Teen Accused Of Reckless Driving, Evading Arrest
A Sulphur Springs teen allegedly lead police on a high speed chase from Whataburger to Loop 301 Saturday night.
Police first heard a vehicle being revved up behind Whataburger at about 11:40 p.m. Aug. 24. The vehicle then accelerated, causing its tires to spin. Police attempted to stop the Ford Mustang. Instead of stopping the driver continued at unsafe speeds on the service road and Interstate 30, reportedly including passing an 18-wheeler on the right before finally stopping in the area of Loop 301, police reported.
The 16-year-old driver was taken into custody by police station at 12:07 a.m. Aug. 25 and charged with reckless driving and evading arrest or detention with a vehicle. Juvenile probation authorities and the juvenile’s parents were contacted, according to police reports.
Sulphur Springs Man Accused of Assaulting A Woman And A Jailer
A 21-year-old Sulphur Springs man was alleged early Sunday morning to have assaulted a woman while intoxicated, and later to have punched a corrections officer.
Sulphur Springs Police responded to a complaint of an assault. A woman had obvious facial injuries, including bleeding from the nose and mouth. Dillon Earl Stubblefield aka Dylan Stubblefield, the woman’s common-law spouse, was accused of committing the offense, according to police reports.
Stubblefield was not present when officers arrived at the Helm Lane residence he shares with the alleged victim. Stubblefield reportedly arrived in the parking lot, where officers contacted him. The officers, in arrest reports, alleged a strong odor of alcohol emitted from him.
When asked for identification, the 21-year-old reportedly identified himself as Dillon Smith, then attempted to evade officers by trying to run away. He ran to the side and jerked away from the officer, attempting to detain him. The man was reportedly “restrained to the ground,” and suffered minor injuries such as scratches when he continued to resist despite being told to stop and cooperate.
He was placed into handcuffs and transported to jail, where he allegedly remained combative and was placed into a a “v-cell” for his protection and safety of jail staff, according to arrest reports.
The man, identified in arrest and police reports as Dillon Stubblefield, was charged with public intoxication, family violence assault, failure to identify by giving false information and resisting arrest, search or transport, for his behavior to that point, according to arrest reports.
When the door to his cell was opened around 7:30 a.m. Sunday, Stubblefield allegedly punched a the jail corrections officer in the face, resulting in a charge for assault of a public servant, according to jail and police reports.
Stubblefield remained in the county jail Monday morning on the charges, according to jail reports.
If you have an emergency, dial 9-1-1
The Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office is located at 298 Rosemont Sulphur Springs, TX 75482. You can reach them for non-emergency matters at (903) 438-4040.
Buyer Beware: Misuse of Name of Local Business Reported by Residents
According to Charlotte Baxter, an Administrator at Carriage House Manor Health and Rehab in Sulphur Springs, a local citizen reported that over the weekend, she received two phone calls from a solicitor claiming to represent Carriage House Manor in the sale of “first alert” pendants or necklaces. The citizen said her mobile phone flashed Carriage House Manor as caller ID. She conversed with the person who phoned her and who was offering the alert necklace in this area. Afterward, the citizen called Carriage House Manor and was told that they are not involved in the sale of this product by phone, and that if other citizens get these calls, that Carriage House is not behind the calls. According to Charlotte, “we provide nursing home and rehabilitation services. We are busy taking care of your loved ones, and do not participate in sales of products by phone.” Local citizens who may receive phone calls claiming to be sponsored by local businesses have the option of checking with that business to make certain they endorse such calls.
Sulphur Springs Man Accused Of Holding Knife To Wife’s Throat, Biting Her Nose And Mouth
A 47-year-old Sulphur Springs man taken into custody Saturday after allegedly holding a knife to his wife’s throat, and biting her mouth and nose.
Sulphur Springs police officers responded at 10:56 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, to a disturbance involving a knife in the 600 block of Lee Street. Upon arrival, officers contacted the alleged victim. Milton Pineda allegedly accused his wife of being unfaithful to him, then assaulted her by holding a common kitchen knife to her throat, causing minor cuts. Pineda was also accused of biting the woman on her mouth and nose, Sulphur Springs Police Lt. Pat Leber alleged in arrest reports.
Prior to police arrival, Pineda reportedly turned the knife on himself, holding it to his own throat, causing a minor cut, but denied trying to harm himself, police wrote in arrest reports. As he was taken into custody, he reportedly commented that if arrested he’d flee back to Honduras as soon as he got out of jail. He was arrested and placed into the county jail for aggravated family violence assault, Leber alleged in arrest reports.
Pineda remained in Hopkins County jail Monday morning, Aug. 26. His bond on the felony charge was set at $100,000, according to jail reports.
Saltillo Cross Country Win Meet
Saltillo Lions Win Union Grove Cross Country Meet
The Saltillo Lions Cross Country Team took first place at a Union Grove Cross Country Meet Saturday. Lion Garrett Tarver also finished first with a time of 17:06. In other Lions results, Dillon Beadle was sixth, Gunner Tarver was seventh, Coy Collins took eighth, Beckham Hoover was 23rd, Jayden Holloway was 27th and Andrew Redburn was 37th. The Saltillo Lady Lions also competed at the Union Grove Cross Country Meet. For the Lady Lions, Kristina Wade was seventh with a time of 14:06. Reagon Spear was eighth, Briana Tawil was 34th, Yadira Alonso was 41st, Makensa Morris was 61st, Ofelia Cabrera was 84th and Chandler Bain was 98th.
Lady Cats Volleyball Finish Fourth
The Lady Cats Volleyball Team had a disappointing finish at the fifth annual Edgewood Back-to-School Dig-Fest Volleyball Tournament Saturday (August 24). The Lady Cats won their first match Saturday but then lost their last two to end up fourth in the tournament. The Lady Cats were plagued with slow starts and also had problems finishing their opponent off at the end of their final two games Saturday. The Lady Cats opened Saturday in the Championship Bracket with a come from behind, 2-1 win over Grand Saline. The Lady Indians took set one, 25-19. The Lady Cats roared back to win the match taking set two 25-9 and set three 25-12. In a semifinal match against Neches, the Class A State Volleyball Champion last season, again the Lady Cats had a slow start and lost set one to the Lady Tigers, 25-13. Again the Lady Cats battled back to take set two, 27-25 and tie the match at one set apiece. Neches won the decisive third set, 25-22. The match was tied 22-22 but the Lady Tigers got the last three points to win the match and advance to the tournament final. Meanwhile the Lady Cats were matched up in a game for third place. Their opponent was host Edgewood. Again in this match, the Lady Cats got off to a slow start and Edgewood captured a 25-20 win in set one. Again the Lady Cats played much better in set two but lost down the stretch to the Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Cats led 25-24 and were just a point away from evening the match but Edgewood won the last three points and the set, 27-25 and the match, 2-0. After the game, Edgewood Volleyball Coach Stacy Parker announced that Lady Cat Sadie Washburn had been selected to the All-Tournament Team. The award was richly deserved as Sadie had an unofficial 38 kills in the three games on Saturday alone. The Lady Cats are now 14-8 for the season. Next they play at Paris Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.
Budget Amendment, Impact Of House Bill 3 On Funding Discussed at SSISD Meeting
Despite containing two financial reports, one of which required action, the regular portion of Friday’s special noon meeting of Sulphur Springs Independent School District concluded in about 15 minutes. After an executive session trustees also accepted two letters of resignation.
Foundation School Program
House Bill 3 amended Chapter 48.256 of the education code regarding what tax figures are used to calculate Foundation School Program funding. However, that shouldn’t have too big an impact funding in the coming school year, according to SSISD Superintendent Michael Lamb.
The amendment stipulates that current year property tax values instead of the preceding taxable property values will be used moving forward to calculate the local share of FSP. This applies to all FSP calculations including those for Instructional Facilities Allotment and Existing Debt Allotment funding under Chapter 46 of TEC.
Texas Commission on Public School Finance recommended the change to “eliminate any potential mismatch between the values a district was using as a base for local tax collections and the values used by the state to compute a district’s local share of the FSP,” according to a letter sent out by Texas Education Agency. This too allows the state to “raise the basic allotment for all students and provide more funding to the vast majority of districts.”
TEA will use 2018 final certified values from the comptroller’s Property Tax Assistance Division inflated by 5.76 percent as required by Rider 3, Article III of the General Appropriations Act,” for the 2020 school year, according to the TEA release.
“For our district, we have been blessed that we have been able to cover that,” SSISD Business Manger Sherry McGraw told trustees at Friday’s meeting.
“Bigger districts were not in favor of it. For us, we’ve steadily gone up every year. So what ends up happening: it’s a pretty good jump from year to year, which is part of why they’re able to afford House Bill 3. But, now that we’re on this year’s tax values, we’ll go right back to that normal range of up that we’ve experienced, as long as the trend continues,” Superintendent Michael Lamb said.
Amended Budgets
SSISD trustees also approved amended food service, debt service and general fund budgets as presented by Business Manager Sherry McGraw.
The debt service budget required no changes, remaining $4,212,819.
The food service budget increased by $181,950 due to commodities, but revenue received for the same amount offset the increase, Mcgraw explained. The business office requested an additional $30,000 be included for any unforeseen expenditures over the amount anticipated through August 2019. That increases the food service budget from $2.27 million in the original budget approved in 2018 to $2.455 million to finish the fiscal year.
The general fund budget adopted in September 2018 for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31 was amended in May by $304,310 to include $145,640 in restructuring costs, $95,499 for athletic facility upgrades, $19,573 for CTE house construction and $43,598 in fees related to the boys team playing in the state basketball tournament in the spring. The district receive $24,206 in revenue, however to offset a portion of the basketball tourney fees.
SSISD trustees also had to move from one fuction to another the expenditure for the payment to Paris Junior College for the old tech center building, now used for SSHS classes.
Since May, the district also spent $497,965 in general fund expenditures. However, because of revenue offsets, they have no impact on the overall budget, according to McGraw. The district received $42,944 in gate receipts, which are transferred into the appropriate function. Transferred into Function 11, instruction, were the $368,590 for laptop lease fee balance for high school and the $86,431 in Texas Retirement System Medicare GASB24 in state revenue.
Overall, that’s a total general fund adjustment of $802,275. However, McGraw asked the board to consider approving a 0.75 percent surplus, which would be used “just in case” any of the 19 functions had expenditures that were not anticipated in the projected budget. If a bill has yet to come in for an expense or comes in a little higher than expected, the surplus would cover that expenditure to prevent a functional deficit.
“Your approval does not mean we will go out and spend the surplus funds. It just means if any expenditures come in that we were not expecting or if auditors’ adjustments increase or change an expenditure in a function, we have allocated to each function surplus funds in order to avoid any findings in our annual financial report,” McGraw noted.
The surplus to the general fund budget would be $286,790, for an overall general fund increase this year of $1,089,065. That’s offset by $522,171 overall in general fund revenue, leaving an increase of $566,894, according to McGraw.
That increases the overall general fund budget, as amended, from $37.7 million to $38,789,220.
Personnel
Following an executive session, SSISD trustees reconvened in open session to formally accept the resignations of Rickey Gilliam, a district bus mechanic, and Mariah Kendricks, a special education aide at Barbara Bush Primary School.
City of Como Announces Plans For VFD, Building
Como City Council following a special meeting Friday afternoon announced plans for Como Volunteer Fire Department and hat the building at 299 Gaskins St. will be updated to serve as a community center.
Como VFD was officially taken out of service per Hopkins County Fire Marshal’s Office Friday afternoon, Aug. 16, pending administrative review. The order followed an investigation by the county fire marshals and Texas Rangers that resulted in the arrest of Darren Dwayne “Bro” Harris, 53, and Roy George Darby, 78, on one felony charge each alleging theft of funds from the department.
Harris had served as CVFD’s chief until the investigation was launched; his duties were reportedly suspended at that time pending the investigation. Darby was a long-time member and served as secretary/treasurer. Because fire department members are considered public servants, the felony theft charge was enhanced, the fire marshals said following Harris and Darby’s arrests on Aug.16.
Darren Dwayne “Bro” Harris 
Roy George Darby
On Aug. 18, Como Mayor Darla Henry, on the City of Como Facebook page, assured residents that the city was working with other county officials to develop a plan for CVFD, and that the area will continue to receive fire and emergency services coverage from Hopkins County and the surrounding volunteer fire departments until that plan is in place.
The city had taken possession of the fire department building at that time.
“For the time that I have been in Como (8 years) the Como VFD has not been under the governance or authority of the Mayor or Council. They have been separate and apart from City Hall. However, that has now changed,” Henry posted on Aug. 18.
The city’s plan is not only to get the fire department up and running “in just a few days,” but to also once it is to have a police department for code enforcement and to update the building to serve as a community center.
Applications are being accepted for “qualified volunteers” interested in donating their time as members of Como’s fire department, which will become part of “Como Department of Public Safety – Police and Fire,” Henry reported late Friday night.
Applications for volunteer firefighters are available at Como City Hall. Code Enforcement Officer Andy Lowen was appointed director of public safety to “oversee the building and all that goes on,” including serving as interim fire chief. Matt Green was appointed assistant fire chief.
Working under the mayor and city council, Lowen will continue to oversee the building once the department is reestablished, then will focus on a police department, according to Henry’s Aug. 23 post on the City of Como Facebook page.
“In the coming days and weeks hopefully you’ll begin to see some basic changes of signs and logos. Our goal is to purchase the equipment we need and staff the Fire Dept with enthusiastic, trained and qualified young men and women that will dedicate their time to keeping Como and its’ residents safe,” the mayor posted.
Henry stated that when the Como Police Department is established, it won’t be staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It will focus mostly on code enforcement during the day. Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office continuing to serve other law enforcement needs after hours and as needed during the day.
Man Accused Of Smashing Girlfriend’s Phone, Ending Her 911 Call For Help
A 31-year-old Sulphur Springs man was arrested early Saturday morning for allegedly busting a door, and snatching and breaking his girlfriend’s phone to prevent her from talking to emergency dispatchers.
Sulphur Springs police were dispatched at 4:38 a.m. Saturday to a Freeman Street address, from which emergency dispatchers had received a call in which a female could be heard screaming that her boyfriend was about to hurt her before the line went silent. While en route, dispatchers attempted but were unable to re-connect contact with the caller.
As they approached the location, officers reported seeing a man walking on Carter Street at Martin Luther King drive, the area of the residence. He was detained while other officer contacted the female who dialed 911. The woman alleged she’d been in a disturbance with her boyfriend, the man detained. She claimed he busted his way into a locked room and grabbed the phone from her while she was talking with a dispatcher on 911, seeking help. He allegedly threw the phone against a door an broke it, then fled the scene, police noted in arrest reports.
The man was arrested at 4:47 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, by police for interference with an emergency request for assistance, a Class A misdemeanor offense, and on a no driver’s license warrant, according to arrest reports. He remained in the county jail later Saturday morning. Bond on the interference charge was set at $2,000, according to jail reports.
Winnsboro Man Arrested After Allegedly Falsely Identifying Himself To Police
Sulphur Springs police arrested a 38-year-old Winnsboro man for allegedly identifying himself by a false name, during a traffic stop, to avoid being arrested on a warrant, according to arrest reports.
Sulphur Springs Police Officer Zachary Brown reportedly stopped a Ford Explorer at 7:08 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23, in the 100 block of Wildcat Way for an equipment violation. On contact, the driver identified himself as Bobby Lee Martin. A records check by dispatch reportedly showed no record for a person by that name and date of birth. The man said he has neither a driver’s license nor ID card, Brown alleged in arrest reports.
Brown conducted a probable cause search of the sport utility vehicle and found no contraband, although the occupants allegedly admitted to having previously smoked marijuana, the officer noted in arrest reports.
The driver was taken into custody for not having a driver’s license. As Brown placed the man into the back of his patrol vehicle, he told the officer his real name is Bobby Junior McKenzie, gave a date of birth that would make him two years older, and admitted he had a “blue warrant” and had just finished smoking a marijuana joint, the officer alleged in arrest reports. A records check by dispatchers reportedly confirmed a parole warrant had been issued for 38-year-old Bobby Junior McKenzie, according to arrest reports.
The SUV was impounded and the man identified Bobby Junior McKenzie of Winnsboro was transported to the county, where he was booked not only on the parole warrant but also for no driver’s license and failure to identify as a fugitive by giving false information, Brown noted in arrest reports.
