The City of Lytle has brought back its annual Easter Eggs-travaganza this year after a two year absence due to Covid (years 2019 and 2020). The Easter Egg Hunt will take place on the Saturday before Easter, Saturday, April 16 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm in the John Lott Municipal Park. Registration Starts at Noon. Registration fee is 1 canned good or $1.00 per child. There will be a Hunt for Kids ages 1 thru 8.The Hunt starts at 2 pm after the Easter Bunny arrives at 1 pm. Early Bird Prize Drawings will be given out. Every year the City of Lytle hosts an egg hunt for the children of the city and surrounding area on the Saturday before Easter. The Easter Bunny makes an appearance to hand out candy and prizes. The egg hunt is held at John Lott Municipal Park on the baseball fields. Kids are divided up based on their age. The Easter Egg Hunt is for children ages 1 thru 8. Along with an egg hunt the kids are entered into drawings for Easter prizes.
Castroville Special Events (CSE) is hosting a fundraising event on Thursday, April 21st from 6 to 9 p.m. at Paradise Canyon. The fundraiser is designed to benefit those affected by the recent fires in the northern part of Medina County. Cactus Country will provide music for the event and food and water will be available for sale. The venue is BYOB but no glass bottles are allowed on site. A $20 donation is suggested. Tickets are available at Eventbrite https://www. Eventbrite.com/e/medina-county-cares-concert-tickets-317759225397. The venue is located at 2220 County Road 2615 in Rio Medina. Everyone is invited to participate. For questions call 210-289-9622.
Medina County Commissioners voted April 7 to allow County Judge Chris Schuchart to negotiate and offer Volta LLC a tax break to locate near Yancey. Schuchart told the Devine News that he is offering Volta a 50 percent tax break over a five year period. School and state taxes would not be affected, nor would road and bridge funds. Judge Schuchart clarified that it would be a 50% abatement for everything above the current tax revenue which was $9,500 a year. Volta, based in Houston, is a leading manufacturer of industrial power systems. According to Dun and Bradstreet, the company generates $70.9 million in sales annually. “They expect to provide 50 jobs in the first year, and eventually up to 140 jobs,” Schuchart said in a short phone interview
ESD#4 treasurer Billy Alvarado, foreground, and assistant treasurer Juan Zamora measuring the existing helipad at the ambulance district headquarters. Improvements will also be made to the driveway leading up to the helipad to make it safer for transferring patients. Photo by Anton Riecher.
Medina County’s Emergency Service District No. 4 board of directors agreed April 5 to extensive cost cutting regarding proposed helipad improvements at the ambulance headquarters in Devine. The board dropped a proposal calling for a 92½-foot square, six-inch deep concrete helipad with extensive lighting in favor of extending the existing 20-foot square helipad with an additional 10 feet in skirting, possibly using concrete Further improvements would be made to slope the driveway approaching the helipad to allow better access. Lighting improvement would be limited to illumination of the helipad wind sock. Following a presentation by ESD No. 4 Treasurer Billy Alvarado on anticipated costs, the board voted unanimously to appoint Alvarado manager of the project based on his background in construction. Alvarado said the cost of the suggested Federal Aviation Administration approved helipad could be as much as $80,000. “Just in concrete alone we would be looking at about $30,000 to $40,000,” he said. However, nothing states that the helipad in Devine needs to meet full FAA standards, he said. Instead, Alvarado suggested making use of the existing helipad in the proposed expansion. “The pad right now is 20 feet by 20 feet,” Alvarado told the board. “The slab is solid with no cracks.” As previously proposed, the 92 square foot pad would require a system of eight landing lights around the perimeter. Each of those lights cost $650 to $1,000, Alvarado said. “These helicopters have big spotlight that can light up the approach,” he said. Money saved on the pad size and lighting might be applied instead to improving the headquarters parking lot sloping up to the pad, he said. Alvarado accepted the project manager position with the understanding that he may be moving outside the ESD No. 4 district in the near future. The move would require him to step down from the ESD No. 4 board, he said. A response time report for March submitted by Allegiance District Chief Patrick Bourcier showed a total of 188 calls for the month of which 117 were in the Devine area. Overall response time averaged seven minutes with 43 percent within five minutes, 32 percent between six and nine minutes and 25 percent requiring 10 minutes or more. In the Devine area, response time averaged six minutes. Eighty-one percent of Devine area calls required a response time of nine minutes or less. Only 19 percent required a response time of 10 minutes or more. Board members questioned Bourcier with regard to an increase in calls originating in the Lytle. Primary ambulance service for that area is provided by Atascosa County with ESD No. 4 ambulances called in to handle the overflow. “The call volume in that area, Lytle, has increased dramatically,” Bourcier said. He said he expected that trend to continue as more subdivisions open in that area. In other business matters, Bourcier approached the board about setting up its own Internet account to handle the ESD No. 4 website. The website is currently maintained by Crux Technologies, a company affiliated with Allegiance. A treasurer’s report submitted by ESD administrator Christy Merendon showed the district with a balance of $699,343 split between two banks. At Community National Bank money is split between $231,715 in an operating account and $125,002 in a savings account. At Security State Bank the district holds a money market account containing $237,999 and a certificate of deposit for $104,625. Editors Note: The ESD 4 currently funds two full time ambulances to serve the Devine and Natalia area at a cost of $17,666 per month. The ambulance that was in Moore pulled out in recent months, so we no longer have that nearby back up unit which was being offered by Allegiance free of charge for a short time. Several months ago, Devine Fire Chief Greg Atkinson addressed the ESD to let them know that Devine VFD hasn’t had any trouble landing helicopters on the existing pad, and many times, the helicopter lands right on the scene of an accident instead. He acknowledged that the EMS company does a good job, but he suggested that the residents of ESD4 would be better served by increasing the number of ambulances in Devine/Natalia based on some the response times to the calls he has helped with. Another citizen, echoed that sentiment, sharing how long her family waited for an ambulance on two separate occasions in the past few years. ESD 4 Board meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month unless otherwise posted.
City Councilman Sam Cortez, City Council Alderman Charles Cate, Coach Gilbert Ruiz, Coach Hadley Foster, Mayor Ruben Gonzalez and City Councilman David Emery stand beneath the newly unveiled Ruiz-Foster Way street sign.
On Friday, April 8, 2022, at the intersection Easy St. and Laredo St. in front of Lytle ISD’s Walter H. Joyce, Jr. Stadium, a crowd of more than 100 people gathered to honor and celebrate two Lytle ISD coaches, Hadley Foster and Gilbert Ruiz.
In the wake of the 1,000-acre plus Das Goat wildfire in March, fire protection became a hot topic April 7 when Medina County Commissioners reviewed progress on various subdivisions under development.
Little Rylee Smith, 6, is officially a 4th generation beekeeper at the family business, Honig Apiary in Devine. “Honig, actually means honey in German,” said Rylee’s mother, Deann Smith, who was excited to introduce her little girl to the family business. It all started with Grandpa David Ivy many years ago. “My grandpa Ivy was a beekeeper years ago before he passed away, and my mom Michelle Honig would always help him when she was younger. She just got back into it a few years ago on the family property in Devine,” said Rylee’s mother Deann Smith. “We hope to start selling at some of the markets this year.” Granddaughter Rylee has been begging to help with the beekeeping, and she got her chance this past weekend. “She was a natural and absolutely loved it! Thank you Grandma for teaching us the ropes!” Smith said. “She’s been begging us for a while and we finally Gave in. I thought she would get scared, but we actually had to tell her to get back a few times and to stop trying to pet all of the bees. She helped with everything and giggled the whole time. She also attempted to name them all.”
Newly released FTC data shows that Americans reported losing more than $5.8 billion to fraud in 2021, an increase of more than 70 percent over the previous year. In a day and age where identity theft and fraud is on the rise, it is refreshing to see stories like this one, of neighbors helping neighbors. On a busy Friday afternoon this April, a good citizen found a check laying in the parking lot of a local grocery store in Devine. Instead of walking past it, or leaving it for someone else to find, she took the time to pick it up and turn in that check written for $12,000. She quickly turned it into the manager who then turned it over to authorities, safe and sound. “That’s not something we see every day,” Devine PD Lieutenant Chris Andrews. “The kindness of the citizens in a small town is awesome.”
Off to Regionals is Lytle’s One-Act Cast and Crew. Pictured from top left to right are: Christian Alcorta, Anthony Guevara, Ms. Nelson, April Bodie, Shea Smoot, Jaeda Carrillo, Jacob Flores, Jada Vega, Chis Lopez, Garrett Stricker, Xotchil Ferriera, Amira Montalvo, Karizma Wrobleski. Bottom Row: Alex Cabrera, Micaela Heath, Gillian Haltom, and Celeste Perez.
Lytle’s One-Act play competed Friday, April 1st for Area. Their play, These Shining Lives, was selected along with 2 other school to advancing to Regionals!!
Jaeda Carrillo received Honor Crew, Garrett Stricker and Karizma Wroblewski both received Honorable Mention, and Celeste Perez received All-Star Cast.
Lytle will be competing the Regional One-Act Play contest Thursday, April 21st!
Bambi buckets are dropped from the air as firefighters battled the difficult fire going on 8 days now as of this Friday (still 95% contained).
Saturday, March 26, 2022– A weekend blaze near Mico that scorched more than 1,000 acres prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to add Medina County to a growing list of Texas counties named in state disaster declarations due to recent wildfires.
