Trinity County News - Breakout

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(Right) The roofing material of the gymnasium at Centerville school was blown off during an August thunderstorm. (Left) The interior of the Centerville gym was made mostly of wood, including the stage, the floor and the bleachers, all of which were damaged after a storm removed the roofing material. Photo by Tony Farkas

By Tony Farkas
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CENTERVILLE — With junior high basketball in full swing and varsity season looming, Centerville Superintendent Mark Brown is hoping that there’s some sort of progress on replacing the roof of the school’s gymnasium.

On Aug. 17, a thunderstorm pulled the roof off of the 76-year-old facility, and since then, Brown has been dealing with insurance companies and contractors, hoping to get what he calls the focal point of the school back in shape.

After the roof came off, the wood floor, wood bleachers and wood stage were saturated when water poured through the roof insulation, which also must be replaced. 

The damage has required some adjustment on the part of the school, as many activities and lessons were done in the gym. Physical education classes have been difficult to hold without a

Brown told Centerville ISD School Board members at their meeting on Thursday that they may hear something from the insurance company this week.

Brown also said that the board has hired an independent adjuster to help move things along.

In the meantime, Groveton ISD has allowed Centerville to use its elementary school gymnasium for practices and games for the junior high school players; however, Brown said the doesn’t believe the roof will be replaced when high school basketball season starts.

In other business, the board:

•approved revisions to school policy based on TEA recommendations; and

•approved submission of a waiver for staff development days, which can be used as snow days to meet Texas attendance requirements.

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It’s an exciting time as we prepare for Homecoming 2022. The association is busy selling ads for our Smoke Signal newspaper insert that has been a homecoming staple for many years. It will be part of the newspaper that will be published on Oct. 20. 

Welcome home as we celebrate the homecoming theme, The Roaring Twenty-Twos. We look forward to seeing the creativity of our students and community parade entries. Please join us as we welcome back ex-students and reconnect with our past. 

Come to registration on Friday, Oct. 21, beginning at 8 a.m. in the High School Commons Area (Old Gym). Buy a cookbook and visit with old friends. The football game begins at 7 p.m. Friday night and the Indians will meet the Normangee Panthers. Please join us in rooting for our favorite team.

Saturday, Oct. 22, make plans to be around the Courthouse for the Homecoming Parade. Prizes will be presented for the top 3 entries. Entries must be lined up in the football field parking area and ready to be preliminarily judged by 9:15 a.m. The judges will also be at the parade route for final judging.

Our parade route will be: Leave from the football field. Proceed on West Sixth to Highway 94. Turn right on 94 and proceed to East Second. Turn left then right on North Devine and head south on South Devine (cross Highway 287), turn right on to East Front Street, right on South Main, left on 287 (West First), continue passed B&B, turn right on to Crow Street, right on to West Fourth, then left on North Kenley. The parade will return to the football field and disburse at the football field. 

GHS Homecoming 2022 Schedule

Friday, Oct. 21

•8 a.m.: Meet and Greet, High School Commons Area (Old Gym)

•Noon: Lunch, Elementary Cafeteria

•1 p.m.: Pep Rally, John Wayne Reynolds Sr. Athletic Stadium

•3 p.m.: Bi-Annual Business Meeting-Old Gym-Commons Area 

•7 p.m.: Groveton vs. Normangee

•The 2022 Homecoming Queen will be crowned at halftime, and a street dance sponsored by the Ex-Student’s Association will be held in downtown Groveton

Saturday, Oct. 21

•8:30 a.m.: Parade Line-Up

•9:15 a.m.: Parade entry judging

•10 a.m.: Parade begins

•Parade entries will include the Homecoming Queen and her court, community and school floats, Volunteer Fire Department, ambulance service, classic cars, decorated golf carts, bikes, motorcycles, wagons, and trail riders.

•11 a.m.: Parade will disburse at the football field

•The Registration Chair is Betty Kennedy Whittlesey, and Debbie Bailey Wilson is in charge of refreshments.

We hope your trip back home will be all you hoped for as we celebrate the Roaring Twenty-Twos Homecoming.

Jo Ann Anderson Beken is president of the Groveton Ex-Students Association.

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September is Library Card Sign-Up Month. The library has 144 patrons. Your librarian still has a goal of 200 patrons by the end of the year.

•Sept. 15 starts National Hispanic Heritage Month. Most libraries are celebrating between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15. Our library is starting a new ESL (English as a second language) class that started on Monday, and runs from 2 to 3 p.m. This class will continue to meet every Monday at 2 at the library. We have a retired teacher that teaches ESL classes to anyone who is interested. This is a free service provided at the library for our community. For further information please call the library at (936) 642-2483.

There will be a greeting card-making class on Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 14-15 from 3 to 5 p.m. The cost will be $5 and each person will have five cards to take home. Your librarian is so excited to participate in this class as I send greeting cards and get them in return. To sign up please call or just come by on Wednesday.

•Texas Workforce Solutions will be back in the library on Tuesday, Sept. 20, from 1 to 4 p.m. They are here to help anyone who is interested in finding employment. There is also a program that helps with child care expenses for parents who are working. Please come and let the representative explain your options. 

•The library is having a fundraiser for our new library building. The tickets are $5 per ticket. There will be three chances to win. The first item is 114 volumes of Louis L’ Amour leatherbound 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” 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. If you would like to purchase tickets, please call the library at (936) 642-2483 or come by the library between the hours of 1-6 p.m. Your librarian will also be at upcoming events to promote our library. Please stop and visit if you see me in your area. You do not have to be present to win.

•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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It is 92 degrees in September. Amazing how quickly everything turned green with our much-needed rain showers. The advertisement of the Trinity Community Fair Association’ 73rd Livestock and Fair Show is now up and blowing in the wind signaling its fair time. 

While we need more rain, we hope to have a clear day on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 for these two free fair days to enjoy the much-wanted fall season.

•TISD students have a holiday on Friday, Sept. 30, in honor of the 73rd Fair from their regular school duties, and a new fair queen will reign supreme on Oct. 1, after the fair parade is over. The theme for this year’s fair is “American Flair at the Fair” with red, white, and blue emphasizing the patriotic flair for the parade participants and floats on Oct. 1.

Saturday morning the parade starts at 10 a.m. on Pine Valley Drive and ends at the Trinity Community Center next to McDonald’s at 604 S. Robb St. (State Highway 19 South) around 11 a.m. The fair events open at 8 a.m. on Saturday and end at midnight.

Four bands, local talent, vendors, and exhibits are the main events to be enjoyed along with the carnival rides. The judging of the animals and the livestock auction is the ever-favorite enjoyment for the children to see their efforts and financial rewards come to flourishment, as well as adults loving the bidding wars for the student’s animal projects.

•This weekend was the anniversary date of the 911 horrific loss of life for more than 4,000 people and first responders. Just like the assassination of JFK we all know where we were on that fateful day in Nov., and we all sat in disbelief as the twin towers were coming down on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City.

This event changed a lot of everyday occurrences, promoting fear as well as making us more aware of our surroundings, and not trusting people who are different from ourselves. It is hard to believe that this happened over 21 years ago. I will leave this editorial to someone else

Another catastrophic event was when the Spaceship Challenger exploded during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Strangely enough, pieces of the spaceship were found here in East Texas. For a long time afterwards, officials were searching for cause, identification, and personal effects of the astronauts on board for their families.

This week also marked the end of another historic era. A woman reigned for 70 years over the British Empire. Queen Elizabeth II of England lived to be 96 years old, and her son Prince Charles is now the King of England. Queen Elizabeth will probably be the last woman in a while to sit on the British Royal Throne or at least not for the next few generations anyway as the pretenders to the throne are all males.

Before a woman rules again, I believe the people of England will not want to have a king or queen monarchy, and I believe the taxpayers will vote to eliminate this financial burden and upkeep. There are so many of the Royal Family and their relatives on the federal payrolls, and it costs billions of tax dollars to support their lifestyles and castles.

How many of you remember the TV Show “Queen for a Day”? I always wanted to be a contestant on that show just to win a washing machine and dryer or a car. Boy did I think small.

•Speaking of queen for a day, we have the names of the fair queen, duchesses, court attendees and the senior contestants vying for the Queen’s position for 2022/2023 school year. They were announced on Face Book last week and I will put the names in print in the next issue.

Shortly after the Fair Event is over, we will have the TISD Homecoming activities during the week of Oct. 3rd with the crowning of Homecoming Queen and King on Friday night, Oct. 7, 2002, starting at 7 p.m. After this celebration Trinity High School Tigers will battle Kountze at 7:30 p.m. at the TISD High School stadium.

Other events for September are:

•Sept. 11, and 12, 2 community blood drives

•Sept. 20, spaghetti dinner, 4 p.m. @ FUMC

•Sept. 30, Student Holiday for the 73rd Fair

October is a full month of activities as well:

•Oct. 7, THS Homecoming Spirit Week

· Oct. 15-31, FUMC Pumpkin Patch Event

•Oct. 22, SAAFE House Purse Bingo Gala

•Oct. 29, Trinity Veterans Wall of Honor Party

•Oct. 31, Treats of the Street Halloween Festival

In November:

•Nov. 5, Boys & Girls Club VFW Bingo Gala

•Nov. 11, Happy Veterans Day

•Nov. 12, Veteran s Appreciation Banquet at 4 p.m.

•Nov. 12, Founders’ Day Sesquicentennial Event

•Nov. 19, VFW Arts and Craft Vendor Festival

•Nov. 21-25, TISD Thanksgiving Holiday Day Break

•Nov. 24, Thanksgiving Day

List below is a re-vised potential Agenda for Founders’ Day Sesquicentennial Celebration on Nov. 12, at the Trinity Community Center from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Founders’ Day Agenda

Nov. 12, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Inside Community
Center Hall

•10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Trinity historical exhibit and displays, Trinity organizations’ displays

•1:30 p.m., Time Capsule Reception (Cake and Punch)

•2 p.m. Moyers’ Photography in Trinity Center Foyer

•4 p.m. Tall Tale Speakers

•6 p.m. Local Music Talent- Barber Shop Quartet

Outside Ground of
Community Center

•10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Arts and craft booths, food vendors open

•Noon to 4 p.m. Kid Zone games and contests start

•1 p.m. “Time Capsule” burial

•2 p.m. Sport exhibits-softball and flag football games*

•4 p.m. Golf cart and lawn mower races*

•5 p.m. S’mores for children, Kids Zone

•6 p.m. Band, choirs, and local music talent

*TBA City Baseball Field on Stadium Street and Old Trinity Football Field

See you next week.