The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 136, No. 69, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 26, 1989 Page: 1 of 26
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Library
Leader
honored
L p. 5
•Flu season near
• Weekend activities
Business predicted
L p.14
II, P. 1
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Lion
hunt
Friday
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piastrop (?dibzrtis£V
Deadline nears as agency faces Head Start controversy
By Davis McAuley
As an Oct. 31 deadline ap-
proaches for grant money applica-
tions, a rebelious Head Start Policy
Council for Bastrop County wants
to sever the program’s ties to
Smithville based Combined Com-
munity Action, Inc.
The controversy has officials on
all sides dusting off rule books,
consulting federal officials and
studying local organization bylaws.
Some still hope a compromise
can head off a divorce.
But the clash may have gone too
far for reconciliation.
“The grant issue is dead,” dis-
18-year-old
is cited
for blaze
An eighteen-year-old was
charged with burning in violation
of an emergency order and will be
held responsible for the damages
caused in the 350 adre fire east of
Lake Bastrop Acres last Saturday,
officials said this week.
Richard Saldana of Rt. 2 Box
144E was handed a citation, which
is a class B offense, by Bastrop
County Sheriffs Departmentlnves-
tigator Mike Harris on Sunday, af-
ter several witnesses in the
neigborhood claimed he started the
ditch fire.
Saldana said that he was not
aware of the emergency order—a
ban on all fires authorized by Bas-
trop County Judge Jimmy
Copeland, which was effective
about three weeks ago, said Harris.
Copeland said that Saldana will
be responsible for the total amount
of property damages.
The Bastrop County Sheriffs
Department and the fire protection
officials are trying to calculate the
damages, Copeland said.
“This will be an example to all
who violate the emergency fire
order. The order has cut down on
fires and has given us leads on ar-
son suspects,” said Bastrop County
Sheriff Con Keirsey.
Copeland said he will enforce the
ban and those who violate it will
be prosecuted, he said.
“We try to make it known to all.
The Austin newspapers, local
newspapers, television reports, and
residents’ word of mouth. It has
been on of the main topics of con-
versations. Most people should be
aware of it,” Copeland said.
Harris said after interviewing
Saldana, “I don’t doubt that he did
not know. He said he doesn’t have
a television, a radio, much less a
newspaper.”
As of Monday, the property
damage identified in the Saturday
fire included 80 rounds of hay
valued at $35 each, a fence post
and a stock trailer, Copeland said.
Witnesses said that they saw him
start the fire and try to put it out,
but the winds were too strong to
contain the fire, Harris said.
If the winds were blowing from
north to south, the neighborhood
of mobile homes on Peach Street
would have been caught on fire,
Continued on Page 2, Section I
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sident leader Bernie Jackson
declared Monday.
For the past year Mrs. Jackson
has led the Head Start Policy Coun-
cil, a group of parents and commu-
nity representatives charged with
direct management of the program
which has a staff of 26 and serves
102 children in six classrooms in
Smithville, Shilo and Elgin.
Combined Community Action,
or CCA as it is often called, ad-
ministers a variety of government
programs aimed at helping low in-
come residents in Bastrop and
neighboring counties. For the past
24 years Head Start, a highly
regarded pre-school program, has
looked to CCA for administrative
and bookkeeping services includ-
ing preparation of an annual grant
application to the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services.
Three Head Start classes have
also been housed at CCA head-
quarters in Smithville, the former
Central School building.
But Mrs. Jackson and her sup-
porters in Head Start charge that
CCA has become unresponsive and
has favored its own needs to the
detriment of Head Start children in
Bastrop and Elgin.
Head Start Director Kim
Dunk, backed by CCA Executive
Director Rhoda Gersch, insists that
CCA can be responsive and is will-
ing to compromise to move the
program ahead.
“We’re in a compromise situa-
tion right now,” she said.
But Mrs. Dunk, who is hired by
the policy council to oversee Head
Start efforts directly, may not re-
tain her position long enough to see
the end of the dispute.
On Monday Mrs. Jackson said
the policy council will meet this
week to review Mrs. Dunk’s con-
tinued employment.
Disagreement over next year’s
plans for Head Start turned into a
confrontation in September when
the policy council voted 7-0 to re-
FRIGHTFUL FUN
Advertiser Photo/Chester Eitze
Carrie Davis, Bastrop High School Theatre Arts Classes senior, is appearing in “I Scream
House, the Sequel” at the Old Opera House at 711 Spring Street. Performances were
set for October 20, 21, 27, 28, 30 and 31.
Clinic profit eyed
Smithville hospital board explores new health care plan
By Sally Stroud
The Smithville Hospital Authori-
ty may launch a Rural Healthcare
Clinic as a department in the hospi-
tal and qualify for higher payments
from Medicare.
“I frankly think we will see im-
provements in the cost reimburse-
ment sections, which is Medicare
reimbursements, and there will be
an enhancement that will make us
better,” said hospital auditor Bill
Parrish, C.P.A. of Waco.
The rural clinic will defray some
of the indirect fixed costs, such as
depreciation, utilities, salaries and
supplies, Parrish said.
“Reimbursement is going to be
a lot greater in the clinic on an out-
patient basis. Any cost will be al-
lowable if it is reasonable,” he
said.
A rural health clinic, newly
authorized in Texas, could boost
profits but needs to be accepted by
all of the doctors in the hospital,.
Parrish said.
“The passing of this (Texas) bill
could attract doctors looking for
higher pay, instead of the other
way around, which is what we
have seen,” Parrish said.
Instead of |
doctor $9 or
case, the reimbursement may ex-
ceed $50, he said.
“The doctor will not be reim-
bursed on a screening but charge
basis. If you can justify the cost,
Medicare will reimburse you,
bringing more money to the rural
hospitals,” Parrish said.
A rural health clinic must have
either a nurse practioner or a doc-
tor’s assistant on duty 60 percent
of the time.
At the present time, Medicare is
discounting the rural hospitals
more than the city hospitals.
“In effect, Medicare is paying
•••••••••
Mtodtoue Continued on Page 2, Section I
Health clinic consultant expected
A rural health clinic expert will take advantage of the new Texas trop if Cox can arrange for him to
be in Bastrop next month to con- program for rural health care as the meet with local phsyicians.
suit with local doctors and city offi- beat way to restore services lost No date is fixed, but May has al-
cials, chamber of commerce when Bastrop Hospital closed in ready slated a visit to Texas after
economic development coordinator August 1988 Nov. 1 and has agreed to come to
BiO Cox said tins week. Earlier this month the city coun- Bastrop, Cox said.
ject a grant application prepared for
submission by CCA.
That move does not imperil the
local program or its continued
funding, according to Mrs. Jack-
son. It means, however, that fed-
eral officials will help to find a new
non-profit agency to receive and
administer the annual grant, she
said.
For its trouble, the agency earns
up to 15 percent of the grant. CCA
has been charging Head Start 9.7
percent or roughly $16,000a year,
said Mrs. Dunk.
A new agency could charge
more and a sudden transition could
hurt Head Start’s chances to ex-
pand and serve more children over
the next year or two, she said.
CCA’s first response to the
challenge posed by the policy
council was to name a new policy
council in time for it to consider
the grant application before the end
of October.
The application was also revised
to meet some policy council objec-
tions, said Mrs. Dunk.
One complaint was that the ap
plication called for continuing three
classes in Smithville, two in Shilo
and one in Elgin.
Another room is available in El-
Continued on Page 2, Section I
Investigators
hit hard with
forged checks
By Sally Stroud
The rate of bogus checks hitting
Bastrop County businesses has
picked up sharply in recent weeks,
with more expected during the
holiday months, county and city
officials said this week.
Crowded stores like Wal-Mart
Discount Cities and HEB Foods-
Drugs create an ideal environment
for paper criminals, said District
Attorney’s Investigator Georgia
Compton and Bastrop Police
Department Investigator David
Board.
The city police have four out-
standing forgery warrants on two
persons, two persons who will ap-
pear before the grand jury this
month on similiar charges and a
dozen more cases under investiga-
tion, Board said.
“It’s like stealing a T.V. set
worth $200 from someone’s home,
and instead of a burglary charge,
the thief can write an unauthorized
check for $200 and be charged with
a lesser offense,” Board said.
In addition, the police cannot af-
ford to spend an enormous amount
of time on it. Board said.
“It’s not a violent crime,” he
said.
The offense is prioritized after
sexual assault, burglary, and crimi-
nal mischief, with one investigator
handling all the city cases, he said.
The economy, drugs, unemploy-
ment and the holiday season ac-
count for most of the unauthorized
checkwriting, Compton said.
“Since October 1, about four in-
dividuals have written many forged
checks,” said Board.
Most forgeries can be prevent-
ed by techniques employed by bus-
iness checker, Compton said.
However, “Many check writers
get by with it because there are so
many people at one time and
they're smarter than the checker,”
she said.
“The bad thing is when the
checker says ‘Is everything correct
on the front of the cheek?’ and they
don’t check the driver’s license
number. Whert the checkers don’t
make the time to check. 1 don’t
have a whole lot of sympathies.
Compton said.
The victim is not the checkwnter
nor the check owner, but the
business.
When a forged check has been
identified either by the business,
bank or check owner, police inves-
tigate but the clearance rate is 40
percent at best. Board said
The money is lost, because the
business cannot collect from the
check owner and the check writer
is “scot free,” Board said.
The investigation uncovering the
criminal generally is slow, unless
the checker and check writer can
be easily identified.
In Board’s investigations, he said
the checkers must put their initials
on the check to identify w ho ac-
cepted it.
If the checker cannot be identi-
fied there is no case. Board said.
The business owner or manager
cannot testify in court against the
checkwriter.
A misconception about identifi-
cation beyond a driver's license is
Continued on Page 2, Section I
Bastrop orders new pumps
for river well development
By ordering two well pumps
Tuesday Bastrop’s city council
moved a step closer to ending de-
pendence on Aqua Water Supply
Corp.
The pumps are slated for wells
the city plans to reopen in Fisher-
man’s Park, and the council hopes
to award a bid for the equipment
by Nov. 14.
However it may be next year be-
fore the wells begin pumping water
again and June before residents are
able drink any of it, according to
consulting engineer - Joel
Wilkinson.
The $600,000 effort to put the
river wells back into service in-
volves renovation of storage facil-
ities near the park and a new
12-inch main to an additional
near Texas 95 and
said.
City Manager Henry Cunnin-
gham Jr. said prior to the Nov. 14
meeting he will work with Wilkin-
son and city water department
director Mike Fisher to develop a
quicker work schedule.
“By Nov. 14 we’ll try to refine
the schedule,” Cunningham said.
Wilkinson warned that the old
storage facility near Willow Street
cannot be properly tested until the
new well pumps are installed and
the ground storage tank filled.
The project schedule could face
significant delay if the tank reveals •
unexpected defects or other
problems, he said.
To pay for the work the city will
tap previously committed water
bond and water capital recovery fee
accounts, Cunningham said.
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McAuley, Davis. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 136, No. 69, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 26, 1989, newspaper, October 26, 1989; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth747257/m1/1/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.