Shelby County Today

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October 26, 2016 (More Photos) - Here Comes the Fuzz was the winning team in the inaugural Gibson's Annual Truck Pull competition held October 22, 2016 at the Windham Civic Center. Participants in the event gathered on the chilly morning behind the facility and got ready to tug the line on an 18-wheeler.

Seven teams participated in the fundraiser including two Gibsons teams, Center Volunteer Fire Department, 936 Crossfit, The Fighting Foxes, Hallmark Center Fixture Operations and Here Comes the Fuzz.

The first round of pulls was an elimination round with the top three fastest teams moving forward to the second round. As a result the top three from the first round were Here Comes the Fuzz, Gibsons 2 and the Fighting Foxes. In the second round the top times were Here Comes the Fuzz with 8.50 seconds, Gibsons 2 with a time of 8.83 seconds and The Fighting Foxes with a time of 9.95 seconds.

After the adults pulled the 18-wheeler, two teams of children joined in for a junior event pulling a Mule ATV and were awarded for their participation. Junior Shelby County Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors were on hand to help with the event and when it was over they also got the opportunity to give the Mule a pull.

At the beginning of the truck pull Lenny Dupuis, Gibsons Regional Manager, spoke about Gibsons commitment to giving back to the community. He said Gibsons locally employs 50 families and in total the company employs around 2,300 throughout the United States and Canada

"Gibsons has been a part of the Shelby County area since the beginning of 2011, and employees and local residents which are a majority of them have volunteered to be here today. As Gibson employees campaign our office, all the divisional locations have sponsored fundraisers to give back to their communities. Our division chose to give back to the heart of our community," said Dupuis.

Dupuis stated Gibsons is truly honored to sponsor children's advocacy in Center with the truck pull fundraiser.

Denise Merriman, Shelby County Children's Advocacy Director, was introduced by Dupuis. She thanked everyone for participating in the truck pull and Gibsons for sponsoring the event and their support in making children's issues more widely known by the community.

Leanne Kay Rafferty, 123rd District Judge-elect, also expressed her appreciation for those present and hopes for it to continue every year. She spoke on the SCCAC and what its purpose is in the community.

"Even being a lawyer, until I came back here and really got more involved, I was not aware of the services that the Children's Advocacy Center provides and the widespread abuse of children that occurs in our county and in East Texas in general," said Rafferty. "These cases are not on the news, the children's names and things are protected and so it's not widely publicized and so you just don't know how prevalent that is."

Rafferty commended Merriman on the job she has done at the SCCAC and in promoting awareness of abuse. She shared the center has a new location and how the team of personnel involved provide medical examinations, counseling and recovery services for children who have been victims of abuse.

"They work with both CPS in civil cases, they work with law enforcement and the District Attorney in criminal matters to ensure that these children receive the justice that they deserve," said Rafferty.

According to CAC information Rafferty shared, over 800 reports of child abuse occur each year in Shelby County.

"I just thank Denise and the Children's Advocacy Center for providing a voice for these children so that they may recover from any abuse that they have sustained," said Rafferty.

In addition to the generous donations of teams in the truck pull, Gibsons will contribute funds matching that of which were donated by the participants.

Denise Mathews, a Gibson employee who helped with organizing the fundraiser, commented following the event, "We had a great time and a lot of good feedback from the community. The community response and everyone having such a good time was priceless. All of our employees and several other teams are already planning on next years!"

October 25, 2016 (Album1, Album2, Album3, Album4) - The 3rd Annual Halloween in the Hole drew trick-or-treaters by the hundreds on Tuesday, October 25, 2016. The safe and friendly trick-or-treat opportunity was co-hosted by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and John Michael Burns Insurance Agency.

Young and old enjoyed the wide variety of customes while the CHS National Honor Society provided music for the event. The concession stand also worked by CHS National Honor Society students was a fundraiser for Chelsea Bradshaw and Michael Jernigan's baby Aubrie who was born in September with health problems. Boom Boom Photo Booth provided pictures and the CHS Art Club had a face painting booth.

October 25, 2016 - The mega winner of the 2016 Center Athletic Booster Yeti Cooler raffle was Deuce Wulf who was presented with his cooler and $1,000 at Shelby Savings Bank on Tuesday, October 25, 2016.

Mr. Wulf, a 1996 Graduate of Center ISD, has been a supporter of the Center Roughriders and has been active with helping the Center Athletic Booster Club to support all Varsity and Sub-Varsity sports programs at Center ISD.

On hand to present him with his winnings were Center Athletic Booster representatives Ben Wulf and Rose Jenkins and Shelby Savings Bank representatives Will Lucas and Ed Johnson. Shelby Savings Bank was the sponsor of the Meg Raffle Fundraiser which preliminary numbers show the raffle raised over $12,000.

Related article: Center Athletic Boosters Thanks Supporters, Announces Raffle Winners

October 20, 2016 - As Timpson Mayor Debra Smith was introduced as the guest speaker at the October meeting of the Timpson Area Genealogy and Heritage Society last Wednesday, even the least observant attendee had noticed there were no lights, no PA system, and no air conditioning. At that moment, about half of Timpson was without its city-supplied electric power and the Mayor seemed the perfect person to ask why. Foregoing her prepared opening, she patiently explained that a vehicle had hit a utility pole on Bear Drive and service would not be restored for five or six hours. The electricity outage addressed and using sunlight from the windows for illumination, Mrs. Smith began her talk. The Mayor, it seems, must always be the Mayor.

Though she didn't grow up in Timpson, Debra Smith's Timpson roots run deep. “If their name is Pate and they live in Shelby County, I'm probably kin to them”, she joked. Born Debra Pate to THS Alumni Robert and Helen Pate, she moved all over the world with her family since her father was in the Army and worked on missiles. The Pates returned to Timpson when she was a teenager and she graduated from Timpson High School. After graduation she attended Stephen F. Austin State University, where she later earned a Masters Degree. She married THS graduate Paul Smith and taught school in both Garrison and Nacogdoches.  Paul started Smith Sawmill Service in 1990 and she joined him in the business in 1994.

Wanting to take an active part in city affairs, Mrs. Smith considered running for the Timpson school board but changed her mind and ran for City Council in 2009. Finding city government to her liking, she ran successfully for mayor in 2010, becoming the first female to hold that office. She shared that her background in business has been very helpful to her in her capacity as mayor but that running a city is very different from running a business.  “In government, there are all sorts of procedural and legal hoops to be jumped through before any action can be taken, which makes the process complicated and slow.” she said.

Smith told that Timpson does not have a City Manager and that the city is included in a group of 840 other Texas cities with populations between 1000 and 10,000 citizens. The city government has four departments: Electric, Water, Police, and City Clerk. Mayor Smith shared that just because the city is relatively small doesn't mean that the city's problems always are. “The biggest problem the city has faced during my tenure came in May of 2012... an earthquake!” Registering 4.9 on the Richter Scale the quake caused widespread damage and was felt as far away as Shreveport. Within hours, reporters with TV cameras and microphones had descended on the city and she found herself  being interviewed on television and asked questions about earthquakes and geology, subjects which were beyond her expertise and comfort-zone.

A second major problem the city has faced during her tenure, Smith revealed, was the failure of the clarifier at the city sewage treatment plant. “Though this problem received far less publicity than our earthquakes, it caused just as many headaches!” she said. Various authorities told the city that it would be necessary to replace the clarifier, at a cost to the city of about $100,000. Realizing that this would be a terrible blow to the city budget, the mayor said she fell back on her sawmill service experience and, after talking with city employees who were familiar with the sewer facility's operation, declared “I think we can fix this thing.”  So new parts were ordered or fabricated and installed on the disassembled clarifier, returning it to service at a cost of $30,000. “Saving the city that much money on that repair is one of the accomplishments I am most proud of,” she stated.

Taking questions at the close of her talk, Mayor Smith addressed, among other things, the recently departed circus, which had set up in So So Park. She said the circus had been a big success, although some patrons had wanted to shoot the clown, she joked, and that they had left the park very clean. She also answered questions about the repaving of recently paved Timpson Street. She said that heavy rains which ocurred between the grading of the street and its paving changed the steet's grade, resulting in water flowing across the street and causing flooding. She said that the contractor is repaving the street at no additional cost to the city.

During the business meeting following Mayor Smith's remarks, Margie Holt informed members that the TAGHS genealogy library was in dire need of volunteers, since many regular volunteers have been unable to serve. She said that volunteers need not be experts in genealogy and are not required to do research for visitors but simply make them aware of the resources that are available. Following a suggestion from Mayor Smith that a Facebook page might be helpful in attracting younger members, Judy Ramsey told members that TAGHS has a Facebook page but few know of its existence because it is underutilized and rarely updated. Jim Barrett gave the financial and membership report, revealing that current TAGHS membership stands at 117.

The Timpson Area Genealogical and Heritage Society meets at 2PM on the third Wednesday of each month in the meeting room of the Timpson Public Library on the cornet of Bremond and Austin Streets. The public is invited.