Van Zandt News (Wills Point, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 51, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 29, 1983 Page: 1 of 27
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Canton wins bidistrict
See page 8
Sales taxes hold steady
See page 10
Older Texans honored
See page 14
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Van Zandt New s
Festival underway
in Grand Saline
The success story isn't over
i
T
GRAND SALINE - Activities in
Grand Saline are underway to cele-
brate the town's heritage based on
the salt dome just on the outskirts of
town.
The salt dome provides the raw
material for the largest industry in
Grand Saline, Morton Salt Com-
See page 3
for story, pictures
on the salt mine.
pany. It does more than that, it pro-
vides the livelihood for many
members of the community. It even
supplies the town with its name.
Saturday began the festivities with
the crowning of the Salt Festival
Queen and the annual pageant.
(Results of the pageant were not
available by presstime.) A bass tour-
nament and livestock show were also
held.
The CRA rodeo, held in conjunc-
tion with the festival, will start
Thursday. There will be seven
events nightly, including bareback
bronc riding, calf roping, bull
riding, steer wrestling, barrel rac-
ing, team roping and saddle bronc
riding.
_On Wednesday, June 1, activities
resume with a kick-off breakfast
downtown. Food will be served from
6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Lunch will be from
11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. featuring an
Ole South dinner and salad bar. At
8 p.m. there will be a Salt Festival
Vesper Service on the downtown
stage with gospel singing.
Thursday is senior citizen day.
Lunch will feature the Poor Man's
Dinner and salad bar. The parade
will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a Mex-
ican dinner to be held afterward.
Dinner entertainment will be pro-
vided by The Sowers. The rodeo
starts at 8:20 p.m. and a street
dance to the music of the Rudy
Preston Review begins at 10 p.m.
Friday, June 3, Kiddie Capers will
begin downtown at 9 a.m. Little
Boxing and weightlifting will follow.
Lunch will be Mulligan Stew and
salad bar. Again the lodeo will start
at 8:20 p.m. and will be followed by
a street dance by the Bo Graham
Band at 10 p.m.
Saturday, June 4, the arts and
craft show will be held in the old
school gym from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Downtown will be a pet show at 9
a.m. A barbeque and salad bar is
planned for lunch. The Rudy
Preston Review will perform again
from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. City wide
games for adults will begin
downtown at 11 a.m. City wide
games for children, 8-15, will begin
at 1 p.m. The Tiddler's contest will
be on the downtown stage from 2
p.m. until 5 p.m.
The week’s activities will finish
with another night of rodeo at 8:20
p.m. and a street dance with John
Anderson at 10 p.m.
By Jack Walsh
CANTON — This is the story
about how four friends from Can-
ton that had known each other
since high school and a friend
from Tyler started a little garage
band, made it big in country
music and went all the way to
Nashville.
Well, the story can’t all be told
right now, because it’s not over.
They’re not in Nashville yet, but
they are headed in the right
direction.
The band is the Bo Graham
Band, and the five members
haven’t made a name for
themselves nationally, but they
are getting pretty well known in
Texas. Last fall they were ranked
in the top-ten bands in the state
by WBAP radio. WBAP spon-
sored a contest for all the bands
in the state, and 146 groups
entered it. A lot of them were
full-time bands, and the Bo
Graham Band just plays on
weekends — all the band
members hold down other job# —
so the competition was pretty
stiff.
The band didn’t come in first,
but making the top ten against
such fierce competition wasn’t a
bad showing. As a result of that,
the Bo Graham Band got to put
one of its original songs in the
“Best Bands of Texas" album.
The band started back in 198(L
when a young lady from CantoiM* -
Barbie Weaver, who had been off
to college tried to talk a friend of
hers. Bo Graham, into setting up
a few opportunities for her to sing
around Canton. Bo wasn't too ex-
V
y.
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The Bo Graham Band includes (left to right) Tommy Chombless,
Beckey Yarbrough, Barbie Weaver, Bruce Snider and Bo Graham.
cited about the idea. “I'd been in
a few garage bands back in high
school, but I really didn't want to
get involved with another," Bo
said. But Barbie persisted and
pretty soon, Bo and Barbie and a
few of their friends were out in
the garage with a few instruments
and a small PA system Bo had
bought, and they were trying to
make music
Originally the group started
with Bo, Barbie, Beckey and
Beckeys sister. Jessica Bo was on
guitar and keyboard. Barbie was
the lead singer, Jessica played the
drums, and Beckey, although she
had never played it before, was
put on bass guitar She quickly
adapted from rhythm to bass
Soon afteT, Bo invited a friend
from work, Bruce Snider, over to
play with them. Bruce, who is
from Tyler and is quite a talented
musician, soon became a regular
member of the group.
Things started going well, and
the group had a gig nearly every
weekend, but the work ar
rangements began to conflict
with Jessica s personal life, and
she decided to quit.
At that time Bo asked another
high school buddy, Tommy
Chambless. to start as the drum
mer. Tommy accepted, and the
band has been comprised of those
same people since then.
None of the five young musi-
cians had ever had any profes-
sional music training — just what
they could pick up in the high
school band room and in a few
lessons as kids — but with a little
(Continued on page 13)
'Society shouldn't have to pay twice'
Ml
Restitution centers proposed
By Lois Breedlove
“Here’s someone who loses
$10,000 of valuables. We convict the
person who commits the offense and
then turn around and tax the victim
for the criminal’s confinement in
prison," said Dan Harrison of the
Van Zandt County Probation
Department.
When a person is convicted of a
felony, the judge has two alter-
natives: sentence him to prison or
place him on probation. “Judges are
often in the position where the in-
dividual before the bench is not
deserving of prison, but neither is he
likely to succeed on standard proba-
tion,’’ commented Richard
Lawrence, chief probation officer
for Van Zandt County.
Lawrence and Harrison have been
working with the state probation
commission and the state legislature
to provide a third alternative in
sentencing that would also reduce
the burden of prison costs to tax-
payers.
The concept is called a restitution
center. The center would provide
security and control of the people
confined there, but at the same
time, would provide jobs for the
convicts. A person sentenced to the
center would leave only for work,
probably on a center bus, and
return immediately after work.
The money the person earns dur-
ing his confinement would pay for
restitution to the victim, support for
the convict's family, and for his own
keep at the center, including the
social services he might need. In
short, the center would become self-
sufficient.
"It’s a mid-ground for the people
who are not really prison material
but need more than standard super-
vision," Lawrence said. Those who
would be eligible for this type of pro-
bation would be property offenders
who show potential for rehabilita-
tion.
Harrison said a restitution center
can provide more rehabilitation
than prison. "You put someone in
TDC for a year or two and when he
comes out you tell him he should be
adjusted to life outside,” Harrison
said. "But life inside is nothing like
outside. You don't solve a problem
by locking it away but by stopping
him from wanting to commit these
crimes.”
The emphasis of the restitution
center is finding the probationer a
job. If the probationer cannot find
work he will be transferred to
another center or sent to prison, ac-
cording to Lawrence.
“The focus of a restitution center
is to insure that the victim of the
crime is compensated for his loss,"
he added. "Society will also be com-
pensated through a community
restitition program. You’re allowing
for the criminal to pay his own way:
court costs, restitution, his keep."
The state legislature was receptive
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for the Park Past in idgowood Saturday. Tha ovontt hod boon schodulod for May 21, but war# postponed
because of the weather. More pictures are on poge 14. (Photos by Betsy McNeill)
A
to the idea and many of the sugges
tions of the two local probation of-
ficers were incorporated into the
final bill which is expected to
become law before the end of the
session.
"Dan (Harrison) had originally
proposed this as an alternative some
time ago," Lawrence said. "By acci-
dent we found that other people
were thinking along the same lines. I
(Continued on page 7)
Quarantine
would hurt
VZ County
If the June 1 quarantine is impos-
ed in Texas, Van Zandt County
would definitely feel the pinch, ac
cording to Tommy Barker, Van
Zandt County extension agent.
“Van Zandt County is always in
the top three counties for
brucellosis infected herds," Barker
said. In March. Van Zandt County
was number two of all Texas coun-
ties for infected herds. There were
56 herds in the county which had
brucellosis.
Van Zandt County is one of the
largest producers of cow-calf units
along with having quite a few
dairies.
The quarantine was threatened
by the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) because of high
infection level in Texas cattle. The
USDA claimed that the Texas
Animal Health Commission's
regulations didn't meet the federal
standards, according to Barker.
However, a suit from some south
Texas ranchers halted the commit
sion from enforcing any of iu rules,
much leu strengthening them.
Batker said the legislature was then
presented with the problem and the
USDA threatened a June 1 quaran-
tine.
The House passed legislation
which would have eased the political
(Continued on poge 7)
A train hit the pickup (pictured) just in front of the driver's door, tearing
it off and spinning the vehicle around. All three people in the vehicle
were thrown out and Andy Andrews, the driver was killed (Photo by
Lois Breedlove)
Train, car accident
kills one, injures two
GRAND SALINE - One young
man was killed and two other people
were injured when a pickup and
train collided Wednesday night.
Andy Ross Edwards. 19. of Van
was killed during the accident at the
crossing on Highway 110 in Grand
Saline. Injured were Denise Susan
Smith, 17, of Canton and Todd
Wayne Herrington, 18. of Van.
Edwards was driving north bound
on Highway 110 when he was hit by
the eastbound train. The impact
crushed the driver's side of the hood
of the pickup and then spun the
vehicle around. All three were tossed
from the vehicle and landed about
50 feet away, according to Sgt. Tom
Beesley of the Grand Saline police.
Beesley said the engineer of the
train saw the pickup coming onto
the tracks but couldn't do anything
about it. It didn't appear that Ed-
wards could see the train, he added.
Beesley said the crossing was
hazardous because it was hard to see
*
a train coming from either direc
tion. “There are several box cars sit
ting on the side tracks there," he
said. "You almost have to be on the
tracks to see.”
However, there are blinking war-
ning lights at the crossing, the police
officer said, which should have been
visible to the vehicle's occupants
"It’s certainly not the first acci-
dent at that crossing.” Beesley said.
A cross rail would improve the situa-
tion, he commented. There is a cross
(Continued on Pogo 14)
Game set
CANTON - The Canton
baseball team will play iu next
round in post-season competition
this week.
The first game will be with
Glade water at 6 p.m. Tuesday in
Mineola.
There will be a $2 charge
Canton needs two victories over
Gladewater for the regional title.
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Van Zandt News (Wills Point, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 51, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 29, 1983, newspaper, May 29, 1983; Wills Point, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth991845/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Van Zandt County Library.