Trinity County News 2

9 Comments

Christopher LimaTCNS staff

GROVETON — A Trinity County Sheriff’s Deputy was arrested on Sept. 11 on a drug charge.

Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace said in a Facebook post that on Sept. 11, following a joint investigation with the Texas Rangers, arrested Christopher Lima, 40, on a charge of conspiracy to commit possession of a controlled substance, a Class A misdemeanor.

Wallace said he received a complaint from a resident of Walker County that witnessed something peculiar involving a deputy sheriff, and an investigation was launched. Since it was determined that the deputy was from Trinity County, the Texas Rangers led the investigation, and they came back with a warrant.

“In a I believe about transparency, and I believe that we should operate that way,” Wallace said. “I encourage my officers to hold themselves to a higher standard, and criminal behavior will not be tolerated.”

Wallace said that he thought this officer was doing a great job, but something happened.

“I’m a firm believer that there are no such things as a bad cop, but that there are cops that go bad,” he said.

Lima has been terminated, Wallace said.

1 Comment

The varsity, JV and junior high boys cross country teams placed first in the Race to the Summit CC Meet in Woodville on Sept. 11. (Courtesy Photos)

On Sept. 8, the varsity girls were the second place team, with Isavel Bautista receiving the 10th-place medal. Junior high also came out strong with Janette placing fifth.

Write a comment

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

APPLE SPRINGS — With area schools closing at the beginning of the school year because of COVID outbreaks, the Apple Springs ISD Board of Trustees discussed changes to policies for leave and closings.

Superintendent Dr. Cody Moree said the school has been given funds for testing supplies, but at this time has not been testing. He also said that school only has authority to test staff, as testing students requires parental consent.

The district had been sent 200 rapid test kits at the beginning of the year, but all were expired.

“There’s your tax dollars at work,” he said. 

At this time, there are no new regulations from the Texas Educators Association, Moree said.

Currently, there are three confirmed student cases of COVID, all of which are at home recuperating, and Moree said that hopefully cases don’t become widespread through the student body or faculty.

“Losing staff would cause us to have to close faster,” he said. “We don’t have any of our staff out currently, so we consider ourselves blessed.”

Additionally, the state is sticking to its guidelines and not making exceptions for employees that test positive since federal aid that paid for time off in COVID cases has ended. Moree said that means that the employees will need to use their personal time off.

Moree said he would like to ask the board to continue the COVID time off policy that was in place last year.

This would affect employees that have been diagnosed with the virus, not those who may have been exposed to it, he said.

The board approved the measure unanimously.

In other business, the board:

• approved setting a mandatory board training session for the Dec. 9 regular meeting; and
• discussed the resignation of a special education teacher, and the hiring of Susan Campbell as an administrative assistant.

Write a comment

U.S. Rep Kevin Brady, R-Texas, told members of the Trinity Peninsular Chamber of Commerce he dreaded seeing a headline such as the one in the Houston Chronicle state the Taliban was cheering U.S. troop withdrawal. (Photo by Tony Farkas/TCNS)

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

TRINITY — The situation in Afghanistan has left the United States less safe, as well as seen as an unreliable partner to its allies around the world, according to U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas.

Brady held an informal roundtable discussion at the Trinity Peninsular Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday in Trinity.

“For a country as great as ours, this is a shame, and this is a day that will live in infamy, the day we surrendered to the Taliban,” Brady said. “We betrayed our allies, both locally and internationally, we left Americans behind. Russia and China are cheering this, as we just gave them a foothold here. There was no reason, or no political boast that was worth this.

Brady said that while there was no question the U.S. needed to end its presence in Afghanistan, how it happened was questionable. 

“At the end of the day, I feel as a country we are less safe,” he said.

Brady also took the Biden administration to task for its handling of COVID and the economy.

“It’s stunning how hard it’s been for our businesses to survive in the last year and a half,” he said. “We did some good things, such as the PPP loans, but 2021 has been very bumpy, and job growth has slowed down. Part of the reason is employers can’t find workers. Not just retail, but all up and down the chain. I worry that not only is that slowing recovery, but it’s driving inflation.”

Brady did tout the efforts of Texans, saying that it was one of the first states reopening after the COVID shutdowns, and it did that safely and responsibly.

“There are still parts of the country where they’re still debating whether to open schools that have been closed for 1 ½ years,” he said.

He also said that four in 10 people were making more income staying home than working, and even though the federal money ended recently, states have the ability to continue the program.

“I’m worried there are more barriers to working, such as the child tax credit; we doubled it, but this new emergency credit expanded it more and also said people don’t have to work to claim it,” Brady said. “It may become permanent, and it has hit the restaurant industry hard. Additionally, the government blew the roof of off Affordable Care Act subsidies, and gave it to everyone, so that means that you can get better health care by not working.”

Permanent spending in connection with the COVID pandemic will cripple the economy by causing people not to work. Brady said that so far, for an average family of four, with parents working, Congress has approved $26,000 in stimulus. For the same family with one parent losing a job, the government has provided $67,000; and with both parents needing help, $109,000. 

“That’s why people aren’t going to work,” he said.

Additionally, Brady said he is worried about the war on energy. Aside from closing pipelines and denying drilling permits, there are proposals for about $145 billion in new taxes on oil and gas, he said.

Brady said that instead of killing oil and gas through taxes, bring affordable energy come to Texas, where technology innovation is ahead of the curve.

Brady also touched on other topics such as education curriculum, media bias, China and the IRS.