JAN/FEB

ISSUE 13

2015

BI-MONTHLY

BUSINESS

REPORT

2014 Total Resource Campaign winners

Mount Pleasant

MEET OUR LEGISLATORS

LEADERSHIP MOUNT PLEASANT forging new horizons P.11

INCOMING CHAIRMAN chamber chooses 2015 chairman P.9

ELECTRIFY MOUNT PLEASANT

Mount Pleasant Business Report | Issue 09

Mount Pleasant

contents:

mtpleasanttx.com 3

Partners 4

2015 Banquet 5

Baxter Black 6

Incoming Chairman 8

Leadership Mount Pleasant 11

Meet our Legislators 14

Electrify Mount Pleasant 16

Habits of the Wealthiest People 18

5 11

6

16

8

New Partners

Renewing

Arnold Walker Arnold & Co PC At Home Healthcare Baker and Johnson PC CPA Barefoot Bay Marina Cannaday Financial Services/ LPL Cardiology Consultants of East Texas, PA Chapman Transfer & Storage Inc City of Mount Pleasant Diverse Designs Don Juan’s Mexican Restaurant EDH Electric Inc Elliott Ford Lincoln Mercury First Baptist Church Flanagan & Flanagan Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Greater Hope Church of God in Christ Hamilton Jewelers, Inc Hampton Inn & Suites

Homeland Title Homer Metal Buildings Holt Homer KSA Engineers Laura’s Cheesecake LMP Concrete Lone Star Trailer Parts MP Insulation Co. Mardi Gras Seafood McDonald’s of Mount Pleasant Mill’s Flower Shop Mount Olive Baptist Church Mount Pleasant Burgers & Fries Mount Pleasant Country Club Mount Pleasant Economic Development Center Mount Pleasant Optimist Club Newman Electronics, LLC

Next Step Community Solutions Niblett Rental Properties North East Texas Credit Union George O’Neal, DDS Pace Opportunity Centers, Inc - Mount Pleasant Dayhabilitation Region VIII Education Service Center Sandlin Motors, Inc Stanley’s Landscape Management, LLC Texas A & M University - Texarkana at NTCC Thai Lana Titus County Fair Association TLC Realty Top Hat Industries, Inc Visiting Angels Herbert L. Watkins MD PA Workforce Solutions - Northeast Texas

November-December Renewals 2014

Accolade Homecare F.A.C.E.- Fine Arts Council Extraordinaire Cardiovascular Associates of East Texas

Taking

To the next level

4 mtpleasanttx.com

mtpleasanttx.com 5

Annual membership & awards banquet

Baxter Black Networking 6:00 PM | Dinner & Awards 6:30 PM

Mount pleasant civic center

RSVP | 903.572.8567 | mtpleasanttx.com

Special Guest Speaker

$25 Per Guest

6 mtpleasanttx.com

Cowboy to his core, he shares poems and lore with a sometimes cantan-kerous crowd. But, stealthy as a cat, with a tip of his hat, he draws you in with a laugh, a stumble and fall. You won’t know by the sound you enjoyed poetry out loud ‘til the end of the curtain call. Baxter Black is a poet, storyteller and truth speaker of all things “cowy.” Black, a Priefert Manufac-turing endorsee, will be the special guest speaker at the Mount Pleasant-Titus County Chamber & Visi-tor’s Council Annu-al Membership and Awards Banquet. It will be one of Black's last public performances as he pre-pares to go off the road in April. A former large animal veterinari-an, Black began writing cowboy poetry and stories about the cowboy life in 1980. Be-coming a poet happened by accident. “I thought I was a songwriter,” he says. His stories, funny anecdotes and verses resonate with the agricultural com-munity from cowboys, ranchers, and farm-ers to feed salesmen, ag teachers and vets. He gets them and they get him, alt-hough, not everyone in his audience shows up by choice.

“I had to do stealth poetry when I started this. My audience is rural and agri-cultural. They were cowboys and the last thing they wanted to hear was “a poem,” he says in a refined, big city accent. He recalls one show he was about to perform. “I was standing in the lobby and this lady comes walking in. She was a

ranch woman and she had her husband by the ear, dragging him in and he was glaring at me,” Black said. “When it was over, I was signing a book for her and he was standing behind her. I asked him what he thought and he said, ‘Shoot, I didn’t even know it was a poem ‘til you were halfway through it!’” “You gotta get over the hump that poetry has to be boring or bad,” he said. His performance is not a “poetry reading” like many might imagine. “I actually perform the poem. Don Edwards, a wonderful entertainer, once

introduced me as “a cowboy poetry action figure,” he said. “I do pratfall humor, so even if you’re deaf, I become humorous.” His process to get to his stage performance starts with his column, Baxter Black From Out There, where he shares the raw truth of the lives of his core audi-ence. He calls it “Baxterizing.”

“Cowboy poetry is about wrecks. I found that just like love songs, there is an infinite number of ways you can get bucked off or run over or plowed or kicked. That’s what the stories are all about. The cowboy is always the butt of the joke. I’m the butt of my own joke,” he said. “It’s the truth in humor that makes it funny.

That’s why there are no science fiction jokes.” The weekly column runs in 150 publications, including Livestock Weekly. It’s then whittled down to a 2-and-a-half minute radio TV program. While the radio and television segments mainly target a rural agricultural audience through RFD TV and radio sta-tions in rural areas, he’s also attracted an urban following over the years through National Public Radio, public television and past appearances on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.”

“Cowboy poetry is about wreCks. i found

that just like love songs, there is an in-

finite number of ways you can get

bucked off or run over or plowed or

kiCked.”

mtpleasanttx.com 7

He calls his urban followers “gentiles.” He’s also in the cattle business, so they’re his customers, too. “Gentiles are people who don’t know. When I was on NPR, I did 250 com-mentaries over a period of years. These people are all urban and they don’t have a clue where their food comes from,” he said. His act isn’t typical fare for a na-tional audience, but with his unique win-dow into the rural, agricultural world, he piqued the interest of Nebraska-born John-ny Carson. But, he didn’t get on the show after his first audition. “The first time Johnny Carson called and asked for a tape, I sent it to them and I asked, ‘Am I gonna be on?’ and [the producer] said, ‘No, you’re just a little too cowy,’” Black said. One of his most requested poems pokes fun at city dwellers up in arms over an ob-servation that plants feel pain:

From The Vegetarian’s Nightmare: I had planted a garden last April And lovingly sang it a ballad But later in June beneath a moon Forgive me, I wanted a salad! I ate them. Forgive me, I’m sorry But hear me, though I’m a beginner Those plants feel pain, though it’s hard to explain to someone who eats them for dinner! “I’m tearing up tomatoes and mur-dering potatoes in that poem,” he said. “That’s the best example of what I call a rubbing of the cultural tectonic plates.” Black’s latest book is Cave Wall Graffiti From a Neanderthal Cowboy. His books, video and audio clips are available on his online store at baxterblack.com. See Baxter Black live at the Annual Membership Banquet. For infor-mation or to purchase tickets, contact the Chamber, 903.572.8567 or mtpleas-anttx.com

8 mtpleasanttx.com

Richard Witherspoon has a long legacy in the food business. He grew up working in restau-rants with his father, who owned Dairy Queens and other restaurants in the McKinney, TX area. After graduating from college 1978, he married his college sweetheart and moved a few hours east to start his own restaurant here in Mount Pleasant. He named it after his father, Her-schel. Witherspoon and his father were partners in those early years until his Dad retired. Thirty-seven years later With-erspoon owns four Herschel’s Family Res-taurant locations in Mount Pleasant, Pitts-burg, Henderson and Palestine. He also maintains his DQ roots. He bought his father’s restaurant in McKinney about 20 years ago and he also owns Dairy Queens in Frisco, Allen, Plano and Greenville. Part of building that legacy as a business owner has been his longtime involvement with the Mount Pleasant Chamber & Visitor’s Council. “I first served in 1980. From then until today it’s like night and day,” he said. The Chamber has made great strides thanks to our CEOs and our staff and the committed people on the board and committees,” he said. “I feel very good about the Chamber. It’s respect-ed in the business community. The Cham-ber has done a lot to help businesses both large and small.” Witherspoon is in his final year of a three-year term on the Chamber board of directors. He has also been active on

the Chamber’s Marketing and Tourism Committees. He begins his term as Chair Jan. 1, taking over from 2014 Chair Shan-non Norfleet. As he looks ahead to the coming year at the helm, he says there is a lot of momentum going into 2015. “It’s exciting to be a part of it right now,” he said. “I’m looking forward to continuing what we have in place, building on that and carrying on the tradition of excellence we’ve estab-lished with the Cham-ber.” Witherspoon outlined his goals for the coming year, in-cluding meeting the benchmark goals of the Chamber’s 3-Year Strategic Plan, contin-uing the Chamber’s marketing and tourism success and execut-ing a new focus for the Leadership Mount Pleasant program. “We have a great strategic plan in place. We’re right in the middle of that and I think there are a lot of good programs in place that we’re look-ing at expanding,” he said. For example, the Chamber recently

hosted a State of the Economy Luncheon. “We hired a speaker from the Federal Re-serve in Dallas. We saw how well-received it was here in Mount Pleasant and Titus County, so we’re thinking about inviting the entire region to take advantage of what we’re offering,” he said. Other new events, like Everything Texas Uncorked, also have great potential for growth, he said. He’s especially excited about the new direction the Chamber is

Richard Witherspoon Introducing our 2015 Chair: Richard Witherspoon Business: Herschel’s Family Restaurant, Owner Lives in: Mount Pleasant Education: Texas Christian University; Bachelor’s Degree, Business Management Family: Married to Worthie; two adult daughters; Richie and Conoly Chamber Service: Board of Directors, Marketing & Tourism Committee

taking its Leadership Mount Pleasant pro-gram. The new focus will put more empha-sis on addressing issues that Mount Pleas-ant and Titus County will be facing in the coming years. “That is really going to help in identifying and develop-ing leaders who will learn about issues facing the community not only right now and in the next year, but also five and 10 years down the road,” he said. “I’m excited about how we’ve en-hanced the program to better prepare [the class] to be the leaders of the future.” Witherspoon said suc-cess in leading the Chamber always comes back to the mission statement: “To build

economic prosperity by engaging business and the community.” “I think as a board, we have to keep our focus on that. It says it all. That’s

our purpose and everything we do relates to that,” he said. “We enjoy prosperity in

Mount Pleasant and Titus County, but we can’t be complacent. We have to always look for ways to improve and enhance and give better value to our businesses.” Witherspoon un-derstands the importance of a local business joining the Chamber, taking an active

role and how that involvement becomes a building block for business growth. He points to the many seminars and work-shops that benefit businesses, but a key

benefit, he said, is the advertising opportunities for small businesses that don’t have their own mar-keting departments. “I’ve seen that with Herschel’s with all the different pro-motions. It makes your advertising dollars go much farther because people in the community begin to recognize that you are making an in-

vestment in your community and they want to do business with businesses that give back,” he said. The Chamber is an organization that touches so many areas of the commu-nity. “It’s like the fabric running through it. It can pull people and businesses and differ-ent entities together,” he said. “A good strong Chamber goes a long way toward building prosperity among the business community.”

mtpleasanttx.com 9

“a good strong Chamber goes a

long way toward building

prosperity among the

business Community.”

10 mtpleasanttx.com

mtpleasanttx.com 11

The Leadership Mount Pleasant Class of 2015 is adding a new dimension to its already successful legacy. The class is structured with an enhanced focus on future issues that its participants will face as they take on leadership roles in the community. “We have broadened the curricu-lum structure. It will be divided into industry days – education, healthcare, city, county, economic development. We are bringing in experts in those fields to speak to them about issues that are coming down the pike,” said Chamber CEO Faustine Curry. “Later on, when they want to be on the school board or they want to serve as

mayor, it won’t be the first time they’ve heard about these issues.” The Chamber tapped Kelly Coke to take on the role as Chair of the class. “We are very blessed to live in this commu-nity. We really want to spark in these Lead-ership Mount Pleasant participants a vision for future challenges and how we are going to tackle those issues when they hit Mount Pleasant and Titus County,” Coke said. “We want [them] to be empowered, equipped for change and ready to lead in the future.” The participants will also benefit from the expertise of leadership consultant Dr. Lila Walker, who will work with the class at each meeting. “Dr. Walker is ex-cellent in empowering people to reach their full potential by understanding their leader-ship styles and recognizing that their per-sonal values have a strong influence and will determine the type of leader they will be,” Coke said. Coke brings her own areas of expertise to the table in her role as Chair. She is the instructor of Leadership Studies and coordinator for the Bachelor of Gen-eral Studies program at Texas A&M Texar-kana. She also assists with community outreach efforts for TAMUT’s program at

Northeast Texas Community College. The 2003 Texas A&M College Station graduate has a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Leadership and Development. She earned her Master’s degree in Adult and Higher Education at TAMUT and plans to begin her doctoral program soon. She served as an intern for Laura Bush during her senior year at Texas A&M. She also worked for U.S. Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, in his constituent services office in Dallas and then his deputy regional director for the East Texas region for five years. Coke has a passion for the local community with deep family roots in Mount Pleasant and Titus County. Her mother, Teresa Coke, is a retired teacher, so edu-cation is doubly close to her heart. “The reason I got into higher education is to help students reach their full leadership capaci-ty,” she said. Curry said the impact of a leader-ship program is far reaching for a commu-nity. “It is really necessary because com-munities are built on leaders. There are always plenty of workers and volunteers who are willing to do anything for their community, but there are very few who are willing to step up and take the responsibil-ity to lead,” she said. “Leadership Mount

Leadership Mount Pleasant Forging New Horizons

12 mtpleasanttx.com

Pleasant provides a source to find leaders and an opportunity for leaders to emerge.” The program will bring in the leaders of nonprofit organizations as well to share the issues they face and the im-portance of their work in knitting the commu-nity together. “I believe the best leader is a servant leader,” Coke said, quoting her favorite Bible verse, Mat-thew 20:26: “Anyone who wants to be im-portant among you must be your servant.” An Everything Texas Tour is planned to give the participants an over-view of what the area offers, its culture and the industries that are its backbone. The participants will also be assigned class projects in the three main focus areas that they will present before they graduate in June.

Mount Pleasant Days in Austin is another big part of the leadership program. With the class being held every other year

during the Texas Legislative Session, each class takes that opportunity to travel to Austin to tour the Capitol, meet their repre-sentatives and get a better understanding of the legislative process. The trip is orga-nized by the Chamber’s Governmental Affairs Committee. The 2015 class will have the added benefit of Coke’s previous experience working with Mrs. Bush and Sen. Cornyn. Coke is eager to take on the chal-

lenge of guiding the class and says she’s thankful for the program’s founders, past chairs and chamber directors for the foun-

dation they built. “They left this wonderful legacy to help mold and shape leaders in Mount Pleasant and Titus County. It is very evident that they were concerned about the future and contin-uous well-being of our com-munity,” she said.

With her background in leader-ship, education and legislative issues, Coke brings a unique blend to the class in which she was a student just two years ago. “I feel like the concepts that I use in teaching my community leadership class will help me in this,” she said. “This is where theory and application really hit the road.”

“it is really neCessary beCause

Communities are built on leaders.”

Mount Pleasant Days in Austin - March 2013

mtpleasanttx.com 13

Bryan Hughes has served in Texas House of Representatives from District 5, which includes Camp, Harrison, Upshur, and Wood counties, since 2003. Age: 45 Occupation: Attorney Education: B.B.A., University of Texas at Tyler; J.D., Baylor Uni-versity Committees: Appropriations Criminal Jurisprudence Subcommittee on Articles VI, VII & VIII

CONTACT INFO Capitol Address: Room CAP 4S.5 P.O. Box 2910 Austin, TX 78768 (512) 463-0271 District Address: Mineola District Office 701 N. Pacific Ave. PO Box 450 Mineola, Texas 75773 (903) 569-8880 Email: bryan.hughes@house.state.tx.us Website: new.bryanhughes.com

Representative Bryan Hughes was elected to represent HD-5 in 2002 and is the vice chairman of the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee. He also serves on the Human Services committee and as vice chairman of the Rural Caucus. Hughes has served on the board of trustees of the Steward's Foundation, a Dallas-based non-profit organization that makes loans to churches for building projects and provides health care assistance for Christian workers. He currently serves on the Health Care Committee. Hughes is also active in his church, Golden Bible Chapel, where he serves as an elder. He is a board member of the Mineola Founda-tion, a member of the National Rifle Association and the Rotary Club of Mineola. A fifth generation Texan, Hughes was raised in Wood County and graduated from Mineola High School in 1987. He attended Tyler Junior College and the University of Texas at Tyler. He received his law degree in 1995 from Baylor University School of Law, and was subsequently chosen by United States Dis-trict Judge William M. Steger of Tyler to serve as his briefing attorney. After serving two years with Steger, Hughes entered private practice in Marshall. He currently practices law in Mineola, his hometown, where he continues to represent working families and small businesses.

State Representative Bryan Hughes, District 5 (R-Mineola)

14 mtpleasanttx.com

mtpleasanttx.com 15

Kevin Eltife has served in the Texas Senate since 2004 from District 1, which covers Bowie, Camp, Cass, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Lamar, Marion, Morris, Panola, Red River, Rusk, Titus, Upshur and Wood counties and a portion of Smith County. Age: 55 Occupation: Businessman Education: B.B.A., University of Texas at Austin Committees: Administration (Chair) Business & Commerce Finance Natural Resources Economic Development Senate Select Committee on Redistricting

CONTACT INFO Capitol Office Room: 3E.16 Address: P.O. Box 12068 Austin, TX 78711 Phone: 512-463-0101 District Office Address: 3304 South Broadway, Suite 103 Tyler, TX 75701 Phone: 903-596-9122 District Office Room: Longview District Office Address: Gregg County Courthouse 101 E. Methvin, Suite 301 Longview, TX 75601 Phone: 903-753-8137 District Office Room: Texarkana District Office Address: 5411 Plaza Drive Suite D Texarkana, TX 75503 Phone: 903-223-7931 Email: kevin.eltife@senate.state.tx.us Website: senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist1/dist1.htm

State Senator Kevin P. Eltife District 1 (R-Tyler)

Senator Kevin P. Eltife, the owner of Eltife Properties, was sworn in to represent SD-1 in 2004. He previously served three terms on the city council for the City of Tyler and later as the city’s mayor. Eltife is the current chairman of the Senate Committee on Administration; Eltife also serves on the Business & Commerce, Economic Development, Finance, and Natural Resources committees. Additional posts have included seats on the Electric Utility Restructuring Legislative Oversight, Economic Development, Nominations, Government Organization, Health and Human Services, and Inter-national Relations and Trade committees. He was appointed by Gov. George Bush in 1997 to serve on the Texas Higher Education Coordi-nating Board, and has been recognized for his legislative efforts by the Texas Junior Chamber of Com-merce one of the group’s “Five Outstanding Young Texans” in 1998. Eltife received the "Freedom to Teach" award from the Association of Texas Professional Educa-tors and was named a "Champion for Free Enterprise" in 2005 by the Texas Association of Business. In 2007, the Texas Municipal League named him "Legislator of the Year” and Texas Monthly recognized him for being "tough, pragmatic, independent . . . (and) a problem solver." A Tyler native, Senator Eltife is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. He is the owner of Eltife Properties and resides in Tyler with his wife, Kelly, and sons, Walker and Jack.

Source: texastribune.org

16 mtpleasanttx.com

Electrify Mount Pleasant That’s the theme for the third year of the Chamber Total Resource Campaign to gain sponsorships, members and volun-teers. The campaign kicks off at the end of January and runs through the first week of March. “With this being a year in which the Texas Legislature is in session, the focus for our Governmental Affairs Com-mittee is energy, education and transporta-

tion, and with two power plants here, we feel like it’s appropriate to show support of our energy companies.” said Chamber CEO Faustine Curry. The Chair for the 2015 TRC is Rob Hedges. The team captains are McCall Dyke of McGuire-Dyke Invest-ments, Jey Yancy of Offenhauser Insur-ance, Kristy Crooks with Guaranty Bank & Trust and Troy Sellers of Luminant. “We are really excited. We have a

great campaign planned with a great team of captains,” Curry said. “The new TRC Chair will set the goal of the campaign and bring in more volunteers and possibly an-other team.” The campaign, which kicked off its inaugural drive in 2013, has generated 120 new members for the chamber in its first two years and a significant increase in sponsorships. “The campaign has been wonder-

mtpleasanttx.com 17

fully successful for the Chamber,” Curry said. “Before the campaign, we raised about $25,000 a year in sponsorships. As of this past year’s campaign, we were up to $133,000 in sponsorships. We also went from 20 businesses to almost 170 busi-nesses investing in the Chamber.” The concept of the TRC is three-fold. “The first part is to get all of the sponsorships for the entire year. The sec-ond part is a membership recruitment pro-gram and the third is a volunteer recruit-ment tool to get people involved with the Chamber and get them excited about what’s happening,” she said. “It’s a huge event for the Chamber and provides lots of support.” The TRC consultant, Joyce Pow-ell Johnson of YGM, founded the TRC in Tulsa, OK, increasing that Chamber’s spon-sorship revenue from under $100,000 to well over $2 million. “Based on that campaign she has helped Cham-bers all over the Unit-ed States with their revenue base,” Curry said. The cam-paign is made up of teams that fan out across the city and area, meeting with the Chamber’s 425 members to present sponsorship opportu-nities that are available as well as meeting with non-member businesses to share the benefits of joining the Chamber and draw more of them into Chamber. This year, there are two portions to the drive. Two weeks prior to the official start of the campaign, businesses that have made an investment in the Chamber previously will be approached with an op-portunity to secure those same sponsor-ships again this year. “They will have first right of refusal for the sponsorships that they have been a part of. When that period ends and the campaign kicks off at the end of January, the teams will go out and talk to Chamber members to present them with fundraising

packets and see what they are interested in and what can help their business,” Curry said. There has been positive response from the total resource campaign concept, which benefits both the Chamber and the businesses they serve by allowing each entity to more efficiently plan ahead for the coming year. “It seems that there is a lot more buzz about the Chamber and the member-ship is pleased with the direction we’re going. The members like being able to know what they can invest in all at one time and how they can promote their business through the Chamber,” Curry said. “It helps them with their marketing budgets and helps them plan their calendar for the year because they know ahead of time what is coming up and what to be prepared for.”

Curry said the TRC is also a way for the Chamber staff and volunteers to stay better connected with its members as it continues to grow. “It gives the members a lot more face time and on the flip side it allows the Chamber to really seek what the heartbeat of the Chamber really is; to see if we are doing what we need to be doing, if we can do more for a member or we need to adjust the direction we’re heading to better serve them,” she said. That face time continues throughout the year as the businesses making an invest-ment work closely with the Chamber to host and support events and programs. “Throughout the year, we try to contact all of our members continuously,

but the members that have sponsored or invested in some particular item, we obvi-ously have more interaction with them be-cause we’re meeting with them more and when their event is over, they receive a fulfillment packet that includes all of what they received from that event, so hopefully, they feel better connected with the Cham-ber.” During the campaign, the TRC teams compete to see which of them can generate the most sponsorships and new members. Last year, the highest producing team was the Troy Sellers team. Kim Crabb of Diamond C Trailers claimed first place as top individual producer. Norfleet was just beginning her year as Chair of the Chamber during the 2014 campaign. As the TRC wrapped up, she said she was thrilled at the number of

people from the com-munity that came together to make the campaign a success, which punctuated the campaign’s “Unity” theme last year. She said the diversity of businesses that were brought into the Chamber was also impressive. “Some of these businesses haven’t been en-gaged with the Cham-ber before and that’s what really gets you

excited,” Norfleet said. “I think the TRC changes some of their perceptions about what the Chamber is all about and builds stronger teams and stronger businesses. It helps build that feel-good community that you are proud to be a part of.” With the “Electrify Mount Pleas-ant” theme this year, the teams are eager to surpass the 2014 goal and capitalize on the energy that that came out of the past year’s efforts. Like past TRC Chair Steve Capps pointed out, “We want to be atmosphere changers.”

“the trC Changes some of the

perceptions about what the Chamber

is all about and builds stronger

teams and stronger businesses. It helps

build that feel-good community

that you are proud to be a part of.”

18 mtpleasanttx.com

mtpleasanttx.com 19

on Social Media