The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 155, No. 81, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 4, 2008 Page: 1 of 13
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2008
50$
Hie Bastrop 3docrtiscr
Texas' Oldest Weekly Newspaper Since March 1, 1853 Semi-Weekly Since Sept. 5, 1977
Volume 155, Number 81
Bastrop, Texas
22 pages in two sections
Inside
Pasture slaying trial begins
By Cyndi Wright
Editor
Did Gary Allen Keller
murder Jimmy Munoz on
Feb. 13,2006, or was he just
protecting himself and his
family against a perceived
deadly threat?
That is the question jurors
will be asked to answer as
the trial pitting the state
Gary Keller
against Keller proceeds. The
trial started Monday with
jury selection.
Keller has never denied
that he shot Munoz to death
in a pasture behind Keller's
house. The question jurors
will have to answer is
whether Keller acted in self
defense.
According to open-
ing statements by Greg
Gilleland of the Bastrop
County District Attorney's
office, Munoz was like a
trusted member of the fam-
ily for many years.
"Jimmy Munoz lived in
the Keller home," Gilleland
stated. "He took care of the
children, the property and
the animals."
Gilleland said that evi-
dence in the trial will
show that Munoz became
concerned about a pos-
sible improper relationship
between the Keller's teen-
aged daughter and an adult
male neighbor - and brought
his concerns to Bonnie
Keller, Gary Keller's wife
and the mother of their two
children, on numerous occa-
sions.
According to Neal
Pfeiffer, Keller's attorney, it
was Munoz' own attraction
to the young girl that con-
See SLAYING, Page 5 A
Aqua board passes Sunrise jag
FY 2009 budget
By Cyndi Wright
Editor
With two no votes, Aqua
Water Supply Corporation's
board passed the 2009 bud-
get at their regular meeting
Monday night. Board mem-
bers Terr}' Flahive and Bill
Tomsu voted against adopt-
ing the budget.
Voting yes were board
members Duke Ducharme,
Cliff Kessler, Earl Steinbach,
Ernest Bracewell, Mike
Morgan and Horace Russell.
Tomsu, who along with
board members Ducharme
and Morgan is on the audit
committee, said he and fel-
low committee members
went over the budget line
by line.
"We are constantly look-
ing at ways to trim excess
and ways we can be more
efficient," he said. 'There
are several places where we
can trim. I was only trying
to make a statement that the
board is concerned. We've
gotten so big that our budget
takes a long time to devel-
op."
One area where the board
made a large change is in
legal fees. Last year, the
board budgeted $433,366 for
legal counsel and the staff
was able to spend that money
without board approval. This
year's budget slashed the
amount the staff can spend
without approval to half that
amount. The other half is
set aside for special legal
counsel, but will need board
approval in order to be used.
According to Tomsu, the
water company has become
a leader in the state of Texas
and along with that status
comes legal fees.
"Over the years we have
become the top non-profit
water corporation in Texas,"
he said. "Our legal budget
has zoomed. We all feel that
the legal fees have gotten out
of hand."
An example of where
that money may be spent
occurred recently when
Aqua was turned down for
four of seven well permits
it requested from Lost Pines
Groundwater Conservation
District. This decision, and
related questions concerning
Blue Water, a water marketer
company, may have to be
answered in court.
One option for Aqua is to
hire in house legal counsel,
instead of retaining an out-
side firm.
"We may be at the point
where we can use in-house
See AQUA, Page 11A
Are BISD workers happy?
By Terry Hagerty
Assistant Editor
Bastrop school district
employees like their jobs —at
least the ones who responded
to an in depth survey con-
ducted in September by the
Texas Association of School
Boards (TASB).
When asked to respond
to the statement, "I like the
work I do," 99 percent of
participants either "strongly
agreed" or "agreed" to the
statement.
Also, 83 percent "would
recommend BISD to a friend
as a good place to work."
However, not all results
were so positive.
Forty percent of teach-
ers and campus administra-
tors think student discipline
issues need more attention
and did not agree with the
statement that teachers who
confront "frequent disciplin-
ary problems in their class-
room are given appropriate
assistance to resolve issues."
66 percent response
rate
Of 1,162 employees who
received the survey, 768
responded, for a response
INSIDE
Calling all Christmas toys 3A
Ellen's column returns 9A
Bastrop places second at tourney 1B
WEATHER
O
■ Thursday's forecast:
Sunny
High: 60°
Low: 34°
Rain: 0%
■ Last week:
High Low Prec.
Friday 55° 34° 10%
Saturday 69° 38° 0%
Sunday 67° 45° 0%
Monday 67° 45° 0%
Tuesday 71° 41° 30%
V\fednesday 68° 42° 0%
65668 78602 3
INDEX
Looking Ahead 2A
Community 3A
Sports 1B
Religion 4B
Classified ads 5B
AUSTIN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS
This newspaper
is recyclable
rate of 66 percent. The dis-
trict released the survey on
Nov. 23.
Auxiliary support and
clerical/paraprofessionals
were the least favorable to
the statement, "I am paid
fairly for the work I do,"
with nearly half of auxil-
iary support (48 percent) dis-
agreeing with statement and
44 percent of clerical/para-
professional personnel also
disagreeing with the state-
ment.
Of the teachers who
responded, 68 percent said
they are "paid fairly."
Bastrop teachers seem to
acknowledge - if only indi-
rectly - that some teach-
er discontent with pay is a
statewide, if not national
issue: 86 percent of Bastrop
teachers agreed their pay "is
competitive with area dis-
tricts."
Staff was asked to respond
to 73 statements concern-
ing job satisfaction, pay and
benefits, working conditions
and support from co-workers
and supervisors.
The statements included
individual departments such
as curriculum/instruction,
See BISD, Page 5A
The Bastrop Advertiser photo^lerry Hagerty
J.J. Munro jogs Tuesday morning among the holiday decorations along the
June Hill Pape Memorial Riverwalk.
Council, branding committee
lock horns over company
By Jacqueline Davis
Staff Writer
The Bastrop Branding
Committee appeared to be
growing restless at the Nov.
25 meeting of the Bastrop
City Council, as the council
delayed a decision to move
forward with branding the
city. Branding is marketing
that creates a specific image
to represent an entity.
Moving forward with the
second phase of Bastrop's
branding project is impera-
tive to the success of the
city's future convention cen-
ter, the committee told the
council.
The committee also
made it clear they want-
ed to keep doing business
with Morehead, Dotts &
Associates (MDA), the com-
pany that designed the city's
logo and drafted plans to
help Bastrop draw in tour-
ism.
But the council isn't so
sure they want to stick with
the company, some indicat-
ing they weren't satisfied
with either the process or
the final product from MDA.
Earlier council discussions of
city branding indicated many
wouldn't mind requesting
proposals from other mar-
keting professionals.
"I didn't see a good
product on Phase 1," said
Mayor Terry Orr. "If they
were building a pipeline, I
wouldn't buy another pipe-
line from them again."
(Phase 1 refers to the por-
tion of the Bastrop branding
project involving the logo
design. Phase 2 involves the
implementation—and fund-
ing—of extensive marketing
plans.)
Committee member Tim
Shuminsky urged the council
not to put too much impor-
tance on the logo, which he
deemed a smaller part of the
big picture, and to stay with
MDA.
Chamber of Commerce
Director and commit-
tee member Susan Wendel
See COUNCIL, Page 11A
Advertiser welcomes McDonald column
The Bastrop Advertiser
welcomes a new column
by Bastrop County Judge
Ronnie McDonald that can
be found in today's issue on
page 5A. McDonald's col-
umn will provide informa-
tion and discuss issues of
county-wide interest.
McDonald is a fifth gen-
eration resident of Bastrop
County. In January 1999
he was sworn in as the first
African-American county
judge of Bastrop, and the
youngest in Texas history.
McDonald started his third
term of office January 2007.
A graduate of Texas A&M
University, McDonald was
actively involved in student
government and was elected
the first African-American
Yell Leader in campus his-
tory.
After graduating from
Texas A&M, McDonald
worked for State Comptroller
John Sharp for five years,
including as executive assis-
tant.
McDonald is married to
Ty Mills McDonald. They
have two daughters, Micaela
and Alexa, and a son,
Micah.
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Wright, Cyndi. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 155, No. 81, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 4, 2008, newspaper, December 4, 2008; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth252535/m1/1/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bastrop Public Library.