Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 154, No. 18, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 25, 2003 Page: 1 of 14
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Grand Jury
Ijerokeeaij/Herald
J|i Texas' Oldest Weekly Newspaper - Established Feb. 27, 1850 as the Cherokee Sentinel
The Cherokee County
Grand Jury hands out
25 indictments.
See page 13
Vol. 154, No. 18-14 pgs.
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Rusk, TX 75785
50 cents
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Austin Davis celebrates the opening of the Rusk Lions Club pool with a few smooth moves on the
diving board. The pool is open after a year long hiatus to fix a multitude of ailments, and now county
water lovers have another way to beat the heat.
Governor calls
special session
■ East Texas hearing
will be held June 28 in
Nacogdoches
Lawmakers will return to Austin
June 30 to discuss redraw maps for
congressional districts.
The House ofRepresentatives'redis-
tricting committeeis holding hearings
around the state to discuss proposed
changes to the 32 districts. The only
hearing scheduled in East Texas will
be held June 28 at Stephen F. Austin
State University in Nacogdoches at
the Wright Music Building, (Poli: Hall.
Room 100) on Alumni Drive.
Five of 15 committee members
will be present for the Nacogdoches
hearing. They include Joe Crabb
(R-Atascosta); Mike Villareal (D-San
Antonio); Kino Flores (D-Mission);
Mike Kruze (R-Round Rock) and Jim
Pitts (R-Waxahachie).
State Rep. Chuck Hopson was
interviewed last week by KWRW-
FM radio, and he plans to attend the
Nacogdocheshearing, which begins at
9a.m. and concludes at 8 p. m. He said
he will sign up to testify at approxi-
mately 3 p.m. The group will take an
extended lunch from I-3 p.m.
Similar hearings are planned in
Brownsville, Lubbock, San Antonio,
Dallas andHouston. Senate hearings
are not planned.
Mr. Hopson was one ofthe Killer Ds,
a group of 53 lawmakers who boycot-
ted the 78th Legislature in early May
when House Speaker Tom Craddick
scheduled a vote on redistricting. By
breaking the House quorum until after
the deadline passed for new legisla-
Please see HEARING, page 6
Terrorist threats
concern Shady
Grove residents
■ Commissioners
review arrest
procedures
A delegation of citizens from
the Shady Grove community
appeared before the Monday
morning commissioners
court to seek clarification on
law enforcement procedures
involving person s with mental
illness.
The Rev, Phal Garter, who
served as a spokesman for a
group of eight, told commis-
sioners about an incident
which occurred the week of
June 14 when a 20-year-old
man made terroristic threats
to several residents in the
neighborhood.
Rev. Garter said that when
the Cherokee County Sheriff's
office was called, they declined
lo arrest the man because the
allegations were "third hand'
and not heard by officers. "You
shouldn't have to kill somebody
to get help," Rev. Carter said.
Cherokee County Sheriff
Deputy Jonathan Rhodes
explained his department's
standard operating procedure
for handling persons with sus-
pected mental problems,
"The officer must determine
if there is a risk of the person
harming himself or others,''
said Officer Rhodes. "If there
is not enough time for a warrant
from a magistrate, the officer
can make an arrest.'"'
Officer Rhodes said the next
step is to get a mental evalu-
ation from Cherokee County
ACCESS-
"Everyone: is cautious
because we don't want to vio-
Please see COUNTY, page 6
.,¡SSíí
m
$3.7 million
building permit
issued to E MC
A $3.7 million building permit was issued by the City of
Rusk last week to ETMC for a new medical facility on U.S.
Highway 69 north. The first step will involve relocating a
gas supply line, which will likely cost $40,000.
■ Completion date
estimated during
1st quarter, 2004
The City of Husk issued a $3,7
million building permit Friday
morning to East Texas Medical
Center for the construction of a
medical facility. The structure
will be built on a 6.5 acre tract
at the inter section of Highway
69 North and FM 2972.
Brian Saltzman is fore-
man for the project of which
Vaughn Construction Co. of
Houston and Bryan will be
contractor. Mr. Saltzman said
the gas line will be laid on the
property Monday and founda-
tion work will follow. Construc-
tion is expected to begin in 60
days. The contract calls for the
pr oj ect tobe completed in eight
months.
The new facility will include
three separate units with a
common entrance: an Olym-
pic Center for rehabihtation
services, complete with a
therapy pool; physician offices
to accommodate four doctors
and an emergency room.
Ground breaking ceremo-
nies were held May 9 with
approximately 75 persons in
attendance.
Elmer Elhs. ETMC's CEO
said, "We are grateful for the
$300,000 in economic develop-
ment funds given to the proj-
ect,'' he said. "This makes the
community feel invested. This
is your clinic."
He expressed a depth of
gratitude to the former Mayor
Enimett H Whitehead, who
helped bring thefacility to Rusk
before his death last August.
Please see ETMC, page 6
City water rates will increase
The City of Rusk will
enact a nickel tax per thou-
sand gallons of water used
by local citizens. This will
be on a three month trial
basis and will go into effect
July 1. The increase will be
used to off-set a three: cent,
tax imposed by the Neches
& Trinity Valley Ground
Water District on all water
pumped from the ground.
The tax is being charged to
go into the fund created to
protect groundwater in East
Texasfrom outside users. The
authority to make this charge
was provided in Senate Bill
2281.
City Manager Kevin
Bowden proposed Monday
night that all water users
receive a 70 cent hike on
their water bill regardless
of how much water the
customer uses. He said the
computers at city hall were
not equipped to figure a per-
centage increase, only a flat
rate one,
Ed Johnson inquired about
the cost of the purchase of a
computer program to calcu-
late that entry on the water
bills. None of the council
members seemed to know if
the rural water corporation's
charge had been figured in
or not or if the water corpo-
rations would charge their
water users again. "This is
something that needs to be
looked into,'' said Mayor
Charles Horton.
LewieByerssuggesled that
the city increase water rates
by three cents per thousand
gallons and he was told that
the cost should be more than
that because ofthe city's loss
in water through leaks, the
Lions Club Swimming Pool
and fire fighting. If a five
cent hike is not sufficient
then that amount will be
raised after a three-month
evaluation.
In another matter. Mayor
Please see WATER, page 12
County's MS results are mixed
Rusk seeks to attract Winter Fexans
■ 10 percent of
Americans own RVs
Paul Tinkle, Corporative
Club Manager for Foretravel
in Nacogdoches, was featured
speaker for a Rusk group
meeting at noon June 18 at
the First Presbyterian Church
fellowship hall.
He said he schedules 25-30
trips for 3,000 recreational
vehicles (RV) per year. "And
we are just a small fish in a
big pond," he said in reference
to the demandfor camping sites
for RV owners. Ten percent of
the households in America own
some sort of RV he said, "People
are retiring earlier today and
have, expendable income. They
bring money with them and
they spend it."
"We all (club managers) have
the same problem and that is
finding a place to have our ral-
lies," The clubs usually spend
30 days in an area, maybe
two or three days at one park.
"There are a lot of 1110111 and
pop parks, but they are not
large enough to accommodate
a rally," he said.
Rusk Mayor Charles Horton
has been interested for some
time in construction of an RV
p ark at Jim Hogg City Park. He
has discussed the possibility of
attracting Winter Texans.
Martha Neely, Main Street/
Economic Development Man-
ager, invited Mr. Tinkle to .come
and discuss RV rally parks.
He said Nacogdoches is in
the process of constructing a
rally park there, "But, just
because there will be one in
Nacogdoches doesn't mean
Please see RVs, page 12
Alto
Rusk
J'ville
State
3rd grade reading
92
83
90
94
3rd grade math
83
92
87
90
4th grade reading
82
84
76
86
4th grade math
76
86
82
88
4th grade writing
83
89
82
86
5th grade reading
68
82
71
80
5th grade math
75
97
72
86
5th grade science
69
75
61
74
6th grade reading
83
76
84
86
6th grade math
57
80
79
79
7th grade reading
91
88
84
88
7th grade math
74
85
69
73
7th grade writing
78
82
87
85
8th grade reading
86
89
80
88
8th grade math
76
73
65
72
8th grade social studies
87
94
94
93
9th grade reading
76
76
82
82
9th grade math
39
60
60
63
10th grade language arts
89
71
62
72
10th grade math
64
71
74
71
10th grade science
71
71
71
69
10th grade social studies
87
83
85
86
11th grade language arts
88
64
72
69
11th grade math
53
64
76
68
11th grade science
58
58
63
67
11th grade social studies
84
85
88
90
Third graders
can be held back if
they don't pass test
Preliminary results are in
for the first year of the state's
new TAIvS (Texas Assessment
of Knowledge and Skills) exam
and results around county
schools are mixed.
TheTAKS replaced the aging
TAAS exam this year and covers
more subject matter than its
predecessor. Also, the stakes are
higher for third grade students,
who must pass the reading por-
tion of the exam in order to be
promoted to the fourth grade.
In Cherokee County third
grade scores were close to the
state averages of 94 percent
passing in reading and 90
percent in math. Alto had 92
percent in reading and 83 per-
cent in math; Rusk, 83 percent
in reading and 92 percent in
math; Jacksonville, 90 percent
in reading and 87 percent in
math.
Rusk fifth graders excelled in
the math portion of the exam,
scoring 97 percent, compared
to the state average of 86 per-
cent.
Results for Wells were not
available at press time.
Jacksonville ISD curriculum
Please see TAKS, page 6
C IV K
EP-
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Whitehead, Marie. Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 154, No. 18, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 25, 2003, newspaper, June 25, 2003; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152575/m1/1/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.