STANDARD U.S. MAIL PAID KEENE, TX PERMIT NO. 25 ZIP CODE 76059 KEENE CHRONICLE Volume 01, Issue 24 August 22, 2013 www.KeeneChronicle.com K C Did You Know: Paleteria Flores page 6 Per Issue $ 1 INSIDE Only two schools in Johnson County received this distinc- tion, Keene Junior High and Grandview Elementary. Keene Junior High principal Billie Hopps upon being noti- fied of the distinction that her campus had earned, quickly quipped “ WOW! I’m so excited for my staff! They’re the BEST! We are 1 of the top 759 campuses in the State of Texas to earn this. Under the state account- ability system, campuses in Texas that achieve the rating of Met Standard can also earn distinction designations in the following three areas: Top 25 Percent Student • Progress Academic Achievement • in Reading/English lan- guage arts Academic Achievement • in Mathematics Of the approximately 3,600 campuses across Texas that achieved the Met Standard rating under the state’s new accountability system and earned at least one designa- tion, 759 schools earned des- ignations in all three potential areas. Keene Junior High Earns Triple Distinction Former councilmember and one of the original Keene City Charter Committee mem- bers Robert Bischoff, was incensed when City Attorney Robert Brown “took liber- ties” with the interpretation of the Charter, questioned “the intent of the Charter Commit- tee” and ultimately referred to the Charter as “a mess!” The Charter was passed in 1999 by the voters of Keene. For the second time in recent weeks Keene City officials have retained the counsel of Mr. Brown in interpreting pol- icy. Brown advised the council to “read between the lines” of the Charter thus allowing Councilmember Danny Gore, Ward III, to retain his seat. At the Keene City Council meeting of July 11, 2013, the Charter was described as “vague and confusing” by Brown, in the matter of discre- tionary powers for hiring and firing city staff (Keene Chron- icle, July 25, 2013). And at the most recent Keene City Council meeting of August 8, 2013, the Charter was char- acterized by Brown as “not the model of clarity, with lots of problems” in the matter of ward residency requirements for city office candidacy. Although under Article III “The City Council,” the Keene City Charter is clear and specific about “forfeiture or removal from office,” under Article IV “Municipal Elec- tion, Section 4.02” the word “ward” is referenced three times but appears vague on residency requirements for candidacy: SECTION 4.02: CITY COUNCIL PLACES TERMS A. All members of the City Council, other than the Mayor, shall be elected by ward under place system. B. The Mayor and each mem- ber of the City Council shall hold office for two (2) year term. The Mayor and Place II for each ward shall be elected in even-numbered years, and Place for each ward be shall elected in odd-numbered years (italics added for emphasis). At the August 8, 2013 Keene City Council meeting, the Council voted to move item #6 of the agenda: “Discussion and possible action to forfeit/ vacate the office of Council- man Donny Gore - Mayor Pro Tem Janes” to a closed executive session with a mo- tion by Schram and a second by Janes. Prior to Council going into closed session for this item however, Robert Bischoff took the podium to give the Coun- cil the following admonition: “Once again this comes down to the issue of whether the people of this City have any idea of what goes on in closed sessions. I would like to read a statement before you discuss this in closed session and try to get the thing off dead center before you get into closed ses- sion, and spend more attorney money!” Reading from a script, Bis- choff proceeded “This is to the citizens of Keene, Texas Au- gust the 8th, 2013. History: Late summer 2012, Mr. Gore filed for the office of Coun- cilman, Place II, Ward III. We assumed Mr. Gore knew that for at least the previous 15 years council candidates could only file for the Ward they lived in. He then lived in Ward I, but filed for Ward III; mistake #1 was his! City Sec- retary, Keesha Lay reviewed and approved his application; mistake #2 was hers! As the only qualified candidate for Ward III, Mr. (Jere) Slough should have been and now should be the Place II Coun- cilman of Ward III. “I do understand the shaky foundation of ‘post ergo propter hoc,’ but it does seem to cover this situation. If Mr. Gore had not falsified his ap- plication, none of this would have come to pass. “As a possible solution” con- cluded Bischoff, “I would sug- gest the following: Mr. Gore could tender an immediate resignation from the Council with the stipulation that the Council would only accept it by appointing Mr. Slough to fill the 15 month term bal- ance. Mr. Gore would receive ‘kudos’ for this bold and courageous act, and it would save many hours of Council wrangling; and would atone for Mistake #1. Mr. Slough would receive 5/8ths of what he deserved last November, and everyone but the Mayor will be happier!” “After conferring with the lawyer for the specific reason that the Charter is very vague and unclear as to whether or not you should live within the ward which you run for; chapter 4 of the charter is very vague about that… We’re choosing to take no action under the circumstances” an- nounced Janes in the public briefing after emerging from the 1 hour, 20 minute ex- ecutive session. “The law says that an opponent must challenge within thirty days – there was no challenge. It was no malicious intent on the part of Mr. Gore. Mr. Gore was voted by the voters at large last November, 116 votes more than his oppo- nent - a 13% margin over his opponent. He now lives in the ward to which he was elected for the last eight days and based on that information we took no action.” On August 1, Gore closed on a house located on Presiden- tial Drive in Ward III. “His application was chal- lenged” interjected his November 2012 opponent and former City Councilman Jere Slough, “I did request clarifi- cation that he did live in the ward.” “The court system says after somebody is elected, if your opponent thinks something wasn’t proper or illegal, they have certain days to chal- lenge the election,” explained Brown. “I brought this up because I felt that four years ago, I moved from one ward to another and had to give up my seat,” explained Janes. “That’s basically the ques- tion that I had with him” exclaimed Robert Bischoff, “if the City Secretary had infor- mation from a candidate that he thought that his opponent was not residing in the ward that they filed for, then why didn’t she follow up with an actual investigation? It took me about 3 minutes to drive to 111 E. Third Street the other day just to see…” “I honestly believe that he lived in the ward in which he ran, but that is not a require- ment for everyone that runs for office,” interrupted Keesha Lay. “Is it a requirement that if you get that information from a candidate, to pass that on to council people or the mayor?” questioned Bischoff. “The city secretary is not supposed to grade the home- work (of prospective candi- dates). State law says that when somebody applies to run for something – and even if you know they don’t qualify - you’re not empowered to say ‘you can’t run!’ …The city secretary is not required to verify anything on anybody’s application; there’s nothing in this charter that says they have to do that at all,” interjected Brown in Lay’s defense. “If you rely on the basis of what this council is deciding at this point, then anybody in this town can run in any ward they want - with their ap- proval - because it’s not in the charter!” fired back Bischoff, challenging Brown’s asser- tion. “If you’re telling them one thing to satisfy this argu- ment, you’re saying you can run in any one of three wards that they choose to.” “I believe that this charter is not clear” responded Brown, “and I believe in cobbling it together, reading between the lines. I believe the intent of the charter committee was to create wards and say that you need to physically live in that ward. But it didn’t say that. …So I am not - nor is the council saying that anybody can run for anything. It’s not up to the council or to the City to say no; it’s always been incumbent upon somebody else to challenge it. I believe that they are going to try to pass an ordinance in the next meeting to clarify what the re- quirements are just like we did a couple of times ago about personnel. …We’re not going to conflict with the charter, we’re going to clarify and fill in the gaps.” “That charter was voted by a committee” responded Bis- choff, “it was approved by the citizens of this city and you’re telling me that this group can change it when they want to?” “They can clarify the election procedures,” replied Brown. “You are the one who told them that it doesn’t make a difference what Mr. Gore did nine months ago,” retorted Bischoff! “I’m saying I don’t think the charter is clear, but I’m trying to figure out what I think the intent of the charter was,” further asserted Brown. “I happen to be on that com- mittee and I know what the intent was, and you guys are saying ‘no, you didn’t get it right’” exclaimed Bischoff indignantly. “What you’re saying is what that man right there wants,” gesturing to Gore. “That man right there made the mistake, and you guys are absolutely white- washing what this man did to get elected to the City Council of Keene!” Responding to Bischoff’s allegations and in defense of the Council’s decision, Brown replied “Like I said before, this charter is not the model of clarity; unfortunately it has lots of problems. …It’s just a mess! And because it’s a mess, it’s extremely hard - if you took it to a court of law - to enforce anything. And the council has in their preroga- tive – they have the ability to say under a particular circum- stance they don’t feel is appro- priate to remove somebody under a vague part of a charter who’s been in office for almost a year, that was elected by the people and now lives in that ward. Or if they wanted to remove them they could. Also this Charter doesn’t say when you have a vacancy, how they get kicked off.” “If they wanted to remove him, they could, is that what you’re saying?” Bischoff retorted. “This charter also says if you miss three meetings, OK? But there’s no mechanism that says how one gets kicked off …or who kicks them off,” observed Brown. “We did two charters in this town” explained Bischoff, “we took many charters from surrounding cities. …And I guarantee, if you change that charter to anything, five years from now you will find situations that will not fit what we changed it to. What I am arguing is that this council shouldn’t change that charter; another charter commission should alter it. These people - some of them - will change it to anything they want to change it to!” Gore remains unseated while City officials pay City Attorney to interpret Keene City Charter in closed session Jere Slough Robert Bischoff City Attorney Robert Brown characterizing the Keene City Charter “a mess!” Continued: Keene closed session Page 2
Transcript
STANDARDU.S. MAIL PAID
KEENE, TXPERMIT NO. 25ZIP CODE 76059
KEENE CHRONICLEVolume 01, Issue 24 August 22, 2013www.KeeneChronicle.com
KC
Did You Know: Paleteria Flores page 6
Per Issue
$1INSIDE
Only two schools in Johnson County received this distinc-tion, Keene Junior High and Grandview Elementary.Keene Junior High principal
Billie Hopps upon being noti-
fied of the distinction that her campus had earned, quickly quipped “ WOW! I’m so excited for my staff! They’re the BEST! We are 1 of the top 759 campuses in the State of
Texas to earn this.Under the state account-
ability system, campuses in Texas that achieve the rating of Met Standard can also earn distinction designations in the
following three areas: Top 25 Percent Student • Progress Academic Achievement • in Reading/English lan-guage arts
Academic Achievement • in Mathematics
Of the approximately 3,600 campuses across Texas that achieved the Met Standard rating under the state’s new
accountability system and earned at least one designa-tion, 759 schools earned des-ignations in all three potential areas.
Keene Junior High Earns Triple Distinction
Former councilmember and one of the original Keene City Charter Committee mem-bers Robert Bischoff, was incensed when City Attorney Robert Brown “took liber-ties” with the interpretation of the Charter, questioned “the intent of the Charter Commit-tee” and ultimately referred to the Charter as “a mess!” The Charter was passed in 1999 by the voters of Keene.For the second time in recent
weeks Keene City officials have retained the counsel of Mr. Brown in interpreting pol-icy. Brown advised the council to “read between the lines” of the Charter thus allowing Councilmember Danny Gore, Ward III, to retain his seat.At the Keene City Council
meeting of July 11, 2013, the Charter was described as “vague and confusing” by Brown, in the matter of discre-tionary powers for hiring and firing city staff (Keene Chron-icle, July 25, 2013). And at the most recent Keene City Council meeting of August 8, 2013, the Charter was char-acterized by Brown as “not the model of clarity, with lots of problems” in the matter of ward residency requirements for city office candidacy. Although under Article
III “The City Council,” the Keene City Charter is clear and specific about “forfeiture or removal from office,” under Article IV “Municipal Elec-tion, Section 4.02” the word “ward” is referenced three times but appears vague on residency requirements for candidacy:SECTION 4.02:
CITY COUNCIL PLACES TERMS A. All members of the City Council, other than the Mayor, shall be elected by ward under place system. B. The Mayor and each mem-ber of the City Council shall hold office for two (2) year term. The Mayor and Place II for each ward shall be elected in even-numbered years, and Place for each ward be shall elected in odd-numbered years (italics added for emphasis).At the August 8, 2013 Keene
City Council meeting, the Council voted to move item #6 of the agenda: “Discussion and possible action to forfeit/vacate the office of Council-man Donny Gore - Mayor Pro Tem Janes” to a closed executive session with a mo-tion by Schram and a second by Janes. Prior to Council going into
closed session for this item however, Robert Bischoff took the podium to give the Coun-cil the following admonition: “Once again this comes down to the issue of whether the people of this City have any idea of what goes on in closed sessions. I would like to read a statement before you discuss this in closed session and try to get the thing off dead center before you get into closed ses-sion, and spend more attorney money!”Reading from a script, Bis-
choff proceeded “This is to the citizens of Keene, Texas Au-gust the 8th, 2013. History: Late summer 2012, Mr. Gore filed for the office of Coun-cilman, Place II, Ward III. We assumed Mr. Gore knew that for at least the previous 15 years council candidates could only file for the Ward they lived in. He then lived in Ward I, but filed for Ward III; mistake #1 was his! City Sec-retary, Keesha Lay reviewed and approved his application; mistake #2 was hers! As the only qualified candidate for Ward III, Mr. (Jere) Slough should have been and now should be the Place II Coun-cilman of Ward III. “I do understand the shaky
foundation of ‘post ergo propter hoc,’ but it does seem
to cover this situation. If Mr. Gore had not falsified his ap-plication, none of this would have come to pass.“As a possible solution” con-
cluded Bischoff, “I would sug-gest the following: Mr. Gore could tender an immediate resignation from the Council with the stipulation that the Council would only accept it by appointing Mr. Slough to fill the 15 month term bal-ance. Mr. Gore would receive ‘kudos’ for this bold and courageous act, and it would save many hours of Council wrangling; and would atone for Mistake #1. Mr. Slough would receive 5/8ths of what he deserved last November, and everyone but the Mayor will be happier!” “After conferring with the
lawyer for the specific reason that the Charter is very vague and unclear as to whether or not you should live within the ward which you run for; chapter 4 of the charter is very vague about that… We’re choosing to take no action under the circumstances” an-nounced Janes in the public briefing after emerging from the 1 hour, 20 minute ex-ecutive session. “The law says that an opponent must challenge within thirty days – there was no challenge. It was no malicious intent on the part of Mr. Gore. Mr. Gore was voted by the voters at large last November, 116 votes more than his oppo-nent - a 13% margin over his opponent. He now lives in the ward to which he was elected for the last eight days and based on that information we took no action.” On August 1, Gore closed on
a house located on Presiden-tial Drive in Ward III.“His application was chal-
lenged” interjected his November 2012 opponent and former City Councilman Jere Slough, “I did request clarifi-cation that he did live in the ward.” “The court system says after
somebody is elected, if your opponent thinks something wasn’t proper or illegal, they have certain days to chal-
lenge the election,” explained Brown. “I brought this up because
I felt that four years ago, I moved from one ward to another and had to give up my seat,” explained Janes.“That’s basically the ques-
tion that I had with him” exclaimed Robert Bischoff, “if the City Secretary had infor-mation from a candidate that he thought that his opponent was not residing in the ward that they filed for, then why didn’t she follow up with an actual investigation? It took me about 3 minutes to drive to 111 E. Third Street the other day just to see…” “I honestly believe that he
lived in the ward in which he ran, but that is not a require-ment for everyone that runs for office,” interrupted Keesha Lay. “Is it a requirement that if
you get that information from a candidate, to pass that on to council people or the mayor?” questioned Bischoff.
“The city secretary is not supposed to grade the home-work (of prospective candi-dates). State law says that when somebody applies to run for something – and even if you know they don’t qualify - you’re not empowered to say ‘you can’t run!’ …The city secretary is not required to verify anything on anybody’s application; there’s nothing in this charter that says they have to do that at all,” interjected Brown in Lay’s defense.“If you rely on the basis of
what this council is deciding at this point, then anybody in this town can run in any ward
they want - with their ap-proval - because it’s not in the charter!” fired back Bischoff, challenging Brown’s asser-tion. “If you’re telling them one thing to satisfy this argu-ment, you’re saying you can run in any one of three wards that they choose to.”“I believe that this charter is
not clear” responded Brown, “and I believe in cobbling it together, reading between the lines. I believe the intent of the charter committee was to create wards and say that you need to physically live in that ward. But it didn’t say that. …So I am not - nor is the council saying that anybody can run for anything. It’s not up to the council or to the City to say no; it’s always been incumbent upon somebody else to challenge it. I believe that they are going to try to pass an ordinance in the next meeting to clarify what the re-quirements are just like we did a couple of times ago about personnel. …We’re not going to conflict with the charter, we’re going to clarify and fill in the gaps.”“That charter was voted by
a committee” responded Bis-choff, “it was approved by the citizens of this city and you’re telling me that this group can change it when they want to?”“They can clarify the election
procedures,” replied Brown. “You are the one who told
them that it doesn’t make a difference what Mr. Gore did nine months ago,” retorted Bischoff! “I’m saying I don’t think the
charter is clear, but I’m trying to figure out what I think the intent of the charter was,” further asserted Brown.“I happen to be on that com-
mittee and I know what the intent was, and you guys are saying ‘no, you didn’t get it right’” exclaimed Bischoff indignantly. “What you’re saying is what that man right there wants,” gesturing to Gore. “That man right there made the mistake, and you guys are absolutely white-washing what this man did to get elected to the City Council of Keene!”
Responding to Bischoff’s allegations and in defense of the Council’s decision, Brown replied “Like I said before, this charter is not the model of clarity; unfortunately it has lots of problems. …It’s just a mess! And because it’s a
mess, it’s extremely hard - if you took it to a court of law - to enforce anything. And the council has in their preroga-tive – they have the ability to say under a particular circum-stance they don’t feel is appro-priate to remove somebody under a vague part of a charter who’s been in office for almost a year, that was elected by the people and now lives in that ward. Or if they wanted to remove them they could. Also this Charter doesn’t say when you have a vacancy, how they get kicked off.” “If they wanted to remove
him, they could, is that what you’re saying?” Bischoff retorted.“This charter also says if you
miss three meetings, OK? But there’s no mechanism that says how one gets kicked off …or who kicks them off,” observed Brown.“We did two charters in this
town” explained Bischoff, “we took many charters from surrounding cities. …And I guarantee, if you change that charter to anything, five years from now you will find situations that will not fit what we changed it to. What I am arguing is that this council shouldn’t change that charter; another charter commission should alter it. These people - some of them - will change it to anything they want to change it to!”
Gore remains unseated while City officials pay City Attorney to interpret Keene City Charter in closed session
Jere Slough
Robert Bischoff
City Attorney Robert Brown characterizing the Keene City Charter “a mess!”
Continued: Keene closed session Page 2
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“This charter hurts us more than it helps us” concluded Brown, in defense of his posi-tion. “I would like to say this:
I would like this matter to drop,” announced Slough vehemently from the floor. “I did not pursue it through the courts, and all we’re doing is wasting city time and lawyer time. There will come a time, we know we got a problem; we can fix it when the time comes - tonight we’re not go-ing to fix it! So, I accept the blame, I did not file a court case, it falls on me! Please do not blame anyone else, thank you. You won it fair and square!” In a gentlemanly conciliatory gesture, Slough then approached the dais and amidst audience applause, vigorously shook Gore’s hand before making a prompt exit.After this animated and
at times heated discussion, Chapline made the motion to take no action on item #6. This motion was seconded by Janes and summarily passed by a unanimous vote by the council members.
On item #7 of the agenda: “Discussion and possible ac-tion on establishing a policy
and procedure to specify the manner and circumstances to assist the public in attendance at city council meetings, to interact with, receive answer to their questions on agenda items and make their opinions known to their representatives serving city council. – Coun-cilman Chapline,” Chapline explained his intent for putting this item on the agenda. “This kind-of comes up from
the last meeting when we were all – or most of us - were surprised at the rules which we were not aware of” said Chapline, “and before I go any further on this I want to refer to a meeting that I attended on Friday for all the city govern-ments in the area, to let them know what the new laws are and what the changes are, and how to conduct business. It was very, very informative and worth every second of my time! There were 7 or 8 dif-ferent speakers and we heard a wonderful presentation from the city of Coppell. One of the things that was discussed and made very clear is that at a council meeting, no one in the public has the right to speak or participate. But that’s not Keene!” “I have written up what our
rules could be so that we would all know what they were. Item #1: ‘During the public forum, anyone may speak from the podium on any issue that is not on the agenda. A councilmember may speak from their seat at the council table.’ That is no different than what we have been doing. Item #2: ‘Only councilmembers may speak on an agenda item unless a person is requested by a councilmember which has the floor, to respond to a specific
item; after which time the councilmember will again have the floor until relinquish-ing it. Once the councilmem-bers have completed their discussion and before the vote is taken, the public will have an opportunity to speak briefly on the issue from the podium. Each citizen wishing to speak will be allowed to speak only once if a councilmember calls a question then the vote on the agenda item may be taken im-mediately.’ #3: ‘The length of time each person is allowed to speak during the public forum and/or an agenda item, may be restricted from time to time by a vote of the council. The ne-cessity to do so could be due to a large number of citizens attending a meeting or other special circumstances as deter-mined by a council vote. This action would be taken at the start of the meeting to allow everyone to know the rules for that particular meeting. Each for some reason the council also requires each speaker to sign up before speaking at that meeting, they would be al-lowed time to do so before the meeting proceeds.’” “(That’s) a big difference
from the way we’re doing it now,” continued Chapline. “As the council is deliberat-ing, it is very distracting when people in the audience are starting to speak up here and there and wherever and just from their seat; and they’re saying things that sometimes you can’t hear or understand what they’re saying. So to allow the council to deliber-ate on the item – which would help the citizens better under-stand what the item actually is. And then once we have done that, then if the citizens have something they would
like to add to the discussion they certainly may. On item #3, on the time limit …there could be special circumstanc-es when an extra large number of people wanted to speak, their time might be restricted where we might say we’re going to allocate 20 minutes or 30 minutes for the public to speak. And then if there are 15 people that wanted to speak we could divide that up so that each person could speak to whatever that length of time was.” “And I believe this is fair”
stated Chapline, prefacing his motion. “It changes very little in the way that we have been doing it except to add a little bit of order to it. And, it will allow us at each meeting to know what the rules are! So, unless the council votes at the very start of the meeting to do it differently – there’s no time limit or one has to sign up or anything like that. So I’m making that as a motion.” In response to a question
posed by Perez regarding the City Council’s require-ments under the Texas Open Meetings Act (to limit its response to one of the fol-lowing: *Responding with a statement of specific factual information or reciting the City’s existing policy on that issue; or*Directing the person making the inquiry to visit with City Staff about the issue), Chapline explained “We are allowed to respond in a factual manner. We may not get into a discussion, we may not get into deliberation; it does not change the law. What my intention was - more so than that - is that a lot of times councilmembers have something they want to ad-dress during the open session; it doesn’t change the rules of how that works.”“The problem that I have
with your proposal is that you’re saying we have to limit our time” protested Bischoff, “but we can go into closed session for 7 hours with a lawyer in there and spend your money and ‘we can talk about everything in that closed session we want to, but the citizens are not going to be able to talk; because if you got 70 people here, then there
is something on everybody’s mind! And you are saying, ‘when that happens, we’ll limit the discussion - very un-American! …It’s all up to the council to decide when we get home!”“That’s not exactly what
I said” replied Chapline defensively. “To use your example of 70 (people) with everyone having a different opinion, I don’t believe there would be 70 different opinions on the same topic. At some point, you’ve heard all of the objections or all of the plusses or whatever it may be. I’m doing everything I can to see that the public gets an oppor-tunity to voice their opinion, even though it’s very clear in the law that they don’t have that right and very few cities – larger cities especially – don’t allow it at all. I’m trying to be very fair here, so please don’t characterize it as me trying to cut someone off and not al-lowing them to speak!” Gore then waded into the
mix by stating “I would hope that a few of those (audience members) have already spent time bending their council-men’s ear before getting here, to give them an indication of what their feelings were on a particular topic.”
Further discussion ensued by both councilmembers and audience members regarding appropriate speaking time lim-its for audience participants. Schram suggested the use of
cards for speakers to sign up as needed prior to the meet-ing. Robert Brown concurred indicating that the sign up cards would be a way for the council to control “a balanced presentation” by the public, i.e., pro vs. con commentaries. “However” Brown added, “…I think that your motion
still stands alone on its own, it doesn’t have to fully address the public hearing. When we have the public hearings we could then at that time decide whether we want to go with the card system - but only for public hearings. I don’t think we need to amend anything on this one.” Chapline’s motion above
was seconded by Gore and voted in unanimously by the Council. In other matters of discussion
and possible action: Under item #3 of the agenda:
“Request by the City Council for items to be placed on a future agenda for discus-sion,” Schram requested “the creation of a policy for the appointment of Keene City Council members or Board Members in case of death or resignation and/or forfeiture” for the next City Council meeting on August 22, 2013.The Council unanimously
approved item #4: “Con-sider approval of the Voting Machine Lease agreement between Johnson County and the City of Keene for the 2013 Election. – Keesha Lay, City Secretary.” City Administrator Bill
Guinn informed the Council that “the budget has to be in place no later than September 29.” He projected dates for City staff workshops for the purpose of discussions of the fiscal year 2013-2014 City budget while adding, “my-self and the staff are already working on the budget, notice for the effective tax rates, roll back rates and all that, are go-ing in the paper on Saturday; and that has all been comput-ed and ready to go. So that’s what I see we need to do.” “I will tell you now so that
you can think about this” concluded Guinn in a somber tone, “but essentially the tax rolls dropped 9 million dollars which is $75,000 in prop-erty tax and that primarily in mineral values. I don’t think I should give you any more bad news at this point – lots of meetings and falling property values!”
Continued: Keene closed session
Councilmember James Chapline
Donny Gore
WWW.KEENECHRONICLE.COM • THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 • 3
“An Alumni View of Keene,” is a book written by former resident and elementa-ry school teacher Lottie War-ren. It was published in 1967 and gives readers an overview of the history of this unique, Christian-founded community in Johnson County.In an article written by H.
B. French and found in the book “Lest We Forget” by the Alumni Association of South-western Adventist College, Keene Texas, published in 1985, French corroborates and compliments Warren’s histori-cal account. The following are some ex-
cerpts from Warren’s book as well as French’s article tracing Keene’s humble but noble beginnings:According to tradition, the
hill on which Keene is located was used for sending smoke signals by an Indian tribe called Keeagua. The man-made lake at what is now Cal-licott Student Park was given the same name.In 1876, Elder R. M. Kilg-
ore, a Seventh-day Adventist minister, was sent to Texas by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, to preach the everlasting gospel known among the people as the “Third Angel’s Message.” He held meetings in commu-nities around Texas, among them Oak Hill, Elm Grove and Cedar Grove. Most of the first families to come to Keene were from these three com-munities.It was at that time that many
of the Adventist leaders felt a deep conviction for the necessity of a denominational school. In 1892, Elder W. S. Greer, president of the local Seventh-day Adventist Conference, visited the scat-tered companies of Adven-tists in Texas, traveling in a two-wheeled hammock cart drawn by on horse. He met with small groups, presenting the urgent need for a school to train young people for the ministry and for mission service. The Daily Bulletin of the
general Conference, Vol. 5, No. 15, Feb. 23, 1893, included the Report of the Educational Secretary, Prof. W. W. Prescott. On pg. 356 we read:“A School in Texas.—The
Texas Conference has adopted a memorial requesting that a Conference school be estab-lished in that State. To give force to their request they send the minutes of meetings which have been held, in which $3,000 have been subscribed unconditionally and $2,000 more on certain conditions as to its location. It would seem that such a demand, based upon such subscrip-tions, was worthy of careful consideration. Those who are acquainted with the situa-tion know that the brethren in Texas feel that although there is a college at Lincoln and an academy at Graysville, yet for every practical purpose these institutions are so far away that they are not on any degree benefitted by them more than by the school in Battle Creek. When they have to go so far, a few miles farther make little difference. They earnestly request that this Conference act upon the matter.”A short time after the camp
meeting (of 1892) held at South Dallas, a locating com-mittee was appointed, with Elder Greer, Ben F. Wood, H.B. French, George Wood, T.M. Woodruff, L.B. Wallen and J.C. Mosely as members. Van Zandt, Kaufmann,
Hood and Johnson Counties were considered, and when the Keene site was selected, the committee immediately purchased 836 ¾ acres from W. A. Bills. However, before any work was done on this location a memorandum of the transactions and plans was sent to the General Confer-ence, who approved it by re-turning the following recom-mendation:“We recommend that a con-
ference school be opened in Texas in accordance with the desires of that conference.”
In the autumn of 1893, a 10 acre plot was chosen as a cen-tral location for the campus, and the remaining acreage was measured off into plots of 1 ¼ to 10 or more acres for those who wanted to locate near the school so their children might attend. When the first Adventists
came to Keene, they found the land covered with green briers and scrub oak timber. There were only three log cabins on the property, two of which were enclosed with weather-board and used as dwellings.The first house built in Keene
after the purchase of the 836 ¾ acres was for a widow by the name of Daniels. Houses and buildings then went up as if by magic. Keene’s first merchant was
Charlie Morris, whose store also is thought to have been Keene’s original post office.The first official record of a
post office at Keene is 1894, with J. W. Kirkpatrick as postmaster.The L. B. Warren family was
the first to move to Keene, and their son Wilford Wallen was the first baby born in Keene. He continued to live in his hometown.When the school opened,
a few girls boarded in a log cabin, but the boys had to camp in tents until a dormi-tory could be built. In 1894, the first school
building called Assembly Hall was established on the west corner of Magnolia and North College Drive. It was assembled from the material of a house which had been used for a conference office at Oak Cliff which had been torn down and brought to Keene. When completed, Professor Hughes, who had been sent to take charge of the school, opened the doors the seventh of January, 1894, with 56 students. His wife and Sister Flora Williams were assis-tants. Professor Prescott visited the
school soon after its opening and after considering the plans and purposes of the institu-tion, said that it was the only school in the denomination founded on the principles laid down by the Testimonies.The dormitory was erected
that summer. It had three stories, plus a basement with kitchen, dining room and storage space. The attic held the overflow of boys from the third floor. And the girls oc-cupied the second floor. For many years, this build-
ing was known as The Home. Later it became the Girl’s Dormitory. It then became the Heritage Hall and housed several college departments.A three-story wooden frame
academy building was the second largest structure added to the campus. More room was required for the fast-expanding church member-ship, so worship services were transferred from Assembly Hall, and Sabbath School and church meetings for school and village were held in the academy chapel until the first Keene church was built in 1905.Two physicians named Herr;
a husband and wife team was administrators of the first sanitarium in Keene. Some of the doctors connected with this sanitarium were Mat-tison, Pliny Haskell, Harris, D. C. Ross and Schamlaufel. Nurses were Minnie Findley Kilgore, Ethel Findley House and Alice Cochran. Kate Beeler Andrews also worked there.L. B. Wallen drilled the first
successful school well in 1896. Water from this 750 foot well was used to make brick on the grounds, for the academy and furnished water for the town until 1910.The school, first named
Keene Industrial Academy, from the beginning furnished as much work as possible for the students. Boys cleared the land of trees and converted them into firewood. Girls worked in the kitchen and laundry. Both boys and girls carried on janitorial duties. The founders of the Keene
Industrial Academy were thoroughly convinced by past experience that the institu-tions of the world could not prepare missionaries for the regions beyond to give the last warning message to the world. They purposed that the Bible and nature should be studied as the foundation for all liter-ary training; yet they didn’t believe any system of educa-tion complete whose physical activities are lacking.To provide for the industries,
truck-growing, fruit-raising, dairying, woodwork, printing, poultry-raising, and domestic sciences were arranged for in the original plans, and were to be operated by the student body under the supervi-sion of the teachers. It was believed that an institution thus supplied and managed by a careful faculty would make the school self-supporting. A school thus equipped would present unlimited opportuni-ties and possibilities for the training of young people for God.A power plant was installed
in 1915 for operation by students, and for several years beginning in 1929, the college operated a pecan shellery. A chenille factory was operated for a few years beginning in 1944.In 1954, while Elder R. R.
Batzer was the pastor, pledges were made toward building a new church, but it was not complete until 1957, during the time Elder L. G. Scales was pastor.In the thirties, stories about
Keene were printed in several newspapers throughout the country. Comments appeared under the famous caption “Be-lieve it or not, Ripley,” and one ex-Keenite read an ac-count that appeared in Rome, Italy. Under a typical head-ing such as “What? No jail?” reporters enlarged upon the wonders of an unincorporated town having neither police-men nor prison. A few weeks after the publicity, two men from Fort Worth came down and robbed the post office!In 1938, the first town coun-
cil was formed to provide for the care of the cemetery and fire protection. In 1947, a fire station was built, owned by the college and operated by the town council and college. Keene was incorporated in
1955, and Vance Reed was elected as the first mayor. In the school year 1915 –
1916, the school was named Southwestern Junior College, and in the school year 1962 – 1963 it became Southwestern Union College and sought full accreditation as a Senior College. The battle to get full ac-
creditation took several years. It was not until December 2, 1970 that the school got the word from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools that they had been granted accreditation and the school could now be recog-nized as a 4 year school. Southwestern Union Col-
lege became Southwestern Adventist College in 1977 and then in 1996 two gradu-ate programs were added and it was given its current name, Southwestern Adventist Uni-versity. It currently offers a complete array of undergradu-ate programs. SOUTHWESTERN has an
excellent music department that provides a schedule of band, choir, and other concert performances. The Knights’ athletic teams play an NAIA
division I schedule of men’s and women’s sports. The University’s Chan Shun Centennial Library, the largest in Johnson County, is open to residents who pay a nominal yearly fee. The SOUTH-WESTERN Committee of 100 Cafeteria, the state’s largest vegetarian restaurant, is open to the public. SOUTHWEST-ERN is currently the only four-year institution of higher learning in Johnson County. Keene also boasts its own
independent school district, KISD, which includes Keene Elementary School, Keene Junior High School, alterna-tive Learning Center (grades 6-12), and Wanda R. Smith High School. These five campuses are recognized by the Texas Education Agency as one of the top five districts in the state in using com-puter technology in educa-tion. KISD is the only district in Johnson County to have a campus named as “exem-plary,” the top rating, four consecutive years.Chisholm Trail Academy of
Keene is a private Christian secondary school that offers a state accredited curriculum. Enrollments at Keene High School and Chisholm Trail Academy are about equal. Keene Adventist Elementary
School is an eight-grade ele-mentary school that also offers a pre-kindergarten program. These Keene schools rep-
resent a current (2012-2103)total student enrollment of 2,113. The Seventh-day Ad-ventist Church also sponsors and supports the Joshua Multi-grade School in Joshua, Texas with a current enrollment of 51 students.Keene is also host to three
churches boasting a total membership of 3,657. The churches of Keene are the Keene Hispanic Seventh-day Adventist Church, The Keene Church of Seventh-day Ad-ventists and the Keene Baptist Church. Joshua also plays
host to a very active church, the Joshua Seventh-day Adventist Church with a total membership of 567 parishio-ners.”
Today Keene, Texas, is a thriving university town with over 6,000 residents. It is a Home Rule city with a coun-cil/city administrator form of government, consisting of six council members and a mayor. Keene operates according to a city charter that was passed by the voters on November 2, 1999.Keene provides 24-hour
protection with a professional police force and a volunteer fire department. The Keene Volunteer Department is one of the top volunteer depart-ments in the state and is staffed by certified firefighters. The Keene Ambulance Ser-vice is staffed with paramed-ics and EMTs who take pride in their qualifications and commitment to service.The Keene Youth Athletic
Association has provided an
outlet for youth with the aid of the Elisa Carver Park. The Association provides summer football and baseball from T-ball to player-pitch skill levels. The Little Dribblers basketball program provides clinic and league experi-ence for hoopers of elemen-tary school age. Elisa Carver Park is located in the heart of Keene and also includes softball, soccer, volleyball and basketball courts, a three-quarters-of-a-mile walking trail, playground, and a picnic area, as well as a nine-hole disc course. The Keene Chamber of Com-
merce is a major organizer of Keene’s Christmas Light Parade, an annual event that attracts entrants and specta-tors from all over Johnson County. It is held on a Sunday night about three weeks before Christmas. Keene’s 4th of July Parade is the largest in Johnson County.
Lottie Warren with her class in front of the Ella E Hughes Elementary.
Keene, Texas, “The Jewel of Johnson County,” Past and Present
Lottie Warren
4 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 • WWW.KEENECHRONICLE.COM
On Tuesday, August 13, 2013 at about 1:21 am Keene Police Officers Steven Miller and Daniel Martin responded to a call of a disturbance at 101 E. Hwy 67, Lone Star MHP, in Keene. On arrival officers learned from a witness exiting the residence that there was a male inside the residence that had cut a male victim with a large knife. About that time the victim exited the resi-dence, and officers observed a large cut on the victim’s face, and a large amount of blood on the victim’s face and clothing. Officers began giving verbal commands to the suspect to exit the residence and drop any weapons. The
suspect refused to comply with commands, effectively barricading himself inside the residence. Officers requested Keene
Police supervisor assistance and additional assistance from Cleburne PD. After additional assessment of the situation, a request was made for the Cleburne PD SWAT team to assist at the scene. Cleburne Pd investigator obtained a warrant for the suspect for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Multiple attempts to coax the suspect out of the residence failed, until the suspect finally agreed to surrender. Cleburne SWAT entered the residence and was
able to subdue the resist-ing suspect at 8:49 am. The suspect was identified as Eric Benjamin Traylor, 24 years of age, who resides at the residence where the incident occurred. Traylor was taken into custody by Keene PD officers to be booked in at the Johnson County LEC. He will be charged with Aggra-vated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, with other charges pending. The victim, a 22 year old
male from Keene, TX, was transported to Harris Hos-pital Downtown Fort Worth for treatment by Keene Fire Rescue.
Cleburne Police Dept SWAT team in Keene
1. Mayor’s remarks/public forum (The City Council invites citizens to speak on any topic; however, unless the item is specifically noted on this agenda, the City Council is required under the Texas Open Meetings Act to limit its response to one of the fol-lowing: *Responding with a statement of specific factual information or reciting the City’s existing policy on that issue; or*Directing the person making the inquiry to visit with City Staff about the issue. (No Council deliberation is permitted.)2. Request by the City Coun-
cil for items to be placed on a future agenda for discussion.3. Consider approval of pre-
vious minutes. 4. Discussion and possible
action on Ordinance No. 2013-473 of the City of Keene, Tex-as, amending chapter 31 of the code of ordinances “elections” by adding a new section 32.03 entitled “requirement to reside in ward”; providing a savings clause; providing a severabil-ity clause; and providing an effective date. (Item requested by: City Council)5. Consider approval of the
Keene Community Develop-ment Corporation’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2013-2014 (Item requested by: Charles Ferrier, President of the Keene Com-munity Development Corpoa-tion)6. Discussion and possible
action on a contract between the City of Keene and Inter-
medix Corporation for Ambu-lance Billing, and other related professional services. (Item requested by: Matt Gillin, Fire Chief)7. Discussion and possible
action on assisting with the funding of the Chamber of Commerce’s Flag Fund. (Item requested by: William Guinn, City Administrator)8. Consider approval of Inter-
local Cooperation Agreement between the City of Keene and the City of Vernon to allow the Vernon police department to access to the Texas Law Enforcement Telecommunica-tions System (“TLETS”) (Item requested by Rocky Alberti, Chief of Police) 9. Consider approval of the
Memorandum of Understand-ing between the Keene Police Department and the Vernon Police Department for the use of the Texas Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (“TLETS”) (Item requested by Rocky Alberti, Chief of Police)10. Review by the Council of
reports by the Water, Sewer, Public Works, Police, Court, Code Enforcement, and Fire/Ems Departments detail-ing monthly activity within each department Council may consult with department personnel, the City Adminis-trator, and the City Accountant regarding the report.11.Executive Closed Ses-
sion of the City Council: The City Council will now hold a Closed Executive Session
meeting pursuant to the provi-sions of Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code in accordance with the author-ity within Section 551.072 of the Texas Government Code to discuss or deliberate the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property in the Keene Industrial Park, and Section 551.087 of the Texas Government Code to discuss or deliberate regarding com-mercial or financial informa-tion that the City of Keene has received from a business prospect, and or to deliberate the offer of financial or other incentives with a business prospect regarding properties in the Keene Industrial Park. (Item requested by: David Patterson, President, of the Keene Economic Develop-ment Board)12. Executive Session
-- (Closed to the public as provided by Texas Govern-ment Code) As authorized by Section 51.071(2) of The Texas Government Code, The Workshop, Special Called, Or Regular Meeting may be convened into Closed Execu-tive Session for the purpose of seeking confidential legal advice from the Attorney on any Agenda Item listed herein.13. Reconvene into Open
Session for possible action resulting from any items posted and legally discussed in Executive Session.14. Adjourn.
Keene City Council Agenda August 22, 2013
Not Much has Changed in 38 years Read-Billingsley still sells real estate and pric-es might have increased just a little.
By Danny Earl Rob-erts
At the last city council when Councilman’s Gore seat was in question it was determined that the City Charter was vague and unclear as to where it requires a council person to reside. It was further clarified that City Secretary Keesha Lay was not responsible to determine the eligibility of a candidate and had no powers to administer a ruling. This was all substantiated by the Keene’s attorney. Yet if you read the letter from city hall it appears that the City of Keene is reversing their stance. Is there a pattern here? City council votes NOT to pur-chase 5 acres for $200,000.00 and then an hour later, they reverse their vote and pur-chased the property. Council-woman Cheryl Schram speaks vehemently against the all too many “closed sessions” the council has been participating in and then at the next meet-ing Councilwoman Schram makes the motion to go into closed session to discuss the Gore residency question. At one meeting the attorney states the council has never adopted any rules, Robert’s Rule of Order or any other parlia-mentary procedures and then in the next meeting mayor Ackermann wants all the citizens and councilpersons to be regulated by rules already adopted by the council in order to speak in front of the council. The council gets irate at the press for making them look foolish and claims the press is running off prospec-tive businesses by reporting the facts. Maybe someone should remind the council the press only reports what they say and do. A Sam’s Club warehouse is getting closer to Keene…well how about Burleson. A new Sam’s Club is in the first stage of construction just south of the Burleson Honda dealership on IH 35W. Lots of dirt be-ing moved to make room for Sam’s of Burleson.Keene ISD is making plans for the future. There is a present need for more rooms in the high school to accom-modate its growing enroll-
ment. The board on Monday night approved tentative drawings for a 16 thousand square foot expansion to the high school. This addition will be on the east side of the existing high school and will be class rooms, science lab and a new library area. The pre-construction cost estimate is $3.5 million dollars. The Keene ISD has $4.2 million in cash budgeted for the expan-sion. The board also approved keeping the tax rate the same as it has been for the past two years. The board will be ap-proving a $9.9 million dollar budget for the school year of 2013-2014 and the tax rate at the September 16th board meeting. The board has ac-cepted the resignation of Car-men Curubo from the board in order for the district to hire her daughter Natasha as a coach for the Keene Junior High. Two candidates are being con-sidered for her replacement, Ed Perez and Gary Heinrich. The appointee would serve to the November election. Gary Heinrich has indicated he would be willing to serve till November and not run in the November election. Deadline to file for the November elec-tion is Tuesday August 27 at 5pm. There will be 5 seats on the November ballot. Mary Ann Hodges, Sheri Hadley, Jeri Montgomery, Judy Miles and the seat vacated by Car-men Curubo are the seats that will be on the November bal-lot. As of Wednesday August 21st Mary Ann Hodges, Jeri Montgomery and Judy Miles have submitted applications to run. Patricia Miers has submitted her application to be on the ballot and Ed Perez states he will be filing before the deadline on Tuesday. Candidates run at-large in the district election. That would mean if there are 6 candidates for four positions, the four candidates with the largest number of votes cast for them will become the winners. And if the district was fortu-nate to have 9 candidates…it would still be the 4 with the highest number of votes cast for each.Mark on your calendar October 10th to visit Keene ISD open house and meet the
new superintendent at a big hot dog dinner for the entire community. Ricky Stephens, superintendent, along with board members and perhaps candidates will be cooking and serving hot dogs for all to consume. Yes, there will be veggie dogs to those that desire on whole wheat buns no less! Mr. Stephens wants the entire community to become involved with the activities of the district at all levels. He wants Keene ISD tax-payers to see first-hand how your school tax dollars are being spent. Golf and powerlifting will be added this year as well as new hire, Tom Kennedy, will be starting a musical band for the junior high students.Keene City hall election will be in November also and filing deadline is Tuesday August 27th at 5pm. 3 seats are up for election. Gilbert Perez, James Chapline and Cheryl Schram presently occupy the seats that will be up for election. As of Wednesday, Gilbert Perez and James Chapline had filed pa-pers to seek re-election. Bob Bischoff has also filed papers to run…but City Secretary Keesha Lay has determined his paperwork does not meet all the qualifications to certify him as a candidate.The newly appointed senior pastor Jennifer Scott of the Keene SDA church is mak-ing plans to preach her first sermon from the pulpit on September 14th. Her children have already been enrolled at KAES.
Just So You Will Know…
WWW.KEENECHRONICLE.COM • THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 • 5
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Harry Edison Mc-Queen, Sr will be celebrating his 90th birthday on August 25th. He still has a hearty appetite. You can find him at Chaf In most every Friday morning eating with his daughter Carrie Wolcott.
On August 11, 2013, Gary and Betty Heinrich, residents of Keene, Texas, celebrated their 50th wed-ding anniversary by taking a family cruise to Alaska. They have two children, son Steve Heinrich and wife Robyn of Mansfield, Texas; daughter Kristi Reeves and husband Charles of Wimberly, Texas; and five grandchil-dren, Josephine, Gwyneth, Charlie Reeves, Macie and Molly Heinrich.
Gary and Betty Heinrich Celebrate 50th
Wedding Anniversary
Happy 90th Birthday Harry McQueen, Sr
By Glen Robinson
For the second year in a row, Southwestern Adventist Uni-versity has officially started its academic year with a service called the Mizpah Ceremony. Several hundred new students, most of who make up the Class of 2017, attended the service with their parents and faculty and staff on Wednes-day, Aug. 21.A family prays together at the
Mizpah CeremonyRuss Laughlin, vice president
for spiritual development, opened the ceremony with prayer and the recognition that preparation for this school year began 100 days ago with graduation, but in a sense started 120 years ago with the founding of the school in Keene by a small group of Seventh-day Adventists in north Texas.After music by John Boyd,
Rudy Dennis and Marc Ely-see, readings of dedication by representatives of parents, the
class of 2017, and the Uni-versity, the service moved to the lawn outside the Hopps Museum and directly across from the Mizpah Gate. Parents were invited to pray with their students, and then students crossed the street and entered the University campus under the Mizpah arch. Faculty and staff were waiting on the other side to greet them and wel-come them into their new life as students at Southwestern Adventist University.Dinner followed in the
Leiske-Pultar Gymnasium, where students and their par-ents got better acquainted with the faculty and staff.
Mizpah Ceremony Kicks Off New YearRight: Keith Gray invites parents to pray with their children on the lawn of the Hopps Museum, while University President Eric Anderson looks on.
A family prays together at the Mizpah Ceremony
Below: Faculty and staff welcome new students to the University campus.
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“thanks so much for your continued support. God richly bless you!”
Welcome dinner for the freshmen and parents - it’s a packed house with delicious food, friendly faculty, and a new gym floor.
Look at all the freshmen! In keeping with tradition, the class of 2017, the 120th freshmen class, walks through the Mizpah Gate after a prayer of dedication for them by their parents and new faculty.
Southwestern Welcomes Freshman Class
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6 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 • WWW.KEENECHRONICLE.COM
Finney David Fry, Jr. (known around Keeneas David) was born Octo-ber 3, 1938 passed away August 20, 2013 at his home just east of Keene. He is the
brother of Edmond and Kenneth Fry and is a cousin to Cecil, Jim, John and Frank Hopps. Memorial Services are pending for David. He will be buried in a private service in the Keene Memo-rial Park in the same plot as his mother Francis and father Finney Fry.
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315 Pecan St…Keene…Open concept, great corner fireplace, beautiful landscaping a great buy at $105,000
119 Rosedale Ave…Keene… Large 3 BR with additional one BR rented apartment. REDUCED to $104,900
401 N Eastern St…Keene…3/4 acre lot with Doll House…..$84,500
113 S Fairview St…Keene… Nice 3 BR on 300 foot deep lot. Currently leased. A great buy at……..$84,500
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3.5 acres on CR 414, beautiful building site………$55,000
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Read-Billingsley Real Estate
On June 25, 2013 Norma Rocio Rojas opened “Pale-teria Flores,” a new paleteria and ice cream shop located at 101 S. Old Betsy Road Suite 2, in Keene. A “paleteria” is basically a Spanish word for an awesome Popsicle shop that is snowballing in popular-ity throughout the country! Think fresh fruits, frozen, and delicious combinations of fla-vors. Think exactly what you need on a sweltering Texas summer day!Norma previously owned
and operated a flour and corn “tortilleria” in Albuquerque, New Mexico which she suc-cessfully ran for 16 years. She and her 3 daughters, Arisbe, 19, and twins Ariana and Areli, 18 moved to the Keene area August 10, 2012 for the purpose of attending Southwestern. “I thought it would be a great idea to put a paleteria in town to cater to the student population. I was thinking of my daughters as well; for them to get work experience, learn the work ethic, the value of money and how important education is. This provides them a real life experience; something they can’t learn in school. And they can also do their home-work here while meeting and making more friends - a place
for students to hang out! So it’s was a win-win situation!”Norma’s daughters all help
out in the operation of the business while attending Southwestern. The twins graduated from Wanda Smith High School in June and are starting their freshman year at Southwestern, while Arisbe is a sophomore studying El-ementary Education. Norma was born in Mexico
but moved with her parents to Albuquerque when she was only a year old. She and her daughters are members of the Keene Spanish Church. Norma named the paleteria
shop in memory of her mother who passed away in 2009 of leukemia. Flores was her maiden name. Norma’s father still lives in Albuquerque. The couple was married 43 years. Norma attended Sandia View
Academy and graduated from Albuquerque High School in 1989. She also has an associ-ate’s degree in Elementary Education from New Mexico Highlands University, Al-buquerque and taught for a year at the Adventist Elemen-tary, Albuquerque. She has decided to return to school to finish her bachelor’s degree and is currently attending Hill College in Cleburne for
the purpose of earning her prerequisites for attending Southwestern. “Basically I want this to be
a place where students can come to hang out, something different for the students and for the local community.Norma offers an assortment
of scoopable ice cream flavors as well as a ton more on a stick! Although paletas and ice cream are her specialty, she also offers “elotes in a cup,” a devilish cup of spicy corn that can quite possibly send you into cardiac arrest. It is definitely a guilty pleasure! Doritos in a bag with added cheese, or “Dori-Nachos” are also a clever and tasty snack idea. Norma also serves up “Fresas con cremas,” a sweet, decadent bowl-treat of straw-berries and cream. And Norma’s prices are also
pretty good. You get a lot for your money; it’s definitely well worth it! Once you have a taste of the sweet, refreshing frozen paleta, you will want to order all of them! Water and milk based pop-
sicles, or ice cream on a stick and scoopables makes this a great place to “hang out!” Some Paleteria Flores high-lights include:Ice Cream flavors: Pecan, Chocolate, Vanilla,
