PAGE 10 - The Malakoff News - Friday, April 14, 2006
Force
Continued from Page 1
serious commitment is needed to
make it that far," said Don.
The pair are serious about
martial arts, and have the record
to prove it. Don is a 7th-degree
black belt and has been in karate
for decades. He has defeats of
fighting greats such as Billy
Blanks (of Tae-Bo fame) and
Randall "Tex" Cobb to his credit.
Corene is a 3rd-degree black
belt and the 1997 U.S. women's
bare-knuckle fighting champion.
She's competed in numerous
tournaments and other events,
taking prizes from many of her
competitions.
"I never wanted to be in tour-
naments, but it turned out I was
good at it," said Corene.
Their 3-year-old daughter,
BaiLee, is already learning skills
and competes against children
older than she.
The success of the school in
Malakoff has come quickly, and
local students recently won the
Texas State Karate Champion-
ships in Tyler.
Part of their success, the
JENNIFER STONE-HANNIGAN/THE bIA.LAKOFF NEWS
Corene Padgett watches students as they practice punch-
hag techniques.
couple agrees, has come from
their dedication to their students
and the discipline of karate.
"We take our time, especially
with the kids. You don't want
them to advance too quickly,"
said Don. Respect is emphas'tzed,
and students who are reported
using their skills for the wrong
reason are not allowed to con-
tinue.
Students have to keep their
grades up to stay in class and
earn extra accolades for high
marks in school, said Corene.
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"They want to stay in karate,
so they keep their grades up. The
idea is to keep them active and
progressing in the right direction,"
said Corene.
The school definitely is not just
for children. The children's class
meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday nights,
and an adults' class follows at 6:30.
The two are looking for a loca-
tion for their own building, and once
that building is open, classes will
include tumbling, weight man-
agement, cheerleading and
women's self-defense.
"Some people are afraid to have
girls in karate, but the best place
for girls to be is in karate," said
Corene. Women who are in ka-
rate not only stay in peak physical
shape, but also learn essential self-
defense skills, she added.
The best part of learning karate
is not the cool moves or the self-
defense, said Don, but the center-
ing of personality the discipline
brings.
'q'he martial arts will give you
whatever you need. If you are
cocky, it will make you humble, if
you have a problem with self-es-
teem it will give you confidence,"
said Don.
The Padgetts' class meets
Monday nights at First
United Methodist Church.
Cost is $35 a month.
Chief
Continued from Page 1A
work he has been doing,"
said Isaacson. In fact, the
council received a petition
with about 30 signatures ask-
ing for Cantu to stay with the
city.
"We're going to see if it
works out and I'll continue to
do my job. I will continue to
work to clean up the problems
with the department," said
Cantu.
Cantu's salary was re-
duced to reflect the change
in position. When Cantu was
hired for the joint city man-
ager/police chief position in
late 2004, his salary was
$52,000. That amount was
decreased Monday to
$43,000 a year.
"What we did was check
into what different chiefs of
police were making around
the area. Originally, what we
were paying the chief was
very inexpensive. I was
shocked," said Isaacson.
"They set my salary based
on my years of experience,"
said Cantu, who has been in
police work for 35 years and
holds a master's certification.
The position of city adminis-
trator is being filled jointly by
City Secretary Ann Barker and
Director of Public Works Glen
Herriage.
"We are not going to look for
a city administrator at the
present time. The council has
absolute confidence in Glen
Herriage and Ann Barker and
we will let them man the ship
for right now.
"Things are going well
enough with the city right now
and we will leave well enough
alone," said Isaacson.
The council also accepted
the retirement of Municipal
Judge Anne Remley. Remley
has come under fire in recent
months from the council about
her handling of the office of
municipal judge and the amount
of fines collected by the city.
At the March meeting, the
city council gave certain
guidelines to Remley - such as
entering all the city's outstand-
ing tickets into the statewide
Omnibase system - and gave
her 30 days to comply.
Isaacson said the council
was not satisfied with her level
of compliance, and expressed
their dissatisfaction to Remley
Monday. After hearing their
comments, she decided to re-
tire from the position.
"It was probably one of the
hardest things I ever did in my
life. She was unable to get the
results the council wanted and
she felt like the position needed
someone who could get the
court up to the council's expec-
tations, so she felt she needed
to retire," said Isaacson. "She
has done a lot for the city and
we wish her well."
Remley declined to comment
about the reasons for her de-
cision, simply saying she had
thought about it before and de-
cided now was the time.
Remley was the municipal
judge in Malakoff for 22
years.
Her retirement was effec-
tive immediately.
For now, the city will be
working with Pct. 1 Justice
of the Peace Henry Ashford
to handle the city's court
cases. The mayor said she
did not know how long
Ashford would be asked to
serve as interim judge.
"He is familiar with the
Omni system. He under-
stands it upside down, back-
wards and forwards," said
Isaacson, and that is a strong
asset to the city. The Omni
system uses the state's
driver's license renewal pro-
gram to tag those with out-
standing tickets.
In other news Monday
night, Frank Steele with
Hudson, Anderson & Asso-
ciates out of Corsicana - the
company that conducted the
city's audit for 2005 - recom-
mended changes in the city's
fine collection system and its
spending habits.
The auditor offered a com-
parison of this year's audit,
which addresses the city's fi-
nances from Oct. 1, 2004 un-
til Sept. 31, 2005, with the
2001 audit.
The city collected $153,000
in fines in 2001, versus
90,000 in 2005. Also, because
of several recent infrastruc-
ture improvements - such as
the water treatment plant -
the city's reserves have been
depleted.
Steele suggested the city
find ways to increase rev-
enue.
"You are still in decent fi-
nancial shape now, but if you
don't take action to restore
your revenue base, you will
start to deteriorate," said
Steele.
The city will be seeing
growth in the next few years,
the auditor predicted, and he
said the city's finances will
be vital to that process.
"It's imperative you main-
tain the financial integrity of
your city, because the growth
is coming," said Steele.
City officials said after
Monday's meeting that
changes have already been
put into place to address
those issues, such as the
city's recently implementa-
tion of the Omni system to
improve fine collection and
an increase in water rates.
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