News

Reservations are being accepted for the Talent Box Theatre production of Rogers and Hammerstein's musical "Annie Get Your Gun."

“Annie” will open at 7:30 p.m. July 8. 

Other regular seating performances are 7:30 p.m. July 9 and 10 and 2 p.m. July 17.

Dinner theatre performances are 6:30 p.m. July 15 and 16. 

Limited seating may be available during the dinner theatre performances. 

A reception will be held after the opening night performance

Admission for this production is $15 for adults. Seniors and students are $13 and children 12 and under $10.

Dinner theatre admission is $22 per person with $15 for children ages 10 and under. 

Reservations are required and may be made by calling the theater at 903-873-8945.  Leave your name, telephone number, date of performance you wish to attend and the number in your party.  Your call will be returned. 

Whitton Fire Department will host its annual hamburger supper and fireworks show at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 2.

The menu includes hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, Bobby's Beans, cold drinks and desserts. The Firehouse Band will provide entertainment with live music. The fireworks show begins at dark. Donations are appreciated and will go towards the fire department's operating costs, organizers said. 

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June 16 the Canton Texas Chamber of Commerce held an After Hours Mixers at American National Bank.

This mixer was cohosted by American National Bank and Ann Moore, Aflac.

According to chamber officials, the mixer was well attended and the Chamber Ambassador Red Coats “made the evening fun with their door prize shenanigans. New contacts were made, new members were in attendance and everyone enjoyed an hour of fun, food and networking.”

The next After Hours Mixer will be held July 21 at the Children’s Advocacy Center.

Little Miss Texas, Canton resident Teresa Mendoza, gets some recycling instruction from Anna Baker at the master gardeners exhibit at the Free State Jubilee June 18. Results and additional photos from the jubilee will be included in an upcoming issue.

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During the Van Zandt County Commissioners Court June 14, commissioners approved a bond for Constable Pct. 2 Jesse Ison. Ison is filling the unexpired term of the late C. B. Wiley.

Constable Wiley was up for election in November. He had won the republican party primary against challenger Jesse Ison.

After a lengthy executive session May 24, the commissioners voted 3-1 to appoint Ison to fill Wiley’s unexpired term.

During the June 14 commissioners court, citizens Ronnie Jones and Anthony Katsoulas questioned the commissioner decision to appoint Ison.

Ronnie Jones took the podium first, stating that he had “a problem with the commissioners not answering taxpayer’s questions,” in response to questions concerning Ison’s appointment.

It was a day of approving and accepting a number of agenda items during the July 14 Van Zandt County Commissioners Court.

Kicking off the meeting was Precinct 3 resident David Jones. Jones asked the commissioners if there was ever going to be any “vision or forethought” concerning the state of the county’s roads.

Jones said he lived off VZCR 3502 and moved to the county a year ago, but said that he wished he would have “checked things out before buying property.”

“I have ruined my pickup truck in just one year. I had planned to live here for a while but have become disappointed with the state of the roads. I have advertised my property to sell, and the conditions of the roads have turned off a couple of prospective buyers,” Jones said.

The VZC voters recently approve a special road tax that will be specifically used for the maintenance and repair of roads throughout the county.

Entries sought for patriotic Independence Day parade

The Canton Chamber of Commerce will celebrate America’s birthday by marching down main street the morning of July 4 and everyone is invited to wear their red, white and blue and be part of the patriotic parade, chamber officials said.

This year’s parade will be at 10:30 a.m. with participant line-up beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Canton Junior High School, 1115 S. Buffalo St.

Cost to enter a float is $25 with funds going to the chamber.

Entries are not allowed to throw candy or other items from the floats and animal entries are asked to have someone clean up after them

Prizes will be awarded for the three top floats, best youth entry, best auto entry and best animal entry.

Persons residing throughout the 14 counties of East Texas are invited to participate in a short-term project to improve 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 Regionally Coordinated Transportation Plan completed in 2011.

Among the more important recommendations arising from the 2011 project were increased marketing/public education regarding public transit programs/services, one-stop regional call center, funding to expand public transit service hours, online regional trip planner, and regional transit vehicle maintenance.

The current project is funded via a Texas Department of Transportation grant obtained through the East Texas Connects committee and East Texas Council of Governments.

The VZC Fire Marshal’s Office will be entering a new era as early as today, with longtime fire marshal Chuck Allen announcing his decision to step away from the position to pursue a new job and the VZC Commissioners Court calling a special meeting for June 23 to discuss an agenda item listed as “consider to ratify the decisions made in June 20, 2016 meeting to hire Fire Marshal, EMC and OSSF-DR.”

On June 15, Allen posted a message to the community on his VZC Fire Marshal Facebook page announcing the move effective June 17.

The message read, in part, “Over the past 25 years, I have dedicated my life to public safety to the citizens of VZC. Ten years ago, I was afforded the opportunity to become the County Fire Marshal/Emergency Management Coordinator. I did not take the task lightly and began an aggressive approach to making things better in this great county in which we live in.