Author: admin

City authorizes $11.5 million in obligations to secure grants to replace lead water lines

By Anton Riecher
In other action, the Devine City Council voted to adopt ordinances authorizing the issuance of certificates of obligations covering the city’s application for $11.5 million in low interest loans through the Texas Water Development Board for federally mandated replacement of lead water service lines.
“Tonight’s action is selling those certificates of obligation and locking in the interest rates and proceeding closer to the bond closing next month for these loans and securing the grants,” said Andrew Friedman of SAMCO Capital, financial adviser to the city.
Also, the council named City Administrator David Jordan to represent the city as a director on the Medina County Regional Water Alliance. The alliance is seeking to create a 50,000 acre-foot freshwater storage and recovery project in the brackish Trinity aquifer using water saved over time from the Edwards aquifer.
Incoming District 5 alderman Hal Lance Jr., who replaces Randall in May, will serve as alternate on the alliance board of directors.

24 hours with Jesus….local church welcomes you to special event

LaCoste’s Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church invites you and your family to join in celebrating 24 hours with Jesus. The event will take place at the church this March 28th-29th, beginning with a 5 pm Stations of the Cross on Friday and ending with a 5:30 pm mass on Saturday.
In celebration of the Jubilee year, the church welcomes 24 hours of adoration. See thier ad in this week’s paper for more information on the schedule of events.
What is Jubilee?
A special time of grace and reconciliation, people are invited to deepen their relationship with God. A select few churches are chosen to be the site of such adoration. A complete list of chosen churches can be seen online at https://archsa.org/jubilee2025/pilgrimage-sites/
Each site offers a unique opportunity for prayer, reflection, and deepening your relationship with Jesus Christ in this Jubilee Year. By visiting these sacred places and fulfilling the necessary conditions, you can gain the gift of a plenary indulgence, according to the Arch Diocese of San Antonio.
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2025 is the 2,025th anniversary of the Incarnation of our Lord (Jubilee Holy Year), an “event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church.” The concept of “Jubilee” has its origins in the Book of Leviticus (chapter 25) as a special year of reconciliation, pilgrimage, and coming home. Pope Francis has designated the 2025 Holy Year as a time to renew ourselves as “Pilgrims of Hope.”

What are some of the top three natural supplements?


“Fish oil, vitamin D, CO-Q10, and Kefir,” Dr. Neel said.
“Vitamin D is good for boosting energy and mood, and is also believed to be anti-cancer. One study found that 70% of women with breast cancer in their study were deficient in Vitamin D. Co-enzyme Q10 (CO-Q10) seems to help people taking drugs for cholesterol, which depletes certain things that your body needs.”
Kefir is a dairy product available at most grocery stores, and Dr. Neel believes it’s the best pro-biotic available

Devine VFW Bingo Prizes and Prices Increasing

Thursday, March 27, will see increased prizes and prices at VFW Post 3966 Bingo. This winter, Bingo has not been making money for the Post. To counter this trend prices will increase for regular bingo games. What bingo players will get for this price increase will be larger prize amounts for the Early Bird and Regular Bingo games. Early Bird games will increase payout from $45 to $75. Regular Bingo Games will increase payout from $75 to $100. Every Thursday we start the night with four Early Bird games (games 1-4). This is followed by 12 Regular Bingo Games (games 5-16). Additionally, Pull Tab games are played as they are sold. Game 10 is a jackpot that pays $200 and the last game (16) is a jackpot that has paid $200 to $600 based on sales. With the new pricing schedule, we hope to increase the final jackpot.
All people in attendance for Bingo must play a Big Package (“Big Pack”) or a Small Package (“Small Pack”). Both have differently colored pages, one for each of games 5-16. One page is played during each game. A Big Pack has 9 squares and a Small Pack has 6 squares that are played during each game. Each square is a chance to win. Each game has a different pattern that must be completed to win. The first person to complete the pattern as numbers are called yells “Bingo” to win. Early Bird Packages (4 games with 3 squares each) and Double Action games (extra chances for the jackpots) are also sold.
New pricing is as follows:
Big Pack – $20
Small Pack – $15
Early Bird Package – $4
Double Action – $2
Single game page – $2 (6 squares to play)
Early Bird single page – $1 (3 squares to play)
Half Pack – $10 (games 11-16, 6 squares each)
If attendance remains the same the Post should break even. It is hoped the increased prizes will bring in more people so we can make some money for our charitable operations. Bingo is operated in accordance with the Bingo Enabling Act for charitable organizations.
Bingo is played every Thursday at the VFW Hall at 211 W. College Ave., Devine, TX. Doors open at 5pm. Bingo game and Pull-Tab sales start at 6pm. Bingo starts at 7pm. Food and drinks available starting at 6pm.

ESD#2 demands separate bank accounts and truck maintenance records of Devine VFD after criminal allegations

By Anton Riecher
Citing recent legal controversies involving Devine Volunteer Fire & Rescue, Medina County Emergency Services District No. 2 board president Todd Summers announced at the board’s March 18 meeting its intention to renegotiate the contract with DVF&R to strengthen financial accounting and equipment maintenance requirements.
The board plans to confer with its attorney to determine “if there is a means through the contract to make sure some of these things don’t happen again,” Summers said.
DVF&R office administrator and suspect Heather Schultz was arrested in December on a charge of tampering with evidence related to more than $76,000 in missing department funds. In late February, a misdemeanor count of official oppression by sexual harassment was filed against Devine Fire Chief Greg Atkinson.
Atkinson resigned on March 4, one day before the ESD2 board voted to authorize a forensic audit of the DVF&R finances for the past three years. The action was recommended by Medina County Sheriff Randy Brown and other county officials.
Summers’ announcement came after a 40-minute executive session behind closed doors with their attorney. Uppermost on the board’s list of concerns is closer monitoring of maintenance records on ESD2-owned equipment in use by DVF&R, most important of which is the fire trucks.
“I can remember when Greg got here he complained all the time that the previous chief never did any maintenance on the vehicles,” Summers said. “I can remember him here telling us that. And he was telling us how great a job he was doing.”
However, at the ESD board’s March 5 special meeting it was reported that no maintenance has been done on the trucks since Atkinson has been here, Summer said.
“We would love to see the maintenance records on the equipment for the last three years if you have that,” he said, directing his request to DVF&R officials on hand. “That will help us see what’s out there.”
The bottom line of any future contract negotiation is that the equipment belongs to ESD2, Summers said.
“You guys are using it so, going forward, we are certainly going to be pushing harder…”LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinewsmembers.com. You will get INSTANT online 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!

Devine council tables action on code enforcement contract, citing DVF&R controversy

By Anton Riecher
Action on continuing a contract with Devine Volunteer Fire & Rescue to handle code enforcement for the city of Devine was tabled by the city council at its March 18 meeting after questions from council members about recent DVF&R legal controversies.
The council voted 3-2 on a motion by District 1 Alderman Ray Gonzales to table action on the continuation, with District 3 Alderman Jeff Miller and District 5 Alderwoman Debbie Randall opposing.
Mayor Butch Cook said he had hoped for a vote of confidence for the DVF&R in support of the code enforcement contract.
“My position on it is we are not doing business with an individual, we’re doing business with an organization,” he said.
Presenting the measure for consideration, City Administrator David Jordan explained that the city has a special services agreement with DVF&R to handle local code enforcement.
“Most of you are aware there has been a transition in fire department personnel,” Jordan said. “I met with the new interim leadership, interim chief Jessica Martinez, and the president of the fire department board as well as the president of the ESD (emergency services district) board.
“The fire department desires to continue with the code enforcement contract,” he said…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinewsmembers.com. You will get INSTANT online 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!

New capital projects impact 2023-2024 Lytle city audit

By Anton Riecher
A host of new capital projects drove down the amount of cash on hand at the end of the 2023-2024 fiscal year by a small amount, according to the 2023-2024 municipal audit presented to the Lytle City Council Monday night.
The audit, prepared by Armstrong, Vaughn and Associates, was presented to the council by auditor Jacob Twomay.
“You did have less cash at the end of the current fiscal year,” Twomay said. “This is because you spent a lot of money on a lot of new capital projects that you’ve been working on. I’m sure you’ve seen the construction going on throughout town.”
The decrease in available cash amounted to $36,000 from the previous fiscal year, “not a very large decrease in terms of what you have on the books, but it was still a decrease,” he said.
Despite the decrease, the city continues to show growth in sales tax and property tax revenue, Twomay added.
“There’s been a lot of expansion here along the highway (Interstate 35) with new businesses and new buildings coming in,” he said. “That helped increase your sales tax and has been a great boom.”
However, the audit shows that the city’s expenses increased as well, Twomay said.
“The main thing I would note was your professional fees grew in the past year along with your salaries and wages,” he said.
Those increases are to be expected with the effort to retain the talent on the city staff, Twomay said.
“You’ve got to incentivize them to stay,” he said.
Twomay also noted that the increase in property taxes, while healthy, was not as much as had been expected.
“You were actually over budget in revenue overall, especially because of your sales tax, which was over budget by $232,000,” he said.
Mayor Ruben Gonzalez, who works as Medina County veterans services officer, asked if the expected increases failed to take into account tax exemptions for disabled veterans moving into the area. Twomay said that was possible.
“Depending on how the freeze works, over age 65 and disabled veterans, those freezes will kind of keep your tax value down, which keeps your revenue from increasing as much as you would probably expect, or as much as the market would say,” he said.
As is standard procedure in many communities, the council elected earlier this year to bring in a new auditing firm after a five-year stint with Armstrong, Vaughn & Associates. Gonzalez noted that the auditors had worked closely with city staff to bring financial bookkeeping up to date.
The books were as much as three years behind at one point before the auditing firm came on board, city finance director LaNet Hester said.
One area that Twoney noted that still needs work is the number of bank accounts main…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinewsmembers.com. You will get INSTANT online 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!

2 Guided Hunts and 4 Gun drawings April 5 at Country Music

Two guided hunts have been donated in honor of sweet little 7 year old Audrey Jane Capps by family/ friends hoping to find a treatment and cure for Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T).
Tickets can be purchased during the Country Music Festival which is part of Audrey Jane’s Light hosted at Devine Acres Farm on Saturday, April 5 from 4:00 pm to 12:00 midnight.

Continue reading “2 Guided Hunts and 4 Gun drawings April 5 at Country Music”