Mineola Monitor (Mineola, Tex.), Vol. 139, No. 06, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 5, 2014 Page: 1 of 16
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Putting
out fires
Page 3A
Alba-Golden
Honor Rolls
Page 4A
New UIL
districts
Page 1B
Mineola Monitor
Vol. 139 No. 6 Two Sections 50 cents
Mineola’s Hometown newspaper since 1876
February 5,2014
“We’re where you are!”
Smokin' in the
boys room...
Elementary blaze
leaves minor damage
Damage from a fire that occurred
Sunday night at Mineola Elemen-
tary School on Patten Street was
described by Superintendent John
Fuller as very minor. It did not
prevent school from being held on
Monday.
A teacher and her husband were
working in the building when they
heard the smoke alarm sound and
called the fire department. The Min-
eola dispatcher received the call at
8:31 p.m.
Fuller said the fire began with an
exhaust fan in one of the restrooms
that shorted for some reason and
See BLAZE, Page 2A
BRINGING IT HOME
Kacey Musgraves' appearance on the red carpet
before the Grammy Awards last Sunday was in
an Armani gown.
Mineolans react
to Musg raves'
Grammy win
Even while Mineola family, friends
and fans were still cheering her
Grammy Awards wins last Sunday,
Kacey Musgraves continues to shine
with more Academy of Country Mu-
sic nominations - six, in fact.
When the ACM nominations were
announced last week, Musgraves'
name was listed six times. Those are
for Female Vocalist of the Year; New
Artist of the Year; Song of the Year for
both "Mama's Broken Heart" sung
by Miranda Fambert and "Merry Go
'Round"; Album of the Year and Vid-
eo of the Year for "Blowin' Smoke."
Many people in Mineola have
watched the little songstress, song-
SeeMUSGRAVES, Page 8A
The three-bedroom home of Lorena and Carlos Gonzalez and their two children was consumed by a fire Friday morning that also burned their three vehicles and
spread to a neighbors' manufactured home. (Photo by Doris Newman)
Devastating fire destroys
2 families’ homes, vehicles
Strong winds prevailed in an early
morning blaze that destroyed one fam-
ily's home, consumed their vehicles and
spread to a second family's home east of
Mineola.
The structure fire was reported to the
Mineola dispatcher at 4:12 a.m. Friday.
It was two miles east of the Mineola city
limits on the south side of Highway 80.
Mineola Fire Department responded
and those first arriving found the two
houses and cars already burning.
MFD Public Information Officer Steve
Finley guessed that the wind was blow-
ing 15 to 20 miles per hour. He said
when he turned onto Highway 80 go-
ing east toward the fire he could see the
blaze from town. He arrived after other
firefighters and described quite a scene
with the fire blazing over the treetops,
apparatus spread out over the highway
and a large amount of embers floating
across the median and to rooftops on the
other side of the highway.
No injuries were reported either to
the families or firefighters. The family
homes of Forena and Carlos Gonzalez
and Nohemi and Mode Vega were de-
stroyed by the fire. The Gonzalez family
also had three vehicles - a 2007 Chevro-
let Silverado, a 2011 Ford Taurus and a
1986 Silverado plus trailer with mowing
equipment - destroyed by the fire.
Forena Gonzalez said she was awak-
ened by her daughter, 15-year-old Feslie,
yelling "fire." She thought it might have
been some sort of small fire but when
she stepped out of her bedroom the hall-
way was filled with smoke. "There was
so much smoke you couldn't see any-
thing," she said.
Forena called out for her son that he
needed to get out, and all of the fam-
ily escaped through windows of their
home. "We were all choking. The smell
was terrible."
She said they had a smoke detector
in the the three-bedroom home, but it
didn't go off until they were all outside.
The family got out in the pajamas they
were still wearing and managed to grab
Forena's and Carlos' phones and her
purse.
She feels bad for her neighbors, and
said she called the dispatcher back be-
cause it seemed as if it was taking the
fire department a long time to arrive
and told them while she knew her house
See DESTROYED, Page 4A
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Two sisters of the family who lived in this home look through the debris for any possible salvageable items. What remains of the frame of the Gonzalez home,
to the east, can be seen in the background.
Friends saddened by death of James Dear
By DORIS NEWMAN
The Monitor Staff
The passing of a pillar of Mine-
ola occurred this past week with
the death of James Dear.
Mr. Dear died last Tuesday at
the age of 97. His funeral was
held Saturday at the First United
Methodist Church.
News of Mr. Dear's death was
posted at the source of many memo-
ries of him - on the marquee of the Se-
lect Theater. "So long old friend" it
said. It was where he started work-
ing when he was 12 years old and
when he returned from serving
his country during World War
II he returned there. He worked
there in some capacity for 58
years, and he and Truman Thom-
as were owners, operators of Se-
lect Theater until they both retired
and donated the business to the Fake
Country Playhouse.
Mr. Dear was born on May 15, 1916 in
Mineola to Sam Houston and Nancy Car-
roll Dear. He graduated from Mineola High
School and was a lifelong resident. When he
was drafted into the Army he served in the
intelligence service for the Allied Air Forces
during World War II. His job was to inter-
cept German code and he won the Meritori-
ous Achievement Award for intercepting the
code responsible for destroying the last group
See DEAR, Page 8A
05 243 1 ‘
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Newman, Doris. Mineola Monitor (Mineola, Tex.), Vol. 139, No. 06, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 5, 2014, newspaper, February 5, 2014; Mineola, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth655519/m1/1/: accessed July 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Mineola Memorial Library.