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Volume 132 Number 60 • Wednesday, October 5, 2016
www.leader-news.com
Copyright ® 2016
Clown craze comes, but most issues just rumors
Annexation plan draws concerns
Report Concerns, But Authorities Say Don’t Add To Fears By SHANNON CRABTREE scrabtree@leader-news.com
By SHANNON CRABTREE scrabtree@leader-news.com
If the newspaper didn’t tell them, they wouldn’t have known they were targets of annexation, two men told Council Monday night as wrangling over what land the city may take continued. One landowner said the effort simply isn’t right. Council, however, instructed staff to continue refining the target area, potentially removing all those who expressed concern in either of the two public hearings.
Land Owners Question Method, Council Lacks Consensus City leaders will discuss the issue again next Monday during its regular session, but still haven’t reached a consensus among themselves. One issue is 30 acres of land owned by Gerald Wiggington – 25 acres of which, Wiggington said, is under water. “We don’t need to annex a flood zone – period,”
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City Councilwoman Gloria Harris said. “Do we know how much of that land is in a flood zone?” Councilman Ed Erwin said he would not support the city annexing and taking in any section of CR 406. “The county can take care of their own road,” he said. The target zone can be once again redrafted, City Manager Mindi Snyder said, removing more land as necessary although to add any would require the process start over again. It’s a process that drew Lynn Cox to the hear(See CITY CONTINUES, Page 6-A)
Prairie Days 2016
The wave of masked threats and warnings sweeping the nation may seem menacing, but there’s a good chance it’s just teens clowning around. “Ninety-nine percent of it is nothing but hype,” El Campo Police Chief Terry Stanphill told the Leader-News Monday, but added anyone with concerns over what they’ve seen or suspect will happen shouldn’t hesitate in contacting authorities. So far, however, the only confirmed Texas case of an evil clown or clowns run amok involves threats made by a 14-year-old boy in the Houston area and one in Livingston. The first child allegedly used social media to make multiple threats against an HISD school and the other was spotted in a park. No incidents have been reported in El Campo, Stanphill said and Capt. Raymond Jansky told the newspaper Monday there have not (See SAFETY, Page 7-A)
WWII Soldier Shares His Tale – See Page 6-A ALSO INSIDE: VIEWPOINT......................................Page 4-A OBITUARIES.....................................Page 9-A SPORTS.............................................Page 1-B LIFESTYLE.........................................Page 5-B CROSSWORD...................................Page 6-B CLASSIFIEDS & REAL ESTATE........Page 7-B
LOCAL WEATHER Wednesday
Chance of Thunderstorms DAY: 20% HIGH: 89º NIGHT: 0% LOW: 72º
Thursday
Chance of Thunderstorms DAY: 20% HIGH: 89º NIGHT: 0% LOW: 70º
PELTED IN PINK: Five-year-old Raylyn Maldonado with the El Campo Girl Scouts makes her way through the library color station during the museum’s Color Roar kicking off Prairie Days Saturday. She was one of 104 participants. Pictured with color bottles are Raymond Rod, left, and Pete Dwayne Galvan, right. For more photos, please see Page 8-A. L-N Photo by Shannon Crabtree
City festival labeled success from weather to sales By SHANNON CRABTREE scrabtree@leader-news.com
Made-to-order weather helped make this year’s Prairie Days festival a huge success, organizers said Monday. Attendance counts aren’t available for the free event due to Alamo Park’s multiple access points, but merchants’ sales appear to be better than last year. “Tons of families came out,” El Campo Cham-
ber of Commerce President Rebecca Muños said. “Attendance grew and grew throughout the day.” Some came for the bevy of children’s games ranging from pony rides to bungee runs. With his five-year-old son in tow, Joseph Merta of El Campo was one of them, but he added, that wasn’t the only reason. “We enjoy it. Why? The food, definitely the food, and it’s a family-oriented setting,” he said. He’d be back later for the music, Merta said. That’s why she came, Kathy Rings of Louise
Chance of Thunderstorms DAY: 20% HIGH: 88º NIGHT: 0% LOW: 64º
Pharmacy serving area needs for half century
Saturday
By JODY LARIMER reporter@leader-news.com
Friday
Sunny DAY: 0% HIGH: 82º NIGHT: 0% LOW: 64º Last Week: Avg. High: 83º • Avg. Low: 62º
RAIN GAUGE
Last 7 Days............................. 0.00 In.
Last 30 Days........................... 1.82 In. Same Time In '15...................... 1.08 In.
Year To Date......................... 32.51 In. Year To Date '15..................... 35.69 In. Data Collected by LCRA at El Campo Memorial Hospital
BURN BAN LIFTED COUNTY’S MEAN KBDI: 382 Burn Ban is put into effect when the mean KBDI reaches or goes above 500.
Changes over a 50-year period can be enough to sink any business, but one El Campo store has managed to keep its doors open by putting customers first. As the last independent drug store in Wharton County, Professional Pharmacy prides itself on not selling out to the big chains. “I was too stubborn,” founder and former owner Ed Weinheimer Jr. told the Leader-News Monday. “Who’s gonna take care of the elderly?” Weinheimer, an El Campo native, decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor. He studied zoology and chemistry at Notre Dame, where he graduated cum laude, but when it came to interviewing for med school, he had a change of heart. “It just killed him,” Weinheimer said of his father’s reaction to his decision, adding though, “He had no family life ... we never saw him.” He chose instead to pursue the legal world, but having to wait one year to enter law school changed his path (See OLD-TIME, FAMILY PHARMACY, Page 10-A)
Immunization Time
said, as she sat on an old electrical spool and swayed to the music played by the Lone Star Drifters. “I love music. I don’t care who it is,” she said, adding she intended to be there for the rest of the lineup too. The music and the food drew Michelle Cruz of Port Lavaca to El Campo – those and, for a friend’s 12-year-old son, the children’s activities. (See PARK PACKED, Page 8-A)
L-N Photo by Jody Larimer
Professional Pharmacy Pharmacist Kristi Barger gives El Campo resident Jessica Radley a flu shot Monday at the store on North Mechanic. Professional Pharmacy is celebrating 50 years in business and welcomes all to the store from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6 to observe the anniversary.