The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 206, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, January 5, 2001 Page: 1 of 4
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SOUTH KICROPUBLISHIM
2627 E Yaadell Dr
El Paso TX T9903 3721
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Absorbed The Gazette Circulation By Purchase On May 12, 1928
VOL 206 — NO. 1
SULPHUR SPRINGS, TEXAS — FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 2001
4 PAGES — 25 CENTS — PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
City awards
bid on new
apron for
local airport
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK
Police and victims baffled by shooting
Single shotgun blast injures couple Tuesday night Rewards being offered
““~U//»tnAivtnil mornillil llll,l/ll<> ( ln>> r»l ‘ I I i » I fill till* V I l '
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK
A Sulphur Springs construc-
tion company won the bid to
construct a new apron for the
city’s airport.
Sulphur Springs City Council
members voted Tuesday to
award A.K. Gillis Construction
the $298,000 contract to con-
struct the new apron at the air-
port, where a new terminal is
also being built.
An alternate plan that would
extend the apron by 30 feet was
also approved after Texas
Department of Transportation
officials approved $40,000 to
fund the additional construction,
according to City Finance Direc-
tor Peter Karstens.
Council members also voted to
change the zoning classification
for truck stops and travel centers
from heavy commercial zones to
light industrial zones.
Director of Community Devel-
opment Johnny Vance said
research into the original zoning
designation indicated there was
some disagreement as to whether
the facilities should be located in
light commercial or light indus-
trial zones.
“Heavy commercial was
apparently a compromise,”
Vance said.
A review of properties also
found the most likely sites for
truck stops and travel centers
would be in light industrial
zones.
Councilman Larry Willmann
applauded the change, noting that
travel centers have “quite a few
nuisances attached to them,”
such as fuel and noise, and truck
stops have evolved to include a
wide range of sizes and services.
“This is probably a good cor-
rection,” Willmann said.
In other action, council mem-
bers approved a bid from an
Emory company to bore under
Interstate 30 for a new sewer
pipe. Sisk Utilities submitted the
low bid of $47,100 for the work,
which was less than half the
$98,000 bid of a Fort Worth
company.
Police have no clue as to why a 61 -
year-old Sulphur Springs man was
shot at his Mitchell Street home Tues-
day night.
Nor do they know who shot him.
L.G. Hankins sustained severe hand
injuries after an assailant fired a sin-
gle shotgun blast when Hanking
answered a knock at his door. He was
reportedly in good condition Wednes-
day morning at Hopkins County
Memorial Hospital.
Sulphur Springs Police Del. Nor-
man C’olyer, who is investigating the
case, said there is no apparent motive
for the attack.
“Right now. I really don't know
what’s going on." Colyer said
Wednesday morning.
Hartkins and his wife Edith Alice
Hankins. 57. were at their home in
the KM) block of Mitchell Street about
8:20 p.m. when they heard a knock at
the front door. '
Colyer said Mr. Hankins opened
the door and saw the suspect,
described as a tall, slender black male
in his 20s. standing in front of him.
"All of a sudden, he sees a shot
gun." Colyer said.
As Mr. Hankins closed the door,
the shotgun fired. The blast went
through the door and struck Hankins’
hand, which was still holding the
doorknob. Pellets from the firearm,
which appeared to be a single shot
12-gauge shotgun, struck Hankins’
inddx finger and almost severed Ins
middle linger. One pellet hit the vie
urn's wife above one eye. but she did
not sustain serious injuries.
Colver said the two don’t know
who would target them lor an attack
They said lliev had no problems w ith
their neighbors and weren't involved
in anv disputes w ith anyone else.
“The victim didn’t know the guy
never seen him before in Ins file."
Colyer said. "They'd never had any
problems bctorc."
While robbery is a possible motive.
Colver added, u is unclear whether
lhe assailant attempted to force Ins
way into the home.
"The shotgun blast jammed the
door so it wouldn’t open," Colyer
said. "We don’t know il he tried to
get in the house or not."
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK
Sulphur Springs Crime Stoppers
is offering a lot of money to .ftiyone
who can help police in their inves-
tigations into two recent shooting
incidents in the city.
Crime Stoppers is offering up to
$1,000 for any information on the
Mitchell Street shooting Tuesday
night, when a 61-year-old Sulphur
Springs man sustained severe hand
injuries.
The organization’s board of
directors has also approved a guar-
anteed $1,000 reward for informa-
tion leading'to the arrest and indict
ment of the person or people-
responsible for the Dec. 17 shoot-
ing at a private parly on Carter
Street.
Two men were hospitalized in
that incident.
Police said they have received
little information from witnesses at
the scene, however.
Any cue with information about
these eiimes can call Crime Stop-
pers ai 885-2020.
Callers do not have to give their
names, only their information.
Informants’ identities are kept con-
fidential in all cases, and they can-
not be forced to testify in court.
A cold, wet, necessary job
Staff Photo By Faith Huffman
A city employee is drenched as he works in a hole
on College Street Wednesday morning in freezing
temperatures, trying to stem the tide of water from
a broken water line. A portion of the street span-
ning about three blocks was flooded by the break
and from two water hydrants that were opened to
release some of the pressure on the line. Repairs
were slowed as workers had difficulty locating and
getting to the cut-off valve for the water main.
KCS offers
Amtrak deal
on rail line
Power firms work through region’s ice storm
From Stall’ Reports
EEC Electric and TXU Electric and
Gas Co. were finally able to breathe a
sigh of relief Thursday morning after
getting power restored to most resi-
dences in Hopkins County.
“We're in pretty good shape right
now.” said TXU Operations Manger
Danny Hodges Thursday morning.
“We had maybe a dozen trouble tick-
ets left to fill when I came in at five
o'clock this morning. We’ve filled all
of the orders in our system comput-
ers.
However, work remains.
“That doesn’t mean that everyone
has power on. because people who
had services pulled off Iheir house are
having to have electricians repair that
before we can get the power on."
Hodges said
"When the electricians gel done,
they need to call us. and we'll come-
back.
"We encourage anyone who has
problems at Iheir residence to call us
back at the 800 number and let us
know.
"We have processed literally thou-
sands of cases in ihe Iasi few days,
and we may have missed some.”
By BRUCEALSOBROOK
Kansas City Southern Railways has
offered to allow Amtrak to run its
new passenger train linking Dallas
and New York -in exchange for
improvements on the rail line.
In a special edition of “KCS
New s,” President and Chiel Execu-
tive Officer Michael R I (averty indi
"taied KCS is (mixed to host the train,
which would run through Sulphur
Springs on the fine.
“We have invited Amtrak to oper-
ate a daily passenger train in each
direction between Meridian | Miss. |
and Dallas, in exchange for capacity
improvements including centralized
traffic control on the fine east ol
Shreveport." Haverly wrote in tile-
newsletter, summarizing the rail com-
pany’s accomplishments for the year.
Amtrak officials have remained
hush-hush on the state of the passen-
ger train, dubbed the Crescent Star,
but recent stalls in negotiations with
Union Pacific Corp. to run the train
on its rails have reportedly turned the
passenger carrier’s attention to KCS
While the information is hardly a
final indicator of w hat Amtrak’s final
decision w ill be. it is another clue m a
transportation mystery that has played
out over the past 10 months.
The new r-arl fine, a branch ol
Amtrak's Crescent train, is part ol the
transportation provider's growth
strategy in response to a congression-
al requirement for the government
subsidized service to become sell sut
licienl
The new service will branch off in
Meridian from the Crescent fine,
which runs between New York and
New Orleans. From Meridian. the
train will follow KCS tracks into
Shreveport, and from there lake the
linal route to Dallas. Il will either slay
on the KCS fine through Jefferson.
Daingerfield, Pittsburg. Winnsboro.
Sulphur Springs and Greenville
before heading to the Mctroplex. or
head south on the Union Pacific-
tracks through Marshall. Longview
and Mincola into Dallas.
Officials from Sulphur Springs,
Hopkins County and all cities and
counties along the KCS route have
been lobbying for Ihe northern path
since l-’ebiuarv. not long after plans
for the new line were announced.
After the dogged efforts by the "KCS
coalition." the decision on a mule was
delayed. In July, the president of
Amtrak's division overseeing the
route said a decision should come
w ithin a mallei ol weeks. In August.
Amtrak ollicials said an Aug. 25
report by I moil Pacific would help
them make a final decision. Since
then, word on any progress had been
mum.
Last week, however. Meridian
Mayor John Robert Smith, a meinbei
ol Amtrak’s board of dnectors. said
negotiations w ith Union Pacific had
hogged down, and Amtrak officials
are now Incusing on a deal with
Kansas City Southern Railways
Several instruments donated to Sulphur Springs Junior Symphony League
From Staff Reports
Local cello students gained more
from their association with profes-
sional cellist and instructor Alex
Matros than private lessons earlier this
month.
They gained access to the nine
instruments donated to Sulphur
Springs Junior Symphony League by
one of Matros’ other students. Prater
Monning, for use by students in the
Sulphur Springs Independent School
District’s Strings program who do not
own their own instruments.
"These are nice instruments, and
Alliance plans new drive-in
facility on South Broadway
By FAITH HUFFMAN
If you're shopping or doing busi-
ness on the south side of town and
run out of cash this summer, you will
no longer have to drive all the way
across town to visit the bank. Alliance
Bank is building a new drive-in facil-
ity on South BroadwaV Street that
will accommodate up to 10 lanes of
bank traffic and two lanes Jo the auto-
mated teller machines (ATMs),
according to Alliance Bank President
Tom Sellers.
Bank officials are having the drive-
in bank constructed just south of Paul
Bennett's dentist office in the 1400
block of South Broadway Street to
alleviate some of the traffic through
the branch office just north of Inter-
state 30.
“It's a large facility that will be able
to handle several cars and have room
for some growth later." Sellers said.
"The other (branch) site is busy, and
this will relieve some of the conges-
tion and provide for additional
grow-th."
Audley Moore Construction Co. is
scheduled to break ground in Febru-
ary or March, weather permitting.
Engineers and technicians will do soil
testing and a bid process will have to
be held before construction can begin,
hence the deferred start date
“It’s going to be a nice facility with
we re lucky to have them." said Anne
Straw n. president of the Junior Sym-
phony League.
"When Mr. Monning presented
them to us. Dr Matros gave a briel
demonstration of the quality and
sound of one of the cellos, w hich he
said if sold as is’ would he worth
Winter i
welcome
Visitors to Lin-
coln Drive Tues-
day morning
were greeted by
this apparently
happy snowman,
thanks to the
snow that fell in
Sulphur Springs
Jan. 1. The city
recorded 2 inch-
es of melted pre-
cipitation. or
about 4 inches of
snow New Year’s
Day.
approximately $3,000.’’
Matros. who was contracted by the
Junior Symphony League this fall to
provide private- lessons lor the cello
and bass students in the Strings pro-
gram. also gives private lessons to pri-
vate citizens in Ihe Dallas area.
Among his students is Monning. a
Dallas attorney so swept into the pas
sion for playing exemplified by his
instructor that he purchased nine
stringed instruments from a school in
Boston. Mass., that was closing and
having to sell their instruments
Upon hearing ol Sulphur Splines’
Strings program and the Junior Sun
phony League's private lessons pro-
gram from Malms. Monning knew lie-
had lound a home lor his purchases
Monning had the instruments — six
cellos, (wo violins and a viola
repaned and readied loi use bctorc
presenting them to the Symphony
l.eag.if loi use by Stimgs students.
Compared to ice,
snow wasn’t so bad
Bv BRUCE AI .SOB ROOK
--!------
The winter stuff that almost never
comes to Northeast Texas fell in
abundance over the holiday weekend
as Hopkins County welcomed 2001
in a blanket of pristine snows
Unlike the two ice storms that
pounded on East Texas in previous
weeks, the approximately four inch-
es of snow that covered the area w as
a comparative love tap. Numerous
minor accidents were reported in the
region, but mostly just vehicles slid-
ing off of roads, and the weather had
little effect on utility systems.
gency management goes, w e didn’t
have any pioblems." said Sulphur
Springs Emergency Management
Coordinator Rex Morgan
It was slow going over the w eek-
end at the Hopkins County Sheriff’s
Office as well, although deputies
were called on to assist motorists in
about a dozen slide-offs and minor
fender-benJers
It was the third time since Dec. 12
that Hopkins County and the rest of
the region faced precipitation from a
winter storm system.
The first hit the night of Dec. 12
with just enough ice and precipita-
cru.th side of town as well as the drive-in areas where the tellers will \ ^Of It*”*
south section of the county, and to work." Sellers said J •
J minor accidents, but as far as cmer- local residents.
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Keys, Scott & Lamb, Bill. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 206, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, January 5, 2001, newspaper, January 5, 2001; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth779821/m1/1/?rotate=90: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.