News

“God promised he would never flood the Earth again,” says Katie, age 7. “He put a rainbow in the sky. God told Joseph to build an ark. It was hard for Joseph, but he did it.”

Apha Tau, Kaufman County Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, fulfilled the Christmas Wish List of Still Waters. “This was part of an ongoing project of our chapter, as we have also helped the resource center with items that were needed in the past. During the last few months, our members were busy gathering listed needs and donated almost all products on the list! It was so exciting to present the items to Still Waters!—especially at Christmas!” stated Cathy Stewart, First Vice-President of Alpha Tau.

More than 160 Angelo State University student-athletes and athletic training students have been named to the Lone Star Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll for the fall 2020 semester, including Cassidy Hill of Forney.

It was a muted start to this year’s legislative session in Austin Tuesday as lawmakers returned to tackle the biggest public health crisis in living memory and the economic downturn it caused. The normal raucous hallways and packed galleries of past opening days were replaced by quiet on a day usually filled with ceremony and celebration as the pandemic kept constituents and well-wishers at home. One day before, state Comptroller Glenn Hegar laid out his projected forecast for state revenue for the next two fiscal years, telling lawmakers how much they’ll have to work with as they look to pay for state services over the upcoming biennium. “The pandemic, which resulted in steep declines in key sources of revenue in the later half of fiscal [year] 2020 and has continued to drag down collections in fiscal [year] 2021 wiped out a projective positive ending balance and has turned it into a currently projected deficit of nearly $1 billion,” said Hegar.

Madison Wiley, of Forney, TX, has been named to the Central Penn College Dean’s List for the fall 2020 term. Wiley is currently majoring in Physical Therapist Assistant. To qualify for the designation, an undergraduate student must carry six or more credits and earn a grade-point average of 3.5 or better for the term.

Do we ever say “thank you” enough? It’s easy to remember to do so when someone has just done something you directly asked them to do for you whether it is to bring something to you or opening a door. But what about people that are more anonymous in your life? The cashier at the cafeteria, the janitor that is always cleaning, the door greeter at a business-- these are people who can sometimes fade in the background of your day. But these are the exact people who make many moments in your day run smoother just by doing their respective jobs. And if you are ever in need of their services, you then remember who they are.

All the teams that advanced to the 2020—2021, 5A and 6A final two play-off games towards becoming State Champions, had top notch records—no “unexpecteds,” except for some local expectations! The final game for each competing match-up appeared “even” on paper. Here is a wrap-up of what resulted! Congratulations to all teams everywhere who competed this year at any level. You are winners in my book!

The following area students received degrees during the 2020 Fall semester at Sam Houston State University.

Braxton Riley Allen, of Heartland graduated from Midwestern State University in December 2020 with a Bachelor of Science. Midwestern State University had 459 undergraduate and graduate students who were awarded degrees. Honor graduates receiving bachelor degrees included 50 summa cum laude, 56 magna cum laude, and 46 cum laude. Honor requirements are a grade point average of 3.9-4.0 for summa cum laude, 3.7-3.89 for magna cum laude, and 3.5-3.69 for cum laude.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will begin construction of an eastbound two-lane frontage road and construct/modify ramps on United States Highway 175 (US 175) from farm-to-market 148 (FM 148) to County Road 4106 (CR 4106) in Kaufman County.

The Forney Historic Preservation League held its regularly scheduled January Board of Directors meeting, despite inconveniences caused by the continuing pandemic.

If you’re close to retirement, you’ll have several financial issues to consider. But you’ll want to pay attention to one of the most important of these issues: health care costs. How can you prepare yourself for these expenses?

I can barely remember being a very young boy in the early 1950s and “going to town” with, most of the time, Mom, and some of the time, Dad. There were so many stores and windows though which to view merchants’ products. There were a post office, two banks, a café, a dry goods store, a shoe repair store, a television/radio repair store, two or three grocery stores, a furniture store, a “ringer” washateria—You Get the Idea! There were trees in front of many buildings, and the main streets seemed really wide. I had to hold the hand of at least one of my parents when we crossed the street, but we did not always use the corner areas! My favorite place to visit was the barber shop at the corner by the railroad. Man, it was loud when the trains came through, and there were great magazines to “thumb through,” while sitting in the two long, “wooden-slatted barber pews,”…… but, every once-in-awhile, Dad would take one out of my hand if the photo of the lady in the Field and Stream or Sports Afield showed too much of her legs! And when I got my burr haircuts, Mr. Daniel and/or Mr. Carpenter would put Roy Rogers hair oil out of a really big shaker bottle onto my scalp and Dale Evans powder out of a can and dust it all along my neck using a wooden-handled soft-bristled brush! And, if Dad and I were the final customers, one of the men might even pump the handle up and down and give me a “ride to the top” in the chair! Those were the good ol’ days, when Dad paid for both hair cuts and usually got change back from the two dollars he pulled from his well-worn black billfold, and a soda cost a nickel, if you finished and left the bottle!