Menard named 2021 Pickens High STAR Student

Tater Patch Players is back in full swing with their upcoming comedy romp A Funny Little Thing Called Love by the comedy writing trio of Jones, Hope, and Wooten.  This show is a comedy romp that's reminiscent of shows like Carol Burnett.  The play leads us around the world, following a romantically enchanting full moon.

This comedy might give audience members some romantic ideas, but it's guaranteed to give everyone an evening of laughs. The play's first scene is set in a busy San Francisco TV newsroom where romance and more put in a very unexpected appearance. Chelsea Walker, Nancy Loy and Tater Patch newcomer Derek Perry kick off the laughs. Quickly, we move on to Dallas. The title of the second scene is “The Lone Star Ladies Justice Brigade.”  Alex Nawrocki plays a wanna-be Romeo who finds himself with too much romance for one man – even a Texan. Nancy Loy, Kim Martin, Phyllis Zerkle and Nan Nawrocki are the Texas ladies who deliver some rib-tickling “tough love.”  

Impact Pickens President Steve Lowe expressed “disgust” with behavior of top school officials during a town hall meeting Saturday. Their presentation featured numerous text messages the group obtained through open records requests.

        A trove of text messages from School Board Chair Sue Finley obtained by a group seeking to recall other school board members shows plans existed to oust former Superintendent Rick Townsend months before he was terminated.

The more-than 350 printed pages of texts, some only fragments, from Finley’s phone were presented by Impact Pickens Saturday at a town hall meeting. They  included dozens between Finley and former Assistant Superintendent Tony Young detailing plans to have Townsend terminated and then bring back his predecessor Dr. Carlton Wilson in a two-part scheme. 

        See full story in this week's print or online editions. 

  Pickens School Superintendent Tony Young and School Board Attorney Phil Landrum were in the final stages of preparing a 13 or 14-page point-by-point, response to the Impact Pickens presentation Tuesday. However, it wouldn’t be ready by presstime with final reviews expected to take a good bit of time.

In the meantime, Young agreed to an interview with the Progress with Landrum attending to clarify any legal points.

Young began by saying that Impact Pickens had put together a “great smear campaign” against him by linking disjointed texts together to make them form a narrative that they wanted it to form.

      See full story in this week's print or online editions. 

Although bumble bees and carpenter bees are often mistaken for one another, bumble bees have a hairy abdomen while carpenter bees, such as the one pictured, have a bare, shiny black abdomen. Just for comparison, a bumble bee is pictured below.  Traps can be effective against carpenter bees, but not always. Homeowners may have to try different versions to find one that works for their location.

    By Stephanie Butcher 

for CAES News

Carpenter bees are a common sight this time of year and can cause aggravation for homeowners. The large, black and yellow bees begin emerging in March, April and May and can cause unsightly damage — and in some cases significant damage — to wooden structures like the eaves of houses, porches and decks.

  The carpenter bee got its name because of its ability to tunnel in wood with its jaws. The female bees create half-inch, round holes in wood to lay their eggs. Some signs of carpenter bees are sawdust that can be found on the ground or on the surface of an object beneath the hole. The holes lead to short tunnels into the wood and run horizontally with the grain.