Refugio Timely Remarks (Refugio, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 3, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 10, 1963 Page: 6 of 8
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Page 6—Refugio Timely Remarks, Thurs., Oct. 10, 1963
Technical Talks
By W. R. (Doc) HOUNSELL
It must have been about 40
years ago when we first saw that
well - known road - sign —. “Drive
Carefully You Might Meet A
Fool’’. At every precipitous turn
in that mountain road, this sign
was set, high up on the granite
wall Where the road had been lit-
erally chopped out of the moun-
tain-side. Wle drove a Model T
then of course, and were vacation-
ing at Eurika Springs in north-
west Arkansas, at the time.
The procedure was very simple
in those days and in those primi-
tive places; you either drove very
carefully —• or else —. Since that
time driving has grown much
smoother, simpler, faster, so that
nowadays it is even quite possible
to go to sleep while driving. Thou-
sands of road - signs have pass-
ed into our sight and out again,
since then. Yet none have imprint-
ed themselves on our memory as
that one has — “Drive carefully
you might meet a fool” — how
simlple — how true.
After all these intervening
years, from pioneering the Model
T over all that red mud and loose
gravel, to this sleek, speedy glide
of the modern auto over a broad,
smoothe, concrete slab, we im-
agined ourselves to be well up in
the top echelon of perfection in
car - driving today. That is; we
did until we read an article by
L. H. Houck, who has driven 40,-
000 males a year since 1938, test-
ing all the new models as they
come out.
The biggest gamble, says he,
that we could ever take, we go
ahead and take every day when
we step into our car to go some-
where. If we wish to stay alive
We must drive defensively and be
big enough to quit driving offen-
sively. As gamblers then we
should certainly knoiw about the
“law of averages” and take ad-
vantage of the “percentage”. Yet
how often have we regarded every
other driver on “our” chosen road
as a big so - and - so
The first thing we do then is
to obey the signs and the law;
then we must also give the bene-
fit of the doubt to the other fel-
low. We want to win this game
so we must make better decis-
ions than he makes. This is easy
if he is the usual throttle - happy
mogul who must always be first.
We mentally drop him; into our
bag marked “bad drivers” and
give him plenty of room hoping
he will have a merry accident
and a happy outcome.
Only a small per cent of the
iules of this gambling game are
clear and visible; ninety nine per
cent of them are abstract and we
must ngake them; for ourselves.
We all know our capacities and
our weakensses so our diciplines
are quite personal in nature. For
instance, if “you” stay your pro-
per distance behind the vehicle in
front, you “can’t” create a rear-
end collision; you just can’t.
Yes, but there’s always that car
behind you, and if ihe stays his
right distance behind you, he can’t
ram; your rear end either. Still
you must not let him jockey you
into a position of danger or per-
haps a certain death - trap.
So you personally take charge of
the situation and try to prevent
trouble, if you are really an ex-
pert driver. Through your rear-
view mirror you judge the speed
and distance of the car behind,
and at the same time, you watch
the car in front through the wind-
shield. The two images are right
there together so you can start to
divide the distances and keep them
equallized. If you can successfully
executive this common maneuver
you are getting pretty good and
you have already increased your
chance to live by about one-third
to say nothing about those other
fellows.
Now if that car behind is comb-
ing too fast for you to handle,
just switch on your turn-signal,
pull over onto the shoulder of the
road and let him go. It is then
his funeral, not yours. The speed
of cars coming up from behind
you on the highway is not easy for
a beginer to estimate, but bear
this in mind; this is one thing he
must learn, and learn well.
If you just take a ride around
town while your mind is clear and
alert to everything, it won’t be five
minutes before you will notice one
of those “potential accidents”;
those that might have happened
but didn’t, becacse the driver was
alert and on his toes. It will pro-
bably occur at somie busy street
intersection.
You will wonder somjetintes how
well you have trained your reflex-
es, controlled your temper or shar-
pened your perspective, all prere-
quisites cf the good driver.
Here you are, we’ll say, with
four lanes to watch, waiting un-
der the red light, knowing you are
going to be led into temptation.
If you jump the gun at the light
you may catch the motorist on
your right, just as he finished a
delayed left turn. But, if you
don’t jump the gun,, some idiot
behind you will think you are a
sissy and let you know it by his
horn-solo. In this situation you use
your priviate rule which says —
horns don’t bother me”. But,
whatever you do, don’t get mad
—ever.
Sometimes we Wonder who
wrote the road-signs and why, but
the professional truck - drivers
don’t wonder, they know. They
know that whether the trip is 10
or 10,000 miles it is best to follow
the signs to the letter. You will
get to your destination, they say,
just as fast and you and your ve-
hicle will be in better shape phy-
sically, when you arrive. Yes,
those signs were put there just to
guide “you”.
For those who love to see the j
needle climb to 100 on a beautiful
stretch of pavement on a glorious
day, for them the race-drivers
club has this to say. The worst
fatal collisions occur at high spee(d
when one collision sets off the
chain reaction and pile-up. If your
brakes alone can’t possibly stop
you, “rub off” some of your speed
by hitting the shoulder and scrape
the right side of the car against
a tree, pole or post. This can bd
done safely for the driver, but at
the expense of the car.
Then there are those one-car ac-
idents for which nobody has any
sympathy because you evidently
ran into something that wouldn’t
give. But mechanical failure has
been found to be by far the great-
est cause for one-car accidents.
Drive shafts drop down, mufflers
fall off, wheel - bearings dry up
and fail, tie-rods come loose and
so forth.
Then, O Tempora - O Mores -
Don’t ever drive after dark on a
Friday, Saturday or Sunday, for
then the black cats, the goblins
and the teen-agers take over com-
pletely. Wle won’t be responsible,
for- at such unpredictable times
there is no percentage left for us
gamblers, and certainly no law of
average.
Mr. Houck, who lives in Mis-
souri, gives some accident-records
for his State which check very
closely with national averages. The
largest number of accidents occur
between 3 and 6 p.m. with the
peak at 5 p.m. So if you can pos-
sibly avoid these hours on some
occasions you will reduce the haz-
ard.
The latest record for the USA
shows 1.16 fatalities for every ac-
cident when speeds were over 70
mfph. Between 60 and 70 m.p.h.
the fatalities dropped to 1.02 per
accident, which is still a terrible
(almost unbelievable) death-toll.
Below 60 m'.p.h fatalities taper off
rapidly to much lower figures.
But cheer up; driving is getting
safer every day and it is now
three times as safe as it was 25
years ago, one reason being that
motorists have learned to antici-
pate ,danger, and how to react
when it suddenly hits them. Just
remember that men like L. H.
Houck have driven 1,000,000 miles
under rough testing conditions
without even a scratch on the
paint. So drive very carefully;
“I’m captain of this ship, and fog-1 you might meet a fool.
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Janie's
Column
By JANIE TKOJCAK
The RHS Science Club will be
organized at a meeting to be held
Friday, October 11. Mr. Bill Houn-
sell is sponsor of the club.
Several members of the CYQ at-
tended the Refugio Deanery Con-
vention at Beeville, Sunday, Octo-
ber 6. Ann Emmlert was chosen
president of the deanery during
the election of officers. Since Re-
fugio provided the president of the
association, no other mpmber of
the local club was eligible for of-
fice. Cities .belonging to the dean-
ery besides Refugio are Taft, Bee-
ville, Aransas Pass, Sinton, and
Woodboro. Father Murray accomr
panied the group.
RHS Lettermjan’ club was or-
ganized Friday, October 4, with
Bobby Haley being chosen presi-
dent. Other officers include Tom-
my Allen, vice - president; James
Thurmond, secretary - reporter;
and Marcus Weeks, treasurer.
The Rjefugio County parade be-
ing held Thursday, October 10, will
receive a nice sized participation
from local teenage groups. The
FHA will enter a float as usual
with selected memjbers of the duib
riding on it. Also entering the par-
ade on a self - decorated entry
will be the Rainbow Girls. Re-
presenting the club on the float
will be Sharon Pinson, Susan How-
ard, and Laura Lowrie.
Largest teenage entry of all will
be the “pride of Refugio” — Bob-
cat Band.
Among the many high school
projects entering competition in
the Exhibit Hall of the Fair will
be a showing of shop ietmp under
the direction of shop teacher Mr.
Fred Koertge. Junior division en-
tries in food, clothing and hand-
work, art, ceramics, and crafts
are expected to have a good turn
out.
Six Weeks’ Tests were conclud-
ed today giving RHS students an
opportunity to attend the Fair
without having to worry about tak-
ing tests.
Congratulations to our Football
Sweetheart, senior student Jimjmie
Lou Steele.
This Friday the Bobcats will
play their first district game with
Taft. It will be a home game
Which will give all the Bobcat sup-
porters a chance to come and wit-
ness another Refugio victory.
Iced School Transportation
Exceeds State Requirements
Children attending the Refugio
Public Schools receive an extra
dividend in transportation, if one
compares What is being done lo-
cally to what the state requires
for school bus pupils.
For instance, the state figures
three children per bus seat. This
supposes that three small chil-
dren (ages 6 to 9) can occupy one
school bus seat. As children grow
larger, it is virtually impossible to
seat more than two in a seat, as
these seats are only 39 inches
wide. The ’Refugio school there-
fore, uses two pupils per seat as
standard bus capacity.
State regulations also permit one
standee per seat, whereas the lo-
cal attitude is to have no bus stu-
dent standing, if this is feasible.
Where bus pupils have to stand
up for any appreciable distance, it
is considered overcrowding, and
therefore a threat to the safety of
the passengers.
According to regulations of the
Texas Education Agency, any pu-
pil residing at least two miles
from the school he attends is eli-
gible for bus transportation. Those
who live less than two miles from
[the school are not eligible to he
transported at state expense.
The Refugio schools operate a “ci-
ty” bus run for the convenience of
students who live in town. This
service is provided entirely at lo-
cal school district expense, and is
a result of two factors. One is due
to the fact that there are no side-
walks for pedestrians in the resi-
dential areas of Refugio, and it is
dangerous for children to walk in
the streets, especially along heav-
ily traveled roads providing ac-
cess to the various schools. A sec-
ond important factor in this re-
gard is the fact that many small
children in the primfary grades
must cross the main artery, Ala-
mo Street (Highway 77), to giet
to school.
A traffic officer has been emp-
loyed by the local school baord
for this year. His duty station is
at the operable traffic light at the
comer of Alamo and Depot
streets. This is a busy school
crossing, and this officer is a Wel-
come help to the regular city traf-
fic officers who have done and are
doing a fine job looking to the
safety of our school children.
The Refugio School Board puts
the safety and convenience of
school children in a high priority,
and considers it money well spent
which is used to advance this pro-
gram.
Mrs. Coward Attends —
Girl Scout Organization
Adopts New Name for Unit
Corpus Christi. — Officials of
the Paisano Girl Scout Council Or-
ganization Committee officially
adopted the name “Paisano” at
their business meeting this week
for the purpose of perfecting their
organization prior to the official
application to the National Coun-
cil meeting of the Girl Scouts of
the U. S. A. at Miami Beach in
mid - October, according to James
W. Wray, organization group
chairman and Corpus Christi at-
torney.
The new 23-county Council will
combine four previous councils:
the Golden Crescent, headquarter-
in Victoria; the Whooping Crane,
with their main office in Sinton;
Laredo-Webb County, centered in
Laredo; and Purple Sage, with
seven counties centered around
Corpus Christi. Organization head-
quarters for the new Council will
be at 1222 South Staples in Cor-
pus Christi under the leadership
of Executive Director, Mrs. Helen
W. Cooley.
Following action by the National
Council of Girl Scouts, it is pro-
posed that the new Paisano Girl
Scout Council become official No-
vember 9, at a special meeting to
be held for that purpose. At that
time, the four previous councils
will be dissolved and the entire
23-County organization will begin
functioning.
The Counties to be included in
the new organization arte LaSalle,
McMullen, Karnes, DeWitt, Lava-
ca, Jackson, Calhoun, Victoria,
Goliad, Bee, Refugio, Aransas, San
Patricio, Nueces, Jim Wells, Du-
val, Webb, Zapata, Jim Hogg,
Brooks, Kleberg and Kenedy.
Members of the organization
committee, in addition to Wray,
are: Mrs. R. R. Beal, Jr., Mrs.
P. L. Geistman, Mrs. Myrle Gain-
es, Mr. B. B. Hutsell, Mrs. J. W.
Snedden, Mrs. F. J. Kelley, all of
Corpus Christi; Mrs. Bill Dona-
ghey, Sinton; Mrs. Robert Free-
man, Mrs. W. H. Baker, Mrs. H.
S. Ulan, Mrs. D. W. Colonna, Mrs.
Thank You
The Refugio County Fair Asso-
ciation wants to thank all of the
Merchants, Oil Companies, Utili-
ies Companies and Individuals for
their help in the building of new
pens, an addition to the stock
bam and other projects involv-
ed. Time was short and without
the close co-operation of everyone
the task would have been impos-
sible. Our sincere thanks is ex-
tended to everyone who had a
part in the operation.
It is our hope that each year
we may succeed in adding to and
improving the present facilities un-
til we have grounds and buildings
second to none as compared to
other sn\all Fairs in this vicinity.
W. W. Harkins Jr.
J. J. O’Brien
Andrew Hunger
C. E. Pfeil, DVM
Mrs. Loyd Jones
D. F. Bredthauer
Kary Mathis
Newt Neal
Glen R. Naylor
Dave Quinterro
K. D. HaH v
T. D. Tuttle, Sr.
Mrs. J. J. Neuman
Emma Huddleston
Mrs. Boyd Forehand
Mrs. Jim Wales
Edna M. Hasselfield
J. E. Talman
Cecilia Talman
Fred Jackson
BITS O’ BUSINESS
Retail trade nationally continues
to bulwark the economy in its cur-
rent healthy state; sales for the
four - week span to Sept. 20 were
up two per cent over the sarnie
1962 period . . . The average auto
will gobble up 782 gallons of mo-
tor fuel this year, and total
consumption will be 64.1 billion
gallons, according to a govern-
ment estimate.
Francis Richter, all of Laredo;
William E. Bray, Taft; M!rs.
W. W. Brown, Ganado; Mrs. E. D.
Coward, Refugio; Dr. Henry F.
Hartman, Edna; Mrs. Howard
Keller, Port Lavaca; Mrs. Sally
Gee Pettus, Goliad; Mrs. C. J.
Roy, Rockport; and Norman Tho-
mas, Woodsboro, Texas.
LOUIS GERMER
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Southwestern
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Refugio Timely Remarks (Refugio, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 3, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 10, 1963, newspaper, October 10, 1963; Refugio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth620686/m1/6/?rotate=180: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Dennis M. O’Connor Public Library.