SEALY NEWS THE
Check out Relay for Life photos PAGE 16
Serving Sealy and Austin County since 1887 • Home of Jamie Wallace
Volume 127 Number 19
Recycling bin back at News' office
By JOE SOUTHERN
Sealy AARP Sealy AARP Chapter 1505 will meet on May 8 at 11 a.m. at the Hill Community Center.
reporter@sealynews.com
At more than 2.5 miles above ground, the view is remarkably similar to what's on Google Maps. Exiting an airplane at that altitude, the ground zooms in seemingly as fast as a computer mouse can scroll in for a close-up. Rather than the silent glide on a computer monitor and the delayed focus, the world comes into rapid focus as the air whips noisily by at 120 miles an hour. A drogue chute eventually slows the speed to 60 mph, which is scantly noticeable in the thin, cold air. After falling from 14,000 feet to 6,000 feet in the span of a
minute, a cord is pulled, releasing a parachute and instantly enveloping its occupants in blissful tranquility for a gentle, six-minute descent to terra firma. That scene plays itself out dozens of times a day just southeast of Sealy at the Gloster Aerodome, a small grass airstrip where Westside Skydivers Houston is based. One of two skydiving companies serving the Houston area, Westside has been steadily growing in the last 17 months it has been open for business here. “It’s nothing like you see in the movies,” manager Austin Ely said while describing the skydiving experience. Everyone experiences a tan-
22 pages, $1
Early voting up in Sealy
Skydiving company soars over Sealy
The Sealy News has contracted with a new company to provide a recycling bin for paper in the parking lot of the office, located at 193 Schmidt Rd. The bin takes paper only, no cardboard please. Proceeds from the recycling go to HOAMeals on Wheels. For questions please call (979) 885-3562.
NEWSBITS
THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014
Proposed city charter changes PAGE 6B
By JOE SOUTHERN reporter@sealynews.com
The numbers are in and early voting us up since last year in the Sealy municipal and Sealy Independent School District elections. As of Monday afternoon, with a day and a half left in early voting, the city had recorded 193 ballots and the Sealy ISD 220. That is up from last year when there were 170 city votes and
dem jump their first time, meaning they are strapped to an instructor. Anthony “Pinky” Gelleny, 24, is a certified tandem jump instructor for Westside. “I’ve wanted to jump since I was 16,” he said. On his 18th birthday – the minimum legal age to jump – his friends found excuses to bail out on him, but he forged ahead.
■ VOTING, page 7
■ SKYDIVING, page 10
Acting in Austin
Dinner theater The Sealy High School Theatre Department is holding a dinner theatre and silent auction on Thursday, May 8. They will be perform its championship play, “Mary Stuart” (still in competition on the UIL circuit). The dinner is by Ben’s Chuckwagon – chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and salad. Dinner and show is $12; dinner only is $9; and show only is $5. Dinner is 6-7:30 p.m. Show is at 8 p.m. Silent auction items include a Consuela Bag, Tiger Spirit items, a walk on role in the musical, autographed scripts and photos and reserved seats for next season’s shows.
The Sealy News/JOE SOUTHERN
Sealy High School (SHS) theater department is back at State UIL competition. The One-Act Play took first place last week in the regional competition in Corpus Christi and will compete in the state contest for the first time in four years. At left are Kelly Verm, Riley Hindahl and Sam Wilson rehearsing a scene of “Mary Stuart” at SHS on Monday. They will compete May 19 in Austin. See a picture of the whole team on page 2.
Bake Sale Trinity Lutheran Ladies Aid will have its annual Mother’s Day bake sale on Friday, May 9, starting at 9 a.m. at Citizens State Bank.
COUNTYJUGE
Candidates address EMS, Obamacare, budget process
TODAY'SOBITUARIES ■ Joseph Desgrange
BIBLEQUOTE There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18
Thank a
Veteran and Serviceman everyday
The Sealy News/COURTESY PHOTO
Above are Sealy FFA members Clayton and Allison Schram, Jenna Hein and Austin Young. The team earned third at this year's state competition.
(NOTE: This is the first of a two-part series. The second part will run next week.) By JOE SOUTHERN
FFA places third in state On Saturday the Sealy FFA Livestock Judging team of Clayton Schram, Austin Young, Jenna Hein and Allison Schram took third place in state at the Texas FFA Career Development Event (CDE) contest at Texas A&M University. Sealy earned the opportunity to compete Saturday by advancing
through district and area contests. More than 600 FFA chapters fielded a Livestock judging team with approximately 2,400 students competing at the area levels to qualify for the state contest. The top 360 contestants representing 92 FFA chapters from across Texas qualified for the ■ FFA, page 8
reporter@sealynews.com
The two men locked in a runoff election for Austin County judge are in the final weeks of a long campaign. John Graham and Tim Lapham were the top two vote getters in the six-way March 4 Republican primary and are in a runoff election on May 27. The
winner will take the seat being vacated by retiring Austin County Judge Carolyn Bilski on Jan. 1, as there are no Democratic or Independent candidates for the November General Election. The Sealy News posed a series of questions to the two men. Their answers appear below and will conclude in ■ JUDGE, page 8
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