The Mercedes Enterprise (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 20, 1969 Page: 1 of 10
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The Merce
Mercedes, Texas, 78570, Thursday, February 20, 1969
Library Building Fund Passes $41,000 Mark
ENTERPRISE STAFF PHOTO
ROOM ON THE TABLE FOR A FEW OF HIS COMBAT AWARDS ... and Mr.
and Mrs. Bob Frix didn’t mind displaying some of their son’s war medals and
commendations last week, just before Major Robert S. Frix came home from
a second tour of helicopter gunship action in Vietnam.
Major Frix Home from the War
ENTERPRISE STAFF PHOTOS
SEA SCOUT SCHOONER TAKES SHAPE... and, ABOVE, Valley Commodore
Ralph Jones checks construction progress. BELOW are builder Pete Flores
and assistant Joe Martinez at work.
Their Own Ship
Ten years and $7,000 will
have gone into a ship Mer-
cedes Sea Scouts hope to
launch this summer, in time
for their annual Gulf cruise.
Members of Sea Scout
Ship 59 are financing the
venture with past and future
profits of projects they con-
duct in conjunction with the
Rio Grande Valley Live-
stock Show and Rodeo. They
will be renting seats to par-
ade watchers and working at
the showgrounds again this
year.
Object of their affection
is a Gulf Coast Scow Schoo-
ner now being built in a
barn at the Billy Drawe
farm headquarters south-
west of Progreso. Their
two-masted vessel will mea-
sure 38 feet in length at the
water-line and will have a
15-foot beam.
Pete Flores, Donna boat
builder, is putting the big
schooner together.
A ‘ship fund’ was started
among Ship 59’ers 10 years
ago. Guided by Ship Skip-
per Bill Harp and Ralph Jo-
nes of Mercedes, now Val-
ley Sea Scout Commodore,
the boys kept it growing
until it could support con-
struction authorization.
Present Sea Scouts are
considering plans for a re-
union at launch time of all
former Scouts who helped
make it possible.
When Army Major Robert
Scott Frix came home last
Saturday he anticipated the
calm and quiet of a visit
with parents and friends.
That he is getting ... but
symbols of where he had
been and what he had done
had preceded his arrival and
had told a story of repeated
heroism in battle that he
would never tell about him-
self.
Major Frix, a 1956 grad-
uate of Mercedes high
school, is home after two
tours of combat duty in South
Vietnam. He was a heli-
copter gunship pilot and unit
leader.
Without describing indivi-
dual instances of unusual
combat behavior, here is a
list of citations bestowed
upon Major Frix during the
past two years in the order
in which they were received
and catalogued by his par-
ents, Mr. and Mrs. Bob
Frix:
—The Air Medal for Her-
oism
— The Air Medal (first
Oak Leaf Cluster)
—The Air Medal (second
Oak Leaf Cluster)
—The Air Medal (third
Oak Leaf Cluster)
—The Bronze Star Medal
—The Bronze Star Medal
(first Oak Leaf Cluster)
—Award of the Army
Commendation Medal for
Heroism with ‘V* Device
—The Army Commenda-
tion Medal (first Oak Leaf
Cluster)
—Award of the Dis-
tinguished Flying Cross
—Air Medal for Heroism
(fourth Oak Leaf Cluster)
with *V* Device
—Air Medal (fifth Oak
Leaf Cluster) with ‘V* De-
vice
—Air Medal (sixth through
twenty - fourth Oak Leaf
Clusters)
After his home visit, Ma-
jor Frix will report for new
duty at Fort Benning, Ga.
His military career has
been expanding since he was
graduated from the US Mi-
litary Academy at West
Point in June 1961.
One-night
Drive Set
More than 200 members
of church youth groups will
sweep through the city Mon-
day night, February 24, in
an attempt to offer all res-
idents a chance to be in-
cluded in the Mercedes Me-
morial Library Building
Fund campaign.
Members of the Catholic
Youth Organization of Our
Lady of Mercy Church were
primary organizers of the
door-to-door drive and have
invited members of all youth
groups of all local church-
es to participate.
The young workers will
leave Our Lady of Mercy
Church at 6 p.m. Monday,
divided into 26 teams to cov-
er 26 city zones mapped by
organizers. Catholic Young
Adults will serve as team
captains.
Nazarenes In
Church Revival
Revival services, with
preaching sessions each ev-
ening, are underway at the
First Mexican Church of the
Nazarene, 637 South Indiana.
Services begin at 7:30 p.m.
through February 23.
Evangelist is the Rev.
Martin Hernandez. “Every-
one is welcome”, says the
Rev. Cepriano Flores, pa-
stor.
VACCINATION, LICENSING
Friday of this week is the first of two days
scheduled for rabies vaccination and city licensing
of Mercedes dogs. Dogs will be vaccinated and li-
censed, for $3 each, at the Police Station from 3 to
7 p.m. Friday, February 21, and from 3 to 7 p.m.
Friday, February 28.
After those days, says Police Chief R.. G. Perez,
untagged dogs will be picked up, owners will face
extra charges if they claim their animals and un-
claimed untagged dogs will be destroyed.
Vaccination and licensing also are available at
the new Mile 3 West location of Border Animal Hos-
pital.
CPL Records Campaign’s
Largest Contribution
Assistant Cashier Named
DICK HARMAN
ATANACIO HINOJOSA
... started this week
Bank President Shelley
Collier Jr. has announced
that, at a Board meeting on
February 11, Atanacio Hi-
nojosa was elected Assist-
ant Cashier of First Nation-
al Bank of Mercedes. Mr.
Hinojosa assumed his duties
as a loan officer this week.
Mr. Hinojosa is married
to the former Gloria Solis
of Mercedes and they reside
at 1030 South Virginia Ave-
nue with their three chil-
dren.
A former resident of Ed-
couch, Mr. Hinojosa was
graduated from the Edcouch-
Elsa high school and holds
a B.A. degree from Pan
American College, Edin-
burg. He taught for three
years in the Edcouch-Elsa
school system and for the
past two and one-half years
has served as an insurance
claims adjuster.
*
sm
GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SALESGIRLS MAKE THEIR PITCH — Girl
Scouts will begin delivering cookies Friday, and most residents of
Mercedes can expect to see one or more of these young ladies dur-
ing the next week. Posed with their Cookie Sale posters, ABOVE,
left to right, are Brownies, £ront row, Susan Sparrow, Kathy Dirks,
Diana Sepulveda, Kathy Myers, Yvette Galvan, Sandra Jensen,
Lynn Harding; standing, Sara Lauderdale, Martha Garza, Deanna
Teltshik, Dee Franklin, Bonnie Powell, Joanna Drawe, Michelle
White, Megan Puckett; and BELOW are Scouts, front row, Eliza-
beth Mize, Neva Short, Linda Greenwood, Debra Hatley, Jill Moore,
Edith Lieck, Elizabeth Schwarz; second row, Connie Garza, Lisa
Gorena, Stephanie Harman, Julia Wade, Ella Valderaz, Laura
Loomans, Joanna Sanders; top row, Linda Freeman, Liz Lieck,
Lydia Perez, Odilia Olivarez, Jerri Kay Dalton, Melinda Morrow,
Eva-Jean Dalton. enterprise staff photos
With the largest single con-
tribution so far, $2,500 from
Central Power and Light
Company, added Wednesday
noon, the Mercedes Memor-
rial Library Building Fund
reached $41,441. Total
Wednesday noon report was
$4,393.10, biggest daily re-
port yet entered in the cam-
paign.
On Monday, campaign
chairmen W. B. Lauder Jr.
and S. H. Collier Jr. de-
ducted $2,500 from the fund
total for campaign expen-
ses and that amount is not
a part of the current $41,
441 total.
Mr. Lauder and Mr. Col-
lier have explained that the
Texas State Library can
match only $50,000 in local
money, and that it now ap-
pears that construction of
the new library here may
cost ‘a few thousand dol-
lars more* than the $100,
000 estimated in present
plans. So, they say, local
money raised beyond the
campaign goal of $50,000,
although not matched, will
be needed to meet extra
construction costs.
Among the hundreds of
contributors to the fund are
groups of children at all
local elementary schools.
Latest fund-raising event
was a two-show talent pro-
duction at T ravis elemen-
tary Wednesday afternoon.
Children created the idea,
supplied the talent and
charged 10 cents admission,
all proceeds to go to the Li-
brary Building Fund.
School children are bak-
ing and selling cookies and
cakes, auctioning a pony, and
conducting Building Fund
projects at all campuses.
They also will distribute
tickets for a February 28
‘Victory Dinner* to be staged
at the National Guard Ar-
mory.
Chamber Directors
Select Officers
Chamber of Commerce di-
rectors, eight of them new-
ly-elected, named 1969 of-
ficers Tuesday afternoon at
their first meeting since a
Murphy New
CPL Manager
Preston Murphy, manager
of the La Feria office of
Central Power and Light
Company the past year and
a half,- added management
of the Mercedes CPL office
Monday. He replaces as lo-
cal manager Lawrence Mor-
row, who has been named
District Sales Manager of
the Gulf Coast CPL district,
with headquarters in Alice.
The Murphy family will
continue to live in LaFeria,
at least until June, since a
son is enrolled in school
there.
Mr. Murphy, who will be
manager of both offices in-
definitely, was cashier at
the Mercedes office in the
early 1950s.
George Ricker
Guest Preacher
The Rev. George M. Rick-
er, pastor of the First Unit-
ed Methodist Church of Ed-
inburg, will be guest preach-
er for a Preaching Mission
scheduled at the First Unit-
ed Methodist Church of Mer-
cedes March 2 to 6. Ser-
vices begin at 7:30 each
evening.
A discussion and fellow-
ship period will follow each
service and the public is in-
vited to participate.
post-card election among
Chamber members last
month.
The new officers:
Bob Sanders, president;
L. W. Clifford, first vice
president; Howard Sparrow,
second vice president, and
Mrs. Frances Mitchell,
treasurer.
Mrs. Peggy Dalton re-
mains as executive secre-
tary.
Directors starting two-
year terms are Mr. Clif-
ford, Mr. Sparrow (re-elec-
ted), Bobby Eilers, E. V.
Mitchell, Javier de los San-
tos, Harvey Broyles, Bill
Savarino and Gus Harp.
One will be named to re-
place Lawrence Morrow, re-
signed.
Board terms expiring are
those of W. B. Lauder Jr.,
Mr. Sparrow, Ferg Wood*
Jim Lauderdale, S. H. Col-
lier Jr. and Gilbert Dom-
inguez.
Directors with another
year to serve are Joe Win-
ston Jr., Bill Bunton, Mrs.
Mitchell, Mr. Sanders, Sid-
ney McClendon (the retiring
president), and John Rey-
nolds.
Quarterbacks To
Elect Thursday
Annual election of officers
and plans for the all-sports
banquet are scheduled for a
Quarterback Club meeting
at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb-
ruary 20, at El Sombrero
restaurant. President Jim-
my Lyons asks that all
members attend.
Sea Scouts Build
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The Mercedes Enterprise (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 20, 1969, newspaper, February 20, 1969; Mercedes, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1105696/m1/1/: accessed July 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library.