Shalom family and friends, In this month of February, we hear about love. We see Valentine’s hearts, candy, stuffed animals, and diamonds advertised flooding the media and store shelves. This entices the public to buy these things to show you love someone! Many people are thinking and talking about buyingContinue Reading
Chef Hunter Lee/Tips & Tales With Chef Let’s get shakin’ Well, we have now laid Mardi Gras and Carnival Season 2023 to rest. A lot of us are gearing up for lent! With Easter and Spring right here around the corner. Gardens are being tilled, diets are being altered toContinue Reading
Marcia Thomas Contributing Writer A large crowd was on hand at Roma’s Italian Restairant in downtown Jefferson for the annual “sweetest Sunday of the year” sponsored by the Opera House Theatre Players. While patrons filed in to attend the event entitled this year “Souper Bowl Chocolate Sunday”, they were metContinue Reading
Press Release Writer and journalist P.A. Geddie’s new book Upper East Side of Texas: Small Towns & Cultural Districts releases this week through Speckled Crow Media. Filled with 300 photographs of sites, scenes, and local artwork of the region, she writes about the beauty and simplicity that makes the area meaningful forContinue Reading
Above, VFW Post 10373 and the VFW Ladies Auxiliary held a Flag Retirement Ceremony on February 11 at the post. “The US Flag should be treated with respect when it’s flying, and it should be treated with respect when it’s being retired,” said post commander John Cooper. “When a flagContinue Reading
1910: Frenchman flies first plane in Texas On this day in 1910, a Frenchman, Louis Paulhan, made the first recorded airplane flight in Texas. The first people in the state to fly, in the 1860s, were air-show balloonists and their passengers, although several inventors were also busy with plans forContinue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer Sometimes the men dismissed for their failures early in life can become the greatest successes. The story of R. L. Thornton is the story of a man raised in poverty and with barely an eighth grade education became synonymous with the success of Dallas in the 1950s. Robert Lee Thornton was born in 1880 in Hamilton County,Continue Reading
Staff Reports Jefferson area students recently participated in the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest. Essays were submitted and judged by members of the Martha McGraw Chapter in Jefferson. The Grade 5 winner, Lily Buckner is a Home Schooled student. The other winners are JISD students. NotContinue Reading
1929: LULAC founded On this day in 1929, the League of United Latin American Citizens, originally called the United Latin American Citizens, was founded at Salón Obreros y Obreras in Corpus Christi, Texas. LULAC is the oldest and largest continually active Latino political association in the United States and wasContinue Reading
Let’s get shakin’! Next to Mardi Gras one of the biggest festivals in the Big Easy is of course Jazz Fest. Personally, I’m not a fan of New Orleans Mardi Gras, it’s just too many people. Don’t get me wrong I love New Orleans! I even once owned and livedContinue Reading
Women of Jefferson held their Annual Valentine’s Day Breakfast on Tuesday at Taste of Caddo. The annual event is a fundraiser for their scholarship fund. The basket winner Wes Miller and their best apron winner Amanda Oney.Continue Reading
1949: Longoria given hero’s burial On this day in 1949, the body of Private Felix Longoria of Three Rivers, Texas, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Longoria had died in the Philippines near the end of World War II. When his recovered remains were sent to Three Rivers for burial,Continue Reading
1876: Texas adopts constitution On this day in 1876, citizens of Texas adopted the Constitution of 1876. They ratified it by a vote of 136,606 to 56,652. The document is the sixth constitution by which Texas has been governed since declaring independence from Mexico. Among the longest of U.S. stateContinue Reading
1882: Railroad crew founds Valentine, Texas On this day in 1882, the town of Valentine, Texas, was founded and named when a Southern Pacific Railroad crew building east from El Paso reached the site. Valentine, in Jeff Davis County, is thirty-six miles west of Fort Davis. The trains started runningContinue Reading
1943: First class of army aerial navigators arrives in San Marcos On this day in 1943, the first class of military aerial navigators arrived at San Marcos Army Air Field. Texas was at the forefront of aviation training during World War II, and some ten thousand navigators were eventually trainedContinue Reading
1869: Sixty-one die as steamboat burns On this day in 1869, sixty-one men, women, and children died when the sidewheel steamboat Mittie Stephens caught fire on Caddo Lake during a run from New Orleans to Jefferson, Texas. The boat had been plying the New Orleans-Red River route since 1866. At that timeContinue Reading
1915: Legislature passes bill to pay for governor’s “chicken salad and punch” On this day in 1915, the state legislature passed an appropriations bill to pay for expenses incurred by former governor Oscar Branch Colquitt for “chicken salad and punch,” among other items, during his term in office. An ensuingContinue Reading
Mardi Gras season kicked off last Saturday with the Krewe of Hebe’s Mab Ball. Royalty members included, from left, Darlene Keith (2021-2 Queen), Richard Turner (2023 King), Gina Davis (2023 Queen), and Rob Baker (2021-2 King). Festivities begin next Friday, February 17 with the Do Dah Parade. Live music, parades,Continue Reading
Meetings • Commissioners Court, Feb. 13, 9a • City Tourism Board, Feb. 13, 5:30p • JEDCO, Feb. 14, 5:30p • Blessings of Grace, Produce Feb 14, 16, 21, 23, 28 at 9a • St Vincent de Paul, Feb. 16, 23, at 10-11a • Blessings of Grace Food Pantry, Feb. 18,Continue Reading
Ken Bridges/Contributing writer What is the cost of changing the world? For those who dare, it can everything in their life, for good or ill. Heman Sweatt put everything on the line for his bid to desegregate the University of Texas law school, an effort that changed civil rights laws forever. Continue Reading