Electra Star-News (Electra, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 20, 1978 Page: 1 of 10
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NEWS OF YOUR ‘HOME TOWN’ SINCE 1907
Local Girl
Wins Texas
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Only In Electra Could a Bus Be Interesting??????
BY JOE THOMPSON
HOME
TOWN
By Joe Thompson
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This Weekend
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Ph. 495-2149
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Electra Independent School Dis-
trict Board of Trustees Monday
night assembled with the Citizens
Advisory Panel to present and
discuss a proposed building plan
for Electra Schools and was given
an over-whelming vote of support
from committee members present
district would be obtaining two
new schools for practically the
price of one, plus they would be
eliminating a campus and would
save greatly on upkeep, utilities
and transportation costs.
both
and
ior High School and the rennova-
tion of the current First Ward
Elementary School cafeteria and
kitchen into a new administration
and tax office.
Preliminary estimates of the
proposed project were placed at
$2,657,600 but Trustess instructed
the architectural firm to trim the
costs to not more than 2.5 million
The economy of building the
Junior High-Senior High School
complex rather than building an
addition to Electra Junior High
School and remodeling Electra
High School was evident with the
inflated costs of the remodeling
project looked at for the high
school building. It was generally
felt by Trustees that even if one
million dollars was spent on the
high school facility (preliminary
costs estimates on the remodeling
were placed at around $800,000)
that the building would still be out
of date and within another ten
years to 15 years would need the
same money spent again.
Costs estimates by the architect
placed the construction of a new
Junior-Senior complex alone at
$2,445,600. The cost estimates of
building just a new Senior High
School was placed at 2,335,800 a
cost difference of only 109,800.
Trustees were in agreement, that
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; T5C Vol. 70 No. 51 Electra, Texas 76360
J Thursday, July 20, 1978
The Electra Golf Association
will host its second area-wide
amateur golf tournament this
weekend at Electra County Club
when top golfers from throughout
this area compete in the Second
Annual Four-Man Scramble with
over $2,400 in prizes up for grabs.
Tournament competition will be-
gin Saturday with teams turning in
their first rounds. The Saturday
round will also serve as the
qualifyng round and teams will be
flighted according to scores for
Sunday’s final round of competit-
ion.
Prizes will be $500 gift certifica-
tes for first place in each flight.
Second prize will be $300, third
prize will be $200 and fourth and
Continued On Page Two
based in one central location
rather than four separate camp-
uses.
The plan also calls for the
air-conditioning of Dinsmore El-
ementary School and Electra Jun-
STACY SMITH
Little Miss Winner
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Elementary School as an educat-
ional facility. Students currently
educated in grades three through
six would be moved to the current
Electra Junior High School facility
where they would have the
advantages of a gymnasium facil-
ity, large playground area, band
hall and library, plus additional
’ jdassroom space.
Students at the Junior High level
and Senior High level would have
a new Junior High-Senior High
School complex built with separate
physical education areas, a multi-
purpose auditorium-cafeteria, a
new enlarged band hall, and a new
vocational metal shop. The current
high school building would be
demolished, however, the site
would remain as the Electra
Athletic Complex with football
games being played at Tiger
Stadium , basketball games being
played at Tiger Gymnasium and
the current band hall being
. remodeled into much needed field
houses for the athletic program.
The new Junior High-Senior
High complex would be built on a
ten-acre tract, yet to be named, for
the purpose of adding additional
schools to the complex as other
local school buildings become
obsolete. This course of thinking
cqming from the economy of
Ff
v
cruise at 60 m.p.h. and has a
miximum speed of 80 m.p.h. It’s
fuel tank capacity is around 300
gallons.
Mr. Morrow will be head of the
Sales and Charter Division of
Car-O-Tel Road Cruises Limited
with offices in his hometown of
San Diego, Calif.
Myself, Mayor Ray B. Dickey
Sr., Ray B. Dickey Jr. and Paul
Hayers toured the vehicle Monday
morning and later Don Rowe, who
was a classmate of Mr. Morrow at
Electra High School, also visited
the vehicle. We were all in
agreement that, indeed, a bus was
worth reporting about in'Electro
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increase. I told myself that I was
going to go by the first thing the
next morning and have a look-see
for myself.
But as I do often, it escaped the
memory the next morning and it
wan’t thought about until I started
to get in the car for the short trip to
work.
Just as I opened the. car door,
local high school science instructor
Olan Bourland drove up in the
yard.
“Have you seen that bus parked
out at the Westward Ho?’’ he
asked. “It’s someting else!”
Now if something is big enough
to get the attention of Big O (an
affectionate term used by Olan’s
friends who cannot remember
whether his name is Olan or Orlinl
then it’s big enough to report on.
We cranked the vehicle up and
dashed out to see this “Eight
Wonder of Electra."
I wasn’t disappointed as it came
into view. It looked as if there were
four Greyhound buses stacked two
deep bound together with an
accordian like girdle in the middle.
We took a few pictures of the
“bus" which, we had to agree
with Darwin and Olan, was a sight
to see.
Finally getting to the office
Monday we received a call from
former Electra resident Floyd
Morrow. Floyd, a San Diego
attorney and city councilman, is
the son of Mr. and Mrs. W.F.
Morrow of 411 E. Harrison and an
Electra High School graduate. He
has teamed up with Frederick A.
Nauta, creator of the giant bus,
and together they have brought
this prototype to the United
States for an experimental run and
to determine the demand for such
vehicles and the services they will
offer.
Actually, at this point we should
quit calling the vehicle a bus. It is
W0RLD‘S FIRST VISITS ELECTRA-Floyd Morrow, a former Electra
resident now of San Diego, Calif., stopped by to see his parents this past
weekend and brought the world’s first and only “Hotel on Wheels” to
Electra. Mr. Morrow brought the giant prototype to the United States for
an experimental run and to determine demand for such vehicles and
services. The hotel on wheels has eight compartments which will be
chartered out on tours and each compartment Is fully self-contained. The
vehicle also features a dinning loungs and sky-lounge for sight-seeing.
Mr. Morrow was on his way to San Diego with the vehicle after having it
shipped from Germany where it was constructed.
Mr. Morrow left later Monday
morning after visiting with his
parents and headed for SafLDiego.
After viewing the Car-OMFel, I
would say that for a person'who
enjoyed seeing the countryside
much like rail passengers must
have some years ago, this new
concept of touring vehicle will be a
resounding success in this coun-
try.
It’s the most magnificent thing
on twelve wheels and leave it to an
enterprising displaced Texan to
come up with the “Firstest” and
“Biggest” and then park it on the
streets of Electra where itdefinet-
ely made the news.
‘WMF'
The new complex will contain
approximately 67,400 square feet
of educational and instructional
space. Preliminary breakdowns of
space within the complex are as
follows listed in square feet totals:
Administration, 2,000; Resource
Materials, 3,045; Student Activi-
ties, 10,970; Humanities, 5,450;
Math and Science, 6,020; Applied
Arts, 10,820; Fine Arts, 2,590;
Physical Education, 11,250; and
Halls, walls, etc. 15,255.
Trustess passed a motion by
Hogye Hogle to instruct the
architect to complete a site
evaluation, costs estimates, prel- _
iminary plans and present these at •.
a specially called board meeting *
August 7th at which time the
Board of Trustees will consider
calling a bond election to finance
the project.
In other business at the meeting
Monday, Trustees:
-Reviewed monthly financial
statements, were brought up to
date on the current fiscal budget
and paid monthly bills.
-Heard tax office reports from
Tax Assessor-Collector Rodney
Smith who indicated 97.67 percent
of the current tax roll had been
collected and that approximately
20 suits were ready to file on
delinquent taxes. Trustess appr-
oved filing of the 20 tax suits.
-Were informed that the schooF
district had received $9,411.73 in
commodities from the Texas De-
partment of Human Resources
Commodity Region No. 3 during
Continued On Page Two
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junction of Expressway-'-'287-.arid 'U.-S.-Highway^-25 aBout'-9:30;p.nii •A*'Ve'ntuallv-oneratinaft‘>lh^sqhoolsk.i;.-i.hy...t.aktog{Jiiig.?iyenpe,,Jthe school
Sunday. Rogers, was admitted to Electra Memorial Hospital and later
dismissed suffering from only minor injuries. Tri-Med ambulance was
called to the scene as was tbe Electra Volunteer Fire Department in case
of a possible fire from the vehicle. Rogers was traveling Eastward on 287
when the mishap occured. No other vehicles were involved in the
accident. [ESN Photo]
CRASH SCENE—Judd Rogers, driver of this late model pickup shown In
the above photo, escaped serious Injury Sunday night when his vehicle
veered out of control on Expressway 287 and ran off of the overpass at tho^ j,
I received a call Sunday night
from Assembly of God Pastor
Darwin Stroud inquiring as to
whether or not I would be
interested in taking a picture of a
big bus.
"Now, I thought to myself...Pic-
ure of a bus? Surely there’s
something more exciting in Elec-
tra than a bus. Maybe a thermom-
eter which had busted because of
the recent 110-plus degree wea-
ther...kids enjoying a free-running
water hydrant....a caravan of
camels? But a bus? Only in a small
North Texas community could a
bus be newsworthy.
1’11 have to admit as he described
the bus (and we use that term
loosely) our attention began to
Golfers Set
Giant Scramble
who said the plan was
“spending money wisely’
“building with the future in
mind.”
The plan, which was taken from
suggestions offered the school
board by the Citizens Panel, calls
for the elimination of First Ward
Trustees Decide to Call Bond Election
called “Car-O-Tel” which is short
for Autocar-Hotel. It’s actually a
traveling hotel fully equipped with
eight bedrooms, showers and
toilets in each compartment, a
dinning area and a touring lounge
complete with all the luxury of a
giant jet airliner.
Floyd gave us a brief description
of the vehicle which is 39.36 feet
on the first half and 19.68 feet long
on the second half. It’s 13.12 feet
high and 8.2 feet wide and
conforms to international stand-
ards so that it can be driven in all
countries and all continents. Paul
Nauta, son of the Car-O-Tell
creator, was along on the maiden
journey and he said that it rode
much smoother than the airliner
he came from Europe on. He said
it handled with ease having been
driven through the streets of
Amsterdam which I took in
comparision to driving in down-
town Dallas during rush hour
blindfolded.
The Car-O-Tell carries a crew of
two and also has additional
quarters for their accomodation.
All cabins have radio, television
electrical alarmclocks ano -t
connected to a central tape-deck
player. All cabins have warm and
cold water supply and private
toilet and shower. All cabins have
individual air-conditioning and
central heating units.
On top in the front-car is a large
sky-lounge as a sightseeing room
for the passengers. In this part the
very comfortable air-plane chairs
are on different levels and a
television is present as well.
Electricity will be supplied by
the vehicle’s own generator which
is powered by a Volkswagen
Rabbit engine.
The Car-O-Tel itself is powered
by a 10 cylinder 400 horsepower
Daimler Benz engine on diesel
with a Voith Retarder. It will
City Manager Bob Moore has
reported that following the ann-
ouncement of a voluntary water
rationing program for Electra in
this newspaper, local residents cut
water usage down almost immed-
iately and City pumps were able to
catch up with the demand and fill
both water towers to capacity by
Friday morning.
He said that the usage has
remained down and both towers
are staying near the capacity level.
He expressed his and the City
Commission’s gratitude for local
residents cooperating in the rati-
oning progranvand asked for their
continued support until the long
dry-spell is ended.
Record temperatures coupled
with the extended dry spell has
depleted water supplies immens-
ely and coupled with evaporation
a water shortage could be created
if ample rainfall does not come by
fall.
River wells are pumping down by
mid-afternoon indicating a lower
level of moisture underground as
well.
Mr. Moore is still quick to point
out that Electra does have plenty
Continued on Page Two
6 Little Miss’
Stacy Smith, 10-year old
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Dan Smith of Electra won
the “Texas Our Little Miss”
title Friday, July 14 at
Arlington, Texas. The com-
petition was held in the Fine
Arts Theater of the Univer-
sity of Texas at Arlington.
She will now attend and
compete in the ‘World’s Our
Little Miss” finals in Miami,
Fla., at the Fonteaubleau
Hotel August 6th through
14th.
The Texas pageant was a
week long event with each
contestant competing in a
party dress, sportswear and
a three-minute talent pres-
entation. Stacy tap danced
to “Down Yonder’ for her
talent program. She has
been studying dance with
Bobby Houston of Wichita
Falls.
Stacy attends First Ward
Elementary School where
she will be in the 5th grade
ithisfyeah-She is listed on the
International Honor Roll af-
ter being named to the Top
Ten of Texas in 1974, the
Top Five of World in 1.974 in
the LaPetie Division and in
1977 being named in the top
ten in the Our Little Miss
division and Best Head and
Shoulders in the photogenic
division.
She has been invited to
attend the Oklahoma State
“Our Little Miss” pageant
July 18-20 as a special guest
star.
THINK KAIM!
> - - 1 1 •• •••».» K .r*
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Thompson, Joe A. Electra Star-News (Electra, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 20, 1978, newspaper, July 20, 1978; Electra, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1233623/m1/1/: accessed July 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Electra Public Library.