The Big Lake Wildcat (Big Lake, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 15, 1985 Page: 1 of 14
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©he Bis
iliiral
(Tax Included)
SIXTIETH YEAR
NUMBER 34
BIG LAKE, TEXAS
(USPS 055-860)
August 15, 1985
Commissioners
Reorganize
department
Reagan County Commission-
ers did away with a county road
department position, amended
the current budget to include the
^library addition, and decided to
take another look at the 1986 fis-
cal year budget.
After going into executive
session to discuss personnel,
the commissioners reconvened
the meeting and made and
passed the motion to do away
with the position of road super-
intendent.
™ The commissioners apparently
plan to assume more responsi-
bility for operations in their in-
dividual precincts on road con-
struction. The county road crew
will be maintained and each pre-
cinct will still have a road fore-
man who will be in charge of
each precinct and will answer di-
rectly to the commissioner in his
^precinct. That major change will
be effective September 30, 1985.
An amendment to the 1985
budget was made to pay for the
addition to Reagan County Li-
brary and for additional office
space at the same location. Com-
missioners budgeted $177,500
for the addition which is the fig-
^jirc that was bid. Work on the
addition is now underway and
footing forms and plumbing lines
have been laid. The amendment
was made so the money for the
project would come from the
1985 budget and not from the
1986 fiscal year budget.
The court set a new policy
concerning the retirement of
county employees. The retire-
^ment age of 65 was set by com-
missioners, with a provision for
review on an individual basis af-
ter that age to a mandatory re-
tirement age of 70.
In other business, commission-
ers decided to continue with their
policy of pay for all insurance
premiums for county employees
(0ind their dependents. Commis-
sioners had changed their minds
several times on this subject and
at one time had employees pay-
ing for their families insurance
themselves, and had proposed
raises to single employees to
avoid discriminating against
them.
The court approved a Phillips
Petroleum application to run a
^gas line under a county road, and
granted Phillips an easement,
subject to Phillips signing a
letter of indemnification holding
the county harmless.
Tickets are
on sale now
Reserve seat tickets for the
1985 Reagan County Owl Foot-
ball season will be on sale start-
ing August 19 at the school ad-,
ministration office.
The season tickets will guaran-
tee the holder a seat in the blue
) section on the home side at all
home football games. The cost of
the tickets will be $15.00 for the
season, per seat. The first home
game will be September 13 at
8:00 p.m. with the Owls against
Crane. Other home games in-
clude Coahoma against Reagan
County on September 27, So-
nora on October 4, Eldorado on
“ October 18, and Wall in Big Lake
on November 8.
\ %
v;;.
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RCHS Coach Ronnie Reeger and Owl Quarterback
Bobby Gunnels are both hoping Gunnels stays
healthy this year. Gunnels is considered among
the areas top passers. In the past two seasons Gun-
nels has suffered freak injuries which have kept
him out of the first few games of the season. "We
hope that won11 happen this year," said Reeger.
60 report for football workouts
Reagan County Coach Ronnie
Reeger says he is extremely
pleased with the turnout of foot-
ball players to the start of spring
training this season. "We start-
ed with about 60 players the first
day but we have had more join
us and a couple of more are ex-
pected to show up," said Coach
Reeger. "There is a good possi-
bility we could end up with 63-65
boys this year. Nothing would
please me more. "
Reeger's Reagan County Owls
will put on full pads tomorrow
(Friday) and will also work out
Saturday morning. "We are
working on a lot of our regular
plays plus a few new wrinkles
and strategies this year. One
thing we will be working on is
defending against the runback on
kickoffs and punts," said Reeger.
Reeger said he remembered the
first play of last season in which
the Owls had a kickoff run back
on them.
The varsity roster currently
carries 31 players with the sub-
varsity team having 30 with more
expected to join. The Jr. Varsity
had a good 6-2 record last year
and the reason Reeger gave was
that there are still some quality
players on that team. "We have
some JV players that can com-
pete with the varsity, but are not
as consistent at all times. One
main thing we do not want to do,
said Coach Reeger, is to take all
our good JV players and have our
JV suffer through a bad year.
That is bad for everybody, and
doesn 't help build a strong var-
sity team. "
The varsity this year has been
picked at the top of District 8-2A.
Members of the 1985 Owl Var-
sity include: Bobby Gunnels,
Scott Lipsey, Kurt Pullig, Rob-
ert Saldibar, James West, Gil
Castillo, Billy Perez, George
DeLa Rosa, Tim Tatum, Junior
Romero, Mike Townsend, Ricky
Armstrong, Kelly Baggett, J. D.
Garland, Charles Edwards, Zeke
Harkelroad, Damon Moore, Sta-
cy Noland, David Collins, Tim
Nichols, Darron Moore, Mitchel
Martin, Tony Smith, David Vil-
lareal, Rodney Grantz, Robert
Chaney, Tony Tennell, Marvin
Davis, Doug Moore, Joel Grin-
er, and David Auippa.
School board approves budget
Reagan County School Trus-
tees held their last meeting be-
fore the start of school this year
and approved the 1985-86 bud-
get, approved the hiring of per-
sonnel, and reviewed a report of
students who were retained last
year.
School trustees approved a
maintenance and operations bud-
get of $4,688,295 at their Mon-
day night meeting, and an in-
terest and debt retirement bud-
get of $167,633 for a total budget
of $4,855,928 for fiscal year 1985-
86. The tax rate of $.5583 was
adopted for maintenance and op-
eration and an interest and sink-
ind fund rate of $.0260 for a total
tax rate of $.5843.
The school board could have
raised the tax rate an additional
6 cents without a public hearing
to make up for revenue lost from
the much publicized HB 72
school reform bill. However, the
actual rate settled upon by the
board reflects a decrease in the
rate compared with last year.
Seventy-five percent of the
maintenance and operations bud-
get of $4,688,295 goes for salar-
ies to school personnel. 9% goes
to purchased and contracted ser-
vices, 7‘/i percent to supplies,
4% to capital outlay, and 4,/i%
to other expenses.
The board accepted the resig-
nations of Mrs. O'Hara, Mr.
Green, and Mrs. Green from the
elementary school and Steve
Moore from the high school.
The board approved the employ-
ment of Labelle Bradford as a
kindergarten teacher; Philda
Morrison as first grade teacher,
Judy Bradford in fourth grade;
Kari Hill as pre-kindergarten and
Amy Mares as fifth grade aide.
Appointments approved in the
high school include Jerri Miller
as science teacher; Katherine
Lloyd in speech; Bobby Dean
Shelton in shop; and Joleta Har-
ris as computer operator at Mid-
dle School and High School.
An applicant for the school
nurse was discussed and a board
committee was appointed to
meet with the applicant for a per-
sonal interview.
The school board reviewed a
report of retainees last year.
Lodges hold joint installations
A joint installation of officers
of Big Lake Lodge #1203 A.F.
& A.M., and Sprayberry Lodge
#1365 A.F. & A.M. was held on
Friday, July 12, 1985, at the Big
Lake Lodge, with L.W. ''Lefty*
Hough presiding as Installing
Officer, and Tommy Reed as
Installing Marshal.
The following officers were
installed: (Big Lake Lodge
#1203 A.F. & A.M.) Billy Boyd,
Worshipful Master; E. S. Mc-
Williams, Secretary; Frank San-
del, Chaplain; Ken Soles, Senior
Deacon; Carl Baker, Jr., Junior
Deacon; Johnny Beavers, Sen-
ior Steward; David Hickman,
Junior Steward; and Gary Gore,
Tiler.
Barry Riggs was installed as
Senior Warden of the Big Lake
Lodge at a subsequent meeting.
(Sprayberry Lodge #1365 A.F.
& A.M.) Dan Barnes, Worshipful
Master; Wayne Redding, Senior
Warden; Darrel Black, Junior
Warden; L. W. Hough, Senior
Steward; and L. E. Armstrong,
Secretary.
Following installation of offi-
cers, a special presentation of a
50 year pin and a lifetime mem-
bership was made to Billy Boyd.
Long time friend, Frank Sandel
made the presentation.
Members and visitors were
served ice cream and cake after
the installation.
Hospital board
may seek doctor
The Reagan Hospital District
Board of Directors approved
their 1985-86 fiscal year budget,
approved nursing school aide for
a student, and approved a paint-
ing bid.
The board of directors took a
big step in their budget approval
when they ok'd a specific line
item of $75,000 for physician
recruitment. Board member
Rusty Owens said, "We have a
survey which is going out in
just a few days. If it does come
in showing the people want more
physicians, then we will have the
money to start recruiting a doc-
tor now instead of waiting anoth-
er 12 months." Board member
Imogene Jackson said, "We need
to be prepared to do what the
taxpayers want and desire us to
do in the matter. " Hospital
board member David Werst said,
"This definite, positive action by
the hospital board is just the first
step, but it was a very important
step. The board will now start
the process of bringing another
doctor to Big Lake so our citizens
can have complete medical cov-
erage right here at Reagan Mem-
orial Hospital. The taxpayers
have an enormous investment
here and the board is committed
to having good medical coverage
and best use of our tax dollars. "
Hospital District Directors ap-
proved budgets for operating the
hospital and care center and
lowered the tax rate to be paid
by taxpayers to $10 per $100 val-
uation the rate last year. The
budget for the care center totals
$704,448.92. The budget for
Reagan Memorial Hospital is
$1,111,476.49. The two com-
bined total $1,815,925.41.
The hospital board gave ap-
proval for financial aid to Kay
Taylor to attend RN school at
Howard College in Big Spring.
The hospital district has a pro-
gram which gives financial aid
to nursing students who obtain
their training and come back to
Reagan Memorial Hospital for
a specified period of time.
A bid by painting contractor
Grady Morris in the amount of
$7,183 was accepted. The board
will not do any work on closing
any window areas, but will
seek energy saving methods for
the large window areas in the
north wing' ’
Registration date set
Kindergarten students who
have not pre-registered should
do so the week of August 26-30
from 9-12 or 1-4 in the Elementa-
ry School office.
All students new to the district
should pre-register at that time.
K-5 at the Elementary office, 501
There were 60 students retained
in elementary last year, five stu-
dents were retained in kinder-
garten, 32 in first grade, 9 in
second grade, 10 in third grade,
2 in fourth and 2 in fifth grade.
At Reagan County Middle
School, 40 students were re-
tained last year. There were 21
retained in sixth grade, 10 in the
seventh, and 9 in the eighth
grade.
Middle School Principal Dan
Schaefer sought and received
board approval for a new time
schedule at the Middle School.
School will start at 8:35, but stu-
dents who are failing any course
will have to come and start class
at 8:00 a.m. for tutorials. After
three weeks, it will be mandatory
for any student failing a course
to attend tutorials.
In other school board business
the board accepted the bid of
Gandy' s Dairy to supply milk to
the school this school year. The
board reviewed the delinquent
tax rolls, and voted to stay with
Blue Cross-Blue Shield as the
school's insurance carrier.
Texas; 6-8 at the Middle School
Office, 500 Pennsylvania; 9-12
at the High School Office, 1111
12th St.
All new students need to bring
immunization records, birth cer-
tificates, and report cards when
enrolling.
Chamber project winners
The Reagan County Care Center month of August. Accepting the
received the Chamber of Com- award are Nancy IJefleste and
merce's Beautification Award Ron Galloway, hospital adminls-
given by Cindy Joyce for the trator.
. .... .
■
autxamm
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Werst, David. The Big Lake Wildcat (Big Lake, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 15, 1985, newspaper, August 15, 1985; Big Lake, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth659161/m1/1/?q=%221964~%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Reagan County Library.