Terrell ISD budget board meeting today

The Terrell school board will hold a meeting for public discussion of their 2010-2011 budget at noon today.

The meeting agenda and budget information can be found here.

Fatal Accident On I20

Terrell police and fire personnel Monday morning responded to the scene of a three-vehicle accident that claimed two lives.

Read more about it here.

Burn Ban Extended

The burn ban will extend through the end of September, barring significant rainfall in the county.

See this Thursday's edition of The Terrell Tribune for more details.

Talking Taxes

Terrell ISD taxpayers over the next few weeks will likely be hearing plenty about the local school districts upcoming tax ratification election, or TRE.

The TRE is a confusing sounding tool that school districts can use to earn more funds from the state...if the voters approve it. Find out more about the TRE here.

Early voting starts Sept. 8.

Tigers win in OT

It was closer than it needed to be, but the Tigers pulled off the overtime win in Kaufman Friday night.

A slideshow of images from the game is available over in the Tribune's sports section...

And the full story will be in Sunday's newspaper.

Oliver TD run to win 27-21 Tigers

Tigers intercept pass go on offense... nw 1st and goal

Oops... Lions get next offensive attempt

Lions fg attempt foiled... Tigers OT attempt 2...

Tigers possession ends with missed fg...

Tigers start the OT on offense

Last play fg attempt wide right for Tigers, we'll play some overtime, 21-21

First play of the 4th, Lions tie the score 21-21

Tigers drive and score... 21_14 ... 3:23 left in the 3rd

Lions score... tied at 14;

2nd half starts with Martin injured, looks like South will lead the offense. Liopns driving at the 27

Big pass and run, Tigers Wnd and 8 at Kaufman 47

1:24 left in the half, still 14-7, Tigers have the ball at their own 8, 2nd and 16 on some penalties.

11:10 left in 2nd...14-7 Terrell has the ball back and driving

Tiger update

14-7 Terrell with 11:10 in 2Q

:35 left in the firts quarter, Terrell 14, Kaufman 0

:35 left in the firts quarter, Terrell 14, Kaufman 0

On the heels of the Dog Days photo contest...

We had a lot of fun with our Terrell Tribune Dog Days of Summer photo contest...

and this story from Iowa is another reason for dog people to be happy about their choice of pet. Dogs as heroes always make good stories.

The field is ready ...

Freshmen and J.V. football starts tonight, and the field is looking great..

TISD's Travis House finishes up marking the field at Memorial Stadium.

Freshmen kick off at 5:30, J.V. start around 7 p.m.

Go Tigers!

Meet the Tigers

It was a great pep-rally atmosphere at Meet the Tigers night tonight... A quick slideshow from the event is up over on the Tribune sports section.

It was a great pep-rally style atmosphere at Meet the Tigers night tonight... A quick slideshow from the event is up over on the Tribune sports section.

Meet the Tigers night tonight

Terrell fall sports will get kicked off in a big way tonight with Meet the Tigers night at the THS Athletic Complex.

Be there at 6 p.m. to cheer on the football, volleyball, cross country, tennis and golf teams.

Serve•Bump•Set•Spike•Celebrate

Serve


Bump

Set


Spike


Celebrate

Terrell JV Volleyball vs. Lancaster Aug. 24, 2010.

Back to school

Summer is officially over for the kiddos, and it looks like the temperatures will be taking a dip too, so parents should be in a good mood.

Here is a glimpse of Burnett Elementary's morning rush for the first day of classes.

Volleyball tonight

JV action vs. Wills Point last week

Lady Tiger volleyball teams serve up some action against Lancaster tonight at the THS Athletic Complex. JV and Freshman play at 5:30, Varsity at 6:30.

The varsity squad is coming off of a 4th place finish in the Tiger volleyball tournament last weekend.

Terrell welcomes J.S. Helwig and Son Trucking

J.S. Helwig and Son Trucking is setting up shop in a big way in Terrell's Metrocrest business park. The story from Sunday's Tribune is here...

And video from the groundbreaking ceremony...

Another Prediction

The Dallas Morning News has done its football predictions for each Class 4A district in the area. Much like the summer magazines, the DMN showed little confidence in Terrell in 2010.

Breakdown by district.

Use that motivation boys!

Stepping Up

Terrell started slow but came on strong late Friday in their first and only football scrimmage of the 2010 season. Facing Class 4A powerhouse Sulphur Springs, the Tigers showed that their offense can be explosive and, of course, that their defense doesn't plan to back down from anyone.

Below are some photos from the game. Look for a game story in Sunday's Tribune.


Made with Slideshow Embed Tool

Lady Tigers sweep day 1 of home tournament

The THS Lady Tigers volleyball squad swept their tournament pool on day one of tournament play with wins over Dallas Carter, Oak Cliff and Seagoville.

They will play again tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. against the winner of the Trimble Tech vs. Life School Oak Cliff matchup this afternoon.

Photos are from the 9:30 match against Seagoville.

Tigers Evening Practice 8/19

The Tigers coaches and players were making the most of their final evening practice before theyscrimmage in Sulphur Springs tomorrow night.

If you are in town tomorrow morning, THS Lady Tigers volleyball will play in our home tournament at 8 a.m., 9 a.m. and noon.

Have You Picked Up A Tribune Today?

If not, be sure to grab one and see our annual Fall Sports Preview.

Also check out why Coach Chris Gilbert believes this week's scrimmage with Sulphur Springs is so important.

The day after a fire

TFD firefighters worked this morning to finish up after yesterday's conflagration at Flexible Foam Products on Industrial Blvd.

Additional photos are in the slideshow here.

Video Clip - Flexible Foam fire

Multi-alarm fire at Flexible Foam Products in Terrell Texas.

Fire At Flexible Foam

Several area firefighting agencies converged on Terrell's industrial park Tuesday evening for a fire at Flexible Foam. Additional photos are up on the Tribune website here...

If you don't remember, Flexible Foam was ravaged by a fire in March 2004. 

Ready For Some Football?

In a little more than a week, the Terrell Tigers will kick off their 2010 gridiron campaign at Kaufman. Just two weeks later, Terrell begins District 15-4A play.

That makes this Friday’s scrimmage against Sulphur Springs all the more important, according to Tiger football coach Chris Gilbert.

“This is a very important game for us,” Gilbert said. “This will be the first time we line up to face live competition this season. With a short non-district season, we have to use this game to evaluate which kids are ready to compete now.”

The Wildcats amassed a 10-4 record en route to a Division II Class 4A regional finalist berth in 2009. Just a year removed from a state title, Gilbert believes Sulphur Springs provides the perfect warm-up game for the Tigers as they ready for a grueling 2010 season.

Action gets under way at Gerald Prim Stadium at 5:30 p.m. with junior varsity and freshman squads playing at the same time. The varsity scrimmage, which tentatively kicks off at 7 p.m., will include offensive and defensive series for the first and second teams as well as kicking game drills before playing two quarters of live action scrimmage.

Check out this Thursday's Tribune for more of my conversation with Coach Gilbert about the scrimmage. 

Terrell Kiwanis golf tournament

The Terrell Kiwanis club's golf tournament is just a month away, and they would love to get more sponsors and teams signed up.

Sponsor form here.

Team sign up form here.

The tournament will be held September 20 at Van Zandt Country Club in Canton. I hope the temperatures start to go down a bit by then.

New National Guard unit fly-by

The new Airborne unit at Terrell's National Guard Armory said they would have a more visible presence with helicopters and vehicles. (See the Tribune article here)

From the looks of it, the heat won't keep these guys down as today we had a flyover by a Chinook helicopter that circled several times over Ben Gill Park and the Armory.

TISD Board meets tonight

The Terrell ISD board will meet tonight at 6:30.

(Photo from Feb 15, 2010 meeting)

Full agenda information is available here.

It looks like a relatively short meeting, but I've said that before.

Another meeting will be held at noon August 31 for public comment on the 2010-2011 budget. One story about that is here... like many districts, cuts are on the table and revenue sources are under scrutiny.

Making An Impact

Apparently, a Terrell, Texas native is making an impact for the Purdue football team as a freshman.

Here's the story from the Journal & Courier.

THS Volleyball starts with a win

The Lady Tigers volleyball team started the season off with a win over Poetry Community Christian School Tuesday night... see the full story in today's Tribune.

This is Tonisha Dean posing for our special fall sports preview section coming out next Thursday. You will want to grab it for stories and thoughts from coaches about football, volleyball, tennis, golf and cross country.

Albert Rice's cinnamon rolls

When I first came to the Tribune last October, it was less than a month before I heard rumors about Albert Rice's cinnamon rolls. Finally, 10 months later, I had the chance to eat one at today's Terrell Kiwanis Club meeting. The rumors are true, those things are beyond good.

Albert is Director of Student Support Services at SWCC along with many other volunteer and civic duties.

There is a good chance that Mr. Rice will have some of these out at the Taste of Terrell event on August 20. That event benefits the Terrell ISD Excellence Foundation, click on the link for the details.

Furloughs For County Employees?

Apparently, the City of Terrell isn't the only local government entity who will be asking employees to take unpaid days off. 

Kaufman County commissioners are leaning toward having all county employees take one furlough (unpaid) day per month, and closing all county offices for that one day each month, in the next fiscal year.

If that proposal remains in ongoing budget talks, that one-day-per-month shutdown would begin in October when the 2011 fiscal year starts.

Check out Thursday's edition of The Terrell Tribune for the story.

It's That Time Of Year

The Terrell Tigers got their two-a-day practices under way this morning. Our reporter Stephen Beam was out and about to get a few photos of the Tigers.

TVFD Responds To Structure Fire

Terrell VFD was requested/paged by KC Fire dispatch @ 7:56pm initally for stand-by at Forney Central Station. Then requested to respond to assist with structure fire @ 121 HackBerry Ln in the city of Forney. We responded with an engine and a squad for a total of 7 personnel. 

Lightning strikes St. James AME church

Terrell fire crews were busy with several lightning related calls and accidents with evening thunder storms rolling through town.

One reported lightning strike caused a small smoldering fire in the attic of the St. James AME church on Rockwall St.

AgriLife Jobs Fall Under Knife

But apparently not here.

Officials have completed the difficult task of notifying employees whose jobs with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service will end between now and Oct. 31.

The personnel cutback affects 94 jobs — 31 vacant positions that will not be filled and 63 occupied positions that will be eliminated agencywide. The downsizing results from a 5 percent state budget reduction, according to Dr. Ed Smith, AgriLife Extension director.

According to officials, though, no personnel cuts are planned at the Kaufman County office at this time.

Leaders of the state agency, which has offices in 250 Texas counties, said their decisions were based on maintaining core programs statewide.

AgriLife Extension is part of a national community-based adult and youth education system.

And The Answer Is...

The other day as I was telling my kids to buckle up in the car, my 7-year-old daughter piped up with the respons, "Daddy, if it's so important, why don't we have seatbelts on our school buses?"

Good question.

Here's a good story about school bus seatbelts. 

Not Your Typical Summer Trip

Don J. had a nice story in this Thursday's Terrell Tribune about Boy Scout Troop 390, whose members set sail on a "summer adventure" of sorts.

It's a good read. Find it here. 

Looking For A Doomsday Shelter?

If so, you won't have to look far.

A local business catering to such needs was recently mentioned in this USA Today article.

And, apparently, business is good. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Radius Engineering in Terrell, Texas, has built underground shelters for more than three decades, and business has never been better, says Walton McCarthy, company president.

The company sells fiberglass shelters that can accommodate 10 to 2,000 adults to live underground for one to five years with power, food, water and filtered air, McCarthy says.

The shelters range from $400,000 to a $41 million facility Radius built and installed underground that is suitable for 750 people, McCarthy says. He declined to disclose the client or location of the shelter.

"We've doubled sales every year for five years," he says.

Speaking Of Annexation

The City of Mesquite isn't the only area city looking to annex land.

On Tuesday night, the Terrell City Council approved a resolution to an annexation of its own.

See this Sunday's edition of The Terrell Tribune for the details.

Deputies Make Another Drug Bust

Kaufman County Sheriff's Office investigators have been busy of late.

This morning, I received word of another undercover investigation that has led to the arrest of a Kaufman woman.

Read about it here.

More Of Mesquite Becoming Kaufman County?

A story I've been watching unfold over in the Mesquite area will likely soon have an impact on Kaufman County.

In a nutshell, the City of Mesquite is looking to annex more than 1,200 acres along Interstate 20 in Kaufman County. As pointed out in the article by the Mesquite News, some Forney area folks who aren't too happy about become Mesquite residents.

Our good friend Jonathan Blundell over in Travis Ranch has a nice post about his time living in the Belton area and experiencing a similar situation.

An Interesting Take On The Rangers Auction

If you are like me, the whole Texas Rangers' auction saga has given you a big case of tired head. That said, here's one blogger's theory of why Mark Cuban got involved.

Is Mark Cuban a true hero for the Rangers?

Marijuana - Busts and Subsidies?

Local police have been making a lot of drug busts lately here, here, here, making for lots of interesting anonymous commenters on the Tribune online stories.

Because of that, this story from Washington D.C. caught my eye... "No one should be too poor to buy pot if they live in Washington..."

What most was at the end of the story - a quote from a medical marijuana user who said "People under the poverty level and below shouldn't have to pay anything." Which means taxpayers subsidize it.

While drug policies will not be sorted out any time soon, the debate is interesting to watch.

Dirt is moving in the business park

Summer heat and a slow economy may have everyone in a bit of a funk, but it is good to see a lot of dirt moving and progress at new business sites in Terrell's Metrocrest business park.

In April we reported on the groundbreaking for Brock Supply, a wholesale distributer of car parts.. that project is well underway.

Another groundbreaking, this one for a trucking company facility, is scheduled for next week.

Dabney Taken Into Custody

A U.S. Marshal's strike team has apprehended Jaquon Dabney, a suspect in the July 11 shooting incident in the 200 block of Allen Street.

Find out more here.

Passing Of A Friend

Gary Fenimore, a former circulation manager for The Terrell Tribune, has passed away.

Keep his family in your prayers please.

Landlords Start Petition

A group of local landlords is working to build support to have a “rental integrity” ordinance that was adopted by Terrell City Council on July 20 put to a citizens’ vote.

A member of the group, Jeff Woolverton, will have a petition available for signatures at Pop’s Honey Fried Chicken Restaurant, 701 E. Moore Ave., from 2 to 2:30 p.m. through Friday and from 3 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The petition asks that the ordinance be placed on the ballot for the next available special election date. Only registered voters who are also citizens of Terrell may sign the petition.

The rental integrity ordinance requires annual inspections of duplexes and manufactured housing rental properties. It also encourages landlords and property owners to partner with police, fire and municipal development staff.

According to Terrell City Secretary John Rounsavall, “within 20 days after the enactment by the council of any ordinance, which is subject to referendum, a petition signed by qualified voters of the city equal in number to at least 10 percent of the number of votes cast at the last preceding regular municipal election, but not less than 250 qualified voters, may be filed with the city secretary requesting that any such ordinance be submitted to a vote of the voters.”

Once received, Rounsavall said the city secretary’s office has 10 days to determine whether all signatures meet the standards.

It is probably cooler inside, but...

The work is going on in the parking lot.

THS Band students are hard at work at their own "two-a-days," prepping this year's James Bond themed halftime show.

Volleyball players are also working this week and football practice starts bright and early Monday morning.

Purple Heart For Shawn McNabb

This morning I got this from David McNabb, father of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Shawn Henry McNabb:

"We received word this evening that Shawns death has now been ruled a homicide due to a hostile action by the enemy. Unknown method but probably with an RPG that downed the aircraft. Earlier reports listed a combination of factors but not hostile action.

This now changes Shawns designation to KIlled in Action KIA and he will now be awarded the Purple Heart as well.

There is more but I will have to get some clarification on the other info before I share it. For those that arent in the military this IS important info and does mean something. It wont bring Shawn back but will give him more honors for his service. I can say that my son was a soldier performing a special mission. He loved this country, honored its flag, was proud to serve and gave his life protecting us. Lets never forget what our soldiers do for Us. Sincerely David"

As the story develops, we'll keep you updated. 

TEA, TAKS, TEKS, APY, EOC... What is accountability anyway?

TISD's Lauren Johnson took time out of her busy day to give me the lowdown on Terrell's "Academically Acceptable" rating from the Texas Education Agency for an article for Thursday's Tribune.

If you want to see the ratings first-hand they can be viewed here.

Deciphering what they actually mean is another matter altogether.

The good news, by Johnson's estimation, is that Terrell was only about 80 passing students away from being "Recognized" as a district.

Don J.

Book It: Cuts Affect Library

The pressure of declining revenues has forced Terrell city officials to make difficult decisions in order to balance the budget.  Among those decisions announced last month is the elimination of funding for all City of Terrell part-time positions in the fiscal year beginning October 1. 

The department hardest hit by this loss of personnel is the Riter C. Hulsey Public Library.  

As a result of the hiring freeze presently in place, the library has two vacant part-time positions.  In October three additional positions will be vacated, effectively reducing the library’s workforce by 28 percent.

What's that mean for library patrons? 

Well, no Saturday library for one. 

You can find out the rest of the changes in this Thursday's Terrell Tribune.

We've Got Us A Burglary Spree

Following a spike in residential burglaries with what Terrell Police Department is calling “distinct similarities,” local authorities are asking area residents to be both more aware of suspicious circumstances and to “harden the target.”


Read more about it here. 

Modano A Red Wing

Not sure how I feel about this news. It's kind of like seeing Emmitt in a Cardinals' uniform...although, the Red Wings are a lot better team than Arizona was when Smith was there.

Ready To Hit The Books?

Be sure to check out our annual Back To School edition, coming out Aug. 12.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Chris Gilbert has heard all the predictions. He’s seen the magazine articles. Heck, he’s even heard the talk around town. 

But the second-year Terrell High School head football coach doesn’t need others to tell him how hard of a task he and the Tigers have ahead of them as they embark on a 2010 season in the newly-aligned District 15-4A.

He knows it’s going to be tough to be in a rare nine-team district that boasts some of north Texas’ top Class 4A programs. He knows the challenge that lies ahead.

And, more importantly, he welcomes it.

The motto for this year's squad is "Why Not Us?" 

And that's exactly what the Tigers will be thinking as they look to topple the likes of West Mesquite, Waxahachie, Corsicana, Ennis, Red Oak, Forney and Mesquite Poteet en route to a second straight playoff berth. 

Find out more about the Tigers and the 2010 season in our annual Fall Sports Preview, which comes out Aug. 19 in The Terrell Tribune.

A Few Quick Hits

• A "Taste of Terrell" event is in the works for later this month. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Terrell ISD Excellence Foundation.

• Speaking of Terrell ISD, they received their TEA accountability rating on Friday, which showed progress over a year ago. However, it should be noted that most schools showed progress this year due to changes in the way the ratings were established.

• Terrell's own Jamie Foxx talks football, movies and such up in Canada.

• State Sen. Bob Deuell wants Planned Parenthood clinics out of the state's Women's Health Program, which provides family planning services - but not abortions - to impoverished Medicaid patients.

• Another East Texas soldier has died in Afghanistan.

MG