Chief Perry Debord and Assistant Chief Robert Noah of the Rolling Oaks Volunteer Fire Department were among a select group of guest instructors at the TEEX Municipal Fire School held July 22-27.
Both are instructors for Firefighter V which is the most advanced level of live fire training TEEX offers.
The week-long school is held at the world-renowned Brayton Fire Training Field on the Texas A&M campus in College Station.
Photo by Nick Gibbons
Multiple grass fires sparked by a suspected drunk driver burned more than 7 acres along FM-47 Aug. 4, a day after a tractor set off a fire than burned more than 10 acres.
DAVID KAPITAN sports@vanzandtnews.com
Fire fighters from departments around the area had their hands full Aug. 4, tangling with a series of grass fires along FM-47 from the Stonepoint Church campus to just north of Interstate 20 set off by a suspected drunk driver.
Despite being home due to Cystinosis, Wills Point Middle School sixth grader Jordan Darling has been able to keep up with his classroom studies through the aid of Region 10’s Reggie’s Robots Program.
Excitement was in the air at Wills Point Middle School as a robot traveled the hallways. Remote technology is allowing Jordan Darling to attend his 6th grade classes at Wills Point Middle School.
The Wills Point Municipal Court released its most recent warrant list April 25, continuing its long running effort to reduce and clear the number of outstanding warrants and monies owed off its books.
Election time has come again locally, with registered voters living within the boundaries of the Wills Point ISD able to cast their ballots to fill three places on the district’s board of trustees.
Early voting numbers after two days of voting (which began April 23) show that 83 ballots have been cast.
A proposal to pay overtime to the Precinct 3 Road and Bridge employees for working at the recent Wills Point Cleanup Weekend was turned down following a rare 2-2 deadlock vote by the VZC Commissioners Court April 18.
VZC Pct. 3 Commissioner Keith Pearson made a motion to approve the overtime proposal and received a second to his motion from Pct. 1 Commissioner Brandon Brown.
The city of Wills Point, represented by Mayor Mark Turner and City Administrator Pam Pearson, accepted a grant in the amount of $10,000 from the Sabine River Authority of Texas Feb. 21. The grant funds will be be used to repair or reconstruct the main water transmission line from the city’s Lake Tawakoni pump station and install a variable frequency drive on the pump to reduce the force on the line and fittings on startup.
The Sabine River Authority of Texas (SRA) was pleased to award the city of Wills Point a Community Assistance Program Grant on Feb. 21 as part of SRA’s Fiscal Year 2018 Economic Development Initiative. The $10,000 check will be used to repair or reconstruct the main water transmission line from the city’s Lake Tawakoni pump station and install a variable frequency drive on the pump to reduce the force on the line and fittings on startup. After being made aware of the City’s need, SRA was pleased to quickly respond through its grant program. David Montagne, SRA’s Executive Vice-President and General Manager, in a letter to the city, wrote: “SRA supports the proposed project and understands the critical importance of repairing the city’s main water transmission line from Lake Tawakoni and installing a variable frequency drive on the pump as quickly as possible. We hope these funds will assist in that endeavor.”
Wills Point water customers were put into a frustrating position for the second time in as many weeks Feb. 23 with issues caused by a catastrophic failure at the city's Lake Tawakoni Pump Station causing low or no water pressure for local users and a boil water notice to be put in effect. The issues caused Wills Point ISD to dismiss classes at 10 a.m. Feb. 23, a week after cancelling classes outright Feb. 16 due to a previous catastrophic failure in the city's water supply. Mayor Mark Turner addressed both recent outages Feb. 26, issuing a lengthy explanation to residents regarding current issues facing the city's water supply and potential projects in the works to help alleviate or eliminate future issues.
This past Thursday (Feb. 22), our city water supply suffered another catastrophic event on the heels of the prior week where our main supply line from Lake Tawakoni was cut off due to a problem with our main pipe feeds.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Keith Pearson hosted a ‘State of the Precinct’ meeting at the Wills Point Community Center Feb. 22, speaking with area residents about work completed locally in 2017, and goals for 2018.
DAVID KAPITAN sports@vanzandtnews.com
Van Zandt County Precinct 3 Commissioner Keith Pearson welcomed area residents to the Wills Point Community Center Feb. 22, hosting an informal “State of the Precinct” meeting to provide updates on past and current projects while also taking questions from attendees on a number of topics. Not surprisingly, the condition of the roads and road repairs were top of mind for many in attendance, serving as the primary conversation topic for the nearly two hour meeting.
Pearson opened the meeting by welcoming all in attendance, introducing current officeholders and those currently seeking office in Van Zandt County before transitioning to his introductory remarks and an overview of Precinct 3.
