January to June Year in Review for the Cuero Record

January

• Owners of a house in the 500 block of Reuss Street started the New Year off dealing with Damage from a fire that started Christmas Eve. Multiple fire departments battled the blaze to get it under control. No one was home at the time. The community came together to assist the family.

• Cuero High School senior and Gobbler football player Conner Kubesch was honored to the rank of the Elite Team by the Texas High School Coaches Association. The team recognize senior athletes who excel in academics and ACT/SAT scores.

• Brian Cromeens was sworn in Jan. 1 as the 24th Judicial District Attorney for De-Witt, Goliad and Refugio counties. The oath of office was administered by District Judge Stephen Williams.

• Cuero families took part in the “Night of Lights” by walking through Cuero Christmas Park Jan. 2. It was sponsored by Cuero Regional Hospital, Christmas in the Park and Be Fit Cuero Wellness Center.

• DeWitt County Farm Bureau reached a record milestone in 2025 — 75 years of continued membership growth at the local level. The organization works for agriculture at the county, state and federal level. DeWitt County farmer and rancher Albert Wayne Wolf received Pioneer Award at the organization’s annual meetng in Round Rock.

• City and county leaders gathered with a Los Angeles film crew headed by producer Charlie Cook on Jan. 4, before the group headed out to shoot at various sites about “mysterious legends” around De-Witt County. The crew spent a week in Cuero filming a show that will air in 2026.

• Sheriff Carl Bowen informed the DeWitt County Commissioners Court that six of 10 hot water heaters in the county jail were out of service during the regular meeting Jan.13. Though the repair request was urgent due to possibilities of leaks, the nothing could be ordered until the vendor submitted a cost quote.

• First responder Juan Soliz was honored by the Cuero Fire Department upon his retirement after 19-plus years of service. Mayor Emil Garza was on hand for the occasion and thanked Soliz for his service.

• DeWitt County officials urged residents to prepare for severe winter weather to include freezing rain, snow and sleet the third week of January. School districts closed for the Martin Luther King holiday cancelled classes the following Tuesday.

• Alice Towery Gilroy, the daughter of Ken Towery, receives a proclamation from Mayor Emil Garza commemorating her father’s 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. Towery received the prize for exposing corruption in the Texas Veterans Land Bureau.

• A low-level earthquake centered of 4.5 magnitude in the Falls City area shook all of DeWitt County the morning of Jan. 29. It did not result in significant damage.

• Officials with Rise Broadband celebrated the launch of internet services in DeWitt County Jan. 30. Local officials attended the ribbon cutting at Cuero Municipal Library.

• The Cuero High School football program was named as a runner up to the Grant Teaff Beyond the Game Team Award on Jan. 28, receiving a $1,000 grant for service to their com- munity. The award is presented to one Texas High School team who exemplifies outstanding service to their community that goes beyond the game.

• The Cuero High School Cheerleaders participated in the UIL Spirit State Championships finals held at the Ft. Worth Convention Center for the third time in the school’s history.

• The DeWitt County 4-H Livestock Judging Team of Nathan Oakes, Jackie Finney, Percy Torrez, and Wyatt Luddeke secured 1st place at the Western National Roundup on Jan. 10 in Denver. The win qualifies them for the International Royal Highland Show in Scotland this June.

February

• An appreciation day was held for Cuero ISD Coach Victor Mathis who was an outstanding athlete playing for Cuero High School Gobblers in his youth.

• The Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum showcased the “Best of the Best” from the 2025 Cuero ISD Western Art Show and the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo Art Show Feb. 4-8 The exhibition was organized by Cuero High School art teacher Heather Stewart, Junior High art teacher Kelle Clark, and Elementary art teacher Kelli Dingle.

• Thirty representatives from Cuero traveled to Austin on Feb. 11 to meet with elected officials participating in the current legislative session. From the senate floor, Senator Lois Kolkhorst introduced the Cuero delegation sitting in the gallery. District 30 House Representative A.J. Louderback also spent time with the group, who heard reports from various business and government officials.

• The Cuero ISD Board of Trustees passed a resolution at its February meeting calling for the rejection of “any diversion of public dollars to private entities in the form of education savings accounts and similar voucher schemes” by the Texas Legislature.

• The Cuero Lady Gobblers showcased sheer determination and skill as they faced off against the Sinton Lady Pirates and Navarro Lady Panthers in two decisive playoff matchups in February that moved them to the state semifinals.

• The Pharmacy & Medical Museum of Texas unveiled a mural of the founders, Joe and Wanda Reuss by Rafael Acosta Jr. Feb. 22.

• DeWitt County Lt. Investigator Bethany Hobbs was accepted into the 10week course at FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virg. The program is considered one of the premier law enforcement training courses in the world.

March

• Community members gathered to plant 76 trees at the Ag Friar Complex on March 1. Mac Martin, the Community Forestry Program Lead, conducted a tree planting demonstration.

• Officials announced the 40-yearold Miss Cuero Pageant would not take place in 2025 because there was no sponsor for the event, but Victoria resident Jason Burmeister announced he and his daughter Jamara would be taking it over. Burmeister manages the Miss Golden Crescent Pageant and managed the Miss Cuero Pageant in 2024.

• DeWitt County Commissioners approved a $195,000 land purchase from Texas Store Property of 1.4 acres in Yorktown for a new building to be used by the Pct. 2 Justice of the Peace.

• Weber Motor Company’s Jon Eric Rodriguez won the World Series of Cuero “Last Business Standing” award at the Cuero Chamber of Commerce “Carnival of Success” banquet March 13.

• Longtime Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Peggy Mayer turned in a letter of retirement to the De-Witt County Commissioners Court effective Friday, March 28. Her term would normally have expired in 2026. Mayer said she was retiring to concentrate on family.

• The home of Dr. David Hill’s family burned the evening of March 23. The family escaped in their night clothes and lost everything in the fire.

April

• The Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum held a “Student Author Book Signing Event” to cel- ebrate the top Hunt Elementary Student Authors from the first writing contest on April 9. Fourth and fifth graders wrote first-person 2/ 12/ 25

journal entries as if they were on a cattle drive.

• The Cuero VFW hosted a successful “Touch a Truck” event on April 12, where kids honked horns, climbed onto large trucks, and explored heavy machinery. Organized by the Friends of DeWitt County Children, this was the concluding event for Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month.

• Heirloom Stitchers Quilt Guild held a quilt show at the VFW hall in Cuero. At the show, Charlotte Doehrman won grand champion quilt project, and Kaylee Jo Fisher won reserve champion quilt project, at the recent Cuero Stock Show.

• DeWitt County was designated as a disaster area by the U.S. Department of Agriculture due to drought conditions along with multiple other counties.

• Dr. Cynthia E. Orozco of Cuero was recent- ly elected to the board of the Alliance for Texas History. The Alliance was founded in 2024 to foster a comprehensive under- standing of the rich and diverse history of Texas.

• Kelly Phelps, a former DeWitt County constable, was arrested by the Texas Rangers on April 17, according to the DeWitt County Sheriff’s Office. The charges were tampering with a government record and abuse of official capacity in relation to a county vehicle accident. He was released on a $50,000 bond.

• The DeWitt County Commissioners Court announced it would be considering the placement of a granite monument and bronze replica of Colonel William Barret Travis’s Letter from the Alamo at the courthouse at the request of the Alamo Letter Society

• City Attorney James K. Crain III swore in Associate Judge Nora Denise Martinez on April 14 at Cuero City Hall Chambers. She replaced Associate Judge Hallie Hall who resigned.

• Four DeWitt County 4-H Ambassadors attended the Cuero Chamber of Commerce Ag Luncheon on April 23. Ag students who opened the luncheon included Caleb Kellar, Andrew Hahn, Percy Torres, Ella Jander, Jewelee Arriaga and Gunnar Frank.

• Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbott honored Cuero’s Main Street Program alongside those from Amarillo, Denison, San Marcos, and Texarkana. Sandra T. Osman, the director of the Main Street Program, was present to receive the recognition on April 23rd at the Texas Supreme Courtroom in the Texas Capitol.

• Members of Cuero’s first Mayor’s Youth Council and the 4-H served food at the 6th Annual Hometown Harvest on April 28. Proceeds from this year’s celebration will benefit DeWitt 4-H, DeWitt County GO TEXAN, and Friends of DeWitt County Children.

May

• Most of DeWitt County’s voters were proactive in the May 3 Election with the majority (7.63%) getting to the polls earlier than election day. The incumbents for the DeWitt Hospital District, Cuero City Council held on to their seats.

• Cuero ISD officials learned they were facing a $3 million deficit in next year’s budget, according to an initial projection by Region 3 Education Service Center that was presented to the school board on May 13.

• J.R. Bishop and Arissa Carbonara pause received medals at a Cuero High School Awards Ceremony for valedictorian and salutatorian honors.

• The DeWitt County Commissioners Court appointed Lindsay Renee Ruppert, of Yoakum, as Justice of the Peace for Precinct 1. She was chosen out of eight applicants for the role and brought 10 years of experience to the job.

• The StudioBuilt factory on Gazzie Street celebrated the milestone of crafting 100 modular homes since 2022 on May 20. The company’s 65 employees celebrated together with a ceremony at the start of the workday.

• Cuero honored longtime City Councilman Bill Matthys on May 22 with a retirement reception at the Municipal Clubhouse. Matthys served 17 years, including 14 years as Mayor Pro Tem.

• Cuero officials asked for additional citizen input on the Comprehensive Plan for the next 20 years after receiving only 50 surveys following a workshop.

• Kirsten Trevino, of Cuero High School, won the People’s Choice Award for District 27 Congressional Art Competition with her Prismacolor piece called “Texas Legacy.” Her piece will hang for the public to view in Congressman Michael Cloud’s district office in Victoria for the next year.

• Cuero Education Foundation awarded $85,000 in 15 scholarships during Cuero High School Awards Day during the May graduation season.

The Cuero Heritage Museum held a ribbon- cutting ceremony on May 21 to celebrate the opening of the new Genealogy Room and a permanent exhibit featuring The Patti Giles Collection of English Tea Pots and Biscuit Jars. This collection was donated by Mr. Giles in hon- or of his wife, Patti.

• Cuero citizens sported their patriotic colors and paid reverence to fallen veterans on Memorial Day at the American Legion #3 Dinter Post. Mayor Emil Garza, an Air Force veteran himself, spoke about the importance of the day and passing on the significance to future generations.

• Congressman Michael Cloud visited Cuero on May 29 to understand the needs of the people in De-Witt and Lavaca counties. The Cuero Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, the platform for open dialogue and community engagement.

• County Judge Daryl Fowler swore in Lindsay Renee Ruppert as Justice of the Peace for Precinct 1 on May 28, in a packed DeWitt County courthouse.

June

• The DeWitt Lavaca County Democratic Women gathered at the courthouse on June 6 to rally in support of veteran jobs, healthcare and essential VA services on the anniversary of D-Day. Participants, came from Cuero as well as Victoria, Shiner, and Hallettsville and marched to the corner of Broadway and Esplanade, encouraging drivers to honk in support of veterans.

• Cuero resident Sylvia Orozco, cofounder of the Mexic-Arte Museum 40 years ago in Austin, was honored by the Downtown Austin Alliance at this year’s event at Moody Theater recognizing people who have made outstanding contributions on May 27 with the Meredith Powell Award for Community Culture.

• DeWitt County Senior Livestock Judging Team showed off their awards from the State 4-H Contest on June 4 at State 4-H Roundup, TAMU College Station. The team members were Sawyer Parker, Jackie Finney, Percy Torrez, and Wyatt Luddeke. Finney, Torrez and Luddeke traveled to Scotland to represent the U.S. in international livestock judging.

• City Council heard from local groups about their 2025 appli- cations for Hotel Occu- pancy Tax funds at the June 9 regular meeting and approved a resolution for a $4.2 million sidewalk project.

• Cuero Mayor Emil Garza took an eight- day trip to Washing- ton D.C. to meet with U.S. Representative Michael Cloud and Senator Ted Cruz to build bridges and let elected officials in Washington know more about the city and its needs.

• Two new principals were introduced to the Cuero ISD Board of Trustees at the June regular meeting. They were John C. French Principal Misty Mitchell and Cuero High School Principal Adam Arredondo.

• Concerns about the subdividing of lots and water usage at a development on Concrete-Edgar Road drew the attention of DeWitt County Commissioners during their regular meeting on June 23, prompting an official request for a presentation by the company Rancha Chula Vista of San Marcos.

• The Cuero Record won several awards in the 2024 Texas Better Newspaper Contest, sponsored annually by the Texas Press Association. Announced in Denton on June 21, the weekly paper won 1st Place in headlines, 2nd Place in news writing and 4th Place in magazines in the Division 6 of newspapers with similar circulation.