The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 154, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 3, 2007 Page: 1 of 13
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THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2007
500
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Texas' Oldest Weekly Newspaper Since March 1, 1853 Semi-Weekly Since Sept. 5, 1977
Volume 154, Number 19
Bastrop, Texas
28 pages in three sections plus inserts
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Annual event sends
town back in time
By Terry Hagerty
Staff writer
Where else can you wrap two snakes around your
neck at once, eat free watermelon, hear a Scottish bag-
piper, eyeball a pretty "saloon gal" and get shot at by
scan outlaws?
Did we say Houston? Nope, it's Bastrop's annual
Yesterfest.
And last weekend's turnout under warm sunny skies
had festival organizers wearing wide grins of apprecia-
tion on Monday.
"We had huge participation in the event, we sold out
all the vendor spaces," said Susan Wendel, Chamber of
Commerce president. "And the restaurants told us they
had a very good day, too."
While shoppers lined up at the nearly 200 vendor
locations on Main, Pine and Spring streets, the kids were
having a blast.
At the Capital of Texas Zoo exhibit by the courthouse,
youth stared in awe as a Colombian python and a boa
constrictor wrapped themselves around the neck and
chest of Karl Smith.
"Ewww," one child called out.
Cody Parnell, 3, from Bastrop braved holding one of
the snakes and didn't flinch a bit as it began to slither
around his shoulder.
A few yards away another group of kids was having
a blast at the sack race sponsored by Good Shepherd
Lutheran Church. Other children rode ponies and downed
cotton candy.
This was the 19th annual Yesterfest and the second
year to bring the festival from Fisherman's Park to the
downtown area, centered on Main Street.
Nearly 200 vendors and approximately 8,000 attendees
enjoyed the all-day festival, according to sponsors of
the event — the Downtown Business Alliance and the
Bastrop Opera House.
(Yesterfest this year as a tribute to the original cultures
The Bastrop Advertiser photosAerry Hagerty
Downtown Bastrop was transformed into a world
of Bastrop's pioneers Saturday during the annual
Yesterfest event. Eliya Phillips, top photo front
left, dances with Tori Beihtreu, 6. The girls, from
Cedar Creek, were outfitted in 19th-century pio-
neer dresses. Jim Price, was one of several "gun-
slingers" who roamed Main Street.
which spread across Bastrop County: Mexican, Native
American, Scottish, German and African-American.)
The live music, organized by Flo Clendendon-Pearson
See YESTERFEST, Page 2A
ar y voting
begins with a
bang in B
By Davis McAuley
Editor
Early voting started briskly
Monday in Bastrop County when
the polling places opened for city,
school, county and other special
issue elections. By early afternoon
Tuesday almost 1,000 ballots had
been cast, the vast majority in the
Bastrop school district.
The district does not have a con-
tested trustee election this year, but
voters are being asked to weigh in
on a proposed $98 million bond issue
which would build a second high
school, a new athletic stadium and a
performing arts center, which would
be the first for the growing school
district.
Of the 982 early ballots cast in all
local elections, 756 came from poll-
ing sites which include the bond elec-
tion. One of those sites also includes
votes m the city's lone contested city
council race. The early vote tallies do
not track the city and bond issue ref-
erendums separately, said Elections
Supervisor Nora Cano.
The second high school, proposed
for a site on Texas 71 at Pope Bend
Road, carries an estimated cost of
$65.8 million. The proposed stadium
is estimated to cost $17 million. The
performing arts center, including a
1500-seat auditorium, carries a price
tag just shy of $15 million.
The performing arts center, slated
for the comer of Cedar and Chambers
in Bastrop across from Bastrop High
School, is designed for use by stu-
dents in drama, music, visual arts and
related fields all across the district,
according to school officials. Similar
proposals have repeatedly failed in
recent years, sometimes narrowly.
In hopes of winning approval this
year, supporters of the arts center
have arranged some special events,
including today's Band Bash at
Bastrop High School beginning at
5 p.m. The event features barbecue,
school bands and celebrity entertain-
ers. The event is also a fundraiser for
school music programs.
And unlike in some earlier years,
some local business leaders are throw-
ing their weight behind winning pas-
sage of the entire bond package.
Friends of Bastrop ISD PAC, led by
insurance agent Ashley Mutschink, is
distributing pro-bond literature with
privately raised funds.
The group is arguing that improv-
ing and maintaining strong schools
See VOTING, Page 2A
County gets grant
or flood planning
By Davis McAuley
Editor
A grant announcement this week
means Bastrop County can begin
work on an ambitious eight-year plan
to diminish the likelihood of future
flooding and help insure safer devel-
opment in rapidly growing areas,
according to local officials.
State Sen. Glenn Hegar announced
the award of a $68,250 grant from the
Texas Water Development Board for
planning and flood protection.
The grant will help pay for spe-
cial aerial data collection to create
new county maps which show two-
foot contours, said Bastrop County
Engineer Joe Ternus. Collecting such
detailed data means it can later be
shared with landowners and those
hoping to develop commercial and
residential projects, said Temus. The
data will also be critical to flood zone
studies of some major tributaries of
the Colorado River to help planners
better understand where and how it is
safe to build. The first tributary stud-
ies will focus on developing areas
along Cedar Creek, Walnut Creek,
Willow Creek, Gazley Creek near
Smithville, Piney Creek near Bastrop
and Wilbarger Creek near Elgin,
Ternus said.
Later stages of the flood protection
study will involve support from the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and
Lower Colorado River Authority.
Because of its flood control
responsibilities on the Colorado
River, LCRA has a special interest in
See GRANT, Page 3A
inside
■ Elgin softball wins bi-district game
against Montgomery, 5-0.
See Page 1B
weather! index
Thursday's forecast:
Overcast,
t-storms likely. |
High: 83°
Low: 68°
Rain: 40%
Last week:
High Low Prec.
Saturday 85 63 none
Sunday 85 70 none
Monday 73 64 0.15"
Tuesday 83 67 none
■ Provided by the KXAN School
Weather Network.
Business
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Classified ads....
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Community
9A
Education
5A
Farm & Garden..
<
o
Obituaries
9A
Religion
11A
Sports.......
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till!
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amp Swift increases training, upgrades facility
By Terry Hagerty
Staff writer
Camp Swift is getting a bit of a makeover.
A makeover as in upping its classroom troop
capacity and refocusing its outdoor training
programs.
A ribbon cutting ceremony held April 21
at Camp Swift marked a shifting of training
for the National Guard's 136th Combat Anns
Training Regiment.
Col. Patrick Hamilton, commander of the
136th, said revamping the base comes after a
push from Major General Wayne Marty, the
former adjutant general of the Texas National
Guard, to get Texas units away from the "heavy
equipment" of U.S. tank divisions in Europe
which faced off against Soviet Union divi-
sions.
While tanks are still in the mix for U.S.
armed forces — witness the two invasions
of Iraq — the push of both regular Army and
reserve/National Guard units is toward more
mobile, streamlined units, Hamilton said.
"Major Gen. Marty wanted to get rid of
See CAMP SWIFT, Page 2A
W
The Bastrop Advertiser photoAerry Hagerty
Grant Lang, 11, of Bastrop got to wear an armored protective vest and "web
gear" during a public open house at Camp Swift April 21 to mark training
expansion at the base. Sgt. Jim Carpenter assists him with the gear.
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McAuley, Davis. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 154, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 3, 2007, newspaper, May 3, 2007; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth252368/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bastrop Public Library.