News

People living in the 14 counties of East Texas have until July 30 to complete a survey online for the East Texas Council of Governments and be entered into a drawing for one of four $50 VISA gift cards.

The survey has to do with improving mobility throughout the region.

The affected counties include Anderson, Camp, Cherokee, Gregg, Harrison, Henderson, Marion, Panola, Rains, Rusk, Smith, Upshur, Van Zandt and Wood.

The project is an update of the East Texas Council of
Government’s Regionally Coordinated Transportation Plan completed in 2011.

“Participating in the current project is as easy as one, two, three: 1 – Visit this project’s website to follow the project’s progress. www.EasTexConnects.com; 2 – Complete a short online survey regarding your current travel needs and preferences; 3 – Attend one of 14 community meetings to be held in late July,” ETCOG officials said.

Residents of Canton in violation of zoning ordinances will now get hit with bigger fines.

At the Canton City Council meeting July 19, the council amended the 1985 zoning ordinance to allow for a penalty up to $2,000 per day per violation.

The previous penalty was $200 per day per violation.

According to City Attorney David Ritter, the update simply brings the city more in line with state regulations.

In other business, the council accepted petitions and called for an election to legalize the sale of beer and wine and serve liquor by the drink within the city limits.

The petitions were started May 3, returned with signatures May 26, City Secretary Debra Johnson said.

According to state law, to be valid the number of signatures needed on the petition must have 35 percent of the number of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election. In Canton’s case, that would be 244 verified names, Johnson said.

New First Monday building OK’d

Trade Days business once again dominated the Canton City Council meeting July 19 with city officials dealing with a building request for First Monday grounds, bed and breakfast regulations and safety concerns on The Mountain.

First Monday building

A request by Jeff and Nancy Cleveland to build on 10 lots on First Monday grounds was approved unanimously.

The Clevelands have been First Monday vendors since 2010. They are proposing to build a “lock and leave” type building on rows 9 and 14. The couple would continue to operate their Trade Days business in the open-air portion of the grounds.

“I thought we wanted owner occupants of the buildings,” Councilwoman Cindy Malouf said.

Tragedy for one Van Zandt County family struck July 22, when 2-year-old Abel Lunsford was reported missing and was later found deceased.

According the VZC Sheriff’s Office, they received a call at 12:46 p.m. July 22 in reference to a missing child on Van Zandt County Road 4614, east of Ben Wheeler.

“The sheriff’s office, in conjunction with several surrounding local and state law enforcement agencies, volunteer fire departments and volunteer organizations conducted an extensive search for the missing child. The Texas Department of Transportation Public Safety Helicopter, as well as the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Dog Team also assisted in the search,” the sheriff’s office said.

 The toddler had been missing since about 8 a.m., according to a Van Zandt County official. He was last seen wearing a red shirt with a dinosaur print and a diaper.

The toddler was found deceased about 4:18 p.m. by law enforcement officials.

Every year a number of East Texas pondowners lose part or all of their farm pond fish population due to an oxygen depletion.

An oxygen depletion is not the only cause of fish die-offs in Texas ponds, but about 85 percent of the time it is the most common cause of fish kills.  Pond owners should be aware of the causes, signs and corrective measures to lessen the likelihood of experiencing an oxygen depletion.

There are many factors or combinations of factors that can contribute to an oxygen depletion. The most common factors (not all of which can be controlled by the pond owner) which account for the majority of oxygen depletions in Texas farm ponds are as follows:

Season - Most oxygen depletions occur in warm weather, usually June through September. Warm water holds less oxygen than does cool water.

Monthly sales tax revenue figures for the six Van Zandt County continued to be a mixed bag during the month of July, with information released by the office of Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar showing the gains made by Edom, Grand Saline and Van being offset by drops in collections by Canton, Edgewood and Wills Point.

Van, for the second time in as many months, helped lead the way for Van Zandt County by seeing sales tax revenue figures improve $2,951.75 over the $54,385.79 collected in July 2015.

Grand Saline finished just behind Van, seeing sales tax revenue collections climb $1,272.51 over the $45,465.82 collected for the same calendar month last year.

Edom continued what has become a strong resurgence in 2016, collecting $1,599.52 for July 2016. That figure was up a county best 20.97 percent over the $1,322.21 collected in July 2015.

Animal control has been a problem discussed at council meetings of every city in Van Zandt County. Police departments are answering numerous animal control calls a month, which for small towns with limited resources are difficult.

Canton is the only city within the county that has an animal shelter therefore when Wills Point, Van, Edgewood and Grand Saline capture an animal, it must be taken to the Canton shelter. The shelter then must hold the animal for the state-mandated time period before euthanizing the animal.

Cities currently pay the shelter $30 for accepting the animal then another $20 if the animal must be euthanized.

Canton City Manager Lonnie Cluck met with representatives from Wills Point, Van, Edgewood and Grand Saline recently.

Running the animal shelter costs Canton $210,000 a year to operate, Cluck said.

The shelter euthanized 550 animals in 2015. Animals are euthanized when homes or rescue groups cannot be found for them.

Deep within their hearts lie a melody and now Jim and Doye Fuller have an award for their wall to prove it. And it’s an award they share with Canton.

Since the mid 1970s, the Fullers have been bringing music – and visitors – to Canton.

Their music festival was recognized by the Western Swing Music Society of the Southwest as the Venue of the Year. And last weekend, the Fullers were inducted into the WSMSS Hall of Fame.

“Both Jim and Doye grew up listening to Western Swing and classic country music, enjoying Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Ray Price, Johnnie Paycheck, Gene Watson, Hoyle Nix and others,” according to information from Grady Smith, the WSMSS Hall of Fame coordinator.

Taking a trip? Hitting the lake? Camping at a state park?

What about preparing for a new school year?

Summer is always a busy time of year, but state officials are reminding Texans that online services can make things easier – things like renewing driver licenses and vehicle registrations, getting fishing licenses and making park reservations and even requesting a copy of a birth certificate.

“Thanks to Texas.gov, Texans are just a click away from simple, hassle-free online services,” according to Lisa Carrell, senior marketing associate with Texas NIC.

The Canton City Council met July 9 for the first work session on the proposed budget for the fiscal year of 2016-’17.

City Financial Director Kim Kroha took hold of the reins and presented a proposed balanced budget of $12,195,176.

The proposed balanced budget brings in a total increase to the city’s fund balance of $287,060

Kroha said that proposed budget was “heavily dependent on sales tax.”

“We want to budget conservatively based on our current estimates and trends, we also want to support a philosophy of having each operating fund support itself as if First Monday were not here. We are heavily dependent on sales tax … but we would want to incrementally decrease First Monday transfers until each fund’s operations are self-supporting.”

Kroha said that the city would want to maintain a cash balance of not less than 25 percent of operating expenditures in each fund.