San Jacinto County News - Breakout

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By Tony Farkas
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COLDSPRING — The Coldspring City Council passed its 2023 budget at its regular meeting on Dec. 5.

Mayor John Benestante said the $1.42 million budget has close to $1 million in grant funds in it — $631,000 for a sewer project and $240k for design funds.

Benestante said overall, the budget is $81,000 less than last year.

Additionally, there are two projects in budget; Benestante said he would like to place an electric marquee at City Hall for information for tourists and things like a fire ban, and the city will build a storage facility behind City Hall to help with its records retention.

In a related matter, the council approved a resolution supporting the Coldspring Area Library, the Volunteer Fire Department and the San Jacinto Senior Citizens Center. Benestante said the city budget will contain “rainy day” funds for these organizations, which while they are not city departments, they provided numerous benefits to the city.

In other business, the council:

•discussed operations at the wastewater plant, which is operating at 16 percent of capacity;

•discussed the specifications on construction of a concession stand;

•approved grant administration; and

•approved amending budget to purchase van for the senior center.

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Special to the News-Times

CLEVELAND — Coldspring-Oakhurst High School and Lincoln Junior High band students competed in auditions for the Association of Texas Small School Bands at Tarkington Middle School on Dec. 5 and 6.

“Out of 6 different schools, our students earned a spot to perform with the top musicians in our region,” said LJH Band Director Isabel Talley. “This is a prestigious award, and we are so very proud of them!”

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Constable Sam Houston and his wife, Sandra Houston, have worked to keep the county’s stray problem under control. COURTESY PHOTO

Merry Christmas everyone. If you are still looking for Christmas gifts, don’t forget your local shops.

One advantage in our county is that most things are close by, there are some great gift ideas in Coldspring shops, and you can also buy gift certificates at local restaurants if you ask for them.

There are florists and candy stores, quilt stores and feed stores and more.

•If you would like to try to win a beautiful quilt or one of the many other prizes in Shepherd Library’s raffle, buy a ticket or two. They are $2 each or $5 for three tickets.

First prize is the custom-made quilt, second is the electronics basket with iPad and other electronic goodies and third is a lovely wine basket. You can get your tickets at Shepherd Library or from one of the Friends of the Library.

Go to their Facebook page or website for more info. This is a fundraiser for the library to attend the TLA Conference in Austin. The drawing will be on Feb. 10. Call them at (936) 628-3515.

•This week I visited Waggin’ Tails no-kill animal shelter. Created in 2017 as a nonprofit rescue shelter for dogs, it became a county shelter in 2019. The wife of Constable Sam Houston, Sandra, dedicates most of her life to looking after the dogs in the shelter. Each one is named and treated, given shots and if needed are spayed or neutered.

You may have seen their float in Shepherd Parade, with some of the volunteers who come to help out.

Constable Houston covers animal control across the county and both he and his wife are devoted to helping dogs who are lost, hurt or have been abused. I saw more than 30 dogs while I visited, each one came to be petted and to lick my hand.

This shelter needs volunteers to help walk the dogs and help with the chores. If you love dogs and want to help, to commit some time on a regular basis, call Sandra at (281) 450-3676.

We went to the new shelter, not yet open but looking good with spaces for an office, a sick room for the dogs, a laundry room essential to keep any infections down and spaces for 35 dogs.

It’s not yet completed, but Constable Houston is hoping for this to happen early in the New Year. This is a very needed facility located on Route 2025. There are more unwanted dogs that can be cared for. All are available for adoption and need a good home. This couple are heroes for their work with these animals.

While I was there, I asked Sam Houston about himself. First, he told me that his office which he has had for about 5 years was donated by his community, at virtually no cost to the county. I decided Constable Houston would be perfect for the next interview of people in our county who are not well-known to most of us but who do sterling work for their community every day.

Sam has been a lawman for over 40 years and Constable of Precinct 3 since 2013. He is on the road a lot because despite his work with rescuing dogs, he is also a full-time constable with all that entails. I have seen him in Precinct 2 helping with the barbecue at the Impact Center’s events for Youth and he is a very active member of many good causes where he steps in to help.

I can understand why he has been elected as constable for so long.

Contact the Shepherd Chamber at (210) 995-7420 (temporary number) or the Coldspring Chamber at (936) 653-2184.

Yvonne Cones is president of the Greater Shepherd Chamber of Commerce, and secretary of the Coldspring Chamber of Commerce.

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Along with former player Aaron Terry (left) and Jack Young (right), former Groveton football coach Scott Phillips discusses the information in his new book. Phillips was doing a book signing at Groveton High School last week. Photo by Tony Farkas

By Tony Farkas
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GROVETON — Former Groveton football coach Scott Phillips, a Texas Football Hall of Fame member, has penned a book detailing his career in coaching.

Phillips spent 23 years coaching football in Texas, including being head coach in Groveton from 1985 to 1989, when the Indians won a state championship. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019.

The book details his rise through the highly competitive football coaching ranks in Texas, his impressive record of 234-73-3, his making the playoffs in 20 of his 23 years in coaching, and even the Plano East-John Tyler game.

“I wrote the book about my career, about the many stops along the way, just reminiscing about things that happened — season highlights, funny stories — I wrote the whole thing from memory,” he said. “I had a wonderful coaching career.”

Phillips started coaching at High Island, then moved to Groveton and won his first state title. He then moved to Waxahachie and won another state ring the third year he was there, compiling a 30-game winning streak in the process.

From there he moved to Plano East, and was head coach for eight years, making the playoffs for seven of those years. After that, Phillips went to Odessa High School, a place he said will get anyone out of coaching.

“There are only two kinds of coaches in Odessa: those that have been fired, and those that are going to be,” he said. However, he got lucky and retired. Phillips did say that some of his team’s uniforms were used for locker room scenes for “Friday Night Lights,” but he was not in the film.

In his first year in Groveton, the team went 15-0 but lost in the state playoff to Electra. Following that, the team went 5-5, 13-1-1, 11-1-1 and then 16-0. One of the highlights of his career was the 60 games he won in his five years in Groveton, he said.

Phillips said that discipline is the key to success, as well as the key to consistency.

“When people say the team has great chemistry, that comes from consistency — consistency in how you treat people, in how you discipline, in how many hours you put in,” he said.

Phillips also said that discipline was the key to education. Aside from winning 60 games in his time in Groveton, the students at the high school and junior high levels won academic awards as well.

“All football programs are based on athletes, their ability and their desire to play,” he said. “We were disciplined. For instance, we shaved every Friday or we got swats, or then shaved on the bus after you got swats. The kids were held to a high standard. They had to pass their grades in school; if they got a failing slip, they got swats for it.”

Phillips said discipline is so much different today because coaches can’t do those types of things as people think that’s just barbaric.

“It didn’t kill anybody, it made them a lot tougher,” he said. “We won a lot of ball games.”

To get a copy of “Scott Phillips: A Football Life as Shared with Jack Young,” search for Jack Young on Facebook.