Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 5, 1992 Page: 1 of 32
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BEST AVAILABLE OBEY
Welcome,
Gov.
Ann Richards!
Polk County
Southwest Micropublishing IncSS
2627 E Yandell
El Paso Tx 79903
Thursday,
March 5,1992
Comp
Volum* no Number 19
The Dominant News and Advertisinf Source-in PoHt County
Early voting ends Friday
LIVINGSTON -- Early voting
for Tuesday’s Democratic and
Republican primary elections ends
at 5 p,m. Friday.
Through noon Wednesday , 619
voters had cast early ballots at the
courthouse in Livingston -- 535
the subcourthouse in Corrigan, 242 ness Friday. The Onalaska and Cor-
Democratic Primary ballots and rigan offices are closed from noon
seven Republican Primary ballots
had been cast. In Onalaska, 96 ear-
ly ballots had been cast - 87
Democrats and nine Republicans.
The Livingston, Onalaska and
.Corrigan early voting locations will
courinouse in Livm^uni — -----
Democrats and 84 Republicans. At be open through the close of busi
Woman missing since 1985
until 1 p.m. for lunch.
Voting boxes throughout the
county, 18 each for the Democratic
and Republican parties, will be
open on election day, Tuesday,
March 10, from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Remains identified
CAMDEN -- Skeletal remains
discovered in the Camden area in
January have been identified as
those of an elderly woman who has
been missing since the summer of
1985.
Ola Mae Williams, who was 83
at the time of her disappearance,
apparently left her brother’s house
in Camden on foot sometime be-
tween 6:30-7 p.m. July 29, 1985,
sheriff’s deputies reported at the
time.
What appeared to be a human
skull was discovered in January by
Anthony Freeman, approximately
six miles behind Champion’s Cam-
den mill, according to Precinct 1
Justice of the Peace Mary Placker,
who said the skull was sent to a
pathology lab where it was con-
firmed to be human.
On Feb. 21 family members
identified houseshoes and other
clothing found near the scene, ac-
cording to the judge. She was
reportedly wearing a gray dress,
black hat and leather houseshoes
when she was last seen.
Placker said that, although the
cause of death is officially listed as
"unknown," there is no indication
of foul play.
At the time of Williams' disap-
pearance, her brother, Jesse Wil-
liams, told authorities that she left iwriRFn
the house, saying she was going to lwiu 1 , • _r
take a letter to the Social Security Trooper Bobby Perry talks to truck driver
office. He also told authorities that Mark Smith of Livingston following a near
his sister had been wanting to conision Monday afternoon on U.S. 190,
Texas Highway Patrol
Same soggy footsteps
LIVINGSTON .. .992 seemS «. ALhough Polk Coonly was erne S m Smith wal
be following in the same footsteps ol many counties included in a tor Houston prior to her disappearance. ou . , -uiJHed into the eastbound
as 1991 fts far as rainfall goes. nado watch Tuesday night, there RAnrrhfts and nues- westbound and s . «^ ^
In the first two months of 1991,
y 14.57 inches of rain was recorded
L“> and considered an exceptionally
high amount However, the num-
bers this year are adding up just as
high, with 14.06 inches of rain hav-
ing been recorded thusfar.
In February of 1991, 6.13 inches
of rain was recorded. February of
1992 produced 7.19 inches of rain.
As of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday,
Water was reported over the road on
FM 1988 just west of the Hwy. 59
bypass, on FM 942 five miles east
of Leggett School and on Fm 2457.
"“uu Subsequent searches and ques-
was an unconfirmed report that a tjonjng 0f neighbors in Polk Coun-
tomado touched down Wednesday t Houston uncovered no clues
afternoon, allegedly damaging the as l0 williams’ whereabouts,
roof of a house off Holly Grove
Road.
lane to avoid hitting an eastbound 1968 Ford
driven by Larry Cullins, k5, alst^ of
Livingston, according to the trooper. No col-
ENTEKFRISE PHOTO »V STEPHEN IIENGST
lision occurred but both vehicles suffered
damage from hitting retaining rails. Two
passengers in the Ford, Laura Neal, 15, and
Michaele Waller, 18, were transported to
Polk County Memorial Hospital; Neal with
nonincapacitating injuries and Waller with
incapacitating injuries. No charges were
filed.
Officials at the Trinity River
Authority were releasing 55,600
cubic feet of water per second (cfs)
at the Lake Livingston Dam Wed-
nesday and reporting a lake level of
132.08 feet above mean sea level
(msl), compared to the normal
operating pool elevation of 131
msl.
City, school filing off to slow start
o n nn____—:nL nn/1 Drtcitinn A Dr»r\l/man had filpH for TP.-i
Machine recovered
LIVINGSTON - A portable suc-
tion machine reported missing from
an ambulance on Feb. 12 has been
recovered by the Livingston Police
Department, resulting in the arrest
of three people.
"The machine was actually
stolen in December but never
reported to us," Sergeant Ken Boh-
nert gatd. "we contacted by
Detective Jim Bates in Liberty
County who had some information
regarding the case.
"After obtaining a search war-
rant, we found the machine in a Big
Thicket Lake Estates ambulance on
Feb. 25," Bohnert said.
Arrested and charged with
burglary of a motor vehicle are:
Frank Borgesi Jr., 26, John Harless,
23, and Donna Harless, 21, all of
Rye. ___
nnr
utner recent arrests By"
department include:
See ARRESTS pg. 11A
LIVINGSTON - With a little
less than two weeks remaining
before the filing deadline, most
area city council and school board
elections had drawn few candidates
as of Wednesday.
Filing began Feb. 17 and con-
tinues through March 18 for the
elections, which will be held Satur-
day, May 2.
Those wanting to seek positions
on city councils and school boards
may file at the respective city and
school offices. Following is how
the races were shaping up as of
Wednesday.
Livingston City Council
Voters wifi east baHots
mayor, a position presently held by
Ben Royden Ogletree, and for the
two at-large city council seats
presently held by Gene Bush and
L.C. Johnson.
As of Wednesday, all three in-
cumbents had filed for re-election
and had drawn no opponents.
Livingston ISD
Board of Trustees
Two at-large seats on the board
of trustees will be filled -- those
presently held by Henry Ager and
George Harrell. Ager and Harrell
have filed for re-election. No others
had filed as of Wednesday.
Onalaska City Council
Voters will fill the two at-large
council positions presently held by
Claude Miller and Irene Hamann
and the mayor’s position, now held
by Robert E. "Bob" Maddox. Miller
has filed for re-election to his coun-
cil seat. Maddox has filed for re-
election as mayor and has drawn
one opponent, Shannon Robinson.
Onalaska ISD
Board of Trustees
Positions to be filled are: Posi-
tion 1, now held by Art Hoover;
Position 2, now held by Darrol
Vincent: and Position 3, now held
by Carol Ann Schiele. Lew Vail
has filed for the Position 1 seat and
Kay LaRue has filed for Position 3.
None of the incumbents had filed
for re-election as of Wednesday.
Corrigan City Council
Voters will cast ballots for
mayor, a position now held by
Bobby Smiley, and for two council-
members - Position 2, now held by
C.C. "Punk" Parrish and Position 4,
now held by Donnis Bergman. All
three incumbents have filed for re-
election and had drawn no op-
ponents as of Wednesday.
Corrigan ISD
Board of Trustees
Voters will cast ballots for Posi-
tion 6, now held by Ethyl Riley,
and Position 7, now held by Mary
Maude Bolton. Neither incumbent
had filed for re-election as of Wed-
nesday. Kenneth Ross has filed for
Position 6 and Tommy Adams has
filed for Position 7.
Goodrich City Council
Voters will be asked to elect a
mayor, a position now held by Mil-
ler Moffett; Council Position 4,
presently vacant; and Position 5,
now held by B.p. "Slim" Speights.
No one had filed as of Wednesday.
Goodrich ISD
Board of Trustees
Three school board positions will
be filled by the election: Position 5,
now held \?y Tommy Bookman;
Position 6, now held by Wayne
Coker Sr.; and Position 7, left
vacant by the resignation of Jerry
Fuller. As of Wednesday, only
Bookman had filed for re-election.
Big Sandy ISD
Board of Trustees
Two school board seats will be
filled by the election: Position 1,
presently held by Mitchell Murphy,
and Position 3, now held by Paul
Cain. As of Wednesday, both in-
cumbents had filed for re-election.
Norma Beard has filed for Position
3.
Leggett ISD
Board of Trustees
Five at-large positions on the
school board will be filled: The full
three-year terms now held by Mel-
vin Nesmith and Hulon Parrish, the
by Don Mitchell and Johnny
Simons, and a vacant position. As
of Wednesday, Mitchell and Nes-
mith had filed for re-election.
Chester ISD
‘Board of Trustees '
Voters will fill three at-large
positions on the board, those
presently held by Steve Watts,
Raymond Klores and Dale Clamon.
Chester is on Spring Break this
week and no one has filed.
■
Polk County rate 10.8 percent
Rain contributes to unemployment rise
... I. • • i. H rr.r’/l nmnl Aiiore npnpf'tl
enterprise photo sy emu y RANKS
MERCHANDISE RECOVERED - Sergeant Kevin Clarke,
Sergeant Ken Bohnert and Livingston Police Chief Dennis
Clifton arc shown with merchandise recently recovered from
the Feb. 25 burglary and arson at Perry’s. Two subjects were
arrested in conjunction with the incident.
LIVINGSTON - As is the case
around the state of Texas, Polk
County’s unemployment saw a
significant increase for the month
of January, according to figures
released by the Texas Employment
Commission (TEC). The jobless
rate in Polk County for last month
was 10.8 percent, an increase of 2.6
percent over the previous month's
figures.
Recurring heavy rainfall was said
to be directly attributable to a
substantial portion of the increased
unemployment rate.
"I would say 80 percent of it is
weather-related." Raymond Fore of
TEC's Lufkin office said. "On
average we have had about a 2
percent jump and most of that is
weather-related.
Fore said a number of
unemployment claims had been
taken from forest products workers
in the area who have been
especially hard hit by the bad
weather. Fore noted on Friday
claims were currently being taken
from some employees of
Livingston's Ogletree Lumber Co.
He explained the rain was making it
difficult to get logs to that mill.
Meanwhile, some employees
found the news a little better, as
employees of Louisiana Pacific’s
Corrigan mill relumed to the job
Plant Manager John Kmenm said
the L-P waferwood mill returned to
full production on Feb. 24 after half
of its work force was laid off Oct.
25.
Approximately 58 of the mill's
110 employees underwent the layoff
due to what company officials
called a traditionally slow time in
the industry, as well as a soft
market for their products.
Knicrim said Friday the mill had
a good supply of logs and he
expressed his pleasure at the mill
being at full production again.
The better weather experienced
recently has also enabled Champion
International's mills in Corrigan
and Camden to run better than in
past weeks.
"Since it is not raining we are
running at full schedule." Jim Rich,
Champion's employee relations
manager for Cocrigan-Camden said
Mon&y. "If the rains come back
pretty heavy wc may have to curtail
some activity. Right now we are
running at full blast."
Inclement weather in the previous
months had Champion alternately
shutting down the mills due to a
lack of logs. Alternating between
temporarily closing the Corrigan
and Camden mills had been done in
order to give as many employees
the opportunity to work as
possible, company officials said.
Slowing growth
"The stale's unemployment rate
has taken a terrible jolt,” TEC
Commissioner Mary Scott Nabcrs
said of the Texas unemployment
rate for February rising from 6.7 to
8.3 percent.
"There were 721.800 unemployed
Texans this past month, and along
with other economic data indicates a
definite slowing of economic
growth in Texas," Nabers said.
In Polk County, a total of 1.236
workers were listed by the TEC as
unemployed in February, out of a
combined labor force of i 1.465. A
total pf 10.229 persons were
employed in the county, the TEC
statistics noted.
The average jobless rate statewide
for 1990 was 6.2 percent, and it
jumped to 6.6 percent in 1991.
Texas has not had an 8.3 percent
rate since March of 1988. according
to Nabers. Between 1990 and 1991,
Texas employers generated
approximately 68,000 non-farm
salaried jobs, only a fraction of the
260.000 created in 1990.
Manufacturing lost 10,000 jobs
over the year, and finance, insurance
and real estate lost more than 5,000
jobs.
TEC analysts indicate the
substantial increase in the statewide
rale is due in part to seasonal
cutbacks in retail trade. Seasonal
cutbacks also affected both the
government and service sectors.
The lowest unemployment rates
of the state's 27 Metropolitan
Statistical Areas (MSAs) included
Bryan-College Station's 4.7
percent, Austin's 5.8 percent,
Amarillo's 6.6 percent, Lubbock's
6.8 percent and Midland's and San
See UNEMPLOYMENT pg. 3A
Chamber banquet tonight
LIVINGSTON - Program tick-
ets are still available for die 56th
annual Polk County Chamber of
Commerce Banquet tonight
(Thursday) at the Livingston High
School.
Although the dinner begins at 7
p.m , no dinner tickets are left
However, those who would like to
attend the program and hear the
special guest speaker, Governor
Arm Richards, may purchase tick-
ets for $5 as the chamber office.
Several civic awards will be
presented, as well K the Pofc
Countian of the Year award.
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 5, 1992, newspaper, March 5, 1992; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth781464/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.