The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 203, No. 47, Ed. 1 Friday, November 20, 1998 Page: 1 of 4
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VOL 203 — NO. 47
SULPHUR SPRINGS, TEXAS — FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20,1998_4 PAGES — 25 CENTS — PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
<**
Ready to go
Harrison, Walker and Harper, the Paris contractor
for the new city library, has placed a work trailer at
the site, a sure sign that construction can’t be far
away. *
County urged to help fund library operations
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK_
If Hopkins County can’t help fund the
operations of the local library, the day may
come when residents outside the city limits
have to pay to use the facility.
“We have to do something,” City Coun-
cilman Ronnie Wilson said Wednesday.
“It’s not fair to have a shared facility, and
the city taxpayers foot the total cost.”
Wilson and other city officials were told
by Hopkins County commissioners Mon-
day the county will contribute $25,000 this
year to help fund construction of a new
library. But operational costs were not
included in the current budget, and comj
missioners did not say if they would con-
tinue to help fund operations in the future.
“As a councilman, I don’t mind telling
you that I’ll have to play it over in my mind
real hard that if we can’t get support for
operations from the county like they have
in the past, my personal opinion is it may
very well come down to charging county
residents a fee to use the library,” Wilson
said Monday.
City Manager Marc Maxwell said of the
11,352 library cards used in the past two
years, 6,259 were held by people outside
the Sulphur Springs city limits.
“We have a number of them that are post
office boxes, and we don’t know where
they reside, but we do know that we have
6,259 addresses outside the city,” Maxwell
said.
“And if [Precinct 1 Commissioner Beth]
Wisenbaker doubts that, I’ll be glad to read
the names of every one of them.”
Hopkins County has helped fund the dai-
ly operations of the library in years past.
One year ago county commissioners con-
tributed $20,000 to upkeep of the library,
and gave a combined $23,000 in the previ-
ous three years.
Wilson, however, said $20,000 barely
scratches the surface of operating costs.
“The budget on the library we have today
is $194,000 roughly,” he said. “The county
had paid $20,000 of that. When you have
roughly 40 percent city residents using that
library and 60 percent county residents, I
feel like the county’s been getting a good
deal.
“The thing that bothers me is that some-
body went to the commissioners and asked
for $50,000 to donate to the library for con-
struction purposes, and they committed to
that. I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” Wil-
son added.
“I do think it’s a bad thing to abandon a
responsibility of helping to upkeep what
you already have. For heaven’s sakes, the
budget to run it is going to continue to
grow when the new one’s built, and I don’t
know anyone from the city that has asked
them to pay more —just pay what you’ve
been giving us.
“I sure don’t think that $20,000 a year,
when 60 percent of use is coming from
county residents, is unreasonable.”
Commissioners did not say funding for
the operating budget has been discontinued
indefinitely, and County Judge Joe Minter
told city officials Monday he would review
the budget to try and find a way to con-
tribute to operations.
Thanksgiving
meals readied
by several
local groups
By PENA GRAVES_
For those who may not have a
place to go or family to visit during
the Thanksgiving holidays, several
organizations are serving dinner for
residents in the area.
Handfuls On Purpose Everlasting
Ministries will serve lunch Saturday,
Nov. 21, at 11:30 p.m. at the Church
of God. The church is located at 1150
E. Shannon Rd., and church members
said anyone is welcome.
“H.O.P.E. Ministries is using our
facility to serve the food,’’said Kay
Flanagan, church secretary. “But sev-
eral church members are going to
help.”
Flanagan said they are expecting to
serve about 200 families Saturday.
“We are going to serve food until
we run out. It’s first-come first-
serve,” she said. “This lunch is for
anyone who needs a meal or who
maybe doesn’t have family in the area
and wants to have Thanksgiving with
someone. We’ve never done this
before, but we think it is going to be
successful.”
H.O.P.E. Ministries is a non-profit
organization that was established 10
years ago by Larry Davis and his wife
Cindy. They are the sole operators of
the organization and have helped
community members in Hunt County
and several areas surrounding Dallas.
They live in Hunt County, but are
members of the Church of God in
Sulphur Springs.
“We don’t limit ourselves to just
one county,” said Davis. “We do this
to help people, and we go where we
can help. We know what it is like not
to have Thanksgiving dinner so we
give when we can.
“When we became a member of
the Church of God, we asked mem-
bers if they had ever been a part of an
activity like this. They said no, so we
decided to have it here this year."
Davis said he will have 25 assis-
tants helping him serve food and
clean on Saturday.
“In the past, we have served about
200 families,” said Davis. “We hope
to serve that many Saturday. We
probably will because when you give
away food, people will show up."
Davis said he has received several
donations from church members,
Wal-Mart Super Store in Greenville
and Bo Pilgrim, president of Pilgrim’s
Pride.
If people would like to donate food,
funds or services, please contact
Davis at (903) 883-4085 or contact
the church at 885-3856.
Meal-A-Day will serve lunch on
Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov.
26, at the Senior Citizen Activity
Center, 150 Martin Luther King Blvd.
Meal-A-Day Coordinator Sue
Hawkins-McClure said traditional
Thanksgiving meals, as well as regu-
lar meals will be served and deliv-
ered.
“We’ve had several promises of
turkey donations for Thanksgiving, so
we hope those will come through,”
she said. “The Girl Scouts also donat-
ed food to the Meal-A-Day program."
Girl Scout troops collected almost
70 sacks of canned food for the pro-
gram, according to Hawkins-
McClure.
Hawkins-McClure said any senior
citizen who would like to eat Thanks-
giving lunch at the center is welcome.
“We are inviting seniors who don't
have any place to go for Thanksgiv-
ing to come eat with us,” she said.
Staff Photo By Brad OttOMn
Sweet auction
Travis Elementary School raised $4,900 during its
annual auction Tuesday evening. In the past, funds
raised through the auction have been used to buy
such items as computers and playground equip-
.1****..
ment. In the photo above, Waneta Townsend
watches the auction while her granddaughter,
Marissa Kelty, 5, keeps tabs on her cotton candy.
Council OKs
bid for library
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK
Eight months after rejecting a low
bid of $1.8 million to build a new
library, the Sulphur Springs City
Council finally approved a bid pack-
age for the project — at a cost of just
over $2 million.
“We’re very pleased, and we’ve
been waiting for this for a long time,”
said G.V. Hughes, chairman of the
original library building committee.
The total bid package actually
came in at $2,187 million, about
$117,000 more than the council had
agreed to authorize for construction.
But the library building committee
recommended delaying carpet and
ceramic tile installation, shaving
$93,000 from the cost, and suggested
alternate engineering items that cut
another $25,500.
Hughes said more money is expect-
ed to flow in once building gets under
way.
“It’s a good possibility when we
start this project and it is a known fact
that it has begun, that we’ll be able to
apply for more grants, and we feel
like more people will come back with
more contributions and we’ll get
some more fund-raisers going,”
Hughes said.
“I move we build us a library," said
Councilman Bill Burney.
“I second it,” said Councilwoman
Selina Byron.
After a brief discussion, the five
council members present approved
the bid package with the recommend-
ed changes, bringing the cost down to
$2.07 million. Harrison* Walker and
Harper of Paris will act as contractor,
overseeing the construction project.
Ironically, council members reject-
ed a low bid for the library of $1.809
million in March. Several members of
the panel indicated they did not have
faith that money pledged to help fund
construction costs would be ultimate-
ly honored, and the cost of the library
would fall to taxpayers.
The council reversed its stand in
April after an expanded library com-
mittee was appointed by then-Mayor
Valanderous Bell, agreeing to approve
$11534 million in funds for construc-
tion. New pledges, a new building
site and other donations and funding
pushed the total available to just over
$2 million by the start of November.
No one was complaining about the
cost of the library Monday night,
however.
"G.V., I'd like to give y’all a hand,"
said Mayor Mike Miesse. “You’ve
done a wonderful job over the last
few years that y'all have been work-
ing on this. When is the library going
to be started ?”
Commissioners agree HCSO salaries very low
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK____
County commissioners Tuesday acknowl-
edged they need to do something to help the
Hopkins County Sheriff's Office retain its jail-
ers and patrol deputies. They just don’t have
any answers right now.
The Commissioners Court met Tuesday
morning with Sheriff Butch Adams and four
representatives of the various departments in the
sheriff's office to discuss future salary concerns.
The sheriff's office has lost a number of
employees in recent months to other law
enforcement agencies. Chief Deputy Rickey
Morgan said the patrol division recently lost
two officers to other departments, and for one
reason. "They said the only reason they left is
because of higher pay,” Morgan said.
Adams said corrections officers in the coun-
ty jail are the biggest area of concern.
Jailers and deputies in Hopkins County are
among the lowest-paid in Texas. Local patrol
deputies earn $18,000 per year and jailers
receive $14,000. In Hunt County, for example,
deputies are paid $21,000 and jailers $18.000.
Linda Lambe. a corrections officer with the
sheriff’s office for two years, said the depart-
ment is something of a training ground for oth-
er agencies,
“If there was any way we could just get the
pay up somewhere close to other counties, it
would help, but right now we’re so much low-
er than other counties," she said. “We spend all
our time training them, and other counties say,
“We’ve got a position open that pays $18,000 to
your $14,000,' and then they leave us and we’re
back to square one having to train somebody,
and it just keeps happening and happening.
"Or they’ll work until they see what they’re
bringing home, and they’re out of there.”
County students do their share
to pay for veterans memorial
By PENA GRAVES_
Adults in Hopkins County aren't
the only people getting involved with
raising money for a memorial to area
veterans. Students from all over the
county have raised more than $1,500
for the fund.
“We have collected $1,500 so far
from different schools,” said Sill
Bunch. VFW Post 8560 commander,
“and we haven’t collected from all of
the schools who have raised money
for the war memorial.”
Wednesday morning. Bunch and
Tommy Allison, co-chairman of the
memorial fund, received more than
$1,000 from students at Sulphur
Springs High School. Students raised
$1,097.85. to be exact, during their
lunch hour and between classes.
“We went around classes, and we
carried around an envelope and asked
if anyone wanted to give their extra
change or anything that they had to
the memorial fund," said freshman
Jason La Rue. “And they did.”
“This was a schoolwide project in
which students just donated money
toward the building of the memorial,”
said Doug Evans, a history teacher.
“They were really excited about con-
tributing to the memorial and honor-
ing our veterans in Hopkins County.
Many of the students donated their
lunch money, so they gave to the war
memorial instead of eating lunch, and
that’s pretty impressive. They were
willing to make a few sacrifices
themselves."
“We appreciate all of the schools’
efforts and interests," said Allison.
“And we as veterans appreciate the
students interest."
Allison said more and more stu-
dents are becoming involved.
“[Hopkins County Judge Joe
Minter] has been in contact with the
high school and the VFW has con-
tacted some of the elementary schools
and other schools out in the county,
and the response from the students
has been absolutely overwhelming,”
he said.
Donation
Sulphur Springs High School Principal Judy Tipping, left, presented
Tommy Allison, center, co-chairman of the Veteraas Memorial Fund, and
Sill Bunch, commander for VFW Post 8560, with a $1,097.85 donation
Wednesday morning. SSHS students collected money during their lunch
hour and between classes for the memorial fund.
Aircraft Components Manufacturing wins training grant
Aircraft Components Manufactur-
ing of Sulphur Springs was awarded
a $47,042 Skills Development Fund
grant from the Texas Workforce Com-
mission, which will let the company
train 15 new employees to manufac-
ture interior furnishings for two Boe-
ing 737- BBJ jet aircraft.
“We are excited about this opportu-
nity and look forward to beginning
the program," said Tom Barr, presi-
dent of the company. "This order
means continuity for our current work
force and will provide additional jobs
for Sulphur Springs and the sur-
rounding communities.”
The company received the order
from Raytheon Systems to manufac-
ture interior furnishings for the two
jets in October, according to Barr. The
new Boeing business jet is a high-per-
formance derivative of the next gen-
eration Boeing 737-700. The aircraft
has a range of more than 6,000 nauti-
cal miles and a cabin nearly three
times larger than existing long-range
business jets.
Boeing Business Jets, a joint ven-
ture of Boeing and General Electric,
currently has orders for 35 BBJs
worldwide.
Barr said the project is expected to
begin in mid-January, but training has
already begun "The training began
Monday and will last for three
weeks,” he said. “The training pro-
gram is an on-site class that prepares
employees for all of the fundamentals
of the job...”
Rural News: 4 Club News: 2 Reunions: 3
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Keys, Scott & Lamb, Bill. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 203, No. 47, Ed. 1 Friday, November 20, 1998, newspaper, November 20, 1998; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth779830/m1/1/: accessed June 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.