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By JERRY MORGAN, Reporter

 Early voting began on Tuesday morning and will continue through Friday, February 29, for the March 4 Party Primary election.

Early voting will take place in the basement of the Comanche County Courthouse. Voters are encouraged to use the west side Courthouse entrance, which will avoid stairs.

Early Voting hours are from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Early voting will be available in DeLeon at the City Hall on Tuesday, February 26, from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

Sample ballots for both Republican and Democrat elections are shown on the back page of this week¹s newspaper.

For full article, subscribe to the DeLeon Free Press. E-mail edition is only $20/year.

 I am Pauline Villlarreal. I was born and raised in DeLeon and have lived here all my life. My husband is Gerardo, commonly known as "B.B.", and we have two children in DeLeon Elementary.

I have always been interested in our city government and community and want to do my part to help out. I am not interested in any single issue, and am not promising anyone to do anything in particular, but only to study the issues and try to do the best thing for our city.

My family and I are faithful members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. We have a fruit and vegetable stand during the summer months and also do farm work for many in the area.

I would like to help serve the citizens of DeLeon by seeking fair and reasonable solutions to the problems we all face together.

I would appreciate your vote and support on May 10.

By JERRY MORGAN, Reporter

Even as the party primary elections are heating up and bubbling, another annual election cycle is getting under way.

Local governmental bodies -- the City of DeLeon, the DeLeon Independent School District, the Comanche County Consolidated Hospital District and the Middle Trinity Groundwater Conservation District -- will all be holding elections on May 10.

There will be no referendums, initiatives or other non-candidate matters for the voters to consider in any of the local elections.

The filing period for candidates in the local elections opened on February 9 and continues for approximately one month through March 10.

The last day to register to vote in the local elections will be on April 10.

City of DeLeon

In the City of DeLeon election, three positions on the City Council will be filled. The Mayor and Council positions 1 & 2, currently filled in order by Danny Owen, Howard Gifford and Norma Locke, will be up for election. The terms are for two years.

Currently, Mayor Danny Owen has filed for re-election and Pauline Villarreal has filed for Council Place 2.

Both Council members Howard Gifford and Norma Locke have indicated they do not intend to run for re-election.

Persons interested in becoming a candidate in the City Council election should contact City Secretary Karen Wilkerson at the DeLeon City Hall.

DeLeon Independent School District

Two Board of Trustees positions will be up for election on May 10. The positions currently held by Board president Lisa Nowlin and member Dr. Brandon Gilmore are expiring. The terms are three years.

Both Nowlin and Dr. Gilmore have either filed for re-election or indicated their intention to do so.
Persons interested in becoming a candidate in the Board of Trustees election should go to the District Support Center (the old DeLeon Hospital building) and pickup an information package.

Comanche County Consolidated Hospital District

Two positions on the Board of Directors for the Comanche County Medical Center and Doctors Medical Clinic will be up for election on May 10.

Those two positions are currently held by Board president Gale Easley and former Board president Charles Mazurek, the two longest serving members on the Board.

At the current time, only Charles Mazurek has filed for re-election. Gale Easley has indicated at various times that she does not intend to run for re-election.

Persons interested in becoming a candidate in the Hospital District Board of Directors election for three-year term positions should go to the hospital¹s administrative offices and see Kathy Johnston for filing information.

Middle Trinity Groundwater Conservation District

Board positions held by president Rodney Stephens of Comanche, Jerry Fronterhouse of DeLeon and Ed Dittfurth of Stephenville are up for election on May 10.

The Board terms are four years. All three incumbents are expected to file for re-election.

Persons interested in becoming a candidate should go to the District¹s administrative office at 150 Harbin, Suite 434, in Stephenville and see Sharon Mainard.

All Candidates Invited

Every candidate is invited to come by the Free Press office to have their photograph taken and to have a no-cost campaign statement published.

A full agenda was handled by the DeLeon ISD Board of Trustees as they met in regular session on February 18. The meeting was held in the new central administration building located in the District Support Center, the former DeLeon Hospital.

COMMUNICATIONS TOWER UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Workers unload the base segment of a 23 ton, 150 foot tall communications tower at the DeLeon ISD¹s headquarters facility, formerly the DeLeon Hospital. The tower is a part of an educational communications network.

The session began with the Board taking a tour of the remodeling/renovations to the facility. The Board visited offices of the central administration, classrooms used for the district¹s credit recovery program, and meeting rooms to be used by the Region XIV Educational Service Center and the district for various training programs. The district tax office was also visited to show how almost all of the facility is being used, or will be used, in the near future.

Once the tour was completed the Board settled into the conference room to first consider the consent agenda. In addition to the normal reports and items for consideration, the administration presented the Board with the latest property value study from the state comptroller's office.

For full article, subscribe to the DeLeon Free Press. E-mail edition is only $20/year.

On February 12, Kenneth Ray Simons, 55 of Houston, an inmate at the Comanche County Jail housed under contract for Gillespie County since September 2007, died from natural causes while in custody.

Simons was awaiting trial on Burglary of a Habitation in Gillespie County and also being held on a Blue Warrant for a Parole Violation.

At approximately 2:00 a.m. inmates in Simons' cell summoned Detention Officers to the cell to assist Simons. EMS was called immediately and transported Simons to the Comanche County Medical Center where he later died.

An autopsy was performed by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office. Autopsy results showed that Simons died of a Ruptured Berry Aneurysm of Circle of Willis.

By LAURA KESTNER, Editor

 Hiring a new public works administrator, and a performance review for the two new police officers, resulted in multiple lengthy executive sessions during the most recent meeting of the DeLeon City Council, Thursday, February 14, 2008.

Council members Norma Locke, Avery Carlisle, Roy Dale Freeman and Mayor Danny Owen were in place for the 6 p.m. start, with Council member Gayle Stroud absent due to illness and member Howard Gifford out due to other obligations. Others present included City Secretary Karen Wilkerson; City Attorney Lois Rockefeller; and Ray Helberg, emergency management coordinator.

After a two hour executive session, Council members voted to re-hire Rob Duncan as Public Works Administrator, after interviewing three applicants out of four.

After a second lengthy executive session, for performance reviews of recently-hired DPD officers Heather Harding and Donna Turnbow, Council members reconvened in open session and voted to accept the resignation of Officer Turnbow, and to take Officer Harding off probation.

For full article, subscribe to the DeLeon Free Press. E-mail edition is only $20/year.

By LAURA KESTNER, Editor

 It's not difficult for Ed Sanders to discuss memories of his daughter Paige, who as a very young girl looked like a princess and played like a tomboy. He smiles when he speaks of that same young girl as a teen, active in all sports, a cheerleader and a faithful member the First Baptist Church.

SPENDING SUNDAYS WITH DAD. Paige Sanders and her father, Ed Sanders, in front of the DeLeon First Baptist Church last fall.

What he, and stepmother, Debbie, do have trouble with are the "memories" that will never be -- the career that will never happen, and the husband and children Paige will never have.

Paige Sanders, just 15, died Sunday, February 10, at a Fort Worth hospital from injuries sustained in a 4-wheeler accident south of DeLeon on Friday, February 8.

"She will miss out on so much," Ed said.

"And so will we," Debbie added. "We won't get to share that with her like we're supposed to. When you lose an older person, you cry and grieve and miss them, but when it's someone so young, you just sit and think about all they¹ll never see and experience."

Thanks to the generosity of Paige and her family, her organs were donated and several people were given the opportunity to reach another milestone and make another memory. Although erroneous information was originally released (a 13-year-old receiving Paige¹s heart, and two babies each receiving a portion of her liver), more accurate information is now available.

According to Wesley Burnett, a donation clinical specialist with LifeGift Organ Donation Center, her heart was donated to a young mother, just 23 years old. "Her pancreas went to a 62-year-old man in the Virginia area," Burnett said, "and her liver went to a 53-year-old Houston woman." Burnett added that Paige's right kidney went to a 54-year-old Fort Worth area woman, and her left kidney went to a 39-year-old Fort Worth area woman. Burnett said that although Paige's corneas were also donated, he didn't have details from the eye bank at this time.

"She made a big difference in the world," Burnett said.

"That has helped me so much," Ed said, "knowing that she was giving life, even as she was passing away. I'm just so proud of her. That's the way she was, she had a very giving nature."

Ed said that Paige was a happy baby, even through many childhood illnesses. "She'd had her tonsils and adenoids out, and tubes in her ears, before she was 18 months old," he said. "All together she had to have four sets of tubes. But she was a good baby, a happy kid."

Paige, who was born to Ed and Linda Sanders in June of 1992, had two big sisters, Shae and Tiffany. Ed said they had their squabbles from time to time, as all siblings do, but that their bond was a strong one.

Ed and Debbie say that Paige's relationship with her grandmother, Ruth Sanders, was also a close one, with Ruth often taking Paige to the doctor, the dentist, and on shopping trips. Ruth also picked Paige up from school each afternoon. "And she took her lunch every day at school," Ed said.

Ruth, who lives on Ross Street, had a room in her house set up just for Paige. Family members said it was one of several on the same street. Ed explains that Ruth lives next door to the house on Ross Street that he and his family occupied when Paige and her sisters were younger. After Ed and Linda divorced, he stayed in the family home, and Linda moved up the street ­ just two houses from Ruth.

And Paige's best friend, Kaitlyn Wilkerson, and her family, also live on Ross Street, so for years Paige could run back and forth between any of four houses knowing she was loved and wanted. "She had a lot of love on that street," Debbie said, "everything was right there."

According to Ed, Kaitlyn and Paige had been friends since they were 2 or 3-years-old. "They were really close," he says, "Kaitlyn has been there for her through everything."

Another person who was there for Paige, even in the hospital, was her boyfriend, Tyler Gardner. "He stayed by her side the entire time at the hospital," Debbie said.

Debbie said that there was no "stepmother-stepdaughter conflict" with Paige. "I enjoyed our relationship," Debbie said. "She was good to me."

"Everybody has a special memory of Paige," Ed said, "but I will always remember her eyes and that beautiful smile." Ed enjoys talking about Paige's love for sports. "She loved softball, basketball and volleyball," he said. "She was one really good athlete." Ed said that Tiffany was a cheerleader in school and played some sports, and Shae wasn't interested in cheerleading but was a real athlete. "And then Paige came along she just embodied it all," he said.

Ed's last memory of Paige, the Sunday before she died, was a happy one.

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