Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 22, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 24, 2014 Page: 1 of 42
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Page 3b
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INSIDE SPORTS
Romo, Cowboys
go for win
against Miami
Page IB
INSIDE
Coupons &
savings of
$194
Not in all areas
Denton Record-Chronicle
Vol. Ill, No. 22 / 38 pages, 4 sections
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Denton, Texas
One dollar
Library fund limited
Less county money
goes to fewer libraries
By Christian McPhate
Staff Writer
dmcphate @ dentonrc.com
PONDER — The Betty Foster Pub-
lic Library in Ponder doesn’t look like a
library.
It looks more like a large, cramped
office filled with too many books.
Shelves upon shelves of them fill the
room.
The library takes up the east side of
what was once a Baptist church, shar-
ingthebuildingwith Town Hall, the po-
lice department and public works.
“I used to go here when I was kid,”
said Judy Simmons, the director of the
library.
Ponder’s library offers not only a vast
array of titles such as the Harry Potter,
Hunger Games and Twilight sagas but
also a few computers with Internet con-
nections and programs such as summer
reading, similar to other libraries in
Denton County.
“We’re more than just a warehouse
of books,” Simmons said.
Unlike other county libraries that re-
ceive funding from their host cities, Bet-
ty Foster Public Library relies exclusive-
ly on county funds for budgeting pur-
poses. The county’s money is deposited
into a fund that is then divided among
the participating libraries.
But this fund has been shrinking.
Since 2012, the amount has steadily de-
creased from more than $500,000 to
about $349,000 in 2014. This coming
year, Denton County slashed $9,000
from the library budget, according to
records obtained through the budget
office.
And every year sees another library
See LIBRARIES on 14A
David Minton/DRC
Books fill Ponder’s Betty Foster Public Library, which shares a building
with Town Hall and other city departments.
David Minton/DRC
Youths examine the prospect steers during the junior livestock judging contest Saturday, the final day of the North Texas Fair and Rodeo.
Competitors make the call
By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
Staff Writer
pheinkel-wolfe @ dentonrc. com
The start of school may have still
been a few days away, but about 90 area
youths spent Saturday morning filling
in the bubbles on a test form at the
North Texas Fair and Rodeo.
Middle school and high school-age
Youths rank animals in livestock judging contest
youths worked their way through six dually and for their teams,
pens stocked with four animals each, Ryan Pieniazek, an agricultural sci-
judging and ranking them for their ence teacher at Krum High School,
quality. The more their decisions helped organize the event. Many, but
matched the judges’ determinations, not all, of the youths who participate in
the more points they scored both indivi- livestock judging events also raise ani-
mals. While raising an animal helps
teach responsibility and money man-
agement, judging provides students an
opportunity to learn decision-making,
he said.
“They learn to think on their feet,”
Pieniazek said. “And you have to be able
See JUDGING on 8A
Accident
sets back
start in
classroom
New Denton High
teacher faces long
recovery from crash
By Britney Tabor
Staff Writer
btabor@dentonrc.com
DALLAS — In fife comes the unex-
pected. What matters is how one recov-
ers when the unexpected occurs.
It’s a lesson one Denton High School
teacher is currently enduring.
Loressa Pecoraro, a first-year family
and consumer science teacher, had just
completed her first in-
service day working at
Denton High. It was
the afternoon of Aug.
14, and she was travel-
ing home eastbound
on U.S. Highway 380
near FM2931.
And then it hap-
pened.
A pickup driver traveling in the
westbound lane collided with Pecora-
ro’s red Ford Focus. The truck then
sideswiped another vehicle.
Pecoraro was the only person in-
jured in the accident, according to the
Texas Department of Public Safety.
Her family says she sustained a
punctured lung and broken bones in
her legs, foot, hand, arms and ribs. She
remains hospitalized at Dallas’ Park-
land Memorial Hospital.
Pecoraro
See ACCIDENT on 15A
Teachers get first-day jitters, too
Most area schools
open doors Monday
By Britney Tabor
Staff Writer
btabor@dentonrc.com
The anxiousness young chil-
dren get about the first day of
school is no different from what
some Denton teachers are experi-
encing.
“I’m nervous and excited all at
once,” said Alicia Roberson, a first-
year kindergarten teacher at Rive-
ra Elementary School. “It’s excit-
ing. ... It’s always been a dream to
teach, but [I’m] nervous as well
because you’re just like, ‘Oh my
gosh, I want my kids to like me, I
want to make sure I teach them.’
So it’s just a lot of information that
I’m trying to absorb, but it’s a really
exciting time.”
See SCHOOLS on 8A
David Minton/DRC
First-year Denton kindergarten teacher Alicia Roberson works Thursday to get her room in shape.
TODAY
IN DENTON
Sunny and hot
High: 100
Low: 77
Weather report, 2A
FIND IT INSIDE
ARTS & COMMUNITY
3D
BUSINESS
ID
CLASSIFIED
4C
COUPLES
6D
CROSSWORD
5D
DEAR ABBY
5D
DEATHS
17A
OPINION
16A
REAL ESTATE
1C
SPORTS
IB
TELEVISION
13A
WEATHER
2A
STATE
Two acres of marijuana
thrived near the border —
on the Texas side.
Page 5A
NATIONAL
President Barack Obama
has long resisted the pull
of potential U.S. military
action in Syria.
Page 9A
INTERNATIONAL
An Israeli strike felled a
12-story apartment build-
ing in Gaza City.
Page 10A
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 22, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 24, 2014, newspaper, August 24, 2014; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1124370/m1/1/?q=%22~1~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .