The Cuero Record (Cuero, Tex.), Vol. 97, No. 33, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 18, 1993 Page: 1 of 32
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WE
Back
to
School
Today
(See Below)
Cuero prison
taking shape
Gobblers
scrimmage Friday
SUR19
C
(See Below)
(See Page 8)
Home of
Finley Barth
THE CUERO
EC O1
VOL. 97 - NO. 33
CUERO, TEXAS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18,1993
Established 1894 - Pulitzer Prize 1955
USPS781 -120
Fourteen Pages - Plus Inserts - 35 Cents
DeWitt Briefs
To improve dropout rate
Letter warns Cuero ISD
Tax rebate says business healthy
The latest figures from State Comptroller John Sharp indicates busi-
ness is healthy locally. Reflecting the first six months of sales, Cuero’s
one percent sales tax rebate year-to-date totals $240,798 which is
8.75% better than the previous year.
For area cities, the numbers look like this: Yorktown, 4.68%; Gon-
zales, .27%; Goliad, 2.56%; Edna, -0.83%; Kenedy, 13.72%; Yoakum,
5.89%; and Victoria, 5.92%.
DPS license office vacationing
The Texas Department of Public Safety driver’s license office serv-
ing this county will be closed starting Thursday, Aug. 19, for vacations.
Nancy O’Neal of that office reports it will re-open on Friday, August
27. €
CISD public meeting Aug. 31
The Guero Independent School District will hold a public meeting on
Tuesday, August 31, at 7 p.m. to discuss and adopt a budget for the
1998-94 school year.
The meeting will be held in the board room at the administration
By CONNIE YOUNG
Record Staff Writer
Cuero Independent School Dis-
trict is one of 447 school districts
that recently received "letters of
concern" from the Texas Education
Agency regarding the high dropout
rate in high school and low test
scores in fourth grade reading of
certain student population groups
(whites, blacks, Hispanics and
economic disadvantaged students).
Superintendent Dr. Dwight
Winkler said improvement in both
areas must be accomplished by
next spring or the school district
may have its accreditation lowered
from a fully accredited to
accredited-warned.
Winkler told the school board
last week that the dropout rate for
the district for 1992-93 is 7.1 per-
cent and that needs to be lowered
to less than 6 percent.
He said the district is penalized
since expulsions from school are
recorded as dropouts. Winkler said
it was a difficult situation because
if an unruly student stays in class
• the other students have problems
learning due to the disruptions and
if the student is expelled it counts
against the school.
He said one alternative to expell-
ing unruly students would be to
keep them in an isolated area away
from other students. Winkler also
added that follow-up is needed on
students dropping out because if
they enroll in another school dis-
trict then they are no longer con-
sidered a dropout and it would not
count against the district.
Hunt Elementary’s test results
for fourth grade reading for
Hispanics were below par and must
increase to more than 20 percent.
This same group of students scored
only 10 percent mastery in reading
on the Texas Assessment of
Academic Skills test for 1991-92.
"We have some work to do," said
Winkler, "and we will raise scores
and lower dropout."
e
A public meeting on Tuesday,
September 7, will address the two
letters, presentation of academic
excellence indicators; financial
report and the district improvement
plan to improve dropout rate and
TAAS scores.
building at 405 Park Heights Drive.
a”
Lions request donations
The Cuero Lions Club is still taking donations for the Mississippi
River flood victims. Items needed include kitchen articles, toilet items,
cleaning agents, non-perishible food, sponges, scrub brushes, garbage
bags and money.
Items are needed by Sunday, August 22 and may be given to Rev.
Richard Young at the First United Methodist Church, Gerald Zengerle
at Reuss Pharmacy and Glen Portis at 608 Clinton.
1983 class plans reunion
The Cuero High School class of 1983 is planning a reunion for Oc-
tober. Class members are requested to contact Belinda Ybarra at 275-
6811 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Linda Kortz at 275-8007 after 5 p.m.
Volunteers are needed for the planning committee. Members are re-
quested to respond by Wednesday, September 1.
Judge
revokes
probation
: After pleading true to charges
that he violated the conditions of
his probation. District Judge
Whayland Kilgore sentenced Adam
Ray Garcia, 27, of Cuero to seven
years in prison.
5 The hearing was held Thursday.
Garcia was serving a probated sen-
tence after being found guilty of
burglary of a motor vehicle in
1985. He was sentenced to 10 years
probation for that charge.
: Also last week, three indictments
were released by the DeWitt Coun-
ty grand jury. All three named Dar-
rell Keith Crittenden, 23, of Cuero.
: Crittenden was indicted for an
incident which occurred on June 15
When he was accused of knocking
down a police informant during a
drug transaction after realizing the
person was an informant.
: The indictment also states he is
accused of stealing drugs and
money from the informant. It noted
the drugs were a simulated control-
led substance purported to be
cocaine.
Expecting 1900
By tax office official
County budget crunch criticized
By GLENN REA
Record Editor
Without additional help, DeWitt
County Tax Assessor Collector
Margaret Mueller says she may
have to close the tax office for
lunch each day.
Mrs. Mueller met with county
commissioners late last week dur-
ing budget work sessions to discuss
the manpower in her office. She ex-
plained that Cuero School District
had been paying the salary of one
her office’s employees but that
employee is now retiring. Because
of a previous agreement, the school
district will not fund a replacement
employee.
She also said that additional
responsibilities from the State has
forced her to move one employee
from the tax office to the motor
vehicle registration office.
The court had suggested Mrs.
Mueller hire a part-time person in-
stead of a full-time person. "The
court is trying to keep costs down,"
said Commissioner Odell White,
"and that is no reflection on any
county office.”
"I know that,” said Mrs. Mueller,
"and I’ve never asked the court for
anything I didn’t really need."
She said without the full-time
employee, she would have to close
the offices during lunch. She noted,
however, "I’m not going to take the
heat from the taxpayers on this. I
will tell them it’s because of the
employee cutback."
The court took no action on the
request stating it would be con-
sidered in their next budget work
session on August 23.
The court also named Austin law
firm Calame, Linebarger, Graham
and Pena to collect delinquent
taxes. A spokesman for the law
firm said their plans arc to file
delinquent tax lawsuits later this
year in an attempt to collect about
$150,000 in past due taxes. The
company expects to file about 1(X)
lawsuits.
Also the court agreed to sell
three pieces of property that have
been offered at a tax sale. Two of
the tracts were in Cuero and the
other was in Nordheim. The total
bid for die tracts was $800.
In other discussions the court
learned that the county health in-
surance premiums are expected to
increase 17% for the coming year.
It was noted that claims on the
health program had amounted to
about $250,000 in the last year.
2!S:*:36= * "- T, $ * 25___
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Taking shape
Construction at the Clarence Stevenson Unit in Cuero is starting to take
shape as construction is underway on several of the buildings. To the right
are the first set of prison cells modules which are being constructed in San
Antonio and put in place here. The frame work to the left is a building that
r *
will house classrooms and a shop for the prisoners. Next to that in the
middle Is the kitchen, medical and laundry building. Three more prisoner
housing units will be built along with an administration building and a gym.
(Record Photo)
Open House Tuesday
Chamber to show-off new offices
Directors and staff of the Cuero
Chamber of Commerce and
Agriculture will be changing
ceremonial roles Tuesday, August
24, when they host an open house
School doors open
: Cuero Independent School Dis-
trict Superintendent Dr. Dwight
Winkler said projected enrollment
for the district for the first day of
school, today, is 1900, up 40 stu-
dents from last year.
3 Breakdown at the schools in-
clude J.C. French, about 290; Hunt
Elementary, about 570; Cuero
Junior High School, about 470; and
Cuero High School, about 590.
Final tally will be recorded after
Labor Day.
'• Students at John C. French
Elementary School will report to
the front of the building at 8 a.m.
and teachers will assemble their
classes.
S
Second grade students at Hunt
Elementary School will meet in the
cafeteria at 8 a.m. with third
graders meeting on the playground
and fourth and fifth graders will
meet at the front of the school.
Residents arc encouraged to
drive carefully in school zones and
watch for students.
to show off their new office loca-
tion in the old Federal Building.
For this ceremony, officers and
directors will cut the ribbon instead
of holding it when they welcome
others to the business community.
Open house will be from 5 until
7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The ribbon cut-
ting ceremony will be at 5:30 p.m.
Special guests will be Mayor John
Post and the members of the Cuero
City Council. Directors Rhonda
Pakebusch, Carla O’Brien, Charles
Wilson and Heinie Bade are serv-
ing on the open house committee.
The Chamber occupies a three
room suite in the building. The
remaining rooms will eventually be
the Cuero City Museum. A
museum committee with Ms. Sher-
ry Wichman as chairman has been
appointed by the council and is al-
ready making plans for the museum
opening. A tentative plan is to be
open for the weekend of office was built in 1969. The last
Turkeyfest, Oct. 9-11, with a dis- office moved in 1987. Several con-
play of Turkey Trot memorabilia. tacts were made by the city to the
Built in 1915 at a cost of General Services Administration to
$62,000, the building was the home acquire the building, but it was not
of the Cuero Post Office and other until 1989 that serious con.sidera-
federal offices until the new post tion began. By then, a survey had
been made of the historic buildings
and districts in Cuero and the
Federal Building was naturally
listed not only on the Texas His-
torical survey but in the National
inventory of Cuero’s commercial
(See CHAMBER, Page 2)
In separate incidents
Traffic stops yield arrests
Three people have been arrested
in Cuero in recent days following
traffic stops by police officers.
On Wednesday officers were in-
vestigating a disturbance in the 500
block of South Indianola at about 9
a.m. A vehicle drove by that
matched a description involved in
the disturbance and the officers
stopped the vehicle in the 100
block of Railroad Street
During the investigation, the of-
ficers spotted a .380 semi-
automatic handgun in the vehicle.
Arrested was Benny Harper, Jr., of
Yoakum, 19. He was charged with
unlawfully carrying a weapon.
On Wednesday officers saw a
vehicle that matched the descrip-
tion of reported stolen vehicle from
Morgan. %
Leroy Rosales of Yoakum was
driving the vehicle and was ar-,
rested for unauthorized use of a
motor vehicle. A passenger in the
truck was a 13-year-old juvenile
who was also arrested and turned-
over to juvenile authorities.
Rosales was placed in DeWitt
Yoakum. The officers stopped the County Jail and his bond was set at
Ford pickup in the 600 block of W. $5,000.
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The Cuero Record (Cuero, Tex.), Vol. 97, No. 33, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 18, 1993, newspaper, August 18, 1993; Cuero, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1703534/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Cuero Public Library.