The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 137, No. 50, Ed. 1 Monday, August 20, 1990 Page: 1 of 8
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Texas' Oldest Weekly Newspaper
Since March 1, 1853
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Vol. 137, No. 50
Bastrop, Texas
Monday, August 20,1990
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Train crash takes life
Lifetime rancher killed at Hills Prairie
Bastrop rancher Kleber M. Trigg
Jr., descendant of a pioneer Bas-
trop area family, died Aug. 15 in
a car-train crash at Hills Prairie
south of Bastrop. He was 66.
According to Minified Trigg, his
wife, Trigg was out checking his
property on both sides of County
Road 204 where a nephew, Wes
Trigg, was bailing hay. Trigg,
oridinarily a very cautious man,
was looking to the right over the
fields as he turned left to cross the
Union Pacific railroad tracks, said
Mrs. Trigg. The windows were up
on his truck and apparently he did
not hear the train, she said.
Trigg was pronounced dead at
Teachers
in Elgin
win raise
By Janice Butler
Elgin school trustees approved
dipping into a fund earmarked for
a new track Wednesday in order to
give teachers a $300 local pay sup-
plement increase. The raise comes
in addition to a $200 increase
previously approved for 1990-91.
The board also approved a three
percent pay hike for support staff
members making $15,000 or more
and a five percent increase for
those making less.
These decisions came after
presentations from Elgin Educator
Association members Sherry
Moore and Becky Huggins and
from support staff representative
Rene Jonse.
Ms. Moore said the three major
teacher concerns were lack of a pay
raise for the support staff, use of
medical insurance and the local sa-
lary schedule for teachers. She said
the support staff needed raises
comparable to the teachers and ad-
ministration. Staff members with
outside health insurance, not
through the school, should be given
a choice of a supplement,-a tax
shelter or a supplement to their in-
come, she said.
Superintendent Paul Willis
joined in urging the raises.
“Remember, you have the best
teachers in the state. We have
asked them to go the extra mile
year after year since House Bill
72,” he told the board.
Test scores are up, the school is
cleaner and the teachers have been
making the extra effort, he said.
Trustee Robert Lundgren pro-
posed to give the support staff
Continued on Page 2
the scene at 5:15 p.m. by Precinct
1 & 3 Justice of the Peace Bill Hen-
derson.
Trigg was born February 5,
1924 in Bastrop to Kleber M. and
Margaret Jones Trigg Sr.
A 1945 honor graduate of Texas
A & M University, he was a deco-
rated veteran of World War II. He
served with General George Pat-
ton's 3rd Army in Europe as a 1st
Lieutenant.
For 35 years Trigg was the
Agricultural Stablization and Con-
servation Service office manager in
Bastrop and was a lifetime resident
and rancher in Hills Prairie.
He was a member of the Calvary
City eyes 8%tax hike
New secretary, finance director named
Kleber Trigg Jr.
Episcopal Church, James H. Per-
kins Post No. 533 American
_Continued on Page 2
In two steps toward a 1990-91
budget, the Bastrop city council on
Aug. 14 gave tentative approval to
an eight percent tax hike and autho-
rized a major reshuffle of City Hall
responsibilities.
Council Member Willie De La
Rosa cast the lone vote against a
1990 tax rate of 21.36 cents per
$100 value, up from the 1989 rate
of 18.56 cents.
Loss of more than $8 million
from city tax rolls this year means
a 1990 tax rate of 19.79 cents per
$100 value is necessary to bring in
the same revenue as in 1989, said
City Secretary JoAnn Wilcoxen.
The 21.36-cent rate should net
the city $234,500, up from
$215,000 in 1989, said Mrs.
Wilcoxen.
Final action to approve a new
budget and 1990 tax rate could
come when the council meets Aug.
23.
In the reorganization plan ap-
proved -last week, Mrs. Wilcoxen
will give up her position as city
secretary to become director of
finance and customer service.
Phyllis Mathison will be promot-
ed to city secretary and municipal
court clerk.
The change does not require ad-
ditional city staff, said City
Manager Henry Cunningham Jr.
In other budget related action,
the council gave tentative apporval
for a five percent pay raise to sa-
laried employees and authorized a
new patrol sargeant position in the
police department.
Patrolman Richard Hernandez is
Continued on Page 2
WHO’S FOR PIE?
■ "'is .
* , *
iisapp
Advertiser Photo/Janice Butler
Gary Chancellor, left, and his son, Gary, grew a giant 195-pound pumpkin in their Cir-
cle D area«garden this year. Grown from seed planted March 12, the pumpkin now meas-
ures six feet, three inches around and stands 25 inches high. It will go on the auction
block Aug. 25 as part of a benefit fundraiser for the Bastrop County Environmental
Network.
County studying
precinct division
Murder ruled in Purdue shooting
In a decision announced Friday,
21st State District Judge John
Placke found Melvin E. Johnson of
Manor guilty of murder in the 1989
shooting death of Phillip Purdue in
a garbage dumping dispute.
Judge Placke heard evidence in
the case Aug. 6 during a non-jury
trial in Bastrop.
A date for sentencing has not
been set.
On the witness stand Johnson ad-
mitted shooting Purdue, but
defense attorneys Robert Kuhn and
John Kuhn suggested Johnson was
guilty of no more than voluntary
manslaughter, a lesser offense de-
fined as an act of sudden passion
arising from an adequate cause.
Johnson testified “I just blew my
hat” after Purdue laughed at him.
Johnson said he went to Purdue’s
residence off Old Pope Bend Road
west of Bastrop to complain about
Purdue driving across his property
and dumping trash.
“That’s not an adequate cause, ”
said District Attorney Charles Pe-
nick. Johnson "went there (to Pur-
due’s house) with the intention of
shooting him,” he said.
Johnson, 66 and in poor health,
asked Judge Placke to consider
probation if he was found guilty.
Continued on Page 2
By Davis McAuley
Population growth could force
Bastrop County to create a new
Justice of the Peace and Constable
precinct this year, the county’s top
lawyer believes.
That is, beginning Jan. 1 the
county could again be served by
four Justice of the Peace courts and
constables instead of the present
three, if county commissioners ap-
prove the change while planning a
1990-91 budget.
The move under study would af-
fect the jurisdictions of Justice of
the Peace Bill Henderson and Con-
stable Carl White.
But Henderson believes the law
does not allow separating his cur-
rent precinct into two at this time.
Justice and constable precincts 1
and 3 were joined in 1983 follow-
ing the resignation of Precinct 1
Judge Herman Bartsch of Bastrop.
After Bartsch’s resignation,
commissioners appointed Hender-
son to preside over the combined
precinct court.
Separating the precincts again
could force Henderson out of the
office and courtroom he occupies
in the new Law Enforcement
Center.
The new jail and office complex
south of Texas 71 lies in Precinct
1. Henderson lives in Bluebonnet
Acres west of Bastrop in Precinct
3.
Earlier this year Henderson won
nomination on the Democratic
Primary ballot for a new four-year
term beginning in January for the
combine! Precincts 1 & 3. He is
unopposed in the November gener-
al election.
In a weekend interview Hender-
son said he does not believe com-
missioners can now separate the
Workshop workers
find new job outlets
By Sherri Baker Bryant
A handicapped man sweeps the
sidewalks of downtown Bastrop for
$30 a month. It’s his job, and he’s
proud of it.
Another handicapped person
works at a local restaurant and
another at a local daycare center.
Others work at a loci bakery and
an auto body shop.
“It’s an amazing feat to get a
simple job,” according to employ-
ment specialist Terry Hays who has
devoted the last six months of his
life to finding jobs and income-
generating work for his 24 clients
at the Bastrop County Vocational
Workshop.
“People are afraid of them. And
it’s just as frightening to them to
go out,” Hays said of his mental-
ly retarded and handicapped
clients.
Because the Bastrop center is
listed as a “sheltered workshop,”
its clients may be paid less than
minimum wage, Hays said.
Many are used to making only
$5 to $7 a week, but some recent
public work contracts will net them
minimum wage, he said.
Transportation is often the big-
gest hurdle, he said. Employees of
die workshop can sometimes take
clients to their jobs if no other
transportation is available, and the
work hours fall between 8 a.m. and
5 p.m. when they arc on duty.
Besides jobs for individual
clients, Hays and his staff are al-
ways looking for money-making
work for the workshop.
“Any simple, repetitive work is
suitable,” according to Workshop
Director Carol Kropp.
The workshop assembles picnic
packs (plastic utensils in a plastic
bag), which are sold to restaurants
and organizations for picnics, bar-
becues or dinners, she said.
The workshop also picked up lit-
ter during Yesterfest and Loblolly
Days. They also contract out for
mowing, janitorial work and litter
pickup, Hays said.
They currently mow lawns for
the Democratic Headquarters,
Gwenn O’Barr’s State Farm Insur-
ance, and the East Region Head-
quarters of the Travis State School.
They are negotiating with the
city to mow vacant lots and with
the county for contract work.
Continued on Page 2
>
Advertiser Photo/Shem Baker Bryant
Ron Wilson, an all-around worker at the Bastrop Vocational Workshop, starts his day
by pulling glossy advertisements from newspapers to be recycled.
precincts because he must be on the
November ballot for the job to
which he sought and won nomi-
nation.
But District Attorney Charles
Penick said Friday that separating
the JP and constable precincts ef-
fective Jan. 1 may be both possi-
ble and wise.
Penick said he was asked to look
into the issue but declined to say
who made the request.
Penick, who acts as the county’s
attorney in both civil and criminal
matters, said his preliminary inves-
tigation shows that three consider-
ations appear to be paramount:
♦The state Constitution requires
counties with more than 30,000
residents to have at least four
Justice of the Peace and Constable
precincts.
♦The 1990 U.S. Census is
almost certain to give Bastrop
County close to 40,000 population.
♦Changes in precinct boundaries
must take effect by Jan. 1 follow-
ing a general election.
That means Bastrop County must
make the change effective Jan. 1
or wait two years for another
general election, Penick reasoned.
But waiting until January 1993
to make the change would make it
impossible to meet the four-
precinct Constitutional requirement
after census figures are released
next year, he suggested.
That situation could call into
question the authority and official
acts of justice courts which handle
traffic violations, other Class C
misdemeanors and smaller civil
claim actions, Penick said.
The prosecutor stressed that his
conclusions are tentative and he
will seek advice from legal experts
Continued on Page 2
Pedestrian
struck, killed
on Chestnut
An 87-year-old Bastrop man was
struck Saturday while crossing
Chestnut Street shortly before 9
p.m. and died in an Austin hospi-
tal about two hours later.
Theodore White of 806 Marion
St. suffered two broken legs and
head injuries as he attempted to
cross Chestnut after leaving Ray 's
Cafe, police reported.
He was treated at the scene by
Bastrop Community EMS and
transported by Starflight helicop-
ter to Brackenridge Hospital.
He died at 11:08 p.m., said a
Brackenridge spokeswoman.
According to witnesses. White
left Ray’s after being told the kitch-
en was closed for the evening.
Leaving the restaurant he walked,
apparently without looking, into
the path of an eastbound car. they
said.
White was thrown into the car's
winshield.
The driver was identified as
James Bennett
No charges had been filed in the
case Sunday. Bastfop police are
still investigating.
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McAuley, Davis. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 137, No. 50, Ed. 1 Monday, August 20, 1990, newspaper, August 20, 1990; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth737136/m1/1/?q=technical+manual: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.