The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, April 26, 1985 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 MAY 12. 1928)
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SULPHUR SPRINGS, TEXAS; FRIDAY, APRIL 2*. IMS.
4 PAGES - 25 CENTS PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
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hopes to sell local holdings
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Coal project reduced to soot?
Staff and Wire Reports
A flickering flame may have gone out Tuesday on
Hopkins County’s hopes to become the base of a $4
billion lignite gasification project.
Phillips Petroleum Co., trying to whittle down huge
debts incurred in two takeover battles, said it has put its
coal and geothermal energy operations up for sale.
Those operations include approximately 57,000 acres
of lignite holdings under lease in Hopkins County. They
were accumulated when Phillips Coal Co., a subsidiary
of Phillips Petroleumrfonsidered building a lignite coal
gasification facility and surface mine near Sulphur
Springs, Steve Milbum, a spokesman for the company in
Bartlesville, Okla., told The News-Telegram Tuesday
afternoon.
Private lignite royalty holdings in Hopkins County
would remain in effect according to individual lease
agreements despite a sale of Phillips’ lignite operations,
Milbum added.
Tuesday’s announcement may have been only the
final nailjjrli coffin of what at one time was hailed as the
most ipi^rtant economic news in the history of Hopkins
County. Phillips already had dropped some lignite
leaRe* locally earlier this year, according to somelocal
pjjoperty owners.
Tne local construction plans, as well as gasification
plans throughout the lignite industry, fell by the wayside
in the past three years when prices of competing fuels,
mainly oil and gas, became lower.
“The economies just aren’t there,” Milburn said.
Phillips felt the energy crunch, furthered by thwarted
efforts of T. Boone Pickens Jr. for a Phillips takeover.
Hopkins County residents became excited in late 1981
when Phillips announced plans that would call for
employment of 3,000 people in the combined operation,
with a construction workforce forecast for the mid 1980s
of as many as 8,000.
In February of this year, the Texas Railroad Com-
mission announced that the mining industry was
preparing plans to double the number of lignite strip
mines within the state, but Hopkins County’s resources
were not on that list for development
Here are the lignite acres leased in Hopkins County by
Phillips in school districts, according to Appraisal
District chief appraiser Tom Witt Sulphur Springs ISD,
31,537.227 acres; Como-Pickton, 22,705 383 acres;
Saltillo, 43.63 acres; Yantis, 668.12 acres, Miller Grove,
172.3 acres; Winnsboro, 1805.29 acres; Cumby, 5 acres;
and Sulphur Bluff, 24 acres.
In the current moves, Phillips had said it would try to
sell about 12 billion of its $17 billion in assets to reduce its
debts.
The company had to borrow $4.5 billion this year tq>
buy back about half of its stock to escape a takeover bid
from New York financier Carl Icahn after earlier
surviving a bid from a group led by oilman Pickens of
Amarillo.
Phillips said it informed employees m the coal and
geothermal operations last week that those properties
were up for sale. The company has 60 employees in its
coal operations and 100 in its geothermal operations
The nation s eighth-Largest oil company said it had
received several inquiries about the coal and
geothermal operations and other company assets. It
said discussions had begun but did not identify the
parties involved
Susan St of fie, a Phillips spokeswoman, said Monday
that whether the operations tre sold depends on what
offers the oil company receives
Phillips has rights to an estimated coal reserves of
more than 8 billion tons of lignite in six southern states,
stretching from Alabama to Texas It also has about 350
million tons of sub-bituminous coal in the Powder River
Basin of Wyoming.
The company has geothermal properties in llta^,
Nevada and California It has acquired leases in several
other western states Phillips holdings in Utah sell
steam for generating electricity in California and
elsewhere in the west
Geothermal energy taps underground heat, such as
steam, to produce electricity
Council hears sewer woes
Science Fair participants
Students at the Sulphur Springs Middle School had an
opportunity to view the projects entered in the annual
Science Fair. Checking out the final details of their
project were Belinda Sansom, left, and Sheri Paaske,
center, as their sponsor, Tona Sue Hudson, checks the
list. Winning entries were announced Tuesday night at
the school's PTA meeting and will be featured in Sun-
day's Teen Scene.
—Slid Photo by Ann McAdams
The Sulphur Springs City Council
took a tentative step Tuesday toward
helping the residents of White Oak
Estates solve sewage problems in the
subdivision by authorizing the city
staff to study the situation and make
a specific recommendation at the
May 7 council meeting.
The council approved mid-yeaY
budget revisions on first reading
during Tuesday’s meeting and City
Manager David Tooley said the
budget could be changed between the
first and second readings to Include
the project.
“You can be assured this council
will give the highest consideration to
your request,” Mayor David Baucom
said.
There are currently 13 residences
in White Oak Estates, which is
located on Raintree Circle, just off
Loop 301. Ike Harper, spokesman for
the neighborhood group which asked
the council to look into the problem,
said “this is not a new problem and
it’s not going to go away.”
Harper said soil problems in the
area have made septic tanks, many
of which have been improved after
problems were recognized, virtually
useless. Lawns in the subdivision are
saturated, raw sewage in ditches
result in an unpleasant stench and.
Harper said, "it’s a bad situation in
and out of homes.
Harper said the cost of putting a
city sewer m the subdivision was
estimated at $120,000 after a study
was completed and the homeowners
are willing to pay for 50-60 percent of
the project. There are several
proposals bid we need the city’s
help," he said. "We can only soive
the problem with a city sewer "
‘ We re willing to pay more than
our share and we want the project
started," Harper said. “Were
talking a completion date of Sep-
tember or October if we can get it
approved within the next two mon-
ths."
About six other White Oak Estates
residents also spoke, echoing Har-
per’s comments and expressing
concern about health hazards
children in the area are exposed to
because of the raw sewage
Local couple promotes
organ donor awareness
Blues exhibit recalls county man's talent
By MARY GRANT
A local musical group that once
delighted Hopkins County and other
North and Northeast Texas
audiences is featured in a book,
“Living Texas Blues,” in conjunction
with an exhibit sponsored by the
Dallas Museum of Art. "
Bob and Joe Shelton and the
Sunshine Boys entertained audiences
in personal appearances and through
various radio shows on Dallas
stations from the 1930s to the 1950s,
according to Mary Attlesey, widow of
Joe Attlesey (who chose the stage
name Joe Shelton).
The exhibit has ended its run in
Dallas and now is making rounds in
the state at other art museums,
according to a museum spokesman.
Part of a Texas State Sesquicen-
tennial exhibit, "Lone Star
Regionalism; The Dallas Nine and
Their Circle,” the book headlines
blues musicians.
The Shelton group recorded “Deep
Elm Blues" in 1933, a recording that
puts them in the category with other
regional blues greats that Im-
mortalized Elm Street in Dallas.
However, Mrs. Attlesey said her
husband always thought of the group
as a country-western band or
Stolen items
are recovered
£■ I
The Hopkins County Sheriff’s
Office recovered $1,960 in goods
stolen from a Hopkins County
residence earlier this year. The
items were confiscated during a
search of a Terrell residence last
According to Sheriff C.W. Grayson,
office has issued warrants for the
at of the unidentified suspect,
ho may have fled out of state.
hillbilly, as the early music was
called.
Taking their mother’s maiden
name, The Shelton Brothers of Reilly
Springs became early morning
regulars on Dallas’ WFAA and later
on another station’s Early Bird show,
Mrs. Attlesey recalled. They also
performed on a Shreveport, La.,
radio station for several years.
“Music was a hobby with him,” she
said of her husband’s talent for the
mandolin. His brother played the
ukulele and both contributed vocal
selections for the group.
Leon Chappelear, who was not
from Hopkins County, was the lead
vocal.
The musicians began performing
with local appearances and
graduated to the Dallas stations.
Later, they were regulars at the
Reilly Springs Jamboree, a longtime
area event. Still later, the members
performed individually at nursing
homes and for other local audiences.
In 1976, the Library of Congress
released a record album coinciding
with the Bicentennial that included
the “Deep Elm Blues” selection, she
said.
The book, written by Alan
Govenar, is on sale at the Dallas Art
Museum, and contains the history of
many of the regional blues
musicians.
By MARY GRANT
For a Sulphur Springs family, the
designation of this week as National
Organ-Tissue Donor Awareness
Week means more than for most
people because one day their
daughter may be required to have a
liver transplant.
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Shockey are
making an effort to let other people
know of the program for obtaining
organ and tissue donors by placing
donor cards in the four local haiA*
along with brochures explaining the
procedures.
Their daughter, Suanne Johnson of
Lake Dallas, suffers from a liver
condition that has been corrected for
now, but the Richardson school
district teacher lives with the
possibility of needing a transplant in
the future.
Over the last two decades,
scientific, surgical and medical
advancements have made it possible
to transplant numerous human
organs and tissues successfully,
according to the American Council
on Transplantation.
Those successes cannot occur
without an available supply of
donated organs and tissues.
Primary donors are between the
ages of 15 and 85 who, in good health,
have died suddenly, probably
through accidents, and are declared
clinically brain dead.
Many forms of organ and tissue
donor cards are available. In Texas,
information is contained on the beck
of the state s drivers’ licenses which
describes an individual’s wish to
donate either specific organs and
tissues or the entire body in the event
of death.
However, according to the ACT
information, ut many areas of the
United States a physician will not
remove organs and tissues from a
brain dead patient without the
consent of the next of kin. Anyone
who wishes to be a donor should
discuss his wishes with his family to
insure his intentions to save
another’s life by his organ or tissue
donation are earned out.
The Texas Legislature tins session
is considering a bill that would allow
justices of the peace and naodfrwl
eximmers to make the decision for
people who died under cir-
cumstances requiring a legal
inquest, according to wire reports.
Brady hat opens doors for local woman In D.C.
By KEN WHALEN
In Paulette Fisher’s case, it might be said that a hat
opened a few doors on her trip to Washington D.C. last
week.
Fisher, the National Organization of the Disabled’s
Hopkins County liaison, flew to Washington last Wed-
nesday to attend the NOD National Awards Competition
banquet, where awards for handicapped programs
around the country were to be announced.
She was scheduled to meet with several represen-
tatives of federal handicapped organizations, including
presidential press secretary James Brady, the NOD
awards program chairman.
That’s where the hat comes in.
Fisher carried a cowboy hat with her on the plane
from Dallas and presented it to Brady during the
awards banquet. An Associated Press photo of Brady
wearing his cowboy hat and giving the “thumbs up”
sign appeared In newspapers around the country May
H.
“I took the hat on the plane and everyone from Dallas
to Pittsburgh noticed it. When I changed planes in
Pittsburgh, there wasn’t room for the hat so the pilots
took it into the cockpit with them and escorted it to
Washington," she said.
Fisher was interviewed by several magazine writers,
including one from U.S. News and World Report, a few
Washington television reporters and the NOD
newsletter editor for a feature in the “My Story” section
of the quarterly newsletter. The media attention, she
aaid, helped in her efforts to get support for the han-
dicapped program in Hopkins County.
“Everyone wanted to meet the lady from Texas who
brought James Brady the cowboy hat,” she said. “I
gave out my name and address and brochures on our
program to countless people who may be aide to help us
get an award next year. ”
“He (Brady) is very much loved in
Washington , some store workers even hugged me when
they found out I was the one who brought the hat," she
said.
Fisher said she invited Brady to attend the
Sesquicentenmal Wagon Train ceremonies here in
January. “He was delighted by the offer, but he may not
be able to come because he can’t fly anymore,” she said.
Brady was seriously wounded in the head during an
assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1911. He
has recovered remarkably from his injuries but is still
confined to a wheelchair.
Fisher said she met with several NOD officials to
discuss programs for Northeast Texas Industries, a
workplace for handicapped residents of Hopkins and
surrounding counties which was established last year in
Sulphur Springs.
She was particularly pleased with a discussion she
had with David T. Kearns, president of the Xerox
Corporation and chairman of the U.S. Council for the
International Year of Disabled Persons.
"I told him about the program in Hopkins County and
he was Impressed with what we are doing,” she said.
“He told me how to document our activities and apply
for an award next year.”
*
“I made a lot of good contacts and the interest was
there. This should help Hopkins County,” she said.
"Tex Brady" is bom
Pewfette Fisher, National Orwer1"4*--
County, peaes with
"00 National Awards Competihen
Washington, D.C Fiaher gave Brady the i
d i
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Keys, Clarke & Hillsamer, Dave. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, April 26, 1985, newspaper, April 26, 1985; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth780895/m1/1/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.