News

Almost 3 million Americans have served in Afghanistan or Iraq. Half have been deployed more than once.  Almost a million of those who served, live with a disability.  When they served as young men and women they gave everything they had to give and excelled at their job.  When they have returned home, America has not taken care of them as they should. Besides those who gave their life, some will love with disabilities the rest of their life. 

Approximately  300,000 homeless veterans will sleep tonight on the streets somewhere in America. In addition, almost one and a half million are at risk for being homeless; that number will rise.  Too many veterans lose their family; the rate of divorce among veterans is 47 percent higher than other marriages.  22 veterans commit suicide every day; one every 2 hours.  At least half a million veterans have PTSD.

State Sen. Bob Hall will be holding a series of public town hall meetings throughout Senate District 2 to discuss the upcoming 85^th  Legislative Session and to answer constituent questions. The time and locations of the currently scheduled town halls are included below:

Thursday, Dec. 15:

Harry Myers Community Center - Rockwall, 9 – 10:30 a.m.

815 E Washington St, Rockwall, TX 75087

Kaufman County Library, 1 – 2:30 p.m.

3790 S. Houston St, Kaufman, Texas 75142

Sulphur Springs City Hall, 4:30 – 6 p.m.

201 N Davis St, Sulphur Springs, TX 75482

Friday, Dec. 16

Rowlett Community Center, 1 – 2:30 p.m.

5300 Main St, Rowlett, TX 75088 

The Canton Main Street Program is taking applications for directors to sit on the Main Street Advisory Board.  Applications may be picked up at the Main Street Office at the Plaza Museum at 119 N. Buffalo in Canton or received by email by contacting terwin@cantontex.com. Applications will be accepted until Dec. 19, 2016, with appointments to be made in January.  

The Canton Main Street Advisory Board is a volunteer, working board appointed by Canton Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors with final approval by City Council.  Term of service is for three years beginning Feb. 1. The board meets at 8 a.m. on the second Tuesday of each month and committees meet at various times as needed. 

By now everyone has heard the phrase ‘shop local.’

For a community like Canton, spending your holiday shopping budget at home means a local business stands a fighting chance at staying in business throughout the rest of the year. Shopping where you live is the best way to show local businesses how much we appreciate them for supporting our community throughout the year.

These businesses support our local schools, churches, charities, chamber events and are committed to making our community a better place to live and work, and supporting them during the most important time of the year is the least we can do.

This year, the Canton Texas Chamber of Commerce is encouraging people in Van Zandt County to shop at home this holiday season. As an added incentive, the chamber is giving away a great prize for the people who step up and take the free pledge to support our local economy. 

Doug Stuart, left, helped his wife, Eva Stuart, right, celebrate her retirement from Van Zandt County Nov. 30. Eva had been a county employee for 33.5 years, and began her career in 1983. She served the county at the Ag Extension Office. 

For more stories like this one, subscribe to the Canton Herald or pick up a copy from one of our vendors. 

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said today that state sales tax revenue totaled $2.51 billion in November, 2.9 percent less than in November 2015.

“Continued weakness in the manufacturing and wholesale trade sectors, combined with persistently lower levels of oil and gas drilling activity compared to the same period last year, is exerting ongoing downward pressures on sales tax revenues,” Hegar said. “Receipts from restaurants and retail trade grew modestly. While those industries are larger individual sources of sales tax revenue, their modest growth was not sufficient to overcome the combined drop in tax collections from manufacturing, wholesale trade, and oil- and gas-related sales tax receipts.”

The Van Zandt Newspapers family lost one of its most well-known and beloved members Nov. 26 with the passing of Wanda Alberta “Bert” Turner at the age of 81.

Born in Illinois, Turner and her husband Robert moved to Dallas before eventually settling in Wills Point in 1966. She served as office manager at the Chronicle office for 44 years before retiring in 2012.

Shortly before her retirement, Turner recalled her start at the paper. “When I first started, we did all of our subscriptions on an Addressograph. This metal with the address on it went into a tray, and you slid the paper through and the machine put the address on them. We had the little press in the smaller room. Everybody worked back there when it was paper day. (Former owner) Tom Campbell passed away and soon after, we got the new press. I remember we were all back there, and they were showing us all how it was to be run. Right after that, we got the inserter.”

After a year of planning and months of construction, the new Canton City Hall officially opened this week. The new building located at 201 Buffalo St., Canton, will encompass several city services and departments under its roof.

One word to describe the new Canton City Hall would be spacious, because a lack of space is not a problem for city staff anymore. The new building has wide hallways, high ceilings, numerous windows and enough space in the council room to hold an exceptionally large crowd. Every detail accounted for was a process in the making, with council spending numerous meetings discussing the layout, building materials and cost among other items related to the building.

The total square footage of the building is a little over 8,000 sqaure which encompasses large offices and rooms. The total approximate cost of the new city hall was $1.2 million.

The Canton Texas Chamber of Commerce held their final AM Connections of the year last week at Hilliard’s Furniture located at 209 S. Buffalo St. in Canton.

Owners Mary Lynn and Jimmy Baugh opened their doors to chamber members and guests and provided refreshments and a great atmosphere for networking.

Hilliard’s Furniture has been at the SW corner of Buffalo and Tyler St. for over 120 years. Mary Lynn’s great grandfather George Macintosh Hilliard opened the doors in 1896 as a general mercantile store where they sold everything you could imagine such as plows, food, supplies and even caskets. Over the years the store fronts have changed, but the Hilliard name has always been a big part of the brand.

An almost six-month remodeling project was nearing the end for what was supposed to be a new-look Texas Bank and Trust facility at 231 East Tyler Street in downtown Canton before a tragic event occurred that changed everything.

Shortly after 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 1, 2015, an electrical fire broke out in the building ruining the ceiling and destroying all the electrical units in the facility.

“I was traveling to Dallas that evening and I received a phone call from our bank vice-president, Harold Holyfield, who informed me about the fire,” recalled Lace Deibert, Texas Bank and Trust Vice-President and Canton Branch Manager. “I thought he was kidding me at first. I could not believe it. Harold and a couple of contractors who were working on the roof and the air conditioning units were in the building at the time of the fire and thankfully, they got out okay. There was nobody injured in the fire.”