A special thanks to our readers:
I would like to express my appreciation to our readers and community at large for the warm welcome and resounding support of all the changes we are implementing. Thank you for the feedback so many of you have provided. Sometimes newspapers can get a bit out of touch with the communities they serve, and thus lose touch with what readers want to see on our pages. We are diligently working to deliver a valuable product to you on a weekly basis. Your support, along with that of our valuable advertisers, truly matters. It is the reason we can continue to be the voice for our region, and it allows us to evolve in a fast-changing environment. Dee Rendon Thank you again for your involvement and for caring about your local newspaper. God Bless You All! Publisher
Progress www.ptrgv.com
Friday, August 24, 2018
2018
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Vol. 47 - #1
Your Hometown Newspaper Serving Mission and Hidalgo County Since 1972
La Lomita Chapel Mission, Texas
OurFirst o g a s Edition - 46 Yea Upper Valley Volume 1, Number 1
PROGRESS Mission, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 24, 1972
First edition
This is the first edition of the Upper Valley Progress, a weekly newspaper dedicated to helping build and promote the Upper Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The Progress is published in Mission, “Home of the Grapefruit,” and covers the entire Mission residential and trade area. It is our ambition to help the Upper Valley grow and prosper. Of course, the Progress hopes to grow and prosper hand-in-hand with the area. What is good for the Upper Valley will be good for this newspaper, so we plan to become an integral part of the community. Each individual and each business, no matter how small or large, is important for progress- and to the Progress. We plan to serve these individuals by reporting on their activities, their comings and goings, their achievements, their city, school, farm, church, club and social events. We plan to serve these Upper Valley businesses by offering them advertisements at a reasonable rate in a regular newspaper with the biggest weekly circulation in the area—this week 8,000 copies. The Progress has no ax to grind with anyone. This paper was not born through any conspiracy. We have not even hinted that any other paper be boycotted to favor us. From the Progress’ inception, we have voiced a single intent –to five the Upper Valley a good, unbiased newspaper representative of the area’s fine residents and business firms. The idea met with favorable reception from the beginning. Enthusiastic support got us off the ground. To accomplish these ambitious goals, we have assembled and experienced and qualified staff which we consider second to none. We have the very latest and most modern offset newspaper equipment on the market. We think our printer does a better job than anyone else in South Texas. And our prices are reasonable and competitive. No strings are attached to the Progress. We are not allied with any political faction, sect or creed. We give no blanket endorsement or opposition to any cause other than promoting the Upper Valley. We intend to stay out of politics as much as possible. We owe no favors to city hall, the county courthouse, Austin or Washington. We hope to have good relations with theses entities, but they shall not dictate any policy to us. We plan to make the Progress a comfortable, relaxed hometown paper, easy to read with lots of pictures. Our reporting shall be objective and unbiased with the chips falling where they may. We solicit tips on stories and pictures, and ask your support in all our endeavors. We hope this is the first of many, many editions of the Upper Valley Progress, written and edited with only the well-being of the Upper Valley in mind. With a little help from our friends, it shall be.---Tom Fatherree.
La Joya getting new high school
LA JOYA---Leopoldo Valdez, an experienced classroom teacher, administrator and migrant director, begins his first full year as La Joya school superintendent next month. Valdez has been on the since late May when he was named superintendent to succeed Luther Pearson who served for the past two years. He will begin with a new school plant, which has been under construction for a year. The school opening was delayed until Sept. 5 to permit construction to be completed. Valdez comes to La Joya from Pharr- San Juan-Alamo where he served for ten years. He worked his way up from classroom teacher to migrant director. The La Joya School Board has voted to close the outlying
schools located in Abram, Los Ebanos and Penitas. Students from those communities will attend elementary school at La Joya in an effort to centralize the district. Valdez said the centralizing move will give pupils better access to materials and more individual attention. He said the workload of teachers will be more evenly distributed and the number of student sin classrooms will be more equal. The old high school building has been named Nellie Schunior Junior High. Sixth, seventh and eight grade students will attend this school. Fourth and fifth graders will attend John F. Kennedy Elementary School, and kindergarten through third graders will attend Memorial Elementary School.
ALTON---Clyde Lyons, a native of Arkansas and a veteran educator, is Alton’s new school superintendent. He was named to succeed W.H. Spinks who retired after more than 20 years with the Alton School District. Lyons has a bachelor’s degree from Henderson State. He has teaching and administrative experience in Arkansas, West Texas, Raymondville, Pearsall and Port Isabel. For the past four years he has been assistant superintendent at Port Isabel. He previously spent ten years at Raymondville as an elementary school principal. Lyons’ wife will teach the first grade at Alton. Their son,
Clyde Jr., is an administrative assistant in the Edinburg school system. They have a daughter who will be a freshman at Mission High School this year.
Clyde Lyons new at Alton
INDEX Entertainment...... pg. 2 Lifestyle................... pg. 3 Sports....................... pg. 6 Obituaries.............. pg. 9 Classifieds..............pg.10
Published In Mission...“The Home Of The Grapefruit”
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School bells end vacation Classes beckon
pupils, teachers
With the opening of a new school year only a few days away, student, parents, teachers and administrators are hurrying about getting ready for the classroom summons. Parents are busy buying backto-school clothes and supplies while students take a last fling at summer. Teachers are attending workshops and school officials are filling last-minute staff vacancies--and double-checking budgets. For the most part, the first official day of school will be Monday Aug. 28. This holds true at Mission, Sharyland and Alton. La Joya’s opening has been postponed until Sept. 5 due to delays in finishing the new high school plant. Mission junior high students registered last week and the high school is in the midst of a weeklong registration. Mission elementary pupils will register Monday, the first day of classes. All Sharyland and Alton students will register Friday morning. No cafeterias will be open Friday, but students will be processed in time to be home for lunch, officials said. In Sharyland, Mission and Alton, Monday will be a full day of school. Buses will run, lunch will be served and a regular day on instruction is planned. Superintendants Kenneth White of Mission, B.L. Gray of Sharyland and Clyde Lyons of Alton expect nominal increases in enrollment this year. They stressed the need for all students to have up-to-date immunization records with them when they register. La Joya’s school opening was delayed two weeks to permit a move to the new air conditioned plant being completed. Supt. Leopoldo Valdez has announced a faculty-employee meeting for Tuesday and workshops the remainder of the week. All schools in the area will observe Labor Day with a holiday on Monday, Sept. 4.
Wilsher succeeds Martinez
R.D. Martinez, Sharyland High School principal, has resigned to accept a position with Pan American University. He has been succeeded by Wayne Wilsher, a former head coach at Sharyland. Martinez was with the Sharyland system 16 years, the last eight as principal. During his tenure Sharyland students excelled scholastically, winning numerous district, regional and state interscholastic events. “It was a hard decision,” Martinez said Tuesday. “Sharyland has a great student body, teachers, superintendent, school board and parents. Sharyland is a wonderful community. It was a hard decision, even though we’re still living in Sharyland.” Wilsher was hired earlier this summer as junior high principal. In his new position, he will serve as junior and senior high principal. He comes back to Sharyland from a ClassAAAA high school in Lubbock where he was head coach. “Wayne was here about 12 years ago,” Supt. B.L. Gray recalled Tuesday. “He has the education and the personal qualifications for the job and says he has ‘got coaching out of his system.’ “
Mission Citizens Awards
Upper Valley Progress’ Ribbon Snipped
Mayor James F. Miller cuts a ribbon Friday afternoon, officially opening the Upper Valley Progress for business. Taking part in the ceremony, left to right, were Tom Fatherree, Progress editor and general manager; Gilbert Ellis, chamber of commerce president; Mayor Miller; and Henry D. “Hank” Barrett, Progress advertising manager. Miller and Ellis congratulated the new paper’s personnel and wished them good luck in their endeavor.---Photo by McClain Studio.
Progress has top staff, equipment
An experienced, well-qualified staff of newspaper personnel heads the Upper Valley Progress which makes its debut today with 8,000 copies being distributed throughout the Mission area. Guiding the operation is Tom Fatherree, veteran editor and general manager who has about 20 years in the profession. He has edited other weekly newspapers here and in Liberty, and has general reporting and sportswriting experience in Kilgore, Beaumont and Jackson, Miss. A resident of Mission for the past five years, Fatherree is a director of the Mission Chamber of Commerce, the Mission Municipal Hospital and the South Texas Press Assn. Through the years he has won numerous awards in various fields of journalism. “We reached out far and near to get what I consider the best weekly staff in South Texas,” Fatherree said about the Progress personnel. “It’s been a little hectic at times getting out this first edition, but it was a real challenge— and fun, too. We still have a few details to work out, but everything is falling into place as well as can be expected.” Henry Davidson (Hank) Barrett, a native of Atlanta, Ga., is the Progress advertising manager. He comes to Mission from Statesboro, Ga., where he was advertising manager of the Southern Beacon, a young offset weekly newspaper with operations very similar to the Progress. “Hank is well trained in different phases of the graphic arts and is an expert at laying out ads and servicing accounts,” Fatherree said. “The Progress is fortunate to find a young man of Hank’s caliber and know-how who is anxious to work and grow along with the paper. A true Southern gentleman, he will be an asset not only to the Progress but to the community as well.” Ann Rackley, an experienced newspaperwoman, is the paper’s “Girl Friday.” A former society editor on another Mission paper, Ann is office manager, society editor and official coffee maker at the Progress. Last year she was secretary for the famous Texas Citrus Fiesta in Mission. “Ann is well acquainted throughout the Mission area and has many ready-made contacts,” Fatherree said. “She has a nose for news and is an adept writer and a hard worker. Every newspaper needs someone like Ann on its staff.”
Norma Linda Sandoval is production supervisor. A 1971 graduate of Mission High School, she attended business college and worked for a McAllen firm before joining the Progress. Norma is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Vicente Sandoval of Mission. “Norma was our selection among several applicants for the job,” Fatherree said. “She is already far better than the average typesetter, is leaning to operate the equipment real fast and take a keen interest in her work.” The Progress has correspondents handling “personals” for the Sharyland, La Joya and McCook area. Other people are working parttime in such phases of the operation as paste-up, bookkeeping and circulation. To give the Upper Valley the easily read, comfortable newspaper the people want, the Progress has gone first class with mechanical equipment. The very latest in photo-typesetting computers have been installed and are in operation. Body type--such as this story—is set on a CompuWriter which incorporates a direct entry keyboard and a control panel al-
lowing the operator (Miss Sandoval) to keep track of all typographic activity. The CompuWriter moved the Progress into quality photo-typesetting from the beginning. (For the record, the CompuWriter can set 7,200 words per minute.) Bigger type and headlines are set on a Compugraphic 7200 display phototypesetter. The CG 7200 offers a combination of features no other display typesetter can match; photo-fast speed, type face versatility and a proven track record. “We have the personnel and the equipment to put out a weekly newspaper second to none,” Fatherree said. “We owe a lot to many, many people who have encouraged us in this endeavor during the past three months. Literally hundreds of people have helped, directly and indirectly, and we are grateful to each and every one of them. “Without the encouragement and prayers of these people, the Progress might not have been. But with their continued support, we’ll be around for a long time.”
Tom Fatheree
Henry D. Barrett
Ann Rackley
Norma Sandoval
Editor - General Manager
Office Manager
Josefa Garcia Memorial Park Expansion
Nominations for the annual citizens awards for Mr. Mission and First Lady of Mission are now open to be accepted by the Progress Times. See the story for details about the qualifications for nominees and how nominations can be submitted.
The City of Alton has recently gotten more funding for their $1.5 million expansion of Josefa Garcia Memorial Park. A non-profit organization has awarded the city with almost half a million for the project. Jose De Leon III has the latest.
Advertising Manager
Production Supervisor
WEATHER 5 DAYS FORESCAST
Aug. 24 Aug. 25 Aug. 26 Aug. 27
See Pg. 4
See Pg. 12
Aug. 28
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