The Examiner (Navasota, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 15, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 9, 2014 Page: 4 of 20
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Page 4A
April 9, 2014
This Week In Grimes County
1974,1984,1994,2004
2004
• Navasota High School
graduate, U.S. Marine
Corps Lance Cpl. Jacob
Pimentel, was wounded in
the Iraq Conflict after the
Humvee he was riding in
ran over a landmine.
• James Earl Ruckett of
Navasota, 46, was pro-
nounced dead after a head-
on collision.
• County roads were the
chief topic of discussion
during a debate between
Precinct 1 commissioner
candidates John Bertling
and Don Gaylor.
1994
• Dozens of investiga-
tions dispelled rumors of
local gang activity.
• Navasota ISD an-
nounced that eight
coaches, from as far away
as Paris, made the inter-
view list for an open ath-
letic director position.
• Billy Jack Kessinger
Jr. of Iola, 23, was arrested
and charged with posses-
sion of drug paraphernalia
after a traffic stop.
1984
• The City of Navasota
held a short hearing, re-
garding the annexation of
171.585 acres off State
Highway 105, as there
were no attendees from the
public. The land sur-
rounded August Horst
Golf Course, new city
ballparks and the munici-
pal airport and did not in-
clude Navasota VFW Post
4006 or Edgewood Coun-
try Club.
• Anderson residents
were set to vote on
whether to keep the town’s
incorporation status.
• The Town of Ander-
son simultaneously cele-
brated the 30th annual
Texas Trek event and the
town’s 150th anniversary.
1974
• Sandy Yorek and Jay
Sargent were voted Miss
and Mr. Navasota High
School.
• Grimes County Sher-
iff’s Office was busy in-
vestigating four separate
house burglaries.
• Hitchhiker Jeff Tucker
of Plantersville claimed he
was robbed of about $23
by two males who offered
him a ride.
(TlifftMtiiiiin
Editor & Publisher
SCOTT MCDONALD
publisher@navasotaexaminer.com
Managing Editor
ROSEMARY SMITH
editor@navasotaexaminer.com
Sales Representative
ANA COSINO
ads@navasotaexaminer.com
Bookkeeper
Carrie Little
bookkeeper@navasotaexaminer.com
Circulation
John Williams, Ina Lindley
Contributing Writers
Gail Sowell, JJ Wilson, John Maxwell, JODILYN
MARRS, Beverly Igo, Mary Lois Boatman, Debra
Busa, D. Surface, Danny Stone
USPS 375160
Letters to the Editor Policy:
The Navasota Examiner publishes letters on almost
any subject. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for
length and inappropriate content, and also reserves the
right to refuse publication of any letter for any reason.
Letters concerning local issues will be given first pri-
ority. Priority will also go to letter writers who have not
been published in the last 30 days. No anonymous letters
will be published, and all letters must be signed and in-
clude a phone number, which will be used for verification
purposes only.
Letters endorsing political candidates will not be pub-
lished after early voting begins.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Navasota Examiner
PO Box 751# 115 Railroad St. Navasota, Texas 77868
fax: (936) 825-2230; ph: (936) 825-6484
editor@navasotaexaminer.com
www.navasotaexaminer.com
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Must have payment and customer approval by Monday at
10 a.m., before publishing.
Ttt
MEMBER
2014
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
Serving Navasota &Grimes County since 1894
Texas Gulf Coast
Press Association
y
Letters to the Editor
Response to why dump
your dogs?
Dumped off pets cannot
survive in country
I live in a rural area. I read
Ms. Schwenke’s 4/2/14 let-
ter to Editor “Why dump
your dogs? I hope she took
comfort in that most likely
the event she described
saved those animals from
months of suffering as hope-
fully they died instantly. My
neighbors & I see countless
pets in so much misery it
cannot be printed in this
publication. The site of these
starving, limping, flea rid-
den fur-less creatures with a
strain of Mange eating away
their fur & sometimes their
flesh breaks our hearts. You
can see their suffering in
their eyes if they lift their
bowed heads up enough as
they mostly just look at the
ground cowering. If these
words make you feel queasy,
can you imagine witnessing
it every day rather than just
reading about it? We often
come across ones who are so
far gone; (let’s not go there)
we shoot them to put them
out of their misery. We have
our own (lucky) dogs to care
for. We’re not set up to be
animal shelters.
I know I’m covering the
same territory of Ms.
Schwenke’s letter, but have
my own worthy questions
after reading it. 1) Who are
these people who think
“Skipper will be OK” when
they dump him off? 2) Is his
owner that stupid or just
doesn’t care? 3) Does he/she
know how “Skip “will spend
his last days but turn their
eyes away to the out- of-
sight-out- of-mind the-
ory? These suffering
animals are not out of sight
- out of mind to us where we
live. These are creatures
who depended on humans
all their lives & now are
alone, scared, don’t’ know
what to do, where to go.
4) Why is not a small fee to
an animal shelter worth the
misery they will save this
animal? I don’t understand
that. Granted, due to over-
population or disease some
animals in shelters may have
to be humanely etherized,
but still have a far better
chance at a decent life than
being dumped in the coun-
try. Ms. Schwenke’s last
sentence says it all but I’ve
questions on it too. 5) Why
stop at just the neighbors? 6)
Why not go beyond the
neighbors & tell the commu-
nity as Ms. Schwenke put
it... .’’know you for what you
are”.
Steve Seymour
Rural Navasota
Navasota ISD $62 Million Bond Proposals
Open letter on NISD bonds
Rory
Gesch
Navasota ISD
Superintendent
Dear Navasota ISD
Families and Community
Members,
In September of 2013,
Navasota ISD, at the direc-
tion of the Board of
Trustees, began assessing
the physical condition, se-
curity and capacity of its fa-
cilities. The results of these
assessments — coupled
with a demographics study
— indicate, by current en-
rollment trends, the school
district will experience
overcrowding as soon as
2015. This led the Navasota
ISD Board of Trustees and
school district administra-
tion to revisit and update
the facilities master plan.
The public was invited to
participate on a newly
formed facilities planning
committee. This Committee
consisted of approximately
50 NISD citizens who met
from December through
February to discuss strate-
gies and options related to a
short- and long-term facili-
ties plan.
The goal of the Commit-
tee was to develop con-
sensus on strategies and
options and to present these
findings to the NISD
School Board. Based on the
information presented re-
garding the condition of ex-
isting facilities, safety and
security, and the current ca-
pacity of the facilities, these
goals drive the prioritiza-
tion of these findings for in-
clusion in bond proposal.
Safety & Security Up-
grades
Maintenance & Technol-
ogy Infrastructure Up-
grades
Campus Student Capac-
ity Solutions
Fine Arts & Career and
Technology Education
Improvements to In-
structional Spaces
On Monday, Feb. 17,
2014, members of the Fa-
cilities Planning Committee
presented to the Navasota
ISD Board of Trustees their
recommendations regard-
ing the school district’s fa-
cilities. Adriana de la
Cruz-Burnett, Jennifer
Fultz, Dr. Clement Glenn,
Karen Hale, and Chris Kehl
represented the committee,
which was comprised of
more than 50 members rep-
resenting parents, business
and community. The NISD
Board of Trustees voted
unanimously to call a bond
election with two proposi-
tions for Saturday, May 10,
2014. Specifically, the bond
election is presented in two
parts (propositions) of
which one, both or none of
the propositions can be
passed by Navasota ISD
voters.
Proposition I
The first proposal is a
bond for $57,769,801,
which includes additions
and renovations to High
Point Elementary, John C.
Webb Elementary, Nava-
sota Intermediate Elemen-
tary School and Navasota
Junior High/High School
Campus. This bond in-
cludes improvements to in-
crease security and safety,
ADA non-compliance up-
grades, as well as many fea-
tures to accommodate
student growth and technol-
ogy needs.
Proposition II
The second bond pro-
posal is for $3,872,000 and
includes upgrades to both
Brosig Auditorium and the
Administration Building
(old historic high school).
Propositions can be passed
individually or together in
order to improve Navasota
ISD campuses.
Residents who are 65
years of age or older who
file for and receive an Over
65 Homestead Exemption
will have their school taxes
frozen at the current rate
(the “tax ceiling”) and will
not see a tax increase on
their homestead due to this
bond election for as long as
the citizen lives in the home
and does not make im-
provements that increase
the home’s value. For ex-
ample, if a garage or a
game room is added to the
home, the tax ceiling can go
up. Also, the tax ceiling will
change if a citizen moves to
a new home in the District.
Please note that citizens 65
years or older must request
this status to qualify. To re-
quest an over 65 exemp-
tion, contact the Grimes
County Appraisal District.
Current state law re-
quires the district to set a
tax rate for debt service on
voter approved bonds (the
“Debt Rate”) and set a tax
for the District’s mainte-
nance and operations (the
“M&O Rate”). The current
M&O Rate in NISD is
$1.04 per $100 of taxable
assessed valuation, and the
current Debt Rate is
$0.1514 per $100 of taxable
assessed valuation. If ap-
proved, the overall tax rate
will increase up to $1.4305
per $100 of taxable as-
sessed valuation; M&O
Rate of $1.04 per $100 of
taxable assessed valuation+
Debt Rate of $0.3905 per
$100 of taxable assessed
valuation. The average
home property value in
Navasota is $66,766. Based
on this value, the average
taxpayer in Navasota would
see a tax increase of ap-
proximately $10.32 per
month, or less than 34 cents
per day. (Assumes pro-
jected property values, and
a homestead exemption of
$15,000)
If approved, the bonds
are expected to be sold over
a two to three year time pe-
riod, beginning in the sum-
mer of 2014. The amount of
each bond sale will be
based on the construction
needs and timing of each
project. As a result, it is an-
ticipated that the projected
Debt Rate increase will be
phased in over the time pe-
riod in which the bonds are
sold.
A comprehensive list of
items this bond will im-
prove and update can be
found online at
http: // w w w. navasotai sd.org
/bond
Voting Information
Early Voting:
Weekdays
Monday, April 28, 2014,
through Tuesday, May 6,
2014
8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Navasota Center
101 Stadium Drive
Navasota, Texas
‘Books Gone Hollywood’ book fair
this week at the jr/sr high school
Anderson
News
By Gail
Sowell
• The Anderson-Shiro
Junior-Senior High School
will be holding a Spring
Book Fair April 7 - 11. The
theme will be “Books Gone
Hollywood,” celebrating
the books that have been
made into movies. The
Book Fair will be open
daily with lots of events
happening throughout the
week. Days left this week
are: Wednesday, April 9 and
Thursday, April 10, from
7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Fri-
day, April 11, from 7:30
a.m. to 3 p.m. Come out,
have fun, celebrate the
event and promote literacy.
• The Grimes County
Mobile Food Bank will be
at the fairgrounds in Nava-
sota on Thursday, April 10,
from 10 a.m. until noon.
Proof of residence must be
provided to receive food.
• Get those Easter bas-
kets ready for the upcoming
annual Community Easter
Egg Hunt set for Saturday,
April 12, at the Anderson-
Shiro football field, near
the elementary school. This
event will be from 10 a.m.
until noon.
• There will be a manda-
tory sign up meeting for the
Grimes County Fair 2014
Horse Show on Tuesday,
April 15, from 7 to 9 p.m.,
at the fairgrounds in Nava-
sota. All entries have to be
in by April 15, so you must
come to this meeting to par-
ticipate. For information on
rules, visit
www.grimescountyfair.com
• The Grimes County 4-
H Annual Spaghetti Schol-
arship Lunch, Supper and
Facebook Auction will take
place of Friday, April 25, at
the American Legion Hall
in Anderson. Serving hours
will be from 11 a.m. until 1
p.m., and 4 to 7 p.m. The
cost will be $6 per plate and
children under three eat
free.
Plates will also be deliv-
ered with a minimum order
of five plates. Tickets can
be purchased from any 4-H
member or by calling the
Extension office at 936-
873-3907.
• The Anderson-Shiro
Ag Boosters will hold their
annual dinner, auction and
dance at the fairgrounds in
Navasota on Saturday,
April 26. Mallett Bros, will
cater a meal from 6 to 8
p.m.
A live auction, featuring
items made by FFA stu-
dents, will begin at 7 p.m.,
with a silent auction ongo-
ing throughout the night.
After the auction, a dance
will end at midnight.
Liquor will not be sold,
but you may bring your
own. Sodas and water will
be available. For tickets call
Candi at 936-661-3967 or
Kari Lynn at 936-825-5311.
• The St. Stanislaus
Spring Festival, benefiting
the CCE program, will be
held on May 4, from 11
a.m. until 2 p.m., at their
parish hall. For lunch, your
choice of a hot dog or ham-
burger plate with fries or
tater tots will be $7 per
plate.
Activities will include a
live and silent auction, ring
toss, joy jumps, cake walk
and face painting as well as
a raffle. Come out, bring
your kids and join the fun.
• Happy birthday to
Haleigh Klawinsky, Jim
Andrews and twins Kaylee
and Kylee Kimich, April
10; Wilma Schulze and
SEE SOWELL PAGE 6A
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McDonald, Scott. The Examiner (Navasota, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 15, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 9, 2014, newspaper, April 9, 2014; Navasota, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth807617/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Navasota Public Library.