Trinity County News - Breakout

Write a comment

The library would like to say thank you to Hochheim Prairie Farm Mutual Insurance Association for the generous gift to the library. We are so blessed to have supporters such as Hochheim. There are so many organizations where they could donate their money and this just proves that they believe in our library. Your librarian is smiling.

•We have received some new books and your librarian is having a hard time trying to decide which ones to read first. A good dilemma. Most of the books are older but new to the library.

Your librarian has removed many older books that no one had borrowed. We have them for sale and all proceeds will go to the new library building fund. Anyone is welcome to come by the library even if you don’t have a library card. Your librarian can issue you a new card and there is no cost.

•Texas Workforce Solutions will be here on Thursday from 1-4 p.m. If you or anyone you know needs help with employment issues, please come see the Texas Workforce Solutions representative.

•We here at the library are having a really fun time working on the Calendar Challenge. We have 48 different categories to read from and your librarian is excited to participate and read new books also. I won’t be a contestant, but it will be fun to take the challenge.

To participate you just need to have your updated library card and get a copy of our calendar poster and it tells you all the rules. This will be a challenge for the year, and we will give prizes at the end of the year at the Christmas Open House to all who finish the challenge. Come see your librarian for more details and join the fun.

•The library is on a mission to raise 1 million pennies. We are asking everyone to save pennies and give them to the library. The Groveton ISD school library is helping us to collect the pennies from the students. They have given our public library so much needed help. We are blessed to have such an awesome school library for our children.

Donation jars are at One Stop Grocery and Pizza, McClain’s Hardware and Susie Q’s. Please support these businesses because they support our town and your library. This week we deposited $70 into our new library building account. The total for our New Library Building Fund is $3,949.38. Thank you to everyone who is bringing pennies and dropping change into jars. It will take everyone saving pennies to reach our goal of 1 million pennies.

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

The library offers ESL (English as a Second Language) will not meet again until January. We will post the schedule as soon as it is received.

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. The library will be closed from Dec. 23 through Jan. 3, 2023.

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.

Write a comment

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

TRINITY — The Trinity City Council has approved increases in water, sewer and solid waste rates.

At its regular meeting on Thursday, the council approved a pair of ordinances that raises rates for city services an average of 13.27 percent.

For customers in the city limits, the cost for water use of 0-2,000 gallons is now $26.50, up from $24; for 2,000-10,000 gallons, $4.40 per 1,000 gallons, up from $4; and for over 10,000 gallons, the cost is $6.05 per 1,000 gallons, up from $5.50.

For customers outside city limits, the cost for water use of 0-2,000 gallons is now $44, up from $40; for 2,000-10,000 gallons, the cost is now $4.40 per 1,000 gallons, up from $4; and for use over 10,000 gallons, the cost is $6.05 per 1,000 gallons, up (from $5.50).

Sewer rates for single family residential, multi-family and commercial property, both inside and outside of the city limits, are now $12.50, up from $10.50, for 0-2,000 gallons; and for 2,000 and more, the cost is $3.45 per 1,000 gallons, up from $3.

Dumpster service will increase $10 per account.

Council Member Clegg DeWalt said that periodic price changes are necessary to keep the city from operating in the red, as it was several years ago.

The city, according to City Manager Tim King, had lost $250,000 in the first three months of this fiscal year, which could mean without the price hikes, the city could lose $1 million in a year’s time, based on increased costs.

The city also has seen increases in costs amounting to 30 percent.

The new rates only will generate about $10,600 a month in additional revenue; however, Mayor Billy Goodin said there was no way to raise rates to allow those utilities to operate in the black.

The new rates will become effective March 1.

In a related matter, the city approved an ordinance requiring shut-off valves on the customer side of the water meter for any new construction in the city.

The ordinance also states that if water is shut off for major repairs, a valve will need to be installed then.

All other residences will be grandfathered in.

The city will help install valves for a $25 cost.

Write a comment

Shaun Stout (right), pictured with his wife Tallie Jo Stout, has been named athletic director for the Trinity ISD. Photo by Tony Farkas

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

TRINITY — Trinity High School Assistant Principal Shaun Stout has been named the new athletic director for the district.

Stout had been serving as interim director for the last few weeks.

At a special meeting on Wednesday, the Board of Trustees approved Stout’s hiring unanimously. Superintendent Dr. John Kaufman said a hiring committee spent numerous hours seeking a candidate that was the right fit out of more than 100 applications.

Board President Kevin Searcy thanked Stout for his work with the children of the district, and said he was looking forward to the upcoming seasons.

Stout thanks everyone for their belief in him.

“I had stepped away from coaching, but the passion and hunger has always been there, and my loyalty to Trinity has always been there,” he said. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without this town.”

Stout said that the kids deserve so much, and the he sees the hunger in them to succeed.

Stout has been in education for 20 years, and only for the last two years has not been a coach. He calls Trinity home and has been and educator in the district since 2015.

“Trinity has been part of me my whole life,” he said. “My family owned a house on the lake, and we spent time here with my grandfather.”

Stout went to high school in Trinity, playing football at the old Sanderson Field on South Robb Street. He played quarterback and defensive back under coaches Danny Mitchell and Clay Lowery.

He also met his wife here and raised his family here, and his children and a niece are alumni of Trinity High School.

“It means a lot to me, the perception of Trinity,” he said. “When I was coaching, I pounded it into the kids to be proud of Trinity.”

Stout said he will approach coaching in a manner of instilling pride in the athletes and teaching them that they can do anything they set their minds to, including academics.

Write a comment

Groveton ISD cosmetology students present Constable Lawrence Adamick with blankets created by the class. Courtesy photo

Special to the News-Standard

GROVETON — The Groveton Cosmetology students have been working on their tie-knot blankets since the beginning of this school year.

The students presented two blankets to Constable Lawrence Adamick to comfort any child in need.

These three students will be traveling and competing in the Skills USA Community Service competition soon.

The time is now to make a difference and these students are truly making a difference.