Incoming fourth through ninth grader Tiger athletes participated in the final Wills Point High School Athletic Department camps of the summer July 27 through 30. The student athletes were participated in games and drills led by members of the Tiger coaching staff. The 2015-’16 school year is scheduled to start Aug. 24.
Van Zandt County has found itself in a relatively rare position during the dog days of summer so far, benefitting from unseasonably heavy rainfalls early in the year and ducking hundred degree temperatures until just recently.
With July fading into August and a steadier onslaught of the usual summer conditions for East Texas, favorable conditions for grass fires are also on the rise.
Van Zandt County Fire Marshal Chuck Allen said earlier this week that most departments in the county had reported relatively steady numbers to date.
Every city in the county has ordinances in place that ban the burning of brush or trash within the city limits. Allen explained that while permits are not required to burn in Van Zandt County (outside the local city limits), a few guidelines should always be followed when burning brush or garbage to limit potentially hazardous situations.
Allen also offered a series of tips for those planning to burn any brush or trash:
The community is invited to the Sixth Annual Linda Glover Hats and White Gloves Tea at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 1 at Russell Memorial United Methodist Church, event organizers said.
Tickets are $15 each and may be pre-purchased at the church office or Adele’s. Included in the ticket is a three-course meal, fashion show presented by Adele’s; cello performance by local talent and door prizes.
John Aufdenkamp pulls to victory in the LSGTPA Stock Altered Class during the Rolling Oaks VFD tractor pull.
Summer temperatures welcomed the LSGTPA tractor pulling teams at the Rolling Oaks Volunteer Fire Department Tractor Pull in Wills Point. The event was the second annual LSGTPA event, hosted by the Rolling Oaks VFD, near Lake Tawakoni. With temperatures in excess of 100 degrees on a loose track, the drivers and machines were put to the test under the Texas sun. Arlen Foulks with Racers for Christ, was on hand to present the prayer during opening ceremonies.
The Youth Class drivers took to the track first for the opening round of LSGTPA pulling action. After the dust cleared, Jared Stephan took the top spot aboard his 'Iron Head' machine, for the Moody Pulling Team. Kody Langham pulled to the runner-up spot, aboard his Bonham Service Center entry. Lane Duncan placed his 'Texas T-Rex' tractor, on the podium in third place.
First Baptist Church will offer GriefShare, a nondenominational program for those who have experienced the death of a loved one.
The DVD seminar features grief experts and real-life stories of people, followed by a small group discussion.
The GriefShare classes will start at 3 p.m. Aug. 2. in the parlor of First Baptist Church, 303 S. Athens St. To register or for questions or information, call 903-567-4157 by July 30.
East Texas Medical Center is asking residents aged 18 and over to complete a short, online survey.
Survey participants will be asked to provide their name and contact information in order to be entered in a drawing for prizes, including the grand prize of an Apple iPad. However, all responses are confidential and names are not associated with survey responses, hospital officials said.
The survey is available on the ETMC website, www.etmc.org/health-survey, and will be open until July 31.
Danny Hair led a smudging ceremony at the July 18 Battle of the Neches Memorial.
By Britne Reeves, Staff Writer
Van Zandt County once had a red-haired, freckled-faced Indian chief that led 13 tribes of Indians against the Texas Calvary in a battle to the death.
In the tip of the southeastern party of VZC close to Redland, a Cherokee Indian chief and Texas Republic President Sam Houston are memorialized by a five-foot granite marker, denoting the location of the Battle of the Neches.
A gruesome death awaited the half Scotch-Irish and Cherokee Indian Chief Duwa’li Bowles when he took a stand against Texas Republic President Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar who ordered that all Cherokee Indians be removed from Texas in the 1830s, thus forcing Bowles and his tribe from their homes and land previously given to them by Houston.
The Battle of the Neches memorial was held July 18 at the location of the battle between Chief Bowles and his tribe of Cherokee Indians and the Texas Calvary.
An SUV driven by a 79-year-old woman jumped the curb July 7 and hit 18-year-old Jessica Bunch as she stood in front of the Redbox movie machine in front of CVS in Canton. The Edgewood girl’s father is now calling on retailers to place barricades in front of sidewalk vending machines.
By Donnita Fisher, Managing Editor
Don Bunch has spent most of his time since noon July 7 at Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler at the bedside of his 18-year-old daughter Jessica.
Jessica was seriously injured when a 79-year-old woman driving an SUV and pulling into a handicapped parking spot at the CVS in Canton hit the gas instead of the brake, jumped the curb and slammed into the teen who was standing in front of the Redbox movie rental machine.
The Edgewood girl who was scheduled to report to Marine boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., in September remains in intensive care having undergone surgeries to remove her appendix, gallbladder and part of her bowel, place plates to stabilize her broken pelvis and relieve pressure on her lungs from her crushed rib cage. Her left ankle was also broken and just this week doctors discovered her shoulder was out of socket.
The Wills Point ISD Board of Trustees talked dollars and cents July 16, hosting a nearly hour-long budget workshop led by Superintendent Suzanne Blasingame prior to the start of their regular monthly meeting.
“We are not proposing an increase in taxes for this school year,” Blasingame said. “Our rate as been $1.04 for maintenance and operations and then $1.104 for the I and S (interest and sinking fund) understanding that we’re in the middle of re-selling those funds. With that consideration, Mrs. Sanderson (Director of Finance Mary Sanderson) and I felt like we need to keep it as is at this time.”
The re-sale of those bonds could produce close to $120,000 in savings for taxpayers.
Proposed tax collections for the 2015-’16 year, which will start late in 2015, are estimated to be $5,726,817.
Months of rumors swirling around the community regarding potential turnover in the upper reaches of the Wills Point ISD finally came to a head during the July 16 board of trustees meeting, with the announcement that Superintendent Suzanne Blasingame had tendered her resignation.
Moments after the news was announced, longtime trustee Dyde Manning III took the floor to voice his disappointment and frustration with the board’s actions. Manning offered his own resignation before abruptly walking out prior to the adjournment of the meeting.
Speculation about Blasingame’s position as the district’s superintendent had picked up in intensity in recent months despite the fact that trustees renewed her contract in January following an executive session item listed on the agenda as “Superintendent’s evaluation and contract.”
