Fox crossing

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Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2014 Volume 120, Number 34 GoldthwaiteEagle.com TO SUBSCRIBE CALL 325-648-2244

& the Mullin Enterprise

Woman

Page 2A

on a

Dissolved

Mission

Fox Crossing Water District Closes Down

The Gift of Sight

Tammy Pledger Eagle Asst. Editor The Fox Crossing Water District board voted unanimously to dissolve during a called meeting Monday morning, ending the existence of the district that was created by State Legislature in 1985.

Fox Crossing Dissolves Vice chairman Craig Jones made the motion to dissolve the district, citing it be done in accordance with Chapter 54.737 of the Water Code. Board member Bill Bishop seconded the motion.

Though Chairman Glen “Cowboy” Love Jr. typically does not vote on agenda items during regular meetings, he voted in favor of the dissolution Monday, saying the vote mandatorily had to be unanimous.

The board also voted unanimously, upon waiting 30 days for any final bills that might come in, to divide any remaining funds retained by the district evenly between Mills County and the City of Goldthwaite, as both entities had contributed funds to the district over the years.

It was decided any records the current board accumulated to this point would be kept by secretary Diana Moore.

Jones said he would send the pertinent documentation on to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), and to Sen. Troy Frasier’s office.

The board also voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the public hearing held on Feb. 27. It was noted that at that public hearing, which about 15 interested persons attended, that when the board called for any comments of opposition of the dissolution of the district, there were none.

Fox Crossing History When Fox Crossing was created via HB 2487, with two other counties included in the district’s enabling legislation — San Saba and Lampasas counties — but the voters in those counties did not opt to be included in the district. As such, Fox Crossing was formed as a single county district covering only Mills County, where voters did vote in favor of entering into the district in 1985.

At the time the district was created, there was the option of a partner vote to call for a tax to fund the district, but such an election was never called.

While the district was reportedly created in connection with efforts to build a dam on the Colorado River, its function for several years, as reported by The Eagle in 2009, had been collecting and recording groundwater data in a statewide effort to study groundwater supply in Central Texas over a 50-year period.

Fox Crossing also functioned for years as part of Groundwater Management Area (GMA) 8, submitting a set of Desired Future Conditions (DFCs) for the Trinity Aquifer.

Funding Issues During this time, the district was funded by the county, but in 2007, the Mills County Commissioners’ Court learned through the release of an Attorney General’s opinion that it was illegal for the county to support the district, and the funding was stopped.

At that time, the district’s board looked into other funding options, settling on the decision to become a fee-based district.

Initial reports indicated the district’s board considered an annual budget to the tune of $83,000. In January of 2009, the Fox Crossing board approved (by a four to one vote) the implementation of a $25 registration fee per well per year county-wide.

See Fox Crossing Dissolved 6A

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Junior Lady Eagle Jayci Padgett dribbles the ball down the court during a recent game at Jody Conradt Gym. Padgett was named to the 2014 All-State Team this week.

Padgett Named All-State Player

By Tammarrah Pledger Eagle Asst. Editor Local woman Sue Cockrum joined a group on a mission trip to Guatemala recently, helping many of the natives there regain the precious gift of sight.

A long-time friend and Goldthwaite native, Margaret (Stokes) Matthews, invited Cockrum to come along on the trip, she said, and though she said she was scared to make the trip alone at first, she decided to go ahead due in large part to Matthews’ persistence and her children’s encouragement. After it was all said and done, Cockrum said, she was very glad she went.

In planning her trip, which was part of an eye care mission, Cockrum said she wanted to bring something for the children she would see there. She said her Sunday school class helped her to decide to bring toothbrushes and toothpaste, and Graves Dental of Goldthwaite helped out by getting her 150 toothbrushes to give away.

The day before they were set to leave, the national news of bomb threats at the Olympics in Russia had border agencies cracking down on transporting tubes of toothpaste, she said, so she was concerned that would be a problem, but in the end, all the supplies made it through.

There was also an issue, she would learn, about transporting medicines and medical supplies into the country, as sometimes they would be confiscated by the officials there so they could resell them. The group she was with, from the University Methodist Church of San Antonio, had made the trip several times before and warned her, though, she said.

Jayci Padgett Selected for Two All-State Teams Hayley Wilson Makes All-Region Team

By MIKE LEE Eagle Contributor Goldthwaite junior forward Jayci Padgett has been selected to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches and Texas Girls Coaches Association 2014 all-state basketball teams for Class 1A Division I. Additionally, Padgett and Lady Eagles teammate Hayley Wilson, a senior guard, were selected to the TABC All-Region II team.

The 6-foot Padgett averaged 13 points and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 55 percent from the field and forcing 30 steals

during the 2013-14 season. Padgett, who already has been voted the MVP of District 12-1A Division I, played throughout the season with injuries to her shoulder, foot and ankle.

“This is Jayci’s second year to make allstate, and it was harder for her this year because everybody knew who she was, ” Lady Eagles coach Angie Hermesmeyer said. “Last year she kind of caught everybody by surprise. This year everybody keyed on her, and she had to adjust her game because of that. ” Twenty players were named to both the TABC and TGCA Class 1A Division I all-state girls’ teams. There is no first- or second-team distinction.

Padgett and Wilson were two of 20 players selected to the TABC Class 1A Division I Region II girls’ team. The all-region team also included District 12-1A players McKenna Maxcey of San Saba Kaylee Roach of Hico.

Wilson was voted Defensive MVP of District 12-1A after leading Goldthwaite with 55 steals this season. She averaged seven points, three rebounds and two assists.

“I know a lot of people just look at offensive stats when they vote on postseason teams, but if you saw us play, you know how important Hayley was to us because of her defense, ” Hermesmeyer said.

“Defensive stats like steals don’t get as much notice. It’s nice to see someone who’s more of a defensive specialist be recognized. ” The 2013-14 Lady Eagles finished 21-7, advancing to the regional quarterfinal playoffs.

PHOTO: Senior Lady Eagle Hayley Wilson during a recent game at Jody Conradt Gym in Goldthwaite.

Sue Cockrum during her recent mission trip to Guatemala City.

“They told me, ‘Don’t do anything that makes it look like you are anything more than a tourist,’” Cockrum said. So they did not label any of their luggage “medical supplies,” or wear anything that indicated they were with a medical mission group. They made it across the border with no problem and then boarded a bus in Guatemala City, she said, to head to the clinic site.

See Woman on a Mission 6A

6A- Mar. 19, 2014

GoldthwaiteEagle.com • (325)648-2244

Continued from Page One

Fox Crossing Water District Dissolved

This decision was met with fierce opposition by many residents and landowners. Fox Crossing’s board held a public workshop in February of 2009.

Attending the workshop were then State Rep. Sid Miller, Fox Crossing’s attorney at that time, Greg Ellis, representatives of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), representatives of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), and enough residents to fill the Mills County State Bank Community room — some sitting on the floor; some standing outside on the sidewalk with the doors open so they could listen in.

It was at this workshop

that Rep. Miller announced a plan for the county and the City of Goldthwaite to enter into an interlocal agreement with the district, with each municipality providing a set amount of funding in exchange for services provided by the district. The county, city, and Fox Crossing all moved to enter into the interlocal agreement through February and March of that year. The agreement called for the city to contribute $3,500 annually, and for the county to contribute $1,500 annually, as well as providing in-kind services (secretarial help, office space, telephone, fax, internet, etc.). In exchange, Fox Crossing was to provide information on

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drought conditions, and serve as the city and county’s voice at the state level with water-regulating agencies.

Tensions between the board and residents continued, however, with residents attending Fox Crossing’s regular board meetings to take issue with everything from the district’s attorney, to their rules and plan that had to be submitted to the TWDB, to when the board elections should be held.

Fox Crossing Board Shake Up In May of 2010, four seats on Fox Crossing’s board were up for reelection. Five locals ran against the incumbent board members, and removed all four incumbents from office.

Shortly thereafter, the remaining board member resigned.

The new board moved to hold quarterly meetings instead of monthly meetings. They scrapped the plan and rules formed by the previous board, and terminated the district’s relationship with attorney Greg Ellis. Then they essentially became dormant.

Move Toward Dissolution In February of 2012, Fox Crossing’s vice chairman Craig Jones spoke to the Mills County Commis-

sioners’ Court during a regular Court meeting, saying not only that Fox Crossing could not afford to conduct its upcoming election, but that it has no way to support itself financially at all.

In order to maintain the interlocal agreement with the county and the city, he said, Fox Crossing would have to provide some real service to the municipalities, and that it wasn’t doing as much. Jones said it was his opinion that the district stood to do more harm than good to the residents and landowners of Mills County, and that it was also his opinion that the board should be dissolved.

Before dissolving the district, however, Jones said, the board would conduct a public hearing on the matter to see if residents feel the same, or if they are willing to pay to maintain the district’s existence.

Since then, several public meetings and public hearings have been held with attendees and the board discussing the possible benefits versus detriments of dissolving the district. As of the last public hearing, the consensus of the board as well as the attendees was that it was in the best interest of the county landowners for the district to dissolve.

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The Goldthwaite Eagle

Woman on a Mission

Continued from Page One Cockrum’s friend, Matthews, went a week ahead of them to get groceries to feed the 20 to 25 mission workers lunch each day at the clinic, and she met up with her when she got there. The make-shift clinic was set up in an office space in Camanchaj, and they stayed in the evenings in a city called Chichicastenango. To get to the clinic, they left the hotel at 7:30 a.m., and took what they called “chicken buses,” which were like taxis, along the treacherous, winding mountain roads to the clinic.

They planned to try to see 120 patients during their weeklong stay. When the clinic opened, the people were already lined up for as long as the eye could see, Cockrum said, most of them mountain people of Mayan descent. The group had two translators, one who could translate the Mayan dialect to Spanish, and then one to translate the Spanish to English.

The Guatemalans were so eager to help get the clinic set up, she said, they came out in the rain to help them into the building and get all their equipment going.

Cockrum said she was so impressed by how patient the natives were, standing in lines for hours without ever complaining. In all, the group saw 150 people, including children from orphanages. Most of the patients had eye problems like glaucoma, cataracts, and either cross-eyed or walleyed conditions.

More than 100 surgeries were performed there, she said, many times restoring sight to those who were all but blind.

Cockrum said she remembers one little boy who was walleyed, which meant the doctors had to release the muscles to fix his eyes. When the surgery was done and the boy looked at himself in the mirror for the first time, he was amazed.

One of the many people Sue Cockrum helped during her mission trip to Guatemala City.

In another instances, there was a woman with glaucoma who was already blind in one eye, but with the surgery, the doctors were able to save the sight in her other eye. One little boy had congenital cataracts, and the day after his surgery, “he looked all around and couldn’t believe what he was seeing,” Cockrum said.

While all sorts of missions are very worthwhile, she noted, she was particularly touched to be part of this one, where they provided “overnight miracles” for these people.

In addition to the joy of the mission trip, Cockrum said, she also got to take in the Guatemalan landscape and interact with what she called the “colorful” Mayan culture, which was also very enjoyable. She purchased many colorful, handmade items from the natives, including headbands, fabrics, woven and beaded items, and more.

Cockrum said she would like to go back and help again, but would also really like to take someone along and have them experience it.

She especially lauded the physicians who took their vacation time to participate in the clinic — Dr. Richard Evans, Dr. Hector Nevarez, and Dr. Rick Sponsel, all practicing in the San Antonio area.

Anyone interested in the mission or who would like to help can contact them at Project Salud y Paz, 2738 S. Georgia, Amarillo, 79109, or visit them online at tinyurl.com/ GiveSaludyPaz.