Trinity County News - Breakout

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TCNS 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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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 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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By 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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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.