Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 19, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 2, 1984 Page: 1 of 26
twenty six pages : ill. ; page 24 x 15 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
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Diving Into The Conflagration
Black smoke
covers area
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James Walker, street maintenance operator, wrestles his front loader into the rim
of the burning tires to establish a fire break and allow firefighters to begin control-
ling the blaze that did an estimated half-million dollars damage to the inventory of
the Texas Tire Terminal. Photo by Terry M. Trans
Getting Above It All
Firefighters from Fort Worth utilize an aerial truck to fight the fire from al,
all, eight cities’ fire departments responded to the fire at Texas Tire Teriiun.
several grass fires along the tracks through Burleson and ( rowlev
Photo h\ li rr\ M !
A spectacular blaze caused by thou-
sands of burning tires spewed dark
black smoke into the air that could be
seen over 25 miles away Tuesday after
jiomrtn Burleson.
A southbound Missouri Pacific train
ignited several grass fires between
Crowley and Briaroaks, one of which
spread to the Texas Tire Terminal, 575
N. Burleson Blvd., on the west service
road of 1-35 in north Burleson.
Eight fire departments from the area
and about 150 firemen responded to the
fire that eventually destroyed 35,000
tires valued at well over $1 million.
There were no structures damaged by
the blaze. The tires were outside in a
fenced area.
“Fortunately for us, it was nothing
but smoke and fire,” Burleson Fire
Additional pictures
on Pg. 2
larsh,
da/^at the fire site. “The smoke went
clear out to Richland Hills.”
Fire departments from Burleson,
Fort Worth, Crowley, Joshua, Keene,
Briaroaks, Rendon, and Edgecliff
fought the fire during the late afternoon
and evening hours. A unit from Ben-
brook stood by at the Crowley Fire Sta-
tion and one from Joshua had stand-by
duties at the Burleson Fire Station.
THE FIREMEN had problems with
traffic because many motorists on the
west service road and on 1-35 were stop-
ping to watch the blaze. Policemen
from the Burleson Police Department,
the Fort Worth Police Department, the
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, and
the Department of Public Safety aided
in directing the rush-hour traffic on
1-35. “The police had problems keeping
the people moving,” Smith commented.
The southbound traffic on the interstate
was backed up to InterstateJ20. , <w
There were no injuries during the fire*
except for a Crowley fireman who suf-
fered a small facial cut and was treated
by Regional Ambulance at the scene.
Western Emergency Service supplied
a special foam Tuesday that was used
to spray other tires in the terminal
which were beginning to be ignited by
the intense heat.
“I want to extend a big ‘thank you’ to
everyone who participated,” Smith
said. The large response prevented the
fire from possibly consuming the
businesses on the west service road, he
added.
THE FIREMEN got gasoline and
diesel for their firetrucks from
Lambert Oil Co., and received food and
drink at the scene from McDonald’s,
Bransom’s, Los Charros, and Pizza Inn.
Mike Lancaster and James Walker, Ci-
ty of Burleson vehicle operators, were
able to remove tires to form a fire
break Others lending assistance, ac-
cording to Sergeant John Crawford of
the Burleson Police Department, were
Jeanie Roden, Kay Fair, Donal Carter,
Mike Cowen, Poly Sain, and Alan Sain.
An unrelated fire Monday night com-
pletely destroyed a home in the Green
Oaks area south of Burleson. Three
Briaroaks units, two from Burleson and
one from Alvarado responded at 6:38
p.m. to the house on 316 Dudley Lane,
behind the rest area on 1-35.
The residents of the home, Mark and
Nancy McGinnis and two children,
were not home at the time of the blaze.
There were no injuries in the fire except
for some slight burns suffered by fire-
men.
The home was a total loss and a fund
has been set up for the McGinnis family
at the Burleson State Bank. Gifts of
clothing or appliances would also be ap-
preciated. For more information, one
may call Marilyn Scogin at 295-8935 or
295-7382.
BURLESOAh&TAR
Vol. 19, No. 32
February 2, 1984
THURSDAY EDITION
New school finance
plan to aid BISD
A proposed school finance plan for-
mulated by State Comptroller Bob
Bullock would mean an influx of state
tax dollars into the Burleson Inde-
pendent School District.
Just how much additional state
money would be flowing into the local
coffers depends on a number of vari
ables, including the final shape of the
finance plan, the amount of new state
money poured into education, and to
what extent school funding is redis-
tributed throughout the state. Some of
the new money would also -undoubt-
ably be “pass through” money in the
form of higher teacher salaries.
Preliminary figures released this
week by Bullock indicate that the BISD
could expect a windfall of around
$300,000 even if no new state funds are
put into education—an unlikely event.
Additional state money and considers
tion of special education and mi-
nority children are almost musts if the
finance plan is to be politically ac-
ceptable to many of the state’s larger
school districts, believes BISD Super
intendent of Schools Gordan Cocker-
ham.
For example, the Dallas ISD would
stand to lose over $16.5 million to poor-
er school districts if state funding
Alert action halts
rape in progress
The alertness and thoroughness of a
Burleson police officer early Sunday
morning halted a sexual assault in pro-
gress and led to the arrest of three men.
Sergeant Bill Leader was patrolling
on McAlister Road in north Burleson
when he spotted a suspicious vehicle
parked off the road. Upon checking the
vehicle, Leader found three males and
a 15-year-old female in the back seat
who told him that she had been sexually
assaulted.
Arrested were Edward Pompa Gar-
za, 19, Jesse Longoria III, 17, and
Michael Wayne James, ,19, all of Fort
Worth. The trio was charged with ag-
gravated sexual assault, a first-degree
felony, booked at the Burleson Police
Department, and placed in the Burle-
son jail.
The victim, also a resident of Fort
Worth, had bruises on her neck, two
lumps on her head, and small bruises
on her upper left arm, according to
Burleson police. She was sent to John
Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth for
an examination and has undergone
counseling by Rape Crisis, Burleson
police said.
THE FEMALE TEENAGER was
walking on the 700 block of W. Berry
near the intersection with Travis in
Fort Worth at 11-midnight Saturday
when a car pulled along the curb and a
handgun was pointed at her. She was
pulled into the car at gunpoint and was
driven around the Hemphill, Berry and
Biddison area of south Fort Worth
before being taken to a remote part of
Burleson off McAlister Road.
A loaded 25-calibre automatic was
found in the car, Burleson police said.
Garza and Longoria live in the South-
side part of Fort Worth while James
lives in southwest Fort Worth.
The victim resides in the North Side
of Fort Worth but was staying with her
father with a cousin in the Berry Street
area last weekend. She was walking to
the 7-Eleven store on the corner of
Hemphill and Berry at the time of the
abduction.
IN ADDITION TO THE charges filed
by Burleson police, the Fort Worth
Police Department has filed aggra
vated kidnapping charges against the
three men.
“It’s a good example of: it’s 10
o’clock; do you know where your child
is," officer Bruee Fayette said of the
case. "This can happen anywhere. This
is not unique to Fort Worth. It can hap-
pen here."
remained at its present level. In fact, it
would take $500 million in new state
funding just for the Dallas ISD to reach
the breakeven point. On the other hand,
some of the big losers—Fort Worth,
Houston, Austin. Odessa—would begin
to reverse their fortunes at $200 million
in increased state expenditures for
education.
SINCE SPECIAL education classes
and minority students are generally
clustered in urban school districts,
additional compensation for these stu-
dents could also help many of the larger
districts.
Another incentive for even the largest
school districts to accept some form of
Bullock’s plan is the alternative: “If
the legislature doesn’t do it, then the
courts will," believes Cockerham.
The BISD superintendent said he had
only read through Bullock’s finance
plan once, but that he basically sup-
ported a simplified method of school
finance Most of theBurleson financial
gains will come through the redis-
tribution process or “equalization" of
school wealth, he believes. “Everyone
seems to agree it’s an issue that has to
be addressed,” he said.
Because of the extreme diversity of
the states more than 1,000 school dis-
tricts, any formula—including Bull-
ock’s simplified one—is bound to create
some inequities as it tries to eliminate
them, Cockerham said. One of the
reasons for the state having such a
complicated method for determining
state assistance lies in the attempt to
address such a variance of needs.
Even though not all inequities will be
eliminated, Cockerham said he felt that
most school officials would prefer to
have the state come up with the plan
rather than the courts.
IT’S NOT JUST THE state’s mam
moth-sized school districts who stand to
be potential losers in the race for
school funds. Virtually all the school
districts with enrollment under 500
students—approximately 40 percent of
the total number of school districts—
would receive decreased funding if
Bullock’s proposal is implemented. In-
creases in state spending for education
would have little effect in easing the
negative effect on these districts. No
“hold harmless” clause has been in-
cluded in Bullock’s plan. Usually added
to any new school finance plan, a hold
harmless clause would prevent any
school district from suffering a drastic
drop in state funds over any one year—
generally 10 percent would be tops.
For example, Slidell, a district of
about 125 students on the Wise-Denton
County line, would lose over $150,000
with no new state funding and would
still lose almost $128,000 with a billion
dollars in new state money for
education
Based on Bullock’s projections. Bur
leson would receive an additional
$294,761 more state funding with no
increase in state education funding:
$688,892 with increased state expendi-
tures of $200 million; $1,083,022 with
$400 million; $1,477,153 with $600
million; $1,871,284 with $800 million;
and $2,261,222 with an additional billion
in state money put into education
Those estimates were based on a low
estimate of enrollment Bullock figured
the ’84-’85 BISD enrollment at 4.484. or
some 500 students below current
figures.
The amount of money available de-
pends primarily on what new—if any—
taxes are levied for education by the
legislature
There are both winners and losers
among other area school districts, but
virtually all of them move over into the
winners' column when $200 million is
added to the education fund Glen Rose
is a notable exception to that That
school district stands to lose almost a
half million dollars with no new funds
added and is still among the losers even
if a billion dollars in new money is put
into education.
Other area districts and the amount
each would gain or lose if the Bullock
plan .were to be implemented at current
expenditures: Cleburne, $126,558;
Mansfield, $125,019; Grandview.
$35,798; Venus, $194,583; Rio Vista.
$29,525; Godley, $35,577; Keene.
$1,649; Lillian, $21.544; Alvarado,
$215,532; Joshua, $212,409; Everman.
$303,336; and Crowley, $73,347
AT PRESENT STATE funding levels,
52 percent of the state’s 2.7 million
public school students would benefit
from more state aid under Bullock's
plan. With $200 million in increased
funding, then 79 percent of the students
would get more.
Bullock said the aim of the plan,
which he has proposed to the Select
Committee on Education, “is to give
every child in Texas equal access to a
quality education without regard to
where that child lives and goes to
school."
He said that the plan has been
criticized because some school officials
think n will cost (he;” ,
“These same people a it: a irr..
threatened *ith a ina; •
challenging our state cdi.nr:i.
system and i! we don t chant*
judge will step in and do it i..:
I'd rather pay our state •• » ,
dollars toa tgacher in .. t lassr.
to a lawyer in a court
“We can get m.u e mr oui ,■< ••
dollars by junking our presen*
finance plan, w hich ; • v. *■.,• i :
do." Bullock said Ms- i
school children get more d nl. -
school boards are fret It'deal
needs, poorer districts gc n.
help they need, and mor* mm >\
es the classroom
Six separate enrollment can u>,
are required to operate the tor . u.,-
Bullock s plan
“None of this has to cos ,
than we are paying toda\ , ,
to be better managed I! th* . ■
decides to devote more moi
lion, then this plan is flVxi*' •
put state dollars no matte,
dollars we re talking at.,;::
students are and where n,
greatest
WHILE HE M AS Mil h; , v
tunity to study Builnck’s plan
Cockerham said it lookec
comptroller and his stal: i.„ ‘ .....
thorough job of studying an.:
zing the education financial - a
In many cases, the present h i‘r:im
unnecessarily complicated I ■ vet
simpler method would be app: * .pr
the superintendent said :c-
bound to be a better mouse:. .,;. * w
there somew here
Banquet
tonight
The annual banquet of the Burleson
Area Chamber of Commerce will be
held tonight at the Pauline C. Hugh. *
Middle School cafeteria Bee* j tioi
begins at 6:30 with dinner seixed a
7:30.
Highlighting the affair will be tl
naming of the Burleson Citizen of lb.
Year and the Burleson ISD Teacher
the Year. New officers and directors of
the chamber will also be recogroz*
Principal speaker will be l.mf •
Seltzer, a motivational speaker wT
emphasizes "people power “
i
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Moody, James. Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 19, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 2, 1984, newspaper, February 2, 1984; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth760644/m1/1/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Burleson Public Library.