General excellence News Bulletin

Alicia RamirezStaff Writer

The November elections will go on as planned with the interim redistricting maps in place for the state legislature as well as the United States Congress, with the decision handed down from District Judge Orlando Garcia that the next round of fi lings will be due after the upcoming election, but before Dec. 1.

This ruling came days after a federal three-judge panel ruled that the legis-lature did not comply with the Voting Rights Act when the maps were drawn for congressional, state senate and state house districts.

“Texas has not met its burden to show that the U.S. Congressional and State House Plans will not have a retrogressive effect, and that the U.S. Congressional and State Senate Plans were not enacted with discrimina-tory purpose. Accordingly, we deny Texas declara-tory relief,” the judgment written by Circuit Judge Thomas Griffi th. “Texas has failed to carry its bur-den that Plans C185, S148, and H283 do not have the purpose or effect of deny-ing or abridging the right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.”

In the judgment, U.S. Representative District 23 was singled out as one

of the districts in which the state was charged with enacting a plan that sought to disenfranchise the active Hispanic voters in the district by placing them in nearby districts.

“Texas claims that the enacted district has remained functionally identical to the bench-mark, but these claims are undermined by the map drawers’ own admissions that they tried to make the district more Republican — and consequently, less dependable for minori-ty-preferred candidates — without changing the district’s Hispanic popula-tion levels,” the judgment read. “The map drawers consciously replaced many

James LaCombeStaff Writer

Castroville Public Services Director Kim Davis proposed signifi cant upgrades to the public work’s department’s main information hub at a bud-get workshop last week.

Davis made the case to the Castroville City Council that the department’s

SCADA—an acronym for supervisory control and data acquisition—system is currently plagued by mul-tiple detrimental defi cien-cies.

The SCADA system serves multiple purpos-es and plays a vital role in the city’s public works department, Davis said. The SCADA system gath-ers measurements of the city’s water, wastewater, gas and electric utilities, and sends these readings to a host computer at the

city’s public works yard. City staff uses these mea-surements to monitor the utility system. The SCADA system also alerts city staff in emergency situations.

“This is a key and critical piece of our infrastructure, especially during emergen-cy situations,” Davis said.

Among the issues Davis brought up were the fact the system still utilizes software that is more than


Last week a federal three-judge panel out of Washington, D.C. struck down Texas’ con-troversial Voter Identifi cation bill for the second time after the Department of Justice rejected the state’s request for preclearance in March prompting Attorney General Greg Abbott to fi le the suit against the DOJ.

“The Supreme Court of the United States has already upheld Voter ID laws as a constitutional method of ensuring integrity at the bal-lot box,” Abbott said in a writ-ten statement. “Today’s deci-sion is wrong on the law and improperly prevents Texas from implementing the same

type of ballot integrity safe-guards that are employed by Georgia and Indiana – and were upheld by the Supreme Court. The state will appeal this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, where we are confi dent we will pre-vail.”

The ruling from the judg-es, written by Circuit Judge David Tatel, mentioned the laws enacted by Indiana and

Georgia stating that Senate Bill 14 is much stricter since it prohibits the use of an ID that expired more than 60 days prior to the date of presentation at the polls. Furthermore, the ruling states that the fee associ-ated with obtaining an ID card in Texas is prohibitive

James LaCombeStaff Writer

The Castroville City Council’s budget workshop began with a street fi ght, in a manner of speaking.

The subject of how to address street repairs in the upcoming fi scal year was a topic of contentious debate among council members and city staff at the city’s meet-ing Thursday evening.

The workshop started with city staff’s presentation on a proposal by Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Gardner, in which the funds from an 8 per-cent property tax increase plus the funds from various spending cuts would be used to set up a street rehabilita-tion fund.

With an estimated $45,725 in additional tax revenue combined with a $33,000 cut to proposed Steinbach House staffi ng, $7,493 in savings from refunding, and a $5,000 reduction to a proposed parks master plan, Gardner’s pro-posal would see $91,218 go to the new street rehabilita-

tion fund. The fund would set money aside for complete street overhauls, a perennial concern in the city.

Gardner admitted that $91,218 would be a “modest amount” for street overhauls, but felt the city needed to get the proverbial shovel in the

ground on this issue.“I don’t think it will do

much; it’s a start,” he said. “That’s all it is. It’s a start. That’s it.”

VFW fundraiser coming up

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Streetwise decision?Heated workshop covers Castroville street issues

City Administrator Paul Hofmann, right, answers a ques-tion from Councilman Victor Ortiz about city staff ’s pre-sentation on the utility fund. (Photo by James LaCombe)

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Medina Valley team captains Steven De La Fuente (#10), Nick O’Bryant (#64), Clayton Beck (#23), and Weston Beck (#24) meet their counterparts in the middle of the field for the first coin toss of the Panthers’ 2012 season. For more sports coverage, see pages 7 and 8. (Photo by Janine Modgling)

The Castroville City Council’s first public hear-ing on its proposed proper-ty tax rate was a no-show.

No citizens stepped for-ward to give their thoughts on the rate, which was advertised at the rollback rate of 50.5 cents per $100 of valuation at the first of two required public hear-ings on the matter this

past Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. at city hall.

Although the city adver-tised its proposed rate at the rollback level—which city staff said was done for flexibility—the proposed fiscal year 2013 budget is based on the assump-tion that there will be no increase to the city’s 2012 rate of 45.45 cents.

The notion to keep the current tax rate as it is was later reaffirmed dur-

ing a discussion on street repairs during a budget workshop session that immediately followed the adjournment of the public hearing.

The second and final public hearing on the city’s proposed tax rate will be on Monday, Sept. 10 at 6:30 p.m. Castroville City Hall. The meeting will also serve as a public hearing for the city’s overall pro-posed budget.

Back under the Friday Night Lights

Public silent at tax rate hearingFinal hearing set for Sept. 10

Voter ID ruling garners strong reactions from local state elected offi cials

City recommends upgrades to public works’s SCADA system

State senator, rep split on decision

Outdated software, unkempt wiring among problems

URESTIHILDERBRAN

State charged with plan to disenfranchise District 23’s Hispanic voters in rulingJudge says emails revealed plan to keep GOP control

Inside!Inside!

Gardner also contended that his proposal has been in the public eye, and he has not heard any opposition from Castroville citizens at city council meetings.

Councilman Sammy Tschirhart said that he felt more research needs to be done on other avenues to fund street rehabilitation before setting up this fund.

“I just can’t see us jump-ing into something after two weeks of knowing about it,” Tschirhart said.

Later in the lengthy, nearly hour-long discussion, Tschirhart mentioned the possibility of the city going out for a bond election at some point to address street rehabilitation. Both Gardner and City Administrator Paul Hofmann said that, if this were the case, establishing a street rehabilitation fund could give the city some fl exibility in managing its Interest and Sinking tax rate—which is used to pay debt—once a hypothetical bond is issued.

“You get to manage it, and that’s what, I think, the idea

here is,” Hofmann said. “You set aside some cash in cur-rent revenues to manage it.”

Tschirhart was insistent, though, that the city coun-cil would not have the abil-ity to manage the I&S rate, saying that the council has never done so in the past. He characterized the aforemen-tioned fl exibility as city staff playing fast and loose with the I&S rate, which led to a tense exchange.

“This is a kind of shuck and jive that’s going on, the Texas two-step,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” Hofmann interjected. “That’s offensive. It’s not true, and you really need to pay attention to your facts…There’s no shuck and jive going on here. What we presented to the council is an honest assessment of what’s going on here, and we’re try-ing our best to be responsive and proceed in a direction.”

Mayor Bob Lee reminded the council that the issue before them only concerned whether or not the city want-ed to adopt an 8 percent tax increase.

“If we’re not interested in it, then all those issues on I&S and what we’re going to do later are immaterial,” Lee

said. “We can discuss it later, but they don’t apply to this specifi c discussion.”

Lee then asked each city council member for his view on raising the tax rate. Three—council members Tschirhart, Eric Cherry and Victor Ortiz—opposed raising the tax rate, leaving those in favor of the increase—council members Gardner and Kyle McVay—in the minority.

“OK, as far as I’m con-cerned, it’s a dead issue,” Lee said.

Hofmann said that that city staff would proceed with crafting the budget using the city’s current tax rate: 45.45 cents per $100 of valuation. The city council also directed city staff to create the street rehabilitation fund, minus the added funds from the 8 percent tax increase.

a decade old. “As you know, we’re in

2012,” Davis said. “We’ve seen some improvements to the Windows software since Windows 2000. So, it makes it interesting working with this software.”

Davis also said that the current system is unable to

share a network with other city systems, has unkempt wiring at its control panels, and has a lack of surge pro-tection, among other things. She said that these issues force the public works employees to react to prob-lems in a reactive rather than proactive manner.

City staff is requesting $50,000 in the fi scal year 2013 budget to address the

most pressing needs with the SCADA. The bid pack-et would include replac-ing the system’s computer, identifying a cloud-based network operating system, integrating new software, and upgrading one control panel.

“I’m just trying to create a system that is uniform that all of us can operate from, and all of us can be

the eyes and the ears for making sure that we main-tain our system effectively,” Davis said.

This project will actually seek to complete a project undertaken in 2009 by the city. Hofmann noted that, although $50,000 is budget-ed, the city will seek out the lowest bid, possibly through a competitive contracting process.

since the out-of-pocket cost to obtain the cheapest form of governmental identifi cation to show to the Department of Public Safety for a free iden-tifi cation card is a $22 birth certifi cate. Along with the cost of producing the proper forms, the cost of travel to the nearest DPS offi ce was also brought into question since 81 counties in Texas have no DPS offi ce and a further 34 counties have offi ces that are only open two days per week or less.

“It just strikes me as com-mon sense, and in fact the polls show, that most people think that it’s common sense that you ought to be who you are and you ought to have some sort of confi rmation that the person casting the vote is the person that is on

the voter registration,” said District 53 Representative Harvey Hilderbran who voted in favor of the bill. “I think regardless of one elec-tion cycle versus the other, any fraud is unacceptable…but I just don’t see how they can uphold Georgia’s which we modeled ours after and Indiana and then shoot down Texas and South Carolina’s. There’s got to be some consis-tency across the board.”

The court did rule, how-ever, that it could not use the lack of documented voter fraud, fraud that Hilderbran said is very prevalent in south Texas in particular, as a pretext that the law was done to intentionally suppress voter turnout from minorities and economically disadvantaged voters, since there was no proof of voter fraud in Indiana either, but instead ruled on grounds of

how the law would disen-franchise voters.

“The judges affi rmed the very arguments that oppo-nents made back during the session, that a picture ID requirement to gain access to the ballot box is an unfair and improper burden on a vast segment of society,” said District 19 State Senator Carlos Uresti, who voted against the law, in a writ-ten statement. “The ruling lays bare the true intent of the Republican’s Voter ID law, which was designed to discourage racial minorities and poor people from par-ticipating in the Democratic process.”

With that in tow, the court’s decision was based on its fi ndings that the law, as enacted, would unduly burden minorities and poor more than the laws that the Supreme Court ruled in favor

of in Georgia and Indiana, bringing the court to state that it could not grant pre-clearance.

“During closing argu-ments, Texas’s counsel com-plained that they had been shouldered with an ‘impossi-ble burden’ in this litigation,” the judgment read. “This may well be correct, but Texas’s lawyers have only their client to blame. The State of Texas enacted a voter ID law that—at least to our knowledge—is the most stringent in the country. That law will almost certainly have retrogres-sive effect: it imposes strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor, and racial minorities in Texas are disproportionately likely to live in poverty. And crucially, the Texas legisla-ture defeated several amend-ments that could have made this a far closer case.”

Continued from Page 1




Page 2 Castroville News Bulletin September 6, 2012


The La Coste City Council adopted a reso-lution during the special city council meeting this past Wednesday to apply for a $275,000 Community Development Block Grant to continue with the ongo-ing sewer project.

“That will be the one that we are going to con-tinue our upgrading of the sewer systems,” said City Administrator George Salzman. “We’ve done the loop around the city, so we’ve done that and now we are doing the lines that connect to that main sys-tem now.”

The project, that

requires a 5 percent match from the city of $13,750, will include manhole res-torations and rehabilita-tions where a contractor will put a sealant around the manholes to prevent water from leaking into them as well as sealing the sides to keep water from getting into the wastewa-ter treatment plant.

“This is the same thing we do every year when we decide that we’re going to request the grant,” said Salzman. “It’s a standard resolution and this is where we put in for it. The council has to decide as a group that we want to apply for this and this just authorizes us to apply.”

La Coste applies for $275K CDGB grant

ROBERTSONJoshua and Pennie Robertson are proud to announce

the arrival of their daughter Tessie Paige Robertson. Tessie was born on Aug. 17, 2012 at 10:09 a.m. She weighed 7lbs, 12oz. and measured 21 inches long.

Tessie was welcomed home by big brothers Brae and Gaje. The proud grandparents are Chester and Cheryl Maples of Castroville, and Lonnie Robertson and Kathleen May of San Antonio.

Great grandparents are Emma “Billie” Dunkin of Joplin, Mo. and Edward and Dolores Zuniga of San Antonio, the late A.J. and Elaine Ripps of Castroville and Chester and Erma Maples of Castroville and Hubert “Barton” and Sherlyne Robertson of Uvalde.

Several participants took to the Castroville street and the Regional Park for the Ninth Annual Volksmarch this past Saturday. (Photo by James LaCombe)

Proposed tax increase now “a dead issue”

State rep says fraud prevalent in area

$50K requested for SCADA repairs

of the district’s active Hispanic voters with low-turnout Hispanic voters in an effort to strengthen the voting power of CD 23’s Anglo citizens. In other words, they sought to reduce Hispanic vot-ers’ ability to elect with-out making it look like anything in CD 23 had changed.”

This goal was achieved by moving 600,000 peo-ple in and out of the dis-trict to achieve the cor-rect percentage of popula-tion, which was only off by 149,000, while shoring up the district for incumbent Republican Congressman Francisco “Quico” Canseco.

Emails sent between Eric Opiela, counsel to Texas House Speaker Joe Strauss, to map drawer Gerardo Interiano in Nov. 2010 laid out the plan to shore up the Republican hold on the district while keeping the Hispanic vot-

ing age population high enough so as not to “raise trouble” under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, according to the judgment.

With the testimony of the map drawer and the email conversations, the court ruled that U.S. 23 was no longer an abil-ity district, even though it was made one as drawn in 2006.

“While Hispanic voters accounted for an average of 39% of total votes cast in benchmark [U.S. 23] over the past decade, they made up only 36.5% in enacted [U.S. 23],” the ruling stated. “The changes were enough to ‘nudge’ a district that was an ability district, but barely so, to a nonperform-ing district. Even Texas’s expert testifi ed that CD 23 ‘is probably less likely to perform than it was.’”

Even though his district was one of the only two current congressional seats named in the judgment, Canseco does not feel that this will negatively impact

his campaign for reelec-tion nor has he put much thought into it.

“All I know is that this election is going for-ward on the maps that were approved by the San Antonio three-judge panel,” he said. “Beyond that, I’m focused on winning my race and making sure that I beat my opponent.”

With the decision of the three-judge panel, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a statement that his offi ce would take the fi ght all the way up to the Supreme Court.

“Today’s decision extends the Voting Rights Act beyond the limits intended by congress and beyond the boundaries imposed by the Constitution,” the statement said. “The Attorney General’s Offi ce will continue defending the maps enacted by the Texas Legislature and will immediately take steps to appeal this fl awed deci-sion to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

The state of Texas, the judgment stated, has not had a great record of fol-lowing the Voting Rights Act, fi nding itself in court for every redistricting cycle for the past 40 years where it lost each time and the judgment took that into consideration in the circumstantial evidence that the maps were drawn with discriminatory intent along with the fact that the redistricting commit-tee’s outside council stated that the proceedings for this round of redistricting were “quite different” from procedures in the past.

“We are…persuaded by the totality of the evidence that the plan was enact-ed with discriminatory intent,” the judgment read. “Texas did not adequately engage with the evidence raised by the other par-ties on this point, and…we fi nd suffi cient evi-dence to conclude that the Congressional Plan was motivated, at least in part, by discriminatory intent.”

U.S. 23 no longer an ability district

Birth AnnouncementBirth Announcement

ALBRECHTFrank “Opa” Albrecht, Jr.,

83, of Austin passed away Aug. 30, 2012 in Castroville. Frank was born Apr. 3, 1929 in Austin, TX, to the late Frank Albrecht, Sr. and Vera Klaerner Albrecht.

Frank attended Texas A & M College and earned a Bachelors degree in Geology from the University of Texas. Frank was a loving grandfa-ther. He was a square dancer, bowler, Sunday school teacher, involved with Boy Scouts, and a member of a barber shop singing group. He could play sev-eral instruments, was fi rst chair Coronet in the Texas A&M Band and a member of Texas A&M Silver Taps Team.

He is preceded in death by his loving wife Elizabeth Albrecht.

Survivors include his children and their spouses, Missy and Chuck Zinsmeyer of DíHanis, TX, Rex Albrecht and Brenda Henson of Manor, TX, and Daniel Albrecht of Pfl ugerville; grandchildren, Travis Zinsmeyer, Cody Albrecht, Sarah Zinsmeyer, Haley Albrecht, and Kyle Albrecht; great granddaughter, Addison Zinsmeyer.

Funeral Service was held on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2012 at 1:30 p.m. at Cook-Walden Forest Oaks Funeral Home Mausoleum Chapel, 6300 W. William Cannon Drive, Austin, TX 78749. Interment followed at Cook-Walden Forest Oaks Cemetery. Memorials may be given in his memory to charity of your choice.

You may view the obituary, sign the guest book and leave a tribute at www.tondreguinn.com.

CABALLEROJosephine A. Robles Caballero, 89, of Castroville passed

away Aug. 29, 2012 at her home.Josephine was born Mar. 19, 1923 in Etzatlan, Jalisco,

Mexico to the late Francisco and Felicitas Arbizo Robles. Josephine married Albert Z. Caballero on Jan. 7, 1976 in Los Angeles, CA.

She is survived by her husband Albert Z. Caballero of Castroville. Graveside Service was held on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012 at 10:45 a.m. at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery.


HABYEmmett R. Haby entered

eternal rest at home on Thursday, August 30, 2012 at the age of 86. He was born on September 26, 1925 to the late Agnes Schorp and Rudolph Haby. Emmett was an active member of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church where he would take his bougainvilleas to decorate the altar. He was preceded in death by his wife Barbara Groff-Haby, wife Olivette Haby and his brother Wallace. He is survived by his brothers: Leroy (Maxine), L.J. (Barbara) and various nieces and nephews. He is survived by his god-children Wesley Haby and Brenda Schwarz Oswalt. He is also survived by six step-children and spouses: Pete E. Groff (Tammy), Laurie A. Rothman, Gary W. Groff (Jan), Carl R. Groff, Chris A. Groff (Jana), and Royce A. Groff (Maria). In addition, he is survived by step-grandchildren: Cody and Casey Groff, Lauren and Staci Rothman, Kaitlyn Scruggs (Matt), Kelly, John, and Matthew Groff, Michael and Brandon Groff, Jewel and Summer Borie

and Owen Groff, Isabella Groff, and step-great grandson Andrew Scruggs. Emmett had the best green thumb and supplied family, friends, and neighbors with fresh vegetables. He served in WWII as a Navy Seaman on ship 437. Emmett was a retired IBEW union electrician. The family will receive guests from 6:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. on Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church. Vigil ser-vice was Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 at

7p.m. at St. Mark The Evangelist Catholic Church. Mass of Resurrection was held on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012 at 10 a.m. at St. Mark The Evangelist Catholic Church. Interment followed in Holy Cross Cemetery.

In lieu of fl owers, memorial contributions may be made in his name to St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church or St. Louis Catholic School in Castroville.

KOTHMANNSharon Kay Kothmann, 70,

of Hondo, passed away Aug. 30, 2012 in San Antonio.

Sharon was born July 10, 1942 in Hillsboro, OH, to the late Walter Homer Seltzer, Jr. and Maxine Wilharm. When Sharon was only two years old, her father, a WWII P47 fi ghter pilot, was killed in Aug. 1944 over France. She was a real estate agent and a homemaker.

Survivors include her children, Barry Jordan and his wife Melissa of Castroville, Dan Jordan of Los Angeles, CA; Jeri Huckeba and her husband Lance of Lewisville, TX; grandchildren, Kaylee, Kammeron, Kaden and Kyler Jordan, Lucas and Ella Huckeba; sisters, Sheila McClain of Dallas, Sherlyn Fischer and her husband John of Creedmoor, NC.

The Tondre-Guinn Funeral Home was open for visita-tion on Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Funeral Service was held on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012 at 10 a.m. at Tondre-Guinn Funeral Home in Castroville. Interment followed at St. Louis Catholic Cemetery. Memorials may be given in her memory to CTRC.


MACDANIELMajor William “Bill”

Eugene MacDaniel, USAF retired, 88, of Air Force Village II, San Antonio, TX, was promoted to glory Aug. 29, 2012. Bill was born Jan. 4, 1924 to parents, Cedric and Margaret Rose Bonney MacDaniel in Connersville, IN.

He is preceded in death by his parents; his daughter, Jane Margaret MacDaniel and a brother, James MacDaniel.

Bill served his country as a command pilot during WWII and the Korean Confl ict, retiring from the USAF in June 1962 after 23 years of service. Major MacDaniel was originally in the 301st heavy bomb group. He fl ew the maximum amount of missions during WWII. During the war he fl ew B-17’s and was stationed at Foggia, Italy. He was the recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and many other medals.

He received a Masters in Sociology and had a second career as a Professor of Sociology at Niagara University in New York. On Aug. 1, 1953 he wed the love of his life, Shirley Katherine Chap at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS.

Survivors include his loving wife of 59 years, Shirley MacDaniel of San Antonio; daughters, Katherine DiPronio and husband Ron of Round Rock, TX, Deborah Ontko and

husband Bruce of Williamsburg, VA, and son, John William MacDaniel and wife Cathleen of Doylestown, PA; grandchil-dren, Daniel DiPronio and his wife Ashley, Margaret DiPronio, Alexandra Ontko, Catherine Ontko, Evan MacDaniel, Lukas MacDaniel and Ava MacDaniel; brother, Dr. Donald L. MacDaniel of Connersville, IN.

Mass of Resurrection was celebrated Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 at 10 a.m. at St. Louis Catholic Church in Castroville. Interment with full military honors followed at St. Louis Catholic Cemetery. “He’s the greatest man I have ever known, he was my hero...the big guy.”


SOLISFrancisco Franco Solis, 80,

of La Coste passed away Aug. 28, 2012 at his home.

Francisco was born Jan. 29, 1932 in La Coste, TX, to the late Antonio and Francisca Franco Solis. Francisco mar-ried Ofelia Botello on April 13, 1958 in Castroville.

He was preceded in death by his parents; and numer-ous brothers and sisters.

Survivors include his wife, Ofelia Solis of San Antonio; children, Irma Valdez of San Antonio, Hilda and Servando Guajardo of La Coste, and Edward Solis of San Antonio; grandchildren, Marie Gonzales, Servando Guajardo IV, Danny Guajardo, Lorraine Mendoza, Michael Guajardo, Andrew Guajardo, and Ruben Valdez; great grandchildren, Joshua Sifuentes, Jasmine Sifuentes.

The Tondre-Guinn Funeral Home was open for visita-tion on Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Funeral Service was held on Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 at 10 a.m. at Tondre-Guinn Funeral Home in Castroville. Interment followed at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Cemetery.


Thursday, September 6, 2012 News Bulletin Page 3

La Coste VFW to hold barbecue chicken plate fundraiserAlicia RamirezStaff Writer

After holding a post cleanup on the evening of Sept. 8, the La Coste Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8134 will hold a chicken plate dinner sale starting at 11 a.m. at the

post building on Farm to Market Road 471.

“We’ll be out there start-ing at 2:30 in the morning to get this thing started,” said Post Commander Hank Seay. “We’re going to be getting 360 chicken halves this time around,

eight cases worth. That along with the potato salad that we’re going to boil the potatoes and make the salad and a 50-pound bag of pinto beans that we’re going to do up and then coleslaw.”

Plates will be sold for

$7 and will include chick-en, potato salad, coleslaw, beans, bread, barbecue and iced tea. The ladies auxiliary will be hosting a bake sale at the VFW as well.

“Our building is quite old and we’ve got some

things we want to get fixed up with the money on the outside of the building as well as the inside,” said Seay. “We’ve had some leaks through the roof here whenever we did have rain, so part of our ceiling tiles have started to dete-

riorate from when it did rain and then on the side of the building, the asbes-tos siding has fallen down and the wood is showing and it’s rotten, so the fund-raiser will allow us to go through and fix up the building.”

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ObituariesObituaries

Page 4 News Bulletin Thursday, September 6, 2012

••••••ForecastForecast ••••••Microsoft Excel Class

The Castroville Area Economic Development Council is sponsoring a fi ve-week Microsoft Excel class, which will feature Medina Valley High School business teach-er Delores Castleberry. Castleberry also has Master Microsoft Offi ce 2007 certifi cation. The classes will be on Sept. 18, Sept. 25, Oct. 2, Oct. 9, and Oct 16. Each class will be from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the high school campus. Cost is $125, and pre-registration is required. For more information or to RSVP, contact Arnold Dollase at 830-538-9048 or at [email protected] no later than Sept. 15. Only 25 seats are available for each session, so register as soon as possible.

Great Courses Discussion GroupGreat Authors of the 19th and 20th Century is the cur-

rent topic for the Great Courses Discussion Group which meets at the Castroville Library on Monday evenings 6:30-8 p.m. DVD lectures by Dartmouth College professor James Hefferman present the lives and works of renown authors of this period. A brief open discussion period fol-lows the viewing of each lecture. There is no cost and no reading is required. For more information, contact the library at 830-931-4095 or Don Jacox at 830-538-9498.

Forecast continued on page 5

FSA emergency loan program gets changes

Medina County USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Executive Director D. Clint Koenig announced that special provisions will made to the FSA emergency loan program and to the Risk Management Agency (RMA) federal crop insur-ance program in order to provide greater fl exibility for live-stock producers facing forage and feed shortages as a result of drought.

On Aug. 22, Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that modifi -cations will be made to the emergency loan program allowing them to be made earlier in the season. In the past, emergency loan eligibility was determined after the production cycle. Producers will no longer have to wait until the end of the production cycle to obtain a loan. This change will support producers who currently need assistance to help offset high production costs.

Vilsack also announced that a special provision will be made to the federal crop insurance program through RMA that will allow producers to hay or graze cover crops without forfeiting crop insurance eligibility on planted 2013 spring crops. This change is benefi cial to livestock producers making forage and feed available this fall and winter. However, before making any plans to plant crop cover, producers should con-sult with their insurance agent, according to RMA.

“Adding more fl exibility to current program requirements will make much needed assistance more readily available to producers affected by disaster,” said Koenig. “These changes in particular should benefi t livestock producers who are facing higher feed costs or are at risk of liquidating their herd due to the drought.”

For more information regarding special provisions to the emergency loan program, please contact the Medina County FSA offi ce at 830-426-2013 ext. 2 or visit www.fsa.usda.gov.

La Coste approves contracts, discusses truck traffi c issuesLa Coste agrees to election contract

After months of discussing the city elections, the La Coste City Council approved the contract for election services with Medina County to be held at the Catholic church, if necessary, approved a city ordinance authorizing the city election to be held on Nov. 6 and adopted a resolution calling for a general election on Nov. 6 in the event that a write-in candidate would fi le for election by last Friday. The agreement with the county put to rest the question of whether the city would have to go out to purchase election equipment after moving its election to November earlier this year due to Senate Bill 1.

New auditor chosenThe La Coste City Council chose to engage in a new con-

tract with Ede & Company CPAs for the upcoming annual audit of the city’s fi nances. The city went out for bids a few years ago and ended up with Ede once again, a fi rm the city city has used for about a decade and the council agreed that auditor Donna Ede-Jones has always done a great job for the city. The council approved the contract, which included a slight increase in cost over last year’s contract, unanimously.

Police chief relays traffi c complaintsDuring the La Coste City Council’s police report update,

Police Chief Richard Gonzales explained to the council why there was an uptick in traffi c tickets during the past month. Gonzales said that residents had been complaining about the increase in truck traffi c through the city from the aggregate company that recently started operations as well as the exces-sive speeds of the trucks. What Gonzales and the other offi cers found were that the greatest number of tickets were going out to people who were driving through the town and zipping around the trucks. Council also put an item on next month’s agenda regarding a possible ordinance to stop trucks from driving in residential areas.


••••••ForecastForecast ••••••Fiorella Friday Cancellation

This Friday’s scheduled Fiorella Friday has been can-celled, but is planned to return on Oct. 5.

Medina Lake Cajun FestivalThe 32nd Annual Cajun Festival at Medina Lake will be

Saturday, Sept. 22 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Lakehills Civic Center. Admission to the event is $10, and the event features the “Great Gumbo Cook-off,” Cajun music and entertainment, souvenirs, arts, crafts, games, and more. For more information on the Cajun Festival, visit www.cajunfestival-medinalake.com, or call 800-364-3833 for general information, 210-854-3060 for cook-off informa-tion, or 830-612-3265 for arts and crafts information. For information on group rates and pre-sale tickets, call 210-683-1917 or email [email protected].

American Legion Scholarship Dinner FundraiserThe Weiss-Wurzbach Post 460 of the American Legion

will be holding its Fall Scholarship Dinner Fundraiser at the American Legion Hall on the corner of Paris and Fiorella Streets in Castroville on Friday, Sept 7 from 5 to 7p.m. Everyone is welcome. There will be a meat loaf dinner with pasta salad, green beans, salad with tea and dessert. Meal tickets are $6 Beat the heat and join us for this requested back to school special. Earlier is bet-ter than later as sometimes we sell out by 6:30 p.m. The plates are $6 each, to eat in or to go.

Zion Lutheran Church Jam SessionCan you play a musical instrument? Do you think

God might like a Joyful Noise now and then? Looking for something fun to do in air conditioned comfort this summer? Zion Lutheran Church needs you – ZLC invites musicians in the area to join for some jam sessions dur-ing this summer, meeting in the Zion Fellowship Hall on Tuesday afternoons at 4 p.m. For more information, call the church office 1106 Fiorella Street, Castroville, TX 78009, 830-538-6335, and ask for Pastor Joe Leavengood.

V.F.W Post 8134The Medina Valley V.F.W. Post 8134 meets the second

Wednesday of each month at 5 p.m. The next meeting will be Sept. 12. The Ladies Auxiliary will also be meeting.

V.F.W. Post CleanupLa Coste VFW members are encouraged to attend a

post cleanup on Sept. 8 at 9 a.m.

V.F.W. Barbecue Chicken FundraiserThe La Coste VFW Post 8134 will be hosting a barbe-

cue chicken fundraiser dinner on Sept. 9, beginning at 11 a.m. to benefit their building fund. Plates are $7 each.

V.F.W. Buddy PoppiesOn Sept. 14 and 15, the La Coste VFW will be selling

Buddy Poppies at the following locations: Community National Bank in La Coste, Lowe’s in Castroville, and WalMart in Hondo.

Castroville Senior Dining CenterArea Seniors are welcome each weekday at the Senior

Dining Center for an affordable and nutritious lunch and social activities. The center is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with fellowship and activities, and lunch is served from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The center is at 1106 Fiorella Street, Castroville, in the office building of Zion Lutheran Church. It is sponsored by the Community Active Senior Services (“CASS”), the Castroville Ministerium, and the Medina County Nutrition Center. All seniors and their guests are welcome, as are volunteers and donors. For information call Zion Lutheran Church at 830-538-6335.

Alcoholics AnonymousThe support group meets Tuesdays at 8 p.m. and

Thursdays at 8 p.m. at the Braden Keller Center in Castroville. If you think you have a drinking problem, there is a place to go.

Medina County Food PantryThe pantry, located at 502 Arnold, Hondo, is open

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.

East Medina Special Utility DistrictThe district meets the third Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the

main office located on FM 471 between La Coste and Natalia. For more information, call the office at 830-709-3879.

Clothing NeededFree Clothing Ministry in Castroville is in need

of clothing donations for men, women and especially for children. It accept clothing, shoes, blankets and any other misc. items. All clothing is given to families in need free of charge. The clothing ministry is open on the third Saturday of every month from 10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Medina Valley Christian Worship“Blessed Threads free Clothing Ministry”

2035 Highway 90 West830-931-3085 or 210-772-0720

Drop off items or we can pick-up. Drop box on site.

First Baptist Church of CastrovilleFirst Sunday Service- 8:30 a.m. (Choir Led); Sunday

School- 9:45 a.m. (all ages); Second Service- 11 a.m. (Band Led)

Castroville Explorers ProgramThe group will meet regularly the first Tuesday of

every month, and any kids ages 12 to 18 are welcome to attend. For more information, call the Castroville Police Department at 830-931-2222.

_____________________________________

If you would like to submit your organization’s meetings, e-mail us your event to:

[email protected]

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In the passing of Neil Armstrong, America has lost not only a national hero, but a man of great character who served his country in more ways than one.

We all know the highlights: those fi rst historic steps on the moon’s surface, those unforgettable words, the day that held not only the country but the world transfi xed. But there was much more. Neil Armstrong was, at heart, a dedicated engineer – or, as he put it, “a white-sock, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer” – who preferred a private life to the public adoration so many would have reveled in. That was a key part of what made him a true American hero in the classic, and far too rare, sense: his bravery, his intel-lect, his talent, yes; but also his inability to seek adulation and his reluctance to accept celebrity. He didn’t rush to the spotlight or pound his chest. He always noted that his and his colleagues’ accomplish-ments were the result of hun-dreds of thousands of people over years and years. He was a man who loved what he did and was good at it; that was all the reward he needed.

Neil Armstrong served his country as a Navy fi ghter pilot in the Korean confl ict, in the NASA space program and as a senior NASA offi cial. Upon his retirement from NASA, he continued to give back, as a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. And in fi ghting to preserve America’s manned space-fl ight program, he did his country a tremendous service yet again.

I fi rst met Neil after he, Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan – the Apollo 17 Commander and the last man on the Moon – wrote an open letter questioning the Obama Administration’s proposal to abandon the moon program. It was a rare breaking of the traditional silence on such matters and an even rarer

step into the spotlight for Mr Armstrong. They were not alone in their concern – it was shared by experts and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.

The initial Administration plan pro-posed cancelling the existing space explo-ration program and suspended plans to build a replacement for the space shuttle, placing immediate reliance on commercial capabilities, which were undeveloped and unproven. Neil Armstrong was particu-larly concerned about leaning too heav-ily on commercial crew vehicles, rightly believing that NASA should have ultimate ownership and stewardship of deep-space exploration.

The astronauts’ testimony at a subse-quent Senate hearing helped inform the

2010 NASA Reauthorization Act, and their unyielding advocacy helped get the bi-partisan bill passed, saving the nation’s manned space exploration program.

They perfectly summa-rized why the program is both exceptional and necessary in their initial: “America’s space accomplishments earned the respect and admiration of the world. Science probes were unlocking the secrets of the cosmos; space technology was

providing instantaneous worldwide com-munication; orbital sentinels were helping man understand the vagaries of nature. Above all else, the people around the world were inspired by the human explo-ration of space and the expanding of man’s frontier. It suggested that what had been thought to be impossible was now within reach.”

America’s space program continues to hold the world in thrall. Hundreds of millions of people have seen the amazing pictures beamed back by the Mars rover, knowing its continued exploration brings the next logical step in our space-fl ight program – a manned mission to Mars – that much closer. And that is thanks to Neil Armstrong in more ways than one.

Hope everyone had a good holiday. The 9th Annual Volksmarch on the 1st was a great success. We had 71 walkers partici-pate and everyone seemed to enjoy their time in Castroville. Thank you to all that helped make it a success.

Thursday afternoon Father Larry Steubing dropped in to see our new home. He told of many visits here with the Sharp’s, and the good times he had. He asked if he could bless the house. It was a very special time being here with him while he blessed the building, those that visit it, and the work done here...Thank you Father Larry!

This month the Castroville Area Economic Development Council will be hosting a Microsoft Excel class that lasts 5 weeks through September and October. It will begin with basic Excel use and continue on to cover cells, formulas, function, lookups and fi lters, templates…and more. The fi rst class is September 18th. Contact Arnold Dollase for more information at (830) 538-9048 or [email protected].

On September 18th & 19th St. Louis Catholic Church will have John Michael Talbot in to speak and sing. John Michael Talbot is one of the most loved Christian Recording Artists with 53 albums, a respect-ed author with 24 books and the Founder, General Minister, and Spiritual Father of The Brothers and Sisters of Charity. If you would like to fi nd out more about him visit his website at www.johnmichaeltalbot.com.

The Castroville Area Chamber of Commerce has agreed to assume the admin-istration of the Castroville Special Events Team. The team will be renamed the Castroville Event Coordinating Team. John Wommack, Vice President of the Chamber, will be chairman of the new team. All area non-profi t organizations, groups, churches and schools are encouraged to submit event dates and information to Brenda Kempf at the Chamber ( [email protected]) The Chamber will maintain a calendar and help keep events from competing with each other

on the same days. These groups are also encouraged to attend the monthly meetings of the team for a lively session designed to foster communication, share fund raising ideas, facilitate cooperation, and generally work to improve the lifestyle of Castroville. The next meeting will be September 20th, at 5:00 p.m. at the Landmark Inn.

Hands for a Cure is made up of a group of young people, founded by MVISD Freshman, Alicia Keller. They are raising funds to make chemo quilts for children with cancer. They also purchase arts and crafts to share time with the children on their visits. They are cur-rently seeking sponsors for “Go Gold Week” in September and would appreciate any help you can give them. It is always great to see young people putting their time and energy into helping others. Email handsforacure@

yahoo.com if you can help. Sign up now for Fall Pottery

Classes at Castroville Pottery beginning Septemer 18th. There are only a few spots left. Contact Castroville Pottery at 830-358-9705.

This evening you can enjoy a night of music at Cora’s. On Friday, join the American Legion Post 460 for their monthly scholar-ship dinner and then check out the Ghosts of the Old Jailhouse Tour. Sunday there will be a movie at the Shooting Star museum If you need any more information on these events please check see the calendar at www.castroville.com or call the offi ce at (830) 538-3142. Have a great weekend!

Letters to the Editor

by SenatorKay Bailey Hutchison

Commentary

Opinion 6

Heavy

head thatthe

See ‘Land’ on Page 22

ar in review

James LaCombe

Staff Writer

With WW big legal battles

looming on the horizon for

Castroville, the city now has

new ew legalle representation in

the he fold.foldAt a speciecial al citycity counccouncil

meeting on Monday,aa J, an. 18,18,

the Castroville City Council

selected Ross Fischer from

San Antonio law firm Denton,

Navarro, Rocha and Bernal

as its new primary City

Attorney. yy Mayor Bob Lee said

the firm’s wide background

and expertise in municipal

law,aa as well as a history work-

ing with Casroville, led to

their selection by the city

council.“We WW liked all the can-

didates very much, but we

selected the firm…because of

their extensive background

inin commucommunity nity law; that’s

basically what what they the do,” Lee

said. “That firm has a hi thistoryry

working with Castroville, get-

ting a lot of our ordinances in

place. So, we felt very com-

fortable with them.”

Althohougugh FFischer will act

as the primary y City City AttorAttorney

for Castroville, Lee e ssaid thatthat

the city would be able to uti-

lize the legal advice of the

several other attorneys in the

Denton, Navarro, Rocha and

Bernal law firm.

“They have so many attor-rr

neys on staff that there aren’t

any areas or issues dealing

with communities that they

don’tdon’t have hav expertise in,” Lee

said.said. “They“They have h specialists

in all the diffferentent area a s, be itbe

Formmeerr llaw firm hired in

time to handdllee ccoouurt battle

Need to reach us? Need to reach us? Here’s who to callHere’s who to call

Meet the rest of our News Bulletin familyMeet the rest of our News Bulletin family

Serving Castroville, La Coste and Rio MedinaPO Box 1547 • 1105 Fiorella Street • Castroville, Texas 78009

830.538.2556 • Fax 830.931.3450The News-Bulletin is published Thursdays for

$32 per year in Medina County, $42 elsewhere in Texas, $48 outside Texas. The offi ce is located at 1105 Fiorella Street, Castroville, Texas, 78009,

and entered as a periodical at the post offi ce in Castroville, Texas. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to

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Advertising • Sandra Nissen • Circulation Warren McDaniel • Sports Ken Gallegos & Janine Modgling

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News BulletinNews BulletinCastroville • La Coste

is published by

Cornerstone Publications, Inc. Natalie and Jerry Spencer, owners

Letters to the editor on matters of pub-lic interest are welcome. Letters should be no more than 300 words and must

be signed with a phone number. Deadline is Monday, 5 p.m.

Letters are subject to editing for length and focus.

Send letters to the News Bulletin, P.O. Box 1547, Castroville, TX, 78009

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LETTERS POLICYLETTERS POLICY

notes from city hallCathy Prazak

Librarian

by Brenda Kempf

Notes From TheCHAMBER

Join the events coordinating team

MRW resident speaks out

A true American hero

Preschool programs return

Dear Medina River West POA mem-bers,

My wife Vicky and I have lived in this community for 26 years and we’ve seen a lot of changes, some good and some not so good. Boards come and go and each Board member puts their stamp on the office and moves on. The current Board is and will be no different. The legacy it leaves will be hardly remembered twenty years from now. I would ask that POA members give this Board the opportunity to do the work it has laid out for itself. If a mem-ber has a valid complaint then present them in an orderly fashion and wait for a response. If the response doesn’t suit you then you have options available that don’t include getting loud and harassing

the Board. What I know about the Board members tells me that you will not be blocked in any legitimate attempt to change what the Board is doing.

There are those in this community of 1200 people that have nothing better to do than to be complainers. Let them complain and let them present petitions with their complaints, but let them get their facts straight first. If they want the facts to come out in a court of law then they can take that chance, too.

Any member that wants to under-stand what’s going on with the Board should come to the monthly Board meet-ings and listen. If you have questions the Board will answer in a clear and sober manner. That’s a pretty good way to do things, don’t you think?

Joe Vinson

It’s time for our fall program schedule, and hopefully that means we’ll be feeling some relief from the summer heat!

Now that school is back in session, our preschool programs are returning to keep the little ones busy. Storytime returns at 10:30 am on September 5th. Join us to pick up some sign language and handwriting skills in our science- and math-based Storytime! Then, on Thursdays at 10:30 am come back for some music, danc-ing and rhymes with Music Makers starting September 13th.

The Great Courses series will be view-ing lectures by college professors on great authors of Western literature such as Jane Austen, William Faulkner, Oscar Wilde, and

more. Join anytime to begin learning more about your favorite authors and to join in on group discussions – there’s no homework!

We will have a special free workshop on September 22 at 1 pm. Steve Valdez, author of “Quinceañera Planner, Debut of the Princess” will be at the Library to give parents tips on how to plan the perfect quinceañera for your daughter.

Don’t forget to visit our website (www.castrovilleli-brary.org) for more updates, our complete Fall 2012 sched-ule, and to check out our new releases like “Backfi re” by Catherine Coulter, “A Hologram for the King” by Dave Eggers, “Judgment Call”

by J.A. Jance, “Odd Apocalypse” by Dean Koontz, and many more! For more informa-tion, visit the Library at 802 London St. or call 931-4095.

Castroville • La Coste News BulletinNews Bulletin

Thursday, September 6, 2012Thursday, September 6, 2012

Ken GallegosSports Writer

Panther fans couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2012 football season than the 40-13 one-sided victory over the La Vernia Bears last Friday night at Panther Stadium.

MV dominated the con-test from start to finish, and a bruising ground game was complimented by a near perfect defen-sive performance as the Panthers put on a very impressive start to their season.

Senior running back Ben Mata scored the first four touchdowns of the game on runs of 51, 13,

16, and 2 respectively and benefited from a strong showing by the Panther offensive line. Jonathan Groff added a nice 25-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and Weston Beck finished the Panther scor-ing with a 3-yard plunge in the final quarter.

La Vernia who was smothered most of the night by the Panther

defense managed its only two touchdowns both by quarterback Vince Gill on runs of 54 and 52 yards respectively.

Robert Curiel gave a dominating performance on the defensive side of the ball for the Panthers.

“Robert Curiel stepped


With their first big win under their belt, the Panthers now turn their attention to the high-fly-ing Boerne Greyhounds.

The Greyhounds are coming off a close 28-24 loss at the hands of the Hondo Owls, and will be dead-set on puncturing holes in the MV second-ary. In the loss against the Owls, the Greyhound offense went to the air 40 times compared to just 21 rushing plays.

When the Panthers take the field Friday night it will be an aerial attack of epic proportions

as the Greyhounds will use their spread offense to go after the Panther secondary. Boerne Coach Mike Dormady will rely on the strong arm of his son Quentin who connected on 25-40 passes against the Owls last Friday night for 218 yards.

On the ground, the

Panthers should be able to focus on running back Bryce Collins who picked up 143 yards on 15 car-ries against Hondo. MV starting cornerbacks Steven Champlin and Kenny Gallegos should have their hands full with the Greyhounds coming in several directions, and

look for Dormady to seek out the sure-handed tan-dem of Mark Woodie and Bradley Veselka who each had 94 receiving yards in the opening loss.

On the defensive side of the ball for the Greyhounds they will be looking to the linebacking duo of Taner Welch and Patrick Skwara

to plug up the middle as they wait for Ben Mata and Weston Beck to come barreling up the middle.

The Greyhounds did show some nervousness and jitters in the open-ing contest against the Owls and were penalized eight times for 65 yards. With the quickness of the Panthers’ Robert Curiel on defense, keep your eyes on the Greyhounds’ offensive front as they try to keep the fleet-footed junior out of the backfield as he attempts to disrupt the rhythm of Dormady in the pocket.

Last year the Panthers prevailed in an opening week 35-30 victory, but as history has shown when these two teams meet any-thing can happen, and the team with the ball last usually holds the advan-tage.

This year could be a different story however as the Panthers gave an impressive first game performance limiting the usually-potent La Vernia Bears to just two touch-downs, both coming on long runs by a talented quarterback in Vince Gill. Without those two runs, the Panthers dominated the defensive aspect of the game and allowed only 10 first downs compared to Medina Valley’s 27 on the night.

The Panthers have a formidable test on their hands this week in Boerne, and the game will also give them an idea of how they might stack up against the Owls, who will visit Panther Stadium on Sept. 14. But first things first.

Sports 7Panthers expecting high-fl ying offense from GreyhoundsMV won 35-30 shoot-out with Boerne last year

Panthers running back Ben Mata went on a tear in MV’s opener against La Vernia Friday night, piling up 223 yards. Pictured above, Mata scores one of his four touchdown runs. (Photo by Janine Modgling)

MV opens new season with rout of La VerniaRun game, defense dominant in 40-13 Panthers victory

See ‘DL’s’ on Page 8



up and showed us that he has the capability of doing big things this year,” said Head Coach Brian Emerson. “He has amaz-ing quickness for a big kid and has the ability to disrupt an offense.”

MV racked up an amaz-ing 403 yards on the ground on 70 carries, with Mata accounting for 223 of those yards on 37 carries. The Panther defense rose to the occasion and lim-ited the Bears to just 196 yards of total offense and stuffed the ground game allowing only 77 yards.

Week two of the season finds the Panthers trav-eling to Boerne to take

on the Greyhounds this Friday Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Sports 8

Medina ValleyTotal yards: 406First downs: 27

Rushes/yards: 70/403Average rush: 5.76 yds.

Passing yards: 3Pass comp./att.: 1/1

Comp. pct.: 100Punts: 0

Punting yds.: 0Punting avg.: 0

Fumbles/lost: 0/0Penalties/yards: 5/45

La VerniaTotal yards: 196First downs: 10

Rushes/yards: 16/77Average rush: 4.81 yds.

Passing yards: 119Pass comp./att.: 8/13

Comp. pct.: 61.54Punts: 1

Punting yds.: 32Punting avg.: 32Fumbles/lost: 2/2

Penalties/yards: 4/20

RB Ben Mata: 32 att., 223 yards, 4 TDsQB Steven De La Fuente: 7 att., 43 yardsRB Jonathan Groff: 1 att., 25 yards, 1 TD

RB Andrew Castanon: 7 att., 16 yardsRB Weston Beck: 2 att., 11 yards

RB Steven Champlin: 1 att., 7 yards

MV Rushing Attack

TEAM STATISTICS


DL’s “amazing quickness” impresses coach

Medina Valley’s tennis team recorded a district win over McCollum this past Saturday. Trey Gonzales, pictued above, and Amanda Bragg each won their respective singles matches, and Corey Modgling and Cassandra Schorr picked up a win in doubles competition. (Photo by Janine Modgling)

Lady Panthers soar into district play with sweep of Eagles

Lady Panther Jillian Mangold helped her team’s efforts in a big way with 16 digs and two aces in MV’s match against Brackenridge. (Photo by Janine Modgling)

L d P th Jilli M ld h l d h t ’ ff t i


It may have been just what the doctor ordered last Tuesday when the Lady Panthers swept the visiting Brackenridge Eagles 25-23, 25-20, and 25-18 at Panther Gym.

Oh sure, the Panthers have swept other matches this sea-son, but none in the fash-ion they did on this Tuesday night. In what seemed like a culmination of everything they had been working on this season, everything and every player seemed to play at the height of their poten-tial, and the result was a big win over a very formidable opponent in the Eagles.

MV fell behind early, but kept close and took the lead on a pair of kills by Alex Gallegos. Ashley Persyn kept the Panthers on top with a nice kill midway through the contest to give MV a 13-11 lead.

For Persyn, it was some-what of a coming out party as the athletic sophomore dis-played her impressive verti-cal jump while hammering the ball downward, and in most cases without a return from the Lady Eagles. But despite the good start, the Panthers fell behind 23-18 late in the game which has proven in the past to all but put away the Panthers. But not this time as the Panthers roared back and scored the fi nal seven points to take the fi rst game victory.

The Panthers would take the Eagles in the fi nal two games of the match with great overall play from the entire team. Everything from frontline blocking to back-court kills from Brooke Beck seemed to be going the way of the Panthers. Add in some more powerful kills from Kortni Hans and Morgan Mangold, and the Panthers were well on their way to

their most consistent play of the season.

With a 13-10 record follow-ing this past weekend’s play at the Smithson Valley tour-nament in which they won three out of seven matches, the Panthers now turn their attention to district play. And no game may be more impor-tant than the opening match with the Floresville Jaguars this Friday in Floresville.

The Jaguars qualifi ed for the regional tournament last season, but lost some key seniors to graduation, but still should prove to be a true test for the Panthers as the fi rst round gets underway.

Without knowing too much about the newcomers

in the district in Southside, Memorial and Kennedy, what is known is the always com-petitive likes of McCollum, Harlandale and the Jaguars. But the Panthers showed their true potential last Tuesday against Brackenridge, and if the team can fi nd that effort night in and night out during both rounds of district play look for the Panthers to right in the thick of the race for the district championship.

This Friday’s district open-er in Floresville begins at 6 p.m. Next Tuesday the Lady Panthers will travel to San Antonio to take on Kennedy at 6 p.m. at the Edgewood Gym.

Tennis anyone?




White homing pigeons, $15 each or $50 for pair. 210-778-6809.

Gas stove for sale for $75. Neg. The stove works well. Call Sue at 830-931-5313 or 931-3542.

Antique vanity with mirror for sale. $300 or best offer. Call 210-262-9331.

’75 Rockwood 24 foot fi xer-upper, A/C works. $1000. Hunters welcome. 830-931-1648

Two new pair of SAS walk-ing shoes, tan and brown, size 7 ½ wide. $50 each. See in Castroville. 956-648-9398.

Going out of business blow-out sale! Any roll or fl at of lace, fl at lace or ricrac will be $2 for a whole roll or fl at. If you sew on a regular basis, this is your chance to pick up sewing notions very, very cheap. South Texas Flea Market on Hwy 132. For info, call 210-725-0308.

Yard sale - 3485 Hwy 90 W, next to Little Red Barn recycling center. Lots of

new items, no clothes. Wednesday- Sunday, starting at 10 a.m.

Huge estate saleLots of furniture, bedroom sets, formal dining table and 6 chairs, china cabinets, buffet, jewelry cabinets, all cherrywood Ethan Allen, dressers, mirrors, chest of drawers, knickknacks, beau-tiful Kimbal piano, several hundred pieces of antique glassware, old toys, furniture, and tools. Lots of stuff, priced to sell. Friday, 9/7, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, 9/8, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 601 Florence, Castroville.

Moving Sale, Saturday, Sept 8th, 8am to 4pm.Ville d’Alsace Subdivision, 123 PR 4665,Castroville. Furniture, kitch-en and household items.

MOVING SALE! SAT 9/8, 8-4, Ville d’Alsace, 220 PR 4661, Castroville. Kitchenware, KG bed frame, KG & Q head brds, desk, ent center, books, dolls, lawn equip, furn, tv, lamps, xmas décor.

Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church will host a rummage sale September 8 -9 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the parish hall.

Garden Center seeks full-time groundskeeper to water plants and keep property mowed. Call for interview at 830-538-9535 or email resume to info@bradys-bloominbarn.

Class A CDL drivers needed. We offer competitive pay, medical benefi ts and on the job training. Call 830-769-2039 or stop by 4558 CR 307, Jourdanton, Tx 78026

Medical offi ce in Castroville looking for qualifi ed indi-viduals to handle medical records. F/T 8-5, M-F. Fax resume to 830-931-3058 or [email protected]

Offi ce space available Nov. 1, 2012. Reception area, lunch room, conference area, 12 offi ces, central air, 3098 square feet. Located in Somerset, Tx. Call 830-429-1234.

Three bedroom, two bath, older country home, south of LaCoste. Very nice. $800 per month plus deposit. Call for details 210-45-6639.

Repo, must sell!! $106/month buys deeded land in gated community. Medina Lake community. 830-796-3143. OWNER.

LOT FOR SALE, owner financing available, gated lakefront community, $106 a month. Call 830-796-3590.

House for sale: 2300 square feet. 3 bed-

rooms, 2 baths, 2 living areas, 1 dining area, and office. $145,000 210-336-7227

17± Acres, Lytle, TexasLand located in Medina county offering level ground perfect for equip-ment yard, farming or even building opportuni-ties. CR 6710 between FM 471 and FM2790.Kuper Sotheby’s

International Realty. Jennifer Nack 210.410.1276

Travel trailer or motor home in need of repair. Must be reasonable. (830) 612-3625.

Contact us to place your classifi ed by credit card, 830.931.9698 or email us at [email protected]

CLASSIFIEDSCLASSIFIEDSPage 10 News Bulletin Thursday, September 6, 2012

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