The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), No. 61, Ed. 1 Monday, September 28, 1981 Page: 1 of 8
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And County News
TEXAS' OLDEST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
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MONDAY EDITION
Established March 1,1853
Monday, September 28,1981
Number 61
Bastrop bills crackdown;SV utility chief quits
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Bastrop cuts off energy ★ ★ ★ Wesson takes Bastrop job
By DAVIS McAULEY
Bastrop is cracking down
hard on slow-paying utility
customers. And City Manag-
er Jerry McFadden promises
even tougher measures to
come.
The red flags began going
out a week ago when 2(13
customers still owed the city
some $71,000 for electricity
and another $12,000 for wa-
ter used last month. Pay-
ment was due on the 10th.
During the week, 53 custo-
mers were in fact cut off, at
least for a time.
The Tower Theatre
couldn't open for business
Wednesday after McFadden
ordered the city’s high rang-
er truck to disconnect the
electric service. McFadden
said the $1,800 bill has now
Water
bills
rapped
By JAN TAYLOR
Inconsistency in monthly
water bills, red water, and
inequality in water rates be-
tween rural and town cus-
tomers were, some of the
major complaints aired at a
meeting held last week at the
LBA fire station, attended by
Bastrop water task force
committee member Joel Sch-
roeder.
Residents of the Lake Bas-
trop area had invited Mr.
Schroeder to the meeting
after he was appointed to the
task force because in the
words of one resident, "No
one else will listen to us."
Mr. Schroeder stressed
that he nor the task force
committee has any real pow
er to change anything, but
because he said he felt there
was a need to at least hear
the rural water customers'
problems, he was willing to
attend the meeting. Although
there are over 700 rural
customers that receive water
from the city of Bastrop, none
of them have any vote on the
rates, personnel or changes
in the water system.
One of the major com-
plaints at the Tuesday night
meeting stemmed from this
month's water bill which
many said were in access of
$50. One widow who lives
alone cited a $65 water bill
but the top bill reported was
a $125 bill that the city added
an extra $10 late charge to
even though the bill was paid
in less than 10 days, it was
claimed.
Most of the residents said
they were willing to pay a fair
bill but they charged this
month’s bills were unfair and
unreasonable, claiming there
was no change in their life-
style to cause high usage.
Most of the customers had
complained to the city about
the bill and some had had
their meters re-read. The
meter readers insisted then-
readings were correct
Another situation that the
rural customers feel is unjust
b the unequal water rates
charged by the city. Rural
customers pay $7 base rate
plus an extra $3 maintenance
fee while Bastrop residents
pay $3 for the same amount
of water. Charges that the
Continued on Pace 8
been paid.
At closing time Friday, the
utility office reported the
week’s collections totaled
$22,600. But 18 customers
were headed into the week-
end without power.
Last week’s collections will
allow the city to pay off a note
to its bank depository which
falls due this week, said
McFadden.
Although he did make
deals last week to continue
service to some customers
who promised to pay up on
payday, he's going to tighten
up that policy too, he declar-
ed.
Utility office figures show
customers stQl owe the city
almost $60,000 for water and
power billed out this month.
NO MORE NICE GUY
Under past city administra-
tions, McFadden argued, “it
was easy to avoid being cut
off’ for non-payment But not
any more, he vowed.
“People have to under-
stand that if they owe for
services and don't pay, they
will be cutoff," he said.
“I don’t like to do it this
way," McFadden said, "but
it’s just not good business to
have people owe you that
much money." The tougher
new collections policies are
“strictly a business move.
We're not out to get them, we
just want to collect what they
owe us," he explained.
Next month he promised to
begin red-flagging late pay-
ers on the 11th of the month,
not the 21st The utility office
will also refuse partical pay-
ments on bills, he said.
“We have to get tough and
force people to catch up and
stay caught up,” he said.
DUE THE 10TH
October bills are due on the
10th, McFadden explained. If
the bill isn't paid, the red flags
will go out on the 11th. On the
12th, city workers will begin
cutting off service, he said.
“I don’t know what else to
do.” ’
“We’ve got to have the
money," the city manager
went on. “We owe the bank,”
Notes totaling over
$110,000 are due by the end
of October.
McFadden said he hopes to
pay off about $50,000 of that
amount in October. But the
Continued on Page 8
Ben Wesson resigned Fri-
day as Smithville’s city utili-
ties manager to take a higher
paying job as director of
electrical services for Bas-
trop.
Wesson gave no reason for
the change, effective Oct. 31,
in his letter to Mayor Law-
rence Skelley.
However, Wesson in the
past has told the Smithville
City Council that it was
impossible for him to act as
city electrician and at the
same time supervise in per-
son the utilities office and
oversee water, sewage and
other operations.
Wesson has also repeated-
ly told the Council he did not
agree with the policy of
taking money out of the
utilities department to subsi-
dize the city’s general fund.
The utilities money is needed
to take care of repairs and
maintenance of water and
power lines, he has said.
Only last week the Council
ordered Wesson to have all
1,600 water meters in Smith-
ville read for the next billing
period. But the Council said
nothing about how to find
competent meter readers,
pay them enough to keep
them and avoid using them
for other city work while the
week-long meter reading
takes place.
COMPLAINTS
After several residents
complained at last week’s
Council meeting that Wesson
was not in the utilities office
to authorize rebates they
were owed on electrical bills,
Wesson said he had been out
working on city electric lines
himself. He said the city did
not authorize enough money
to hire a competent electrici-
an.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR
When news of the resigna-
tion hit the community over
the weekend, several citizens
said they thought it would
create more interest in sett-
ing up the job of fulltime city
administrator.
But Skelley has warned
such a post would be expen-
sive and Alderman Roy
Adams argues an administra-
tor would simply hire more
additional department man-
agers to run utilities and
other operations competantr
ly. The Council has not discus-
sed how to raise more money
to pay for the extra person-
nel or set out a list of
priorities on what needs to be
done in what order on the
water, electrical sewage and
dump problems. Skelley has
said the city is in the process
of doing this for the water
system.
Wesson held the Smithville
post since his father retired
about 1978 in the same job.
He was paid approximately
$15340 a year by Smithville.
At Bastrop, he wiD receive
a starting salary of approxi-
mately $19,000 a year and be
in charge only of the electrical
department The Bastrop job
is a new one since City
Manager Jerry McFadden
arrived and was held briefly
by Sid Lawhon.
New pot raid brings
haul to $1 million
Deputies Paul Alexander I right] and Rusty Edwards [left] display the latest harvest of
marijuana, pipes and weapons folowmg a raid by state and county officers last Wednesday.
Authorities have seized almost $1 mBnn worth of pot in the county this month. Staff Photo
by Davis McAuley.
A raid last week brought to
almost $1 million the value of
locally grown marijuana seiz-
ed this month, said authori-
ties.
The latest harvest of al-
most 1,000 pounds, both
growing and dried, was haul-
ed to the Bastrop County
Sheriffs Department follow-
ing a 6 p.m. raid by county
and state officers last Wed-
nesday.
Authorities seized the pro-
scribed weeds inside a house
and in a quarter-acre garden
on a wooded 15-acre tract
which is “just across the
fence” from where officers
rooted up another 1,000
pound marijuana farm exact
|y a week earlier, said Bast
rop County Chief Deputy
Rusty Edwards.
There were no arrests, but
Edwards said a pan of beans
was still cooking on the
kitchen stove and a copy of
the Bastrop Advertiser car-
rying a page-one story of the
earlier raid was on the table
when officers executed- a
search warrant obtained ear-
lier in the day.
Edwards said the resi-
dence is located about 15
miles south of Bastrop off FM
304.
Warrants have been issu-
ed for the arrest of Keith A.
Curtis and Tina J. Hardcastle
Curtis in connection with the
raid.
Last Wednesday's haul
brings the total value of illegal
pot seized by authorities this
month close to $1 million, said
Edwards. He- estimated the
cash value of the local weed
at about $350 a pound.
IRRIGATED
Some 860 pounds of grow-
ing plants were uprooted
from the irrigated garden,
said Edwards. Another 100
pounds of the herb which had
been pressed into bricks was
seized. The haul included
another 25 pounds of, dried
leaves, pipes for smoking, a
20-gauge shotgun, two pistols
and two rifles.
Bill passers sought
Bastrop police and state
highway troopers searched
Saturday for a trio suspected
of trying to pass counterfeit
$20 bills at the Dairy Queen
and Golden Fried Chicken
fast food establishments.
Officer Oscar Dungan said
two black men, one wearing a
wig and with what looked like
a gold star on a front tooth,
and one black woman, hand-
ed suspicious looking and
feeling bills to clerks. When
the clerk at the chicken
establishment objected to one
bill, he was given another.
That bill will be tested by the
U.S. Secret Service, Dungan
said. The trio left around 3
p.m. in a sflver 1977 Pontiac.
Blizzard
truck
on view
By ILA WELCH
The Heart of the Pines
Association will have a cover-
ed dish supper Saturday, Oct.
3 at the University of Texas
Science Park Cancer Center
in Buescher Park starting at
2 p.m.
It will be a day of fun to
visit with neighbors, a chance
to discuss the new fire com-
pany, and to see the new
Texas Blizzard foam fire
fighting equipment in action.
Children will love the show
and will have a chance to
enter the First Annual Poster
Contest. Prizes will be award-
ed for Fire Prevention Week
posters or a sketch of the
Texas Blizzard.
The fire fighting equip-
ment was purchased by the
University of Texas Cancer
System and will be stationed
at the Science Park for use in
the Heart of the Pines area.
Kits for the Vial of Life
program are being distribut
ed to area residents and will
be available at the supper.
2,200 attend 'biggest party
At first it looked like the parking lot for the Houston
Astrodome but closer inspection Saturday night showed it
was a giant party - perhaps the biggest given in Bastrop
County history - at County Judge Jack Griesenbeck’s
Colorado River place.
Ten Bastrop men and their wives pooled dollars to give the
party and around 2,200 guests from all over the county and
Texas addresses showed up.
A country western band played for dancing and heaps of
bar-b-que ribs and pots of boiled shrimp were served, atong
with kegs of beer and iced tea.
Guests strolled around the Griesenbeck home, admired the
ultra-clean metal barn and hardly an empty paper cup was
found later on the grounds.
“We did it just for fun and as a thank you to our friends,"
said Ray Long, one of the hosts, along with his wife Diane.
The other hosts included: Judge and Rub) Griesenbeck,
Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Jenkins, Jr„ Mr. a'J Mrs. James B.
Kershaw, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil B. Long, B" / E. Maynard, Mr.
and Mrs. Charles E. Rabensburg, Mr. and Mrs. Steve Rivers,
Mr. and Mrs. Arlan Wayne Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Stanley
Smith.
Lignite foes to meet
Dancers, enjoying perfect fal evening at the Griesenbeck Ranch party Saturday night,
mchided Ifrom center] Lhida Potter,C.L. Reeves and Carolyn and David Matejowsky. Staff
Photo by Jack Fraser.
The next meeting of the
Central Texas Lignite Watch
will be held OcL 1, at
the Union Hill Baptist Church
on FM 969, Utley. Meeting
time is 7:30 p.m.
Topics for discussion in-
clude participation in Austin’s
annual Sun Fest schedule for
Oct 17-18, and a CTLW
benefit as well as the reguhr
business meeting.
All interested persons are
invited to attend. For more
information call Pam Hens-
ley, 3214330.
•t'.
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McAuley, Davis. The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), No. 61, Ed. 1 Monday, September 28, 1981, newspaper, September 28, 1981; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth746225/m1/1/: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.