The Colony Leader (The Colony, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 9, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 24, 1990 Page: 4 of 49
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4A The Colony Leader, Wednesday, January 24, 1990
Mutual
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control. necessary. I think mutual aid was
“Lets say we put the mutual aid utilized everv day last week.”
system to the ultimate test Sunday Every fire’department in Denton
and it worked,” Price said.' “We County has an interlocal agreement
needed all the extra men and equip- with neighboring cities. While all of
ment we could get to protect those the pacts are for fire services, in-
structures. The idea is that if you eluding manpower and equipment,
help me, I’ll help you.” some are also for medical services.
Ross Litman, emergency man- Highland Village Fire Marshal
agement coordinator for Denton Scott Cisney said the agreement is
County, said mutual aid pacts be- simple, “you scratch my back and I’ll
tween neighboring cities in the coun- scratch yours.”
ty have been around since 1965. Cisney said smaller departments
“I think mutual aid is a necessity of such as the Highland Village Volun-
life these days,” Litman said. “A lot teer Fire Department utilize mutual
of departments don’t have the re- aid much more than the larger de-
sources they need to fight large, partments.
widespread or multiple fires and “Very few of the departments in
mutual aid from another city is the county can afford the broad
range of equipment and manpower strained to the point where Lewisville received a call for a two- helping with Sunday’s grass fire
that is needed to fight a large fires, emergency services are comprom- alarm structure fire. Flower Mound fire personnel re-
Cisney said.There's no way we can ised. All on-duty and off-duty Lewisville sponded to two additional emergen-
ngnt a large tire without help. 1 hat s "It gives us a sense of security,” personnel were called in to fight the cy calls in Argyle and Bartonville,
what these interlocal agreements Chapman said. “When we get into a house fire. Lewisville in turn had to Litman said the mutual aid system
are for. . situation where all of our resources call the Carrollton hire Department has a complex set of checks and ba-
Cisney said the agreement is 0r epuipment is tied up, we know to man two of its stations in the lances. If one city cannot fill-in for its
meant to wor otl ways an often there will be someone to back us event of additional emergency calls, neighbor, the next agency on the list
ment, for Example often utilizes up." . .....Without mutual aid, Lewisville will be called to help and so on.
Highland Village’s aero-unit. Not only did Lewisville firefigh- would have been left unprotected for Although the system appears sim-
The aero-unit is a uncommon ters responded on the mutual aid call several hours. ple on the surface, he said it can get
piece of equipment that can be taken 0r the grass tire Sunday ’ they Lewisville has 17 cities included in complex and confusing. But so far, it
to the scene of afire to refill air packs turne aroun an ca e or mutual its mutual aid agreement, spanning has never failed.
for firefighters. al emse ves. as far south as Dallas and as far north “You can only pre-plan so far”
Lewisville Interim Operations Lewisville sent four firefighters as Denton. Litman said. “Emergencies and dis-
Chief Alan Chapman said the main and two boosters to aid in firefighting Flower Mound also did its fair asters often don’t follow your plan,
purpose of mutual aid agreements is efforts Sunday in Copper Canyon, share of responding to mutual aid But the system always seems to
so that no one department is Less than an hour after the call, calls during the weekend. While work.”
RSVP
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volunteers and they do
not know where to go.”
According to McClatchey, Denton County records
more than 115,000 volunteer hours annually in 114
work stations. Work stations are the places or agencies
• that request volunteers. The county RSVP program
keeps up with the hours to present to the federal
agency that oversees non-profit organizations, AC-
TION, and local agencies such as the Lewisville United
Way and the City of Denton that help with the funding.
“They save organizations from having to go out and
look for people to help for maybe a few hours,” said City
Staff Planner Bob van Til, who is also on the Senior
Advisory Committee for The Colony. “They keep up
the productivity.”
The Colony is not the only place that has seen an
increase in senior volunteers, said McClatchey.
“Overall we have seen an increase all over Denton
County,” McClatchey said. “People are waking up and
realizing that we have a lot ot offer.”
The RSVP program itself offers a supplemental in-
surance policy to volunteers that complements existing
benefits the seniors may already have. The policy will
pick up the remainder of most medical costs after the
Senior’s own insurance policy pays its maximum.
People who are 60 years or older are encouraged to
volunteer if they are willing and able to work more than
one hous per month.
“We are always looking for volunteers,” McCalatch-
ey said. “And we always need work stations to send
people to.”
Council
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not kept in the system are the police and court
records, which are in separate stand-alone systems.
Hall estimated the new disk storage unit “should hold
approximately five years’ worth of data.”
In other council business a resolution authorizing a
contract between The Colony and the State of Texas
involving State Highway 121.
The action was described by Hall as “the passing of a
resolution declaring that a certain tract of land along SH
121 belonging to Centex was surplus property and not
Pointing the way
Doug Layton/Leader photo
The Colony High School Cougar mascot rides down the escalator at the Saturday. The event provided visitors information about the school dis-
LISD Education Expo. The event, sponsored by the LISD Community trict.
Education Advisory Council and Vista Ridge Mall, was held at the mall
needed for any other purpose than the expansion of SH T TAtl:4 _
121."
The land involved is a 120-foot-wide strip of land that ______________•_____________________________________
will be used in the widening of the highway.„
: “There was no major land swap. We acquired from , 1984 called for the utility to negotiate
Gentex the right-of-way for 121 and conveyed that to in good faith on the nature and timing ot any new rate
the State Highway Department,” said Hall. case that would ask the utility's retail and wholesale
A similar procedure will be followed with the dedi- customers to begin paying tor the Comanche Peak
cated IBM tract of land when all the necessary agree- nuclear plant.. • •
ments have been received, Hall said. , The PUC ordered Texas Utilities to negotiate in
Contract letting for the highway is proposed to be in advance with its customers about this rate increase
September request, yet TU has apparently decided to side-step
- “Again, contract letting does not mean the beginning this important requirement, said Steve Collier, direc-
of construction ” said Hall tor of Cap Rocks power supply.
A final plat and site plan for expansion of First Baptist They have proceeded to file their new rate increase
Church, located at Branch Hollow and South Colony, request before even complying with the basic require-
was approved with no discussion. ments of the previous order, he added in a news
A wrecker contract amendment authorizing an in- release. . .
crease in the current towing rate contract with Don The cooperative, Collier said, has been unsuccessful
.Boswell of Kampers Korners was approved. 50 far after rePeated efforts to arrange negotiations
The original contract, which automatically renews
each year, was signed in August 1987. There has been T. 1,4:
no increase in fees since the signing of the original 1 I I I
contract. --------------------------------------------------------
with TU Electric.
Cap Rock is “urging the Texas Public Utility Com-
mission to set aside TU Electric’s request for higher
rates until they negotiate in good faith with its custom-
ers regarding these new rates,” Collier added.
TU Electric spokesman Dick Ramsey said the utility
has met with Cap Rock officials, provided them with
information and tried to negotiate away any differences.
“But there’s no way we could reach a settlement with
them. What they really want is for us to give them some
special consideration, which we can’t. It wouldn’t be fair
to all our other co-op customers,” he said.
In part, Cap Rock’s complaints now are just a “smoke
screen” to cover up the fact that they want special
rights to buy cheaper power when they can get it from
other sources and turn to TU Electric “when they can’t
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make a better deal” elsewhere, Ramsey said.
TU Electric has spent a lot of money to make sure it
has the power and facilities to serve Cap Rock and other
cooperative customers. That investment needs to be
protected, he said.
Cap Rock is now under a contract that requires it to
receive all of its power from TU Electric. However, the
cooperative has plans to build a cogeneration plant,
possibly in conjunction with a meatpacking plant, in an
attempt to provide some of its future power needs.
That plan has put TU Electric and the cooperative at
odds in the past.
Cap Rock serves customers in Andrews, Borden,
Dawson, Ector, Glasscock, Howard, Martin, Midland,
Reagan, Upton, Sterling, Tom Green and Irion coun-
ties.
Pornography FromiA
ordinance.
noted was missing from the Dallas
Applicants will have 30 days to appeal to state district
court over a license denial by the public works director
or an appeals board.
The regulations call for the denial or repeal of
licenses to owners of sexually-oriented businesses who
violate the ordinance, or to those whose spouses
violated the ordinance.
- Crouch said he removed a passage which stated a
person could be denied a license if he/she lived with
someone with a conviction for violating the ordinance.
' “I think we can justify the rules on the spouse,”
Crouch said. “If they have a prior conviction, the main
concern is he can apply under the spouse’s name.”
- Appellate court decisions have upheld that portion of
the Dallas law, Crouch said.
- Added to the proposed ordinance will be prohibitions
of opening a sexually-oriented business within 1,000
feet of a child care facility, and the advance posting of
signage for the business in 30 days before an application
for the license is made.
: License applicants will also have to advertise their
applications through public notice.
an
uncovered crawl space into the attic. An occu-
pant of the home awakened by a noise saw the
ceiling on fire.
“The smoke alarm did not work. It was just
a miracle that the lady woke up,” said Fire
Chief Van Morrison.
The fire department arrived on the scene
just before 5 a.m. and worked until almost 11
a.m. in below freezing temperatures and
winds of 30 mph caused by a cold front, which
moved through the area that morning.
Hall said that once the property owner has
been contacted and “following no response to
the contrary the city will demolish the prop-
erty.”
The clearing of the lot could take place
within the next month.
“We have been in contact with the owners
and attorneys on numerous occasions. They
have either failed to respond or to take any
action,” said Hall.
Hall outlined briefly a few of the avenues
that are available to The Colony in such situa-
tions.
The city is empowered by ordinance “to do
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a nuisance abatement.” It is possible for the
city council to pass a demolition order. The
municipal court of the city can also get in-
volved as a result of code enforcement viola-
tions.
In the future a Building and Standards
Board will also exercise authority in similar
situations. The board, which has not been
formed at this time, will be “quasi-judicial” in
nature. It will handle code enforcement viola-
tions and other matters similar to structural
abatement (unsafe structure removal), said
Hall.
For demolition the city will seek bids from
demolition contractors. The bid will include
demolition, carrying off of debris and cleaning
the lot.
“At that time the costs will be tied into a lien
on the property,” said Hall.
Some may wonder about spending city
money for such a demolition. Those that have
driven by or lived next to it for the last 10
months will understand, said Hall.
“It is one of the things in the ‘hot’ stack here
from the attorneys,” Hall said.
Unopposed race
has little money
Harte-Hanks News Service
of State’s Office showed almost all
the money came from two sources:
AUSTIN — Rep. Ben Campbell $1,000 from Texas Utilities Electric
didn’t draw an opponent for his re- Co.’s political committee and $250
election effort this year, andhiscam- from a law firm listed as the Electo
paign finance efforts reflect that en- Political Action Committee.
viable position. Campbell’s largest expenditures
Campbell, R-Flower Mound, re- for the period went to pay off loans,
ceived only $1,275 in contributions totaling $2,000.
and spent $4,136 for the latest re- Campbell, 43, has represented
porting period, July 1 through Dec. House District 61 since 1985. That
31, 1989. district includes part of Collin and
His report to the Texas Secretary Denton counties.
Only the number has changed
_ . The Colony Leader
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Ball, Jeffrey. The Colony Leader (The Colony, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 9, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 24, 1990, newspaper, January 24, 1990; The Colony, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1666628/m1/4/: accessed July 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The Colony Public Library.