Newton County News (Newton, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 18, 2002 Page: 2 of 10
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I*a^e 2 Newton County News, Thursday, July 18, 2002
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
State ^ Capital
HIGHLIGHTS
By Mike Cox
AUSTIN — Ten years from
now, motorists may be able to
travel from the Red River to San
Antonio and beyond on a high-
speed, truck-free tollway that
bypasses crowded Interstate 35.
A decade sounds like a long
time, but that is moving in the fast
lane for a major highway con-
struction project.
The Denison to San Antonio to
Rio Grande Valley route is one of
four routes recently selected by
the Department of Transportation
as deserving priority in the devel-
opment of the Trans Texas
Corridor.
Designed for phased construc-
tion, the Trans Texas Corridor will
be a network of corridors up to
1,200 feet wide that will have sep-
arate lanes for passenger vehicles
and trucks, high-speed passenger
rail, conventional freight and pas-
senger rail.
A dedicated utility zone, 200
feet across, would be reserved for
electric transmission, oil and gas
pipelines, waterlines and data
transmission lines.
Covering 4,(XX) miles, the cor-
ridor would be the largest public
engineering project ever undertak-
en in Texas. Including acquisition
of right of way, cost estimates
range from $145.2 to $183.5 bil-
lion.
So how would it be paid for?
The bumper sticker version is that
it would be accomplished through
a combination of what is known
as toll equity, bond money and
private investors.
The Texas Transportation
Commission released a detailed
report on the corridor on June 27.
To view the document, check
www.dot.state.tx.us/ttc/ttc_home.
htm.
Alabama-Coushattas lobby
Congress
State Attorney General John
Comyn has shut down gambling
at the Tigua Indian casino in El
Paso and wants to do the same at
the Alabama-Coushatta reserva-
tion in East Texas.
But a federal judge has allowed
gaming to continue on the reser-
vation while he weighs its legality
in light of complicated treaty con-
siderations.
Tribal chairman Kevin Battise
went to Washington to testify
before the Senate Indian Affairs
committee, hoping for congres-
sional help.
Battise told the committee his
tribe was not seeking “untold rich-
es” in operating its casino. “We
seek what all Americans seek —
better schools, better health and
better homes.”
“Go directly to jail”
Doing time in Texas is still
worse than hitting the “Go direct-
ly to jail” square on the Monopoly
board, but it’s better than it used to
be.
Starting in the 1970s and con-
tinuing into the ’80s, state stan-
dards for county lockups became
more exacting. Many historic, but
not particularly cushy, county
lockups were declared obsolete.
For a variety of reasons, rang-
ing from overcrowding to old age,
the process is continuing. Thirteen
of Texas’ 254 counties currently
have jails under construction or
being renovated, with planning
under way in another 45 counties.
Interestingly enough, 14 Texas
counties don’t even have a jail.
Those county sheriffs either book
their prisoners in a neighboring
county facility or use a regional
lockup.
High-lites...
• Gov. Perry is still ahead in the
opinion poll game, but one
Republican candidate is behind —
U.S. Senate candidate John
Cornyn. Former Dallas mayor
Ron Kirk, the Democrat in the
race to fill the seat being vacated
by Phil Gramm, is leading Comyn
in the polls...
• Illegal immigrants are travel-
ing up the desolate stretches of the
Padre Island National Seashore in
hopes of finding jobs in the U.S.
The Border Patrol and Coast
Guard say increased security else-
where on the border after
September has stimulated the traf-
fic pattern change...
• If you haven’t received your
home owner insurance renewal
bill yet, be prepared for a surprise.
Rates, along with complaints to
the Department of Insurance, are
up...
ALL THINGS HISTORICAL
A LOOK AT EAST TEXAS HISTORY FROM
THE EAST TEXAS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
Big Thicket Photographer
By Bob Bowman
Few people loved the people
and places of the Big Thicket as
much as Larry Jene Fisher, a
transplanted West Texan whose
black-and-white photos in the
1930s and 1940s have suddenly
found a new following among
East Texans.
Fisher, a conservatory-trained
organist, traveled around the
country playing for moving pic-
tures in the 1920s, but became
fascinated with the Big Thicket in
the 1930s and settled down in
Saratoga in the 1930s.
Opening a small camera shop
in the community, he began
interviewing residents of the Big
Thicket and shooting photos of
everyday life around Saratoga,
Baton, Honey Grove, Sour Lake
and the Hardin County ollields,
and the Kaiser Burnout.
His interviews, which consti-
tute one of the most valuable
folklore accumulations in Texas,
are now a part of Lamar
University’s Big Thicket
Collection, enabling researchers
to learn more about the region
often called the biological cross-
roads of America.
But Fisher’s photos from the
1930s and 1940s may be his
greatest contribution to East
Texas.
Some 45 of the thousands of
photos he made in the Big
Thicket are now on display at the
new U.S. Park Service’s Big
Thicket Visitor Center beside
U.S. 69 a few miles north of
Kountze.
Lining the walls of the
Center’s display room, Fisher’s
photos offer a rare look at every-
day life in the Big Thicket 60 to
70 years ago.
One large print shows stave-
makers Joe and Abner Ford
making hardwood staves of the
kind used on Big Thicket roofs in
1948.
In another, Thicket residents
are captured in the art of building
a mud chimney, an art that faded
from East Texas decades ago.
Another print shows a Kirby
Lumber Co. logging locomotive
pushing its way through a
Thicket forest.
And in a similar print, three
yokes of 18 oxen, taken in June
of 1944, are shown pulling logs
for W.T. Carter & Brother Lumber
Co.
Other photos freeze scenes
from a fox hunt near Batson, the
operations of a small “pecker-
wood” sawmill at Honey Island in
1940, the old Sour Lake baths
once proclaimed for their medic-
inal properties, an Indian school
house, and a hog killing in which
a Thicket housewife prepares to
plunge her knife into the belly of
a scalded hog hanging from, a
tree limb. «
Many of the photographs cap-
ture Thicket residents in ordinary
events, such as a family reunion,
a country church meeting, and
simple farmers sitting on their
front steps—their lined faces
reflecting the hard times and
poverty that existed in the
Thicket during Fisher’s lifetime.
Born at Wichita Falls in 1903,
Fisher died from pneumonia in
1957 while shooting a movie in
Nashville, Tenn. His photo-
graphs remained the property of
the Big Thicket Association, of
which he served as secretary-
treasurer, for decades.
Today, thanks to his work
decades before most of us were
born, the Big Thicket of an
almost forgotten era is being
remembered and appreciated as
a truly unique part of East Texas.
(Bob Bowman is author of
Pioneers, Poke Sallet and
Politics with Archie McDonald. It
is available through the East
Texas Historical Association,
Nacogdoches).
Outdoors With Keith Warren
Summertime is without a doubt a
great time of year to go night fish-
ing. When the sun goes down and
temperatures begin to drop, the fish
start to feed. It doesn't matter what
freshwater game fish you are after,
they all bite better after dark this
time of year. If you are looking for
catfish, crappie or bass, you can
find them all around well lit areas.
Lighted piers and boat docks are
perhaps the best areas. Lights
attract bugs, and as they fall in the
water, small fish feed on them. This
feeding activity will draw in all of
the other fish.
The longer lights stay on, the
more fish they will attract. In situa-
tions where there are no permanent
lights, some fishermen choose to set
floating spot lights and submergible
lighted buckets all work great.
The best all around bait to use
under lights is live minnows. Rig
these minnows with a single crappie
hook so they remain very lively.
The more action, the better. Some
fishermen prefer hooking them
through their lips, while others hook
them above their backbone and
behind the dorsal fin. Lower the
minnow down to within several
inches of the bottom. Then raise it
up every minute or so about a foot
at a time. Pay attention to how far
off the bottom the minnow is. Once
you get a bite, you need to place
your next minnow at the same
out light of their own. Lanterns,
depth.
Lights will attract huge schools
of feeding game fish that will hold
Area Business U Service Directory
Advertise Your Business Affordably 379-2*116
COUNTY AGENT GROWS ‘EM BIG! — Newton County Extension Agent Ed Johnson grew these two
Carolina Cross watermelons in Shelby County and entered them in last Saturday’s Watermelon Festival in
Center. From among 43 entries, the 122-pound monster took fourth place honors. One of the melons is on
display at First National Bank in Newton and the other — weighing 115 pounds — at Newton Feed Store.
Ed will share his “secret method” with anyone interested!
Yearwood Joins Lamar University Faculty
Veteran newsman, journalism
teacher and award-winning
writer,. John Yearwood Jr. will
join the communication faculty at
Lamar University this fall.
In his journalism career,
Yearwood has worked for both
daily and non-daily newspapers.
He has been an adjunct assis-
tant professor of communication
at St. Lawrence University in
New York, a freelance corre-
spondent for the New York
Times, and editor at the Tulane
Hullabaloo in New Orleans and
Thicket in Austin.
In addition, he was publisher
of the Woodsman Publishing Co.
in Woodville, and general man-
ager of the Burnett Bulletin and
Marble Falls Highlander in
Marble Falls.
Yearwood is no stranger to
the classroom. He has taught
journalism for the past 12 years
at area high schools including
Warren High School, Monsignor
Kelly Catholic High School, and
finally at Ozen High School
where he was chair of the
department of English. He will
become an assistant professor
of communication at Lamar.
Yearwood has received
numerous honors, including first
place in editorial writing from the
Texas Press Association for the
years 1985, 1988 and 1993. He
has also published more than
500 editorials and columns.
Yearwood received a bachelor’s
degree in English in 1969 and a
master’s in 1970 from Tulane
University. He went on to receive
a doctorate in 1977 from the
University of Texas at Austin.
Lamar’s Department of
Communication offers a bache-
lor of science degree in commu-
nication. Lamar’s students are
exposed to a wide range of com-
munication skills in areas such
as interpersonal communication,
communication theory and
media writing.
Letters To The Editor
To: Congressman Jim Turner
U.S. Senator Kay Bailey
Hutchinson
,U.S. Senator Phil Gramm
Sirs:
I would like to complain about
my insurance premium. My home
insurance goes up each year: 1999
to 2000 it was $495; in 2001 it was
$548, up $53, a little over 12 per-
cent.
Now in 2002 the premium has
jumped to $842. That’s a $294 jump
in one year for the same amountof.,
coverage and a $347 jump from ‘99
to 2002.
I fail to see this is justified! How
could the Texas Department of
Insurance allow this to happen?
At this rate, we retired seniors
will be forced to go without insur-
ance and that’s bad for us.
I am asking you to look into this
and . see if you can da something#
about insurance premiums.
I look forward to hearing from
you. Thank you.
H.L. McKinney
P.O. Box 296
Bon Wier, Texas 75928
f V-
Wooster Illuminates Texans’Civil War Role
at certain depths. Once you deter-
mine how deep they are, you will
load the boat. This type of fishing is
great for the family. It is quiet,
much cooler than during the day,
and best of all, the action is great.
This technique works great in lakes
as well as rivers. Whether the water
is off color or very clear, lights are
fish magnets.
Keith Warren is the host of
Fishing & Outdoor Adventures
along with Hunting & Outdoor
Adventures, both of which broad-
cast nationwide! Catch Fishing &
Outdoor Adventures from January
through June and Hunting &
Outdoor Adventures July through
December on Fox Sports Net at
6:00 a.m. Fridays in all time zones.
Lamar University’s Ralph
Wooster has made it his mission
to see that Texans earn their
proper place in history for their
efforts during the Civil War.
The result a series of three
books by the noted educator,
author and historian - the latest
published this spring.
Wooster’s “Lone Star
Regiments in Gray” tells the sto-
ries of Texas’ 78 regiments that
served the Confederate forces -
including the organization, lead-
ership and combat experiences
of each. Also covered are the 35
artillery batteries attached to the
various infantry, regiments and
brigades.
“I started this project seven
years ago with sort of a mission-
ary zeal,” Wooster said. “I
thought Texas really hadn’t got-
ten its proper play in the Civil
War. The first book in the series
(“Texas and Texans in the Civil
War,” published in 1995) was the
first book ever written that cov-
ers just Texas in the war. That’s
what I’ve been trying to do.”
Eakin Press of Austin pub-
lished all three of the volumes. “I
really didn’t intend it to be a trilo-
gy, but I guess it turned out to be
that,” Wooster said. The first
book led to the story of the gen-
erals, which led to the units
themselves.
“They are history books, but I
hope for they attract the general
reader, not just historians,” said
Wooster. “They do have all the
scholarly apparatus, all the foot-
notes and bibliography and so
forth that historians find neces-
sary, but I hope they have
greater interest than just to his-
torians. That’s why I went with
Eakin Press, which is the largest
publisher of Texas books today.”
A noted historian, author and
scholar, Wooster has dedicated
almost 50 years to Lamar, serv-
ing as both teacher and adminis-
trator. He joined the faculty in
1955 and, since retirement from
full-time teaching in 1991, con-
tinues to teach one course each
semester.
“For 50 years, Dr. Ralph
Wooster has studied the role
Texans played in the American
Civil War,” according to his pub-
lisher. After publication of the
first two books in the series,
Eakin notes, Wooster realized
“Long Star Regiments in Gray”
would “help complete the portrait
of Texan forces in the war.”
Lamar University and
Wooster’s Lamar colleagues
have proven valuable resources.
“Most of the research is done
right here (in Lamar’s Mary and
John Gray Library),” Woosteri
said. “Over the years, I have
accumulated a good bit of Civil
War material, from manuscripts
in the University of Texas
archives, and I use those. But,
fortunately for Civil War stu-
dents, we have official records of
“The War of Rebellion,” which is
130 volumes, and then recently
they published another 100 vol-
umes on the official records. We
have all of those right here.”
His colleague Kevin Smith,
Lamar’s associate vice presi-
dent for academic affairs, shared
the manuscript of a diary kept by
his great-grandfather, Siebert
Behrens, a member of Waul’s
Texas Legion who was killed in
action at the Battle of Vicksburg.
And the book’s back cover fea-
tures a photo, published cour-
tesy of Robert Madden, who
taught for many years in the art
department. The photo depicts a
17-year-old Pvt. James
Alexander Westmoreland,
Madden’s great-grandfather and
a member of the 17th Texas
Cavalry.
Wooster said anyone who
wants to find out about one of
the 78 Texas regiments can find
it in the book, which serves as
both a source and a resource.
Read All About It IN Your Only Hometown Newspaper! Subscribe Today!
Call 379-2416 for details!
TA
MEMBER
2002
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
Newton County News
Is published weekly on Thursdays by Glenn A. Mitchell at 211 Glover Drive in
Newton, Texas 75966. Subscription rates are $22 a year in Newton County,
Jasper, Kirbyville, Brookland, Merryville and Orange; $25 a year elsewhere.
Periodical postage paid at Newton, Texas. Postmaster send address changes to
Newton County News, P.O. Box 65, Newton, Texas 75966. Phone and fax i^
(409) 379-2416.
Publisher..............Glenn A. Mitchell - Editor.................Mary Collins
Advertising Representative.............Patrice Webb
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Collins, Mary. Newton County News (Newton, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 18, 2002, newspaper, July 18, 2002; Newton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth635097/m1/2/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Newton County Historical Commission.