The Van Zandt County Commissioners met for the first time in 2016 on Monday, Jan. 4.
Commissioner and County Judge Don Kirkpatrick rang in the new year by ratifying and extending the local state of disaster declaration due to heavy flooding throughout Van Zandt County.
Heavy rains and turbulent weather hammered the county the weekend after Christmas, leading to washed out roads and stranded drivers on highways due to high water.
On Dec. 28, 2015, VZC County Judge Kirkpatrick issued a disaster declaration that requested state assistance from Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
Ron Carroll, recently retired Precinct 4 County Commissioner and a former chief of police, has announced his candidacy for Van Zandt County Sheriff in the March 1 Republican Primary Election.
After learning of the current sheriff’s decision to not seek re-election, Carroll said he decided to seek the position.
The East Texas Chapter of Master Naturalist will hold its 2016 classes from 6 to 9 p.m. beginning Jan. 19 and continuing most Tuesday evenings through March.
There will be a few Saturday classes and three Saturday field trips, organizers said.
The classes will be held at the Tyler Nature Center, 11942 FM 848 in Tyler.
Classes will include topics such as archaeology, mammalogy, aquatic systems and native plants and forests.
Radio station KWJB has moved its FM frequency to 95.1, station officials announced last week.
KWJB, called The Bee, has its studios in Canton and is the only commercial broadcast station located in Van Zandt County.
“The success of the Bee has enabled it to expand its signal area from Terrell to Tyler and Athens to Mineola. In order to increase our listening area we moved from 95.7 to the 95.1 FM frequency,” said John Butler of Butler7media, the owner of the station. “Based on encouraging and positive comments from listeners, we felt good about making this significant investment to better serve our growing followers of The Bee in East Texas.”
The Talent Box, a non-profit community theatre located at 244 N. Fourth St. in Wills Point, will hold auditions for "Charlotte's Web” at 2 p.m. Jan. 24 and 7 p.m. Jan. 25.
The play is adapted from the book written by E. B. White.
Nancy Dansby of Terrell will direct the play and will need children and adults to fill the cast. The cast includes Fern, Wilbur's first friend who saves his life, Fern's family members, narrators, bossy geese, a sheep and lamb, baby spiders and even a mean old rat named Templeton.
Calvary Baptist Church will be showing the award winning Christian movie “War Room” on Sunday, Jan. 10. This is from the creators of the Christian movies “Fireproof” and “Courageous”. “War Room” is a compelling faith drama filled with humor and heart that became the number one movie in the United States.
Van Zandt County District Attorney Chris Martin held a press conference Dec. 22 “to discuss some of the continuing questions regarding the Van Zandt County tax assessor-collector investigation prosecution” that resulted in J.J. Minyard pleading no contest to taking more than $178,000 from county coffers.
Martin told those gathered in the county court at law courtroom that “the investigation is over. There are no co-conspirators. She acted alone. The evidence points to that and J.J. Minyard told me that herself.”
Last year was a challenging, yet exciting year the City of Wills Point. The drought in the beginning of the year created many problems for the aging infrastructure, most especially to the water system.
Many behind the scenes activities took place outside the public eye. Each project was desperately needed. The water plant control systems were updated, the high service pump was rebuilt, and the vault for the pump at Lake Tawakoni was replaced as the city worked with TCEQ to meet their mandated requirements.
As the Chamber moves into the New Year they will take some time to do the one thing that can help to build a better future for our organization and community. “Before we can look ahead we must look back and evaluate our hits and misses. Only then can we begin to build plans for the future,” stated volunteer Chamber President, Jennifer Ross.
In business, there was positive growth. New ownership of both Grace Tanning (formerly Hot Topic) and KC’s Brickstreet Bar and Grill (formerly KC’s Tin Roof) meant that two downtown staples are continuing to grow and expand.
From 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 18, 2016, the National Weather Service will be hosting the SkyWarn Storm Spotter training at the Van Zandt County Regional Airport on Hwy. 64 near Wills Point.
This class is open to all everyone who would like to attend and no registration is necessary.
