December 20, 2021 - “I will remember the wonders of old….” Psalms 77:11

My brother Joe and I talked on the phone from 9pm to 12:05am(!) this morning. Our conversation was mostly about the memories of our childhood Christmases. After cutting a pine tree (one year a holly), we made our ornaments from Crayola-colored rings stuck together with water and flour glue. None of us ever saw or ate an apple, an orange or an English walnut until Christmas every year.

December 17, 2021 - Shelby County is taking sealed bids for road maintenance materials. Sealed bids are due in the County Judges office no later than 3pm on Monday, December 20, 2021. Please contact the County Judge’s office at 936-598-3863 for a bid packet. Please write “BID” on front of envelope.

Please make sure you put your contact information on the bid. All sealed bids will be opened during Commissioners’ Court on Wednesday, December 22, 2021.

December 17, 2021 - East Texas Communities Foundation is on track to achieve their highest granting year on record by awarding more than $17 million to over 700 different nonprofit organizations.

“ETCF is honored to connect generosity with need,” said Kyle Penney, President of East Texas Communities Foundation. “Thanks to the support of our donors, and the work of dedicated and talented nonprofits, we are able to fund solutions that address community needs.”

December 16, 2021 - We see each other often. We pass each other on the streets. We breathe the same air. We all bleed the same color blood. We’re sisters, brothers, moms, and dads, etc. We are all human with human frailties. We all have different diseases. Some can be controlled with medications; some are fatal. We all look at each other and our hearts hurt for the ones that have a fatal disease. We put each others in our prayers.

December 15, 2021 – Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp., doing business as Margherita Meats, Inc., an Omaha, Neb. establishment, is recalling approximately 10,990 pounds of ready-to-eat (RTE) pepperoni products that may be adulterated with Bacillus cereus (B. cereus), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.