Category: Top News Stories

Keep up with what’s going on in Devine, Natalia, Lytle, Bigfoot and Moore areas in Medina, Frio, and Atascosa Counties.

Victory with Heavy Hearts…Horses rally past Bulldogs

Jerel Beaty
Staff writer
The biggest takeaway from Devine’s 23-13 decision over the Bulldogs in Bandera last Friday night was probably not even the fact that by winning the game the Warhorses kept hopes of a Tri-Championship going.
Eli Contreras standing at midfield for the coin-toss with co-captains Matthew Gomez, Anthony Saldivar, and Brayden Reyes as well as Contreras’ 1 carry for 7 yards and 1 reception for 6 yards were the most monumental moments that could have possibly occurred as it began a healing process for the Contreras’ family after the passing of Mr. Art Contreras.
Once the game got underway, the healing of Devine’s entire community also began after the subsequent passing of Devine Athletic Director Coach Jim Sessions.


A family and a town, joined in heartfelt pain, was given a chance to unite, a chance to grieve, and then the chance to enjoy a return to normalcy if only for a little while.
Contreras left the game after three offensive plays due fracturing his thumb in two places. Like the tough young man he is, he wanted to stay and finish the game but was unable to do so.
His fight obviously carried through to the rest of his teammates as Devine avenged last season’s setback to the Bulldogs by going up by as much as 23-7 after Edward Perez scored with little time left on the third quarter clock.
Devine took care of business in all three phases of the game.
Offensively, Saldivar stepped in to rush 15 times for 86 yards while the always-reliable Reyes touched end zone grass twice and carried a whopping 28 times in Contreras’ absence.
Defensively, the Warhorses made the Bulldogs offense look like it never got off the porch as Bandera rushed 15 times for negative 16 yards while 22 of their 33 pass attempts fell harmlessly to the ground.
Devine’s special teams showed out as well as Teotimo Stafford nailed a 24-yard field goal at the halftime buzzer sounded, giving Devine a 9-7 advantage and a lead they only continued to build upon.
This win was for the entire Warhorse Nation family.
Whether the family name be Contreras or Sessions, or any other family name for that matter that has dealt with the loss of a loved one over the last several months, Eli’s presence three nights after the passing of his father shows the toughness and resolve of what the Devine community is all about.


Warhorse tidbit, stats, & scoring summary

Route to Tri-Champs
In order for Devine to get a piece of that district-championship pie only 2 things have to happen, but they both have to happen on the last night of District 14 DII action.
Devine must beat San Antonio Memorial on homecoming night at Warhorse Stadium and Bandera must beat Carrizo Springs at Bulldog Stadium.
If Devine, Bandera, and Carrizo Springs all finish 3-1 then a tri-championship it is. Seeding is then based on point differential up to 18 points for each of the singular games between those three teams.
The Warhorses own a 10-point advantage over Bandera while the Wildcats hold an 18-point advantage over Devine.
There are too many playoff scenarios with whom Devine’s possible Bi-District opponent could be out of District 13 to even mention at the moment.
Lucky # 13
The Warhorses are in the playoffs, no doubt. The question is, who will they play?
That answer will not come until around 10pm Friday, November 8.
For now, all that is known with two weeks left in the season are the District 13 won-loss records which are as follows:
Wimberley 4-0, Lago Vista 3-1, Navarro 2-1, Salado 2-2, Jarrell 2-3, Gonzales 1-3, Smithville 0-4.
The playoff picture for that district may clear some this Friday, but the Warhorses situation will not be known until the conclusion of the Bulldog-Wildcat game in Bandera November 8.
District records: Carrizo Springs 2-0, Devine 2-1, Bandera 1-1, Pearsall 1-2, San Antonio Memorial 0-2.
District results: Oct11 Carrizo Springs 34 Devine 16; Bandera 31 Pearsall 14; Memorial open Oct18 Devine 49 Pearsall 7; Carrizo Springs 34 Memorial 7; Bandera open; Oct25 Devine 23 Bandera 13; Pearsall 28 Memorial 21; Carrizo Springs open.
Remaining: Nov1 Devine open; Bandera @ Memorial; Pearsall @ Carrizo Springs Nov8 Memorial @ Devine; Carrizo Springs @ Bandera.
Team stats
Rushing 51 for 155 yards (3.0), 2 TDs Passing 3 of 5 for 37 yards Receiving 3 for 51 yards.
Individual stats
Rushing Anthony Saldivar 15 for 86 yards (5.7); Brayden Reyes 28 for 64 yards (2.3), 2 TDs; Edward Perez 3 for 11 yards (3.7), 1 TD; Eli Contreras 1 for 7 yards… Read the full article at www.devinenewsmembers.com

State bound!

Photos this week by R Gonzalez and M Byrd. See lots more photos in this week’s paper.

The Lytle Pirate Band is making music and making history! The band placed 3rd in the prelims and earned a final ranking of 4th place in Finals. 
“We are over the moon excited, and so incredibly proud of these students!” said band director Joshua Chessher.
 The Pirate Band will perform in the Alamodome on Wednesday, November 6, at 10am.  If you are interested in attending in person, you can purchase tickets at https://www.ticketmaster.com/uil-state-marching-band-contest-3a-san-antonio-texas-11-06-2024/event/3A00613ED7F94725
Make sure you select 3A prelims.
“ If you come, make sure you wear your “Mirror Mirror band shirt, so we can show how the state how much pride we have in Lytle!” Chessher adds.

See this week’s Devine News for tons of photos.

Lytle ISD has declared that day a holiday for all students and staff so all may attend if they wish! What a wonderful way to support the band! The day will be made up later in February. UIL State Qualifying 2024 Lytle Pirate Band members are: Maddilyn Aguinaga, Andres Arredondo, Eleah Avelar, Valentina Ayala, Auslyn Beazer, Ashley Bowman, Easton Burley, Emiliano Cardenas, Kellyahn Castano, Juju Center, Rosabella Cepeda, Santiago Contreras, Alycia Corona, Lia Corral, Gabi Cortez, Nadia Daniels, Rylee Davila, Ethan Deleon, Adam Dominguez, Alex Dominguez, Benjamin Duty, Emma Emery, Zaira Farfan, Julyana Frausto, Emily Garcia, Andrea Garza, Nathan Garza, Andrea Gomez, Valeria Gomez, Marina Gonzalez, Joshua Guerra, Jasmine Guizar, Orlando Gutierrez, Timothy Gutierrez, Micaela Heath, Ryan Hendrickson, Lidon Hernandez, Madison Hernandez, Jaxon Hunt, Nevaeh Kassin, Koby Lara, Peyton Leverton, Svetlana Lopez, Ivan Lopez-Amaya, Madelyn Maldonado, Michael Martinez, Nicole Martinez, Sophia McBride, Taryn McDonald, Journee Mendoza, Vanessa Mercado, Xoly Montealegre, Lily Morales, Brayden Morton, Nayeli Nunez, Julianna Orozco, Makayla Perales, Makenna Perales, Celeste Ramirez, Novalee Rangel, Brayan Rangel Rodriguez, Laila Reed, James Reed Iv, Federico Reyes, Isabella Reyes, Sofia Rios Garcia, David Aaron Robles, Alieha Rodriguez, Jenna Rodriguez, Reina Rodriguez, Jazmine Ruiz, Mackenzie Schultz, Madison Schultz, Isabella Sewell, Juliet Sittre, Shea Smoot, Aubrey Solis, Collin Sprenger, Noah Stech, Brooke Tollett, Richard Tollett, Alisha Van Zant, Tyler Vaughan, Camila Vega, Naomi Velazquez-Haro, Haylee Ward, and Isaac Ytuarte.

City forced to enact steep water rate increases

By Anton Riecher
A two-step water rate increase of nearly 20 percent over the next year may be necessary for Devine to move forward with obtaining $11.5 million in state financing to replace lead water lines.
The Devine City Council, meeting in special session on Oct. 22, voted to meet again in two weeks to give city staff time to further analyze the results of a long-awaited water and sewer rate study in preparation for a final proposal on the increase.
Investment consultant Mark M. McLiney, senior managing director of SAMCO Capital, told the council that the results of the rate study, ordered as part of the city’s planned application to the Texas Water Development Board for financing, showed that the water utility lost roughly $350,000 in fiscal year 2023.
“After paying all your bonds you are reaching into your reserves to make bond payments,” McLiney said.


City Administrator David Jordan said that prior to the last water rate increase approved in 2018 the council had historically approved annual increases of between two and five percent to deal with maintenance and operation.
However, the increase in 2018 came in the wake of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality determination that local drinking water exceeded minimum contamination levels for asbestos, forcing the city to borrow $9.6 million for line replacement.
“They had one of two options,” Jordan said. “When they did increase the rates, option one was raise it enough to pay for the debt service, and option two was raise it enough to pay for the debt service as well as maintenance and operations.”
Read the full article on www.devinenewsmembers.com

This Saturday…Festival, games, fishing @ BIGFOOT fundraiser

By Kayleen Holder
Editor
Mark your calendars, it’s gonna be a fun event! One local family is hosting a very special fund raiser for the Bigfoot Volunteer Fire Department this coming Saturday, Oct. 26 after seeing first-hand the amazing way these heroes help our community in times of crisis.
The event will be an old-fashioned fall festival/haunted hay ride, with lots of games for the kids. Cash only! There will be lots of old-school kids games, as well as fishing and the haunted hayride. Kids will also get to see the big fire trucks.
Bobby Thompson, of Bigfoot, shares a little about what inspired the family to host this event…
“On July 4th, 2023, my family had our family reunion at my place in Bigfoot. Two teenagers were leaving my house about 10 pm that evening when a hog ran out in front of their vehicle. They swerved to miss the hog and over corrected, rolling their truck.”

“Both boys were ejected from the truck and landed in the ditch on separate sides of the road. Both were seriously injured,” Thompson said. “We called 9-1-1 and the Bigfoot Volunteer Fire Department arrived in a very short time. The Bigfoot Volunteer Fire Department was very professional and administered what I believe was life-saving medical attention to the boys.”
“My family owes a great amount of gratitude to the Bigfoot Volunteer Fire Department,” Thompson adds. “They sacrifice personal family time to be volunteers and it is evident that these volunteers are 100% committed to our community. In a rural area, we are blessed to have these high-quality committed volunteers.”
Also, if anyone is interested in volunteering for this one-day event they can contact me, Bobby Thompson, at 830-267-0059. We also want to invite anyone interested in joining the Bigfoot Volunteer Fire Department to reach out to the Fire Chief Mark Leach.

Devine Carnival and Fall Cactus Festival set for Oct. 31-Nov.2

The 63rd Annual Devine Fall Cactus Festival is set for next weekend October 31-November 2 in downtown Devine.
The Carnival will be here for three days, Thursday, Oct. 31, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 2.
Over 100 vendors will be on display for your shopping pleasure as well as the usual Plant Sale, Art Exhibit, kids games and more.
The Parade will kick off at 10:00 AM Saturday morning at the intersection of Hwy 173 and FM 2200 (Medina Glass) as usual.

PARADE

Parade entries are due by this Friday to Morales Realty, as the lineup will be charted this weekend. Floats will line up in the middle school parking lot and wrap around to the high school . The construction company promises to have it ready for use.
Live entertainment from 11am-midnight, will take place all day on two stages at the festival featuring a FREE dance that evening with Small Town Habit, Jeremy Richards, and the Solis Brothers as the headliners. A pep rally by DHS will take place from 12-1 pm earlier. Claude Morgan and friends will entertain from the second stage.
Parade Grand Marshall is Lewis Stroud. Theme is Devine Pride. No outside food or drinks will be permitted. Bring Lawn chairs.

VOTING INFO for Medina County residents and Natalia elections

Early voting kicked off this week and will continue Oct 21-25th (8am-5pm), Saturday Oct. 26 (7am7pm), Sunday Oct. 27 (9am-3pm), and Monday-Fri October 28th-November 1 (7am-7pm).
Voters can vote anywhere in the county including at the Medina County Courthouse Annex in Hondo, Medina County Pct 4 Annex building in Devine at 317 Hwy 132N, and the Medina County Pct 2 building in Castroville at 8366 FM 471 South. See page 4 for more.
Election Day will be Tuesday, November 5 (7am-7pm).
Look for a sample ballot on www.DevineNews.com

NATALIA ELECTIONS

Along with National and State elections which are ongoing, there are two big races for Natalia residents including a City Council election and a School Board election.

There are four candidates vying for positions on Natalia City Council. The candidates are: Mike Fernandez, Selica L Vera, Sam Smith and Valerie Michelle Naff.
The are four candidates are vying for 3 positions on the school board. The Natalia School board candidates are: Andrew Besa, Eric Smith, Fernando Garza, and Tracy Myers.

While this news story is provided free access, please consider becoming a member to support our local newsroom covering important local city, county, and school news!

Devine & Lytle CC runners State bound!

REGIONAL CHAMPS!

The Lytle Pirates set their sights on going to State, and that’s exactly where they are gonna do! Pictured above are: Johnny Rey Alvarez, Lucas Salazar, Bryan Montes-Rodriguez, Diego Reyna, Yandel Esquivez, Adrian Reyna, and Nathan Garza. Photo by D Wagner.

Lytle Lady Pirate Svetlana Lopez placed 12th to qualify for the November 2 State Meet in Round Rock. Congrats! Photo by D Wagner.

Warhorse Devo Dixon ran a personal record placing 13th and punching his ticket to state! Photo by T Anderson.

Unnamed data centers requesting water service in Medina County

Image Courtesy of Istockphotos.com

By Anton Riecher
East Medina County Special Utility District is designated to receive $500,000 in Texas Department of Agriculture community development block grant funding awarded to Medina County, district superintendent Bruce Alexander reported during the Oct. 15 district board meeting.
Also reviewed were plans to apply for $2.3 million in state funding to connect EMCSUD to a subdivision water system near Dunlay. Discussion also included new requests for water service from multiple digital data centers in the district.
The CDBG funding will be used to rebuild under used water lines along County Road 5710, Alexander said.


“A city can go out and get their own community development block grants,” he said. “The water systems must go through the county.”
Medina County applies for these grants through the Alamo Area Council of Governments, rotating them among the various water systems.
“We actually applied for this grant three years ago,” Alexander said. “COVID put a slow walk on it, delaying it. Last year we were up for it but the city of Castroville scored higher and got the grant away from us.”
Interconnection Grant
In other grant news, EMCSUD has been approved to make application to the Texas Water Development Board for $2.3 million to cover the cost of an interconnection between the district’s Unit Two water plant and the Creekwood Ranches subdivision water system acquired by the district two years ago.
“That’s pretty good news for us,” Alexander said. “That’s a potential 100 percent grant to the district from TWDB.”
The subdivision is located six miles east of Hondo, north of Highway 90. The Creekwood Ranches Water Supply Corporation was acquired by EMCSUD in May 2022.
As with the CDBG funding, the breakthrough with the TWDB application is the result of repeated attempts.
“We applied a year and a half ago,” Alexander said. “In the first round of funding we didn’t qualify so they asked us to reapply.”
That second application was added to a priority list by TWDB. In August, EMCSUD was approved to make application for the grant. The deadline for that application was Oct. 18.
TWDB conducts a meeting every month to review applications, Alexander said.
“Depending on how long it takes them to review the application it’s possible it could be funded as early as the middle of next month,” he said.
Data Centers
As to the requests for water service from several digital data centers Alexander said he was not at liberty to discuss the requests in detail.
“I can’t really talk about them because the district, at their request, has entered into non-disclosure agreements with them,” Alexander said. “They are very protective of their information.”
According to Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filings, two Microsoft data centers are reaching completion near Castroville. The combined centers total 106,012 square feet and cost $230 million to construct.
In addition, Microsoft is expected to break ground on an additional $482 million data center near Castroville in spring 2026, TDLR filings show.
In addition to the unnamed data centers, Alexander said the district is working to extend service to several small subdivisions as CONTINUE READING by becoming a member