The New Cass County Sun (Linden, Tex.), Vol. 105, No. 22, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 3, 1981 Page: 1 of 4
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MR. ALONZO MORRIS
P.O. BOX 507
LINDEN, TX. 75563
STATE BASEBALL RETROSPECT
Drenched Now, Last Year Was Delirious
By NEIL ABELES
A quiet, cool and drenched Linden this first week of June is in stark con-
trast to a year ago.
It was dry and hot then, and everyone was excited about baseball.
Hundreds of L-K fans boarded cars and buses for a trip to Austin and
the state finals that first week in June, for the Tigers, at 24-4, were on the
prowl. At home, citizens forgot about television and brought out their
radios for the play-by-play.
Crockett, Aledo and powerful LaGrange were the three other teams in-
volved in the history-making event for linden, but the 21-team members
and Coach Rhodney Russell were confident.
L-K's team had been winners ever since they first started playing
baseball, the sport that Linden has always supported in a big way.
Each player was at his favorite position, as Russell had made only one
change from the junior to senior year. Allen Coleman came to second and
Dan Ayers went to centerfield because Coleman was a bit faster. Defense
would be the Tigers' key all year long.
Around the horn, that was Dennis Jones at third, Jim Grubbs at short,
Coleman at second, Randy Bowden or Brian Caver at first, Todd Keesee
behind the plate, Gary Don Wells in left, Ayers in center and Ray
Abraham in right. The big, tall right-hander Ronnie Conley was the
team's best on the mound.
KEESEE, BATTING lead-off and hitting .364, was the team's mainstay
and along with Grubbs (.352) had been freshmen starters of a Russell-
coached team that won regionals.
But Russell would later say the strength of this team was that each
player could lead the squad, and if some were off, the others would pick
up the slack.
For example, Ray Abraham would bat over .700 for the final two
games, and it was his homer that brought the Tigers their
clutch win over Canton in the third game of a two-out-of-three series to
get them out of regionals.
But it would be Conley whose back-to-back pitching performance on the
hot Astro-turf of the University of Texas Stadium would earn for the city a
memorable 1980 to match, and then overshadow, that cold February in
1960 when an iced-in Tiger basketball team was winning its state title in
Austin.
"IT WAS A GREAT thing for our town," Mayor E. W. Rountree said
this week in recalling his view from the UT stands a year ago. "But I tell
you we weren't afraid of anyone down there. We were scrappers, and the
city has a right to be proud of itself and those boys."
Indeed, the Tigers weren't afraid even though they heard things about
Crockett's smoke-throwing and incredible hitting (15-1 as a pitcher and 11
homeruns as a batter) Wayne Stewart and LaGrange's equally im-
pressive catcher John Lindemann.
"I told them I thought we'd already faced two of the best pitchers in
that Jackson from Waskom we played in a warm-up and the two Wood-
ville hurlers," Russell said. "I told them anyone else couldn't be too much
better since the Waskom pitcher led his team to state without a defeat and
the Woodville boys had been timed at 90 mph."
The Tigers must have listened. They belted eight hits against Stewart
and knocked him out early on the way to a 6-0 win.
Against LaGrange in the finals, the Tigers gave the former state cham-
pions a lesson in baseball.
Russell recalls now mostly the highlights from the third base dugout
and the Saturday afternoon game.
"It was hot for one thing, and that rubber surface made it worse. We
wondered if our steel cleats would work, and the players seemed to
bounce more when they ran, just like the ball," Russell said.
The New
Cass
Volume 105, No. 22 Linden, Texas Wednesday, June 3, 1981
Fire School Training, New Water Pump
Helps City Lower Its Insurance Key Rate
The rainy weather this month is par-
tially delaying some city projects,
reports City Manager Alton Rowe. But
in two city efforts, an accomplishment
that will effect all Lindenites its being
made.
By sending three volunteer firemen
to two training schools in July and by
changing plans at the new
100,000-gallon ground storage water
tank, the city is going to lower its key
insurance rate by some 10 percent.
That savings will be passed on to all
citizens who must buy insurance since
the lower the key rate the lower the
premiums to be paid.
The three volunteer firemen who will
give up their regular vacations from
their jobs in order to attend the train-
ing school at College Station in July
are Joe Hamilton, Bill Lawrence and
Ronald Storie.
The three will take courses in fire
fighting and fire prevention. That addi-
tional training will qualify the city for
a five percent reduction on its in-
surance key rate which is now 43 cents.
Next, the city has agreed to pur-
chase a 500-gallon-per-minute booster'
pump instead of its original 100-GPM
pump. The booster pump will tank
water from the storage tank and push
it either into the system's main lines or
the elevated storage tank.
The increased power will result in a
greater water supply in case of an
emergency, and the improvement will
bring another five percent reduction in
the key rate.
That additional power for the pump
will cost the city some $2,200, Rowe
said.
IN THE MEANTIME, weather is
keeping them from work on paving the
road at the Crow-Heath Memorial
Park and working with the tower com-
pany installing the 100,000-gallon tank
from painting and completing its in-
stallation.
J.C/s Provide Fan
For Volunteer Firemen
An about $300 gift to the Linden
Volunteer Fire Department by the
Linden J. C.'s has purchased a needed
high-speed exhaust fan for the
firefighters.
J. C. President Dennis Gilbert made
the presentation recently.
"We have needed such a fan on
various occasions," Fire Chief Jerry
Mitchell said, "and this specialized
model really does a strong job in pull-
ing out the smoke."
The J. C.'s had earlier asked the
firemen what the department needed
in the way of an additional piece of
equipment.
Mitchell said the volunteers had one
Six Seniors
At Boys State
This Saturday
Six Linden-Kildare rising seniors
will leave Saturday by private cars for
Austin and the 41st annual American
Legion Boys State sponsored by the
State of Texas American Legion.
The six are Rusty Werline, Bryan
Penny, Todd Burrow, Brian Caver,
James Stuart Jr. and Stan Surratt.
Some 950 Texas high school boys
will be in attendance, reports state
I^egiori commander Harry C. Riggs of
Plain view.
other fan which was too large and dif-
ficult to move around to be of much
good.
"We have to have dry weather to
establish a firm road bed in paving so
that we can then put a sealer on top of
the bed and tar or gravel on top of
that," Rowe said.
As for the water tank, the company
needs dry weather to be able to sand
blast the tank clean and then give it a
final painting. Some pipe and pump
work is still to be done at the tank to
connect it into the system, but
altogether Rowe said officials tell him
two weeks of good weather is all that
will be needed to finish the job.
The rainy weather is delaying con-
tinued installation of cable TV lines
around the city by the Caddo Cable
Corp., but at the antenna site near the
city cemetery, the company has finish-
ed installing its reflector and receiving
discs. No word is yet available on when
homes mav receive cable television.
The city has other projects needing
to be started, Rowe admits, but with
the present inability to hire additional
help this summer, those projects will
just have to be done as the city can get
to them.
"Our regular employees have their
daily jobs to do, and after that then we
are able to get on the special projects
such as extending a larger water line
down Tobacco Road and others,"
Rowe said. "But we still have them
planned, and we will get to them."
Rowe noted that the recent rains
have made even more evident that the
city's present sewer system is inade-
quate to handle the amount of water
draining into the system.
Currently the city is in a three-year
program to enlarge the sewer system,
but current local finances and national
cutbacks are causing the city to
revaluate. Still, the present sewer
system has so many leaks and places
for infiltration, the only possibility for
the sewer treatment facilities is to
overflow, a condition the state health
and other departments will not allow.
Funnel Sited
A tornado funnel which dipped close
to the ground early Tuesday morning
was the first sighting of such a
dramatic weather condition during the
recent rash of threatening weather.
Deputy Bill Hardwick was returning
from Hughes Springs on Hwy. 11 about
6:30 a.m. when he spotted the funnel at
the edge of a front which passed
through about seven miles south of
Linden.
"The funnel kept dipping down and
then moving back up into the sky in a
mushroom-like cloud. It got close, but
I'm not sure it every touched the
ground," Hardwick said.
The funnel also was sighted near the
Kessler farm along Hwy. 155, and one
was earlier reported near Pittsburg.
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Volunteers Are Happy
"We'd get behind but the players didn't complain. It seemed to me they
had already made up their minds they were going to win.
"I remember the winds were swirling one way in the infield and
another in the outfield, and that fooled us some of the time. But one of the
big things was that Conley was strong on the mound. He had his curve go-
ing, and he could put it where he wanted it. That allowed him to get
behind on batters and still come back with the curve for the strike."
To Conley, it must have seemed as if the LaGrange team knew all about
curves. They hit everything he threw. He would record only one strikeout
in the four-plus innings he worked and LaGrange struck for 10 hits. The
Tigers' defense wilted, but it didn't melt.
LaGrange batters pushed across two runs in the first and one in the se-
cond to take a 3-0 lead. But in the fourth the Tigers came alive.
Dan Ayers led off with a walk, then Ray Abraham got his second single
of the game, and Allen Coleman walked to load the bases.
Dennis Jones then doubled to bring in two, and Gary Don Wells singled
to load the bases again. Designated hitter Brian Caver followed with a
solid single that drove in two runs, and the Tigers led, 4-3, while the some
400 fans whooped it up in the stands despite the heat.
But the inning wasn't over for I^aGrange. Todd Keesee singled to drive
in Wells, and Grubbs hit a long fly to left which the LaGrange fielder mis-
judged. Caver scored, and the Tigers were up, 6-3.
In the sixth, the LaGrange leopards came back with four runs, and
things looked dark for the L-K nine. Fans on the radio heard as Ayers and
Abraham allowed a fly ball to drop between them in that inning for an im-
portant error, but to Russell the swirling wind was to blame.
"You couldn't tell. The ball seemed to be going one way, and then it
swerved and fell closer to Abraham. It was just hard out there, and I'm
not sure you'd call it an error," the coach said. "In any case, no one said
(See BASEBALL, Page 2)
A POEM FOR HER. Charlene Morris, left, smiles as County Clerk Odelia
Womack reads a poem in honor of her employee's retirement. Husband
Alonzo Morris is speechless for the moment at the Friday party given his
wife after 18 years of work in the county clerk's office. (Photo by Tom-
mye Hardwick)
Morris Given
Retirement Party
Friends and co-workers at the Cass
County Courthouse honored Charlene
Morris with a reception Friday on the
occasion of her retirement.
Morris has been employed for 18
years in the county clerk's office.
She was presented a corsage made
of money bills, and then County Clerk
Odelia Womack read a "good-bye"
poem written especially for the
honoree. Womack also gave her co-
worker a certificate of appreciation for
her years of service as sent by Rep.
Buck Florence of Hughes Springs and
the Texas Legislature and Speaker of
the House Bill Clayton.
Her husband Alonzo was also given a
special momento. He was presented a
pot plant for, as it was titled, "Putting
up with Charlene."
Morris began her work for the coun-
ty in 1963 as a deputy clerk in the four-
member office. She eventually became
the chief deputy working with
Womack.
"I enjoyed my work here. The people
are pleasant and the atmosphere is
good. That's why I stayed as long while
others sometimes came and went,"
Morris said.
"You have been a fellow worker on
whom I could always count," the coun-
ty clerk told the honored guest.
Alonzo Morris retired three years
ago from his grocery business in
downtown Linden, and now the couple
report they will have plenty of time to
spend doing some of the things they en-
joy.
"I love records and working here has
intensified that. I've gained all I could
from the Cass County records on trac-
ing ancestors, etc., and I hope to do
more of that now. I also would like to
do a little traveling.
The Morrises will also be able to
more frequently make trips to Califor-
nia to see their only daughter Sue
Lazona
NEW WILDFL O WER PR EX Y
From Bar Girl
To President
HAPPY TO RECEIVE a high-speed, specialized ex-
haust fan for use in exhausting smoke from burning
buildings are members of the Linden Volunteer Fire
Department. From left, seated, they include Sam
Strichland, Ronald Storie, Thomas Cloninger, Luther
Fason, Franklin Hamilton, Jerry Mitchell and J. P.
Allen. Standing are Royce Williams, Richard Ramage,
Jeff Chumlev, Don Sewell, Phil Hamilton. Jeff
Hamilton, and Adron Miller. (Photo by Tomroye Hard-
wick)
From bar room to board room is just
a few steps, so says Tommye Hard-
wick this week.
Hardwick was one of Dee Dee's girls
in the Silver Dollar Saloon during the
1981 Wildflower Trails, and she has
recently been named the chairman of
the 1982 Linden Wildflower Trails.
She takes over the reins of the
organization from Dorthy Durham
who directed the 1980 celebration here.
"I was really pleased when Dorothy
asked me if I would take the chairman-
ship, even though I know it will mean
lots of hard work," Hardwick said.
"This year's festival was such a suc-
cess that I know I will have a big job to
match it. But I will bo my very best."
Hardwick is the wife of Bill Hard-
wick, chief deputy at the Cass County
Sheriff's Department.
She is the mother of three children
who are Staci Richardson, 20, of Albu-
queque, N. M., Jami Smiley, 17, of
Beckville, and David, 11, Linden
Elementary sixth grader.
She is employed at the Cass County
Sun newspaper where she says she is
office manager, reporter,
photographer, columnist and "jack of
all trades," she says.
"I have a few ideas of my own that I
am kicking around, but I know I'm go-
ing to need lots of help, and I am open
to suggestions.
"If anyone b*s any ideas, be sure
and call me at work or home," she
said.
An organizational meeting will be
held in the near future to get next
year's plans underway. All are
welcome to attend and help make the
1982 celebraton better.
Other officers of the association at
this time are the same as the previous
year's and include Polly Foster,
treasurer, and Barbara Skelton,
secretary.
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Abeles, Neil. The New Cass County Sun (Linden, Tex.), Vol. 105, No. 22, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 3, 1981, newspaper, June 3, 1981; Linden, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth341323/m1/1/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Atlanta Public Library.