THE LIBERTY
GAZETTE
Liberty County’s Only Home-Owned Newspaper
Vol. 54, No. 49
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Foster kids need
your help for a
Merry Christmas
Agenda
CASA DRAWING
LIBERTY - CASA of
Liberty/Chambers Counties will hold a drawing
for a hunter green 2014
Suzuki 400 KingQuad
4x4 with trailer. Tickets
are $20 each and no more
than 700 will be sold. The
drawing will be held on
or before December 20.
You need not be present
to win. Tickets are available at the CASA office
located at 2015 Scout
Street, inside Trinity
Lutheran Church. For
more information, call
936-334-9000.
NO ROOM AT THE INN
DAYTON - The community is invited to attend the street ministry
hosted by United Sisters
in Action at Mount Olive
Missionary
Baptist
Church, Sat., Dec. 20,
from 10 a.m. until noon,
at 1406 Beauty Street.
The theme will be “No
Room at the Inn” (No hay
lugar en la posada). The
reenactment will follow
the journey of Joseph and
Mary as they look for
lodging and await the
birth of the Baby Jesus.
This will be a fun, learning experience with storytelling, prizes, and lunch
will be served. For more
information, call 936-2582285 or 713-305-4394.
R.J. Revels Jr. serves as
pastor.
CHRISTMAS AT
NORTH MAIN
BAPTIST CHURCH
LIBERTY - North
Main Baptist Church,
4709 N. Main, invites the
public to join in the celebration of the Christmas
season beginning Sun.,
Dec. 21, with Christmas
Brunch at 9:30 a.m. followed by the worship
service at 10:40 a.m. On
Wed., Dec. 24, the Christmas Eve candlelight service will take place at 6
p.m. Everyone is welcome. For more information, contact the church
at 936-336-7252.
FBC DEVERS
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM
DEVERS - First Baptist Church of Devers invites the public to
celebrate the birth of
Jesus, Sun., Dec. 21, at 6
p.m. with the performance of the Christmas
program
“Christmas
Angel.” A time of fellowship and refreshments will
follow the program. First
Baptist Church of Devers
is located at 106 Avenue A.
For more information,
contact Pastor Rick Edwards at (936) 549-7653
or (936) 776-6950.
SOCIAL SERVICES
OUTREACH
PROGRAM
DAYTON - The Houston Food Bank Outreach
Coordinator will be at the
Dayton Community Center Wed., Dec. 17, from 9
a.m. to 3 p.m. to assist individuals with SNAP,
Medicaid and TANF enrollment. There is also a
Woman’s Health Program, where women ages
18 to 44 years old can
apply for assistance with
early pap smears and
birth control. For more
information contact the
Dayton Chamber of Commerce at 936-257-2393.
Capt. Felix Skarpa (left) and Lt. Col. Don Fisher check the map prior to a flight in the Civil Air Patrol aircraft. Dayton
Mayor Skarpa has had a lifelong love of aviation dating back to the 1960s. He currently owns a Cessna 182.
Skarpa rejoins Civil Air Patrol, plans to assist in flying missions
DAYTON - Dayton Mayor
Felix Skarpa, member of the
Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in years
past, has recently resumed his
involvement with this nonprofit organization. Skarpa was
a member from 1995 until
2005 and recalls flying 20 missions one summer. Forced to
take a hiatus due to some back
problems, he has reupped his
membership as of Sept. 2014.
To maintain his membership in
this elite group, he must recertify with CAP every year and
with the FAA every two years.
Captain Felix Skarpa’s CAP
squadron commander Lt. Col.
Don Fisher is working closely
with him and they hope to
rekindle local interest in the organization. CAP is the Air
Force auxiliary and a national
community service organization made up of professionally
trained civilian volunteers.
CAP uses locally-available talent as an asset pool for federal,
state and local government entities. Their missions may include (but certainly are not
limited to) search and rescue,
disaster response, drug interdiction, law enforcement support,
homeland
security,
ground and aerial digital imaging and reconnaissance, and
much more.
There are CAP chapters in
all 50 states plus Puerto Rico
and the District of Columbia.
Skarpa and Fisher are “senior”
members who range in age
from 18 years and up. Senior
members play a leading role in
aerospace education and serve
as mentors to nearly 27,000
young people nationwide in
CAP’s cadet program for folks
17 years and younger.
If you are not a pilot, there
are still plenty of volunteer opportunities to serve in CAP; in
fact most members do not fly.
Adult members work with
youth, assist with search and
rescue or complete administrative duties required to keep the
unit running. All CAP members
are civilians and are under no
obligation to the military.
Lt. Col. Don Fisher, a Dayton native originally from the
Eastgate area, is the Baytown
Senior Squadron Commander,
Texas Wing. If you would like
further information about CAP,
contact him at 281-383-1443 or
281-615-5057 or e-mail [email protected].
LIBERTY - Last Tuesday
evening Liberty City Council
members approved the proposed
architectural contract for construction of the bell tower to be
located behind the Humphreys
Cultural Center which will house
the Liberty’s bell currently esconced in the lobby of First Liberty National Bank. The tower
will be funded entirely by private donations.
Architects Fernando Brave
and Val Glitsch presented renderings of the proposed structure
to be constructed of steel and
perforated steel. Councilman
Louie Potetz expressed the desire to see American-made steel
used for the structure. Estimated
time for completion is six
months which, of course, depends on the contractor who has
not been selected at this time.
Fundraising is ongoing for
this project with special mention
going to the Liberty Rotary
Club, which is selling replicas of
the bell. First Liberty National
Bank CEO Paul Henry reported
that the bell tower account has
$77,656 currently on hand with
an additional pledge of $24,000
expected. The Liberty County
Historical Commission has
pledged $5,000 and efforts are
being made to increase that
amount to $10,000. Projected
cost of the bell tower is some
$458,000.
that the town is noticeably tidier
following this effort.
Liberty council approves architectural contract for bell tower
City Manager Gary Broz reported that 23 résumés have
been submitted for the position
of Liberty police chief. Council
will begin deliberations in January; Gary Martin is currently
serving as interim chief.
Broz also reported that Clean
Up Day filled eight 40-yard
dumpsters with refuse and Councilman Libby Simonson noted
In further action council
members accepted a bid of
$11,000 for the tax resale property described as Liberty Inner
Blocks, Block 87, Lot Pt 14 Tr 1,
which is next to La Oficina on
MLK Drive.
Council then considered bids
for maintenance of HVAC for all
city facilities, including the city
hall, police department, library
and cultural center, airport and
city maintenance facility. Lowest
bid of $19,152 per year was
made by Residential and Commercial Air Conditioning Service of Houston (RAS). This
represents a $3,600 decrease
from the previous contract held
by ABS and includes all maintenance and labor costs. Any parts
See COUNCIL, Page A-3
LIBERTY - The Liberty
County Children’s Protective
Services Board is once again
seeking sponsors for their
Foster Children’s Christmas
Program.
Donations in any amount
will be gratefully accepted
and used to bring Christmas
cheer to the kids. Your donation will ensure that the children will delight in the magic
of Christmas, unwrap gifts,
and most importantly, know
that someone cares for them
today and throughout the
year.
Your donations provide
for the children’s needs that
are not met through the modest government funds allotted
to the CPS Board each year.
The donations are also used
to purchase birthday presents
for the foster kids and also
take care of miscellaneous
needs.
Every tax deductible donation to the CPS Board will
benefit the foster children of
Liberty County.
Organizers say many families, clubs, church groups
and organizations make donations ranging from $5 on
up to much larger amounts.
Any donation is welcome.
Please mail donations to John
Hebert, CPS Board Treasurer
at P.O. Box 857, Liberty, TX
77575. Mark checks for the
“Foster Children’s Christmas
Program” or “CPS Board.”
Every tax-deductible donation to the CPS Board will
benefit the foster children of
Liberty County. A letter of
thanks and receipt for tax
records will be promptly returned.
LPD’s Silver Santa
program to assist
seniors in need
LIBERTY - For the fifth
straight year, the Liberty Police
Department will be assisting indigent and homebound senior citizens in the city of Liberty with
food and supplies for Christmas
through its Silver Santa program.
The program is completely
reliant on charitable donations in
order to provide this service. Donations of money, blankets,
throws, sock and non-perishable
food are being accepted at Liberty Police Department at 1914
Lakeland Drive.
For more information, contact
Frances Wood at 936-336-5666.
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Shown above is the architects’ rendering of the bell tower to be constructed behind the Humphreys Cultural Center.
Estimated cost of the structure is in the neighborhood of $458,000.
L-D CHAMBER MONTHLY
BUSINESS LUNCHEON
LIBERTY - Liberty-Dayton
Chamber members and their
guests are invited to attend this
month’s Monthly Business
Luncheon at the Liberty Center.
The luncheon, set for Wed., Dec.
17, and will feature a special
Christmas music program by the
Liberty High School choir, under
the direction of Christie Bean.
The meal will be catered by
Linda’s Catering, Linda Durio,
owner. Serving gets underway at
11:45 a.m. The cost is $10 per
person.
Reservations are required and
you can make yours by calling
the chamber office at 936-3365736, e-mailing [email protected], or registering online
using the Events calendar at libertydaytonchamber.com.