Remember When?

At a regularly scheduled meeting, Fayette County’s commissioners voted to employ two appraisers to evaluate the county-owned school land in Baylor County. Schulenburg School Superintendent Ben Sustr showed commissioners color slides he had taken of the properties on a trip he made to Baylor County with Fayette County School Superintendent Fritz Lobpries.

Commissioners also raised the county travel allowance to 12¢ per mile in appropriate situations, accepted the bid of Anderson Machinery Company of San Antonio to furnish 190 six-foot grader blades at $9 each, 30 five-foot grader blades at $7.50 each and 10 seven-foot grader blades at $10.50 each. The court also accepted a scrap iron bid of $1.75 per 100 pounds from James Carlton and another bid of $890 from Mobil Radio, Inc., of Rosenberg for two General Electric shortwave radios for Precinct 1.

Clarification was made regarding the streaking incident that occurred around midnight at the Swiss Alp Dance Hall. The Duncanville, Texas, man didn’t actually parade through the dance hall in his birthday suit. Whether or not he began his antics on the hall grounds is unknown. However, cars approaching the area on Hwy. 77 began to slam on their brakes and focus in that direction when they saw a nude man running up and down the pavement in an impromptu dance.

The Fayette County jail escapee who sawed his way out of the local lockup eight months earlier was picked up in Springfield, Missouri, where he had been apprehended. Deputy Sheriff Vastine Koopmann and his son, Darrell, made the car trip to bring the fugitive back to Fayette County. The second escapee involved in the June 1973 caper was still on the loose.

The Old Timers Baseball Association was holding its annual meeting and banquet on Sunday, March 17, at Hallettsville. All old-time baseball players in the South Central Texas Baseball Hall of Fame were urged to attend the induction ceremonies and presentation of certificates. This included some former players from Fayette County.

A five-day spring carnival, sponsored by the Fayette County Fair Association, was underway at the fairgrounds.

Ralph Wagner Shows was providing midway entertainment. A carnival highlight was the Krystal Blues dance in Round Up Hall on Friday night and a free, open-air dance Saturday night with Czech and western music was being provided by the Daybreaks, a local youth group.

A 17-year-old Brenham youth lost his life in a tragic one-car accident on FM 1457 east of Round Top. This was the second traffic fatality in Fayette County in 1974.

Funeral services were held for: Clyde E. Blissit, 66, of Round Top; Mrs. Elisa Legler, 83, of La Grange; and Elo A. Becker, 85, of Frelsburg.

Mrs. Philip Oestreich of Austin, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Frerichs of La Grange, was on the fall semester honor roll at Southwest Texas State University at San Marcos.

The old Teenville building at the city park in the southern part of town had been transformed into a youth center where students could go to enjoy themselves. The building had been thoroughly cleaned, repainted and set up as a fun place by the new La Grange Leo Club, an organization sponsored by the local Lions Club.

Bill Risken’s La Grange Leopards upped their 1974 baseball season mark to 5-1 here Monday afternoon when they annexed a pair of wins from the Bellville Brahmas, 2-0 and 5-2. Long ball clouting to back up stellar chunking again stood the Leps in good stead as a couple of two-baggers sent the first game counters across the dish. A homer and triple did likewise in the afterpiece. Kenny Hatfield south pawed a nifty two-hitter, his third of the year, to tack on the hill victory in the first game. Kenny struck out six and free-passed only two over the seven-inning route. Bubba Smith, making his first mount start of the year, doled out four base knocks and also fanned six Brahmas. Garry Dippel led off with a single and Steve Kovar promptly sent him home with a double. Ronnie Sulik sacrificed and Marcus Cook followed with a two-ply wallop to plate Kovar.

An instructor and two students suffered burns in a laboratory accident at La Grange High School. Warren O. Albrecht, the instructor, received burns on his right hand, and Bruce Mozisek and Tommy Michalsky suffered arm burns. All were admitted to Fayette Memorial Hospital but released over the weekend. The accident was reported to have resulted when a test tube broke, allowing oil to drop on an open flame. That resulted in a flash fire that was quickly doused with a hand extinguisher.

All boys interested in playing Little League baseball in 1974 could pick up registration cards at either of the local banks. Parents were again asked to donate $5 per player in support of the 1974 program for boys born between Aug. 1, 1961, and Aug. 1, 1966.

For more great stories, visit Elaine online at www. elainethomaswriter.com/blog/ or call her at (979) 263-5031.