Russell Memorial United Methodist Church, located at 201 S. 4th St., is hosting its monthly Neighbor to Neighbor lunch this Saturday, February 25th. Anyone who wants a good meal is invited to the Deen Building at the corner of 4th Street and Orville for a free meal between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
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The Wills Point ISD will take center stage locally during the upcoming May election, boasting the only contested seat out of either the city or school races while also pursuing a $36.2 million bond measure that would lead to infrastructure upgrades and the construction of a new junior high campus to the district (see related story).
The city of Wills Point entered the filing period with the greatest potential chance of upheaval with the position of mayor and three council seats set to expire in May. Ultimately, the filing period was much ado about nothing for the city with all four incumbents, including Mayor Mark Turner and councilmembers Kyle Anderson, Lance LyBrand and Oscar Rogers, all filing back on Jan. 18 without any subsequent challengers.
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If those views of brown lawns and shriveled blower beds are causing a case of the winter doldrums, local horticultural experts say there’s nothing for it but to aim for a green infusion indoors with a few cheerful potted plants and live table decorations.
A mix of vibrant blooms or exotic succulents are the perfect reminder that winter doesn’t last forever, and there’s no shortage of plantscaping options for filling favorite spaces with color, texture, fragrance and – better yet – oxygen-infused air.
Our little green friends can help restore balance to home environments (and residents’ lungs), cleansing the air by reducing mold spores, neutralizing free radicals and adding humidity to dry, stale interiors. And there’s even a technical term for the way humans gravitate to lush, natural settings – biophilia, which means “love of life or living systems.”
A group of 32 staff members from the Gospel for Asia campus helped to clean up a stretch of FM 2965 Feb. 11 as part of the Texas Department of Transportation’s Adopt-a-Highway program.
By Michelle Jiménez
Gospel for Asia, a missions organization based in Wills Point, recently adopted a two-mile stretch of Farm-to-Market 2965 and spent the morning of Feb. 11 picking up trash. Around 32 staff members showed up for its first Adopt-a-Highway cleanup and proudly wore the bright-orange reflector vests provided for by Texas Department of Transportation.
Daniel Punnose, vice president of GFA, helped with Saturday’s highway cleanup and initiated adopting part of FM 2965.
“Although we normally focus on Asia, we wanted to contribute to the local community and show people practically that we genuinely care about Wills Point,” Punnose said. “We saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate Christ’s love to the people we love here.”
Jonathan Loghry, 40, who leads GFA’s Information Technology department, helped with the Adopt-a-Highway cleanup.
Organizers held a 10th birthday party/memorial playground fundraiser Feb. 12 at the north ballfields in honor of Adam Hardman
Family and friends of Adam Hardman turned out in force at the north ballfields in Wills Point Feb. 12, hosting a birthday party/memorial playground fundraiser for one of the youngest victims of a single-vehicle accident that occurred back on Nov. 19, 2014
The accident touched many in the community, taking the lives of Wills Point Primary School teacher Trudi Hardman, her husband Michael, a former teacher in Wills Point who was employed at John F. Kennedy Elementary in Terrell at the time of the accident, and three children from their blended family (Adam and Kaci Hardman and Dakota Watson). Two others were also injured in the accident.
With Feb. 13, 2017 marking what would have been Adam Hardman’s 10th birthday, friends of the family and former teammates decided to host a baseball game and other activities as a fundraiser in the hopes of getting closer to an overall goal of reaching the necessary $30,000 for the construction of a memorial playground.
The Wills Point Police Department is advising local residents to be on alert this week, receiving word of yet another scam targeting local residents. In a Feb. 9 Facebook post, the department stated, “Please beware of any person that is offering to do any kind of yard work or work around the house. They generally try to target the elderly. The latest incident in our city involved a white male driving a gray station wagon and offered to clean out gutters. After about 30 minutes of cleaning out leaves he asked for a payment in the amount of $2500.00 in cash saying that he had replaced the gutters. He drove the victim to a business in Terrell so that she could cash her check. The business was suspicious of the transaction and stalled the customer. The white male left the scene prior to the arrival of the police. Please pass the word along and let everyone know that these scams are going on in our area. We do not want our citizens to be taken advantage of.”
The Wills Point ISD Board of Trustees made no secret of where their primary focus would be in the coming weeks, discussing both the hiring of an energy conservation company and the pursuit of another bond package that would result in the construction the district’s first new campus in nearly two decades.
Business opened with the public comment portion of the district’s agenda.
Citing the rarity of citizens using the public comment in recent months, board president C.W. Wilson revisited the basic ground rules of the forum by explaining that any speakers would be limited to five minutes, use of employee and student names was not allowed and that board members would not be able to respond.
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Mike Tibbets, vice president of Hayter Engineering, praised council members and the city of Wills Point residents for their support during the recently completed sewer line project that helped to replace 1600 ft. of line near Sparks-Gibbard.
By David Kapitan Staff Writer
The Wills Point City Council became the latest city to voice its frustrations with a recent piece of proposed legislation, joining the growing chorus of detractors against the passage of Senate Bill 2.
Prior to tackling the action items portion of the agenda, the city heard from Mike Tibbets of Hayter Engineering during public comment. Tibbets offered city leaders a recap on the Sparks-Gibbard sewer project, praising the residents, city staff and city leadership for making their support during the process.
Today is the day for anyone interested in running for office and potentially becoming a member of either the Wills Point City Council or Wills Point ISD Board of Trustees. Filing, which has been open since Jan. 18, will officially close at 5 p.m. Feb. 17 for both the city and school board races.
In order to run, a person must meet several criteria to run, including: being a resident of Texas for one year; a resident of the city of Wills Point for six months to run in the city race or a resident of the Wills Point ISD boundaries for six months to run in the school race; being at least 18 years of age; and being a registered voter at the time of the election.
Candidate packets for the May 6 election cycle are available at the city and school offices respectively.
The Van Zandt County Choir will perform at State Capitol Building Rotunda on Tuesday, March 7, 2017.
Residents from Van Zandt County are invited to be a part of the choir and sing. Rehearsals are 7 p.m. Mondays at the First Baptist Church Choir loft through Feb. 27 at 303 Athens St., Canton.
The choir leaves at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 7 from the Canton Courthouse Annex parking lot and will return the same day about 8 or 9 p.m. depending on traffic, organizers of the event said.
Sign-up online at www.firstcanton.com/VZChoir. For more information or questions contact John Bell, Minister of Music & Pastoral Care at 903-567-4157 ext. 107 or email: john@firstcanton.com
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