Theresa Elizabeth ‘Tessie’ Rihn Keller of La Coste, passed away on December 23, 2022 at the age of 94. She was born August 3, 1928 in Castroville, Texas to the late Robert Richard Rihn and Marie Steinle Rihn. Tessie was a graduate of St. Louis High School. On August 30, 1949, she married Lloyd Vincent Keller at St. Louis Catholic Church in Castroville. They were blessed with five daughters and two sons. She worked at UT Health Science Center for fifteen years before retiring. She spent a lot of time watching her children and grandchildren play sports. She was also a big Houston Astros fan. Survivors include her children and their spouses, Nancy Peters of La Coste, Cheri and Ralph Hoog of Castroville, Chris Keller of Hondo, Gery and Patti Keller of La Coste, Mary and Charlie Migl of San Antonio, and Carolyn and Mark Payne of La Coste; son-in-law, Sam Farmer; fourteen grandchildren; twenty-six great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; in-laws, Franklin and Irene Keller; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends. Tessie was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Lloyd Keller; her daughter, Jeanne Marie Farmer; her son-in-law, Joe Peters; her brothers and sister-in-law, Lloyd and Mattie Rihn and Msgr. Roy Rihn; and her sister and brother-in-law, Doris and John C. Biediger, Jr. Visitation will be Monday, January 2, 2023 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at St. Louis Catholic Church with the Holy Rosary recited at 5:30 p.m. The Mass of Christian Burial will follow the Holy Rosary at 6:00 p.m. Services will conclude at the church. Memorials may be made in Tessie’s memory to St. Louis Catholic School, Boystown, or the charity of your choice. Arrangements by Tondre-Guinn Funeral Home. Visit www.tondre-guinn.com
Albert J. Saldana, born December 5, 1932, went into the loving arms of the Lord on December 19, 2022 at the blessed age of 90. He is preceded in death by his parents Miguel and Jovita Saldana, spouse Consuelo Saldana and children Daniel Ray, Gilda Ann and Ralph Mark Saldana. He is loved and will be missed by his siblings, Richard Saldana and spouse Thelma of Natalia, David J. Saldana and spouse Kathy of Arlington and Adelfa Saldana Martinez of Grand Prairie, 6 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren, dear friends Greg and Elizabeth Cargile and numerous nephews, nieces and other family members and friends. Albert was a veteran of the US Army and a member of the Lions Club. He will be dearly missed and never forgotten. Visitation was Tuesday, December 27, 2022 at 5pm with a prayer service at 6pm. A funeral service will be held Wednesday, December 28, 2022 at 10am at First Baptist Church in Natalia, TX with burial to follow with military honors at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Devine, TX. Services under the direction of Bluebonnet Funeral Chapel.
Christmas morning was a blast as always. I wish every morning could be like Christmas morning. My sweet teenager decided that she would give us an interesting wake-up call since her little brother has been letting us sleep in sometimes (too late for her taste of Christmas morning). So she set a speaker right outside our bedroom and began blaring “Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer.” It started out at a nice low volume but quickly started climbing. “It was only on 100,” she said when I came out. Santa left the kid’s presents sitting on the couch this year, and it took the kids quite a while before they spotted them. They were both super pleased. Tucker got his Treasure X sunken gold ship which he wrote a letter to Santa asking for, and when he saw it he yelled out “This is exactly what I wanted!” Tucker, the super-sonic fast gift opener, was constantly hungry for the next gift. He had a lot of fun unwrapping this year. The days leading up to Christmas were a tad bit stressful, as seeing those big gifts wrapped under the tree began driving Tucker a little bonkers. I waited to wrap the biggest, most exciting gifts until a couple days before Christmas, and it’s a darn good thing. Tucker is a lot of things, but patient isn’t one of them. We certainly had a great Christmas and my mom got to have all of her kids under one roof at the same time finally, so that was fun for her. We didn’t get to re-enact one of our great sibling rivalry fights, but my children keep up the tradition quite well. Tucker got “real” Power Ranger Dino Fury keys for Christmas, so we will certainly have a lot of “morphin time” fun in the days to come.
We recently attended a Birthday Party for a Dear Friend who turned 100. While quite a milestone in human standards, I find this wonderful lady possesses one of the most balanced attitudes of anyone I know. Keep in mind that she was born in 1922 and that means she has seen quite a few things most of us have not, or only read about in books. The celebration was very well attended, and I found myself looking for a corner and then moving out into the foyer of the building where her Great Grandchildren were manning the guest registry sign in duties. Since some of the kiddos were quite young, it seemed like a plausible excuse not to be in the “visiting room”, which was large but still crowded. At the end of the day, Ms. Elizabeth commented that she only failed to recognize one person out of the well over 100 attendees. I got lost in the “name recalling” after about the first 10 folks! In reflecting the viewpoint of this wonderful role model, I came away with a little less dread about the growing numbers of candles on the B-Day tortillas each year and decided to put on a different outlook. Accept the ever-growing limitations, laugh at them, and keep on plugging along. I really took that attitude to heart and bought my much older than me Brother-in-Law (11 months) a T-shirt for Christmas to reflect that new outlook. It says…I Am Too Old to Fight and Too Slow to Run. But I Am Still a Pretty Darn Good Shot. Strikes me that may describe more than just him in our family tree. Just as an important side note, he is a Navy Seal!
Almost 2023! Last week officers handled 69 calls for police service. That is on the “high” side, surprisingly most of them were minor calls and didn’t require any follow-up. Officers conducted 60 traffic stops, resulting in 53 citations and 7 warnings. There were no arrests last week. We had three property crimes reported last week.
1 – A roll-up door at the John Lott Park pavilion was damaged. It appears someone may have been trying to break inside the storage room. #2 – A 2001 Ford F250 was stolen from the apartments on Lytle-Somerset St. It was recovered a few days later in Uvalde Co. I don’t have the details yet, but I would bet it was used in a human smuggling operation. #3 – On Christmas Day, the Lytle One Stop (Exxon) on Main St. reported an attempted theft. While one person distracted the clerk, another person reached behind the counter and grabbed four $50 lottery tickets. The clerk confronted the thief, and he left the tickets behind. When we get him identified we will be sure and add him to the naughty list.
It was awfully cold for a few nights, fortunately, there were no major issues. Public Works did handle a few calls for broken pipes, and they worked to keep the freezing weather from causing issues with our water system. Maybe you are new to the City of Lytle and are unfamiliar with our ordinances. Here is an important one: The discharge of fireworks is prohibited in the city limits, so no “popping” fireworks, please! If you happen to see or hear fireworks the perpetrator would be someone who just moved to town. Someone that has lived here for over a year would know about the ordinance and certainly wouldn’t “pop” firecrackers (Would they?). Please report fireworks violations to our dispatcher, the Atascosa Co. Sheriff’s Office @ 830-769-3434 (option #1). The family and I had a great Christmas, a few activities at church, and a few gifts for the kids. Life is good. I am an old boring guy, I either work the streets on New Year’s or stay home. This year I will be at the house. But…. we will have extra officers out on the road on New Year’s Eve, our D.W.I. guys will be out in force. Please don’t be our first arrest of 2023. I might come up with a song to go with that.
The weather this past week has been a doozy. I went from mild and balmy to totally icy in just a couple of days, and Texas isn’t in nearly as bad a shape as many of the northern states. The temperature here at my house was a very cool 17ºF, on Friday morning. None of my pipes were frozen mostly due to all the work that was done a couple of years ago. The only problem I encountered was that I had hot and cold water all over the house except the kitchen, it had only hot water! That worked OK as the RO system was working fine. Finally, around 3:30 in the afternoon when the sun was on that side of the house, the pipe thawed out and I had water again. I went out and checked and the pipes were well wrapped. Needless to say, on Friday night, that faucet stayed on with just a fine trickle of water. This Christmas started out as being a very quiet one, that didn’t last for long! We are actually celebrating on Monday and what began as a small get-together mushroomed into being about 15 to 18 people! As it turns out, I will probably have all four of my children and their spouses, two or maybe three of my grandsons and their families and several friends of the family. We will be serving Mexican Food, as it’s something fairly simple and goes a long way. Saturday evening, I will go to church in town with my sister and her husband, and then we will go to her house for supper and exchanging of gifts. It will be just the three of us and it has become our tradition, as we have done it almost every year since I’ve been here! We enjoy it so much. For several years, we went to the little country church for Midnight Mass, but since Covid, all Christmas Eve Masses are in town. Are you planning a get-together, open house or party for New Year’s Eve? If you are, here are a few recipes for dips and some cheese balls if that is what you care to serve. Italian Dip 2 blocks cream cheese (8-ounce size) ½ cup sour cream (if desired) 1 package Good Seasons® Italian, Zesty Italian or Garlic dressing mix 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese Beat cream cheese until smooth, beat in sour cream (if used), add dressing mix and Parmesan cheese. Stir together until well mixed. Chalupa Dip 2 cans (16-ounce size) refried beans (your choice, with or without jalapenos) 1 package taco seasoning mix 3 large avocados (or a package of ready made guacamole) 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice 1 clove garlic, very finely minced 2 cups sour cream ¼ cup mayonnaise ¼ cup picante sauce (mild medium or hot) 3 to 4 cups finely shredded lettuce 2 small tomatoes, diced and drained well 4 or 5 green onions, sliced thinly, including tops 1 can sliced ripe olives 2 cups shredded Longhorn style cheese or Monterrey Jack cheese Mix taco seasoning into the refried beans. Spread into a 9×12 clear glass baking dish or onto a large sandwich tray with sides (10 to 12-inch glass cake plate with sides about ½ inch deep). Mix together the avocados with the juice and garlic to make guacamole or spread the package of ready-to-eat guacamole over the beans. Mix together the sour cream, mayonnaise and picante sauce, spread over the avocado mixture. Top with remaining ingredients in order listed. Chill before serving. Serve with tortilla chips Hidden Valley Ranch Cheese Ball ½ cup mayonnaise ½ cup milk 1 package Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix 8-ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded 1 package cream cheese (8-ounce) Toasted almonds or pecans, very finely chopped. Mix together milk, mayonnaise and dressing mix. Set aside. Have cheese at room temperature for at least one hour. Beat cream cheese thoroughly with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in shredded cheese and dressing mixture. Pack into small bowl which you have lined with plastic wrap. Chill in freezer for 30 minutes. Lift out of bowl with plastic wrap and shape into ball. Roll in chopped nuts. French Dressing Dip 1 package (8-oz) cream cheese, softened 1/3 cup Kraft French Dressing 2 tbs. catsup* 2 tbs. mayonnaise 2 teaspoons very finely chopped or grated onion Beat the cream cheese until smooth, and then beat in the French dressing, catsup, mayonnaise and onion until well mixed. Chill before using to allow flavors to blend. Serve with chips. This is a very good basic dip that also makes a great shrimp dip. *For shrimp dip, I added about a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce and in place of the catsup, I used an equal amount of the bottled chili sauce and added a couple of teaspoons of prepared horseradish. For shrimp dip, drain and rinse a small can of shrimp, dice finely and stir in with the rest of the ingredients. Dill Pickle Cheese Ball 1 package (8-oz) cream cheese, softened ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided use ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese ¼ cup finely chopped dill pickle, or ¼ dill pickle relish 1½ teaspoons pickle juice ¼ teaspoon garlic powder ¼ teaspoon paprika ¼ teaspoon salt Coating: 4 to 5 slices bacon cooked and crumbled (thin sliced bacon) ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese 1 Tbs. finely chopped fresh dill In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth; then add the remaining ingredients until well combined and shape into a ball. In a shallow bowl or plate, mix the bacon, cheese and fresh dill, and roll the cheese ball in this mixture until well coated. Chill before serving. (Make ‘mini’ cheese balls, about ¾-inch in diameter; roll in the mixture and use a pretzel stick in each one to serve. (They need to be one-bite size, I made mine the size of a walnut and they were too big and my friends ended up having to spread them on chips). Here’s wishing all my friends and readers a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year. God bless you and be safe if you’re traveling!
Laverne Mae (Scoggins) Criswell, 78, of Somerset, passed away on December 16, 2022 in San Antonio, Texas. Laverne was born March 11, 1944, to Stanley and Lena Scoggins of Natalia, Texas. She is preceded in death by her parents; husband, James E. Criswell; and sister, Lucile Kemp. Laverne enjoyed hunting and spending time with her family. She leaves behind her beloved dogs, Rusty, Chester, Mickey, and Sweetie Dog, which were her pride and joy. Laverne is survived by her sons, James M. Criswell and wife, Tammy; Thad Criswell and wife, Laura; Jacob Criswell and wife, Jennifer; sister, Lillian (Scoggins) Ricord and husband, Lonnie; brother, Charles Scoggins and wife, Diana; granddaughters, Kyla (Criswell) Williamson and husband, Matthew, Courtney (Criswell) Myers and husband, John, Kaitlyn (Criswell) DeLoach and husband, Dalton, Bree Criswell and Tye Criswell; grandsons, Logan Criswell and Augustus Criswell; and great-grandson, Beau Williamson. Pallbearers will be her sons, James E. Criswell, Thad Criswell, Jacob Criswell; brother-in-law, Lonnie Ricord; and family friends, Jake Grothues, and Ernie Menchaca. Visitation will be on December 21, 2022 from 9 am to 11 am at Hurley Funeral Home, Chapel in Lytle, Tx., a with Graveside Services at 11:30 am at the Lytle Community Cemetery. Anyone wishing to sign the online guestbook, share memories or issue condolences to the family, may do so at www.hurleyfuneralhome.com Arrangements under the direction of Hurley Funeral Home, 14822 Main Street, Lytle, Texas.
Richard Hayes “Rick” Cooley, age 69 of Natalia, Texas passed away on Thursday, December 15, 2022. He was born on October 29, 1953, in Hamlin, Texas. He is preceded in death by his father, Jake Cooley; mother and step-father, Annie and Otto Mann, Jr.; Step-brothers, Jerry and Robert Mann. Rick is survived by his wife of 46 years, Gail Cooley; daughters, Melinda Dugosh and husband, James; Robyn Wheeler and husband, Buddy; granddaughters, Allison and Annie Dugosh; grandsons, Bo and Duke Wheeler; brother, Kenneth Cooley and wife, Georgia; step-sisters, Emily Briscoe and husband, Ben; Marylin Ingerick, Nancy Wanner and husband, Bill; step-sister-in-law, Linda Mann- Gewin and husband, Mike; step-brother, James Mann and wife Janie; and numerous nieces, nephews and friends. Funeral Service was held on Tuesday, December 20, 2022, 10:00 A.M. at the First United Methodist Church Devine, Texas with interment at Miguel Cemetery in Bigfoot, Texas. Anyone that would like to make a donation in Rick’s name may do so to the Devine First United Methodist Church or Devine Masonic Lodge #590. Anyone wishing to leave condolences, share memories, or sign the online guestbook may do so at www.hurleyfuneralhome.com
There are sure a whole lot of things I don’t know much about. And it seems the older I become that fact is more evident. But one of the points I am confident in is that when I run out of fingers counting off the days of December, the rut is about to get going in our little neck of the woods. Based on that “truth” I headed south recently when the wind was going to be right for a particular location. It is bordered on two sides by some heavy creek bottom country and joins an irrigated high fenced oats patch on another side. There is also a nice +/- acre food plot between the blind and feeder. Sneaking in and getting settled that afternoon, the wind was coming straight into my face. And that is a good thing most of the time when hunting in my experience. The first deer out was a really nice 3 ½ year old 8 point with a wide spread and good body size for his age. One brow time was half broken off and he was missing a G2. Clearly, he had been involved in some “brawling” already. He was “checking out the scene” and walked off within a couple of minutes, since there was nothing of interest for him at that location. Given there is only one main thing on his mind right now, I was not surprised. Interestingly he came back well over an hour later, arriving on the opposite side of me, having circled completely around. My thinking is he was taking a stroll and looking over his scrapes. Multiple does and yearlings plus several younger bucks were out by then. One young fellow kept chasing a particular doe all around the feeder area. No one else joined in. About the time it was “getting dusky dark” another 8 point, also 3.5 came out. Those two older bucks took a real interest in that same lady. The 3 of them began the age old “dance” of the rut. Back and forth and round and round they went. I am not sure of the outcome as the doe finally took off out of view with those guys right behind her. There are many funny things I have observed over the last 60+ years outdoors in La Brasada during the whitetail breeding season. It never gets old for me, and the actions of the deer are just plain and simple different, both for the males and females during this time. So, Good Lord willing, I am planning on heading out there regularly these next few weeks to see what kind of antics I might get to observe. It sure beats the heck out of the shows on TV!
Christmas here we come! Last week officers handled 49 calls for service and conducted 97 traffic stops. Those stops resulted in 82 citations and 15 warnings. The Lytle PD had two arrests last week: #1 – On Monday, a wanted person turned himself in to the PD. We had obtained a felony domestic violence warrant on him from an incident the prior week. He was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail. #2 – On Sunday Ofc. L. Diaz stopped a vehicle and determined it be reported stolen out of SAPD. The driver was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail. The 1994 Ford Ranger was recovered. We had three property crimes reported last week: #1 – McDonald’s said that they received a counterfeit $100 bill. #2 – H.E.B. Plus reported that a shoplifter left the store with some merchandise, the case is under investigation. #3 – A Lake Side Circle resident said that a bullet entered a glass window of their residence. It appeared to be a large caliber rifle projectile. Most likely came from out in the county somewhere, the case is under investigation. At the city council meeting last week, the council received an update from our local health authority, Dr. Richard Neel. He reported seeing an increase in the Flu, COVID, and RSV. He said the best prevention is frequently washing your hand and avoiding confined spaces with large groups of people. Traffic Alert: The city’s public works department will be repairing a water leak on McDonald St. this week. The location is between City Hall and the CVS Pharmacy and there will be some lane shifting. We anticipate the work to start on Tuesday and be completed by Wednesday (if all goes well). It shouldn’t be a major issue, just a heads-up. Last Monday I was dispatched to the area of Taco Bell for an intoxicated suspect, I found the guy and he was intoxicated for sure. He was just passing through; said he was homeless. I told him I was going to have to take him to jail and he became a little aggressive. I was working alone (all the officers were in Pleasanton for a short training), so I called the City Administrator, Matthew Dear, and asked him to switch hats and become Lt. Dear and give me a hand. It was kind of like when Bruce Wayne becomes Batman except Matt didn’t come from the bat cave; he just came from the city hall parking lot. We got placed him in custody and off to jail I went. I don’t regularly take people to jail. I’m like your average big-city police chief; I mostly just sit around and look good. I got to the jail and took off my weapon and body armor carrier (you can’t take all that stuff in the jail) so that left me with an empty holster and a Lytle PD t-shirt. I was fumbling around with all the paperwork and the ACSO Jail supervisor who was helping me asked “Are you new at Lytle PD?” I just told him “I’ve been here a while”. I need to work on being more regionally recognizable.
