VFW Voice of Democracy Awards
Voice of Democracy winner Kelsey Cofferd of SSHS
In the Voice of Democracy division, Hannah Masterson took first place, Kelsey Cofferd of SSHS took second place, and Derek McCrieght of Miller Grove High School took third. Derek was previously a first-place winner on the local level.
Miracle Ramon, Cooper Adams, Matt Janson, Rianna Hicks
In the Patriot’s Pen division, the theme was “Why I Appreciate America’s Veterans”. The first-place essay was written by Cooper Adams, Rianna Hicks took second, and Miracle Ramon was third-place winner. They were among 14 student entries from North Hopkins ISD, as part of a class project organized by 8th-grade teacher Lisa Sprague.
PJC April Continuing Education
Paris Junior College-Sulphur Springs Center is offering a number of classes in April through its continuing education department. Included among the classes will be a Medication Aide Update class and some computer classes to acquaint students with new software.
The classes will meet at the center located at 1202 West Houston Street. To register or to get more information, call 903-885-1232.
Microsoft Word Level 1: Essentials covers creating, saving and opening documents; editing documents; cut/copy/paste and find/replace; formatting text and paragraphs; formatting documents; creating and formatting tables. The class meets Fridays, April 3-10, from 8 to 11:30 a.m.
Microsoft PowerPoint Level 1: Essentials covers the basics on using the presentation software. Learn valuable tips and tools for successful presentation including handouts, timing, and more. The class will meet Fridays, April 3-10, from 1 to 4:30 p.m.
A Nurse Aide class will be offered from 5 to 9 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays, April 6-29, and the clinical meets Mondays through Fridays, May 4-13 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The class offers preparation for entry level nursing assistants.
Basic Life Support Recertification for CPR certified cardholders is offered from 12 to 4 p.m. on Friday, April 10. The American Heart Association certifies the class.
The Heartsaver First Aid CPR & AED (automated external defibrillator) class teaches basic first aid and CPR/AED procedures, including first aid skills recommended by the Occupational Safety and Health Agency, to those with a duty to respond to a first aid or cardiac emergency. The course meets Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., April 24.
Medication Aide Update will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, April 24. The course fulfills Texas Department of Health specifications on annual renewal requirement. Med Aides should take this course one month before their certification card expires.
“Updated” Aluf Plastics Opening Plant Locally
Film extruder and bag producer Aluf Plastics Inc. has opened a plant in Texas that stretches its geographic reach. A building at 1212 Elm Street in Sulphur Springs was purchased approximately 45 days ago. According to a company spokesperson, Aluf, based in Orangeburg, N. Y, is the second largest film extruder and bag pastics producer in New York State. The company makes all types of trash bags and plastic bags including branded bags for such companies as Home Depot and Brookshire grocery. They also make private label bags for specific retailers. Aluf expects to employ more than 40 at the site in the coming months. A company spokesperson stated the company is excited to be locating in Sulphur Springs.
A family owned business, it is also a woman owned business. Susan Rosenberg has been leading the company since 2008. Aluf ranked 61st in the most recent Plastics News survey of North American film and sheet manufacturers, with an estimated sales of $105 million.
“We’re pumping in serious capital to bring the plant up to standard,” said David Anderson, vice president of operations. The company is spending on automation and new technology to make its polyethylene bags locally. The project should lift its extrusion and bag capacity to about 200 million pounds per year, Anderson estimated.
In a news release, Aluf CEO Rosenberg said the company will expand its distribution to existing clients thoughout the Southwest region, while bringing new distributors and retailers into the Aluf family. The company likes the location of Sulphur Springs. Close to the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area and near strategic ports will bring the company closer to some customers while allowing the company to also export bags
Aluf makes a wide range of low and high density polyethylene consumer and commercial bags for trash, recycling and industrial packaging. It touts its hexene-type LDPE bags as being extra tough. It uses recycled resin in many of its products. Some contain Microban antimicrobial additive to deter bacteria and other odor-causing organisms.
Comments from Aluf VP of Operations:
Comments from Roger Figley, Sulphur Springs Economic Development Executive Director
“Good Friday for a Good Cause”
Monica Wartenbee
Monica Wartenbee, a Sr. at Saltillo High School reminds everyone to donate to Relay for Life. Monica participated in a “Good Friday for a Good Cause” student fundraiser in Sulphur Springs. Saltillo ISD has 30 Saltillo team members, organized by FCCLA teacher and sponsor Johnna West.
Watch for their “movie theme” campsite on Celebration Plaza.
May 15/16 at the 2015 Relay for Life main event, “Lights, Camera, Cure!”
Brashear News by Debbie Young
Small town life is the life for me. Last week, Tom and I were out of town and unreachable by telephone. So when we looked at our FB we find a message, Pat George wanted to let us know that our water meter was going crazy. Running……a lot. So Red turned our water off before our bill became too bad. Our son, Matt, came and checked out the house and no water flowing. So it was determined that the commode was running, so thankful that someone cared enough to try and find out what was the problem. Thank goodness for the Pat and Red George and Uncle Glen.
Tom, Tom, how does your garden grow? It is going great guns with the sun this week. We will be picking mustard greens, swiss chard, kale, and radishes. Our potato plants are looking good. Just not very many of them. The rain had us worried that they may have rotted. Hope a few more come up. How is your garden?
I guess everyone has heard the Brashear Store will be opening up hopefully in two weeks. They have painted the outside and working on cleaning up the inside. It looks great. I stopped in and peeked to see what was happening. I know that everyone will be happy when it opens up again.
Saturday night, I wonder if anyone in the neighborhood happened to hear a loud bang? Someone ran over our mailbox and there were tracks in the ditch. Hope they did not have too much damage. Our mailbox was totaled. Ha!
The irises are blooming and are looking beautiful. Birds are singing and I think you can say Spring has Sprung.
Thank you to the newspaper and radio for publishing my little bit of Brashear News. Please continue to contact me if you have something you want to share. Call me at 903.612.8806; email me at [email protected]; or just drop by CR 1119 where all the barns are located. We love to have visitors.
Tira News by Jan Vaughn
Kim Beck shared that her son, Jackson Dailey, won the vote for a second term as the Student Government President for the 2015-2016 school year at Texas A&M-Commerce. Great work Jackson!
Dakota Weir and his friend, Ashley, visited Robert and Yvonne Weir on Saturday, Yvonne commented that they watched Unbroken – “an amazing movie.” She adds, “Wesley started Bright Star Baseball Monday night. Lots of fun!”
I accompanied Tiffany, Morgan, Kenden, and Jaidyn on a trip to the Perot Museum in Dallas, on Friday, March 20th. We spent the afternoon enjoying the exhibits, and then ate at El Fenix before returning home.
On Saturday, March 21st, I drove to Plano to pick up Dorreice (Horn) Shurtrine to attend the memorial service for Ruth Horn, wife of G.W. (Dub) Horn, in Fort Worth. I enjoyed homemade fried apricot pies with Dorreice and Pete before we left. We visited with the family prior to the service, and then had a pot-luck lunch with them afterward. Doug and Gae Lou (Chapman) Haley were there, too, and we enjoyed spending time with our cousins, Dub and Morris Wayne, sons of the late George and Christina Horn, and their family. Please remember them in prayer.
I hope you all have a blessed Easter weekend!
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].
Sarah Potenza is Hannah’s Toughest Competitor
In a KSST poll, our web users so far have chosen Hannah’s battle round competitor to be her toughest challenge in the upcoming Live Rounds on “The Voice”. As you remember, it was Sarah who beat Hannah in the first head-to-head competition as they sang ‘Gimme Shelter’ in the Battle Round. Hannah was then stolen by Pharrell, and then stolen back to Team Blake after a Knockout Round. The poll is shown below if you would like to view the current votes or vote again.
[poll id=”3″]
Can’t remember who’s who? Here are links to each performers’ ‘The Voice’ page.
Distracted Driver Awareness Month
TxDot logo
With more people dying senselessly on Texas roads due to distracted driving, the Texas Department of Transportation today kicked off its annual “Talk, Text, Crash” campaign to urge drivers to give their full attention to the road. TxDOT’s campaign coincides with National Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April.
“Nearly one in five traffic crashes in Texas is caused by a distracted driver,” said TxDOT Deputy Executive Director John Barton. “Last year, 468 people were killed because someone took their attention off the road. How important is a fleeting distraction when it could end in the death of someone, perhaps even one of your loved ones?”
Distracted driving-related crashes in Texas are highest among 16- to 24-year-olds. In 2014, there were 100,825 crashes in Texas involving distracted driving — up 6 percent from the previous year.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers using a mobile phone are four times more likely to cause serious injury in a crash. Text messaging is particularly dangerous. New research conducted last year by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute showed it takes a driver double the amount of time to react when they are distracted by text messaging. Additionally, sending or receiving a text takes a driver’s eyes away from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds. At 55 mph, that’s the equivalent of driving the length of a football field while blindfolded.
While mobile phone use is the most recognizable distraction, any behavior that draws a motorist’s attention away from driving is dangerous. TxDOT urges drivers to refrain from texting, checking email, eating or drinking, grooming, reading, programming a navigation system, or adjusting music or other devices.
If a distraction absolutely requires immediate attention, TxDOT reminds drivers to pull over to a safe location and come to a complete stop before diverting their attention.
County Judge on Proposed Sales Tax Increase
County Judge Robert Newsom agreed that Hopkins County has the highest hotel/motel tax and would have the highest sales tax should Senate Bill 1158 be approved as it is written and the tax approved by Hopkins County voters. Newsom also told KSST/Channel 18 news and ksstradio.com that the sales tax would only role back the county property tax for the current year. The tax revenue from the potential additional sales tax could only be used to pay for the jail and could not be used for the general fund. He said the county could raise property taxes as soon as the next year and that evaluation of property could also increase what property owners would pay the county in taxes.
SB1158
The Beginning of the End for Houston School
The building known as Houston Elementary School on College St here in Sulphur Springs, TX has certainly seen better days. It opened as an elementary school with the 1938-1939 school year and served Sulphur Springs Independent School district until the Spring of 1999. Beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, the SSISD alternative classes were conducted there.
Hopkins County leased a part of the building for the county clerk’s office from 2001 until 2006. In 2007, the Boys and Girls Club began the purchase of the building from the local school district. They housed programs there until Spring of 2014.
Demolition of the building began with asbestos removal and continues at the current time.
Houston Elementary School Demolition
Houston Elementary School Demolition
