Highway designation

I have just learned that the city of Kempner celebrated 10 years of existence, and it just doesn't seem that long ago. I am very proud of the fact that my mother was one of the five who sounded the alarm and gathered the papers for the attorney who paved the way that got the incorporation process started.

What really prompted my mom, Judge Prugh, Vanita Craft, Randy Lake and Mr. Guthrie to start the incorporation was the fact that Mrs. Craft learned the Copperas Cove city manager planned to strip-annex all the way to the Lampasas River. The appointment with the attorney in Austin was made on a Thursday, and they had to have all the preliminaries done before the City Council in Copperas Cove was scheduled to meet the following Tuesday night. I could not believe that all the requirements for getting the signatures and the boundaries completed to present the county judge on Monday morning were accomplished.

Knowing these five people, they had us going full speed to get the signatures required to establish a boundary for the city limits. Mrs. Prugh prepared the documents required; Judge Prugh took the documents to the county judge, who signed them at 8 a.m. on Monday morning. That essentially temporarily stopped Copperas Cove from the planned annexation. From there, several meetings were held, and these five formed a steering committee that required an election to get the approval of the citizens who resided in the proposed city limits. The incorporation was overwhelmingly approved.

That is the best information I have on what actually took place. Concurrently with this, Kathy Groothoff almost single-handedly, with a little help from Mom, completely renumbered and renamed all the county roads and streets in Lampasas County. I am told Lampasas County is one of the few counties in Texas that has the honor of complying with the state and highway numbering system. The streets in Kempner were all named, and all the signs were in place to assist emergency responders.

I should add, however, that along U.S. Highway 190 from the east to the west limits of Kempner that was designated as Col. Walter L. Prugh Expressway has not been kept up.

I talked with Judge Prugh the other morning and informed him that I was very disgusted with the city government because they had failed to honor my mom, Sylvia Tucker, and Judge Prugh by keeping the designation in place. (The Judge Prugh sign was placed in the dirt along the highway.) He informed me that I should take it up with the City Council; he did not have anything to do with the designation. I think it would be very important for the city to fulfill that requirement.

Out of respect for my mom and the contributions she made to the Kempner community and for the many things Judge Prugh has done for the community, this highway designation should be replaced as soon as possible.

Vincent Tucker

Kempner