Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 109, No. 30, Ed. 1 Sunday, April 14, 1991 Page: 1 of 34
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Autopsy report
prompts probe
LIVINGSTON - The drowning of a
burglary suspect following s labour
manhunt on Jan. 20 has resulted in
an investigation by the FBI, the
Texas Rangers and the U.S. at-
torney’s dm.
The investigation was prompted
by the release of the autopsy report
which revealed additional informa-
tion that may have cowtrlbatod to
the suspect's death.
An article in the Jan. 24 issue of
the Polk County Enterprise quoted
locpl authorities as saying that Tom-
Voting starts j
lb tomorrow r
enterprise photo by stkphen HKNGST sheriff's Department, the siwpect
CHOW DOWN - Jason Patranella, left, chows down while the annual Livingston Rotary Club’s Pancake Supper, held . ..
Kyle Parrish prepares to dig in to a stack of flapjacks during Thursday evening in the Livingston Junior High Cafeteria. T^SoIpMtmert M criminal
Justice (1DCJ) were brought to the
scene at approximately •:» pjn.
riding bill
Big Thicket National Pnaerve aa
report which we passed this week patrol cars watched the roads,
will financially benefit District 14 Cain indicated that TDCJ regula-
and the previous bill did not." tions require that a mounted deputy
The bill would divide the state into acoampanr <o< handUM tern—
111 regions, most following along “Who*, the ssm^Timt started
county lines, with tax money from Saturday evening. Lieutenant Ihur-
rich districts to be shared with rail Longino rode wife tee two men
poorer schools within each region, from the prtoon,” Gaia said.
Redistribution of the funds would ap- Gant Stokes, prison dog sergeant
ply only to the minimum local pro- at the Wynne Unit in Huntsville and
petty tax rate, also established Charles "Bo" Beene, term manager
through the bill. The minimum tax of the Wynne Unit were the two
rate would be 71 cents peg $100 horseback riders and dog-handlars
valuation, rising to $1 in four years, from TDCJ.
School districts may add another 4K The hunt continued until approx-
tional days. “1 favor the five addi-
tional days of instruction, but it
would have been better for these
days to be paid for by the state
rather than the exchange of days
and adding this 40 hours of staff
development to the school day. The
legislature will have other oppor-
tunities to address this issue before
die session is over. I hope to correct
this problem.’'
He added, however, the Ull was a
“taka it or leave it" situation and no
options were offered. “The time had
come to fish or cut bait so, for the
children of this state, I chose to
fish."
“Although this bill is not perfect, it
is a much, much better bill than the
original senate bill which I did not
support two weeks ago,” Hightower
districts, the bill would increase
local property taxes statewide by
about $400 million and would cost the
state $1.2 billion in new money.
Both of Polk County’s represen-
tatives in the legislature, State Sen.
Bill Haley (D-Center) and State
Rep. Allen Hightower
(D-Huntsville), voted for the trill.
“The bill does not contain all that I
would have liked, but I feel It is
something our schools can work
with," Hightower said in a state-
ment released following the
legislature’s action. Financially,
moat of the area schools wiB receive
additional money or have the ability
to recover the finances needed to re-
main at the present level, he said.
Hightower also expressed concern
that teacher in-service days had
LIVINGSTON - Just four days
before a court-ordered deadline, the
Texas Legislature Thursday approv-
ed a school funding plan.
On Monday the bill will go before
State District Judge Scott McGown,
who had given legislators until April
15 to come up with a plan to help
equalise school funding or risk hav-
ing die court take over the state’s
school system.
The measure was given to both the
House and Senate by the Conference
Committee on Education on Wednes-
day, with a recommendation that it
pass. The trill was approved by the
Texas House of Representatives the
foDowipg day by a vote of $M7, with
the Senate approving the bill a short
time later by a vote of 21-10.
Designed to narrow the funding
JtanVaQ (I)
Livingston I8D i
Jerry Major was
speculate on the in
would have orf the LIS
where ha apparently
been taken and added as instruc- said. “The Conference Committee
Five-year program discussed
Tourist complex support grows
pears tobe tevorsMe^totiie district.
sees mi actual breakdown of the fun-
ding.
He is also waiting to aw what
Judge McGown does on Monday. U
the bill meets with the state district
Judge’s approval, it will than face
review by the Texas Supreme Court
“I think it’s questionable it will bold
up in court” Major said, adding it
may be several weeks before it is
team on horaaback, taking
Longino’s place.
that one tourist couple in Polk Coun-
ty on a one-day, one-night stay
averages $100 per stay.
“One hundred dollars per couple
per day multiplied by 365 days at
$100 per day equals $36£0Q in new
revenue,’’ she said, adding that new
services would be brought to the
county to meet the needs of these
people, thus generating additional
Jobs for tiie area.
New businesses would mean new
federal, state and local taxes would
be generated by a broadened tax
base, not higher taxes, Badgerow
mentioned.
She said new taxed would mean:
better quality of life, adequate
health care facilities, new streets
and roads, upgrades in city and
county services, better schools, ad-
vanced teaching programs, adult
education classes and keeping
families in Polk County.
Badgerow said better services to
An added benefit is that a con-
ference center would result in
satellite businesses spinning off of it,
she said. “If you create a need,
somebody will fill it.”
The proposed site for the tourist
complex is a 654 acre-tract located
two miles north of Onalaska on
Groveton-Onalaska Road.
“This land would be very con-
ducive to a working historical farm
and village,’’ Badgerow said.
“The plan would be to create a
working farm that would be in-
dicative of Polk County at the turn of
the century,” she said, adding that
artisans would be brought in to per-
form such things as candle-making,
leather-tanning and a grist mill.
Badgerow said a wetlands
preserve and bird sanctuary would
be ideally-suited to the site, which
has frontage on Kkkapoo Creek.
“People will come and they'll
spend the money. We have it and
we’re not selling it,’’ she said.
“We’re missing the boat.’’
A musical production on the
history of Polk County could be per-
formed at the amphitheater, the
fourth phase of the complex,
Badgerow suggested, “which would
create interest in the area.
“That is a free marketing, too,
just as the wetlands are,” die sakl.
“In addition, colleges do summer
stock each year and other licensed
productions could be brought in m
well,” she said.
“All you need is one of these
phases to hook people,” Badgers*'
said. “The thing we need to detai -
mine is, la this what we want to do
and is this what we need to dot
Citing the impact of tourtam to a
community, Badgerow said $16
billion was spent in Texas in 1MB by
tourists. Of that amount, $Jte minion
went to state taxes and $21$ million
wont to local taxes.
LIVINGSTON - “What we’re wan-
ting to do la draw county-wide sup-
port for this concept which is in four
stages, each designed to produce
revenues immediately,” Lynn
Badgerow said at a steering com-
mittee meeting Thursday.
Thursday's was the second in a
series of open meetings in which the
topic of discussion is the feasibility
of a five-year program to develop a
county-wide tourist complex which
would be located in Onalaska and
hopefully produce economic
development county-wide.
Proposed projects for the complex
(the four stages Badgerow was
referring to) include a conference
center, a working historical farm
and village, a wetlands preserve and
bird aanctuary and an am-
phitheater.
Citizens from all over the county
attended the meeting, the purpose of
which was to determine interest in
the project aa well as feasibility.
Plans for the first phase, the con-
ference center, would be designed In
such a way to generate immediate
revenue, Badgerow said.
In addition, the center would
create an Immediate need for lodg-
ing, thus causing new hotel/motel
chains to relocate in tiie area. .
“This would bring visitors to the
area who may not have heard of
Polk County,” Badgerow said, in-
dicating the center would target
various groups that meet annually
for conferences or conventions.
“There are $71 professional
organisations in Texas alone that
have conferences each year,” she
Prison pre-construction
prompts special meetings
LIVINGSTON - Construction of a
ty prison in Pottt County ii scheduled
to begin to Jane. A flurry ef pre-
construction activity is already
beginning, evident through a
tax abatement programs, better
prices, better quality of service and
better choices.
“Think tourism - it’s very easily
attained, doesn’t pollute the air and
doesn’t pollute the lake,” she said.
“We have to know if tiie county Is
willing to carry the ball,” Chialaska
Mayor Robert E. “Bob” Maddoa
said. "We’ve got to get people
together who are committed and
believe ttrie to what we need, to order
to Dursue it.”
“How to the world do we expect to
get theee things If we don’t get rid of
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 109, No. 30, Ed. 1 Sunday, April 14, 1991, newspaper, April 14, 1991; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth798080/m1/1/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.