Portland News (Portland, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 52, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 25, 1986 Page: 1 of 22
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Pat Rodriguez
Castleberry
Helen Tracy
Linda
Bustamante
Carrie Shedd
James F. Tracy Jr.
Dale Andrews
Nelda
Armond Ashworth
Janey Armesto
Raul Gomez
John H. Tracy
Lyra Sparks
Epifanio Paz
Lynda Dunlap
RTLAND N EWS
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See GREGORY, Page 14
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Dedicated To The Best Interests Of Portland
"Gem City Of The Gulf"
Volume XX — December 25,1986 — Portland, Texas 78374
22 Pages In Two Sections — No. 52
Christmas at the Sparks’ home
this year began with a lSVz-foot, 300-
pound tree.
To that, Kathy Sparks —
MERRY CHRISTMAS - Kathy Sparks and her youngest son, Ted, pose in front of a few of the thousands
of Christmas decorations which highlight the family's home. (N EWS photo)
and have people come through to see
everything,” she said, noting that all
but a few of the bedrooms in the
house have been decorated. “We’ve
even had people come to the door,
apologizing saying, ‘we’re sorry to
intrude, but we heard you were the
people ...’ and wanting to see our
decorations.”
proposed project expense by approx-
imately $3,000.
The bid from Motorola was not the
low bid. CECO bid $34,669.95 on the
console and base station, but the
Commissioners Court, after further
consideration, decided to take the
Motorola bid which was about 15
percent higher in price.
The General Electric brand con-
sole CECO proposed to supply to the
county did not match the specifica-
tions set by county officials. CECO
spokesman, Bob Sharron, told the
court that CECO could modify the
system to fulfill the county’s needs.
Commissioner Pct. 1 Joe Zapata
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Marty Garza
Jeanie Coonrod
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Diana Rosalez
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Thanks to actions taken by the San
Patricio County “Commissioners
Court Monday, the County Sheriff’s
Department will soon sport new
radio and telephone recording equip-
ment and a new console and base
station to replace the 14-year-old
.equipment presently being used.
Motorola was awarded the bid for
$41,428 for the console and base sta-
'tion. Dictaphone Company was
awarded the bid for the radio and
telephone recording devices for a
bid of $23,939.
Both items were budgeted and
County Auditor George Hernandez
said the county will underspend the
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Court Buys New Equipment
told County Sheriff Wayne Hitt
“G.E. can be modified for the
system to work. When we had
Motorola, we had no problems,”
Zapata said. “My concern is the
modifications. How much down time
will there be?”
“Me too. If you’re wanting me to
make a choice I’d take Motorola
because it’s all Motorola (brand)
with no modifications,” Sheriff Hitt
said.
Zapata made the motion to accept
the bid from Motorola for the con-
sole and base station for the Sheriff’s
Department. Commissioner Glenn
See COURT, Page 14
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visitors during the holidays.
“Usually we have an open house
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the decorations on the tree are more
than 100 years old. Others we can
trace back to 80 years and some
were bought by my mother when I
was just a child. Each year, I add
one or two things.”
Christmas at the Sparks’ house
follows a strict tradition, Mrs.
Sparks added.
“Every year, we get the decora-
tions out around Thanksgiving and
try to put the tree up around the first
of December, ’ ’ she noted.
This year, putting up the tree was
one of the more complicated tasks
because of its height and weight, she
noted.
“My 24-year-old son got
underneath it and lifted it so we
could put it into the stand, which we
built ourselves,” she said. “Then we
had to run cables down through it to
keep it steady because it is so big.”
Decorating of the tree is done by
everyone in the family, Mrs. Sparks
continued.
“The tree is in stages and each
stage is a height,” she explained.
“The kids put on their own or-
naments at their own stage.
“Over the years, each child has
adopted certain ornaments and
those are the ones they put up,” she
noted. “And the ornaments I buy the
These strangers, too,
welcome, Mrs. Sparks said.
She said decorating for Christmas
is a tradition she followed from her
mother.
“My mom started the tradition.
I’ve just carried it on,” she explain-
ed. “A lot of the things I have now
were on my mother’s tree. Some of
Gregory City Council Monday ap-
proved a $668,000 budget that
allocates a 6 percent pay increase to
'all city employees.
Completion of the budget, which
covers the fiscal year Oct 1, 1986 to
Sept. 30, 1987, had been delayed for
several months. However, council
previously set the city’s 1987 tax rate
— 67.5 cents per $100 valuation — in
early September.
Monday, before giving its final OK
to the 1987 budget, council first
discussed a proposal to give the
employees either a 3 percent pay
raise with the city paying the ma-
jority of each employee’s insurance
costs or giving employees a 6 per-
Offices Close
For Holiday
Financial institutions,
businesses and government offices
will close Thursday for the
Christmas holiday.
While H.E.B., the post office,
area banks and most businesses
will reopen Friday, many offices
will remain closed for a four-day
weekend.
Among those offices remaining
closed on Thursday and Friday are
the Portland News and school
district offices. Gregory City Hall
also will be closed Thursday and
Friday.
Portland City Hall will be closed
Wednesday and Thursday but will
be open Friday. Sanitation crews
will also observe the Christmas
holiday Wednesday and Thursday.
As a result, garbage collection for
both sides of town will be on Fri-
day.
Next week, trash collection will
be on Monday and Wednesday for
the east side of town, Tuesday and
Friday for the west side, as city of-
fices will be closed on Thursday on-
ly-
The News, which is being
published on Wednesday this week,
also will follow an early schedule
next week.
Deadline for news items will be 5
p.m. Monday, except for wedding
stories, which must be submitted
by noon Monday. The deadline for
all advertising for the News next
week will be noon Tuesday.
Following its Wednesday, Dec.
31, publication, the News will be
closed on Thursday and Friday,
Jan. 1-2.
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Kel,yleaacks
year they are born are their or-
naments, too.”
Now that her oldest is married
with a child of his own, she has
bought ornaments especially for the
first grandchild, she added.
After the tree decorating is done,
Mrs. Sparks turns to the remainder
of the house, putting up all her other
Christmas decorations, many of
which are ceramic and were made
by her or her children.
“We decorate every room in the
house,” she noted. “This year, we
haven’t decorated a few rooms
because this house is larger than our
last house and, with the cathedral
ceiling, it took more decorations.”
The decorations include a stocking
for each of her five children —
Sherri, Gary, Brian, Bobby and Ted.
In addition to the decorating tradi-
tion, the Sparks’ have a tradition for
Christmas day, she added.
“My husband and I usually stay up
until 3 or 4 a.m. on Christmas Eve,
getting everything done,” she said.
“Then the kids start waking up
around 6 and we make them stay in
their rooms until we have the lights
on the tree all on and the Christmas
music on.”
The family is seeing its traditions
See TRADITION, Page 14
Kay Atkinson
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from all of us ...
Paul Sal°ne
Nora DeLeon
Pau,t-eveen
AHHH! - Standing in front of a cafeteria full of people to sing a solo
isn't so bad when you have a friend to lean on, decides Andrews
teacher Polly Royer, who is leaning on Principal Lloyd Goldsmith dur-
ing her "Winter Wonderland" solo in the school's annual Christmas
program. For Royer's initial reaction to her solo, see Page 8. (NEWS
photo)
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Pau,a G/7//s
Gregory Council OKs
Budget, Pay Raise
cent pay hike and requiring
employees to pay half their in-
surance costs.
“I feel the employees have done a
good job and I know times are
hard,” noted Mayor Pro Tern Jerry
Rivera, who presided at the meeting
in the absence of Mayor Robert
Escobedo. “The suggestion I would
make would be going with a 6 per-
cent pay raise and paying the in-
surance like before” with the city
footing the majority of costs.
Although several aidermen
agreed with Rivera’s proposal, they
expressed concern that the city
could not find the funds to offer both
incentives.
“Everybody deserves the pay
raise,” noted Aiderwoman Celia
Rodriquez. “It’s just figuring out if
the city can afford to put another
$5,000 in the budget” to cover the ad-
ditional insurance costs.
After studying the budget, council
instructed the city secretary to have
the auditor make adjustments to
four accounts, allowing the city to
pay higher costs of insurance for
employees. Accounts which will see
cuts in funding are Travel and
Training, Schools and Training,
Miscellaneous Expenses and
Systems Fund — Salaries.
Family's Christmas Overflows With Tradition
choosing Portland for their home,
Kathy and Ted Sparks enjoy
celebrating Christmas.
Mrs. Sparks, who collected most
housewife, mother and the spirit of of the decorations she uses and who
Christmas for this Portland family decorates similarly for every holi-
— added more than 1,000 lights and day, says the family encourages
more than 500 ornaments, 14 extra-
long strands of garland, 12 boxes of
2,000-strand icicles and eight or nine
bags of snow.
Then there was the rest of the
house to decorate.
And decorate it she did. From the
floor to the cathedral ceiling of the
1510 Memorial St. home, there are
wall decorations depicting Santa,
reindeer, Mrs. Claus and a myriad
of Merry Christmas scenes.
On every space in between floor
and ceiling where she could find to
rest a decoration, Mrs. Sparks has
added ceramic pieces displaying
Santa’s North Pole workshop, elves
at work and numerous other
Christmas scenes.
There are paper villages nestled in
snow covered valleys and there are
more nativity scenes than Mrs.
Sparks even can count.
Former Corpus Christi residents
who spent 10 years in Kentucky
before moving back to the Coastal
Bend area earlier this year and
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Castleberry, Linda. Portland News (Portland, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 52, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 25, 1986, newspaper, December 25, 1986; Portland, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1304449/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bell/Whittington Public Library.