El Campo Leader-News (El Campo, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 22, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 9, 1982 Page: 1 of 34
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Wharton County Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Wharton County Library.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Class Of \32 Reunited
— Page 8-C
Art Show Wrap-Up —Page 2-A
Inside The
Oil Industry
. — Page I-D
T EL CAMPO IV T
Leader-News
SVOBODA 1885
CmZEN 1900
VOLUME 98 NUMBER 22
El Campo, Texas, Wednesday, June 9, 1982
77437
25 CENTS
5 SECTIONS 44 PAGES
Wharton County
Taxpayers Protest
New Appraisals -
By CHRIS BARBEE
Wharton County taxpayers
were caught off guard last week
when they received property
valuations from the Wharton
County Central Appraisal District
(CAD), and many are not pleased
with values placed on their boats
and farmland.
Wharton County Judge Dan
Sklar said he also has a problem
because citizens are confusing his
office with that of the CAD "It
has caused a lot of confusion. I’ve
been stormed with phone calls. I
don’t think there is a general
understanding by the public that
it (CAD) isn’t associated with the
schools, with the cities or with the
county,” he said.
Sklar said this misun-
derstanding of exactly what the
CAD is has people associating it
with Wharton County, when ac-
tually the CAD is a separate entity
formed by the Texas Legislature
to list and appraise all taxable
property in the district.
Property taxes for the state and
for all local taxing entities will be
based on the district’s appraisals,
but each entity sets its own rate.
‘‘I’ve been answering the phone
and talking to people ’till I’m blue
in the face,” the judge said.
Commissioner Ar-vid
Schoeneberg also expressed
concern "The talk is that ‘the
commissioners are getting to us
again.’ Commissioners don’t have
anything to do with it Our hands
are tied.”
Schoeneberg' added that the tax
rates listed on the appraisal
notice actually have little
meaning. “The problem is the law
says that a rate must be put on the
notice, but that rate won’t be set
until September The property
values are the only thing that
mean anything.”'
Don Matthews, El Campo ISD
business manager, said he has
received only two phone calls, and
Robert Lundy, El Campo city
manager, said he has not received
too many calls. ‘‘When I get them
I refer them to the Appraisal
District,” Lundy said.
All three officials said the tax
rate listed on the notices as ap-
plied to the assessed property
values has people concerned, but
they all agreed that the rate as set
is not necessarily what the 1983
rate will be. The $1.07 school rate
is the rate used this yeac The
city’s rate was listed at 77 cents,
when it should have been 70 (also
the 1982 rate). The 45 cent county
rate was misleading as it includes
not only the county, but the junior
college, fire district and farm-to-
market and lateral road fund.
People with boats, and those
with agricultural land whrf have
not applied for agricultural use
(See TAXPAYERS, Page 2)
El Campo firemen responded to the scene of a fire at Nine-
Point Grain Inc. late Monday afternoon. Some 30 firemen
fought the smoke and flames for more than an hour before
finally extinguishing the fire which was located between
metal walls. For complete details, please see the related
story on Page 2-A.
I S IVU Sy Chris Sarto*
Grain Facility Catches Fire
ECISD Trustees To Examine Southside School Dilemma
By KAY KENNEDY RICE
The Board of Trustees of the El
Campo Independent School
District will meet in emergency
session at 8 a.m. Friday on the
Southside School campus to see
what can be done to relieve an-
ticipated overcrowding at the
school next fall.
The board agreed on the
meeting Tuesday night during its
regular session after hearing a
report from Bill Dowden, assis-
tant superintendent. Dowden pro-
lected enrollment for next year’s
kindergarten classes to reach 328
students compared to this year’s
enrollment of 287
This increase would only add to
an already strained situation at
the school, where some teachers
have previously held class in the
hall, cafeteria and teachers
lounge.
Dowden originally recommend-
ed the construction of a tem-
porary classroom building and
the addition of a teacher and aide
to help reduce the student-teacher
ratio and maintain effectiveness.
A growing student population is
not unique to the local district,
Dowden pointed out, with a pro-
jected 20 percent national in-
crease during the 1980s in enroll-
ment in the lower grades.
But several board members felt
that the problem could not be solv-
ed until the future of the Southside
caWipus was determined
‘‘We’ve been talking about it for
years,” said Richard Manske,
board president. “The real ques-
tion is do we want to keep
Southside or not.”
Trustee Jerry Collier said the
costs to replace Southside would
be enormous and judging by the
mood of the taxpayer he did not
think many would favor a new
building
According to Thomas Hollis,
maintenance director, the cost of
a temporary wooden classroom
building would be between $15,000
and $18.(KM). i( it VHI built b\
district personnel
Because most of the district's
current temporary buildings are
in bad repair, Hollis suggested
building a cement block structure
on a concrete slab
Although outside help would be
needed, Hollis felt the project
could be done at a reasonable
cost.
“The structure of Southside is
still sound,” Hollis added, “and a
lot can be done to modernize. Any
new building shuld be connected
to the oldest section (of the
school).”
With higher enrollment at
Southside, Dowden noted that
Louise Hutchins Elementary
School (grades 1-3) may soon be
faced with the same problem
I * IU* Mm
I,ramie planner* — Jan ire (ox. left, fame* Sacha.
Sieve Thant and Willi* Vickery.
Preparations Under Way
For County-Wide Grande
The month of June in Wharton
County means hot weather,
outdo**’ barbecues. Little League
and preparation* for Grande
Billed this year as a “summer
festival for all of Wharton
County." Grande has undergone
some changes Because it will last
two davs, the name has been
changed to Grande Days And
even more important, it will be a
county-wide affair
Officially. Grande Days has
been set for the weekend of Aug
28 and 29 at the Crescent
fairgrounds, and organisers are
excited about the new location
and the chance to get the whole
county involved
Two persons, who will be
overseeing preparations are
Willis Vickery Grande Days
manager and James Kochs
-hairman of the Grande Com
mittee of the El Campo Chamber
of Commerce and Agriculture
Vickery, who was appointed
manager in January, and Soeha
both agree that preparations for
this year's Grande Days started
immediately after Grande last
year
“After the washout last year
(rain), we looked at Crescent and
decided it would be a much better
situation. Socha explained
The intense planning and hard
work by the various committees
can be seen in the added at
tractions this year
Besides the official "Texas
State Accordion Contest. ’ other
special features of Grande Days
will include a chili cook off more
adult rides rodeo arena events a
tiny tot pageant, cooking
demons!ratKms btnga arts and
crafts
I
Other Grande regulars will be
back including Mike Prasek’s
country sausage booth, the
washer pitch contest, the Bud-
weiser parachuters and Shrine
Clowns.
“We’ve seen an earlier and
greater interest this year," said
Harlan Hobbs, manager of the
<■)>.-. mli«*r U <• lire going to
go to every town in the county and
ask them to participate
More volunteers are needed and
Vickery encouraged those in
tcrested to contact Oscar Griffin
of El Campo
Mobbs added that the 1982
Grande visitors wilt see an in
crease in both the number and
types of concession stands
Were inviting any civic,
fraternal charitable nr other
organizations to participate
Sfa ha said
1
I
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.
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.
Barbee, Chris. El Campo Leader-News (El Campo, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 22, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 9, 1982, newspaper, June 9, 1982; El Campo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1007203/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Wharton County Library.