The West Weekly News and Times. (West, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, March 16, 1923 Page: 4 of 8
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■H
The West News
Kstered as second class matter Oc
tabor 8, 1909, at the Postoffice at
West, Texas.
ESTELLE HUDSON
Editor and Owner.
Sofaacription 81.90 a year in advance
Dr. W. H. Beazley, State Health
Officer, announces that a State-wide
Health Week has been called for the
period from April 2nd to April 8th
All organizations are requested to
Assist in this humanitarian work.
The State Board of Health will an-
nounce a detailed program of activi-
ties^ a campaign for the prevention
af typhoid fever, tuberculos, malaria,
dengue, yellow fever and other com-
ansnicable diseases will be waged by
the destroying of breeding places,
which means, no filth, no flies, no
mosquitoes.
“The Fluerette” a little booklet
which has recently reached the edi-
tor’s desk, announces the mission of
being a magazine devoted to happier
living and more cheerful homes. The
origin of the “smile flower” which
the little book gives, is the story of
the “boutonierre” and how Baron
Bouton, a French cavalier who made
the world a better place to live in
because he believed in the beauty of
the flower, the Divinity of Man and
the immortality of the soul. The
suggestion offered is the we take
with us into the work day, the “smile
Hewer.”
Spring tourists are already on their
way, according to local service sta-
tions. West has the distinction of
being on one of the National high-
ways, and has occasion daily to. speed
the parting guests as they motor on-
ward. From Chicago to the Rio
f^rande was the passage pennant car-
ried by a big touring car that pass-
ed through the city a few days ago,
m search of sunshine and flowers.
The vendor of wares a(M the promo-
ter* of schemes and enterprises too
came our way, and we give them all
a portion of our welcome and a bit
of our optimism and substance and
they too go on no worse for having
stopped in West the city by the side
mt the road where the race of men
go by. A letter came recently to the
editor from a tourist whose travel
chart had brought him by way of
West, and he wrote for some informa-
tion o fthe city because he said that
he had been impressed as he went
through. So with the advent of the
spring tourist season let us look well
to our impressions for it is saij that
first impressions are lasting ones.
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE
SCHOOL SITUATION AT WEST
Published for the Benefit of the Taxpayers and Citizens Who Are Interested in the
Growth and Welfare of Our School System
Two years ago, after the school dis-1 pressed the earnest desire that some-
The editor is in receipt of an an-
aaal report from a sugar refining
company. It is encouraging and
pleasant to pause in the daily strug-
gle and grind, to meditate on thei______
sweet things of life. The fact that! the two others named to serve on this
a big sugar company remembers to | committee.
trict had been enlarged, the School
Board ordered an election to vote
$55,000.00 in bonds, on the district,
for the purpose of constructing a new
high school building, and retiring
$10,000.00 school bonds then out-
standing on the district. The elec-
tion carried for the bonds. The ab-
stract was made and sent to, the At-
torney General’s department for his
approval and the department re-
fused to approve the bonds. They told
Prof. Stewart that the proceedings
should have been through the City
Commission and not through the
School Board, and for that reason the
bonds could not be approved.
While these things were being
worked out the School Board had
Birch D. Easterwood, of Waco, with
them and selected him for the archi-
tect, agreeing to pay him 5 per cent
on the cost of the building proper,
for plans and specifications and su-
pervision He brought a tentative plan
before the Board, and was told to go
ahead with Prof. Stewart, and work
out the plans. Before these plans
were formally approved the bonds
had been turned down by the Attor-
ney General.
After the first issue of bonds had
been refused approval, the School
Board got up a petition to the City
Commission for enlargement of the
district. This was done, and they
were petitioned to order an election
for the bond issue of $55,000.00,
which was done. The bonds were
voted on the district. When this bond
record was presented to the Attorney
General it was approved.
During this period of proceedings
through the City Commission, I told
them that we had employed Mr. Eas-
terwood when we were working at the
proposition and I hoped they would
find it agreeable to continue with him
as the architect, which they did.
About the time the bonds were
ready for sale the City Commission,
in a letter to me, asked me as Presi-
dent of the Board, to appoint a com-
mittee, composed of myself and two
others from the Board, to act with
them in an advisory capacity. Dr.
Beringer and Mr. W. P. Cook were
aend the editor of a country weekly
newspaper, a whole book of sugar
news is sufficient to turn the editors
thoughts into channels of sweetness.
Urn report carries several pages do
voted to chronology of publicity and
of events affecting sugar from 1919,
through 1922. The record carries the
thoughts back through the “Hoover-
iming” days, and th6 big newspaper
headlines foretelling sugar shortage,
aoaring prices, sugar investigation,
rationing of sugar,, on through ail
the dire possibilities. Must we be-
lieve that the uncertainty of the su-
gar supply and price, is apart of the
destiny of life. In the average house
hold the sugar supply is the subject
of economy, and the problem of sup-
plying the demand. The conclusion
that must come from the reading of
sugar company reports, is that the
old world cannot get along without
being sweetened. It takes the sweet
to make palatable the bitter. We
thank you “The American Sugar Re-
fining Ccmpsny" for the courtesy of
your annual report. We are trusting
that you will be in position to keep
thing might be done to keep the case
from going to trial. He said that if
the people who brought the suit
would withdraw it the City Commis-
sion would agree to leave the loca-
tion to a vote of the district. A meet-
ing of the members of the Board
down there was called in a room of
the court house, and this proposition
was again made through the Attor-
neys representing the different sides,
and the proposition was turned down
by those present.
The case was appealed from there
to the Court of Appeals, and decision
rendered by them.
Following this I was called to a
meeting of the City Commission and
shown the plans for the building by
Mr. Easterwood, which were dis-
cussed in detail, and I stated to the
City Commission that so far as I was
able to tell that those were the plans
as outlined for the school board when
we first started on the work.
1 want to state also that at a called
meeting of the Board when the papers
for the appeal were being signed up
here, the School Board unanimously
agreed that the School Board would
not get into the fight as a body. The
same opirion was reaffirmed at a meet-
ing held just previous to the meeting
of Feb. 27, 1923, and at this meeting
the School Board knew that Prof.
Stewart had granted the permit to
the City Commission to proceed with
the building.
At the regular meeting Feb. 27th,
after all the other business had been
attended to, the papers getting out the
last injunction were presented, having
already been prepared, without the
knowledge of myself and some of the
other members of the Board. A for-
mal resolution of the Board to get
into the fight was then passed by a
majority vote.
This statement is not given in a
spirit of controversy, but that a fuller
knowledge of the facts may be known
by the people of the district.
Not being in harmony with the
Board in their position on the injunc-
tion, I deemed it to be for the best
interest of the district that I resign,
which I did on Feb. 28, 1923.
Respectfully submitted,
B. W Wood
sented by this appeal is whether the
municipal authorities of the City of
West or the board of school trustees
had the right to select a building site
for the purpose of school building,
and contract for the erection of same.
Article 2874, R. S., reads as fol-
lows:
“Art. 2874. Towns or cities
which have assumed, or may
hereafter assume control and
management of the public free
schools within their limits may
also provide for building sites
and buildings for such public free
schools and institutions of learn-
ing, in the manner, and under the
restrictions and limitations pro-
vided in Article (925) Revised
Statutes, relating to cities and
towns.
The bonds were advertised for sale,
and lots for a place to put the build-
ing were advertised for. The bonds
were sold and the location of the
building was up for decision. The
committee, together with some other
members of the Board, were present
when this was decided. Everybody
who desired it had a chance to ex-
press themselves about this, and the
lot in the north part of town was
finally selected. A motion to leave
the location of the building to a vote
lost for the want of a second to it.
The quesion as to who had the right
to supervise the construction of the
building, and who should have the
handling of the funds kept coming up,
and I wrote to the Superintendent of
Education, and asked her for an opin-
ion on the matter. Her reply fol-
lows:
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Mr. B. W. Wood, West, Texas.
My Dear Mr. Wood:
Replying to your letter of May 23,
No. 6661
L. Poteet et al. Appellants
vs.
J. E. Bridges et al, Appellees
Appeal from the District Court of
McLennan County
Findings of Fact
sweetened, and that the sugar in- from the sale of bonds is within the
dustrv may live long and prosper,' control of the City Commission. I re-
anri that there will be taffy and fer you to Hamilton vs. Bowers, 116,
its enough for all of us. j Southwestern, Page 629.
Very truly yours,
WanUd: Men or women to take
orders for genuine guaranteed hos-
iery for men, women, and children.
KUminates darning. Salary $75 :t
week, full time, $1.50 an hour spare
t Beautiful Spring l.ne. Inter
I wish to state that, according to the
opinion of the Attorney General, the
United States well j expenditure of the funds derived
Annie Webb Blanton,
State Superintendent
After the injunction had been is-
sued, the School Board in a meeting
. ■■jwith the City Commission tried to
Stocking Mills, Norristown, find some pjan to work out a compro-
• mise. The City Commission suggi s-
g&f--' -- ted that if we could get the parties
To drive out worms that are eatingj who owneU the iots> they had bar-
the strength and vitality ofjeajned to buy> to rclea.se them, that
■ child, use White’s Cream Vermi-
It ax pels the worms without
■ to the child. Price 35c. Sold
Drug Store.
we would be where we had started,
and the matter could be settled to the
satisfaction of a majority of the peo-
ple, but others would not, and that
effort fell through.
The day of the trial at Wacc, I
walked with Mr. Baidge* in the car
ridor of the court house, a.id ex-
The City of West is a municipal
corporation containing more than one
thousand and less than five thousand
inhabitants.
It had assumed control of its pub-
lic schools, administering the same
through a board of school trustees
who were elected by the qualified vot-
ers. Therefore it extended its boun-
daries for school purposes only tak-
ing in adjacent territory. It issued
bonds for the purpose of erecting a
high school building. The bonds
were sold and the money placed in
the city treasury. The city authori-
ties contracted for a lot upon which
to erect said building. Thereupon
certain tax payers, who are appel-
lants herein, objected to the site se-
lected for such building, and brought
this suit to enjoin the city authori-
ties from purchasing said lot, and
from erecting said building, alleging |
that the money obtained from the sale:
of said bonds should be turned over to |
the board of trustees of said inde- j
pendent district, for the reason that!
they alone were authorized to select j
the site for such building, and to con- j
tract for the erection thereof.
The board of school trustees inter-
vened as plaintiffs and adopted the j
pleadings of the original plaintiffs. I
The court sustained a general de- j
murrer to plaintiffs petition and they!
It will thus be seen that, as the
City of West had assumed control
and management of the public free
school within its limits, it and not its
school board would have had the se-
lection of the site, and the control'of
the funds for the erection of the pro-
posed building, if it had not thereafter
extended its limits for school purpos-
es beyond its limits as incorporated
for municipal purposes. It was so
held in Hamilton vs. Brown, 146 S.
W. 629. This is conceded by appel-
lants. But they say that inasmuch
as in that case the City of Palestine
had not extended its boundaries for
school purposes beyond its municipal
boundaries that case is not authority
in the instant case.
after become a part and portion,” not
of an independent school district
which includes such city or town, but
of “the independent school district
constituted by such city or town.
Art.925 as amended Oct 10, 1917,
provides that, “In such cities or towns
as have extended their lines or may
hereafter extend their lines for school
purposes only, under the provisions
of Art 2883, Revised Civil Statutes
of Texas, 1911, the boundaries of such
districts shall be coincident with the.
boundaries of the city or town, as ex-
tended for school purposes, and all
such separate and independent dis-
tricts shall be classified as municipal
districts.
The title to school property is vest-
ed in the boards of school trustees as
is also the use and control of school
buildings after they are erected (R.
S. Art. 2872), but they have no au-
thority to raise for such purpose
money by either taxation or the sale
of bonds, R. S. Arts. 2874, 2877, 2878,
2879, 2880, 2887, 2882. In other
words, the municipality provides the
school houses and the funds, in addi-
tion to those provided by the State,
and the board of school trustees run
the schools.
eluded the town of Baird, and under-
took to confer on such uJtrict the
taxing powers permitted to cities and
towns. This the court held the legist
lature had no authority to do.
We hold that the municipal author-
ities of the City of West, and not the
Board of School Trustees of said city,
have the right to select the site for
the proposed building, and to con-
tract for the erection of same; for
which reason the trial court did not
err in sustaining the general demurr-
er to plaintiff’s petition.
The judgement is affirmed.
C. H. JENKINS
Affirmed. Associate Justice
Filed: Jan. 26, 1?23.
A city, by assuming control of the
public schools within its limits, does
not thereby create a public,school dis-
trict, separate from itself, but itself
becomes a public school district. In
becoming such it does not cease to be
a municipal corporation, but adds an
additional corporate function. This
added function, insofar as it relates
to the management and control of the
schools, is exercised by a board of
school trustees, who are officers of
the municipality for that purpose,
but the power to select sites for
school buildings and the erection of
such buildings, is, as appears from
Art. 3874, supra, and the decision in
Brown v. Hamilton, supra, vested in
the municipal authorities.
What effect does the extension of
the boundaries of the municipality
for school purposes only, have upon
such authority?
The case of Snodgrass v. Baird In-
dependent School District, cited by
apellant is not in point. The town
of Baird had not assumed control of
its public schools. It had not extend-
ed its boundaries for public school
purposes. The legislature created an
independent school district which in-
COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
3rd Supreme Judicial District
Austin, Texas
I, R. H. CONNERLY, Clerk of the
Court of Civil Appeals of the Third
Supreme Judicial District of the State
of Texas, hereby certify that the
foregoing six pages contain a true
and correct copy of the Opinion of
said court, filed in said court on the
31st day of January, 1923, in the fol-
lowing numbered and entitled cause,
towit: L. Poteet et al, Appellants,
No. 6661 vs. J. E, Bridges et al Ap-
pellees, on appeal to said court from
McLennan County, Texas.
Witness my hand and seal of said
Court this the 13th day of February,
A. D. 1923.
R. H. CONNERLY, Clerk
(Seal By Virginia Daugherty,
Deputy
Financial Statement Showing the True Condition off
The $55,000.00 Bond Issue
The City Commission of West is in receipt of various inquiries (both
personal and through the mail) pertaining to the funds derived from the sale
of the $55,000.00 worth of City Bonds, that were issued and sold for the pur-
pose of purchasing a site and the erection of a High School Building there-
on. One of these inquiries received through the mail was a newspaper clip-
ping, which was captioned by the tax-payer who sent it in, as follows:
“The Tax-Payers Are Wondering Who Got the Money that Ought to Have
Been Used in the Building of Our Basement"
Now, for the benefit of this Tax- Payer and other citzens who are inter-
ested in the welfare and prosperity of our Public Schools, and also that the
public in general may know the true financial condition of these funds, we
submit the following statement:
Article 2883, Revised
reads in part as follows:
Statutes,
“Art. 2883.....Any city or town
that has taken charge of the pub-
lic free schools within its limits
or that shall hereafter take
charge of the same, may, by or-
dinance, extend its corporation
lines for school purposes only,
etc.”
It will be observed that the Article
last above quoted authorizes a city or
town to "extend its corporation lines”
for school purposes only. When the
lines of a city or town are extended
in the manner provided by law the
territory included in such extension,
for the purpose for which such exten-
sion was made, is thereby included
within such corporate limits, and for
such purpose, becomes a part thereof.
Such town or city stil remains in con-
trol of its public schools “within its
limits,” and such added territory is,
fop* school purposes, within its limits.
Article 2815C Sup. Revised Stat-
utes 1920, reads in part as follows:
RECEIPTS
Nov. 11, 1922. Sold Bonds to the First Municipal Bond & Mort-
gage Company, Dallas, Texas.....................................................$ 263.89
Feb. 5, 1923. Refund from West Estate, Recording fees for deed.... .85
Feb. 28, 1923. Interest on Deposits..............................................;....... 125.00
Total Receipts to March 7, 1923................................................................$55,389.74
DISBURSEMENTS
G. R. Hurlock, lots Nos. 1 and 2
$ 425.00
declined to amend, the suit was dis-j
missed; to which action of the court J
plaintiffs excepted and here now pros-,
ectrte this appeal.
Opinion
It will be seen from the foregoing}
statement of facto that the
“Art. 2815C. Whenever the
limits of any incorporated city
or town within this state, which
city or town constitutes an inde-
pendent school district, shall be
so extended or enlarged, or shall
have been so extended or en-
larged, as to embrace within the
limits of such incorporated city
or town the whole or any part of
any independent or common
school district adjacent to such In-
corporated city or town, that
portion of such adjacent inde-
pendent or common school dis-
trict so embraced within the cor-
porate limits of such incorporat-
ed city or town, shall thereafter
become a part and portion of the
independent school district con-
stituted by such incorporated city
or town.
"snail ibere-
500.00
425.00
26.00
Jan. 5, 1923. Check No. 1.
Block No. 5..................|
Jan 5, 1923. Check No. 2. Biggs & Patten, lots Nos. 12, 13
and 14, Block No. 5.............................................................................. 850.00
Jan. 5, 1923. Check No. 3. J. A. Koemel, lots Nos. 8, 9, 10 and
11, Block No. 5................................................................................... 750.00
Jan. 5, 1923. Check No. 4. C.' R. Tucker, lots Nos. 5, 6 and 7,
Block No. 5................................................................................
Jan. 5, 1923. Check No. 5. West Estate, lots Nos. 3 and 4,
Block No. 5........................................................................
Jan. 6, 1923. Check No. 6. M. Pazdral, Examining Abstract..
Jan, 25, 1923. Check No. 7. Dilworth Abstract Co., Abstract
Work ...........................;..................................................
Jan, 27, 1923. Check No. 8 Birch D. Easterwood, Architect,
Preparing Plans and Specifications for Building (original
plans of Board of Trustees and Superintendent)........................ 1,575.00
Jan. 27, 1923. Check No. 9. C. L. Hendricks, Contractor, first
payment on contract, approved by the Architect, Mr. Birch
D. Easterwood ..........................................................v.................... 1,000.00
March 1, 1923. Check No. 10. C. L. Hendricks, Contractor,
second payment on contract, approved by the Architect,
Mr. Birch D. Easterwood.................................................................... 2,000.00
Total Disbursements to March 7, 1923...................................................$ 7,669.25
Total Receipt* to March 7, 1923...................................$55,389.74 '
Total Disbursements to March 7, 1923........................._.$..7,569.25
Balance Cash on Hand March 7th, 1923 ...................$47,820.49
19.25
TO WHOM CONCERNED: This is to certify that there is now on de- 1
posit in the West State Bank, West, Texas, to the credit of the WEST HIGH
SCHOOL BUILDING FUND, the sum of $47,820.49.
PAUL S. SKRABANEK, President-
West State Bank, West, Tex
Subscribed and sworn to before me on this the 7th day of March, IS
. JOHN DEVENY, fgi
J. M. DEVENY
(SEAL) Notary Public, McLennan County, Texas
Now, from the above statement you will very readily see that none of j
the funds derived from the sale of these bonds have been expended for any]
purpose except as the laws of our State directs as to how funds of this chnr
acter should be disbursed.
• Respectfully submitted
rilE CITY COMMISSION OF W2ST j
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Hudson, Estelle. The West Weekly News and Times. (West, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, March 16, 1923, newspaper, March 16, 1923; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth588087/m1/4/: accessed July 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting West Public Library.