News

Following a 2024 plea agreement of 10 years deferred adjudication, Kameron Nail was found guilty of violating conditions of his community supervision and sentenced this week to 18 years in prison.

A motion to adjudicate hearing was held Monday, March 3 and Nail, 20, was found to have violated 11 conditions of his community supervision. 

He was sentenced to 18 years in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and assessed a fine of $5,000. Nail was granted 326 days of credit for time served while at the Young County Jail.

If you have visited the lowest level of the Young County Courthouse there is one thing that stands out, the buffalo head mounted to the wall. 

While the story behind the buffalo has been an interesting subject for over 35 years, Robert Liles, the man who did the taxidermy work, made it a centerpiece at the courthouse. Liles had many passions such as wildlife photography and hunting.

His wife Linda said he stayed busy working on taxidermy up until the day he died in October 2000. She said the process for the buffalo was a much more involved experience. 

Just before the celebration of America’s 250th birthday in 2026, the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution provided funding for the purchase of books through a national grant.

The Pamela Wright Administration of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution offered grants in honor of the 250th celebration for individual chapters of the organization.

To assist the efforts of Graham Police Department’s K-9 unit to train officers, the Graham Lions Club donated specialized narcotics training kits.

The club invited K-9 Sergeant Hailey Calcote, her K-9 partner Wolf and Chief Brent Bullock to their meeting Wednesday, March 5 and presented the kits to the department. 

Club President Darren Helm said the club wanted to continue to provide what the department needed for the program.

It was a passion for restaurants and a love for the industry that inspired the culinary and restaurant gurus Neri and Jonathan Gonzalez to start Neri’s on the Square, and that passion was just rewarded with a 15-year milestone.

The couple previously worked in the restaurant industry and both had a dream to open a restaurant one day. After moving from Michigan back to Jonathan’s hometown of Graham, the couple took steps to make that dream a reality.

Last week’s meeting of the Young County Commissioners Court saw the group table a tax abatement and allow public comments regarding a solar project nine miles west of Eliasville.

The Tapaderos Solar project is a 300 megawatt solar power facility with 200 megawatts of battery energy storage with an estimated investment of approximately $264.4 million.

Robert Pena of Texas Energy Consultants, which serves as the advising firm for developer Titus Low Carbon Ventures, spoke and answered questions during the meeting Monday, Feb. 24.

A Graham woman was arrested on a charge of animal cruelty last week and four animals were seized from her property.

Animal Protection Officer Michael Watts and Code Enforcement Officer BJ Cook were assisted by Sergeant Pedro Marrufo and officer Nathan Bueno on a report of animal cruelty Friday, Feb. 28 in the 800 block of Oak Street.

After investigating the scene, Michelle Clayton, 55, of Graham, was arrested Friday at her residence on Oak Street on a charge of cruelty to non livestock and booked into the Young County Jail on a bond of $10,000. 

Young County Judge Win Graham made a local disaster declaration and enacted a burn ban throughout the county at the beginning of this week.

The ban was ordered Monday, March 3 due to imminent threats of severe damage, injury or loss of life or property resulting from the threat of wildfires due to drought and dry conditions. 

All outdoor burning in the county is prohibited for a period of no more than seven days from the date of the order. A violation of the order is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.

Two-and-a-half years after being arrested in Graham, Jeremy Pettus was sentenced to 51 months in prison with five years of supervised release following a judgment in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas. 

Pettus, 50, of Graham, was sentenced Monday, Feb. 24 by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor. The court did not order a fine due to Pettus not having the financial resources or future earning capacity to pay the fine, but restitution was ordered in the amount of $15,000.

For a third year, Clear Fork Country and hunters have donated thousands of pounds of processed meat to the Graham Community Food Pantry to benefit those in the area.

Clear Fork Country provides a wild game processing facility, taxidermy services, hunting and fishing gear, guns and more. 

Since opening their processing center in Graham three years prior, the company and generous hunters have been able to give back.