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Trinity County News - Breakout

Heat doesn’t keep a good town down

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Julias TidbitsWow, what a week. If you don’t have a life of your own to live, then you certainly can live vicariously through the life of others. The demise of five wealthy adventurous men was a real tragedy for the world to see. We waited with bated breath hoping they would survive.

However, as a mother, why would you allow a young man to make this journey before he had yet experienced life’s normal adventures above the sea? This was my saddest thought about this tragedy.

Then my hopes were raised again thinking the world would be a better place if Vladimir Putin was deposed. This adventure was over quicker than my Sunday lunch. Again, this episode is not over yet, so I will have to stay tuned to everybody’s surmising until some truth finally comes out or we hear about more bloodshed.

I went for a “walkabout” Saturday morning and despite the heat, people were out and about, with activities abounding everywhere, but by two o’clock most events had closed shop and gone home.

The barbecue fundraiser for the El Salvador missionary group had cars at their location across from the Community Center. The downtown Christian Liberty Center Garage Sale was bustling, and the Martin Senior Center barbecue and Garage Sale fundraiser was happening on Walker Street as well.

•I do not know the success of these three fundraisers, but I do want to tell you about the success of the Trinity Lions Club’s 95th Anniversary Annual Banquet on Wednesday, June 21, at the Agavales Mexican Restaurant. It was awesome. The food was more than delicious, and the service was outstanding.

The newly elected District Governor 2S-1, Gerald Peterson, is from Onalaska, and he lamented the fact that his city did not have a facility like the Agavales restaurant to host venues like we did. The Agavales Restaurant’s new hosting room can seat 70 comfortably, has chairs and tables available to rent if you need them, and caters to your ever need.

The menu was fabulous, and we stuffed ourselves thoroughly. After lunch Dr. Garry Reece presented the membership awards to the attending members, and introduced the guest speaker, who imparted words of encouragement for Lionism.

The Lions Club International’s motto is “We Serve,” and every club’s mission is to serve the blind, as well as other eye-related challenges or diseases. Our membership dues are collected and donated to the Lions Club International Organization to purchase eyeglasses, provide leader dogs for the blind, sponsor corneal transplants, help with weather disasters, or other needs in the world, like hunger and diseases in third world countries.

The motto, We Serve, is the real crust of the goal for every Lion member to serve their community at home first. The last few years have been rough with the Covid-19 pandemic, but we are planning some new projects for 2023-2024.

Look for the Trinity Lions Club booth at the Trinity Community Fair this year. We will be recruiting and advertising to increase our membership to help with our community’s elderly shut in meals, our veterans, and to help with snacks for our financially challenged children. We support the fair with our booth participation, which in turn helps the Club earn scholarship money for Trinity ISD Seniors for 2023-2024.

•Speaking of the Trinity Community Fair Association, I do not know who or what the entertainment will be yet, but I do know the fair theme for this year is, “Country Pride, Community-Wide.” It is hard to believe this weekend is July 1. A lot of firework displays and activities to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday are planned for various locations around Trinity County.

The city of Trinity is having their fireworks display Saturday night on the old high school football field behind McDonalds drive through. The display will start on Stadium Street at dusk.

Shoreline RV Park and Marina on FM 356 is hosting activities, vendors, food, music, and fireworks with events starting at 10 Saturday morning and ending at dusk with the fireworks display at the marina.

On Tuesday, Groveton is having its Fourth of July event at the Y on Highway 94 East with fireworks at dusk also. They will have vendors, food, music, and much more, starting at 10 a.m.

I am sure there are more events planned at various subdivisions in Trinity County, but the only one I know about is my subdivision, which has had fireworks displayed every year for 20 years that I have lived here. Each year I watch a spectacular display from my back porch in the Westwood Shores Subdivision on FM 356.

The display takes place behind the Golf Club Pro Shop Driving range, and it is awesome. Along with family activities, they also have a parade of Golf Carts which are decorated to the nines. barbecue and music abound all day and ends at dusk with the fireworks display.

•I have one big announcement to make regarding the Martin Senior Service Center, starting July 1. The lunches served Monday through Friday will cost $6 per person. The cost of the meal includes meat, two sides, a green salad, dessert, and drink.

The primary contributor to the Martin Senior Service Center has completed its audit and realized we are qualified for more funding to help with the expansion of clients who receive meal deliveries daily at their home and the past two years of rising food costs. Thank you DETCOG.

•I am going to list the Vacation Bible School Schedules left for Trinity during the month of July and hope I do not miss anyone. I apologized in advance.

July 17-21, Liberty Christian Center, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

July 17-21, First Methodist Church of Trinity, 9 a.m. to noon

July 24-28, River of Life Church, 6 -8 p.m.

July 29, Prayer in the Park, Trinity Community Center, 10-2 p.m.

I will have some new events to report next week. See you around town.

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State park coming back after pandemic

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By Emily Banks Wooten
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062923 lakeLake Livingston State Park Superintendent Jessica Bright recently provided a program for the monthly Lunch & Learn hosted by the Livingston-Polk County Chamber of Commerce. COURTESY PHOTO BY EMILY BANKS WOOTENLIVINGSTON — After several years of a decline in visitors, Lake Livingston State Park is once again a hub of activity and relaxation.

Lake Livingston State Park was the subject of a recent Lunch & Learn hosted by the Livingston-Polk County Chamber of Commerce.

Jessica Bright, the new park superintendent, and Joseph Green, the assistant park superintendent, provided the program.

Bright has been with Texas Parks & Wildlife Department for 13 years and came to Livingston from Huntsville.

She said that in a normal year, close to half a million come through the park. Their records reflect that 70 percent come from the Houston, Baytown, Sugarland area; 12 percent come from rural areas of Texas; and 5 percent come from outside of Texas.

Bright said there are 153 campsites and that 80 are full hookup. The park includes 684 acres and about 400 acres of that is developed. There are six miles of trails.

She said the park made almost 16,000 educational contacts last year, the economic impact added to Polk County was $1,189,179, 22.1 jobs were created and about $46,000 in sales tax was generated.

Commenting on what the park has to offer, Bright said there are the campsites and trails, three boat ramps, the concessionaire that rents kayaks, a swimming area and a recreation hall that can be rented.

She said the swimming pool has been closed for about eight years because it was not financially viable and there is talk of possibly using that space as a group day use area.

Green is originally from Tyler and has been in Livingston for about five years. He said running the park is like taking care of a small community.

He said they have state contracts, try to put money back into the local economy and utilize a lot of local businesses. He said he is more familiar with the maintenance and upkeep of the park.

He said they work closely with the Trinity River Authority of Texas and have a relationship with the Master Naturalists.

He touched on the issues the park has had with its water supply, adding that they are about to spend a considerable amount of money on the water supply. He said they previously used water wells and used 300,000-500,000 gallons a month. He said the water supply has had a real detrimental impact to their business. They’re not closed, but they can’t take reservations. He said they probably receive 100 calls a day but they have a 55-year-old water system and the well pretty much collapsed. He said they like to be self-sufficient and use their own well but right now are having to use Lake Livingston Water Supply. He said they are laying a thousand feet of pipe daily to connect because Lake Livingston Water Supply has multiple wells in that area, in addition to a new surface water treatment plant.

Green said that pre-COVID they were booked solid every day for six months but that they are building back up. He said guests may stay a maximum of two weeks consecutively, but then must leave for 24 hours. He said they are looking into putting in an automatic gate that would open at 6 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. He said they have also talked about a splash pad or a dog park among other things.

Among the activities available are an archery range, campsites, hiking, biking, fishing, birding, 10 screened shelters, interpretive events on Saturdays and free fishing without a license in Texas state parks. There is also a nature center inside the park store and a large observation tower outside the store. The entrance fee is $6 per person ages 13 and up.

To find out what is going on at Lake Livingston State Park, check out the calendar of events or the Facebook page.

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County readies to celebrate independence

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July4Celebration STOCK

TCNS staff

The Fourth of July will be celebrated on the First and Fourth in Trinity County this year.

The city of Trinity will hold a fireworks display Saturday after the sun goes down, and Groveton has a day of events planned for Tuesday.

The events start with a parade through Groveton at noon, ending at the Y. From there, there will be a slew of games including an egg toss, egg races, sack races, 3-legged races, a skillet toss, a watermelon eating contest and a tug-of-war.

There will be tickets available for purchase for $1 for a 50/50 drawing, and for $2 apiece for door-prize drawings.

Musical acts include Nathan James, Shannon Maisel and Garry Brown.

Vendor booths feature Billie Annette, face painting; M&M BBQ; Maxie Banks, crafts; Captain Jack’s Ice Shack; The Main Squeeze, fresh-squeezed lemonade; The Grove Coffee & Crafts; Groveton Lion’s Club; and bounce houses.

Fireworks are touched off at 9 p.m.

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Summer heating up, sometimes too much

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Julias TidbitsI have a lot to talk about, but it is too hot to relate, or snoop around. The black and green recently painted building across from McDonald’s, I am told, will be a vape shop.

The produce vendor, My Trinity Fruit Stand, is doing well, and the barbecue stand on the corner of 356 and Madison is open on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and doing well also. I stopped Friday and had a tasty chopped beef sandwich. Support your local entrepreneurs.

•Vacation Bible School programs are still going on, and other summer fun is planned in the community also. For instance, July 15, the Trinity Fellowship Church is hosting a summer party from 2-6 p.m. located at 357 E. Caroline St. in Trinity, which is free for all ages. Games and a bouncy house will be available for the children’s enjoyment.

•The car wash last weekend was an enormous success for the River of Life Church Youth Group. The fundraiser was to provide money for the children to attend church camp along with other activities. Kudos to the kids.

•There are two garage sales this weekend and one is two days and the other one is only one day.

Liberty Christian Center is having a garage sale on Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24, located at 101 W. Main St. in downtown Trinity, and it starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m. For more information, call Dolly at (936) 355-3399.

On Saturday, June 24, starting at 9 a.m., Martin Senior Center is hosting a garage sale and selling barbecue to benefit the center’s 60-plus shut-ins with their free meal delivery service.

The center is located at 400 Walker St., and you can shop in the cool air-conditioned center, eat in, or take food out, purchase items for your home, all while supporting the elderly patrons of Trinity. For more information, please call Brenda at (936) 594-2625.

•On Wednesday of this week, Trinity Lions Club will celebrate its 95th anniversary membership in the Lions Club International Organization. We are inducting new officers and giving service awards to certain members at the Agavales Mexican Restaurant on Brantley Street at noon.

Trinity Lions Club was established in June 1928 in Lufkin under the direction of P. H. Cauthan. More about this later.

•AMP marketing pro and auctioneer, Liz Drake, is so talented, and created my flyers and program for the Trinity Lions Club Luncheon. If you have any marketing and advertising jobs, you need to contact her at (936) 594-0812. She does an impressive job printing and editing your requests.

•Several people have contacted me about community fair events coming up in September, so here is some useful information. The biggest establishment in Trinity is the Trinity Community Fair Association which is 75 years young. It is the last free fair in Texas.

The 2023 Theme for this year’s fair is Country Pride, Community Wide! For vendor information, please call Kim Tullos at (936) 661-1568, and for other information call Jolie Lane at (936) 662-5208.

•There is another dance at the VFW Hall this weekend with dinner and live entertainment. The cost is $10. Doors open at 6 p.m. For more details, please contact Dawn Bray at (936) 594-9467.

•Remember to call Karen Dixon at (936) 581-6531 if you would like to help with Prayer in the Park which is scheduled to take place at the Community Center on Saturday, July 29, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. There are free supplies, food, door prizes, games and music.

•School starts back Tuesday, Aug. 8.

•Do not forget the AME Church barbecue fundraiser at the Trinity Community Center on Saturday, June 24, at the corner of Highway 19 and FM 1617 from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.

•On Tuesday, June 27, the Methodist Church of Trinity is having Dinner with Friends starting at 4 p.m. and ending at 7 p.m. featuring barbecue and pulled pork sandwiches with all the trimmings. Games and music abound. Donations welcomed. For more information, please call Laura at (936) 594-3826.

•Don’t forget all the VBS programs, such as the Liberty Christian Center, Burning Hope Baptist Church, Dorcas Wills Memorial Baptist Church, the River of Life Church, and others. The times and dates were all listed in my last issue, but if you need more information, call me at (936) 537-8171 and I will look them up for you.

See you around town.

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Board to study paving

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CentervilleISDTCNS staff

CENTERVILLE — The Centerville ISD Board of Trustees will wait for all bids before deciding on creating a fully paved parking lot.

Superintendent Mark Brown said that because of several bids not having been received, the board tabled the matter until the July meeting to make the decision.

In a separate matter, the board held a brief public hearing on Texas Association of School Boards policy changes, which include inventories, maintenance, competitive bidding, competitive sealed proposals, compensation plan, admissions and bullying.

The TASB updates align local policy with state law. Following several hearings, the board will vote on adopting the new code.

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