It’s never too early to think about the holidays

Animals are ready for adoption at the San Jacinto County Animal Control Center.

Even though it is summer, both Chambers of Commerce are planning for the Christmas events in December.

Coldspring also is working on the Wolf Creek Car, Bike and Truck Show on Oct. 21-22. If you would like to be a volunteer for any of these events, call the Chamber. Coldspring has started having open meetings for both events.

To be placed on the email list for future information call the Chamber at (936) 653-2184. The Christmas events will be on Dec. 2 for Shepherd and Dec. 9 for Coldspring. Vendors, food, games and a kid zone for Coldspring are all open to volunteers and both chambers have Parades at the end of the day.

The theme for Christmas is Hometown Christmas. Call the Shepherd Chamber at (210) 995-7420.

•The Republican Party will have a Remember Sept. 11 meeting on Sept. 11. It will be at the headquarters at 201 Highway 150 Suite J. Congressman Morgan Luttrell will be the guest speaker, and it starts at 6:30 p.m.

•The City of Shepherd has a Police Chief, Clint Headley, who has been busy assembling his Police Department. His force has two full-time police officers and 13 sworn reserves.

Although he was declared Chief on April 20, he has had to deal with state and federal departments to make sure everything is in compliance.

Clint is a very experienced officer and dedicated to looking after the city of Shepherd.

•Shepherd has at least two housing developments ongoing at present. Both will build about 16 or more houses.

•San Jacinto County Commissioners Court met on Wednesday spent a lot of time dealing with two items on the agenda. One was about a proposed extension of a landfill off Fostoria Road. The other was a plea for help at the new San Jacinto County Animal Shelter on Highway 2025.

This shelter is run by Constable Sam Houston and officer Jarrod Zollman with the invaluable help of volunteers. These volunteers, led by Sandra Houston, spend a great amount of time walking the dogs, cleaning the pens and bathing the animals and generally look after cleaning up.

Two of the volunteers, Gilbert and April Plunkett, came before the Court to describe the need for help in keeping the dogs cool in the heat wave we are experiencing. The shelter is not enclosed by exterior walls on three sides. Small fans do little to help cool the place and the electric system is not enough to cope with heavier equipment.

Judge Fritz Faulkner talked to the county electrician about working on this problem. April described the need for better drainage systems when the pens are washed out. The water is draining into the wrong places. Constable Sam Houston spoke about these problems too and asked for more volunteers to help with the work.

All the dogs are available for adoption. The Constable said they have an Adoption Saturday once a month which has been proving successful. He stated that he had taken on this extra duty on the agreement that the shelter would be a no-kill facility and has been able to do this except in cases of very sick dogs.

Call (936) 524-3891 or go to the Facebook page.

Contact the Shepherd Chamber at (210) 995-7420 or the Coldspring Chamber at (936) 653-2184.

Yvonne Cones is president of the Greater Shepherd Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Coldspring Chamber of Commerce.