Newton County News (Newton, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 6, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 7, 2000 Page: 1 of 8
eight pages : illus. ; page 24 x 14 in. Scanned from physical pages.View a full description of this newspaper.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
ewton
otes
Designs By Stacy Grand Opening Friday
The official grand opening of Designs by Stacy has been set for
Friday, Sept. 8, according to owner Stacy Pierce Arrant. The recently
opened business will host a ribbon cutting at 11 a.m., and everyone is
invited. The flower shop features a full line of flowers, fresh and silk,
as well as balloons and green plants. Equipment rentals are available
for parties and weddings. Cemetery contracts are also offered as a
service to the public. The shop is located next to Joanne’s Beauty Shop
at 213 Kaufman in Newton. See advertisement, Page 3.
Newton-Lincoln Tickets On Sale
Tickets are on sale for the football game between Newton High
School and Lincoln. Tickets are available at the NHS office for $4 for
adults and $2 for students. All tickets at the gate will be $4. The game
will be at Memorial Stadium in Port Arthur.
Pre-schooler Story Time Is Sept. 7
The first Story Time for pre-schoolers will be Thursday, Sept. 7, at
9:30 a.m. at Newton County Public Library and will continue through-
out the school year on Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. The program will
include a story, finger play, songs and occasionally a craft. Mothers or
care-givers are encouraged to bring children 3-years-old and up.
NCHC Quarterly Meeting Is Sept. 8
The Newton County Historical Commission quarterly meeting will
be Friday, Sept. 8, at 11 a.m. at the old Old Watson Chapel in
Bleakwood. Prospective members who can add to Newton County
history are invited and encouraged to attend. A covered dish luncheon
will be served.
Gem & Mineral Society Meets Sept. 11
The DeRidder Gem & Mineral Society meets the second Tuesday
of each month at Vernon Parish Library. Their next meeting will be
Tuesday, Sept. 11.
Pageant Association Meets Sept. 12
Newton Scholarship Pageant Association will meet Tuesday, Sept.
12, at 6:30 p.m. at Newton County Fairground.
Project Graduation 2001 Meets Sept. 12
Project Graduation 2001 will meet Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 6:30 p.m.
in the high school cafeteria. Seniors 2001 and their parents are encour-
aged to attend. September fund raisers will be discussed.
Newton Elementary PTC Meets Sept 12
Newton Elementary Parent Teacher Club will meet Tuesday, Sept.
12, at 6 p.m. in the Newton Elementary School auditorium. Officers
for the coming year will be announced and upcoming events will be
discussed. Everyone is welcome, a spokesman said.
Band Car Wash, Bake Sale Sept. 16
The Newton Eagle Band will host a benefit car wash and bake sale
Saturday, Sept. 16, at Brookshire Bros, parking lot in Newton. All
activities will begin at 9 a.m. If raining, the event will be rescheduled.
JNEC Board Meets Sept. 26
The Jasper-Newton Electric Cooperative board of directors will
hold their monthly meeting Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 5 p.m. at the board
room at the JNEC headquarters in Kirbyville. JNEC members are
invited to attend.
Used Pee Wee Football Equipment
Anyone not playing Pee Wee Football who would like to donate
their used equipment to the Newton Pee Wee League is asked to con-
tact Robert Williams at 379-2631.
Voters Reminded
Registered voters in Newton County are reminded that they are eli-
gible to vote in the November election. Those who were not registered
have until Oct. 10 to register and still be eligible to vote in the elec-
tion. If you are in doubt about being registered contact Bea
Westbrook, voter registrar, at 379-4091.
Food, Drink Tickets Available
Food and drinks at all home football games this season will be sold
with tickets. Food and drink tickets will be good for all Thursday and
Friday night games for the 2000 season. It is hoped that food will be
delivered quicker if workers don’t have to make change. Plans are to
adjust serving sizes to make all sales in even dollars. Tickets may be
purchased at Glenda’s Clothing and Sandwich Shop and at the games.
Merchants interested in carrying tickets to sell for the Band and FFA
Booster Clubs should contact Rhonda Cochran at 379-3083.
Book, Magazine Drive Underway
Newton Lions Club is sponsoring a book and magazine drive to
benefit the University of Texas Medical Branch Hospital in Galveston
and St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont. Books and magazines are
being collected at First National Bank of Newton and Newton Bank,
during regular bank hours.
Burning Ban In Effect
A burning ban in Newton County is in effect and will remain in
effect for 30 days, according to the office of Newton County Judge
Truman Dougharty. The ban is put in place on the advice of the Texas
Forest Service, who warns county officials when the fire danger is
high, usually following prolonged periods without precipitation.
Toledo Bend VFW Meets Sept. 14
Toledo Bend Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8557 and its Ladies
Auxiliary meets the second Thursday of each month at the post home
in Toledo Village. Their next meeting is Thursday, Sept. 14, at 7:30
p.m. The post and auxiliary also host a dance each Saturday night
from 8:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m.
Rainbow Lodge Meets Sept. 16
The stated meeting of Rainbow Lodge 735 AF and AM will be the
third Saturday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the lodge on U.S.
Highway 190 West in Newton. The group’s next meeting is Saturday,
Sept. 16.
Rock Show Is Sept 15-17
The Pine Country Gem and Mineral Society will host their sixth
annual rock show Friday and Saturday, Sept. 15-17 at the Church of
Christ Family Service Center located on U.S. High 96 in Jasper. Free
admission and free parking. Features will include educational
exhibits, demonstrations, jewelry making, wire wrapping, bead mak-
ing, faceting, flint knapping and “the best display of florescent miner-
als in Texas.” Hours are Friday, 1-6; Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and
Sunday, 1-6 p.m.
DETAS Cancels September Meeting
The Deep East Texas Archeological Society will not meet as sched-
uled, due to the Labor Day conflict.
(See Newton Notes, Inside)
o°V ^
HOME OF CLEAN AIR - FRESH WATER - FRIENDLY PEOPLE SINCE 1846
Vol. 32, Number 6 Thursday, September 7,2000 Newton, Texas 75966 500 Per Copy
East Texas Burning
Newton County, as well as other
East Texas counties within the
Texas Forest Service dispatch area,
is experienceing one of the worst
dangers in its history — forest fire.
In Newton County the fire area is
called the Moore Branch area and
had consumed some 2,400 acres as
of Monday morning. TFS
spokesman Paul Kocian said the
fires were 80 percent contained but
were still smouldering and blazing
in some areas.
Newton County, traditionally the
wettest county in the state, has had
little rainfall - officially just over
2.50 inches — in the last two
months. Some areas have had none.
Meanwhile, in Polk County, the
Chapel Tower area fire has con-
sumed some 1,500 acres and its
blazing unchecked, threatening
many homes, Kosian said.
The. fires began last week in
Newton County and help from
many sources arrived. They came
—from across the county, the state,
the nation — they came to do battle
with one of Mother Nature’s most
awesome and destructive spectacles
— fire.
Some 250 to 300 firefighters,
including Newton, Burkeville and
Roganville volunteer firemen and
women, the National Guard from
Kentucky , Oklahoma and Texas,
Texas and National Forest Service
personnel and Temple-Inland and
Louisiana-Pacific personnel gath-
ered on FM 1414, FM 2626,
Highways 87 and 63, along an
approximate 6-mile fireline, going
deep into the piney woods on log
roads and “pig trails” to battle the
capricious flames.
Flames that sometimes shoot 250
feet into the air, flames that twist
and turn and run away, devouring
everything in its path, fed by the 30-
to-40 mph winds of its own cre-
ation.
And they help. City, county, state
police, Texas Department of
Transportation personnel, city and
county employees, timber company
personnel, Emergency Medical
Service personnel, the American
Red Cross and local businesses —
Fausto’s, Brookshire Bros, and
Dover’s Exxon Station — who are
sending thousands of dollars worth
of ice, water, food and cold drinks
to the beleaguered fire fighters.
“That’s what I like about living
in a small town,” one EMS driver
said, “when there’s trouble, decent
people help.”
The firefighters — plagued by
heat, exhaustion, heat, smoke, heat,
worry and more heat — fight and
wait. “We can’t save the trees,” they
mourn. “We can only hope to save
the houses.” To date, a camp house
has been burned, as well as some
out buildings. So far, no injuries
have been reported.
And they pray. Pray for rain,
pray for no wind, pray for no more
lightning strikes— unofficially the
cause of the conflagration — , pray
for an end to one of the worst dis-
asters to strike the county in a cen-
tury.
Equipment also played a huge
part in containing the fires and sav-
ing home. Included were fire trucks
of every description, TFS dozers,
dozers from Temple-Inland and
Louisiana-Pacific, two helicopters
with air attack and EasTe'x EMS
ambulances.
The home and property owners,
some who evacuate, some who
stay, hoping against hope that fate
will be kind and that they will have
a home to return to when this is all
over. They anxiously watch and
wait and pray.
emerging from the woods of fire-
fighters surrounded by flames, run-
ning for their lives, escaping
unharmed. Tales of two TFS
rangers suddenly engulfed by
flames that ran right past them,
leaving them without even a blister
to show for the experience. Stories
of a Newton fire truck, suddenly
surrounded by the blaze. “The fire
ran right under us,” the firemen
said, “and it didn’t even blister the
paint!”
Stories of another kind, of a
property owner near Toledo Bend,
burning, despite the burning ban
and the danger. When told to put the
fire out, he refused, saying this was
his property and he would do what
he wanted. So the National •
Guardsmen dug a fire trench around
his property and left it to burn.
Word is he lost a shed and two out-
buildings in a blaze of his own mak-
ing.
Despite the men, the equipment,
the tremendous expenditure of time
and effort - the fires are still burn-
ing. And the danger of even more
fires remains “very high.”
The stories. Miraculous tales
Trustees Hire Superintendent
Newton Independent School
District Trustees, at a special meet-
ing Monday, Aug. 31, unanimously
agreed to hire Gene Paul Isabell Sr.
of Nacogdoches as the new superin-
tendent.
Isabell, a native of Call, grew up
in East Texas, graduating from
Kirbyville High School. He
received his bachelor of science
degree from Lamar University at
Beaumont and his master of educa-
tion degree from Prairie View A&M
University.
Isabell is certified as a superin-
tendent, a mid-management admin-
istrator, counselor and taught biolo-
gy, health and physical education
and driver education.
He has served as superintendent
at Central Heights ISD in
Nacogdoches; was assistant super-
intendent of personnel and finance
as well as principal at Hardin-
Jefferson ISD in Sour Lake; was
middle school principal at
Woodville ISD; elementary princi-
pal at Warren ISD, where he also
served as head coach and athletic
director; was teacher and coach at
French High School in Beaumont;
and teacher and coach at Bowie
Junior High School, also in
Beaumont.
Isabell is a member of the Texas
Association of School
Administrators; is a director of the
Texas Association of Rural Schools;
serves on the board of directors of
the health care plan of the Texas
Educational Benefits Association;
A member of the Texas
Association of Secondary School
Principals, he served on the organi-
zation’s state board of directors,
was District V coordinator, won the
Outstanding Principal Award and
served on the nominating commit-
tee. He has also belonged to the
Texas Elementary Principals and
Supervisors Association; the Texas
State Teachers Association and the
Texas High School Coaches
Association. He is currently a mem-
ber of Phi Delta Kappa and the
Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development.
He and his wife, Kathy, are the
parents of two grown children,
Paula and Gene, and are members
of the First Baptist Church in
Nacogdoches.
Isabell is a member of the
Nacogdoches County Chamber of
Commerce, and served as vice
chairman for civic affairs, on the
Chamber’s board of director, was
chairman of the education commit-
tee and served on the NOBLE
scholars committee.
He served on the board of direc-
tors of the Nacogdoches County
Economic Development Corp., was
a member of Central Heights
Booster Club, Central Heights
Agriculture Backers, the Sour Lake
Lions Club, was director of the
Tyler County Boy Scouts of
American and served as chairman
of the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital
Benefit Drive.h
All Schools, District Recognized
All campuses in the Newton 88.1 percent. with 214 or 89.9 percent passing, The math scores were up from
Independent School District, as well At Newton Middle School, 238 compared to 1999’s 93.1 percent last year, with 234 students tested,
as the district itself, earned “recog- students took the reading TAAS, passing. (Continued On Page 2)
nized” status from the Texas
Education Agency. The tests were
administered in the spring of this
year and are commonly called the
TAAS tests.
The recognized status is based
on each campus’ dropout rate, and
test results in reading, math and
writing.
Students were also rated accord-
ing to ethnic groups and economic
standards.
At Newton Elementary, third
graders were tested. With a dropout
rate of 96.2 percent, the campus was
considered too low to evaluate, as
were all schools in the district.
Some 233 elementary students
took the TAAS reading test, with
215 passing., for a percentage rate
of 92.3 percent. This compares to
84.3 percent passing in 1999.
Results in math indicated 237
third graders taking the test, with
213 passing, up from 1999’s 84.5
percent passing.
Of the 80 elementary students
taking the writing test, 75 passed
for a 93.8 score, up from last year’s
FOREST FIRE! — Flames, some rising as high as 250 feet in the air, engulf the forests along FM
1414 in Newton County.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View two places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Collins, Mary. Newton County News (Newton, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 6, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 7, 2000, newspaper, September 7, 2000; Newton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth635219/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Newton County Historical Commission.