Mount Vernon Optic-Herald (Mount Vernon, Tex.), Vol. 139, No. 4, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 23, 2012 Page: 1 of 14
fourteen pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Construction tools, lumber taken from home, Page 5A.
Vol. 139 - No. 4-1 Section, 14 Pages
Mount Vernon, Franklin County, Texas August 23, 2012
Home Page: www.mt-vernon.com
Periodical 50 cents
SPORTS
AND SCHOOL
NEWS
Skip Aguinaga leaps over
opponents while carrying
the ball for the Tigers.
Page14A.
INSIDE
N’Awlins Gumbo Kings
to headline music gala.
Page 2A.
Robinson places
third at world
championship show.
Page 3A.
New MVISD
teachers introduced.
Page 8A.
County court report
Page 10A.
fcrafcrg
Illegal students and
Anthropomorphic
nouns
By Susan Reeves
I received a call Monday
morning
from Jack
Brooks.
He calls
occasion-
ally when
he has in-
formation
to pass on
or when he has run across a
bit of news that has irritated
him. This week he fell into the
latter category.
"I’ve got something I
want you to write an editorial
about," Mr. Brooks said when
I answered the phone.
"What do you have?" I
asked.
He explained that he had
been watching the Little
League World Series on TV,
and that there were teams from
all over the world playing.
“While they were talking
about the team from Mexico,
they explained that several
of the players make a two
hour trip each day, cross the
border, and go to school in
Laredo where they are getting
a great education," he said. "It
is bad enough that they are
taking advantage of the Texas
education system, but they are
bragging about it on national
TV," he added
We went on to discuss the
financial difficulties many
Texas schools are facing. We
are fortunate that our school
See COUNTRY Page 4A
Miss Mount Vernon 2012 Jesi Hines is all smiles as her predecessor,
Asja Gadlin, places her crown.
Pageant grosses $14,000for Franklin
County Chamber of Commerce
The 44th annual Miss Hines will receive a $1,000 Copeland, and Tiny Miss
Mount Vernon Pageant
grossed approximately
$14,000 and anticipates net-
ting around $10,000 for the
sponsoring Franklin County
Chamber of Commerce on
Saturday, Aug. 18 in the
MVISD auditorium.
Jesi Hines was crowned
Miss Mount Vernon for 2012-
2013 before a crowd of about
800. In addition to the crown.
college scholarship from the
Chamber.
A talent competition was
opened to the top two divisions
in the pageant. Miss Hines also
won the talent competition
after singing The Auctioneer.
She received a $500 scholar-
ship from the Chamber.
"Little sisters" for the year’s
reign will be Junior Miss Jor-
dan Rios, Young Miss Eliza-
flowers and trophy received beth Stone, Petite Miss Maikan
by each of the winners, Miss Sinclair, Little Miss Chloe
Presley McCormick. See
separate articles on the six
division winners and other
contestants on Page 6A of
this edition.
Judges for the event were
Daphne Daniels Martel,
Deena Eberhart, Toni Cole,
Tonya Jones, and Jeannie
Taylor
Will Ramsay served as
See PAGEANT Page 6A
City has no money for
Dunlap St. water line
Citizens with property or
family living on Dunlap St.
voiced their concerns over the
lack of funding for replacing
water lines.
The Mount Vernon City
Council at its regular August
meeting updated the Texas
Community Development
Block Grant 2010 paperwork
removing that part of the pro-
posed project. City Adminis-
trator Eddie Turner told the
council and members of the
community present that the
grant was concluded in 2011,
but that some paperwork on
the project was just now being
requested by the state.
The $250,000 TCDB Grant
was sought to refurbish the
downtown above ground water
storage tank ($188,000 and
replace the water line along
Dunlap St. ($95,000).
The plan was for the city to
use the $62,000 anticipated to
be left from the water tower
work for materials and bore
costs on the waterline project.
The city would then use "sweat
equity" (using its own person-
the cost.
After additional work was
required on the downtown
water tower, the water line
portion of the project was
deleted. The sandblasting,
cleaning, repair and repaint-
ing of the tower, both inside
and out, escalated due to age
damage discovered inside the
tower. The cost went from
$188,000 to the full $250,000
grant amount.
The almost 1,700 feet of
eight inch water line, three
fire hydrants, a street bore,
and other connecting parts for
Dunlap St. were not funded.
Tina Fountain and her hus-
band, Ketron, were two of 10
people on hand to question
what had happened.
"Why when you get to
Dunlap St. there is no money,"
Mrs. Fountain asked. She went
on to report having to wait for
several minutes running wa-
ter before getting clear water
from the tap. Others present
reported an odor of sewage in
one spot on the street as well
as potholes that had not been
nel and equipment to install filled.
^WATER^.
Burn ban called off
County proposing a $.47
tax rate for 2013 Budget
Franklin County Commis-
sioners Court members are
hoping taxpayers look at the
proposed $.47 tax rate to help
fund the 2013 Budget as a
reduction in taxes. For those
whose property was not reval-
ued, it will be.
The Court voted to propose
the tax rate at an even $.47,
which is down $.002857 from
the rate for the current budget
year. Itisup $.010458 from the
effective tax rate ($.459542),
which is the rate that would
have collected approximately
the same amount of tax rev-
enue as the current budget
year’s rate of $.472857.
The county’s 2012 Tax
Appraisal Roll is up approxi-
mately 1.05 percent from last
year, with a taxable value of
$1,035,069,310. Commission-
er Deryl Carr noted that some
of that increase would likely be
lost next year. A portion of the
increase, County Auditor Mike
Michaelson agreed, came this
year from increases in timber
property values after exemp-
tions were not filed.
Landowners with property
primarily in trees for the first
time were required to file an
exemption or be taxed at the
full value of the forest product.
Many landowners failed to
file their exemptions on time,
causing their property values to
increase. Some mineral values
increased with the reopening of
an oil and gas production plant
near Eustace which processes
locally pumped minerals.
Last Friday, members of the
Commissioners Court amend-
ed its proposed $4.5 million
budget to increase it to around
$4.6. The county added a cost
of living salary increase for
both hourly employees and
elected officials. Hourly em-
ployees are to receive $.50 per
hour raise about $ 1,040 a year
with no overtime included.
Elected officials will receive
an additional $ 1,000 annually.
See the ad on page 11A for
individual elected official’s
salaries. Together with related
salary expenses and the yearly
increases in longevity pay, that
adds around $115,000 to the
budget.
The county’s fund balance
was suppose to be maintained
at a level which would, under
unforeseen situations, pay
for county operations for at
least three months - around
$900,000. Earlier this month,
members of the Commission-
ers Court changed that policy
to say that it would maintain
2-3 months of operating funds
in its balance. Under the pres-
ent amended budget proposal,
See COUNTY Page 2A
Franklin County Com-
missioners lifted the ban on
outdoor burning at a special
meeting on Monday, Aug. 20.
The action to rescind the ban
went into effect immediately.
The removal of the ban
was spurred when recent rains
caused the Keetch-Bynum
Drought Index to drop the lo-
cal area rating from over 700
to between 400-600.
The official National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration weather station in
Mount Vernon recorded rain
eight of 20 days in August for a
total of 3.22 inches of rainfall.
It rained six of the seven days
prior to Monday.
Commissioners have kept
the "rule of thumb" to initiate
bans when the index exceeds
600. The index was between
700-800 when the current ban
was put in effect during the
previous week on Aug. 13.
The Texas Forestry Ser-
vice’s danger rating map in-
dicated low danger for all of
northeast Texas on Monday,
when the ban was rescinded.
The rating was upgraded to
moderate danger for the same
area Tuesday. Hopkins, Delta,
Camp and Red River counties
have also dropped their out-
door burning bans.
Citizens are urged to still
use caution when burning
out of doors. Be sure to have
a hose, water can and rakes
handy to keep fires under
control. Never leave an out-
door fire unattended.
According to the Texas
Forestry Service, this year’s
extended growing season
and the death of a large num-
ber of trees from prior years’
drought have added to the
amount of debris available
for wildfires.
- Lillie Bnsh-Reves ’12
Go Rodeo! Festival coming together
Excitement is beginning Baumgardner said. Lapel pins parade, the All American
to build about the Go Rodeo! proclaiming "Go Rodeo" are Cowgirl Chicks will perform
Festival. The festival will
include a pavilion dance,
parade, concert on the down-
town plaza, all-you-can-
eat beans and cornbread
event, and fruit cobbler on
the plaza.
The events are being
planned around the annual
Sheriff’s Posse Labor Day
Rodeo which occurs on Sat-
urday and Sunday nights of
Labor Day Weekend each
year. Businesses in Mount
Vernon and Franklin County
are being asked to decorate
their store fronts and win-
dows in western decor or in
patriotic red, white, and blue
during the week leading up to
the Labor Day Rodeo.
” We want our merchants
and people in the commu-
nity to wear their western
duds throughout the week,"
Chamber Ambassador J.D.
available from the Chamber a free concert on the down-
of Commerce office and from town plaza.
some chamber members. The Franklin County His-
A free dance will kick off torical Association will pro-
file festivities for the Go Rodeo vide all-you-can-eat Chuck-
weekend on Friday, Aug. 31.
The dance will be at the Young
Fanners Pavilion adjacent to
the rodeo arena on FM 115.
Games including horse-
shoes and a 42 tournament will Church will be provide fresh
begin at 7 p.m. and the dance baked fruit cobbler for pur-
will begin at 8 p.m. Pulled pork
and beef barbeque sandwiches,
nachos, fried pies, and ice cold
drinks will be available for
purchase at the pavilion.
A parade will lead events on
Saturday, Sept. 1 beginning at
11 a.m. in downtown Mount road of 1-30 and Hwy. 21.
Vernon. Entries for the parade For more information or to
are being sought. To register sign up to take part in any of
your group or organization for the rodeo festival activities,
the parade, call the chamber contact the Chamber of Corn-
office at 903-537-4365. merce 903-537-4365.
Immediately following the - Susan Reeves ’12
wagon Beans and cornbread
on a donation basis and the
Franklin County 4-H Club
will be selling drinks. The
Sulphur River Cowboy
chase.
The events at the annual
Sheriff’s Posse Labor Day
Rodeo will take place on Sat-
urday and Sunday evenings
at the rodeo arena on FM 115
between the south service
Call (903) 537-2228 To Subscribe to the Optic-Herald On-line, or e-mail us at online@mt-vernon.com
Saddle Op
C«ll flannkflts.i
uul
SgapmtzfUtc Bodec Tsb icum-ireo
Ihlflltfflt Utmrn Irtpttr-Hmiiil
Alight 30, 201E G0 RODEO!
Imagioe Vourselt DeblFrcelll
Bur Pill HiU lilvenll if ClittRt
Begins Aug- 29 at 5pm (wilh tinware)
First United Methodist Church
37,lftWmoi WM37-H1& HnnwWMJ
Suodai WtunWp Swift* B;30 a m 11 00 a.m
See our website for money saving coupons
www.jon-wayne.com
JON-WAYNE CO.
HJRNTOThE EXPELS
Heating & Cooling
903-537-4531
24 Hour Service
TACLA003323C Free Estjmates
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View eight places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Bush-Reves, Lillie. Mount Vernon Optic-Herald (Mount Vernon, Tex.), Vol. 139, No. 4, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 23, 2012, newspaper, August 23, 2012; Mount Vernon, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth831213/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .