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
Chamber Will Research Effect of Additional Sales Tax
A trip to Austin for Hopkins County took different messages to Senator Bob Hall regarding Senate Bill 1158. County, school, and city were represented in the trip. Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce Meredith Caddell said that she went to Austin to represent the businesses of the county. She said that should the senate bill pass, the chamber will research the effect of the additional sales tax on business.
City Council To Discuss County Sales Tax Proposal
City Manager Marc Maxwell on SB 1158… The Sulphur Springs City Council will meet Tuesday to establish their position on Senate Bill 1158. The senate bill initiated by Hopkins County government and introduced in the Texas Senate by Senator Bob Hall would raise sales tax in all of Hopkins County up to one half percent if approved by county voters. City Manager Marc Maxwell said the city is concerned about becoming the sales tax capital of Texas. The city is currently the hotel motel tax capital according to Maxwell.
SENSELESS DEATHS ON THE RISE
AUSTIN — With more people dying senselessly on Texas roads due to distracted driving, the Texas Department of Transportation kicks 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 1 in 5 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 driving distraction, any type of behavior that draws a motorist’s attention away from driving is dangerous. TxDOT urges drivers to refrain from:
- Texting
- Checking email
- Eating and drinking
- Grooming
- Reading
- Programming a navigation system
- Adjusting music or other audio device
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.
For more information, contact TxDOT Media Relations at [email protected] or (512) 463-8700.
Anita Treider – Pending
Funeral arrangements for Anita Treider, age 87 of Sulphur Springs are pending with Murray-Orwosky Funeral Home.
Mrs. Treider passed away on Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at Sulphur Springs Health and Rehab.
The online register can be signed at:
Miller Grove News – by Brandon Darrow
Saturday while working in the cemetery I noticed two people there that I had never seen. I walked up to them and introduced myself and turns out they were from Ohio and related to the Anderson family of Miller Grove. We talked for a while and they have recently moved to McKinney. They have heard their relatives speak of Miller Grove and their family buried there and they wanted to see for themselves. Their names were Ben and Kristen (Anderson) Swisher. Ben was originally from Michigan. Kristen said that her parents grew up in Missouri. The young couple also said they were related to the Corbets, Lambs, and Cooks of our community. It was nice to meet them and give them a little bit of information on their family.
Sunday afternoon I visited with Faye Tipps and it seems like I got to see several Miller Grovians at the same time. When I arrived Hank and Evelyn Echiverio were there visiting and we all had good time talking. As I was leaving Trudy (Dickens) Mayers walked up. It was good to see her too. She told me that her grandson, Cole Burnett, and his wife are thinking about building a house. Right now they are living in Ruby Dickens’ old house and they have done a lot of work fixing it up.
While talking with Hank and Evelyn they clued me in on several things. Evelyn told me during their recent trip to New York they were snowed in for quite a while and she even ended up in the hospital there with pneumonia. She recently went with Darlene Flecker and Shirley Benson to see Disney on Ice’s Frozen with Ronald and Nikki (Benson) Flecker’s children. She said they all had a good time and that the “Golden Girls of the Grove” were out on the town that night.
Happy Birthday this week to Colten Baylus & Franklin Johnson on Mar. 29, Kendra Dannheim Fisher on Mar. 30, B.J. Wright on Mar. 31, Jean Benton & Shaye-Lynn Emerick on Apr. 2, and Canyon Smith on Apr. 4.
I hope everyone has a good Easter weekend! And, don’t forget the County Line School Historical Marker dedication on Sunday, Apr. 12.
As you travel the highways and byways don’t forget that all roads lead back home and back to Miller Grove.
Please send me any newsworthy information.
My email address is [email protected].
