Jack Phillips Heads to the Red Carpet in Nashville!
Not many 12-year-olds get the thrill of being nominated for a national music award, but Hopkins County’s Jack Phillips is among nine young finalists in the Josie Awards country category. As a finalist, he was recently interviewed live by phone by founder Josie Pasantino. Within the last few years, the Josie Awards has begun to fill a niche by recognizing the top independent artists in all music genres. The awards show is a glittering gala event bringing the best to one stage in Nashville, Tennessee. For 2017, the event will take place at Nissan Stadium on Sunday September 17 and will be televised on the Josie Network. In addition to Traditional and Modern Country categories, Pop/Contemporary, R&B/Soul, Folk/Bluegrass, Gospel/Country Gospel, Southern Rock, Jazz/Blues, Outlaw Country, Tribute Category, Songs of America and Multi-Genre Music categories will be represented. The red carpet will be rolled out for the top artists in each category.
In a KSST Good Morning Show interview, we found out that Jack and his parents Mark and Allison Phillips of Sulphur Bluff are unsure of how the Josie Award nomination came about. They believe the nominator might have been a bandleader or instructor that Jack has worked with since January 2017. Jack received the news while out on the road, and he has spent much of the summer on the road playing numerous dances and attending music camps. In fact, the family has logged over 12,000 Texas and Oklahoma miles on his dad’s new pickup since February 2017. And riding in the back seat, while practicing his guitar, fiddles and mandolin, Jack has been dreaming of walking down that red carpet! While in Nashville, he also plans to visit the Grand Ole Opry and tour the Opry museum.
Jack began playing the fiddle at about age 6, first taking formal lessons from a teacher in Winnsboro. Today he receives weekly training from Western Swing instrumentalist Hank Singer of Corsicana and he attends week-long music camps hosted by Western Swing and country bandleaders. Earlier this year, his first CD “Jack Phillips” was released. For gigs, his two favorite fiddles are carried in a double case. One was made in 1917 and Jack loves it’s rich tone. While traveling in the truck, Jack practices with a small size guitar that fits the tight space, often playing along to songs on “Willie’s Roadhouse” for 3-4 hours at a time. His dream is to play on the Grand Ole Opry stage someday. With the help of his parents, he’s kept up a heavy summer travel schedule. Over the next 10 days he will appear on Industry’s Four County Opry near Houston, will play for a dance at the Longhorn Saloon in the Ft. Worth Stockyards and will appear on the Bluebonnet Youth Revue at Schroeder Hall in Goliad, the oldest dance hall in Texas. On August 5, he is invited to be part of the band celebrating the 90th birthday of Leon Rausch, famed vocalist for Bob Wills. And Jack will soon head back to class at Sulphur Bluff ISD where he has been an Honor Roll student.
As a supplement to the points system in the Josie Awards, the Fan Choice nominations are still open through July 31. Comments about Jack and his music may be posted. Go to josiemusicawards.com, go to the Fans Choice Nomination tab at the top of the page, and post your comment. Also, find out more about Jack, order his CD and view his bookings at jackphillipsmusic.com
Como Woman Arrested for Credit Card/Debit Card Abuse
Wendy Ann “Woo Woo” Wilder, 39, of Como is in Hopkins County jail after deputies were notified of three active warrants for her arrest. Wilder was arrested at her home in Como on warrants for Credit Card/Debit Card Abuse.
She is in Hopkins County jail being held on bonds totaling $30,000.
Wilders was stopped by a Hopkins County Deputy for a traffic violation at on South Broadway in Sulphur Springs in November of last year. She told officers that she was taking her passenger to get something to eat. Both driver and passenger were nervous which led to a search of the vehicle. At that time she was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Group 1 under 1-gram—a Felony 3.
Couple Arrested in Cemetery
A Volvo station wagon parked in the Brashear Cemetery at 11:30 p.m. attracted the attention of Hopkins County deputies Thursday night. There they found Ricky Wayne Lee Liebel, 36, and Danielle Renee Payne, 25, who live on Gilmore Street in Sulphur Springs “having intercourse” according to their report. That is not all they found.
Previous photo of their vehicle
After the couple put their clothes on as advised by the deputies, they were asked to exit the vehicle. In the vehicle a marijuana pipe was in plain view. A search of the vehicle located 2.7 grams of methamphetamine and other drug paraphernalia. Both were placed in custody and transported to Hopkins County Jail.
Danielle Payne
Ricky Liebel
Both Liebel and Payne were charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Group 1 more than 1-gram but less than 4-grams. Each one is held on a $25,000 bond.
Tira News July 28, 2017
This Saturday afternoon, July 29th, is the Community Ice Cream Social at the Tira Community Center. Come at 4:00 p.m. and enjoy a treat and time of visiting with neighbors.
We want to express our sympathy to the family of Kathy Crowson. She was the daughter of Billy and Nell Lee Crowson. Her funeral service was held on Tuesday under the direction of Murray-Orwosky Funeral Home, with burial in the Tira Cemetery. Please remember the family in your prayers.
We, also, want to extend sympathy and prayers to the families of Floyd and Teresa Benefield, long-time residents of the Tira Community.
Tiffany Vaughn shared the following information. “Posey Baptist Church cordially extends an invitation of celebration. God has blessed our community and us by allowing us to pay off our church building debt. We will be having a Note Burning Ceremony on August 13th at 1:30 p.m., with lunch being served at 12:30 p.m. We request that you RSVP by August 4th by contacting Rosemary Fielden, 903-945-2581, or Andy Wright, 903-348-7285.”
Chip and I celebrated our anniversary with a trip to Wyndham Resort on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees. We left on Thursday, July 13th, and took our time driving the scenic roads to the northeastern corner of Oklahoma. We stopped by Clayton Lake State Park and Robbers Cave State Park on the way. We stayed at the resort until Sunday, where we enjoyed swimming and relaxing. We did some sightseeing in the area and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Twin Bridges restaurant on Friday evening. On Saturday, we visited Har-ber Village, an Oklahoma pioneer museum, with over 100 exhibits. We enjoyed lunch at the museum cafe, and then strolled through the Lendonwood Gardens nearby. Later that afternoon, we went on a very informative tour of the Pensacola Dam, which is a multi-arch dam on the Grand River. We went to Natural Falls State Park on Sunday, before returning home that evening.
I always need and appreciate input from my friends to help keep me informed of news in our community. If you have any news pertaining to Tira residents, past or present, please contact me, Jan Vaughn, at 903-945-2190 or 903-438-6688 or [email protected].
Sulphur Springs Animal Shelter Dog Wash and Adoption Event
The Sulphur Springs Animal Shelter Dog Wash and Adoption Event will be held on Saturday, July 29th from 10:00 – 3:00 pm at the Sulphur Springs Animal Shelter, 1313 N Hillcrest Drive (across the street from Red Barn). Shelter animals will be out and available for adoption.
Adoption fees for dogs are $100.00, the dog will be spayed or neutered, had shots and have a microchip. The new family will also have the opportunity to have a free month of pet insurance. Adoption fees for cats are $85.00 and the cats come with the same things are the dogs.
The public is invited to bring their dogs to be bathed for a donation to the shelter. There will also be a groomer there to trim nails. Proof of current rabies shot required for either service. There will be members of the 2017-2018 High King Klub (HKK) there to help with the event.
For additional information, call the Sulphur Springs Animal Shelter at (903)438-9369.
Sulphur Springs Soccer Association Extends Registration Deadline
Cutting Crime With Curfew Laws
By Savannah Owens
In response to incidents of vandalism – many cities such as Greenville, Dallas, Rockwall, Paris, Allen, and Mt. Pleasant have implemented curfew laws. Sulphur Springs currently does not have curfew laws. KSST interviewed various sources on the pros and cons of curfew laws and their impact on crime and vandalism.
To start the discussion – Curfews for minors differ from city to city, they typically impact teens and children under the age of 17. Minors are not allowed to be out past 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm on school nights, and 11:00 pm or midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. For an example of a minor curfew ordinance – click here. Paris’ Minor Curfew Ordinance has a policy that is unique-their officers will hand out one warning violation to the parent or guardian, for the first offense. Repeat offenders are then issued citations.
Paris Texas has had a minor curfew law since July 1st 1994. Lieutenant John Berry from the Paris Police Department, sat down with KSST to explain how it was working for Paris and offer suggestions for looking into curfew laws. “I do [think the curfew is helping Paris]. If you look at it, curfew helps [law enforcement] and parents get the kids off the street at night.”
In 2007, the Paris Police Department gave out 24 violations and 6 cases were filed with the municipal court. Now just 10 years later in 2017, the Paris PD gave out 3 violations and only 1 case filed. Juvenile Disturbances have also dramatically decreased. In 2007 they had 106 Juvenile Disturbances and in 2015 they had only 22. “We’ve seen a drastic decline in a lot of things juvenile related, and a lot of those [would] happen after it gets dark, after the curfew kicks in. So that helps.”
When it comes to advantages and disadvantages of having a curfew, Lt. Berry said “I don’t know that there are disadvantages. From the law enforcement standpoint the advantages are that we have the ability and the law backing us to get kids off the street. I can’t stress that enough. There’s a certain time period usually when bad things are more-likely to happen and if the kids are in their homes with a responsible adult, or in the care of their parents or a responsible adult they’re a whole lot less likely to be victimized or to become part of that criminal element. As a parent, I’m not going to let my kids be out at that time of night, so the curfew is just an added incentive for that.”
Additionally, Lt. John Berry supported the curfew by clarifying “I don’t think [the curfew law] is a drain [on resources] it’s another tool, and for us all of the laws in the book are there to keep people safe. Anytime you’re getting used to anything that’s a change it’s different, but it’s not going to cost the city anymore money…We’re out there anyhow-the officers are out there enforcing other laws, and I can’t say that it would be enforcing [curfew] more than anything else, but in the beginning when it first starts you’ve got to deal with it, and it seems like you deal with it a lot when it first begins, and then as people figure out that we’re really going to enforce this, it slows down. Our numbers have diminished over the past 10 years, and we’re still dealing with a little bit of it, but nothing like what we used to.”
Lt. Berry said “I would [recommend a city wide-minor curfew]. I actually worked here during the time period before we had the curfew. We were dealing with a lot of situations where kids would get out, and we have to face it, at that age kids are impressionable. They fall to peer pressure pretty easily and that’s just a tool to allow us and the parents and guardians to get the kids off the street.” Lt. Berry continued. “There’s a lot of bad things out there..not just in Paris or Sulphur Springs, anywhere you go there is a bad element and anything we can do to protect our kids [we should]. That’s what all this is about: Protecting our kids, protecting our citizens and doing what we can to make everything better for everyone else. I understand that’s an ideal, but we’re going to do what we can.”
KSST also talked with law enforcement officers from Sulphur Springs, and Winnsboro to better understand curfew laws, vandalism, and whether a curfew ordinance is a good option for Sulphur Springs.
Sulphur Springs Patrol Captain Jason Ricketson said vandalism on the plaza typically occurs “from early in the evening to after midnight.” He also said “There’s not one specific age group- it ranges from small kids to adults.”
But the Sulphur Springs police department does see more vandalism in the summer months-when kids are out from school. Sulphur Springs Police Chief Jay Sanders said the “Main problem is when school is out- that’s when we get most of our damages is between the end of school and the beginning of school…During the summertime it doesn’t matter [the day of the week].”
Winnsboro Police Chief Andy Chester is a part time officer in Sulphur Springs, and agreed in Sulphur Springs “vandalism really picks up during the summer-any day and night of the week; During the school year, you’ll have very few groups out on Friday football nights, but it usually increases on Saturdays with younger high school and middle school students.” Chester said the Sulphur Springs vandalism is often caused by “preteens and high-school students. It’s a lot of middle school kids who are unsupervised.”
Chief Sanders said “We’ve talked about a curfew, we’re talking about it, but we haven’t moved on it yet, because we want the downtown area to be a place that people want to come to…a family atmosphere…” but he believes a “curfew may be too much right now.”
Officer Ricketson explained “It comes down to a manpower issue, enforcing curfew would take away from the officer’s other duties and that creates an issue.”
Chief Sanders thinks the responsibility to fix the heart of the problem lies with the citizens. “What’s gonna fix it? If people stop damaging things. We can’t fix everything that’s wrong. If people just respect what we have and our downtown plaza…”
Winnsboro and Paris are both cities similar to Sulphur Springs. Winnsboro does not have a minor curfew law, while Paris does. Here’s an inside look on why other cities choose to have or not have a curfew.
Chief Chester explained. Winnsboro doesn’t have a curfew because “We don’t have a lot of juvenile issues; occasionally we have issues at the parks, but we just step up the patrols [in that area]” and the crime lessens. “We don’t have [many problems] because parks close at 11 or 10 pm and people can’t just go to hang out late at the parks anymore.”
Chief Chester also worked at Bovina where they had a minor curfew from 9:30pm on weekdays. Chief Chester says implementing a minor curfew really “depends on what kind of issues you have” and Winnsboro doesn’t have enough issues to see a need for it. But in Sulphur Springs where vandalism is becoming more common, Chester thinks it’s worth looking into. “I think it is a good idea, I’ve never been against a curfew.”
In Sulphur Springs, we have approximately 2,100 students enrolled just at the high school and middle school these kids are of the ages that are most susceptible to peer pressure.
Approximately 25,000 people live in Paris, while a little more than 16,000 people live in Sulphur Springs. Mt. Pleasant has approximately 16,000 people as well, and they also have a curfew law. City size isn’t a huge factor in deciding on whether or not to implement a curfew.
KSST would like to hear from you – do you feel a Minor Curfew would help reduce crime and vandalism in the city and do you think it is a good idea? Message us on Facebook or Email Savannah at [email protected].
Wildcat Football Schedule Change
The Wildcats’ football team now has a new opponent for the opening game at the new, renovated Gerald Prim Stadium on Friday, September 8th. The Wildcats will now face The Avalon School of Gaithersburg, Maryland. Wildcats’ Athletic Director Greg Owens announced the change Thursday afternoon. He said, “due to unforeseen circumstance, we will not be playing Garfield, High School from Seattle, Washington”. He added, “they had to break our contract”. Coach Owens said he found a new opponent from Maryland, The Avalon School. They will only be bringing a varsity team so Coach Owens said he is still searching for a JV opponent for that week. He said he didn’t know much about the Black Knights of The Avalon School. Coach Owens said the teams are beginning to trade video game tapes.
Week Five at The Edge
Thursday marked the end of week number five of The Edge conditioning program. 20 workouts have been done. There is one more week of four workouts to go. Wildcats Football Offensive Coordinator Matt Young said week five started off really strong but attitudes dropped off a little bit on Thursday.
He called Thursday one of the slowest moving days he’s seen at The Edge. Coach Young blamed the heat and the fact it was day 20. He said some athletes were still working hard but he added he could see some of the younger athletes and some of the bigger guys struggling a little bit with their intensity levels. Still Coach Young said athletes were improving and making progress. Numbers were not bad Thursday as 70 attended. Coach Young said it is not unusual to be under 60 at this point in The Edge. He said he would like to see more from the sophomore class.
Coach Young had kudos for the senior class. He called them probably the best attending senior class since he’s been here. Coach Young said they had really invested in the program. He said as a rule when the senior class commits like this, the football team has a good season. Coach Young said he sensed a buzz around The Edge that this season could be something special. He said it makes him more optimistic about the coming season.
Coach Young notes that last year’s team made the playoffs. He said they lost two games right near the end. He said if the team can flip those games and pick up another win or two, the team’s season record could be very improved. Coach Young said the team had a lot of returners and he added the team is healthy.
One more week of The Edge remains. Coach Young said older players would be running drills outside next week on days when coaches were involved with football camp inside the Multipurpose Building.
