Trinity County News - Breakout

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The Literary Criticism team were honored at the annual ceremony at Groveton High School. Photo by Tony Farkas

By Tony Farkas
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GROVETON — The Groveton Literary Criticism Team took first place this year at the UIL competition held in early May.

Coach Jeremy Gentry said the team studies literary history of English and American authors, literary movements and anything you would learn in a college-level literature class.

Of the four competing members, three won individual medals — Kassie Plotts won first place, Kayley McCrory second and Rebecca Langley took fifth. The fourth team member, Braxton Luna, won seventh place.

The combined effort launched the team into the state championship.

Gentry said the team remained undefeated through every level of contests, which consists of a multiple-choice test with 65 questions in four parts. 

Kassie, a fan of William Shakespeare, said that throughout this year’s events, they were given three books — “MacBeth,” “The Great Gatsby” and “Sonnets from the Portuguese.” Aside from answering questions, the team also had to analyze poetry for the literary devices that were used.

Rebecca said her favorite authors are Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Conrad, which help her not only win second place two years running, but she was the lone Groveton student that participated in the 2021 state meet.

The lone fantasy enthusiast, Braxton, enjoys J.R.R. Tolkien and Patrick Rothfuss; and Kayley McCrory enjoys Neal Shusterman.

In chorus, though, the team all said being state champions felt great.

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Sunday was a beautiful day and almost too cold. I told you I was going to attend the Inspiration Village Open House Sunday, but I did not get to attend. However, they were blessed with the Mayor of Trinity, Billy Goodin, who did attend, and did the ribbon cutting ceremony for the open house and represented our community very well. 

The facility has a gift shop, and it is named after a local donor. Inspiration Village is located at 11616 Highway 94 South about a mile just pass the Trinity High School Campus location on the left. Come see the lovely facility with their gardens, animals, arts and craft facilities, and new gift shop. 

• Next weekend is Trinity High School’s Graduation Day at 3 p.m. in the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum located at the Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. The honors and awards program for scholarship winners was held Monday night and the paper will have those results later. 

• First United Methodist Church’s monthly Spaghetti Dinner has been postponed until September. Their next big extravaganza is the 150-year-old Founder’s Day Celebration on Nov. 20. Watch for the vacation Bible school announcements and fourth of July events coming up soon. 

• Save the Date: Prayer in the Park, Summer Conference, sponsored by the Princess Project will be held on Saturday, Aug. 20, at the Trinity Community Center from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. 

• VFW Poppy Buddies sale is this weekend also. They will be selling these Veteran made poppies in front of several locations around Trinity on Friday and Saturday, so please support your local veterans’ endeavors. On Saturday the VFW and the Trinity County Veterans Group will also be co-chairing a Fish Fry at Scheelbillies on FM 356 starting at 11 a.m. to celebrate Memorial Day and all the veterans who served and gave the ultimate price. 

• On June 4, the Trinity Boys and Girls Club is having a Crawfish Boil sponsored by Stevenson Distributing Co. The event will be a drive-through only and held in their parking lot. The tickets are $40 each and the public is invited to attend. For more information, please call David La Vassaur at (936) 594-0778. 

• I have not heard the winner of the Trinity Community Fair Association theme contest yet, but I am sure we will know sometime this month. The vendor applications are usually available around the first of June, so watch for this app. Be careful of Vendor schemes. There was an advertisement on Facebook this week asking for $65 for a two-day event that gave no location or organization that was sponsoring this event. It was a scam. 

I did hear that the barbecue cook-off that was put on by Steve Jones and his group will take place on July 2  at the Trinity Community Center. Fireworks will also be held on July 2 behind McDonald’s at dusk, and other events are planned for the Fourth of July celebrations. 

• Last weekend there was a Chili Cook Off at the Trinity Community Center, but I missed who, what, where, and why on that one. 

• Remember the third Sunday of June is Fathers’ Day. 

• Next edition, I will recap all the Vacation Bible Schools’ information for June and July. 

• I received some of the best vegetables from a friend’s garden located in Trinity, and it is amazing how some people have a green thumb and some of us don’t. Being raised in West Texas was probably my first clue, but I hope we have some wonderful vegetable and fruit stands crop up in town. I received, salad peppers, tomatoes, squash, cabbage, and purple onions. Everything is blooming right now and my friend who lives on Elizabeth Street has beautiful flower beds and trees. She can grow anything, can anything, cook anything, and make anything. She is a very talented person and considered a very lucky person at games. 

•I meant to report on the Brazos Transit District service area within Trinity County for all those in need of transportation services to and from locations who are disabled and non-disabled individuals, and I will give all the details next week. To schedule a trip now, please call Dispatch at (979) 778-4480. 

•I am so excited about the improvements that are taking place on Railroad Street. It is an inconvenience right now, but it will be so wonderful when the road is widened and finished. This endeavor is being financed by a grant, and with this grant the city will be able to accomplish some other repairs that are needed to be done also. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day and please be safe. 

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TCNS staff

CENTERVILLE — The Bulldogs will continue with the four-day week after ISD board members approved the 2022-23 calendar.

The calendar has 156 days of instruction for students, and the day begins at 7:20 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m. Students will be off most Fridays, but there are seven Fridays where students must attend.

Teachers, however, will attend for 170 days, using the extra time for planning and training.

In other business, the board:

•a pproved the hire of Sara Connor as an elementary science and math teacher for the 2022-23 school year; and

• approved payment of the bills for the month of May.

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 The newly elected officers for Trinity FFA are (back row, from left) Leo Ruiz, senior advisor; Cole Odom, sentinel; and Trenton Foley, secretary; and (front row, from left) Brooke Arnold, treasurer; Zoey Hawkey, president; Kayla Kembro, vice president; and Kaitlynn Medcalf, reporter.

TCNS staff

TRINITY — The Trinity ISD FFA held its annual banquet Thursday, honoring its members for their achievements during the last school year.

Additionally, new leadership council members were installed.

Trinity Pedersen-Coe, FFA leader, said the event allows us to honor the outstanding members of the FFA.

“Numerous people have contributed to the success of our chapter and helped us achieve our goals that were set at the beginning of the year,” she said. “From proficiency winners, top career leadership development events, championship shop projects and road trips across the state.

“As the night continues, you’ll see that Trinity is a force to be reckoned with,” she said. “We’ve gained so much in this organization. Hard work, teamwork, time management, new experiences and lifelong friendships are just a few things we’ve gained from this wonderful organization.”

The newly elected officers for Trinity FFA are Zoey Hawkey, president; Kayla Kembro, vice president; Trenton Foley, secretary; Brooke Arnold, treasurer; Cole Odom, sentinel; Leo Ruiz, senior advisor; and Kaitlynn Medcalf, reporter.

Top 5 Members for the year were Kayla Kembro, Avah Morrison, Zoe Hawkey, Haden Coleman and Allie Ancira.