El Campo Leader-News (El Campo, Tex.), Vol. 97, No. 27, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 24, 1981 Page: 1 of 36
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Wharton County Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Wharton County Library.
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Le ader-Ne ws
SVOBODA1885
CITIZEN 1900
VOLUME 97 NUMBER 27
77437
El Campo, Texas, Wednesday, June 24, 1981
25 CENTS
5 SECTIONS 44 PAGES
Council Denies
Zoning Request
By STEVE SUCHER
The El Campo City Council denied, with two dissenting votes, a re-
quest to extend and expand Wanda Lane in Salley’s Mobile Home Park
during Monday night’s regular council meeting.
In addition, council rezoned the entire mobile home park Rl-MH
(single family mobile home). Previous zoning classifications were M-l
(manufacturing) for Serena Drive and R-l (single family residential)
for Wanda Lane.
Joining council members Cecil Davis and Ruth Frnka, who offered
and seconded the motion, respectively, in voting for the motion were
councilmen Phillip Miller and Bill Ritz.
Councilmen King Sharp and David Zalman voted against the motion,
citing the need for additional information on the city’s non-conforming
use laws.
Sharp also indicated that the same laws allow for the usage of mobile
homes on R-l property, and that the rezoning was unnecessary.
The issue of non-conforming use “does need to be resolved,” Sharp
said after the meeting.
El Campo attorney Dennis Morgan reported Tuesday that he recom-
mended one policy change to City Council members at an emergency
meeting held last Thursday night.
No action has been taken on the recommendation, which would re-
quire property owners to notify City Hall in writing of any non-
conforming use on their property.
Morgan said the notification would be required on an annual basis
and would give the city more control over new incidences of non-
conforming use, such as the placement of mobile homes in areas zoned
R-l.
Morgan said the requirement, if approved, would in all probability
affect land annexed by the city in the future. The constitutionality of
such a requirement, if it were made retroactive, is debatable, he add-
ed.
Representatives of both parties to the issue expressed disappoint-
ment in council’s decision.
Jim Bouligny, co-owner of Salley’s Mobile Home Park, said he was
disappointed that council did not grant the request to extend and ex-
pand Wanda Lane for 12 additional mobile home spaces.
“That’s the only purpose it can be used for,” Bouligny said Tuesday
(See MOBILE HOME, Page 2)
_ _ l.niir Ntwi PWu
Disposing Of The Flag
El Campo Boy Scouts (1-r) Carl Jensen, Shannon day. Looking on are (l-r) Regina Kaspar, Floyd
Strnadel and Jeff Holt burn several worn out Shitnek and Scoutmaster C. F. Drapela.
American flags at the American Legion grounds Sun-
Civic Center Group Begins Preliminary Research
By STEVE SUCHER
The Mayor’s Civic Center Committee is
making progress, if only at a snail’s pace,
on development of the proposal to build a
new civic center in El Campo.
The project is beginning to challenge
the membership of the committee, which
initiated an investigation into the various
ways the structure could be financed at a
Monday morning meeting.
Finance Committee Chairman Tom
Henderson, along with Jim Cannell,
Rotary Club representative, Cecil Davis,
mayor protem; and Harlan Hobbs,
manager of the El Campo Chamber of
Commerce and Agriculture, are hoping
to meet with a bond attorney and finan-
cial adviser in the near future.
Purpose of the meeting will be to deter-
mine the possibility of obtaining low-
interest industrial revenue bonds from
the Texas Industrial Commission, which
is how the Thompson Industries Com-
pany foam cup plant here was financed.
“It’s a good way to get cheap money,”
Oscar Griffin Jr., committee chairman,
said Monday.
The industrial commission issued over
$600 million worth of industrial bonds last
year, although none were issued for a
civic center project, Hobbs reported.
The committee, however, will be in-
vestigating the possibility of combining
the center with another project, such as a
motel, which can qualify for the TIC
bonds.
In other developments, committee
members expressed an interest in travel-
ing to other Texas communities to view
completed civic center projects.
Possible sites received further con-
sideration from committee members, but
Griffin described this phase of the com-
mittee’s work as “way up in the air” at
the end of the meeting.
“There’s nothing definite yet. We
haven’t even centered on what side of
town, or downtown,” Griffin said.
City Manager John Lee continued to
advise committee members on the dif-
ficulty of obtaining property already oc
cupied by established businesses
Several blocks of property in downtown
El Campo have been discussed as possi-
ble sites, but the City Council has ex-
pressed a disinclination to get involved in
condemnation proceedings, especially
those which draw opposition.
Consequently, possible sites away from
the downtown area have received con-
siderable attention.
Committee members have expressed a
keen interest in undeveloped parcels of
land that could be donated or sold at
below market prices.
Committee members argue that a
developer could afford to give away
acreage for the center, which, upon com-
pletion, would escalate the value of ad-
joining properties
A developer could recoup his losses, in-
curred when the land was donated to the
city for location of the center, by selling
land in the surrounding area at the higher
prices.
Committee members appear to be in-
terested in this concept, which would hold
down land acquisition costs, and, at the
same time, allow development of the
civic center to coincide with the develop-
ment of an adjoining motel, as was pro-
posed Monday, or other community ser-
vice structure.
In addition, committee members have
not ruled out the possibility of locating
the civic center on existing park land,
such as Friendship Park or the park
behind the Post Office.
Hobbs also reported that only one
respondent expressed opposition to the
construction of a new civic center in a
questionnaire recently mailed to
Chamber and n Campo Museum Society
members.
Griffin described the results of the
questionnaire as a “strong mandate from
the people who are active in the com-
munity” for a community center.
ByALZUCHA
At age three, kids get the
biggest kick out of putting a
giant conch shell to their ear
and hearing the rush A the
ocean. At an age past
retirement, Verda Boyle still
has a three-year-old’s
exuberance when it comes to
shells.
Boyle is an amateur conch-
oiogist, or one who studies
sea shells. In addition, she
studies mollusks, the tiny in-
vertebrate animals such as
chitons, oysters, clams,
mussels, snails, whelks, slugs,
squids and octopuses
Boyle has approximately 600
different species of shells in her
collection, a sampling of the
150,000 different species of sea
shells living in the waters of the
Earth
She began collecting shells
around 1961 when a couple from
Houston stopped in El Campo to
have their car serviced at Mr.
Boyle's car dealership
The woman had a picture
(See SEA BUELL, Page X)
Boyle (left) and Vitera poae with neaithell collection.
Museum Preparing New Exhibit Showcasing
Verda Boyle’s Extensive Shell Collection
Chamber Announces
State Of City Luncheon
The second State of the City luncheon Forum, sponsored by the El
Campo Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, will be held at noon
Monday at the El Campo Community Center
Reservations for the $5 meal tickets are due Thursday at the
Chamber offices
Purpose of the forum is to provide members of the Chamber and
other citizens of the community an opportunity to participate in a
period of questions and answers concerning the city, its present pro-
blems and its goals.
“Such a forum provides a practical opportunity for the thought
leaders of the city to engage in open inquiry in matters of concern to
the people and to get more closely acquainted with the elected
officials,’ Harlan Hobbs, Chamber manager, said
At each place on each table, there will he a printed form with space
provided for written questions and space to designate to whom the
question is addressed
The forum will be conducted by a moderator who will be introduced
at the luncheon by Oscar O Griffin Jr . president of the Chamber.
All the written questions will be gathered during the luncheon and
assembled and cataloged by a special forum committee. None of the
questions are to be signed
The mayor and all the members of the El Campo City Council have
been invited to participate in the forum They will be joined by the city
manager The city manager and the mayor will each be given five
minutes at the beginning of the forum to present their evaluation of
"the state of the City of El Campo ’’
The first State of the City forum occurred during the brief tenure of
former citv manager H R Macomber
The event was intended to be an annual affair, hut the date for the se
cond forum was delayed after the appointment of John Lee as city
manager
At that time, chamber officials felt that it would be unfair to subject
Lee and the council to questions from the public on such short notice.
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Barbee, Chris. El Campo Leader-News (El Campo, Tex.), Vol. 97, No. 27, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 24, 1981, newspaper, June 24, 1981; El Campo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth987135/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Wharton County Library.