News

After approval from the Graham City Council this week, the city will have a four-month trial run for a new compressed work schedule for various city departments.

The departments impacted by the change will be city hall, municipal court, the Library of Graham and the administrative offices of Graham Fire Department and Graham Police Department.

City Manager Eric Garretty presented the proposal as a discussion item during the Thursday, April 11 meeting.

The inaugural Festival de Cinco de Mayo de Graham, held as a collaboration between local businesses, will liven up the downtown square next weekend with food, entertainment, children’s activities and more.

The festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 4 on Fourth Street and Oak Street. Owner of Neri’s on the Square, Neri Gonzalez, who is part of the Cinco de Mayo committee and Graham Downtown Business Association coordinating the event, said the event will be filled with activities.

Preschool students from Pioneer Elementary School are continuing for a third year to receive free swimming lessons through a swim boot camp coordinated by Tracey Terasas and funded by Cook Children’s Medical Center and Graham ISD.

Terasas is co-founder of the Remembering Wyatt Dale Water Safety organization in Graham, which seeks to spread the message of water safety and provide life jackets for all children. She runs the boot camp as a way to spread awareness and educate local youth about water safety.

Graham Police Department is seeking assistance in searching for Ashton Broderick Castle, who went missing Monday in Graham.

Castle, 19, of Graham, is 5’7” and 147 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes. He left his home in the 100 block of Fawn Trail at around 11:30 a.m. Monday, April 22 in a 2001 tan Nissan Frontier with the Texas license plate TWB3422.

A television show set to be partially filmed in Young County has been delayed again due to forecasted poor weather conditions.

Early voting kicked off this week and will continue through the end of April for the May general and special elections. On the ballot are elections for Graham Hospital District, Graham ISD, city of Olney, Olney ISD and city of Newcastle.

Early voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday, April 26 and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 29-30. Early voting polling locations are North Central Texas College at 928 Cherry St. in Graham and Olney Community Library and Arts Center at 807 W. Hamilton St. in Olney.

The annual Run for the Children 10K, 5K and 1K Fun Run will take off on the downtown square this weekend benefiting Virginia’s House and Dr. Goodall’s House.

The run will be held Saturday, April 27 with the start and finish line at Third Street and Oak Street. Start times are 7:30 a.m. for the 10K, 7:35 a.m. for the 5K and 9 a.m. for the 1K Fun Run inside the downtown square.

The city of Newcastle is looking to repair a worn down bridge that’s impacting some of its citizens’ ability to get to their homes.

Newcastle Mayor Adrian Ontiveroz presented the issue to the Young County Commissioners Court at their meeting Monday, April 22. It’s a small bridge that has been repaired in the past but is, once again, becoming a hazard. The size of the bridge would likely need to be increased in addition to the repairs or improvements made to it.

The ninth annual Texas City Nature Challenge event is beginning Friday and asks those within Texas to document their nature observations. The Rolling Hill Plains Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists challenge, which covers 10 counties, including Young County, will be competing.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is also inviting Texans to participate in the City Nature Challenge from April 26-29. The effort is organized by San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Restoring and providing a centralized home for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) services has been the goal of Dennis and Andy Heath since January. After connecting with The Arc of Wichita Falls, the two established a nonprofit and are fundraising to provide a location for the organization to offer and expand IDD services.

Helen Farabee Centers recently closed its IDD Provider Services Division due to it no longer being financially sustainable. With its closure, many Young County IDD clients that utilized the Day Habilitation services were impacted.