Rains County Leader (Emory, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 9, 1995 Page: 1 of 24
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County
°0U1HWEST MICROPUBLI
2^27 E YANDELL DR
EL PAS0 TX 79903-3743
8/21/95
“EASTERN GATEWAY TO LAKE TAWAKONI -
WESTERN GATEWAY TO LAKE FORK”
ESTABLISHED IUNE 10.1887 VOLUME CVII EMORY, TEXAS THURSDAY, MARCH 9,1995 ISSUE NO. 38 PUBLISHED EVERT THURSDAY
KflTHL440 sill
WE SEE springtime in
bloom all around town, tho it
doesn't feel like spring in the
air... damp and cold... we en-
joy Joe Waldrop's jonquils
bordering his property on
Honeysuckle Lane... the red
buds are bursting with blooms
and beauty...
WE DIDN’T make it to the
Mardi Gras celebration in
Louisiana, tho when Ronnie,
Nancy and Amy were there vis-
iting Ray and Connie, they saw
the parade go by and caught a
lot of souvenirs like beads and
coins... we were glad for the
ones Nancy brought us... and
she sent some beads to Green
Acres for next year’s Mardi
Gras celebration at the nursing
home...
OUR CONGRATULATIONS
to Linda Porter, who is partly
responsible for bringing the
telecommunications link that
can change the lives of all stu-
dents, giving them a fair op-
portunity to go as far as their
talents and ambition will take
them... “where there is a will,
there is a way”... Linda had
the will and determination to
see this project through and
has won out... the million-dol-
lar grant has been approved...
all hail Linda!...
RODNEY WILLIAMS, who
has resigned as pastor of
Emory Baptist Church, will be
Director of Missions of the
Hunt Baptist Association... as
director he will be working
with 63 churches... the associ-
ation exists to help the church-
es be involved in missions... it
is designed to help the church
carry out the mission God gave
it... training and resources are
available through the associa-
tion... Bro. Rodney will seek to
help pastors, since pastors
don't have pastors to help them
...he will also seek to help the
smaller churches... Bro. Rod-
ney said, "Pray for Virginia
and me. We will need your
prayers. We are very grateful
for the privilege of living in the
parsonage for a period of time.
Thank you for this. I love Em-
lory Baptist Church ”...
j OUR THANKS to Betty
Adair for bringing us The
Eagle, the Bryan-College Sta-
tion newspaper... The Eagle
brought back many memories
for us, for the association of
the owner years ago when at-
tending the Women’s Texas
Press meetings...
75th BIRTHDAY... The
League of Women Voters is 75
this year, and this is also the
75th anniversary of women’s
suffrage, a correlation that
probably was not lost on you
anyway... Rebecca Bergstress-
er, chairwoman of the league’s
celebration, says, "It’s amaz-
ing it took 72 years to pass the
19th amendment giving women
the right to vote. It was a hard-
won victory, but the fight is not
over. Our task now is to edu-
cate all citizens, to empower
them on issues they care about,
to have their voices heard
throughout the corridors of
government. This is the League
of Women Voters ’ mission ”...
SPRING IS> a time to throw
open the windows, shake off
winter's cabin fever and antici-
pate the coming of summer...
and in Dallas, it's a time to en-
joy the very best that the city
has to offer in attractions, rec-
reation and entertainment...
spring puts on a glorious dis-
play at Dallas Blooms, the an-
nual “coming-out party" for
the season at the Dallas Arbo-
retum and Botanical Garden...
Dallas Blooms features more
FUlxig StUl
Slow in School
A City Elections
Filing for a place on the bal-
lot in the May 6th municipal
and school district elections is
still slow, with two new candi-
dates to report this week.
No one has filed for the
three places up for election at
the city of Emory, including
Place 1, Place 3 and Place 5.
At Point, two have filed for
three at-large council places,
including C. B. Ainsworth and
incumbent Jeff Roberts.
At the city of East Tawak-
oni, Gina McBride has filed
for Place 2, which is currently
held by Delita Crews. Place 1
and Place 4 are also up for
election.
Two have filed this week for
school trustee, with Avis Hui-
zar filing for re-election to
Place 5, a three-year term; and
Frank Hedrick filing for Place
1, which is currently held by
Robert Ross. Place 4 is also up
for election. All other terms
mentioned are two-year terms.
Filing will continue through
Wednesday, March 22. Early
voting will begin April 17th
and continue through May
2nd.
by Betty Adair
The Rains County 4-H Club
met February 28 at the county
fair exhibit building. The
meeting was called to order
by president, Laura Kate
Neinast, and everyone stood
for the 4-H motto and pledge.
The minutes of tne last
meeting were read by Amber
Steed.
Elizabeth Barfield, county
extension agent FCS,
presented information on the
4-H District Roundup, which
will be the last Saturday in
April, at East Texas State
University, for both junior and
senior 4-H members. Junior
and senior members can go to
district, and senior members
can go on to state.
There is something new in
Share The Fun this year. There
are five different categories,
instead of everybody com-
peting in one. Each county can
carry someone in each cat-
egory, in each age group, 9 to
14 and 14-19.
Guest speaker, Dana Wade,
an exercise physiologist,
presented a program on health
and fitness. She stressed the
importance of eating the proper
than 200,000 bulbs in full
bloom and the largest-public
collection of blooming azaleas
in the United States... every
color of the rainbow can be
found at this sprawling public
garden on the east shore of
White Rock Lake... Dallas
Blooms is a family event with
children ’s activities, entertain-
ment, horticultural demonstra-
tions and other special events
... the dates are March 4-
April 9... for more informa-
tion, call (214) 327-8263...
EUMC Presents
Christian
Musical
The Emory United
Methodist Church will present
the Christian musical, Living
On The Edge, on Saturday,
March 11th, at 7:30.
Alvin First United Meth-
odist Church will be leading us
in the one-hour Christian
musical written by Michael W.
Smith. The cost of the musical
will be on a love offering basis
only. All proceeds will help
defray the cost of summer
camp.
You will want to meet
Oliver Grigsby and four of his
friends at Dewey High, who
have made a commitment to try
“Living on the Edge’’ as
Christians. For one week, they
will measure everything they
do against the example set for
them by Jesus. The week has
hardly begun, and already
Ollie is having to choose bet-
ween his promise to God and
trying to avoid a physical con-
frontation with Jack Pendleton,
the school bully. In the school
lunch room, in front of all his
friends, Ollie faces Jack, and
learns that the cost of faithfully
following Jesus is often high,
and sometimes painful.
Mike Mayhugh
diet and maintaining exercise,
or being active, throughout
your life.
Laura Kate Neinast and
Amber Steed demonstrated a
stepping exercise using an or-
dinary step, stepping up and
down on this step for three
minutes, continuously, then
checking their pulse to see the
effect it had on the heart.
Interested In
Starting A Bird
Watching Club?
Some may think that would
be “nerdy” or whatever is the
current terminology for weird,
strange or peculiar.
There are many interesting
things to be learned about
birds, such as: their species are
pure. You won’t find a spar-
row mating with a bluebird, or
a crow with a buzzard, which
is probably how the saying got
started “Birds of a feather
flock together.”
The club could have guest
speakers, go on field trips, and
generally speaking, just make
friends and have fun.
Please call Mrs. R.F. (Inez)
Hatahcox 903473-3111. If
you get the answering
machine, please leave your
number.
Concert at
Enon Baptist
Carol Sage of Dallas will be
in concert at Enon Baptist
Church on Saturday night,
March 11, at 7 p.m. Everyone
in invited to share this time of
blessing with us.
JIMMY SHEDD, Pastor
DARRELL PRATHER
Minister of Music
Briggs Says
County Has
More Money
Than Ever,
Despite Line
Item Transfers
On February 13th, the Rains
County Commissioners Court
voted to make line item budget
transfers in the amount of
$51,083 from several depart-
ments to reinstate the full-time
deputy clerks in the treasurer’s
office and vehicle registration
office and to augment the
budget for the sheriff’s depart-
ment and jail.
According to Commissioner
Rayford Briggs, there were
several concerned citizens who
spoke at the next session of the
commissioners court, com-
plaining how badly this af-
fected the departments from
which the money was trans-
ferred. However, Briggs gave
copies of the budget to the
Rains County Leader showing
that all these departments still
have more money than they did
last year, despite the transfers,
with the exception of the In-
dustrial Commission.
The line item transfers in-
cluded: $10,951 from the In-
dustrial Comm, to the treasur-
er’s office; $5,000 from the In-
dustrial Comm, for sheriffs
cars; $10,132 from Prect. 1
road material to the registra-
tion office; $10,000 from
Prect. 2 road material to non-
departmental miscellaneous
(which had been slashed in the
original budget from $23,890
in 93-94 to $7,()00 for 94-95);
$7,000 from Prect. 3 bridge
material, with $6,000 going
for 8th Judicial District court
trial expense and $l)000 going
for prisoners’ food; $8,000
from Prect. 4 equipment main-
tenance and road material,
with $7,000 going for prisoner
health and $1,000 for non-de-
partmental postage/box rent.
According to the new budget
figures after the line item trans-
fers, Precinct 1 has $36,645
more than 93-94, Precinct 2
has $32,127 more than 93-94;
Precinct 3 has $21,000 more
than 93-94, and Precinct 4 has
$16,277 more than 93-94.
Following the line item
transfers, the sheriff/jail
budget, which had been cut
from $483,300 in 93-94 to
$479,300 for 94-95, now has
$492,300; the county treasur-
er’s office, which had been cut
from $40,135 in 93-94 to
$37,335 for 94-95, now has
$48,286; and the registration
office, which was cut from
$35,985 in 93-94 to $38,885
for 94-95, now has $49,017.
The Rains Co. Industrial
Commission, which has been
receiving large sums of money
from the county, received
$20,000 in 93-94 and was to
receive another $20,000 for
94-95. Following the line item
transfers, the Industrial Com-
mission’s budget dropped to
$4,049.
According to Briggs, most
departments have more money
than they ever have and the
transfers have not hurt anyone.
Girl Scouts
to Meet
On Thursday, March 9th, at
6:00 p.m., the Daisy and
Brownie Girl Scout troops will
meet at the Point United Meth-
odist Church, with the Juniors
meeting at 7 p.m. There will
also be a Cadette/Senior
organization meeting at 7:45
p.m.
Immediate goals for this Ca-
dette/Senior troop will be pro-
gram aide certification and to
develop a horse and rider pro-
gram for Rains County.
For more information, call
Joni Hall at 473-8767 or Kathy
Gifford at 598-2202.
Reported
Stew Supper
at Lone Oak
A stew supper will be hosted
by the Lone Oak Area Civic
Club Saturday, March 11,
1995. They will start serving at
5:00 p.m. Admission is by
donations only.
4-H CLUB MEMBERS Laura Kate Neinast (right) and Amber
Steed doing the step exercise at the 4-H Club meeting last Tues-
day at the Rains County Fairgrounds exhibit building.
Staff photo by Betty Adair
Rains County 4-H Meeting
Linda Porter:
Designing the Future
WOMAN WITH A DREAM...Linda Porter, a Rains County
resident who had a dream and has worked tirelessly to see this
dream become a reality. Because of this dream, the students of
nine East Texas LINC school districts, including Rains ISD, will
now have distance learning opportunities that will increase stu-
dent achievement, giving them the fair opportunity to go as far as
their talent or ambition will allow. . Staff photo by Betty Adair
Rains ISD Included
in Mllllon-Dollar
Technology Grant
by Betty Adair
Rains ISD was the site of on-
campus training in distance
learning using telecommunica-
tion via fiber optic cells, in
August of 1994. Patsy Johnson
was guest speaker, her topic,
“Designing The Future.”
We have a Rains County
resident who has been doing
just that since long before this
training session. Linda Porter,
a Rains County resident, was
employed by Rains ISD for 13
years before going to Green-
ville ISD in 1986, to accept the
position as computer lab
manager.
In 1991, having experience
in technology, she was em-
ployed as technology coordi -
nator. She began to think about
the possibility of reforming
education practices using in-
ovative technologies, after see-
ing a demonstration by AT&T
of a two-way telephone con-
versation of two people, one in
Dallas, and one in Phoenix,
where you were able to see
both people. She decided to in-
vestigate the possibility of in-
teractive two-way classrooms.
After learning that Peoples
Telephone Co. of Quitman
had fiber optic equipment to
donate and was looking for a
school district interested in
Distance Learning, Linda
asked Gary Rasor of
E-Systems to help her talk to
the telephone company, and
the equipment was donated.
Linda Porter, Dr. Jerry
Horn of East Texas State
University, Dr. Carol Smith of
Allen ISD, Gary Rasor, and
Peggy Mesthenia, assistant
superintendent of Gladewater
ISD, formed a consortium, a
group of people naming them-
selves “ET-LINC,” which
means East Texas-Leaming In-
teractive Network Consortium.
They applied to the Texas
Education Agency for a
$25,000 grant, and received it.
Greenville ISD and Rains ISD
pooled their resources to form
a collaborative with 16 other
school districts to dc/elop
plans for reforming education
practices through the use of in-
novative technologies. The
chosen project was Distance
Learning.
In January 1995, the pro-
posal for “Creating Connec-
tions”Distance Learning pro-
ject was submitted to TEA and
a $1,000,000 grant was ap-
proved on March 1, 1995.
Creating Connections Dis-
tance Learning project, Phase
I, implementation is linking
nine ET-LINC school districts
and two universities through
multi-site, two-way, full-
motion, multi-channel broad-
casts that provide for instant
interaction for learners in eight
Northwest Texas counties.
The project will focus on the
training and professional
development of teacher coor-
dinators in 24 schools in East,
Central and West Texas.
The major objective to pro-
vide distance learning oppor-
tunities that will increase stu-
dent achievement.
Additional goals are to
establish replicable distance
learning classrooms, to pro-
vide programs for training par-
ticipating teachers, and to
create connections between
schools, universities and com-
munities.
The telecommunication link
can change the lives of all
students, giving all students a
fair opportunity to go as far as
their talents and ambition will
take them.
Rains ISD and Greenville
ISD will have a distance learn-
ing classroom sometime after
January 1996, thanks to a lot of
hard work.
WOHDof COD
Not as though I had al-
ready attained, either were
already perfect; but I follow
after, if that I may apprehend
that for which also I am ap-
prehended of Jesus Christ.
Phillpplans 3:12
Rains ISD is part of a con-
sortium linking 24 school dis-
tricts located in 11 counties and
six regional service center
areas to be awarded the largest
grant ever bestowed by the
Texas Education Agency: one
million dollars. The grant will
be used to provide connection
through fiber optic cabling for
distance learning projects.
When complete, the system
will have full send-and-receive
capabilities for audio and full-
motion video serving more
than 38,000 students located
from East to far West Texas.
Using this system, students
will have access to courses pre-
viously unavailable due to dis-
trict size and geographic loca-
tion; educators will have ac-
cess to staff development activ-
ities previously restricted by
cost, time and geography; and
community members will have
local access to previously un-
available educational re-
sources.
“Since I served as a Core
Team member for the writing
of this proposal, Rains ISD
will be one of the nine schools
to receive not only a fully fund-
ed classroom but also the cost
of the telephone line charges
for a full year in the first phase
of the grant,” said Rita Dobbs,
Rains ISD Curriculum Direc-
tor. “We will receive a class-
room that will include seven
24” television monitors, two
tracking video cameras, four
computers, fax, modem, print-
er and telephone. These de-
vices will allow students to in-
teract with three other dis-
tance-learning classrooms at
the same time. Rains ISD will
receive over $100,000 in
equipment, line charges, staff
development training, and in-
stallation,” Ms. Dobbs said.
“Our students will be able to
take college courses and re-
ceive high school credit as
well,” said Bob Clopton, high
school principal. “This will be
of great benefit to the students,
but of more benefit to the par-
ents because students could
leave us with a high school de-
gree and two years of col-
lege.”
Gladewater County Line
ISD will be acting as the fiscal
agent for this project to imple-
ment and coordinate all activi-
ties for the collaborative. Other
members of the collaborative
along with Rains ISD are:
Alba-Golden ISD, Allen ISD,
Boles ISD, Campbell ISD,
Commerce ISD, Coolidge
ISD, Cumby ISD, Gilmer ISD,
Greenville ISD, Groesbeck
ISD, Harmony ISD, Mexia
ISD, Mt. Vernon ISD, Quit-
man ISD, Sulphur Springs
ISD, Winnsboro ISD, Wolfe
City ISD and Yantis ISD. Con-
necting to these East Texas
school districts are Dell City
ISD, Ft. Hancock ISD, Sierra
Blanca ISD, and Fabens ISD
from El Paso and Hudspeth
counties.
Additionally, the project in-
cludes East Texas State Uni-
versity, Jarvis Christian Col-
lege, University of Texas at El
Paso and Southwest Texas
State University.
“We are extremely pleased
that Rains, along with the other
schools in the consortium, has
received this grant. It shows
the confidence that the state
has in our district, and we anti-
cipate being able to offer even
more services to our students
and the people in this county
with this system,” said Dr.
Guy Harrison, superintendent.
“It was indeed a pleasure
for me to work with personnel
from Gladewater, Greenville,
ETSU, and Cumby in the prep-
aration of this proposal. Now
that we have been awarded the
largest grant ever given by the
Agency, we will be speaking at
many state conferences as well
as regional and national con-
ferences. I feel very honored to
represent our school district in
this endeavor,” said Ms.
Dobbs. “I appreciate the con-
fidence that Dr. Harrison and
the school board placed in me
by allowing me to play such an
active role in the research and
writing of the grant applica-
tion.”
Implementation of the grant
will begin in April when speci-
fications will be designed for
the purchase of equipment for
the nine classrooms. Peoples
Telephone in Quitman and
ETEX Telephone in Gilmer
will begin laying fiber to the
districts immediately. Comple-
tion of the first phase of the
grant will be in August 19%.
Outside funding sources are al-
ready being sought by the Core
Team members so that all 24
school districts will be on-line
as soon as possible.
REPORT
by Woody Morris
Feb. 28...............1.26
March 1 ..............0.14
March 2..............0.24
March 3..............0.02
March 4..............0.05
March 5..............0.01
Total for week.........1.72
Total for Feb...........2.16
Total for year..........8.16
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Becknell, Kathleen Hill. Rains County Leader (Emory, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 9, 1995, newspaper, March 9, 1995; Emory, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth765644/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rains County Library.