Last week the Criminal Justice Complex held its first court date, more than a decade after the courtroom was first planned.
With construction finished on the building, the new area of the building saw several clerks move their offices from the Grant County Courthouse around three weeks ago.
Vickie Sipes, chief clerk, said that she is happy with how the project turned out.
As Grant County’s population increased, small settlements developed around natural springs, crossroads, churches, post offices, and schools.People soon called the places by name and eventually located some of them on maps.Most of these places had no definite boundaries, originally had only a small number of families, and usually consisted of widely scattered dwellings and out-buildings.When a prominent building such as a school was removed, the identity of a small community soon diminished.The relocation of churches and post offices often resulted in gradual movement of a settlement’s designated center and changed the boundaries of a community from one generation to another.A community could also have more than one name.For example, people in the Paxton Community were served by the Turin Post Office.As a result, some residents claimed to live in Turin, while others called the same area Paxton.Some of the following places still survive, while others have faded from memory.
Last month the local Head Start program was shuttered due to budget issues. This week the students returned to class after the location was made a part of the ABC program.
A new ballfield was the topic of discussion at two meetings last Monday in Poyen. This was discussed at both the Poyen City Council Meeting and at a special public meeting earlier in the night.
The first meeting, hosted by Poyen Youth Sports’ Kevin Conner, was a meeting intended for members of the public to voice their concerns about building a new ballfield at Poyen City Park.
Conner said that the park cannot currently support the number of youngsters in Poyen who want to play softball and baseball. He said that there are been times in the last year where the park has hosted up to seven games in one night.
Several big changes are in the works for the cafeterias of the Sheridan School District. One of the biggest is that this semester saw the district hire a new director of dining services.
Tiffany Selvey replaces Chef Jason Godwin as the new leader of food department at the schools.
The Leola City Council voted to close two streets and finally purchase a side-by-side for the Leola Fire Department at last week’s Leola City Council meeting.
The southernmost portion of Lee Street and the westernmost portion of West 13th Street were closed due to work being done at the West Fraser mill. Mill manager Mike Bonnette addressed the council to tell about planned upgrades for the mill. He said that they are modernizing the mill, and this will involve changing how logs are stacked.
The county’s property at Cox Creek Lake could be expanding in the near future. At last week’s Grant County Quorum Court meeting, the court discussed adding about a dozen more acres to the park.
Grant County Judge Randy Pruitt told the court that around 11 acres of land that touches the park are being offered to the county.
Election Day across the country is Tuesday, Nov. 6. Although there will be many items on the ballot from governor to U.S. congressmen and state representative, supreme court justices, etc., there will also be several local and county level races.
In Grant County, though most offices are unopposed, there are several offices with multiple candidate races. These are County and Circuit Clerk and three Justice of the Peace positions.
In an effort to help voters make an informed decision when voting, candidates for local and county level offices with opposition were persented with three to four questions by The Headlight staff. They were asked to answer these questions and return them to the newspaper office. Below is a list of each question presented and each candidate’s answers.
Early voting began on Oct. 22. Early votes can be cast at the Grant County Courthouse from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Nov. 5 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. On election day, Nov. 6, voting can be done from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at any of the nine vote centers in Grant County: Immanuel Baptist Church Gym, Marlow Missionary Baptist Church, Calvert Fire Department, Meadowview Southern Baptist Chuch, Prattsville Community Center, Tull Community Center, Poyen School Arena, Grapevine Church of God in Christ and Leola City Hall.
