Mineola Monitor (Mineola, Tex.), Vol. 139, No. 05, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 29, 2014 Page: 1 of 24
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School board
honored
Page 3
Your guide
to a perfect wedding
Inside
Zebra mussel
DNA detected
Page 7
Mineola Monitor
Mineola’s Hometown newspaper since 1876
January 29,2014
Vol. 139 No. 5 One Section 50 cents
Council
discusses
accepting
Debby Lane
By DORIS NEWMAN
The Monitor Staff
There was a very long discussion
about a very short and seemingly ob-
scure street during the Mineola City
Council workshop Thursday.
The fact most people don't even
know where Debby Lane is doesn't
diminish its importance to certain
people.
One of the items amidst the Janu-
ary workshop agenda was the topic
to "consider an ordinance to accept
Debby Lane."One of the city coun-
cil members asked about where the
street is located and City Fire Marshal
David Madsen said it is the street that
goes to the Best Western Hotel. Mad-
sen introduced the subject noting that
when the city accepted the plat in 2006
it was agreed they would take posses-
sion of it and an access easement on
the east side the following year. He
said there were some paperwork is-
sues that didn't
get taken care
of during a pre-
vious administra-
tion and the accep-
tance never happened.
"We said we would accept Deb-
by Lane as proposed at that time,"
City Administrator David Steven-
son said. "We are actually playing
catch-up a little bit."
Public Works Director Johnny
McCoy was asked about the mat-
ter and he said the road is concrete
and the city has an easement on the
east (front) end where a driveway
runs to the hotel. But, along the actu-
al street there is only room for 10 feet
of access, not 20 as is needed. He fur-
ther pointed out nothing had been
officially stated about the access. If
future lots are sold and the road is
extended, there is still a span from
See COUNCIL, Page 12
“We’re where you are!”
Kacey
gets a
Grammy
or two!
i;
t was the biggest moment yet in Kacey Mus-
graves rocketing singing, songwriting career
when her name was announced as winner of a
Grammy award for Country Album of the Year
Sunday evening at the 56th Annual Grammy
Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The 25-year-old who was reared in Golden and graduat-
ed from Mineola High School won the Grammy for Best Country Al-
bum for "Same Trailer Different Park." Prior to the televised awards,
she was also named winner of Best Country Song for the first release
off the album, "Merry Go 'Round" written with Shane McAnally
and Josh Osborne. Musgraves was up against such heavy-hitters as
Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton and Taylor Swift, in the album category
as another song she wrote, "Momma's Broken Heart," performed by
Miranda Lambert, was nominated in the Country Song slot.
She was accompanied to the ceremony by her mother Karen, and
they shared a hug after Martina McBride and Zac Brown announced
the country album winner after an excruciating pause - "Same Trailer
See GRAMMYS, Page 9
Kacey Musgraves followed her own style choice in a striking outfit with fuchsia bodice,
white waistband and a deep purple skirt. The whole thing was covered with intricate
beadwork and the skirt trimmed with gold tassels.
Five Mineola varsity football players named to Academic All Slate Team
This year five Mineola
varsity football players
made the Academic All
State Team. Athletes are
chosen based on overall
gradepoint average in
high school, ACT score,
class ranking and SAT
score.
Three seniors made
the First Team, Rhett
Self, running back; Black
Whitney, wide receiver
and Tino Elias, utility.
Brandon Melo was
named Honorable Men-
tion linebacker and
Hunter Creech was
named Honorable Men-
tion Offensive line. Brandon Melo, Rhett Self, Tino Elias, Blake Whitney and Hunter Creech received Academic All State honors for the 2013 football season.
VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN
Elections office encourages practice on new machines
W.C. Elections Administrator Dawn Goldthorn demonstrates the new eSIate equipment
which voters in county elections will use. At her right hand, the round button turns to
scroll up or down on the ballot. Her office is encouraging voters to go by the courthouse
to the fourth floor to practice on the machines before the primary election March 4.
(Photo by Doris Newman)
A new voting system is in
place in the Wood County
Courthouse and citizens are
invited to go there and try out
the new equipment.
The firm providing the elec-
tronic equipment, Hart Inter-
Civic, states they will provide
"better value and significantly
lower total cost of ownership
for programming, licensing
and ongoing maintenance on
new, more reliable and more
easily transportable equip-
ment."
The deal with the company is
valued at over $300,000.
Wood County Elections Ad-
ministrator Dawn Goldthorn
said the previous system had
been used in the county since
2005. She had presented to
county commissioners that,
"We were pretty much at a
fork in the road."
Some of the old system had
already reached its projected
years of service and more was
nearing its end, "which left
us without backup. That's not
good." The equipment was
no longer being built and the
only thing available was refur-
bished versions.
Hart presented a cost com-
parison and the equipment to
the court and the commission-
ers court made the decision to
go with the new voting equip-
ment.
Goldthorn said, "Making a
switch from our old optical
scanners and ballot marking
devices to Hart's eSIate system
was a no-brainer for us."
Additionally, Goldthorn said
one of the reasons the county
decided to go with the Hart
Voting System is the updated
equipment is a requirement to
provide vote centers.
Vote centers will enable elec-
tion day voters to vote any-
where in the county, instead of
having to cast their ballots at
the site specified for their pre-
cinct. That will not be in effect
for the upcoming primaries
due to the state application
deadline, but the county hopes
to have it available in time for
the general election.
The county elections admin-
istrator said the new equip-
ment will make the process
much easier, "not just for
the public but our workers
as well." She has already re-
See VOTE, Page 5
School Night for
Astronomy Saturday
School Night For Astron-
omy, presented by the As-
tronomical Society of East
Texas, will be held at the
Mineola Nature Preserve
beginning with solar view-
ing at 5 p.m. Saturday. As-
tronomical viewing starts
about 6:20 pm. and star
gazing after 7 p.m.
This program is contin-
gent on the weather and if
it is mostly cloudy, raining
or snowing, it will be post-
poned until a later date ac-
cording to event organizers.
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Newman, Doris. Mineola Monitor (Mineola, Tex.), Vol. 139, No. 05, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 29, 2014, newspaper, January 29, 2014; Mineola, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth655558/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Mineola Memorial Library.