Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 25, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 30, 1980 Page: 1 of 16
sixteen pages : ill. ; page 24 x 16 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
~ -
ORDHAi 1 1 ■?-'• I -vv o»S ■.
H T C.ROF T l.l-j sFRVTi"F K-, -.Alps f-•
.P.0. BOV 454,'iF *
'HALl AB ' TX„Z5u‘ -:S^
*
1
1
t
*
i:
■ \ .' ■
Sulphur Springs
VOL. 302—NO. 25.
£feuis - ®rlrgram
Wednesday
15 Cents
JANUARY 30. 1980.
Carter paints bleak
picture on inflation
Compiled from Wire Reports
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Carter
administration, citing the “harsh reality of
inflation,” warned Congress today to
resist the temptation to increase the
spending levels proposed in President
Carter’s 1981 budget.
“A bloated 1981 budget would be a signal
to the world that the United States has
accepted double-digit inflation and is
unwilling to make the sacrifices needed to
restore price stability,” three top Carter
aides told the Senate Budget Committee in
a prepared statement.
The joint testimony opened White House
efforts to win congressional backing for
the budget. It was presented by Treasury
Secretary G. William Miller, Budget
Director James T. McIntyre Jr., and
Charles Schultze, chairman of the Council
of Economic Advisers.
Carter also painted the bleakest outlook
yet for inflation in the United States,
saying high oil prices could make inflation
much worse fop years to come unless those
prices are kept from affecting the
economy’s underlying price structure.
' Carter and his advisers made clear their
. hope that workers will pay the higher
prices generated by more expensive fuel
without demanding they be fully offset
with higher wages. That would mean
workers would accept at least a temporary
reduction in their purchasing power.
“The rise in hourly wages and other
income has to be reduced in order to bring
down the rate at which costs are rising,”
the president and his aides said in the
administration's annual economic report
to Congress. Since productivity decreased
last year, rising wages result in still-
higher prices, they said.
Carter’s $616 billion 1981 budget'
proposal, unveiled Monday, calls for a
sharp increase in defense spending but
generally holds social programs to no
growth above inflation. It projects a $16
billion deficit for fiscal 1981, which starts
next Oct. 1.
“Because the 1981 budget is restrictive,
the pressures to expand it will be strong,”
the officials said. “Unemployment later in
1980 and in 1981 is expected to be higher
Empty berth symbol
of disaster at sea
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — Flags flew
at half-mast, snapped by a chilly, wet
breeze at the U.S. Coast Guard base here
as subdued guardsmen went about their
duties, painfully aware of the Blackthorn’s
empty berth.
The 180-foot ship’s dockside phone rang,
News briefs
Ice storm
slides by
The ice storm failed to materialize
Wednesday * as the temperature
remained above the freezing mark,
but the threat of freezing rain or sleet
still exists until Thursday.
The National Weather Service
forecast called- for-dense fog with
intermittent light drizzle and slightly
warmer temperatures Wednesday.
The forecasters are calling for con-
tinued cloudy skies and increasing
wind with colder temperatures on
Thursday.
The skies should begin to clear on
Friday signaling the beginning of a
slow warming trend, with tem-
peratures rising into the upper 40s to
lower 50s. The mercury could climb
into the 60s on Sunday.
The high temperature reading
Tuesday at the official observation
station in Sulphur Springs was 35
degrees, but with a 12 mph wind
blowing the wind chill factor dropped
the reading to around 20 degrees. The
mercury dropped to 30 degrees early
Wednesday morning for the overnight
low and at 8 a.m. Wednesday the
temperature had risen to 32. By noon
Wednesday the mercury still hovered
near the freezing mark at 34 degrees.
The drizzle and mist that fell most
of Tuesday amounted to .10 of an inch
of moisture, according to the ob-
servation station, ,
Chamber event
set Thursday
In excess of 400 reservations have
been made for Thursday night’s
annual banquet for the general
membership of the Hopkins County
Chamber of Commerce.
The banquet will be staged in the
Civic Center at 7 p.m.
A slide presentation of county ac-
complishments from 1979 will be the
featured event of the program and
there will be no speaker. Annual
honors for the Farmer of the Year, the
Lady of the Year and the Citizdn of the
Year will be presented.
a shrill reminder of the disaster. No one
answered.
“We’re a small enough family. I think it
effects us all," said Capt. Robert Ingram,
head of marine safety, said Tuesday as
anxious families waited word on the fate of
17 men still missing from the U.S. Coast
Guard Cutter Blackthorn.
By midnight Tuesday, divers had
recovered six bodies from the murky
waters off Tampa, Fla., where the cutter
was rammed Monday night by a freighter
and sank.
Twenty-seven men survived the collision
and were picked up by the freighter.
Ingram’s words echoed sentiments
voiced earlier Tuesday as stunned families
and friends consoled each other.
A U.S. Navy “Sprint” team, including a
psychiatrist, arrived late Tuesday night to
help families deal with the grief that would
follow the tragedy.
Dr. Thomas Carlton, a physiciatrist at
the Naval Regional Medical Center in
Portsmouth, Va., said tragedies such as
these often take a heavy toll in a closely-
knit organization like the Coast Guard.
than it is today. Business will need greater
incentives to invest in plant and equip-
ment. Worthwhile social programs will
seem to require additional funding.
“Many of these needs are legitimate,
and under other circumstances they might
deserve room in the budget. But the harsh
reality of inflation makes it critical for
Congress to resist those pressures.”
The administration officials said they
hoped inflation would slow from more than
13 percent last year to about 10.5 percent in
1980 and 8.5 percent in 1981. They also said
the expected recession early this year
should be “brief and mild.”
The officials added, however, that if the
recession is deeper than expected, the
administration would consider “corrective
action in ways and under circumstances
that do not aggravate inflation.”
Although proposing no tax cut for fiscal
1981, the administration has expressed
some interest in tax cut proposals
designed to spur productivity, an approach
that would minimize their inflationary
impact.
Carter said that while the immediate
focus of government policy must be to
keep inflation from getting worse than last
year’s 13.3 percent rate, it also will be
essential to make progress in reducing the
inflation rate.
“Over the long term, we will either bring
inflation down or it will assuredly get
worse," Carter said. "Another sharp rise
in oil prices or a world-wide crop shortage
eould.provide the next turn of the ratchet.”
No administration in recent memory has
presented such a grim outlook for in-
flation.
Carter said the underlying inflation rate,
meaning inflation after discounting
volatile increases in food, fuel and housing
costs, is now 8 to 9 percent, up from 6 to 6.5
percent just two years ago.
Consumer prices increased 13.3 percent
last year, the biggest increase in 33 years.
The administration is forecasting an
additional rise of 10.4 percent this year and
8.1 percent in 1981.
Charles L. Schultze, the chairman of the
President’s Council of Economic Advisers,.
said the forecasts anticipate an overall
increase in domestic energy prices of 20
percent this year and an increase in world
oil prices slightly above the U.S. inflation
rate, or more than 10 percent.
He said if the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries increases its prices
“significantly more than this, it will cause
us some trouble.”
He also said the 1980 inflation rate could
be worse than 10.4 percent if the recession
predicted by the administration fails to
materialize.
The budget dollar
This graph shows the source of United States budget dollar for
fiscal year 1981, and where the funds would be spent under
President Carter's proposafjsent to Congress Monday. Carter
today called on Congress not to "inflate” the proposed budget,
?nd the president also issued a gloomy economic forecast for the
year.
Lignite mine scrapers
chomp up county site
Slightly less than two years into the
operation, workers at the Texas Utilities
Generating Co. (TUGCO) lignite mine
near Sulphur Springs have moved more
than 12 million cubic yards of dirt.
The staggering statistic was one of
several facts reported Tuesday by Ken-
neth Price, operations manager at the
mine, in an appearance before the Sulphur
Springs Lions Club. Price exhibited color
slides of mining operations at the Thermo
site as the program for the club.
Mining operations three miles southeast
of Sulphur Springs began in March of 1978.
Since then, Price reported, lignite
recovery has covered about 300 surface
acres.
He estimated another 22 to 24 years of
mining operations remain at the location
at present recovery rates.
Unlike TUGCO mining operations near
Winfield, where massive draglines are
utilized to uncover the seams of the form of
low-grade coal, the Thermo lignite is
uncovered by a scraper operation, Price
noted.
“This is the largest scraper operation
for coal in the United States,” he said. "We
have moved 12 million yards of dirt 24
yards at a time.”
There presently are 13 scrapers in use at
the mine, although a 14th, valued at more
than $360,000, is due for delivery within the
next month, Price noted.
“This Ls not a cheap proposition," he
commented. “One tire for a scraper costs
about $4,500 and running over all that dirt
we go through a lot of tires.”
The Thermo mine ships 12,500 tons of
lignite five, and sometimes six, days a
week to TUGCO’s Monticello power plant.
That plant generates electricity for three
North Texas public utility companies,
including Texas Power & Light Co.
That shipment volume represents about
20 percent of the fuel requirements of the
Local police after additional recruits
“We’re looking for some qualified in-
dividuals to become police officers both on
our regular force and on our reserve
force,” says Sulphur Springs Police Chief
Delbert Harrell.
Applicants for such positions must
undergo thorough background checks and
be willing to work in a rotating shift en-
vironment.
“It’s not all like ‘Starsky and Hiitch’or
the other TV shows,” Harrell says. “It's a
lot of long night shifts, putting a smile on
when there’s nothing to smile about and it
sometimes gets cold.”
Police are not among the highest paid
either.
Persons selected for the Sulphur Springs
Police Department begin work at $817 per
month.
•frhen, after six. months on the job, the
pay is raised to $850 and after certification
school and one year in the job, the pay goes
to $901.
Promotion to corporal brings another
pay raise as do promotions to sergeant and
lieutenant.
Reservists serve without pay, donating a
minimum of four hours per month.
Applicants for the positions must be 21
years of age, a graduate of a standard high
school or possess a general equivalency
diploma and be free of physical defects.
Weight must be in proportion to the
person’s height and applicants must be of
good moral character with no felony
convictions.
Candidates for the positions have to pass
a written test to qualify for further con-
sideration, Harrell said.
“Every applicant is thoroughly checked
out. We check their background,
fingerprints, drivers license and they have
to have a physical,” Harrell said. “A
recent change in the law requires that a
psychological examination be given as
well.”
After all of that, applicants who are
considered for appointment to law en-
forcement positions must appear before an
oral interview board where the chief,
Assistant Chief Donnie Lewis, four
sergeants and two patrolmen will in-
terview the candidate.
All appointees for paid positions on the
force then attend basic certification school
and are on probation for six months.
“We’d like to have an entrance test
before too long,” Harrell said, “but we're
going to need some applicants.”
"There is a certain prestige in being a
policeman, an element of danger, long
hours and a chance to help other people,”
says Harrell. “It’s not 9-5 and every day is
a different experience — it's never
boring."
“Anyone who is interested in becoming a
full-time policeman or a reserve officer
may pick up an application at the Police
Department from secretary-receptionist
Carol Rose from 8 a m. to 4:30 p.m..”
Iran escape straight out of spy thriller
By ROBERT B. CULLEN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The story has
all the earmarks of a best-seller —
international intrigue, an exotic locale
beset by seething unrest, an alliance
based on shared convictions, and a
happy ending.
And the story is true — a mini-drama
of hope after three months of U.S.
frustration at the hostage stalemate in
Iran.
Late last week, the government of
Canada and the U.S. Central In-
telligence Agency reached a joint
decision: It was time for Canada to
close its embassy in Tehran.
That meant it was time to put into
action a plan to bring out six Americans
who had been hiding in Tehran since the
U.S. Embassy there was seized on Nov.
4.
The plan worked.
It may have repercussions for the 50
Americans held hostage in Iran,
however. Iranian Foreign Minister
Sadegh Ghotzbadeh said early today
the rescue may mean harsher treat-
ment for the hostages, adding that
Canada would be responsible for any
change for the worse.
The six diplomats are now at an
undisclosed spot in West Germany,
where American officials say they will
remain for rest, medical examinations,
and debriefing before they face
reporters or return to the United States.
Officials said the families of the
escapees will be in touch with them by
telephone, but probably will have to
wait for a day or two to see them after
they return to the United States.
The six were identified as Mark J.
Lijek and his wife, Cora Am bum Lijek;
Joseph Stafford and his wife, Kathleen
F. Stafford; Henry l>ee Schatz;' and
Robert G. Anders. Anders, Stafford,
and Lijek were consular officers. Their
wives were employed by the embassy
as consular assistants. Schatz was an
agricultural attache.
The State Department refused to
release their home towns, citing
Privacy Act restrictions. Family
members said the Staffords are from
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Details of the escape are sketchy. But
from American and Canadian sources,
many of whom asked not to be named,
this story can be pieced together:
The six managed to slip out of the
embassy as it was stormed and seized
by Iranian students nearly three
months ago.
They sought refuge at a variety of
friendly embassies, but soon all were in
the care of the Canadians and staying
at various residences in Tehran con-
trolled by the Canadians.
Canada began withdrawing
diplomats from its staff, saying it was
doing so to protest the continued
holding of 50 American hostages by
Iranian militants.
I^ast week, the Canadians decided to
shut down their embassy and evacuate
all embassy personnel. American of-
ficials say the CIA then worked out the
escape operation in cooperation with
Canada, finally timing the departure to
coincide with the presidential election
last week in Iran.
*
The six Americans were given false
Canadian passports which, by one
account, had been doctored by U.S.
intelligence agencies and taken into
Iran in Canada’s diplomatic pouch.
Monticello plant, Price said.
Development of the Hopkins County
mine site is far enough along that
reclamation work has already begun in
mined areas. The process includes
planting winter wheat the first year to hold
the reclaimed land, followed by a per-
manent planting of Coastal Bermuda
grass.
“Knowing Hopkins County's dairy
situation, I think this is going to make ideal
pasture land,” Price said. He added that
ponds are constructed in the process and
125 liveoak trees have recently been
planted.
Operations of the mine are under strict
federal and state regulations, one of them
requiring the mining company to hold the
reclaimed land for five years before any
disposition can be made. This is to assure
top-quality reclamation efforts, Price
said.
The Sulphur Springs mining operation
presently employs 145 in the crew, but
upwards of 20 more personnel are needed,
Price said. Equipment operators are in
particularly phort supply, he said. Mining
operations are conducted around the
clock.
The only interruptions, Price said, come
during periods of heavy rain, and once the
drops actually stop falling the work
resumes.
Lignite in Hopkins County is being found
in from three to five shallow seams, Price
said, the first one most often found about
30 feet bejow the surface. Local crews
have mined to as deep as 130 feet in the
operations.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 25, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 30, 1980, newspaper, January 30, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth824456/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.