Refugio County Press (Refugio, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 46, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 21, 2012 Page: 1 of 16
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2012 Refugio
County Crop Tour
More photos 16A
KV178/
KV ‘IHDJ
Volume 52, No. 46
www.mysoutex.com
June 21, 2012-75C
Kenda Nelson photo
Cotton plants showed drought stress last Wednesday during the annual crop tour in Bonnie
View. This week's gentle rains will help the cotton, according to David Wyatt, manager of
Bayside-Richardson Gin. Above, Farmer Kenneth Steindorf shows Staci Niemann, who sells crop
insurance, a plant from his test plot. More photos of the crop tour on 16A.
EXTERMINATED
Boll weevils will be 'functionally eradicated next season
By Kenda Nelson
Editor, County Press
BONNIE VIEW —
The Texas boll weevil is
considered “functionally
depressed” and is expect-
ed to become “functional-
ly eradicated” in Refugio
County next season.
Even so, Darrel Dusek
warned farmers during
last Wednesday’s 2012
Annual Crop Tour that
boll weevils could con-
ceivably “hitchhike” back
if precautions are not
taken, especially when
contract pickers move in
from the Valley.
“Be sure the equip-
ment is clean before you
allow it in your area,”
Dusek said.
Dusek, zone manager
for boll weevil eradica-
tion, said volunteer cot-
ton plants grow in ditch-
es and provide a host for
the weevils if they are
not pulled up.
“If you see them, pull
them up,” he said.
Approximately $1 bil-
lion has been invested
to eradicate the pests,
according to Jeff Nunley
of South Texas Cotton
and Grain.
Dr. Dan Fromme,
extension agronomist,
described this year as
“boring on the insect
front.”
Dr. Roy Parker, exten-
sion entomologist, said,
“this has been a strange
year in the insect world.”
Nunley had bleak
news concerning the new
farm bill.
“As it stands, it is
not good for Southern
farmers,” Nunley said.
“Nothing is as good
as what we have now.
I wish I could be the
bearer of good news but
my eyes don’t glaze over
when I talk about legis-
lation this year.”
Robert Garza, of
Texas Department of
Agriculture, said there
are 853,000 species of
insects. His department
receives approximately
50 - 55 complaints a year
regarding pesticide use.
“The label is the law,”
Garza said in regard to
pesticide use. “Use it the
way the label says.”
On an up side, Craig
Brown, with South
Cross, said the company
has invested $100 mil-
lion in its Woodsboro and
Bonnie View plants. Both
are nearly completed.
“They’ll be ready by
the end of the summer,”
Brown said.
Between 15 and 20
employees will be hired
full time at the facilities
that are surrounded by
fields of grain sorghum
and cotton.
During the afternoon
tour, David Wyatt,
manager of Bayside-
Richardson Gin, said
most of the cotton in the
area will benefit from the
rain.
The tour began
Wednesday morning in
Tivoli with breakfast
at Canales Cafe. The
morning tour stopped at
Charlie Chan’s Austwell
Aqua Farms. Stop two
was to Don Easterwood
and Craig Lenhart’s
Gasaway Inc. — grain
storage facility. The
third and last stop was
Lenhart’s sorghum dem-
onstration plot.
At 4:30 p.m., the sec-
ond half of the tour
kicked off in Bonnie View
Park followed by three
tour stops. The first was
to Kenneth Steindorfs
cotton root rot demon-
stration plot.
Stop 2 and 3 were to
Walt Franke sorghum
grain demonstration plot
and Franke’s cotton vari-
ety demonstration plot.
Deaths
Jesus Arzola
Celia Lopez Elizalde
William H. Rayburn
Jose Villarreal
Index
Classifieds
Community
Church
Obits
Sports
Page 8 A
Page 3 A
Page 6 A
Page 2A
Page 14A
Late notices on
water bills will not
be mailed this month
REFUGIO — Refugio Water Works was
unable to print second notices for the water
bills this month as a result of the printer
being broken.
The usual billing cycle is the same.
No second notices will go out. Customers
must pay their bills by June 25, or services
will be disconnected.
Direct questions to city hall at 526-5361.
Transport
terminated
Dialysis patients dropped from
county ’stransportation service
By Kenda Nelson
Editor, County Press
REFUGIO — Last week, three dialy-
sis patients received letters inform-
ing them that Refugio County Elderly
Services will not provide transporta-
tion to their treatments after Sept. 30.
The letter, signed by Edith Collins,
director of elderly services, and Rene
Mascorro, county judge, said “provid-
ing transportation to and from dialysis
will no longer be in the scope of our
services.”
Of the 258 people the county trans-
ports annually, only three people
— Rita Ramirez, Amelia Lara and
Frances Herring — will not be provid-
ed transportation, according to Collins.
Commissioner Ann Lopez says she
will put the matter on the agenda for
Tuesday’s meeting.
“That’s a policy that impacts people
and it should have been brought to us,”
Lopez said.
Commissioner Stanley Tuttle had
similar feelings.
“If Elderly Services can do that for
Kenda Nelson photo
Amelia Lara is on a kidney transplant list but
says the county is causing undue stress by
treating the three dialysis patients badly.
people whose services are not that
urgent, then they can do it for people
who are in a life or death situation,”
Tuttle said.
Mascorro said the county should
not be paying for services that can be
obtained free.
The patients said Collins’ and
Mascorro’s decision has put undue
stress on them.
“When I got the letter, I got so ner-
vous and so sick I couldn’t sleep,” Rita
Ramirez said. “We’re the only people
they cut services to. Why don’t they cut
out taking people to visit relatives and
go shopping?”
Collins said typically they provide
transportation to medical appoint-
ments, local trips to H-E-B, the bank
and the pharmacy. She said they also
take a lady to Victoria periodically but
they don’t make special trips.
Jimmy Ramirez, her husband, is
livid and disappointed.
“The county has their priorities
wrong,” Jimmy Ramirez said. “Without
treatments, my wife will die. It’s all
about money, they think more about
money than they do people.”
Mascorro said the state is cutting
j_l
Kenda Nelson photo
Rita Ramirez's experience riding to dialysis
with out-of-town transportation services has
not been a good one but the county will leave
her no choice.
back on social services and he doesn’t
know as yet how that will affect social
services.
“We’re in a cutting mode,” Mascorro
said about the county’s budget.
Rita is also concerned about falling
again. Another agency offers free rides
to Beeville, where she receives dialy-
sis; however, they do not help her in
and out of the vehicle.
“I’m almost blind,” Rita said. “I fell
and broke my ankle trying to get out of
the van by myself.”
The policy of that provider, accord-
ing to the dispatcher, is “we don’t put
our hands on them, we guide them
from behind but we don’t touch them.”
Rita said the vans from Beeville also
go to Skidmore, Sinton and Woodsboro
so the trip lasts all day.
“I have to take a lunch, too, because
you have to do a lot of waiting and I get
sick if I wait too long to eat,” Rita said.
(See County, 16A)
Kenda Nelson photo
Frances Herring said she has had no luck
obtaining transportation to her dialysis treat-
ments in Victoria with either agency the judge
said offered the trip as a free service.
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Nelson, Kenda. Refugio County Press (Refugio, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 46, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 21, 2012, newspaper, June 21, 2012; Refugio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth740428/m1/1/?q=b-58: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dennis M. O’Connor Public Library.