People, Places & Events

KEMP–Kemp’s Pee Wee Cheerleaders won a national championship last weekend at the Garlands Spirit Celebration National Finals.
Kemp fans also won Most Spirited Fans at the competition behind the efforts of top fan Gary Payne and his crew, who provided funds to help the cheerleaders compete.
Last weekend’s championship was the third straight competition for the Kemp Pee Wee cheerleaders to walk away with the top prize, as they won first place at the Jam Fest Nationals in Shreveport Feb. 9-10, and previously won first place at a competition in Denton.

Courtesy Photo
Members of the Kemp Pee Wee Cheerleaders pose for a group photo prior to winning a national championship at the Garlands Spirit Celebration National Finals.

Made up of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade girls, the Pee Wee cheerleaders have shown top-notch talent, power tumbling and have mastered high-point stunts.
Capt. Bree Weisinger, a sixth-grader, leads the squad, along with co-captains Maria Galvez and Cescilie Nicholson, both fifth-graders.
Team members are Kelsey Lamb, Taylor Gwen, Ashley Reid, Destinee Dowd, Zoey Gibson, Kourtney Hazelip, Shelby Welch, Alyssa Olivarez, Emilee Weisinger, Allie Hall, Morgan Lynch and Lucy Anderson.
The girls are coached by Becki Gallagaher, and most of them tumble at “For My Team,” owned and directed by Shannon Kemp.
Team members and sponsors offer special thanks to Gallagaher for her hard work and the way she uses positive and encouraging words to push the girls to become the best they can be.
 

Leap Year Day dinner benefits childcare center
Monitor Photos by Pearl Cantrell

Monitor Photo/Pearl Cantrell
Robbye (left) and Bill Grissom, formerly of Wings in Seven Points, gather with family members Mandie (second from left) and Tim Spencer (center) and Karen and Richard Spencer at the Cedar Creek United Methodist Church in Tool at a benefit for the community childcare program Friday. Benefit architect Karen Spencer thought of having the jazz band as a draw, because her grandson, Jessie, is in it.

Monitor Photo/Pearl Cantrell
The MHS jazz band, under the direction of Denise Kennedy (center), played such jazz standards as "Summer Time" to an appreciative crowd not shy about getting to their feet during a fund-raiser Friday in Tool.

Monitor Photo/Pearl Cantrell
A well-attended dinner crowd enjoyed cutting a rug to familiar jazz favorites as performed by the Mabank High School jazz band Friday in Tool to benefit a community childcare program hosted by the Cedar Creek United Methodist Church.

Monitor Photo/Pearl Cantrell
Jessie Spencer jams on the electric bass.

Monitor Photo/Pearl Cantrell
Harry Noble (left) gets another slice of pork tenderloin to put on a glass plate for his wife Honey (right) to serve, while Harry Fife (center) and Gary Miller add rosemary-roasted potatoes and braised vegetables. At the formal set dinner tables, a dish of wild greens is set with a slice of cheesecake.

VZ Commissioners pursue bond issue for roads, building
By Terry Britt
Monitor Staff Writer
CANTON–Van Zandt County Commissioners voted to pursue a bond that will include about $6 million for major renovations and upgrading of county roads in all four precincts.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to start the process for $6,250,000 in certificates of obligation. Also included in that amount is money for a future offices and a court building in Wills Point, which would be built in conjunction with the City of Wills Point.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Ron Carroll opposed the move, after stating his discomfort with the court pursuing that amount of money on its own.
“When we start talking about six or seven million, I feel we need to go to the voters on it,” he said early in the discussion, Feb. 26.
However, Precinct 3 Commissioner Kelles Miller noted that rejection of a road bond — the election would not even take place until November — would mean a two-year wait before it could be pursued again.
“If you don’t put it (bond money) into the roads, you can forget about it. We can go along and just maintain what we’ve got the best we can, but they will never get better. And pretty soon, we’ll be back where we were,” Miller said.
Government Capital Securities representative Mike Brown presented commissioners data based on a 15-year or 20-year repayment plan. Later in the discussion, Brown noted that $6 million would mean about a $20-per-year county tax increase for a property valued at $100,000.
“We’ve got people in the county who would scream over that,” Carroll said.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Ricky LaPrade lamented the rapid rise in cost of road materials in the past decade eating into the amount of roadwork that could be done with money in the maintenance and operation budget.
On the bond issue, LaPrade said, “I think people living in the cities and on state roads won’t vote for it.”
“What I disagree with is the amount,” Carroll replied. “I’m not saying not to do a road bond, but to do a little one, come back in three years and do another one.”
The court will consider an intent to issue bonds in an upcoming court session after Brown returns with issuance costs. Published notices for a public hearing will be required and the court must wait 30 days after the first published notice before it can approve a bond package.
Brown advised the court pursue a bond package to cover both road and bridge projects along with the county’s portion of the municipal/county building project in Wills Point.
“Issuance costs can be high, so to look at one amount that will cover both areas can save you paying a second issuance cost. It doesn’t matter if it is for $100,000 or $1 million,” he said.
Brown also warned that long-term interest rates were going up. “Even though the federal rates have recently dropped, the long-term rates are affected negatively, and they are inching upward,” he said.