News

Children who attend the Annual Daingerfield Days Fall Festival with their parents on Oct. 8 will once again have a place to call their own. And parents will have a place where they will know their children are safe, and having good, clean fun.

This year’s event will feature a Kid’s Area, hosted by The Next Level Pentecostal Church. Parents will be able to bring their children to the area, and the children will be able to come and go all day long for one price. Tickets to the area will be $10, and will allow the child unlimited access to the events, fun, and games in the area all day long.

Children will be able to enjoy bounce houses and playing carnival games. There will also be face painting, balloons, and a balloon artist. Children will have the opportunity to win prizes, as well, during the day.

Again, parents will be able to pay a one-time admission fee of $10, which will allow their child to play all day. All proceeds will go to The Next Level.

Everyone knows that peer influence, or peer pressure, is extremely strong in high school. One student group at Daingerfield High School is working to use their influence for good, telling their peers the dangers of underage drinking and substance abuse.

Last fall, when the Northeast Texas Coalition against Substance Abuse began meeting in Daingerfield, Coalition coordinators and members felt it was important to get students involved in the coalition. Now, a year later, not only are those students still involved in the Student Taskforce, but they have added new members to their numbers, as well.

Nestled in the Piney Woods of Northeast Texas, visitors find a gem in Daingerfield State Park. The park offers a variety of camping and lake entertainment to entice visitors from all over the country. Now, thanks to the statewide magazine “Texas Highways,” Daingerfield State Park is known as a “wet and wild waterin’ hole” across the state.

The magazine, which is the official travel magazine of Texas, highlighted popular places to “Dive In” in their August, 2016 edition. Not only was Daingerfield State Park featured in the article, the park’s swimming area, including the swimming pier, were featured on the cover of that edition. The photo invited everyone to “Cool your jets” at Daingerfield State Park.

A marijuana grow has been taken down in Morris County, thanks to the keen eye of some local hunters. The plants were found off of County Road 2307, on the Morris and Cass County borders.

Hunters who had gone to prepare their hunting properties for the upcoming season discovered the 4,406 marijuana plants on their property. The hunters contacted Texas Department of Public Safety, who also contacted The Drug Enforcement Agency, Texas Game Wardens, and Morris County Sheriff ’s Department.

According to Morris County Sheriff Jack Martin, there was a campsite located in the area of the plants. “There was a campsite there with the plants. They were camping on the property where the plants were being grown, but they were gone by the time we arrived.”

The plants that were confiscated during the bust have an estimated value of $2 million.

The Northeast Texas Community College Board of Trustees held a public budget hearing and its regular meeting Aug. 30. The Board approved the 2016-2017 budget and set the tax rate for the coming year.

NTCC presented a balanced budget of $18,065,476 for the 2016- 2017 fiscal year. This compares to the $17,929,488 revised budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. NTCC President Dr. Brad Johnson said that the budget was slightly better than originally projected due to increased enrollment revenue this fall.

“We had originally planned for a five percent decrease in enrollment this fall. We are currently looking at flat enrollment, which adds some funds back into the budget,” Johnson said. “Should we see a further increase in the next months we will adjust the budget with employee raises being a top priority.”

The Northeast Texas Community College Board of Trustees lost a longtime member this week as John Bryan resigned from his position. Bryan, of Naples, served on the NTCC Board since 1996.

In his resignation letter, which was effective Aug. 31, Bryan indicated that he is very pleased with the progress that has been made at the college during the time he has served on the Board.

“It has been my honor and privilege to represent the citizens of Morris County, as well as the entire NTCC college district, on this Board of Trustees for the past 20 years,” Bryan said. “During that time NTCC has grown and matured into an efficient and effective educational institution. I am especially proud of both the NTCC Honors program and the agriculture program.”

The scholars of Honors Northeast completed filming their fifth featurelength movie last week in Nacogdoches. The subject of this year’s film was the end of the Texas Cherokee and the transformation of Sam Houston. The project was researched, written, directed, acted and produced by students in the Northeast Texas Community College honors program with the support of faculty, staff and community members.

Both the Texas Cherokee and Sam Houston came to prominence while living in the Nacogdoches area. Hudson Old, publisher of the East Texas Journal, suggested the film topic. The group’s dramatized history focuses on leading Cherokees of Texas, their eradication under the Mirabeau Lamar Administration in 1839, and a fundamental change in the outlook of Sam Houston, who as a former son of the Cherokee could not halt the "ethnic cleansing” that ensued.

Reading can have a profound impact on a child’s life in and out of the classroom. Reading can help a young student develop a more extensive vocabulary, and a study from the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics found that reading to young children promotes language acquisition, making it easier for them to learn a foreign language. That’s a significant advantage for children growing up in a world that’s increasingly global. National Read a Book Day, which was celebrated on Sept. 6, is the perfect time to begin fostering a love of books in children.

Reading has benefits outside the classroom as well. Reading can provide an escape from the daily grind, which is something even today’s youngsters can appreciate. Reading also is a great way for kids to relax and unwind while simultaneously giving their brains a workout.

The Morris County Commissioners Court met on Aug. 31 for Public Hearings on the 2016-2017 Proposed Budget for Morris County and on the Proposed 2016 Tax Rate.

While the Court gave the public an opportunity to arrive, they discussed some changes to the proposed budget. One such change was to add a line item to account for an Imaging Clerk for District Clerk Gwen Oney to be able to scan and preserve records in an effort to free space. The Court also discussed the county’s use of the Odyssey System, which should integrate all offices for records usage, transfer, and searching. It was discussed that the program, which has been in use for at least three years, still is not working properly, as some offices cannot communicate and send items electronically.

By: J. Leslie Riseden

Special Contributor to

The Steel Country Bee

“Don’t run with scissors. Look both ways before you cross the street. Say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ Always wear clean underwear in case…” This is the customary counsel children get from their parents, and pass down to their own children. Safety, courtesy and hygiene are the domain of mothers and fathers. Advice from grandparents is something else altogether.

Grandparents Day is Sunday, September 11 ... which seems like an appropriate time for some local grandparents to impart advice to their children’s children.