News

The Wills Point ISD Board of Trustees was in for a night of reports Dec. 12, hearing presentations from assistant superintendent Barbie McMath on the latest Texas Academic Performance Report and from Leslie Wilks of Whitley Penn regarding the district’s 2015-’16 audit report.

The December meeting began with a group of fourth graders leading attendees through the pledges. The fourth graders brought books with them to the meeting, challenging the board and various administrators to a reading challenge.

Representatives from the Tiger Band, which finished fourth at the 4A UIL State Marching Contest, and captains from this year’s district winning football team, were also in attendance and recognized by the board.

Texas Hunt for a Cure will be collecting unwrapped toys at First Baptist Church (back parking lot) from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 16 for Keylee's Wish. Keylee’s Wish collects gifts that are distributed to children at Shriner’s Hospital for Christmas.

For more stories like this one, subscribe to the Wills Point Chronicle or pick up a copy from one of our vendors. 

The Texas Department of Transportation is hosting a series of regional public workshops to gain insight from the public regarding the federal Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities program.

For the Tyler area, a meeting will be held at 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 14 at the Texas Department of Transportation Tyler District Headquarters, 2709 W. Front Street, in Tyler.

During these meetings, which will take place all over Texas during the first two weeks of December and the first two weeks of January, the public will have the opportunity to learn about rural public transit from local providers and to provide their own input.

Following presentations from local providers, those in attendance will help identify and prioritize issues and needs facing the transportation program.

On Nov. 3, the ETCOG Executive Committee approved an eighth year of funding CodeRED, a reverse emergency notification system, for the East Texas region as a part of its public safety program. The CodeRED system, funded by a Homeland Security grant, is a telephone communication service that allows the county/city Emergency Management Coordinator to quickly notify citizens about emergency situations such as: Tornados and storm events; Drinking water contamination; Utility outage; Evacuation notice and route; Missing person; Fires or floods; Bomb threat; Hostage situation; Chemical spill or gas leak; andOther emergency incidents where rapid and accurate notification is essential.

A&M Ministries is looking for families who need help during the Christmas season. “We are trying to help provide Christmas for several families in need this year. We know that some kids were not able to get on the Angel Tree list because of time restraints,” members said. Ages will vary, call for details. Requests are needed by Dec. 19. Call 903-303-9590 for more information or email amministires16.wix.com/godshelpers. 

For more stories like this one, subscribe to the Wills Point Chronicle or pick up a copy from one of our vendors. 

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said today that state sales tax revenue totaled $2.51 billion in November, 2.9 percent less than in November 2015.

“Continued weakness in the manufacturing and wholesale trade sectors, combined with persistently lower levels of oil and gas drilling activity compared to the same period last year, is exerting ongoing downward pressures on sales tax revenues,” Hegar said. “Receipts from restaurants and retail trade grew modestly. While those industries are larger individual sources of sales tax revenue, their modest growth was not sufficient to overcome the combined drop in tax collections from manufacturing, wholesale trade, and oil- and gas-related sales tax receipts.”

State Sen. Bob Hall will be holding a series of public town hall meetings throughout Senate District 2 to discuss the upcoming 85^th  Legislative Session and to answer constituent questions. The time and locations of the currently scheduled town halls are included below:

Monday, Dec. 12

Emory City Center, 9 to 10:30 a.m.

735 N. Texas St, Emory, TX 75440

Bonham City Hall, 1 – 2:30 p.m.

514 Chestnut St, Bonham, TX 75418

Thursday, Dec. 15:

Harry Myers Community Center - Rockwall, 9 – 10:30 a.m.

815 E Washington St, Rockwall, TX 75087

Kaufman County Library, 1 – 2:30 p.m.

3790 S. Houston St, Kaufman, Texas 75142

Sulphur Springs City Hall, 4:30 – 6 p.m.

201 N Davis St, Sulphur Springs, TX 75482 

James Brockman’s World War II journal, which chronicles his 35 missions as a ball turret gunner on a B-17 during 1944 and 1945, has been published. Brockman was raised in Wills Point, where he and his wife, Christine, owned Brockman’s Grocery and Interstate Motel and raised five children. He passed away in 1997.  

Brockman was quite a historian, and after a trip back to the old airbase in England in 1976, he desired to put his journal, along with information about his trip, into story form.   Pam Brockman Wakefield put her father’s hand-written copy on the word processor in the 1980’s and had the typed sheets put in hard-bound copies. That was before independent publishing.

When a friend of Pam’s read Brockman’s journal, he encouraged Pam to have it published. He commented, “I’ve read several World War II journals, and your dad’s has much more detail, making it a great account of what those young men experienced.”

The talent and depth of the Wills Point Tiger Band program has been on full display throughout the opening months of the 2016-'17 school year. In early November, the high school band made its seventh consecutive appearance at the UIL State Marching Contest, finishing fourth overall in the 4A classification. On Dec. 1, it was the junior high band program's chance to take their turn in the spotlight with All-Region Auditions taking place in Scurry-Rosser.

Under the direction of new JH Band Director Bobby McCoy, as well as fellow directors Nick Kornegay, Nathan Ascano and Andrew Wacaser, Wills Point topped the field by having 29 students place high enough in the competition to make the All-Region Band, and three other students placing high enough to make first alternate (often called up to the band by the first of the year).

Dec. 10 at noon, will feature a familiar face as its grand marshal with former Wills Point administrator and Texas high school coaching legend Theo “Cotton” Miles heading up the festivities.

Miles starred at Lamar University before departing to serve in the U.S. military in 1942. After completing his time in the service, Miles returned to play both baseball and football at Stephen F. Austin. In 2001, SFA inducted Miles into its athletic hall of fame, the Jacks of Honor.

In 11 years of coaching football at White Oak, Miles led the school to three bi-district crowns, two regional championships and a share of the 1957 state title with Mart.  Success continued to follow Miles at each subsequent stop. At Woodrow Wilson, Miles won district titles in seven out of his 11 seasons, including reaching the State Semifinal against eventual state champion Wichita Falls in 1969.