Trinity County News - Breakout

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The library is having a raffle to raise money towards a new library. The tickets will be $5, and there will be three chances to win.

By Cathy Czajkowsk
Groveton Library Director

Janet Batchelor made an appearance at our library on Thursday to read her book to the children in our summer program. She read her newest book “Fraidy Fox” to the children.

The library has copies of her books for sale if anyone is interested.

The Children’s Summer Reading Program has 22 registered children as of June 16 and we are averaging 12 for story time each Tuesday and Thursday. Our theme is “Oceans of Possibilities.” If anyone would like to come and read to the children, please call the library. We have a few reading times open for the month of July. These story time days will be on Tuesday and Thursday at 5 p.m.

The library is having a raffle to raise money towards a new library. The tickets will be $5, and there will be three chances to win.

The first item is 114 volumes of Louis L’ Amour leather-bound books which are a $1,000 value. The second item is a volume of “Journey to Jubilee, Groveton, Texas, USA,” a $100 value. The third item is three books written and signed by Janet Batchelor, our local author, and they are “Al & the Owligator,” “Princess, Fred Frog and the Thing on the Log,” and “Fraidy Fox,” all with a $50 value.

All ticket sales will go towards our New Library Building Fund. The drawing will be held on Dec. 22 at the Library Christmas Open House.

Donations of $35.23 to our new library building fund brings our total to $2,201.61. Please put your change in the donation jars at McClain’s Hardware, Monica’s on Main Resale, One Stop Grocery and Pizza, Pruitt’s Auto, and Susie Q’s. Thank you to these businesses for their support. Thank you to everyone who drops their pennies in the jars. Your librarian has a new goal of $5,000 by the end of the year for our new building fund.

We have a retired teacher that teaches ESL (English as a second language) classes to anyone who is interested. This is a free service provided at the library for our community.

The library offers copy services and fax services and Notary Public services.

If you are aware of any person that is homebound and cannot get to the library but would like to have books to read, please call the library. We will work on a time for delivery and pickup of books if someone shows interest. This is your library. Please let me know how I can be of service to you.

Our hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 1 to 6 p.m.

Story time is at 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. ESL class is at 2 p.m. Friday

The library phone number is (936) 642-2483, and the location is in the rock building just east of the courthouse.

Cathy Czajkowski is director of the Groveton Public Library.

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The Trinity County Commission declared the month of June as Elder Abuse Awareness Month at its regular meeting on June 14. Photo by Tony Farkas

By Tony Farkas
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GROVETON — The Trinity County Commissioners Court authorized the payout of unused comp and vacation time to Sheriff Department employees.

Chief Deputy Jeremy Carroll told the court at its regular meeting on June 14 that the department’s dispatchers/jailers could not make use of the accumulated hours because of staffing issues.

“We’re understaffed, overworked and underpaid; we’re fighting big-city crime will small-town funding,” Carroll said. “I have six employees maxed out on (accrued) time.”

He said there is no shortage of the employees’ commitment to the county, but the problem has existed for months. The employees just don’t have the ability to take time off.
“We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got,” Carroll said. “This would be the county showing its appreciation, saying they understand the situation.”He said that if the trend continues, there may be more employees leaving.

The county normally pays out unused comp and vacation time at an employee’s termination.

County Attorney Colton Hay cautioned the commission that they would need to change that policy to allow this.

The county opted to delay the matter two weeks, and to research what other counties do in these situations.

In other business, the county:

•  approved a bond for Constable Carl Casey;• discussed collections of outstanding fines and fees;

•  proclaimed June as Elder Abuse Prevention Month;

•  approved renewal of county’s health benefits through the Texas Association of Counties;

•  approved extending loans for three Mack trucks, as the county cannot trade in their current models because there are no trucks to swap;

• awarded a bid for a John Deere Motor Grader to George Bane Inc. for $195,000, and approved County Auditor Bonnie Kennedy to seek financing;

• changed the name of Skains Road, both north and south legs, to Skains Chapel Road;

• approved a release of liability for county commissioners dumping ditch materials on private property;

• changed the name of Frankie Parish Road to Frankie & Jessica Parish Road;

• delayed enacting a burn ban in the county; and

• approved offering $93,000 to purchase the Pineywoods Home Health Care building to be used for the County Maintenance Department and for storage.

 

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Madison Nash and Hailey Bergman recently passed their final examination and have gained their cosmetology licenses. Courtesy photo

Special to the News-Standard

HOUSTON — Groveton Cosmetology students Madison Nash and Hailey Bergman traveled to Houston on June 14 with instructor Victoria Robertson and successfully passed their final examination for their cosmetology license.

Groveton ISD now has produced two more licensed cosmetologists through their program, and the students now can get a job in the beauty industry with zero debt.
Normally, licenses can cost between $15,000-$25,000 for those going through cosmetology school after graduating high school.

Robertson said these young ladies took advantage while attending High school and put in the 1,000 hours necessary to become eligible to test for the state board examinations.

Robertson said she will miss these two, but she is so proud and can’t wait to see where this license takes them

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Vehicles of all types are displayed during the Juneteenth Parade. Photo by Tony Farkas

By Tony Farkas
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TRINITY — Freedom was celebrated on Saturday by Trinity residents on a day that means so much to so many — Juneteenth.

Lena Holley Boston, president of the Juneteenth Movement Committee, leads the group that plans and coordinates the event every year.

Juneteenth holds a special place in Boston’s heart, and it was a much bigger event when she was growing up.

“This was a big deal when I was a little kid,” she said. “The parade was probably three times as long as it was today; every African America church in town had a float. It was huge. We wish we can get it back to that, but we don’t want the memory to fade.”

This year, we had a lot more people step up, and Boston said it would be awesome if they could rejuvenate the celebration, as so many of the original organizers have passed away.

“This event is not just for the African American community, it’s for everybody, and it will help us come together as a people,” Boston said. “It’s a celebration of the day that everybody was free. We celebrate freedom on Independence Day, but our people were not free, and even more so in Texas, since we didn’t find out until two years later.”

She said there’s more to the event than fellowship, there’s an educational element to Juneteenth celebrations as well.

Boston was born and raised in Trinity, graduating from Trinity High School in 1992. She left the area for a time, but when she returned, the committee reached out for her help, as they felt the annual celebration was dying off a little, especially since COVID stopped things for a while.

“We kicked it back off this year, and it’s already bigger and better,” she said. “We want to keep it going for the kids. So it was awesome to see support from community members for this.”