The Mercedes Enterprise (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 89, No. 29, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 18, 2001 Page: 4 of 18
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Pages from the Past .
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IN THE VALLEY --
OUT OF THE VALLEY -
PEMELTON MAKES OLYMPIC TEAM
======
City Approves Second U. R. Project; Work Expected This Fall
convened in regular session.
Several routine items were
The Mercedes City Com-
mission Monday night ap-
proved a plan for a second
Urban Renewal project.
After a lengthy but orderly
public hearing adjourned, the
commission convened for
routine business, with con-
sideration of the second UR
project among the major
items.
At the public hearing.
Mayor John Bowe opened
the meeting with prelimi-
nary remarks. He explained
that the city was under a
bankruptcy order for many
years since 1941—that each
year, $60,337 in tax monies
must be spent for improve-
ment bonds issued In the
1920’s. With later bonds,
total debt service each year
is $91,032, or 62.66 percent
of the tax dollar, leaving
less than 40 per cent for
operation and maintenance
of the city.
He made it plain that the
city could not raise valua-
tions or tax rates enough to
handle all the capital im-
provements needed. He also
pointed out that the first
project, which will be closed
put next spring, is consider-
ed successful. W. B. Lauder,
city plan commission chair-
i man, said that the tax rolls
1 have increased from $8,000,
i 000 to $ 12,000,000, partly as
i a result of Urban Renewal
dience.
(The commission room
was filled with spectators).
Each question was answered.
Next speaker was Charlie
Greenwood, city engineer.
He outlined street water
line and drainage improve-
ments proposed. He said
$140,000 would be spent on
drainage alone. This work
would drain all the downtown
area at the rate of 2 inches
per hour when completed.
There would be no more
‘swimming holes” such as
those on Ohio between Sec-
ond and Third, of Texas
between the railroad and U.S.
83. .
All speakers paused and
invited questions from the
audience.
It was pointed out that the
city would lose initially some
$8,920 in taxes from build-
ings torn down. However,
in return, it will get $204,
property owners in No. 2.
Dr. Lawrence Cox asked
what the city would do with
so many proposed parking
lots. Mayor Bowe explained
that the number was not con-
sidered excessive, but was
needed to service the busi-
ness area. Architect Gene
Hobart pointed out that the
plan has less off street park-
ing than recommended on the
national average for shop-
ping centers.
Mayor Bowe thanked the
public for a good attendance
and after again calling for
questions and with none ask-
ed, the hearing was adjourn-
ed.
Then the city commission
discussed. He asked if the
commission was ready to
act on the Urban Renewal
plan. Com. Claudio Hinojosa
made a motion to approve,
seconded by Com, George
Irby. It was approved unani-
mously.
Earlier, Mr, O’Shea had
predicted that after con-
tracts are drawn, the project
should be started before the
end of 1964 with acquisition
of the most neglected build-
ings or those sites for which
there is demand by private
developers which will bring
new business and industry
to Mercedes.
The Merce
Enterpri se
Volume XLIX — No. 38
Mercedes Star
To Leave Sept. 28
For Tokyo Meet
Billy Gene Pemelton, first
Mercedes athlete to make the
U. S, Olympic team and sec-
ond in recent Valley history,
will leave by charter air
craft Sept. 28 for the World
Olympics in Tokyo.
He was among the top three
In the final 1964 U. S. Olym-
pic team trials held at Los
Angeles Coliseum last Sat-
urday. Three others compe-
ting for the poll vault divi-
sion were eliminated.
His wife, Mrs. Charlotte
Heggen Pemelton, was in Los
Angeles for the trials and
telephoned her parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Lloyd Heggen Sat-
urday after the results were
announced.
She flew to the Valley
Monday to spend a few days
with her parents. She hopes
she will be able to go to
Tokyo to watch her husband
perform. All his expenses
Will be paid by the U. S.
Olympic committee. No offi-
cial provision is made for
wives, but sponsors are at-
tempting to organize a tour
for wives at the lowest possi-
ble group rates. She hopes
to get a reservation on that
tour, which leaves Oct. 5.
Mrs. Pemelton brought
back some new information.
Billy Gene also has been
—singled out of a select, few
of the U. S. contestants for
a special exchange tour of
Africa. Originally, the tour
was to have lasted four
City Approves
CP&L Rate Cut
The electric rate reduc-
tion approved by the Mer-
edes city council this week
will enable customers to in-
crease the use of their elec-
tric service at lower cost,
A. T. Baucum, Central Pow-
er and Light Company man-
ager, explained.
All residential and com-
mercial customers will rea-
lize some saving, he said.
The annual saving to all
CPL customers isestimated
Tigers Prepare For Next 14AAAA
Team; Eagles Fly In Friday
It
Mercedes, Texas, 78570: Thursday, September 17, 1964 SarondaCiawaaRettama,”ald 100
600 New Long Distance Circuits
Opened With New Relay System -
801 worth of capital im-
provements through federal
grants. It also was pointed
out that-some buildings to
be razed would be replaced
by private developers with
new, modern structures
which would even increase
the valuation over previous
levels for those individual
properties.
Project No. 2, which basi-
cally is the downtown area
improvements. He also
pointed out that the project
has made it possible for
homeowners to get FHAI to the alley between Missi-
loans which were unavail- louri and Texas on the West,
able previously, is broken down like this:
Then Mayor Bowe Intro- ;
to the expressway on the
north, to the Fast canal, and
duced Gene O’Shea, Urban
Renewal director, who be- !
gan a detailed explanation of :
the proposed project, point- i
ing out on large wall maps ;
the boundaries, properties i
proposed for purchase, and i
use planned, for this ■
property. At various points, ;
he stopped and asked if there,
were questions from the au- :
Streets $47,821
Storm sowers $128,785
water $17,852
New walks $9,000
Street signs $2,000
Landscaping ■ $8,800
The Mercedes Tigers will
open the season on home-
grounds Friday at 8 p.m.
after showing Mercedes fans
at Edinburg that they could
play ball, regardless of in-
experience. In this week’s
battle, a perennially strong
Brownsville Eagle team of
14AAAA will challenge the
Tigers at Tiger Stadium,
This will be the last non-
conference game for the
Bengals, as they travel next
week to Rio Grande City
for their first 16AAA con-
ference game. As for this
week, both teams will be
looking for a win as the
Eagles lost their game to
Kingsville Friday 9-0 and
the Tigers went down to the
Bobcats, 20-7 in Edinburg.
Each team commands the
other’s respect. Last year
Brownsville eleven
Pavement 825,543 the
Land $.5000 soundly trounced the out-
ir was potated an the se! manned Tigers, but the
would be no assessments of t - agles are still smoothing’
any kind for paving orary their feathers from a licking
improvements against the i handed them by the Tigers
In the first game of the 1962
season when the Eagles ul-
timately wound up in the
state play-offs in Class 4A.
The Brownsville game last
year marked the first ap-
pearance of Tiger Jesse
Villarreal at the quarter-
back slot, but he has a year’s
experience behind him and
the Brownsville aggregation
may anticipate a little per-
sonal revenge from Villar-
real in the form of passing,
running, signal calling, and
aggressive defensive play.
He’ll be aided in the back
field by halfbacks Gilbert
Anzaldua and Rafael Loren-
zano and fullhack Larry
Herold. Other backs vieing
for positions on the Varsity
are Roland Champion, Bobby
Hild, Jose Aguilar, John Ir-
vin, Raul Galvan, Jr., Gene
Riley, Steve Hager, Tommy
Anderson, and Dennis Lugg
are working at Center.
Guards include David Her-
old, Alonzo Gracia, David
(See TIGERS, Page 5)
to be more than $2,500,000.
Factors making possible
the latestCPLrate reduction
include increased customer
use of service, a reduction
in Federal income taxes, and
emphasis upon efficient op-
eration, Baucum said. He
pointed out that even before
the latest rate reduction the
average unit price of elec-
tricity was lower than ever
before in history. While the
cost of most items in the
cost of living has been going
up through the years, the
price of electricity has gone
down through numerous rate
reductions and largercusto-
mer use.
The new lower rates take
effect as each customer’s
meter is read in September
and will be reflected in the
electric bill he receives af-
ter about Oct. 7.
The reduced rates make
the use of electricty espe-
cially attractive for some
i of the larger household jobs
such as heating and cooling.
Baucum said. The price
drops from the present 2.1
cents per kilowatt hour to
1.6 cents per kilowatt hour
for household use in excess
of 1,000 kilowatt hours per
month. For homes using
electricity as their only
source of heat, the price
drops to 1.1 cents per kilo-
watt hour for all use over 500
SEN. RALPH YARBROUGH
Sen. Yarbrough
To Crown Queen
At Church Rites
U. S. Sen. Ralph Yarbrough
will crown the queen of the
Fiesta Patrias celebration
here Sunday night, Sept. 27.
The senior senator from
Texas telegraphed Roberto
Salinas that he was accepting
the invitation and would be
here for the 8 p.m. cere-
monies in Tiger Stadium.
The telegram said he would
furnish exact time and place
of arrival later.
Miss Norma Sierra, dau-
ghter of Mr. and Mrs. Ro-
berto Sierra, will be the
lucky girl to be crowned.
She will take over from Miss
Julie Delgadillo, queen of the
first annual festival held last
year.
After the coronation at the
stadium, a grand coronation
ball will follow in the
weeks, but since Billy Gene
qualified for the Olympics
in the finals, the tour will
be cut to one week; The
State Department will fly
nine of the athletes to Africa
for demonstration and in-
struction.
Meanwhile,- he is being
shown a real first hand view
of the West Coast's movie
colony and other famed at-
tractions in that area. The
contestants are staying at
California Politec College.
They will be treated to big
league football games and
not the least will be a com-
plete new wardrobe. They’re
shipping all his old clothes
back home before the trip
to Tokyo.
He already has been on TV
and further appearance by
him and other U. S. team
members before leaving the
states is expected on net-
work shows.
It is understood some sec-
tions of the Olympics will
be televised live from Tokyo
via the communications sa-
tellite.
Billy Gene will compete
Oct. 15 and again Oct. 17.
He will be in Tokyo three
weeks.
Son of Mr. and Mrs, Paul
Pemelton, he was a versa-
tile sports participant while
in Mercedes High School. He
lettered in football. He was
the state champion in pole
vault events two years.
He held the school
pole vault record at Abilene
Christian College and had
won several big collegiate
meets. He also participated
in college rodeo events.
At the Olympic Games, he
will be one of three con-
testants in the pole vault
events. Each nation is allow-
ed only three entries in each
event.
But on a world-wide basis,
Tokyo is expecting 7,200 ath-
letes for the games and has
build a special village of
250 frame houses in the
National Guard Armory at
9 p.m., according to the
coronation committee chair-
man, Miss Elvira Hinojosa.
Two big days of Fiestas
Patrias events were held
Saturday and Sunday at the
Armory, and Miss Sierra
was-revealed as the new
queen. She was sponsored
by the Holy Name Society of
Our Lady of Mercy Cath-
olic Church.
CITY APPOINTS
NEW MEMBERS
TO ZONE BOARD
A new city zoning board
has been approved by the
city commission.
At a special meeting Tues-
day night, Mayor John W.
Bowe said the board needed
reorganizing since several
members have moved and
others are unwilling to
serve.
He said all his nominees
were contacted and agreed
to serve.
Those approved by the
commission were:
Charles Greenwood, Pen
Valereas, Roy Herrera,
Marvin Schwarz, Mrs. C. D.
McVean, Bob Hollon and
Joe Adame.
S. W. BellTelephone Com-
pany has expanded it’s long
distance network in the Rio
Grande Valley, linking Mer-
cedes, McAllen and Harlin- •
gen with a microwave sys-
tem at a cost of one million
dollars.
Some 600 new circuits are
being put into service.
With a completion of a
series of microwave relay
towers, the first to be erect-
ed in the Valley, existing
overhead and burled cable
facalities have been freed
for exclusive use of local
service and extended area
service.
C. C. Bradshaw, district
manager at McAllen, said the
new facilities are providing
the Valley with better quality
long distance service and
capability of meeting growth
for many years. The micro-
wave relay equipment con-
verts electronic signals at
audio frequency to high fre-
quency radio microwave,
which are then broadcast
from antennas atop the tow-
ers to similar receiving an-
tennas on the next tower
where it is amplified and
sent on to the next tower.'
Special equipment con-
verts audio signals to mi-
crowave and visa versa.
Transmission is in a line-
of-sight path and causes no
interference with AM or FM
radio or TV transmission,
Bradshaw said.
One channel capable of
handling a maximum of 600
long distance circuits is
simultaneously being put in
service.
Bradshaw said the micro-
wave system will be used
for special service trans-
mission, such as leased lines
and data traffic, as well as
for long distance calls.
Booster, or relay equip-
ment was installed ac Mer-
cedes to strengthen signals
between McAllen and Har-
lingen and to send them on
their way.
Two building additions
were constructed for the
system, one at Mercedes and
the other at McAllen. Tow-
ers were erected on the
buildings and an existing
CC DIRECTORS TO MEET
The Board of Directors
of the Mercedes Chamber
of Commerce will meet to-
day, Thursday, at 3:30 p.m.
at the First National Bank,
according to George Whee-
ler, manager.
Chamber of Commerce
Manager and Mrs. George
Wheeler will represent the
Mercedes chamber at the
Valley Chamber banquet in
Brownsville.
tower at Harlingen was
modified. The towers were-
constructed so that floors .
may be added to existing
buildings without Interrup- :
tion of service, Bradshaw,
said. .
Billy Gene Days
Being Planned .
For Olympic Star
A move is underway in
Mercedes, to plan a big Wel- ex:
come Home celebration for
local Olympic star, Billy
Gene Pemelton. : 1
Plans are being coordi- %.
nated through the Quarter- '“:
back Club, Chamber of Com- -
merce, City officials and --
Mercedes High School of
which he is a 1960 graduate.
"We can’t do too much :.
for this fine young athlete
who is putting Mercedes on -
the map,” one businessman .
said.. He is the second*
Valleyite ever to make the :=
U. S. Olympic team, the 5 ,
other being Bobby Morrow 5
of San Benito several years 5
ago. . S.
Tentative plans being dis-
cussed include a parade, a
welcome speech by the- :
mayor, and possibly a bar-Y
becue in his honor at the -
Stock Show Grounds or the *
Civic Center.
The Quarterback Club at 2
its Tuesday night meeting
discussed some token of ap-
preciation for Billy Gene
possibly in advance of his :
return. One member men- _
tioned help on financing the
trip for his wife, the former
Charlotte Heggen, to go to .
Tokyo to see her husband .
perform. Another member
said a campaign alreadywas :
underway by friends and for- .
mer classmates at Abilene .
Christian College, and it was
decided to await further
developments there before
starting a drive here.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Pemel-
ton has enrolled in Pan
American College but plans
to make the trip if possible.
She has sent in a reserva-
tion for a special charter
plane for wives of the con-
testants but it has not been
confirmed. _
All groups interested ex- ‘ .
pressed enthusiasm for a
big program of welcome and -
appreciation on his return,
Billy Gene plans to finish
his college work at Pan
American on his return here.
WEATHER REPORT
Sept.
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
H
97
98
98
98
93
96
97
L ,
73
74
75
75
75
69
73
Track
BILLY GENE’S HIGH SCHOOL RECORD
At Mercedes
Football
Track
1960
1960
1959
1959
1958
Pole Vault
First District, Regional
and State, 12’9”
High Hurdles First District, Regional
and State
Low Hurdles First District, Regional
2nd State .
Team Co-captaln—All-dis 2nd team .
Halfback, All District Honorable Mention
Pole Vault, First District, Regional,
State
Second in Pole Vault, District and
Regional
High hurdles— third district
(lettered in basketball 1958-1959-1960)
TIGER
NO
Yoyogi area with 543 hous- st
Ing units. The village will B
have a theatre and a news-
paper published three times ,
a week in English, French, 2
Spanish and Japanese. Tokyo
is reported to have spent j
some $555,600,000 prepar-
ing for the Olympics. Most
of the events will be held
in the National or Main Sta-
dium located in Meiji
Olympic Park.
In the trials Saturday,
Billy Gene and two others
topped the 16 foot vault re-
quirement.
I Others from Texas in pole
vault include Fred Hansen
kilowatt hours per month
of Rice University, There |
are several other Texans |
in the field and track divi-
sion. The third vault team |
member will be John Pennel |
of Northeast Louisiana. 1
URN
TIGER LANE was officially dedicated Friday afternoon at a pep rally preceding the
first game of the Mercedes Tigers. The street runs east’and west adjacent to the
north entrance of the high school. At dedication ceremonies are left to right: Jimmy
Closner, city superintendent of works; Mayor John Bowe; Judge J. A. "Chico" Fernan-
dez; and Chief of Police, R. G. "Tiny" Perez.
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The Mercedes Enterprise (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 89, No. 29, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 18, 2001, newspaper, July 18, 2001; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1652948/m1/4/: accessed July 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library.