The Odem-Edroy Times (Odem, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 16, 1993 Page: 1 of 6
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ODEM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FIFTH GRADER NATHAN LAWLESS (center) presents Richard
Harris of Driscoll Children's Hospital with a $320 donation for the Children's Miracle Telethon fund. The
money was raised by the schools three fifth grade classes by selling 25 cent “Candy Grams".
O.E.I.S.D. Gets Great Audit Review
Last Tuesday night’s meeting of
the Odem-Edroy Independent School
District Board of Trustees was
highlighted by a report from the
District’s outside auditor who told
the trustees that the school district
was financially sound and was well
managed fiscally. Paul Peeler,
C.P.A., observed that healthy
reserves and surplus existed in near-
ly every account in the budget. Con-
tributing substantially to the healthy
state of the budget, according to
Peeler, was the higher than ex-
pected revenues enjoyed by the
district during the 1993-94 school
year. Even tax collections are up for
this year in comparison to last year.
Peeler, returning to the subject of
the competence of internal fiscal
management, pointed out the
balance of the budget allocated
totally to the district’s cafetorium
which reflects a profit. Peeler said
of the five other school district
clients he has, none show any profit
in their food service operation and
most experience significant losses.
Traditionally external auditors
provide clients with what is referred
to as a “management letter”, the
purpose of which is to provide the
See AUDIT, Page 3
Judy Hawley Seeking District 31 Seat
Declaring that District 31 needs a
representative who is in touch with
the educational needs of today, Judy
Hawley of Portland, a history
teacher at Gregory-Portland Junior
High School, announced her inten-
tion to file for the State Legislature.
“The challenges of the 21st cen-
tury demand that we educate our
children better than ever and the
economics of today demand we
educate them as cost effectively as
possible.”
In announcing her candidacy,
Hawley stated that one of her top
priorities will be to protect the
children and taxpayers of District 31
by insisting on a school finance plan
which delivers to the district’s local
schools their fair share of state aid.
“Firmly believing that local school
districts know their needs best, if
elected, I will fight for legislation
which stream lines TEA and pro-
vides for more local control of school
districts.”
Filing as a Democrat for the seat
presently held by Robert Earley,
Hawley acknowledged that District
31 has been fortunate to have been
represented by such a conscientious
and responsive man.
Hawley, an educator for 20 years,
is active in civic and charitable
organizations in the Coastal Bend
area. Graduating cum laude with
Honors from Knox College, Hawley
majored in history and psychology.
She has earned additional graduate
hours in administration, economics,
and history. She is married to David
Hawley, a former farmer and cur-
rent owner of an area CPA firm.
They have two children, one a
graduate of University of Texas and
the other a senior at Texas A&M.
Vowing to be a representative who
represents, Hawley related, “As I
have visited with people across our
district, which includes Live Oak,
Refugio, Karnes, Bee, and San
Patricio counties, I have come to
realize how disenchanted many
citizens are with state government.
Farmers are frustrated by redun-
dant paperwork, crime victims are
ignored and angry, and county of-
ficials are besieged with court-
mandated state prisoners and insuf-
ficient funds.”
Emphasizing her deep concern
over recent job losses in District 31,
Hawley stressed that job growth
must be a major priority. “As the
economic base of the district con-
tinues to change, I believe it is im-
perative to provide an environment
which promotes job growth.” Noting
that small businesses, including
farms and ranches, employ 85 per-
cent of the non-government
employees in Texas, Hawley said
JUDY HAWLEY
the legislature must be more atten-
tive to the impact of legislation on
these businesses.
See HAWLEY, Page 6
O.E.I.S.D.
Holiday
Schedule
Administrators of the Odem-
Edroy Independent School District
have announced the following
schedule for the Christmas
Holidays:
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17,1993
2:00 p.m. Early Buses.
2:30 p.m. All Students Dismissed.
2:35 p.m. Buses Depart.
2:45 p.m. Teachers/Instructional
Aides dismissed.
3:00 p.m. Administrators and of-
fice personnel dismissed.
Administrators, faculty and other
school personnel will return on Mon-
day, January 3, 1994 with normal
school hours and activities schedul-
ed to resume for students on Tues-
day, January 4,1994.
Holiday Closings
Odem City offices will be closed
Dec. 23 and 24 for the Christmas
Holidays.
Local garbage pickup will be Dec.
22 for all routes. The regular gar-
bage pickup will resume the week of
Dec. 27.
The Odem Post Office will be open
until 3 p.m. on.Chrismas Eve. The
Edroy Post Office will be open until
noon on Christmas Eve.
Drama Dept. Does Dickens
The Odem High School Drama
Department will perform tonight at
the School District’s Open House at
the cafetorium.
The students will showcase a
variety of acts including a presenta-
tion of Charles Dickens traditional
play “A Christmas Carol”. The play,
with an all senior cast, is directed by
Dee Bjorgaard. Cast members in-
clude Andrew Lunoff as Scrooge,
Rodney Dillon as Scrooge’s nephew
Fred, Joe B. Fleck as Bob Crachit,
Daphney Rodriguez as Ghost Past,
Ronny Jo Villarreal as Ghost Pre-
sent, Laura Haug as Ghost Future,
Dee Bjorgaard as the Solicitor, Tana
Vargas as Martha Cratchit and
Brandon Koebernick as Peter Crat-
chit. The production crew includes
Andrew Lunoff Asst. Director,
Veronica Guajardo, Head of Crew,
Tana Vargas, Stage Manager,
Melanie Gomez, Lights, Sara Marro-
quin, Sound, Mingo Barra, Curtain,
Tommy Moore, Designer of Pro-
grams and Robert Duenz, Pro-
grams.
Other entertainment will include a
duet performance of “The Wizard of
Oz” by Dee Bjorgaard and Virginia
Avalos and Carrie Rippstein and
Nicole Green will provide musical
entertainment.
Santa Claus and his elves will be
present and the winners of the native
Christmas tree decorating contest,
sponsored by the Odem Elementary
PTA, will be announced.
THE SPECTRES OF CHRISTMAS PAST PRESENT AND FUTUR E come to life tonight as OHS Drama
students present Charles Dickens traditional Christmas Play "A Christmas Carol". Participating in the
presentation are (seated front I to r) Veronica Guajardo and Ronnie Jo Villarreal (seated middle I to r)
Andrew Lunoff, Rodney Dillon, Tana Vargas and Brandon Koebernick. (Standing I to r) Dee Bjorgaard,
Daphney Rodriguez, Joe B. Fleck and Laura Haug.
Della Mae Baylor Library
A Growing Information Source
Residents of the Odem-Edroy are
finding the Della Mae Baylor
Library in Odem is small in size, but
growing rapidly in services.
“We have a lot of new books and
videos,” says Librarian Pat Voss.
“We also have a computer and copy
machine for public use.”
Recent titles acquired by the
library include “Decider” by Dick
Frances, “Secret Anniversary” by
Agatha Christi, “Rivers West” by
Louis L’Amour and “Complete
Guide to Traditional Native
American Beadwork.”
The video collection has also
, grown in recent months. The highly
acclaimed videos on the Civil War,
shown on PBS last year, are
available to check out as are a series
on Lincoln and Dinosaurs. Among
the predominately educational
videos is a tape on gun safety.
For the kids, the most recent video
is a gift from J.C. Penny entitled,
“Love to Read with Barney.”
An added attraction for local
youngsters is storybook time and
regular visits by “Mr. Kippy,” the
See LIBRARY, Page 3
VAR IETY IN LI BARY-A variety of books and videos for all ages are available for checkout at the Della
Mae Baylor Library in Odem.
Commissioners
Juvenile Center Is Accepted
San Patricio County Commis-
sioners took one last inspection tour
of the county’s new juvenile deten-
tion center this week. Following the
afternoon tour and inspection the
court reconvened with a bare
quorum (Miller, Porter and
Rodriguez) and accepted the facility
as “substantially complete”. There
still remain some “punch-list” items
to be completed by the contractor
but, for all intents and purposes, the
county has now assumed possession
of and liability for the building and
grounds.
Architect for the project, Bill
Wilson, told the court that he and
Juyenile Probation Services Direc-
tor Mary Ann Perez-Johnson are
working to find a way to pay for such
things as “interior signage” to more
completely finish out the facility. By
and large, Wilson is pleased with the
outcome of the project as were
members of the court and those
charged with its administration.
Another agenda item which gain-
ed positive response from the court
was approval for permitting the use
of blanket purchase/delivery orders
as a procurement vehicle. The agen-
da item, proposed by County Auditor
David Wendel, is specifically design-
ed for use in the procurement of
foodstuffs for the county jail, pur-
chases of automotive and con-
struction equipment, parts and ac-
cessories, road surfacing and
maintenance materials and con-
struction materials and hardware
and similar spot purchases of small
items. The concept is ‘already being
used in some isolated applications
and according to Wendel is proving
to be advantageous in terms of
creating lower prices, significantly
less paperwork and providing the
opportunity to keep more of the
county’s annual expenditures,
within the county.
See CENTER, Page 4
For Mathis Prison Site
Numbers Good, Politics Ominous
“What we are seeing is a change in
the prisoner class system,” says
Dana Hendrick, director of Adult
Probation Services of the 36th, 156th
and 343rd Judicial districts. “In
dealing with our prisons, we are now
looking at diverting prison popula-
tions away from our most violent
and preditory criminals.”
Hendrick’s comments come on the
heels of current efforts to locate a
State Felony Prison in Mathis.
Prisoners housed at the proposed
site would be those convicted of non-
violent felonies. “These would be
persons convicted of crimes like
forgeries, burglaries, small posses-
sion of a controlled substance and
felony theft of under $20,000,” says
Hendrick. He candidly refers to
them as “fourth degree” felons.
An additional classification being
established in the prison system is
“Public Health Offenders.” These
would be persons with substance
abuse problems. These facilities
would be like a drug rehabilitation
centers, however, the people inside
could not leave when they wanted to.
“We are now seeing attempts to
change our prison structure,” he
says. “There are now 10,000 Alberti
beds under construction including
4,000 at Chase Field in Beeville.
These beds will be used in an at-
tempt to remove some of the state
prisoners now housed in county jails.
There are now approximately 30,000
state prisoners in county jails.
Also, there are about 55,000
prisoners in state prisons. “Com-
pared to other countries, Texas out-
numbers just about everybody in-
cluding South Africa and Russia,”
Hendrick says.
He continues, “We have the 55,000
beds now, 22,000 under construction,
12,000 substance abuse facility beds
under construction and the 10,000
Alberti transfer beds. That’s 99,000
beds a few years from now.
“I’ve been in Adult Probation for
21 years. When I started, there were
only 14,000 prison beds in the state.
The rate of our prison population
growth has outstripped that of our
population by 300 percent.”
Hendrick says there are more
than 100 new crimes listed as
felonies in Texas over the past 10
years. More crimes in the books
means more people caught and con-
victed.
To add to these staggering
numbers are monetary costs. For
every dollar spent constructing a
prison, three more dollars will be
spent in the following 20 years to ad-
minister and maintain the facility.
“There is the long term tax legacy,”
says Hendrick. “The State of
California asked for, and got, more
prisons and it has almost bankrupt
them. We are looking at what our
children will have to pay.”
“Building more prisons isn’t
always the solution,” he adds. “We
can also look at long-range
rehabilitation, education and the
family structure. The prison’s role
has traditionally been to house and
separate persons from the rest of
society.”
See PRISON, Page 4
DANA HENDRICK
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Steward, Charles. The Odem-Edroy Times (Odem, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 16, 1993, newspaper, December 16, 1993; Sinton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1057806/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Odem Public Library.