409-296-BANK
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Volume 31, Issue 21
50 cents
Happy Memorial Day From The Hometown Press EC ISD Trustees Have a Full Agenda at Monthly Meeting
By Wade Thibodeaux   The East Chambers ISD Board of Trustees met in regular session on Monday, May 11, 2020 at 6:00 pm. via a Zoom meeting. The trustees had a full agenda to work through and jumped right in with reports from all of the Administrators. Each campus Principal gave their report as to the activities occurring on their campus and then Mitchell Long gave a report on the technology being used with the remote instruction. Long also gave some indication to the trustees as to how a live graduation ceremony would look and went over the details of the May 29, 2020 event. The event will be held at the football stadium and will be a ticketed event with limited numbers of tickets being given to each graduate. It will begin at 7:00 pm. with social distancing guidelines in place and due to Texas Education Agency rules there will be no rehearsal and no optional indoor plan in
the event of bad weather. If inclement weather should occur or threaten, the event will have to be rescheduled at another date. Darren Smith, Operations Director gave a written report about the Covid-19 situation and about a plan for campuses to have a staggered return to normal operating hours at some point in the future. Russ Sutherland, Athletic Director gave a written report that said that the UIL has committed to following the NCAA(College) guidelines and many different scenarios are being discussed with decisions coming in the future. Superintendent Scott Campbell reported that the District currently has 1514 registered students and teacher Beth Glenn has announced her retirement. In the action items portion of the agenda, trustees approved the hiring of four new teachers in the way of Lauren Garcia, Aaron Marshall, Lana Nelius, (contd on page 4)
By Wade Thibodeaux   Chambers County, in conjunction with the Texas Military, conducted a drive thru testing site last Tuesday, May 12, 2020 in the WinnieStowell Park. Participation was a little lackluster in the fact that only about 35 people made the trip thru the park to be tested. These military units travel from one location to another seven days a week conducting these drive thru testing
operations and generally try to schedule about 150 to 175 test per day. The testing in Chambers County was lacking in numbers and in addition those that did preregister came straggling thru the test site at sporadic times, making the day an extremely long and uneventful one for the guy wearing the white suit. No information has been given about any additional testing dates for Chambers County.
Local Firefighters Have Busy Week
Winnie Stowell Firemen responded for a call for help from Hamshire Fire Department last week in dealing with a grass fire along Highway 73.
By Wade Thibodeaux   Local Firefighters had a busy week last week as they responded to at least four fires. The first call was a in reference to a lot of smoke coming from the area around the end of Evans Street in Winnie. Firefighters found that ground had been cleared and the trees piled up to burn. The only problem was that the trees were smoking and not really burning which
caused a lot of smoke for the neighbors. Chambers County Fire Marshall's office is investigating ownership of the property and will visit with the necessary parties to explain the proper method for burning the trees. The next day Firefighters responded to a call for mutual aid with the Hamshire Fire Department as they were dealing with a grass fire that had gotten out of
control and was spreading smoke across Highway 73 near the Mayhaw Bayou. Early Thursday morning, around the 3:00 hour, a passing motorist noticed a small fire inside of a closed Waffle House in Winnie. Crews responded and quickly extinguished the small blaze that was centered around the grill area. Waffle House was able to open the next morning while maintenance crews made
repairs. Around 7:00 pm on Friday, May 15, 2020 an explosion was reported at a structure fire in the Mott Road area. Firemen arrived and extinguished the blaze thought to have started as a result of a generator malfunction. All of these calls were intermingled with the usual medical calls and motor vehicle accidents that the crews respond to on a daily basis.
C o v i d - 1 9 Te s t i n g is a Little Slow
The guy in the white suit and a couple of other helpers sit and wait on another person to make it thru the Covid-19 testing that occurred in the Winnie-Stowell Park last Tuesday.
Winnie Stowell Firefighters responded to a structure fire on Mott Road last week.
Excessive smoke was found when crews responded to a call at the end of Evans Street.
Trinity Bay Approves Sewer Plant By Wade Thibodeaux   The Trinity Bay Conservation District Board of Directors met in regular session on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at 9:00 am. via a teleconference due to the current Covid-19 situation. This was the first regular meeting with the newly installed Director Cody Bauer who filled the remaining term of Director Mike Winzer who passed away suddenly in March and Director Bauer was Cody Bauer was selected to fill the remaining term of placed squarely in the Mike Winzer who passed away suddenly in March. Bauer middle of a split board will serve on the TBCD board until the November 2020 and had the deciding vote elections. on the building of a new
WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU! Our banking center lobbies are open! Drive-thru, online, and telephone banking still available.
sewer plant in Hankamer. The board had held a special meeting the week before when Bauer was sworn in and the plant was on the agenda that meeting and Bauer had voted NO on the plant citing reasons that he simply did not know enough about the project to expend the funds and needed more time to study the situation. The item was placed back on the agenda a week later and Bauer admitted that he had visited with many people during the week and the one common thread among the (contd on page 4)
ÂŽ www.texasfirst.bank/locations