|
|
|
Tea is served
Monitor Photo/Mary Landrie
Guest speaker Jim Templin, dressed as George Washington, proudly holds the
American flag at the annual George Washington Tea held Wednesday at The
Library at Cedar Creek Lake. Templin presented to guests “Washington’s
Crossings.” The afternoon tea also congratulated American History Essay
winners Hunter Strebeck and Natalie Tovar, American History Teachers Award
winner Howard Jones, and DAR Good Citizens Award winner Erin Cox.
‘Old Jail’ gets new name
By Barbara Gartman
Monitor Staff Writer
KAUFMAN–Kaufman County’s “Old Jail” is now called the South Campus.
An open house for the new building was held Thursday afternoon.
Local dignitaries and citizens toured the building, looking at the change
from a jail to an office building.
With a lot of work and a lot of planning, mostly by Marion Porter, the
building houses 23 offices and one courtroom.
The courtroom will be shared by Child Protective Services, and for a short
time by Judge David Lewis on Attorney General cases.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Jerry Rowden filled in for County Judge Wayne Gent,
who was in Austin. Rowden said the project was a cooperative one, as
everyone pitched in to get the work completed quickly and as cheaply as
possible.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Kenneth Schoen brought a crew up to do the tape and
bedding, and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Deller’s crew finished the parking
lots.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Ray Clark furnished a crew for various projects,
while the sheriff furnished trustys to provide $140,000 worth of labor.
“That’s the upside. The downside is this building will only suffice for a
year. We are expecting to get a new district court in 2008. We are not ahead
(spacewise). We are just barely staying even,” Rowden said.
Porter, Terrell retiree and volunteer extraordinaire, kept three to 11
trustys working at any one time.
Requirements for the new building included a sprinkler system and smoke
detector system, air conditioning controls in each office and new carpeting.
Monitor Photo/Barbara Gartman
Kaufman County Precinct 3 Commissioner Kenneth Schoen (second from left)
tours the new South Campus offices and courtroom with other visitors during
an open house Thursday.
Daylight Savings Time begins March
11
Monitor Staff Reports
CEDAR CREEK LAKE– It’s that time of year to think about the time
change that will put us one hour ahead. Especially this year.
Traditionally, those on Standard Time have changed to Daylight Savings Time
on the first Sunday in April, but that changed after the passage of the
Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Now, 2 a.m. on second Sunday in March is when Standard Time “springs
forward” to Daylight Saving Time.
This change is going to be more than a minor adjustment, because computer
programing installed before 2005 will be set up to change the computer’s
clock in April.
The potential glitch is being loosely compared to the Y2K crisis, when it
was predicted many computers would interpret the year 2000 as 1900. As it
turned out, nothing much happened.
The problem won’t just affect computers, but also non-networked devices that
store the time and automatically adjust for DST, like some digital watches
and clocks.
However, it will also affect security systems, time stamps and access
control systems, a blog on FacilitiesNet warned.
General managers should consider checking fire panels, automatic transfer
switches, generator control systems, and security and monitoring systems
running on a commercial computer operating system.
Timed money payments or transfers may also be affected at banks and other
financial institutions.
“Organizations could face significant losses, if they are not prepared,” the
Information Technology Association of America cautioned this week.
“It is hard to know how widespread the problem will be,” said Dave Thewlis,
who represents a consortium that develops technology standards for calendar
and scheduling software. |