The Harper News (Harper, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, July 29, 2011 Page: 2 of 8
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page 2
| From the Editor
Harper is going to cele-
brate a 150th birthday in
2013. Plans have begun to
see how that will look. I’ve
tried to remember how it
was fifty years ago, but my
memory is not very
detailed. I only remember
the crowds of people, an
estimated 15,000.
I know there were dis-
plays of historic artifacts,
a pageant, a parade, a bar-
becue, a dance, a fiddler’s
contest, a style show and a
beard-growing contest.
Many volunteers and many
hours of service went into
making it happen.
Peggy Ernst has written
about it in her column and
the Harper Historical
Society has taken the lead
in beginning to plan for it.
A steering committee has
volunteered to begin
thinking about what to
have for this new celebra-
tion.
There are not a lot of
people still around who
helped with that effort. So
those of us who are here
now, whether natives or
more recent residents, will
have to step up and partic-
ipate.
Jay Taylor is the new
president of the Historical
Society and he would wel-
come suggestions and vol-
unteers for this project.
The Historical Society will
be meeting this coming
Sunday, July 31,2011 at
2:00 p.m. at the Harper
Pioneer Museum in the
park. Please come and
share your thoughts and
ideas for the 2013 birthday
celebration.
The Park Board will begin
to install new playground
equipment in August and
hope to have it finished by
Frontier Day on Sept. 3.
The equipment will be
installed by volunteers and
The Harper News will be
reporting progress in the
next few issues. The Park
Board’s next big project is
to refurbish, rewire and
install air conditioning units
in the community hall. By
supporting the Park during
the upcoming barbecue
cookoff, the Kevin Fowler
Concert and Frontier Days,
you can help make this
happen.
The park belongs to
Harper; Harperites need to
help with their support,
both by volunteering to
help at one of the above
events or with donations.
Notice: fl burn
ban is in
effect, starting
Feb. 14,2011,
and continuing
until cancelled
in Gillespie
Countg bg
order of the
Countg judge.
Contact Addresses
for Community
Memorials
The Hamer Library. P. 0.
Box 74, Harper, TX 78631
The Harper Volunteer Fire
Department and EMS. P. 0.
Box 306, Harper, TX 78631
The Harper Community
Cemetery Fund. % Gene
Bode, P. 0. Box 176,.
Harper, TX 78631
The Harper School Library.
P. 0. Box 68, Harper, TX
78631
The Noxville Cemetery
Fund % of Tony Ackel,
15380 RR 479, Harper, TX
78631
The Harper Historical
Society. % Joan Lennon,
490, S. Ranch Rd. 783,
Harper, TX 78631
Harper Community Park
Board % Joan Lennon, 490,
S. Ranch Rd. 783, Harper, TX
78631
Harper Help Center. % of
Geraldine Skipper,
Treasurer, P.0. Box 97,
Harper, TX 78631
The deadline
for the next issue
is Monday,
Aug. 8, 2011.
The Harper News
July 29, 2011
Bode’s Hunting Stories
Hudson’s Hope
British Columbia,
Canada - 20(K?
FarFZ
We drove up into the
Canadian Forest. The pine
trees were not real high or
big around. Ray told me the
ground up here stays cold
about nine months a year.
The pines don’t grow much
up there.
We went into town—
Hudson’s Hope. This was the
first settlement in all of
Canada. Next to the Peace
River is the museum. It’s
still here with the old log
cabins. Saw a lot of cattle
and a lot of farms with hay.
The Rocky Mountains were
covered with snow in the
distance—very pretty.
Every day we saw a lot of
elk, mule deer, whitetail,
moose and bear. It is my
kind of miles of beautiful
country with everything in
it I love.
We went up the road to
pick up hay for the cattle
and horses. Ray told me
these families came from
Russia and Holland and were
hard workers. They all help
each other. They raise buf-
falo for meat. They had 700
buffalo—a bunch to see. We
were close to five bear
today—small ones.
Still got snow today with
28 degrees this morning.
We tracked one big bear in
eight inches of snow. We
went about eight miles but
did not find him. Ray said if
we could find him, he would
be the biggest.
He fed cows and horses
and I sat by the fire inside
the house. We made a
walk in the snow and trees
with broken logs to go over.
In three hours or so we got
back to the buggy. I asked
Ray, “How far did we walk?”
He said, “Two miles.” He
asked how old I was and I
told him 70 years old.
He said, “You are a tough
son-of-a-gun!” We saw
two bears today.
Guess what? More snow
today. It was 30 degrees;
we made a big round and
saw two more bears.
Wednesday— the sun is
shining this morning. The
time up here is different.
We drove about 100 miles
today and saw eight bears;
it took twelve hours.
Well we saw thirty-two
bears in six days—one good
one. However, he didn’t
wait on us. Today is the
“back home” day. What a
nice time; I learned a lot
from Ray, the country is
The Business Advisor
by Bill White
Parables of Business
“Curing an ega
sucking dog <r
One of our Texas rancher
friends had a great coon
hunting dog named Sam.
According to him there was
no better coon hunting dog
in the whole county than
Sam. Just one problem -Sam
had found a way into the
hen house and had devel-
oped a ravenous appetite
for chicken eggs.
Now it seems egg-eat-
ing dogs don’t eat the
whole egg- they just pop
the shell and suck up the
contents. This leaves hard
evidence of the crime out in
plain sight, with no doubt as
to the identity of the perp.
My friend consulted with
several of his friends as to a
possible cure for an egg-
sucking dog. All had faced
similar situations. They had
tried baiting the dogs with
rotten eggs. No luck.
Others had tried drug-store
medicine that makes the
dog sick - too long
between the crime and the
punishment for the dog to
connect the dots. Others
said put the dog down.
Finally consulted with his
vet who had tried to treat
many similar cases without
success. The vet advised that
the choices were either, put
the dog down or give him
to some one without chick-
ens. This left my friend
between a rock and a hard
place - income from the
chicken biz or coon hunting
with Sam?
In business, too, it is not
unusual to be torn between
conflicting needs or
desires. Recently we saw a
situation where a valuable
inventory manager was
having her boat over-
loaded by her boss. Boss
was quick to buy numerous
new sales items without
considering the lengthy
process of posting new
items into inventory. As a
result regular inventory
management suffered.
There was also a secondary
issue of increasing dead
stock inventory with too
many items that were pur-
chased too casually without
serious pre-purchase eval-
uation.
Applying the egg-sucking
dog lesson led to equally
undesirable choices - let
her main responsibility suf-
fer, or consider moving on
elsewhere. This lady was
way too smart to be caught
in that trap. An up-front
explanation to Boss, of the
situation resulted in Boss
taking on the lengthy
process of setting up new
items.
In spite of our rancher
friend’s failure to cure Sam,
this business “dog (situa-
tion) was cured of sucking
eggs. ” Inventory manage-
ment stayed current, Boss
became more selective in
adding new sales items and
dead stock candidates were
reduced.
Lesson for today: with
determination and some
serious thought, many
“dogs can be cured of suck-
ing eggs”.
Bill White
the businessadvisor
@beecreek.net
Letters to
Stars and Stripes
Pulling into Waldos’ park-
ing lot is usually a pleasant
experience. I’ve learned
that there’s no such thing as
a quick trip to Harper. I
always see friends and catch
up on all the latest goings
on.
However lately, my heart
sinks when I observe the
wall of the neighboring
building where the banner
of our nation has been
defiled and disgraced for a
political statement that
makes no sense.
Without this country the
other nation would not
exist. I’m also pretty sure
the other nation wouldn’t
be so thrilled about being so
defaced in this manner as
well. I look at the flag
hanging every day at
Waldos, displayed with
honor and respect, then
have to observe the
“Obomination” on a wall
placed there by someone
who never served this great
nation.
I hear all the time, “those
who gave ail” and am so
honored and inspired by the
deeds and sacrifices made
for us. Visit a VA hospital
and observe the ones miss-
ing limbs and scarred for
life, both physically and
emotionally. I am just as
inspired by these veterans,
as well as all who have
served honorably.
2011 Educational
Agronomy Program- Aug. 18
An educational agronomy
program and results of the
Gillespie County Hay Show
will be presented on
Thursday, August 18,2011 at
7:00 p.m. at the Gillespie
County Agricultural
Extension Building located
at 95 Frederick Road in
Fredericksburg. Two con-
tinuing education units (one
in General and one in IPM)
will be given to those need-
ing to renew their private
pesticide applicator’s
license. Cost of the program
is $10 per attendee and will
be collected at the door.
Speakers and their pro-
gram topics are:
• Eric Thorson, Dow
Chemical representative,
will talk about current her-
bicides to assist in manage-
ment of improved pasture
and hay fields and what the
current drought means to
controlling invasive plants.
• Jimmy Duecker, Allied Ag,
will talk about how to man-
age your fertilizer cost to
get the most for your dollar.
• Dr. Rick Machen, AgriLife
Extension Livestock
Specialist, will talk about
how the quality of hay
affects the value of hay and
how much good it will do
the the livestock that con-
sume it.
Producers may pickup
their round and square
bales from Beyer Fertilizer
and Feed at 3446 N. State
Hwy16 in Fredericksburg,
after Aug. 18. Any bales of
hay left at Beyer Fertilizer
and Feed after Sept. 1,2011
become the property of the
Hay Show Committee. For
more information, contact
the Gillespie County
Extension office at
830.997.3452.
Educational programs at
the Texas AgriLife Extension
Service are open to all peo-
ple without regard to race
color, sex, disability, reli-
gion, age or national origin.
We will seek to provide rea-
sonable accommodations
for all persons with disabili-
ties. Please contact Gillespie
County AgriLife Extension
Service Office at
830.997.3452 by Aug: 5, to
advise of the auxiliary aid or
service that you will
require.
Operation Orphans Plans Youth Hunt
The Board of Directors of
Operation Orphans, Inc. has
selected four dates for doe
hunts during the forthcom-
ing whitetail season. They
are the following Saturdays:
Nov. 12, Nov. 19, Dec. 3, and
Jan. 7. The November date
will be an all girls’ hunt,
while the remaining dates
will be all boys’ hunts.
This is the 52nd year of the
“Take a Child Hunting” pro-
gram. To date, Operation
Orphans, Inc. has hosted
17,386 youngsters with a
total game harvest of 17,036
animals. Interested individ-
uals are encouraged to
check the Operation
Orphans, Inc. website for
information and videos of
the program (www.onera-
tionorphans.org). During
this program, landowners
from the surrounding hill
country allow children from
childcare facilities to har-
vest deer from their prop-
erty. Ranchers use the
“Take a Child Hunting” pro-
gram as a means to reduce
the over-population of does
and to get buck to doe
ratios in order. Landowners
and hunters also participate
in this program to help edu-
cate youngsters about the
outdoors and provide a
worthwhile outdoor adven-
ture field trip. A summer
fishing program was added
in 2004.
Operation Orphans, Inc.
provides the children,
guides and food for the
activity. The guides which
Operation Orphans, Inc. pro-
vide, have successfully com-
pleted the Hunter Safety
Course. Some landowners
wish to provide their own
guides. One guide is
assigned to each child.
During the girl’s hunt, a
woman or a man/woman
team serve as guides. AH
guides will have a back-
ground check. The meat
(Continued on page 6. See
“Youth Hunt”)
beautiful and the people are
nice. Could not ask for more.
I do thank the good Lord
that He allowed me this time
to visit such a nice place.
(Editor’s note: This is only
one of Gene’s hunting
stories. Ail the rest are avail
able in his new book, Me and
My Old Winchester 270: A
Lifetime of Hunting Stories
with Pictures. They are on
sale at Behrends Feed at
Bode’s.)
Quote of
the Week
"91 fl" you need
is
Cove... but
a fit
cbocofate now
and then
doesn't hurt."
- Cbarfe
Scbufz
Submitted by Drew
Stracbe, grade 7
(ddote: You are invited to
submit your favorites.)
Drought Taking a Toll
on Local Cattle Herds
Gillespie County is going
on months without measur-
able rain and local ranchers
are feeling the pain, with
many selling herds to cope
with the chronic drought
conditions.
“This drought is forcing us
to ship more and more cat-
tle,” said cattle producer
and Gillespie County Farm
Bureau president, Elgin
Pape. “With continued
drought conditions, we are
feeding a lot of hay and
have even started shipping
some spring calves to the
sale.”
According to a report
from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, 86 percent of
pasture acres in Texas are in
poor or very poor condi-
tion. More than 90 percent
of the state is in the two
most severe drought stages.
“Some ranchers in the
county are sending cattle to
other states where there is
more grazing,” he said.
“The cattle herd in Texas is
already at record low levels.
It will take several good
years to recover from this
one.”
Market prices have slipped
recently from record highs,
showing signs producers
statewide are culling herds
and digging in. Weather
forecasters predict ranchers
may not see rain relief in
Texas until the end of
September.
NAFTA Trucking Resolution Reduces
Tariffs for Farmers and Ranchers
I do not feel pride and
honor observing that wall. I
also noticed a US Navy Seals
emblem in the window of
the same building. No men-
tion of the US Marine Corps
ReCon, U.S. Army Rangers or
any other Special Forces
unit. Oh yeah, or the U.S. Air
Force Pararescue Units
because even Marine Recon,
Navy Seals and Army
Rangers need to call 911.
Edward M. Miller, Jr.
U.S.A. F. Veteran,
Son of a Thunderbird
“Uncommon valor was a
common virtue.”-Fleet
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
This is what the Stars and
Stripes honor, valor, not
politics.
Earlier this month,
American and Mexican offi-
cials signed an agreement
to end the trucking dispute
that prevented Mexican
exports from freely enter-
ing the United States, as
mandated by the North
American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA).
“We commend both
American and Mexican offi-
cials for resolving this two-
year dispute regarding the
transportation of goods
between our two coun-
tries,” said Elgin Pape, presi-
dent of Gillespie County
Farm Bureau. “Their resolu-
tion will lift costly tariffs
imposed on American
exports, including agricul-
tural goods.”
In 2009, the U. S. began
denying Mexican trucks
access to American Markets,
citing safety and environ-
mental concerns. However,
NAFTA requires free trans-
portation of goods between
participating countries. In
response to denied access,
Mexico imposed retaliatory
tariffs of up to 25 percent on
American exports entering
their country.
“That is a hefty tax on our
agricultural exports, espe-
cially to a customer as large
and significant as Mexico,”
Pape said. “With this resolu-
tion, our food and fiber no
longer will be subject to
these unnecessary and cost-
ly fees.”
Mexico immediately lifted
50 percent of the tariffs with
the signature of the agree-
ment, and the remainder
will be lifted upon the first
Mexican truck’s entry into
the U.S.
The Harper News
Policies:
•Letters to the editor must be accompanied by full name, address
and phone number and may be edited for length and clarity.
Letter writers may be limited to one letter every thirty days.
Form letters will not be published.
•Errors and omissions: The advertiser agrees that the Publisher
shall not be liable for damages arising out of errors and adver-
tisements beyond the amount paid for the space actually occupied
by that portion of the advertisement containing the error,
whether the error is due to the negligence of the publisher,
employees or otherwise, and there shall be no liability for non-
insertion of any advertisement beyond the amount paid for such
advertisement.
•The Publisher reserves the right to change subscription rates
without notice.
The Harper News
Is Owned and Published by Martha Stevens
23586 West U. S. Highway 290
P. 0. Box 418, Harper, TX 78631 -0418
Martha Stevens - Editor/Publisher
email - hnews@ktc.com • Phone/Fax - 830 864-5655
Subscription rates: $20.00 locally (Gillespie Cty. and/or a
Harper address), $21.00 out of county,
and $22.00 out of state
Published twice a month
A minimum of 1000 copies of this paper are
printed by the Kerrville Daily Times. We have 450 paid
subscriptions and distribute another
100 to local merchants.
USPS Bulk rate Permit #104
(Postmaster: Send address changes to:
The Harper News, P. 0. Box 418,
Harper, Texas 78631 -0577)
Send subscriptions to: The Harper News.
P. 0. Box 418, Harper, TX 78631 -0418
1 year -$20.00 in Gillespie County or with Harper
address, $21.00 out of county,
and $22.00 out of state.
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Stevens, Martha. The Harper News (Harper, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, July 29, 2011, newspaper, July 29, 2011; Harper, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth844552/m1/2/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Harper Library.