Remember When?

Aug. 3, 1973

Delphine Janecka found a red 1961 Ford truck with a cattle bed in a leased pasture about 2½ miles north of Winchester. It was cleverly concealed under a post oak tree surrounded by thick mesquites and weeds. The vehicle had been reported stolen on March 22 by its owner, a farmer living south of San Antonio. He, along with law enforcement officers, and Eldor Zoch, the owner of Zoch’s Garage in Winchester, pulled the truck out.

In La Grange, at about midafternoon Wednesday, rainfall hit the mean average annual mark and then some. The year was only seven months and one day old when a 1.54-inch downpour brought 1973’s total to 37.44 inches: almost an inch over the normal total. This impressive precipitation sum was even ahead of 53.47 inches that fell in 1968. Through July of that year, the total was 33.98, or 3.46 under the 1973 accumulation to date. June almost set a new Fayette County monthly rainfall record when a gargantuan 12.02 inches was gauged. However, it fell short of the 16-plus inches that Hurricane Carla dropped here in September 1961.

An investigation continued concerning the theft of coins the previous Saturday afternoon from Mrs. Lillian Upton’s home on South St. in Schulenburg. Deputy Sheriff Erich Bauch, who was stationed in Schulenburg, reported that $12 and $15 in Kennedy half-dollars and $9 and $10 in dimes were missing. The officer said Mrs. Upton had locked the front door of her home from the inside and the back door with a key when she left at about 1 p.m. When she returned, the rear door was unlocked. The coins were taken from a small purse inside a handbag in the front bedroom. Nothing else in the house had been stolen.

Schulenburg was getting ready to celebrate its 100th birthday with a three-day Centennial Festival. Activities were to start on Thursday with a centennial queen’s contest in the Schulenburg High School Theatre. At 5 p.m. Friday, Mayor H.N. Schwartz was to conduct the opening ceremonies in city hall. With enough tables to accommodate 500 people, the state’s largest biergarten was set to open at 6 p.m.

Fayette Water Supply Corporation had signed up over 300 customers, primarily across the central and western parts of the county. According to the steering committee’s last engineering report to the Farmers Home Administration, the overall cost would be about $10.50 per month per customer. If 50 more customers could be signed up in the Bluff, Riverside, Plum and West Point areas, a minimum bill of $8.50 per month per customer for the first 2,000 gallons of water used for Phase One. For Phase Two to be feasible, an additional 50 to 100 customers were needed in the Hostyn, O’Quinn, Muldoon and Ammannsville areas.

In addition to dealing with events related to the closure of the Chicken Ranch, Fayette County Sheriff T.J. Flournoy reported that DWI arrests were made on July 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 13, 14, 16, 21, 22, 23 and 27. Several drunks and subjects picked up for disorderly conduct were also jailed. The sheriff’s office responded to the report of a runaway girl at Ledbetter. A deputy transported a patient to the state mental hospital in Austin and a prisoner to the pen in Huntsville. Sheriff Flournoy’s office handled 56 prisoners and collected $2,783.86 in fines and fees for the county.

Funeral services were held for Vernon O. Wright, 62, of Muldoon and Mrs. Marie Vasek, 83, of Ammannsville.

Glenda Etheredge, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joe M. Patterson of La Grange, joined the U.S. Marine Corps. A 1973 La Grange High School graduate, Glenda was leaving on August 5 for the Marine Corps training station at Paris Island, South Carolina.

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Supak and Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Fajkus purchased the Louis Klein & Son store at 152 N. Washington St. in La Grange. The business was being renamed The Towne Shoppe.

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