The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 139, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 20, 1985 Page: 1 of 26
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• '»-•■• » •
I
Saunders defends action that earned spot on ten worst list
■ {• ;
By Tad Hershorn
Dust from the 69th Legislature
had barely settled when Dist. 30
Representative Robert Saunders
(D-LaGrange) woke up with a
bloody nose. And he didn't even
see the punch coming.
Saunders, chairman of the House
Agriculttfte and Livestock Com-
mittee. joins nine other represen-
tatives and senators in Texas
Monthly’s "ten worst" doghouse
for 1985
In florid prose. Saunders was
dubbed "a medieval pope, (who)
launched crusades against the in-
fidel to recapture the Holy Land,
and plunged everything around him
into chaos" for his skirmi?5“s with
TEXAS’
OLDEST
Texas Agriculture Commissioner
Jim Hightower on behalf of the
agricultural establishment.
The highly read end-of-the-
session survey criticized Saunders'
efforts to slash Hightower’s budget
in order to send top aides in the
fields of environmental and pesti-
cide controls packing. Other Saun-
ders’ initiatives authored by the
Chemical Council. Farm Bureau,
growers and other farm lobbyists
would have "gutted" the pesticide
regulation program, the magazine
said.
According to the story written by
Paul Burka and Alison Cook,
Saunders' budget so “crippled"
the agency that Speaker Gib Lewis,
"no admirer of Hightower,”
forced a compromise.
Saunders then bypassed a Senate
compromise that had the commit-
ment of Hightower and his oppo-
nents by initiating a bill to shift
pesticide regulation to a new com-
mittee in which Hightower’s views
would be a permanent minority. He
then touted his bill as the com-
promise.
Late in the session Saunders lost
a point of order on his substitute
bill that delayed action for two
days. The magazine charges that
Saunders "amused himself" by
killing the bills of opponents of the
pesticide regulation bill, with the
session nearly in tatters as a result.
Saunder's cellar ranking was at-
tributed to "sneaky, greedy"
maneuvers in a power struggle be-
tween Hightower and entrenched
farm interests who no longer have
the easy access they once enjoyed.
Hightower’s performance did
not escape the magazine's criticism
either. The commissioner was
chastised for supposed arrogance
in his dealings with legislators and
other misjudgments such as at-
tempting to install his live-in girl-
friend as marketing director of the
agency.
Saunders, reached at his Colum-
bus office Monday, said he hadn’t
yet read the article that kicked his
tires only to judge them flat.
"You,could say I was surprised
to be listed in the ‘ten worst* list,”
said the third-term representative.
“It seems to me that if you did
nothing you wouldn’t even get
nominated at all.”
Saunders contended that his
desire to remove pesticide regula-
tion from the direct responsibility
of the agriculture commissioner ac-
tually strengthened enforcement of
stricter standards, a point he feels
got lost in the fight.
"The bill would have set up a
more neutral panel with people
from the Department of Health
among others," Saunders said.
"Policies regarding pesticide
Continued on Page 2, Section 1
, '
Rep. Robert Saunders
.hammers his critics
WEEKLY
NEWSPAPER
Vol. 139,Number 32
Pasirop JVbiterttser
at* fllmmitr Neftrs
i im Center , Inc
LARGEST
CIRCULATION
IN
BASTROP
COUNTY
Microfilm Center,
— nox 45436
•as Tx 75235
25*
Bastrop, Texas
Thursday, June 20, 1985
SV trustees
choose
Bunte
Becky Bunte. a 10-year Smith-
ville Independent School District
employee, was selected by school
trustees Monday night to be district
business manager.
Creation ot the $24.(XX)-a-year
position was intended to assist Su-
perintendent Don Hestand in focus-
ing his efforts more intensely in the
area of curriculum and classroom
instruction
"If we get a business manager.
1 hope that we can expand our cur-
riculum," said Trustee Phil Tovar.
Aside from shepherding the dis-
trict’s financial affairs, Mrs.
Bunte's new duties include super-
vision of maintenance, transporta-
tion and the cafeteria. She is
currently the bookeeper and previ-
ously worked in the tax and cen-
tral offices. (
Trustees also decided to replace
continuing contracts for teachers
with more widely used term con-
tracts, said to slightly favor school
districts' interests over those of
teachers’.
The trustees, however, chose to
substitute their wishes that newly
Continued on Page 11, Section 1
Austin not dropping
3 rd stage of land grab
P iff##';
Patti Seeman belts out a number
during the summer premiere of
the Bastrop Opera House. "Bil-
ly the Kid.” For story and more
photos, please turn to Page 9.
Staff Photo by Jack Fraser
By Richard Goldsmith
Bastrop official’s refusal to meet
with Austin representatives has ap-
parently raised the ire of Mayor
Frank Cooksey.
All three phases of proposed
strip annexations dow n the Colora-
do River are to be kept alive by
Austin when its city council car-
ries through with first reading of
the annexation ordinances
Thursday.
Cooksey announced several
weeks ago that he would recom-
mend the last phase of the river aff
nexation, which would push
Austin’s authority to w ithin a half
mile of Bastrop if sucessful. be
dropped. That would have put
Austin ’s jurisdiction five miles fur-
ther away, but still far within Bas-
trop County and still unacceptable
to Bastropians.
However. Cooksey aide Mark
Hampton said Tuesday the third
and final leg of the annexation will
not be dropped because Bastrop
city officials have refused to sit
down and talk to Austin
“We re still willing to meet with
the mayor of Bastrop," Hampton
said, adding that Cooksey and
Austin City Manager Jorge Carras-
co are willing to come to Bastrop.
Hampton said Lock seems deter-
mined to litigate the matter.
Bastrop Mayor David Lock said
he was willing to sit dow n and talk
with Austin until they filed suit
against Bastrop.
"We wouldn’t have had any
problem talking before they filed
that lawsuit,” Lock said.
Paul Pape, chairman of Citizens
to Save Bastrop County, said "It’s
hypocritical to say lets sit down and
talk and with the other hand deliver
a lawsuit."
They’re not going to change
public opinion by insinuating they
tried to settle out of court ... Bas-
trop is not the aggressor. We were
catching fish in the Colorado and
raising our children and one day we
read in the paper they were com-
ing down here." he said.
In the press release announcing
that Cooksey would recommend
the third stage of the annexation be
dropped there is no mention that
the measure was contingent on dis-
cussions with Bastrop.
The press release said Cooksey
"would continue his efforts to
build amicable relationships be-
tween Austin and its regional
partners."
Bastrop officials are playing for
stakes that include future control
of the western half of the county
and are apparently willing to stand
pat with the hand they have, bet-
ting that their legal position is su-
perior to Austin's.
Bastrop expanded its extrater-
ritorial jurisdiction at the request
of landowners to halt Austin’s
plans. Once land is claimed by one
city, another city cannot claim the
same land.
"Our lawyers are gung-ho,”
Lock said.
Austin filed suit claiming addi-
tions to Bastrop's ETJ were carried
out improperly. Bastrop takes the
position that Austin’s annexation
procedures are improper. The im-
pending court battle will center
around w hich city' legally laid claim
to the contested land first.
James Duncan. Director of Land
Development for Austin, made ef-
forts to meet with Bastrop officials
Continued on Page 2, Section I
Land reappraisal jumps county’s taxable values 34 percent
By Tad Hershorn
The Bastrop Independent School
District and Bastrop County are the
most significant beneficiaries of
growth during the last year accord-
ing to the land and improvements
reappraisal completed last week by
the Bastrop County Appraisal Dis-
trict The study represents the first
land reappraisal since 1982 with
improvements completed since
January I also included.
The new values as a result of the
survey begun in February will be
reflected on the the 20-day notices
being mailed to county taxpayers
Tuesday.
%
Appraised values for the school
district jumped approximately 42.9
percent from $350 million to $500
million from 1984 to 1985 in
preliminary figures released Mon-
day by Chief Appraiser Lorraine
Perry. The figures for Bastrop
County went from $640 million
last year to an estimated $930 mil-
lion in 1985, representing a 34 9
percent gain.
Registering a gain of 35.5 per-
cent is the McDade Independent
School District where values esca-
lated from $15.5 million to $21
million in the last year.
Values in the city of Bastrop es-
calated $20 million during the same
period from $81 million to $101
million, jar 24.7 percent.
Smithville, barely out of reach
of the high-growth corridor at least
for now . realized a mere sprinkle
as far as assessed values in the city
from $60 million to $61 million.
The increase was only 1.7 percent.
Meanwhile, assessments in the
Smithville Independent School dis-
trict went from $161 million to
$184 or 14.3 percent.
The city of Elgin finds its rolls
10.3 percent richer with $68 mil-
lion in assessed values in 1984
nudging upwards to an estimated
S75 million.
Perry w as quick to point out that
the initial results have yet to under-
go a final tabulation which will oc-
cur after the Appraisal Review
Board receives the rolls and ap-
proves it around July 20 following
the 20-day period set aside for ad-
justments. The revised rolls will
then be sent to the member taxing
entities to set an effective tax rate
based on the new figures.
"These are preliminary esti-
mates; these values could logical-
ly decrease," Perry said. "We
really won’t be able to evaluate the
job we’ve done until we hear from
the people."
Accurate to a point or not, the
revised appraisals rough out the
lines of growth that are too familiar
to residents.
Perry identifies subdivisions
sprouting up in western Bastrop
County and in Elgin as the most
significant single factor during
1984.
Relying heavily on sales infor-
mation and deed transfers, Perry
said commercial and residential
properties along Highway 71 as the
main motor of growth. Land prices
bordering Travis County on U.S.
290 near Elgin softened somewhat
when expectations of a new Austin
airport located in the area were
dashed in a referendum last year.
But growth in the neighboring
Manor Independent School District
indicates another surge of growth
in Elgin unrelated to airport
prospects, Perry speculated.
Given the individual situation of
the cities in Bastrop County, Per-
ry said it is not possible to calcu-
late a reliable "average" growth
rate for the county as a result of the
new findings.
“After the appraisal review
process, it will be up to the taxing
Continued on Page 4, Section I
Firehouse stabilized
after walkout threat
Bastrop shops not opening for Sunday sales
Fears of a walkout by
volunteer firefighters in pro-
test of officer elections did
not materialize and the
department is running busi-
ness as usual.
Fire Chief Mike Fisher,
whose election at the first of
this month supposedly caused
some members of the depart-
ment to consider leaving,
said all is well within his
domain.
“Things are going great,”
he said.
Fisher and other fire offi-
cials said only one member
resigned as a result of the
elections. Assistant Chief
William Spooner.
Fisher said Spooner, who
was elected the same night as «
Fisher, did not cite his rea-
sons for leaving. Fisher said
he asked Spooner to recon-
sider and make a final deci-
sion by Tuesday night when
v
the fire department met in its
regular monthly meeting.
Last week, the Bastrop
City Council considered
delaying validation of the fire
department elections for one
month.
Councilmember Allan
Pape made the motion to de-
lay confirmation to give the
department time and incen-
tive to come up with a differ-
ent slate of officers, one
which will not polarize fire-
fighters. The motion was
defeated in favor of immedi-
ate confirmation of Fisher
•and the rest of the slate of
new fire officers.
Pape was attempting to
give the department time to
resolve its political differ-
ences and avoid a crippling
walkout that could have left
Bastrop without full fire pro-
tection. At the time of the
Continued on Page 2
By Tad Hershorn
Bastrop merchants must have
such a hard time rolling up the
sidewalks Saturday that few are yet
willing to roll them out again Sun-
day to take early advantage of the
Sept. 1 repeal of the Texas Blue
Laws.
The long-controversial,
contradiction-ridden code forced
storeowners to regulate their sales
on a variety of merchandise one
day a week, usually Sunday.
With the exeption of Winn’s,
Bastrop Chamber of Commerce
Director Harriett Worrell said she
has heard of no wide scale intent
to change policies immediately
regarding Sunday openings or ex-
panded sales.
“Your franchise offices like
Winn’s will have their policies set
by their corporate offices, while in-
dependent businessmen will retain
their own options about opening
Sundays,” she observed. “I think
a lot of stores are going to wait and
see what their competition is do-
ing, here and in Austin, before they
make their decisions.”
Mrs. Worrell said busier com-
mercial Sundays mey yet be in Bas-
trop’s future.
“It may make an impact later
on,” she said.
Since getting the word from
Winn’s home office, store manager
Glynn Rector gave the signal to
open the last two Sunday from 1
p.m. on and has not noticed any
dramatic upswing in sales. He said
the company sought his recommen-
dation on Sunday openings, which
he approved because of competi-
tion from the Super S Food Store
situated nearby in Colorado
Center.
“Super S has been selling staple
household goods and products like
pesticides for some time and no-
body’s challenged them on it,”
Rector said. “We’ve known the
repeal was coming.”
Rector said Winn’s open-Sunday
policy is not uniform, and excer-
cised in areas where nearby com-
petitors have stepped across the
Sept. 1 dateline.
' 'Sales are not that good yet only
partly because people here are not
used to shopping on Sundays.
Others prefer not to,” Rector said.
"Bastrop has a lot of church go-
ing people who see Sunday as the
Lord’s day. Personally, that’s the
way I see it.”
Rector said Sunday work assign-
ments are given on a voluntary ba-
sis for regular employees while the
rest of the shift is made up of part-
timers. Looking across the bridge,
Continued on Page 11, Section I
End to Govalle hookups
asked in sewage suit
By Richard Goldsmith
Austin’s inadequate and over
worked sewage treatment facilities
have been no secret to that city’s
officials for at least three years ac-
cording to depositions taken by an
attorney fighting pollution poured
into the Colorado River from the
plants.
Attorney John Ryan, acting on
behalf of his clients, Bastrop City,
Bastrop County, United South
Austin Neighborhood Association
and the Austin Neighborhoods
Council, is now fighting to have a
moratorium placed on new
hookups to Austin’s Govalle
Wastewater treatment plant.
Ryan filed suit early in 1984 for
alleged violations of treatment per-
’ ________. ‘ft.*’ .......•' ‘ .
mits at both the Williamson Creek
and Govalle plants.
The suit brought attention to
treatment violations at Williamson
Creek and pressured the state to file
suit and impose a moratorium on
hookups to the plant.
Ryan said the Williamson Creek
plant has received all of the atten-
tion up to now because the
problems there were more appar-
ent, with holding ponds about to
overflow.
But he said information delivered
to the Gov. Mark White’s Select
Committee on the Colorado River
showed Govalle to be the wortt
offender of all Austin treatment
plants. ,
Continued on Page 11, Section 1
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Goldsmith, Richard. The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 139, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 20, 1985, newspaper, June 20, 1985; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth737908/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.