News

By J. Leslie Riseden

Special contributor to

The Steel Country Bee

 Fresh paint, floor tiles and water fountains. Avinger School is buzzing with activity in order to be ready for the new school year, which starts Aug. 22.

Like other schools in the area, Hughes Springs ISD is in the process of making their final plans for back to school, and planning meet the teacher events at their different campuses.

Students new to Hughes Springs can register on Tuesday, Aug. 9, and Wednesday, Aug. 10. New student registration will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

High School students wishing to make schedule changes can do so on Thursday, Aug. 11 from 9 a.m. until noon. Schedule changes can also be made on Friday, Aug. 12, from 9 a.m. to noon, and then again from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Junior High orientation, or Colt Camp, will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 16, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. This is a time when junior high students may come and meet their teachers and prepare for the upcoming year. Mustang Ambassador training will also be on Aug. 16 at the High School, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

What do you do when your summertime program presenter cancels on you? Well, if you are Daingerfield Librarian Earline Walton, you make ice cream!

All summer, Walton had been planning on Cass County Extension Agent Michelle Burchett coming on Aug. 21 to teach the children about making ice cream in a bag. Unfortunately, Burchett had a meeting that rendered her unable to come. Instead of panicking, as many would have done, Walton went to the internet, and decided to teach the project herself.

“I figured we could still do this as an activity for the kids,” said Walton. And the kids seemed to enjoy all the cold, creamy fun. Armed with ice, ice cream salt, baggies, and premade bags of condensed milk and vanilla mixtures, Walton and the Friends of the Daingerfield Public Library gave each child in attendance, all 33 of them, the opportunity to make their own ice cream.

Drink water—not soda. Choose fruit—not candy. These are among the messages delivered by the Cass County 4-H representatives at Hughes Springs Area Library July 21. “Heroes for Health” is a national campaign spearheaded by 4-H clubs all over the country. 4-H is a global network of over 90,000 youth organizations with some 6.5 million members aged 5 to 21. The goal of 4-H is to develop leadership, responsibility and life skills. Although typically thought of as an agriculturally- oriented organization, today’s 4-H focuses on citizenship, healthy living, science, engineering and technology programs. Nationally, over a half-million volunteers play an essential role in the delivery of 4-H programs just like the one presented at Hughes Springs Area Library last Thursday.

The cities of Lone Star, Naples, and Omaha, along with Morris County, are sponsoring a “Clean Up” for area residents. The cities will not be picking up at curbside. Dumpsters will be available for City and County residents on July 23, 2016.

The dumpsters will be placed at the following locations: Lone Star: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Waste Water Treatment Facility, County Road 2315, Lone Star, TX. Naples and Omaha: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 317 Hwy 338, Naples TX. Citizens of Lone Star, Naples, Omaha, and Morris County are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to clean up and dispose of unwanted rubbish, trash, brush, old furniture, or other household items at no cost.

Appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, washers, and dryers cannot be accepted. Other items that will not be accepted include tires, batteries, paint, and oil.

An address delivered by Theresa Traylor Roquemore during the 142 Baptist Missionary and Education Convention Annual Session was recently published in The National Baptist Woman Magazine’s Spring/Summer 2016 issue. The Annual session was held at Beth-Eden Baptist Church, in Fort Worth. The title of the address was “High Cost with Worthy Benefits,” and was taken from Matthew 10:38. After hearing Roquemore’s address in October of 2015, Dr. H.D. Gatewood, president of the B.M. & E State and National Convention Women’s Auxiliary, recommended the address be submitted for publication. Roquemore is the Youth Director for the Unity Baptist Association in Linden, and the State Youth Director for the B.M. & E. Convention of Texas. Roquemore is a member of the Pine Bluff Baptist Church in Naples, where Reverend Roy Miles is pastor. She is the wife of Dea. Fred Roquemore and the sister of Mrs. Oreathe Traylor Sasser.

“Cool School with Ms. Maria…where school is number one and your children are the stars of the show!” Cool School lived up to its promise at Hughes Springs Area Library on July 14, when Ms. Maria shepherded about 40 children through language arts, reading, singing, dancing and even a little Spanish, and managed to make it all seem like a big party.
At one point, Ms. Maria introduced the kids to a vegetarian mouse named Max. Max hummed and purred when he was given a carrot, and even returned the favor with a kiss on the cheek. But, when he was fed a chicken leg, Max brought the kids to raucous laughter with very audible “indigestion.” Ms. Maria read a story to the children, and managed to get ten volunteers to come up to the front and dress like vowels for her “Vowel Village” song. She got them all on their feet to dance the “Reading Pokey”, then closed the morning with an air band.

Paul and Lisa Griffin of Mount Pleasant, and David Samples of Longview are proud to announce the engagement of their daughter, Brooke Christine Samples of Denton, to Johnathan Dale Petranek, Jr. also of Denton.

The bride elect is a 2003 graduate of Mt. Pleasant High School and a 2011 graduate of Texarkana A & M. She currently teaches at Nelson Elementary School in Denton.

The groom is the son of Johnathan and Tonie Petranek of Flower Mound. He is a 2005 graduate of Flower Mound High School and attended Oklahoma State University. Dale is currently employed at Priefert Steel in Ft. Worth.

Grandparents of the bride are Marion and Virginia Moon of Mount Pleasant and James and Glenda Samples of Hughes Springs.

Grandparents of the groom are Lavelle Petranek of The Colony, the late Edward Paul Petranek, and the late Mr. and Mrs. Holly Norris Stephens of Silver Creek, MS.

“G’day, mate.” Children who attended the Daingerfield Public Library’s summer event were met with that greeting on Tuesday, July 12, as they prepared for entertainment straight from the “Land Down Under.” Children and adults were introduced to the Didgeridoo by Mr. Bob and Mrs. Tanya. Tanya and Bob have been making and playing didgeridoos for over 20 years, and had a wide variety of the instrument on display and to be played during the show. Tanya and Bob started their show by playing two of their didgeridoos, introducing the children to the variety of sounds the instruments can make. The children heard animals, and many other distinct sounds, all from the hollowed out tree trunks. Following the introductory song, Tanya and Bob told the children about Australia, and where didgeridoos actually come from. They explained to the children that the Aboriginal people in Australia actually made didgeridoos from the hollowed out trunks or limbs of trees.

“Shots fired.” “Officer down.” On Thursday, July 14, Lone Star officers could be heard over the radio saying these words, as they worked to apprehend a shooter who had entered the Lone Star Elementary building. As what sounded like gunshots could be heard from the school building, Lone Star Police, Morris County Sheriff’s Department, and Lone Star First responders gathered outside of the vacant school
building to formulate their plan. Luckily, this was only a training exercise, to help prepare local officers for an active shooter scenario, similar to that which was faced in Dallas in the past weeks. “Although you can never be fully prepared for something of that nature to happen, we can train to be more prepared,” said Chief