Tyler County News - Breakout

Write a comment

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

TYLER COUNTY – The unofficial results of the May 6 elections, which saw voters serviced by Chester ISD and ESD #4 faced with options on the ballot are in.

Chester ISD put a bond issue before its voters, and the results from May 6 show 159 voting “for” the measure and 137 “against.”

That bond calls for $5.315 million to replace and upgrade several buildings throughout the school district. The bond order was adopted by the Chester ISD Board of Trustees in February.

Plans call to replace the current middle school and high school buildings with a new 8-10 classroom building located on the east side of the district administration building. The middle school building is in poor condition, and only has three classrooms, while the high school building, which was built in 1967, is not up to current building codes.

The other item up for a vote concerned voters living in the service area of Emergency Services District #4, which includes the Warren Volunteer Fire Department. The measure called for the adoption of a local sales and use tax to benefit the ESD. Voters approved the item to the tune of 29 voting “for” and 10 voting against it.

The Tyler County Clerk’s office will release final voting numbers later in the week, up until Thursday.

Write a comment

WOODVILLE – The Tyler County Booster will host an upcoming edition of the Tyler County Chamber of Commerce’s “Lunch & Learn” series, from noon until 1 p.m. on Monday, May 15.

The Chamber is encouraging anyone interested in learning how the Booster serves the county to stop by during their lunch hour. Booster publisher Kelli Barnes will discuss what the different departments of the newspaper does, and door prizes will be awarded to attendees.

Booster editor Chris Edwards, who also serves as Chamber Vice President, encouraged anyone interested to RSVP for the event.

“Newspapers are a service vital to communities throughout our country. They give a voice to the reader, elected officials, clubs and organizations, and allow input from the community at large, as well as offering advertisements, photographs and other avenues of interest,” he said.

To RVSP for the event, send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Write a comment

Lively Oak Exterior Mollie Lasalle/TCBPHOTO

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

FRED –The Lively Oak event Center hosted their “Lively May Market and Benefit”, Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6.

There were several vendors, a food truck, shopping, and live music on Friday. Saturday featured a silent auction and blood drive all to benefit little Miss Annabel Stanley, who is recovering from being injured in an ATV accident.

Annabel’s grandmother, Cherie Stanley reports that Annabel is finally home, and posted on this on her Facebook page two weeks ago: “Thank you all for the many prayers. She is up and walking with little assistance, and well, just doing fabulous”. All proceeds from this benefit will go toward expenses incurred since the accident.

The Lively Oak Event Center is located out in the country in Fred amid 25 acres of farmland. Oak, pine, and hickory trees create a beautiful canvas for any special event. It is quiet and peaceful and sure to create memories for any occasion.

Owner Susie Moore grew up amidst theses peaceful surroundings and helped raise a variety of animals. After 25 years of living with her husband in locations from South Carolina to Alaska, they returned (temporarily) to care for her parents. Susie’s hope was to facilitate retirement and have a place for an outdoor ministry, so they decided to stay and build their dream on her part of the family farmland.

Susie had to put her plans on hold when Covid showed up three years ago. Soon after, her husband passed away. She persevered, and with God’s direction and her family and friends help, the dream was completed in June 2021. Her desire to honor her parents and her husband’s legacies have helped her move forward with the completion of the event center on the property and she also maintains Doosie Farm.

The event complex features a groom’s game room, and a bridal/honeymoon suite. There is a large kitchen, a parlor, spacious porches, balconies, and decks. There is also a log cabin on the property for overnight guests. The “main attraction” is a huge live oak tree with a canopy of over 90 feet, and it is an impressive sight, especially in the evening.

The Lively Oak Event Center is located at 840 CR 4900 in Fred, Texas. There are signs up along the way for your convenience. One says, “Turn Here”, another says “Keep Going”, and “Almost There”. You can’t miss it once you start seeing all the oak trees along the road. If you are wanting to get away and enjoy a little slice of Heaven for a few hours, you can’t go wrong here.

For information on booking the Lively Oak, call 907-841-4015 and let Susie help you plan the perfect wedding, baby shower, or reunion. You can go to their website at: thelivelyoakevents.com to learn more, and they also have a Facebook page.

Write a comment

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

WOODVILLE – Woodville City Council met Monday evening and considered approving the architects recommendation to award a bid for the City Hall Re-roof/Exterior Masonry Clean and Reseal Project.

According to City Manager Mandy Risinger, “$200K was budgeted for this project; in the end, it was recommended to take everything off and go all the way down to the deck, a complete re-deck and roofing project. When the bids were opened, the low bid came in at $240K, and that company wanted additional money to include a $5 million umbrella insurance policy”.

The second lowest bid was for slightly more than $240K but included the insurance policy. Merit Roofing was the second low bidder. They stated that if additional cleaning is needed, they won’t know until they tear the old roof off.

Risinger said that the city has plenty of money in the general fund to cover the extra $40K. The city will have a pre-construction meeting with the company to approve a start date for the project. Council voted to approve and award the contract to Merit Roofing.

Also up for consideration was approval of a resolution authorizing the submission of an application for the Project Safe Neighborhood to the office of the Governor, Criminal Justice for the In-Car Video System upgrade. Risinger said, “there is a grant for $65K to cover the updates. We applied and have been approved for a grant of 39K for the body cams, and this is the second part of the upgrade. Chief McCulley has spoken to council about the need for new equipment and has been diligent enough to apply for the grants. Alderman Lee Mann asked about the age of the current equipment.

“We are at the life expectancy threshold now, probably 10 years,” said Risinger.

Council approved the resolution to purchase the next phase of the equipment for the police department.

Council next considered a resolution supporting the Alabama Coushatta Tribe of Texas in support of the Tribes of Texas Equal and Fair Opportunity Act to clarify the Tribe can enjoy the opportunity for Tribal Economic Development on terms that are equal, fair, and to protect jobs. Basically, they just want to continue to operate as they have been doing, to protect 825 jobs. The casino brings in 212 million a year in revenue, and when they had to shut down three years ago due to Covid, they continued to pay their employees wages and benefits. They want the opportunity for future expansion at the casino also. Council approved the resolution in short order.

Former mayor Paula Jones spoke before council and just wanted to say “thank you and how appreciative I am of everyone’s hard work, both the city the city administrators, mayor, police and fire department. When last week’s storm came through, it took out one of my trees, and I am sitting there worrying about how I am going to get this tree moved. All of a sudden, the city shows up and moves it out of the way. That’s a lovely thing, God answered my prayer before I even asked.”