Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 194, Ed. 1 Friday, August 15, 1980 Page: 1 of 26
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GRBDAL 1 12-31-99
MICROFILM SERVICE
P.O. BOX 45436
DALLAS
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So SALES C
*
TX 75235*
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In today's paper...
Sulphur Springs
Friday
AUGUST IS. mo.
TWO SECTIONS
15 Cents
Carter ticket launches charge
By DONALDM. ROTHBERG
AP Political Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - With obvious
relish, Jimmy Carter and Walter F.
Mondale are plunging into their campaign
against Ronald Reagan by portraying the
Republican presidential nominee as
“radical and irresponsible” and by raising
the specter of “the final madness of a
nuclear holocaust.”
This rhetoric of attack brought cheers
loud and long on the final night of the
Democratic National Convention, but
ironically not as deafening as those for
Carter’s defeated rival, Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy.
Carter renewed the theme today in
remarks at a post-convention meeting of
the Democratic National Committee.
Carter said the 1980 election would present
voters with “sharp, maybe un-
precedented, differences.”
He said the convention ended with “a
climax of unity and achievement and
purpose that guarantees that we have
turned the corner ... that Democrats will
be in the White House for the next four
years.”
The climax of unity Carter referred to
was Kennedy’s appearance on the podium
after Carter and Mondale had delivered
their acceptance speeches at Madison
Square Garden on Thursday night as the
party’s 1980 ticket. Kennedy was subdued.
After Mondale's and Carter’s ac-
ceptance speeches, Kennedy joined the
two candidates on the podium at Madison
Square Garden on Thursday night.
He was there for less than five minutes.
He spoke not a word to the delegates who
loudly cheered each time he waved with
the understated clenched-fist gesture he
used so often during his ill-starred
presidential campaign.
Carter held his hand out. Kennedy,
grasped it. There was no embrace. No
suggestion that this was a meeting bet-
ween old friends. They looked rather like
two generals who had fought a long war
and were trying to bring about peace
among their followers as well as between
themselves.
It was an extraordinary end to a political
convention at which the loudest cheers
were for the defeated Democratic can-
didate.
After a stop at today’s post-convention
meeting of the Democratic National.
Committee, Carter planned to fly to the
presidential retreat at Camp David, Md.
He said early today that at some point he
and Kennedy would meet in Washington.
There was no word yet when or where he
would formally open his fall campaign.
Four years ago, Carter and Mondale
launched their campaign with a rally in
Warm Springs, Ga., the resort where
Franklin Delano Roosevelt often
vacationed and where he died.
Carter campaign aides already have
said the president will concentrate on the
industrial states of the Northeast and
upper Midwest, areas where Reagan also
intends to make his principal effort.
Reagan believes his conservative
programs are becoming increasingly
attractive to blue-collar workers who
traditionally have voted Democratic. In
addition, the Republican nominee also
expects independent presidential can-
didate John Anderson to be far more
damaging to Carter in states like New
York, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Michigan and Illinois.
That Reagan strategy made it all the
more crucial to Carter to gain the
Massachusetts senator’s active support in
the states where he has a strong following.
With their internal party squabbles
quieted by a truce, if not necessarily a
lasting peace, Carter and Mondale lost no
time jumping to the attack.
Their acceptance speeches reflected a
strategy that follows the 1964 Democratic
campaign against Barry Goldwater, in
which the conservative senator from
Arizona was successfully portrayed as
trigger-happy and as a radical who would
try to repeal progressive programs dating
back to the New Deal.
Those themes were clear in Thursday
night’s speeches.
Carter referred to Reagan as talking'
about “a world of tinsel and make-
believe.”
He said the new leaders of the
Republican Party "have now promised to
launch an all-out nuclear arms
race...There can be no winners in such an
arms race — and all the people on earth
could be the losers.
"The Republican nominee advocates
abandoning arms control policies which
have been supported by every Democratic
president since Truman and every
Republican president since Dwight
Eisenhower. This radical and irrespon-
sible course would threaten our security —
and could put the whole world in peril.”
Mondale sounded a similar theme,
saying, “If there is one thing that concerns
me most about the world our children will
inherit, it is the fear that somehow, for
some reason that no one will remember,
the world will resort to the final madness
of a nuclear holocaust.”
Turning to Reagan's domestic policies,
the Democratic ticket concentrated its
heaviest fire on his proposal for a 30
percent cut in tax rates phased in over
three years.
Carter called it "a bizarre program of
massive tax cuts for the rich.*’ He also
noted that during the Republican
presidential campaign, George Bush, now
Reagan’s running-mate, had called the tax
cut proposal “economic voodoo."
Mondale said that under the Reagan
proposal “If you’re an executive earning
$200,000 a year, you get back enough to buy
a Mercedes. If you're a teacher, you get
back enough to buy a hubcap.”
The president included a tribute to
Kennedy early in his speech.
"Ted, you’re a tough competitor and a
superb campaigner -1 can attest to that,”
he said. Carter thanked Kennedy for his
support and added, “We’ll make great
partners in the fall, whipping the
Republicans.”
But Kennedy wasn’t in the hall to hear
Carter’s speech.
When the president finished his speech,
the delegates cheered and the convention
floor was awash with green and white
Carter-Mondale signs. For the first time
during the four-day convention, only
scattered blue and white Kennedy signs
were seen.
The Carters and the Mondales, husbands
and wives and children, stood together on
the podium and waved to the crowd.
Some delegates chanted, “We want Ted,
We want Ted.”
At last Kennedy arrived. The crowd
roared. The brief peacemaking scene took
place.
Appraisal board drafts budget
By JIM MOORE
News-Telegram Staff
It took almost 3^ hours to get the job
done Thursday night but members of the
Hopkins County Property Appraisal
District (HCPAD) Board of Directors
managed to come up with a proposed
budget of just under $300,000.
Chief Tax Appraiser Tom Witt told
Chairman Ray Johnson and board
members G.V. Hughes and Ed Allen that
the board’s first-year was high due to the
costs of setting up the appraisal district as
well as several items that could only be
estimated with no firm figures available
until the personnel for the district’s staff
The City of Sulphur Springs received a
completely unexpected "windfall” from
State Comptroller Bob Bullock’s office this
week — an extra one-time sales tax rebate
check.
The bonus check ran a surprising
$52,639.75. The routine monthly check was
$41,245.42. Thus the two checks totaled
$93,885.17.
Interim City Manager Travis Owens,
who soon will be returning to his full-time
position as finance officer, said the bonus
check was totally unexpected.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” Owens
said. “With all of the unexpected ex-
penditures we have been experiencing this
summer, we had about exhausted our
revenues.”
For all of fiscal 1979, which ran through
September, Sulphur Springs received
$511,093 in sales tax rebates. Through July,
the city had received $444,064 in rebates
are actually hired.
The budget of $299,720.30 was trimmed
down from $320,456.83 and resulted in a
cost of approximately $9.99 per parcel to
be appraised.
Members of the board are presently
estimating approximately 30,000 parcels of
property to be appraised under the law
that requires a complete reappraisal of all
taxable property in the state.
this fiscal year. The August checks,
therefore, send the total well above the
mark attained last year.
For the calendar year, Sulphur Springs
is running about 17 percent higher in sales
tax rebates.
Bullock said continued improvement in
the tax processing system in his office
resulted in the statewide one-time, multi-
million sales tax rebate bonus to cities and
promises quicker tax reimbursements in
the future.
Bullock explained that this month’s
“extra” check will include a large amount
of money from second quarter returns
filed in the comptroller’s office on the July
31 deadline and normally would have been
included in the September payment.
One check Sulphur Springs received
represents taxes being returned from last
month’s rebate through the end of July.
but Johnson said that the group was
“proceeding with a bare quorum due to the
importance of the budget.”
The budget is not required by law to be
presented to the board until Oct. 1 and does
not have to be approved until Dec. 1.
However, as most of the taxing entities are
already heavily engaged in preparing
their own budgets, board members said
they felt it was necessary to go ahead with
the budget so that the entities could have
The other check is the result of allowing an
extra week of tax allocations for cities
during the first week of August.
Bullock said city sales tax rebates will
now be allowed to accrue through the first
week of each month and be paid about the
15th. The previous allocation period ran
from the end of one month to the first of the
following month and cities were reim-
bursed sometime after the middle of the
month.
He said improvements in the state’s
deposit and tax posting system will allow
his office to keep the rebate pipeline open
into the first week of each month and still
get out city checks by mid-month.
The city sales tax is collected by mer-
chants and businesses along with the state
sales tax and is refunded each month to the
cities where it is collected by the comp-
troller’s office.
Building expenses are estimated at
$12,940 and $45,830 is destined for furniture
and equipment.
Office supplies are estimated at $6,000
while contract services for the new
organization are set at $28,010 and the cost
of stationery and forms is designated at
$5,500.
“It’s a zero-based budget,” Witt told the
members present, indicating that there
are several areas that are estimated high
as there is no basis to draw from in
previous years.
He suggested that if any money can be
saved, it will be subtracted on a pro-rata
basis from the 1982 assessments to the
various entities.
“I think he's (Witt) done an excellent job
of preparing this budget,” Johnson said of
the estimated figures Witt prepared for the
board.
The proposed budget will not be formally
approved until later; but it will provide
working figures for the 12 taxing districts
in the county.
Those taxing entities are the City of
Como, Como-Pickton Independent School
District, City of Cumby, Cumby In-
dependent School District, Hopkins
County, Hopkins County Hospital District,
Miller Grove Independent School District,
Saltillo Independent School District, North
Hopkins Independent School District,
Saltillo Independent School District,
Sulphur Bluff Independent School District,
City of Sulphur Springs and the Sulphur
Springs Independent School District.
Earlier this year, the board had
established a $30,000 budget for the last six
months of the year and thus far only three
of the entities have submitted their
agreed-upon sums.
Members of the board are to contact the
other nine agencies to request payment of
the already agreed upon funding for the
rest of the current year.
Witt is to determine how much each of
the 12 taxing districts in the county is to
pay as its share and notify the various
entities of the amounts due.
Board members P.J. Ponder and Joe
Bob Burgin were absent from the meeting
more accurate figures in determinir
their own budgetary needs.
In the almost-$300,000 budget, $139,290
designated for personnel expenses wil
$62,150.30 included for operating an
employment costs.
City gets welcome surprise
Food costs trigger wholesale price jump
By GLENN RITT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Inflation at the
wholesale level raced ahead 1.7 percent in
July — the biggest jump in nearly six
years — mainly as a result of a sharp,
drought-influenced spurt in food prices,
the government said today.
The huge increase dramatically halted
months of an easing inflation trend. In
June, wholesale, or producer, prices rose
0.8 percent.
Not since November 1974 have producer
prices risen so fast, the Labor Department
said. July’s boost outpaced even the diz-
zying levels set earlier this year when
inflation was so severe that credit controls
were imposed.
If July’s seasonally adjusted rate con-
tinues for an entire year, inflation at the
wholesale level would exceed 22 percent
annually, far more than the 10 percent
yearly pace set in June.
However, this spurt was called “tem-
porary” by Allen Sinai, vice president of
Data Resources Inc., the Lexington,
Mass., economic forecasting firm.
"This is a shock due primarily to food.
The overall backdrop for inflation,
because consumer demand is down so, due
to the recession, Is favorable,” he said.
The Labor Department reported that
food was the major culprit at all three
levels of the Producer Price Index:
finished goods, intermediate items and
raw products.
In sharp contrast, gasoline prices fell 1.2
percent in July, while home heating fuel
remained the same.
“Up even through June, food was a very
strong moderating influence on prices,
while energy had been the major thrust for
pumping up inflation,” said John Early, a
Labor Department economist. “Now, it’s
getting to a place where they are reversing
The price of finished food products -
ready for sale to consumers — rose 3.8
percent last month, far more than the 0.7
percent increase in June, the department
said.
Processed poultry prices shot up 23.5
percent. Millions of chickens were killed in
the heat wave.
Prices for beef, meanwhile, jumped 7.4
percent, compared with 3.9 percent the
month before, while pork prices increased
13.7 percent, far more than the 0.8 percent
boost in June, the department said.
Compared with food, all other finished
goods at the wholesale level rose 1.1
percent in July.
The sharp acceleration in food was
evident at the intermediate and crude
stages — a signal that the worst may be
yet to come as these jumps are passed on
through processing and sale to consumers
in coming months, say private economists.
At the crude, or unprocessed stage, food
prices shot up 9 percent in July, pushing
the prices for all raw products at the
wholesale level up 6.3 percent, the
department said.
Grain prices shot up 13.7 percent in July,
after falling in four of the first six months
of 1980. Sharply higher corn prices
resulting from the drought were primarily
responsible for this turnaround.
Prices for live poultry and hogs in-
creased more than 25 percent.
Rounding the square
Troyce McLane, an employee of the city street department, was a member ef the
crew relining the traffic lanes on the city square Friday morning. Each of the traffic
islands marking highway routes and traffic pattern lines around the square were
repainted with bright yellow paint.
-sonnwio
Marathon budget
meet scheduled
Members of the Sulphur Springs City
Commission and the city’s department
heads will be meeting together in a
marathon session Saturday to work on the
city budget.
Interim City Manager Travis Owens
said that the meeting will begin at 9 a.m.
Saturday and continue until noon when a
recess will be called.
After lunch the process of trimming the
budget begins anew and will continue as
long as necessary to bring the budget into
a workable set of figures.
Owens, who will return to duty as the
city’s financial director when newly-
appointed City Manager Marshall Shelton
arrives on the scene, said that the
proposed budget is presently at $4.3-
million, based on requests from the
various department heads.
Hope remains
for showers
The predicted thunderstorms
haven’t found Hopkins County yet, but
there is still hope for some scattered
showers through Sunday, according to
the forecast.
The National Weather Service
forecast continues to call for partly
cloudy skies and widely scattered
thunderstorms in East Texas through
Sunday — but in reality the chance of
any rain for the immediate area is
slim at best.
Temperatures are expected to
remain in the upper 90s to just above
the century mark the next few days.
Slightly cooler weather may move
into the area on Monday, forecaster
say.
Daytime highs are expected be drop
a bit Monday and Tuesday as a weak
cool front pushes into the area,
keeping temperatures in the lower 90s
both days.
The mercury climbed to 97 degrees
Thursday under partly cloudy skies
according to the official observation
station in Sulphur Springs. The
overnight low, recorded early Friday
morning, was 75 degrees.
He said, however, that the budget figure
will be decreased to a workable level
based on the approximate $3.7-million in
anticipated revenues for the city.
"We’ll have to either increase the
revenues or decrease the expenditures,"
Owens said
One problem in getting the budget
whipped into shape is that the city has no
idea of how much money will be received
from revenue sharing, according to
Owens.
That income will be added into the
budget when the amount becomes known.
During the current fiscal year, the city
has been operating under a budget of
$4,163,857.
The new budget has to be adopted prior
to its going into effect on Oct. 1
59 children
die in blaze
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — A fire in a
movie theater in a suburb of Baghdad, the
Iraqi capital, killed 59 children attending a
matinee and injured 45 others, the Iraqi
Interior Ministry announced today.
The official Iraqi news agency gaid most
of the victims were killed in a stampede
caused by the sudden outbreak of the
blaze, which sent the panicked audience
crowding through the exits.
The agency quoted a ministry
spokesman as saying the fire was caused
by an electrical short circuit in the A1
Baida Cinema on Thursday, the third day
of the feast marking the end of the Moslem
holy month of Ramadan.
There was no mention of any politically
motivated sabotage.
Iraqi cities have suffered from violent
sabotage that involved several bombings
in the last six months.
Authorities in Baghdad blamed the
violence on supporters of Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini’s Islamic
revolutionary regime in neighboring Iran.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s
Socialist Baath Party government is
locked in a struggle with Iran for
dominance in the oil-rich Persian Gulf
region.
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 194, Ed. 1 Friday, August 15, 1980, newspaper, August 15, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth823476/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.