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June
Salter dies
Monitor Staff Reports
KEMP–Chamber member, Kemp city leader and community visionary June
Salter died at home Saturday night.
Salter had been diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year.
Greater Cedar Creek Lake Area Chamber of Commerce president Jo Ann
Hanstrom described her as “a spirited Kemp business owner with a vision
of what she wanted her community to be.”
She owned and operated an antique and second-hand store on Kemp’s Main
Street.
Salter was awarded the Don Legg community volunteer
award by the Kemp branch of the chamber during “The Taste of Cedar
Creek” in March.
Besides her work in the chamber, she was a strong advocate for the City
of Kemp and served on both the city council and the Kemp Economic
Development Corporation.
“She was a strong proponent for economic growth and the future of Kemp,”
city administrator James Stroman said.
“She worked to preserve the history of Kemp and the quality of life for
its citizens. She has already been missed through the months of her
illness. Her passing is a great loss to the city,” Stroman said.
A memorial service is planned at Anderson-Clayton Funeral Home in Kemp
at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 11.
File Photo
June Salter is joined by Ed Lipscombe to receive the Don Legg award
during The Taste of Cedar Creek, a Chamber awards event.
Animal control ordinance set
Commissioners vote 3-1 to approve new rules
By Kerry Yancey
Monitor Staff Writer
ATHENS–Henderson County Commissioners formally
approved an animal control ordinance Tuesday.
The vote wasn’t unanimous, as Precinct 1 Commissioner Joe Hall opposed,
saying the ordinance was “a venue of support for the Humane Society.”
County Judge David Holstein chose to abstain, while commissioners Wade
McKinney, Ronny Lawrence and Jerry West voted in favor of the ordinance
as presented.
A final copy of the ordinance was accompanied by a letter from County
Attorney James Owen, who had been asked to review it.
“It is apparent from the proposed ordinance that a great deal of work
has gone into this proposal,” Owen wrote.
Noting state law allows the county to adopt such an ordinance without
holding an election, Owen wrote he tried carefully not to insert any
personal preferences in the final wording.
In the “citizens comments” portion of the meeting, three individuals –
“Bob” Daniels, Paul Gatewood and Ellen Wallace – all urged the
commissioners to approve the ordinance.
“I agree with just about every bit of it,” Gatewood said. “If anyone
votes against it, I would like to know why.”
“I’m against this for a number of reasons,” Hall said when discussion
began.
Hall noted he opposed wording in the ordinance, particularly the clauses
relating to costs per day for boarding and other clauses requiring
animals to be held for 45 days (after being vaccinated for rabies by the
county) or 90 days (quarantine after being exposed to rabies).
At $10 per day, that would amount to $900. “Nobody’s going to pay $900
for a dog,” he said.
“This is not enforceable,” Hall charged. “It will create a mass genocide
of animals.”
“I love animals (but) this is not about animals,” he added. “This is a
venue for supporting the Humane Society.”
The other commissioners felt differently.
“This is something that’s got to be done,” McKinney said.
West noted an increasing number of calls about stray dogs over the past
four to five years, adding most of those calls have come from residents
of subdivisions.
“I think (the ordinance) will give our county what we need to start
with,” West said. “It’s like our public nuisance (ordinance) – we’ve got
to start somewhere.
“I think the committee came up with the best solution that could be
made,” he added.
“I understand Mr. Hall’s view,” Lawrence said. “You could write 20
ordinances, and there would be some gray areas in them. You do have to
start somewhere.
“This (ordinance) is probably not perfect,” he added.
“This is a good starting point, but I want some items removed,” Hall
said.
Police seek suspect in store
robbery
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
SEVEN POINTS– Anyone who can identify the person who robbed the One
Point Beverage store on State Highway 274 Tuesday afternoon, July 24, is
asked to call the Seven Points Police Department.
He is described as a white male, between 35 and 45 years of age, about
5-10 inches tall, with collar-length graying hair with mustache. He was
last seen traveling south in a dark blue Chevrolet Tahoe model year 2000
to 2005.
Store owner Phan Sim, defended her property as long as she could,
arguing with the suspect while wielding a metal rod as protection.
Sim, 50, 4-11 and weighing 90 pounds, said she wasn’t a bit afraid.
“I stood up very straight and tall,” she said.
Courtesy Photo
The July 24 robbery suspect as he appears on the surveillance camera at
the One Point Beverage store on State Highway 274. He holds a gun in his
right hand. If you can identify this person call the Seven Points Police
Department at (903) 432-3178.
Lightning strikes vacationing
Mabank resident
By Barbara Gartman
Monitor Staff Writer
MABANK–A sudden thunderstorm caught vacationing Gary Sapp out in the
open in Taylor Park, Colo., July 22.
The storm blew in with wind and lightning flashing.
Sapp (the Mabank School Board president), his son Jason, an ER nurse at
Presbyterian Hospital in Kaufman, and his daughter-in-law Chrysta were
traveling in one vehicle.
In a second car were his lifelong friend Charles Andrews and his two
grandsons.
“Everybody had got into the vehicles just as Jason caught a big fish, so
no one had left,” Sapp recalled.
The storm intensified. It was raining and hailing, he said.
“Everyone else was inside their vehicles, and just as I reached to get
in, lightning struck the top of the truck,” Sapp said.
Sapp had one hand on the door handle of his Subaru SUV, and the other
hand was on the metal door.
When the lightning struck, Sapp was knocked out for a minute or so.
“It knocked me backwards. I remember seeing the lightning – I remember
hitting the ground. I was numb in my arms and chest,” he recalled.
The group was 60 miles from civilization, but were well aware of where
to go.
“We were already familiar with the emergency clinic in Gunnison. Jason
had torn a muscle in his shoulder on a previous trip, and that’s where
we took him,” Sapp said.
Everyone piled into the Andrews vehicle. Sapp was helped to his feet and
put into the front seat of the vehicle for the trip to Gunnison.
Being inside the cars kept the other members of the party safe, he
emphasized.
On the way, they went by the cabin where the rest of the family was
staying to let them know what happened.
At the cabin, they picked up Sapp’s wife, Kim, and daughter Jamie,
before continuing on to the emergency room.
“On the way, the feeling started coming back, but nothing worked right –
I couldn’t feel anything. I was dazed,” Sapp recalled.
At Gunnison, the ER doctor spent a lot of time checking and making sure
Sapp suffered no real damage.
“We drove to the emergency room. They treated me well. The doctor said
she felt like I would be okay, but she didn’t know why,” Sapp said.
Some reasons could have been the odd circumstances of the strike.
“I was a good conductor. I was wet from head to toe, and I wasn’t struck
directly. I simply was holding on to what was struck,” he said.
The hair on his left arm was burnt off, and friends told him he smelled
like he had been singed in a campfire.
Friends, acquaintances and relatives all have plenty of questions for
Sapp. Through it all, he hasn’t lost his sense of humor.
“Someone asked me if I had any nerve damage. I said, yeah, It makes me
real nervous to be in a storm.
“But I’m glad to be here to talk about it. I feel very blessed,” he
added.
Of course there’s the inevitable question, does he intend to go back?
Without hesitating, he said plans are already made.
“We are scheduled to go back next July. We (including the Andrews
family) have been vacationing there for 20 consecutive years,” he
replied.
His vehicle was towed through the mountains 140 miles to a dealership
where almost $4,000 in repairs had it almost back to working order.
While there was no external damage, everything electrical in Sapp’s SUV
was “fried,” he said.
Sapp is the president of Mabank Independent School District board of
trustees.
At least four electrical problems still exist, including the back
windows won’t roll up and down.
One lightning strike has enough energy to light 150,000,000 light bulbs,
according to Fact Monster.
Lightning kills more people each year than hurricanes, floods and
tornadoes.
Between 1990 and 2003 there were 39 people killed in Colorado, 52 in
Texas and 126 in Florida, the state with the most deaths.
People are warned to stay indoors and avoid open spaces, trees,
telephone booths, and ballparks during a thunderstorm. |