News

In spite of the heat the Second Annual Free State Jubilee was a huge success!

This year the event focused on offering more educational booths and activities for those in attendance.  Cooling fans helped bring down the temperatures inside the Arbors as those in attendance visited the booths, played games and enjoyed gardening tips from the Free State Master Gardeners Association.  And thanks to the Texas Extension Education Association Club of Van Zandt County, there were some awesome cakes and treats taken home from the cake walk. 

Thanks to our community sponsors this year there were door prizes given away including a 32” flat screen TV, fishing rods, insulated cups and Subway gift cards. 

The big winners in the contest events included:

Canning Contest sponsored by Austin Bank of Emory – Nancy Szabo. She claimed grand and reserve top prizes this year earning $95. 

The Canton Texas Chamber of Commerce congratulates Gary’s Car Wash on their recent remodeling at 1300 S. Trades Day Blvd. in Canton. Owners Gary and Marcelyn Norrell are shown above cutting the red chamber ribbon along with family, friends and a host of chamber board members, Red Coat Ambassadors and chamber members. Gary’s Car Wash is a new state of the art automatic car wash with your choice of soft or touch free wash. 

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Andrews Center has notified the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services that, on or before Sept. 30, early childhood intervention services for children ages birth to 36 months will be discontinued by the Center and transferred to other agencies.

Andrews Center will work with DARS to transition ECI services to local, approved agencies to serve as new providers so that service is not interrupted.

“This has been a very good program for a very long time,” said Waymon Stewart, CEO, “In evaluating its needs, we decided this transition is best for the families and children involved with ECI.”

Services within early childhood intervention have changed significantly since the program was established more than 35 years ago.  Billing and staffing complexities, in addition to provisions of year-around services, have caused staff to consider alternative options that will best serve eligible children and families in the long run.

The city of Canton has purchased a building at 555 W. Hwy. 243 to turn into a new police station and municipal court.

The 8,500 square foot building sits between the Children’s Advocacy Center and the Andrews Center.

The office building was purchased from Mary and Jack Paul of Tyler for $100,000.

“It’s twice as size as the current police building,” City Manager Lonny Cluck said.

The current building on Hwy. 64 will be maintained for permanent records detention and police interviews, Cluck said.

The building will need some renovation and no move-in date has been set, he said.

The new city hall, being constructed on Buffalo Street under the historic water tower, is expected to be completed in about two months, Cluck said. 

Hillcrest Cemetery Restoration Committee member

Approximately 90 people attended the Texas Historical Marker dedication at the Historic Hillcrest Cemetery Saturday, June 25, for Edmond Wynne.

Wynne was born into slavery in 1850 in Cherokee County, his family moved to Van Zandt County after the Civil War and purchased land in the Big Rock area in 1876. During the Reconstruction Period, he served in the State Militia.

Wynne moved to Canton in 1882, purchasing farm land on the northern edge of the City of Canton. This became a community and area for the black community to have land to live on as well as a school and churches. He helped newcomers and neighbors become self-sufficient. The Wynne community is filled with descendants of those early settlers who came to Canton in a dangerous and turbulent era and established a new life of freedom and possibility.          

ETMC First Physicians clinic in Grand Saline, 801 N. Waldrip, will hold an open house from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 6.

The community is invited to attend the drop-in event. Light refreshments will be served.

Long-time Grand Saline physician Richard Ingrim and certified family nurse practitioner Gina Blount are the care providers at ETMC First Physicians.

For more information, call 903-962-7551 or etmc.org/grandsaline.

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First Monday business topped the Canton Council agenda last week.

First up was a public hearing on “changing the uses and attributes of the First Monday Business zoning classification.”

“Everybody has a picture in their mind of what First Monday is,” City Manager Lonny Cluck said. “The purpose of these changes is so that we all agree what that picture is.”

The changes would modify the 1985 zoning ordinance to allow temporary RV parking no more than 10 days per calendar month and for special events and designate when First Monday vendors can sell their wares.

Business owner Reagan Sumner, whose family operates Sumner Properties at 176 N. Trades Day Blvd., asked about legally non-confirming uses and if that designation stayed with property when it sold.

The answer is yes as long as the use is legally non-confirming, not interrupted for more than a year and isn’t destroyed by some disaster.

Brandi and Little Bit are 11-year-old Dachshund littermates who have never been separated.  They were in a loving home, but their human was placed in a nursing home and now they need to find a new place to be.  They walk step for step with each other and cannot live apart.  If you can give these sweet girls a safe and forever home, contact the Van Zandt County Humane Society at 903 962 5700, or visit the website at vzchumanesociety.org.  VZCHS is non-profit, all volunteer and organized under 501(c)3 guidelines. 

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The Van Zandt County Commissioners Court has selected three people to fill the roles being vacated by out-going Fire Marshal, Emergency Management Coordinator and On-Site Sewer Designated Representative Chuck Allen.

“This is the problem when one guy wears three or four hats,” said County Judge Don Kirkpatrick.  “When he leaves, you’ve got a lot of openings to fill.”

Allen has accepted a job with the state fire marshal’s office. He will not move from Van Zandt County and will continue as a consultant for the county as long as needed. He will be paid $300 per month.

Commissioners designated Vickie McAlister as the county’s emergency management coordinator. She is an employee of NETHealth and will receive no salary from the county.

Current Deputy Fire Marshal Danny Wilson will continue in an environmental crimes capacity serving as the county’s onsite sewer inspector and code enforcement officer for precincts 1 and 4.

A Van Zandt County Sheriff’s deputy has been charged with manslaughter in the death of a woman injured in a wreck in Canton this past February.

According to VZC jail records, Emily Ann Grubbs, 28, was booked into the jail June 24. He bond was set at $5,000.

Mary Lena' Pettiet, 33, died May 5 from injuries she sustained in the crash that occurred about 4:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at the intersection of Hwy. 64 and Hwy. 243 in Canton.

According to accident reports, while enroute to an emergency call Grubbs’ SUV "T-boned" Pettiet’s white 2012 Nissan sedan.

Grubbs’ Chevy Tahoe had its emergency lights and sirens activated at the time of the crash. Reports also indicated that Grubbs had driven around stopped cars and was proceeding through the intersection when she hit the car driven by Pettiet.