El Campo Leader-News (El Campo, Tex.), Vol. [99], No. [52], Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 21, 1983 Page: 3 of 33
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Viewpoint
Runoffs Needed
/»<*»
History teaches us valuable lessons, but sometimes the
lessons are forgotten and the circumstances become ripe
for history to repeat itself.
The members of El Campo Independent School District’s
Board of Trustees heeded the call of the district’s tax-
payers and cut expenses from their budget in order to keep
taxes down. They are standing by their promise that
ECISD will collect no more than 8 percent more this year
than it did last year in local taxes.
However, the board members are ignoring a basic right
of the local taxpayer — by limiting his say in who will be on
the school board.
When the trustees decided not to consider runoff elec-
tions (presumably for the sake of saving money), they
cheated us out of a voice on the matter.
Perhaps it is true that the taxpayers would not want the
school district to spend the $400 necessary in holding
runoffs — but from the comments received after the April 2
school board election, in which both races could have been
changed by a runoff, we don’t believe so.
The point, though, is that no board member, nor the ad-
ministration, seems to have made any attempt to consult
the voters of El Campo on this vital issue. Even though only
eight of the last 27 races could possibly have changed by
the outcome of a runoff, those eight candidates deserved to
hear the true voice of the voters. This is possible only
through a runoff election.
The decision lies with the people. If you believe it is your
right to have runoff elections, let the school board know.
They have proved that they are responsive to voters in the
past — let us hope they will continue this practice in the
future.
Sorority Commended
Wharton County Crime Stoppers Inc. has had its suc-
cesses this year for several reasons. It has a board of direc-
tors which do a good job of governing, it has the support of
the county’s law enforcement agencies and media and it
has the financial support of the county — especially in the
El Campo area.
The El Campo area support can be traced to the hard
work of one group in particular — Alpha Lambda Sigma
Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi — which nas hosted a Calico
Country Dance and drawing for two years to raise funds for
Crime Stoppers. Saturday night’s drawing netted $4,000 fear
Crime Stoppers.
What does this mean? It means that money is in the bank
to pay for tips which lead to the arrest and indictment of
persons committing crimes in Wharton County. Infor-
mants who seek a monetary reward know that Crime Stop-
pers CAN pay, and criminals know that Crime Stoppers
WILL pay.
A call to 543-TIPS or 532-TIPS does pay dividends. In
fact, $1,600 has been paid out this year.
Alpha Lamba Sigma’s members have performed a real
service, and the people they approached for prizes and
ticket purchases have also done a great service in the war
against crime. The sorority has other projects — a $200 col-
lege scholarship and support to Reading Is Fundamental,
Mat'ch of Dimes, American Cancer Society, Special Olym-
pics and gifts for foster children.
The sorority’s work is a good example of what can be ac-
complished when people work together for a common
cause.
Hobbs Will Be Missed
El Campo is very fortunate. It had Harlan Hobbs as
manager of its chamber of commerce for just over six
years.
Hobbs resigned his position last Wednesday. Some may
say he should have done so sooner; Hobbs thinks he should
have done so sooner. He’s been saying for three years it
was time to move on. But the Arkansas native, who has
held business and political positions in his lifetime that
most folks only get the chance to dream about, liked it
here. So he stayed a while longer than planned.
Harlan Hobbs, most people close to the chamber will
agree, got the chamber off high center. The chamber
became a positive force in the community and in the county
the day he moved into his office. He was a master at
motivating directors and volunteers to work at improving
E) Campo. '
Hobbs never shied from any battle. He carried the
chamber’s flag and blew its horn when the county was in an
uproar over drainage problems. Regardless of the issue, he
never backed away from an issue which was in the best in-
terest of El Campo and its citizens. And all of West Whar-
ton County as far as that goes.
He was only our manager for six years, but a book could
be written about what the man did here during that time.
He saw El Campo, he said, as a diamond in the rough. He
^ ---- ■ - — * — — — —W
ave us new ideas to work on ideas that have helped that
lamond shine. He contributed all he had to El Cam
opafully he v
etktenct here
______________ I Campo, and
opefuily he will continue to contribute by keeping his
But If Hobbs leaves, hopefully the realization by many
sre that we can improve on what we have, will not leave
ttbhim. It took an outsider to show us what we had here,
id what we could do with it. Thank you. Harlan, for open
• our eyes, for looking after our interests awd for bokif
friend
""v'l2wf
Sound-Off...
Last Tuesday, the
ECISD board of
Trustees rejected
the idea of holding
runoff elections for
school board posi-
tions, though
several elections
have been decided
by only a few votes.
This week, Sound-
Off asks: "Do you
think the board
made the right deci-
sion.”
Frank Torres Jr.
124 West Alfred St.
Self Employed
“I support the school board, but
I think runoff elections are a lot
fairer. Sometimes the second
place (candidate) can come out
ahead.”
Ethel Kodity
>»8H El Canpo
Self Employed
“I think they ouglt to have a
runoff. You don’t kn»w who’s go-
ing to win (when tie candidates
are narrowed dowu in a runoff
election). It’s only rght.”
John Petty
Manager
P.O. Box l«
“That’s a good decision. It
shows the school board is trying to
cut expenses. A lot of people in El
Campo wanted a rollback. This
ought to make them happy
because it will show them that the
board is attempting to cut ex
penses.”
Robert Arnold
Sll Ave E.
landscaper
“It’s a nice gesture (by the
school board), if they save quite a
bit of money; otherwise, I would
be in favor of a runoff .”
Vlrgiita Stancliff
CISfEast St.
Clek Carrier
“I think it woSld be a be a good
idea for them to have a runoff
election. It’s possible the second
place winnerj could come out
ahead in the ehetion.”
hou>oh,pn.- how just
WERE P0V001WNK IT SttS
IT WILL Hi. RT TOGETHER?*
tmt
to Ei Campo
r*
THE
OBSERVER
By HARLAN HOBBS
Robert Nilson, chairman of the
Water Resources Committee of
the El Campo Chamber of
Commerce and Agriculture,
submitted a resolution of warning
to responsible public officials to
the Board of Directors and ob-
tained quick and unanimous
approval.
Now comes the task of getting
the attention of state and national
agencies so that the warning will
be heeded. That could be quite a
task, for there is big money in
waste disposal and little regard
for the dangers involved.
El Campo has a city dump well-
designed to serve the community
until the year 2000 and beyond. It
did not come easily. Rigid
specifications were imposed by
the state and meticulous in-
spection made before approval
was granted. Quite commendable
for the good of a municipality, but
where are the rigid regulations
and stern supervision where
private industry employs waste
disposal “experts” who proceed
to poison our rivers and lakes and
even our water wells?
In June a survey with
frightening implications was
made public by a House Gover-
nment Operations subcommittee
chaired by Rep. Mike Synar, D-
Okla. The survey revealed that 64
percent of operating hazardous
waste facilities checked by the
Environmental Protection
Agency were not meeting
minimum requirements to
monitor possible ground water
contamination.
In light of what is proposed for
our neighbors in Boling, the
survey also revealed that 171
hazardous waste sites inspected
for observance of requirements to
drill wells around their dumps to
monitor for possible ground water
contamination, 109 of the sites
were either not meeting gover-
nment standards or callously
ignoring them.
In a letter to EPA
Administrator William D.
Ruckelshaus, Rep. Synar and six
members of his subcommittee
called upon the agency to crack
down on dump operators. They
urged the agency to beef up its
inspection teams and provide
more resources for states to run
their own programs.
Graphic evidence of the need is
all about us here in Wharton
County. On the very outskirts of
El Campo, wells that once
provided sweet water for drinking
and for irrigation have gone salty,
no longer suitable for either
purpose. When selfish people
dump oil field wastes into road
side ditches it is considered a
criminal act What about un
supervised and indiscriminate
pumping into abandoned shallow
wells? Surely we do not need
another Love Canal to awaken us
to the dangers
We are rightly proud of those
hardy, far-sighted people who
have turned the grasslands of this
coastal plain into a verdant,
productive place in which people
can live in peace and comfort.
How shall the future generation
feel toward those who even now
are sowing poisonous wastes that
could make this indeed a
wasteland'’
Mr. Nilson and his committee
deserve more than com
mendation. they deserve the full
support of the people of lhi*
community.
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Barbee, Chris. El Campo Leader-News (El Campo, Tex.), Vol. [99], No. [52], Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 21, 1983, newspaper, September 21, 1983; El Campo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1019044/m1/3/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Wharton County Library.