Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 39, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 21, 1994 Page: 1 of 16
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(See TAX, Page 2)
VOLUME 87, NO. 39
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21,1994
PALACIOS, TEXAS
SIXTEEN PAGES
USPS 418460
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Tigers Prevail In
Rivalry Wifh Sharks
Everyone Can Help
Preserve The Gulf
it
Local Spikers Place
In Area Tourneys
dEJUER
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PISD taxpayers get breather with rate unchanged
# __*. ......... ...■ .. ...... * . « ......
aytSTA HOOPER
Beacon Staff Writer
It was a packed house at the Palacios ISD
Administration Building board room last week
as the public turned out to hear just where the
Board of Trustees would set the tax rate for
Wm-95.
-b However, following three straight years of
rate increases (due entirely to the school
financing reform law), die board voted to put
the brakes on any increase for the next year,
bating instead to maintain the current rate of
$1.35.
Maintaining the current rate halted the up-
ward trend brought about by over the past few
years with the revamping of the school finance
law. Those changes have seen the PISD tax rate
rise more than 300% since 1990-91, from just
420 per $100 valuation to the current $1.35
rate.
Several members of the board remarked that
citizens and businesses could not afford a tax
raise.
With the decision to leave the rate un-
Earlier in the month, the board had adopted
an $11,970,000 operating budget for 1994-95.
changed, there was little for visitors to sav.
That was not the case on the board itself with . _
trustee Travis Washington expressing his con- Total revenue was projected at $9,795,000 with
cem that by not raising the rate, the district the balance ($2,164,000) coming from the fund
would be forced to deplete its reserve fund bal-
ance in order to balance the 1994-95 budget.
"Every year we use money out of the fund
balance. Somewhere down the road we are not
going to be able to finance our educational
system,” Washington said.
The board approved the $1.35 tax rate with
Washington opposing.
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blanace.
In order for PISD to operate without a
deficit, or without using any money from the
fund balance, PISD would have had to raise
taxes to $1.42. This is because of the loss of
revenue from South Texas Nuclear Project.
Since PISD has no debts or bonds, the $1.35
' '*] \
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m
fwo teens
nabbed in
LSD bust
Two Palacios High School
students were taken into cus-
tody last week by Matagorda
County Sheriff’s Department
officers who confiscated LSD
sheets with a street value of
r $500-$ 1000.
A 16-year old juvenile was
I ■ taken into custody Sept. 12
; after officers with a search war-
?- tfjht searched the juvenile’s
‘ residence and found 90 ‘hits’
the hallucinogenic drug
> L2SD, also know as ‘acid’,
y -:A short time later, 19-year
yold Guadalupe Ordonez, a ju-
§ nipr at Palacios High School,
Was arrested on the school
ctunpus. Officers said he had
# hits of LSD in his posses-
sion and was charged with pos-
session of a controlled sub-
stance with intent to deliver.
i-V The apprehensions were
.‘made following an investiga-
tions by the Sheriffs Dept.’s
Narcotics Division.
•■r The juvenile was subse-
quently turned over to juvenile
officials. Ordonez was released
from Matagorda County Jail
after posting $5,000 bond,
v No one with the Sheriff’s
Dept, was available late last
week to comment or provide
Other details on the bust.
United Way
county goal
$315,000
J Matagorda County United
• Way kicked off its 1995 cam-
: paign last week at the Bay City
: Country Club during a lun-
I cheon hosted by the Bay City
v Chamber of Commerce.
;* "We believe this will again
*lfc a very successful year for
the campaign” said Denise
Dickerson, Held Administrator
-Jfor Valero Energy Corporation
and Campaign Chairman for
the 1995 campaign.
F
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Beta Sigma Phi bags bayshore trash
THE PALACIOS bayflront looks a lot cleaner this week thanks to the community-minded
efforts of Beta Sigma Phi members and their volunteers. The group picked up nearly 80 bags
of litter and other debris from the bayshore during Saturday’s annual Texas Beach Cleanup.
Among those who battled with the mosquitoes and tall weeds along East Bay (above) were
Kristin Stewart, Donna Quinn, Ashlyn Schneider, Brittany Quinn, Penny Holzapfel, Kaitlyn
Stewart, Yesinia Perez and Lorene Piwonka. (Beacon Photo by Nick West)
r
I
Sales tax rebate check to
city 50% more than 693’s
BYmCK WEST
Ptlado* Beacon Publish*
£
£_(See UNITED, Page 2)
The City of Palacios got a pleasant surprise
when it received its most recent city sales tax
rebate payment from the state. The September
check to the city was for 50-percent more than
the city received in September of last year.
The September check, which covers taxes
collected on July sales and reported to the State
Comptroller in August, totaled $10,866.27.
That compares to the $7,244.12 the city was
rebated for the same month one year ago.
Statewide, sales tax rebate payments to 944
Texas cities and 111 counties were up an
average of 9.3-percent from a year ago.
According to State Comptroller John Sharp, an
all-time employment high of 7.7-miiiion
working Texans has produced greater
consumer confidence and increased buying,
which often translates into higher sales tax
collections.
Although the September rebate to Palacios
was more than double the rebated issued in
September 1993, die overall rebate total for the
city in 1994 remains below that for the same
(See REBATE, Page 2)
Palacios plays host to
Texas Youth Regatta
on Saturday, Sunday
Palacios—rapidly becoming known in sailing circles throughout
the state as ‘Regatta Qty ’—will be the site this weekend (Sept. 23-24)
for approximately 60 youngsters between the ages of 7-19 from
throughout the state who will take to the waters of Tres Palacios Bay
to compete in the Texas Youth Circuit Regatta.
“This regatta is particularly notable in that it is the first ever Youth
Regatta to be held m Palacios and it is the first regatta to be sponsored
by a Veterans of Foreign -
. Wars Part in the state,“noted *
regatta chairman Warren E.
Pierce.
In addition to Queen-
Hamlin V.F.W. Post 2467,
other sponsors of the Texas
Youth Circuit Regatta on
Saturday and Sunday are the
Texas Sailing Association,
Palacios Economic Devel-
opment Foundation, Pala-
cios Yacht Club, Palacios
RegattaTeam, Palacios Area
Fund, Palacios Lions Club,
City State Bank, Heights of
Texa. Bank and several other
organizations and busi-
nesses.
The Palacios regatta is
one is a series of statewide
regattas on the Youth Cir-
cuit. In addition to trophies for the top finishers in each category, the
participants also compete for points which go toward the season
trophies to be awarded at the end of the year by the Texas Sailing
Associatioa The Youth sailors will be competing in Optimist Din-
ghies, Lasers and Sunfish.
The racing action gets underway at 10:45 a.m. Saturday with a break
for lunch at 1 p.m. Action resumes at 2:30 p.m. The young sailors will
be treated to a catered meal on the bayfront at 7 p.m.
The first race on Sunday will start at 10:30 a.m. Trophy presentation
will take place at 1 p.m. at die regatta headquarters located at the
Railroad Park boat ramp area.
Work force to be«
cut by 600 at STP
over next 3 years
test.
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Birding Trail expected to boost tourism
State agencies seeking citizens' input on possible coastal locations
t The Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail
. is expected to pump millions of new
: tourism dollars into coastal economies.
&The $1.5 million trail will include inter-
\ i*. pretive signs for more than 50 sites and a
£ trail guide with maps and information on
•J birds, sites, local services and accommo-
>rdations.
*T The new trail will make it easy for
birdwatchers to drive from Beaumont to
Brownsville and take in what has been
called the "mother load" of birding ex-
> periences. The project is part of broader
< plans to boost nature tourism in Texas as
**
a way to achieve both economic devel-
opment and wildlife conservation.
"When you look at the sheer number
and variety of species we have an the
Texas coast, there is no richer birdwatch-
ing experience in the nation," said An-
drew Sansom, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department executive director. "The
problem is that birding in Texas has his-
torically been unorganized, with most
sites functioning independently. Our in-
tent is to combine these independent
sites into one cohesive, marketable unit."
Sansom and Debrah Kastrin, Texas
Department of Commerce executive di-
rectors, are co-chairs of the Governor's
Task Force On Nature Tourism. The
birding trail will likely serve as a model
for similar projects the task force plans
to encourage across Texas.
The first phase of the trail to be
completed in 1995 focuses on the mid-
coast from Big Boggy National Wildlife
Refuge near Wadsworth down to Padre
Island National Seashore. The upper and
lower coast will be added later in phases,
with the whole trail to be completed in
(See BIRDING, Page I)
Already burdened with
double-digit unemployment,
Matagorda County go some
more bad news last week when
Houston Lighting & Power Co.
announced its intention to re-
duce its work force at the
South Texas Project by 600
over the next three years.
According to HL&P reports,
the number of workers at$ir
v plant will be cut from its cur-
rent level of 2,350 to 1,750 by
the end of 1997. Other work-
ers, such as contract employ-
ees, will also be eliminated,
however that number was not
determined. A hiring freeze
was also initiated by HL&P last
week.
Approximately 100 jobs
would be cut next year with
nearly 20 expected in January
with the consolidation of nu-
clear assurance and nuclear li-
censing departments. Another
250 layoffs are planned for
each of the following two
years, 1996 and 1997.
(See STP, Page 2)
«UIIIUU«UUHIlfc
Inside This
Week
<*«•
Police Reports.................Page 2
Early Files........................Page 4
LMeStyles....................Pages 6-7
Sports........................Pages 8-12
Classified........................Page 14
'Gardens are not mode by siag-
ing "Oh, how beautiful," and
sitting in the shade. "
Beacon Deadline: Noon Monday
Beacon Ollice Closed Wedncsdayi
1
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West, Nicholas M. Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 39, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 21, 1994, newspaper, September 21, 1994; Palacios, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth727049/m1/1/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.