COVERING LOCAL BUSINESS AND ALL THE NEWS IN MEDINA COUNTY SINCE 1977 MEDINA MEDINAVolume 41 Thursday, VALLEYVALLEY August 2, 2018 Castroville, Texas 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 Medina Valley 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. Medina Lake 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 Medina Dam 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 Medina River 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.