Seguin Gazette Enterprise (Newspaper) - March 8, 2005, Seguin, Texas SEGUIN NOCHE DE GALA showcase talents at annual competition IMAGE Page 3 Enterprise A TUESDAY March Seguin Texas Vol 116 No 121 ALL AMERICAN Stolhandske earns First Team Academic Page 5 Serving Seguin and Guadalupe County since 1888 Narcotics cases flood juvenile court docket Daily Sunday TOO MUCH Eight drug related cases In a matter of days spells need for drug court By BRYAN KIRK SEGUIN The Guadalupe County Drug Court is scheduled to hear its first case the first week of April and it cant come soon enough for County Judge Linda Jones and the Guadalupe County Attorneys Office Since Friday eight juvenile offend ers have appeared in Jones court room on nar cotics charges Six of those juveniles three boys and three girls rang ing in age from 14 to 16 years old were shackled and led into juvenile court Monday afternoon Jones The charges ranged from posses sion of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana to the more serious manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance The six teens were all enrolled in the City Independent School District accord ing to Assistant County Attorney Kirsten Legore Legore said the girl who was accused of manufacturing and delivery of a controlled sub stance was reportedly caught dis tributing an mine to four of the other five juveniles Legore said this last incident occurred at the alternative school in Cibolo This happened about a month ago and they were all sent to alter native school for Legore said At that point nobody ever took them to Legore said the first incident may not have been reported to the county attorneys office It really should have been because its a Legore said Police Chief Bob Christy declined to comment on the issue Public Information Officer James Schindler said school district officials did not learn of the first incident until one of the students allegedly confessed to administra tors There was nothing to investigate at this Schindler said Schindler said the school district followed the established Texas Education Association guidelines NARCOTICS Page 2 HOME IMPROVEMENTS THE BUCK STOPS HERE Kinz head of the Seguin Main Street Advisory Board is proud of the new look federal grants and city matching funds provided for downtown sidewalks and light fixtures Future improvements are jeopardized by proposed cuts in federal grant programs Future of CDB Grants in jeopardy Editors Note This is the first in a series on the effects of President Bushs proposed budget cuts on local organizations By ASHLEY MATTHEWS SEGUIN The Bush Administrations 2006 proposed budget has Seguin city officials con cerned about the fate of Community Development Block Grants which have provided the city more than 1 million for special projects and flood relief since 1998 The proposed budget if passed would eliminate the grants which are used to create and improve housing and expand eco nomic opportuni ties Since 1998 Seguin has received six CDB Grants totaling for flood relief sidewalk improve ments housing rehabilitation and subdivision devel These grants have done a great deal to improve said Pamela Centeno City of Seguin planning assistant Because of the wide scope of assistance the funds have provided there are probably few people in Seguin who havent been positively Seguin isnt the only Texas city affected if the grants are eliminated According to a study conducted by the Texas Office of Rural and Community Affairs a state agency that helps distribute funds in Texas the state would lose million in funding annually GRANTS Page 2 House discusses school transportation By APRIL CASTRO Associated Press AUSTIN Increased money for the costs of busing students to school will be added to legislation that would overhaul public school funding in Texas House legislators said Monday The House is expected to begin debate Tuesday that could last all week on the school finance overhaul House leaders spent much of Monday fine tuning two bills intended to reduce property taxes while overhauling public education in Texas The transportation funding wasnt in the original legislation but was promised in an effort to gamer favor with lawmakers from rural areas who said they probably wouldnt have voted for the measure Running school buses is a major business in rural said Rep Warren Chisum R Pampa whose Panhandle district has Texts Legislature one daily bus route The amendment would give schools money based on the number of miles buses must travel Texas formula for funding school transportation hasnt been updated since gasoline was under a dollar per gallon in 1983 Superintendents in many sparse but expansive rural school districts say that the money allocated for transportation costs can be a fraction of the actual costs of hauling students to and from school every day TRANSPORTATION Page 2 Index SPORTS Todays Weather Mostly Sunny 0 Wind E Humidity 47 Wednesday AM Showers 30 Ruppert will not seek reelection By STEVE GORDON CIBOLO Saying he had no Cibolo Mayor Charles Ruppert decided Monday he would not seek a third term as mayor In just four years Cibolo has a new water tank 31 resurfaced streets a second city park improved drainage for Dietz Ruppert said in a prepared statement The city has also adopted a city charter approved a master plan and built a new city hall With 21 subdivisions currently under construction within the city limits and homeowners pay ing less in city taxes this than in 2001 my work is now Ruppert said he wished to thank the voters of Cibolo for allowing him to serve two terms as mayor and wished the next mayor of Cibolo continued success Rupperts future political aspira tions are unclear and he would not speculate as to what his future plans would be except to say he has a car to work on at home 1 have a 1967 Plymouth Furry III to rebuild that I have had since high school and I plan on working on that for a he said Its got miles on it with a 340 Magnum engine in it so it will keep me busy for a Ruppert said he would work as mayor up until his very last day in office and would not dump any remaining issues into the lap of the next mayor Any remaining issues like the dispute with the city of Santa Clara I hope to have resolved by the time I leave Ruppert said Beyond all of that I am consider ing all possibilities in terms of run ning for any future political office in the county I will say never say and that is all I will tell any one who asks Rupperts last day as is expected to be somewhere in the middle of March after the election is over and the waiting period for any one to contest the election has passed Canvassing of the election results and sending a statement to the Secretary of States office certi the election must also take place Im sure once all that takes place we will have to call for a spe cial council meeting to swear in the new council members and new Ruppert said As for the only announced Cibolo mayoral candidate Jimmy Sutton he was not surprised by Rupperts decision It does not come as a total sur prise to he said I sort of fig ured that from his recent demeanor Ruppert did what he could for the city and felt it was time to move on Mayor Ruppert has worked hard for the city of Cibolo for four years and he gave his very best effort for the For the Place 2 seat currently vacant Gary Kelly will be running against Scott Robinson The Place 3 race will feature Richard Hetzel against Bede with cur rent Place 3 Councilwoman Susan Gray not seeking reelection SHS MHS school board candidates run unopposed CONTESTED RACES Battles brewing In NISO and By JANET GRAFE GUADALUPE COUNTY No school board elections are nec essary for Seguin and Marion ISO unless a candidate files as a candidate for a seat on the boards by 5 March 14 Currently running unopposed are Seguin school board incumbents Louis Reyes 111 Irma Lewis and Ernest Leal At Marion ISD incumbents the Rev Gerry Metzger Sheila and former board member Jeff Bryant filed for the three available seats Things are more complicated for Navarro and Universal City ISDs Four candidates filed to fill two seats on the Navarro school board Incumbent Chris Brown is compet ing with challengers Steven Ramsey Doug Berger and Maria Jo Somoskey for the two seats The top two candidates in the May 7 election will fill the seats on the board At Fredy Degollado Scott Harrod and Joseph Trevino who currently serves on the board in Place 3 are vying for the seat vacated by Greg Coolidge who opted not to file for reelection Incumbent Terry Hinze is facing challenger Katherine Peel for the Place 2 seat and Edward Finley Jr is facing off with Eddie Williams to represent Place 3 People still have until 5 March 14 to tile as a can Applications are available at the school board offices For those school districts with contested races early voting is open April 20 to May 3 with the polls re opening March 7 for election day Outlook o Thursday Sunny 0 Friday Sunny 0 Some of the best and brightest students in the region met in San Antonio at Northeast Ed White Middle School on Saturday to display their divergent thinking and creative ing skills in the Central Texas Region 18th Annual Creative Problem Solving Competition known as Destination Schools from Seguin Alamo Heights Boeme Comal Fredericksburg Judson Kerrville Lackland Navarro Randolph and Northeast ISDs compet ed and Seguin walked away with six of the awards Nineteen of the 30 local teams competing were honored at the awards ceremony for placing in the top five in their challenge division Winning the right to advance to the state Destination contest next month by the virtue of their awards were Bridges team Trey Brake Lauren Kirkland Amelia Krause Andres Lopez and Samuel Sudolcan coached by Dawn Krause Vogels Live Its Radio Dl team Megan Ludzenski Jakob Maldonado Amanda Martin Mason Mueller Vanessa Ortiz Sabrina Rangel and Madison Van Booven coached by Leslie Martin and Teresa Van Booven This team received a Renaissance Award for outstanding skill in the areas of engineer ing design execution and performance Saegerts Live Its Radio Dl team Deric Adam Christopher Almaraz Bradley Fransen Chelsey Holt Sarah Perry Randall Schievelbein and Chelsea Ward coached by Lisa Adam This team also won a DaVinci Award for out standing creativity in risk taking and a unique approach to the solu tion of their challenge as well as a Renaissance Award Barnes Bridges team Hollie Cooper Jared Curnel Madison Koehler Kelly Koenig Christopher Martinez Chase Ramos and Megan Roy coached by Debbie Magin This team also won a DaVinci Award Seguin High Schools Dizzy Derby team Kelsey Donsbach Derek Even Ryan Kiel Joe Anthony Martinez Caleb Ramos Pete Rodriguez and Carlie Schriewer coached by Patrick Fallin won a Spirit of Dl Award in recognition of being superior role models in the areas of spirit teamwork sportsmanship and per Look for more in future editions of the Do you have some good news to share Email or mail your news to Box 1200 Seguin IX 78155 Saturday Mostly Sunny 10 Sunday Partly Cloudy 10
