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Front Page Headlines
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Road Show Draws Collectors to
Town
By LAURA KESTNER, Editor
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They came in carrying everything from
coins and jewelry to wedding dresses, toys and shotguns last
Saturday, for DeLeon’s first ever Appraiser’s Antiques Road Show.
And although very few were deemed “fortune worthy” most people seem
to have enjoyed themselves.
At the 9 a.m. start-up time, more than
20 vendor booths were set up outside, and hundreds of people (many
from other nearby towns) waited in line for numbers.
The four-person appraisal team --
EricSmylie, Marsha Dixey, Pete Calderon and Meredith Meuwly -- from
Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas, arrived shortly after 10 a.m.
According to DeLeon Chamber of Commerce
officials, sponsors of the event, more than 180 items were appraised
before the day was over.
One item, a stuffed bird brought in by
a DeLeon man was one of the more interesting and valuable items of
the day.
“That was a museum quality item,”
Levens said, “and there was no appraisal put on it. It was an
extinct bird -- he’s got the only one. He was told that it should be
in a museum.”
One jewelry item was valued in the
$3,500 range, but many more items were judged as being worth only
hundreds of dollars, or less.
Since it was the first such show, Linda
Levens, the chamber’s executive director, knew that the day would be
a learning process. …
For full article, subscribe to the
DeLeon Free Press. E-mail
edition is only $20/year. |
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2009 HOMECOMING
ROYALTY. Jolene Bassett Whitehurst was named 2009 Coming
Home Queen at a pregame ceremony before Friday night’s game. She
represents the ex-students of DeLeon High School, especially the
Class of 1959. She was escorted by her husband of 49 years,
Daylon Whitehurst. Megan Williams, right, daughter of Bill
Williams and Jack and Traci Pierce, was named 2009 Homecoming
Queen, and Tanner Welch, center right, son of David and Brenda
Welch and Shane and Michelle McIntyre, was named 2009 Homecoming
King. |
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BAND
SWEETHEART. Jennifer Lewis, daughter of Roger and the late
Christine Lewis, was named 2009 DHS Band Sweetheart. She was
escorted by 2009 band beau Tanner Jordan, son of Perry and Lori
Jordan. |
FOOTBALL SWEETHEART. Courtney Caraway, daughter of Kevin and
Debbie Caraway, was named 2009 Football Sweetheart. She was
escorted by Calvin Caraway, right, son of Kyle and Jennifer
Caraway, and Abel Mata, left, son of Evangelina Mata. |
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Jury hits Hidrogo with life
sentence
By JON AWBREY, Publisher
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After a week-long trial, Comanche
County jurors granted justice to the memory of a murdered minister.
On Friday, Rocky Dee Hidrogo, 27, was found guilty of Capital Murder
in the 220th District Court.
On July 6, 2008, 74-year-old retired
Lutheran minister Glenn Bundy was discovered shot in his home in a
remote and rural region of southwestern Comanche County, after a
friend came to see about him when he did not appear for church.
Hidrogo and an accomplice, Edward Duane
Ray, 22, were implicated in a number of area burglaries last summer,
and Hidrogo was an inmate in Comanche County jail facing 15 counts
of burglary of a habitation when he was charged with Bundy’s murder
in August of 2008.
Ray testified during Hidrogo’s trial
that he drove the car to and from the burglaries, and that he drove
Hidrogo to Bundy’s residence. Hidrogo, Ray said, was the only one
inside during all of the burglaries, and that following the Bundy
burglary,Hidrogo admitted to Ray that he had killed Bundy.
…
For full article, subscribe to the DeLeon Free Press. E-mail
edition is only $20/year. |
DeLeon School Board Increases
2010 Tax Rate
By Dr. RANDY MOHUNDRO
Special to the Free Press
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Several important issues were on the
agenda for the De Leon ISD Board of Trustees as they met for their
regular monthly meeting, held on Tuesday, September 15. The issues
of the 2009-2010 tax rate, construction bonds, and design proposals
for the new high school were all matters facing the Board.
The Board first tackled the issue of
setting the tax rate for the school district for the 2009-2010 year.
The tax rate that had been previously proposed was a total rate of
$1.16 per $100 of property value. The total tax rate consisted of a
maintenance and operation tax rate of $0.9630, the same rate as the
previous two years. The interest and sinking tax rate, the rate used
to pay on the debt of the district is increasing from $0.0270 to a
new rate of $0.1970.
The rate increase of $0.1700 is a
result of the voter approved bond issue in May that will allow the
district to construct the new high school.
The rate increase to pay for the new
high school is actually $0.03 lower than had been projected when the
proposal was submitted to the voters for approval. A stable tax base
and accessing all available programs allowed the district to see a
lower tax rate for the project.
It was noted during the meeting, that
De Leon ISD had the second lowest tax rate in Region XIV at $0.9630,
with Comanche ISD being the lowest with a $0.9300 rate. Many school
districts in the region have voter approved operational tax rates
that have moved them to $1.17, including Trent, Rising Star, Eula
and Stamford.
…
For full article, subscribe to the DeLeon Free Press. E-mail
edition is only $20/year. |
Kimmell Shares Memories of
Long Life
By LAURA KESTNER, Editor
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Myrtle “Myrtie” West Kimmell, 95, can’t
help but laugh when she says that 1914 was a good year. “That was
the year I was born,” she explains, “and that was also the first
year of the DeLeon Peach and Melon Festival -- so it had to be a
good year.”
 Kimmell
also finds it amusing that she shares the name Myrtle with Myrtle
Beach, South Carolina, the crape myrtle tree, and “Myrtle” the goat,
from TV’s Walton Family.
“I wonder if someday they’ll name a
hurricane after me,” she says.
Although she doesn’t really remember anything from 1914, Kimmell has
very vivid memories from just a few years later.
“I was born and raised in the Robinson
Springs Community to Jim and Bell West,” she says. “I had five
brothers, which included twins John Lloyd and George Floyd -- better
known as Curly and Shorty -- and Ardie, Clyde and Troy. I had two
sisters, Connie Modess and Jewell Vertna Smith. Jewel, who is 93,
now lives at the DeLeon Nursing Center.
Kimmell is very proud of her brothers’
military service.
“Clyde and Troy were both in the Army,
and Troy was a parachute jumper,” she says. “Clyde was hit in the
leg by shrapnel, and Troy was hit with a bullet.”
According to Kimmell, Troy had only
been out of the service six months when he was killed in a car
wreck. Shorty and Curly are also gone now.
“Clyde is 89 now and lives in National
City, California,” she says.
Many of her family members lived long,
healthy lives.
…
For full article, subscribe to the
DeLeon Free Press. E-mail
edition is only $20/year. |
Riggs Triumphs in Week Three
Football Contest
By JILL SMITH, Reporter
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Beth Riggs beat all other contestants
with her “one miss” pick. She claims the $50 prize for this week’s
game.
 There
were nine contestants who missed it by only two games, including
Serla Cabaniss, Thom Clayton, Nicole Davis, Michael Kelly, Jason
Killebrew, Allan Wendt, tephen Riggs, Jared Slemmons, and Nathan
Tucker.
The game that kept many of them from
the one miss pickers was Dublin’s win over Valley Mills. It was the
second most often missed with 79% favoring Valley Mills.
Connecticut’s victory over Baylor was
the biggest surprise to the 83% who picked Baylor.
The top two accurately picked games
this week were Gorman’s defeat over Christoval and Cisco’s shut-out
against Bangs. There was only one missed pick for each of these
games by our panel.
Week 4 features more tough picks for
both area high schools and colleges. So study up and make your
choices, you just might be the next winner. |
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Coming Events
Call 893-6868 if you have an event to
list
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Comanche County Pow Wow
The Comanche County Pow-Wow is
scheduled for this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27
at the City Park in Comanche.
Comanche VFD Fundraiser
The 6th Annual Freedom Street Dance
featuring live country music from the Mark Richey Band and the Greg
Maldo Band is scheduled for Saturday, September 26, from 8 p.m. to 1
a.m. at the Comanche Courthouse Square. For more information,
including food and ticket prices information call 325-356-2112,
325-356-5083, 325-356-5466 or 325-356-0062.
National Life Chain
On October 4, some DeLeon residents
will participate in a Life Chain Sunday event at the intersection of
Hwys 6 &16 from 2 to 3 p.m. Life Chain Sunday is a national pro-life
movement, begun in California in 1987 and held the first Sunday of
each October since then. Life Chain participants will line public
roadways of 1,000 cities across the United States and Canada holding
pro-life and anti-abortion signs. In addition to DeLeon, rallies
will also be held in Dublin and Comanche. For more information,
contact Ray Seckinger at 254-734-5146. |
Danny Owen, the Mayor of De Leon,
has a personal website.
Open Danny's
website by Clicking Here
Scott Hall has
creating an Internet website with history & photos of our town.
Click Here
to visit his website
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