News

Texas Senate District 30 candidates Drew Springer and Shelley Luther will be present at a forum hosted by the Young County Republicans organization at the beginning of December. The forum at the Young County Arena will be open to the public.

The forum will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8, at the Young County Arena located at 120 Barclay Blvd in Graham. The Texas Senate District 30 position covers Archer, Clay, Cooke, Erath, Grayson, Jack, Montague, Palo Pinto, Parker, Wichita, Wise, Young and parts of Collin and Denton counties.

The Graham Chamber of Commerce Christmas Stroll and Lighted Parade will be Thursday  with events starting at 5 p.m. on the downtown square. The parade will follow the theme of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” for the annual event this year.

Graham Chamber of Commerce CEO Krisa De La Cruz said the event is not only important for those who get to experience it each year, but for the businesses on the square who benefit from the turnout.

Early voting in the Texas Senate District 30 Special Runoff Election for the unexpired term of Pat Fallon will be held starting Dec. 9. This election will serve as the fourth in Young County after COVID-19 restrictions were implemented and slowly loosened locally and statewide following the general election which was held Nov. 3 and had three weeks of early voting.

The downtown square was the site as Graham High School hosted the first regional cookoff of the Texas HS BBQ season. The Graham Smokin’ Steers, Lipan Smoke Signals, Rio Vista Power Chefs, Muenster FFA Smokin’ Hornets and the Pollock Barrel Boys competed in five categories and earned trips to the state competition.

First United Methodist Church this year have taken the reins for the annual Thanksgiving meal with a drive-thru service available Tuesday at the church. The meal will be taking the place of the Friendship Meal on Nov. 24 at 6 p.m. rather than being held on Thanksgiving.

The Community Thanksgiving Friendship Meal will be served in a curbside pickup manner in the same manner the church has been performing past Friendship Meals and how it performed the Our Daily Bread program over the summer.

As the Graham Noon Lions Club continues its annual Goodfellows raffle to support the Angel Tree Project, the project will be joining forces with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Young County campaign to distribute toys to needy families in Young County. Beginning this year, the campaign will provide toys for the Angel Tree Project.

The announcement was made Wednesday at the Noon Lions Club meeting at NCTC by campaign coordinator Dave Reid and Lions Club Angel Tree Project Co-Chair Tiffany Fade.

The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Young County campaign has started its annual donation drive to support the families of Young County. In a change from the way things have been done in years past, monetary donations are being collected online.

In an effort to create a safer way to collect money and make it easier for donors, Young County Toys for Tots has moved to an online collection system. Both prospective donors and families looking to signup to receive toys may visit https://graham-tx.toysfortots.org/.

The Graham Chamber of Commerce presented their plan for the Christmas Stroll and Lighted Parade last Thursday during the regular Graham City Council meeting. The organization has incorporated special pandemic procedures this year in order to maintain the safety of those who attend.

The city of Graham will play host to one of 11 regional high school barbecue competitions this weekend. The Graham High School Smokin’ Steers BBQ team and four other teams will take over the downtown square Saturday in the first regional competition of the season.

Graham, Central, Rio Vista, Muenster and Humble will all gather Saturday morning in a competition put on with the support of the local community. Students will be competing for scholarship money to a culinary school in Austin as well as a trip to the state competition.

From an early age Jim Don Laurent wanted to be a firefighter following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. On Thursday, he continued his lifelong dream by being accepted as the new Fire Chief for Graham Fire Department by the Graham City Council.

When Laurent was 18-years-old he got started as a volunteer for the Dimmitt Volunteer Fire Department. In some way or another the profession has been involved with him throughout his life.