The Jack County Sheriff’s Office will be hosting its inaugural citizen academy starting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, as it hopes to build a bridge between the office and the citizens it serves.
JCSO Deputy Parker Walden, who is helping organize the academy, said the idea came from Sheriff Thomas Spurlock.
Jack County saw growth in voter turnout with nearly 950 voters making their voice heard in the Nov. 5 Constitutional Amendment Election.
A handful of Jack County residents had a Graford ISD bond election to vote on, the entire county had opportunity to voice their opinions on the 10 ballot measures approved in the 86th Legislative Session.
Reid Spiller was appointed Assistant City Attorney at the Jacksboro City Council meeting Oct. 28.
Reid joins his brother Mason Spiller and is working directly under his father David Spiller, the Jacksboro City Attorney. Reid said this was something he had been hoping to do his entire life.
“(The appointment) means everything to me,” Reid said. “It’s what I’ve always wanted to do; I’d always planned to come back to Jacksboro and help with the family business.”
In its second year, Jacksboro Chamber of Commerce officials were ecstatic with their overall Outdoor Expo/ChiliFest.
Chamber Executive Director Leslie Chalmers said there was more of everything this year during the Saturday event, moved to the downtown square from the Twin Lakes Activity Center the year before.
“We doubled the number of servings of chili and had a fantastic turnout of about 350 people,” Chalmers explained. “We continue to try to revitalize tourism in the downtown area.”
Friends of the Jacksboro Animal Shelter is seeking volunteers to help fulfill a vision.
Since its organization nearly a decade ago, the Friends have worked diligently to aid in the needs of the city’s animal shelter. One of the biggest needs is a new facility.
In 2018, that dream took its first step toward reality. The land located directly in front of the current facility on Highway 380 West became available and was eventually deeded to the city for the express purpose of building a new shelter.
Two fires burned up around 600 acres around the county Sunday.
The largest fire was off of Martin Road and U.S. Highway 281 and was estimated at around 450 acres. Jack County Emergency Management Director Frank Hefner said the fire started when a hay swather hit a rock. The owner tried to put out what he could, but the wind took the flames and moved it quickly.
Perrin-Whitt CISD introduced a “buddy bench” at an anti-bullying rally at Perrin-Whitt Elementary School Oct. 31.
The buddy bench will be placed on the school playground in hopes a student in need of a friend will be able to use it. The student in need will sit on the bench until someone else comes and sits next to them.
After receiving a C for its accountability grade recently, Jacksboro Middle School officials presented a plan to help improve the school’s score.
One of the goals is providing high quality instruction for all students to get an ‘A’ on state standards while preparing students to achieve post-secondary goals. Goals for students on the STAAR tests will include 81% approaches grade level, 50% meets the level and 22% masters the level.
Children and adults gathered at the Fall Festival at the Jack County Fair Barn Oct. 26.
The event was organized by STOMP, or Standing Together on Meth Prevention. The event was organized by Jack County STOMP director Linda Green-Bennett, who said she got the idea for the event from previous volunteer experience.
“We did an event like this in the past when I served on the Big Brothers Big Sisters board that was here,” Green-Bennett said. “That shut down several years ago so as director I just thought it would be a community event.”
Jacksboro High School FFA members spoke at the Lions Club meeting Oct. 23 to prepare themselves for their district meet.
The FFA students presented a pros-and-cons argument on in-vitro meat, or meat grown in a laboratory. Sophomore Carah Moore was one of the presenters and spoke in-depth about the process.
“It’s meat created in a science lab, Moore said. “Instead of using a feedlot or pasture organizations like Memphis Meats are trying to make a cruelty-free way of producing beef. They are trying to produce other kinds, but right now they are only able to produce beef.”
