Columns

Canton Herald – November 24, 1960:  Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Baugh will celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary with an open house at their home in the Highland community on Sunday, Nov. 27 from 12 to 4 p. m. Friends and relatives of the couple are invited to come by and visit during the open house. Mr. and Mrs. Baugh were married on November 19, 1910 at the home of the bride in Glen Rose by the Church of Christ minister of that town. The bride was the former Minnie Bateman. They made their home in Lubbock until they moved to the Highland community in 1923. The Baughs have 5 children all are living and will attend the open house Sunday. The couple also has 19 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Co-founder of the ABC Room of Van Zandt County Karen Forester of Wills Point was killed in a traffic accident around 1 p.m. Nov. 15.

According to Department of Public Safety Reports, Forester was making a left hand turn off Highway 64 10 miles west of Canton when her 4-door car was struck by a Ford pickup truck. She was pronounced deceased at the scene by Justice of Peace Pct. 3 Herbert Dunn.   The accident is still under investigation.

 She was the co-founder of the ABC Room of Van Zandt County, serving in capacities of president and vice president over the course of 15 years and in 2005, she received the Presidential Volunteer of the Year award. She was a member of the Russell Memorial United Methodist Church in Wills Point.

Memorial services were held at. Nov. 19 at Russell Memorial United Methodist Church in Wills Point. 

Be careful out there

Summer just changed to fall and that is a big deal. Major change is a major problem because our lazy brain gets in a twitter and fights tooth and nail to stay the same.

My first major problem was the clocks. The smart phone, iPad, and laptop did the “fall back” automatically. I pushed the dang buttons on the bedroom clock and finally got it right. I ignored the coffee pot clock and the truck clock button still does not work so it will only be right twice a day. I am ashamed that my new smart wrist GPS step-counter and time-teller is still wrong and I may need to get one of the grandkids to push the right stuff to reset it over Thanksgiving.

Enough fussing about the newfangled stuff. Let’s get to the serious business of walking. This is the time of year that gets dark sooner and stays dark longer, and now we must brush up on walking with safety first and last…always.  

Thanksgiving is a special time with family and friends

We fill our tables with the best of special foods no end

Our families all gather with joy and thankfulness

We thank the Lord for all He has don, so much more than this

He leads and watches over us, He gives us love and care

Without Him we could lose our way trembling with fear

Thanksgiving comes just once a year, but thankfulness should last

We are so blessed we thank you Lord

To you we will hold fast

Thankful hearts and thankful deeds will keep us close to you

Not only at Thanksgiving Lord, but thankful the whole year through

Wanda Etheridge-2016

The Canton Animal Shelter is the only animal shelter in the county and it is overwhelmed with animals, particularly dogs!   All other municipal shelters and short-term holding facilities in the county have closed due to the cost of state mandated regulations and liability.  Our shelter costs for next year are approaching $210,000.  This amount comes to about $50 for every man, woman and child living in the City of Canton.   The sad thing for our citizens who pay for running the shelter through their taxes is that about 80% of these animals come from outside our city limits. 

During and after the recent presidential election so many of our leaders including President Obama have used the term democracy to describe our political procedures.

In ancient Greece, there was a philosopher who designed a new process for government. If my memory serves me right, his name was Plato. He named his new government structure as a republic.

When our founding fathers were trying to form our government, they chose a republic. No longer would our country be ruled by a king or dictator. Our country was composed of 13 separate states. Each was an independent entity. When they chose a name for our country, they chose United “States.”

The Son of God was born one day

Sweetly born on Earth

His mother Mary was alone.

He was of virgin birth

He came from Heaven down to Earth

Into a world of sin

He healed the sick raised the dead

God’s Holy Spirit was within.

He preached the word, He was the word

He was the source of Grace

He shed His blood on Calvary’s cross

To save the human race.

They drove nails in his feet and hands

Drove a sword into his side

Precious blood came flowing

They thought he surely died.

His fleshly life was ended

Here is the beautiful story

He spent three day alone

Then raised to God in glory.

God took him home to live

Now He comes back to Earth

To save lost souls, boys and girls

The reason for His birth.

Leonard Brown-2016

Every time we have an election in Van Zandt County we open up the doors of our Canton Herald office and invite anyone to come in, eat pizza, visit and follow the returns as we cover the story. Nov. 8 was no exception. We had a great group here on election night consisting of elected officials, candidates and concerned citizens as we watched the presidential returns and made periodic trips to the courthouse to update our local returns. As it turned out, there were a few big surprises.

President / Vice President, House and Senate

I would like to thank the Van Zandt News for the opportunity to address the citizens of Van Zandt County. The purpose of my column is to provide you with a look at where we came from and a glimpse of where we are headed.

Since day one, I have stated how critical it is for the citizens of Van Zandt County to hold your elected officials accountable. This starts with me and should be the same for every elected official. I believe this is the only way to get our county heading in the right direction. 

Canton Herald, Dec. 14, 1960 – The Canton Kiwanis Club is supervising another Turkey Shoot to be held at the Fair Grounds in Canton Saturday.  The shooting is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with turkey prizes for the winners.  A drawing will be held at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.  in conjunction with the school but there is no obligation for the drawing. Registration is all that is necessary to win one of the turkeys.

            Services for Joseph Floyd Wadsworth, 76, were held at the Eubank Funeral Chapel Sunday afternoon with Rev. T. F. Tidwell and Rev. H. A. Dunbar conducting the service. Mr. Wadsworth was born July 25, 1884 in Nacogdoches and he passed away in Grand Saline on December 9.  He was a member of the Highland Baptist Church at the time of his death on March 7, 1868 and he was married to Katie Jane Bishop.  Interment was at Highland Cemetery at 2 p.m. Sunday under the direction Eubank Funeral Home.