The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 105, No. 44, Ed. 1 Friday, October 31, 1980 Page: 1 of 4
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EDALMX 1 12-31-99 00
MICROFILM CENTER. INC.
P.O. BOX 45435 c
DALLAS TX J
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Sfic llopkitts Cotmfjj grfjo
(ABSORBED THE GAZETTE CIRCULATION BY PURCHASE MAY 12, 1928)
VOL. 105—NO. 44.
■ n ---
SULPHUR SPRINGS, TEXAS, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 91,1980.
4 PAGES -15 CENTS PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
City calls $2.2 million bond issue
By JIM MOORE
News-Telegram Staff
A 92.2-million bond election to finance
water treatment plant improvements in
Sulphur Springs has been called for Nov.
22
City commissioners took that action
Thursday night and hired the firm of
Kindle Stone & Associates of Longview to
handle the engineering of the proposed
expansion.
Joe' Harle of Kindle Stone told the
commissioners that the firm is estimating
a cost of 91,830,000 in actual construction
for the enlargement of the water plant to a
7-million gallon per day facility and other
related projects. The remainder would be
for engineering and contingencies.
Dan Almon of the firm of Rauscher,
Pierce, Refsnes, Inc., the city’s financial
advisor, presented a resolution calling for
the 92.2-million bond election on Nov. 22
and indicating that the city would issue
general obligation bonds that would rely
upon the revenues from the water and
sewer departments to pay for the bonds.
He said that such bonds however are
guaranteed by taxes and that the city
would have to increase taxes to cover the
costs if for some reason there was not
enough revenue from the two departments
to cover the payments.
He said that the city would have to in-
crease its water and sewer rates about 94
per month based on 4,800 connections, <fi>
about 47-50 cents on the tax rate based on
the city’s 950,478,000 assessed valuation, or
some combination of the two.
Harle said that the plans include raw
water pump station improvements which
would include the purchase of one ad-
ditional pump, installation of that one plus
another the city now has on hand, and an
interconnect which would allow the city to
pump from either Lake Sulphur Springs or
Century Lake as the need arose. The
estimated cost of that project would be
950.000.
A second part would be an IB-inch raw
water supply line from a point near the
pump station to the Water Treatment
Plant that would cost approximately
9140.000.
Harle said that this would allow the city
to still have plenty of water coming into
the plant should either the new line or two
other lines now in place break.
The existing two lines are tied into each
other at present and if one were to break,
the city would be without raw water to be
treated.
The new line would increase the raw
water input to the plant from 5.5 million
gallons per day to 8 or 9 million per day.
He said the new line would provide for
the city’s requirements through 1995,
based on present estimates.
A third phase would be a 2-million gallon
underground storage tank for treated
water and the fourth step would be ex-
pansion of the plant itself to a 7-million
gallon per day plant from the existing 3
million gallons per day of treated water.
The expansion of the plant would include
two additional clarifier units, a new filter
unit and equipment additions.
A sewer line to run from the plant to an
existing sewer trunk line would cost ap-
proximately 970,000 and would eliminate
the problem of what to do with sludge from
the plant.
The Sulphur Springs plant has been cited
numerous times by water quality agencies
for the sludge accumulation from its
lagoon.
An Environmental Protection Agency
grant had been sought to build a line from
the plant to the Waste Water Treatment
Plant but the grant was denied under final
funding.
The engineering costs for the project
would amount to 9140,450 and a 15 percent
contingency fund would be included to take
care of problems that might arise.
Harle said that Kindle Stone “felt
comfortable with the estimated costs and
felt that they were high enough to take
care of any increases due to inflation
between now and when the project was
completed.’’
Harle said that the raw water pump
station work, the new supply line and the
ground storage tank would be the top
priorities and work could begin as soon as
the bond issue was passed.
He said the completion date would be by
Oct. 15,1981, and told the commissioners,
“We’re going to fast track this project and
try to get it all built by next summer. ’ ’
Harle said that approving agencies
usually take at least 30 days to approve
such projects but he felt that priorities
could be obtained to move the approvals
through more quickly.
Commission Chairman Lewis Helm said
that he still felt that it was more important
to build the underground storage first but
Harle said that the problems at the plant
have been related to not being able to get
enough water to the plant.
Harle said that the entire first segment
of the project would be pushed through the
various agencies as fast as possible and
that the underground storage would
hopefully be started at the same time as
the pump station and raw water line im-
provements.
Part two of the project would include the
sewer line and the expansion of the Water
Treatement Plant itself with the con-
struction to begin about Oct. 15,1981, and
be completed by Oct. 15,1982.
• Following the presentation, the com-
missioners approved a resolution hiring
the firm for the work, conditional upon the
successful passage of the bond issue by the
electorate.
Almon said that the city would be paying
about 9 percent interest on the bonds and
said that the bond market has seen fluc-
tuating interest rates.
“Inflation and deterioriation of the
public confidence’’ were the reasons
Almon gave for the fluctuating market.
City Manager Marshall Shelton said that
increased water sales and cost reduction
programs at the plant would help to reduce
fhose amounts and Almon explained that if
the city should get aid through some
federal or state agency in the project, it
also would help to decrease the costs to the
citizens.
Financial Director Travis Owens said
that in 1979 the city sold 868 million gallons
of water which generated 9925,858 in
revenues and in fiscal year 1980,91,085,150
was generated from the sale of 895,000,000
gallons of water.
Almon said that the 92.2-million bond
issue figure would allow for extra ex-
penses that might crop up while at the
same time, the city fathers would have the
option of not selling any or all of the bonds
which would reduce the amount to be paid
back.
The financial advisor is to report back to
the city with plans on how to finance the
issuance if passed.
The computer on the farm
Dr. Dan Webb of North Carolina State University prepares for a
computer transmission by telephone line as he talks to local
Dairy Herd Improvement Association members Tuesday
morning, explaining a new technology that may help dairymen
improve the status of their operations. With the use of a small
computer terminal that hooks into the main computer banks in
North Carolina by phone, a dairyman can have "on-line" access
to DHIA data files for information on cow production and other
dairy-related material. The information lists may be con-
structed to the dairyman's individual specifications, Webb says.
-Staff Photo
McKenzie said that the acquisition will
be operated as a separate corporation,
with Steve Shing, formerly of Sulphur
Springs, as the manager. Shing formerly
was a sales representative for Grocery
Supply in Northeast Texas, Arkansas and
Southeast Louisiana. He and his family
have already moved to Fort Worth from
Sulphur Springs.
Panther Distributing Company has its
own 40,000 square foot building. It serves
Fort Worth and Tarrant County and
outlying districts, making sales mainly to
grocery stores, restaurants and hospitals.
Local company buys
Ft. Worth firm
Grocery Supply Company of Sulphur
Springs has purchased the Panther
Distributing Company of Fort Worth and
has assumed operation of the business,
Mickey McKenzie, president, announced
Saturday.
The Fort Worth firm, known in the trade
as a “cash and carry” operation in the
wholesale business because it does not
have a delivery system, was founded in
1933 and has been family owned since that
time.
Jack Maloney Jr., 55, son of the founder,
sold the business to Grocery Supply.
Computer calls cows
By JOHN GORE
News-Telegram Staff
Computer technology is making inroads
into just about every phase of life. There
are computers that play games, figure the
family budget, turn on the lights, control
the heat and some that even make the
coffee in the morning.
Most people not involved in agriculture
still think of the farm as a family operation
with mom, pop, and the kids doing the
chores and taking care of the animals. But
this is hardly the case with most large
dairy operations and computer technology
is now being applied to the farm to aid the
diaryman in the efficient management of
his dairy herd.
Dr. Dan Webb, with the diary record
processing center in Raleigh, N.C., met
with members of the Hopkins County
Dairy Herd Improvement Association
here Tuesday morning to explain a new
innovation in agricultural computers that
is presently in the field testing stage.
“We call the program ‘DART’ for short.
What that means is direct access to
records by telephone,” Webb said.
Each dairyman in the program, ac-
cording to Webb, will have a small com-
puter terminal on the farm. The computer,
which looks like an electric typewriter
with a few additional keys, can be hooked
up to the main bank of computers in North
Carolina via telephone.
“With this system,” Webb said, “a
dairyman can input cow status, create
management reports, and print out
management reports in a matter of
minutes.”
The DART concept is really pretty
simple, according to Dr. Webb.
“What the system does is gives the
dairyman ‘on-line’ access to their DHI
data file for retrieval of lists of cows —
lists constructed to the dairyman’s in-
dividual specifications. A dairyman can
find out just about anything he wants to
know about his herd. He can keep breeding
records, milk weights, a list of dry cows, or
just about anything he wants on the
computer for a quick reference,” Webb
said.
“When we talk about a dairyman we are
talking about a man with around a quarter
of a million dollars invested in his
business. A computer will provide him
with the information he needs to make
good, sound business decisions and help
eliminate mistakes.”
The DART system is presently just in
the testing stage, according to Webb. The
field test began in August and calls for 12
to 15 herds throughout the southern region,
which includes Texas, to try the system
and make recomendations has to how the
system can be improved or modified.
“We are already working on other
programs,” Webb said. “We are setting up
programs for conception rate, daily barn
reports, input of lab data, and input of test
day data. Down the road aways, we feel
like we could include dairy farm payroll
programs, state DHI program
management, and even state DHI
educational programs that a dairyman
could merely call up. If a dairyman
wanted too, he could even use his terminal
to access systems other than DHIA and get
grain repots, market prices, and other
agricultural news,” Webb added.
Webb says the developers hope to have
Members of the Hopkins County Com-
missioners Court appointed seven men to
the newly created Hopkins County In-
dustrial Development Board, approved the
hiring of Variable Acoustic Corporation of
Fort Worth for work at the Civic Center
and tentatively agreed to a proposal from
Lowell Cable regarding seating in the
Livestock Arena at their session Monday
morning.
In approving the formation of the
Hopkins County Industrial Development
Board, the commissioners were told by
County Judge Joe R. Pogue that the board
would be concerned in assisting the
location of industries in the other towns
and communities of Hopkins County,
outside of Sulphur Springs.
The Sulphur Springs City Commission
formed a similar board for similar efforts
inside the city earlier this year.
Appointed to the board were J.P. Shull of
Texas Power & Light Company, Rick
Palmer of the First National Bank, Ed
Phelps of the Hopkins County Chamber of
Commerce, Cumby Mayor James
Beasley, Como City Councilman David
Carpenter, Jim Holland of Lone Star Gas
Company and Pogue.
The court hired the Fort Worth firm as
consultants for the Civic Center work upon
the recommendation of the Civic Center
Board.
all the “bugs” worked out of DART by next
summer and then begin offering the
system to interested dairymen.
“Whether DART works or not is not
really the question,” Webb said. “The day
of the farm computer is coming. The
computer is becoming more and more
commonplace. It is an effective tool and as
more and more applications become
available the computer will make its way
to the farm. It takes more information to
operate a farm and make the best
decisions. A computer can supply that
information and help the dairyman make
better decisions in less time. As one
dairyman presently in the testing system
told us, the computer can do in three
minutes what it use to take half a day to do
by hand when it comes to the status of his
herd,” Webb said.
Millard Bennett, chairman of that
board, said the firm would be paid ap-
proximately 96.895 to prepare plans to
provide curtains, lighting, etc. for the
Auditorium and sound system work in the
Livestock Arena.
Precinct 4 Commissioner L.T. (Son)
Martin asked, “Do we have the money?”
Pogue told the court, “We’re in pretty
good shape.”
Cable appeared before the body to make
a two-point request.
He asked the court to pay the ap-
proximate 98,900 in shipping costs of
seating for the Livestock Arena; that they
charge a fee to sponsors of activities that
would require use of the seating; and to
designate approximately 93,000 to
payment of a loan to be signed to cover the
balance of the 940,000 that the seating will
cost.
The bleachers are available from a
private school in Hawaii at a reduced
amount. Cable said that at the time the
Civic Center was built, the seating would
have cost 982,000.
“Then it went up to 5100,000 and now up
to over 5140,000,” he said.
Cable has been trying to raise the 940,000
through donations for some time and told
the court, "Donations have been very good
but we still need some more.”
Court names members
to industrial board
Levee, downstream work deleted from Cooper plan
Elimination of further downstream
levee and channel work and procurement
of land to offset possible wildlife losses are
recommended in a report responding to an
injunction against further development of
the Cooper Lake project.
They are among the highlight recom-
mendations contained in a draft sup-
plement to the Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) on Cooper Lake, released
today by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers.
The supplement, when reviewed and put
into final form, will be presented to the
U.S. Federal Court in Tyler in an attempt
to obtain relief from an injunction against
the South Sulphur River project that was
issued in 1978 by Judge William Wayne
Justice. The Cooper Lake site is about 15
miles north of Sulphur Springs.
The supplement responds to all five of
the declared deficiencies in the original
EIS filed by the Corps in 1977. It was
released just one year after the respon-
sibility for Cooper Lake was transferred
from the New Orleans to the Fort Worth
offices of the Corps of Engineers.
The plan tentatively selected in the draft
supplement by Col. Donald J. Palladino,
Fort Worth District Engineer, proposes
deleting 27 miles of remaining authorized
downstream levee work and 35 miles of
authorized downstream channel work
from the original plan.
Also proposed is the purchase of 25,500
acres of land upstream from the Wright
Patman reservoir near Texarkana on the
Sulphur River and White Oak Bayou to
offset adverse fish and wildlife losses due
to construction of Cooper Dam.
The land tract proposed is in a flood
plain upstream from Wright Patman
Reservoir and is under federal easement
at present.
At 1980 prices, the savings estimated by
the deletion of the channel work would be
about 520 million, while the land costs are
estimated at 99 million - resulting in a net
savings of about 911 'million from
previously proposed plans.
However, inflationary pressures since
the first EIS was offered (based on 1974
prices) liave boosted the total estimated
cost of the Cooper Lake and Channels
Project from 968 million to 9112 million.
The draft supplement to the 1977 EIS
released today contains responses to all
five deficiencies mentioned by Judge
Justice in a Memorandum Opinion on Dec.
8,1978.
The supplement contains detailed
evaluations of a “no action” alternative
plus four alternative solutions to identified
flooding, water supply and recreation
problems and needs in the Sulphur River
Basin. It recommends plans to partially
resolve the problems and needs.
In doing so, the Fort Worth office of the
Corps has re-evaluated two plans
previously considered in the EIS of 1977
(reservoir with levees and reservoir only)
and reviews a new water supply only plan
and a comprehensive non-structrual plan
for comparison.
It recommends the “reservoir only”
plan in contrast to the reservoir-with-
levees plan recommended in 1977 as the
best overall plan for meeting project
purposes. In effect, that does not change
the water supply nor flood control aspects
of the reservoir itself from the previous
plan.
The supplemental EIS also responds to
other deficiences cited by the judge by
publishing state agency comments and
responses which were deleted from the
final £lS, displaying full benefit-cost
analysis, and recommending the fish and
wildlife mitigation plans.
Provisions to mitigate net adverse
impacts on the environment, including
recommendations to seek authorization
for the purchase of wildlife mitigation
lands, are included in the recommended
plan. Purchase of wildlife mitigation lands
has not previously been authorized by
Congress in such federal projects and
could not proceed without such
authorization.
Under law, a time period now has been
opened for public comment on the draft
supplement. Written comments may be
addressed to the Army Engineers until
Dec. 15.
The comments on the draft document, as
well as comments on the changes to the
authorized project, will be considered in
making decisions and recommendations in
a final supplemental environmental im-
pact statement which is scheduled to be
filed early next year.
In the meantime, provisions to reveal
more details of the plans to the public will
be taken. These will include a public
hearing scheduled for the Civic Center in
Sulphur Springs the night of Nov. 34.
Copies of the plan supplement are being
made available to a number of sources,
including public libraries in the il-county
area of Northeast Texas that are in the
Sulphur River Basin.
i
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Keys, Clarke & Woosley, Joe. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 105, No. 44, Ed. 1 Friday, October 31, 1980, newspaper, October 31, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth780645/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.