Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 131, No. 69, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 29, 2013 Page: 2 of 16
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Page 2A
POLK COUNTY ENTERPRISE
Thnraday, August 29,2013
Gun Show
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HD
Livingston Eye Center
I
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Comprehensive Eye Exams • Optical Shop
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410 East Church Street • Suite A • Livingston
Patients Seen by Apportnent • Medkare Welcome
Major Credit Cards Accepted
Sat., Sept 7
9 - 5 PM
Sun., Sept 8
10 - 4 PM
Public Invited to
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by High Caliber, Inc
Under 21 with parent only
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Convention Center
FREE PARKING
No Sign ftp Fees &
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4 Tanning (Maw Extwn. Bronzing BuKm)
oodrich City Council
pproves new tax rate
EKTERPRISF. PHOTO BY VALERIE REDDELL
BY BRIAN BESCH
Reporter
pcenewsroom@gmail.com
tie Goodrich City Council
Thursday to set the 2013
rate at 0.5084 cents,
tie new rate will be
ind four cents less than
very $100 from last
■’s tax rate, which was at
115.
lere are two components
he city of Goodrich’s
ate. There is a
itenance and operation
rate and a debt service rate.
The debt service rate is
set by the amount of debt
payments that the city has to
make for 2013.
Goodrich set a debt tax
rate for debt service rate at
point 0.3818 to pay bond
payments for 2013. The
maintenance and operation
rate will be set at 0.1266.
Nita Gokey motioned to
set the tax rate at 0.5084,
which was approved
unanimously by the council.
Shown from left: Pet. 1 Commissioner Bob Willis, Bobbye Wade, Pet. 4 Commissioner Tommy Overstreet,
Joanne Westmoreland, Joyce Johnston, Dicki Alston, Bid Smith, Historical Museum Curator Wanda Bobinger,
Historical Commission Chairman Patricia Snook, County Judge John Thompson, Josh David, Pet. 2 Commis-
sioner Ronnie Vincent, Pet. 3 Commissioner Milt Purvis. Not pictured: Kelly Shadix.
County historical commission gets
state Distinguished Service Award
AUSTIN- The Texas
Historical Commission
(THC) recently recog-
nized Polk County with
a Distinguished Service
Award for the 2012 year of
service. This award was pre-
sented during a meeting of
the Commissioner’s Court
on Aug. 27 and recognized
their County Historical
Commission (CHC) for man-
aging preservation programs
that educate citizens and gen-
erate interest in the history
and character of Texas. This
award also acknowledges
the CHC’s efforts to preserve
Texas’ unique heritage by
promoting stewardship of,
and tourism to, our state’s
unique cultural and historic
sites.
“The Distinguished Service
Award is our agency’s way of
affirming County Historical
Commissions that continue
to improve and expand their
preservation programs,” said
THC Executive Director
Mark Wolfe. “The Texas
Historical Commission works
with CHCs to save the real
places and tell the real stories
of Texas. Join us in honoring
the Polk County Historical
Commission for their dedica-
tion and hard work .”
Unlike most states, Texas
counties have the legislative
authority to establish CHCs
to initiate and conduct pro-
grams that preserve historic
and cultural resources. Texas
CHCs are made up of un-
paid county appointees who
reported volunteer hours for
the 2012 year of service that
had a monetary value of more
than $8.8 million. The THC
provides services to CHCs,
Surfing the web is tougher in Rural Texas
BY CORRIE
Mac LAGGAN
Texas Tribune
TL Tic Sowell had no
\ / internet service at his
T Palestine home and
a laptop he barely knew how
to use when it struck the East
Texan that his granddaughter
knew more about computers
than he did.
"It was a wakeup call,” the
52-year-old retired correction-
al officer said of that moment
earlier this year with Raina,
5, who studied computers in
preschool. "There’s a whole
generation of us that just got
passed by.”
Thirty-one percent of Texas
adults don’t have broadband
— high-speed internet — at
home, according to Connected
Texas, a nonprofit commis-
sioned by the state to create
maps of broadband cover-
age. But 4 percent of Texas
households lack broadband
availability, the nonprofit said,
showing that many who could
get it choose not to do so.
Both numbers are similar to
the U.S. average.
“Everyone assumed if you
make it available, they'll use
it,” Don Shirley, executive
director of Connected Texas,
said of broadband. “An in-
dividual who’s never experi-
enced it isn’t clear how they’ll
gain from it.”
In rural areas across the
country, broadband adoption
continues to lag behind urban
areas, in part because it is less
available but also because not
everyone is convinced it will
enrich their lives. For resi-
dents who are elderly, black
or Hispanic, poor or less edu-
cated, that urban/rural gap has
grown, according to a 2013
National Agricultural & Rural
Development Policy Center
report. (Editor's note: That
report, using 2010 data, shows
that only 40 percent of Polk
County households have an
Internet connection at home.)
“There has been huge
progress over the last 10 to
15 years in people acquiring
broadband and incorporating
it into aspects of their daily
lives,” said Sharon Strover,
one of the report’s authors and
a communications professor
at the University of Texas
at Austin, where she directs
the Telecommunications and
Information Policy Institute.
“As the population of non-
users shrinks numerically,
that set of people who are not
adopting becomes the group
that is really harder and harder
to reach.”
Some of those who do not
have broadband at home —
via technology such as a cable
modem, DSL or fiber — may
have a slower dial-up inter-
net connection. Those who
advocate for greater broad-
band adoption say that only
broadband allows people to
access all that the internet has
to offer, including movies,
social media and video chat-
ting. Strover says that mobile
devices aren’t always the solu-
tion, because wireless service
can be slower in rural areas
and because some tasks —
say, creating and submitting a
resume — aren’t easily done
on a mobile phone.
For Sowell, it wasn’t that in-
ternet access was unavailable
or too expensive, but that he
didn’t know how to do much
besides visit eBay.
A couple of months ago, he
signed up for free computer
classes at a public library in
tiny Buffalo, southwest of
Palestine. Since then, he's
delved into a mysterious world
of copying and pasting and
learned how to find instruc-
tional fly-fishing videos on
YouTube.
“I still don’t know a lot, but
I feel so much better now, not
having to ask my son or ask
my granddaughter.” he said.
“Our teacher doesn’t make us
feel stupid.”
His instructor, Betty Heffler,
works for Houston-based
Technology for All, which
leads a coalition that runs 94
public computer centers in
Austin, Houston, San Antonio
and rural Texas.
Her supervisor, Fran Hunter,
said it’s not always easy to
convince people that the
classes will help them, so the
organization does outreach at
churches.
“Let’s face it — computer
access is not a sexy topic,”
said Hunter. “Sometimes it’s
difficult to get the people in
that need us the most.” It’s un-
clear whether the Technology
for All classes will continue
after the organization’s federal
grant runs out at the end of
this year. Over the last several
years, broadband’s urban/rural
divide has remained largely
consistent: In 2010 the “metro/
nonmetro” gap was 13 per-
centage points, the same as it
was in 2003, according to the
National Agricultural & Rural
Development Policy Center
report. But that gap has grown
for groups with historically
low levels of broadband adop-
tion. For example, households
in metropolitan areas headed
by people ages 60 and older
increased broadband adoption
at a faster rate than those out-
side metro areas, leaving the
rural elderly further behind,
Strover and report co-authors
Brian Whitacre and Roberto
Gallardo explained in the
Daily Yonder, a website for
rural news.
“One reason we should be
concerned is that increasingly,
more and more government
services as well as retail ser-
vices are shifting to online
availability,” Strover said.
Online is often the only
option for applying for a
job. appealing a tax bill, por-
ing through health benefits
choices or completing school
assignments, leading to an
even greater digital divide,
Shirley said.
In East Texas, Sowell still
doesn’t have internet at home.
In the meantime, he and his
wife rely on McDonald’s or
the library.
“It’s something I will be
having at home eventually,”
he said. “We will definitely be
on the Net.”
PCFWSD gets go-ahead
on environmental study
as well as citizens across the
state, to preserve Texas’ heri-
tage for the use, education,
enjoyment, and economic
benefit of present and future
generations. CHC contribu-
tions include the preservation
of countless historic build-
ings, artifacts, documents,
and other components of
Texas’ rich history.
For more information about
the Distinguished Service
Award, visit www. the .state,
tx.us or contact the History
Program’s Division at 512-
463-5853.
BY LEW VAIL
Enterprise staff
lewvail@eastex.net
ONALASKA - The Polk
County Fresh Water Supply
District tt2 (PCFWSD#2)
held its regular monthly
meeting on Aug. 22 in the
facility’s boardroom.
KSA Engineer Jimmy
Thompson reported that the
Economically Distressed
Area Program grant has fi-
nally received environmental
studies clearance and the
design process can begin. He
reminded all that the project
impacts a scattered number
of projects including work
on Hayes Lane, Magnolia,
Royal Oak, Sunnyland, the
Pine Harbor area along with
work around Water Tower
Road. The grant agency has
approved the work to be
done by in-house personnel
rather than hiring a contrac-
tor, but not yet in writing.
The district is also in the
process of renewing the
wastewater treatment plant
permits.
During the operations
managers’ report, the prob-
lem of running into rock
formations while working
on the Onalaska Loop was
discussed. Recently, work
needed to be outsourced
work that the district’s equip-
ment could not handle. There
is a plan to purchase a pneu-
matic hammer for the Kubota
tractor. The options are a
300 lb. tool for an estimated
$8,000 or a 500 lb. tool for
around $10,000. The rock
was from 18 inches below
the surface to a depth of four
feet. The initial outsourced
work only covered about 260
feet. The project will furnish
sewer to the Onalaska Sports
Complex and the Onalaska
City Park. Jones said the
work will be completed to
serve an area that provides
sports and entertainment for
many children in the com-
munity and the board felt it
was the only way to finish
the work.
The board considered set
the tax rate at $0,373 and feel
it can be lowered to $0,358
and still generate sufficient
funds to operate the system,
due to the increased val-
ues set by the Polk Central
Appraisal District (PCAD).
The board set a meeting for
Sept. 12 at 3 p.m. for a tax .
hearing and will hold the
regular September meeting
following at 3:30 p.m., with
both meetings at the district
offices.
During the office manag- •
ers’ report, combined totals
for June and July showed -
users up to 2,190; 26 account
changes due to ownership,
four new connections, 44
rate orders/applications, 33
title inquires with seven per-
mits issued and 136 commer-
cial accounts.
BURGLARY
continued from page 1A
controlled substance.
The other suspect, a
juvenile who was also from
Indian Springs, was charged
with burglary of a habitation
and transported to the
juvenile detention center in
Conroe.
Detectives with the
Sheriff’s Office are
continuing the investigation
of burglaries in the Indian
Springs area and expect to
make more arrests.
Facing a crisis?
Help is just a phone call away.
1-800-392-8343
Burke Center staff members answer
questions and offer mental health
assistance to all East Texas residents
.
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Reddell, Valerie. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 131, No. 69, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 29, 2013, newspaper, August 29, 2013; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth657087/m1/2/?q=Homecoming+queen+1966+North+Texas+State+University: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.