Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), No. 78, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 29, 1979 Page: 1 of 14
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LCRA staff favors new power plant at lake
By DAVIS McAULEY
Lower Colorado River
Authority officials favor
building a new multi-million
dollar, 800-megawatt gener-
ating station at Lake
Bastrop.
They also hope to strike
mine agreements with up to
seven private owners of
lignite coal reserves in the
county to "pool" with
reserves already controlled
by LCRA and the city
utilities of Austin and San
Antonio, it was learned this
week.
The three public utilities
already have an estimated 85
million tons of lignite
reserves in the county under
a court approved settlement
of a suit against Coastal
States- Lovaca Gathering
Company. All three utilities
are also angling for a share
of the estimated 80 million to
100 million tons of strippable
lignite at Camp Swift.
According to R.L. Tints-
man, LCRA's Assistant
General Manager, "one or
two" of the remaining major
lignite lease owners in the
county are already "reason-
ably receptive" to the idea of
some sort of larger-scale
mining scheme.
But San Antonio's City
Public Service Board is still
reluctant to pursue such
plans, he said.
"We need plans for the
amount of lignite production
per year relative to the size
of the generating station"
proposed to burn the soft
brown coal, said Tintsman.
Only then will it become
possible to determine the
type and size of strip-mining
equipment to plan for, he
added.
Tintsman also indicated
that the cooling capacity of
Lake Bastrop will set the
upper size limit just over
800 megawatts of new lig
nite burning generators
LCRA hopes to build there.
LCRA plans call for a
"base loaded lignite plant" to
be built at Lake Bastrop,
with the three gas fired
generators at the S.m
Gideon plant being reserved
for "peak production" of
electricity or being conver
ted to burn other fuels.
Tintsman conceded, how
ever, that the "key" to the
complex mining electric
generation future of the
county is still the Camp
Swift deposits of relatively
low sulpher lignite.
NEGOTIATIONS
Meanwhile, negotiations
among Austin, San Antonio
and LCRA utility officials
over how to divide up Camp
Swift's lignite is "not at a
standstill," as one official put
it.
All officials agree, how
ever, that the talks are going
"slowly," and none of them
would claim more than
"some progress" since 10th
District Congressman J.J.
"Jake" Pickle of Austin last
summer called on the three
utilities to come to an
agreement and avoid bidding
against each other for rights
to strip the federally owned
lignite at Camp Swift.
Don Schnitz, assistant to
the Director of Planning and
Management for San
Antonio's City Public Ser
vice Board, pointed to two
"basic problems" negotiators
Continued on Page 2
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THURSDAY
EDITION
TEXAS' □ LDEST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Since March 1,1853
Thursday, November 29, 1979
Number 78
PHILLIPS
Oval Gulf sign, more than five feet in diameter, helps decorate Alum Creek flea market,
one of many ex-service station signs now being avidly collected. Staff Photo by Jack
Fraser.
Signs of the times
by Jack Fraser.
Once ridiculed, the
common service station
sign -symbol of gasoline alley
and America's standard of
living now in peril-has
become a collector's item.
Joe Patterson's Alum
Creek flea market and
collection of antique stores is
laced with Gulf, Texaco,
'magnolia and Phillips signs,
oil cans, globe gas pumps
and other relics of the 1920s
to 1970s when cheap gasoline
put America on wheels as
much as did Henry Ford.
Why the spurt of interest?
"These signs are getting
scarce" and anything scarce
is usually held in high
\
regard, noted Patterson.
"And they're bound to go up
in price."
But there's more to it than
that.
We recall those carefree
days when all we had to
worry about was war or
depression, not a bunch of
religious fanatics and ex-
camel drivers shutting off
our oil.
Every Sunday afternoon
our father would propel us
into our brown Nash, the
kind whose back seat made
into a bed, and off we would
go down Middlefield Road or
over the hills for a hearty
dinner. Dad's cigar mingled
with Mom's perfume and we
knew all was well with the
world. We never ran out of
gas and since it cost around
25 cents a gallon we never
worried about how far to
drive. Frequent visits to the
service station were part of
our life. After all, the
refiners urged everyone to
drive more, to see America
First and the number of
miles you could last out on
your summer vacation was
topic number one around
Sept. 1 each year.
Children learned to read
from those signs and
sometimes to count from the
gas pump," said Patterson.
"Basically they are wall
decorations," says Patterson
and persons of all ages seem
to be intrigued.
"Restaurants are also big
purchasers."
MOVIES ARE FANS
Movie production units
are avid users, too, he
said.The shooting crew of
"Roadie" now filming around
Austin and expected to show
up in Bastrop before the
close of the year "has some
of my signs now," rented,
said Patterson.
The porcelain signs are
more valuable than tin and
Continued on Page 3
District Judge John L.
Placke Monday took under
advisement a motion by
defense attorney Frank
Midoney to dismiss a capital
murder indictment against
Edward S. Mollomon in the
"Roadside Rest" shooting of
biker Robert Carter June 24.
District Attorney Neal
Pfeiffer told the judge that
Hoilomon'tt «a»e will be
pre»ent»*d to the Grand Jury
again on Thursday and thai
hi- might In re indmeo on a
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prosecution at a bail bond
hearing Aug. 31, indicated
that Carter was shot in an
argument over gasoline at a
roadside park on Highway
290 east of Elgin.
Carter was not killed
"during a kidnapping" as
charged in the capital
murder indictment, said
Maloney.
Placke took the motion
under advisement, pending
the grand jury meeting
Burglary charged
lfu»l rop Police charged a
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hih#11 'M Ailell
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gave lua addreaa a» Circle D
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I'owell.
Ju*> ol I tin l'» me I >*ly
1*1*1' #•>» I»'!w4 U» Pell Mi *1
Thursday and the delivery,
promised by Maloney, of a
deposition from ^Ranger
Smith.
Both prosecution and
defense lawyers said they
were ready to go to trial
immediately, and Plarkr wt
a "tentative trial date" for
DM-. 3
But it aeenied unlikely the
case would go before a jury
I lien, aliice Plai'ke wdicaled
he already lia* another trial
•flteduled tin iltai
Maloney eatimaud that
jury wlMiion til » taptlal
mi«m!u < «#* tovH i#y» at
U«*i § »m>I> M
BISD eyes $1.1 million
school bond election
A $1.1 million bond issue
to take care of "immediate"
classroom, library and other
school building and repairs
seemed headed for Bastrop
Independent School District
residents this spring, as
school trustees got cost
estimates from an archictect
at their regular meeting
Monday.
School Board Vice Presi-
dent Verlin Callahan also
called for early consideration
of plans to add a fourth
school campus to the system
to accomodate future
growth.
"We need a planning
session promptly" to discuss
a new campus, he said.
But Monday's meeting
was concerned with more
immediate needs. "What
we're considering now is
how to get (Primary School
Principal) Mrs. (Bonrry)
Potts out of thosp tin
buildings" now being used as
classrooms, said Callahan.
PRIMARY COSTS
Architect Joe Stoeltje
presented plans for adding
classrooms to the present
primary school and roofing
in the open space between
the building's two wings.
Cost of the project "at
today's prices" would be
about $522,000, said Stoeltje.
Also on trustees' list of
needed immediate improve-
ments are repairs to the
white stucco building at the
elementary school campus
and a library at the
elementary school.
Stoeltje estimated "rough-
ly" $140,000 worth of
refurbishing to the stucco
building and pegged cost of
the elementary library at
$50,000.
Gym repairs at the
elementary campus, Stoeltje
also estimated at $72,000,
and school board president
Hubert L. Linenberger toted
up another $70,000 for a new
CVAE shop building at th<-
high school campus.
INFLATION FIGURE
Stoeltje, warned trus-
tees to include in their
calculations an "inflation
figure" of at least .9 per cent
per month for the time
between now and the time
construction is half complet-
ed.
BISD Tax Assessor-
Collector Lonnie Wilhelm
said the board should allow
three to four months to get a
bond issue before the
district's voters.
If bonds are approved, it
would take another four
months to prepare specifica-
tions for the building
projects to be submitted to
prospective bidders, accord-
ing to Stoeltje.
Stoeltje also estimated
architectual and engineering
fees at 7.5 per cent of the
final bid price of the work.
TEN MONTHS
The largest project, the
proposed primary school
additions, would take at
least 10 months construction
time, the architect estimate-
ed.
Trustee Secretary Clyde
Clardy complained that
many of the present school
building problems are the
result of "inadequate main-
tenance" and that trustees
have not always been told of
maintenance needs by ad-
ministrators.
MARIJUANA
In separate action Mon-
day, trustees votged 3 - 2 to
suspend three high school
students "for the remainder
of the term" for violation of
the school's prohibition of
marijuana at school.
"There was nothing vin-
dictive" about the board's
decision, Linenberger told
the students and their
parents after the vote, but
"marijuana has gone far
enough" at the school.
SV rail yard
to start work
Construction crews are
expected to begin "site
work" this week in Smith-
ville for the Lower Colorado
River Authority's $2 million
train car maintenance and
repair shop.
Elof Soderberg, LCRA's
chief engineer, denied this
week that there has been
any delay in starting
construction or getting deliv-
ery of heavy shop equip-
ment.
Originally projected to
begin operation close to the
first of the year, Soderberg
said Tuesday the 24,000-
square-foot repair shop may
not be operational before
late spring.
Laying the necessary
track near the shop for
storage of up to 40 coal cars
for routine maintenance and
repair could also slow down
completion of the job, he
indicated.
The city of Austin and
LCRA own about 1100
railroad cars used to haul
Montana coal to fire electric
generators at the giant
Fayette Power Project near
La Grange.
The Federal Railroad
Administration requires that
rail cars be inspected at least
once a year, and LCRA
officials say that having
repairs done on LCRA's coal
cars by rail carriers such as
Burlington and MKT is too
expensive.
The Smithville repair shop
is designed to handle about
100 coal cars a month and
will employ an estimated 20
to 25 workers.
Murder suspect asks dismissal
Pari of park under study
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McAuley, Davis. Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), No. 78, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 29, 1979, newspaper, November 29, 1979; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth602017/m1/1/: accessed July 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bastrop Public Library.