The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 105, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, May 23, 1980 Page: 1 of 6
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(ABSORBED IMF. GAZFTTF. CIRCULATION BY PURCHASE MAY 12, 1928)
VOl. 105—NO. 21.
SULPHUR SPRINGS, TEXAS, FRIDAY, MAY 23,1980
S PAGES -10 CENTS PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
Commission okays*
f
Front Street plan
By JIMMOORE
News-Telegram Staff
Take two engineering firms, separate
the two and keep one.
Blend in one bid for a 48-inch bore un-
derneath a railroad and move it west and
cancel a bid for drainage work.
Add in one bid for paving, curbs and
gutters, modify it just a little and then
award it.
Mix well and frost with City Commission
action and the result is the long-awaited
Front Street project.
Tuesday night Sulphur Springs City
Commissioners accepted a letter of
resignation of consulting engineers
Barber-Brannon of Tyler and formally
employed the Longview firm of Kindle
Stone and Associates on a work order basis
to complete the project.
Larry Stone told the commission that the
bore underneath the railroad that was
objected to by Floyd Berry at the last
meeting had been moved.
He said the moving of that 48-inch
drainage provision to Jackson Street
would allow drainage to be connected to an
existing drain pipe that had been located
just north of the Front Street project.
Former City Commission Chairman
J.D. Franklin told the commissioners that
the drainage had been installed there
several years ago in anticipation of the
Front Street project.
“Let’s try to get this project moving," he
said.
Stone said that the drain pipe had not
been used and was believed to just dead
end at a point north of the L&A Railroad
tracks. He said it flows north and even-
tually dumps into Town Branch.
The Longview engineer said that by
moving the railroad bore, the additional
water would not be sent down the creek
that Berry had complained about and
would present no additional problems
from flooding.
Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG) Coordinator Glenn Wagner said
that the city should utilize a backhoe to
eliminate stoppage at the inlet on Ran-
dolph Street and that should help relieve
the flooding from the creek between
Randolph and Front Street during heavy
rain.
Wagner said that as the bore beneath the
railroad had been moved, $1,500 would be
available for cost overruns on the Front
Street project due to the drainage
clearance work on that creek not being
needed.
Commissioners went with the low bids
on both the street paving and the bore
beneath the railroad.
NETEX Asphalt and Materials (David
Buster Construction Company) was the
low bidder on the construction work with a
bid of $208,636.95 for two sections of work
on Front Street.
Stone told commissioners that a change
order would increase the cost to about
$214,000 but would be within the budget.
McCoy Construction Company of Tyler
was the low bidder for the installation and
boring beneath the L&A Railroad tracks
with a bid of $10,000.
Wagner said that the Front Street
project was off and running and that
construction will begin within 30 days.
Cooper Lake backers
cautiously optimistic
By JOEWOOSLEY
News-Telegram Staff
At the conclusion of a work session
meeting in Sulphur Springs Tuesday which
involved representatives of the U.S. Corps
of Engineers, Sulphur River Municipal
Water District members and city officials,
a feeling of cautious optimism developed
over the outlook for the Cooper Lake
project.
There remain steps to be take that in-
volve the curing of five points in a
memorandum of opinions handed down by
a federal judge and other actions, but the
Corps representatives stressed that their
work was on schedule. They emphasized
that they will do what the federal judge
asked them to do so that the injunction
halting the project can be lifted.
The draft of the environmental impact
statement is expected to be completed in
mid-August. The final supplemental EIS is
projected to be completed and turned over
to the Justice Department by the end of
December. The Justice Department at-
torneys then will be expected to carry the
EIS and supporting documents to Justice
William Wayne Justice in federal court.
Eugene Sikes, Bob Summitt and Richard
Bell, all with the Southwestern District
Office in Dallas, and Shigeru Fujiwara and
Mike Mocek, with the Fort Worth District
Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
expressed confidence in the Cooper Lake
project.
“This project is a viable one," Fujiwara
declared. “There will be a need for the
water in 1990. This is a well-formulated
project."
Fujiwara explained that once the project
is cleared, the engineers will follow the
established guidelines which hopefully will
lead to the construction of Cooper Lake —
possibly by 1990.
Walter Helm, president of the Sulphur
River Municipal Water District, expressed
thanks to the visiting engineers for the
update of progress on the project.
The engineers passed out a 54-page
Cooper Lake Water Supply Study which
listed current supplies and projected
needs.
In addition to Sulphur Springs, Cooper
and Commerce, the City of Irving and the
North Texas Municipal Water District are
hoping to draw needed water supplies
from Cooper Lake. The baseline projec-
tions show that water needs will greatly
exceed current supplies.
Congress authorized Cooper Lake in
1955. The project has encountered
numerous delays, topped off by the per-
manent injunction issued Dec. 8, 1978,
which halted further work until the Army
Corps of Engineers cures deficiencies set
forth in the order.
Much of the acreage for the project on
South Sulphur River in Delta, Hopkins and
Hunt counties has been purchased. The
lake is proposed as a multi-purpose
project, providing water supplies, flood
control and recreation.
Strikers picket phone firm
By JOHN GORE
News-Telegram Staff
Picket lines appeared before the
General Telephone Company offices here
Friday morning as a system-wide strike
went into effect against the San Angelo-
based company.
GTE employees declared a strike and
walked off their jobs at 12:01 a.m. today,
but company officials said management
personnel took over immediately to keep
operations going.
“We’re officially on strike,” said Judith
Lanig, a Communications Workers of
America spokesman, after the midnight
strike deadline passed.
Sulphur Springs GTE employees began
manning picket lines about 6 a.m. Friday
at both GTE offices in town. A spokesman
for the local strikers said Friday morning
that workers plan to stay on the picket
lines 24-hours a day until a new contract is
agreed upon.
A company spokesman said early today
that GTE did not expect any disruption of
service.
According to Rad Richardson, general
manager of the Sulphur Springs facilities,
all services were still being performed by
management personnel Friday morning.
“Under the circumstances everything is
going as well as can be expected,"
Richardson said.
“We have about 20 percent staffing this
morning, counting management per-
sonnel, craft workers who are not mem-
bers of the union and some management
personnel have been brought in from other
areas,” Richardson added.
The general manager said that most
people will not notice any change in the
phone service. “About the only thing we
aren’t doing is routine installation of
phones, or making any routine changes in
already-installed phones. We are installing
phones and changing service, but only on
an emergency basis.”
One of the problems facing management
personel is answering the phone at the
business office, Richardson said. “We are
having some difficulty answering phone
calls from our customers who want to
know what is going on with the strike, and
whether their service is going to suffer
because of the strike. All I can say is that
right now we aren’t having any major
difficulties and phone service will con-
tinue.”
Clovis McCallister of General Telephone
said management personnel were filling in
for operations and technicians throughout
the GTE system. He said they had been
trained in handling the jobs normally
handled by union members.
McCallister also claimed that not all
union members walked off their jobs when
the strike started.
However, a spokesman for the Sulphur
Springs union members said that there
was nearly 100 percent strike participation
on the local level.
Union officials had said earlier they
were not optimistic about avoiding a
strike.
“We’ve taken a look at the new offer and
it stinks,” said CWA spokesman Dave
Kent Thursday afternoon.
The company made a final offer of a
wage and benefit package totaling
$38,386,000 after the union annnounced at a
press conference the old agreement would
not be extended.
“Besides wages, a whole raft of other
issues would need to be resolved...,” Kent
said.
The union represents 8,000 General
Telephone employees in Texas, Arkansas,
Oklahoma and southeastern New Mexico.
More than half work in Texas.
The company said the new contract offer
represented an increase of $1.8 million
over the original proposal.
**•* <
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LOCAL'-tail 1
Smiling striker
Velanderous Ball, a switching technician
with General Telephone, was one of the
striking Communications Workers of
America Local 12171 walking the picket
line Friday morning in front of the
switching station on Oak Ave. Other
union members manned picked lines at
the GTE business office on Shannon
Road as CWA members went on strike.
-ItottPMo
Top Senior Citizens
Nearly 30 senior citizens in Hopkins County were selected by
various clubs and organizations to compete in the Mr. and Mrs.
Senior Citizen contest, a part of the annual "Fun and Frolic"
salute to older Texans here this weekend. Hubert Hicks, 82,
representing the United Methodist Church Omega Group, was
selected as Mr. Senior Citizen, for his years of service to the
community. Mrs. Hilga Chester, 60, of the Sulphur Bluff E.H.
Club, was named Mrs. Senior Citizen. Each recieved a cer-
tificate reflecting the honor in Saturday ceremonies at the Civic
Center.
-Stott Photo
Old-timers saluted for
work in
A two-hour program saluting older
Texans attracted a large crowd Saturday
afternoon in the Civic Center.
Sponsored by the committee on aging
from the Hopkins County Extension
Service, the “Fun and Frolic” program
honored several older residents for their
accomplishments and longevity.
One of the highlights of the program was
the recognition of the outstanding older
citizens in the commumity and the an-
nouncement of Mr. Senior Citizen and Mrs.
Senior Citizen.
Hubert Hicks, 82, representing the
United Methodist Church Omega Group,
was selected by the committee on aging as
Mr. Senior Citizen. Hicks was selected for
the honor for his service to the community
for many years in a variety of ways. He is
probably best known for his ground
keeping efforts of cemeteries around the
county.
Mrs. Hilga Chester, 60, of Sulphur Bluff
received the title of Mrs. Senior Citizen of
the year. She has worked many years
helping others in the county in a variety of
ways, including her efforts in home
councils and rural progress. Both Hicks
and Mrs. Chester recived certificates as
the top older citizens in Hopkins County.
Several other well-known senior citizens
were nominated by various clubs to vie for
the top two titles presented.
Other senior citizens in the contest were
Grover Sellers, Alpha Tau Iota; Rev. W.H.
Townsend, AARP; Ralph Pippin, Miller
Gover Extension Homemakers; Gay
Chapman, Tira United Methodist Church;
More than
a nuisance
Loss of electric power for short
periods may be just a nuisance to
most people, but to Edgar (Red)
Ponder of Sulphur Springs it can
become a matter of life or death.
Ponder was hooked up to his kidney
machine when the power went out
Thursday morning at his home. But
Texas Power & Light Company
responded quickly to Agnes Ponder’s
emergency call. Within minutes, an
emergency portable generator had
been placed in operation at the
Ponder home and a TP&L crewman
stood by to see that it functioned.
jf.' i .4?
County oil output
logs slight boost
Hopkins County oil production
posted a marginal increase in 1979
while that for the state continued its
long, slow decline.
The county is credited with lifting
1,621,070 barrels of crude last year, as
compared with 1,600,000 in 1978 for a
daily average of 4,441 barrels.
Weber Fouts, Dial Study Group; John
Lovelace, Woodhaven Nursing Home; Bill
Passons, Woodhaven; Sterling Beckham,
Hopkins County Ag Workers; Sam Speed,
Hopkins County Rod and Gun Club; and
Thalia Gammill, Arbala Homemakers
Club;
Floy Bennett, Saltillo Home Economics
Club; Margaret Thomas, Junior Waverly;
Esther Long, Hopkins County Nursing
Home; Inez Robinson, South Liberty
Baptist Church; Annie Moore, Sulphur
Springs Nursing Home; Freda Gray, Tanti
Club; Floria Hill, Disabled American
Veterans Auxiliary; Mrs. N.O. Ratten,
Evening Cahpel C.M.E. Church;
Rhena Mclntire, Bluebonnet E.H. Club;
Lorene Fisher, Gafford Chapel E.H. Club;
Maggie Jackson, Lou Ivy Johnson E.H.
Club; Ruby Hargrave, Dike community;
Novis Orr, Cultural Arts and Crafts E.H.
By GENE SHELTON
News-Telegram Staff
Members of the Hopkins County
Hospital District board of directors took
the first step Thursday night on the road to
a much-needed expansion of several
departments at Memorial Hospital.
The board authorized hospital ad-
ministrators to proceed with the paper-
work involved in obtaining permission to
enlarge emergency room, laboratory, X-
ray and inhalation therapy departments.
Cost of the expansion, should approval
be obtained, will not be determined
specifically until directors reach a
decision on which of four submitted plans
would be put into operation. Estimates
are, however, that the cost could go as high
as $1 million.
The district currently has available
$800,000 in bonds approved by voters
several years ago for an expansion
program, Memorial Hospital Ad-
ministrator Glenn Kenley said Friday
morning.
“Because those bonds were approved by
voters for additional beds, rather than
improvements in the areas we are now
studying, the board expressed its intention
to go back to voters and request per-
mission for the bond funds to be diverted to
the new program,” Kenley said. “The
board does not want to spend money voted
for one program in another area without
the approval of taxpayers,” he added.
“Members of the board were emphatic
they wanted to maintain the trust of the
people who support us.”
Kenley said the expansion program
“could require — or not require — a small
Club; Lora Smith, Standard Club; Mrs.
Wilie Grave, Young-At-Heart; W.A.
Jackson, Retired Teachers; and Mrs.
Escar Collins, North Hopkins E.H.
Homemaker Club.
Besides recognizing outstanding senior
citizens the committee on aging saluted
the longest-married couple in the county,
Mr. and Mrs. F.C. Wilcox of Pickton, who
have been married 64 years. A score of
other couples married for more than 50
years were also honored during the course
of the program.
“We were very pleased with the “Fun
and Frolic” this year,” said Janie Crump,
county extension agent and adviser to the
committee on aging. “Every year the
salute to the senior citizens gets a little
bigger and a little better. This year we had
425 people attended the program and that’s
a pretty good showing,” she added.
additional bond issue” depending upon the
expansion plan ultimately selected.
Before any figures can be determined,
however, approval for the expansion must
be obtained from the Heath Service
Agency (Area 7) and from the Texas
Health Facility Planning Commission,
Kenley pointed out.
“The board unanimously authorized the
administration to proceed with the first
step in the program, which is to file ap-
plications with the regulatory bodies. If we
receive approval from those agencies, the
board then will determine which plan to
follow in the expansion,” Kenley said.
“We are extremely overcrowded in
certain ancillary facilities, particularly
the emergency room, laboratory, X-ray
and inhalation therapy departments. It’s a
situation the board has been considering
for many months.”
Kenley said the initial $800,000 in bonds
were not used for increasing the number of
beds for several reasons, the most
significant of which are that the length of
stay per patient has been shortened; there
has been a decline in the number of
Medicare patients admitted; and more
patients are currently being treated on an
out-patient basis than in previous years.
“With all these factors considered, the
board decided the additional beds were not
sufficiently needed and chose not to ex-
pand simply for the sake of expansion,”
Kenley said.
“Now we are faced with an expensive
expansion of our ancillary service
facilities. If we get the go-ahead from the
regulatory agencies and the approval of
the voters, we will be able to upgrade these
departments to adequate levels.”
Hospital takes
expansion step
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Keys, Clarke & Woosley, Joe. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 105, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, May 23, 1980, newspaper, May 23, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth780666/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.