Remember When?

July 5-9, 1974

Fayette County Commissioners appointed Fritz Lobpries as interim county judge, effective July 15, following the resignation of County Judge David Murray. To accept the appointment, Mr. Lobpries would resign as county school superintendent, a post he had held since 1951 that the Texas Legislature had abolished effective year-end 1974. Mr. Lobpries would serve as interim judge until he officially took office on Jan. 1, 1975. Mr. Murray said he resigned to go into other work.

The LCRA reminded those who attended the public meeting in La Grange to submit questions about the proposed coal-fired generation plant on Cedar Creek in writing to an Austin post office box. LCRA General Manager Charles Herring said, unfortunately, there had not been time during the La Grange briefing to answer all the questions posed. Although Bechtel Engineering’s site selection study on the project was available at the La Grange Chamber of Commerce office, it was not available for loan. Brochures about the plant could also be picked up there.

In his monthly report, Fayette County Sheriff T.J. Flournoy noted that 15 head of cattle were reported stolen, none of which were branded or marked. He noted it was hard for law enforcement to identify them since so many cattle look alike. “If cars didn’t have license plates, we would have the same problem,” the sheriff said, strongly urging cattlemen to brand their herds, no matter how small.

The year 1974 could well reach a building construction record for the City of La Grange if the permit pace set during the second quarter was an accurate barometer. The total for the first six months of the year stood at $803,288. The largest permit, $252,428, was issued to Donald L. Dopslauf for construction of a 17-unit apartment-townhouse development on Upper Line St. On the site of the former J. Palmer Produce Co. on N. Jefferson St., a Dairy Queen was being built with a commercial permit of $50,000. For the first time in a number of months, homebuilding was taking a decided upswing with the issue of seven permits. Some of those included: Arnold Svrcek on E. Helter St., residence, $21,000; Elo Stork, E. Guy St., residence, $45,500; L.A. Williams, N. Jackson, reroof, $1,000; Horns, Inc., W. Travis, general repairs, $1,000; W.R. Stierling, S. Franklin, garage and storeroom, $2,000; Gerald Highsmith, River St., speculation building, $17,500; and Mrs. L.W. Stolz, S. Washington, partial reroof, $1,100.

Fayette County Commissioners’ Court appointed Darryl Dippel as federal programs coordinator for Fayette County. His duties would encompass the emergency ambulance, civil defense and local government programs. Mr. Dippel held master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Houston State University and an associate’s degree from Blinn College with post-graduate work at colleges in San Antonio and San Marcos.

An extra inning affair highlighted men’s slow pitch softball action with Karstedt Feeds squeezing by the Knights of Columbus 14-12 in nine innings. The KC’s took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, but Karstedt went ahead 3-2 in the top of the second. Karstedt won the game on a single by Stanley Koopmann and a home run off the bat of Dean Niesner. Charlie Otto also slugged a homer for Karstedt. David Faldyn picked up a round trip for the KCs. Lloyd Kolbe picked up the win in relief of B.J. Kalina. Leslie Kovar was charged with the loss.

Funeral services were held for: Miss Clara Roitsch, 64, of Swiss Alp; Ray Allen Koenning, 17, of Winchester; Mrs. Pearl Spittler, 82, of La Grange; and S.A. (Staches) Stavinoha, 78, a native of Ammannsville.

A pair of local bike riders made it safely to Tennessee. Lynn Wessels, the son of Mr. and Mrs. M.G. Wessels of Rutersville, and Mark Graham, whose parents were Mr. and Mrs. Burleson Graham of La Grange, arrived at Smoky Mountain National Park on June 30 after riding 1,585 miles. The riders left La Grange in late May on two 10-speed bicycles loaded with camping and cooking gear. The longest distance they pedaled in one day was 85 miles.

The La Grange Demons pushed across an unearned run in the 8th inning at Fair Park to edge the Warda Aces 5-4. Eight of the nine runs in the contest were unearned, as La Grange contributed four errors and Warda two in the loosely-played game. David Lehmann’s solo homer opened the second inning with Warda pushing across three runs in that frame. A pitch hit Dennis Pietsch, John Dawson walked, and a single by Mike Kasper loaded the bases after Lehmann’s blow. David Schramm fanned for the second out, but then Lonnie Lehmann got busy after a dropped foul fly, singling home Pietsch and Dawson.

Ruben Rush was introduced as the new administrator of Fayette Memorial Hospital. He moved to La Grange from Lamesa, Texas, where he served as administrator of Medical Arts Hospital.

Louis Lewis Nix of Schulenburg was named foreman of the grand jury impaneled in 155th District Court.

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