Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 127, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 9, 2009 Page: 1 of 20
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Area schools get grants to upgrade food service
Lady Lions beat PN-
G Lady Indians 10-8
Tuesday. The Lions
cfton a 5-game winning
Streak. They play LC-M
j Bears Thursday.
What did
They celebrated at the
Livingston-Polk Coun-
ty Chamber of Com-
» merce's Divas Around
> The World at the VFW
Mill.. -.
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»Living Pg.lB
Quote for
the day
"Courage is
being scared
to death — but
saddling up any-
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way.
— John Wayne
(1907 - 1979)
actor and director
Local Weather
ThM
4/9
Cloudy in the morning toHowed by
isolated thunderstorms during the
afternoon.
■4/10 83/56
Times of sun and clouds. Highs in
the low 80s and lows in the mid
50s.
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Partly cloudy wtto a stray thunder-
m "*
a
a
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S thunderstorms. Highs lathe upper
* '70s and lows in the low 50s.
Sunny. Highs in the tow 80s and
lows in the upper 40s.
'$ Index
j|ull*tin Board............. 2B
Business Guide.........12A
? Classified...............4B-8B
Crossword...................4B
Community Calendar........5A
Obituaries....................6A
Offtatf Records..........7A
Opk|onii*«mi.,,.».;.......4A
Livlfig .....................1B-4B
Sports..................9A-12A
IT' ■.
K4&. - • -
AUSTIN - Amid rising
economic turmoil, Agriculture
Commissioner Todd Staples
is working hard to make sure
stimulus dollars are used to benefit
Texas school children and Texas
schools. The Texas Department
of Agriculture received more than
$ll million from the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 to replace food preparation
equipment in schools.
Texas Agriculture
CommissionerTodd Staples wants
to ensure swift action is a priority
when applying for, awarding and
utilizing these grants.
“It is my first priority to ensure
any dollars allocated to the Texas
Department of Agriculture are
used efficiently and have the
greatest impact to the eligible
recipients,” Commissioner Staples
said. “Schools can use this money
to replace old, worn-out equipment
and make sure our children are
receiving healthy meals. These
funds will go a long way toward
improving the nutritional offerings
in schools.”
To be eligible for funding,
school districts must participate in
the national school lunch program;
priority will be given to schools with
a majority of students eligible to
receive free or reduced-cost meals.
Funds must be used to improve the
quality, safety and efficiency of
delivering meals. Schools can use
the money to replace, upgrade or
update equipment.
“We are eligible and
have applied for the grant,”
Onalaska I.S.D. Secretary to the
Administrator Ashley Porter said.
“We have a vast array of needs
in our cafeterias however, we are
operating over and above where
we are required to be.”
Eligible schools can purchase
ne w equi pmen t ai mcd at i m pro v i ng
production of healthy food for
students. These funds cannot be
used to purchase equipment such
as a deep fryer that does not meet
the goal of providing a healthier
diet for students.
“I think this is a fabulous
opportunity for school districts,”
Beth Wallace, Food Service
Director of Comal Independent
School District said.
“Livingston ISD is currently
working on the paperwork
necessary to apply for this
grant and believe that we meet
the qualifications,” Assistant
Superintendent for Curriculum
and Instruction Janan Moore
said. We would love to be able to
take advantage of this program
to continue to serve our kids
nutritious meals every day and to
update our kitchens.”
Eligible school districts can apply
beginning April I and can find
more information at Squaremeals.
org. TDA administers the nation’s
largest school lunch and breakfast
program.
Texas Rangers launch investigation
into death of Cleveland Fire Chief
ONALASKA EASTER PARADE — The streets of Onalaska were lined with spectators hoping
to <?r«>b an Easter treat or two as the annual parade wound its way down U.S. 190. Hundreds of
children filled their baskets with goodies at the Easter egg hunt that followed. See Page 8A
Tea Party demonstration planned April 15
BY VALERIE REDDELL
Editor
LIVINGSTON - Citizen
outrage over runaway government
spending has prompted groups
across the country to dust off a
colonial protest symbol — the Tea
Party.
Polk County residents will have
a chance to vent their frustrations
April 15 at a Tea Party to be held
from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Polk
County courthouse. The event is
being Organized by businessman
Wesley Smith. •
“We want to send the message to
stop spending our money. We’ve
got to try to slow them down,”
Smith said. “We’re going to march
around the courthouse with signs.
We’ll have one area set up with
washtubs for everyone to dump
their tea.”
Participants will initial the tea
bag tags which will be attached to
a petition of grievances, according
to Smith. The sign will be sent to
Washington D.C.
He says one goal of the event is
to unite local residents. Participants
are asked to bring their own signs
and teabags. '
‘This is strictly nonpartisan. It
has nothing to do with Democrats'
or Republicans,” Smith added.
“I think people don’t care which
party they’re in, they just want
fiscal responsibility.”
Smith believes the peaceful
protest is a good lesson for
children.
“I think it would be good for kids
to see what our First Amendment is
about. You can speak out. It’s still
legal.
For more information, visit
polkcountyteaparty.com.
CLEVELAND - The Texas
Rangers have launched an
investigation into the shooting
death of Cleveland Volunteer Fire
Department Chief Steve Wheeler
on March 30 at the request of the
Liberty County Sheriff’s Office.
The Jefferson County Medical
Examiner’s office ruled the death
a suicide in a preliminary report
issued the day after the shooting.
Wheeler was found in the
kitchen of a second country
home he and his wife owned
with a single gunshot wound to
his chest.
Fellow firefighters and family
members questioned the medical
examiner’s ruling. His brothers
— Ron Wheeler, a reserve police
officer with the Walker County
District Attorney ’s Office; Jack
Wheeler, an Oklahoma attorney
and Thom Wheeler an artist in
New Mexico — disputed the
report in a story in the Houston
Chronicle's Wednesday edition.
Many members of the fire
department and EMS who worked
with Steve Wheeler for decades
also disagree.
In addition to citing Wheeler’s
demeanor as smiling and happy
just before the shooting, family
members questioned believe
evidence at the shooting scene
does not support the autopsy
report. They reportedly plan to
have a second autopsy performed
by forensics expert Dr. Henry
Lee of New Haven, Conn. Lee
was an expert witness in the
court proceedings that followed
the deaths of Martha Moxley,
Laci Peterson and Nicole Brown
Simpson.
Wheeler’s 9 mm handgun
was reported to have misfired
during target shooting a few
days prior to his death, according
to the Chronicle report. DNA,
fingerprint, and powder residue
evidence is still being processed.
LCSO investigators found
Wheeler’s body on the floor. The
weapon on the table along with a
gun-cleaning kit and instruction
booklet. Capt. Harry Kelly says
the table is a “logical place for
the weapon to fall,” but family
members disagree.
Based on Wheeler’s injuries,
the position of his body and
where the bullet lodged in a wall
four inches from the ceiling,
Kelly said an unknown shooter
would have had to be lying on
the floor.
FEMA discusses plans for 2009
hurricane season in Austin
The 31st Annual National Hurricane
WASHINGTON -
U.S. Department of Homeland
Security’s Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
Administrator Nancy Ward
Wednesday highlighted plans
FEMA has implemented to
Conference.
This year’s annual conference,
which is being held this week
in Austin, is expected to draw
more than a thousand federal,
state and local officials,
prepare for the 2009 Hurricane emergency managers, voluntary
Season during her address at the
See FEMA, Page 2A
Canadian company sei
permits for pipeline to
BY CHARLES K. FRANKLIN
Staff Reporter
CharlesKFranklin@gmail.com
FAITH, SOUTH DAKOTA
- Public scoping meetings were to
be held Wednesday night in Faith
and Buffalo, South Dakota, for a
proposed international pipeline to
carry Canadian oil to U.S. markets*
in the Gulf Coast area. If completed
as planned, the TransCanada
Keystone XL pipeline would
eventually go through Polk County,
and would haVe a pumping station
near Corrigan to give the crude oil
a push.
TransCahada, the Canadian oil
company heading up this project,
currently has a pipeline in place to
ferry crude oil from the Western
Canadian Sedimentary Basin
to refineries in the U.S. but this
new project vyould provide direct
access to existing world markets in
Houston and Port Arthur.
Canada is home to a vast
reserve of oil-sands that were
once considered too expensive to
refine. With the jump in the price
of crude oil of late, coupled with
technological enhancements, it
has become more economically
feasible to harvest this bitumen
and turn it into synthetic crude oil
to be sold on the world market.
The Alberta oil-sands, an area of
land roughly the size of England,
has only recently been figured into
the world-oil supply and because
of these new calculations, Canada
is now ranked No. 2 in the world
in proven oil reserves behind only
Saudi Arabia. The quality of the
oil is not quite the same as the
light-sweet crude oil produced in
Saudi Arabia, however; bitumen is
considered to be a heavy oil.
TransCanada seeks to take
advantage of this new viability in
bitumen refinement by building a
pipeline directly from its oil fields
in Canada to the global shipping
lanes via Houston and Port Arthur.
The proposed pipeline will be
completed in two phases. The
northern part of the project will
provide a more direct push between
Hardisty, Alberta, Canada and
Steele City, Nebraska. From there
it will follow an existing pipeline
to Cushing, Oklahoma.
The southern phase of the project,
if approved and completed, would
carry the oil down to the Gulf.
Since the northern phase of the
See TRANSCANADA, Page 6A
If everything goes as plartned for TransCanada’s proposed pipe-
line, Canadian oil will flow through Polk County on its way to
the Gulf Coast refineries in Port Arthur and Houston and on to
international markets abroad.
PCSO makes 30
drug arrests in
2 weeks
CORRIGAN — Stepped up
patrols in north Polk County have
led to about 30 arrests in the last
two weeks.
Nine of the arrests were
narcotics-related. Approximately
35 warrants have been cleared
by arrest and more than 50
citations were issued for various
violations.
On April 4, deputies responded
to a tip concerning the possession
and sale of narcotics at a residence
on Market Street in Corrigan.
During the initial interview of
residents at that location, deputies
gathered additional information
and asked for consent to search
the residence. The request was
denied, deputies obtained a search
warrant.
During the execution of that
search warrant, a small amount of
“crack” cocaine and other drug-
related items were found.
Jimmy Francois, Jessica Barber
and Lynn Rainwater were arrested
and taken to the Polk County
Jail where they \ re all charged
with possession of a controlled
substance.
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Reddell, Valerie. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 127, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 9, 2009, newspaper, April 9, 2009; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth788777/m1/1/?q=music: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.