Cash Menchaca, 15 of Bigfoot, has been riding horses practically since the day he was born, mom says. And look at him go now! This local cowboy won the Tie Down Roping at the High School Rodeo, and one week later, he also qualified to rope in Million Dollar Rodeo! Menchaca is a Sophomore at Devine High School. “Cash put last year behind him and came into 2024 with…
You’ll find a list of street names in the article below, but as the City notes, there may be additional areas of Devine affected that we are not aware of. The schools are also doing a lot to prepare for the 21 day service interruption.
By Kathleen Calame Publisher Contractors will be working on replacing some of the water lines with asbestos in certain areas of the City of Devine, mostly near the Elementary, Intermediate, Middle School and High Schools over the next 3 weeks starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 27, 2024 causing interruptions in the water service in affected areas such as the schools and surrounding neighborhoods. See listed of affected areas and streets below that will have water interruptions.
Devine Fire is still on the scene of a fire that broke out around 3:05 am this morning, January 22, in a home located at Devine at 600 Jack Nicklaus Drive. Fire crews from Devine and surrounding areas responded as well as Devine Police Department. Sadly the home is a complete loss.
Prayers for all involved.
“Official cause was an electrical short in the outlet. Burnt from inside the wall,” said Devine Fire Chief Greg Atkinson on Monday morning. An electrical cord to a heat lamp was plugged into this outlet the Chief confirmed. He went on to explain, “Yes, but the short doesn’t appear to be a heat lamp related. It could have been a toaster or a microwave, and that outlet could have shorted. The damage was done from inside the wall, not the exterior of the wall. Fuses tripped as they should have, but it had already arced and started inside the wall”.
The home was fully engulfed when the fire department arrived according to the fire chief, “In a matter of minutes. This is a prime example of why we are working toward having paid staff on station 24/7. That would have cut 5 minutes off our response, and this would have been a room and contents fire instead of a full structure,” said Chief Atkinson.
The call to the Devine Police Department came in at 3:05 a.m. Monday morning January 22, 2024. The couple, Christian and Derilyn Pompa were able to escape safely with their two young children.
The devastating news spread quickly and several friends have already started raising funds to help them. Both graduated from Devine High School, still have family here and are active in the community.
“It’s very devastating, but we are very thankful they are alive,” said Derilyn’s mother Susie Stacy.
“Our ESD and VFD continue to try to raise funds to where we can be a combination department and cut our response times down for this exact reason. Everyone responding from home just adds precious time to the response. The volunteers have done nothing wrong, but having people on station already cuts down on time,” said Chief Atkinson.”Our volunteers responded well trained and noble as always. It just simply wasn’t fast enough this time. My heart goes out to the family. They are good people.”
Land of the free, because of the brave…. A few weeks ago we ran an article about Operation Texas Strong, which helps veterans experiencing homelessness. This week three gentlemen in our community came together to help a local veteran right here in Medina County. Mr. Don Bottoms, a Korean War vet had a nice motor home which he wanted to put to good use, and another local veteran Jesse Rodriguez from Devine VFW jumped right up and volunteered to repair the home and take it to the family in…
Roads were starting to be paved and street lamps were starting to light up the night sky, WWII veteran George A. Schroeder Jr. was born January 17, 1924. He led a very exciting life as a soldier, musician, and landed gigs that allowed him to preform right alongside the movie stars before eventually settling in Devine. He is full of good stories, and it inspired us to launch a special project.
How you can help us wish a Happy Birthday to local WWII Veteran
By Kayleen Holder Editor WWII veteran Mr. George A. Schroeder Jr., of Devine, was born in San Antonio on January 17, 1924. He will celebrate his 100th birthday this Wednesday, Jan 17th. Devine and the surrounding communities are invited to send him Happy Birthday cards to make this milestone extra special. This local veteran would enjoy getting as many cards as we can send him! Please mail cards to Mr. Schroeder at 402 Wilson in Devine, TX 78016. Mr. Schroeder joined the Army at the age of 18, serving…
The Laredo Trail Ride Queen is 18-year-old Kylee Mike, of Bigfoot. The warm up ride is set for this January 20th and the big Laredo Trailride will be February 3-9th.
The Laredo Trailriders are gearing up. Their warmup ride will be held January 20, 2024 at 14625 Ladd Rd Atascosa, Tx. Ride out is at 9am. Cost is $30 per rider, with 12 yrs and under being free. Burgers will be served after…
Karis Jackson with Natalia FFA walking her Hamp getting ready for County next week.
Friday & Saturday Jan 26 &27th The Medina County Jr. Livestock show kiddos are preparing for a big year! The Youth Showcase starts Friday, January 26 and is open to public from 2-3 with the Silent Auction of showcase projects Saturday Jan. 27th from 10am-2pm.
January 14 – The Electric Reliability Council of Texas issued a conservation appeal for Monday, January 15 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. All Texans were asked to help by conserving electricity Monday morning when and if safely able. Monitor real-time ERCOT grid conditions here: https://www.ercot.com/ A few facts…