Cherokeean Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 154, No. 44, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 24, 2003 Page: 2 of 14
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COLUMNS
Page 2
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
EDITORIAL BOARD
Whitehead Enterprises Inc.
publisher
Marie Whitehead
editor
Terrie W. Gonzalez
managing editor
Texas' Oldest Continuously
Published Weekly Newspaper
Established as the
Cherokee Sentinel, Feb. 27,1850
Consolidation ofThe Cherokeean,
The Alto Herald and
the Wells News & Views
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Rates payable in advance:
Cherokee County $18 per year
Outside Cherokee County $21 per year
Outside Texas $25 per year
Cberokeeai) Herald
USPS 102-520
POSTMASTER:Send address changes to: CHEROKEEAN HERALD • P.O. BOX 475 • RUSK, TX 75785
Periodicals Postage Paid at Rusk, Texas 75785
Published weekly on Wednesday by
Whitehead Enterprises, Inc.
618 N. Main • Rusk. Texas • 75785
903-683-2257 • 903-586-7771 • herald@mediactr.com • FAX 903-683-5104
Jim Hogg
Historical Park,
Rusk
Caddoan Mounds
State Historical Site,
Alto
m
Texas State Railroad
State Historical Park,
Rusk
Scene In Passing
As Christmas 2003
draws near, it is
helpful to the soul-
spirit that we remember
the past year. It has been a
time unlike any other in the
history of the planet Earth.
Never before events have
occurred which have chal-
lenged the strength and heart
of our nation. It is good that
we have come safely, thus
far. We appreciate the words
shared for publication this
issue from a Marine who is
observing the world from his
position in Okinawa Japan.
They came to Kim Davis, who
is our Chris Davis' sister-in-
law. The writer asked that
others help get his message
spread in order to develop
deeper appreciation for all
those who serve our country.
Please read.
'Twas the night before Christ-
mas.
They lived all alone.
In a one bedroom house made
of plaster and stone.
I had come down the chimney
with presents to give,
And to see just who in this
home did live.
I looked all about,
A strange sight I did see.
No tinsel, no presents.
Not even a tree.
No stocking by mantle.
Just boots filled with sand.
On the wall hung pictures
Of far distant lands.
With medals and badges,
Awards of all kinds,
A sober thought
Game through my mind.
For this house was differ -
MARIE WHITEHEAD
editor@mediactr.com
ent.
It was dark and dreary
I found the home of a sol-
dier.
Once I could see clearly.
The soldier lay sleeping.
Silent, alone.
Curled up on the floor
In this one bedroom home.
The face was so gentle.
The room in such disorder.
Not how I pictured
A United States soldier.
Was this the hero
Of whom I'd just read?
Curled up on a poncho.
The floor for a bed?
I realized the families
That I saw this night.
Owed their lives to these
soldiers
Who were willing to fight.
Soon round the world.
The children would play,
And grown-ups would cel-
ebrate
A bright Christmas day.
They all enjoyed freedom
Each month of the year.
Because of the soldiers,
Like the one lying here.
I couldn't help wonder
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How many lay alone.
On a cold Christmas Eve
In a land far from home.
The very thought
Brought a tear to my eye,
I dropped to my knees
And started to cry.
The soldier awakened
And I heard a rough voice,
"Santa don't cry,
This hfe is my choice;
I fight for freedom,
I don't ask for more.
My life is my God,
My country, my corps.''
The soldier rolled over
And drifted to sleep,
I couldn't control it,
I continued to weep.
I kept watch for hours,
So silent and still
And we both shivered
From the cold nights chill.
I didn't want to leave
On that cold, dark, night.
This guardian of honor
So willing to fight.
Then the soldier rolled over.
With a voice soft and pure.
Whispered, "Carry on
Santa,
It's Christmas Day, all is
secure.''
One look at my watch.
And I knew he was right.
Merry Christmas my friend.
And to all a good night,''
The following is his request.
Would you do me the kind
favor of sending this to as many
people as you can? Christmas
will be coming soon and some
credit is due to our U.S. ser-
vice men and women for our
being able to celebrate these
festivities.
"Let's try in this small way to
pay a tiny bit of what we owe.
Make people stop and think of
our heroes, living and dead,
who sacrificed themselves for
us. Please, do your small part
to plant this small seed.''
And of course, these reflec-
tions remind us of how impor-
tant it is to have a home and
hve day to day in love, peace
and harmony. These are the
greatest gifts you are wished
this Holy Season!
From the Norman Memo-
rial Museum photo collection
by B. E. Lannom, we present
this week one of our earlier
town leaders. He Was Lewis
R. McCarroll who with J.
E. Lee, owned and operated
the Lee-McCarroll Chevrolet
business across from the Post
Office when
we moved
here in 1950.
It has been
more recently
occupied by
a furniture
store. Mr.
McCarroll
was active in
local activi-
ties, serving Rusk as Mayor
for a period of time. His wife,
Eloise, will be remembered
as a favorite by the many
students who passed through
her classroom at Rusk High
School. Others will recall the
couple's children. John, Leila,
Anne and Susan. Living as
they did, right off the square
on Henderson Street, the
family was caught up at the
center of life in Rusk. If you
would hke to learn more
about our rich heritage,
visit the Museum at your
earliest opportunity. It is off
schedule for open hours now
10b
Lewis McCarroll
because of the holidays, but
you may obtain a special tour
by appointment if you call
903/683-2366.
Other people from other
days have helped to make
us who we are today. One of
them recently heard from is
Dorothy J. Rambo who was
an Agricultural Extension
Agent for many years. Among
us who will recall well, this
enthusiastic woman is John-
nie McKay who served with
her part of their years service
when he too, was our Agricul-
tural Agent in the Courthouse
Annex,
We also received greetings
from Mrs. Garnet Travis,
widow of the late Ralph
Travis. Their business was
the Zero Locker Plant, while
Mr. Travis was also well
known for his skill in the
game of pitching horse shoes!
Some kind of a champion, too!
Their children are Ronnie,
Judy and Harold, Is this
bringing back a memory or
two?
As you continue with last
minute preparations for the
Big Day, it will most likely
be in the tradition you have
observed for many years.
This will not be possible for
our friend, Lithana Sessions
who is going to celebrate, for
the first time, this hohday in
a new home. She has always
been in Cherokee County, the
last 50 plus years in Rusk, to
be exact. This Christmas she
will observe the sun rise in
California. Recently she took
the big step and moved to the
home of her son Frank and
family whete she is adjusting
very well. Her family includes
Frank, his wife Gwen, daugh-
ter LaLeisha, son Juray, his
wife and baby! Her life has
been a longtime teacher in
how to make others happy
with her abundance of love..
To all of you we express our
gratitude for the privilege
of serving you during 2003.
Without our advertisers,
readers, listeners, this means
ALL of you, we could not be!
It is our blessing to work with
people for that is where good
things happen. Thank you for
being a part of our service.
You are wished the best pos-
sible Hohday with an empha-
sis on Good Health!
In closing a few lines from
Henry Vaughan. Think of
these the next time you look
up into a starry, starry night
marked by a full moon: "I saw
eternity the other night, like
a great ring of pure and end-
less hght. All calm, as it was
bright.''
May Peace on Earth come
to rule in the hearts of all
humans! Merry Christmas!
In a postscript to faithful
readers, the rare has hap-
pened. The words did not
fill the space. To "plug'' the
hole, let me invite you to find
the schedule for radio pro-
gramming Christmas Eve on
KTLU/KWRW. Some of the
finest musical talent may be
heard as voices combine to
sing traditional carols and
songs of praise. You will
enjoy the sounds of some
really outstanding band
students, too. This is one day
only, Dec. 24. Stop now, find
the schedule, cut it out and
keep it handy.
For many of us, music is
the heart of the holiday. We
appreciate all the entities
who cooperated with us in
making it possible, — mw
New jail tops 2003 achievements
for Cherokee County sheriff's office
Civil division served
4,000papers,
generated $150,000
in revenue
By James Campbell
Special to Cherokeean Herald
As 2003 winds down it has
been a very busy year for
the Cherokee County
Sheriff's Department. Along
with our daily activities we
have dealt with the Challenger
disaster and the renovation and
addition to our jail.
Of course everyone knows
that Feb. 1 was a day We will
all remember when the Space
Shuttle came apart over East
Texas and deposited thou-
sands of pieces of debris in the
southern part of our county.
The debris was the size of a
postage stamp to the size of a
pickup bed. For over four weeks
the Sheriff's Department was
turned into a command center
with untold federal and state
agencies working out of this
office. I cannot say enough
about the help of our local
officers and county fire depart-
ments and many state agencies
along with local businesses to
work through this situation.
Many of the out of state federal
agencies were amazed with the
community support andhelp in
the location and recovery of the
shuttle debris.
Shortly after the Challenger
disaster, construction began
on the new jail addition and
the renovation to the current
building. Anyone knows new
construction usually runs
fairly smooth but when you
start tearing out the old and
building back it is quite dif-
ferent, especially when you
are working around over one
hundred inmates. The only
incident we had was an inmate
running for a door he thought
had been left unlocked for the
construction workers. He didn't
realize not only the inside door
waslockedbuttheoutside door
behind it was locked also. The
doctor put a few staples in the
inmate's forehead and he was
good as new.
We should start putting
inmates in the new part on or
about the middle of December.
Our current capacity is one
hunched two and the addi-
tion will increase that to one
hunched ninety nine. It is a lot
different than the forty four beel
jail on the top of the courthouse
when I moveclhere in 1973, As I
saicl before our jail has a better
return rate than the Hohday
Inn with about eighty per-ccnl
repeat guests.
Our communications depart-
ment will have received over
15,000 calls from the public
by year 's end and almost nine
thousand 911 calls. We main-
tain a 24 hour, three hunched
sixty five clay communication
clep artment with seven commu-
nication officers . These officers
work under a great amount of
stress and do an excellent job
handling radio and phone calls
along with their other duties.
They page and dispatch for
twelve county fire depart-
ments, ambulance service, law
enforcement from this depart-
ment along with five police
departments, and four other
county and state agencies.
Our civil department will
have executed about four
thousand civil process papers
and will have collected over
$150,000 in civil fees.
The civil papers seem to
increase each year. Deputy
Tom Haddock andthe D.A.R.E.
program is reaching more and
more fifth grade students at all
of the Cher okee County Schools
each year. This is such a worth-
while anti-chug program that
includes subjects on staying
away from gangs and violence.
Tom has such a good relation-
ship with the children and the
kicls seem to enjoy the program
very much. We rely on dona-
tions from organizations and
the public to keep this program
going each year.
Cherokee County continues
to grow in population and as it
grows, our criminal case load
grows with it.
Our county is 1.050 square
miles and it takes a lot of man
power anclvehicle miles to cover
it. Our county hne is seven
miles from Tyler city limits on
the north and thirteen miles
from Lufkin city limits on the
south.
This department will have
driven over a halfrmillion
miles by year's encl. I have
p a tr ol clep utie s hving in Mixon,
Cherokee county Sheriff James Campbell tries out the new
phones in the visitation area of the county jail. The new jail
expansion was built at a cost of more than $3.8 million.
More than 200 prisoners can be accommodated.
Jacksonville, Rusk, Alto, and
Wells to help be close to calls
and to be familiar with their
communities but we are still
spread thin. This department
will have about fifteen hun-
ched cases reported this year
with assault/family violence,
burglary of habitations and
theft being the most reported.
Thieves and dope pecldler scon-
tinue to be a thorn in our side
and the cancer of the county.
Probably ninety percent of
our inmates are here because
of chugs, either steahng to buy
them or selhng them.
We have worked very hard
in the past to arrest as many
chug dealer s as posible and will
continue to do in the future.
With our manpower spread
thin at times I have to say our
Reserves are such an asset to
CMYK
CHRIS DAVIS
ELCAMINOREAL@TXUCOM.NET
High Points From
El Camino Real
Chris Davis is on vacation
this week. He will return
in the Dec. 31 issue of the
Cherokeean Herald.
this department.
These men and women have
the same training as a full time
paid officer and clo the same
work only for free. They work
security at ball games to earn
money to buy their uniforms
and equipment.
After they work their regular
jobs they will work for the citi-
zens of this county and donate
their time. I utilize them in
patrol, jail, dispatch, trans-
porting prisoners, sitting with
inmates at the hospitals and all
other functions necessary.
They clo this at absolutely no
cost to the taxpayers. It would
be very difficult to operate this
department without them.
As we close 2003 I want to
thank the employees of this
department for the outstand-
ing job they clo for me and the
citizens of Cherokee County.
We promise to continue to
keep working hard for you and
to operate this department as
efficiently as possible.
We want to keep putting chug
dealers and other predators off
the street and keep them off.
And last let me thank the
citizens for their support which
is absolutely necessary for our
operation and we will always
strive to keep our integrity a
top priority.
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Whitehead, Marie. Cherokeean Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 154, No. 44, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 24, 2003, newspaper, December 24, 2003; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152602/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.