Portland News (Portland, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 12, 1979 Page: 1 of 16
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BIue-Eyrd Bcauly
V. Tr;<\3 73353
Kim Morris Wins At Seguin
the Miss Texas Scholai
up in
rship
Kim Moms lias a sparkle in
her eyes that bubbles over as
she talks It is obvious that she
n a happy person, and since
she was named 1st runner
■ship
Pagent held in Seguin on July
2-4 she seemes to be
overflowing with happiness
“I had the best time of my
lili at the Pageant ' the blue
eyed beauty Queen glowed as
she reminisced over the events
that won her a 1250 scholarship
to the college of her choice I
fell in love with all of the girls
in the pageant They were all
simply wonderful Wr all got
in this pageant Then last week
she went on to take 1st runner
up at the South Texas Pageant
In this contest she also won 1st
pLice in the scrap book contest
that featured clippings of all of
the enntests that she had
et tered and won
Singing is one of the
highlights of Kim s life and so
naturally, she elects to sing for
the talent part of any pageani
In the South Texas Pageant she
sang I Just Kell in Love
Again "
What are her plans’’ ‘Oh. I
want to enter more contests I
don't know which ones yet. hut
I hope to enter lots in the
coming year I'm looking
forward I
competition
Heyond competing in all of
See MORRIS, Page 16
pageant
ong it was
meeting new
hearing
exp lenccs
so excitii
people
about
ting
and
their
I learned a lot about myself
during the tw) days i was the
youngest girl hi the contest, but
I got along with all ot the girl*
even though each wa> a winner
from back home and all
competing fur the honor of
tieing Miss South Texas
Kimberly Nnn Mhtis is a
“cut apart from the typical
beauty contestant. Not that she
an t beaut if jI which she is
Five feet. 8 nrhe*. tall, blond
hair and molded to f t in a swim
with that flawless look that
turns head*
“I owe everything to God.
te young queen says in a
•ank. disarming manner that
> with truth and conviction
n sure that find gave me a
talent for singing to use and he
pi with truth and conviction
helps me at all timue I fust feel
that God is responsible for all
^mjsttcccsMT-
Klm thoroughly enjoys her
successes in page its She got
started last year w ben she won
the Miss G-P title is the contest
sponsored by tt« Portland
Jayree* She went on from this
to win the title ot Miss Texas
Pirate Queen in the Buc Day
festivals and !h«-n the Mis*
Shnmporee Teen Queen
contest at Aran*** Paw She
also who the swim suit contest _
Fun And Games
KIM MORRIS
**. I owe everything to God ’
Center Plans
Activities
The summer is about hal*
gone, but the Portland
Community Center still has
lots of activities olanned for the
coming weeks according to
'Mary Ann Early, director
leading off the events will be
Red He t
ich will be
Bicycle Rodeo whi
held at 10 a m Monday. July
16 at the G-P High School
parking lot
A course will he set up for
bike riders that will test
balancing and control skills
Each bike will receive a safety
inspection by a member of the
Portland Police Department
The rodeo is open to all ages
with a registration fee of 25
cents per bicyclist Pie
registration a' the Community
Center is underway now The
rodeo is spwored by the
Portland Polw-e Department
and the t ommumtv Center
Following up where the
summer track and recreation
program left off. athletic skill*
will be tested during the July
Summer Games Contest
scheduled to start or. Monday.
July 25
Events include running. Img
lump, tire obstacle hoop shot
drop kick and others The
games are open to all children
ages 7 to 12 Pre registration is
required hut there is no entry
fee There an* two phase*, of
the contest The first is
JOHN TURNER V j year old von of Mr and Mrs Ken
Turner ot 114 Granby gets instructions in bike safety from
Portland Patrolman Bill Luther who will assist in the bike
rodeo and safety inspection at the G P High School parking
lot starting at 10 a m, Monday. July 16.
FOR TLAND 20
Dedicated To The Best Interests
Of Portland...
"Gem City Of The Gulf!"
PvtlMt. Tern 78374. Ttarsfcy. )ilj 12. 197S
Viliat XIV - Siitm tit's - Ik. 2t
NEWS
visiting
editor
If things appear to he a bit
different in the Portland News
this week, don't blame the
editor Paul I-eveen who is off
vacationing somewhere
You have a visiting editor
this week Keith Guthne For
the old timers in Portland my
name is not new but for the
countless new families who
come into the city each month
allow me to introduce myself
Tax Increase
A
Kemp Is
Hired By
G-P School
"I'm excited about coming to
Gregory Portland "
This is the way I^arry Ker
icrtbe
•ving
over the job as assistant princi
J.’
» way I^arry Kemp
describes his feelings toward
'ortlan
x assis
gh Set
comes to G-P from Ray H
•lings
moving to Portland to take
s assistant
pal at G P High School Keigp
. to c; p from Ray High
School m Corpus ('hnsti were
he was the baseball coach,
having won the district
championship this past year
I reallv wasn't thinking
ahtgif changing jobs. ' the new
principal said hut when the
jntoat G-P came up it appeared
to be the opportunity that I had
Inm looking for I mi • -n '
ihmk that I would have left
Rav. where I have been
ippy »
school in Texas I had heard so
many good things about
Gregory Portland thai it
looked just too good lo turn
dow n "
Kemp, whviis 4.1 years of age
was horn and went to high
school in Sherman He
attended Paris Junior College
and graduated from Austin
College in Sherman with a BA
degree in I960 He is currently
completing his master's
degree at Corpus Chnsti
University
After finishing college al
Austin, he took a |oh as a
teacher and coach at Shiner for
one year after w hich he went to
Kerrville in the same capacity
for six vears He coached at
Lockhart for three vears
See KEMP, Page 16
Monday Julv 23 starting al i Elementary School The
pm at T M Clark See ACTIVITIES. Page 16
After
Correction
In the lal> 5 issue of
Portland NEWS it was
reported that
t nuncilmemher Alice
( his holm voted against the
first reading of an ordinance
providing lor the assessment
tf a hotel motel ocupancv
lax.
This was incorrect She
voted in favor of the
ordinan* e
Noting against the
ordinanre were Mavor
Charles Tothill and
4 nuncliman loe Ituike.
A .Newcomer?
Hunt Remembers Gregory As Thriving City
Emnutt Nutt was may
iher
An old timer in Portland is
someone who has been around
eight or nine years
Homer Hunt is 73 years old
and was horn in Gregory and
has lived his entire life in the
area, so 'hat probably qualifies
him for the title of a super old
timer Hut |ust the past year
Homer and his wife moved to
Portland so now they are
newcomers despite the* fact
that he can remember when
Pfirtland was a wide place in
the road and Gregory was one
of ihe better business
communities in South Texas
Homer's recollections of the
Gregorv business d.strict
harks hack to the days when
his dad omned several stores in
the city, was part owner in a
cotton gin and owner of a lot of
city real estate as well as
larms in the area
hey «lay not only did
tNiast .1 number of stu-
We had so much business in
our general merchandise store
during the summer months
that when I was a kid I used to
he given the job selling candy
and Iruit in the front
c4 the store and by the end of
the dav I would have $500 to
Min in the pocket on my money
apron
In its
Gregory
res hut the headquarters of the
Coleman Fulton Pasture
Company and the Company
that followed it was in Gregory
a l»ank hardware, cafes, stores
and other related businesses
lined the streets as well as the
old Green Hotel that was later
moved to the city of Taft
llomcr s dad came to
Gregory in 1897 working for 50
• ents per day grubbing land in
the area and in 1898 he moved
his tamilv in a covered wagon
from Williamson County to
Gregory llomcr was horn in
egury in 19^ and lived there
til this past vear when I
HOMER HUNT
Greg
until this past
sold the last vestiges of the
Hunt estate and moved to
Portland
"My wife and I decided that
it was time for us to sell «*ir
home and move into an
apartment Hunt recalls
During the years that Hunt
lived in Portland he took part
in iust about every phase of the
community’s life He was
actively engaged in farming
and in the mid 30s he set \
independent gasol
wholesale business that he
carried on until he sold il
recently when he started
getting ready to retire
He was also active in the
political life of the city, having
served on the school hoard for
a number vears He served on
the city government when
Hunt surprised everyone 11
urpri
V by
announr
t up an
ol 1 ne
Public Hearing
Set By School
vc been around since I960
for most <4 thnw vear*
operated several newspapers
in the area In fact I started
the Portland News a hunch of
year* ago Af that time
Portland was a coming city.
Inn had not grown into the cifv
that it 1* todav
The Portland News was
started to answrr a need :n the
community for a newspaper It
was not the first paper by any
means In fact I suppose one of
the reasons tha* I finally
started the Portland News was
tiecaiac I had printed at least a
half dozen different papers for
INirtland for promoters and
each led town owing me
money After one lady, whose
claim to fame was a pet skunk
that she carried around with
her left town and another
newly founded area paper
holding the tiag. we decided
that we would publish a paper
of our own and so the News had
its very modest beginning
We didn't have ar. office at
first and used the front room of
Emma George's house to set
up our phone Mrs George
See EDrroR. Page 16
School Lunch
I*rices Iff
By 10 Cents
Prices for meals in the G-P
cafeterias will go up 10 cents
The school hoard set the new
prices upon the recom
mcndations of the
administration
Effective in September the
price of elementary lunches
will be increased from 45 cents
to55 cents, tumor high and high
school lunches from 50 cents to
fin cents and adult lunches will
tump from HO cents to 90 cents
Reduced prices lunches will
remain at 10 cents Free
lunches and breakfasts will
continue to be received by
those students who are eligible
In making the recom
mendation for increases.
Supt Jack Darnell told the
hoard that Business Manager
A I. Nelson ha^ conducted a
is 1 ness Manager
lad cor
thorough check of the entire
operation and due to the incr
eases in the rout of food and
Wgf|M l he\ tell it was
necessary to ask for the 10 cent
increase to keep the cafeteria
fund operating in the black
Supt Darnell pointed nut to
the hoard that the new rates
were well below the 87 cents
per lunch that was the average
over the state
Anticipating a budget need,
the Gregory Portland School
Board gave approval Tuesday
night to the setting ol a public
meeting for July 26 at which
time a tax rate increase of nine
cents will t»* proponed The
meeting will he at 7 10 p m in
the administration building in
Gregory
Acc nnting to existing law if
any tax rate increase exceeds
three per rent a public hearing
must tie called at which time
the public will have an
opportunity to ask questions
and receive answers 1,1 regard
to the proposed lax increase
It has tieen estimated by the
administration that
within the three per cent
limit increase the tax rale
would have to tie set at 69 cents
Since it has neen estimated
that it will take a tax rate of 7tt
cents in order to balance the
budget 11 becomes necessary
to call the public meeting
With the l<iss of anticipated
Drug Dog
May Be
Lsed Here
revenue, it appears an increase
m our tax rate above the three
per rent limit is almost
certain " Supt Jack Darnell
told the board before they
voted to set the public hearing
Business Manager A I.
Nelson is working with total
values amounting to slightly
over $312 million with a budget
in excess of 6 million The 78
cent tax rate is broken down
with II cents for debt service
and 65 rents for local
I ft Anti Dtncn
Auto Tax Dropped;
Exemptions Fixed
stay
r rate
xpavi
Portland School District will
find pluses and minuses in
their tax package next year
after action by the school hoard
Tuesday night
CAH TAX DROPPED
To open the round of tax
issues the hoard voted to
eliminate automobiles from
the tax roll The G-P district
has taxed private automobiles
iping out
a loss of
Mister ' a highly trained
dog who has a nose for drugs,
will proha t*l v appear on
Gregory Portland school
camp
The t
approval to the use i4 the dog
mg
the matter on the
agenda at the next meeting to
hire Ted F Wade and his dogs
Ted Wade and his dope
sniffing dogs t&ve received a
lot of publicity for their work in
the Corpus Chnsti schools
Mister has tieen trained to
sniff out such drugs as heroin
See DOG. Page 16
ipuses this c<»ming vear
.chool hoard gave tacit
ise of
at their meeting Tuesday and
agreed to
enda
lo put t
at the
pnvi
lor several years and it 1*
estimated t
of this tax will cause
*48.670 in local taxes
This action was taken by the
lioard to comply with House
Bill 1060 which provides for the
exemption from all ad valorem
taxation of all automobiles
owned by a family or an
individual that are not used for
producing income However
and tax jurisdiction is allowed
to continue to tax all
automobiles if they so chtHwe
Since this has always been an
unpopular tax. and since if has
always tieen a bit difficult to
collect, the administration
recommended that it he
dropped and the board
concurred
\t. um
POSTPONED
Next the tioard took up the
matter to taxation of
agricultural land House Dili
KKo provides that agricultural
land will tie taxed according to
its productivity and not
according to market value
However, taxing bodies were
allowed the privilege of
delavingthe implementation of
the law for one year Since the
guidelines for setting the
productivity of land has not
been made available to date,
the school hoard took the
advice of the administration
and voted to delay for one year
taxing land on it* productivity
It is manditory that the law be
implemented next year
I.V0M — 1 hi. two
EXEMPTIONS
Tarrying out the provision of
\rhcle 7 <4 House Bill 1060 the
hoard also approved the
exemption of $5,000 from
market value of residential
homesteads In addition they
approved a $10 000 exemption
(or persons over age 65 or
disabled A person who is over
65 and disabled may receive
i«ily one $10 000 exemption and
only one such exemption may
tie received per family or per
residence homestead
Article 7 of House Hill 1080
also places into effect a freeze
on taxe> paid on any residence
homestead which receives the
11100 exemption The article
nvides that such prof
for persons over
only one such exemptlOf
family <
lempti
provides that such property
shall tie valued and equalized
fee I AX. Page 16
It's Early. But.
Crotv Aims For Mayor
mg for
iung handily
nb He served
yor and
then when his brother in law
Wallace Toland, died while
serving as mayor, he was
appointed to the term and
served as mayor until the next
election
Branching out from Gre|
hint su
county
sheriff and hen
elected to the jot
four vears before he was
defeated
Church work has always
been a part of his life A life
long member of the Gregory
Baptist Church, he has served
his church as a dec on since
early in 1940 and still worships
in Gregory despite having
moved to Portland "Our
church in Gregory has had its
ups and downs in
See HUNT. Page 16
It is said that once politics
gets into your blood there is no
cure
Meet Bill Crow He fits the
description
A former councilman for two
vears and then mayor lor
three vears Bill Crow resigned
the city's top job when his job
called for a move out of Ihe
city hut. Bill is hack in town
again and can hardly wait until
next April when he plans to run
for mayor again
"I enjoyed being mayor l
like being a part of things and
trying to solve the
r«Miimunitv s problems When I
was mayor in 1970 the city was
having growing pains and it
was a pleasure to help solve
those problems
The Crow family first moved
to port land in I9K2 At that time
Mr Crow was employed by
Green Jewelers in t orpus
( hristi and the tamilv was
looking for a place to raise
iheir family They tell in love
with Portland and were quick
to join into the community
affairs
Actually he became
interested in city affairs when
tie >ie< ante upset W itfi a < hange
of zoning proposed tor the old
drive in theatre property 1 now
L T Kolht hevTolet and when
someone ■»ugg«,sl**d to him that
he should get involved hy
running for ihe city « ouncil he
decided lhat was a go«d idea
And so he was elected to the
council in I9»>H
At the end ot his first term on
•he council he was so wrapped
lip in the affairs »*t the 1 itv that
he decided to run tor mavor
and was elected over two other
candidates lie was re elected
in 1972. IHit the next year he
had an opportunity to manage
a string of jewelry stores in the
Valley and regretfully"
tendered his resignation in 1971
and he and his family moved to
the Valiev
Mr Crow continued his
association with lark's in the
Valley until he rejoined
Green's Jewelry however
shortly after he rejoined the
firm Mr Green died and in the
.. jewelry sjere hen* " His newr
business opened for business in
the Crescent Shopping Center
in April of this year
Rut you can't keep a
politician down So. shortly
after getting his business
underway he began to react
ibly to friei
la corah
division of property among the
ition as
supervisor was taken over by
rtipert
Green heirs his position
1 ken nv
one of the family leaving him
without a joli
"I had alwavs wanted to j
Crow recalls and so we took
advantage of this opportunity
to return to Portland and open
riends who
dropped by to urge him to run
tor mayor again "I'm going to
run in fact Cm looking
(onward to the prospect." he
said
Mr Crew is an intense
person who gets totally
involved in the things he
undertake** whether it he city
jmldirs church work or the
A A In fact if vou talk to him
over 10 minutes he is sure to
tell vou some of his
experiences as an alcoholic
See CROW, Page 16
Eyes Mayor's Job
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Leveen, Paul D. Portland News (Portland, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 12, 1979, newspaper, July 12, 1979; Taft, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth871697/m1/1/?rotate=0: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bell/Whittington Public Library.