Burleson County Tribune
Serving Burleson County for 130 years
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Volume 130 No. 27
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306 West Hwy 21, Caldwell, Texas 77836-1122 • 979-567-3286
www.bctribune.com
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Three burglars apprehended
Medicines stolen from Somerville B&B Pharmacy
Four masked men who
broke into the B&B
Pharmacy last Wednesday, Feb. 4, in Somerville led law ofﬁcers on
a high-speed chase to
Giddings before their
tires were spiked and
three were arrested.
A fourth man ﬂed on
foot and is still at large,
Somerville Police Chief
Nic Malmstrom said.
Numerous pharmaceutical bottles and
containers were also
stolen, valued at about
$14,678, he said
The three arrested
were charged with felony burglary of a building, evading arrest with
a vehicle, engaging in
SOMERVILLE OFFICER Julie Buhs looks organized criminal acover this evidence recovered following the tivity and felony tamFeb. 4 chase. -- Tribune photo by Roy Sanders pering with physical
MEDICINES ARE THROWN onto the ﬂoor
at the B&B pharmacy following the Feb. 4
burglary. The culprits ﬂed by car and were
later arrested after their tires were spiked in
Giddings.
evidence.
They included Darius
Darnell Dugas, 29, of
Houston, Daymond Roshun Gordon, 35, of
Houston, and Johnte-
thon Davieon Smith,
31, of Houston, Malmstrom said.
All three are now free
on bond, according to
Burleson County Jail
Firefighters battle
5 blazes in 2 days
Grass ﬁres around the county are becoming
a huge concern for area ﬁreﬁghters, and they
battled ﬁve of them in the last two days.
Fortunately, no structures burned, and there
were no injuries.
But there was plenty of stress for ﬁreﬁghters
from ﬁve different departments, scrambling to
control them before they got out of hand.
One blaze on Tuesday, Feb. 10, burned about 40
round hay bales and more than 30 acres.
Black Jack and Cade Lake ﬁre departments
were called out around 2:30 p.m. to a large grass
ﬁre located at 11767 County Road 311.
The ﬁre was originally over 25 acres and included 40 round hay bales, but extended to over
30 acres before it was contained.
A small barn was initially threatened, but there
was no damage, ﬁreﬁghters said.
A Black Jack ﬁreﬁghter said he knew he needed
See FIRE, page 10A
Voters in House District 13 will cast ballots on
Tuesday, Feb. 17, to decide who will ﬁnally be
their state representative -- Caldwell attorney
Leighton Schubert or former Austin County judge
Carolyn Bilski.
Voters from Lavaca, Austin, Burleson, Colorado,
Fayette, Grimes and Washington counties will
vote to replace State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst in the
House. Kolkhorst was recently elected to Senate District 18 to replace Glenn Hegar who was
elected as the Texas State Comptroller.
On Tuesday, Jan. 27, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
set the date for the runoff election, and since that
day both candidates have been busy campaigning,
answering questions in candidate forums (see LEIGHTON SCHUBERT, left, and Carolyn Bilski, right, appear at a
Monday, Feb. 9, candidate forum in Brenham. The runoff election is
related story) and debating each other.
set for Feb. 17. See story on page 4A. -- Tribune photo by Roy Sanders
See RUNOFF, page 7A
The U.S. Army Special
Operations Command
(USASOC) is seeking
Burleson County permission for a Realistic
Military Training exercise in the county.
Thomas Mead, JADE
HELM operations planner, addressed the commissioners during public comments at their
Monday, Feb. 9, meeting, but no action was
taken.
The commissioners
may consider approval
at their Monday, Feb.
23, meeting, Pct. 3 commissioner David Hildebrand said after the
See COUNTY, page 2A
Local area
filings end
Feb. 27
Area school and city
election filings have
begun, and so far only
three incumbents have
filed to retain their
seats.
Somerville school
See FILINGS, page 7B
Study says
values still
too low
A property value study
by the State Comptroller’s Office shows
that all three Burleson
County’s school district
taxable values are still
too low and need correcting.
And the appraisal district will be required
by law to get it right
to avoid a loss of state
funding for the school
districts.
This means some taxpayers may face higher
appraisals and tax payments.
Interim chief appraiser Pat Moraw briefed
the appraisal board on
the issue at their Monday, Feb. 9, meeting.
Moraw said the study
shows that the values
are “outside the conﬁdence level”of the state’s
standard -- a term used
by the comptroller’s ofﬁce. The study results
are used in the calculation-formula used to deSee VALUES, page 9B
House District 13
Runoff election set
Military exercise
coming to county
ofﬁcials.
The incident began
at 3:39 a.m. when the
store security system
alerted to intruders
breaking into the front
door, Malmstrom said.
The men shattered the
front door, tried unsuccessfully to break into
the roll down door at
the pharmacy and then
shattered an overhead
window and crawled
inside the pharmacy.
Prescription medicine
bottles were also scattered all over the ﬂoor
inside the pharmacy
and in the over the
counter area, Malmstrom said.
Somerville Police Ofﬁcer Julie Buhs responded and saw a silver
See SPD, page 3A
Snook
eyes
stadium
The Snook School
Board is considering
options for the district’s
land across the street
from the school, with
the ultimate goal to
build a football stadium.
Brenda Krchnak,
Snook ISD superintendent, said the district
owns 40 acres of land
across the street from
See SNOOK, page 10B
Services held for
Elton Hubenak
Funeral services for
Burleson County civic
leader Elton Robert
Hubenak, 84, of Snook,
were held at 10 a.m.
on Tuesday, Feb. 10,
2015, at Snook Brethren Church in Snook
with Rev. Joseph Polasek ofﬁciating.
Burial followed at
St. Mary’s Our Lady
of Lourdes Catholic
Church Cemetery in
Caldwell.
Visitation was held
from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. on
TYLER GROCE AND Catherine Bell view the Monday, Feb. 9, 2015,
silent auction items at the annual Go Texan at Strickland Funeral
scholarship fundraiser on Saturday, Feb. 7. Home in Caldwell.
Mr. Hubenak was welSee story on page 9A.
ELTON HUBENAK
comed into our Lord’s
Heavenly home on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015.
See HUBENAK, page 7A