What’s insideClassified . . . . . . . . . .5BEntertainment . . . . . .4BEditorial . . . . . . . . . . .4A

Obituaries . . . . . . . . . .2ALifestyles . . . . . . . . . .1BMemos . . . . . . . . . . . .2ASports . . . . . . . . . . . .3B

Sunday Monday Tuesday

78/92 80/91 80/92

TidesHigh: 11:54 a.m.Low: 1:10 a.m.

TidesHigh: 12:05 p.m.Low: 1:40 a.m.

TidesHigh: 12:20 p.m.Low: 2:13 a.m.

Deaths Obituaries, 2A

� Irene De La Garza� Joe Pineda� Geraldine Dettling� Emma Cockrell� Beatrice Murphree

Rain caused some street flooding JJuullyy 44eevveennttssppllaannnneedd

Localized street flooding andreports of a tornado were the resultof heavy storms moving through

Bay City and Matagorda Countyearly Thursday morning.According to Matagorda CountyEmergency ManagementCoordinator Doug Matthes, theNational Weather Service reportedspotting a funnel cloud inMatagorda County around 7:30 on

Thursday. As a result of that sight-ing, the county was under a tornadowarning until 8:15 a.m.“My understanding is that it wasabout five miles south/southwest ofBay City but there were no reportsof damage,” Matthes said. “At ouroffice, we had recorded around 3.75

inches of rain as of around 2 p.m.on Thursday.“Because of the rain, there were

some isolated reports of streetflooding in Bay City as the result ofleaves and other debris cloggingdrainage entries, but no reports of

Jonnie Montalbo / Bay City Tribune

Bay City’s homeless are sometimes hidden in plainsight. Though they are seen on a daily basis, it’s not

always apparent who is homeless and who is not. Theproblem is more extensive than most people realize.

See RAIN, Page 6A

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There is a silent epidemic of disconcert-ing proportions in Matagorda County, yetas a result of the old adage “Out of sight,out of mind” and similar inaccurate per-spectives, the critical issue of rural home-lessness in our area has invariably contin-ued to escalate.Usually associated with metropolitanareas like Houston or Dallas, the problemin Matagorda County is seriously com-pounded by the fact that citizens for themost part, do not believe there is a home-less problem because the veritable home-less aren’t always that easily recognizable. When thinking about the homeless,images of filthy derelict and unhygenicpeople pushing shopping carts full of trashand sleeping in squalor on the sidewalksof big cities come to mind. But that is notalways the case. Many of today’s home-less population in Matagorda County arepeople that look just like the rest of us, buthave been forced to live as homelessbecause of evictions or sudden job loss. “People don’t see it, so they don’t like tothink about it, but it’s here and it can’t beignored,” said Crisis Center CaseManager Diana Thornton.“The problem has become increasingly

alarming in our area and people reallyneed to know what is going on inMatagorda County. There is definitely ahomeless problem here that needs to beaddressed.” There were 228 homeless individualsdocumented in Matagorda County as aresult of the annual homeless count imple-mented by the Texas Homeless Network.To break it down, 99 of those countedwere adults and children counted by thefield group conducting the count and 129were documented as homeless by theschools. Coordinated by the Crisis Center, thehomeless count is administered for thepurpose of gathering information that canbe used for the annual HUD CoC grant, aswell as for local, regional and statewideplanning purposes.The Texas Homeless Network started in1991, but the data gathering in MatagordaCounty started five years ago.

228 documented as homeless in county

Vol. 169 No. 52Vol. 169 No. 52 Serving Matagorda County since 1845Serving Matagorda County since 1845 $1.00$1.00

The TribuneB A Y

C I T Y

SundayJune 29, 2014

baycitytribune.com

High JumpCharles Austin setsanother high jumprecord

SPORTS, 3B

EducationTenaris, WCJC andBCCDC team up to offernew tech courses

LOCAL NEWS, 3A

HistoryLibrary program visitorslearned history of theOrphan Train

LIVING, 1B

With the Fourth of July holiday fastapproaching, Matagorda County will onceagain offer plenty of patriotic activitiesto celebrate the day of independence, withevents planned in BayCity and Palacios.Bay City Parks andRecreation Fourth of Julyfestivities will begin at 5p.m. Friday, July 4, atLeTulle Park.This will be the thirdyear the celebration isheld at its original venue,LeTulle Park, after manyyears of being held at theMunicipal Airport sixmiles east of Bay City. Festivities will includeinflatable bounce houses,live musical performanceby Vince Vance and theValiants and a spectacu-lar fireworks display atdark.The Palacios LionsClub 65th Annual JulyFourth celebration, athree-day event, willoffer families severalactivities and also culmi-nate in a dazzling fire-works show on the EastBay, directly over thewaterfront.Bingo lovers can begintheir celebration onThursday, July 3, withBingo from 5-9 p.m.Festivities will begin atEast Bay Park on Friday,July 4, with a Kid’sFourth of July Parade at10 a.m. followed by aflag raising ceremony at11 a.m.A barbecue lunch willbe served from 11 a.m. to1 p.m. and food and ven-dor booths will open at 1p.m.

Tornado spotted onThursday; no damage

Bay City fest atLeTulle; Palacios

films re-enactment

See JULY 4, Page 5A

� CITY COUNCIL

Fundsfor streetrepairsapproved$4 million could beavailable for nextphase in July

The funds for the next phaseof Bay City street repairscould be in the city’s accountsas early as the end of nextmonth according to the city’sfinancial consultants. During Thursday’s meetingof the Bay City City Council,Jim Gilley of U.S. CapitalAdvisors told the council itcould reasonably expect tohave the “money in the bank”from the certificates of obliga-tion approved for sale at themeeting as soon as July 24. “And you can begin lettingcontracts at that point,” Gilleysaid. “In fact, with theapproval of (City LegalConsultant George Hyde) youcan probably begin lettingcontracts even before then.” City Finance Director PhillConner introduced the certifi-cates of obligation sale by say-ing the city qualified for acompetitive 3.08 percent inter-est rate on the sale of thosecertificates. Gilley confirmedthe certificates of obligationwould generate approximately$4 million and that the best bidof 3.088 percent interest ratewas “considered outstanding.” According to Conner, thedifference between municipalbonds and certificates of obli-gation is the residents of thetaxing entity must vote bondson while certificates of obliga-tion can be issued by the citycouncil without such a vote. Gilley said the city would beselling $3.995 million in cer-tificates of obligation and willreceive an additional premiumof $138,000 to reach the $4million mark. The low interest ratereceived by the city was basedin part on a recent develop-ment in the financial standingof the city. According toGilley, Standards and Poor’srating service, one of theworld’s leading credit ratingmarket firms, upgraded thecity’s rate to AA-.“That rating report reducedthe interest rate considerably,”Gilley said. “While acknowl-edging the current economy is

See CITY, Page 6A

� COMMUNITY

BY JONNIE MONTALBOcitynews@baycitytribune.com

BY BARRY HALVORSONsports@baycitytribune.com

BY JONNIE MONTALBOcitynews@baycitytribune.com

WCA will change the normal trash pick upschedule next week due to the Fourth of Julyholiday.If your trash is picked up on Monday andThursday it will change to Monday andWednesday.�If your trash is picked up on Tuesday andFriday it will change to Tuesday andThursday. There will be no trash collection on July 4.The normal trash pick up schedule willresume the following week.

Trash pick upholiday schedule

TRIBUNE STAFF REPORTS

BY BARRY HALVORSONsports@baycitytribune.com

If you go� Bay City -Festivities beginat 5 p.m. July 4at LeTulle Park

� Palacios - July 3:5 p.m. – 9 p.m.– BingoJuly 4:10 a.m. – Kid’sFourth of JulyParade11 a.m. – FlagR a i s i n gCeremony11 a.m. – 1:00p.m. – Bar-B-QLunch1 p.m. – Foodand VendorBooths3 p.m. – 9 p.m.– Bingo3 p.m. –Helicopter Rides($20 per person,2 riders)4 p.m. – LaSalle Landing Re-enactment andfilming for thedocumentar y“Texas Beforethe Alamo”9:30 p.m. -Palacios LionsClub FireworksShowJuly 5: 8:30 p.m. -Premier of “TexasBefore theAlamo” at theTexas BaptistEncampmentAmpitheater

“I believe that even onehomeless person is aproblem.”

Mark Bricker| Bay City Mayor

See HOMELESS, Page 8A

How canyou help

You can helpend homeless-ness by sim-ply CARE-ing

C–Contribute

(food drives,money)

A–Advocate

R– ReachOut (vol-

unteering)

E– Educate