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 no<sri
em as normal. 1
bout reality cc: |
ise
i Lee Countv.'
' to iinmortili: :
' County hisun
v any more «:•
/ would," heat:;
TV I’ve seentv i
g out the finalde
iging. He plats t
a slip the nor I
; no real dantr'
is with that ittjt
apping my nei
low for that,"If
a stunt. Witif
y I aim to pn
ice.”
an fun,
• hurt I'm goijiff
nirt,” he saidp
umor. I’m putWI.
ie. M
1
CH
owth in population
' in Texas counties
AP) — Ten
registered a
more than 40
sleeting a gen
ring the first
jrding to gov-
ed Monday.
Bureau esti-
.'een April 1,
only 58 of the
population.
>ercentage 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
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