The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 37, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Page: 1 of 74
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INSIDE....
FALL HUNTING
& FISHING GUIDE
Section B
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CUBS vs.
ACADEMY
FRIDAY, CUB STADIUM
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The C____a Record
© 2008, The Clitton Record, AH Rights Reserved
3Qfp - THREE SECTIONS...PLUS SUPPLEMENTS
Serving Bosque County Since 1895 —
Clifton, Texas 76634 VOL. 113, NO. 37 — WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 10, 2008
Bosque County Mayors Want ESD
By Carol Spicer
STAFF REPORTER
CLIFTON — Calling a meet-
ing for the mayors of the county
to discuss the rise in cost of
North Bosque EMS services,
Morgan Mayor John Croom
opened a session on Monday,
Sept. 8, at Clifton City Hall, by
saying, “I’m not pleased about
the situation, and not being fully
informed on the rising costs of
North Bosque EMS. Doubling or
tripling the rate is not a good
thing. We can either simply ac-
cept it and whine, or use our col-
lective heads to figure out
something different.”
Mayor Jeff Keese of Meridian
said, “I’m not surprised that it
hasn’t gone up before now."
After a lengthy discussion, the
consensus among the mayors of
Bosque county cities was the
need for an Emergency Services
District to support North Bosque
EMS, the fire departments, and
the emergency dispatch services
of the county.
During the meeting, Charles
McLean, city administrator at
Clifton, said, “After looking at-the
sequence of what has happened
over the past four or five years,
NBEMS bid a bare bones con-
tract to start and as a result, they
are not healthy. I see this as a sign
that they are trying to get
healthy.”
He went on to add that he
MARQUEE COMES DOWN — Carefully removing the CLIFTEX Theatre marquee so that it can be renovated are (from left) Clint Tunnell,
John Porter, Leslie Burk (top), and Lathum Burk driving the fork lift. Not seen on the cables on the other side were Roger Johnson and
Justin Ownes. The marquee will be renovated by H&H Sign Company of Waco. staff Photo By catoi Spicer
Theatre Renovations Begin
By Carol Moulton
STAFF REPORTER
CLIFTON - As the
CLIFTEX Theatre cleared out
on Sunday night, Aug. 31, after
the final showing of its weekly
movie, renovations started im-
mediately, said Michelle
Slaughter and Phyllis Gamble,
the new owners of the theatre
who are in the process of reno-
vating the theatre back to its
1935 glory days.
By Tuesday, a drastic change
was visible outside, such as the
removal of the poster racks;
however, the inside of the build-
ing was being systematically
cleared out as well.
After the concession area was
cleared, the seating in the audi-
torium was removed, and
accoustic curtains were re-
moved from the walls, revealing
what was underneath.
Then the movie screen was
removed for safe storage
throughout the renovation
project.
On Wednesday, Leslie Burk
brought in a crew to remove the
marquee and take it to H&H
Signs in Waco for complete
renovation. Reconstruction
project manager Clint Tunnell
said that the sign will take
about a month to be refur-
bished.
Starting early Wednesday
• See CLIFTEX, Page 10
Septemberfest To Be Held Saturday
CRANFILLS GAP — The 31st
annual Cranfills Gap
Septemberfest and Wild Game
Cook-Off will be held Saturday,
Sept. 13, at Cranfills Gap City
Park.
Events will include a parade,
arts and crafts booths, car show,
kids’ activities and the fifth an-
nual Wild Game Cook-Off.
Booth spaces are still avail-
able. Anyone interested in a
booth should contact Laura Rose
at 597-2363 or at
<septanberfestboolhs@yahoo.com>.
Festivities will kick off around
8 a m. with arts and crafts booths
in the city park.
At 10 a m., an old-time parade
will begin at the St. Olaf Lutheran
Church parking lot and will run
down Main Street onto Hwy 22,
past the city park, and end at the
First Baptist Church on the edge
of town. There is no pre-registra-
tion required. Registration will
begin at 9 a.m. at the steps of the
TNMP Asks For Rate Increase
FORT WORTH — Texas-New
Mexico Power Company has
filed with the Public Utility
Commission of Texas its first
rate increase in more than five
years.
The increase is needed to off-
set the rising costs of doing
business and position the com-
pany to continue to invest in
electric reliability, says the com-
pany.
TNMP is a transmission and
distribution service provider that
delivers power to about 226,000
customers on behalf of 59 retail
electric providers in Texas.
TNMP’s rates primarily cover
the use of the transmission and
distribution wires and meter
reading services, which repre-
sent about 18.6 percent of a typi-
cal bill.
If approved, the new rates
would increase the average
monthly transmission and distri-
bution portion of the bill to $35.31,
from $30.36, for a residential cus-
tomer using 1,000 kilowatt hours
per month.
Small commercial custom-
ers, defined as those who have
electric demand of less than five
kilowatts, would see an in-
crease to $34, from $20, for 400
kilowatt hours per month aver-
age usage. These new rates
would more accurately reflect
the costs associated with serv-
• See TNMP, Page 2
church. Judging will take place
before the parade and trophies
will be handed out during the pa-
rade.
Entries for the men’s “Sexy
Leg Contest” are still being ac-
cepted. Entry photos should be e-
mailed to Laura Rose. Winners
will receive half the money their
bucket earns, and there is no en-
try fee. The winner will be an-
nounced at 6 p.m. with the Wild
Game Cook-Off winners.
The fifth annual Wild Game
Cook-Off will also be held in the
park. Teams will cook all day and
have an opportunity to enter their
creations in four categories: Fins,
Feathers, Ffrrs, Other. Visitors
• See SEPTFEST, Page 5
doesn’t feel that anyone should
fully support this request for
added funding, until the re-
quested expenditure reports are
turned in to the county and the
cities. NBEMS must be account-
able for the funds, he added.
“At this point, we are discuss-
ing the matter without any con-
tract from NBEMS,” McLean
added. “It’s not what they’re ask-
ing for — it’s knowing that it will
be handled right and the com-
pany made healthy.”
He noted that the rising cost
to the cities is a 306-percent in-
crease ir. funding.
“I’m still committed to the
county ambulance service,” said
Clifton Mayor Raymond Zuehlke.
“We would have a difficult time if
each city was to try and get indi-
vidual ambulance service.”
Mayor Croom said, “If we turn
it down, someone else will have
to serve us.”
“ I think we might need to con-
sider an Emergency Services
District. I think we might need to
go back and consider it,” said
Mayor Zuehlke.
In response, Mayor Keese
said, “An ESD would make it fair
for everyone.”
David Witte, of Cranfills Gap
said, “I agree it’s the only way to
go.” He added that in the last
election, only 30 votes (from
Clifton) killed it.
Mayor Bill Lancaster of Valley
Mills reminded everyone of an
editorial in The Clifton Record
that, at the time, was against the
ESD.
Mayor Zuehlke said that he
also felt that the Clifton City
Council should not have been
neutral on the matter. However,
it was noted that many facts were
not made clear during the period
before the previous election.
It was explained that it would
be two years before an ESD could
start to cover the expenses that
now burden the county and the
city.
Bradley Fletcher of Iredell said
that his city would have a hard
time coming up with its portion
of the NBEMS support, but all of
the cities agreed that at this time,
there isn’t much else they can do.
Mayor Keese said, “We know
that they (NBEMS) have had to
cut a lot of necessary stuff just to
• See MAYORS MEET, Page 3
County Working
On Settlement
With Power Plant
MERIDIAN — Following an
executive session at a special
called meeting on Friday, Sept.
5, the Commissioners’ Court
filed a challenge to the Bosque
County Central Appraisal
District’s 2004 tax abatement
for Bosque Power Plant.
The court also authorized
County Judge Cole Word to
come up with a proposal for a
settlement in negotiations.
“Under the original tax
abatement, the payments
were never to go below
$139,000 a year and they have,”
said Judge Word. “We are sim-
ply trying to make sure that
the county is paid what it is
owed.”
Commissioners Hold First
Public Hearing On Tax Rate
Day Expresses Appreciation From Kopperl
By Carol Spicer
STAFF REPORTER
MERIDIAN — Prior to the
Commissioners’ Court meeting
on Monday, Sept. 8, Dena Day of
Kopperl spoke briefly to the
court expressing the apprecia-
tion of all of the people of north
Bosque County for the commis-
sioners’ fight to keep injection
wells out of the county.
She also showed the court
photos from an injection well fire
that happened just north of
Bosque County in April. She said
that fire took nine hours to put
out and left oil on the Bosque
River. “This could have hap-
pened in Bosque County,” said
Day.
“I just want you to know how
much we appreciate all you’ve
done for the county,” added Day.
The court opened the meeting
with a public hearing on the pro-
posed county tax rate of .3586.
Visitor Ray Miller asked how this
compared to last year’s rate. He
was told that the effective rate is
down. However, since the ap-
praisals are up, most people will
spe an increase in their taxes.
“But we’ve been trying,” said
County Judge Cole Word. “This
is one of the tightest budgets
we’ve ever had.”
He commented that no one
was happy about the appraisals.
He added that the county did not
approve the 2008-09 budget for
the appraisal district.
The court then approved the
paying of county salaries, claims,
and wages in the amount of
$119,108:12, with the exception of
a payment to the Brazos Point
Fire Department until all issues
are resolved.
Commissioners approved
awarding the health insurance
bid to Scott & White; a variance
on property owned by Christo-
pher Hargrove; and an adden-
dum to an agreement with
Indigent Health Care Solutions.
The court opened four bids on
hauling road base on CR 4190 and
awarded it to the lowest bidder,
Paul Putman.
Commissioners approved a
revised contract renewal with
• See COURT, Page 2
Library Unveils
New Website
CLIFTON — Nellie
Pederson Civic Library has an-
nounced the publication of a
new, feature-rich website at
< www.clifton.lib.tx.us >..
“This marks a dramatic up-
grade from our earlier site,”
said Barbara Beaudry of the li-
brary. “ In addition to informa-
tion specific to the library, we
now provide entrde to hun-
dreds of sources featuring an
almost endless array of sub-
jects.”
In addition to providing ac-
cess to the library catalog
where patrons can search for
items in the library’s collec-
tions, place reserves, renew
borrowed items, and view their
accounts, the new site contin-
ues to have its popular links to
the TexShares databases and
• See LIBRARY, Page 2
Wellborn Sworn In
As County Treasurer
By Carol Spicer
STAFF REPORTER
MERIDIAN — After serving in various positions
within the county government since 1981, Diana Well-
born was sworn in as county treasurer on Thursday,
Sept. 4, to fill the unexpired term of retiring Randy
Pullin retired on Aug. 31, with her term to expire
December 2010. To fill the position, Wellborn, the as-
sistant treasurer since 2002, was appointed by the
County Commissioners to fill the term.
In 1981, Wellborn took the position of deputy district
clerk. In 1982, she was elected District Clerk, a posi-
tion she held for 12 years.
Following that, she worked for the Bosque County
probation office for eight years as a bookkeeper, and
she has been working in the county treasurer’s office
since 2002.
Wellborn said that she was really proud to have been
appointed to fill the position.
“I’ve known Randy (Pullin) since I’ve been working
for the county and she has spent the last few months
training me to take over the position,” said Wellborn.
“I have really big shoes to fill.”
Wellborn went on to add that she has a really good
• See WELLBORN, Page 2
SWEARING IN — Bosque County Judge Cole Word swore In Diana Wellborn ae
isurer on Thursday, Sept. 4, in the Commleaionere' Courtroom
Bosque County Treasurer on Thursday,
In Meridian.
- Staff Photo By Carol Spicer
h
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Smith, W. Leon. The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 37, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 10, 2008, newspaper, September 10, 2008; Clifton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth790945/m1/1/: accessed March 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nellie Pederson Civic Library.