Serving Burleson County for 130 years

Burleson County Tribune
Serving Burleson County for 130 years
news@bctribune.com
Volume 130 No. 25
$1.25
306 West Hwy 21, Caldwell, Texas 77836-1122 • 979-567-3286
www.bctribune.com
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Road closures due to 5 inches of rain
Possible weekend rain and ice next week
Burleson County received over 5.5 inches
of rain over less than
a 48 hour period last
week, and the showers
prompted numerous
road closures.
The rain began late
on Wednesday, Jan. 21,
and lasted until midday
Friday, Jan. 23, with
Thursday bringing the
most rainfall -- 5.25
inches, reported by the
National Weather Service (NWS). The NWS
stated that Wednesday’s, Jan. 21, total was
.19 inches, and the Friday, Jan. 23, total was
.2 inches -- for a grand
total of 5.64 inches last
RISING WATER IS pictured along this bridge looking northward on
F.M. 50, just past the F.M. 60 intersection. Heavy rainfall was reported
throughout the county on Thursday. -- Tribune photo by Roy Sanders
week.
The Tribune’s Facebook poll showed Ashley Muzny of Caldwell
receiving 5.5 inches on
Thursday alone. Oth-
Steck urged to
stay, still leaving
Local citizens praised
the recently resigned
Caldwell Main Street
manager Debbie Steck
at a Tuesday, Jan. 20,
city council meeting
and urged the council to
find a way to keep her.
But Steck said several
issues remained unresolved after a Wednesday, Jan. 21, meeting
with city administrator
Johnny Price, so her
decision is final.
Steck and Price would
not comment on Monday, Jan. 26, about
what the issues were.
“I was given an opportunity to think about it
(from the Wednesday
meeting), but given that
the circumstances had
not changed at all, I
decided to leave,” Steck
said.
DEBBIE STECK
“These issues could
have been rectified fairly easily in my estimation,” Steck said. “The
decision was obviously
made not to take such
actions.”
Steck praised the city
council, who she said
See STECK, page 9B
ers from around the
county on Thursday
received 2.95 inches
in Snook and almost 4
inches near Deanville.
Last week’s rain
brings the county’s official January 2015 total to 9.76 inches. The
average rainfall for the STANDING WATER is pictured at the Brazos
entire month of Janu- River Levee historical maker along F.M. 50 on
See WEATHER, page 10A Friday. -- Tribune photo by Roy Sanders
Debris
pile fire
contained
Caldwell firefighters
quickly responded to a
fire on Monday, Jan. 26,
in a debris pile off State
Highway 36 South and
extinguished it.
The cause remains
unknown, no one was
injured and no foul
play is suspected, said
Caldwell Fire Chief David Pevehouse.
The fire erupted at
2:31 p.m. in a fenced
vacant lot on MLK and
Oak street off State
Highway 36 South, and
residents nearby reported hearing a loud
noise, similar to an
explosion, Pevehouse
said.
The fire was reported
CALDWELL FIRE CHIEF David Pevehouse responds to this fire on by neighbors, he said.
Monday, Jan. 26, off MLK and Oak Streets in Caldwell. The fire was Pevehouse was the
quickly extinguished. -- Tribune photo by Roy Sanders
See FIRE, page 9A
Missing girl at
Cade Lake found
SISD’s Camarillo’s
contract extended
Caldwell man
found guilty
in drug case
Snook tables
voting on
cleanup deal
It was an anxious few
hours for law officers
and numerous volunteers last Friday, Jan.
23, in the search for a
missing 12-year-old girl
at Cade Lake.
But it had a happy
ending.
The girl was found
hiding underneath her
trailer home on Fir
Drive, unharmed.
A dog search team
from the Brazos Valley
Search Dog Network
in Bryan located her at
6:23 p.m. after picking
up her scent in her bedroom directly above her
hiding place, said deputy Christine Labertew
of the Burleson County
Sheriff’s Department.
Labertew said the
girl, who has run away
from home before, had
emotional issues, “was
Services
held for
Hancock
scared and confused
and did not want to talk
to her grandmother.”
However, the girl was
charged, under the juvenile statute, with being a runaway, a misdemeanor and placed
See CHILD, page 4A
A 40-year-old Caldwell
man was found guilty
of manufacture of over
400 grams of methamphetamine on Friday,
Jan. 23, during a jury
trial, and he will be
sentenced on March 12.
Rodney Clyde Schultz
was found guilty by a
10 women, two man
jury at about 4:30 p.m.
See TRIAL, page 5A
THESE BOARS are pictured from last year’s
Boars of Texas Hog Hunt. The hunt weigh-in
is set for Sunday. See story on page 9A.
The Somerville School
Board has extended
superintendent Charles
Camarillo’s contract
through 2021.
And he is deferring a
salary increase until
the teachers’ salaries
are raised, school board
president Bryan Crook
said. The board will
consider the teachers’
and Camarillo’s salaries in June, he said.
Crook said Camarillo
wasn’t interested in a
salary increase at this
time.
“He didn’t want an
increase unless we can
increase salaries for
teaching staff,” he said.
The board met on
Wednesday, Jan. 21, in
a special called meeting
to consider Camarillo’s
contract.
Crook said after the
meeting that “the
overall evaluation of
Charles (Camarillo)
was excellent. He’s doing an outstanding job.”
Camarillo concurred
that the process went
See SISD, page 9A
The Snook City Council has tabled approval
of an interlocal agreement with Burleson
County to enforce property maintenance and
health-sanitation nuisances, pending final
approval of three ordinances.
The council tabled action at its Monday, Jan.
26, meeting, and will
See COUNCIL, page 10B
Eli Young Band
to play Chilifest
Funeral services for
Leslie Dewitt Hancock
Jr., a former Caldwell
businessman, were held
at 10 a.m. on Tuesday,
Jan. 27, 2015, at Phillips & Luckey Funeral
Home in Caldwell.
Graveside services
were held at 2 p.m. on
Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015,
at Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston.
See HANCOCK, page 7A
ELI YOUNG BAND WAS NAMED as the headliner for Chilifest 2015
and will play Saturday, April 11, near Snook. The band’s members
are, from left, James Young, guitar, Mike Eli, vocals and guitar, Jon
Jones, bass guitar, and Chris Thompson, drums. -- Band courtesy photo
The Eli Young Band
will be the headliner
band at the 2015 Chilifest, festival organizers
announced on Friday,
Jan. 23.
Organizers and sponsors met at Boulevard
217 in College Station
to announce this year’s
lineup.
The band, from Denton, will be among 11
acts to perform as part
of the two-day event
near Snook -- held in
the field known as the
Starlight Ballroom at
State Highway 60 West
and F.M. 3058. The
Eli Young Band will
perform on Saturday,
April 11.
The band has three
No. 1 songs, a Grammy nomination and an
Academy of Country
Music Award (ACM)
for Song of the Year for
their song “Crazy Girl.”
“Crazy Girl” was the
band’s first No. 1 hit
and became a double
platinum single and
the most played country song on Billboard’s
2011 year end chart.
See CHILIFEST, page 10A