Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 106, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 23, 1988 Page: 1 of 30
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COMING SUNDAY:
Who says
there's
nothin' to do !
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Lounty
ENTERPRISE
Thursday,
June 23, 1988
Votarne IN Number 50
The Dominant News and Advertising Snnrr« in Pniir rnimh>
Two die
in wrecks
LIVINGSTON - An 11-year-old
Livingston youth and a 61-year-old
truck driver were killed in two
separate accidents on local
highways during the past week.
Eric Derail Boyd, 11, died shortly
after the bicycle he was riding col-
lided with a pickup truck at 3:28
p.m. Friday on U.S. 190, two miles
west of Livingston.
A 1907 Toyota pickup truck driven
by Calvin Oifens Jr., 32, of Warren
was eastbound on U.S. 190 at the
time of the accident. The youngster
was riding eastbound in the inside
turning lane and traveled into the
outside lane where he was struck by
the pickup, according to Texas
Highway Patrol Trooper Bobby
Perry.
Boyd was taken by ambulance to
Lake Livingston Medical Center and
died later that day.
No charges were filed in connec-
tion with the accident
The county’s second fatality of the
week occurred at 6:15 p.m. Monday
on UJS. 59 in Moscow.
Robert C. Vanderford, a 61-year-
old tank truck driver was pronounc-
ed dead at the scene of a one-vehicle
accident Monday evening after ap-
parently suffering a heart attack
while driving north on U.S. 59
through Moscow.
Vanderford, of Hom Lake, Miss.,
died about 6:15 p.m. Monday while
driving a 1918 Kenworth diesel tank
truck loaded with liquid chicken
feed.
According to a Department of
Public Safety accident report filed
by Trooper Perry, the truck was
traveling north on UJS. 59 when it
drove off the east shoulder, struck a
concrete culvert and struck several
trees before coming to rest in a
wooded area.
Although Precinct 3 Justice of the
Peace Harvey Stamper has ordered
an autopsy to determine the exact
cause of death, the Corrigan JP said
Tuesday he believes Vanderford
may have died prior to the accident.
“My preliminary finding is that
the subject may have had a heart at-
tack and may lave been dead before
the impact of the wreck,” Stamper
said.
“He apparently was driving in the
outside lane of traffic when the truck
left the roadway,” Stamper added.
“K looked as if he never touched his
brakes.”
Stamper said the truck was owned
by DSI Transport Corp. of Memphis,
Torn, and was carrying a non-toxic
load of high protein chicken feed.
“The tank <fid not rupture and, it
was my understanding that even if it
had, there would have been no
danger. The only thing that spilled
(at the accident site) was diesel and
that occurred when the truck’s fuel
tanks ruptured.”
Stamper, who pronounced
Vanderford dead at the scene of the
accident, said the body is being
returned to Hom Lake, Miss, for
burial.
-
m
ENTERPRISE PHOTO BY KENN SCHMIDT
SCRAM, ‘SKEETERS - Public Works Director Richard
Walker triggers Livingston’s new mosquito fogger using a
remote control device. Purchase of the fogger may prove
especially timely as health officials are predicting a record
mosquito season since dry weather has reduced populations
of several species which feed on pesky insects.
State capitol ceremony Monday
Tribe to honor Daniel Yarborough
LIVINGSTON - Chief Kina,
Fulton Battise, and the Chief Kina
Scholarship Committee have elected
to present bronze statuettes of Chief
Kina to former Texas Gov. Price
Daniel and former U.S. Sen. Ralph
Yarborough to honor them for their
many years of friendship and
dedication to the Alabama-
Coushatta Indian Tribe of Polk
County.
The ceremony will be held at 2
p.m. Monday rn the Speaker’s Office
of the Texas Capitol Building in
Austin.
State Representative Allen
Hightower will serve as master of
ceremonies. Chief Emmett Battise,
Chief Colebe II, will present the
statuettes to Gov. Daniel and Sen.
Yarborough on behalf of Chief Kina,
who is unable to travel at this time.
Walt Broemer of Livingston, former
executive director of the Texas In-
dian Commission and superinten-
dent of the Alabama-Coushatta In-
dian Reservation from 1957-1972,
will review some of the programs
through which the longtime Texas
politicians have aided the Indians.
The ceremony to honor Daniel and
Yaborough will be complete with
ceremonial feather bonnets, with
Chief Colebe in his feather bonnet
regalia. Gov. Daniel and Sen. Yar-
borough have been asked to wear the
great feather bonnets which were
presented to them by the tribe.
Several of the Indian Pow Wow
Dump sites consolidated
Pilot program ready
ONALASKA - The county's cur-
rent Onakaka-area dumpster sites -
on FM 386 North, Old Groveton Road
and behind Idlewilde subdivision -
will be doaed beginning Monday as
a new sottd waste collection pilot
program gets underway.
The three previous trash collec-
tion sites are being consolidated into
a single site off Old Groveton Road
(FM 3456), where a compactor Has
been installed, according to Solid
Waste Superintendent Jerry Chain.
Compacting the trash is expected
to cut the number at trips to the
county landfill in Leggett from ap-
proximately 20 per week to two per
week, saving money in both labor
and fuel costs, Chain said.
The compactor is located on a
14-acre site donated by Champion
International, approximately one
and a half miles north of UJS. 190,
where the Onalaska Lions Club
building was previously located. The
compactor site is surrounded by a
fence with a gate.
The site will be open from 7:30
a.m. until 6 p.m. seven days a week.
An attendant will be on duty to
operate the compactor. The site is
for use by Polk County residents and
See PILOT pg. 9A
Onalaska youth killed
GROVETON - A 17-year-old
Onukaka youth was killed Sunday
whea he fell from the beck of a
pickup truck on FM 355 in Groveton.
Earnest Dean Harrison was riding
la the rear of a 1171 Ford pickt?
track driven by his stepbrother,
Travis Garrett Wakefield, 17, when
enured, at apprax-
3 p.m., according to the
Oeiariy Sheriff's Depari-
Beveral other persons were
also reportedly riding in the rear of
the truck. Harrison was apparently
sitting on a tool box and slid off onto
the pavement as the truck made a
turn in front of the Groveton Houston
Authority apartments, according to
investigators. The youngster was
pronounced dead at the scene.
Feneral services for Harrison,
who attended Livingston High
School, were held Wednesday from
Pace Funeral Home in Livingston.
ii
ENTERPRISE PHOTO BY KF.NN SCHMIDT
STATUETTES TO BE PRESENTED - Gov. Price Daniel
and Sen. Ralph Yarborough will each receive one of these
bronze statuettes Monday in appreciation for their assistance
to the Alabama-Cooahatta Tribe.
princesses plan to be present in their
tribal regalia to enhance the
ceremony.
The presentation of the statuettes
is the first ever given to any in-
dividuals. Ronald Sweeten of
Cleveland, well-known for his
wildlife and western bronze
sculptures, is sculpter of the statuet-
tes of Chief Kina.
The Chief Kina Scholarship was
established in 1984 to encourage the
youth of the tribe to leam more
about their history and to perpetuate
their culture.
Gov. Daniel and Sen. Yarborough
are personal friends of Chief Kina
and the tribal members. They have
visited the reservation and par-
ticipated in their ceremonies and
programs numerous times over the
past 40 years. The concern and in-
terest of both men in all American
Indians has been a visible part of
their political history and they each
have a special and enduring interest
in the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of
Texas.
Both Daniel and Yarborough have
used their persuasive legal abilities
on behalf of the tribe on many occa-
sions and this has had a marked ef-
fect in shaping their history and
preserving their culture. Historians
say they have probably had more
beneficial effect on these Texas In-
dians than anyone since Gen. Sam
Houston.
These Indians were friendly to
Sam Houston during the struggle to
form the Republic of Texas and were
helpful to him during the conflict.
Sam Houston did not forget his In-
dian friends and he was instrumen-
tal in helping them acquire the two
sections of land in Polk County,
which is the center of the present
home of the Alabama-Coushatta
Tribe.
In early history, the Alabama and
Coushatta were neighboring tribes.
They became known as the
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe sometime
after 1854 when members of both
tribes lived on their reservation in
the Big Thicket.
Gov. Price Daniel was inducted in-
to the tribe as an honorary chief on
March 29,1962. He is the only man to
receive such as honor since Gov,
Janies Allred in 1936. Gov. Daniel
has been given the name for deer
and his Indian title in Chief Echo.
One of Daniel's last acts as gover-
nor was approval of funding for a
museum, restaurant and arts and
crafts shop on the reservation, a step
toward establishing a tourism in-
dustry designed to provide jobs for
See INDIANS pg. 9A
In Corrigan
Manager
under fire
By GREG PEAK
Area new s editor
CORRIGAN -- City Manager Pee
Wee Drake's position with the City of
Corrigan remained up in the air
Tuesday night after the city council
recessed until Wednesday a closed-
door discussion regarding allega-
tions of possible misconduct by the
official.
Following a lengthy executive ses-
sion in which the council conferred
with Drake as well as the city’s at-
torney, Jimmy Cassels of Lufkin,
the council unanimously approved
the city manager’s request for a
24-hour recess to enable him to con-
sult with his attorney.
The meeting was scheduled to
resume at 6 p.m Wednesday but the
results of that session were
unavailable at press time.
While rumors concerning allega-
tions against Drake began surfacing
last week while the city manager
was out of town on vacation, no of-
ficial word regarding alleged im-
proper behavior by Drake has been
forthcoming.
The only official announcement
regarding the situation came follow-
ing the executive session when
Mayor Mickey Reily confirmed that
the council was deliberating “per-
sonnel matters regarding Pee Wee
Drake.” .
During Tuesday’s session, which
attracted the first-ever capacity
crowd to the city hall council
chambers, Drake thanked the
friends and family members who
have been supporting him.
“I want to thank all of you folks
who came up here on my behalf
tonight,” Drake said at the close of
the meeting. “I want to tell you how
much I appreciate it. It means an
awful lot to me to know that over the
eight years I have served as city
manager I have developed some
close friendships in the black, white
and Spanish communities: It means
a great deal to me - a lot more than
you will ever know."
Following the meeting Drake ap-
peared at ease and in good humor
but declined to comment on any
allegations made against him until
he has had an opportunity to discuss
the matter with his lawyer. “There
have been a lot of rumors but I’d
now until I’ve talked to my personal
attorney,” he said. “I don’t want to
do anything that might compromise
my rights down the line.”
Tuesday’s session got underway
with Reily opening the floor to any
Corrigan resident present who wish-
ed to make a comment or statement.
“I want to welcome all of you,” the
mayor told the more than 40 people
present. “This is the first time we’ve
had a full house. We'd like to have a
full house at every one of our council
meetings so that you all would be
familiar with the trials and tribula-
tions that a council has to go through
in financing the operation of the
various activities of the city.”
In opening the floor to the citizens,
Reily also outlined the council's
rules for the “Citizens Forum” por-
tion of the meeting. He said anyone
addressing the council must be a
resident of the city and that all com-
ments must be presented from the
podium.
The only city resident to take ad-
vantage of the forum was Dorothy
Langhom who spoke in support of
Drake.
I^anghom told the council that
since moving to Corrigan she and
other senior citizens have often turn-
ed to the city manager for help in
various areas and have always been
given his support.
“We don’t know who to tum to and
we’d like to know from you members
of the board, being senior citizens,
will we be treated as we have been in
t; e past?” she said.
“I think you can rest assured that
there won’t be any change what-
soever," Reily said. “You just rest
assured that anytime the city or Mr.
Drake or anyone associated with the
city can help the senior citizens, all
you've get to do is pick up the
telephone. If you can’t get in touch
with us and don't know who to call,
call the police department and they
can take care of it and notify anyone
you need to get in touch with.”
After no other member of the au-
dience came forward to speak. Reily
closed the meeting to the public and
the council began a two hour and 40
See CITY pg. 9A
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 106, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 23, 1988, newspaper, June 23, 1988; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth795929/m1/1/: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.