The Leonard Graphic (Leonard, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 9, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 1, 2001 Page: 1 of 10
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16
Covering Leonard and Celeste communities
Thursday, March 1,2001
P.O. Box 1108 Leonard, Texas 75452 (903) 587-3303 LeonardGraphic@aoI.com
Continuous publication since 1890 500
1048-0013 Vol. 111 No. 9
Leonard Lumber boarding up after 86 years in the business
By Bethany Russell
ESQ
den
Just off the Leonard square, there
is a long, brick building full of ev-
erything a good hardware store
should have... house numbers, wood
screws, pocket knives. But on April
1, this business known as Lyon-Gray
Lumber in 1915, and Leonard Lum-
ber Co. ever since 1950, will close
its doors.
Owners Joe and Lu Sudderth an-
nounced the closing in February, af-
ter trying to sell the business for sev-
eral months.
.“Today’s consumer likes to go to
a mall or large discount houses, be-
cause they have almost anything you
may need and you can make one stop
and stay there for hours just looking
if you want to, the way people used
to look at a Sears catalog,” Joe
Sudderth said. Times have changed
considerably since 1915, when Lyon-
gray Lumber constructed the brick
building in the middle of a bustling
agricultural community. Wagons
went past rows and rows of busi-
. nesses in those days. And even de-
“At one time, Leonard had at least
two lumber yards, five grocery stores,
two drug stores, two picture shows,
three barber shops, 10 gas stations,
three doctors, two dentists, three cot-
ton gins, three new car dealerships,
one tractor and implement dealer and
many other businesses we no longer
have now,” he said. “Starting in the
50s and through the 60s, our farm-
ing community started to change.
Better roads and cars meant we could
travel out of Leonard to better jobs
and better pay and get out of the cot-
ton patch.”
Family owned stores suffered as
shoppers took their money down the
road, to newer and bigger stores. To-
day, Lowe’s and Home Depot draw
Leonard customers into their endless
aisles and away from small stores like
Leonard Lumber, Sudderth said.
“I am not belly-aching or crying,
it’s just the way things are and I’m
not going to fight it anymore,”
Sudderth said.
Inside...
Obituaries.......................2
Letters to the Editor....... 2
Pastor’s column debuts.. 4
Church Tame 4
Church news eeeesse--------4
Police and fire briefs ......5
LHS honor roll......_______..6
Open House = 7
Crossword puzzle........... 8
Boxers are champs......... 8
Blue Devils photos__________9
Local jobs available...... 10
Classifieds........---------... 10
Branson star
takes stage
this Saturday
Community invited
The store has marked everything to honor top citizens
down 20-percent through March 31.
By Bethany Russell cades later, when Sudderth was a boy,
Jose Gonzales, 10, and his dog, Sissy, visit together on the porch swing at Leonard Lumber. Leonard boasted many businesses
j that have been lost in the “progress.”
Charge accounts are being collected
and closed. “Sometime in April, we
will have an auction to sell off any
Continued on Page 5
No more
one-ways
L Council changes traffic
| flow around elementary
By Bethany Russell
Driving around Leonard Elemen-
tary School was made easier by a vote
of the City Council Tuesday, Feb. 13.
Hackberry Street and Parmele
Street - known for years as “one-
way” only during certain school
hours - will revert to two-way traffic
this month. Traffic congestion is no
monger a problem in the school zone,
so the one-way designation is no
longer needed, said Police Chief Rex
Clark.
“The situation that was there
when we put it in no longer exists,”
he said. “We just don’t have the traf-
fic any longer on Parmele. There are
an,average of eight cars using that
•street at one time, now."
City Administrator Butch
Henderson said the city conducted a
traffic survey before making the de-
cision to change traffic flow. “We
didn’t find one hazard there or dan-
ger to a child,” he said. “The" school
district has separated two grades out
of that building and moved them to
the junior high. Also, the location for
bus pickup and drop-off has been
moved to the other side of the build-
ing."
2 The signs indicating one-way
traffic will be removed by the end of
the month, Henderson said. No park-
ing signs will remain on portions of
the residential streets.
Parachute play
Bethany Russell photo
Mahlon Leatherwood, left, and Alison Norman take their turn running under a parachute in Shanna Marshall’s PE
class Monday, Feb. 26. The fifth-grade girls attend Leonard Elementary School.
Cowboys, cowgirls (and those
who just like barbecue) are invited
to the Annual Chamber of Com-
merce Banquet 7 p.m. Saturday,
March 3 at Leonard High School.
Not just for. Chamber members,
the evening will have very little to
do with business. In fact, the night
is geared around honoring special
citizens, good food and good enter-
tainment, said Chamber President
Allecia Booher.
“If you haven’t bought a ticket,
it’s still not too late,” Booher said.
“We want everyone to attend because
this promises to be a really good
time. The community will have the
opportunity to recognize those who
are making a difference in Leonard,
in addition to enjoying top-rated en-
tertainment and catered dinner.”
Guests will enjoy R.J.
Vandygriff’s performance of “The
Cowboy Ain’t Dead Yet!” hot off the
Moe Bandy Theatre stage in
Branson, Mo.
“‘The Cowboy Ain’t Dead Yet!’
is the only show of-its kind in
Branson,” Vandygriff said. “I am
very proud of the show and hope you
will enjoy seeing it as much as I en-
joy doing it.”
Vandygriff was born and raised
in Roxton, a town in northeast Texas.
He was practically raised atop a
horse and has been a rodeo cowboy
and clown. He raises quarter horses
on a Texas ranch between shows and
has made his living with music for
30 years. Vandygriff has opened for
Garth Brooks, The Judds, George
Jones and Alabama.
Dinner is catered barbecue with
all the trimmings. Dress is western
(boots, jeans, hats, you name it).
Tickets are on sale now for $10,
or $12 at the door. They can be pur-
chased at American Bank of Texas.
For more information, call the
Chamber of Commerce at 903-587-
0174.
Grand Jury hands
down indictments
The Fannin County Grand Jury indicted a
lengthy list of individuals Feb. 21, including
Richard Hicks, 51, of Whitewright on charges
of attempted capital murder.
The attempted capital murder charges are in
addition to a previous capital murder indictment
stemming from the shooting death of a
1 Whitewright ppliceman.
Other individuals named in the list of indict-
. ment's include:
■ Lisa Gail.Moore, 30, of Leonard, Shan-
non Marie Kaylor Price, 23, of Leonard and
* Felicia Tonihka, 27, of Bailey on charges of
burglary of a habitation. According to Fannin
‘ County District Attorney Myles Porter, the
women were involved with the theft of approxi-
- mately $300 from a residence;
Continued on Page 5
Fire destroys couple’s home
By Bethany Russell
A young couple looking forward
to a first wedding anniversary this
March lost everything in a fire Mon-
day morning, Feb. 28.
Jeremy and Nesha Farber, former
Leonard residents and active members
of the First Baptist Church of Leonard,
watched firefighters from three cities
battle a blaze that gutted their two-
room mobile home on County Road
4900 in Trenton. They had no insur-
ance on the home they owned or its
contents.
Jeremy Farber had just taken his
wife to the dentist in Bonham when
he returned home to find the house
filled with black smoke. He tried to
enter the house by crawling, a neigh-
bor said, but was unable to get past
the door because of the smoke. The
family dog escaped unharmed, but a
cat recovering from an injury died in
the fire, friends said.
Volunteer firefighters from Le-
onard, Trenton and Whitewright re-
sponded to the call and extinguished
the fire by about 11:20 a.m.
A faulty gas water heater is sus-
pected, Nesha Farber said. “We were
• having trouble with it,” she said.
“Jeremy was coming home to work
on it.”
A friend brought Nesha Farber
home about an hour after the fire
started. Friends and church mem-
bers offered assistance and conso-
lation.
A fund has been established to
assist the family at First National
Bank of Trenton - Leonard branch.
Bethany Russell photo
Leonard volunteer firefighters hose down remaining hotspots inside a home
that burned Monday, Feb. 26. The owners suspect a faulty gas water heater.
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The Leonard Graphic (Leonard, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 9, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 1, 2001, newspaper, March 1, 2001; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1660085/m1/1/?q=waco+tornado: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Leonard Public Library.