Don’t Give Up Until They Buckle Up! – Johanna Hicks
We all know everything is bigger in Texas! However, one number that we do not want to see bigger is the number of children ages 8-14 who are fatally injured in motor vehicle crashes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), from 2009-2012, a total of 188 children ages 8-14 were killed in motor vehicle crashes. Nationally, among children fatally injured in this age group , an average of 49% were unrestrained. In Texas, however, the rate of unrestrained fatalities was 58%.
Seat belts save lives, but NHTSA data show that as children get older, they are less likely to buckle up. The percentage of child passengers who die while riding unrestrained generally increases with age and is most pronounced among 13- and 14-year-olds, regardless of seating position.
A recent series of NHTSA focus groups found seat belt use can fall by the wayside when shuttling kids to and from school and activities, when running short errands, or when parents are a bit worn down by the daily grind. Buckling up is an important habit to instill in children at a young age. As parents, we need to lead by example and reinforce the message to make sure it sticks. Most vehicles have a sensor, at least in the front seats, that alert you to buckle up, but backseat passengers need to buckle up, too!
Tweens test the limits, because it’s how they learn and grow. It’s critical that they absorb the message that the car doesn’t move until everyone in the vehicle is buckled up. After a while, it won’t be a fight; it will be second nature…and it is a lifesaving lesson that they’ll carry with them always.
Hopkins County 4-H Members Excel in County Contests
4-H is more than showing animals! It encompasses projects such as shooting sports, clothing & textiles, public speaking, photography, recreation, citizenship, foods & nutrition, and much more. Recently, thirteen youth participated in the Hopkins County 4-H Contests in Educational Presentations, Public Speaking, Share-the-Fun, and Fashion Show and qualified for District Contests to be held on May 1st and 2nd. In addition, three more 4-H’ers qualified, as well. Below are the categories, names, and age divisions of those who participated:
- Educational Presentations
– Savannah Allen, Intermediate – Beef (Top-scoring Intermediate)
– Geoffrey Stewart, Intermediate – Archery (Open category)
– Eric Bridges, Junior – How to Build a Catapult (Open category)
– Honesty Bridges, Junior – Sea Turtles (Open Ag/Natural Resources category)
– Braden Lennon, Junior – Archery (Open category)
Also qualifying for District 4-H Educational Presentations are: Morgan Mayers, Senior – Beef, Wesley McDonald, Senior – Safety & Injury Prevention, and Ethan George, Junior – Beef.
- Public Speaking
– Elida Miller, Intermediate
– Zia Miller, Junior (Top-scoring Junior)
- 4-H Fashion Show
– Aleigh Bessonett, Senior – Semi-formal Construction
– Jorja Bessonett, Intermediate – Everyday Living Construction
– Kiara Stowater, Intermediate – Fantastic Fashions Under $25 Buying
Also qualifying for District 4-H Fashion Show is: Ethan George, Junior – Special Interest Buying
- Share-the-Fun
– Team of Justin Wilson, Jason Wilson, and Reagan Burnett, Clover Kids – Promote 4-H
Thanks to Frannie Miller for acquiring special awards! We wish all of these 4-H’ers the best as they prepare for District 4-H Contests!
Closing Thought
Have a blessed Easter and rejoice in new life!
Johanna Hicks
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Family & Consumer Sciences
1200-B W. Houston
P.O.Box 518
Sulphur springs, TX 75483
903-885-3443 – phone
903-439-4909 – Fax
BONNIE AND CLYDE APRIL 2, 2015 – Eddie Trapp
For ten or twelve years I have attended the Uncle Earl’s hog dog trials in Winnfield, Louisiana. Each time while traveling along Interstate 20, I pass the Gibsland, Louisiana exit and remember Bonnie and Clyde were killed in the area. One time Jean, some grand-kids, AND I were on the trip and we stopped at a Bonny and Clyde Museum in Gibsland. As luck would have it the museum was closed and we could barely see inside since it was so dark. As one of the kid’s eyes adjusted to the dark we heard a scream. A mannequin was just inches from our grandkid’s face. While passing through Gibsland last week it occurred I had never told any stories about Bonnie and Clyde. After doing a lot of reading on the internet here goes.
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker, October 1, 1910—May 23, 1934, and Clyde Chestnut Barrow, March 24,
1909—May 23, 1934, were American outlaws from the Dallas area. They and their gang traveled,
robbed, and murdered all over the central U.S. during the Great Depression. Although the pair robbed
a dozen or so banks, they normally struck small country stores and gas stations. His group is believed
to have killed nine police officers and several citizens. Besides Bonnie and Clyde there was Buck and
Blanche Barrow, Clyde’s brother and sister in law, as well as Raymond Hamilton, W.D. Jones, Joe Palmer,
Ralph Fults, and Henry Methvin.
Bonnie was Clyde’s partner for about two years and present during more than a hundred felonies.
Her reputation was exaggerated due to a photograph found in one of their hideouts. It showed her with
a cigar in her mouth but in reality she hated cigars and chain smoked Camel cigarettes. Born in Rowena,
Texas she quit high school as a sophomore after meeting Ray Thornton. They were married six days
before her sixteenth birthday. After two years they went different ways and she never saw him again
although she was still wearing her wedding ring when killed. Thornton was in prison when he heard she
had been killed and said that was better than being incarcerated. After her marriage failed in 1929 she
lived with her mother in Dallas and worked as a waitress. One of her regular customers was a postal
worker, Ted Hinton, who later joined the Dallas Police Department. What are the odds that he would be
one of the posse members that ambushed Bonnie and Clyde in 1934?
Clyde Barrow was from a poor farming family in Tellico, Texas in Ellis County. His family moved in a
wagon to Dallas in the early Twenties looking for a better life. In Dallas for the first few months their
home was under their wagon. It was a giant step forward when they were able to buy a small tent. Clyde
was seventeen when he was first arrested. The charge was for not returning a rental car on time. Soon
after his release he and his brother were arrested for possession of stolen merchandise, turkeys. After
his release he began robbing stores, cracking safes, and stealing cars. This led to his entering Eastham
prison in 1930. Due to sexual abuse Clyde killed a fellow prisoner with a lead pipe. This was Clyde’s first
murder. When Clyde was paroled in 1932, a friend said he went into prison as a schoolboy and came out
a rattlesnake. He never got over his ill treatment in Eastham and his goal was to obtain enough firearms
to attack the prison and release all the inmates.
Bonnie and Clyde first met when she was making hot chocolate at a mutual friend’s house in Dallas.
They immediately fell for each other. Little did B&C know their lives would violently end in two short,
but crime filled years. In April, 1932 Clyde was the driver in a Hillsboro robbery where the store owner
was killed. In August, Clyde and two of his gang were at a dance in Stringtown, Oklahoma when the
sheriff and a deputy approached them in the parking lot. The deputy was killed and the sheriff severely
wounded. Christmas Eve, 1932, W.D. Jones was a friend of the family and asked to join the gang when
only sixteen years old. He left that night with Clyde and the next day was initiated as he and Clyde killed
Doyle Johnson while stealing his car in Temple.
Enter 1933. Less than two months after the Temple killing, Clyde killed Tarrant County Deputy
Malcomb Davis when Clyde, Bonnie, and Jones accidentally walked into a trap set for another criminal.
Brother Buck had been in prison and after his release in March, along with his wife Blanche, quickly
joined back with the gang. For a while they hid out on Oakridge Drive in Joplin, Missouri. Here, they had
loud parties and stayed up all night. Clyde’s weapon of choice was a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and
it went off one night while he was cleaning it. All the commotion over the last few days led a neighbor
to alert the police. A five man group came in two cars to raid what they thought was a bootlegging
operation. Next week—The Joplin Shootout.
Phyllis Diller Jokes: It’s a good thing beauty is only skin deep or I’d be rotten to the bone. Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight. I want my kids to have all the things I couldn’t have. Then I want to move in with them. Be nice to your kids. They are the ones that will choose your rest home. We spend the first year or two teaching kids to walk and talk then the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up. The best way to get rid of kitchen odors is to eat out.
Commissioner Wisenbaker Promotes Sales Tax Bill
County Judge Robert Newsom and the County Commissioners have been in Austin this week lobbying on behalf of their bill which would allow them to ask voters to let them pay for the new County Jail with increased sales tax in lieu of property taxes. A seven cent increase in the tax rate would be done away with. The bill continues to make it way through the system. Some have expressed opposition to the bill saying it’s bad for local business. County Commissioner Beth Wisenbaker likes the bill because it allows the public to decide the issue. She says the increased sales tax revenue will be dedicated solely for paying off the jail. Commissioner Wisenbaker says when the jail is paid off, the increased sales tax goes away.
Immediate Weather Warning 8 p.m. until 8:45 Wednesday Night
At 802pm CST, Radar was Tracking a Strong thunderstorm Near Pleasant Grove, or 9mi West of Winnsboro, moving Northeast At 15 MPH. winds in of 40 MPH will be Possible with this Storm, Hail Up to The size of Dimes and very Heavy Rain will be Possible. Locations Impacted Include Como. this includes Interstate 30 Between Mile Markers 139 and 142. Precautionary/preparedness Actions torrential Rainfall is Also Occurring with this Storm, and May Lead to Flooding. Do Not Drive your Vehicle Through Flooded Roadways. Frequent Cloud to Ground Lightning is Occurring with this Storm. Lightning Can Strike 15mi Away from a Thunderstorm. Seek a Safe Shelter Inside a Building or Vehicle.
Potholes on the Mend
City and county crews have been repairing potholes inside Sulphur Springs and throughout Hopkins County.The cold, wet weather of the past winter created many potholes and other roadway problems, prompting construction crews to work on mending the roads.
These crews have made an impressively noticeable improvement for road conditions, and they have done their best address all the reports regarding potholes. Potholes in the city can be reported by calling 311. You can report potholes in and around Hopkins County by calling you precinct commissioner. Each precinct commissioner is in charge of approximately 220 miles of roadway in each precinct.
Diversified Minerals Begins Groundwork
Groundwork began on the new Diversified Minerals manufacturing facility. The facility is 45,000 square feet and is located at 46 Pioneer Parkway, west of CMH Road. The construction is being done by Dixon & Dixon Construction, the same company that is repairing and refurbishing the CNB Mortgage building.
Diversified Minerals is a cement and construction/environmental product manufacturing company based out of Oxnard, California.
Crawfish are Coming to Main Street
Rotary Club’s annual Crawfish festival at Celebration City. Sulphur Springs will be host to 1 ton of crawfish.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sulphur-Springs-Rotary/177784175585231?rf=434070353303941
UH to Pay $135,000 for Matthew McConaughey Speech
by Matthew Watkins, The Texas Tribune – March 31, 2015
Call it the Houston Buyers Club: The University of Houston is paying $135,000 plus travel expenses to get Matthew McConaughey to speak at its spring commencement.
Tuesday’s big reveal followed the university’s initial reluctance to release the amount. In a statement, school officials said the Academy Award-winning actor will donate the money to charity, minus the cut that will go to the booking agency that arranged the event.
Such fees are common for celebrities, politicians and other public figures who appear on college campuses. Musician Jack White made news recently for his list of demands prior to a performance at the University of Oklahoma. Those requests included “fresh home-made guacamole,” according to a report by The Oklahoma Daily.
UH announced plans for McConaughy’s address in January. The school initially declined to release the details of its contract after the Houston Chronicle requested it.
The money will go to the jk livin Foundation, an organization McConaughey created. The nonprofit “is dedicated to empowering high school students by providing them with the tools to lead active lives and make healthy choices for a better future,” according to the foundation’s website.
“It was established from the outset that if Matthew McConaughey was available to speak at the event, all fees would be donated to the jk living Foundation,” the UH statement said.
Disclosure: The University of Houston has been a corporate sponsor 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/2015/03/31/uh-pay-135000-matthew-mcconaughy-speech/.
