Daily Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 142, No. 115, Ed. 1 Tuesday, April 26, 2016 Page: 1 of 10
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DAILY TRIBUNE
MOUNT PLEASANT
Voters line up to cast early ballots on Day 1
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See VOTING, Page 9
LYNDA STRINGER/TRIBUNE PHOTO
des, again: Rain returning
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AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
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04879 12500
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www.DailyTribune.Net
142nd Year • No. 115
Mount Pleasant, Texas
Tuesday, April 26, 2016 • 750
SPORTS
LOCAL EVENTS
Community Calendar
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I
OBITUARIES
BBS
INDEX
Storm cleanup
waiting on
TCEQ approval
A
• Annie Marie Derrick
Arnold
• Benton Edward “Ben”
Best, Sr.
• Oscar M. “Bub” Elliott III
• Olna Mae Hart
• Shirley J. Letot
• Pansy McCoy
• Jennifer Deanne
Vandenberg
Johnny Football to be
indicted by grand jury,
defense attorney says.
See Page 2
Local groups planning
plenty of fun events. Don’t
miss out!
CLASSIFIED ADS.......
CALENDAR.................
COMICS......................
OBITUARIES..............
RECORDS....................
SPORTS.......................
STATE, LOCAL NEWS
Thank a Veteran
ora
service
member
every day!
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School districts and au-
thorities are bracing for the
possibility of a severe weath-
er outbreak that could pro-
duce powerful, long-track
tornadoes and large hail
Tuesday in some central and
southern Plains states.
Locally, the National
Weather Service is calling
for strong to severe thun-
derstorms for the rest of the
week as a surface boundary
becomes nearly stationary.
Rains are likely to begin over
the Titus County area about
8 p.m. Tuesday.
The most dangerous
weather — heavy winds,
tornadoes and hail as large
as baseballs or softballs—
will likely take aim at a
69,000-square-mile area
stretching from southern
Oklahoma to southern Ne-
Drivers navigate through a heavy rain shower down a bush street, Sunday April 17,2016,
in Richardson.
demned twice, most recently in 2006.
Only six of the some 250 inmates now on
Texas’ death row served more time there.
Soffar’s first conviction was thrown out
in 2004 by a federal appeals court panel that
agreed with arguments he had deficient legal
help at his first trial in 1981. At his second
trial, attorneys unsuccessfully argued that a
convicted serial killer in Tennessee was re-
sponsible for the 1980 fatal shootings.
Jurors decided he should be executed for
killing Arden Alane Felsher, 17, who pros-
ecutors said was fatally shot as Soffar was
robbing Stephen Allen Sims, 25, an assistant
manager at a Houston bowling alley. Sims
and Felsher’s boyfriend, Tommy Lee Tem-
ple, 17, also were killed in the attack.
Linda and Ronnie Hardin of Mount Pleasant head into the Election
Administration Office on Monday to cast their ballots in the City Council,
Titus Regional Medical Center Board and Titus County Fresh Water District
Board elections.
In the Titus Regional
Medical Center Board of
Managers election, which
has two at large seats up
for grabs, the names on the
ballot are Alan McMilliam,
Trent Abbott and Rick
Strudthoff.
For the Titus County
Fresh Water District Board,
there are two seats open
with six candidates: Ken
Wilson, Glendel Lange,
Dianne Owens, Ken Col-
bey, Kent Basinger and
Johnny Thomas.
For Winfield City Coun-
cil, seen candidates are on
the ballot vying for three
council seats. They are
Susan Grubbs, Christopher
Hamilton, Bret Webster,
Don Hutchings, Rosemary
Banda, Esiquio Ramirez
and Saundra Perry.
Lytle said most of the
time, interest is generated
mainly in the Mount Pleas-
ant City Council elections,
but it’s different this time.
“We have had calls about
WHAT TO WATCH?
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By VALERIE REDDELL
edi tor@ tribnoyv.com
week that severe weather
was possible Tuesday in
this part of the country and
released updated forecasts
in the days since. In recent
years, authorities have been
able to predict storm condi-
tions like these several days
in advance with greater con-
fidence, Mosier said, though
he noted that the weather
doesn’t always pan out as
expected.
“It’s never straightforward
when you’re sitting here
talking about (predicting)
large tornadoes,” Mosier
said. “We’re trying to be as
confident or as accurate as
we can.”
Residents of impacted
areas should develop a
plan to take shelter from a
quick-forming storm with-
out driving in severe condi-
tions, Mosier said.
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Al
braska, including the Okla-
homa City area, according to
the Storm Prediction Center
in Norman.
In all, 25 million people
from the Rio Grande River
in south Texas to Omaha,
Nebraska, and the western
regions of Missouri, Arkan-
sas and Iowa are at a slight
risk or higher of experienc-
ing severe weather Tuesday.
In the east, a separate storm
system could bring thun-
derstorms, strong winds
and hail to Philadelphia,
Baltimore and Washington,
D.C., but the risk of severe
outbreaks is low.
“We shouldn’t assume
that we’re going to have a
lot of information — you
know, a lot of lead time,”
Storm Prediction Center
meteorologist Matt Mosier
said. “We may or we may
not.”
The Storm Prediction
Center issued a notice last
By LYNDA STRINGER
lstringer@tribnoyv.com
Early voting started
Monday with a steady
stream of city and county
residents casting ballots in
four elections.
“It’s been very good.
There have been a good
flow all day,” said Titus
County Elections Adminis-
trator Krissy Lytle.
Lytle said for this type of
election, that kind of turn-
out is not typical.
“But, all of the elections
this year have been pretty
big,” she said.
Residents are voting for
candidates in three Mount
Pleasant City Council
elections. The Place 3 race
is between Michael McGa-
hee, Rick Rajotte, David
Huffman and Jack An-
derson. The City Council
Place 4 race candidates are
Kellye Cooper, Tim Dale,
and Steve Corbel 1 and for
Place 5, the candidates are
Sue Hawkins and Brian
Heavner.
Death row inmate dies of natural causes
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) — A man on death row
for 35 years for a Houston robbery where
three people were shot and killed and a
fourth was severely wounded has died of
natural causes, Texas prison officials said
Monday.
Max Soffar, 60, died Sunday at the infir-
mary at the Polunsky Unit prison near Liv-
ingston, home of the state’s death row for
men, Texas Department of Criminal Justice
spokesman Jason Clark said.
Two years ago, Soffar said he had liver
cancer and expected to die soon. He and his
lawyers long maintained he was innocent,
although he was tried, convicted and con-
V'
Commissioners’ efforts to cleanup and re-
move vegetative debris left by January storms
remain on hold pending approval of the tempo-
rary storage sites by the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality.
The necessary documentation for the clean-
up effort — which will be largely funded by
FEMA — has all been filed with the federal
agency and the Texas Historical Commission,
County Judge Brian Lee said Monday.
Commissioners recently took a TCEQ staffer
to each of the sites they propose to use as a
storage area. Commissioners selected a con-
tractor to collect the debris, and the storage
areas will be used as a temporary measure until
the debris can be burned or turned to compost.
County officials asked FEMA if they could
allow the contractor to begin work prior to the
receipt of the official approval, but FEMA sug-
gested the county wait.
Courthouse Annex
County Annex
Commissioners heard from Gilbert Olivarez,
supervisor with the Community Supervision
and Corrections Department, regarding the
rather urgent need for access to additional
restrooms for the public, staffers and some pro-
bationers.
The department currently has access to a sin-
gle restroom that is used by males and females.
With the recent implementation of the drug
court, Olivarez said his department is obtaining
many more samples for drug screens, in addi-
tion to the required urinalysis for some of its
probationers on more traditional programs.
At times, the wait for an available restroom
can become lengthy, according to Olivarez.
Judge Lee reminded commissioners of the
existing plan to punch through the brick wall
into the area formerly occupied by the Tax
Assessor-Collector’s office. By prioritizing
planned renovations to the county courthouse
annex, this would give staff, the public and cli-
ents easy access to additional restrooms.
Olivarez pointed out that all drug screen
specimens would continue to be collected at
the restroom within the probation department
offices.
“It’s not a good idea to do drug screens in a
public restroom,” Olivarez said.
Commissioners unanimously agreed to a
motion requesting Richard Jones to make rec-
ommendations on how to proceed.
The next topic for discussion involved plans
for the future renovation of the former tax of-
fice into courtrooms.
Lee said the long-range plan has included
adding a courtroom and expanding the office
space currently shared by both district judges
and enlarging the district attorney’s office suite.
Currently, District Judges Danny Woodson
and Robert Rolston share a single desk. Lee
shared an email conversation he had with the
two judges. Woodson pointed out that the attor-
ney general’s child support enforcement,
See COUNTY, Page 9
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Chapel Hill comes up
short against Hughes
Springs.
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Forecasters warn of severe weather outbreak today
By DANIEL C.
HOUSTON
Associated Press
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Reddell, Valerie. Daily Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 142, No. 115, Ed. 1 Tuesday, April 26, 2016, newspaper, April 26, 2016; Mount Pleasant, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1428900/m1/1/: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Mount Pleasant Public Library.