Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 153, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 2, 2002 Page: 1 of 16
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Ijerokeeaij/Herald
Texas' Oldest Weekly Newspaper - Established Feb. 27, 1850 as the Cherokee Sentinel
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Vol. 153, No. 32-16 Pages Wednesday, October 2, 2002
Rusk, TX 75785
25 cents
Training
started for
dispatchers
Some rural
fire calls outside
Jacksonville get
rerouted
"911 what is your emer-
gency?"
Dispatchers who work
in the Cherokee County
sheriff's office and answer
911 calls serving the
southern two-thirds of
Cherokee County took on
added responsibilily Oct.
1 with new service areas
established for rural fire
departments.
Armed with redrawn maps
and a crisscross booklet
assigning county roads to
volunteer fire departments,
dispatchers will attempt to
first isolate the location of an
emergency if the emergency
require^fireresponse. Then
they will contact the appro-
priate volunteer fire depart-
ment covering the area.
New boundaries were
drawn for volunteer fire
departments recently with
Jacksonville's announce-
ment that they will no
longer be a "first response''
fire department for fires out-
side the city limits., However.
Jacksonville's all-paid, pro-
fession;)! force will continue
to be a second-response
department for those cities
who sign mutual aid agree-
ments.
"I am very concerned
about the new system,''
said Sheriff James Camp-
bell, who supervises the 911
dispatcher s for the southern
part of the county. "I hope
the transition is as smooth
as the ambulance Ser-
vice," he said, referring to
Jacksonville's retreat from
serving rural areas with its
ambulance service effective
Sept. 1. It is the unknown
factor, the problem no one
has thought about, that
worries Mr. Campbell.
The sheriff said if there
was any doubt about who
would respond to a fire call,
his dispatchers would call
more than one fire depart-
ment to answer the call.
"We're going to do everything
we can to be on top of things,"
Please see FIRE, pg. 5
City o Alto settles lawsuit, sets tax rate
2 fired officers
settle out of court
Almost a year after filing a
federal law suit against the City
of Alto and city council mem-
bers (jarwin Baugh and John
Grindle, former Alto Police
Chief Jerry (Ronnie) Murphy
and former Sgt. Frank Shlen-
skyhave settled the matter out
of court.
Murphy and Shlensky settled
for an undisclosed amount of
money pi us positive recom-
mendations from the city.
"The letter will saythat basi-
cally we didn't do anything
wrong. It was really just of
them (the city of Alto) to do
this," said Murphy.
"I want to resume my career
in law enforcement, andl hope
I can eventually get a job close
to my home here in Alto," he
said.
The two former officers were
represented by David Guillory
of Nacogdoches, who said he is
Please see LAWSUIT, pg. 6
City's water,
sewer rates rise
The City of Alto set their tax
rate and adopted a budget for
2002-03 in a special meeting
Thursday night. The new tax
rate is 28,3 cents per $100 eval-
uation, which is the same: as
A Pair of Queens
Tara Daniel is the 2002 Rusk High School homecoming
queen. She is the daughter of Steve and Terri Daniel, and
her escort was Dustin Kennedy. Rusk's homecoming
game was almost cancelled when referees failed to show
up. For more football information, see page 10.
Vivian Pope was crowned the 2002 Alto High School
homecoming queen Friday night. Miss Pope is the
daughter of Angela Moore and Leroy Pope. She was
escorted by her uncle, Kevin Pope. For more informa-
tion on Alto football, see page 11.
last year. However, water and
sewer rates will increase,
The council adopted a
$1,497,298 budget for the
upcoming year. This includes
$271,148 from the general
fund; $556,350 for the water/
sewer fund; $607,000 for the
Please see CITY, pg. 6
Reunion
plans
inalñzed
A memorial service for
deceased Rusk High School
graduates will be held during
Reunion 2002. Friends andrela-
tives of RHS alumni are invited
to the event at Eastside Baptist
Church in Rusk beginning at
10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12.
Memorial booklets hsting all
known deceased alumni will
be available at the service.
"We expect a great many grad-
uates to be back home. A full
weekend is planned, but time
has been allotted for visiting
with old friends. We want this
to be the best reunion yet," said
Frank Madden, Reunion 2002
Chairman.
In addition to the memorial
service, other events include
a pré^game chili supper at the
RHS cafeteria from 5-7 p.m.
Friday Oct. 11; alumni recogni-
tion during pre-game activities
beginning at 7 p.m.; alumni
coffee hosted at Citizens 1st
Bank, 8:30-9:30 a.m. Saturday,
Oct. 12; and election of RHSAA
Board of Directors following
the memorial service. Numer-
ous class parties are planned
for Saturday afternoon and
evening.
Reunion 2002 is sponsored
by the RHS Alumni Associa-
tion. Information is available
at www.myruskhigh.com or by
writing RHSAA. BO. Box 711,
Rusk 75785.
Commissioners approve new insurance carrier
Previous carrier
was not licensed in
the State of Texas
In an emergency session
Monday afternoon. Cherokee
County Commissioners voted
to accept a bid from American
National Insurance Co. as the
county's provider for major
medical coverage.
Last week, commissioners
approved a contract with United
Insurance Co. However, it was
later learned that the comp any
could not sell insurance in the
State of Texas. Therefore the
meeting was called for Monday
afternoon anda bidfromAmeri-
can National Insurance Co. was
accepted.
The county is sglf insured and
contracts with an insurance
company to cover the major
medical claims filed. The stop-
loss amount wasincreasedfrom
$40,000 to $50,000.
Jim Blackburn, insurance
consultant, told member s of the
commissioners court that the
county willfundallclaims up to
$50,000 for each individual.
The county's maximum liabil-
ity is $1,504,650. Individual
liabihty is $1 million.
The county will pay $400
monthly into the plan per
employee and retiree for insur-
ance premiums. The coverage
will cost the county approxi-
mately $1.3 million, whichis 10
percent of the county's budget.
Employees will pay $357
monthly for their spouses,
$203 for children and $416 for
families.
Attending the meeting were
Commissioners Bob Johnson,
Kevin Pierce who presided.
Moody Glass Jr. and Billy
McCutcheon; County Clerk
Laverne Lusk; and County
Auditor L.H. Crockett. Also
sitting in for the discussion
was County Judge-elect Chris
Davis. County Judge Harry
Tilley was out of town.
2 local agencies help patients pay
or prescription drug medications
Many must
choose between
food and drugs
each month
An elderly gentleman
stopped by his neigh-
borhood pharmacy to
get a refill prescription on his
heart medication. He only
wanted to purchase a seven- day
supply When those pills were
exhausted, he returned again
to the pharmacy to ask for a
three-day refill on the same
prescription
"I finally decided to ask him,
'Why are you refilling your
prescription for only a few
days,"' said Chuck Hopson, a
Jacksonville pharmacist and
state legislator. "He told me,
'Chuck, I haven't been feeling
too well lately and the impli-
cation was that he thought he
might che."
There are many in Cherokee:
County who get up in the morn-
ing and face a tough decision:
do they spend money today
to buy food, or do they spend
their money on prescription
medications? They don't have
enough cash on hand for both,
and they're not alone. Some
40 million Americans have no
insurance.
Help is available
Navigating the maze of
government programs, dis-
count pharmaceutical cards
and insurance benefits has
traditionally fallen on medical
doctors. However, two local
agencies have recently estab-
lished benefits coordinators to
help findfunding and discounts
for those who needit most. The
HOPE center of Jacksonville
and MHMR's ACCESS both
target patients who need help
with paying for prescription
medications. HOPE helps
clients in Cherokee County
while ACCESS serves chents
in Cherokee and Anderson
Counties.
HOPE of Jacksonville was
first to hire a benefits coordi-
nator. The agency received a
small grant in January 2000
to hire someone just 10 hours
per week to provide prescrip-
tion assistance.
"That first year, we saved cli-
ents $26,000 even though we
were just learning the ropes,"
said ToniMcCarty, whohiredon
with HOPEfor the 10-hour-per
-week job.
Mrs. McCarty is no longer
a part-timer, It's a full-time
position now that saved her
chents an estimated $101,000
in prescription medications
during 2001. And for the first
six months of this year, she's
found free medication valued
at $76,000.
"Toni has done an incredible
job," said Rep., Hopson, who is
the only licensed pharmacist
currently serving in the Texas
Legislature, If the current
trend continues. Mrs. McCarty
will have saved approximately
350 Cherokee County residents
an estimated $300,000 in three
years.
She juggles huge stacks of
applications and paperwork
with a staff of 10 volunteers.
They help fill out application s to
the pharmaceutical companies,
get forms from the companies
and also find offers over the
Internet, Prescription forms
are available at the HOPE
office and at local physicians'
offices,
Bessie Cabon has been in
the program for approximately
ayear and a half. Since January
she hasreceived approximately
$ 1,200 in free medication. She
said she takes seven prescrip-
tions in all.
The typical HOPE client
jgrl 1 i £ ! i.
m
State Rep. Chuck Hopson, who is the only licensed phar-
macist in the Texas Legislature, spot checks the prices
of prescription medications and compares them to prices
charged in Mexico. The legislator made three trips across
the Texas border recently, andfound that Valium, which costs
$80 in the U.S. for 80 tablets, costs only $8 in Mexico.
is either on Medicare, which
pays nothing for prescription
medications, or is indigent
and has no sources of income
to pay for prescriptions. How-
ever, simply being a Medicaid
recipient disqualifies indi-
viduals from applying for
the Prescription Assistance
Application Program because
Medicaid pays the cost of three
prescriptions per month. Also,
those who have discount cards
and co-pay insurance cards are
ineligible. Generally speak-
ing, a qualifying individual
will have an annual income of
$16,000-$18,000 or lessfor one.
See PRESCRIPTION, pg. 6
C IV K
EP-
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Whitehead, Marie. Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 153, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 2, 2002, newspaper, October 2, 2002; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152537/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.