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Bastrop’s economy at Labor Day 2009: a snapshot from the city manager’s office

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–The economic forecast for Bastrop at Labor Day 2009 is cloudy, mixed and uncertain–far from gloomy but not terribly bright in the short term.

There’s some good news, according to a recent memo from Bastrop City Manager Mike Talbot. The local jobless rate is no worse than the state average, which is not an encouraging figure overall. Retail sales, as measured by sales tax collections, are up some 5.4 percent from the same period a year ago. Property values, as measured by the Bastrop Central Appraisal District for tax purposes, are essentially flat from this time last year.

Less encouraging economic news: essentially no one is building new homes in Bastrop this year. New housing construction was also at a standstill last year.

Homes which come on the market are still selling, according to local real estate dealers. They just take longer this year to find buyers, according to Talbot’s report to the city council.

Here’s another measure of the slowdown in Bastrop economic activity. Including new commercial construction at Burleson Crossing and improvements in downtown Bastrop, the city’s total property tax roll is up this year by some 4.3 percent. A year ago, for the 2009 tax year, the value of Bastrop property was up 13.2 percent.

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Best project bid brings joy to Bastrop officials

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–When city officials opened bids this week for construction of improvements on Chestnut Street between Water Street and the Union Pacific Railroad line, the apparent best bid was for just more than half the engineer’s official cost estimate. That left Bastrop leaders hopeful that similar cost savings may appear when they open bids next month for construction of a new city hall and a convention center.

During Tuesday’s city council meeting, City Manager Mike Talbot announced that the apparent winning bid for the Chestnut Street work was $786,000. The engineer’s cost estimate for the work was $1.4 million.

The project includes utility relocations and reconstruction, new sidewalks, street lighting and landscaping, all part of an effort to encourage pedestrian traffic and retail development eastward from Main Street toward the new city hall and convention center. The cost will be covered by the city’s half-cent sales tax devoted to economic development efforts.

In a slumping economic climate, contractors and builders appear eager to secure work, even at bargain rates, Talbot suggested. The street project drew offers from seven bidders. Prices ranged from $786,000 to almost $1.5 million, he said.

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Posted in Bastrop City Council | No Comments »

Jury selection begins in capital murder case

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–Jury selection began today in the capital murder case of Christopher Murray who is charged in the death of a three-year-old boy who was left in his care more than a year ago in a Paige area residence which the defendant shared with the child’s mother and grandmother

335th District Judge Reva Towslee Corbett is presiding over the trial which is expected to last about two weeks. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

The state is expected to argue that Murray, who was 23 at the time of his arrest, savagely beat the child so that bones were broken and internal organs damaged, causing his death. Criminal investigators have also said that the defendant, before being charged, offered more than one story to account for how the child was injured.

Defense lawyers, who may also offer expert medical testimony, are expected to argue that Murray, if guilty of anything, may be guilty of some lesser charge such as injury to a child or negligent homicide.

If convicted of capital murder, Murray will automatically be sentenced to life in prison. If convicted of some lesser crime, the jury will decide Murray’s sentence which could range from probation to 99 years in prison.

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Kids + matches = 40-acre wildfire

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–A 10-year-old was charged with arson today in connection with a wildfire which was reported about 2 p.m. near the Hunters Crossing subdivision, according to Bastrop police.

Matches and two other juveniles may also have been involved.

The blaze covered about 40 acres, largely outside the city limits, and threatened two rural homes as well as some farm out buildings and equipment, said police spokeswoman Michal Hubbard.

Firefighters remained at the scene on mop up duty into the evening.

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Posted in Bastrop City, Crime | No Comments »

Resignation comes at a price: Ex-BISD chief guaranteed $157,000 a year for three years in subordinate job

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–When Bastrop school trustees accepted the resignation of Roderick Emanuel as school superintendent July 6, they also agreed that he will be acting superintendent until his replacement is hired and that he will earn $157,557.20 a year for the next three years beginning July 26 in a new position with the school district.

The pay pact and other details of Emanuel’s new assignment are spelled out in a new employment agreement obtained by Bastrop-News.com under the Texas Public Information Act. The deal was signed July 7 by school board president John Eaton and two other trustees.

The contract says Emanuel will become director of employee relations after his stint as acting superintendent ends. The employee relations director will report to Barry Edwards, the assistant superintendent for personnel. But Emanuel cannot be assigned to any other post–or his pay changed–without his consent before the new contract expires Sept. 30, 2012, the document says.

Emanuel will also retain top health insurance benefits, travel reimbursement, some professional and civic organization costs, vacation and holiday pay as well as a BISD cell phone.

With prior school board approval, Emanuel will also be allowed to pursue outside consulting, writing and speaking engagements.

When announcing his resignation as superintendent, Emanuel said he wants to spend more time with his family and pursue “other personal interests.”

In an interview with The Bastrop Advertiser last week, Eaton said Emanuel had been considering a new role with the district for some weeks before the announcement, but the board president rejected any suggestion that Emanuel had been pressured to step aside. Eaton also said the school district’s academic performance was not an issue when trustees acted on July 6.
By Texas Education Agency standards, both Bastrop High School and Bastrop Middle School are rated academically unacceptable.

During his seven-year tenure as school superintendent, Emanuel helped win voter approval for a major renovation of the Bastrop High School campus as well as bond money to construct a new high school at Cedar Creek, a new athletic stadium near Cedar Creek and an auditorium and performing arts facility in Bastrop.

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Posted in Bastrop School District | 6 Comments »

Suspected human smugglers jailed in Bastrop

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–Following a raid in far southwestern Bastrop County near Dale on Wednesday afternoon, two men were jailed on kidnapping charges in connection with allegations they had been holding seven Central American men in an uncooled trailer house while the immigrants’ families were facing demands for cash payments.

Nabor Rodriguez-Guillen, 20, and Juan Carlos Sanchez-Comacho, 29, were booked into the Bastrop County Jail shortly after 7 p.m. July 8 where they are being held under $700,000 bail each. They were seized during a raid about 4 p.m., along with a 9 mm handgun, on a site near 380 FM 672 close to the Bastrop/Travis County line.

The raid was mounted by the Bastrop County SWAT unit, a similar force from Travis County and officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement service with air support from the Austin Police Department, according to Bastrop County Sheriff Terry Pickering.

The suspects did not resist arrest, the sheriff said. “I think we caught them by surprise,” he said following a July 9 press conference in Bastrop.

The investigation was sparked by a telephone call to investigators about 10 a.m. Wednesday from a nearby resident who said he found a man sleeping in his pickup who claimed as many as 25 immigrants were being held under armed guard by three men in the trailer. The group, including three women, had been held for three or four days without food or water, the man said. The women had been sexually assaulted and the others physically ablused, he reported.

The man was later identified as Bayron Paz, 28, according to the sheriff’s department. Pickering said Paz told investigators he had escaped from the trailer during the night through an opening he found or created in the floor. All the immigrants may be from El Salvador and/or Honduras, said Pickering.

The sheriff said the investigation is far from over. Officials are still seeking the others reported to have been held in the trailer, including the three women, he said. Some may have escaped before authorities arrived and others may have been transported elsewhere by their captors, said Pickering.

So far the two suspects are being held on state criminal charges which could result in prison terms of up to 99 years. Federal charges could also result, said Pickering. He said he expects the Bastrop County Distict Attorney’s Office to be consulting with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Austin about how to proceed with the case.

Those freed in the Wednesday raid are being housed at an Austin shelter, the sheriff said Thursday. In addition to Paz, a press statement from the sheriff’s department identified the others recovered in the raid as Josue Edcarado-Gonazalez, 20; Carlos Antonio Pichinte-Flores, 35; Nelson Antonio Perez-Coreas, 32; Olman Eduardo Sierro-Benavides, 36; Bayron Ronaldo Barrientos-Rosales, 19; and Leonard Murilto-Avila, 46.

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BISD’s top leader steps aside

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–Bastrop school Superintendent Roderick Emanuel resigned his post Monday morning following a closed-door meeting with school trustees.

Officials said Emanuel will act as interim superintendent while the school board searches for a replacement, after which he will become Director of Employee Relations.

Emanuel, a 22-year employee of the school district from which he graduated, served seven years as superintendent. During his tenure voters approved significant bond issue proposals to renovate the Bastrop High School campus and later to construct a new Cedar Creek High School as well as a performing arts building and a new athletic stadium.

More recently Emanuel had come under fire because Bastrop High and Bastrop Middle School were rated academically unacceptable by the Texas Education Agency, based on standardized test scores. Those academic ratings became an issue earlier this year during school board election races.

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Posted in Local Politics | 1 Comment »

Independence Day festivities begin July 3

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–Bastrop area residents and visitors will begin the July 4 holiday celebrations with free music and fireworks July 3 at Fisherman’s Park in Bastrop. The annual Patriotic Festival is sponsored by the Bastrop Chamber of Commerce.

Texas 304, a local band, will perform in the park beginning at 6 p.m. Food vendors and activities for children will be available. At 8 p.m. the Austin Symphonic Band will take over with a concert of mostly traditional favorites.

When the sky is dark enough, roughly 9:20 p.m., a fireworks display will begin.

On July 4 the activity moves to Main Street. The Pets and Pals Parade will form at the Bastrop County Courthouse, beginning at 9 a.m. for registration. Judging the entries, including costumes, themes and additional flourishes begins at 10 a.m.

At 11 a.m. the procession will head to Main Street and move north to Spring Street and the Bastrop Opera House. The event is sponsored and staged by the Downtown Business Alliance. Registration forms and information are available at www.bastropdba.com

At 1 p.m. the city will formally open its first “bark park” for off-leash dogs on Grady Tuck Drive, across the street from the Bastrop police building between Old Austin Highway and Hospital Drive.

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Fire death total hits 3 this week in Bastrop County

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–A third death in connection with a residential fire was recorded in Bastrop County early Thursday. Firefighters and law enforcement officials responded to a structure fire reported at 2:49 a.m. in the 300 block of Ponderosa Loop, off Texas 21 east of Bastrop.

The travel trailer was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, and the fire was spreading into nearby woods, said Bastrop volunteer firefighter Rick Snell.

A statement released later in the day by the sheriff’s department said a body was subsequently found “within the remains (of the trailer).” Snell said the body, possibly a woman, was outside the structure.

The office of the State Fire Marshall has joined the investigation, according to the sheriff’s department statement. The victim was not immediately identified.

Another source, who asked not to be identified because the case remains under investigation, said there is some suspicion that the fire might have been intended to obscure evidence of a homicide.

The sheriff’s department press release said more information “will be released as it becomes available.”

On June 27 an elderly couple died when fire destroyed their home in the 400 block of FM 969.

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Posted in Bastrop County, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Elgin man jailed in sex solicitation sting

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Basrop, Tx–Bastrop County Sheriff’s Department investigators arrested an Elgin man July 1 and charged him with soliciting sex online with an underage girl via text messaging.

The investigation began June 25, according to a statement issued today by the sheriff’s department. Juan Pablo Ramos, 21, was jailed on a felony charge of online solicitation of a minor under the age of 14, according to jail records.

The sheriff’s announcement said Ramos had sent sexually explicit messages to the girl before investigators became involved and began impersonating her online.

Ramos arrived July 1 at a prearranged meeting site but met sheriff’s department investigators instead, according to the press statement. If convicted, Ramos faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

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