The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, March 3, 1978 Page: 1 of 12
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COOPER—Farmers, ranch*
their families are scheduled to
verge oh Cooper in record nur
Saturday to attend the AIM
Agriculture MovnDMat’ifkrm n
die Civic Center.
The rally is set to begin at It
with a covered dish luncheon
served at noon. . 'j
think I’ve ever done any.ktod of work that
MICROFILM CENTER IKC.
P.0* BOX 45435
DALLAS, TX. 79235
®Ije Hopkins (Cetmfjj
v (ABSORBED THE GAZETTE CIRCULA^ON BY PURCHASE MAY 12, 1928)
VOL. 103—NO. 9.
SULPHUR SPRINGS, TEXAS, FRIDAY, MARCHS, 1970.
12 PAG
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Death watch
OPS Treaper Jack Count* and Kaptat City-Southern worker*- year-old Elaine Turner, an employ*# of H. D; Lee Co. iioro.
Mtrvey what wet left ol e if 77 Buick that collided with a train Taxa* 11 traffic was blocked for more than ah hour after the 7; 30
Tuesday mornlnf about IV* miles was! oMfflnntbaro, killing }2- a.m. accident. ‘ -steHPhwtky joMNOoei
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Accident legacy:
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ajor danger lies behind fhe wheel
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By FRANKSHERROO ^
Now* Tolagrom Staff,
Though conventional wiadorn may hold
poor street design and traffic flow
responsible, moot of the 597 traffic ac-
cidents in Sulphur Springs last year could
have been prevented had driven shown
more caution, a Newt-Telegram study Of
police records show*.
Acddent Investigators died (allure to
yield right of way at the cguse of 154 so-
cidents. while 10S were ceuaod by im-
proper backing, 40 by divers under the
influence of alcohol or drug* and 35 by
following too closely. '
Liquor and drug* tear* factor* in the
three fatal acddent* reported here during
1177. In two cases, the offending drivers
were tried and sentenced to the penilen-
. tiary.
• But while drinking or doping driven
were blamed in IS of the 67 accidents that
left Injuries, failure to yield was cited in
19, leaving police frustrated at the ap-
parent lack of driver familiarity with
traffic law*.
Ona officer, who asked to remain
oqjklMffPad, ppt Mi more bluntly..
"Sometimes it seems nobody (hiving out
than has any sense," he Mid. "They'll
tailgate, they’ll turn without signalling,
they’ll atop in the middle of the street
People don't read traffic slghe or act like it
doesn’t mean them. It’s craoty and it’s
stupid.”
Police
computer record* bear out the!
officer's contention. Besides die top\
ceases, accidents are blamed on speeding,!
running through stop signs and lights,
wide tens, driving on the. wrong aide of
the rand, gross negligence and other
factors Involving operator mistakes.
Absolved from blame, though, were
driven in 14 accidents attributed to
weether conditions. Defective equipment
wn blamed in 21 mishaps
.By far the most Uktef locations for
accideqtB^are stag Gilmer, Broadway,
Industrial and Shamon Streets, the sites
to at )saet 210 accidents during 1977, or 35
peromtof th* total.
Part of the problem with Gibnsr’s 56
mishaps and Broadway's 71 is heavy
traffic flow, frightening some driven into
orron and making othen impatient,
causing more accidents from failure to
yield to oncoming traffic.
Highway deptrttnpt engineer Kirby
Pickett estimates the traffic count on
Broadway Just north of Interstate 30 at
14,010 cars a day, while abaut^^OO (frivsn
travel Gilmer near the downtown square
daily.
(These counts were derived from
figures teen in 1973 and adjusted for
projections mads at the same time, along
with changes such as the opening of Davis
Street to Industrial Drive, Pickett said,
adding funds for yearly counts ware
canceled after 1973.)
Those numbers tab Broadway as the
busiest road in Hopkins County, topping
s__! ■ - .
even Interstate 30, which Pickett
estimates carries 13,000 vehicles every 24
hours. . * ^
Many of the accidents take place at the
intersection of Broadway and Industrial,
where a M-yesr-old woman was killed in a
two-car mishap Sunday night.
, Other accident factors include the
narrow width of GUmec, customer.flow
into and from shopping centers- and
misunderstanding the use of the con-
tinuous left turn lane.
City Manager Oien Petty does not ac-
cept contentions that the rash of collisions
can be blamed on the street design, in-
stead placing the blamfe on errant drivers’
shoulders.
But there are plans to widen Gilmer to
make a flye-lane street from Interstate 30
to downtown. The city is responsible for
procuring right of way while the highway
department will perform the design and
construction, Petty said.
As Gilmer changes from residential to
commercial use, the city is buying land for
the future. In some places, suich as Her-
schel’s Drive-in, 900 Gilmer St, the full
width already has been paved, the
manager said. ’•< 1 ■
The street most likely will have a con-
tinuous left tumlane, Petty said, adding
the project has no formal timetable. In-.
stead the dty will buy the right of way as it
becomes available.
But if the plan becomes reality, many
efrivers will haveto be educated to use the
ten lane. Polk* would like to see the last
of driven who stop In through-traffic lanes
while turning in to buy a loaf of breadand
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New high school at
'iffy1 building stage
Occupancy and utilisation of the new*
Sulphur Springs Senior High building
during the current academic year remains
an "iffy" condition, school authorities
were told Tuesday.
The mucbdelayed project now is not '
expected to be completed until the end of
March, school trustees and administrators
present tor a work and planning session
were told by the project’s architect, Andy
Nagurnay.
The David-Hunt Construction Company
gave that estimate in filing a payment
request for a period beyond Jan.. 11 - the _
scheduled completion date of the con-
struction after weather extentions granted
last year. The origitipl completion date
waa in Decembv. V <■
..v. ,• r
School officials expressed displeasure
that larger crews are not being utilised by
the contractor in efforts to push the
Wi
h. ■. .
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n Gar-train eras
locomotive, requiring repairs
train could be moved.
H!
WINNSBORO — A 22-year-old woman pushing it from the normal position,
irivtog to work Tuesday mornlngyaa Winnsboro firefighters Were cailed to
Jltefttahto her car coDkM almost bead- wash away gasoline leaking from the For the Turners, the nr-tom*
M jkfih a train some 1% miles west of thia wreckage. dreams of a hmr life Into a i
Wood County town. The oar WHO heavily damaged that ft , Mrs. Turner and
tone Turner, Route 1, Winnsboro, was had to be carried from the seme by two Winnsboro only w few month* ago,
fat toe scene following the 7:30 ajn. wreckers, rather than being towed away, leaving Tyler where they both works
Jon on Tans II Just Inside toe - Stepping gingerly among toe gasoline, , radio station. Be found work at__
Hopkins County line. broken glass and mangled metal, Winn- Chevrolet in Winnsboro, where he became
Mrs. Turner was headed to her job in sboro policemen and Department of parti manager about two months ago.
Sulphur Springs when a Kansas City- Public Safety troopers directed vehicles Exactlv a week in Mn Tmnin ■
Southern freight train on its way to around the wreckage, which blocked toe Wredasan inmecteS 1^
Winnsboro started to cross a signal- westbound lane for nearly an hour, after where she wMhesrtod
controUed junction. *e train was moved from the highway. ^nth. The couple had no children
Apparently noticing the train too late, Texas 11 was completely blocked for
Mrs. turner threw on toe brakes of her 811X1081 80 hour before railway workers
1977 Buick, which went into a skid and 00111(1 move the 27-car train, which could
collided with the left front of the south- mt it travelled more than 1,000
bound train’s engine before being knocked feet from toe site,
hack east, where it stopped some 60 feet Trooper Jack Counts said toe train was
from the angle-approach, single-track traveling 25 miles per hour at the time of
crossing. ' 80<*»ent. r . . ' ->
A witness who was aboard toe train said One witness speculated Mrs. Turner
the Buick was facing toe engine at the could have safely driven through the in-
time of the collision, which turned the two- tersection if Me had speeded up, rather
door car into little more than a heap of than tried to stop,
twisted metal. » A Kansas City-Southern spokesman said
The force sent the engine into the the collision nearly knocked the engine
passenger compartment. The steering- from the tracks: Steps and an iron plate on
wheel was pressed into the driver’s seat, the engine’s left side were' bent under the
the Crew’
MMjMM
Work no threat to these oldtimers
they are equally tired of toe aggressive
who use the lane for passing.
Industrial Drive and Shannon Road
have their share of accidents, and while
errors are still the top cause there, the
highway department recognises the
danger of at least one Interstate to en- .
trance ramp.
College Street’s west-bound entry ramp
is due forSe placement, Pickett said
Thursday. Beginning late this spring or
during the Summer, department workers
will construct a new ramp 150 to 200 feet
west of the present entrance, where 16-
year-old John Kirkpatrick was killed last
May M. ’ y . )
The shift should end blind spot problems
siitee the new ramp will be pest the crest
of a hill that blocks incoming drivers’
vision, Pickett said. And a confusing spot
where the entrance ramp leads into an exit
lane will be eliminated.
Other trouble spots include Gilmer at
Radio Road, Broadway at Lee, Jefferson
at Loop 301, Main at League and Texas at
Main. Mishaps commonly .occur at these
spots because of rear-end collisions, wide
turns and, once more, failure to yield.
Surprisingly, one of toe most difficult
intersections in the dty had only one
acddent last year, though Oak Street
drivers trying to enter Gilmer have to
twist almost pompletely around to sie
south-bound traffic.
The conclusion? While the motoring
chore may Become easier after Gilmer
widening is completed and traffic studies
allow a more orderly flow, in the mean-
time drivers for toe most part are on their
By JAN BLAKE
News-Telegram Staff
. Some of them may be a little short' d
teeth or hair, but none is afraid of work.
tact, seme -people many y#m
younger might have trouble keeping up
with “The Crew" — Green Thumb project
wteera whose kmotto~ta “Ability is
Ageless”.* j
the Crew consists of sfarmen ranging in
age from 60 to 74 who are orte segment of a
40-state program that hires and finds Jobe
for senior citizens. ” \
"Why did I Join Greeen Thumb? I didn’t
want to justsit down and thisjielps a lot of
people,” said A A. "Shorty" Morris, crew
foreman. Morris was the first person to
join Creep Thumb when it began in
Hopkins County in October, 1977.
Currently the men are working on a
weatoerikation project They have in-
sulated, put up storm doors mid windows
and weathers tripped a number of homes -
occupied by elderly or low income per
sons.
. ^ Generally, The Crew works on three
houses a week. The vast majority of their
clients are happy with toe work and let -
them know.
Recently they worked on a house where
the elderly resident had been badly bilked.
The work she had paid for was
finished and what had been done was done
improperly and with inferior materials,
according to toe men.
- "Thu kiniNfctiiMritewn nwliriteM,**—
said Thomas Sanders, the oldest member
of toe group, "but we cin’t do anything
about it” He said they ste more of this
kind of thing than they should.
Their‘oldest client was a woman, aged
104, who lives with her 84 year-old
daughter. The men insulated, fixed
window panes and generally tightened up
the home. "Working for these ladles mads
us all feel real good. They needed our help
and really appreciated what we did,x
Morris said.
Green Thumb is sponsored by the Texas
Fanners Union and various other
governament agencies. The
weatherixation project is funded by
Northeast Texas Oppartonities (NETO).
NETO furnishes a set amount <rf money
for labor and materials for Jach home.
Each member found his Green Thumb
job through various ways. 8ome were told
about the project at the employment of-
fice. Others heard about it thnught the
newspaper or from relatives.
Tnm Sanilm 7* fainui flu
when he went to toe Senior Cltixena Center
in December to me if he i
expensive place to tor*.
‘ Collin, talked to
“She said to me, ‘UftfeTMLJlJ don’t
you tie Into this work?* Before I knew RI
was In the program and here loved every
minute of it. I was in the contracting
business for 49 years and this is the best
crew I’ve ever worked with.
"I guess you could say I’m deseed as
the lead carpenter,” he «dd.
Morris stepped toe table with a hearty
laugh. "What do you mean, lead car-
penter’ when we ain’t got but one?”
Donna Sims, Uks Morris, started with
tbs program in October. He Is the safety
monitor and rated by his fellow workers as
one of toe best nfembars of The Grew.
"Aw, I Just make toembs particular,” he
said with a shy pin. '
Their working day is filled with happy
back and forth Matter with a lot u* —i
accomplished.
One member said, "I do
people shook! sit down, even
get out and sav hello an * w
completion of -the $2.6 million project .
‘ School officials originally had scheduled
a move into the new structure for this
spring. That stop has bean held to
abeyance, however, as delays have
continued to mount. Assuming con-
struction was finished by Apr. 1, there still
* ■ /
likely would be a need for development of
a “punch list" or touchyp program. And
an early April completion date is only
about seven weeks ^rior to the end of
classwork this term. \
Because; toe school board was not In an
official business session, no action was
taken Tuesday on the Hunt payment
request. It was referred to toe school
board meeting set for [Friday, March 10.
The school district is no^ obligated to make
payments after the extended completion
date.
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"TjaistiKW"' >>*■*?
Glaring for action
Green Thumb project foreman Shorty Morris, left, gets on assist
uninioading from Tom Sanders as ’’The Crew” -»a six-map
work force currently engaged to we*therlie«en of homos for the
..elderly and other public work services — prepares to make
• I _ ___LL _LO__L IJ M 'to
Vret idonts mey be
■'M
•go. observer* repen younger
keeping up wHh thorn in a toy'I
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Keys, Clarke & Woosley, Joe. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, March 3, 1978, newspaper, March 3, 1978; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth781065/m1/1/: accessed June 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.