*HTP PAGE 01 10-28-10_Layout 1 11/3/10 2:58 PM Page 1
“Trumpeting our successes!”
The Hometown Press
VOLUME 21 ISSUE 44
Panthers Buna beats knock off unbeaten Newton Buccaneers
thehometownpress.com
Weather
Saturday
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Sunday 73/52 Sunny Day Chilly Night
Monday 76/62 Sunny Day Cool Night
Story & Photos, Page 9
Story & Photos, Page 8
Incumbents re-elected County Judge
Tuesday
50 CENTS
THURSDAY, NOV. 4, 2010
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Friday
“Blowing the horn on scoundrels!”
Commissioner, Pct. 2
T E LEC
I ON
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Justice of the Peace, Pct. 5
Wednesday
83/63 Sunny Day Cool Night
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Obituaries Stevens Page 3
Inside n Rollover Pass fishing report. Page 2. n Community Calendar Page 3. n Public Records. Page 4. n Tumbleweeds talks about the Lady in Blue. Page 5. n East Chambers, Hamshire-Fannett ISD releases honor rolls. Page 3.
DON’T FORGET DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS SUNDAY!
‡ Set your clock back one hour Saturday night or you’ll be one hour early for church on Sunday! Sports n East Chambers sends three runners to cross country regional meet. Anahauc has two runners who qualify for regional meet. Page 9.
Corrections A Page 1 story in the Thursday, Oct. 28, edition of the Hometown Press incorrectly reported that Pudge Willcox is a descendant of Gen. Thomas Chambers. He is the great-great grandson of Charles Willcox, who purchased the Chambers Home.
Contact Us Didn’t get your paper? Got a story idea? Want to place an ad? Call The Hometown Press at 296-9988 or email us at htpress99@windstream.net.
Sylvia (R)
Troxell (I)
Abernathy (R)
Gore (D)
Moon (R)
Wallace (D)
7,113 82%
1,583 18%
983 53%
882 47%
282 42%
386 58%
Sylvia defeats Troxell in county judge’s race Abernathy wins second term as Pct. 2 commissioner; Wallace remains JP By SCOTT REESE WILLEY Hometown Press Chambers County Judge Jimmy Sylvia, Precinct 2 Commissioner David “Bubba” Abernathy, and Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace R.M. “Bob” Wallace will each serve another four year term of office. The three incumbents defeated challengers in the Tuesday, Nov. 2, general election. They will be joined in office by Dennis
McMurrey, who was re-elected to another term as Pct. 4 Justice of the Peace. A total of 9,502 voters cast ballots in Chambers County on Tuesday, 41 percent of the 23,103 eligible voters countywide. Sylvia, a Republican, defeated write-in candidate Sue Troxell, an independent, to win his fourth term of office. “I want to thank the voters of Chambers
Winnie-Stowell VFD will receive sales tax revenue in the future By SCOTT REESE WILLEY Hometown Press It’s Oct. 31 — two days before the November general election — and Winnie-Stowell fire chief Lenard Bettis walking amid the costumed-clad children at the Trunk-or-Treat. He’s searching for their parents. He and his fellow firefighters are hoping to talk some parents into voting for Proposition 1 on the Nov. 2 ballot: funding Emergency Service District No. 1 — essen-
tially the fire department — with sales tax revenue. “I don’t know what we’re going to do if the proposition doesn’t pass,” he says. “We have $8,000 in the bank and we have $26,000 in bills that have to be paid.” The firefighters’ efforts paid off — barely. Voters who live in the Winnie-Stowell area cast 389 ballots in favor of the proposition on election day. A total of 337 voters (See Proposition 1, Page 10)
(See Election, Page 10)
Hospital District to partially fund Foundation request By SCOTT REESE WILLEY Hometown Press The Winnie-Stowell Hospital District’s board of directors agreed last week to give more money to the Winnie Community Hospital. The board essentially agreed to give $90,000 to Frontier Healthcare, which owns the financially struggling Winnie hospital. The Coastal Bend Medical Foundation’s board of directors actually asked the hospital district for $153,000 on behalf of the Frontier — the amount the hospital district would have received had it received federal UPL funding this quarter. The hospital district discovered last month the Upper Payment Limit funding was not
going to be provided this quarter as originally expected. The foundation’s board of directors said the hospital needed the $153,000 in UPL funding to keep its doors open and keep creditors at bay. The hospital district receives about $90,000 each quarter in UPL funding. Because the Winnie Community Hospital has been designated a Critical Access Hospital and is located in an underserved rural areas, it receives UPL funding from Congress annually, which is passed on through the state. Rural hospital’s such as Winnie Community Hospital receive the funding because they do not have enough patients and patient-generated revenue to sur-
vive financially, yet they are in critical need by the communities they serve. Although the hospital district receives only $90,000 in UPL funding each quarter, its partnership with Baptist Hospital generates an additional $63,000. The Medical Foundation, created in February to help support the local hospital, pledged the entire $153,000 in UPL funding to the hospital’s creditors to keep them from closing the hospital in order to sell its assets. The hospital board agreed to fund the next four UPL payments of $90,000 to the hospital. However, when the board discovered last month the UPL payment was not forthcoming, it agreed to fund the $90,000 any-
way. The foundation’s board of directors asked the hospital district’s board for the entire amount during its last board meeting — meaning the remaining $64,000 — but the proposal was tabled until last week in order for Frontier to prove it was “making progress” financially and toward paying off its creditors . Frontier owes more than $4 million to creditors and to the Internal Revenue Service in back payroll taxes. Some of the people attending the last two hospital board meetings wanted the board to do all it could financially to help keep the local hospital’s doors open. But some also expressed their
belief that the board had to allocate its money wisely and not simply open its checkbook to bail out a private company. “I think they have used good judgement,” Taylor Meaux said of the hospital board. “I think they have spent taxpayers’ dollars wisely.” The hospital receives more than $350,000 annually in sales tax revenue. The Coastal Bend Medical Foundation board is seeking its 401(3)(c) charitable permit and eventually assume ownership of the hospital and then lease it back to Frontier. As a charitable institution, the foundation will be able to apply for state and federal grants, which Frontier cannot do as a private entity.