Portland News (Portland, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 4, 1978 Page: 1 of 26
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POR TLAND
Dedicated To The Beat Interests
Of Portland - The Fastest
Growing City In Texaa
Portland Tims 78374, Thursday May 4, 1978
Volume XIII - 26 Pates ii 3 Sections - No. 18
NEWS
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
VOTE
Primaries
Saturday
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Palms Get Some Reprieve
‘May Work It Out’ Highway Department Says
The Democratic and
Republican Primary Election*
will take plac«“ Saturday. May
r»
Polls will he open from 7 a m
to 7 pm
Portland voters will cast
their ballots in the Democratic
Primary at the fire station
■ Precinct *9> and at city hall
(Precinct K• In Gregory.
voters of Precinct 4 will vote at
I In* old hit>h school gym
In the Republican Primary,
voting will be by county
commissioner precinct with
the polling place (or Portland
and Gregory lining at the
Portland fire station
Precinct conventions for the
Democrats will lx* held at 7 15
pm Saturday.
The Precinct K convention
will lie held at the T M ('lark
Elementary School cafeteria,
according to W W Lackey,
precinct chairman Mike
Klinn. Precinct 19 chairman,
said that the convention in that
precinct will be conducted at
the tire station The convention
in Precinct 4 will be in the gym.
See PRIMARIES, Page M
"We are not going to rush
into it •* Roger (J Spencer,
district engineer. Slate
Department of Highways and
Public Transportation, Corpus
Christi. told the city council
Tuesday night in commenting
of the proposed removal of
palms along Highway 181
between Portland and
Gregory
"There may be some w ay w e
can work it out." he saia, "i
don't know if we can do it or
not
Spencer said there were
many points to be explored,
and that a public meeting
would be held in the near
future
This softened the previous
stand taken by James Johnson,
resident engineer at Sinton.
who had indicated that the
Bond Sale Delayed
City Manager Pete Gildon
Tuesday night told the city
council that sale of the bonds
voted in a recent election for
various city improvements
would have to tie postponed
until the next regular meeting
of the council May lfi
It had planned to have the
sale approval as an agenda
item for the Tuesday night
meeting
Gildon said that (he reason
for the delay is the probable
mineral value downgrading
this year which he described as
"substantial."
Mineral valuation currently
is about til million Gildon
explained that even though
there is a surplus of gas in
Texas producers won’t sell
because of federal regulations
which hold the price at certain
levels
One resident in the audience
reported that a complex of
wells here capable of prod
ucmg 25 million cubic feet of
gas a day was actually
producing six million cubic
feel
Gildon advised the council
that with the continuing
tremendous growth of the city
it will tie necessary to build up
the city staff especially in the
technical areas such as public
works, inspection and parks
and recreation
He noted that this will tie
reflected and discussed further
as preliminary budget con
siderations get under way soon
for the 1978-79 budget
He said that an electrical
inspector was being hired at
the present time
Lpon recommendation of
Councilman Bobby Whit-
tington. the rest rooms at
Municipal Park will tie kicked
at night (after ball games and
other activitiesi on a trial basis
for 30 days
Whittington said that the rest
room facilities constantly were
being vandalized and that it
“was a disgrace.”
In commenting on the
vandalism. Tothtll said that
"parents are going to have to
start looking after their
children, the city can’t do it for
them "
Whittington noted that on
repeated occasions, dumpsters
tiehind a shopping center had
been set on fire, and that the
fire department was required
to put on a blaze that initially
gets very hot
In other business, the
council.
- • Authorized the city
manager to advertise for bids
on a cab and chassis for the
sanitation department
u
John Hardin (left) and Buddy Ganem (right) were named Citizens of the Year by the
Jaycees. In the center is Dick Lee, Jaycee president. (NEWS Photo)
JA YCEES
Ganem, Hardin Citizens Of Year
For the first time, the
Jaycees had a tie in balloting
for I heir Citizens of the Year
award, thus naming two in
dividual* for the coveted honor
for 1978 Buddy Ganem and
John Hardin
Outgoing president Dick l>oc
also noted that this was the
first time that a fellow Jaycee
i Hardin> had been named for
the award
Pools Open
Weekends
The Community Center
sYiimmimg pools will open for
weekends starting Sunday.
May 7
Hours will he Irom I to 7 p m
Sundays and starting May 13,
12 noon to 7 p m Saturdays.,
Both |hki|s now are open for
weekends only until school is
Mill
Prices are 35 cents for
children II and under, and 50
cents for those 12 and over
The first activity of the (hmiIs
will Is- the Portland swim team
practices starting May 22 at
i to p m at the IIF.B pool
Herb Janccek was the third
of the three citizen award
finalists who attended the
Jayrees* annual installation
dinner Thursday night at the
Community Center
The award was announced
along with other awards within
the organization, and in-
stallation of officers was
conducted at the event at-
tended by Jaycees, their wives
and other guests
Ia*e presided as emcee for
the affair Bronte Baker is the
incoming president for the
1978 79 year
Other new officers installed
were Andy Gerhard, vice
president Richard Dugat. vice
president, Kenoth Flournoy,
secretary. Robert Cantu,
treasurer; Steve Cilek,
director; Glen Powers,
director. Bob Whitley,
director; and Bill O'Donnell ,
State director
Officiating at the installation
of officers were Mike Ennis,
Region 3 director, and Ralph
Rodriguez of Yoakum who is
running for the office of Jaycee
state president ,
For conducting the two most
outstanding prefects of the
vrar. !a*e presented plaques to
Approved a revision to the
Comprehensive Drainage Plan
proposed by the Oak Ridge
developers which will drain the
area west of Wildcat Drive
See BOND SALE, Page 14
palms would have to be
removed before August
The highway department
proposed to relocate the palms
to a site at Gregory in an in
terchange area to be built at
the junction of Highways 181
and 35 They would be further
removed from the flow of
traffic at the new site, highway
officials points out
The 47 palms have been in
place for some 50 years
Highway department per
sonnel showed a film produced
hv the National Insurance
Association pertaining to
See PALMS, Page 16
Many Vote
Absentee
County voters will turn out in
large numbers Saturday if the
absentee voting in the
primaries is any indication
As of 4 p m Tuesday, with
deadline just an hour away, 590
Democrats had voted in ab-
sentia, along with 16
Republicans, according to
County Clerk Velma Sherman
Mrs Sherman also said that it
was |xissihie the numlier would
swell considerably since mail
ballots had been farily heavy,
and any ballot hearing a
postmark before midnight
Tuesday would still be counted
Mrs Sherman added that this
has been the heaviest turnout
in recent years
In discussing Saturday's
voting Mrs Sherman restated
that provisions have again
been made at the courthouse
election day to accomodate
elderly or disabled voters who
find it difficult to negotiate the
steps Arrangements can be
made to have ballots brought
the voter on the courthouse
parking lot, or curbside, by
contacting Mrs Sherman’s
office This service will be
provided between the hours of 7
ami when the polls openi and
2pm Similar arrangements
can tie made at the polling
places by contacting the
election judge
Polls Saturday will open at 7
a m and close at 7 p m
R eception For A ndrews
The board of trustees of the Gregory-Portland In
dependent School District cordially invites all interested
persons to attend a reception honoring W. C Andrews,
superintendent, upon his retirement.
The reception will lie held at the high school from 2 to 5
p m Sunday. May 14
Andrews has completed 38 years of service in the public
school systems Thirty-six of those years have been in the
Gregory-Portland school system, 33 as superintendent
Brenda Bird (left) and Lisa Carswell hold the Sweepstakes Trophy. (NEWS Photo)
Band Wins
Sweepstakes
Gregory-Portland High
School Sym|ihonic Band with
director Jim Vanlandingham
earned its 13th consecutive UIL
Sweepstakes Award at region
contest Thursday. April 27 at
Del Mar College, Corpus
Christi
This is the Kith Sweepstakes
in the last 17 years Sweeps
stakes Award is the highest
t il. award that a band can
recieve and is based on first
division ratings in marching,
concert performance and sight
reading
The G-P Concert Band,
under director Joe Medina,
received a First Division in
hand concert playing and sight
reading, thus also making
them eligible for a Sweeps
stakes Award This is the first
lime this band had received
both lirst place awards
In addition, this concludes all
I'll, music participation for the
year and each G-P music
performance receiving First
Division throughout the
schools This includes junior
high hand, three high school
See BAND. Page 16
Making good grades has
always come easy for Debt
Sims, the 1978 G-P valedic-
torian
Her average four year grade
was 95 81
"I don't know whether 1 have
a photographic memory, or am
Top Students Set Goals
a good listener but usually I
don't have much trouble
learning what I set out to ae
complish "
This is evidently true as the
young lady has been top in her
class ever since her family
moved to G-P when she was in
Richard Dugat. chairman of
the Cowboys Olympics event
held dunng Portland Pioneer
Days in September, and to
John Harding for the disco
dances which have been
sponsored by the organization
The Outstanding First Year
Jaycee Award went to Robert
Cantu
Projects undertaken during
the year and the chairman of
each was recognized by Lee
They are
See JAYCEES, Page 14
Clark PTO
Meets Tuesday
T M (lark PTO will hold its
last meeting of the year
Tuesday. May 9
The meeting and program
will lie held in the gym with
babysitting available in the
cafeteria
The Gregory-Portland choir
will give the program
The nominating committee
will give names of officers for
Ihe coming school year
Everyone is invited to at
lend
Valedictorian
DEBISIMS
the sixth grade During her
high school career she was the
top ranking student each year
She is the daughter of Mr.
and Mrs Robert Sims of 122
Marie
Miss Sims finds most sub-
jects easy to master, even her
specialities which are science
and math, and it is probably in
one of these related fields that
the young scholar hopes to find
her life's work
She has lieen accepted at The
University of Texas in its
honors program and at the
moment she plans to specialize
in engineering w ith the hope of
finding a career in some type of
computer related industry
"If everything works out like
I hope I plan to get my
bachelor of science degree and
then go right ahead on a
master's degree tiefore I get
out of college and go to work "
Probably one of Miss Sims'
relaxations also helps her in
her career as she is an avid
science fiction reader "I like
to read about all of the fan
tastic things that the science
fiction writers put in their
(sinks II may come true some
day
But life at G-P hasn't lieen all
a math or science hook for her
In tact, the most pleasant
memories Dial she will take
away from high school deal
w ilh her four years in the hand
"I really enjoyed niv years in
the band and ihe friendships
that I made I’ve been accepted
in Ihe PT band, but I haven't
decided yet whether I'll have
enough time to take part in the
I .onghorn group ”
Miss Sims sits in the first
chair of the clarinet section of
Ihe band this year
In addition to her work in the
band, she has lieen in the Math
club, serving this year as an
officer, and the Future
Teachers Association for four
years and the German Club for
two years
Her father has just been
transferred to Tulsa and the
See STUDENTS, Pafe 16
Salutatorian
KATHLEEN CAMPBELL
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Leveen, Paul D. Portland News (Portland, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 4, 1978, newspaper, May 4, 1978; Taft, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth871310/m1/1/?rotate=270: accessed June 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bell/Whittington Public Library.