COVERING LOCAL BUSINESS AND ALL THE NEWS IN MEDINA COUNTY SINCE 1977

MEDINA MEDINAVolume 41 Thursday, VALLEYVALLEY August 2, 2018 Castroville, TIMESTIMES $1 County joins EAA in water battle Sasha D. Robinson EAA for transferring pro- Conservation District’s tribute to the help fund Staff Writer cess moving water in the (UCUWCD) lawsuit that legal fees in the EAA’s Medina County as well Edwards aquifer region. wants to the change the defense of the conversion as two cities join a law- The county joins EAA 2001 conversion rule. rule. Castroville authorized suit against the Edwards and cities of Castroville County Judge Chris the contribution of $5,000. Aquifer Authority (EAA). and Hondo in the battle Schuchart said the coun- “We will work through On July 23, an injunc- against the Uvalde County ty hasn’t determined the tion was filed against Underground Water amount they would con- See “Grant” on page 2

World Series champs Page 2

On Saturday, the Medina County Fair Association crowned its queen, Brianna Gonzales (middle), a junior from High School. In the picture from left to right are first runner up Victoria Juarez, Princess Neeley Frazier, Gonzales, Duchess Trinity Wanat, and Miss Congeniality Aubrey Chernak. The girls were selected from a group of Farm aid set eight contestants. The queen’s court will go on to represent Medina County in the upcoming Medina County Fair in September as well as other events around the county until next year. (Photo by Sasha D. Robinson) Page 7 •••NEWS BRIEFS••• Devine Golf Course safe for six months Election Results After an outpouring of support from commu- nity members and council members, Devine formally TEXAS SENATE agreed Tuesday to help the colf course survive while it explores other options. District 19 City council authorized interim city admiistrator Dora Rodriguez to enter into a six-month lease agree- 2018 SPECIAL ELECTION ment with the now defunct Devine Golf Association Absentee Early Election Election (DGA). Candidate______Voting Total Voting Voting Totals The lease agreement states that the city will take ______TEXAS SENATE, District 19 operate the Devine Golf Course with the intent to Democrat acquire all assets of the DGA. Pete Gallego (D) 106 170 91 367 The six-month period will allow the city to explore Roland Gutierrez (D) 38 65 38 141 all available options including any outside investors Charles Urbina Jones (D) 10 21 11 42 that would like to make an offer on the course. City ______Tomas Uresti (D) 7 9 5 21 attorney Tom Cate said it also allows the city time Republican to tie up any loose ends like outstanding equipment Jesse Alaniz (R) 11 40 8 59 leases, the nine golf course employees and any city Peter Flores (R) 156 822 748 1,726 business. Carlos Antonio Raymond (R) 30 61 23 114 ______Whether those employees continue working for Liberertarian the golf club is left up to the terms settled upon by the Tony Valdivia (L) 10 12 7 29 city and DGA. RESULTS ARE UNOFFICIAL UNTIL CANVASSED The lease agreement came after an hour long pub- lic hearing where residents and former DGA board members voiced their support for the city taking over the golf course. debate continues Councilman Steve Lopez originally made a motion to take over the golf course for two years, but resi- Kenric Ward dents shot the idea down because the lengthy term Contributing Writer crippled outside investors from making offers. It also Is Medina Lake half called on the DGA to remain active, which board empty or half full? Are members like Eileen Woolsey opposed. water levels steady or fall- “The association alone has already gone through ing? enough,” Woolsey said. “Enough is enough. A long-running skir- Association and city council-- it shouldn’t be like that mish over these ques- any m ore .” tions resurfaced recent- Ernest Munoz, who said he has a group that wants ly when a conservation to make an offer on the course, suggested the city put group accused the Bexar out a request for proposals for the golf course within Medina Atascosa (BMA) those six months. Water Control and Local attorney Tommy Ramirez said there were Improvement District of still some issues he had with the lease agreement, but mismanaging the lake- tion at 1,038.14 feet on An important recharg- “BMA wants a full res- overall seemed hopeful. reservoir. July 25. The lake began er for the giant Edwards ervoir just as much as “I think in the end, I think we’re ready to make “This lake is dropping the month at 1,040.12 – Aquifer and a recreation- any waterfront owner or an offer to the city if the city is ready to hear one,” fast,” declares Henning meaning a drop of 1.98 al gem for the region, business,” Tapp said. “We Ramirez said. Eilert-Olsen, president of feet across the surface Medina Lake’s water lev- strive to improve efficien- Ramirez also told council members that the city Save Medina Lake (SML). of the 18-mile-long lake els are closely watched cy, keeping water conser- can legally decline to take on the DGA’s debt since the “What we don’t know is during that span. by conservation groups. vation a priority all while group is in the process of dissolving. how much is due to natu- Since August 2017, res- Over the years, SML has ensuring farmers have Ramirez also made an offer to purchase the golf ral leakage, evaporation ervoir storage at Medina filed numerous public- the water they need when course in 2017, but the DGA board selected Shannon or [open] gates.” has dropped precipitously records request seeking they need it.” Rackley- Rangel’s offer. The Texas Water – from 205,000 acre-feet information on district SML counters that Mayor William Herring said the city will negotiate Development Board rates to under 130,000 acre- policies and operations. irrigated acreage in the with the intent of keeping the property an 18-hole Medina Lake as 49 per- feet, according to USGS. BMA office manager district has been in steady golf course. cent full. With a capac- “Due to the current Bonnie Tapp reported decline. The group says “The main thing city council wants is to have a golf ity of 254,823 acre-feet, drought, natural leakage that 119.01 acre-feet are water sales in 2017 cov- course,” Herring said. “We must have a golf course. its current conservation and one of the valves in discharged daily through ered less than 10,000 Without it-- that’ll separate the city.” storage is 125,265 acre- the Medina Lake dam irrigation canals. She said acres, roughly one-third The Medina Valley Times will publish a follow feet. being open, the lake is the Natalia-based district what the BMA water per- up story next week with additional comments from The U.S. Geological losing approximately 500 has permits to release mit allows. the public hearing and any other updates on the golf Survey (USGS) listed the acre-feet per day,” Eilert- 46,026 acre-feet for irri- course next week. official water level eleva- Olsen contends. gation annually. See “Lake” on page 2

Subscriber services Have a news tip? Visit Us Online! 830.931.9698 www.cornerstonenewspapers.com 830.931.9698 [email protected] Page 2 Medina Valley Times Thursday, August 2, 2018 Lake level at below half Continued from page 1 released from Medina request.” Lake. They only measure Tapp suggested that As part of its reservoir what is released from [the BMA’s critics look north- and irrigation improve- smaller] Diversion Lake ward. ment program, BMA into the irrigation canals, “It is our hope that has installed more than which of course is mean- SML would be concerned 33,420 feet of piping so ingless as long as the gates about the damming of far this year. An addition- in remain tributaries in the recharge al 16,065 feet are sched- open,” Eilert-Olsen wrote basin, and the effects this uled to be in place by in an e-mail. has on the inflow into the year-end. Tapp responded with a Medina Reservoir. SML While they may not detailed explanation: has been myopic and see eye to eye on much, “The Medina refuses to look into the BMA and SML agree that Reservoir is part of our Watershed pipes are far more effi- irrigation reservoir sys- and the damming of the cient than exposed canals, tem. This system trans- relatively small recharge which lose water to evap- ports irrigation water to basin of 634 square miles,” oration. a release point where the Tapp said. From 2002-2017, the water is measured as it Eilert-Olsen credits water district said it spent goes into the canal sys- the current BMA board $17,136,122 on capital tem. This measurement with being more respon- improvements in and is then reported to the sive in recent months, but Above is the Medina Valley 10U All-Stars team including Ashlynn Farris, Mikayla Zinsmeyer, around the lake. Addison Friesenhahn, Anistan Stivors, Kynlee Crisp, Kayla Guinther, Kylie Schutze, Charliann Texas Commission on his group isn’t convinced As for those “dam Environmental Quality that people are getting Slaughter, Morgan Castiglione, Avery Nash, Arielle Chichester, and Isabel Abitz. This group is valves,” Tapp said the coached by Matt Castiglione, Blane Nash, and Keith Guinther. (Courtesy Photo) (TCEQ) and is the only the full story about con- Medina Lake gates were required measurement ditions at the lake. closed from Aug. 7, 2017 that BMA must report. “We urge the public to May 29, 2018. During We follow TCEQ regula- to contact their local and that time, water storage tions on measuring and state representatives to MVYBA earns World Series title capacity dropped 54,100 reporting all water taken make sure BMA is forced The Medina Valley Texas Regional Tournament runs and scored 57 runs. acre-feet. and used under our per- to have policies in place to Youth Baseball Association in Georgetown, Texas. On Nash pitched 34 innings, “That is an average of mit for allotted water.” prevent draining Medina (MVYBA) girls entered the the first day of the regional with 64 strike outs. about 183 acre-feet per Tapp went on to say: Lake,” SML said in a state- World Series undefeated tournament, the girls lost The Medina Valley 10U day while Medina valves ”It is unfortunate that ment last month. with a record of 8-0. to the Hutto Hippos, forc- All Star softball team had a were closed,” Tapp noted. SML is unable to grasp Tapp encourages resi- The Medina Valley ing them to win four games season record of 20-2. With SML suspects that this two-reservoir system dents to check the agen- 10U All-Star Softball Team back to back on Saturday, only 56 runs allowed and open valves are exacerbat- with proper metering of cy’s website – bmawater. made MVYBA history this followed by three games 180 runs scored they boast- ing the lake’s water loss. legal use of water under org -- for updates on proj- summer, bringing home back to back on Sunday to ed a team batting average of “The main problem our permit. SML has been ects, status of the canal the coveted championship win the tournament. This 0.371 for the all-star season. with BMA is that they supplied this informa- system and general infor- title from the 2018 PONY included beating Hutto Nash pitched a total of 87 do not measure the water tion in an open records mation. South Zone World Series twice in the championship innings, with 174 strike outs tournament. In early June, game. and earned the MVP title the 10U team traveled to Charliann Slaughter was of the World Series tourna- Schertz, Texas to compete named tournament MVP ment. in the PONY South Zone for her work behind the This team of girls made Sectional Tournament. plate, catching all 9 games history not only by winning The girls brought home throughout the tournament. the PONY World Series but the sectional champion- Over the course of the also by bagging gold medals ship and advanced on to the eight World Series games, in both the Regional and PONY South Zone Central the team only gave up 12 Sectional tournaments. Other cities join the fray against Uvalde Continued from page 1 the property rights of the ties,” said Schuchart. “If people who have Edwards EAA loses it does not affect them to try and get this rule rights,” Ruiz said. them because their rule just to stay intact,” Schuchart He said farmers are goes away. The people in said. allowed two acre feet of Medina and Bexar counties Schuchart said the EAA water for every acre of land lose if we do not do some- rule states if property has the farmer uses for agricul- thing about this.” one acre foot of water that tural purposes. Luana Buckner, chair- is used for agricultural pur- “So if you got 100 acre person for the EAA board, poses, that same one-acre farm, they would get 200 encouraged the county to foot can be converted and acre feet of water,” Ruiz get involved with the law- sold if the land is purchased said. “The catch is one acre suit. used for a different purpose foot of land would always “We are just defending like industrial use. have to stay with the farm, the act,” said Buckner. “This “Uvalde is saying EAA but the other acre of water is a property right. We need does not have the author- could be marketed or sold.” permit holders in this law- ity to make the rule and Ruiz said the conversion suit.” the rule is invalid,” said rule was created because Schuchart said he has Schuchart. “Farmers should EAA wanted to know what talked to Bexar County not be able to use that base happened to the water when Judge Nelson Wolff and water for other uses if they farm land was sold to busi- Comal County Judge sell or change the use of nesses or to subdivisions. Sherman Krause and both their land.” “Our concern was if the said they did not know Roland Ruiz, gener- water stayed with the land, about the law suit. al manager of EAA, said no one can use it,” said Ruiz. the UCUWCD brought “17 years ago, the board the lawsuit against EAA adopted rules for land own- because it believes the con- ers to sell the water or apply version rule will put a strain it somewhere else as long as on other aquifers in the area they can prove the land had that sustain municipal uses. changed its purpose of use.” “Their position is our Water rights historically board acted outside of were used for agriculture its authority by adopting can be transferred to others the rules,” Ruiz said. “We uses, such as businesses or addressed their concern residential. Schuchart said and as long as they are in the county will lose out on the Edwards region, they an economic boon if the can get water.” rule is eliminated. In 2001, Ruiz said the “I think if they would changing landscape of the have done this in [1993], economy region has dic- they would never have tated we consider water use. believed the growth in “We are trying to protect Bexar and Medina coun-