Celebrating 126 Years of Serving the communities of Devine, Natalia, Lytle, Bigfoot, and Moore in Medina, Frio, and Atascosa Counties
By Anton Riecher
Customers who purchased allotments for agricultural irrigation with the Bexar-Medina-Atascosa Counties Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 have until Sept. 15 to submit orders water for the remainder of the year, BMA field manager Brian Sullivan said.
Continue reading “Attention Farmers: BMA sets earlier cut-off date for water orders… Sept. 15”
By Kayleen Holder
After many months of severe drought, the skies opened up and rain came pouring down this Monday, August 15. Unfortunately, it brought winds and rotation with it, causing damage to a couple of homes in Moore. NWS experts will be out to look at some of the worst damages on Wednesday, and said it was “likely” a tornado, though unconfirmed at this point.
Continue reading “Experts coming to survey “likely” tornado damage in Moore, Frio”
All campuses in Devine Independent School District will host parents and students to a “Meet the Teacher” night at the following dates and times:
JJ Ciavarra Elementary – Thursday, August 18 – 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Devine Intermediate – Thursday, August 18 – 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Devine Middle School – Tuesday, August 16 – 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Devine High School – Tuesday, August 16 – 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Parents and students may go to teachers’ classrooms any time during the time periods listed above.
At the elementary and intermediate campus, parents may bring labeled school supplies to their child’s room. Parents will be able to put money in the child’s lunch account, join PTO, donate gently-used school clothing, and confirm bus numbers and routes.
Elementary and Intermediate students should receive a postcard in the mail next week stating their teacher(s) for the school year. At both campuses, parents may check in the office if they are unsure of their child’s room assignment and/or if registration information is not complete.
Middle and high school teachers will be in their classrooms to talk to parents about their classes and about the expectations of the class. Middle school students may pick up their class schedule in the cafeteria. If you have any holds such as immunizations or proof of residency, report to the office to turn in your documents and pick up your schedule. High school student schedules will be given out in the multi-purpose room.
Reminder: All immunizations (when applicable) and proof of residency requirements (3rd, 6th, and 9th graders) must be complete before students can pick up their schedule and attend school on the August 22nd. If your student recently received immunizations, please bring an updated record to the school office at your earliest convenience. Proof of Residency documents should be emailed to enrollment@devineisd.org or dropped off at the campus office.
If you are needing help with the Parent Portal, the computer lab at Devine Middle School will be open each Tuesday in August, starting August 9 at 6:00 p.m.
Infant Tyler Tru-Lauv Senegal was delivered to Jesus on Friday, Aug. 5, 2022.
Left behind to cherish his memory are his parents, Tyler Matthew Senegal and Shawna Faye Thompson; his brothers, Princeton Ayvion-Ryver Senegal and Bentley Layne Martinez; sister, Kyleigh Alai’ah Reynolds; grandparents, Cynthia Faye Kaiser, Victor J. Senegal and Angela T. Senegal; uncles, Jeremy Senegal (Marjori) and James Alvis; and aunt, Betty Jean Alvis.
No formal service is planned.
Arranagements by Guinn-Horger Funeral Home, Hondo.
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Maria D. Vasquez. She was called to our Lord August 1, 2022, at the age of 83, following her long battle with Parkinson’s. Maria, along with her husband, was a founding member of the Primera Iglesia Bautista Jerusalén, Natalia TX.
Maria is the oldest of ten and helped her family raise her siblings. Maria worked at Patio Foods on SW Military Drive for twenty five years, where she met her husband of almost 46 years, Raul D. Vasquez, Sr. Once the manufacturing plant closed its San Antonio doors, Maria and Raul began their next business venture on a full-time basis, Vasquez Grocery, at the corner of Fourth and Aubrey in Natalia, TX. Along the way, a new enterprise was added, with Vasquez Quik Stop, in the middle of town. Vasquez Quik Stop was a mom-and-pop gas station, tire shop, convenience store and living quarters. Maria, known by many as “Mary,” decided to incorporate a small café kitchen at the Quik Stop. Mary was very well known for her brown bag hamburger specials. Many students rushed to the Texaco during lunch in hopes of getting one of Mary’s famous burgers. These businesses provided numerous teenagers within the Natalia community an opportunity to gain their first work experience.
While Mary, did not have biological children, she was a mother to countless children. She helped raise many to include several nieces, great nieces/nephews, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Early in marriage the opportunity to provide a loving home to two grandchildren resulted in their adoption. Melissa and JJ may not have been made in her womb but they absolutely were birthed and sealed in her heart.
Maria is preceded in death by her parents, Leonora and Manuel G. Uriegas Sr.; stepdaughter, Gloria Smith; grandson, Noah Hoover, granddaughter, Crystal Cooper; stepdaughter-in-law, Gloria G. Vasquez, stepson-in-law, Rudy Morales; and siblings, Rafaela Uriegas, Emilia Alvarado, Israel Uriegas and Maria Gracia Uriegas.
Maria is survived by her loving husband, Raul D. Vasquez Sr. of Natalia; children, Melissa A. Vasquez of San Antonio and J.J. Vasquez of Natalia; stepchildren, Santiago M. Vasquez of Natalia, Grace Cooper (Talton Jr.) of Houston, Raul Vasquez Jr. of Natalia, Vangie Morales of Natalia; siblings, Elias Uriegas, Sr. (Socorro) of San Antonio, Oralia Padilla of San Antonio, Rosalia Ramirez (Israel) of Poth, Dalia Maldonaldo (Enrique) of San Antonio, Irma DeLaCruz of San Antonio, Manuel Uriegas Jr. of El Paso, as well as many grandchildren, nieces, nephews and other family and friends. Mary will be missed by countless people whose lives were made better by knowing her.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations to American Parkinson Disease Association: Hope in Progress (apdaparkinson.org) or to her home church, Primera Iglesia Bautista Jerusalén in Natalia, TX.
Pallbearers: Ely Jaye Vasquez (Grandson), Moses Kenneth Smith, IV (Grandson), Jose Angel Vasquez (Grandson), Michael Lynn Vasquez (Grandson), Talton Charles Cooper, III (Grandson), Raul Vasquez, Jr. (Stepson), Delbert Hoover, Jr. (Grandson), Christopher Edward Uriegas (Great nephew).
Visitation for Maria will be held Wednesday, August 10, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. to 9:30a.m., with a Prayer Service to begin at 9:30 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Natalia, 301 Pearson Street, Natalia, Texas 78059. Interment will follow at Devine Evergreen Cemetery.
We got through last week with only 39 calls for service! Officers conducted 69 traffic stops. Of those stops, 63 were citations and 6 were warnings.
There was only one person arrested last week. Ofc. L. Diaz conducted a traffic stop on Main St. and determined the driver had an active warrant out of Bexar Co. for Driving While License Invalid. The suspect was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail.
There were two property crimes reported. #1 – A complainant called the PD to report that they lost a money clip with $134 while at the H.E.B. Plus. With current prices, you could almost fill up one of those red, handheld baskets with $134. #2 – A hotel customer reported that someone tried to break into his pickup, they were unsuccessful but did damage the door handle. That means it was a rookie car burglar, perhaps in the initial stages of training.
Also in the news……Officers recovered a 2004 Kenworth truck that was stolen in Carrizo Springs. It was dumped in a field near Lytle State Bank. In another incident officers recovered a set of stolen license plates; they had been reported stolen to Bexar Co.
In the early morning hours (2:22 AM) of Monday, August 8, officers S. Pena and J. Cortez responded to a report of shots fired at a residence in the 14700 blk of Railroad St. Officers arrived and determined that none of the occupants were injured. It is believed that at least 6 rounds were fired from a handgun. This does not appear to be a random incident and the case is under investigation.
I, along with Ofc. D. Lopez and Cpl. D. Robison, attended Lytle ISD’s annual convocation. We set up a booth and gave out freebies to the staff of Lytle ISD. There was a huge turnout of booths from local organizations and businesses. I made myself available for photos so they could remember the special occasion. I must admit, I didn’t even know the definition of convocation until this guy named Clouser from the Lytle VFW told me, and I think his wife told him. I will tell you there was an abundance of positive energy among all those staff members. They will need all that energy once the kids start back this week. I would think we have a solid school system, if not I can’t imagine why all these subdivisions are being developed here. Having a cool Chief of Police can only go so far.
On a personal note…. I took off last Tuesday and headed down to Rockport with the family for a quick beach outing. We had a great lunch in Sinton at the Back Street Café. I had hoped it would be a Back Street Boys-themed restaurant, but they didn’t have a single poster up. What they did have was complimentary beans and cornbread, a staple for me as a young child growing up in the Free State of Van Zandt.
The kids will be back in school starting this Thursday! So, more traffic and more congestion. I ask everyone to be patient, the first few days are rough, but it gets “less rough” as the year goes on. You might see an increased police presence around the schools, don’t be alarmed. Officers are just trying to keep our school community safe. When the weather cools off, we might even get out of our patrol cars and walk around.
A few years ago, we moved to New Braunfels “Up The Hill”, as the locals call it, from Landa Park. For a while I mourned the “loss” of the acres we had in Spring Branch with the wide variety of wildlife that came around most every morning and evening.
But gradually I have come to appreciate the benefits of our decision and agree now it was a wise choice. That realization was further cemented today when I drove through the 122 acres of pretty close to heaven, where the Comal Springs, Comal Lake, and the Comal River all come together.
It is such a beautiful piece of land with HUGE oaks and green grass. The “resident deer herd” are much gentler than some of the cow dogs I have known down in La Brasada. And while it can get sure enough crowded on weekends and holidays, the place is a real sanctuary in the early morning hours with more wildlife than people around.
That reminder got me to thinking that it is pretty easy to be at peace in such a location. But I have known some very contented individuals in spots far less wonderful than that. When I was upset about something as a child, My Granny, Della Fischer Rosenauer, would tell me “You have two choices in life. Either change your outlook or your stomping grounds”.
I did not much understand or enjoy that admonition in those days, but sure see the wisdom now. During my years in Higher Education at the different institutions where I worked, many former military people came my way as an Advisor and Professor. Some lived in a number of places that were FAR less wonderful than Landa Park. Yet they still could talk about the great people they met, and the fine things they were exposed to during their tours of duty.
It got me to remembering about another saying that was often used in my “circle” of friends and family when growing up. “It is the strong and wise person that can learn how to bloom wherever they find themselves planted”.
I reckon in my backwoods way of looking at life, even in today’s time of severe drought, I am fortunate to have a little piece of La Brasada that I can wander around over and find some joy, if only I look for it in the proper way. And also get to be around Landa Park when desired.
Not too sure if that is wisdom sneaking into this old brain, or just an admission of the obvious. But whatever the source, it seems to be the correct way to look at life from the location I am standing.
I was watching a late night old TV show, and as it ended, there was a pretty shot of a family sitting around the dinner table laughing and eating together. The camera had zoomed out and it was showing the sweet scene from outside the window panes, looking in. It got me to thinking about how long it had been since we rounded up our kids and had a family dinner around the dinner table.
Somehow, that notion just kind of slipped through the cracks lately. We have definitely been eating around the TV more than the table lately. That’s got to change. Without looking up any statistics, I think we can all confidently admit that we don’t gather around the dinner table often enough.
I heard something the other day that really struck me. If you have a 12 year old daughter or son, did you realize that there are only about 300 weekends left before they turn 18? Isn’t that crazy? That’s about 2,000 family dinners. Doesn’t sound like so long at all when you look at it that way.
So this past week, I enlisted the support of my prince and asked him if we could start turning off the TV and sitting around the table for dinner, and he quickly agreed.
It’s hard enough to get the house cleaned and dinner cooked, let alone get everyone together at the same time, focused on having a family meal together. But I am determined, now more than ever.
I won’t say that my teenager loves the idea. I’ll be honest; the kids were so frustrated about the TV being turned off, etc. that there was more bickering than talking the first night. But we had a pretty nice and funny conversation during last night’s supper, over a lot of smiles. I think family dinner time is growing on them too, though they still don’t want to admit it.
I know it will never be as peaceful and picturesque as that scene of the family through the window pane of that movie, but it will be in my memories, I’m sure.
With our phones containing the whole world at our fingertips, and endless entertainment, and TVs with streaming services containing every movie and TV show ever made, there are plenty of distractions in our home….pulling us away from the good stuff. I am as guilty as the next guy when it comes to the magnetic field seemingly surrounding my phone. But when I purposely set down my phone and don’t touch it, nor the TV all day, I feel so much better.
An electronic-free day is almost as good as a day at the beach. Can we just knock down all the cell phone towers? I’m so over it. Every now and then we go on a vacation where there is little to no cell service, and it is truly SO NICE.
What if there was a 2 hour time slot that was electronic-free every day? I bet we’d find ourselves having more family dinners.
OK, folks, we’re back to the “same-old, same old”, there isn’t a measurable amount of rain, just a couple of quick showers today. I was working at our church picnic and realized some folks were coming in with their shirts wet….yep, it rained a little. When I came to Devine a couple of weeks ago, all you could see was dry land and still more dry land, the only green things around were several cotton fields that are irrigated, and not too many of those. The prickly pear cactus have red tunas (pear apples?), on them, but the cactus themselves are as flat as they can be and obviously need water.
The picnic was great, I worked in the “country store”, which is really more of a jumble sale than anything else, we had all sorts of stuff, as well as our 100 bags of the noodles we made a couple of weeks ago, they all sold before 1:00 p.m. The food was good, I just still have a problem with picnic stew, sausage, sauerkraut, seasoned green beans and potatoes, rather than BBQ, pinto beans and potato salad! (Please italicize: Prunus persica and also P. Persica. My computer won’t let me do that!)/
Have you been noticing nectarines in the produce section of the grocery store? What do they look like to you? Do you know what they are? Since I had been noticing them in the store and purchased them a couple of times, I decided to find out what they really were. Someone had told me they were a peach/plum combination, but I never knew for sure. They taste pretty much like a peach as far as I am concerned! The following is what I was able to find on the Internet. After checking out several sites that all gave me pretty much the same information, I sort of combined several articles to get this article.
Basically, according to what I was able to find, a nectarine is a peach without fuzz! They are not a combination of a peach and a plum as some folks think. Nectarines have juicy, peach colored flesh and the seed is very similar to that of a peach but without the “fuzzy” complexion. You can tell peaches and nectarines are similar because peaches are of the genus Prunus persica and nectarines are P. persica. They most probably originated in China over 2,000 years ago and were cultivated in ancient Persia, Greece and Rome. The word “nectarine” means sweet, as nectar, and this is probably the obvious origin of the name.
Nectarines can be eaten out of hand just as you would a peach, they can be cut up and used in fruit salad, cooked, dried or however you want to serve them. According to one of the sources, they are delicious in ice cream and sorbet, as well as cakes and pies. There are about ten varieties that are widely grown for market. If you purchase nectarines, look for fruit that is firm but not hard, with a bright deep coloring. Avoid fruit with wrinkled skin or spots that could show evidence of decay. Hard nectarines will ripen at room temperature, to speed the process, place them in a bag with an unripe banana.
To peel them, cut an X in the bottom end and dip the fruit in boiling water, just as you would a peach or a tomato. Their smooth skin is edible, but most folks would probably prefer to peel them.
I know the following desserts have absolutely nothing to do with nectarines, but since I don’t have any nectarine recipes in my files, I decided to give you something else instead and just hope you will enjoy all of them.
This recipe was in my files and since someone just asked about diabetic recipes and said she was craving sweets, hopefully it will help her a little bit.
Diabetics Delight
1 box yellow cake mix (now that sugar-free cake mixes are available, you might consider trying one in this recipe)
12 oz. diet soda (Sprite Zero® or your choice)
1 can crushed pineapple (16-oz size) (divided use)
1 large tub Cool Whip®, sugar free
1 large box of sugar-free vanilla instant pudding
Empty cake mix into large bowl, add diet soda and mix well. Then add ½ can of crushed pineapple and stir well. Pour into 9×12 pan that you have lightly sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake as directed on package. While the cake is baking, mix the Cool Whip®, the remaining crushed pineapple and the pudding together and stir well. Chill thoroughly. When the cake has finished baking and has cooled, spread the Cool Whip® mixture over the top. Cut into squares to serve. Makes 12 to 15 servings.
Recently, for a get-together here in Yoakum, I served my version of a cake that was served at our bunco in Devine a sometime ago. It was a beautiful and colorful cake of three layers, each one with a different flavor of gelatin in the batter and was really delicious. The original recipe called for three boxes of white cake mix, but since I wanted a smaller cake, I used only two boxes, and rather than white cake mix, I used yellow because I felt the color would be more intense, and, since there are several diabetics in my group, I wanted to make it as sugar free as possible so they could enjoy it also
The rest of the story is that this week, when we went to the venue where we have our meeting, the clerk asked me who had made the dessert a couple of weeks before, since I had shared with the staff. After admitting I had made the dessert, she told me it was absolutely wonderful, which of course made me feel pretty good! When I told her it was almost totally sugar free, she didn’t want to believe me at all and kept telling me “He is not going to believe this at all”, meaning the owner of the venue. So, here is the recipe for y’all to try.
Joyce’s Fruity Jell-o® Cake
(Read all instructions before beginning to make cakes)
2 boxes Pillsbury®, sugar free yellow cake mix (16-oz boxes) (I think 15.25 is now standard and that is fine.
Ingredients as required for making both cakes
1 small box, sugar free lime-flavored gelatin
1 small box, sugar free lemon-flavored gelatin
1 small box, sugar free orange flavored gelatin
food coloring (if desired)
flavoring (if desired)
1 carton (8-oz) sugar free whipped topping, thawed
1 small box, sugar free instant vanilla pudding
¾ cup shredded coconut
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
If you have three 9×13 pans, prepare them by greasing and flouring each one. If not, you will have to bake each layer separately. (Leave the unused dough in the bowls in the fridge as the previous one bakes).
Prepare cakes according to package directions, one at a time. Mix dough together in the mixer bowl and then divide into three equal portions, placing two in medium sized bowls and the last one back in your mixing bowl. Add a box of gelatin to each portion and stir well to mix it in. If you want a more intense yellow or green, add a little food coloring, also, if you have orange and lemon extract, it is fine to stir it in also. Pour one batch of batter into the prepared pan and bake according to directions on the box. Since it is a smaller portion of dough, it will bake in about 20 to 25 minutes, rather than the 30 to 35 listed on the box. Remove cake from pan and allow each layer to cool completely.
Filling/frosting:
Mix together the whipped topping and the vanilla pudding, and stir in the coconut.
Use a cookie sheet (covered with foil if desired), and place one cooled layer on it, top with 1/3 of the frosting mix, add another cake layer, top with 1/3 of the frosting, add the third layer and top with the remaining frosting. It does not matter in which order you layer the cakes. Trim off the edges so you can see the beautiful layers and it is ready to serve. Store in the fridge. It will keep for several days in the fridge and the addition of the pudding to the whipped topping seems to stabilize it and keep it from disappearing.
By Anton Riecher
Members of the Lytle City Council voted unanimously Monday, August 8, to join with the Atascosa County Commissioners Court in rejecting a proposed 2022-2023 budget for the Atascosa Central Appraisal District that proposed a 12 percent increase from last year.
District 3 Alderman David Emery made the motion that was seconded by District 1 Alderman Joseph Morrow.
“I trust our county commissioners and the county judge,” Emery said. “I know they have looked at this and the county auditor has discussed it in quite a bit of detail. We have a little time and I think we need to send it back and let them start again.”
The 2022-2023 proposed budget submitted presented to the ACAD board in July totaled $2.104 million, a 19.4 percent increase over the previous year. The budget proposal was narrowly defeated five votes to four by the board.
After further revision, the ACAD board approved a proposal calling for a 12 percent budget increase. However, when submitted to the various taxing entities involved, the commissioners voted to reject the proposal, chiefly, Precinct 2 Commissioner Stuart J. Knowlton explained to the city council.
ACAD is responsible for appraising approximately 72,000 parcels of property, Knowlton said. But nearly half of those parcels involve mineral development and are appraised by an outside firm rather than ACAD.
The remaining 42,000 to 46,000 parcels are comparable to the entire workload in either Medina or Wilson counties, Knowlton said. The main bone of contention is the hiring of an additional tax appraiser called for in the latest budget.
“Those counties operate with fewer staff that we do,” he said.
Although Knowlton, who serves on the ACAD board as chairman of the building committee, voted to approve the budget submitted to the commissioners, he told the city council that he voted against the proposal at the commissioner court meeting earlier Monday.
As a counter proposal, Atascosa County Judge Robert Hurley and Tracy Barrera are suggesting an eight percent increase over the previous year’s ACAD budget, Knowlton said.
“We have no issue with the raises for employees,” he said. “Several of their employees, the clerical staff, were way below what it should have been.”
Kimberly Faulk, who represents the city of Lytle and the Lytle ISD on the appraisal board, also appeared before the city council. She said that the most significant raises in the budget represented supervisory personnel.
However, Alderman Emery noted that an appraisal district deed clerk would receive a pay hike from $32,000 to $43,000 in the latest version of the budget.
“Seems like quite a big jump in one year,” Emery said. “It might be better to break that up over a couple of years. We’d all like to get a 35 percent increase in our salary.”
Lytle Salaries
Salary increases for the Lytle city positions of finance director, city secretary and city administrator also received attention from the council.
On a motion by Emery, seconded by Morrow, the council immediately increased the finance director’s salary to $70,000 a year, the city secretary to $55,000 a year and the city administrator to $90,000 a year, as called for in the 2022-2023 city budget.
City Administrator Matt Dear explained that the finance director completed her probationary period on May 3 without receiving the customary nominal salary increase. The city secretary was permanently appointed in June but without a change from hourly employee to salaried.
As for Dear himself, moving to his full salary required the council to wave three months of his probationary period. Mayor Ruben Gonzalez explained that the salary increases would have no fiscal impact since a recent retirement left the salary fund with enough to cover the amount and still show a surplus.
“One of the reasons we are putting it on here is they have done a great job of getting us to where we are right now,” Gonzalez said.
Subdivision Rules
A motion by Emery to explore possible revisions to the city’s subdivision and zoning codes to require buffer zone and other requirements for the development of mobile home parks was approved by the city council.
At issue are plans for a 170-plus lot mobile home park near Martin Street to be called Harris Park. Tammy McDonald and other residents on Martin Street let the council know their concerns.
“Our city is not ready for this many homes,” McDonald said. “The city council should consider the restriction we have put on other developers’ subdivisions.” Specifically, she said she was concerned with the space permitted between homes and other buffer areas.
Acknowledging that the council rezoned the property for this type of development nearly 25 year ago, McDonald said she was concerned about how the mobile home park would affect the value of her property.
Jolinda Harris of Harris Western, Inc. told the council that only new homes meeting federal standards will be allowed in Harris Park. All will be individually owned with no rented mobile homes allowed, she said.
“The only thing that is going to be rented is the lot,” Harris said.
All residents will be fully vetted including a credit check and a check for criminal background, she said.
“I’m not sure other subdivisions do that but we do,” Harris said.
She also objected to calling Harris Park “a trailer park.”
“These are really not trailers,” Harris said. “These are homes built in a factory and moved already built.”
Harris’ father, George Harris, who developed his first mobile home park in Lytle nearly 50 years ago, took issue with the argument that the new mobile home park will have a negative impact on the local tax base.
“They raised the taxes on units that belong to me almost $100,000 last year,” Harris said. “Since last year they raised it $200,000 above that.”
Speed limits
In other action, the council approved motion to revise proposed speed limits and install speed bumps on Lytle-Somerset Street. The motion by Morrow, seconded by Rodriguez, called for the city to investigation alternatives to speed bumps to better control speeding in that area.
Crossing guard
On a motion by Rodriguez, seconded by Emery, the council approved to $6,600 to cover last year’s contribution to Lytle ISD from the Bexar County School Crossing Guard fund.
Memorial event
Also, the council voted to partner with Patriot Automotive for the city’s September 11 memorial event.
“It’s going to be a great event for our first responders,” Gonzalez said.
3 nominated for Citizenship Award committee
The city council voted to nominate three appointees to the city’s Annual Citizenship Award Committee. Morrow nominated Margaret Wilson while Emery put forward the name of Robin Cantu. District 4 Alderman Michael Rodriguez put Eva DeLeon in nomination.
Two additional nominees are pending.