November
13- Lytle Public Library will host a story time for ages 2-5 at 10:30 a.m.
18- Regular Lytle ISD Board of Trustees meeting at 6 p.m.
18- Regular Devine ISD Board of Trustees meeting at 6:30 p.m.
18- Natalia City Council meeting at 7 p.m.
19- Devine Driscoll Public Library will host a story time for ages 9 months to 6 years at 10:30 a.m.
19- Trunk or Treat with the Devine Police Department at Walmart from 6-8 p.m.
19-Medina Watershed stakeholder meeting in Castroville 1-3 pm at Braden Keller Center.
19- Regular Devine City Council Meeting at 6 p.m.
19- La Coste City Council meeting at 7 p.m.
20- Lytle Public Library will host a story time for ages 2-5 at 10:30 a.m.
21- Crochet group meets at the Lytle Public Library from 5-7 p.m.
23- This year Devine’s VFW is sponsoring its first-ever Christmas Market on November 23rd from 12 noon to 8 pm at 211 College Avenue, Devine.
23-24- Spartan race at Sandy Oaks Ranch.
25- Lytle City Council Meeting at 6:30 p.m.
25- Regular Natalia ISD Board of Trustees meeting at 7 p.m.
27- Lytle Public Library will host a story time for ages 2-5 at 10:30 a.m.
28- Thanksgiving Holiday
29-Salvation Army Kettle Drive kicks off. Volunteers needed. See article for more info.
If you want to add an event to this calendar, please email devinereporter@devinenews.com or call (830) 665- 2211 and leave a message for Catherine.
Author: admin
Race to draw 5,50+ visitors to Devine
By Catherine Richard
Over 5,500 are expected to compete in the Spartan races on Nov. 23 and 24 at Sandy Oaks Ranch in Devine, with the majority coming in for the Saturday race.
Spartan is a national organization which creates competitive, physically challenging events. They are best known for their obstacle course races.
People are expected to arrive from all over the state and even from different countries for the first Spartan race to take place in Devine.
At Sandy Oaks Ranch there will be three different competitions, spanning roughly 200 acres of land.
The Sprint is a 5K with 20 obstacles, including monkey bars, mud pits and climbing walls.
The Super is a 10K with 25 obstacles of greater intensity, including rope climbing and more demanding climbing walls.
For these races, groups of 250 will compete at a time.
There will also be a set of children’s races, which take into account the child’s age and physical abilities. This category has 1km races for ages 4-6, 1.5km races for ages 7-9 and 3km races for ages 9-14. There is also a special 1km race for kids with physical or mental challenges. Children must be accompanied by their parents and have constant adult supervision.
Horses humble Minutemen 48-7, Ready to Face Salado
Jerel Beaty
Staff writer
Minus a 73-yard touchdown-scamper by a Minutemen running back well after the game was already decided, the Warhorse defense mounted up Memorial’s offense a majority of the night in Devine’s 48-7 District Championship clinching victory.
Devine’s ‘D’ recovered two fumbles, deflected a few passes, created a wall up front that was impossible to penetrate, and owned the field on Homecoming night.
“We wanted to put a good show on tape for the playoffs and take care of business on our last home game of the season,” stated Devine Defensive Coordinator Danny Sanchez. “It was important for the boys to play well for the seniors. We figured we would take care of our business and let what happened in Bandera take care of itself.”
San Antonio Memorial came into the contest 0-9, but they did not take this game lightly.
“Memorial scouted us well. We had over-played the edges and they hit us in the A and B gaps in the first series to get a 10-play drive and a couple of first downs. They started at their own 34 and took it down to our 7. After this drive, they would not get closer to our goal line than our 33, except for one time at the end of the game.”
The Warhorse ‘D’ bent a few times, but never broke as Memorial simply could not find a way to keep drives alive.
“Our boys were able to stop them there on 4th down. They then condensed their formation to try to bully us, but it was too late, we had made our adjustment and only allowed them 6 plays on their second drive. That, and another time, would be the only….. To CONTINUE READING PLEASE SUBSCRIBE at www.devinenewsmembers.com
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Arabian Volleyball leaves it all on the court in battle with Navarro
By Jerel Beaty and Kayleen Holder
The Arabian Volleyball season came to an end this past November 7 in Pleasanton against Navarro. A talented and tall Lady Panther team came out on fire, and the Arabians did some deep digging and hitting, but the Panthers ultimately came out on top.
Devine displayed the grit they have shown most of the season, garnering 27 kills and 38 digs in the tough match.
Airyanna Rodriguez led Devine with 15 kills followed by Aimee Carr who had 6. Kynedie Cruz dished out 23 assists and had 10 digs.
Charlee Rangel also had 10 digs while Katie Rios added 8. Skylar Blanton had the Arabians big block.
The Panthers defeated the Arabians 25-10 in the opening set, but the next two sets were another story. The Arabians did not take the Panthers quick-set attacks laying down.
Up 3-2 in the second set, Devine’s lead vanished, but Navarro did not simply run away with a set two win.
The Arabians kept it competitive as they trailed by only small margins. Among the highlights, a kill by Thompson left us trailing only by a couple points at 9-12, two more Rodriguez kills and an awesome dig by Rios kept the ball alive on the next play, and the Arabians Click to Continue Reading with a subscription
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Medina County water alliance proposal to seek aquifer storage funding
By Anton Riecher
Plans to apply for grants and funding to support the Medina County Regional Water Alliance’s proposed 50,000 acre-foot aquifer storage and recovery project have been approved by the Texas Water Development Board planning group for central Texas.
Russell Persyn, engineering consultant on the project, reported during the MCRWA’s Nov. 5 meeting in Hondo that he had been conferring with the TWDB’s Region L planning group and a decision about including the project in the latest draft of the state water plan that was expected on Nov. 7.
“Since the last time (Region L) met the regional planning group has put together the project,” Persyn said. “They’ve presented it to their executive committee with no issues there.”
Aquifer storage and recovery is the use of a well to store potable water in a suitable aquifer during times of plenty to be withdrawn during periods of drought. Supporters of the project have compared it to a bank account.
Persyn’s presentation on Nov. 5 included an extensive update on planning with cost now projected at nearly $480 million since Region L became involved.
“We were north of $700 million when we started talking, so obviously that kind of got my attention when I was working with them,” he said.
Continue reading “Medina County water alliance proposal to seek aquifer storage funding”
Devine Water Rate Hike Approved
The water rate hike was approved by Devine council to qualify for state funding.
By a 4-1 vote, the Devine City Council approved a water rate increase ranging from 21.5 percent for low-end residential customers to 38.8 percent for high-end commercial users, effective January 1 as a first move in putting the utility back on a paying basis.
Mayor Butch Cook said that in his 18 months in office he has heard more complaints about the proposed rate increase than any other action by the city council during that period.
“It’s a balancing act from hell,” he said.
District 4 Council Member Josh Ritchey was alone in opposing the motion of the water rate proposed, he approved of the sewer rate. Throughout the meeting, Richey expressed his concerns that the rates should be even more than the current motions to fulfill the financial obligations.
The motions were taken during a special session held Nov. 7.
Council approved a 37.1 percent increase in the city sewer rate.
Council approved a 21.5 residential to 38.8 percent increase for high-end commercial users in the water rates.
The water rate increase is part one of a two-step plan that would see the lowest level water rate increase 38.14 percent by October 2025 to move forward with obtaining $11.5 million in financing from the state to cover the mandated replacement of lead water lines serving Devine homes.
“If the city does not put the water utility back on a financially solvent basis it will not qualify for that financing,” Cook said.
“The state is offering a pool of money,” he said. “If we don’t qualify, we’re not going to get it. We’ll be on our own facing the same mandate that everyone else is facing, which is substantial.”
For low-end residential customers equipped with three-quarter inch water meters, the monthly water bill will jump from the current $38.14 to $47.33 in January. If the council proceeds with the second step in the rate increase, that monthly bill will jump to $56.52 next October.
At least 827 customers out of the 1,700 accounts served by the water utility receive the lowest rate of service.
The rate varies based on the size of the meter and the tier of service the customer receives. The lowest tier, ranging from 1,000 gallons to 5,000 gallons monthly, pays an additional fee of $5.50/per thousand gallons.
Commercial customers ( currently there is only one- Walmart) served by 8-inch meters will see a rate increase in January from $911.64 a month to $1,351.05 a month.
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Story by Anton Riecher
Welcome home, soldier!
Levon Ramirez was welcomed home by his two boys Rylan and Regan and wife Roxanne last week. Ramirez is in his 10th year of service after graduating in 2013 and enlisting in the Army the following year.
SGT Ramirez was coming home from a 9 month deployment in Europe. Levon is stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado. Proud parents are Carol & Victor Maldonado.
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Devine HS Homecoming
Devine High School crowned Homecoming King and Queen – Matthew Gomez and Araceli Caceres before the game this past Friday night. Photos by Brigid Howard. These photos and many more available on Devine News Smug Mug site. That is a direct link to the site, which also has hundreds of Sports photos.
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https://devinenews.smugmug.com/
Class Reps are as follows:
Freshmen Class Reps- Zachary Ortiz and Greeley Malone
Sophomore Class Reps – Rowdy Esparza and Rylie Wells
Junior Class Reps – Mario Vicente and Valerie Molina
Senior Class Boys Nominees: Aidan Salazar, Alfredo Ramirez, Matthew Gomez
Senior Class Girls Nominees: Dani Gutierrez, Amya Polen, Charlee Rangel, Katie Rios, Araceli Caceres
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Obituaries for the week of 11-13-24
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