Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 135, Ed. 1 Friday, June 6, 1980 Page: 1 of 18
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Sulphur Springs
Friday
SNmts-Scicgram
JUNE 6.1980,
15 Cents
VOL. 102—NO. 135.
TWO SECTIONS
Thousands flee derailment
GARLAND, Texas i API — An estimated
8,000 persons were evacuated from their
homes in this Dallas suburb early today
after two derailed tank cars began leaking
chemicals.
Police evacuated 5,000 residents early
Friday morning, but a late-morning wind
shift began blowing the fumes over
* • downtown Garland, and 3,000 more
residents were evacuated.
in i By late morning, a leak in a propane
tank car had been plugged, and workers
were trying to right a second car so they
could drain it of 40,000 gallons of styrene
monomer, a colorless liquid used to make
polystyrene plastic.
Firemen poured water on the cars, and
bulldozers made a dam .to contain the
diluted styrene.
One city worker was treated for skin
irritation caused by contact with water
contaminated by the chemical. Some
residents complained of headaches and
nausea, but none was hospitalized.
Before the wind shifted, Civil Defense
workers had said they hoped to allow
residents in the square-mile area to return
home about noon.
Power was cut to the area surrounding
the derailment to prevent the possibility a
spark might ignite the fumes.
But the blackout also knocked out radio
station KRLD, whose transmitter is across
the street from the derailment. One
newsman groaned that the station had a
plane overhead and mobile units oil the
scene — but couldn’t tell its listeners about
the situation.
Denny Wheat, Garland Civil Defense
director, said the substance posed a fire
hazard as well as a health hazard.
As the temperature rose during the
morning, officials said the styrene was
near its flash point of 90 degrees — the
same as that for diesel fuel and kerosene.
They said it would not ignite spon-
taneously, however.
Several cars on the Santa Fe track
derailed as the train headed into Dallas
from Shreveport, La., via Greenville,
Texas, just before 2.30 a.m. The cause of
the derailment was not immediately
known.
Chemical experts and railroad officials
were en route to the scene of the
derailment.
Police went door-to-door, telling
residents to leave their homes for shelters
set up at two schools outside the
evacuation area.
Dallas Congressman Jim Mattox in-
spected the derailment and said
emergency crews were doing a good job in
containing the chemicals.
Senate guns down gas fee
Finger games
Youngsters attending the Sulphur Springs High School homemaking department's
playschool get into the spirit of things when the finger-music starts. In the
foreground is Nikki Benson; behind her, from left, are Jamie Fitzgerald, Joann
Detlefsen holding Bryan Evans, and Anita Tutt. Participating students receive
extra school credit for the week-long session. The department will begin a charm
school next Tuesday, with students who will be freshmen next year invited.
—Stxlf Photo by JAN BLAKE
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate,
following the lead of the House, today
overrode President Carter’s veto and
crushed his dime-a-gallon gasoline fee.
The vote was 68-10, well above the two-
thirds majority needed to brush aside
Carter’s veto of a congressional measure
repealing the fee.
It was the first time a Democratic-
controlled Congress has failed to sustain a
Democratic president’s veto since Harry
S. Truman was overidden in 1952.
Carter vetoed the bill Thursday, saying
the fee was needed to help conserve im-
ported petroleum. But two hours later and
with no debate, the House voted, 335-34, to
override the veto.
Today’s Senate vote administered the
final death blow, ff! 'u ithcr ciiamber of
Congress can sustain a veto, two-third
votes in both houses are needed to override
one.
Arguing unsuccessfully for the veto to be
sustained, Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., told
the Senate that failure to reduce U.S.
dependence on foreign oil only makes
military action in the Persian Gulf region
that much more likely.
“We need to take some strong medicine
and unfortunately this body is unwilling to
do that," Hart said.
But Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., denounced
the fee as “bad economic policy and bad
energy policy.”
The Senate margin was narrower than
the nearly 10-1 override vote in the House.
The original Senate vote rejecting the fee
and setting up the veto confrontation was
73-16.
As in the House, a large number of
Democrats joined with Republicans to
override the veto.
Carter cast 21 previous vetoes, all of
which were sustained. Although no
Democratic president had been overriden
since 1952, Republican Presidents Dwight
D. Eisenhower, Richard *4, Nixon and
Gerald R. Ford had a total of 19 vetoes
overidden.
Democrats have controlled both houses
of Congress for the better part of the last 50
years.
In his veto message Thursday, the
president told Congress that while he knew
the fee was politically unpopular, mem-
bers should rise above politics and let him
impose it. He called the levy an important
step in oil conservation, “good policy and
good common sense.”
His veto took two hours to reach the
House and two minutes to discuss. “We’ve
talked the matter to death,” said Rep. A1
Ullman, D-Ore., chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee, as the roll call was
ordered.
it, saying Carter overstepped his authority
in trying to place the levy on all gasoline
instead of limiting it to oil imports.
The administration is appealing that
order. However, an override of Carter’s
veto could make the outcome of that ap-
peal a moot issue. It was not immediately
known if government lawyers planned to
pursue the appeal if the veto is overturned.
Carter reiterated his claim Thursday
that he moved to impose the fee in part
because congressional leaders urged him
to do so last winter.
Carter wanted the fee to help the nation
begin withdrawing from its 8-million-
barrel-a-day consumption of foreign oil.
But opponents - Democrats as well as
Republicans — called the lee a $W.3 billion
tax on drivers that would serve little
purpose but to help balance the budget.
The president announced the fee last
March 15 and it was to have gone into
effect May 15. But a federal judge blocked
Without naming names, Carter lam-
basted “public officials” whom he said are
unwilling “to face the political heat when
the time comes to make a tough decision
for the benefit of this country." He made
the remarks to reporters in the Oval Office
as he signed the veto message.
The bill passed both houses Wednesday
by wide margins — 376-30 in the House and
73-16 in the Senate.
Milk price change eyed
By DON KENDALL
AP Farm Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — New figures
showing how much milk was produced
last month will be issued next week and
will help analysts decide what to
recommend as a way of curbing a
growing U.S. dairy surplus, says
Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland.
The May production figures are
scheduled to be released June 11. In the
first four months of this year,
production jumped about 3 percent
from the same period of 1979.
Bergland, in a brief interview
Thursday, said the production in-
creases — if they continue at those
rates — are not acceptable because
consumers are not requiring that much
milk.
The surplus is bought by the
Agriculture Department in the form of
butter, cheese and nonfat dry milk
under the government’s milk price
support program.
Bergland said he hoped to work with
dairy industry officials to work out
proposals for modifying current law
that requires automatic boosts in milk
price supports twice a year when
production expenses go up.
Earlier on Thursday, Bergland told a
group of farm broadcasters in a
telephone interview that the govern-
ment’s cost of buying surplus dairy
products — which are bought to prop up
milk prices for farmers — is on the
verge of getting out of hand.
“We simply have to reduce the rate of
expansion (of milk production),”
Bergland said. “We can’t go on in-
creasing production at the rate of 1,2 or
3 percent a year above the rate of
consumption. It’ll bankrupt the whole
program.”
Bergland said it appears now it will
cost the government about $1 billion to
buy dairy products under the milk
support program in the current fiscal
year, which ends Sept. 30. Last year the
support program cost about $318
million.
“Milk from California is being
trucked to Minnesota,” Bergland said.
“They have big surpluses on the West
Coast and... in the Middle West, in fact,
and in New York. There are shortages
in other places, but... taken nationally
we now have milk production exceeding
demand by a small amount — but 1
percent more or less is still a lot.”
The law requires USDA to adjust
milk price supports at 80 percent of
parity — a formula linked to the buying
power of farmers prior to World War I
— each Oct. 1. Another adjustment is
required each April 1 to reflect any
changes in a “parity index” of
production costs during the preceding
six months.
Dairy farmers got increases in their
milk supports last Oct. 1 and again
April 1. Unless the law is modified,
Bergland said, another hefty boost will
be mandatory Oct. 1.
Bergland said he is “working very
closely” with dairy groups on
developing acceptable recom-
mendations, including the possibility of
a basic change in law that would link
supports to the milk supply and demand
situation.
For example, the milk support could
be automatically decreased in times of
over-production as a signal to dairy
farmers that they should reduce output.
Conversely, it could mean automatic
increases in times of short supply to
stimulate larger production.
“This would be a new approach, one
which I am impressed by,” Bergland
said. “It would require a change in the
law.” '
Regardless, he said, there is a
“general expectation in the industry
and in Congress that the, current law
must be amended” and that a $1 billion
cost for a dairy support program “is
simply not possible” in a balanced
federal budget.
“It’s not out of control yet, and we
don’t expect to let it get out of hand,”
Bergland said. “I don’t expect to see a
major political shootout between the
administration and the dairy industry
because I think we’re in a complete
agreement as to what is required.”
Runoff choices await voters
Forecasting voter turnout for Saturday’s
Democratic runoff election here is turning
into an exercise in schizophrenia.
While most election officials predict the
traditional light turnout for runoffs, a
slight increase in the number of absentee
ballots cast in person points toward a
heavier-than-anticipated day at the polls.
Primary attraction on the card, county-
wide, is the hotly-contested race for
District 10 Representative as i/iwell Cable
of Sulphur Springs attempts to unseat
incumbent Smith Gilley of Greenville.
Both Gilley and Cable have been ad-
vertising heavily in the fading days of the
campaign, attempting to spark heavier
voter turnout among their supporters.
The only other local runo(ff race on the
ballot pits challenger I/ex Fite and in-
cumbent T.M. (Mervin) Chester in a race
for County Commissioner of Precinct 3.
While other counties in District 10 have
combined some boxes for Saturday’s
runoff ballot, Democratic voters in
Hopkins County will report to the same
polling places as they did for the primary
election.
voters will go to the Pickton Community
Center.
Miller Grove School will be the site for
Precinct 16 voters while those in Precinct
17 will vote at the North Hopkins School;
Precinct 20 at the Ridgeway County Bam
office; Precinct 23 at the Weaver Baptist
Church; Precinct 24 at the Dike Com-
munity Center; and Precinct 25 at the
Brashear Community Center.
Precinct 36 voters will go to the Arbala
Community Center.
The News-Telegram will publish at the
usual time Sunday, with complete runoff
results to be reported in Monday’s edition
of the newspaper.
Voters in Precinct 1 will cast ballots at
the Lutheran Church in Sulphur Springs;
Precinct 1-A at the Saint James Catholic
Church; Precinct 2 at Bowie School and
Precinct 3 at Peoples National Bank.
State judging champs
Precinct 4 voters will go to the Hopkins
County Civic Center, Precinct 5 to the
Saltillo Community Center and Precinct 8
to the Reilly Springs Community Center.
The Cumby City Hall is the voting place
for those in Precinct 11 and Sulphur Bluff
School for Precinct 12 voters.
Precinct 13 ballots will be cast at the
Como Community Center and Precinct 14
Thesy four individuals recently returned from the 4-H Club Round-up in
' ' Station as the top dairy judging team in Texas. From left are Rhonda
^ Richard Dannheim, Monty Teel, and Eric Mabe, who will represent
A As County and the state of Texas at the National Dairy Judging Com-
P^'T^Vljn in Madison, Wis. during the World Dairy Exposition Oct. 3-4.
i -SUH Photo
■V
I 1
The fatal sounds of Suicide Curve
•airy judging team gets
lance at national crown
By STEVl BREWER
Associated Press Writer
JASPER, Ark. (AP) - Lorene Fancher
has lived near “Suicide Curve” for eight
years and knows the screeching sounds of
trucks plunging into the ravine below. But
the bus accident that claimed 20 lives “was
the biggest and longest crash of them all.”
* ‘ Federal officials were working today to
determine what caused a chartered tour
\ bos from Texas to leave a twisting
\ mountain road in darkness and careen 50
feet down a steep, wooded ravine.
The accident was the worst in Arkansas,
history, said Maj. Boren Jackson of the
state police. The bus driver and 19 of the 32
passengers were killed and the other 13
were injured.
Some relatives were asked to identify
jewelry, rather than the bodies them-
selves, because the bodies were badly
battered. Four of the victims were
decapitated.
“It looks as though the brakes ap-
parently had failed,” said Capt. Billy Bob
Dayis, commander of the Arkansas State
Police at Harrison, a town of 9,000 20 miles
north of the ravine.
Ross Goodwin, vice president of Central
Texas Buslines Inc., which owned the bus,
said the bus’s brakes had been checked
last week. He declined further comment.
Newton County Sheriff Ray Watkins and
Coroner C.J. Easley said it appeared the
driver of the bus may have tried to use the
ravine as a braking mechanism. They
speculated Jimmy Thigpen had given up
his life in an effort to save others.
—Related stories, Page 2—
The twist in the road, known to people in
this town of 400 as “Suicide Curve,” has
been the scene of numerous past ac-
cidents. The crash of the bus occurred just
past the point where a 1,000-foot escape
lane is currently under construction.
Patches of the highway bear deep
grooves that produce vibrations and warn
motorists of the curves in two-lane
Arkansas 7, which winds through the
Ozark Mountains.
Passengers said they remembered
hearing “a grinding noise" or “the bus
hitting some rough places” before the
crash.
Davis said the bus traveled along a
shallow ditch, then# hit a culvert and
plunged down*the embankment, cutting
through trees like a bulldozer.
s next stop for the four members
\ the Hopkins County 4-H Club dairy
jiidging team will be the World Diary
^position Oct. 3-4 in Madison, Wis.,
inhere they will participate in the
National Dairy Judging Competition.
| As a team, Rhonda Crouch, Richard
Monty Teel, and Eric
won the recent State 4-H Club
judging contest in College
i to advance to the nationals -
first time that * Hopkins County
i has won the state title.
On their way to the state win Miss
was named the top point-
er in district. At the state level
contest, Teel was named as the top
point judge and top in the overall
reason contest. Dannheim finished
fifth in the state in overall points.
Ron Woolley, county extension
agent, helped the team learn the ropes
as judges, according to the team
members. Woolley, when he was a
member of 4-H, helped his squad win
the same title he helped the Hopkins
County team win. ,
As a spokesman for the team, Teel
said the squad wanted to express
thanks to the various dairymen
around the county for allowing the
team to practice their judging skills
on various breeds and herd*.
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 135, Ed. 1 Friday, June 6, 1980, newspaper, June 6, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth824833/m1/1/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.