper, February 5, 1979; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth602105/m1/1/?q=Simon+P+Holmes: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.