Bill Text: TX HCR122 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Designating Pittsburg as the official Hot Link Capital of Texas for a 10-year period beginning in 2019.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-05-24 - Signed by the Governor [HCR122 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HCR122-Enrolled.html
H.C.R. No. 122 |
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WHEREAS, For more than 120 years, the East Texas community of | ||
Pittsburg has been recognized across the Lone Star State as the | ||
premier source of the delicious sausages known as hot links; and | ||
WHEREAS, This savory tradition began in 1897, when an | ||
entrepreneur of German ancestry named Charlie Hasselback brought | ||
his recipe for hot links to Camp County; at first he sold the links | ||
raw from his butcher shop in Pittsburg, but in 1918, he began | ||
selling them cooked and ready to eat; traditionally served on | ||
butcher paper with hot sauce and crackers, these small, stubby | ||
sausages won instant converts with their unique texture, crunchy on | ||
the outside and soft on the inside, and their signature burst of | ||
flavor; and | ||
WHEREAS, Over the years, Pittsburg has been home to several | ||
hot link businesses; O. O. Smith, who worked with Mr. Hasselback, | ||
established his own hot link shop and later sold it to Johnny | ||
Franklin, who ran it until the 1990s; the hot link joint started by | ||
Henry James passed through several hands before it closed in the | ||
1970s; Barney Warrick, who initially worked for Mr. James, went on | ||
to set up his own hot link enterprise with his son, Gene; and | ||
WHEREAS, In the 1970s, Gene Warrick and Jimmy Brooks founded | ||
the B&W Meat Company and JB's Hot Links; Mr. Warrick took over the | ||
businesses in the 1980s and changed the names to Pittsburg Hot Link | ||
Restaurants, Inc., and Pittsburg Hot Link Packers, Inc., and he and | ||
his wife, Madeline, purchased and renovated the building where | ||
Pittsburg Hot Links has been managed by Teresa, Tina, Sala, and | ||
Sonya Warrick, and is currently managed by Sabin and his sister, | ||
Salina Warrick; and | ||
WHEREAS, While there are hot link shops in many nearby | ||
communities, including Mount Pleasant, Daingerfield, Gilmer, and | ||
Winnsboro, Pittsburg remains the home of the hot link, drawing | ||
visitors from all over the state and nation; Pittsburg Hot Links and | ||
its adjoining Sausage Warehouse take up an entire city block of | ||
downtown Pittsburg, and the warehouse produces more than eight | ||
million links, or a million pounds of sausage, each year, | ||
generating over $2.5 million in sales and $750,000 in payroll; and | ||
WHEREAS, Often referred to as "East Texas caviar," Pittsburg | ||
hot links are a source of pride and prosperity for the people of | ||
Pittsburg as well as a significant contribution to the culinary | ||
tradition of the Lone Star State; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby designate Pittsburg as the official Hot Link Capital of | ||
Texas; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That, in accordance with the provisions of Section | ||
391.003(e), Government Code, this designation remain in effect | ||
until the 10th anniversary of the date this resolution is finally | ||
passed by the legislature. | ||
Hefner | ||
______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
I certify that H.C.R. No. 122 was adopted by the House on May | ||
3, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 127, Nays 13, 2 present, not | ||
voting. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||
I certify that H.C.R. No. 122 was adopted by the Senate on May | ||
10, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate | ||
APPROVED: __________________ | ||
Date | ||
__________________ | ||
Governor |