The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 45, Ed. 1 Friday, November 11, 1988 Page: 1 of 4
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(ABSORBED THE GAZETTE CIRCULATION BY PURCHASE MAY 12, 1928)
VOL 113—NO. 45.
SULPHUR SPRINGS, TEXAS, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11,1988.
« PAGES —25CENTS PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
Local ticket-splitters like Bush, Bentsen
By KARLA S. WARE,
DANA DURHAM and
MARY GRANT
Hopkins County is full of the
famous Texas ticket-splitters. They
favored Republican George Bush
for the presidency and Democrat
Lloyd Bentsen for the U.S.
senatorial seat
But, in a record turnout Tuesday,
they stuck to the Democratic side
when it came to the candidates who
make their homes in the county.
Bush grabbed 50.54 percent of
the Hopkins County vote compared
with Michael Dukkkis’ 49.21 per-
cent, according to unofficial
returns.
But the close presidential race in
Hopkins County did not coincide
with the rest of the Texas vote. The
Bush team ran away with 55.8 per-
cent of the ballots cast in the state,
leaving Dukakis with 43.5 percent
of the vote when 97.7 percent of
the boxes were in Wednesday
morning.
Bentsen took 69.2 percent of the
Hopkins County vote in his bid to
retain the Senate seat, with most of
the spoils of the campaign war
going to Beau Boulter on the GOP
side with 39.9 percent of the vote.
Another major race for the state
Senate seat found local voters sup-
porting the Democrat while the rest
of the region appeared to have
picked the Republican in the race.
Incumbent Democrat Richard An-
derson took 52.8 percent of the
vote, while Bill Ratliff garnered
47.1 percent locally.
Most of the Democrats who have
campaigned in the county during
the election season managed to win
support from the local residents and
voters in other parts of their
representative districts.
U.S. Rep. Jim Chapman, the in-
cumbent Democrat from Sulphur
Springs, won handily over his op-
ponent, Republican Horace Mc-
Queen. Democrat Pete Patterson
took the victory of the stale
representative seat with 74.4 per-
cent of the local vote compared
with Republican Jess Nickerson’s
25.5 percent.
County winners
Some of the victors in Hopkins County’s election
Tuesday share comments about their campaigns
Wednesday morning. More than 10,000 local regis-
tered voters cast ballots in the election that also
named George Bush as the next president of the
United States. Standing, from the left, are Tina
Otts, Precinct 1 constable; Mark Bassham, unop-
posed for sheriff; Jo Ruth Hodge, unopposed for
tax assessor-collector; and Betty Moore, county
treasurer.
—Staff photo by Richard Hall
Sulphur Springs wins
Main Street Project
By MARY GRANT
Cheers were sounding around
Sulphur Springs Friday after the
city was selected for the state’s
Main Street Program.
Gov. Bill Clements, in a press
release, announced the designation
that will provide assistance to en-
courage downtown development —
both economically and aesthically.
Leading the cheering locally was
Billy Sam Elliott, chairman of the
committee that made the presenta-
tion to the state in seeking the
designation. “Bless us. I’m not
surprised. I was confident we were
going to get it. I’m tickled that we
did get it,” he said.
The first step will be for the
committee to meet with the city
manager and City Council to hire a
person to direct the program.
Mayor Margin Latham seconded
Elliott’s comments. “That will be a
top priority,” she said. “I’m cer-
tainly happy because we all knew
that we are winners and this will
just promote it for others to see.”
The cheering was especially
noisy at City Hall where City Man-
ager Jack Dickerson learned he had
chalked up a second Main Street
designation. He served in the same
capacity in Henderson where the
city received the program.
“Yes, that just shocks me. Words
just won’t come out right now. I’ve
been hanging out here for a few
Lions hear what’s
cookin’ at SSISD
weeks wondering what didn’t we
do — what did we put in — did we
need to put something else in.”
The city manager complimented
the combined effort of business
leaders, industrialists and public
and private members of the com-
munity. “It’s taken the work and ef-
fort of a lot of folks all pulling to-
gether.”
And the cheers from City Hall
reached all the way downtown
where David Reid, president of the
Downtown Merchants Association,
said: “I’m excited. If you look
around and see many of the small
towns in Texas that their downtown
areas have a lot of charm, kinda an
old world flavor. It seems as if there
is a correlation between that and
the downtown project. I think we
have a lot to look forward to.”
Vote in selected Texas races
Here are the latest, unofficial results in key Texas General Elec-
tion races as compiled by the Secretary of State:
(6,782 precincts of 6,941 reporting - 97.7 )
Bush-Quayle GOP
Dukakis-Bentsen Dem
Paul-Marrou Oth
Fulani-Mendez Oth
Boulter, Beau GOP
Bentsen, Lloyd Dem (I)
DaieU, Jeff Oth
President
U. S. Senator
2,940,783—55.8pct
2,292,458-43.5pct
29,431—0.6pct
6,901—0.1 pet
2,056,260—39.9pct
3,059,360—59.3pct
43,667—0.8pct
U. S. Representative District 1
McQueen, Horace GOP 71,000—36.8pct
Chapman, Jim Dem(I) 121,821—63.2pct
Anderson’s home town
still adding up votes
By MARY GRANT
By Clarke Keys
With the 18th largest employ-
ment force in Hopkins County and
an annual budget in excess of
$845,000, the food service program
in the Sulphur Springs school sys-
tem is literally big business.
Rickie Elliott, director of the
child nutrition programs for the lo-
cal schools, told members of the
Sulphur Springs Lions Club
Tuesday that while the department
is part of the Sulphur Springs Inde-
pendent School District, it is
operated as a self-supported busi-
ness — though a non-profit one.
The food service division obtains
its income from two basic sources
— charges to students and adults
for meal service and a federal
rebate supplement for each meal
served. In the 1987-88 school year,
Mrs. Elliott noted, food sales
totaled $546,000 and federal
reimbursements $299,000.
“We use no local school district
funds at all,” she said.
In the last budget year, food
stuffs purchased by the service cost
about $418,000, the payroll and
employees (
)00, while (
benefits for the 46 employees of the
service ran $344,000, while clean-
ing and contracted services and
capital expenditures to add new
equipment totaled the remaining
$83,000 in the budget
In the school year die department
will produce about 497,000 meals
— breakfasts (94,000), plate
lunches (400,000), or individual
sandwich snack meals from
sandwich shops in the middle
school and high school. The aver-
age cost per meal — $1.70.
Students and faculty pay less
than that, however. The basic
charge for breakfast is 55 cents,
while elementary students pay $1
for lunch and secondary school
students $1.25. About 85 percent of
breakfasts served and 31 percent of
lunches qualify as reduced price or
free meals under federal govern-
ment guidelines, however. For
reduced or free lunches, the federal
government reimburses the local
district to the equivalent price of
$1.4625. For full-price meals, the
federal reimbursement is 14 cents.
In addition, Mrs. Elliott noted,
the Department of Agriculture
gives food from surplus holdings to
the district valued at about $75,000
a year. Favorite items lately, the
director noted, have been raisins,
cheese, beef and ground pork.
“One year we received a ton of
prunes and those didn’t go over
very well,” she commented.
Mrs. Elliott observed that at
times the food service operation
receives “conflicting signals” from
the federal programs. Regulations,
she noted, call for low fat and low
salt diets when possible, but much
of food supplemented to the school
district falls outside those
guidelines.
“Our staff is fantastic and we
ng impor-
We know
that some children who eat with us
will not get another meal that day.
And we firmly believe you cannot
educate a hungry child.”
Presidential vote
Here are the latest nationwide
election returns in the race for
President with 99 percent of the
nation’s precincts reporting.
Dukakis 40,799,185 - 46 per-
cent
Has won 10 states and the Dis-
trict of Columbia with 112 ev.
Bush 47,646,902 - 54 percent
Has won 40 states with 426
ev.
Needed to win: 270 of the 538
electoral votes (ev)
The race for the 1st Senatorial
District in Texas was in limbo
Wednesday morning while officials
counted a voting box in Marshall,
the incumbent’s home town.
By 11 a.m. election observers
were saying the challenger, Bill
Ratliff, was leading Sen. Richard
Anderson by about 3,000 votes.
The Marshall (Harrison County)
box was expected to contain about
6,000 ballots.
However, The Associated Press
was calling Ratliff the victor.
Meanwhile in Hopkins County,
Anderson received 52.89 percent of
the vote while his opponent gar-
nered 47.11 percent. The vote count
was 4,857 for Anderson and 4,326
for Ratliff.
After spending a year and one-
half on the campaign trail, Ratliff
said the effort may have been a
deciding factor in his bid.
“We knocked door to door,” the
Mount Pleasant candidate said
Wednesday morning while the final
outcome of his challenge to Ander-
son remained unsettled.
Assuming that he does maintain
the lead, he said, “I’m not sure you
can attribute it to one thing.” But,
he said he thought voters were
seeking a change, wanted a busi-
ness-related person in the seat, and
endorsed Ratliff’s stand on values.
If he takes over the Senate seat,
Ratliff said he will devote initial
energy to the state’s business
climate. “We’ve got to have a
healthy economy,” he said.
Anderson, Ratliff said, made few
mistakes in the campaign, but
failed to control the administration
of his office, which was reported
early in the campaign when the
senator was criticized for campaign
telephone calls charged to his
Senate office. He later repaid the
charges, which Anderson said at the
time occurred inadvertently by one
of his aides.
Ratliff also said that Anderson’s
vote for a “massive budget” and
what Ratliff called Anderson’s
close alignment with the Trial.
Lawyers Association did not bode
well with his constituents.
Anderson was not available for
comment Wednesday morning.
“Ain’t it sweet,” Chapman said
at the Democrat’s party at the Hop-
kins County Regional Civic Center
Tuesday night after the unofficial
results showed he had won the 1st
Congressional District.
Hopkins County balloters gave
Chapman 70.4 percent to keep him
in Washington for two more years,
while the total votes in his congres-
sional region showed a win with 63
percent.
He said the election that started
his stint as a congressman three
years ago was close. “We said
going into this campaign ... Let’s
see if we can do it with a little more
margin. Y’all, 70 (percent) to 30
(percent) is a pretty good margin.”
Chapman and about 100 cheer-
ing constituents celebrated the vic-
tory with other local candidates
Tuesday night.
Among the Democratic county
champions involved in the Civic
Center revelry were Betty Moore,
who campaigned for the only
county-wide courthouse office
space; Tina Otts, who retained the
Precinct 1 constable office; and
Calvin Prince, who captured the
Precinct 4 commissioner slot.
Moore defeated Nita Gregory by
gaining 77.8 percent of the vote;
Otts won over Dan Moniz by
taking 71.9 percent of the vote; and
Prince claimed victory over Glen-
dale Tucker by accumulating 69.8
percent of the vote.
Moore and Otts agreed Wednes-
day morning that they could
describe the win with one adjec-
tive: relief.
“I think the only word would be
relieved,” Moore said. “It’s been a
long campaign, and I’m glad it’s
over. Now, we can go to work on
what we promised the people we
would do.”
That work begins for Moore and
Prince Monday, when the two will
be sworn into their offices to fill
unexpired terms.
Though Moore agreed that her
race was probably the toughest in
the county — with three opponents
in March, one opponent in the May
run-off and one opponent in
Tuesday’s election, she said the
county-wide campaign trail was en-
joyable.
“I also got a chance to meet a lot
of people and make a lot of friends.
That’s the fun part; that’s the neat
part.”
Oils said she was relieved and
felt voters feel the same. “I think
everybody was just burned out with
candidates being out and knocking
on doors.”
Both thanked their supporters for
their help during the campaigning
and the voters for their confidence.
Prince echoed those remarks and
said, “I’ll do as much as possible
for all the people in Hopkins
County, not just the ones in
Precinct 4. I want to be a commis-
sioner to all of them.”
^Vhe unopposed candidates in
Tuesday’s election said they were
pleased with the voter turnout and
support they garnered.
In a twist to the usual apathy
toward unopposed candidates,
Sheriff Mark Bassham amassed
more votes in the election than any
other candidate on the county bal-
lot. Bassham, who retained his seat
after winning in the March primary
election, took 7,290 ballots.
Trustees eye need for school library changes
By KARLAS. WARE
consider what we are doin,
tarn.” Mrs. Elliott said. “We know
The libraries in the Sulphur
Springs school system are lacking
in several areas, according to a
consultant who evaluated die dis-
trict But, the librarians are taking
the criticism well and trying to
elevate the image of the libraries,
school district trustees were told
Tuesday nighL
In addition, the school trustees
scheduled an action item for their
December meeting to change the
out-of-district student transfer
policy.
In discussing the libraries, an
administrator told the board that the
librarians have a “very positive”
attitude about changes that an assis-
tant professor at East Ibxas State
University deemed necessary.
Randy Reed, assistant superin-
tendent-instruction, said, “We’re
not at the point to determine the
blame” for the situation at the li-
braries.
Instead, he and the other ad-
ministrators and trustees agreed
that the implementation of correc-
tional methods are their main con-
cern.
“I know the spirit of improve-
ment is there,” Superintendent
Danny Durham said. “We’re get-
ting on the road to making the im-
provements.”
Board President Tommy Allison
said he was concerned that the
librarians may not understand what
their job descriptions and the librar-
ies’ role is in the educational proc-
ess.
He proposed that the administra-
tion coordinate its efforts with the
librarians in determining what thfe
job descriptions entail.
Furthermore, he said he is con-
cerned that librarians acquire cer-
tification for their jobs and then are
simply left to handle the situation.
“We want to help them all we
can,” Allison said. “We’re not in-
terested in assessing the blame.”
In addition, he said, “I’m not
one of those to accept the gospel
according to the consultant”
In discussing the transfer policy,
the trustees agreed to the proposed
administrative change that any stu-
dent who has been enrolled in the
district for one year will be allowed
to stay in the Sulphur Springs
school system if his residence is
changed to a location outside the
district.
Several students were approved
under the provisions of th. amen-
ded policy during the Tuesday
meeting, although action will not
be taken until the next meeting.
The board has discussed amend-
ing the policy during previous
meetings, following its members
making several exceptions which
were not stated clearly in the
policy.
In other discussion, ad-
ministrators still have no definite
information concerning the
bankruptcy of the district’s former
insurance carrier.
Paul Glover, assistant superin-
tendent-business, said the district
may know something more about
the situation after a meeting Friday.
A teacher at the meeting asked
the board members if they had any
suggestions about what to do about
the bills that health practitioners
keep sending.
Allison said the claimants should
tell the collectors that the company
which was supposed to pay them is
involved in a lawsuit If that does
not help, Allison suggested that the
teachers inform the collectors that
the state has an unfair debt collec-
tion act “with some pretty stiff
penalties.” He said the teachers
may want to inform collectors of
that law, if they are being a “pain
in the neck.”
4 v
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Keys, Clarke & Hillsamer, Dave. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 45, Ed. 1 Friday, November 11, 1988, newspaper, November 11, 1988; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth780415/m1/1/: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.