The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 141, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 12, 1994 Page: 1 of 36
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Texas* Oldest Weekly Newspaper
Since March l, 1853
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Vol. 141, No. 21
County set
to reject all
Elgin bids
Bastrop, Texas
Thursday, May 12,1994
By Davis McAuley
Editor
Bastrop County commission-
ers will huddle, possibly on Fri-
day, about how to proceed with
construction of a human ser-
vices center in Elgin.
In preliminary discussions
Monday, commissioners hinted
they could reject all five bids
received Friday because they
all exceed the project's $215,000
budget.
Rejecting the bids, in turn,
could clear the way for commis-
sioners to agree with Sheriff
Fred Hoskins to build the
structure with supervised jail
inmate labor.
County Judge Randy Fritz
said he expects the state agen-
cies helping fund the project
will commit more than the
$115,000 they have already
pledged. How much more re-
mains uncertain, said Fritz.
The county has set aside
$100,000 as its share of the
project The state health de-
■ See BIDS, Page 2
Incumbents
keep city seats
Smithville Mayor Vernon
Richards won another two-year
term in a landslide victory over
Patrick Psencik in Saturday's
election.
City Secretary Brenda Page
said a record 665 voters turned
out for the May 7 election. The
mayor snagged 502 votes to
Psencik's 154.
In Bastrop, Mayor David
Lock was unopposed but still
brought in 525 votes for him-
self.
In the Bastrop council race,
Kathy Butler was unable to un-
See SEATS, Page 2
TRASH MARS SITE
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Smithville Mayor Vernon Richards wants a federal bankruptcy judge to order more
spending to help clean up a vacant industrial site in town.
Richards presses clean-up
Mayor wants court to pay for work at Marh.il
By Janice Butler
Staff Writer
Smithville city officials
moved one step closer to clean-
ing up the deserted Marhil
Manufacturing property after
Mayor Vernon Richards met
with a bankruptcy court Mon-
day.
"The company had been in
Smithville for years prior to its
closing in 1989," Richards said.
Marhil primarily made ship
doors for the government al-
though they did other types of
steel work too, he added.
But the plant closed after
seeking Chapter 11 bankruptsy
protection.
A La Grange bank holds a
mortgage on the property, but
has declined to foreclose be-
cause they did not want the lia-
bility for hazardous chemicals
on the site, Smithville City
Attorney Carl Maley told coun-
cil members May 9.
"It was then that the city
asked to be included in these
court proceedings, because we
have a token interest in the out-
come," he said.
At the time the business
closed its doors, $55,000 was
frozen in a bank account.
The federal bankruptcy court
has since granted Smithville
$10,000 to clean up a portion of
the buildings' interior.
Richards said the work was
completed several years ago, but
die chemicals are still on the
site.
When the court met Monday
it was to change the bankruptcy
from a Chapter 11 to a Chapter
7 which will liquidate the re-
maining assets of the company,
some $38,000.
Richards was on hand to see
what he could get from the es-
tate to clean up the outer area of
the former steel manufacturing
plant
"We've had a least five busi-
nesses looking at that property
in the past, and we want to get it
cleaned up and back on the
market," said Richards.
Monday the court asked
representatives from the attor-
ney general's office and from
the Texas Water Commission to
come to Smithville and evaluate
the situation.
"Depending on what they
find, I think they may recom-
mend the court pay for the
clean-up from the remaining as-
See MARHIL, Page 2
School board
incumbents
get the boot
Change is imminent for Bas-
trop County, and it was never
more apparent than in Satur-
day's school board elections.
Nearly 3,000 voters turned
out in Bastrop, Elgin and
Smithville where two new board
members were elected in each
school district.
In Smithville, board president
William Breedan Jr. was de-
feated after 16 years on the
board by newcomer Craig
Williams in Place 4. Elevina
Garcia brought in 70 votes.
U.S. Postal employee Kirk
McManus took the seat repre-
senting Place 3 with 332 votes,
defeating former board mem-
bers Cherrell Rose and Mark
Rogers. Rose and Rogers both
lost in the 1993 election. Also
on the ballot for the Place 4 po-
sition was Juanita Juarez.
In Bastrop, Robert Miller Jr.,
a 14-year veteran school board
member, was also defeated.
Paula Jefferson won the Place 2
position with 715 votes. Miller
received 572.
Incumbent John Thrift was
ousted by Roger Osbora in
Place 1. Thrift had 556 to Os-
born's 581. Michael Palmquist
came in a distant third with 166
votes.
New school board members
in Elgin are Department of Pub-
lic Safety trooper Rosanna
Church and salesman Gary Null.
Mrs. Church brought in 399
of die 846 votes cast in that
election. Elvin Hoover, Larry
Davenport and Roy Kerley also
ran for the Place 3 position that
was vacated this year by Greg
Silkenson.
Incumbent for Place 4, Stan
Hartman also declined to seek
another term. Brian Lundgren
and Terry Murphy each took
more than 270 votes, but it was
not enough to cover Null's 301.
Projects cleared
Bastrop council okays plats
Tuesday the Bastrop City
Council cleared the way for
construction of two commercial
projects by granting final subdi-
vision approval for a Wal-Mart
Superstore on Texas 71 and The
Crossing on the east bank of the
Colorado River.
The council also authorized a
$20,500 long-range street plan,
studied a proposal for shifting
, traffic patterns on two down-
town alleys and received an es-
timate of $112,500 to rework
Creamer, McMullen,
Schena take board seats
After four years on the Bas-
trop County Water Control and
Improvement District No. 2
board, President Norm Hansen
was voted out during Saturday's
election.
Former Tahitian Village
Property Owners Association
board member John Creamer
won Hansen's position with 87
votes.
Incumbent and WCID Trea-
See WCID, Page 2
Carlson wins mayor's slot
Eric Carlson was elected El-
gin mayor May 7 with 471
votes. He won the seat 200
votes ahead of former city
councilman Joie Hughes.
Wallace Lundgren finished a
distant third with 84 votes and
Lisa Hernandez brought in 17.
Carlson served as a city
councilman for three terms be-
tween 1980-85. He submitted
his candidacy for die mayor's
seat after Mayor Jan Schroeder
declined to seek a second term.
Also in Saturday's election,
former Elgin city councilman
Gordon Swenson won one of
the two seats representing Ward
4 by sliding past incumbent
Bobby Walker's 99 votes with
108 of his own.
Swenson, a volunteer fireman
and Southern Union Gas em-
ployee, has served on the coun-
cil 16 years with two one-year
breaks. He lost bids fix re-
See CARLSON, Paga 2
utilities and reroute alley routes
in the block bounded by Main,
Chestnut, Water and Pine Street.
Robert Hogan said his Dallas
engineering firm can produce a
thoroughfare plan for Bastrop in
about 90 days. Having a plan in
place will help guide plans be-
ing developed by the state
highway department said
Hogan.
At the same time he said
Officials eye
sewer plans
At a Monday strategy session
in Bastrop officials outlined a
plan to document an urgent need
for sewer service in the Stony
Point community.
County officials along with
the Lower Colorado River Au-
thority, Aqua Water Supply
Corp. and other agencies are
studying possible ways to link
some 1,200 Stony Point resi-
dents on the county's western
border to an existing but trou-
See SEWER, Page 2
County Judge Randy Fritz, left, Joined the craw at Bastrop's Deep In the Heart Art
Foundary to watch Tuesday's annular eclipse of the sun with specisl equipment.
Claaaifled
Coming up
Deaths
Letters
Sports
p. 13
P»
p. 6
P-4
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p. 10
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McAuley, Davis. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 141, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 12, 1994, newspaper, May 12, 1994; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth409832/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.