The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 161, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 20, 2014 Page: 1 of 12
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bastropadvertiser.com
Texas’ oldest weekly newspaper since March 1,1853 Semi-weekly since Sept. 5,1977
Thursday, February 20,2014
Voi. 161, No. 5 | $1.00 An edition of the ^ltn^imnican-^taU\sman
INSIDE
Bears finish up home
tournament. B1
A new charter school in
Bastrop? A2
Watts new? Jo Watts can
tell you. A3
CALENDAR
SATURDAY, FEB. 22
*8:30 a.m. — 8th annual
Run for the Bluebonnets
in Fisherman’s Park.
All proceeds benefit
Bluebonnet Elementary
School activities.
*10 a.m. — BearTec Classic
Golf Tournament at Pine
Forest Golf Club. 10 a.m.
shotgun start.
Help BHS’ RoboticTeam
raise much-needed funds.
Contact Jean at 512-415-
3584 for more information.
*11 a.m.— 10th annual
Em pty Bowl Project at
Bastrop High School, 1614
Chalmers St. Tickets are $20
per person for all the soup
and dessert you want to
sample (and your choice of a
pottery soup bowl by a local
school-age artist); children
12 and under eat free.
*11 a.m. —Black History
Month celebration at
Hopewell Primitive
Baptist Church, 690 SH
21 West, Cedar Creek.
“Backto School...the old
fashioned way.” Please
join us as we celebrate
Black History Month and
the Restoration of the
Hopewell — Rosenwald
School built in 1921 in
Cedar Creek. The school
was one of more than 500
schools in Texas inspired
and partially funded by
Tuskegee Institute Founder
Booker T. Washington and
Sears & Roebuck President
and Philanthropist Julius
Rosenwald. For more
information, contact Elroy
Williams at ewilliams7732@
att.net or 512-303-7732.
MONDAY, FEB. 24
*6-8 p.m. — BISD
Department of Special
Education Services Special
Education Advisory Council
will meet at 1507 PineSt.
This is an opportunity for
parents and educators of
students with disabilities
to give input into the BISD
Special Education Action
Plan. Babysitting is provided
with RSVP to 512-321-4488.
WORDS TO LIVE BY
“Worrying is like a rocking
chair... it gets you nowhere
fast.” — Heather Boutin,
Bastrop
Submityour“Words to live by”to:
cwright@bastropadvertiser.com
INDEX
News
A2-6
Obituaries
A2
Sports
B1
Classifieds
B3
Newsroom: 51 2-321 -2557
©The Bastrop Advertiser
65668^78602
CONTINUING: FIRE COVERAGE
$1.5M erosion project begins
Work to include
sedimentation control,
removing culverts.
By Cyndi Wright
cwright@acnnewspapers.com
Bastrop County residents
who made the decision to re-
build and stay in the same lo-
cation after the September
2011 wildfire are now facing a
project that may cause some
disruption in their daily lives
after the county awarded a
bid for erosion and sedimen-
tation control.
“It’s a big project,” said Pre-
cinct 2 Commissioner Clara
Beckett.
The bid was awarded to Re-
vegitation Services, a com-
pany that came in at slight-
ly more than $1.5 million for
the project - significantly low-
er than the other two bidders,
Feller Enterprises Inc. ($2 mil-
lion) and Westar Construction
($2.7 million). Revegitation
Services is based in Arizona
and has offices in eight other
states, including Texas.
Beckett expressed concern
at the Feb. 10 commissioners
meeting at the difference in
numbers.
“My concern is how low
their bid is compared to the
others,” she said.
But Bastrop County Emer-
gency Management Coordina-
tor Mike Fisher explained at
least part of the discrepancy
in bids.
“In the areas where they
are the low bidders, that is
the areas they specialize in,”
Fisher said.
The bids were split into
35 areas - in at least four of
those, Revegitation Services
(RS) came in noticeably low-
er than Feller Enterprises
(FE) and Westar Construction
(WC), including: Mulch Socks
(RS, $35,000; FE, $87,000;
WC, $153,000); Hydroseeding
(RS, $112,000; FE, $209,000;
WC, $244,000); Vegetative
Watering (RS, $220,000; FE,
$485,000; WC, $480,000);
and Removal of erosion and
sedimentation controls (RS,
$6,000; FE, $30,000; WC,
$75,000). In at least one ar-
ea, RS was significantly high-
er with their bid of $9,000
for stone riprap, while FE
came in at $4,900 and WC bid
$6,600.
The work will entail remov-
ing and replacing “hundreds”
of driveway culverts, as well
as the involved process of ero-
sion control, which includes
removal of sediment and ends
with hydroseeding and
Erosion continued on A5
COUNTY
Pirates taunt, delight
visitors at annual event
The pirate “Whitebeard Teague” is all smiles after recently returning
from a voyage of plundering gold and silver-laden ships.
TERRY HAGERTY/ACN NEWSPAPERS
Spectacular costumes,
jesters, music await
at Sherwood Faire.
By Terry Hagerty
thagerty@acnnewspapers.com
It was a bawdy group of pi-
rates that were creating a stir
at last weekend’s annual Sher-
wood Faire in McDade. The
faire continues on weekends
through March 30.
David Copeland, aka “Ship-
wreck the Pirate,” didn’t
mince words when asked to
describe what makes a “good”
pirate.
“Ah, mate, I can do that
- it’s the willingness to take
all you can from people and
ships, and given nothing back
- to have no soul!”
Even some of his fellow pi-
rates, including “Jack Spar-
row,” laughed at the seeming-
ly harsh summation by Ship-
wreck.
At one point, as some faire
attendees wandered away
from a sandy circular enclo-
sure that had been the scene
of a performance moments
earlier, Shipwreck called
out to them in a command-
ing tone, “Why is everybody
leaving? The pirates are still
here!”
The crowd was loving it at
the annual faire that draws
thousands to its wooded set-
ting between McDade and
Paige on weekends through
the end of March.
Sarah Walker, who said her
character’s name was Dream-
ie, stood out in a bright cos-
tume.
“This is a kind of eclectic,
a fusion of Renaissance and
Morrocan styles,” Walker said
of her outfit.
She also offered a quick
take on why the Sherwood
Faire has been proving so
popular.
“It’s a great place to let
your hair down and to get
away from the regular uptight
world,” she said.
Perhaps the more ribald
taunting of passers-by was
unmatched by a character
who said his name was “Bo-
jangles.” His head and arms
poked through three holes in
a elevated wooden set from
which he hurled comments to
fairgoers, about 20 feet away.
A plethora of small yellow
seeds from tossed tomatoes
surrounded his face and arms
- and it was soon clear why
that was so.
“Nice dress - did you bor-
row it from your wife?” Bojan-
gles called out to one “man”
dressed in a Renaissance-era
outfit. “Keep walking, you
Faire continued on A6
INVESTIGATION
Woman
shot and
killed by
deputy
Reports differ on
whether she displayed
weapon, ignored officers.
By Cyndi Wright
cwright@bastropadvertiser.com
A Lake Bastrop Acres wom-
an is dead after being shot by
a Bastrop County Sheriff’s
deputy early Sunday morn-
ing.
Yvette Smith, 47, was pro-
nounced dead at St. David’s
Emergency Hospital in Bas-
trop at 2:18 a.m.
She was shot by Deputy
Daniel Willis, 28, of Del Valle,
who has been with the BCSO
since May 2013.
According to statements re-
leased by the BCSO, depu-
ties arrived in the 100 block
of Zimmerman Lane at about
12:30 a.m. after a 911 call was
placed by someone in the res-
idence about a disturbance.
According to notes ob-
tained by the Bastrop Adver-
tiser through an Open Re-
cords request, Smith was shot
at 12:45 a.m.
The BCSO issued a state-
ment at 12:30 p.m., stating
that Smith was in the door-
way to the home displaying a
firearm and disregarding of-
ficers’ commands when she
was shot.
The statement was later
retracted by the sheriff’s of-
fice in another statement, say-
ing the department could not
confirm that Smith was either
displaying a weapon or disre-
garding officers’ commands.
The Texas Rangers have
been called in to assist with
the investigation.
This story will continue to
be updated at bastropadver-
tiser.com.
FIRE
Free trees at giveaway gone in no time
A closeup view of one of the
14,000 free trees given out at
Mayfest Park last Saturday.
TERRY HAGERTY PHOTOS /ACN
NEWSPAPERS
Event will help
replenish areas
destroyed by fire.
By Terry Hagerty
thagerty@acnnewspapers.com
The event was billed as
“Free trees for Bastrop Coun-
ty” and area residents didn’t
waste any time taking advan-
tage of the offering at Mayfest
Park on Feb. 15.
Slated for approximate-
ly four hours, the free 14,000
trees being given away by
TreeFollcs and supporting
groups were gone in less than
an hour and a half.
“It was awesome, we gave
away 2,000 hardwood trees
and 12,000 loblolly pines -
they’re all gone,” said Jason
Alfaro, the city of Bastrop’s
parks superintendent.
The event was to help in the
recovery of the Bastrop area’s
famed Lost Pines after the 2011
Bastrop County Complex Fire.
But some area residents, who
said they were fortunate not to
have been hit by the wildfires,
were also welcome to come
help Mother Nature bounce
back - and they did.
“This is a nice way to replen-
ish the environment and have
a proactive response” by peo-
ple affected by the fires, said
Dawn Dickerson-Sankofa.
She added her husband
had been busy clearing
drought-ravaged trees from
Trees continued on A7
Red Rock Elementary student
Angel Benda shows off her free
tree given out at Mayfest Park,
and thought it was “cool” idea.
..
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Wright, Cyndi. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 161, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 20, 2014, newspaper, February 20, 2014; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth649150/m1/1/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.