The Monitor says farewell to Ronda Pennington
Monitor Staff Reports
MABANK–The Monitor and Lake Area Leader bids a fond farewell to one of its own – office/ billing manager Ronda Pennington.

Monitor Photo
AT LEFT: The Monitor and Lake Area Leader says farewell to Ronda Pennington.

To many of our customers, Ronda has been the voice at the other end of the telephone when it came to placing legal announcements, answering billing questions or renewing advertisements.
Her departure ends an 11-year service with the newspaper, who has come to rely upon her friendly customer service, motherly supervision and professionalism.
“Ronda’s been my go-to person for years, and I will dearly miss her. She was able to formulate solutions and process all the tasks that the paper encountered,” general manager Susan Harrison said. “I will miss her friendship too, but wish her all the best.”
Ronda’s been using her last weeks with the paper to train her replacement, Keron Walker. “She’ll do a great job for our customers,” Ronda said.
Longtime Kemp residents, she and husband Robert are moving to Paris, where their daughter Rhyan will be finishing up her last year of high school and getting ready to enter Paris Junior College in the fall.
“I’m looking forward to new opportunities and pursuing other interests,” Ronda said.
“I’ll miss everything, but especially (five weekly) deadlines. I think I’ve become an adrenaline junkie,” she laughed.
Having joined The Monitor and Lake Area Leader in August, 1999, Ronda has become a mainstay for 11 years.
Before coming to work here, Ronda worked on the classified ads of the Marshall News Messenger and the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
The Cedar Creek Lake community has also benefited from her service in connection with the many activities her children, Ruston and Rhyan have been involved in over the years, including Cub Scouting, 4-H club and supporting the Kemp High School Band.
As a longtime band booster, Ronda has held every office and toted enough equipment to open a music store.
She has also coordinated and operated the concession booth at enough football games to give her the experience to run a small restaurant – not to mention the many batches of beans she’s prepared.
Her coworkers will miss her friendly smile, her party planning for their birthdays and Christmas, encouraging ways, and high level of efficiency.
She will be greatly missed.

‘Theft by check’ most committed crime in 2010
By Michael V. Hannigan
Monitor Staff Writer
ATHENS – What was the No. 1 misdemeanor offense prosecuted by theCounty Attorney’s Office in 2010? Theft by check, and it wasn’t even close.
County Attorney Clint Davis last week released a summary of case activity for 2010, tracking the disposition of cases filed through his office in the County Court at Law, County Court at Law No. 2, and the County Court.
Statistics do not include cases filed through Henderson County’s Justice of the Peace courts.
“This is the first time we’ve done this type of report for a full year,” Davis said.
There were 852 cases of theft by check filed, according to the figures, making it the top misdemeanor crime filed in 2010. Second was Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) at 396 and assaults were third at 296.
“As expected, theft by check would be the No. 1 by leaps and bounds,” Davis told The Monitor, “but I would have thought that DWI and assaults would have been closer.”
Davis said he has been told by sources with the local Department of Public Service (DPS) office that locally the number of intoxicated drivers is dropping.
“Currently they are seeing more and more designated drivers and people who are not over the legal limit on stops,” Davis said. “To furtherthis, countywide we did not have a single DWI arrest on New Years Eve.”
Davis said the DWI numbers could be seasonal and could reverse in the summer.
“DWI has gotten a significant amount of attention with the coverage of felony cases in our county, and so I guess I was being too optimistic that our numbers wouldn’t be so high in 2010,” he said.
Davis reported the following activity in the disposition of cases filed through his office for the year of 2010 (listed alphabetically):
Accident Involving Damage to Vehicle, 8; Assaults, 212; Boating While Intoxicated, 3; Burglary of Vehicle, 40; Criminal Mischief, 76; Consumption of Alcohol by Minor, 11; Criminal Trespass, 55; Cruelty to Animals 14, Disorderly Conduct, 5; Deadly Conduct, 5; Driving While Intoxicated, 396; Driving While License Suspended/Invalid, 118; Duty on Striking Fixture/Highway Landscape, 7; Escape from Custody, 4; Evading Arrest/Detention, 52.
Also, Fail To Appear, 29; Fail to Show Proof of Financial Responsibility or No Financial Responsibility, 17; Fail to Identify Giving False/Fictitious Information, 32; Failure to Identify Fugitive From Justice, 13; False Report to Police Officer, 4; Fleeing Police Officer, 4; Gambling Promotion, 4; Minor In Possession of Alcohol or Tobacco, 11; Possession of a Gambling Device, 3.
Also, Harrassment, 9; Illegal Dumping, 3; Hunting Deer at Night, 4; Indecent Exposure, 4; Interfere with Emergency Call, 14; Interference with Public Duties, 4; Official Oppression, 10; Possession of Dangerous Drug, 25; Possession of a Controlled Substance, 32; Possession Of Marijuana, 197; Prohibited Weapon, 12.
Also, Reckless Driving, 37; Public Intoxication, 6; Public Nuisance, 5; Purchase or Furnish Alcohol to a Minor, 14; Resisting Arrest Search or Transport, 25; Speeding, 214; Tamper with a Government Record, 4; Terroristic Threat, 36; Theft By Check, 852; Theft Of Service, 21; Theft Of Property, 84; Unlawful Carrying a Weapon, 12; Violation of Protective Order, 9; Wrong/Fictitious/Altered/Obscure Vehicle Registration, 11; Other, 286.
• Total number of dispositions for the year 2010 – 3,053.
• Total amount of fines and court costs assessed – $1,463,573.90
• Number of Individuals sentenced to the Henderson County Jail – 1,163.
• Number of Individuals who have had their probation revoked and were sentenced to the Henderson County Jail – 124.
• Amount of money collected & returned to merchants by the Hot Check Division – $211,707.72.

High School Art Show opens at The Library at Cedar Creek Lake
Monitor Staff Reports
SEVEN POINTS–For the third year, student artists from all four area high schools participated in the High School Art Show Jan. 9.
Hosted by The Library of Cedar Creek Lake, the show gives attention to art and brings the community together.
About 75 students participated, with each school providing an outside judge to score the entries.
The library provided one judge to tabulate the scores and rank the top five entries from each school.

Monitor Photo/Pearl Cantrell
Library visitors view artwork from Kemp High School on the west wall of the community room Jan. 9 for the start of the third annual High School Art Show. Refreshments were also served.
The top five won special recognition with placement ribbons and all others were awarded participant ribbons.
“Every year we expect and have seen improvement in the quality of art work submitted,” library representative Elian Haan said.
“The show is designed to bring more art to the community from the community for friendly competition and recognition,” she added.
The artwork remains on display in the community room through the end of January.
This year’s top scorers are:
Eustace High School
• Trey Russel
• Irene Mendez
• Seth Purselly
• Ben Parks
• Aaron Shugart
Kemp High School
• Silas Shumway
• Hailey Houston
• Constance Wiggins
• Heather Starks
• Devron Smith
Mabank High School
• Savanah Owen, who also took Best of Show honors. (See page 4A of the Jan. 16 issue of The Monitor)
• Taylor Yates
• Emily Sparks
• Hannah Thai
• Kelly Crawford
Malakoff High School
• Gina Cook (1st and 2nd place)
• Guadalupe Salazar
• Yasmin Cruz
• Maria Garcia