July Cruise Dates Scarce
In checking this week for a client on a Royal Caribbean Cruise leaving Galveston, we find that the July Dates are very slim and the few cabins that we found are double the price that we booked another client for a June Sailing Date. There is hope though, some of the August sailing dates on the same ship are becoming very reasonable. If you are looking for a VERY convenient cruise on a great ship, then check out the link below for pricing on RCCL’s Liberty of the Seas for August. You can drive to the port, and save airfare.
Liberty of the Seas August Sailings
There are also other cruise lines sailing out of Galveston, check out all of the options or email us at [email protected]
Bonner Guilty of Forgery
Tuesday at noon a Hopkins County Jury found John Henri Bonner, 47, guilty of Forgery of a Financial Instrument, a state jail felony. He will be sentence by the judge in two to three weeks.
Bonner has committed the act of forgery in at least two other counties in Texas. Assistant District Attorney Clay Harrison subpoenaed witnesses from those areas for testimony in the case.
Former SSHS Athletes Return to Teach and Coach in SSISD
Two former Sulphur Springs athletes have new positions with the SSISD after they were approved by the School Board Monday night.
Former Wildcats soccer player and distance runner Ross Hicks, who has been a PE teacher and coach at the Middle School, has been hired by Athletic Director Greg Owens as the Wildcats Cross Country Coach. Hicks will also be a Wildcats Soccer Assistant Coach and he be a Special Ed teacher at the High School. Coach Hicks will replace Andy Holt as Cross Country Coach. Coach Holt is headed for Frisco Wakeland where he will be their soccer coach. Coach Hicks will assist new Wildcats Soccer Coach Nicky Wiggins.
The board also approved Coach Owens’ hiring of former Lady Cats soccer player Macy Hurley to be a PE teacher and girls coach at the Middle school. After high school, Hurley player goaltender at UT Tyler.
SSISD Board Says “Good-Bye”; Steps toward the Future
When the Sulphur Springs School Board met Monday night, it was a time to say “good-bye” and a time to look to the future. Randy Reed was honored for his years of service in administration and the board heard reports regarding a teacher training experience being offered locally that could be expanded to include regional schools in the local summer training.
It was Reed’s last school board meeting. The Assistant Superintendent’s long career in education comes to a close in mid-month. However, in this final meeting with the board, Reed was honored by Superintendent Michael Lamb who introduced Reed’s grandchildren to lead the pledges to the United States and Texas flags. He also allowed the two to tell why they were glad their “Dandy” was retiring. Lamb also stated that the last four years had afforded an opportunity to learn much from Reed regarding the education system locally.
Reed stated “I enjoyed the relationships with board members and teachers.” He stated that he had “…missed the kids when he moved to administration.” He said administration is about relationships and he had enjoyed working with a quality board. This year’s board includes some who knew Reed as coach while in their own school experience. Don Sapaugh told Reed, “You handled a lot of difficult situations that people do not know about and you handled those things so well.”
Lisa Robinson provided information to the board regarding the Sulphur Springs Summer Learning Conference being held at the Sulphur Springs Middle School Wednesday through Friday of this week (June 8-10). Robinson stated that the conference focuses on teachers sharing with teachers and will serve to provide up to 12 hours of required training time. Over 200 teachers are attending the 115 sessions that are being provided. The conference is open only to local teachers but the district hopes to open the training to other school districts next year.
Don Roundtree gave an update on Civic Center auditorium renovation project. The first event to be held in the auditorium will be the Dairy Festival pageant on Saturday, June 18th. Roundtree stated that the previous week had provided several challenges due to weather but that workers had accomplished all but the final coat on the stage floor, had tuned the audio-visual system, and completed the carpet on the auditorium floor and the rubber floor on the accessibility ramps. Roundtree reported that Broadcast Works will operate the sound board for the Dairy Festival Pageant as a training for local workers.
Doug Whitt, SAMCO Capital Markets, Inc. reviewed the plan of finance and schedule of events for the sale and issuance of maintenance tax notes. Whitt told the board that interest rates are at an extreme low. He pointed out that maintenance tax notes of over $7.5 million could be paid off in 10 to 20 years. Interest rate is expected to be 2.75%. The local school district has an A-1 bond rating on Moody’s. On July 11th, the board will take bids for bonds and then vote that night in their summer board meeting. August 9th is closing date. Whitt told the local district that with a healthy tax rate, which the district currently has, a healthy future can be maintained at the current pace.
Kristin Monk reported on summer activities throughout the District including the YMCA program at the Sulphur Springs Elementary School. She told the board that 65 children are enrolled for a fee of $65 per week. This year the students will swim one day per week and go on a field trip one day each week.
The board set the 45 day contract release date for resignation notifications–July 7, 2016. They also approved an upgrade of security system at ECLC campus by Securadyne Systems, purchased a skid loader for the Maintenance Department from Holt CAT, and accepted a bid to repave the high school parking lot 5W Contracting. 5W Contracting was the only bid and it was lower than had been expected. The new parking lot will add 100 additional spaces for parking.
Personnel changes approved include:
Summer Contracts- due to mid-term hire date
David Hodges Network Systems Engineer Admin Bldg
Pam Tomany PPCD Teacher ECLC
Paula Hass Business/Marketing Teacher High School
Kaley Perry Science Teacher High School
David Westberry Math Teacher High School
Resignations
Angela Beaver Grade 4 Teacher SS Elementary
Jana Keith SpEd Resource Teacher SS Elementary
Lindsey Holt 6th Gr. ELAR Teacher Middle School
Kathy Froneberger Nurse High School
Kristi Rozell SpEd Teacher High School
Retirement-Lana Van Vleet Government Teacher High School
New Personnel
Kendra Daniel Part-time V.I. Teacher Special Services
Kodeann Crawford Grade 3 Teacher SS Elementary
Amanda Fowler Grade 3 Teacher SS Elementary
Barbara Henderson Title I Aide SS Elementary
Laura Owens Grade 3 Teacher SS Elementary
Cynthia Taylor Grade 3 Teacher SS Elementary
Sonya Mathews Grade 5 Teacher Douglas Intermediate
Janay Wood Secretary Douglas Intermediate
Deann Dickens Math Teacher Middle School
Brandy Fisher SpEd Aide Middle School
Macy Hurley PE/Girls Coach Middle School
Sue Ellen Hurley Science Teacher Middle School
Janlyn Therwanger ESL Aide Middle School
Mary Jenkins Counselor High School
Personnel Changes New position/campus Former position/campus
Cydney Williams V.I. Teacher/Special Services Part-time V.I. Teacher/Spec Serv
Misty Teer Literacy Support/ECLC Grade 1/Lamar
Catherine Gray Grade 2 Teacher/Bowie Grade 3 Teacher/SS Elementary
Colby Smith English Teacher/Middle School Grade 3 Teacher/SS Elementary
Ross Hicks SpEd Teacher & Coach/High School PE & Coach/Middle School
County Commissioners Interview Only Six for County Fire Chief
Hopkins County Commissioners Court narrowed the number of applicants to six and has begun the interview process for a new County Fire Chief. County Judge Robert Newsom told KSST News that commissioners received 12 applications and narrowed the field to only six for interviews. Monday, the court interviewed two of the applicants and will interview the remaining four Wednesday.
Newsom said most of the applicants were from the local area. He stated they hope to have a new chief in place by July 1.
In action during their regular meeting, the court approved a bid for just over $120,000 for a new roof over meeting rooms at the civic center. They also appointed Dr. I. L. Balkcom as infection control officer for the county.
KSST Presents Scholarship to Intern Steven Payne
Chad and Rhonda Young, owners of KSST radio, Channel 18 Television and ksstradio.com presented KSST Intern Steven Payne with a scholarship Monday afternoon, June 6th, in the lobby of KSST’ studios. Payne will begin his college career at the University of North Texas at Denton in the fall as he seeks a double major in Digital Journalism and a major in English with a concentration in creative writing. He is also considering a possible minor in political science.
Payne chose UNT because of the quality of both the Journalism Department and the English Department. He says his familiarity with the campus and the fact that “…tuition at UNT is not as high as some universities “ also factored in his decision.
At graduation from UNT, Payne hopes to work as a political journalist and eventually author fiction and poetry. In the summer of 2015 he attended the Washington Journalism and Media Conference in Washington D. C. which gave him a glimpse of political journalism.
Payne, a Class of 2016 graduate is in his second year as an intern. His primary assignment began with both writing and photography for ksstradio.com but has expanded into radio as well. Reminiscent of the days of Radio Workshop, the intern program is designed to assist students in learning more about the world of mass media including radio, television, and other avenues in the communications field. At KSST, interns serve part-time under the supervision of the department director to which they are assigned and are reassigned in various areas of the organization as they desire to expand their interests.
In thanking KSST for the scholarship, Payne stated, “I thoroughly enjoyed my time working at KSST. It helped me decide what I want to do with my life.”
Baseball Hitting Camp for Youth Underway
Veteran Wildcats Baseball Coach Jerrod Hammack opened his baseball hitting camp Monday morning in the Multipurpose Building. Some 25 boys who will be entering the first through the third grades showed up for the early camp from 9 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. Coach Hammack expected an equal number of campers made up of boys entering the fourth through the ninth grades for his 10:30 a.m. until noon camp. Eight different hitting stations were set up. Helping Coach Hammack were his three assistants, Bruce Silman, Alec Bryant and Cameron Warren and members of his Wildcats’ baseball team.
Coach Hammack said the camp teaches his philosophy of staying inside the baseball. He said it’s a proven way to hit and is popular with major college programs and in the big leagues. Coach Hammack said among the younger group, some kids have played baseball while others have not. He said he focuses on hitting because kids love hitting. Coach Hammack said he enjoyed coaching the youngsters who he called enthusiastic with a innocent love of the game.
Former Rains County Officer Suspect in Vehicle Theft
A truck taken from Fix ‘n Feed on June 1st has been recovered by Hopkins County Sheriff’s Investigators thanks to information provided through the Hunt County Sheriff’s office. In recovering the vehicle, a suspect has also been located. The suspect is a former Rains County Sheriff’s officer that currently resided in the Rains County Jail. The suspect in this case is also being charged with a number of vehicle thefts in Hunt County.
In following the trail of the pickup, Chief Criminal Investigator Lewis Tatum and Criminal Investigator Dennis Findley were contacted by Hunt County Investigator Kenneth Peters that he had obtained an affidavit from the girlfriend of the suspect in the case. The vehicle was located Sunday night around 8 p.m. in a heavy thicket 100 yards off of a main road in the Hot Cove area near Quinlan. The vehicle was stuck and could not be removed by the individual or individuals who stole it. Hunt County officers had run the VIN on the truck and found it to have been stolen in Sulphur Springs.
Currently the truck is being held at an area wrecker service impound to preserve for fingerprints. Local officers are in the process of getting a warrant for the arrest of the former Rains County officer that is the suspect. His name is not being released pending the warrant.
Argument Leads to Assault
An argument led to an alleged assault and the arrest of Carlous Jermone Bass, Jr., 25, of Sulphur Springs. Sulphur Springs Police responded to a call Sunday night on Texas Street. The investigating officer was told by Bass’ girlfriend that she and Bass had argued and following the argument, Bass grabbed her by the throat on two different occasions causing her to have trouble breathing. She told the officer that she thought she was going to die.
While the investigating officer was at the location, Bass returned. During the questioning Bass made further threats of violence. Bass as arrested and placed in Hopkins County Jail charged with Assault Family/House Member Impeding Breath/Circulation, a Felony 3. He is being held on a $10,000 bond.
