Emmons Sentenced to Seven Years in Plea Agreement
Wednesday afternoon in Eighth Judicial District Court Teddy Ray Emmons, 58, was sentenced to seven years in a plea bargain agreement for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, according to Assistant District Attorney Matt Harris. Harris stated that Emmons will serve three and one half years before being eligible for parole.
Emmons was arrested in July of this year at a residence on FM 900 in Hopkins County when deputies responded to a disturbance at the location. When they arrived they found Emmons had used a weapon during the commission of a family confrontation. During the confrontation between Emmons and deputies, he ran into and barricaded himself with a weapon inside a shop building. The S.W.A.T. team was called. The SWAT team and negotiators worked with him for an hour. However, no sustained contact was initiated. Using special tactics and weapons, the SWAT team was able to get Emmons to exit the building and obey verbal commands given once he was outside, according to Sheriff’s Investigator Corley Weatherford.
Emmons was charged with Deadly Conduct Discharge Firearm and Aggravated Assault with Deadly Weapon at that time.
Chamber Connection Thursday December 28, 2017
Events Done Simply hosts their Ribbon Cutting on January 10th
Events Done Simply is hosting their ribbon cutting celebration on Thursday, January 10th at noon at the Chamber of Commerce, 300 Connally Street in Sulphur Springs. Please come by to welcome this new business to Hopkins County!
Would you like to recognize an Outstanding Educator?
Here is your chance…this year the Chamber of Commerce Education Committee wants to allow all Hopkins County Citizens to nominate their candidates for “Outstanding Professional Educator” (Administrator, Counselor, Diagnostician, or Teacher) “Outstanding Para Professional Educator” (Secretary or Aide) and “Outstanding Auxiliary Educator” (Maintenance, Custodial, Transportation, Nurse or Cafeteria). We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to nominate that “special educator” that has had an impact in their lives. You may pick up a nomination form at the Chamber office at 300 Connally Street and then either fax, e-mail or mail it in, no later than January 19th! Our fax number is 903-885-6516, our e-mail address is [email protected], and our mailing address is also 300 Connally Street, Sulphur Springs, TX 75482. Don’t miss this opportunity to recognize a special educator!
Nominations for Large and Small Business of the Year!
Please submit your nomination for Large Business of the Year or Small Business of the Year. Nominations should be for those businesses which exhibit outstanding community involvement—civic, church, educational, benevolent, humanitarian or other. You may pick up a nomination form at the Chamber office at 300 Connally Street and either fax, e-mail or mail it in, no later than January 19th! Our fax number is 903-885-6516, our e-mail address is [email protected] and our mailing address is 300 Connally Street, Sulphur Springs, TX 75482.
Joining the Chamber is such a wonderful boost for your business. Have you been thinking about joining the Chamber but wondering what the benefits are? Here are just a few of the reasons being a member of the Chamber of Commerce is helpful to you:
| · Listings in the Membership Directory with community history and profile (published annually) |
| · One copy of the Membership Directory (free distribution to 7,000 people) |
| · Chamber Online Directory Listing & mini website |
| · Ribbon-cutting, Grand Opening & Anniversary Celebration promotion opportunities
· Low cost education for businesses through Lunch + Learns and seminars |
| · Business After Hours hosting opportunities |
| · Certificates of Origin for international trade |
| · Member-only opportunities for display space of printed materials at the Chamber of Commerce |
| · Member-only opportunities for promotion distribution at Chamber-sponsored events |
| · Weekly Chamber Connection publication |
| · Partner-to-Partner discount program opportunities |
| · Unlimited opportunities for business networking |
| · Business advocacy at the local, county, state, and national levels |
| · Credibility and visibility in the Hopkins County area |
| · Advertising Opportunities in the Membership Directory |
| · First-hand customer referrals |
If you are ready to join or renew with the Chamber, give us a call! We’d love to welcome you to the Chamber family! Call Cathey, Vickie, or Lezley at (903) 885-6515 for more information.
Lezley Brown
President/CEO
Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce
300 Connally Street
Sulphur Springs, TX 75482
903-885-6515-office
903-885-6516-fax
www.sulphursprings-tx.com
8 Lucky Foods to Eat This New Years
As January 1st gets closer, the time has come to start prepping for your New Years meal. Here are some tips and foods to incorporate into your shopping list to make your meals and 2018 extra lucky!
Green leafy vegetables– are thought to represent money and folded dollar bills. Whether it’s spinach, cabbage, or lettuce, eating those greens are believed to bring wealth in the New Year.
Beans (like Lentils or Black eyed peas)– are small and resemble coins. By eating these on New Years it’s thought to bring prosperity and wealth throughout the new year. Black eyed peas are thought to especially bring good luck as they saved many people from starvation back in the Civil War Era.
Noodles-symbolize long life, but be careful! It’ll only work if you eat them in long strands; don’t break or cut them!
Rice-is thought to bring prosperity through an abundance of crops, since it is small but plentiful and doubles in size when cooked.
12 Grapes-At the stroke of midnight start eating the grapes. Eat one grape for every one of the 12 clock chimes. Each grape is believed to bring good luck to each month of the upcoming year. If one grape is sour, then beware that month, which may have bad luck! This tradition originated in Spain, but is practiced around the world.
Pork– is thought to be extremely lucky due to how it used to be reserved for the upper classes, now its a tasty dish anyone can eat and enjoy. Their round and fattiness represents prosperity as opposed to weight gain. And Pork also is thought to bring success, since pigs “root forward with their noses”. The best part is that all types of pork are lucky-bacon, pork tenderloins, sausage, ham, pork chops…etc. Eat pork to celebrate the New Year for prosperity, success, and wealth.
Cakes, Doughnuts, and Bagels-the round shape symbolizes the past year and the upcoming year coming full circle. In Greece they bake a coin into the cake, and whoever gets that piece gets double the luck! Who doesn’t want another reason to eat more cake?
Fish-are believed to be lucky due to their shiny scales (representing money) thought to bring wealth and abundance of friends (since they travel in schools). They also symbolize progress since they swim forward.
Here at KSST we hope your New Years is full of luck and delicious foods!
Bergin Appeals Settlement; Posts $245,000 Bond; Trial Begins January 4
An appeal of a settlement reached in a pre-court hearing involving the custody of hundreds of cattle seized by Hopkins County Law Enforcement and the SPCA of Texas and owned by George Lawrence Bergin, 61, of Sulphur Springs has been filed with the County Clerk’s office and will be heard by a jury in Hopkins County Court at Law January 4th according to local officials. Bergin was arrested December 4th and charged with Cruelty to Livestock-Fail to Provide, a state jail felony. The cattle appeared to be suffering from malnutrition.
According to officials, a jury will be selected in County Court at Law January 3rd and the trial will begin January 4th. The appeal was filed Wednesday at the County Clerk’s office and the trial must take place within the next 10 days following the filing of the appeal.
In the settlement made December 13th, Justice of the Peace B. J. Teer signed an order calling for a public auction of the animals. A bond in the amount of $245,000 was set to perfect the case. Bergin had 10 days to appeal and the Justice of the Peace had an additional 5 days to file the paperwork with the court. The settlement and the custody of the cattle will not affect the state jail felony criminal charges against Bergin.
Currently, the livestock are being treated by a Veterinarian and to receiving proper nourishment at an undisclosed location. If the appeal fails, the cattle will be sold at a livestock auction barn. Bergin nor any of his family can, by law, bid to purchase the cattle. Bergin seeks to regain custody of his cattle. County Commissioners Court approved an expense of $94,000 and smaller amounts for a total of $127,651.62 for the care and feeding of the cattle.
If the appeal is not granted, then all money from the sale of the cattle will be paid first to the state and county. Any money above the expenses of the county and the state will go to Bergin. If the sale falls short of the amount of expenses, Bergin could be liable for the amount remaining.
According to the SPCS of Texas, Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office began seizing and taking custody of approximately 200-400 allegedly cruelly treated, starving head of cattle from six Hopkins County properties near Sulphur Springs, on Monday, December 4. Due to the number of cattle and the multiple locations, the animals’ removal continued through Wednesday, December 6. The SPCA of Texas assisted in removing, transporting, taking inventory of and collecting evidence for the case, and will also provide expert witness testimony. The SPCA stated the animals did not have access to appropriate food or water and were not receiving proper care. Deceased cattle were also found on the properties along with an unknown number of skeletal remains of cattle. SPCA states the Bergin faces a state jail felony, which carries a punishment of up to two years in state jail and up to $10,000 fine.
The cattle were found on six different properties encompassing an estimated 2,700 acres of bare pasture land. Most of the cattle are emaciated. No hay was found on the properties. The Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office and the SPCA of Texas have received multiple complaints of animal cruelty in this case and attempted to work with Bergin to bring the animals’ conditions into compliance with Texas Health and Safety Code. SPCA states he refused to provide sufficient appropriate food, water and care for the cattle, the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office and the SPCA of Texas agreed that it was in the animals’ best interest to obtain a seizure warrant and remove them.
Aviation History: The
VC-118A (Douglas DC-6) 53-3240 was built as a VIP transport and delivered to the 1254th Air Transport Wing at Washington International Airport on December 23, 1955. In July 1961 the 1254th ATW along with 53-3240 were relocated to Andrews AFB. The aircraft soon became President John F Kennedy’s favorite plane to transport him to the short landing strip at Hyannisport, Massachusetts.
VC-118A 53-3240 served as the official Air Force One for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. The last propeller driven aircraft to be designated as the primary Presidential transport, the VC-118A was overshadowed with the introduction of the Boeing VC-137s. Both Presidents preferred the larger, faster jet aircraft for longer trips. The VC-118A was used primarily for short trips to airports that were too small for the big VC-137. John F. Kennedy needed to frequently fly to Hyannisport, Massachusetts with its short runway, the Air Force had to use a prop plane. The Douglas fit the bill well and stayed on with the Johnson administration to fly L.B.J. to his Texas ranch. Once the VC-137 became the primary Presidential aircraft the VC-118 was used as a back up plane and to transport lower ranking VIPs.
Douglas VC-118A 53-3240 is on display at Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, where it now sports the same livery as Jackie Kennedy had designed for SAM 62-6000.
VC-118A 53-3240 was input to E-Systems in Greenville, TX one time in November 1973 for maintenance before being retired.
The included information comes from local Sulphur Springs resident Tony Hughes. Mr. Hughes worked on, performed engine run up, pre-flight/post flight and flew as an aircraft mechanic observer on FCF’s (functional check flight), along with supervising hangar and flight line operations for over 40 years (1956-1996) at the Greenville, Tx. plant, formerly known as TEMCO. The Greenville plant started as Temco (Texas Engineering & Manufacturing Co.) and changed to Ling-Temco Electronics, Inc. in 1960, then Ling-Temco-Vought, Inc. in 1961. The company changed again to LTV Electrosystems, Inc. in 1965, and E-Systems, Inc. in 1972. In 1995 a merger changed the name to Raytheon/E-Systems, and now the company has been managed by L-3 Communications since 2002.
#11 Wildcats, #9 Lady Cats, and Saltillo Basketball in Tournament Play Beginning Thursday
This week the Sulphur Springs Wildcats will play in a three-day Allen tournament beginning Thursday, December 28. The tournament is a varsity only tourney featuring lots of Class 6A teams, some with top 25 rankings. The Wildcats resume district play at Marshall on January 2. They are home January 5th against Texas High. The Wildcats are ranked #11 in Texas Class 5-A boys basketball.
The Lady Cats are # 9 in Texas Class 5-A girls basketball. The Lady Cats will resume play in a three-day Idabel, Oklahoma tournament starting Thursday. The Lady Cats compete again in district play at home against Marshall on January 2.
Saltillo Lions will face North Hopkins in a Tournament at Boles beginning Thursday.
Lady Lions play Whitesboro in a tournament in Leonard Thursday.
Commerce Man Arrested Locally for Possession of Meth
A traffic stop by a Hopkins County Deputy at the intersection of Loop 301 and Jefferson Street led to the arrest of Tony Lee Wilkinson, 48, of Commerce. Wilkinson’s nervousness alerted the officer to possible drug possession. That led to a search of the vehicle that located 15.62-grams of suspected methamphetamine.
Wilkinson was asked to exit the vehicle and during a pat down search, a glass pipe commonly used to smoke meth was located in his pocket. He stated that he had methamphetamine in the vehicle.
Wilkinson is in Hopkins County Jail Charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance, Penalty Group 1 more than 4-grams but less than 200-grams. His bond is set at $35,000.
Meal a Day Menu December 25th-29th
Meal A Day Menu
December 25th – December 29th
Monday
CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS
Tuesday
Chicken Cacciatore
Mixed Squash
Garlic Toast
Wednesday
Frito Chili Pie Casserole
Re-fried Beans
Corn
Thursday
Diced Ham Macaroni and Cheese
Provence Vegetables
Roll
Friday
Chicken Spectacular
Pickled Beets
Roll
Aviation History: THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL JET AIRPLANE – VC-137B 58-6970
USAF procurement of the Boeing 707 was very limited, amounting to three Model 707-153s designated VC-137A’s serial numbers 58-6970, 58-6971 and 58-6972. When delivered in 1959 these had four 13,500 lb dry thrust Pratt & Whitney J57 (JT3C6) turbojets; when subsequently re-engined with 18,000 lbf dry thrust TF33-P-5 (JT3D) turbofans they were redesignated VC-137B.
The first presidential jet plane was known as SAM (Special Air Missions) 970. This aircraft, as well as any other Air Force aircraft, carried the call sign “Air Force One” when the president was aboard. Delivered in 1959 to replace Eisenhower’s Super-Constellation, the high-speed jet transport was a flying Oval Office with a modified interior and sophisticated communication equipment.
Jet technology gave a president the opportunity to meet face-to-face with world leaders easily. SAM 970 has carried presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon as well as VIPs such as Nikita Khrushchev and Henry Kissinger.
By 1962, SAM 970 was replaced by a newer Boeing VC-137C 62-6000. But SAM 970 remained in the presidential fleet ferrying VIPs and the Vice-President until June of 1996.
Though she never was designated the official “Presidential aircraft,” she served as Air Force One many times and saw her share of history. (Columbine III, a Lockheed Super Constellation, retained that designation until the end of Eisenhower’s administration and a DC-6 known simply as ‘3240 served for the first years of Kennedy’s administration.) Without President Eisenhower’s knowledge, the CIA outfitted ‘970 with secret reconnaissance cameras in preparation for his planned trip to Moscow. That trip was scuttled, ironically, because of the shooting down of Francis Gary Powers in his U-2 spy plane over the USSR on May 1, 1960. In 1962 ‘970 carried John Glenn to Washington the day after his orbital flight, and in the early 1970’s she (and 62-6000) shuttled Henry Kissinger to Paris for the secret peace talks with North Vietnam. After the delivery of Aircraft 62-6000, ‘970 was relegated to service as backup, but in the process shed her plain Air Force markings in favor of Loewy’s striking blue and white livery. Affectionately known as “Queenie”, ‘970 retired with full military honors to the Museum of Flight in Seattle on June 18, 1996.
E-Systems in Greenville, TX performed depot maintenance on SAM 970 beginning in 1973 through 1994.
The included information comes from local Sulphur Springs resident Tony Hughes. Mr Hughes worked on, performed engine run up, pre-flight/post flight and flew as an aircraft mechanic observer on FCF’s (functional check flight) at the Greenville, Tx. plant, formerly known as TEMCO. The Greenville plant started as Temco (Texas Engineering & Manufacturing Co.) then changed to Ling-Temco Electronics, Inc. in 1960, then Ling-Temco-Vought, Inc. in 1961. The company then changed it’s name to LTV Electrosystems, Inc. in 1965, then E-Systems, Inc. in 1972. A merger changed the name to Raytheon E-Systems in 1995, and now the company has been managed by L-3 Communications since 2002.
Two Local Men Arrested for Contraband Found in Vehicle During Traffic Stop
Billy Don Campbell
Billy Don Campbell, 51, of Sulphur Springs, is in Hopkins County Jail following a traffic stop that found him in Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Group 1 more than 1-gram but less than 4-grams and Violation of Probation for Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Group 1, less than 1-gram. Also arrested in the stop was Tracy Odell Marshall, 48, of Dike what is charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Group 1, less than 1-gram.
Tracy Odell Marshall
A Sulphur Springs Police Officer on patrol in the 1000 block of South Davis Street around 8 a.m. Thursday morning noted a Red Silverado Chevrolet pickup run a stop sign leaving Georgia Street turning onto Peach Street. Then the officer noted the vehicle fail to signal a turn onto South Davis. During the traffic stop, the officer noted Campbell, the driver, to be very nervous and the officer asked consent to search the vehicle. Consent was not granted and a K-9 unit was called to the scene. The K-9 made a positive alert and a search conducted found the contraband.
