Remember When?

1976: Prause Market Seeks Approval for Downtown Slaughterhouse

Feb. 24-27, 1976

A public hearing was scheduled to consider an application from Prause Market to build a slaughterhouse at the corner of W. Travis and South Main in downtown La Grange. The facility would require a change in the current city zoning, a variance from commercial to industrial. The procedure to do so required the city secretary to notify all property owners within 200 feet of the boundaries of the affected properties to be informed of the date of the hearing at least 10 days in advance. The proposed slaughterhouse would be built at the southeast corner of the courthouse square on property which the Prauses purchased from La Grange Mayor L.W. Stolz Jr.

Two Houston men ran into all kinds of bad luck when they reached Fayette County Saturday night. The 27-yearold driver of an 1973 Mercury and his 17-year-old passenger overturned their car several miles east of La Grange on Hwy. 71. A unit of the Fayette County Ambulance Service rushed the pair to Fayette Memorial Hospital for treatment of cuts and bruises. Sheriff’s officers said the two men got ‘crossed-ways’ with each other at the hospital, before being hustled off to jail. The driver faced charges of being drunk and driving at an unsafe speed and the passenger was charged with drunkenness. Sheriff T.J. Flournoy said a check by radio on the status of the car the two were driving showed it had allegedly been stolen in Houston.

La Grange firefighters made two runs west of the city. The first was to answer a call to a grass fire east of Kirtley. However, they could find no fire of any kind and charged it off as a false alarm. The other call came in the early hours of Monday morning to a car fire the other side of West Point on Hwy. 71. An overheated rear axle that burst into flames apparently caused extensive damage to a 1966 Mercury.

Fayette County farmers had something new to worry about – the greenbug. Positive identification of this aphid-like insect was made by a Texas A&M University entomologist found in the Plum river bottom. The main difference between aphids and greenbugs was that aphids made young plants look sick. If not contained, greenbugs killed the seedlings. Fayette County Extension Agent Clinton R. Bippert urged farmers to check their corn and maize crops as soon as the plants emerged. Wheat, oats and rye grass also needed to be scrutinized.

The AIG Clark and Dailey Brothers Circus was coming to the SPJST Park in Fayetteville for two 90-minute performances on Monday, March 1 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sponsored by the Fayette Chamber of Commerce, the circus tickets were $1.50 if purchased in advance or $2 on the day of the event.

The World Day of Prayer was being observed on Friday, March 8 at the Fellowship Hall at First Presbyterian Church in La Grange from noon to 1 pm.

The Round Top-Carmine Cubs, with a 29-4 record for the season, were rated the No. 3 Class B team in Texas in the February poll of the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches.

The La Grange Area Vocational School Office Education Department was offering typewriting for adults beginning March 2 at 7:30 p.m. At least 10 participants were needed for the class to proceed.

Funeral services were held for: Mrs. Ella Zapp, 93, a lifelong La Grange resident; Henry J. Krenek, 67, a Fayette County native; Frank C. Pagel, 86, a native of Willow Springs; Mrs. Lillian Helen Miller, 66, a native of La Grange; August J. Hajek, 65, of the Egypt community; Fred H. Moeller Sr., 83, a Fayette County native; and Lonnie Emmet Ling, 64, a native of Flatonia.

Shelby D. Willett, a senior at La Grange High School and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Burrel Willett, advanced to the finalist standing in the 1976 Merit Scholarship competition.

Lawrence D. (Larry) Korenek, formerly of Victoria, joined the staff of La Grange State Bank as assistant vice president.

Two members of Coach Jim Story’s La Grange Leopards were chosen by coaches to the all-District 25AA basketball squad. Johnnie Johnson, 6-foot-2-inch senior, was one of the three unanimous choices. The other Lep selected was Garry Dippel, a 5-foot-10-inch senior.

Billy and Neal, the Miller brothers from La Grange, were on the mound at Disch-Falk Field in Austin as the Texas Lutheran College Bulldogs lost a baseball doubleheader to the Texas Longhorns. Junior Billy started the second game, pitching four innings in which he yielded 10 hits and seven earned runs. The loss left Billy with a 1-1 record for the young season. Freshman Neal, who pitched the final three innings of the opener, was touched for three hits that did not yield an earned run.

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