Hallettsville TRIBUNE-HERALD 144th Year (USPS 640/100), ©2020 Hallettsville Publishing Co. $1.00 Wednesday, July 29, 2020 No. 31 Court appoints LHD Board okays bid resolution for sale of property JIMMY APPELT, STAFF WRITER contain qualifications applicable un- cussed at a number of meetings in the [email protected] less LHD specifically agrees otherwise. past, in which the board was looking at EMS advisory The Lavaca Hospital District Board Two of the bid restrictions involve: offering a long-term lease agreement of Directors met in a special-called • The property shall be used for to an assisted living/memory care com- meeting Wednesday evening, July 22, the sole and exclusive purpose of a pany to build a facility on the leased committee and voted to approve a property bid constructing a licensed assisted living LHD land. JIMMY APPELT, STAFF WRITER resolution for possibly selling a portion facility. Bowen said the last contact he had [email protected] of property owned by the district. • The owner, operator, lease shall with any interested company was Sil- The Lavaca County Com- The resolution will authorize the offer no service that would be competi- versage, which took place last fall. missioners’ Court met in a reg- district’s CEO Steve Bowen and le- tive with services offered at LMC. In January, Bowen and board presi- ular meeting Monday morning gal counsel, Kevin Reed, to prepare, The board agreed that after Reed dent James Fenner met with the approving the appointment of advertise and solicit bids on the sale and his firm puts together a bid pack- district’s legal counsel to work out a an advisory committee to pro- of approximately 5.647 acres located age, it would be brought back for final master lease agreement. vide input to the Lavaca Coun- adjacent to Lavaca Medical Center. approval before being sent out to pro- “We went back and forth and con- ty Rescue Service operations According to the resolution, the spective bidders. cluded, we just can’t make the lease and hiring of an emergency board reserves the right to reject all The property in question is in re- work,” Bowen said. medical service director. bids and the bid specifications shall gards to an issue that has been dis- SEE LHD, PAGE 12 In explaining the reason for appointing a committee, County Judge Keith Mudd said he’s been looking into the operations of the EMS service for the past five months since he’s been the county judge. Airport now has courtesy vehicle “We’ve been exploring with CHUCK GRAFE, STAFF WRITER different city officials of what [email protected] needs to happen and be done,” Most airports have a Mudd said. “This (committee) courtesy car or a “loan- is more than hiring an EMS er” and now Hallettsville director. It’s how does the ser- Municipal Airport has a vice tie into our law enforce- vehicle which can be used ment and fire departments. by pilots. How do we work together as The airport procured a county to provide the best a military M998 Humvee care we can possibly get when from the State of Texas it comes to EMS services.” Surplus facility to use at Mudd said another duty the airport. of the committee would be “We were looking for a to look into providing fair vehicle that would stand compensation for the service’s out enough so when Hal- employees. lettsville residents saw “Those guys have been it, they would recognize hurting for a long time as far and realize how much the as compensation goes,” Mudd airport contributes to our said. “I want this committee to local economy,” said Jim look into what is fair compen- Baker, who heads the Texas sation of an employee of the Barnstorming Museum at the airport. somewhat unconventional, hopefully “Enthusiasm for the Hummer has EMS department.” “Pilots who fly in can use the vehicle to seeing the vehicle will remind us that been incredible on aviation social Mudd said he’s reached go town to eat and run their errands. Be- we still have servicemen and women media pages with many responses like out to the mayors of the four ing a museum, we wanted a vehicle that deployed and serving our country in ‘I’m flying to Hallettsville just to drive cities within the county for would also have historical significance.” hostile place,” Baker said. the thing.’” Baker said. “Hopefully we individuals to serve on the The Humvee is one of the most iconic The vehicle will stay at the airport will see it often at our local restaurants committee. symbols of our country’s involvement in and be available to pilots and sched- and businesses as visual reminder just The proposed list included Iraq and Afghanistan. uling will be through the Texas Barn- how much the airport serves our com- Randy Schlauch, Hallettsville “Besides providing transportation storming Museum. munity.” PD chief and city council member Audrey Barrera. Serving on the committee from Shiner will be Mayor Fred Hilscher and councilman HISD sets return to school plans COVID-19 cases David Schroeder. Moulton representatives JIMMY APPELT, STAFF WRITER members to collaborate and discuss the appear to be will include Mayor Mark Zim- [email protected] implementation of the plan. merman and president of the The Hallettsville ISD Board of Trustees “To effectively implement the plan, Moulton Community Medical met in a special called meeting last Mon- teachers, administrators and instruc- dropping in Golden Clinic District Ernie Novosad. day evening, July 20 approving return to tional staff members will need time to Serving on the committee school plans for the 2020-21 school year. develop high quality lessons for families Crescent Region from Yoakum will be Yoakum In addition, the board approved moving who choose the remote learning option,” JIMMY APPELT, STAFF WRITER Community Hospital nurse the opening day of school to one week later Bludau said. “Teachers will need to have [email protected] practitioner Amy Barton and than originally planned. additional training in designing engaging Based on a chart found Yoakum Fire EMS/Chief Mark on the Lavaca County Office Herchek. of Emergency Management Representing the county on website, the number of active the committee will be Mudd, COVID-19 cases appear to be Pct. 2 commissioner Ronald dropping as of last week. Berckenhoff, auditor Shana Egon Barthels, emergency Opela, Sheriff Micah Harmon management coordinator re- and emergency management ported at Monday’s commis- coordinator Egon Barthels. sioners’ court meeting that the The court voted 4-0 in ap- Department of State Health proving the appointment of Services (DSHS) has changed the committee members with its reporting method on re- Berckenhoff abstaining. covered cases. The reported COUNTY CLERK’S OFFICE number of cases to his office The court addressed sev- is at least 10 days late. eral matters in regards to the As of Friday, July 24, a County Clerk’s office includ- graph of the Golden Crescent ing approving the submission case status shows the number for record job descriptions for of active cases for the region office and accepting a letter sits slightly lower than 1,800, of resignation from Audrey which is drop of about 400 Barrera. cases from the previous week. A lateral move of Tena Stef- The Golden Crescent Re- fek from Head Criminal and gion is composed of Calhoun, Civil clerk to commissioner DeWitt, Goliad, Jackson, Lava- court recorder/vital statistics Due to the COVID-19 guidelines, the lessons in our digital classroom platforms ca and Victoria counties. SEE COURT, PAGE 9 starting date for the school term was that include creating, editing, and upload- The graph also shows the pushed back one week to allow teach- ing instructional videos as well as remote number of recovered cases has ers extra time for planning and training. learning management and accountability.” risen dramatically to around School will begin Thursday, Aug. 20. Bludau said the HISD leadership team 2,800 cases during the report- According to HISD superintendent Dr. is developing a form where parents can ing period. A rise of about Jo Ann Bludau, the district’s leadership notify campus principals regarding their 1,200 recovered cases since team consisting of campus and district choice of on-campus learning or remote last week. administrators, department heads and learning. The forms are expected to be As far as the number of teacher leaders reviewed the plan and sent out soon. confirmed positive COVID-19 lavacacountytoday.com are setting up times for teachers and staff SEE SCHOOL, PAGE 7 SEE COVID, PAGE 12 Page 2 HALLETTSVILLE TRIBUNE-HERALD Wednesday, July 29, 2020 Henry Joe Jasek's FIFTY YEARS AGO TOWN CHATTER north entrance. The Hallettsville Community Church Shoe Distribution has FROM THE Named Lavaca Repka suffered a broken leg been set for Saturday, Aug. 1 from 8 a.m.-11 a.m. at 605 S. PAGES OF THE and was brought to Youens Hospi- Glendale St. in Hallettsville. New athletic type shoes will be County FB Queen tal in Weimar for treatment. given out to any school-aged children who are present during Hallettsville The Lavaca County Farm Bu- Schulenburg Chief of Police Ed this time. Shoes are given on a first-come first-serve bases. Sizes reau queen’s contest was held at Orsak along with a Highway Patrol- and quantities are limited. Children must be present in order to Tribune-Herald the VFW Hall in Moulton, Thurs- man investigated the accident. receive shoes. Safety guidelines will be followed for Covid-19. day, July 23. Social distancing will be implemented and masks are required. … July 28-31, 1970 Two girls “kept it in the fam- Flying Lessons at The Lookouts 9U Baseball Club is sponsoring a Chicken ily” as Frances Bludau was chosen Fajita plates-to-go with rice and beans meal on Monday, Aug.