De Leon Free Press (De Leon, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 10, 2009 Page: 1 of 14
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-;1 BEARCATS.
Thursday
September 10,2009
14 Pages
500
Volume 119, No. 11
DeLeon, TX 76444
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HOMECOMING KING AND QUEEN NOMINEES. Homecoming King nominees for
2009-10 are, left to right, Colt Wells, Tanner Welch, Alex Rorie and Mitch Winkles.
Homecoming Queen nominees, left to right, are Jennifer Lewis, Megan Williams,
Kendra Howard and Courtney Caraway. Homecoming is scheduled for September
18, 2009, with the DeLeon Bearcats taking on Dawson.
Commissioners
Hear Tax Protest
By JON AWBREY
Publisher
At a special meeting of the
Comanche County
Commissioners Court Tuesday,
one Comanche County citizen
voiced his concerns regarding
the proposed increase in the
county tax rate.
The proposed increase to
.644470, up from last year’s
.6120, resulted in a rather sub-
dued reaction from Comanche
County resident Charles
Grimsley.
“They just keep raising it
every year on us,” said
Grimsley, a retired school-
teacher. “Pretty soon I won’t be
able to live in the house.”
Grimsley also questioned
the appraised value of his prop-
erty.
“It’s gone up every year
along with the taxes. I’ve been
here nine years, and it’s
[increased] without fail.”
County Judge James
Arthur characterized the
increase in the tax rate as keep-
ing “our head above water,”
and commissioners laid the
blame for the increase on man-
dated public spending.
“Everybody’s getting
everything for free,” reported
one commissioner.
“It’s how much we need to
keep the wheels going,” said
Commissioner Jimmy Johnson.
“But I’m not for it.”
Commissioner Sherman
Sides then explained why Erath
and Brown Counties’ tax rates
remained low, stating that those
counties, unlike Comanche
County, have a large tax base.
Commissioner Kenneth
Feist also reported that the
county government had already
cut down services offered to
reduce expense.
In other action, the court
unanimously approved paying
$27.40 in overcharged interest
to Comanche National Bank.
“In their defense,” said
Johnson, “that’s how you make
it... take care of your pennies
and the dollars will take care of
themselves.”
See Court page 7
Inventor Ancil Hill Remembered
our contest, with the average
grade improving but still
remaining in the "F" category.
The average contestant still
DeLeon Welder Produces returned to Austin. his summers with relatives here ourselves when we were just
First Self-Propelled Peanut Although Don grew up in in DeLeon. "My brother seven and six years old.
Combine Port Arthur, he spent most of Richard and I rode the train by See Hill page 2
By JERRY MORGAN
THE DELEON COMBINE. Ancil Hill, wearing his engineers cap, standing in front of
his creation, the first self-propelled peanut combine.
missed slightly more than 6
games.
The top pickers were defi-
nitely better, however, with two
picks only missing a single
game. Last week we only had
a single three-miss pick.
Thom Clayton and Beth
Riggs only missed picking cor-
rectly on a single game.
Clayton's tie breaker total
points guess was considerably
closer to the actual total score,
however, and he takes the $50
weekly prize.
In the close but no cigar
group we had Carolyn Frasier,
Jason Killebrew, Andy Quinn
and Aaron Riggs, each missing
only two games each.
Early's loss to Wall was
the week's top source of miss-
es, followed closely by
DeLeon's loss to Milano,
See Contest page 7
School Board Adopts Budget
Special to the Free Press
The regular monthly meet-
ing of the DISD Board of
Tmstees was held on the final
day of the month, as the Board
prepared to adopt the 2009-
2010 district budget.
The first step in the budget
adoption process was the
approval of the 2009-2010 dis-
trict salary scale. The district
salary scale as adopted by the
Board included pay raises for
all employees, with teachers
receiving their annual step
increase and the $800 state
mandated pay raise. Other posi-
tions on the salary scale
received their step increase and
a percentage increase of the
state mandated pay raise.
Maintenance, custodial, and
cafeteria employees were given
a 4% pay increase.
The Board then reviewed
the final budget presented for
adoption. The budget as pre-
sented is a positive net balance,
with the district ending the
2010 fiscal year with revenue
exceeding expenditures by
$4329.00. The budget includes
allocating $500,000 in current
year monies toward the con-
struction of the new high school
building. Rather than allowing
these monies to go directly to
fund balance, they will be used
during the current year to
defray construction expenses
and to keep the district’s debt
on the project as low as possi-
ble.
Overall, the district is pro-
jected to draw in $6,696 fewer
dollars in local revenue for the
operation portion of the budget.
This decrease is due to a small
loss in property values that was
experienced for the coming tax
year. State revenue for the dis-
trict will increase by approxi-
mately $227,000. A large por-
tion of the increase in state rev-
enue will be used to pay for
mandated pay increase for
teachers and staff.
While the district held the
budget tight for the new school
year, no program suffered any
cuts. The district will utilize
additional federal funding
through the American
Recovery and Reinvestment
Act to help the district continue
its expansion of technology for
student use.
It was noted that the stu-
dent enrollment numbers used
to build the budget were the
final numbers for the 2008-
2009 school year and did not
take into account the additional
enrollment that has been real-
ized for the 2009-2010 school
year.
During the meeting it was
announced that the district’s
current enrollment stands at
709, compared with 670 at the
end of the previous school year.
If the district’s enrollment con-
tinues to hold at this level, the
district would earn an addition-
al $200,000 in state revenue
due to the increase.
See Budget 11
Middle Trinity proposes rate,
watches district water usage
By JON AWBREY
Publisher
During the course of near-
ly three hours, the Middle
Trinity Groundwater
Conservation District Board of
Directors unanimously voted to
adopt a tax rate of 1.5 cents per
hundred for the coming year,
settling on the same rate the
board adopted last year.
The board also unani-
mously adopted a budget for
the year 2010.
Differing from last year,
however, is the debt that the
district incurred to build a new
office building, which caused
some discussion of raising the
tax rate to 1.62 per hundred.
MTGCD General
Manager Joe Cooper reported
that the district had a one time
opportunity to raise the rate,
saying that the district’s inclu-
sion of Bosque County would
increase the district’s status to
that of a regular taxing entity,
rather than a small taxing entity,
*
» A*
CHRIS FULLAGAR. The new DHS secretary.
DHS welcomes new
face Chris Fullagar
next year.
The move from a small
taxing entity to a regular taxing
entity will subject the district to
new mles, including adhering
to truth in taxation laws and
possible rollbacks.
After discussion, however,
directors chose to leave the rate
at the previous level.
Directors also considered
changes to mles to incorporate
Bosque County into the district.
See Tax Rate page 14
By LAURA KESTNER
Editor
She doesn’t get as many
hugs as she did at her old job,
but other than that Chris
Fullagar said she’s truly enjoy-
ing her new job as secretary for
the DeLeon High School.
Fullagar, who spent the
past five years at the DeLeon
Elementary School office, said
she misses the little ones and all
those hugs, but the older stu-
dents have really welcomed her
to the high school.
“There are really sweet
kids here,” Fullagar said.
“Everybody’s just been so nice
and welcoming, including the
faculty and staff.”
As she talked to students
and teachers and answered
phones last Friday, all without
missing a beat, Fullagar
seemed to be a natural at multi-
tasking. And though she laugh-
ingly agreed that at times she
feels like an air-traffic con-
troller, Fullagar said she’s up to
the challenge - and is, in fact,
having fun.
Among the things that she
said she’s enjoying the most,
See Fullagar page 12
Thom Clayton
Edges Riggs in
Football Contest
Grades improved slightly
in Week 1, the second week of
Don Beavens, who lives in
Groves, in the Port Arthur area,
was not bom or schooled in
DeLeon, but he still regards it at
his sentimental home town. "I
think everything I learned in
life, that mattered, I learned
here in DeLeon," he said in a
recent interview.
Don's mother, Gladys
Nabors Beavens, was originally
from DeLeon. Beavens' father
was a band director from
Austin, who met his mother
while touring through the area
with his band. Their romance
blossomed as he stayed in
DeLeon and helped with the
peanut harvest while his band
Weather &
Coming
Events
Call 893-6868 if you have
an event to list
Next Week's Weather
For next week, the fore-
cast calls for partly sunny days
Thursday and Friday with
highs in the low 90s. The
weekend will bring cloudy
days with highs in the high 80s,
with an expected 20 percent
chance of showers on Saturday.
Monday will brighten up, with
a high of 89. For the latest area
weather forecast, click the
weather button on our web site,
wwwAeleonfreepress .com.
This Week's Weather
The weather for the pre-
vious week included one day
that reported at least some pre-
cipitation. Also, as the week
wound down, summer heat
returned with a Tuesday high
of 95. The following weather
information is obtained from
the Corps of Engineers at
Proctor Lake. Daily readings
reflect weather activity for the
24-hour period preceding 8
a.m. on the given day. If
weather readings are not avail-
able, “n/a” is listed.
Date High
Low
Rain
09-02 88
65
0.00
09-03 94
69
0.05
09-04 93
69
0.00
09-05 93
67
0.02
09-06 89
61
0.00
09-07 93
68
0.00
09-08 95
67
0.00
2009 Cumulative Rainfall
January
0.35
February
0.53
March
3.32
April
3.52
May
2.54
June
3.88
July
3.98
August
1.54
September
0.02
Year to date 19.68
Proctor Lake Report
Lake Levels:
Prior week 1155.22
Current
1154.36
Full Level 1162.00
% Normal Capacity
49.1%
Discharge rate (cfs):
Prior 10
Current 9
Current 10
Proctor VFD Fundraiser
The Proctor Volunteer
Fire Department will hold
their annual Fish Fry
Fundraiser this Saturday,
September 12, at the Proctor
Community Center beginning
at 5:30 p.m. For more infor-
mation on the menu, door
prizes and drawing for a new
lawnmower with trailer, call
254-842-1348.
Gorman Peanut Festival
The Gorman Peanut
Festival is scheduled for this
Saturday, September 12, with
fun, food, and a full day of
activities scheduled down-
town.
An Evening With Elvis
A Las Vegas evening
with ELVIS is being present-
ed by CARE (Community
Animal Rescue Effort) Sept
12 at 7 p.m., rounding out the
days events after the Gordon
Tractor Pull. Elvis tribute
artist R J Quick takes the
stage at the old Gordon Gym
for 2 hour starting at 7 p.m.
with rock & roll, ballads and
country & western music. For
more information, call 254-
672-5501 or 817-929-5355.
See Coming Events page 8
Upcoming Pages
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Kestner, Laura. De Leon Free Press (De Leon, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 10, 2009, newspaper, September 10, 2009; De Leon, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth844947/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Comanche Public Library.