News

March 24 Canton’s Castillian Masonic Lodge #141 held a dedication ceremony to lay a cornerstone in the NE Corner of the new City Hall building in downtown Canton.

The ceremony included Masons from Canton and the surrounding areas, representatives from the Grand Lodge of Texas and City of Canton officials.
For hundreds of years it has been customary to have Freemasons perform a dedication ritual to "bless" the cornerstone of a public building.  A Masonic cornerstone ritual is one of the few Masonic rituals, other than a Masonic funeral, that the public will ever see conducted.

Nancy Baker-Dansby is directing the production of “Charlotte’s Web,” written by Joseph Robinette. 

It opens at the theatre, 244 N. 4^th Street, Wills Point, at 7:30 p.m. April 1 with regular seating performances.  Other regular seating performances are at 7:30 on April 2 and 2 p.m. on April 3 and 10.  Dinner theatre performances are at 6:30 p.m. April 8 and 9.  Limited regular seating may be available at the dinner theatre performances. 

A reception will be held following opening night performance. In keeping with the County Fair atmosphere, a bake sale will be held.  The stair lift is inoperable.

Admission for regular seating is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students and $5 for children age 12 and under.  Dinner theatre admission is $17 per person with a $10 charge for Children age 10 and under when accompanied by an adult. 

The Edom Civic Theatre will present “Always a Bridesmaid,” directed by Glenda Penn, at 7 p.m. April 8 and 9.

“In this hilarious comedic romp, four friends have sworn to keep the promise they made on the night of their senior prom 30 years ago: to be in each other's weddings … no matter what,” organizers said.

Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for senior citizens and children.

Reservations may be made with Lee Shults at 903-352-3158 or leeshults@aol.com.

Van Zandt County cities endured tough sledding in terms of sales tax revenue collections for the month of March, with Edgewood, Grand Saline, Van and Wills Point all posting negative dollar changes when comparing to the previous year-to-date month gains according to the office of Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar.

Just two county cities bucked the downward trend for the month of March, as both Canton and Edom showed modest gains.

Canton collected a payment of $235,471.18 this month, up $8,071.42 or 3.55 percent from the March 2015 payment of $227,399.76 it received. March marked the second consecutive month that the city of Canton led all others in VZC in terms of both positive dollar change, and largest positive percentage change.

Edom also saw its sales tax revenue collections trend in a positive direction, collecting a March 2016 payment of $808.75. That total was $3.64 higher than the $805.11 collected by the city back in March 2015.

Community invited to visit updated center, museum

Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial officials have been working on the county’s memorial ground for 10 years. 

Vet Cary Hilliard told the Canton City Council last week that the group is close to completeing its plan for the park located at the corner of Hwys. 19 and 243.

Van Zandt County will see a plethora of festivals and local community activities fill up its Spring season calendar.

From Ben Wheeler’s Far Out Festival to the Sabine Shootout, there is an event to suit everyone.

Kicking off the Spring festival season is Van’s Spring Fling and Egg Hunt.

The Van Spring Fling and Hilliard Easter Egg Hunt will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 26 at the Van Area Historical and Oil Museum.

There will be food, vendors, entertainment, a slide, face painting, homemade ice cream, shaved ice, tours of the Museum and more available.

There will also be a raffle for a quilt. The Hilliard Egg Hunt will be available for children from birth to 8 years old. Age groups are 3 and under, 4 to 5 years old and 6 to 8 years old.

The Van Area Historical and Oil Museum is located on Highway 16 and VZCR 1501.

For more information, contact the Van Chamber of Commerce at 903-963-5051.

The Roundflat Pentecostal Church of Fruitvale will sponsor a Cross-Roads 1K and 5K Family Fun Walkathon for Missions from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. April 23.

The walk will be held at 800 First Monday Ln. at the east gate entrance off Hwy. 19 in Canton.

A celebration will follow with music and food and drinks available for purchase. 

Registration is $30 and is due April 2. 

For more information or to register, go to https://runsignup.com/race/events/tx/canton/crossroadswalkathon.

The Edgewood ISD school board has accepted the resignation of high school Health Sciences teacher Emily Todoroff.

According to school board officials, the district did not ask Todoroff to resign but has an active, ongoing investigation into allegations of misconduct.

Edgewood ISD Superintendent Andy Baker stated, "Our investigation into possible misconduct is still ongoing and will not be affected by Mrs. Todoroff's employment resignation.  Should our investigation ultimately discover evidence of inappropriate behavior and/or professional misconduct that warrants greater discipline than Edgewood ISD authority, then I will work with the appropriate authorities and agencies to ensure that our students remain safe."

Todoroff began teaching at Edgewood ISD in August 2015 after serving in the military and attending Trinity Valley Community College.

Just before last week’s spring break, Canton Intermediate students Maddie Wilson, Canaan Eiland, Nora Deleon and an unidentified student explored the Canton ISD Museum as part of a scavenger hunt project. The museum, located in the old high school building at 1045 S. Buffalo St., is open on school days during business hours. For more information or to donate school memorabilia, call CISD Administration at 903-567-4179.

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

Approves alcohol, drug testing 

In what was rather a quick and thorough meeting, commissioners flew through the March 8 commissioner court agenda approving a variety of topics.

County Court Coordinator Sandy Hill took the podium first and asked commissioners to consider a service agreement for drug and alcohol testing compliance services.

Hill said that drug and alcohol testing is mandatory before an employee is hired t and that “random testing is required by the Department of Transportation.”

Hill said that a background checks on each CDL driver that the county employs, along with results of the drug and alcohol test, would have to be kept in a locked file cabinet.

Hill said that the company that the county previously used was no longer offering the drug and alcohol testing services.