The Alto Herald (Alto, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 28, 1979 Page: 1 of 8
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Established 1896
Home of
Vol. 84
lore it Hill Plantation
Alto, Texas 75925, Thursday, June 28. 1979
Number 7
Alto Receives
Commendation
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—story and photos by how a rd cox
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‘I like any kind of foul... ”
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U ells Gets New Police C.ar
"Peafowl only live about eight years... ”
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Illusive Peafowls
Roam Alto Streets
Country Fair Plans
Underway In Alto
...See page 10
for this week’s
winner of th e
Alto Beautification
Award.
10 Pages
15( Per Issue
Peafow l only live about
eight years she said, "and
the oldest one 1 have now is
about six years old
One of her birds stays
down in a lower lot and
the other resides in the
backyard area Mrs Me
Donald says that they walk
carefully past one another
whenever they are together
but that they do not fight
I also asked her about
those famous peacock fea-
thers
'The cocks shed their
tail feathers every year
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Plans for the third annual Alto
Country Fair, slated for Oct 19-21. are
progressing
Rules and instructions for entry in
the exhibition and reservations for
booth space in the market area will be
available soon Pansy and Joe King
are chairpersons for the market area
assisted by Mrs Brunette Page. Mr
and Mrs Coil Brooks and Mr and
Mrs Joe Pierce
Mrs Lurah Smith is chairperson of
the exhibit hall, assisted by Mrs
Mattie Currie. Mrs Johnnie Hargrove
and Mrs Margaret Bice
nual meeting of the Beautify Texas
Council Beautifiers from across the
entire state were present
Workshops were held and beauti-
fication ideas discussed at the two-day
meeting Speakers present included
Welch, who is now president of the
Greater Houston Chamber of Com
merce. Alan Shepard, former astro-
naut and Bill Nash, a representative
of Keep America Beautiful. Inc
The non-profit Beautify Texas Coun-
cil is a statewide voluntary organiza-
San Antonio bear a sign that says.
"Nice people don't litter
Logan hopes that people will keep
this in mind the next time they start to
throw litter out of their car window
The Alto Herald
( ornhined U ith
The Wells News N Views
The Beautify Alto Committee has
announced that Saturday will be
clean-up day in Alto The Committee
urges that all businesses, homeown-
ers and churches clean up around
their places on this date.
The city landfill will be open Satur-
day free of charge to all the citizens of
Alto
Steve Logan Beaufication Commit-
tee chairman, has said that Alto has
been able to cut back on the down
town litter problem but that trash still
can be seen lying in the streets and
ditches of the city
Logan says that Alto’s goal should
be a 100 per cent litter-free city
He says that a litter campaign like
that used in San Antonio might be
effective in Alto Trash receptacles in
"I like any kind of fowl.''
said Mrs W A McDonald
After walking through
her yard I could believe
her 1 saw ducks, geese,
chickens and guineas But 1
was sitting in her living
room to listen to her talk
about her peacocks
"They re not really pea
cocks.' she told me "The
male is a peacock and the
female is a peahen To-
gether they 're called pea
fowls "
Gee. I didn't know that
"I got my first pair of
peafow I about 26 years ago
They were $40 00 for the
pair back then "
I was sitting almost
directly under one of those
old ceiling fans with a light
hung under it The fan was
noiselessly making me for-
get about the June heat A
clock chimed somewhere
off in the rest of the house 1
could almost imagine what
Alto had been like 26 years
ago
I resurfaced and asked
her how much they cost
these days
"I saw an ad a while back
in the Tyler paper that had
three for sale They were
asking $50 00 apiece for
them But it's getting to
where they're hard to get "
She told me that she has
had as many as 16 peafowl
at one time and that she
has never sold any of them
"They are very hard to
raise They die very easily
when they are young and it
takes six to nine months
before they are fully deve-
loped
"1 only raised one out of
the 16 that I had that time
But. of course, the dogs got
some of them that year.”
She told me that there
are probably fewer peafowl
around than other birds
because the peafowl must
be two years old before
they can lay and breed
She also told me that
people often stop along the
road to show her peafowl to
their kids She doesn't
mind this but a year ago
somebody peafowlnapped
a hen and a rooster from
her and neither have been
heard of since
Then we began talking
about the birds she has
now
Clean-up Day
Set Saturday
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"If everyone in Alto will work
together we can make Alto Shine in
’79." said Logan
I News I
I Briefs |
W ells Hires Coach
Dennis Higgs has been .'amed
athletic director for Wells High School
for 1979-80
He will coach both Varsity boy s
and girl's basketball teams and also
high school boy's and girl s track
teams
Higgs is in his fifth year of coaching
and has been at Wells for one year He
is a graduate of Lamar I diversity in
Beaumont and has held coaching
positions in San Augustine. Santa
Anna and Fritch. Texas
Barbara Allen will coach junior
high girls sports and the school is still
seeking someone to coach junior high
and Varsity baseball with teaching
fields in math and science, according
to John Fuller superintendent of
schools
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It ISD Hoard Meets
In a called meeting on June 21.
Wells Independent School Board
approved a bid on lighting for the new
baseball field The bid was awarded to
Buffalo Electric Co . Houston, and
calls for 38 meta) hahlide fixtures
In other action, an update of the
Five Year Accreditation Plan was
approved by the board and will be
sent to Austin Wells is in its first year
of the plan and John Fuller,
superintendent, explained that a
review of the program's
accomplishments must be reported to
Austin each year
The board also considered a
proposal to remodel part of the gym
They approved taking out a storage
area in the boys' dressing room to
make more space available Also, a
small portion of the bleachers will be
taken out of the gym to make a weight
lifting facility for both boys and girls
non with representatives from busi-
ness and industry, state and local
x government, garden clubs, civic
workers and civic groups working
together to make Texas "the cleanest,
most beautiful state in the nation.”
according to the Council
Assisting the Council in their efforts
are the Governor's Office of Volunteer
Services, the Texas Agricultural Ex-
tension Service and regional cham-
bers of commerce
Chairpersons for the fair are Mrs
Lena Meier, Mrs Fannie Mae
Chapman and Rev Bill Jenkins
The booths will be $10 00 for a space
measuring approximately 10’xlO’
Two judges from Rusk have
accepted for the crafts Judges for the
art will soon be announced
Volunteers for help on any of the
committees will be welcome In fact,
anyone interested should contact any
of the chairpersons or committee
members
The Alto Country Fair is a
community effort and will be bigger
and better for Alto this year
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They don't seem to strut
aorund so much or show
themselves off when they
start to lose their feathers
"In about two months the
feathers start to come out
again but they grow slow-
ly "
She also said that she
was kind of worried about
her birds during the icy
weather last winter
"They always go up to
roost in the trees." she
said "I never have gotten
one to roost in a shed or
anything Anyway during
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Logan Accepts Beautification Award
Steve I ogan. chairman of the Beautify Vltot ommittee accepts a special Certificate of Commendation on behalf
of the citv of Vito from Rita Clements. wife of Governor Bill Clements. The certificate presented during a
luncheon held by the Beautify Texas C ouncil in Houston Fridav. -staff photo
Steve Logan, chairman of the
Beautify Alto Committee accepted a
Special Certificate of Commendation
on behalf of the Committee from Rita
Clement. Texas' First Lady at the
annual meeting of the Beautify Texas
Council Friday in Houston
The certificate was presented to
Alto on behalf of the progress the city
has made in their beautification
campaign
This award was presented at a
luncheon culminating the twelfth an
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the winter when the freez-
ing rain was falling it
would coat their tail plu-
mage and make them real
heavy
"They were so heavy
that they could hardly stay
in those trees But they
won't roost in a building 1
think it's a natural instinct
with them ”
She told me that the
peacock feathers, which
are much coveted as house-
hold decorations, retain
their natural beauty for
only about a year after they
have fallen off the bird
"They just seem to die or
decay after that." she said
Then w e went out into the
backyard in search of one
of the big birds I was
armed with my trusty 35
millimeter camera and
Mrs McDonald was armed
with a handful of bread
crumbs. a peafowl
delicacy
The backyard bird evi-
dently was on vacation that
day so we went down a lot
beside her house to see the
other bird
The great chase began
Maybe I should have
flashed my press pass or
something'before entering
that bird's domain because
he certainly didn't like his
privacy being invaded
I quickly learned another
fact about peacocks Those
dudes are fast
So the afternoon went
something like this Mrs
McDonald would throw out
little pieces of bread and
try to coax the bird out of
hiding I hid behind a barn,
a tree and finally a honey
suckle bush try ing to get a
good picture of that elusive
bird
Eventually the great bird
got tired of the game and
Bop-flopped himself atop
the fence in one huge un-
gainly teeter totter motion
and glided down to safety
on the other side
■ I don't know why he s
acting like this said Mrs
McDonald, "he ate bread
crumbs out of my hand
yesterday "
Maybe it was my breath’’
As 1 was leaving Mrs
McDonald joked. ‘ Old Mc-
Donald had a farm and t
do. too
Indi-ed she does
Degar Bruce. Wells city marshal, shows off the new police car reccenlly purchased hv the community The new
car is a 1979Chrysler Newport and was purchased from Pearman Motor Co in Alvo -staff photo
s Steed
Box 334
’ , Texas 75925
Bhe- .
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The Alto Herald (Alto, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 28, 1979, newspaper, June 28, 1979; Alto, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1269048/m1/1/?q=%22~1%22~1&rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Stella Hill Memorial Library.