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1975: Fayette Property Values Leap $1.9 Million

September 12-16, 1975

According to the tax roll prepared by Assessor-Collector Leonard Dominey, Fayette County’s property valuations jumped almost $1.9 million from 1974 to 1975. The latest assessment was $38,886.625, compared with $36,990,505 for the prior year. However, the county would be collecting the 70¢ levy on only $34,724,965 because of the $3,000 homestead exemption for those aged 65 or over, which commissioners had approved two years earlier. With tax payments averaging 98% as the norm for the past few years, Fayette County would realize something like $235,000 from ad valorem taxes.

Texas Rangers continued the search for clues to the identity of a child whose body was found Sunday afternoon in a field just off a rest area on the east side of Hwy. 77 south of Giddings. A Hallettsville man, who was picnicking at the site with his family, made the discovery.

After the U.S. House of Representatives voted 410 to 6 to shift the Veterans Day federal holiday back to the traditional November 11 date, the legislation was sent to President Ford. The Senate had already passed the November 11 bill. Restoration of the observance to the anniversary of the armistice ending World War I had been an objective of veterans’ organizations for years. The date changed in 1968 when Congress moved several holidays to fall on Mondays to provide long weekends.

Houston Lighting & Power Company indefinitely called off construction of a planned Allen’s Creek nuclear power plant 45 miles west of Houston in Austin County. The reason cited was rising costs.

Small black flying insects invaded the area with a vengeance, playing havoc with motorists. The pests, known as March flies or lovebugs because of their habit of mating during flight, were harmless, didn’t bite or sting, or eat crops. However, their sheer numbers were a menace when their dead bodies plastered the windshields of moving vehicles. Lovebugs also could clog radiators and mar a car’s finish if not cleaned off in a reasonable length of time.

Funeral services were held for: Frank E. Sandera, 70, of Schulenburg; Mrs. Aubrey Clement, 57, a native of Fayetteville; Milton O. Ilse, 71, a native of Warrenton; Wilbur Heintschel, 61, a native of Fayetteville; Emil V. Baca, 74, of La Grange; Alvin W. Mayer, 81, of Winedale; and Mrs. Frieda Witt, 83, of La Grange.

V.E. (Lad) Kolenovsky was appointed to fill out the unexpired trustee term of Leonard Dominey on the Fayetteville school board. Mr. Dominey had earlier resigned his position. Mr. Kolenovsky, who resided in the Fayetteville-Ellinger community, was required by statute to file for a regular term on the board the following March and run as a candidate in the April 1976 election.

La Grange City Council devoted an hour and a half to discussing the replacement of the city hall council chamber roof.

The Lower Colorado River Authority paid a $6 million natural gas bill forAugust, a record high for a single month’s supply of its primary fuel.

The Fayette Memorial Hospital Auxiliary presented a new flag and flagpole to Fayette Memorial Hospital as a Bicentennial project. Trustees of the Round Top-Carmine Independent School District approved plans for lighting the baseball field at the high school in Carmine through soliciting voluntary donations. At the same meeting, Guy Hebert was employed as a school bus driver.

Tiemann’s Plumbing Company was sold to Ronny L. and Judy Otto.

Burglars hit the Sanford Schmidt Store in Industry late Sunday night or early Monday morning. Entry was gained by using a glass cutter on a window. Taken in the burglary were about $50 in cash, $25 in costume jewelry, two ladies’ watches, a radio, three billfolds, 10 cartons of cigarettes, three cases of beer and two empty brown Industry State Bank deposit bags.

Diane Ernstes, a member of the Swiss Alp 4-H Club, was the recipient of a 4-H rotation heifer, courtesy of the Fayette County Dairy Association, comprised of area dairymen. The heifer was purchased from Lee Poppe of Weimar. Diane agreed that after she raised and showed her bovine, she would return its first heifer calf to the rotation program.

Even though the river bottom crops were good, there was no rejoicing among Fayette County grain farmers because the overall 1975 crop was one of the smallest ever, averaging about 30 bushels per acre for corn and milo. Rain and diseases were the big culprits for the poor results. The peanut harvest, the county’s other cultivated money crop, was expected to be about average. The county was in need of general September rains to perk up the pastures.

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