El Campo Leader-News (El Campo, Tex.), Vol. 99, No. 82, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 4, 1984 Page: 1 of 26
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Famous Gobbler-Giver
Pays El Campo A Visit
— Page 1-D
AT&T Changes Updated
— Page 3-A
Dinner Theater Preview — Page 1-C
‘Birds Fly
Into District
— Page l-R
Leader-N ews
SVOBODA 1885
CITIZEN 1900
VOLUME 99 NUMBER 82
77437
El Campo, Texas, Wednesday, January 4,1984
25 CENTS
6 SECTIONS 40PAC.ES
L-N Photo by Kay Hire
New Year, New Baby!
Lisa Jaks cuddles her newborn son. who was the first baby born in El
Campo Memorial Hospital this year. Koale Edward Jaks arrived at 5:51
p.m. New Year’s Day. The lucky father is Vernon Jaks. Although little
Koale set a record in El Campo. he was not the first baby born in the coun-
ty. Barbara Garcia of Bay City delivered a baby girl at 12:59 a.nt. at Gulf
Coast Medical Center in Wharton.
Four Die, Several
Hurt In Car Crash
A three-car accident near the
Wharton-Matagorda county line
early Monday morning con-
tributed four fatalities to a
statewide death toll of 37 over for
the New Year’s Eve weekend.
The Texas Department of
Public safety had estimated a
death toll of 39 for the holiday
weekend, which began at 6 p.m.
Friday and ended at midnight
Tuesday.
In El Campo, another four
people were injured in a single-
car accident on South Wharton
Steet, which resulted in a car fire.
According to the DPS report
concerning the fatal accident,
Bryan Simons, 24,1304 Ave. I, Bay
City, was traveling south on the
wrong side of Highway 60, 9.6
miles north of Bay City, about
1:10 a m. when he collided head-
on with a van driven by David
DeLeon, 24, 1930 Rock Falls,
Richmond, who was heading
north in the proper lane.
Both drivers were pronounced
dead at the scene by Justice of the
Peace No. 5 Tommy McClanahan.
The driver of a third vehicle,
Maria Moreno of Rosenberg, was
not seriously injured. She was
following the van driven by David
DeLeon when his van collided
with Simons’ pickup. In at-
tempting to avoid the accident,
Moreno swerved to avoid hitting
DeLeon's van and collided with
Simons’ pickup. Five passengers
in her vehicle also escaped injury.
Also pronounced dead at the
scene by McClanahan were:
Traci Teutsch, 19, of Bay City, a
passenger in Simons' pickup;
Manuel DeLeon, 56, 1215 Eighth
St., Rosenberg, a passenger in
David DeLeon’s van
Also injured in the accident was
Gilbert Sliva, 23, of Bay City. He
was listed in critical condition
Tuesday afternoon in the
Neurointensive Care Unit at John
Sealy Hospital in Galveston where
he was taken by Life Flight
Helicoptor from Matagorda
General Hospital.
Maria Soto, 51, o. Rosenberg, a
passenger in DeLeon’s van, was
listed in stable condition Tuesday
afternoon at Matagorda General
Louise Martinez, 26, of
(See ACCIDENTS. Page 2-A)
Cold Snap Expensive
For El Campo Schools
By CYNTHIA L. MILLER
School trustees will begin 1984
with about $10,000 in unexpected
expenses thanks to the record-
breaking freeze which gripped El
Campo over the Christmas
holidays.
Thomas Hollis, maintenance
supervisor for the El Campo
Independent School District, said
that broken pipes on all school
campuses except Meadow Lane
School (the newest ECISD
building) kept crews busy all
during the holiday, including legal
holidays on Dec. 22, 23 and 26
More than 113 overtime hours
were logged, Hollis added, which
would mean about $1,200 for the
district if the crews are paid
straight time.
Thanks to their efforts, classes
at all campuses resumed on
schedule Tuesday and all
cafeterias and classrooms are
functioning, Hollis said There is
still about two weeks’ worth of
“cleanup” work to be done, in-
cluding restrooms and water
fountains
Other costs include new pipe
fittings, amounting to about
$1,800, and repairs to walls,
ceilings and new insulation, which
will be about another $8.(KM) "I
feel like this is a conservative
estimate.' Hollis said
There were 72 major breaks in
pipes. Hollis added. 33 at El
Campo High School, 18 at the
junior high school, seven at
Hutchins, one at Northside, one at
Southside and two in the bus barn
“The older schools (Northside
and Southside) seemed to do
better,” he noted
Costs will run high in many
cases, Hollis said, because crews
were forced to drill through
ceilings and even brick walls to
get to indoor pipes that had frozen
despite precautionary measures
“We drained all the water that
could be drained,” Hollis said.
“We wrapped all the pipes we
could get to. We knew a few days
(See SdlOOLS, I’agi* 2-A)
Expanded Library Granted Bigger Staff
By CHRIS BARBEE
An additional employee for the
El Campo Branch Library was
approved by Wharton County
commissioners Friday morning
during the court’s shortest
meeting in several months.
To be added to the county
payroll is Lana Jennings of El
Campo. The additional employee.
• position included in the library
system's 1984 budget, was
necessitated by the expansion of
the El Campo library
According to Laveme Bacak,
branch librarian, Jennings will be
a library aide in charge of cir
culation. “We’ve created a whole
new department for her so we can
branch out and do other things,”
she said.
The expansion project, which
was originally to have been
completed by Christmas, is now-
expected to be completed by the
end of this month.
In other business the county
opened and approved bids sub-
mitted by George Brady
Insurance Co. of Wharton, with
Brady being the only bidder
Bids were submitted for
worker's compensation <$64,868
with a maximum anticipated
dividend of $30,812), general
liability and automobile in-
surance ($17,507 with anticipated
maximum dividend of $2,845) and
Texas multiperil insurance
($21,022) The total bid was
$103,39/ , compared to$111,291 last
year for similar coverage
Commissioners asked County
Auditor Wilton Niemeier to look
into the details of an umbrella
policy for future consideration
He will report his findings
sometime this month
A possible need for increased
liability coverage prompted the
court's request Brady told
commissioners that state
protection of governmental en-
tities “is being eroded by the
courts.” He said he foresees the
day when “the county will be on
its own. just like any other cor-
poration of this size "
Precinct 2 Commissioner John
Grigar expressed concern about
Brady being the only bidder He
asked if the companies in the
county had received personal
requests for bids
Niemeier told him they had not.
because that was not a
requirement ami he had no way of
knowing who all the agents in the
county are
Grigar asked Brady how he
knew about the bids. “I read it in
the newspaper In fact, the FI
Campo Leader-News had a front
page story about it,” he said
The county also ran a public
notice in the El Campo and
Wharton newspapers concerning
the request for bids
In another agenda matter
reports to be given by
representatives of the Wharton
County Historical Museum and
the Wharton County Historical
Commission were tabled until
Jan. 31 at the request of those
organizations
Budget Amendments
The four precinct com-
missioners and the county auditor
used the final meeting of 1983 to
clean up the '83 budget
Most of the changes were line
item, or moving money from one
fund to a-iother This is necessary
because during the course of the
year some funds end up with
surpluses, while others run low or
show a negative balance
Niemeier moved around $54,725
in the the county's expenditure
(SeeCOMMISSIONERS. Page 2)
Seminar On Drunk Driving Generates Enthusiasm
The upcoming seminar on
Texas' driving while intoxicated
laws has generated a great deal of
enthusiasm, according to Ethel J
Price, producer
The seminar which will be held
at 7 p.m Monday Jan 23. at Pier
M HtJl—rant in Wharton, is
sponsond by the Matagorda
Wharton counties Legal
Chief Joe E Milner, with the
Texas Department of Pubbr
Safety. has assured his
cooperation if the USA decides to
present the program statewide.
Price said
“Texas has taken great strides
in strengthening the state's drunk
driving laws." U S Sen Lloyd
Rentsen said "It is important
that forums such ns this one take
place to inform people about
changes in the drinking laws of
Texas “
V S Rep Bill Patman noled the
f
A
timeliness of the seminar and
added “my congratulations to you
and your organization for
realizing a need and acting upon
it “
The seminar will feature the
following speakers John Koades
district attorney, 329th District
Janet Strickland. M D of
Wharton, ‘Spec” Jacfcsc' of
Houston, a liquor business ow ner,
iA C L Taylor. DPS station in
Pierce Carol Rem of Richmond
and the Fort Bend chapter of
MAI)D (Mothers Against Drunk
Drivers); and Brad Henske of
Bellville and Renee Partin of
Brcnham, students at Wharton
County Junior College
Carl VanVIeet of Wharton will
serve as moderator
Price described the seminar as
a neutral roundtable allowing the
audience to form personal
opinions from the information
discussed
“Each speaker will solo in the
spotlight,” Price said “After
that, a brief recess followed by a
second go round for the speakers
The audience can then participate
in a question and answer
session "
Price added that Rick Ramos
of the WCJC Medical Center has
agreed to film the seminar for the
college s education channel
Price encourages those in
terested in the seminar to pur
I
chase tickets early because of the
Pier s seating limitations The
ticket cost of $10 covers but
tomless coffee or tea and a
refreshment table
Tickets can be requested by
calling Price at 532-8496 or writing
the Matagorda Wharton counties
USA P(> Box 77' Whartor
77488 All ticket orders should
include name, mailing address
and check so that tickets can he
mailed immediately
I
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Barbee, Chris. El Campo Leader-News (El Campo, Tex.), Vol. 99, No. 82, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 4, 1984, newspaper, January 4, 1984; El Campo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1017822/m1/1/: accessed June 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Wharton County Library.