The Pharr Press (Pharr, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 43, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 23, 1969 Page: 1 of 8
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Pharr Memorial Library
130 E. Caffery
Pharr, Texas
t
The Weather
Partly cloudy and unsettled
with chance for showers. Moder-
ate winds. Night temperatures in
the 60’s, days in the high 80’s.
PHARR PRESS
VOL. XXXVI — NO. 43 PHARR, (HIDALGO COUNTYI, TEXAS, 78577. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1969 5c PER COPY—$2.50 PER YEAR
* ----------s
DON'T BE A
LITTERBUG!
Don’t throw trash on the streets
or on the sidewalks.
it-----------
Highway 281 Bid
Opening Nov. 14
Bids on a major improvement way to the Expressway from the
for U. S. Highway 281 between
Pharr and the curve at Hidalgo
will be opened on November 14th,
the Texas Highway Dept, announ-
ced this week.
The improvement ' includes a
major change on North Cage
from the U. S. 83 Expressway to
the old Highway Dept, headquart-
ers, and from Sam Houston
Blvd. south to the Intersection
with State Highway 336 at Hi-
dalgo.
The improvement totals 9.6
miles and consists of widening
and reconstructing the grading,
drainage, structures, flexible bas-
ing and asphaltic concrete pav-
ing.
. Estimated cost of the entire
project is $750,000.
The City of Pharr will pay
for some of the costs of the im-
provement on North Cage. This
phase of the contract will in-
clude new curb and gutter all the
old Highway Dept, office, remov-
al of the present median in the
middle and a new 16-foot un-
raised median with ceramic traf-
fic buttons. Drainage will be in-
cluded with some of the highway
drainage tying into the city lines.
J. S. Wagener will be in charge
for the state and construction
will take a year on that part
from Sam Houston to Hidalgo.
'REGULAR TIME'
RETURNS OCT. 26
Daylight saving time will end
next Sunday, October 26th, with
the entire nation back on regular
time.
Time pieces should be set back
one hour either Saturday night
before retiring or Sunday morn-
ing. There will be one extra hour
to sleep.
The hour lost last April will be
gained back.
Homecoming For P-S J-A
Exes Will Be Oct. 31
Co. Adopts Budget Of $4.6 M.
For Next Year, Sets Tax Levy
SPEAKING OF INFLATION
PSJA-McAilen Game Is sSmlt
Headliner This Week
The PSJA Bears have sampled, when PSJA won 22-8 was there
all kinds of bills of fare this sea- i sizeable spread in the score,
son, some easy but most of them 1 Another of those close ones is
The Hidalgo County Commiss-
ioner’s Court adopted a budget
of $4.6 million for the operation
of the county for the next year,
beginning Jan. 1st, and set a tax
rata to support the budget at a
public hearing last week at the
Courthouse.
The county wide tax rate, paid
by every taxpayer totals $1.25 on
the $100 valuation, with an ad-
ditional state ad valorem tax
levy of 42 cents and a 5 cent tax
for the Rio Grande Independent
Rehabilitation District, which
makes a total tax rate of $1.72.
In addition, there are various
road districts throughout the
county, and a drainage district
FTiday, October 31st, has been
set as “homecoming day” for all
PSJA ex-students.
The feature event of the day,
as always, will be the football
game and this year, it will be a-
gainst the 4-A contenders, the
Brownsville Eagles.
All graduates" and ex-students
of PSJA High School are invited
to participate in the various
events of the day. The gradua-
W. N. Parkhill Rites
Held October 20
Wiley Nelson Parkhill, 105
East Sam Houston, passed away
at 11:20 a.m. at his residence
Friday, October 17th. He had not
been seriously or critically ill
and died suddenly after being
stricken with a heart attack. He
was 82.
He was born in Cisco, Texas.
He came to the Valley in 1927
and lived in Donna and moved
to Pharr 23 years ago and had
lived here since. He was a re-
tired brick contractor.
Funeral services were held
Monday, October 20th, 4 p.m., at
the Skinner Funeral Home Chap-
el with Rev. Lynn H. McAden,
pastpr of the Pharr United Meth-
odist Church, officiating. Burial
was in Valley Memorial Gar-
dens.
He is survived by his wife,
Mrs. Sarah Anne Parkhill of
Pharr; two daughters, Mrs. D.
W. Bryan, Kingsville and Mrs.
Hugh Moyer, Alviso, Calif.; four
sons, James Nelson, McAllen,
Donald David, Ray Zenda and
Lonnie Thomas, all of Pharr; two
sisters, Mrs. Willie Mae Bruce,
Blanco, Okla., and Della Mae
Heiman, San Antonio; one bro-
ther, Andrew Thomas Parkhill
of San Antonio; Nine grand-
children and 10 great grand-
children also survive.
Pallbearers were Van W.
Wheat, Lawrence R. Wilks, Dar-
nell Gwin, Price Thrall, Kenneth
Walters and Sam Deckard.
Skinner Funeral Home was in
charge of arrangements.
ting classes of 1920, 1930, 1940,
1950 and 1960 will be special
guests.
The program for the day will
begin at 1 p.m. with an assem-
bly at the H. S. Auditorium,
when the new Homecoming
Queen will be crowned. A pep
rally will follow.
At 2:30 p.m., the Senior Class
of 1970 will be hosts for a tea
honoring all the exes.
The final event will be the
football game that night at Bear
Stadium. The Homecoming Queen
will be honored also at the game
and presented during the half
time ceremonies.
WEATHER REPORT
High Low Rain
Oct.
17 ....
......87
65
Oct.
18 ....
......84
65
Oct.
19 ....
......90
64
Oct.
20 ....
......91
67
Oct.
21 ....
......90
72
Oct.
22 ....
......93
68
Oct.
23 ....
......90
66
Readings are taken from Carl
Schuster Weather Reporting Sta-
tion.
Falcon Reservoir
Shows Increase
Storage in Falcon Reservoir as
of Sept. 28th totaled 1,323,000
acre feet with the United States’
share being 816,000 acre feet,
which represents an increase of
30,000 acre feet in the U.S. share
since last reporting period.
The increase is due to rains on
the watershed below Amistad
Dam during September.
Mrs. M. Cummings
Services Oct. 17th
Funeral serices for Mrs. Mild-
red Iva Cummings, 1115 S.
Kansas, San Juan, were held in
the Skinner Funeral Home
Chapel in Pharr October 17th,
4 p.m., with Rev." Roy Winkle-
man, pastor of the People’s
Church, San Juan, officiating.
Entombment was in the Rest-
lawn Mausoleum, McAllen.
She passed away October 15th
at the Scott & White Hospital,
Temple. She was 63.
Mrs. Cummings moved to the
Valley with her family and
settled in San Juan in 1916. She
was a member of the San Juan
People’s Church, Chapter FTEO,
Sisterhood, the Eastern Star of
San Juan She was a teacher in
the PSJA schools for many
years.
She is survived by her hus-
band, Don W. Cummings, San
Juan; two brothers, Earl E. Han-
cock, Denver, Colorado, and Rev.
Edwin E. Hancock, Waukon,
Iowa; four sisters, Mrs. Arthur
W. Klang, McAllen, Mrs. J.
Floyd Hetrick, Pharr, Mrs. Don-
ald Spiker, Riverton, Wyoming,
and Miss Pearl Hancock, San
Juan.
Pallbears were nephews of the
deceased/ J. B. Hancock, A. Lee
Green, Joe Hetrick, David Het-
rick, Hugh Hancock and Michael
Taylor.
hard, hut this Friday night, they
take on an old and tough oppo-
nent, who asks no quarter and
gives none, the Bulldogs of Mc-
Allen.
Regardless of the records of
the two teams, or the standings
at the moment, this game has al-
ways been a thriller in recent
years, with several decided by
only one point—two this way in
the last four years.
The game this year is in Mc-
Allen and this may give some
advantage to the Bulldogs.
Neither team has had a dazz-
ling record so far this season,
and the District championship is
hot hanging in the balance, but
these are minor details when it
comes to this annual battle. The
Stadium will be filled to capa-
city with partisan fans support-
ing their teams.
Four of the five games in the
last five years were decided by
6 points or less. Only last year
Committees Are
Named for 23rd
Vegetable Show
Mrs. A. Y. Baker
Dies at Age 93
Mrs. A. Y. Baker, Sr., of Edin-
burg, wife of a former sheriff of
Hidalgo Co., passed away Oct.
22nd in the Retama Manor Rest
Home. She was one of the last
of the real early pioneers, having
come to this area in 1900. Her
husband was sheriff of Hidalgo
Co. from 1914 to 1928. She was
93.
She is survived by two sons,
A. Y. Baker. Jr. and Gillespie
Baker, both of Edinburg; one
granddaughter, and a sister.
predicted this Friday night, with
possibly a field goal or an extra
point deciding the issue.
McAllen has shown some of-
fensive ability the last two
weeks by scaring 48 points, 28 of
them against the leading Browns-
ville Eagles.
Coach Charlie Williams has
some injured starters that will
be sorely missed. They include
Robert Muzquiz, line backer, who
missed the entire Kingsville game
and Offensive Center James
Thrall, who also missed most of
the Kingsville game. Thrall may
play this week.
Here are the scores of the
games for fWe yoa^s:
1964— McAllen, 20 PSJA ,14.
1965— McAllen 12, PSJA 7.
1966— PSJA 8, McAllen 7.
1967— PSJA 28, McAllen 27.
1968— PSJA 22, McAllen 8.
The Bulldogs use about an
equal running and passing at-
tack. The Bears have not had to
contain a real good passer so
far this year and this will' be
their opportunity. Several Bear
defenders have been good at
snaring interceptions.
When the Bears have won this
year, PSJA quarterback Edgar
Ruiz has been ‘‘hot’’ with his
throwing arm, and he has had
Ross LaGrange, Edinburg, pres- [ a number of capable receivers, in-
ident of the All Valley Winter j eluding Mario Romero, Randy
Vegetable Show Board, announ-; Foster, and Bobby Cantu. One
ces committee assignments for | game this year, Ruiz connected
the December 5-6, 1969 show in
Pharr.
The finance commitee is head-* 1 their 4th consecutive
Ed by Mike Frost, McAllen. The j their big city rivals,
show is non-profit and free to
the public, supported by business-
men in the vegetable industry.
F. T. Boecker. Alamo, is Show
Manager.
J. Dreibelbis and Carl Schuster
of San Juan head the leader
training clinic.
Charles Rankin, McAllen, is
in charge of publicity.
Home Demonstration Agents,
Sue Hawthorn and Bertha Gar-
za of Hidalgo County are in
charge of the vegetable prepar-
ation, centerpiece and food prep-
aration contests.
Glen Jeske, Alamo, heads the
rules committee.
Sidney Ford of Pharr is chair-
man of the Queen’s Contest along
with Ray Russell, Edinburg.
Tom Longbrake Weslaco, is
chairman of the Judges Commit-
tee.
Every youth to age 19 in the
Valley counties is eligible to par-
ticipate in some phase of the 23rd
annual event.
that levy taxes and these vary
throughout the County.
Property owners in the Pharr -
San Juan areas pay $2.07 tax rate,
including everything — county,
state, road district and drainage
district. Others with this same
taxe rate are Elsa, Hidalgo, La
Blanca, Mission, Monte Alto, San
Carlos.
McAllen has a $2.42 rate, but
they have a new road district
with a 35 cent rate. Rates for
some other cities are: Alamo
$3.02; Donna $2.87; Weslaco,
Mercedes $2.57; Edinburg $1.72
(not in drainage district).
The County has a total valua-
tion for tax purposes of $202
million this year, an increase of
about $2 million from last year.
Five per cent of the total coun-
ty tax valuation was represented
by one person at the hearing. He
was Jim Dahse, who represent-
ed Tenneco Oil Co., who have $11
million in taxable valuations in
the county. Dahse has attended
all the budget hearings of the
various political subdivisions in
the county where his firm has a
substantial tax valuation.
Out of the $1.25 county wide
rate, 91 cents will go for current
operating expenses and 34 cents
for payment of interest and prin-
cipal on all debts.
Tire County has a total bonded
debt of only $9.2 million, which
includes the road districts. This
is less than some school districts
within the county, Judge Rich-
ardson said.
A breakdown of the county
valuations shows the following:
REV. W. W
STEWART
Dr. William W. Stewart,j long
time rector of Trinity Episcopal
Church, Pharr, who retired less
than two years ago, passed
away at the Valley Baptist Hospi-
tal, Harlingen, October 17th. He
had been a patient at the hospi-
tal for several weeks.
Funeral services were held in
the Pharr church which he serv-
ed for 29 years on October 20th,
10 a.m., with Rt. Rev. Richard
Earl Dicus, bishop of the Diocese
of West Texas, officiating, as-
sisted by the Rev. Everett Cain,
' on five consecutive passes.
| The Bears will be trying for
win over
Here are the season records:
PSJA 21, DONNA 3.
PSJA 28, R. G. C. 0.
PSJA 43, MISSION 7.
PSJA 12, HARLINGEN 15.
PSJA 0, ’ALICE 14.
PSJA 14, Kingsville 6.
McAllen 0, Galena Park 21.
McAllen 0, Galveston Ball 28.
McAllen 20, Laredo Martin 6.
McAllen 14, Edinburg 21.
McAllen 28 Brownsville 64.
McAllen 20, San Benito 13.
rector of Trinity Episcopal
Church.
He had a long and varied and
popular ministry at the Trinity
Church. He taught Bible and re-
ligion at Pan American College
j for almost 20 years, served on
; the board of Monte Alto Farms
j for a number of years, gave lec-
tures on Wednesdays and Fri-
i days that were attended by peo-
ple from all over the area. In ad-
dition, he had special services
at Easter and other times during
the year.
At the time of his retirement,
he published a book called
“Victorious Living’’ which in*
eluded many of his sermons and
lectures.
Rev. Stewart was very proud
of the Pharr Memorial Library,
a project in which he had a
part from the very beginning.
(Continued on Page 8)
Mrs. Cartha Tunnel!
Dies at Age 93
Mrs. Cartha Genia Tunnell,
mother of Mrs. M. R. (Jumbo)
of Pharr, passed away Saturday,
October 18th, 10:50 p.m., at the
Pharr Convalescent Home. She
had been in failing health for
some time and had been in the
convalescent home for 18
months. She was 93.
A native Texan, she was born
in Hopkins County on July 20,
1876. She was married in 1896
in De Leon, and in the next 40
years, lived in many cities in
Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Her husband was a chamber of
commerce and newspaper editor
and writer. They lived in Brown-
wood, Waxahachie, Hope, Ark.;
Fayetteville, Ark.; Blackwell,
Okla., and last in Lytle and La
Coste, Texas, where he was
editor of the newspapers in those
towns. He passed away in 1939
and she came to Pharr and had
lived with her daughter since.
Funeral services were held
Monday, Oct. 20, 5:15 p.m., at the
Skinner Funeral Home Chapel
with the Rev. Lynn McAden,
pastor of the Pharr United Meth-
odist Church, officiating.
The body was taken to Lytle,
Texas, by Skinner Funeral Home
ambulance on Tuesday with
grave services at 2 p.m., also
conducted by Rev. McAden. .
She is survived by the one
(Continued on Page 8)
CITRUS SHIPMENTS
Citrus shipments for the week
ending October 4th totaled 90.000
boxes of oranges, which brings
the 1969 season total to 161000
boxes. No grapefruit were ship-
ped that week.
St. Jude's Church
Annual Barbecue Is
Sunday, Oct. 26
St. Jude’s Church ■ will have
their barbecue this Sunday,
October 26th at the church
grounds, 505 South Irownood in
Pharr.
Beef and sausage will be serv-
ed from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
and from 4:30 to 7 p.m.
Adult plates are $1.50 and
children plates 75 c^nts.
Plates will be prepared to go.
This is an annual event spon-
sored by the church and every-
one is cordially invited.
FRESHMAN HONOR STUDENTS AT PAN A M — The Pan American College honors program
enters its second year with the addition of 18 n ew freshmen. Aim of the program is to provide
the superior student a more enriching program by challenging his individual potential and initia-
tive. Emphasis is on enrichment rather than acceleration. Pictured left to right are David
Grantz of Edinburg; Veronica Gutierrez of Harlingen; June Boler and Kim Mc.Charen of Pharr;
Jeanine Tuthill of McAllen; Josefina Avila of Mercedes; Theresa McCaleb of Weslaco; Robert
Krick of McAllen; Marjorie Blanchard of Brownsville; Tommy Wilson of LaFeria; Harold Best
of Weslaco; Susan Snowden, Jeanette Moser an d Randy Martin of Edinburg; Anne Marshall of
LaFeria; John Triplett of Weslaco; Jan Smith of San Benito; Cindy Gautreau of McAllen; and
Dr. Ted Clark, a professor in the program. —(Pan Am Photo by Gerald Whitaker)
Real Estate $128 million, up
$4.5 million; auto, $6 million, up
$354,000; railroads $2.2 million,
down $83,000; banks $3.2 million,
up $342,000; utilities $17 million,
up $67,000; oil and gas $45 mil-
lion, down $3.2 million.
Co. Judge Milton Richardson
said the largest single increase
in the county budget last year
was the welfare program, where
11 new employees were added.
This Dept, costs $95,000 a year.
The county’s valuations are
based on 30 per cent of market
value.
The courthouse bonds sold in
1952 will he paid in full in 1971.
SEEN ’ROUND
THE TOWN
Our WINTER VISITORS are
coming in every day or two now.
Some of the early birds who
have returned to their “second
homes” the last few days are
the LEFEVERS from Washing-
ton, Iowa., the SANFORDS from
Nevis, Minn., the READS from
Henry, 111., and AUG. STEIN -
FELDT, from Stickney, So. Dak.
And the first question Mr. Stein-
feldt asked was “How is the
civic center coming?” We ex-
pect to have an article about
it any week . . . The CO. OEO is
seeking a $7 M. budget. How
about that? If every Co. in the
U. S. A. got that much in pro-
portion to population, how much
would it be? . . . SOUTH-
WESTERN BELL TEL. CO. new
bldg, on South Cage is looking
like a bldg. now. For the last
six months, they have been work-
ing “underground”. The contract
for construction of this building
was for $330,000! ... The safe
that was stolen from the PEAK-
SON INSULATION CO. Sept.
14th has not been found. Us-
ually safes that have been stolen
will show up in some isolated
place a few days or week or two
after the robbery . . . The Hid-
algo courthouse bonds will be
paid in full in 1971. (The court-
house bonds were voted in 1952
amidst a lot of sound and fury).
This has turned out to be the best
investment the taxpayers ever
made. At the same time, CAMER-
ON CO. was debating over con-
structing a new courthouse. They
are still “debating” or something.
And they have a courthouse
that would be of cred-t to &
county of 75 years ago . *
Three cities have okehed the
RGV Gas Co, rate increase now*
—McAllen, Edinburg and Wes-
laco. The other major cities will
probably follow in a few more:
weeks . . . Mayor R. S. BOWE
confirms that a man from the
National (Federal) Air Pollution
Dept, came to the Valley all the
way from Spokane, Wash*, to
investigate “alleged” violations-
of the air pollution by burning,
of trash,- etc, hy various4 OltiesT
and others. Pharr Was Jiiidng
those investigated, but Phari*
was given a clean bill of healtii
and the official said Pharr was
doing a better job than most
on the problem. One thing is
. becoming clearer all the time and
that is the county is going to
have to set up some kind of a.
trash- disposal system for the
rural residents. So many rural
residents have been bringing their
trash to a city dump. Now, most
city yards prohibit this . . . This
column asked recently what had
happened to DONNIE PIERCE,
the whistling boy of 10 years
ago. A report comes from Mrs.
Foster of San Juan that he lives
in Corpus, works for the Pontiac
Co., and entertains in supper
clubs in that area . . . One tax-
payer you can depend on show-
ing up at a budget hearing is
JAMES ASHE, who represents
the big TENNECO OIL CO., who
are the biggest single taxpayer
in this county. He was present
at the Co. budget hearing . . .
A mini-editorial in an Edinburg
paper says: “When will the
ECHO Motor Hotel Corp. act to
regain some of the public con-
fidence it has forfeited?”. The
next day, the publisher of that
paper with his editor were din-
ing in Pharr. We don’t plame
them. We wouldn’t dared t»
show at the Echo either.
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Glover, Lloyd H. The Pharr Press (Pharr, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 43, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 23, 1969, newspaper, October 23, 1969; Pharr, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth715007/m1/1/: accessed July 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Pharr Memorial Library.