Hurricane Harvey sends power of cooperative spirit into action Power... · Cisco about that time,...

FAYETTE ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE NOVEMBER 2017Gary Sinise Provides Custom Homes for Veterans

THAT’S WHAT

CO-OPS DO‘ ’Hurricane Harvey sendspower of cooperativespirit into action

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TexasCoopPower.com November 2017 Texas Co-op Power 3

November 2017

Welcome Home Gary Sinise Foundation gives a newstart to disabled veterans Story and photos by Julia Robinson

‘It’s Just What You Do’ Hurricane Harvey spotlightsthe hope and heart of the co-op family Story and photos by Chris Burrows

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F A V O R I T E S

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6 Currents18 Local Co-op NewsGet the latest information plus energyand safety tips from your cooperative.

29 Texas HistoryBuffalo Bilked By Martha Deeringer

31 RecipesThanksgiving Sides

35 Focus on TexasPhoto Contest: Into the Woods

36 Around TexasList of Local Events

38 Hit the RoadSaving Face in Malakoff By Marilyn Jones

O N L I N ETexasCoopPower.comFind these stories online if they don’tappear in your edition of the magazine.

ObservationsNature Works for Nothing By E. Dan Klepper

Texas USAA Mesquite Treat By Eileen Mattei

F E A T U R E S

O N T H E C O V E R Crews work to repair Victoria EC power lines east of Victoria after Hurricane Harvey. Photo by Chris Burrows | TEC

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N E X T M O N T H Christmas in the Parks Stateparks decorate and celebrate in special ways for the Yuletide.

A E R I A L : C H R I S B U R R OWS | T EC . W R E AT H : B A LO N C I C I | D R E A M ST I M E .CO M

South Texas EC crewsrebuild lines afterHurricane Harvey.

T E X A S E L E CT R I C C O O P E R AT I V E S B OA R D O F D I R E CTO R S : Bryan Lightfoot, Chair, Bartlett; Blaine Warzecha, Vice Chair, Victoria; Alan Lesley, Secretary-Treasurer, Comanche; Mark Boyd, Douglassville; William F. Hetherington, Bandera; Anne Vaden, Corinth; Brent Wheeler, Dalhart • PRESIDENT/CEO: Mike Williams, Austin • C O M M U N I CAT I O N S & M E M B E R S E RV I C E S C O M M I T T E E : Jerry Boze, Kaufman; Clint Gardner, Coleman; Rick Haile, McGregor; Greg Henley, Tahoka; Billy Marricle, Bellville; Mark McClain, Roby; Gary Raybon, El Campo; Kathy Wood, Marshall •MAGAZINE STAFF: Martin Bevins, Vice President, Communications & Member Services; Charles J. Lohrmann, Editor; Tom Widlowski, Associate Editor; Karen Nejtek, Production Manager; Andy Doughty,Creative Manager; Grace Arsiaga, Print Production Specialist; Chris Burrows, Senior Communications Specialist; Christine Carlson, Communications & Member Services Assistant; Paula Disbrowe,Food Editor; Taylor Montgomery, Digital Field Editor; Jane Sharpe, Senior Designer; Ellen Stader, Senior Communications Specialist; Shannon Oelrich, Proofreader

Since 1944

TexasCoopPower.com4 Texas Co-op Power November 2017

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FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF TEXAS CO-OP POWER

Texas Co-op Power presents a collection of best-loved recipesfrom two of our most popular cookbooks ever, the TypicallyTexas Cookbook and The Second Typically Texas Cookbook.

This cookbook is filled with more than 700 recipes,including more than 300 dessert recipes.

Contact your local co-op today, or place your order online at TexasCoopPower.com and put The Best of Typically TexasCookbook in your kitchen for only $29.95 (price includes tax,shipping and handling).

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From the publishers of Texas Co-op Power


TEXAS CO-OP POWER VOLUME 74, NUMBER 5 (USPS 540-560). Texas Electric Cooperatives publishes Texas Co-op Power monthly on behalf of your electric cooperative to communicate important co-op news and information to members. Periodical Postage Paid at Austin, TX, and at additional offices. TEC is the statewide association representing 75 electric cooperatives. Texas Co-op Power’s website is TexasCoopPower.com. Call(512) 454-0311 or email [email protected]. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE is $4.08 per year for individual members of subscribing cooperatives. If you are not a member of a subscribing cooperative, you can purchasean annual subscription at the nonmember rate of $7.50. Individual copies and back issues are available for $3 each. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Texas Co-op Power (USPS 540-560), 1122 Colorado St., 24thFloor, Austin, TX 78701. Please enclose label from this copy of Texas Co-op Power showing old address and key numbers. ADVERTISING: Advertisers interested in buying display ad space in Texas Co-op Power and/or inour 30 sister publications in other states, contact Martin Bevins at (512) 486-6249. Advertisements in Texas Co-op Power are paid solicitations. The publisher neither endorses nor guarantees in any manner any product orcompany included in this publication. Product satisfaction and delivery responsibility lie solely with the advertiser.

© Copyright 2017 Texas Electric Cooperatives, Inc. Reproduction of this issue or any portion of it is expressly prohibited without written permission. Willie Wiredhand © Copyright 2017 National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

1946: Dad had our 750-square-foot home wired for electricity.

The family gathered in the living room when the first wallswitch was turned on to see the light from a single bulb in aceramic fixture in the center ofthe ceiling. A lifetime-changingevent.

It is easy to take for grantedthe advances in technology we all enjoy today through the success of Bowie-Cass ElectricCooperative powering rural East Texas. KENNETH ELLIOTT | TEXARKANA

BOWIE-CASS EC

Memories of Fort HoodThe Dawn of Fort Hood [Cur-rents, January 2017] broughtback fond memories for mymom. She and my dad marriedin June 1942 and moved toKilleen, where my dad (BobFoster) worked at Fort Hood.He was a timekeeper, and

because of the size of the prop-erty, he was given a horse toride to ensure that the menwho clocked in to work werestill working and did not wan-der off.SHARON HORINE | BROWN COUNTY

COMANCHE EC

New London LessonA very important result of thetragedy [The New LondonSchool Explosion, January 2017]was the establishment of theTexas Engineering Practice Act.The act requires those whoengineer public projects (roads,bridges, dams, schools, watersupply systems, etc.) to be dulylicensed by the state as havingthe education, experience andability to design such projectsin a way that protects thehealth, safety and welfare ofthe public. ERIC RATZMAN | LEANDER

PEDERNALES EC

Special Ranch HandThe August 2017 issue said thatPresident Lyndon B. Johnsonflew to his LBJ Ranch 74 timesduring his five years in office[Currents, Smoke-Filled Shindigs].My uncle, Marine Corps Maj.Kenneth Evans Sr., was one ofJohnson’s helicopter pilots. MARCY EVANS-COLE | HEMPSTEAD

SAN BERNARD EC

Workshop RemedyTame the Flame [Recipes,August 2017] recommendedwearing rubber gloves whenchopping hot peppers. I simplychop them and then go to thegarage. I spray my fingers liber-ally with WD-40 and wipe themdown with a paper towel. Then I wash my hands as I normallywould. The WD-40 dissolvesthe oil in the peppers, and soapremoves the WD-40. No problem.ROGER WERCHAN | CONROE

FORMER MID-SOUTH SYNERGY

Life-Changing EventI was born in 1943 at home in arural part of Bowie County nearOld Boston. My dad bought aServel butane fridge in 1945[below], a remarkable appliancethat I still own today—but nocomparison to what followed in

Familiar FaceI loved Outlaw Healers [September2016], about the Milling brothers.My great-grandfather lived in Cisco about that time, and I amsure that they probably met.

The photo of the man is a deadringer for (a younger) James Keach! ANITA KEMPER VIA FACEBOOK | COLEMAN

COLEMAN COUNTY EC

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MAIL: Editor, Texas Co-op Power,1122 Colorado St., 24th Floor, Austin, TX 78701

Please include your town and electric co-op. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.

Texas Co-op Power DFE

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LETTERSDoting MotherEnjoyed the article on the

Rio Grande Valley at night

[What Lurks in the Murk,

August 2017]. The picture

of the people looking at the

wolf spider was good, but

you cannot see the spider.

It brought back a memory from last August: watching a female wolf carry-

ing her babies on her back on my driveway. Quite a sight to see with her back

covered, and if one got off she would pick it up and place it back on her back.

MICHAEL LANTY | ORIENT | CONCHO VALLEY EC

GRANBURY SANTA HOUSE returns to the Hood County Courthouse, southwest

of Fort Worth, this Christmas season, thanks to the efforts of some

United Cooperative Services members who wish to remain anonymous,

county officials and area businesses. Granbury High School honor roll

students help round up elves who assist Santa Claus every weekend

NOVEMBER 24–DECEMBER 23.

Mrs. Claus and the elves welcome children—and pets—who want to

see Santa. They pass the time in line by playing games and talking about

Christmas lists. Then, it’s onto Santa’s lap.

Parents, grandparents and friends are free to take as many pictures

as they like. The entire experience is free. The Granbury Santa House

Facebook page has more details.

“The main purpose of Santa House is to provide a place to forget even

for one minute the craziness Christmas can bring,” Mrs. Claus says.

INFO a (817) 964-7220, facebook.com/granburysanta.house

SPORTS SECTION

LAST LAPSDale Earnhardt Jr. and TexasMotor Speedway have a lot of history. It was at the FortWorth track that the NASCARdriver earned his first BuschSeries and Cup Series wins,and in April he placed fifth, one of his best races of theseason.

But Junior will take his lastTexas laps when the No. 88Chevrolet returns to the Texas Motor Speedway onNovember 5 for the AAATexas 500. The 43-year-olddriver announced in April that this would be his finalyear of driving after concus-sions haunted him in 2016.

Texas Motor Speedway putout the call for fans whoattended Earnhardt’s 2000Cup Series win in anticipationof this month’s event. If his-tory is any indication, maybethey’ll end up seeing his lastwin, too.


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WORTH REPEAT ING

“When I started counting my blessings,my whole life turnedaround.”

— WILLIE NELSON

HAPPENINGS

Free Time With Santa

WEB EXTRASuFind morehappenings

online.

DEPRESSION-ERA DAIRY FARMER John Grimes struggles to make ends meetin Central Texas as World War II looms and cities leave rural areas in the dustof development. When a representative of the Rural Electrification Adminis-tration offers federal loans to farmers and ranchers to build electric lines,Grimes rallies his friends and neighbors to support the cause.

That is how the 2015 film Let There Be Light portrays the history of Mid-SouthSynergy, an electric cooperative whose founding is much like other electric co-opsacross the country. Andy Conner, former Mid-South multimedia specialist,produced the 25-minute short in honor of the co-op’s 75th anniversary.

“One of the Seven Cooperative Principles is Cooperation Among Coopera-tives, and that’s what we wanted out of this short film,” Conner says. “Since co-ops nationwide have a sort of shared history, we wanted to be able to sharethis to raise awareness to a new generation about what exactly a cooperative is.So, it’s a short film with long-term implications.”

The film premiered at a Navasota movie theater and played at Mid-South’sannual meeting in June 2015. Since then, it has won several awards, includingWorldFest-Houston film festival’s Platinum Remi Award for Short Subject andSilver Telly Award for directing, plus two Bronze Telly Awards and the GoldAward for Best Total Communication Program from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

The rest stops on Interstate 27 inHale County, north of Lubbock, havebeen renamed in honor of NeldaLaney, considered the First Lady of West Texas and known as theCapitol Ornament Lady.

Laney, who died August 24, 2016,was the wife of Pete Laney, a five-term speaker of the Texas House and17-term state representative. Amongthe many accomplishments in herlife was creating and selling CapitolChristmas ornaments to raise fundsfor the preservation of Texas’ Cap-itol, built in 1888. [See The Capitol Ornament Lady, November 2016.]

More than 1 million ornaments have been sold, raising more than$8 million since Laney started the program in 1996.

The Nelda Laney Safety Rest Areasare about 8 miles south of the Laneyhomestead near Hale Center.

HONORS

REST STOPS HONORNELDA LANEY

November 2017 Texas Co-op Power 7

HISTORY LESSON

Filmmaker Portrays Co-op Origins

TexasCoopPower.com

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Tear Down That Wall

Americans throw away enough office papereach year to build a 36-foot-high wall fromthe northwest corner of the Panhandle tothe extreme southern tip of Texas belowBrownsville, a distance of 801 miles.

If that doesn’t blow your mind, considerthis: Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT NOVEMBER 15, AMERICA RECYCLES DAY:

Welcome

Home


In May 2013, Lucas Cifka almost lost everything. The 6-foot-1-inch Army sniper from Olympia, Washington,stepped on a pressure-plated IED while on foot patrol ineastern Afghanistan.

“I remember the medic running over, and I was helping to putthe tourniquet on, and they immediately put them very high up onmy legs, and I knew that wasn’t good because you only do that as alast resort,” Cifka says. “I realized very quickly thatI was bleeding to death, and the first thought thatwent through my mind was: I’ve got a 3-month-oldbaby at home, and I can’t die on this hilltop.”

The blast took both legs, fractured his pelvis,hands and face, and left him with a traumatic brain injury. Cifka,his wife, Kait, and young son, Wyatt, spent more than two yearsat Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington,D.C. He endured more than 30 surgeries to restore his ability toperform everyday tasks and walk with prosthetics.

On a hot July day this year, Cifka, now a retired sergeant,and his family had a special homecoming in Canyon Lake, wherethey moved into a specially adapted smart home built by the

GARY SINISE FOUNDATION GIVES A NEW START TO INJURED VETS

Gary Sinise Foundation’s Restoring Independence SupportingEmpowerment program.

The Gary Sinise Foundation launched in 2011, when the Acad-emy Award-nominated actor helped build a home on Staten Island,New York, for Brendan Marrocco, the first surviving quadrupleamputee from the war in Iraq. After Marrocco, there was anotherquadruple amputee in need. Then another.

Sinise builds on a long history of special sup-port for veterans. In the 1980s, he reached out toVietnam vets, offering a night out at the Steppen-wolf Theatre, which he co-founded in his nativeChicago. During the 1990s, he started work for

the Disabled American Veterans organization. His seminal roleas double-amputee Lieutenant Dan in the 1994 film Forrest Gumpamplified his outreach with USO toursand the creation of the Lt. Dan Band,which performs more than 20 showsevery year to raise spirits and money forveterans and first responders.

“We have a whole new generation,

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Lucas Cifka, above,with his family, and

Guillermo Tejada live in specially adapted

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and the benefits of the smart-home enhancements. In September2010, while returning from foot patrol in Afghanistan, Tejada, agunnery sergeant in the Marines, suffered an IED blast that tookboth his legs above the knee, ruptured an eardrum and inflicteddevastating injuries to his left arm and hand as well as his brain.

Before receiving his new smart home, Tejada struggled with the everyday tasks required of a young father. “When Ican’t do something or I have a limitation because of my disabili-ties, it takes [me] back to that day that it happened,” he says.“After something catastrophic like this happens, it’s the smallthings that act as a constant reminder that your life is not thesame anymore. That can play some pretty bad tricks with your mind.”

Tejada moved into his smart home with wife, Veronica, andtheir four children in September 2016. He offers a glimpse of the life Cifka and his family can look forward to. “The best thingis being able to get everywhere with no obstacles. Being able to take care of myself without the worry of injuring myself, that’s a big plus. The house has given me back a lot of things

because of 9/11, of real-life Lieutenant Dans out there,” Sinisesays. “My foundation is sort of the umbrella to bring peopletogether. I wanted to create a foundation that would offer the American people this way forward if they wanted to helpveterans.”

In Cifka’s new home, every room is wheelchair-accessible,including the shower. “I can sit right here, take a shower, controlsare all right here,” he says, gesturing at a panel. “I can turn aroundand roll through doorways and not hit my hands all the time.”

Moving to the kitchen, Cifka demonstrates the oven, stove,microwave and cabinet pull-downs that he can operate from hischair. “The biggest point of contention forme and my wife was not putting dishesaway,” he says. “Now I don’t have any ex-cuse to do that.”

He wheels into his son’s room andwatches him play with the green armymen, colored blocks and Hot Wheels carsprovided by the foundation’s design team.“From day one with this injury, I wanted to be able to take careof my son,” Cifka says. “With this house, I can watch him on myown because I can go everywhere and do everything.”

Next door, Guillermo Tejada knows the hardships of injury


WEB EXTRASuSee a slide-show with thisstory online.

Left: Cifka displays sand from Omaha Beach, a letter from hismother and his grandfather's dog tags. His home features apull-down rack in his kitchen. Above: Tejada plays with hisyoungest son, David, in his home built with wide doorways and hallways for maneuvering his wheelchair. Opposite: Travis Green, left, Cifka and Tejada live in Sinise Foundation-built homes in the same neighborhood in Canyon Lake.


that were taken away from me. I’m fully independent.”A third veteran, Travis Green, also a Marines gunnery ser-

geant, lives down the street with his four daughters. Greenenlisted in 1999 and deployed to Kuwait, Iraq and finallyAfghanistan. In September 2011, shortly before the completionof his tour, Green came under fire and lost both legs above theknee to an IED.

His home, completed in 2015, made space for his girls and abase of operations for his business, Stump Armour, which makesaffordable, durable prosthetic feet for amputees.

All three veterans in the Canyon Lake area are members ofPedernales Electric Cooperative.

Cifka is appreciative of his new neighbors. “Already knowingtwo people in the neighborhood who are both in similar circum-stances, who have kids who are used to seeing combat-woundedpeople, there’s a lot of camaraderie right there.”

“It’s a million little things that all add up to a brand-new life.The Gary Sinise Foundation is part of our extended family, andwe’ll never be able to put into words what this means for ourfamily,” says Cifka.

W orking with more than a dozen charitable organi-zations and corporations, the Gary Sinise Founda-tion has completed 38 homes, with another 22under construction across the country by the end

of 2017. The families move into their fully furnished homes with-out a mortgage to pay.

Brad Morris, senior project manager for the RISE program,oversees the construction of many of these homes. Morris is aformer Marine and owner of G. Morris Homes, a custom home-builder in Bulverde, just north of San Antonio. “Being a combatveteran myself, I found the opportunity to merge two passions,homebuilding and veterans’ causes, into . . . one of the mostrewarding experiences of my life,” says Morris.

The list of adaptations is long, explains Morris: wider hall-ways and doorways, zero-height thresholds, large showers withbenches and handheld shower heads, bathrooms with expandedturning areas, grab bars, lighting controls, video-enabled securityand intercom systems, along with home-automation featurescontrolled with an iPad or iPhone. Some veterans need motor-ized lifts to get in and out of bed, special accessible bathtubs, orvoice and motion activation.

“These homes are designed and built specifically to meet the needs of the veteran and his family and to restore their independence,” says Morris. “These homes remove all physicalbarriers that many of us may not realize even exist.”

The foundation has plans for three more homes in Texas thisyear—in Lakeway, Southlake and McKinney.

“Many years ago, when I began this journey, it became abundantly clear that we can never do enough for those whoserve and sacrifice while defending and providing our preciousfreedom and liberty,” says Sinise, “but I also learned we canalways do a little more.”

Learn more about Julia Robinson at juliarobinsonphoto.com.

‘The house has given me backa lot of things that were taken awayfrom me. I’m fully independent.’


‘IT’S JUSTWHAT YOU DO’Hurricane Harvey spotlights hope, heart of statewide co-op family

since the storm hit August 25. Hadley and her parents had fordays taken turns providing warm meals in the field for the line-men, who were there from Trinity Valley and Grayson-Collinelectric cooperatives, east and north of Dallas, respectively.

“Everybody just kind of pitched in,” Hadley said. Other fami-lies provided laundry services and meals, on top of the threemeals VEC provided daily for the more than 300 linemen whorushed in to help. “We did whatever we could.”

After the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Texas indecades wrought destruction along the coastal bend and in EastTexas, the co-op family did whatever it could to help restorepower to some 179,000 and hope to many more. Stories of hopeand heart reveal the awesome power of the cooperative spirit.

“That’s what co-ops do,” said David Nerada, service foremanfor Victoria EC, which lost power to all 22,467 of its meters dur-

Ashley Hadley and her mother, Shelia Dierschke, pulledout a white folding table and chairs because the diningroom table didn’t have enough space. They set out piles of fried shrimp, hush puppies and all the fixings on Dierschke’s Port Lavaca kitchen counter—all the makings of a family Labor Day feast.

Their guests were hundreds of miles from their own homes,a dozen worn, weary and mud-caked linemen at the end of

another in a string of 15-plus-hourdays of restoring power in the wakeof Hurricane Harvey. They are fam-ily, all the same.

“We had them all line up and get food, and we were just kindof serving them,” said Hadley, whose husband, Michael, a VictoriaElectric Cooperative lineman, invited the men, his co-workers

STORY AND PHOTOS

BY Chris Burrows


ing the storm’s 130 mph winds. “We’re a family. You need help?We drop everything and go help.”

One day before the storm’s landfall, RandyMahannah, general manager for North Plains EC, anticipatedthe destruction and asked his linemen stationed in Canadian, inthe Texas Panhandle, if they were interested in helping withrestoration efforts.

They were prepped and ready the next day. “They sat thereall weekend, bothering the line superintendent, wondering whenthey were leaving,” Mahannah said of his crew that months earlierbattled ice storm and wildfire damage on its own system withthe help of other co-ops.

Along the coast, San Patricio, Victoria and Jackson ECs mobi-

lized quickly as the storm approached, strengthened and madelandfall as a Category 4 hurricane.

Mike Myers, manager of corporate services at Jackson EC,collected satellite radios and reviewed his co-op’s emergencyresponse plan as Harvey moved into the Gulf. “Before we knewit, we were on Page 5,” he said.

Many employees spent nights on cots or air mattresses intheir own co-op offices, fielding phone calls and Facebook com-ments from members and waiting for more help to arrive.

As the storm’s eye passed through Rockport and Refugio, itentered San Patricio EC’s service territory. Operations ManagerAlbert Gaitan’s Beeville home survived, but “it was devastatingto see that some people weren’t so lucky,” he said.

More than 600 outside personnel, from co-ops around thestate and private companies, arrived to help the three coastal

Left: Victoria EC lineman Corey Turner, in the green hat, briefsMagic Valley EC linemen on power restoration strategy days afterHarvey hit. Top: Amanda Reyes processes work orders in VictoriaEC’s operations center. Above: Anthony Landry, left, and JacksonEC lineman Ray Fitzgerald use an airboat along the Lavaca River.

HOPE |

14 Texas Co-op Power November 2017

co-ops, as did supplies from still other co-ops and donations offood and water from grateful members. The storm eventuallywould affect 15 co-ops with wind and flood damage.

On Monday, August 28, North Plains EC’s Canadian crew finallygot the call it hoped for and made the 10-hour drive to San PatricioEC in two parts—the linemen’s chance to pay it forward.

“I can’t tell you how many of them [co-ops] have reached out to us: ‘What do you need? What can we do? We’re sending people. How can we help?’ ” said Nina Campos, manager of humanresources and communications at VEC.

For David McGinnis, general manager at Grayson-Collin EC,who made the trip with his linemen, it was just another in a longline of co-ops helping co-ops.

“It’s just what you do,” McGinnis said, “and, like I say, it doesn’tmatter if it’s our members here at Grayson . . . or whoever it is,they’re still members of a co-op, and that’s what we do—helpeach other out.”

Keith Stapleton always will remember howgreat and how eerie it sounded when the rain finally stopped.

“With a hurricane, usually six hours or so and it’s through—it’s gone—but this lasted for six days,” said Sam Houston EC’schief communications officer.

Harvey made its second and third landfalls in East Texas,dumping unprecedented rainfall measured in feet, not inches.Sam Houston and Jasper-Newton ECs battled hard-to-reach outages that moved with the floodwaters amid wind-weary

Wind damage from Harvey near Bonnie Viewin San Patricio EC service territory

TexasCoopPower.com

HEART|

trees and rain-soaked ground.One night, around 2 a.m., 18 hours

after a Sam Houston EC crew had wonthe fight to bring a substation backonline: heartbreak.

“Fourteen minutes later, a tree fallsnear that substation on the transmis-sion line and takes power out again,”Stapleton said. “That was what thewhole week was like. . . . You just drop your head, take a breathand say, ‘OK, we’ll keep working.’ ”

Rivers swelled elsewhere, too, taking Jackson EC linemanJimmie Scott’s Bayside home, which his father built on familyland decades ago.

“Everything’s gone,” Scott said. “My roof caved in. Everythingwas just destroyed.”

But Scott never missed a day of work.“How can you not stand in awe of someone who is so dedicated

to their profession that they will, regardless of their personaltragedy, continue to do their job in a professional manner?” saidJim Coleman, Jackson EC general manager.

On September 10, Hurricane Irma struck Florida, knockingout power to 65 percent of the state before hitting Georgia andthe Carolinas. With 99 percent of Harvey-affected co-op metersback up, Texas co-ops answered the call, including Jackson EC,whose weary linemen had just finished restoring their own power.

“The biggest thanks I could give some of my best linemen forworking so hard here after Harvey was to let them rush off toFlorida to answer the call of another cooperative in need,” Cole-man said. “It’s our way.”

Chris Burrows is a Texas Electric Cooperatives senior communicationsspecialist.

WEB EXTRASuSee video andmore photos fromHarvey’s aftermath, a list of co-ops thatsent aid, and howTexans helped withIrma recovery.


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FAYETTE ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE

fayette.coop18 Texas Co-op Power FAYETTE EC November 2017

Co-op News

Fayette Electric Cooperative, Inc.357 N. Washington St. • P.O. Box 490La Grange, TX 78945

Serving Austin, Bastrop, Colorado, Fayette, Lavaca, Lee and Washington counties

YO U R B OA R D O F D I R E C T O R S

David Lehmann, PresidentJoseph D. Kruppa, Vice PresidentBill Briscoe, Secretary-TreasurerDavid A. StancikLeo C. HenkeGale LinckeJames A. Anderle

YO U R G E N E R A L M A N AG E RGary Don Nietsche

Convenient Payment Options

a Bank Drafta Online Payments Using SmartHuba Pay by Phone

979-968-4220 or 1-866-968-4220a Pay in Person a Credit Card Drafta Pay by Mail

CONTACT USFor general information or to report an outage, please call

(979) 968-3181 local or 1-866-968-3181 toll-free

[email protected]

FIND US ON THE WEBfayette.coop

Fayette EC Marks Eight Decades of Service

MESSAGE FROMYOUR GENERAL MANAGER

NOVEMBER 3 MARKS 80 YEARS TO THE DAY THAT FAYETTE ELECTRIC Cooperative began working to provide reliable, a ordable power

for its member-owners. Now is a perfect time to refl ect on the history of the co-op’s formation.

In the 1930s, big, investor-owned power companies were o ered money to build lines in rural areas. They decided it was much too expensive, and there was no way that they could generate enough profi t, so they bypassed rural areas and only elec-trifi ed the cities.

In rural Fayette County, it was apparent that change was needed. Rural resi-dents soon realized that if they were going to get power, they would have to make it happen themselves. Local farmers and neighbors in our area led the way and began meeting with infl uential leaders like Fayette County Agent J.C. Yeary. The Fayette County Committee on Rural Electrifi cation was formed May 12, 1937.

A brisk campaign got underway to sign up local farmers as members for a fee of $5 each. It took many formal meetings and discussions across fences, in fi elds and

at kitchen tables to add members. By early October 1937, the local project was temporarily allotted $100,000 to build 100 miles of line.

The next month, the new venture had a permanent name: Fayette Elec-tric Cooperative. On November 3, 1937, the fi ve members of the county committee met at the o� ce of attor-ney E.H. Moss and signed the Articles of Incorporation of Fayette Electric Cooperative, thereby making applica-tion to the secretary of state for a char-ter to do business under the special rural electric cooperative bill.

In late October 1938, the switch was thrown, and members on the fi rst 50 miles of line in Fayette County saw electricity on their farms for the fi rst time. One house at a time, rural folks entered the modern world.

Thanks to the courage, wisdom and vision of Fayette EC’s charter

members, electricity still is enjoyed by those we serve. Our pledge to you is that no matter what challenges we face in the future, we will continue to provide reliable, a ordable electricity.

Aided with few power tools, erection of power lines was sometimes a primitive a� air. Shovels, spoons, pike poles and lug hooks were used by early line crews at Fayette Elec-tric to set poles.

FayetteEC1711_.indd 18 10/12/17 3:08 PM

1-866-968-3181 | (979) 968-3181 | FAYETTE.COOP

fayette.coop November 2017 FAYETTE EC Texas Co-op Power 19

Fayette EC Board MembersWHEN ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES WERE FORMED, THE EARLY ORGANIZERS OFTEN WERE elected to the board of directors. Each board was entrusted by the membership to make the right decisions, enabling the system to operate e� ciently and economically and on a nonprofi t, cooperative basis. Since 1937, a total of 38 members have served on the Fayette Electric Cooperative Board of Directors.

Cooperative directors represent the member-owners who elect them and take seriously the duties and responsibilities of their position. At Fayette EC, the guiding principle is service. Your board of directors has been there to uphold that mandate with knowledge, integrity and vision.

a GEORGE DIERS — 1937–1945

a L.A. GIESE — 1937–1980

a CHARLIE FRIEDRICH — 1937–1947

a H.C. DOAN — 1937–1938

a WALLACE CHERRY — 1938–1941

a JEROME KOCIAN — 1941–1943

a HENRY PLUECKHAHN — 1945–1946

a ADOLF HAJOVSKY — 1947–1949

a JOE MATOCHA — 1949–1954

a JOHN F. MIGL — 1943–1959

a C.W. MEYER — 1946–1973

a C.M. JANDA — 1937–1969

a ED THIEDE — 1954–1974

a JULIUS JASEK — 1959–1969

a ARNOLD W. FIETSAM — 1969

a GEORGE PESEK — 1969–1979

a EDWIN G. KRUPPA — 1969–2001

a ARTHUR J. FRIEMEL — 1971–1977

a EWALD W. FRIEDRICH — 1971–2002

a ELMO A. MINZENMEYER — 1973–1987

a JOHN J. BECK — 1974–1983

a ANTON TIETJEN, JR. — 1978–1995

a JOHN J. MERECKA — 1979–1980

a GEORGE P. KOSUB — 1980

a HERBERT H. SURMAN — 1980–1998

a DAVID G. LEHMANN — 1980–present

a LEO D. PARKER — 1983–1992

a JOHNELLE MINZENMEYER — 1987–2006

a ROSS C. IVY — 1992–2003

a DAVID A. STANCIK — 1995–present

a MELVIN BARTA — 1999–2003

a JOSEPH D. KRUPPA — 2001–present

a MACK JANAK — 2002–2005

a LEO C. HENKE JR. — 2003–present

a JOHN C. IVY — 2004–2016

a BILL BRISCOE — 2005–present

a GALE LINCKE — 2006–present

a JAMES A. ANDERLE — 2016–present

Veterans Day November 11Fayette EC salutes veterans for their service.

M I V P I V | I STO C K .CO M

HappyThanksgivingfrom Fayette EC

Our o� ces will be closed Thursday and Friday, November 23–24, to celebrate the holiday.

I RY N A M E L N Y K | I STO C K .CO M




SINCE 1937, LOCAL LEADERSHIP HAS MADE IT ALL HAPPEN. THE DAY-TO-DAY activities of the cooperative were carried out by the project superintendents and managers hired by the board and the sta� hired by the managers.

Managers of Fayette Electric Cooperative since 1937 include:

a GEORGE ADAMCIK — Project Superintendent, 1937–1939

a FRANK J. LIDIAK — Project Manager, June 1939–July 1939

a THOMAS E. HINTON — Project Superintendent, 1940–1942

a MARY HINTON — Manager Pro-Tem, 1942–1943

a ED GIESE — Manager, 1943–1945

a JOHN F. LUECKE — Manager, 1945–1975

a J.C. WARHOL — General Manager, 1975–1986

a GARY DON NIETSCHE — General Manager, 1986–present

George Adamcik served as FEC’s fi rst project superintendent, from 1937 to 1939.

Fayette EC Leaders

M A RT I N WA H L B O R G | I STO C K .CO M

TIME TO FALL BACK!

DAYLIGHTSAVING TIMEends at 2 a.m., Sunday, November 5. Remember to set your clocks back one hour.

In the October issue of Texas Co-op Power, 1971 Youth Tour winner Bobby (Bob) Gresser’s last name was misspelled. We regret the error.

Oops! We Made a Mistake


1-866-968-3181 | (979) 968-3181 | FAYETTE.COOP


These poles stand for something. They bring us reliable, affordable electricity. They also carry a vision that began before World War II. These poles rose

above the dust of the Great Depression, through blood, sweat and tears. Cooperatives brought light to darkness and electrified this country.

Power would no longer be confined to the big city limits. Lines stretched out to farms, ranches and schoolhouses. Appliances came to life. Factories sprouted up.

But these poles didn’t just appear out of thin air. These poles are pillars that were founded on principle, by people with principles. Neighbors banded together, and communities came together to share ownership of the electricity that would advance everyone.

Today, 56,128 poles stretch across 2,878 miles of power lines on Fayette Electric Cooperative’s electric distribution system. It took 80 years to build this system that provides reliable, affordable power to more than 9,600 member-owners in all or parts of the seven counties that Fayette EC serves.

THESE POLES HAVE ROOTS. THESE POLES HAVE ROOTS.




Electricity Changed Farming Forever Honoring Fayette Electric’s 80th Anniversary — Part Three

STORY AND PHOTOS BY ELAINE THOMAS

Conrad Jochen and Irene Jochen Prihoda, Swiss AlpWell before the neigh-bors had electricity, Emil Jochen’s white, two-story house, midway between the Fayette County commu-nities of Swiss Alp and High Hill, was hooked up to Rural Electrifica-tion Association lines.

“Our grandfather needed to take insulin for his diabetes, and it had to be kept cool. He and my grandmother, Marie Roitsch Jochen, must have struggled, especially in the heat, to keep replenishing blocks of ice from the store before Fayette Electric hooked them up. When our grand-parents got power, they bought a refrigerator, so they didn’t have to worry any longer about

the insulin getting too warm. Since our grandfather died on January 11, 1940, our grandparents must have been some of the first Fayette Electric members,” says Conrad Jochen.

“Dad—Gilbert Jochen—had taken over running the farm with hired help when he was 14 years old because of his father’s health,” says Conrad’s sister, Irene Jochen Prihoda. “Our par-ents, Gilbert and Thelma Jochen, were married in 1941, and they lived in the same house as his mother. It had been built of cypress in 1914. ‘Oma’ leased them the land, buildings and mules, and allowed them to use one shelf in her refrigerator.”

When Irene flipped through her dad’s account book for 1941, she saw that the Jochens paid the REA $2.50 in January, $1.50 in November and 40¢ in December. In 1942, the electric bill was $2.27 for July and $2.25 for August.

Keeping Track In 1948, when Conrad and Irene’s parents bought the farm from Marie Roitsch Jochen, the REA account was transferred to their names. They paid a membership fee of $5, and their bills that year added up to $80.90.

“We didn’t know how fortunate we were, growing up with electricity, because our extended family and the neighbors didn’t have it yet,” Irene recalls. “We would walk over to visit Mom’s sister, Leera Ahrens, and her husband, John, and they still used real candles on their cedar Christmas tree. Conrad and I had never seen anything like that. Of course, the tree wouldn’t have been put up until a day or two before Christmas, and it sat in a bucket of water, but still.”

Conrad and Irene’s grandfather built their childhood home in 1914 long before rural electricity was ever a possibility.

A striking glass art deco wall sconce, installed when the Jochen home was wired for electricity around 1940, still emits a warm glow.


1-866-968-3181 | (979) 968-3181 | FAYETTE.COOP


When they were small children and their mother and dad went to a dance, Conrad and Irene would stay with their maternal grandmother, Magdalena (Lena) Schmedt. At night, she would light a coal-oil lamp on a wall fixture in her big house on the hill near Swiss Alp.

“I would go to sleep worrying about how safe it was, but she must have turned it out before she went to bed,” Irene adds.

Their grandfather, Emil, had overseen the addition of cattle to the farm’s grazing land that for many years had been dominated by sheep. Gilbert and Thelma were the fourth generation of Jochens to farm the property and the second to enjoy the benefits of electricity.

Poultry Operation Tied to ElectricityConrad and Irene’s dad used electricity to manage a large poul-try operation with 2,000 laying hens. He had a permit for his extensive egg route in Victoria every week and raised his own chicks. The Jochens’ brooder house, the first building on the farm to have a concrete floor, was somewhat of a novelty in the neighborhood because other farmers still had dirt floors and wood heaters.

However, the Jochens’ chicks were raised in a 5-by-6-foot handmade wooden box that sat on 4-inch legs. The fragile inhabitants were warmed by the heat from four small, red bulbs. When they developed real feathers, the chicks were moved to the chicken house.

“Mama sewed a curtain of thick canvas with little slits to keep the chicks warm. I used to lie on my stomach to check and see that the bulbs were working. It was so peaceful, quiet, nice and warm under there. I enjoyed it,” Irene says.

“But if the power went out, an alarm that Daddy had rigged up on the kitchen wall would start wailing. It was loud, espe-cially in the middle of the night! When we heard it, we’d all jump up, put our clothes on and rush to the brooder house to keep the chicks from smothering each other. When chicks get cold, they tend to bunch up in a corner for warmth.”

In the ledger, Irene traced her dad’s purchases to build the setup in 1942. The alarm cost $1.75, the brooder unit and light-bulbs came to $6.22, and the wood for the box was $2.75. The investment for the entire contraption was $10.72.

“We ground up corn shucks for the baby chicks,” Conrad says. “Looking back, we had the first organic eggs before we even knew what that meant! We had a feed mill, mixer—practically every-thing was done here on the farm. We were very self-su�cient.”

The brother and sister recall some particularly bad winter weather in the early 1950s when the power lines on the farm snapped, weighed down in an ice storm. Fortunately, the farm-house still was heated by a wood heater for many years, and later, a coal-oil heater took its place.

Along with the egg operation, the Jochens grew cotton, corn, milo and hay. They also raised hogs and milked cows. Conrad and Irene’s dad was much in demand in the commu-nity because he was an expert at shearing sheep.

Babysitter InventionWhen they were very young, Conrad and Irene’s mother worked with their dad in the fields, and, since no babysitter was available, the Jochens improvised.

“Constructed of wire, it looked like a little chicken cage that had been fitted with heavy roll-up curtains, and it sat in the back of the truck. But it wasn’t for poultry; it was for us kids. We’d stay in it while our parents worked in the fields. As the sun moved during the day, Mama would see to it that we were always in the shade,” Irene recalls.

“Those were the days!” Conrad says.

Conrad and Irene stand with their grandmother, Marie Roitsch Jochen, who lived with the family until she built a home in La Grange.

Brother and sister Conrad Jochen and Irene Jochen Prihoda recall that in the 1950s, it still was commonplace for all the members of a family, as well as visitors, to drink out of the same water dipper.




Lighting Up a Way of LifeVictor and Elva Bohot, Mullins PrairieOn her seventh birthday, Elva Bunte (later Bohot) and her par-ents, Edward and Lydia Creppon Bunte, moved to an 80-acre farm at Mullins Prairie, south of La Grange. The little shack on the property they purchased didn’t have electricity, and the cropland was overrun by Johnson grass so thick that it had choked out cash crops like cotton and corn.

Elva’s father, who had been a sharecropper before buying his own place, was one of the first farmers in the area to own a tractor—a Farmall F12 with steel wheels. He purchased it with part of his $5,000 loan from the Farm Security Administration under the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937, passed by Congress on July 22, 1937. The act authorized the federal gov-ernment to acquire damaged lands for rehabilitation and make a modest credit program available to assist tenant farmers in purchasing land.

In Fayette County, the loans were reviewed by a commit-tee composed of Wallace Cherry of Muldoon and Paul Teinert and C.M. Janda of La Grange. Janda was one of the founding directors of Fayette Electric Cooperative. Claude M. Gattis was county supervisor of the program.

A hard worker and a progressive farmer, Edward Bunte kept meticulous records. The family started its well-planned, diversified farming program in 1939 with 170 laying hens, three hogs, six cows and the tractor. The total income from the farm amounted to $964.30, while expenses totaled $568.12. They paid $281 on principal and interest that first year.

The Bunte family used a portion of the funds they’d bor-rowed to build a new house, set back from the road under an

ancient double oak tree, at a cost of $1,334, plus a 14-by-32-foot poultry house and a barn. Not long after, it was announced that electricity was being introduced to the area. Bunte certainly recognized the benefit of having power, but he put his foot down when it came to deciding on the right-of-way path.

Deciding on a Right-of-Way“Dad was all for electricity, but he didn’t want the REA to put power poles on our cropland, even though that would have been the shortest distance from our neighbors on the old Neiser place. So the line was built along Mullins Prairie Road as it was called back then, and then came down to our house,” Elva remembers.

“In those days, the REA required that each new customer have a certain number of appliances like a refrigerator and maybe a stove, plus the lights, before they would bring the power to a farm. You also had to pay a membership fee like you do now,” adds Victor Bohot, Elva’s husband.

“I remember being excited about the electricity,” Elva continues. “We had electric lights instead of lamps, and it was easier for Mother to cook. There was no need to cut or bring in wood for the cook stove anymore, although we still heated the house in the winter with wood.

“I’m sure glad I never had to cook with wood because you had to know how to get the heat just right, especially when baking bread!” she said.

One of the first appliances the Buntes bought was a wringer washing machine they put in the little shack where they’d lived when they first came to Mullins Prairie. Truly a labor-saving

Victor and Elva Bohot built a successful farming operation at Mullins Prairie south of La Grange through hard work and good management. Elec-tricity has been an enormous asset.


1-866-968-3181 | (979) 968-3181 | FAYETTE.COOP


device, Elva’s mother no longer had to heat water in a big cast iron pot in the yard, set her washtubs on a bench by the house and bend over a scrub board to get the clothes clean.

Turn the Radio On “Dad always had to hear his news at noon,” Elva says. “We had a battery-operated radio when I was little, and when we got electricity, Dad bought an electric radio. The news was the only thing he ever listened to.”

Thanks to a well, windmill and large cypress cistern in the yard, cold water was installed in the kitchen and the bathroom well before the Buntes got electricity. However, hot water for baths had to be heated on the wood cookstove and carried to the tub in buckets. The windmill also filled a water tank for the cows. The well, hand-dug by a neighbor named Charlie Riehs, was about 29 feet deep. The windmill remained operational until Hurricane Carla toppled it in 1961.

An only child, Elva liked being her dad’s helper and grew up driving the tractor, especially when her mother and dad pulled corn. In 1943, 22 acres of corn produced 28 bushels to the acre. Edward Bunte planted 13 acres in cotton, harvesting a bale per acre on land that five years earlier hadn’t been productive. He made Texas history the same year when he paid o� his farm loan in less than five years. Not only was the milestone noted in a front-page article in the The Fayette County Record, but also in The Houston Post.

Victor BohotVictor Bohot, who was born near Serbin, remembers a child-hood without electricity and few advantages because his father, Gerhard Bohot, who was a tenant farmer, struggled with illness. The family moved to a di�erent farm about every two years before the elder Bohot died of esophageal cancer on his 47th birthday, in 1941. He left his wife, Hulda Marie Lorenz, and Victor, who was 11 years old, living at home.

“I grew up working my tail o� on the farm, the youngest of eight,” says Victor. “I’m the only one still living.”

Victor was introduced to the wonders of electricity at the home of his second-oldest sister, Mary Niemeyer, and her hus-band, Fritz, who lived in the Trinity Hill community of Fayette County. Victor stayed with them while attending confirmation classes at a nearby Lutheran church in 1943.

Victor dropped out of school and began working manual labor jobs. “If I wanted money, I had to work for it,” he remem-bers. He lived with his mother, who had moved to a farm near her daughter’s place. The house had electricity!

His brother, Cli�ord, bought their mother a wringer wash-ing machine as a gift. “It was wonderful,” Victor remembers.

Sign Me Up On August 7, 1948, Victor went to the local post o�ce and enlisted in the U.S. Army. Earlier that summer, he had started dating Elva Bunte, whom he’d known since they went to school together at Mullins Prairie School. “I volunteered for three years, but President Harry Truman asked us to stay [in the mil-itary] another year because of the Korean conflict, so I stayed in for four years,” he explains.

After basic training at Fort Ord, California, he went to Okinawa with the occupation forces of the 802nd Aviation Engineers attached to the Air Force. When his mother was seriously ill in 1949, he was granted a 30-day furlough. The day after he got home, July 6, Elva’s father died. Then Victor’s mother died July 18.

Once he was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Victor would come home at least once a month to see Elva. When he requested a three-day furlough to get married, his captain asked how long he had known the girl.

Victor told him, “When she was 3, and I was 5, we used to play together, throwing corn cobs at the pigs.” The captain laughed and gave him a 10-day furlough. The couple was mar-ried in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

When Victor got out of the service, he and Elva moved home to Mullins Prairie, and Victor took over where his father-in-law had left o�.

All his life, Victor has been a conscientious farmer, also working outside the farm for years to help the farm make ends meet. His and Elva’s three sons, Leland, Calvin and Howard, were born in Fayette County. Victor still is grateful to be work-ing land the family owns, rather than renting a place like his father did.

“Just in case the power goes out, we still have lamps,” Elva says, noting that many of the modern improvements they’ve made to the farm in one way or another have relied on electricity.

Elaine Thomas and her husband, Emil, have been members of Fayette Electric Cooperative for more than 20 years. Visit Elaine online at elainethomaswriter.com.

Elva and Victor Bohot (foreground) take pride in showing their patrio-tism at events such as this Memorial Day celebration in La Grange several years ago.


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Texas History

When King Carlos III took the Span-ish throne in 1759, he vowed to increaseSpain’s influence in the European scien-tific community and diversify the Spanisheconomy. With these ideas in mind, Carlosordered officials to ship him foreign crea-tures from all over the world so he coulddisplay them in his personal zoos. Accord-ing to Bradley Folsom’s article An Inter-esting and Odd Present in SouthwesternHistorical Quarterly [July 2016], Carlosacquired alligators, monkeys, anteaters,leopard cubs, iguanas and a hermaphro-ditic horse. But he longed to possess a herdof American bison, which he planned todomesticate for their wool and “tastymeat” and for use as draft animals.

The bison had other ideas.Texas, then a part of New Spain, seemed

the most likely place to capture the animals,and the king sent word to acquire and trans-port as many American bison as possible.The order landed on the desk of Texas Gov.Domingo Cabello y Robles, who sent anexperienced hunter, Carlos Rioja, to cap-ture the animals alive, drive them hundredsof miles to Veracruz and launch them on avoyage to Spain. Had he consulted NativeAmericans, he would have known that aherd of cantankerous bison, when threat-ened, scatters in every direction.

Europe has bison, but they are smallerand lack the pronounced hump, low-hanging head, short horns and wooly coats of American bison, which had beendescribed by Spanish explorers as “largehump-backed animals with very longbeards like goats, tails they carry erect likea scorpion when running and hair roughas a lion’s mane but wooly like a sheep.”

In May 1779, Rioja gathered some assis-tants from the San Antonio area along with“substantial provisions” provided by thegovernor and set out on a bison roundup.They were successful in locating and cap-

turing bison; the difficulty came when theytried to drive the animals across the plains.Rioja discovered that the bison wereinclined to “kill themselves in anger” whenrestrained, or succumbed to heat strokealong the way. The herders arrived at theirdestination with only a single female.

Rioja’s second expedition did slightlybetter, rounding up 20 animals. But thesearing June heat winnowed them out on the trail, and only two 6-month-oldcalves reached San Antonio. This dismalrecord prompted a decision to wait forwinter to launch a third expedition. In theinterim, ranchers in La Bahia sent wordthat they had captured four bison.

“It is impossible to explain to YourLordship,” the governor wrote on January10, 1780, “the pains I am taking to ensuresuccess, sparing no expense or other re-quirement, for it is my hope to pursue the delight of serving and pleasing YourLordship.”

Cabello assigned an officer and well-known hunter to escort the six remaininganimals to the ship. Four of the six died,leaving a single male and a female for theking. Recognizing the stakes, the officersuspended the animals in leather har-

nesses in the hold of the ship to keep themfrom harming themselves, fed them cornand soaked them with water every day to avoid overheating. In spite of theseextreme measures, the male bison diedupon arrival in the Spanish port of Cádiz.

Carlos developed a great fondness forthe remaining animal, moving it to theroyal family’s spring residence, where itjoined camels, ostriches, an elephant andother exotic animals. A sculpture of thebuffalo graced the estate’s entrance. Themilitary officer who escorted the buffaloto Spain remained until the animal diedin 1784, whereupon he was promoted tothe rank of lieutenant and given a rewardof 10,000 reales and return passage toTexas.

“It has always been customary for mon-archs to display their greatness by keepingthe rarest and most unusual species of ani-mals, plants and fruits from other countriesin their palaces and royal houses,” says Car-los Gómez-Centurión in his article Treas-ures Fit for a King, but European courtswere hard-pressed to secure America’slargest land mammal for their collections.

Martha Deeringer, a member of Heart of TexasEC, lives near McGregor.D

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Buffalo BilkedDelivering American bison to the king of Spain proved nearly impossible

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Recipes

ThanksgivingSide Dishes When it comes to Thanksgiving,often you’re either in it for the mainevent—a gorgeous roasted turkey—or for the side dishes. I dream aboutgiblet gravy, stuffing and mashedpotatoes that round out the table.The other essential item on ourmenu is cranberry relish: I love howthe burst of color and tart-sweet flavor brightens a meal that tends to be mostly beige. Best of all, thisrecipe can be made ahead and refrig-erated up to a week in advance,meaning one less thing on theturkey-day to-do list. We wish you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

PAULA DISBROWE, FOOD EDITOR

Paula’s Cranberry Relish 1 pound fresh or thawed frozen cranberries1½ cups dried sour cherries or dried cranberries1½ cups sugar½ cup red wine (or pure, unsweet- ened cranberry juice)2 pods star anise1 cinnamon stick½ cup freshly squeezed Satsuma tangerine juice (or orange juice)½ teaspoon kosher salt

1. In a heavy medium saucepan,combine all the ingredients andbring to a simmer over mediumheat. Cook the sauce about 10–15minutes, stirring occasionally, untilthe cranberries burst and the tex-ture becomes thick and jam-like. 2. Use a spatula to transfer thesauce into a heatproof bowl and letcool completely. Season with salt totaste and refrigerate until chilled. 3. Serve the sauce cold or at roomtemperature. Remove cinnamon stickand star anise just before serving.

COOK’S TIP The sauce will thicken uponstanding. Stir in a few tablespoons ofwater, if desired, for a thinner consistency.JO

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RecipesThanksgiving Side Dishes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Lightly mist interior of a 9-inch piedish with nonstick cooking spray (orlightly coat with olive oil or butter).2. In a large mixing bowl, beattogether the eggs, cream, butter andseasonings. Stir in corn. 3. Pour half of corn mixture into pre-pared pie dish. Sprinkle cheddarcheese over corn mixture. Pourremaining corn mixture over cheddarlayer. Sprinkle with Parmesan. 4. Bake 50 minutes, or until set.Makes one 9-inch pie.

April’s recipe contest topic is BreakfastPastries. Muffins, biscuits, scones—isthere a tastier way to start the day?Send us your best recipes. The dead-line is November 10.

ENTER ONLINE at TexasCoopPower.com/contests; MAILto 1122 Colorado St., 24th Floor, Austin, TX 78701; FAX to (512) 763-3401. Include your name, address and phonenumber, plus your co-op and the name of the contest you are entering.

$100 Recipe Contest

IF YOUR RECIPE IS FEATURED, YOU’LL WIN A TCP APRON!

THIS MONTH’S RECIPE CONTEST WINNER

BETSY KUEBLER | FARMERS EC

“This ultrarich, incredibly delicious side has all the smooth consistencyof silk,” says Kuebler. Texas Co-op Power staff loved the versatility: The

custard-like pie could be flavored with sliced scallions and fresh cilantro,cubed ham or crumbled bacon, roasted red peppers or countless other options.

Cornsilk Pudding Pie3 eggs1 cup heavy cream¼ cup (½ stick) butter, melted1 teaspoon salt½ teaspoon each black pepper and cayenne pepper, or less, as desired for heat1 pound frozen corn kernels, thawed2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Sweet Potato CasseroleJULIE REAMES | COSERV

Staffers judged this sweet potato casserole (fragrant with spices and finished with a crunchypecan topping) to be the best they’d tasted. Nowonder it has a permanent place on Reames’holiday table. “It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without this dish,” she says.

SWEET POTATOES2–3 medium sweet potatoes (2½–3 pounds)1 cup evaporated milk1 cup sugar6 tablespoons (¾ stick) butter, melted2 eggs, lightly beaten½ teaspoon nutmeg½ teaspoon cinnamon½ teaspoon vanillaPinch salt, or more as desired

TOPPING 1 cup crushed cornflakes½ cup light brown sugar½ cup chopped pecans 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 2. SWEET POTATOES: Bring a largesaucepan of water to a boil. While thewater heats, peel the sweet potatoes andslice them into 1½-inch cubes. Add thesweet potatoes and 1 teaspoon salt to the boiling water, reduce heat to a livelysimmer and cook until the sweet potatoesare tender when pierced with a knife,about 7–9 minutes. Drain and mash potatoes. 3. Combine the mashed sweet potatoes,evaporated milk, sugar, butter, eggs, nut-meg, cinnamon, vanilla and salt; mix well. Use a spatula to transfer the mixtureto a 9-by-12-inch baking dish. Bake about15 minutes. 4. TOPPING: While the potatoes are bak-ing, combine the cornflakes, brown sugar,pecans and butter in a small bowl and mix well.5. Remove sweet potatoes from oven,lower the heat to 400 degrees and add the topping. Bake about 15 minutes more,until the topping is golden brown. Serves 8–10.

COOK’S TIP To balance the sweet flavors in thiscasserole, generously season the sweet potatoeswith kosher salt when you mash them.


Zucchini Gratin CasseroleKATHI BURTON | PEDERNALES EC

The ingredients in Burton’s casserole cometogether in a particularly rich, creamy base. But-tery crackers and Gruyere create a delicious,crunchy topping. (Or you can use Parmesan orsharp cheddar.) Mix up the vegetables with yellowcrookneck squash or a few sweet red peppers.

2 tablespoons olive oil¾ cup chopped onion3 large zucchini, stemmed and cut into 1-inch cubes1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper½ teaspoon nutmeg½ teaspoon hot or smoked paprika (optional)1 tablespoon flour½ cup milk, heated½ cup mayonnaise½ cup crushed butter crackers⅓ cup grated Gruyere cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet overmedium-high heat; add onion and sautéuntil light brown. Add the zucchini and

seasonings. Cook until squash isbrowned and barely tender, about 6–8 minutes.3. Sprinkle in flour and cook about 2minutes, stirring constantly, until thevegetables are coated. Pour in the milkand continue stirring until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir inmayonnaise. Pour the mixture into a 1½-quart baking dish.4. In a separate bowl, combine thecrushed crackers and Gruyere. Sprinkleevenly over casserole. Bake until brownand bubbly, about 25 minutes. Serves 6–8.

Thanksgiving Countdown The secret to making turkey day fun and worry-free? Start early!

3 WEEKS AHEADPlan your pretty holiday table (name cards?flowers? candles?).Choose strategic side dishes that free up theoven and finalize menu.

2 WEEKS AHEADPrepare frozen foods such as pie dough andchicken stock in advance.Stock beverages, including cocktails or wine as well as drinks for the kids.

1 WEEK AHEADPurge and clean your fridge to make room forholiday cooking.Thaw turkey. (This can take a couple of days.)Match serving dishes to recipes.Shop for fresh ingredients to avoid the crowds.

2–3 DAYS BEFORESoups, appetizers (dips) and cranberry saucesall improve if made in advance.If you’re doing a liquid brine, now’s the time.

Go over recipes one last time to make sureyou have everything you need. Considerorganizing them on sheet pans.

DAY BEFOREBake pies, make salad dressings, preparecrudités and refrigerate in zip-close bags.Cube and dry bread or cornbread for stuffing.

GAME DAYYou’ve got this. Happy Thanksgiving!—PD

WITH YOUR FIRSTPURCHASE OF $50 OR MORE

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34 Texas Co-op Power November 2017 TexasCoopPower.com

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Focus on Texas

o JACK MILCHANOWSKI, Wise EC: A cougar stalks prey inthe woods.

a SARAH ELKINS, Wood County EC: “Sunday afternoon atTyler State Park”

d STEVE STEGER, Karnes EC: “A lone fisherman out at sun-rise in a cypress forest at Caddo Lake”

UPCOMING CONTESTS

MARCH DOWNTOWN DUE NOVEMBER 10

APRIL WESTERN WEAR DUE DECEMBER 10

MAY PROM NIGHT DUE JANUARY 10

All entries must include name, address, daytime phone and co-op affiliation, plus thecontest topic and a brief description of your photo.

ONLINE: Submit highest-resolution digital images at TexasCoopPower.com/contests. MAIL:Focus on Texas, 1122 Colorado St., 24th Floor, Austin, TX 78701. A stamped, self-addressedenvelope must be included if you want your entry returned (approximately six weeks).Please do not submit irreplaceable photographs—send a copy or duplicate. We do notaccept entries via email. We regret that Texas Co-op Power cannot be responsible for photos that are lost in the mail or not received by the deadline.

o LINDA BRANNEN, Peder-nales EC: “Seaside to IndianBeach, Oregon, is a portion ofthe Lewis and Clark trail.”

g BOBBY NORRIS, PedernalesEC: “Small wooden footbridgeleading into the woods atRocky Mountain NationalPark”

Into the WoodsOver the river and through the woods, our readers lovethe thrill of adventure—and, boy, do they have an eye fornature! They rooted around and dug up more good stuff thanyou can shake a stick at. GRACE ARSIAGA

WEB EXTRAS uSee more photos online.


Schulenburg Freyburg UMC CountryChristmas Bazaar, (979) 217-1151,freyburgumc.org/country-christmas-bazaar

Bulverde [11–12] The Enjoyment of ModelRailroading, (830) 438-4864, santrak.org

16Bedias Country Market and Baked PotatoSupper, (936) 577-0536

November7Tyler First Tuesday in the Garden/MasterGardeners, (903) 590-2980, txmg.org/smith

8Harlingen [8–12] Rio Grande Valley BirdingFestival, (956) 423-5565, rgvbf.org

9Neches [9–12] Mudaholic Convention, (903) 724-4100, riverrunpark.com

10Bastrop [10–11] Heroes & Hotrods Car Show,(512) 303-0558, bastropdowntown.com

Winnsboro [10–11] Art and Wine Festival,(903) 850-1772, facebook.com/winnsborartwine

11Lucas Ribs n’ Raptors, (469) 964-9696,bpraptorcenter.org

P I P E R S : CO U RT E SY SA L A D O M U S E U M A N D CO L L EG E PA R K . C A R S : M I T RA N D I R | D R E A M ST I M E .CO M . G I R L : AC I K | D R E A M ST I M E .CO M

Pick of the MonthScottish Gathering & Highland Games Salado November 10–12(254) 947-5232, saladoscottishfestival.com

The gathering, which began in 1961 and is saidto be the oldest Scottish festival in Texas,includes the skirl of the bagpipes, the wear-ing of the tartan, tossing the caber, highlanddancing and Celtic entertainers. A main fea-ture is the Clan Village, where Scottish clanmembers speak about history and genealogy.

Around Texas Event Calendar

November 18JasperLakes Area Cruisers Car Show

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Submit Your Event!We pick events for the magazine directly fromTexasCoopPower.com. Submit your event forJanuary by November 10, and it just might befeatured in this calendar.

Longview [16–19] My Son Pinocchio Jr.,(903) 236-7535, artsviewchildrenstheatre.com

17Bryan Lights On!, (979) 822-4920, downtownbryan.com

Milam [17–18] Settlers Day Weekend, (409) 625-4876, milamsettlersday.org

18Jasper [18–19] Lakes Area Cruisers CarShow, (409) 384-2762, jaspercoc.org

20Cleburne Whistle Stop Christmas LightingCeremony, (817) 645-2455, visitcleburne.com

23Boerne [23–Dec. 31] Christmas Light Fest,(210) 434-2340, christmaslightfest.com

24Galveston Holiday Lighting Celebration,(409) 765-7721, hotelgalvez.com

25Coldspring Town Lighting, (936) 653-2332

Granbury Rio Brazos Star Party, (817) 326-6005, actontx.com/events

December1Fredericksburg Light the Night ChristmasParade & Afterglow, (830) 997-5000, lightthenightchristmasparade.com

2Elgin Holiday by the Tracks, (512) 285-4515,elgintx.com

Farmersville Farmers & Fleas Market, (972) 784-6846, farmersvilletx.com

La Grange Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center Christmas Open House and Gala, 1-888-785-4500, czechtexas.org

Lampasas Carol of Lights, (512) 556-2224,lampasaschamber.org

Smithville Festival of Lights, (512) 237-2313,explorebastropcounty.com

Wylie Arts Festival Parade and Tree Light-ing, (972) 516-6000, wylietexas.gov/artsfestival

Denison [Dec. 9, 16] Home Front Christmas Saturdays, (903) 465-8908, visiteisenhowerbirthplace.com

5Nederland Lighted Christmas Parade, (409) 722-0279, nederlandtx.com

7Columbus Ladies Night Out, (979) 732-8385,columbustexas.org

Jacksonville Christmas Parade, (903) 586-2217

December 2LampasasCarol of Lights

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38 Texas Co-op Power November 2017

Many Texans have long been cur-ious about the large carved heads found near Malakoff, population 2,300, on TexasHighway 31 in Henderson County.

Most visitors drive through Malakoffon their way to Athens or Corsicana. Thetown dates to the early 1800s and thrivedwith the arrival of a railroad and the dis-covery of lignite (brown coal) in 1912. In1904, Malakoff had nine general stores,three hotels, two grocery stores, threedrugstores, a furniture store, two lumber-yards, three theaters, a brick company, abutcher shop, six doctors, two barbers, anundertaker and nine builders.

To understand the area’s greatest nat-ural mystery, I check in with Pat Isaac-son, director of the Malakoff Historical Societyand Museum. The museum occupies a grandhouse on East Main Street and containsexact casts of the three heads designatedas “the Malakoff Man.”

Isaacson explains that in 1929, ThomasBartlett, owner of Malakoff Pressed BrickCompany (now Acme Brick Company),sent a crew to the Trinity River for a loadof gravel. The workers knew when theyfound a 98-pound, 16-inch-long sculptureof a head that “they had something valu-able. They brought it back to Mr. Bartlett,”Isaacson says.

Bartlett displayed the head in his storeuntil mining engineer V.C. Doctormancontacted the Texas Memorial Museumin Austin.

According to the Texas State HistoricalAssociation, Elias Howard Sellards, geol-ogist and paleontologist, inspected thehead and proclaimed it authentic. Whena second head was discovered, in 1935,Glen Evans of the University of Texas atAustin decided further excavation was

justified. From 1929 to 1939, “they foundthree heads and the remains of mastodons,camels and sloths as big as steers,” Isaac-son says.

To view the original heads, I drive toCorsicana and visit the Pearce Museum atNavarro College. Ann Zembala, museumdirector, explains that one of the headswas donated to the museum several yearsago by Mary Love Sanders, who had inher-ited the head from her great uncle, whoowned the quarry where it was found.

With the help of state Rep. Byron Cook,the other two heads were moved to Corsi-cana from the Texas Archeological ResearchLaboratory at the University of Texas.

“They were discovered on the samepiece of land within a 10-year time frame,but until now they have never been housedor displayed together,” Zembala says. “Ournew Hunter Gatherers of the BlacklandPrairie exhibit is the perfect place for thethree heads to be on permanent display.”

The exhibit also features 44,000 pre-historic Native American tools and relics,many used for hunting mammoths, buffaloand other animals.

According to the TSHA, Sellards be-lieved the first head came from an Eocenegeological formation dating 50,000–

100,000 years ago and predates the first-known occupation of the continent byPaleo-Indians. More recent studies, how-ever, show the deposit is Late Pleistoceneand dates the heads to the era of the Paleo-Indians. As noted in the Handbookof Texas, other experts place the finds inthe Archaic period, 3,000–4,000 years ago,based on a vague similarity to the colossalheads found along the Gulf and made bycraftsmen of the Olmec civilization.

Some authorities ignore the validity ofthe Malakoff Man, while skeptics believemodern metal tools were used to carve thefirst head.

Another question arises because noother relics were unearthed with theheads. The excavation stopped in 1939after discovery of the third head. The excavation site was inundated by CedarCreek Reservoir, a recreational site northof Malakoff. Because no further excava-tion or research can take place, there alwayswill be speculation surrounding the Mala-koff Man. The mystery will remain.

Marilyn Jones lives in Henderson and writesabout travel.

Hit the Road

Saving Face in MalakoffMystique of the Malakoff Man started with discovery of carved head 90 years ago

BY MARILYN JONES

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TexasCoopPower.com

WEB EXTRAS uRead about previousvisits to Henderson County.

.

The original Malakoff Man,discovered in 1929

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