The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 137, No. 30, Ed. 1 Monday, June 11, 1990 Page: 1 of 10
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Vol. 137, No. 30
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Bastrop, Texas
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Advertiser Photos/Sherri Baker Bryant
Two Bastrop men died Thursday, trapped in this car found overturned in Piney Creek.
Bridge accident claims 2 Bastrop men
they were going over the 30 mile
Two Bastrop men were found
dead in a battered car early Thurs-
day morning. The car lay upside
down in four feet of water below
the Piney Creek Bridge at the city
limits north of Main Street.
The two men were pronounced
dead at 8:28 a.m. by Precinct 1 and
3 Justice of the Peace Bill Hender-
son. The men were identified as
Thomas Richard “Bubba” Davis
Jr., 22, of 1910 Wilson Street and
Gary James Halverson Jr., 21, of
Rt. 2 Box 151C.
The Bastrop Volunteer Fire
Department used the “jaws of life"
to remove the bodies from the
vehicle.
The accident occurred between
3:30 a.m., when the men left the
Orgain Apartments at 1508 Church
Street, and 7:15a.m., when a pass-
ing motorist noticed guardrail
damage at the bridge and notified
police, Bastrop Police Chief Ron-
nie Duncan said. Residents near the
bridge heard a noise at 5:30 a.m.,
investigating officer Leonard Turn-
er reported.
The police investigation indicates
Davis was driving a 1974 Mercu-
ry north on Main Street. The car
left the roadway on the eastside as
it approached the bridge. Its left
wheels ran up the guardrail and
bridge railing, the car became air-
borne, turned over and landed up-
side down in four feet of water, he
said.
“We haven’t determined how
fast they were going but we know
per hour speed limit,” Duncan
said.
The car belonged to Donnie
Daniels of Bastrop, who told police
Thursday morning that he had been
asleep and did not know his car
was gone. Police said Halverson,
a friend of Daniels, and Davis were
seen at Daniel’s aparment around
3:30 a.m.
Continued on Page 2
By E. J. Perez Jr.
The new state school financing
plan signed by the governor last
week, will result in mixed bless-
ings for Bastrop County schools
according to the three district su-
perintendents.
Elgin will be on the short end of
the stick. Elgin Independent School
District SuperintendentAjrfT'Paul
Willis said his district will’receive
about $700,000 less under the
compromise bill than would have
been provided by the special court
masters plan.
‘ ‘We appreciate whatever we can
get,” said Willis. “We will get
about $600,000 above what the
present law calls for, but we
would’ve received $1.3 million in
additional funding under the court
masters plan.”
Willislsaid.the original plaintiff
in the case, Edgewood ISD, is
preparing to challenge the new
financingjplan. “I don’t make light
of $600/)00, but we will receive
less th>m half of what the court
master said we need to equalize,”
he said. “As far as we’re con-
cerned it’s not equitable.”
According to the governor's
office, the bill signed into law, will
provide $528 million more for pub-
lic education in the next school year
in addition to $450 million that the
Legislature appropriated for poorer
districts last year.
The addftibhal'spdfiding will be
financed by a 15 cent increase in
the state cigarette tax, a 2 percent
increase in the mixed beverage tax,
a quarter cent hike in the state sales
tax and fees and budget transfers.
When asked about the inequity
in funding between the court
masters plan and the signed bill, the
governor’s press office said, “this
plan more than meets the require-
ment of the court,” and, “spend-
ing will increase by $5 billion over
the next five years.
In March, both Smithville and
Elgin ISD passed resolutions
declaring support for new state
revenues, “through the adoption of
new or increased taxes or other
revenue enhancements,” including
a half-cent sales lax, to equalize
funding. The governor vetoed a
half-cent sales tax during the previ-
ous special session.
Bastrop ISD Interim Superinten-
dent Ronald Landrum said the
large Bastrop district will gain
about $800,000 in additional fund-
ing under the compromise bill.
Landrum said the district
received a letter from Representa-
tive Robert Saunders unofficially
informing them of the additional
revenue.
Landrum declined to comment
on the additional funding until he
has had a chance to see the official
notification.
He did say that B1SD will do bet-
ter under the compromise bill than
under the court masters plan.
Continued on Page 2
Former mayor,
businessman
dies Saturday
Denman Benton Sims, age 77, of
Bastrop died Saturday, June 9,
1990.
He was born March 22, 1913 in
Crockett, Texas to Jefferson Den-
man and Vina Smith Sims. He
owned and operated Sims Chevro-
let and Oldsmobile in Bastrop for
30 years and served as Mayor of
Bastrop for 10 years.
Funeral services are 2:00 p.m.
Monday, June 11, 1990 at Newby
Funeral Home. Burial is in Fair-
view Cemetery.
Continued on Page 3
LIFE OR DEATH
Upton raid closes
£2 million drug lab ®astroP an*mal control officer seeks homes for stray animals
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By Sherri Baker Bryant
Law officers seized more than $2
.million in chemicals allegedly used
to manufacture methamphetamines
and arrested two Bastrop County
men in a drug raid near Upton
Thursday.
Austin Police Sgt. Gene Blom-
strom said a search of the residence
seven miles west of Smithville on ,
Bastrop County Road 2571 unco-
vered a “very sophisticated clan-
destine laboratory with enough
chemicals to produce $2 million
worth of methamphetamines.”
Federal drug agents arrested
Milton Ray Oliver, 28, and Alton
Earl Lillard Jr., 53, Thursday
morning near Upton. The two were
charged in federal court with con-
spiracy to manufacture metham-
phetamines, a first degree felony,
Blomstrom said.
Both men are on parole from the
Texas Department of Corrections-
-one for felony theft and the other
for attempted capital murder, he
reported.
Oliver and Lillard are being held
without bond in the Hayes County
Jail.
Besides the laboratory, glass-
ware and chemicals, federal agents
seized 20 rifles and handguns, a
1990 Ford pickup, a 1988 Chevro-
let pickup and a 1976 Chevrolet
pickup.
...... Searching the property, officers
also found a Chevrolet Camaro, a
front end loader and backhoe and
a 15-foot stock trailer, which had
been reported stolen, Blomstrom
said.
Drug Enforcement Agency
officers began surveillance at the
Upton residence Wednesday morn-
ing. A vehicle leaving the residence
was stopped in Smithville by Bas-
trop County Sheriff’s officers and
police.
Two male and two female pas-
sengers in the car were detained at
the Smithville police station when
officers reported one of them was'
carrying a handgun, Blomstrom
said.
Obtaining a search warrant, the
DEA Anti-Drug Abuse Task Force
entered the Upton residence at 2:30
a.m. Thursday and found the
chemicals, he said. The seizure
was handled by the Austin Police
department Drug Lab team under
Lt. Rick Coy.
Neither of the women was ar-
rested, Blomstrom reported.
The vehicles are stored pending
conclusion of seizure proceedings
now underway, he said.
By Ellen Moore
For Bastrop’s Animal Control
Officer Betty Wade it’s the same
old song, second, third and fourth
verses. She’s swamped with aban-
doned or lost animals and she needs
to find homes for them before she
is forced into euthanasia due to
overcrowding or sickness.
She keeps a stray animal five
days before it’s eligible for adop-
tion. Then, if it’s not reclaimed or
adopted, it is put to death.
This week she’s holding on to a
pure blooded border collie who’s
young, in good health, friendly,
likes people and gets along with
other dogs.
In short, it’s a dog just begging
for a home and a family.
“I found it running loose a cou-
ple of weeks ago,” the harried of-
ficer said Friday. “I haven’t had
call one.
“I’m desperately trying to find
a home for her. She’s so well-
behaved and she looks like she
hasn’t had any puppies. She’s such
a pretty thing and adores any at-
tention I give her. She’s extreme-
ly adoptable.”
If Betty just had the one pair of
limpid, trusting eyes to worry
about, she wouldn’t be so upset
with the human race this week.
But, unfortunately, she has more.
“I’ve got a beautiful male Ger-
man Shepherd now. He’s a pretty
animal, but he’s getting thin and
could be wormy. He’s eating well
One ringy-dingy
♦ ♦ ♦
With the Bastrop County Sheriffs'Department settling into
new quarters at the county’s new jail and justice center this week,
Chief Deputy Sheriff Jim Hutson is asking residents to remember
some new telephone numbers.
The public number for the jail and sheriff s department has
been 321-2227 for many years. That number is now restricted
to use for emergency calls only, Hutson said.
For routine information and to contact all other administra-
tive and law enforcement officials in the department, the new
number is 321-8200.
This lucky mama kitty and her kittens were adopted by the Bastrop Advertiser but other
stray animals face death on the streets.
though and is still very chipper.
He’s really a very handsome guy.”
She also has available for adop-
tion four “little bird dog looking
puppies,” all happy and bouncy,
and four other Doberman mixes
“not so people-oriented.”
She believes that these four, once
separated from each other, could
become good pets. “Right now
they stick together and don’t want
you to come too close,” she
explained.
She also has an older Siamese
tom cat with no tail, “of an ag-
gressive nature who’s an excellent
hunter. ” He needs to go to a “one-
cat household,” she said.
And, just hours before she spoke
with the Advertiser Friday, she
took in a “huge, black Lab” which
had been running at large, “getting
thinner and thinner.”
She shook her head and added,
“A little girl in the neighborhood
over across the bridge near
Lowden’s said she saw it being
pushed out of,a car. But by the time
her mother got there the car was
gone. The dog was trailing a piece
of chain.”
She added, “1 have a list of peo-
ple and I call them. But you’d be
amazed at how many people never
contact me when the dog I have is,
or was, obviously someone’s pet.
I just put down a fat, old Cocker
Spaniel. You know it had to belong
to someone. People are really
disappointing me.”
Last month was “pretty wild,”
according to Mrs. Wade. “We had
a general total of 65 animals at the
shelter, dogs and cafe, plus one tur-
tle but we let him go.
“Not one of those 65 was sold.
Not one was reclaimed. Two kit-
tens died and one cat made a break
for it and made it to freedom. I kept
seven of the dogs into this month,
the ones we’ve talked about, but
you do the math. The others are
Continued on Page 2
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McAuley, Davis. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 137, No. 30, Ed. 1 Monday, June 11, 1990, newspaper, June 11, 1990; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth747456/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.