The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 205, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, February 4, 2000 Page: 4 of 4
four pages : ill. ; page 23 x 14 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
4 — THE HOPKINS COUNTY ECHO, Sulphur Springs, T^xas, Friday, February 4,2000
GOMMUNITYNews
. A \
'& '“S'
Reports From Our Area Correspondents
o,
SULPHUR BLUFF
By Jimmy Bassham
I hope no one is experiencing any
lingering “cabin fever” after our
recent blast of winter. County roads
appear to be passable, although many
of us in northeastern Hopkins County
received several inches of snow and
sleet Residents reported numerous
power outages and broken tree limbs.
R.M. Harper reported that he was
successful in finding alternative
means of warmth while his power
was off for quite sometime. My in-
laws, the Goswicks, spent some qual-
ity time with us after a two and one
half day power outage.
In a telephone conversation with
my buddy Leo Cooper of Mahoney,
we discussed how unusual this Jan-
uary weather has been, until this past
week. Leo has been bitten by the flu
bug and is feeling a little under the
weather. But. he is looking forward to
planting a garden in the spring. Keep
those good thoughts, Leo.
Jackie Elmore is at home with
pneumonia. We wish you a speedy
recovery, Jackie. Our thoughts are
with this wonderful cousin. •
Susan Arrington, at Alliance Bank,
reminisced about her childhood
recently. It seems she has fond mem-
ories of bobsledding in a Number 3
wash tub at the Reilly Springs farm of
her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs.
Archie Slone.
Do not forget the Sulphur Bluff
Volunteer Fire Department fund rais-
er on Saturday, Feb. 5. at 6 p.m. at the
community center. Hamburgers and
hot dogs will be served. Donations
are definitely appreciated, so please
come out and support our fire depart-
ment.
Today is the official Groundhog
Day. Hopefully, spring is around the
corner. Happy birthday to Hazel Huie
and Tator. Goldie Mills reports that he
is anxiously watching for that ground-
hog. Sybil Deaton and son. Benny,
are hoping that the recent weather
change will eradicate the fire ants and
arnHy worms and bring a pest free
spring.
Please have a good week. Join me
next week with more news from the
Bluff.
TIRA
By Palsy Shaw _
The Tira City Council met Tuesday
night. Mayor John Hadley conducted
the meeting. The Council voted to
encourage donations for use of the
community center and to install
reflectors on the driveway entrances
and to purchase a new refrigerator
with ice-maker.
City Council
election set
for May 6
Three seats to be
decided this year
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK__
At least one incumbent Sulphur
Springs City Councilman intends to
seek re-election this year, while two
others have not made up their minds
yet.
City Council members set a Satur-
day, May 6. election date for three
seats on the city’s governing panel
during Tuesday's regular council ses
sion. The seats up for grabs are cur-
rently held by Bill Watts. Ronnie Wil-
son and Bill Burney.
Watts, who is concluding his first
term as Place 3 councilman, said after
Tuesday's meeting he will seek
another three years on the council.
“Yes, 1 intend to run again." he
said. “I'm proud of my record and I
think we've accomplished a lot with
this council."
Wilson, a retired veteran who won
his first term by defeating two other
candidates without a runoff in 1997,
said he is undecided about a re-elec-
tion bid for Place 2. but is leaning
towards another campaign
"I think we've done a lot of good
things the past three years —a lot of
good things." he said Tuesday night.
Place 1 Councilman Bill Burney,
who is serving his sixth year on the
panel, said Wednesday morning he is
still >ondering whether or not to seek
a thi d term on the council.
"I just haven't made up my mind
vet." he said
dy one other council member,
jnerous Bell, has served on the
ounc* longer than Burney.
Filingyfor one of the three seats on
he council begins Monday, Feb. 21,
nd contirmqs through Wednesday,
(torch 22. AlS^ats are at-large and
or three-year t<
Those wishing to af^?l?Ni|Lthe bal-
01 should contact City___
iharon Ricketson at 885-7541. ..
ants must have been a resident of
ex as and Sulphur Springs for the last
2 months They must be 18 years of
ge or older, mentally competent and
ot have been convicted of a felony
or which they have not been par-
loned.
Mayor Hadley presented these pos-
sible goals before the council for the
year: Redirect the water that runs on
the fire station driveway; police prop-
erty for rocks, concrete block and
dangerous debris before shredders
start mowing; purchase a larger out-
door sign; paint front and back doors,
fire station doors and odd color chairs
to make color consistent with our col-
or scheme; instil under counter hot
water heater; replace ceiling tile;
install new coat rack; pursue authori-
ties for Community Center Charter;
spray for poison ivy when spring
arrives; offer posts and wire from the
area to anyone who will remove them
from the property; purchase a new
refrigerator with a ice-maker. These
goals were approved by the council.
This was a good meeting.
The Birthday Bunch met at Bur-
ton’s Cafe on Jan. 22 to celebrate
Evelyn Werstien and Judy Silvey’s
birthday. After a delicious dinner,
they opened gifts and cards, and pic-
tures were made. Attending were
Ruby Gray, Maxine Patterson, Inez
Patterson, Lee Crain, Pat Penebaker,
^Dorothy Duncan, Nina Oxford, Max-
'i«g«Garnmill, Freddie Mills. Also
attending were Barbara Rogers, Lor-
raine Westbrook, Juanita Booth and
the birthday ladies.
Inez Patterson’s sister, Gladys
Stevenson of Irving spent last week
with her. They visited family and
friends in Honey Grove, Commerce
and Mount Pleasant. Tuesday, their
brother-in-law, Horrace Norris treat-
ed them to a T-bone steak dinner and
Jeanette Welch joined them.
I was amazed at the creative ways
some of the folks found to keep warm
last week. L.V. and Melba Lawson
brought their fish fryer inside and
cooked on it and heated their den
with it. Jo an Gwen Kamey put on all
the clothes they could handle and
used lots of bed covers. They have a
fire place, but were not prepared and
had no wood cut. Donna McQueen's
family cooked primitive meals on
their fireplace. Billie and Bill Moore
just went to bed with lots of covers.
This was certainly hibernation time.
Friday everyone must have begun
to have house fever and ventured out
to shop or just get out for awhile.
Sonny's Cafe finally had electricity
and was open Friday night. We went
by for some ol their good fish. Lots
of folks were there. Our waitress,
Kelli, said Sonny’s is open on
Wednesdays through Saturdays.
Occupying the table next to us was
Jimmy and Carolyn Clifton front
Dike. They were excited about their
new grandson, Brady Crouse. At their
table was Johnnie and Reta Sterling
from the Airport Road area. At the
table next to them, we saw Carl and
Debbie Bryant from. Nelta. A big
birthday party was happening at a
table close, by celebrating Jackie
Bowles’ birthday. Bobby and Jane
Price were eating at a table across the
room from us.
REILLY SPRINGS
By Bobby McDonald
“Ice” is the word. Seems like the
only thing that anyone is talking
about this week is the ice storm We
experienced the latter part of last
week. The storm almost shut every-
thing down.
Even though I have to get out and
feed cattle, I have always enjoyed an
ice storm, that is unless it lasts too
long. The countryside is transformed
into a beautiful winter wonderland
and 1 want to think that this is God’s
way of telling all of us that it is time
to slow down. Have you ever noticed
that if in the few days preceding an
ice storm, someone had told you that
you needed to take a couple of days
off, you would have assured them that
you did not have the time. Well, when
all means of travel are brought to a
crawl, stores are closed and in many
instances, electricity is non-existent,
we are forced to relieve ourselves of
some of the stress and strain in life.
We tend to slow down and take note
of really how truly blessed we afe.
Another aspect of an ice storm that
really surfaces is the fact that all of us
are dependent on each other. I heard
of several people who contacted
elderly members of the community to
make sure they were doing all right
and tend to their needs. Then, there
were many people who were sharing
their homes with those without heat
and their generators to get cattle
milked and to keep things in opera-
tion. It is times like these that we all
are reminded that we are truly our
brother’s keeper and just how special
the members of the community really
are.
When seeing how long it took the
ice and sleet to melt, I was reminded
of what Dreyfus Harrington used to
say. He said that if it took the ice
more than three days to disappear,
you would have another ice spell.
Dreyfus was quite a weather prophet
and had watched the seasons come
and go many, many times, so I guess
we need to anticipate another spell.
Many residents in the community
were out of electricity for a prolonged
time. Reports of outages from six to
thirty hours were common in the area.
You could nearly trace the problems
to the many ice laden pine trees
throughout the community. As beau-
A Look At The Accomplishments Of Our Young People
Scramble winner
Ryan Lane Evans of Miller Grove FFA was among the winners at the
Fort Worth Stock Show Calf Scramble. He won a $500 certificate
toward the purchase of a registered heifer for a year-long 4H or FFA
project. He is the son of Ricky and I^iri Evans of Cumby. The spon-
sor w as Moor+South of Lake Forest, III.
Certificate winner
Shannon Nicole Lytle of Miller Grove FFA wao among the
at the Fort Worth Stock Show Calf Scramble. She won a
tiflcate toward the purchase of a registered heifer tor a year-tou* 4H
or FFA project. She la the daughter of Mike Lytle of Cam by. The
sponsor was Vann-Roach Cattle Company of Fort Worth.
tiful as they are, those are usually the
“culprits” during an ice storm.
Vera Harrington was attending a
Beef Council meeting in Phoenix,
Ariz., when the storm hit and spent
many frantic hours on the phone try-
ing to operate her dairy via long dis-
tance. Her employees were without
electricity and she wanted to thank
Rayford Fouse for the use of his gen-
erator that kept things going.
I missed much of the ice and snow
here. I was attending the Fort Worth
Fat Stock Show and serving as one of
the official judges for the Dairy Judg-
ing Contest. We got some sleet and
ice, but not near as much as was
experienced in East Texas.
Blake Fisher showed his cattle at
the Fort Worth Show and was accom-
panied by his dad, Bryant Fisher.
Blake won the Champion Brown
Swiss Showmanship Award in the
Junior Division. While they were in
Fort Worth, J.R. Fisher was at home
taking care of the dairy and started to
town on'Thursday morning to get calf
milk, he slid into the ditch near the
Ron Tosh place. He was not injured
and just messed up one of the mirrors
on his truck.
Peggy Smith of Corsicana visited
in Sulphur Springs this week and took
her mother, Luvena Owens, and her
sister, Janie McLarry, out to eat, while
her husband, Jack, visited with his
dad at Hopkins House.
Virgil Strayhom has ended his
career in the Navy. He and his wife,
Teresa Newby Strayhom, and daugh-
ter, Sidney, have returned to Reilly
Springs.
Remember the meeting on Feb. 5,
concerning the Reilly Springs Volun-
teer Fire Department, to be held at the
community center at 7 p.m. We need
everyone to bring their ideas and sug-
gestions to the meeting. County Com-
missioners Beth Wisenbaker and
H.W. Halcomb will be attending to
offer their aid.
Word has been received that Mrs.
Willie Ruth Boggs Dixon passed
away over the weekend. She is the
daughter of Calvin Boggs. She grew
up and attended school in Reilly
Springs. Services are scheduled for
Wednesday at Murray-Orwosky
Funeral Home in Sulphur Springs.
We extend our sympathy to the Dixon
and Boggs families.
Ellie Swindle is reported to be
doing some better following her trip
to the eye doctor in Houston. She is
still having problems with her eyes
and is scheduled for surgery in Febru-
ary in Fort Worth. Remember Lllie in
your prayers.
Marilee Fisher was admitted to
Memorial Hospital on Monday after-
noon with complications from her
recent surgery. Qiye her a call at the
hospital or check with Bryant and the
boys on her progress.
In closmg, all of us should be
reminded rif the spectacular display of
God’s prtsWfctf™ our lives as He so
brilliantly khoWed us with the beauty
of nature tMff week. We truly are
a blessed grbtip of people to live and
work in such a beautiful section of a
free nation. lf'
~ ’ ■ ■■ _
ARBALA1
By Cmtkff Hatter_
In spite’ of the cold, icy night,
Arbala Community Center was full of
area residents who showed up for the
annual Shirley Water Supply District
Banquet. After a meal of barbeque
with all the trimmings, the yearly
membership bu&mess meeting was
held. During the meeting an election
was held to replace two offgoing
members of the board. Glen Roach
was elected, to .replace the position
vacated by L«ry Fite and C.W.
McCoy replaces the position vacated
by E.L. Beardon.
During the meeting, a placque was
presented to Junior Beardon in honor
of his long time service and dedica-
tion to the Shirley Water District. It
seems that Mr. Bearden has worked
diligently with the Shirley Water Sup-
ply since 1965,! Due to illness Mr.
Beardon could not be present at the
banquet. Long time friend and co-
worker, Elton Stewart, accepted the
plaque in his absence.
Another item of interest that you
may be proud to learn is that during
this meeting it was mentioned that
when compared to rural water dis-
tricts this size, Shirley Water District
rated as the best tasting water. Way to
go.
Congratulations to Amanda Darden
who recently made the sixth grade
AB honor role at Sulphur Springs
Middle School for the last six weeks.
Keep up:the;gpod work Amanda.
Last week prior to all the snow and
wet conditions, Arbala Volunteer Fire
Department (responded as mutual aid
to the Miller Grover area to help con-
tain a grass fire that consumed fifty or
so acres. AVFD along with firefight-
ers from Miller Grove, Brinker, Cum-
by and the Attack 20 crew spent sev-
eral hours getting the fire under con-
trol.
Even though 1 grew up in an area,
middle Tennessee, that snow fall and
ice was a pretty normal occurrence in
the winter, I never got used to being
without electricity. When I was a
child' and we heated our home with a
wood stove. The power outage didn’t
really present a big problem other
than missing out on cartoons. But last
weeks power outage did present a
problem, especially if you lived in ah
all electric house as many of us do.
For 30 hours more or less most of the
folks around her^were without elec-
tricity. Some of the neighbors had
fireplaces and even the good old
wood burning stoves. That helped out
a lot. We were lucky enough to have
a generator. So even my kids got to
watch their cartoons. The house was
probably all of 50 degrees inside, but
they got their cartoons. And they got
to build a snowman.
I want to send a quick thanks to a
couple of dear neighbors who took
pity on my cold kids and husband by
bringing them a meal of homemade
chili while I was at work, without a
moments rest, they were roughing it
at home!
Sarah went to bed the night before
the snow and ice came and said a
prayer for the snow. She was happy.
I recently received a little news
about former parish pastor Brad Ben-
nett and wife, Jayne. They are still in
New Mexico and seems to be staying
very busy. Brad is working hard on
completing his education and has
plans to be ordained as an Elder on
May 26, in Glorietta, N.M., during
the Annual Conference Sessions. Dur-
ing all this busy work Brad has found
time to pursue his love of music and
song by singing with the Sangre de
Cristo Chorale.
Jayne is also continuing her educa-
tion and is currently working for a
court reporting firm in Albuquerque.
Don’t forget about the upcoming
first Friday night dance at the com-
munity center. The dance starts at 7
p.m. A live band will be on hand to
provide a night of lively entertain-
ment.
Arbala Kids Klub will also meet
this week as usual. Last week, once
again a large crowd of boys and girls
were present for a night of Christian
fellowship.
Several members of the communi-
ty were on hand for a meeting to help
settle any questions about the pro-
posed site of a boot camp on County
Road 1186. You may see more about
this in upcoming issues of the News
Telegram. Much information was
shared by concerned residents of the
area. More news of this next week.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to
the family of Mr. Edgar (Ruby)
Nichols who passed away and was
buried this Monday. Mrs. Nichols is
the sister-in-law of Mrs. Vernon Tur-
ley. .....
See you next week with more from
Arbala. Stay tuned.
New sign ordinance given
final approval by Council
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK
on Van Sickle Street from single fam-
_ ily to mWiirtomily.
City Council members approved Willmann, a former member of the
the final reading Tuesday of a new city’s planning and zoning commis-
ordinance governing signs in Sulphur sion. warped that changing the zoning
Springs after amending the wording classification for a single tract of land
to allow for larger placards in profes-
sional office zones.
Tuesday's meeting also included a
debate on zoning philosophy.
Dr. Phillip White, whose office
near Hopkins County Memorial Hos-
pital is located in a single family
zone, noted the ordinance would lim-
it signs for professional offices to no
larger than 32 square feet. He said
many medical offices had existing
signs that were closer to 50 square
feet, but were to scale with the size of
the buildings.
Johnny Vance, director of commu-
nity development, said White’s con-
cern would actually fall under the
heading of a zoning issue, and sug-
gested White seek a zoning change
for his property.
White said he was not opposed to
in a single family zoning area was
“inappropriate.”
“It can be construed as spot zon-
ing,” he said. “Multi-family should be
a buffer zone between single family
and commercial [zones].”
He argued multi-family zoning can
create a higher density of population
in an area that resources like water,
sewer and streets were not designed
to handle, ,( V,
“I think it’s a mistake, and it could
come back to haunt us,” he said.
Powers countered that the rezoning
request was made by someone who
was creating something new in an
area that has seen little development.
The property owner has said he
intends to build a duplex house on the
land, i! ■. j n u i •
Willmann, however, said there was
wniie NdlU lie Wd3 UVM uppvovu sv/ " ------------- —
applying for a new zoning designa- a danger in letting economic constd
tion for his office property, but he erations drive a decision on zoning.
didn’t know what zoning to seek, as
professional offices were still limited
to 32 square feet signs.
“I would like the council to consid-
er the impact of this on any business
in a professional office zone,” he said.
The initial vote to approve the ordi-
nance as written failed by a 4-3 vote,
with Ronnie Wilson, Valanderous
Bell, Larry Willmann and Bernice
Fitzgerald voting against the measure.
Willmann then proposed an amend-
ment that would allow signs of up to
55 square feet in professional office
zones. That motion passed by a unan-
imous vote.
In other business, council members
sided with a recommendation by the __ -
city’s planning and zoning commit- expect a
sion not to install sewer lines that ’ihat'
“The economics of an issue should
never offset a zoning issue,” he said,
pointing optriiat changing the zoning
to mufti-family means the property
could house anything from a small
duplpxto a mufti-unit apartment com-
plex. If. fill1'
“I’m not worried about this proper-
ty because it> a duplex,” Powers
countapd, “l might be concerned if
it’s a 1,000-uml apartment complex.”
“But when you zone something
multi-family, you don’t determine the
use.”' WiNrtslmn said. He also noted
that approving the request sets a
precedent for others to purchase prop-
erty in the area, where the dominant
use is far single family homes, and
r zoning change,
hot be a bad idea if it
businesses
[stimulates dWWopment],'
said, “fo'fbbietil world, we’d like to
see an ari^dstt is somewhat run
down... aoi tome development, when
the alternative is to do — "
Tmjuat
stive is to do nothing.”
st shying you're walking <
t ground,” Willmann said
would service several
along State Highway 19.
Business owners had petitioned the
city for the new lines that would
allow some of the operations to
expand, but the coat proved pro- -------
hibitive. The planning and zoning dangerous ground, JgjDmaan said,
commission recommended council , The toning request was approved
members torn down the request, and by a 64) vote Willmann, who lives
dm anscri immummsly ^ned Ttaes- nemby on Coonally Street, abstained
Amy from voting.
in other matten. Willmann and Council members also heard a
Mayor Larry Powers engaged in a report on an upcoming capital
debate on zoning philosophy when improvement project on Jackson
rWwtpj a request/torezooeproperty Street between College mid Church
and Houston streets, will include
street overlays, and replacement of a
drainage culvert, curb and gutter, and
brick manhole covers.
Stage II, between the Kansas City
Southern Railroad tracks and Park
Street, will focus on the replacement
of water and sewer mains and con-
structing concrete curbs and gutters.
Stage III wil include the replace-
ment of 1,500 feet of water and sew-
er mains and a new street overlay.
Curbside meetings will be held
with residents in each of the stage
areas to explain the proposed plans of
action. The first was to begin at 1
p.m. today at Stage I.
In a report on the progress of the
city’s capital improvement plan. City
Finance Director Peter Karstens said
valuable data on cost estimating that
will allow the CIP to be administered
at maximum efficiency was being
gathered.
Karstens especially commended
Customer Service Representative
Gordon Frazier and Capital Construc-
tion Supervisor Russ Nuss for helping
establish a reliable system that will
reflect real costs for the capital
improvements project and keeping an
eye on the CIP budget.
Karstens also said Vance was sav-
ing the money by embarking on the
most efficient avenue for the projects.
He noted that a pre-construction test
on Davidson Street located a “soft
spot” that could have cost the city
additional money if a private contrac-
tor had been hired to do the job,
instead of the city’s own crews.'
“Normally a contractor would just
pave over it, it would fail a yeW later,
or they would cM^bsSk and ask for
a change order,” Karstens said.
“Instead of the problem only costing
us $15,000 more, it might have cost
$40,000 more.”
Council members also approved a
deferred compensation program for
city employees. The plan, similar to a
401k plan used by private businesses,
will allow city workers to place part
of their salaries into investment
options. Unlike the 401k, however,
there will be no marching contribu-
tions from the city.
In other action, council members
agreed to appoint Cart Bryan to fill
the unexpired term of Economic
Development ' Corporation board
member Mary Bonham, who has
resigned.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Keys, Scott & Lamb, Bill. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 205, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, February 4, 2000, newspaper, February 4, 2000; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth779801/m1/4/: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.