THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2016 $1.00Volume 124, No. 47

Shiner GazetteTHE

Serving the Cleanest Little City in Texas since 1892©2016 Shiner Gazette, Shiner, Lavaca County, Texas 77984

The holiday season is ap-proaching and all of Shiner is invited to celebrate the An-nual Christmas in the Park on Thursday, December 1 at 5:30 p.m. at Welhausen Park.

There will be music, tables of treats, and festive lights. Of course, Santa Claus will stop by at 6 p.m. to greet all of his fans. Santa will be bringing treats for all the children who come to say hello. Treat bags will be sponsored by the Spo-etzl Brewery.

Shiner businesses and or-ganizations are invited to sponsor a table for the Christ-mas sampler. This is a special way to let others know about your business or cause.

Remember to bring your lawn chair and arrive early to enjoy all the music, the busi-ness/organization offerings, the beautiful lights and the joy that Santa will bring to the children.

Contact Jane Kalina at (361) 594-4180 or shinercham-ber@sbcglobal.net for more information.

AnnualChristmasin the Park

slated forDecember 1

atWelhausen Park

Song writer and re-cording artist Doug Mo-reland and the Flying Armadillos will be per-forming at the Shiner Knights of Columbus Hall this Saturday, No-vember 26 from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Cost is $10 per person.

Originally from the Fort Davis mountains in west Texas, Doug More-land performs a fresh twist of Texas and West-ern swing music, with his original songwriting and his dandy band The Flying Armadillos. Be-ing the eldest son of a wainwright, blacksmith, and fiddle-playing ranch hand, Doug set out in 1992 for a career in the music business. After a short stint in Ruidoso NM as a funny man in a dinner show, he then toured with various acts around the country as a fiddle sideman.

During this time, he recognized his desire to front his own band and write his own songs, and also discovered the art of chainsaw carving, which all brought him to

SEE MORELAND, PAGE 12

Recording artist DougMoreland to perform in Shiner this Saturday

The Shiner Junior Livestock Show was held this past Sat-urday. A total of 46 exhibitors showed animals with a grand total of $98,606. Jacy Chrismon, pictured, won Grand Cham-pion Steer. The steer was purchased by SJLS Boosters (Mata Turf, inc., The Bunch, Cody & Jennie Chris-mon, Shiner Dental, Wrangler Trucking LLC, Max & Kim Moore, Bevis Fam-ily). Pictures of the rest of the winning entries will be fea-tured in next week’s Gazette. Photo by Kathleen Leininger

BY MATT WILSONSTAFF WRITER

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is asking for area hunters to contribute white-tailed deer heads to be tested for chronic wasting disease (CWD) this deer season.

CWD is a deadly disease that affects members of the deer family. It causes infected ani-mals to gradually waste away and is harmful to deer popula-tions.

CWD was discovered in a cap-tive deer population in Lavaca County last year.

In an effort to get a sufficient number of samples for Lavaca, Jackson and surrounding coun-ties, a voluntary drop-off sta-tion for samples has been es-tablished for harvested deer at Morton’s Drive-In at 1603 North Texana in Hallettsville. The sta-tion will be open until Jan. 1, from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

SEE DEER, PAGE 12

TPWD seekingwhite-tailed deer samples

BY MATT WILSONSTAFF WRITER

This weekend’s Shiner Beer Run was a success, bringing in approximately 2,500 runners for the event’s 5th iteration.

“It went well,” said the run’s director, Jon Hill. “It was just perfect weather.”

Hill says that the run brought in more money for the Boot Campaign than last year’s run did.

“As of the race, it was at about $30,000,” he said. “We did some more creative things this year. We sold some long sleeve shirts, and we had some different entry packets.”

The race also featured bigger, more impressive medals.

“They were really nice,” Hill said.According to Hill, the pasta dinner

held the night before the race contin-ued to grow and featured vendors from

local businesses.“That was very well received,” he

said.Hill says that the run’s best fea-

ture was its uncharacteristically nice weather.

“The grass being so nice was some-thing new,” he said. “We actually had a dozen or so cornhole boards set up on the grass. It kind of had a picnic feel to it.”

5th annual Beer Run a success

BY MATT WILSONSTAFF WRITER

Don Kaspar was presented the 2016 Outstanding Alum-ni Award from the College of Agricul-ture and Life Sci-ences at Texas A&M University in a cer-emony in Bryan Fri-day.

The Outstanding Alumni Award is the college’s highest honor, recognizing alumni who have made significant ac-complishments and contributions at the state, national or in-ternational level in agriculture, natural resources or the life sciences.

Kaspar graduated from A&M in 1949 with a degree in Agricultural Administration. At A&M he served in the Corps of Cadets and was the president of his class.

After graduation, Kaspar served

with the army in Korea, where he earned a Combat Infantryman Badge and a Bronze Star.

He joined the family business at Kaspar Wire Works after leaving the service, advancing to general manag-er, president and finally chairman of

the board. Kaspar’s leader-

ship helped to grow the family business into an internation-al corporation with seven subsidiaries. Kaspar Companies has long been the county’s largest employer and has helped buoy the re-gion in times of eco-nomic stress.

Kaspar attended the ceremony with his friends and fam-ily. He says that re-ceiving the award was a gratifying ex-perience.

“I’m amazed and pleased,” he said.

Kaspar says that his time at A&M played a large role in his professional success.

“I learned leadership, and I learned that integrity pays off. I learned loyalty, and patriotism,” Kaspar said of his time in College

SEE KASPAR, PAGE 12

Kaspar honored by Texas A&M

Don Kaspar speaking at Friday’s ceremony. Contributed photo.

Grand Champion

Aaron Fisher of Abilene and William Palmer of San Antonio close in on the finish line during the Shiner Beer Run 5K. Staff photo by Mark Lube

Page 12 The Shiner Gazette Thursday, November 24, 2016

©2016 FCA US LLC. All Rights Reserved. Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram are registered trademarks of FCA US LLC.

NO CROWDS.NO CHAOS.JUST REALLYGREAT DEALS.

BY JIMMY APPELT,STAFF WRITER

The 18th annual Festival of Lights ‘Lighting Extravaganza’ will take place this Saturday at the Lavaca County Courthouse in downtown Hallettsville.

Beginning with Saturday, the lights will shine each evening through the Christmas season until January 6 of next year.

The Festival of Lights com-mittee, headed by Roy and Jean Schaefer and Jim Jakubek, along with help from the City of Hallettsville and Lower Col-orado River Authority (LCRA), the committee has been bus-ily setting up the lights for the past few weeks as well as plac-ing decorations and displays on

the Courthouse lawn.Included in the decorations

are displays above each en-trance to the Courthouse bring-ing wish of Peace, Hope, Joy and Love during this holiday season.

The Festival of Lights Ex-travaganza will begin at noon Saturday with food and market booths set up on the square.

In addition, Santa and Mrs. Claus will visit the Courthouse to meet with the young from noon until 4 p.m.

An ornament contest will take place starting at 3 p.m. and will be followed by the ‘Lighting Extravaganza’ slated to begin at 5:45 p.m. or as the darkness of the evening sets in

for the night.Following the lighting cere-

mony, a Kiddie parade is sched-uled to start around 6:05 p.m. and the lighted Christmas pa-rade will follow at 6:15 p.m.

At 7:30 p.m., the annual Christmas pageant will start with the performance taking place on the east side of the Courthouse Square.

The play is performed by ministers as well as congrega-tional members of the churches in our community and depicts the life of Jesus Christ on earth.

For more information con-cerning the FOL event call (361) 798-5818 or (361) 798-2662, or log on to www.halletts-ville. com.

Festival of Lights Extravaganza is Saturday

Texas A&M AgriLife Exten-sion Service of Lavaca County will host a Fall Range Man-agement Program on Tuesday, November 29 at the Knights of Columbus Hall Pavilion in Hallettsville. Registration will begin at 6:00 p.m. with the program beginning at 6:30 p.m. The cost will be $10 per per-son. Two CEUs will be offered for applicator license hold-ers. Dr. Megan Clayton, Assis-tant Professor and Extension Range Specialist will be the guest speaker. Topics will in-

clude herbicide demonstration results, utilization of excess standing forage, restoring pas-tures and other timely topics related to range management.

For more information on this program, please call the Lavaca County Extension Of-fice at 361-798-2221. Pre-regis-tration is not necessary.

Individuals with disabili-ties who require an auxiliary aid, service or accommodation in order to participate in this meeting are encouraged to contact the County Extension

Office to determine how rea-sonable accommodations can be made. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension provides equal op-portunities in its programs and employment to all persons, re-gardless of race, color, sex, re-ligion, national origin, disabil-ity, age, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orienta-tion, or gender identity. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agricul-ture, and the County Commis-sioners Courts of Texas Coop-erating.

Range Management Program to be held

Station. “I sort of formed a habit of those things.”

When Kas-par returned to Shiner in the fifties the area was in an economic slump.

“When I was off at college and off with the army, cotton was leaving the county,” he said. “Over half the store-

fronts downtown were empty. I came back from college and then from the army determined to do something about it.”

Kaspar’s efforts weren’t in vain. His work with the company cemented Kaspar Companies as a cornerstone of the community.

Kaspar is especially proud of the jobs he helped create over the years.

“We helped many families hang on to the old family farm with a job at the wireworks,” he said. We made good products, and helped people make their livings.”

At the ceremony, Kaspar thanked his recog-nized his family and his professors. He also rec-ognized the people of Shiner and Lavaca County.

“In a rural place like Shiner you have many advantages,” Kaspar said. “The workers most-ly came from farms and ranches around there. They’re very conscientious people with a fantas-tic work ethic.”

Kaspar’s co-recipients Friday were Dr. Fred Thornberry of College Station and Steven Last-ovica of Salado.

To prepare a sample, hunters should remove the animal’s head from its carcass two to three vertebrae be-low the head, which will ensure that the appropriate tissues for CWD test-ing are not damaged.

Hunters with samples to contribute should go into Morton’s to sign in with their name and phone number and to receive instructions on where to drop off the deer head. Please do not bring any heads into the store.

A TPWD biologist will contact hunt-ers that contribute samples to ask for an approximate harvest location and to give them their sample ID number.

The ID number can be used to view test results from the sample at http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/diseas-es/cwd/test-results.

Samples will be used to help TPWD

continue CWD monitoring in the re-gion. TPWD collects similar samples from different ecological regions of Texas.

Continued surveillance is impor-tant for managing the disease before it becomes established in a popula-tion.

If you have a harvested deer to be sampled or any questions about CWD testing please contact your local TPWD biologist. For further informa-tion on CWD visit this website: http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/diseas-es/cwd/.

Lavaca county TPWD Biologist Brent Pierce thanks the community for their assistance with the depart-ment’s efforts. He can be reached in his office at (361) 798-2625 or on his cell phone at (361) 217-0907.

Austin in late 1999. There he pro-gressed from a comedic, solo act with a singing dog as the finale, into a full dancehall band with his wit and charm playing right back into a famil-iar instrumentation of twin fiddles, upright bass fiddle, swing guitar, man-dolin, and minimal drums.

His traditional styling still gathers influence from the western swing of Bob Wills and the easy-going spirit of Jimmy Buffett, mixed with humor the likes of Roger Miller.

Doug received a Will Rogers Cow-boy Award for Western Music Male Performer of the Year from the Acade-my of Western Artists in 2007. He also

received an Entertainer of the Year award from the Texas Music Awards in 2007. He played for the Austin City Council at a meeting declared by the Mayor as Doug Moreland Day in 2011. In 2015 and 2016, Doug won a nomi-nation for Western Swing Male of the Year from the Ameripolitan Music Awards.

Doug’s tour has extended from the state of Texas, western across the country and even to Europe. The band has performed with well-established acts such as Willie Nelson, Asleep At The Wheel, Robert Earl Keen, Cana-dian Country Music star Corb Lund, and folk-rocker Ryan Bingham.

Kaspar, left, accepting his award Fri-day. Contributed photo.

KASPAR Continued from Page 1

DEER Continued from Page 1 MORELAND Continued from Page 1