News

The Wills Point High School Theater Department will unveil their latest production, a take on Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods at the high school cafetorium at 7 p.m. Nov. 14.

Rehearsals have been ongoing for weeks, with actors, crew members and director Jamie Keeler working to perfect the production that combines several well-known tales.

Into The Woods is the story of stories, combining the Grimm Brother’s “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Rapunzel,” and “Cinderella,” as well as a few other characters in the mix.

The city of Wills Point is scheduled to turn into a winter wonderland for local residents Dec. 12, with the return of a longstanding Christmas tradition and the second occurrence of what became a new community favorite with its debut last year.

Christmas on the Bricks, sponsored by Citizen’s National Bank, will take over the downtown streets from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 12.

Highlighted events are set to include familiar favorites like the Texas Fire Alarm sponsored car show, Russell Memorial United Methodist Church sponsored Breakfast with Santa, TVEC sponsored 5k Reindeer Run and live entertainment.

Additionally, vendors selling food, crafts and arts will be onsite. Organizers have also announced that this year’s parade, always a big draw for the community, will carry a Christmas in the Movies-theme in 2015.

The Wills Point ISD Board of Trustees is scheduled to spend plenty of time in the administration building’s meeting room throughout the month of November with five scheduled meetings on the agenda.

Four of those meetings, scheduled for Nov. 5, 10, 11 and 12 respectively, all came with the purpose of helping the district to find a full-time superintendent.

The first meeting scheduled for Nov. 5 was held for trustees to consult with a Texas Association of School Boards representative regarding the superintendent search, and the Nov. 10-12 meetings were scheduled for trustees to conduct initial interviews in executive sessions with interested, qualified candidates before a lone finalist gets named Dec. 9, and a vote to hire occurs Jan. 5.

Sandwiched in between the four meetings dealing with the search and interview of potential candidates for the superintendent position, trustees held their regular monthly meeting Nov. 9.

With the Christmas season drawing ever closer, organizers behind the Wills Point Community Angel Tree are springing into action once again to ensure a brighter, happier holiday for local families in need.

Organizers behind the cause announced the criteria for the application process this week. “Holidays can be very stressful when you are going through difficult times,” said coordinator Sherri Rowe. “If you are a single parent with low income, a two-parent home which is suffering from money problems caused by medical expenses, loss of employment or other severe problems, or grandparent raising grandchildren on a limited fixed income, there is hope for you this Christmas.  The Wills Point Community Angel Tree is here to help provide gifts for Wills Point’s children.”

Applications will be accepted at the Russell Memorial United Methodist Church Deen Building, located at 201 S. Fourth St., from 8 a.m. to noon Friday and Saturday, Oct. 30 and 31.

The Van Zandt County economy showed a slight uptick when comparing sales tax revenue collection figures from October 2014 with those posted in October 2015 according to the latest information provided by the office of Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar last week.

Four county cities, Van, Wills Point, Edgewood and Edom all posted increases in the month, narrowly offsetting decreases posted by the cities of Canton and Grand Saline for the same time period.

For the second consecutive month, the city of Van posted the largest positive dollar change of any county city by collecting $71,698.92 for the month of October. That figure was $12,277.27, or 20.66 percent, more than the $59,421.65 collected back in October 2014.

Wills Point posted the second largest positive dollar change in the county, collecting $82,851.00 for the month.

Early voting for the Tuesday, Nov. 3, State Constitutional Amendment and Van Zandt County Special Road Tax election ends today (Friday, Oct. 30.)

Early voting will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday Oct. 30 at the Plaza Museum, 119 N. Buffalo St. in Canton.

On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, voting locations will be:

Pct. 1: 1-A – Grace Bible Fellowship, 17897 FM 1255, Canton; 1-B – Grand Saline Chamber Pavilion, 203 NE Pacific, Grand Saline; 1-C – Pruitt Baptist Church, 9908 St. Hwy. 110, Grand Saline; 1-D – Randall Hall, 1069 VZCR 1129, Fruitvale; 1-E – Civic Center/Sr. Bldg., 109 N. Houston St., Edgewood

Pct. 2: 2-A – Farm Bureau Auditorium, 281 E. Hwy. 243, Canton; 2-B – Old Bethel Church, 103 VZCR 2313, Canton; 2-C – Phalba Independent Church Fellowship Hall, 11064 SH 198, Canton; 2-D – High Community Center, VZCR 2120 at VZCR 2115, Canton

The Wills Point Tiger Band continued to add yet another piece of hardware to their trophy case Oct. 21, picking up the school’s 17th consecutive UIL Sweepstakes Awards at the 4A UIL Marching Contest held in Mesquite.

“There are many great programs that have a string of Superior Ratings at their UIL Region Marching Contest longer than 18 years, but we are excited that we have continued the excellence that was begun a long time ago,” said Tiger Band director John Young. “I am so proud of our student’s commitment to continue to grow as musicians and allow us to push them towards more difficult music and visual demanding productions.”

Young continued, “Earning the marching band superior award allows us to once again earn the coveted UIL Sweepstakes Award which is for Superior ratings in marching, concert and sight reading. We have 17 consecutive UIL Sweepstakes Awards.”

Precinct 2 Deputy Constable Tony Katsoulas doesn’t usually stop vehicles for traffic violations but about 2:30 p.m. Oct. 22 when he saw a truck blow through a traffic light and then quickly pull into a gas station, something seemed off.

“It just looked suspicious,” he said. “So I decided to stop and run the license plates.”

The Missouri license plates came back clean but the driver obviously thought otherwise because within an instant, he was off.

Katsoulas gave chase and called for back up.

The pursuit  traveled down eastbound I-20, exited onto Hwy. 64 and then turned westbound on I-20.

“The chase continued for more than 30 minutes at speeds over 100 miles per hour,” Katsoulas said.

The driver exited on FM 47 going south and then turned onto VZCR 2120 still at speeds of more than 70 mph.

Canton Police Sgt. Mike King proceeded to VZCR 2120 (Old Kaufman Road) and VZCR 2135 (Old Holland Road) and placed spike strips in the roadway.

The Wills Point Police Department issued a strong reminder to local residents last week regarding unlicensed solicitors.

A prevalent presence of unlicensed solicitors have haunted homes and businesses within the Wills Point area recently.

The Wills Point Police Department issued a warning regarding the solicitors and also tips on to recognize unlicensed solicitors.

In a press release, the police department explained: “A marked increase of door-to-door salespersons have been frequenting the residential areas of Wills Point. These salespersons typically try to sell or get you to switch electric services, satellite TV providers, magazine subscriptions etc.”

The City of Wills Point requires these salespersons to get a permit to be allowed to go door-to-door within the city limits.

However, the police department is finding that few ever apply for and get the required permit.

In the March 4, 2014, primary election, Judge Don Kirkpatrick defeated incumbent Van Zandt County Judge Rhita Koches and captured over 68 percent of the votes.

With no democratic opponent in the November 2014 election Kirkpatrick was set to take office in January 2015.

Judge Koches resigned Aug. 1, 2014, and Kirkpatrick was sworn into office Aug. 4, 2014, to fill the unexpired term of Koches and also to begin his four year term.

 When asked to describe his first 14 months on the job in one word, Kirkpatrick said it had to be “challenging.”

One of Kirkpatrick’s campaign promises was to take Van Zandt County in a different direction.