Van Zandt News (Wills Point, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 17, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 30, 1984 Page: 1 of 19
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Van Zandt County Area Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Van Zandt County Library.
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Van Zaiufit News
VOLUME 3 NUMBER 17
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1014
COUNTY, TEXAS
ONE SECTION, 20 PACES WITH INSERT
25«
I
VZ block grant requests
unfunded; to be rescored
AUSTIN • Community block
grant applications for Van Zandt
County and the cities of Wills Point
and Edgewood will not be on the list
of funded grants in the East Texas
region to be announced next week, a
top agency official said Thursday.
However, those three will be in-
cluded in a statewide reranking of
some 280 unfunded applications,
and may yet receive funding, said
Barbara Burton, the assistant direc-
tor of the community development
division of the Texas Department of
Community Affairs (TDCA).
Ten applicants in the East Texas
Council of Governments (F.TCOG)
will be announced as receiving
community block grant funding
through the TDCA by Governor
Mark White next week, Ms. Burton
said. She did not release the names
of the 10 entities to receive funding,
as it will not be official until White
makes the announcement.
The tenth applicant, who will be
partially funded, had a total score of
836 points, Ms. Burton reported.
Points are assigned to each ap-
plication by each COG’s regional
review board, and then more points
are assigned by a state-level review,
she explained.
The 10 applicants will share
$2,348,282 in grants, provided by
the federal Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD),
which used to administrate the block
grant program directly.
Wills Point’s application received
767 points, 375 at the regional level,
and 392 at the state level, she said.
The city of Edgewood’s application
received 723 points, and the county’s
application (fc. the Wynne Com-
munity, just north of Canton)
received 704 points, she said.
Some 461 applications were sub-
mitted statewide, and 151 were
granted funding by the TDCA, she
said. Two projects are still under in
vestigation, and 28 were found to be
ineligible, she added
The remaining 280 applications,
including • the three Van Zandt
County applications. will be
reranked by the TDCA using
discretionary scores, Ms. Burton
said.
“It is possible that they (the Van
Zandt applications) could be fun-
ded,” she said. "We understand how
the smaller cities need funding, and
we wish we had more money." The
280 applicants will be competing for
a share of $4 million provided by
HUD through the TDCA.
The rescoring of the 280 unfun-
ded applications will be completed
early next week, she said, and the
new rankings submitted to the
governor. “We really won’t know
who will be funded until then,” she
said. “I can’t tell you now what
chance (the Van Zandt applications)
will have, but we should know for
sure around the middle of the
week. ”
All three Van Zandt grant ap-
plications concern street and
drainage improvements, with the
largest being the Wynne Com-
munity project, $438,000. The Wills
Point project is being submitted for
the second time, which
automatically gives it a 50-point
jump on the other two, which are
first year submissions.
Ability to vote hard-won right
Registration deadline set
By Kerry Yancey
Persons who want to vote in the
November 6 Presidential election,
but are not registered, have just
about a week to register in time to be
eligible to vote, according to Van
Zandt County Clerk Elizabeth
Everett.
To register, a person must be 18
years of age by November 6, Mrs.
Everett said. “You are registered
immediately when you fill out a
registration card,” she said.
However, one is not eligible to
vote until 30 days after registration,
so the last day one can register is
Sunday, October 7. “If you fill out
the card and get it to us by October
7, you will be eligible to vote," she
said'.
One must have lived in the state
six months to be eligible to register
to vote in Texas, she noted. Persons
who have been convicted of a felony
cannot vote, nor can persons who
have been legally declared mentally
incompetent by a court, she repor-
ted.
Voter registration cards are
available at the county clerk's office
in the courthouse in Canton, and
cards will be mailed to you if you
call the clerk's office, (214) 567-
6503, and request a mailed card,
Mrs. Everett said. As long as the
card is postmarked on or before Oc-
tober 7, one will be eligible to vote,
she said.
To fill out a voter registration
card, a person must list his name,
address, birthdate, place of birth
and Social Security number. Adding
a telephone number is optional,
Mrs. Everett said, “but we like to
have it so that we can contact
someone if necessary,"
Although now anyone 18 years old
or older can vote, such universal suf-
frage is relatively recent. When
America first became a country, in
most states a man (not a woman)
had to own property or be a tax-
payer to vote.
Even Thomas Jefferson, who ad
vocated rule by the people, instead
of rule by the elite and moneyed
class, did not favor voting by every
white male, but only those literate
enough to know the issues of gover-
nment. The ignorant, he argued,
were incapable of self government.
Full suffrage for white men- not
black men - did not arrive until An-
drew Jackson’s day (1820-1840), as
the frontier state of Vermont was the
first state to place the ballot in the
hands of all white males. The easy
access to the vast acreage of the
Louisiana Purchase made lan-
downing restrictions meaningless.
Women, like black slaves, could
not vote, could not own property,
and could be legally beaten "with a
reasonable instrument."
Women began to organize for
their rights in the 1840s. led by
pioneers such as Lucretia Mott,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (who in
sisted on leaving “obey” out of her
marriage vows), Susan B. Anthony
and Lucy Stone. These and others
met in the first Women's Right?
Convention at Seneca Falls, New
York, in 1848.
Legal importation of black slaves
into the United States ended in
1808, but slavery started with the
first visitors to the New World. Even
Christopher Columbus carried back
Indian slaves with him to Spain.
Slavery gradually died out in the
Northern states, but the invention of
the cotton gin made slavery
profitable, and thousands of black
men were captured in Africa and
smuggled into the United States
Naturally, black slaves could not
vote. Many Southern states passed
laws forbidding them to be taught in
schools. Tied to "King Cotton,” the
Southern aristocracy could not af
ford to free its labor force.
The debate over slavery over-
whelmed the clamor for women's
(Continued on Page 15A)
Mary Wages, left, interviews Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Riley of Canton, both long-time teachers, about their
careers as part of her research for the Van Zandt County Oral History Project. The project, promoted by the
Senior Texas Employment Program (STEP), gives interested persons the chance to hear couety history from
original sources. (Photo by Linda Brown) *
Clowns and firetrucks were part of the annual Van Oil Festival parade Saturday morning, September 22,
through downtown Van. The parade, although damp, kicked off a day of contests, games and the annual
UxC ck shos* A fiddler's contest, cookoffs, arts and crafts and a bridge tournament were included in the
day's events, which wese capped by the annual Oil Festival Queen's pageant and a street dance Saturday
night. (Photo by Linda Brown)
Membership response slow
As expected, response to the
membership drives sponsored by the
ambulance services around Van
Zandt Countv is still pretty slow ar
cording to reports this week, as most
services expect members to sign up
around the first of the month.
The services, although subsidized
by the county and the individual
cities, depend on membership sub
New subscription rates set
Because of the new sales tax
imposed on newspaper subscrip
tions by the Texas Legislature,
subscription prices for the Van
Zandt News are going up, offer
live October 2.
Subscriptions will now cost $6
if you reside in Van Zandt or an
adjoining county, $8 in other
areas of Texas, and $9.50 in
other states in the USA.
If you have not renewed your
current subscription or taken out
a new one. vou can still get it at
the old prices of $5.50, $7 50 or
$9 through Monday (tomorrow)
After that, the new rates will be
in effect.
A combined subscription to the
News and either the Wills Point
Chronicle or The Canton
Herald will now cost $10 in Van
Zandt or adjoining counties, an
increase from the old rate of
$9 50. This is a savings of $3 off
the rate of separate subscriptions.
To subscribe to the News,
come hy the Chronicle office at
109 North 5th Street in Wills
Point or the Herald office on the
southwest corner of the cour
thouse square in Canton, or mail
your subscription to P. O. Box 60
in Wills Point or P. O. Box 577 in
Canton
scriptions to provide operating
capital to pav salaries for emergency
medical technicians (EMTs) and
ever increasing equipment and
repair expenses.
Wills Point
Memberships have slowed down
for the Wills Point Ambulance Ser
vice, as about 350 members have
signed up, according to spokesman
Hollis Smith.
“For the first two weeks, they
came in real good, hut since then
they've slowed down," Smith said
Thursday The service needs at least
1,500 memberships to have enough
money to operate Smith reported.
"Lots of people won't pav theirs un-
til after the first of the month," he
noted "We expect another thrust in
the first week of October, and then
it'll probably slow down again."
Membership fees will remain the
same as last year, $35 for an in
dividual and $50 for a family The
fee entitles individuals to three uses
(Continued on Page 13A)
VZ oral history project
captures past for future
By Linda Brown
Before a written language was
developed, the only way history was
passed on was by word of mouth.
Ever after a written language
became commonplace, it was a long
time before everyone began to learn
their history from books only.
In today's busy society, few have
the time to gather around the camp-
fire or at the feet of their grand-
parents to hear tales of the past.
An Oral History Program being
promoted in Van Zandt County by
the Senior Texas Employment Pro-
grams (STEP) will give interested
persons the chance to hear VZC his-
tory from original sources.
Under the direction of Mary Hall
of Ben Wheeler, area supervisor for
STEP, and Mary Wages of Canton,
VZC coordinator and oral history
interviewer, the program will record
VZC history on cassette tapes for
future generations to hear.
"The tapes will be used by stu-
dents studying the history of our
county, by the historical society, the
genealogical society and the general
public," Mrs Wages said.
The cassettes will be stored at the
VZC Library in Canton and a
master tape will be kept at STEP
headquarters.
Mrs. Wages will interview VZC
residents in their homes on different
aspects of their lives. She has already
begun collecting information on the
types of interviews she can do in
VZC #
Most of the interviews will be with
people who have memories of events
from around the turn of the century
or just before the turn of the cen
tury, Mrs Wages said.
She has information on several
school teachers with 50 years of
teaching experience in schools
around VZC. a lawyer who served
the people of VZC for many years,
and a man who helped to start and
run one of the first dairies in this
county.
“You will need only to take the
time to hear these cassettes of gTeat
people in Van Zandt County to love
and appreciate oral history and to
see what a great foundation our
county was built on," Mrs. Wages
said.
"This is very valuable information
for future generations and to history
classes, she added
Mrs. Wages will attend a work
shop on oral history in Lufkin Octo-
ber 16. The workshop is for the
seven counties in this area which
have oral history programs.
The program is sponsored by the
VZC Library and the STEP head ►
quarters located at the Farmers
Union Community Development / (
Association in Waco.
Anyone knowing of an interesting
person for the Van Zandt County
Oral History Program should con-
tact the Van Zandt Co6nty Library
at 567-427£.^>
» 4rV 1 "V
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Van Zandt News (Wills Point, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 17, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 30, 1984, newspaper, September 30, 1984; Wills Point, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth990501/m1/1/?q=green+energy: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Van Zandt County Library.