Saltillo Homecoming Court Announced
Saltillo 2017 Homecoming Court has been announced. Cornation is Friday night at halftime of the Varsity boys basketball game. Pep Rally is 9:30 Friday morning. Nominees are: Front Row L to R: Freshman Duchess – Jocelyn Ochoa, Sophomore Duchess – Christy Marquez & Junior Duchess Christie Gurley; Senior Queen Nominees L to R: Kacey Sanders, BreAnna Reynolds, Selena Hernandez, Brianna Harvick, Caitlin Shelby, Melissa Groenewold, Rainie English, Brenda Castro, Ana Gallegos & Destiny Welch.
Hurry to Become a 2017 Chamber Member!
LEZLEY BROWN SAYS HURRY FOR MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS!
Lezley Brown takes her job very seriously as President/CEO of the Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce. She wants businesses, organizations and individuals to know all the benefits available as a Chamber member, and that in fact, membership is quite a bargain! Inclusion in the beautiful full-color 2017 Membership Directory is promised if you join before the deadline of mid-January. Advertising and promotion are part of the package, with a free mini-website you can use and change all year. The Membership Directory reaches over 7,000 people including visitors and residents. New members also receive a ribbon-cutting, open house or mixer at their business as a Chamber-sponsored event. There are networking opportunities all year long as well as business training and education opportunities. Contact Lezley or her staff to get all the details!
Also, the annual Chamber Membership Banquet is coming up on Thursday February 16, 2017 at 6pm in the Civic Center banquet hall, with “An Evening in the Woods” as the theme. This will be a business casual event and meal where numerous Community Awards and recognitions will be made. Nominations are still being taken for two categories: Large Business (51-plus employees)and Small Business (1-50 employees) of the Year. Hurry and get your nominations in this week by contacting the Chamber for a Nomination form, then be there and see who wins the awards!
Business owners find still more ways that the Chamber helps them reach the public. Go to the website for a full listing of benefits. Additionally, there are opportunities open for people to serve their community as Chamber Ambassadors and volunteers.
The Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce is conveniently located downtown Sulphur Springs at 300 Connally Street across from City Hall. Phone the Chamber weekdays at 903-885-6515 or email Lezley at [email protected]. Search the website at www.sulphurspringstx.com and click on the Visitors tab.
SSISD Sets Filing Dates; Applies for Waivers
Filing dates have been set for two seats on the Sulphur Springs ISD school board. The dates were set and applications for various waivers were approved during Monday’s board meeting.
Places on the board held by Robert Cody and Robin Vaughn will be on the May 6, 2017 ballot. Filing dates for the May 6th board election are January 18 through February 17. One may file for a place on the board at the district administration building.
The board requested a waiver to limit foreign exchange students to three. Superintendent Michael Lamb told the board that schools are allowed to limit the number to facilitate a proper environment for the students who are living with families in the area. He stated the number will allow agencies that place students as they work with those desiring to live and study in the Northeast Texas area.
Also in the applications for waiver, student days will be converted to staff development days for the 2017-2018 school year. Students will attend classes 175 days and 12 days will be devoted to staff development as the waivers are approved by the state. The requests are being made to facilitate the calendar process for the next school year. The same number of days for students and staff development are on the calendar for this school year but the waivers must be requested as they expire. Also six half days are being requested. The half days are flexible and can be used as partial days now that the state is counting minutes, according to Lamb.
The board also approved some personnel moves and new employee:
PERSONNEL
Resignations
Carolyn Marie Craig SpEd Aide SS Elementary
New personnel
Jairo Ramirez Bilingual Aide Douglas
Personnel Change New position/campus Former position/campus
Crystal Cervantes Grade 3 teacher/SS Elementary Head Start Aide/ECLC
Jordan Tyler SpEd teacher/Middle School SpEd Aide/Middle School
Swipe Back at Traffic
Moving Day
The Darth Vader of lunch hours… traffic delays steal from us each time we leave the home. Time spent in the car does not need be wasted. Some drivers attempt to remove ear wax, brush hair, trim nose hair, or simply conduct business conferences. Who hasn’t experienced the dreaded ‘front seat arm’ flailing back to subdue rowdy children. Obviously state law prohibits all distracted driving. What is a commuter to do?
I use the WAZE app. And WAZE uses you. WAZE is more than just a point to point navigation app, if you give it permission, it uploads your telemetry to their servers. In real time WAZE can automatically adjust your route to bypass traffic delays.
The time saving is greater on longer drives, and the quality of the re-routing depends on the number of users in an area actually uploading data.
Another benefit is that changes to roads and detours (I-30 and Highway 19 for example…) are incorporated quickly into WAZE. The servers constantly compare map data with user data, then adjust route planning accordingly.
The list of additional features is too long to list here.
North Hopkins Beta Club News
The North Hopkins Beta Club ended the 2016 semester with 60 member students and a blockbuster canned food drive for Hope House. At over 2,780 pounds, theirs was the largest single donation toward the Delta County charity. New projects for 2017 include a recycling project, a coat drive and a club fundraiser. Members will do morning coffee sales, fruit sales and online cake auctions to raise money for State Convention coming up February 24-26 in Frisco, Texas where Club President Mattie Hall will run for Texas State Vice President.
Senior Betas blocked the door to their Government teacher’s class to demonstrate the size of the food donation in the Block the Door Initiative Pictured are: Colton Ross, Aaron Stanley, Melissa Wischerman, Carli Withrow, Christian Matlock, Hollie Stidham, Allyiah French, Kaylynn Allen, Mary Brown and Mattie Hall.
Mrs. Brandenburg’s second-grade class assisted in the Beta Club drive.
Car Driver Casts Drug Paraphernalia Under Deputies Truck
A man and woman from Arkansas were arrested early Monday morning in Hopkins County on drug related charges. Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Michael Russell stopped the driver of a Ford Mustang for a traffic violation at around 2:15 a.m. Monday at the 135 mile marker of eastbound I-30. An arrest report indicated Sgt. Russell detected the smell of marijuana coming from inside the car. During a search, a passenger in the car was found to have 14 amphetamine and dextroamphetamine pills inside a coin purse in her purse. The pills were weighed at 3.13 grams. Later the deputy found a pouch under his truck. It contained a spoon, a cotton ball and a vile. The car driver admitted tossing the pouch under the truck while the deputy was talking with the girl.
25-year old Slade Alan Yarbrough of Bismarck, Arkansas was charged with tampering with evidence. JP Brad Cummings set bond for Yarbrough at $30,000.
33, year old Linnea Colynn Brown of Hot Springs, Arkansas was charged with possession of a controlled substance over 1 gram but less than 4 grams. JP Cummings set bond for Brown at $20,000.
Bear Country Store Holds CD Release Event
The old Sulphur Bluff store has a new name, Bear Country Store. On it’s first Saturday of operation, owners Billy Emerson and Brad Cecil and employees held a CD release event for Jack Phillips. It was standing-room-only!Almost everyone ordered something for lunch, so the short-order crew stayed busy with burgers, fries, BBQ sandwiches and pots of coffee. Area residents and the school community are excited about having the store back in operation again.
Friends and supporters of Jack’s fiddling career came from far and near.
El Vaquero in Sulphur Springs
I finally did it, I got some El Vaquero today. It’s not that I was scared, but I was never sure how the process worked. Do you park and walk up? Do you order then wait for someone to bring it out? Is there a place to go in and order? Do they take credit cards? I didn’t want to look like an idiot… Gentle readers, gather around the dim flicker of your screen and I will give you the details….
Here’s how it works. Pull in and drive up to the window on the North side. Order from your car. I would go for the Vaquero Plate. Yes onions, yes cilantro. Leave substitutions to a later visit, let the restaurant give you their spin on the food. Then make a wide circle depending on how nimble your vehicle is, and drive up to the windows on the South side. A few minutes later, and a credit card swipe on a tablet, I was on my way.
What can I say, the tacos were great. I immediately wanted more. The meal was neatly wrapped, and included napkins and a sachet of sauce (which I tasted, but didn’t use because the food didn’t need it). Now that I have broken the ice so to speak, we will be back.
Into the Fire Once Again
TxDOT 
crews respond early Monday morning to the recently ‘removed’ No Left Turn sign at the intersection of I-30 and Highway 19. Recent changes to the interchange have confused some drivers. Static signs, and portable illuminated signs have proved ineffective at smoothing the flow of traffic. The navigation app WAZE has been updated with the new information. Other GPS devices will be slower at adopting the new data.
Always follow local signage when in doubt.
