Government-Henderson County Now

McDonald Honored at Memorial Day ceremony

Congressman Jeb Hensarling (center) presents Bob McDonald (left) with a proclamation while Steve Grant looks on. (MICHAEL V. HANNIGAN PHOTO)

One more thing was added to the Memorial Day and Veterans Memorial Dedication ceremony at the Athens Cemetery Monday morning: Bob McDonald was honored for all his work at the cemetery.

In addition to proclamations that were entered into the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate, Congressman Jeb Hensarling told the crowd he read the following into the Congressional Record on May 22:

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize Mr. Bob McDonald from Athens, Texas. Mr. McDonald is to be commended for his work to support and maintain the historic Athens Cemetery in Henderson Continue reading “McDonald Honored at Memorial Day ceremony”

City of Athens promotes tourism with new video

The City of Athens Department of Tourism has teamed up with Phillips Productions of Dallas, Texas to produce the City’s first tourism video to attract visitors to the home of the original hamburger.

City of Athens press release

In today’s competitive tourism market, video is not an option but a must. With this in mind, the City of Athens Department of Tourism has teamed up with Phillips Productions of Dallas, Texas to produce the City’s first tourism video to attract visitors to the City of Athens.

The City of Athens Department of Tourism has been working closely with the staff at Phillips Productions to produce a high quality video that brings to life the experience and ideas of what visitors can see and do here. “Athens has so much to offer visitors and our goal was to produce a video that speaks directly to the visitor and that captures the natural beauty that is Athens,” said Sherri Skeeters, tourism coordinator Continue reading “City of Athens promotes tourism with new video”

County kids celebrate after post contest

(See more photos on our Facebook photo album.)

District Attorney’s Office press release

For the second year in a row, Henderson County District Attorney Scott McKee stood in front of almost 200 Henderson County fourth graders from Eustace, Malakoff and LaPoynor ISDs and asked them for their help. McKee told the students that as an Army soldier, he and every other soldier has a battle buddy to look after them.

“I need each of you to promise me that you will look out for your buddy and tell a teacher, counselor or parent if you think things aren’t going well at home with your friend,” said McKee. McKee also asked them if they would be his soldiers in his war against child abuse. They all responded with a resounding “Yes, sir!”

The 2nd annual Kids Day was the capstone event to the month-long Go Blue campaign. The campaign begins in early April with a proclamation by Commissioners’ Court and culminates with the big day. Throughout the month, the Henderson Continue reading “County kids celebrate after post contest”

Peace Officers Memorial

The 2013 Police Officers Memorial was held on the Courthouse Square in Athens Thursday afternoon. The annual event is to remember the Henderson County peace officers who have died in the line of duty, and to pay tribute to those who go out every day and put themselves in harm’s way for us.

For more photos, please see our Facebook photo album.

Henderson County refinances debt and saves $50,000

Judge Sanders — Henderson County Judge Richard Sanders

Henderson County Commissioners’ Court saved taxpayers a little more than $50,000 this morning.

During their weekly meeting Tuesday, commissioners voted to refinance about $2.5 million of the county’s outstanding debt, dropping the interest rate from around 5.5 percent to .94 percent. Judge Richard Sanders said the move will save the county about $51,000.

“This was an opportunity we felt very strongly about,” Sanders said.

Sanders said it was a Henderson County resident, Tom Lawrence of Lawrence Financial Consulting, who raised the possibility of refinancing.

“It was nice for a taxpayer to be looking out for Henderson County,” Sanders said.