Lady Cats basketball team jumps to 5-0 start in district. Page 8
The Archer County News Archer City, Texas
January 16, 2020
One dollar
Dollar General coming to Windthorst By Blake Gumprecht
to look inside the vehicle. That’s when he saw that the metal pole had passed through the entire length of the truck, through the front and rear passenger seats, before being stopped by the tailgate. “My initial reaction was, ‘Thank God there wasn’t a passenger,’” England said. “Then I was told moments later that there was a passenger. That’s when my heart sank. I realized how critical the accident could have been.” England knows both teens. He teaches a criminal justice class at Archer City High School. The 17-year-old is one of his former students. The 15-year-old is currently enrolled in his class. “I was grateful that I didn’t have a funeral to attend,” England said, “and that I didn’t have to go to school the next day with an empty chair. That’s when it hit me. That’s where I might have teared up a little bit.” The teens’ father, Tony Pollock, arrived at the scene of the accident shortly after it happened and couldn’t believe what he saw. “I was in shock,” he said. “I was just thankful that my son was standing there next to me. I still can picture my son being dead. I can picture that thing being stuck in his chest.” The first thing the 15-year-old said when he saw England was to ask whether they were going to discuss the accident in criminal justice class the next day. They did. England spoke
The town of Windthorst presently has no chain stores. But that will change soon. Discount retailer Dollar General is opening a store on U.S. Highway 281 in Windthorst. It will be located about a mile north of the intersection of Highway 281 and state Highway 25, next door to North Texas Dairy Supply. The arrival of Dollar General is inspiring concern from Maria Plascencia, who manages the Lucky Dollar grocery store in Windthorst. Lucky Dollar is the only grocer in town and will be the store that will compete most directly with Dollar General. “It’s kind of scary,” said Plascencia, who has worked at the store for 17 years and became manager two years ago. “I’m kind of afraid, not just for me but for the other girls that work for me. It’s going to take some of our business away.” The Windthorst store will be Dollar General’s second in Archer County. It already has a store in Archer City. Company officials said the retailer has no plans to open additional stores in the county, though Holliday, Lakeside City, and Scotland seem large enough to support such stores, based on the chain’s locational strategies elsewhere. Dollar General hasn’t announced when the store will open, except to say that will happen in “early 2020.” On December 1, it advertised for five employees for the store online, though not for a store manager, so presumably that person had already been hired. The developer building the store for Dollar General completed the exterior in December. Electricians were working on wiring after Christmas. The lights were on two weeks ago and laborers were working inside the store. Last week, Dollar General’s bright yellow sign was installed in front of the store and on the store front. Dollar General has quickly become one of the largest chains in the United States in terms of number of stores and is ranked in the top 20 U.S. retailers in sales. The retailer has more than 15,000 stores in 44 states, more than Walmart, 7-Eleven, CVS, or Mc-
See LUCKY, page 5
See STORE, page 4
A 15-year-old student from Archer City High School was nearly impaled when this fence pole pierced and passed entirely through the truck in which he was riding, including the seat above, where he was sitting. Photos by Matt England, Archer City Police Department.
Archer City high school student nearly impaled in freak accident By Blake Gumprecht Physics, the invisible forces that govern so much that we take for granted, may have saved the life of an Archer City High School student last week. The 15-year-old was riding in a white Ford F150 pickup truck driven by his 17-year old brother that was traveling north last Tuesday on Texas Highway 79, about two miles north of Archer City and just north of Davis Road. The 15-year old is a sophomore at Archer City High School while his brother is a senior. Their names were not released because both are under 18 years old. Ahead of them, a woman driving a white SUV stopped, then waited for southbound traffic to pass so that she could turn left into the gated driveway of her home. But the driver of the pickup later said he looked down momentarily and didn’t see that the SUV was stopped. He looked up at the last second before he would have slammed into the rear of the SUV at a high rate of speed, then swerved off the road to avoid hitting it. The truck sideswiped a metal horse fence, knocking it down, and a horizontal pole that ran atop the fence pierced the hood of the truck. In a bizarre and unbelievable turn of events, the pole then passed through the entire engine area of the car, penetrated the passenger side airbag and glove compartment, and went
straight through the the backrest of the passenger seat, where the 15-year-old was sitting, about chest high. Matt England, a sergeant with the Archer City Police Department and the first law enforcement officer on the scene, said that when the car swerved to the right, the 15-year-old’s body likely swung in the opposite direction, so that the fence pole that impaled his seat narrowly missed him. “When you swing to the right, your body goes to the left,” England said. “That’s what saved his life, in my opinion.” The 15-year-old suffered swelling to his elbow, but was cleared by medics at the scene. His father said later in the week that his back also hurt. The teen, England said, seemed unphased by how lucky he’d been. In fact, he took a video of the accident scene, posted it on TikTok, a video-sharing website, and bragged in school the next day that it had been viewed 160,000 times. He didn’t see the stopped SUV either because he was looking down at his phone. “He was on his phone the whole time,” England said. When England first arrived on the scene, he recognized the truck. He knows the family of the two teens. They recently moved to Wichita Falls. At first, the accident looked minor. It appeared that the truck had merely scraped up against the fence. Then someone told England
Ballot set for local elections in March primary By Blake Gumprecht The ballot is now set for all local races in the primary election that will be held on March 3. Feb. 3 is the last day to register to vote. Early voting will be held from Feb. 18 to 28. In addition to voting for national and state races and propositions, including president, Archer County voters will cast ballots for candidates for 12 local offices. In overwhelmingly Republican Archer County, there are no Democrats running for local offices, except for Democratic party chair. Phyllis Wright is running unop-
posed for that office. That means all local elections will really be decided in March, not November, unless a run-off is required. A run-off is triggered if no candidate receives a majority of votes — 50 percent of votes plus one. Judge Jack McGaughey, first elected in 2013, will run unopposed for district judge in the 97th Judicial District. Incumbent Casey Polhemus and William Knowlton, an attorney in Henrietta, will compete for district attorney in the 97th Judicial District. Polhemus has been district attorney since 2017.
David Levy will run unopposed for reelection as Archer County attorney. Simon Dwyer, chief deputy in
the Archer County Sheriff ’s office, and Jack Curd, a police officer in Holliday, will face off to succeed Archer County Sheriff Staci Beesinger, who is retiring. Dawn Vieth will run unop-
posed for reelection as Archer County assessor-collector. She has held that office since 2017. Two Archer County commissioner seats will be up for election. Four candidates will compete to replace Richard Shelley for the precinct 1 seat. They are Wade Scarbrough, John Pezzano, Darrell Bounds, and Jeff Boyd. That appears to be the only election that could require a runoff. Pat Martin III will run opposed for re-election for the precinct 3 commissioner seat. Three Archer County constable seats will be up for election. Jeremy Maxwell is challenging
incumbent Doug Strange for the precinct 1 seat. Donald Stevens is running unopposed in precinct 2. Incumbent Brett Hoff is running unopposed in precinct 4. Leslie Hash will run unopposed to replace Rhiannon Myracle as Republican party chair. Voters must choose whether to vote in the Republican or Democratic primary. Voters do not select a party affiliation when they register to vote in Texas. Voters 65 and older, as well as disabled persons, are eligible to vote by mail. To request a ballot, call Archer County Election Administration office at 574-2645.
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