Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 84, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 31, 1986 Page: 1 of 39
thirty nine 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:
mBrnw
30 PAGES IN 2 SECTIONS
THURSDAY
EDITION
Vol. 21 No. 84
July 31,1986
BURLESONS l AK
COPYRIGHT 1985 BURLESON STAR
TWENTY-FIVE CENTS
For Mail DoUvory
295-0486
BMAA strives to
continue outreach
Fire Destroys
Clubhouse
SPECIAL TO THE BUMLESON STAB BY SHARON BROWN
Firefighters try to douac flame* Tuesday that ultimately leveled the
Tbp of the Hill Club In Mountain Valley. No Injuries were reported,
but the Are was of suspicious nature and is being Investigated by
the Joshua VFD Are marshal. The building had been vacant for a
few years and was reportedly a Juvenile hangout.
Structure is a total loss
The Top of the Hill Club in
Mountain Valley was reduced to
ashes Tuesday when a fire started
shortly before 9:30 p.m
Almost 50 firefighters answered
the call to the vacant clubhouse
on Lakeaire Dnve, according to
Joshua VFD Assistant Fire Chief
Doug Tiylor
No injuries were reported, but
Taylor said the fire is under in-
vestigation by Joshuas fire
marshal
The building had been vacant
for more than two years, accord-
ing to Cpt Randy Tatarevich of
the Joshua PD He said he
believed some furniture was
stored there
Tktarevich said the building
was frequented by juveniles
All five units of the Joshua
VFD and 22 firefighters were at
the scene, but Thylor said the
building was completely involved
when he arrived on the first unit.
Crowley VFD sent two units and
eight firefighters. While Burleson
VFD responded with three units
and 15 firefighters, Ihylor said.
Taylor said the budding belonged
to the Mountain Valley Assoc-
iation.
Crowley police chief
asked to resign post
BY TERRY M. EVANS
the Crowley City Council
asked their chief of police to step
down Saturday and placed Ruby
Hall on administrative leave
while she makes up her mind
about a resignation
Voting 4-1, the council decided
to ask Hall to resign, citing lack
of confidence in her ability to
perform as police chief.
Councilwoman Jean Parks said
there were "numerous, little,
building problems' that inspired
the council to take the action
Parks said Hall was present
when the council’s decision was
announced, but made no reply to
the request for her resignation
More than one source sugges-
ted that Hall's recent trip to En-
gland, accompanied by a female
Crowley patrol officer, con-
tributed to her troubles with the
city While the city did not fund
or authorize the trip, the objec-
tion was allegedly over Patrol Of-
ficer Sue Long s taking the trip
on compensatory time that the
council was unaware she had
compiled Hall authorized the of-
ficer's use of the comp time
without the council’s knowledge,
according to sources.
The officer had not been with
the city long enough to have ac-
crued vacation time and depart-
ment policy allegedly slates that
compensatory time must be
taken as quickly as it is compiled,
according to a source near the
council.
Some citizen complaints against
Hall include that ner manage-
ment tactics have gutted the
department
She has caused 17 people to
leave the department since she
became chief last year,” said
Mack West, a former Crowley
city councilman "She either
fired them or forced them to
quit. Four of the best officers
quit and went to the Burleson
Police Department during one
month.”
Burleson has six officers who
have joined the BPD after leaving
the Crowley PD in the last year,
according to a BPD source.
They were real good cops, and
I wish we had them back,” West
See Acting, page 4
BY DOTTIE WILSON
During the last year and one
half the Burleson Ministerial
Alliance Auxiliary (BMAA) has
been reaching out to help others.
The words, in fact, comprise the
motto of the organization and
are pan of the BMAA logo shown
here
They have reached out to many
and helped those from our area
who were in need. President
Gary Matzner, Harvest House
Volunteer Director Kay Smith,
and all of the board members
and the volunteers have some
new things in mind, ways to
reach even more people and ex-
tend the ministry. They think the
growth in needs and services has
proven that the BMAA is no lom,,
ger the “small miracle” which it
was dubbed early in its exis-
tence.
Matzner and many of those
close to the work of the BMAA—
the coming together of many
denominations in Christian peo-
ple ot different backgrounds to
serve the hungry, sick, displaced,
troubled, old, and young in the
community of Burleson —is no
longer such a small miracle.
Many of the programs planned
for the future—the dreams ot
those involved in BMAA work —
simply aren't possible at the pre-
sent time, primarily because of
lack of funds. That problem also
keeps the Harvest House open
only on a part time basis. “The
needs ot our clients have
outgrown a part time agency,"
said Kay Smith "We need to be
open live days a week; enough
people4* use our services to
warrant that .”
THE PROBLEM, as with most
assistance agencies such as the
BMAA Harvest House, is that
they operate on donated funds
which can be “hit and miss.”
They have been grateful for the
individual donations and those
from local churches which have
kept the agency afloat tor the
lime ot its existence. And they are
particularly proud of the com-
munity response to the last two
years' Holiday Friends program
at Christmas time and this year's
new program to provide school
clothes tor disadvantaged child-
ren.
But the future of the ministry—
whether or not new programs
can be implemented, programs
which board members feel are
needed right away—depends on
receiving regular, monthly dona-
tions that they know they can
count on It's the key to being
able to move ahead to fill the
needs of local people in bad
situations, said Smith.
“If each familv in each mem-
Retching Out To Help Others
her church would donate $1 per
month regularly, that would take
care of our needs—we could
move ahead with our plans,” she
said. The amount would be very
affordable for one family, most
people would hardly miss it. But
when all those dollars are put
together each month, they would
mount up to a fund which would
mean all the difference to the
Harvest House operation, Smith
explained.
“WE NEED THE PEOPLE of
Burleson to help us help the peo-
ple ol Burleson," she said, em-
phasizing again that assistance is
given to needy people of our own
city and some ol the small sur-
rounding communities which
have no such agencies them-
selves.
Both Smith and Matzner are
anxious to get out the word of
the BMAA ministry—w'hat they
are doing, jiow they have grown,
the scope of the clients' needs,
and the specific needs of the
agency itself Volunteers will be
going to the churches first, talk-
ing with each pastor about those
needs, but they also want to
reach out into other areas of the
community to inform more
Burleson citizens who may not
be as familiar with the work.
Matzner commented, "We
would like to have a board mem-
ber come to speak with each
civic or social organization in
town, give a program on the
BMAA, tell them all about the
ministry. Any group who would
be interested should contact the
Harvest House to schedule a pro-
gram.” The number is 295-
6252.
He explained that while there
are some giants in the works, the
agency has always been primarily
locally funded by churches arid
the Christian Heritage Founda-
tion of Cleburne The work has
simply outgrown the funding
now being received ' .Most ot the
grants involve providing for the
house itself, and one <.»! our
biggest needs at this time is lor
personnel —to be able to provide
a salary for a director," he said.
The Harvest House directorship
has always been a volunteer posi-
tion, but the lime commitment is
too great and the workload too
extensive now for it to remain
that way.
FOR EACH OF THE three
days per week that the Harvest
House is open (Monday, Wed-
nesday, and Friday) they try to
have three to four people there to
handle clients’ needs and the
sorting, organizing, and distribu-
tion of clothing and food. “It's
been really hard during the sum-
mer people don’t want to make
the time commitment during
vacation months, and you can't
blame them." said Smith
One ol the newest programs
being organized by the BMAA is
the Back-To-School Angel Tree.
The First Baptist Church Wo-
men’s Mission is building a little
red schoolhouse (which pro-
bably won’t be so little) to be
placed in Bransom’s Grocery
Aug. 11 It will be covered with
angels with children’s case num-
bers and back to school needs
placed on them, and the program
will work much like the Christmas
angel tree.
Residents of Burleson who
want to help a disadvantaged
youngster have a new outfit for
the first of school will select their
angel, purchase the item listed
there, and return it to the store.
Daily pick-ups of the school
clothes and school supplies will
be made, and the items will be
distributed on Aug. 28. just
before school begins.
A coupon runs regularly in the
Burleson Star for those who
wish to apply for their children
All of the children are attending
the Burleson ISD, and youngsters
K-12 will be included.
BUT IN ADDITION to the
brand new back to school pro-
gram, those working with BMAA
Harvest House would also like to
initiate some other needed pro-
grams. “We need more volun-
teers to help with a weatherization
program for our senior citizens
and underpriviliged. We would
like to go out to homes which
desperately need insulation and
other measures to save on utility
bills. We would also like to have
volunteers who are willing to do
auto repairs for our clients. Both
ol those items are very costly for
them, so many have trouble ever
getting out of debt because of
utility and auto repair bills,”
said Smith
All of these volunteers will
become a part ot a re-activated
list, now being handled by Lcla
Miller And if enough people—
electricians, plumbers, doctors,
See BMAA, page 4
RETTA: Loyal citizens reside in the town that isn’t
BY TERRY M. EVANS
Retta isn't a town and never
was
Thcic was a train depot, ot
sorts until the ItiNN Railroad
discontinued service to the area
Even the tiavks are gone now.
Iheie was a cotton gin, until,
as one ol the oldest residents put
it "the lat mers stalled growing
peanuts instead ol cotton "
There was even a post office,
until it moved to Rendon. That
community also lost the post ol-
liee. hut that's another story.
Retta is what it was around the
turn ol the century, a cross-
roads
There's a church, which the
pastor proudly claims is the fas-
test growing ol its kind in the
country.
There's an industry or two.
Rendon Road Animal Clinic is
close enough to the crossroads
of County Roads 1015 and 531
that it could be considered part
ol Retta And a machine shop
operates in a pasture near the
store that most motorists rec-
ognize as the center ot Retta.
THE STORE IS CLOSED and
hasn't been a store since 1977
The tracks of the 1GNN
(nobody could remember what
the initials stood lor) run north
to south about 500 feet from the
store and one of the men who
run the train was responsible for
the community receiving its
name
Barbara Maxwell said the
depot was more like a llagstop
tor farmers to catch the train
into Fort Worth. A man who
worked on the train got the idea
that the community would some-
day be a big town and named the
llagstop alter his wile, she
saivl
Brothers-in-law who owned
the cotton gin, men named
Thornton and Widener, divided
the land into lots in 1^06 and
planned to establish a town. But
when the cotton played out-1-*
Barbara Maxwell said the men
were going as tar away as
Arlington to get cotton around
the turn ol the century —so did
the plans lor Retta township.
Clara Maxwell still lives in the
house behind the brick store
whose facade carries the com-
munity’s name. She said her hus-
band Clyde built both structures,
and the two of them got into the
mercantile business quite by ac-
cident. and quite against her
will.
The store and house were built
for W M Whitaker. However,
Whitaker died shortly after the
completion of the store and his
wife’s relative burned the build-
ing to coerce her to moving into
Foil Worth with his family, Clara
Maxwell said.
8m Store, Page 10
•$>
I
: ffif.
V
Store Out Of Grocery Business
,, <3*
"vi>
Clam Maxw* 11 stand* In front of tbs store aha and hor husband
operated from 1930 to 1972 at tha crossroads In latte. Thors hasn't
bssn msrchandl* buslntss In th* budding stnc* 1977 and IT* bosn
vacant for a fsw years. Whan
slurs,
turn*-os •nurrsaat a. mw
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. 84, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 31, 1986, newspaper, July 31, 1986; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth761152/m1/1/: accessed July 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Burleson Public Library.