Animal Friends benefit
The Friends of the Animals Spay/Neuter Clinic is offering a signed, dated print of a Cheyenne chief by painter Robert Lindneux, estimated to be worth more than $300. Call (903) 451-4701 for information.
Proceeds benefit the Friends Clinic.

Kemp band fundraiser
A multi-family barn/garage sale (hosted by Kemp band parents) will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday (today) and Friday, March 18, at 5801 Cedar Creek Drive, located 3.3 miles south of Kemp on SH 274 – follow the signs.
For information call (903) 498-6800.

Master Gardener is ‘in’
The Henderson County Master Gardeners will be available to answer questions by phone during March, April and May. Call the AgriLife Extension Office between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at (903) 675-6130, and ask for your Master Gardener.

McDade’s open house
McDade’s Nursery is celebrating its the “beginning of Spring in the garden” with an open house and plant sale from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday-Saturday, March 18-19, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 20.
Free chili dogs and drinks from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. plus $50 in door prizes daily.

49ers St. Patrick’s
The Cedar Creek 49ers St. Patrick’s Day Celebration is from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday (tonight and every Thursday), dancing to the music of Chuck & the 49ers. No smoking or alcohol. Donation at the door. Located two blocks south on Arnold Hills Road, off SH 334, Seven Points. For information, phone or fax to (903) 432-3552.

Grief counseling meeting
Restoration House Ministry is hosting grief counseling meetings at 6 p.m. Thursday (tonight) and March 24 (first, third and fourth Thursdays of each month). All in need of healing are welcome, as grief comes in many forms – death, divorce, separation or a major change. For information call Pastor Barker at (903) 887-4881, or the Rev. Kathey Floyd at (903) 880-9692.

Canton country dance
A country dance, featuring the music of Al Barlow and the Lakesiders Band, is set for 7 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, March 18, at the Canton Senior Center, 200 Grove Street, Canton. For information call (903) 489-3396.

ET Riders playday
The East Texas Riders Playday is set for 3 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at CR 4029, Kemp. For directions or information, contact Diana Clemmo at (214) 534-4067 or Facebook, East Texas Riders Newsletter.

Masonic blood drive
The Cedar Creek Lake Masonic Lodge No. 1431 is hosting a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at the GBC Walmart, benefitting the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. The Carter BloodCare mobile unit will be in the parking lot. For information call Steve Herrick at (903) 451-4309.

American Legion dinner
The American Legion’s annual corned beef and cabbage dinner is set for 5 to 7 p.m., or until the food is gone, Saturday, March 19, at Legion Post No. 310, on SH 198 in GBC.

Rootseekers Society
The Rootseekers Genealogical Society meets at 7 p.m. Monday, March 21, at Tri-County Library, downtown Mabank. Meetings open to the public. Attendant is available from 9:30 a.m. to noon Tuesdays in the genealogy room for those researching their ancestry.

CCL Women’s Club
The Cedar Creek Lake Women’s Club meets at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 22, at the Cedar Creek Country Club. Judy Truesdale previews her book, “Late Morning Laugh.” Doors open at 10:30 a.m.

HC livestock show
The annual Henderson County Livestock Show is set for Monday through Saturday, March 21-26, at the Henderson County Fair Park Complex in Athens.

Budget discussion
Congressman Jeb Hensarling will discuss the nation’s budget deficit and the recent actions to cut deficit spending at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 23, at Mabank City Hall, 123 E. Market Street, Mabank.

CCL Literary Club
The Literary Club of Cedar Creek Lake is hosting its bridge and luncheon benefit at 9 a.m. (doors open) Thursday, March 24, at Cedar Creek Lake United Methodist Church, Will White Road and Old Indian Trail, Tool. All proceeds benefit The Library at Cedar Creek Lake, Seven Points. For information call Jeanie Hulsey at (903) 432-3341 or Ruth Pimm at (903) 778-4752.

Kiwanis Pancake Day
The Cedar Creek Lake Kiwanis club will hold its annual Pancake Day fundraiser from 6 to 11 a.m. Thursday, March 24. Breakfast includes pancakes, bacon, sausage, syrup and butter for a small donation. Delivery to businesses available (minimum three orders) after 7 a.m. Fax orders to (903) 432-2415 no later than 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 23. Dine-in at St. Peter Lutheran (next to Pizza Hut) in GBC.

American Legion benefit
The American Legion Auxiliary is serving Kathy’s beef tips and noodles, cornbread and desserts from 5 p.m. until gone, Friday, March 25, at Post 310. Proceeds benefit area children and youth activities, including scholarships and Girls State.

Masonic breakfast
The Cedar Creek Lake Masonic Lodge No. 1431 is hosting a pancake breakfast with pancakes, sausage, bacon, coffee and orange juice from 7 to 11 a.m. Saturday, March 26, at the lodge at 402 Legendary Lane, GBC, next to the water tower. Donation for all you can eat. For information call (903) 887-2333 or (903) 340-5958.

Kemp Spring Festival
The Kemp Business & Civic Association is sponsoring a Spring Festival at Kemp City Park. The park opens at 1 p.m. with a parade at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 26. Booths available. For information contact Diana Clemmo at (214) 534-4067 and Facebook East Texas Riders Newsletter.

Appraisal Fair
The Cedar Creek Civic League’s seventh annual Appraisal Fair is set for 9 a.m. Saturday, March 26, in the Family Life Center, First United Methodist Church, Mabank. The Antique Road Show-type event features two popular appraisers from the Dallas area. Tickets are available from Civic League members, and at Bluebonnet Emporium and Old Friends Antiques. For tickets and information on costs, contact Susan Thomas at (903) 887-0818 or Noma Parkhouse at (903) 778-4177.

CCL Garden Club
The executive board of the Cedar Creek Lake Garden Club meets at 1:30 p.m. Monday, March 28, in the home of Judy Sullivan. For information call (903) 498-6544.

CC Civic League
The Cedar Creek Civic League meets at 1:30 p.m. Monday, March 28, at Tri-County Library, Mabank. Project is Meals on Wheels. Guests welcome. For information call Joyce at (451) 3229.

Merchant Fraud info
A merchant fraud training session is set for 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday, March 31, at the Trinity Valley Community College Student Union Building. The event is free to all businesses, merchants and employees, sponsored by the Henderson County District Attorney and County Attorney’s offices and the Athens Police Department. Topics cover counterfeit money, hot checks, fraud, credit cards and more. RSVP to County Attorney Clint Davis at (903) 675-6112 or e-mail to cdavis@co.henderson.tx.us  by March 15.

Weed ID program
Program on learning “When to Pull or Not to Pull,” will be presented by Kaufman County Master Gardeners at 9 a.m. Monday, April 4, at First Community Church, 1401 Trinity Drive, Crandall. Refreshments provided. Business meeting follows the presentation. For information or handicapped accommodations, call the KC AgriLife Extension Office at (972) 932-9069.

PS Fire Rescue benefit
The annual all-you-can-eat fish fry benefitting the Payne Springs Fire Rescue is set for 6 p.m. Saturday, April 9. A 2007 Harley Davidson FX/ST is a part of the fundraiser. View pictures at www.psfirerescue.com.  For information, call the fire station at (903) 451-4511 and leave a message.

Free skating
Cedar Creek Bible Church is hosting free skating from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Fridays in March and the first two weeks of April for children ages 4 to sixth grade. Parents may drop off their children. Skates are free, along with sodas, popcorn, hot chocolate and snow cones. The church is located one mile north of the Seven Points traffic light on SH 274. For information call the church at (903) 432-2175.

Free tax help
Free tax help is available at Tri-County Library, Mabank, with Peggy Rogers, VITA. Rogers worked for the IRS for many years and keeps up with current changes. Call the library at (903) 887-9622, leaving name, local phone number (calls from cells with long distance numbers will not be returned), and the best time for her to return your call to set up an appointment.

AARP free tax help
AARP free tax services will be available from 8 a.m. to noon through Wednesday, April 13, at the following locations – Fridays at the Henderson County Senior Center, Athens, Mondays at The Library at Cedar Creek Lake, Seven Points, and Wednesdays at the Senior Citizens Center, Malakoff. For information call (903) 778-2423.

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Ceremony recalls soldier
By Kerry Yancey
Monitor Staff Reports
PAYNE SPRINGS–A ceremony of remembrance Saturday recalled the life of an old soldier who died more than 100 years ago, but lived through America’s bloodiest conflict – the Civil War.
April 12 marks the 150th anniversary of the start of that conflict, which literally pitted brother against brother and father against son.
Monitor Photo/Kerry Yancey
Regimental Orderly Sgt. Blair Rudy hangs a canteen and haversack on a musket with fixed bayonet, with a knapsack below, all leaning on the tombstone of Civil War veteran Milton B. Carroll in the Payne Springs Cemetery.

So many men died in the four-year war – an estimated 620,000, although some estimates range as high as 700,000 – that 30 percent of all Southern men aged 18 to 40 were casualties and about 10 percent of all Northern men aged 20 to 45 were casualties.
Of these, more than two-thirds (an estimated 414,000-plus) died of disease, not in battle.
Resting in the Payne Springs Cemetery is Pvt. Milton B. Carroll, who served in Company K, 97th Illinois Regiment of Infantry.
A Tyler-area man, Michael Everheart, provides tombstones for Confederate soldiers, and obtained Carroll’s headstone more than a decade ago.
Carroll (April 15, 1840-Dec. 16, 1903) was a descendent of Everheart’s wife’s family, Drake Peddie explained.
“He (Everheart) and I are both in the Sons of the American Revolution, and I’m in the Sons of Union Veterans (Everheart is in the matching group, Sons of Confederate Veterans),” Peddie said. “I told him, you get the stone, and we’ll take care of it.”

Monitor Photo/Kerry Yancey
Harold Stickler checks the position of a Union soldier's brass belt buckle on the tombstone of Civil War veteran Milton B. Carroll. Stickler added the buckle and a plaque noting Carroll's service in the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) as a member of the K Company, 97th Illinois Regiment of Infantry.

Peddie, Harold Stickler, Don Sielert, Charles Sprague, Brook Thomas and Blair Rudy are all members of the Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth Camp No. 18 of the Sons of Union Veterans, headquartered in McKinney.
The six men, dressed in authentic Union uniforms and carrying reproductions of Union arms and accoutrements, drove from McKinney to hold Saturday’s noon ceremony at the Payne Springs Cemetery.
The men carried reproductions of the 1853 Enfield rifled musket and the 1861 Springfield rifled musket. Both were .58-caliber percussion-cap muzzle-loaders, and would have been carried by soldiers in both the Union and Confederate armies.
Rudy pointed out the flags they carried were exact copies – hand-painted silk.
Stickler, who led the ceremony, said he and the others do similar ceremonies at Union veterans gravesites whenever possible.
“If we see a Confederate monument that’s deteriorating, we contact the Sons of Confederate Veterans and let them know,” Stickler said.
When Everheart was placing Carroll’s stone, he realized it read “CSA,” or Confederate States of America, not “GAR,” or Grand Army of the Republic.
“He said he realized there weren’t many Illinois units in the Confederate army,” Peddie said.
Holding up a brass belt buckle, Stickler said the buckle would have been part of Carroll’s Union uniform. He cemented the buckle on the stone, covering up the CSA engraving.
Stickler also cemented a Grand Army of the Republic medallion, noting Union service, onto Carroll’s headstone.
Carroll mustered into K Company Sept. 8, 1862, at age 28. He was 5-10, had red hair and blue eyes, and was a married farmer born in Ohio.
The Illinois 97th marched to Covington, Ky., where it joined the army that marched south to relieve a Federal column at Cumberland Gap.
The 97th became a part of the Union forces involved in the battle of Vicksburg (Miss.), and saw its full share of battle at Port Gibson.
“At the fierce battle of Champion’s Hill, the regiment had the not very pleasant duty of being the target for the Confederate artillery for at least two hours, at a distance of not over 800 yards,” Sprague read from Carroll’s biography.
“In short, from May 19 to July 4, the 97th accomplished its full share of the great work, and for 45 consecutive days remained by day and by night exposed to the most destructive fire,” Sprague read.
Later the 97th moved farther down the Mississippi River and took part in the siege of Fort Blakely. The 97th led the charge that took the fort, but in the process lost 80 killed or wounded.

Monitor Photos/Kerry Yancey
On command, members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, E.E. Ellsworth Camp No. 18, fire their muskets in salute to honor Civil War veteran Milton B. Carroll during a noon ceremony in the Payne Springs Cemetery Saturday. INSET: Milton B. Carroll's marker now notes his Civil War service as a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.

The regiment later traveled to Galveston, where it was mustered out July 29, 1865. Members of the regiment made their way home up the Mississippi through New Orleans and up to East St. Louis.
“As we remember Milton B. Carroll, let us cherish his example as a patriot and defender of those principles that he believed to be right,” Stickler read during the ceremony.
Sprague, Sielert, Thomas and Rudy placed a wreath of red, white and blue flowers on the grave, along with a single red rose, a laurel leaf and an American flag. A musket with fixed bayonet, with a canteen and haversack hanging from it, along with a knapsack, was placed against the monument.
Peddie, Sielert, Thomas and Rudy fired three volleys in salute to end the ceremony.
 

Kemp council, P&Z, EDC join forces
By Barbara Gartman
Monitor Staff Writer
KEMP–Looking at the property along U.S. Highway 175 and State Highway 274, Kemp Mayor Matt Ganssle asked what people thought it should be used for.
Members of the Planning & Zoning committee, the Economic Development Corporation and the Kemp City Council gathered during the regular March 8 council meeting for a general planning session.
All three organizations agreed the area should be saved for retail establishments.
“But what can we do to make it happen?” Ganssle asked.
Several ongoing problems were aired by various individuals, including utilities, road access and streets and the shabby buildings downtown.
“Sales is all about perception,” EDC board member Andy Hadley said. “I am concerned about the unpainted, run-down condition of many buildings downtown.”
The possibility of demolishing buildings that could not be brought up to code was mentioned, as was the fact the city had no money for that purpose.
Someone asked city attorney Terry Welch if EDC money could be used to pay for getting rid of some of the old buildings.
That does fall within the general EDC guidelines of attracting tourists and business, Welch said.
The city is attracting interest in other locations, EDC president Billy Teel Jr. said.
The Dallas EDC has a website with boxes for outlying EDCs, and one of the boxes is Kemp.
“In the month of January the (Kemp) box received 65 hits. In February, there were 113 hits,” Teel said.
He said the hits represented people and businesses that could be looking to relocate to the area. Teel pointed out businesses don’t always advertise the fact they are planning a move until they are ready.
“We just need to get out there and hustle,” councilwoman Barbara McFaul said.
“A past survey showed that a high percentage of people shopping in Seven Points are from Kemp,” EDC member Diana Clemmo said.
“Well, whatever is the next big project, make it a priority,” Ganssle advised.
The discussion then switched to the roles the P&Z, EDC and city are to play in the coming future.
“Does the EDC share logos and such with the city?” Hadley asked. “I think we should share what we can, but at the same time, we have to keep our separate identities.”
“It is the consensus of the council that we remain separate,” the mayor said, adding “we have an awesome EDC now.”
“We compliment each other,” McFaul said.
The group as a whole agreed now was the time to construct a packet of information concerning Kemp’s attributes and seek out new businesses, especially a grocery chain.
In other business, council members:
• called the regular city election for Saturday, May 14. The positions to be filled are the mayor’s seat and two council seats – Place 2 (now held by Jerry Hazlip) and Place 4 (now held by McFaul).
• approved a resolution to open a bank account for money realized from the sale of certificates of obligation, series 2011, and designating the signatories for the account.
• heard the municipal court report for February as presented by municipal judge Regina Kiser.
She commended the police department for their work.
“They have been busy and issued a lot of warrants, generating more income for the city,” she said.
The total revenue collected for February was $22,100.59.
• heard the police report from Chief Richard Clemmo.
The department issued 84 citations for February, he said.
Clemmo was commended for work he is doing on grant writing for the city and for cost savings on phone service.
• heard the Kemp Business & Civic Association’s Spring Festival is set for Saturday, March 26, in the city park.
The park opens at 1 p.m. and the parade begins at 3 p.m.