http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metrop...an/4923078.htmlJune 27, 2007, 1:20PM
Wharton County 'Polka King' goes missing
Foul play isn't yet suspected, but Bobby Jones' disappearance has fans worried
By TERRI LANGFORD
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
When the "Polka King" of Wharton County failed to show up at El Campo radio station KULP to emcee his Saturday morning show, listener Jim Faldyn feared something was wrong.
"Bobby Jones never runs late. Ever," said Faldyn, a Wharton resident who wanted to catch a few minutes of Jones' Texas Polka & Country Music Show at 1390 on the AM dial before spraying his pecan orchard.
But Jones, 48, never came on the air, and his nearly weeklong disappearance from Wharton, the coastal plains' airwaves and the Texas polka circuit where he and his band are a popular draw has worried friends and fans who consider him family.
No foul play is suspected in Jones' disappearance, but the search continues, according to Wharton County Sheriff's Lt. Daniel Marek. A fellow band member said Jones discussed canceling last weekend's shows, but didn't say why.
"Bobby is a friend of the community," El Campo city councilman Anthony Collins said. "Everybody listens to the show. The whole area. Somebody mentions Bobby Jones and you know who they're talking about."
Jones, who plays the accordion, is the frontman for The Bobby Jones Czech Band, a 20-year fixture at American Legion and Knights of Columbus halls throughout Southeast Texas. Last month, the band was one of several polka acts featured at the RFD-TV theater in Branson, Mo.
Jones' performances were planned around his seven-day-a-week morning radio show on KULP, and his fan base runs the gamut from older Texans of Czech, Polish and German origin to those closer to his age and younger.
"He plays a lot of good old stuff you don't hear, like Faron Young and old Texas swing," said John Dujka, who has his own Saturday Morning Dance Time! show on KULP after Jones' show. "His phone rings off the hook when he's on the air, all the requests coming in."
Had dinner with neighbors
Jones was last seen on the night of June 22. He had dinner with friend Bertha "Mewsette" Engelhardt at the home of his neighbors, Trudy and Jerry Havran, who consider Jones like a son.
"He had dinner with us Friday night, and he seemed kind of sad and pensive and not himself and went home at about 6 (p.m.)," Trudy Havran said. "I said, 'See you later,' and he said 'OK.' "
Trudy Havran didn't pry. He's a private person, she said.
"I don't know what he's troubled about, but hopefully he'll come home soon," she said.
A few hours after he got home, Jones took a call from a fellow band member to discuss the band's Saturday night performance at the KJT Hall in nearby Ganado.
"Our drummer called him on Friday to find out which shirts were we wearing to the thing on Saturday," said Bob Suttie, a band member for 17 years.
Abruptly, Jones told the drummer that the weekend dates might have to be canceled.
"But he wouldn't say why," Suttie said of the phone conversation relayed to police by drummer Harvey Fajkus.
Jones apparently told Fajkus he couldn't talk about why he wanted to cancel the dates, but assured Fajkus he would discuss it later.
"It's very unlike him because he's just one of the most dependable people," said Suttie. "It was kind of like he knew something was brewing."
Left accordion behind
Engelhardt, who had followed her friend home that night to visit for a while, before driving to her own home, also recalls that Jones was down, but she didn't know why.
"He was kind of quiet, that was the only thing," Engelhardt said. "I left his house about a quarter to 10 ... I called him after I got home, about 10:15 p.m."
But sometime between 10:15 p.m. on Friday and his 8 a.m. morning show in El Campo, Jones got into his 1993 Chevrolet and drove away from his house, without his trademark accordion, and hasn't been seen since.
"We're feeling many different feelings down here," said Steve Zetsche, KULP manager. "We're asking people if they know anything to get ahold of the (Wharton) Sheriff's Department."
Self-taught musician
A self-taught accordion player, Jones did not inherit polka from family members. There isn't a Czech bone in him, said Fort Bend County Commissioner Tom Stavinoha.
"The older Czech people would get on him about his pronouncing of the Czech words," Stavinoha said. "He cannot speak a word of Czech, except Jak Se Mas (How are you?)."
But he doesn't have to, according to Stavinoha and others. Older Czechs help him with the pronunciation.
His enthusiasm for the music has gained him a large following from Waco to Victoria, a sort of informal polka belt. Jones' billing can boost a family reunion or make a festival.
"If we get Bobby," Stavinoha said, "we know we're going to get a good crowd."
terri.langford@chron.com