Love to Decorate Christmas Trees? Here’s Your Contest!
And here’s the contest rules, according to Brent Smith, Hopkins County EMS
‘Wreaths Across America’ Event in Sulphur Springs on Saturday December 14, 2019
Here’s your opportunity to join in a moving patriotic local event like others across the United States this holiday season. Volunteers are needed for “Wreaths Across America” to be staged at Sulphur Springs City Cemetery and Mel Haven Cemetery on Saturday December 14, 2019. To honor the more than 600 veterans buried there, a live fir wreath with red bow will be placed on each soldier’s headstone and the name of the soldier spoken aloud. This event will take place at Arlington National Cemetery, at 1,700 other cemeteries across the nation at the same time, and this year, the Black Oak Cemetery in Hopkins County will also join in that number. Local sponsors are also needed for the remaining number of wreaths needed.
Mrs. Dena Loyd is the Location Co-ordinator for Hopkins County, and she organized the first local Wreaths Across America in 2018. Quite excited about this year’s event, Dena hopes that even more of the public will attend the brief outdoor ceremony as well as have the pleasure of placing wreaths. “All 700 headstones will be marked ahead of time, and following the ceremony, hands-on volunteers will be needed to go out into the cemetery and place a wreath upon a headstone as a tribute to each soldier. Anyone who is moved to help can do so, from individuals to families to members of organizations. Last year, some parents brought their children and helped them learn this way of caring for those who helped secure our freedoms as Americans”. If you have a group which would like to help, please contact Dena at 903-348-8174.
If you would like to be a wreath sponsor, the cost is only $15 each. And for each two wreaths ordered, a third wreath will be donated by the supplier. So, if you write a check for $30, three wreaths will arrive in the local order. As of November 13, only about 100 more wreaths are needed….76 more for the Sulphur Springs/Mel Haven Cemetery and 24 more wreaths are needed for the Black Oak Cemetery. You can contact Dena Loyd, or if you’d like to contact Loretta Scott who is co-ordinating the Black Oak event, her contact is 903-307-9000.
The wreaths are supplied by the Wreaths Across America organization and the local order of 700 wreaths will be delivered in Sulphur Springs by truck on the day before the event. In fact, trucking companies all across the nation volunteer to transport the boxes of wreaths to towns and cities for placement, and they do this at no charge. All the trucking companies as well as the drivers volunteer for this duty because they have a heart for Veterans. The massive nation-wide process works out to be amazingly simple and successful, because each person personally cares. How this came about is written in the November issue of Farmer’s Electric Co-op magazine, which explains how the 1992 Arlington Wreath Project has become Wreaths Across America, with 160,000 wreaths expected to be placed this holiday.
According to Loyd, “the wreaths are supplied by the Wreaths Across America organization and the local order of 700 wreaths will be delivered in Sulphur Springs by truck on the day before the event. In fact, trucking companies all across the nation volunteer to transport the boxes of wreaths to towns and cities for placement, and they do this at no charge. All the trucking companies as well as the drivers volunteer for this duty because they have a heart for Veterans. The massive nation-wide process works out to be amazingly simple and successful, because each person personally cares. How this came about is written in the November issue of Farmer’s Electric Co-op magazine, which explains it’s start as the Arlington Wreath Project and is now carried out by ‘kind strangers’ all over this nation”. Locally, Loyd adopted the project for Hopkins County first as a tribute to her son Chad who was killed by an IED in Iraq in 2006, and to all other military heroes of local families.
Lady Cats Basketball Team Plays at Mount Vernon, Volleyball Playoff Game at SSHS Gym on This Tuesday Game Day
The Lady Cats Basketball Team plays their second game of the season on this Tuesday (November 12) game day. The Lady Cats will travel to Mount Vernon to play the Lady Tigers. There is a JV contest at 5 p.m. with the varsity contest to follow. The Lady Cats are 0-1 for the season after opening the season at Sulphur Springs Middle School with a loss this past Saturday to Mineola, 68-39. The Lady Yellowjackets are preseason ranked #15 in Class 3A by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches. The Lady Cats return just one starter from last year and they played with five freshman and sophomores Saturday. Senior Kate Womack led the Lady Cats with 11 points Saturday and junior Nylah Lindley added 10 points.
There is also a volleyball game for Hopkins County bragging rights on this Tuesday game day. Miller Grove will play Sulphur Bluff in a regional quarterfinal game in the Main Gym at Sulphur Springs High School. The match is scheduled to get underway at 6 p.m.
High School Playoff Games at The Prim This Week
Three high school football playoff games are coming to Gerald Prim Stadium in Sulphur Springs this week. There are games Thursday, Friday and Saturday (November 14-16). Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. at The Prim,,Harmony will take on Whitewright in a bi-district game in Region III, Class 3A, Division II. Harmony is 7-3 and Whitewright is 5-5. Friday night at 7:30 p.m., Bells will play Winona in bi-district also in Region III, Class 3A, Division II. Bells is 7-3 and Winona is 6-4. Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., the Mount Vernon Tigers of Coach Art Briles will meet Sabine in bi-district in Region II. Class 3A, Division I. Mount Vernon is 8-2 and Sabine is 9-1.
Blue Santa Needs Your Help for a Brighter Christmas!
What are the Blue Santa barrels you see around town and in the shopping areas of Sulphur Springs and Hopkins County? These barrels are part of the way in which local law enforcement plans to make the holiday brighter for some children with toys for Christmas. Just place new toys in the barrels when you are shopping between now and December 6. When a barrel gets full, it’s emptied and put back in service. Since October, all the toys are being gathered at a central location to be distributed to qualifying families in mid-December. This way, the families can place the toys under the tree for their children to open at home at Christmas. Families who would like to sign up to qualify for the Blue Santa program can do so at CANHelp, 613 Gilmer Street, on weekdays from 8am til 4:30pm, or call 903-885-9797. It is expected that more 800 Hopkins County children will be served at Christmas 2019.
Besides donating new toys in the blue barrels, there are additional ways you can help. Take advantage of the Toy Drive, a 2-day drive-thru event on the Lowe’s parking lot Monday December 2 and Tuesday December 3 from 7 am til 7 pm. Local law enforcement will be there to take toy donations from you, as well as money donations for use in the program. If donating money, you can earmark it be used to buy items for “teens” or other ages of children. You can donate a bicycle for a child just by dropping it off, preferably pre-assembled. Or your church or organization can gather toys and donate them to the Drive. Also during the Toy Drive, there will be a BBQ lunch fundraiser both days with a BBQ sandwich prepared by CJ Duffey along with chips, dessert and drink for $5. Choice Hospice is providing these lunches both days for purchase or for delivery, as a fundraiser to purchase more toys.
After all the toys are collected, they will be sorted and bundled for each family on the list by Empty Stocking volunteers. Distribution Day is the morning of December 14 from the FUMC distribution center. A family member can pick the toys up in a drive-thru fashion, then the toys can be wrapped at home. In this way, Blue Santa helps Hopkins County families have a brighter Christmas for their children in 2019!
Sulphur Springs Symphony Auction is November 23rd, 2019
The 28th annual Live Auction on KSST benefiting the Sulphur Springs Symphony League will be held Saturday, November 23. The auction begins at 5 PM. You can listen live on KSST 1230 AM, watch Suddenlink Channel 18, or stream it at www.ksstradio.com.
We rely on the live auction as our only fundraiser to supplement donations made by our League members and event sponsors. This year, we are hoping to raise $10,000 to cover our annual costs. The mission of the Symphony League is to bring fine arts entertainment to Hopkins County and to enhance the fine arts education of our children. We do this through the annual Children’s Concert for 3rd-5th grade students, the Dallas Opera Education program for middle school Fine Arts students, and the Independence Day Concert downtown. It is always an honor to host the Northeast Texas Orchestra, directed by Dr. Doug Bakenhus, in Sulphur Springs. Please consider becoming a League member if you are not already!
The Auction is always a fun evening – for us and for those watching! This year our auction has a Christmas theme. The auction comes just in time to celebrate the coming Christmas holiday! You will have a chance to win Christmas décor or exciting Christmas gifts. One of our special auction items is a carriage ride through Highland Park to look at Christmas lights on December 28. This trip includes a hot chocolate date package for two with hot chocolate, insulated mugs, and gourmet snacks. Other items include: his & her Bison cooler bags, a TV, a house visit from Santa, and a battery-operated ride-on car.
To place a bid, simply call (903) 885-0700 during the auction.
Rushin Family Chili, Stew a Tradition at Mt. Sterling
Mike Rushin, along with his son Jay and his siblings Johnny Rushin and Wynona Rushin Willis helping out, are keeping a tradition alive in the Mt. Sterling Community of Hopkins County. The annual “Chili” was held on the evening of Saturday November 2, 2019 under the trees on Mike’s property just down from the Mt. Sterling Cemetery on CR 3506. For a number of years, Mike did all the cooking by himself, stirring up a pot of his famous chili recipe as well as a pot of Beef Stew, yielding 30 gallons or plenty to feed a hungry crowd of friends. But in recent years, he’s decided he has to make sure the younger generation knows how to carry on the tradition, so now he “supervises”. Jay’s friend Donald Hopper Jr. stepped up to help a few years ago. He came on board because the family likes the concept of pride in community and of sharing it with friends whom you might not get to see in person too often, visiting and catching up, and watching the kids play on a cool autumn evening. This year, Hopper not only cooked the chili but served everyone who held out a bowl to him. Regrettably, Jay Rushin had to work that night but he put in several hours of preparing the yard for the event, setting up the cooksite and peeling and cutting up the vegetables for the stew.
According to Mike, a similar event was held annually at the chapel of the Mt. Sterling Cemetery, in the community where he spent his childhood. Whole families would come, the men helped cook, the kids got to know one another, and women would bring cakes and their best homemade desserts. There was often an old-fashioned pie auction, an ice cream supper or a watermelon cutting which helped raise money for the upkeep of the Mt. Sterling Cemetery and North Liberty Baptist Church. Mike stated, “at some point, it moved to my place, just a short distance down the road. My good friend Merle Chester never missed a year, and before he passed away, he hugged me and made me promise I’d keep it going, because ‘people just don’t do this anymore’. So I have, and it’s always rewarding. We were raised here on this dairy property, and I know my parents Merle and Lourice Rushin would have wanted it to continue. I started in earnest that Autumn of 2004, after they both passed away just one week apart, during the Summer of 2004. And our brother Donnis passed away in 2012, so it’s just us left to carry it on. And I think, hey, no matter where in the county friends come in from, that night “WE” are a community, and we celebrate that fact”.
Channel 18: Veterans Day Ceremony Monday, November 11, 2019
Wildcats Coach Clark Cipoletta Says Wildcats Have a Lot to Work on After First Scrimmage Saturday
The #5 ranked Wildcats Basketball Team scrimmaged McKinney Boyd and Frisco Liberty at McKinney Boyd Saturday (November 9). The Wildcats played two halves against each team. Wildcats Coach Clark Cipoletta said he thought the Wildcats perhaps won three of the four halves. He said he saw good and bad during the scrimmage. Coach Cipoletta said the Wildcats played really good during the first couple of halves but then dragged a little. He said the Wildcats have things to work on. Ironically Coach Cipoletta said the Wildcats did not do some things as well as he thought they could but he added they also did some thing better than he thought they could. He said Day Day Hall played consistently. Senior Justin Brock, a former SSISD student who moved away several years ago but now is back, shot the ball well according to Coach Cip. He said Boo Wilkerson and Grayson McClure were pretty solid. He said Cameron Kahn played well and he said Justin Haire stepped back and hit a three. Coach Cipoletta said the Wildcats need to handle pressure better and take better care of the ball. He said the Wildcats also need to guard players better. Coach Cipoletta said right now the offense is ahead of the defense. Tuesday at Mesquite Poteet, the Wildcats will scrimmage the host team and Tyler Lee. The Wildcats open the regular season Saturday against Decatur, the #7 ranked team in Class 4A, at 11 a.m. in North Crowley in the Cowtown Showdown.
