Bastrop, Texas Events, News & Stories

Bastrop, Tx–Amid fears of a spreading and sometimes deadly influenza outbreak in Mexico, the US and around the world, a Saturday fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Bastrop has been postponed and will be rescheduled in the fall.

Officials decided to delay the Jazz Jam event Thursday after hearing reports of “possible” cases of so-called Swine Flu (sometimes identified as the H1N1 strain) in Bastrop, in part because the widely-anticipated event was expected to attract visitors from a wide area of Texas and from other states, said local Boys and Girls Club President Janice Butler on Thursday afternoon. The
fundraiser will be reset for the fall, she said.

No cases of the viral infection have been confirmed in Bastrop County, according to local public health and emergency response officials who said they are monitoring the situation closely.

A preliminary screening test available in area medical offices and clinics indicated as many as four patients might be infected by Thursday, but further testing was negative in two cases. Results of the remaining two cases had not been reported late Thursday, said Mike Fisher, Bastrop County emergency management coordinator.

In neighboring Travis County, according to Fisher, 18 preliminary positive tests have been reported from 1500 tested patients, and four cases were forwarded to the US Centers for Disease Control for further analysis. One focus of the Bastrop emergency management office has been to insure that sufficient supplies of the anti-viral agent Tamiflu are available to treat suspected cases of H1N1 infection, Fisher said.

More than 160 deaths in Mexico have been blamed on the disease. One death in Texas has been linked to the outbreak–an infant visiting with family from Mexico. Health officials have confirmed 91 cases in 10 states in the US, including 16 cases in Texas.

Bastrop, Tx–Tuesday the Bastrop City Council approved a final lease and development agreement allowing the Bastrop County Historical Soceity to convert the present City Hall on Main Street to be a local history museum and visitor center beginning in the fall of 2010.

Most terms of the 40-year lease pact were approved April 20 by a 3-2 council vote. Some additional terms were approved this week, including a requirement that the museum will be open at least six days a week, once it is opened, and that the historical society will guarantee a budget of at least $50,000 a year for maintenance and operation of the new facility.

The final lease was adopted by the same 3-2 majority as a week earlier, with Council Members Julie Hart and Dock Jackson voting no.

In a subsequent interview, City Manager Mike Talbot said he now expects that city operations will move into a new City Hall on Chestnut Street by Oct. 1, 2010. Current plans call for the city to open bids for the new construction project on Sept. 1 this year.

Bastrop, Tx–A neighborhood along Farm Street between Texas 95 and Mina Elementary had its feathers ruffled when residents learned of a planned roundup of a flock of wild chickens in the area. Then they flew into action, getting the proposed April 29 raid canceled last week and winning a virtual promise from the city council April 28 to rewrite the Bastrop loose animal law to protect the birds which have ranged freely through the neighborhood for decades.

If the council follows through, the Farm Street fowls will be the second wild bird population to enjoy legal protection in the city. The current animal control ordinance already exempts a flock of ducks and geese which inhabit Fisherman’s Park from molestation by minions of the law.

Bastrop Police Chief David Board said the city’s animal control officer planned the chicken roundup after responding to a complaint about the uncontrolled wanderings of cocks and hens. But Board said he called off the operation once the sentiments of the neighbors became apparent.

City Manager Mike Talbot told the council Tuesday that city regulations forbid all domestic animals (except cats) from roaming at large in Bastrop. But the law is aimed at owners, and the Farm Street flock has no owner vulnerable to prosecution, he added. “They don’t have an owner,” he said.

Neighborhood residents were also eager to address the council Tuesday at City Hall. Amber Marsh said the chickens have been a familiar neighborhood feature since she arrived in 1976. “They’re an important part of the history of Farm Street,” she said. “Keep (the area) unique,” she urged the council.

Marsh also suggested that the flock be “pardoned” because they are “historical chickens.” She added that the flock is a familiar feature of the neighborhood ecosystem along with hawks, which sometimes prey on the chicks, and lizards which may become food for the chickens.

Council Member Willie DeLaRosa, a lifelong Bastrop resident, confirmed the presence of the flock “years and years ago,” perhaps as early as the 1960s.

“I enjoy the chickens,” said neighbor Amber Moore. “Leave them be.”

Council Member Dock Jackson suggested erecting “Chicken Crossing” signs along that stretch of Farm Street, a busy route between the highway and the nearby elementary school.

At the urging of Mayor Terry Orr, Talbot said he will bring possible changes to the animal control law for the council when it meets next in early May.

Bastrop, Tx–A Houston-based maker of solar cells for small electronic devices has declined the offer of a new plant site in the Bastrop Industrial/Business park. Taking up the offer would have committed Libra Enterprises to constructing a manufacturing plant of 10,000 to 12,000 square feet, said Joe Newman, CEO of the Bastrop Economic Development Corp.

At a special meeting March 24 the BEDC board voted to offer an industrial park site to the firm. Typically the sites are sold to an industrial prospect and the purchase price refunded as a grant once facility construction is complete and the plant is in operation.

This week Newman said Libra officials decided their best approach to expansion is to buy or lease an existing building rather than to undertake new construction.

Bastrop, Tx–City council candidate Bill Peterson said April 21 he is scheduled for back surgery, forcing him to suspend ordinary campaign activities temporarily.

He could not say how long the operation will put him on the sideline, but he voiced optimism about an early return to activity.

Peterson and former DPS Trooper Tommy Oates are candidates in the May 9 election to fill the council seat currently held by Dock Jackson. Jackson is ineligible for re-election because of a term limits clause in the city’s home rule charter.

Bastrop, Tx–In a rare unsigned editorial April 18, The Bastrop Advertiser questioned an alleged rush to decide at a special city council meeting April 20 the fate and terms of a proposed 40-year lease (at a nominal $10 a year) to turn over the present City Hall on Main Street to the Bastrop County Historical Society. The organization hopes to turn the building into a new history museum and visitor center for Bastrop and the surrounding area.

The editorial writer professes not to understand why there’s a rush to make a decision, in part because one council member can’t attend the session, and other recent important decisions have been postponed to assure full council participation.

But here’s the 600-pound gorilla in the drawing room which no one wants to speak about frankly: the council is divided on the museum issue and there’s a city election on May 9 which could potentially tip the balance of power.

A vote today would favor the museum’s plan. It’s backed by council members Terry Sanders, Willie DeLaRosa and Joe Beal. The critics are led by council member Julie Hart with some ambiguous backing from Dock Jackson (who says he can’t be in attendance April 20).

Mayor Terry Orr is a strong museum backer, but he can’t vote except to break a tie. He may not need to.

Sanders, DeLaRosa and Jackson won’t be council members after the election because of a term limits provision of the Bastrop City Charter. That means the majority council sentiment could be different after May 9. A firm decision by a council majority before that date could settle the issue, whatever voters decide.

Museum proponents, of course, want to press for a decision while the numbers are on their side. Opponents must favor delay in hopes of a turn in sentiment in their favor at the polls.

The six candidates seeking election to the three open seats on May 9 have been remarkably reticent about speaking plainly on this issue. Do you know where your candidates stand tonight? I didn’t think so.

Of course the museum/visitor center proposal is not the only controversial or important issue the council must confront in the next two years. Maybe not even the most important.

In any case it will be telling to watch what the council does–or fails to do–between now and May 9.

–Davis McAuley