Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 82, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 24, 1986 Page: 1 of 66
sixty six pages : ill. ; page 24 x 15 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
I been working for the
Burleson Star about three
months when I began my jour-
nalistic career here and she
never let me forget which of us
had "seniority" around the office.
Even after I’d been here 10 or 12
years—most of that time as
editor—she still introduced me to
people as jhe "new boy." 1 got
back at her, though, by telling
people she was the "oldest
Star employee.” * (
In truth, I , don't think Mary
Cowley Would aver have* beerr^1,
"old” even if she Ka$L ItVerfmiicVr.i'l
longer than hyr 49^'years. She
died. .Saturday just three days
after observing that milestone in
her 4ifc.
As much as those of us who
knew and loved her admired her
strength and courage during
\ those painful last years, it was
Vdic way she faced life more than,,, |
-me way she faced death thafhad
the most impact on other
people's lives. "I’ve never heard
30 PAGES IN 2 SECTIONS
4^ ' ifiA
* - ...
% m
MARY COWLEY
feai
hu
as a friend.
IT WAS MY GOOD fortune to
woVk with Mary for almost 13
years. Longer than I’ve ever
worked with anyone else. She
went to work for this newspaper
in 1970, two. years after she
moved to Burleson with her hus-
band Sam and two children, Kim
and Craig. It was her first
newspaper job. She had worked
for the corporation court in Fort
Worth before accepting the
parttime job closer to home.
She started out doing some of
the bookkeeping, taking classi-
fied ads, and working in the com-
posing room. Before long she
was working full time as society
news and church news editor. In
that capacity, she handled the
bulk of the ."soft" news, that is
the feature stories and
stories that arc so integral
personality—and success—of any
newspaper. The late Wayne Hut*.*
son, former owner and publish^
“people"
al to the
of the Star, handled the “hard”
news at the time and I oan’^ im-
agine being part ofta belter team.
Both’ made a lasting impriht on
me. Mary had an endless source
of .^patience and compassion.
Never once in 13 years did I hear
h«L raise her voice to anyone.
SK spoke softly and slowly like a
true .Southern lady, although I
always kidded her about being a
"Yankee” because she was bom
in Kansas.
Somehow her patience eluded
me, but the compassion and love
that both Mary and Wayne felt
for this community and its peo-
ple is ingrained in me and in this
paper and probably in
>ne else either of them
into contact with.
MARY WASN’T JUST friendly,
she was a friend. There’s a dif-
ference. When you needed some-
thing, you could call on her and
she made you feel that you were
doing |ier a favor instead of the
otWway {around.
4$hen my son was bom she
was the one who kept my
daughter. She’s helped out when
I had a sick child on press day.
She was a Christian lady who
professed her faith more by deed
than by word.
About three years ago, failing
health began to interfere with
her duties as advertising director
and she retired, leaving me, as
she put it, as the "senior citizen
of The Star." She left# void here
that was felt by the newest em-
ployee all the way to the "oldest.”
One of my first actions when I-
became publisher was to call
Mary to see if her health would
permit her to come back to work
in any capacity for as many—or
as few—hours as she wished.
Unfortunately, she told me, her
failing eyesight would not allow
her to work even on a limited
basis.
IT WAS HER presence that
was missed here more than any
work she could .Jiave contributed,
although her many job accom-
plishments speak for themselves.
On periodic sui*Vt#f we*'rim,
there are still numerous calls to
resume the Homemaker Series
that Mary initiated while she
was here.
She told Managing Editor Dot-
tie Wilson during an interview
for a women's section two years
ago that she enjoyed the home-
maker series as much as anyth-
ing she did wh
newspaper. It gave
portunity to meet and talk to a lot
of interesting people. It also gave
a lot of people the opportunity to
meet and talk to a very interest-
ing person. And a very special
person. W
They buried Mary Tuesday. But
the sparkle in her eyes and her
ready smile have long been com-
mitted to the memory of her
family and friends. Nothing can
take that away even though the
woman herself is now, only a
memory.
But she’s a very good memory
And that's about th$xbest epithet
"ally of us can hope to have.
■V
Vol. 21 No. 82
July 24,1986
BURLESQN^STAR
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
For Mail Delivery
295-0486
Mr
BISD feels budgetary press
" ~ ^ Those unfortunate among us ves ^f^300.00^|jMt it nagnjj^flsO
, V /?——I RMH who hre caught between “a rock nudi--hhejy^j4^«l^ijty’s»mutiny
Burinoa SurCLENN COCHRAN
I osion
Exph
At K-Bob 9s
Burleson volunteer firefighters extinguish flames in a tar pit that
exploded and started a fire at K-Bob’s Restaurant Tuesday. No in-
juries were reported and damage was contained to the building’s
exterior, but the restaurant closed a few days for repair*.
unfortunate among us
caught between1® rock;
lard place may henceforth
their situation to ihbt of.
/^Burleson School Board.
vis an enviable position to
school board members
H they are getting the
worst end of the deal as they con-
sider the budget options offered
Monday night.
Like that old gray mare, state
Ending for education ain’t what
she used to be. To be more pre-
cise, If state spending levels for
education remain at their present
rate—no sure thing—the BISD
stands to lose about $4^0.000 in
state funds from next year’s
budget. Couple that with the om-
inous threats of state budget cuts
and the opening of a new el-
ementary school locally and you
have the stuff of which trustee
headaches are made.
As Superintendent of Schools
Gordon Cockerham sees it, the
board has four options (and they
relate well to those two fabled
chances, Slim and None).
Option #1—This is the one
recommended by the administra-
tion. It would utilize $495,000 in
reserves to balance the budget.
The goodMiews is that it would
also retain existing programs and
services at existing levels and re-
tain all compensation im-
provements tor employees.
Option #2—This option would
only dip irttfc'lhe district’s reser-
ves by4300,00(
*' Jl.v’s .
' aee'com-
>"tc^«H9Hr^ T'ld ma*n”
tain ewKKfMs or programs
'jfrtd'scrvfjwould cut $195,-
000 fronJJsfnA salaries of pro-
fessional employees. Teacher pay
cuts are not Recommended by
Cockerham. He told trustees the
BISD is struggling just to keep
from getting farther behind area
districts in tender compensa-
tion. “We're *n6C even fn *€r poM-
lion of trying to catch up,” he
said.
Option #3—This one involves
no reserve funds; instead, it
would reduce the budget by the
$495,000 necessary to balance
revenues and expenditures. It
sounds nice and easy, but this
could only be accomplished by
abolishing programs that are not
mandated by the state and reduc-
ing stalling accordingly.
Option #4—Any combination
of the above options and/or any
other alternatives that would
comply with state laws and
regulations.
Cockerham, long an advocate
of building up the district's sa&.
Wh^hsJ canfeTiere, we otdfT
had $60,00tNiKreserves, but now
we have the money there if we
chose to use it this year,” he
said.
The district now has more than
$1.5 million in reserves.
Any of the options will mean
an increase in taxes for most tax-
payers, even though a recent
re^UiMion W>.lik«br., to h«M: • - 4^
down the tax rate. The tax rate
being tentatively used in budget
drafts is 824 per $100 valuation.
The current rate is $96.54.
NEXT YEAR COULD also
bring an increase in the tax rate,
according to Cockerham, as well
as a salary freeze.
Should the board decide this
year to cut programs for next
year, those decisions should be
made early in the school year, he
said, so that personnel involved
in the cuts will have adequate
time to find employment else-
where.
The major expenditures con-
tributing to the increase in the
’8gf87 budget total $1,343jC
ging resetve accent, advised jb^^Just over* hall of matL&m&jj
make*long range plans for nex*tf^^a^'jWditjc^al >erspfinel is
year since the well will run ufx—-ttu>o r
quickly it reserves are used
routinely tor general operating
revenue. He also pointed out.
however, that the purpose of
;r-
nel
required next yeaj/ because
of the opening of the new Jack C.
Taylor Elementary and because
ol the state requirement ol one
See Budget, Page 2
Groups sponsor
back-to-school
aid program
W’- ”•'
BY TERRY M. EVANS
, Burleson's Harvest House and
the Burleson Ministerial Alliance
’ Auxiliary have hit on a way to
’> overcome some of the trauma of
the first day of school for
children in poor families.
Kay Smith said the First Bap-
tist Church Women’s mission
gt'oup is building a Little Red
School House that the organ-
izations will use the same way
the Angel TVee is used during
.Christmas.
Tfie^ BMAA project will have
Back-To-School Angels instead of
Christmas Angels with family
case numbers and needs printed
on them.
Registration of needy families
will begin Monday. To apply for
aid, families can clip a coupon
from the July 28 issue of the
Burleson Star or call the Harvest
House at 295-6252.
Five angels per child will be
hung on the school house when
it is placed in Bransom’s
Grocery, 200 E. Renfro, Aug. 11.
They will cany the case numbers
for the family, so in the case of a
family with five children there
will be 25 angels with the same
case number.
The school house display will
remain in the store for two
weeks and volunteers of the
BMAA will pick up clothes
donatiorts daily. Recipients will
pick up their children s clothes
Thursday, Aug. 28, in time for the
opening of school the next Tues-
day, Smith said.
Contributors will be asked to
buy new pants and shirts or
dresses, underclothes, socks, and
shoes for Burleson ISD children
in grades K-12, but youngsters
between 10 and 12 years old are
specifically targeted.
Smith explained that the
BMAA believes children in the
targeted age group are more sus-
ceptible to trauma from devastat-
ing peer pressure. "It’s more
important to have nice clothes at
the start of school than at
Christmas,” she said.
Envelopes will also be hung
the school house to iucilil
cash donations,
• • .v* * :
.
V %■ ' !
■ '•
m*i\k tikio s.i\IX*
on
italc
---------•* Twin Bridges New Reality
Joe Edwards, of Nano Bridge and Culvert Co., takes the last bolts bridges, rails must be mounted on one side, and strlpbtg must be
out of temporary guardrails Monday as work enters the final stage painted before the Job Is complete. He said the work could be
on the Twin Bridges on County Road 600. Truman Thornton, site finished by Thursday (July 24).
foreman, said one mors layer of asphalt must be shot on both
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Moody, James. Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 82, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 24, 1986, newspaper, July 24, 1986; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth761065/m1/1/: accessed June 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Burleson Public Library.