Search for Missing Man Continues; Dive Team Requested
Lee Jones
Texas Ranger John Vance tells KSST News that a Department of Public Safety Dive Team has been requested to assist with the continuing search for Hopkins County senior adult, Lee Jones. Mr. Jones is diabetic and has Alzheimer’s.
He was reported missing from County Road 1180 Saturday. Hopkins County Chief Investigator Lewis Tatum began the search and by Sunday morning was seeking the public’s assistance in finding Jones. Sunday, Ron Lowrie, Communications Director for the Sheriff’s office was able to secure the needed medical information for the issuance of a state-wide Silver Alert.
If you see Mr. Jones, call Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office.
Update on Moms Runaway Turkey!
Here is an update on a previously published Turkey Related post.
Last month Mom located the nest of one of our hen turkeys. She had laid a clutch of eggs out by the road. We brought her and her eggs up to the house for safety. At the time, we would never have expected the eggs to be fertile.
Yesterday, July 12 after coming home from a family reunion, we went in the house and relaxed for a bit. After a few hours we ventured outside to check on all the animals. Once we got outside we noticed the other turkeys were gathered around the chicken kennel. We walked over to check on the runaway turkey, and there they were. When we looked over the side of the box, 5 baby turkeys were looking up at us! It was truly a miracle that she hatched some of her eggs. We took some photos, not disturbing her and her babies to much, then went back inside.
Moms face lit up with joy! She didn’t think that any of the eggs would hatch but some did and hopefully there is more to come!
Story and Photos by Molly Clegg, HS Intern
Country Music and Comedy Revue Coming Friday July 24, 2015
Deputy Kelly Wiser, D.A.R.E.
D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) officer Kelly Wiser is inviting everyone to the annual Country Music and Comedy Revue on Friday July 24, 2015 at 7pm in the Civic Center auditorium. This year’s entertainment lineup will include Monty Tipps (also Emcee) and his Main Street Band, special guest Steven Pride, Dale “The C” Cummings, Tisha George, Brad Cummings and Cousin Cedrick. Hopkins County Sherrif Butch Adams wants the public to know that ticket sales for the annual shows helps D.A.R.E. to reach 5th-grade students in the county schools as well as Sulphur Springs ISD. Tickets are $10 person.
A BBQ dinner will be offered at an additional charge.
Doors will open at5pm.
Man Missing in Hopkins County
Lee Jones
Hopkins County Chief Investigator Lews Tatum seeks the public’s assistance in finding Lee Jones. Mr. Jones is diabetic and has Alzheimers. He was reported missing from County Road 1180. As soon as appropriate medical information is secured, Ron Lowrie, Communications Director for the Hopkins County Sheriff’s office will be able to issue a statewide Silver alert. If you see Mr. Jones, call Hopkins County Sheriffs Office.
The Best News That We Didn’t Report This Week
By: Jordan Owens
Here are some of the stories that we DIDN’T report this week. Not because we failed as news reporters, but because these stories failed to be “news worthy.”
For the record…
-Cumby police responded to a call on Depot Street around 10:23 p.m. Saturday, July 4th. A man was reportedly “laying partially in the roadway intoxicated.” The 46-year-old Kingston man was arrested for public intoxication. He was released from jail Sunday after paying $180 of the $280 fine. Let’s hope they get the rest of that money…
-Theft of an Echo weed-eater was reported on State Highway 11 West in Ridgeway on Saturday. Yep.
-A one-month-old black calf was reported lost from County Road 2327 in Como on Saturday. We’re assuming he’s been found. If not, let us know and we’ll put it on the Trading Post.
-A man was reported for harassing individuals at a rest stop in Saltillo on Saturday. Isn’t there an adult novelty store near that rest stop? I guess he got tired of hanging out there.
-Police received a 911 call around 5:09 p.m. Saturday from someone reporting a female in a pickup repeatedly hitting her head on her car horn on South Broadway Street. Poor lady must have had a rough day. Or traffic was unbearable.
-Kids were reported shooting fireworks somewhere off State Highway 154 South at 9:11 p.m. on Saturday, JULY THE FOURTH. Isn’t that typical for Independence Day? I digress. They were also spooking horses. Darn kids!
-Deputies responded to a call on FM 71 in Nelta on Sunday. A 20-year-old was reportedly throwing household objects into a pasture. Temper tantrum much?
-Loud arguing between a couple was reported on County Road 4287 around 12:34 a.m. on Monday. (see below)
-A disturbance between a girlfriend and boyfriend was reported on Country Road 4131 in the Cumby area around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday. I wonder if they are related to the previously mentioned couple?
And that’s the news that failed to make the news this week.
Tune into the “Afternoon Drive” from 4-6 p.m. every Friday afternoon to hear “The Best Stories We Didn’t Report This Week.”
Childrens’ Workshop Presents Christmas in July
Holly Dodd, Chase Berry, Sadie Masengill, Kelsey Horton. Grace Mansfield front row.
Childrens’ Summer Workshop hosted by Sulphur Springs Community Players will present two plays in July at Main Street Theater. Connor and David Woody will direct both, The Best Christmas Pageant Every and Becoming Claus. One can see both plays on one ticket. Performances are set for July 16-18 and July 23-25 at 7 p.m. And Sunday July 19, and July 26 at 2 p.m. This is the 23rd consecutive year for the Children’s Summer Workshop and the 35th year for Community Players in Sulphur Springs.
Australian-Shepherd Mix Ready for Adoption
Deborah, a 3-year old Australian-Shepherd mix, is available for adoption at Hearts of Life Animal Shelter. She, along with another adult dog and a box of puppies, were found on a county road in Hopkins County prior to an ice storm this past winter. Two days after rescue, she delivered puppies. All her puppies along with the others found have been adopted. Construction will soon begin an a new addition to Hearts of Life. The new structure will place all dogs in care under a shelter and on concrete.
County Commissioners Begin County Budget Discussions Monday
It is budget season for county government and Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom along with the County Auditor have been working since May in preparation for the week of July 13-17. Newsom and County Commissioners will meet in work sessions next week, beginning Monday afternoon, to finalize the budget for the coming year. He hopes to have a budget posted online for the public soon after the week of meetings.
Newsom said he is trying to provide a 3% cost of living raise. He said most of the departments are maintaining budget levels from this current year. Income numbers are still not in according to Newsom. He said the tax appraisal district is finalizing the tax dollars that will be available to the county.
He expects little change to come this next year as the number of voting places is decreased in the county. Purchase of new equipment to facilitate the process will affect the costs at the start. He expects savings to come in following years.
Avoid I-30 and Broadway, construction causes delays
Sidewalk work is causing huge delays at I-30 and Broadway St. Traffic is building in all directions. Southbound Broadway and West bound service road appear to be the worst.
Holdouts on Gay Marriage Could Face Lawsuits
by Alexa Ura, The Texas Tribune – July 10, 2015
With most Texas counties now issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, legal experts and gay rights activists say it may take individual lawsuits to compel the handful of county clerks still refusing to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
But gay activists eyeing those counties, and attorneys representing same-sex couples who ran into obstacles obtaining licenses, say they hope recalcitrant clerks will avoid spending taxpayer dollars on ill-fated, expensive lawsuits that could be avoided.
“We hope and expect that county clerks across Texas and the country will take a look at what happened [in Hood County] and do the right thing and follow the U.S. Constitution,” said Austin Kaplan, an Austin attorney who represents a Granbury gay couple who obtained a marriage license on Monday after filing a lawsuit against the Hood County Clerk’s office in federal court.
The Granbury couple, Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton, who have been together for 27 years, have said they will move forward with their lawsuit until the county clerk’s office agrees to issue marriage licenses to all couples. Kaplan said they have not heard from Hood County Clerk Katie Lang, and her office would not say whether it is issuing same-sex licenses.
With a population of 53,921 people, Hood County is the most populous county among those still refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
Texas counties’ responses to the Supreme Court’s ruling varied between those that immediately began issuing marriage licenses and those that took a few days to come around. But two weeks after the high court’s ruling, at least six counties are likely refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, according to Texans for Marriage.
The other holdout counties as of July 7 were Dallam and Roberts counties in the Panhandle; Irion, Hartley and Loving counties in West Texas; and Hamilton County, located between Austin and Fort Worth.
(Of Texas’ 254 counties, three counties have not been reached and 13 counties are planning to issue marriage licenses after “software changes” or receipt of updated marriage certificates, according to Texans for Marriage.)
On Thursday, a deputy clerk in Roberts County told The Texas Tribune that the clerk’s office would issue licenses if requested by a same-sex couple.
Hartley County Clerk Melissa Mead said her office won’t issue same-sex marriage licenses until the clock runs out on the 25 days that parties in the Supreme Court case have to ask for a rehearing of the case.
A deputy clerk for Loving County said her office was awaiting further direction from the attorney general’s office. A spokeswoman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the only guidance from the state’s top lawyer was the written opinion issued June 28, which said county clerks with religious objections can opt out of issuing same-sex marriage licenses but they should be prepared to get sued.
Calls to Dallam and Hamilton went unanswered.
Citing the Constitution and “natural law,” Irion County Clerk Molly Criner is refusing to issue licenses.
“To keep my oath to uphold the Constitution, I must reject this ruling that I believe is lawless,” Criner said in a press release from the Liberty Counsel, a national nonprofit that specializes in religious freedom litigation. “I have to stand for the Constitution and the rule of law.”
Legal experts did not anticipate that a ruling in the Hood County case would force Criner and the other holdouts to begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
A judge’s ruling in the Hood County case would likely only apply to those parties in that county, said Alexandra Albright, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. If the case went to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals — which has appellate jurisdiction over federal courts in Texas — then any ruling would apply to the entire circuit, Albright added.
Now that the Hood County gay couple has obtained a marriage license, a federal judge may not immediately rule on the broader issue of whether the Hood County clerk’s delay “caused constitutional damage,” so other same-sex couples would likely have to file their own lawsuits, said Meg Penrose, a law professor at Texas A&M University.
“If this is not a class action, other individuals that are denied marriage licenses will need to sue on their own behalf or wait for a class action to be filed,” Penrose said. “This could become costly for the county [or] clerk as individual lawsuits could mount quickly.”
Kaplan, the attorney for the Hood County gay couple, said Texas lawyers were keeping an eye on “lawless clerks” and would likely take action if clerks continued to believe “there’s some justification for failing to issue the licenses.”
“We’ll see what happens when that comes to head,” he added.
After helping same-sex couples in eight other counties that initially refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses, Glen Maxey, a gay activist and the director of county affairs for the Texas Democratic Party, said he had heard from couples who wanted to get a license in Irion County and were seeking legal representation.
But with most counties already issuing same-sex marriage licenses, Maxey, the first openly gay legislator in Texas, said there wasn’t much reason to file lawsuits in every holdout county — other than Irion County — “to make a point” because of the small population in those counties.
The populations in the holdout counties range from 86 people in Loving County to 8,199 in Hamilton County.
“Instead of paying $400 for legal fees for a couple to file a lawsuit, I would prefer to pay $500 for a moving van for them to get out of those hell holes,” Maxey said. “We’re down to the stems and seeds here.”
Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M are corporate sponsors of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/10/lawsuits-needed-holdout-counties-gay-marriage/.
