The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 136, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 1, 1989 Page: 1 of 32
thirty two pages : ill. ; page 19 x 12 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
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turns
II, p-1
Burglars
River plan told
Downtown
It p. 3
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I, p. 16
Graduation
BHS —June 1
SHS —June 2
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TEXAS'
OLDEST
WEEKLY
NEWSPAPER
Vol. 136, No. 27
^Ilie pinstrop JVhforttser
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C -i co r •
ATION
BASTROP
COUNTY
25*
Since March 1, 1853
Bastrop, Texas
Thursday June 1, 1989
V;
County restores partial homestead exemption
Bastrop County resident
homeowners who are disabled or
over age 65 got back a small pro-
perty tax break Tuesday from
county commissioners court.
The break is a $3,000 homestead
exemption which applies to the
county's road and bridge tax. That
is, when calculating the amount of
road tax due from those eligible for
the exemption, officials will reduce
the taxable value of a homestead
by $3,000.
The road tax rate for 1988 was
a fraction less than 12 cents per
$100 value or less than a third of
county's total 38.18-cent per $100
property tax rate.
With a crowd of about 50, many
of them elderly, on hand for Tues-
day's called meeting the commis-
sioners voted unanimously to grant
the exemption for 1989 and in-
dicated they will consider a broader
More urged for 1990
exemption for the 1990 tax year.
Eligible residents will not be re-
quired to file an application to
qualify for the break on their coun-
ty tax this year if they have
previously filed similar applica-
tions in connection with school
district taxes, said Bastrop Coun-
ty Appraisal District Chief Ap-
praiser Lorraine Perry.
An independent tax consultant
first pointed out that a homestead
exemption on the road tax, which
the county had granted for at least
eight years, was apparently illegal,
said Mrs. Perry.
Bastrop County " ax Collector
Barbara Brinkmeyer told commis-
sioners a search of county records
revealed no recorded action by
commissioners court granting the
road tax exemption, even though
former county officials assured her
the action had been taken sometime
in the past.
"I asked (former County) Judge
Bastrop veterans honored
vies for
450 jobs
Site search is on
By D^vis McAuley
City, county and chamber of
commerce officials in Bastrop are
scrambling this week to assemble
Tftrafttiation for an
spect which could
jobs to the area.
According to sources close to the
activity, the unidentified manufac-
turing prospec^is searching a nine-
state are* in the South and
Southwest for 80 to 100 acres
within 25 to 50 miles of a
metropolitan area with a universi-
ty, support services and reasonable
access by air.
Following a midday meeting
Tuesday involving chamber and
local government dfficials,
Chamber of Commerce President
Allan Pape said a list of four possi-
ble sites in or near Bastrop will be
submitted to the company's site
selection consultant.
The consultant has not identified
the client company, Pape said.
The county is an active partici-
pant in preparing information to
submit to the selection team, said
County Judge Jimmy Copeland.
Bastrop officials were alerted to
the prospect by the Texas Depart-
ment of Commerce, Pape said.
Continued on Page 2, Section I
■' X- -I
* *
Disabled American Veterans
Monroe Wolf Chapter 207 of
Smithville was host for Memorial
Day Services at the Courthouse
in Bastrop on Saturday as the
color guard from Bastrop's
American Legion Post 533 rais-
ed the U.S. flag. After a wreath
was placed at the Courthouse
veterans monument, DAV
Chapter 207 Commander L.C.
Bennett spoke to the crowd on
Advertiser Photo/Davis McAuley
the meaning of Memorial Day.
The main address was by Rev.
L.R. White of Mount Moriah
Baptist Church of Elgin.
Bastrop workshop set
to take up water issue
Water, eieatricity and zoning
issues are expected to dominate a
Bastrop city council worksession
today beaming at 7:30 a.m.
The haif-day workshop is the se-
cond such session slated by coun-
cil members since municipal elec-
tions May 6 turned two of three in-
cumbents out of office.
The first focused almost entire-
ly on the city's water needs as
council newcomers June Pape and
Tom Scott began to familiarize
themselves with details of previous
unsuccessful efforts to develop
dependable supplies inside the ci-
ty as well as a consultant's initial
recommendations.
In part the meetings are also
useful for building working rela-
tions with the council's senior
members including Mayor David
Lock and Council Members Neil
Ourwitz, Dock Jackson and Willie
De La Rosa, according to officials.
Thursday's session has no
published agenda for discussion,
but City Manager Henry Cunn-
ingham Jr. noted Tuesday some
issues he expects to come op.
"We'll probably start with
water," he iaid.L"Jfc%
He indicated he hopes to develop
with the Council some talking
points in preparation for negotia-
tions with Aqua Water Supply
Cotp. this month. •
In May the council agreed to ask
Aqua directors to authorize a
negotiating team to hammer out a
new long term water supply agree-
ment with the city.
The current five-year agreement
expires this fall and city officials
fear rate shock and a backlash from
residents if Aqua insists on charg-
ing Bastrop the same $1.50 per
1,000 gallons which indivudual
Aqua customers pay.
Under the current contract
Bastrop pays Aqua 54 cents per
1,000 gallons.
With city wells on Loop 150 East
out of production, possibly per-
manently, Bastrop is entirely
dependent on Aqua for its water
needs.
Aqua directors are scheduled to.
meet Monday.
On a different front Cunningham
said the city's continuing relation-
ship with the Lower Colorado
River Authority, supplier of
wholesale electricity to the
municipal distribution system, may
be a topic of discussion. .
He suggested it may soon be
time to begin talks with LCRA
about extending the city's contract
to buy wholesale power.
The current contract expires in
1999 and the city is expected to
give notice by 1994 if it intends to
drop out of the LCRA system.
Y u
INDEX
Business... I, p. 14
Classified........II, p. 3
Coming Up I, p. 15
Deaths.. I, p. 5
Letters...;. I, p. 4
People ..I, p. 11
Sports I, p. 13
Hill Street drainage work
to lead city summer effort
In general LCRA officials are
eager to have customers commit-
ted to long term contracts because
it makes major borrowing from in-
vestors easier and less costly.
If the city were to extend its
power contract with LCRA soon it
might be able to secure some con-
cessions from the water and power
agency, Cunningham suggested.
LCRA could offer the city
favorable terms on property the
authority owns in Bastrop as well
as a load management program to
trim the cost of electricity to con-
sumers, Cunningham said.
An LCRA materials storage yard
between Hill Street and Texas 95
is being used less and less, Cunn-
ingham noted, and the site could
soon be declared surplus property.
The council may also^ouch on
possible revisions to the city's zon-
ing code, the city manager said.
Cunningham said he has asked
Continued on Page 2, Section I
Summer means vacations and
longx lazy afternoons to many
Bastrop children who will be freed
from classrooms this week. But for
city workers summer is the time to
attack some special projects in-
cluding major street and drainage
improvements.
Topping Bastrop's list of sum-
mer chores is work on an area
marked by Hill, Linden and Mes-
quite Street.
"That's our number one project
this year," said Bastrop City
Manager Henry Cunningham Jr.
/this week.
Hill Street residents have sought
improvements for years, citing
street deterioration under pressure
from increased traffic and periodic
storm water runoff problems.
The city's effort to improve
drainage also calls for assistance
from the state highway department
and the Lower Colorado River
Authority which owns a materials
storage yard and other property
nearby.
While the city is building storm
water drain inlets and related struc-
tures, LCRA is expected to im-
prove holding ponds on their pro-
perty to slow the movement of
water runoff downhill to the west,
Cunningham said.
The city manager said he will
also approach local highway
department officials in hopes they
can help route runoff from higher
(Jack) Griesenbeck about it and he
said commissioners passed a
resolution, but we can't find it,"
Mrs. Brinkmeyer said.
The exemption for the disabled
and those over age 65 is the best
break the county can offer this
year, according to Mrs.
Brinkmeyer. "Maybe everyone
can get the $3,000 (exemption^
Continued on Page 2, Section I
Trash can
suspects
arrested
Elgin Police Department aided
the Bastrop Sheriff Department in
arresting two men who broke into
Elgin's Super S Food Store early
Saturday morning and carried the
stolen items away in a trash can,
said Elgin Police Chief David
Campos.
Andre Wyatt, 17, of Littig and
Kevin Drisdale, 18, of Kileen were
each charged with burglarizing a
building and booked info Bastrop
County Jail under a $ 15,000 bond.
According to Campos, Wyatt
and Drisdale were passing by the
Super S store on Highway 290.
after returning from the Bastrop
Skating Rink.
The suspects went behind the
store and cut a hole in a chain link
fence surrounding the back door.
It is believed they took the fire ex-
tinguisher sitting by the door and
pounded the door's dead-bolt lock
until it broke, said Campos.
Once inside the food store, the
suspects loaded items— including
pastries, liquor, and hair care
products—into a trash can and left
the store, Campos said.
According to the chief, Wyatt
and Drisdale walked almost a half
mile out of town carrying the trash
can and entered private property to
steal a bicycle, but the homeowner
called the Elgin Police before the
suspects left the scene.
Officers arrested Wyatt and
Drisdale at the scene and held them
until deputies from the Sheriffs
department arrived.
"It was a spur of a moment
thing," Campos said of the rob-
bery. "It was not planned ahead of
time."
LCRA to continue
ground east of Texas 95 along the
east side of the highway at least as
far south as Cedar Street where it
can be discharged into Gills
Branch.
Diverting that much water will
ease chronic flooding problems
along Hill and Pecan Streets bet-
ween Cedar and Mesquite, Cunn-
ingham said.
"When we rework the drainage
it will help a big section of town,"
he said. "Next week I hope to meet
with (highway department resident
engineer) Danny Smith."
In a different direction, Cunn-
ingham saicf residents should soon
see local students working on city
jobs for the summer. They will be
cutting grass, hauling books and
painting fireplugs* Mraai&.
The city has hiflSfl eight students
for the summer under a federal
youth employment training
program.
Some will aid in moving the
library from Water Street to its new
home at Church and Spring Street,
Cunningham said.
Construction work on the library
could be finished in two weeks or
less, he said.
At other times the students will
be cutting weeds and mowing
municipal grass as well as starting
to landscape around the new
library. <
Continued on Pnge 2, Section I Continued on Page 2, Section I
reports on river
Residents in the Colorado River
watershed below Austin will con-
tinue to receive regular reports on
water quality in the river from the
Lower Colorado River Authority,
and Bastrop High School students
will soon be helping collect the
data, an official said Tuesday.
The new water quality reports
will be more detailed and be issueci
every other month, said water
quality director Tom Remaley.
The first of the bi-monthly
reports should be released late this
week, he said.
Hie new reporting format will
feature the same water quality in-
dex scale from 0 to 100, Remaley
said, but results will be published
for about 100 locations instead of
the 15 noted on earlier reports.
The changed report format
results in part from public demand
for more detailed information, ac-
ferding to Remaley.
Originally the reports were
designed as a guide for the public
about where the river was suitable
for contact recreation such as
swimming or tubing. The reports
were used for that purpose, but in
time people wanted to know more.
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McAuley, Davis. The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 136, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 1, 1989, newspaper, June 1, 1989; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth395224/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.