Cedar Hill Chronicle (Cedar Hill, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 25, 1974 Page: 1 of 18
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V ■
COVERING SCENIC CEDAR HILL——TOWER CITY OF THE SOUTHWEST
Presenting The News Without Fear Or Favor
PER COPY
Vol. 9, No. 48
Cedar Hill, Texas 75104
Thursday, July 25, 1974
(
Acetylene Gas Blast dips
Station Wagon And Building
Sliiw
Windows Break In
5 Nearby Buildings
EXPLOSION DAMAGE
All that's left of Mr. and Mrs. Shorty Hood's
1973 Chevrolet Kingswood station wagon follow-
ing a Sunday morning explosion. It was ripped
by an exploding bottle of acetylene gas in the
...rear of the vehicle,
— Chronicle Photo
Moore, Pickard Lead
Contest For Bicycles
Billy Joe Pickard,
tll6 Broad Street, and
David Moore, 910 Belt
Line Road, soared in-
to the lead in The
Chronicle's bicycle
subscription contest
last week with sales
totaling more than
800 points each.
The two youngsters
tied for the 100 bonus
points awarded each
Friday of the contest
by The Chronicle —
so each was awarded
100 bonus points on
his total toward win-
ning a 10-speed or a
sting ray bicycle.
The bicycles will
be awarded by The
Chronicle from
White's Auto, Tower
Shopping Center, Ce-
dar Hill. White's co-
operates in makine
the bicycles available
for the contest.
Shugart Photos
Arrive At Paper
Photographs made
recently by Shugart
Studio at The Chron-
icle office have ar-
rived.
They may be picked
up at The' Chronicle
office, 610 Cedar
.Street, from ,8:30 a.
m. to 5 p.m., Mondays
through Fridays, for
the next three weeks.
Kids may continue
to register for the
contest, although only
eight days remain un-
til it closes Friday,
August 2. Registra-
tion is at The Chron- •
icle office at 610 Ce-
dar Street in down-
town Cedar Hill Mon-
day through Friday
during regular office
hours.
Rules of the contest
are:
* Contest open to
ALL kids everywhere
...from first graders
through high school
seniors.
See KIDS
--Page 6
A thundering ex-
plosion, triggered by
a leaking acetylene
gas bottle, rocked
downtown Cedar Hill
early Sunday morn-
ing, July 21.
The blast com-
pletely destroyed a
station wagon, broke
windows in several
business establish-
ments and scattered
debris for a block in
all directions.
Surprisingly, a fire
did not result and
there was only one
reported injury.
The 6:08 a.m. blast
centered in the rear
of a 1973 Chevrolet
Kingswood station
wagon parked in the
700 block of Cedar
Street in front of the
apartment-sytie res-
idence of Mr. and
Mrs. Shorty Hood.
Hood, owner of the
destroyed vehicle,
had placed the acety-
lene bottle in the rear
of the station wagon
the previous after-
noon after using it at
his lake - side prop-
erty in Ellis County.
The gas had been
used as the fuel for
"roughing in the
plumbing^ on con-
struction of a resi-
dence on his Ellis
County property.
As best as could be
determined, the bot-
tle had a slow leak.
Overnight the gas
apparently accumu-
lated in the closed ve-
hicle and was set off
by a spark from the
station wagon's
clock. Hood said that
the electric clock in-
stalled in the dash of
the wagon apparently
wound itself and the
resulting spark set
off the concentration
of gas.
Mr. and Mrs. Hood
were both knocked
from their beds in
their apartment by
the explosion..
IVIrs. Hood was
showered with shat-
tered glass and sus-
tained, apparently,
only slight injuries.
Total loss was es-
timated at about
$6,000.
A cap and jacket
of Hood's in the wagon
was taken to an area
lab by law enforce-
ment officials in an
effot to pin - point
cause of the blast.
Force of the explo-
sion threw the vehi-
cle's right tail light
across Cedar Street
and through a wall of
a new building under
construction.
fragments-#i-
the auto and shattered
auto glass were found
as far away as a
block. A clock and
canned goods were
knocked to the floor
in a grocery store a
block away and win-
dow was cracked the
same distance away.
Principal damages
(see pictures) were to
the station wagon,
which was a total
loss. Large plate-
glass windows in the
Hoods' restaurant
next door (to the east)
were shattered, as
were t he apartment
windows.
Also losing win-
dows were a barber
shop, insurance of-
fice and attorney's
office j ust west of the
blast site.
The blast followed
by just 11 days a spec-
tacular propane ex-
plosion and fire at the
intersection of High-
way 67 and Clark
Road here in Cedar
Hill.
Crabtree First CH Volunteer Fireman in '39
Cedar Hill's Fire
Department got its
start in 1939.
That inconspicuous
beginning was a far
cry from modern,
well - equipped and
heavily trained Ce-
dar Hill Volunteer
Fire Department of
1974.
Audie Crabtree,
still a fixture around
town, was Cedar
Hill's first volunteer
fireman. He was re-
cently presented a
certificate by the
City in recognition of
that.
T. C. Potter, Cedar
Hill's first mayor,
asked Audie to begin
the fire department
when the population
zer, chief, George
Hood, Eddie Boy
Hendricks, Hayden
Krantz, Tom Burlen
battle the blazes.
Most alarms in the
early years were to
fi]
20, says
Mayor's
Crabtree
later to
was only
Audie.
With the
blessing,
(who wa§
serve as a City Coun-
cilman) and " seven
others formed the
first department.
Members, says
Crabtree, were:,
V"". Winford (Cat) Swit-
Hood, Lloyd Breck-
enridge, W. O. Knowl-
ton and Crabtree.
Crabtree spent 19
years in the depart-
ment and "I'd have
still been in except
for my heart," he
declares. He served
as captain two of those
19 years.
Crabtree can't re-
call the exact dates,
but can give you a lot
of scattered history
of the department.
Some of his memo-
ries include:
The first fire truck
was purchased for
$100 from Grand
Prairie. The money
was raised by taking-
up donations from lo-
cal citizens and most
of the donations were
under $1 each.
The truck served
only as transporta-i
tion. Its pump was
inoperable, so the
firemen used buckets
and burlap bags to
:n grass tires.
A fitting and well-
deserved tribute on
this 35th anniversary
of the formation of
Cedar Hill Volunteer
Fire Department.
Cedar Hill's first
City Hall was also a
$100 purchase —
from an old horse
race track in Arling-
ton. Local firemen
went to Arlington,
tore down the build-
ing, transported it to
Cedar Hill and re-
constructed it.
Last month the
City presented Crab-
tree a certificate
honoring his service.
The certificate
reads:
"This certificate
of appreciation is
presented to Audie
Crabtree in recogni-
tion of service to the
citizens of Cedar
Hill, Texas, as First
Volunteer Firemen
for Cedar Hill,
Texas."
The certificate,
signed by Mayor T.
W. (Turk) Cannady,
was dated June 24,
1974.
W
The two-story apartment of Mr. and Mrs. Shorty
Hood shows damages from an explosion that
wrecked the couple's station wagon early Sunday
RiACT tfTMF morning. The vehicle was standing directly in -j
-"is n?. the apartment. Hie Hood's restaur ant, .
to left, lost its front windows, as did the apart-'
ment, a barber shop, an insurance office and an,
attorney's office. A portion of the windows had
been replaced when this photo was made the fol-
lowing day.
---Chronicle Photo
Council Approves Zoning
For Gty Warehouse Site
Its
■m™
AUDIE CRABTREE
Cedar Hill City
Council approved
zoning for the City's
warehouse -maintain-
ance area and denied
zoning for a nursing
home in its regular
meeting here Tues-
day night, July 23.
All members of the
Council were pre-
sent.
The heavily - op-
posed warehouse fa-
cility, which had ear-
lier Zoning Board ap-
proval, passed 3 - 2
through Council with
George Walters and
Frank Tidwell voting
against the motion
and Jim Strickland,
Brownie Peters and
C. D. Bohannan vot-
ing for the motion.
Strickland made
the motion and it was
seconded by Peters.
More than 40 res-
idents in the area of
the 9.55-acre tract
on Straus Road sub-
mitted a petition to
Council two weeks
ago opposing the zon-
ing.
City Administrator
Chris Hadjison and
his administrative
staff countered with a-
scale drawing of the
area and colored
slides including
aerial shots of the
site in question and
shots of city service
centers from neigh-
boring towns.
Billy Chapman led
the opposition by res-
idents of the area.
The controversary
began six weeks ago
and ended Tuesday
night.
The 120-bed nurs-
ing home, expected to
cost $500,000 to
$600,000 was pro-
posed at the corner
of Wintergreen and
Cedar Hill Road.
Zoning to allow the
home met only toke*i
opposition from area
residents, but was
denied by Zoning
Board two weeks ago
and was upheld by
Council Tuesday
night by a 3 -2 vote.
(It takes four votes
for Council to over-
rule a Zoning Com-
mission recommen-
dation. )
Strickland made
the motion to grant
the zoning and Bo-
hannan seconded it.
They and Peters
voted for the motion
with Walters and Tid-
well opposing —thus
killing the motion.
In other action in
the long meeting, the
Council:
--Tabled action on
a request for Special
Use zoning on Clark
Road in southeast Ce-
dar Hill.
The site was pro-
posed to house a 700-
foot tower for a non-
profit radio station.
The station, KCHU,
has federal approval,
Cost of the tower and
equipment would have
run from $75,000 to
$100,000.
Zoning 1 rd Mon-
day night,
J UjL/
22,had
voted 4-2 to deny the
request. Randy Roten
and Ralph Jones had
voted to approve and
Phil Vines, Dale St.
John, Elmer Weaver
and Joe Prasifka
voted to deny.
Member Richard
Bell was not present
at Monday night's
Zoning Board meet-
ing.
Council tabled ac-
tion on the request
and referred it back
to the Zoning Board
for the Board's rea-
sons for the denial.
Also, the City Attor-'
ney was asked to re-
search the tax status
of such an installa-
tion.
-—Heard Mayor T.
W. (Turk) Cannady
report local resi-
dents are using
1,600,000 gallons oi
water per day during
100-plus degree tetft
peratures.
—Instructed Had-
jison and the City At-
torney to draft an
ordinance on tap fees.
---Discussed a
possible change in the
junk car ordinance.
—Passed an or-
dinance making the
speed limit on High-
way 67 in Cedar Hill
40 miles per hour
during present con-
struction.
—Instructed the
police to check on
possible stop sign vi-
olations at Highway
67 and Clark Road.
—Heard a com-
plaint about speeders
on Clark Road in the
area of the new ele-
mentary school.
Speed limit Is
Lowered On 67
Speed limit on
Highway 67 in Cedar
Hill has been reduced
to 40 miles per hour.
Cedar Hill City
Council reduced the
speed limits from 55
to 40 at its regular
meeting here Tues-
day night, July 23.
Highway 67 is pre-
sently be upgraded to
freeway status and
extensive construc-
tion is underway all
along its route
through Cedar Hill.,
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Taylor, Rick. Cedar Hill Chronicle (Cedar Hill, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 25, 1974, newspaper, July 25, 1974; Cedar Hill, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth480290/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Zula B. Wylie Memorial Library.