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Trinity County News - Breakout

Christmas event a treat as always

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Many vendors showed up to sell their goodies at the Trinity Christmas at the Crossroads Countdown to Christmas extravaganza Saturday. Photo by Tony FarkasMany vendors showed up to sell their goodies at the Trinity Christmas at the Crossroads Countdown to Christmas extravaganza Saturday. Photo by Tony Farkas

Julias TidbitsI have survived another Countdown to Christmas Show. Christmas at the Crossroads begin for me twenty-five years ago when I moved to Trinity, Texas in June of 1997. I moved to Westwood Shores Subdivision for my husband to practice retirement, and in three years that it took him to retire, I had already joined the Trinity Chamber; helped secure an after-school program for children (called the Boys and Girls Club of Trinity); and helped re-organize the Trinity PTA volunteer group on all three campuses.

The movers and shakers of Trinity were from the best Trinity families, and believed it was their responsibility to carry on their family legacy with great teachers, workers and volunteers who shaped Trinity into the great place we reside in now. At the end of this article is my tribute to all the people who supported this event. Please thank them too.

At six o’clock in the morning we had a little rain, but the day turned out to be perfect even without the sunshine, and the show was awesome. We had visitors stopping through our city and they were very generous.

The vendors were very creative with their wares, and the different aromas of BBQ and hamburgers filled the air. The Stage was set for the wonderful array of entertainers, and we were privy to some of the best local talent in Trinity County. First was the Trinity Lions Club Singers, followed by the Trinity Tabernacle Pentecostal Church Choir, and then Kelly Hartsfield and her repertoire.

After Santa arrived and passed out bags of candy, Keren De Bose took the stage and sang songs from her new album. She and Kelly were both fantastic singers. Everyone was in awe at what talent we have here in Trinity, and it is a joy to know we are so blessed by these entertainers.

The vendors were very generous in donating door prizes, and we had drawings all day long until the parade started. Trinity County Crime Stoppers sponsored Santa Claus’s bags of candy and the children loved Santa in his beautiful beard and exquisite suit. Mark Cole has played the role of Santa Claus for many years for the Trinity Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and plays Santa for many other organizations as well.

I must tell you one of the vendors had a beautiful mannequin of the Grinch who Stole Christmas, and her friend JoAnn Kennedy said,” the grinch did not steal Christmas, because the Grinch was the was first thing to be sold at their booth.” (I wondered later if he came back later in the parade and tried to steal our Christmas again.)

Santa’s will reappear at the Martin Senior Citizen Center on Friday, Dec. 16, at noon to take free pictures for the “elder” children, and the Center will provide a Christmas Dinner for $10 per person. The Thanksgiving dinner was awesome, so, don’t miss you chance to eat another wonderful meal here at the Martin Center located at 400 Walker St.

The menu will consist of turkey, ham, dressing, gravy, sweet potatoes, several vegetables and green beans, all kinds of salads and desserts, and drinks. There will be door prizes, music, and lots of fun. If you want to sit or bring new friends, please call Brenda at (936) 594-2625 and reserve a table if you have more than two people in your party.

The Christmas at the Crossroad’s 6 p.m. lighted parade delighted the crowd with music and dancing. The THS Drill Team did a dance in front of the Judges stand and they were in step and perfect formation. The THS Band marched in the parade a head of the fire trucks and sounded great.

This year’s winners were presented a miniature State of Texas plaque announcing what they won that were handmade by Tyrone De Hass. They will be rewarded with Trophies as soon as they arrive from the Trophy Case in Huntsville. The winners were:

·Best of Show: River Pointe Rehabilitation Center Santa Claus Float

·First Place Most Creative: Higginbotham’s the Christmas Story

·First Place Most Traditional: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas presented by the Trinity County Crime Stoppers.

·First Place Decorated Car: Little Miss Snowflake, by Mr. and Mrs. Tyrone De Hass.

·First Place Decorated Truck: Del Rio

·First Place Most Decorated Emergency Vehicle: Trinity Volunteer Fire Department.

·First Place Walkers: The Trinity High School Tigerettes.

The Sam Houston State University’s Jazz Ensemble was a real hit before the parade, but next year we would like for them to play sooner and pay more again after the Tree Ceremony.

The Tree Lighting Ceremony was perfect, and Mayor Billy Goodwin was there to welcome the people. Clegg DeWalt blessed the season and gave us the reason for the season through his prayer. The tree was lit and then the winners of the parade were announced by Clegg and Billy, and then the event was declared officially over.

The list they announced to thank some wonderful people who without their help we could not have put this show on are listed below.

·Trinity City Council and Mayor

·Trinity Police Department

·Trinity Fire Department

·Trinity Public Works Department

·Trinity Independent School District

·Trinity Community Fair Association

·Trinity County Crime Stoppers

·Trinity Country News-Standard

·Trinity Lions Club

·Trinity Florist and Gifts

·Dulce Vida Hair Studio

·Jonathan Minson

·Becky Girouard and Chey Dilda

·All Around Electrical Services

·Asset Marketing Pros, LLC

·State Farm Insurance

·First National Bank of Trinity

·Angie and Rossel Gomez

·Mark Cole

·Dan Barnes

·Caroline Crimm of Historic Tours of East Texas

·McMichael Construction Co.

•The Blanch K. Werner Public Library of Trinity is having holiday-themed story time all month. Tuesday, Dec. 13, the patrons, and children are being served cocoa and making snow. The snow will be made outside, and each person can take a bag home.

Afterwards, Paula Holcombe will read a story while they have more cocoa and cookies. Later in December the Library will have its annual Storytime Christmas party, so watch this space for details.

In December the Library will offer curbside assistance for anyone feeling under the weather. Just give them a call at (936) 594-2087, tell them what books you would like to check out, and they will bring them out to you. Also, in December they are having a DVD sale at two for $1.

The next issue I will report all the Churches’ cantata times and places, and places you can attend to receive toys for children and food supplies.

Thanks for your continued support for Julia’s Tidbits.

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Groveton to ramp up address enforcement

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groveton texas city limits 250TCNS staff

GROVETON — The Groveton City Council will consider fining residents that do not comply with the county’s 911 addressing standards.

Mayor Tommy Walton said that 911 Addressing Adminstrator Jolynn Wars addressed the council at its Nov. 28 meeting, saying it has been one year since Groveton asked residents to voluntarily post their 911 addresses on their property and now it is time to start enforcement.

Wars told the council compliance is important for reporting and the safety of the residents, especially when fire and EMS services needs to find a property.

Walton said the council will look at adding fines for non-compliance at its December meeting.      

In other business, the council:

•approved payment of $7,877.20 to Inframark, and representative Mike Brown said there was an average flow of 22,000 gallons per day the sewer plant, and a total of 3,049,000 of gallons water were pumped to customers;

•discussed the expiration of the interconnect agreement between the city and Pennington Water Supply, which expires in December. The council will address this at the December meeting;

•discussed seeking a driller for the installation of city well No. 3;

•discussed Police Department activity for November. Chief Justin Cowart said officers answered 28 calls for service, did 35 traffic stops, gave out 16 verbal warnings, took four reports, wrote 19 citations and made one arrest;    

•discussed Animal Control activity, which came to  11 calls, five dogs transported, and two impoundments with $60 collected. Additionally, the city has been notified by the City of Lufkin that it will no longer accept animals from Groveton; and

•moved the December meeting to Dec. 19.

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Board discusses safety, cost savings

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Trinity ISD honored its employees of the Month Kara Huffman, Craig Troutman and Amanda Schubert at its recent meeting. Pictured are (from left) Paraprofessional Kara Huffman, Board Secretary Dorothy Franklin, Maintenance Director Gillian Campbell, Transportation Director Craig Troutman, John Foreman, LES Principal Kelli Robinson and TMS Principal Kent Copley. Courtesy photoTrinity ISD honored its employees of the Month Kara Huffman, Craig Troutman and Amanda Schubert at its recent meeting. Pictured are (from left) Paraprofessional Kara Huffman, Board Secretary Dorothy Franklin, Maintenance Director Gillian Campbell, Transportation Director Craig Troutman, John Foreman, LES Principal Kelli Robinson and TMS Principal Kent Copley. Courtesy photo

By Tony Farkas
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TRINITY — The Trinity ISD Board of Trustees honored the cross country runners and staff superlatives, and took steps toward helping its police force at its regular meeting on Nov. 28.

Superintendent John Kaufman said the board approved a measure allowing the district’s officers to take police cars home.

Kaufman said it will save time, including response time in case something happens at night, and will  save money on transportation.

Additionally, it’s a good will gesture, since the department has done a good job for the district, he said.

The board, however, tabled a measure to purchase a door alarm system to seek additional bids and information. That measure was to be taken up at a special meeting on Dec. 5.

In other business, the board:

•discuss targeted improvement plans for all campuses, addressing what is being done to improve the scores. Kaufman said the district is analyzing the data and getting input from teachers, parents, and the community to help improve schools;

•discussed replacing the marquee sign at the high school, which has broken and is not replaceable. Kaufman said the board is waiting on prices to replace it, and possibly add another to be placed at the Old Red schoolhouse; and

•approved a deposit agreement with First National Bank of Trinity.

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Family friendly fun at annual Christmas celebration

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Santa Claus gets ready to make his grand entrance to meet with all the boys and girls of Tyler County in order to get their Christmas wishlists.  JIM POWERS | TCBBy Mollie La Salle
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WOODVILLE – Christmas in Tyler County kicked off with a bang last Friday evening. Tyler County Chamber of Commerce President Cathy Bennett warmly welcomed everyone to the festivities and gave a special shout-out to Chamber Director Holly Wells for making it all come together.

Several dignitaries were on hand to help with the evening’s festivities including Pct. 1 County Commissioner Joe Blacksher (who also served as the head of the Chamber’s Christmas committee), Woodville Mayor Paula Jones, Ivanhoe Mayor Cathy Bennett, County Judge-elect Milton Powers and Bubba Sheffield, representing the City of Colmesneil.

There was a brief appearance by the Grinch, who seemingly came out of the shadows, attempting to steal Christmas presents, but he was swiftly apprehended by Woodville Police Sgt. Marc DeShazo, and brought before Judge Ken Jobe for sentencing.

The Grinch begged for forgiveness and was sentenced to community service and assigned to work with Santa to spread Christmas cheer.

Friday’s festivities continued with the lighting of the courthouse, and finally, Santa Claus (a.k.a Jim Goodman) made his appearance, where he was given a key to the county. The Woodville High School band and Kelsi Risinger provided music, Wee Wisdom provided the live nativity scene, and Christmas carols were sung by Fellowship Primitive Baptist Church. Dancers were on hand from Tawnya’s School of Dance, there was a bounce house for the kids and Dogwood Hills Baptist Church had a fun train ride.

The Chamber also held an Ugly Sweater contest and a Battle of the Beards contest. Also, this year, they had a Christmas punch card contest, with more than 30 businesses participating.

The response was overwhelming, and participation far exceeded their expectations.

Saturday brought round two of the events, beginning with the Rotary Club of Woodville’s annual Pancake Breakfast with Santa at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church; the first ever Jolly Jeep Jingle contest downtown and the Mistletoe Market on the square.

Saturday evening played host to the Twilight Tour at Heritage Village, with plenty of entertainment, including a lively performance from the children of St. Paul’s Episcopal School, and the City of Ivanhoe held its annual lighted Christmas boat parade.

Christmas in Tyler County 2022 was an all-around jam-packed weekend full of fun and laughter.

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Hunters reminded to report harvest

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AntlerlessDeer Stock

Special to the News-Standard

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wants to remind hunters to report their harvest during the antlerless deer season.

Mandatory reporting is required for any antlerless deer harvested during the four-day doe season, along with any antlerless deer harvested during the archery, youth-only and muzzleloader seasons.

Within 24 hours of harvest, hunters in the listed 21 counties must report their harvest to TPWD using either the free My Texas Hunt Harvest mobile app (for iOS and Android) or on the My Texas Hunt Harvest web page.

Counties required to report their harvest include Austin, Bastrop, Caldwell, Colorado, Comal (east of I-35), De Witt, Fayette, Goliad (North of U.S. 59), Gonzales, Guadalupe, Hays (east of I-35), Jackson (north of U.S. 59), Karnes, Lavaca, Lee, Travis (east of I-35), Victoria (north of U.S. 59), Waller, Washington, Wharton (north of U.S. 59) and Wilson.

Additionally, for the four counties that remain dedicated to archery-only hunting (Dallas, Grayson, Rockwall and Collin), hunters are now required to report all white-tailed deer harvests within 24 hours through the My Harvest Hunt App during all white-tailed deer seasons.

Accurate reporting allows agency wildlife biologists to properly study hunting impacts on local herds and develop more hunting opportunities.

For more information about hunting regulations, methods and seasons, consult the 2022-23 Outdoor Annual. Hunters can download the Outdoor Annual app for free for iOS and Android.

TPWD reminds hunters that agency wildlife biologists and animal health officials are collecting and testing Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) samples from hunter-harvested deer to get a clearer picture of the prevalence and distribution of the disease across Texas.

Proactive monitoring improves the state’s response time to CWD detection and can greatly reduce the risk of the disease further spreading to neighboring captive and free-ranging populations.

Hunters in surveillance and containment zones must meet submission requirements of harvested CWD-susceptible species. Additionally, hunters outside of established surveillance and containment zones are encouraged to voluntarily submit their harvest for testing at a check station, for free, before heading home from the field.

Hunters can find a map of TPWD check stations for all CWD zones on the TPWD website. Hunters can also contact their local biologist to submit a sample.

For more information about CWD, visit the TPWD web site or the TAHC website.

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