The Cherokeean. (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 126, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 19, 1973 Page: 1 of 12
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Kicrc/iJL'u
P- 0. Box
TV 11 r-
&nti r.
it.
J " '
'Round
TOWN
lie PER ISSUE
WITH
Roundabout
Roundabout hasn't been
around town much the past
week...We were in Austin
Thursday and Friday meeting
with Parks and Wildlife
Commission, and then went
back again Monday for an
Appropriation sub-committee
meet to study state employee
salaries and fringe benefits
-o-
Rusk had a fine delegation
attending the Parks and
Wildlife meeting Thursday
afternoon. Interest and support
of the Train and Hiking trail
shown by our community
leaders means a great deal to
the P&WL officials.
-o-
The death of our very good
friend, Malcolm Guinn, makes
us all sad. Rusk and Cherokee
County are better because he
lived and worked among
us...We will always treasure
our association and friendship
with Malcolm.
-o-
Glad to have Jim and
Margaret Perkins back in
town. They enjoyed a vacation
in Hawaii. Haven't had an
opportunity to talk with Jim
since they returned
-o-
Congratulations are in order
to Harry Tosh, who made a
"hole in one" Tuesday at the
golf course. This is a once-
in-a-lifetime event. Most don't
have the pleasure of even
making one hole in one.
-o-
Recent rains have made lots
of grass in Cherokee County,
but have caused problems in
getting hay cut. Roundabout
had hay down for a week
before finally getting it in the
barn...
Corporation
To Discuss
Finances
The Cherokeean
Texas' Oldest Weekly Newspaper, Established As the Pioneer July 5, 1847
SERVING RUSK
WITH DISTINCTION
FOR 126 YEARS
Vol. 121!
THURSDAY, JULY 19. 1973
12 PAGES
NUMBER 7
mm
Commissioners Ask Highway Department
If New Loop Will Threaten FM Funds
Audience with the Texas
Highway Department Com-
mission in Austin has been
requested by the Cherokee
County Commissioners Court.
Specifically, the County
Court is concerned with the
possible loss of farm-to-market
road funds for the next eight
years.
TAKINO THE OATH-Jacksonville attorney
LeRue Dixon III, left, is sworn in Monday as
new district attorney for the 2nd Judicial
District serving Cherokee County Adminis-
tering the oath of office is District Judge J W
Summers. Mrs. Dixon looks on. Governor
Takes Oath Monday
Dolph Briscoe announced the appointment
Monday. The new district attorney's office
was created by a bill sponsored by Rep.
Emmett Whitehead which separated the 2nd
and 145th District Courts. staff photo
LeRue Dixon III Is Appointed
District Attorney by Governor
LeRue Dixon III, Jackson-
ville attorney, was sworn in
Monday as district attorney by
District Judge J W Summers
Dixon assumed the duties of
the newly created office
following the announcement of
his appointment to the post
Monday morning by Gov
Dolph Briscoe
The position was created
with the passage of House Bill
185 during the last session of
the legislature, separating the
145th and 2nd judicial districts.
Nacogdoches county became
district 145 effective June 12
and is served by District Judge
Jack Pierce and District
Attorney David Adams.
Officials of the Rusk Housing
Corporation will meet with
Jack Cates, architect, repre
sentaives of the Farmers
Home Administration and
Belvin Stewart, contractor at
7:30p.m. Monday in City Hall
The meeting has been called
to negotiate a solution to the
low rent housing project here,
which has been temporarily
stymied by increased building
costs.
"Our loan was approved for
$196,600 but since our applica-
tion dates back several
months, the increased costs of
buiMCúig have surpassed what
was originally anticipated."
explains Morris W. Hassell,
corporation president.
"Monday's meeting will be
for the purpose of hearing what
the architect and contractor
recommend in the way of
changes or modifications to
present plans in order to allow
us to go ahead with the
project," said Hassell.
Belvin Stewart of Wells was
the low bidder when bids were
opened July 9. His bid was
$41,848 more than the amount
of the FHA loan approved for
Rusk.
Other members of the Rusk
Housing Corporation board of
directors include Judge J.W.
Summers, vice president;
James P. Richards, secretary;
W.R. Meador, Dr. Lex T. Neill,
Joe Terrell and James I.
Perkins.
Civic Theatre
To Meet Here
Thursday Night
The Cherokee Civic Theatre
group will hold their regular
monthly meeting at 7 p.m.
Thursday in the District
Courtroom.
President Paul Cox urged all
members to attend. Plans for
the group's first production
will be made. The group will
present "Barefoot in the Park"
by Neil Simon Friday and
Saturday nights, July 27-28 in
the Rusk Junior High School
Auditorium.
Board Hears RR Question;
To Fence or Not to Fence
Commissioners for the Texas
Department of Parks and
Wildlife granted a hearing
Thursday in Austin to a group
of Anderson County residents
who protested the fencing of
their property for operation fo
the Texas State Railroad
State Representative Fred
Head requested the hearing in
behalf of his constituents.
Speaking to the Commis-
sioners, he complimented
them for their effort to restore
the state railroad for use and
called the project "something
all Texas will be proud of and it
will be beneficial to all Texans.
as well as those who reside in
the vicinity of the train's
operation."
Rep. Head submitted a
petition bearing names of those
who protested the erection of
fencing along the railroad right
of way. Rep. Head stated that
the fencing will destroy the
beauty of the land and create a
hardship to property owners on
both sides who graze cattle
"Gates are unsatisfactory,'' he
stated.
He said copies of the petition
were mailed to the Governor,
the district's senator and
himself.
Rep. Head called his con-
stituents, "rational, solid peo-
ple. There is no endeavor to
create a problem. We think the
project can be done without the
fence and request that you
suspend fence work in Ander-
son County and see how it
works out. If it doesn't then
we'll have to seek another
solution."
One spokesman fo- the
Anderson County delegation of
six adults and two students
said, "We want it understood
that we're not opposed to the
railroad. We think it's good.
However, riding a train up and
down a fence line will detract
from the excitement of the
ride. Passengers will be
'fenced in' rather than feel
they are in the wide open
spaces. The main thing is that
of hardship in grazing to me
and my neighbors."
Supporting the commis-
sion's position to fence the
ROW was a ten member
delegation from Rusk led by
Rep. Emmett H. Whitehead
He introduced Rusk's mayor
Morris W Hassell and these
civic leaders: J.C. Williams.
Raymond Cooper, JoEd Ander-
son. L J Leinback, Gene
Kelley. Winford Black, George
Dodd and Mrs. Whitehead.
Supporting the commis-
sioners from Palestine were
Wayne Sellers, publisher of the
Palestine Herald-Press and
Bill Brown, vice president in
charge of tourism. Palestine
Chamber of Commerce
Rep. Whitehead submitted
letters of support to the
Commision from State Repre-
sentatives Roy Blake. Forrest
Green and Dovce Lee, along
with verbal support from Rep.
Billy Williamson of Tyler
"This is to benefit all East
Texas and we commend you
for your vision, said Rep
Whitehead
Speaking for the entire
citizenship of Rusk Mayor
Hassell said, "We commend
you for your foresight in deve-
loping a one-of-a-kind, unique
operation. We're behind you
100 per cent and support you
completely "
Petitions expressing com-
mendation and praise, bearing
more than 124 names, were
presented by Rep Whitehead
to the Commissioners.
Palestine publisher, Wayne
Sellers, expressed his town's
enthusiasm for the project and
said that he was impressed
with the professionalism of the
Department's staff in working
diligently to develop the
project with a minimum of
inconvenience and hardship.
Commission chairman, Jack
Stone, requested the depart-
ment's executive director,
Clayton Garrison, to take note
of the Anderson County
complaints and seek satisfac-
tory solutions.
The hearing request was an
outgrowth of Friday's meeting
in Tyler with W. W. Potter,
district engineer and Ed
Campbell, supervising resi-
dent engineer of Rusk.
County Judge Orvan B.
Jones was accompanied to
Tyler by all the County
Commissioners.
Of the session, he said, "Mr.
Potter wanted to know what we
want, and we needed to know
what we can get. Neither
question was fully answered."
Discussion at Tyler included
the proposed extension of FM
road 343, a distance of 3.3 miles
to intersect with U.S. Highway
84 and 69. The loop around the
School Board Names Vice Principal;
Seeks Bids for Bank Depository
Cherokee County comprises
the 2nd judicial district served
by Judge Summers and Dixon
The newly named district
attorney promised his com-
plete cooperation with other
officials of law enforcement
agencies.
Judge Summers expressed
particular pleasure in the
opportunity to give the oath of
office saying, "This (the
separation of the two courts) is
something we have long
desired and I am especially
pleased on this occasion." He
told the new official, "1 know
that you will serve well in this
capacity."
Dixon was recommended for
the appointment by the Chero-
kee County Democratic execu-
tive committee.
The new district attorney
says he expects to continue
living in Jacksonville. He will
serve until the next general
election when he can seek
re-election. The office is for a
four year term.
"I am pleased and honored
to have been chosen for the
office," says Dixon.
Among those witnessing the
4:30 p.m. ceremony were his
wife, Mary: also Crawford
Godfrey, J.E. Brown, John
Spiers, Roland Brown. John
Ament. County Judge Orvan B.
Jones, Celia Haberle, Mavis
Parrott, Gaylord Lindsay and
Bobbie Brooks.
Passing Truck
Strikes, Kills
RSH Patient
A 28-year-old Rusk State
Hospital patient was killed
Tuesday when, according to
witnesses, he ran onto High-
way 69 at the entrance to the
hospital and into the side of a
passing tractor-trailer.
Jack McCain, of Montgo-
mery, Texas, was pronounced
dead at 1:35 p.m. at Medical
Center Hospital in Tyler. He
had been taken first to Nan
Travis Hospital, Jacksonville.
Police Chief Alan Hughes
reports the incident took place
at 12:35 p.m. The vehicle, a
United Transport van driven
by Darrell Lester Lewis of Fort
Worth, was traveling south on
Highway 69 and "well under
the speed limit" at the time,
Hughes says. No charges were
filed.
McCain was taken to Nan
Travis Hospital last April
following a similar incident.
The Rusk school board
Monday night appointed Mrs.
Eloise Willingham assistant
principal of the elementary
school and voted to hold a
called meeting in two weeks to
study bids for a bank
depository.
Under her new title, Mrs.
Willingham will be coordinator
of Title I and Special
Education programs. She will
also teach four classes.
The board authorized the
distribution of standarized bid
forms to the two local banks
and voted to open and study the
bids July 30 at 5:15 p.m.
The banks will be bidding on
the basis of interest rate for the
school district's account for the
coming year.
A question arose at the
meeting as to whether state
law might prohibit certain
members of the board from
voting on the depository.
It was decided that the law
prohibits board member Dr.
James Fisher from voting on
the matter because he serves
as a director of one of tlje
banks involved.
The board decided to seek a
legal opinion on whether board
member Mrs. Margaret Per-
kins might vote. Mrs. Perkins
is the wife of Citizens State
Bank President James I.
Perkins Jr.
Although she serves as
neither employee nor director
of the bank and holds no bank
stock in her name, there was
Palestine Group Travels
Length of State Railroad
BY ERNEST JONES
Hearld-Press Staff Writer
A 26-mile long state park
through scenic wonderland
was traversed Monday by a
trio from Palestine.
Hearld-Press Publisher
Wayne Sellers, Col. Jack
Selden and I rode the the Texas
State Railroad on a motor car
piloted by Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department Project
Engineer Joe Walter, who was
Dan McNair
Is Named
Coach of Year
Dan McNair, coach of the
Longhorns. was named Coach
of the Year following the
championship game last Tues-
day night
junior league coaches elect a
man each year for the award.
They felt that the Longhorns
had shown remarkable im-
provement in their game over
last year and that McNair had
done an outstanding job with
the boys.
"They really got our their
and tried and gave it all they
had,'' states Bill Middleton
The allstars downed the
coaches in a hard fought game
following the presentation of
the awards.
.7 L:
M/
i
(i
fresh from a hazardous
vacation motorcycle ride up
Pike's Peak.
We made it through all the
way from Maydelle to Rusk,
back to Maydelle for lunch,
then west to where the
Palestine wye and terminal
will be built east of town.
We made it, thanks to Walter
and an All American athlete,
Harlod L Kilman-TCU. '46 to
'49. All Conference tackle
three years; All American '49;
Los Angeles Rams. '50-'51;
nominee this year for the
Texas Panhandle Hall of
Fame. Now he's the bookkeep-
er on the State Railroad
project for Warden Robert
Cousins.
Kilman, who is wholly
dedicated to the State Railroad
project, dug us out of three
inches of asphalt when our
"train'' derailed about five
miles east of Palestine where
the track had been buried
under a newly surfaced county
road.
All the way, Mother Nature
reached out for us with bushes
and trees newly spread since
the track was cleared.
Walter explained that the
center of the track will be
crowned with ballast to create
a hiking trail all the way-a
26-mile Nature trail. Brush will
be cut back between the track
and a four-strand wire fence
either side of the 50 to 200-foot
right-of-way.
The fences are up all the way
in Cherokee and a few miles on
the Anderson County side.
They are necessary, it was
explained, to protect both
property owners' livestock and
the 50,000 or more visitors who
are expected to ride and hike
the 26-mile state park even its
first year.
This will be the great tourist
attraction between Houston.
San Antonio and Arlington.
Jim Culpepper, the veteran
railroad builder, said two
miles of crossties have been
renewed and track surfacing is
to start. Fifty inmates from
Ellis and Eastham units of the
Texas Department of Correc-
tions formed work crews
loading old ties at Maydelle to
be sent to other state parks,
+See STATE RR, Page 6
uncertainity on the possible
application of community pro-
perty laws in her case.
In other action, the board
hired a new coach and a speech
therapist for the coming year
and offered a regular teacher
contract to a Title I teacher at
the high school.
Miss Linda Austin, 26, of
Nacogdoches was employed as
a speech therapist to work with
60 children from kindergarten
up at the elementary school.
Miss Austin, who taught two
years at Jasper, volunteered to
test all first graders for speech
difficulties, the board was told.
She will work with children
needing her services twice a
week for 30 minutes at a time.
Rick Largent, 27, a graduate
of North Texas State Univer-
sity, was hired as head
baseball coach and junior high
physical education teacher. He
will also serve as an assistant
football coach and basketball
coach.
Largent has seven-years
experience in the Mesquite-
Dallas area coaching AA and
AAAA teams. He is married
and has one child.
Mrs. Jennifer Sullivan, a
Title I teache at present was
employed as a regular teacher
in social studies at the high
school.
The board also amended its
free lunch policy. Ünder the
new income scale adopted,
children from a family of four
with a family income less that
$5,310 a year would qualify for
free lunches.
Bills for June totalling
$64,360.92 were authorized to
be paid and the board tabled
consideration until its next
regular meeting a proposal to
pay someone to act as sponsor
to the high school cheer
leaders.
Concern was expressed over
the safety of the cheerleaders
who usually travel uncha-
peroned to out of town sporting
events.
Those present at the meeting
included Tom Sartain, presi-
dent, and board members Mrs
Mary Buchanan, Fisher, Dr.
W E. Gabbert, Roy Kennedy,
Mrs. Perkins and James Poole.
Also present were Superin-
tendent J.M. Boone, Junior
High Principal Doyle Brooks,
and Bill Braswell, business
manager
Youth Rally
Scheduled
At Church
The First United Methodist
Church's youth rally is slated
Staurday, July 21.
The youth will meet at 10
a.m. Saturday morning and
again at 7:30 p.m. that night in
the fellowship hall of the
church.
They extend a cordial
invitation to everyone to come
for a "hallelujah time." There
will be lots of music and
singing.
west side of Rusk is expected to
expedite the flow of commer-
cial traffic and provide con-
venience travel to certain
sections of the community.
As approved by the Com-
mission's Minute Order .dated
Feb. 1, construction funds for
this extension are to betaken
from the FM program. Chero-
kee County is now allocated
approximately $70,000 per year
for FM road construction.
"The proposed extension
construction cost is estimated
at $600,000. You can see that it
would be a minimum of eight
years before we could expect to
receive more FM funds,"
states Judge Jones.
"We have requested a 30-day
extension to allow us time to
reach a decision," he says.
"The Highway Department
is now drafting its program
request for next year and no
funds for FM roads in
Cherokee County are included
because of this project," states
Judge Jones.
"We're for the project, as we
explained in our letter of
request to the State Commiss-
ion, but we're considerably
concerned about the future of
our FM road program,"
explains the county judge.
"Each Commissioner has at
least one road in his precinct
that he would like to build. We
are willing to forfeit one year if
we could get our FM allotment,
reinstated. We did not feel
incumbent to act (on the
Highway's Minute Order) until
the City acted, but now we
have to move," said the judge.
The City of Rusk voted at its
meeting last week to sign the
Minute Order authorizing the
Highway to go ahead with the
road project, and agreeing to
pay its share of right of way
costs.
"There are several possibil-
ities for special agreement and
that is what we hope to
negotiate before our next
regular Court meeting Aug.
13," says the judge.
The State Commission meets
July 29-30-31. After that", the
next session is Sept. 4.
The Cherokee County Com-
missioners recessed Friday's
meeting in Tyler until 10 a.m.
Tuesday, July 24 when they
will meet with the architect
and representatives of the East
Texas Council of Governments
concerning the planning grant
for renovation to the county
jail.
Commissioners include Ber-
tis Watson. Pete James, Joe
Henderson and Terry Perkins.
State Salary
Panel Will
Meet in Rusk
At the invitation of Rep.
Emmett H. Whitehead, the
House Appropriations subcom-
mittee studying state em-
ployee salaries will hold a
public meeting in Rusk in
October.
The subcommittee, of which
Rep Whitehead is a member,
will be seeking input from state
employees throughout the East
Texas area when th«y meet in
Rusk.
Meetings of the sucommittee
are scheduled in seven other
cities throughout Texas be-
tween now and January.
The five-member panel will
make recommendations to the
64th Legislature regarding
state employee salaries and
fringe benefits.
Members of the panel
include Rep. Sarah Wedding-
ton of Austin, chairman, aad
Reps. Whitehead, *Renal Roe-
son of Snyder, Bob Vale and
Matt Garcia of San Antonio
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The Cherokeean. (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 126, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 19, 1973, newspaper, July 19, 1973; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151027/m1/1/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.