The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 104, No. 34, Ed. 1 Friday, August 24, 1979 Page: 1 of 8
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MICROPILM center INC
PO box *5*35
DALLAS
TX 75235
Sjje Hopkins (TounTj} Edjer
(ABSORBED THF. GAZETTE CIRCULATION BY PURCHASE. MAY 12. 1928)
VOL. 104—NO. 34.
SULPHUR SPRINGS, TEXAS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 1979.
* PAGES -10 CENTS PC BUSHED EVERY FRIDAY
Cooper Lake backers plan rally
Explaining the system
Assistant superintendent Danny Durham went over the policies breakfast at Bowie School, the teachers gathered at the Civic
of the Sulphur Springs system with all the new teachers |oining Center to attend various work shops.
the system this year. After Wednesday's general meeting and -staff Photo
Council drops funding
requests from agenda
City Commissioners dropped four items
from their agenda, tabled two and passed
eight items Tuesday evening at the
Municipal Building.
Items dropped or withdrawn from the
agenda included a request from Ben
Dickerson for $10,000 for improvements to
the Senior Citizen Center on College
Street, repairs to the Wastewater
Treatment Plant and training for plant
personnel, a deferred compensation plan
for city employees and the approval of a
director of finance.
Tabled items included a request of
Herschel Witherspoon to widen and curb
and gutter two lots on Gilmer Street and a
resolution authorizing the city to enter into
a contract with Barber-Brannon and
Associates of Tyler concerning the
Community Development Block Grant.
Following an executive session of
almost an hour, the commissioners named
John Wilkes as the new Director of Public
Works. He will be sworn in at the next
session of the City Commission.
The rezoning of property at 116 Hodge
belonging to Kenneth Jenkins was passed
on second and final reading and a request
of T.F. Lumsden to rezone the back por-
tion of property ait 1111 Industrial Drive
was approved^ on first reading.
Mayor Millard Glover was named as the
signatory agent for the HUD-financed
Community Development Block Grant
program and City Manager Lee Vickers
was authorized to join with other cities in
the Texas Municipal League in contesting
the gate rate request from Lone Star Gas
Company. Vickers told the commissioners
that the legal action will cost the city
slightly over $200.
In the commission’s final action of the
night a resolution authorizing Vickers to
submit an application for a federal grant
under the Energy Impacted Area
Assistance Program was approved.
Vickers left for Austin early Wednesday
morning to discuss the program with
federal and state officials.
School lunch prices Increased
New superintendent hired;
V
board boosts tax rate
It became official Monday night.
Ed C. Stevens was formally approved as
the new superintendent of schools for the
Sulphur Springs Independent School
District and the tax rate was increased 19
percent. The actions previously were
announced as pending.
Stevens, 37, a Louisiana native who has
been assistant superintendent-instruction
in the Duncanville system in Dallas
County, was given a three-year contract
with a salary of $34,000. Board president
Tim Kelty said that he also will be fur-
nished a car and allocated in and out of
district expenses.
The tax rate will be $1.25 per $100
assessed on 100 percent of market value.
Previously, the rate was $2.10 on 50 per-
cent of value. The ad valorem tax rate will
be divided 88 cents for local maintenance
and 37 cents for debt service. All board
members approved the tax increase in a*
record vote.
Bob Cody, representing the Hopkins
County Boys Baseball Association Inc.,
appeared to request use of about 16.5 acres
of the high school grouhd to construct a
four-diamond baseball complex for night
games. He suggested use of the area
facing Highway 19 and north of Grocery
Supply Co.
Following a discussion of the project,
Kelty appointed a panel of Judy Gilreath,
Johnny Dobson and Tommy Allison to
study the proposal and make a recom-
mendation to the board.
The board approved the amended
budget for 1978-79 and then voted adoption
of the 1979-80 budget which projects ex-
penditures of $5,421,361. Revenues are
expected to total $5,617,538.
Transfer of five students into the
Sulphur Springs district was approved
following* a discussion of guidelines in-
volved and circumstances surrounding
individual cases.
Mrs. Baird’s Bakeries Inc. was awarded
contract to supply bread products for the
Water shortage next
crisis, official says
Water will be the next crisis for
America, Carl Riehn, general manager of
the North Texas Municipal Water District,
said Tuesday.
When it comes, it will make the present
energy shortage in the nation pale by
comparison, he added as officials of in-
terested agencies in the Cooper Lake and
Reservoir project urged a new wave of
public support for the long-delayed water
program.
To develop that support in a visible way,
the various agencies agreed Tuesday to
hold a giant public rally Oct. 2 in Sulphur
Springs, with state and federal political
figures and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers to be included. .
Planning for the rally began Tuesday as
the Sulphur River Municipal Water
District hosted a meeting in Sulphur
Springs. Walter Helm, president of the
district and one of two Sulphur Springs
representatives on the district board,
asked Riehn — a former Sulphur Springs
city manager — to recap the reasons for
the rally.
“Water affects our very lives, much
more than energy,” Riehn said. “People
attempting to block water development
just don’t understand the crucial position
of water. Man has to have it.”
Such projects as Cooper Lake are thus
vitally important to the entire region,
Riehn noted, but especially so to the im-
mediate area which will be relying upon
the reservoir for a major portion of water
supplies in the future.
“The Cooper project is finally at the
time when it can be built,” Riehn added.
“There are still problems to be solved, but
with the transfer of the project to the Fort
Worth office of the Corps of Engineers,
year. Foremost received the contract to
furnish milk.
The board approved the free and
reduced eligibility scale for students in-
volved in the child nutritions program and
raised the price of lunches. The kin-
dergarten through five grade lunch prices
advance from 45 to 55 cents. Middle School
lunches go up from 50 to 70 cents. High
School students will be paying.80 cents, up
20 cents. Adult prices will go from 90 cents
to $1.12.
Breakfast prices Were standarized at 30
cents for students in all grades.
Mrs. Rickie Elliott, lunchroom super-
visor, reported 29 percent of the students
received free lunches last year.
Resignations were accepted from Tricia V
Sellers, Kathy Crowson and Beth Largin.
The board confirmed the employment of
teachers Kimberly Fimbel, Ella Brown,
Sharon Benson, Rebecca Hathcoat, and
Angela Hamm, who wfflbe the girls coach
and health teacher at high school.
City receives safety award
For the sixth consecutive year, the city
of Sulphur Springs has been presented an
award from the Southwest Motor Club of
the American Automobile Association for
the city’s achievement in the prevention of
pedestrian fatalities and injuries.
Sulphur Springs has been without a
pedestrian fatality for six years, in ad-
dition to its record of few pedestrian ac-
cident injuries.
“The citation is one of more than 350 top
citations to be presented by AAA clubs
across the country in the motoring
federation’s 40th annual Pedestrian Safety
Inventory,” says Charles A. McCasland,
the Southwest Motor .Club’s represen-
tative.
“More than 2,750 cities and 25 states
participated in the AAA survey which
evaluates and recognizes outstanding
pedestrian safety achievements of par-
ticipating communities for the previous
calendar year,” he said.
All of the communities participating in
the AAA program are judged with others
of comparable size and characteristics
according to McCasland. “Sulphur
Springs was one of 906 cities reporting in
the population group 10,000 to 25,000,” he
said.
Program areas evaluated included the
maintenance of accident records, safety
legislation, enforcement, traffic
engineering, quality of school traffic
safety programs and active public in-
formation and education programs.
Sulphur Springs. Police Chief Delbert
Harrell reports that the group of cities that
Sulphur Springs was compared against
had an .average pedestrian death rate of
2.4 per 100,000 population and a pedestrian
injury rate of 44 per 100,000.
“Here in Sulphur Springs we had a 1978
pedestrian injury rate of 18 per 100,000
population and of course a zero death
rate,” Harrell said.
“We’re real proud to have be,en cited for
the sixth consecutive year and hope to
continue our good record,” the chief said,
“but to maintain that record every driver
has to be watchful for pedestrian traffic
and drive with the utmost safety in mind.”
Clements okay in
Howard's analysis
“I found Gov. Bill Clements to be
one who cared about fulfilling those
things that he had promised to do,”
said State Senator Ed Howard
Tuesday at noon when he spoke to the
members of the Sulphur Spring# Lions
Club.
Howard, who has just finished his
first session of the legislature as a
senator, said that the first Republican
governor of the state in 105 years had
problems changing from big business
to government but had “an excellent
staff — in fact, it was the best in the
years I’ve served in the legislature,”
he said.
“The people who opposed him, did
not oppose him because he was a
Republican but on the issues,”
Howard said of the conservative
governor.
“I was surprised by the volume of
mail, telephone calls and the volume
of work required as a new senator,”
Howard said. He explained that he
should have expected that amount of
work as he represented 14 counties
and approximately 400,000 con-
stituents. “And those citizens are
vocal and let you know about the
issues and matters that they are
concerned with,” he said.
The District 1 senator, who took the
place of the retiring Dean of the
Senate, A.M. Aikin Jr., reported that
there were 4,000 bills and resolutions
presented to the legislature with 890 of
those passed and 47 being voted by
Gov. Clements within the 140-day
session.
Howard reported that he had been
against the issue to raise home
mortgage rates, for foe mandatory
liability insurance tot' drivers that
was defeated, and against pari-
mutual betting and legalization of
bingo.
He said he would have opposed the
blue law elimination if it had gotten
out of the House and was against the
substituting of generic drugs by
pharmacists.
“It’s the physicians’ responsibility,
not the pharmacists’,” said Howard of
the latter bill. He also cited variations
in quality control by some
manufacturers and studies that did
not conclusively show that generic
drugs were as effective as brand
name drugs being prescribed by
doctors.
“We didn’t give the teachers as
much of a pay raise as they wanted or
as much as we would have liked to,”
he said but dted the budget for the
state which was $20.7 billion for the
biennium — an increase of 25 percent
over the previous like term and the
school financing act which provided
an increase of $943 million more than
for the previous term.
State Representative Smith E.
Gilley was also present at the Lions
Club luncheon held at the Women’s
Building.
Views on governor
State Senator Ed Howard of Texarkana was the guest speaker at the
Lions Club Tuesday at their noon luncheon. He told those present that
working with the first Republican governor in 105 years was no
problem, but that those who opposed Gov. William P. Clements did so
on the issues, not the fact that he was of a different part, affiliation.
—Staff Photo
there are some people ready to work for
completion.”
The October meeting will be designed v
both to hear representatives of the Corps
explain their planned schedule for
progress and to give evidence of public
support for the lake development.
"We want to have enough facts ready for
the citizens to learn what the problems are
and how they will be resolved, and also to
have the citizens show how they feel about
it,” Riehn said.
Helm said that the participating
agencies hope to have upwards of 1,500
people on hand for the rally, which will be
preceeded with a barbecue.
There will be no charge to the public for
either the meal or the meeting. Helm said
that it is hoped that wide-spread television
coverage of the event can be arranged to
underscore the public reaction.
“There is a need to impress upon the
Corps of Engineers how strong the people
in this area feel about this lake,” Helm
said.
In addition to the SRMWD and the
NTMWD, agencies that will be
cooperating in the rally will be the cities of
Irving and Texarkana. All four agencies
have water storage rights or the
equivalent in the proposed Cooper Lake.
The development by the Corps of
Engineers, Riehn explained, will first be
directed to preparation of an En-
vironmental Impact Statement that meets
all the requirements of law as interpreted
by Federal Judge William Wayne Justice.
Progress on the project has been enjoined
by Judge Justice since 1971 on a filing
made by environmental interests. Last
year the judge found foe submitted EIS
deficient in five major areas.
“We hope that the Corps will be able to
overcome these five points,” Riehn said.
“They have indicated to us that they will
be ready to lay out their time schedule for
this accomplishment by early October.
“Of couse actual work on revising of the
EIS will take many more months.”
But the U.S. engineers really need to see
public interest and participation in order
to commit a large portion of the Fort
Worth staff to working on the EIS, he said.
“Water has a direct effect upon the
standard of living of all of us,” Riehn said.
“Even in the present energy crunch,
virtually every viable solution requires a
larger volume of water.
"Texas is a water-short state, but has
emerged with a strong economy because
of programs that have developed water
resources.”
More details of the Oct. 2 session will be
forthcoming, with the SRMWD heading up
the planning. Helm and Lowell Cable, the
other Sulphur Springs representative, will j
be in charge of the planning. The event \
will be held at the Hopkins County \
Regional Civic Center.
Local man
arrested in
arson case
“It was the end of a long hard in-
vestigation by this department and the
Texas Rangers,” said Sulphur Springs
Police Chief Delbert Harrell Wednesday
morning of the arrest of Jessie Lee Shaw
for the July 23 arson of the Billy Ray
Wrllace residence at 600 Lee St.
Shaw, 30, of 320 Beckham was arrested
at 1:07 p.m. Tuesday in Wool Alley by
Texas Rangers Fred Cummings and Uoyd
Johnson. Harrell and Ranger Ralph
Wadsworth were checking at Shaw’s
residence when he was apprehended by
the two rangers.
The suspect was taken before Justice of
the Peace Bill Bauman who set bond at
$50,000 in the arson incident.
Shaw is employed by Wallace at his
dairy near Como.
Mrs. Kay Wallace mysteriously
disappeared on July 12 on a reported trip
to Dallas Her 1979 two-door coupe was
found about two miles east of Rockwall
parked on the shoulder of 1-30. The car was
virtually out of gas with the keys in the
ignition and her purse in the car.
Although rumors have run rampant
throughout Hopkins County, law officers
say they are no closer to finding the
missing woman than before.
Kay Wallace is described as being about
5’6” tall, weighing about 155 pounds with
short blonde hair.
The family has posted a $5,000 reward at
a local bank for information leading to her
recovery.
* *=
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Keys, Clarke & Woosley, Joe. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 104, No. 34, Ed. 1 Friday, August 24, 1979, newspaper, August 24, 1979; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth780772/m1/1/: accessed July 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.