News

Due to recent dry conditions, Young County is entering into a burn ban for the foreseeable future.

Young County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday, Oct. 15 in favor of entering into a burn ban. The vote occurred at the county’s regularly scheduled meeting and went into effect the same day.

Last week on Thursday, Oct. 10, Young County Judge Win Graham signed an official declaration order to enact an emergency burn ban due to recent fires emergency personnel had been fighting.

Volunteer students, descendants and community members continued uncovering the history of the Oak Grove Colored-William P. Johnston Memorial Cemetery last weekend.

Since the beginning of March, Dr. Tamra L. Walter, a historical archaeologist and associate professor of archeology at Texas Tech University, along with students, have worked to unearth the history of the Young County cemetery.

The two-week early voting period begins Monday across the state and in Young County for the November general election.

Early voting will be held Monday, Oct. 21 through Friday, Nov. 1. In Young County, early voting will be held 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 21-25, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27 and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28 to Friday, Nov. 1.

Early voting locations will be the Young County Annex at 417 Second St. in Graham and the Olney Community Library and Arts Center at 807 W. Hamilton St. in Olney. 

Since 1970, the Friends of the Library has supported the Library of Graham outside its regular budget and continued that support after presenting the facility a donation of $5,500. 

The Friends of the Library (FOL) is a nonprofit organization with a goal of promoting public support of the library by providing resources, promoting awareness of the facility, developing supplemental library funding and sponsoring and supporting the library’s objectives.

Young County, Graham and Olney will see drops in sales tax allocations from sales made in August by businesses that report sales tax monthly.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Wednesday, Oct. 9 that the state will be sending cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $1.1 billion in local sales tax allocations this month, 1.2% less than in October 2023.

Local sales tax allocations 

Graham

With hurricanes ravaging multiple states on the east coast, one local Graham family felt the calling to help.

Tracy and Coke Smith have gathered together supplies and money to support the relief effort. Coke, along with his sons and daughter, will travel to Asheville, North Carolina to spend time providing aid to those in need following the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene.

Tracy and Coke's daughter, a first grade teacher in Asheville, North Carolina, shared her firsthand account of the destruction Hurricane Helene had caused around the area where she lived.

Since 1985, the month of October has been recognized each year as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

It started out as a week-long awareness campaign by the American Cancer Society, but soon developed into a month-long event.

Texas Health and Human Services Commission, along with Graham Regional Medical Center, have provided pertinent information and statistics about the importance of this month and the disease for which it is known.

A town hall and special-called city council meeting were set for November to give the public the opportunity to speak on any city-related topics and to provide an update on the city’s water needs.

The town hall meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 608 Elm St. with the purpose of receiving general comments from the public regarding city services. 

After completing a four-month trial run for a compressed work schedule, the city of Graham adopted the schedule following approval from the Graham City Council this week.

The departments impacted by the change are city hall, municipal court, the Library of Graham and the administrative offices of Graham Fire Department and Graham Police Department. The new times have been in place since Friday, June 7.