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ID kits to be distributed by
Sheriff’s Association
Special to The Monitor
ATHENS–The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office is alerting
citizens of two up coming items of interest.
The Sheriff’s Association of Texas has joined efforts with the American
Football Coaches Association, FBI’s National Child Identification
Program, Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) and Gov. Rick
Perry to provide ID kits to all Texas children, grades K-6.
This initiative will reach over 2 million Texas children, the fourth
largest ID kit
distribution in U.S. history.
With the help of Texas sheriffs and superintendents, ID kits will be
distributed through the public school systems and sheriff offices.
Students enrolled in the public school system in grades K-6 will receive
an ID kit through their superintendent.
Each Sheriff in Texas will also receive 600 kits to be handed out on a
first come, first serve basis to children who fall outside of the K-6
age range or do not attend public school.
Each kit contains an inkless fingerprinting card, DNA swab and
preservation envelope, and a wallet card.
All information can be completed by a parent or guardian and stored at
home.
In the event of an emergency, the ID kit can be handed over to
authorities to help locate a missing child.
Additionally, invitations to become associated members of the Sheriff’s
Association of Texas will soon be mailed to Henderson County citizens.
The funds generated from such memberships provide critically-needed
technical resources, training and legislative support on key criminal
justice issues.
Dues are used to support
crime prevention and awareness programs, promote public safety, fight
drug abuse, provide additional training for sheriffs and their deputies,
and provide scholarships for children of law enforcement officers.
“The Associated Membership Program was created to provide citizens with
an opportunity to lend support to more effective law enforcement, and to
better help local sheriffs protect the lives and property of citizens,”
Sheriff JR “Ronny” Brownlow said.
“It provides funding which is vital to our mission in making our
communities safer places to live, work and play,” he said.
“I encourage every citizen receiving a membership appeal to consider
joining forces with us by becoming an associate member,” Brownlow added.
Contributions are tax-deductible. The Sheriff’s Association of Texas
does not make solicitations by telephone.
If you receive a phone call from someone who uses the Sheriff’s
Association of Texas name, please report it to your local Sheriff or
County/District Attorney.
County surpasses United Way goal
By Barbara Gartman
Monitor Staff Writer
ATHENS–Henderson County leaders and citizens gathered at Athens Country
Club Wednesday for an awards banquet recognizing the accomplishments of
the 2006 United Way volunteers.
The number one accomplishment was meeting and exceeding, the goal of
$181,000.
Those present were excited to hear the final total was $200,531.
The western end of the county held up its share of the work as Solar
Turbines of Mabank was named Top Contributor.
The Volunteer of the Year honor went to Ralph Monroe of Johnson Monroe
Realtors.
Citizenship Awards were presented to 17 businesses and individuals
including Mabank’s Central and Southside elementary schools. McAtee
Realty, Sue Stalcup and Tri-County Ford.
The Leadership Award was earned by 11 companies and citizens with Dr.
Mark Roberts, First State Bank-Mabank and Mabank High School among those
honored.
Gold Awards were presented to 14 individual businesses, including First
State Bank of Mabank and of Malakoff, Mabank’s Lakeview Elementary and
Johnson Monroe Realty.
Cedar Creek Lake Library
honors a veteran volunteer
Special to The Monitor
SEVEN POINTS–Initiated by volunteers, The Library at Cedar Creek Lake
continues to rely heavily on volunteers for its daily operations.
The Library Board, the Endowment Board, the Best Friends Board, all made
up of volunteers, are vital contributors to the library
In addition, countless volunteer hours are worked day in and day out in
a variety of ways, often behind the scenes, to ensure the smooth running
of the library.
The library continues to seek and train volunteers of all ages. The
Library recognizes their contributions through its Volunteer of the
Month and Volunteer of the Year awards.
During the week of Thanksgiving, the Best Friends organize a
thanksgiving luncheon to honor the volunteers.
Last week, the library honored Friends Board president Sue Brown, who
has served the library in many capacities over the years.
In recognition of her years of invaluable and distinguished service
Brown was awarded the designation “Best Friend of the Library”
Library seeks donations
As an independent, non-profit corporation, The Library at Cedar Creek
Lake is greatly supported by the donations of individuals, charitable
organizations and businesses.
Donations come in various forms: cash, books, sponsorships, CDs, DVDs,
portraits and other items.
These items are processed and added to the collection.
Duplicates received are sold.
Art works and other gifts may be auctioned or raffled off to raise
additional operating funds for the library.
[The city of Seven Points provides monthly utility and mortgage
payments, and maintains the building.]
Daily, scores and sometimes hundreds of used books are received.
Residents in all lake communities are encouraged to donate to the
library.
Last week, library friends Gil and Johnetta Betts donated $3,645 to the
library to match funds The Friends of the Library raised last summer.
The library needs the following: rotating island book display ($795),
48-inch book shelves ($370) mobile PC stations ($90), laptop computers
($650, each) book shelves ($2,500), magazine rack ($100); floor rack
($415), and office chair ($125).
Literacy and GED
The library continues to emphasize literacy and GED programs.
This is a free service of the library. Therefore, people of all ages who
need to learn to read and write and pass their GED are encouraged to
seek the help of volunteers who teach these classes.
The Greater Cedar Creek Area Literacy Council, which meets monthly at
the library (next meeting is 11:30 a.m. March 15) promotes literacy
education in all its forms, including health and nutrition, reading,
writing and computing, as well as, financial literacy.
Pet Talk
Help! My puppy is biting me!
By Joan Guertin
Special to The Monitor
CEDAR CREEK LAKE–Puppies are cute, cuddly and charming playmates.
However, puppies are endowed with a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth
that are capable of leaving tears and rips in tender flesh.
Why do puppies bite our hands and arms?
In the beginning, very young nursing puppies will mistake your fingers
for nipples, and they grab, looking for dinner.
Later, when the owner has swatted the pup or pushed it away to avoid a
nip, it becomes a game and a source of attention.
Negative or positive attention, puppies will continue any behavior that
gets it the attention it craves. It is called self-rewarding behavior.
It will continue until we change that behavior.
Unfortunately, the way most people deal with this situation is through
aggressive punishment.
Since aggression breeds aggression, this method is seldom, if ever,
productive. It only makes the puppy more fierce and can often lead to
serious biting problems.
It also builds distrust of a person’s hands. Once trust is shattered, it
is very difficult to re-establish. This is one reason, many people have
difficulty getting their pets to come to them when called.
Another reason puppies indulge in heavy mouth play is because owners
play aggressive games such as tug-a-war.
Or grab toys away from the pup. It teaches the pup how to fight for what
it wants.
The pup is out to win and getting the owner to drop a tug toy to avoid
coming too close to flashing teeth leads to victory for the pup and
teaches the pup that flashing teeth keeps the humans in line.
The first playmates pup tussled with were mom and litter mates. They
learned to play hard. But they also learned “bite inhibition”.
This is the natural understanding that there are consequences when one
bites too hard. Your sister or brother will yelp or cry and then they
either run away and won’t play with you or they will yelp and turn
around and jump on you and bite you harder! This lesson is generally
learned sometime around 5 to 8 weeks of age.
My recommendation to people looking for a new puppy is not to separate
any of the litter mates until at least eight and preferably 10 weeks of
age.
By then momma dog has naturally weaned the litter which means she has
taught the pups that dinner now comes in a bowl and not directly from
momma. And, by then the puppies have taught each other the consequences
of biting each other too hard.
The next time a puppy tries to play too hard and begins biting, try
yelping like a hurt pup and see if the biting puppy will stop and listen
to you.
When it stops the biting, have a toy to replace your hand in the pups
mouth. Teach puppies to chew on appropriate things.
Puppies are babies, and they need lots of rest so they can grow. A tired
puppy is like a tired child. It will often become cranky.
One of the worst times to play with a child or pup is when they are
tired.
A crate makes a handy napping place. Give the puppy a treat when going
into the crate and after its nap, it will be a lot more fun to play
with.
Also, puppies have very short attention spans. Change the game often to
keep its attention.
Reward the behaviors you want to encourage. Ignore the negative
behaviors. Do not physically punish!
The trust factor is very fragile. Nurture it!
If the puppy gets grabby with its toys, teach a “drop it” by blowing a
puff of breath into the pups face until it drops the toy, or spray in
the fact with a stream of plain water.
It won’t take long for the pup to learn the wisdom of letting you be in
charge of all games.
Above all, be very gentle and patient with your puppy. Harsh
corrections, pain and fear aren’t the ways to build a relationship that
makes the family dog, man’s best friend.
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