Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 223, Ed. 1 Friday, September 19, 1980 Page: 1 of 26
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Hopkins County Area Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Hopkins County Genealogical Society.
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Sulphur Springs
^ifius-Sclrgram
VOL. 102—NO. 223
15 Cents
TWO SECTIONS
Explosion hammers
nuclear missile silo
Tote that bale
Competitors in the youth hay hauling
contest raced against the clock Friday
morning at Fall Festival. The team ol
Tony Bassham, Scott Henderson, and
Buddy Williams from Sulphur Bluff were
the first team to complete the course. First
the team loads the hay on the truck (top).
After the hay is loaded all three members
jump in the truck and drive an obstacle
course without losing any bales (left);
then the hay has to be unloaded and
restacked (below). A five-second penalty
was assessed for each broken bale.
1»
t -r "
By TERRI COLBY
Associated Press Writer
DAMASCUS, Ark. (AP) - A fiery ex-
plosion that ht the night sky “like
daylight” rocked an underground Titan II
missile silo today, injuring at least 22
maintenance workers, the Air Force said.
Pentagon sources said a nuclear warhead
was atop the missile, but said there was no
evidence the weapon was damaged or that
any radiatipn leaked.
Authorities evacuated an area that
stretched 10 miles north of the silo and five
miles on either side, routing about 1,000
people mostly in the tiny towns of
Damascus, Bee Branch and Gravesville.
The Strategic Air Command said it
planned to allow people to return to within
one mile of the site as soon as a survey
team finished checking out the area.
Teams from the Department of Energy
and the state health department were sent
to the site about 50 miles north of Little
Rock to check radiation levels.
Rep. Bill Alexander, D-Ark., said the Air
Force told his office there was “no
evidence of a plutonium leak, the warhead
is intact and the warhead is in the hands of
Air Force officials.”
Tom Mahr, a public information officer
at SAC headquarters in Omaha, Neb., said
his latest information was that 22 people
were injured, 18 of them seriously enough
to be hospitalized.
Sources at the Pentagon said the missile
contained a single nuclear warhead, that it
was not damaged and that no radiation
was leaking.
Gov. Bill Clinton said Air Force officials
told him that no nuclear explosion had
occurred and that none could have oc-
curred in the silo housing the 103-foot-long
intercontinental ballistic missile which is
capable of delivering this nation’s largest
hydrogen bomb to a target 6,300 miles
away.
Maj. Lew Lambert at SAC headquarters
said the explosion scattered debris around
the surrounding area and that Arkansas
officials reported some foliage caught fire.
By midmorning, he said, the fire had
subsided. -
It was not immediately known whether
the missile itself or only fuel exploded. The
silo, covered by concrete doors, was "just
a big rubble inside" after the blast, Clinton
said. ”
The explosion occurred as a main-
tenance crew tried to neutralize a fuel leak
in the first-stage of the missile, said SAC
spokesman Col. Richard Kline.
Air Force Secretary Hans Mark in
Washington said the missile had been
undergoing maintenance Thursday night
when a three-pound wrench socket fell 70
feet, bounced off a thrust mount, and
struck the missile, puncturing the first
stage fuel tank holding about 10,000 gallons
of fuel. About 24 minutes later, the
maintenance crew reported indications of
a fire, Mark said, and flooded the silo with
water. Civilian authorities were advised to
evacuate the area.
It was the second accident this week
involving sophisticated Air Force
weaponry. On Monday, a B-52 bomber
caught fire at Grand Forks Air Force Base
in North Dakota. State disaster officials
said an intercepted Air Force message
indicated the plane may have heen
carrying nuclear weapons, but SAC
refused to confirm that was so.
The silo explosion occurred about 3 a.m.,
hours after Air Force officials discovered
the fuel leak and spotted "smoke”
billowing from the silo, an Air Force
spokesman said.
The explosion occurred as a main-
tenance crew tried to neutralize a fuel leak
in the first-stage of the missile, said SAC
spokesman Col. Richard Kline.
The fuel tank had been punctured by
“some form of human error, apparently”
and 10,000 gallons of fuel began leaking,
according to Clinton.
The Air Force said at least 10 workers
were injured. Six were taken to Conway
Memorial Hospital, most suffering from
burns, said hospital administrator Bill
Ijingford. He said four would be admitted
in good condition and the others treated
and released.
Three workers were taken to Baptist
Medical Center in Little Rock, 52 miles
away.
Thanks, Pop
The Middle School football game against
Mount Pleasant was called due to the
weather Thursday evening eyen .though
Sulphur Springs was leading 6-0. As the
fans finally decided to take a chance and
make a dash for the car, some found it
was easier to be carried than run
themselves — and if Daddy's big cowboy
hat served as an impromptu umbrella, so
much the better.
Festival highlight nears
The biggest weekend of the Fall Festival
has arrived.
Not only is the final weekend always the
biggest, but this year it will see the largest
number of stew cookers to ever have
grabbed ladles, boat paddles or spoons at
one time in recent history - if not an all-
time record.
There were 42 pots of stew entered in the
contest by late Wednesday and Friday
morning two more entries were an-
nounced.
Don and Betty Gowen will be cooking
their pot of stew under the sponsorship of
Allstate Insurance Company and God-
frey’s House of Meats while Tommy
Griggs and Joe Rorie will be brewing their
version with Ross Refrigeration spon-
soring their efforts.
Chamber of Commerce officials said
that Brett Moore has joined with Faron
Young and Keith Tuck in the test of their
cooking skills.
Saturday morning, the Fall Festival
begins at dawn with the wood fires and
stew pots being the order of the day.
While the stew cookers are busy
demonstrating their skills, the first Fall
Festival Run for Your Life will be held at 8
a.m. with the Children's Barnyard
scheduled for 8:30 a.m.
At 9 a.m. the Rabbit Show begins in the
Arena while small Children's Games are
getting started outside.
The Steer Show and Barrow Show wind
up with the traditional auction which
begins at 9:30 a.m. Those who profess an
ability with horseshoes have a chance to
back up the brag as that contest begins at
the same time.
At 10:30 a.m. the Washer Pitching
Contest entrants wind up their arms before
the noon break and the highlight of the
festival — selection of the champion
Hopkins County Stew chef.
Tobacco spitters will have their chance
at 1 p.m. and at 1:30, tellers of tall tales
will have a chance to back their
statements in the Cow Chip Throwing
Contest which begins at 1:30 p.m.
Storm system hops across county
Pie in the face
Instead of a dunking booth, members of the Hi-King Klub sponsored a pie booth at
the Festival this year. Suzy Burney gets a little help from another member of the
club in wiping a pie from her face after taking a direct hit.
-StaH Photo
A thunderstorm which moved through
Hopkins County Thursday night left
rainfall amounts ranging from a half-inch
up to more than two inches in some
regions, bringing at least temporary relief
to parched lawns, gardens and grass
lands.
Heaviest rainfall amount was recorded
at The News-Telegram, where 2.5 inches
was measured at 8 a.m. Friday. Reports
from county commissioners showed a wide
range in moisture accumulations across
the county.
Mervin Chester reported 1.7 inches at
Dike, while L.T. (Son) Martin said .7 of an
inch fell at his home in the Posey com-
munity and .6 of an inch at the county barn
at Ridgeway. J.D. Hatley,"who lives south
of town near Restlawn Memorial Park in
the Shooks Chapel area, said his gauge
measured .7 of an inch.
The official weather observation station
in Sulphur Springs caught only .65 of an
inch of rain, while less than a mile to the
south and east of the station residents
reported more than an inch of moisture as
the storm moved through. Some rain fell
during the afternoon hours, but a storm
cell which made its apparance shortly
before dusk brought most of the rainfall.
The storm system triggered some power
outages, but no major problems were
immediately reported. Lightning strikes
led to three calls to^irefighters.
At 5:37 p.m. Thursday firemen were
called to the FM-69 overpass on 1-30 where
a lightning bolt ignited a grass fire which
consumed one-eighth of an acre before it
was extinguished.
At 8:07 p.m., firefighters were called to
the Haskel Spencer farm on West Loop 301
where lightning struck a tree, igniting a
blaze, and at 10:13 p.m. firemen were
called to Bartley's Barbecue/ where a
power line had blown into a tree, setting
the tree on fire.
In another reported incident, a large
round bale of hay was struck by lightning
in the north part of the county. The bolt
reportedly sliced through the hay bale and
into the ground beneath, boring a hole
through the forage. I
Two weather-related traffic accidents
were reported when an 18-wheeler
jacknifed in front of the Department of
Public Safety office on the interstate, and
a car ran off the road about one mile west
of Sulphur Springs on a curve on SH-19. No
injuries were reported in either incident.
The .65 of an inch from Thursday’s
storm leaves the official rainfall ac-
cumulation for the month at a paltry .72 of
an inch. During the year, 32.18 inches of
moisture have been recorded at the
weather station here.
The storm system now has moved past
the Hopkins County region, with no rain in
the forecast for the windup of the Fail
Festival here Saturday unless a stray cell
from a system well to the southeast
wanders into the area.
The National Weather Service is calling
for clear tp partly cloudy skies ant}, hot
daytime temperatures through Tuesday
ii.
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After the judging, everyone gets to take
a taste of the various types of stew as long
as the pocketbook is full and the stomach
isn’t.
With 44 pots of stew to sample, it'll be a
toss up as to which will happen first.
At 2:30 p.m. the Domino and 42 Tour-
nament takes a shuffle and at 3 p.m.
frustrated aviators can watch the
American Modeler's Association Air
Show.
Checker kings will hit the plaid boards at
3:30 p.m. to determine who is the best
checker player in the area and at 6 p.m.
youths will be able to mix it up in the Calf
and Pig Scramble being held in the Arena.
Professional entertainment takes over
at 7 p.m. with Brenda l,ee and Jacky Ward
performing in the Auditorium with a
second show scheduled for 9 p.m. Advance
tickets for the concerts are priced at $6 and
$7, while purchases at the door will be $8
and $9 per ticket.
And on Sunday, everybody will rest.
for the Sulphur Springs region. Daytime
highs should be in the 90s, with overnight
lows in the near-70 range through Tuesday.
Thursday’s high at the weather station
here was 93 degrees, wih the outside air '
cooling to 62 in the wake of the storm for an
overnight low. At 8 a.m. the mercury stood
at 66 degrees under fair skies.
The storm, liberally dosed with light-
ning, led officials to call off a football
game here Thursday. The Kitten eighth-
graders were leading Mount Pleasant's
eighth grade squad 6-0 when officials
called thegdme.
Milk price support hike set October 1
WASHINGTON (AP) - Dairy
farmers will get a boost of more than 5
percent in the government’s milk
price support program, effective Oct.
1.
The Agriculture Department was
expected to make it pfficial later
today at a meeting of the Commodity
Credit C’orp. board. The increase is
required by a law that specifies ad-
justments in milk supports to reflect,
in part, rising production costs.
Since last April 1, the support has
been $12.07 per 100 pounds of
“manufacturing grade” milk. It is
expected to be raised to around $$2.73
beginning Oct. k
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 223, Ed. 1 Friday, September 19, 1980, newspaper, September 19, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth824149/m1/1/?rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.