Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 33, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 17, 1988 Page: 1 of 14
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■
30-CENTS
FOURTEEN PAGES
VOLUME 81, NO. 33
PALACIOS, TEXAS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1988
■
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Teachers9 pay raise
‘Thiunbs-up’ given to
budget, construction
BY DONNIE HORTON
PISD Information Coordinator
Diving for dinner
DOZENS of hungry gulls circle overhead
while volunteers filet fish caught during
the FishFest. Fish donated by contestants
was given to the Senior Citizens Center.
A total of 143 contestants entered the
Chamber of Commerce Tournament to
compete for over $3,600 in prize money.
Additional photos and complete standings
of the tournament appear on Page 11.
(Beacon Photo by Nick West)
The Palacios ISD Board of Trustees approved a
$ 10.7-million operating and capital budget for the
1988-89 school year and also voted to lower the
district's tax rate. The action came during last
week's regular school board meeting.
Superintendent Bill Reaves said the budget
"supports the district's goals for program im-
provement, provides a salary increment for our
teachers and allows us at the same time to lower
the tax rate.”
Reaves said that "we believe everyone is a
winner in this budget year."
The $10,743,854 budget consists of two major
parts: $8,753,854 for general operations and
$1,990,000 for capital (construction) projects.
The budget adopted by the board is based on a
45-cent per $100 valuation tax rate. That is down
from the 1987-88 tax rate of 46-cents. The local
assessed valuation for the district for the 1988-89
tax year is approximately $2,250,000,000.
The budget represents approximately a four-
percent increase over last year's budget. Reaves
said that about two-thirds of the $390,000 increase
is attributable to higher teacher salaries. PISD
teachers will receive a $1,040 annual increase in
salary.
"Our teachers do an excellent job and we are
fortunate to be in a position to reward them for
their fine performance." said Reaves.
Of the $1,990,000 capital projects budget, ap-
proximately $1.85-million is dedicated to a major
construction project at East Side Elementary. That
amount would also include architects' fees.
According to the superintendent, problems cre-
ated by aging of certain buildings and damage to
the roofing structure warrants construction of re-
placements for four classroom wings, the cafete-
ria, administration offices and demolition of the
gymnasium. After consulting with the structural
engineers and an educational consultant, the board
studied the various options available. Both the
board and the administration felt that the best use
of taxpayers' money would be to demolish those
structures in question and replace them.
"The new buildings will blend in architecturally
with the remaining (wildings, the Annex, Learning
Resource Center and the Music and Science
Wing," said Reaves. "It will offer our students
and attractive, well-designed, efficient educational
complex that will enhance the learning environ-
ment
The administration authorized the board to seek
bids on the East Side Facility Project and set A
p.m. Sept. 7 as the time and date for opening bids.
PROGRAM PROPOSALS
In other business, East Side principal Linda
Reaves and Central Elementary principal Richard
Joyce presented proposals for new programs on
their respective campuses.
Joyce recommended adding a Pre-First Grade
to the Central Elementary Curriculum this fall. The
Pre-First grade will be for those children who are
not developmental^ ready for first grade after they
complete kindergarten. Pre-First would offer a
transitional period giving these students times to
(See DISTRCT, Page 4)
Redfish farming Very capital intensive’
Pioneering fish farmers hope practice leads to profits
BY MICHAEL SCHEIB
Beacon Reporter
"I don't want to raise redfish
just so some rich sports fisher-
man can catch them in the bay,"
says David Maus of Redfish
Unlimited of Palacios, "I want to
raise food."
As Maus, who holds a Mas-
ters degree in aquaculture from
Oregon State and worked for
Texas Parks and Wildlife for
three years before starting his
operation on Wells Point Road,
explains, commercial sale of
"wild" redfish is illegal and
about the only way a person can
enjoy eating a redfish is to catch
it himself. To take lull advan-
tage of the fishing potential of
Texas bays, a sports fisherman
needs a boat. And a motor.
And a trailer. And a vehicle to
tow the trailer. And the finan-
cial wherewithal to get the
whole rig to the water and keep
it operational (a considerable
expense, especially if the fish-
erman lives in, say, Nebraska).
;To most people in this country,
#id assuredly to most peoples
;*B(f the world, owning such a rig
: is beyond their imagination;
; they might as well dream of a
>*Iien-free title to the Taj Mahal.
Commercial farming can put
: redfish on tlie table of those
> who are physically-, finan-
cially-, or geographically-
handicapped in catching their
own.
"Aquaculture," the science
which deals with methods of
growing animal and vegetable
life in water, has been touted as
a "magic wand" to combat
world hunger. Approximately
40 percent of the worlds'
masses suffer from some de-
gree of malnutrition; every year
hundreds of thousands literally
starve to death. Unfortunately,
redfish fanning in Texas isn't
going to mean a spit in the
ocean to those people. The rea-
son they're starving is because
they can't afford to buy food.
If they're dying of hunger be-
cause they can't afford rice
(roughly 9 cents per pound on
today's international market) or
wheat (8 cents) or com (6
cents), it seems unlikely they'll
be buying much Texas redfish
at $4-6 per pound.
Research continues in Third
Worid countries in aquaculture,
often centering around the culti-
vation of tilapia, an African fish
that requires little or no protein
in its own diet. The tilapia
turns carbohydrate (algae) into
protein (tilapia flesh) and, with
proper management, may offer
a low-cost food source for pro-
tein-starved populations. Red-
fish, on the other hand, require
a great deal of protein to de-
velop properly. Right now,
redfish "chow," comprised to a
great degree of imported (and
hence, expensive) fish meal is
running around 36 cents per
pound and a redfish farmer will
have nearly a dollar in food
costs alone in every pound of
redfish produced. Redfish are
not cheap.
Nor are the facilities needed
to produce them. Minimum
start-up costs for a hatchery and
grow-out operation begin at
about a quarter million (that's
dollars, not fish), and can
quickly escalate. Commercial
lenders are watching this food-
producing business with inter-
est, but as yet, there's no stam-
pede to fund aquaculture-in
many ways, it's just too new
and untried. There are all those
carefully-graded ponds to con-
struct on acres and acres of
land, miles of pipe to buy, spe-
cial pumps, breeding tanks and
other exotic equipment. And
the fish fanner will need to op-
erate the installation for 18-20
months (the length of time nec-
essary to take a redfish egg to a
3-pound marketable fish), be-
fore he takes in a nickel! As
Thomas Holsworth of Palacios,
who has a farm at Collegepon
with 15 acres of hatchery facili-
ties capable of handling 4 mil-
lion fingerlings per year, cau-
tions, "It's a very, very capital-
intensive business."
It takes a little courage too.
The Gulf Coast Conservation
Association and Texas Parks
and Wildlife have been
(See REDFISH, Page 3)
Harvest time
DAVID MAUS of Redfish
Unlimited uses a $10 net
rather than a $100,000
combine to harvest his
"crop" of tiny redfish.
Redrish farming may
sound cheap and look
simple, but it's not.
[Beacon Photo by Mundy
Blum]
Immunization
Clinic Slated
See Page 9
Big Red Sharks
Scrimmage At
St. Joe Friday
•0oas3aD<s TTIJqqs W®@lki
Beacon Bits................................Page 2
Beacon Early Files......................Page 4
PAHA Happenings.....................Page 5
M. K. Oglesby.................. Page 7
School Information.....................Page 9
FishFest Results.......................Page 11
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West, Nicholas M. Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 33, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 17, 1988, newspaper, August 17, 1988; Palacios, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth724609/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.