Houston County News - Breakout

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HOUSTON COUNTY – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service office in Houston County is hosting yet another Walk Across Texas! program for the new year. 

The Walk Across Texas! program encourages people to develop a habit of regular physical activity. Teams and individuals walk — or run, dance, garden, swim or do any other form of exercise — for an eight‐week period. Each 20 minutes of exercise counts as one mile. At the end of that time each team’s or person’s total mileage is added up. A quick look at a map of Texas shows how far everybody would have gone if he or she had been walking in a straight line. 

“You can walk together, individually, outside, at a park, at a grocery store or at a gym — any way that fits your schedule and lifestyle,” said Tasha Brent, Family & Community Health Agent. “Keep track of your team’s miles to see if together you can go the equivalent of the 832 miles it would take to walk across Texas in eight weeks.” 

Brent said anyone can participate. 

“This new year we have 4 different challenges to help encourage teams in a friendly competition. Following great success from the past few years and keeping the momentum, we have a Battle of the Badges competition where police, fire, paramedics or any first responder agency can create teams and battle against other agencies to be featured at the top of the weekly leaderboard and claim the traveling trophy, currently being held by the Crockett Fire Department. Also, a Bank Battle where I have called out the area banking institutions to compete for the top of the leaderboard. This challenge is also carrying over from the previous years with a traveling trophy currently being held by Lovelady State Bank from 2020. Also, The Time of Your Life challenge is open for anyone in the community that does not fall in the other two challenge areas. Friends, family members, churches, businesses… any one you want to form a team with would join this challenge. 

There is no need to wait to begin your journey to a healthier lifestyle. Additionally, new this year is the Hometown Heroes league where healthcare workers can join with their teams to compete against other departments or offices in the county. 

Team Captains will register/login and create a team under their respective League. 

 League Codes are:

 Time of Your Life-

 watL-211207-94572 

Hometown Heroes-

 watL-211207-78720 

Bank Battle-

 watL-211207-40049 

Battle of the Badges-

 watL-211207-09773 

You may begin entering milage January 1, 2022. Registration is at www.howdyhealth.org. Choose Walk Across Texas! Adult. There are tutorials available on the website or anyone with questions about this online registration can contact Tasha Brent, Family and Community Health Agent with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension at the Houston County Extension Office at 936-544-7502 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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By Jan White

The name sounds deceiving, but the festivities went on as planned – with a minor adjustment.

When the forecast of inclement weather threatened to cancel Crockett’s annual Christmas at the Farmer’s Market, local business owner, Joni Clonts, stepped in. With “The show must go on” as her motto, Joni volunteered her Moosehead Café as an indoor alternative. 

And although the location changed, it didn’t dampen the spirits of those who attended the event on Thursday, December 16. As promised, there was caroling, a visit from Santa, gifts for the children, and a special “Happy Birthday Jesus” cake to honor the reason for the Season.

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By Jan White
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CROCKETT – In a much-anticipated decision, the Commissioners Court chose not to change the voting precinct lines for Precinct 1 and Precinct 4. 

Agenda Items 13 and 14 involved the possible relocation of the precinct voting lines. Previously, public forums were held by Houston County Elections Administrator Cynthia Lum to explain the potential changes. During today’s meeting, Ms. Lum gave a brief report on feedback she received. Both Commissioner Gary Lovell (Precinct 1) and Commissioner Jimmy Henderson (Precinct 4) expressed concerns over the proposals, as did their constituents. When the motions were presented for Items 13 and 14 to reject the changes, the Commissioners were unanimous in their vote for no change. 

Other agenda items of interest that were passed included:

• The approval of a raise for the Grant Administrator and hiring a full-time deputy.

• Adoption of a roadway in Precinct 4 as County Road #4630

• Acceptance of a donation of $1,000 from Thomas McLendon for improvements to CR 1090/1135 in Precinct 4

• Acceptance of a donation of $450 from Mario and Judy Dell’Osso for improvements on CR 4030 in Precinct 3

• Extension of a part-time employee in Elections Administration office until year-end

• Renewal and update Interlocal Housing Agreements for inmates housed in the Houston County Jail.

• Awarding the contract for road materials for CTIF Grant projects in Precinct 2&4

• Motion to advertise to accept bids for contract hauling for the CTIF Grant projects for Precinct 2 & 4

The Commission also approved an agreement between the Houston County Sheriff’s Office Training Facility and the Angelina College Law Enforcement Academy for a police academy to be held in Houston County. Sheriff Randy Hargrove spoke briefly about the need for additional staff and expressed his hope that the academy would draw the interest of local candidates to fill the positions. 

The court adjourned to executive session to discuss the county’s potential purchase, lease, sale, or exchange of real/estate and contemplated litigation. However, when the Commissioners reconvened, no action was taken on the agenda item.

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Methodist church builders and Texas Ramp Project volunteers with their latest construction. PHOTO COURTESY OF FIRST UMC

Special to the Courier

First United Methodist Church is proud to announce, in association with Texas Ramp Project, that volunteers have completed a wheelchair ramp for Melba Lowery Saturday, Dec. 11.   

This is the church’s second ramp completion working with the TRP with expectations that many more builds are in our future. 

FUMC already has three more upcoming builds to start in early 2022. These ramps will all take place in Houston County. 

The church wishes to thank John Laine of the TRP for his supervision and guidance with the United Methodist Missions Program. They are also grateful to the Methodist Men, and one young lady and young man who came out early, on a chilly Saturday morning to complete this ramp. 

If you or someone you know in Houston County is in need of a ramp due to medical circumstances, your health care professional or social worker rep can go to the Texas Ramp Project site and fill out a referral form. See link below.  https://www.texasramps.org/requesting-a-ramp/

Once the TRP has approved it, a date will be selected, and we’ll get it done. If you would like to contribute to the expense of building these ramps, please contact FUMC Crockett, and ask about our Ramp fund. 936-544-2044.