News

At Senior Citizen's Day it's Bingo time! This means serious business, so don't talk unless you're talked to so everyone can hear the numbers.

By Jessica Coleman 
Staff Writer
    National Night Out is celebrated in most places on August 11. In Texas, due to the usually oppressive heat, it is moved to October. National Night Out is in its 33rd year, but this October, for the first time, Jackson County will participate, and the event is being spearheaded by the Edna Rotary Club. 
    National Night Out is an annual event that is meant to promote positive relationships between police and their communities. According to the National Night Out website, natw.org, over 38 million people in over 16,000 neighborhoods participate in National Night Out annually.
    Edna Police Chief Clinton Wooldridge said in light of recent events, Jackson County residents have really stepped up and rallied around law enforcement, dropping cookies, sandwiches, and other goodies by at the station, and stopping them on the street for well-wishes. National Night out was a way of giving back.

By Jessica Coleman 
Staff Writer
    National Night Out is celebrated in most places on August 11. In Texas, due to the usually oppressive heat, it is moved to October. National Night Out is in its 33rd year, but this October, for the first time, Jackson County will participate, and the event is being spearheaded by the Edna Rotary Club. 
    National Night Out is an annual event that is meant to promote positive relationships between police and their communities. According to the National Night Out website, natw.org, over 38 million people in over 16,000 neighborhoods participate in National Night Out annually.
    Edna Police Chief Clinton Wooldridge said in light of recent events, Jackson County residents have really stepped up and rallied around law enforcement, dropping cookies, sandwiches, and other goodies by at the station, and stopping them on the street for well-wishes. National Night out was a way of giving back.

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer    
    “Jim Green loves the kids, but he expects them to behave.”
    “Mr. [Caleb] McCain is perfect for the junior high. The kids love him. He takes care of things.”
    “Kim Schaefer is dynamite in a small package. She brings a spark to everything she does.”
    “Mrs. [Cynthia] Adams – I respected her the first time I met her.”
    To listen to Tony Williams, Industrial ISD’s superintendent, talk about the IISD staff is to understand that community, working together, and respect for one another is a huge part of the formula that makes the district successful.

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
    “Click on this, then you click yes to mark it, and  then you hit turn in, and it turns it in to the teacher and she can see if it was late or not.”    
    Eighth grader Bruce Burttschell clicks around on his screen instead of pulling crumpled papers out of his backpack. His homework was assigned, completed, and turned in digitally. The days of 20-pound knapsacks and rushing to lockers between classes are over at Ganado ISD as students and teachers are making the jump to technology-based learning and lesson storage with a program called eBackpack, which works hand in hand with the new Chromebook program. In addition to parental controls blocking inappropriate content, teachers and administrators can use software called Go Guardian, a monitoring system for Chromebook which allows teachers to oversee what students are doing online in real time.

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
    Kevin Williams sat on his sofa with his trusty rescue dog Terry by his side, recounting the multitudes of accidents and near misses he has witnessed in the seven years he has lived on Pear Street in Edna. 
    “It seems like on a daily basis you see near wrecks,” he said, “Every single day.”
    The problem, says Williams, is that the intersection where he lives, where FM 822 meets U.S. Hwy 59, and the next one over where U.S. 59 meets East St., are not four-way stops, but should be. Drivers tend to stop at their stop sign, assume cross traffic will stop too, and then collide in the intersection when it doesn’t.
    One accident in particular quite literally hit close to home.
    “I was mowing my yard and I heard a loud crash,” said Williams, “I looked up and there was a car spinning toward my telephone pole right here in my yard.” 

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
    Nestled off the beaten path, just outside of Ganado is a business that started as a small, family-owned farm and has grown to be a competitor to the likes of seed giant Monsanto, and Bart Hajovsky is in the captain’s seat. Everything about Hajovsky’s place in this business is uncommon, and that is something he is mighty proud of. 
    It isn’t common for someone to just decide to start farming with no experience to speak of,  but he did. It isn’t common for a farmer to just decide to go into the seed business, but he did. And it certainly isn’t common for a little Ganado, Texas farmer to grow into a hybrid seed businessman whose work is seen in 18 states, but he did.
    “Citizens State Bank stuck their neck out at the beginning, and we were very fortunate,” he said. “That’s how we got into agriculture. We just started and built it up and have gone and gone.”

By Chris Lundstrom
Publisher/Editor
    Memories are being cherished and preserved in a small building along the main street of Ganado. The sign reads “Two Chicks Quilting,” but it is about more than just quilts. 
    These two chicks, Julie Mercer and Missy Klimitchek, have turned their love of quilting and sewing and all things fabric into a successful business that fills a void some never new existed. Through them, the art of sewing has been discovered by men and women alike, young and old, and as a result, many have realized a talent and love for it.
    Both Mercer and Klimitchek were introduced to sewing by their mothers. Mercer’s mom, Gloria Alexander, had a business in Ganado called “The Sewing Box.”
    “It was a fabric store, mom made drapes and also sold sewing machines,” Mercer said. “My dad fixed the machines until they went out of business.”

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
    October is just around the corner, and alongside the gold-tinted leaves and the pumpkin spice comes the Jackson County Youth Fair. 
    The fair offers activities for almost everyone, including a livestock show, carnival, and more. The family department is a catch-all name for the non-livestock and non-pageant competitions – quilting, photography, cooking, and the like. This valuable but oft-overlooked part of the fair is accessible by design. Anyone can enter the competitions, which are separated into age groups.
    “We usually get art from all three schools,” said Leslie Kallus, family department co-chair, “And we have a $250 award that we give out, which is through Whitney [Wilfert, of Jackson County Veterinary Clinic].”

Pam Guenther gets sworn in as Jackson County’s next district attorney by District Judge and former DA Bobby Bell on Sept. 2 in the district courtroom of the county courthouse. Guenther’s husband, Cris Bone, was on hand to witness the event.  Refreshments and conversation followed.