From new construction at Houston Schools to annual events like the Texas County Fair and Constitution Project, there were many memorable moments in 2014. Here is a month-by-month look at some of the top local stories:
— JANUARY —
•Members of the Houston City Council approved a 2014 operating budget. Planned projects include sidewalks as part of the Village Trail on Oak Hill Drive running from Forrest Drive to the Houston Visitors Center.
•An engineer is hired for the road project to connect C.W. Harry Drive and Cleveland Road.
•A 32-year old Mountain Grove woman was arrested after a deputy observed drugs and drug paraphernalia in her car in the parking lot of the Texas County Justice Center.
•Cost of first class stamp increases to 49 cents.
•“Downtown Houston Afterhours,” a TV show designed to highlight Houston, has its first two appearances on KOZL channel 27 in Springfield.
•A squirrel managed to disable a breaker and leave a portion of Houston without power early one morning.
•Snow. Snow. Snow. A round of bitter sub-zero temperatures accompanies this winter’s second snowstorm. Nearly 1,000 people lost electric power.
•Texas County Recorder of Deeds Susan Warkentin warns citizens of firms offering property owners copies of their deeds for $85 to $89. The fee in Warkentin’s office is $1 per page for the same information.
•Tatum Jade Smith is the first baby of 2014 in Texas County. She is the first child of Alaina Ebert and Adam Smith of Cabool.
•A Summersville native was the director of Time Magazine’s “Commercial of the Year.” John Carey, a 2005 Summersville graduate, produced the award-winning ad for Dove called “Real Beauty Sketches.”
•Houston Police Department Sergeant Tim Ceplina is training school employees about what to do if and when an armed intruder enters the grounds of their institution through a presentation and training company he recently founded, called Spearpoint, LLC.
•Students in Houston have missed enough snow days that the district will not have reschedule all of them.
•Houston High School senior Devin Coulter etched his name in the school’s basketball history books by scoring his 1,000th career point.
•Assisted by a local business owner, the Texas County Food Pantry sports the first commercial solar power system in town.
•After losing both legs while serving with the military in Afghanistan in 2010, Virginia resident Rob Jones is bicycling across the United States to raise funds for organizations that assisted him. His journey included a brief stop in Houston.
•Houston surgeon, Charles Mueller, M.D., has resigned from Texas County Memorial Hospital citing personal and professional reasons.
•The City of Houston began a temporary chlorination of the water supply to kill off coli form bacteria that has been detected in testing over the last three month.
•TASTC took in more than 40 puppies in a two-day period. “It’s the same story – irresponsible pet owners,” said shelter manager Marsha Martin. “It always comes down to the same thing: Spaying and neutering.”
•Four law enforcement agencies in Texas County have K-9 units after Cabool police announced the arrival of Cody, who is trained in narcotics detection. Others with drug dogs are police in Houston and Licking and the Texas County Sheriff’s Department.
•Missouri’s poverty rate rose nearly 3 percentage points between 2008 and 2012, according to a report released by a coalition of social service groups.
•Sky-high propane costs of more than $5 per gallon are heating folks up during the latest blast of winter weather.
•The Missouri Department of Conservation opened a new archery range at the Gist Ranch Conservation Area between Houston and Summersville.
•While breaking up a fight, police made a significant drug bust in a Houston residence.
•Congressman Jason Smith toured the Durham Company plant in Houston. The local plant provides some 170 jobs.
•A 90-day period of chlorination for the Houston’s water supply is underway. It is an attempt to kill off coliform.
•Amanda Cook was a science teacher at Houston High School from 2003-2007. She is now a pharmacist at Forbes’ Pharmacy after graduation from the UMKC School of Pharmacy in 2012.
— FEBRUARY —
•Along with other Missouri hospitals, Texas County Memorial Hospital struggles as Medicaid expansion talk lingers. The board of trustees gave approval for a 6.6 percent decrease in this year’s budget.
•Houston High School junior Alexis Adey is crowned 2014 Hoop Queen.
•Bucyrus resident Donnie Breedlove recently trapped a 48-pound bobcat.
•Houston’s new trash-hauling contract will provide homeowners a free 96-gallon roll cart for placement at curbside.
•The new Texas County Library director is Molly Shelton. Shelton has spent about five years working in various capacities at the Houston branch.
•A 30-year-old Summersville man was arrested for allegedly swindling his grandmother out of more than $300,000.
•In an effort to feed more children and increase learning, the Houston School District will not charge for reduced breakfasts and lunches the remainder of the school year. There are 656 children – making up 64.35 percent of the students in the district – who fall in the free or reduced meals category.
•Efforts to renovate the Melba Theatre in downtown Houston received a big boost with a $350,000 award of state tax credits.
•The “polar vortex,” and the resulting seemingly endless winter snow and ice are remaining common conversation topics.
High winds and warm, dry conditions led to an outbreak of fires with the Houston Rural Fire Department receiving six calls in one day.
•Houston Police Chief Jim McNiell reported the department responded to a total of 2,301 calls in 2013, up from 1,746 in 2012.
•Texas County Outstanding Teen, Alexis Fuwell, read stories to some kids dressed as princes and princesses at the Houston branch of the Texas County Library. The children had refreshments and made magic wands.
— MARCH —
•A local firm, Gentry Construction, submitted the lowest bid of nearly $3.2 million for new construction at the Houston R-1 School District. Construction includes a new library, cafeteria expansion and connecting the current middle and high school buildings.
•Texas County Memorial Hospital launched a new web-based program that will allow patients to view bills and their records.
•A new specialty coffee shop opened in downtown Houston Jason Scholtz offers café lattes, mochas, teas and other specialties.
•The latest snowstorm made this the 15th snowiest winter in Springfield since 1888.
•Licking police are now equipped with body-worn video cameras.
•Houston police will now work four 10-hour shifts per week.
•Houston students enjoyed yet another snow day, the 21st day missed due to wintry weather during this school year.
•Houston Girl Scouts collected 358 pounds of food for the Texas County Food Pantry.
•The 95 meth labs seized near Mountain Grove are believed to be a Missouri record.
•A slurry of sleet resulted in Houston students’ 22nd snow day.
•Pastor Bill Villapiano and his wife, June, were honored for their service at Faith Fellowship for the past 30 years.
•The HHS choir received a “1” rating and advanced a record 34 singers to state competition.
•Hundreds of high school students from 15 districts gather in Houston for the annual FFA Area 13 Competition. •High school students scrutinized cattle, milk samples, turkeys, forests and other agriculture products.
— APRIL —
•Under the direction of Michael Roy, the Houston High School Tiger Pride Band received the top state rating for the first time in eight years.
•In front of a capacity crowd, four teams of local men, women and teenagers battled it out in a donkey basketball tournament on the court inside Houston High School’s Hiett Gymnasium. The event raised funds for the Houston Tiger Booster Club.
•Houston R-1 School District Superintendent Scott Dill was honored by the Missouri Association of School Administrators for his “outstanding performance as a new superintendent.” He was one of six Missouri superintendents recognized.
•Brenda Jarrett settles into her position as the new director for the Houston Area Chamber of Commerce.
•A new U.S. census report says Texas County lost 125 people from 2012 to 2013, putting the population at 25,761.
•A Plato girl, Hannah Whetstone, is presented with the National Girl Scout Medal of Honor for her quick thinking actions that saved her father’s life following a pickup truck accident in Oct. 2012.
•Voters overwhelmingly approved a sales tax to fund the formation of a new 911 system in Texas County.
•It was a really big show! Houston youngsters performed in the annual kindergarten circus appearing as lions, tigers, bears and more!
•A series of festivals is scheduled to take place in downtown Houston on the first Saturday of each month. The first event, “Spring Fling,” will include live music and dancing, vendors and a vintage car exhibit.
•The largest single-day drug sweep in Texas County history puts 45 people behind bars.
•Authorities investigated a suspicious blaze that leveled an iconic barn on the historic Tweed property.
•Another 102-year-old barn on the old Mires property was destroyed by straight-line winds that also uprooted 25 large trees.
•Loyd Mitchell was honored for his 46-year career in county law enforcement.
•The Piney River Brewing Company at Bucyrus earned a gold award in the 2014 World Beer Cup for its Float Trip Ale. It beat out brews from around the world.
•On Good Friday, more than 600 Texas County Christians lined U.S. 63 with 10-foot crosses during the annual “Carry the Cross” event, which originated in Sikeston.
•Three people were arrested in a meth bust within Licking city limits near the school campus.
•Former Houston resident Sgt. Marty Elmore hangs up his Missouri State Highway Patrol hat after 31 years of service.
— MAY —
•The unemployment rate for Texas County dropped in March to 7.6 percent.
•Houston Herald technology continues to improve as now all print ads will also include a companion digital ad that will be accessible on the Herald’s website.
•Thanks to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Kids, age 15 and under, had a free day to catch fish and learn about it at Montauk State Park.
•City of Houston Fire Department Chief Don Rust retires after 38 years of service and 31 years as fire chief. The chief’s white helmet was passed to Joey Moore, who in April was appointed by the city council to replace Rust.
•Summersville student Jaret Holden was named state FFA vice president. The Summersville FFA Chapter placed first at the Forestry Career Development Event in Columbia. Forty-four teams competed.
•Dr. Christopher Baldwin, a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist, signed a three-year contract with Texas County Memorial Hospital.
•Under the direction of Beth Williamson, the HHS choir earned 37 state medals.
•A Houston man was jailed after selling drugs to minors near the school.
•Music, motorcycles, food, vendors and even a toy duck race drew hundreds of people to downtown Houston during the three-day Brushy Creek Days event.
•Fifteen members of the Houston Red Hat Society celebrated the 10th anniversary of their group with a gathering at the Forbes’ Pharmacy soda fountain.
•The Durham Company announces plans to complete a 16,000 square foot expansion to its plant at the Houston Industrial Park.
•Hunters in Texas County topped Missouri Department of Conservation rankings by harvesting 899 birds during spring turkey season, 16 more than second place Franklin County.
•Music filled the air as the choir and band departments at Houston Schools presented their annual spring concerts inside Hiett Gymnasium.
•Texas County Associate Circuit Judge Doug Gaston delivered the baccalaureate speech to the Houston High School class of 2014.
•Angels Home Center, a charitable organization near Plato that helps victims of house fires, begins its 11th year.
•Houston High School freshman Abby Casper sped to a new South Central Association track and field conference championship meet record in the girls 100-meter dash, posting a time of 12.43 seconds in the event at Salem.
•The Houston High School class of 2014 graduated with Caroline Dunn as valedictorian and Cheston Malam salutatorian. This year’s graduates received $799,850 in scholarships.
•Demolition has begun and construction related to the Houston Schools’ voter-approved $4 million bond issue is slated to begin soon.
•The Village Trail project is set to add 4,500 feet of new sidewalk on Oak Hill Drive from the Brushy Creek Trailhead near Walnut Street to Forrest Drive.
•Construction of a storm shelter on the campus of TCMH is underway. It is the first approved by FEMA for a hospital in the state. The project also includes a surgical wing.
•Houston first-graders maintained tradition by riding around town on top of a fire truck on the final day of school.
•Landmark Bank provided inflatables and games for elementary school students.
•The unemployment rate in Texas County dropped to 6.1 percent in April. The south-central Missouri average was 5.9 percent.
•State officials say a bear photographed in Texas County is among about 300 in the state. Experts are trapping and tracking the animals.
•The Houston Senior Center hosted its annual spring rummage sale.
•The Texas County Masonic Lodge #177 AF&AM presented a $5,000 check to Houston Schools’ Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
•The Animal Shelter of Texas County is selling tickets for its annual You Lucky Dog raffle, in which 52 guns are doled out during a 52-week period. Tickets are $100 each. The raffle will begin after 1,000 tickets are sold.
•For the second consecutive year, some Texas County Jail inmates are doing a little crop farming. Thanks to a joint effort between the Texas County Sheriff’s Department and the county’s University of Missouri Extension Master Gardeners, a garden is once again in place on the north side of the Justice Center. Inmates do the planting, caretaking and harvesting.
•Students enrolled in the Houston School District’s pre-school program celebrated “graduation” by enjoying an ice cream cone at Forbes’ Pharmacy on Grand Avenue.
— JUNE —
•The City council approved beer sales for a downtown event.
•Water outages and boil orders result when improvements are made to Houston’s water system.
•The Houston Herald introduced its new online e-edition that features several improvements.
•After a rescue effort involving multiple agencies, a Licking driver was freed from an overturned cement truck.
•The Texas County Commission announces names of people appointed to a seven-member board that will oversee the implementation and administration of a new 911 system.
•A trip two years in the making provided memories for 47 members of the Houston High School choir. The group took a five-day trip to Washington, D.C. and visited Arlington National Cemetery, the White House and the Kennedy Performing Arts Center along with impromptu moments of sharing music.
•Houston police investigate sting of vandalism that resulted in seven broken car windows, damage to an airplane and property damage at two homes.
•A 29-foot deep cistern was discovered outside the Houston Rural Fire Department on Walnut Street. Local residents Richard Best and Bill Nichols recall stocking it with fish and fishing in the winter. It was covered with a concrete slab and kept padlocked at that time. It was once the water supply for the old Southern Hotel on the site.
•The Bank of Houston celebrated its 125th anniversary.
•Average retail gasoline prices in Missouri have risen 5.4 cents per gallon, averaging $3.47. That is 2.9 cents lower than the same time last year.
•Two people were killed in an accident north of Summersville that closed Highway 17 for several hours.
•County ham radio operators gathered for a demonstration of skills and abilities that could be important in times of disaster.
•A throng of 75 Missouri Stream Team volunteers cleaned up close to 40 miles of the Big Piney River in their sixth annual event. Thirty-five tires and 60 large bags were removed.
•The Texas County Young Farmers and Ranchers hosted a cattle clipping and showing clinic in the livestock arena at the Houston Area Chamber of Commerce Fairgrounds.
•More than 40 of Missouri’s best long-range marksmen took part in the International Benchrest Shooters 600-Yard Missouri State Championships at the Big Piney Sportsman’s Club near Houston.
— JULY —
Texas County Memorial Hospital retired a $5.3 million revenue bond. The bonds, used for renovation, were retired 11 years earlier than planned.
•General surgeon Linda Milholen, M.D., signed a three-year employment contract at TCMH.
•A three-year contract was extended to Houston Schools Superintendent Scott Dill.
•A Houston man was arrested and charged with three felonies after allegedly stabbing his stepson and spitting in the mouth of an officer.
•Renowned Australian horsemanship clinician Guy McLean put on a show for hundreds of avid horse enthusiasts during the inaugural Mustang Family Reunion Ride at Golden Hills Trail Rides and Resort in Raymondville.
•Intercounty Electric Cooperative announces that rates will not increase in 2014.
•A 76-year-old man and two girls were found unharmed after being reported missing after going on a float down the Big Piney River. A log had stopped the floaters from reaching their take out point where they had been expected six hours earlier.
•The Houston Farmers Market has expanded hours to Tuesday from 3 to 6 p.m. and Fridays 7 a.m. to noon.
•The Summersville branch of the Texas County Library hosted former astronaut Col. Tom Akers for its reading time.
•Houston sales tax revenue up about 5 percent.
•Authorities reported that counterfeit money had been circulating in the county.
•A 15-year-old girl reported missing from Houston has been found in northeast Missouri.
•The Wall That Heals, a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., was in Licking for three days.
•The first ever “hay show” was inaugurated at the Texas County Fair this year, giving farmers a chance to have their hay tested and evaluated for quality.
•For the sixth straight year, Landmark Bank in Houston donated two bicycles to the summer reading program at the Texas County Library’s Houston branch.
•Lucky customers at the Houston Farmers Market got to sample the outcome of a demonstration by the Texas County Dutch Oven Cookers, who cooked using meat and produced provided by farmers market vendors.
•The Texas County Sheriff’s Department got to use a “firearms simulator” for two weeks in training. Its basic premise is to put officers in situations that may or may not require deployment of a firearm through projection of a full-scale movie that creates characters and situations in which officers interact.
•Houston was awarded a $10,500 grant for training in first aid, hazardous materials, weapons of mass destruction and other essentials.
•D & L Florist sponsored its annual “Good Neighbor Day” by providing dozens of free roses to be passed along to others.
•Current River State Park announced a series of free kayak clinics for floaters.
•Success resident Bruce Foster and Todd Dorman of Houston donned tutus after raising $106 for Children’s Miracle Network during a motorcycle cruise in event held in Houston.
•Elvis Presley (a.k.a. Ken Roberts of Rolla) sang to the lunchtime crowd at the Houston Senior Center.
•LED light poles now line North U.S. 63 on Houston’s northern approach. Houston is the first city in Missouri to have such lighting.
Downtown Houston Inc. is awarded a $5,500 grant to be used for a wind tunnel that will expand the gardening season at the county garden tended by jail inmates.
— AUGUST —
•Parke Stevens Jr. defeats incumbent Mike Anderson in the race for Texas County prosecuting attorney.
•The school board unanimously picks Terry Mayfield as new Houston Middle School principal.
•The Houston city council reported the community will receive a new bus for its transit system as part of a MoDOT program.
•Due to postponement of Houston’s July 4th celebration due to inclement weather, fireworks concluded the 2014 Texas County Fair. The fair featured live music, exhibits, carnival rides, tractor and horse pulls, many animal shows and competitions.
•The Texas County Food Pantry made the decision to “go solar” with the help of Missouri Sun Solar of Houston. The effort will result in the free placement of one solar panel at the pantry each time a solar power system is sold within a 60-mile radius of Houston through the year of 2014.
•The Houston Police Department investigated a whopping 65 cases in both June and July, making the months two of the busiest in department history.
•Downtown Houston trade gets a little sweeter with the addition of longtime food industry worker Sheila Hollenbeck’s Two Old Gals Bakery.
•Amy Swingle and her husband, Eric, opened a bridal boutique in Houston.
•More than three hundred people attend the annual Prayer Zone event (sponsored by the Houston Ministerial Alliance) to pray for area schools, faculty and students for the third straight year.
•Linda Milholen, M.D., takes over surgery at TCMH. Milholen comes from many years of experience in rural medicine.
•The Herald gears up to present live high school sports and community events for the third consecutive year.
•A man was rescued from a burning apartment at a Raymondville housing complex for senior citizens in a blaze that destroyed four units.
•The annual junior livestock sale on the final night of the Texas County Fair included animal purchases and contributions in the form of “add-ons” totaled $93,872.
•A year in the making, Bark Plaza Pet Hotel, the more than 7,000 square facility, celebrated its opening Saturday with a public showing.
The seven-member board overseeing the new Texas County Emergency Services 911 system decides a new call center will be constructed in the county administration building on Grand Avenue in downtown Houston, in space formerly occupied by the county jail.
•Four Texas County Sheriff’s Department deputies travel to three locations where marijuana is known to annually regrow and pulled up a total of 1,792 plants. Some of the plants were said to be 12 to 14 feet tall.
•The Licking Police Department’s K-9 unit assisted in a heroin bust in which about three grams was seized from a vehicle in the South Central Correctional Center parking lot.
•Plato native, Josh Senter, a former staff writer for “Desperate Housewives,” wrote the novel, “Daisies” that includes segments based in the Ozarks in the 1970s and 80s.
•A former area school superintendent is charged with the double-murder of a Springfield couple with ties to the area.
•Cabool resident Robert Moore shows off some “big taters” he grew this summer. The Herald ran a picture of the supersized future fries.
•Missouri Sun Solar of Houston is recognized as one of the top companies in its field.
•Tracey Arwood becomes the first certified nurse midwife ever employed by Texas County Memorial Hospital.
•Drury University architectural students are working with the city of Houston and local residents to generate and articulate a vision for the community for the next 20 years.
— SEPTEMBER —
•After months of prayers and planning, Life Church in Houston began “Celebrate Recovery,” a program aimed at assisting people through life issues and struggles of habits, hang-ups and hurts and addictions.
•Texas County Memorial Hospital scored in the top 5 percent of hospitals in the nation for providing efficient care for Medicare patients.
•Senator Roy Blunt addressed a crowd of community leaders in Houston and fielded question about issues of government regulations in the utility industry and possible cuts at Fort Leonard Wood.
•Licking Police Department officers and K-9 unit discover heroin, marijuana and drug paraphernalia at the city’s state prison facility.
•Renowned author and speaker William Federer shared the important role of faith in American history during a conference at the Houston Area Chamber of Commerce Fairgrounds.
•A man was injured when his horse-drawn buggy was struck by a vehicle near Licking.
•Hamilton Native Outpost, a family-owned business specializing in growing and marketing native Missouri plants and seed, hosted a sorghum molasses making event.
•The Texas County Food Pantry provided food to 595 families in August. At the same time in 2013, about 530 families received food assistance from the pantry.
•Work progresses toward completion of Rutherford Park, a new venue on the western edge of the Houston Memorial Airport.
•Registration begins for free adult education and literacy classes in Houston.
•A new bus arrived at Houston City Hall under a MoDOT program.
•Sales tax revenue collected by Texas County merchants jumped 14 percent from the same month a year ago.
•Walnut season will begin with Hammons Products Company, of Stockton, paying an all-time high of $14 per 100 pounds at more than 200 black walnut hulling stations across the Midwest, including Houston.
•A 14-year-old boy died of injuries sustained when a truck hit the horse-drawn buggy in which he was riding on Highway C north of Licking.
•Houston High School freshman Alexis Fuwell topped a field of 74 to earn the title of “top model” at a Branson fashion event designed to raise money for March of Dimes.
•Clinton resident Riley Bradley was crowned the new Miss Texas County.
•Texas County Associate Circuit Judge Doug Gaston is honored by the Missouri Supreme Court for his role in founding the Constitution Project, which is designed to give high school students a mock crime scene to investigate, report on and eventually try in a mock courtroom trial, all under the mentorship of local professionals in the fields of crime scene investigation, journalism and trial advocacy.
— OCTOBER —
•TCMH reported a second positive financial bottom line for the year, reducing its year-to-date deficit to $643,612.
•High school and middle school students gathered for prayers for classmates, schools and communities as part of the annual See You At The Pole.
•A Houston man faces charges for growing marijuana on his back porch.
•With 27 winning entries (including seven first-place and 12 second-place awards), the Houston Herald topped the Class 2 weekly newspaper category to win the Gold Medal in the Missouri Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest.
•Local attorney Kimberly Lowe wrote and recorded 10 songs that will soon be released on a CD available at major music sources.
•Kathy Powell was crowned Houston High School 2014 homecoming queen.
•Missouri auditor Tom Schweich called Texas County’s accounting procedures “poor.”
•A man was injured and 15 head of cattle were killed in an early morning accident on U.S. 60 in Texas County.
•Houston resident Richard Bratton Jr. traveled through parts of the state in the passenger’s seat of a vintage railcar.
•Romines Motor Co. raised $6,000 for Houston High School through the annual “Drive 4UR School” event.
•An annual effort to help citizens dispose of household pharmaceuticals was a success as officers took in a total of 243.5 pounds of pills.
•Houston High School sophomore Lucas Kelley was crowned King of the Court during the annual ceremony.
•Fourth and eighth-grade students from Houston, Cabool, Plato, Licking and Summersville attended the annual Ag Career Expo at the Houston Area Chamber of Commerce Fairgrounds.
•TCMH now offers a program that allows expectant moms without health insurance coverage to pre-pay for part of their obstetrical care.
•Construction of the new cafeteria at Houston Schools is nearing completion.
•The new Houston High School mascot has a new name: Titan.
•The Texas County Commission is hosting a public meeting to discuss the recent “poor” rating for its accounting procedures.
•Raymondville hosted the “Festival of Yesteryear” to benefit the local volunteer fire department. Activities and displays included spinning, honey making, oxen teams, knife throwing and more.
•Nearly 200 Houston Elementary School students achieve perfect attendance.
•In the fourth annual Fields of Faith, teenagers and adults met on the HHS football field for worship and testimony as part of a national event.
•TCMH prepared for the possibility of ebola in the community.
•A missing 4-year-old girl who wandered away from her home near the Twin Bridges area was safely found curled up and asleep under a tree in the woods.
•Houston High School was narrowly beaten in regional competition in the annual Constitution Project, while the school’s journalism team topped the opposition in the three-part competition.
•Certificates of appreciation were presented to Raymondville residents Scott Donley and Dorman Merckling for saving the life of Irvin McLean by carrying him away from a burning apartment.
— NOVEMBER —
•Alongside local law enforcement, teachers and adminstors in Houston participated in drills and dialogue regarding the potential of dealing with an armed intruder.
•County resident Wayne Cook used parts from numerous farm implements and power equipment to build a homemade tractor.
•Work is slated to begin this summer on a $1.7 million project that adds additional lanes to U.S. 63 through the City of Houston. The plan calls for three lanes from Brushy Creek Bridge to First Street. A sidewalk along U.S. 63 is being proposed.
•The high tunnel greenhouse at the Texas County Justice Center in Houston is covered and almost complete.
•Faced with increasing pressure from the number of uninsured patients in Texas County who seek care through the TCMH emergency department, officials have implemented a new primary care walk-in clinic in Houston.
•HHS graduate Craig Pounds was among 12 umpires selected to call the state softball finals.
•Intercounty Electric Cooperative is returning $1.5 million to members.
•Both Houston and Raymondville students honored area military veterans with programs on Veterans Day.
•Houston High School students Olivia Woosley and Sammy Garrett were selected to the all-star team of the Constitution Project and will compete in statewide finals.
•Students at Houston schools and other citizens of the city will notice a health-focused push over the next five years since the school district became a partner of Healthy Schools Communities, designed primarily to address childhood obesity.
•Clad in red, white and blue, first-graders at Houston Elementary School paid tribute to the nation with their “Proud Little Americans” performance.
•“Marshall the Miracle Dog,” whose story of abuse and overcoming neglect has been portrayed in a book and movie, will visit the The Animal Shelter of Texas County.
•Houston High School head volleyball coach Skye Wade has resigned after four years leading the program.
•The annual Chili Cook Off raised $44,250 for Hospice of Care.
•A new road extended from C.W. Harry Drive to Cleveland Road is completed.
•Houston resident Harold Mitchell has honed his self-taught talents to create captivating wooden art products and start the business, “Out on a Limb Wood Working.”
•The City of Houston was awarded a grant to drill a new well and construct a water tower.
— DECEMBER —
•Patient and procedure numbers continue to rise at TCMH.
•Texas County resident Darren Ice killed a wild boar found inside a pen with domestic pigs.
•The Houston City Council plans to dip into reserves next year to capitalize on the availability of funds for several improvement projects totaling about $2 million.
•Houston High School graduate Becky Witham has returned to her hometown as a nurse practitioner.
•Metal beams are set and bricklaying is underway on new construction at the Houston R-1 School District that will connect the current high school and middle school buildings. The improvements are part of a $4 million bond issue approved by voters.
•From carriage rides, tasty treats, the lighting of the city’s Christmas tree and Santa’s appearance, it was a festive weekend in Houston.
•Texas County ends up third in the 2014 deer season harvest with 3,170.
A drive by Houston Middle School students netted 362 pounds of food for the Texas County Food Pantry.
•Using metal detectors, lifelong Houston resident Bill Nichols has found many artifacts from a Union Army camp located in Houston during the Civil War.
•A staple of the downtown Houston retail landscape since 1978, Neal’s Sporting Goods plans to shut its doors.
•Firefighters battled a blaze that burned down a home on Dewey Street in Houston.
•The Licking Bridge Builders Senior Center announces ending of its agreement with its funding source, the Southwest Missouri Office on Aging. The move will increase the work load on the Houston Senior Center with regard to delivering meals to homebound senior citizens formerly served by the Licking facility.
•Houston police investigate reports of cats being shot by someone with a pellet gun, while county deputies investigate a report of a cat injured when kerosene was poured on it.
•Houston police investigate a case in which two male suspects teamed up to burn a special needs teenager.
•The Forest Service announces completion of major upgrades at the Slabtown Access on the Big Piney River.
•A journalist stops in Houston in the midst of a cross-country trek from Maine to California in which he travels by train or on foot.
•Piney River Brewing Company announces a major expansion of its brewing facility in Bucyrus.
•For the fifth time in 10 years, Houston High School is looking for a new football coach after the firing of Billy O’Neil, who compiled a 3-27 record in three years at the helm of the Tiger program.
•As part of “Shop with a Cop” (an effort orchestrated by Texas County Food Pantry director Bennie Cook), four children from needy county families were treated to an opportunity to shop with officers from four county law enforcement agencies and buy $150 worth of toys at Walmart.
•Raymondville resident Tilitha Waicekauskas shared information about her career as a poet.
•HHS senior Kylee Elmore was honored for being the second-ever member of the Lady Tigers’ basketball program to score 1,000 career points.
1. Forty-five arrested in biggest one-day drug sweep in county history.
2. Man attacked with knife after exiting vehicle to contact driver.
3. Authorities: Summersville man stole nearly $300,000 from grandma.
4. Four seriously injured in Bado crash.
5. County authorities involved in search for teenage girl.
6. One dead, another seriously injured in county crash.
7. Special moment unfolds in final moments of HHS basketball game.
8. Houston teen jailed after incident involving gun and pick-ax.
9. Houston man dies after falling off truck.
10. Summersville woman and Houston child die in crash.
To view a gallery of photos that appeared in the Houston Herald during 2014, click here:
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