People, Places & Events

People, Places & Events

Lake Area
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East Cedar Creek Freshwater Supply District meets at 12:30 p.m. the third Wednesday of each month at the ECCFSD office on Hammer Road just off Welch Lane in Gun Barrel City.
Eustace City Council meets at 7 p.m. in the Eustace City Hall the first Thursday of each month. For more information, please call 425-4702. The public is invited to attend.
Eustace Independent School District meets at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month at the Eustace High School Library. For more information, please call 425-7131. The public is invited to attend.
Gun Barrel City Council meets in Brawner Hall at 6 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. For more information, please call 887-1087. The public is invited to attend.
Gun Barrel City Economic Development Corporation meets at 1831 W. Main, GBC, at 6 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month. For more information, please call 887-1899.
Henderson County Commissioner’s Court meets the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 9 a.m. in the Henderson County Courthouse in Athens. The public is invited to attend.
Henderson County Emergency Services District #4 meets at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month at 525 S. Tool Dr. in Tool.
Henderson County Historical Commission meets the first Wednesday of each month at 1 p.m. in the HC Historical Museum.
Kaufman County Commissioner’s Court meets the first, second, third and fourth Monday of each month at 9:45 a.m. in the Kaufman County Courthouse in Kaufman. The public is invited to attend.
Kemp City Council meets at Kemp City Hall at 7 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month. For more information, please call 498-3191. The public is invited to attend.
Kemp Independent School District meets the third Tuesday of each month in the Board Room in the Administration Building. For more information, please call 498-1314. The public is invited to attend.
Log Cabin City Council meets the third Thursday of the month in city hall. For more information, please call 489-2195. The public is invited to attend.
Mabank City Council meets at 7 p.m. in Mabank City Hall the first Tuesday of each month. For more information, please call 887-3241. The public is invited to attend.
Mabank Independent School District meets at 7:30 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month. For more information, please call 887-9310. The public is invited to attend.
Payne Springs City Council meets at city hall at 7:30 p.m. every third Tuesday of each month. For more information, please call 451-9229. The public is invited to attend.
Payne Springs Water Supply Corp. meets the third Tuesday of each month at 1 p.m. at the Payne Springs Community Center, located at 9690 Hwy. 198.
Seven Points City Council meets at 7 p.m. in Seven Points city hall the second Tuesday of each month. For more information, please call 432-3176. The public is invited to attend.
Tool City Council meets at 6 p.m. in the OranWhite Civic Center the third Thursday of each month. For more information, please call 432-3522. The public is invited to attend.
West Cedar Creek Municipal Utility District is held at 5 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month. For more information, please call 432-3704. The public is invited.

Activities and new books at the Tri-County Library
Special to The Monitor
MABANK–Kiwanis Story Time is happening again at Tri-County Library on noon Saturday, Dec. 12.
All children age 4 and up are encouraged to come and enjoy this wonderful time.
This story time is usually on each first Saturday of the month, but because of the Parade of Homes on that Saturday, this month it was changed.
The Parade of Homes was a great experience for those who participated Dec. 5.
Everyone was in awe at the beautiful way the homes were decorated.
Our library cat, “Whisper” had a wonderful vacation with her cat friends at Kay McAdams during Thanksgiving.
She did have a moment of hesitation when she met Kay’s dog for the first time.
He is not usually inside but was on this occasion.
Being the sweet-natured cat that she is, she soon made friends.
“He was so much bigger than my kitty friends,” she said.
The Christmas tree is going up at the library.
“I remember they did this last year when I was really little. It was so much fun to play with those shiny things they hung on it and to jump up in the middle of it and climb around inside it. They always made me get out. I think I am going to have some fun again this year. They won’t be here at night, “Whisper” said.
New fictions are “Ford County Stories,” by John Grisham, “I, Alex Cross,” by James Patterson, “Kindred in Death,” by J.D. Robb, “U Is For Undertow,” by Sue Grafton, “Rainwater,” by Sandra Brown, “House of Reckoning,” by John Saul, “Lacuna,” by Barbara Kingsolver, “Under the Dome,” by Stephen King, “The Children’s Book,” by A. S. Byatt, “Quilters’ Holiday,” by Jennifer Chiaverini, “Knit the Season,” by Kate Jacobs, “Last Night in Twisted River,” by John Irving and “Unhallowed Ground,” by Heather Graham.
New books on CD are “The Christmas Secret,” Shades of Twilight,” “The Box, You Are the Experiment,” “Side Effects” and “Fat Cat.”
Nonfiction books are “Cowboy and Wills, A Love Story,” by Monica Holloway, “Head of Household Money Management,” by Kara Stefan, “Letters From Dad,” by Greg Vaughn, “Molly Ivins, A Rebel Life,” by Bill Minutaglio, “Notes Left Behind,” by Brooke Desserich, and “What the Dog Saw,” by Malcolm Caldwell.
For the younger crowd, we have several new Cirque Du Freak books by Darren Shan and some new ones for the very young ones, including a children’s version of “The Christmas Sweater,” by Glenn Beck.
Tri-County Library is located at 132 E. Market St. in Mabank.
Some say they did not know Mabank had a library.
Visit us and our web site, www.tricountylibrary.org. Phone (903) 887-9622.

Crime prevention tips for the holiday
Special to The Monitor
KAUFMAN–The holidays are a special time of year – a time when busy people forget to be careful about their property and personal safety.
As a result, people are especially vulnerable to theft and other crimes.
What is crime prevention?
Crime Prevention is defined as the anticipation, recognition and appraisal of a crime risk, and the initiation of some action to remove or reduce it.
Through several citizen-oriented programs, such as Citizens on Patrol and neighborhood crime watch groups, Kaufman County Sheriff David A. Byrnes has taken the stance of “Helping Citizens Help Themselves.”
With the holiday season coming up, he would like to again familiarize Kaufman County residents with a few helpful holiday safety tips.
Protect your home
Do not display gifts where they can be seen from a window or doorway.
Be extra careful to lock doors and windows when you leave the house, even if only for a few minutes.
Holiday safety
Keep your purse close to your body – in front of you where you can see it – and cover the clasp or flap with your hand or forearm.
Don’t carry open-weave bags or purses without flaps or zippers.
These are easy marks for pickpockets. If you carry a wallet in your clothes, keep it in your front pants pocket or coat breast pocket.
Be alert – notice who passes you and who is behind you.
Walk confidently. Be especially mindful of pickpockets among crowds of holiday shoppers.
Don’t overburden yourself with packages that may make it difficult for you to keep track of your purse or wallet, or to respond to a personal threat.
Teach your children to go to a cashier and say they are lost if they get separated from you in a store or shopping mall.
Tell them never to go to the parking lot to look for you or the car.
Don’t leave packages or other valuables on the car seat where they can be seen.
Lock them in the trunk.
When you use your credit card to make a purchase, keep your eye on it to be sure that it’s used to print one slip only.

Dealing with acorn poisoning
By Brian Cummins
VZ County Extension Agent
CANTON–This year there is an abundant acorn crop.
This is good news for wildlife such as deer and wild hogs, but bad news for cattle producers.
Most species of North America oak trees are considered toxic. Tannic acid in acorns is poisonous and can cause death by severely damaging the kidneys.
Clinical signs of illness occur several days after consumption of large quantities of green acorns in the fall.
Some cattle can apparently eat acorns with no ill effects, while others develop kidney and digestive problems that can lead to death.
Cows consuming acorns during the second trimester of pregnancy have produced malformed calves.
Symptoms of acorn poisoning include lack of appetite, rough hair coat, a dry muzzle covered with dry, crusty blood, abdominal pain, excessive thirst, frequent urination, and thin rapid pulse.
There usually is not an increase in body temperature.
Constipation is a common early symptom. The droppings are often tipped with dark blood, a condition followed by diarrhea with blood and mucous.
Edema, or fluid in the tissue, occurs in the lower body.
Sick cows may drink large amounts of water, which is eliminated by the damaged kidneys in a clear, diluted form.
The best way to prevent acorn poisoning is to keep cattle away from acorns, but if you fence off an area covered with acorns, you may have to leave the fence up for a while.
Acorns retain high levels of tannic acid for several months.
You can partially protect mature cows grazing on acorn-laden pastures by feeding them 4 pounds of the following mixture each day :
600 lbs of groung alfalfa meal
1,080 lbs of cottonseed meal
120 lbs of vegetable oil
200 lbs of calcium hydroxide (hydrated lime).
2,000 lbs of mix
The goal is to get the mature cows to consume about 0.4 pound of hydrated lime each day.
Other mixes that provide this rate of intake can be used, but because hydrated lime is unpalatable, the mix should generally contain no more than 10 percent lime.
It is difficult to thoroughly mix hydrated lime in supplemental feeds, so molasses or vegetable oil is recommended to prevent the lime from settling out of the mixture.

Come Adopt Us At The Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake
The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on. My name is Domino, and I got my name not only because I’m black and white like a domino tile, but also because my outgoing, cheerful personality causes my doggie roommates to smile. This also causes our human friends to smile, which even causes the kitties in the cat room to smile. I am an 8-month-old male Pointer/Terrier mix. I love children, other dogs, and even get along great with kitties. I’ve had all my shots and am ready to be adopted. If you’d like to experience the domino effect, I am sure to put a forever smile on your face when you take me to my forever home. I currently live with a foster family, so if you would like to meet me, call my friends at the Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake at (903) 432-3422 to make an appointment. You can also email them at dogshsccl@yahoo.com.
	We have many animals at the Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake in Seven Points in dire need of a good home. Please call or stop by the Humane Society today and rescue one of these forgotten animals. The Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake is located on 10220 County Road 2403 in Seven Points. For more information, please call (903) 432-3422 after 11 a.m. We are closed on Wednesday and Sunday.
For further information visit our website at petfinder.com