The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 201, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, June 14, 1996 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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Absorbed The Gazette Circulation By Purchase On May 12,1928
VOL 201 — NO. 24
SULPHUR SPRINGS, TEXAS — FRIDAY, JUNE 14,1996
4 PAGES - 25 CENTS - PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
Holt crowned at Dairy Fest
By STEVE BRIGMAN_
It was such a challenge forjudges
to select a Hopkins County Dairy
Festival Queen at Saturday’s pageant
that Master of Ceremonies John Ginn
ran out of Aggie jokes before the
results were in. But shortly before 11
p.m., 17-year-old Amber Holt was
named the 19% queen.
Fourteen area teen-agers competed
to become the 38th pageant queen in
37 years. The winner receives a
$1,000 scholarship, with the fist run-
ner-up taking home $730, the second
runner-up $50Q and the third runner-
up $230.
“I wouldn’t have minded loosing to
any of those girls,” Holt said. “I feel
really honored. I’m just really looking
forward to it. I want to be a really
good ambassador for the dairy indus-
try.”
A proud father stood near her on
the stage after the coronation watch-
ing her accept congratulations. Doug
Holt said he and his wife Sandy
couldn’t be more proud of their
daughter.
“We are very proud of Amber,”
Doug Holt said. “It seems impossible
that I have a daughter nearly grown,
and yet as I look back, she still looks
like my little baby.”
Amber Holt is ranked in the top 10
percent of her class and is a member
of the Fellowship of Christian Ath-
letes, Key Club, National Honor Soci-
ety and a member of the Sulphur
Springs High School student council.
She is also a varsity cheerleader and
on the varsity softball team.
The new queen was quick to reflect
on the camaraderie among the con-
testants as one of the highlights of the
whole experience.
“I have learned that you can be
really good friends with the other
contestants,” she said. “It doesn’t
have to be such competition. We’ve
really backed each other up.”
First runner up Melissa Lynch
shared Holt’s feelings.
“It was unforgettable,” she said.
“It’s an experience that will last a life-
time, it will never happen again and
I’m just thrilled 1 had a chance to be
in it.”
Out-going queen Erica Odom
shared her friends’ excitement, but
said she would miss the crown.
“I’m kind of sad,” Odom admitted.
“I’m excited for Amber, but it is over
for me.”
Exciting evening
Amber Holt, right, reacts with surprise after being named the 19%
Hopkins County Dairy Festival Queen at Saturday’s pageant in the
Civic Center auditorium. At left, pictured from left to right, are Jandi
DeWitt, third runner-up; Melisa Lynch, first runner-up; and Shaunna
Wrigley, second runner-up.
Lending a summertime hand
City purchasing
system changed
Two positions eliminated as department
heads take responsibility for buying
By STEVE BRIGMAN
In a move designed to improve account-
ability and streamline operations. City Man-
ager Marc Maxwell announced Tuesday he
has changed the way the city makes purchas-
es.
Future purchases will be made by individu-
al department heads instead of a central pur-
chasing department.
“Now the person who is accountable for the
budget and who is responsible for making the
purchase is the same person,” Maxwell said.
“The person who is going to have to answer
for the budget is also asking fundamental
questions like, ‘Do I need this shovel? Do I
need this nice of a shovel? Do I need this
many shovels? Perhaps I should shop a little
harder and get a better price.’”
But the improved efficiency has a down-
side, he said.
“The very unfortunate thing about it is that
it required that I lay off two employees,”
Maxwell said.
Maxwell said the positions of director of
administrative services and one purchasing
clerk were eliminated in the move. He empha-
sized that the staff reductions were not a result
of poor performance of the employees in the
purchasing department.
“It is very difficult to lay off employees
whose work you like,” he said. “Indeed, that
was the case with these employees. The fact is
that the need for that work didn’t exist any-
more. It was not performance-related at all.”
The city will save $69,418 in salaries and
benefits as a result of the change. The decision
to retool the purchasing process was made by
Maxwell and did not involve members of the
City Council.
Maxwell said he feels a decentralized pur-
chasing system will create a feeling of owner-
ship in the individual departments.
“Department heads and employees really
haven’t been involved in the purchasing pro-
cess as much ayi would like to see,” Maxwell
said. “As a fesult of that, there really hasn’t
been the ownership of the budget that I think
there should be in each department. The whole
idea of getting more ownership of the budget
is that you do hope to save money and to gain
some efficiencies there.”
He said his experience working with both
decentralized and centralized purchasing sys-
tems made the decision inevitable.
“I’ve had it on my list of things to do for a
while,” hesaid.
The city’s centralized purchasing system
was originally adopted to prevent abuses.
Though unaware of specific abuses. Maxwell
said there are those at City Hall who claimed
they existed.
Federal funds could help
build new railroad spur
By BRUCE ALSOBROOK
1-30 keeps narcotics officers busy
By STEVE BRIGMAN
If you are going to run drugs, you’d better
not bring them through Hopkins County —
there’s a whole lot of bustin’ going on.
The Tactical Narcotics Team Task Force’s
Stan Avery and Jay Hudnall comprise just
one of the teams that are making it tough to
get drugs through the area. But even though
they have taken a lot of drugs out of circula-
tion, they know an interdiction officer's work
is never done.
“It’s scary,” Avery said. “I don't even think
we are making a dent in it. I think there is that
much of it going down the road. There s no
telling how many loads of dope stop at the
convenience store up here in a day to get gas.
a Coke, and head on down the road.”
“The road" is Interstate 30.1-30 has estab-
lished itself as a major conduit for the trans-
port of illegal drugs, most of it headed east.
“We see a lot [going to] Arkansas, Ten-
nessee, Ohio, New York ... mainly to the
northeast," said Avery, who also said Dallas
is a major source city.
“Always has been and always will be,
probably,” Hudnall added.
The marijuana is hidden in an array of
vehicles, including commercial and private
automobiles.
Sulphur Springs’ strongest advocate in
Congress may have lost out on a bid to stay in
Washington, D C., but he's trying to get a nice
parting gift for his hometown.
U S. Rep. Jim Chapman said this week he
expects to procure almost $900,000 in funding
to help the Sulphur Springs-Hopkins County
Economic Development Corp. build a railroad
spur and wastewater pre-treatment facility for
local industrial tracts.
“If both of these things were to come
through, basically we re getting close to $1
million in aid," said Charles Helm, chairman
of the EDC board of directors. “It may not be
the full funding, but it’s going to be a big por-
tion of it.
“That doesn’t mean that we’re going to get
it, but I feel confident that he feels like we ll
get it, or he wouldn't say it.”
The spur would link an industrial park near
Shannon and Radio roads with nearby Kansas
City-Southern railroad. Helm said the rail
Merritt: Do the right thing
GOP House candidate hopes to see reforms through
By STEVE BRIGMAN
Most politicians are spineless and have
to be forced to do what is right, according
to Ed Merritt, the Republican candidate for
the District 1 House seat in November.
The issue of a balanced budget, he said,
will be a good example.
“Even if the the Republican Congress is
successful in getting through a balanced
budget this year, four years down the road
Congress will come along and change it,”
he said. “We need an amendment that
requires them to do what is right.”
The Longview attorney, in Sulphur
Springs Saturday, promised to run on a
platform that will also focus on property
rights and personal responsibility. Welfare
and the courts will be the targets, he said,
adding that he will also champion tort
reform.
“Certainly, I believe in our jury system.
But over the last 15 years of trying law-
suits, I have seen so much abuse,” he said.
Reforms, he said, should include a los-
er-pay policy.
“If you have got a lawsuit against some-
body, and you have got a valid claim, you
should take it to court.
“And if you are confident that you are
going to win, that’s fine. If you loose, I
tmnk you should pay the other side's legal
bills."
Looser-pay would cut out frivolous law-
suits, he said.
“I don’t really see why the Democrats
and Bill Clinton and trial lawyers in gen-
eral would oppose that," he said.
“It doesn’t take away their livelihood; it
just assures that lawsuits are genuine."
Welfare reform will be another empha-
sis, Merritt said.
access is a strong attraction for prospective
industries.
“People can make promises. When you’re
looking to get industries to come in, you can
tell them, T can get you land, I can get you
water, I can get you utilities, we can build you
a railroad spur,’” Helm said.
“But if you’ve got the facilities there and
say, ‘Here it is, it’s all ready.’ that’s like show-
ing somebody a new home. It’s hard to
describe to them what you can build, but if
you can show them what you've got, it just
entices that company."
The pre-treatment facility, which would cost
about $470,000 to build, could help finally
bring Raskas Foods Inc. to town. The EDC
has been holding discussions with Raskas. a
St. Louis, Mo., dairy processor, to bring a pro-
cessing plant to the area for more than a year.
The company manufactures dairy products
such as sour cream and cream cheese and
would be expected to utilize local milk pro-
duction should it locate in Hopkins County.
Clean as
a whistle
Bright Star 4-H
member Kory
Kooa uses a
water born te get
hk cow ready
for the North-
east Item Lhw-
Ciric Ceater
Rural News: 4
Club News: 2
Ik
Reunions: 3
I
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Keys, Scott & Lamb, Bill. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 201, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, June 14, 1996, newspaper, June 14, 1996; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth780720/m1/1/?q=south+texas+college+of+law+: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.