The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), No. 91, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 17, 1980 Page: 1 of 14
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I 1 crol'iliA Centar, ind.
Box 4u436
Dalla3, Texas 75235
THURSDAY
EDITION
TEXAS’ OLDEST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Since March 1,1853
I hursday, January 17. 1980
Number 91
HUD grants $500,000 for Bastrop drainage
Precious McMarion describes to the Bastrop City Council drainage problems residents
north oi the tracks have had alter installation of the Pecan Street Drainage Project. Staff
Photo by Davis McAuley,
Commissioners decide
no pay raise this year
With some show of
reluctance. County Commis-
sioners Monday approved
1980 salaries with no raises
for county employees or
other officials.
All county salaries were
raised 15 per cent in 1979.
County Judge Jack A.
Griesenbeck said he hopes
the county can raise pay
levels “next year.”
Precinct 4 Commissioner
Emil Mogonye said he'd like
"to give my boys a little
something."
"If we had to replace
them, we'd be looking at a
bunch more money,” he
added.
Precinct 3 Commissioner
Jerry Alexander said the
county has “a bunch of
dedicated employees" but
due to the county’s position
"next to a big labor market,
it’s hard tojieep personnel."
The Commissioners Court
also tabled a request by
Sheriff l.R. Hoskins for a
raise in mileage allowance to
20 cents per mile. The
county presently reimburses
l he sheriff and deputies at 17
cents per mile.
Newly appointed County
Auditor Larry Roberson
promised the court to confer
with the County Clerk and
County Treasurer and deter-
mine the amount of surplus
funds from 1979 available for
spending in 1980. Commis-
sioners agreed not to act on
the sheriffs mileage request
pending the auditor’s report,
possibly next month.
In other business, the
court:
‘Approved a resolution
wishing County Clerk Lucille
Fraim a "speedy recovery"
from a cornea transplant
Continued on Page 3
Taylor vies for sheriff
John Taylor, 60, a retired
Missouri Pacific railroad
conductor, said Tuesday he
will run for Sheriff in the
May 3 Democratic Primary.'
Tommy Moseley, just
retired as a veteran Depart
rneqf of Public Safety
Officer, is set to announce
his candidacy at a party
given by his supporters at
the Elgin VFW Hall Friday
night.
The public is invited to the
pall y set for 8 P.M.
Taylor has lived in
Bastrop County since 1970
but spent time here in the
50s and 60s when his two
daughters lived in Bastrop.
He now lives near Sandy
Creek.
He ran a hunting camp for
32 years in Wyoming and
also operated a motorcycle
dealership in Taylor and an
Bastrop was awarded
$500,000 Tuesday for street
and drainage improvements,
water and sewer improve-
ments and housing rehabilit-
lation in a Community
Development Block Grant
from the federal Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban
Development.
The out right grant was
announced by the White
House through the office of
Senator Lloyd Bentsen in
Washington.
“That’s mighty fine,” said
Mayor J.P. Sharp after
confirming the announce-
ment from Bentsen.
Seeking federal grant
money is "kind of hit or
miss," he said, “but we’re
workingon it."
“That’s wonderful," ex-
claimed City Manager C.W.
Patek when told of the
announcement. “That’s the
best news for Bastrop in a
long lime." It will be good
for the local economy and
will bring more jobs to town,
he said.
TARGET AREA
The money will go for
improvements to a low to
moderate income area of the
city bounded on the north by
Farm Street, on the south by
State Highway 71, on the
west b v Jefferson Street and
on the east by State
Highway 95. The target
area does include some
houses by the cemetery on
the east side of Highway 95,
said Patek.
The grant calls for
spending $225,000 on water
and sewer improvements,
$200,000 for street and
drainage improvements and
★ ★ jk
$75,000 for housing rehabili-
tation.
After the funding date of
June 6, 1980, the city will
have 18 months to spend the
money as called for in the
“fired" application due March
4. said Patek.
According to Patek, 119 of
the 237 houses in the target
area presently have no
sewer service or inadequate
water pressure and fire
protection.
The application prepared
by Patek and approved by
the city council estimates
that 646 of the area’s 772
residents will benefit from
the planned improvements.
Patek praised HUD offi-
cials for help in preparing
theapplication.
More details about exactly
how much work can be
accomplished with the
money will become available
when the final application is
drawn up for HUD approval,
he said.
Citizens protest drain job
By DAVIS McAULEY
Precious McMarion,
speaking for about 20
residents from the "north
end of Bastrop” assembled in
the city council chamber
Monday night, charged that
the Pecan Street Drainage
Project completed last year
has hindered, not helped,
draining water run-off from
their property and streets.
“We’ve all been disap-
pointed, we’re in worse
shape than ever,” he said.
“We’ve all got problems
now,” even where drainage
was not a problem previous-
ly, such as on Main Street,
he went on.
The drain inlets are too
small and they are placed too
high above ground level to
drain off the water, he
charged. Besides, he said,
the ditches which used to
carry off some of the water
have been filled in as part of
the drain project.
“It looks like the city's
throwed away a lot of
money," said McMarion,
adding he didn't know “how
you let them get away with
it.”
“We know it’s a problem,"
said Mayor J.P. Sharp, but
<wtdit takes time and money to
solve it."
Some drain inlets are 18
inches to 24 inches above
ground, said McMarion.
ARRANGE MEETING
City Manager C.W.
Patek said he would arrange
for the project engineer to
meet with residents and the
council to discuss the drain
installation which was fund-
ed by a grant from the
Department of Housing and
Urban Development.
Councilman John Sanders
said he appreciated the
group coming to the council
meeting. "It’s a good way to
bring the problem to the
light,” he said.
Sanders was seconded by
Councilman James DeBaun.
“I think it’s good to get it out
in the open,” he said. -
According to Patek, one
consideration in placing the
drain inlets was to allow for
possible installation of curbs
and gutters along the streets
at some future time.
“We’re not waiting for a
big rain" to demonstrate
how bad the drainage
problems are, said
McMarion, “we can tell
(what will happen) from the
little rain we’ve got.”
Patek estimated that the
Pecan Street project
amounts to about one
quarter of the drainage
improvements needed north
of the railroad tracks and
that it could cost the city
upwards of $150,000 -to
"finish off’ the Pecan St.
project and to drain “surface
water runoff.” Is'- ’’
The city has already spent
about $5,000 adding gravel
around some of the drain
inlets, he said, but more
needs to be done.
He maintained, however,
that drainage has improved
County auditor
assumes post
along Hill and Pecan Street,
especially in the school area.
But some water which
previously flowed in ditches,
he said, now collects on
Water and Main Streets.
Patek also pointed out
that since there is new
paving in areas near Main
Street and on the hill east of
State Highway 95, there is
more water to be drained.
Previously, much of that
water would have been
absorbed, he said.’
If the city had more
money, more equipment and
personnel, he argued, more
improvements could be
undertaken. As it is,, city
crews must “slowly improve
■>nit;-’ __
antiques business. He has
five grown children.
Incumbent Sheriff l.R.
(Nig) Hoskins thus faces four
opponents in the primary:
Taylor, Moseley, Royce
Young and Melvin Barnes.
Taylor said he is running
because he believes he can
increase the efficiency of the
office. "Nobody inticed me to
do this. I decided on my
ow n," he said.
Larry Roberson, Bastrop
County’s first offical auditor,
told county commissioners
Monday he is "ready to go to
work."
Under an agreement
worked out with County
Judge Jack A. Griesenbeck
and Roberson’s bosses in
Lockhart, the auditor will be
in Bastrop Monday, Wednes-
days, and Fridays between
12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. He
will draw a salary of $10,000
a year for his work.
Roberson, a graduate of
the University of Texas at
Austin and a Certified Public
Accountant, also serves as
Auditor for Caldwell County
half-time.
“The first thing I’d like to
do is an analysis of available
funds” in the county,
Roberson told the commis-
sioners court. “I need to see
how the year just ended
came out,” he said.
KNOWING HOW MUCH
Roberson described his
job as providing “informa-
tion service" as a basis for
spending decisions by the
court. He also promised
“monthly audit reports"
including calculations of the
money the county has
already committed itself to
spending, even if the money
has not beef, paid out.
On Roberson’s recommen-
3 . r, r, aa m rvi ioi’I nnor C Q ICA
UAUUII t luiiimijoiuiivi u
approved hiring an cutside
firm to audit the county’s
books for 1979. Roberson
Continued on Page 3
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• ^
lairry Roberson of Lockhart
work Monday after meeting with county commissioners. Staff Photo by Davis McAuley.
Bluebonnet Electric Co-op may build power plant
^Officials of Bluebonnet and
Perdernales electric co-op
are considering construction
of their own electric genera-
tion facilities to burn Texas
lignite in a "mine mouth
operation" at an undeter
mined location.
They have called for public
meetings next week to
explain plans for a $6.8
million feasibility study of
the project to co-op mem-
bers. Bluebonnet members
are invited to £ 10 a.m.
meeting Jan. 23 at the Sons
of Herman Hall inGiddings.
Before a power plant is
built, the two co-ops would
have to secure options on
lignite, either in Bastrop or
other counties, and pick a
location. The location would
have to pass federal and
state enviornmental impact
standards.
The two co-ops, which
presently buy their power
from the Lower Colorado
River Authority, have ar-
ranged for a $6.8 million Iqan
from the National Rural
Utilities Cooperative Fi-
nance Corporation to buy up
options on lignite reserves
and to conduct site selection
and environmental studies,
said Bluebonnet General
Manager Henry Umsheild in
Giddings.
BLUEBONNET SHARE
Based on the amount of
electricity purchased from
LCRA in 1978, Bluebonnet
would be responsible for 32
per cent of the'project and
Perdernales would pick up
the other 68 per cent, he
said.
According to Umsheid,
preliminary studies indicate
th(fe co-ops could save up to
14 per cent on electricity
generated from local lignite
over the cost of power from
LCRA’s Fayette Power
Project which burns Mon-
tana coal.
U.S. Representative J.J.
“Jake” Pickle this week
urged co-op members to
attend the informational
meetings.
BIG DECISION
“If the $6.8 million loan
shows that the co-ops should
have their own electrical
generating and transmission
capacity, then the building of
a lignite-fired plant would
probably be a $1 billion
investment for the members
of the co-ops," Pickle said.
"The magnitude of the
potential undertaking is the
biggest decision facing these
two . co-ops since their
creaftion, and it is important
that all members involve
themselves in knowing the
facts of the loan proposal,
and the prospects for future
generating activities," he
added.
Gutted house
draws $300 fine
Tracy Jane (Mathis)
Williams was sentenced to
five years probation, fined
$300 and ordered to pay $500
restitution to the Bastrop
Fire Department by 21st
District Judge J$hn L.
Placke Monday.
Mrs. Williams, 19, was
charged with arson in the
Labor Day fire which
destroyed a house belonging
to Hilbert Williams north of
Bastrop on State Highway 95.
In a statement given to
Bastrop patrolman Oscar
Dungan shortly after the
fire, she described herself as
the “common law wife" of
Williams and said she set fire
to the house to “get
revenge" after he beat her.
According to Dungan’s
written report, she said she
set fire to curtains in the
house with a box of matches,
then went out into a field
behind the house to watch a
while before hitching a ride
to the sheriffs office in
Bastrop where she turned
herself in.
Bluebonnet officials, how
ever, called Pickle’s $1
billion figure only specula-
tion at this point. \
"I do not prejudge
whether or not the proposed
course of Action is right or
wrong. I know that the
co-op’s directors are only
motivated by a desire to
obtain electricity for its
members at the lowest
possible cost. Whether or
not the co-ops build their
own power plant is a decision
for the co-op members acting
through their elected Board
of Directors," said Pickle.
SECOND CORP.
Directors of the two
co-ops have formed another
corporation called Texland
Electric Cooperative as the
entity applying for the
feasibility study loan. The
loan, however, must be
underwritten by both co-ops
since at this point Texland
exists only “on paper,” said
Umsheid.
The proposed loan has the
approval of bankers for the
co-ops and of the Rural
Electrification Administra-
tion, he said.
Bluebonnet and Perder-
nales co-ops are each
represented by three mem-
bers on Texland’s board of
directors.
A Bluebonnet spokesman
indicated that as early as
1975 the co-op had urged
LCRA to consider Texas
lignite as a fuel source, but a
1976 decision to use western
coal at the joint LCRA-City
of Austin Fayette Power
Project encouraged the co-op
to consider its own lignite-
burning facility.
"What we’re looking at is
the feasibility of other fuel,
generating sources
cheaper electricity,"
Umsheid. He stressed
Bluebonnet is not
“rock throwing" at
See Page 2
for a report
on the controversial
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of Central Texas
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McAuley, Davis. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), No. 91, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 17, 1980, newspaper, January 17, 1980; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth735600/m1/1/?rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bastrop Public Library.