Trinity County News - Breakout

Write a comment

TCNS staff

GROVETON — An ordinance setting new building codes and inspection policies was found to be too restrictive, and consequently was scrapped by the Groveton City Council on March 28.

The council elected to stay with the city’s current ordinances; however, those were enacted in 2006, so the council will look into bringing them more current.

Additionally, the council, which had contracted with an inspector in October 2021, has opted to not use the inspector and has instead found an electrical inspector from Trinity and began a search for a plumbing inspector. 

Mayor Tommy Walton said the inspector from Huntsville turned out to be too restrictive and was unwilling to allow individuals to do their own repair work or to allow owners to use unlicensed individuals to do repair work on their property.

This new inspector realizes that cities like Trinity and Groveton need to be able to do their own work when they can and employ unlicensed individuals when they can. Walton said the new inspector is willing to work with us to allow for older construction to be grandfathered in and then to just inspect what he has to. 

Walton said there will be times that the work complexity will be such that they will have to call in service providers from Lufkin, Crockett, or Huntsville to do their work, and that is what the city wants to promote. 

In a separate matter, the council heard from Shasta Bergman regarding Circle B Farm Wildlife Rehab.  They have dogs that are attacking and killing some of their animals and are asking for funds from the city in order to erect fencing at the back of their property. 

Walton said he check with the city attorney to see if there are limitations on giving to a 501(c)3. 

In other business, the council:

• approved a request from Kyle Isget and Hunter Arnold to hold a crawfish boil and band on May 21 on the City Square;

• reappointed board members to the Housing Authority of the City of Groveton — Benny McClain, Hollis Bennett, Shirley Hubbard, Maretha Lawrence and Karla Perkins — each for a two-year term;

• appointed Rita Danford as Election Judge and Sandra Cole as Alternate Judge and set their hourly rate at $12 for judges and clerks; 

• discussed with resident Margaret Peavy about a no-tied-dogs outdoors policy;

• discussed the police department’s statistics for the previous month, which showed 31 calls for service, 50 traffic stops, 1 verbal warnings, 10 written warnings, 27 citations and 4 arrests; and

• paid the Inframark bill of $5,500.

Write a comment

Hoyt Hamilton receives his library card. Courtesy photo

Thank you to everyone who has shown an interest in the used book sale. We did very good this past two weeks. There are still many more to sell so grab your bag and come fill it up. 

All books, audio books and DVDs are 10 for $1. We are adding new books every few weeks and if you have a particular author that you like to read then give us a call. Your librarian would be more than happy to pull all books by a certain author for anyone who is interested. Please call and we will be happy to bring them to you for a donation to the library.

• We added four more new patrons to make a total of 95 active library patrons. Your librarian has changed her goal to 150 active patrons by the end of the year. A library card is free and all you need to obtain one is come into the library and sign up. I will look forward to seeing you soon.

• Texas Workforce Solutions will be at the library on April 7 and April 19 from 1-4 p.m. We are very blessed to have them come to help anyone who needs help with employment issues.

• National Library Week is April 3-9. Starting April 4, anyone who comes in and checks out a book will get a free book of their choice from the book sale.

• Our school has its spring break the week of April 11. We will be having some special opportunities at the library during that week. Story Time at the Library will be every day from 5-6 p.m. during the spring break week of April 11 through April 14. The library will be closed on Friday, April 15, to celebrate Good Friday. 

• Your librarian is already working on the Children’s Summer Reading Program. This year the program dates are June 1 through July 29. Our theme is “Oceans of Possibilities.” We had a great time last year and this year will be better. This program will be available for 4 to 12 years old. If anyone would like to come and read for story time, please call the library. We have a few reading times open for the summer.

Donations between March 11-25 were $27.85 and this brings our total to $1,774.31. Our Library Building Fund is growing a little every week. Please put your change in the donation jars at McClain’s Hardware, 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.

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.

Write a comment

Special to the News-Standard

GROVETON — Changes, confirmations and assignments of addresses in Trinity County continues.

The work is slow, but thorough. 911 Addressing coordinator Jolynn Wars has been working in the city of Trinity the last couple of months, readdressing streets that are improperly addressed, to comply with NENA standards of addressing.

When you receive your address confirmation letter, please follow the instructions on the enclosed flyers for getting your 911 address number posted properly and with the correct-size numbers.

The city of Trinity passed an ordinance in May of 2021, and the city of Groveton passed one in November 2021, requiring residents’ compliance with 911 addressing. If you have any questions about the proper way to post your number or the size requirements for the numbers, please reach out to your respective City Hall for a copy of the ordinance.

The county has not yet passed an ordinance that requires address numbers to be posted for locations outside of these two cities, but it would be most beneficial to you as the resident as well as assisting with deliveries and most importantly first responders of Trinity County if you would post your 911 address properly as well.

If you have any questions, please contact Wars at (936) 642-3904 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

The office hours are Monday-Thursday 7 a.m.-5 p.m. and it is located at 162 W First St., second floor of the courthouse.

Write a comment

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

GROVETON — The fair was back to normal, and based on results, the county was ready for it.

Fair Board president Bill Wagner said attendance this year was above normal, which is good, considering that for the last two years it was down due to COVID.

“It’s the first time in two years we’ve had the full fair,” he said.

He also said that every aspect of the fair did good, from the attendance, to the concession stands, and even participation in the events.

That include even the shop projects; Wagner said there were more than 150 entries, which is most they’ve ever had. 

Even though there were only 6 entries in the steer competition, Wagner said it’s his hope that they will be back up to the 20 or more as in years past.

“Thank you to the public for your support,” he said. “Thanks to all the volunteers, the students and the teachers; it takes an army to put this on, but this county comes together and does it.”

Proceeds from the Livestock Sale were not immediately available. For More Photos and Fair Results Click Here.