Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 152, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 19, 2001 Page: 1 of 14
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Ctfcrokeeap/Herald
Texas' Oldest, Continuously Published Weekly Newspaper - Established Feb. 27, 1850 as the Cherokee Sentinel
All-£
Star Contest
Area athletes hoop it
up in a prestigious
wllli
competition
fiff
See page 5
Vol. 152, No. 22-14 Pages
Thursday, July 19, 2001
Rusk,TX 75785
25 cents
3 plead in McElroy killing
Three men charged with the
death of a Troup man have pled
in the 369th District Court of
Judge Bascom Bentley III. All were
originally charged with the capital
murder of Kyle Nathan McElroy,
18, at a New Summerfield trailer
park.
However through plea bargaining
the charges were lowered and the
defendants were allowed to plead
to the lesser charges.
Aldredo Romero, 25, pleaded on
June 27, to an organized crime
charge and was sentenced to 30
years in prison. He was represented
by Sten Langjeon and Charles
Morton. Pleading Friday were
Ernesto Baylon, 18, who received
a 50 year sentence for murder; and
Daniel Lemus Rio, 24, who received
a life sentence for murder. Baylon
was represented by Bobby Mims
and Rio by Jack Sheridan.
Kyle McElroy worked as a shift
supervisor at his family's business,
McElroy Plastics, in Troup. He
allegedly left the plant where he
was working the midnight shift
and drove to the trailer park where
Rio resided.
Please see McELROY, page 10
Council starts budget workshops
■ Lions Club Pool seeks
financial assistance
Rusk City Council members met
Thursday evening to consider momen-
tary requests from the Rusk Lions
Club and Rusk Baseball-Softball
Association, hear a report from the
Dogwood Trails Task Force and
conduct other monthly business. The
council met again Monday evening
for a budget workshop.
Cathy Peyton, ex-president of the
Rusk Lions Club, presented a report
of the summer activities at the pool
to the council. She noted a total of
2,710 swimmers as of July 11. The
Lions Club paid $4,234.18 in payroll
through July 11. There have been 12
private parties at the pool and one
swimming class this summer.
Mrs. Peyton expressed the club's
appreciation to the city for the help
given to get the pool open. "Without
your help we couldn't have opened,"
she said. She publicly thanked Gene
Kelley and his crew, as well as the
police department for assistance
during this swimming season.
She said the club plans to close
the pool somewhere around Aug. 13.
A total of $5,800 has been spent
Alto Council
officially
down to 3
By Rick McClain
Writer Cherokeean!Herald
And then there were three. The
three remaining council members
accepted the resignations of Mayor
Chris Lewis and council members
Paula Germany and Kyle Griffith.
The trio resigned June 13, appar-
ently because of the firings of police
Chief Jerry Murphy and Sgt. Frank
Shlensky.
Germany and Griffith opposed the
firings in a 3-2 "no-confidence vote"
at the June 12 meeting.
Alto City council will have three
empty seats until the November
general election.
The three member council can not
call special meetings, according to
attorneys from the Texas Municipal
League.
This is going to be a major problem
because of workshops that need to
be held in preparing the upcoming
budget.
When contacted Wednesday City
administrator Terri Grogan was not
sure what the Council was going to
do, other than seek guidance from
Please see ALTO COUNCIL, page 10
Free child safety locks offered
By Rick McClain
Writer Cherokeean/Herald
The State of Texas, through
Project ChildSafe, is providing
free gun lock safety kits to state
residents.
Firearm owners who request a
free safety kit will receive the kit
with no questions asked.
While recent statistics show that
the number of accidental injuries
and deaths resulting from firearms
is decreasing, if one accident or
death can be prevented through
Project ChildSafe, the program will
have been worth the effort.
Everyone who owns a firearm
is encouraged to store it with a
cable lock installed in a location
inaccessible to children or other
unauthorized users. Ammunition
should be stored in a separate
location.
Included with each gun lock kit
is a gun safety pamphlet that is
also very important. Everyone is
urged to read it.
It explains the importance of
firearm safety in the home.
The locks can be picked up at the
Cherokee County Sheriff's office in
Rusk, Jacksonville Police Depart-
ment in Jacksonville, Justice of
the Peace office in Alto and at the
Wells City Hall.
practice
Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell displays the proper use
of a gun lock safety kit being distributed free of charge at several
locations throughout the County.
on chemicals at the pool. She and the
council also discussed the water leak
at the pool but no action was taken
on that matter. However, the council
did authorize the expenditure of
additional funds to bring the total
momentary help to the club for the
pool operations up to $6,000. The city
had previously spent $3,100 and the
city approved $2,900.
Mrs. Peyton was accompanied to
the meeting by a number of club
members.
Larry Long of the baseball-softball
association discussed that city rec-
See BUDGET, page 10
Historian,
journalist
dies at 87
Long-time journalist and historian,
John Allen Templeton, died July 15 in
Jacksonville. Mr. Templeton devoted
much of his retired
years serving the
history needs of
Cherokee County.
He was a long time
Jacksonville pub-
lisher and later
worked for All
Church Press in
Fort Worth. When
he and his wife,
the former Gen-
evieve Laird,
returned to ^m
Jacksonville in
1978, he was far from resting on his
past accomplishments as he became
even more active in all areas of
community service.
Mr. Templeton was born Dec. 21,
1913, to Dr. Allen Fuller Templeton
and Mrs. Theo Crysup Templeton,
both of Jacksonville. He was a fourth-
generation member of a Jacksonville
pioneer family. His great-grandfather,
David G. Templeton, settled in old
Please see TEMPLETON, page 10
John Allen
Templeton
A Cheerful Group
Rusk High School Cheer-
leaders are preparing for
the 2001-2002 school year.
Cheer camp was held July
9-13 at the RHS gym. Cheer-
leaders for the new year
are seniors: Head Cheer-
leader Holly Jones, Ashley
Baggett, Raven Gipson,
Ladan Mohkami, Jamie
Wallace. Juniors: Ramey
Beard, Heather Conner, Tara
Daniel, Elizabeth Selden,
Cami Turner. Sophomores:
Head Cheerleader Jamie
Derrington, Tori Gresham,
Angie Griffin, Kimberly
Jones, Katy Massingill,
Chris Richey, Kristen Ross.
Freshman: Alisha Bradley,
Kimberly Ocker, Lacy Wade.
Hlf
Lt. Governor candidate
will speak at breakfast
Friends and
supporters of
John Sharp are
hosting a con-
tinental break-
fast at Sadler's
Restaurant in
J acksonville
Tuesday from
7:15 to 8:30
a.m.
"This will be
an opportunity
for Sharp, who
is seeking the Democratic nomination
for Lt. Governor, to greet old friends
and make new ones," said Emmett
Whitehead, a longtime friend of Mr.
Sharp.
John Sharp
"He and I go back to 1973 when
I served on the Appropriations Com-
mittee and he was an examiner for
the Legislative Budget Board. A few
years later he was elected to the
House of Representatives, and he
proved to be a real friend of Cherokee
County," said Whitehead.
Sharp served as the State Comptrol-
ler during most of the 1990s.
In outlining his platform, Mr. Sharp
said, "I'll also talk some about water,
and the need for Texas to do for
water what we've done for power
generation. I'll talk about how we
can use technology to provide the
water Texas needs—and I'll do that
Please see SHARP, page 10
Youth transforms barrier wall into artistic mural, covers scars
By Sandy Gonzalez
Cherokeean/Herald writer
Like the Phoenix
rising from the
ashes, the west side
of Rusk's town square once
occupied by three down-
town businesses is taking
on a new look. A young
artist is transforming an
ordinary barrier wall into
an artistic mural.
A devastating fire
burned Prescription Phar-
macy, Anita's Apparel and
Joli Computer last Aug.
21,2000. A construction
wall was erected to
restrict the curious sou-
venir-seekers from sifting
through the rubble.
Lacey McCune, a Rusk
high school senior, decided
the plain wall could use a
splash of color, so she vol-
unteered her artistic tal-
ents as a community ser-
vice project. She works
in the scorching summer
heat to paint a vivid
jungle scene, squeezing
time in on weekends and
around her summer
classes and activities.
During the school year,
Lacey's art teacher, Mrs.
Kim Taylor, approached
her with the proposition of
painting the giant mural.
It measures about 9 ft. tall
and more than 45 ft. wide.
"Mrs. Taylor is a really
good art teacher and has
taught me a lot of things
these past two years. She
is very helpful when it
comes to advice," Lacey
said.
The mural is painted
solely by Lacey out of her
love for art and without
any monetary compensa-
tion. She was allowed
to paint whatever she
wanted, and she chose a
jungle scene because it's
her favorite thing to paint.
"Cats are absolutely my
favorite animal. I wanted
to paint something I
enjoyed," Miss McCune
said.
Lacey began painting as
a young child.
"My family is very artis-
tically inclined, and when
I was little, my mom
would buy water colors,
markers and paper. Paint-
ing is my favorite kind of
art," Lacey said.
Ms. McCune began the
project by going to the zoo
and buying books and post
cards with pictures of ani-
mals.
The first object she
painted on the mural was
the background, and then
she progressed to the pic-
tures of jungle animals.
The City of Rusk is taking
an active interest in this
project as well. They have
donated all of the supplies
including paint and paint
brushes.
"The community has
really responded to the
mural. I've gotten lots and
lots of comments and also
job offers," McCune said.
Not only is Lacey spend-
ing part of her summer
painting a mural for com-
munity service, but she is
also taking Health during
summer school at Rusk
High School, along with
government and history
via the internet with Tyler
Junior College and Eng-
lish 3 with Texas Tech via
correspondence.
Lacey hopes to continues
painting as a pastime
and hobby and plans to
attend Texas A&M Univer-
sity and major in animal
and wildlife law enforce-
ment.
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Lacey McCune puts the finishing touches on her favorite part of the
mural in front of a barrier wall on the west side of the square. Three
businesses burned August 21, 2000.
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Whitehead, Marie. Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 152, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 19, 2001, newspaper, July 19, 2001; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152474/m1/1/?q=cherokeean: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.