The Greater Randolph Area Services Program Inc. is accepting donations for its annual holiday food baskets for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Thanksgiving baskets will be delivered today to families and Christmas baskets and toys will be distributed the week of Dec. 15.

Due to the economy, the grasp food pantry inventory is lower than in the past five years and the demand for food is up 60 percent. GRASP distributes about 10,000 pounds of food each month, and this year has been one of the toughest as a result of fuel and energy costs.

Eligible families must reside in the cities of Converse, Universal City, Live Oak, Selma and Schertz, and meet other qualifications for assistance. GRASP seeks non-perishable foods for a typical holiday meal, as well as small turkeys.

Individuals who wish to sponsor a family, donate or volunteer with the Christmas holiday program may contact GRASP at 658-6351.

By David DeKunder
Staff Writer
 

The quick actions of a firefighter and police officer saved a popular Marion bar from burning to the ground last Friday.

For the fifth time in the last two months, the Marion Volunteer Fire Department was called upon to handle another early morning fire, this time at 2:48 a.m. Nov. 14 at the El Vaquero Saloon on FM 78.

Marion Fire Chief Tom Amen said firefighter Chris Foerster was on his way home after responding to a medical call when he noticed something unusual coming from the El Vaquero Saloon.

“Captain Foerster was on his way home when he saw something like a bright light behind the bar, which caught his eye,” Amen said. “When he went to see what it was, he saw some smoke and some fire.”

Amen said Foerster called him to notify him of the fire and for firefighters to bring a pumper truck to the scene. He also alerted the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office, which dispatched an investigator to the scene. Marion Police officer Isaac Bloch, on patrol at the time, was able to find a water hose and spray water on the fire — which was burning in a shed attached to the bar — until firefighters arrived.

Emergency personnel put out the fire before it caused any damage to the bar, Amen said. Firefighters checked to make sure the fire did not get into the bar through the attic.

The sheriff’s office is investigating the fire, which is being considered as suspicious. The blaze is the latest in a string of suspicious fires that began in September, when two separate fires destroyed the former Don’s Auto Repair Shop on Cunningham Street Sept. 18, and the historic Blue Moon Hall Antique Market and part of Penshorn’s Meat Market in downtown Marion Sept. 19.

After the second fire, authorities arrested two 14-year-old juvenile males from Marion, who confessed to allegedly setting fire to the former Don’s Auto Repair Shop but did not confess to setting the second fire. The juveniles were taken and detained at the Guadalupe County Juvenile Detention Center. One of the juveniles was released in October and placed under house arrest with relatives in Bexar County.

But the arrest of the juvenile boys did not prevent more suspicious fires from occurring. On Oct. 10, a fire destroyed an abandoned home on Wetz Road. While the cause of that fire is believed to have been accidental, possibly electrical, investigators are still determining if it was caused by suspicious circumstances.

More than two weeks later, on Oct. 25, another early morning fire destroyed the city’s old train depot at the corner of East Krueger and North Barnett streets near the Marion Bowling Club.

Marion Mayor Glenn Hild said investigators, city officials and police are still baffled as to who is possibly setting the suspicious fires in the city.

“We have exhausted every lead, rumor and tip,” Hild said. “We have not been able at this point to uncover anything of real substance.”

Hild said the person or persons setting the fires could be “copy cats” of the original blazes, but said he has no clue right now as to whether the possible arsonist or arsonists could be from the Marion area.

“You can have a theory for anything, but at this point we have no idea where this person or persons are coming from,” he said.

The Judson School District has received a grant totaling $249,304 from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s Clean School Bus Program. The grant will allow the district to retrofit 44 school buses with emissions-reducing equipment.

“As our focus is directed primarily toward academics, we are cognizant that our Judson families live, work and play in the very neighborhoods where we provide transportation.
 Any opportunity we have as a district to improve our environment is valuable to these very communities we serve,” said Dr. Willis Mackey, Judson superintendent.

The Clean School Bus Program offers funding and resources to Texas schools to reduce the emissions of diesel exhaust from buses.
 

By David DeKunder
Staff Writer
 
Property owners who could be annexed into the city of Cibolo had a couple of questions for city officials during a Nov. 13 public hearing.

Six property owners, who own land in one of several tracts being proposed for annexation by the city, spoke in the last of two public hearings held before the Cibolo City Council. In the first public hearing, held the night before on Nov. 12, eight people voiced their opposition to the proposed annexation.

City Manager Todd Parton has proposed to council members that Cibolo annex several individual tracts totaling 742 acres, stretching from a 35-acre tract near Interstate 35 to a tract on Tolle Road north of FM 78. Three of the seven tracts have no properties on them.

Before the council can consider annexing the tracts, which it will do at its Dec. 9 meeting, the city had to send notices to the affected property owners and hold two public hearings for them.

Clara Coffman, who resides on property along Green Valley Road known as Tract “D”, asked Parton a direct question.

“When are we going to have to pay city taxes?” she said.

Parton said people who reside in the proposed annexation areas would not pay city taxes until January 2010. Coffman also wanted to know if the city has the same tax exemption laws that Guadalupe County does. Parton said the city has a homestead exemption for those 65 years and older and $5,000 disabled veterans exemption.

Coffman and Duane Vollmer, who owns property along Weidner Road in Tract “D”, said if the city ever had plans to expand Green Valley and Weidner roads, the city’s right-of-way would take in part of their properties. Both property owners plan to put fences along their property and were concerned they would have to take them down if the city were to acquire the right-of-way for roadway expansion.

“If the city were to decide to do the (right-of-way) project,” Parton said, “the city could purchase the property or ask people to donate (the right-of-way). The city would have an appraisal done of the property, or look at reconstructing the fence. All of those things could be discussed or addressed at the time the project is being developed.”

Roger Eve, who lives along Cibolo Tolle Road in Tract “G”, asked if any repairs or improvements he is making to his property would be grandfathered from city permits.
Parton said any property improvements and enhancements would be grandfathered once the area is annexed, but with a catch.

“As long as there is a continuous process to complete the construction, it can be grandfathered,” Parton said.

Parton said once property owners in the areas proposed for annexation are taken in they will be provided with police, fire and emergency services immediately. The city will provide sewer services, but for property owners who are under a current provider they will be able to use that provider’s services for the next two years. After that time, the city will provide sewer and waste service and impose fees for it.

Phil Hill, who has owned property and a business in one of the tracts proposed for annexation for 30 years, said he was assured by a city official that he could still operate his business, but that he is still not keen on being annexed into the city.

“I am against annexation,” Hill said. “I moved out here to be in the country.”