Category: Top News Stories

By Anton Riecher
In his monthly superintendents report Todd Grandjean told the board that due to increased fentanyl overdoses in Texas the district is now stocking Narcan nasal spray at two campuses. The spray is administered to treat opioid overdose.
“We don’t feel we have a problem but better safe than sorry,” he said.
He also reported that he and assistant superintendent Daryl Wendel continue to conduct campus safety visits each week to monitor compliance with new state mandates and safety protocols.
Grandjean reported on a state mandated intruder detection audit conducted Sept. 19 by the Texas School Safety Center. Those conducting the audit were unable to gain access to the campus in question and, upon being granted access, were repeatedly questioned by faculty as to their reason for being there,
“Upon entering the front office they had to follow our safety protocols, the certain things required when you are a visitor,” Grandjean said.
No doors accessing the building were found unlocked or propped open, he said. However, one door lock to a secondary building failed to keep the auditors out. No students were present in the unnamed building.
Inside the school, auditors found one classroom door unlocked. The classroom was being used by teachers with no students present, Grandjean said.
The TSSC requires that the results of the audit be revealed during a public meeting. However, a portion of the audit is discussed only in closed session. The board went into executive session to meet with TSSC school safety expert Robert Jaklich.
For full video coverage of the board meeting, visit the Devine News YouTube page at youtu.be/8E54GR5xoNI.
In other business, Abigail Beadle, district special programs director, gave a report on the English as a Second Language (ESL) program designed to teach English language skills students whose primary language at home is other than English.
“Devine ISD serves approximately 107 (ESL) students,” Beadle said. “When I started here that number was in the upper eighties so it has gone up quite a bit.”
Of those students identified as needing ESL services only 97 are signed up for the program, she said.
“What that means is we do have a handful of students whose parents deny services, which is their right,” Beadle said.
Ciavarra Elementary Principal Magdelena Strickland reported to the Devine ISD school board Monday. Teachers are busy coaching students at Ciavarra Elementary in preparation for the Dec. 9 University Interscholastic League competition.
“They are staying after school and having meetings to get ready,” Strickland said.
Four teachers have been assigned to help students of all grades prepare for the competition, she said. Specifically, second grade students are being coached on storytelling and creative writing, third grade students on storytelling and fourth and fifth grade students on numbers sense.
In addition, fifth graders are being coached on maps, graphs and charts, Strickland said.
In other developments at Ciavarra, first and second grade students have completed taking the mCLASS assessment, a means of measuring development of reading skills. Kinder students have also completed mCLASS assessment.
“Our reading interventionists are classroom teachers now have more data to identify students in need of small group instructions,” Strickland said.
Pre-kinder teachers have completed their teaching strategies assessment to better support their students through the learning process, she said. Each child gets nine different assessed areas – social, emotional, physical, language, cognitive, literary, math, science and technology, social studies and the arts.
The pre-kinder faculty have also completed a basic skills assessment in which students are tested for letter identification (upper and lower case), letter sound, positional words, colors, shapes, number identification, how high they can count and, finally, if students can write their first and last name.
Strickland joined two other Devine ISD principals – Kandi Darnell of Devine Middle and Michael Gomez of Devine Intermediate – in receiving special recognition from the school board in honor of National Principals Month.
“Principals are a vital part of our children’s education as they set the tone for their school by working collaboratively with teachers to set high academic standards, set performance goals and utilize best practices for achieving those goals,” Superintendent Todd Granjean said.
During the public comments portion of the agenda Nancy Saathoff of the Devine Ex Teachers Association took the opportunity to than the district for its help with this years’ homecoming celebration that included the 50th anniversary reunion for the Class of 1972.
“We had a wonderful event,” she said.
Saathoff also said she is acting as coordinator for the Youth Art Exhibit at the Devine Chamber of Commerce Devine Fall Festival on Nov. 5.
“Devine ISD is going to have over a thousand kids’ art represented on Nov. 5,” she said.
Previous to the Monday night meeting, the board met on Oct. 11 regarding a grievance complaint. The district released the following statement following the meeting:
“Renee Frieda moved and seconded by Chris Davis that the board has determined that the level 2 grievance was appropriately handled by Superintendent Grandjean. However, the Board wants to reaffirm to you our commitment to creating a culture within Devine ISD that supports the growth and development of every student.”
According to the Texas Education Agency, a level one grievance is a formal grievance submitted in writing to the school principal. The resulting action can be appealed to the superintendent as a level two grievance usually resulting in a conference related to the complaint.

The City of Devine is hosting their City-Wide Garage Sale/Yard Sale on one day only, Saturday, October 22, 2022. On this day only, the permit fees will be waived by the city.
So mark your calendars and get ready for the city-wide garage sale on Saturday, October 22 and make sure to get your yard sale in the Devine News Classified Ad Section. You can sign up online at www.devinenewsmembers.com by clicking on the Classified Ad tab or call the office at 830-665-2211. Class ads are $10 per week.

By Kayleen Holder
Editor
The old familiar wooden chairs and tables from Charlie’s II are back in service at the new Charlie’s Daughter restaurant which opened just weeks ago. Missy and husband Jerry Stevens is happy to carry on the family tradition and she’s thrilled to get back to waiting tables and visiting with customers at the new restaurant inside the City of Devine’s newly renovated golf course club house.
“We even have the silverware, plates, mugs, and it’s cooked in the same pots and pans!” Missy said with a chuckle. “It’s a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to carry on the Charlie’s tradition and I am seeing customers I haven’t seen in three years.”
It’s been sort of like a happy family reunion, she said.
“We’ve been in that trailer for a long time, and it just wasn’t the same. I could serve food but there wasn’t that one on one connection with my customers like it is in the restaurant. A lot of times I would be in the back cooking in that trailer and not know who I was cooking for. I missed seeing a lot of people,” Missy said. “And the kids who used to come to Charlie’s have grown up so much! I hired a waitress recently and once we got to talking, I realized she was the same little girl who used to come in to Charlie’s II with her dad years ago.”
And major news alert….Charlie’s famous enchiladas and Mexican food plates are back by popular demand!
Mama Mrs. Rogene Cupp helped kick off the move by making the first pot of chili and rice as they brought back the Mexican food that everyone’s been craving.
“We brought back Mexican food a couple of weeks ago, and it’s been going like wildfire!” Missy said. You’ll find the Ladies Special, Enchiladas, and everything else back on the menu.
Charlie’s welcomed back their breakfast cook, Joseph recently as well.
“Now we are doing breakfast every day we are open Tuesday-Saturday,” Missy said. That’s including two customer favorites, the Herb and Sleepy plates, along with biscuits and gravy. The Herb (a taco with egg, meat, cheese, hash and refried beans) and the Sleepy (egg, meat, hash browns, cheese all scrambled together) are both named after beloved customers.
“You never know when you are going to have a plate named after you!” Missy said.
Along with the old familiar specialties, Charlie’s Daughter also serves some new things such as Philly Cheese Steaks, wings, and Steak Fingers that are fresh cut from a chicken fried steak.
Also new, they serve several appetizers including fried pickles, fried mushrooms, and more. They also have a triple-bogey sampler plate.
The jalapenos, cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes are all grown locally! They are also serving fresh homemade peach cobbler sourced locally.
Mom and dad, Charlie and Rogene Cupp are often there “taste testing for quality control.”
“Dad said we need bigger biscuits, so the next day I started making bigger biscuits,” Missy said with a smile.
Mr. Cupp commented highly on the breakfast plates, “The real grilled biscuits are really good, and the pancakes, you can’t get a better pancake in town!”

We are excited to announce that Devine News Editor and author Kayleen Holder and illustrator Chad Wildoner have won a Moonbeam Award this October. The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards is an international annual contest founded in 2006.
According to their website, the Moonbeam Awards aims to recognize “exemplary children’s books and their creators, and are dedicated to supporting childhood literacy and life-long reading.”
Holder and Wildoner’s book, Hello from the Great Blue Sea, took 3rd place in Educational Children’s Activity books.

The book features 12 colorful sea creatures from the “sea cookie to the shark” and has some fun facts about each one. It also features a cut-out memory card game and puzzle in the back.
To make it even more special, all profits from this book will go to the A-T Children’s Project, in honor of Kayleen’s little 4-year-old niece Audrey Capps, and all A-T warriors, to help find a cure for Ataxia telangiectasia. The book’s illustrator Chad Wildoner has battled A-T since he was a toddler.
“I want to show kid’s with A-T or any disability that there is nowhere you cannot go, and nothing you cannot do if you work hard and believe in yourself,” said Holder and Wildoner.
You can purchase the book on Amazon, or in Devine at Country Gals, Mag’s Place, Nellie Ruth’s, Bon Cafe, and Sonny’s Italian Grill.

Martin Villarreal was the winner of the 2021 Ford Eco Sport donated by Chaparral Ford family Don and Irma Dunford, pictured with grandson and GM Zachary Morris and Father Antonio Xavier Hernandez-Peraza. The vehicle was donated as the grand prize of the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Festival drawing, which was a huge success thanks to all of the generous donors.

Devine High School Homecoming Queen Avery Cruz and King Aiden Zapata were crowned this past Friday night.

By Kayleen Holder
Editor
There was quite a crowd of DuBoses and community members at the Dubose Firehouse this Saturday, as the dedication and revealing of the plaque took place at 3 pm. The amount of hours and manpower that’s been put into our local volunteer fire department by so many families over the past 93 years, is insurmountable. I wish we could name every single one of those heroes, who sacrificed their time doing to such hard and important work for our community.
The event began with several community members looking at old photos and swapping stories with the new generation who keeps the Devine Volunteer Fire trucks rolling.
Chief Greg Atkinson gave a speech as they got ready to officially name the station and reveal the plaque out front. Atkinson said the name “DuBose” kept appearing and reappearing as he researched the history of the Devine Volunteer Fire Department, and he was honored when Patrick DuBose retired from SAFD and re-joined Devine VFD as the Assistant Chief.

When it comes to Devine Volunteer Department, Atkinson said, “there are several families that left behind a legacy….there were Ehlingers; there were Rodriguez’; there were Bramhalls,” just to name a few.
For 83 of the 93 years that the department has existed, a DuBose has been on the roster alongside so many other volunteers, Atkinson said.
“A DuBose helped found this department. A DuBose helped incorporate this department. A DuBose helped form Emergency Service District #2. If it wasn’t for this family, the city of Devine would have lacked fire and medical services on many occasions. What a legacy,” Chief Atkinson said.
“I want to say thank you to this family,” Chief Atkinson said. “That’s 83 years of not just firefighter support but of the families who had mom or dad who were away from dinner or Christmas morning because they had to go help somebody…It’s 83 years where mom or dad or son had to run out the door to help someone when it was an important time in that person’s life too…what a sacrifice. On behalf of me and my staff, thank you.”
Mrs. Bobbie DuBose got up to speak for a few minutes after the dedication. She shared stories of when she took over dispatcher duties, answering fire calls from her home phone, all while raising three kiddos.

“I’ll never forget when Richard Schott asked Dub and I to answer the calls at home. ‘It’ll just be temporary,’ he said. Do you know how long it lasted?” she asked with a smile. “For 10 years I answered that phone at night and on the weekends!”
But that wasn’t all, she went with her husband to fire calls now and then too.
“But anyway it was exciting,” DuBose said. “I stuck with it and he stuck with me. The life of a wife of a fireman named Dub DuBose. I’ll tell ya, many nights he would take the tanker truck out to a fire. I would drive and he would run the fire hose.”
She later added,“One time our young daughter Jennifer had to answer the fire phone, she was scared and didn’t want to, but she did it because she knew it was important and had to be done. She did a great job, we were proud of her of course”.
Lewis Stroud fondly recalled a fire story and shared it with us at the news office recently.
“I remember back in 1955 when our house was on fire on Zig Zag, just outside the city. C.P.DuBose jumped on the fire engine as one of the other firemen stood in front of the truck and told him he couldn’t take it outside city limits. C.P. told him to get out of the way or he would run him over, as he wasn’t going to let the Stroud home burn down. He zipped on over and put out the fire all by himself. If it wasn’t for C. P. our home would have burned down!” said Stroud. “I was in the 5th grade at the time.”
The fire house was across the street from The Devine News where C.P. worked, so when the sirens went off he made many fires during his time as did his sons Dub, Wade, Pat and grandson Patrick DuBose who all worked at the news office over the years. This is what many businesses did that had volunteer firemen as employees. They knew the volunteers were limited during the working hours as many worked out of town. So they allowed their employees to go to fire calls during working hours while they were on the payroll, to protect the community and its families. Henry Schmidt was one of those business owners who allowed his employees to run out to the fires, and he was usually right beside them. Small town businesses sacrificed and took care of their fellow neighbors in need. Schmidt’s son Mike and his friends Mickey Davis, Gilbert Rodriguez and Patrick DuBose were allowed as juniors and seniors to leave the high school to fight fires, because they were needed during daylight hours to fill the need and put out the fires alongside the few volunteers who were available during working hours.
The DuBose family is humbled by this honor, and wants to recognize all of the many men and women who worked side by side to keep the fire trucks rolling all these years, and many more to come.