News

Following a seven-year absence from Graham and North Central Texas College, Dr. Magen Bunyard has returned to the city helming the role of director at the community college. The new director stepped into the position at the beginning of August, following the departure of Kim Birdwell.

Seeing the positive work happening at NCTC when she worked at the campus prior, having the opportunity to collaborate and work with the community to identify needs and supporting and meeting those needs are what drew her back to NCTC.

Two Graham men, one Graham teenager and one Wichita Falls man each entered not guilty pleas on charges stemming from an armed robbery in April. The four were each charged with aggravated robbery and engaging in organized criminal activity after a robbery at the north Allsup’s in Graham.

The City of Graham hosted a public hearing for their proposed budget and tax rate Thursday. Discussions were held back and forth with a Graham resident and city representatives regarding the rate set by the city, employee raises and the city’s emphasis on road repairs.

The Graham City Council approved a commercial lake lot lease agreement with RKJ Adventures, LLC, during their meeting Thursday, regarding a proposed Lake Eddleman RV Park renovation project. The council also approved the lease terms and landlord lien subordination agreement.

The Graham City Council approved a request from Open Door Christian School Thursday to make the intersection by the school at First and Oak St. into a four-way stop, with no parking signs posted at the drop off areas. The area previously only had two stop signs posted.

Just as the nation is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, Graham Regional Medical Center again finds itself fighting off a surge of cases in Young County. After experiencing difficulties in transferring patients to intensive care units at other hospitals, including failed attempts to find beds out of state, the hospital has been forced to create an Intensive Care Unit.

The Graham ISD Board of Trustees approved their budget and tax rate for 2021-2022 following a public hearing held Monday. The board accepted a tax rate which was lowered from the previous two years.

The board approved the proposed budget and tax rate for 2021-2022 during their meeting Wednesday, Aug. 11, and set a date for a public hearing of Monday, Aug. 30. The accepted tax rate, which the last two years has been $1.277 per $100 valuation, the lowest rate since 2013, was lowered again to $1.274 per $100 valuation.

Several governmental agencies within the Young County Courthouse found themselves without much of their computer files last week. The 90th Judicial District Attorney Dee Peavy updated the Commissioners Court on the severity of the situation during Monday’s meeting.

The county and governmental entities within the courthouse use NET Data, a county government software company based out of Sulphur Springs. Last week the company suffered what it considered a “catastrophic situation.”

The city of Graham and Graham ISD will be hosting public hearings next week regarding their upcoming budgets and tax rates. In the month of September, GISD will host one public hearing while the city of Graham will host two.

Graham ISD

The Texas Education Agency updated their public health guidance Thursday, with the inclusion of several major additions for the upcoming school year. One of the changes is that parents of students in a classroom or extracurricular or after-school program cohorts will have to be notified if a test-confirmed COVID-19 case is identified among students, teachers or staff in those classrooms or cohorts.