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Permission from state legislators needed for proposed Medina County water storage project

By Anton Riecher
Action by the Texas Legislature will be required to permit drilling to create the massive aquifer storage and recovery project proposed by the newly organized Medina County Regional Water Alliance.
In a presentation during the Oct. 8 meeting of the alliance, Russell Persyn of RESPEC Co. LLC outlined considerations for the ASR project designed to store fresh water in the Trinity aquifer when available to later be recovered during periods of drought.
“ASR is considered an injection well,” Persyn said. “It is considered disposal even though we are putting fresh water down into the ground.”
To reach the Trinity aquifer, injection wells would have to be drilled through the much utilized Edwards aquifer, he said. Texas water code regulations do not permit such disposal unless specific permission is granted by the state legislature.
Persyn presented a…

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Pumpkin Decorating Contest going on in Devine!

By Catherine Richard
Contenders for the Driscoll Public Library Pumpkin Decorating Competition have begun to arrive, more than a week before the deadline on Friday, Oct. 18.
Medals will be awarded for the Spookiest, Funniest and Most Creative pumpkin. There will also be a prize for Best of Show Overall and People’s Choice (selected by the patrons of the library).
Anyone can enter a pumpkin, the only requirements are that the pumpkin is artificial and the design must be family-friendly.
Entries can be turned in during any normal library hours.

Miscues prove costly for Natalia

Eric Smith-Staff Writer
First half miscues proved costly for the Natalia Mustangs (1-5, 0-3) vs. Nixon-Smiley (2-4, 1-2)) last Friday night in Gonzales County. The dagger came with one second left on the clock, as Nixon’s Garet Gonzales caught a 30-yard pass over the middle from Eric Rodriguez as time expired to take a 16-0 lead into the half vs. Natalia. This fueled the red and blue Mustangs to a 45-20 win over Natalia.
Natalia did show some positives in the first half prior to that second touchdown including a few good drives. Unfortunately, turnovers continued to hurt the Mustangs as they finished with one fumble and two interceptions on the day.
“Offensively, we did a good job of moving the ball most of the night, we just had some critical errors that stalled out a few drives,” Natalia Head Coach Jason Reynolds said. “We have to do a better job of not turning the ball over.”
In the second half down 16-0, the Natalia Mustangs surrendered..

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Comet seen over Devine

Amanda Mares, of Devine, caught this shot of the Atlas Comet visible over Devine Warhorse practice fields around 8 o clock October 14. According to NASA, comets are frozen leftovers from the formation of the solar system composed of dust, rock, and ices. They range from a few miles to tens of miles wide, but as they orbit closer to the Sun, they heat up and spew gases and dust into a glowing head that can be larger than a planet. This material forms a tail that stretches millions of miles.

Details of new Allegiance / ESD4 deal

Jerry Beck was sworn into ESD 4, which is the board overseeing ambulance service in the Devine/Natalia area.

By Anton Riecher
Former Precinct 4 County Commissioner Jerry Beck took the oath of office Oct. 9 to become the newest member of the Medina County Emergency Services District No. 4 Board of Commissioners, the focus of much recent controversy regarding local ambulance service.
Also, ESD4 EMS director Jason Miller provided an update on negotiations with Allegiance Mobile Health to continue providing ambulance service after plans by ESD4 to operate its own ambulance fleet were abandoned in the wake of public opposition.
With only two other board members present, a quorum permitting the meeting to be held was established once Medina County Judge Keith Lutz administered the oath to Beck. Board president Anthony Martin and vice president Viola Potter were the only other board members on hand.
Beck asked if taking the oath meant he would not be allowed to speak as a private citizen during the citizens’ comment portion of the agenda.
“I was going to speak … as a private citizen and address the despicable and underhanded, cowardly manner in which actions by this board were carried out,” he said. “But I said I wouldn’t so I’m not.”
Allegiance Deal
On the Allegiance negotiations, Miller said the Allegiance will continue to provide service throughout the district using ambulances initially acquired by ESD4 to replace the third-party service provided by Allegiances under a contract with two years left subject to annual renewal by the board.
“After the last meeting (the board) voted to extend with Allegiance and work with Allegiance,” Miller said. “Allegiance is going to operate our ambulances.”
In response to questioning by district resident…

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Horses battle Wildcats

The Varsity Warhorses clobber the opponent. Photo by Brigid Howard.

Murphy’s Law in full effect in Carrizo

Jerel Beaty
Staff writer
Murphys’s Law was in full effect Friday night in Carrizo Springs as anything that could possibly go wrong for the Warhorses went wrong for the Warhorses in their 34-16 defeat.
Fumbles, penalties, poor tackling, missed blocks, an interception for a pick-six, and flat out inattentiveness to detail haunted Devine throughout the night at the absolute worst possible time as it happened during game one of the District 14-4A DII schedule.
With only five teams in the district, which means only four games total for each team makes it nearly impossible to start the campaign 0-1 and maintain hopes of an outright championship.
Notice, I did say nearly impossible but that is for an outright championship only. Reality shows Devine could win out to finish 3-1, Carrizo Springs finishing at 3-1 losing to Bandera, and Bandera finishing 3-1 with a loss to the Warhorses makes it a three-way tie for the championship.
Seeding then would be based on the point differential, but we will tackle that when or if the time presents itself.
In Carrizo, Devine found itself down 22-0 before reality set in that the Warhorses were in for a ballgame against the Wildcats.
The Horses finally showed some life when Brayden Reyes finally got Devine’s goose egg off Frank Carter Field’s scoreboard with a 19-yard touchdown run and two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 22-8 with 9:22 left in the third quarter.
Most of Warhorse Nation thought that was the spark Devine needed to get their…

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Warhorses Matthew Gomez, Eli Contrers, Wero Torres, and Brayden Reyes. Photo by Brigid Howard. See more on Devine News Smug Mug!

JV1 Horses smash Cats 46-8

Alejandro Lopez on the carry for the Horses.

Jerel Beaty
Staff writer
The JV1 Horses had little to no trouble opening up District 14-4A with their convincing 46-8 beat down on the visiting Wildcats. Devine took a 32-8 lead into halftime before cruising to a 38-point victory.
“Hayden Martin and Steven Montes stepped up big this game in Ryan’s absence,” Coach Lon Cozby stated about his running back duo in the absence of leading rusher Ryan Weinkam who is expected back this week in Pearsall. “Cole Reyes also did a great job filling in, moving from wide receiver to running back while Lucas Hudson was outstanding moving over to the number-one receiver spot.”
Most casual fans do not realize the trickle down effect when one player is out how much it can change which positions where others are needed the most in order to achieve team success.
“We took things slow this week and played smash-mouth football as far as our two-tight and three-back formations. Our intention was to pound the ball right into the heart of the Wildcat defense.”
Martin capped off an 11-play drive with a three-yard run while Montes tacked on the two-point conversion to give Devine an early 8-0 advantage.
“Bubba Gomez and Dylan Hinnant had a monster double-team block to make for an easy score.”
The Horses defense held the…

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Down to the wire…Arabians to close district with 3 road games

The Arabians were preparing to take on Pleasanton once again on press night. Their last matchup a few weeks ago was a good one! Above, the Varsity Arabians celebrate one of many big plays in the last match against the Eagles. Photo by KK Calame.

Jerel Beaty
Staff writer
On press night Devine was set to take on Pleasanton in an all-important matchup that could go a long way to determining playoff seeding in District 27-4A. Although the Arabians sat at 7-1 and the Eagles at 4-3 prior to last night’s first serve, if Pleasanton won to go to 5-3 and Devine to 7-2 a win by the Lady Eagles over Floresville October 25 could throw it into a two-way tie for second place.
Besides their slip-up against Floresville October 4, Devine has pretty much steamrolled through district winning 21 of 28 sets. Two of those sets were set one and set two in Pleasanton but the Arabians came back to win 3-2.
Devine finished the regular season with games against Somerset, Pearsall, and Floresville.
Carrizo Springs
After a “comfortable” 25-16 set one win in Carrizo Springs, Devine wound up in a battle as the Lady Cats scratched their way to a 25-5 win. Tied at a set each, the Arabians dug deep to pull out set three and set four wins to avoid that dreaded fifth set on the road.
“This was one of those games where things were not going as normal as we would have liked them to go, but we just found a way to win,” Head Coach Leigh Anne McIver stated. “Carrizo did play great defense against us and really forced us to..

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Devine Tennis

Devine Varsity Team Tennis took 2nd place at District.

By Catherine Richard
The Devine High School tennis team played against Pleasanton on Oct. 7. They played hard, but lost 10-7.
During the doubles matches, Devine was down 1.
Many of Devine’s players were pulled up to play since some of the original team members were injured.
“Our younger players really stepped up,” Coach Kandi Darnell said.
For the season, the DHS team finished 5-1. They were the district runner-ups.
Now, the team will have a short break before beginning again in the spring.
“We look forward to next year,” Darnell wrote.
Results:
Steinbrunner/Erwin won 6-3, 6-3. Gelinas/Poppe won 6-1, 6-1. Hicks-Hernandez/Moss lost 7-6 (10-8), 6-1. Extra match: Lucas/Ramirez lost 8-0.
Saunders/Zamora lost 6-3, 6-3. Barron/Malone lost 6-2, 0-6,12-10. Ray/Cardenas lost 6-3, 2-6, 10-8.
Byrd/Guajardo won 6-3, 6-0.
Jeremy Steinbrunner won 6-0, 6-4. Ethin Erwin won 6-4, 6-3. Ethan Gelinas lost 6-4, 6-4. Becker Byrd won 6-3, 7-5. Brooks Poppe lost 6-3, 6-2. Cord Lassere lost 7-9 (9-7), 6-3. Extra match: Marshall James won 8-3.
Jill Guajardo lost 7-5, 6-0. Abbie Saunders lost 6-1, 6-1. Valeria Molina lost 6-2, 6-2. Greeley Malone won 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. Samantha Zamora won 7-5, 6-4. Kya Spurgers lost 6-1, 6-1.