The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 204, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, July 2, 1999 Page: 1 of 4
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Hopkins County Area Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Hopkins County Genealogical Society.
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Employment
still strong in
Hopkins Co.
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK
Unemployment in Hopkins County
was almost a hill percentage point
lower in May than for the same
month in 1998 as the area saw a rise
in the total number of jobs.
The jobless rate in Hopkins Coun-
ty for the month of May stood at 4.6
percent, according to the latest esti-
mates by the Texas Workforce Com-
mission. One year before, the May
unemployment rate was 5.5 percent.
The improvement can be explained
by die number of people employed in
Hopkins County, which rose from
14,877 in May of 1998 to 14,955 this
year.
The number of jobs rose while the
civilian labor force — the count of all
people either working or looking for
jobs — dropped from 15,739 one
year ago to 15,681. The total number
of people out of work in Hopkins
County was also lower, dropping
from 862 in May of 1998 to 726 last
month. (
Unemployment also rose from
April to May by 0.3 percehiage
points, and the rate will likely contin-
ue to edge upward next month.
Unemployment traditionally climbs in
the summer as more job seekers join
the civilian labor force with the end
of school. The numbers settle back
down every fall when those same stu-
dents return to their studies.
Hopkins County and its surround-
ing neighbors generally showed
strong labor force numbers in May,
with only one of the six counties
recording unemployment higher than
5 percent.
Hunt County, which has the largest
civilian labor force in the area at
36,914, also had the lowest unem-
ployment rate in the region at 3.6 per-
cent. The jobless rate was almost as
low in Rains County, where unem-
ployment was at 3.7 percent last
month.
Franklin County unemployment
rose from 3.5 percent in April to 4.3
percent in May. Delta County’s job-
less figure last month was 4.9 percent,
up from 3.9 percent the previous
month.
Only Wood County’s 5.1 percent
jobless rate rose above the 5 percent
mark in April.
Moving into place
Stiff Photo By Bruco Altobfook
v
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mSUTS- -
-
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statue will be unveiled Saturday at the beginning of
the annual Indpendence Day Concert and flre-
a granite base In the Hopkins County works show on Heritage Square, which is sched-
use parting lot Wednesday morning. The tiled to start at 7 p.m.
Lawrence Luedtke, left, watches closely as a work
crew prepares to raise theVeterans Memorial stat-
ue onto
Courthouse
Airport panel
hopes to look
into the future
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK
It may seem a little premature to be
planning now for Sulphur Springs'
airport usage in the year 2024, but the
likelihood of growth in North Texas
will mean the local facility is just
going to get busier.
“Sometime in the next 10 to 25
years, we will probably start to see
the sheer mass of the Dallas-Fort
Worth Metroplex and other
metropolitan areas in this part of
Texas, as far as air traffic patterns,
start to impact us,” said Peter
Karstens, finance director for the city
of Sulphur Springs.
The city Tuesday night began the
process of creating a master plan to
try and determine the best routes of
growth for the municipal airport with
the first of what are expected to be
several meetings to gather input on
the master plan study.
“Like anything else, if you can do
that 15, 20 years before it happens,
it’s a lot more cost effective,”
Karstens said Wednesday. “When it
comes to infrastructure, you don’t
want to be doing it after the fact.”
Just as an intersection on the free-
way is critical to a city, the impact of
an airport over time is more intensive
for the amount of land it uses,
Karstens said.
“Wouldn’t it be nice, 10 or 20 years
before the fact, to ask ourselves every
important question about that infras-
tructure and the growth that may hap-
pen, so that the residential areas, the
businesses, every type of thing that
may cause discomfort later, we can
ask now?” he said. “That really
becomes the most critical part of the
master plan process.”
About 40 people attended the first
meeting Tuesday, but more hearings
will be held over the 10-month plan-
ning process.
“We need as many public com-
ments as possible, because we want
to turn over every stone that is out
there as far as issues that may come
up in the future,” Karstens said.
Commissioners OK fire agreement
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK
Hopkins County commissioners
Monday morning unanimously rati-
fied an agreement for fire services
with the city of Sulphur Springs.
The measure, approved during a
regular meeting of Hopkins County
Commissiorters Court, is essentially
the same as the proposal made by the
Sulphur Springs City Council in
February
“There were some minor changes,
but it’s basically the same,” said
Precinct 4 Commissioner Calvin
Prince. “I think it’s going to be a good
agreement for the county as well as
the city.”
Hopkins County Judge Cletis Mill-
sap said the four commissioners
worked hard on the agreement.
“I’d like to compliment the work
each of you commissioners has done
in getting this contract negotiated
with the city of Sulphur Springs,” he
said.
Sulphur Springs City Council
members voted in January to end the
city’s current method of providing
fire services outside the city limits,
but also decided the agreement should
remain in effect until Sept. 30 while a
compromise is worked out.
The decision brought protests from
county commissioners who said cre-
ating a separate fire department for
calls outside the city limits would also
create an expensive and wasteful
duplication of services. Commission-
ers and rural firefighters also disput-
ed figures that continuing the agree-
ment was placing an undue burden on
the city’s fire department and would
cause insurance rates to rise.
The Sulphur Springs Fire Depart-
ment currently responds to fire calls
outside the city limits under an agree-
ment with Hopkins County.
Newly
elected
4 ..
\
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V
New officers
of the Hopkins
County
Memorial
Hospital Aux-
iliary were
installed
Thursday.
From front to
back are Pres-
ident Kathryn
O’Bryant and
Secretary-
Treasurer
Martha
Perkins, and
outgoing _
Reporter Sally
Wolff and President Bob Wolff. Not pictured is Christine Street,
who was elected reporter for the coming year.
Stfff PnOlO »jf
Waiting for repairs
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fresh layers of tar and gravel an
Danny Ray Lace indicted for
April pawn shop shootings
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK
The Sulphur Springs man accused
of shooting three people in the
attempted robbery of a local pawn
shop has been indicted on four
charges that could lead to life sen-
tences.
A Hopkins County grand jury last
week returned three indictments for
aggravated assault and one for
aggravated robbery against Danny
Ray Lacy Jr.. 19. No trial date has
been set
Lacy is accused of entering The
Pawn Shop on South Davis Street
about 10 a.m. on April 30 and shoot-
ing three people — owner Roger
Price, employee Brent Brown and a
customer. Delbert Joe Hooten —
with a Lorcin 32-cal. semi-automat-
ic pistol before breaking into a jew-
elry case
Roger Price's son, Jay Price, who
was in a back room when he heard
the shots, grabbed a 12-gauge shot-
gun and shot Lacy in the chest.
Brown managed to leave the store
during the shootings, but collapsed
about half a block away.
Lacy. 19, was taken by helicopter
to Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler
for treatment.
He remained in the Tyler hospital
until May 12, when he was released
and brought to the Hopkins County
jail to face the felony charges.
Hooten was released from Hop-
kins County Memorial Hospital the
day after the shooting. Brown and
Roger Price were released from
HCMH just a few days before Lacy
left Mother Frances.
The grand jury returned aggravat-
ed assault indictments Friday for
each of the three shootings, plus an
aggravated robbery indictment for
the shooting of Price and attempted
theft of jewelry.
District Attorney Frank Long
chose to seek the assault and robbery
charges against Lacy even though
attempted capital murder could have
been prosecuted in the case. Long
said the assault and robbery charges
require less legal wrangling and can
produce the same outcome.
“An attempted capital murder
charge carries with it a lot of more
difficult measures in several areas,
such as jury selection,” said Long.
“The punishment range is exactly the
same, and the minimum amount of
time he would have to serve would
be same.”
Attempted capital murder carries a
minimum sentence of life in prison
upon conviction.
The aggravated assault and rob-
bery charges carry minimum sen-
tences of at least five years m prison,
but the maximum is also life in
prison or 99 years.
“Attempted capital murder might
sound better to the public, but aggra-
vate robbery and aggravated assault
charges are more effective,” said
Long, who added the victims support
the decision.
Rural News: 4
Club News: 2
Reunions: 3
I
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Keys, Scott & Lamb, Bill. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 204, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, July 2, 1999, newspaper, July 2, 1999; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth780146/m1/1/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.