Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 6, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 20, 1994 Page: 1 of 20
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Volume 112 Numbe 6
The Dominant News and Advertising Source in Polk County
UPSP 437-340 Price: 25 cents
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Suspect
confronts
manager
See pg. SA
Southwest Micropublishing Inc55
THURSDAY
January 20,1994
Three die in fiery crash in Corrigan
CORRIGAN -- Three persons
died in a fiery crash at the intersec-
tion of U.S. 289 and U.S. 59 in
downtown Corrigan about 8:30
a.m. Tuesday.
The dead are Andrea Archer An-
derson, 26, of the Barnes com-
munity near Corrigan, and Craig
Cuffe, 29, and William Smith, 37,
both of Ontario, Canada. The three
victims apparently died instantly in
the crash.
Corrigan Police Chief James
Riley said the woman’s 1989 Ford
Tempo was being driven north
when it was struck from behind by
the 18-wheeler also being driven
north by either Cuffe or Smith.
The truck, loaded with auto
parts, pushed the automobile
through the intersection and veered
into gasoline pumps at Stubby's
Exxon, on the northeast side of the
intersection.
Two men in a van stopped for
gasoline immediately fled as there
was an explosion and the truck
burst into flames.
Doyle Knight, 26, and Don
Hartman, 45, both of Houston, said
they heard a loud noise, looked up
and saw the car and the truck bear-
ing down upon the gas pumps be-
side which their van was parked.
"Usually, I park on the street side
of the pumps," Hartman said, "but
since it was so cold, I decided to
pump on the sheltered side."
That decision saved both men’s
lives.
Knight said, "I was silting there
reading the paper when I heard this
loud noise - like a dump truck
emptying a load. My first thought
was that he (Hartman) had hit
something. I looked up and here it
all came.”
The two men saw the tractor
trailer clip one vehicle and continu
across the intersection towards
them, bulldozing the small blue
Ford Tempo before it.
The vehicles struck the two gas
pumps on the north end of the gas
island and exploded into flame.
"The pumps they hit were this
far (about 12 inches) from us,"
Harftman said, gesturing. "It was
when they hit them that the flames
began.
The men scrambled from the van
and ran to Brookshires, hoping only
See FIREFIGHTERS pg. 3A
OiSD board eyes
new school options
EXPLOSION IN CORRIGAN — Smoke and flames billow the truck, Craig Cuffe, 29, and William Smith, 37, both of
from the gas island and wrecked vehicles at Stubby’s Exxon Canada. The white van, left, which was parked at the pumps,
in Corrigan after a tractor trailer collided with a car and was also destroyed by the flames. Two men from Houston
crashed into the pumps. Andrea Anderson of the Corrigan who were sitting in the van at the time of the accident were
area, driver of the automobile, was killed as were two men in unharmed.
Election
•94-
JP2 race grows
High winds, waves hamper rescue
Drowning victim's body sought
Wright files
ONALASKA -- Gary L. Wright
has announced his candidacy for
justice of the peace, Precinct 2.
"I would like to take this oppor-
tunity to ask for your support for
the office of justice of the peace,"
said Wright, in making his an-
nouncement.
"My family has been a part of
this community for some 70 to 80
years, and have deep seated roots in
the Onalaska/Kickapoo area of
Polk County. I am a member of the
Goodrich United Pentecostal
Church, along with my wife Crys-
tal, and we are very active mem-
ben of our church.
"My parents are the late Jim
"Doc" Wright, who resided in the
Kickapoo area until his death, and
my mother is Ramona Wright, who
is still a resident of the Kickapoo
area.
"I am 33 years of age and have
resided in Polk County all but
seven of those yean, during which
I moved to Atlanta, Ga. and was
employed as a police officer,"
Wright said. "I was very active in
the municipal court along with my
patrol duties. As court clerk, I
See GARY pg. 2A
CAPE ROY ALE - An ongoing
search continues this week for the
body of a 43-year-old man who
reportedly drowned in Lake
Livingston Monday morning.
Kay Hon, her 12-year-old
daughter and her daughter’s friend
watched as James Hon drowned
while attempting to swim to shore
from his sinking boat.
The Cape Royale resident had
recently moved with his family to
the Lake Livingston subdivision.
Their boat was delivered Saturday
and stored in the boat shed, accord-
ing to San Jacinto County Sheriff
Lacy Rogers.
Kay Hon said that on Monday
morning, while talking to his
brother on the telephone, her hus-
band glanced out a window and
saw the boaLslip break and the new
boat fall into the lake.
He grabbed a jacket and ran from
their lakeflont home to the boat in
an effort to retrieve the boat and get
it to safety at the Cape Royale
marina, Rogers said.
Monday morning’s unusually
high winds and lake waves caused
the boat to be swamped with water,
Roger said.
Hon abandoned the boat about
20 feet from shore, but regardless
of efforts from his wife, daughter
and daughter’s friend to save him,
he drowned about 9:44 a.m.,
Rogers said.
Divers from the Scenic Loop
Volunteer Fire Department in Polk
County and members of volunteer
fire departments in San Jacinto
County tried throughout the day to
locate the body, however, high
winds, waves and cold weather hin-
dered the efforts.
"The weather is too bad for
divers and boats to drag the area,"
Rogers said. "We are waiting for
See LAKE pg. 4A
ONALASKA - Overcrowding
at the Onalaska elementary and
middle schools and the possibility
of building a new junior-senior
high school or a new high school
were topics of discussion at a spe-
cial meeting of the Onalaska school
board Tuesday night.
Dr. John Leonard, superinten-
dent, told the board and a small
crowd in attendance that a 35-
member Facility Planning Com-
mittee, formed about a year ago of
Onalaska citizens, has compiled a
study of immediate and long term
needs of the school district.
"They did an assessment of the
educational quality of present
facilities, and looked at enrollment
trends as best can be determined
between now and the turn of the
century," Leonard said.
Leonard said the study showed
that overcrowding can be expected
to be an increasing problem unless
there are new facilities. Toward the
end of the meeting there were hints
that a school bond issue could be in
the planning in the near future.
A $5.1 million bond issue could
build elementary school additions
and a new middle school, and $7.5
million would include elementary
school additions, a new middle
school plus a new high school. The
first proposal would up taxes from
18 cents to 28 corns per $100
valuation, and the second would re-
quire a 17-cent increase in taxes,
Leonard said.
That would be based on Figuring
the new structures would cost $65
per square foot, as was suggested
by James Lee Brown, Houston ar-
chitect, who was on hand to give
advice as was Thomas N.
Lawrence, Dallas financial advisor.
Leonard told the board members
that surveys showed that 66 per
cent of the 164 Onalaska ISD stu-
dents now attending high school at
Livingston would prefer that
Onalaska have its own high school,
while 91 percent of middle school
students are in favor.
See HIGH pg. 4A
Portrait
ceremony
scheduled
LIVINGSTON - A portrait of
former District Judge Lynn Coker
will join other portraits hanging in
the District Courtroom of the Polk
County Courthouse on Monday,
Jan. 24.
A portrait-hanging ceremony is
slated for 9 a.m. in the District
Courtroom.
Coker, who served as judge of
the 9th Judicial District, died Aug.
15,1993 at his residence in Conroe.
He was appointed to the district
judgeship by former Gov. Dolph
Briscoe in 1977, and served in that
position through 1991.
His portrait will join those of his
father, Judge Ernest Coker Sr., who
served as judge of the 9th District
from 1956 through 1977; and for-
mer District Judges L.B. Hightower
and W.B. Browder.
Shook-up daughter reports
back to dad after LA quake
One-vehicle accident
causes power outage
LOS ANGELES - The daughter
of a Livingston man was in the
midst of the massive earthquake
which struck Los Angeles in the
pre-dawn hours Monday.
Amy Nixon, daughter of Lynn
Nixon of Livingston, called her
father about 8:30 a.m. central time
Monday to assure him she was all
right even though she and her
roommate had received quite a
flight a few hours earlier.
Nixon quoted his daughter as
saying that bookcases, a television
set and other items were overturned
in their apartment during the
earthquake.
Amy, who graduated from
Living&on High School in the early
1980s, was living in the apartment
which is near the UCLA Medical
Center.
See RED CROSS pg. 2A
GARY L. WRIGHT
. Precinct 2 JP candidate
LIVINGSTON - A large num-
ber of households in the Scenic
Loop/Memorial Point area were
without power Friday night as the
result of a one-car accident on FM
3277, seven miles west of
Livingston.
A 1977 Chrysler LeBaron,
driven by George W. Freyou, 62, of
Livingston was southbound when
the driver lost control of die car, ac-
cording to Texas Highway Patrol
Trooper Darron Anderson. The car
ran off the roadway and struck a
utility pole.
The accident knocked out power
to approximately 900 households,
according to Roger Wiegreffe of
Sam Houston Electric Cooperative.
Power was restored approximately
two hours and 15 minutes later.
Freyou was taken by ambulance
to Polk County Memorial Hospital,
and later transferred to University
of Texas Medical Branch in Gal-
veston.
Two West Columbia women
were injured in a one-car accident
Sunday on U.S. 59,6.4 miles north
of Corrigan.
A 1993 Ford four-door driven by
Paula M. Juday, 28, of West
Columbia was southbound when
the vehicle veered left, slid
sideways through a barrow ditch
and continued approximately 150
feet before coming to rest facing
east, according to Trooper Ross J.
Cox Sr.
The accident occurred at 6:15
p.m.
Most of the damage to the car
was confined to the undercarriage,
the trooper noted. The driver told
the officer that she lost control of
the car after she spotted a deer in
the roadway and that the passenger
grabbed the steering wheel.
Juday and a passenger in the car,
27-year-old Lanna R. Miller, also
of West Columbia, were taken by
ambulance to Polk County
Memorial Hospital, where they
were treated Mid released.
The driver was charged with dis-
playing fictitious license plates.
Also reported Sunday was a car-
truck collision on U.S. 59, 2.7
See THREE pg.3A
KING TRIBUTE - Community members
join hands for the singing of "We Shall
Overcome" during the Dr. Martin Luther
King celebration held Monday in the
Livingston High School Auditorium. Guest
speaker was Walter Diggles, executive
director of the Deep East Texas Council of
Governments.
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 6, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 20, 1994, newspaper, January 20, 1994; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth798474/m1/1/: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.