Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 99, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 16, 1985 Page: 1 of 36
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HONDO ANVIL I
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Volume 99, Number 20
Serving Medina County for 99 years
May 16,1985 Two Sections, 24 Pages
25 Cents
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Misplaced memo
Garbage controversy re-surfaces
during Castroville meeting
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TAKE A YOUNGSTER... near a horse, and you’ll usually find
a happy kid. Thus, there were numerous smiling kiddos last
Saturday at Museum Day when they got to go fof a ride in a
covered wagon. Here, the wagon pulls away after loading up
for a brief trek around City Park where the event was held.
BY VIC PARKER
Call it “The Case of the Misplaced
Memo.”
It was supposedly written Aug. 14,
1984, but the members of the
Castroville City Council say they only
learned of it recently
City attorney John L. Mogford Jr.
said he wrote it and gave it to former
mayor Charles Green to deliver to the
council.
Green says he’s never seen such a
memo, adding that Mogford never
gave him anything in his life.
Mogford stepped down as dty
attorney after a request to that effect
from the council.
The contract with which the memo
dealt concerned a garbage contract
between the City of Castroville and
former commissioner Leon Tschir-
hart for garbage pick-up in Precinct 2.
While the memo was addressed to
the dty council, its members did not
learn of the letter until ‘two weeks
ago,” according to council member
Lynn Boehme, who said, ‘This matter
would have been deared up if our
mayor had informed us.”
That “matter” resulted in criminal
charges of offidal misconduct against
Tschirhart, along with his resignation
April 24 from the commissioners
court Tschirhart was fined $1,000,
given a one-year suspended sentence
and made to pay restitution of more
than $15,000 in connection with a
scheme which provided him 25 cents
per customer per month for the
Suit threatened
BY FRANCES PROCTOR
A group of dtizens, calling itself
People Against Police Abuse (PAPA)
attended the Hondo City Council
meet ing Tuesday evening in an
attempt to state their viewpoint
concerning alleged “violent attacks
upon Latino youth” by a Hondo police
officer.
The group presented its demands
to the council despite the fact that its
purpose had not been placed on the
council’s official meeting agenda,
according to City Manager Mike Rhea
and City Secretary Vangie Pimentel.
The council listened briefly as
several Hispanic men and a woman
presented their grievances. A hear-
ing date was set May 28.
In a press release given to San
Antonio media earlier and to council
members as the meeting began, the
group stated that its immediate goal
was the termination of Hondo police
officer Wesley Beck and just compen-
sation for the victims of his abuse
Their released said, “We have
procured sworn statements from the
victims and will be presenting them
to the Hondo City Council at tonite’s
meeting. Chief of Police Jerry Smith,
accordingly hired Beck, knowing his
history of violence in prior police
service. Chief Smith has acted
irresponsibly in this matter and has
condoned violence by Beck and other
officers in his department. The Hondo
City Police has a history of brutality
against the Latino community. In the
event the dty coundl fails to relieve
Beck of his duties, we will pursue the
matter in federal court with a dvil
rights violation suit.”
Induded with the release were
statements signed by Oscar Domin-
guez, Sammy Sanchez, Ricky Vos-
quez, Alida Barrios, Daniel Barrios
III and Robert Garda.
Wednesday morning, Police Chief
Jerry Smith said, “Most of these
(allegations) have been looked at in
the past. One is under investigation,
and in one case, an officer has been
disdplined.”
The chief plans to re-open the
complaints and have been investi-
gated again, possibly by someone
from outside the department, if it can
be arranged before the hearing date
“We’re going to investigate all of
Hondo resident drowns
during rescue attempt
A 49-year-old Hondo man, Gilberto
Rico Sr., drowned Monday afternoon
during an attempt to save his
seven-year-old grandson.
According to the police report,
tie weather!!!!
The Hondo Radar Station has
supplied the following weather in-
formation for this past week:
Wed., May 8
Thu., May 9
Fri.MaylO
Sat., May 11
Sun , May 12
Mon., May 13
Tue., May 14
Mean high temp, for the week: 87.4
Mean low temp, for the week: 68.1
High temp, for 1985: 91 on Apr. 22
Low temp, for 1985: 12 on Feb. 2
Total predp. for May. 0.05 inches
Total predp. for 1985: 8.55 inches
Predp 1984, thru May 14: 3.78 in.
High
Low
Rain
90
68
.01
87
61
.00
90
68
.00
88
70
.00
84
73
.00
89
74
.04
84
63
tr.
Rico, his grandson Ray Luna, and
nephew, Joe Ray Sandoval, were
fishing in a stock tank located near
Avenue D and 26th Street when the
acddent occurred about 4 pm.
Monday
The youngster fell into the water
and the two men attempted to rescue
him. Sandoval helped the child reach
safety, but Rico went under the water
and did not resurface
Hondo police officer Wesley Beck
recovered the body at 4:32 p.m. Rico
was pronounced dead by Justice of
the Peace Marion Taylor.
Rico, a local cement contractor, is
survived by his wife, Maria P. Rico;
son, Gilberto Rico Jr ; three daugh-
ters, Mrs. Reymundo (Mary Lou)
Luna, Mrs Tony (Ida Lou) Muniz, and
Mrs. Jimmy (Sarah Lou) Vosquez; 11
sisters and two brothers.
Rosary was held at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday at Guinn-Horger Funeral
Home with funeral mass set for 2 p.m.
Thursday, at St. John’s Catholic
Church. Interment will be in Oak-
wood Cemetery.
A complete obituary will appear in
next week’s paper
them and be ready to present the
facts to the council,” he said
City Attorney Hugh Meyer told the
council, "These people must be heard,
but a meeting must be set so that the
officers can be present ’’
After several members of the
group made brief statements, Rhea
asked, “Is there any law enforcement
agency in the state of Texas that you
trust (to do an investigation regard-
ing the charges)? “If they investigate,
would you accept their findings?”
“We want a committee to investi-
gate the police department,” said
Jesus Rodriguez.
‘We are trying to avoid a tragedy,”
added Irma Lopez. ‘We came out in
good faith I feel you all are trying to
get out of it.”
Councilman Tony Hardt, who was
acting as mayor pro-tem in the
absence of A.D. Patterson, replied,
We’re not trying to shirk our
responsibility. Until it is proven that
he has violated the law, we cannot do
anything.”
“Policemen have been dismissed by
the council in the past for exactly the
same thing,” said Meyer, citing two
cases in years past.
‘You want your rights protected
and he has rights, too. If we see a
problem, the City of Hondo might
require an investigation by the
department of justice,” concluded
Hardt.
Bond election
set Saturday
BY VIC PARKER
Voters in the Hondo school district
Saturday will decide the fate of three
bond issue proposals totaling nearly
$1.5 million.
Earlier this week, Superintendent
N.E. Woolls said school officials were
“cautiously optimistic” about the
outcome of the election which, if
approved by the voters, will provide
hinds for three construction efforts at
the Meyer Elementary School cam-
pus
The proposed construction pro-
gram grew out of guidelines in HB 72,
the education reform package passed
by the legislature last summer One
of the main ingredients in that
recipe for educational improvements
is a limit of 22 students per class in
(See Election, Page 14)
garbage collection service in Castro-
ville and La Coste
The revelations about the letter
from Mogford to the council came
about during an agenda item dealing
with an original 1975 contract
between the dty and the county and
subsequent contracts in 1979 and
1981 At its last meeting, the
commissioners court approved a
garbage contract similar to the
original one, but included a resolut ion
approving rate increases in the other
two contracts
Group charges police brutality
Castroville attorney
resigns under fire
BY VIC PARKER
Castroville city attorney John L. Mogford Tuesday night
resigned under fire after an executive session during which he was
asked to step down.
The action came after a discussion earlier in the meeting
concerning garbage contracts between the city and Precinct 2,
along with the revelation that a letter dated Aug. 14, 1984 apprised
the city council that a possibly illegal contract could result in civil
or criminal prosecution of Commissioner Leon Tschirhart as well
as city officials.
Members of the council claimed they were unaware of the
memorandum from Mogford, who said he had given it to former
mayor Charles Green to deliver to the council Contacted by the
Anvil Herald Wednesday morning. Green denied ever seeing such
a memorandum.
“I know nothing about such a memorandum,” Green said. “Mr
Mogford never gave me anything in his whole life Any questions
that dealt with council matters were handled through the city
manager. I’m not aware of such a memo, and I know nothing about
it. I’ve never seen it.”
Mogford, who approved the initial contract which eventually led
to charges against Tschirhart, indicated to the council that the
memo was given to Green who was supposed to hand-deliver it to
the member^ of the council.
' Tammy Tschirhart, a member of the council and the former
commissioner’s brother, told the Anvil Herald Wednesday morning
that Mogford’s resignation was requested ‘‘We asked for his
resignation because we felt we weren’t being represented.
‘‘He (Mogford) told us that he had delivered the memo to the
mayor and was told that the mayor had taken care of it.”
Mogford, a San Antonio attorney, could not be reached for
comment Wednesday.
Commissioner Larry Haby, who
was appointed to fill Tschirhart’s
unexpired term, told the council that
the new contract was similar to the
original one, but that the charge
would remain at $5 per residential
customer The original charge was
$2.50 In 1979, when Tschirhart inked
a new contract with the dty, the
charge went to $3, and was increased
to $3 50 in the 1981 contract
Councilman Jerald Foxworthy then
asked Haby and County Judge
Jerome Decker, “Didn’t you go back
and approve the contract approved in
1975 at $2 per customer-’ What about
the raises'’"
Decker replied that the resolution
which accompanied the contract
approval ratified and approved those
rate increases
‘We were always under the
impression that we had a legal
contract, and we’re very upset that
one of our people got in trouble.”
Boehme said
Foxworthy added that “for 10
years we’ve been under the impres-
sion that we were operating under a
legal contract, and now we find out
we’re not.”
At that point. Mogford was asked if
he had approved the contract
between Tschirhart and the dty, and
the attorney replied that he had
Councilman Sammy Tschirhart. the
brother of the former commissioner,
then produced the memo from
Mogford to the coundl and said
members of the news media should
look at it Do you want to see a copy
of this'’” he asked Vic Parker of the
Anvil Herald
When Parker replied that he would
like to see a copy, the meeting was
recessed so that copies could be
made
That memo contained two ques-
(See Memo, Page 14)
Mysterious funds ‘in a safe place ’
BY VIC PARKER
It’s not so much a question of
Where did this money come from'’"
More to the point is the question,
‘Why did it show up for the first time
last week?”
Officials at the Medina County
Courthouse know the origin of the
$112.17 which Commissioner Larry
Haby of Castroville brought in last
Friday It was money paid by
Precinct 2 residents to use the
sanitary landfill.
The unanswered questions are:
“Have residents been paying for the
service all along?” “If so, how long7”
and “If so, where are those funds ”
All that is known for sure is that
Haby arrived at the courthouse with
the funds - one check and the rest
cash - last Friday where he turned
the blue bank bag over to County
Treasurer Doris Hartman
County Judge Jerome Decker then
instructed her to “not receipt the
money and to put it in a safe place”
unt il more could be learned about the
situat ion.
Haby told the Anvil Herald
Tuesday night that he discoverd the
money at the landfill office and
immediately took it to the court-
house He added that he was told by a
landfill employee that the funds were
used To wash the garbage truck "
The commissioner, who recently
replaced Leon Tschirhart, added that,
in the past, none of the collections
was accompanied by a receipt He
went on to say that he has instituted
such a policy
Mrs Hartman said Wednesday
morning that in her six years as
county treasurer, such funds had
never been turned in to the county
Decker added that, to his knowledge,
the arrival of the money last Friday
“was the first time money like that
was every brought in "
The check in the bag was written
on the account of Gregory Kempf of
Castroville and was dated April 27
County officials noted that the
older landfills are operated without a
fee for users
Monica Manteufel is Junior Miss
By Frances Proctor
Monica Manteufel was named the
1985 Hondo Area Junior Miss
Saturday evening at the Hondo High
School Activities Center.
Monica is the daughter of Mrs.
Sharon Humphries.
First runner-up was Gena Draker,
daughter of Richard and Gene
Draker, and second runner up was
Angie Gooding, daughter of Mrs.
Diane Gooding and the late George
Gooding.
Theme of the program, sponsored
by the Hondo Chamber of Commerce
and directed by Kathy Britsch,
Theresa Schoellman and Linda But
ler, was “Under the Big Top”
The contestants as a group
presented a physical fitness routine
to a rendition from Bamum and
Bailey Brothers Circus Band.
Individually, Monica performed a
twirling routine to the music of “Copa
Cabana”; Gena recited a poem
written by her great-grandmother,
Madelyn Draker Mattes, entitled
“Smoke from a Gypsy Campfire”; and
Angie performed a modern dance to
‘The Heart of Rock and Roll” Each of
the girls designed her own costume
and set.
Before the judges retired to choose
a winner, the girls modeled evening
gowns to the background music of
‘The Clown” by Conway Twitty
Special awards were presented to
the girls, including scholastic achieve-
ment , a $300 scholarship from Uvalde
Bottling Company, which went to
Angie Gooding; judges conference
and "Spirit of Junior Miss" went to
Gena Draker; and poise and appear
ance, physical fitness and talent
awards went to Monica Manteufel
Judges for the event were Becky
Sweeten of Uvalde, Beverly Harrell
of San Antonio and Charlie Britsch of
Fredericksburg.
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HONDO’S JUNIOR MISS... Monica Manteufel, sitting, was
named the 1985 Hondo Junior Miss Saturday evening at the
high school Activities Center. Second runner-up is Angie
Gooding,, left, and first runner-up is Gena Draker. Monica will
represent the city in state competition this summer.
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Proctor, Frances Reitzer. Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 99, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 16, 1985, newspaper, May 16, 1985; Hondo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth817638/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hondo Public Library.