Celebrating 126 Years of Serving the communities of Devine, Natalia, Lytle, Bigfoot, and Moore in Medina, Frio, and Atascosa Counties
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Rey Alvarado, at right, with VFW Post 3966, presents Jordan Davis, retired Army sergeant first class, with a ceremonial wreath. one of many placed on veteran graves Sunday during the National Wreaths Across America Day ceremonies Sunday at Devine Evergreen and St. Joseph Catholic cemeteries in Devine. (Photo by Anton Riecher)
Gary K. Saathoff of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3966, left, and Martha Wall of the Devine Current Events Club preside over National Wreaths Across America ceremonies in Devine Sunday. (Photo by Anton Riecher)
The Devine Livestock Booster Dinner & Dance will be held January 10 from 6pm-Midnight. The event will be held at The Devine Golf Course. You can get 2 tickets for the dinner and dance for $125 total. Jerry DeLeon and the Southbound Band will be providing the live music for the evening. For dinner, the club will be serving fajita plates with rice and beans.
There will be a silent auction and ticket auction going on as well as a Card Deck Drawing for guns. The highlight of the silent auction will a guitar signed by George Strait himself!
You can buy a pair of tickets from any 4-H kid or from Sam Barber at 830-741-0300.
Anyone is welcome to come out and check out some great heifers and ranch yearling colts who have been raised by local 4-H students. More like a traditional auction, bidders will go home with the animals they win from these events and support a great cause at the same time. Here are the details on these two auctions:
Commercial Heiefer Sale:
The sale will be held January 23 at 5pm. Local kiddos will have about 116 head of cattle which will be split into pens of 2-3 animals. Bidders will bid per head, but they will be sold as a lot of 2 or 3 (depending on how many are in that pen).
There will be various breeds. You can register and bid online as well. Or you can just walk up and register the day of. You can view the cattle that will be for sale online.
Colt Sale:
This sale will also be January 23rd and will kick off at 2 pm. Local kiddos expect to bring about 19 yearling ranch colts to the sale. These colts will be around 2 years old, and students will have started on ground work and saddling, but not all will be ridden down. You can register and bid online as well. Or you can just walk up and register the day of.
Natalia Alderman Darin Frazier addresses the ESD 4 board Friday on the long promised ambulance station in Natalia. Photo by Anton Riecher.
By Anton Riecher
The Medina County Emergency Services District No. 4 board of commissioners voted Friday to exercise its option to terminate an April 2024 contract with the city of Natalia to build an ambulance station on property next to the Natalia firehouse.
Board president Steve Smith said the board remains committed to building in Natalia but prefers to own the site outright rather than on loan from the city of Natalia.
“What the contract says is the property is basically loaned to use,” Smith said. “If we or the city decided not to provide EMS anymore then they get the property back and we have to move the building.”
What the ESD4 board wants…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
Serenity is a very active, sweet, nurturing, and social ten-year-old who enjoys playing outdoors. Some of her favorite pastimes are swimming or riding her bike with friends.
One new activity on her list of things to do, is she has recently begun karate lessons and is learning additional levels of discipline, she is looking forward to one day obtaining her black belt in karate.
Serentiy is currently into listening to K-Pop, watching anime such as Sailor Moon, and enjoys spending time with her caretaker and engaging in family activities such as going to church, going out to eat, or a shopping trip.
Serenity loves eating and creating sweets, as she has recently begun to learn how to bake cookies & cakes, to share creations with her friends.
Some fun facts about Serenity
She loves reading and art.
Is currently taking karate lessons
Loves to go swimming
Going to church on Sundays
Serenity is still young and is not sure what she wants to do career-wise, but she knows she wants to attend college, as education is very important to her.
But she is sure about Christmas being her favorite time of the year, as she loves the feeling of being around loved ones and enjoys the holiday treats, with the ultimate gift of a forever family.
Serenity is wanting a family with many siblings, younger or older, and one with many pets, but most importantly forever love.
If you think you could be Serenity’s forever family or another Texas child, please call 1-800-233-3405 for more information or visit www.adoptchildren.org where you can find a schedule of online public information meetings, and learn about the foster/adoption program.
You can also view the www.heartgallerystx.org website, where South Texas children have their portraits along with individual personal stories they wish to share, with their future forever family.
Our First Annual Wreaths Across America in Lytle was a special time to honor our veterans and come together as a community. Our ceremony was in Lytle Community Cemetery where wreaths were placed, then we traveled to The Masonic Cemetery to place wreaths next was Coal Mine Concepcion Cemetery. We placed a total of 235 wreaths.
Efrain Vasquez and Pam Wanjura as Co-Coordinators of WAA wish to thank all who sponsored and volunteered to help make our ceremony special. Thank you also to our Lytle High School Athletics that worked hard to get our cemeteries ready, placed our yellow flags and also placed wreaths in our cemeteries.
Our Guest speakers were Mike Gonzalez US Army Retired and Commander of the Lytle VFW Memorial Post 12041. Also Ruben Gonzalez, US Air Force Retired and Mayor of Lytle, TX. Our VFW members did a wonderful job placing Ceremonial Wreath for each branch of the service and our POW, MIA.
The eam during their presentation at the intermediate campus on December 4th.
Devine High School freshmen, Nayeli Muñoz and Collier Paige, have chosen internet safety as the focus for their FCCLA STAR (Students Taking Action for Recognition) event this year. The duo wants to educate students on the dangers of the internet and also teach them how to stay safe online.
The students began their project in October by creating an Instagram account to post information and helpful tips for their followers. In November, they stapled internet safety facts to candy and threw them from the float in the Fall Festival parade. On November 21st, Muñoz and Paige presented to Ms. Beaty’s classes at the middle school. The team created a slideshow presentation on the dangers of the internet and ways to stay safe, and then played a game that reinforced these ideas. Overall, they taught 104 students.
On December 4th, the two FCCLA members taught 153 3rd- and 4th-grade students the same topics. Using the same slideshow and a different game focused on the younger students, the team members helped answer questions and point out dangerous situations during their presentation time.
Muñoz and Paige have also hung flyers at the middle school and high school campuses to encourage the students to follow their Instagram account and to keep safety tips in view for the students to see daily. Starting this week at the high school, they will begin to have a weekly announcement in the morning called “Tech Tip Tuesday,” which will explain ways for students and staff to keep their accounts safe and to avoid dangers on the internet.
When asked why they chose this topic, Muñoz explained that they have noticed that kids at younger ages seem to be on electronics more. Paige added that many of the really young kids play online games such as Roblox and Minecraft, and do not think that they could be in danger because it is a game. So the two of them decided that they needed to help educate them and decided they should educate their peers, as well. Many older kids do not realize ways to keep their accounts safe, so the duo decided that this should be highlighted, as well.
Devine FCCLA travels to the Region V Conference in Corpus Christi, Texas, to compete on January 29-31.
By Anton Riecher
Retiring East Medina County Special Utility District superintendent Bruce Alexander bid farewell Monday to the Medina County Commissioners Court by introducing his replacements to the court.
“December 31 is my last day and I can’t thank y’all or any of the previous commissioners and judges enough for all the work we’ve done in securing safe, potable drinking water for all the properties in Medina County,” Alexander said.
A licensed water operator for more than 43 years, Alexander is also a past president of the Texas Rural Water Association, a statewide educational and trade association that represents the state’s rural water community. He also serves as the current mayor of Castroville.
Alexander introduced EMCSUD business manager Lauren Evans and field manager Ronnie Lemmons. The EMCSUD board of directors has chosen to dissolve the superintendent position and split the duties between Evans and Lemmons.
As for the future, Alexander said he plans to spend more time with family, friends and as Castroville mayor.
County Judge Keith Lutz said he detected signs of emotion as Alexander addressed the commissioners.
“It doesn’t surprise me because he’s a really, really good guy and has really worked hard for our citizens,” Lutz said.
Bruce Alexander, retiring this month as superintendent of East Medina County Special Utility District, bid farewell to the Medina County Commissioners Court Monday. (Photo by Anton Riecher)
CUTLINE – LEMMONS-EVANS-ALEXANDER
From left, East Medina County Special Utility District field manager Ronnie Lemmons and business manager Lauren Evans joined with retiring superintendent Bruce Alexander who bid farewell to the Medina County Commissioners Court Monday. (Photo by Anton Riecher)
