Volleyball Tryouts To Be Held Monday, August 2
Coach Bailey Dorner and her staff will be holding volleyball tryouts at the Main Gym at Sulphur Springs High School on Monday, Aug. 2.
The tryouts will be held on Monday, Aug. 2, from 8 A.M. to 11 A.M. and then 12 P.M. to 1 P.M.
Coach Dorner and her staff will be looking to fill a number of positions left open due to several key seniors graduating; Nylah Lindley signed on to play softball at Tuskegee University in Alabama, Bre’Asia Ivery, Caroline Hurley, and Braylea Brewer all graduated, but arguably the biggest hole to fill is the departure of Sadie Washburn, who signed on to play volleyball at Dallas Baptist University last November.
After tryouts conclude, Coach Bailey Dorner and her volleyball squad will hit the ground running when they begin scrimmage and tournament play shortly thereafter.
The volleyball schedule, which was submitted to KSST on Monday, July 12, can be found here.
But before games get underway, Coach Dorner will again be holding volleyball tryouts starting August 2 from 8 A.M. to 11 A.M. and then 12 P.M. to 1 P.M. in the SSHS Main Gym.
KSST is proud to be the official Wildcat and Lady Cat Station. We broadcast Sulphur Springs ISD games year round live on radio. When allowed, we also broadcast games via our YouTube channel.
See You Friday at CANHelp’s Free BTS Fair at Civic Center!
In a KSST Good Morning Show interview, CANHelp’s Executive Director Shanna Martin and Development Manager Jennifer Hancock invited everyone to come to the 2021 Back to School Fair set for Friday July 30 from 3-6pm. Doors will open at 3pm. It is free for families of students in any Hopkins County, Sulphur Springs, and Yantis school district.
Inside and outside, there will be plenty of fun activities and attractions. Hopkins County EMS Ambus will bring “Dixie the Therapy Dog” and “Champ” the Dallas Mavericks mascot will be there for part of the afternoon. Bounce houses, snow cones, live music by DJ Calvin and grilled hot dogs prepared by the SS Professional Firefighters will be among the outdoor attractions. Carter Blood Care will also be holding a blood drive in the Blood Mobile. Inside, many kinds of health and wellness services will be offered including COVID vaccines, school immunizations, school physicals, dental and vision screenings and adult wellness checkups are among many services which will be present at the Fair, free of charge. Also those parents whose students are already on the list to receive backpacks and school supplies can pick them up between 3 and 6pm. Additionally, an extra pick-up time has been set, from 10am til noon on Friday July 30, for the backpacks and school supplies already reserved for the registered families. In all, 824 students from pre-K through 12th grade will receive backpacks and school supplies, and that number came from the 394 families who signed up before the July 25 deadline. Thank you CANHelp for your service to the families of our community!
MANSFIELD RED, WHITE & ROCKIN’ KIDS TRIATHLON TO BE HELD IN MANSFIELD JULY 30
Kids ages 6 – 15 to Swim Hawaiian Fall’s Lazy River as Part of the Mansfield Triathlon
Kids from across North Texas ages 6 – 15 years old will compete in a fully sanctioned USA Triathlon event in two distances.
Juniors (6 – 10 years) compete in a 130-meter swim, followed by a 3.1 mile bike ride and half-mile race.
Seniors (11 – 15 years) swim for 200 meters, bike for 6.2 miles and run a full mile.
Young athletes will swim the Lazy River at Hawaiian Falls, pedal through Mansfield National Golf Course, and then run the bases at Big League Dreams Mansfield.
After the completion of the race kids get to stay and swim/play in the water park all day.
Race Starts 7 a.m.Friday, July 30, 2021
Hawaiian Falls Mansfield
490 Heritage Pkwy South Mansfield 76063
Terrific Tuesdays Respite Program Will Reopen on Tuesday August 3 at 9am at FUMC in Sulphur Springs
Great News! Tammy Reardon has a very special place in her heart for persons affected by Alzheimers Disease, dementia and other causes of memory loss. Upon moving to Hopkins County, Tammy began to look for ways to help in the community. Uncovering a common need among those closest to persons disabled by memory loss… their caregivers…..Tammy organized a way to offer a weekly time-out from their responsibilities as caregivers, many of whom are family members. She calls it the Terrific Tuesdays Club. Upon arrival, each attendee is paired with a caring volunteer who offers one-on-one attention and assistance to fully enjoy their time there. Although closed for one year due to COVID-19 concerns, the Sulphur Springs Terrific Tuesdays Club is back and will re-open on Tuesday August 3, 2021. Tammy and her volunteers are looking forward to helping both caregivers and those with memory loss to have a bright spot each week to look forward to. A major event is planned for the community on Thursday October 7 at 10:30am on Celebration Plaza. For details or with any questions about Terrific Tuesdays or the annual fundraiser, phone Tammy Reardon at 903-243-5620 or drop a line to 301 Church Street, Sulphur Springs, Texas 75482. Also see Sulphur Springs Terrific Tuesdays Club on Facebook.
Sulphur Springs Terrific Tuesdays Club Weekly meetings are held at First United Methodist Church in the common area near the Family Life Center/Gym. The spacious open area is arranged so that members can enjoy interaction with others, enjoy music and games as well as sharing a meal. Social interaction and the opportunity for safe fun are at the heart of Terrific Tuesdays. And caregivers can rest assured that their loved one is receiving quality respite care and an array of interesting and fun activities shared with loving care.
| We meet every Tuesday 9am-2pm to provide a safe environment for your loved one where they can be safely involved in a variety of social activities. | |
| Mission | To provide much needed respite to the caregivers of our community. While enriching the lives of our participants by giving them a safe place to socialize where they feel accepted and encouraged to enjoy life. |
|---|---|
| Description | Our activities are designed to help promote memory stimulation, range of motion, and circulation. |
Many Success Stories Tammy can testify to many successes of the program. She’s seen attendees who haven’t previously been sociable come out of their shell. She has witnessed others who have been fairly silent begin to talk or even sing along to a song they remembered. Others have brightened up when involved in a group game or show-and-tell session. Some caregivers report an improvement for their charges in anticipation for next week’s club meeting, and many experience a general improvement in looking forward to doing things again that they once enjoyed. Almost unanimously, caregivers relate that they appreciate the weekly hours of personal time they gain through Terrific Tuesdays. There are many happy memories and success stories among those who have experienced the Terrific Tuesdays program.
Brashear Woman Accused Of Indecency With A Child
A 32-year-old Brashear woman was jailed on an indecency with a child by exposure warrant Tuesday, according to arrest reports.
Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office receive an allegation that Crystal Ann Sievers had sexual contact with a minor associated with her.
“Investigator Shea Shaw investigated the case. He has done an outstanding job since he’s been in CID. He worked up the case, scheduled an interview at the Child Advocacy Center,” HCSO Chief Investigator Corley Weatherford said Wednesday.
Northeast Texas Child Advocacy Center is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that coordinates the efforts with professionals charged with the difficult work of investigating and prosecuting child abuse cases. Child advocacy centers offer a safe child-friendly environment to children between the ages of 2-17 who are alleged to have been sexually or severely physically abused or have been a witness to a violent crime. At NETCAC, children are allowed to tell their experiences in a non-leading way to a trained forensic interviewer rather than having to repeat it multiple times to multiple agencies involved in the investigation and prosecution, reducing the potential trauma to the allegedly abused children and their families.
Based on findings during his investigation, Shaw sought and obtained a search warrant for Sievers’ arrest, Weatherford noted.
Sievers, who is also known to use the name Crystal Ann Wyly, was taken into custody Tuesday, July 27, 2021, by Sgt. Richard Greer on the warrant and was transported to jail. The 32-year-old Brashear woman remained in Hopkins County jail Wednesday, July 28, 2021, on the indecency with a child by exposure charge. Her bond was set at $100,000 on the third-degree felony charge, according to jail reports.
Investigation on the case is ongoing, according to the sheriff’s investigator.
If you have an emergency, dial 9-1-1
The Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office is located at 298 Rosemont Sulphur Springs, TX 75482. You can reach them for non-emergency matters at (903) 438-4040.
Texas Department Of State Health Services To Award $10 Million In Grants To Support Local Vaccination Efforts Across Texas
The Texas Department of State Health Services will award $10 million to local organizations working to promote COVID-19 vaccinations in Texas. The Texas Vaccine Outreach and Education Grant program will provide grants of $50,000 to $150,000 to a wide range of groups engaged in vaccine education with the goal of increasing the number of fully vaccinated Texans and slowing the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
DSHS encourages educational agencies, faith-based organizations, government entities, community coalitions, associations and nonprofit groups to apply for the federal funds. They will be awarded for projects lasting from six to nine months.
“Community-based organizations have played a critical role in ensuring people across Texas have access to COVID-19 vaccines, and they have innovative ideas about how to engage the communities they work with,” said Imelda Garcia, DSHS associate commissioner for laboratory and infectious disease services. “These grants will give them the resources to expand their efforts to serve hard-to-reach communities that have been seriously affected by the pandemic.”
DSHS is partnering with Texas A&M University Health Science Center to administer the Texas Vaccine Outreach and Education Grant program.
Texas organizations can submit proposals beginning today with award notifications expected to begin around the end of August. Priority will be given to applicants that focus on reaching rural communities, communities of color and Texans with disabilities. To learn more about the program, eligibility and how to apply, please visit https://health.tamu.edu/vaccinegrant.html.
Jefferson Street Traffic Stop Results In Location Of Methamphetamine, 1 Arrest
Arrested at 10:03 a.m. July 27, 2021 during a Jefferson Street traffic stop was a 29-year-old Sulphur Springs man found in possession of suspected methamphetamine, according to arrest reports.
Sulphur Springs Police Officer Francisco Castro stopped a Nissan pickup at 9:19 a.m. Tuesday. The truck had an expired registration and the man did not have a valid driver’s license. He agreed to let the officer search his vehicle. A records check showed the man to be wanted on two Hopkins County traffic charges and on one Smith County warrant. A small bag containing a crystal-like substance to be methamphetamine was found. It tested positive for meth. The warrants were confirmed, Castro alleged in arrest reports.
James Barry Norton Jr. was transported to jail and booked on a possession of less than 1 gram of a Penalty Group 1 controlled substance, as well as the Smith County charge for insufficient bond on an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge, and the Hopkins County driving while license invalid and failure to maintain financial responsibility.
Norton remained in Hopkins County jail Wednesday, July 28, 2021 on all four charges. Bond was set at $20,000 on the controlled substance charge and his new bond on the Smith County charge was set at $50,000, according to jail reports.
KSSTRadio.com publishes Sulphur Springs Police Department reports and news. The Police Department is located at 125 Davis St., Sulphur Springs, Texas. Non-emergency calls can be made to (903) 885-7602.
If you have an emergency dial 9-1-1.
The Sulphur Springs Police Department continues to serve its citizens with pride in its overall mission and will strive to provide the best possible police force in the 21st century.
If you have an emergency, dial 9-1-1
The Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office is located at 298 Rosemont Sulphur Springs, TX 75482. You can reach them for non-emergency matters at (903) 438-4040.
Clerk’s Office Enters Into Agreement With IDS For Docket Application
Commissioners Court Approves Interlocal And Special Road Use Agreements, Budget Amendment To Benefit VFDs
Hopkins County Commissioners Court Monday approved an interlocal agreement for insurance to help pay for a public defender insurance program to help with costs should the county have a capital murder case that advances to a death penalty, as well as one special road use and one docket application docket application agreement, and a budget amendment to benefit the county’s volunteer fire departments.
IDS Agreement
County Clerk Tracy Smith asked the Commissioners Court to approve another agreement with Integrated Data Services, this time to allow all county and district civil, criminal or probate dockets to be posted on the county website, and to do so easier. The agreement too will make searching for specific cases easier for the general public as well as county and district staff.
Smith said she has talked with District Clerk Cheryl Fulcher, who also is interested in using the service and willing to split the cost. The county clerk said as she understands it, both can use it, adding the district court docket to it without any added cost.
Auditor Shannah Aulsbrook noted there is enough money in the records management fund to cover the $2,000 cost for the IDS docket application, then a $500 maintenance fee.
This is the second agreement Smith’s office has entered into with IDS this week. Smith was granted approval at the July 12 Commissioner Court meeting to enter into an agreement with IDS for software services, with Bill Wilder as the vendor, so that certain records such as monthly reports, Commissioners Court records and election results can be post onto the county website. Prior to that, the Commissioners Court minutes were recorded on Laserfiche, which the clerk noted is not very user-friendly.
The request for an additional IDS agreement for docket application received full approval of the Commissioners Court on Monday, July 26, 2021.
Interlocal Agreement With Lubbock County
Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom recommended that Hopkins County again enter into an interlocal agreement with Lubbock County in the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases Program, the largest collaborative effort between Counties and a state-funded program in the formative years in the United States.
“The office represents only indigent defendants charged with a capital case where the death penalty is sought at the trial level. With the Administrative office and a trial office in Lubbock, there are satellite offices in Angleton, Austin, San Angelo, San Antonio, and Terrell. All offices are staffed with a combination of all positions, each of which is able to fulfill the constitutional requirements of a core team,” according to the program website. “Collaborative efforts between counties and state ensures that competent and effective counsel are appointed to represent defendants while also providing counties with budget predictability and stability.”
“This is the capital murder insurance program that we’ve been taking out for several years. And we have actually dipped into it a little bit at one time, but thankfully not lately,” Newsom said. “We need to go ahead and stay in the program.”
The cost is $13,199 for county to participate in the insurance program this year,
“What happens is, if we a capital murder and it goes to the death penalty, this insurance program would pay for the defense council and, I believe, a special investigator,” Newsom said. “That would round up into hundreds of thousands of dollars if we have that occur.”
Hopkins County is in Region 10, which also includes Camp, Cass, Franklin, Freestone, Hunt, Leon, Limestone, Marion, Morris, Rains, Red River, Sabine and Van Zandt counties.
Hopkins County Commissioners Court unanimously agreed to enter into the interlocal agreement to participate in the insurance program, should Hopkins County have a death penalty case in the future.
Budget Amendment
The Commissioners Court this week agreed for the $10,320.29 receive this year be combined with the $19,824.95 the commissioners received in 2020 from sale of scrap metal to be moved from the precinct budgets into a fund to benefit the volunteer fire departments. Auditor Shannah Aulsbrook reported if divided evenly among VFDs, that’d be $2,740.48 per department.
Judge Newsom noted that additional discussion was still needed to determine how that would be awarded to the VFDs. Newsom said one idea the court had discussed was for the funds to go toward the tire program. He said the court would discuss the matter more following Monday mornings regular Commissioners Court meeting, and anticipated consulting with some VFD officials to gauge their take on it. The court approved the budget amendment moving the $30,145.24 from precinct budgets to a VFD fund as soon as a decision is made regarding how the departments would benefit from the funding.
“This is another big step. I want to thank the Commissioners Court. They didn’t have to do that with the scrap metal that accumulated – I don’t know how you accumulated it. It comes in, they sell it and give it – one way or other – to the volunteer fire departments,” Newsom said.
Special Road Use Agreements
Precinct 4 Commissioner Joe Price reported that a company is doing some logging on County Road 4760. A temporary permit was issued to the business last week, and the business posted a $20,000 bond which would be used for repairs if the road sustains damage during the approximately 90 days listed on the permit.
Price asked the court to approve a special road use agreement to allow the company to use of CR 4760. Precinct 1 Commissioner Mickey Barker seconded the motion, which received full approval of the Commissioners Court.
Pine Forest Hybrid, LLC, (Pine Forest Solar) also asked permission to use certain roads during work on the solar project, which is located within roads in both Precinct 2 and Precinct 3; the project is going by a different name, according to Commissioner Greg Anglin. The request as presented to Commissioner Bartley failed to note the road numbers. He said in order to consider the request, the county needs to know what roads the company is talking about.
Thus, Anglin made a motion, seconded by Bartley to table the request from Pine Forest Hybrid, LLC, until additional information is presented to the Commissioners Court. The rest of the court agreed, and the request was tabled pending receipt of additional information.
Youth Soccer Camp Continuously Attracts More Attendees Under Coach Upton
The last week of July is, comparatively, one of the slower weeks of the summer in terms of the number of activities.
This week here in Sulphur Springs, the only sports activities transpiring are the youth soccer camp, boys basketball Edge (which was extended one week due to gym renovations), and team tennis practices in preparation for their first meet next Tuesday.
The youth soccer skills camp, helmed by Wildcats head soccer coach Alexi Upton, continuously sees more and more students attend the summer camp as the years go on.
The camp is held yearly at the Multi-Purpose Building at the SSISD Athletic Complex, and Coach Upton said on the first day of camp, Monday, July 26, he had around 100-115 students attend the youth soccer camp.
Even with a dip in attendees on Tuesday, putting numbers around 85 total students, the Wildcats soccer coach was undeterred, saying that they’ve been doing really well.
The first year Alexi Upton coached here in Sulphur Springs, during the 2018-19 season, he said he had about 50-60 students attend the summer camp. In the following summer, 2019, Coach Upton saw an increase in attendees, going up to 65-70.
The summer of 2020 saw COVID-19 force the cancellation of most summer activities here in Sulphur Springs, so to shoot up to 100-115 students attending the summer camp “shows that the numbers are growing,” Coach Upton said.
Not only that, but the growth in years past shows that soccer here in Sulphur Springs is becoming more established and more recognized, the Wildcats soccer coach said.
Even though a mini-Monsoon hit Sulphur Springs yesterday, it was no matter for both soccer staffs helming the soccer camp since the camp was held at the indoor Multi-Purpose Building. Coach Upton said he believes kids like to be in the MPB.
The Wildcats soccer coach said camps like these are huge for the community.
“It’s really great to get these kids out here,” Coach Upton said. The exposure that kids get to being in an environment with so many skilled coaches and players teaching new skills but still having fun, is something the Wildcats soccer coach hopes sticks with students as they contemplate what sport they make like play later down the line.
The camp is still open for those who wish to attend tonight and Thursday night’s sessions at the MPB, and Coach Upton said he might discount folks who wish to attend the youth skills camp but could not make it to camp Monday or Tuesday.
The camp runs Monday through Thursday, from 6 to 7:30 P.M. at the Multi-Purpose Building. The camp is open to both boys and girls who are students ranging from entering kindergarten, to the ninth grade.
KSST is proud to be the official Wildcat and Lady Cat Station. We broadcast Sulphur Springs ISD games year round live on radio. When allowed, we also broadcast games via our YouTube channel.
Splash into School at Splash Kingdom
Splash Kingdom in Greenville is hosting a Splash into School, School supply drive! The first 500 people to bring and donate school supplies on August 5th will receive free entry into the park!
