jle my Tuesday, September 1,1987rThe Battalion/Page 9 s when its board lo drop its initia- 100 to 53,750 Iasi minis courts and - down. p ry Club had losi : j, P- Cl p ■ err immediate pasrsl tub, said, ‘There H,, de who could af- dues, but the I vas a stumblinf! 1 ble to fill its 550 wever, refuse toll ihips Iiecause i>. Jisned members I die membership I president of the | ar Country Club]; he economy has|| feet on golf." jo back to thelatt yone in town the afternoons'I usiness was goofs i to sell thin? ‘ ! themselves. il was we had if now we re bi!i| although noercentage in- by Rockwall : near Dallas, of residents :> 23,200 for a Harris County gained 388,800, making it the third-largest gainer be hind Los Angeles and Maricopa, Ariz. Dallas County ranked fifth na tionally, with a 276,700 increase. Tarrant was seventh with 240,700. At number 10 was Bexar County with a 181,100 population increase, while Travis County was number 13 nationwide with a 131,400 boost. Counties registering 40 percent or more population rises were Hood, up 58.1 percent to 28,000; William son, up 49.8 percent to 114,600; Hays, up 49.8 percent to 60,800; Fort Bend, up 48.7 percent to 194,700. Bastrop, up 47.5 percent to 36,500; Collin, up 45.7 percent to 210,000; Denton, up 42.7 percent to 204,300; Irion, up 42.2 percent to 27,200; and Grimes, up 41.2 percent to 19,200. Total population for the state in creased by 17.3 percent during the period, climbing from 14,225,517 to 16,682,000 for an increase of about 2,456,000 residents. The most significant drop was re ported in Loving County, along the Pecos River in far West Texas. finds pleasure hunting sures’ to keep, sell dov tery d off the and ts to one from the im, head- )ts, a light vded with 1, walking s, lovingly On the walls, too, are his finest treasures, his pictures. Dozens and dozens of snapshots. Photographs of friends and family. Many show his wife, Opal, who died in 1974, after they were mar ried more than 50 years. Secrest takes down a picture of himself on a bike. And a picture of a friendly black dog. The schnauzer’s name, he ex plains, was Whiskers. “That dog had a little more sense than I do,” he says. “And a whole more than some people. Fell in love with that dog. Hated like hell to see him go.” Whiskers learned to sit on a chunk of foam in the wire basket of Se- crest’s three-speed bike. Together, they would tour the town and ride well into the countryside, sometimes camping all night beside a pond un der an oak tree. In the woods, Whiskers searched for rabbit holes while Secrest scouted for odd bits of wood, rocks with a past and signs of Indians long vanished. No more. Whiskers was killed by a car three years ago. And, a year ago, Secrest was also struck by an automobile while he bi cycled, which left him badly injured. Recovered now, he must use a cane. Secrest misses the dog. But not the bicycle. “Never had another dog,” he says quietly. “And I stay the hell offa bikes.” He travels by pickup and by foot. Two walking circuits of the town square a day keep him fit, along with the walks in the woods. He finds rocks and wood and ani mal bones on the walks. He takes some of the treasures home and works his alchemy on the best. See this limb? It’s a snake, its snar ling face carved by knife into the wood. This limb? A walking cane. Com plete with a thumb-like branch that serves as hook so Secrest can hang the cane to his belt when he pays for groceries at the store. Outside, his old barn brims with branches awaiting transformation into hat racks and what have you. Secrest sells some of his creations, keeps a few and gives most away. Take the treasures, he says. He can find more. Plenty more are out there to find, if you take the time. “I see things in the woods that no one else sees,” Secrest confides at the end of the visit. “That’s because I’ve spent so much time out here. I know how to look.” That’s the secret, he says. It’s not the finding that matters. “It’s the looking,” he says. P THE TEXTBOOK HEADQUARTER# TTY 2 CONVENIENT LOCATIONS Northgate (across from Post Office) Redmond Terrace (next to Academy) jecial 30 dIus tax *YTH1N g! ► CASH REFUNDS FOR 2 WEEKS k- OPEN LATE ►CALCULATORS, BACK PACKS and SUPPLIES THANK YOU FOR YOUR BUSINESS TICKETS AVAILABLE AT EXPRESS