The Eldorado Success newspaper

2010 Census: Schleicher Co. population is highest ever

Schleicher County’s population rose to 3,461 in 2010, according to the latest data released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s up 17.92 percent over the numbers recorded in 2000 and represents the largest population since the county was founded.

The only numbers that are currently available reflect county-wide totals, so it is unknown how much of the increase is attributable to the development of the YFZ Ranch.

The number of people who identify themselves as being of Hispanic origin increased by 258 to a total of 1,536. That numbers stood at 1,278 in 2000.

Schleicher County didn’t officially organize until 1901. Still, the Texas legislature had established its boundaries during the 1880s. So it was that 155 residents of that area, most of whom lived in around the now abandoned community of Verand, were counted in the 1890 Census.
Verand was located approximately four miles north of present-day Eldorado at the headquarters of the Vermont Ranch.

Eldorado township was established in 1895 and many Verand residents resettled there after an unpaid lumber bill prompted the Cameron Lumber Company of Menard to begin foreclosure procedures and the Vermont Ranch ceased to exist.

By 1900, the area that would become Schleicher County only  a year later contained 515 people, with most of them living in or near the Eldorado town site.

Schleicher County’s population climbed to 3,166 in 1930 then declined steadily over the next four decades. It would be 80 years before the 1930 Census was eclipsed.

The U.S. Census is conducted every ten years so that Congressional representation can be reapportioned as the nation’s population changes and moves from state to state.

State and local jurisdictions also utilize Census data for their own decennial redistricting.
Census information for the county’s four commissioners’ precincts, as well as the population of the City of Eldorado is due to be released soon. So is a more comprehensive analysis of the county’s population by area.

The ELDORADO SUCCESS will report those numbers as soon as they become available.

2010 Census: Schleicher Co. population is highest ever

Schleicher County’s population rose to 3,461 in 2010, according to the latest data released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s up 17.92 percent over the numbers recorded in 2000 and represents the largest population since the county was founded.

The only numbers that are currently available reflect county-wide totals, so it is unknown how much of the increase is attributable to the development of the YFZ Ranch.

Texas Rangers have developed information about a man they consider to be a person of interest in the Texas Governor's Mansion arson on June 8, 2008. A $50,000 cash reward is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for this arson.

In October 2009, DPS assumed responsibility for the investigation and took custody of the evidence, which included all collected physical evidence and thousands of hours of video surveillance tapes.

Since October 2009, the Texas Ranger-led DPS task force:

o   Enhanced the surveillance video footage of the arson suspect to the greatest extent possible with the assistance of FBI experts.
o   Produced a forensic sketch of the suspect taken from the video and compared it with potential suspects.
o   Reviewed thousands of hours and thousands of frames of videos from 11 separate cameras that had not been previously examined.
o   Reviewed all collected physical evidence.

During the forensic review of the surveillance video, which took a significant amount of time and manpower to review the thousands of hours of tape from 11 separate cameras, the investigative team found a video segment of a suspicious vehicle—a white Jeep Cherokee, whose occupants were observed taking photos of the Governor’s Mansion at approximately 2 a.m. on June 4, 2008—four days before the arson.

There were more than 3,000 similar Jeeps registered in Texas, but through a process of elimination investigators were able to locate the specific vehicle in question and its owner, who admitted to driving the vehicle while the photos of the Mansion were being taken. The driver, now considered a person of interest, also revealed to investigators the identities of two people who were riding in the vehicle with him that night.

Investigators subsequently interviewed the two passengers, who are now also considered persons of interest. One passenger initially denied having been in the vehicle, but later admitted to having been in the vehicle and taking photographs after failing a polygraph examination.  All three persons have denied involvement in the arson of the mansion.

At least one of the persons of interest has been placed in the downtown area the morning of the mansion fire.

Investigators have also established a direct link from the persons of interest to an Austin-based anarchist group that was linked to a planned attack on the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in September 2008, which involved Molotov cocktails.