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By Jerry Morgan, Reporter

COMANCHE -- Voting precincts, contracting for reduced rate electrical power, and a variety of financial and procedural matters kept the Commissioners busy at their most recent regular semi-monthly meeting.

All members of the Commissioners Court were on hand on Tuesday, November 13, for their first November meeting. Judge James Aurthur conducted the meeting with Commissioners Garry Steele, Kenneth Feist, Bobby Schuman and Jimmy Dale Johnson attending.  >>Full Story<<

By Laura Kestner, Editor

About mid-morning last Tuesday, November 13, bright green “polycart” trash receptacles were placed in or near the driveways of all DeLeon city residents, catching most by surprise. >>See Picture below<<

There was a letter attached to each cart -- from IESI the city’s current waste disposal provider -- detailing how the carts should be utilized. Operators from IESI were in town again, Friday, November 16, to demonstrate the benefits of the new polycart waste receptacles, and to show the new, specially equipped truck needed for the carts. If carts are positioned correctly one person can work the city route alone, using the trucks “robotic arm” to lift and empty the carts.

Doug Jones, site manager for IESI, said that one of the biggest benefits to the new carts is that it will help keep DeLeon cleaner. “Animals won’t be able to get into them,” Jones said, “and scatter trash everywhere. Plus, they’ll look nicer than piles of trash everywhere.” Jones also noted that the new truck should not leak like the older one, (which had often generated calls and complaints for City Hall) and that the routes will be completed more expediently.

Karen Wilkerson, city secretary, said that one of the concerns from local residents was their inability to maneuver the new carts. “If someone is disabled, and cannot push the cart,” Wilkerson said, “they can call City Hall and get put on a list and the driver will walk up and get their cart. But they’re not going to do that for everybody, just those that are physically unable to move the cart.”

Scheduled pick-up times will also change -- but only for the east side of town.

“Texas Street is the dividing line,” Wilkerson said. “Everything on the west side of Texas will be picked up on Mondays (as always), and everything on the east side of Texas will be picked up on Thursdays. Bulk pick-up -- limbs, leaves and big items -- will be on Fridays. “But people have to call City Hall to be put on a pickup list for those bulk items,” Wilkerson said.

Some of the guidelines delivered with the new carts include: “Please have the carts in place by 7 a.m. on collection day; place the cart where the truck can drive within four feet of it from the passenger’s side of the truck; place cart at least four feet away from all objects such as posts, gas meters or another roll-out cart; do not place rock, dirt, gravel, cement, batteries, liquid paint or tires in carts; and please bag all garbage to keep it from blowing windy days while dumping.”

The cost of the new carts was also a concern for some residents, as was whether the carts were big enough for the average household’s weekly waste.

“You can order an additional cart,” Wilkerson said, “but it will add $9.45 to the trash part of your monthly water bill.” Wilkerson added that the use of one polycart, the one delivered to homes last week, will not change monthly bills.

New dumpsters (and dumpster pickup schedule) are also scheduled for the near future, but the exact date is not known at this time.

(Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, residents on the east side of Texas Street will have their trash collected on Friday this week.)

Jane Sims of DeLeon was one of 18 contestants who only missed on a single game in the concluding week of our 2007 Free Press football contest. Her tiebreaker guess of 46 was only a point away from the actual total, and closer than any of the other 17, giving her the entire $100 final contest prize. Sims said that Thanksgiving would be a lot happier at her home because of her win.

Other contestants who only missed a single game included Rocky Atchley, Lorrie Couch, Faith Burns, Aidan Frasier, Steve Baker, Terry Hodges, Ruby Park, Jason Killebrew, Andy Quinn, Alyssa Mahan, Carolyn Frasier, Jennifer Frasier, Billy Warren, Pat Ripley, Taylor Hodges, Bill Burns and Hannah Lindsey.

If Texas Tech had not upset Oklahoma late Saturday night, there would have been 18 perfect contestants, as every one of the single miss entries failed on that one game. Sims would have still won on the tiebreaker, however.

The average score for the first week of the playoffs dropped back into "C" territory -- 78.5% correct to be exact. The game most often missed, by 94%, was the Texas Tech win over Oklahoma. Almost half missed on Hico's loss to Lone Oak, and 45% missed calling Abilene Cooper's win over Mansfield. Ohio State's win over Michigan and Collinsville's win over DeLeon were the next two most frequently missed games.

Cisco's win over Nocona was predicted by 100% of our contestants. Only one contestant failed to correctly pick Gorman over Lindsey. Playoff victories by Early, Wylie, Albany and Abilene were predicted by more than 90%.

Since this was the final contest of the season, it is time to thank those who have sponsored the contest this year, as well as those who have participated. We hope that those of you who have enjoyed the contest will express your appreciation to the many sponsors.

There's still a lot of good football left to enjoy, even if our Bearcats are no longer in the mix. Here's hoping for continued success for the Gorman Panthers, the Stephenville Yellow Jackets, the Dallas Cowboys and the college team(s) of your choice.

Responding to a request made by former Free Press Editor Gayle Wilkerson, Jason Owen, Corps of Engineers acting Site Manager for Proctor Lake, announced last week that Promontory Park facilities will remain open for day use through the winter months.

The change has not yet been put into effect, however. The day use area is planned to be opened on Monday, November 26.

Promontory Park has in recent years been completely closed during the months of October through March.

Owen states that Promontory Park will be open from 6:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., including the boat ramp, courtesy dock, picnic tables and adjacent restroom. Campgrounds within the park will remain closed, however.

Owen noted that 80% of Promontory Park’s use is day use activities. He also noted that the Corps of Engineers would be willing to offer the City of DeLeon the opportunity to operate Promontory Park if it was interested.

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