Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 17, No. 72, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 24, 1982 Page: 1 of 12
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MICROFILM CENTER
PO K3X 45436 ,
DALLAS tx 75245
28 PAGES IN 3 SECTIONS
THURSDAY
EDITION
Vol. 17, No. 72
June 24. 1982
BURLESON^STAR
25s
For Mail Delivery
295-0486
Two Hats Are
Better Than One
This campfire girl is painting bright colors on her paper airplane with two hats to
protect her from the sun. The girls' two-week long camp at the Bransom Ranch
ends Friday. During their stay they will have learned about archery, morse code,
smoke signals, and dozens of other crafts and techniques. More Campfire pictures
next week.
Venue change nixed
CLEBURNE—District Judge C.C.
(Kit) Cooke Monday rejected a request
of defense attorneys for a change of
venue in the capital murder trial of
James Edward McBride, 21, and Maur-
ice Ellision, 17, both of Cleburne. Cooke
ordered a new trial date set for Sept. 13.
The two men are charged with the
rape-strangulation death of an 81-year-
old retired school teacher, Mildred
Emily King, in her Cleburne home on
March 6.
The men went on trial May 17 and six
jurors had been sequestered in the first
week of impaneling a jury. Cooke
declared a mis trial on May 26, when
witnesses testified that one of the defen-
dant’s brothers had threatened a ju-
ror’s daughter at Cleburne High School.
Defense attorneys, Curtis Pritchard
and Buzz Dulick, Dick Turner, and Bob
Sparks, sought the change of venue,
arguing that prospective jurors might
feel intimidated by the knowledge of the
alleged threats.
Relatives of the two defendants also
had urged attorneys to seek the change
of venue.
Judge Cooke’s ruling came after a
day-long hearing Friday in which area
news media and law enforcement offi-
cers testified unanimously they be-
lieved a “fair and impartial” jury could
be found among Johnson County citi-
zens. Judge Cooke deliberated over the
weekend and announced his decision
Monday.
County Attorney Dan Boulware, who
will be sharing prosecution duties with
District Attorney John R. MacLean,
concurred with the judge’s ruling. He
said Monday the county probably saved
$100,000 by keeping the trial in Johnson
County.
Courts in the 249th Judicial District
were mentioned as possible trial sites,
as well as courtrooms in the Wichita
Falls area.
• a •
Another lady in waiting
By KEVIN JONES
Inside the protective cover of the
trees that surround her home—among
her three dogs, five cats, and a lamb—
Sara Brink’s life seems to be peaceful,
almost placid. But for three 24 hour
shifts every week, she sits and waits at
the Regional Ambulance office in
Burleson, waiting for a disaster or
tragedy to happen
Burleson’s first female emergency
medical technician knew that emergen-
cy ambulance work was what she
wanted to do as early as age 15.
“I worked as a volunteer at John
Peter Smith Hospital and I saw a lot,”
she said.
What she saw changed her: she found
that she was one of those people who
don't get emotionally affected, .when
disaster strikes.
“You just disassociate yourself from
the wreck or whatever it is,” she said.
“You think about what you have to do
next, always thinking ahead of your-
self. Your mind always has to be click-
ing. You test yourself in an emergency;
see what your limits are for doing all
you can to save a life.”
WHEN NOT OUT on a call, she
spends her shifts doing needlework,
watching TV, playing Pac Man at the
7-Eleven or riding around the city. But
whatever she is doing, she is never
without what she calls her “handy
talkie” to let her know about a call
within seconds.
The combination of emotional and job
strain burns out the average paramedic
in four years, she says.
“There are a lot of pressures,” she
admits. “You get calls that are not real-
ly emergencies, just people who have
been sick for six months but suddenly
decide they want an ambulance to take
them to the hospital.”
Lack of respect is another thing am-
bulance personnel must cope with.
“People don’t know what we do,” she
said. “It isn’t recognized as important.
They think we just load and go. But we
don’t anymore; we stabilize the patient
before we get to the hospital, and that's
the best way."
PERHAPS THE greatest strain is
due to the nature of the job itself.
County told to
maintain road
By DORIS E. WILSON
Lace Lane, just southwest of
Burleson, is officially a county road—
and, as such, must be maintained by a
county commissioner.
That’s the opinion of County Attorney
Dan Boulware. He said Tuesday he did
not need to consult the Attorney
General of Texas for a ruling as he had
been asked to do by the Johnson County
Commissioners' Court.
He said he just looked it up in a law
book.
"There’s two ways,” he explained,
"that you can give a road to a county.
With a formal dedication by the owner
and an official acceptance by the coun-
ty, or the county accepts the road by
implication by going out and working
on it.”
BOULWARE SAID IN this particular
instance that’s what happened to Lace
Lane. It had consistently been repaired
by county road crews from 1973, when
the road was offered by Russell Lace,
until 1981, when Pet. 2 Commissioner
A.J. Lambert of Joshua learned it
might not be a county road since it had
not been officially accepted by the
county.
Lambert “inherited” Lace Lane from
former Pet. 2 Commissioner O.B.
Hadley of Joshua. He said when he
learned the road had not been accepted
formally, he stopped repairing it. Pet. 3
Commissioner Loyd Reese will get the
road from Lambert Jan. l, 1983, when
re-districting lines become effective.
“I can understand Lambert’s position
on this matter,” Boulware said, “but it
is clarified now.”
THE MUCH-TRAVELED Lace Lane
became a controversial issue during a
recent Johnson County Commissioners’
meeting, when Henry Eder of Route 5,
Burleson, appeared before commis-
sioners asking that something be done
about the impossible, impassable
potholes.
He told commissioners that not only
motorists are inconvenienced by the
holes in the road and possible extensive
vehicle damage, but mail routes and
school buses are also affected.
Since commissioners were in doubt
as to ownership status, they asked
Boulware to seek Attorney General
Mark White’s opinion to determine if,
when county work has been performed
on a private road or a public road, does
that allow the county to then maintain
either road; or if a road is an integral
part of the county road system, can it
be taken over by the county
Boulware said he met with Eder after
the commissioners’ meeting and went
over the matter with him to Eder's
satisfaction.
REESE AND LAMBERT said they
would abide by the official ruling in the
future.
So now that the legal ownership of
Lace Lane has been determined and it
is established who must do the repair
and maintenance work on it, the next
question is “when?”
“We may have only won half a war,’’
one Lace Lane resident told Tin- Star.
“We still have to get it fixed.”
Record rates sought
AUSTIN—In the largest rate hike
request to ever come before the Public
Utility Commission, Southwestern Bell
Monday filed for $471.5 million in new
rates.
The rate increases, if approved,
would mean that phone customers in
Burleson would pay $13.50 for the basic
residential charge each month instead
of the current $8.90. Business custo-
mer’s in Burleson would pay $27 instead
of the present $21.45 if the PUC grants
its approval.
OTHER INCREASES in rates would
include:
—The minimum installation charge
which would go from $43.70 to $63.85.
Those customers who would need more
extensive installation work could pay
as much as $95.50. The new installation
charges would generate an additional
$38.4 million.
—The reduction in the number of free
calls to directory assistance from 10 to
three per month. After the third call,
customers would have to pay 25 cents
for each call. $18 million a year would
be gained, phone officials said.
—Instituting a new charge of $6 for
each bad check written. Bell officials
said that $6 approximately covers the
administrative costs of handling a dis-
honored check. Currently the expense
of handling returned checks is recov-
ered from all customers.
The company estimates that the new
charge will result in new annual reve-
nues of $1.3 million in Texas.
—Increased private line rates, re-
structuring of WATS rates making all
classes of WATS paying the same
per-hour rates, and increases of PBX
system charges.
THE PROPOSED increases drew fire
from many Texas consumer groups.
The Texas Consumer Association dis-
puted Bell’s claim that local rates are
underpriced. Don Butler, representing
the Texas Municipal League, said that
Southwestern BeR had offered nor proof
to back up the assertion that the local
service rates had to be increased. The
rate hike will not affect long distance
rates at all.
The phone company claims that local
rates have been underpriced for many
years because of national policies im-
plemented 50 years ago to assure that
all U S. residents could afford tele-
phones. Bell officials said that % per-
cent of Americans have residential
phone service now.
Butler also criticized the large in-
crease in phone installation charges.
He said the minimum charge of $63.85
for a customer who picks up a phone
and plugs it in himself without help
from the phone company was out of
line. Phone officials said that the new
rates would more adequately reflect
the actual costs involved in providing
new service.
A NEW CUSTOMER at present pays
a $27.60 service ordering charge and a
$16.10 central office access charge for a
total of $13.70 for a residential phone
that he picks up at a PhoneCenter and
installs himself with existing jacks.
Under the proposed increases, he
would pay $40 service ordering charge
and $23.85 central office access charge
for the total of $63.85.
Local telephone service rates would
increase from $7.15 to $11.75 for a
one-party residential phone in Alvara-.
do and $16.95 to $23.50 for business
phones in that city. Bell customers in
Cleburne, Joshua, and Keene would see
their monthly rates increase from $7.40
to $12 for one-party residential service
and $17.55 to $24 fqr one-party business
phones.
Residential one-party lines in the
Fort Worth directory area, including
Burleson, Crowley, Arlington, Ever-
man, Mansfield, and other surrounding
cities, would go from $8.90 to $13.50 for
one-party residential service and $21.45
to $27 for one-party business lines.
Customers who rent Bell equipment
also pay a monthly instrument charge.
THE NEED FOR adequate earnings
on Texas investment was the major
factor in the $471.5 million in new rates,
according to utility spokesman.
“We must have adequate earnings on
our ^exas investment,” Paul Roth, vice
president-revenues and public affairs,
said. “Yet, the rates in effect today do
not even produce the 11.79 percent
return authorized by the Public Utility
Commission. We’re earning only 9.27
percent on our investment, which is far
below our real need.”
Southwestern Bell is asking for a
return of 13.09 percent on investment in
this state.
“We’ve increased sales, we’ve im-
proved productivity, and we’ve worked
at holding down expenses," Roth said
“However, continued cost increases
impact our cost of doing business ”
“We deal with death all the time,”
she said, “and we all have tricks to cope
with it. I try not to think about it. I
figure there’s a reason for it. I’m not a
religious fanatic, but I guess somebody
somewhere wanted him. It’s something
that happens to everybody.”
What about cases like a mother dying
in a wreck and leaving three children
injured but alive on the roadside?
“Then I just get mad,” she said.
Sara thinks she will defy the statistics
and not burn out in four years, or any
time in the forseeable future.
“I love it,” she said. "I love helping
people. I just don't think it will happen
to me.
“I’ve seen a couple of them who did
burn out. They get where they can’t
feel. They build up their defenses so
long because of having to deal with the
pain and suffering that they just stop
feeling
“It won’t happen to me. I haven’t lost
any compassion yet, and I don’t think I
will. I want to stay in this business all
my life; when I get older I want to be in
administration. But I will still go out on
calls This is the thing I want to do.”
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Moody, James. Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 17, No. 72, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 24, 1982, newspaper, June 24, 1982; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth761090/m1/1/: accessed June 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Burleson Public Library.