News

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
    Nestled in the heart of Edna, overlooking the surrounding homes, stands a church. Most structures in Edna are far newer than the century-old building, which now looks much like it did when it was constructed in 1903.
    The Sanctuary, also known as the Allen Memorial Presbyterian Church, sat untouched and overgrown with vines for years until Harrison Stafford and Joe Hermes decided to spruce it up and open it for events. 

July 12, 2016 at 1:00 PM at the LNRA Meeting Room – 4631 FM 3131, Edna, TX  77957

The Lavaca-Navidad River Authority (LNRA) will hold the annual Lavaca Basin Clean Rivers Program (CRP) meeting at 1:00 pm on Tuesday, July 12, 2016, at the meeting room of the LNRA headquarters, 4631 FM 3131, Edna, Texas, 77957. Lavaca Basin includes the communities of Edna, Ezell, Ganado, Hallettsville, Louise, Moulton, Schulenburg, Shiner, Sweet Home, Yoakum, and rural areas in between.  The public is cordially invited to attend.   Light refreshments will be provided.

The agenda for this year’s meeting includes:

Randi Belz, Project Manager at TECQ Clean Rivers Program, will speak about funding opportunities for non-point source programs.

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
    “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the Earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them...,” read Cisco Marek, one of the many who lined up at the Jackson County Courthouse to read the Declaration of Independence last Friday.
    It was the first time ever that all 254 Texas counties participated in the event, which is sponsored by the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association. Victoria attorney Patti Hutson and Edna attorney Brenna Crain helped coordinate the event.
    Representative Phil Stephenson was in attendance, as well as a representative from Senator John Cornyn’s office and a representative from Blake Farenthold’s office. 

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
    “We just knew we were going to get to the finish line right about dark, maybe before,” said Martha Adame, recalling her time with her friend and workout partner Jeannie Hale in the Texas Water Safari. Together, Adame, a family nurse practitioner at the Jackson County Medical Clinic and her friend and workout partner, Hale, made up Team Determination. Her prediction would not come true. Dark would come and go, as would half of another day before the team was rescued.
    The two competed in the Texas Water Safari, widely known as the world’s toughest canoe race, that began June 18 in San Marcos. The competitors have just four days and four hours to battle heat, whitewater rapids, multiple portages and mosquitoes and arrive in Seadrift.

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
    On Friday, July 1, a crowd will gather in front of county courthouses across the state of Texas to hear a reading of the United States Declaration of Independence. Jackson County will be no exception.
    Many Texas counties have done this exact thing, near the July 4th holiday, for years. 2016, however, will be the first year that all 254 counties in the state will participate. 
    The event is sponsored and arranged by the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association, and Attorney Brenna Crane has taken the helm in Jackson County.    
    “The point is to read it as close to the July 4 holiday to kind of remember where we came from in terms of the constitution,” she said.
    At 10 a.m. on Friday, July 1, the public is encouraged to join Jackson County defense attorneys in the first statewide reading of the Declaration of Independence. 

By Chris Lundstrom
Publisher/Editor
    A fire at a former night club in Edna is being investigated by the Edna Police Department and the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
    The Jackson County ESD3 Fire Department was called out at 2:08 a.m. on June 18 for a fire in a building on the corner of Harlem and Fourth Street in Edna. The building formerly housed the “Sassy Dancer” night club.
    According to Captain Nick Strauss, when the fire units arrived they found a small fire traveling up the wall near the front of the building and a second fire near the back of the building. 
    Strauss said the fires were extinguished and the building was ventilated.
    Edna Police Chief Clinton Wooldridge said the building was vacant at the time of the fire, and there were no reported injuries.

Another fiber optic of NewWave was hit this morning. They do not know when internet and cable will be restored. Hopefully it already has. The City of Edna wanted us to make sure and get that out to you guys, but we were having trouble with the message loading.

By Jessica Coleman    
Staff Writer
    A group of Jackson County kids got a taste of what it is like to be a first responder during Edna’s second annual Fire Camp, hosted by Emergency Services District 3 from June 13 through June 17.
    The all-day camp included lessons on everything from putting out a fire, to how to escape your home in a fire, to a CPR course that ended with every camper receiving their CPR certification. They even visited the Jackson County Jail and heard from inmates and law enforcement personnel about the dangers and consequences  of drug abuse and crime.
    Paden Bradley, a first-year camper, said he learned CPR at camp and thinks it is a useful skill to have that could come in handy for him.
    “My favorite part of Fire Camp was learning to do CPR,” he said, “Learning how many compressions to do, and how many breaths to do, and all that.”

    Edna’s annual Juneteenth Celebration began on June 11 with a pageant, and six new royals were crowned. Haleigh Robinson, Kathryn Miller, Kyera Robinson, Ivan Joe Neito, Dakarri Johnson and J’Marquis Carter were named as Juneteenth royalty after they wowed the judges with their talents and answers to questions about Juneteenth.     Contestants were asked questions like “which president gave the address that freed the slaves,” and “what was the name of the speech that freed the slaves.” 

    Edna’s annual Juneteenth Celebration began on June 11 with a pageant, and six new royals were crowned. Haleigh Robinson, Kathryn Miller, Kyera Robinson, Ivan Joe Neito, Dakarri Johnson and J’Marquis Carter were named as Juneteenth royalty after they wowed the judges with their talents and answers to questions about Juneteenth.     Contestants were asked questions like “which president gave the address that freed the slaves,” and “what was the name of the speech that freed the slaves.”