The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 52, Ed. 1 Friday, December 26, 1986 Page: 1 of 4
four pages : ill. ; page 24 x 15 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
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SULPHUR SPRINGS, TEXAS, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1986.
4 PAGES - 25 CENTS PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
SSISD teacher pay about average
By BOBBY BURNEY
News Telegram Staff
Classroom teachers in the Sulphur
Springs Independent School District
are paid close to the state average
and slightly more than most districts
of similar size in the region, ac-
cording to a report from the Texas
Research league.
SSISD teachers made an average of
$21,788 in school year 1984-85, the
report stated. The state average for
that year was $23,281.
The report, which was compiled
through budgets submitted to the
Texas Education Agency by all public
school districts in Texas, lists the
average salary for administrators in
the SSISD as $35,027, which is about
$2,700 below the state average.
Compared with other school
districts of similar size in this region,
Sulphur Springs teachers are paid
slightly better than most.
— The SSISD average of $21,788 in
1984-85 was $1,000 more than Paris
and Palestine paid, $700 more than
North Lamar, $1,600 more than
Liberty-Eylau, and $300 more than
McKinney; but was about $2,900 less
than Mount Pleasant and $1,400 less
than Kilgore.
In Region VIII, which includes all
school districts in 11 counties from
Bowie to Hopkins, the average salary
for classroom teachers was $21,136;
for administrators, it was $33,700.
The base salary for teachers and
administrators required by the state
is $15,200, according to Floyd Hen-
dricks, a representative of the state
finance office.
Every year that an educator
teaches, that teacher moves up a
level on the-pay scale. There are il
levels. _With each step, the salary
increases $1,140 to a maximum
required level of $26,600, Hendricks
said.
TJje SSISD Board of Trustees voted
this year to increase teachers’ sup-
plements $1,140 over last year’s base
salary, which also increased under
state law. Sulphur Springs teachers
receive a $1,560 bonus for having a
master’s degree and a $1,160 bonus
for a bachelor’s degree, according to
Paul Glover, SSISD assistant
superintendent of business.
“We pay better than anyone in the
county, and we are very competitive
with other districts our size in^the
area,” Glover said.
According to information from the
SSISD. the athletic director, who
serves a dual role as head football
coach, receives the most sup-
plemental pay in the district.
Superintendents of other districts in
the area indicated that is not un-
common,.
Mount Pleasant Superintendent
Jack Murray said that most districts
view that pay scale as a com-
plimentary investment. If the sports
teams are doing well, then the school
brings in more in gate receipts and
thousands of dollars for every playoff
game.
‘Pretty well, coaches’ jobs are out
on the-line every Friday night,”
Murray said. “In return, if the
athletic programs are doing well,
then the whole image and morale of
the district improves.”
Murray added that Sulphur
Springs’ pay was “not out of line with
what’s common.”
The highest salaries in the state
were being paid in oil-rich West
Texas and in the Panhandle, ac-
cording to the the report.
For example, the highest teacher
average in the state was in the Iraan
ISD — $29,818. Iraan is located in
desolate Pecos County in far
Southwest Texas and has an
enrollment of 600 students.
New diocese includes local Catholic Church
Country postmaster
Tommy Holcomb retires in January from his position as
postmaster of the Sulphur Bluff Post Office. HolcOmb has
managed the hub of the small rural Hopkins County post
stop for 30 years. He says what he'll miss most about his job
is visiting with the people who come in for mail and friendly
Conversation. —SI*H Photo by K»r*nTurpen
o
Sulphur Bluff provides
the good,life for
retiring postmaster
By MARY GRANT
News Telegram Staff
By KAREN TURPEN
News Telegram Staff
lufe is kinda slow in Sulphur Bluff
and it's about to get even slower for
Tommy Holcomb.
But that's OK with him, he likes it
that way.
Holcomb is retiring Jan. 2 as
postmaster of the Sulphur Bluff Post
Office, a position he has held for
nearly 30 years.
He says he'll miss his work some.
Actually, he admits, he'll miss seeing
all of the 60-odd postal patrons who
stop by regularly at what is one of the
town's two gathering points and
gossip stops. The other is the town
grocery and feed store that sits next
door.
Holcomb is an amiable fellow — a
tall, lanky, cowboy-looking sort with
a friendly smile and warm eyes that
sparkle when he speaks of the town he
was born in, its people and his life
there.
"Far as I know, there’s no other
place,” he said. “It's a nice com-
munity, and the people are real
nice.”
His life has been rolling along at an
easy pace since he returned to his
hometown in 1946 after a short stint in
the Army.
He took up oil field work then and a
job as a substitute rural mail carrier
for the Sulphur Bluff PO. When he
heard the postmaster, W.O. Barker,
was retiring in 1948, he put in for the
position and, as he said, "they
checked him out and me in.” He
served as officer in charge until he
officially became the postmaster in
1957.
Holcomb's day begins early at the
two-story, white frame building that
used to be a drug store. It now serves
as the post office, which occupies one-
third of the bottom floor, and the
Sulphur Bluff Masonic Ixxlge, which
occupies the second floor.
Mail arrives about 7:15 a.m. and is
sorted by Holcomb and his lead
replacement, Doris Williams. There
are approximately 100 postal boxes in
the building, about 60 are rented, and
about 250 rural boxes around the
Sulphur BlufI area of Hopkins
County.
Once the boxes have been stuffed
and the rural carrier dispatched, the
rest of Holcomb's day at the post
office “is just routine," he said.
"Whatever you can get in Sulphur
Springs, you can get out here...plus
friendly service and a smile,’'
“Sometimes we even * lick the
stamps for'em,” Williams added
The routine part of Holcomb’s day
consists priiTrmjjv of swapping in-
formation with the locals. He sells a
few stamps here and there too, and,
as he puts it, mans the “Sulphur Bluff
information bureau." It's where
anybody who comes through town
and needs information stops, he said.
On a typical day. box-holders begin
arriving early, anxious for their mail.
“They stand around for a time and
say 'Well, haven’t you got my mail in
yet,' and Well, hurry up then,' "
Holcomb said “Then when they get
it. they’ll hang around and talk fof a
while.
“Then, at about a quarter to eight,
all of a sudden, they’ll all be in here.
Then the first thing you know, you're
all by yourself again."
There's plenty of room for hangin'
around and talkin’ in the wood-floor
post office parlor. Only two pieces of
furniture take up space — a worn,
wooden, high-legged, slanted-top
desk for writin’, addressin', stamp
stickin' or whatever else must be
taken care of and a space heater
whose top sags heavily from years of
the weight of cold behinds seeking
warmth in wintertime.
In the summer, a long, white
wooden bench on the front porch
provides the perfect spot for glancing
through the day's mail and discussing
the weather or the cows.
Weather and livestock are the two
main topics of conversation at the
post office, Holcomb said. "It's either
too wet or too dry, too hot or too cold.
And, of course, there’s those that talk
cows, because that’s all there is
around here, either dairy’ or beef.”
Nothing very exciting ever happens
at the post office, Holcomb said,
although he remembers a day not too
long ago that a car full of Liechten-
stein natives stopped by for a chat.
The Crown Prince of Liechtenstein,
Prince Hans Adam, owns half of a
paper company that owns 17,000
acres in Hopkins County three miles
north of Sulphur Bluff. The visitors
were “eompadres” of the prince,
Holcomb said, who asked questions
about the town and the postmaster.
Holcomb plans to slow down a bit
once he retires, he said. “I’m going to
tend to my cows and just goof off."
He’s got about 50 acres in Sulphur
Bluff and "some leased around at
different places." He raises cattle,
but when asked how many he was
hard-pressed for an answer.
"I’ve got too many to feed and not
enough to sell," he said.
He’ll also become even more of a
permanent fixture at Sulphur
Springs' Little league ballparks than
he was last summer, he said Five of
his seven grandchildren live and play
ball there, and their biggest fan is
their grandfather
The plans to create a new diocese in
Tyler next year is not expected to
cause any changes in the local St.
James Catholic Church, the Rev.
Emil Novak said.
“The only thing is that we will have
to report to Tyler instead of Dallas,”
he noted.
However, he added, that the
establishment of a diocese in Tyler
will bring a closer relationship for
local parishioners to the new bishop
“It will definitely be more
regionalized," he said
Sulphur Springs will be the
western-most boundary for the newly-
created district that will extend from
Lufkin north to Tyler, Sulphur
Springs, Paris and to the borders of
Oklahoma; Arkansas and Louisiana
“The territory is huge," Novak
said.
A priest in the San Antonio Roman
Catholic Archdiocese will become the
bishop of the new diocese.
Monsignor Charles E. Herzig is
currently vice chancellor and
director of the tribunal of the San
Antonio Archdiocese. He will be
ordained archbiship on Feb. 17,
church officials said Tuesday.
The bishops of Texas requested and
Pope John Paul II granted the
creation of the new diocese in East
Texas because the 32-county area
was not being served adequately by
the dioceses in Dallas. Houston and
Beaumont, San Antonio Archbishop
Patrick Flores said.
“Bishop-elect Herzig is a very-
dedicated individual with a clear and
incisive mind," Flores said. “He Is a
good moral person, reflecting the
virtue of poverty in his lifestyle.
“He has a great rapport with his 1
fellow priests and is loved by us all.
His health is in excellent condition,"
Flores said.
He said the Catholic population in
the area is about 45,000 and growing
Novak said that the number of
Catholics has doubled in the last 10
years in the Dallas area.
Herzig was born on Aug. 14,1929, in
San Antonio.
He studied at St. John’s Seminary,
Assumption Theological Seminary
ana at st. Mary’s University, all in
San Antonio.
He was ordained a priest on May 31,
1955, by Bishop Robert L. Lucey.
Herzig was associate pastor at
several parishes.
He was financial secretary to
Archbishop Lucey, 1956-66; vice
rector of St. John’s 1968
Ad supplement nets praise
By MICHAEL PELRINE
News Telegram Statt
County cites
employee service
Employees of Hopkins County have
been honored for their years of
service.
Patricia (Pat) Ann Barr was
named employee of the year and
given a plaque. The courthouse will
also display her name and that of
each person named in succeeding
years.
Receiving a 35-year award were
County Clerk Mary Attlesey and
precinct employee Weldon J. Holder.
Serving for at lest 20 years are
County Attorney John F. Perry and
Betty Elaine Green.
Winning 15-year awards were
Floyd Lawson and Eugene Collins.
Those employees who have served
for at least 10 years are Janie Crump,
Howard Crisp, Debra Sue Shirley,
Betty Lou Moon, Ola Beckham, Jesse
Orr, Frank Burns, Freddie McIntosh,
William Wayne Mobley, Lanny
Ramsay, Jimmy Rowland and
William Bauman.
Receiving five-year certificates
were Gordon Ford, Barbara Sanders,
Imogene Jacobs, Floyd Joslin,
Thelma Lunceford, Kim Keen, Opal
I^ee Brinlee, Fan Stacks, Mary
Campbell, Sybil Mitchell, Buford Ray
Wesson, V.D Romans Jr., Sandra
Hathcox, Betty Moore. James Keller,
Billy Carpenter, l-eon Suns, Tommy
Wood, Daniel Lee Eppars, WC
Joslin, Lee Ray Ferrell, Luther Jack
Petrea, Sharia Evans, B.F Chap-
man, Joyce Shaw, Billie Hose
Chapman. Bettie Hall and James
Goodman
The News-Telegram received
notice recently when an international
advertising service recognized the
publication’s advertising department
for its March 1986 Family Owned
Business supplement.
“This is really quite an honor,”
advertising director Johnie Har-
dgrave said.
Metro Associated Services, Inc. of
New York City provides art work to
newspapers and other publications
for use in advertising.
In the January 1987 edition of its
monthly trade magazine, Metro's
Plus Business, editor George Weiss
stated, "This Family Owned
Business Section has been one of the
most successful and rewarding, being
well received by both advertisers and
readers."
The '86 supplement is the second of
its type The News-Telegram has
published. Hardgrave said, and in
both sections Metratari was utilized.
“Metro asked to have some special
sections in which we used some of
their art." Hardgrave said. “About a
month later we got a call from
George Weiss who said he was going
to write an article in their
magazine."
Hardgrave stressed that the special
section was a team effort on behalf of
the advertising department, which is was written by April Foran of
composed of Larry Campbell, Joy Country World, and photographs
Porterfield, Paula Swindle and were taken by Richard Hail of The
Louanne Hammons. Editorial copy News-Telegram.
Hospital gaining
MD anesthesiologist
The Hopkins County Memorial
Hospital Board of Directors made
two moves Thursday night that
hospital Administrator Donald
Magee called “positive" steps in
providing services for patients.
Magee announced that the hospital
has secured the services of a medical
doctor of anesthesiology to head its
anesthesiology department.
The doctor, who will start Feb. 1,
will “render a great service,” the
administrator said.
“It is a positive step forward for the
hospital to have an MD
anethesiologist on staff and to be in
charge of the department," Magee
added. "He will render a great ser-
vice to the hospital."
The board also approved a bid of
$1211.882 for two pieces of ultrasound
scanning equipment which should be
in operation by the end of the year,
Magee said.
The RT3600 ultrasound machine
and an RT3600 cardiac ultrasound
unit with accessories are “big steps
forward in terms of service," he said.
“We should have the units here
before the end of the year and we’re
excited about the potential they have
for improving our service to our
patients."
A bid by Galyean Insurance
Agency for a $13 million policy on the
building and contents and liability
coverage was approved bv the board.
The total bid was $21,476.
Four pulse oximeters were OKed
for purchase from Novametrix for
$12,400. Also, a bid for a defibrillator
for the operating room was approved
at$6,200.
A bid for two lots for a clinic for Dr.
Roger Bothwell were accepted by the
board.
%
M
Favorable review
News-Telegram advertising director Johnie
Hardgrave, left, and ad salesman Larry
Campbell review The News Telegram's
Family Owffed Business section published
in March this year — that was favorably
reviewed by an international advertising art
service from New York* City, Metro
Associated Services, Inc.
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Keys, Clarke & Hillsamer, Dave. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 52, Ed. 1 Friday, December 26, 1986, newspaper, December 26, 1986; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth775409/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.