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The Farmersville Times • Farmersville, Texas, Thursday, March 9, 2017
Serving Farmersville and East Collin County Since 1885
• 2 Sections, 12 Pages
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All residents evicted from Oak Grove Apartments By Wyndi Veigel News Editor
news@farmersvilletimes.com The city of Farmersville is without a set of apartments after Oak Grove Apartment shut their doors over the past two weeks. According to information present to the city council at its Feb. 28 meeting, residents were evicted after the company who
owned the apartments defaulted on loans and went into foreclosure. The apartments are located on Gaddy Street. Calka Management, Inc. was the management company of the apartments and according to Collin County Appraisal District are owned by Oak Grove Apartments of Farmersville Ltd. The complex is valued at $209,989, according to CCAD.
Part of the reason, White said, for them evicting all residents was that there was no hot water for any of the units due to a large water leak underneath the parking lot. “They have not had hot water since November,” White said, information that was not known until recently. The leak was found in August, he went on to say, but was
on the apartment’s end. The company managed to stay current on its water bill until midDecember with the city being owed $12,447.97. White stated that the city will be placing a lien against the property in order to get the amount owed to the city when the property goes up for sale at the foreclosure auction. “I believe these will sell and
we will get the money we are owed,” White said. Shady Oaks Apartments, also located in Farmersville on Hwy. 78, are owned by the same company and are under foreclosure. Princeton Arms, located in Princeton, is also owned by the same company. However, White said, residents are not expected to be evicted from the property since
By Joe Reavis
By Wyndi Veigel
Staff Writer
news@farmersvilletimes.com
See BANQUET page 5A
Inside
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . .3B Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . .. .3A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . ....4A Real Estate . . .. . . . . . . . . 3B Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1B
See HOUSING page 2A
Programs offer loan, grant chances
Banquet tickets now available Anyone planning to attend the 2017 Farmersville Chamber of Commerce annual awards banquet set for Friday, March 17, is urged to get tickets now because the event has sold out the past three years. The banquet, at which civic awards are presented, starts at 7 p.m. and will be at Bear Creek Ranch in Nevada. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door, if there are any tickets remaining. Title sponsor is Farmersville Community Development Corporation. Other top sponsors are Lexington Medical Lodge and Independent Bank. Receiving the President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement last year was Frances Dyer Hickman, and Jeanine Langley was presented the Citizen of the Year Award. Other presentations to be made at the banquet are for Teacher of the Year, Firefighter of the Year and Police Officer of the Year. The Farmersville chamber started the year with 177 members and is continually working to increase that number. Serving as Chamber President is Paula Jackson, with Joe Helmberger
it is habitable. There are 32 units in Shady Oaks Apartments and it has been in operation since 1989. Oak Grove Apartments, which has been in operation since 1999, has 24 units. All apartment complexes are low income, Section 8 housing.
News Editor
news@farmersvilletimes.com
Wyndi Veigel/The Farmersville Times
WFAA’s broadcast meteorologist Coleen Coyle shows a tornado model to the Farmersville Intermediate School’s Master Meteorologist club. For additional photos see page 6A.
Spinning toward the future
Meteorologist club learns from broadcast star By Wyndi Veigel News Editor
news@farmersvilletimes.com Weather or not they wanted to admit it, students from the Farmersville Intermediate School junior meteorologists had a terrific time Wednesday, March 1.
Members of the Intermediate School’s Master Meteorologists club got to meet WFAA broadcast weather guru Colleen Coyle. On a typical day, the intermediate school’s head weather team meets at 7:30 a.m. to check on the weather stations at their campus, which measure temperature, wind speed and rain. The club has about 65 active members, Intermediate School Science Lab and meteorology club sponsor Marcy
Whited said. The members range from those who are looking toward a future in being a storm chaser to some who are simply in the club for socialization or a general interest in science, Whited said. After measuring the weather instruments, the “Leader Reader” works with their team to present the weather on a bulletin board called “The Weather Teller.” The “Leader Reader” then gets to announce to the whole
school over the PA system what the weather is in Farmersville for the day. For potential meteorologists, it doesn’t get much better than meeting a real live weather star so Coyle was greeted with much enthusiasm at her presentation. Alternating between teaching the students about the difference between a watch and a warning and having fun with a twister display, the See CLUB page 6A
Those having problems qualifying for home loans in the Collin County area need to look no further courtesy of USDA Rural Development. The organization, which was previously called the Farmers Home Administration, has a long history of helping those inside rural areas. According to Community Program Specialist Angela Woods, a family of four who has an adjusted income of $57,350 may be eligible for their rural home loan program. The program, which is also know as Section 502 Direct Loan Program, is available to assist low- and very-low-income applicants obtain decent, safe and sanitary housing by providing payment assistance to increase an applicant’s repayment ability. In order to apply, applicants must be without decent, safe and sanitary housing, be unable to obtain a loan from other resources, agree to occupy the property as their primary residence, have the legal capacity to incur a loan obligation, meet citizenship or eligible non-citizenship requirements and not be suspended from participating in federal programs. “One problem that we are having in Collin County is See USDA page 5A
Accidents wreak havoc
Lake Lavon Levels Normal – 492
489.99 ft as of 3/07/17
By Wyndi Veigel
Lake Jim Chapman Normal 440 – Current 436.29 ft
News Editor
news@farmersvilletimes.com
Source: US Army Corps of Engineers
Contact us at: 972-784-6397 or news@farmersvilletimes.com www.farmersvilletimes.com
Volume 131 Issue 14 © Copyright 2017. All Rights Reserved.
C&S Media Publications
Michael O’Keefe/First Response Photography
Traffic in the Princeton and McKinney area was snarled for more than six hours after a four-car, multiple fatality accident occurred on Hwy. 380 near CR 330, west of Bridgefarmer Road.
Hwy. 380 outside Princeton was shut down for more than six hours Monday, March 6 after a multiple vehicle wreck resulted in a double fatality. According to preliminary investigation information released by DPS Public Information Officer Lonny Haschel, troopers were called to the scene at around 2:16 p.m. to a crash on Hwy. 380 approximately a quarter mile east of County Road 330 between Princeton and McKinney. Preliminary information See WRECK page 5A