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Members of the Van Zandt County Long Range Recovery Group heard a number of updates from various individuals during their weekly meeting June 26.

Shawn Stewart, VZC Long Term Recovery Group Vice-Chairman, was in charge of the meeting held downtown at the old Canton City Hall location in the absence of committee chairman Russell Hopkins.

“We have a description of the various sub-committees that work with this group available for you to take a look at while we are here for this meeting,” announced Stewart to those in attendance. “We need help in these sub-committees. We need manpower, anything that anybody can bring to this table. We also have a sign-up sheet available. We need to be starting the process of matching the talent with the need. That is a connection we need to see happen.”

With the simple act of signing his name, Gov. Greg Abbott completed a trifecta of failure by all branches of state government to defend the people's right to know.

Abbott was proud of himself Thursday for vetoing 50 bills that he claimed were government overreach. One of those was House Bill 2783, regrettably the only government transparency measure to survive the 85th Legislature.

The Van Zandt County Long Term Recovery Group met twice the past week. Once was a for a workshop on June 15^t in which the language of the bylaws was ironed out and the other was for a normal weekly meeting.

According to VZC LTRG members, bylaws have been completed and accepted.

“This process allows money to start to flow to applicants once the applicants have been approved by caseworkers. The caseworkers can take several weeks before they make a recommendation to the Recovery Group,” said Shawn Stewart, VZC LTRG member.

Canton is celebrating Independence Day with a 6:30 parade on Tuesday, July 4.

First United Methodist Church will be participating with a float and the public is invited to help and participate in the parade, said church officials.    

Vacation Bible School this year is 2:30 p.m., July 18-20. The theme is “Gadgets and Gizmos” and will tie into the robot-cell phone-iPad culture of today. 

“So help decorate the float at the church parking lot, 605 S. Buffalo at 2 p.m. Dress like a robot, or in red, white and/or blue.  The parade lines up at 5:30 p.m. at the junior high and begins at 6:30 p.m.  Bible school invitations and information will be passed out during the parade,” said church members.

Call the church office at 903-567-6528 to register or for more complete information.

Saline Creek Lake able to provide water to 24k

AT&T customers might see an improvement in their cellular service in the future due to a new tower lease agreement between the Canton City Council and AT&T.

The lease agreement was approved for a new cell phone tower on First Monday Grounds. AT&T will replace a 100-foot tower with a 140-foot tower to improve service at their expense.

In 2016, the city built a cell tower to specifications provided by AT&T; however, customers with AT&T cited dropped calls and lack of reliable service as complaints.

Residents of Van Zandt County will have plenty to choose from during the Fourth of July. Communities across the county have events slated to please all ages.

While most of the events will be held on Tuesday, July 4, the City of Van will kick things off for the holiday with activities scheduled for Saturday, July 1.

Information about the various Fourth of July events throughout the Van Zandt County area are as follows:

Canton

The Canton Texas Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a Fourth of July parade at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 4.

A stage of events will begin the evening at 5:50 p.m. “God Bless America” will be performed by Matthew Hook followed by Cody Robbins singing “America the Beautiful.”

Following a performance of “God Bless America” by Megan Gebauer, The National Anthem will be presented by Nathan George and Antonio Mendoza.

On June 28-29, the Fifth annual East Texas Medical Outreach Event will be held at Van Junior High School (630 South Oak Street in Van,).

Free health services will be provided to anyone without health insurance, starting at 8 a.m. on both days and will conclude at 4 p.m. on both days.

“Our goal for this program is to provide preventative and primary medical and dental screenings to uninsured East Texans. We want to refer participants that do not currently have providers to medical homes as much as we can and ultimately want to encourage participants to adopt healthy lifestyles to improve their quality of life,” says George Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of NET Health.

Surviving a tornado is nothing new for Pat Puckett of Canton but he has no interest in being in the path of another one especially after what he and his wife, Jenneane, experienced during and after the April 29 storms that struck their home and property in Van Zandt County.

Puckett was a 10-year old in July, 1957 living with his family in Silverton, Texas when a tornado hit their residence around daylight.

“My mother was killed in that tornado,” recalled Puckett. “I was unconscious for three days. Our neighbors saw me crawling out from under one of my dad’s combines. I don’t recall that. I landed a half-mile from my house and I survived. How I got to where I landed, I have no idea to this day.”

Thirteen years later, in 1970 in Lubbock, Puckett survived another tornado. “I was living in an apartment building and the tornado tore up my car and truck,” said Puckett.

Last week, representatives from the Shiner Beer Brewery donated $15,000 to the VZC Disaster Relief Fund. The VZC Long Range Recovery Group accepted the donation.

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The annual fundraiser for Four Mile Community Cemetery will be held Tuesday, July 4. The cemetery business meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m., and the memorial service will follow at 11 a.m.

Bishop Erik Gronberg will deliver the memorial message. All veterans will be recognized.

“The Pledge of Allegiance, the Star Spangled Banner and the raising of the flag will all be performed,” organizers said.

A lunch of barbecue, hot dogs, potato salad and drinks will be provided and served in the Parish Hall.

“Please bring a large dish of dessert, fruit, vegetables etc. to share in the potluck. Thrivent Financial will be matching a portion of the donations, so please come and support this most worthy cause. New flags will adorn the graves of the deceased veterans in the cemetery.

We will have a loud auction and a silent auction of many great buys donated by community businesses and Four Mile members and friends,” said church officials.