The Hereford Brand (Hereford, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 43, Ed. 1 Friday, August 31, 1979 Page: 1 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Brand (Hereford, TX) and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Deaf Smith County Library.
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Insurance Board Hikes Rates by 8.9% Average
The Hereford Brand
MEMBER
CLOUDY
A Member of Most Families in the Hereford Trade Area
78th Year, No. 43
Hereford, Texas, Friday, August 31,1979
15*
12 Papi
Committee To Devise Ambulance System
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Carter Home From Busy Trek
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Board Nixes Ambulance Proposal
Hospital District Ups
Elena May Halt
Oil-Spill Cleanup
Tax Rate 4 Cents
>
OR
Russian Troops Found in Cuba
Hereford Man
category with collision and liablity rates
halfway between those of the existing
categories for pleasure cars and autos
Meeting Participants
Among participants at Thursday’s meeting on the ambulance situation
in Hereford are, from left, physician Bill Patton [in background], Smith
& Co. Funeral Home director Ron Smith and Gililland-Watson
used as transportation to and from work.
Daves said shopping for car insurance
can pay because the board allows many
co-owner John Gilliland. Both funeral homes said they plan to leave
the ambulance business, although representatives of the companies
may be Involved in the new system. [Brand photos by Paul Sims]
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
ASSOCIATION
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. intelligence
sources have confirmed the existence in
Cuba of Soviet combat troops — possibly
some 2,300 to 3,000 men. says Senate
Foreign Relations Chairman Sen. Frank
Church.
Church Thursday called on President
Carter to insist on immediate withdrawal
of the brigade of ground-combat troops.
"The United States cannot permit the
island to become a Russian military base.
90 miles from our shores, nor can we al-
low Cuba to be used as a springboard for
Russian military intervention in the
Western hemisphere," Church said.
Church, an Idaho Democrat, said he
and other members of the committee
heard reports several weeks ago of a
Soviet troop buildup in Cuba. He said
members of the committee agreed to say
nothing until the reports were confirmed.
Church said Secretary of State Cyrus
Vance called him Thursday to confirm the
buildup. He said "American intelligence
units" confirmed existence of the
Soviets, but he said he could not disclose
the t type of operation involved.
Church said he was advised by Vance
that the Soviet Embassy in Washington
has been asked for a full explanation.
The typical driver in Deaf Smith
County will pay $31 more in his annual
premium, one of the highest Increases in
Texas ordered Thursday by the State
Insurance Board.
E
Asked why the Russians were placing
troops in Cuba, Church said: "That's one
of the questions we have asked the Soviet
Embassy."
Russia has had military advisers in
Cuba under agreements reached shortly
after the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. But
Church said they are there for training
and communications.
Actual premium increases will vary
widely from the statewide average,
depending on a driver's age. location,
make and model of car and the use made
of it.
Board actuaries say the typical insured
car is a 1979 medium-priced Ford.
Chevrolet or Plymouth, driven to and
from work but not used in business. No
man under 25 or woman under 21 is
allowed to drive it. Coverage consists of
$200-deductible collision. $50-deductible
comprehensive, $5,000 personal injury
I
By PAUL SIMS
Managing Editor
Deaf Smith County Hospital District
directors raised the tax rate four cents to
make up for the cost of indigent care,
then approved a $2,487,193 budget for
the 1979-80 fiscal year.
The tax rate was raised from 21 cents
per 24 percent valuation to 25 cents, the
same rate used by the hospital district up
until 1976, when it lowered taxes by four
cents.
In other business this morning,
directors said they did not want the
hospital district to operate an ambulance
service in the county, but authorized Deaf
Smith General Hospital Administrator
Jim Bullard to supervise a feasibility
study on the issue discussed in a meeting
of medical personnel and government
officials in a meeting Thursday afternoon.
protection and liability insurance of up to
$20,000 per accident for injuries and
$5,000 for property damage.
The carpool credit would provide a 10.3
percent cut in collision premiums in all
counties and a 5.4 percent reduction in
liability premiums in 10 counties —
Harris. Dallas, Bexar, Tarrant, El Paso,
Orange, Nueces, Webb, Jefferson and
Galveston counties.
No other counties would get the 5.4
percent liability credit because those who
ISO INSURANCE. Paga 2)
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) —
Tropical Storm Elena could throw beach
cleanup operations off schedule if she
brings high winds and heavy rains today
to portions of the Texas coast stained by
Mexican oil.
"We're really at the mercy of Mother
Nature," said Roger Meacham of the
Environmental Protection Agency and
one of several federal officials monitoring
the runaway crude.
"If it's too stormy and rainy, like it got
earlier at Port Isabel, we've already seen
that the crews can't work," Coast Guard
spokesman Larry Clark said Thursday.
Work parties, which have collected
more than 44,000 gallons of oil and
several thousand pounds of debris from
Texas beaches, had hoped to clean large
sections of shoreline for the Labor Day
holiday weekend.
If Elena continues moving toward
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The tax rate was raised after
indigent-care expenses went up $66,000
over the budgeted amount of $35,000 in
1978-79.
"We have only recently begun
identifying indigent care as opposed to
bad debts." board president Frank
Zinser said.
"We're spreading this indigent burden
over the general taxpayer instead of
putting it all on the hospital and the
hospital patient." he added.
The new tax rate will provide a total of
$245,887 in income, of which $25,625 will
pay off the 1968 bond-interest and
sinking fund and $98,525 will pay off the
1969 bond issue.
Bullard anticipated that 94.6 percent of
the hospital district tax roll would be
collected.
The new budget predicts the following
increases: eight percent for patient
prices, 12 percent for loss on accounts,
seven percent for payroll, nine percent
for cost of supplies and 25 percent for
employee benefits, which includes health
insurance.
Based on a projected total of 11.350
patient days, cost per day of each hospital
day will average $87.51.
The hospital anticipates total net
revenue of $2,487,193. which is $29,995
more than total expenses. Hospim
payroll will run $1,186,535. whM
includes the seven percent increac^g
will cost the hospital $766,494 42
supplies and operation of the facility 22 1
Bullard put $30,000 in the bud get»3
retirement fund, which employees rfWa
(Se HOSPITAL Pg. I |
lightning.
Friends and neighbors arranged a
"welcome home” picnic for 500 people
tonight in Carter's honor.
Unity was the theme Thursday for the
president, an undeclared candidate for
re-election plagued by low standings in
the polls and defections within his
Democratic Party to a draft-Kennedy
movement.
Dressed in an academic robe, Carter
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — State In-
surance Board Chairman William Daves
says Texans can soften the blow of an 8.9
percent statewide average rise in auto
rates by price shopping for coverage.
The board ordered the increase
Thursday, taking effect with policies
written or renewed on Nov. 1.
When Texans buy coverage after Nov.
1, they can get lower premiums if they
carpool or ride the bus to work at least
half the time.
Board members set up a new rating
in Atlanta, to an outdoor audience that
included Coretta Scott King, wife of slain
civil rights leader Martin Luther King
Jr., the president called on blacks and
Jews to set aside their differences in the
interest of national unity.
“Black Americans and Jewish
Americans have worked side by side for
generations." he said. "Both groups
have suffered too much pain, too much
persecution, too much bigotry to com-
pound that suffering in any way."
Warning that other nations are in
danger of being torn apart by ethnic,
political and religious divisions, Carter
implored: "We must seek resolution of
differences, and we must stand with each
other to prevent all these quarrels of the
world from being imported into our own
national life.”
Young, who was scheduled to appear
with Carter at Emory but was called back
to the United Nations, resigned Aug. 15
after he violated U.S. policy by meeting
with a representative of the Palestine
Liberation Organization.
Saying Young’s work has "helped
millions of poor and oppressed people
throughout the world,” the president
drew applause when he added: "He
speaks from the heart. He speaks out of a
deep commitment. He speaks out of reli-
gious conscience. And he speaks with a
preacher's eloquence.”
At the town meeting in Tampa, where
an excited crowd of 2.000 applauded and
cheered repeatedly. Carter beckoned
Americans to stop placing blame for the
energy crisis and instead to "see what we
(See CARTER. Paga 2)
service other than the one we already
have. Last year, we allocated $35,000 to
indigent care and we will spend over
$100,000. We just don’t have any
monies laid out to do any type of
ambulance service other than what we
already have."
The hospital can only do the legwork in
creating an ambulance service because
"we've got a situation similar to Ron and
John's.” Bullard said.
That situation was discussed in length
by the two funeral home directors, who
said that running ambulance services has
not been profitable enough for them to
continue.
"We cannot indefinitely continue the
type of service we've been providing."
Smith said. "We just can't afford it.”
He said that Deaf Smith County has
fallen "behind the times--even Dimmitt
and Friona have systems morejadvanced
than we have."
Smith told The Brand prior to the
meeting that inflation, the rate of
collecting fees charged on ambulance
calls and vehicle upkeep were reasons
why his company can no longer afford to
operate the service.
"If we've ever agreed on anything,
then we're agreeable on this." Gililland
told Smith.
"If you figure we have 400 ambulance
calls per yer and collect all the money, we
still couldn't pay for it," Gililland said.
"The funeral home just doesn't belong
in the ambulance business."
Those at the meeting studied a report
by Dr. Patton which included a
"practical” EMS system costing
approximately $38,850 and an "ideal"
setup costing about $172,500 and
contained reasons why the funeral
home-run ambulance service is no longer
feasible for Deaf Smith County.
The report, in part, stated. “Both
funeral companies have stated they
desire to leave the emergency ambulance
business...Collection rates for both
companies are in the range of 30 to 35
(See AMBULANCES, Pag 2)
companies to charge less than the stand-
ard rates prescribed by the board.
"The premiums under certain con-
ditions are reduced up to 25 percent. I
certainly encourage consumers to ask
their agents or companies what they
can do to qualify for reduced insurance
premiums," Daves said.
The rate increase will add an estimated
$98 million to the $1.1 billion per year
that Texans pay in insurance premiums
on private passenger cars.
Insurance companies wanted a 21.7
PLAINS. Ga. (AP) — President Carter
is home for a long Labor Day weekend
after a 15-hour road trip that combined
politics, pleas for energy conservation
and a call for unity between blacks and
Jews.
“I feel good, a little sleepy,” the
president said late Thursday after a
grueling day in muggy Atlanta and rainy
Tampa, Fla., where he capped his visit
with a helicopter ride through streaks of
Galveston, she should not push oil
ashore. Meacham said. The National
Weather Service says the tropical storm
is on a course that could bring her ashore
near to the northernmost sightings of the
world's largest oil spill.
"It's too soon to tell," Meacham said
of Elena's possible effect on the spill.
"One of the strange things of this oil spill
is that it is really a wait-and-see situation.
What might look like it's coming ashore
today could be pushed back into the gulf
tomorrow."
A federal multi-agency force
monitoring the spill at first thought gulf
currents were working in their favor
Thursday by flowing south and taking oil
away from breeding grounds for marine
life.
However, the fickle currents reversed
direction and began heading north again.
Reconnaisance flights resumed
Thursday after being grounded by a
tropical depression that washed South
Texas with heavy rains this week. Survey
teams reported heavy concentrations of
thick brown oil rolling up along a 25-mile
stretch of the Padre Island National
Seashore. Additional patches were
sighted just off those beaches.
Scientists got good news Thursday
from biologists who reported no oil in
certain checkpoints in the southern La-
guna Madre. The area is home to many
marine wildlife and is a breeding and
nesting ground for numerous species.
A similar check of the northern end of
the Laguna Madre detected some oil, but
officials said it could have seeped in from
a tanker that overflowed with diesel oil in
(See SPILL, Pag-2)
percent a verage increase that would have
boosted total premiums $239.8 million a
year.
Board member Durwood Manford
acknowledged the companies' request
but moved to go along with the 8.9
percent increase recommended by board
actuaries.
He said he was “taking into con-
sideration that there may be some
reduced driving because of the gasoline
shortage,” even though available
statistics aren't recent enough to prove it.
This is the first time Russia has placed
combat-type troops in Cuba, he said,
adding, "...our concern for deployment
of Russian combat troops in this
hemisphere should be apparent.
invoked that theme at Emory University
in Atlanta with a sober appeal to blacks
and Jews to weather the storm over the
resignation of United Nations Am-
bassador Andrew Young.
"We must not permit diversity to
degenerate into division," Carter said.
At a town meeting on energy a few
hours later in Tampa, he sounded the
same theme. By facing the energy crisis
together, Carter said, "We can have a
better life, a happier life.... Our nation
can be unified more, families can be
closer.”
The underlying political theme was
unity too — unity behind candidate
Carter.
He reached out repeatedly to shake
hands at airports. In Tampa, neither the
pouring rain nor the thunder and light-
ning could stop him.
Wearing a gray rain slicker and at one
point donning a red fireman's hat to keep
dry, the president continued the style he
favored during his Mississippi River
ruise last week and greeted crowds from
one end of a restraining rope to the other.
His wife, Rosalynn, did the same.
The Florida stop, particularly, was rife
with political undercurrents since
Democrats there plan a straw poll on
presidential candidates in November.
It also holds one of the nation's first
primaries and is the scene of an effort to
draft Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Mas-
sachusetts for the Democratic
nomination.
Sen. Richard Stone, D-Fla.. predicted a
"three-ring circus" at the state con-
vention in November unless Kennedy
withdraw s unequivocally.
2
Injured in Fall
Hereford emergency units were
summoned to the site of an industrial
accident at Farr Better Feeds on
Progressive Road this morning.
Jesus Castillo, 50, of 206 Lake
reportedly fell approximately 14 feet onto
a concrete floor when a ladder he was
climbing collapsed at the feed
manufacturing plant.
Castillo, who complained of numbness
in his arms and a severe headache, was
taken by ambulance to Deaf Smith
General Hospital for emergency
treatment.
By PAUL SIMS
Managing Editor
Hereford is the last of a dying breed
with its present ambulance setup, said
two funeral home directors Thursday,
while supporting a proposal to upgrade
the city’s emergency medical services
(EMS) system.
Representatives of a committee
appointed to determine the feasibility of
initiating an EMS system in Deaf Smith
County on par with other ambulance
services in the Panhandle met with the
funeral home directors Thursday fternoon
in the chamber of commerce board room.
Those attending the meeting included
Gililland-Watson Funeral Home director
John Gililland. Smith & Co. director Ron
Smith, Deaf Smith General Hospital
Administrator Jim Bullard. Mayor
Bartley Dowell. County Judge Glen
Nelson. City Commissioner Bud Eades.
Drs. Bill Patton and Duffy McBrayer,
hospital district board member Jerry
Smith, chamber manager Michael Carr.
Smith & Co. ambulance driver Gary
Phipps, Charles Watson (of Gililland-
Watson) and four Hereford police
officers.
The committee, after hearing reasons
why the two funeral homes cannot
continue to operate ambulance services,
supported a proposal to create an EMS
system costing somewhere between
$38,850 and $172,500.
Bullard said he would propose to
lospital district directors today that Deaf
Smith General operates the ambulance
system if the city and county commissions
agree to support it financially.
"With our past experience of
responding to calls, we are probably in
the best position to assume a large part of
the responsibility.” said Bullard, who
added that the hospital district cannot
financially afford to assist in the system's
funding.
“In our fiscal-year budget, which will
be approved tomorrow (today), we do not
have any monies in there whatsoever to
assist in the operation of an ambulance
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Sims, Paul. The Hereford Brand (Hereford, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 43, Ed. 1 Friday, August 31, 1979, newspaper, August 31, 1979; Hereford, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1421981/m1/1/?q=Nueces+County: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Deaf Smith County Library.