Rains County Leader (Emory, Tex.), Vol. 117, No. 7, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 27, 2004 Page: 1 of 30
thirty pages : ill. ; page 25 x 15 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
013105
SOUTHWEST MICRQPUBLI
E YANOiLl OR
All FOR ADC 780
1703
1L PASO TX
303 J7A
HimH.1,,1,1,,11.....Il,..ll,|(n|l|1(|ll||ll|j)jj|4ij|j|||,
Bains Countu Leader
. v „ }■ Oi ^.....1 ^_____
Vol. 117, Issue 7 - 1 section, 14 pages plus insert
Your Hometown Newspaper Since 1887
EMORY, TEXAS - TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2004
Web: www.RainsCountyLeader.com
e-mail: rainsleader@earthlink.net
PRICE 500
NEWS BRIEFS
Rains ISD Band camp
Rains High School summer hand camp is July 29 and 30.
Drum line 8:30 a m., color guard 9:30 a m., pil 2:00 p.m. August 2
drum majors and drill instructors report to the hand hall at 8:00 a.m.
All new students and incoming freshman report to the band hall at
8:30 a.m. Full band will report to the band hall 10:00 a.m.
Haz-Mat Class this Saturday
This Saturday, July 31. a Haz-Mat Awareness Class will be
conducted by FEMA from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Southwest
Rams Volunteer Fire Department on Hwy. 47 in the Flats communi-
ty. Instructors for the course wiil be from Texas A&M. Members of
all volunteer fire departments, officials, and citizens are invited to
attend. The class and books are free, and lunch will be available at
the station for a donation.
Bright Star homecoming
August 1, 2(X)4. homecoming services at Bright Star will begin
at 10:30 a.m. with Bro Royce Campbell bringing the message.
Leslie and Keith Miller will be in charge of the music. Lunch will
be served after services.
Student Council meeting Aug. 2
All Rains High School Student Council members are asked to
attend the first meeting on August 2 beginning at I2:(X) noon at the
Rains High School. There are several activities to plan, and mem-
bers' attendance and participation are very important. For more
information or questions, call Alisha Thomas, president, at 903-571-
7592.
Rains Jr. High volleyball camp
A volleyball camp for Rains Junior High School will be held in
the Junior High Gym August 2-5. The total cost for the camp is $10.
Grade seven is from 8:30 to 11:00 a.m., and eighth grade is from
I2:(X) n<x>n until 2:30 p.m. This camp is for any girl who is going to
be in athletics next year and is planning on playing volleyball. You
will need to wear shorts, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes. The basic fun-
damentals that the athletes w ill be expected to know for the upcom-
ing volleyball season will be explained.
RJH new student registration
Students entering grades six, seven or eight w ho tire new to the
district may register on Tuesday, August 3, anil Wednesday, August
4. Registration will begin in the morning at 9:00 a.m. and extend
through 11:30 a.m. The afternoon registration tune will begin at
.00 p.m. and end at 2:30 p.m. The legal guardian must have the fol-
lowing documents when registering his or her child: birth certificate.
Social Security card, final 2003-04 school year report card, immu-
nization record and proof of residency in Rains County.
Rains Elementary registration
Rains Elementary will be enrolling Pre-K on August 4. Stu-
dents will need to bring their birth certificate, update of immuniza-
tions, proof of any current income, proof of Social Security and
proof of residence. Pre-K will have only 30 students and is on a
first-come basis. You must bring everything listed with you since
this is a federal-funded program and all rules must be followed.
Kindergarten registration is on August 3. Please bring a birth
certificate, update of immunizations, proof of Social Security and
proof of your residence.
Registration for all new students to the district is on August 5-
6 for grades 1,2, and 3. New students will need to bring grades
from the last sehixil attended, birth certificate, update of immuniza-
tions, proof of Social Security and proof of your residence.
County working to unsnarl 911
By CAROLYN HILL
Rains County Leader stall
Over fourteen hundred Rains
County residents have their 911
data dumped onto fictitious
county roads . . and that’s the
good news.
A special meeting of the com-
missioners court Wednesday,
July 21, revealed that when a
911 emergency call is placed
from 1,476 residences in the
county, no good data appears on
the dispatcher's screen at the
sheriff's office. And the reason
that's the good news is that the
figure had been as high as 3,5(X).
County Judge Joe Dougherty
and Commissioners Rodney
Smith and Evelyn Malone met
with East Texas Council o! Gov-
ernment (ETCOG) representa-
tives Carolyn Flores and Pattie
Clayton and Bobby Bednar of
Map Specialists Addressing
Group, Inc. Flores gave the
court some background on the
state-required Master Street
Addressing Guide (MSAG) pro-
gram and an update on where
the county stands now.
Bobby Bednar. who only
recently took over ownership of
Map Specialists Addressing
from Chester and Connie Helt,
reported on his efforts to identi-
fy and correct the misinforma-
tion in the system
He told the court, ‘One of our
biggest telephone number errors
was one Emory exchange. We
had 700 some-odd telephone
numbers attached to one road. It
was a fictitious road. That num-
bers is now down to 16."
Flores explained that early in
the MSAG addressing program,
when not all streets and roads
had real road names and some
type of address had to be shown,
it was common practice for
phone numbers to be placed on
“other fictitious roads” or an
exchange name such as “Emory
exchange.” That allowed some
customer information to display
in the system with the expecta-
tion that more valid information
would come.
As the MSAG system became
more developed and data bases
and networking established, it
was expected that addressing
information would be moved
from those fictitious roads and
exchanges and good information
would be sent to the system's
data base provider. Intrado,
through ETCOG.
Continuing with her back-
ground, Flores said that
although addressing and map-
ping was going on in the county
first through Haff Associates
then by the Hells at Map Spe-
cialists Addressing Group, the
snarl ot 911 addresses on ficti-
tious roads in Rains County was
not being corrected and sent to
the database.
Flores emphasized several
times that the actual mapping
and addressing in the county has
been and still is good, "1 think
Map Specialists has done a good
job of addressing and mapping.
Where we had a failure was data
stiil wasn't making it to your
911 system.” she said.
In the past year the Hells
hired Bednar and he began the
task of locating bad information
m the system, correcting it with
gixxl information and sending
that information to (he database.
More recently Bednar assumed
ownership of the business.
Information which should
automatically appear on a dis
patcher’s screen once a 911 call
is received includes: phone
number of caller, address of
caller, law enforcement respon-
der, fire department responder,
and EMS responder. All of that
information has to funnel
through Map Specialists
Addressing Group to ETCOG
for approval and then on to
Intrado.
Bednar told the court Wed
nesday that, because of down-
sizing and restructuring of the
company, he would not be
renewing the addressing con-
tract with Rains County when it
expires on October I, 2004. He
anticipates that all of the coun-
ty's 911 addressing information
will be corrected and transferred
to the data base by that time.
Map Specialists Addressing
Group also has contracts with
Wixxl. Van Zandt, Marion, and
Anderson counties in ETCOG
also Angelina, Trinity, and
Nacogdoches counties, which
are members of another council
of governments.
A short discussion followed
on the possibility ol the county
undertaking to hire someone and
conduct the addressing and
maintenance on its own or in
conjunction with one or two
other counties instead of con-
tracting w ith anothc, addressing
company. According to Flores,
Rains County can expect to
receive approximately $22,(XX)
to $25,000 m funds from
ETCOG next year for address-
ing and maintenance. That fig-
ure is based on state funding
available to ETCOG. In the past,
the bulk of those funds paid the
Map Specialists Addressing
Group s contract with $3,5(X) of
it going to the sheriff's office for
maintenance ot the 911 equip-
ment located there.
see Mil page J
Sales Tax
Holiday
Aug. 6-8
By BONNIE BURCH
Rains County Leader stall
East Tawakoni adopts burn permit
Homemade ice cream supper
The annual homemade ice cream supper sponsored by the
Point Ladies Civic Club will be held Saturday. August 7. at 7:00
p.m. at the Point Community Center. Many flavors of ice cream will
be served including vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, peach, banana,
caramel and lots more, all homemade. Cake will also be served, and
there will be a 25c cakewalk. Donations will be accepted to benefit
the Point Community Center.
Freshmen Orientation Aug. 9
All Rains High School freshmen are invited to attend the annu-
al Freshmen Orientation, also known as Fish Camp. Orientation will
be held August 9 from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon at the Rains High
School. This year's Fish Camp will introduce and prepare upcoming
freshmen for high school. In addition, there will be games, door
prizes and much more. Lunch will also be provided. So all fresh-
men, please attend. You don't want to miss the fun.
2005 Senior Portraits
All 2005 seniors should have received a letter in the mail from
Prestige Portrait Studio regarding their senior portraits. If you did
not receive a package, please call 903/581-4321 to schedule an
appointment. They will be at Rains High School on August 11 and
12 to take these pictures. Any further questions, call Denita Young
at 903/473-2260.
Extension Council/Fair Assoc.
The Rains County Extension Program Council and Rains
County Fair Association will meet on Tuesday, August 17. at 7:00
p.m., at the Rains County Fairground Exhibit Building in Emory.
For additional information contact Texas Cooperative Exten-
sion at 903-473-2412.
Youth event to be held Aug. 29
Believer's Baptist Church will hold a youth event on Sunday
night. Aug 29. starting at 6:00 p m. for all students in 6th-12th
grades. There will be two awesome live bands, an outstanding
drama team, and a fantastic motivational speaker. The aim of the
youth event is to unite youth groups from all churches countywidc.
Come and see what the excitement is all about, and bring a friend
Exhibit spaces for Rains Co. Fair
The annual Rains County Fair will he held September 13-18. If
you would like to rent a space at the Rains County Exhibit Building,
now is the lime to call. To reserve your space inside the exhibit
building, contact Todd or Becky Brumit at 9X13-473-2509 or leave a
message on their recorder. To reserve your space outside the exhib-
it building, contact Howard Emig at 903-473-3944.
Make your plans to go on a
shopping spree on August 6, 7
and 8. Those are the days that
Texas shoppers get a break from
paying slate and local sales taxes
on many items, and during that
time hard-working Texans can
keep some of their money in
their pockets for other priorities.
The event is called the "Sales
Tax Holiday.” and this is the
sixth year that the state has of-
fered the opportunity. Lay-away
plans may be used to purchase
most clothing and footwear
priced under $100. which could
save shoppers about $8 on every
$100 they spend. The following
is a selected list of items and
their exemption status during the
holiday (the list cannot include
every possible item that quali-
fies for the exemption):
TAX FREE:
Baby clothes; belts with
attached buckles; boots - cow-
boy, hiking; caps/hats — base-
ball. fishing, golf, knitted; coats
and wraps; diapers - adult and
baby; dresses; gloves (general-
ly); gym suits and uniforms;
hooded shirts and hooded sweat-
shirts; hosiery; jackets; jeans;
jerseys - baseball and football;
jogging apparel, neckwear and
ties; pajamas; pants and
trousers; raincoats and ponchos;
robes; shirts; shoes - sandals,
slippers, sneakers, tennis, walk-
ing; socks (including athletic);
shorts; suits; slacks and jackets;
sweatshirts; sweat suits;
sweaters; swim suits; under-
clothes; work clothes and uni-
forms.
TAXED:
Accessories (generally) - bar-
rettes. elastic ponytail holders,
wallets, watches, backpacks;
baseball cleats and pants: helt
buckles (without belt): boots —
climbing, fishing, rubber work
boots, ski, waders; buttons and
zippers; cloth and lace, knitting
yams, and other fabrics; dry
cleaning services; football
pants: golf gloves; handbags and
purses: handkerchiefs: hard
hats: helmets - bike, baseball,
football, hockey, motorcycle,
sports; ice skates: jewelry: laun-
sec HOLIDAY page 5
The East Tawakoni City
Council amended its Code of
Ordinances Tuesday, July 20, to
begin requiring citizens to
obtain a permit to bum prior to
burning.
According to the unratified
minutes, the reasoning behind
the permit requirement is to
hopefully prevent harmful ob-
jects from being burned, for the
fire department to be aware of
permitted burnings, and to pre-
vent leaves and limbs being
burned in the ditches, which
contributes to the ditches
becoming slopped up.
Councilperson Terri Baker
made a motion to adopt the
amendment with no fee attached
to the permit. The motion car-
ried on a split 3-2 vote with
Council-persons Baker and
Lynn Wallace voting for and
Manish Amin and David Mar-
shall voting against. Mayor
Gary Vaughan broke the tie by
voting in favor.
Allen Prendergast addressed
the council concerning the new
move to build an animal shelter.
Prendergast asked that the coun-
cil commit to $10,000 toward
the project. He added that the
city of Emory has offered an
acre of land in its Industrial Park
and (hat his company. Richard-
son Construction, will construct
the building at no cost for his
services.
Several citizens voiced the
opinion that it would appear to
them that the shelter should be a
county project since they
already pay county taxes and
really don't know what services
their tax dollars pay for. There
were also questions of how the
shelter would be operated and
how the cost of the operation
would be handled. Prendergast
told them that these things will
be worked out and agreed upon
prior to any monies being
expended.
Baker expressed concern that
w ith the city just undertaking a
major street project, the budget
process would be a challenge
without the additional $lO.OtK)
consideration.
Prendergast asked that the
council table his request until a
later date when the council
would be working on the budget
and reconsider the possibility.
A motion to table until
August or September was
approved.
The Rains County Appraisal
District's CY 2005 budget was
approved as presented.
The council briefly reviewed
and approved a resolution re-
garding assistance from the
Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department in developing the
two city parks
A "Settlement Proposal"
from Ron Priestly's attorney was
presented and promptly rejected
unanimously by the council.
City Secretary Patsy Marshall
told council members that the
letter they requested notifying
Priestly ol the need to remove
his abandoned equipment had
been sent. She said the deadline
for removing the equipment was
set at Monday, July 26, at 9:00
a.m.
During citizens comments.
Jeff Young said that since the
Economic Development Cor
poration (EDO has spent money
on the previous street project, he
would like the courtesy ot
receiving a copy of the "Settle
men! Agreement" for the EDC
to see what ramification, if any,
it might have.
Reports were taken from sev-
eral departments including a
Street Project update from the
mayor. He said that, as of (hat
dale (July 20). the bond had
see
PERMIT n„gt .5
Court turns down two requests
By CAROLYN HILL
Rains founts LtJik? Mall
The Rams County Commis-
sioners Court voted to turn down
two separate requests at its quar-
terly night meeting on Thursday,
July 22.
The abbreviated court, con-
sisting of County Judge Joe
Dougherty and Commissioners
Rodney Smith and Evelyn Mai
one. found that both requests did
not meet the requirements need-
ed for approval. Commissioners
Gary Bishop and Virgil McEn-
turff were both away on vaca-
tion.
The first request the court
dealt with came from Robert W.
and Melissa Ziegler of the Flau
community. The couple has
plans to open a sexually oriented
business and submitted their
permit application and $1,500
permit fee as required by the
county for approval by the court
Malone asked for information
from the sheriff's office (SO».
and Chief Deputy Traylor
responded with an update on his
investigation of the business. He
reported that the couple had
complied w nh requests made by
the SO including closing the
business and covering the sign
when it was discovered that they
were operating without the
needed [vermit.
He proceeded to go over a
checklist of requirements set up
by the state and/or county w hich
included a distance boundary
and proper signage. The busi-
ness will be located in a van
parked on the Zieglers' property.
Traylor noted that the van's
location did not meet the dis-
tance requirement but added that
the owners said they would
change the location of the van
on the property to fall outside
the distance boundary.
Exact wording on a required
“Soon to Open" sign lumed out
to be the snag in the permit. The
law requires that (he name and
address be listed on the sign and
the Zieglers posted "The Love
Nest" as the name. The court
pointed out that the law specifi-
cally stales the name of the
applicant and the name ol the
business must be posted.
Malone moved to deny the
permit license based on Section
11 of the commissioners court
order regulating sexually orient-
ed business.
The second request was an
item that was tabled from the
July 8 court meeting. At that
time, Charlotte Parkhursl. rcprc
senung Southwest Rains Volun
leer Fire Department, presented
a petition requesting that a ref
crcdum to approve charitable
Bingo be placed on the Novem
ber General Election ballot.
An affidavit signed by Sheriff
Richard Wilson as voter regis
trar verifying the 326 signatures
was included with the petition.
The number of signatures was
well over the ten percent (or
276) ol all the votes casts in the
county for all the candidates for
governor in the last general elec
tion.
Thursday night. Judge
Dougherty cited several require-
ments under the "Bingo Act" of
the Texas Lottery Commission.
The final requirement was that a
zip code must be included as
part of each voter's address. He
added that only 21 of the 326
signatures submitted by
SWRVFD included their zip
codes.
With that information. Smith
made a motion to deny approval
of placing charitable Bingo on
the November ballot due to the
petition not meeting the zip code
see COURT page 3
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Hill, Earl Clyde, Jr. Rains County Leader (Emory, Tex.), Vol. 117, No. 7, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 27, 2004, newspaper, July 27, 2004; Emory, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth767193/m1/1/: accessed June 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rains County Library.