El Campo Leader-News (El Campo, Tex.), Vol. 101, No. 51, Ed. 1 Saturday, September 13, 1986 Page: 1 of 24
twenty four pages : ill. ; page 23 x 16 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.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:
07 H7 1«.» «
M j r f Ci f i 1 ff| v; r.i f f fi f f r
£.-.s \7t OR
6Birds Shutdown Columbus, Run lu win no. 1
By MARK THOMPSON
El Campo’s defense held
Columbus to 28 yards in total
offense through three
quarters of play Friday night
and the Ricebirds offense
broke away from a 7-7
halftime tie with a pair of
44-yard touchdown runs to
defeat the Cardinals 21-7.
Coach Ed Hickman said
after the game that El Cam-
po, now 1-1 heading into next
Friday’s 7:30 p.m. game at
Sweeny, was still a little slug-
gish on offense and commit-
ted some mental errors, but
he couldn’t help but be pleas-
ed with his team’s defensive
play.
El Campo hounded Car-
dinal quarterback Craig
Tyler all over the field and
when Ricebirds were not on
top of him, they were never
out of sight or mind.
On the evening, the
Ricebird ‘D’ sacked Cardinal
quarterback Tyler six times
for losses total 39 yards and in
general, drove the Cardinal
QB crazy with its constant
pursuit. El Campo also nailed
ball carriers behind, at, or
near the line of scrimmage on
almost every opportuninty
and allowed just 14 yards
rushing in the game.
After a scoreless first
quarter, a 40-yard punt return
by Lewis Wiliams early in the
second quarter put El Campo
in business with a first down
at the Columbus 25. An illegal
procedure penalty pushed the
ball back to the 30, but on the
next play, receiver A.C.
Rooker took the ball on a
counter play and with the aid
of good trap blocking, he
rambled all the way to the
4-yard line.
El Campo’s strategy from
there was to hand the ball to
their fullback Owens. Owens
moved the ball within inches
of the scored on three runs
and then followed a block by
Joe Jasso on the left side of
the line for the score on his
fourth try. Brett Schoppe’s
kick put the ’Birds up 7-0 with
7:58 left in the half.
As was the rule, El Campo
then shut down Columubus’
offense on its next series, for-
cing a punt on three plays.
That punt fell short, hit the
shins of and El Campo
blocker, and was recovered
by the Cardinals at the El
Campo 20.
On the next play, the
Ricebirds were whistled for a
face mask penalty, which put
the ball on the nine. From
there, Columbus faked out EC
one of the few times of the
evening. Offensive motion
went left except for Tyler,
who bootlegged to the right
and ran into the endzone un-
touched Tyler than kicked
the extra point to tie the
score.
Midway through the third
quarter Owens, who finished
with 83 yards to lead all
rushers, stepped through a
tackle at the line of scrim-
mage and rambled 44-yards
for the scored and with
another Schoppe kick, EC led
14-7.
The Ricebirds then salted
the win away after Owens
knocked the Cards’ punter
Brian Chavis out of bounds at
midfield after his bobbled at-
tempt.
Three plays later on 3-5
from the 44, Williams took a
pitch from Bartosh and he
sailed around right end for
the score.
El Campo outrushed Col-
umbus 192 yards to 14. The
Birds also fumbled the ball
five times, but lost just two
and did not give up an in-
terception. Both lost fumbles
were on special teams plays.
Aside from Owens and
Williams, other top offensive
performers for EC included
Rodney Shelton, who rushed
for 57 yards, and quarterback
Billy Bartosh, who ran for 50
on 10 tries.
L EADER- N E WS
VOLUME 101 NUMBER 51 77437
El Campo, Texas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 1986 35‘ (includes tax) 3 SECTIONS 26 PAGES
mm
L-N Photo by Michael Alexieff
Niece Wounded
Rhavana and Jyoti I)esai look at pictures of Bhavana's niece, who was
seriously wounded in the Pan Am hijacking last week.
/ / Campo an \s Niece Hurt
During Sept. 5 Hijacking
By MICHAEL ALEXIEFF
‘ My God, please save her.”
That is what El Campoan Bhavana Desai
said to herself when she heard about the
shooting aboard the hijacked Pan Am
airliner Sept. 5. Desai s niece was on that
plane.
While Utpla Desai was saved, she was
seriously wounded Utpla received three
gunshot wounds, one to the head, one to the
chest and one to a hand Bhavana said her
niece is going to survive.
Pan Am Flight 73 was seized by four
Palestinian terrorists while it was on the
ground in Karachi, Pakistan The Boeing 747
was on a flight from Bombay. India to New
York Nearly five hours after taking control
of the jet, the hijackers opened fire on the
passengers, killing 20 and wounding 125 The
survivors escaped through emergency exits
Utpla was traveling to the United States as
part of a troupe of Indian folk dancers
Bhavana said she had hoped that her niece
would be able to perform at Grande Day.
Bhavana said when she heard about the hi-
jacking she was “troubled and scared .”
Confusion added to her worry, Bhavana
said. Her husband. Jyoti, had called India
looking for information about Utpla. “At
first we were told they were safe,” Bhavana
said “Then we were told they were hurt.”
Two members of Utpla s dance troupe
were killed.
“She very narrowly escaped death.”
Bhavana said “A bullet came within 1 inch
of her vital organs.”
Both Bhavana's and Jyoti's parents still
live in India, and the Desai’s still plan on
traveling to their native land to visit, despite
the risks
“Terrorists or no terrorists, I'm going
there.” Bhavana said “I can't forget the
parents ”
City Raises Taxes
$25,000 Approved For Civic Center
By BOB OLSON
El Campo taxpayers got
some good news this week
when City Council voted no
tax increase for 1987 They
also voted to contribute
$25,000 to the proposed new
community center and
another $5,000 for an
economic development fund
The tax rate for El Campo s
$254.5 million worth of
property is tentatively set at
.4276 cents for a base of $1.1
million. With other revenues,
the city’s general fund and
utility budgets will total
nearly $3.6 million, pending
the outcome of a public
hearing to be held on Sept 23
or 29.
City officials spent nearly
four hours Wednesday night
scrutinizing the proposed
general fund budget and
deleted $16,290 in different
areas from it.
Councilman Philip Miller
was the lone official to vote
against giving $25,000 to the
community center. One of his
reasons was because El
Campo’s 95 employees will
not get a pay raise.
"We can’t afford to give our
people a raise and we can’t
afford to pave our streets, yet
you’re asking for $25,000," he
said.
Miller said he could not
justify giving more than the
$16,290 chopped from the
budget for both the com-
munity center and economic
development.
Councilman Bubba Parker,
who is also president of El
Campo’s Rotary Club, which
has raised approximately
$250,000 for the planned
community center, said it
would not be built for a long
time without the city's help.
Because of Parker’s af-
filiation with the Rotary Club,
Miller asked him “what hat”
he was wearing
“I’m three people,” Parker
responded “I’m a coun-
cilman, I’m a citizen and I’m
a Rotarian.
“We’ve blown six years up
here with no city help I’ve
never seen anything but
negativism come off this and
I’m seeing it again,” Parker
added, directing his attention
to Miller.
When asked the next day
about a possible conflict of
interest. Parker said, “When
you live in a small town and
serve on a lot of committees
and boards, they are going to
be crossed. In my mind, a
conflict of interest only oc-
(See CITY, Page 2)
County Slashes Budget
13 Percent Budget Cut Prevents Tax Increase
By BOB OLSON
Despite the fact that
members of Wharton County
Commissioners Court lopped
more than 13.3 percent off
their budget for 1987. the
county tax rate will be going
up The 1987 rate of 39 cents
per $100 of value is nearly 3
percent higher than last
year’s rate of 379
The increase is a result of a
loss in federal revenue
sharing funds and lower
property assessments. The
Indigent Health Care Act also
had a hand in Wharton
County’s financial problems,
requiring the county to
budget an extra $100,000 this
year
Precinct 3 Commissioner
Arvid Schoeneberg said
county officials did not set the
budget for all of the services
they feel will be needed
“The money just isn’t
there.” he said
The county's 1987 budget
calls for appropriations
totaling $8 9 million or nearly
$14 million less than last
year's figure of $10.3 million
The budget does not
allocate any money for pay
hikes other than merit raises,
but three employees will be
added to the payroll
County employees will also
get less mileage allowance.
Those traveling on county
business will be reimbursed
21.5 cents a mile — 2'v cents
less than they currently
receive
The county has been able to
keep the tax hike reasonably
low despite the loss of $400,000
to $500,000 in revenue
sharing, low assessments and
a poor economy by lowering
the general fund balance.
County Judge I J. Irvin Jr.
is responsible for slicing the
surplus in half since he took
office less than two years
ago He brought the $2.7
million surplus to $1 7 million
this year Under the 1987
budget, it will fall to $13
million.
“A lot of surplus money
lying around is a temptation
to spend it unwisely,” the
judge said. “Besides, it’s the
taxpayers’ money and it
should be in their pockets ’’
After setting the tax rate
Thursday morning, com-
missioners gave the go-ahead
to apply for a $270,000 grant to
help a fertilizer company set
up shop in Wharton. C.G.
Macklin, the city manager of
the county seat, said
Agronetics, Inc would em-
ploy approximately 60
people He expects con-
struction to begin within the
first three months of 1987
Commissioners also ap-
proved the expenditure of
$12,833 for the labor to build a
24 foot by 76 foot bridge over
Blue Creek on County Road
406 in Precinct 4
Toxic Waste Dump Battle Drawing To A Close
By MICHAEL ALEXIEFF
The reopened Texas Water
Commission hearing con-
cerning a Houston company’s
permit application to store
toxic waste in the Boling Salt
Dome closed Tuesday at
12:30pm
Hearings Examiner Kevin
McCalla reopened the
evidentiary record, which
was originally closed May 23.
after United Resources
Recovery. Inc withdrew part
of its permit application
dealing with injection wells
McCalla reopened the
hearing for the “strictly
limited purpose of receiving
evidence as it relates to
URR's potential change in
plant operations and
procedures,...”
When URR withdrew its
application for injection
wells, the attorney
representing Wharton County
in its fight to stop URR.
Jeptha Hill, requested the
entire permit application be
dismissed
Tuesday, McCalla said he
did not dismiss the entire
application
Hill said that two points of
interest to the general public
came out of the hearing this
week One was that fly ash,
which URR plaas to use to
solidify their hazardous
waste, is radioactive Hill
cited a study done by the
Texas Department of Health
in I9R3
However. Marilyn Preusse.
who is with the Bureau of
Radiation Control of the
TDH. said the levels of
radiation measured in fly ash
was “only slightly higher
than soil is w here there are no
uranium deposits ” Preusse
said she gathered the sam
pies for that 1983 study
The second point Hill
stressed, was that URR
would tie using 10.000 to
100.000 acre feet of potable
water to create the caverns
within the salt dome URR
initially plaas to create four
caverns, which would use
10,000 acre feet, but could
expand up to 44 caverns,
which would require the
higher amount of water
Carl Brassow, URR vice
president, said that the wells
URR will get its water from
are 700 feet deeper than the
* See TOXIC, Page 2)
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. 101, No. 51, Ed. 1 Saturday, September 13, 1986, newspaper, September 13, 1986; El Campo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1017840/m1/1/: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Wharton County Library.