Sheriff Pledges $100 for Criminal Activity Tip
April 1, 1975
Fayette County Sheriff T.J. Flournoy personally pledged to pay $100 for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons who were pulling all the burglaries in La Grange and around the county. “Your name will not be used, and you will not become involved. Just come and tell me confidentially,” the sheriff said.
Wilbert A. Jaster’s Pearl Beer Distributing Company warehouse and office complex on W. Fannin St. in La Grange was burglarized sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Seventy dollars in cash was taken from the office – two $10 bills, a $5 bill and $45 in silver coins. Officers said there was no visible sign of forcible entry, leading them to believe the subject or subjects were hiding in the cooler when the business closed for the day on Wednesday. A wire door leading from the cooler to the main building had been ripped open and a screwdriver had been used to forcibly open the door to the office.
In Flatonia, Stryk’s Texaco Station employee Moses Lucio took down the license number of a suspicious motor vehicle on Saturday. His hunch later resulted in the arrest of a man who robbed the station of $65 in cash. According to Deputy Sheriff August Brunner, a car bearing Indiana license plates, occupied by a man, woman and two small boys, pulled up at the station. While the attendant was busy elsewhere, the cash register was rifled. After reporting the loss along with the car license number to police, the out-ofstate motorist was arrested at Waelder and taken to Gonzales, where he was fined $22.50 for having no driver’s license. Then the culprit was returned to Flatonia and turned over to the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, where he was fined $57.70 for theft. Service station owner Anton Stryk said it took all day, but he was glad to have his $65 back. Had it not been for his alert employee who recorded the car’s license number, the robber and cash would have been long gone.
Condemnation hearings continued for the land where the new LCRA-City of Austin coal-generated electric power plant was being built near Fayetteville. Charlie Polasek Jr. received $1,900 an acre for his land. He had started many years before with eight acres his parents gave him and then bought more. A 10-acre side hill with a view of the valley below was an especially beautiful part of Mr. Polasek’s land on County Road 120. He and his wife, Lorine, had hoped someday to build a home there. “They took everything away that we worked all our lives to build up,” he said. “We had a small ranch, a place for our children.” Mr. Polasek said he would lose his land, his home, a camp house, land he leased and the business of those for whom he did custom farming. “I’ll have to start over, in Fayette County if I can afford it,” he added. His parents, Charlie Polasek Sr. and his wife, Nelda, had lived on their place on the old Biegel Road since 1922. His father bought it in 1918. Before the couple gave eight acres each to Charles Jr. and his sister, Elizabeth, their property covered 102 acres. These senior citizens said they were too old to fight, so they sold their land and got a place in Ellinger. Charlie Jr. later paid down on a place near Plum. After all those years, it was strange and disappointing for the parents to be so far away from their son.
The temperature was in the upper 30s when Leopard hurler Kenny Hatfield struck out John Dornak of the Katy Tigers about 10:30 Saturday night, positioning the Leps to annex the championship of the first La Grange Quarterback Club-sponsored invitational high school baseball tournament at windswept Fair Park. Bill Risken’s Leps played four games in the raw north wind and won them, although one was a real squeaker.
Texas cities were to receive their sales tax rebates every month starting April 15, instead of quarterly, as in the past. State Comptroller Bob Bullock in Austin said junking the quarterly system “means we’ve quit burying cities’ money for three months at a time.” The April 15 payments would cover taxes collected by the comptroller between Feb. 17, cutoff date for the last payment, and April 4. Future monthly payments would be made at mid-month.
The superb performance by four lads garnered fifth place for the La Grange High School junior varsity team in the Columbus track meet. La Grange amassed 36½ points in the competition that included 20 schools. Ricky Dippel placed first in shot put with a distance of 44-10 and was fifth in heaving the discus 110 feet. Alfredie Scott took first in the long jump, leaping 19-1, and was fifth in high jump at 5-6. Douglas Richter ran third in the 100-yard dash in 11 seconds, came out fifth in the 220 at 24.3, and placed third in shot with a 41-foot heave. Mike Miller pole vaulted 10 feet to place fifth.
Funeral services were held for Francisco Steva Lleverina, 30, of Ellinger, and Mrs. Wayne Jobes, a native of Schulenburg.
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