PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE Walter and Charlene Ruzicka take note of a leaning post at a building on the corner of Main and Railway streets in Lometa. After an awning collapsed on and killed a high school senior in the North Texas town of Bridgeport last month, Lampasa County resident Walter Ruzicka started to wonder if a similar accident could happen in Lometa.

"That should be eye-opening for everybody," Ruzicka said.

Ambling along Main Street while running some errands, Ruzicka pointed to apparent water damage on one awning and a sagging overhang at the corner of Main and Railway streets, where a pole supporting the awning of a vacant building has been pushed out of place.

"I'd hate for somebody to walk under there and get injured," he said.

Several other code enforcement matters, including animal leash regulations and abandoned vehicles, also concern Ruzicka.

Lometa Mayor Cynthia Kirby has turned her attention to code enforcement, too, although the city does not have officers hired specifically to enforce ordinances and building standards.

Instead, Lometa's police chief, John Harris, notes ordinance violations while on patrol. Because it also lacks code enforcement officials, the city of Kempner relies on its police chief David Sheedy.

"He does a great job," Kempner City Secretary Frances Spinney said of Sheedy.

A building committee inspects structures reported as dangerous in Kempner, Mrs. Spinney said. Property owners then receive a notice that they must repair the structure in question in order to comply with city building safety requirements. The city may demolish and file claim on buildings that continue to pose a public safety hazard, Mrs. Spinney added.

"We've enforced it a number of times," the city secretary said of Kempner's building ordinance.

Mrs. Spinney recalled two demolition orders and a mobile home condemnation and lien. In many cases, though, property owners comply with orders to repair structures deemed unsafe.

In one case, Mrs. Spinney said, the owner completely remodeled a rental property that had been reported for its porch, which was caving in. "The owner complied, and it's in great shape now," Mrs. Spinney said of the rental property.

Compliance has been more difficult to enforce in Lometa, particularly with the Main Street buildings that concern Ruzicka. The corner structure, Mrs. Kirby said, is owned by an out-of-town resident for whom the mayor only recently obtained a telephone number.

The mayor said city staff likely will need to set deadlines for the repair of structures that do not meet city standards and send letters to owners informing them they must bring their properties into compliance.

Along with potentially unsafe buildings, Mrs. Kirby plans to address properties overgrown with weeds or covered with large amounts of trash, as well as "junked vehicle" violations.

Lometa's vehicle regulations require that automobiles open to public view be operable and have a current safety inspection sticker, Mrs. Kirby said.

A member of the Lometa Lions Club, Ruzicka hopes to convince the civic group to volunteer the time and materials needed to remove the downtown awnings he considers unsafe.

Mrs. Kirby agrees that improving Lometa's safety and appearance is important, regardless of how code compliance is obtained. "I'd just like to clean up Lometa," she said. "It's a big job. ...Sometimes it just takes longer than I would like."