News

Mesquite Police Department Interim Police Chief David Faaborg announced the promotion of Lieutenant Stephen Biggs to the rank of Captain. He will now oversee the department’s Staff Support Bureau of hiring and training officers, school resource officers, community policing and crime prevention, as well as command the department’s S.W.A.T team and will continue serving as the primary Public Information Officer.

Walk Across Texas!, a community-based program helping Texans of all ages adopt a physically active lifestyle, just turned 25 years old – and it’s still going strong.

From their luxury hotel in Washington D.C., Texas House Democrats are continuing their campaign to spread misinformation about the Texas Election Integrity Protection Act. The truth is that House Bill 3 will make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.

Members of the Crandall Middle School coaching staff have spent their summer helping their students be active and work on their skills. They are taking time to engage their students and care for their students outside of school.

“Jesus healed on the Sabbath because God the Father works every day,” says Marissa, 10. “Since Jesus is his son, he works every day, too. Just think what would happen if God just took a day off!”

I love fishing for, catching and eating catfish throughout the year. During the winter months fishing for blue catfish is at its peak and lakes such as Tawakoni and Texoma produce some jumbo size blues. But summer is prime time for ‘action’ catfishing, a time when limits of ‘eater’ catfish is often the norm. I do a good bit of trotlining for catfish in the summer. A short trotline with 25 hooks baited with cut bait or fresh liver is a good way to put fillets in the cooler. While waiting for my line to produce I usually fish from the bank with rod and reel.

The experience and wisdom of an older generation can be so amazing and uplifting. The differences in available technology today versus the thirties, forties, and fifties is vast. And yet, many advances in science and medicine occurred in these decades as well as the groundwork for modern day advancements in technology. For example, Hedy Lamarr known primarily as an actress theorized the basis for WiFi technology that we employ today. Many harsh and sometimes fatal diseases were cured or at least slowed down such as polio. The ‘human computer’, Katharine Johnson and her colleagues at NASA put man on the moon calculating with a slide rule and No. 2 pencil as our modern computers didn’t exist. And from Mendel’s observations of the humble pea plant to Franklin’s X-rays of Slide 51 to Watson and Crick’s work on the double helix structure, DNA was named and imagined. All of these wonderful ideas and realizations occurred prior to 1969.

Last week we left Steve Davis as he began “Army Basic Training” at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey and was definitely feeling culture shock. Apparently, it was not Forney or Sunnyvale!

On July 26, the City of Mesquite, Dalfen Industrial and Stream Realty officially broke ground on phase one of the new two million square foot Mesquite Airport Logistics Center master planned industrial park.

On Wednesday, July 21, 2021, Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office and Kaufman County Constable, Precinct 2, responded to a call reporting a shooting in the Travis Ranch community, located northwest of the City of Forney. At approximately 4:45pm, law enforcement officers arrived to find a deceased male on San Antonio Drive who was later identified as 34-year-old Jeremy Carter of Mesquite. Following the release of several photos and videos of persons of interest in the investigation, two men surrendered to Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office Saturday morning. Antonio Dewayne Bowens, 17, and Markuevis Bowens, 20, were arrested after turning themselves in and were subsequently charged with murder. Bonds for both men have been set at $1,000,000 each. Korwin Brown, 18, was also arrested on July 26 in connection with the shooting and charged with murder. At the time of press, bond had not been set.

On Tuesday, July 13th, 2021, at around 10:30 pm, Forney Police Officers responded to a parking lot in the 800 block of US HWY 80 for a reported aggravated robbery. Victims told officers they were meeting someone there to sell a puppy and were robbed at gunpoint. The suspect vehicle was reported as being a tan Toyota Camry with paper tags occupied by three individuals. During the transaction, the puppy was taken and when the owner tried to retrieve it, one of the individuals displayed a gun. They left with the puppy and were seen head-ing west towards Mesquite. The suspects were described as Hispanic males in their late teens or early twenties.

I’m sure most readers of my column are well aware of my take on catch and release. I’m all about the conservation of our fish and game but have absolutely no problem with the practice of releasing the fish I need for dinner into a hot cast iron skillet filled with cooking oil.

If you’re in the early stages of your career, you’re probably not thinking much about retirement. Nonetheless, it’s never too soon to start preparing for it, as time may be your most valuable asset. So, you may want to consider retirement savings vehicles, one of which is an IRA. Depending on your income, you might have the choice between a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. Which is better for you?