News

A groundbreaking ceremony for a new Manna Food Bank will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21 at 17897 FM 1255 in Canton.

The facility will be a 40 X 60-foot building and serve as Manna’s permanent location, said Kathy Silver, director.

The 14^th Annual Fun Fish trout fishing tournament is set from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 20 at Lake Tawakoni State Park’s Pair-A-Trees Pond. 

The tourney is for kids ages 2 to 12. 

Prizes will be awarded and lunch will be provided for participants, organizers said.  The park will provide poles, bait and tackle – while supplies last.

Pre-Registration is required as space is limited. 

The park is located at 10822 FM 2475, Wills Point. 

A wide array of topics will be cover at the 2016 East Texas Forage Conference, all in effort to assist East Texas forage producers make the best quality forage they can at the most economical price, Van Zandt County Extension Agent Tommy Phillips said.

The event is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 26, at the Rains County Fairgrounds -Emory. 

Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. Cost is $20 per person payable at the door.  Lunch will be provided. 

The program will end about 3 p.m.

Memorial services for Paula Kay Meili, 68, of Wills Point, are scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016, at Allan Fuller Funeral Home Chapel in Wills Point.

Mrs. Meili died Thursday afternoon, Feb. 11, 2016, in Wills Point.

She was born Dec. 31, 1947, in Beaver Dam, Wis., the daughter of Victor and Carolyn Mills.  She was raised in Fox Lake, Wis., where she graduated from Waupun High School.  

She married Howard Hull and they were married for 18 years.  She was employed by the City of Canton as an accountant, retiring five years ago due to her failing health. 

When Glenn McNeill Jr. and his wife, Betsy, sold their newspaper publishing company (Campbell-McNeill Publishing Company) in 1996, Glenn decided to stay on board for a time during the transition period, working three days a week in advertising.

That “transition period” turned into 20 faithful years of additional service to Van Zandt Newspapers L.L.C. working with his colleagues and his customers.

All of that came to a close this week as McNeill announced his retirement ending 56 years of dedicated service in the newspaper publishing business which began in 1960.

The Wills Pont FFA Beef Cattle Show team traveled to Fort Worth for the Exposition and Livestock Show this past week with a record-breaking heifer show with 1,849 heifers being exhibited.

The show began Saturday morning with Tori Goggans and her Brangus heifer Emma in Class 517 where she placed 18th. Cody Tucker then entered the show ring Saturday afternoon in the Polled Hereford show with his heifer Trisha in Class 405 winning seventh place out of 17.

Election season got underway last week with candidate filing for two seats on the Wills Point City Council and three places on the Wills Point ISD Board of Trustees beginning.

Over the first week of filing both incumbents in the city race, Mike Jones and Wade Emerson, and one of the two incumbents in the board of trustees race, Mike Matus, have all returned the necessary paperwork announcing their candidacy.

Filing is scheduled through Feb. 19 for both the city and school, with election day set for May 7.

City Council

Van Zandt County bailiffs have taken a step to prioritize citizen’s safety by asking for approval from commissioners to allow color coded vests to be worn by those who frequent the courthouse.

In the Jan. 12 commissioners meeting, Van Zandt County Bailiff Terry Jackson asked the court to consider colored vests to be worn by volunteers, maintenance workers and probationers to help increase courthouse security.

Bailiff Jackson said that the recent theft of two computers from the courthouse basement prompted preemptive action.

Candidates vying to serve the citizens of Van Zandt County in a variety of positions currently up for grabs during the 2016 election cycle, including VZC Tax-Assessor Collector, Precinct 1 Constable, Precinct 2 Constable, Precinct 1 Commissioner, Precinct 3 Commissioner, State Representative District 2 and VZC Sheriff came to the Farm Bureau office in Canton Jan. 21 to tout their qualifications and connect with prospective voters.

The evening was broken into six separate segments, with candidates for each of the positions up for contention being given an opportunity to make both and opening and closing statement, as well as the opportunity to answer questions submitted prior to the forum and read by event moderators.

Sunday Friendship singing was held at the Chapel of the Lake late last year. 

Five churches were represented, Locust Grove Baptist; International Outreach; Lakeview Baptist-Quinlan; Friendly Center Baptist Church and Chapel of the Lake.

Fifth Sunday Friendship singers were from left to right, Buddy Boothe, Bryan Boothe, Judy Davis, Judy Martin, Inez Stamper, Fran Carter, Harold Manire and Phillip Klein; middle row, left to right, Louis Griffin, Steve Hardin and Lettie Clark; and bottom row left to right, Mary Garbett, Helen Boothe, Jimmy Jones, Bickey Bradley, Olamae Bransom and Betty King.