Category: Things and Stuff by Jerry Beck

Special to the News
Forty one days without rain and counting..but with each passing day, we are one day closer.  Some of you scallawags aint prayin’ enough.
Got my Appraisal protest this Thursday.  Got a better chance of winning the Lottery than getting a break on my property appraisal.  But, I intend to have them get involved in a conversation about the increase of everything imaginable and the stagnant retirement checks that most of the retirees are getting.  
I guess we could lay around and claim to be unable to work.  That way, the government would just send us a check once a month and we could lay around and do nothing all day.  Or…you could just have more kids and add them to the welfare rolls and get an increase every time you have another kid.  Don’t work for most retirees…  
Thanks to Gov. Abbott for signing the tax relief bill that increases the Homestead Exemption from $50,000 to $100,000.  Big woop (no offense to the Aggies), my Appraisal went up $98,000 this year.  This increase will be eaten up in a couple years and he knows it will have a short-lived effect.  We need to overhaul the Appraisal system before we are taxed out into the streets.
Social Security increases are way behind the rate of inflation and these checks do not go very far.  At the rate that the politicians steal from SS, it will be a thing of the past in the near future.  On top of that, the US credit rating was downgraded as the US debt continues to skyrocket…guess that is Bidenomics hard at work.  We need to get rid of him and his cronies.
Election season is fast approaching…local offices are going to be contested for sure.  This election cycle, we need to show up in force if you want a change.  If not, guess we better learn to speak a foreign language or carry our money around in a wheelbarrow. Don’t do this to your grandchildren.
Couple weeks ago, ex-County Judge Schuchart called and wanted to have breakfast in Devine.  He asked if I wanted to ride with him to Frio Town so that he could turn on a well and water his cattle.  I said “sure”.  When he showed up, he was wearing a brace that kept his arm in place due to shoulder replacement surgery…sorry ss bottom feeder just needed a gate opener..least he bought breakfast.
It’ll cool off eventually so, keep rain in your prayers and do it often… 

Aint no need to talk about the weather…hotter’n it oughta be and if it was to rain, it would only turn to steam before it hit the ground. Need more prayers for rain sent.
Lost another good one last week. Wanda Gardner was a staple at City Council meetings in the late 80’s and 90’s. Nothing got past this lady. She was not the least bit hesitant to hold Council’s feet to the fire and ask the questions that are sometimes hard to answer honestly but, she insisted on an answer. If she was ever absent from a Council Meeting, it was suggested that someone go check on her.
She was a staunch (yellow dog) Democrat…unlike the ones in power now, she had morals and believed in holding her local government accountable. I liked to joke with her and bring up the fact that her son, Bobby, was a State level elected official in Colorado…AND was a Republican. She would respond with something like “we have our differences of opinion but, doesn’t everybody?” It was usually a short lived subject as she moved the conversation along.
As her eyesight failed, she would call me and give me her two cents worth and I appreciated hearing from her. Always respectful, short and to the point with a comment about having to read my column with a magnifying glass now.
Speaking of Democrats with no morals, the head of the snake told the American people that “America is moving again and your life is going to improve for the better” as he pitched the 2021 Infrastructure Bill. Well, it ain’t happened yet.
For example…Jan 6, 2021 gas price was $1.59 and last week, gas was over $3.00. In the time period of the $1.59 gas, America was the biggest producer of crude oil in the world. Since then, the Senile Puppet in Chief went begging for more from the Arabs…what a maroon. He and his handlers are the reason that America is in what seems like a death spiral.
Don’t know what happened in Commissioners Court last week…didn’t go. I’ll check with Danny and see if anything newsworthy happened.  One day closer to rain…keep praying.

Saturday night was good to a lotta folks in our area. Phil MacAnelly got over a couple inches of rain out in Yancey and Frank Runnells got bout the same in Biry. We, the Black Creek folk, were on the edge and I only found 2 tenths of an inch in my rain gauge. Aint heard from Mawmaw or Billy Grote in Moore.
We lost a good man last week. Dale Stehle finished his tenure on this side and went on. Didn’t see him much after he moved to Leakey but, talked once in a while. Got a quick Dale Stehle story explaining how he and I got into law enforcement.
Dale and I were workin for HEB Construction Co. in the summer of 1974 up at the HEB on Fredericksburg Rd at West Ave. It was bout as hot then as it is now. Round lunchtime one day, Dale and I were eating our sammidges out on the sidewalk in the shade cause they wouldn’t let us eat inside in the air conditioning and we were trying to drink our Big Reds before they got hot.
We looked out on West Ave. and saw a San Antonio Police car drive by. The policeman had the windows rolled up, his right arm draped across the seat just enjoying the drive in an air conditioned car.
I looked at Dale and said “I could do that”. He said “I think I could too”. After work that day, we went down to the SAPD Headquarters and picked up an application. Dale went a step further and went down on New Braunfels and got an application for DPS. Guess DPS called him first cause, as we all know, he went with them. Both of us got into Law Enforcement at the same time and both were blessed to retire from our respective agencies.
There are a number of other Dale Stehle stories out there that I am sure will surface in the near future. I got a few more, just ain’t enough space here to get them all in. Bottom line, Dale was one of the good guys. Always happy to see you and even happier to talk your leg off. If you asked him what time it was, he would tell you how to build a watch.
I see where our Supreme Court came out with a couple of decisions with which our current Administration did not agree. Now our President and others close to his way of thinking are saying that the Court does not understand our Constitution. Sounds like some of them are gonna throw a temper tantrum cause they didn’t get their way. Next Election, our country better wake up.
Still waitin on my notice to appear for my Protest Hearing at the Tax Appraisal Office and, speaking of taxes, I was glad to see the Devine City Council act to freeze City taxes for folks 65 and over. Now if the State would get off their keesters and act along the same lines…
Keep praying for rain. Medina Lake aint full yet.

Black Creek has been blessed with a lotta rain lately…as has Yancey and Moore and everywhere in between. Been in a contest with Billy Grote in Moore for braggin rights to the rain totals. In the last 35 days, we have gotten 10.4 inches of rain bringing our 2023 number up to 14.8. Took us all the way to October 17th last year to get to this number.
The last column was a little short so I’ll try to include it in this entry.
Regarding the National Budget and the Debt Ceiling, I think we need to sent a few Medina County elected officials to Washington and show them how to not only balance a budget but build reserves to a point where we never have to increase the Debt Ceiling ever again.
The US is in debt so far that our great grandchildren will be shouldered with an unfathomable debt that will never be reconciled.
Not gonna steal anybody’s thunder but, the City Council meeting on June 20th will be very interesting. Please plan to attend.
I see a lotta “Shop Devine First” signs out. Great idea. Just remember, there are other locations to shop besides Walmart. There is a pharmacy located in downtown where the other one used to be and that is where I get all my medicines. Very nice Pharmacist who is trying to make it in a small town…be nice to help him out if you can. You don’t have to wait for a checker to come back from break or check yourself out.
A 2023 Notices of Appraisal are out!! Even though my school and County taxes are frozen I gotta vent. My Structures and Improvement value increased $24,470 even though there were NO improvements to anything on our place. Our Market Value of Land increased $74,400 to total a $98,870 increase from last year. Even with the exemptions plugged in, the 2023 Taxable Value is still $23,000 more than 2022. I have already filed my Protest.
Phil McAnelly put out his Sunday School information a couple Saturdays ago that included a short story about his youth that included items like stock tanks, cypress cisterns, slingshots and homemade fishin poles. Brought back a lotta good memories. Bad memories would include warm cow patties, stickers, mad mama hens and cactus.