Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 93, Ed. 1 Monday, September 1, 1986 Page: 1 of 42
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20 PAGES IN 1 SECTION
MONDAY
EDITION
Vol. 21 No. 93
BURLESON
September 1, 1986
COPYRIGHT* 1986 BURLESON STAR
TWENTY-FIVE CENTS )
Resident not flip about flooding
BY TERRY M. EVANS
Travis Plumlec said he doesn't
know where else to turn but the
media to get his family and home
protected.
He said a one-and-one-half-
year battle with Commissioner
David Russell to get something
done to stop repeated Hooding
around the residence has left
him bitter.
The Plumlees bought their
home, which is about 100 yards
down Ann-and-Dossy Street off
County Road 020, in March,
1985 The area is near the
Johnson/Tarrant County border
between Burleson and Crowley.
Their builder Bobby Murray
gave them no indication that any-
thing was wrung with the area’s
storm drainage, so they were
shocked the first time a heavy
rain created a rushing river
around them.
The lirst flood came April
27, 1985
"It is unnerving to look out
and see the property on all four
sides underwater," Plumlee said.
The roar of the rushing water
terrified my daughter It was her
fourth birthday and the trauma
of the experience ruined the day
for her ”
PLUMLEE SAID HE and his
wile Sharon watched the water
carry away rose bushes and trees
they had planted When it didn't
stop rising, a neighbor on the hill
near them brought bails of hay
and another brought sand bags
and they got them stacked |uxt in
time to keep the water out of
their house
Less than a month later, the
Plumlees and their friends
moved a little too slowly, and
water got into the front of the
house during a heavy rain
Hie Red Cross delivered some
sandbags that the Plumlees have
learned to keep handy in their
back yard In two floods since
Mav 21 198V the family and
then friends have been success-
ful in holding back the water
However. Plumlee lives in tear
of the dav fie and his wife and
daughter are away from the
house when a big thunderstorm
again puts their house in the
middle of a Mississippi River
impersonate!
He said that every tune more
than an inch of ram falls, cars
back up on CR 920 because the
water moving over the road gets
1 to Wi feet deep. All that water
has only one way to go—across
his property and on to Rock
Creek
THE ARMY CORPS OF En-
gineers told Plumlee that his
properly is not in a flood plane
and there is no reason it should
flood the way it does "It’s nor-
mally more like a desert than a
creekbed around us,” Plumlee
said “So we were stunned when
it flooded.”
The third time flood waters
threatened the Plumlee home
and carried away all their
landscaping, Travis Plumlee res-
ponded by putting up signs warn-
ing potential buyers of homes
across the street that his was
"Lakefront property, no beach."
He said the signs prompted
Murray to put in culverts, dig
deeper drainage ditches, pour
concrete on an embankment
next to CR 920, and force a
downstream neighbor to tear
down a dam on Rock Creek. The
changes helped, but did not cor-
rect the situation.
"Bobby has done everything he
can,” Plumlee said. "On June 1,
he and Commissioner Russell
came out to my house at my in-
vitation, but 1 was delayed at
work and missed meeting with
them.
"RUSSELL WAS GONE before
I got home, but Bobby said he
had left word for me to please
hold off calling the media for
one week so he would have a
chance to do something. Well,
now it’s almost September and
he hasn't done anything Every
fall and every spring 1 flood, and
that’s why I want him to do
something before the September
and October thunderstorms
come."
Plumlee was out of town when
the last flood hit. His wife had to
fight the rising water by herself
until neighbors got home.
Richard Morey and his wife
hurried to Sharon Plumlee’s side
May 9 and helped her stack
sandbags around the home’s
front and back porches.
“It looked like a shallow lake
out there,” Morey said. 'The
water ran pretty swift and it was
up to our knees in some places.
Sharon was pretty upset.”
Morey said when he and his
wife reached the Plumlee res-
idence he was almost afraid to
pull into the driveway. The water
was already over the entrance
and it was difficult to discern
where the ditches were on
either side.
PLUMLEE AGREES with
Morey and has warned the folks
who moved into those houses.
There is talk now about circulat-
ing a petition to force Com-
missioner Russell to do something
about the drainage along CR
920.
The flooding problem is going
to be compounded, Plumlee sug-
gests, when development gets un-
derway on a hill across CR 920
from his neighborhood.
Before that development gets
underway, Plumlee wants Russell
to dig drainage ditches deeper
and increase the size of culverts
along CR 920. He believes those
changes would carry water
further down the county road
and into the creek before they
could cross and flood his and his
neighbors’ properties.
"It’s really unfair that we have
to suffer flooding due to the inef-
fectiveness of our com-
missioner,” Plumlee said. “My
grandfather (W.C. Plumlee) was
a county commissioner for 38
years and was once appointed by
the governor to the highway
commission.
"He never let any of his con-
stituents flood. Some politicians
run for office to serve and help
their constituency. Others seem
to run for self-gratification and
are apathetic about the concerns
,^f their constituents.”
Pile Of Sandbags Kept Handy
Travis Plumlee tosses a sandbag onto a pile provided by the Red derstorms drop more than an Inch of rain. New homes across Ann-
Cross. He and his wife have learned to keep the sandbags close at and-Dossy Street from the Plumlee residence have yet to feel the
hand, ready to protect their home from rising water when thun- threat of flooding, but Plumlee believes their time is coming.
mm .d
* vm*
FmKm
Seeond Half Of Double-Header
Following Jim Robb’s presentation at the senior citizen's center
Thursday morning, Pete Geren, candidate for the 6th District Con-
gressional seat now held by Joe Barton, addressed the same
audience. He spoke to the group about the Silver Haired Legisla-
ture in Texas. At left is Beckle Geren, who distributed bluebonnet
seeds when the pair arrived.
Star delivered early
Tins edilion of the Burleson
Sim lias been prepared tor
delivers on Saturday, Aug 30
because ol the postal holiday on
Labor Day, Sept, 1
The BQrlcson Star offices will
be closed.all day on Labor Day.
Also closed will be most govern-
mental oil ices and financial in-
stitutions The majority ol retail
stores will be open though some
may have shorter hours. Many
are having special Labor Day
sales as evidenced by the volume
of ads inside this issue.
The garbage pickup schedule
lot the,week will be altered one
day during the early part of the
week. Monday's pickup will be
owsTucsday and Tuesday's sanita-
tion pickup will be on Wednes-
day At let that the schedule will
get back to normal lot the?
Thursday and Friday pickups.
Geren speaks to senior citizens
BY DOTTIE WILSON
l S Congressional candidate
Pete Geren spoke with Burleson’s
senior citizens Thursday morn-
ing about the impact and goals of
the Silver Haired Legislature.
But before the formal talk began,
he talked with them abtAif
bluebonnet seeds
Accompanied by his wife
Beckie — who distributed packets
of the state flower seeds among
the seniors —Geren chatted infor-
mally with his audience about
such things as which is the best
month foi sowing the seeds and
suggestions for assuring the
greatest success with the flow-
ers
I've had some people Suggest
to me that freezing the seeds in
ice cubes before thev’re dis-
tributed is the best way to sow
them," said Geren The seniors
liked that idea of taking care of
two things at one time Geren’s
listeners were warmed up tor the
very important information he
imparled on the Silvei Haired
Legislature
Geren will oppose Joe Barton
lor the 6th Congressional District
seat in the L' S House ol Rep-
resentatives in the November el-
ection. Though the seed packets
announced "Help District 6
Grow with Geren," his message
was not a political one. He wan-
ted the senior citizens to under-
stand the importance to them of
the legislative body comprised of
seniors elected from throughout
the state.
"THE SILVER HAIRED l.egis-
• lature gives our state government
the opportunity, the resource of
a better perspective There are so
manv senior issues which need
to be addressed Now we have a
veix high mipaet legislative ad-
visoix bodv which can bring the
wisdom and experience ol elder
citizens into the legislative pro-
cess," said Geren.
He added that the SHE is in Us
infant stages now, having onlv
been established this yeai It is
important to make it into an ac-
tive. dynamic lorce loi the
benefit of all seniors ol the state,
v’he emphasized
Among the issues which can
best be addressed with input
front the SHL are health care,
medical research, and programs
jieeded by senior citizens, he
said “Senator Lloyd Bentsen has
proposed a bill which may meet
the need lot a self sustaining in-
surance program. When Medicare
nans out. a series of medical ex-
penses can literally destroy the
work of lifetimes of careful,
liugal moiicv management."
GEREN SAID RESEARCH
has shown that the fourth biggest
killer in the nation is Alzheimer’s
Disease "It's only been recently
that the medical community
recognized that as the cause of
so many deaths among the el-
derly But il the legislature is to
respond to the need lor research
See SHL, Pg. 4
Effective tax rate announced
You could call it holding the
line on taxes (as City Manager
Ron Crabtree did in announcing
the effective tax rate to the city
council Thursday night). You
might even call il a tax cut (as
Mayor Jem Boone did in ex-
plaining that the tax rale could
have been set higher since bon-
ded indebtedness does not count
against the effective tax rate).
Taxpayers, on the average, will
call it exactly the same as last
year since higher valuations were
balanced with a lower tax rate.
Individual taxpayers are prone
to call any tax rate rather color-
ful, but generally unprintable,
terms.
Whatever you call it, though,
the new city tax rate is apt to be
$.38539 per $100 valuation.
.That’s down considerably over
the present rate of $.5643 mainly
on the strength of significantly
higher valuations within the city.
The long-awaited tax roll, presen-
ted to the council Thursday
night, was just over $371
million.
THE NEW LOWER tax rate
will bring in the same amount of
revenue as the old tax rate
because of the difference in
valuation. That, in a nutshell, is
the meaning of the mystery-
shrouded term "effective tax
rate.”
It’s not all, of course, or the
term wouldn't be shrouded in
that much mystery. For example,
the amount needed for bonded
indebtedness is not included in
the calculation because it is
assumed that voters approved
whatever tax rate is necessary to
pay off capital improvements
whenever they approved the
bonds to finance those im-
provements.*
That’s why Boone contends it's
actually a tax reduction. The city
is utilizing some reserve money
in the interest and sinking fund
in lieu of adding another two
cents to the tax rate.
"Out l&S rate could have vir-
tually doubled this year with no
increase in the effective tux rate,"
Boone said, "but instead we
decided to be prudent and lower
the rate by using the rcsctxe
funds."
ONCE MONEY IS in the in-
terest and sinking fund, it cannot
be used for any other purpose
other than paying olt the city’s
bond obligations. For this reason,
most governmental entities do
not like to tie up large sums ol
money in l&S reserves An ex-
ception to this is when a large
payment is a couple of years
down the road and a buildup ol
reserves is used to cushion what
otherwise might be a large tax
increase.
The 1986-87 city budget, which
is expected to contain the
$.38539 tax rate, will be presen-
ted to the council at a special
meeting Thuesday evening at
6:30 Of the total tax rale pie, the
maintenance and operation slice
is $.35844 and the interest and
sinking rale is $.02695
The 198^ lax roll was $254 -
148,234
Also on that special meeting
agenda will be the setting ol a
date for the public hearing on
the budget and the second read-
ing of an ordinance changing the
name of Thomas Drive to Lovie
Thomas Lane (Thomas Drive is
located northeast ol CR 600 and
is not to be confused with
Thomas Street which ions be-
tween Summercrest and Ren-
fro).
WHILE IT WAS good news on
the property tax front, the sales
tax audit got mixed reviews from
the council The good news was
that the city can be sure it is get-
ting all the sales tax money that’s
coming to it. Only $157 was
found to have gone to Eon Worth
when it should have been sent to
Burleson Thai’s because a small
business incorrectly listed its
address.
The bad news is that sales tax
receipts from sales of concrete at
the city's batch plant will con-
tinue to go to Fort Worth. This
was a particular concern of the
council since the promise of
sales tax riches was a prime
See NO LEGAL. Pg. 19
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Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Moody, James. Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 93, Ed. 1 Monday, September 1, 1986, newspaper, September 1, 1986; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth761387/m1/1/?q=%22~1~1~1%22~1&rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Burleson Public Library.