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Current Weekly News for Leakey, Camp Wood, Sabinal, Utopia and Surrounding Areas Vol. 4 No. 19
www.hillcountryherald.net
INSIDE It’s About Keeping Our Children Alive Academics First!
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EMS REPORTS
Let’s take a quiz. Which state led the nation in drunk driving deaths in 2011? You guessed it—Texas! More than 1,200 people died in alcohol-related crashes in Texas during 2011. Now how many young people die due to drinking and driving? In 2011, almost a third of the young drivers (15 to 20 years old) killed in a traffic collision had at least some alcohol in their blood (source: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/ 811744.pdf). And sadly, Texas again leads the nation in the number of young drivers killed in crashes. But statistics rarely tell the whole story. These numbers represent real people and real tragedies. Stats cannot express the heartache of a family whose loved one will never again laugh with them, watch a football game together, or share another sunset. The
May 7, 2014
editor@hillcountryherald.net
Christmas dinner table has an empty chair—needlessly. Drunk driving has robbed American families of joy and caused family reunions to be held at cemeteries. How many people do you know whose lives have been impacted— forever--by a drunk driver? Because of this problem, Real County Sheriff James Brice, along with his department, has teamed up with the Texas FRIDAY (Focus On Reducing Impaired Driving Among Youth) Program and the Hill Country Herald to bring the problem to light through education. The FRIDAY Program is grant funded by the Texas Department Of Transportation and administered by the Texas Municipal Police Association in Austin. It seeks to bring in-service classes to Texas law enforcement agencies that are aimed
by B. Lynn Parker
at curbing drinking and driving among drivers under the age of 21 through education and enforcement. FRIDAY also seeks to build community coalitions that work to prevent underage drunk driving crashes. The FRIDAY Program also seeks to keep up with trends among youth with not only alcohol, but also other drugs. A contemporary problem involves young people misusing prescription drugs and a number of over-the-counter (OTC) medications, usually in large numbers. “Pharm” parties are popular in some places. These parties are where young people gather and dump numerous types of prescription and OTC pills into a bowl and then all the partiers grab a handful of the drugs and ingest them. The results can be serious, even fatal. Inhalants like
computer duster have claimed lives when young drivers mixed driving with “getting dusted” (inhaling computer duster). In weeks to come, we will publish articles that deal with our youth, alcohol, and drugs. Our special thanks to Julie Corley and the Hill Country Herald for providing this avenue for the FRIDAY Program. It is our hope that this coalition in Real County will help keep our young people alive. We are available to speak to your civic group about the program. We welcome your inquiries and participation. --Barry “Lynn” Parker is a Deputy Sheriff with Real County Sheriff’s Dept., as well as Lead Criminal Justice Instructor for Palo Alto College, and an Instructor for the Texas FRIDAY Program.
BANDERA ELECTRIC CELEBRATES 75 YEARS OF SERVICE submitted by Willis Springfield, written by Marjorie Kellner
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In the 1930s, the government agency Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was created in Washington to serve rural residents with electricity. In 1938, some residents of Bandera and surrounding areas got together and formed the Bandera Electric Cooperative, Inc. The first nine directors were Raymond Hicks and Dr. J.O. Butler of Bandera, A.H. Schott and Floyd Prue of Pipe Creek, E.H. Sewell and Pl> Garrison of Medina, Capt. Thomas P. Grant of Tarpley, J.J. Leighton of Vanderpool and Stafford Smith of Utopia.
Getting those original applicants wasn’t very easy. A potential customer had to pay a $5.00 membership fee and be willing to spend at least $2.45 a month for their electric service. This amount seems meager to people in today’s times, but during the 1930s, 50 cents would buy a month’s supply of kerosene for lamps and coffee was 39 cents a pound. In March, 1939, the REA authorized the loan of $154,000 to build approximately 200 miles of electric line on 400 farms and ranches.
Two New Cool Products for Water News and River Flows flows were taken on the Frio and a flow of 2,873 gpm this month; this Pet Owners River Nueces Rivers on April 29 with the flows crossing seems to have this fluctuation
LtoR: David H. James, Robert F. Tampke, Charles Ed Kellner, S.J. Chiodo (in truck) Santiago Albarado, Pablo Tobar, Juan Albarado, Lupe Tobar, Pedro Hernandez, Epaminio Lopez
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By: Joel Pigg, General Manager
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Burk Feed, Leakey, Texas on Saturday, May 17 from 9am to 1pm
Adult Protective Services urges Texans to get involved to stop self-neglect ............................ Page 9
INDEX State News .................... Page 2 Legals/Jail Register ...... Page 3 Community News ......... Page 4-6 Feature Story ................. Page 7 Obituaries ...................... Page 8 Classifieds ..................... Page 12
Today’s Weather
High:90° Low: 66°
varying across the District, but with a mostly downward trend. The crossings are all looking decent for this time of year, but all could still use a good rise to clean some of the moss and debris out of the culverts. If we do not get a substantial rainfall soon, we could see some of the lowest flow measurements we have recorded. Fulgham’s Crossing just south of the Alto Frio Baptist Encampment had a flow of 5,274 gpm (gallons per minute) last month and now has a flow of 4,190 gpm. This site has taken another plunge this month falling off nearly 21%; the crossing still looks fine but I hope we get a good rain soon. The Leakey Springs Crossing had a flow of 3,347 gpm last month and
quite regularly it is hard for me to see any change it always looks the same. The Mill Creek Crossing is flowing higher this time than last, there are still culverts on both end of this crossing that have no flow reading, this crossing has increased to a flow of 5,288 gpm this month up from the flow last month of 4,787 gpm. On the west prong of the Frio River; the Rancho Real crossing had a flow of 3,288 gpm this month compared to a flow of 2,581 gpm last month. The Kent Creek crossing showed a decrease since last month with a flow of 461 gpm this month down from a flow of 607 gpm last month. continued page 3
The Spirit of ‘45 Born in Sabinal, raised in Uvalde, Juan Rodriguez had just turned 18, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, had a direct effect on him and many other boys about to become men. He was drafted into the Army , went to Fort Sam Houston and then, on to Camp Abbott, near Prospect, Oregon where he got his training as a Combat Engineer. Home for a short leave, he was sent to Pennsylvania for a few short months. Next he went to California, up to Washington State, and then in Paris, Texas he went for infantry training. There he got a broken finger which prevented him from going with the men he trained with. Once he mended, he was sent to New York and attached to paratroopers. From there, he went to France. Because he had had the broken finger, he was not assigned to any unit. They moved by train and when he got to Germany, they were taught to work in pairs. Not very long after that, Germans
by Billie Franklin began to surrender. He and the men he was with rounded up prisoners and had to disarm them. He went to Austria where he applied for leave. He toured London and Scotland. Then he was sent to Czechslovakia for several months. Then back to Austria. There he was offered a promotion to corporal but refused the promotion because he wanted to see Rome, which he never got to see. Back to France, to New York state and on to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas where he received his discharge. Then he moved back to Uvalde. He went to school under the G I bill for two years
at SWTJC. He landed a job at Alamo Lumber Company in Uvalde. They sent him to San Antonio where he learned to service appliances. He did electrical wiring for homes, floor coverings, and during an explosion at the Uvalde Country Club, he was burned. When he recovered, his brother in Ohio invited him to go to Ohio. There he became an industrial supervisor in the mobile home industry. The then landed a job as a welder. He also attended Holy Spirit Seminary and was ordained in 1975. He also worked for American Can Company for 11 years in Ohio where he did office work. Once they put him in production, he quit. In Wausegon, Ohio, he became a permenant deacon where he worked with marriages and was able to baptise his own children and grand-children. Because of his age, 89, the church offered him senior status making him not as active.
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