News

The Astronomical Society of East Texas will present a stargazing event at the Mineola Nature Preserve on Friday, May 6. This is a free program and everyone is invited to attend, organizers said.

The event will begin at 10 a.m. and will end at approximately 11 p.m. at the amphitheater next to the pavilion.

 The program is a group exercise in identifying objects in the night sky that can be seen with binoculars or the naked eye also known as naked eye astronomy.

This is a weather permitting program.  In the event of inclement weather or cloud cover, the program will be cancelled. A cancelled notice will be posted in the “Calendar” page of the Society’s website: www.asetexas.org/calendar on the date, a sign will be posted at the Preserve entrance and an announcement will be aired by radio station KMOO 99.9 Mineola by about 5 p.m. 

Doug and Laurie Ann Dutton recently purchased Canton Marketplace, Canton Marketplace Self Storage and Canton Marketplace RV Park.  

The Dutton’s said they are excited about these properties and have already started making updates.

New steps have been built in the front of the building for easy customer access and the internet service has been upgraded for maximum efficiency, Doug Dutton said.

“The electric and air conditioning equipment have been upgraded as well to ensure that vendors and customers can shop in comfort.  Both trolleys have been repaired and are in good working order.  Canton Marketplace will continue to offer trolley transportation free of charge to Canton visitors,” Mr. Dutton said.

Planning has begun for the second annual Free State Jubilee set from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 18 at the Arbors building at the First Monday Trade Days grounds.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service County Agent Melisa Rhodes and her Family and Consumer Science Committee met and discussed the upcoming plans for the event. The FCS Committee decided to continue offering the event as a free, fun day to offer families educational information, activities and contests.

New for this year, the FCS Committee has decided to seek out local talent to perform throughout the day to showcase local performers. 

Canton ISD trustees added a 28^th step to the teacher pay scale for 2016-17 – that means teachers with 28-plus years of experience who work 187 days will have a base salary of $55,500.

Next school year’s beginning teachers will make $35,000 in CISD.

The Texas Education Agency salary schedule calls for beginning teachers to earn $27,540 and those with 28 or more years of experience, $44,620.

The average teacher salary in CISD is $44,871 with the average years of experience of 9.5.

Trustees also accepted Superintendent Jay Tullos’ recommendation to up hourly rates across the board for manual trade positions. The average pay increase for these positions – which range from bus driver to food service to maintenance – will be $664.

The salary for paraprofessionals will go up 2 percent. That is an average hourly increase of $0.51.

Hospitals have huge generators with automatic transfer switches that start their generators and switch the entire hospital to generator power in case of an electrical power failure.

You can have an electrician install a transfer switch for your home generator. But I’m going to assume that you don’t do that; you’re just going to run a portable generator without connecting it to your home’s electrical breaker box.

When discussing portable generators, I suggested getting a small one because it uses less fuel. Storing fuel for a generator is a fire hazard, so the less fuel you need to store the better.

But a small generator, in the 900-watt to 2,500-watt range, cannot produce enough electricity to power your home. You cannot run the electric heat, air conditioning, or water heater, each of which requires thousands of watts. You might not be able to run your big microwave oven or even one burner on your electric stove.

Local AT&T, Sprint and Verizon phone and internet users were knocked for a loop throughout much of the day April 23, losing services after a cut fiber optic hampered services around the Van Zandt County area.

The issue began shortly before 3 p.m. locally after a contractor laying a different fiber optic cable line in the Elmo area severed the primary local phone and internet line that branches off to provide service to many local residences, as well as the county’s 911 system.

According to information from Wills Point Police Chief Rob Powell, a contractor severed the fiber optic line that feeds AT&T, Sprint and Verizon service

Canton Police Chief Brad Allison said Canton’s 911 service was done for a bit but calls were re-routed to the department’s administrative lines.

Event planned for May 7 at CHS Commons

The Canton Education Foundation will present the Celebration of Stars Gala Saturday, May 7, at Canton High School Commons. 

Doors open at 5 p.m. with dinner at 5:30 p.m.

Table sponsors include: Gold sponsorship­ -- $750, includes preferential parking, front row seating, six tickets, event recognition and media/press release; Silver sponsorship -- $500, includes preferential parking, second row seating, four tickets, event recognition and media/press release; and Bronze sponsorship -- $350, includes four tickets, event recognition and media/press release.

The next quarterly luncheon of the Canton Chamber of Commerce will be at noon May 3 at The Bunker at the Van Zandt Country Club.

Chamber Board Members Brad Blakemore and Stephanie Smith will present the program on Leadership Van Zandt County.

Leadership Van Zandt County is a 10-month leadership development class is designed to educate, equip and foster future leaders in Van Zandt County. It is open to all citizens of the county. 

Reservations can be made by calling Chamber Office Administrator Laura Mendoza at 903-567-2991 or emailing her at cantontxchamberofcommerce@yahoo.com.

Trinity Valley Community College Continuing and Workforce Education department announces a summer CNA course to be held in Canton. The course will be held at Crossroads Church, 1930 S. Trade Days Blvd., beginning with orientation on May 10. Those who pass the course are eligible to participate in the State of Texas Certification exam.

Tuition is $713, plus additional expenses including a watch, shoes, gait belt, stethoscope, certified background and scrubs.

 TVCC and the East Texas Workforce Board collaborate to assist those who qualify to receive services that improve their literacy skills. Residents of Henderson, Anderson and Van Zandt counties who have minor children at home and receive some sort of assistance (Medicaid, SNAP, CHIP, Free/Reduced Lunches) may qualify for advising and help with supplies, books, tuition and other services.