Remember When?

April 5, 1974

When 22 landowners in the area of the proposed Lower Colorado River Authority-City of Austin electric generation plant east of La Grange met, they formed the Cedar Creek Land Owners Association to oppose the project. The attendees represented about 3,000 acres of land in the proposed 6,400-acre plant area. H.C. Mills, who owned 170 acres, was elected temporary chairman. A second meeting was set for Saturday, April 13, at 3 p.m. at the Mills’ home. Mills told The Record the group questioned the need for a 4,000-acre lake, saying many felt it was being built for recreational purposes rather than for cooling the power generators. He also asserted that storing and using coal at the plant would cause pollution no matter how much abatement equipment was installed.

Fayette County commissioners authorized the county auditor to pay Colorado Valley Telephone $13,000 to relocate utilities along the new FM 3233. The Precinct 1 Commissioner received approval to hire two part-time employees at minimum wage to clean the pauper cemetery grounds at least twice a year.

A 1974 edition of the World Encyclopedia was placed in the La Grange City Library, along with a 10-volume set of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Other new books included: Texas Almanac 1974-75, The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart, TheArt of Rhyme by B.J. Pendlebury, Thesaurus of Book Digests by Hiram Haydn and The Coming Collection Boom by John Mebane.

A three-run splurge in the very first inning was all the La Grange Leopards needed to defeat Wharton’s Tigers at Wharton Tuesday afternoon, 4-1. To get there, the Leps had to weather some trying moments in this District 133A west zone tilt. La Grange got only five base knocks off Randy Franum, but utilized four of them in their run production. Southpawing Kenny Hatfield encountered control problems for most of the game, often getting behind the batter. However, an errorless defense pulled him out of trouble on several occasions. Garry Dippel opened La Grange’s initial stanza by working Frankum for a walk. Steve Kovar skied to center and Ronnie Sulik fanned for the second out. Neal Miller also got on via a base on balls. Hatfield then stroked a single for one counter.

Fayette County Sheriff T.J. Flournoy reported DWI offenders were jailed on: March 2, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30 and 31. On March 2, 5, 10, 17, 19, 24 and 30, subjects were picked up for disorderly conduct and others were jailed for drunkenness throughout the month. The sheriff also noted that his deputies drove their vehicles to Austin, one or two at a time, to have radios installed, a call was made to the Haw Creek vicinity to check on some gypsies, and a truck was stolen at Mullins Prairie.

Ten cars of a Missouri-Kansas-Texas freight train derailed in an accident about four miles east of La Grange Wednesday night. Seven of the cars, all empty, overturned. The train was eastbound at the time of the mishap, the fifth on the line in this vicinity in the past five months.

Funeral services were held for: Mrs. Albina Kuzel Walla, 71, of La Grange; Frank J. Vacek, 75, of Holman; Mrs. John Slanina, 78, who was buried in the St. Mary’s Catholic Church Cemetery at Ellinger; and Lawa Hubbard, 59, a native of Cistern.

Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Schaefer, who lived in the Cedar community, brought in an oddity – an egg within an egg. One of the Schaefers’Leghorn hens had already produced several double-yolk eggs before laying the large egg circled by another layer of albumen with another egg with a soft shell inside.

CBS News White House correspondent Dan Rather was returning to his birthplace of Wharton to make a homecoming appearance. He was married to the former Jean Goebel of Winchester. In the previous year, Rather had received two Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for his contribution to CBS news coverage of the attempted assassination of Governor George Wallace and reports on the Watergate affair.

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

Below are ads from 1974