Welding Goes Well at PJC-Sulphur Springs Center
PJC-Sulphur Springs Center welding shop instructor John Plemons (right), observes as structural welding students, Jason Johnson (left) of Quitman, and Michael Reagan of Caddo Mills practice operating a track torch.
To learn more about the welding program, call 903-885-1232.
For registration information call the Sulphur Springs campus at 903-885-1232.
For information about attending the Center, visit the campus at 1137 Loop 301 East in Sulphur Springs.
To see offered classes, go to www.parisjc.edu/schedule.
To apply to PJC, go to www.parisjc.edu/apply or email [email protected].
Paris Junior College — located in Paris, Texas, about 100 miles northeast of Dallas — has been a part of the Lamar County community since 1924.
Paris Junior College offers Associate in Arts, Associate in Science and Associate in Applied Science degrees, as well as Certificates of Proficiency in technical/workforce fields. The college has expanded its academic curriculum through the years to encourage associate degree and university transfer candidates. Since establishing its first vocational program — jewelry and watchmaking in 1942 — the college has been aggressive in adding technical/workforce programs that will benefit students entering the workforce.
The campus of 54 tree-shaded acres includes 20 major buildings and residence halls and provides students a unique and pleasant environment for learning.
Paris Junior College also operates centers in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and in Greenville, Texas.
SSISD Summer Food Service Free For Children Up To Age 18
The Summer Food Service is being offered through July 22 at the Barbara Bush Primary Campus at 390 North Hillcrest in Sulphur Springs. Breakfast and Lunch are prepared Mondays through Thursdays. Any child up to age 18 can come in and enjoy the nutritious meals at no charge and with no application or qualifying process. Breakfast is served 7:30-8:30am, and lunch is served from 10:45-12:30. No meals are served after 12:30pm. The Food Service will be closed on Monday July 5 in observance of the holiday. July menus are listed below.
SSISD Tripling Internet Bandwidth District-Wide, Upgrading Security At SSHS
Sulphur Springs High School Partnering with TWC To Offer New Innovative Class Through ‘Opportunity Now’ Program
Sulphur Springs ISD will be tripling district’s internet bandwidth from 1 GB to 3GB to keep up with increased internet usage. An upgrade to security equipment at the high school this summer will also be preformed. The school district also plans to implement an “innovative” career and technology course in the coming school year.
Exinda Packet Shaper
In order to expand internet service above 1 GB, to accommodate the numerous devices acquired over the past few years and in use regularly during the school year, the core network equipment must be updated. That means the district will need to upgrade the packet shaper, the device that manages the network traffic, SSISD Technology Coordinator Rodney White explained.
The packet shaper gives the district the ability to dictate how much bandwidth is used for each application, such as YouTube, web traffic and streaming music. This ensures things that SSISD prioritizes, such as testing, have sufficient bandwidth. SSISD has satisfactorily used an Extinda packet shaper for several years, but the current device can only handle 1 GB of bandwidth, according to White.
Bandwidth, White explained, is like a four lane highway going into Dallas. After a while it gets congested with more traffic on it, so the highway is expanded. So expanding the bandwidth to 3 GB would be like expanding the highway from four to 12 lanes going into Dallas. The packet shaper then manages the traffic. Just as one 18-wheeler passing another 18-wheeler on the highway can slow traffic down.
Without the shaper, there is nothing to prevent the bandwidth hogs streaming music and videos from congesting the network. The packet shaper would then essentially keep the 18-wheelers in the right hand lane, and would essentially create HOV lanes for those using the network for important priority functions, such as testing, so that would access as much bandwidth as needed for those priority tasks.
“The packet shaper ensures that the important things don’t get slowed down – don’t get interrupted by more nonessential things,” White said.
“Can you change that in the moment, like say today’s a testing day, shut everything down everything else?” asked SSISD Board of Trustees Secretary Jason Dietze, when White pitched the proposal to the school board during their regular June meeting.
“Yes, for testing we can give them 90 percent of the bandwidth, ratchet everything else down,” White replied “Whatever we deem important, we can ensure they get all the bandwidth they need.”
White noted that the district has been able to stay at 1 gig for so long because of the packet shaper. A 3 gig network that is manager, he added, is more efficient than a 10 gig network that is unmanaged. The district has used the 1 GB shaper for about 10 years, and White anticipates a 3G packet shaper should last about that long as well. And, the model he recommended, is expandable up to 10 GB.
He recommended purchasing the Extinda packet shaper from CDW-G, a TIPS approved vendor, for $53,088.01. The company was also the low bidder, and Extinda is the same type system already in use. The bid, he said, is cheapest for what SSISD needs it to do.
SSISD Superintendent Mike Lamb said while the cost isn’t in the technology budget, he anticipates being able to use some $11.5 million in federal ESSER grants the district is eligible to apply for to fund the necessary upgrade.
SSISD Board Trustee Leesa Toliver made a motion, which was seconded by Vaughn, and approved by the rest of the board present at the June 15 meeting, to purchase the Extinda packet shaper to extend the district’s broadband width from 1 GB to 3GB from CDW-G for $53,088.01.
Security Update
SSISD Director of Maintenance Dan Froneberger also asked trustees earlier this month to consider approving an $82,547.35 proposal from Allied Universal to update the access control system at the high school. The system there is very weak due to lightning hits over the past 5-6 years.
Allied Universal supplied all of the new equipment and upgrades to SSISD in the last 5 years and their components will interchange with all of the district’s other schools as well.
The proposal would upgrade security systems at Sulphur Springs High School from the multipurpose facility east. The tennis and track facilities have fairly new systems.
Of the three SSISD facilities where security has not been upgrades in recent years, the system at SSHS is in worse shape than those systems at Sulphur Springs Elementary and the Administration building, Froneberger noted. When there’s an issue, from say a lightning strike, SSISD personnel aren’t able to go to the server room to a computer to reset the security systems. Someone has to go door to door, climbing into the ceiling to rest the readers for each room.
“That makes for a bad day when they call from the high school and none of the doors are working at 8 o’clock and school is starting when we had a storm the night before,” Froneberger said.
He proposed replacing all of them. He noted that when SSISD took in the old tech center building at one end of the property, a secure hallway was constructed, attaching the building to the high school. Two of those doors inside of the building aren’t connected to the system.
Parts removed from the high school would be placed into storage to serve as replacement parts until the SSES and Administration campuses are upgraded too.
The new access control system would match those at other campuses, coming from the same company – Allied Universal. The company serves as tech support for all of the district doors, working hand-in-hand with maintenance worker Sanford Shell and the rest of the maintenance team to install the systems and work on them when needed.
The $82,547.35 includes the base price plus doors not already in the system. It is also about $7,000 less than the district paid when they started the access control system program at the elementary campuses about 6 years ago.
Randy Hutchison [with Allied Universal Technology Services] said if we get a PO this week, they felt confident that we would be able to go in before school,” Froneberger said, when asked if the company has all of the parts readily on hand.
Roberts made a motion, which was seconded by Dietze, to allow Allied Universal to upgrade the access control system at SSHS for $82,547.35.
Innovative CTE Course
Also new at SSHS news year will be a new innovated career and technology education course.
SSHS Director of College and Career Readiness, and Career and Technical Education Director Jenny Arledge and SSHS Special Education Coordinator Courtney Anglin proposed partnering with Texas Workforce Commission to offer a new course called ” Opportunity Now” in the 2021-22 school years. SSHS was provided the opportunity to offer an “Opportunity Now” program.
The class would need to directly align with the program intent, and would be funded by TWC; the agency would also provide instructors to teach “General Employability Skills,” and the class would be taught at SSHS and would require an SSISD CTE teacher of record to assist the incoming instructor with attendance, grade and other tasks.
This would be for students who are already in or candidates for the Connections program. This would provide transition services to help prepare the students with real world skills to get and keep a job.
The proposal was presented to the school board on Arledge and Anglin’s behalf by Assistant Superintendent Josh Williams on June 15 as well.
Dietze made the motion, which was seconded by Toliver, to approve the proposal for the partnership with TWC to enable SSHS to offer the class to students in the 2021 school year. The SSISD Board of trustees approved the proposal during the group’s regular meeting June 15, 2021.
Flyer and QR Code For Upcoming Wildcats Soccer Camp Released
On Tuesday, June 29, Wildcats soccer coach Alexi Upton released a flyer and QR code pertaining to the upcoming soccer camp that will be held at the end of July.
The camp runs the last week of July and will last four days from July 26-29 (Monday through Thursday).
The soccer camp will be run by Wildcats HC Alexi Upton and is welcome to students ranging from entering kindergarteners to ninth grade.
The cost of the camp is $50 and is welcome to both boys and girls.
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.
Growing a Fall Garden, by Hopkins County Master Gardener Brenda Payne
By Brenda Payne
Summer might be high season in the vegetable garden, when tomatoes, squash, and other warm-season plants are in overdrive, but autumn can be just as productive.
If you begin planning and planting in late summer, you can extend your harvest of garden-fresh produce well into fall and even winter by growing cool-season crops.
Many sweet root crops like beets and carrots as well as cabbage cousins like kale can continue growing for several weeks beyond the first frost.
These tips will help you fill your table with plenty of homegrown goodness long beyond the heat of summer.
You can start many autumn crops while the weather is still hot. That way, there’ll be enough time to harvest them before the snow flies.
It’s All About Timing
The secret to growing plentiful fall vegetables is timing. That means thinking a little differently because you have to plan backward. Start with your area’s average first fall frost date.
Then look at the number of days to harvest for the fall vegetable you want to grow. You’ll find that number on the seed packet or in the catalog description. Use the days to harvest number to count back from the first frost date.
Then add two weeks, because many fall vegetables grow more slowly as days shorten in fall.
Get the Garden Ready
Make room for your fresh crop of fall vegetables by removing garden crops that are no longer performing well or ones you’ve already harvested. Pull any weeds so they don’t steal moisture and nutrients from your new your new young plants.
Take advantage of the open planting bed to incorporate a 2- to 3-inch-layer of well-decomposed compost to get your fall crop off to a great start.
Start From Seed
You’ll probably grow most vegetables for your fall garden from seed. Use the extra seeds you didn’t plant in the spring or purchase new ones.
If you start your seeds directly outdoors, plant them a little deeper than you would in spring; the soil is typically moister and cooler an extra inch or two down.
Watering vegetable garden
It’s especially important to keep your vegetable plants well-watered during the hot months of July, August, and September.
The general rule is that most fall garden vegetables do best with about an inch of water a week. Once your seedlings or transplants are established, aim to give them one deep watering a week rather than several lighter waterings.
There may already be pests and diseases in your garden, so keep an eye out for holes or spots on plant leaves. Deal with insects and diseases promptly to minimize the damage.
Crops for Speedy Harvest – Get a last blast from your veggie patch with quick crops that go from seed to table in 40 days or less. Sown in September, sprinters such as arugula, mustard, spinach, turnips, and crispy red radishes are ready to harvest in little more than a month.
Also try pretty Asian greens, such as tatsoi or mizuna, which grow so fast that you will have baby plants to add to stir-fries and soups just three weeks after sowing.
- Beets
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage Carrots
- Collards
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Leeks
- Cauliflower
- Lettuce
- Mustard
- Radish
- Swiss
- Chard Turnips
The hardiest fall vegetables, spinach and kale, often grow well into early winter. Stop harvesting leaves when freezing weather arrives.
When protected by a blanket of snow or a plastic tunnel, spinach can survive winter and produce a flush of sweet leaves first thing in spring.
Best Fall Garden Vegetables – Plenty of fall garden vegetables thrive in cool temperatures. Count on them to survive light frost if given some protection. Remember, when shopping for seeds for fall, select varieties with the shortest seed-to-harvest time period.
Some suggestions are:
This may be a good year to try your hand at fall vegetables and enjoy a second harvest.
Wildcats and Lady Cats Cross Country Chugging Along Through Week 4 of Edge
Coach Ross Hicks and his cross country squad have nearly completed week four of their six week run of the Edge.
Last Thursday, June 25, marked the end of week three of the Edge, which officially meant Coach Hicks and his team were halfway done with their summer strength and conditioning program.
According to Coach Hicks, the Edge for cross country has typically averaged 35 to 40 students between the seventh through the twelfth grades, saying he’s had solid numbers throughout.
The cross country coach said he believes the Edge has been going well for his student-athletes.
Coach Hicks said he has gotten a lot of commitment and buy-in from his athletes, in that the cross country coach has weekly mileage goals, and he said his kids are really getting in to improving and working to make sure they hit their goals.
“We’ve had a lot of good buy-in, even when kids can’t make it,” Coach Hicks said. “They’ve been sending me their runs, either through Strava (a tracking app for athletes wishing to log their exercise) or texting… just saying hey I got my run in today, make sure that this gets on our log,” the cross country coach said.
Coach Hicks expects his student-athletes to go on vacation, work jobs, go to church camp and participate in other activities during the summer, but he has been thankful that in spite of this his athletes have stayed committed to not only improving themselves but those around them as well.
“So far, it’s been a really good summer,” the cross country coach said, and believes his team has “made a lot of good progress.”
One of the many sports to feel the effect of COVID-19, Coach Hicks said it has been huge for his program to not only have so many kids buy-in to what the cross country staff is selling but also to have restrictions due to the coronavirus lifted that were placed on high school sports.
“It’s huge,” Coach Hicks said about the aforementioned topic, saying that last year due to those same restrictions they were not allowed to do some of the more fun things that the cross country staff usually plans for their squad.
One of those things would be bringing a watermelon and/or popsicles for students after running 4-5 miles, but COVID-19 caused the cross country program to take necessary precautions such as not bringing food and staying socially distanced that in turn did not allow for as much bonding time as years past.
“It’s huge to have that team culture, and to just have fun with each other,” Coach Hicks said. “So far, I think the kids have done a good job of doing that,” the cross country coach said.
The Edge is broken down day-by-day; on Monday are progressive runs, where XC runners gradually get faster, almost every Tuesday of the summer strength and conditioning program Sulphur Springs will do a tempo run, Wednesdays are always recovery runs, allowing the body to heal, and the cross country program wraps up its weeks on Thursday by getting another run in.
Coach Hicks said he also expects kids to get another run in over the students’ three-day weekend.
The cross country coach said the schedule will change a bit as the team gets in to the next phase of workouts. Coach Hicks said that the program is currently in their first cycle of training.
After the Edge ends on July 15, the program will have a week off before having a mini summer camp where they will bring speakers, cook hamburgers, and commence their season with a bit of fun. After that, the first race for Sulphur Springs XC will occur in mid-August.
For now, Coach Ross Hicks and his team will focus on continuous improvement and keeping up the good work before the Edge ends two weeks from tomorrow.
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.
30+ Attend 14th Annual Ken And Suzi Chapman Scholarship Weekend
By Jan Vaughn, Tira News Correspondent
Ken and Suzi Chapman’s Scholarship Program recipients gathered in Tira this past weekend for their 14th Annual Scholarship Weekend. Thirty-plus young adults participated in the activities, which included card games, outdoor games, fishing and swimming. Ken reported, “Additionally, lots of pizza, chips, cookies and sandwiches were consumed, and Saturday evening the Scholars were joined by their ‘significant others’ for a catered Taco Bar meal at the Tira Community Center, courtesy of Lisa Sprague, [Family and Consumer Sciences] teacher at North Hopkins High School.” Local assistance was provided by Liz Steinsiek and Janie Lewis. Participants were given the option on Sunday morning to attend the church of their choice. Ken shared that five of them attended the Tira Methodist Church with them.
Joyce Dodd reported that someone left two cases of vegetables under the Tira Pantry recently. Also, I received a generous anonymous donation for the food pantry. We want to express our appreciation to all who contribute to the cause.
Don’t forget about the Tira Homecoming this Sunday, July 4. The program and business meeting will begin at 11 a.m. in the Tira Methodist Church, followed by a pot-luck lunch at the picnic tables.
Chip and I went to Malvern, Arkansas, on Friday to visit our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter, Tiffany, Perry, and Jaidyn. Perry and Chip worked on their new room addition and Tiffany helped. Our grandson, Morgan Joslin, arrived in time for lunch that day. He was on his way to Iowa for a seasonal job, doing groundwork for a crop-dusting business, in hopes of getting a flying job in the future. He spent the night and left for his destination on Saturday. Jaidyn and I swam in the motel pool on Friday afternoon. Then, on Saturday, Tiffany, Jaidyn, and I went out for lunch and shopping. Chip and I returned to Tira that evening. Chip’s sister, Linda Ellen Vaughn, stayed with Grace while we were gone. She went back to Dallas on Sunday morning.
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 903-438-6688 or [email protected].
Groundbreaking For New EMS Station-HCHD Headquarters Planned July 1
A groundbreaking ceremony planned at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning, July 1, will signal the start of construction of a new EMS station and Hopkins County Hospital District headquarters.
Planning for the new station has been in the planning stages for about a year and a half. The structure will be built at 114 Airport Road on property located across the street from CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital Sulphur Springs that is owned by the hospital district. Three dilapidated houses were torn down on Airport Road to allow for construction.
The area by the current EMS station has also been pitched as a possible site for the new building. However, that property is in an area that frequently floods and would require a lot of dirt work to elevate it to prevent flooding and water retention. That property also has a large gas pipeline spanning across the front of the property, which would require paving over in order to build the station. The site for the new station has a higher elevation. It also already has access for utilities, the HCHD officials pointed out during the June 2020 board meeting.
Scott + Reed General Construction was approved by HCHD Board earlier this spring for the project, with design by REES Architecture.
The hospital district board over the past 6 months to a year have discussed whether to take out a loan to fund the new building. In December 2020, a Letter of Intent for the District to sell its remaining interest in CHRISTUS Hopkins Health Alliance joint venture to CHRISTUS Health received unanimous approval. Final negotiations continued through the spring.
CHRISTUS Health, in the letter of intent, offers to pay $27 million for the Hospital District’s 49 percent interest in CHHA. The finalization was expected to provide enough funding pay off HCHD’s remaining debts and fund the new station/HQ building. The Hospital District Board had projected the closing of the deal in either late April or early May.
“The Hospital District plans on paying for the building with current revenues and not doing a loan at this time,” Hopkins County Hospital District COO/EMS Director Brent Smith stated Tuesday afternoon.
HCHD, in the agreement, keeps all of the property on which and inside which CHRISTUS is operating, and was to reduce the overall lease payment from $3 million to $1 million.
The Hopkins County Hospital District will continue to provide indigent care financial support to the hospital, paying up to $2 million annually to the hospital for 5 years, $2.5 million from years 6-10, and rising to $3 million thereafter.
HCHD will also continue to own and operate the District’s EMS service. The agreement stipulates that Hopkins County EMS will continue serve as exclusive provider of EMS services to Hopkins, Rains, Franklin and Delta counties, during the lease term as long as those counties agree, including serving as the primary local EMS provider for CHRISTUS.
The new station planned replaces one consisting of a couple of combined trailers that have outlived their expected life expectancy, and have been experiencing structural issues that are costly to repair.
A grand opening ceremony and ribbon cutting for the new EMS facility are expected at the completion of the building, which is projected to take about 11 months, according to Smith.
All who wish to attend Thursday’s groundbreaking event are welcome. Parking is available at Cedar Crest Christian Church, just across the street from the site.
Portion Of Plaza Parking, Downtown Streets To Be Closed Saturday During Independence Day Celebration, Fireworks
As Sulphur Springs and Hopkins County residents begin filling downtown Saturday evening, motorists are reminded a portion of plaza parking will be closed Saturday. The 2021 Independence Concert and Fireworks Celebration kicks off at 8 p.m. Visitors to the downtown area should take into account the higher volume of foot traffic to Celebration Plaza.
“Due to the safety zone needed for the fireworks display, some parking around the plaza will be closed,” Sulphur Springs Police Chief Jason Ricketson said, adding that some streets will also be closed July 3, and some areas will be closed to pedestrian traffic starting about 30 minutes before the fireworks show kicks off.
The diagram below, provided by SSPD, shows the safety zone shaded in red and arrows indicating roadways that will be closed July 3. Pedestrian traffic will be allowed in the shaded area until approximately 8:30 p.m. Saturday, then, closed for the fireworks show. Due to the road closures, Ricketson asks visitors to and through the downtown area to plan accordingly.
The Independence Day Celebration is free to the public, will feature a concert performed by Northeast Texas Symphony Orchestra starting at 8 p.m., followed at approximately 9 p.m. by a fireworks display. KSST will be broadcasting live from downtown. Click here for more information about the 29th annual 4th of July celebration.
Dike Resident Files Lawsuit To Stop Solar Farm
June 30, 2021 – After months of questions, meetings, and disagreements a lawsuit has been filed against Hopkins Energy LLC and Hopkins County which will bring all of the back and forth between Dike residents, county officials and Engie Energy Company into the courtroom.
Cynthia Martin, who has lead “Save Dike From Solar” efforts to prevent a solar facility from being constructed in Dike, has filed a petition in the 62nd Judicial District Court against Hopkins Energy LLC and Hopkins County. The legal document, filed June 29, 2021, asks for “equitable relief,” a temporary restraining order, as well as temporary and permanent injunctive relief. The lawsuit names Cynthia Martin as the sole Plaintiff. Defendants were notified via certified mail.
The 96-page petition is filled with very specific points of contention that have been argued by Dike residents and the lawsuit also tracks the timeline of the project all the way back to 2017. The original LLC was filed in March of 2017 and the project changed hands several times before winding up in the hands of a Houston based subsidiary (Engie North America) of a French company (Engie SA). The lawsuit details each of the documents approved by the commissioner’s court and alleges that some documents were either not posted for public notification properly, not approved properly, or even may have been altered after being approved. In many instances the lawsuit alleges that it appeared that the solar company (Engie) was manipulating the contract process as that process progressed. The lawsuit further states that the way that the negotiations were handled invalidates the contract itself, even alleging that documents that should have been notarized were filed as public record without being notarized.
Many Dike residents have spoken at length to county commissioners about their concerns for “environmental impacts” to the land occupied by the solar farm as well as adjoining properties. The Dike resident filing the lawsuit, Ms. Martin, was concerned of flooding on her adjoining property. Ms. Martin commissioned a study of possible flooding due to the project and the lawsuit claims that the company “Aqua Strategies found the project could have significant impact on the size of the floodplain, increase water levels in the creek and in the floodplain, increase runoff and sediment discharge to downstream water bodies, and increase runoff to the Martin property by as much as 43%.” The lawsuit also alleges that the solar company was supposed to acquire a permit from Hopkins County as stipulated by Hopkins County’s own “flood ordinance” but that Engie “did not seek or acquire a permit.”
The lawsuit alleges that this flooding could cause irreparable damage to the Martin property and asks the court to issue a temporary restraing order (TRO) immediately. A TRO would in effect be “ordering Defendant Hopkins Energy, LLC to desist and refrain from building the proposed solar power plant until such time as the Court issues final judgment in this lawsuit.”
Martin, according to the petition, is seeking “monetary relief of $250,000 or more, attorney’s fees of an amount to be determined, and non-monetary relief of declaratory judgment and injunctive relief.” The Plaintiff also is asking for a jury trial in this action.
The other stakeholders in this project are two local school districts, Sulphur Springs ISD and Sulphur Bluff ISD. Neither school district has been named in this lawsuit, as their agreements are separate from the Hopkins County agreement.
Now it appears this project, which has taken several years to get to this point, could be delayed. Certainly, it appears that there a lot of questions still to be answered.
KSST News reached out to Engie North America and as of the writing of this article had not received any responses. Hopkins County officials could not comment on any pending litigation.
The first hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 19th with Judge Will Biard presiding over the 62nd District Court.
