The Pine Needle (Kountze, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 26, 1964 Page: 1 of 4
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THANKSGIVING SEASON s,£n
STInENEEDLE
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HARDIN COUNTY'S
BEST ADVERTIZED
VOLUME I, NUMBER 47
KOUNTZE. HARDIN COUNTY, TEXAS, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1964
NECHES NATIONAL GRAND OPENING
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People of Hardin County, de-
spite all of the difficulties that
have been forced on us, have
one thing to be thankful for.
I say forced upon us, because
the biggest problem that the
people of this County share with
each other, has been forced on
us. And in an undemocratic way.
The problem I.speak of is the
problem that comes from un-
equal taxation. This problem
which was bad enough to begin
with has been greatly increased
in intensity by the Pritchard and
Abbott contract. This was the
contract, lest we forget, that
was entered into by the Com -
missioner's Court of Hardin Co-
unty over the protests of Willie
Bean, the duly elected and qua-
lified tax assessor-collector. Re-
member the Commissioners and
County Judge Fletcher Richard-
son said they were spending the
$70,500.00 to equalize the tax
burden of this county. Well Prit-
chard and Abbott have performed
their part of the c o n t r a c t and
things that were bad before are
even worse today.
After all the "Equalizing," the
oil companies are operating at a
lower percentage of the tax bur-
den even though their production
has increased this past year. The
large land companies called the
tune in their hearing before the
Board of Equalization (Commis-
sioner's Court) and they got what
they wanted in a decrease in tax
valuation.
Well, one must ask how could
such things come about. Why did
the Commissioners Court fold up
and lower the large land com-
panies tax valuation even below
the figure that those out of town
experts, Pritchard and Abbott,
had set? P. and A. had already
set the large companies below
the rate of the small tract owner
and the Commissioners lowered
even thatl
Well, who was representing
the small tract owner at that
hearing? We-elected the Com-
missioners Court to equalize the
taxes. But at the Board of Equa- >
lization hearing, no one spoke
for the small taxpayer. The oil
companies had their lawyers.
The Commissioners Court has
two lawyers on it but still no
one spoke for the people of Har-
din County, It was the same old
story. The final decision was
made behind closed doors.
This was an unusual procedure
for Hardin County in one re-
spect. However, before the de-
(Continued on page 4)
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PICTURED ABOVE are the members of the Board of Directors of the Neches National Bank at their
Grand Opening last Saturday.
BARRINGTON
WRITES AGAIN
ON TAXES
PICTURED ABOVE ART Nelson Long, Mayor Pat Pace, Congressman Jack Brooks, and Mayor Frank
McClanahan at the Neches National Bank’s Grand Opening, last Saturday.
Tanton
KOUNTZE OVER
IIG SANDY
Kountze Basketball fortunes
Itood about even as both the boys
and Girls A andB teams had won
one and lost one game. The Boys
A team hit a high mark in the
history of Kountze High School
Basketball as the Lions defeated
Big Sandy Indians 53-50. Buna,
another King of the Hill looms
ahead for die Lions, almost too
much to hope for in one season.
It is something to shoot for. This
is the first time that the Kountze
lads have beaten Big Sandy. The
Lions were led by John Tate with
10 paints* Randy MartinlO , Ben
Crosby 4, And Ronnie Hargorve
13, David Anders 6, and Tom-
my Shane 7 points, C, Wagnon
with 13 and Milner 12 led the
scoring for Big Sandy.
The following night the Lions
X ‘. \
TANTON AND RUSS
ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCED
X. -
mils
“IK
LOVE AND KISSES
PASSED OUT AGAIN
*?,°=rsss: £ rsr £
untze S c h o o 1 district paid 876 in this delima.
dollars an acre for about sixteen Don.t be fooled folks „ ^
andone-half acres of land where well organized propaganda ma-
the new elementary school is ohlne. We aU kPowPthSat none of
built. Prichard and Abbott ap-
praised a 35 acre tract adjoining
this land that the school purchas-
ed at $2250 as best I could tel]
by the rendition sheet. This
same tract of land was apprais-
edby the same Prichard and Ab-
bott for s c h o o 1 tax purposes at
$10, 500. Why the different (and
such a difference) appraisal?
During the love and kisses
deals when the Commissioners
Court was sitting as an equaliza-
these large corporations have
gone broke lately and they are
in much better shape financially
than the small home owners are.
If any of the above figures are
wrong, I can’t help it. They
were given to me by the County
Tax Office and the Kountze
School Tax Office. Go to these
offices and check for yourself,
and check on land, adjoining
your property. Appoint yourself
as a committee of one to invest-
an acre. Now
Doozie.
We are being told that we can
choose between trees or taxes.
That is, if the large land holders
pay the same taxes on their land
tion board, they got real friendly igate this unfair matter,
again and lowered this 35 acre Turning to our school tax trou-
tract from $2250 to $560 or $16 bles, I had a long talk with some
isn’t this another of our school officials. I picked
up a copy of the Kountze School
budget and I have studied it. I
find that the school needs about
$13000 (according to these fig-
ures) in new tax money. Of this
as we small land holders do, they amount approximately 35% of
will be forced out of business, this emount has to be raised by
Where are we small home own- the school district. The res t
ers being forced to? The truth of comes from state aid, etc. Some-
the matter is, we small people thing less than 2% is all our taxes
didnothaveanylO, 15, or 20,000 would haye to be raised, that is
dollar a year public relations if our equallzation board don,t
men at the conference table with do uke OUI commissioners Court
om elected officrais and appomt- and lower la corporations
ed equalization boards. I'm not values. The next thing you are
saying that the large corporations going t0 hear is that they are
nt need tax relief, but I am losing oil production I will
saying that they don t need then have more on this and other
burden shifted over on the shoul- topic, next week. .Please let me
°f*e Tl jT6’5- hear from y°“. « you are one of
Some of our building and homes the many who feel you have been
that are fifteen and twenty years ,reated Unju,tly.
old ha.ve been almost doubled your friend
since this tax shift. These build
H. T. Barrington
Route 2
Kountze. Texas
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Mr. and Mrs. L. C.
ofSilsbee announce the engage-
ment and approaching marriage
of their daughter, Carolyn Sue,
to Robert Wayne Russ, nephew
of Mr. Bud Henry Hooks, also of
Silsbee.
The wedding is planned for
Saturday, December 19, 1964,
at 7 p. m. in Good Shepherd
Baptist Church in Silsbee. The
reception will follow immedi-
ately after the wedding in the
church parlor.
The bride-elect is a graduate
ofSilsbee High School. She is an
employee o f Southwestern Bell
Telephone Company and is at-
tending business school in Beau-
mont. The prospective bride-
groom is also a graduate of Sils-
bee High School and is now em-
ployed by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in Houston, where
they will make their home.
About 15 million Americans
buy vegetable seeds for home
gardens.
Editor’s Note; The Village
Creek Philosopher on his fire ant
farm on V i 11 a ge Creek has an
odd idea this week, which we
publish for what it's worth.
Dear editar;
I had to make a trip to Beau-
mont a while back and ever
since I’ve been calming my
nerves and reflecting on the
traffic and parking problem and
have concluded that if it isn’t
solved cities are done for and I
would hate to see this happen,
because if the city people leave
the city you know'where they're
c o m i n g+right out here in the
country.
But I think there is a solution.
I was reading*in a newspaper last
night which I'd found blowing
along a street in the city and
brought home with me, as a
matter of fact, I discovered that
at least for pic k i ng up papers
the city beats the country ten to
one, at any rate, I read that a
man has invented a new parking
system which he thinks will
solve the parking problem. With
it, you can park 20 cars in the
space now occupied by two. All
it is is a tower with an endless
belt that stacks cars one on top
of the other. When you want
yourcar down, push a button and
in 40 secpnds it comes down to
ground level, ready to drive if
you can get it out without tak-
ing off a fender or door handle.
This is going at the problem
the wrong way. It might solve
the parking problem, but not the
traffic problem. You don't want
to stack the cars on top of each
other. Turn those'complicated
highway approaches up on edge.
Say you're coming into a big
city and need to get to the 16th
(Continued on page 4)
Big Thicket
Association
An old-fashioned "gatherin'" ingin the First Methodist Church
ofthe true deep East Texas tradi- at Saratoga last Sunday, made
tion is planned by the Big Thicket and released announcement of
■
Association for its f i r s t annual
"get-together." The event will
be held at the West Hardin
School, January 9th, with a bar-
becue lunch served at 12 noon. A
varied and sparkling program of
entertainment will begin at 2 p.
m.
Invitations have been extended
to surrounding trail rider groups
to state trail rides to the event.
lost to Mauriceville75-59. John
Tate led the scpring for the Lions
in their losing effort hitting for
19 with Tommy Shane getting
15 and David Anders 10.
The boys B team lost to Big
Sandy B team 45-39. Jody Crosby,
Robert McDonald, and John
Wheeler scored 10, 7, and 7 pts
respectively.
The B team came out on top
against Mauriceville, winning
38-35. Michael Hare scored 16
and Robert McDonald 15.
THE PINE NEEDLE
EDITOR------------JAMES G JENNINGS
PICTURE EDITOR ........ THOMAS BEAN
Published every Thursday at Kountze, Hardin County,
Texas, by The Pine Needle Publishing Company
P. O. BOX 127 TELEPHONE CH 6-3979
Application fot 2nd Class Permit pending at Koumtze, Texas.
Subscription Rates:
In Hardin County----------------$2.00 Per Year
| Qutside Hardin County _____________$3.50 Per Veer
WAN! ADS
HELP
CALL
CH 6-3979
plans as stated above. At the
meeting the Association’s attor-
ney, Terrell Buchanan, ofSils-
bee, formally presented the group
its recently granted start charter
as a non-profit, tax-exempt,
public-service institution.
Representative Emmett Lack,
of Kountze, was named to lead a
committee to maintain contact
with state legislators at Austin,
Planned for the program will be promote cooperation of state
a visit and program by the Ala-~agencies of conservation, and'1
bama Coushatta Indians, spee- acquire both land and gifts or
ches by prominent state legisla- loans of exhibits to be put in the
tors, folk music, and old time Association's museum to be lo-
fiddling. Featured as a special cated in Saratoga, Immediate
event in the program will be the negotiations were ordered for the
presentation of "The Song of the acquisition of land to be used as
Big Thicket, " as sung and play- a museum site, which is set as
ed by its composer, Walter Me- the first major goal of the group.
Reight, of Batson. A brochure setting forth the
Of .unusual interest will be an purposes and plans of theassocia-
ehtire art exhibit sponsored by the tion was authorized and as soon
Silsbee Art League, featuring as printed will be distributed on
works by local artists who have request to friends and prospective
used subjects native to the Big‘members free of charge. Copies
Thicket. may be h#d by sending self-ad -
Walter Coon of Saratoga, dressed envelopes to "The Big
heading up the committee on Thicket Association," Saratoga,
program and food has been pro* Texas. Tickets for the Barbecue
mised a generous barbecue lunch may L>e obtained also from this
will be served for $1.50 and $1.00 address.
for children. Ticket sales chair- Henley also announced the
inen for various cities were nam- presentation of generous cash
ed as follows; Beaumont, JohnK. contributions from the Chambers
Casey; Liberty, Mayor Dempsie of Commerce of Liberty and Ko-
Henley; Houston, Joseph M. Hei- untze.
ser, Jr.; Silsbee, Mrs. E. P. A general membership meet-
Watson; Batson, Miss Alice Cas- ing was set to be held Sunday,
hen; Daisetta, Mayor Jim Hale; December 13th, at 2:30 p. m.,
Saratoga, Mrs. Dollie Jewell at the First Methodist Church,
Hoffman; Woodville, Mr. and Saratoga, The public is invited
Mrs. Clemmings; Livingston, I to attend the meeting, it was
Pace; Pt. Arthur, Leon Unger, stressed.
The Board of Directors of the Leon Unger,
Big Thicket Association, meet- Director of Publicity
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Jennings, James C. The Pine Needle (Kountze, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 26, 1964, newspaper, November 26, 1964; Kountze, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth847700/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Lamar University.