Washington County Cancels Juneteenth Celebration
The Banner-Press
• Washington County’s annual Juneteenth celebration will not happen this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The annual celebration is one the Washington County Historic Juneteenth Association has organized for at least the last 30 years, complete with a parade, live music and family reunions on Father’s Day weekend. The association plans to use the time to make next year’s celebration that much better.
• City council approved an agreement with Brazos River Authority (BRA) for temporary resale of excess water to Dow Chemical Company. This will allow the city to sell 774 acre-feet of water to Dow Chemical Company. The contract will expire on Aug. 31 and the purchase price was $79/acre-foot or $61,146 annually. This is in addition to the city’s primary water availability agreement for 4,200 acre-feet, which 2,777 acre-feet are used annually on average.
Lexington Leader
• On May 7 and 8 four different reports of gunfire being heard in different areas around the county were called in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. The first incident was at a residence on Hwy. 77 north. The complainant said a neighbor had been shooting the day before and when he went to his shop, he discovered bullet holes in his shop and in his truck. The second complaint was from a residence on PR 7010. The complainant was working on his property and he said he heard gunshots nearby. The last two calls reported hearing gunshots coming from what might have been a moving vehicle on CR 226 on both days.
The Smithville Times
• A Smithville Junior High School cafeteria worker who last week handed out packed meals at two student food distribution sites has tested positive for the coronavirus, the school district announced on May 13. The female employee helped distribute student meals on May 6 at two district distribution sites: Blue-bonnet Circle and the Lost Pines Bible Church parking lot at 115 Ponderosa Road. “The Smithville ISD employee followed district protocol and was wearing all required personal protective equipment including mask, gloves and disposable apron while working,” the district said in a statement. The district is advising all district employees and parents, students and residents who worked or picked up food at either meal distribution site on May 6 to follow the Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and recommendations and to practice social distancing.
Giddings Times & News
• A Lincoln mail carrier, Patrick Rust, 48, sustained injuries while delivering mail in his pickup at 3:10 p.m. on May 8. Rust was westbound on CR 326 when he swerved to miss a deer and fawn that ran out into the roadway. The pickup ran into the ditch and overturned, but Rust was able to crawl out. He was transported to Seton Dell Medical Center in Austin by the Lee County EMS with a possible broken leg.
• Kedric Dewayne Douglas, 32 of Spring, was taken into custody for criminal mischief and public intoxication after he allegedly threw a rock through the window at Burger King in Giddings. Officers were able to canvas the area and find the suspect hiding in a nearby alley.
• On May 9 at 11:05 p.m. Ignacio Aviles, 37 of Brenham, was driving a Ford pickup southbound on LBJ Drive near Lake Somerville when he struck a guardrail and collided head-on with a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban. Aviles, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was airlifted to CHI St. Joseph in Bryan, where he was in critical condition. The driver of the Suburban, 18-year-old Chase Sowders of San Antonio, along with passengers Jasmine Maxwell, 18 of Somerville, Payton Francis, 6 of Somerville and Justin Richard, 37 of Houston were killed. Sowders and Francis were wearing seatbelts while Richard and Francis were not. The investigation into the accident continues on whether or not speed or alcohol might have played a part.
• The Giddings Public Library’s annual summer reading program will take place online this year to answer social-distancing regulation concerns. The library will be recreating its weekly summer reading presentations and activities to fit the new virtual format. Weekly presentation videos will be available on the library’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Videos will include a variety of activities that are easy to replicate with items found at home.
• Patty Lapage Ockelberry, 32 of Bastrop, was booked into the Lee County Jail for evading arrest/detention using a vehicle. On May 7 at 1:33 a.m. Sgt. Dustin Kieschnick attempted to stop Ockelberry in the 200 block of E. Austin Street in Giddings. She fled driving a silver 2012 Buick Lacrosse sedan westbound on Hwy 290 with officers in hot pursuit. When she got to Paige she failed to maintain a single lane, veering into oncoming traffic, before leaving the roadway and struck a fence and a buried cable marker pole. She was taken to St. Mark’s with possible injuries.
New Ulm Enterprise
• The Bellville Police Department reports that at 4 p.m. on May 11 three subjects entered Newman’s Bakery and took a safe while no one was watching. The subjects then ran out of the bakery and drove away in a white Infiniti. While in pursuit, the safe was thrown from the vehicle onto the access road of State Hwy. 290 East. Soon after, the vehicle was involved in a three-car crash. The driver, Anthony Naceanceno Jr., 22 of Pasadena, was apprehended. The other two suspects fled on foot into a large wooded area and were unable to be located.
The Weimar Mercury
• The Weimar School Board of Trustees approved Texas Cooperative Liquid Assets Securities System Trust (Texas CLASS) Investment Pool as an authorized investment for the $9.5 million bond and also approved an application for participation in the Texas CLASS program. The school usually uses a local bank to invest its money, but after researching other options due to the current pandemic and state of economy, they thought the bond money would be more secure with AAA rated Texas CLASS.