The Gilmer Mirror (Gilmer, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 48, Ed. 1 Saturday, June 15, 1996 Page: 1 of 20
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Two Sections • 50 Cents
Saturday, June 15,1996
Vol. 119 - No 48 » C1996 The Gilmer Mirror
t
Assistant DA
Book Time
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See BOOK, Page 11
Sce BURROWS, page 2
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249
Cain living example
to his wife,
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briefly speaking
resigns, calls
for changes
Tucker gets 8 years
in indecency case
Trash service plans
to raise rates again
3 arrested in drug sting:
indecency charge filed
Weekend
Edition
HaPPY Fathers Day!
Sunday, ^une 16
Mirror Photos
Selling the new Upshur County Sesquicentennial family history book at Gilmer National
Bank are, from left, Mary Ann Patterson, chairman of the Sesquicentennial committee;
Lavelle Crow, chair of the book committee; Dianne Harris and Jill Means, her co-workers,
along with Patsy Williams and Virginia Carroll. Below, Runelle Stembridge, left, and Mary
Kirby look over the new 6-volume Handbook of Texas. Mrs. Stembridge presented to the
Historic Upshur Museum.
Just call it book month in Upshur County.
The long-awaited Upshur County Ses-
quicentennial History has arrived and is
now on sale at the Upshur County Chamber
of Commerce Office and Historic Upshur
Museum. (Or see order blank, page 5 in this
issue.)
In addition, two sets of the new 6-volume
Handbook of Texas have been received, one
at the Upshur County Library and the other
' at Historic Upshur Museum. Runelle Loyd
Stembridge purchased the museum set in
honor of her father, the late D. T. Loyd,
educator, banker and local historian.
Lavelle Skinner Crow chaired the Upshur
County Book Committee, which assembled
the 376-page, 9 by 12-inch book. It has a
handsome russet red, gold-embossed cover
and contains 500 contemporary and pio-
neer family histories along with many pho-
tographs — submitted by the families in-
volved.
In an introduction, Patsy Ann Beene
Williams of the book committee writes that
Upshur County is principally settled by
citizens of old Southern stock, many of
whom were migrants by ox cart from the
Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama and Geor-
j gia.
She also wrote: “It has been most impor-
tant to record the family traditions and
legends, as well as family history, while
they are still vivid in the minds of the living
descendants. Future generations will have
these treasured memories preserved for
them to read to their children. Precious
photographs will be identified and preserved
The driver license office located in Gilmer will be closed
June 28 through July 10 according to Evalena Pate, exam-
iner driver license service.
The company which handles
trash pickup in the city of
Gilmer will seek a rate increase
later this year.
Jackie Cannon, a spokesman
for Waste Management Inc.,
told the Gilmer City Council
Thursday night that the com-
pany will seek a "cost-of-liv-
ing" increase effective Oct. 1.
Cannon said the amount of the
increase had not been deter-
mined yet.
Last year, the company re-
ceived a $1.15 monthly rate
increase. Cannon said that
raise, which brought residen-
tial customers’ monthly charge
to $8.93, barely covered an in-
crease in the fee charged by
Mount Pleasant to use the land-
fill there.
The council tabled a request
to extend water service out-
side the city limits for a new
headquarters for the local
No county ban on fireworks
“There have been several news releases in the past weeks
referring to a ban on fireworks and as a result this office has
received many inquiries," said Upshur County Judge Charles
Still.
The State through the Governor’s Office and the counties
through the Commissioner's Court have the authority (un-
der Section 240 of the Govt. Code) to ban fire works (aerial or
otherwise).
Still said, “The Upshur County Court does not feel at this
time a ban is necessary. We do encourage the wise and
prudent use of a safe area in officially sponsored displays of
fireworks. We also strongly encourage each and every citi-
zen to consider the drought conditions in our county and to
only discharge fireworks in a safe and responsible manner.”
License office to close June 28 - July 10
Blessed is the man that
trusteth in the Lord, and whose
hope the Lord is. — Jeremiah
17:7
By BETTY COOK
Plaze Cain says most men
he’s known are hopeful that their
first child will be a son. Not so in
his case.
“I just k new that my first child
would be a girl,” he said. And he
wasn’t disappointed.
Barbara Ann, born July 17,
1950, proved to be his only child,
and has always been his pride
and joy.
“She was always at my side
when she was growing up,” he
recalls. “She always wanted to
do everything I did.”
“Her mother never liked boat
fishing,” he said, “but Barbara
was always anxious to go with
me. We were big buddies.”
“She was always Daddy’s
girl,” he said. He recalled her
trip to summer camp at Camp
Gilmont. "She was supposed to
stay two weeks, but before the
Four men were arrested by
the Upshur County Sheriffs
Office this week, three of them
as part of an undercover drug
operation, and one for sexu-
ally assault a child.
Arrested on sealed indict-
ments for illegal drug activity,
the charges against them, and
their bonds, included:
• Thomas Bryant, 61,
Gilmer, delivery of a controlled
substance—cocaine. Bond was
set at $7,500 by the grand jury.
Bryant was released on
bond, Cross said.
• Ray Anthony Waters, 39,
throe counts of delivery of a
controlled substance—cocaine,
and one count of delivery of
heroin. Bond set at $7,500 on
each count by the grand jury.
• Johnny Otis Finch, 27,
Gilmer, delivery of a controlled
substance in a drug-free zone,
daughter
first week was up she was so
homesick that she came home,”
he laughed. “And Camp Gilmont
was only across the woods from
our home.
"The same thing happened
when she went to St. Louis, Mo.
to spend the summer with her
aunt She stayed only two weeks,
then back home she came.”
Plate and Vernell Cain met
at Holly Springs Baptist Church
in 1947, and were married April
30,1949. They spent the first six
months of their married life in
Gilmer at a residence on Cy-
press Street, then moved back
to the Friendship Community
where Mr. Cain grew up.
Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Cain
wore strangers to hard work.
He hauled pulpwood when they
first married, later working for
different lumber companies.
Shortly after Barbara’s birth
in 1950, the family moved to
New Mexico, where Mr. Cain
had a job in the lumber busi-
Set FATHER, Page 3
Mirror Photo / Betty Cook
PLAZE CAIN has given his daughter the best gift a father can offer
— being a good example.
Texas Department of Trans-
portation (TxDOT) office.
Bryan Nash, district TxDOT
engineer at Gilmer, said the
city’s share of the cost of ex-
tending service would be about
$40,000.
He said TxDOT plans to be-
gin construction in November
for a $1.4 million complex on
Hwy. 271 about four-tenths of
a mile north of the Gilmer city
limits.
Nash said the state would
contribute $60,000 toward the
water-service extension.
The council also granted a
request for a $1,000 donation
from ETCADA, the East Texas
Council on Alcohol and Drug
Abuse.
The council also accepted
work on several streets by
Hanna Construction Co. of
Sulphur Springs.
cere appreciation for the op-
portunity to serve your com-
munity,” he said. “I am not a
native of this county, but dur-
ing the last two years I have
been made to feel as though I
were one.”
He added that “this commu-
nity should be proud of the
hard-working, dedicated em-
ployees of the county and its
various cities. Working side-
by-side with many of those
employees, I found them to be
people genuinely concerned
about the welfare of people they
serve, taking their public trust
seriously.
“At the same time, I have
noticed that great strides have
been made to make your com-
munity a safe place to live and
raise your families,” he said.
“I like to think that I had a
small part in improving the
communities’ well being, by
working closely with Tim Cone,
district attorney, in vigorously
prosecuting the element of our
society which refuses to con-
form to our laws and regula-
tions. Although I am leaving,
the job is not done,” Burrows
said.
“In Upshur County, the
County Judge is responsible
for all class A and B misde-
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258- ia*
’ 1
Dale Burrows, assistant dis-
trict attorney since June 15,
1994, resigned Thursday. His
resignation will be effective
June 30.
Burrows said he and his fam-
ily are moving to Dallas, where
his wife, who had been man-
ager of All State Insurance’s
Tyler claims office, has been
promoted to claims manager
in the Dallas office.
Burrows said he’s not sure
what type of work he will pur-
sue, but it will probably be as
an assistant in a district
attorney’s office.
“I think I’m too much of a
prosecutorial type to be in pri-
vate practice as an attorney,”
he said.
“We’re proud to have had
had him for the time we did,”
said District Attorney Tim
Cone said. “We hate to see him
go.”
Cone said Burrows had been
very helpful, especially in han-
dling misdemeanor cases be-
fore the County Court.
He said he will seek to fill
the vacancy quickly.
In an open letter. Burrows
thanked the community for its
cooperation with him, and cited
improvements which he feels
should be made in the county
judicial system.
“I wish to express my sin-
bond set at $20,000; felony es-
cape, $20,000 bond; and mis-
demeanor theft, $5,000 bond.
Sheriff Buck Cross said that
Deputies Ron Benge, Matt Al-
ford and Wayne Young ar-
rested Bryant and Waters at
their residences in Gilmer.
While Benge transported them
to the jail, Alford and Young
went to Finch’s residence and
arrested and handcuffed him.
After they had cuffed him, he
escaped and was recaptured
after a short foot race, Cross
said.
The sealed grand jury in-
dictments under which the trio
were arrested had been re-
turned last November, Crocs
said. He said one more arrest
was pending from sealed in-
dictments returned by that
, See ARRESTS, Page 11
Monumental
Sesquicentennial
History now on sale
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Tucker was a school bus
driver at Big Sandy, and drove
the bus on which the 14-year-
old rode. He was suspended,
then fired, from that job after
being charged with molesting
the 14-year-old girl and her
15-year-old girlfriend. He was
acquitted of indecency with the
15-year-old.
Cone said the sentence was
enhanced because Cone
learned Tuesday morning
through a tip that Tucker had
been convicted in 1986 of inde-
cency with a child in Cass
County. He served a 5-year
probated sentence there, but
the conviction did not show up
in criminal records from the
Department of Public Safety.
After receivi ng the tip, Cone
asked the jury for an unspeci-
fied long sentence for Tucker.
The sentence range was 2-to-
20 years and a $10,000 fine or
probation.
See TUCKER, Page 2
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125
A jury in 115th District
Court sentenced Gerald Wayne
Tucker to eight years in prison
and fined him $5,000 after con-
victing him Monday of inde-
cency with a 14-year-old Big
Sandy girl.
Wayne Toliver, the attorney
who represented Tucker, an-
nounced that Tucker will ap-
peal the conviction. He will
remain free on bond during the
appeal.
The jury deliberated about
3 1/2 hours before returning
the sentence, District Attor-
ney Tim Cone said.
Tucker was charged with
committing indecency with a
14-year-old girl while she was
a guest, along with a 15-year-
old girl, a 15-year-old boy and
an 18-year-old boy at a party
at his house following a high
school football game.
Testimony showed they
were at Tucker’s residence on
Persimmon Road the night of
Sept. 8 and part of the day of
Sept. 9.
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Since 1877 - Upshur County's Oldest Business Institution
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Overton, Mac. The Gilmer Mirror (Gilmer, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 48, Ed. 1 Saturday, June 15, 1996, newspaper, June 15, 1996; Gilmer, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1479107/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Upshur County Library.