The Colony Courier (The Colony, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 11, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 20, 1999 Page: 1 of 10
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the The Colony Public Library.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Proudly Serving The Colony, Texas
TKg mtnmn rso tM
Colonv" Courier
IT fii-xo -77993
Vol. 2, Num. 11
Wednesday, January 20, 1998
www.thecolonycourier.com
Photo by Judy Davidson
The Colony celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with presentations from local high
school students and pastors. The city hall was packed and standing room only for the
event which was the first of its kind for The Colony. Above, Councilman Bernetta Henville-
Shannon, Nicole Linder, Susan George, Mayor Mary Blair Watts, Dara Harris, DJ Williams
and Pastor Paul McBride participated in the holiday event.
First King Day celebration a success
By SUSAN CHINIEWICZ
Editor
The Colony began what many hope to be a tradition
of honoring the birth of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. on Monday.
The event, organized by Councilwoman Bernetta
Henville-Shannon and the Special Events Board in less
than two weeks, was held at City Hall at 10:30 am.
Speakers included Mr. Tony Burrell providing the in-
vocation, Mayor Mary Watts presented a resolution of
(See KING, Page 3A)
City keeps attorneys
By DAVE SORTER
Staff Writer
City Council on Monday night
voted to retain the services of Cowles
& Thompson - as represer.ted by
John Hill - as the city attorney, de-
feating City Manager Lanny
Lambert's recommendation that the
city transfer its legal consulting to the
Denton law firm of Hayes, Coffey
and Berry.
On a 6-1 vote, Dallas-based
Cowles & Thompson was awarded a
one-year contract to provide the city's
legal services on a price scale differ-
ent than that used in the past. For the
first time since the early 1980s, the
city will be billed on a retainer sys-
tem, rather than a strict hourly basis.
The city will pay the firm $2,800 a
month, which includes 10 hours for
court prosecution, 10 hours of gen-
eral legal work and Hill's presence
at two Council meetings a month,
with no time limit Additional work
will cost $115 per hour for general
legal work and $ 110 an hour for liti-
gation.
(See ATTORNEY, Page 3A)
Three arrested for organized crime
By SHAWN MOORE
Publisher
Three male subjects were placed under arrest and
each charged with Engaging in Organized Criminal
Activity by The Colony Police Department on Satur-
day, January 16, 1999.
Seventeen year old Hunter Harr of The Colony, nine-
teen year old Richard Ramirez of The Colony and eigh-
teen year old Cesar Ramos of Piano were observed by
TCPD officer Rick Torres driving in alley ways of The
Colony during the early morning hours. Patrol officers
Mike Fox, Paul Thorton and Chuck Wood assisted
Torres in stopping the 1989 White Sedan DeVille. Upon
checking the area, the officers noticed numerous elec-
tronic items and radios on the floorboard of the vehicle.
A further check of the vehicle revealed numerous
stolen items, according to police, ranging from credit
cards, brief cases, stereos, a television and a .45 caliber
semi-automatic handgun.
TCPD Criminal Investigation Division, headed up
by Detective Richard Renfro, is currently working with
other surrounding cities which include Carrol lton, Dal-
las, and Coppell where some of the property recovered
was stolen from originally. Presently, the arrests "have
cleared up fifteen burglaries in Carrollton, two in The
Colony," noted Police Chief Joe Clark, including "credit
card fraud cases and twenty-one separate felonies."
Police recovered over 166 items valued at several
(See CRIME, Page 4A)
W
Kelsie
McCarthy
sings
"Wrong side
of Mem-
phis" at the
Eth ridge
Elementary
Talent Show
held last
Thursday
night. Stu-
dents audi-
tioned to be
showcased in
the yearly
performance.
Photo by
Greg Ream j
'— |
Road bond
package
■
Traffic a problem
for many citizens
By DAVE SORTER
Managing Editor
"The traffic on my street is too
fast" is a common lament among
people everywhere. But residents of
two streets in The Colony - Turner
and Gates - took matters into their
own hands on Monday night, telling
City Council of their desire for traf-
fic controls, though a majority of
Council members do not seem to be-
lieve those controls are warranted.
Some 19 residents of Turner
Street and environs either spoke or
submitted comments concerning the
possibility of placing stop signs at the
three-way intersections of Turner and
Underwood and, to a lesser extent,
Turner and Independence. Of the 19,
14 favored the traffic controls and
five opposed them. Of the speakers,
four wanted stop signs and one did
not.
The stop-sign proponents said
there was a large, steady amount of
traffic on Turner, and that much of it
is traveling too fast in the 30-mile-
per-hour zone. Some said they are
afraid to let their children even play
in the front yard, because cars are
likely to veer off the roads. They also
complained about drag racing on
Turner.
The residents face an uphill battle.
Police Chief Joe Clark and City En-
gineer Abel Saldana both said that
(See TRAFFIC, Page 8A)
Colony teen to
perform at Six Flags
By AMY SORTER
Staff Writer
Dancer Ashley Wright has a single
dream - to perform on Broadway.
This past weekend, the 15-year-
old resident of The Colony took one
step closer to that dream by audition-
ing for - and being placed with - the
professional dance company at Six
Flags over Texas' Southern Palace
Theater. Out of hundreds of hopefuls
who showed up to audition on Jan.
16-17, Ashley, who was born and
raised in The Colony, was one of a
handful of dancers - 24, to be exact
- selected for the show.
"Ever since I was in Kindergar-
ten and saw the show at the Southern
(See WRIGHT, Page 4A)
What's the holdup?
Photo by Greg Ream
An overturned trailer and an extremely long delay created havoc for drivers last Friday as
part of Highway 121 near Old Denton Road was the scene of a massive backup. The acci-
dent occurred around 3:00 p.m. but the delay was felt well into the night as traffic backed up
on the westbound side to Legacy as well as causing delays on FM 423 in The Colony.
tively and cooperatively with other
governmental entities, according to
City Councilman Dave Kovatch, who
serves on the task forces dealing with
FM 423 and Highway 121.
A minuscule turn out of 6,011
voters (2.46 percent) of all county
registered voters overwhelmingly
approved the bond package, which
county officials say will not result in
a tax increase. 4,198 votes (69.84
percent) voted for the bonds, while
1,873 (31.16 percent) voted against.
The Colony's 510 voters (3.30 per-
cent of the city's 15,450 registered
voters), cast 425 ballots (83.33 per-
cent) in favor and 85 ballots (16.67
percent) against.
"We appreciate what The Colony
did for us," said County Judge Jeff
Moseley. "We had never had that
strong of support for any county bond
(See STREETS, Page 8A)
Police get a
good grade
By SUSAN CHINIEWICZ
Editor
In September of 1998, The
Colony Police Department mailed out
surveys to residents and businesses
to get an accurate accounting of the
city's opinion of the department.
Residents were selected from the
water log records, with every twenti-
eth residence receiving a survey. Of
the 514 mailed, only 138 were re-
turned by the September 30 deadline.
Though a survey of The Colony
residents had been performed in 1996
by Raymond Turco and Associates,
it encompassed all of the city ser-
vices. The police department specific
(See SURVEY, Page 6A)
INSIDE
Calendar
2A
Weather
2A
Opinion
4A
Schools & Youth
4-6A
Community
7A
Classified
9A
Sports
8, 10A
Ashley Wright
SPORTS
Cougars continue to
struggle
Pg. 10A
Fire runs rampant
in vacant house
By SHAWN MOORE
Publisher
A fire occurred on Monday in the 4500 block of
Bevily. The house is located in Eastvale which accord-
ing to firefighters is not ah easy place to put one out.
The fire began around 11:00 a.m. as The Colony
Fire Department was participating in a training class.
The structure was vacant but the owner was attempt-
ing to rent the house and the fire began apparently due
to a lamp that overheated. Police officer John Whitley
made the initial call for help.
The attic filled with smoke and as firefighters ar-
rived they "did an excellent job with a quick knock
down," said Fire Chief Van Morrison.
Due to the lack of water supply in Eastvale, TC
Tanker 472, which handles 2600 gallons of water, was
brought to the scene. As a precautionary note, mutual
aid was requested from Frisco in case the fire got out
of hand. Firefighters disposed the fire leaving the build-
ing intact. According to Morrison, "this is the first one
in a while, we were due."
Police and Firefighters later in the day prevented a
disaster from occurring on Younger as they were able
to put out a fire that began in a waterbed heater.
A fire in the 4500 block of Bevily nearly demolishes
smoke filled the skies above The Colony for about
extinguished the blaze. There were no injuries.
Photo by
this vacant
an hour as
Shawn Moore
house. The
firefighters
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View two places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Chiniewicz, Susan. The Colony Courier (The Colony, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 11, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 20, 1999, newspaper, January 20, 1999; The Colony, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth393135/m1/1/?q=music: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Colony Public Library.