Karnes Co. TX - NEWS - October 2007

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From chron.com

Oct. 1, 2007

Prison escapes: myth and mayhem
Past attempts abound despite state's reputation for security

By MIKE TOLSON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle 

The date was July 22, 1934, one that would remain forever
significant in law enforcement history, thanks to Public Enemy No. 1,
a lady in red and a fledgling federal police agency eager to grab as
much publicity as it could.

On any other day, the death of John Dillinger would have topped
every newspaper in the country. Readers were eager for every detail
of the woman who lured the best-known criminal in the country to his
death outside a Chicago movie theater and of the FBI agents who lay
in wait for him.

In Houston, however, the day's biggest headline belonged to Raymond
Hamilton, another Depression-era desperado whose daring escape from
death row in Huntsville would have made Dillinger proud.

Hamilton and five others used a ladder, two smuggled pistols and no
shortage of bravado to go over the walls in the most spectacular
escape in Texas history.

Recent tragedy
Last week, prison guard Susan Canfield was knocked off her horse and
killed after John Ray Falk and Jerry Duane Martin bolted from the
work fields and stole a nearby truck in Huntsville. Were it not for
her tragic death, the incident might soon have been forgotten by all
but officials in the prison system. Their desperate and ill-planned
bolt will likely get them capital murder charges. 

Among those whose breaks for freedom remain a part of prison lore
are Hamilton, the Texas Seven, Martin Gurule and his death-row
comrades, and even a small-time thug and kidnapper named Jose Juan
Salaz. All made a mark doing what is harder to do in Texas than just
about anywhere else: escape.

Statistics indicate that the Texas prison system is one of the most
secure in the nation. Many states with large prison populations
measure annual escapes in the hundreds. Last year in Texas, there
were two, the same as in 2005. The five-year total is only 14.

"Prisons are stronger and better designed, with lots of bells and
whistles, and there is more security," said Terry Pelz, a corrections
and criminal justice consultant who spent a decade as assistant
warden at three Texas units. "And there's no honor among criminals
anymore. You hatch a plot today and somebody is going to snitch you
off."

It was not always that way. In the early days of Texas prisons, when
many were little more than work camps, it was easy to get away. In
the first six months of 1921, for example, state newspapers expressed
outrage that 290 prisoners had broken out in the first six months.

"Most escapes today involve walk-aways," said Dennis Longmire, a
criminal justice professor at Sam Houston State University in
Huntsville. "They are usually a trusty on a light security detail and
just sort of wander away. They usually go home or somewhere near
their home and are pretty easily recaptured."

In fact, virtually all escapees are recaptured. Of those who have
fled Texas prisons, only Salaz remains a fugitive.

Salaz, 32, was serving a 35-year sentence for aggravated assault and
aggravated kidnapping at the Garza East Unit near Beeville in 1997
when he scaled three 16-foot fences near a recreation yard. He is
believed to be in Mexico.

Unlike the 1930s, when communication between authorities was poor
and there was no television, the chance of more than a few days of
freedom is remote.

In 2001, for instance, convicted murderer Harold Laird spent weeks
planning his escape from a solitary confinement cell at a prison unit
near Beaumont. He used a dummy in his bed to avoid detection and
homemade tools to pry open and widen the opening that held his light
fixture. That led to a crawl space and ultimately onto the prison's
roof. From there, he made his way across rooftops and down to a
prison yard, past a picket tower and over two 12-foot security fences.

Shivers and bulletins
For all that, Laird's time amounted to two days. He was caught in
Hattiesburg, Miss., by an officer who spotted a truck he had stolen. 

Common or not, futile or not, prison escapes carry the same buzz and
titillation that they always have. Even with its slapdash nature and
short duration, the flight of Falk and Martin on Sept. 24 was, for a
moment at least, big news, sending a shiver down the backs of locals,
and bulletins across the state.

"The public always seems to be fascinated with crime, no matter what
the nature of the crime or the criminal, and people escaping from the
custody of the state are sort of the ultimate criminal, the ultimate
renegade, the rebellious spirit," Longmire said.

Unlike most prison break movies, where those who break out tend to
be unjustly imprisoned or brutally mistreated, real-life escapees are
more likely to fit the mold of Hamilton, a bank robber and murderer
who made his name with Bonnie and Clyde.

Imprisoned under sentence of death, Hamilton had been sprung from
the Eastham Unit in January 1934 by his brother, Floyd, Clyde Barrow
and Bonnie Parker. That escape resulted in the murder of a prison
guard, which set into motion the chain of events that led to Barrow
and Parker's death that May at the hands of legendary Texas Ranger
Frank Hamer. By that time, Hamilton had gone his own way, but he was
soon captured as well.

Hamilton and the five others, aided by two pistols smuggled into
prison, used ladders to climb the walls. One inmate was killed by
guards and two others were wounded and left behind. The remaining
three jumped into waiting cars and sped off.

Hamilton remained free nine months before he was captured in Fort
Worth. He died in the electric chair in August 1935.

In modern times, no escape rivals that of the so-called Texas 7, who
used an elaborate plot to get out of the Connally Unit near Kenedy in
December 2001. Led by George Rivas, who was serving a 99-year
sentence for aggravated kidnapping and burglary, the group took
several correctional officers and prison employees captive, stole
their clothes and money, snared a prison truck, then used a series of
ruses to get past the prison gate without an alarm sounding.

Word of the escape went out almost immediately. But outside
assistance in the form of a car and money left at a designated spot
enabled the group to get out of town. They went to San Antonio, then
to Houston and finally north, committing robberies to fund their
trip, eluding capture and commanding public attention. Any public
sympathy they might have gained evaporated, however, after they
killed a police officer during the Christmas Eve robbery of a
sporting goods store.

A time-honored ruse
They managed to stay free until Jan. 22 and 23, just after their
story had aired on America's Most Wanted. They were captured in
central Colorado, where they had holed up in an RV park. One of the
seven killed himself just before capture. The rest were brought back
to Texas, tried for capital murder and sent to death row. 

If Falk and Martin end up joining them there - killing a corrections
officer is a capital offense - they would live locked in their cells
for most of their remaining years. For that, they could thank Martin
Gurule and six other inmates who attempted to break out of death row
on Thanksgiving Day 1998 when it was still at the Ellis Unit near
Huntsville.

The seven used the time-honored trick of leaving hand-fashioned
dummies to make it look like they were asleep in their beds when, in
fact, they had remained behind in a recreation yard. They cut through
a fence and hid on a roof for several hours before attempting to get
free.

A prison guard spotted them and opened fire. Six stopped. Gurule
kept going, dodging gunfire, making it over two fences topped with
razor wire and into a wooded area. More than 500 peace officers spent
a week trying to find him, to no avail.

Finally, his body was discovered by two off-duty prison employees
baiting a trotline in a creek about a mile from the prison. Gurule,
the first death row inmate since Hamilton to escape, had drowned.
Work programs and socializing ended for condemned inmates. Death row
was moved to what now is the Polunsky Unit.

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From wilsoncountynews.com

03.OCT.07

All the right moves

Falls City High School introduces new dance team


FALLS CITY - This small community is known for its "Beaver pride."
Residents are very proud of their football teams and other sports
teams, as well as the band, cheerleaders, and color guard. 

Now residents have another team to support. Falls City High School
introduced its new Beaverette Dance Team this year.

"There was an overwhelmingly supportive and excited response from
the students and most of the community," said the team's coach,
Jennifer Carle. Forming the dance team was Carle's idea. "We have so
many girls in our student body that desire to take an active role in
school spirit, that we needed another outlet to showcase their
talent," Carle said. "I had a little experience with dance in
college, but a lot in the arts and in leading students."

The team made its debut performance at the Beaver Roundup in July
and received a lot of enthusiastic praise from attendees at the event.

The girls practice each weekday after school and learn two new
routines each week. The Beaverettes perform hip-hop routines at the
pep rally each Friday. During half time at the football games they
perform pom-pom routines and kick routines to pop music. 

"They are learning so quickly, it's hard to tell they are
beginners," Carle said. "They are amazingly talented and dedicated."
Members of the team include seniors Brittany Alsobrook, Amy Green,
Kami Salziger, and Tyndall Zunker, junior Samantha Sigler, and
freshmen Jacy Gibson, Lauren Gawlik, Ashley Pullin, Danielle
Stanfield, Chelsey Stolle, and Megan Zunker.

Carle hopes the girls will develop their dance and rhythm skills and
learn to express school spirit as an art form. "Being on the team
will also enhance their self-esteem and sense of social
responsibility," she said.

Amy Green and Samantha Sigler agreed, "It's exciting because it's
something we've never done before."

Lauren Gawlik added, "It's awesome!"

The group has sponsored several fund-raisers including a bake sale
and a concession stand. They also received a generous donation from
the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Kenedy.

Carle said this is a "trial period" for the team and they will have
to prove themselves to continue the program in future years. 

"We must show that we are dedicated enough to deliver crowd-
pleasing, school-spirited performances week after week. We also must
show that the girls are enjoying their commitment to dance, each
other, and the school through their performances and their attitudes."

According to Carle, the team must generate enough excitement and
interest to spark a desire for future Beaverettes to try out for the
team in years ahead. 

"I feel that the girls on this history-making dance team are doing a
wonderful job and all of their hard work, dedication, and enthusiasm
is displayed every Friday when they perform," said Carle.

"I am confident that we will achieve our goals this year and I'm
very thankful for all the support we are getting from our school, our
families, and our community," Carle added. "It's that support that
gives our students the opportunity to shine, to grow, and to succeed."

That's what they call Beaver pride.

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From wilsoncountynews.com

03.OCT.07

Lady Brahmas defeat Leopards
Robert C. McDonald

STOCKDALE - The Stockdale Lady Brahma volleyball team evened their
District 29-2A record at 3-3, Sept. 25, with a straight-sets victory
over Kenedy. 

The first set of the match was held close by good play from each
team. Stockdale and Kenedy traded points with one another before
Stockdale closed out the set with a 25-20 victory.

As the teams moved into the second set, momentum was clearly with
the Lady Brahmas, as they seemed to win point after point. While the
Leopards were able to tally 14 points, they still fell in a lopsided
set, 25-14.

Kenedy stepped up in the third set, however. Facing a loss, the
Leopards knew they had to win the set. Stockdale continued to play
their style of game, and although the set was pushed into extra
points, the Lady Brahmas secured the victory, 27-25.

Belinda Lankford led the team in kills. She also led the team in
blocks with two. Kristy Vela led the Lady Brahmas in assists with 16,
and Sandi Schultz held her ground on defense, leading Stockdale with
three digs. Senior Lacy Burrier also contributed to the victory with
three service aces.

The Lady Brahmas then traveled to Karnes City on Sept. 28, and were
scheduled to play the Pirettes in Poth on Oct. 2. 

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From mysanantonio.com

10/04/2007 

H.S. Volleyball: Tuesday's results

San Antonio Express-News 

DISTRICT 25-5A 

SAN MARCOS def. BASTROP 25-17, 25-13, 25-22 San Marcos: Kills,
Woltman 13; assists, Polk, Hart 10; digs, Natal 6; blocks, Williams
1; aces, Woltman 10. Bastrop: Kills, Evans 4; assists, Anderson 8;
digs, Hilbig 2; blocks, Welhelm 3; aces, Evans, Clardy, Honeycutt 2.
Records: San Marcos 4-4, 14-17; Bastrop 1-7, 3-18 

DISTRICT 26-5A 

SMITHSON VALLEY def. MADISON 25-18, 25-19, 25-12 Smithson Valley:
Kills, Tamika Heline 10; assists, Jessie Hartman 18; digs, Kristen
Carter 16; blocks, Tara Henry 5.5; aces, Carter, Kayla Keller 3.
Madison: Kills, Jenae Williams 5; assists, May Allen 17; digs, Jenae
Williams, Melissa Castro 5; blocks, Rachel James 3; aces, Allen 1.
Records: Smithson Valley 9-2, 22-11; Madison 2-8, 14-15 

REAGAN def. ROOSEVELT 25-14, 25-13, 25-15 Reagan: Kills, Lindsay
Hill 7; assists, Kacy Griffin 15; digs, Norma Fraga 12; blocks,
Preslie Alexander, Hill 4; aces, Libby Mayer, Chelcie George 2.
Roosevelt: Kills, Miara Cave 12; assists, Michelle Villejo 14; digs,
Bria Smith 11; blocks, Cave 1; aces, Desiree Carmichael 1. Records:
Reagan 10-1, 23-4; Roosevelt 2-8, 5-20 

DISTRICT 27-5A 

SOUTHWEST def. CC RAY 25-16, 19-25, 25-11, 25-15 Southwest: Kills,
Daniella Vidaurri, Amanda Jones 10; assists, Bianca Alcorta 18; digs,
Elizabeth Sandoval 9; blocks, Vidaurri 2; aces, Desirea Aguilar 1. CC
Ray: Kills, Michelle Martinez 11; assists, Erika Kendall 17; digs,
Erika Rojas 33; blocks, Jennifer Murphy 2; aces, Martinez 2. Records:
Southwest 4-3, 12-15; CC Ray 1-6, 11-12 

DISTRICT 28-5A 

MARSHALL def. TAFT 25-18, 21-25, 22-25, 25-11, 15-11 Marshall:
Kills, Nicki Morfin 19; assists, Megan Scudder 36; digs, Morfin 15;
blocks, Scudder 3; aces, Morfin 3. Taft: Kills, Lyndsey Cloman 13;
assists, Alisa Bernal 18; digs, Tara Oetken 17; blocks, Anna Drinka
1; aces, Josalyn Madrigal 3. Records: Marshall 9-2, 22-11; Taft 5-6,
10-16 

O'CONNOR def. JAY 25-10, 25-5, 25-9 O'Connor: Kills, Kendall Soler
13; assists, Sarah Cardenas 16; digs, Cardenas 8; blocks, Sarah
Bailey, Lacey Klause, Soler 1; aces, Dominique Gonzalez 8. Jay:
Kills, Jasmine Garcia 6; assists, Erica Valdez 6; digs, Kim Hernandez
16; blocks, Alyssha Rodriguez 3; aces, Hernandez 4. Records: O'Connor
11-0, 25-3; Jay 1-10, 6-20 

CLARK def. STEVENS 25-9, 25-15, 25-17 Clark: Kills, Courtney Ritchey
11; assists, Amber Guin 18; digs, Morgan Camp 11; blocks, Becca
Fischer 2; aces, Camp 2. Stevens: Kills, Brittainy Martinez 4;
assists, Kandace Sanchez 8; digs, Kathryn Herrera 16; blocks, Faith
Sparks, Haley Bernal 1; aces, Bhumi Disai 1. Records: Clark 9-1, 18-
8; Stevens 3-8, 9-18. 

DISTRICT 26-4A 

STEELE def. DEL VALLE 25-11, 25-23, 25-12 Steele: Kills, McKenzie
Adams 16; assists, Sondra Cui 24; digs, Kristin Simpson 11; blocks,
Adams 1; aces, Audrey Harris 5. Del Valle: Kills, Dunn 9; assists, G.
Guerrero 9; digs, C. Guerrero 11; blocks, Longoria 3; aces, Longoria,
C. Guerrero 1. Records: Steele 6-3, 18-9; Del Valle 3-6, 12-15. 

NB CANYON def. HAYS 25-11, 25-19, 25-19 NB Canyon: Kills, Miller 14;
assists, Smith 32; digs, Hackfeld 14; blocks, Miller 2.5; aces,
Hackfeld 4. Hays: Stats not available. Records: NB Canyon 9-0, 26-7;
Hays 6-3, 15-19. 

DISTRICT 27-4A 

ALAMO HEIGHTS def. BOERNE 25-23, 25-22, 25-13 Alamo Heights: Kills,
Evans 8; assists, Stich 24; digs, Warren 13; blocks, Kuhn 3; aces,
Stich 6. Boerne: Stats not available. Records: Alamo Heights 4-1, 22-
5; Boerne 3-2, 16-13. 

KERRVILLE TIVY def. MEMORIAL 25-7, 25-7, 25-14 Kerrville Tivy:
Kills, Kaitlin Overby 6; assists, Hannah Schwarz 9; digs, Schwarz,
Kayla Smith, Rachel Ashley 4; blocks, Overby 4; aces, Bethany Brown
3. Memorial: Kills, Amalia Tristan 2; assists, Enriqueta Vallejo 4;
digs, Paola Mendez 7; blocks, Christie Hernandez 1; aces, Abigail
Vesa 1. Records: Kerrville Tivy 4-1, 21-6; Memorial 1-4, 11-18. 

DISTRICT 28-4A 

EDISON def. LANIER 25-22, 25-16, 18-25, 25-19 Edison: Kills, Bianca
Mares 17; assists, Brittany Faison 24; digs, Ali Nerio 30; blocks,
Faisan, Mares, Ju Lisa Hicks 2; aces, Faisan 5. Lanier: Kills, Krista
Hinojosa 16; assists, Samantha Villareal 25; digs, Priscilla Delfin
9; blocks, Erika Cruz 2; aces, Debbie Contreras, Villareal 1.
Records: Edison 8-0, 19-4; Lanier 6-2, 10-14. 

DISTRICT 29-4A 

HARLANDALE def. UVALDE 20-25, 25-14, 25-14, 24-26, 15-10 Harlandale:
Kills, Lilly Chapa 21; assists, Olivia Perez 12; digs, Dee Ruiz 14;
blocks, Felicia Ramos 5; aces, Ruiz 5. Uvalde: Kills, Rayanah Pilgram
16; assists, Alyssa Brewster 20; digs, Nicole Campbel 13; blocks,
Bailey Walker 3; aces, Kayla Vernor, Valarie Diaz Brewster 1.
Records: Harlandale 5-0, 18-7; Uvalde 4-1, 23-8. 

DISTRICT 30-4A 

BEEVILLE def. GREGORY-PORTLAND 25-15, 25-15, 25-15 Beeville: Kills,
Keleigh Kremers 13; assists, Lauren Hardy 31; digs, Hardy 9; blocks,
Kasha Clay 2; aces, Brittany Holder, Melanie Gonzalez, Clay, Kremers
1. Gregory-Portland: Kills, Megan Scheidt, Kayla Alford 4; assists,
Megan Boxberger 12; digs, Rebecca Smith 3; blocks, Alford 2; aces,
Kelli Bailey 3. Records: Beeville 5-0, 26-4; Gregory-Portland 3-2. 

DISTRICT 25-3A 

WIMBERLEY def. BANDERA 22-25, 25-9, 25-20, 25-18 Wimberley: Kills,
Lea 19; assists, Milner 27; digs, Milam 22; blocks, Buse, Simmons 1;
aces, Milam 8. Bandera: Kills, Miller 12; assists, Guillory 18; digs,
Gratia 4; blocks, Miller 2; aces, Gratia, Grill, Miller 2. Records:
Bandera 2-1, 22-6. 

DISTRICT 26-3A 

LA VERNIA def. LULING 25-10, 25-18, 25-21 La Vernia: Kills, Caitlin
Seller 9; assists, Lauren Grun 18; digs, Heather Bicli 5; blocks,
Jennifer Herrera 7; aces, Kelsey Markgraf 2. Luling: Kills, Sabara
Vickery 7; assists, Melissa Rivera 17; digs, Jackie Shampine 10;
blocks, Brittonee Allen 3; aces, Vickery 3. Records: La Vernia 3-0,
23-11; Luling 0-3, 9-15. 

WEST CAMPUS def. MARION 25-19, 25-22, 25-21 West Campus: Kills,
Ramos 14; assists, Villamil 13; digs, Rodriguez 13; blocks, Lopez 1;
aces, Salazar 2. Marion: Kills, White 11; assists, Jacobsen 16; digs,
Jacobsen 14; blocks, Bolner 2; aces, White 1. Records: West Campus 2-
1, 10-7; Marion 1-2, 20-14. 

DISTRICT 27-3A 

LYTLE def. POTEET 15-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-23, 15-11 Lytle: Kills,
Katie Covell 11; assists, Sarah Garcia 14; digs, Kelsey Camp 12;
blocks, Ashley Perez, Kensey Camp, Kadie Engleheart 9; aces,
Engleheart 6. Poteet: Kills, Kristin Lemere 22; assists, Jessica
Navarro 43; digs, Amanda Carasco 10; blocks, Lemere 10; aces,
Carasco, Navarro, Leata Martinez 1. Records: Lytle 2-1, 13-6; Poteet
2-1, 20-8 

MEDINA VALLEY def. PLEASANTON 25-14, 18-25, 25-14, 25-22 Medina
Valley: Kills, Romo, Havy 11; assists, Beck 11; digs, Hilbig 10;
blocks, Romo 10; aces, Havy 2. Pleasanton: Kills, Tuttle 9; assists,
Bunch 17; digs, Guerrero 19; blocks, Wisdom 5; aces, Hodgin 2.
Records: Medina Valley 2-1, 14-14; Pleasanton 2-2, 21-8 

DISTRICT 28-3A 

HONDO def. CARRIZO SPRINGS 25-21, 25-14, 25-13 Hondo: Kills, Taylor
McKinnerney 11; assists, Megan Laughinghouse 23; digs, Laughinghouse,
Alli Matthews 9; blocks, Tessa Graff 2; aces, Laughinghouse 10.
Carrizo Springs: Kills, Monique Lira 6; assists, Lira 2; digs, Catlyn
Hassel 5; blocks, Lira 4; aces, Amanda Garcia 10. Records: Hondo 2-1,
15-11; Carrizo Springs 0-3 

DISTRICT 29-2A 

NAVARRO def. KENEDY 25-7, 25-12, 25-18 Navarro: Kills, Kubenka 10;
assists, Parker 27; digs, Kubenka 4; blocks, Parker 1; aces, Parker
2. Kenedy: Stats not available. Records: Navarro 6-2, 21-9 

POTH def. STOCKDALE 25-4, 25-16, 25-22 Poth: Kills, Cavazos 5;
assists, Boening 10; digs, Harlos 11; blocks, Waclawczyk 3.5; aces,
Boening 4. Stockdale: Stats not available. Records: Poth 8-0, 26-6;
Stockdale 3-4 district. 

DISTRICT 30-2A 

HAWKINS def. GERVIN ACADEMY 25-7, 25-10, 25-7 Hawkins: Kills,
Ragland 12; assists, Dalicia 26; digs, DeLeon 9; blocks, Garcia .5;
aces, Ragland 4. Gervin Academy: Stats not available. Records:
Hawkins 5-2, 7-6 

NATALIA def. COLE 25-16, 25-17, 25-10 Natalia: Kills, Mendez 6;
blocks, Pareles 2; aces, Enciso 3. Cole: Kills, Garrott 6 ; assists,
Smith 4; digs, Teeter 10; blocks, Salazar 1.5; aces, Saddler 3.
Records: Natalia 5-2, 7-6 

DISTRICT 29-A 

LEAKEY def. MEDINA 23-25, 25-19, 25-10, 25-9 Leakey: Kills, Jillian
Wade 18; assists, Alex Farley 13; digs, Wade 8; blocks, Kati Young
10; aces, Wade 3. Medina: Kills, Stephanie Kendrick 5; assists,
Courtney Morris 10; digs, Shelby Jackson 2; blocks, Callie buPerier
6; aces, Morris 1. Records: Leakey 4-0, 30-4 

Non-district 

CORNERSTONE def. ST. ANTHONY 25-7, 25-19, 25-13 Cornerstone: Kills,
Kruse 8; assists, Lebron 18; digs, Castillo 12; aces, Bielefeld 5.
St. Anthony: Stats not available. DEVINE def. SOMERSET 25-22, 25-16,
25-11 Devine: Kills, Darla Caddell 10; assists, Teanna Arteaga 20;
digs, Cheyenne Fisher 12; blocks, Becky Powe 3; aces, Sydney Johnson
1. Somerset: Kills, Joyce James 9; assists, Amberlee Dugosh 9; digs,
Olivia Sanchez 2; blocks, James, Sanchez, Dugosh 1; aces, James 2.
Records: Devine 17-8; Somerset 4-17 

TAPPS 3-5A 

SA CHRISTIAN def. TMI 25-19, 25-19, 25-14 SA Christian: Kills, Aaron
14; assists, Simmons 21; digs, Aaron 21; blocks, Coleman 3; aces,
Aaron, Fox 2 TMI: Kills, Terry 7; assists, Hanson 7; digs, Styles 28;
blocks, Williams 3; aces, Terry, Hanson 2. 

TAPPS 2-6A 

INCARNATE WORD def. 

LAREDO ST. AUGUSTINE 

25-8, 25-11, 25-3 Incarnate Word: Kills, Fleming 5; assists,
Martinez 14; digs, Fleming 21; blocks, Salazar, Rivera 1; aces,
Rivera 3. Laredo St. Augustine: Stats not available. Records:
Incarnate Word 2-2, 14-9 
Today's matches 

District 

28-4A: Fox Tech vs. Burbank, 5:30 p.m., at Alamo CC; Brackenridge
vs. Sam Houston, 7 p.m., at Alamo CC 

Non-district 

Saint Mary's Hall at Incarnate Word, 6:15 p.m. 

Thursday's matches 

District 

TAPPS 2-6A: Providence vs. Incarnate Word, 7:30 p.m., at UIW; St.
Augustine at Antonian, 7:30 p.m.

************************************************

From tylerpaper.com

October 04, 2007

Antler Restrictions Have Impact In New Counties

By STEVE KNIGHT
Outdoor Writer

Since Texas hunters have gotten serious about deer management (i.e.
letting bucks mature) there has been a concern about what has been
going on across the fence.

While the cure for some has been the construction of a high fence,
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has been stepping in more and
more with a restrictive antler regulation that defines a legal buck
as one having an inside spread of at least 13 inches or as a spike.
Under the regulation, hunters are given a second buck, however, it
must be a spike.

The goals of the regulation are simple: to reduce pressure on 1 1/2-
and 2 1/2-year-old bucks and to improve the overall age structure of
the buck segment of the population. For hunters, a side benefit would
be that over time they would be seeing bucks with bigger antlers.

The regulation started in six Coastal Bend counties. Based on
results there, and in 15 other counties from the same region that
were added soon after, it was expanded last season to 40 more
counties spread across the Pineywoods, Post Oak and Edwards Plateau.

Starting the regulation in a year like last year was a concern, but
TPWD decided to stay with it. The results were surprising.

"The one thing I can say from the first year is that antlered
harvest in the ecoregions that included antler restrictions was not
down," said Mitch Lockwood, TPWD's white-tailed deer program leader.
"I think most of us expected at least a one-year 'sacrifice,' but it
appears that the second buck/spike tag may have tempered that."

In the Pineywoods, district biologist Gary Calkins said hunters
harvested a similar number of 1 1/2-year-old bucks as they have in
the past. However, instead of young fork-antlered deer the harvest
shifted to spikes.

"As far as 1 1/2-year-old deer they harvested about the same number,
but instead of 70 percent fork-antlered bucks, they took 85 to 86
percent spikes. We also saw a huge shift from 2 1/2 year olds to 4
1/2 year olds. What we wanted was to take the pressure off the 1 1/2
and 2 1/2 year olds," Calkins said.

Even in a tough year like 2006-07, Calkins said he wasn't concerned
about the increased pressure on the spike segment because
traditionally only about 27 percent of the population is spikes.

"The old regulation had bulls-eye on 100 percent of 1 1/2-year-old
bucks. We have narrowed that down to 27 percent of that population,"
the biologists explained.

Calkins said hunters throughout the region took an estimated 50,000
bucks during the 2006-07 season. He said he doesn't expect the
hunting pressure to shift to the 2 1/2-year-old buck class this fall,
even though habitat conditions should mean improved antler quality
for all age classes.

"No, because the 2 1/2 year olds are going to be between a spike and
under the 13-inch spread," Calkins said. "That is the one thing that
is going to protect them. In an exceptional year you are going to
have some deer that show antler quality on the high end. Overall, we
will see some 2 1/2s taken, but from a population standpoint it won't
matter."

Some hunters in the region also appear to have shifted their harvest
toward doe. TPWD estimates that last year's antlerless harvest was
about 28,700, close to a record number in the region. That helped
allay concerns that with a two-buck limit (at least one of which must
be a spike) hunters would take two spikes instead of maintaining
pressure on the antlerless portion of the population.

Like the Pineywoods, there are a handful of counties in the Post Oak
region with the antler restriction regulation. TPWD biologist Jay
Whiteside said he was amazed at what he saw during the first year of
the regulation.

"I was working a locker plant in Freestone County opening weekend,
and in a normal year we will measure an equal number of deer from
Freestone and Leon counties. Last year we had a record for number
measured, but hardly any were from Leon County. Leon had the
restrictive antler regulation and Freestone did not," Whiteside said.

When the regulation was proposed, biologists predicted a one-year
harvest slowdown, and while it didn't appear in the Pineywoods,
Whiteside said it was apparent in portions of the Post Oak region.

There might have been a slight slowdown in the Edwards Plateau
counties that were under the regulation for the first time last year
as well.

In neither region was the slowdown as major as anticipated, and more
localized than across the region.

Improvement continues in the deer herd in the original Coastal Bend
counties under the regulation. David Forrester, the region's district
biologist, said harvest data continues to be collected from last
season, but the results starting to show are positive.

"We recorded 5 1/2- and 6 1/2-year-old bucks in numbers that are
showing up statistically. Thirty-nine percent of last year's bucks
were 4 1/2 and older, and 11 percent of that were 5 1/2 and older,"
Forrester said.

He said any negatives that were around when the regulation was first
proposed have long disappeared. Now the problem is that landowners
are complaining that they are raising deer to 3 1/2 and they are
jumping the fence and their neighbors are shooting them.

A good problem to have, Forrester said the department plans to work
with hunters and landowners in the future to better be able to age a
buck in the field, and to continue to encourage landowner
cooperatives among neighboring properties.

Pineywoods counties included in the regulation are Bowie, Camp,
Cass, Gregg, Harrison, Houston, Marion, Morris, Nacogdoches, Panola,
Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, Shelby and Upshur.

Post Oak counties included in the regulation are Delta, Fannin,
Franklin, Hopkins, Lamar, Leon, Rains, Red River, Titus and Woods.

Counties that are part of the regulation are Bell, Bosque, Burleson,
Comal (east of I-35), Comanche, Coryell, Eastland, Erath, Hamilton,
Hays (east of I-35), Lampasas, Somervell, Travis (east of I-35) and
Williamson.

Coastal Bend counties already under the regulation include Austin,
Bastrop, Brazoria, Caldwell, Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Lavaca, Fort
Bend, Goliad, Gonzalez, Guadalupe, Jackson, Karnes, Lee, Matagorda,
Washington, Waller, Wharton, Wilson and Victoria.

************************************************

From seguingazette.com

October 4, 2007

Navarro sweeps Kenedy

By Jason Chlapek
The Gazette-Enterprise  

KENEDY - The Navarro volleyball team found the perfect remedy for
responding to its loss to Poth on Friday - a win.

The Lady Panthers used a dominating performance on both offense and
defense on Tuesday to earn a three-game sweep of Kenedy at Kenedy.
The scores were 25-7, 25-12, 25-18.

Navarro (21-9, 6-2 in District 29-2A) hosts Karnes City at 6 p.m.
Friday. The Lady Panthers need to win five of their last six matches
to clinch second place in the district standings.

Poth (26-6, 8-0 in 29-2A) leads the district standings.

After a convincing 25-7 win in the first game, Navarro claimed a 25-
12 win in the second game, and finished the match with a 25-18
victory.

Brittany Parker led with 27 assists, two aces and a block, while
Noelle Kubenka led with 10 kills and four digs. 

************************************************

From themonitor.com

October 8, 2007

WIND RESISTANCE
Environmental groups fighting the planned contruction of two farms

Melissa McEver
Valley Morning Star

NORIAS — Out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind to Dave Delaney,
general manager of King Ranch. 

From this stretch of the King family’s property north of
Raymondville, he might not be able to see the nearly 250 large
whirling wind turbines that soon will be built on about 20,000 acres
of nearby Kenedy Ranch. 

But he said that doesn’t mean their presence won’t affect King Ranch
or the birds that migrate through this area. 

“We think this coastal habitat is too sensitive for this (wind
project),” Delaney said. “It involves thousands of acres, hundreds of
miles of roads, huge, turning blades … we feel there should be some
public input.” 

King Ranch is one of 11 regional and state organizations, including
the Lower Laguna Madre Foundation, Frontera Audubon Society and
American Bird Conservancy, that have united in their opposition to
two proposed wind farms in Kenedy County scheduled to be up and
running by late 2008. 

Known as the Coastal Habitat Alliance, these groups differ in their
support of wind energy — Delaney, for example, says it doesn’t
provide sufficient power to replace fossil fuels; other groups say
they’re champions of “green” energy. But they agree on one thing: the
Kenedy property is the wrong place to put turbines. 

“On this particular site, the infrastructure will have a different
impact,” said Elyse Yates, a spokeswoman for the alliance. “The land
is different than for other projects, because it’s on coastal
marshland … it’s more ecologically diverse than the (Florida)
Everglades. One of our biggest questions is what will the impact be?
Nobody really knows.” 

Two companies — PPM Energy, a subsidiary of Spain-based Iberdrola,
and Australia-based-Babcock & Brown — are planning the wind projects.
The two farms together would produce about 388 megawatts of
electricity, at least in the first phase of construction, according
to an AEP Texas filing with the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
AEP is requesting the go-ahead from PUC to construct an electricity-
transmission line connecting to the wind farms. 

The farms would supply enough electricity to power about 90,000
homes, according to figures from the Energy Information
Administration. 

The companies say they are trying to minimize the projects’ impact
on habitat and birds, and that it’s “unfortunate” that the alliance
is opposing the projects. 

“We think it’s a great project with a great story — we’re offering
clean, renewable energy for the state,” said Chris Shugart, project
developer for the Babcock & Brown wind farm. 

Environmental impact 

Despite the companies’ reassurances, alliance members say they are
concerned about the wind projects’ impact on endangered and
threatened bird species in the region, as well as on the coastal
habitat. The tall turbines and their quickly spinning blades could
lead to substantial bird kills, the groups say. The needed
infrastructure — including concrete bases for the towers and roads
running throughout the site — will deplete natural habitat, they
said. 

Wind turbines made today typically have towers from 200 to 260 feet
tall, with rotors from 150 to 260 feet in diameter, according to the
National Wind Coordinating Committee. At their tips, the blades can
turn as fast as 138 to 182 miles per hour. 

The annual bird fatality rates at other wind-turbine sites have
widely varied, from less than one bird per turbine at a site in
Oregon to 10 per turbine at a site in Tennessee. The average,
according to the National Wind Coordinating Committee, is two per
turbine per year. 

The companies counter that they’ve conducted assessments of the bird
populations in the area, and concluded the turbines would cause
minimal bird fatalities. 

“Since 2004, we’ve been doing migrating bird studies, breeding bird
studies,” said PPM Energy spokeswoman Jan Johnson. 

According to PPM, these studies have shown, for example, that
raptors such as the aplomado falcon — one of the species of concern
to the alliance — fly west of the site and wouldn’t be affected. 

Babcock & Brown has come to similar conclusions, Shugart said. Also,
the company is planning to construct turbines and the connecting
roads so as to minimally disturb wetlands, he said. 

“We’ve worked with local environmental agencies and the Army Corps
of Engineers on the project, on avoiding the wetlands,” Shugart said. 

Most of the land will remain undisturbed, he said. 

“It’s not like a sprawling Wal-Mart parking lot,” Shugart said. 

However, because the companies have generally funded their own
studies, and in some cases haven’t made the results public, alliance
members are unconvinced. 

“It’s not the same as having people from environmental agencies,
qualified biologists, discuss the studies that need to be done,” said
David Newstead, president of the Coastal Bend Audubon Society. “It
needs to be legitimate, peer-reviewed research … in Texas there are
essentially no studies like that.” 

Nearby Baffin Bay and the Laguna Madre area sees many species of
birds migrating year-round, Newstead said. Shorebirds like the white-
faced ibis, osprey, egrets, sandpipers and little blue heron frequent
these coastal wetlands, he said. 

A recent helicopter flight over the proposed wind-farm sites
revealed a chain of wetland ponds, with flocks of shorebirds stopping
to drink and rest. Other than a few roads and quail runs for hunting,
the land looks close to untouched. 

“It’s hard to think (the farms) wouldn’t have some impact on these
species,” Newstead said. 

Jumping into the fray 

Because the projects are going up on privately owned land, no public
hearings are required in the construction process. So the alliance
has taken its fight to the Public Utility Commission of Texas. 

On Oct. 17, the PUC will consider AEP’s request to construct a
transmission line to the wind farms, and the alliance has filed for
“intervenor” status in that request. If granted, the alliance could
ask for an environmental-impact study of the projects, Yates said. 

At first, it appeared the environmental groups wouldn’t have a
chance to comment — last month, a state administrative judge denied
the alliance’s request to intervene. But later in the month, the PUC
agreed to consider the groups’ request after all. 

“We see that as a really good sign,” Yates said. 

The companies say they don’t necessarily object to the alliance
having a say in wind-energy projects. However, the arguments against
the Kenedy County projects haven’t convinced the entities who have
heard them so far. 

“The state administrative judge did not grant standing for them
after weighing the arguments,” said Johnson of PPM Energy. The Texas
Legislature also hasn’t agreed to impose more regulations on wind
energy, as some environmental groups have requested. 

Delaney, of King Ranch, acknowledged he is frustrated with the “mad
rush” to construct wind farms on the Texas coast and offshore without
environmental protections. But constructing a wind farm on this site
in particular isn’t a good idea, he said. 

“Just because (wind farms) don’t produce any carbon emissions
doesn’t mean there aren’t any problems with them,” he said. 

************************************************

From seguingazette.com

October 3, 2007

Navarro wants homecoming win

By Scot Kibbe
The Gazette-Enterprise  

GERONIMO — If recent history is any indication, Friday’s contest
between the Karnes City Badgers and the Navarro Panthers should be
well worth the price of admission.

These two teams have met four times since 1998. Each team has won
twice. All of the games were decided by four points or less,
including cliffhangers decided by last minute touchdowns in 1998 and
1999 and a playoff match up won by Karnes City by a single point in
2003.

Last year’s game is remembered by most Navarro fans for the third
quarter injury that ended the season of all-district quarterback
Jared Jaroszewski. But it was another barnburner as replacement Cole
Allison rallied the Panthers before Travis Korn hit the game-winning
kick.

That victory propelled the Panthers to a playoff berth and
eventually resulted in Karnes City failing to qualify.

The teams enter this game in similar situations. Each started strong
but have their backs against the wall after losing their district
openers last week. Karnes City, 3-1, 0-1, fell to district favorite
Stockdale 21-0, a game in which they surrendered no passing yards but
ceded 330 yards to the Brahmas’ powerful rushing attack.

Meanwhile, the Panthers, 2-2, 0-1, dropped a 28-21 overtime
heartbreaker to Poth. Coach Les Goad said he believes his team will
leave that loss behind them.

“When you lose like that, it is frustrating,” he said. “But we can
only do something about the future and I’m confident our guys will
bounce back.”

Goad says the Badgers are “no question the biggest team we’ve seen.”
They have a 300-pound and 275-pound offensive linemen starting next
to each other, according to Goad. 

“Their running back [Jerome Hopkins] carries most of the load but
they have other backs who rotate in and are also dangerous,” he said.
“Their quarterback [Drew Holland] is quick on his feet and does a
great job operating that offense. They will run right at you but also
spread the field.”

One piece of good news for the Panthers is that Badger running back
Jacob Maldonado, who ran for 171 yards and three TDs against them
last year, has graduated.

Defensively, Goad says Karnes City runs the 50 and “puts a lot of
pressure on your interior linemen.”

They gave up just eight points combined in their three games before
Stockdale.

The Panthers will again be without starting tailback and cornerback
Cole Allison, who broke his collarbone in the opener against Marion.
Goad said he will be evaluated on Saturday and he hopes to have him
back for next week’s match up with Nixon-Smiley.

The game will also be homecoming for the Panthers.

************************************************

From seguingazette.com

October 9, 2007

Mixed results for county teams

By Jason Chlapek
The Gazette-Enterprise  

GUADALUPE COUNTY — With five matches left in the volleyball regular
season, Seguin, Marion and Navarro all find themselves competing for
playoff spots.

And on Friday, all three inched closer to clinching those postseason
berths.

Seguin and Navarro both won their matches in three games to move up
in the standings of their respective districts. Marion, despite
losing 3-1 to La Vernia, still sits in the driver’s seat for the
third-place berth out of District 26-3A because it is one match ahead
of Luling in the district standings.

Navarro (22-9, 7-2 in 29-2A) moved within two match victories of
clinching its 14th consecutive playoff berth after sweeping past
Karnes City, 25-11, 25-21, 25-21, on Friday at Navarro High School. 

The Lady Panthers visit Yorktown at 7 p.m. today and Nixon-Smiley at
6 p.m. Friday for their next two matches. Wins in both matches will
have Navarro making plans for the playoffs.

Haley Helweg, Brittany Parker and Cynthia Ramon were the leaders for
the Lady Panthers on Friday. Helweg led with 12 kills and two aces,
Parker led with 24 assists and 1.5 blocks and Ramon led with five
digs.

Seguin (17-10, 5-4 in 25-5A) picked up a 25-20, 25-13, 25-22 win at
Akins.

The Lady Matadors are in fourth place in the standings, and can
strengthen its lock on the fourth-place playoff spot this week when
they host Anderson and San Marcos. Seguin and Anderson meet at 7:30
p.m. today, and the Lady Matadors host San Marcos at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Both matches will take place at Goldie Harris Gymnasium, and wins
over both Anderson and San Marcos will give Seguin season sweeps over
both teams as well as a two-match lead over San Marcos for the fourth-
place playoff berth with the head-to-head tiebreaker and three
matches to play.

In Friday’s win, Seguin was led by Emily Cheek, who had 13 kills, 13
digs, 2.5 blocks and two aces. She had team-highs in kills, aces and
blocks.

Kelly Koenig posted a team-high 30 assists to go with 12 digs, and
Alex Bothe tied Cheek for the aces lead with two while recording
eight kills. Megan Roy led Seguin with 22 digs.

Akins was led by Amelia Moore and Taylor Tidwell. Moore led with 13
digs and six kills, while Tidwell led with six kills and a block.

Other leaders for Akins included Patty Walser with three aces and
Nicole Moore with 12 assists.

Marion (20-15, 1-3 in 26-3A) became the first team in its district
to make La Vernia (24-11, 4-0 in 26-3A) play beyond three games in a
match. La Vernia eventually won the match, 18-25, 25-19, 27-25, 25-
22, on Friday at Marion High School.

The Bulldogs claimed the first game, 25-18, before falling in the
second, 25-19. Marion had a golden opportunity squandered in the
third game as the Bulldogs took the Lady Bears to the brink before
falling, 27-25.

The fourth game featured Marion taking a 14-12 lead before La Vernia
scored eight straight to take a 20-14 lead that would not be
relinquished. Marion closed out the game on an 8-5 run, but could not
get the big run it needed to force a fifth game.

Despite the loss, Bulldogs coach Stephanie Langenberg thought her
team made a vast improvement from its previous match — a 3-0 setback
at West Campus.

“We improved leaps and bounds [Friday],” Langenberg said. “This is
the way I want us to not only play every match, this is also the way
I want us to practice everyday.

“We just didn’t finish [Friday]. We had [La Vernia] on the ropes
several times, but could not finish them off. We just have to
overcome our mistakes.”

Marion hits the road tonight as the Bulldogs travel to Luling for a
7 p.m. start. Luling (9-16, 0-4 in 26-3A) is coming off of a 3-2 loss
to West Campus (11-7, 3-1 in 26-3A) on Friday.

Langenberg thinks her team could do well tonight.

“If we play the same way against Luling as we did against La Vernia,
we’ll win,” she said. “We always play up against La Vernia, and we
need to play against other teams the same way.”

If Marion beats Luling tonight and West Campus on Friday, and La
Vernia beats Luling on Friday, the Bulldogs clinch a playoff berth
for the third time in as many years.

In Friday’s match, Marion was led by Ashley Jacobsen and Kalynn
White. Jacobsen led with 23 assists, 15 digs and three aces, while
White led with 14 kills and three aces. Hailey Bolner led with two
blocks. 

************************************************

From khou.com

October 10, 2007

The ex-cons next door 

By Dave Fehling / 11 News

Texas is tough on crime. 

Some 150,000 inmates are locked-up in state prisons. 

But the state is also releasing thousands each year, and no city in
Texas has more ex-cons returning to it than Houston. 

But where exactly are they ending-up? 

The El Dorado neighborhood just outside the loop in northeast
Houston and looks pretty ordinary. 

It might be hard to imagine it’s home to the city’s highest
concentration of people who used to live in prison. 

In fact, six more neighborhoods are very much like it. 

They are neighborhoods where there’s a good chance the guy living
behind you used to be living behind bars. 

New research tracked where inmates go to live after they leave
prison. Turns out, they don’t just disperse all over Houston. They
end up in several specific neighborhoods. 

“No matter how many people Houston sends to prison, they are coming
back,” Tony Fabelo said. 

Fabelo is in Austin and is the researcher behind the report. 

“And they are probably coming back a lot faster than what the people
of Houston probably think,” he said. 

Lawmakers who’ve seen the report call it a shocking eye-opener. 

Fabelo found in just one year, 861 prisoners—that’s a quarter of all
returning to Houston—returned to live in just seven neighborhoods. 

The small El Dorado neighobrhood is first mostly because it has a
halfway house, but it's followed by Kashmere Gardens, South Park,
Fifth Ward, South Acres, Acres Homes, and OST. 

Vic Rocha lives in the El Dorado neighborhood. 

“I didn’t think that many people lived here coming out of prison,”
he said. 

But maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised: he’s lived around here
all his life, except the three years HE spent in state prison. 

“I got put on probation and everything else until finally they sent
me over there to the big house,” Rocha said. 

The research also calculated the concentration of ex-inmates living
within the boundaries of school districts. 

The highest of any urban area in the state: North Forest ISD. 

Where the most ex-cons lived, the research found the lowest school
test scores and highest dropout rates. 

“We’re not trying to blame schools,” Fabelo said. “We’re trying to
look at the neighborhoods and the schools and the economic situation
and get more into the big picture.” 

That big picture is of a state that’s now locking up four times as
many people as it did 20 years ago. 

It’s at a cost of billions, and look what the research found when
the prison budget is broken down per neighborhood: $7 million, $8
million, $13 million a year spent to lock up so many residents. 

Lawmakers continue to debate if that makes sense or if less should
be spent on incarceration and more in neighborhoods on substance
abuse programs, education, and job creation. 

“In the past, there really was this belief we could build our way
out of crime by building more prisons,” State Rep. Scott Hochberg
said. 

A good question now because next month the state will be asking
voters to approve borrowing money to build possibly three more state
prisons. 

At a YMCA in the North Forest school district, Director Demetta
Landry would like to hire people from the neighborhood but often
can’t because so many have records and therefore aren’t allowed to
work with kids. 

“School’s a must,” she said. 

Rocha said he knows one thing he can do: Make sure his kids now get
the attention he said he never got growing up in a part of  Houston
where going to prison is just part of life in the neighborhood. 

“Being on them every day,” he said. 

The report also looked ahead to try to predict what neighborhoods
would be seeing large concentrations of ex-prisoners in coming years.
They include: Gulfton, Spring Branch, Downtown and the Eastex-Jensen
neighborhood. 

************************************************

From mysanantonio.com

October 11, 2007

UPDATED: H.S. Cross Country schedule

SATURDAY'S MEETS 

Non-District 

Northside ISD meet: At O'Connor High School— 8 a.m., girls; 8:30
a.m., boys. Teams entered — Brackenridge, Clark, Clemens, CC Carroll,
Edison, Fox Tech, Health Careers, Holmes, Jay, Kennedy, Lee,
Marshall, Memorial, O'Connor, Poteet, Reagan, Roosevelt, Sam Houston,
Smithson Valley, Steele, Taft, Wagner, Warren, West Campus. 


Poth meet: At City Park in Poth — 9 a.m., girls; 9:30 a.m., boys.
Teams entered — Falls City, George West, Goliad, Jourdanton, Karnes
City, Kenedy, Moulton, Natalia, Nixon-Smiley, Odem, Randolph,
Stockdale, Victoria St. Joseph, Yoakum, Yorktown. 


TAPPS State meet: At Bear Run Course in Waco — Class A girls, 9
a.m.; Class A boys, 9:30 a.m.; 2A girls, 10 a.m.; 2A boys, 10:30
a.m.; 3A girls, 11 a.m.; 3A boys, 11:30 a.m. 


Uvalde ISD meet: At Uvalde High School — 10 a.m., girls; 10:30 a.m.,
boys.

************************************************

From mysanantonio.com

October 13, 2007

H.S. Volleyball: Friday's matches 



District 25-5A 

SEGUIN def. SAN MARCOS, 25-23, 25-17, 25-7: Seguin -- Kills, Cheek
13; assists, Koenig 29; digs, Roy 11; blocks, Cheek, Sagabiel 1.5;
aces, Bothe 5. San Marcos -- Kills, Wolpman 13; assists, Hart 10;
digs, Natal 9; blocks, Sharpe 2; aces, Williams, Wolpman 3. 


District 26-5A 

REAGAN def. LEE, 25-9, 25-13, 25-15: Reagan -- Kills, Libby Mayer
12; assists, Kacy Griffin 27; digs, Mayer 16; blocks, Chelcie George,
Jennifer Torbet, Lindsey Hill 2; aces, Norma Fraga 3.Lee -- Kills,
Alannah Tiller 6; assists, Janee Fonseca 8; digs, Jenni Duran 13;
blocks, Amber Mata, Tiller 1.5. Records -- Reagan 13-1, 26-4; Lee 3-
10, 15-15. 

MACARTHUR def. ROOSEVELT, 25-14, 25-11, 25-18: MacArthur -- Kills,
Krystal Stirrup 11; assists, Ashley Wesley 17; digs, Alexa Williams
10; blocks, Stirrup 1.5; aces, Taylor Johnson, Williams 2. Roosevelt -
- Kills, Miara Cave 5; assists, Michelle Villejo 6; digs, Villejo 11;
blocks, Tamisha Timpson, Deanna Patterson 0.5; aces, Cave, Desiree
Carmichael 2. Records -- MacArthur 7-6, 17-13; Roosevelt 2-12, 5-24. 

CHURCHILL def. MADISON, 25-14, 25-15, 25-12: Churchill -- Kills,
Chrissy Glenn 6; assists, Lauren Nettles 17; digs, Izzie Wright 14;
blocks, Glenn 3; aces, Emily Banse 3. Madison -- Kills, Bethany James
4; assists, May Allen 11; digs, Melissa Castro 9; blocks, Rachel
James 3; aces, B. James 2. Records -- Churchill 12-1, 26-4; Madison 2-
12, 14-19. 

WAGNER def. JUDSON, 25-19, 23-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-11: Wagner --
Kills, Amber Roberson 32; assists, Sajoyia Griffin 49; digs, Roberson
14; blocks, Breanna Brock 5; aces, Roberson 2. Judson -- Kills,
Joshlyn Wright 12; assists, Tonjaka Scott 38; digs, Cathy Carranco
27; blocks, Felicia Payton 2; aces, Sophia Donald 3. Records --
Wagner 5-8, 15-10; Judson 5-8, 12-19. 


District 27-5A 

EAST CENTRAL def. HIGHLANDS, 25-13, 25-9, 25-11: East Central --
Kills, Kelsey Jewasko 12; assists, Lauren Moravits 29; digs, Brooke
Wilson, Jewasko 5; blocks, Jewasko 2.5; aces, Jewasko 4. Highlands --
Kills, Jessica Iwabuchi 4; assists, Kimberly Frothingham 7; digs,
Raquel Vasquez 13; blocks, Cassandra Regalado 3; aces, Regalado 1.
Records -- East Central 7-2, 16-9; Highlands 9-17. 


District 28-5A 

MARSHALL def. HOLMES, 21-25, 15-25, 25-12, 25-14, 15-12: Marshall --
Kills, Camille Alfaro 12; assists, Megan Scudder 21; digs, Nicki
Morfin 11; blocks, Morfin 2; aces, Morfin, Alfaro 2. Holmes -- Kills,
Jackie Hernandez 13; assists, Bianca Martinez 27; digs, Crystal Cruz
12; aces, Martinez 4. Records -- Reagan 13-1, 26-4; Lee 3-10, 15-15. 


District 26-4A 

STEELE def. LOCKHART, 25-9, 12-25, 25-22, 25-16: Steele -- Kills,
McKenzie Adams 11; assists, Sondra Cui 25; digs, Kristin Simpson, Cui
9; blocks, Lynn Lambert, Adams 1.5; aces, Cui 2. Lockhart -- Kills,
Kelly White 9; assists, White 16; digs, Brianna Hinnenkamp 8; blocks,
Jenee Burrhus-Clay 6. Records -- Steele 8-4, 20-10; Lockhart 3-9, 17-
17. 

DEL VALLE def. CLEMENS, 14-25, 25-23, 25-15, 14-25, 16-14: Del Valle
-- Kills, Dunn 16; assists, Guerrero 30; digs, Rohrbough 12; blocks,
Dunn 9; aces, Guerrero 3. Clemens -- Kills, Ashley Leverich 12 ;
assists, Dimery Michaels 29; digs, Shelby Leverich 12; blocks, S.
Leverich 1; aces, Michaels 2. Records -- Del Valle 4-8, 13-17;
Clemens 3-9, 11-14. 

NEW BRAUNFELS def. HAYS, 25-19, 25-3, 25-8: New Braunfels -- Kills,
Andrea Hannasch 19; assists, Mary Beth Huber 24; digs, Elise Schaefer
14; blocks, Hannasch 5; aces, Lyndsey Fowler 9. Hays -- Kills, Becky
Swann 4; assists, Rachael McLamore 9; blocks, Becky Swan 1; aces,
Phoebe Corder 1. Records -- New Braunfels 10-2, 27-8; Hays 8-4, 17-
20. 


District 27-4A 

BOERNE def. MEMORIAL, 25-12, 25-13, 25-15: Boerne -- Kills, Sarah
Artale 8; assists, Cortnie Tucker 16; digs, Karly Kruz 7; blocks,
Kayla Hewitt 2; aces, Sarah Wallace 5. Memorial -- Kills, Enriqueta
Vallejo 4; assists, Vallejo 4; digs, Amalia Tristan 9; blocks, Faith
Monsivais 4; aces, Paola Mendez 1. Records -- Boerne 5-3, 18-14;
Memorial 2-6, 12-20. 

KERRVILLE TIVY def. KENNEDY, 25-21, 25-8, 25-15: Kerrville Tivy --
Kills, Karly Cody 7; assists, Hannah Schwarz 3; digs, Jourdan Scott
6; blocks, Cody 7; aces, Schwarz 3. Kennedy -- Kills, Vanessa Rubio
7; assists, Joslyn Garcia 10; digs, Celi Martinez 17; blocks, Crystal
Castro 5; aces, Gabby Fantoyo 2. Records -- Kerrville Tivy 6-2, 23-7;
Kennedy 0-8, 6-22. 

ALAMO HEIGHTS def. FREDERICKSBURG, 25-23, 26-24, 25-22: Alamo
Heights -- Kills, Claire Warren 8; assists, Lindsey Stich 26; digs,
Kelsey Mangum 15; blocks, Quinn Evans 4; aces, Stich 5.
Fredericksburg -- Kills, Monica Delacruz 17; assists, Brittany
Herbort 32; digs, Delacruz 15; blocks, M. Marquardt 4; aces, Delacruz
4. Records -- Alamo Heights 7-1, 26-5; Fredericksburg 4-4, 22-11. 


District 29-4A 

MCCOLLUM def. FLORESVILLE, 25-18, 25-19, 25-22: McCollum -- Kills,
Jasmine Goodwyn 11; assists, Erica Jasso 6; digs, Jasso 6; blocks,
Goodwyn, Krystan Casias 1; aces, Jasso 6. Floresville -- Kills,
Stephanie Erskine 7; assists, Olivia Zidek 9; digs, Alexandria Lyssy
13; blocks, Erskine 4; aces, Kelli Sears 6. Records -- McCollum 4-4,
14-14; Floresville 0-8, 7-26. 

HARLANDALE def. SOUTHSIDE, 18-25, 25-11, 25-11, 24-26, 15-11:
Harlandale -- Kills, Lilly Chapa 19; assists, Olivia Perez 26; digs,
Dee Ruiz 23; blocks, Felicia Ramos 3; aces, Perez 6. Southside --
Kills, Ana Solano, Megan Henry 9; assists, Jacklyn Cook 30; digs,
Larissa Mora 30; blocks, Marlinda Medillin 2; aces, Cook, Henry 2.
Records -- Harlandale 8-0, 21-7; Southside 3-5, 14-14. 

UVALDE def. SOUTH SAN, 25-16, 22-25, 25-27, 25-23, 15-11: Uvalde --
Kills, Rayanah Pilgrim 10; assists, Bethany Fowler 24; digs, Kayla
Vernor, Nicole Campbell 23; blocks, Bailey Walker 4; aces, Pilgrim 4.
South San -- Kills, Selena Mitchel 11; assists, Veronica Arguelllo
13; digs, Maria Yeverino 11; blocks, Andrea Bosquez 4; aces, Amanda
Bazaldua 2. Records -- Uvalde 7-1, 25-9; South San 2-6, 9-15. 


District 25-3A 

WIMBERLEY def. BANDERA, 25-7, 25-16, 25-10: Wimberley -- Kills, Lea,
Milam 12; assists, Milner 21; digs, Huey 17; blocks, Buse 3; aces,
Milner 5. Bandera -- Kills, Gratia, Sistrunk 6; assists, Grill 8;
digs, Gratia 4; blocks, Sells, Gratia, Milner 1; aces, Widner 2.
Records -- Wimberley 4-0, 27-7; Bandera 4-2, 24-7. 


District 26-3A 

MARION def. WEST CAMPUS, 22-25, 25-22, 20-25, 26-24, 15-11: Marion --
Kills, Kalynn White 30; assists, Ashley Jacobsen 44; digs, White 19;
blocks, Hailey Bolner, White, Kasey Haecker 1; aces, White 7. West
Campus -- Kills, Amanda Ramos 17; assists, Margareta Villamil 19;
digs, Ramos 9; blocks, Lisa Lopez 2; aces, Villamil 1. Records --
Marion 3-3, 22-15; West Campus 4-2, 12-5. 


District 27-3A 

PLEASANTON def. SOMERSET, 25-13, 25-20, 25-15: Pleasanton -- Kills,
Amanda Gentry 11; assists, Alyssa Bunch 18; digs, Jenifer Guerrero
17; blocks, Sarah Ricks 3; aces, Gentry, Ricks 1. Somerset -- Kills,
Joyce James, Olivia Sanchez, Alejandra Espinosa 4; assists, Amberlee
Dugosh 11; digs, Dugosh 5; blocks, Sanchez, James 3; aces, Priscilla
Macias 2. Records -- Pleasanton 4-2, 23-8; Somerset 1-5, 5-17. 

MEDINA VALLEY def. POTEET, 25-19, 25-14, 25-11: Medina Valley --
Kills, Cristina Romo 10; assists, Andrea Schmit 11; digs, Amanda
Hilbig 6; blocks, Hilbig, Romo 10; aces, Megan Heiligman 2. Poteet --
Kills, Sarah Maxfeldt 12; assists, Jessica Navarro 20; digs, Jeanette
Chavez, Navarro 7; blocks, Maxfeldt 4; aces, Moriah Sanders 1.
Records -- Medina Valley 4-1, 16-14; Poteet 2-4, 20-11. 


District 29-2A 

NAVARRO def. NIXON-SMILEY, 25-11, 25-5, 25-7: Navarro -- Kills,
Helweg 12; assists, Parker 20; digs, Ramon 5; blocks, Douglass 5;
aces, Lees 2. Nixon-Smiley -- Stats unavailable. Record -- Navarro 9-
2, 24-9. 

POTH def. KENEDY, 25-7, 25-16, 25-12: Poth -- Kills, Harlos, A.
Waclawczyk 6; assists, Laskowski 10; digs, Cavazos, Yanta 9; blocks,
A. Waclawczyk 2.5; aces, Harlos 6. Kenedy -- Stats unavailable.
Records -- Poth 11-0, 29-6. 

YORKTOWN def. STOCKDALE, 25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 17-25, 15-6: Yorktown -
- Kills, Wieland 16; assists, Blaschke 28; digs, Sievers 18; blocks,
Armstrong 5; aces, Blaschke 4. Stockdale -- Stats unavailable.
Records -- Yorktown 8-3, 14-8; Stockdale 6-5, 15-18. 


District 30-2A 

DILLEY def. COLE, 25-22, 25-17, 22-25, 14-25, 15-7: Dilley -- Kills,
Katy Brown, Felicia Garcia 5; digs, Melene De Leon 3; blocks, Lois
Smith 1; aces, De Leon 8. Cole -- Kills, Lauren Garrott, Kanesha
Howard 11; assists, Bea Bea Smith 14; digs, Kat Teeter 5; blocks,
Janiece Judkins 2; aces, Sarah Maner 11. 

NATALIA def. HAWKINS, 25-18, 25-14, 25-20: Natalia -- Kills, Mendez
7, assists, Ellison 8; digs, Garza 3; blocks, Paredes, Perez 1; aces,
Ellison 1. Hawkins -- Stats unavailable. 


District 30-A 

D'HANIS def. BRACKETT "! 25-22, 24-26, 25-18, 25-19: D'Hanis --
Stats unavailable. Brackett -- Kills, Allen 13; assists, Castillo 24;
digs, Hunt 23; blocks, Castillo, Allen 2; aces, Martinez, Terrazas 1.
Records -- Brackett 18-17, 6-2. D'Hanis 6-1. 


TAPPS 5-A 

LIFEGATE def. DESTINY CHRISTIAN, 25-9, 25-3, 25-18: Seguin Lifegate -
- Kills, Brown 8; assists, Bush 12; aces, Bush 15. Destiny Christian -
- Stats unavailable. Record -- Seguin Lifegate 7-1, 20-6. 


Non-district 

EDISON def. TAFT, 25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 23-25, 15-9: Edison -- Kills,
Bianca Mares 26; assists, Brittany Faison 32; digs, Regina Morales
28; blocks, Mares 5; aces, Morales 4. Taft -- Kills, Anna Drinka 9;
assists, Alisa Bernal 18; digs, Tara Oetken 22; blocks, Lyndsey
Cloman 4; aces, Oetken 3. Records -- Edison 21-4; Taft 11-18.

************************************************

From seguingazette.com

October 9, 2007

Mixed results for county teams

By Jason Chlapek 

GUADALUPE COUNTY — With five matches left in the volleyball regular
season, Seguin, Marion and Navarro all find themselves competing for
playoff spots.

And on Friday, all three inched closer to clinching those postseason
berths.

Seguin and Navarro both won their matches in three games to move up
in the standings of their respective districts. Marion, despite
losing 3-1 to La Vernia, still sits in the driver’s seat for the
third-place berth out of District 26-3A because it is one match ahead
of Luling in the district standings.

Navarro (22-9, 7-2 in 29-2A) moved within two match victories of
clinching its 14th consecutive playoff berth after sweeping past
Karnes City, 25-11, 25-21, 25-21, on Friday at Navarro High School. 

The Lady Panthers visit Yorktown at 7 p.m. today and Nixon-Smiley at
6 p.m. Friday for their next two matches. Wins in both matches will
have Navarro making plans for the playoffs.

Haley Helweg, Brittany Parker and Cynthia Ramon were the leaders for
the Lady Panthers on Friday. Helweg led with 12 kills and two aces,
Parker led with 24 assists and 1.5 blocks and Ramon led with five
digs.

Seguin (17-10, 5-4 in 25-5A) picked up a 25-20, 25-13, 25-22 win at
Akins.

The Lady Matadors are in fourth place in the standings, and can
strengthen its lock on the fourth-place playoff spot this week when
they host Anderson and San Marcos. Seguin and Anderson meet at 7:30
p.m. today, and the Lady Matadors host San Marcos at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Both matches will take place at Goldie Harris Gymnasium, and wins
over both Anderson and San Marcos will give Seguin season sweeps over
both teams as well as a two-match lead over San Marcos for the fourth-
place playoff berth with the head-to-head tiebreaker and three
matches to play.

In Friday’s win, Seguin was led by Emily Cheek, who had 13 kills, 13
digs, 2.5 blocks and two aces. She had team-highs in kills, aces and
blocks.

Kelly Koenig posted a team-high 30 assists to go with 12 digs, and
Alex Bothe tied Cheek for the aces lead with two while recording
eight kills. Megan Roy led Seguin with 22 digs.

Akins was led by Amelia Moore and Taylor Tidwell. Moore led with 13
digs and six kills, while Tidwell led with six kills and a block.

Other leaders for Akins included Patty Walser with three aces and
Nicole Moore with 12 assists.

Marion (20-15, 1-3 in 26-3A) became the first team in its district
to make La Vernia (24-11, 4-0 in 26-3A) play beyond three games in a
match. La Vernia eventually won the match, 18-25, 25-19, 27-25, 25-
22, on Friday at Marion High School.

The Bulldogs claimed the first game, 25-18, before falling in the
second, 25-19. Marion had a golden opportunity squandered in the
third game as the Bulldogs took the Lady Bears to the brink before
falling, 27-25.

The fourth game featured Marion taking a 14-12 lead before La Vernia
scored eight straight to take a 20-14 lead that would not be
relinquished. Marion closed out the game on an 8-5 run, but could not
get the big run it needed to force a fifth game.

Despite the loss, Bulldogs coach Stephanie Langenberg thought her
team made a vast improvement from its previous match — a 3-0 setback
at West Campus.

“We improved leaps and bounds [Friday],” Langenberg said. “This is
the way I want us to not only play every match, this is also the way
I want us to practice everyday.

“We just didn’t finish [Friday]. We had [La Vernia] on the ropes
several times, but could not finish them off. We just have to
overcome our mistakes.”

Marion hits the road tonight as the Bulldogs travel to Luling for a
7 p.m. start. Luling (9-16, 0-4 in 26-3A) is coming off of a 3-2 loss
to West Campus (11-7, 3-1 in 26-3A) on Friday.

Langenberg thinks her team could do well tonight.

“If we play the same way against Luling as we did against La Vernia,
we’ll win,” she said. “We always play up against La Vernia, and we
need to play against other teams the same way.”

If Marion beats Luling tonight and West Campus on Friday, and La
Vernia beats Luling on Friday, the Bulldogs clinch a playoff berth
for the third time in as many years.

In Friday’s match, Marion was led by Ashley Jacobsen and Kalynn
White. Jacobsen led with 23 assists, 15 digs and three aces, while
White led with 14 kills and three aces. Hailey Bolner led with two
blocks. 

************************************************

From mysa.com

10/21/2007 

4 seek river panel seats 

Flood control and ecological restoration of river ways are issues on
the minds of the candidates running for two Bexar County seats on the
board of the San Antonio River Authority. 

The authority's boundaries cover Bexar, Goliad, Karnes and Wilson
counties, but the only contested races in the Nov. 6 election are in
Bexar. 

The 69-year-old authority, which is administering a $103 million
budget this year, has built more than 28 miles of flood control
channels in Bexar and 39 rural flood control dams in Bexar and Karnes
counties. It also operates a regional water laboratory, three Bexar
County parks and three wastewater treatment plants serving 20,000
customers in East Bexar County and is involved in pollution
prevention and water development. 

Running for the District 1 seat held by Jim Johnson are Rubén Pérez,
65, an air-conditioning repairman for the city of San Antonio, and
Andrew Anguiano, 30, a partner in an advertising agency. 

Pérez, who ran as a Libertarian for the Texas Railroad Commission in
2002, said he wants to share what he's learned as a member of the
advisory board overseeing pollution cleanup at the former Kelly AFB. 

"I'm experienced in all the chemicals combined with water problems
we've been having in the plume that runs from Kelly all the way to
the San Antonio River at Roosevelt Street," Pérez said. 

"I know we get gray water from Dos Rios (wastewater plant) and pipe
it to Brackenridge Park and drop it there," he said. "With the
pollution problem bleeding over from Kelly into the San Antonio
River, it's enough to cause problems downstream. I know our neighbors
downstream would want to know the problems they might be having in
the future." 

Anguiano has served on the city's Cultural Arts Board but is making
his first run for elected office. His father, Roberto, sits on the
board of the San Antonio Water System. 

"I think there are several issues in District 1, and one is being a
good liaison between all the government agencies involved in the
River Improvement Project," Anguiano said. "There also are
environmental concerns with Leon Creek and what's going on with
Kelly. Flooding is a concern in some areas, and SARA does flood
planning. 

"Having an active role in the River Improvement Project and seeing
that there's a voice there representing my constituency is
important," said Anguiano, who was a co-founder of the City South
Festival. 

Vying for the District 2 seat are Ralph Gomez, 44, a teacher; and
incumbent Roberto Rodriguez, 65, a researcher and consultant for
attorneys and political candidates. 

Rodriguez, on the board since January 2001, twice ran unsuccessfully
for the Edwards Underground Water District (now the Edwards Aquifer
Authority) in the mid-1990s. 

Rodriguez, who also sits on the city's Linear Creekway Parks
Advisory Board, said flooding is a primary issue for the authority. 

"Flooding will always be a major concern, and the river authority is
in the forefront of dealing with it," he said, adding he'll continue
to push for federal and local funding for the restoration of the San
Antonio River and its tributaries. 

"I've been strongly advocating on the river authority board for
years that the tributaries on the West Side need to be restored," he
said. "Alazan, Apache, Martinez and San Pedro creeks all have been
neglected. If we don't have the vision for it, it's not going to get
done." 

Gomez, an elementary school teacher in the Edgewood Independent
School District and chief of staff for former City Councilman David
Garcia, did not return calls. He made an unsuccessful run for the
council last May. 

Adair Sutherland in Goliad County, Gaylon Oehlke in Karnes County
and Al Kollodziej Jr. in Wilson County are running unopposed. 

************************************************

From wilsoncountynews.com

24.OCT.07

Horse seminar coming up

Charles Pfluger Jr.

The number of horse operations has increased dramatically in Karnes
and Wilson counties over the last five years. Due to this fact, Texas
Cooperative Extension in both counties will sponsor a “Basic Horse
Management Seminar” on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. in the Wilson
County Show Barn near Floresville. 

Extension Livestock Specialist Dr. Joe Paschal will kick off the
program by discussing horse management strategies. He will cover such
topics as nutrition, reproduction, grazing management, and more, as
well as covering the basics of producing and managing horses in South
Texas. 

Cook Patton, DVM from Karnes City, will discuss the health aspects
of managing horses, covering such topics as vaccinations, deworming,
dental care, hoof trimming, and health concerns. He will also cover
the basics of equine health practices for horses in south Texas. 

The program will last approximately two hours and will offer two
general continuing education units for pesticide applicators at the
meeting. 

There will also be a survey of the program participants to plan
future programs. 
Hay, beef meeting

The 19th annual Wilson County Hay Show will be held Wednesday, Oct.
31, in the Wilson County Show Barn with registration beginning at 1
p.m. The program will start at 1:30 p.m. and conclude at
approximately 4 p.m. A beef producer meeting will be held in
conjunction with the hay show.

Two hours of continuing education units will be offered to all
private, commercial, and non-commercial pesticide applicators. One
hour will be in integrated pest management and one hour in general
applications.

The county hay show will include viewing of all the entries. The
show results will be announced and various awards will be presented.

There are 54 hay show entries, which is a record number.

************************************************

From caller.com

October 21, 2007 

Political Pulse: 10.21.07
By Jaime Powell 

CORPUS CHRISTI — Cazalas gets honored, ribbed

State Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles announced her candidacy for re-
election Oct. 11 amongst a crowd of eager supporters.

Gonzalez Toureilles first was elected in November 2004 to represent
District 35, encompassing Atascosa, Bee, Goliad, Jim Wells, Karnes,
Live Oak and McMullen counties. She serves on the House Committees
for Energy Resources and Juvenile Justice and Family Issues. She also
is a member of the House Democratic Caucus, Rural Caucus, the Women's
Health Caucus and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.

Moon's amazing meeting time-killer

Carolyn Moon, a frequent City Council meeting attendee, brought a
bag equipped with her knitting supplies to Tuesday's meeting in case
it went longer than expected.

"It's the perfect place to get some knitting done because at home my
dogs and cats tend to want to help," she said.

Speaking of the June 26 council meeting, which lasted 11 hours, Moon
said, "I wish I would've had my knitting supplies then."

Ask for some kudos and ye shall receive

Mayor Henry Garrett solicited additional kudos from the audience
during the public comments section of Tuesday's meeting.

After a few critical comments from residents, who are limited by
policy to three minutes, community activist Susie Luna Saldaña
thanked the council for the good job they do with all that they have
to put up with.

"Do we have any more of those here?" Garrett asked.

Peggy Bañales faces old foe Benavides

County Commissioner Peggy Bañales, who is finishing her first term,
has drawn an opponent in former Marine Joe Benavides.

Benavides ran against Bañales in the 2004 primary in a heavily
populated race that included former incumbent Frank Schwing, City
Councilman Bill Kelly and Mike Chavez.

Bañales, a former Tuloso-Midway School Board trustee, and the wife
of well-known District Judge Manuel Bañales, got 26 percent of the
vote to Kelly's 23 percent and Schwing's 20 percent. All three
boasted heavy name recognition. Benavides, who was an unknown, got 17
percent of the vote in the primary.

Longoria gives friendly nudge to Cazalas

Preparing the Nueces County Commissioners Court for yet another
upcoming walkathon/personal appearance to benefit a health charity,
Commissioner Betty Jean Longoria poked Commissioner Chuck Cazalas and
laughed.

Longoria is on Cazalas' case every time there is a county initiative
to get healthy, encouraging him to eat healthier and exercise more.

Cazalas, as per his modus operandi, grinned and shrugged.

No lack of love on redevelopment board

Walking into a Wednesday afternoon meeting of the Ingleside Local
Redevelopment Authority, Commissioner Cazalas, one of Nueces County's
designees, greeted several members of the multi-entity board.

Sitting at the back of the room were Ingleside City Manager Jim Gray
and councilmen Stewart Wilson and Willie Vaden.

"What? No love back here?" Vaden asked Cazalas.

Cazalas chuckled, approached the trio and asked, "Hey, Willie?"

"Yeah, baby?" answered Vaden, making the people in the room laugh.

Sandi Ridgley, president of the Ingleside Chamber of Commerce and a
member of the redevelopment authority, was seated at the table next
to authority member and Ingleside City Councilwoman Stella Herrmann.

"Sounds like more than hugs going on back there," Ridgley told
Herrmann.

Got to watch those Corpus Christi folks

At the same meeting, San Patricio County Commissioner and
redevelopment authority designee Jim Price walked into the Nueces
County Commissioners Courtroom and saw fellow San Pat County
Commissioner Nina Trevino sitting in the chair he usually occupies.

He walked around the two tables joined together saying he was trying
to figure out where to sit. Other members of the authority offered
their seats, but Price said he had picked one.

"I'll sit back here with the Corpus (Christi) people so I can keep
an eye on them," said Price, referring to group members Mayor Henry
Garrett, Nueces County Commissioner Oscar Ortiz and City Councilman
Mike Hummell.

Holidays get in the way for Cazalas

Members of the redevelopment authority were going through dates when
most, if not all, of the members could meet during December.
Herrmann, the chairwoman, offered several dates, which Chuck Cazalas
said were not good or that he would be out of town.

"Well, Chuck, when are you in town?" Herrmann asked.

Cazalas smiled and said the holidays made scheduling appointments
difficult.

"Well, when do your holidays start, Chuck?" Hummell asked. "What
holiday falls on Dec. 4?"

Chesney: Mall project like lipstick on a pig

Former Corpus Christi City Councilman Brent Chesney, who has moved
back from Dallas, sent an e-mail to current council members and Mayor
Garrett on Thursday encouraging them to think twice before voting to
give financial incentives to the Crosstown Commons mall project.

"While I appreciate the efforts to dress it up as a 'life center,'
it is not," Chesney wrote. "I do not mean to be crass, but we have
all heard the statement, 'You can put lipstick on a pig....' Putting
green space and fountains do not make this anything more than what it
is, a handout for a retail center."

Chesney went on to say he believed the Crosstown Commons developer
would build the first phase of the project and get $13 million in
incentives.

"And then (he) flips the remaining land for far more than it is
worth now, Corpus Christians will be left holding the bag for another
retail center who has simply stolen tenants from others," Chesney
wrote. "For those who voted against it in the first place, I applaud
you. The community is not behind this. Slow down, take your time.
There is no rush. Do a poll and see what the community thinks. Have
town hall meetings. Why the hurry?"

Not a bad name, relatively speaking

The Joe Fulton International Trade Corridor's ribbon-cutting on
Thursday was not without its humor.

Port of Corpus Christi Chairman Ruben Bonilla was tasked with
introducing local construction legend and former Port chairman Joe
Fulton, the road and rail project's namesake. During the
introduction, Bonilla pointed out that Fulton had built Bonilla
Plaza, which houses Bonilla's law firm.

He recalled how Fulton would refer to Bonilla's slip-and-fall cases
as slip-and-sues, and how on occasion Fulton would ask how many slip-
and-sues Bonilla had managed to get.

"Well, I'm glad to report that his son is now a lawyer, practicing
in Corpus Christi," Bonilla said.

Former Texas Department of Transportation chairman David Laney
attended the ribbon-cutting and, after his speech, handed the
microphone back to Bonilla, to whom he mistakenly referred as Robert
Bonilla.

Laney apologized and took his seat.

"That's OK, George," Bonilla said. "I've been called many things and
Robert's the best I've been called in a while."

Berlanga takes his lumps from Bonilla

Among the event's 200 attendees was former state representative-
turned-lobbyist Hugo Berlanga, whom Bonilla thanked for his help in
Austin in the early phases of the project.

"Hugo met George W. Bush when he was governor of the state," Bonilla
said. "It was a windy day and everyone's hair was blowing except
Hugo's. (Bush) turned to him and asked, 'What's wrong with your hair,
boy?' "

After a laugh, Bonilla said he was glad Berlanga has attended
because it was not his original intent to do so.

"(Hugo) asked me if there would be a camera," Bonilla said. "I said
there would be quite a few and here he is."

Cazalas, McCutchon get beach recognition

Chuck Cazalas and Fred McCutchon, chairman of the county Beach
Management Advisory Committee, will receive awards this week from the
Texas General Land Office. The Beach and Dune Stewardship Awards
recognize leaders who go "above and beyond the local government's
Beach Access and Dune Protection Plan," according to the land office.

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson gives the awards, though he can't
attend the ceremony Tuesday night in Galveston. Cazalas already has
received congrats from Patterson in Austin.

McCutchon and Cazalas weathered a hot political debate this year to
ban residential structures within 350 feet of the dune vegetation
line. They said the strict rules were necessary to protect dunes and
structures because of beach erosion.

However, the awards are not for any one issue in particular, but for
McCutchon and Cazalas' overall service to Texas beaches throughout
the years, land office spokesman Jim Suydam said.

Watts, Noriega will speak at luncheon

The Texas Tejano Democrats are holding their annual state convention
in Corpus Christi on Friday and Saturday at the Holiday Inn Airport.
The theme of this year's convention, hosted by the Nueces County
Tejano Democrats, is "Making Texas a Blue State."

Several state candidates and local officials will speak at the
convention. Also speaking at the Saturday noon luncheon will be Mikal
Watts and state Rep. Rick Noriega, both of whom are seeking the U.S.
Senate seat held by Republican John Cornyn. For information and
luncheon tickets, call 510-7114.

************************************************

From mysanantonio.com

10/26/2007 

H.S. Cross Country: Thursday's results


District 26-3A 

At Seguin (Starcke Park) 

Boys team: Luling 26, La Vernia 29. 

Boys individual : 1, Rudy Contreras, Luling, 12:57; 2, Abrahm Leija,
La Vernia, 12:57; 3, Jose Reyes, Luling, 13:39; 4, Cruz Dominguez,
Luling, 13:41; 5, Charlie Bruner, La Vernia, 13:45; 6, Jerry
Hernandez, La Vernia, 13:46; 7, Tim Padgett, La Vernia, 13:48; 8,
Juan Salinas, Luling, 13:54; 9, Michael Dowd, La Vernia, 13:54; 10,
Marc Escalante, Luling, 14:07. 

Girls team: La Vernia 15, Marion 43. 

Girls individual: 1, Michelle Smith, La Vernia, 10:19; 2, Jaycee
Kukyendoll, Luling, 10:24; 3, Alma Salinas, Luling, 10:42; 4, Jenna
Delgado, La Vernia, 10:43; 5, Brianne Brown, La Vernia, 10:55; 6,
Samantha Rosales, La Vernia, 11:02; 7, Gracie Gonzales, La Vernia,
11:10; 8, Maicey Trammell, La Vernia, 11:12; 9, Kalynn White, Marion,
11:12; 10, Jennifer Schaefer, Marion, 11:18. 


Late Wednesday 

District 29-2A 

At Seguin (Starcke Park) 

Boys team: Poth 40, Nixon-Smiley 49, Navarro 73, Randolph 78,
Stockdale 110, Karnes City 171, Kenedy 191. 

Boys individual: 1, Xavier Rodriguez, Poth, 16:13.9; 2, Jonus
Rodriguez, Poth, 16:45.6; 3, Ethan Wagner, Yorktown, 17:19.8; 4,
Chris Crabbe, Randolph, 17:28.3; 5, Kevin Knox, Navarro, 17:51. 1; 6,
Jonathan Montoya, Poth, 18:06.9; 7, Chris Tristan, Nixon-Smiley,
18:12.4; 8, Robert Broyles, Poth, 18:14.7; 9, Luis Martinez, Nixon-
Smiley, 18:21.2; 10, Chester Casas, Nixon-Smiley, 18:31.6. 

Girls team: Poth 33, Karnes City 48, Navarro 61, Stockdale 98,
Kenedy 114. 

Girls individual: 1, Courtney Haas, Navarro, 12:18.5; 2, Tamoya
Morrison, Randolph, 12:51.5; 3, Kara Lucherk, Poth, 13:09.9; 4,
Lauren Losoya, Poth, 13:19.9; 5, Robin Carcez, Karnes City, 13:31.7;
6, Katlyn Atkinson, Kenedy, 13:42.7; 7, Loran Garza, Karnes City,
13:46.7; 8, Kayla Boening, Poth, 14:12.9.! 


This week's schedule 

District 

25-5A: Friday at Starcke Park in Seguin — 8:30 a.m., girls; 9 a.m.,
boys. 

26-5A: Saturday at Brooks City Base — 8 a.m., girls; 8:30 a.m., boys. 

28-5A: Saturday at O'Connor High School — 9 a.m., girls; 9:30 a.m.,
boys. 

26-4A: Saturday at Lockhart City Park — 9 a.m., girls; 9:20 a.m.,
boys. 

28-4A: Friday at San Antonio State School — 10 a.m., girls; 10:30
a.m., boys. 

State 

TAPPS 6A-4A: Saturday at Brooks City Base — 10 a.m., 6A girls; 10:30
a.m., 6A boys; 11 a.m., 5A girls; 11:30 a.m., 5A boys; noon, 4A boys;
12:30 p.m., 4A girls.

************************************************

From gregharman.blogspot.com

10/3/2007

(Published in the San Antonio Current)

Undermining South Texas 
Uranium prices are climbing, CPS wants new nukes, and prospectors
are scrambling. So why isn’t Goliad County happy?

By Greg Harman


GOLIAD COUNTY– Twenty-six years ago, a man in a Cadillac pulled into
Elder Abrameit’s drive. From the porch, the visitor said he had found
the rancher through the land office, that he wanted to drill for
uranium on his land.

“I told him he was in the wrong business,” said Abrameit. “I said,
you need to go out and drill [for oil] and you’ll be paid off in two
years.”

The visitor restated his interest in uranium. He said his company
was ready to spend $3 million to find it. That got him in the door.

After a long talk in the living room of the modest wood-frame house,
Abrameit agreed to lease his mineral rights for $5 an acre. Over
time, the deal spoiled. Flat-lined uranium values drove the company
off and the incident was forgotten.

Three years ago, however, another knock came. This time, the
handshake resulted in a sloppy round of exploration drilling, anger
over tainted water wells, and — ultimately — the gathering specter of
a full-fledged uranium mining operation in Goliad County. 

But in a South Texas rarity, the county hired a lawyer, established
a task force to study the issue, and then set to work fighting the
company.

Multi-generational relationships such as those the Abrameits have
enjoyed for 80-plus years become peripheral victims in such
conflicts. Everybody loses when a neighbor has to start trucking in
drinking water. Guilt and blame are never far behind.

“The family talked me into it,” Abrameit said during a visit last
week. “I didn’t know what I was getting into … I didn’t know I was
getting into bad water.”

__________________

Ninety miles downriver from San Antonio, the historic town of Goliad
receives its share of tourists streaming to the site of Texas’s
declaration of independence and the “Goliad Massacre” of 1836. Almost
equally as important to its Texian roots is the birth of North-
American ranching that occurred here with earlier Spanish settlement.
Cows are currency in these parts. Water, life.

Pat Calhoun, a towering former Marine and president of the Goliad
County Farm Bureau, observes the roll of the land. After passing a
few pleasantries about the weather, the healthy rains, the thrashing,
high grasses, Calhoun is ready to talk uranium. He’s irate over
Uranium Energy Corp’s pending application with the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality to mine uranium from within the freshwater
aquifer beneath us. It’s simply the wrong place to safely mine
uranium, he says. Such methods are for “closed” aquifers. The
Evangeline, underlying most of Goliad County, recharges here. Fresh
water flows through the uranium-bearing water sands UEC plans to mine
before entering the greater Gulf Coast aquifer system.

Calhoun talks about the water that will inevitably be lost if the
mine goes into production – a minimum of 73,000 tainted gallons shot
daily through “disposal wells.” He talks about the state’s pattern of
condemning aquifers to allow such mining to take place (“It’s like
having a peeing section in the swimming pool”). But his fears aren’t
for family and friends, not directly, they are for the cows.

He worries about the beef industry, contamination or no. A relative
ranching near one of the state’s only active uranium sites says he
won’t eat his own cows anymore. “He’ll sell ’em, but he won’t eat
’em,” Calhoun says. Whether such a reaction is justified or not, the
radioactive stigma is this cattleman’s deepest fear when it comes to
mining Goliad.

“I don’t want to see irresponsible news reporting – the Katie
Courics of the world, the Oprah Winfreys – come out and say South
Texas beef is tainted. We can’t have that.”

Two years ago, UEC officials pledged to be a “good neighbor,” he
said. So far, anecdotal and physical evidence suggests they won’t
meet that pledge.

In May, UEC issued a press release announcing the uranium formation
trapped inside the Evangeline looked “favorable” for an in-situ leach
mine [See Stir It Up, page 10]. A recovery rate of up to 89 percent
is expected if and when they begin extracting radioactive slurries
from the groundwater. The announcement helped sell stock, but failed
to mention that only a month before nearby residents complained to
the local water district that UEC operations were polluting their
wells with red, slimy sediment. Water sampling later found that four
wells near the hundreds of boreholes puncturing the aquifer were also
testing extremely high for radon 222 and radium 226.

Radiation exposure at high and low levels is known to cause a
variety of cancers as well as potential chromosomal damage that can
cause fatal diseases and birth defects in the unborn.

Uranium mining is “particularly troublesome,” says environmental
attorney Jim Blackburn, representing Goliad County, especially when
it’s done right inside the aquifer. In agricultural Goliad, he says,
a good aquifer is “all they’ve got.”

Responding to complaints by Goliad County residents and a letter
from Blackburn, the Railroad Commission found that the company had
not plugged the majority of its hundreds of boreholes as they had
told state regulators.

GPS coordinates supplied by UEC didn’t lead to any holes, either,
confusing inspectors. “The holes that were located were found because
there was some surface indication of the borehole location, not
because they were at the exact coordinates provided,” the inspection
report reads.

“Surface indication” turned out to mean piles of radioactive
tailings, drilling fluids, and soils left exposed on the open ground.
Of the 117 boreholes checked, only 14 had been plugged – and these
were either plugged too deep or too close to the surface to protect
groundwater supplies.

Gamma-radiation survey results didn’t surprise the RRC’s surface-
mining director. Melvin Hodgkiss wrote on May 9 that the discovery of
elevated radioactivity “confirms our previous visual observation and
determination that drilling mud/cuttings were left on or near the
surface at some drill sites.”

About 22 percent of the sites tested were found to be higher in
radioactivity than natural background levels. Elevated radiation
levels were minimal, Hodgkiss wrote, “relative to the land area
disturbed … and not sufficient to pose a radiation exposure hazard.”

__________________

Stories about neighboring Karnes County fuel the Goliad resistance.

A tick upriver toward San Antonio, Karnes County was host to
intensive uranium mining from the 1950s to the 1980s and dumps and
pits remain across the county.

One story about black cows with a bad habit of turning white sounds
like a tall tale until you meet one of many who claim to have seen
the bovines. Goliad County Commissioner Jim Krenick, a fifth-
generation rancher with cattle grazing both in Karnes and Goliad
counties, doesn’t so much as smile when you mention the anomaly.
Straightaway he’s telling you about how his Karnes County herd
frequently suffers unexplained death. When a 10-year-old bull passed,
he asked a local vet to help him investigate. They found a large
tumor inside the animal.

It’s no wonder Goliad County Commissioners created a study group to
investigate the topic after UEC appeared, and later pledged up to
$200,000 to fight the company’s aquifer exemption permit filed with
the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Even as Goliad is solidifying its front against UEC, folks in Karnes
County are more open to the resurgence of a local industry that once
employed hundreds. A uranium price collapse, the combination of
higher-quality ore discovered in Australia and Canada and America’s
loss of appetite for nuclear power following the infamous Three Mile
Island meltdown, seemed cruelly timed with the world oil glut of 1982
that led pumpjacks across the state to freeze in place. It was
compounded by the seemingly eternal agricultural woes in this
unpredictable land.

“We kind of had a three-way whammy hit us here in Karnes County,”
said Trip Ruckman, president of the Karnes County National Bank and
San Antonio River Authority board member.

While it’s questionable if Karnes County has anything left to wrest
from beneath the ground, Ruckman interrupts the conversation when
mining risks are mentioned.

“It’s dirt,” he says. “What they haul out of the ground is rocks and
stuff that was already there … It is the processed uranium cake and
the mill tailings left behind that have to be taken seriously and
controlled.”

Prospectors cropping up in counties across the uranium lands
reaching from northeast of Goliad all the way to Starr County on the
Rio Grande share such attitudes.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy has taken over most of the
milling and processing sites that littered Karnes County when the
industry rolled up in the ’80s, and continues spending millions on
long-term reclamation operations at sites once run by companies like
Exxon, Conoco, and Chevron. The radioactivity beneath these mounds
likely won’t dissipate for tens of thousands of years.

A plume of heavy metals and radioactive materials beneath a former
Susquehanna-Western Falls City site will be allowed to drift,
however, since DOE officials determined that at least one of the
three known plumes “cannot be effectively cleaned up for drinking
water use” with current “reasonable treatments.”

A stone’s throw to the east, farmers are baling hay across the
sloped edges of a waste pit outside Panna Maria that holds 6.8
million tons of radioactive tailings. South Texas Mining Company
employees are working a short distance away to reopen a uranium-
processing house they hope will soon start churning out a refined
“yellow cake” uranium for the first time in decades. The company’s La
Palangana mine in Duval County, now in the application-review process
with TCEQ, is expected to start trucking as much as a million pounds
of ore per year to their Karnes County processing site in 2008.

Yolanda Naranjo’s memories of the uranium mining and processing that
swept Karnes County the last time are forever tainted. She remembers
her dad, who cowboyed all around the mill sites of Panna Maria and
Falls City working for local ranchers. She remembers driving up on
weekends to see him, or during the summer, and helping clean his
Helena home. As soon as she would finish dusting, a semi hauling
uncovered uranium ore would inevitably thunder by, replacing the dust
with a yellow powder.

Her father, Domingo Arigullin, was one of about 50 area residents
that eventually sued Conoco and a coalition of energy companies over
the range of ills they blamed on uranium exposure.

“They can tell you and tell you and tell you they’re being safe and
doing all they can, but we’re all human and people run these machines
and accidents happen,” Naranjo said. “They’re not going to come over
and tell you they did that. They’re not going to tell you they
screwed up.”

The companies quickly agreed to a “no-fault” settlement, though her
father wouldn’t live to see the money. He passed away from an
inoperable tumor lodged in the upper reaches of his sinus cavity in
1999.

Naranjo won’t discuss the settlement amount — a condition of the
settlement, she says — she’ll only say it’s not enough, not nearly.

“I’d give it back in a New York second if I knew that Dad could come
back to us.”

__________________

San Antonio’s city-owned utility, CPS Energy, made international
news last week when it joined an application filed with the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build what could be the first new
nuclear power plants in the U.S. in almost 30 years.

CPS owns 40 percent of the South Texas Project, a twin nuclear plant
in Matagorda County. New Jersey-based NRG Energy, the primary
applicant to the NRC, owns 44 percent, and Austin Energy owns 16
percent.

While officials at Austin Energy have not yet committed to a future
involving more nuclear, dozens more applications are expected from
around the country in the coming months thanks to strong federal
incentives.

Non-carbon alternatives lacking obvious corporate champions in
Capitol Hill – wind, solar, biomass, co-generation, and breakthrough
efficiency technologies – haven’t shared in the enthusiasm the Bush
White House has showered on nuclear. Critics argue that without the
billions in tax breaks the Bush Administration drove into the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 and billions more in annual subsidies for existing
power plants such enterprises would not be financially possible.

The looming challenge of increasing energy demand and Global
Warming, which require vast reductions in global carbon emissions to
avoid massive climatic disruptions and, potentially, human
extinction, have also inspired many in the environmental community to
hop aboard nuclear.

Outside the carbon-heavy fuels mining and processing, plant
construction, and decommissioning, nuclear plants contribute
virtually no greenhouse gases. That, along with improvements made
during the nuclear market’s steady growth in Europe and Asia, have
helped soothe domestic reception to this once universally vilified
power source.

For resisters, changes in regulatory interpretations will make it
harder to fight the coming wave. Submitting to sustained industry
pressure, the NRC agreed earlier this year to restrict its oversight
of nuke plant construction by excluding excavation, road-building,
and some construction elements from consideration. By “narrowing its
definition of the word ‘construction’ in agency rules, the NRC put
off the required public hearings and permits that have waylaid past
projects,” Elliot Blair Smith reported for Bloomberg News last week.

It all serves to vivify the embattled UEC in Goliad County.

While the company did not return messages from the San Antonio
Current, it did issue an optimistically worded press release the day
after local opponents gained attention for their cause at a press
conference. The UEC release heralds CPS and NRG’s landmark
application and reminds potential investors that while the United
States has 104 operating reactors gargling 55 million pounds of
uranium per year, only 4 million pounds are currently mined in the
United States.

The release also responded to the company’s detractors. Regarding
groundwater concerns, it quotes from a Railroad Commission letter
stating the RRC’s investigation “has not revealed any practice or
activity at UEC’s Uranium Exploration Permit No. 1234 that is out of
compliance with the Texas Uranium Mining Regulations or the Uranium
Surface Mining and Reclamation Act.” (Groundwater concerns are under
the purview of the TCEQ.)

Its boreholes are also now adequately plugged, it adds, while
restating its earlier good-neighbor commitment: “Uranium Energy Corp.
has committed to the Texas Railroad Commission and the Goliad County
officials and the populace, that it will operate in a transparent
manner, and be a good steward of the environment.”

UEC is a penny-trade outgrowth of the booming Canadian uranium market.

The Vancouver-based players originally incorporated in Nevada under
the name Carlin Gold, with the intention of mining precious metals.
As the uranium market upticked from a historic low of $7 a pound in
2001 to $30 per pound in 2004, the company switched tracks to target
the more volatile ore.

While ore values have continued to climb to today’s $80-per-pound
selling price, UEC still has no mining reserve and no revenue stream
beyond the active selling of stock options. Bad publicity surrounding
Goliad and questionable board decisions have been noted at Seeking
Alpha, a stock-market opinion and analysis site, but UEC stock
recovered from its trip to a dollar-a-share price a year ago to
cruise more comfortably in its current four-dollar-a-share lane range.

__________________

In Goliad, the mathematics of interest isn’t the aerobic stock-
market variety. Instead they are more sedentary figures, like the
head of cattle grazing each 100 acres, how many water wells are
pumping into stock tanks, and (increasingly) how much water is used
to irrigate fields.

At the groundwater district they tell you there are more than 4,000
water wells operating in the county, with more than 100 being drilled
each year. So when they read of spills at nearby uranium mines, such
as the one outside Kingsville, they know enough to be nervous. Dallas-
based Uranium Resources Inc. mined the Kingsville Dome from 1988
through 1999. Last year they reanimated the in-situ operation after
the TCEQ overruled the State Office of Administrative Hearings, which
had sought an injunction on new operations until the company had
cleaned up their pollution at abandoned wells. The numbers involved
in URI’s spills are impressive: 3,000 gallons in 1997; 20,000 gallons
in 1998; 11,000 in 1999. Company reports indicate these spills were
contained on-site, something Kleburg County officials and some local
residents dispute.

While URI officials deny they have contaminated the groundwater,
they did follow the pattern of such operations across South Texas by
requesting less stringent cleanup standards for the water it left
behind at closed wells.

Those gathered several miles outside Goliad for last week’s press
event settled under stately live oaks. They shook plastic tubs of red
water; pointed out the lay of the land, explaining how floodwaters
move into the creek, the river, and into the Gulf; and decried the
drilling that continues just out of earshot.

These residents are positioning themselves against a potential tidal
surge of uranium exploration should forecasts for nuclear power in
the United States play out. After years of inactivity, small limited-
liability outfits are starting to punch holes in the South Texas
territories again. Eight active mining permits issued in 2006 doubled
to 16 in 2007, according to the RRC’s
surface-mining division.

The resistance feels up to the challenge.

“Goliad’s known for fighting and that’s what we’re gonna do.”

That’s the Goliad chamber president talking. Granted, chambers of
commerce are not typically venues for dissent. But Goliad, in this
case, is far from typical. In many ways, the protesters are an
anomaly unto themselves. Most had probably never thought twice about
nuclear power, for instance. Had UEC plugged its test wells, if they
had reacted proactively when well-water concerns surfaced, if they
had lived up to their good-neighbor pledge, many of those gathering
in Goliad wouldn’t even know the company was here.

Back at the Abrameits, Elder’s wife Mildred cheerfully offers a
guest a cold glass of water, then flees the room. She stays away only
as long as she can stand to, drifting through every few minutes with
a nervous flourish and candid opinion.

Of course they are heartsick about what they read in the paper that
day, she says. They hate thinking that anything they could have done
has caused their neighbor of many years to have to truck in water.

The company fixed his fence, Elder says. And it gave him a gate and
a gravel road. He even went after a company truck when he saw them
break one of his neighbor’s fences. (“They got on it pretty quick,”
he says.)

“I feel bad. Or I would if I saw stuff floating in our water,” Elder
says.

Mildred returns. “But we’re going to need that uranium, too, for
when we need to have a war.”

“We don’t need war,” says Elder, laughing.

“Well, we might.”

She retreats and talk turns to dancing. The Schroeder Dance Hall,
said to be the second oldest dance hall in the state, is not far from
here. Now 86, Elder only recently quit dancing; Mildred would like to
keep going, but he’s too tired.

Only haltingly does talk turn back to the neighbors, the water, and
UEC. 

Elder reaches out his hand, confiding with a touch his peace on the
growing dispute.

“I’d probably be doing the same thing if they were messing my water
up.” 

In theory anyway, in situ leach mining is how your mother would
mine. It’s frugal, it’s fast, and it doesn’t tear up the visible
creation the way open-pit mines do.

That’s not to say it doesn’t make its own particular mess. After
all, intentionally poisoning groundwater comes with consequences.

While open-pit mining pulls huge quantities of rock from the earth
to get at the target uranium, in-situ is more delicate on the
surface. Typically, a heavily oxygenated chemical solution is
injected into and circulated through the ore-bearing deposit where it
strips the uranium and other heavy metals from the rock and stirs
them into the water table. Then a production well sucks the slurry to
the surface, where an extraction plant pulls the uranium from the
water. The remaining water is treated to remove some of the other
contamination before it is either pumped back into the aquifer as
“disposal wells,” poured out into evaporation ponds, or spread across
open fields in land applications.

In situ isn’t right for every uranium deposit. It is recommended
only where uranium is stored in permeable deposits contained in
groundwater that itself is separated from other water bodies by an
underlying layer of shale or heavy clay. 

The World Nuclear Association estimates that 21 percent of worldwide
uranium mining in 2004 was performed using the in-situ leach method.


---------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------


Radiation & Risk:
Space showers and TV dinners

Radiation is life. It is the essential pulsing of everything at an
atomic scale. “Non-ionizing” radiation can move but won’t break
molecules it connects with. Think radio waves, microwaves, and the
heat lamps at your favorite diner. Then there is all visible light
and even the natural radioactivity of your own body.

Such exposures are typically harmless, but living under the “non-
ionizing” rays of heavy power lines, for instance, may cause certain
types of childhood cancers, according to the National Safety Council.

Radiation can also be a malignant, tinkering little devil. So-called
“ionizing” radiation can distort molecular bonds creating
unpredictable chemical reactions in our bodies. It comes in cosmic
space showers, the Sun’s ultraviolet rays, radon gas, and X-rays,
among other things.

Such “ionizing” particles are considered unstable, either over-
burdened with too much internal energy or too much mass. Such erratic
— or “radioactive” — elements have to shed that mass and energy to
reach stability. Thus begins the radioactive decay and off-putting of
harmful rays or waves. Some elements shed their radioactity in a
matter of seconds; others take hundreds of thousands of years to
reach stability and no longer pose a risk to human health.

Radioactive materials like uranium, thorium, and radium occur in
nature. However, through nuclear-power generation and nuclear-weapons
creation and testing, humans have engineered radionuclides that did
not exist previously in nature.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that, on average,
80 percent of our radiation exposure comes from unavoidable natural
sources. The rest comes from exposure to man-made radiation — both in
still-drifting A-bomb test waste and supervised medical procedural
byproduct. While there is technically no safe dose of radiation, the
EPA has set levels intended to help us govern such exposures.

Cancers linked to ionizing-radiation exposure include lung cancer,
leukemia, lymphoma, and organ tumors. Also, birth defects include
kidney and liver damage, spinal defects, Down syndrome, cleft
palates, and other malformations.

Recent evidence suggests that radiation exposure may also be
weakening the gene pool, increasing non-cancer illnesses and certain
hereditary diseases.

************************************************

From gregharman.blogspot.com

October 30, 2007

(Published in the San Antonio Current)

Undermining South Texas 
Uranium prices are climbing, CPS wants new nukes, and prospectors are scrambling. So why isn’t Goliad County happy?

By Greg Harman


GOLIAD COUNTY– Twenty-six years ago, a man in a Cadillac pulled into Elder Abrameit’s drive. From the porch, the visitor said he had found the rancher through the land office, that he wanted to drill for uranium on his land.

“I told him he was in the wrong business,” said Abrameit. “I said, you need to go out and drill [for oil] and you’ll be paid off in two years.”

The visitor restated his interest in uranium. He said his company was ready to spend $3 million to find it. That got him in the door.

After a long talk in the living room of the modest wood-frame house, Abrameit agreed to lease his mineral rights for $5 an acre. Over time, the deal spoiled. Flat-lined uranium values drove the company off and the incident was forgotten.

Three years ago, however, another knock came. This time, the handshake resulted in a sloppy round of exploration drilling, anger over tainted water wells, and — ultimately — the gathering specter of a full-fledged uranium mining operation in Goliad County. 

But in a South Texas rarity, the county hired a lawyer, established a task force to study the issue, and then set to work fighting the company.

Multi-generational relationships such as those the Abrameits have enjoyed for 80-plus years become peripheral victims in such conflicts. Everybody loses when a neighbor has to start trucking in drinking water. Guilt and blame are never far behind.

“The family talked me into it,” Abrameit said during a visit last week. “I didn’t know what I was getting into … I didn’t know I was getting into bad water.”

__________________

Ninety miles downriver from San Antonio, the historic town of Goliad receives its share of tourists streaming to the site of Texas’s declaration of independence and the “Goliad Massacre” of 1836. Almost equally as important to its Texian roots is the birth of North-American ranching that occurred here with earlier Spanish settlement. Cows are currency in these parts. Water, life.

Pat Calhoun, a towering former Marine and president of the Goliad County Farm Bureau, observes the roll of the land. After passing a few pleasantries about the weather, the healthy rains, the thrashing, high grasses, Calhoun is ready to talk uranium. He’s irate over Uranium Energy Corp’s pending application with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to mine uranium from within the freshwater aquifer beneath us. It’s simply the wrong place to safely mine uranium, he says. Such methods are for “closed” aquifers. The Evangeline, underlying most of Goliad County, recharges here. Fresh water flows through the uranium-bearing water sands UEC plans to mine before entering the greater Gulf Coast aquifer system.

Calhoun talks about the water that will inevitably be lost if the mine goes into production – a minimum of 73,000 tainted gallons shot daily through “disposal wells.” He talks about the state’s pattern of condemning aquifers to allow such mining to take place (“It’s like having a peeing section in the swimming pool”). But his fears aren’t for family and friends, not directly, they are for the cows.

He worries about the beef industry, contamination or no. A relative ranching near one of the state’s only active uranium sites says he won’t eat his own cows anymore. “He’ll sell ’em, but he won’t eat ’em,” Calhoun says. Whether such a reaction is justified or not, the radioactive stigma is this cattleman’s deepest fear when it comes to mining Goliad.

“I don’t want to see irresponsible news reporting – the Katie Courics of the world, the Oprah Winfreys – come out and say South Texas beef is tainted. We can’t have that.”

Two years ago, UEC officials pledged to be a “good neighbor,” he said. So far, anecdotal and physical evidence suggests they won’t meet that pledge.

In May, UEC issued a press release announcing the uranium formation trapped inside the Evangeline looked “favorable” for an in-situ leach mine [See Stir It Up, page 10]. A recovery rate of up to 89 percent is expected if and when they begin extracting radioactive slurries from the groundwater. The announcement helped sell stock, but failed to mention that only a month before nearby residents complained to the local water district that UEC operations were polluting their wells with red, slimy sediment. Water sampling later found that four wells near the hundreds of boreholes puncturing the aquifer were also testing extremely high for radon 222 and radium 226.

Radiation exposure at high and low levels is known to cause a variety of cancers as well as potential chromosomal damage that can cause fatal diseases and birth defects in the unborn.

Uranium mining is “particularly troublesome,” says environmental attorney Jim Blackburn, representing Goliad County, especially when it’s done right inside the aquifer. In agricultural Goliad, he says, a good aquifer is “all they’ve got.”

Responding to complaints by Goliad County residents and a letter from Blackburn, the Railroad Commission found that the company had not plugged the majority of its hundreds of boreholes as they had told state regulators.

GPS coordinates supplied by UEC didn’t lead to any holes, either, confusing inspectors. “The holes that were located were found because there was some surface indication of the borehole location, not because they were at the exact coordinates provided,” the inspection report reads.

“Surface indication” turned out to mean piles of radioactive tailings, drilling fluids, and soils left exposed on the open ground. Of the 117 boreholes checked, only 14 had been plugged – and these were either plugged too deep or too close to the surface to protect groundwater supplies.

Gamma-radiation survey results didn’t surprise the RRC’s surface-mining director. Melvin Hodgkiss wrote on May 9 that the discovery of elevated radioactivity “confirms our previous visual observation and determination that drilling mud/cuttings were left on or near the surface at some drill sites.”

About 22 percent of the sites tested were found to be higher in radioactivity than natural background levels. Elevated radiation levels were minimal, Hodgkiss wrote, “relative to the land area disturbed … and not sufficient to pose a radiation exposure hazard.”

__________________

Stories about neighboring Karnes County fuel the Goliad resistance.

A tick upriver toward San Antonio, Karnes County was host to intensive uranium mining from the 1950s to the 1980s and dumps and pits remain across the county.

One story about black cows with a bad habit of turning white sounds like a tall tale until you meet one of many who claim to have seen the bovines. Goliad County Commissioner Jim Krenick, a fifth-generation rancher with cattle grazing both in Karnes and Goliad counties, doesn’t so much as smile when you mention the anomaly. Straightaway he’s telling you about how his Karnes County herd frequently suffers unexplained death. When a 10-year-old bull passed, he asked a local vet to help him investigate. They found a large tumor inside the animal.

It’s no wonder Goliad County Commissioners created a study group to investigate the topic after UEC appeared, and later pledged up to $200,000 to fight the company’s aquifer exemption permit filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Even as Goliad is solidifying its front against UEC, folks in Karnes County are more open to the resurgence of a local industry that once employed hundreds. A uranium price collapse, the combination of higher-quality ore discovered in Australia and Canada and America’s loss of appetite for nuclear power following the infamous Three Mile Island meltdown, seemed cruelly timed with the world oil glut of 1982 that led pumpjacks across the state to freeze in place. It was compounded by the seemingly eternal agricultural woes in this unpredictable land.

“We kind of had a three-way whammy hit us here in Karnes County,” said Trip Ruckman, president of the Karnes County National Bank and San Antonio River Authority board member.

While it’s questionable if Karnes County has anything left to wrest from beneath the ground, Ruckman interrupts the conversation when mining risks are mentioned.

“It’s dirt,” he says. “What they haul out of the ground is rocks and stuff that was already there … It is the processed uranium cake and the mill tailings left behind that have to be taken seriously and controlled.”

Prospectors cropping up in counties across the uranium lands reaching from northeast of Goliad all the way to Starr County on the Rio Grande share such attitudes.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy has taken over most of the milling and processing sites that littered Karnes County when the industry rolled up in the ’80s, and continues spending millions on long-term reclamation operations at sites once run by companies like Exxon, Conoco, and Chevron. The radioactivity beneath these mounds likely won’t dissipate for tens of thousands of years.

A plume of heavy metals and radioactive materials beneath a former Susquehanna-Western Falls City site will be allowed to drift, however, since DOE officials determined that at least one of the three known plumes “cannot be effectively cleaned up for drinking water use” with current “reasonable treatments.”

A stone’s throw to the east, farmers are baling hay across the sloped edges of a waste pit outside Panna Maria that holds 6.8 million tons of radioactive tailings. South Texas Mining Company employees are working a short distance away to reopen a uranium-processing house they hope will soon start churning out a refined “yellow cake” uranium for the first time in decades. The company’s La Palangana mine in Duval County, now in the application-review process with TCEQ, is expected to start trucking as much as a million pounds of ore per year to their Karnes County processing site in 2008.

Yolanda Naranjo’s memories of the uranium mining and processing that swept Karnes County the last time are forever tainted. She remembers her dad, who cowboyed all around the mill sites of Panna Maria and Falls City working for local ranchers. She remembers driving up on weekends to see him, or during the summer, and helping clean his Helena home. As soon as she would finish dusting, a semi hauling uncovered uranium ore would inevitably thunder by, replacing the dust with a yellow powder.

Her father, Domingo Arigullin, was one of about 50 area residents that eventually sued Conoco and a coalition of energy companies over the range of ills they blamed on uranium exposure.

“They can tell you and tell you and tell you they’re being safe and doing all they can, but we’re all human and people run these machines and accidents happen,” Naranjo said. “They’re not going to come over and tell you they did that. They’re not going to tell you they screwed up.”

The companies quickly agreed to a “no-fault” settlement, though her father wouldn’t live to see the money. He passed away from an inoperable tumor lodged in the upper reaches of his sinus cavity in 1999.

Naranjo won’t discuss the settlement amount — a condition of the settlement, she says — she’ll only say it’s not enough, not nearly.

“I’d give it back in a New York second if I knew that Dad could come back to us.”

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San Antonio’s city-owned utility, CPS Energy, made international news last week when it joined an application filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build what could be the first new nuclear power plants in the U.S. in almost 30 years.

CPS owns 40 percent of the South Texas Project, a twin nuclear plant in Matagorda County. New Jersey-based NRG Energy, the primary applicant to the NRC, owns 44 percent, and Austin Energy owns 16 percent.

While officials at Austin Energy have not yet committed to a future involving more nuclear, dozens more applications are expected from around the country in the coming months thanks to strong federal incentives.

Non-carbon alternatives lacking obvious corporate champions in Capitol Hill – wind, solar, biomass, co-generation, and breakthrough efficiency technologies – haven’t shared in the enthusiasm the Bush White House has showered on nuclear. Critics argue that without the billions in tax breaks the Bush Administration drove into the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and billions more in annual subsidies for existing power plants such enterprises would not be financially possible.

The looming challenge of increasing energy demand and Global Warming, which require vast reductions in global carbon emissions to avoid massive climatic disruptions and, potentially, human extinction, have also inspired many in the environmental community to hop aboard nuclear.

Outside the carbon-heavy fuels mining and processing, plant construction, and decommissioning, nuclear plants contribute virtually no greenhouse gases. That, along with improvements made during the nuclear market’s steady growth in Europe and Asia, have helped soothe domestic reception to this once universally vilified power source.

For resisters, changes in regulatory interpretations will make it harder to fight the coming wave. Submitting to sustained industry pressure, the NRC agreed earlier this year to restrict its oversight of nuke plant construction by excluding excavation, road-building, and some construction elements from consideration. By “narrowing its definition of the word ‘construction’ in agency rules, the NRC put off the required public hearings and permits that have waylaid past projects,” Elliot Blair Smith reported for Bloomberg News last week.

It all serves to vivify the embattled UEC in Goliad County.

While the company did not return messages from the San Antonio Current, it did issue an optimistically worded press release the day after local opponents gained attention for their cause at a press conference. The UEC release heralds CPS and NRG’s landmark application and reminds potential investors that while the United States has 104 operating reactors gargling 55 million pounds of uranium per year, only 4 million pounds are currently mined in the United States.

The release also responded to the company’s detractors. Regarding groundwater concerns, it quotes from a Railroad Commission letter stating the RRC’s investigation “has not revealed any practice or activity at UEC’s Uranium Exploration Permit No. 1234 that is out of compliance with the Texas Uranium Mining Regulations or the Uranium Surface Mining and Reclamation Act.” (Groundwater concerns are under the purview of the TCEQ.)

Its boreholes are also now adequately plugged, it adds, while restating its earlier good-neighbor commitment: “Uranium Energy Corp. has committed to the Texas Railroad Commission and the Goliad County officials and the populace, that it will operate in a transparent manner, and be a good steward of the environment.”

UEC is a penny-trade outgrowth of the booming Canadian uranium market.

The Vancouver-based players originally incorporated in Nevada under the name Carlin Gold, with the intention of mining precious metals. As the uranium market upticked from a historic low of $7 a pound in 2001 to $30 per pound in 2004, the company switched tracks to target the more volatile ore.

While ore values have continued to climb to today’s $80-per-pound selling price, UEC still has no mining reserve and no revenue stream beyond the active selling of stock options. Bad publicity surrounding Goliad and questionable board decisions have been noted at Seeking Alpha, a stock-market opinion and analysis site, but UEC stock recovered from its trip to a dollar-a-share price a year ago to cruise more comfortably in its current four-dollar-a-share lane range.

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In Goliad, the mathematics of interest isn’t the aerobic stock-market variety. Instead they are more sedentary figures, like the head of cattle grazing each 100 acres, how many water wells are pumping into stock tanks, and (increasingly) how much water is used to irrigate fields.

At the groundwater district they tell you there are more than 4,000 water wells operating in the county, with more than 100 being drilled each year. So when they read of spills at nearby uranium mines, such as the one outside Kingsville, they know enough to be nervous. Dallas-based Uranium Resources Inc. mined the Kingsville Dome from 1988 through 1999. Last year they reanimated the in-situ operation after the TCEQ overruled the State Office of Administrative Hearings, which had sought an injunction on new operations until the company had cleaned up their pollution at abandoned wells. The numbers involved in URI’s spills are impressive: 3,000 gallons in 1997; 20,000 gallons in 1998; 11,000 in 1999. Company reports indicate these spills were contained on-site, something Kleburg County officials and some local residents dispute.

While URI officials deny they have contaminated the groundwater, they did follow the pattern of such operations across South Texas by requesting less stringent cleanup standards for the water it left behind at closed wells.

Those gathered several miles outside Goliad for last week’s press event settled under stately live oaks. They shook plastic tubs of red water; pointed out the lay of the land, explaining how floodwaters move into the creek, the river, and into the Gulf; and decried the drilling that continues just out of earshot.

These residents are positioning themselves against a potential tidal surge of uranium exploration should forecasts for nuclear power in the United States play out. After years of inactivity, small limited-liability outfits are starting to punch holes in the South Texas territories again. Eight active mining permits issued in 2006 doubled to 16 in 2007, according to the RRC’s
surface-mining division.

The resistance feels up to the challenge.

“Goliad’s known for fighting and that’s what we’re gonna do.”

That’s the Goliad chamber president talking. Granted, chambers of commerce are not typically venues for dissent. But Goliad, in this case, is far from typical. In many ways, the protesters are an anomaly unto themselves. Most had probably never thought twice about nuclear power, for instance. Had UEC plugged its test wells, if they had reacted proactively when well-water concerns surfaced, if they had lived up to their good-neighbor pledge, many of those gathering in Goliad wouldn’t even know the company was here.

Back at the Abrameits, Elder’s wife Mildred cheerfully offers a guest a cold glass of water, then flees the room. She stays away only as long as she can stand to, drifting through every few minutes with a nervous flourish and candid opinion.

Of course they are heartsick about what they read in the paper that day, she says. They hate thinking that anything they could have done has caused their neighbor of many years to have to truck in water.

The company fixed his fence, Elder says. And it gave him a gate and a gravel road. He even went after a company truck when he saw them break one of his neighbor’s fences. (“They got on it pretty quick,” he says.)

“I feel bad. Or I would if I saw stuff floating in our water,” Elder says.

Mildred returns. “But we’re going to need that uranium, too, for when we need to have a war.”

“We don’t need war,” says Elder, laughing.

“Well, we might.”

She retreats and talk turns to dancing. The Schroeder Dance Hall, said to be the second oldest dance hall in the state, is not far from here. Now 86, Elder only recently quit dancing; Mildred would like to keep going, but he’s too tired.

Only haltingly does talk turn back to the neighbors, the water, and UEC. 

Elder reaches out his hand, confiding with a touch his peace on the growing dispute.

“I’d probably be doing the same thing if they were messing my water up.”

Stir it up: In situ mining method

In theory anyway, in situ leach mining is how your mother would mine. It’s frugal, it’s fast, and it doesn’t tear up the visible creation the way open-pit mines do.

That’s not to say it doesn’t make its own particular mess. After all, intentionally poisoning groundwater comes with consequences.

While open-pit mining pulls huge quantities of rock from the earth to get at the target uranium, in-situ is more delicate on the surface. Typically, a heavily oxygenated chemical solution is injected into and circulated through the ore-bearing deposit where it strips the uranium and other heavy metals from the rock and stirs them into the water table. Then a production well sucks the slurry to the surface, where an extraction plant pulls the uranium from the water. The remaining water is treated to remove some of the other contamination before it is either pumped back into the aquifer as “disposal wells,” poured out into evaporation ponds, or spread across open fields in land applications.

In situ isn’t right for every uranium deposit. It is recommended only where uranium is stored in permeable deposits contained in groundwater that itself is separated from other water bodies by an underlying layer of shale or heavy clay. 

The World Nuclear Association estimates that 21 percent of worldwide uranium mining in 2004 was performed using the in-situ leach method.


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Radiation & Risk:
Space showers and TV dinners

Radiation is life. It is the essential pulsing of everything at an atomic scale. “Non-ionizing” radiation can move but won’t break molecules it connects with. Think radio waves, microwaves, and the heat lamps at your favorite diner. Then there is all visible light and even the natural radioactivity of your own body.

Such exposures are typically harmless, but living under the “non-ionizing” rays of heavy power lines, for instance, may cause certain types of childhood cancers, according to the National Safety Council.

Radiation can also be a malignant, tinkering little devil. So-called “ionizing” radiation can distort molecular bonds creating unpredictable chemical reactions in our bodies. It comes in cosmic space showers, the Sun’s ultraviolet rays, radon gas, and X-rays, among other things.

Such “ionizing” particles are considered unstable, either over-burdened with too much internal energy or too much mass. Such erratic — or “radioactive” — elements have to shed that mass and energy to reach stability. Thus begins the radioactive decay and off-putting of harmful rays or waves. Some elements shed their radioactity in a matter of seconds; others take hundreds of thousands of years to reach stability and no longer pose a risk to human health.

Radioactive materials like uranium, thorium, and radium occur in nature. However, through nuclear-power generation and nuclear-weapons creation and testing, humans have engineered radionuclides that did not exist previously in nature.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that, on average, 80 percent of our radiation exposure comes from unavoidable natural sources. The rest comes from exposure to man-made radiation — both in still-drifting A-bomb test waste and supervised medical procedural byproduct. While there is technically no safe dose of radiation, the EPA has set levels intended to help us govern such exposures.

Cancers linked to ionizing-radiation exposure include lung cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, and organ tumors. Also, birth defects include kidney and liver damage, spinal defects, Down syndrome, cleft palates, and other malformations.

Recent evidence suggests that radiation exposure may also be weakening the gene pool, increasing non-cancer illnesses and certain hereditary diseases.

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