News

Photos by Larry Golden

From September 18 to October 31, 2021, Dallas’ most anticipated fall festival, Autumn at the Arboretum, returns with the nationally acclaimed Pumpkin Village. With the theme “Bugtopia,” the festival features four beautifully decorated pumpkin houses surrounded by mosaics and designs.

Forney ISD held a dedication ceremony for the new Griffin Elementary School located in the Devonshire subdivision on Tuesday, Sept. 28. The Forney ISD Board of Trustees, district administrators, District 4 House Representative Keith Bell and campus staff and teachers officially opened the school at the event. Jerry and Helen Griffin, the namesakes of the school were in attendance at the ceremony with several members of their family.

As deer season approaches, Kaufman County hunters need to be aware of a new requirement. Because of the neurological disease in deer found in this region of Texas called Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), hunters who harvest mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, red deer, or other CWD susceptible species within the Trans-Pecos, Panhandle, and South-Central Texas CWD Containment and Surveillance Zones are REQUIRED to bring their animals to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) check station within 48 hours of harvest. There will be two check stations for Hunt/Kaufman/Rockwall/Van Zandt Counties. Dates, times, and locations are listed below.

In celebration of the International Day of Peace on September 21st, the FHS Art Department created a collaborative one-day art installation called “Pinwheels of Peace.” Students created a pinwheel and shared their thoughts about peace, while exploring line, one of the Elements of Art.

Supposedly, “PLAY-DOH” was not created as a “plaything for children” but as a cleaning agent (flour, water, and salt—nonstaining, non-toxic, and reusable) for homeowners and domestics in the 1930s. But, by the 1950s, it had been discovered to be a marketable substance for children (and adults who were still child-like) to use for arts and crafts and for irritating parents as it was ground into rugs and carpets.

My family visited the Dallas Zoo upon many occasions—usually at least yearly—when I was a youngster, and we often went as a group of “church families” from our congregation on Day Street off Jim Miller Road. Our moms cooked up bags of unsalted, un-buttered popcorn to feed to the animals (allowed back then), and we took other snacks along to eat as a group at the picnic tables. “Truth be known,” we kids (and some of the sneaky adults) often ate quite a bit of the “animal popcorn” as we traversed the zoo grounds.

With fall hunting seasons quickly approaching, I thought it would be fun to visit this week about scouting and learning land that you are not familiar with.

October is National Retirement Security Month. But what does retirement security mean to you? And how can you work toward achieving it?

It has been almost two years since my dad died and left my “special” brother Shawn in the care of my brothers Ron, Jeff and myself. It came as a shock that dad left guardianship with Ron since he is an Electrical Contractor that does a lot of work in the Caribbean in places like St Kits, Martinique, Antigua, St Martin as well as in other states. He just finished a job in North Carolina.

Two o’clock is my favorite appointment time. It’s after lunch, but before The Waltons comes on. Fridays are best. I like the slower pace of Saturdays, too, but sometimes you have to wait for what seems like hours just to get someone to come to the door. There are questions, so many questions. I know the drill now. The required form is on the tablet. Take your own temperature. Adjust your mask. I’m always so nervous. The tears are right under the surface, simmering and prickling against my eyelashes. I’m inviting you to come with me this time. We’re here, in the lobby of the longterm care facility, to see my mom. I think I’m ready to say these words out loud. She has Alzheimer’s.

Dear Aunt B,

THE SOURCE OF LIFE