The Alto Herald and The Wells News 'N Views (Alto, Tex.), Vol. 89, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 16, 1984 Page: 1 of 8
eight pages : ill. ; page 22 x 13 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:
m
tocndy C. Single
Ht. 1, Bo* 164
Alto, Toxao 75925
rlotary
wm
According To AISD Superintendent
See Report, Page 6
V $ m
■
It': ;
I'm
★ HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL★
As Soon As Horse-powered Vehicle Is Repaired!
See Alto Hires Chief Below
Read in’, Writin’, Rithmctic ...
and Rules of House Bill 72
See Wells ISD Story Below
......................i j jjjii I
1
.8
ly m-
|Club
will
Mdent
vice
/e as
Cleo
Iter is
The Alto Herald
and
Established 1896
Vol. 89, No. 15
The Wells News ’N Views
Thursday, August 16,1984—Alto, Texas 75925
Site of Texas*
Historical Caddoan
Indian Mounds
15c Per Issue
8 Pages
*
Alto Hires McSwain As Police Chief
Council Hears Report On Sewer Plant Conditions
■- |
•wswwr,!/
And The Roof Caved In
A utility pole came down on the Alto Police car parked by the City
Hall. SESCO employees are shown here as the pole was lifted off the
car. At press time it was undetermined who was responsible for
liability in repairing or replacing the vehicle. A large delivery truck
caught the low hanging wire attached to the pole which brought it
down and crushed the top of the car. -photo by betty rardin
Wells Councilmen Seek
Additional 10 Per Cent Tax Rate
City councilmen at Wells are
seeking an additional 10 percent
over the effective tax rate this year
to finance the 1985 budget. Wells
Area
Action
Head Start Registration Set
Registration for Alto Head Start
will be Wednesday, August 22 and
Friday, August 24 from 8 a m. to 3
p.m. Classes will begin Monday,
August 27 at 8 am. according to
Head Start Director Cecilia John-
Alto ISD Trustees Meet
Trustees of the Alto ISD will meet
in regular session at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, August 16, in the high
school library. The meeting is open
to the public.
Alto I.S.D. intends again this year
to use Chapter II funds (Federal) to
pay for Region VII services and the
remaining for computers and sup-
plies for computers.
Costs: Region VII, $1,865, sup-
plies, $443, capital outlay, $2,930, for
a total of $5,238
Anyone having questions about
this may do so at the regular
meeting, Thursday, Aug. 16, at 7:30
p.m.
Certificates To Be Given
Summer Reading Program cer-
tificates will be presented at the
Stella Hill Memorial Library in Alto
at 10 a.m. Tuesday, August 21. All
children that have completed the
reading program are encouraged to
come and receive their certificates.
Fair Committee To Meet
The Planning Committee tor the
Alto Country Fair will meet on
Wednesday, August 22, at 1:30 p.m.
in the Southwestern Electric Co. of-
fice. The meeting is open to the
public.
Art League Program
The Alto Art League will hold its
monthly evening meeting at 7 p.m.
on Thursday, August 23 in the
fellowship hall of the A.Frank
Smith United Methodist Church in
Alto. The program will be a demon-
stration in oil painting by
Nacogdoches artist Gene Tomlin.
The public la invited to attend.
Mayor Homer Gibson and coun-
cilmen William Durham, Tom Ed
Doss, Donnie McKnight, Danny
Colbert and James Seymore voted
unanimously to seek the increase
during the council’s regularly
scheduled meeting Monday night.
Councilman Durham explained
that the 10 percent figure is actually
misleading because it applies only
to the .2504 effective rate. Also, due
to reevaluation of properties within
the county, the increase could have
little effect on what some taxpayers
are currently paying.
There will be a public hearing on
Friday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. at the
Wells City Hall The public is urged
to attend to receive further infor-
mation on the proposal.
City employee Dalford Stewart
reported on the Neches River Sur-
vey done on the Wells sewer plant.
He said that the plant was
hasicallv in good shape with some
minor repairs needed and he
recommended that the city install
additional drying beds.
A report given to Mayor Gibson
concerning the request of a TCDA
grant for establishing a public park
at the Henson House indicated that
approval would not be given at this
time, however, the proposal is still
under consideration.
In other business, the council
formally accepted the resignation
of Police Chief Terry Holman and
decided to advertise for a new
policeman, and voted to purchase
some minor equipment needed by
the Wells Volunteer Fire Depar-
tment.
At their regular meeting last
Monday night the Alto City Council
agreed to hire a new police chief af-
ter interviewing several applicants
for the job. Dewey McSwain will
take over the position within two
weeks, moving here from his
present job as police chief for Mt.
Enterprise.
McSwain has served as police
chief in several communities in
Texas and has an extensive
background in specialized training.
He received a Security Officers
Training degree from Eastfield
College in 1976, a Radar Operations
certificate in 1978, a Police Officer
degree from Navarro College in
Corsicana in April, 1979. From the
East Texas Police Academy in
Kilgore, McSwain completed
training in Advance Defense Tac-
tics in February 1979. The Texas
Dept, of Public Safety awarded the
police officer a certificate upon
completion of 32 hours in telecom-
munications and McSwain received
a certificate in 1980 from the Texas
Commission on Law Enforcement
on Standards and Education.
With this impressive background
the council members asked Mc-
Swain why he was interested in
changing from Mt. Enterprise to
Alto at which point the policeman
showed the city council a copy of his
last pay check from the City of Mt.
Enterprise, dated June 1984 which
was not paid by the city. He ex-
plained that the city funds were tied
up in court and no funds were
released for payment for his ser-
vices from June to the present time.
McSwain was asked why he kept on
working with no salary, due to these
problems in the city management
at Mt. Enterprise, and he said he
was only answering calls as needed
in the city
When asked about his arrest
record, McSwain replied that in six
years he made 250 drug-related
arrests with 175 convictions.
In executive session the council
members voted unanimously to
hire McSwain who will move his
large mobile home to Alto as soon
as possible. The new police chief
and his wife have three school-age
children.
In other action the city council
members, all of whom were
present, heard a report from
representatives from the Texas
Dept, of Water Resources to discuss
conditions at the Alto Sewer Plant.
Inspector John Witherspoon gave a
detailed outline of the city’s sewer
system requirements and Super-
visor Bill Boggs presented a
resolution on changes to be made in
the city’s sewer system, which he
read to the council for their sub-
sequent approval. It was given
Wells School Starts Monday;
Changes Noted In Policy
School opens Monday at the Wells
I.S.D. with buses running on their
regular schedules, according to
school Superintendent Cole Pugh.
Several new policies affecting the
coming school year were passed by
the Wells School Board during a
special meeting held last Monday
night. Pugh explained that the new
policies are for the most part the
outcome of HB 72 but there are a
few local options.
At local option, a detention hall
will be held from 3.05 until 3:50
p.m. each Tuesday and Thursday
beginning with the second week of
school. Students may be assigned
detention hall by the campus prin-
cipal for violation of school policies.
Parents will be responsible for
providing transportation at 3:50
p.m.
HB 72 states that students may
be required to attend 45 minute
tutorials after school if they have an
average of 70 or lower in English,
language arts, mathematics, scien-
ce and social studies. The local
school board has decided to require
this. Parents will be required to
provide transportation after the
tutorial session.
Other new policies which are
mandated by HB 72 are, students
will be promoted only on the basis
of academic achievement. A school
district may not grant social
promotions.
HB 72 requires at least two
parent-teacher conferences for
each student that a teacher has
during the 1984-85 school year.
Also, a student will not be given
credit for a class if the student has
more than five days of unexcused
absences during a semester.
Pugh said that students will
receive a handbook of policies to be
taken home and read and signed by
their parent or guardian.
unanimously by the council mem-
bers.
The recommendations contained
in the resolution had been reviewed
by the city employees before the
meeting. Following approval of the
resolution Councilman Lindsey
suggested that the city employees
take care of as much of the needed
work as possible and only hire ad-
ditional help if necessary.
The supervisor complimented the
city on the excellent road to the
plant and said that Alto was for-
tunate to have an economical sewer
plant with its natural ariation.
Boggs suggested that at the com-
pletion of the needed repairs to the
plant that the city “look at your
sewer rates to be sure they pay to
maintain your system. It looks like
you have smooth sailing on your
operations,” he concluded.
In other action the council voted
to approve the candidacy of Thelma
Shattuck to fill the vacancy on the
board of directors of the Cherokee
County Appraisal District to
replace Barry Lewis
The council approved the pur-
chase of two IBM typewriters, a
bookcase and one calculator for city
office employees.
A request was granted to block off
Commerce Street between High-
way 21 and Cooper Street for a
street dance Saturday night. Sept
1, to raise funds for the Muscular
Dystrophy Drive The request came
from MDD Chairperson Sharon
Hooper
In final action the council agreed
to the continued support of the
Stella Hill Memorial Library in Alto
by paying the library telephone ex-
penses in the amount of ap-
proximately $10 per month
Council members in attendance,
in addition to Mayor Jack Mertz
and City Administrator Mary Clem
Williams, and Lindsey, were
Margaret Bice, Chip Boyd, Dixie
Dolcater and Mike Tullis
‘Our Town’ ... Featuring
Alto Volunteer Fire Department
O'
By BETTY RARDIN
At 2 p.m. last Thursday, the fire
whistle blew from atop the fire
station in Alto and less than five
minutes had passed before two
well-equiped fire trucks with fully-
trained fire fighters aboard were
out the Crockett Highway to keep a
grass fire from going out of control.
Following closely behind the fire
trucks with vehicle emergency
lights flashing, in pickups and cars,
came the other fire fighters from
wherever they happened to be when
the fire horn sounded.
The call for help was taken by
Mrs. Elva Dean, who in turn called
the volunteers on their special fire
numbers in their homes or
businesses Mrs Dean, who has
taken 90 percent of the fire calls for
about 15 years, is the wife, mother
and mother-in-law of firefighters in
Alto.
One of the most important areas
in fire fighting is to get to the scene
as quickly as possible and when the
fire has first erupted Five minutes
can be me difference between
saving someone's home and having
the fire out of control and
spreading. Mrs. Dean had two very
specific statements concerning
this
“No one should ever hesitate to
call in a fire if they see smoke!
Never assume that someone else
has reported it. We'd rather get a
few calls and be on our way im-
mediately. The other callers will be
told ‘thank you, help is on the way.”
Mrs. Dean went on to say, “The
fire number should not be used
unless reporting a fire. It is terrible
to tie up an emergency line - it could
mean that someone's house could
burn down.”
There are nine volunteer fire
departments in Cherokee County.
According to sources in the Texas
Forestry Service, the Alto VFD is
the best, per capita, in regard to
fire equipment, trucks, number of
volunteers and the extensive
training many of them have under-
taken.
Each year Texas A&M University
under the Fire Protection Training
Division and sponsored by the State
Fireman's and Fire Marshal’s
Association of Texas holds a
training session. This year was
their 55th program and five Alto
firefighters attended the six day
** /xooiAnP
■3COOIVI .
Our town can bo proud of the fact
that we have three women
firefighters, two of whom were able
to attend the training program
Mrs. Garwin (Marty) Baugh took
part in Firefighting I, and Mrs.
Jimmy <Gene> Crosby attended
Fire Prevention I.
These training sessions are not
“sit behind a desk and listen to an
instructor .” They are hands-on ex-
periences and Mrs. Baugh’s Fire
Fighting I was an ordeal she will
never forget and she highly
recommends the training to every
Alto firefighter.
In order to know how to deal with
a fire inside a darkened building,
Mrs Baugh went through a struc-
ture called the "smoke house.” In
this smoke-filled black room, with
obstacles sticking out and hanging
from the ceiling, the firefighters
were tested to see if they panicked
or ‘kept their cool.’ They were
taught how to go upstairs and
around obstacles carrying a full
load of compressed air in their
back-mounted airpacks.
In the pictures accompanying
this story, Mrs Baugh can be seen
wearing the apparatus she wore
during the smoke-house training
session
A fire was simulated in a three-
story building , a warehouse dealing
with chemical fires and a
Volkswagon was set ablaze to learn
first-hand how to deal with car
fires At several places, said Mrs.
Baugh, the heat was so intense that
if the headgear was not exactly in
•See PAGE TWO
Always On Call...
The Alto Volunteer Firefighters are pictured here during a Tuesday night training session. Following the
name of each volunteer are the number of years he or she has been on the force. Bottom row fn>m left, Terry
Black, 7; Chief Jimmy Crosby, 11; E.C. Daniel. 7; David Drew, 2; Garwin Baugh, 7; Ed Vogel, 7; Reporter
Gene Crosby, 14. Middle row. Chip Boyd, 15; Carey Palmer, 15; Paul Dean, 15; J.R. Merriweather. 39; John
Dean, 15; and Fire Marshal James Grammer, 15. On top of fire truck no. 4 is mascot K.C. Crosby, Larry
Crosby, »; Marty Baugh, 14: Sharon Carter, 14; and Lyndon Crosby, 10. Please see related story on the Alto
VFD. -photo by betty rardin
^_______________V
\
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.
The Alto Herald and The Wells News 'N Views (Alto, Tex.), Vol. 89, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 16, 1984, newspaper, August 16, 1984; Alto, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth846792/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Stella Hill Memorial Library.