Sulphur Springs Corvette Club Gives 20 Fans to Senior Center
The Sulphur Springs Corvette Club dropped off 20 Fans at the Sulphur Springs Senior Citizens Center on Tuesday morning to help with the Fan Drive.
Left to Right: David Johnson, Lynn Luttrell, Karon Weatherman , Tim Gee and Roy McCasland
The Fan Drive will continue until Friday, July 1st
The Fans are going out as fast as they are coming in. Karon quoted “We have gave out 31 fans so far and we would need at least 30 more fans.” “Last year we had over 100 fans donated.” Please call the Senior Center if you know anyone that is in need of a fan or if you would like to donate one to the cause.
Karon Weatherman
Program and Marketing Director
Senior Citizen’s Center
150 Martin Luther King Blvd
Sulphur Springs, Texas 75482
(903) 885-1661
Last Winter The Corvette Club gave blankets to the seniors! Tim Gee, Vice President of the Sulphur Springs Corvette Club, called their first, but not their last, Santa for Seniors blanket drive a success with a great turnout during the three days of the event. Gee said, “Thank you” to the citizens of Hopkins County for their donations to the drive that garnered the needed new blankets, electric blankets and funds to reach the goal of 140 blankets for needy senior citizens in Hopkins County.
Gee said Karon Weatherman, Director for the local Senior Citizens Center had set the goal at 140.
“Updated” County Road Closure Sparks Community Conversation; Road Now Open
County Road 1170 is now open according to County Commissioner Precinct 1 Beth Wisenbaker.
County Road 1170 in Precinct 1 of Hopkins County has been closed since June 20th due to heavy storms that hit the area and eroded the soil around two tank cars that are currently being used as a culvert. County Road 1170 is a heavily trafficked road and a vital part of the road network in southern Hopkins County. For several years there have been complaints about county road maintenance in select precincts in the county.
In Texas, counties are separated into four precincts regardless of size. The precincts are governed by Commissioners who are a part of the Commissioners Court who is presided over by the County Judge. The County Commissioners original job was to maintain public roads in unincorporated areas of the county, coined county roads. Now, County Commissioners Court reviews the county tax rates and budget, approves purchases, sets salaries and benefits of the employees, fills vacancies in appointive and elected offices, authorizes contracts, and provides and maintains all county facilities and buildings. The Commissioner title has become more associated with the Court than road maintenance in the recent years.
Throughout Texas counties have realized the threat to the well being and condition of the roads that has been posed due to the additional responsibilities placed on the Court. To improve the quality and efficiency of the road work and road crews, several counties have placed a new committee over the maintenance of the county roads. Instead of splitting the allotted amount in the county budget set aside for road work evenly between the four precincts, the amount is spent in each precinct as a need arises. For example, if Hopkins County had a committee like this one in place Precinct 1 would have the resources to repair County Road 1170 by spreading the budgeted amount of money to areas that are in immediate need, with one work crew and one road work committee head.
Former Wildcats, Now Coaches Train 88 Soccer Campers
Eighty-eight kids from those that will be entering kindergarten to those entering their senior year attended the first night of a four-night SSISD boys and girls soccer camp Monday night inside and outside the Multipurpose Building. The camp will continue evenings from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. through Thursday. Running the camp is new Wildcats Head Soccer Coach Nicky Wiggins. Camps can include varsity players as long as outsiders are instructing them. Coach Wiggins has former Wildcat and current Mesquite Poteet Head Coach Colby Peak working with the varsity Wildcats and former Wildcat player and Head Coach Andy Holt, now Head Coach at Frisco Wakeland, directing the varsity Lady Cats. Inside Coach Wiggins recruited Wildcats all-time leading goal scorer Tony Bravo to help with the camp along with his Wildcats Assistant Coach Ross Hicks, Lady Cats Head Coach Jesus DeLeon, Lady Cats Assistant Coach Joel Bailey, former Wildcat goalkeeper Chris Hefner and Wiggins’ wife Megan, a teacher at Douglas Intermediate School. Coach Wiggins said the emphasis is the same for every age group: passing and manipulating the ball in an attempt to keep and control the ball. Coach Wiggins said others can still get involved with the camp just by showing up. Campers were also given food and drink coupons at the camp.
County Road Poll Results
We have been collecting votes for possible solutions to the ever present problem of fixing our county roads. As of Tuesday, June 28th almost 400 people have voted in our poll with the following results.
- Share resources between precincts. (48%)
- Hire more qualified help.(31%)
- Raise Taxes and Spend more on the roads. (13%)
- Nothing. My road is fine. (9%)
As you can see, an overwhelming amount of votes (79%) fell in the “Share Resources” or “More Qualified Help” category. This means that there is a large group of folks that think the different precincts should share equipment and possibly labor between the different precincts to help make the repairs that have a bigger need. In fact, some of the precincts already do this. With the price of equipment and maintenance on equipment going up every year, three of the precincts went together several years ago to purchase some “chip seal” equipment that could be shared between precincts 1, 3 and 4. It is important to note that Precinct 2 already had similar equipment in it’s inventory and did not need to participate with the other precincts. So, each precinct (1, 3 & 4) pays an equal amount each year in their respective budgets for the equipment’s original purchase cost, and then each precinct pays an additional maintenance amount for that equipment based on their amount of usage of the equipment. This seems to be a great way to share the burden of more expensive equipment and to spread the usage of the one piece of equipment across more road jobs to increase it’s utilization. It may be time to explore more of these options. I also wonder if the precincts share their “labor” as well? I would think that it would be very difficult for each precinct to keep expert road and bridge builders in EACH precinct. I am certainly not discounting the level of the workers in any or all of the precincts and their respective ability to build roads or bridges. I am, though, curious how the different precincts could work together to help each other out on larger projects to get those projects done quicker and possibly more efficiently? I truly do not think that the experience of the labor or the commissioner in any one precinct is as much of a factor of the road conditions as is their limited budget and so many other factors, such as soil condition, present road conditions, weather, etc. With prices going up and road conditions declining, it may be time to consider other options.
Suspects Identified in Auto Burglaries
Suspects in the 23 auto break-ins over the weekend have been identified by the Sulphur Springs Special Crimes Unit according to law enforcement sources. A long night for local police officers and sheriff’s deputies and investigators led to the possible break in the case. Local law enforcement hopes to have arrests in the case in the new two days.
Law enforcement will continue to monitor closely the activities in residential areas at night. They continue to remind citizens to lock their auto doors and to remove valuable items from the autos at night.
The thefts are occurring at night and over the weekend the area bounded by Carter, Jefferson, and I-30 saw the most activity. Sanders said that one auto whose door was opened had an in-the-box new Glock AR sitting in the front seat that was not taken. He says those breaking into the unlocked autos are only taking loose change, cell phones, and other small value items. Locked autos are not being molested.
Sanders says that if people will just lock the doors to their autos it will limit the thefts.
Historic Night for Hospital District Board
It was an historic night for the Hopkins County Memorial Hospital District Board. It was their final meeting as sole owner of the local hospital. CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Francis-Sulphur Springs will be governed by a 10 member board that will include three members of the Hospital District Board. This was also the last board meeting to be attended by hospital CEO Michael McAndrew and CFO Donna Wallace. They will now report to the new governing board.
According to Tim Kelty, Board President, the board has directed the life of Memorial Hospital since 1949. The board will continue to meet monthly during the transition of operations management and will later meet quarterly. In his comments last night Kelty said, “Tonight is a historical moment. Approximately 67 years ago, the Hospital District met for the first time. Tonight is the last official meeting of the District board as the hospital operations board.” The duties of the hospital district board will include tax decisions for the district, budget decisions for the district, and decisions regarding the four nursing homes owned by the district. Members called the new direction for the board a learning curve.
The Board will be employing an Operations Manager for the District. The Operations Manager will direct the day to day activities that are managed by the district board. Dr. Bill Dietz, Dr. Dan Roper, and Dr. David Black were appointed to a committee to review applicants for the manager’s position and to recommend a finalist to the district board.
Kerry Law was elected to the Hopkins County Memorial Hospital District Board by five members of the board Monday night. Law will take the seat previously held by Ralph Pruess, who did not seek reelection. Law will hold the seat for one year until the next board member election.
In other action the board approved the purchase of new computers and laptops for both the hospital and the clinic, new wheelchairs for the clinic, and a remodel of and new furniture for the residency program office. Four new beds were purchased for ICU.
Board members were introduced to Gayla Haley, a nursing home administrator for 35-years, who will serve as the consultant to the four nursing homes owned by the hospital. She gave a report on the activities at the two homes in Longview and the two in Tyler.
hospital
Owner Relinquishes Ownership of 17 Dogs Seized Last Week
Tuesday morning in hearing in Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 court, Ruby Gregg relinquished ownership of the 17 dogs seized by Hopkins County Sheriff’s Animal Investigator Koby Hume. Ownership of the animals was given to the SPCA Tuesday morning during a hearing at the Justice of the Peace Courtroom. According to Victoria Albrecht, Communications Manager for the SPCA, there is nothing that will prevent Gregg from having pets in the future. The 17 dogs will now go through medical and behavior evaluation and be returned to good health before being made available for adoption.
Seventeen dogs were seized by Hopkins County Sheriff’s Corporal Koby Hume and the SPCA of Texas Thursday morning in the Como area. The 12 adult dogs and five puppies were transferred to be housed in the SPCA of Texas Storage Facility temporarily until a more permanent arrangement was made.
Hume, who has been newly assigned as Animal Cruelty Investigator for the Hopkins county Sheriff’s Department, and another officer observed the cruel confinement of the 17 dogs Wednesday while assisting Child Protective Services remove a child at the Como location. Hume stated that he and the other officer observed firsthand the situation and secured a cruel confinement warrant for the seizure.
H.L Harness Receives Plaque For His Accomplishments!
As a visible token of their fraternal love and grateful appreciation, This certificate was presented to H.L Harness on 6/24/2016 by his Brethren, the Masons Of Texas, with knowing that his years of service to the craft will continue to increase.
H.L Harness has been a Master Mason for more then 50 years and will continue his service.
H.L also used to haul milk. He started off with Brodie Koon which later became A.M.P.I. After 35 years of hauling milk he retired and received a plaque for driving over a million plus miles without any accidents! H.L quoted “I would drive at least 300 miles a day and make 5-6 stops a day.” “Also a load of milk could supply as much and 5 families and would weigh as much as 4,500 to 5,000 lbs.” H.L Harness has made lots of accomplishments in his life and will continue the good work!
Symphony League Receives GSC Enterprises, Inc. Support for Independence Day Concert
Sulphur Springs Symphony League received a $10,500 donation from GSC Enterprises Inc. Tuesday morning. The donation will assist in funding the Independence Day Concert and Fireworks at Celebration Plaza, July 2.
Mickey McKenzie, Chairman of Board , said, “We like to be a part of the community and a real positive part of it.” He said that many of the employees of GSC and its various entities are always present for the concert and always appreciate the company’s involvement in the event.
(Left to Right) Mickey McKenzie, Chairman of the Board, Linda Galligher, President, Sulphur Springs Symphony League, Ryan McKenzie, Chief Operating Officer
Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Action
In the wrong place at the wrong time, Travis Lamere Duffy, 32, caught the attention of law enforcement Monday evening in the 800 block of Alabama Street in Sulphur Springs. The officer considered Duffy Duffy was acting in a suspicious manner. He was walking and refused to stop when ordered to do so by the officer. When he was detained, he was unable to talk due to a substance in his mouth. The officer observed that he was attempting to swallow and when Duffy opened his mount, pieces of marijuana were all over his tongue. He did admit to ingesting marijuana at the scene.
Duffy is in Hopkins County Jail charged with tampering/fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair, a Felony 3, and is being held on a $10,000 fine.
