Campers Test Positive for COVID-19 at Pine Cove
The Colorado Citizen
• Colorado County Commissioners Court met in regular session on June 22 and the meeting was centered on COVID-19’s impact on the county, specifically the Pine Cove Christian Summer Camp just north of Columbus. Colorado County Office of Emergency Management (CCOEM) officials reported that the camp had nine confirmed coronavirus cases and those infected are in self-quarantine in an isolated area of the facilities. CCOEM Coordinator Charles Rogers said the number of COVID-19 cases among the campers and staff may be closer to 40, but all but nine of those individuals have gone home. The nine active cases reported at this time are those who have tested positive and have chosen to remain self-quarantined at the facility.
The Bellville Times
• The Bellville Police Department is continuing its investigation of three stolen vehicles and the burglary of six more in Bellville. All three have been recovered. The crimes occurred during the early morning hours between midnight and 3 a.m. on June 19. All three vehicles were recovered in Bryan later on June 19. The vehicles were taken from various locations and there was no forced entry into any vehicle.
Hallettsville Tribune-Herald
• On June 19 the Hallettsville Police Department conducted an arrest of a driver of a stolen vehicle. In addition, the female passenger was issued drug charges. According to a report, an officer was conducting a stationary traffic control in a marked patrol unit in the 100 block of Highway 77 South when the officer observed a silver Chevrolet Sonic traveling southbound on the highway. The officer immediately received an active stolen alert from the unit’s Vigilant License Plate reader. Lavaca County dispatch confirmed the vehicle was reported stolen on June 11 by the Yoakum Police Department. A felony traffic stop was conducted and the driver was identified as Yannick Rugema, a 20 year-old male from Houston. Rugema was arrested on the charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle, a state jail felony. The female passenger was a 19-year-old of Hallettsville and she was found to be in possession of marijuana and a controlled substance.
The Shiner Gazette
• On June 14 Shiner Police officers investigated a residential burglary in the 800 block N. Ave. B. Several items were reported missing. Officers were able to identify a 14-year-old juvenile suspect after viewing security footage. Later that evening, an officer responded to a call in the area of the Knights of Columbus Hall. The officers noted a white vehicle leaving the area at a high rate of speed. The driver was the 14-year-old juvenile suspect and the vehicle belonged to the owner of the burglarized residence. The juvenile was charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, theft of a firearm and burglary of a habitation. All three are felony offenses. The stolen property from the residence was later recovered at the juvenile’s residence.
The Bastrop Advertiser
• A 25-year-old man and an
• A 25-year-old man and an elderly woman who is said to be over 80 years old are the latest Bastrop County fatalities linked to COVID-19, bringing the county’s total death count to six. Both individuals lived in Elgin, which has recorded 30% or 124, of all known coronavirus cases in the county. Four of the county’s six deaths have been Elgin residents. The other two are a 67-year-old man from Del Valle, who died earlier this month and a 56-year-old man from an unincorporated area of the county who died on April 6.
Giddings Times & News
• The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) quietly began buying water from the privatelyowned Burleson County water project on April 15. Critics of the project now have raised doubts that the pandemic was the sole reason for avoiding any public scrutiny of SAWS’ operations. The Vista Ridge “publicprivate partnership” project took a public turn for the worse this month. The latest controversy involves both SAWS and Canadian utilities manager EPCOR, hired by the private partners in the project to operate the pipeline and apparently to take any public “heat” for Vista Ridge. The biggest issue concerns what SAWS has been doing with the 20 million gallons per day of Burleson County water. New information seems to indicate that up to half of that water has never reached a SAWS customer and at least some of that water was simply voluntarily discharged into a San Antonio creek bed by SAWS.