Wise County Messenger from Decatur, Texas • Page 1

MEDITATION Casting all your care upon him; for be careth for you, Peter 5:7 wist COUHTY MCSSIHGER VOLUME 90 NUMBER DECATUR, WBE COUNTY, TEXAS, THURSDAY, JUNE II, 1970 PER COPY TEN CENTS Five Stops On Schedule For Livestock Tour Those who plan to attend the annual Wise County Livestock Tour June 11 (today) have an Interesting afternoon In store. Five stops will be made with the final one being a barbecue chicken supper at the Oak Grove Church. TomGettys will serve as the tour chairman this year. The tour will begin at 1:30, leaving from Guinn and Lewis at 501 East Walnut Street In Decatur, and covering the northeast quadrant of the county. The first stop will be made At Southwest A.I.

FreezingCen- ter on Highway 24 near the Wlse-Denton county line. The second stop will be at the H. N. Ferguson Ranch where demonstrations will be seen In grub control, horn and face fly control and Hereford cows bred semmltal bulls. A native grass pasture will be shown and discussed at the Brown-Forman Ranch.

The fourth stop will be at the Coke Gage Ranch, operated by Doc Strickland. The final stop will be at the Oak Grove Church for the barbecue supper and to hear a talk by Parker Yarborough of Era. Yarborough operates a feed lot and will discuss this phase of the livestock Industry. Men of the Oak Grove church will prepare the barbecue supper and are selling tickets at 1.00 each. They can be obtained from the church members or from members of the Wise County Livestock Committee.

Library Holding Open House Sunday Afternoon 3:00 5:00 THE DECATUR PUBLIC LIBRARY will be shown to the people of this area Sunday afternoon, June 14 between the hours of 3:00 and 5 00 Members of the library board and other volunteers have working diligently to have the building ready and 3,000 volumes of books In place for the opening. Standing Is Mrs. Ed Forbis, secretary-treasurer of the board, talking to Mrs. W. A.

Hughes, board member, and at the rear desk helping with typing chores is Mrs. Mildred Irish. Dozens of people have helped with the project and given money and books. (Messenger Photo) Residents of Decatur and the area will have a chance to see their new public library Sunday afternoon, June 14 Open house will be observed between the hours of 3:00 and 5:00 and everyone Is invited to attend. Many people have donated many hours of work in the past two years toward creating for the Decatur area a free public library and the fruits of their labor will be on view Sunday.

The volunteer workers are engaged this week in cataloging books and getting them in shelves ready for show. Some 11,000 has been spent in remodeling a building at the corner of Church and Shoemaker Streets and in installing library furniture and books. The building was a gift from the City of Decatur; 5,000 of the funds came from a television commercial, from the filming firm and from participants which they donated to the library. Other funds, some 8,000 came from donations by citizens. A former pastor of the Decatur Catholic Church, Father Albert Tyl, was actually the of the library.

It was through his enthusiasm at the beginning that the venture was undertaken. He was transferred to another parish shortly after getting the groundwork laid for the library but maintained an interest in its completion. He was invited to the open house but was in Europe and would not be back in time. A library board was appointed at the outset and they have worked diligently at the job. Ansel Fortenberry was named chairman; Jim frank Hornback, vice chairman; Mrs.

Ed Forbis, secretary-treasurer and Mrs. W. A. Hughes and Mrs. R.

C. Dawson as members. All of the committeemen have contributed heavily in time to the library but much of the has come from Mrs. Plans Complete For Annual Trail Ride, Pageant June 13 Hospital News The annual Trail Ride and Pageant, sponsored by the Wise County Historical Survey Committee, the Wise County Historical Society and the Wise County Posse, will be held Saturday afternoon, Jiue assmmr By: GENE CARTER So far as we have observed no community which has received a preliminary census count has been pleased with the report. They have all figured they were in the count and the Census Bureau is doing them wrong.

They all know of dozens or hundreds of people who were missed. We haven't had a report on the Decatur census but when it comes we may scream as loud as the we know of a few who said they were not counted, also. We spent a good part of Monday morning trying to locate the Bureau of Census and decided they are missing, too. First, we called the Wichita Falls district office to find out it had been closed down: job completed. We were advised all business in this area had been moved to Dallas.

We tried to get the Dallas office and between wrong numbers, non-working numbers and the county office, we gave up with a sore dialing finger, We talked with Mrs. B. R. Rutherford, who supervised the nose count In Wise County, about the possibility of missing some people. She said it was possible but unlikely.

She said that when one of the enumerators called at a home several times without finding anyone at home they got the information from a neighbor as to the number of people living there. Of course the information sheet was not filled in but the people were counted. Likely, some people figure they were not counted when not contacted personally by the enumerator, but actually were counted through information from a neighbor. The noises we hear about the short count sound just like the ones made in 1960 and 1950 and 1940 etc. Now, we know Decatur will show a good gain over the 1960 count and if it raise the appropriate howl to no avail, of course, A trend that started some 30 years ago continues unabated.

The rural areas are getting thinner in population and the metropolitan areas are getting larger. We particularly like this trend but that's the way its going. Or was going. Almost without exception the towns and counties of West Texas lost in population. We like West Texas for many reasons and the fact the area is losing population is no reflection on its not being a desirable place to live.

West Texas is primarily a farming country and farms are getting larger, more highly mechanized and require fewer people to operate. The persons displaced by machines have moved to the cities to secure employment. The cities have gotten larger, rural areas, smaller. A reversal of this trend has been noted for some time. Smaller towns around the metropolitan areas have begun to grow while the city proper has not shown so much gain.

In other words, the city is spilling out into the suburban communities a move back toward the advantages of rural living with all of the conveniences of the city. Wise County has picked up many new residents in the past five years, expecially in the southern part. People have been moving out of the crowded Fort Worth conditions to the more desirable country living. Many do not want their children in the city schools so have moved this way in order to get them in smailer schools where teaching is a little more personal. One has only to drive around in Wise county to see the new homes built in the country not in any town.

There Is something about rural living that appeals to many people. We have the room in Wise county and we invite more city folk to come join us. As for us, our nature demands activity. We like city life. The farm boy studied hard, worked hard for an education so he could go to the city, earn enough money to buy a farm where he could retire.

We plan to retire in the city, or at least, no further away than we are now. Quote: generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth 1:4. 13 Riders will leave the Posse grounds, located on Highway 51 southwest of Decatur at 1:00 under the direction of trail bosses Pete Reeves and Charlie McKelvin. Halfway stop for cold drinks will be handled by Jean Mara and Charles Wilhite. Destination point will be Black Creek Lake following the route designated by the trail bosses.

All participants are to be responsible for their own meals and bedding if they wish to camp out. No water or electricitity will be available to campers, however, there will be restrooms. At dusk the annual pageant, Wise County portraying some of the scenes from Wise early history will take place at the same site used the past two years, at the foot of the hill after crossing the cattle guard before reaching the lake area. Rehearsals have been underway for the past week, and everything will be in readiness for Saturday night. All riding groups and individuals are welcome to participate, and the public is invited to the pageant.

Since there are no seats, it is advisable that everyone bring their own chairs. City PRESENT PATIENTS Idabell Walker, City Mary Fox, Alvord Maggie StUl, City Melvin Hicks, City Worley Allen, City Emma Dean Parrish, Eula Caddell, City Betty North, Boyd Emma Renshaw, City Otho Vandiver, City Minnie Hornback, City Jim. W. Goolsby, City Ella Hale, City Ruth Howerton, Alvord Martha Mack, City George Kincaid, City Raley, Alvord Allen Ross, Rhome George Brown, City C. W.

Stewart, Rhome PATIENTS DISMISSED Frankie Henton, City Mrs. Wayne Williamson, Bridgeport Edna McClure, City Sylvia Taylor, City Woody Smith, Chico Ruth Howerton, Alvord Frank Clay, City Billy Stone, City H. Rhodes, City Minnie Sherman, City Nora Hart, Bridgeport NEW ARRIVALS Jimmy Wayne Williamson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Williamson of Bridgeport.

Committees Begin Plans For Hospital Fund Drive At the meeting of hospital committeemen Friday night definite plans for the new hospital fund drive began to take shape. Bryant Vandiver, hospital administrator, presided over the session attended by those who had volunteered to help in the drive, interested citizens and hospital board members. Charles Long was made general chairman of the committee to solicit donations within the city of Decatur. He called a meeting of his committee for Wednesday night to further plan the drive. Ralph Dodson was named chairman of a committee to solicit funds in communities and towns outside of Decatur.

He will name other workers to help in making this drive. The goal has been set at 250 000 This will be used as a on a 62 bed hospital costing approximately $1 million. The balance of the money is to come from a federal hospital grant and from a Hill-Burton loan. The indebtedness is to be retired from hospital revenues. Vandiver stated that location of the hospital had been narrowed to two sites; one in North Decatur and the other on the west side of Hwy.

24. The drive has not actually begun yet but donations are already coming in. Two of the largest have come from com- PLAY BALL! BATTER UP! Another junior baseball season is under way. The first game was played at 6:30 Monday afternoon. Approximately 240boys and girls are participating in the summer recreational program.

Games will be played Monday through Saturday nights, excluding Wednesday night. Teams meeting in the first game Monday night were sponsored by Central Telephone and Cocanougher Ford. Charles Fordteamwona loD-sided victorv from Central Telephone, coached by Alfred Talley by the score of 12-2. (Messenger Photo) Contract Let For Third Unit in Hwy. 287 Project munlties outside of Decatur.

Donations and pledges to date are understood to be more than 40 000 W. A. Nobles, chair man of the hospital board, said in the first meeting, there was little likelihood that the present hospital could be kept open due to icare pressure unless there was strong evidence a new facility would be built. Since then the hospital at Granbury has been closed and news this week was that the Ranger hospital would be closing soon, both due to the fact the hospitals did not come up to medicare specifications. Nobles also said that word from medicare was that if they followed strict rules to the letter 170 Texas hospitals would be closed.

It Is felt that with the effort being made here to build a new hospital the Decatur hospital can be kept open, until the new one is in operation. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rayburn are visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs.

M. R. McCarroll following a six-months tour in the army at Fort Dix, N.J., and Aberdeen, Md. He will return to his former position in Dallas where they will make their home. Mrs.

Alex Warren of Stillwater, has been visiting her mother, Mrs. LaRue Renshaw, who is a patient in the Decatur Hospital. Contracts for highway construction In the Fort Worth district have been awarded by the Texas Highway Commission. The work will be under the supervision of District Engineer R. W.

Crook, and will be in Tarrant and Wise counties. Big State Construction Company of Arlington, Inc. was awarded a contract for signing and delineation on 12.2 miles of US Highway 287 and State Highway 121 in Tarrant County. Low bid was $546,811.10. John C.

McGee Jr. of Fort Worth is the Highway Department engineer in charge of the project located from near the Fort Worth Dallas Turnpike southward to Interstate Highway Loop 820 from IH 35W Sale Nets $400 For Park Equipment Mrs. Kenneth Lambert reported the White Elephant Sale held last weekend netted almost 400 This amount will be sufficient to purchase one piece of heavy playground equipment for the Decatur park. The sale was sponsored by the beautification committee of the chamber of commerce. Another sale, of perhaps a different type is being planned for some time in July and later a second piece of equipment will be purchased.

Some equipment has been donated for the park and plans call for making a small area suitable for toddlers. A paint job is also planned for pieces already in the park. Mrs. Lambert said merchants were generous with items contributed for the sale as well as the building where It was held an the committee appreciated every contribution of any kind. eastward to IH Loop 820.

The pb will take an estimated 160 working days. In Wise and Tarrant counties, Dahlstrom Corporation of Dallas was awarded a contract for grading, structures, asphalt stabilized base, concrete pavement and hot mix asphaltic concrete pavement overlay on 4.0 miles of US 287 and 81. Low bid was $1,038,655.38. The project extends from south of Rhome to 0.6 mile south of the Wise Tarrant County line. Billy Stone of Decatur is the Highway Department engineer in charge of the project which will take an estimated 200 working days.

Three Students Win in State UIL Solo Contest Decatur High School was well represented in a recent State UIL Vocal Solo contest in Aus- tin. There were 4500 youngsters participating In various phases of this 10th annual musical affair which Decatur has attended nine out of ten times. Out of 65 soloists entered in the boys low voice contest, DHS had two to place. Sammy Lynch, son of Mr. and Mrs.

Sam Lynch, won a first division rating. This was the fifth time for a DHS student to win a first. Ronny Saunders, son of Mr. and Mrs. M.

Saunders, won a second division rating. In the girls low voice contest, Sandra North, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roy North, won a first division rating out of 73 soloists entered. Mrs.

Sam Lynch accompanied Mrs. Eloulse James and her three voice students to Austin. Plans Presented For Expanded Soil Program Plans for starting the Great Plains Conservation Program in Wise County were made at a meeting in Decatur June 8. Approximately 35 interested landowners, businessmen and agricultural agency representatives met in the demonstration room of the Texas Power and Light Company in Decatui to participate in a discussion of the program. Jess Rouse, District Conservationist of the Soil Conservation Service in Decatur, designated technician to represent the SCS in the program, and Al Scott, District Conservationist of SCS, Bridgeport, gave a brief discussion of the program.

Conservation practices eligible for use in Wise County were discussed and selected. The cost-sharing rate for practices was discussed and selected. The GPCP County Program committee, consisting of John Edwards, county supervisor of the Farmers Home Administration; Tommy Lawson, county executive director pf ASCS; (See SOIL PROGRAM Page 8) Hughes who holds a degree from college in library science. Her knowledge and experience has been invaluable in getting the library set up and ready for use. Robert Klrkbride, a local architect and builder, contributed his services to planning and overseeing the remodeling job.

Mrs. Kirkbride worked with her husband on the project and they donated their time in the interest of building a free library for area people. Others who have spent much time on the project are-. Mrs. Arthur Renfro, Mrs.

Allen Cocanougher, Mrs. Joe Reeves, Mrs. Zack Sensibaugh, Mrs. Charles Cocanougher, Mrs. Cleo Rann, Mrs.

Mary Steph, Mrs. U. R. Rawlings, Mrs. Charles Heaberlin, Mrs.

Elton McCurdy, Miss Grace Kintner, Miss Kathy Stone and Bill Stone. The Decatur Garden Club, aided by Mrs. W. B. Woodruff handled landscaping chores around the building.

Mrs. Hughes stated that at present there are approximately 3,000 volumes in the library, many bought out of library funds, some contributed by the Texas Library Department, and others donated by citizens. Many of the books have been given as memorials and Mrs. Hughes said that the library would appreciate all such donations. Present shelf facilities can accommodate as many as 10,000 books so considerably more books can be handled before more shelving has to be bought.

Only about one third of the building is currently occupied by book shelving. It was designed for expansion as needed. Space has been left in the south end of the building for a stairway to the basement floor which will be converted sometime in the future into a room. There will be an outside entrance into this room also. There are also rest room facilities on the main floor and a work room where books are processed and cataloged.

Beginning Tuesday of next week, June 16, the library will be open to the public from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Opening days will be Tuesday through Friday until further notice. Volunteer workers will staff the library during its opening hours; these volunteers will have been trained by Mrs. Hughes. In the fall a of group will be formed to assist with its operation.

During the summer months two programs will be presented, a and Reading under guidelines set out by the Texas Library Department. SANDRA NORTH SAMMY LYNCH rcuiMN i SAUNDERS.